Thalzon

I got it. Unlocked Frank, Zero, and Tekkaman Blade so far. Zero is probably my favourite fighter; he feels much smoother than the others, though Yatterman-1 is also nice. Yami is a major asshole. But beating arcade mode 14 times, minimum, is the only way to unlock all the fighters. I'd say this is the worst thing about the game. I mean, Arcade mode is fine and all, but if you're gonna have unlocks, maybe the methods to unlocking them should be more substantial? Least-favourite characters so far are Megaman Volnutt and Roll. Roll feels virtually combo-less and Volnutt's attacks just feel stilted. Morrigan has great Yami-pummeling specials, though.

I'm pretty sure the reason a lot of JRPGs are considered crap is because a lot of them are intensely focused on the trite "white knight" plot. That is, the hero is young, dashing, and must Save The Girl or Save The World (one is often dependent on the other). It doesn't matter what his actual personality, goals, or mannerisms are. That is the lead's role. The female lead, meanwhile, is the Princess. Again, background, personality, whatever does not matter. She will need saving, and eventually must reciprocate the White Knight's love. She is not allowed to reject his advances after the story's halfway point (unless she is lying to herself about her true feelings, and this will be hinted at constantly), though the White Knight can ALWAYS reject hers if he wants. Ultimately, the Princess only finds love in the arms of another man and the White Knight learns he can act however he pleases and still get the hottest piece of ass around. This may sound ridiculously vague and there are doubtlessly exceptions out there, but they are just exceptions. The character dynamics are basically played to death and it's ultimately what is killing appeal for JRPGs. I don't necessarily have a solution beyond using different character groups/archetypes, but at least that would be a start, you know? Oh, and Japan? No more names like "Edge Maverick." Really now, unless you're being ironic, that's just embarrassing.

Here's a good one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlBuC9GSTcw

Have you ever played Wild Arms 4? That's another game where characters were fully healed at the end of each battle. As a result, battles were uber-hard (well, about half the time) because suddenly the game doesn't need to take wearing your party down into consideration.

Spandex vs Capcom

I think the characters were selected based on popularity polls. So characters more familiar (and beloved) in the west ended up glossed over because they aren't as popular in Japan. Samurai Pizza Cats were awesome over here, but in Japan it was just another kids' cartoon. I guess Speed Racer didn't make the cut either.

Pfffft, not a chance. It's gonna have the same fate as all other quality Wii games that get no advertising outside of ign get: About 100,000 in sales if they're lucky. Capcom will then go on to blame the consumers for not buying their game they've never heard of. EDIT: I just checked online for The Crystal Bearers, to see what having relatively frequent TV spots does for a weird game. Nothing much it seems, because Crystal Bearers has only sold around 150,000 copies worldwide. Hey, maybe it IS the consumers.

The whole idea of motionplus is to eliminate waggle. You'll be outright swinging the remote. If you played Wii Sports Resort's sword fighting you'd see what it will probably be and feel like.

To be fair Squall and co didn't wear uniforms because they were supposed to be incognito. Of course Zell screwed that up (temporarily). But yeah, since people HAD the costumes it was weird that it was never an option later on to wear what you like. Squall, Quistis, Rinoa, Zell, and Selphie all had alternate outfits.

I want to play it, but the reviews sort of scared me off at first. Thank you for posting, because I probably would've just forgotten about it. Now, when it drops in price (and since it's a Squeenix game, that means 6 months to a year) I'll definitely pick it up.

Uh, he is. There's 6 permanent party members, and you can see them all at the official website. Sazh is most certainly one of them.

FF hasn't become niche as much as it's become an entirely different monster altogether. Direct sequels, spinoffs, total genre shifts, etc. have completely diluted the FF brand to the point where you can be a fan of Final Fantasy and never even play the main series. FF13 may be the first "real" FF to be released in 4 or 5 years, but in that time we've had something like 4 on the DS, 3 on the Wii, and 2 or 3 on the PS3. All this branching out has inevitably given Squeenix some ideas for where to take the main series, especially since the current route is proving almost comically slow and expensive. They're nearing the wall where a game's sales cannot overcome the time and money sunk into it, and they know it.

Well... yeah. Safety Ring will protect anyone from a buttload of the enemy spells. I never really wait for Culex and company to run out of FP, though. Being around level 24 helps, too. Then it's just a matter of using single-target skills and nailing all your timed hits. Not that beating Culex really gets you anything valuable.

Agreed. The Snowpoint Ruins were a highlight of the game for me, too. I wish a bit more effort went into explaining why an old mansion was there, though. I think TP lacked a bit of context that its improved story otherwise required. In older games, you didn't really need a reason for having temples where they were. The story wasn't so central, so it didn't matter. But now, you can't just have a big tree with weird puzzles in it and expect us to believe it's a Forest Temple. I need to know WHY this place is here, what it was used for, why it was abandoned, etc. I think that alone -- having more history and backstory in each area -- would help the series immensely. Far more than a Hookshot upgrade ever could.

It feels like I just bought the wii, and I got mine in 2006. I remember my professor in college proclaiming that the Wii would be replaced in just 3 or so years' time. Glad to see that's not true. That said, I do not honestly expect new consoles for another 3 years or so. There's been far too much money sunk into the current generation -- and much more profit to be had -- to abandon it now. Developers have a hang on the tech and we can expect far more polished titles in the future... Hopefully.

It is allegedly the longest Tales game, with an 80-hour story. Funny thing I've noticed. The story's quality is ivnersely proportional to how many characters with unnatural hair colour there are on your team. Symphonia - Pretty good. (Presea, Regal. Zelos doesn't count -- even if his hair is REALLY red) Abyss - Awesome. (No unnatural colours!) Vesperia - It's alright. (Estelle, Judith, Repede. Yes, a blue dog counts as unnatural hair colour) Graces - Who knows? But outlook is Vesperia-quality. (Sophie, Pascal, and blue-haired guy who is not important enough to remember)

That's because Japan just doesn't like Metroid all that much. Even when she's a big-boobed ninja, or whatever they're doing in Other M.

1) That Vesperia rumour was stated by one of the japanese voice actors, I believe (or maybe it was an english VA...). It was likely he got the names confused. 2) Graces BETTER DAMN WELL BE LOCALIZED.

The girl is NOT the Master Sword? This is probably a fake-out, though. If she communicates through Link's Sword, then it's likely she's at least a sword spirit or something. Otherwise, most of this is pretty basic stuff that we have seen in other games in the series. Hyrule isn't always the setting, the Master Sword isn't always the "main" sword of choice, and Link doesn't always have a travel companion.

Uh? Really? I always like the exploration bits more. Dungeons are fun and all, but the secrets and puzzles incorporated into the game world itself are always more interesting for me. If a Zelda game had no dungeons, but instead a world full of puzzles, enemies, and bosses, I think it would ultimately be preferrable. Also, non-linearity should be brought back. The last several Zeldas have had quite rigid world exploration, giving you challenges to tackle in a specific order. I'd like to see it revert a bit to like it was in LttP, where the latter half of the game allowed you to explore and complete objectives in pretty much any order you wanted (though there was a specific order given for a smoother difficulty curve).

Items: Din's Fire - A wave of fire that rolls along the track. If it strikes a racer, makes their engine overheat and they can't boost or whatever. Nayru's Love - A shield weapon. Durr. Farore's Wind - A cyclone offers the user a speed boost. Deku Nut - Screen flashes white for all other racers, temporarily blinding them. Bee in a Bottle - Messes up the the racer it hits, making the racer veer from side to side and otherwise act erratically on their own. Fairy - Quick recovery from landing in hazards. Skull Hammer - Sends out a shockwave that sends surrounding racers airborne. Boomerang - Can be used multiple times to hit other racers and sweep the racetrack for another item. Fire Arrows - Shoots arrows that make other racers spin out and overheat. Ice Arrows - Shoots arrows that make other racers freeze. Light Arrows - Shoots arrows that blind other racers. Bombchu - Explosive that follows the racer ahead of the user and explodes on contact. Bomb - Explosive that is thrown.

I'd totally go for a Zelda Kart. Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Impa, Tingle, Vaati, Midna, and Linebeck. PERFECT. Zelda Tactics wouldn't be too bad either, if it really mixed in the mythos to the combat mechanics. EDIT: And what you call the "OoT formula" was around in Link to the Past as well. So, maybe they've been using the same formula since 1993.

The options to jump change if you choose "wait" once. Then it'll say, "Gotta wait for Shadow..." Also, it did say the airship was directly below you, so you really had no reason to jump of you had, like, 2 minutes left. You MONSTER.

Considering it's not as dramatic, most players opt to poison him with crappy fish to get the far more punchy attempted suicide scene. Hopwever, there is really no reason to not save Shadow.

Catch the fastest fish in the ocean and you can save Cid. Then, once he's all better, he lets Celes use the raft. He then walks around randomly inside the house forever.