Any of you bros play Ikaruga? It looks interesting and I want to try it, but I'm curious if I should get it for the Gamecube or XBLA...

Thoughts?

At 6/19/13 09:01 PM, ZJ wrote: Any of you bros play Ikaruga? It looks interesting and I want to try it, but I'm curious if I should get it for the Gamecube or XBLA...

Thoughts?

One of the best shooters ever made, don't even think twice brother.

Neither are inferior versions, opt for whichever suits you better, I'd personally go for physical.

I made an unfortunate discovery today. My GameCube has decided to only read discs some of the time. I never had this issue before but after setting it up for the first time in a few months, it decided not to read the disc. At first I thought I'd been sold a bad game, but then I realised my other games weren't always booting either.

Gave the lens a rub with a cotton bud and it seemed to fix it, but every so often it still wont boot the game. Anyone else had this issue? Read something about how the laser might need recalibrated or whatever, which means having to open this sucker up and dismantle it so that I can turn something to adjust the power of the laser or whatever. Seems like an awful lotta work.

I hate the thought of any of my consoles breaking. I take pretty good care of them all but I bought a good few of the older consoles used, so I don't know what kind of care the previous owners have given them.

Thankfully my Cube doesn't appear to be completely fucked. Still don't like knowing that it's having problems though.

You guys had any old consoles break down on you? Had much experience trying to fix up old broken consoles?

You guys had any old consoles break down on you? Had much experience trying to fix up old broken consoles?

MY PS2 broke once, I was only 6 and cried for days, then the same thing happened LAST FUCKING WEEK! The best thing to do is to just check out the inside, for my PS2, it was just the laser that needed replacing, that's probably your problem. In other news I got Sonic Colors, Rayman Origins, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, for just £25. I found that to be a massive steal for such amazing games.

Just beat Metroid on the NES. I don't think I've ever felt this exhausted from playing a video game.

At 6/17/13 10:43 PM, Elixur wrote: Placing IV so low on your list instills primal rage in me, however I'll bind my hands and teeth for the time being :)

I know it was pretty revolutionary for the series, but I have no love for the character, plot or world. Cecil, Rydia, Palum and Porom were the only ones I liked particularly.

I didn't enjoy the crystarium system in XIII at all, although strangely enough I LOVED the sphere grid in FFX. I think it comes down to freedom, since crystarium in the early game cut you off from growing in stats/abilities beyond certain points and the sphere grid was non-linear containing many loop holes (Lvl 1,2,3,4 locks) where you could by-pass large sections to reach desirable skills/magic/abilities early.

The Crystarium is definitely a lot more linear of a system than the Sphere Grid, particularly early on. That's one of my main gripes about it. It makes sense that it is because the game is so linear at the start, because the characters are split up so much different sections are geared to certain roles.

The music in XIII was great indeed. Graphically the game is VERY hard to fault. A lot of the main complaints is that certain things in the world felt unexplained, but an in-game explanation with stuff that the characters themselves know would feel forced. That's why I always refer people to the datalog usually resulting in me being told, "I don't have time to read that." which is a BS excuse.

Also the theory about Squall being in a coma for the Disc 2-4 sections of the game is a fun read, but certainly far from true haha. Funnily enough my top 3 games are all the ones that brought me to tears during the end, VIII in particular.

The romance was just so forced, stale, boring, predictable, etc
I LOVE the game, but the very thing you enjoyed the most is what turns me away.

The love story does have a few issues here and there, but I never found that it felt forced. To me it seemed like a nice progression from Rinoa being the girl Squall immediately notices in the ballroom to being his love. You can't forget that realistically speaking, although never stated directly, the story takes place over many months.

On a completely different note, one of my friends sold me his old copy of Majora's Mask for the N64. I couldn't find it for any less than £30 on Amazon and eBay, it's also very difficult to get N64 games in second hand shops these days. He sold it to me for £18 which I'm very pleased with. I was expecting to not be able to get it for less than £25 online so wahay!

Still need to finish my 100% of Ocarina of Time before I make a start though. I've left it with about 30 Gold Skulltulas to go and a couple of barriers in Ganondorf's Castle to beak down. I'm also short on three heart pieces. I might resort to looking these up if I can't get it done legitimately within the week, because I'm jonesing for a play of Majora's Mask.

At 6/20/13 09:30 AM, Dean wrote: I made an unfortunate discovery today. My GameCube has decided to only read discs some of the time.

My GC crapped out on me within less than 2 years of getting it. That was one of the reasons I was so excited when I got a Wii. I could finally play my GC games again.

You guys had any old consoles break down on you?

GC, PS1, Atari, and my first 360. I don't remember which Atari it was, though, cuz I was like 4 years old.

At 6/20/13 09:30 AM, Dean wrote:
You guys had any old consoles break down on you? Had much experience trying to fix up old broken consoles?

You NEVER want to purchase used game consoles, considering you don't know the kind of care/treatment it was forced to endure by the previous owners. That being said you can buy BRAND NEW gamecubes for under $40-50 so it's really a non-issue, I'd just suggest picking one up before they start to become really scarce. (think 5-10 years from now) In fact that goes to anyone and all consoles, if you think you'll want a ps2/gamecube/xbox sometime in the next 10 years or so I'd think of picking one up now and saving yourself the wallet pain later on down the road.

Sometimes you're just sold a faulty unit, other times things happen to it that you have no control over, (I remember I was at work one day and my cousins who were visiting bumped my PS2 off my desk) and a lot of the time it means it's ends by your own hand. When you purchase a system it's basically just like gambling, you don't know how long until the product expires, so you just gotta roll with the punches. With your current predicament, I'd say your laser that reads the disks either wore out or become misaligned. I know there are places that offer hardware fixes like this and charge fairly minor in relation to the trouble of doing it yourself and potentially fucking the thing up, but I'm unsure if such is available in your area.

I've been extremely lucky in my gaming life and I ALWAYS treat my video games/consoles like they're a Serbian prince on vacation, so for that I'm grateful. As a young child I remember my Nintendo and Genesis crapping out on me after only a year, so I guess that counts. My friends though have made some poor decisions/purchases in regards to the XBox 360 at launch, but I've always been a Playstation guy. However, when it comes to gaming peripherals (controllers, memory cards, rumble paks, etc I've had some true horror stories.

NEVER BUY ANYTHING MADCATZ

I remember this company named Pelican something or another and their shit always functioned perfectly, sadly though I think they went out of business.

At 6/21/13 07:50 PM, Jackho wrote: Just beat Metroid on the NES. I don't think I've ever felt this exhausted from playing a video game.

The game outright almost REQUIRED a guide to 100%/complete and that's kinda how games were designed back then (Zelda comes to mind also) since you were trying to get the most bang for your buck. I think I've completed this game twice and I have no real intention of ever forcing myself through it again, I'd rather play other superior Metroid games with a map system and smoother controls. (Super, Metroid Fusion, Zero Mission are my favs)

At 6/21/13 08:06 PM, VoidForce wrote:
I know it was pretty revolutionary for the series, but I have no love for the character, plot or world. Cecil, Rydia, Palum and Porom were the only ones I liked particularly.

You gotta remember when FFIV came out having characters with backstory over an overarching plot that was centered on those characters was a pretty fresh concept. They all served as basic staples for each class unit.
Cecil- Troubled protagonist, starts out semi-evil and becomes a paladin later on. Tank/basic healing

Rosa- Love interest, used as a device to move along the story at key points. White Mage

Kain- Best friend who seems to be manipulated and eventually finds his way to the good side, secretly loves Rosa as well, but doesn't want to hinder his friendship. Special class, Dragoon/Semi-Tank/Unique jump ability

Rydia- Young child who is caught in the conflict, loses her mother and has innate summoning abilities.

Cid-Engineer, helps the plot move along by supplying the airship, sacrificial character, likable.

Tellah- YOU SPOONY BARD. Sacrificial character, high lvl magic, low mp to keep the game balanced. Black/White mage hybrid.

Yang- Master of the Baron monks, basic hand to hand fighting member.

Edge- Unique Ninjustu skills, can use two swords

Palom/Porom- Placeholder while Cecil is alone in the plot, sacrificial characters, white/black mages. Far more backstory and relevance in The After Years.

Etc

Before this game they were nameless blank slates that you created names and backstory for yourself, without the game doing so for you. As for the world it was stand FF fair and had several secret locations sprinkled about, plus you got to go to the moon for the first time! the moon also housed the Cave of Bahamut with extremely tough monsters and additional content. I think what I enjoy most about this game is (in my opinion) it was seemingly the most difficult of the earlier games especially later in the game. (Keep in mind I almost never grind)

The music in XIII was great indeed. Graphically the game is VERY hard to fault. A lot of the main complaints is that certain things in the world felt unexplained, but an in-game explanation with stuff that the characters themselves know would feel forced. That's why I always refer people to the datalog usually resulting in me being told, "I don't have time to read that." which is a BS excuse.

I'm glad that Square included the datalog, so if you wanted you COULD read up on the characters world, story etc and have a more clear understanding. The issue I take is all this info should be integrated into the game naturally, so I DON'T HAVE to spend a half hour every chapter reading in the menus.

The love story does have a few issues here and there, but I never found that it felt forced. To me it seemed like a nice progression from Rinoa being the girl Squall immediately notices in the ballroom to being his love. You can't forget that realistically speaking, although never stated directly, the story takes place over many months.

With no real time indication I can't argue how long the story takes place over, so you could very well be right that they slowly fell into each other's arms over the course of months, but I didn't walk away with that impression. Love at first sight is a bunch of bullshit to me anyway, there's a clear difference between LUST and LOVE. Love is getting a phone call in the middle of the night (maybe 1:00 A.M.) and driving an hour and a half to go pick up your girl who locked herself out of her car only to have to work at 5:30 thus getting no sleep. I'VE BEEN THERE.

Eh, difference of opinion really. Treading on the same ground, so I guess it's best to leave it be and move on to other subjects.

On a completely different note, one of my friends sold me his old copy of Majora's Mask for the N64. I couldn't find it for any less than Ã'£30 on Amazon and eBay, it's also very difficult to get N64 games in second hand shops these days. He sold it to me for Ã'£18 which I'm very pleased with. I was expecting to not be able to get it for less than Ã'£25 online so wahay!

Majora's Mask is one of the most sought after N64 games because it was released late in the Nintendo 64's life cycle and didn't have a long as print run as other Zelda titles. It's also insanely popular among fans and for good reason. Standing as my third favorite in the series, I can't recommend you finish the game enough. I've popped into a few threads around here to give my $00.02, but I'll echo those thoughts here. Extremely non-linear with a shit ton of secrets, dark themes and multiple ways to sequence break (do things out of order intended) this game is an absolute delight.

Still need to finish my 100% of Ocarina of Time before I make a start though. I've left it with about 30 Gold Skulltulas to go and a couple of barriers in Ganondorf's Castle to beak down. I'm also short on three heart pieces. I might resort to looking these up if I can't get it done legitimately within the week, because I'm jonesing for a play of Majora's Mask.

I'd suggest using a guide to locate the skulltulas and heart pieces as it can be immensely time consuming to locate yourself and you need to jump head first into MM as quickly as possible. haha

Also, how is Jade II coming along? Or have you not gotten time to boot that bad boy up yet.

At 6/22/13 03:12 AM, Elixur wrote: You NEVER want to purchase used game consoles

You serious? Pretty much every video game collector or retro game enthusiast would completely disagree with that. Sure, it's be nice to buy brand new consoles every time you wanted one but that's just not possible in most cases. How am I going to acquire a PAL NES, SNES, N64, Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn or almost any other non-current gen console if I never purchase used consoles? The only option would be to pay a ton of money to one of these collectors who owns sealed copies of stuff because he's boring and doesn't understand that games are meant to be played.

I have the following consoles / systems that I bought used:

Commodore 64
Atari ST 520
Sinclair ZX Specteum +2
Sega Master System II
Sega Mega Drive
Sega Saturn
Nintendo 64
Nintendo GameCube
Sony PlayStation 2

All of those consoles work fine. Obviously with the exception of the GameCube, which still works but has just gotten a little temperamental, over a year after I bought it. It's apparently a common fault with the GameCube anyway. Having said that, last few times I switched it on, it had no problems.

I guess my point is that you don't have to be so sceptical of used consoles. A lot of the time you can tell when a console hasn't been well looked after. Especially if you're buying a cartridge based system, I'd assume there isn't much to worry about. The lack of mechanical parts usually means there's less to go wrong. Not to mention, if you're buying them from somewhere like eBay it's a little safer, seeing as you can contact the seller if there are problems or, if need be, make a claim with eBay.

Also, things must be different wherever you're at because new GameCubes are not common here and even if you come across one, you're not going to get it at those kinds of prices. You could probably find a new PS2 with less trouble but again, nowhere close to those prices. I'm going to assume you're from the US, but here in the UK buying new consoles from previous generations isn't so easy.

At 6/20/13 09:30 AM, Dean wrote:

You guys had any old consoles break down on you? Had much experience trying to fix up old broken consoles?

I bought an NES a few years ago and it broke down a few days after the return policy ended. It was a real bummer and I haven't gotten it fixed still.

Additionally, my Wii is acting up and I might have to send it in to be repaired. That'll cost me, though. :(

At 6/22/13 03:12 AM, Elixur wrote: Majora's Mask is one of the most sought after N64 games because it was released late in the Nintendo 64's life cycle and didn't have a long as print run as other Zelda titles. It's also insanely popular among fans and for good reason. Standing as my third favorite in the series, I can't recommend you finish the game enough. I've popped into a few threads around here to give my $00.02, but I'll echo those thoughts here. Extremely non-linear with a shit ton of secrets, dark themes and multiple ways to sequence break (do things out of order intended) this game is an absolute delight.

I've got the game on my (family's) Wii so I've played it pretty far. I got stuck in Ikana Canyon I believe it was called, the fourth major area outside of Clock Town. There's really nothing like owning the actual cartridge though, is there? I'd probably rank it third in my Zelda titles too. I think this calls for another list:

Ocarina of Time > Twilight Princess > Majora's Mask > Oracle of Seasons > Oracle of Ages > Minish Cap > A Link to the Past > Link's Awakening > Legend of Zelda > Skyward Sword > Phantom Hourglass > Four Swords.

As much as I'd love to hate on Wind Waker, I'm not going to until I've given the game a proper attempt. I only played it briefly at a friend's place years back and I reckon I'd thoroughly enjoy it. One of my issues with it (admittedly it shouldn't be, it's meant to be fun regardless) was timeline placement. Now that it's confirmed to not be in the same timeline as Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess I can enjoy the world without having "look at what happened" in the back of my mind. I still reckon I'll have a few problems with the Koroks and Rito evolving from the Kokiri and Zoras, but I want to appreciate it for what it is.

The only Zelda games that I've played and not liked have been Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass and Four Swords. Skyward Sword seems pretty polarising to a lot of people though, some consider it the best and others not so much. Phantom Hourglass was mixed with bad controls, a rather limited world and a ship mechanic I didn't care for. Four Swords just seemed really tedious when I played it. When I play a Zelda game I want a nice (relatively) open world to explore and find all these great secrets and fall in love with the characters and this Zelda game didn't have any of that really.

Still need to finish my 100% of Ocarina of Time before I make a start though. I've left it with about 30 Gold Skulltulas to go and a couple of barriers in Ganondorf's Castle to beak down. I'm also short on three heart pieces. I might resort to looking these up if I can't get it done legitimately within the week, because I'm jonesing for a play of Majora's Mask.

I'd suggest using a guide to locate the skulltulas and heart pieces as it can be immensely time consuming to locate yourself and you need to jump head first into MM as quickly as possible. haha

The heart pieces are going to be crazy hard to find without a guide. The skulltulas would be a bit more manageable because of the way the map tells you where you've completed all of the skulltulas in the overworld and similarly in the dungeons.

Also, how is Jade II coming along? Or have you not gotten time to boot that bad boy up yet.

I'm still working away on Jade Cocoon one at an alright pace. The grinding gets tedious at times so I always try to cheap out by fusing identical monsters together. I've made a nice fusion monster that I want to keep though so I'm trying to train him up legitimately. I'm pretty eager to get into Jade Cocoon 2 though, it's just sitting on the shelf waiting to be played.

At 6/22/13 08:00 AM, Dean wrote: I guess my point is that you don't have to be so sceptical of used consoles. A lot of the time you can tell when a console hasn't been well looked after. Especially if you're buying a cartridge based system, I'd assume there isn't much to worry about. The lack of mechanical parts usually means there's less to go wrong. Not to mention, if you're buying them from somewhere like eBay it's a little safer, seeing as you can contact the seller if there are problems or, if need be, make a claim with eBay.

Also, things must be different wherever you're at because new GameCubes are not common here and even if you come across one, you're not going to get it at those kinds of prices. You could probably find a new PS2 with less trouble but again, nowhere close to those prices. I'm going to assume you're from the US, but here in the UK buying new consoles from previous generations isn't so easy.

I can pretty much verify this. Any brand new versions of old consoles are very highly priced in the PAL region so our only real affordable option is to buy them used. I definitely need to pick up a SNES which is surprisingly cheap over here at the minute. My best friend has one which I can play at any time (we share a house), but if either of us move out then it'd make buying games for it a little pointless.

At 6/22/13 08:35 AM, ZJ wrote: I bought an NES a few years ago and it broke down a few days after the return policy ended. It was a real bummer and I haven't gotten it fixed still.

What's wrong with it? The NES is usually pretty easy to get going since there's not much to go wrong.

MY PS2 broke once,

Whoops, I meant PS1.

At 6/19/13 12:14 AM, Natick wrote: mass effect 2 and fallout: new vegas are turning out to be surprisingly better than i thought they were going to be

mass effect 2 surprisingly better than i thought

surprisingly better

...and what about the game made you think it was going to be mediocre?

At 6/22/13 03:26 PM, HipnikDragomir wrote: ...and what about the game made you think it was going to be mediocre?

binary moral choice system
cover-based shooting
vehicle sections
i didn't get in a relationship with liara in the first game
knowing that i wouldn't be able to protect all the characters i liked at the final mission (tali, garrus, thane and jack died)

At 6/22/13 03:30 PM, Natick wrote: binary moral choice system

I think you can also go the "middle path".

cover-based shooting

I usually agree with this thanks to ears of War (personally, I don't like it), but it fares better than usual.

vehicle sections

Apart from the DLC and navigating the ship, I don't think there were any.

i didn't get in a relationship with liara in the first game

I hate Liara. Besides, she doesn't do anything here.

knowing that i wouldn't be able to protect all the characters i liked at the final mission (tali, garrus, thane and jack died)

As long as you did everything up until that part and carefully considered the choices (I used a guide cos I was afraid), you'd be fine.

At 6/22/13 03:36 PM, HipnikDragomir wrote:

I usually agree with this thanks to ears of War

Ears of War!

At 6/22/13 03:36 PM, HipnikDragomir wrote: I think you can also go the "middle path".

yes but then it feels as if the game hates me for it because complete neutrality usually makes shepard boring. it also doesn't get things done in the sense that paragon or renegade would.

I usually agree with this thanks to ears of War (personally, I don't like it), but it fares better than usual.

there was a time when i liked vanilla cover systems but at least bioware applied their pause-and-pick-out-abilities combat system in the first and refined it in the second

Apart from the DLC and navigating the ship, I don't think there were any.

granted. at least you didn't have a tumbler that scaled mountains any longer. i didn't hate the planet scanning mechanic though

I hate Liara. Besides, she doesn't do anything here.

the asari are cute

As long as you did everything up until that part and carefully considered the choices (I used a guide cos I was afraid), you'd be fine.

i'm going into the third game depressed because garrus and tali were two of my favorite characters but when thane died, i figured it was what he had expected all along with his disease and what not and i already did his side-quest to find his son. jack was confusing and hard to get along with so i can't say i'll miss her much

So today I have found out something that is absolutely terrible about PSN... like mind numbing, buttfuck retarded about it.

So I created this account on my brother's PS3 when I was 17. This automatically made me a "sub account". This means I cannot purchase anything on PSN or use Facebook integration in games like The Last of Us. You can change the settings to allow this on your master account, but I do not have one. Apparently it is the first account to sign up on the PS3, but my brother's account does not have the options it's supposed to to allow me to make purchases and stuff. I've checked a few accounts and none of them have this control.

I am now 18. I should be allowed to do as a wish with my account, but Sony's stupid fucking policy makes it so that when an account holder turns 18 it is still a sub account. So even when I'm a 50 year old man I will not be able to make purchases with this account.

So now I'm forced to make a new one. Sony... this is the fucking stupid. Why is this in place? Such a dumb thing my mind can't even grasp who would decide that this was a good idea.

At 6/22/13 03:44 PM, Natick wrote: yes but then it feels as if the game hates me for it because complete neutrality usually makes shepard boring. it also doesn't get things done in the sense that paragon or renegade would.

Indeed, which is why going all-out in one or the other adds flavour. I don't have any qualms with it.

there was a time when i liked vanilla cover systems but at least bioware applied their pause-and-pick-out-abilities combat system in the first and refined it in the second

That I like. At least the A.I. handles itself better in 2 than 1 with the abilities.

granted. at least you didn't have a tumbler that scaled mountains any longer. i didn't hate the planet scanning mechanic though

Actually playing 1 now, it's pretty bad. What I love about the mining is learning about all these planets made by logic. Really interesting. The mining itself is all right.

the asari are cute

They're sex objects. With their dangly little tentacles and all-female race.

i'm going into the third game depressed because garrus and tali were two of my favorite characters but when thane died, i figured it was what he had expected all along with his disease and what not and i already did his side-quest to find his son. jack was confusing and hard to get along with so i can't say i'll miss her much

You really ought to do a new playthrough. I'd be freaking out if anyone died.

At 6/22/13 03:46 PM, Makeshift wrote:

Never bothered with the "sub-account" nonsense. Too complicated and no reason for it to exist. Shoulda made your own.

At 6/22/13 04:00 PM, HipnikDragomir wrote:

At 6/22/13 03:46 PM, Makeshift wrote:

Never bothered with the "sub-account" nonsense. Too complicated and no reason for it to exist. Shoulda made your own.

When I signed up for my account when I was 17 it automatically made me a sub account and I can't find out what the master account for it is.

At 6/22/13 03:53 PM, HipnikDragomir wrote: Indeed, which is why going all-out in one or the other adds flavour. I don't have any qualms with it.

it may add flavor but it doesn't so much ask the player what he/she would do in a certain situation as much as it does just throw an option to be a professional good guy or a badass who threatens to knee-cap anyone who hasn't joined his crew.

then again my nick-picks with moral choice systems don't have much to say that haven't already been said, i went for a mostly paragon walkthrough, only picking the renegade options when the choice came up in a cutscene to burn a few krogan warlords standing above a gas pipe or push a mercenary off a building who refused to give me information

That I like. At least the A.I. handles itself better in 2 than 1 with the abilities.

i also like how you can put upgrade points into submachine guns and assault rifles this time through because as a vanguard, i hated playing through the first with only a shotgun, a pistol and charge

Actually playing 1 now, it's pretty bad. What I love about the mining is learning about all these planets made by logic. Really interesting. The mining itself is all right.

good on bioware for putting that much effort into their writing. however all i cared about when scanning was if it was rich in resources and if there were any missions down there

They're sex objects. With their dangly little tentacles and all-female race.

they achieved sexual reproduction with any race just by telekinetically shagging their partners and they live for nearly a whole millennium. probably a nerd's total wet dream in the form of an alien race but i'll still take any day

You really ought to do a new playthrough. I'd be freaking out if anyone died.

the mission on virmiere haunted me for weeks.

At 6/22/13 04:09 PM, Natick wrote: it may add flavor but it doesn't so much ask the player what he/she would do in a certain situation as much as it does just throw an option to be a professional good guy or a badass who threatens to knee-cap anyone who hasn't joined his crew.

then again my nick-picks with moral choice systems don't have much to say that haven't already been said, i went for a mostly paragon walkthrough, only picking the renegade options when the choice came up in a cutscene to burn a few krogan warlords standing above a gas pipe or push a mercenary off a building who refused to give me information

It does seem a bit black and white. Especially with parts that you would think are righteous, but are just renegade. I actually accumulated quite a bit of renegade when I was going for all paragon. Meh.

i also like how you can put upgrade points into submachine guns and assault rifles this time through because as a vanguard, i hated playing through the first with only a shotgun, a pistol and charge

Hm. I only play as sentinel cos I get half and half, but more biotic focus. At least we can train for a third weapon later on.

good on bioware for putting that much effort into their writing. however all i cared about when scanning was if it was rich in resources and if there were any missions down there

....there aren't any side missions by just exploring random planets are there? I don't think I stumbled upon any.

they achieved sexual reproduction with any race just by telekinetically shagging their partners and they live for nearly a whole millennium. probably a nerd's total wet dream in the form of an alien race but i'll still take any day

Biologically, I know, but I mean from a design standpoint. That's all they are. I'm more into Kelly, even though she's not a real partner. Apparently, she is in the third, so I made sure to let down all the single ladies. All the single ladies.

the mission on virmiere haunted me for weeks.

Before playing 2, I watched a quick playthrough of 1 (not on PS3 at the time), so I didn't get much out of it. Is it just choosing between Hooker Lips and Mr. Eyebrows?

At 6/22/13 04:28 PM, HipnikDragomir wrote: Before playing 2, I watched a quick playthrough of 1 (not on PS3 at the time), so I didn't get much out of it. Is it just choosing between Hooker Lips and Mr. Eyebrows?

kaiden and ashley, yes

At 6/22/13 04:38 PM, Natick wrote: kaiden and ashley, yes

I don't know which one I find more annoying. I'll probably go with Mila Kunis.

Holy crap, Journey was extremely short. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet... it was pretty incredible visually, but like, $15 was a decent chunk of money for such a short experience. Hm..

So close to my destination in Dragon's Dogma when I run into my first dragon. There has to be a way to get there without crossing paths with it...Good thing I saved.

At 6/22/13 08:00 AM, Dean wrote:
You serious?

You're correct, I do live in the U.S. and yeah Gamecubes/PS2/Xboxs are starting to become a rare commodity. I guess I worded that incorrectly, what I meant was if you have the option always opt for new vs. used. Of course decades after the console has long since ceased production you'll have no choice, just make sure you use fair judgement and make sure you're getting it for the bottom dollar. (especially if in person, haggle that shit like it's no tomorrow) I buy games and accessories used, but honestly I forego systems themselves, because I know I can find them for cutting edge prices online brand new with a warranty. Even with the serious retro collectors hogging up more than their share of the market there is plenty to go around.

Just now I looked on Ebay under new Gamecubes and there were at least 2 pages for under $40 with free shipping. PS2 brand new is listed for around $60-75(slim model), Xbox is in the same price range and all have used bundle lots with 20+ games for slightly more.

At 6/22/13 10:50 AM, VoidForce wrote:
I've got the game on my (family's) Wii so I've played it pretty far. I got stuck in Ikana Canyon I believe it was called, the fourth major area outside of Clock Town. There's really nothing like owning the actual cartridge though, is there? I'd probably rank it third in my Zelda titles too. I think this calls for another list:

My favorite part of the game is swimming around with the Zora mask and the dialogue the townsfolk give as the end of the world nears. It's worth noting also I love how the map intertwines itself on several occasions. The story has NOTHING to do with Ganon and instead focuses on retrieving a very special mask from skullkid to halt the moon from crushing ClockTown. This game focused far more on TIME than Ocarina of TIME did because the player only has three days before Armageddon. The entire time you play the meter is slowly ticking down, always a looming presence, and it is BECAUSE you don't have an endless supply to go fishing or galloping on Epona that I enjoy the game even more. In-arguably this game has a greater focus on time than any other game in the series, between the song of double time to the inverted song of time to slow time. Some events were only possible at certain times on specific days as well, which adds a profound amount of depth to exploration. MM broke from the norm in many aspects and we're just touching the surface.

Then there is sidequests and the game had no shortage of these either. Throughout the game as you take on many people's requests you begin to learn and sympathize for the characters. Character development for npcs is EXTREMELY difficult to pull off well and MM does it phenomenally. My favorite being the Anju and Kafei sidequest where the two lovers are engaged, but Kafei is too afriad to show his face to Anju so he puts on a mask and runs away. If you don't do anything Anju will wait until the very last day for Kafei to show up, in defiance of the certain death the moon will bring her. over the course of the days you can talk to Anju and she will confess how worried she is about him. Anju's grandmother reveals that she believes Kafei to have loved another girl, Cremia, and it was up to you to set things right. Through a series of adventures that spans multiple days, the two are reunited in the doomed city ready to be together until the bitter end.

Another is late in the game when you need to help a girl's father that has been turned into a gibdo. She doesn't know what to do and gibdos are circling her house. She's terrified and and Link is the only one who can give the girl her father back. After Link returns him to normal, the girl cries and runs up to embrace her father. In the background the Song of Healing plays, tugging on your soul. MM is scattered with emotionally draining sub plots.

The music is some of the best the series has to offer and the mask overhaul system carried over from OOT was interesting. Collecting all the masks to each serve a very different and vital function allowed for deeper gameplay mechanics and the transformation sequence was downright creepy.

One last thing I want to talk about, the villian. Ganon is no where to be scene in this game and I honestly not only didn't mind I loved it. See, Ganon isn't PURE evil, despite what we've been led to believe. He wants to RULE, not destroy everything, so he leaves the townsfolk of Kakariko, etc at peace. If he were truly the king of evil he would have ruthlessly hunted down every last citizen. That's not how he is though, he needs subjects to rule. Not only is Majora's Mask more EVIL, but it's also arguably more powerful. It had the ability to pull the moon out of it;s orbit to come straight down onto Termina, afterall.

Play this game, give feedback when you complete it.

Ocarina of Time > Twilight Princess > Majora's Mask > Oracle of Seasons > Oracle of Ages > Minish Cap > A Link to the Past > Link's Awakening > Legend of Zelda > Skyward Sword > Phantom Hourglass > Four Swords.

After heavy consideration and weighing the pros and cons of the games I changed my mind and placed MM 2nd. It really does improve upon multiple areas of OOT, gamers just are clouded by either nostalgia or ignorance.

My list~

Link To The Past > Majora's Mask > Ocarina of Time > Wind Waker > Skyward Sword > Oracle of Seasons/Ages > Twilight Princess > Legend of Zelda > Adventure of Link > Everything else

As much as I'd love to hate on Wind Waker, I'm not going to until I've given the game a proper attempt. I only played it briefly at a friend's place years back and I reckon I'd thoroughly enjoy it. One of my issues with it (admittedly it shouldn't be, it's meant to be fun regardless) was timeline placement. Now that it's confirmed to not be in the same timeline as Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess I can enjoy the world without having "look at what happened" in the back of my mind. I still reckon I'll have a few problems with the Koroks and Rito evolving from the Kokiri and Zoras, but I want to appreciate it for what it is.

I loved Wind Waker and anybody who says they didn't probably dislikes it for the wrong reasons. It had a vast, explorable world littered with secrets and fresh characters to the series. The art style still holds up to this day, being one of the best looking Gamecube titles. The OST was brilliant and really carved it's own signature blend of tunes for the series. It had all the great hallmarks of a Zelda game, but it was all new and was given a glossy paint-job.

The only Zelda games that I've played and not liked have been Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass and Four Swords.

What are you reasonings for not liking Skyward Sword? I felt the Link-Zelda relationship story bits were a bit hammy and there weren't nearly enough areas to explore, but besides that it was excellent. Four swords isn't a stand alone Zelda title, so I don't hold it nearly to the same examination. Good for an afternoon or two of multi-player with friends and nothing more really, I don't really have a lot to say about the game.

At 6/22/13 09:47 PM, Makeshift wrote: Holy crap, Journey was extremely short. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet... it was pretty incredible visually, but like, $15 was a decent chunk of money for such a short experience. Hm..

I spent $20 on Journey and don't consider it wasted, quality over quantity mate. The game was a unique experience that accomplished exactly what it set out to do and didn't feel the need to fluff the player with filler content. Besides a year or two from now you might end up playing and enjoying it again, so it may not be the end of the road. If you haven't already checked it out, Flower was made by the same company and is very similar in presentation and vibe. Also cheaper in comparison.