Nintendo 3DS

[tberton]

Yeah, you had to slot a mask in the N64 version. Inventory management in Majora's Mask on N64 was atrocious. There were so many things you'd have to switch between: the masks, the Ocarina, the camera, the Bunny Hood, the Lens of Truth, various quest items, not to mention your actual weapons and such. The 3DS version is vastly improved in this regard.

[richardco]

I picked up MH4u and Majora's Mask both on the day of their simultaneous launch alongside the n3DS, and after some three hundred or so hours of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, i decided i should probably crack open Majora too.

 

I'm probably too early in Majora to make any big statements about the game, and it's been over a decade since i played the game last, but i'm still impressed with the density and complexity of the side quests in Clocktown. I think i like that the new quest journal sort of forces you to appreciate it more, because it seems like something that a lot of people would completely miss or otherwise lose sight of.

 

The game's presentation also still strikes me as really sharp and stylish, whereas the narrative presentation in Ocarina came across to me as kind of listless and staid when i was revisiting it with Ocarina 3D.

 

Edit: I assume it was probably the case, but perhaps somebody can confirm for me if you had to first slot a mask to equip it in Majora? It probably made a lot of sense there with how slow the UI used to be in those N64 games, but why is that still a part of how the UI works with the remake? It doesn't make sense with the remake's quick and easily accessed touchscreen inventory, the extra step of slotting the mask is now actually slowing you down. They're passive equipment, they don't really need to be on a hot key.

 

That's my minor gripe, as of this point in time.

 

I'd only played through Majora's once--back when it first came out.  I remember enjoying it, but being underwhelmed that it wasn't just Ocarina 2.  Revisiting them this year on the 3DS, I'd have to say Majora's holds up WAY better.  Agree with everything you said.

Majora's might be my favorite Zelda game now.

[Sno]

Apparently the original game did still have the journal, it's just been expanded upon for this release, so yeah, there's that. (Some puzzle solutions and quest rewards have also been shuffled around a bit, apparently.)

I'm still really, really impressed with the game. I'm a little further in, and i feel no reluctance in saying that it's easily still one of my favorite Zelda games. I'm so impressed with the way it strings you along in elaborate quest chains that are filled out with all these implicit checkpoints whenever you discover a new travel point or learn a song or get a major item unlock, all of which are set up to give you natural opportunities to go back in time and reset the clock so you can tackle the remainder of the quest more safely. What's so impressing me about that is the way those quests are designed so these break points can function logically and mechanically within the narrative and scripting of a given quest when you move to interject yourself back into the middle of a reset quest from all kinds of weird angles. Kind of makes my mind reel thinking about it, it feels like there's an insane number of variables for a designer to have kept track of.

 

Also noticing a lot more in the way of subtle thematic and narrative detail, especially in the clocktown quests, but kind of all over the game. (This is a superficial one, but everybody always seems to interpret the moon as being a malevolent force in this game's story, but it seemed immediately apparent to me this time that it's grimacing in pain as it's pulled along in an unwilling descent by Majora's Mask. I mean, the game makes the point several times that the moon is casting down teardrop-shaped meteorites from its eyes. I don't really know how i, and apparently a bunch of people, missed that the first time around.)

 

It's also relatively thin on hand-holding compared to Ocarina and the games that followed. That's kind of wonderful.

 

It looks terrific too, it goes a little further than Ocarina did with the visual upgrades, but a lot of it also owes to the presentation in Majora having already been more thoughtful and stylized. (Cutscenes, even simple dialogue scenes, are filled with nuanced little flourishes. I actually looked up videos of the original game to make sure i wasn't ascribing something new to the original, but Majora 3D is reproducing those details faithfully.)

 

Majora's Mask is fuckin` great, you guys.

[dartmonkey]

I got me a little white New 3DS! Transferred over from my ol' reliable XL last night. I can report it's speedier and sexier. And more cream than white. I've never sullied my systems with stickers before (how perfectly vulgar!!) but I've got some great SNES decals I'm going to put on today. Has anyone ever used decals on their consoles before?

[tegan]

I've never been much for stickers/decals. Personally I'd rather stencil some vinyl dye onto the faceplate or something.

[undermind9]

Ive been in paris the last week and spent a day at the Louve, one of their massive museums around the city. It was an old palace so each space is segmented like quarters would have been rather than normal museum massive halls. Easy to get lost and overwhelmed

Any ways, they had a available audio and guided tours on 3ds xl's. I was able to creep over some shoulders and they were using one screen as a map to each of the several hundred rooms and the other to show text displays to special items in the room, start audio, or alternate photos.

It seemed was in several different languages and I was pleased and surprised by the wide range of people using them. I joked with my wife how many of the elderly folk were going to go home and play with their grand kid's 3ds after seeing how great they are

I'm not a huge museum goer, is this a normal occurrence?

[JonCole]

I believe it's a special arrangement that Nintendo had with the Louvre. It was actually really fun to mess around with, much better than a paper or audio guide. And it was super accessible to the point where I think just about anyone could use it, except for things like exhibits being taken out for various reasons and the guide not reflecting that kinda stuff.

[tegan]

The 3DS Louvre tour is fascinating for several reasons, but I fucking love that in their electronic museum guide thing, Nintendo apparently still used the bottom screen as a map.

[dartmonkey]

A couple of pics:

 

 

 

I'm super pleased with it. I was worried about the downgrade in screen size from the XL but it's the perfect medium. It all looks a bit sharper. The super stable 3D is. I think 90% of people will leave it on 90% of the time now. Having the volume slider on the top screen is a godsend, though I find I've developed a reflex for checking it's down where now I'm just stroking the side. I've gone through an episode of RE Revelations with the C-nub and it works as you'd expect, right down to the grippy, rubbery feel. The unit doesn't click like the XL when you open it, so covert sessions while the wife's asleep have a greater chance of success Only minus is the stylus position being moved to the bottom to accommodate the faceplate design. It's fine, just a bit fiddly.

 

Obviously the coloured ABXY buttons are the greatest innovation since the analogue stick and worth the price alone. 

[tegan]

I see you're playing the classic SNES game Sonic the Hedgehog.

 

 

(amazing decals though)

[dartmonkey]

Nintendo won't give me 16-bit games to play on it! Sega still doing what Nintendon't (though to be fair, Nintendo have come out on top in that deal for the last couple of decades  )

 

 

Close enough. Though I do like symbolism of old rivals now cohabiting peacefully. A message of hope for us all.

 

 

I'm conscious that you NA peeps aren't getting this one, so I'll just say that I'd definitely consider importing it. It's a solid, beautiful refinement that's the best of all worlds. So happy with it, especially after worrying about downsizing - can't wait to play Majora's. And I'll get my 16-bit fix in the summer with some Streets of Rage 2/Sonic 2 inter-console blasphemy.

 

Edit. One tiny detail I love is the little thumb groove shaved out of the hinge above the C-stick. It took me a while to work out why it was there.

[SamKD]

A bit off topic, but DS related. This modification someone did just became a big thing on reddit.

http://anthonythomas.io/tag/gba-macro/?pow=datea

 

To make this comment more relevant ~ how are you all liking the virtual emulation on the 3DS?  The idea of a cartridge-less future seems both scary and convenient, so I'm not sure what to make of it since I haven't played mobile stuff in a while...

[Ninety-Three]

Recently I moved to a new place which happens to be much closer to where I work, so I'm not taking the bus any more, which has ended most of my 3DS use. I'm only partway through Fire Emblem and I quite enjoy it, but it feels weird to pick up a handheld when I'm in my own home and my PC is right there. Is this a problem unique to me, or does anyone else have trouble choosing handheld over PC, and how do you deal with it?

[Syd]

Much of my 3DS playtime is before I go to bed, or right after I've woke up (if I have nothing to do that day).

 

For better or worse, playing my 3DS has replaced reading books when it comes to "things to do while lying around in bed".

[Griddlelol]

I play while my partner is watching TV, or when I'm lying in bed. Love a bit of monster hunting after dinner.

[tegan]

A new Chibi-Robo got announced in a Japanese Direct this morning, with an amiibo and everything!

 

It's an uninspired-looking sidescrolling platformer.

 

Why is every sequel to Chibi-Robo a monkey's paw version of what I want?

[kaputt]

Yep, the new direct also showed that Fire Emblem If will have a interesting castle building feature and some, well, waifu/husbando things I don't know how to explain.


 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oO7b-oWl2g

I only played FE Awekening, but it seems that they're making a lot of interesting changes in the series with If, I'll probably pick it up when it releases.

 

EDIT: added the video now.

[Yasawas]

Lads, there's a Monster Hunter spinoff made in conjunction with From Software and it's mental looking but not how you'd think:

 

 

I almost exploded when it kicked off with the company logos and then it started and I was confused and I still don't really know what I feel but I think I like it.

[tegan]

Yep, the new direct also showed that Fire Emblem If will have a interesting castle building feature and some, well, waifu/husbando things I don't know how to explain.

 

They put Pokémon-Amie in a Fire Emblem game?

 

Lads, there's a Monster Hunter spinoff made in conjunction with From Software and it's mental looking but not how you'd think:

 

It's a remake of a PSP game from five years ago.

[Sno]

A new Chibi-Robo got announced in a Japanese Direct this morning, with an amiibo and everything!

 

It's an uninspired-looking sidescrolling platformer.

Reading this was quite a roller coaster of emotions for me.

 

Sidescrolling platformer, hey?...

[tegan]

It looks like a poor man's Bionic Commando.

[Twig]

I actually think it looks like a lot of fun.

 

I hate Bionic Commando!

[Yasawas]

If this is what it takes for a Chibi Robo Amiibo to exist that I can sit on my desk to make every soul-crushing day at work that bit more cheery then so be it.

 

[Kolzig]

Also Capcom is making Monster Hunter X or Monster Hunter X Cross or something like that for 3DS.

 

So interestingly there are two Monster Hunter games now coming to 3DS and also this Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village DX from From Software. Capcom really putting all the eggs in one franchise bucket.

 

 

But yeah that Chibi-Robo amiibo looks awesome, the game looks a bit underwhelming. It would be better as a Wii U game will HD style graphics etc. It has been too long since Chibi-Robo has had a proper game so that's cool that this one looks like a proper platformer and not some AR game like the previous one.

[tegan]

The good games in that series weren't proper platformers though!

 

That first game was this delightful little adventure game with time management and light platforming elements, plus a sort of awkwardly-inserted checklist of things that had to be in a video game at the time (drive a car, fly a spaceship, shoot a gun). It's unpolished, but really charming, and the only sequel that took the ideas of the first game and ran with them was the Japan-only third game for DS.