Social NintenZone Social 4 - Bring It In, Guys!

[Cutie Gwen]

I've only recently played the first couple of missions of Awakening and it's meh so far. Hopefully it picks up soon.

Midgame is considered the point things REALLY kick off

 

[Robert of Normandy]

Which story is the best (most thought-out, well-written, emotional, deep ect), Awakening, Conquest or Birthright?

I need to know. I'll be buying a game or two this weekend.

Well I don't know which is the best but I've heard nothing but bile for Conquest's story

Awakening's story is also something of a punching bag so I guess Birthright wins by virtue of not being terrible, or something.

 

[Erureido]

So I've beaten the first world of Kirby: Planet Robobot. I gotta say, this game is absolutely fun thus far! The gameplay is incredibly fun, and the level designs thus far are really well thought out with some really clever puzzles here and there. I beat the first boss with Doctor Kirby. It takes some getting used to, but the ability is pretty fun. The robot mechanic is easily my favorite "unique gimmick" of the newer Kirby games thus far, much better than the Ultra Ability in Return to Dreamland and the Hypernova Ability in Triple Deluxe. It's a blast to use.

Which story is the best (most thought-out, well-written, emotional, deep ect), Awakening, Conquest or Birthright?

I need to know. I'll be buying a game or two this weekend.

Easily Birthright for me. I didn't like the writing in Conquest's story at all, while Awakening's story isn't too strong.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Note to self, try this franchise out

 

[Wolfie557]

Lmao.

Spoiler

It works so well.

 

[Robert of Normandy]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Note to self, try this franchise out

You should, they're pretty great. The first 3, at least.

(Note that I've not played Sticker Star)

 

[Deleted member]

So I finally got around to playing Fire Emblem Awakening.

aaaand....

I don't like it.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fine game, but I have many qualms with it. For starters, I really wanna ask the people here, especially those who were very vocal about "how great Awakening was" a couple years ago something:

Have you ever played Sengoku Rance?

I can see why a lot of people might like Awakening, but I feel like it's major step back for the franchise. For starters, it's far easier than all the previous FE games. The pair mechanic and the fact that you can now grind your characters fighting Risen, and in fact are encouraged to do so in order to marry your characters winds up overleveling your army, and making them too powerful with all the stat boosts pairing up gives you. You also have less to micromanage when you can couple your units to have less of them around the field.

All in all I'm doing a lot less overall thinking and strategizing than I was in previous FE games, it's almost kinda boring as I send out power couples into battle to tank everything. While in fact, the very REASON I play tactics and strategy games is to plan out strategies and micromanage the details. That's where the fun comes in. And I'm playing on Lunatic mind you. I can see why it's become more popular now, because it's a lot more streamlined and accessible, but as a fan of strategy games, I feel this has really hurt the franchise, and fixed NONE of its previous problems.

I feel that Radiant Dawn did a much better job at challenging me with its maps and difficult, and even had the most diverse and ample cast of units, and as far as story goes, PoR still has the best story.

As for the waifus...

It's a telling sign when a game caters to otaku with pretty girls in its marketing and such. It's typically done to hide bad gameplay elements and distract players from the flaws of a game. And Awakening is plenty guilty of this.

I was looking forward to seeing the marriage mechanic from FE4 come back, and was actually very open minded about the newfound shift in focus onto the pretty girls, because I thought it would mean more character development, but I just feel it's very bare bones, and leaves a lot to be desired.

The joy of a relationship mechanic is the character interactions, but most are so brief, and marriages happen so quickly, we really barely get any insight onto the characters or their personalities, it's all very surface level, as is the strategy of the game. It really is a pity, since I really did like a lot of the characters, and their interactions with others, but again, it's never properly fleshed out, and once they're married, you barely hear about them again. It's just a stat boost. And again, affinity is gained so quickly, it really doesn't feel like I've earned the pairings as a player. My entire experience with Awakening thus far is "that's it?"

And this is why I bring up Rance.

Pretty much, playing Awakening just made me go back and wanna replay Sengoku Rance.

On the strategy side, Rance has addictingly intense gameplay, not overly similar to FE, but still SRPG. You're micromanaging everything to the finest detail and playing as optimally as you can, while still experimenting what the game has hidden and such. But also, on the character side, Rance wrecks Awakening, since not only are the characters better written, but they're also very well fleshed out, and their interactions with the MC, as well as with each other feel a lot more genuine and real. It's been 4 years since I last played Sengoku, and I still remember a lot about all the characters in the game, their personalities, etc... As for Awakening, not really, again, it was just too surface level. We got some hints here and there, but it was hardly elaborated, which is a pity, because some were very interesting characters indeed, and even had very intriguing interactions with other characters. And it really is a pity, because the very inclusion of the marriage mechanic just makes me wish it was better fleshed out, and we got a lot more scenes and many more character interactions and dialogue. And this is where Rance excels, since it's got a ton of it. Too much in fact. In fact, I probably wouldn't be here complaining about the romance mechanic in Awakening had it not been included, because it shifts the focus of the game, and changes the point of the game in many way, so many in fact, that it's horrendously hurt by how shallow it is.

But yeah, in contrast to Rance, I just feel like playing Rance rather than finishing Awakening. It's a far more charming game, with better characters, and much better gameplay. That's just my thoughts on the game. I believe it's overrated by many fans, and the peak of the series is still the Ike saga.

FEA is an ok game, but to those of you who love Awakening for the characters and affinity mechanic, I'd say give Sengoku Rance a shot, or at least watch a let's play on Youtube. I think you'll find it to your liking. I get why people like Awakening, because it's more accessible than previous titles, but as a longtime FE fan, Awakening to me just feels like WW is for Zelda, "babby's first FE game." If you want more of the same, but much much better executed, play Rance instead.

It's actually pretty simple, the reason you're not having fun is:

And I'm playing on Lunatic mind you

Awakening's Lunatic mode is the most unbalaced thing I've ever seen, it's not supposed to be fun, it's for masochists who enjoy getting beaten to death unfairly guilty

Awakening is disappointing compared to other games in the franchise, but it still works as a fun and simple way to get into the series. Honestly, I'd play it more if it had multiplayer as I rather enjoy grinding up units, it's just different from the other games in the series

My main problem with Awakening though, is the map design, they're just not fun, they're open, have no interesting gimmicks and enemies and effective terrain are placed randomly around it
Seriously, at least 60% of the maps are an open field with little to no defensive terrain
4 of the fights with the main villains take place in a completely open map

Still, I wouldn't say Awakening is a bad game, but rather, a bad FE game

 

[Cutie Gwen]

You should, they're pretty great. The first 3, at least.

(Note that I've not played Sticker Star)

nobody ****ing liked Sticker Star, so you played all the game needed

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Anyone found any good deals on the Steam Sale? I wanna check but it's super slow where I am.

 

[Deleted member]

Which story is the best (most thought-out, well-written, emotional, deep ect), Awakening, Conquest or Birthright?

I need to know. I'll be buying a game or two this weekend.

Like I said, Path of Radiance has the best story. Followed by Genealogy of the Holy War.

Awakening's story is OK, and the characters are at least likable. I haven't played the Fates yet, but I've heard it's got the worst story out of all the FE games, but it's got better maps than Awakening.

Awakening is not to my tastes, but to each their own.

I still feel that there is not a singe Fire Emblem game that I can really call bad. Keep in mind I haven't played the first one, or Fates Conquest/Revelation.

Nah, none are bad. That's why I said it's still a good game, but it's not stellar either.

FE, despite being the most popular SRPG franchise is actually one of the weakest. Tactics Ogre and Rance are my personal favorites.

Disgaea is charming, but it's a definite grind, which gets stale very quickly.
FF Tactics, and AW are very similar to FE.
And, SMT Devil Survivor is a must play for any SRPG fans.

I've only recently played the first couple of missions of Awakening and it's meh so far. Hopefully it picks up soon.

I've gotten about halfway through the game, and while initially I was excited by all the new mechanics and such, realizing how shallow they all were really killed it for me, like really fast in fact.

Right now I'm debating on whether I should finish it, or play something else. The story is pretty cookie-cutter standard for an FE game as well, so meh. It's very well polished FE game, I'll give that, but to me, like I said, the shallow mechanics, streamlined strategy, and lack of proper character development kinda ruined it for me. Maybe it's because between played Radiant Dawn. and finally playing Awakening I played much better SRPGs than this series that the flaws just stuck out to me.

 

[Robert of Normandy]

Anyone found any good deals on the Steam Sale? I wanna check but it's super slow where I am.

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Nihon Falcom

All of these games are excellent and worth a try.

 

[Coricus]

Anyone found any good deals on the Steam Sale? I wanna check but it's super slow where I am.

*boots up Steam*

There was a list of franchises that popped up in the "what's new?" page including Sonic and that Stardew Valley thing that keeps showing up, but Steam itself isn't loading because of the sheer number of people on it.

 

[ChikoLad]

My main problem with Awakening though, is the map design, they're just not fun, they're open, have no interesting gimmicks and enemies and effective terrain are placed randomly around it

Birthright has this problem too. Dunno if they improved on it compared to Awakening but it's there to a degree.

There are a few maps that are cool though, and Dragon Veins help. But it's the main reason I've become a bit fatigued with the game and still have to finish it.

 

[Deleted member]

It's actually pretty simple, the reason you're not having fun is:

Awakening's Lunatic mode is the most unbalaced thing I've ever seen, it's not supposed to be fun, it's for masochists who enjoy getting beaten to death unfairly guilty

I actually find Lunatic mode to be quite easy m8. It's nowhere near as punishing as RD was imo, since grinding and pairing up make all the difficulty entirely moot.

Awakening is disappointing compared to other games in the franchise, but it still works as a fun and simple way to get into the series. Honestly, I'd play it more if it had multiplayer as I rather enjoy grinding up units, it's just different from the other games in the series

My main problem with Awakening though, is the map design, they're just not fun, they're open, have no interesting gimmicks and enemies and effective terrain are placed randomly around it
Seriously, at least 60% of the maps are an open field with little to no defensive terrain
4 of the fights with the main villains take place in a completely open map

Still, I wouldn't say Awakening is a bad game, but rather, a bad FE game

I just find Awakening to be quite boring in fact. It's very streamlined as I said before. I'm thinking at lot less than I am in other SRPGs.

I agree that the map design, and so forth are what really hurt the game in contrast to other FE games, but I'm mostly criticizing all the stuff that "pushed the series forward" for how shallow it is, and I've very disappointed by how it all played out considering how hyped up the game was by everyone when it released. People literally wouldn't shut up about it.

I certainly wouldn't call FEA a bad game, nor a bad FE game. Roy's game, and the earlier NES games were far worse than FEA, but like I said, the series peaked when it was least successful with Radiant Dawn, and all the new and exciting mechanics that they added to refresh and rejuvenate the franchise really left a lot to be desired. Especially in terms of the god awful and shallow character development. I expected FEA to be more like Sengoku Rance, instead, FEA made me wanna go back and replay Sengoku Rance.

To all FE fans, I'll just say, play some other SRPGs, especially to those who got into the genre with Awakening, it was an awfully disappointing game for me tbh, and not really for the reasons you mentioned either.

 

[Ura]

Midgame is considered the point things REALLY kick off

Hope so. FE7 took some time to get off it's feet so i'm hoping the same for Awakening.

I've gotten about halfway through the game, and while initially I was excited by all the new mechanics and such, realizing how shallow they all were really killed it for me, like really fast in fact.

Right now I'm debating on whether I should finish it, or play something else. The story is pretty cookie-cutter standard for an FE game as well, so meh. It's very well polished FE game, I'll give that, but to me, like I said, the shallow mechanics, streamlined strategy, and lack of proper character development kinda ruined it for me. Maybe it's because between played Radiant Dawn. and finally playing Awakening I played much better SRPGs than this series that the flaws just stuck out to me.

I've seen people have mixed opinions over the new mechanics in FE. I haven't thought much of them so far but maybe that will change. If any FE game has taught me something it's to not judge the game by it's first couple of chapters.

 

[Deleted member]

Birthright has this problem too. Dunno if they improved on it compared to Awakening but it's there to a degree.

There are a few maps that are cool though, and Dragon Veins help. But it's the main reason I've become a bit fatigued with the game and still have to finish it.

From the LP I'm watching, they seem to be improved, but not much
The main problem Birthright has are the mission objectives, most of the maps are "Rout the enemy", not even "Kill the boss" like Awakening, just a lot of routing
And of course, the game constantly throws reinforcements at you, seriously, just from watching it looks obnoxious

I actually find Lunatic mode to be quite easy m8.

Ha, good try, but unless you're soloing it with Def boon Avatar+Chrom I doubt it
Almost every character gets ORKOed in the map they join and Chapter 2 is the worst offender

grinding

Grinding just isn't viable on Lunatic, enemies have 50+ Atk thanks to forged weapons
You may be able to clear skirmishes with Chrom and Robin but that isn't gonna help the other units

 

[Deleted member]

Hope so. FE7 took some time to get off it's feet so i'm hoping the same for Awakening.

I've seen people have mixed opinions over the new mechanics in FE. I haven't thought much of them so far but maybe that will change. If any FE game has taught me something it's to not judge the game by it's first couple of chapters.

It's just the piss poor character development that peeved me the most, m8.

I enjoyed all the little interactions you get while the characters gain affinity, but they're so short and so few, and they get married so quickly, and once they're married you really barely get anything else, that it just feels like it was tacked on for stat boosts an children abilities really. It's really more like a game where you wanna min-max you children builds, rather than a game about the characters themselves and their relationships with one another.

It's actually BECAUSE I liked all the interactions, and wanted to see it better fleshed out, and was disappointed at how it was implemented compared to other similar games that have a similar mechanic, but done MUCH much better (again, Rance), that it just felt like a sort of *********. I never really got to know any of them, and for a game that touts the importance of the characters and relationship building, it's a huge disappointment for me, because it's very shallow, and feels like a gimmick rather than a central part of the game.

Other games have done it better, that's what I'm mostly complaining, especially due to all the hype and praise Awakening got. In fact, it's BECAUSE of all the praise it got that I'm telling people to play Sengoku Rance instead. That game was miles more memorable than my experience with Awakening. It's a better example of how to do relationship building.

 

[A Distant Demon]

Anyone found any good deals on the Steam Sale? I wanna check but it's super slow where I am.

Stardew Valley's base price of $15 is already way too cheap and now its $12 so that's nice


Civ 5 is on sale like pretty much every other major sale and that is pretty good. Cheap too with all the DLC.
Highly recomended if you are into that kind of stuff

Undertale is also on sale if you haven't already bought it for its dirt cheap price

Doom is 40% off which is a lot for a game that recent



Can't really see much else because of Steam being too slow for me as well.

 

[Wolfie557]

How long does the steam sale last?

I want to get:
Besiege

Banished

Yeah I love medieval games a lot and these looks great! Sandbox games I enjoy a ton.

 

[A Distant Demon]

How long does the steam sale last?
.

Until the 4th

 

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

Found some cool beta screenshots of Sonic 1 back in June of 1990.
http://videogamesdensetsu.tumblr.co...ere-is-what-sonic-the-hedgehog-looked-like-in

 

[Chrono.]

The best one there.

 

[Arcanir]

Hard to believe Sonic turns 25 this year, it feels like yesterday I was playing Sonic 2 and Adventure for the first time.

Happy birthday Sonic, hopefully whatever they have planned for you next is a great game!

Which story is the best (most thought-out, well-written, emotional, deep ect), Awakening, Conquest or Birthright?

I need to know. I'll be buying a game or two this weekend.

I'm personally not a fan of either of the three as they all have pretty notable problems with their storytelling and how the characters act in it. Birthright may be the best of the three since it's much more safe with its plot structure then the other two, but even then there are a couple issues such as poor worldbuilding that hinder it.

 

[Deleted member]

The best one there.

I dunno how people ever expected MN9 to come out any good after all the drama and other stuff that started cropping up about it.
Glad I never backed it. Especially that Dina nonsense and Inafune being a con artist, and all the delays.... and the bad artwork and screens... yeah.

Yooka-Laylee on the other hand looks rad as ****. Based Kirkhope and gang.

 

[Wario Bros.]

*Checks Steam Summer sale*

Shoot! Dungeon of Elements isn't on sale.

Sure, it's not getting great reviews, but I'm a sucker for clones.

 

[Deleted member]

*Checks Steam Summer sale*

Shoot! Dungeon of Elements isn't on sale.

Sure, it's not getting great reviews, but I'm a sucker for clones.

You mean Tetris clones, right?

 

[Wolfie557]

Okay so I'll try to get Birthright tomorrow if I wake up early enough (still need to go to school but starts at 11 on fridays lol).

And also TP HD if that £25 one is still there in that one shop.

And a £10 steam voucher.

Yet I have a backlog of 6 games and I estimate it will take me 132hours to get rid of it and i'm about to add over 100hrs to that.

And I want t finish everything before BotW.

And get Pokemon and Dragon Quest.

And anime is a thing.

I have no life.

 

[Wario Bros.]

You mean Tetris clones, right?

You didn't just say that...

 

[Deleted member]

You didn't just say that...

What? I'm pretty sure I did, hold on a sec

You mean Tetris clones, right?

Here it is

Spoiler

 

[Cutie Gwen]

You didn't just say that...

What? I'm pretty sure I did, hold on a sec

Here it is

Spoiler

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

 

[Coricus]

Found some cool beta screenshots of Sonic 1 back in June of 1990.
http://videogamesdensetsu.tumblr.co...ere-is-what-sonic-the-hedgehog-looked-like-in

Oh I remember that enemy from the concept art.

Funny how much a game could change in a year back then.

Early Green Hill Zone seems similar to what we have now, but there's what appear to be buildings in the background making it look more like a beach resort.

 

[Deleted member]

So, my friends and I are discussing something in our chat and I believe it to be an important social matter that needs to be discussed, so I would like you all to answer this strawpoll if you could
http://www.strawpoll.me/10566731

 

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

Oh I remember that enemy from the concept art.

Funny how much a game could change in a year back then.

Early Green Hill Zone seems similar to what we have now, but there's what appear to be buildings in the background making it look more like a beach resort.

Huh, now that you mention it, they do look like buildings. I just assumed they were just rocks.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

So, my friends and I are discussing something in our chat and I believe it to be an important social matter that needs to be discussed, so I would like you all to answer this strawpoll if you could
http://www.strawpoll.me/10566731

I will report you if you tell me you consider bread with sauce a hotdog

 

[Robert of Normandy]

Better question: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

 

[Deleted member]

I will report you if you tell me you consider bread with sauce a hotdog

You'd like to report two of my friends then
It's the same as saying a hamburguer without a, well, hamburguer is a hamburguer

 

[Cutie Gwen]

You'd like to report two of my friends then
It's the same as saying a hamburguer without a, well, hamburguer is a hamburguer

What the hell is wrong with you? I demand to know why you can't seem to spell hamburger right

 

[Chrono.]

Better question: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Hot Dogs are bad.

 

[Burruni]

Better question: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

No because it's eaten in a vertical alignment of bread and substances by design. Despite similarity to a Sub.

 

[AwesomeAussie27]

You know, the soundtrack is always good in the Mario & Sonic games despite being average.