Roderick

I didn't have the heart, nor the memory of what exactly happened in the series/movies, to process Re-Take. It seems like something only superduperfans could ever hope to pierce, with all the minutiae about what happened when this or that angel attacked, and how it subtly affected every single relationship. God, Evangelion fandom is hardcore. I once belonged to it, writing huge epistles on what I thought was happening.

You must see End of Evangelion, the film they made afterwards. The series makes little sense otherwise, though the movie is bananas.

Aeroporter had a weird enjoyment curve. I hated my first hour with it, then suddenly something clicked and I jumped ahead a few levels, but then I, too, was consumed by the stress of it. It actually has a goddamned fog of war.

I will respectfully disagree with that. Structurally, Ocarina of Time, the DS Zeldas and everything else (barring MM) closely resembles, even mimics, LttP. The way you control Link (i.e. the buttons you press to make him do things) or the point of view of the camera (topdown or third person 3D) makes little change in that. It mixes up the feel of the game a little, but they're superficial changes, much like how in one game you have digging claws, in the other a hookshot - when it boils down to it, it doesn't make much of a difference. It doesn't alter that the experience of those games is much the same as LttP, in terms of structure, broad gameplay, narrative, feeling. At their core, they're similar.

I recently had to drag my way through Minish Cap. There's a huge lull in the middle, but the game picks up near the end and the final boss is very satisfying. Part of the reason I'm not particularly thrilled with this announcement is that even though LttP is a great game, it formed the template of all later Zeldas. As a result, we've all played this game a hundred times already. It's been every Zelda except for Majora's Mask. That's where the disillusionment comes from. Even though Majora would've been a remake as well; it would've been a remake of a game that was made exactly and only once before. There's only one game like Majora's Mask and that's Majora's Mask. There are dozens of games that are exactly like Link to the Past. It's a victim of its own success and twenty-year-old brilliance.

I am extremely upset that I understood 100% of the above post.

Unfortunately, I have to file my GOTY 2011, Catherine, under the banner of 'horrible endings that dulled the awesomeness of the game'. I don't agree that endings necessarily have to be the weaker part; it's just that they are incredibly hard to pull off in any satisfying manner. You NEED to have a plan ready. If you just wing it, or do any of a million things wrong, it'll be .

Well, I'm a little sad cat right now, but it's bound to happen at some point.

It's crazy, yeah, but I had too been crossing fingers for Majora. Even with the HUGE amount of titles in that video, including Link to the Past ffs, the lack of Majora shone brightest. Best part, I will reiterate, was Guild02.

I was interested in the question asked in the podcast about how to explore spaces more naturally. I think the solution might be to create less naturalisic environments in games. The way our perception works is that we only focus on things that are important to us. Once we've registered the details and framework of an environment, we stop paying attention to it. Simulating this in a game might entail having a more abstract/dreamlike environment where objects that we've looked at, but that aren't important for progression, disappear or blur out, or levitate away, and only the things that are immediately important stay. This fundamentally changes the way we observe and interact with a game, but despite its initial shock of abstraction, might actually more closely resemble the way we exist in spaces. More importantly; encourage a less exhaustive, minute ruffling through every detail, but taking space as fleeting time, something you almost can't capture or infinitely observe.

Guild02: The Starship Damrey sounds really good! Yoshi's Island 2 (3?) looks uninteresting. A Link to the Past (2?) looks neat, but I'm skeptical on what it'll do beyond leaning on the original. I loved the topdown DS Zelda games, also because they went into such wonderful, new directions. Taking a template of a 1995 game is good for nostalgia, but maybe it won't feel as fresh as something brand new. We'll see.

Play it! It's great!

YYYYES! Well, this was basically a given, but 2013 is o-kay in my book. And with the added precision of shooting arrows by shifting the 3DS around, I will finally (hopefully) be able to kill all the blasted

Good to hear you had such a great relationship with your dad. I would go towards following your principles in this one, knowing that your father would have supported you making a stand against military applications. It's hard to say for sure. Perhaps you should first work out your emotions and then make a clear-headed decision at a later point. The conflict in your head could resolve itself with time.

Not having played this game, this thread is a baffling, choice cut of entertainment.

Good heads-up!

I already got tons of Dark Notes for Theathrythm. I've concluded HarmoKnight and can report that it's a fun little game for 15 euros, and surprisingly challenging here and there. Beyond its amazing art style and animations, the gameplay is rather limited though. There's a real hard stop to how much you can get out of this game, outside of speed runs. But it's sooooooo good to see Gamefreak stretch their legs beyond Pokemon! It's a fun new world with Noizoids (and it reminds more than a little of Sonic's bizarre universe).

The link won't load, so there's no way I can't take this out of context, but here goes: it depends on the game, of course. Some games are all about the visuals. Other games aren't. It seems the expectation here is for us to go all 'boo!' on this guy and his comment, but I wouldn't know where that seeming loathing for graphics comes from. I know this place favors the ludological side of things, but games are an amalgamation of a great breadth of elements (interactivity, visuals, audio, narrative), and valid and valuable games can come from any combination and emphasis of those.

The Polygon interview makes it seem the designer's intent is to make a stupid, fun, dumb game. That's a totally legit aim, but doesn't appeal to me. The aesthetic will have to be super impressive to make up for uninspired gameplay.

That is some serious Klaus Doldinger soundtracking there. I approve.

It shows they've had interns telling them to tighten up the graphics.

Spice and Wolf is pretty interesting, if only for the fact that it's a fantasy story about bartering. You don't see that a whole lot.

Yes, Tegan, hopefully this ol' place here can be a place of respite for you, where anyone's sexuality is completely not a problem and celebrated for what it is.

Superb. Tweeted the final one.