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Episode 231: Lords of Lightning

by James Jones, Greg Leahy, Jon Lindemann, and Jonathan Metts - February 13, 2011, 4:11 pm EST
Total comments: 28

Gaming slows down, at least for the employed contingent, and our Listener Mail "lightning round" is anything but.

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First up this week is a brand new, patented rant by Mr. James Jones. He's got beef with the atrocious Wii version of H.A.W.X. 2, which apparently somehow escaped Tom Clancy'sTM scrutiny. Greg concludes his journey through Mega Man ZX Advent, while Jon reports on the Killzone 3 multiplayer beta. Jonny, who has way too much free time at this juncture, recounts last week's Goldeneye WiFi night, revisits the ingenious Fluidity, dulls his praise of Sonic Colors, and heartily recommends a $3 RPG curiously titled Cthulhu Saves the World.

In segment deux, we try catching up on Listener Mail with a "Lightning Round" edition. Naturally, we only managed to cover 2/3 of the selected letters, but it's still slightly faster-paced than usual. Check out our hurried responses re: upcoming game anniversaries, a brutal affliction, 3DS frame rates, Pilotwings, the original Zelda as an open-world prototype, Virtual Console transfers, feedback on recently-discussed games, and the biggest games industry mistake of 2010.

Next week, we return to Ogre Battle 64 and finish up RetroActive #16 -- leave your comments about the game in this magical forum thread before Thursday for your post to possibly (probably) be quoted on the show! Also, don't forget about our return to sexy, sexy meatspace at PAX East, now less than a month away. We shall see you there, yes?

This podcast was edited by Greg Leahy.

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their newest album, Done with the Devil, directly from the record label, Amazon (CD) (MP3), or iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!

Additional music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is copyrighted to Nintendo, and is included under fair use protection.

Talkback

So is the similarity to LORDS OF THUNDER~ intentional?

happyastoriaFebruary 13, 2011

Nice "Antichrist" reference, Jonny.

EnnerFebruary 14, 2011

I like the story in The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces as well. It helped that I watched the Mamoru Oshii film 'The Sky Crawlers" and read the wikipedia entry on the original novels by Hiroshi Mori. Also it didn't hurt that I've built a tolerance to the quirks of North American localizations of Japanese cartoons, comics, and such.


I should get around to buying Fluidity since I enjoy the demo very much. Maybe I should use that GameStop gift card on some Nintendo points. I'm reluctant to do so since I have yet to complete Loco Roco for the PSP. Loco Roco is quite similar to Fluidity in that you tilt the world with the shoulder buttons to move a blob entity. Jumping in that game is achieved by slamming both shoulder buttons at once. The motion controls for Fluidity work well but I think a hypothetical Classic Controller option would be okay.

Sky Crawlers (game) is less attractive than HAWX 2, but far more exciting.

HAWX2 does let you use the Nunchuk motion sensor for control as in Sky Crawlers, but it doesn't feel right. Also, you don't have analog control of airspeed. It's either brake, normal, full.

Greg named this episode and did a superb job of it.


happyastoria, be sure to check out the next episode of Box Office Poison if you're interested in Antichrist.

PlugabugzFebruary 14, 2011

It's really unusual for RFN to come out on Monday morning (UK Time). I was furiously hitting refresh on iToonz at 11pm and still nothing then gave up and went to sleep. Then got up at 5am to grab it.

happyastoriaFebruary 14, 2011

Quote from: Plugabugz

It's really unusual for RFN to come out on Monday morning (UK Time). I was furiously hitting refresh on iToonz at 11pm and still nothing then gave up and went to sleep. Then got up at 5am to grab it.

Yeah, my previous statement last week of Greg being a God is in question now. I think he may just be a man.

KDR_11kFebruary 14, 2011

If the story is the same in Wii and HD HAWX2 I should really look into the 360 version once it's dirt cheap. The PC version is already cheap but because Ubisoft made it so stupid that it needs a constant internet connection that's a no-go (my ISP is too unreliable).

The reason for the double kills in Goldeneye is the netcode, not the weapons (all weapons of a type are roughly similar in damage output anyway). There's always a time difference between when a player does something and when the server learns about it. In GE when a player shoots that shot is counted when it reaches the server. Since there's a delay between player 1 shooting, the server determining that player 2 got hit and player 2 getting the notice that he died there's a time window in which player 2 can shoot at player 1 despite having a lethal amount of lead sent his way. If player 2 shoots enough at player 1 to kill him too that's a double kill.

You don't see that happen in Modern Warfare 2 because when the server in that decides that player 1 has killed player 2 it ignores all shots from player 2 that it only hears about after that. There's an exception however if you use the last stand perk (or what it's called in the English version, in German it's the Eliminator). If player 2 has the last stand perk the server will mark him as being in last stand, not dead, when lethally wounded. If player 2's shots arrive after that they are still counted because the player is still alive. That results in player 2 getting sent into last stand (can only use the pistol then) and AFTERWARDS having player 1 die from player 2's main weapon, which without latency could not have been fired after player 2 went into last stand.

What the SF devs mean with pushing the frame to the screen is rendering it. There are basically two frames in a game, a simulation frame where the game world's physics and actions are calculated and a render frame where the current simulation frame is drawn to the screen. Since rendering can take longer than simulating there's the frameskipping type of slowdown where not all simulation frames are drawn, the game keeps running at the same speed but you only see every n-th frame. Whether that's good or bad depends on the game.

KisakiProjectFebruary 14, 2011

@ Johnny

If you liked Cluthlu Saves the World you must play his original rpg Breath of Death 7.  Its only $1 and just as fun an quirky.  There are earthbound jokes.

Also if you go to rpgamer.com you can here Cluthlu's creator on on their rpg sanctom podcast as well as as episode of their weekly regular rpgcast podcast.  He's a pretty cool guy.

You're 15 hours in and haven't won?  I think I beat it in 7.  Are you playing it on hard?  Did you do the optional dungeons?

TJ SpykeFebruary 14, 2011

Did Ubisoft even advertise Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2? I had no idea the game even existed until I saw someone mention it on a messageboard after it came out. As for the Tom Clancy brand, yeah that stopped being worth anything a long time ago. I don't know how much, but I remember Ubisoft paying Clancy a large amount of money for the permanent rights to use his name on any game they want. So Clancy might not even know about a game his name is on until he sees it sitting on a store shelf.

I think I did play some optional dungeons on Cthulu, and I also tend to explore the locations thoroughly for treasure. I played the trial for Breath of Death VII but decided on Cthulu instead since it's newer and improveder.

KisakiProjectFebruary 14, 2011

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

I think I did play some optional dungeons on Cthulu, and I also tend to explore the locations thoroughly for treasure. I played the trial for Breath of Death VII but decided on Cthulu instead since it's newer and improveder.


I would still encourage you to play through it.

Yeah I was getting everything but the last few dungeons I was overleveled enough and getting kinda bored so I rushed through them.

I find it funny 2 guys made these paraody JRPGs that are among the best jrpgs I've played in a good 5 years.

Also thanks for reading my question about Zelda.  I think Greg is right that if they blur the dungeons enough that it will be 'different' enough.  I've just found the last 2 DS and TP were somewhat forgettable.  I dunno I just want them to do something different to catch my attention again while still having the "spirit" of Zelda. OofT, MM & WW were all unique enough to be incredibly memorable.  Zeldas have lost it since then.  So far nothing in about SS has caught my eye really.  I know alot of people feel the same.  Its weird for the first time ever a console Zelda hasn't got my hype train going for like 2 years.

YoshidiousGreg Leahy, Staff AlumnusFebruary 14, 2011

Quote from: Plugabugz

It's really unusual for RFN to come out on Monday morning (UK Time). I was furiously hitting refresh on iToonz at 11pm and still nothing then gave up and went to sleep. Then got up at 5am to grab it.

The episode went live right around midnight GMT, just under two hours later than last week. I would have liked to get it finished earlier but this week's episode was a big edit and I had a busier Saturday than normal.

KDR_11kFebruary 14, 2011

Bonded Realities might be worth a look too, different developer with a different style but also a parody.

Quote from: TJ

Did Ubisoft even advertise Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2?

In general yes but the Wii version no.

TJ SpykeFebruary 14, 2011

I honestly had no idea a Wii version existed until I listened to James on the podcast.

Quote from: KDR_11k

If the story is the same in Wii and HD HAWX2 I should really look into the 360 version once it's dirt cheap. The PC version is already cheap but because Ubisoft made it so stupid that it needs a constant internet connection that's a no-go (my ISP is too unreliable).

The Wii version has a different, and terrible, story.

Quote from: TJ

I honestly had no idea a Wii version existed until I listened to James on the podcast.

FORGET
FORGET
forget
forget

Quote from: KDR_11k

Quote from: TJ

Did Ubisoft even advertise Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2?

In general yes but the Wii version no.

The various versions released on different dates. The reasoning was undisclosed, but after my time with the game it's not too hard to guess why.

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)February 14, 2011

Couldn't agree more about Activision's franchise destruction in 2010. Naturally, they'll maintain their tremendous profits, but yeah, it is sad that several once-respectable game series are declining due to overexposure and saturation that, to a large extent, could have been avoided. They just have the wrong ideas for their successful products over the long run. Unfortunately, it looks like there will be more victims of this disturbing trend within Activision.

FZeroBoyoFebruary 14, 2011

A very amusing discussion from Mr. Jones in New Business. Also nice to hear Jon summarize a movie in a few sentences that could relate to something so strange. Also an interesting turn from Jonny in his words on Sonic Colors and how such a huge change in difficulty can swiftly affect one's opinion on a game.


Also, I really like the Lightning Round of Listener Mail in this one. No very in-depth discussions but it was nice to hear such a broad range of topics covered in the time span.

Quote from: FZeroBoyo

Also nice to hear Jon summarize a movie in a few sentences that could relate to something so strange.

The Predator 2 reference didn't come out of thin air. It had been a topic of conversation in our emails in the week prior to this episode. Jon was suffering through it at the time.

Retro DeckadesFebruary 14, 2011

Is there any reason why the jump mechanic in Fluidity can't be mapped to the control pad? That thing is virtually unused.

I thought about D-pad for jumping after we did the episode. It works for boost in Excite Truck/Bots, and it really should work in Fluidity, too. I wonder if it was an option at one time and Nintendo recommended taking it out. The only time you actually use the D-pad is for the cloud form, which is the only form that can't jump anyway.

oohhboyHong Hang Ho, Staff AlumnusFebruary 15, 2011

For the peeps interested in how HAWX 2 HD turned out, well here is a really nice LP over at Something Awful that is currently on going. To summarise the game based on that thread and my love for games like Ace Combat, stay the hell away from HAWX all together, period. I played the first HAWX for a level or two a couple of years ago and it was one of the most boring, bland and surprisingly retarded game released that had to do with flight. It has more in common with the first two Ace Combat games back when they were called Air Combat back on the Playstation which were awful. So yeah, save yourself some money and sanity for the price of some of your time.

Predator 2 on the other hand has been compared to insultingly. Predator 2 is bad enough to be good. I mean it's terrible compared to the original, but Tom ClancyTM Bad? No.

KDR_11kFebruary 15, 2011

I wouldn't buy Activision stock right now, they're working on oversaturating CoD within the next year or two and when that goes tits up their stock is going to crash.

Quote from: Crimm

The Wii version has a different, and terrible, story.

I don't expect the HD version story to be good either. HAWX is pretty much Afterburner in 360° and has a story to match.

Retro DeckadesFebruary 17, 2011

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

I thought about D-pad for jumping after we did the episode. It works for boost in Excite Truck/Bots, and it really should work in Fluidity, too. I wonder if it was an option at one time and Nintendo recommended taking it out. The only time you actually use the D-pad is for the cloud form, which is the only form that can't jump anyway.

I just began Chapter 4 and got a new ability that uses the D-pad when in liquid form, so I suppose it really is out of the question.

Not completely. Squirt only uses one direction, and jump could be assigned to any of the others. I suppose it might get a bit confusing at that point, though.

vuduFebruary 19, 2011

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Not completely. Squirt only uses one direction, and jump could be assigned to any of the others. I suppose it might get a bit confusing at that point, though.

You can squirt at angles by pressing up + left or right on the D-Pad.

Kytim89February 19, 2011

Would a game like fluidity be good on 3DS?

Do you ever get a power called "Skeet" in the game?

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