Gaming Nintendogs

[Mimmsicle]

[FONT=Tahoma][CENTER]Well, I?ve done a couple of searches but so far there?ve been no threads popping up with Nintendogs. And if there is one, then it sure has disguised itself well, hehe. So on with the thread!

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My first experience with Nintendogs was at work a while back and it was more a glance-over at the packages than an actual hands-on experience, but I digress. The cartridge in itself won me over with its adorable cover, as did the concept of the game when it was presented as an advanced/ modificated version of Tamagotchi.

I?m pretty sure most of you, if not all of you, are familiar with the Tamagotchi craze that swept across many nations, though a quick briefing may be required for those who remained oblivious to it. It?s a tiny pocket game where you care for an animal (were there several different animals?) from the moment it?s born/hatched, to the day that it passes on to greener pastures. /End brief

Nintendogs has the same fundamental game play as Tamagotchi, but, while the two have similarities, there have been significant changes made. No longer will your dog die if you go away on a trip and forget the game at home, nor will it age or die at all. A Nintendog remains a puppy forever. The worst thing that happens if you ignore it for a longer period of time, is that it becomes very dirty, hungry, thirsty and it takes some time to gain its trust and attention again. But what?s a little extra time spent on a rumbuctious pup compared to going through the trouble of starting all over again?

Further positive developments are, of course, the level of interaction that?s possible with the DS and greater emphasis on authenticity. The Tamagotchi merely offered a couple of buttons to push if and when needed, whereas there is a much higher participation aspect in Nintendogs. I personally love how you give the dog a name and call it into the mic to make it come to you. Tricks that are taught by voice commands can range from simple stuff like "shake", to stunts that takes a lot of repetition to stick properly.

A lot of focus has gone into mimicking the maintanence of a real dog and implementing it into the game. Maintenance tasks (feeding, bathing, walking) now involve more active choices than choosing button A or B. This makes it both fun in its variety and also gives you an idea of what it?s like to own a real pet. At least it should if you know that pets don?t have an off/on button, costs a lot more than the game and DS put together, not to mention that the weather is not always sunshine when you need to walk the dog at the crack of dawn.


-- Speaking of adding touches of realism into the game, I do miss having the ability to take your puppy to the vet. That?s not to say I want the option to make/have it sick, like you could chose to have tornadoes vanquish your town in Sim City, but it would be a cool feature. After all, all puppies need their shots and are prone to accidents, often causing their owners a trip to the vets ... as well as the bank, heh.

Something else that is somewhat missed, is the changing of seasons. The light changes from day to night when you?re out on walks but there are no seasonal transitions. Minor niggle, yes. --


Your results with the dog relies heavily on the amount of time you devote to it and what you do with that time. Simply having the game on and watching the dog sleep or walking around won?t get you anywhere (fun as it may be) but instead you bond with it just as you would normally: by providing it with food, love, physical care and lots of play. The choice of dog also plays a big part in your progress. For every breed there are 3 dogs, each with their own temperament and individual needs of commitment from their owner.


The Tamagotchi had a very narrow entertainment range, as well as not offering much of a challenge, something you can?t say about Nintendogs. How many more hours of fun you get out of compared to its predecessor depends solely on the individual player. But I can say that for those who are allergic to furry creatures of fluffyness, this is a highly acceptable substitute that can keep you occupied for a very long time and be almost as rewarding as having the real deal.

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I know there?s much more to be said about this game (value in terms of gaming hours, pros, cons) and hopefully we?ll get some of that by the wonderful members of OB![/CENTER]

As for my dog, I have a female Pembroke Welsh Corgi by the name Bessy (*glares at Alan*). She is a [B]superb [/B]disc competitor but isn?t very keen on obediance in public. Her favourite buddies are Casey (though sometimes they fall out), Peaches and Spot. She hates Wanda and will sometimes get along with Poppi. Right now she resides in a Japanese style home. I don?t plan on getting more dogs, since I prefer spending all my energy on just the one :catgirl:
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[armana]

I bought this game the day before it came out. To start with I loved it - taking my dog (Takkun the miniature dachshund) for walks, entering it in competitions, etc. The main driving force behind the game for me, I found, was the items aspect.

Anyway, it was good for about 3 weeks, and I played it pretty much everyday. Then suddenly, I lost ALL interest in it, and I haven't touched it since. There didn't seem to be many items to get (I can only take finding a certain amount of broken disposable cameras before I get a bit tired of it) and doing the same competitions over and over started to become boring, and I didn't even bother with the obedience competitions because I don't like having to talk aloud to my DS.

So yeah, a good game, but I think it depends on the type of person you are as to how much gameplay you'll actually get out of this. I can see some people lasting for ages with it, while others, like myself, will get tired of it after a while. However I don't regret buying it because I'd estimate I did get a good 15 hours out of it, which is a pretty moderate amount for a handheld title. And the dogs are cute, hehe.

[Kenshin DX]

No thanks nintendo, I have a real dog. I think this game is aimed for kids who dont have one. How long does the fun in this game honestly last? Id say 2 weeks before you get sick of it.

[Mimmsicle]

[FONT=Tahoma][quote name='Grave Yard']I think this game is aimed for kids who dont have one.[/quote]
=)

Out of curiosity, armana and Grave Yard, what could the game have done differently to keep your interest longer?

Simple pleasures are enough to keep my attention, which is probably why I won't tire of taking my dog for walks to see what we find and if the map will expand if she's superfit. It'd be fun to explore another "neighbourhood". Especially since you can only remodel your house, not move. Though I wonder how they'll be able to remodel my house to be a seaside pad.... which is going to be so expensive, eeeesh. It's going to take a lot of competition victoires and rare items to raise that kind of money.

On the subject of rare items, the strangest I've found (so far) is[spoiler] the alien[/spoiler]. Now. Usually I'm not freaked out by[spoiler] aliens [/spoiler] but this thing was so creepy that its value was doubled when I sold it, hahaha. We went through a huge amount of disposable cameras and juice bottles before coming across that piece of rare, though. The [spoiler]lion's mane[/spoiler] still cracks me up as does seeing Bessy [spoiler]dance to the Flower Waltz, ending with a backflip[/spoiler]. If you haven't tried doing that when you're in the park with the two other dogs, I highly recommend it. It's hilarious.

[B]Side note:[/B] I'm more than a little sceptic to the records from Archie that you sometimes find.
That man doesn't seem to have all his marbles in the bag ¬¬

Back on subject. It's a shame you don't get random dog encounters, like you do with the gifts. The random gifts caused me a bit of a headache to begin with, because I couldn't understand how to get a hold of them :animeshy: It was only by a coincidental moment that it fell into place, hrm.


[SIZE=1]The spoiler tags might be over the top, but hey :p[/SIZE] [/FONT]

[Semjaza]

I think a lot of it is how you approach it. The game is clearly aimed at people who don't regularly play video games to begin with. The same type of crowd that was interested in Tamigotchi devices, really. If you go into it expecting to play it hardcore and have forty things to do every day, you're not going to like it... I find this is the approach of a lot of people and in doing so, I'm not surprised that they find nothing to do in a week and grow impatient with it.

There's obviously other reasons such as Armana's as well, which I would agree with. My girlfriend who really never played any games at the time seemed to put far more into it than I ever did... but she paced herself and played for extremely short bursts. That's really what it's designed for. The game, admittedly, does not have a billion things to do. It could have benefited with more competitions and what-not. By the time you do most of what it has to offer, however, I really doubt that it's any shorter than most other games.

I had a dog at home too (and I have two cats at my apartment) and I really don't find the overall experience that comparable. Whether or not you have a dog really doesn't speak negatively of this game at all.

[armana]

[QUOTE=Mimminx][FONT=Tahoma]
=)

Out of curiosity, armana and Grave Yard, what could the game have done differently to keep your interest longer?
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Ok, don't get me wrong. I'm all for games like Nintendogs - games with no real goal, where you get as much out of it as you're willing to put in. However, for me, Nintendogs simply doesn't have the same long-lasting appeal as other games similar to it.

What could it have done differently? For starters, variety. The only real way to make money to buy more stuff in the game (besides from selling items) is via the three contests. The only one which I kept going back to was the disc throwing competition, as it was the only thing that I found held any enjoyment. The agility trials just didn't interest me and the obedience trials i hardly bothered with due to the little interest i have in the microphone technology. On top of all this, every single time I enter a contest I have to sit through Ted and Archie saying one of only a few randomised conversations. Seeing the same text repeated over and over again isn't my idea of fun.

As well as this: items. Yes, there are many exciting items, such as [SPOILER]the awesome RC helicopter.[/spoiler] But the amount of other stuff you have to go through before you get to these good items just doesn't seem worth it. Sticks. Dog photos. Those damn. Broken. Disposable. Cameras.

And to get these items? You take your dog for a walk, which is enjoyable. Except for the encounters with other dogs. The idea behind these encounters is all well and good: building relationships with other dogs and trainers in the neighbourhood. Except my dog didn't seem to be building any relationships with anyone. One day Spot and my dog Takkun are best friends, the next day 'Takkun doesn't seem to like Spot very much'. There are three ways in which the dogs can feel about eachother after an encounter: curious, happy or pissed off. Always the same. Never changing. I want to be able to build an emotional connection with the characters and dogs I meet but they're all so one-sided, and they never seem to change.

[QUOTE=Mimminx][FONT=Tahoma]
Simple pleasures are enough to keep my attention
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And I'd say the same thing about myself, Mimminx. Take, for example, Electroplankton, which I imported from Japan. Many of my friends tried this game and wondered why the hell I even bothered to buy it when they played it, but I knew exactly what I was getting. A game with no end goal; where all you do is make tunes and sit back and listen to them. And I find Electroplankton compelling because there's always something different to do. While there are only ten types of plankton to play around with, there's always a different piece of music to come up with, and as such it doesn't become repetitive.

As well as Electroplankton, there's the simply stunning Animal Crossing Wild World, one of the most compelling games I have ever played. The above problems that I mentioned, which are the major ones that stood out for me in Nintendogs, are all completely non-existent in Wild World. There's variety: There always seems to be something to do, the animals always have something interesting to say; there are hundreds of items to collect and deck out your house with; and, most importantly, you really become attatched to the animals, moreso than even in the GameCube Animal Crossing, in ways which I don't want to talk about in case anybody hasn't experienced them yet ^_^

Nintendogs just doesn't have this same appeal to me. I feel like I've seen all there is to see already. At its core, there is a great game within Nintendogs. The graphics are excellent, the stylus/touchscreen dog interactions are intuitive and the game just has an overall nice feel about it. But I the few major hurdles I mentioned above keep this game only in the enjoyable range, at least for me. I certainly don't regret buying the game but, out of the seven games on my DS collection, it's definitely my least favourite. I know I've criticised it a fair bit in this post but I do think it is a worthwhile game to play, just not all that it could have been.

However, I'm glad that the game has proven to be so enjoyable for you, Mimminx :animesmil