For Q&A, You
Monster
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| May 12th, 2011 |
05/12- 12:00PM EST
It has been sort of a strange week for news, with PSN still
down, a 7th Dragon sequel
announced ... wait ... what was that last one? A 7th Dragon sequel? I would be
excited but I just know I'm going to have to import this one
(thankfully it's a PSP game). Anyway, that's a whole different story.
Before I get to the letters and tweets, I should note with the six
degrees of separation challenge from last week, I forgot to mention
that the rule of thumb I use is to not use platforms in the
connections, as this makes things too easy. So, if anyone wants a prize
they will have to make that connection without using publishers or
platforms. Good luck!
On to the letters...and tweets!
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Godzilla RPG: The Mothra Chronicles
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@AskWheels How come there are no Godzilla
RPGs. I want to play as
Godzilla!
@dimortuisunt
Wheels
Are you sure there are no Godzilla
RPGs? This seems incredibly strange. I
know the Japanese do (or did?) love Godzilla
movies, that's for sure. There's no doubt that RPGs are popular over
there as well, so how in the world was there never any overlap? This
can't be right. Excuse me a moment...
Well I return with dire news, apparently there aren't any Godzilla RPGs. I searched through
the wikipedia
page of Godzilla games,
and there just aren't any RPGs there. This is just not right. The
greatest monster in the world, and he's never gotten to star in his own
RPG? I just don't know what to say. Nothing in the world seems right
anymore.
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Tales of Excitement about Tales Games
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Dear Wheels,
Although I know full well that it likely isn't true, sometimes I just
like to make believe that there's someone at Namco who is reading my
letters to you. First, we get Tales
of Graces F finally announced for localization, which reminded
me of what I predicted in a letter back in the August 10 column. And
now we get Tales of the Abyss 3D
officially announced for localization! That itself of course is
wonderful news, but it's timing with the Abyss anime also reminded me of the
cross-media idea that I proposed in the October 20 column! I'd
certainly like to believe that I had something to do with this stream
of good news, but of course it's far more likely that Nacmo was
listening to a large number of people (not JUST me) who feel the same
way I do and expressed similar ideas. Well, it doesn't matter to me who
it was that convinced them to localize more Tales games; I'm just glad somebody
finally did.
Wheels
That's the crux of the matter, the who or how isn't important, just
that they are localizing two great Tales
games should make us all happy. I'm
really hoping Abyss will
reach a much wider audience this time around. Launching as one of the
first big RPGs on a new system, as opposed to one of many (not to
mention in the same month as Final
Fantasy XII), it should get a big push. That's not even going
into the fact that it will launch along with an anime and manga. Tales of the Abyss fans are going
to be very happy this year. As far as Graces
F goes, it's a shame it got pushed a bit into 2012, but at the
same time at least it won't be going up against the likes of Skyrim. I'm going to guess it will
probably show up at the start of 2012, which will be a nice way to
begin the year.
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Now, if only I actually had a PS3 and 3DS to show my support for them.
What a miserable time it is to be a die-hard Tales fan AND a poor college
student...
FirstAid
Wheels
Ah, that is a shame! However I keep hearing rumors of more console
price cuts, so maybe you'll have a PS3 in time for Graces F! Can't say I think the 3DS
will drop in price anytime soon, but you could always pick up Abyss for when you do have one.
Anyway, good to hear from you again, don't be a stranger!
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Zelda Hunter 2: Sidescrolling Edition
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Hey Wheels, heads up. The date mentioned in my
last letter, where I
said the 28th? That was supposed to be April 28th, since I'd naively
assumed you'd manage to get Q&A up before my slightly rushed update
on
Thursday. C'est la vie. I'm hoping for Friday, May 13th for the next
one,
but that's if I can grab enough material together after the Golden Week
lull in news coverage.
Wheels
I see, well as you have surely
noticed, I have failed to get my own Monster
Hunter clones ideas sent to you. I have really struggled to come
up with a good one, but thankfully the recent 7th Dragon 2020 announcement has
given me a good idea, so you shall have that in your inbox soon.
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I can't believe I forgot about the multi-player
aspects in Zelda
Hunter, though! Well... actually I can, since I'm not a co-op kind
of
player by nature. I think the last time I made full use of a game's
multi-player abilities was with Secret of Mana back in 1996.
The Zelda series has never been known for its
multi-player options
either though, so I'd probably go with something similar to what they
had
in Four Swords, using Link-clones from slightly different
parallel
worlds. True, they'd all look a lot alike, but that's just an incentive
to
up the customization aspect, is it not?
Wheels
Absolutely, this way everyone gets to show of what kind of crazy Link
they've come up with. This is one of the fun things about multiplayer
in Monster Hunter games, see
what kinds of weapons and armor they've crafted. Perhaps we could leave
out some of the annoying co-op puzzles that sometimes plagued Four Swords though?
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I liked your
Peahat-plus-chainshot-equals-helicopter idea though.
Perhaps a different upgrade would allow the player to snag an enemy and
then hammer-throw them? But I'd say it's important not to allow too
many
abilities on one version of the same equipment. We'd need a reason to
switch things up from time to time, as well as promote teaming up
between
players with different upgrade setups.
Wheels
Absolutely, making players try all the
various weapon and upgrade combinations gets them addicted to
collecting various upgrades and trying them out. This would also make
it fun to play online and see what sorts of combinations other players
have come up with. The possibilities are endless, and right now I wish
this game existed.
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So, why were you surprised that I chose Zelda,
hm?
Your fellow columnist,
Gaijin
Wheels
I'm not sure, I think because Zelda is generally put in the
"might be an RPG" category I just kind of assumed that's not what you'd
go with. Not that I'm disappointed, Zelda is a great choice. Imagine
all the possibilities if they included a customizable Majora's Mask style mask system! I
think it's time Nintendo makes a new multplayer Zelda based on your idea.
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@AskWheels Also here's an Ask Wheels Q for next week: I've heard you
like
Spiderweb Software games. Which are some good ones to try out?
@merrygodown
Wheels
Well, they're all somewhat similar, so I'll first give you a basic idea
of what sort of games they make. Based in the traditions of PC RPGs
such as Ultima, along with
classic Dungeons and Dragons,
Spiderweb Software's games are decidedly old-school. That's not to say
they're hard to play. There's a lot of nice touches to the games that
make them easier to play than the games they take inspiration from. The
easiest way I can describe the basic structure of a Spiderweb game:
think Baldur's Gate with turn
based combat. Of course in most of the games you're either creating
your own party, or using monsters, but you get the basic idea. Anyway,
the best game to start with in my opinion is the latest, Avadon. It feels a bit like some
recent Bioware titles, with party members consisting of characters with
their own personalities instead of ones you create. Perhaps you'd want
to wait for my review of it? If you want to try out Spiderweb's claim
to fame, then go ahead and start with the first Avernum game. That series centers
around an underground world where criminals and political dissenters
and the like are sent to. They create their own society (like Australia
only REALLY
down under), and the series eventually leads to interactions with the
outside world. There's seven games in the series, so set aside some
time if you end up liking them!
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That's it for this week! Keep an eye on Twitter for ... well you'll
see.
Time for me to get back to playing Avadon,
Spiderweb
Software
does
not make short games!
'Til next week
-Wheels
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