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Post by Imperial Khador on Oct 29, 2019 1:45:55 GMT
Just finished replaying 'The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'.
The Switch remake of Link's Awakening had really put me in the mood for more 2D, top-down Zelda, so I thought I'd replay A Link Between Worlds. I'd only played through it once before, on the initial release in 2013. It really holds up well, both in its own right, and as a sequel to A Link to the Past.
The idea of giving you most of the puzzle-solving items very early on works pretty well in my opinion. It feels like this was a predecessor to how Breath of the Wild handled the various puzzle solving items and abilities. The rental/purchase option was a neat idea, but rupees are so abundant that I never had trouble permanently purchasing Ravio's items.
I found a series by the channel "Game Maker's Toolkit" on Youtube called "Boss Keys", which explores dungeon design in Zelda games. I liked the episode about A Link Between Worlds so I'll link it here.
Next up, I think I'll continue with another 2D, top-down Zelda, and replay The Minish Cap.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Oct 29, 2019 4:38:49 GMT
It is an extremely good game, it won best game of the year 2012, it even defeated Uncharted 3 which was already a very good game to begin with.
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dschult3
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The true heir to the Monado.
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Post by dschult3 on Nov 5, 2019 22:44:12 GMT
I just beat Super Metroid on the Switch. My son watched me, and he was impressed at how I knew so much of the game after not playing for eons. Honestly though, I would be a liar if I didn't tell you all that I had a brain cell screaming with annoyance at my completion time of around 7 hours and only 90% of the items found. The 1994 version of myself was not pleased. Even with that, though, I can't believe how much fun that game still is after all these years.
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Pimpjira
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Post by Pimpjira on Nov 6, 2019 20:10:22 GMT
I've now finished all 4 story paths in Fire Emblem:Three Houses, after almost three months. So I'm done with that, at least until the new story DLC is released in April...depending on what it ends up being. I'll post some thoughts later over in my Fire Emblem: Three Houses thread in the Nintendo section, but clearly, I really enjoyed it. Nice. I've played two so far but figured I'd save more runs until after the DLC is out. Would say that playing Edlegard's route twice offers anything to the story? I sided with her on my first playthrough |
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Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Nov 7, 2019 2:12:41 GMT
Imperial Khador - I've discovered Game Maker's Tool Kit a few months ago and watched all its videos, except for a few about games that I still intend to play and didn't want spoilers. It's such a great channel! The discussions are in-depth and really help to understand how games are designed. And Zelda: ALBW is among the best in the series. The amount of freedom it gives to the player harkens back to the original NES game, while also keeping the improvements made by A Link to the Past. It's the best of both worlds. Besides, their idea of drawing the entire game on an angle makes it one of the most appealing overhead-3d graphics I've seen, as you see the characters in their entirety (like in 2d overhead games) instead of just the top of their heads.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 8, 2019 16:39:04 GMT
Pimpjira I also sided with her on my first playthough, and then played through Blue Lions, and Golden Deer, before going back and siding against her for the Church of Seiros path. I think it does add a fair bit, though a lot of the story beats for Church of Seiros are similar to Golden Deer. There's a greater emphasis on the Black Eagles that side with you against the empire, of course, but I think it is the path where you get the most character development for the teachers/knights, etc (Hanneman, Manuela, Shamir, Catherine, Alois, Seteth, Flayn and Cyril). I enjoyed saving it for last though.
Cervantes Agreed, Game Maker's Tool Kit is a really enjoyable channel in general. It was interesting to see how that tilted effect was done for Link Between Worlds, with everthing at an angle when you'd doing top down, but then when you switch to 2D painting link, things are adjusted again so they don't look odd. It was a very well done game, and a nice tribute to the whole top-down era of the series with some new twists.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 10, 2019 7:25:52 GMT
Finished 'The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap'. Originally for the GBA, I opted to play it on the Wii U virtual console.
It was an excellent showcase for the GBA, with bright colours, expressive sprite art, multiple visual layers, etc. I owned this when it first came out, but remembered very little about it, so I had a great time diving in. I split time between playing on the Wii U gamepad, and my television. The sprites do look a little blocky on the television, which is to be expected, but even on the big screen it looks quite nice.
Coming off a replay of 'A Link Between Worlds' and playing through the Switch remake of 'Link's Awakening', Link felt positively sluggish at first in The Minish Cap, but I found that I stopped being aware of it by the end of the second dungeon. The size-changing gimmick is enjoyable, particularly massive bosses that are just normal enemies like Chuchus or an Octorok.
Only six dungeons in this one, so a lot of the game is spent solving puzzles on the overworld, doing things in Hyrule town, or chasing after heart containers or kinstones. Chasing optional objectives was a bit tedious at the end, but the game didn't drag too much. Hyrule town felt populated, and vibrant.
Due to the limited buttons on the GBA, the designers opted to a similar layout to the original Link's Awakening, and the Oracle games. A and B can be swapped out for any item, including the sword and shield, and R is used as a contextual button, usually for lifting or rolling. I didn't mind this, but given how little 'L' is used in the game, it would have been nice to make it an item button like A or B, or assign something like the shield or the dash.
Most items have uses beyond their introductory dungeons, which is a positive. However, unlike Link's Awakening, you can't do much with different item combinations. No leading from a Pegasus Boots dash into a jump with the Roc's Cape, or making bomb arrows, etc. Feels like a bit of a lost opportunity. In addition, while I like switching up the order of items in the series, the choices here felt a bit off...for example, the Roc's Cape, which allows jumping, is introduced in the second to last dungeon, and doesn't get much use in the overworld...comparing this to Link's Awakening, which is fresh in my mind, the Roc's Feather was a great item to place in the first dungeon in that game, as it really felt like it opened the world up.
Still, this was a really enjoyable experience. I think we're likely to get a remake of the Oracles games with the same engine used for the Link's Awakening remake, but I would enjoy seeing something done with Minish Cap as well.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Nov 10, 2019 7:30:59 GMT
Minish Cap has the same director from Oracle Of Seasons, Oracle Of Ages, Four Swords, and Breath Of The Wild.  |
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dschult3
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Post by dschult3 on Nov 10, 2019 21:12:38 GMT
I used the Black Hole secret to beat Star Fox at around 15 minutes of play. I surprised my son at how easy it was by doing so. It is a shame teddykongcountry isn't around here to discuss it! |
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Post by teddykongcountry on Nov 11, 2019 15:08:26 GMT
I used the Black Hole secret to beat Star Fox at around 15 minutes of play. I surprised my son at how easy it was by doing so. It is a shame teddykongcountry isn't around here to discuss it! Ask and you shall receive! I haven't pulled off the black hole trick in Star Fox or Star Fox 64 but I always appreciate the challenge. |
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dschult3
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
The true heir to the Monado.
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Post by dschult3 on Nov 11, 2019 19:39:32 GMT
I used the Black Hole secret to beat Star Fox at around 15 minutes of play. I surprised my son at how easy it was by doing so. It is a shame teddykongcountry isn't around here to discuss it! Ask and you shall receive! I haven't pulled off the black hole trick in Star Fox or Star Fox 64 but I always appreciate the challenge. Good to see you, my man! I watched your Star Fox videos and liked them! For some odd reason, I'm still good at getting perfect scores on the Super Nintendo version. It has been a VERY LONG TIME since my N64 has been hooked up, so I don't know how I'd do in that game. My son is asking me to hook it up over Christmas break, so I may do so then.
Don't be a stranger around here!
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dschult3
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
The true heir to the Monado.
Posts: 2,887
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Post by dschult3 on Nov 16, 2019 23:04:01 GMT
I just beat Yoshi's Island on my Switch. It has been ages since I've last played it. What a fun game.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Nov 17, 2019 3:40:51 GMT
I just beat Yoshi's Island on my Switch. It has been ages since I've last played it. What a fun game. Directed by Takashi Tezuka, which is the same guy behind Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros. 3, Link's Awakening, and A Link To The Past, you really can't go wrong there.  His latest game was Super Mario Run which I still need to finish. |
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 17, 2019 4:34:43 GMT
I like this new trend of posting vintage pictures of japanese developers, stratogustav. |
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 17, 2019 12:16:40 GMT
Just finished up the DS version of Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, played on the 3DS. The Dragon Warrior/Quest games never really hooked me as a kid. I had a friend who got the first one when it was offered free with a Nintendo Power subscription, and we played through it and really enjoyed it, but the early Final Fantasy games definitely captured my imagination more. I did like reading about the early series in Nintendo Power, but the only other NES one I had played was Dragon Warrior IV...and if I recall correctly, it was an existing save file in the Taloon/Torneko chapter, and I only played for a little while during a rental. I have a friend who has always been really into these though, so I've been making an effort to play at least one Dragon Quest game per year. I played the first three on Android, and they were fine for touch screen controls, but since 4, 5 and 6 are on the DS, I thought that would be the way to go. The Android version of 4 is apparently a bit more complete than the DS version, as there are optional conversations between party members available. However, the option of using actual physical controls was more appealing to me. I spent 20 hours completing the main story, and post game, and so far it has been the most enjoyable of the ones I've played. DQ1 only had a single named protagonist, and DQ3 had a player-created party, so there wasn't much room for characterization. DQ2 had a bit of this, with its 3 unique party members, but they still didn't talk much, and in the first trilogy, I always felt the party was on the verge of death, so I was far more concerned about that. DQ4 does a much better job giving personalities to its party members, aside from the hero, who remains DQ's typical mute protagonist. Introducing the secondary party members by having them each star in their own introductory chapters worked really well. You get a nice impression of what they're each all about. It doesn't have an incredible depth, but it is missing those intra-party conversations, and honestly for something that was originally an NES game, I was fine with it. Menus are still a still a bit tedious. It can be annoying to wait for 3 or 4 lines of NPC priest dialog before you can save for example, but that kind of thing has long been a Dragon Quest staple, so I won't be surprised if that is still happening in the modern entries  Combat difficulty seem to have been eased up, compared to the versions of DQ1-3 that I'd played through. That was honestly pretty welcome, as I felt the game clipped on at a good pace. The english script was fun and pun-filled which seems to be the series norm, and battle animations for the enemy sprites looked great. ---------- I'll be interested to carry on with Dragon Quest V, though that will probably be next year. It looks like the intra-party conversations are present in the DS version, so that will be nice. There is a PS2 Japan-only version with an English fan patch available...and it does look nicer than the DS version, but the DS/Android/iPhone version apparently has the most content, so I'll probably stick to playing 5 and 6 on my 3DS. |
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