Saturday, March 31, 2007

I Complain Because I Care...

Collection of things that could be done to improve what I love:

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Absolutely love the game, but there's some stuff they could do.

Would have liked to see more done with Link's wolf form: Once you get the Master Sword, the wolf's only really good for a handful of things: Talking with animals (not all that useful), getting the sword techniques (occasionally handy, but short-lived), tracking scents (required, but short-lived), and attacking ghosts (good, but not quite common enough).

More use out of some items: I thought the Spinner was nifty-keen, but once you left the dungeon where you picked it up, it was pretty much useless. The same is true of the Dominion Rod.

Two words: Higher difficulty.

Armored Core 4 (Still working my way through the 1-player missions, so some might be me not used to it, yet.)

Loving it so far. I spend unhealthy amounts of time tweaking every tiny aspect of my ACs, er, Nexts, which is why I'm so slow with the missions. Game's not without its share of problems, though.

Whatever happened to the head stat of "Night Vision: Provided"? Night missions are annoying, especially since, for some reason, my targeting sights are dimmed. Hope they show up better after I get my HDMI cable from the mail and get to play in higher resolution.

Radar annoyances: Got one mission where I have to defend a ship from submarines that launch missiles that I can shoot down. Whenever I'm near the ship, it changes my radar to the zoomed-in view, preventing me from seeing the incoming missile swarms.

Default controller setups: Make sure you switch to a custom setup so that you can take lock-on out from under the left analog. Holding down the lock-on button turns off your locks and switches to manual aiming. Since in most setups, the left analog is the thing I twiddle desperately in order to not die, I sometimes accidentally hold down the L3 button during struggles. It's not fun to lose your ability to effectively retaliate when you're staring down the barrel of a bazooka. But I think I've gotten everything cleaned up.

Why did they have to trim down all the non-humanoid legs to two each? I'd like some choice for my reverse joints (thankfully, the good pair is appropriately lightweight). I imagine the Quad Squad at Armored Core Online is also annoyed.

Hopefully, downloadable content and regulation files can counteract some of those problems.

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And now, just to make it clear, since I've done that complaining: I love those games and recommend them. Might want to make one note about Armored Core, though: It's got a steeper learning curve than most games, but thankfully the removal of the lock box has made combat easier... Don't expect to be able to jump right into online play, though: I suspect I'll get my tail-like rear stabilizer handed to me a few times.

7 comments:

Don said...

Two words: Higher difficulty.

I wasn't frustrated by the difficulty so much as the length, or lack thereof. Every review I read went on and on about what a long game it was, "At least 70 hours if you don't bother with the sidequests." Well, I beat the game in about 35. Maybe I'm just a better Zelda player than all those douchebags at IGN and Gamespot, but I doubt I'm that much better.

I suppose a greater difficulty would have resulted in a longer play time, though, so maybe you're onto something.

Anonymous said...

The spinner was a lot of fun, and should have been used much more often post-dungeon.

I am really, really, really glad, though, that Twilight Princess had more than 4 dungeons and a land-based world map.

Wind Waker = teh pretty, but oceans are boring.

Anonymous said...

Also, there should be another Zelda game for the Wii as soon as possible. No more 'one system, one Zelda' crap.

Although you could probably push it back a bit as long as you get Metroid and Smash Brothers out in a timely manner instead.

Bronze Dog said...

Got all of that right, Stogoe.

Wind Waker definitely gets big, big points for style and presentation, though I would have really loved additional depth. I liked the idea behind the ocean area, but they should have done more, like include some underwater areas to explore.

One thing I like is the replay in Link's original civilian clothing: It really gives me the deeper impression that Link's just some kid who got caught up in all the craziness, rather than some stoic destined hero.

Ryan Michael said...

Wind Waker sucked. It sucked hard. Five levels then Ganon does not cut it, especially when you have to repeat one. The items were lame compared to even the first Zelda.

Not to mention the stupidest thing in the game: sailing for 5 hours. I used to set the wind and go take a dump while the boat sailed from square to square. The story is lame and cliched even for a Zelda game. I hate this game with a passion it was such a disappointment.

Rockstar's all-time biggest disappointments in gaming:

1. Wind Waker
2. Rouge Squadron III
3. Devil May Cry II

Don said...

I won't go so far as to say that Wind Waker sucked, but it definitely wasn't great. Especially the "collect the triforce pieces" segment. What a cludge that was. It was just make-work to extend the length of the game without creating new content.

Save up tons of money! Buy map piece from annoying Tingle! Get Triforce piece! Rinse and repeat!

I got one piece and then quit playing.

Unknown said...

My half-brother said he finished Twilight Princess in 3 days; he thought it and Wind Waker were about as good (he has played most of the Zelda games). I have only played Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks (both were very good, Spirit Tracks easier) since I don't have a Wii.