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[viciouskillersquirrel]

I just had a fire sale when it got to the point where I could never finish it and come out the other side with some semblance of a life. Basically, I looked at the games I'd had for years but never booted up and asked myself the question "Would I ever prefer to play this than a newer game?" If the answer was no, up on eBay it went.

On the other hand, I did this with Twilight Princess a few years after I'd beaten it and had to rebuy it to participate in Retroactive.

Just got to the boss of the third (water) temple. I have to say that the swimming controls in this game are nothing short of atrocious. This temple also highlighted to me Nintendo's continuing insanity regarding inverted camera controls - why would anybody want inverted x axis but normal y axis? How is that the default? Give me a proper inverted camera and for goodness sake, apply it universally.

 

[silks]

I just had a fire sale when it got to the point where I could never finish it and come out the other side with some semblance of a life. Basically, I looked at the games I'd had for years but never booted up and asked myself the question "Would I ever prefer to play this than a newer game?" If the answer was no, up on eBay it went.

On the other hand, I did this with Twilight Princess a few years after I'd beaten it and had to rebuy it to participate in Retroactive.

Just got to the boss of the third (water) temple. I have to say that the swimming controls in this game are nothing short of atrocious. This temple also highlighted to me Nintendo's continuing insanity regarding inverted camera controls - why would anybody want inverted x axis but normal y axis? How is that the default? Give me a proper inverted camera and for goodness sake, apply it universally.

I'm dangerously close to doing a fire sale on a huge chunk of my backlog. It's doing nothing but sitting there and I'll probably never play any of it again. And frankly, some of the GameCube games would fetch a nice price, I'm sure. The 360 and PS3 games probably not so much.

The water controls are HORRIBLE, totally agree. I find TP picks up considerably after the Water Temple. I had to push through that one, but everything after that (Aribiter's Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins, Sacred Grove so far) have been awesome.

 

[Crimm]

Things like jumping have been constant irritants. Link misses a jump on the first attempt, makes it on the second, unable to tell what I did. Stray too close to a ledge, Link launches himself to oblivion. The game knows if he's going to make it when he jumps, why not just have him drop down instead of jump when you're not lined up?

Jon and I are roughly the same place. It's funny how often memories of parts that irritated me back when the game launch come rushing back once I re-encounter them.

I remember not liking the next dungeon, so I'm kind of dreading what I have to do tonight. I do wish Zant was being more centrally featured. He's a nightmare of an enemy who makes only rare appearances, presumably in the interest of "mystery."

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

HA! I just revisited the first tall spiral room in the water temple because I remembered a chest up there but it being inaccessible due to not having the hookshot at the time. Spend what felt like twenty minutes trudging up there using iron boots and it turns out to be a purple rupee (50) that won't fit into my wallet.

I was expecting at least a piece of heart :/

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Just cleared the Arbiter's Grounds and got the spinner. That was a fun dungeon once you got past the bit with all the poes. The

Spoiler

ghost rats

are a devious puzzle in and of themselves. And that boss fight was amazing.

I would have gotten further by now, but I've been distracted by stuff on the overworld. Between bug / poe hunting and getting pieces of heart, it has actually been quite an a distraction. The first time I played this game, I mostly skipped all the side stuff until right toward the end, which made it seem overwhelming and unfun. The other thing that's improved the experience has been the fact that I'm freely spending my rupees as soon as I can do it - buying supplies, donating them to the guy at the Hyrule city gate and putting money into Malo's relief fund. This is all fun, engrossing stuff, but let down by the fact that your wallet is limited to such low values unless you do some very skippable side quests.

That one thing ruined the economy of Twilight Princess.

 

[Ondore]

Short show and raw show notes. This isn't your dad's RFN.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/40266/episode-430-dad-humor-overload

We recorded this episode much earlier in the week than normal, and we had to keep it fairly short as a result. However, doing it this way allowed James to participate after all (he hadn't left for his trip quite yet), and the lack of preparation time allowed us to focus entirely on the Splatoon Global Testfire, as well as extended thoughts on the game in general. We also squeezed in a Thunder Round of emails before the end. In keeping with this short and straightforward episode, here are the raw show notes that we used for the recording.

Intro - Early show, so limited New Biz and a quick Thunder Round coming up. But first...

All - SPLATOON TESTFIRE

BREAK - NOW PLIZZAYING

LISTENER MAIL THUNDER ROUND - rfn@nwr

------------
Brad writes:
It looks more and more like a Punch Out title is headed to either the WiiU or 3DS. Perhaps a deep look at the rest of the Smash Character roster gives us other clues? Maybe something with ROB?

Second, a friend lent me his VITA and I'm pretty amazed at that kit. Why is it the strongest system technically is often the loser in the race? Is it just a matter of cost? If a 3DS had a screen on par with the VITA, I'd lose my friggin' mind.
------------
Bally from London writes:
If we don't see Metroid, F-zero or even Advance Wars at this year's E3 does it mean that these series are all but dead?
------------
Bryant writes:
Short and sweet: Why in the year 2015 do I have to set my Wii-U and 3DS clock like a VCR? Why can't it automatically be set through the Internet like the other guys? Seriously?
------------
Pandaradox writes:
Scenario: You get to reboot Pokémon! Two questions: 1) Where in the pokédex do you trim it back to? 2) What new mechanics do you keep?
------------
Crys writes:
I have a question in regards to ethics in video gaming. When I updated my 3DS XL to the not-so-stupidly named "New" 3DS XL, I chose to not trade in my old system for a credit toward the new system. Instead I decided to utilize my old system as a sort of "StreetPass Bot" if you will. Where I have the Mii in a line green shirt with a birthday of February 29. People have told me that utilizing the 3DS in this way is cheating. What do you guys think about this?
------------

Outro - rfn@nwr

Time: 1'10"54
Download: MP3 | AAC
Splatoon Testfire: One last round this Saturday!

 

[Effect]

Just started listening but already I've come to the conclusion that anything Jon says regarding Splatoon should be ignored until he actually watches the Nintendo Direct regarding the game. As of the recording of this latest episode he still hasn't seeing it and still commenting on the game. Nintendo hasn't done anything to reassure him? It's not Nintendo's fault you didn't watch the information they put out on the game back on the 7th. No I'm sorry he should not be doing that. RFN normally records on the Thursday I believe. That would have been the 14th. If they recorded earlier that likely could have been this past Tuesday the 12th. Let's go with that date. So at any point from the 8th to the possible 11th he could have watched the video, a half hour that could be on in the background or asked what where the important parts to cut that time down, that possibly would have answered his questions and issues. The fact that none of them save Guillaume seem to have watched it still, at least from where I'm at in the podcast, is leaving me with a WTF!?

Edit: Jon regardless of you saying you aren't, you are completely doom and gloom on Splatoon while admittedly being ignorant on what is in the game.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

I certainly wanted to watch the Splatoon Direct before recording, and I still do, but the fact that it's now been a week and a half and I still haven't had time tells you how busy we all were between when the Direct happened and when this show was recording.

Regardless, the online beta seems to be a perfect vertical slice of the game. I don't need to read the developer's tweets about weapon mods to be a reasonably informed consumer regarding Splatoon.

 

[silks]

Edit: Jon regardless of you saying you aren't, you are completely doom and gloom on Splatoon while admittedly being ignorant on what is in the game.

Hey, I watched the direct and here are my notes. I didn't put the single-player stuff in as it's pretty self-explanatory.

INKOPOLIS (Hub World)
Has shops of various types where you can buy gear
Variety of gear and its quality improves as you level up

Weapons

SHOOTERS
Aerospray NG
Jet Squelcher
The Blaster

CHARGERS
Splat Charger
E-Liter 3K
Splatterscope (has long-range scope for true sniping)

ROLLERS
Dynamo Roller - Deflects attacks

SUB WEAPONS (Like Frag Grenades, Proximity Mines, etc.)
9 types

Examples:
Consume lots of ink
Splat Bomb
sprinkler
Seeker
Splash Wall
Suction bomb
Burst Bomb
Point Sensor
Ink Mine
Squid Beakon (spawn point)
Disruptor (slow)

SPECIAL WEAPONS (Scorestreaks - Airstrikes, etc.)
Fill up ink to launch them

Examples:
Inkstrike Rocket
Bubbler - affects you and teammates
Kraken

GEAR ABILITIES (Similar to Perks)
Power-ups on gear

Examples:
Use less ink on Main weapon/Sub weapon
Get more special charge
Quick respawn
Quicker ink recovery
Bigger bomb range
Tenacity
Quicker super jump
Damage up
Defense up
Run speed up
Swim speed up
Comeback
Defense up
Special duration up
Bomb sniffer
Opening gambit
Ninja squid
Recon
Last-ditch effort
Cold-blooded
Haunt
Stealth jump
Ink resistance up

GEAR UPGRADING
Star Counts on Gear = Gear ranks
Higher ranks have more abilities
Gear can be leveled up and will gain new abilities
You can also add slots to gear via vendor

BATTLE DOJO
Practice/Play against friends
2-Player; one uses Gamepad, one uses Pro Controller


Online Play

REGULAR BATTLE
Turf War
Shuffle teams after each game
You can join friends
You choose from 2 stages, they change every 4 hours

RANKED BATTLE
Splat Zone - Control over one part of a stage
Ranks can go up and down after each battle
C- to A+ (9 levels in total)
Players must reach level 10 in Regular Battle to battle online
Ranked battle will be locked at launch; unlocked for the world when "enough players" reach level 10

FEATURE/CONTENT UPDATES
Free Update Events planned "through Summer 2015"
Adding stages, weapons (Ink Brush), gear
Ranked Battle upcoming modes include Tower Control and Rainmaker

August Update Event
Team up with 4 friends
4x4 online custom battles (4 friends vs. 4 friends) - Select stage and rules

AMIIBO
20 challenge stages per Amiibo
Girl, Boy, Squid
Girl has charger challenges, boy has roller challenges, squid has mix

SPLATFESTS
You can get titles
Choose a team (Cat vs. Dog) - you get a special item if you team wins

----------------------------------

Looks pretty full-featured, and you can level up gear pretty far and add slots and abilities as you level up gear. That's impressive and it rivals any other game out there, definitely.

I still think it's cheese that they don't have the 4-on-4 stuff at launch but whatever, I don't think it will bother most people. I'd also like to see more maps at launch ideally but realistically if the maps are good it won't matter (typically in most shooters people choose the same handful of maps over and over anyways).

I thought it was weird that they only mentioned the Pro Controller in the context of Battle Dojo. I'm assuming that's an oversight; nonetheless it's confirmation that the Pro Controller is supported (I'm assuming it's supported in all modes).

I'm far from doom and gloom on Splatoon. I do have a healthy skepticism due to Nintendo having no track record in modern shooters, a sketchy history with online gameplay performance, and an apparent desire to rush this game out the door and patch in extra features later. Add in the fact that it will have been beta tested on real networks with real players for a mere handful of hours and I think I have some legitimate reasons to temper my enthusiasm.

That said it looks really solid, and while it's probably a bit too aesthetically cutesy to be up my alley, it looks relatively legit as far as shooters go. Here's hoping that it develops a solid community and that it gets ongoing support past August.

 

[Effect]

Glad you finally found time to watch it. That was pretty much issue when it came to commenting on the game. Figured the direct itself would just address many of the concerns that were out there. If one still didn't feel positive on the game after that they don't but I did and do think people should be informed on it first. Having skepticism is warranted I agree but that is the case with any game. After how well Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros Wii U run in addition to other Wii U and 3DS games that have online modes I'm more likely to feel positive when it comes to Splatoon.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

I agree with everything Jon said and couldn't have put it any better. I'm intrigued, amused by what I've played so far. I also have major questions about how this game will perform online, and whether Nintendo's radical social experiments with community-building will be effective. These are questions that neither the E3 demo, nor the Direct, nor the online beta can answer.

It's still early days, but I wonder if the surprising loyalty towards Splatoon that we are seeing lately could be due to Nintendo fans around the world getting to play an unreleased game, from their own couches, for the first time I can recall. People are excited to see this kind of forward thinking from Nintendo, and their minds race at the possibilities.

And if there's any truth in my assessment above, I'd like to submit that the collective experiences at media events among all four of us provide a somewhat different perspective on things like this. We have all played early versions of Nintendo games, over a lot of years, and we have been burned by going hard "for" or "against" a game based on some demo, while the final experience proved to be much more (or less) than first promised. It pays to have a certain skepticism in this business, to avoid speculation in favor of evaluating the known facts. I can see how that comes across as aloof or pessimistic to some people, but it's not. We are trying to think about things other people might have missed, and in this case, I think Jon and I are really waiting to see what kind of post-launch environment is cultivated around the game, rather than the game's actual content. That's why we blew off Guillaume's complaint that we just needed to watch the Direct.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

By the way, please keep in mind that Nintendo Direct is a marketing tool. If Nintendo is concerned about certain shortcomings at launch, like relatively few maps and partial matchmaking, they can try to make up for the image hit by dumping a ton of details on the content that will be there on day one. Those presentations are all about making the product look as good as possible. What you don't need is a Nintendo podcast to simply regurgitate Nintendo's talking points. We are here to evaluate and argue and revisit and listen.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I just started listening to this weeks episode and I agree with the concerns that some of you have about the game. I still have it preordered ( there have been some good preorder offers for it here in the UK ) but i'm back and forth as to whether I will keep it.

Guillaume made points about there being a lot of modes to play but didn't mention ( if he did I must have missed it ) that most of these aren't there at launch. With only 2 modes and 5 maps, it's very bare bones for an online shooter. These things, coupled with the fact that I can't have a match with a team of friends until August, make me doubt how much I will get out of the game at launch.

I appreciate the skepticism that you guys have. It's one of the reason why I continue to listen to you on a regular basis. There is no bias and you say what you really think.

Never change and keep up the good work.

 

[AndrewPL]

Will listen tomorrow at work.

On splatoon, I'm not a fps or shooter kind of guy. I really love the fact that the goal is to paint the map rather than get kills.
I have pre-ordered even though it doesn't really look like a complete game yet but I can see myself easily getting my moneies worth with what there is already.

 

[OMG Aero]

I'm not sure if they've said either way but I highly doubt you'll be able to use a pro controller online in Splatoon, or at the very least you would be able to use one but would still need the gamepad handy. You would be at a severe disadvantage without the ability to use the map to warp to your team mates and there has never been any indication you can do this on the TV. The local multiplayer option that allows someone to use a pro controller sidesteps this by being a completely different mode where you don't need the map.

They could patch the game at some point to give you a map or menu on the TV that lets you warp, like how they eventually patched Mario Kart 8 to let you view a map on the TV if you didn't use the gamepad, but it doesn't look like that's in the base game.

 

[tebunker]

I don't listen to RFN for accurate information. I don't expect them or any other podcast to have perfect information at the exact time they record.

We all have the benefit of having read or seen news that occurred while they were recording and in between the recording and posting of the podcast.

I do appreciate that RFN offers a contrarian opinion at times even if its not 100% informed. It's too easy to fall in to group think and it is always healthy to have someone question the status quo.

Also I don't feel that RFN is always contrarian or negative so there's that.

I just wanted to chime in and say that I don't think it's fair to jump on any one person just because at a very specific point in time they didn't have all of the information that the listeners have being able to look back.

Look forward to listening to more today, I actually prefer a tighter format.

 

[Effect]

By the way, please keep in mind that Nintendo Direct is a marketing tool. If Nintendo is concerned about certain shortcomings at launch, like relatively few maps and partial matchmaking, they can try to make up for the image hit by dumping a ton of details on the content that will be there on day one. Those presentations are all about making the product look as good as possible. What you don't need is a Nintendo podcast to simply regurgitate Nintendo's talking points. We are here to evaluate and argue and revisit and listen.

You don't need to repeat what was said. What you should do is be informed on content you're going to be commenting on or don't talk about it. That's the only expectation here I believe. That's the only expectation I have from anyone and it doesn't matter if I agree or disagree in the end after that as long as I know the comments are coming from an informed mind.

The direct is information about the games mechanics and content. The same information that a gaming website would report, or I would hope would report, on after playing the game at an event so that their readers are educated. This is what the Nintendo Direct was. It's what the dedicated Nintendo Direct for Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors, and Mario Kart 8 were. Promotional tools of course but information releases packaged together for customers instead of relying on gaming media to dispense it. Information that could be looked at objectively by removing any type of slant that might be put on it by the announcer, etc.

It's not like Nintendo hide what the content on day one would be and what would be added later. They were very up front about it and that is why the insistence on you watching the direct is out there. Many of the things you and Jon commented on were addressed.

Being concerned about the game working out in the end is valid as we don't know how long people will stick with the game or what the real world conditions will do to the servers. Concerns and comments regarding game features, mechanics, content, etc are all answered in the Nintendo Direct and is information that can't be spun. It's information you would not have access to from playing the game at E3 or even from playing the stress test.

 

[MouldyK]

You don't need to repeat what was said. What you should do is be informed on content you're going to be commenting on or don't talk about it. That's the only expectation here I believe. That's the only expectation I have from anyone and it doesn't matter if I agree or disagree in the end after that as long as I know the comments are coming from an informed mind.

The direct is information about the games mechanics and content. The same information that a gaming website would report, or I would hope would report, on after playing the game at an event so that their readers are educated. This is what the Nintendo Direct was. It's what the dedicated Nintendo Direct for Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors, and Mario Kart 8 were. Promotional tools of course but information releases packaged together for customers instead of relying on gaming media to dispense it. Information that could be looked at objectively by removing any type of slant that might be put on it by the announcer, etc.

It's not like Nintendo hide what the content on day one would be and what would be added later. They were very up front about it and that is why the insistence on you watching the direct is out there. Many of the things you and Jon commented on were addressed.

Being concerned about the game working out in the end is valid as we don't know how long people will stick with the game or what the real world conditions will do to the servers. Concerns and comments regarding game features, mechanics, content, etc are all answered in the Nintendo Direct and is information that can't be spun. It's information you would not have access to from playing the game at E3 or even from playing the stress test.

That was my main issue with the podcast today: Many of the things they complained about were addressed in the direct and a Summary Sheet can be found almost anywhere so you can read up on it instead of going in blind.

I would say that it is silly to go into a podcast discussion without having information about the thing you will be discussing, but then you could reply "They were discussing the Beta and not the Direct".


But, good points on the game maybe not lasting long community-wise, but then you also have to think that if BlOps2 has a small, but dedicated community on Wii U still (as I have heard), surely a Nintendo Shooter would have a good chance of having a fanbase like that also.


As long as there are always atleast 7 other people when I want there to be in each gamemode, i'm fine with the game.

 

[GuillaumeNWR]

By the way, please keep in mind that Nintendo Direct is a marketing tool. If Nintendo is concerned about certain shortcomings at launch, like relatively few maps and partial matchmaking, they can try to make up for the image hit by dumping a ton of details on the content that will be there on day one. Those presentations are all about making the product look as good as possible. What you don't need is a Nintendo podcast to simply regurgitate Nintendo's talking points. We are here to evaluate and argue and revisit and listen.

Agreed, but we shouldn't skip watching them either, otherwise we'll be missing basic information everyone else has. Voicing concerns and seeing how they're being addressed, but being unconvinced by those efforts is fine. But we shouldn't skip the step where we inform ourselves of what's being done to address those potential concerns.

 

[Exile20]

By the way, please keep in mind that Nintendo Direct is a marketing tool. If Nintendo is concerned about certain shortcomings at launch, like relatively few maps and partial matchmaking, they can try to make up for the image hit by dumping a ton of details on the content that will be there on day one. Those presentations are all about making the product look as good as possible. What you don't need is a Nintendo podcast to simply regurgitate Nintendo's talking points. We are here to evaluate and argue and revisit and listen.

How can you "evaluate and argue and revisit and listen" without accurate information?

That just not make sense.

Yes the Nintendo direct is to promote their product but more importantly to gave information. This is not an ad on tv.

The main reason for the Nintendo Direct is to avoid misinformation but Nintendo can't help you if you don't even listen to it.

 

[Tripon]

By the way, please keep in mind that Nintendo Direct is a marketing tool. If Nintendo is concerned about certain shortcomings at launch, like relatively few maps and partial matchmaking, they can try to make up for the image hit by dumping a ton of details on the content that will be there on day one. Those presentations are all about making the product look as good as possible. What you don't need is a Nintendo podcast to simply regurgitate Nintendo's talking points. We are here to evaluate and argue and revisit and listen.

Johnny, you still get the press release for games like Splatoon that you can read while you're on the podcast if you feel like you don't want to watch a Nintendo Direct.

Also, sites like Gamespot, IGN, or even your very own NWR all had recaps of the info in the direct. There were also press events to play Splatoon that sites went to.

I don't disagree with you not wanting to watch the ND, I disagree that of your claim that this information wasn't available from a party that you trusted to dispense that information.

 

[Jims]

I kinda felt like they buried the lead, by not going into what they thought of the Splatoon demo upfront. It literally took them 25 minutes to finally get to how they thought the online demo played, instead opening with a lot of hand-wringing about potential scenarios that could happen down the line.

That was where the disconnect for me came in this podcast. Because my reaction to the opening section was, "Wow, they really had a bad experience with the demo to be really worried about this stuff." But when they followed up and said the demo was fun, it was difficult to figure out why they walked away so pessimistic about the whole thing. If the main point was, "The demo was fun, but I worry about the depth or longevity of the game," then that's a cogent argument. But the way the podcast was organized, it was difficult to tell what the main point they were trying to make. Their concerns didn't really jive with their experience they seemed to have. It felt like, "The demo had good netcode, but I'm still super nervous about it anyway for some reason" instead of, "The demo had good netcode, hopefully it'll continue at launch."

I really hope the matchmaking and netcode are good for this game, but it's impossible to know for sure. What we do know is the demo seemed to have good netcode, and the Nintendo Direct outlined how the matchmaking will work, so we have indicators that it might work out. But we can't know for sure.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

Well as I said above and on the podcast and is still entirely true, I WANT to watch the Direct but haven't had time. I really can't understand why any of you would think I'm being willfully ignorant about this game. That isn't in my nature at all.

By the way, James and I both commented immediately on the beta itself, saying that it played basically the same as the E3 demo, which we both enjoyed greatly and have mentioned several times in the past year. Then we went straight to Gui and Jon to hear their fresh impressions. So I don't agree that it took 25 minutes for us to talk about the beta and how it played.

 

[Jims]

By the way, James and I both commented immediately on the beta itself, saying that it played basically the same as the E3 demo, which we both enjoyed greatly and have mentioned several times in the past year. Then we went straight to Gui and Jon to hear their fresh impressions. So I don't agree that it took 25 minutes for us to talk about the beta and how it played.

I guess some of this is just natural flow of conversations issues, then. Because, you're right, you definitely did say at the beginning that you had the same experience that you did before, and kicked it over to Gui and Jon. And that's kind of where the conversation gravitated toward the what-could-happen, rather than the what-we-just-experienced. And you obviously can't control where a conversation goes, so it's a tricky thing to manage.

It was just, without much in depth or detailed discussion on how the demo went, it was tough to pinpoint exactly where Jon's concerns were coming from. It was tough to tell if there was something specifically bad in the demo that was concerning, or if this was more generalized speculation. I ended up feeling like Guillaume sometimes, wondering what was causing that reaction. I didn't know if was the connection, the map designs, the gameplay mechanics... It was tough to pin down what the impetus was.

 

[GuillaumeNWR]

I'm sorry, I'm actually the one who directly jumped into Nintendo Direct and the information about character upgrades, loadouts, and other modes, when it was my turn to talk about the demo. Mainly because I had seen the conversation on twitter about the shallowness of the demo, and perhaps wanted to preemptively address that on the podcast. I probably should have waited until someone actually voiced them on the show.

I didn't have much to say about the demo, other than it was fun, and that I had to turn off motion controls. The customization and modes they'd shown in the direct were much more exciting to talk about, for me.

 

[jariw]

Well as I said above and on the podcast and is still entirely true, I WANT to watch the Direct but haven't had time. I really can't understand why any of you would think I'm being willfully ignorant about this game. That isn't in my nature at all.

You don't have 33 minutes at your disposal for a time period of over 10 days, and yet you have time to download and run a demo that has fixed time slots for the demo?

 

[SeanR1221]

I tried getting into this podcast, but after 4 weeks of listening I can't take James. He doesn't know what a break in a conversation is and constantly talks over people. It's gotten the point where I find it so annoying I can't even listen and turn off the podcast.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

You don't have 33 minutes at your disposal for a time period of over 10 days, and yet you have time to download and run a demo that has fixed time slots for the demo?

Pretty much, yeah. I won't bore you with details of my personal life, but that weekend between recording 429 and 430 included me spending almost an entire day editing half the show and setting up the article. In the extremely limited time I had for games before 430, I prioritized playing the beta over watching the Direct. Seemed like the more fun of those options.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

You don't have 33 minutes at your disposal for a time period of over 10 days, and yet you have time to download and run a demo that has fixed time slots for the demo?

Stop being a dick, dude. It's called prioritizing.

I tried getting into this podcast, but after 4 weeks of listening I can't take James. He doesn't know what a break in a conversation is and constantly talks over people. It's gotten the point where I find it so annoying I can't even listen and turn off the podcast.

Somewhere James is reading this and smiling right now.

 

[atr0cious]

It's still early days, but I wonder if the surprising loyalty towards Splatoon that we are seeing lately could be due to Nintendo fans around the world getting to play an unreleased game, from their own couches, for the first time I can recall. People are excited to see this kind of forward thinking from Nintendo, and their minds race at the possibilities.

I wish people wouldn't say this shit, it's beyond annoying, and insults us. Some of us actually noticed that the game is a pretty great shooter in it's own right, regardless of who made it. But the fact that Nintendo made it, means it will have sound mechanics on top of being supported. How is that not something to get excited about? I'm a former "pro" pc player and I haven't been this excited for a game since Quake Wars:ET(lets not talk about that game), and the main difference is I actually got to play this, and verfiy that yes it's a mechanically sound game, with a bunch of movement options never done before in a shooter, that work, and are thematically tied to the whole game.

You guys need to actually do some research instead of just "speculating," especially when you're talking about the games of your namesake. I still don't get how you had time to do the podcast, but couldn't even google on the fly, will not be listening any more.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

K bye

 

[Vena]

This thread went weird.

I don't normally post in here (well, first time actually) but frequent listener. I liked the back and forth on the podcast this week though at some points I can't help but think that deferring an answer would have been better. Felt almost like you guys were on the hot-seat or being interrogated, lol. I don't think every possibility needs addressing especially when you had what sounded like a half and half crew of one side being more in the know and the other making more supposition statements.

Oh well.

 

[Askherserenity]

I'm sorry, I'm actually the one who directly jumped into Nintendo Direct and the information about character upgrades, loadouts, and other modes, when it was my turn to talk about the demo. Mainly because I had seen the conversation on twitter about the shallowness of the demo, and perhaps wanted to preemptively address that on the podcast. I probably should have waited until someone actually voiced them on the show.

I didn't have much to say about the demo, other than it was fun, and that I had to turn off motion controls. The customization and modes they'd shown in the direct were much more exciting to talk about, for me.

I'm glad there was someone a bit more informed on the game while actually trying to discuss it. If you weren't there in the discussion of this weeks podcast...it would've been extremely hard to listen to.

Everyone else's concerns have been pretty much answered somewhere online. You can either watch a few minutes of the Direct or just get the bullet points from somewhere.

Hearing that they think Splatoons single player is similar to Titanfalls was kinda nuts, since you can look at one minute of the single player in action and realize that that isn't the case at all.

I don't mind the guys being skeptical about the game. But most of them being misinformed on the podcast was kind of a bummer.

 

[silks]

Watching the Direct didn't change my opinion on the game much, by the way. Filled in some gaps but I'm still in wait-and-see mode. Why? Because I don't trust Nintendo to not screw it up, that's why. Don't tell me, show me Nintendo. I've seen too many Nintendo online modes be completely half-assed, and two games (Smash for Wii U/Mario Kart 8) isn't going to make me suddenly blindly trust everything they make for online multiplayer from here on out.

EDIT: I also took the same wait-and-see approach to CoD: Advanced Warfare. I had no idea if Sledgehammer could deliver a quality game, and bought it later after I hadn't seen anything bad about it and found it cheap.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Watching the Direct didn't change my opinion on the game much, by the way. Filled in some gaps but I'm still in wait-and-see mode. Why? Because I don't trust Nintendo to not screw it up, that's why. Don't tell me, show me Nintendo. I've seen too many Nintendo online modes be completely half-assed, and two games (Smash for Wii U/Mario Kart 8) isn't going to make me suddenly blindly trust everything they make for online multiplayer from here on out.

I think your skepticism is totally justified. I've played a ton of MP shooters just like you so I know where you're coming from, it's a very difficult genre to get "right." It isn't even a matter of what's shown pre-release to be honest, it's just a matter of whether or not the final product delivers after a few weeks/months of solid play from the community.

One of my biggest concerns is balance. As we've seen from games like Modern Warfare 2 it's easy to screw up the balance of a game when layer upon layer of customization is added in. Special abilities, gear upgrades, different tiers of weapons... all of these things make a shooter very difficult to balance and can even detract from the main draw of the genre; solid shooting mechanics. I don't know how many shooters I've played with a solid foundation that were ruined by stupid 1-hit kill abilities that take no skill and cheesy strategies encouraged by certain items or loadouts. It's a very tricky beast and I'm curious to see how Nintendo handles it.

All in all I am excited about Splatoon and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. That said, I totally see where the cautious approach is coming from and I'm right there with you.

 

[rawk]

I thought this was a pretty fun episode. I liked that everyone had played the same thing, so there was much more real back and forth conversation than we normally get in the first half. Good job!

 

[silks]

All in all I am excited about Splatoon and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. That said, I totally see where the cautious approach is coming from and I'm right there with you.

It's not even Nintendo, it's shooters in general. Destiny, Halo: MCC, Battlefield 4, they've all had their share of issues in network performance, matchmaking, balancing, exploits, you name it. Shooters are a genre that's been done to death so there's a very high bar for what people expect in these areas.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

It's not even Nintendo, it's shooters in general. Destiny, Halo: MCC, Battlefield 4, they've all had their share of issues in network performance, matchmaking, balancing, exploits, you name it. Shooters are a genre that's been done to death so there's a very high bar for what people expect in these areas.

Totally. And all of those games came from devs and publishers who have years if not decades of experience making MP shooters. Nintendo will bring a unique spin to the genre for sure but these hurdles are not easy to overcome. Let's hope they pull it off!

 

[scoot3r]

Great episode. I like when you guys have varying opinions on things. Sort of broke the mold. Usually Jon, Johnny and Gui agree on things with James out in left field lol( which isn't a bad thing). Felt more like a round table discussion. Good stuff RFN

 

[cagelessrat]

This got intense. People seem especially defensive about this game. I watched the Direct. It's a marketing tool, and I don't think it addresses everything the guys brought up as well as people say.

I want to hear you guys talk more about this game. There still hasn't been enough discussion on the podcast about how they're handling the content. Hopefully after the base game launches, you guys can talk about that.

I think the J's are appropriately hesitant about this game.

 

[Negator]

I really don't see the problem with their impressions and speculation when they were upfront in saying that they had not seen the direct. They recorded the show earlier in the week and were so pressed for time than the show is almost half the length it usually is, it does not surprise me that the conversation flowed the way it did.

Most of the 'backlash' to this show is probably the usual rabid Nintendo fanboyism from those that will die on the hill for Nintendo no matter what they do.

Oh and also James is the best and anyone who stops listening to the podcast because of him isn't a bro. At least, not my bro.

 

[Crimm]

Oh and also James is the best and anyone who stops listening to the podcast because of him isn't a bro. At least, not my bro.

I'm uncomfortable with receipt of praise, please rephrase this as an email decrying my role in reading a script Jon Lindemann writes.

Thank you for your cooperation.

 

[Somnid]

I don't see the controversy. Being skeptical about online community building, infrustructure, addressing issues and feature sets seems plenty reasonable given the circumstances. I don't think it's wise to speculate with partial information so perhaps it invited some criticism but nothing was outlandish about what was said in the segment.

Also, James was off about Pokemon (RFN doesn't play much Pokemon so I don't know why anyone would ask them Pokemon questions). All generations of Pokemon allow you to catch all of them between the versions (counterpart and remakes). Sometimes it takes special events or esoteric metagame features but you can do it.

 

[Crimm]

Without the use of a DS cart can you catch (not GTS) every single Pokemon? If the answer is no then that's my point.

 

[Weetrick]

After following this thread all day, I couldn't wait to hear the controversy! After listening, I think the reactions are being blown way out of proportion.

I don't think you need to know every bullet-point feature of a game to know whether you want to pre-order it or not.

Personally, I'm torn about the game. Obviously I love Nintendo games and I think it looks fun, but I need to be cautiously optimistic. I've bought too many multiplayer focused games too early, only to stop playing within weeks (Titanfall and Battlefield 4 are recent offenders). I missed out on the beta, but I'm going to do my best to get in on the repeat weekend. See you guys there?

 

[Somnid]

Without the use of a DS cart can you catch (not GTS) every single Pokemon? If the answer is no then that's my point.

Yes, I believe it is possible to get all variants of all Pokemon between XY and ORAS. Usually there's a mechanic like swarms or Pokeradar that opens up after the end-game that let's you get Pokemon from previous games.

 

[cagelessrat]

Without the use of a DS cart can you catch (not GTS) every single Pokemon? If the answer is no then that's my point.

You only need ORAS and XY. And I think you said GBA cart on the podcast.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...ng_omega_ruby_and_alpha_sapphire_with_x_and_y

 

[Crema]

What you don't need is a Nintendo podcast to simply regurgitate Nintendo's talking points. We are here to evaluate and argue and revisit and listen.

Please never stop thinking this.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

You only need ORAS and XY. And I think you said GBA cart on the podcast.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...ng_omega_ruby_and_alpha_sapphire_with_x_and_y

While that's technically true, stuff like the crap you have to go through to catch a Feebas, a female Combee or a Munchlax is so esoteric, transferring from a GBA cart may in some cases actually be easier. Let legendary Pokémon and the starters be the great white whale, but for goodness' sake, there has to be a better way to get the rest.

I have formed no opinion on Splatoon, but I just don't see why people are so defensive of it. The guys' concerns are entirely reasonable. Think of big games like Titanfall, Destiny or the Halo Collection - these all fell flat despite having had everything going for them, the right developer, the right budget, the right platform holder etc. I trust Nintendo to make something interesting and perhaps even enjoyable, but there are question marks here regarding how well they can handle the online components.

Remember remember Smash Bros Brawl.

Twilight Princess

Just reached the City in the Sky. Snowpeak Ruins and the Temple of Time were both fun dungeons, the former especially so. The dungeon that isn't a dungeon idea is something that I remember seeing a little of in Skyward Sword, though it may have gone a little far in the other direction.

I find myself meandering around collecting heart pieces and doing side quests I never even knew existed the first time I played this game. For instance, I just found the very final wolf statue, which I couldn't for the life of me locate when I first played this.

I also unlocked the Castle Branch of the Malo Mart. Being inside that place is at once creepy and hilarious. It was nice to unlock the magic armour. I have finally unlocked the giant wallet, but find myself lacking stuff to spend it on, so it's a nice bonus.

 

[faridmon]

The way they talked about Crystal Chronicle series was all damn frustrating. Have they never talked about how amazing the multiplayer of the two DS games were. Also, the writing were some of the best SE has to offer despite their stories being shallow. The level design was also quite ingenious with puzzles being just plain fun without being overtly complex. They are lengthy adventures that were full of secrets and a sheer of scope that was rarely matched on the DS.

In fact, the way they talked about FF in general was also quite disappointing. ''Crystal Chronicles was the FF games Nintendo fans never wanted as an FF'' is a bit misleading (also FF stopped being a franchise that had any connection with Nintendo in the first place), while SE promised a lot with the franchise, it was never gonna be a mainline series, and as far as it went to be on a spin-off, it went on to be great franchise by it own right, only recognised if you played the games and appreciated the lore.

The soundtracks were amazing as well.

EDIT: Karen was really good though, hope she becomes a regular rather than a guest sometime near future.