X-strike Podcast

[Reznor]

*Ahem*

I cannot say this is the earliest case of a non-random encounter RPG, but certainly is the earliest I can think of in a major franchise: Ultima 3: Exodus. (Did 1 and 2 have random battles? Who has played them, honestly? They never made a console presence, so do they even count?) Ultima, which made a splash on consoles from Ultima 3,4,5 on NES and Ultima 6 on SNES, had Random battles only in #4 of these. Despite that, U4: Quest of the Avatar remains one of my favorite Olde Tyme RPG's.

ALL of the Ultimas had non-random battles. The NES port of Ultima 4 was VERY bastardized. The closest any console port of any Ultima has come to being like the original was Ultima VI: The False Prophet on SNES. Aside from a few missing items, it's pretty much exactly the same as what you play on the PC.

The PC versions were WAY more fleshed out, especially the greatness that is Ultima 7: The Black Gate, and Ultima 7: Serpent Isle. That's right, the story was so big, they had to make TWO games!

EVERYONE should play through the Ultima 7 series.

[bokista]

Fun facts about Bobby!

Fact: Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time.
Fact: Chrono Cross is my favorite RPG of all time (weird how that works).
Fact: I can't stand most RPGs, especially JRPGs.

I think those three things say a lot about the quality of those games and how different they are from the mold. I'm glad a new generation of game players gets to hang out with Luminaire and I hope it resonates with them like it did us.

[horsewnoname]

I would say many of the very basic games hold up over time. I still have Tetris loaded into my old brick Game Boy, and I turn it on when I need to kill a few minutes.

I think also we can experience a degree of turning a blind eye to how crappy a game is because of the nostalgia playing it evokes. Yes, games like Dragon Warrior took forever, but I can still laugh thinking about watching my brother endlessly wandering around searching for that illusive metal slime.

[Jakanden]

Regarding FFVII - I agree with everything said. The ones who list it as one of the best RPG's ever, usually had never played a JRPG prior to it. However, for those who played JRPG's before it, are almost always on the "It is overrated" side of the debate (myself included).

I am a Tekken whore myself (and I still play online frequently with the Tekken 5 DR:Online) and I also agree the first three haven't aged well. I still think Tekken Tag is awesome though and will pop it in from time to time, especially when friends are over. I look at the Tekken games in a fairly technical light as I have actually competed in a few local tournaments for the series from Tekken Tag on up. I will definitely be getting Tekken 6 and will be online with it all the time.

[cacomistle]

i actually loved tekken 4. probably still my fav.

[Jakanden]

i actually loved tekken 4. probably still my fav.

I despised it as the changed all the timing with the combos. For instance, I have some combos with Lei where I can string a continual chain forever without breaking it but in Tekken 4, they changed it so it misses your opponent on the 3rd string. That is just one of many instances where I don't like the changes. Luckily, in T5 they changed the timing back for most combos and from what I heard of T6, it keeps the T5 system.

Regarding the recent podcast, I personally love my PS3 more than my 360 and I am actually gonna sell my 360 at the end of the year after Gears of War 2. There are quite a few games I care about for it on both PSN and PS3 (Infamous, Flower, Resistance 2, Tekken 6, Yakuza 3, GoW 3, etc..) and I love the fact it isn't region locked (I have Yakuza Kenzan & Initial D). I use PSN/PSP connectivity quite often for doing things like watching stuff on my PS3 from my PSP at work and sometimes playing PS1 games via the net (Just recently played through Parasite Eve that way). Since the hard drive is freely swappable, I have installed a 160gb drive on it and also have a Linux partition installed so I can use it as PC connected to my TV. I will be the first to admit that XBL is better overall than PSN, but I think PSN will get there as they are changing things fairly quickly and finally adding things that should have been there in the first place (like In-game XMB). I am also not excited about Home in the slightest but perhaps I will be proven wrong. Then again, arguing about stuff like this on the Internet is completely pointless so I guess I will just agree to disagree.

I am not sure which way I am going to go on the GH4 or RB2 decision. I don't own either full set and I only own a guitar. You guys are way better than me as I found GHIII too hard and loved & I was only able to get through half the game on Hard even though I played GH II on expert. For that reason I am still leaning towards Rock Band 2 as I liked Rock Band's charts better, but I really dig the additions to GH4 so it is a toss up. I won't get both simply because I only have time to devote to one so I will wait to see the reviews before picking up either.

I don't remember David Hayter being in Drive at all even though I have seen it a dozen times. I will have to go back and watch it again now to see if I can spot him.

[Zeiram]

FLAB

[Jakanden]

Someone mentioned The Last Blade! I thought almost no one played it despite how awesome it is. I still play it every now and then via Gametap (with my PC being hooked up to my 42in LCD TV no less).

[Juese]

Last Blade rocks. I only played 2 via Dreamcast, but I always liked the character designs and weapons, as well as the minimalist music. Always wanted to see another one.

[Jakanden]

I was going to import the PS2 version when it came out, but by all accounts, it is a horrible "port" as it is emulated and badly at that.

[cacomistle]

that soul calibur movie idea is INSANELY HILARIOUS!
i'm laughing so hard at this.

[horsewnoname]

Booo evil computers working against everyone! I'm really glad you guys talked about it though ^_^ I still feel happy...

[Reznor]

Podcast "16 1/2" has the wrong release date, making it appear out of order in my iTunes podcast subscription. It's release date is "7/14/08"

[gobbleskat]

You sir cracked our nefarious code and have exposed our most evil of plans. WOOTs to you.

[Reznor]

Holy shit, thanks to the podcast, I have discovered the awesomeness that is the Survivor Edition of Fallout 3.

And the best part is, you can wear the Pipboy 3000 Alarm Clock... ON YOUR FUCKING ARM!