Hey, that's my controller -
May 12, 2001 - Alex Annis
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot. Wait a minute, I got it. You could play with your magic nose goblins.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Howdy. I had the unfortunate task of getting up nice and early this morning to feed some barnyard creatures that I despise
since the rest of my family is out of town for various reasons. In a not-so-funny turn of events, I ended up locking myself out of
the house, because the door I went out apparently has a knob that twists on the inside and not on the outside, despite the fact I
had unlocked it to get out. Things like this are nice to know ahead of time. Anyway, out of the fear that I would be trapped
outside my house in the middle of nowhere until sometime around 11 PM, I went to our barn *shudder* and grabbed a screw
driver, which I somehow managed to open the door with. Then the day was saved.
There's no real point to that story, but I didn't have anything else to say. I apologize.
| Bits and pieces |
| Yo Alex,
I wanted to first say that comparing Evangelion and Xenogears is not a very good idea. NGE is the only anime series I've ever
watched, and except for some things that happen in the first few hours, they're WILDLY different stories...
And cooperative gaming is something that I'd really love to see in RPG's. I can't remember the last RPG I played (I think
FFIX), because whenever I have friends over, we always go for something like FIFA 2001 or SSX, not Vagrant Story or
Xenogears. The fact that RPG's inherently create antisocial gaming environments has always annoyed me, because my nights
are usually busy and I don't get time to play through RPG's as thoroughly as I'd like to. I wish that there were some RPG's that
allowed multiple people to play at once which were episodic, so that I could play it with a friend for an hour or two, and
it would tell a section of the story. Then, the next time we played, we could continue the story and play another episode. It'd
work something like an interactive TV show...
I know that there have been some episodic games (Shenmue) but nothing that allows some more interaction with people...even
if the Internet allows that, it doesn't fulfill any real social aspects.
--The Steve
|
Having friends over a lot dramatically increases the likelihood that you'll ever finish up the RPG you're playing through, which is
something that really started to bug me this past year since you're almost always surrounded by people while in college. We
usually turned to Super Smash Bros or Perfect Dark, and my copy of Lunar 2 took a spot on the dusty shelf of games that
aren't going to get beat anytime soon.
I really like your idea of having an RPG told through a series of episodes. An hour or so is usually a good amount of time to get
a story told and it would be easy to pick up where you left off the next time you got together with your friend. Episodes could
be sold individually or in one package that could have some sort of intermission scene between sections.
The one thing I like about online play is that it allows you to play games with friends that'd you'd never get the chance to play
with otherwise. I got to play a few locations in PSO this afternoon with some members of the message board, and I had a blast
doing it (despite the fact that I was either dead or lost a lot of the time).
| Dude, we totally kicked his ass |
| Alex,
Without a doubt, if more games could do to me what Gunstar Heroes did (sigh...the good old days), I would never stop
playing. I can remember playing with my brother and finishing the game long after he had died out. He would sit there,
frustratedly tapping his feet and tell me to die so he could play or try to steal the controller from me.....he was a real jerk
when it came to games.
Any way, co-op play makes a game easier to love. You can remember when you and a pal "totally shit on" the last
boss, and debate who played better after thoroughly comparing scores, number of lives used, etc.
The closest thing I've seen to reliving those memories has been the PSX's Metal Slug X which recently came out. BUY
IT!!!!!
Lamenting the loss of another great genre,
Zidane4Eva
|
Fighting with siblings was always the main reason that I never wanted to play games with them. After a few sessions of Super
Mario World with one of my sisters, I gave up playing with her entirely because she would always steal lives from me whenever
I left the room for a moment. When I'd suddenly get the Game Over screen I'd just reset the game and wipe out everything
we had done, which always seemed fair to me since she rarely gave me lives back.
Like many people, I used to love the Double Dragon series, which I played with a friend of mine all the time. There was
always some contest going on when we played, like who could smack a guy in the head with a lead pipe the fastest and so on.
| Start your engines |
| Howdy Double Agent man,
I wish I knew what got into developers heads to make them think that nobody wants multiplayer modes anymore, except for in
sports games. Hell, even racing games multiplayability has gone down over the years. I remember back in the SNES days
playing Top Gear with my brother, going through the entire game together, SIMULTANEOUSLY. Not taking turns on the
tougher tracks, not playing some lame 'V.S.' mode, playing the actual game together. I sure hope this sort of thing makes a
return. Maybe once the modem for PS2 hits, we'll be able to do this once again. But I personally suspect that there'll just be
a 'Race 20 different people from around the world!' option, and no questing through the whole game together. 5|_|x0rZ. I can't
really comment on the online RPG thing just yet, 'cause much like yourself, I can't get the damn DC up and running, and I fear
what would happen if I tried to do so on the weak-ass family PC.
Dangrel5378
|
The problem I see with having a racing game co-op mode these days is that people would probably get left in the dust a good
bit. For example, I'm not very good at the Gran Turismo series. The realistic physics and handling which are so popular these
days can be difficult to adjust to when you're used to the freedom of arcade racing. On the other hand, a lot of people love the
series, so who am I to rain on their parade? Doing things like customizing your cars together could be really fun, and having a
little rivalry with a real person as you go through the various races would make things a lot more interesting.
| History repeats itself |
| Which was more satisfying:
How about I be a smartass again and say I'd like to see cooperative modes in sex simulations? Eventually we can stop doing
things altogether and just play video games about them!
Also, a war video game where you are legally obligated to die if you lose, like in that Star Trek episode, would be cool.
-AJ
|
I seem to recall some sort of sex simulation device in the movie The Demolition Man. I'm kinda hoping that's something that
isn't in our future, because it's just too bizarre.
I would never play a game that required me to actually die if I lost, simply because you'd be totally screwed if the game glitches
on you for some odd reason.
| Link vs Cyan: Part 2 |
| Hey Alex,
I'd like to see a final fantasy-esque RPG with a co-op, somethign along the lines of what they did with FFVI but with more
strategy. FFT would be an awesome multiplayer also.
Also, no way in hell Link would beat Cyan. One swipe from Sky Render would destroy Ganon, Link, Zelda, Epona, and half
of Hyrule castle, while the 3rd forged Master's Sword (the gold one from the SNES game) took several swipes to take out
your average spear weilding pig or bomb throwing ogre.
And besides, you don't need to charge for Dispatch which rocks, and retort takes all of 3 or 4 second, so Link would mount,
charge Cyan, and Mr. Thou would lay the hardcore smack downa dn shatter the triforce and all the worlds it has created or
been used in at all.
And besides, even without maic of Sword Skill, there is always the good old always reliable genji glove and offering with two
sky renders, or a sky render and an asura.
Play FFVI (3US duh). Learn it. Love it. Then ask why the heck didn't locke teach Zidane to steal a little more efficiently.
Efrate, wondering who would win between the cast of FFT, Grandia II, and both Lunars against Terra or Cecil. Or Golbez
talking on all mentioned. Wait nevermind. Those last 2 are already decided.
|
A multiplayer version of Final Fantasy Tactics (or any other strategy game, for that matter) would be a lot of fun. I'd imagine
that each player would get a small group of people to command and then you'd have to plan out the attack strategy. Of course,
this could turn a little ugly if you refuse to send reinforcement troops to your friend or break off from the attack plan, but it'd still
be interesting to try.
As for the Link/Cyan debate, I don't really know what to say. Maybe I'll have something if I ever get around to finishing FFVI.
| Persona: Devil summoning mothers love it! |
| This quote can be found on the Atlus USA web page (www.atlus.com):
"Will you be releasing Persona 2: Innocent Sin anytime soon?"
-Everyone and their mothers
While I seriously doubt the part about the mothers (or not...who knows? Maybe there are rabid Devil Summoning mothers out
there...) this quote hints at the slight possibility of P2:IS being released here. Having played this game completely in japanese
with little to no knowledge of what was happening in the game, I can say that even this limited experience has shown me this
game is by FAR the best of the series, especially after reading one of the many great FAQs and story summaries made by the
members of the Megami Tensei community. Take the highly original story of Persona, which is one of the few games where the
story has actually motivated me to play the game as opposed to some "new" battle system or other such inane nonesense
(regardless of that Persona had a great battle/enemy interaction system) and meld it with the newer, crisper graphics and
general interface of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, a great game in its own right but unfortunately the worst of the series in my
opinion, and you get this incredible game that is better than either of its counterparts. I sincerely urge anyone with a love of the
Megami Tensei series to write Atlus and plead with them/bribe them/commit themselves to indefinite slavery so that they will
release this game. No, it probably won't sell well. Yes, some critics will find it too "japanese" for their tastes, or possibly too
HARD, a ridiculous charge in its own right even though P2:IS is probably the easiest game in the series. The best thing a release
can bring about is the possible release of Shin Megami Tensei III for the PS2, or, well, ANY other MegaTen game...and, well,
giving non-japanese speakers a chance to enjoy this game. Lots of gambles, yes, but that's all we get with this company. And if
you are saying something to the vein of "what the hell is Persona?", I also urge you to at least give one of the games a rental and
take it for a test spin.
There, a random letter with countless plugs. Hope this qualifies. No, I don't work for this company, and if I did I would set fire
to their top executives.
-Mastyr, hopeful and....burning....with anxiety
|
Not much to say, other than fans of the Persona series should definitely consider writing Atlus about this. Though chances may
be somewhat slim that Innocent Sin will evere make it here, greater fan demand could help convince Atlus to finally bring it
over.
| The little pink demon |
| Jigglypuff (Jig-eh-lee puff): The ballon pokemon. Now, you may be asking why i'm writing in on the ballon pokemon. Its very
very simple:
Jigglypuff is the devil.
Now hear me out. Now i'm not a 46 year old lazy ass parent with too much free time on my hands. No, i'm just your regular
18year old Pizza-hut delivery boy in the worlds most god-awful town. But that doesn't meant I can't see satan in his bloated
pink demonic form. Jigglypuff has the voice of an angle you say.No, he has the voice of satan. he coerce's young people into
spending their parents money in a drunken unholy stupor. He is the reason for the wave of Pink puffy children rolling down our
streets. HE is the reason that we have to many damn Burger King commercials. HE IS THE REASON for teenage voilence,
pregnancy, and stupidty! Elminate a jigglypuff, and you will contirbute to the betterness of man!!
-XZellDx-
|
I agree with the fact that Jigglypuff is aiding in the increased percentage of overweight children in today's society. The time
children spend watching everyone's favorite singing balloon each afternoon is time they could spend running around in the
street. Not only does proper exercise reduce the number of fat children, but so do drivers that aren't paying attention to the
road.
Oh, and if I were you, I would stay as far away from Nadia as possible.
Closing Comments:
Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so your topic is the following: what are the game related moments you've shared with your mother
that you won't forget? I want to hear about everything, from the day she grounded you for bringing home a bad report card
because you spent too much time playing "that darn fantasy game" to the times she's tried to be interested in what you were
saying about your favorite new game, despite the fact everything you were saying was going right over her head.
Alex Annis, thankful to be indoors
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