Ethos and SiliconNooB discuss changes to PlayStation Network content and prices, Mel buys Smash Bros. fN3DS whilst Bup muses on Nintendo’s decision to release it just a month before the Wii U version, and Lusipurr searches for the best ‘beginner RPG’.
28 Comments
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My thoughts in no organized order:
-Ethose: Your story makes me more interested in Shadow of Mordor. I like the notion that you can effectively break an NPC’s mindset turning them into an obsessive stalker/berserker. It really does seem like the evolution of Assassin’s Creed (and Julian is absolutely right in regards to AC2 being the last one to receive any gameplay advancement) though like Lusi and Mel said, I can’t -not- look at it and see Batman. And this is from someone who has never even played the Arkham games.
-Still holding out hope that FFXV defies our very low expectations. Until we see it in action, it’s speculation. Lusi’s ‘We want it to be whatever you want it to be so you’ll buy it’ translation of recent interviews does seem to nail the vibe surrounding the game though.
-Re: Dark Souls. It was my game of the generation and I compared it to Symphony of the Night in terms of atmosphere and level design (it all links cleverly together) several times, and passed it along to my friend who also really loves the older ‘Vania titles. He felt it was very similar, but demanded a lot of patience that he didn’t have. I’d also like to add that Dark Souls 2 was a shadow of the first, and showed a lot of us who loved it that without Miyazaki directing, the formula doesn’t work quite so well.
I felt the music was better incorporated into this episode as they felt like separate segments.
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I love FFIX. It’s probably my favorite RPG ever and one of my favorite games of all time. I hope anyone who hasn’t played it tries it on PSN.
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@Julian and Mel: You’re both entirely correct and I certainly hope Bloodborne turns out to be the game I wanted DS2 to be. Ironically, I think the setting brings it even closer to Castlevania atmosphere.
@Ethos: Would you recommend a play when and if the GotY lands? When I see a title like that, I tend to play the long game when it comes to acquiring it.
Also, I’ve never played Final Fantasy IX. When it came out I was in transition from one coast to the next and gaming was a luxury I couldn’t afford. I’ve never cared for the Pixar-like character designs, but the world itself looks very charming.
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Info Blast Reneges Without Remorse
This week’s panel
Ethos
Silicon Noob
Mel
Lusipurr
Also featuring:
BupPodcast Feature? Is that the name we’re using?
Final Fantasy IXFall Playthrough
Vagrant Story
Begins Late OctoberHype and Go Seek
Removed from podcast apparentlyCricket
See AboveNEWS
More FFXV Battle Details
“It does sound bad, but we don’t know yet” – Words of wisdom from Ethos.Classic Blizzard games coming to Battle .Net?
PS+ Price Increase
I probably would have subscribed to this except that you lose your games when you unsubscribe.Axiom Verge
This looks neat, but I’ve always preferred the Castlevania side of the Metroidvania genre.Ocarina of Time 2D remake
I think naming this something else would totally defeat the intent of the project. They probably won’t be able to continue for very long as-is, but I doubt they’d continue without the name and iconography.Imitanis Literature Corner
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
I enjoyed how he outwitted The Mathmagician. Quality stuff. I’ll be sad when this is over. The setup implies that the Phantom Tollbooth could be used multiple times. Are there more adventures after this one?Bup Talk
Smash BrosImitanis Gaming Moment
This week I played “Lets Drive 10 hours in one day because the only available showing of the play is 5 hours away and at 8pm on a Sunday”. That was not so much fun. I would not recommend it.
I was starving for something new to play last week and did get Smash fn 3DS. I’m not sorry I did except that I’ll have to unlock all of the characters twice. I had to customize the controls because they had the shield and grab shoulder buttons reversed from what I like, but otherwise I’m pretty happy. There are a LOT of characters in this game and making a custom Mii fighter is pretty cool. Of the new characters that I’ve tried I probably like Robin the best, though the attack durability system is hard to get used to. It’s nice to have a Fire Emblem representative who isn’t just carrying a massive sword as many of my favorite FE characters have been mages. I haven’t tried online yet, but I hope I’ll have better luck that Mel. Maybe we should have a Lusipurr.com Friend Code sharing? I bring a pretty mean Pikachu to the table if anyone is up for the challenge.
I’ll be playing Borderlands 1.5 and Civ Beyond Earth later this month, so expect to hear about those soon. I also expect to be returning to D&D soon.Donators
Cumulative total record holder: Imitanis
Single Donation record holder: ImitanisDonators eligible for drawing:
Greg H.
John V.
Matthew D.
John M.
Brett W.
Aram Z.
Peter V.
Billy B.
Les E.
Martin B.
Jeremy V.
Simon H. -
@Ethos: The long game it is then, thank you.
@Lusi: I’m finishing up my play of Xillia 2 here soon, maybe it’s time I gave the ol’ boy a try.
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@Lusi: I suspected that you would enjoy the cat-castle.
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I almost wrote it that way, but it looked a little too close to just being a misspelling.
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I will make a case in the defense of Dark Souls because I don’t think Mel did a very good job explaining why Dark Souls doesn’t cheap shot you. Three different mechanics have been placed in the game to inform the player of an upcoming ambush.
First, there are almost always environmental clues suggesting an ambush. Bloody corpses suggest ambushes, charred corpses suggest something related to fire, broken walls at the bottom of a stair cases suggest boulder traps, mimic chests are actually different then regular chests under examination, crystallized corpses suggest curse frogs etc.
Second there is the messaging system. Every single death trap is marked by player messages, its almost impossible to get ambushed if you read the messages.
Third there is the player bloodstain/ghost system. Other players who have died, leave their bloodstains, and you can touch the blood stain to watch that player’s death via their ghost.
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In order to clarify my stance on Souls and the difficulty cult, as I don’t want to be associated with that, let me add thus.
I didn’t buy Dark Souls out of some need for challenge. I don’t like overly difficult games, and indeed parted ways with Ninja Gaiden during the Xbox era as a result of being frustrated with one of the hardest bosses I’ve ever encountered (Alma, for those wondering).
When Demon’s Souls came out to great praise, but constant mention of it’s difficulty I stayed away -because- of that fact. I don’t like games that tout their difficulty, because I am a middle aged man who prefers a reasonable balance to his challenges. I have a job and responsibilities, I don’t want to dedicate my entire free time to overcoming a challenge in order to win some accolades amongst people (competitive gamers) who I probably don’t like in the first place.I got Dark Souls out of sincere curiosity when I stumbled upon a youtube video of a guy from Gamefront playing it. It was entertaining listening to him wail at every challenge, and when I saw the cathedral area, with the sunlight breaking through the clouds, I decided it might be up my alley. As I’ve made mention of before, there’s two things I like. Fantasy settings and beautiful scenery, and there they were.
The ‘challenge’ of Dark Souls is little more than figuring out how it’s mechanics work. That deflection and retaliation, as well as knowing the animation speed of each weapon-based attack are the key components. The rest is your reflexes and determination to continue.
What’s often overlooked by people who love the series however, is the way the lore and story are presented. You dig for it. You read the descriptions on items as clues, couple them with what you learn by following the paths of NPCs who you encounter, and meeting the ‘Gods’ of Anor Londo. There is an absolutely fascinating mythological-like storytelling going on in Souls, and it marries narrative to gameplay in way that addresses so many complaints about modern narrative roles in games, but bloody no one ever mentions it because when they hear Souls, the first thing they go to is ‘difficulty’. And that’s a damn disservice to it, and to it’s fans.
Dark Souls 2, as I mentioned earlier, is a shadow of DS1. And that’s largely because, as Mel and Julian pointed out, that the men in charge of the series were already off making Bloodborne. What it proved is that the formula that worked for DS1 is a difficult balance and one that can’t simply be imitated (as Lords of the Fallen will soon learn). It’s the product of a design team that built off King’s Field and had their own vision of what a dark fantasy action title should be, and without them, you have only the name, not the soul (intentional).
I like to try and tie up my ramblings with some closing line that presents it in a neat little bundle, but I’ve got nothing here. I hope the rambling above at least shows that not everyone who got into Souls was looking to prove himself against a series known mostly for being ‘hard’.
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@Lusi: Thank you!
@Mel: I keep meaning to yet somehow it never seems to happen! I think the lack of a ‘vania style world has been putting me off. But I will get to it sooner or later for sure.
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I forgot to mention in the Info Blast that I’m also spending a bunch of time watching Babylon 5
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*MAJOR SPOILERS!*