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NightMystic
03:55 PM

In reply to Yakuza 3 Impressions: In English, Partly
Will people who have not played the previous versions be able to follow the story?
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hot_heart
03:51 PM

In reply to The Saboteur Review: Rough Draft
'What seemed great on paper — a World War II game like nothing else, with sophisticated artistry to boot — had to be turned into a video game. But then some things, not necessarily too many things, went wrong.'

Are you saying somebody...wilfully caused elements to go wrong, thus ruining or seriously damaging the game?

I wish I could think of a word to put that more succinctly.
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Stephen Totilo
03:53 PM

@hot_heart: Not at all. Good design intentions went awry and a game that sounded like it'd be awesome didn't turn out to be so awesome when it was made. We've all played games like this, no?
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hot_heart
03:59 PM

@Stephen Totilo: Hehe. I was trying to make a funny.

I know plenty of games that sound better in concept than execution and not one where someone has...deliberately undermined the finished product, making it worse off than intended.
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sudo rm reality.exe
03:46 PM

In reply to The Saboteur Review: Rough Draft
Sounds like the game got Haze-d, not so severely but it seems to be the same deal - rushed to death.
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Trey
03:41 PM

In reply to Achievement Chore: She Plays For Gamerscore, Whether It's Fun Or Not
I don't have the attention span. The only game I can play over and over again is Mass Effect, and even that I only play in two hour or so bursts at the most.

So, bravo for being dedicated enough to something play truly terrible games. She may not enjoy the games themselves, but she enjoys what it gets her, so I cannot say she's wasting her time (similar to someone telling me I'm wasting my time playing a part in a game I hate over again, even though I love the game itself). To each their own.
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Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...
03:34 PM

In reply to Frankenreview: The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
A better game then PH but pretty nothing really new, IMHO.

Worth playing mostly because its Zelda.
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EderC
03:26 PM

In reply to Frankenreview: The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
This is definitely a solid title with a few drawbacks. First of all, the train sections can be boring at times. It's nicely broken up by some of the sidequests and enemy encounters, but when you've done the majority of the sidequests, it's just boring as hell. The warp points do a decent job of speeding things up, but near the end of the game, I just want to get it over with, not because I'm bored and want to finish the game, but because the story and the dungeons so fun to play that I feel like I'm wasting time while I'm barreling across the countryside.

Some of the panflute segments are a chore, too. It's a fun concept, but it was a little annoying playing some of the songs where the notes are separated.

On the whole, I'm more than pleased with the investment I made with Spirit Tracks. The dungeons are fun as hell (especially the one where you truly feel like Indiana Jones) and the boss battles are top-notch. As always, the sidequests and customization aspects of this game, as in Phantom Hourglass, will keep you playing well after the main quest is done. Too bad it doesn't do anything overly exciting to pull new players in.

Bottom line:
If you're a Zelda fan and you enjoyed Phantom Hourglass, this is a must play, but if you've never particularly been a fan of the franchise, it's probably not for you. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone that hasn't tried the first game, though.
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buddhathing
03:20 PM

In reply to Achievement Chore: She Plays For Gamerscore, Whether It's Fun Or Not
Owen, this article was terrific. Your articles are always enlivened when you're able to interview someone, but human-interest reporting reflects your strengths well. I was reminded of some of your truly touching night notes, which are among my favorite things you've written. But as wonderful as they are, they reflect a skill set that isn't always fully utilized in your day-to-day writing for Kotaku.
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LilSpitfire
03:26 PM

@buddhathing: Sometimes you need fluff to balance a serious topic. But I do agree. I love Owen's writing style and approach.
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ImBigBob
03:17 PM

In reply to Frankenreview: The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Strangely, it's hard to get excited about new Zelda games. All the games in the series are great, or at least competent, but as a result, the games no longer interest me because they're just repeating themes that I've already enjoyed over and over. I'm sure Spirit Tracks is a good game, but is it worth buying if you've already played the Zelda series to death? Probably not.
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Duckspwn
03:16 PM

In reply to Achievement Chore: She Plays For Gamerscore, Whether It's Fun Or Not
Jumper: Griffin's Story has extremely easy achievements that are worth 50 gp each, which explains why she bought it. I bet they put those in the game just to force someone (achievement whores) to buy it.
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Edited by Duckspwn at 12/09/09 3:16 PM Duckspwn was starred Duckspwn was unstarred

Rachel Fogg
03:10 PM

In reply to Frankenreview: The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
"One day they'll make a really bad Zelda game so we can use the phrase "Link dump" "

You mean the Phillps CDi games weren't bad? Surely you jest Mr, Fahey? ;)
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BFKelleher
03:19 PM

@Rachel Fogg: They don't count. Since Nintendo didn't make them, they aren't real Zelda games.
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Rachel Fogg
03:24 PM

@BFKelleher:

But didn't Ninty team up with Phillps to make those games, so technically they are-

:knocked out by flying pig:
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Quote
03:43 PM

@Rachel Fogg: No, Nintendo didn't "team up" in any way. They just sold Phillips the licenses for some of the characters.
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Rachel Fogg
03:52 PM

@Quote: What's the difference, they SOLD the characters...either way, that was a collaboration.

When it sucked, Ninty took them back and the community as a whole decided to just..drop the whole affair.

Nevertheless, Phillps' 'version' of Zelda is still part of the lore of Zelda, albeit an embarrassing part...but part nonetheless. LOL!
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Edited by Rachel Fogg at 12/09/09 3:52 PM Rachel Fogg was starred Rachel Fogg was unstarred

Quote
04:05 PM

@Rachel Fogg: The difference is that Nintendo didn't WORK on the cdi games in any way. So it's not comparable by any reasonable person to the regular Zelda series which is actually made by Nintendo.
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Slothboy
03:04 PM

In reply to Achievement Chore: She Plays For Gamerscore, Whether It's Fun Or Not
Hm. I have a decent gamerscore, 23,502. I like to hear the "bleep bloop" when I'm playing and I have definitely put in some sweat to pick up some of those more difficult achievements. But I stop when it is not fun anymore.

If it's a game I don't like or an achievement that would require way too much effort (most frequently this is with multiplayer achievements) then I don't bother with it.

I don't understand why she is beating herself half to death playing games she admits she isn't enjoying, just to get her score up.

I like achievements when they encourage me to play the game more thoroughly than I would have otherwise. Grinding just for the points doesn't appeal to me.
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EBone
03:41 PM

@Slothboy: It's called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
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denki
02:52 PM

In reply to Frankenreview: The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
I was very surprised by Spirit Tracks- because it's actually good. They took most of the complaints from PH, such as having to re-play the Ocean King temple 5000 times and the slow sailing parts (which I liked), and replaced them with a much better temple system (you don't acutally have to replay the previous levels unless you want to!), and somehow, a funner, though slower, method of travel.

The weapons selection this time around, as usual, includes the favorites as well as some new treats (spoiler free: the S&M weapon rocks).

But, still think using the stylus is a mistake. It's one of those games, like many others on the Wii and DS, where they try to use the gimmick of the system for all control, but the margin of error involved with the gimmick just shows you how inadequate it actually is (for those of us who desire total control). I love it when Nintendo makes a product that is defeatist.

I'd say it's a buy for any DS owner, but I don't really suppose it has much replay value for the majority. There are a ton of things to collect and side missions, but I figure that most of them are just way to tedious to actually care about. Anyone still reading? Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
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Goldwings - Wants a Part-time Santa Gig :D
02:59 PM

@denki: The stylus, blowing into the mic, closing the DS, ect are all used in order to differenciate the handheld version to the console version. It gives some form of uniqueness in terms of "this can only be played on the DS" without it feeking like "just another Zelda game."
Of course though, most fans just want another Zelda game, so you're not wrong either :/
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Demonbird
03:05 PM

@Goldwings - Wants a Part-time Santa Gig :D:
Of course, to validate that further they would have to be appreciated/an improvement/not easily replaced with other options.
Which unfortunately, it doesn't quite come through on.
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CMay
02:49 PM

In reply to Achievement Chore: She Plays For Gamerscore, Whether It's Fun Or Not
Well, once you've invested yourself so far into something you have to weigh the disappointment of giving up early against the cost/reward for reaching the goal.

In the end it's part of your life story to be able to say you dedicated yourself and were in the top 5 out of millions. Maybe it's competitiveness, maybe it's an addiction, but this is a lifestyle that was completely impossible not long ago.

While I'm sure the work involved in collecting things often isn't fun itself, the rush from all the micro milestones combined with the community recognition and participation could certainly keep it interesting.

This is basically making a game out of games. So, to hell with it, go for 200k or whatever. There are much worse ways to spend your time and at least this way you get recorded credit for having done it.

My primary aversion to this would be that it can devalue the actual content of the game when you play through it optimally for a singular purpose instead of experiencing the game as intended. However, many of the games really are pretty crappy and it may be more fun farming achievements out of them than going through the game normally.
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Edited by CMay at 12/09/09 2:54 PM CMay was starred CMay was unstarred

Mit
02:47 PM

In reply to Yakuza 3 Impressions: In English, Partly
Something interesting that they probably neither have the time nor motivation to implement, would be some sort of button that triggers subtitles for Japanese signage when using a first-person look feature (if they have that in the game). Then they wouldn't have to worry about changing signage graphics in-game, and gamers would still know what all of the signs say about the game world. Those are the kind of things that randomly catch my interest in games, and I know it's gonna bug me when I can't understand half of what anything says in the game that isn't spoken dialogue.

Getting the game regardless of course.
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Archaotic
02:49 PM

@Mit: They won't change the signage either, it'll all be in Japanese aside from the signs that were already written in English. For anything that requires translation, a little subtitle will pop up when you approach it, much like in Yakuza 2.
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Mit
03:12 PM

@Archaotic: Yeah I'm sure they won't change the signage, I was just suggesting a feature like that so we could still read it.

Although it sounds like they've already done something to that effect in Yakuza 2? I wouldn't know, I haven't played it quite yet (owned it for quite a while now though...).

Sounds like they offered subtitles for necessary signs, but not necessarily all of them?
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Edited by Mit at 12/09/09 3:12 PM Mit was starred Mit was unstarred

Psudonym
03:31 PM

@Mit: Actually, that's a pretty genius concept. Perhaps something with the right stick depressed?

I could even see it expanded into other games centered around exploration and examining your surroundings. Just clicking and depressing the right stick and any signs you see will be clearly brought up in captions. It'd be not unlike pressing tab to see the names of everything on screen in some other RPGS. But with this, you'll be able to quickly read through lots of signage with a non intrusive mechanic.
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Archaotic
03:37 PM

@Mit: Basically, if it's a building you can enter or something you can interact with, the sign is either already in English (Club SEGA, 7-11, many of the other restaurants), or a little dialog box will pop up before you enter, with the item or building's name in English inside of it.
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Lider
02:46 PM

In reply to Yakuza 3 Impressions: In English, Partly
Oh god, I'm going to be broke. SSF4, FFXII, Yakuza3, GOW3. This release schedule is INSANE!!
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