BlueYoshi

[color=teal]A new plotline is definitely needed for this, especially that you're taking off an already existing one, like Alan said. Come up with something new and it should work out. I don't think the issues of character deaths would be a problem though... I mean, what, only [spoiler]Saturos and Menardi die[/spoiler] in the game. If you continued onto The Lost Age then you'd already have two other characters to replace them, being Sheeba and Jenna. As for their fates, I have no idea since I never got far enought to tell.[/color]

[color=teal]When I was younger I had always dreamed of becoming a Computer Animator, which is basically a job title for designer. With that job, not only would you be available to designing levels, maps and characters for video games, but you'll also be open for the movie business, since a lot of today's films have a large emphasis on visualisation and special effects. Video Game testers are probably where it's at though. Last I heard, they get paid ridiculous amounts of money for doing next to nothing. But still, you need to have good communication and writing skills. I read an article about this where the editor interviewed a VG tester... he claimed that it gets boring at times and isn't entirely all it's cracked up to be. There's more to it, since you need to have a good eye at spotting glitches, bugs, freezes, slow-downs. Making sure the game is "good" plays a small role in the business. Hmmm, if you live in the UK then check out the recent and upcoming issues of NOM magazine, because they have an article every month that relates to each of the departments in developing. They are very vague, however.[/color]

[color=teal]There were two Kenshin games that were made for the PlayStation some time ago that were only ever released in Japan. One was a fighter and the other was a pretty lame RPG, heh. If another Kenshin game was to be made and followed Way of the Samurai's path then it would most likely be considered as nothing other than a rehash, because the two would be similar in terms of concept and gameplay. Personally I couldn't care what the name of the game is as long as a decent battle engine and smooth gameplay is incorporated well enough... storyline and whatever is irrelevant to me. However, your idea of merging ZOE with DBZ sounds inspiring.[/color]

[spoiler]Cait Sith is Reeve.[/spoiler] :)

[color=teal]Whether or not [spoiler]Aeris' death[/spoiler] was craptastic or visually dramatic, it was a change. Usually, when characters like that go ahead and depart from the main crew, they expect to be followed and rescued, and that is what tends to happen in most cases and leaves absolutely no room for plot and whatnot. I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting [spoiler]her to die[/spoiler] because of how familiar I am with the usual outcome of the "babe in the woods" routine. It's just so common in all types of media that it has practically killed itself off.[/color]

[color=teal]I don't know about my favourite game ever, but there are a lot that I've played and enjoyed... yet, there are also many supposedly great ones that I've never even had the chance to see in action, let alone play, like the Chrono games, and the Dragon Quest/Warrior series. I think FFT qualifies though. It's been too long since I last played it (for shipping reasons) and I've probably gone on about it so much around here that it's not healthy, so I'll make a dodge for now. Hmmm, Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64) was something I really enjoyed. Almost everything about it just screamed out "badass" lol. I always thought of it as a tuned up version of R-Type, actually, because the difficulty level can sometimes become a nuisance and everything is just so hectic. The weapons are bizzare too, and each level adds to the depth of the challenge, so it's not your average shmup game. Unfortunately, of all the games I've played, the bulk of them are on the crappy end of the spectrum, so I'd call a 'good games' scarce in this generation. To tell the truth, SF64 was something I randomly came up with just now, heh.[/color]

[quote name='Syk3']Fairly Odd Parents is another show that I don't watch much because of repeats, but I still very much enjoy the wackiness of it. It's just so.. random. I love it![/quote] :love: [color=teal]This is the personification, or more precisely the animation of badassness. You're right that everything is random and stupid, and somewhat very loud, but yes, it's one of those stupid funny shows. I'm having a tough time describing it, dammit. There was another cartoon like it that featured a bunch of spoofed up Mexican kids as masked wrestlers and all that bull, but I see it as inferior to Farily Odd. It rocks. Hmmm, as for favourite shows, I don't have favourites because I'll pretty much watch anything that's animated... anything to get away from the seriousness of life.[/color]

[color=teal]I'm going to say this out of pure randomness. Twisted Metal: Black's theme soundtrack, Paint It Black, was in my opinion the best song to have ever been applied to a game in history. It worked well with the main menu screen too, with the slow-mo of bodies flying through car screens and all, heh.[/color]

I've seen a parody of Fist of the North Star in GTO, if that counts. And in The Simpsons there was a showing of an anime that gave everyone seizures lol, though I don't think that was aimed at any anime in particular. There are tons more that are on the tip of my tongue.

It's not for sure yet, but I doubt that Acid will have anything to do with the current MGS storyline. There are a few tell tale signs in the screen shots that could probably prove it, and I don't know if they mean anything, but that's how they seem. Like the soldier who is wearing the same uniform and gear as the Russian mercenaries do in SoL, and Snake is in his TT sneak suit. Acid is of a different genre too, so judging by that I'd say that it's most likely to be a filler of some sort for the PSP, but you never know.

I use to play PSO online on the GameCube until my BB connection was disembarked for financial reasons, so I quit at about level 90. Really, I'd prefer to play multiplayer than online. I didn't feel that I was missing out on anything when I was offline except for the four-way split-screen, which is always a pain up the rear. Anyway, when I was online, I got bombarded with the type of people who latch around you just for the sake of getting whatever good items or weapons you'd come across after destroying crates and monsters. Because of that, the only real weapon I ever got was a maxed out Soul Eater... four to be precise. As for the MAGS, I never enjoyed them for a second. They may be good for when you're in a bind, but after that they just become a chore to look after, and the frustration you have to endure for when they transform to something lesser than what they were is endless. They took years off my life. I'm looking forward to PSU though, even if I don't get to go online. Hopefully there'll be a better system of communicating for the GameCube and PS2 versions of it. The Xbox Live headset seemed to work really well.

I'm not really an anime person to tell the truth, most of what I've seen has been under the recommendation of friends, with GTO being no different, but by far I find this to be my favourite. I love it. The characters are great, every single one of them, which is a rarity because you will almost always get the odd annoying one who was originally thrown into the mix to stir things up. [spoiler]I never expected the students of Class 3-4 to align with Onizuka at first though, I thought the premise would mainly revolve around how he survives his students' attacks and pranks, but I was wrong, I guess.[/spoiler] The character development is actually a very large contributor to the comedy. I found it stupid at times, however. Some episodes were more than just boring, and even the spoofs were down-right lame during them, but none the less, I suppose fillers are inevitable in most anime. I can openly say that this is one of the few shows I've thoroughly enjoyed in a long time, and is aimed at any type of audience, so I'd recommend it beyond infinity heh. Watch it. Now.

I don't think that Substance's storyline differs much from the original SoL. You get to play the Snake Tales, which I think lets you get more into Snake's happenings on the Plant, but other than that I think the game's outcome is the same. As for Substance in whole, it's only good for the VR missions I think, so if you've already played and beat the original, then buying this would be a waste of money. And from what I know, the Snake Tales are kind of short and not really very interesting.

The only person I'd ever stalk is Siren.

Note that I'm giving my opinions based on what I've played in the arcades. Crisis Zone, from what I remember, is very dry. Having an automatic weapon might look good for the premise of the game, but it makes it incredibly easy and hardly produces any challenge at all. I haven't got much to say about it because it's one of the games that I usually try to avoid whenever I'm in an arcade, unless someone challenges me heh. Time Crisis 1 and 2 are rather bleh, I think. They are both pretty similar in a way, except TC2 had much less of a restrictive feel, as in you could use the surroundings to benefit you a lot more, plus you got to move around some, and because of that the game had a tendency to get chaotic. I like Time Crisis 3 the most, though. It has everything TC2 has and more. I think the most appealing aspect is the fact that you can obtain different weapons, and choose between them. Also, you have limited ammo with everything other than the standard pistol, so unlike Crisis Zone, you must learn to conserve. I never played the other games properly so I don't know if they're good or not.

The beam slowly faded as the door of the interview room closed and slight breezes of smoke emerged from the draft of it below and into the waiting room. Samus, while lugging her Varia suit across her shoulders, swiftly blew the arm-cannon to rid it of any remaining smoke and pressed a series of buttons to shut it down, or at least, that's what it looked like. "I find it hard to believe that such a conglomerate establishment is fated to be run by the two of you." Mario, with his fist still dug into Luigi's cheek, and Luigi, while ravaging his heel underneath Mario's chin, paused for a moment and both slowly creaked their necks to the back wall of the office only to find a huge tainted black stain, and then turned once more towards Samus, still having not moved from their awkward stance. "Well?" Samus exclaimed, gesturing her hand back and forth with her wide, sparkling eyes as if she was expecting something more. Upon that, the two brothers looked at each other very briefly before turning back to the blonde bounty hunter and simultaneously gulped a load of saliva. The moist sound of it could be heard amid the musky office air and caused them both to glow a bright red. "How cute." said Samus, after a very feminine laugh. Mario shook his head wildly while blubbering his lips and snapped out of his lucid fantasising. He cleared his throat with a high pitched croak and shuffled through the rest of the application forms that he still had in hand, in search of Samus' paper. "Right a-Miss Aran, is it?--" To his surprise, Mario watched on as Luigi made his move with Samus. He wasn't trying very hard, neither would he have gotten anywhere with it, that was for sure, but it enraged Mario dearly. "Sit-a down, palease." said Luigi as he shoved a wooden chair behind Samus for her to sit on. "Would-a you like something to darink or eet?" "Oh, a glass of water would be perfect. I've been in this hard, rusty suit all day long and my body's started to get all grubby and slimy. It'll do me wonders." "A-a-a-ha-ha-ha... Ma-ma-mamma mia..." Luigi was like putty in her hands, and him wagging his tail to her every request was proof of it, so as red as a carpet, Luigi ran into the kitchen to fulfil Samus' demands, or at least that's what they looked like from where Mario was standing. The look on her face just yelled out that she could go on like this for hours, days even, however, completely and totally unforeseen, Mario ran for the kitchen at an amazing speed and slammed the door, holding it shut behind him while he slotted a vacant chair underneath the door knob. There was a hint of relief hanging from Mario's face, Samus could see it, but it didn't matter to him, all that did was Luigi's constant rattle and bickering. "Hey-a hey-a! Mario! What gives? I thought we were the brothers, huh?... Mario?... Okay, okay, how about a-da fifty-fifty? Huh? Huh?" Luigi furiously banged away at the door while screaming and shouting out slant profanities at his brother Mario, but it wasn't too long before he came to the realisation that squirming was next to useless and decided to stopped. "You'll-a find the escape quite imposeeble. Let's-a continue, yes? Now, why do you a-feel that da job is for you, huh? Why not continue with da bounty work? We pay much less for more work, so, what's a-da deal?" "Well, you see, dear small one, I would much rather expand my expertise, if you know what I mean. I'm not saying that I'll quit being a bounty hunter, but certainly, it will help me along the way." "Okay well, your-a resume tells me that your good at da, how do you say, blowing a things up. We want to-a fix da pipes, not blow da Mushroom Kingdom to-a tiny Chaos Emeralds. If you-a came to me a-ten a-years earlier when I was-a fighting da Bowser, then-a maybe, [i]maybe[/i], I would-a hire you. Capiche?" "But Mr.Mario... I'm sure that there's so much more a lady like me can do in a business like this." Samus started to rub her palm up and down against Mario's thigh as he stared at the smooth swaying motion in disbelief. His jaw had practically hit the ground. "P-p-palease, call me Mario." It was clear that Mario was somewhere else, at least not in person, but Samus' plan of seduction was working like a charm. "Ah! So I'm hired! Thank you Mist-, I mean Mario. You're the best! I promise I won't let you down!" she was too excited for words so she simply planted a big smooch on Mario's ample left cheek, leaving a huge lip-stick mark, and left the interview room quickly and sharply. "Yes ma'am don't let a-da door hit you on the-a way out, now." Mario's voice on the other hand, was distort. He needed time to let everything sink in. Just as Samus left, Luigi came barging through the door, out of the kitchen and into Mario. "What-a happened?... Huh? What is this-a red on your-a face, huh?" said Luigi as he held on to the straps of Mario's blue dungarees, and then started to shake him recklessly. "...ooo...aaaa...oooo...ooo..." "Mario!!!" Meanwhile, back in the waiting room, a gleeful Samus strutted through the corridor and ticked her name off the list very appropriately, and then checked to see who and what she would be up against. "Hard man, huh? This is going to be... interesting."

Has anyone seen at least one episode of this? Personally, I think it's terrible. Don't get me wrong, I know when and when not to appreciate good work, but compared to the many, many mob themed movies out there, The Sopranos is more or less inferior. Now, I know you may be thinking that it's just a TV series that will gradually and eventually runs its course, but it's safe to say that I've seen a substantial amount of episodes to make a judgement in comparison to Hollywood's big list. Before I first saw it, I thought it would be very much about whacking people, doing hit jobs, and all the usual stuff you'd have been led to believe that takes place in crime families, but believe it or not, it's got a very strong emphasis on Tony Soprano's family life, more over on his nuclear family than his crime one. This isn't a problem, obviously, of course the show would get dull if it only consisted of hit after hit after hit, but I find that the main dilemma here is that it's the other way around; you see a lot, or maybe too much, of Tony's personal life. When you watch Goodfellas for example, you do get scenes that reveal Henry's life as well, but the difference here is that a lot of those types of films are based on true stories or events, so to say the least, it's interesting to see how it dwells up because you know and feel that these so called events actually took place. However, in Tony Soprano's case, it gets boring, fast. The new season is going to air in about an hour or so, so I might watch it then if I can be arsed. What do you think about it?

I lied when I said that HC and FFX2 were the only new games I played this year; FFCC slipped off the list somehow heh. I bought FFCC about a week or two after FFX2 came out, and since I prefer playing my games on the GameCube rather than on any other console, I started to grow more and more out of it. Especially that the only thing left for me to do was to level up for [spoiler]Vegnagun[/spoiler], and nothing else interested me before that point. Anyway, when I first played FFCC, it was completely independent, as in I didn't use the SP to provide me with the radar. I guess it's because I hadn't really done enough research on the game to tell me that it had some reasonable relevance to the outcome of the game, or at least your character. I have to admit that I had a lot more fun playing the game without the SP than I did with it. That way, I never felt the burden of having to constantly turn to the SP's screen and check up to see if everything was alright regarding the map. Plus, I wasn't always so fussy about getting the rarest or best artefacts... so yeah, I think the game was a lot more fluent and consistent without the added artillery. However, with all that was going on within, I never felt that sense of commitment that usually raves from the typical FF game. You could argue that FFCC is outstandingly similar to the 3D LoZ games, and while I thought that they were brilliant in many different areas, FFCC just felt so sub par compared to it even though there are the same various hack and slash methods involved during battles. Hmmm, I suppose that does it for me. The new games I've played up to now are nil, and until the cluster of PS2 RPGs I don't think I'll have much to say here anymore lol. *dramatic music*

I've never played any of the .hack games before, but I heard that FFXII's battle system resembles that of one of the other .hack games (Infections, I think). Based on that information, would you say that FFXII should/could be somewhat enjoyable? I just want to know so as I can get a preview of what it's vaguely going to be like, because FFXI supposedly isn't all that and from what I've gathered, XII takes from there as well.

Well, I have no idea about what you're asking, but I thought I'd use this thread to talk about the MGS game that was released for the GBC. I must have played it a few years ago because I can't remember a thing about it regarding the storyline (does it have anything to do with the ongoing one?), but other than that I felt that I enjoyed it to some extent. It's amazingly difficult for a GBC game, not in terms of depth and controls, but gameplay and a few other aspects that are to do with the surroundings, like the cardboard box maze for example. Nobody likes backtracking, and this game was no different because in that specific part you had to have the different types of cardboard boxes before you could get past the maze... and then there's the risk of dying heh. Come to think about it, the game plays very much like Rogue Spear on the GBA, with the exceptions of a few extra weapons, but overall it's slightly numb. Have you played it?

I dunno. I didn't really understand it either. They penetrated the display case and must have took off from there. I heard elsewhere that they bashed the unit a couple of times before the disc ejected itself, so that source might not be entirely accurate.

[quote name='James][color=#707875']Excellent post, Mr. Ninja. ~_^[/color][/quote] [color=teal]Thanks. I think you have gotten all the facts down there. People really don't realise that there is a lot more to the industry other than what is seen in games. The DS has a sort of mistaken identity, as it has been compared to the PSP, considered as the next in line of the GameBoy systems, and has been negatively judged by the media because of its unheard of concept. Come to think of it now, these allegations are somewhat crude, but ever since it was put in the spotlight at this year's E3, a lot more has been unveiled about it and people managed to wrap themselves around the concept. The PS2's DVD player probably can fit into the category of being innovative. I mean, that hadn't been pulled off anywhere else before, and backwards compatibility was a wise move, but when you think about it from Nintendo's perspective, these so-called inventions don't help the games at all. Hardware and technology don't surface how games are supposed to be, and certain add-ons are more or less an appeal to juice up the system's prestige.[/color]

[color=teal]There is no solid evidence that proves that innovation has reached its peak, and the standard of some games that are yet to be released for all systems has that written all over, but sometimes you've got to look at the empty part of the glass too. Games like Barbarian and Crash Bandicoot Fusion are just terrible for this day and age. It's partly a case of developers being lazy and not taking the time to even consider the aspects that part special games from the rest, but there are those who actually try to introduce something new but fail because it was just pulled off badly, like The Getaway. I think that games aren't independent in their own right though. What I mean is how developers must all learn from each other, movies too in a way, if there's any hope of creating something exceptional in the future that people will enjoy playing. Mobius had a good experience bringing the famous Bullet Time into Max Payne, and as a result of this many other developers saw fit to using it elsewhere. In light of that, not only was it used to increase the aesthetics of gameplay, but it was also a good effect to help the settings of a game. For example, just before you die in Hitman Contracts, everything goes into slow-mo, thus it brings the feel to life. Right now, I think Nintendo is the saving grace of gaming because in comparison to a lot of what you'd currently find on the Xbox or PS2 (I'm not saying that these games are bad ;)), their games stand out the most. It's clear that there has been a lack of spontaneous games recently for all systems, there were a few good releases in the past couple of years that were more than just adequate with the genre, but right now what each company really needs is a major stepping stone that screams innovation, like the one that Nintendo are climbing with the DS. My point isn't that everyone is fresh out of ideas, of course that's impossible, but I think that research happens to be one of the factors that many developers take lightly. A lot of retro games have been accused of being good merely because the time they were released was a time when the market had just established itself and practically everything was open to everybody and everything would seem new, however, I think that's a load of bull. The difference between those games and the ones of today is that they are all very simple. Designed simply and play simply. Many games have been bombarded with features and heavy designs that have done more harm than good, and make them more liable to be put off by players. I suppose the correct comparison would be with any type of movie. The gist of movies is to let you escape from the real world to something a bit more make-belief (in most cases anyway), as games should be. If a movie is too hard to understand and has too many turning points, then you'll gradually lose track and will abandon it in the end. Preferably, I enjoy the type of game where you can just pick it up and play on the spot. Some require more than that though, like RPGs, where there'd be some getting used to before you get into them, but that's not the end of the world because the good ones tend to make it easy on you so you don't tune out early enough, and that's another reason why I like them. Being a fan of a developing team and actually trusting a developing team are two very different things, I think. I'm looking forward to a lot of what's on offer for the next gen, particularly Nintendo, as innovation is what they've openly promised as of the DS (and hopefully other things before that). This went on longer than I thought heh, so a long story short, how do you feel about the direction that many of this generation's games are heading, and what impact will they have on the next?[/color]

[color=teal]I wasn't expecting it to be a hotshot anyway, so I'm not dissapointed. I suppose you're all right though, AvP should be good for a few action scenes and nothing else. By the way, is it "scary" in the way that the Alien films were (or at least has a high suspense rate)?[/color]

[quote name='ChibiHorsewoman][color=darkviolet']When he was three my grandma actually told my mother that she should find an exorsist for my brother![/color][/quote] [color=teal]My opinion on the matter is that your grandmother should have auditioned for the role of Tony's mom in The Sopranos. By the sounds of it she would have made a great Livia.[/color]