Nintendo DS

[KakTheInfected]

I played through it back in June. You really won't care about the simplicity of it while you're playing. The new controls make it so much fun and the boss battles are really creative.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Sounds great, except it may be continuing the trend of easy Zelda games.. Probably a buy even still.

[Penfold]

Sounds great, except it may be continuing the trend of easy Zelda games.. Probably a buy even still.

Yeah, that was the only really disappointing thing for me with Twilight Princess: boss battles were too easy. They were for the most part rather "cinematic" and fun boss fights (like the boss to that water temple), though, so I guess better that than really challenging but boring. Even if the bosses are too easy to beat in Phantom Hourglass, I think it'll still be well worth the price of admission.

EDIT: With 9 reviews in at this point, Phantom Hourglass has a Meta Score of 91. Not bad at all.

[Hector]

I would really like to see Nintendo doing multiple difficulty levels. It didn't make too much sense with earlier Zeldas, but in later ones they could do a lot by putting in more aggressive AIs.

[BardicKnowledge]

Only if you forgot to grab the tremor gem.

Can you remind me? It's been a little while.

Jenna's battle theme music in GS2.

Fixed.

And I do think the new Zelda will be far too easy...I'll like it anyway.

[Ero Elohim]

I would really like to see Nintendo doing multiple difficulty levels. It didn't make too much sense with earlier Zeldas, but in later ones they could do a lot by putting in more aggressive AIs.

I would love for a Hard difficulty for the next Zelda. Something that doubled the damage taken from hits and added in new special moves for bosses - maybe mixed up their patterns with some random order. I'd really like to see the bosses get some special "one-hit-kill" moves or close to it (moves that would take out half your remaining health or bring you down to 1 heart instantly.) Every Zelda boss' room has 20 pots with small hearts anyway; Make me use those things in a mad dash to stay alive because Shadow Ganon just pinned me to the ground with a spear, then wracked my body with dark energy channeled through it as if it were a lightning rod.

Leave an Normal setting that plays like a normal Zelda game, but steal someone from Devil May Cry for input on a Hard mode.

[Schwaltzvald]

...steal someone from Devil May Cry for input on a Hard mode...

LMD Mode = Link Must Die Mode

Complete with complicated but enjoyably fun sword techniques but controlled entirely by the player instead of something done automatically...

Damn it now you got me icthing to go back to play DMC3 on DMD mode, without previous skills completed.

[Devyn]

There should only be two difficulty levels in games. Pretty hard and hard as fuck.

[Alpine Flame]

Although it looks like fun, my wallet has been getting some serious weight changes from the game industry of late, so I won't be getting it until the huge "i want this now" crowd dies down, and I can grab it for ten bucks or so. Its a system thats worked well for me so far, albeit it puts me alittle behind the power curve sometimes.

I think I need to grow a few hundred patches of Pinapples this summer. They get a good price...

[Kanthos]

Wow, just realized it's one week till Zelda: Phantom Hourglass comes out. I am getting pretty excited for that, now that it's just about out...may need to go reserve that in the next day or 2. Outta curiosity, who else is planning to get it?

Pre-ordered about 8 weeks ago. And even better, I'll be on vacation next week when it comes, so I'll have plenty of time to play.

Yes, pineapples are great. Even better if they're all level 10 pineapples. Although strawberries are a better crop, and other than the fact that it means you have to do all the work yourself, filling Carmite Cave with level 10 strawberries gives you tones of money every two days.

[Alpine Flame]

Pre-ordered about 8 weeks ago. And even better, I'll be on vacation next week when it comes, so I'll have plenty of time to play.

Yes, pineapples are great. Even better if they're all level 10 pineapples. Although strawberries are a better crop, and other than the fact that it means you have to do all the work yourself, filling Carmite Cave with level 10 strawberries gives you tones of money every two days.

I was talking specifically about harvest moon, but I STILL have to grab Rune Factory... once again, due to a lack of fundage... I really hate MD taxes...

[Kanthos]

Ah, Rune Factory is the only one I've played. Well, happy pineapple growing to you then

[KakTheInfected]

Retro says the "Dread" reference in Prime 3 is just a coincidence. Obviously bullshit, but they can try.

[KWarp]

Picking up Zelda... but I have an exam that day. ;_;

My best friend hails Golden Sun (series) as the greatest RPG ever (better than Chrono Trigger!?). I played the series and conclude the following:

Strengths:

-Great artistry

-Clever maps, puzzles, and level design

-Deceptively deep battle system

-Good plot

Weaknesses:

-Unvaried gameplay

-Random battles get annoying

Music was hit or miss.

A good RPG, arguably excellent. It really depends on the player's tastes.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Golden Sun? You mean that game with the most mangled Engrish in history of games? Do you mean game that? YES/NO.

[Ciel]

-Good plot

goilden suns II contain nlongest fetych queste in histories of vvideo game

[Alpine Flame]

goilden suns II contain nlongest fetych queste in histories of vvideo game

Touche. That game does have some mangled parts that were poorly, if at all, translated... also: the fetch quests were very, very long and a strain on the plot at times... (aka the entire first half of the second game)

[Kureejii Lea]

Golden Sun? You mean that game with the most mangled Engrish in history of games? Do you mean game that? YES/NO.

You mean Breath of Fire II. Go out with your fishing lod much?

I don't really remember any "Engrish" in GS so much as that the conversations took half a century because the characters just kept reiterating the same points and going on and on about nothing (I'm looking at you, Kraden). All while bouncing and squeaking, no less.

Neat character designs, though. Wish there'd been more development.

[BardicKnowledge]

...or a Wii sequel to tie up the ending they gave us.

[Hale-Bopp]

Sakuraba's best work?

[Ciel]

Tundaria Tower, Aqua Rock, Sol Sanctum, Vale & Vault, and Garoh were the standout tracks for me.

[BardicKnowledge]

I enjoyed the vast majority of the soundtrack (and was especially impressed they could coax such quality out of the GBA). My favorite is still Jenna's battle theme, which was just crazy good.

[KWarp]

So.. Advance Wars 2... (DS)

EDIT: Check the link for more details, these initial impressions aren't completely accurate

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Just came back from the Micromania Games Show 2007 in Paris, where there was a crapload of things to play, and among them, much to my surprise :

Well, I couldn't play for long, and security held us off for taking other pics, but enough to give quick impressions. AW DS 2 did receive a compelte overhaul in terms of design. Gone are Max, Andy and the others, replaced by a whole new crew. IS went with a whole new, more realistic, miltary look, and quite frankly, it seemed like a pretty wise move

Graphically-wise, the look went with the new design, though it looked pretty much the same. New combat animations were pretty low-quality though, blurry and badly animated. Surely that's gonna be fixed by the time it comes out. Had time to notice a new unit - bike infantry unit - and that pretty much sums it up. Hopefully other people went there and spent more time wih AW DS2.

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I wish there was an official press release on this one. I'm interested but concerned.

[The Damned]

Cool. Does it use holograms?

[Darth GourryGN]

I've been playing some Japanese stylus-only action/rpg games lately and I am really hoping that companies start shoving it down our throats. Seriously.

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Great. Getting great reviews. You know what you doing. A bit easy, but if this is where Nintendo goes with its "casual" focus, I approve.

I hope it comes to the U.S. That would be awesome.

Deltora Quest: Apparently it is based off an anime based off some Australian books that are popular in Japan. This game really reminds me of the Secret of Mana games, but you only use one character at a time (the other lazy asses stay at camp while you save the world, I guess), and they move as fast as the stylus. What? Yes. You can drag them around the screen or you can tap a spot and they run to it as fast as the frickin Flash. You attack by tapping and swiping at enemies. In an open area, you can pretty much run circles around enemies, unless you get poisoned, which slows you to mere mortal speed. Super speed actually becomes a detriment when you're on top of thousand foot tall trees, though, as you'll fall to your doom dramatically (lose some health) quite easily. The top screen shows a portrait of your character and in front of them there is some tadpole/squirrel hybrid creature running along an oscillating wave and when it gets to the crest of a wave you can hear the character breathe in and then exhale as the abomination runs down the wave. I guess there's some rhythm to the combat or something. There was this one part where the game had me draw something, and I didn't know what it was for, exactly, so I drew a chick with a scythe and wrote "death" on the bottom, and a bit later in the story (many years actually; the damn paper was floating in midair in one spot for YEARS and fell at just the right time) another character found it and broke down and cried. Hilarious. And if you're still reading this, I bet you're like, WTFN?

I hope it comes to the U.S.

Summon Night Twin Edge: Seireitachi no Jutsu! Uh, I mean Seireitachi no Kyoumei. Basic overhead dungeon crawling action that reminds me of an RTS but there's only two characters and using melee character sucks because you just stand there and trade blows. But the ranged character is fun because you can shoot enemies and when they come after you, you can run away and they're all like "Gonna get you, Blood! Gonna get you Blood!" and you're like "Can't catch me Crip! Can't catch me Crip!" And you can take pot shots while the melee dude shanks them with a massive sword of spunky anime hero +1. I find it more fun than the GBA Summon Night games due to the lack of random battles.

May your enemies experience a slow painful death and their brood experience the same at the hands of your progeny.

Peace.

I'm out this piece.

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