Comments 1,887

Re: There's Still Plenty Of Interest In Older Pokémon Games

Raylax

Not too surprising. Perhaps simply because they don't do a whole lot of changing, Pokémon games do have a timeless quality to them. FireRed is still for me the game that I can pick up and blast through for a few hours despite being nearly 10 years old. HG has that quality too, they're instantly accessible and not too grind-heavy.

Meanwhile Emerald, Platinum and all of Gen V are the ones to pick up if you want something with a bit more challenge. I neglect Ruby & Sapphire here because they're almost too hard - a dearth of trainers between gyms make for some punishing challenges and a lot of grinding - whilst Emerald remains challenging but better balanced. And Diamond and Pearl suffered from a snail-paced battle engine and surfing movement, mercifully rectified in Platinum.

Re: Review: Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue (3DS)

Raylax

@Captain_Belko @WhoBeThat @Whirlpool Haha wow, that kicked up a storm. I feel I owe an explanation: I just found it really uninteresting. It kicked off really well - that coral reef was gorgeous (and later the jellyfish part was really well done too) - and then most of the rest of the film was set against empty blue or empty green. It was Dora killed the film for me though, she was just really annoying. For the entire movie. I'd have probably enjoyed it considerably more if they'd just harpooned Dora.

The rest of the cast were forgettable too. Like, literally forgettable. I've seen this movie twice, once less than 6 months ago, and I cannot remember any of the supporting cast. I remember a stoned turtle and I think there was a shark (but that might've been a different film). And I know that there were other characters in Nemo's tank, but I cannot for the life of me remember who or what any of them were. One was a starfish I think?

And I can't remember the story either. Nemo got lost... somehow. Dora is involved for reasons unknown, and Nemo and DadNemo (what was dad's name?) reunite at the end. There were seagulls I remember being pretty funny but I don't think they were integral to the plot.

Compare to Monsters Inc that I've only seen once - when it was first out in cinemas, 12 years ago, when I was 11 - and loved it. I can still remember a decent amount of that film.

OK, perhaps 'hated' was a strong word. I just found Finding Nemo bland and it completely failed to hold my attention. I usually really enjoy Pixar and Disney CGI movies.I could watch any of the other movies all day. Well, except the Cars movies. The rest though have all been stellar.

Re: Buddy & Me Hits Kickstarter Target But Misses Wii U Stretch Goal

Raylax

@haxonberik: It only means the end of a project if they fail to meet their primary target (in which case they don't get funded and backers don't lose their money). This project did reach its target, it was the "stretch goal" (a second target after the first is reached) to get it ported to Wii U that they missed.

Re: Europe Receives Fire Emblem: Awakening Puzzle Panel

Raylax

Sweet. Yeah, the new panels take some time to take off with regards pink piece distribution. But they do get there. That's the beauty of it. I've collected the pink pieces for all of them except the last 4, but I'm only missing 3 or 4 pink pieces for the first 2 of those.
It makes it a fun decision when you StreetPass someone with them - do I take a standard blue that will finally finish off a puzzle that's been missing a piece for weeks, or do I go for the illustrious pink but leave the other unfinished for even longer?

I've been sweating over getting the final blue piece of the MK7 panel for months now D:

Re: The Story of an Abandoned Mega Man FPS, Maverick Hunter, Emerges

Raylax

See, when people complain that every other game is a generic FPS featuring lifeless, hyper-generic "I'M SUCH A DUDE" marines in battle armour, doing scripted stunts in some attempt to drain soME Rule of Cool from a reserve run dry decades previous, this is why.

Capcom nearly put Megaman in a generic FPS featuring a lifeless, hyper-generic "I'M SUCH A BAD DUDE" marine in battle armour, doing scripted stunts in some attempt to drain some Rule of Cool from a reserve run dry decades previous, and you're all cheering for it.

Think of it this way: Could you take Samus out of Metroid Prime, and have it still feel like a Metroid game? Yes. It would still have the heavy exploration bent, the puzzles, the upgrade-and-progress, the backtracking. Everything that makes Metroid Metroid is not the woman in the power suit.

Could you take Mega Man out of this and still have it feel like a Mega Man game? Hell no. It doesn't even feel like a Mega Man game as it is. Absolutely everything that makes Mega Man play like Mega Man is missing. Precision shooting / evasion? Nope, machine guns. Charming graphics? Nope, metal corridors and black mechs. Extremely limited firepower? Nope, ratattattatattattaattaata, kick in face, steal overpowered mega-rifle, vaporize anything.

Had this been posted 8 days ago I would have sworn (and prayed) that it was a clever April Fools' joke. That somebody had cleverly modded Haze and posted it on the internet. Tragically, it almost happened, and almost ruined Mega Man far more efficiently than cancelling 3 Legends ever could.

Also, frikking machine guns.

Re: New Mewtwo Form Revealed For Pokémon X & Y

Raylax

@Linkuini Jynx*

But yeah. Every gen has about the same ratio of great to stupid/unimaginative Pokémon. It has not increased as years have gone by. Gen I has Jynx, Mr Mime, Grimer ("sewage Pokémon!"), Muk ("moar sewage Pokémon!"), Voltorb ("We gave a Pokéball eyes! LOL."), Electrode ("We turned it upside down! DESIGN LOL"), Magneton (it's 3 Magnemite in proximity. They're not even fused together. What happens with 4 of them? Or just 2? Or 1000?); whilst Jigglypuff, Clefairy and Chansey look like different drafts of the same design.

Re: LucasArts Shut Down By Disney

Raylax

Quote:
"we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games"
Translation:
"we've decided to kill the company to keep the logo, that way we can put a LucasArts stamp on to any dross made on the cheap by any company; and dupe the masses into believing they're still buying a quality product from a veteran studio."

Re: Talking Point: Playing it Safe in Big-Budget Console Games is Stifling Creativity

Raylax

This is where the Wii U is really going to struggle to keep third parties on board - the Wii had limited 3rd party support, and developing games was relatively "cheap," compared to the huge budgets thrown at PS360 titles. But now the Wii U is running PS360 comparable tech: for 3rd parties looking to the next generation (PS4, X720), "porting down" or making special Wii U versions is suddenly a cost on par with current PS360 titles - really bloody expensive.

And the Nintendo community has proved, continually, that 3rd parties have little place on Nintendo's consoles. Sales are massively poorer compared to Nintendo's own 1st- and 2nd-party titles, and every vague piece of bad news is met with an astonishing level of bile and furious outcry. Nintendo can do no wrong, apparently, yet third parties are always promptly lynch mobbed should one so much as suggest that Nintendo's sinking ship is rather a large risk investment.