A week in the making! In this scary Negative World Podcast episode, Alaska_Gamer talks about the disturbing Alien VS Predator 2, Guillaume talks about the spooky first NES Castlevania as well as the eerie Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood, and Anand discusses his grotesque Nintendogs + Cats adventures.
The gang then talks about Western RPGs turning into action games in order to sell better, the necessity of game critics, and predictable or unpredictable enemy patterns in old school action games. Featuring bonus talk about cooperative action!
As usual, the theme music comes from Negative World's owner and ghoul, Zero. Those creepy notes you hear are coming to you from beyond the grave. Also, Castlevania.
Comment on the topics, the podcast, the guests, the host, etc. on Negative World! Or, be a weirdo and post them on Facebook or Twitter instead.
Don't worry, I won't ever make the mistake of having both of you guys on the podcast at the same time again.
I don't think it's so outside the realm of possibility that this Holy Water detail was done on purpose. Games take months (now years) to make, and many of these artists have a crazy attention to detail. Kind of like animators. I'm always amazed when listening to commentary tracks for animated shows and hear about details I never noticed myself, and how deliberate they are.
The rigid jumping mechanic was also probably a reason why I didn't like Castlevania as a kid, good point. And when I played it last month, I didn't mind so much. Maybe I am less prejudiced now...
I just finished listening to the end result, and I think I'm gonna allow myself a pat on the back here. Good editing job, Guillaume!
I took a lot out, for the sake of keeping a good flow and keeping the discussion interesting. I'm sorry Anand and AG, but I don't think people were THAT interested in what you have to go through to get AVP2 running on a current computer...
I didn't forget any of the points I wanted to make, either, so I'm happy about my "performance" there. I just gotta remember not to abuse the word "like" when I'm trying to make a point... There was one particularly bad occurence, I don't know what triggered it.
But overall, another solid episode, guys.
edit - I also pat myself on the back for my choice of the very last thing you hear on the podcast. Bwahahaha.
Yeah, the episode was edited well, though I wanted my message about vertical aim ruining FPS games to reach the masses!
I said 'interesting' about 10 times in the space of 20 seconds at one point. Ugh. I feel like it's so much harder to find the exact word that I want to use while podcasting. The pressure, maybe, because you know that you're sounding more and more like a moron?
Man, you guys really don't like Action RPGs, you guys are weird. D: I actually enjoy them.
Also, the whole thing with X-Com becoming a first-person shooter... I'm not sure why you guys are okay with that. I never really played the series personally, but after being absent for so long, it seems like a kick in the balls to the fans.
Though, I don't know, it could work like with Super Metroid to Metroid Prime, where the aspects of Super Metroid were still carried over pretty well, (even though some people here would disagree ), but the difference with X-Com is that it was based around strategy, not action, so the switch to becoming and FPS is even more upsetting for fans. I'm also really surprised Anand was okay with it and didn't speak up because of this reason.
I liked the rant you guys did on gaming media sites, especially the part about taking that quote from Iwata Asks out of context.
Also, I just realized, the podcast stopped, the download link only gives me a partial part of the podcast. D: I was listening to it on this page, but then I accidentally closed the tab, so I downloaded it so I could quickly find my place again.
@Paleo_Orca I don't hate all Action RPGs. It is a super-difficult balance to nail, though.
And I don't think I said that I was okay with X-Com becoming a shooter. I think I said that making those RPGs look like shooters was the only way to get the mass-market to play them. But X-Com is a bit different, like you said. Strategy game - > Shooter, which is a path that has seldom resulted in good things.
I heard Alaska_Gamer saying how fans of the game were complaining that it was being turned into a FPS, though I guess you guys didn't really know much about it anyway if you didn't speak up. *shrug*
Yeah, I was totally wrong about the meaning of Akumajou Dracula. I was thinking Aku = evil, so curse. WRONG.
Oh, I almost forgot to chime in on this specifically: it's funny/interesting that "Dracula's Curse" was thrown out there as a guess, since the third game in the series has that exact phrase as it's sub-title.
I wish that offer to visit Drac's hometown was still valid... would be a cool trip, I think.
I think muscle memory accounts for a lot of how we remember patterns in games. When I played through RUNNER again in COMPLETE, I didn't have any trouble at all until about halfway through World 3.
Pac-Man CE DX handles memorization vs. reflexes well. If you can remember exactly what to do, you're golden... but you're probably going to screw up, which forces you to adapt and find another path.
I'd love to see a study explaining the psychology behind "gaming instincts."
), but the difference with X-Com is that it was based around strategy, not action, so the switch to becoming and FPS is even more upsetting for fans. I'm also really surprised Anand was okay with it and didn't speak up because of this reason.
