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ANNCast - Game Show with Todd 'n Dave


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infjeff



Joined: 08 Apr 2010
Posts: 52
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:32 am Reply with quote
Lots of Nintendo and Zelda hate from Zac. Ouch. Confused
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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:04 am Reply with quote
Remember when the ANN podcast was more about anime then movies/games/the industry/etc.?
Yeah, I don't either.
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Anthony.P



Joined: 16 Mar 2007
Posts: 52
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:13 am Reply with quote
Several comments regarding the Nintendo portion:

-One of the main goals associated with Skyward Sword is to reinvent the Zelda formula. Instead of using the "Three dungeon, plot twist, several more dungeons" structure they've been using for twenty years, Hyrule is actually one big dungeon supplemented by various islands in the sky that you can explore (think the sea from The Wind Waker). The reason why Nintendo is going with this is due to the backlash against Twilight Princess, where many fans felt the formula had finally grown stale.

-It's pronounced "Pikmin," not "Peekmin." Neutral

-Nitpicking, but that one baseball line from the Wii U trailer was way more natural than anything from the Kinect performances.
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poonk



Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 1490
Location: In the Library with Philip
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:34 am Reply with quote
DmonHiro wrote:
Remember when the ANN podcast was more about anime then movies/games/the industry/etc.?
Yeah, I don't either.
I haven't listened to this ANNCast yet so maybe I should hold my tongue but even if you don't play videogames there's a pretty good chance this podcast is worth your time. I neither game, nor do I watch bad anime (well, I like to think...), nor do I eat the decidedly non-vegetarian foods they discuss-- but I always, always find the Fast Karate podcast quite entertaining. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather hear talk about videogames that I'm never going to play.

(Too bad about Joel, though-- I got a taste of what he experienced myself on Wednesday night and it was a little scary.)
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:48 am Reply with quote
The only problem with Odin Sphere was the slowdown that could occur (the only time it occurs regularly is against Odette). The gameplay is solid, the graphics are some of the best in video game history, and the story is amazing, primarily because it's based on the norse mythology, and not the movie Red Dawn.
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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:00 pm Reply with quote
Odin Sphere was an amazing game, but I have to admitt, the difficulty of the battles was quite large at the beginning of the game, especially if you weren't used to it. Hell, I WAS used to games like this, and I still got my ass kicked,.
Oh, and the option for Japanese voices was a God-send, considering the voices.
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ABCBTom



Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:19 pm Reply with quote
While I agree that there were some issues with LA Noire's story, the main complaint in the podcast is not correct.

Spoilers below:

spoiler[It was somewhat odd that Cole's family life was not developed further, but his wife was shown in the opening cinematic, and references to Cole's family were made in several conversations. Also, it showed Cole spending more and more time at the Blue Room, although the affair itself did come up as a bit of a bombshell. The game, does, however show the LAPD as being corrupt. The head of police is part of Elysian's Suburban Redevelopment Fund. Roy Earle, the partner in vice, is also being issued Fund stock, and a note in the Elysian CEO's safe shows that Earle was also receiving kickbacks on a regular basis to ensure the arsons were not being investigated. It could be argued Earle soured on Cole and decided to offer him up as a scapegoat because Cole let the prizefighter go without getting the corrupt Earle's gambling money back from him. Additionally, while Cole himself was at fault for getting into an affair, the only reason he was offered up was because the police department was looking for a distraction to cover up a bigger scandal involving police department involvement with a Hollywood prostitution ring. And of course, you also have the anticlimactic ending where the Black Dahlia killer was also covered up due to corruption.]

So, there were problems with its execution, but the "lone cop versus the corrupt department" story WAS there. I've never seen LA Confidential, but parts of the story seemed a homage to/ripoff of Polanski's Chinatown as well.
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Barbobot



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 460
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:43 pm Reply with quote
As for the question regarding single-player games dying out, there were plenty of truly AAA titles coming out where the primary focus is the single-player portion.

Mass Effect 3, Assassins's Creed Revelations, Bioshock Infinite, Uncharted 3, Skyrim......

The single-player game is most certainly not dying out.
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daveriley



Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 117
Location: Philadelphia
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:19 pm Reply with quote
I would argue there are sizably more issues with Odin Sphere than slowdown. Such as the gross repetition of bosses and areas. Did you have fun fighting that trash dragon? Did you have fun fighting it five times over the course of the game? That game was eight hours padded out to forty. And it was a pretty good eight hours! But the second eight hours were exactly the same as the first eight that the cracks in the facade started to show. I could also cite the seemingly limitless health bars of most bosses and the completely unexciting one button combat as crucial flaws.

It's a very pretty game that is fun for a while. If it didn't repeat its content to the point of absurdity I might think of it more fondly. I'm astonished that it has such rabid following.

Zac is thankfully exempt on LA Noire, as most of the stuff I talked about happens after the point he stopped. This is the issue with speaking extemporaneous on a podcast. The point I WANTED to make is spoiler[there is no evidence of corruption in the rank and file on the force yet in the very end of the game there's an army of them pouring out of the woodwork. So when they're going on and on about corruption and holding Roy Earle up as the beacon of it when really he doesn't do anything worse than make some shady bets and throw his name around in nightclubs until the very end of the game. With the exception of the capstone moments in Homicide and Vice there isn't much evidence of corruption in the upper ranks either, and the story of corruption they're trying to tell there is sizably different than what they're trying to tie it into in Arson as some sort of overarching plot of corruption in the LA police. I did completely forget about Roy Earle being on the books (what a nice company, keeping their kickbacks on their ledgers for me to find!)] So that's on me. If I'd taken more time with it I might've explained myself a little clearer. There's certainly no shortage of nits to pick with the writing, I could've done a better job compartmentalizing them and making sure I dealt with the cromulent points.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:22 pm Reply with quote
ABCBTom wrote:

So, there were problems with its execution, but the "lone cop versus the corrupt department" story WAS there. I've never seen LA Confidential, but parts of the story seemed a homage to/ripoff of Polanski's Chinatown as well.


I think it might be impossible to set anything in 1940s Los Angeles and not lift from Chinatown.
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AnimenexuS





PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Why hate for Odin sphere.

I liked Odin Sphere.


Last edited by AnimenexuS on Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
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AnimenexuS





PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:45 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
ABCBTom wrote:

So, there were problems with its execution, but the "lone cop versus the corrupt department" story WAS there. I've never seen LA Confidential, but parts of the story seemed a homage to/ripoff of Polanski's Chinatown as well.


I think it might be impossible to set anything in 1940s Los Angeles and not lift from Chinatown.


Disagree about the iPhone video games
Plus iPhone overrated
I am buying 3DS or PS Vita
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:29 pm Reply with quote
Rutilcaper wrote:
I would argue there are sizably more issues with Odin Sphere than slowdown. Such as the gross repetition of bosses and areas. Did you have fun fighting that trash dragon? Did you have fun fighting it five times over the course of the game? That game was eight hours padded out to forty. And it was a pretty good eight hours! But the second eight hours were exactly the same as the first eight that the cracks in the facade started to show. I could also cite the seemingly limitless health bars of most bosses and the completely unexciting one button combat as crucial flaws.


The Boss' health is fine if you leveled your weapon up properly, it's an RPG. I also don't mind the repeating Boss fights simply because their spaced out over hours of gameplay, and the game itself challenges you to get a better score. I have reset constantly so I can get that C to a B or the B to an A.

Compare that with says FPS which I grew bored of quickly just because the genre was no different from when I played Counter-strike.
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ABCBTom



Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:36 pm Reply with quote
Rutilcaper wrote:
Zac is thankfully exempt on LA Noire, as most of the stuff I talked about happens after the point he stopped. This is the issue with speaking extemporaneous on a podcast. The point I WANTED to make is...


Those are all fair criticisms to make. The game perhaps does promise more than it delivers. I escaped any hype for years (dismissing it instantly as being some kind of GTA clone), and didn't even consider playing it until a few days before release. I was thus saved from having high expectations.

So what I got was a Chinatown-flavored adventure game, which, for all its flaws, still has better writing than 90% of other games out there. And it was a total surprise!

Things are sure to improve in the inevitable sequel.
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ZenAmako



Joined: 10 Jan 2011
Posts: 92
PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:47 pm Reply with quote
Regarding survival horror, there are a few good games outside of the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly is one of the best true survival horror games of all time, in my opinion (that's probably why it's being remade for the Wii, or maybe the Wii U now). Capcom's Haunting Ground/Demento is also an underrated gem.
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