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Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 21st February 2004
Especially if you miss it and have to cycle around more... and if there is any delay between switching weapons which I bet there would be given the game...
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 23rd February 2004
There would be a slight delay and it would not be a problem at all. Many games do this and it works wonderfully.
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 23rd February 2004
I don't see a difference that is worth mentioning. No one complains much that the pre-X Mega Mans didn't have that, for instance... you are making a mountain out of a molehill, like usual.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 23rd February 2004
Me and dozens of other game reviewers. Nobody complained about MM back then because that's the best there was back then. But over time things change and improve. SoM didn't keep up with the times.
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 23rd February 2004
It's too bad that you magnify an insignificant issue like this into a minor game-killing flaw... you sound EXACTLY like IGN complaining about framerate (like for JFG or BGDA...) -- grasping at straws.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 23rd February 2004
Yeah, because the speed of a game is so unimportant.
The weapons switching thing is a huge flaw. Not a game-killing flaw, but certainly something that makes it less fun to play.
Sword of Mana Interview - big guy - 24th February 2004
that IGN complaint about JFG's framerate always boiled my crap because it's completely irrelevent.
Sword of Mana Interview - Dark Jaguar - 24th February 2004
Technology is irrelevent with this though. They were just as capable of doing what you ask back then with Secret as they are today. So, if you didn't mind then, why now?
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 24th February 2004
Because ... OB1 says so! Who needs a better reason?
And yes, I was making the analogy that just like the IGN JFG complaints were stupid and irrelevant so are the ones about Sword's menu system. :)
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 24th February 2004
I'm not talking about improvements in technology, rather improvements in game mechanics. After OoT pretty much all third-person 3D action games copied the lock-on system, and you don't see too many new games without it. Why is that? Because it's a million times better than how it was before OoT came out! Quick weapon switching isn't as big of an innovation as OoT's lock-on system, but it's certainly something that games have used for several years now, and when a game like SoM comes along and ignores it, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
ABF, just because you cannot see more than 10 frames per second doesn't mean that we're all like that. Most human beings see things in at least 60 frames per second, so when you play a game like JFG which frequently jumps from 10 to 30 seconds, the slowdown can seriously hurt the gameplay. If it's at a relatively constant framerate then it's not quite so noticable, but when it jumps from a very low framerate to a more acceptable framerate then it most certainly is a distraction.
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 24th February 2004
Oh it's there once in a while in JFG but it's irrelevant to the game and doesn't affect play much at all.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 25th February 2004
The framerate stutters 80-90% of the time! Go back and play it and see for yourself. That is of course if you can actually see more than 10 frames per second. I'm convinced that you cannot.
A bad framerate affects how well the controls respond, and everything in gameplay revolves around controls. If the framerate is not steady and smooth then it has a serious impact on gameplay, because it affects the controls! If you're not especially good at games and basically shoot blindly in the case of JFG, then yeah I can see where it wouldn't be as big of a problem. But if you're like me and like pinpoint accuracy with your shots (nothing beats shooting off the heads of ants and tribals!), a bad framerate can ruin everything. Therein lies the difference, ABF. I care about speed and control more than you do.
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 25th February 2004
I played it less than a week ago actually, which is why I thought of it... sure the framerate isn't super high but it's plenty good enough for playing. No question.
And saying that anyone who plays with precision control would care about that is idiotic. That's saying that anyone good at the game dislikes it because of framerate! Totally insane!
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 25th February 2004
It makes perfect sense if you put your giant ego aside for a moment. I'm pretty darn good at aiming with the N64 analog stick, and I can usually make headshots pretty easily in most N64 shooters. Most of them meaning ones that have a consistant enough framerate that I actually have the precision in the controls that I need. Most of the time with JFG the framerate jumps from very low to medium, so the controls get disrupted. PD is the same way. I can get headshots more easily in GE than PD, and that's entirely because of the framerate. And with something like Time Splitters 2 where the framerate is a rock solid 60 fps? My aim is a hundred times better than it is in a game like PD.
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 25th February 2004
Does the dissolving N64 analog stick impact that too? :)
Oh sure the framerate can be medium in those games but unless you're as ridiculously sensitive and obsessive about detail as you you wouldn't care. Like just about every review site except IGN... oh sure others gave JFG lower scores than it deserved I'm sure but did they harp as much about framerate? I highly doubt it. IGN is just absurdly oversensitive. JFG is a great game, and the framerate doesn't hurt it at all.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 25th February 2004
Oversensitive, no. As good with the analog stick as I am? Oh yes.
You = sucky with console controllers
Me = not sucky with console controllers
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 25th February 2004
I am not that bad. I am okay at JFG... oh sure I didn't get anything, but I didn't exactly try very hard to do that... it's more a shooter than a FPS and I'm okay at shooters. :)
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 25th February 2004
It controls just like a FPS if you hold down R.
Sword of Mana Interview - big guy - 26th February 2004
jet fprce gemini is one of my favorite game sof all time and not once while playing it did i ever go "you know what's wrong with this game? that darn framerate." it was just never an issue. and i collected my fair share of ant heads (though i did my best not to collect tribal heads because it made me feel guilty). but precision aiming was no better for lobbing off heads in that game than a blast from the tri-rocket launcher, IMO.
i did notice the choppy framerate in PD and have noticed framerate drops in many a game (most games on N64 and PSX), but JFG's framerate never bothered me.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 26th February 2004
You just said that you had some trouble with precision aiming... that proves my point.
The framerate isn't as bad as PD's, but it's still an annoyance. Not game-killing, though.
Sword of Mana Interview - big guy - 26th February 2004
i didn't say i had trouble, i hinted that i never bothered and that it wasn't necessary.
Sword of Mana Interview - Sacred Jellybean - 26th February 2004
Just like big guy, JFG is one of my favorite games of all time, and I've hardly ever had trouble with aiming. At least, not so much trouble that it took away from the game. I think you just suck at the game, OB1. ;)
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 26th February 2004
Could you get headshots from as far as the draw distance goes while running and jumping? ;)
Sword of Mana Interview - Sacred Jellybean - 26th February 2004
I don't see why I'd want to... most of the combat is fought in close range. For the long distance shots, though, yeah, there was the sniper rifle. You could also use the pistol or machine gun, but that took really precise aiming.
Besides, I don't remember any enemies that were mandatory to kill that were from a far away distance. Usually, you just had to kill the drones, rather than the floating sentry guns.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 27th February 2004
Sure you could just spray hundreds of bullets at them and hope that they die, but I prefer to use as little ammo as possible and simply shoot off their heads.
Sword of Mana Interview - Sacred Jellybean - 27th February 2004
Yeah, that's the same way I play. It isn't nearly as fun if you run around and shoot guys while always in the 3rd person view, using auto-aim. That's for sissies.
Another thing I like to do, which makes the game a lot more challenging, is to try and beat the game without collecting any ammunition crates. Actually, I haven't gone that far, yet... but I am playing through it this one way that lazy suggested a while ago: you play Vela and Lupus's missions without collecting the ammo crates, then use Juno to get them, so you always have shitloads of ammo when you play as him.
It was pretty challenging to beat Vela/Lupus's levels without the crates (even though I ended up getting a few of them with Lupus, fearing that I wouldn't be able to kill the mantis duo boss with the bare minimum of ammo). It was still a lot of fun, though. You just have to be extremely conservative with your ammo, and be as precise as possible. Almost all the drones who die will give you more ammo, so it isn't <i>that</i> hard, but it's still a good idea to be super-conservative and get as many headshots as possible.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 27th February 2004
I'll try that.
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 27th February 2004
I think I was at about 15 hours or so when I stopped playing... I know I haven't found all the worlds and certainly don't have all the tribals but while the game was a lot of fun the shooting part is better than the exploration and getting tribals... maybe someday. :)
And yeah OB1's just bitter... :)
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 27th February 2004
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 27th February 2004
Well you must be given how no one agrees with you and a bunch of people disagree! Your "you're stupid and everyone KNOWS I am right" thing won't work this time...
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 27th February 2004
The framerate is bad for people who have normal eyes and don't like their controls getting fucked up.
Sword of Mana Interview - big guy - 27th February 2004
i played through the game once and didn't have enough ammo with juno at the end to kill mizar...so i replayed it again collecting every ammo pack with juno. it made his levels hella easy. well, i picked up the ones that only vela and juno could pick up with those respective characters. anyway, it is a pretty fun way to go through the game and having 80+ homing missles makes mizar a pretty big sissy.
Sword of Mana Interview - Sacred Jellybean - 27th February 2004
Quote:The framerate is bad for people who have normal eyes and don't like their controls getting fucked up.
![[Image: ob1.jpg]](http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~djc46/ob1.jpg)
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 27th February 2004
Hahahaha... ahhh.
Sword of Mana Interview - Dark Jaguar - 27th February 2004
Generally I kept my ammo crates spread evenly amongst the members of the team, because that's how I tend to play it, never knowing which one of my characters will have to face that next big boss. As such, Juno didn't end up with over a bajillion of any specific kind of ammo for Mizar. Still, the challenge for me wasn't hitting him, it was doing it WHILE avoiding damage, considering how much he can deal if you don't dodge each and every attack. I'll just say this. Rare has an annoying habit of saving too much progress. I am used to being able to fight the last boss over and over again in a game. It's a little annoying that it saved so that I couldn't do that. Had I known that, I would have made another save file for before the fight. No matter though, it's fun enough to work back to him in a new game. I'm yet another person who never had a problem with frame rates or slowdown in the game. Well, actually come to think of it, there were times when a LOT of enemies were on screen that things would get sluggish, but I tended to clean up the mess myself and things went back to normal. Wasn't game killing in any sense nor did it detract in any way from the overall experience. The only problem I can think of was the whole scavenger hunt for absolutely everything before you could beat the game. Me? I enjoy doing those sorts of things anyway, but it certainly would have been nice for a lot of players to be able to decide to go straight to Mizar without the tribal hunt. Next game I'm going to go for 0 tribal heads. So far each game I've played I've managed to accidently gain a tribal head each game I've played with at least one character... poor guys...
Anyway, PD, as I've stated before, I didn't really have a problem with the frame rates in that game, generally because it actually played smoother than GE, and when it came to 3D games, as one can expect, that's the only thing I had as refference. Fortunatly, I'm able to go back to the old games without the newer graphics spoiling me against the old stuff forever. Unfortunatly, I certainly notice the slowdown now more than ever.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 27th February 2004
PD has a more inconsitent framerate than GE does, epsecially in multi.
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 1st March 2004
SJ summed it up.
Sword of Mana Interview - OB1 - 1st March 2004
He just copied my new comeback. :D
Sword of Mana Interview - A Black Falcon - 1st March 2004
But it's absolutely correct!