Final Round
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| September 1st, 2011 |
09/01- 12:00PM EST
The final results for the contest!
The Match-up:
Scott O. - Oil Man ... I mean Hakan vs. Paladia - Sagat
Round 1: Sagat starts with a barrage
of fireballs, but Hakan counters with some grabs and begins to take the
edge, using his sliding move to get under the fireballs. He finishes
with the EX version of one of his grabs, taking round 1.
Round 2:
Again Sagat takes the advantage before Hakan counters with some well
timed grab moves. Then Sagat hits his ultra. However it is not enough.
Hakan gets in more grabs, after using the oil move which powers up all
of his attacks. Hakan takes the match, giving the contest victory to
Scott O! Congrats dood!
Congrats Scott O.!
With that over with, let's got on to the letters!
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A couple of questions oh wheeled one from your esteemed 8ut flaky
colleague. First, why do I have to 8adger you every day to read
Homestuck
faster????????
Wheels
Because Homestuck is insanely
long, and I want to take it at my own pace, like you probably did. I'm
making progress though! I wish Homestuck
was available in some kind of
downloadable form, or didn't use flash so often so I could read it on
my iPhone.
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Second, why do I have to complain every day 8ecause you keep talking
a8out Duty Calling or some BACON like that????????
Wheels
Come on now, I know it isn't exactly an original series or something,
but there is something to the Call
of Duty series that make it so popular. The multiplayer is a
lot of fun, and includes the sort of grinding appeal that an MMO does.
Winning multiplayer matches is just a lot more fun when it gives you a
bunch of xp towards unlocking new weapons and such. Really though, Call of Duty is just what I play
when taking a break from one RPG or another. Also Halo is still the best FPS series.
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Third, given the recent release of Breath
of Fire IV on PSN I'm curious if you have any thoughts on the
franchise???????????
-fanboymaster
Wheels
I do have some thoughts on the franchise, namely that though the games
may be quite good, the series never quite took off like many other
classic JRPG series. The one time the series did something truly
unique, sadly no one bought it (poor Dragon
Quarter). I think the series has enough going for it that Capcom
could find success with it, but it's clear they don't have much
interest. As much as I like the series, especially Dragon Quarter, I just don't think
the games would find much of an audience. I expect Monster Hunter will be the only RPG
series we'll see out of Capcom for a while.
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Hey Wheels,
Just a quick note in response to Jbumi. Playing Suikoden Tactics got her wondering
why so many tactics games are political. She must've not played the
original Suikoden games. Suikoden Tactics is probably the
lightest in politics in the series.
Wheels
I haven't played Suikoden Tactics yet, but given the
dubious quality of Suikoden IV
I'm not surprised. It's too bad they tied it to the most reviled game
in the series -- it would have been cool if it was its own story, or
maybe even a remake of an earlier game with a tactical battle system.
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Most are political in nature though, but I guess the whole "tactical"
idea is just a good link to politics, which are tactical in nature as
well (Did that make sense?). That said, there are a couple of games
that take a different route. Devil
Survivor isn't very political, Final
Fantasy
Tactics
Advance (1
and 2) aren't very political,
or very good but that's besides the point. Phantom Brave wasn't about politics
as far as I can remember.
Wheels
That made perfect sense.
Politics involve all kinds of tactical decisions, because everything
politicians do can have a positive or negative effect on their image.
There's also the need to make deals with others to get what you want to
get done. Let's not delve too much into that though. Those are some
great examples of non-political tactical RPGs. I'd say they're
exceptions to the rule though, especially Phantom Brave. I'd like to discuss Phantom Brave in depth some time,
as I think it does some especially interesting things with the genre,
despite its issues. It tells an often poignant tale that is quite
unusual given the usual comedic fare that NIS produces. I'd disagree
with your point of the Tactics
Advance games being bad, but to each his/her own as they
say! Do you enjoy Phantom
Brave and Devil Survivor,
and the ways they differentiate themselves from other Tactical RPGs?
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But there just aren't enough tactical RPGs out to begin with. There
should be more. If there was a good, free, easy to use tactical RPG
maker out, I would've probably made one myself, because I've got plenty
of ideas for one, which aren't all political in nature. But there
isn't, so I won't! :D
Just my two cents.
Cheers,
Daniel
Wheels
Oh there certainly should be more out
there! Considering that they aren't even the most expensive games to
make, I can't quite get why there aren't more out there. As for a
tactical RPG maker, I wish there was one, but Disgaea 4 has a map editor, so that
may be about as close you can get. Anyway, thanks for the letter.
Looking forward to hearing from you again!
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Remembering Baldur's Gate
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Hello Sir Wheels,
How dost thou fare this week?
Wheels
Quite good! Working on reviewing Disgaea
4, so I've been busy, but I've also been inching closer to
finally finishing Persona 3 Portable
as well.
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Hopefully you enjoyed my last submission; I have gotten rusty in my
writing. Anyhow, this is not about me, for the most part.
One of the “Hot Topics” as “What long dormant RPG series do you want to
see make a return?” and my reason for writing in this week is to answer
that question as well as pose a question to you.
Wheels
I did enjoy it! I couldn't tell in any way your writing has gotten
rusty. Anyway, let's see what series you'd like to see returned.
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To answer your question “What long dormant RPG series do you want to
see make a return?” my answer would have to be Baldur’s Gate for the PC (I am not
counting the Dark Alliance
games). The last title was released back in 2001 which concluded the
Bhaal Spawn story. I played through the first Baldur’s Gate probably 10 or 11
times before I was able to complete it. My dad got a copy shortly after
the game came out. I was still really young so I did not understand all
of the aspects of the game. I would always play through the game up
until before the game allows reentry into Candlekeep. My dad would
always wipe the computer hard drive when I got to this point (not
because I got to this point but old computers did not have much hard
drive space as you probably already know) and I would have to start
over again. This did not deter me. I continually tried to beat the
game. The farthest I got into the game before losing my save was when I
finally entered Baldur’s Gate.
Then
my
dad decided to restart the computer. So I lost that save and
was forced to start anew. In 2008 I finally was able to beat the game.
Beating the game was not a chore but a labor of love. I enjoyed the
story. Reading all of the scrolls and books that are available in
the game took a long time too. But the amount of detail involved in
incorporating the Forgotten Realms mythos into the game was brilliant
work.
Wheels
Baldur's Gate
was absolutely brilliant. The way it incorporated the D&D rules
into a real-time system worked perfectly, and the lore of the Forgotten
Realms was incorporated so well that even those who aren't familiar
with it could enjoy it. We could just talk for hours about how good the
story was, how well it fit into the mythos, how great the voice acting
was, etc. It's a bit dated at this point, but you can see the beginning
of a lot of BioWare's modern practices.
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I have yet to complete Baldur’s Gate
II, but I would still love to see another entry into the
franchise. Hopefully one day that will be possible. It will help me
want to complete Baldur’s Gate II
in order to prepare for a new entry, even if it does feature a new
story arc since the previous one was concluded.
Wheels
You really should play Baldur's Gate
II. It is a great deal better than the original, exploring more
of the Forgotten Realms and bringing the story to an epic close. I
haven't completed the whole thing myself, though I was on the final
dungeon. It is absolutely a must play. I'd love to see another entry in
the series, but it seems unlikely that BioWare will get to use the
Dungeons and Dragons license again, and I doubt many would want to see
a sequel from anyone else. I think it would be better if BioWare
continues to develop the lore of their own Dragon Age world.
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Have you played through any of the
Baldur’s Gate games, the Dark
Alliance series included? If so, which game out of the ones you
have played is your favorite?
Continue providing your superb Q&A commentary sir,
-Rival
Wheels
Baldur's Gate
II is absolutely the best in the series, in my opinion. It
improves upon the brilliant groundwork put forth by the first game, and
provides more locations to explore and more interesting characters to
adventure with. It is by far one of the finest RPGs out there. Both Dark Alliance games are good for
some hack and slash action, but not even close to the level of
BioWare's games.
Anyway, thank you for the kind words! Looking forward to hearing from
you again.
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Q&A will be taking a brief break next week, with many of you I'm
sure getting settled back into school, and your host starting work on
his graduate thesis project. So take that extra time to get some more
questions in!
See you in two weeks!
-Wheels
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What I can't wait for:
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2. Why do you think Nintendo suddenly decided to add region protection
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4. Do you prefer digital releases or physical releases and why?
5. Borderlands somehow merged Diablo and first person shooters to make
an incredible game, what can the sequel do to improve on the first?
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