[Review] Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight
Posted on 10 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in 3DS, Reviews | 1 Comment
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release: August 4, 2015
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Author: Dennis
Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold is an epic dungeon-crawling experience in which you and a fixed group of party members embark on a journey. The objective is to complete a century-old ritual by a princess you randomly run into inside the forest close to the town your newly formed guild stumbles upon, High Lagaard. It is here you familiarize yourself with the townsfolk and collect quests to help you on your way to completing this ritual with the Princess. However, while deep in the dungeons heading towards the location where the ritual will take place, you come across a large monster in which you are forced to fight. It is here you stumble into other adventurers from faraway places and transform suddenly into an inhuman monster— wielding the power of a legendary sentient being once known as the Fafnir Knight. From this point forward you aim to figure out exactly why, and how, you were bestowed this power. You must uncover this mystery all while trying to complete this ritual with new friends and allies. Just as you have your own special skills and abilities—so do your allies, each with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. You are the hero of this tale, with your guild and a princess; you embark on a quest to uncover the truth behind the origins of the powerful Fafnir Knight.
Here’s a Podcast – Episode 123! (Solar Striker)
Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 0 comments
No weird audio problems for this show, and nobody died this week so it’s back to form for us. Laura is in town though, so we’re recording in the same room like old times again. I did quite like listener mail this episode though so that’s good. Here are your chapters:
Intro Shenanigans
0:00 – Intros, talking about John Cena
6:45 – Game of the week: Solar Striker!
What we played
10:19 – Casual Splats for Austin (Splatoon)
16:33 – Bring me back to Tomodachi Life
24:37 – Earthbound Beginnings, but mathematical anecdotes soon follow and poop talk
28:50 – Actual Earthbound Beginnings
37:39 – Kingdom Farts for Austin
Shenanigans II
50:50 – Lazy freetures
52:47 – Donkey Konga music break.
54:15 – Tales from the Crypt with Jack
Listener Questions Mail
59:57 – Miiverse Vulgarity
1:01:45 – False Perception of Cynicism with regard to roller coasters
1:07:05 – Playing games while donating blood plasma
1:11:35 – Any Sony game suggestions for a new PS3 owner?
1:15:20 – Can Metroid ever be a big-event game?
1:21:40 – Book club talk from fans yay
1:24:55 – Should other mediums (books, movies, etc) use frustration to create a sense of adventure like games do?
1:31:26 – Should we do an Iwata book club?
Shenanigans Finale
1:32:35 – Villain of the Week: Alex Rodriguez
1:33:33 – Solar Striker QUIZ
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[Let’s Talk] Most anticipated Wii U games
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Wii U | 22 Comments
Let’s Talk #16: Most anticipated Wii U games
There are still plenty of Wii U games to look forward to. From Nintendo alone, the company is bringing us Zelda Wii U, Super Mario Maker, Star Fox Zero, Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem (Genei Ibun Roku #FE), Xenoblade Chronicles X, Yoshi’s Woolly World (in North America), Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, Devil’s Third, Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival, and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash. There are also a smattering of third-party offerings like Rodea: The Sky Soldier, LEGO Dimensions, Disney Infinity 3.0, Skylanders SuperChargers, and Guitar Hero Live. It goes without saying that there’s still a ton of indie content on the way as well.
All of that being said, is there one Wii U game that you’re looking forward to above all else? If you can’t pick one, what are your top highlights? Let us know in the comments below!
Right now there are three games I’ve been wanting to get my hands on above all else. Let me briefly talk about each.
– Zelda Wii U: it’s Zelda! This series is what really motivated me to pay more attention to video games. Even though I had played games before, going through Ocarina of Time is when my interest really spiked. I was disappointed when Nintendo announced Zelda Wii U’s delay to 2016, but we should be getting a fantastic title in the end.
– Xenoblade Chronicles X: honestly, I do wish this one had already launched in the west at this point. That original January 2013 trailer feels like so long ago. Still, Xenoblade Chronicles X should be worth the wait. Xenoblade ended up as one of my favorite games of all time, and while X should be a fairly different experience, I’m anticipating that there will be enough there to make it both familiar and new at the same time.
– Super Mario Maker: after Nintendo showed this game at last year’s E3, I was mildly interested. I knew I’d pick it up eventually, but it wasn’t something where I thought I needed it at launch. My opinion changed greatly following Super Mario Maker’s showing at E3 2015. I’m just amazed by the amount of crazy things you can do inside different levels. I’ll be playing other creations rather than making them myself, so I can’t wait to see what people come up with.
Update: Winner announced – [Giveaway] Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess concert tickets via Twitter
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Giveaway | 3 Comments
Update: Our winner is in! Congratulations to Scalpium!
We’re kicking off a new worldwide giveaway over on Twitter today. The prize? A pair of tickets to The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess concert!
You can enter the giveaway by following us on Twitter, re-tweeting this post, and tagging/telling a friend. We’ll be choosing a winner on July 24. Good luck to all!
[Just a Chat] Satoru Iwata
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Just a Chat, Videos | 1 Comment
Jon and I discussed the tragedy surrounding the passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in this week’s episode of Just a Chat. It was rather tough to get through, but we managed to record this somehow!
Stuff:
More: highlight, Satoru Iwata, top
[Let’s Talk] Remembering Satoru Iwata
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 4 Comments
Let’s Talk #15: Remembering Satoru Iwata
Given the tragedy surrounding Satoru Iwata, it only seemed right to dedicate this week’s Let’s Talk to his memory. In the comments below, feel free to talk about anything related to Nintendo’s president.
It’s crazy to think that Satoru Iwata is no longer here with us. It’s also crazy to think that everything happened less than a week ago. Despite it having been a few days, I’m still barely able to come to grips with the fact that Iwata passed away.
A lot of thoughts and emotions have been running through my mind since Sunday evening. I can’t begin to tell you how shocked I was when I heard that Iwata had passed away. I just happened to stumble across Nintendo’s IR site with the news – it wasn’t even publicized on Nintendo’s Japanese Twitter account at the time. I almost considered not posting about it on the site when I discovered the announcement since I couldn’t believe it was real. I haven’t been that shocked about something in a very long time.
Even though I never knew Iwata personally, his passing has greatly affected me. It’s been a very sad and long week. There was a lot about Iwata that made him different compared to your typical company president/CEO, so I think that’s one of many reasons reason why many people have been taking this so hard.
Iwata seemed like a very lovely and personable man. Of course, he delivered the Nintendo Direct presentations to us, and during those videos, he wasn’t afraid to poke fun at himself. The Iwata Asks series was another key aspect during his time with Nintendo. These interviews/discussions provided very interesting and valuable insight into the development of Nintendo’s various games.
Iwata’s experience with game development made him quite the unique president. Of course, before joining Nintendo, he worked at HAL. Over the many years in the industry, he was involved with games like Balloon Fight, EarthBound, and Pokemon. He even helped Smash Bros. Melee make its release date. He was a programmer at heart having made a baseball game on a calculator despite it not having graphics.
A lot of people have been asking me over the past few days if I have a favorite memory of Iwata. Truthfully, I don’t. That’s because when I start thinking about his role at Nintendo, there’s so much that comes to mind. There are all of his Nintendo Directs obviously. E3 appearances. 2005 GDC speech. There was also the Game Center CX episode that struck a chord with me, in which he talked more about his life. And those are just the times we saw him in person. Outside of video-esque appearances, there was the time when he dramatically cut his salary in light of the Wii U’s struggles. Introducing Wii and DS to the world, and initiating the Blue Ocean Strategy to wild success were also key parts of his career.
I started paying attention to games during the tail end of the GameCube era, so honestly, Iwata being at Nintendo is really all that I know. It’s extremely tough to picture Nintendo without Iwata at the helm of things. Nintendo will most definitely continue on, but things won’t be the same without him. All we can do at this point is be thankful for his many years at Nintendo and how he put smiles on many people’s faces. He will be greatly missed.
How do you feel about Devil’s Third?
slihm
I’ve been extremely intrigued ever since the multiplayer trailer last year.
Additionally, the campaign looks to have my type of humor. It’s odd because a lot of people seem to be missing the jokes all together. For reference, watch the “Machete Kills” trailer. It’s basically that kind of humor, but in a game. And it’s amazing.
Recent news has made me a little skeptical. The only thing I’m concerned about is the frame rate, because people who have allegedly played the game have been complaining about the inconsistent frame rate.
Blazer
As far as Devil’s Third go, I was interested in the game after seeing it. It’s not the usual type of game you find on Nintendo consoles, but the fact that they seemed to be backing it felt like a sign that I could pay it a little bit of attention. After seeing a bit, I was interested in it because it seemed like a brutal but fun action/shooter game with some cool online components, which I felt I could get behind, especially since it didn’t look as dull as some games.
The concept art, for instance, looks really cool IMO, and while you could certainly make complaints about the main character, I’m fine with his design and approach: he’s at least more memorable than the main characters in many other shooters, IMO. Pretty much, it was a game I had intended to give a good chance since there’s not much else like it on the console, and I like supporting developers who make exclusives for Wii U, esp. since I’ve enjoyed the Wii U a lot–more than most other systems. Dare I say it helped get me back into gaming with a few quality games despite lacking quantity.
Now that the game potentially isn’t being backed by NoA and could be very poor for whatever reasons, I’m less interested/more skeptical and need to have some kind of confirmation on how the game is. I mean, we’ll just have to see, there aren’t even reviews out and even then I take reviews and such with a grain of salt because ultimately they’re just opinions from people who are often only slightly more qualified to analyze, criticize, and praise games than the bulk of other people.
While I’d like to give it a try anyway, if the game is said to be terrible, it’s difficult to justify purchasing it, especially when video games are expensive and there are a ton of other video games out there I’ve yet to beat… play… buy… or even hear about. I mean, I only have so much time, money, and patience, so ultimately I can’t try out every game myself. Hopefully I hear some good things about it so I can keep my pre-order and get it as planned. In that case though, I can only hope someone else actually picks it up so I have people to play with online.
Not having more than a handful of friends (who I rarely talk to) that play Splatoon, for instance, really stinks. I had pretty much no one to play Bayonetta 2 with, either. It’s one of the few problems of preferring to play with friends (esp. with voice, meaning on the Wii U, I need to have them on Skype/they can’t be strangers, since it doesn’t have integrated voice chat into its games), and playing on a console with a low install base in specific regions (I’m not interested in voice chatting with random Japanese people, for instance, but if you limit matchmaking in such games to specific regions where there’s a common language, the wait etc. would be even longer than it already is).
tl;dr, I was interested, and will still pay attention, but I’m skeptical and my purchasing decision hangs in the balance of whether the game seems good enough to be worth giving a chance.
Pretty much, if it’s not a broken game and it’s at least fun but “with problems”, and the Metacritic score is in the 70’s or higher, I’ll probably get it. If it’s in the 60’s, it’ll be a much tougher call dependent on what specifics I hear about the game, and anything lower would really be pushing it. (Granted, it’s less about the arbitrary numbers we call review scores and more with the associated comments that generally come with those numbers.)
Here’s a Podcast – Episode 122 (Radar Mission)
Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 0 comments
What a week. As you might expect, our podcast this week includes quite a healthy amount of reflection on the life of Satoru Iwata in the form of six “Iwata Bits” featuring quotes and anecdotes about the beloved CEO and some of our personal thoughts about him, but we also manage to keep on with some normal happenings as well. Enjoy.
Opening Shenanigans
4:32 – Iwata Bit #1, “The early years”
6:49 – GOTW – Radar Mission
9:59 – Iwata Bit #2, “My personal Superman”
16:14 – Balloon Fight Remix music break
What we played
18)1 – Jack dedicates his time to Earthbound Beginnings
31:53 – Austin joins the Order of Ecclesia
42:40 – Jack read Geoff Keighley’s book.
48:58 – Iwata Bit #3, “Nintendo is for kids?”
50:10 – Kirby’s Adventure Music Break
Shenanigans Redux
51:18 – Iwata Bit #4, “Iwata Balboa”
52:37 – Our personal appreciations of Iwata
Listener Questions Mail
59:38 – Need for Speed Most Wanted a platformer?
1:05:50 – Custom characters vs. pre-made characters
1:12:28 – Splatoon does allow for something.
1:13:54 – Breath of Fire recommendation.
1:16:52 – Book club recommendations.
1:22:45 – Buster needs to stop hating Majora’s Mask.
1:26:35 – Sometimes, a podcast is all you need.
Ending Shenanigans
1:29:32 – Iwata Bit #5, “Iwata saves Pokémon”
1:32:00 – Radar Mission quiz
1:33:58 – Iwata Bit #6, “A unique CEO”
1:34:57 – The End.
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Update: Winners – [Giveaway] Life of Pixel
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Giveaway | 57 Comments
Update: Winners are in! Congratulations to Vinicius, Fernando Machado, Pedro Capello, and Link Floyd. Codes will be going out tomorrow!
We’re kicking off a new giveaway for the Wii U eShop game Life of Pixel (thanks Max Criden!). In the comments below, tell us about your favorite game made before 1990 for a chance to win. It’ll fit in with the retro theme we have going on.
This giveaway will run through Monday, and we’ll be picking four winners. Please note that the codes are only redeemable on North American Wii U consoles.
Good luck!
[Just a Chat] Devil’s Third, Zero Escape 3, Dragon Quest, and the Epic Indie Sale
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Just a Chat, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
Brian and Daan are finally back for a new episode of Just a Chat. There was plenty to talk about this week, including the strange situation surrounding Devil’s Third in North America, Zero Escape 3’s announcement, Dragon Quest VII and VIII for the west, and the Epic Indie Sale.
Stuff:
[Let’s Talk] How do you feel about Devil’s Third?
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Wii U | 25 Comments
Let’s Talk #15: How do you feel about Devil’s Third?
Devil’s Third is in a very strange place right now. The game has been in development for years, and is finally launching (well, in Europe and Japan at least) next month. To say that things haven’t done smoothly for Devil’s Third would be an understatement.
Originally, Devil’s Third was being overseen by THQ, but we all know what happened to that company. Nintendo eventually picked up the project and it was re-revealed at last year’s E3. It surfaced once again in a video from Nintendo’s Japanese YouTube page, but skipped E3 2015 entirely. The game’s status is also slightly unclear in North America.
Development and release issues aside, what are your thoughts on Devil’s Third? To be fair, we haven’t seen a massive amount from it thus far, so there’s not a tremendous amount to go on. There was the initial appearance at E3 2014, and the video that came out several weeks back.
But let’s have a talk about Devil’s Third – the game itself. Were you interested since the initial reveal? Did the latest footage manage to capture your attention? Did you never care for it at all? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Highlights from last week’s topic: What are you playing? – July 2015
David Arkema
I’ve been playing SSB for wii u, playing a lot offline matches with Ryu and (FE) Roy (I also got Lucas, but don’t care much for him). I love (FE) Roy more than I thought, because he’s another swordfighter, but I like him more than Marth. Can’t wait to have my hands on a Ryu amiibo!
Just bought Stick it to the Man and played through some levels. and I never thought I would realy like this game, but I do. I it that every NPC has its own personality and the sticker mechanics/gameplay.
Playing sometimes Splatoon. Just completed the singleplayer, which is like platforming with a gun (or roller). Now I sometimes play a couple online matches (every 3 days).
I am planning to finish Super Mario Galaxy 2 (wii u e-shop). Never played it on the wii before, but I realize know that was a great mistake. This game is awesome!
Also planning to get back Mario Kart 8 (online). This game I used to play every day I power on my wii u. But lately I’m occupied with SSB for wii u.
On my nintendo 3ds I play mostly Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Man, I thought after Monster Hunter 3 on wii u I would never play costs so much time (of my life), but then came MH4 ultimate (and for wii u Xenoblade Chronicles X 4/12/2015). MH4 looks amazing and thanks to the New nintendo 3dsXL it also plays amazing.
James Parry
Going on holiday for a whopping 7 week holiday in a weeks times in our holiday home in Corfu, Greece soon. I know, it sounds amazing; beaches twice a day, lovely greek food for every meal, beautiful weather the whole time, but I can’t bring my Wii U! No Splatoon until September! Ahhhh! (First world problem; I know!)
So, for me, summer is all about my 3DS (bar the beaches). This year I’ve got a solid line up including Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, which I put on hold since my brother got it as I was in the middle of loads of exams, Yoshi’s New Island (also been put on hold) Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Zelda: Spirit Tracks (a second playthrough).
The other day I also managed to pick up some second-hand Layton DS games which I plan to play during the summer followed by Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright; a crossover of my two favourite DS series.
So basically; my summer is a busy one. I’ll have to distribute my time between swimming, eating greek food, reading in hammocks under trees, hanging out with family members, cycling to the local bakery every morning, feeding the donkey living near our house, sun bathing, eating more greek food and playing a whopping library of fantastic 3DS and DS games!
gigamario
I have been alternating between Xenoblade X and Splatoon. I think they complement each other pretty well: X is more suited for longer sessions and Splatoon is just quick pure fun. I have finished the story of X and reached the level cap of Splatoon and although I intend to continue playing those games, I guess I will spend a little less time with them going forward.
Also due to recent thunderstorms around my area of residence, there has been situations when I wanted to avoid using electronics that is plugged into the power grid. I have started playing Last Window: the Secret of Cape West (Nintendo DS) for that reason. I have owned that game for years and it has been factory sealed for all that time, so I’m happy that I finally got to playing it!
SortableShelf19
I’m currently playing Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. For anyone that didn’t know, I didn’t have a 3DS before. I was a Wii U-only owner until recently when I got a New 3DS XL for my birthday (but I didn’t get the game until a little later).
While it doesn’t have as much content as the Wii U version does, it’s still a very well-crafted game. I have a lot of fun playing this game on the go.
