Videogame Discussion Thread

So far NiOH has proven to be quite enjoyable, certainly moreso than the beta [and even the final demo] initially suggested. My biggest complaints are an overall lack of monster variety---which only become apparent later on in the game---as well as a certain lack of character in many of the game's environments. Oh, and the loot system can bugger off; I much prefer to find unique examples of weapons and armor. I also prefer to stick to certain weapons and armor for my various builds, yet NiOH really pushes you to keep trading out armor and using different weapons whenever possible.

That being said, the combat system is a delight. Spacing and stamina management are key (or should I say... ki... hurr hurr), something that takes me back to Demon's Souls which I felt greatly emphasized such things over, say, I-frames. Yet the depth of combat is more akin to the later Ninja Gaiden games: you unlock new combos and abilities, and it all becomes quite overwhelming quite soon. Add to that the fact that a common enemy can easily kill you with a single combo if you mess up, and I feel that NiOH has an *extremely* steep learning curve.

Like Demon's Souls however, there seem to be ways to mercilessly cheese the game despite its otherwise unforgiving nature. Time will tell how much of this stuff is left unpatched. Apart from that however---and some obvious mechanical similarities---the feel of NiOH is definitely distinct from that of the 'Soulsborne' series in my opinion.

Overall a fantastic game. But does it have the strength to become its own series, "the next Dark Souls," if you will? Not sure yet.

What I am sure of however is that the world of vidyagamez needs stuff like NiOH, Salt & Sanctuary, etc.

*I* need stuff like NiOH, Salt & Sanctuary, etc,






Speaking of which...
Incoming big-ass wall of text.


I'm sure I've mentioned this a million times by now, but I'm a major fan of action RPGs, and for me the genre is at its finest in the 'Soulsborne' games. Before that my main From Software obsession was King's Field, so when I heard about this newfangled PS3 game from the maker of said series---one that captured the spirit of minimalist imagination fuel narrative, impossibly violent worlds, death around every corner, stylized high fantasy----I was definitely on board. That game was Demon's Souls.

It's hard to convey the feeling of taking a head-long dive into a Souls game for the first time, especially back then. Nowadays it's a bit different: a Souls-type game gets released, and within a week every single secret has been discovered, speed runners have clocked in at under 3 hours, and everyone brags about how they beat such-in-such boss with nothing but a toothpick, and if you can't do certain things under a certain level cap then you suck and need to "git gud."

Rewind to the release of Demon's Souls in North America. At that time, it was completely unexplored territory. There was no "meta" or accepted way of doing things. People who found new, easier ways of beating bosses were congratulated on their ingenuity rather than put down. Secret passageways were discovered slowly and weren't exactly common knowledge because they weren't uploaded to YouTube two seconds later. There was maybe one wiki for the game that eventually collected information that players gathered over a few years of playing. The sense of mystery was just so omnipresent in Demon's Souls. Debates about lore happened in shadowy corners of the Interbuttz, and "fan theories" weren't exactly a common thing yet. Memes for it didn't really exist for a while (thank God). PVP was a mess, but most people were in that mess together, figuring it out as they went.

Likewise the original Dark Souls was, for many, their first exposure to this madness. Although the game sold far more copies and its presence on YouTube was a much bigger, that sense of mystery remained. Some of the things that appealed to me about its predecessor were admittedly sacrificed: the size and variety of the landscapes felt much more condensed, there was less offbeat quirkiness (Adjudicator, anyone?), and it felt like you arrived late to the party when most of the action had already taken place. What Dark Souls offered in place of this however was an incredible, nearly seamless world which felt even more mysterious and foreboding as it gasped for breath, barely clinging to life as its fires slowly extinguished, becoming dim, faintly glowing ash.

For whatever reason I never got too far into Dark Souls upon its release. It seems odd given my love for its predecessor, but I suppose the time just wasn't right: I had other things going on, other games that preoccupied my thoughts. Really it wasn't until the release of Dark Souls 2 that I went back and finally completed the original. I adore the game---I adore all the games of the series---but for me the first Dark Souls remains, to this day, the least played among them. I think I've done somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four complete runs?

There are hushed whispers of a remastered version being released at some point; that would certainly be a good excuse for me to revisit it and finally give it the attention it deserves. What would also help tremendously Is implementing a password system for co-op play. And perhaps tweaking backstabs a bit in PVP.

As for Dark Souls 2, I'm not going to say much: the game is certainly polarizing among fans of the series, and there are those who could offer up far more words than I simply ripping it apart. For me however it's up there with Demon's Souls as one of my favorites. As for why this is so... well, I've prattled on long enough. Let's just say I understand where the complaints are coming from, but for me the strength definitely outweigh them.

To this day I continue to discover new weapons and armor sets for Dark Souls 2 despite my having beaten the game high into the double digits. "I never knew THAT existed!" What it offers for me is a staggering array of possibilities for different types of viable builds, and this keeps the game alive both in single player and co-op role playing as well as PVP (which is usually regarded as the best in the series, even by those who like the game far less than I). I'm the sort of player who likes to delve into exploration and lore-finding, but once the dust from that inevitably settles, I become the sort of player who likes planning specific builds and mapping out the quickest paths to make them.

Dark Souls 3 has a lot of interesting weapons and armor, but its relative linearity compared to those that came before make it slightly less "replayable" in the above sense. Still, I can't deny the appeal of the game's NPCs, storyline threads, and handful of truly brilliant boss battles (I *still* put my summon sign down in front of Sister F's and Father A's room, as I just can't get enough of that fight). It has certainly been more of an epic than a labyrinth, and the new DLC looks to continue this to its fantastic endpoint, providing a [hopefully] satisfying grande finale. I don't expect all my questions to be answered, however. This series has always been more about perpetuating those questions anyway.

 

Took years but I finally scored a reasonable price on a good condition 20th Anniversary Famicom themed Gameboy Micro:



Honestly, it's still the most beautiful gaming hardware I've seen. I almost don't want to play it.

I might take a family shot of my GBA devices now. I am sort of obsessed with the system and own:

1. An AGS-101 modded original GBA (for the beautiful L/R triggers and perfect feel in hand of course)
2. An AGS-101 GBA SP in case I never need the screen to mod another original GBA
3. Revo K101+ clone
4. DS Lite Macro mod (half assed)
5. DS Lite Macro mod (full bondo and color)
6. Famicom Edition GBA Micro
7. Regular dumpy GBA Micro

This micro is definitely my favorite of the bunch. The only downside is how much the everdrive sticks out but it just means I use my original carts instead.

 

I need advice: what should I get that will run Pokemon Emerald (GBA).

 

If you need an actual console without spending a million dollars or settling for donkey shit screens or a compromised experience, the Revo K101+ is your best bet. The clone hardware is quite good with the only downside being a slightly off aspect ratio on the screen which you honestly can't tell unless you have it side by side with a regular GBA.

I'll do a full rundown of pros and cons of hardware options including clones and emulation handhelds.

 

Breakdown of GBA options -

GBA hardware and clones (play cartridges):

• Original GBA unmodded - Terrible screen. Like unimaginably terrible. HARD PASS
• Original GBA with AGS101 screen - Awesome screen upgrade but:
  • These are ungodly expensive unless you mod yourself
  • Most $150+ pre-modded units on ebay use aftermarket shells and screens. Fit is terrible and the power switch tends to fail with the knock off casing/buttons
• GBA SP AGS 001 screen - Terrible ergonomics, awkward form factor, ugly as sin device and the screen sucks.
• GBA SP AGS 101 screen - same as above but with a better screen. I'd only keep this to put the screen in an original GBA.
• Gameboy Micro - Tiny. We're talking really f'ing tiny. But goddam do games look good on that little screen. Ergonomics are on point, too, unlike the horrible, hand cramping abomination that was the SP. Great D pad travel and button feel but with mushier L/R triggers than the original GBA, this is my personal favorite form factor.
• Gameboy Macro (modded single screen DS Lite) - great option if you're okay with carts sticking out of the bottom.
• DS Lite - pass, mod it to a macro if you're serious about GBA
• DS phat/DS Macro XL - too big, too ugly, the lite is better all around.
• Revo K101+ - Awesome clone. Plays even boktai flawlessly. Comes with it's own flashcart if you're into it. Screen ratio is off but you won't notice unless you're hardcore. This is my non-modded, easy to obtain, not ungodly expensive recommendation to mst people.

Portable emulation devices (play ROMs):

• iPhone SE + logitech powershell with D pad mod - Best portable emulation option IMO. Can get a perfect ratio on that screen. It's also the only iPhone outside of the 7/7 Plus that is powerful enough to handle 0 frameskip emulation AND it does perfect ratio scaling due to having a multiple of the original GBA vertical resolution.
• GCW Zero - Awesome machine, terrible TN screen. Original D pad and buttons are mushy; 3D printed upgrades improve this quite a bit (but it's easy to f**k up your device when installing the D pad and buttons). On the fence at $150. I enjoy mine but it's just mediocre all around.
• GPD XD, Shield tablet, misc Android gaming devices - Just okay for GBA. Even with 0 frameskip performance, these devices all end up non-ideal either due to size, ergonomics, weird scaling ratios, etc.

 

SP was beloved in time but, stepping back, was the weakest part of the GBA story outside of the AGS-101 screen revision. The awkward design language carried forward and I blame it for the two screen portables that represented the absolute worst aesthetic entries in Nintendo's stable outside of the virtual boy/facehumper (DS lite being the cute little exception).

In retrospect, the GB Micro was an anachronism. It was the perfect distillation of the portable dream. A small truly pocketable portable with a crisp, bright screen, a wonderfully tiny but usable form factor, and access to an incredible library of games the day it launched. At the time it was definitely polarizing but today it feels like the most striking and surprisingly usable handheld design in Nintendo's 28ish year history of handhelds.

 

GPD XD is just too big. GBA games feel awkward on the thing to me. Also, the ratio is not perfect in either direction which I find distracting. I wasn't a believer but the iPhone SE is just a way better device for emulating GBA with the $10 Logitech PowerShell + a dpad from a borked controller.

edit: I own the GPD XD and Win. There's no f'ing way either is a better GBA experience than the Micro. There's timing issues occasionally even with the best emulators (they're optimized for speed, not perfect accuracy in 99% of cases) and I can't play things like Boktai. I'd take @Mystic's AGS-101 GBA with an everdrive over a GPD any day of the week.

I did the mod myself. I've also fixed a bunch of crappy ones off eBay.

The only portables I've gotten rid of in my life were GBA SP variants, a frontlit GBC and the virtual boy (which I regret). I prefer the micro and the GB Boy Colour to each of those two respectively.

I might gut a GBC if I can fit a proper ratio IPS LCD in there with the right resolution and a RPi zero. Let's see.