3DS Catch-all

I like that dedicated handhelds are underpowered because it keeps development costs down which allows for developers to take risks as they don't have to reach astronomical sales to break even. Also, developers can't simply dazzle their audience with graphics and need to concentrate on design and mechanics.

Spoiler:

Both these thoughts are nonsensical. Just because there is power doesn't mean developers have to act irresponsibly with their budget. And you can have good graphics along with solid design and mechanics. Still, I'm going to continue viewing these as a plus for dedicated handheld gaming

I think it's a plus. That's kind of what I was getting at earlier. 2D is doing just fine. We know this because of the popularity of not only handheld games, but games on PSN and XBLA. 2D gaming is fine. My worry is that companies will feel like they need to use the power of the 3DS and Vita to push polygonal games. This is happening on the Vita right now and while I enjoy console games on the go I don't want to lose 2D games in the process.

I bought Liberation Maiden last night, and am really enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Kid Icarus, a bit of Starfox, and a bit of the more shooty bits of Zone Of The Enders, wrapped up in an insane anime wrapper.

Opening movie spoilers:

Spoiler:

New Japan is invaded, so they elect a teenaged girl President. Her inauguration seems to involve clambering into a giant mech so that she can shoot the crap out of a ludicrous number of bad guys,

It's very fast, with a weapon system that shares energy with shields, so you have to keep dodging around the joint to let things recharge. Thankfully, it is so quick that it doesn't disrupt the flow of combat. The levels are free roaming, and holding LB lets you strafe. Boss battles are reminiscent of the arena missions on later Starfox games, with a more limited field of play, but strafing is automatic for these.

Double posting for Japanese madness

Reposting here: So due to an influx of Vita games, DSGamer has noted he may not be able to get to Radiant Historia for a while if I send it his way.

As such, I'm opening up the chance for someone to request it. I'll ship it to you free unless the shipping costs are ridiculous. I like the game, but I imagine it will end up collecting dust on my shelf as I get new games and play them. It's not an easy game to go back and replay unless you have 30 hours or more to dedicate.

So in the effort of finding it a good home, I'm willing to pass it off to someone that hasn't played it. As this is an Atlus game I wouldn't be surprised if it's rare by now and possibly expensive to get from someone. I figure I may as well send it to someone that wants to play it, giving it some good use and exposing people to what is a good game.

For those curious, here is my "review" of the game.

spider_j wrote:

I bought Liberation Maiden last night, and am really enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Kid Icarus, a bit of Starfox, and a bit of the more shooty bits of Zone Of The Enders, wrapped up in an insane anime wrapper.

Oh, you young folk, this is more of an Omega Boost-lite. Still looks like fun though, and if they had more good anime fight clips, I'd buy it for that if it were cheap enough.
(I almost beat it, or did I completely beat it, can't remember, I know I made it to the final boss though. re: Omega Boost)

Thanks for posting, I never would have known about Liberation Maiden otherwise.

RolandofGilead wrote:
spider_j wrote:

I bought Liberation Maiden last night, and am really enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Kid Icarus, a bit of Starfox, and a bit of the more shooty bits of Zone Of The Enders, wrapped up in an insane anime wrapper.

Oh, you young folk, this is more of an Omega Boost-lite. Still looks like fun though, and if they had more good anime fight clips, I'd buy it for that if it were cheap enough.
(I almost beat it, or did I completely beat it, can't remember, I know I made it to the final boss though. re: Omega Boost)

Thanks for posting, I never would have known about Liberation Maiden otherwise.

I'm not young, I have just never heard of Omega Boost!

Hopefully they'll patch it.

WARNING: Severe bug corrupts save data in 3DS version Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.

In this Neogaf thread, players report that a crash occurs when saving in "PEC" or "Crew's Quarters" puzzle rooms (possibly more). Save file is corrupted and progress is lost. More details regarding the location of these areas are in the thread. OP recommends not saving in any puzzle room just to be safe. This bug was not seen on the Vita version.

From what I've read, the bug also exists in the Japanese version and wasn't patched out before being released overseas. This is highly disappointing since I was planning to buy the 3DS version in the future. :/

EDIT: As I read the thread, there are other bugs that kick players out of the game or force players to restart the system without corrupting save data. The "PEC" room appears to be broken as players have a chance of crashing during gameplay. A head's up for anyone who owns it.

Random thing: my save game in Dragon Quest IX puts me at 29 hours; the system's gameplay log puts me at 24 hours. I've seen the log with higher times but never lower ones. I wonder what happened.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Random thing: my save game in Dragon Quest IX puts me at 29 hours; the system's gameplay log puts me at 24 hours. I've seen the log with higher times but never lower ones. I wonder what happened.

Have you died and had to play some sections over? That's the main source of discrepancy in my experience, although 5/29 hours is huge.

Edit: Dur, wrong thread. /facepalm

SixteenBlue wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Random thing: my save game in Dragon Quest IX puts me at 29 hours; the system's gameplay log puts me at 24 hours. I've seen the log with higher times but never lower ones. I wonder what happened.

Have you died and had to play some sections over? That's the main source of discrepancy in my experience, although 5/29 hours is huge.

That would make sense if the system clock was ahead of the in-game clock, but it's the other way around. The in-game clock is ahead of the system clock.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Random thing: my save game in Dragon Quest IX puts me at 29 hours; the system's gameplay log puts me at 24 hours. I've seen the log with higher times but never lower ones. I wonder what happened.

Have you died and had to play some sections over? That's the main source of discrepancy in my experience, although 5/29 hours is huge.

That would make sense if the system clock was ahead of the in-game clock, but it's the other way around. The in-game clock is ahead of the system clock.

Yup, I read it wrong.

Huh.

There's a demo up in the eShop for Epic Mickey. It was also $30 to pre-order last I saw on Amazon.

Oh snap, Paper Mario is tomorrow :O

Paper Mario was indeed available for purchase from the eShop right at midnight (ET, local time).

merphle wrote:

Paper Mario was indeed available for purchase from the eShop right at midnight (ET, local time).

Hmm, I didn't/don't see it. Not a big deal as I want to buy retail, but I was curious if they'd get it up as advertised.

Edit: showed up when I searched for it, but not in the new releases list or when I filtered by full retail games.

Let us know how it is Merphle >.> I'm wasn't expecting the aggregate score to be below an 80, but it's sitting around 78 right now.

I heard word that this is another Paper Mario that isn't like Thousand Year Door, so you could have a lot of people once more complaining about how they wanted a proper Thousand Year Door sequel again. This is just a guess, though. I haven't read any of the reviews myself.

The complaints I've seen stem from the game being a genre mashup that would frustrate fans of either genre. They posit that people in it for the puzzling will be frustrated by the frequent combat breaks (while also noting that combat is pretty unavoidable, which makes me question), and people looking for an RPG will find those elements half-baked.

The writing and charm are getting raves, though.

I only played for about 20 minutes last night (basically up until the first point where it saved, just past the opening area) because I was dead tired. I should have another few hours under my belt today. Historically I've really enjoyed combat in Paper Mario games, so as long as it's not approaching "walking through foothills in Dragon Warrior 1" levels of frequent combat breaks, I think I won't mind it. Also, I'm very forgiving of many things about the PM franchise (and other franchises) if they can deliver on those latter points you mentioned, Blind_Evil.

I'd been under the impression that it was more like the earlier, RPG Paper Marios - but it sounds like that isn't as much the case, which is a shame. That said, I was disappointed by Super Paper Mario for the same reason, but enjoyed it nonetheless, so will probably take the plunge anyhow.

It seems like the Mario/Luigi Super Star Saga games are where the Mario RPGs will live from here on out (Bower's Inside Story was fantastic), which is ok I guess, but I wanted THAT game today. Alas, first world problems.

Super Paper Mario is sadly underrated and I like that they're trying different things with the franchise, even though I'd be all over a Paper Mario just like Thousand-Year Door too.

Will be purchasing this today if I can find it.

So at this point can we just acknowledge that 1000 Year Door isn't the prototype to base all Paper Mario games off?

If it were, I bet people would complain that Nintendo just churns out the same games every system too. They can't win.

Giving Super Paper Mario a second chance has taught me to enjoy their franchise experiments a bit more. Likewise, finding Bowser's Inside Story to be a bit bland and boring has taught me that what I might really be wanting isn't another Mario RPG but rather just a replay of The Thousand-Year Door.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Giving Super Paper Mario a second chance has taught me to enjoy their franchise experiments a bit more. Likewise, finding Bowser's Inside Story to be a bit bland and boring has taught me that what I might really be wanting isn't another Mario RPG but rather just a replay of The Thousand-Year Door.

Yeah. I burned out on Bowser's Inside Story as well. I found myself thinking that if I wanted to play Superstar Saga (my original favorite Mario RPG) that I'd just go play Superstar Saga again. Otherwise I wanted something new.

SixteenBlue wrote:

So at this point can we just acknowledge that 1000 Year Door isn't the prototype to base all Paper Mario games off?

If it were, I bet people would complain that Nintendo just churns out the same games every system too. They can't win.

My only disappointment is that I thought we were getting 1000 Year Door. I never played the original and was happy to play a portable version of that game.

Just picked Paper Mario up but I won't get to play much tonight. Hopefully I can get some good time in tomorrow.

I had heard the Super Paper Mario comparisons too, so I'm holding off on this one for now. Will wait for some definitive impressions from trusted sources in this thread. =)

I thought SPM was boring, and I don't like *any* of the Mario & Luigi games. They just feel too stripped down RPG-wise, and I always find the puzzles super tedious. Got a sinking feeling this may not be for me.

DSGamer wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Giving Super Paper Mario a second chance has taught me to enjoy their franchise experiments a bit more. Likewise, finding Bowser's Inside Story to be a bit bland and boring has taught me that what I might really be wanting isn't another Mario RPG but rather just a replay of The Thousand-Year Door.

Yeah. I burned out on Bowser's Inside Story as well. I found myself thinking that if I wanted to play Superstar Saga (my original favorite Mario RPG) that I'd just go play Superstar Saga again. Otherwise I wanted something new.

SixteenBlue wrote:

So at this point can we just acknowledge that 1000 Year Door isn't the prototype to base all Paper Mario games off?

If it were, I bet people would complain that Nintendo just churns out the same games every system too. They can't win.

My only disappointment is that I thought we were getting 1000 Year Door. I never played the original and was happy to play a portable version of that game.

Yeah that would be disappointing.