Great episode guys, it's been awhile since we had some good 'ol listener mail. Also, it was almost surreal to hear Greg make a Newt Gingrich.

...make a Newt Gingrich JOKE. Excuse me. I didn't mean to imply that Greg actually MADE a Newt Gingrich. That would be incredibly uncomfortable. And now I have a horrible picture in my head.

I'll be honest. I almost went and listened to this episode right now to hear Greg make a Newt Gingrich on a podcast. I don't even know how that would work!

Regardless, I look forward to hearing Jonny's thoughts on Art Academy to see if I should spend my Club Nintendo coins on it.

Thanks for reading my letter about Panzer Dragoon Saga.  It was interesting to hear your thoughts.  Hopefully Xenoblade will rekindle my love of games.

The thing that is some compelling about PDS is the gameplay is very unique.  In addition the story is much darker than I think could make it past the current focus-tested environment.  The ending in particular breaks the 4th wall in a really compelling way.  Its really unlike any other game out there.  Which is problem for me when playing games.

The idea of "Steam games work on your next computer" only applies if those games aren't made by Ubisoft. If they are then all bets are off. Ubisoft sticks insane DRM on PC games.

Is it just me or does Johnny sometimes seem really exasperated by James? It can sometimes be a little tense to listen to.

Skyward Sword: 2011


That's all

James - I'm curious, where does this adamancy that WiiWare/VC won't be transferred over come from? The solution might be asinine (Connecting the Wii to Wii U via USB to transfer? Maybe...), but as far as Nintendo's past actions go (and as Jonny said many times, the industry at large), it makes no sense that they wouldn't have them be compatible. Perhaps some games wouldn't be compatible, but that's all that I think would happen.

Also, a lot of Wii games used the GameCube controller ports, so why would that have anything to do with WiiWare compatibility? I mean, shit, every version of Active Life and DDR are just not compatible with the new Wii iteration and Wii U because they need a dance pad.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s320x320/395868_3120486807780_1132844490_3213693_1835388804_n.jpg


I posted this on facebook, but I'll repeat it here. Jonny is wrong when it comes to Art Academy. After a lesson is completed you can save the picture as a JPG onto the SD card and take the JPG off the sd card and post it online. I drew this pear in Art Academy First Semester

Thanks for the correction, Adolph. That's a pretty cool feature that the game has not mentioned to me so far.

Jonny's problem is that he actually keeps listening to James.  I typically tune him out about five or six times an episode. It works great!

I've thought the same thing before, but it was especially more pronounced during the first couple of years of the podcast.  Sometimes I think it may be genuine, at other times, I just assume that it's part of their 'schtick'.  James has mentioned multiple times that he uses an exaggerated persona for the show. 

Also when you meet him in person.

Enjoyed Jon's Canadian pronunciation of 'Saga'.  It sure was a saga making the pasta in my Mazda.

I haven't played much of it yet, but my wife and I are loving Rhythm Heaven Fever. She really likes the two-player games actually, and we wish there were more. (It seems you only unlock a couple here and there for every large batch of 1-player games).

I'm not entirely new to the Dragon Quest series, as I did finish the NES original many years ago, but since then I haven't played anything else. I have a copy of Dragon Quest IV for DS that I desire to play soon, and I was happy to hear Jonny praise its qualities!

@jimwood27 Yeah, my wife (who is American) makes fun of me.  She says pah-sta, I say pas-ta.  My heritage haunts me!

When will the RetroActive second chance poll commence?

I started my Dragon Quest playing with DQ9. It was one of the first "true" JRPGs I ever playd. I loved it. Very accesible. Yes it was long and sprawling, as Jonny said, but each new map area kind of had its own problem to solve or chapter to get through. It kept you going nicely.

I have since moved on to DQ8 and I find it a little less compelling for one major reason: random battles. it was only with DQ9 that the series did away with purely random battles that just interrupted your traversal without warning. I find this jarring but I know it is a big part of JRPG history. With DQ9, you could see all the monsters on the screen as you moved and you could choose to battle them or try to avoid them by running away. Didn't always work but at least you knew what was coming. In DQ8, something about moving a few steps, or maybe more than a few, then having everything come to a screeching halt for a random battle puts me off a bit. BUT, only a bit. DQ8 is a beautiful game, well acted, good story and has all the rest of the accessible mechanics that i liked in DQ9, like the accessibility of seeing right away if a new item or gear piece will improve your stats or not. And the orchestrated music is very nice too.
I want to pick up DQ6 for DS next. Just still a little too expensive.

Amazon.com has some good prices, but I haven't seen anything approaching reasonable in Canada yet.  If anyone has a line on cheap DQ6 north of the border, please let me know.

Me too! Same problem.
In many ways, it's great to be Canadian. In some other ways, it is not.
(Profound, eh?)  ;D

I am married to a Canadian as well (how I noticed your pronunciation) so I know the feeling.

Bear Prime Minister.

I've been putting saying this off for a while now because I have a feeling it might anger some folks here, but I need to say it:

I'm glad that the RFN crew didn't bite on the listener's bait to complain about how "unfair" the media is to Nintendo.  It's amazing how strong the persecution complex is in the more devout Nintendo loyalists.  You can't just like X or Y game more than a given Nintendo Z game or be openly frustrated with certain aspects of Nintendo's overall design.  You actually hate Nintendo on a personal level, and your review is just one part of a grand conspiracy to take them down.  It's preposterous and pathetic, and the viewpoint is more widespread than it should be for an audience as generally older and presumably wiser as you would think Nintendo's would be.

On the subject of Rayman Origins, I was really skeptical of the game early on, but now that I've put some 5-6 hours into it (I'm currently near the end of World 4), it's easy to see why it's so beloved (even above other Nintendo platformers): it is an extremely polished game that takes risks with its audience; has this weird and unique art style; the soundtrack is leagues above most of what Koji Kondo's composed for a few console generations; and it reminds me of how I felt playing the original Mario platformers on the NES/SNES.  Note the difference: it reminds me of how I felt playing those games, rather than merely make those games again with small improvements.

That's a problem I've increasingly had with Nintendo's core-oriented 1st party titles: they feel incredibly safe.  They're very competently designed and technically polished, but they also sometimes don't excite me because I feel like I've seen it all before.  As I've played Rayman Origins, I don't know what I'm going to see next, and the sheer look of the game is unusual and unique in a manner I haven't seen before.  It's creative; imaginative; and it respects my abilities as a player.  In their effort to find a way to make their games more challenging, it's amusing that Nintendo decided to create a whole system to allow the game to play itself when the player fails.  By contrast, Rayman Origins just removes the arbitrary "lives" system and uses checkpoints, which allows the developers to create some incredibly insidious sections of platforming and exploration while removing a great deal of the frustration.  And just look at the art design between Rayman and something like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and tell me with a straight face that Nintendo's lazy, plastic-looking NSMBW art can even compare.

Nintendo's had some great games this generation that I've really loved, like Donkey Kong Country Returns (though even with that game, Nintendo sacrificed their principles of "great controls" for arbitrary waggle that makes the game worse).  But I find that Rayman just has that spark of imagination and pure adrenaline rush that makes it superior to much of Nintendo's standard platformer design in my eyes.  I think it might be the same for other reviewers, not part of a "Vast Anti-Nintendo Conspiracy."

The premise of that last letter seemed a bit odd to me. New Super Mario Bros Wii, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Donkey Kong Country Returns, Nintendo's main 2D platformers for this generation, were all reviewed just as well as Rayman Origins. What bias are we talking about here?

I wasn't even aware there was a difference XD

All I know is that I had better be able to transfer my saves on Monster Hunter Tri and SSB Brawl when it comes time to move all of my stuff onto my Wii U.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can't even put that shit on an SD card. It ain't looking good. :(

Since DQ X is supposedly still going playable on both Wii and Wii U, it would be nice if Nintendo implemented a save file transfer in a future software update.  I can't remember the last time we had one of those for the Wii, though.

I'll admit that it's doubtful given that Ninty is walking the Wii behind the barn with a leash in one hand and a shotgun in the other.

DQ X is different though. It comes with a USB dongle for storage.

For the record, I love James with the power of a thousand suns.

I immediately thought of this.