buemba

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Posts posted by buemba

  3. Posted

    The iPad looks great for point and click adventure games, RTS and board games, but I'm not sure I want to play these types of more involved games on it.

    I have Broken Sword for my iPhone and while it's an awesome port of a game I really liked for some reason whenever I want to play something on it I always go with quick and simple games like Canabalt or Doodle Jump. That's what I want when I'm playing a game on a portable device, not something that'll demand a lot of concentration and hours of commitment (I also have that mindset when playing the DS, though oddly enough not when I'm playing the PSP).

    Not that it matters yet. The internet may be moving away from Flash, but until sites like Kongregate and Newgrounds stop using it I won't buy an internet browsing device that doesn't support the format.

  6. Posted

    This is only good through the rest of today, but Battlefield Bad Company 2 is going for $40 on the EA Store... and EA just put out a $20 coupon code for PAX, putting the price at $20. The code is PAXEAST842.

    Sonova... Did they have to do that while I didn't have access to a PC? Arrrgh!

    ...Anyway, EA put a bunch of their iPhone games on sale. Only one I have is the Simpsons arcade game and I don't think it's worth the $0.99 asking price, but maybe some of the other ones are better. I'm almost tempted to get Mass Effect Galaxy just for the extra scene it unlocks on ME2.

    Also, Borderlands is 50% off on Steam. Anybody interested in teaming up to get the 4 pack?

  7. Posted

    Resolution matters as a higher one means the figures have to "travel" a bigger distance to get to the same place. Thus it looks more jittery than in a lower res if you keep the same animation grid for both.

    In other words: "Size also causes some serious animation problems. Let's say you have a walk cycle at 16x16 (like Link from the original Legend of Zelda). You can coax a fairly smooth walk animation out of this character with just 4 frames, because his legs only move a pixel or two each frame. However, at 32x32 the legs will be moving much farther, up to 10 or 12 pixels per frame if you only have 4 frames. To maintain relative smoothness, you have to bump it up to at least 6 frames. Not only are you painting 4 times as many pixels per frame now, but you need to add 50% additional frames!"

    good animation movement basically consists of showing the most effective movement with as little amount of frames as possible, no matter what resolution or medium you're working in. Overdrawing something is not usually desirable.

    Wait, so we are in agreement. My problem with the animation in MI:SE isn't technical (Namely, that it doesn't have enough inbetweens, although that would be one way to solve the issue), it's that I felt it doesn't convey movement effectively. Your mileage may vary, of course, but for me it stuck out like a sore thumb.

    Again, I'm not expecting 24 frames of animation (Although I wouldn't complain if I got that), but if you're going to update the graphics why not give the character animation a little love as well? I am focusing on the smoothness of animation, but I could also mention how lifeless the characters look as they have no bounce or weight.

    Just imagine remaking Quake II, adding high poly models but keeping the same low res textures. That's not far from what Lucasarts did.

  8. Posted

    I'd rather them not add frames, just because I think they would screw it up.

    But does a low frame count really ruin stuff for you? There's tons of detailed animation out there that doesn't move beyond 8 frames a second and still looks good. Most classic film animation still runs on an average of 12fps.

    For me it does. I don't need a Disney feature film level of quality, but most of the stuff in MI:SE could use a few inbetweens. Look at the pirate sitting in the barrel on the streets of Mêlée™ Island - He had 3 frames of animation and they probably moved at a rate of 1 frame per second. Same with Guybrush, he always looked like he was gliding on the ground since by the time his walk frame animation changed he was already 3 or 4 steps ahead.

    Expecting Lucasarts to give every animated figure in the game 12 frames per second and lip-syncing in what's essentially a budget title is unrealistic, but keeping the same keyframes that worked when the game had a resolution of 320x240 now that it can run in 1640x1080 makes the whole thing look at best like a slideshow. Even adding just one new frame between each of their keyframes would go a long way towards making the game animate a lot better.

    This also bothered me with the Street Fighter II HD remake, but at least there Capcom had an excuse since adding more frames would break the game for high-level players.

  9. Posted

    I hope they add more frames of animation to the characters this time around. No point bumping the graphical resolution if they shackle themselves to the exact same frame count used in the original game, as in my opinion it ends up looking much worse (I ended up playing MI: SE with the old graphics, which was kind of a pointless purchase considering I had the original sitting on a shelf right next to me).

    Also, nostalgia may be clouding my judgment since it's been over 10 years since I played it, but I think MI3 had the best art style. I wish Lucasarts just used that as the base look for these remakes.

  10. Posted

    If you're not familiar with the series it's better to use either the sword and shield, spear or the longsword. In theory any weapon type can be used to kill any monster, but the slower ones require you to have the monster's patterns memorized so you'll know when it's safe to approach, charge the attack and strike. The greatsword and the hammer are incredibly powerful, but you'll only be hitting air if you rush ahead.

    As for the point of the game, it's to acquire loot. If it's anything like the PSP games it won't even have a story other than the one page setup for each quest. It's one of those games that won't appeal to you if you groan at the idea of fighting a monster that takes about 20 minutes to take down 30 times to get the right drop so you can forge a new hat for your character.

  11. Posted

    Since I never had enough disposable income to blow at the arcades I spent a large amount of time there just watching other people play. It was occasionally useful to learn new strategies in my favorite fighting games, but I often ended up circling the Mortal Kombat machines as (Although I had no interest in playing them) the spectacle of a Fatality or Friendship always made the people around laugh and roar. And since back then there was no Gamefaqs to list the commands to perform all the finishers or Youtube to view them all in a row there was always the possibility of seeing something new and unexpected.

    That's the one thing I miss the most about arcades, to be honest. It's a different social atmosphere to watch two people compete in a game right in front of you while standing shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of strangers. Joining a server as a spectator doesn't have the same feel, unfortunately.

    And then there are games like Rock Band which are pretty much designed for two different people. The note highway is made for the player and the backgrounds are made for the people watching while they wait their turn.

  12. Posted

    I've been saying this ever since I played Trace Memory: Cing is easily the most innovative DS developer there is. Not even Nintendo can match them when it comes to using all the hardware's features in unique ways.

    The stories in both Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk were pretty forgettable (Good characters, though), but the puzzles were very creative and some used the DS in surprising ways. As far as I'm concerned the reflecting puzzle in TM still stands as the most memorable moment I had in a DS game yet.

    I wish Nintendo just went ahead and bought the studio, but I doubt their games sold enough to justify that kind of investment.

  13. Posted

    It's bad enough that they're charging $ 60.00 for the PC version of AC2, but requiring a constant connection on top of that is just absurd.

    I actually wouldn't mind it that much if the game required a internet connection when you launch the game so it can ping a Ubi server to validate the session (granted I'd rather not even have that, but it's an annoyance I'm willing to stomach to play a game), but losing progress in a single player game because of a hiccup in my wireless connection? Screw that.

  15. Posted

    Or The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbotton.

    And I guess no PC version at launch? What happened to us being the platform of indie devs?

    Unfortunately I think most triple A indie devs (You know what I mean) will try to release their games on the 360 or PS3. I bet landing a spot in a XBLA Summer of Arcade helps sell more than a full semester on Steam's front page banner rotation.

    We'll always have the garage and weird-ass developers, though. After all, I doubt Edmund McMillen could convince Microsoft to allow the release of a game like this on their console.

  16. Posted

    As long as the camera controls are better than the PSP versions I'm set. A new monster or two would be cool, sure, but the one thing that keeps me from sinking 200+ hours into a Monster Hunter game is the fact that trying to keep my camera focused on a Rajang while he jumps around and rapes me is more work than it's worth.

    And for all the horror Gamestop stories I've heard I was rather disappointed when I didn't get badgered into preordering a game or subscribing to a magazine when I went to one a couple of years ago on a visit to the US.

    Guess the employees on the Orlando stores don't bother with that since most of their customers are tourists.

  18. Posted

    I've been using a Razer Deathadder for the past 3 years and it's pretty good. Would be nice if it had a more easily accessible DPI switch and the mouse wheel isn't that great either, but as far as ergonomics (Which is the most important thing in a mouse for me) and performance go it's top notch.

    My sister has a Logitech G5 and it's great as well. Its got a better mouse wheel and two easily accessible DPI buttons, but I prefer the shape and texture of the Deathadder myself.

  21. Posted

    Several of my friends had the Atari 2600, and while I liked River Raid and Pitfall a lot I used to consider video games just something to do on a rainy day when we couldn't be outside playing tag or soccer. Then one day when I was six one of my best friend's father went to the US and brought him a NES.

    Z2_link_by_sleeping_zelda.png

    I'm not kidding when I say that Contra and Super Mario changed the way I looked at games, but Zelda II was the watershed moment for me. After that when me and my friends weren't sitting in front of the TV playing Zelda we were either making drawings of Link and co. or pretending we were those characters while whacking each other with plastic swords on the backyard.

  24. Posted

    Pity all the rumors about the next game taking place in a different isolated utopia turned out to be false. What kept me playing Bioshock was exploring the unusual setting, but I don't see why I'd want to revisit the same place (Even if it supposedly goes to different parts of Rapture it's still gonna have to have the same overall feel of the environments of the first game).

    Now Geoshock, the failed underground community? That I'd like to visit.