3DS Catch-all

Aw man, no stores here had it in stock yesterday. Will try again today.

MrAndrewJ wrote:

So, I was excited about Code of Princess and picked up my pre-order during lunch. This is different.

I want to feel annoyed that I'll be grinding again, but it's gorgeous and charming. One of the Cut Scenes might even be one of my most memorable gaming moments this year after only a few levels. But I'm going to be grinding again.

My one online co-op was kind of laggy and mismatched, too. But, again, it was only the one match so far.

How is the combat? Is there a game you can compare it to?

I've yet to figure out the pattern in whether Amazon is going to insist on a signature-required-delivery or not. So mine is awaiting another delivery attempt which will take place while I'm at work, because naturally the most effective time to catch people at home to sign for packages is during the damn workday.

It makes me wonder how much fuel is wasted driving delivery trucks around every day for packages that have very little real chance of delivery.

It also annoys me that you can't simply call a local UPS office anymore, you have to call their crappy global number and put in a request to be contacted that may or may not get followed up, and by then it's too late to stop them from putting the package out to deliver again.

Blech. Stupid UPS.

I've never needed to sign for an item from Amazon.

Does Code of Princess have a demo out on the eShop? I'd like to try before I buy.

Combat is kind of typical side scrolling beat em up with special moves that require magic points instead of bizarre button combinations. Levels are very short and more appropriately treated like missions. You gain xp after finishing missions and choose which attributes to increase.

I'm playing a lot as Zozo so far. She is a slow fighter but has devastating special moves that use a lot Of magic points. I can get near an enemy and press Y to target that bad guy. Then my ranged attacks will seek that enemy out from a distance. If another enemy walks between Zozo and my target then the ranged attack will hit that enemy instead. Do I use this or work around it? Strategy comes into pay here in odd ways.

These are still early impressions, too.

So it really does feel like a mix of street fighter, beat em up and rpg. It's Atlus and quirky like that.

MrAndrewJ wrote:

Combat is kind of typical side scrolling beat em up with special moves that require magic points instead of bizarre button combinations. Levels are very short and more appropriately treated like missions. You gain xp after finishing missions and choose which attributes to increase.

The bolded are two things that greatly appeal to me. I never learn crazy ass combo moves in games (combat is about reflexes and quick-thinking, why would I want to put that much thought into it?), and the ability to make some progress whether I have five or fifty minutes to play is important.

I'll keep an eye open for a price drop. I sadly cannot grab it right now. I won't even be grabbing Paper Mario when it comes out.

MrAndrewJ wrote:

Combat is kind of typical side scrolling beat em up with special moves that require magic points instead of bizarre button combinations. Levels are very short and more appropriately treated like missions. You gain xp after finishing missions and choose which attributes to increase.

I'm playing a lot as Zozo so far. She is a slow fighter but has devastating special moves that use a lot Of magic points. I can get near an enemy and press Y to target that bad guy. Then my ranged attacks will seek that enemy out from a distance. If another enemy walks between Zozo and my target then the ranged attack will hit that enemy instead. Do I use this or work around it? Strategy comes into pay here in odd ways.

These are still early impressions, too.

So it really does feel like a mix of street fighter, beat em up and rpg. It's Atlus and quirky like that.

Oh snap!

I ordered a decal from Etsy. My 3DS XL looks sickkkkk

IMAGE(http://i.minus.com/ikmtWtoDIT9Rp.jpg)

I'd want that decal flipped. When it's open it'll look like it's upside-down.

Minarchist wrote:

I'd want that decal flipped. When it's open it'll look like it's upside-down.

I thought about it but I don't really bring this thing out, the decal is really just to stroke my epeen.

It was announced today that Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion will be a simultaneous eShop/retail release. Good to see third parties starting to get onboard with that.

ccesarano wrote:

I never learn crazy ass combo moves in games (combat is about reflexes and quick-thinking, why would I want to put that much thought into it?), and the ability to make some progress whether I have five or fifty minutes to play is important.

I got to thinking about this while working. There's a a timer set to about 20 minutes, I think, for every level. It could be that some of the later levels will push that limit. I'll try to comment about this more closer to the end of the game.

I originally wrote this up in the Weekend thread, but decided it would be better here. I think I made a catch-all for the game, so I'll put more in-depth thoughts on there later.

Just beat Aliens: Infestation. It's a decent effort to fuse the Aliens franchise with a Metroidvania style, but the equipment just doesn't lend itself as well to the Metroidvania style. It's basically a lot of wandering around, and once you start to get the special items to unlock certain passages it seems a bit silly to find those gateways again later on.

Not nearly as well crafted as a Metroid or even Shadow Complex, basically, but it's a pretty good game nonetheless. What I enjoyed most was the realization that a lot of the dialogue changes based on which marine you are currently using. Not as noticeable at the start, but one of the characters at the end has enough of a gimmick that I was able to discern the difference, load an older save and go through the cut-scene with a separate character to confirm the difference.

Good game.

So 17 hours later, I finally got all the Star Coins and beat the normal worlds in New Super Mario Bros. 2. I still need to play through Star World and collect all the Moon Coins there.

If you're curious:

Spoiler:

Yes, you will spend every Star Coin to unlock all the bonus levels and mushroom houses. You'll have what looks like 9 left over, but those unlock a mushroom house in Star World

Really digging this one the deeper into it I get.

Wow. The 3DS XL plays DS games really well. I'm not sure how they do it, but the picture looks almost identical to the DSi XL. I picked up Advance Wars (first real DS game on the 3DS XL) and it looks perfect. I'm curious what the technical reason for this would be.

Hrm, I'll have to try that then. I've still been using my DSi XL to play DS games and only playing 3DS-specific games on the 3DS XL. Thanks for the comment DSG, I'd be happy to consolidate to the one handheld if it works that well.

Yeah, in theory it should still be upscaling to around 1.5 or whatever the ratio of the screen resolutions of the two systems is. But, glad to hear they've improved that.

Code of Princess has been out nearly a week, and we've only had 3 posts about it? Come on people! Where are the impressions? The love/hate?

ahrezmendi wrote:

Code of Princess has been out nearly a week, and we've only had 3 posts about it? Come on people! Where are the impressions? The love/hate?

Couldn't afford it this month. Sorry. :/

DSGamer wrote:

Wow. The 3DS XL plays DS games really well. I'm not sure how they do it, but the picture looks almost identical to the DSi XL. I picked up Advance Wars (first real DS game on the 3DS XL) and it looks perfect. I'm curious what the technical reason for this would be.

The 3DS XL may be defaulted to display DS games at a 1:1 pixel ratio by using less screen space. The original 3DS can display at 1:1 but it has to be changed in the settings and the picture would be tiny. On the XL, the screens are larger so the unused space isn't as much of an issue when displaying 1:1.

BNice wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Wow. The 3DS XL plays DS games really well. I'm not sure how they do it, but the picture looks almost identical to the DSi XL. I picked up Advance Wars (first real DS game on the 3DS XL) and it looks perfect. I'm curious what the technical reason for this would be.

The 3DS XL may be defaulted to display DS games at a 1:1 pixel ratio by using less screen space. The original 3DS can display at 1:1 but it has to be changed in the settings and the picture would be tiny. On the XL, the screens are larger so the unused space isn't as much of an issue when displaying 1:1.

Thanks for the explanation, guys. I didn't even play in 1:1, though. Even in full screen I thought it looked excellent. More pixelated games like games with polygons, something like DQ IX may not look as good. I can't confirm that. But Advance Wars looked just as good as Advance Wars on the DSi XL to me.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Code of Princess has been out nearly a week, and we've only had 3 posts about it? Come on people! Where are the impressions? The love/hate?

Isn't it a 2D brawler? As soon as I heard that my interest level plummeted. I get bored with those games easiler.

I'm really enjoying Code of Princess. Here are a few thoughts:

It's been called a spiritual successor to Guardian Heroes which is fairly accurate (in a good way). The combat system is surprisingly deep, graphics and movements are fluid and feel pretty good. Each mission is also perfectly bite sized; each mission is really only a few minutes, so it's easy to knock one out whenever you have the time. The characters are pretty diverse in style, although it's easy to underlevel one if you don't use them.

There is both co-op and vs online MP, but I haven't tried either.

BNice wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Wow. The 3DS XL plays DS games really well. I'm not sure how they do it, but the picture looks almost identical to the DSi XL. I picked up Advance Wars (first real DS game on the 3DS XL) and it looks perfect. I'm curious what the technical reason for this would be.

The 3DS XL may be defaulted to display DS games at a 1:1 pixel ratio by using less screen space. The original 3DS can display at 1:1 but it has to be changed in the settings and the picture would be tiny. On the XL, the screens are larger so the unused space isn't as much of an issue when displaying 1:1.

Ah, ok; I was thinking it was "full" screen and that they had simply improved the scaling algorithm.

However, yes, even at 1:1 ratio DS games should look pretty solid on the 3DS XL!

DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

I'm really enjoying Code of Princess. Here are a few thoughts:

It's been called a spiritual successor to Guardian Heroes which is fairly accurate (in a good way). The combat system is surprisingly deep, graphics and movements are fluid and feel pretty good. Each mission is also perfectly bite sized; each mission is really only a few minutes, so it's easy to knock one out whenever you have the time. The characters are pretty diverse in style, although it's easy to underlevel one if you don't use them.

There is both co-op and vs online MP, but I haven't tried either.

Pretty much this. So far, so good. I find the combat animations a little choppy, but once you get into the rhythm of the game, it's actually not so bad, since it's not a particularly fast-paced battle system. I've been working through the story mode with Zozo (mage-type shooty character) and enjoying it so far.

On Oct. 25th (or 18th in Europe), Mutant Mudds will be getting the 20 bonus levels included with the PC version as a free upgrade.

I haven't played the bonus levels, but the base game is highly recommended for fans of old school platformers.

I wish Code of Princess had a practice mode, where I could just try out combos. It's not bad for lacking it, but the result is I'm mostly just mashing out simple combos with Solange since I don't have a safe area to practice in.

I'm really enjoying the game, the first thing it reminded me of was Disgaea. It doesn't take itself seriously in the same way as Disgaea, and that's a really good thing. I also enjoy the bite-sized missions, it makes it really easy to know how much I can do in a break/commute.

I would like to try some co-op with folks some time, but I don't even have the option open yet (does that unlock later or something?) Add me to friends, and once I get it we can stomp online sometime.

Online co-op was open for me right away. The first screen has four options:

Single Play
Local Play
Internet Play
Options

It seems anyone can start a password protected lobby from there.

Huh, I don't know how I missed that. Thanks!

No problem!

I don't have any friends and was slightly intimidated by the manual, so I haven't looked to see if it uses friend codes. It seems more like a typical lobby system.

Anyone planning to get the new Zero Escape game this week?