[Nintendo DS #92] Getting inside Bowser

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Op dinsdag 3 november 2009 09:27 schreef _Flea_ het volgende:

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Klopt. Ik meen dat je er zo'n 3-4 uur mee kan doen. De DS Lite tot 6 uur.
Kan iemand de tijd van de DSi bevestigen?

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Nintendo is looking at the business model of Amazon's Kindle as it considers the future for its portable consoles, the company's president said yesterday.

"I'm interested because it's a new business model in which the user doesn't bear the communications cost," said Satoru Iwata .

Amazon's portable electronic reader connects to a 3G mobile phone network to download new books, but the service is included in the device's upfront cost.

Mr Iwata's comments highlight a tactic Nintendo could use to counter the strategic threat to its DS handheld console from the iPhone and other smartphones that download games from "App Stores".

At present, the DS is able to download contents via a wi-fi connection, but most games are sold on cartridges that are expensive to produce and distribute.

"Only people who can pay thousands of yen a month [in mobile phone subscriptions] can be iPhone customers. That doesn't fit Nintendo customers because we make amusement products," Mr Iwata said. The Kindle's one-off cost would better suit Nintendo's customer base, he said. "In reality, if we did this it would increase the cost of the hardware, and customers would complain about Nintendo putting prices up, but it is one option for the future."

Nintendo's DS has sold more than 113m units worldwide since it launched in 2004 with what was then a revolutionary touch screen control system. However, with one DS now sold for every 4.5 people in Japan, analysts saythe product is nearing the end of its lifecycle.

Sony recently launched the PSP Go , a rival handheld console that has no slot for physical media and relies on WiFi for downloads.

Early sales of the device have been sluggish amid signs that retailers are reluctant to push the console as they would not gain additional income from software sales.

Mr Iwata was cautious about how quickly the industry in general will move to digital downloads. He said: "I think it will take quite a long time."

Speaking at a briefing for analysts after Nintendo slashed its profit forecasts because of a lack of hit software to sell its Wii console, Mr Iwata drew attention to the unpredictable nature of the games business.

"Who thought Pokemon would sell around the world, or that Brain Training would take off, or that Wii Fit would become an explosive hit?" he said.

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Op dinsdag 3 november 2009 09:59 schreef seventhseagulll het volgende:
Nee, een duurdere aanschaf, maar mobiel internet is inbegrepen, zodat je via het internet games kan downloaden en kopen.

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Op dinsdag 3 november 2009 10:12 schreef _Flea_ het volgende:
Ben nu Dragon Quest IV aan het proberen. Je moet wel bijblijven qua HP merk ik . En ik moet goed blijven lezen. Had een vrouwtje meelopen met me, maar omdat ik nergens iets terug kon lezen wist ik niet waar ik heen moest . Wel gevonden uiteindelijk, maar het is heel slecht voor m'n nachtrust.

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Op dinsdag 3 november 2009 10:42 schreef _Flea_ het volgende:

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Luisteren..... ik speel met geluid uit :p.
Dat battlelen is in elk spel hetzelfde. Je kan niet echt aanvallen ontwijken. Zelfs met defend krijg ik nog damage.

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- If you use certain commands the game targets different enemies. I had my Hunter attack, and he hit the fire elemental boss, but when I chose Aim (Hunters special ability) he targeted the ice elemental boss). Also, I had my other attacker attack normally, and he went after the fire elemental boss, but when I tried to use an ice elemental bomb.... it auto-targeted to the ice elemental boss. WTF lololol I have nooooo idea how the hell this auto-targeting system works.

- One of things that's really getting to me is that I don't even know when it's actually my turn to do anything. As a test against a boss I did attack/attack/attack with my three guys. They all attacked first, then the boss did ice breath during his turn. Next turn, I do attack x 3 again and... the boss does ice breath first? wtf? I don't really get how this system works at all.

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This is one of the best looking DS RPGs I've played. The art direction is a few gazillion times better than DQIX, and the world actually looks awesome and appealing to explore. Yoshida is really fucking talented and he should be put in charge of more games at S-E.

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Put a few hours into the game so far, finished two story dungeons. The game is pretty fun, and is just so appealing to play. I haven't run into any trouble with the auto-targeting so far, as mentioned before, the battles have rows, and generally your melee attacks always targets an enemy on the front row, while range and magic will always target an enemy in the back row. So far the configurations are such that there're only two enemy types in a battle, so it's not a big deal right now. You basically know what you'll be targeting based on what attacks you use.

There's also a passive tension system, where at the start of a turn, before you input your commands, some of your party members might flash yellow. This indicates that if you use an active command on that turn for those characters, it's more effective. It's an interesting way of managing when to charge AP and when to just attack anyway. If you have two characters in tension mode and both do melee attacks, there's a change they'll do a combination attack instead which does much more damage.

Overall the game itself is very simple, but it's still fun and mostly stress free. I've actually encountered something interesting in the game design as well. For the second dungeon boss, there are different ways of beating it.

The boss is really strong against any attacks, until it gets "broken" by a water attack. You can stock up on expensive water bomb stones to use on the boss, as each break will last 2-3 turns at most.

This is the brute force and more obvious way of beating the boss but it costs money and might require grinding. But there is another way, even though you cannot buy the Water spell book (the town sells the other 3 elements though!).

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

Now, the game doesn't tell you in an OBVIOUS way that the second method exists, but it does leave a good amount of clues if you talk to all the NPCs, and take note of the subtle changes between day and night. It's an interesting design choice, and I hope there are many more elements like this throughout the game because it rewards players who actually explore around and get pro-active in a role playing game.

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Op donderdag 5 november 2009 22:53 schreef e-wok het volgende:

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Is ie onvindbaar dan?

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Op donderdag 5 november 2009 20:14 schreef koei het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Zelda

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Op vrijdag 6 november 2009 10:22 schreef Jesse_ het volgende:

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Komt die stylus ook bij de gewone versie?

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Op vrijdag 6 november 2009 13:15 schreef Archibaltus het volgende:
Weet iemand of er binnenkort een Golden Sun voor de DS uitkomt? Ik heb de spellen altijd op de GBA gespeeld, erg tof!

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Op vrijdag 6 november 2009 12:37 schreef Aether het volgende:
Verpakking is ook 2× zo hoog

[ afbeelding ]

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Here's an example:

White Mage w/ 4 equipment, 6 spell books. (10/15) - 5 slots free

Black Mage w/ 4 equipment, 6 spells books, 1 hi-potion, 1 phoenix down. (12/15) - 3 slots free

Thief w/ 4 equipment, 2 spell books, 2 hi-potion, 1 phoenix down. (9/15) - 6 slots free


You go into a dungeon, and let's say there are 5 chests, and you get 4 drops from enemies in battles. That's 9 slots taken up in total, which gives you 5 slots left in the entire party.

Not bad right? Not if you want to carry back up items into the dungeon! There are many spells and equipment in the game which have different uses. Especially weapons and accessories which carry different elemental or status benefits. Players of RPGs generally want to be well prepared, and giving yourself more options for strategy is never a bad thing. But here the game actually limits your options, and not in a good way.

This doesn't mean you have to select your equipment VERY carefully for a dungeon. It just means that you have to go in, go through the mundane and normally not too tough dungeon, and get to the save point before the boss. Then you fight the boss and see if you can beat it with your current set up. If you cannot, then you just run or teleport back to town to reconfigure before RUNNING THROUGH THE ENTIRE DUNGEON again, to fight the boss.

This is not good game design, this is stupid game design which doesn't add anything to the game besides annoying the player because of a stupid limitation which has no real impact on anything. Imagine a Thief not being able to steal anything from a boss because his inventory is full. Even though SOMEONE ELSE'S INVENTORY has space. Stuff like that is just annoying and stupid.

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Op woensdag 11 november 2009 10:36 schreef Archibaltus het volgende:
Wat vinden jullie het beste NDS RPG spel tot nu toe?
Ik vind The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass een hele goede.