Jack and Rich are back for a new episode of Previously Recorded covering the classic NES game Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. I owned the original Legend of Zelda and played it a ton as a wee lad. I never had Zelda II but did play it quite a few times with friends.
Did you play Zelda II and if so what were your memories of it?
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/17/2014 at 05:08am
My cousin had both Zelda games and so did other friends. I never could get anywhere with the sequel. It wasn't until many years later that I played it and I made it through the game using cheats and guides.
This is the continuing saga of Convinced, the RetroLiberty series where he reads the text and pictures off the box all in hopes that you would have bought the game. Castle of Illusion wasn't a game I played but it's always interested me.
Curious what everyone is playing right now? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
Games I am playing right now?
Starship Rubicon - We are in beta right now SQUEEEEE!
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - Before BlizzCon I decided to play this again and am having lots of fun.
Risk of Rain - I can now, most of the time, beat level one with an epic build. Level two kicks my ass. I you Risk of Rain, even though you are so very difficult.
Eldritch - Way more fun than I expected to have. It plays great with a keyboard & mouse and controller. The mood of the game is superb.
Earthbound - So fun, but I am taking forever to complete it.
What are you into right now? Anything we should know about?
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 08:29pm
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - Because I found out about Whimsyshire and decided to collect the ingredients for the staff to get there. However, I later found a Rainbow Goblin, which lead me there.
I, sadly, haven't been playing much lately. I managed to play a little GTA Online the other night with a friend, and that's about it besides a quick Risk of Rain run here and there.
My gaming has slowed down recently because i've been working a lot, but right now i'm in the middle of Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Maximum Carnage (sega genesis), and Pokemon Yellow.
Since Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos I have been a fan of Blizzard Collectors Editions. The modern incarnations come with several documentary shorts on the making of the game and I really love watching those after I complete the main story. Recently Blizzard celebrated 10 years of World of Warcraft and to help ring in the year, created an hour long documentary "Looking for Group."
So if you have every run with the Tauren in Thunder Bluff or swam with the Undead in Stranglethorn, peep the documentary above, you know.... for the horde.
This actually popped up as a youtube ad. I couldn't tell at first if it was the actual documentary or a trailer for it, but it was an hour long, so I'm assuming it was. It looked interesting, but I was in the middle of watching something else so I skipped it. But I'll be watching it probably sometime today whilst working.
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All Witcher 3 DLC will be free, which isn't something we see much of in the triple A game space. Indie games often come with free updates such as Terraria and Minecraft but this is pretty unique for a triple A game. I have little hope that EA, Ubi or 2K would do this but one could dream.
Well, I don't know where the definitions lie for AAA and indie, really. It's hard to define. But overall, I think I call CD Projekt Red an indie company.
The weird thing is, Burnout: Paradise, developed by Criterion Games, and published by EA, is one of the best in terms of free content. The game was expanded significantly, adding new vehicles, motorcycles, game modes, and tons more content for free. It wasn't until way after release, when they released a whole new island, that they started asking for money. It hasn't been that long ago that EA was the bad-guy-turned-good-guy, but even more recently they became the bad-guy-turned-good-guy-turned-bad-guy-again.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 05:02am
Makes sense how you look at CD Project Red BUT they own GOG too and even though they are independent they are pretty big now. I guess Valve might be Indie as they are not owned by anyone? It's a strange line between indie and non but yeah, I'd consider The Witcher 3 to be a triple A game.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 05:02am
Cool to hear about the free updates to burnout. I haven't played it before, but do like the occasional racing game.
That's great to read! I really enjoyed the first two Witcher games and I've pre-ordered the third one back in August when GOG offered it for 20% off if you owned the first two (even if purchased on Steam). I'll be happy to get some free DLC as it comes out.
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So most of us played Duck Hunt on NES and remember the Dog. The Dog that never stopped laughing at our failure. I never really hated the Dog, but some have negative memories of it. In a move I didn't quite foresee, Nintendo is adding the Duck Hunt Dog and Duck to Super Smash Brothers on Wii U. The way they play looks interesting and I can wait to give this character a try.
What do you think, does this new Smash Brothers character look cool enough to use in a Smash match?
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 02:47am
Duck Hunt is indeed a new character in the game, but it's not just the dog, the duck is with him, too. This character, called "Duck Hunt," is kind of a like a two-in-one, some what similar to Olimar who is Olimar and his Pikmin. Some of Duck Hunt's special movies includes 8-bit characters that shoot. You can also shoot cans and clay "pigeons" to hurt your enemies. I was delighted to see Duck Hunt in the game. Since I've had the 3DS verson of Super Smash Bros., I've had some time playing with Duck Hunt. Also, when "Duck Hunt" jumps, the duck carries the dog. It's really cool.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 03:31am
Yes, you do, Travis! =) The game comes out in 11 days. I have it pre-ordered along with the new Pokemon games. =)
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 03:43am
Oh! I should also mention that Nintendo's amiibo figures are supposedly going to be being released at the same time (in 11 days). I pre-ordered Link for myself and my son chose Fox. I saw something about the Link figure being able to function in Hyrule Warriors. Speaking of Hyrule Warriors, I still love the game. I have completed Legend mode and not yet tried any of the other modes yet. I collected all of the "easy" Gold Skulltulas, but have not yet collected all the more difficult ones. I did also purchase all of the DLC for the game.
Back to Smash Bros., I still don't have a favorite character, I like almost all of them. Over the last few months, I've spent a lot of time with the 3DS version unlocking characters, stages, and doing the various challenges. Both games are supposed to interact some how. On the main menu is a button for the Wii U, which is a feature that is currently unavailable. The stages are supposed to be different in both versions, with the 3DS having more handheld stages (such as a stage based upon The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Train). I'm also sure that while the 3DS is missing the "story" mode, it will be on the Wii U. I have been pretty impressed with the game. Little Mac is really strong! The Villager (from Animal Crossing) is also a cool new character. I thought that the Gamecube version of the game was pretty deep with lots of trophies, but the Wii version expanded upon that and thus so has the 3DS. I expect the Wii U version will be even better than the 3DS version.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 04:59am
Interesting. I wonder how the games will be related?
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/11/2014 at 05:10am
I'm not sure, but I haven't looked into it. I forgot to mention that the Wii U version will support 8 characters battling together at once on the same stage.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/23/2014 at 12:21am
Now that I have the Wii U version of the game, I thought I'd leave a comment about some of it. It seems most of the characters are already unlocked, although I apparently unlocked Falcon. I was surprised that Ganondorf was available on the character selection screen, since I had to unlock him on the 3DS version of the game. The game looks awesome on the big screen TV in high-definition. The graphics do not look like the 3DS version. Sadly, story mode was not included. I read an article that said the creator of the game decided not to include it and the cut scenes since people were uploading them to the Internet. I think I saw my son watching one of them, so maybe cut scenes some where, some how.
There is an amiibo button in the Vault menu (I think). The game will tell you to place the amiibo on the bottom-left side of the game pad to access it. You can customize the amiboo fighter by changing it's color, equipment, and moves. I added my Link amiibo, gave him some of the strongest available equipment, and changed his outfit color to blue. Other abilities were not available, perhaps they will be in due time. To get the amiibo to fight in a Smash game, you have to select the customize option on the game. Then, you can put the amiibo on the game pad and select which character place it will be. It sounds confusing, but it's not. My amiibo played on its own and I even watched and lose to Zelda. It did level up to 6 or 7 and it can level up to 50.
The 3DS version of the game can connect to the Wii U version by using the 3DS icon on the main menu of the Wii U game or the Wii U icon on the main menu on the 3DS game. You can use the 3DS as another controller and you can copy over customizations back and forth between the two versions of the game.
The game manual also shows that a GameCube controller can be used to play the game using a new adapter. I'm not sure if this adapter is available yet.
I may make a main post about the game later after I spend some more time playing it.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/24/2014 at 01:10pm
I made a correction in my Super Smash Bros. post about the amiibo figure/character. You don't have to turn on "Custom Fighters" on the character selection screen, just put the amiibo on the designated spot on the GamePad. I've just start doing team battles with my amiibo Link.
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Blizzard dropped quite a bit of interesting news at BlizzCon yesterday. Not only is Blizzard dropping the last installment of Starcraft 2 on fans but they are also working on an entirely new game called Overwatch. Billed as a team based hero shooter, Overwatch looks really interesting and features a very unique art style that isn't common with existing Blizzard games. There are certainly characters that have the Blizzard feel, but overall, the art style is very sleek and has a very comic book feel.
Blizzard isn't sure if this will be a standard priced game or be free to play. Many people have compared Overwatched to Team Fortress, DoTA or League and I think those comparisons seem fair. For an entirely new IP that seems to compete with other free to play games, free to play does seem to make sense for this game.
What do you think of Overwatch? Does Blizzards upcoming shooter excite you?
This looks like a ton of fun. It looks like sort of a cross between TF2 and the Halo games. I didn't read your post fully, but I see that you mentioned the comic book feel. I agree completely. Not quite as cartoony as TF2, but lighter than Halo.
I would love to see a 1st person shooter with the amount of heroes as in Dota or LoL. I worry that this could get lost as "just another 1st person shooter." More variety in heroes and abilities would make for a more varied experience.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 11/10/2014 at 08:01pm
I watched the Blizzard panel about Overwatch at BlizzCon and they only revealed 12 heroes, they plan on adding a ton more.
Star Wars VII finally has a new name and it is "The Force Awakens." It is a nod to the new chapter in Star Wars that Disney and JJ Abrams are starting. 2015 can't come soon enough.
What do you think, does the new name feel like Star Wars?
Yeah there was a lot to dislike about the prequel movies, and midichlorians is probably my most hated addition, except for maybe youza-know-who...
I think the new movie will probably make little to no reference to the prequel movies. I doubt they'll directly contradict the prequels, I just think they'll ignore them. I remain cautiously optimistic about the new Star Wars movie. I've been hurt in the past, but I think I'm ready to love again. We'll see if JJ and Disney can make it happen.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 11/07/2014 at 02:21am
If I were JJ I might put in some joke reference to the prequels. That said, if you want the movie to be timeless it might be a good idea to avoid that sort of thing.
Still, a Gungan that trips and falls off a cliff OR Leia kissing Luke on the cheek would be some epic fan service that would cause nerds to lose it. In a good way
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 11/07/2014 at 05:11am
Hm, well "the force" awakened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Perhaps the title may refer to "the force" awakening within a character. I'm a fan of JJ. I liked Heroes and his Star Trek movies. I think he's a great guy and he'll do well with Star Wars.
That said, I don't understand the midichlorians (if that's how we're spelling it) dis-like. I am also one of those rare Star Wars fans that not only enjoyed the pre-quels and has the Star Wars: Complete Collection on Blu-Ray, but I also like Jar Jar!
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My cousin had both Zelda games and so did other friends. I never could get anywhere with the sequel. It wasn't until many years later that I played it and I made it through the game using cheats and guides.
I loved Zelda II, but hadn't really thought about it in decades. I'm really glad they reviewed it and didn't just hate on it.