SwordBreaker

Since we recently got remakes of the first and the second and we're getting the 4th one soon, a thread is needed. I'd like to hear your overall thoughts of the series. Your favorite installment. Favorite characters. Favorite party combination, etc. I'm sure most of you started off just like me. Upon grabbing a copy of the PS1 release of "The Second Story", it was like love at first sight. I was just casually looking for another RPG to play after being addicted to FFVII...never expected the experience to be this epic, though. Aside from the cheesy voice acting, Star Ocean 2 was AMAZING from start to finish. Great battle system, sweet graphics, excellent and addictive item creation, high replay value with multiple paths/endings and characters to recruit, and some great music. Download Dale North's take on Rena's theme to see what I mean. I just bought the PSP enhanced port of the game and I'm about to play it to relive the experience...just as soon as I finish First Departure. I just don't know which character to start with. Let's just hope that the remastered script and new voice acting hold up. I've been hearing that a new recruitable character makes an appearance here as well. Speaking of First Departure, I didn't play the original SNES title (since it's never been released in the US) so the remake was a new experience to me. I couldn't really compare, but upon starting the game I immediately felt nostalgic. Square-Enix basically used all of Star Ocean 2's aspects in remaking this game...and the results are quite amazing as well. I'd like to know the thoughts of those who played the original and the remake. I hear that there's a ROM English translation of the original so I'm sure that a few of you can offer some insight on whether the remake does it justice. I'm kind of surprised that a few people think that the remake sucks. My only major complaint is some not so good voice overs, but overall the performances could've been worse. All Private Action skits are fully voiced though, and to me that really added to the experience. Speaking of PAs, they're not as abundant as SO2's in this game. I really wanted to see more characters interact with each other as well. Another minor complaint is the forced backtracking to have to do later in the game. Like SO2, First Departure has multiple storyline branches depending on who you recruit...and finding those stipulations are kind of cool. I can really see myself play this game again just to see what other characters I can get. I'm about to finish the game. Star Ocean 3 was a HUGE disappointment for me. For a game that has been in development for years and has been shown as one of the first games in the PS2 unveiling (screenshots were shown in 1999), it didn't really live up to the hype for me. To be fair, I didn't really give it a chance. 6 hours into the game. However, I've been given a terrible first impression in these first hours. Something was off with the game's presentation. Sure, it looked great and the voice acting was well done...but I wasn't addicted to the storyline or anything. Pacing was boring. The battle system didn't quite click with me...overheard perspective was weird. Ironically, Radiata Stories on the PS2 had a similar system to SO3, yet I enjoyed the hell out of that game. Perhaps I'll go back to SO3 someday...maybe if it gets a remake or something. So Star Ocean 4 is going to get released on the 360 at the end of the month. Anyone interested? I've been hearing that the developers really want to compensate for SO3's shortcomings. Also heard that this will be the last installment in the series sadly. I'm optimistic that it's going to be an epic ride since there's more "Space influence" involved in the game like having a ship and going between planets.

Damn reviews scared me away to be honest. Recently, I've been wishing that I bought it back then. Here's hoping for a Wii VC release.

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01705/ This comes to mind.

In a word: EPIC!

Nice project there. I see a lot of talented guitarists on board. Good luck, everyone.

Nothing thus far. I looked around the official Turtles website and the official 25th Anniversary page, but none of them even reported the original announcement. Even Ubisoft's site doesn't have anything.

So THAT's how you get through that annoying Nutty Acres mission. Weapon box, eh? Interesting idea. And yeah...that Grunty Pool fight was just awesome. The game is just extremely creative...it just lost some of that Banjo magic with creative worlds and the sense of discovery. The main levels should've been structured more like Showdown Town, where the game shines with creativity and some of the classic Banjo mojo. http://www.projectcoe.com/microsoft/games/banjo_nuts.html?var1=sc3 Pimping my full written review and the site I write for.

Anything from Fawful, one of the bad guys in Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. "I drizzled rage dressing on the country next door. Rage dressing on a salad of evil!" "You are like brainless cats that are too dumb to know they are stupid! You have curiosity...but my tale is long, so long it makes babies old and hairy lips grow gray with aging. Do you dare hear?" Priceless.

http://www.zentendo.com/news.php?newsId=1800 Haven't been this excited about a TMNT game since the golden era of Konami NES/SNES classics. Game Arts, known for the Grandia series and fresh off co-developing Smash Bros. Brawl, are handling this new TMNT game that will be extremely similar to the Smash Bros. series. If it has everything Brawl had, including a really cool storyline mode, solid gameplay, fun multiplayer and high replay value...then count me in! I just wish some developer/publisher would have the guts of basing games off the comics instead of the cartoons. Nonetheless, the new series are probably the closest to the comics so I don't mind. Aside from the first NES game, Konami's handling of the Turtles were instant classics back in the NES/SNES/GB days, accumulating to the SNES' forth console installment and the best one, Turtles In Time. I was a huge fan of the Turtles and their games back then. Played them all and enjoyed the hell out of co-op with my brother. My highlights are TMNT III Manhattan Project, Turtles In Time of course, SNES Tournament Fighters, and Radical Rescue for the GB. The latter one was surprisingly the deepest one of all 'cause it had similarities to Metroid and Castlevania. I REALLY hope they get it right this time. Ubi's only good contribution thus far is the port of the Arcade game on XBLA. The last batch of the TMNT games that handled the new cartoon and movie sucked badly, although some reviewers praised the GBA version of the movie-based game 'cause of its return-to-form. So...any of you have fond memories with the TMNT games? PS: waiting for a port of Turtles In Time on XBLA. EDIT: Another tip that comes in the PR story is that this game is basically part of the celebration of the Turtles' 25th Anniversary. Judging from the screenshots as well, this game doesn't seem to be based off the newest cartoon exclusively. I REALLY hope that means we'll be seeing 25 years worth of characters in this game...from the comics, old cartoons, and new cartoons. Man, I'm getting excited now!

Nice! Lucky you, man. He did mention Rain Book in the interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q94akM503ek&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFAg5jVrKBY Last one isn't exactly old school...but I found it to be hilarious! That FFVII one gives me the chills, though. EPIC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqICpgPMNFo EPIC and extremely underrated track...really suits how epic and surprising the final boss fight of Yoshi's Island was. I remember being surprised by the change of viewpoint here...really didn't expect it. I would love for our talented guitarists to show off some skillz and solos with this one, but any genre or remixer would do as long this track is shown justice. I think it's one of Kondo's catchiest works and beats Mario 64's Bowser Theme.

This'll suffice until then.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172388 Very interesting and informative interview. I like that they made him listen to vertexguy's rock Contra remix in the end and he actually enjoyed it. For those who don't know, vertexguy mostly participates in DoD and played for Video Games Live I believe.

Tingle is an extremely quirky game. It's not for everyone and there's a lot of trial and error, but it's kind of satisfying once you get into the groove. Two games out in the UK that aren't in the US yet are "Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon" and "Flower, Sun and Rain". Just so you know, the latter game is a enhanced port of a Japan-exclusive PS2 game by Suda 51.

Opoona is an RPG by ArtePiazza hasn't really caught on, but I hear it's not bad. Anything by people who worked on the Dragon Quest series should be decent. The recently-released Mushroom Men sounds like a sweet platformer as well. Wario Land Shake It is an art house. Excellent audiovisuals. The 2D gameplay isn't as great as the GB installments, but if you've never played a Wario Land game, you'll be impressed with this one.

http://pole.sega.jp/ LOL Let the speculation begin.

One of the best, if not the best, rap remix on OCR. Instrumental beat is what it needs to be without overpowering the rapping. Like how fast the rap is, even though it doesn't convey much emotion. The lyrics, however, are extremely down-to-earth and full of emotion...really enjoyed how personal it gets. You guys should make another song for OCR.

Sounds like FFXII to me. That style would work with Zelda. You are hereby GANNON-BANNED! http://www.gannon-banned.com lol

Right about that. Also, we have the Oracle series to think about. Ganon was revived from the dead in the true ending of those games...so the game before the Oracles chronologically has to involve Ganon being killed. Since the Oracle series' timeline placement is extremely vague, then it's up to anyone's guess. I personally like to place them after A Link to the Past, assuming that Ganon was killed in that game. Although a cooler placement for the Oracles would be after Zelda II. Ah, gotta love how confusing the Zelda Timeline is.

Not a fan of the series, but I've heard lots of praise. I'm happy that this will be based off books rather than a movie tie-in as the adaptation will be accurate. Awesome news. I really hope that some game developer does the same to Terry Brooks' "Shannara" and "Magic Kingdom for Sale" series. I enjoy the latter a lot and my mom's a huge Shannara fan.

lol...yeah, they don't really make sense...but they're FF-themed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7g4jZgw1Tw&feature=related Addicted to this. This game has a kick-ass soundtrack, but the main theme is really cool. Apparently, this is the first time that an English-speaking band contributes to a Final Fantasy-based soundtrack. Band's called "Your Favorite Enemies", from Montreal, Canada.

You make a very good point here. It's kind of surprising and plain weird for a developer to have a teaser page for a supposed Zelda game with no mention of Nintendo whatsoever. Kind of picky there. These are just Triforce symbols on a relic, not the actual Triforce...thus they don't really have to be yellow. Additionally, we've seen incomplete Triforce symbols numerous times, especially Ocarina of Time and the games released after it. The hands of the bearers (Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf) have one of the pieces each...representing the piece each one owns. Although I agree with the one who said that the Triforce isn't exactly a Nintendo-exclusive symbol...yet Nintendo made it known to gamers as so.

You beat me on that. A Zelda game like Majora's Mask would be great stuff in my book. Loved how you got to interact with almost every NPC in sidequests.