Posts for theenglishman


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Okay, so it turns out I was having some issues updating plugins - but now when I try to record the game locks up on the first cutscene. I press the frame advance button ONCE and the movie just keeps running in infinitum.
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Wait...TAS Sound Plugin? I thought there was only P.E.Op.s, which is what I've been using.
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It turns out that the pxm I made to test MGS synchronization didn't count ingame cutscenes but at least I know that gameplay alone is not what's making this sync. I made a test VR mission session with the European version, and when I have the time I'll make another VR timeattack mode pxm on the American version to see if that syncs too. Any progress with MGS1 syncing mz?
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I've recorded a few snapshot pxm's of Metal Gear Solid that managed to sync. As a result, I think the reason for desyncing is either the codecs or the lengthier skippable ingame cutscenes.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
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Bug report: "Start playback" still crashes without a commandline or batch file. And Metal Gear Solid STILL doesn't sync properly >:(
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
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I'm not getting Metal Gear Solid to sync at all during the game proper, on either version. The VR missions work just fine though, so I assume this means more debugging will have to be done with the cutscenes. Please, mz, try to fix it *begs*
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
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I keep getting desyncs right when gameplay starts while trying to run Metal Gear Solid (European version if that helps). I'm using the standard BIOS on the newest version of PCSX.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
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I just watched this again for the first time in a while, and it is absolutely ridiculous! Congrats ziggy on the first-ever PSX submission. 9.5/9.8 here.
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OOT was mindblowing. Mischief Makers was great too, but I think Ocarina of Time just has the edge for having such a brilliant route. The entertainment sections were a hoot too.
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ShinyDoofy wrote:
"Best" as in "good, but still rejected :(" or "so very bad, it deserved to be nothing but rejected"?
Maybe both. Guess it's up to alden *nudge nudge*
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For GBx, I absolutely agree with Spiderman 3. I just watched it again for the first time in a while, and I was absolutely blown away...again. This is one of the best marriages of a dedicated and experienced TASer and a game waiting to be TAS'd I've ever seen. It's a sharp reminder for myself to strike down any ego I may have surrounding PoP ;) Also I nominate alden to do some sort of "best gruefood of 2008" thing which may or may not involve colouring dinosaurs :D
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I nominate Sami's Banjo-Kazooie run. Unlike our other nominees, Sami has been blue-balling us with tantilizing WIPs coupled with mysterious sabbatical periods. I actually think he has all this planned out. It's all in the numbers, man ;)
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Post subject: Why have I forced myself to choose :(
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I would have to say it's a tough decision between Comicalflop and Bloobiebla. On the one hand, Bloobiebla has matured more as a TASer, starting from the rupee route to the awesomeness that is the OOT all-dungeons run. On the other hand I think Comicalflop and a much smaller Mischief Makers team deserve it because they took a game with minimal TAS-worthy research and created something beautiful. I flipped a coin and it came up tails for Bloobiebla, but both guys are to be equally congratulated *applauds*
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
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Sorry kwinse, none as of late, but I hope to do some more soon. I actually have an RCA splitter now, which means I can do the LP with my full gameplay potential :D. Look for another update within - I'd say two weeks, enough time to get me back on campus and working again. The holidays, ironically, have given me LESS free time than the rest of the year.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
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Have an enjoyable winter solstice! Have fun while I eat Chinese food and go to the movies :P
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
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Xkeeper wrote:
Naturally the media is being retarded about this.
"A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding." - Marshall McLuhan The man was a genius for a reason. EDIT: This is apparently my 500th post, so...um...yay! I'll celebrate I guess :/
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If you're still interested in this run, I'd suggest doing N-Tranced instead of this game. It's much more fast-paced thanks to getting such a high-speed powerup (the Super Slide) so early. I would highly recommend doing that as a 100% run.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Post subject: TASvideos Forum/IRC Quote of the Year
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Well, since 2008 is coming around, I thought we'd have an award for Quote of the Year. It can be something said on #nesvideos or the forums. I don't think I should be the one to judge the winner (I will if I must) but I think everyone can nominate up to five quotes from other people. Obviously don't nominate yourself :P, but I think it's safe to post a quote from your own thread that someone else wrote, not pertaining to you. Here are my four nominations, in no particular order: ***andrewg_ goes to comicalflops place <Naohiro19> ... <Comicalflop> like this weekend? <andrewg_> heh, maybe <Comicalflop> you need to grab your SM64 cartridge <andrewg_> ugh, I have to work actually <Comicalflop> oh. <BagOfMagicFood> fluppsi, muppsi, and cuttuntail <andrewg_> It's funny how close we live from eachother now <Comicalflop: it's like it was meant to be. <Comicalflop> oh, andrew: picked up another mischief makers WR. you gotta jump on the bandwagon dude <andrewg_> you're really good at that <adiabatic> "Andrew and Floppy, sittin' in a tree..." <Comicalflop> T. A. S. S. ing <andrewg_> T A S S I N G <andrewg_> haha <Comicalflop> first comes test runs <Comicalflop> then comes memory addresses <Comicalflop> then comes optimization in a baby carriage ***naohiro19 left #nesvideos (quit: "This is a not bad!") "My sister once threw up after eating a whole bunch of spaghetti... this game kinda reminds me of that." - mmbossman, "Innovative game design!" "The New Testament." - Aqfaq, "Your most disappointing Not-Harry-Potter sequel"
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JC Denton is a heartless lying killer http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=NAIPx7117kA
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Chapter 3: The Legend of the Seven Stars (or: Frankly, My Dear, He Does Give a Damn!) Last time on Let's Play Paper Mario: The Over-9000-Year Door: That pretty much brings us up to speed. Let's continue! Star Points act as your XP in this game, and you gain a level for every 100 XP you gain. If you fight enemy types for the first time the XP is pretty generous, but once you start levelling up you'll usually only get 1 or 2 XP per enemy, and once you hit the double-digit levels you'll be lucky to get one XP off of five Goombas. Yeesh. I found that generally, once you enter an area and fight enemies for the first time there, XP is pretty good, but if you go back there and the enemies respawn, XP is much lower. This was probably meant to discourage grinding in the same place for too long. There is, however, one big exception to this. But we won't get there for many an update, so stay tuned. Also, the Pit of 100 Trials is NOT a good spot to grind, as each level will only give you 1 XP no matter what enemies you face (Bonetail being the exception). Crump does not take kindly to this insult. TOOT TOOT! I wouldn't be surprised if nobody got this. Wait....what's that rumbling sound? Oh... shit... Well at least that Mario 128 demo was good for something. Flawless victory...DISCIPLINE! "Clusterfuck" doesn't even begin to describe this. Fortunately the X-Naut batallion seems to have the combined IQ of Forrest Gump, so Mario casually sneaks around them. This has become far too silly! "A....a plumber sir? You just said punish 'him'...we couldn't see a 'him', sir. What's a 'him'?" Crump fails at reconaissance. I guess Goombella deserves a proper introduction now. She's a student at the University of Goom, as you see in the screencap above, and she's also quite the gossiper. She can help you gather intel on NPCs and fills you in on the backstory of any location in the world map. She can also use her Tattle ability to learn about enemy weaknesses and battle stats. This is very useful, as once you Tattle an enemy type their HP bar will always appear underneath them whenever you encounter them in battle. She also has a headbonk similar to Mario's jump attack, and you can upgrade her headbonk to hit one enemy multiple times. I like where this is going.... Uh...mouth or dick - you decide. Going in the middle is not an option. In the Mushroom Kingdom, we ask people's names BEFORE getting it on with them. Mario respon-- wait a minute, WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST DO??? Last time I checked Thousand-Year-Door was one of like two games that haven't been banned in Germany. I guess they chose to overlook this. Goombella points out the odd coincidence. "I got it for free in the mail. I only had to make ten weekly payments to keep it!" Toadsworth hoogly-boogles his old ass over to join our two heroes. Pussy. That's pretty much it. Also there's two Piantas beating up a guard in the background. There are all sorts of these little background touches hidden throughout the game that are great for a laugh. For some reason Piantas speak with archetypal Jamaican accents in this game. Better than that bullshit they were spewing in Sunshine anyway :/. Aren't you supposed to, I dunno, be taking care of her? Some fucking bodyguard you are. "And some kid from Camp named Billy took my other eye." SPOILER ALERT: They find her. Toadsworth promptly ditches any responsibility and decides to hide in an inn like the fucking coward he is. He then explains how the inn system works. Really it's nothing we haven't seen before in an RPG, except that the rates at inns vary from town to town. Sometimes you're just better off paying a minimal fee at a recharge centre outside some of the dungeons. Somewhere, a kitten just died. I hope you're proud of yourself, Toadsworthless. Toadsworth hears crickets and high-tails it out of there. Goombella mentions that her professor is studying the treasures as well. I'm missing the correlation there, but whatever. How does finding the treasure rescue Peach, unless collecting said treasure opens a mysterious door where Peach is being kept? You barely even know who Lord Crump works for! This plan is stupid. But don't go near him, 'cause he already wasted his insurance breaking both of his artificial hips last year. Anyway, after that little diatribe Goombella joins your party. I've already covered her basic abilities, and later on she (along with all your party members) can learn new moves from a kindly old wizard on the east side of town. Mario heads west in search of the professor. But he's blocked by some old lady crossing the street and yelling at people. Typical. Meet Zess T. Later in the game she can cook meals for us by combining various ingredients (read: edible items) to create new health and flower powerups. For now though, she's just an old hag who lost her contact lens. ____________ I'm so sorry guys, I was planning to do more but I have to study for my exams. I WILL eventually get around to finishing this episode, but I can't promise when.
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In case you didn't notice, I've added a shitload of content to my second post! Just look up.
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UPDATE 1: I shrunk most of the screenshots, fixed the grammar and added emoticons. Thanks so much for all the positive feedback guys! I'm going to split this next chapter into two parts, so be patient! Without further ado, I bring you... Chapter 2, Part 1: Thank You, But Our Princess is on Another Island When we last left our pulp-and-paper protagonists, Princess Pandora had punished the port of Rogue and procured a powerful treasure map. And all that before there's even a single frame of gameplay! Let's continue, shall we? We open with a few trees lovingly moving out of the way so we can see Mario's hou-- wait a minute, where have I seen this before? Oh yeah... A flunked-out-of-college Koopa Troopa unabashedly announces the daily mail while the Mario Bros. are having breakfast. I wish my postman did that so I wouldn't have driven all the way to my girlfriend's house before she told me she returned her engagement ring to me by mail. That was a really awkward night. But it's Saturday morning, and it's the Sabbath, so Mario sends his Catholic brother/Shabbas goy Luigi to get the mail. Mario instantly steals the rest of his cereal. "So what? Tell me a-something new for a change." Sheesh, you can't even read letters on the Shabbas? Luigi begins to read Peach's letter for his brother in a slow, easily-comprehensible voice. Whoops. Since when have you deserved a vacation, missy? You think managing to get caught by a fire-breathing dinosaur twenty gazillion times is some sort of lifetime achievement? More like it was shoved in your face and you took it without question, never suspecting that it MIGHT have been one of Bowser's minions in disguise. Actually, in retrospect Bowser would never be that subtle. "...I hired some cheap foreign labour. It didn't work out too well though. They kept calling me 'vámona' and I got scared." Making the tough decision between religion and a good boning, Mario decides to go after the girl. Uh...I'll save my sex joke for the next screencap. "Please, 'cause last time you were holding it forever and my mouth was starting to get tired." "There's no way this could be our hub world for the next thirty hours....right?" Unfortunately some bastard went and scribbled all over it. Wait...this looks kinda empty. Where are the X's that mark the spot? What kind of fucking treasure map is this??? I want my Silent Hill map back! This will indeed be our hub world for the next thirty hours. Each area is unlocked through story progression and only then appears on the map. This is why it looks so barren at present. The world map has nine distinct areas: Rogueport, Petal Meadows, Boggly Woods, Glitzville, Twilight Town, Keelhaul Key, Poshley Heights, The Moon and the Thousand-Year Door. There are also sub-areas that appear on the map as well - like towns, e.g. Petalburg, as well as dungeons, like Hooktail Castle and The Great Tree. FANCY PAPER TRANSITION!! Suddenly we're on a boat headed to Rogueport. I hate it when games go out of their way to announce their titles AFTER the title screen. Don't you? Yeah, each chapter has its own name, but fuck it I wanna be original. I'll post their screencaps here, though, so you don't get lost if you happen to be playing along. Or, at this point in the game, watching along. After a wild night of partying on the luxury cruise, Mario passes out from a combination of drinking and seasickness and is woken up by the captain. It doesn't show up in screenshots, but there's this nice point-of-view-of-Mario's-eyes-blinking shot. Bah, in reality I could probably make something similar tweening two black rectangles in Flash. Little does Mario know of the scum and villainy that awaits him. What will happen to Mario as he steps onto the warped wooden planks of Rogueport. Will we see an attempted Goomba gang rape? Will hundreds of sprites appear on screen at once? Will someone get their contact lens stepped on and block off a section of the game world for the first five hours! Fuck yeah! Tune in later tonight (hopefully) for the exciting conclusion: Chapter 2, Part 2: Finally, Some Fucking Gameplay. Chapter 2, Part 2: Finally, Some Fucking Gameplay Hurray, we're (almost) ready to take control of our favourite hungover Brooklyn plumber. However, we kinda need to let the boat dock first or we'd just be walking around underwater. We arrive at Rogueport! Lame excuse dude, I saw that title screen, not a fucking cloud in the sky. I want my slow-service refund. Mario ponders this for minute. Aaah, a quiet, relaxing life away from the constant "save the princess and keep her safe for about 2 minutes" routine. Then he realizes he'll probably die a virgin if that happens. There's always hope I guess :/ "I warned you about Rogueport, but you kept asking me to show you the way to go home." Mario tells the captain it's for business, not pleasure (yeah right) so Mario is allowed to dock. At long last, the game gives us the ropes! Mario wastes no time talking to random strangers who praise his manliness. Yeah, it seems like everyone's head-over-heels over that plumber's belly and tight overalls. And ESPECIALLY his moustache. Seriously, he has about four female NPCs all hitting on him at some point. And none of them are Peach Mario controls similarly to any typical top-down RPG character. The analog stick moves him around, the A button is his occasionally-dodgy jump, and B swings his hammer (which, outside of switch-pressing, is pretty useless in the hub world for now). You shouldn't have too much trouble controlling him. Just be warned that, unlike the platformers, his jumping is NOT momentum-based; keep that in mind throughout the many jumping puzzles in the game. I wish she was By the way, that sparkly little "S" box on the left is a save block. I suggest you save wherever you can because it can get really annoying having to skip through long text time and again, no matter how well-written it may be. In the load screen, there's also an in-game timer, your level and a counter for how much treasure you've collected (i.e. plot progression). Just thought you'd like to know. Mario goes about two steps before he spots a gang rape. And of course, he's looking in the completely wrong direction. Stupid sprites And here I was thinking playing dumb came so naturally to women. They're real method actresses that way. Meet our primary secondary character, Goombella, on the left, and our primary secondary antagonist, Lord Crump, on the right. We'll learn more about Goombella later on. Lord Crump is one badass villain; he's the leader of the X-Nauts, a group of evildoers who want to collect the treasure the Princess is hunting for. He's incompetent, but in a badass sort of way. The X-Nauts are weird; they have this salute where they cross their arms in an X over their chests. I know another group of evildoers who did that: Back on track. Lord Crump will be our main villain for a good chunk of the storyline, but it turns out someone else is pulling the strings behind him (typical). He's kinda like Zant from Twilight Princess, except without the lame temper tantrums. Enough talk. On with the soon-to-be-foiled rape! Yay for plot development! Could this be the treasure Peach is seeking?? Deus-ex-machinian coincidence survey says....YES! Crump continues to prod the hapless Goomba for information. PROTIP: Operation of anti-rape self-defence devices usually requires the woman to have arms. In Goombella's case, her only attack is a headbonk, which would only satisfy Crump's cravings for her touch and just make him want more. No Quagmire for you. I actually think Goombella's pretty cool. But don't worry, children, because Goombella has one last trick up her non-existent sleeve. I'm sorry about the horrible GIMPing. I'm still learning the ropes, please be kind :( Mario intervenes, and Goombella promptly hides behind him like a little bitch. Most out of character for her, as you'll soon see. Crump doesn't know what the fuck. Bring it, bitch. Mario tries some crazy-ass kung fu to scare off the intruder, but to no avail. Ladies and gentleman, let's hear it for....THE BATTLE SCREEN! Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has what is, in my opinion, one of the most unique and engaging combat systems in gaming. The idea is you don't just fight an enemy; you also have to please an audience. While you don't get an audience for this first fight with Criump, you will eventually gather a following as you start to grind. The better you do in combat, the bigger the audience becomes, but if you hit a bad streak they'll start to leave. There are also hecklers who will throw shit at you, but you can stop them by pressing the X button without losing a turn. Appreciative audience members will give you Star Points, which charge up a secondary Special Attack metre (different from the Flower Points which govern the more powerful regular attacks). Don't worry, you'll figure it out; there's a lot of tutorials that I didn't screencap. The actual fighting uses the timing-based mechanics of previous Mario RPGs, where each attack is like a little minigame. This also works on defence; you can hit the A button to lower damage taken, but hit the B button perfectly and not only will you avoid damage, it'll rebound onto the enemy. Here, with Mario's hammer attack, you have to hold left on the analog stick until the right moment and then let go for massive damage. There's also a Stylish mechanic to help get more star points, which I'll explain in a later update. Crump goes down with little resistance. Apparently his only weakness is an opponent's sense of timing. How will Crump, beaten and bloodied, react to this latest embarassment? Will we actually get to see more wandering around towns aimlessly, and will other plot advances that were promised in the previous part's endings come to pass? Most certainly! Find out in the forthcoming Chapter 3: The Legend of the Seven Stars (or: Frankly, My Dear, He Does Give a Damn!)
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Post subject: Won't pay for SomethingAwful - Let's Play Paper Mario: TTYD!
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EDIT: Most of the screenshots in Episode 1 (except for a few establishing screens) have now shrunk to 320x240 to fix potential bandwidth issues. Your eyes are not getting worse. Your internet is. Image resizing for Episode 2 will coincide with work on Episode 3, which will hopefully begin soon. I'm not sure whether I can get the episode out within the next few days; I have a major paper and midterm exam approaching, but I'll see what I can do. UPDATE 2: Added some emoticons for Episode 1. Episode 2 will follow shortly. I'm still completely new to the creation of screenshot Let's Plays (though I've read many an LP over the last few months) so I'd appreciate any comments or criticisms you have relating to the text, formatting etc. Please be constructive :) ______________________ Welcome to a land where the ground is thin as paper, the characters are thick as molasses, and the writers are paid with more than sandwiches (and it shows). Yes, it's time for the sequel to the classic Nintendo 64 RPG: I'll be your guide through a Let's Play of one of my favourite GameCube games, and one of the only RPG's I actually give a shit about. I'll take you through a screenshot/custom video trip from Rogueport to Bobbly Forest to Petalburg, all the way to the heart of the X-Naut Fortress. It is here that the fate of the world will be decided, Bowser will be sidelined in favour of some half-assed "villain", and Mario will be stuck with blue balls. Again. Before we start, let's watch the prelude: *skips ahead in the cutscene* Wait a minute, this looks familiar! I know! Now THIS is much better. (sorry for the YouTubing, but I wasn`t able to compress this movie file to a shareable size, so this`ll have to do. Also *spoiler* I`m sorry about the horrible English accent. I also cut some of the later dialogue when I did the voice-over, as it was a bit redundant. *end spoiler* I used my YouTube profile name because theenglishman wouldn't fit :(. (NOTE: I'll be splitting this LP up into chunks, so Chapters in my LP won't correspond to chapters in the actual game.) So, without further ado, let's go rescue a princess in the name of the Mushroom Kingdom! Chapter 1: Do You Know Where I Can Find Some Sailors? Welcome to Rogueport, the underbelly of society where all the scoundrels of the Mushroom Kingdom go to die (according to legend, all those extra copies of Super Mario Sunshine are buried in a landfill somewhere around here). It's like a caricature of a Dickensian London back-alley, only with more talking animals and paper-thin characters. Oh wait... Enter Princess Peach, who has somehow shrugged off her bodyguard to make sure the local Sailor Toads are well-groomed. In certain areas. You know how she is. With your track record I'd lock you in the fucking basement if I was in charge. "Crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes from which to look upon the slime beneath; windows, broken and patched; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud; dirt-besmeared walls and decaying foundations; every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage." Oh Charles, you and your paid-by-the-word prose. And I actually CUT about half of that sentence. One of those annoying beggars from Assassin's Creed pleads for some royal alms for the poor. "No, I meant the other half-wit monarch in a pink dress right beside you." Turns out it wasn't a beggar. It's... Looks like that Merchant from Resident Evil 4 has set up shop. Either that or he's still looking for a woman who doesn't find him creepy. Yeah, that screen was totally ripped from thedarkid's excellent RE4 Let's Play. I suggest you read it, it's a hoot. Seeing the last screencap, Peach starts to reach into her purse for her pepper spray, but our burly Merchant makes his move. "It's just a box..." What, like a legend of - I knew it! It's the Triforce! The Merchant acknowledges his checkered past. All the evils of the world. Suddenly Peach has become Pandora. "You'll absorb the DNA of any animal you touch. Promise." ..... Seriously, I have nothing to say to that. Our damsel OF distress opens the box, and... ...the world was exposed to evil, and mankind suffered forever. What has become of the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom? Will Mario arrive in time to save her from the temptations of cartography? And what do a Goomba university student, an Einstein-wannabe professor and an Italian plumber have in common? Find out in the forthcoming Chapter 2: Thank You, But Our Princess is on Another Island.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Post subject: Review - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GCN)
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*SPOILER WARNING* In case you care... Okay, let's get one thing out of the way first: Sands of Time is NOT the masterpiece the critics claim, nor is it the tedious piece of trash that certain fanboys I know unfairly hold up as the poster-boy for overrated software. It lies somewhere in the middle; it is a fun but flawed experience which, despite its occasional missteps, is still a worthy successor to the Prince of Persia series. Now that I have that off my shoulders, let us begin... "Most people think time is like a river, flowing swift and sure in one direction. But I can tell you they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am and why I say this. Sit down, and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard..." Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is Ubisoft Montreal's attempt to make storybook Arabian lands, realistic platforming and instant-death traps relevant again in a video game industry plagued by console gang wars and bloody shooters. It's a noble attempt, to be sure, and with series creator Jordan Mechner on board as project supervisor, it seemed as though Ubisoft could do no wrong. Well, it turns out that even princes make mistakes, but the gameplay missteps are nowhere near enough to tarnish the overall experience - an enjoyable, immersive and mostly fun journey to save the world from your own actions. "Do you think I felt regret as I gazed upon the destruction we had wrought, or at least humility at the speed with which a world could be transformed from a good world into a hell? If you think so you are mistaken. For from that moment I thought of one thing only: the honour and glory I would bring my father by fighting like a warrior in my first battle." The story opens in India, where a young Prince of Persia joins his father in plundering the treaures of the Indian Maharajjah's empire. The Prince, hoping to impress Dad, brings honour and glory by finding the Maharajjah's legendary Dagger and Hourglass of Time. Bestowed with the power to control the fabric of time itself, father and son travel to Azad with the spoils of war, including Farah, the Maharajjah's daughter, and his traitorous Vizier, intending to give the Hourglass to the Sultan as a peace pact. When in Azad, the Vizier tricks the Prince into opening the Hourglass with the Dagger, unleashing the Sands of Time and turning everyone except the Vizier, Farah and the Prince into Sand Monsters. The Prince, eventually joined by Farah, embarks on a desparate journey to turn back the clock and undo his terrible mistake, and maybe even find some love along the way. The story is told primaily through the Prince's narration and short conversations with Farah. This all happens while you're playing, which is an excellent tactic for progressing the storyline without sacrificing immersion. This is helped immensely by Yuri Lowenthal's superb voice acting, some of the best I have ever heard in a game. His chemistry with Joanna Wasick, Farah's voice actress, is to be particularly commended. Perhaps the best example of character development during the actual game is how Farah reacts to how you play. Draw your sword without reason and she'll ask you what's wrong; slip off the edge of a platform and she'll gasp in horror; take damage from a fall and she'll ask you if you're alright. Farah rarely gets in your way during play, and when she does, simply moving towards her will usually cause her to back away. I applaud Ubisoft for going the extra mile to avoid creating just another boring NPC, and it's these little touches that make her one of the most likeable NPCs in gaming. If only Ashley Graham was like that...*grumble* There are also several short prerendered and in-game cutscenes, and they are all very well-done. Ubisoft clearly have an eye for cinematic flair, and it shows in every cutscene, from major plot developments to camera pans showing you around a room. Sadly, the in-game camera doesn't fare as well, but I'll get to that in a moment. Now onto the meat of any game, the gameplay. The platforming controls are fairly solid. A jumps or rolls (context-sensitive), B attacks, and Y uses the Dagger of Time. L controls your time-manipulation powers and R governs your wallrunning abilities. The time-manipulation plays a huge role in the game; since instant death traps are a staple of the Prince of Persia series, you have the ability to rewind time to correct your mistakes, governed by the amount of Sand you have stored in your dagger. You also have the ability to slown down and freeze time to help dispatch your enemies. The controls in general are pretty tight, but there are some exceptions to this. Because the R shoulder button is context-sensitive, it ocassionally doesn't register if you want to turn around and perform a wallrun. The camera can sometimes get in the way as well; generally dynamic cuts are well-paced, but sometimes the camera will swing around for no good reason or spaz constantly in one place, messing up your angle. It's not a huge deal, but it can get frustrating when it does occur. Combat is easily the weakest part of the game. You never take on more than four enemies at once, but the controls simply don't give you the freedom to fight them all at once. The Critic complained about the AI "standing around like dorks", but unless you're "finishing" off an enemy, the AI can actually be downright cheap. They love to hit you relentlessly while you're down, and take pleasure in cutting away half your life-bar with a single combo. When it doesn't work, combat is frustrating and out of control, but when it does work it's far too easy. Ubisoft did not implement any sense of timing into the controls. Here's an example: say you want to vault over an enemy, slash him once and then retrieve his sand. Instead of pressing A to vault, waiting for the right time to strike with B and hitting Y at the opportune moment to grab some sand, you can simply hit A B Y in quick succession, then sit back and watch the fireworks. It takes a lot of the challenge out of the combat, and what little challenge there is feels downright cheap. The fight with your father-turned-sand-monster comes to mind. Also, your enemies like to teleport right in front of you whenever you try to run away. It's yet another example of cheap AI ruining what could have been the best part of the whole game. The level design is, for the most part, great. The pacing can be a bit methodical at times, but the subsequent payoff is almost always worth the effort. Many levels require you to expertly pull off ridiculous acrobatics one after the other, say, running from a wall onto a pole, swinging from there onto a ladder, sliding down and jumping onto a pillar, shuffling along that onto a ledge, and jump from there into another wallrun. The platforming always throws in curveballs just when things start to get repetitive, and most importantly, pulling off the acrobatics makes you feel cool. There are only two areas where the design falls flat on its face: the turret defence puzzle, and the endgame (excluding the final battle). The puzzle, which occurs about an hour into the game, pops up just when the going gets good and forces you to sit and crank levers for twenty minutes while what you really want to do is kill Sand Monsters or flip out and do acrobatics over huge gaps. In addition, the last hour sees you platforming with a special sword that can kill enemies in one hit, but no dagger. This is where I began to see that it's really the Dagger of Time that makes this game so good; without the Dagger, the game because tedious and riddled in trial-and-error. The beginning part of the game doesn't suffer from this because it's designed as a tutorial, but during the last hour of play I found myself instinctively pressing the L button to rewind my mistake, only to realize that my power had been taken from me. Graphics and sound, overall, are excellent. The art direction is superb. The art never really repeats; there will be long stretches of levels with the same kind of design, but after that chances are you won't see it again. Character models are smooth, and the animation, especially the Prince's, is mindblowing. Some of the monsters look a bit blocky on the outside but, again, the animation more than makes up for it. The audio is great as well, with aforementioned excellent voice acting and nice sound effects. Stuart Chatwood's rousing mix of rock and Arabian music is a compelling and ultimately beautiful soundtrack. However, the audio mixing and quality seem to have taken a hit on the GameCube version; some small sound-bites are distinctively tinny, and the Prince's monologuing can often be drowned out by other atmospheric effects. In addition, the prerendered cutscenes are sometimes much quieter than the ingame audio, resulting in an uneven sound mix. Still, there's no doubt about the effort put into making each sound convincing, minor hiccups notwithstanding. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is not an amazing game. It's not a horrible game. It's a great game, with a few scars and problems, that should be regarded as a solid action/platformer with some neat ideas and style to boot. I suggest that everyone here at least give it a shot, and if you hate it, give it another; you might just find something underneath the surface. And remember, it's never too late to correct your mistakes. Story: A Gameplay: B- Graphics: A+ Sound: A- Overall: B
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author (440)
Joined: 3/21/2006
Posts: 940
Location: Toronto, Canada
10 things I learned about geckos while watching this run. 1. Geckos are unable to stand on solid ground for more than two seconds without burning their feet, so they've developed a habit of karate kicking all over the place. This would also explain why they have knees like a senior citizen's. 2. Geckos never cry out in pain when hurt. There could be a crack or sizzle from objects dealing the pain, but no yelps of anguish from a gecko. No sir, they take damage like FUCKING MEN. 3. Geckos love to activate time trials, then completely ignore them and go do something else. 4. Geckos in fairy tales always have long flowing hair that makes them fly. They will also devote more time to making said hair shine in the sunlight than they will spend on level design or a competent camera. 5. Geckos are immune to awful wordplay (Lake Flaccid? Are you serious???) 6. Geckos can latch onto circular objects suspended in mid-air with their tongues and grapple, despite the fact it a tongue wouldn't be able to support anything heavier than Nicole Richie. 7. Geckos enjoy cultural anacrhonisms. There are ninjas...in a Chinese level. Think about that for a second. (EDIT: Yeah, that was from the first run, but I forgot to mention it last time. And it's too priceless not to mention now) 8. Geckos are extremely nearsighted, and anything more than two feet in front of them magically pops into view with all the subtlety of a Hideo Kojima cutscene. This puts Gex slightly below Turok in the race for Most Visually-Impaired Action Hero. 9. Geckos are very unoriginal when it comes to music, and would rather change one or two notes in an otherwise completely recognizable song and call it a day. Thankfully, Geckos have high-tech ninja lawyers to help them in the case of an infringement suit. 10. When they're not hanging out in uninspired platform games, geckos are hardcore otaku who cosplay as crappy Gundam wannabes, beat the shit out of TV-headed beetles, and can somehow swim underwater without short-circuiting their awesome mech suits. They also like to search for Duo/Heero on deviantArt in their spare time. Creepy. I give this run a 7.5/9. It looked really well-done, especially with Gex only having 16-direction control, so props to you on to the tech side. I don't think it was as good as your first Gex run, but to be honest I blame it on the game, because the first Gex was more entertaining to watch, even though this one was much more precise. This is most likely the best you can make Gex 3 and for that, man, I respect you. Keep up the good work!
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(