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Post by Ex on Nov 2, 2020 21:39:43 GMT -5
the "okay here is the plot" moment came waaaaaaaay to late in the game This may have to do with what a given player hopes to get out of a JRPG. Personally I can count how many JRPGs I've played with plots I actually cared about on one hand. In general JRPGs have terrible writing. I play them for other reasons though, and FF12 was full of those reasons. That said, I do understand why FF12 isn't every FF fan's favorite. Even if they are wrong.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 4, 2020 2:56:21 GMT -5
Does it count if I beat just the Dante disc for DMC2, or is the Lucia disc needed? Given the brevity of the "ending", I'd assume so. No credit scroll or anything.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 4, 2020 3:38:02 GMT -5
I never bothered with the Lucia campaign myself.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 5, 2020 15:13:14 GMT -5
Rough estimate of 13 hours.
So I had fun tinkering with Galaxy last weekend. Then I've been sick the last few days (November always gets me)... and you could say I went hardcore on Galaxy to the point that I got all 120 Stars over the last few days. I'm pretty sure I didn't 100% this back on the Wii. The Purple Coin scenarios were much better than the old Red Coins of SM64 or Sunshine. There were a few gimmicks here I didn't love, like the Monkey Ball styled balancing thing that required you to use the Switch Pro controller much like the Wiimote - holding it up and trying to keep it balanced, etc. There were some hair pulling stages at times, but all I had to do was remind myself of SUNSHINE and most of my rage would fade away pretty quickly. The most annoying parts of Galaxy were nothing compared to the nonstop ridiculousness of Sunshine and its terrible lack of polish. I didn't need to confirm this again myself or anything, but I'll just say again it's straight up insane Nintendo went from the awesome Super Mario 64, to the horrible Sunshine, then back to this majestic gem of a game.
My memories still tell me that I like Galaxy 2 more though. If it was on the 3D All Stars collection, I'd dip in right away to see what I think again. It's criminal that it's not on here. Anyways, I'll have to replay Galaxy 2 one of thesedays before I box up all my Wii/U stuff.
I'm kind of thinking that 3D World is my current favorite 3D Mario at this point though, so I look forward to the Switch port coming next year. Hopefully the new additions is substantial.
Either way you cut it, it's just easiest to say that all the 3D Mario's are pretty excellent all around, except Sunshine. The rest are gold tier platforming fun.
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Post by Ex on Nov 5, 2020 16:33:11 GMT -5
No argument that SMG1 is a stone cold classic. Loved it. SMG2... not so much.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 5, 2020 18:14:03 GMT -5
I liked SMG2, but it wasn't SMG. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Super Mario Galaxy single-handedly brought back the joy I used to have for 3D platformers. I was wowed throughout the experience, and did not stop until I got all the stars.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 6, 2020 15:24:10 GMT -5
I watched some GameXplain videos last night doing some "SMG1 vs SMG2" research. I'd probably slap a 9/10 on both either way, especially with how much fun I just had with SMG1 again. But I can easily tell after watching a Retrospective they did, that I'd still probably favor SMG2. Ultimately, the game is probably better compared to the likes of 3D World. SMG2 is a more linear, focused, pure "obstacle course" platformer as I put it recently with the Crash games too. You know those cool space LEGO levels in Sunshine, Galaxy, Odyssey, etc that are just pure platforming puzzles and craziness? Those are my favorite parts of 3D Mario and that kind of sums up the core of SMG2 is. It gets right to the point. I also thought it was cool how they brought up the difference in color palette, SMG1 has a lot of stary space backdrops, but SMG2 has more blue skyboxes and color in the background. Throw in Yoshi and the awesome Cloud Mario power up which changes how you can approach literally any situation... I'd also take Yoshi's swinging stuff over the pull stars in SMG1, didn't care for those. I didn't care for the Bee Mario power up either. SMG1 excels in feeling like a bigger wondrous "adventure". It's a pure adventure platformer with more hub styled levels and objectives. It certainly does this better than Odyssey to me, which had TONS of empty useless space in some areas. The SMG1 hub wasn't as bad as I remembered either, it was fine and quicker to navigate than SM64 or Sunshine especially. But still, I wouldn't say it's bad that SMG2 is just a small planetoid spaceship and you spend most of your time on a classic SMB3 styled map anyways, just like 3D World again. It's gold vs gold, but I think I'd still be in team SMG2 if I were able to dip into that one again asap. Some people speculate it'll come to Switch eventually, so I might try to give it a few months to wait and see. But I definitely want to hit it up again sometime soon.
I get that some of you don't like direct sequels, but I think SMG2 changes up more than you may remember, or would be more impactful if you didn't compare it to SMG1 so much. And none of you are saying this, but if we really want to see some Nintendo Mario laziness... that's the epitome of the entire "New" SMB series. Now that series, you've played one, you've played them all.
I wouldn't mind a Galaxy 3, or maybe a Galaxy styled world in a potential Odyssey world. The way the perspective can be manipulated endlessly along with gravity in Galaxy 1-2, man it's just such an amazing concept that more could be done with I'm sure.
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Post by Ex on Nov 6, 2020 15:51:04 GMT -5
I get that some of you don't like direct sequels, but I think SMG2 changes up more than you may remember I still plan to go back and beat SMG2 someday. I probably made it 2/3rds of the way through before the backtracking star gating wore me down. Meanwhile, you still need to play this awesome ass game: That's all I'm saying about it for now though, 'cause we're on the retro side of the board. (Edit: Although if you play it next year, it WILL be retro per HRG rules. Can't believe it's almost been a decade already. )
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Post by Sarge on Nov 6, 2020 15:59:26 GMT -5
Agree with Ex , definitely a must-play. So is 3D World. EDIT: Quick run through SoulCalibur. Still excellent after all this time. I was really just testing my Dreamcast, which is starting to see some issues. I was actually going to play some Soul Reaver, but the disc apparently won't boot properly. My backup Dreamcast (that wasn't working when I got it until I did some pot tweaking) actually does work with it. Strange, to say the least. I really need to consider getting a GDEMU/MODE/whatever - Dreamcast seems like the sort of system where a nice ODE would go a long way.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 10, 2020 1:29:48 GMT -5
Save-stated my way through Super Turrican 2. I might have bounced off of the first SNES game, but not this one. This was cool stuff, even if I didn't much care for the speeder bike segments. It felt a little too loose. Ironically, there's an Axelay-style shooter segment near the end, and that one has the opposite problem, feeling shockingly sluggish where nothing else in the game is. I really dug the grappling hook, I just wish it were used more. This felt a lot less haphazard in stage design than Super Turrican's twisty, meandering levels. Lots of variation in stage themes, too - you also get some side-view vehicle segments, including an underwater one that was surprisingly fun. I'm giving this one an 8/10.
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