3DS Catch-all

Dominic Knight wrote:

Luigi's Mansion is mostly what I'm looking forward to. But I was hoping for Animal Crossing being mentioned... Ah well. Might pick up Harvest Moon since that's a franchise I haven't touched in a while.

OH DUH. I can't believe I spaced on Animal Crossing. That is obviously a hotly anticipated title for me, and I was majorly disappointed that the 3DS is region locked, because I would have picked it up in a flash when I was in Japan. If StreetPasses are to be believed, there were SO many people playing that. SO MANY. All the people.

DSGamer wrote:

I'm actually *less* interested in Fire Emblem after the demo. As I played it I couldn't help but feel like they'd traded the 2D charm and semi-serious story for a game that looks a little worse than Jeanne D'Arc and seems even sillier. I've been playing Advance Wars: Dual Strike and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon on my 3DS. Those games are great. I'd be shocked if I liked this game more. In fact, that demo made me want to just play Jeanne D'Arc instead.

I tried the demo last night too, but I'm now much more interested

I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, so I have no point of comparison in that regard. My hang ups about the visuals were much less distracting on the 3DS screen than from YouTube videos. Still not my a big fan of the 3D models, but the animations are very nice, and I really like the way they transition from 2D to 3D for attacks. It's very smooth.

The one thing I didn't like was the dumb sounds the characters would make for each line of dialogue. Text is fine, fully voiced is fine, but this approach seems annoying.

necroyeti wrote:

If StreetPasses are to be believed, there were SO many people playing that. SO MANY. All the people.

I'd believe it, last I read there are more copies of the game in Japan than Vitas

[size=6](Yes, this is an unfair comparison)[/size]

Dyni wrote:

The one thing I didn't like was the dumb sounds the characters would make for each line of dialogue. Text is fine, fully voiced is fine, but this approach seems annoying.

You can turn the story voices off in the options. Or adjust the voice volume.

And for those that were concerned about the speed of battle you can adjust battle speed, skip your battle animations, and skip enemy round visualizations entirely.

So is the new Fire Emblem still carrying on the perma-death tradition for the characters?

Minarchist wrote:

So is the new Fire Emblem still carrying on the perma-death tradition for the characters?

They added a "casual" mode without perma-death.

I loved the demo and I can't wait for the full game. It seems like everything I love about FE on my DS.

Yeah, where is Animal Crossing on that list? We're not getting it this spring? That's disappointing

Agreed, I was quite looking forward to a new Animal Crossing.

farley3k wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

So is the new Fire Emblem still carrying on the perma-death tradition for the characters?

They added a "casual" mode without perma-death.

I loved the demo and I can't wait for the full game. It seems like everything I love about FE on my DS.

Wait, what? But... I just...
At least it's a choice, 'cause the permanent death is part of what makes FE so strategically interesting. Every choice has potentially long lasting ramifications. I spend minutes (sometimes dozens of them) debating single moves at points because of it.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Wait, what? But... I just...
At least it's a choice, 'cause the permanent death is part of what makes FE so strategically interesting. Every choice has potentially long lasting ramifications. I spend minutes (sometimes dozens of them) debating single moves at points because of it.

I am torn. On one hand I agree with you, on the other I know that realistically I don't have time to play games multiple times so I want to just enjoy the game.

It's the whole Dark Souls being more accessible debate, only with a much more niche-y game.

Which is kind of strange to say.

ccesarano wrote:

It's the whole Dark Souls being more accessible debate, only with a much more niche-y game.

Which is kind of strange to say.

At least with this one it's as simple as a toggle-able menu option, so if you want to experience the original vision you still can. I certainly will.

ccesarano wrote:

It's the whole Dark Souls being more accessible debate, only with a much more niche-y game.

Or, the way I see it, inverting XCOM's iron man mode.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Per Nintendo of America, your 3DS release list through the next few months:

Retail:

  • Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan – February 26th
  • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate – March 5th

Woo hoo! More games for the pile!

eShop: (includes retail games released on eShop)
  • Bloody Vampire – January 31st
  • Ikachan – Q1
  • Guxt – Q1
  • Nano Assault EX – Q1

Bloody Vampire looks like a cute Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, you can even transform into a wolf and bat
Nano Assault EX is a remake of, plus improvements on, the original 3DS retail Nano Assault. Sorry Shin'en, I like you, but no. OTOH, I don't know off the top of my head where my Nano Assault cartridge is at the moment.
Ikachan - maybe interesting.
Guxt - previously freeware shmup, this version is in color and has better graphics, I didn't look up any other changes

Nevermind, I see.

Played the Fire Emblem: Awakening demo in full now, and I really dig it. Thematically it reminds me more of the Gamecube and Wii games, rather than the GBA games. The character models and animation in battle remind me fondly of the FFIV DS remake, but more detailed. The anime-style cutscenes are gorgeous in 3D. I'll probably turn off the weird part of the voicework that Dyni mentioned.

Still a day one purchase, thankfully. I'm glad the series has seems to have modernized in smart ways while maintaining the core of what made me like it...9 years ago now, Christ.

Yeah, I never played the Wii or GameCube versions. So I have no particular fondness for those. The game plays well. And you can indeed configure it to play fast, etc. I'm keeping my pre-order, I'm just a bit wary now.

My big question after playing the Fire Emblem demo 4-5 times is; what is up with their feet? Are they some race that looks like human but only stands on their tip toes? It looks very odd.

Played the first battle in the FE demo. Turned it off afterwards because I was already sold. Can't afford to buy it when it drops but I think it moved to the top of my list when I can.

SixteenBlue wrote:

Played the first battle in the FE demo. Turned it off afterwards because I was already sold. Can't afford to buy it when it drops but I think it moved to the top of my list when I can.

Don't wait too long. I just browsed Amazon yesterday, and all the other FE games are $60 minimum now. Who knew, good games go up in value over time.

ahrezmendi wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:

Played the first battle in the FE demo. Turned it off afterwards because I was already sold. Can't afford to buy it when it drops but I think it moved to the top of my list when I can.

Don't wait too long. I just browsed Amazon yesterday, and all the other FE games are $60 minimum now. Who knew, good games go up in value over time. ;)

I'm sitting on a copy of Radiant Dawn, waiting for it to get to Suikoden II status. It's gonna happen. Okamiden, too.

Nintendo is pushing this version a lot harder than it has with prior FE games though, so maybe the print runs will be larger. Either way, my advice to SixteenBlue is to buy it the first time you see it on sale (if you want to wait). It usually doesn't happen twice.

Blind_Evil wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:

Played the first battle in the FE demo. Turned it off afterwards because I was already sold. Can't afford to buy it when it drops but I think it moved to the top of my list when I can.

Don't wait too long. I just browsed Amazon yesterday, and all the other FE games are $60 minimum now. Who knew, good games go up in value over time. ;)

I'm sitting on a copy of Radiant Dawn, waiting for it to get to Suikoden II status. It's gonna happen. Okamiden, too.

A few days ago I might have disagreed, but Path of Radiance is already $180, so $400 for that or Radiant Dawn in 5 or 6 years might not be out of the question.

Of course, this assumes Nintendo doesn't release a digital option, that would ruin the market.

Haha, damn. I meant more $120ish, I had no idea Suikoden 2 had gotten that crazy.

Suikoden II has never had a re-release, nor a digital release, and was an extremely limited initial print run. Even Fire Emblem games don't come close to it in terms of rarity. Radiant Dawn is already $90 though, so pretty close to your mark. These are new prices though, used is lower.

Time to go download that demo, I keep forgetting and I want to play it.

I have a copy of Suikoden 2 also, but I've never thought about selling it. I don't have the original case or manual. Maybe I should unload it before they do release it on PSN >_>

Actually I do have the case and manual. Apparently I got it for $44.99 used from Gamestop.

Wow, that is all ridiculous. OK maybe this is moving up in priority even more.

I don't think Konami is going to release any Suikoden game on PSN. Fans have been petitioning for it for years, but the series has been dead since 2006's Suikoden 5 (only sold 200k copies), and the team has been disbanded since 2011.

Anyway, back on topic, one thing I've always loved about FE games is the variations of the theme music at the title screen. I've let that run through many times in a row, just listening and watching the class overview. The best was Shadow Dragon, so I'm hoping the devs can outdo themselves with Awakening.

Well Suikoden 1 is already on PSN. 2 was on the Japenese PSN if I remember right.

Suikoden 1 is indeed on PSN, I hadn't noticed it before. There's no indication of Suikoden 2 being available for sale on JPN PSN though, I might try logging into my JPN account on my PS3 to see if I can find it there. Even if it is on JPN PSN though, that hardly helps all the non-Japanese consumers who want to play it.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Suikoden 1 is indeed on PSN, I hadn't noticed it before. There's no indication of Suikoden 2 being available for sale on JPN PSN though, I might try logging into my JPN account on my PS3 to see if I can find it there. Even if it is on JPN PSN though, that hardly helps all the non-Japanese consumers who want to play it.

I think you're right, might not be a Japanese PSN release. I wonder what game I am thinking of.