Triad Orion

My apologies. I was in ranting mode, and I wasn't as specific as I should be. In Sonic 3 and Knuckles, where you had Knuckles specific paths, most of those paths weren't simply shortcuts to get to later in the level. Most of the specific paths you had to take as Knuckles there were entirely new sections of levels with their own unique challenges that only he could undertake. Sonic could not hope to clear them because he couldn't glide or wall-climb. These paths were often long and only occasionally served to bring you elsewhere in the level. Many a time, it took you to separate exit. Angel Island 1 serves as a good example. Marble Garden 2 is another one, where Knuckles was forced to take an entirely different route from Sonic where fought an entirely different boss. That's what I would call a good way of doing character specific routes, which adds positive replay value. In Sonic Advance 3, these "character specific" paths weren't usually all that long or unique. In most cases it was rather arbitrary just why there was a Knuckles Only barrier just in the way. These paths often served little more as an alternate means to getting on a major path. They didn't lead to paths that usually required the character to use their abilities any more than just opening the gate to get through. The character specific paths therefore were not executed well. It was just a pain that could be a good shortcut was just arbitrarily shuttered. The reason why I saw it as "bad" replay value in the case of Advance 3 was because the reward in exploring the levels looking for these shortcuts as individual characters was largely disappointing and unfufilling.

Sonic Advance 1 is probably the 2-D Sonic game that comes the closest to its Genesis counterparts, but its problem was that it was too slow, of all things. Another big problem the Sonic series has been dealing with in 2-D as of late is that you're simply going *too* fast in many situations and you can't react to an incoming hazard before Sonic goes flying and losing all of his shinies not unlike the stock market crash of 1929. The camera needs to be zoomed out far enough to see incoming hazards, or Sonic needs to slow down enough that things don't jump him. Problem was, the level designs in many of the games weren't intuitive enough to handle cautious play; they just encouraged or forced you to go full tilt without regard to your own safety. Or better yet, you had to go full tilt so you could *barely* make that jump even using your midair trick; thanks for that wonderful trial and error experience, Advance 2. Branching paths with multiple routes is a great idea as well. That's part of what made the original games fun. Deciding which route to take based on danger, rings, feel. Moreover, if you botched on the upper route and fell, you weren't punished by a fall to your doom like in a lot of the Advance games. You usually just ended up on the route directly below yours, and you could carry on your business as usual. You didn't see branching paths much in Advance 2, though they were present in Advance 3 albeit in a weak way. I hated Advance 3's branching paths because frequently many roads required you to have a specific person in your party; usually Knuckles. Obviously not all paths had this requirement, but it was frequently a nusiance. Just drove me insane when I thought I may have found an alternate route to explore only to find out that it's inaccessible because I took the fox instead of the echidna. You could say this adds replay value, but Sonic games in the past were very rarely about forcing you to use a character to find a single damn shortcut in a level. The point I'm trying to make is if they're going to make a good Sonic game they need to re-examine how speed works in them. Like someone else already suggested, a new Sonic game really needs to accomodate a cautious playstyle too, because I submit that going slower and dropping your damn rings all the time is just as much a viable strategy as hauling ass to the finish line with no regard to greed for all things gold. I know I'm making a bigger deal out of the Advance games than really needs to be. The Advance games were fun and if nothing else, competent platformers. And as I've said, Rush mitigated a lot of the problems with Advance, though Rush and Rush Adventure aren't quite what their ancestors used to be. If Sonic Team would generally listen to the fans and re-evaluate their insipid excuses for stories after SA2, I think the franchise can make a big comeback. ...Wow, this ended up longer than expected. Sorry about that. XD

Second. Though they have some bitchy areas of "falling your arse into a bottomless pit for no good reason" they're far, far better about it than the Advance games ever were.

Well, it's only recently been revealed. I'd say there may be a lot more to the finished project than just your straightforward run with a few jumps splattered in. In fact, if it were anyone OTHER than Sonic Team making this game, I'd be positive about it. But considering Sonic Team doesn't know jack-squat about how to make a good Sonic game anymore, I remain at best cautiously optimistic. EDIT: Looking at the video footage, I'd say they took a note out of Rush's book by having Sonic be able to speed boost and clear foes right out of his path. Arguably, you could say speed break did the same thing in Secret Rings, but... looks much more like the Tension System in Rush. Though at the same time the video makes me question just how much side scrolling it is. The more the better.

Zero Punctuation Kirby is in fact win. Also Wolf Link Kirby with a stuffed Midna. That one made me lawl a lot.

I'm not going to enter, personally. Not really my kind of thing when it comes to Brawl. But what I would like to see is footage. If people record matches and post them online somewhere, I think that'd be pretty sweet. While I'm not one for participating in tournaments, I do like seeing other people compete. Is spectating an option, or would we have to wait for like, essentially YouTube vids? Or are we just gonna be outta luck if we don't directly participate?

To be fair, Atma, I'm not, nor do I intend to be a high-rolling Smash player. So I intend to play with all items on pretty much all the time. And even if Sonic is considered "bad" by the higher-level Smash players, it won't stop me from playing as him because I really like how he works. But regardless, I don't rely on Smash Balls to get the job done for me. That's why I made mention of his attacks that have more launching power on their own. *Shrugs* I'm one of those more casual Smash players. I play it because I think it's a lot of fun, not because I'm out to destroy my competition. I just try to pick up on things as I go to have a better grasp on the mechanics, but not to the point where I want to be competitive.

Oddly, patience is a factor when you play as Sonic. Having no haymaker really sucks, though his Final Smash is outrageously awesome and makes up for it in part. Your best bets for KO's with Sonic without it are usually his aerials: his Down-Air-A and Back-Air-A tend to work best, combined with his Forward Smash on the ground. They don't hit as hard as a lot of other characters, but with a little patience and manuevering you can get your kills. Though I disagree. I liked Sonic a lot in SSE. He's really useful for platforming areas in the game; like Mario, he handles many of those stages profoundly well thanks to him being straightforward. Fighting enemies he's only okay, but at least for the levels where you really have to platform, Sonic's a good one to have around. EDIT: Eten brings up a good tactic; Spring Jumping up and using your Up-Air-A is a nasty way to finish someone high in the air. At the same time, your Up-Air-A makes for a good juggling move if you can continually do it.

This week's wasn't entirely meant to be a lulz-fest, as it were. I really get the impression that Yahtzee is trying nail home these points in that they're becoming cliche. Though he inserted plenty of humor, it's pretty obvious he's serious about a good many of these points. And yeah, I agree that a lot of modern FPSes follow a little too closely in the footsteps of Halo. Sometimes it's not a bad thing, but... it's not the panecea for the genre. An example is the "take cover and wait to heal" thing works wonderfully in games like Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 where you're expected to fight from cover. For other run and gun games, I don't think the system is all that intuitive because it does remove some element of risk. BioShock, for example, is more of a run-and-gun experience and I find the game is largely enhanced by the health bar. It makes you weigh your combat situations a little more carefully before rushing headlong into things. Interestingly of note, I was bemused when BioShock was shown in the hands of the group making the "good" game. Also, the shoutout to Metroid Prime was much appreciated. Though I was disappointed that he didn't go more into detail about the Turok game itself, save that it features a bunch of tropes he's growing to dislike rapidly. A highlight of many of his reviews is when he goes deeper into depth about a game and what he hates or likes about it. Though I suppose it doesn't matter considering it's a damn dinosaur hunting game and not something like Beyond Good and Evil.

It's like watching a game of Lemmings, except you're hoping they're stupid enough to fall and die.

Second, and Second. Seriously, Square. Don't go back to your old games for sequel fodder. Get some writers who actually know how to write: (See also FF6 and FF9 and... a little gem called Chrono Trigger.) and get away from all your damn tropes/cliches that you've fallen into. It's impossible to get away from them all, but seriously. Do write a story that's *coherent* without necessarily being *confounding.* Just because it's confusing doesn't mean it's deep. XD Seriously. Make a new franchise and actaully *try* with it.

It was much funnier too. And it had the added bonus of not being the Mario equivilant to an atomic bomb. 'Cause that's annoyed the crap outta me since they instituted it.

This is a good way to train. Though, I'd like to add, seek people who can kick the crap out of you who aren't douchebags about it. Nothing worse than trying to get good at a game and have your better rubbing your nose in it every time he /she kills you. ...Even if that can be motivation to kick his/her ass.

Well, people like Ike because he hits like a truck and he carries a big sword. That gets a lot of appeal. Ironically, I'd wager a good number of people who use him have never played a Fire Emblem game let alone Path of Radiance. I find such likelihoods amusing, for some reason. But yeah, the whole "I have a sword" thing is really popular amongst a lot of people. As for Lucario? I have no idea except that he's a Pokemon. Personally, I play as Sonic. Also Samus, Wolf, and Link. I'm personally glad they made Link a bit more smooth and mobile. For a long time I mained him in Melee but consistantly got destroyed by people who played as Marth. Also, am I the only one that's happy to see his bombs actually have decent knockback power now?

New Pork City is just a pain. I love large levels in general, but it's... for lack of a better word, so loud and gaudy that it's difficult to navigate. If the background wasn't so damn offensive, the level might be more fun. To its credit, though, I do like the Ultimate Chimera appearing at random times in places. Really spices up the level and can make for some hilarious moments if someone gets thrown just right. I still haven't unlocked Spear Pillar yet for some... weird reason. Flat Zone 2 has my second for being obnoxious, though. Truthfully, I like the IDEA of the stage, but its execution is just so haphazard, it's difficult to deal with. If there was more wide open space to manuever, the level would be eaiser to weather. That said, I really like Pictochat as a level. It can be obnoxious at times, but in general it's delightfully chaotic but in such a manner where you can adapt quickly. It's a lot of fun, I think.

Well, he didn't completely rip BioShock to pieces, but he really went after the hype engine surrounding it. He had a lot of good things to say about it in the opening, but as he also said, being nice to a game doesn't get him laughs/views/whatever. He was just quick to point out BioShock's shortcomings which were advertised as advantages. I love the game, personally, but I agree that the morality in the game ends up coming up a bit shallow. I wish the ending segments to the game changed based on the stuff you do; that would've deepened the experience considerably. But part of his review comes that he was probably expecting something more than System Shock 2, which... well, is hard to do. On a side note, I love his version of the Big Daddy. It makes me laugh.

Ah. Yeah, Sonic's big weakness in my experience is a lack of a good finisher. He just doesn't have any power outside of Super Sonic, so sending an opponent flying is difficult to do at best. I guess the lack of finisher can be mitigated with some good aerial combat and items, but it's just really hard to punish someone who's below 100%-130% without resorting to a Smash Ball. Sonic's my main at this point because I've been a Sonic fan most of my life, but to say I'm genuinely good with him yet is a vile and odious lie. I'm much better with Ike, Samus, or Wind Waker Link.

That's becuase Sonic is fast and fairly fluid with a lot of his moves. Also, the concept of executing the Spin Dash is relatively simple. I think he's an accessible character, but I think like anyone else, he takes a lot of practice to master. And yeah, FE characters are way too commonly played. It's because they have swords and crap, I think. Personally, I like Ike, but it's because he hits like a truck. On the flipside, I hate Marth; a hatred which has dated back to Melee. Pit and Lucario are fun to play as. Lucario was a pleasant surprise, it turns out. A really straightforward moveset with decent power and reliability. I haven't spent a lot of time extensively with him, but he was fun to play as for the brief time I have.

Think a dumbed down SNK fighting game boss. This one's actually beatable, but you'll probably end up cursing quite a bit along the way. At least they're pretty nice about lives, so pick your best characters.

That's a good solution to a simple problem. Another may be that you work really hard until a certain hour of the night, such as 8 PM, and then you just take the rest of the night off, work allowing. This method's not quite as concrete and requires a lot more good judgment, but... it's an alternative. The trick is you have to be serious about the work you do before your deadline, or you defeat the purpose of the idea. Anyway... the countdown is on, and all I can say is still: DO WANT!!! EDIT: Damn you and your replies while I'm writing, Arek!

*Shoots off a cluster of fireworks* Everyone knows the best way to celebrate birthdays is with explosions, right? Hope your day goes great. Happy birthday, Pixie.

Interesting. Your site layout's really nice, by the way. I'll post more later when I have some more time.

I'm not a great Smash player by any means, and am nowhere near tournament level, but lately my main in Melee has been Mario. Yeah, he's pretty plain and not very flashy, but being the "all-around balance" kind of character often gets the job done. While I can't necessarily beat tourney players, just about anyone else is in for a heck of a fight. Personally, for being plain and "boring" I really, really like playing as him, though. ...odds are I'll probably main him and Sonic in Brawl.

...Who knew that soccer balls in Brawl would have the Dead Rising effect?

Well, it wouldn't even have to be true tourney play. Doing it for the laughs can be entertaining too.