West Coast Canada IV: "Ah yes, 'Guilty Gear' - we have already dismissed that game!"

[nagai]

cleaning out the streets with my steel pipe

[rtl42]

Hey Stefan, Dragon Age 2 demo is available. Kinda bummed you can't pull the camera all the way back anymore, but everything else feels better. Kinda did the whole ME2 thing where models and art design look a lot more distinctive, and combat feels nicer.

Pfttt Kindle. I don't even use my free one.

thanks Yuan, I actually downloaded it this morning and tried it out.

i've never played it before on PC, so i didn't notice the lack of camera flexibility but on the PS3, it felt smooth for the most part, although i still had a few "jockeying-for-a-hit" moments. i'm glad they changed the radial menu so that attacking a targeted enemy is queued up until you voluntarily leave the menu, rather than forcing you to exit the menu.

i'm not really familiar with the Dynasty Warriors franchise (and its spin-offs/copies), but to some extent the combat in DA2 kinda reminded of the few DW-type games I had tried. DA:O seems a bit clunky, in that respect, and yet there's something more "realistic" about it that i kinda like -- actually having to run to the enemy at a "realistic" rate; more "realistic" combat animations. the stuff in DA2 i saw so far looked a bit too fantastic in comparison: instant dash-slash attacks from medium distance; leaping into the sky way higher than should be possible; and maybe it's just me, but i found that with a Sword & Shield warrior, you would sometimes get into a situation where your character (sprite*?) only used one jerky stabbing attack animation :/ if it's not just me, then that's a bit of an oversight on (someone at) Bioware's part.

i haven't tried the rogue class yet, so i'm gonna try that for PC tonight.

the "expressive" dialogue wheel looks pretty good, it's kinda nice to see them use that feature from Mass Effect.

you know, one thing i don't like about the DA series is the cartoony-looking artwork that they use here and there (especially during the narrated cutscenes). it just looks... amateur? i'm sure it's an appreciated style, by some, but i just can't take it seriously. i feel like it takes away from the epicness/grandeur of the game's (intended) atmosphere.

*what is the correct term, here, given that the characters are modeled in 3D? just "models"?

Edited February 23, 2011 by rtl42

[Saru Kada]

hahahaha everybody spending time in the marvel lab, oh shit. givin' those nigs a face full of lead... pipe

yuan, I read light novels and other stuff quite often on my ipad actually. I know the kindle is easier on the eyes as far as that goes, but the ipad screen has never given me any issues. as far as pdf formatting goes, I've found that the program I use for sheet music works great for reading pdfs.

[rtl42]

okay so i'm just starting the PC version of the DA2 demo and i'm already irritated by the lack of a shortcut key for the Main Menu (wtf?????) and the fact that the Tactics interface is glitched out.

edit: ugh crashed on the 2nd-last fight, oh wells.

Edited February 23, 2011 by rtl42

[geogaddi]

hahahaha everybody spending time in the marvel lab, oh shit. givin' those nigs a face full of lead... pipe

yuan, I read light novels and other stuff quite often on my ipad actually. I know the kindle is easier on the eyes as far as that goes, but the ipad screen has never given me any issues. as far as pdf formatting goes, I've found that the program I use for sheet music works great for reading pdfs.

that glorious ISO-2022-JP / Shift_JIS-2004 character set also supported on kindle

NIPPON BANZAI

not so sure how sheet music will fare since screen is smaller

[BagLunch]

you know, one thing i don't like about the DA series is the cartoony-looking artwork that they use here and there (especially during the narrated cutscenes). it just looks... amateur? i'm sure it's an appreciated style, by some, but i just can't take it seriously. i feel like it takes away from the epicness/grandeur of the game's (intended) atmosphere.

I actually like the look of those cutscenes more than the polygonal stuff!

For me it makes me think about tapestries and paintings that were done prior to the formalization of perspective theory in painting and illustration. If you look at stuff from the Middle Ages in Europe, this style is really about iconic depiction of things, and I find that it fits the sword-and-sorcery setting very well.

Good example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikinger.jpg

[Saru Kada]

already I have a secondary team: ryu/dormammu/iron man

I have named it the DREAM BEAM TEAM

dormammu's doesn't technically count as a beam, but I couldn't find a better third

dhcs have never been easier

[sweetvids]

One problem with your team though Mike. Who's gonna build the meter for all these beams? Assuming Tony is the anchor because of his combo capability.

[Saru Kada]

ryu and mashing j.s, and also whatever I can get from dormammu zoning. tony's the anchor because dormammu can't be and ryu feels better on point. I never build more than like 2-3 meter at a time since it all gets drained from beaming, but since everybody dhcs into everybody with no issues, it's good times

I've tried it a couple games and yeah dormammu is definitely the weak link. need to drop more points on dormammu tech. ryu is hella easy though which helps, and tony I just need more experience with.

[BagLunch]

*what is the correct term, here, given that the characters are modeled in 3D? just "models"?

If it's a 3D thing, you can refer to it as a "model", and say "character model", "weapon model", "vehicle model", to specify etc.

-------------------

Aside:

There's this kind of interesting dynamic between the ME and DA designers.

DA2 is very clearly a ME-ification of DA, though one of the things about the dialogue wheel is that it in fact often didn't work as designed even in ME; for one, you were often not sure of what your guy would actually say, the "move conversation forward" options could sometimes get pushed to the left side (where the "give me more detail" options ought to be), and all kinds of other stuff.

One of the more interesting things I heard while in Bioware is that making a game like DA:O (outrageously long single player game) is that it's becoming increasingly not worth it to make a AAA game like that. The costs are blowing up, and too many people who play the game see 1/2 of what's in the game or less. Especially since AAA games simply need to be franchisable products now, it's more and more attractive to make multiple, shorter installments: each game can be higher quality just by virtue of being more polished in the few things it does, and more iterations gives the games a chance to become progressively better. That's not going to stop those crazy Euros from making games that are too goddamn long, but once you start getting metrics about just how little of your gigantic game people see, you can't help but think about refocusing your efforts.

------------------------

Back to academia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxDN49gQoBY

--------------------------

I'm surprised that Namor isn't in MvC3, considering that the Sub Mariner is clearly the saltiest hero in Marvel.

--------------------------

I want to run a team of Arthur/Spencer/Haggar.

Arthur is annoying and builds meter.

Spencer burns all the meter and I'm a Bionic Commando fanboy I confess.

Haggar is there to bail me out of trouble with lariat.

Trouble is I want to play with Wesker, Ammy, Sent, Mags, Phoenix, Dante, etc. etc.

How well can Wesker pretend to be Toki?

[sweetvids]

Well Wesker can deal big damage off of pretty much no meter. He has OTG combos, his teleports are pretty good but you need the use of good assists to create good mixups and crossups. Overall a solid character though. His super is lacking though.

Yeah, really gotta find ways to incorporate the Liberation Orbs into Dormammu's gameplay. You can get like 2 orbs off a connected Purifaction, but they they're free to try to get in and once they're in, it's hard to get them off so you have to make sure to set up the defenses before they make it in. Still hard against teleport characters though and his projectile spam is weaker vs other projectile spammers like Iron Man or Sentinel since his shit comes out so slow, so you're forced to come to him, which can really be a bad idea. I don't know. Have to see how the technology unfolds, but as of right now, I don't really know how to play him.

[BagLunch]

Pair him with gold LeiLei assist. She takes up space and eats hits giving him a chance to shoot.

How does a team of MODOK/Dorm/Doom work? 3 dudes in chairs, or is such a team too chill to win?

[Cardinal_Sin]

How well can Wesker pretend to be Toki?

To follow up on what Peter said, Wesker is a pretty complete character like Toki is, but he can't lock people down like Toki does indefinitely. His teleports differ in several ways:

a) Longer-ranged than Toki, which means you won't end up beside the opponent most of the time when doing blockstrings

b) None of them have frame advantage to my knowledge

The high teleport puts you on top of the opponent after most blockstrings, which makes for a good mixup, but if they anticipate it i'm sure they can find a reasonable way to poke you out. If you're pressuring with forward teleport you have to play a nice little game of footsies or cover yourself with an assist to make up for the fact that the spacing isn't perfect. Once you learn the spacing though you can bait people into taking more damage with a well placed crouch attack, as opposed to Toki who doesnt bother trying to bait you at all.

However, Wesker is just as easy to learn as Toki and the counter super is pretty damn good (and DHC'able to be safe, though i never bother).

Zero has shorter teleports so he can keep up Toki pressure for a longer period of time, but it's much more risky since none of his teleports are invincible, they're completely readable (he's still visible on screen), and he is a total glass cannon unlike Wesker.

Speaking of 3 dudes in chairs they really should have put in Prof X.

"And what do they call you? Wheels?"

[BagLunch]

If you have 3 guys who can do counter super, can you have DHC into counter super yomi battles?

[sweetvids]

No, because most counter supers don't counter projectiles, so they can just DHC into projectiles themselves. DHCing is already yomi unto itself. You see a guy do a super, you do your super to counter his, he DHCs into a level 3, you DHC into a counter, he DHCs into another projectile, you DHC into a super that has invuln.

[Cardinal_Sin]

If you have 3 guys who can do counter super, can you have DHC into counter super yomi battles?

No, because Taskmaster's counter is unDHCable and neither is Deadpool's level 3.

I'm hoping to see someone DHC into a level 3 grab to counter-yomi a counter super though.

[BagLunch]

Does anybody have an anti air grab super?

It'd be really funny to do something like

try

{

____ groundGrabSuper();

}

catch( OpponentJumpedException e )

{

____DHC( antiAirGrabSuper );

}

[BagLunch]

let's see if clarence picks up on the puntastic stealth joke in that code

[rtl42]

I actually like the look of those cutscenes more than the polygonal stuff!

For me it makes me think about tapestries and paintings that were done prior to the formalization of perspective theory in painting and illustration. If you look at stuff from the Middle Ages in Europe, this style is really about iconic depiction of things, and I find that it fits the sword-and-sorcery setting very well.

Good example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikinger.jpg

thx for the reference, i had forgotten about that but had this sort of "tip of the tongue" feeling whenever i saw those pictures.

still, while i can understand that viewpoint, i've actually never liked that style of painting lol. just looks so crude; why try to "glamourize" it by including it in a fantasy RPG.

also what does "AAA" mean? (high quality? or is it an acronym for something?)

edit: looking at the Wikinger pic again, i realized that i was reminded of old Monty Python skits. maybe that's another reason i subconsciously can't take that style seriously? it's too strongly associated with Monty Python for me.

Edited February 24, 2011 by rtl42

[BagLunch]

wowowow

Spooky stream blew up when Zero got a lvl 3 super team kill when the other guy was trying to chip him out with Wesker+assist

Then the Zero player got blown up by Dark Phoenix next game

sooooo much hype/BS

[BagLunch]

"AAA" typically refers to games with very high or even near-unlimited budgets. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're as good as they cost, but it does mean that they are attempting to compete with other titles that have similar financial backing, and expectations of the title's quality are commensurate. Starcraft 2 is a AAA title. DA:O is a AAA title. Gears of War is a AAA title. Final Fantasy XIV, bad as it is, is a AAA title.

See the games in Steam's "indie" category? None of those are AAA titles.

Think about what "B movie" means in terms of expectations, and that's pretty much the idea of the scale. "B games" exist just as "B movies" do.

[ghostgoodboy]

127 hours is a good movie.

[nagai]

having some good runs with Haggar/Dante/Chris, though online play isn't exactly the best way to gauge how good that team actually is. it'll probably get super owned by actual players.

I don't think anyone has a anti air grab super. The closest is like Haggar-- his DP+C launches himself up for a grab... you can do a re-launch combo into super bodyslam.

Haggar's air steel pipe seems very powerful in scrub play... if it connects, I combo it into a launcher super which can cancel into Dante's super... if it doesn't connect, keep doing it until it connects. oh yeah, it's so satisfying killing Zero with the steel pipe (exploding from being his by a steel pipe... haha..)

Chris' machine-gun assist goes quite well with Dante's teleport crossup... and it's also good with Haggar steel pipe jump-ins. Chris as an actual fighter doesn't feel too powerful... But his long-range game seems to counter other long-range games. He's gotten me outta lots of X-factor sentinel situations with his jump magnum tricks... plus he's got a lot of OTG combo potential.

Dante is just dante... I only know one high damage combo (using teleport crossup)... and it seems to be working.

[sweetvids]

She-Hulk actually has an anti-air grab super that's quite good I hear.

[MrDolphin]

She-Hulk has an anti-air super.

Damn, beat me to it Peter.