Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@Artwark

Oh neat, just discovered that Final Fantasy Tactics came out the same year as Vantage Master. And check out this:

Final Fantasy Tactics spells and attack animations:

Notice how the characters are 2D sprites on a 3D world, and the spells are overlayed with all modeseven-like or something.

Vantage Master natial and master spells

Notice how these ones are all completely done with sprites, which I thought was really cool. I especially love the tarot card thing.

I don't mind the 8 bit style as long as that's not the only selling point for a game. It's great when the game itself is totally gold, especially because the simplistic graphics are designed to not get in the way while conveying information clearly.

@Blathers: Idk. I guess when I see it, I feel as though valliant master plays like an online game considering the fact that the game doesn't run smooth enough.

So just curious, what happens when you beat the entire scenario mode? Do you like get better modes or something? Because I feel like I'm better off just playing free mode. And also, how can you grind in this game? I know its a tedious work and I don't like it but inorder to make your units strong, I like pretty much need it.

But I fail to understand your point of saying original TRPG's. Because from what I know, FE was one of the first in the genre.

@DarthNocturnal: the games before that aren't tactical RPG's as some of them are strategy games. Also, Wikipedia isn't the best source for this sort of thing as it can be edited by anyone.

I can see you going onto it now and deleting all TRPG that aren't Fire Emblem.

@arronishere: Isn't it obvious that information on wikipedia is edited most of the time? Also, why would I ever do that?

You know, for a guy with a gentleman's avatar, you seem to be so damm picky.

@DarthNocturnal: I get that its not the first and I can understand that, but it did expand the genre further.

Doesn't Wikipedia require citations now? Because I'm pretty sure a recent incident with the Samus Wikipedia page* would make that policy more apparent now.

*No, I'm not telling you who or what happened. I'm not interested in a flame war or ban, just putting an example out there for those aware of the incident and please no more comments about it.

Yep but the rarely seen pages can be edited without notice as no one visits them.

In anycase that doesn't really change Artwark is trying to ignore Fire Emblem wasn't the first trpg and it isn't the only one that matters which itself was him trying to get out of being noticed that he's gone from saying trpgs are DOOMED to they are now mainstream.

I know you said no more comments, but misinformation like this needs to be sorted out because somebody's professional image, perhaps livelihood, is at stake.

There really was no incident. A certain writer did a piece on Samus's gender identity. It was a bad piece, using the flimsy evidence of a joke (in poor taste) that Samus's character designer made over 20 years ago, to argue that Samus is a transwoman. I can't defend the piece. It was bad.

But a certain online harassment/hate group that I won't mention the name of really hated that piece, and even more so the person who wrote it, so engaged in tactics as usual. There was a discussion on the Wikipedia entry on Samus's talk page of updating the page to include Samus's gender identity, citing the bad piece as a source. This is important though - the proposed change never actually happened, as it was not approved. But the hate group manufactured a story that the author of the bad article herself was responsible for the proposal and cited herself, spreading the lie on social media and friendly online hangouts.

Wikipedia itself has confirmed that the author of the bad piece was not involved at all in the discussion on the talk page. Honestly, and this is just speculation on my part, but I wouldn't put it past the hate group itself who came up with the proposal in the first place. The whole controversy stinks of their brand of deceit.

Clearing the air right now, I want nothing to with that group nor anyone related to it in any roundabout way. It is proof of internet stupidity and ridiculous mob mentality in both camps and in general, and if I had to be honest, even if that person wasn't involved with that I still would couldn't consider anything they do worth my time or attention. I only brought up that example because it first came to mind and nothing else. Hell, the only reason I know about it was because I came across a video covering it with knowledge known at the of the initial events relating to it.
And if you must know, I'm neutral on it. Being internet drama with a hint of anonymity, I have no real say on what happened and didn't happen and who was actually who.

In the desperate vain of trying to get back on topic and avoid flame wars and bans:
I feel like story telling in games is still not quite there yet, and probably won't be for quite awhile. Even if you didn't like Gone Home as a game, as an experiment in game design I'm interested in more games implementing some of the ideas it started/expanded on.

Crowdfunding is a great idea. It gives the gaming community a say in what gets released, and allows developers to not have to worry about publishers and investors ruining their game for the means of profitability.

@MrMario02:
Crowd funding is a good idea on paper, and in rare cases (shovel knight for example). The idea of supporting ideas with very little to back them up, and no commitment guaranteed by the devs is a recipe for either fraud or disappointment.

I'm...actually not fond of playing Super Mario games as Yoshi. I'm fine with him as a steed and like the general cuteness of all Yoshis, but it just isn't the same as playing my beloved plumber bros.

Halo 3 is the worst Halo game, by far.

Yes, I can understand why you feel that way, the passive animations are only playing at about 5 FPS and the active ones at 10 FPS.

You're treated to more untranslated cutscenes. Then the credits roll, showing off large character design artworks of all the monsters, Which was pretty cool.

Story mode is just a sequence of 25 increasingly difficult challenges though. If you're having fun with Free Play, stick with that.

You don't. The only reason Master levels exist is to restrict you to small battles (because of low mana) at low levels and slowly introduce you to larger ones. It's also to keep your combat effectiveness equal to the Natials you currently have unlocked. At the start you only have scout Natials like Reque and Fa-Rancell, so your low-level Master is on par with them. By the time you reach the levels where you start unlocking the stronger soldier units like Currier-Bell and Dullmander, and ranged Natials like Ae-Ferrion and Blexe, your hero is strong enough not to get obliterated in one hit. (And so the combat-orientated Masters aren't worthless) Then by late game when you have the Mega units, and large armies, the Masters are high enough level not to be insta-ganked.

The Natials do have a progression system called "satisfaction", (which caps out at 2 stars, is only active for that summon, and does not carry across battles) but it's not crucial to using them effectively as it only gives a minor boost. Each of the Natials have their own strengths, and learning to using them correctly is just like any other strategy game. Just like Fire Emblem, each unit class has its role, and in Vantage Master there are a lot of factors to take into consideration.

• In Vantage Master, sacrifice is an option (while in FE it is not) so you do have to balance whether you don't mind risking units in order to push an attack or lure enemies away from critical units etc (this is something the CPU will employ to great lengths, facing unit's backs to you to get you to attack those, blocking your path with junk units etc)
• You have to remember that a unit's defense changes depending on what terrain it is on
• Attack strength is very strongly modified by elemental effectiveness. (Fire trumps Heaven trumps Earth trumps Water trumps Fire) This is incredibly important and it means you can't just spam one unit to win. You must juggle your units so that they cover eachother, hit the enemy that is weak to them, while staying out of range of enemies that they are weak to. (this can often turn into a very intricate game of cat and mouse)
• Attacking a unit from behind does more damage than attacking it from the front. This also affects Area of Effect magic (as shown in the Currier-Bell lightning strike gif in my last comment). You can normally choose which way you want a unit to face at the end of a move unless they attack or use offensive magic, after which they'll be stuck facing the direction they attacked in.
• Units have ATK, DEF, MATK and MDEF, some of which are higher than others so these are important to consider, when deciding on summoning units with powerful offensive magic, or units with high attack.
• Consider turn order, move distance, and agility to utilise fast but weak units to get multiple hits on Mega units! Something you must always consider is unit price. Don't always summon the most expensive unit you can each turn - Fa-Rancell, Reque, Pelitte, and D-Almo are extremely useful and cheap, despite their deceptively low stats. Fa-Rancell and Reque both can move on land and water, and get turns far more than any other unit. Pellitte is the fastest flying unit, and although has the worst attack in game, she steals Magic Stones like a boss. Nothing like a Magic Stone back-cap spree to drain your opponent of mana very quickly. She's also the only other unit apart from the Master than can undo Zamilpen's freeze, or Ba-Maldo's Petrification, the latter is practically a death sentence for any unit that is hit by it. D-Almo has abnormally high defense for a unit of its cost, and it is a healer to boot. Park it on a highly contested Magic Stone, and it'll never be captured.

Modern games, Kakusei included, are subject to genre blending and being changed to target mainstream audiences.

I don't disagree, but I'd argue anyone intelligent and with any remote self-respect wouldn't ruin their reputation that way (unless your fans are eternal sheep like Peter Molyneux)

Triforce Heroes is a timely, relevant, inventive and fun addition to the Zelda franchise. Coming onto system that has already received a new, acclaimed top-down Zelda and two 3D 'main series' remakes, along with a WW Remake on the Wii U and a new epic in the pipeline, I don't think it can be argued that the 'proper' side of the series is being neglected (although admittedly, the Wii U version is certainly taking its time).

The plot is... definitely a bit pants though. Not goofy and charming in an subtle, charmingly goofy Zelda way, but generally overblown and crass, with a host of supporting characters that don't even looked like they were designed to live in the same world as Link. I don't mind the fact it's stupid, I'm just slightly peeved about how much it shouts about it. There have been a few bits of nice scripting though (in the EUR version, anyway).

I've got through the first 3 worlds (+ a few bonus challenges), and so far, playing with strangers Online has been perfectly useable, even with just 8 emoticons to communicate. I've found it quite fun learning how to combine them into a sort of lumpy language.

I've found the whole MonHunt-esque clothes crafting thing is quite engaging too. I'd tentatively recommend anyone with an internet connection to try it. Just try not to destroy the game before the plot shuts up and lets you get on with the dungeons.

I will never understand why so many people claim that Nintendo is not coming to the modern times really.....because if they really weren't, they wouldn't be this huge by now would they?

I mean, what is it that Nintendo isn't doing what Sony and Microsoft aren't? Powerful graphics don't mean a thing except to make the systems more expensive and worsen their business. Online gaming isn't always perfect even outside of Nintendo.

Nintendo's unique way doing things come at a cost of being perceived as "behind the times". Sony and Microsoft going a more conventional route let them streamline and rebuild certain aspects of the online experience Nintendo hasn't/doesn't yet understand. Tying game purchases to systems, initially using Friend codes as opposed to User accounts, etc. All steps MS and Sony got around due to conventional thinking and experience versus Nintendo's more "creative" routes.