Random Gaming Thoughts II ~News Items Beware~

Speaking of tedious grinds finally started Final Fantasy xii hd only to find they added something all jrpgs should have: double speed toggle and quadruple speed toggle.  I recall bravely default and second both also having a similar feature in battle, and it makes me wonder why more games don't include this if they're going to have grinding.  Really takes the pain out of it all, for a slow genre it almost boggles my mind how infrequently I see this sort of feature.

What RPG was it that had a mechanic where if you were following the main path you had fewer encounters and if you were actively looking for encounters then you had more? A Google search has come up with nothing. Maybe I'm imagining this!

That sounds like a beautiful dream... or a really good idea that you could market to fans of the genre.

Grandia?

I've definitely heard that before, so I don't think Jay's entirely making it up.

Is it I Am Setsuna?

The Bravelies had an option to turn down (or up, or off) encounter rates.  Not quite what Jay's saying, but in combination with what Athrun said, it made an otherwise fairly standard JRPG feel so much more painless.  I really think they set a bar for turn-based combat that all subsequent JRPGs should be looking to match, at least.

Also, can confirm that I've hit that point in MHS.

masofdas wrote:

Grandia?

Crumpy Andy wrote:

Is it I Am Setsuna?

I don't think it's either of these - I am Setsuna has enemies on the map for you to run into or avoid, and a quick Google search suggests Grandia might be the same. Argh, this is annoying me now.

I think I might have read it on Twitter, thinking about it.

Grandia rewards you for for taking on more fights in a different way then most rpgs as it has two types of leveling up, so if you just followed the straight path and only fought who you needed to, you should still be able to beat the game.

It's similar, but not exactly what I'm on about - whatever game I read about explicitly lowered the encounter rates if you were on the main path but raised them if you were trying to grind.

I'm sure it is a game with enemies on the map, it's just saying there will be less spawning there. Sure it's also something DQ8 said, but that also has enemies on the map.

Anecdotally, that does fit with my DQVIII experience... it'd be cool, if so.

I quite liked how it worked in Cthulu Saves the World, a little indie PC RPG I played ages ago - in that, each area had a set number of encounters that eventually expired, and if you wanted to grind you had to choose to battle from the menu. I suppose that's a bit like TWEWY too.

Been thinking today:

Can Nintendo release the best game of all time twice in one year?

So, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the greatest videogame of all time. I don't want to hear any disagreement because A) you're wrong and 2) we've had that discussion elsewhere and I'm not talking about that.

Traditionally, I've liked the idea of Zelda more than actually playing them. I love the world, the characters, the music, the imagery, the sense of adventure. That said, the combat and dungeons always felt like something I had to do. Don't get me wrong, I loved the puzzles and the bosses and set-pieces and things, but I'd never replay a Zelda game right after finishing it. Even ten years later, Twilight Princess HD felt a little like a chore in places.

Mario was always the reverse of that coin. I love Mario and Luigi, the Princesses, Bowser and everyone and their bantz, but they're always mates to have a lark with rather than being as emotionally engaging as a Zelda plot. On the other hand, the sheer joy of playing Mario is unrivalled. I can't get enough of bouncing the plumber around, searching every nook and cranny to find little gameplay treats. I can replay the original Super Mario Bros multiple times in a row, I restarted Super Mario Galaxy as Luigi as soon as I finished it and so on.

With Breath of the Wild, that's changed. The aspects of Zelda I love are woven into the gameplay better, and I just love spending time in that world. I want to go back all the time, I want to explore things and pick fights and see more of Hyrule. Zelda still has great story and world, but now it also has Mario's play.

I know Odyssey will still have that mechanical depth, but can it return the favour and match Zelda's narrative emotionality? I think that's what it needs to do to top BotW as a complete package.

Yes.

End of discussion, no need for thread.

Say what you will about EDGE, but considering they've only ever given 20 games a 10/10 and two of those are BotW and Super Mario Odyssey, that bodes well for the game.

Nintendo can't release the best game of all time twice in one year when SEGA have released Sonic Mania. Maybe another year, but not in 2017!

...what, genuinely? I know you're a big Sonic fan, Cappa, but - best game of all time? A 2D platformer? Any 2D platformer? I am genuinely astonished that you think of it so highly. All credit to Sega, I suppose.

Nah, I don't think Sonic Mania is the best game of all time, but I do genuinely think that it's the best game of 2017. Right enough, it's just my opinion, and I've missed a lot of other critically acclaimed stuff, but I'm confident in saying that nothing will better it in 2017 - it's a masterpiece.

FYI, I say that the best game of all time is Crazy Taxi, an open-world score-attack racing game.

I'm sure Odyssey will be alright. I can't convince myself that it needs to stir any emotion - except joy, natch - to be the top of the class. It competes in a different genre to Zelda (erm, duh, sorry) that doesn't need emotionality to be successful. To me, at least.

Agreed. For me, games don't necessarily need to make me feel. A lot of what BotW made me feel, in fact, was joy at exploration. That's what I expect from SMO as well. The apocalyptic sadness and loneliness was nice, but sort of by-the-by.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Nah, I don't think Sonic Mania is the best game of all time, but I do genuinely think that it's the best game of 2017. Right enough, it's just my opinion, and I've missed a lot of other critically acclaimed stuff, but I'm confident in saying that nothing will better it in 2017 - it's a masterpiece.

FYI, I say that the best game of all time is Crazy Taxi, an open-world score-attack racing game.

That's fair enough.  I can only hope that SMO at least does battle with it in your eyes.  I know you like, or liked, SM64 about as much as myself.

I'm not saying it has to make me feel the same emotions Zelda did, obviously. What I'm saying is that in the past, Zelda has made me feel strngly about its world whereas Mario has made me feel strongly about the mechanics. Breath of the Wild combined the two, so I'm not sure whether Mario being much better at one, while not having the other, will be enough to make it the better game overall.

Mario and Peach and co can make me feel; Mario Galaxy had excellent moments of heroism and the series' sense of humour is strong. If it plays up to those, and gives me some romance (the Amiibo are all in wedding attire, after all), I think its in with a good chance.

Mario Odyssey?  Better than Zelda, Persona 5, and Nier Automata?


Nah.

Spoiler:

As someone who doesn't think BotW is all that and I bring up on the Podcast (which you should listen to), I never really saw the hype which you can go read back in the BotW thread.

SMO however since the first time I've saw it, I've thought to myself this could and very well likely be GOTY and one of the best of all-time.

Drunka brings up on the podcast that reason why BotW hasn't resonated with me is I don't explore, and I rarely 100% a game but SM64, SM64DS & Sunshine I got all the Stars/Shines.

I don't know if I will in SMO as it might have like 600 moons but I think will give it a good go in till Skyrim comes to Switch and I get distracted by that or a load of indies in-between.

I get what Drunka is getting at and why he would like ideas from both to overlap, I do think some ideas can do that but I want different things from a Zelda and a Mario.

What Drunka describes about Zelda and using Twilight Princess as an example, is what I want from Zelda and what Odyssey is giving me it seems is what I want from Mario.

Interesting discussion.

As someone who is yet to play Breath of the Wild (plan to get a Switch in 2018), I can see Mario Odyssey claiming GOTY awards. The problem with a big adventure game is (as has been mentioned), the scale and mechanics can be less forgiving when returning to the game. An example of this would be Ocarina of Time and Mario 64, the latter still offers excellent bursts of gameplay, decades later, whilst Ocarina can be a bit of a slog in places.

It's why I'd put Katamari Damacy over any of the Grand Theft Autos on PS2. Or Crazy Taxi over Shenmue. Super Monkey Ball over Metroid Prime. Often, the more a game is a "a game", the more likely it will remain a great experience years down the line.

The beauty of Mario games is that they are enjoyed by all ages. My 5 year old loves Yoshi's Island, Mario Galaxy and "spin-offs" like Luigi's Mansion. Pretty sure she wouldn't have as much as fun in any of the Zelda games because they are aimed at the slightly older audience who are happy to read text or run around and not achieve anything in 30 minutes. If Mario starts being more like Zelda, it could actually hurt the essence and accessibility of Mario games.