Triad Orion

DO WANT. LIKE RIGHT NOW. Also, maybe I *will* stay awhile and listen. If Deckard Cain's still in this game, hot damn, it'll be fun. He's been my favorite NPC since the original. EDIT: HA! He's on the gameplay video.

Portability, hands down. Makes it so you can play these time-heavy games when you're out and about. It's why I have both for the PSP. Now, if only they'd put Disgaea 2 on the PSP, I'd be all set.

This is very true. There were a number of long story breaks in both GS titles, but a substantial difference is that the really lengthy cutscenes were few and far between in the first game. Moreover, you didn't get a chatty cutscene every time you reached a new area. A few were overlong, but there was so much gameplay in between these long breaks it was more forgivable. GS: Lost Age suffered more from these long cutscenes than its predecessor, but I have a whole list of other reasons for not liking it as much as the original. Modern FFs and Tales games tend to interrupt you whenever they bloody get the chance, though. Tales games arguably interrupt you more with the side conversations and skits, though most of those things are purely optional. It's still an aggravation, considering sometimes those little conversations can hold relevant information to your current situation, and really, you end up having to check every single one lest you miss something that was actually important. It's only a hair better than Final Fantasy which often sticks that information in frequent cutscenes where you have to listen to the characters yammer on for a good few minutes before they finally get to the point. In my opinion, that's pretty bad use of storytelling. If you have frequent cutscenes or dialogues, they're best served to be short, concise, and relevant. Tales does have a good idea in making the "filler" optional, but it needs a better way to differentiate the important points from the useless fluff. Also, it would be wise not to have them every five frickin' steps. I think having this improved option would go a *long* way to streamlining storyline, cinematics, and gameplay.

QFE. This is why a lot of modern JRPG games (Final Fantasy and Tales Of, in particular) get on my nerves. There's lots of dialogue and cutscenes, and it frequently gets to the point where you're spending what feels like as much time watching the characters talk as you are actually interacting with the world. I love a great story in a game, but frankly, if I wanted to watch a movie, I would. A well-written story can make a game, but its delivery is almost as important as its contents.

I don't know if I'd go that far with MGS4 (still need to play it), but recent Final Fantasy games have given me that impression. Actually, most JRPGs after Golden Sun have done that for me. *Shrugs*

Want new X-Wing game, dammit. After those bastards left us with a totally cop-out cliffhanger ending in Alliance, I've been eternally bitter to LucasArts for pulling the plug on perhaps their best Star Wars video game series. I started back on TIE Fighter, then X-Wing. Hate them for not continuing this. I'm just imagining how cool a fully rendered Imperial Star Destroyer would look on modern hardware. Do want. Obviously, if you can dig up copies of the old X-wing games, they're excellent. And if all else fails, for people wanting TIE Fighter, look for the versions remade with X-Wing Versus TIE Fighter's engine. Not quite as good as the originals, but they're less temperamental because they work in Compatibility Mode for XP. But yes, I've heard good things about Free Space and Rogue Galaxy. Otherwise, there's just not a lot out there.

Fair enough, just so long as you had a great time, and it sounds pretty good. Glad your birthday went well. And water? Aren't you the healthy one? XD

The only beef I have with the Pyro patch is the Backburner. Auto-crits from behind? Fine. The loss of the air blast is a good balance for that. But that +50 HP? Aaargh. Essentially, I agree with Rambo on this: It plays like Old Pyro, except now you can auto-crit from behind and you're considerably harder to kill to boot. The Pyro was balanced before at 175 and no air blast. I think sacrificing the big boost the primary weapon got for the auto-crits from behind is a good trade and actually gives you incentive to think about using the regular weapon from time to time, like the Shotgun/Flare Gun. As it stands, the Backburner's almost entirely preferable unless you're really good at reflecting grenades or if soldiers are stupid enough to shoot rockets dead-on at you. The Backburner doesn't kill game balance. Not by a long shot. But it is a rather frustrating weapon to deal with because of the durability it gives Pyros.

Genesis Sonic games and Mega Man Classic games, mostly. There were a couple of other Genesis games I had that were like that but they escape me at the moment. Chrono Trigger pretty much qualifies for me (even if you can't beat it in a day) considering I've played it through probably a dozen times. I keep going back to it. Dunno why, just have fun with it.

I'm likin' the look of that, Bahamut. I'll try to be there tonight.

There's only one word that can sum this up, and one I'd think the late, great Carlin would approve of: ...Fuck. T_T

Happy 21st, mate! Go celebrate with the proper booze. It's important, for science. Also, hope your birthday's going well in general. See you around the TF2 servers soon, hopefully!

I love the sound of this piece. Can't get over how awesome it sounds. The only quip I don't like is the break with the static-esque interference toward the end. It was grating and largely unnecessary. Basically, it was the only obvious blemish to an otherwise outstanding work. It remains faithful to the original while keeping its own path. Good work hitting on the line. A recommended download, for sure.

Hydro smells funny and is not awesome at all. I wouldn't be opposed to trying Turbine, though.

Daymn. Some of those ARE really brutal. Unnecessarily so. The chasm of pointy things comes to mind. 0_o; But to be fair, that Clown Car one WAS indeed brilliant.

I'm all for this. there's gonna be enough of us playing Pyro as it is. We should try to inform regulars about it.

Oh yeah. And it happens *again* in Legends 2, if you make Volnutt a really good guy. Though if you look at Roll's diary afterwards, she begins to wonder if he's doing it on purpose. It's entertaining. I think it gets by because of Capcom's relatively lax stance on censorship. Probably the other reason Legends is fairly popular. It's the textbook case of this.

Couldn't agree more. MegaMan Volnutt was really identifiable, also in that he was human too. It was a total reversal to see a human donning a suit of powered armor fighting all these robots and stuff compared to being a robot. Granted, Mega Man and X are very human in how they act, but as you pointed out, it was mundanities in Volnutt's every day life that really helped draw you in. Plus, there was something to be said for being recognized for all your deeds. You got to see Volnutt on TV when he saved a city. That was pretty cool for back then. Plus, the Bonnes, your constant antagonizers, were actually sympathetic, human, and likable, unlike Dr. Wily or Sigma who were just the definition of evil super villain. And well, though Legends wasn't the most mechanically polished game in the world (Far from it), it got where it is because it's a charming, endearing, and fun experience. And that's what has me coming back for more every time.

This review mimicked a lot of others I've read on the game. Seems the critiques Yahtzhee makes are the universal ones, but from what I've been seeing these attacks have plenty of merits. Still, his sense of humor is sharp as ever and made this the most entertaining dressing-down of Haze I've seen.

...You know what, what the hell? I'm in. It'll be fun. XD It'll save me from cursing your name in the night, at least.

Tomorrow is the day that Bahamut and I will be cursing your name in the dead of night for at least until the Soldier patch comes out. ...Though to be fair, I'm going to laugh the first time a crit rocket gets bounced back at me. This tweak promises epic laughs.

The Corellian Star? Yeah, that level blew. Considering it was the third level and all we had before it was a rail-shooter B-Wing level and an on-foot mission, that's just stupid. I played it on PC where you had variable difficulty levels, but even on just Easy that level was a pain in the ass. The game didn't get that hard again pretty much until you were flying that goddamn TIE Fighter through the canyon.

My previous suggestion stands: Dustbowl > Goldrush > Dustbowl > Goldrush > Dustbowl > Gravel Pit.

The issue you have with sticking exclusively to 8-bit is that you severely isolate a great deal of the gaming market outside of the extremely hardcore fans of Mega Man Classic. Many, dare I even go so far as to say, *most* Mega Man fans that are still active in the fandom started with X or later, with many more who started on Battle Network as well (unfortunately). 8-Bit gaming with MOST of the modern video gaming market is beyond obsolete borderlining into archaic. While this would be very true to the Mega Man mythos, it is an utter and total regression in game, graphic, and sound design. There's a reason why things aren't done that way: it's not impressive anymore. That's not to say there's nothing to learn from it, though. The Mega Man series has *refined* its own platforming since Classic and has some of the best goddamn 2-D platforming in gaming in the Zero and ZX series. The thing you REALLY want to do is use the mechanics from those games as a model while keeping the spirit, attitude, and mindset from Classic. The updated graphics, physics, music, and gameplay will *far* better serve to make the game a breakout hit and bring it to more markets beyond Classic's rather limited hardcore base. Truthfully, making a fully 8-bit game would be pretty cop-out in my opinion. A bonus mode in 8-bit? Sure, I'm all over it. But to make Mega Man 9 truly great (both stylistically and in sales), they really need to update Mega Man's mechanics to the 21st century.

I wouldn't be opposed to seeing old Robot Masters return. In fact, I'd like it for a lot of the earliest ones. They're easily identified and already famous. Though it'd be nice to see later ones get a new treatment too, like Freeze Man or Wave Man. Though truthfully, a Mega Man 9's been something I've been waiting for for a long time, and playable Proto Man would be awesome. But... what about Bass? He should be playable too. I dunno. This all sounds a little too good to be true, and if it is, it's disappointing that Capcom isn't taking their *star character* to the highest level possible. Hell, this could be the chance to utterly revive Mega Man Classic, and could completely revitalize Mega Man X in the process, if they make the game dynamite. But as it stands, I don't know if these rumors illustrate this possibility. Guess it's a big wait and see.