They were all being played on the Wii. If I remember correctly, OoT was was the Gamecube version, and MM was VC. That was my assumption, based on the 'ROM' comment.
Aside from being boring to watch, it would be incredibly tedious to keep motion to sub-running speed.
The only reason the SMB walk movie was interesting was because it proved that you could beat the game without ever touching button B. It also made for a nice April Fool's gag.
To be perfectly honest, I was surprised that super mario bros was even nominated for best nes TAS... the fact that it got the most votes just baffles me.
It chopped a significant amount of time off of a run that was believed to be 'perfect'. Huge accomplishment and wtf factor that came out of nowhere. The run itself wasn't spectacular, but it meant a lot if you were familiar with the history of attempts at creating the perfect SMB TAS. Other runs could best it with style or entertainment, but nothing on NES was such an incredible surprise.
It's not as though I've been watching constantly. This is the first I've checked since I posted the topic.
However, you do have a point, and it was well-made.
Yes, those were my thoughts exactly. Watch the runs on these two sites combined, have the event over and done with before sunrise.
I'm especially amused that they claim to have prepped themselves for this by watching speed runs, but it really doesn't show in their technique...
These guys are attempting to play through OoT, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess in the span of 48 hours. Though considering after 7 hours they've only just picked up the mirror shield in OoT, they have their work cut out for them. I'm amused, nonetheless.
And no, I will not be taking a shoe picture.
No, the region restrictions are still a cog in the works. But, you could always just pick up a set of Swap Magic disks for PS2. Cheaper than a hardware mod, at least.
While they were only released in Japan, they feature English voice dialogue, with a choice between Japanese and English subtitles. Wouldn't make much sense to call it 'International' if it only catered to a Japanese audience, right?
I always felt VII was a step backwards from VI. I really liked the Materia system, and it had catchy music, and Midgar has brilliant atmosphere, but otherwise, I still think it's overrated. Square definitely managed a brilliant marketing campaign, though. Without those commercials, your average gamer would still look at you funny if you mentioned Final Fantasy in conversation.
... I'll admit, however, that I've played through it more times than any other game in the series. Mainly because I got into an argument over whether or not you could beat the game in 24 hours, and I produced a North Crater save with 22:53 on the clock. After that, I kept working at it to see how low I could go, but I definitely fell short of the world record, with a pitiful 18 hour time as my best run. I just didn't have it in me to save and reload constantly for the sake of luck manipulation. Maybe if I had savestates...
Part of me has wanted to pick up XI for the sake of completeness, but I know I would only play it for a day before shelving it permanently. Horrible music, for one. And how can a game that unimpressive with the visuals still choke up the hardware constantly? If connection lag is the culprit, then they sorely need restructuring and flogging.
Oh, and there's also the matter of that you have to play with people on the internet, who are invariably insufferable deranged assholes incapable of comprehending or utilizing intelligent speech. That, by far, is its biggest shortcoming.
Murdering language is still murder. We have untold millions of serial killers running rampant on MMOs, and they're a big part of why I can't tolerate the genre.
</elitistbitch>
You can get another one. While they're not as prevalent as they used to be, you can still find HTTP download ROM sites with a little Google search. If not, you could always try IRC.
0 stars.
Super Metroid was a wonderful and innovative run, S3&K was mind-blowing, and SMB was an epic and monumental accomplishment that came out of nowhere, but the 0 star run was so sought after and hoped for that its moment of accomplishment was legendary. It may not be a blowout, but that's my pick.
For some reason, FFXII did not appeal to me much. It's hard to put my finger on it, but I kinda felt that it didn't happen very much with the game's story. It was more like "go to this gigantic field, explore it, kill all the monsters and take all the treasures, reach the end of the field, see a movie sequence, go to another huge area, etc." I didn't really like the characters in this game either... they felt so... dull.
The game wasn't terrible or anything, it was an okay game, it's just that I found it (I know you're gonna throw rocks on me for this, but), in a way, linear. For both good and bad, there were a lot of sidequests, but I don't think that a huge selection of sidequests at the later parts of the game makes it non-linear.
Does anyone agree/disagree with me on this?
All Final Fantasies are equally linear. Actually, considering you can sink hundreds of hours into the sidequests, I could be so bold as to say that XII is less linear than other Final Fantasies, seeing as sidequests are the only diversions from the set-in-stone path in every single installment, and XII has them in greater abundance and are more time-consuming than its predecessors.
Also, I loved Balthier and Fran. Kick Vaan out of the party and give princess hotpants more personality and you'd have a winner of a cast, I think.
As an aside, it would be really cool if they could get Nomura to stop rehashing the brunette in hotpants main girl ad nauseum. And maybe pry him away from zippers and belts. I swear, if he ever puts a zipper on a belt, I'm going to personally shoot him.
RPG's stopped being good when they became 3-D. This is coincidental, not consequential.
That applies more to platformers, imo. I don't think RPGs have gotten any worse with time, but I'll take a sidescroller over a 3D platformer any day of the week.
Also, another RPG series to look out for: Lunar. I need to finish those things, myself... Dig up the Sega CD ISOs, if you can. The English translation is moderately campy, and has unnecessary pop culture references, but that's part of their charm, really. Much like how it would be a crime against man and God to remove YOU SPOONY BARD from FFIV.
mmbossman: You're welcome. :)
X is also on the easy side, though I admit I'm forging this opinion in very skewed context. On my first playthrough, I had logged over 200 hours before I ever got to the final boss. I had decided to do every sidequest, get every ultimate weapon, rebuild the sphere grid, etc etc... so by the time I finally decided to stop messing around, I went into the final dungeon prepared for a gruesome fight to the death, only to find that each of the final bosses died with one hit. Yes, one hit. Pretty sure none of my party so much as took a hit from anything in the final dungeon.
I really try to like IX, because it has wonderful atmosphere, a lovely soundtrack, and gameplay that isn't as irritating as VIII's. At the end of the day, though, Vivi was pretty much the only character I actually liked, not counting <spoiler>, who was only in your party for about three minutes, anyway.
I do, however, like XII. It annoyed me at first, but only at first. Just wish the actual game was longer, without having to rely on diversions for filler.
IV, V, and VI all saw new dungeons and uber-bosses and items and so forth. I rather liked the remakes of IV and V, but VI just felt off to me. In the case of VI, I'd rather play through a retranslated ROM (or even suffer through the load times of Final Fantasy Anthology) than play VI on GBA.
Edit:
Oh, and I and II for GBA is also pathetically easy. If you want to play the remake as opposed to the original, I'd suggest Origins, instead.
In my opinion, which I doubt any of you share:
1. VI
2. VIII (yeah, I said it)
3. IV
VIII is my favorite of the optical media Final Fantasies. I admit that I didn't care much for it at first (oh, how I hate you, bloody draw system), but a second playthrough made me appreciate it much more. It's also the only Final Fantasy since VI that had more than two characters in it I genuinely liked.
Squall's anti-social behavior is also slightly more amusing than Cloud's.
<Zell> HELP HELP I'M ON FIRE OMG THE HURT AND PAIN
<Squall> ... Shut up.
As for non-Squeenix RPGs, Skies of Arcadia gets my eternal first-rate vote.
Edit:
Oh, and as for strategy RPGs, I can't go without mentioning Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea (surprise, surprise).
Hey now, why ya gotta hate on SotN? Just because it'll never be as awesome as Chi no Rondo is no reason to drag it through the mud. Besides, glitches are fun.
Also, I really should finish that blasted Saturn version as Maria someday.
