Yeah, I don't know why everyone decided to take their beautiful 2D DS games and make them all ugly on 3DS. Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Virtue's Last Reward... even Mario and Luigi!
It was obvious that Randall was the masked man, but was it really obvious that Henry was a good guy and Randall had been coerced into taking revenge on the city via an impersonation of Angela Ledore?
@Secret_Tunnel Yeah, I'm playing VLR right now, and I can't help but miss the 2D artwork from 999. But for some reason in Layton I got over it quickly and actually like the 3D models now.
I agree. Of course, most of Chomet's works are that way, ha ha. (I mostly watch them for the art and animation!)
If you're into amazing looking 2D, I highly recommend Headless Productions. As far as I know they can't get funding for the amazing movies they've made trailers for (WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD) but they've got some fantastic work on their website.
@anon_mastermind Maybe not so much with the last one, but yeah, the other 2 weren't hard to see coming. I'm not saying it wasn't still a good story because it was still good. You could also say that at least it made sense instead of going completely into WTF land like Unwound Future.
@Secret_Tunnel I actually think Mario & Luigi translated into 3D pretty darn well. Of course, this is based on minimal viewing of trailers, I haven't actually played the game -- but it looks much better than Phoenix Wright, Layton or VLR.
@anon_mastermind From what Amanda's seen, she's VERY turned off by the 3D models in Miracle Mask. I'll admit they do look pretty...lifeless? The 2D artwork had so much charm to it.
@DeputyVanHalen Yeah, The Unwound Future was kind of out there. But it still had some great story moments. I lost it during the Hershel saying goodbye to Claire scene. The Last Specter was a bit dull, probably my least favourite of the bunch so far.
On a related note, have you tried the DLC puzzles for Miracle Mask? They're pretty clever!
@PogueSquadron I suppose I must have expected some big change moving from DS to 3DS so I don't really mind. I loved the 2D work, and we still get it in cut-scenes, but I find the game portions are much more "alive" with 3D models, and it looks great.
@Secret_Tunnelbut it looks much better than Phoenix Wright, Layton or VLR.
Agreed. I guess it's kind of a different art style too. Sort of like Yoshi's New Island. I'm not a fan of the wishy washy painty style. The original games in those two series were so crisp!
@Secret_Tunnel I think Layton looked pretty good in 3-D, it was still very hand-drawn and painterly looking, kind of like Ni No Kuni. But I agree with you about Mario & Luigi, it doesn't look so hot. I'm hoping it's nicer in real life than in videos.
In a way Iwata is correct. The original Wii could have sold at this price in its first year or two and the demand would still have been high. You only have to look at the resale and ebay value at the time to see that.
I'm sure more consoles would be selling if price was lower but the big problem is software and awareness. It's an increasingly tough market and focusing so much of their resources on 3DS has screwed over the U's first year but get those three things right eventually and people will buy.
@Jargon But there's no hard proof that price is the issue.
It's not really a black-and-white thing, since most of the purchases thus far were almost certainly by early adopters, and all, but I'm inclined to side with Iwata. The Gamecube price just kept droppin' and droppin', and it didn't really do much for it. It might've even hurt the system's image.
I do think a $50 cut before the PS4 hits would help, but stores have been REGULARLY offering 50 gift cards/free games with purchase, so there you go.
Your comment reminded me of the initial year of the Wii launch. With systems so scarce, the consoles were literally selling for $500+ on eBay and the like. Why? Two words: Wii Sports. The game alone sold systems, even at a ridiculous cost. Parents buying for their kids, and the new market of non-gamers felt the system was must-own. Regardless of what it might cost them online.
NintendoLand is amazing fun, but it's no Wii Sports in that regard. Let's hope Mario 3D Land is that sort of system seller, and if so people will line up with their $350 in hand.
The fact that those who have bought Wii U are willing to pay $350 over $300 does not prove that those who haven't bought a Wii U wouldn't buy it at $250.
@Jargon True, but the price will hit that point eventually and they can wait for those people rather than taking a large loss on every console sold now in order to get people who, if they're that cheap, probably aren't going to buy too many games for it either.
Of course the games come first, but price comes second and the Wii U would definitely sell more this holiday if they drop the price too. And considering how poorly it's doing, they need to do everything possible to spur sales. The Basic set is proof of nothing because it's a bad value compared to the Deluxe, and everyone sees that, plus I think most people prefer black to white anyway.
But, of course, Nintendo would never hint at a price drop until at most a few weeks before it happened. No company talks about when the price will be cheaper because they don't want people to wait. If Nintendo were asked about a price drop for the 3DS the day before it was announced, they would give a similar response as this.
