Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@ogo79 Dude the collection is looking nice.

Sony is apparently copyright striking Earthbound music on Youtube.

I want to state a second time that SONY is copyright striking EARTHBOUND music on Youtube.

Ignoring for a second that Earthbound is one of the best video game OSTs I've ever heard and trying to take it off the internet in any form is pretty much inherently bad, this is incredibly stupid. The worst part is I already know why its happening, but that doesn't make it better.

@BruceCM I intend to work through all the paths...eventually lol. I've read that some portions of the earlier parts of the game can be skipped? Those are something I'd definitely want to experience during my first run, but any after that I'd likely just do without to save time.

@MarioLover92 I delved into game design a little in college; my love of video games is partially why I'm in the programming field to begin with. In the course of my studies, I learned I like the business side of things too. I'd still like to dive back into messing around with Unity 3D at some point.

I'm...not a big fan of golf in general. Though I've never played real golf RL, just the gimmicky as heck mini-golf stuff. I've messed with it a bit in video games, but I've never played a golf game I've loved or stuck with for long. The Golf portion of Wii Sports probably comes the closest.

My console exposure when I was young was...interesting, to say the least. Besides what I've already covered, I had some cousins with a PS2. They didn't have much I was interested in - mostly sports and FPS games - but I loved playing through their copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. That took me two years to beat over several visits. That console is the only time I've played GTA, but Liberty City. I never really did much in it, just ran around stealing cars and wrecking them. XD Years later, I got some Assassin's Creed (original) and TES IV: Oblivion exposure via a cousin's Xbox 360. I unfortunately missed out on the N64 and GameCube outside of demo kiosks. As for dedicated gaming handhelds, I've pretty much only experienced Nintendo systems. I really wanted a PSP at one point, but they were pricey as heck when I was interested in them.

@bimmy-lee Hah! Puppies are cute, and it's fun to watch them fill out into adult dogs, but they're definitely a handful! In some ways they're a lot like human kids when they're very young. Shame the puppy didn't work out. I'm slightly more of a cat person, truth be told, but I really enjoy dogs too. Though I am slightly biased towards medium and large breeds. I've encountered too many petite pooches with Small Dog Syndrome.

@TheJGG Sounds like you're starting to edge back a little towards "normal" as well! I've been going to D&D sessions with a very small group a couple of Saturdays a month, so that's helping me. Too, they're gradually easing up on some restrictions here at the federal, state, and local levels; my state has been one of the more restricted. Things will never be quite the same again, but in a way I think we can say that at the end of every day that passes.

Wow, 30 hours? That takes a good ear AND dedication! All those franchises you've mentioned experimenting with definitely have their fair share of excellent pieces. But I don't need to tell you that based on previous discussions. Practice makes perfect! Thanks for linking that folder; I intend to give all its contents a listen. Already loving the Tal Tal Heights theme! That's one of the most impactful tunes from Link's Awakening IMO. Its epicness can't be overstated. To think it started out as a MIDI tune on the humble Game Boy!

Video games were a large part of why I got into my career, but forum use and knowing how to do some basic HTML formatting also drove my interest. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do at first when college rolled around. Coding and computers in general were on my mind, but so were animals. I almost went into the veterinary field, but I backed out of that fairly quickly. The many more years of schooling aside, I would've had to take a few science courses I didn't care for. Plus, I still would have had to deal with people (Read: crazy owners) on a regular basis. Not that I don't deal with people at my current job, but our support team handles the customer issues and requests; I very seldom deal with them on my own. Most customers are fine, but there were a couple of bad experiences at my previous job....

Coding can definitely be pretty overwhelming at first. Generally though, once you understand how programming logic works, you can pick up most languages with practice. Some are admittedly pretty weird and hard to grasp. Others share a lot of characteristics but also have their own defining attributes that set them apart from the others. For anyone trying to dive into it, I often suggest starting with a very small concept and gradually add on to what they've done in pieces. The best part is, there's a lot of open source help and documentation online! Though one should like reading and be pretty adept at using search engines.

On having games spoiled: I've already been spoiled on [insert FF VII scene everyone on the internet assumes RPG fans have played through], and a (thankfully) small portion of FF X involving an action of the main protagonist. I did remain mostly unspoiled for most of my FF VI playthrough; I did use a guide for a few sections, but I intentionally picked one with no spoilers.

I expected to die A LOT in Breath of the Wild, and I wasn't disappointed lol. I knew that death was a pretty normal thing, especially earlier on when the player has very few hearts. I did my share of stupid things, too. "Will this kill him?...YEP!" Usually that wasn't intentional, but there were a couple of times where I decided to experiment and things ended...badly. As for Twilight Princess HD, I did play through on Hero Mode. I didn't quite have the guts to use the Ganondorf Amiibo on top of it all though, even though I do have it.

When gaming, I try to take a short break every hour or so. Usually I do tasks around the house like laundry, stretch, get out clothes for the next day, etc. I try to give myself some incentive to move. I rarely have to set a timer and am pretty good about knowing when to move, but there are a few games, like BotW, where I needed one. Otherwise, a LOT more than 60 minutes may go by....

I'd LOVE to see Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask get the proper remake treatment! The 3DS version is amazing, but I'd also love to see what a cleaned up HD version of the title looks like. There have been plenty of (mostly) amazing efforts done by fans, but I'd also love to see what the Big N comes up with. I don't normally double-dip on games, but I'd buy them both again in a heartbeat. If these are ever announced, I'll probably achieve liftoff! I don't often show my excitement externally and am often pretty reserved IRL, but I'd definitely make an exception or two for the Zelda series.

Wait...I must've missed the memo on the two Oracle games moving to AFTER Link's Awakening? Though as mentioned previously, it has been a bit since I've dug into any of the Zelda timeline theories. Darn it, that means my copy of Hyrule Historia is even more outdated.... The linked Oracle ending lends credence to what was presented in the original timeline set forward back in 2017. I find that easier to buy than the theory that it's the same link from ALttP. Though there ARE some small inconsistencies even with the official timeline. As for Age of Calamity, I do believe they've stated that one is canon!

@MarioLover92 coughNSOcough But that seems completely unlikely at this point. Gamecube has lots of games that have never been re-released anywhere and as a result they are really hard to play these days. You need money and adapters and even then it's not the best it could be.

@Fujimoto-San Oh yeah, I have loved Fire Emblem since the first international release on GBA back in the day. I've played nearly every entry in the series since and there hasn't really been any that I dislike. Even Fates - and I know that's a controversial opinion.

@Heavyarms55 Sweet! I've played the GBA game(s) too and they were so much fun. Unfortunately I wasn't able to play The Path of Radiance or its other console releases. I did play a demo for Awakening but I haven't managed to find it in stores or online at a fair price.

I'm a huge fan but due to some.. unique circumstances, I haven't been able to play most of the games although I do hope I will at some point. My brother got me Three Houses as a gift a month ago, and I've been spending so many hours on it, ha ha! I decided to do my first playthrough on normal (and classic) but it seems that I should've picked hard instead. I'm really looking forward to maddening mode!

I wanted to ask you, why was there controversy over Fates? I think it looks like a solid game as well as Echoes. I also noticed that in Smash, Corrin seems to be hated? I know that hating Fire Emblem comes "naturally" to Smash fans but what gives?

@MarioLover92 Same. I always do a 100% playthrough, even as a kid in Super Mario Bros. 3! I haven't gotten every Power Moon in Odyssey but I have beat the game three times! I've beaten it again every summer, so I've decided to beat it a fourth time this year. I always get a kick out of playing Mario games, so I just go ahead and play when I can. Right now I'm busy with Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but once I'm done with it I'll be playing Super Mario Galaxy again. It's a shame that the boss fight(s) is easy but as long as its fun, I guess I don't mind too much.

Say! I'm pretty curious, what's your favorite Mario Party title? Mine's Mario Party 6 on the GCN

@Tyranexx Oh yeah I've heard of Unity, I'd like to get some hands-on time with that at some point. I'm fairly decent as a programmer but sometimes I can get pretty overwhelmed with the amount of code I gotta write, lol. I find that I'm quite a bit better at the art stuff, but I still have my copy of Visual Studio so I may screw around with that. Maybe I'll make a text adventure game with C++ or something. IIRC, Shovel Knight was made in Unity 3D as well, and that was pretty much made as an NES-styled game.

Ah okay, and yeah I only played mini golf in real life as well, which was pretty fun but I'm not the greatest at it. I never played real golf, lol - the sports I've played IRL were baseball, soccer, and tennis. There's not too much sports games in general that I'd dig, aside from examples like Wii Sports and a good chunk of the Mario sports games. Those sophisticated sports sims and stuff like Madden, not my cup of tea.

I didn't play too much of the Xbox 360, but I did play a few games on it like Hexic HD (which was built in), Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, and yes...Sonic 06. Was considering games like Halo 3 and Kameo: Elements of Power, but just didn't get them. There was also a demo disc I had for my 360. Part of the reason why I didn't play much of the 360 was because I was quite into the DS at the time - I played a whole lotta Mario Kart DS back then, lol. I was starting to get into the Mega Man series as well. I've heard of Oblivion and Assassin's Creed at the time, though I didn't think I would be into them.

@Heavyarms55 Yeah, agreed. It's why I'm grateful for keeping the GameCube games that I've always had.

@Fujimoto-San Yeah, challenge isn't really a priority for me when I play Mario games. As long as I have fun with them, that is all that matters. Mario Party 6 is also my favorite one! Love its boards and the day-and-night feature, and many of the minigames are good fun.

Yeah, I wasn't really a fan of all the monastery stuff, for instance, @Tyranexx.... So, I never did much of that See how it goes & if there's anything more specific you want to ask?

i keep everything in box, if i get copies/doubles i may open one...may...lol
ill never open those white or red golden axe skeletons thats for sure.
big trouble in little china...have you paid yer dues jack?
the check is in the mail.

thanks, its really simple and few tbh.
im very picky, always looking for that one green skeleton that meets my standards. theres like 2 im after for sure right now

@Fujimoto-San The last game I 100% was crash 1, I have yet to do odyssey as well, I'm doing it pretty slowly, as well as Paper Mario OGK.

@kkslider5552000 I also saw them do it to Bob-omb battlefield as well LOL.

I beat Bioshock 2 and my reward was choppy, completely silent, ending sequence.

Very avant-garde.

@Eel You got the bad ending or the happy one? Come to think of it there were 6 endings to that game. I played Bioshock 2 only 2 times.

@Zuljaras I went for the best one. From what I know, the endings are mostly just three, with slight variations depending on a few things.

@Tyranexx There's been some new regulations regarding COVID, and vaccinations. First, vaccines for minors have been legalised, meaning many people can now get the shot, helping our defence against this virus. But this is at least partly because after Eid al-Fitr, new regs were put in, that basically prohibited people from doing... well... anything, if they weren't vaccinated. In Saudi Arabia it's even worse, because that country is very devout, and I mean very devout. If you aren't vaccinated you won't be allowed to go to mosques. So this is massive.

Glad to hear you're starting to get back into things! I don't know specifically how IL has been doing but from your account it's gotten good enough for D&D! I also doubt the "normal" people have been craving, will ever arrive, because some people, like extreme recluses, would probably prefer the isolation. I'm mixed about it, I'm a person that's in both frames of mind, while I wouldn't say no to going out and such I also like being at home. Going out only when you want to means you have very focused outings.

Thanks for the kind words, it's very much appreciated! Hopefully none of the tracks I've put bore you, I had a lot of fun making them. Tal Tal Heights is a great song, it sounds very good originally, in the 2019 remake, and, arguably, in my own arrangement. An important thing when making an arrangement is making sure the entire audio spectrum is used, so you don't have a feeling of hollow-ness when listening with headphones. But yeah! Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Coding takes a lot of skill and experience so forging a career out of it is no mean feat. The most in-depth experience I have with coding and robotics... Arduinos and Scratch. Embarrassing, yes, but true. I love exploring various tech, reading about it and seeing it, but in terms of building stuff, and coding, it's something I'd best leave to people of competence !

If I was more gullible and unaware of my true aptitude (lack thereof) for coding I'd happily buy Game Builder Garage, which I'm guessing was repurposed Labo software. It looks, simply put, insane, and the potential for this tool is frightening. I'd guess that your coding background makes you better suited to get it then? Of course one's passion for game design is important and for me while I can analyse it to the ends of the earth I can't replicate it for the love of God.

Since you know about these scenes I'll add my two cents, while being vague for potential readers. I hope Square takes the chance to re-imagine the entire story of Final Fantasy VII, but I don't want them to ruin the story. They have the chance to execute this idea brilliantly but they also have the chance to completely rewrite the game. I'd love it either way. The potential is great and I feel like Square couldn't have started in a better position with the Remake project.

I can't remember how much I died when I played through Breath of the Wild back in 2017, but I doubt I died little. I do remember the trials of Demon's Souls, but it's hardly a fair comparison between a Zelda game and a game... engineered for the specific purpose of making Sony more money off broken controllers and televisions. I love the difficulty scaling in BotW but it gets frustratingly easy very quickly. Sometimes even Master Mode feels like a farcical, especially after leaving the Great Plateau. The whole thing's great with the Lynel patrolling the area, but the floating platforms can give you stupidly powerful loot.

There are some points in time, like September 3, 2020, where I'd rather take a fan remake over what Nintendo offers in terms of legacy content and remakes. Some of the fan work put out is amazing, and it would be easy for Nintendo to sign the developer with a royalty / commission payment, with every copy sold, in exchange for working on a Switch port of the remake, or handing it over to a Nintendo team to finish. Instead they nerf them, because at times it puts them to shame.

This'll make me look silly but the only instance in which I would be less likely to buy Ocarina or Majora on Switch, is if they do what they did to Mario 64; just change nothing. I have a fully working 3DS so it's easy not to give in.

@Fujimoto-San Fates had 2 things that certain groups of people get really butthurt over.

The first is fan service. Some people get almost irrationally angry about that kind of thing.

The second is that they released the different routes as different versions. Think Pokemon. Only the different versions are actually different. And then released a 3rd route as DLC.

I can't speak on why people might hate Corrin in Smash beyond just the usual backlash that Fire Emblem gets from Smash fans. Perhaps some players find Corrin OP or too weak of a fighter.

Fighting games never hold my interest for long so I never got into Smash enough to know the "meta".

The used copy of Wario Ware Inc. I bought off ebay last year finally came in the mail today! And wow, whoever had it before, they unlocked everything, including Pyoro 2.

That takes dedication. I won't be deleting the save file.

@bimmy-lee Well, if memory serves ME right, you could actually be on to something, concerning Game of Death. I do believe that there have been some re-edits, or Director's Cut versions, if you will. And there's even a bootleg or possibly some bootlegs with Bruce Lee stand-ins. Heck, there's even Game of Death 2, which is completely made with a stand-in/Bruce Lee wannabe. Obviously, the martial arts in that movie pales in comparison to the original, but apparently, there was a market for a sequel, back in the day. Or at least: the company who made it, thought so.

@Heavyarms55 I see. That must be why I've seen so many Fire Emblem games with different titles and colors online. I thought they were fan made but.. I guess not. Unless its excessive I usually don't have a problem with fan service. Thanks for clearing that up!