General Discussion Mark II

Oh God! Now all of the text on the site is some sort of blue/green! What manner of monster would commit such a dastardly crime?

It's a pleasant color. I have no problem with it.

Cremator of the Sky wrote:Oh God! Now all of the text on the site is some sort of blue/green! What manner of monster would commit such a dastardly crime?

What I said at first.

AKeybladeYouSay wrote:It's a pleasant color. I have no problem with it.

Pretty much. At least it's not some eyesore yellow.

In other news, I now have a hole in my hand from control-stick-spinning on a Classic Controller.

Playing Mario Party?

I was under the impression Mario Party didn't get a port for that reason...No, Budokai Tenkaichi 3. I can't even imagine trying to play Mario Party, though. I've used an N64 controller, and as bad as a Classic Controller might be, the N64 has a worse one, at least in terms of the control stick.

MOAR RET'S PRAY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO5ABxJ4_aM

Solid episode. Nothing to say comes to mind other than the fact you sounded pretty tired, which is to be expected given the circumstances.

I tried though. I was like "I got the energy for this" and just recorded.

My main thing: Don't apologize so much. Yeah, you were recording at 3 AM, but still. Saying "I'm sorry" over and over again doesn't change anything. I have no problem with something like, "I apologize in advance, but *etc, etc.*" But saying you're sorry for the same thing multiple times comes off to me as pointless.

As far as the video itself, I'd recommend making the cuts a little less choppy, maybe with just a black shutter transition. Straight-up cuts like that are, at least in my opinion, a little bit jarring and somewhat sloppy. Other than that, I liked it.

And of course, you're allowed your own opinion on Ice Physics. Personally, I think that along side taking away my ability to see, it's the worst thing in video games due to the game suddenly not doing what you want it to do, but hey. If you like Ice Physics, more power to you. I don't.

Pffft. Yeah, I remembered your view and that's half the reason I said all of that.

I could go on and on...and on, about Ice Physics and how much I hate them, but I won't. Just because I hate Ice Physics, Ice Levels, etc. does not mean anyone else has to. Y'know...I don't like ice levels, I don't like fire levels, I don't like water levels...so why the hell do I play video games? I seriously have to wonder about that. I think I might just be a massive liar and secretly like all levels regardless of their design choices...or maybe I'm just an Escapist. Or a hypocrite. Or just stupid.

I feel pretty indifferent about ice physics, I guess. I mean, it makes sense in context. I would ask for more realistic games to approach it more realistically, a few wobbles, labored and careful steps, falling over occasionally. But it's never really something that happens in realistic games. I feel like winter settings aren't taken advantage of enough, and when they are, they're tropey as fuck.
As for taking away the player's vision, yeah, it's bullshit. Except for what they did in Snake Eater, but that was more about context-sensitive polish and didn't get in the way too much. Especially if you play in third person.

I know what you mean. I actually think an ice level without Ice Physics would bother me more than the actual Ice Physics would. It's just that it's either one more thing to get used to in a game that's already challenging, or it's adding artificial challenge to a game that would otherwise be easy. More often than not, I think it's more of the level being designed around using Ice Physics in order to have you fall and die or have to start over or what have you. I'm gonna stop now or this'll turn into a rant.

No, please. I'm sick to death of my own rants. Come on, get it out there. No debate or comebacks or whatever from me, just a rant from you.

Srsly? Well, if you insist.

Ice Physics, to me, are usually just something the game designers do to make the game feel like it's harder than it should be. In Zelda, for example, the ice dungeon always feels like it's going to slow because I'm walking at about half speed. It's worse in Twilight Princes, because I start running, but then I see I'm gonna hit something. Natural response, try to run the other way, but Link turns around and starts running...backwards. He's running, and going the other way. In Link to the Past, there's a couple of areas I remember where there's very small walkways with Ice Physics alongside things like enemies and fire-bars. It just makes me wonder if designers know when they're going overkill. Even in Mario, when I have to deal with Ice Physics, I know what to do, I know what I'm trying to do, but the game won't cooperate. I see the pit, I see that I can't jump it from my current position, so I try to turn around, but I slide down the pit. It's not as bad as it is in Zelda, since I can wall-jump out of the hole, but all the same, it's aggravating when I try to do something and the game says "Nope, you're doing something else instead."

And I don't really mind so much except for the fact that that's all Ice Physics ever is. It's the game telling you that you aren't going to do what you want to. I try to play and I end up falling into a death-pit, or into ice-water, or whatever else one might put at the edge of a cliff. And I'm not saying that it can't be done well. Wind Waker's ice dungeon, as I recall, is done pretty well. But the problem is when it's not done well, and when you try to run in the opposite direction, you keep going the same way. You're facing where you want to go, but you're moonwalking. I understand that it's meant to be a test of skill and how well the player adapts to a sudden change in control scheme, but it seems to me that it's a big sense of false difficulty, and if I could play the way I know how to play and do what I want to do, I could do this no problem. I think it ruins the immersion in a lot of games. If I'm supposed to feel like the character, but the character isn't doing what I want, there's a conflict of interests right there. And in a game like, for example, Megaman 1, which is already balls-grindingly difficult, it's just another thing you have to work around. If I'm playing a Megaman game, it's because I want to run around shooting stuff, not because I want to slip off the side of a cliff and land on spikes of instant-death. It's especially bad in Sonic, when you're running too fast to change direction effectively.

I feel like there are more examples I could give, but I think I've demonstrated my point, and it already looks like a pretty decent-sized wall of text. Also, being that it's 1 AM right now, my brain isn't working in top form. So for now, I'll leave it there.

Ice physics in LoZ? Easy, use rolling. Made ice dungeons a breeze.

Because I can roll in LttP. But that's beside the point. Rolling doesn't get rid of the fundamental problem, namely that I can't play the way I want to. And rolling is rather ineffective when there are enemies nearby. You either roll around or into them, and neither one really helps.

Besides, you're kinda missing the point...

Just felt I should say this here, but I've set up a Letterboxd account. For those who don't know, Letterboxd is a site that basically serves as a log for the movies you've seen, and allows you to write up reviews if you choose. I did choose. I've only got one review up so far, but you can expect at least two more coming fairly soon. Check it out if you want, don't if you don't.

http://letterboxd.com/khfreak358/

I... can't find the review.

EDIT: Wait! No, I found it. Sorry, mistook it for something else at first.

Obligatory for any comment of ice stages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFdwqZ2CmKw

Could be worse. It could be a water level.

Know what, Water levels aren't all that bad for me. Granted my only real experience is in LoZ and Mario, but in LoZ it's mostly about putting the water where it should be (which is mildly annoying at worst), and Mario games...usually have a way around the water, like the Penguin/Frog suit, or the Warp Zone. And even if you don't have those, the newer Mario games have a tendency to control pretty well in the water. And not be really slow.

So...Water levels have never been a problem for me, really.

Really? Because I've always felt Mario Wii was one of the worst offenders of water physics. Sorry, I just hate having to keep tapping A in order to stay aloft. At least with ice physics, I can find a way to make them work for me. KH1 Atlantica and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger are the only cases I can think of that don't have annoying water physics. That I've played, at least.