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Gaming Discussion / Re: Secret of Mana 3D

« on: September 10, 2017, 01:42:29 pm »

I kind of assumed it was a 3DS game by the name of the thread and the graphics in the video. Which would've been pretty sweet if that were the case.

I'd honestly prefer if all Nintendo games from this point would be for the Switch since it's a handheld too and so I won't have to carry around two devices for the same purpose.

Well at least there is a Vita version of this. I'll probably pick that one if I decide to get it. For a PS4 game it really looks too meh. On a huge flat TV I don't want to see such blocky graphics anymore to be honest.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Victoly!

« on: September 09, 2017, 05:31:24 am »

Finished the XCOM2 campaign with the new War of the Chosen expansion (on commando difficulty).

I have mixed feelings about it. At first I was mightily impressed. The introduction of two of the new classes as well as the new rivals is pretty characterful and gives you hope that there is tons of new story content. Add to that all the new customization options (weapon upgrades, skill trees) and you are off to a great start. But sadly all the awe of the expansion is front loaded and as the game goes on it loses it's appeal a lot. Killing your first Chosen is a great experience and feels like a real achievement. On the second you'll be irritated that it was the exact same mission recycled again and on the third it'll already be boring routine. They couldn't have made 3 different missions for these? There is also nothing special coming afterwards. The Chosen are dead and that's it, moving on.

All the new upgrades and options also trivialize endgame. In vanilla XCOM2 I almost ragequit the final mission since it was such a huge difficulty jump, but lategame missions with gatekeepers and sectopods were hard in general. With the expansion and a fully promoted squad you can murder any single group of enemies the game throws at you in your turn before they can ever act. On commando difficulty. Yawn.

It's a great expansion on paper, but somehow it didn't feel as great playing it as it should have.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Metal Gear Solid (PSX) Bug

« on: August 24, 2017, 05:41:14 am »

I guess the game is really well programmed in that it doesn't downright freeze if it can't read the event data but keeps running, probably retrying in the background all the while. 

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Metal Gear Solid (PSX) Bug

« on: August 22, 2017, 12:39:06 pm »

Are you sure you waited long enough? It's supposed to take a while to be more realistic and make you feel nervous. Though locking up during conversations doesn't sound too encouraging, it seems far fetched that random read errors would cause glitches in this way.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: What. are you playing?

« on: July 25, 2017, 03:30:22 pm »

I never played bravely default shamefully

Don't be ashamed. You'll enjoy it 70% of the way but then you'll turn into this guy:



Spare yourself.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: PC Gaming & Game Prices.

« on: July 19, 2017, 09:58:38 am »

I'm primarily trying to highlight that PC gaming needs used games again.

While I'm personally not the market for used games I totally agree with you there. Since I'm not buying used games anymore I hadn't even considered the problem that much but you are totally right, that market does not exist on PC. More options are always better for everyone.

Gaming is dead cheap nowadays.

Yes. That's probably the reason the gaming business dwarfs even the movie industry now in terms of reach and cashflow. It was never this cheap and easy to waste all your time

That kind of makes the whole console/PC discussion academic. You buy whatever you can personally afford.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: PC Gaming & Game Prices.

« on: July 18, 2017, 05:38:08 pm »

Is there more retail releases for PC games in Europe?

Every AAA and even a lot of indie games get a retail release. Of course the disc content usually ends up being a steam installer anyway, but you still save money compared to getting it on Steam.

Though if one is actually concerned about saving money, one doesn't buy at launch in the first place.

One doesn't have anything to do with the other. When you want to play a game at launch, why buy the more expensive version if you have both options? (Especially if it's also technically inferior)

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Gaming Discussion / Re: PC Gaming & Game Prices.

« on: July 18, 2017, 04:17:19 pm »

Steam is overpriced, retail PC price would have been $50 or even $45. And maybe in NA it's $60 for new console games and then you have to add some tax voodoo, but in Europe a new console game is a flat 70€, practically always.

And again, the used game market is irrelevant for this point. No one ever disputed that you can get anything for cheap on any platform if you wait long enough and dig hard enough. The only hard, non fluctuating data to get a honest comparison is launch prices.

And for many mainstream gamers a 6 month old game is already irrelevant old news. The discussion has long since moved on.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: PC Gaming & Game Prices.

« on: July 18, 2017, 03:47:57 pm »

It's about new games. While a lot of gamers especially around these parts are used to hunting down used shit (it comes with the territory when you are after retro games after all), the average mainstream user buys their games new. And preferably at release, the evidence for that is in the strong pre-order culture that is as strong as never before. Your example of FF13 isn't even current gen on the console end...

And the average standard price for a new PC AAA game is $50 while a console game is $70. That's almost a 50% markup. THAT is why PC gaming is considered cheaper per game.

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News Submissions / Re: Translations: New Translations Added to the Database

« on: July 18, 2017, 01:17:18 pm »

Man, that portuguese translation seems so off. Was this google translated? Can someone talk about the other ones (for SMW)?

The German one is fine. They are all by completely different authors anyway, not by the same person. I think someone just searched for all available SMW translations and gathered them (for whatever reason).

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Gaming Discussion / Re: What. are you playing?

« on: July 18, 2017, 12:33:27 am »

Playing FFXII Zodiac Age on PS4.

The new soundtrack arrangement is very high quality. The voice overs are, however, definitely not. They still sound like they were recorded in a motel toilet and encoded to 32kbit/s mp3s. I wonder if they didn't have the untouched master recordings anymore or if they just didn't give a shit.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Victoly!

« on: July 08, 2017, 04:13:15 pm »

Beaten Zelda Breath of the Wild.

I had a really tough time getting into this game. Initially I could only play it for like half an hour before getting bored and throwing it into a corner for a few weeks. This week I finally sat down, took some time and it eventually clicked. I still think the first few hours of the game are terrible. Practically everything one-shots you, loot seems useless and unrewarding and the first main quest sends you on a huge treck through empty terrain. But after that it gets much better. You need to have unlocked a few towers and shrines so you can fast travel around the world a bit and develop an eye for places that are worth investigating. Then the frustration and boredom are quickly replaced by lot's of motivation and the joy of exploring this insanely detailed world.

The amount of content is absolutely mind-blowing. It would be enough to fill 3 or 4 older 3D Zelda games. Do I miss the classic dungeons? Yes, but in return some of the shrines offered really hard puzzles that actually made me think again. That hasn't happened in a Zelda game in a looong time. I guess since they are all optional they felt they could throw in some harder ones this time. That doesn't mean there aren't still 50 shrines which you'll be able to solve just by looking at them for a second, but in the last few games that was every room. Also most importantly, Nintendo actually really risked something and changed the basic formular quite a bit instead of remaking OoT for the n-th time. You have to applaud them for that. I've demanded that for years and I'm glad they finally did it. Even the best food tastes stale when you eat it every day.

So I'm not ashamed to revise my initial opinion of this game and happily attest that it deserves the hype it got. It is a milestone game that shattered the standards of the open world genre that seems to be every AAA game these days. The bar just got set a lot higher. That doubly counts for Nintendo themselves though, I have no idea where they could even go from here. Just adding more stuff and making things even bigger wouldn't work. I wouldn't be surpised if they won't even try and make the next game much more intimate again.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Your most recent gaming purchase?

« on: July 06, 2017, 03:41:30 am »

Now that the Steam sale is over, this was my haul:

You Must BUild A Boat - Cool little game, already beaten, review in the victoly thread
Resident Evil Revelations 2 Complete - hoping to play this with a friend in coop
Hell Girls - It's only a dollar and it wasn't even worth that
Halcyon 6 Starbase Commander - See review in Victoly thread
Hollow Knight - The guys on IRC sold me on this, apparently it's pretty good. Unfortunately I only learned 2 days later there is going to be a Switch version soon too. I would have waited for that instead. Hmm, I guess I could still get a refund. Nope already idled the trading cards which puts me over 2 hours "playtime" *slaps self*
Broforce - Also for Coop. Played it a bit already, not that impressed yet
Stars in Shadow - Turn-based 4X, looks good, haven't tried it yet

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Victoly!

« on: July 01, 2017, 03:00:14 am »

Had two weeks of vacation time, so I decided it was time to reduce my Steam backlog somewhat. Did manage to beat 3 games so far last week. I bought 5 new games during the Steam sale, so I only have to beat two more to come out even at the end But hey, I still have one more week for gaming and debauchery.

Short reviews of the games I've beaten over at Steam, I can recommend all of them:

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Halcyon 6 Starbase Command

You Must Build A Boat (less than a dollar on sale atm!)

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Gaming Discussion / Re: SNES Mini... and Star Fox 2

« on: June 27, 2017, 12:56:52 pm »

but Super Soccer doesn't seem like more than a generic sports game (even if it got like five installments in Japan).

One of the sequels was one of the games that literally every SNES owner in Germany also had (International Super Soccer Deluxe). If it was similiar in Japan it makes total sense to include one of the series.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: SNES Mini... and Star Fox 2

« on: June 27, 2017, 01:07:28 am »

(surprising that it's III and not II, are the lineups different for different regions?)

What makes you say that?

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News Submissions / Re: Site: RHDN 3.0 Site Refresh Launched!

« on: June 24, 2017, 04:27:46 am »

Prefering lighter or darker themes is of course, a matter of personal preference. I'm sure Nightcrawler is gathering feedback and we'll have a darker alternative or the old themes back asap.

One thing I'd like to address though are the "it's hurting my eyes" comments. Guys, setup your monitors correctly! Even Perfect white is as easy on the eyes as any other color if your monitor is calibrated properly. Most monitors are setup too bright out of the box because they want to grab your attention on a crowded store shelf with 20 other monitors. But that's not an apropiate setting for daily home use!

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Best system setup for emulating more modern consoles?

« on: June 21, 2017, 04:34:21 pm »

What's with these devs omitting system requirements from their websites?

Because emulation speeds, especially the newer the console, can vary extremely between games. What's the point of saying you need system xyz if it'll run 5 games at 100% speed and 5 games at 2% speed and all the others at a completely random amount in between? For emulation it's always best just to try it out.

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Gaming Discussion / Re: What. are you playing?

« on: June 20, 2017, 03:05:05 pm »

Haven't played any video games in 2 weeks now (not counting some smartphone gaming while sitting on the crapper ). I had played two full rounds of Stellaris before and that was a bit too much and just burned me out.
I also finally found a table top gaming group and had first games of Infinity. And with Wh40k 8th edition being around the corner I spent most of my free time the last two weeks very motivatedly assembling and painting miniatures. It was a refreshing change of pace.

Starting this weekend I'll have two weeks vacation, still not sure what to play then / if anything. Maybe I'll just do a two weeks painting marathon (after which I'm probably burned out of that for half a year...)

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Gaming Discussion / Re: Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyou (Super Cassette Vision) Review

« on: June 20, 2017, 03:01:55 pm »

The video is very well made. I had never even heard of this console before. I was hoping for something like the C64 tape drive or  crazy interactive VHS stuff like the Star Trek VHS game (which I have no idea how it works or what it's about, I've only seen it sitting on the shelve in the background of RedLetterMedia videos) so I was a bit disappointed it was just like any other 80s console. Considering that, the game doesn't look half bad. I know I've played worse on my C64.