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Oilers99

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#1 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts

The reviews coming in are exciting. It's a bit weird that some very blatantly contradict one another, but at the end of the day the opinions range from "really good Zelda game" to "best Zelda game ever" with the majority being the latter. Worst case scenario is still a pretty sweet scenario.

I find most of the criticisms so far to be the same kind you could level against Metroid Prime, which we all know is the bee's knees. Plus there seems to be a consensus that whatever these issues are, they are not as noticeable as the same issues that were in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess (which were still both outstanding). I wonder if these criticisms are a product of the franchise's high standards?

_BlueDuck_
I am still shocked to find people who think that with Metroid Prime, the bee has no knees. Naturally, my first impulse is to remove THEIR knees.
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Oilers99

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#2 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
The Last Express. I bought it because, at the time, I was supposed to use only my computer for educational purposes, and its historical setting was... vaguely educational. It's actually one of my all-time favourite games, and probably the most unusual game ever to get completely ignored by the entire gaming community.
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Oilers99

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#3 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts

Chrono Cross > Chrono Trigger

I said it :P

Ballroompirate
A dazzling truth. Here's the problem with Chrono Trigger; it has a fun plot, excellent visuals, smooth control, breathtaking places to explore, excellent pacing, and is arguably one of the most polished games ever--it just isn't very fun. The thing you spend the majority of the game doing, fighting, is really dumb. You mash the attack button. That's it. It's strange, people laud the combat for something superfluous that has improved, no random encounters, and pay little attention to how brainless fighting is. It's really fast brainlessness, but still. Chrono Cross is the exact opposite; highly tactical gameplay, that forces you to consider carefully your resource management and party composition. Fighting is important, thoughtful, and generally what a JRPG should have. And then it has most of those other elements of Chrono Trigger on top of it. Every bit as beautiful. Just as compelling a story. Interesting places to explore. But what you spend your time doing... much, much better. It's a superior game. Tragic, in a sense, that Chrono Cross was considered a disappointment because of how vaguely it connected with its predecessor, but I don't know how anyone could make the argument that the core element of any JRPG, fighting (and it's NOT storytelling, because as much as you may play JRPGs for the story, with rare exceptions, you still spend way more time fighting), is better done in Chrono Trigger than Chrono Cross. It simply isn't true.
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Oilers99

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#4 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
Every time they hire a new employee, they make them watch a thirty minute video of a group of puppies being beaten. It isn't Casual Friday at GameSpot, it's Ball-and-Chain Friday at GameSpot. Every time a reviewer scores a game more than a point off the expectations of the rest of the staff, they are brought before a mysterious, hooded council, who decides whether or not to cast them into the mysterious fiery inferno immediately below their offices. Instead of coffee, to get their morning jolt, all GameSpot employees must submit themselves to a rick roll. And they must watch the ENTIRE video. Once a month, the entire staff is taken out into the streets and beaten by angry Twilight Princess fans still upset by the 8.8 score. Even though the reviewer who gave it that score no longer works there. Just out of frame in the Hotspot is a giant guillotine hanging over the heads of the GameSpot editors, should they mention anything that alerts the authorities to their working conditions. They don't make Chuck Norris jokes. Ever. They remember what happened to Ron. Every grammatical or spelling hour they make in a written piece means one hour of reading System Wars. Kind of hard not to be cynical under those circumstances.
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Oilers99

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#5 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
I find "fetch quest" to be a very lazy criticism. The problem is, a lot of games that design themselves around fetch quests are actually fun. Because the designers tend to make what you do to get said widget entertaining, engaging, surprising. Heck, most 3D platformers of the N64 were basically one gigantic fetch quest. And some of them you could make reasonable arguments for being among the greatest games of all-time. Zelda games have started adding more middle content... less... go to this place, do the thing to gain access to the dungeon, and beat it, travel to the next area, repeat... and more... you have to escort a coach. Or ride a rail. Or play a mini-game. That works well in Zelda's design, especially since Zelda games are more about the journey than the destination... a more elaborate, meandering move towards the goal suits the mood of the series well... as long as it happens to be designed intelligently, engagingly. The lack of consensus about this game, especially when there was a strong consensus about Wind Waker having pacing issues (which were definitely there), leaves me wondering. I'm still planning on buying this game, and being as broke as I am, it may be the only game I buy until much later, but I think this points to something about game critics... They have no idea what they're doing. I can't get a good picture in my head of what's going on. They don't illustrate their point, they use lazy language to criticize, they sometimes seem to criticize games because it doesn't fit their particular tastes of what they're looking for at the time. I'm probably being too critical. But I can't help but be a little disappointed on not having a clearer image of what this game is actually like, other than the main components. Game critics are very good at explaining the controls, the graphics, the things that are tangible. But that subjective bit, about what it's actually like to just be moving along through the middle chapters of the game, fulfilling objectives and absorbing the game's events in its own pacing? Haven't the slightest idea.
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Oilers99

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#6 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
I was intent on becoming a game developer at one point, before my life took a left turn into music as a major field. I haven't abandoned the idea altogether, but I suppose I'd much rather start exploring what I can do with music. It's perhaps something I'd like to do on the side, but I don't know if a project as fully featured is something that a full-time music student will have time to attend to.
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#7 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
A lot of the designs betray that the majority of videogame developers are male. It's a pity, too. There is a way to make female characters look attractive without sexualizing them. It gives them a lot more dignity. It'd be nice if developers took notes of how Ancel handled his protagonist, Jade.
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#8 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
I suppose it's pretty generic, but I thought of that as being an opportunity to define myself on these boards more by my personality and thought, than by any sort of gimmick. I suppose it's also a way of representing the region I'm from on a board that is predominantly North American.
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#9 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
It's a good way to pick up the games that I don't have a hard copy of. Most notably, I want Skies of Arcadia Legends, but being a Sega property, there's some question of whether or not it will come. Sega has been pretty good about getting their old games out for digital services, so maybe it's not out of the question.
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#10 Oilers99
Member since 2002 • 28844 Posts
A standard controller that can split into two? I don't know, that sounds unnecessary and awkward. I can sit in a number of different positions holding a standard controller and remain quite comfortable. Also playing games on a standard controller seems to work better with it just being one piece because using both hands helps keep it more steady and balanced while doing various button presses.Archangel3371
You underestimate the sheer convenience of being able to play a game and scratch an itch on your back at the same time. :P Actually, I just found it to be a really nice, freeing feature when I put some time into Zelda on the Wii. A lot like when I got wireless controllers for the first time; it wasn't like it was a feature that changed things, but it certainly made me not want to play with wires again. Same deal with a split controller; I just don't want to have to always hold my hands together if I don't have to. There's a reason arm rests are parallel your shoulders. It's more natural as a resting place.