miffy495

Until they decided to give in to the whiners who decided that they were too "growed up" to play Wind Waker, Zelda was great about taking chances. Zelda 1: If it didn't invent open world, it at least popularized it. Adventure of Link: intricate (for NES) combat system, added RPG elements Link to the Past: Dual dimensions impacting one another Ocarina of Time: In many ways, just a rehash of LttP in terms of dimensions and story, but actually made it work in 3D, which was pretty damned impressive considering how well other series made the jump. 3D dungeons meant ingenious puzzles, creepy as hell vibe at times, and clever, multi-level boss fights. Majora's Mask: Actually made the world feel alive. Transformation mechanics, darker tone, and story completely different from any other Zelda game (princess doesn't even make a cameo) made it a huge leap in storytelling for the franchise. The fact that the story was great and really emotionally affecting just made it even better. Wind Waker: Sunken kingdom, beautiful art style, as close to post-apocalyptic as the series could really get. Less of a leap than MM, but the seafaring really made the world feel massive and daunting, and gave the exploration a real sense of adventure. Twilight Princess: OMGZ YOU GUYZ LETZ REMAKE OCARINA!!!!!1111one (also, throw in a bit of that transformation stuff from Majora. That was cool.) I left out the portables, as they mostly exist as companion pieces and don't change as much as their big brothers. (This is not necessarily to their detriment, Link's Awakening is one of my favorite games of all time) Four Swords was left out as well, as it's essentially a Zelda party game. For the hell of it, here's a quick look at them too. Link's Awakening: First game in the series to not have Zelda or Ganon in it. Gameplay essentially a refinement of consoles, but did add the ability to jump and some really clever dungeons came out of that. Oracle series: Great games, but taken individually just polished retellings of LA's best bits. Linking the two together to make one giant experience is kind of cool though. Minish Cap: Takes Vaati (from the Four Swords games) and makes him the main villain. The growing/shrinking mechanic allowed the designers to craft some incredible puzzles. Phantom Hourglass: Getting into the modern Zelda experience here. No risks taken, nothing new really brought to the table. Still a great game, but not a significant departure. Made an action game work great with a touchscreen though, which is pretty cool. Really, Thunderpeel, your criticism is apt, but only when looking at Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass. Both of these came after Nintendo's recent "Holy crap I'm on a MOUNTAIN OF MONEY" success, and they seem more averse to risky changes nowadays. The new ones are pretty good, but shadows of the excellence that the N64 entries attained. I don't really get why there needs to be a rift between Zelda and FF though. One is an action game with some RPG elements, one is a JRPG. I've enjoyed what FF I've played, and after I get through with the Dragon Quest remakes, have been thinking about playing the DS remake of FFIV to get my RPG fix. Sorry about the rambling post. Just felt I should stand up for Zelda a bit against the charge of being the same from one version to another.

I swear to god in that techno remix I heard the space jump sound from Metroid sampled...

Picked it up a couple of weeks ago, but was waiting for the DSi to arrive before playing it so that I could christen the new machine in style. Finished about an hour of play now, and I have to say it's pretty damn good. The top down play takes some getting used to. The biggest issue with the camera angle for me has been knowing which walls are low enough for me to vault and which are not. Controls are implemented well also, with the notable exception of tossable weapons. Grenades and molotovs are a pain in the ass, frankly, and having to use the touch screen in the heat of a gunfight to use them seems really clumsy. I have to run to class now, so no more impressions for now, but I figured I'd get the topic up at least. Anyone else playing? Thoughts?

Oh, right. Swine flu. Excuse me for not caring until after the rate of recovery from the disease in my country is something other than 1:1. Played the two bonus missions this afternoon. Lots of fun, though still didn't really provide any challenge. Interesting how the campaign never had me at more than 3 stars, but then the first bonus mission has me hijack a tank and cause as much havok as I can. I heartily approve. The ability to go back and replay any mission is a bonus as well. Love that feature. Will be using it often for a couple of those missions. There were some real standout moments in Chinatown Wars. In terms of creativity of mission design, I'd even be tempted to say it outclasses GTAIV. IV was great, but never really threw any weird twists at you. Chinatown Wars takes a lot more risks, and they pay off. Very much enjoyed it, and next time I do a bunch of GTA replays (I replay everything from 3 to present every two-ish years) it will be a welcome addition.

I'll be in this week. Last week was an anomaly, as the girl had a presentation to give and wanted me in the audience to calm her nerves. This time around, schedule is clear. See you then.

I only signed in once, to download the MvC2 demo two nights ago, but it seemed ok for me. What sort of troubles are you having?

I... don't know what that means?

Aaaand done. Fun game, but unfortunately never really offered a challenge. I have found those two lion statues to unlock the bonus epilogue missions though, so maybe those will be harder. Great game all things considered though. Story got pretty predictable near the end, and the fact that was a little weird. Still, dialogue stayed reasonably clever, and the missions remained fun, so I won't complain too much. Damn shame it's not selling better. I'm doing my part at work (couple of people have come back to the store to buy it a day or so later based on my heartfelt recommendation) but one lowly HMV games guy can only do so much. Toblix, you really should check it out man. Once you get a handle on the top-down controls, it's fantastic. It's GTA you can play anywhere. How the hell are you not interested in that?

I'll take some blame for funding Squeenix. I recently bought Dragon Quest IV and V and Crono Trigger on DS. Still staying away from Final Fantasy though. I played VI and VII and Tactics and am kinda glad I veered away from the rest of the series. Fun as those were, it just seems sad nowadays. Maybe I'll give XII a try, if it's as good as you say. It's set in the same world as Tactics, right?

Nah, I tried going for the online options and it just gave me a splash screen saying some of the game's features...

Well dammit. I was excited to see how MvC2 held up, so I downloaded the PS3 demo. Turns out it's a local multiplayer only demo. Fat lot of good that does me at 3:15 in the morning.

Always been more of a Dragon Quest man, myself. They seem to take more risks as they go.

Ah yes, MF Doom. Fun stuff. I've been listening to a lot of older stuff by the Thermals lately, in anticipation of their 4th album arriving at work and me buying it. One of my favorite bands. If you enjoy pop-punk with genuine soul (think: Green Day back when they really were angry young men instead of old guys trying to still be relevant) you should check them out, particularly their first album More Parts Per Million.

With the power of modern consoles, we can render about 50 Blasts per minute!

Yeah, drug vans were nothing for me as well. I just grab one if it happens to pass by as I'm heading back to save after a mission. Free cocaine or heroin usually follows, which has greatly propelled my game's funds.

Oh good, it's not just me who feels that way about the second one. I honestly gave up on it due to the drastic reduction in quality. If the later ones get better, I may actually finish it and play the rest.

Mine cost me about $35 Canadabux. It's not fantastic, but it seems to do the job pretty well. Also, I got it from the University Of Calgary's Microstore, which I suspect jacks up prices quite a bit, so there's that too.

Thought he was a one-time thing after fighting him sometime during World 4, but he popped up again in 5-2, so he'll be hitting you soon enough.

I don't know what's happening but I need to play it...

Chris: I've been thinking about buying this. Maybe you should too... Moon is "one hell of an impressive game." -IGN.com EDIT: And yeah, ArtStyle is the revamped (and renamed) versions of BitGenerations on GBA. The Wii ArtStyle games already have Hexic (now called Rotohex), Orbital (now Orbient). Also, there's a brand new one called Cubello. The DSi so far only has Aquia, which is also brand new and I love. I haven't tried Cubello yet, and though I liked Hexic, I didn't really feel the need to repurchase it. Orbital was by far my favorite BitGenerations game though, so I had no problem forking over some cash for the Wii version of Orbient. I highly recommend that one to anyone with a Wii. Seriously. Buy it.

I'm looking forward to Virtual On and Banjo Tooie, and should probably buy Outrun pretty soon too. I already have Gunstar Heroes on Wii, and Sonic and Knuckles on that GCN Disc from a while back, so both of those are playable on my current entertainment setup without worries. I also happen to think the Wii's classic controller is way better for those types of games, so using it in Gunstar is hugely preferable. Still, this summer, like last, is looking great for the XBLA. I'm glad somebody is bothering to release quality summertime gaming...

I'm glad someone linked that Killer 7 cover already. It's by far my favorite. So damn pretty. I went through that thread a couple of weeks ago, but should probably look again. Seems like some good new ones have cropped up.

GTA is also a great choice. I kind of bop back and forth between the two, as I actually find GTA to be way too easy, and the two together keep me happy with the amount of challenge my games are throwing at me. Been mostly GTA this week, but I did put in some time and get to world 5-4 on Hatsworth. BigJKO, it does have some more interesting puzzle additions as it goes. There are bosses and even regular enemies who will throw blocks into your puzzle that double the speed it scrolls at, which can be really challenging. There's also one miniboss I've run into twice now who is a great idea. He starts out as this giant blob of green goo, and after you do a certain amount of damage to him he throws himself into your puzzle as a 4x4 block. If you line up two blocks of the same colour next to him, he'll cycle to another colour and get a chunk of his life knocked off. After a few hits of this he'll shrink to 3x3, but the whole time he's getting closer and closer to the top of the screen. If he hits the top, he respawns, but sending him back down to the puzzle again keeps him at the same stage he was when he got back to the top. Usually I beat him while he's on the puzzle screen for the second time. I love this boss. He's difficult, but a perfect integration of puzzle and platform and is so cool to fight. Of course, I'm still enjoying it so much because I've still never hit a part where it feels unfair to me. I usually find myself riding the edge of death but getting enough puzzle time in at the last second to send me back to the young Henry bit. So fun. Don't know how much of the game is left, but I'm also looking forward to it carrying on for a while, so I don't mind that.

I see a collage of Metroids. Is something wrong with me?

Hell, he got further at it than I did. I tried an evil playthrough once. Got to the bit where you had to let the guy get eaten by rakghouls outside the undercity's gates and couldn't go any further. Totally hated myself.