EC2151

man why did I just go on a binge of watching about 9 of these in a row at 2 in the morning.

Holy moly. Does that mean Dark Matter is coming back? I shouldn't get my hopes up but YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Just make DeDeDe the penultimate boss and I'll be sooooo happy!!!

It did? Gosh, that's good news for Kirby then. Too bad Metroid couldn't sell a million copies. GEE I WONDER WHY THAT IS

These remixes will now be co-opted by SEGA to be used in their urinary-based games.

annnd we're all doing these songs and Sega will give us NOTHING.

Retro can pretty much do anything and I'd be happy at this stage. But I've been waiting for a Kirby game like this FOREVER*. Kirby's pretty important to my game life, as the first Dreamland is one of THE first games I ever played. *Since Crystal Shards

Sega, rerelease Panzer Dragoon Saga and then we'll talk.

Well, to compliment my previous post, I found a copy of Albert Odyssey, complete, for $35. I don't know why the guy didn't up the price- that was his offer just to purchase! I snagged it immediately. Now I feel like a money-wasting whore.

You know, sometimes i have to wonder "How much am I willing to spend on used games for this thing?" My library continues to grow, and most games I get are in the single digit range (Bug! for $3, Galactic Attack for $4, NiGHTS for like $7...), which is fine and dandy by me. I really am loving the games I've gotten- they are all for the most part a blast to play (notable exceptions: Daytona CCE and Virtua Racing. You were right, Coop. I can't control those cars for shit). And I've been lucky that I've been able to get some of the rarer RPGs like Dragon Force and Shining the Holy Ark (which is pretty fun btw). But then, there's stuff like finding Albert Odyssey sans manual for $45. I mean, it's supposed to be great... but is it worth it? Should I just snag it, because if i don't, someone else will take it and all I'll be left with is the $90+ copies (sometimes for only the disc!)? I never really want to pay more than $50 for a game used; that's pretty much my rule. $30 actually begins to push it, unless it's really rare (after all I did buy an SNES copy of FFIII for $30 years ago).

Because no one wanted the Sega Neptune.

it's not that people want the genre to stagnate, it's just that they prefer a certain type of gameplay experience. It's like by saying that I like Touhou games, so I OBVIOUSLY want the shmup genre to stagnate and devolve into bullet hells with lolicon. The way I see it, FFXIII isn't good on the scale I judge Final Fantasies by. The most bitching I see comes from long-time fans of the series, who like the series FOR A VERY PARTICULAR reason. FFXIII is everything the rest of the series isn't, for the most part. It's kinda like my evaluation of Metroid Other M: it may be an ok game and fun to play now and then, but it's by far one of the most terrible Metroid games ever released (really battling Hunters for worst Metroid ever). FFXIII is not a Final Fantasy in my book. The gameplay from everything I've watched is too far removed, the characters too uninteresting (outside of like, Sazh somewhat), the narrative structure a MESS, and a lot of things what make a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game aren't there for me. Yes I know I didn't play it. I know someone will point that out. But watching the game, I don't find anything engaging like I do with the other FFs, and I have a feeling the others who played the game felt the same way. The thing is, if this was some spin-off I wouldn't care as much (heck, my favorite FF released recently has been a spin-off), but the fact that this is a main numbered title, kinda makes it sting a little bit more. And I finally watched the trailer. I really had to laugh at the thing they were making Lightning wear. When I first saw the trailers for XIII, I admit I really liked the design of Lightning. This new one kinda makes her look like a Valkyrie wannabe.

See my post on the badness of an "in-game encyclopedia" and you'll see that I pretty much agree with the narrative being a mess. Like I said, i only watched the cutscenes and had no real clue of what was really going on. Maybe when I find it somewhere for $5 I'll pick it up, but meh. I don't know why they're putting so much into this world like they were with Ivalice a few years back.

get out touhou fan were talkin bout real games

I don't carry my DS in my pocket that often, nor my GBA SP. I put them in a safe place in my back-pack, well-protected. But again and again, it's ALWAYS the L button that goes out. I've went through 3 DS lites (2 through warranty, thank God) because of faulty shoulder buttons. And I had to go through another one because the touch screen of one completely fizzled out. And it fizzled out playing Trace Memory for goodness' sake! There is absolutely no heavy touch-screen action in Trace Memory!

The whole plot of FFXII made it really confusing to SPOILERturn Vayne into the Undying for the final boss. SPOILER The story is really confused, and I think the Occurians made it so. If it was just a really elaborate version of the "small nation fights for independence against the evil empire" I think it would have worked a whole lot more. I mean, in the beginning, it set everything up really nice: Vayne is a bad-guy, Ashe and others must fight for freedom, Balthier must come to terms with his mad father... But then the whole "back into the hands of man" thing just disintegrated all that in my opinion.

Also, from watching the game's cutscenes and hearing what other people have said of the game, the whole idea of using an in-game encyclopedia to clue you in on the intricacies of the game world is pretty damn sloppy story-telling, and should NOT be used as a way to show how "deep" the game-world is, in my opinion. I mean, I may be a nut that loves to read that type of shit, but it does not a good narrative make. Heck, I wasn't exactly sure what the hell was going on in FFXII halfway through, but at the least the world was fully realized. I mean, one of my pals explained the opening of FFXIII this way: "It's like SE tried to make the opening of FFXIII like the bombing mission in FFVII, but forgot to include that part in the bombing mission where everyone introduced themselves and actually explained why the fuck they were doing anything. I got about 20 hours into the game and I STILL didn't know who the fuck any of the characters were or what their motivations were except for maybe that kid who wanted to avenge his father or something, but on the whole it's pretty damn sloppy." Just watching the game I kinda get that impression too, and while people have told me "it gets better later" that's still kinda "meh" on my book. Now, the sequel may mitigate some of these problems, but considering the sales, I feel we'll get more of the same, and if this game ALSO has an in-game encyclopedia, I feel like this whole damned game world will have jumped the shark entirely. Also, FFX-2 had one of the best battle systems in the series. Just sayin'. And in response to derrit's post: I didn't play most of these classics till recently. I didn't play Secret of Mana till last year. Didn't play Chrono Trigger till 2 years ago. Didn't BEAT FF6 until around that time too. Hell, I've beaten Final Fantasy I a shitton of times, more than any other FF. Because it's fun. They're all fun, well-crafted games. It's like saying "If Ocarina of Time was released now you'd all hate it" no, we wouldn't.

Yeah, I do put the brightness down on my DS lite to save battery. I think the real question is: Will the shoulder buttons on this suck like they have on every post Phat DS?

So i beat Darius Gaiden, the second of my 3 initial Saturn games. Are all the endings supposed to be this fucking terrible? My friend and I just sat there, staring in disbelief. Then we tried out abnormal mode and very easy mode. Sigh. Anyhoo, Dragon Force came, and a few more are slated for tomorrow, but I still don't have a memory card, so, to quote one of the many sucky endings of Darius Gaiden: I was "AT QUITE A LOSS WHAT TO DO"

We would say he DOES wear protective armor but in real life those horns would make him one hell of a target because it's really really easy for a sword or ax to catch on to a horned helmet and snap someone's neck but hey Japan.

Hey man, don't knock Atlus RPGs. They're the bomb. Knights in the Nightmare is probably one of the best DS games out there.

I did see that and I was happy, but still, horns = dumb

Naw, I'd cast Cure2 on the thing before it even got near me. And this is pure anecdotal, but every FF nut I know insist that FFXIII is the absolute worst in the series in terms of gameplay, where it pretty much devolved into "You better do this specific Paradigm Shift right here to avoid dieing" which is a crappy game mechanic, they said. That and all the shit about the story being bad. My older brother tried playing the game as well, and well, he hated it. Conversely, I do know someone on another forum who goes around spouting about how great the game is, and how it's the best Final Fantasy he's ever played, but when hard-pressed, he admitted that the only FF games he's played are FFXIII and.. FF1. Maybe this game will fix what seems to be the severely broken narrative of FFXIII, but I hold no breath on that one.

I really want to hope that since the 3DS can play DS games, and it is for all intents and purposes a DS system, that companies will still make DS games and that they'll be much cheaper than usual. A long shot, I know, but still. Now that my brother bought 999 and Ghost Trick, the only DS game that is definitely on my "I want it" list is Radiant Historia. And when Legends 3 comes out maybe I'll scrounge up the money to buy the 3DS, but I'm sitting on my hands here. I mean, that projected battery life is just... crap. I am POSITIVE that my DS lite can last up to 6 or more hours without having to be charged up.

I'll respond to Malaki's post later, but I just want to say that by and large, I am always disappointed at how fucking ridiculous they make the Warrior of Light's costume look in both the official artwork, and in the games themselves. All of those horns and spikes going every which way is in my eyes, pretty stupid. But then again the same can be said for just about ALL of Amano's art. That and everyone looking like a drowned corpse.

Well that will change once Radiant Silvergun comes out on the XBLA later this year.