Genre and Gameplay rant: Gamecube

[Enzian]

I just picked up Zelda:WindWaker and MOH:Frontline last night.

I don't know why I'm getting all these Adventure games, like Zelda, Metroid, Bounty Hunter and Rougue Squadron 2. I can't finish them. I wind up playing them until I hit a really difficult part and then - that's it. I just had to buy Zelda though, on top of all the other unfinished games. Why? 'Cause it's Zelda, right? Bah.

I love the cel shading, and no, I don't "play for the other team". I think it's smooth and very submersive. I love the way the bad guys die, in the cloud of purple smoke... it looks like Disney made the game.

Off-Topic: I think Nintendo is going to position itself as the Disney of the videogaming generation, and this will be the first step in a more cartoon-y direction for their tier-one titles.

After a bit of playing Zelda, I forget all about the cel shading and it becomes an interactive cartoon. A very confusing cartoon, but, hey.

I can't figue out the first level, in and around the dungeon. And I have a map! The map is useless, the rooms are all alike... bah. I can feel this game slipping towards the back of my mind already.

I need a good arcade racing game. Double Dash better hurry the hell up and get here!

Medal of Honor: Frontline. I picked it up used (like all my games) for $15. I was curious to see how the controls would handle. I'm a big PC gamer, and I can't imagine condensing the WASD to a Nintendo controller.

I still can't imagine it.

Whoa! What a stinkin' pile of dog crap! I've always though that the PC and GameCube were on the same level, graphics-wise. The computer is multi-functional and super-powerful, but the Cube is specialized, right? Hell, no! The graphics on Frotline would be impressive maybe 5 years ago, PC-wise. Nowadays, it looks childish.

It's like souping up a car to high-performace levels - amazing, right? Not if you drive a Lamborghini, though. I feel like my PC is a Lamborghini compared to the souped-up Pinto of a GameCube.

The controls!? FAAAHHKED!! Theoretically, they were okay. Move with one stick, look with the other. But holy crap, everything's bouncing around! I felt like a BB in an empty mayonnaise jar. I had the precision of a drunken monkey with a case of crabs.

I played the first level, on Easy difficulty, to get used to the controls. As I haphazardly shot at the German towers - not coming close to my intended targets - the game said I hit them! That's acceptable!? No wa-ay! Why not have random Germans die? That's no fun!

So I'm running through the mission... I make the bunker. I get on the machine gun and start hitting the nest of 88s. There's still fire coming from the nest, so I lay it on thick. Good. I jump down from the machine gun and I'm face-to-face with 4 Germans. Crap. Dead. Was there a save spot anywhere? Nope. I'm supposed to do that all over again? Nope. I played this level 3 years ago (I think) when MOH: Allied Assault came out - I know there's quite a bit more to that level. No saves?

In tough situations, like the same scene in AA, I become a QuickSave junkie. F5, baby, every two feet. Well... you get the idea. Now, I'm denied a single save point? That's gonna fly like a lead balloon.

Hey, $15. Do I regret it? No. I needed to see first-hand. Will I sell it back to EB? Hell, yeah.

Why I didn't buy MOH:Breakthrough is a mystery. What the hell was I thinking?

edit - I returned Frontline today for full store credit. I picked up what I should have picked up in the first place, MOH:Breakthrough!

10 points if you can find this rant elsewhere on the internet...

[Frank Gunn]

Don't give up on 'The Wind Waker'. Cheat if you have to, but see it through.

'MOH', I wouldn't piss on that if it were on fire.

[Enzian]

Surely, you're talking about the GameCube version of my favorite PC franchise... right?

[Frank Gunn]

Strictly a console man here, Enz. I had the XBox version of MOH, and it wasn't worth a damn. Never seen the PC versions.

[Enzian]

Okay, then. Standing down, Sir.

[Darksim]

Yeah, the first dungeon where you're sneaking around and shit is pretty tough, but after that, Wind Waker is pretty easy. The only reason why the game is "difficult" is because it's so huge and vast. Don't give up, man. Ocarina of Time was certainly more difficult.

[Enzian]

This is my first Zelda.

Is there an idea I can place in my mind to understand the layout of the castle/dungeon better? Like "doughnut with a circular spire in the middle"... or something more accurate.

[Harro5]

I never beat Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooie or Super Mario on the old 64! I just realised how much I sucked d*** at those games. I think I'll stick to NBA Live and FIFA from now on!

[tic-tac]

Originally Posted by Enzian

This is my first Zelda. Is there an idea I can place in my mind to understand the layout of the castle/dungeon better? Like "doughnut with a circular spire in the middle"... or something more accurate.

I love that! I do the same thing (re: "doughnut"...)

Originally Posted by Harro5

I never beat Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooie or Super Mario on the old 64! I just realised how much I sucked d*** at those games. I think I'll stick to NBA Live and FIFA from now on!

I think this is an interesting observation that you've brought up here, Enz. Actually now that I think about it, I'm sure there was a similar thread earlier, something like "Do You Finish Your Games All the Way Through?" or similar...

When I reflect on my videogaming career , I can definitely observe that I was much more apt to completely "finish" a game when I was younger, the two obvious reasons being that a) I had lots more free time on my hands and 2) the games themselves were simpler. (Heh - that was for Marq -- he knows why if he's reading this... )

These days, I get a lot more satisfaction out of sports titles like Har mentioned, although now with the "unlockables" and other linear paths that those offer, there is a temptation to complete unlock everything or else feel like you've missed something. Gone for me, it seems, are the days where I feel like I've completely and totally mastered a game inside and out.

And re: WASD vs. controllers... I know it's an old topic, long-since covered, but I was a WASD-guy, and while I still maintain that it and the mouse offer the most precise control for FPS games, I've learned to do the controller thing thanks to Halo, but I have played other FPS's on the 'Cube and 'Box with controllers and have had horrible results... I think it's all in how well the controls are programmed.

[Enzian]

Originally Posted by tic-tac

I love that! I do the same thing (re: "doughnut"...)

I think this is an interesting observation that you've brought up here, Enz. Actually now that I think about it, I'm sure there was a similar thread earlier, something like "Do You Finish Your Games All the Way Through?" or similar...

What do you mean, "I do the same thing,"? You spell doughnut the same as I do, or you need a physical representation in your mind to understand the landscape of any particular videogame?

Do I finish games all the way through? Well, I'm primarily a PC gamer, and the answer on that front is Yes. I've beaten 95% of the games I've bought in the past 3 years. Hmm... Serious Sam 2 I didn't bother with, and Vice City is a work in progress. I was hung up at the helicopter mission before my IBM DeathStar shat out. Now I have to start all over again. I think it's a good thing, personally.

Consoles, on the other hand, are my scorge and bane. I don't think I've ever beaten a console game. Maybe I have, but I don't remember. I played Super Mario Bros 2 with a skilled friend at my side, who talked me into beating it, step by step. I don't count that.

Contra on the NES. I learned that game inside and out with the 30 lives and 3 restarts code, and became so good I could beat it without the code and finish with 7+ lives, or something. I don't count that, either.

Banjo-Kazooie. I was at the final level with Grunty, and I stopped playing. Star Wars Ep 1 Podracer, I unlocked all the levels except the last 2.

On the GBA, I haven't beaten YuGiOh: Eternal Duelist Soul - I've got 3 enemies left. Thankfully, my son is weaning himself off YuGiOh. Metroid Fusion - I'm stuck trying to dodge the SA-X with freezing missiles. Zelda: 4 Swords (or whatever it's called) I'm stuck trying to get into the freakin' castle. Advance Wars, I just stopped. Still interesting, but I'm losing my creative edge. I can't figure out how to beat these later scenarios. And I'm fairly close to the end, I think.

And now, I'm on to bigger, better and more expensive failures with GameCube adventure games.

I used to be pretty good at adventure games. I beat Kings Quest 1-6 (or did I beat 7, too?), Space Quest 1-3, Police Quest (in one sitting), I never lost a mission in Gunship. I even beat Privateer 2 - but that game rocks so hard it was difficult to stop playing even after I beat it! Matter of fact, the only game I didn't beat in those ealry PC years was the sleeper hit of 1986, distributed by an unknown company called Electronic Arts, called StarFlight. Sweet merciful crap. I bought an x486 laptop just so I can still play that game.

[Enzian]

Okay, I'm rereading my post and the whole Kings Quest thing is bothering me.

King's Quest 1 - Sir Graham becomes king.
King's Quest 2 - Graham finds his queen.
King's Quest 3 - (the best) Graham's son escapes Mananan and returns home. There was another hurdle in getting home, other than Mananan, I just can't remember, though.
King's Quest 4 - (day and night scenes) Rosella, Graham's daughter has to find a cure for King Graham.
King's Quest 5 - (the easiest. New GUI interface makes it a cakewalk) King Graham searches for his lost castle and family. Mananan's brother is the culprit. I admit, I got some pointers on navigating the desert from on-line friends via Prodigy. Yes, Prodigy.
King's Quest 6... I'm getting fuzzy. Alexander, Graham's son, again, right? Damn, I forgot this game... I'm sure I'll remember as soon as someone helps jog it.
King's Quest 7. A guy at work had this cartoon game that had the gameplay of wet ass. Now, normally I like wet ass - female wet ass. But this played like wet male ass. Very bad. I borrowed it for a couple days and didn't even play it. Anyway - was that 7 or 8? I don't remember 7, but I don't think I played it - so that could be the reason.

[Reaver]

As someone who has beaten Wind Waker, you might not think you're missing out on anything by not working through it, but I can tell you that you are. Until Wind Waker, I'd never played a Zelda game before. Well, for no longer than thirty minutes anyway. I'd tried them in the past, but when you've cut your teeth on Bard's Tale and Ultima, Zelda just doesn't cut it in comparison. But I'd heard so many good things about Wind Waker that I had to try it, and I'm so glad I did. If not for Knights Of The Old Republic, Wind Waker would be my personal Game Of The Year so far (but KOTOR beats it hands down). I thought Wind Waker's graphics were sublime, the music was wonderful (I bought the soundtrack CD from a Japanese online store), and the gameplay itself was damn near flawless. My only objection was, like you, that some of the levels were a tad on the confusing side. Just wait until you get to some of the later stages. Dear god...

And as for MOH, why you would play play an FPS game on the Gamecube, I don't know. If you have to play one on a console, then at least stick to the Xbox fer Christ's sake.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Enzian

King's Quest 6...

"You take another mint"

"You feel a strange tugging sensation"

[Enzian]

I decided to google for it, 'cause it's really bothering me, and the "you feel a tugging sensation" jogged my memory just enough to be annoying even more.

I found a walkthrough site, but I still only remember bits and peices. I definitely remember the winged King and Queen. I totally remember "The minotaur corners Alexander by the fire pit, and his only defense
is to try to madden the bull into charging by using the red scarf from
the red Chess Queen."

I do NOT remember a stone archer, though. And I don't remember much after that. Maybe I didn't beat it! I find that very hard to believe, but I honestly don't remember the ending at all.

I bet I still have the original box. I know for a fact I still have Police Quest and KQ5... Packed under the eves of my parents house.

Off-Topic. My parents, plural of "my parent", possessive. Parents or parent's?

[IKEA_boy]

Originally Posted by Enzian

Off-Topic. My parents, plural of "my parent", possessive. Parents or parent's?

Parents'?

Sort of on-topic, did Police Quest 3 have voice acting or was it text only?

[elwood731]

It's: parents'

Your dad is one parent.
Your parents went to a movie.
Your found your parents' ticket stubs.

English lesson for the day.

[downhuman]

First of all, any FPS that started it's life on the PC is just plain, flat out going to SUCK on a console (unless, of course, the console version offers keyboard and mouse support--then you'll be able to concentrate on less-than-stellar-when-compared-to-the-PC graphics). So as a general rule, avoid 'em like herpes.

Now on to Zelda, you do really need to give that game another chance. Once you get a real feel for the dungeons, you won't want to stop playing. Many times I picked up that controller with intention of playing for just 30 minutes or so and didn't put it down until 3 or 4 hours later. The only other game in recent history that's had that effect on me is Metroid Prime (keep at that one, too--the final battle is definitely worth it).

You want an arcade style racer, how about F-Zero GX? Ridiculously hard? Yes. But still incredibly fun.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by Enzian

King's Quest 6... I'm getting fuzzy. Alexander, Graham's son, again, right? Damn, I forgot this game... I'm sure I'll remember as soon as someone helps jog it.

Does this help jog your memory?

http://www.kq9.org/library/kq06.php

KM

[Enzian]

http://www.kq9.org/library/kq06.php


Four-Oh-Four, Gray Squirrel... over and out.

[IKEA_boy]

Thanks for the link! That game is the bees-knees!



The beach! The talking tomatoe. The "dwarves." Meeeee-mo-ries!

I think I might just boot up my good ol' P133 to play some of these. That game was THE reason I wanted a computer.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by Enzian

http://www.kq9.org/library/kq06.php

Four-Oh-Four, Gray Squirrel... over and out.

Weird. When I saw your post I clicked on the link and got a 404 as well. Then I saw IKEA's post, and pressed refresh on the kq9.org page and it worked. Try again, I guess...

KM

[Enzian]

Humph... it's working now.

Ahhh yeah! I have a 486 laptop at home... I might have to find my old floppies!

[elwood731]

Originally Posted by Enzian

Humph... it's working now.

Ahhh yeah! I have a 486 laptop at home... I might have to find my old floppies!

Bah! The CD version is the only version of KQ6 to play!

[IKEA_boy]

Originally Posted by elwood731

Bah! The CD version is the only version of KQ6 to play!

werd