blackice85

@JLPick I hadn't heard about it either at the time, but that was likely due to it being only released in Japan, so gaming magazines probably gave it little or no mention.

It's a shame how the whole thing turned out though, the PC Engine was a great system.

@Yorumi Yeah I was convinced it wouldn't be changed, since the original Japanese game specifically used an English term in both text and spoken dialogue. Like you said, I could see if it were some Japanese term that didn't have a good translation in English, but doll broadly speaking just means a human shaped figure.

@Smashy_Link I don't think it's terrible myself, but I've just been thinking of them as dolls for a while now, hard to undue a term like that in my head.

@Nintenjoe64 I doubt that lol, the story takes place in 2054, and the survivors arrive on a ship specifically bearing the US flag. That actually does seem a bit too soon to develop that kind of technology, I wonder if they stole or were given tech from one of the alien races that attacked?

@Nintenjoe64 I'd like some variety too, but at least American sounding accents would make sense for this game, since most of the refugees were likely American themselves.

@abbyhitter It's tricky, I'm anxious to know more about how the game plays and what weapons and abilities there are etc, but I'd rather not spoil the story too much. Damn I hope we get this sometime this summer.

@IceClimbers Yeah, and I don't necessarily expect them to 100% complete a game or anything, I just don't like scores in general because often people will rush to judge it without understanding it. It's one of the reasons some developers hate metacritic. You're right that it should be apparent fairly quickly whether the game is good or not though.

For me, being that I'm familiar with the previous game and having seen the large amount of footage that they've shared, I don't think there's anything that will prevent me from loving the game to pieces, even if it has some things that bother me. It just looks too good.

@Crimzonlogic Personally, I think the shorter and/or simpler a game is, the easier it is to get a good score if it does everything right. I mean, how do you even accurately score a game when it takes so many hours to see it in it's entirety? And if just a few things out of all those dozens or hundreds of hours was bad, is that enough to knock whole points off a possible score of ten?

I just don't think you can boil down games this big to a score like that. That might have worked back in the NES/SNES era, but games are a lot longer and more complex now.

@R_Champ IGN of Japan, lol I'm gonna steal that

@Ralizah I look at reviews to get a very general idea, and in particular I try to find out what exactly they dislike, as sometimes their complaints can be ridiculous (this goes for other products too).

But when it's just a number? Not that helpful, not until you read why, or as you did, compare it to other games they scored that you're familiar with to get an idea of what they consider to be good.

@JaxonH I was thinking the same, those are the bad points? And they really complained about cutscenes? FFXIII, which scored a 39, had like 9+ hours worth, so they can't dislike them that much lol.

@Goob Exactly. It was obviously pre-rendered and not using the game engine. This isn't a downgrade at all, and it's an apples to oranges comparison.

@Cloud02 Agreed, I don't like how newer entries reduced the number of laps.

@Kroisos I know right? I was always flush with disposable income as a child >.>;

@Kirk Oh I didn't know. I don't know if those magazines were available in the UK or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone has scans of them around somewhere.

@Kirk Agreed. If you still have or ever get a hold of old gaming magazines like Game Players or Electronic Gaming Monthly, give them a read. It's great reading the old articles and advertisements, and how each company hypes the new games and tech for the time. Some of it is just downright hilarious too, especially in hindsight of course.

Not a lot of new info but I always love reading and listening about this. It was definitely one of the most interesting times in gaming for me.

@Captain_Gonru Yeah doll does have some cultural connotations for many of us. It's not the term I would have chosen, but personally I don't think they're going to change it.

@Captain_Gonru I'm not so sure. Notice that the characters are actually speaking the word 'doll' as well as being written in English amongst the kanji, it's not a Japanese word that we've translated to mean 'doll'. This was a deliberate choice on their part, they specifically chose an English term to use. They had to know what the word meant, and I don't find it wholly inappropriate myself given the word's actual definition.

I like that it's got some depth too, like a diorama.

@ottospooky That's what I'm expecting. They seem to get away with this more in Japan, we may luck out and just get the definitive edition for a bit more.

I actually did fairly well getting 3 stars for 150cc, but this is going to take some real practice for me.

@dkxcalibur The manga it's based off of is good too of course, if you're into those.

@VeeFlamesNL Yeah they had several ideas that have only proved viable recently. Sometimes the technology just isn't there, or it's far too costly for consumer usage.

@DarthNocturnal I'd prefer if they'd just port Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X, which was the definitive version of Phantasia, as well as a remake of its sequel. Even if they did though, that'd likely stay on Sony's systems.

@DiscoGentleman Yeah they've made it pretty clear that they're sticking with Sony, so I'm not holding my breath, though we may get an odd remake now and then like with Abyss on 3DS.

@Nintendian They're referring to system stability, which is often Nintendo speak for patching out software hacks.

@River3636 Yeah sadly it's a pretty short game once you know where to go and what to get. Even when I'm not trying to rush it's rarely more than 4-5 hours.

@CashGunsChaos Well I'd expect to pay about ~20 for something like this in a retail store, so it's not that out of line. Shipping a small parcel isn't free.

@Spartacus3765 I can't imagine they would, the port is in a different spot.

Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll find that they were secretly working on it all along, like with Type-0.

@Artwark From what I've seen so far, they're not that easy to trigger accidentally. The effects can be pretty significant though.

@EmmatheBest I think OOT and MM are just glitchy in general, and since these were ported and not completely rewritten from scratch, there's probably lots of old code that can cause issues.

@Captain_Gonru
Yeah I don't want to be a party pooper either, but I agree. I mean it's amazing in it's own right, but it's nigh impossible to beat this without the tool assist. I'm more impressed when actual players can beat difficult levels.

@JimLad

The problem is, we're not the last generation of gamers. There are lots of people who weren't even born when some of these games were released, and they're a lot less likely to play them as a result. If they're released for a current system, not only can older players enjoy the improvements made to old titles, but newer players get to experience a game they might not play otherwise.

I agree that in some cases it seems like a remake or HD remaster comes a little too soon, but when it's been 10+ years I really don't see a problem.

@JoeyJoey95

If they did that I'd even be happy to prepay for the order, rather than charging when it ships, so that they have the necessary funds. I just hate the way it is currently.

Right now it favors people who can watch the retail websites like hawks, and those who might be fans and actually want to own the game miss the opportunity.

@MrGawain

Yeah, and I think it can be difficult for them to gauge the true interest in some products. Just because it's hyped on the Internet doesn't mean it'll translate to sales. After all, many gamers don't visit gaming sites like these at all. We can be a vocal minority, so they can't base all their manufacturing decisions on what is said here.

@JoeyJoey95

I agree I think they may have cut it back a bit too much in some cases, but then again scarcity can create more demand and hype so there's that.

Personally, I think for limited items there should be a preorder period, and afterwards they manufacture the number necessary. I think this would reduce the scalping, since anyone who wants one has a better chance of getting it.

@gcunit

Pretty sure I saw combat with the dolls while in midair during one of the original videos released.

@Nicolai

Exactly, I can understand the website getting overloaded and shutting down, but getting overloaded and letting erroneous orders through? Really? Online commerce isn't brand new or anything, that kind of behavior from their system isn't acceptable.

@JaxonH

That still sounds like it's their fault though, what kind of system let's orders go through without checking remaining stock? I don't care how overloaded it is, when it gets to that point in the order process, it should halt the order if it's no good.

If this was caused by it getting overloaded, then their system needs an overhaul, because that's just unacceptable. It shouldn't skip steps just because there are more orders going in than usual.

Now if Nintendo shifted stock like @Nicolai said, then yeah it's not their fault, but their site being overloaded is a poor excuse IMO.

@YashaStepanovic

I ordered when it first went live too and I still got cancelled, it's BS and I'm pissed. I only ordered one and I know I would have been among the first, mine should have been one of the last to be canceled.

@DTFaux

Agreed, and I'm not buying anything from either of these jokers again if they can't handle something so simple. I would find it hard to believe that Nintendo would go and tell them after the fact that they're getting less units than what was promised, so I think it's on their end. Of course Nintendo could solve this altogether by not making so few.

@darthllama

I was one of the early orders too, so you're right it wasn't first come first served. It's just BS, apparently they don't know how to run a business.

Just got the email too, what a load of crap. Why the hell are they taking preorders of a limited quantity item if they don't know how many they'll be getting?