What are you playing/what have you purchased?

[DrevanZero]

Portal 2 is one of the single most amazing games I have ever played azure. I played it 4 or 5 times in the first month I got it. I HIGHLY recommend it

[Chris]

Portal 2 was £5 during winter sales. Not played it yet though, currently playing Mirror's Edge which was also dirt cheap during sales.

[Azure Dragonius]

Portal 2 is one of the single most amazing games I have ever played azure. I played it 4 or 5 times in the first month I got it. I HIGHLY recommend it

I doubt it's that good, but I'll buy it eventually.

Also, finished Portal earlier. Aw yeah. Gonna play inFAMOUS 2 now.

[Naner]

I don't think Portal 2 is that great. It was great, but not my favorite game of 2011. And one can argue that Portal was better (not my case, but it can happen).

As for inFamous 2... inFamous was probably my favorite PS3 exclusive title, next to Gran Turismo 5, so I'll certainly play it sometime. It costs $40 now, which doesn't exactly attract me, but is much better than $60. Hmm...

[Azure Dragonius]

As for inFamous 2... inFamous was probably my favorite PS3 exclusive title, next to Gran Turismo 5, so I'll certainly play it sometime. It costs $40 now, which doesn't exactly attract me, but is much better than $60. Hmm...

The second one is vastly superior to the first, in my opinion, but obviously, others see differently.

YOU CAN MAKE A GODDAMN TORNADO APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR

[Zynux]

Devil May Cry 3 is probably my favorite DMC game. I didn't really have many problems with the stuff you listed, but it all depends on preference, I suppose.

So it seems. While a lot of the problems I have with the game are probably not that big of a deal, that camera is so bad imo that it has really tried my patience on numerous occasions. Still a great game though. Though I have never played them, most people seem to try to forget that DMC 2 even existed, and most fans don't seem to like DMC 4 either. I'm curious of your opinion on DMC 4, since I was thinking of giving it a try as well.

I really liked Link's Awakening's plot. Can you explain why you didn't, Zynux?

I'll try, though I'll admit that my dislike may result from either ignorance of the plot or that I'm just asking for too much. Please correct me if I erred somewhere.


POST HAS BEEN EDITED AS PROMISED BEFORE SINCE I DIDN"T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO CLEARLY WRITE MY THOUGHTS DOWN


Basically, I'm upset from various plotholes and the lack of context in the story. First, let's start with what Link accomplished in the game, which imo was very little, and I'll explain why I feel this way. In the long run, [spoiler]he saved himself, the Wind Fish, and Marin (if you got the special ending)[/spoiler]. But I have problems with this. Let's start with the Wind Fish (whom I'll just call 'Whale' for convenience). I was angry at the fact that the entire point of the game was [spoiler]Link running around to save a giant whale, but in the long run has to sacrifice the entire island to do so. I wouldn't mind this at all (I actually don't like happy endings all the time ) if they gave a good reason as to why this Whale needed to be saved, but I have very few info as to why saving him was more important than saving an entire Island filled with people. To this day I have no idea as to why this Whale is even remotely important to me, the player, or Link in the story. The game just kind of said "he's important!" but I'm not shown why. Grant it, the Whale would have been forced into an 'eternal sleep' which can generally be seen as something 'bad' or 'evil', but again, I'm given no context as to why that's generally a worse outcome than letting him sleep while the Island and its inhabitants stay alive.[/spoiler]

Another problem I had is something that Tianna brought up that I was going to address in my earlier post but ran out of time to do so:

[spoiler]I was under the impression the whole point was so Link could leave the island and go home, and the only way to do that was to wake the Wind Fish. Not so much that it was important to save the Wind Fish, that was incidental.[/spoiler]

This is pretty much what I concluded as well, but that's even more disappointing. First of all, that kind of goes against the fact that he's a Hero, yet in the end [spoiler]he saved nobody but himself, the Whale, and Marin. Most people would argue that these are heroic and that I'm downplaying them, but I disagree, I don't think saving the Whale nor Marin were really substantial at all. Though I've already explained my problem with the Whale, my problem with Marin is a simple question: 'Was she really saved?'

Let's think about it. Yes, her existence was a 'lie' or 'fake', but in the dream world she seemed (sorry I'm speculating here since I have no clue what's going on in this story) relatively happy and content with her (father?) Tarin (I think that's what his name is). And her happiness probably lifted with meeting Link. But after the events of the story, she was reincarnated into a bird (not going to question why she wanted such a wish...), she leaves all that she knows behind and Tarin and she now seems to have no chance with ever meeting or communing with Link again Dunno, I can't help but wonder which scenario is really better or worse than the other, since I wouldn't really call her fate a 'happy ending' (though who am I to question whether she's happy or not? lol )[/spoiler]

Other plotholes that needed to be explained included where the Nightmares actually came from and why they were really a threat in the first place. From what I can tell, they couldn't effect the real world, and they didn't even seem to bother the inhabitants of the Island (if they did, then I would like to see examples where they did effect them). It seems to me that they only affected the Whale, and from what I can gather He took long deep sleeps anyway. Not only did they seem to only affect the whale, but all they really did was force him into an eternal sleep (I'm curious as to HOW they were able to do this too) and to me, as I said before, forcing him to an eternal sleep is 'bad', I can't see why it's that bad or evil. Afterall, him sleeping kept the Island in existence.

I'm also curious as to how [spoiler]Marin was able to figure out that she was in a dream world while no-one else seemingly figured it out. While its not explicitly stated that she knew about the dream world, it seemed to be heavily implied at the end (afterall, didn't she try to wake the Wind Fish to escape dream?). I'm also curious as to why Marin was reincarnated while everyone else seemingly was not. It would have put more meaning in Link's Journey if the entire Island was saved as well along with Marin (since, ya know, Link is a Hero and all) but no that didn't happen. That's fine, the question begs to be answered: why did the Wind Fish have the power to reincarnate Marin (who was 'fake') but not anyone else on the Island? Again, I'm not given an answer to what, to me, seems to be a very important question (Especially since I'm a "Hero").[/spoiler]

But I think my main problem with the game is that [spoiler]everything was a dream and, in some ways, didn't really happen or make a detrimental affect on the real world. In short, I felt like I accomplished nothing throughout the entire game, and that this game's plot was meaningless. Yes, I saved Link (selffish bastard. Some Hero you are ), the Whale (Hurray! By the way, who are you again? ) , and Marin (who's now a seagull...?)[/spoiler]


Please, enlighten me and discuss as why I should care about this story, because I'm honestly not seeing it. And I apologize for the probably incoherent ranting and walls of text and other nonsense you may find in this post.

[Tianna]

[spoiler]Basically, I'm upset from various plotholes that are being left open. I was angry at the fact that the entire point of the game was Link running around to save a giant whale, but in the long run has to sacrifice everyone else. I wouldn't mind this at all (I actually don't like happy endings all the time ) if they gave a good reason as to why this Whale needed to be saved, but I have virtually have very few info as to why saving him was more important than saving an entire Island filled with people. Grant it, the Whale would have been forced into an 'eternal sleep' but again, I'm given no context as to why that's generally a 'bad thing,' especially if it kept that dream world alive. Where the Nightmares came from is also a mystery that I very much would liked explain, and why they were really a threat in the first place. Also, everything took place in a dream so at the end I felt like I accomplished nothing except saving the Whale, and again I'm not given enough info as to why this Whale is so important that I needed to sacrifice the Island.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I was under the impression the whole point was so Link could leave the island and go home, and the only way to do that was to wake the Wind Fish. Not so much that it was important to save the Wind Fish, that was incidental.[/spoiler]

I guess it helps I just played through the game again today.

Also, I dunno if anyone else has mentioned this, but..

[spoiler]What are the odds that the Wind Fish of LA and the Sky Spirit in SS are one in the same?[/spoiler]

[Emperor Ing]

I always felt a little melancholy over the story of Link's Awakening, but as the Windfish says, verily, it be the nature of dreams to end, eh?

[spoiler]Link was passed out on a piece of driftwood the whole time. The intro shows how his ship got totaled. Somehow, he ended up in the dream of the Windfish, which was Koholint Island. The Windfish had dreamed up this entire little world, complete with people, and animals, but like so many dreams nightmares arrived to make things awry. These nightmares hoped to hold the Windfish hostage in his own dreamworld, so they could be the masters of Koholint Island. Since they were only dreams, they'd vanish as soon as the Windfish woke up (Dethl says as it is dieing "We will disappear... Our world... is going to disappear... Our... world..."). Since the Nightmares and Dethl were particularly ferocious beasts, letting them run amok across the island would only cause pain for the dream inhabitants and the Windfish - remember, it was the moblin nightmares that did raids on the town stealing Bow-Wow, and other nightmares disrupted the communication between Mabe and Animal Village, and others kidnapped Marin and stranded her on Tamaranch Range. So it's not like the world was totally peaceful - every enemy was a nightmare causing havoc in what had been a peaceful dream.

While many of the other inhabitants were unaware of this fact, Marin at least suspected that Link would "leave" the island, never seeing her again. This was the "symbolic" action of Link waking the windfish causing the world to disappear. Marin's dream (a dream dreaming a dream?) was to leave the island herself, but she couldn't really hope to do that. All that's really left is a memory of her that leaves the island (the last thing you hear in the game before the credits is her singing the ballad, while the Windfish flies overhead); of course, beating the game without dieing shows that she is reincarnated as a seagull, which was her dream so she could leave and see the world at last.

In that sense, while the ending is bittersweet in that Koholint vanished, it was only a dream on the lid of a sleeping eye - the memory of Koholint is what survived on in Link and the Windfish (and I feel our most important dreams never leave us), and Marin herself is allowed to be free and live her own life.[/spoiler]

That and you just have the fact that in terms of 2D Zelda Link's Awakening stands as one of the best, if not THE best 2D Zelda game of all time. Especially the original version, with its oh-so-sweet select-scroll glitch, allowing for so many fun ways to play the game, and sequence-breaking of all kinds (because come on that's what us Metroid fans care about the most, right?). It's a beautiful game, a testament to the graphical and musical power of the Gameboy, and an expertly-designed Zelda.

It was also the first game I ever owned and still one of my favorites.

[Zynux]

To those interested, I edited my earlier post substantially.

I always felt a little melancholy over the story of Link's Awakening, but as the Windfish says, verily, it be the nature of dreams to end, eh?

Something I did like about this stiory, but again at the end it dissapointed me.

[spoiler]Link was passed out on a piece of driftwood the whole time. The intro shows how his ship got totaled. Somehow, he ended up in the dream of the Windfish, which was Koholint Island[/spoiler]

Something I forgot in my post, but this is also something that I didn't like. How exactly did Link get inside the Wind Fish's dream? I would really like to know, but they never tell me.

[spoiler]Since the Nightmares and Dethl were particularly ferocious beasts, letting them run amok across the island would only cause pain for the dream inhabitants and the Windfish - remember, it was the moblin nightmares that did raids on the town stealing Bow-Wow, and other nightmares disrupted the communication between Mabe and Animal Village, and others kidnapped Marin and stranded her on Tamaranch Range. So it's not like the world was totally peaceful - every enemy was a nightmare causing havoc in what had been a peaceful dream.[/spoiler]

Ah, I see, so I erred in my earlier post. Even so, I'm not convinced that they were that threatening, but w/e.

[spoiler]While many of the other inhabitants were unaware of this fact, Marin at least suspected that Link would "leave" the island, never seeing her again. This was the "symbolic" action of Link waking the windfish causing the world to disappear. Marin's dream (a dream dreaming a dream?) was to leave the island herself, but she couldn't really hope to do that. All that's really left is a memory of her that leaves the island (the last thing you hear in the game before the credits is her singing the ballad, while the Windfish flies overhead); of course, beating the game without dieing shows that she is reincarnated as a seagull, which was her dream so she could leave and see the world at last.[/spoiler]

Thanks for clearing that up, her wish seems to be a little better now.

That and you just have the fact that in terms of 2D Zelda Link's Awakening stands as one of the best, if not THE best 2D Zelda game of all time.

Oh, I agree with this (for now. Getting through Oracle of Ages). But I did have a blast with this game. Still not a fan of the story (I'm not sure if I emphasized this enough, but I really do believe it had great potential) but still a great Zelda game nonetheless.

[Azure Dragonius]

Devil May Cry 3 is probably my favorite DMC game. I didn't really have many problems with the stuff you listed, but it all depends on preference, I suppose.

So it seems. While a lot of the problems I have with the game are probably not that big of a deal, that camera is so bad imo that it has really tried my patience on numerous occasions. Still a great game though. Though I have never played them, most people seem to try to forget that DMC 2 even existed, and most fans don't seem to like DMC 4 either. I'm curious of your opinion on DMC 4, since I was thinking of giving it a try as well.

DMC 2 wasn't that bad of a game to me, but I can see why people don't like it. DMC 4, that's a pretty good game. Granted, Nero's Devil Bringer is pretty cheap, but you don't have to use it ALL the time. It had some awesome boss fights, good music, the same gameplay style from DMC 3, but improved, and it's just an overall good game to me. Definitely my favorite behind DMC 3.

[Naner]

You have to remember, Zynux, that it was very natural for games to leave chunks of story unexplained back in the '90s. I'm sure it would've been way more explicit had it been made (or remade) today. I still feel like (almost) everything sorts itself out when you stop to think about it. Emperor Ing's explanation shows that.

[spoiler]What are the odds that the Wind Fish of LA and the Sky Spirit in SS are one and the same?[/spoiler]

I think that's pretty likely.

[Chris]

[spoiler]What are the odds that the Wind Fish of LA and the Sky Spirit in SS are one and the same?[/spoiler]

I think that's pretty likely.

http://guidesmedia.ign.com/visualhistor ... d_fish.jpg

http://www.zeldawiki.org/images/8/80/MasterNarisha.png

They look nothing alike, one has a beard and the other is wearing clothes, he's just a little throw back to LA.

[Naner]

I wouldn't say they look nothing alike. They still seem like they could be different interpretations of the same being.

[Labrynian Rebel]

Link's Awakening is awesome, don't see the need to over-analyze it

[Zynux]

You have to remember, Zynux, that it was very natural for games to leave chunks of story unexplained back in the '90s. I'm sure it would've been way more explicit had it been made (or remade) today. I still feel like (almost) everything sorts itself out when you stop to think about it. Emperor Ing's explanation shows that.

[spoiler]What are the odds that the Wind Fish of LA and the Sky Spirit in SS are one and the same?[/spoiler]

I think that's pretty likely.

Tis' true, which is why I concluded that I was "asking for too much." Still, as someone who loves storytelling and creative writing, its irritating when imo basic plot points are just ignored and shoved to oblivion. But I'm just being unfair to a 90's game I guess.

Link's Awakening is awesome, don't see the need to over-analyze it

If you think that's over-analyzing, good thing you didn't ask for my opinion of Twilight Princess