Opinions About Video Games and Roleplaying Games
Archive for December, 2009
New Sonic Game Released Next Year Will Be 2D
Dec 27th
Yes, you read the title right. And yes, that means on a current generation home console. We’ve been calling on Sega to do something about the lack of speed in newer iterations of Sonic games for a long time, and they’ve answered. Check out Gamespot’s article All New 2D Sonic Rolling Out in 2010.
Admittedly, it is not my favored solution, as I believe it would be possible for Sega to do a 3D Sonic game justice if they really put in the effort to do it right. After all, we have Sonic’s and Shadow’s levels from Sonic Adventure 2 as a barometer of that, and they were great… but the levels of the other four characters weren’t, because they didn’t focus on the speed, or really any fun gameplay at all.
However, that said, I’m still pleased by this development because I really think Sega will get back to the speed that made Sonic great in doing this. After all, in a 2D Sonic game, speed is what they rely on for the gameplay, they don’t have the excuse of issues with 3D level design, and they’ve stated that their intent is to bring the speed back. And really, quality gameplay trumps pretty graphics as far as I’m concerned, so as long as they get the gameplay right, I’ll be happy.
That isn’t to say that the game won’t be good looking though. After all, even the Genesis Sonic games looked great aesthetically, even though they were far more limited technically than games today. In addition, Sega has said they will be making this game HD, which is good news for those looking for some graphical punch. This, of course, leads me to believe the game will be released on the PS3 or 360 (or both), but not the Wii, as the Wii doesn’t have HD capability. Also, which consoles will get the game is just my speculation, as no details have actually been released other than it will be for a current generation console.
In any case, I find this very exciting news, as I’ve been waiting for a return to the speed that has been lost over time. Here’s hoping they make this a great game that really beings the series back to life, both in terms of excellent gameplay as well as a fan following.
Lords of Magic Special Edition Glitch: “Free” Warrior Spirits
Dec 21st
First, as a heads up, I’ve only tried this on the unpatched special edition of Lords of Magic. This glitch may or may not work with other versions of the game. Also, this glitch is more fun than useful, since if you like to cheat, there are way better ways to get ahead… unless you think glitches are ok but cheat codes aren’t.
Now then, onto the good stuff. You’re going to need a couple things. First, you need a mage from the Order faith. Then, you need access to the summon warrior spirit spell. Most likely, this means lots of research in the order library, meaning you’ll need to have control of the order faith for a good long time. It may also be possible to trade for the spell though. Or, since we’re cheating anyway, you could just use the “all spells” code and save yourself the trouble.
Once you have these things, it’s pretty simple. You enter battle, and you cast your summon warrior spirit spells to summon as many warrior spirits as you would like to have. Then, once the battle is sure to go your way, you hit the autocalc button before the combat has a chance to end. This will finish the battle up for you, but it will bypass the end of battle flag that causes the warrior spirits to disappear when the fight ends. This will lead to you keeping those warrior spirits you summoned in battle. You do still have to pay the upkeep costs on them though, so don’t get too greedy. Also remember, if you ever finish a battle with these warrior spirits, they will disappear, so you must autocalc any fights you have with your free warrior spirits, whether you do so from the beginning, or you wait until just before the fight ends.
So, as you can see, they are a bit more restricted than the real warrior spirits, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s fun to glitch games, especially if you might be able to wrangle some sort of advantage out of them.
Now, armed with this new knowledge, adventure forth into Urak, and whip those followers of Chaos into line. And while you’re at it, consider saving the world with those knights in shining armor you’ll be summoning too.