Kolzig

Nintendo 3DS

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I caved and bought Shantae. I'm so glad I bought it on 3DS, because otherwise I wouldn't have ever known that they used the 3D effect to give all the female characters' talking sprites pop-out boobs. That is the most Wayforward-ass thing to do.

 

Yeah that is pretty much Peak WayForward. Simultaneous "Ugh" and "Of course."

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Never actually played a WayForward game. Is there a specific one that people like a lot?

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Honestly, this is the one to get. Shantae's always been Wayforward's passion project; and Pirate's Curse is the distilled, refined version of that.

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I actually really love both Mighty Switch Forces (100%'ed both), but they aren't for everybody. They're timed puzzle platformers, the point is to perfect each level to get the best time possible.

 

2 is better than 1, but if you're going to play them both, you should play them in order on account of the difficulty ramp-up.

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Honestly I wasn't blown away by the last Shantae. Unless this is a massive step up I'm probably going to pass. I don't need mediocre metroidvanias and scantily-clad cartoon girls at the same time, usually, and if I do I can arrange that for myself.

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It's a huge step up. Jeremy Parish says it better than I could.

 

Fortunately, Pirate's Curse has one big advantage over both the original Shantae and its sequel, Risky's Revenge: It's a much better game. Even larger than Shantae, more polished than Risky's Revenge, it truly feels like a proper realization of the concept. And it's only taken 12 years to get there.

 

He also briefly touches on why Shantae became a cult classic despite not holding up, which is really interesting to read. It's a good review.

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I can't speak to the newest Shantae, but the thing about Wayforward games is that they all feel very similar, as one would expect as they're built on the same engine. This means that their licensed games are competent enough, but everything feels very same-y.

I find the WayForward engine to be a little too...blocky? The basic unit of the level design is a large block (about 2x1 player sprites, and you can tell, so the platforming and level design sometimes feels very basic. That's what I like about Mighty Switch Force:it turns that constraint into a strength by using manipulation of those blocks as a mechanic.

Which has nothing to do with the new Shantae per se. But, of the other games of theirs that I've played, it's hard to recommend a specific one because they're very same. Theyre mostly differentiated by the art, which can be very good.

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Mighty Milky Way is more about spheres though. I quite like that one, lead designer by Sean Velasco of Shovel Knight.

 

Velasco was also the lead on Boy and His Blob which was brilliant. Err... well... I've only ever played Wayforward Velasco games, none of which were Metroidvania or pixel based graphics (outside of Mighty Milky Way), so I have no idea how they add up. Haven't gotten to Bloodrayne Betrayal though.

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Bloodrrayne betrayal is fine. Unsurprisingly, it feels like most other wayforward licensed products.

The main problem, now that I think about it more, is a lack of verbs in their games. Generally, you have NES Era capabilities: one jump, one attack, and that's it. Which is fine but it puts undue emphasis on the level design, which is usually fairly pedestrian.

Shantae and Mighty Switch Force both introduce a couple different verbs, which makes them feel like more complete games.

Bloodrayne had 3 verbs, I believe (attack,drink blood, jump) but was basically a side scrolling brawler rather than a platformer, so it still got old quickly. As focused on combat as it was, it needed more attack options to make the player feel engaged and empowered.

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Three times now I've had to put this game down to recharge my battery. It's really, really good. To address some specific concerns in this thread: I'm not even very far in the game and I've encountered a ton of secrets, shortcuts, and interesting level ticks; as well as picked up a handful of new verbs (I have a floaty pirate hat!). Seriously, they made an unquestionably good Shantae game. The prophecy has finally come to pass.

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For some reason I bounced off Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate when it first came out after spending a ton of time with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on PSP. Recently a couple of friends have been talking about buying Monster Hunter 4 on 3ds next year, so I dusted off MH3.

 

In a slightly related note, I no longer have any free time and am considering hiding under my desk to play at work.

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That has been my week too. Are you playing on an XL? I'm still wavering on whether to buy a PAL New XL and transfer my shit or buy a wee Japanese New 3DS and having it for exclusives and playing DS games on. I'd want 4G though and I can't imagine Monster Hunter especially works great on that small a screen, but if anyone knows better do tell.

 

I did find time to try out the Etrian Oddysey demo too though and holy smokes I want that very much. Buying that, Shin Megami Tensei, Pokemon and Persona Q in the next month is probably a terrible idea though. 

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Yeah, my wife bought an XL when they first came out and it was our first 3DS so I didn't really know how much of a hassle the transfer is. The screens on the XL are barely big enough to play Monster Hunter on, I always feel like I'm looking through a submarine portal or something. I can't imagine trying it on a regular 3DS.

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Seriously you guys, the new Shantae is secretly the 3DS Metroid I've always wanted. Its general structure and the way it control both evoke a hypothetical superior iteration on Metroid Fusion. I seriously can't recommend it enough.

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Welp, if my SD card still has enough space to download it, I'm probably gonna buy it.

 

If it doesn't have enough space to download it, I'll be sad about how buying a bigger SD card is now a thing I have to do.

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I'll need to buy a big microSD card for when the New 3DS comes out, so I feel ya.

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I'm nearly finished Shantae. I got 100% of the collectibles and even found the secret bonus mini dungeon based on the Gameboy Color Shantae. Right now I'm at the end of the final dungeon, which is basically Flappy Bird, of all things.

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Monster Hunter is becoming more and more tempting the more you guys talk about it. Is it really rubbish without multiplayer though? Or is it easy to get decent PUGs/find people on line who are eager to play? I´d hate to get so far into it only to discover that I need multiplayer to enjoy it any further. 

 

I´ve been playing Fantasy Life for a bit and it´s taken me 3 hours to get through the tutorial. I think that´s mainly related to the fact the language is set to Spanish, so I´m waiting for the actual game to begin before I cast my judgement. 

 

Tegan would you seriously advise against getting the lastest Pokemon games? Should I just hold out until Chhisristmaas? 

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You can't multiplayer on 3ds as far as I know, unless you connect to a wiiu that also has monster hunter. I gave up on it for pretty much that reason, aside from the ridiculous amounts of grinding you need to do.

I expected boss fight after boss fight, I got a game that required me to look for mushrooms and kill thousands of jaggies.

To clarify you can't multiplayer online, only by connecting to another 3ds close by.

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I'm a solo Monster Hunterer, it's perfectly doable to get all the way through it on your own based on the experiences of friends who've lost hundreds of hours to it. Monster Hunter 4 will have normal online play on 3DS and is due out Q1.

 

Is anyone into Etrian Odyssey? I'm having a hard time deciding which one to buy.

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Tegan would you seriously advise against getting the lastest Pokemon games? Should I just hold out until Chhisristmaas? 

 

I'd wait it out a bit. It's not that they're bad, just that Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire seem like they'll be much stronger entries and there's almost certain to be an improved Z version down the line.

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I'm a solo Monster Hunterer, it's perfectly doable to get all the way through it on your own based on the experiences of friends who've lost hundreds of hours to it. Monster Hunter 4 will have normal online play on 3DS and is due out Q1.

 

Is anyone into Etrian Odyssey? I'm having a hard time deciding which one to buy.

 

If you want to get into Etrian Odyssey, IV is far and away the best entry point. I haven't played Millenium Girl, but it's a remake of the original and as such I imagine it lacks a lot of the more fleshed out systems of IV. As it stands, EOIV executes on the concept of Etrian Odyssey if not perfectly, then at least thoroughly.

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