AndrewTS

OMG XENOSAGA EPISODE 3 IS COMING TO THE U.S. 8/29/06!!! http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=B281602A Take a look at these amazing features! "* Over 8 Hours of Movies Including Voiced Cut Scenes - Pre-rendered cut scenes and real-time cut scenes with dramatically enhanced models, as well as in-game voiced cut scenes with anime-style 2D portraits unveil an epic story. * The Exciting Conclusion to an Epic Trilogy - Building on the deeply philosophical and existential storyline of the first two titles, the concluding chapter in the series brings closure to the remaining mysteries in the highly acclaimed story. * Updated Battle System - Battles are intuitive and fun, combining the best aspects of the first two games' battles, while introducing the new Break system. * Customize Your Characters - A branching skill set promotes character specialization and diversification. Strategic party management is more highly rewarded, adding another level of depth to game strategy. * Money/Shops Are Back!- Buy, barter, and sell any items or equipment, allowing you to upgrade your characters and E.S.s frequently. * An In-Game Database is Your Veritable "Xeno Bible"- An easily accessible database of every detail: important events, people, items, keywords, locations, weapons, back-story, phenomenon, townspeople, associations and companies. * Challenge Yourself and Friends with new Mini-games - With 60 pre-made levels to complete, the Xenosaga puzzle mini-games add a new type of challenge for the player, and rewards his performance. The mini-game map editor also lets players create, play and share their own custom maps with friends." The marketing people really did their homework. Don't you want the game RIGHT NOW?!??!?!

This is the part that killed me.

Who made it? Just a Sega in-house thing? There seemed to be a lot of Genesis games that seemed to really hide the developers. Typically, it seems if you weren't Sonic Team, you might not even get a credit in the manual or on the box.

A friend claims it was actually not originally supposed to be a SH game...they kind of decided to make it loosely a SH game later on. I've finished Silent hill 1 with the best ending and will be starting on SH2 probably later on this month. Reading some of the plot and symbolism guides...geez, the kind of detail and references that went into these games are utterly insane. However, when you read some of this stuff after a lot of the in-game events go over you're head, you're like "ooooooooh, now I get it!"

BTW, for anyone who decides to pick this game up soon, DO NOT OPEN ANY CHESTS AS ROXAS! If you're trying to get the best ending, you'll screw yourself over because Jiminy won't record it. I don't think you can get the ending on Easy. Proud mode I don't think requires 100% completion, just locking all the worlds. At least FAQs say so...

Cyborg Justice had some amazing character graphics and animation. Shame the levels were so frustrating (yay, missile attacks from off the screen that are near-impossible to dodge!).

PS3 will play PS1 games, but if you want to use existing PS2/PS1 game data, you must buy an accessory (price unknown) that will let you load the data onto a "virtual memory card" in the HD, because normally you can't plug a PS1/PS2 card physically into the PS3. If you want to pass, you don't need to own the memory cards to store the data, since it will make new virtual memory cards on the HDs from scratch. The 360 BC is steadily improving, and in many cases the game graphics are enhanced on 360. However, does anyone really want to play Chicago Enforcer in any form or fashion?

In KH1, does Seph get harder if you beat Riku first? I've heard beating Riku in the Grand Hall ups the difficulty for the rest of the game--but I never even took on Seph in KH1. Also, in KH1 I'm like level 50, if that makes a diff.

Same here. The current solution of sorts is to sell off the games. Games, that is. I have an NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, PS2, GC, DC, DS, GBA SP, and NGPC, so some of them have just had their libraries pared down to the gems (my Genesis library is very lean, with only the best in it). Now, eventually the GC will be replaced with a Wii and the PS2 with a PS3. It shouldn't be a hard decision for you if you only have the current 3. Get a Wii, get rid of the Cube. Replace your PS2 with a PS3 when it becomes financially feasible. As for the X-Box...well, that's a case-by-case. By and large the "backwards compatible" games are fucking atrocious pieces of garbage that no one with any good taste would waste 2 minutes with. Some of them are good, though. You should surely know which games in your library you're going to want to play again, and which you'll never touch again. I finished God of War just so I'd have no regrets, no nagging need to go back and play it later. I got it the hell out of the house and I'm never touching that game again. OTOH, Ther'es a number of games I'm not going to trade in/sell because I love them too damn much. Although with well-done, fully-functional, legally-sanctioned emulation becoming more commonplace (hello Virtual console) it's going to be less necessary to keep physical carts and systems around. However, it's still going to take a lot to convince me to get rid of the SNES.

Dark Enforcer should run in. He probably has "the look."

People who played Chain of Memories didn't have much patience with that game, either. I barely played any of CoM before deciding it wasn't my cup of tea. So if they do a DS game, hopefully it isn't card-based again. Oh, and the soundtrack to this game is fantastic.

Okay, after being scared to get it after hearing about some disappointing reviews, putting it off repeatedly, and finally getting it...yeah, it's very good, even though it's "old." Still, I can't help that it settles for "very good" when it could be so much more. I liked the puzzle-solving in Hollow Bastion in KH1, and hoped we'd see more. Here, it's pretty much back to hack-n'-slashing. I actually was surprised that I was able to put up with the Roxas thing with ease. I guess if you were playing it straight through, dying to play Sora...yeah, it would be annoying. But if you're playing a little bit here and there, getting little bites of the setup...it doesn't seem so bad. Anya still doesn't have the game. =O I'm digging the reaction commands, the team-up attacks, and the insane lengths you can extend your combos to.

No problemo. I know that they had a 120v model on sale there, but for some reason I can't even find a listing saying they're sold out. However, like the one it appears you had, it doesn't take regular NES controllers. Generation NEXT does on the other hand, but's twice as much and also is less than perfect compatibility. And no offense intended Neal--I'd just seen you bringing up burning up copies of games in other threads and thought your response was a smart-alecky response rather than a genuine question. However, I can't really vouch for the durability of any of the Famiclones I know of.

It seemed to be "it has one interesting, albeit non-exclusive game. Why would anyone care?" to me. As I said, look at some release charts. Browse here by genre. There's more official, confirmed Wii titles coming out in the first 6 months that I care about than in the 360's past, present, and near future. It's well worth the money, IMO. I know in about 2-3 years PS3 will have a killer lineup. It doesn't now. The "concrete, announced titles" for the PS3 launch window aren't very interesting. For $500-$600 PS3 is going to have to offer something extremely compelling for me to consider it a "gotta have." Why the hell would I buy it now when the games I care about haven't even begun hard programming and will take 10-12 mo. to hit the market? I don't want a Bluray player that *may* have an exclusive on Assassin's Creed in June 07-ish, but is otherwise worthless to me. However, we're agreed that PS3 has next to nothing to offer now but a BluRay player and some iffy launch games. It's difficult to argue for a launch PS3 unless you're investing in ebay scalping of idiot parents, especially with Sony's track record (not that they're alone; ask Anya about 360 #3. Sony had best realize a 90 day warranty is unacceptable for PS3. PS2's lineup for late 2006/early 2007 appeals to me more than PS3's. Which would be valid if it didn't have a traditional control scheme (it does), and if the Wii's lineup doesn't/won't include traditional games (which it will, just like DS).

This may be a foreign concept to a software pirate like you, but just like there are people who actually buy current-gen games and play the original discs on their systems, there are people who actually still own 8/16-bit cart games and like to play them on a game system rather than on a pc. Plus, the benefit to most of the knockoffs are that they're top loading, while the slot-loading original NES' design made it hard to properly seat cartridges eventually. Anyway--the one I got was this one: http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=...roducts_id=8542 However, that comes with a 220v (European) cable, not the 120v (US). However, if you have a spare NES plug you can just use that instead. It worked very well for most games, but sadly--like all "NES on a chip" famiclones, it doesn't play Castlevania 3. So when I got my NES repaired and working I gave it away to a friend. So far it's holding up well from what I hear. From that picture it doesn't even appear that the system you have has much room to even hold the cart securely (of course I'm aware that's just a sale page pic, not the actual one you have).

)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE( @ Aug 13 2006, 11:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Is FFXIII PS3 exclusive? That's a tricky question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII Along with Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII for the mobile phone and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, an action game for the PlayStation 3 made by the Kingdom Hearts team, make up three facets of the overall project known as Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy XIII. According to Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIII is neither a prequel or a sequel to Final Fantasy Agito XIII or Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Square Enix has explained that although all three games take place in the same universe, they are not directly related. [4] Square also announced that there will be still other titles in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, though they have not indicated how many. A diagram was shown with three empty circles around the Fabula Nova Crystallis logo, so it is possible there will be another three titles in the series. So yes and no. Ultimately, the game most people consider the real XIII is currently only scheduled for PS3.

If you're seriously asking that question, you're too lazy to even look at a list of announced titles. By the way, the 3 titles that have totally sold you on PS3 aren't even coming out this year. MGS4 Q1 07 if you're lucky. FFXIII is probably '08.

Not that particular one, no.

I don't consider RPGs that are well-paced and thoroughly playable the entire way through to be "training wheels." I'm really surprised IY likes Chrono Trigger...

The 360 is, in my eyes, an unmitigated disaster. Out for a damn year and there's 2...maybe 3 games worth a damn on it that aren't suck/gussied up ports? And one of those games worth a damn just came out this week. Unacceptable. Then again, 360 has the market cornered on bloated muscle-headed guys with guns killing people in ultraviolent FPSs, so if that gets your rocks off I suppose you'll love it. The BC is a joke and I don't have the right TV to make its games look sensationally next gen anyway. I've always been one for the more odd, distinctly Japanese games....which right now Nintendo has gravitated more so towards than the other folks. Not saying I'll only get a Wii, but only the Wii looks like something I'd want to play at launch. The PS3's lineup is loaded with big-name franchises of games I hated, or don't want to play. MGS4 can rot in hell. Killzone sucks. Warhawk? Pft. Genji was mediocre and even at 10 bucks pawn shops have problems getting rid of it. Sony will have the backing of Capcom, Konami, Namco, and more--so whenever the price of the PS3 drops to significantly less than Arm, Leg, and a few Organs USD I'll likely pick one up. However, over the entire lineup nothing appeals to me but Assassin's Creed, an "exclusive" until Ubi decides to release the 360 one they were working on forever. So if it comes to 5+ launch games for the Wii, with anywhere from another 8-12 between then and the first quarter of 07....vs. maybe one or two on PS3/360 each, that's a complete no brainer. Maybe I'm just not e.

Fair enough, you proud 360 owner. By this point I don't even think about what the companies say. I put on my automatic BS filters and assume that most of their promises are BS. I do want a new Nintendo console, but I know the gameplay styles are going to see more change in them than the actual IPs. Almost all of Sony's 1st party stuff are sequels. However, Nintendo's 1st party stuff are almost all going to play differently. So if you want to boil it down to "just a different controller," so be it. Nobody here has. But the potential here is amazing, and we already have seen demonstrations on how Zelda, Prime 3, etc are going to play. We've seen Smooth Moves and Wii Sports being played and are definitely interested. We know a lot of stuff is going to be gussied up with Mario, though. Brand innovation often is different than gameplay innovation, though. SMB, SMB2, SMB3, Super Mario 64, Mario Party, Paper Mario, Smash Bros--all innovative gameplaywise (some even revolutionary in their design), but have the same central character. If you think Nintendo is betraying their promises by having way more Mario/Samus/Zelda than they do unique new IPs, that's fair--but they never specified that. Of course you're not interested in them anyway. Wii Crystal Chronicles is just a blip on a release chart now. Nobody knows the gameplay for sure. However, the GC game was crippled by the necessity of multiple players, each with GBAs, to make it worthwhile. CC is just a bone tossed to Nintendo by Squeenix, who are saving the "real" FFs for Sony, while using the opportunity to churn out ports of the old FF games. Ironically, the most interesting Squeenix games I'm seeing coming are all on DS--Mario Hoops and the Zelda-riffic Dragon Quest Monsters: Rocket Slime. Some of you might care about the severely-overhauled Final Fantasy IIIj, too. It's not "Dragon Quest" Dragon Quest. It's a Dragon Quest IP. It's not DQIX--that's all but a lock for PS3. Now, that could be a good thing (give me Rocket Slime any day over the archaic, stodgy DQVIII), but don't pretend it is a "real" Dragon Quest if that's what you want. I don't know the gameplay on that one, either.

Excite Truck, Wii Sports, and Red Steel (assuming they're all good) have that covered, nevermind the interesting titles that happen to be sequels of something. How's WARHAWK 2, GENJI 2, and KILLZONE 2 looking, btw? The DS had a horrible launch lineup. Everyone expects Nintendo to trot out their franchises, just with new gameplay. The innovative, quirky titles are best left until it's established.

http://www.nwizard.com/web/index.php?optio...45&Itemid=2 Wii launch title lineup: Avatar: The Last Airbender - THQ Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII - Ubisoft Blitz: The League - Midway Call of Duty 3 - tivision Cars - THQ Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - Atari Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors -Square Enix Elebits - Konami Excite Truck - Nintendo Far Cry - Ubisoft GT Pro Series - Ubisoft Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers - Square Enix The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo Madden NFL 07 - EA Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Activision Metal Slug Anthology - SNK Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Nintendo Monster 4x4 World Circuit - Ubisoft Need for Speed: Carbon - EA Open Season - Ubisoft Rayman Raving Rabbids - Ubisoft Red Steel - Ubisoft SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab - THQ Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - Sega Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - Activision Trauma Center: Second Opinion - Atlus Wii Sports - Nintendo Metal Slug, Metroid, Zelda, Rayman, maybe one of those SquEnix titles will be good. Ouch in the wallet bigtime.... Per usual, no Smash Bros just yet, though. Although it looks like Wii is going to also get a lot of rushed 3P port jobs.

Mario 64. Wing Cap. Nuff said. Oh--and I'm definitely going to get this if I can't get the cream of the crop on Virtual Console: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152778

Sega Genesis Collection for PS2 and PSP: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152778 That's a pretty damn good collection,although since the Smash Pack 2 only came to PC--where the friggin' hell is Kid Chameleon? That trounces Decap Attack. The entire Golden Axe Genesis series? Phantasy Star 4 (worth the price by itself)? Shinobi 3? Hell yes. I have no idea why Virtua Fighter 2 is on the collection, though.