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+--- Thread: Four Swords Adventures (/showthread.php?tid=1979)
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 10th June 2004
Okay, I'll try posting this AGAIN! UGH! Won't bother explaining why I thought everything was fun though. I TYPED it already! Just read my mind will you?!
So then, I have been playing this game. It's VERY fun, yes.
So is Shadow Battles. It's much more fun than you would think it would be, think Bomberman's simplistic sounding battles as an example of how much more fun a game can be than you think it is.
They are stupid for not including the scavenger hunt, because it seems a lot of people who imported it, not including review sites, actually LOVE it.
Four Swords Adventures - A Black Falcon - 10th June 2004
You know, I think that you have mentioned your feelings about the scavenger hunt enough now... :D
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 10th June 2004
It bears repeating!
Anyway, on a side note, at the end of each level (which are now more or less fully developed mini-worlds), they play the end music for Zelda 1 (the most festive of end Zelda songs) for the victor. Lovely choice.
Four Swords Adventures - A Black Falcon - 10th June 2004
Is there any kind of permanant character progression or is it all reset between missions (inc. healthbar, etc)?
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 11th June 2004
I don't think anything is kept... (I uh, only played the first level... multiple times). However, not really needed. Not like you are gathering a massive list of things or anything...
Also, the formations are great. They really pull the game together in a less than 4 player game. If you are playing single player, you get all the modes. 2 or 3, and you only get the straight line formations. Anyway, also the game assigns unused Links as AI buddies. It splits them evenly in 2 player mode, and just randomly gives it to someone in 3 player mode. Don't despair though! Get even! You can STEAL your friend's buddies and make them your own! Generally, you do this when you are trying to grab as many force gems as possible. Doing it during the normal game, while you will spend about 3 minutes doing it the second you figure it out, just won't happen after that because it's annoying and an infinite loop of stupidity :D.
Oh yes, Shadow Battles. Fun those games. Think Bomberman to get the idea of why it's so fun. You run around not to slash blindly at your opponents while they slash you, but to cleverly set up traps and only rush in for the kill when you know they can't fight back. There are all SORTS of traps in every level, as well as the ability to go into the dark world and back. The dark world is in the GBA and the light world is in the GCN. The Dark World affects the Light World and visa versa. In other words, some switches in one world, for example, will do things like set off explosives in the other world. You notice important things from the world you aren't in as shadows in your world, that includes other players. Also, there are houses and caves as well, where the opponent CAN'T see you.
It's a blast racing to get something like the fire rod to burn down all the bushes (if a bush is next to another, the one next to it will also catch fire, and if there's a massive group, the fire will spread and consume the whole thing). There are switches to open trap doors to bottomless pits. There are magic bubbles that cycle between bombchus, a single homing cucuu, and some other things. There are just plain bombs, and there are enemies you also have to deal with. One fun little trick I found in one level was really fun. I wandered into a cave where I found a cucuu. Well, I attacked it repeatedly... The swarms came... They swarmed OUTSIDE the cave though, where everyone else was :D. Well, I went outside shortly after to find I won the battle :D. There are about 6 or so levels, and there are 6 more levels that are unlocked after I beat the adventure mode.
Four Swords Adventures - OB1 - 11th June 2004
My friend bought the game two days ago and lent it to me for two weeks while he's on vacation, but I've yet to play it. I'll have time tomorrow.
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 11th June 2004
<img src="http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040611l.jpg">
Four Swords Adventures - OB1 - 11th June 2004
:D
Four Swords Adventures - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2004
:)
I can see why they didn't do any progression... they want it simple and with no kind of connection. Still, I do think that it's better when there are such things... it definitely adds to games. And I'd say that this game is sort of in the same genre as FF:CC, BGDA, GDL, Diablo, etc... all those games have levelling...
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 11th June 2004
Well, sorta... but it's still Zelda gameplay with puzzle solving so not exactly. Within each WORLD you DO keep all your stats, but they are reset for the next one. This is done to prevent any one character from KEEPING an edge over their friends, for fairness. It's actually like Bomberman in that sense too. Here's the thing, you are competing with each other WHILE working with each other, so in the end they had to even out the playing field at the start of each level.
Four Swords Adventures - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2004
True, if you want the players to compete as well as play together you have to do something to level the playing field... but still, isn't it more fun when you get a character to improve? Oh, FS definitely looks like fun and I'll almost certainly eventually get it, but it's kind of too bad they don't have something on this issue, while just about everything else I could legitimately put in this genre does.
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 11th June 2004
Character improvement comes from getting various upgrades. Also, you do improve your character PER LEVEL. It's only reset afterwards. So, there is development, it's just not recorded. In a game like this, it's likely for the best.
Oh I should add something. This Shadow Link has a somewhat different persona. Whereas in Zelda 2 and OOT it was a completely silent yet menacing presence that reeked of evil, it's now a childish naughty prankster of a being reminiscent of the skull kid from Majora's Mask.
Four Swords Adventures - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2004
In-level improvements that get wiped out don't really count... and if not done well can lead to frusteration (see my review of XGRA some months back)... I'm sure they do a good job of it though. But removing it makes the game quite a bit simpler. Oh well... but it's part of why I'd say that this is a lot closer to action than adventure or RPG. Maybe more so than most of those games I listed, even.
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 11th June 2004
Well, I suppose so. It's just not a stat building game in any sense. Just a game for fun with a storyline attached. I will add this. The puzzles are MUCH better than they were in Four Sword (GBA). The GBA game basically had a random level generator that put together a bunch of prebuild puzzles, but they were all rather simplistic and not a single one was meant to stump. They were all there just to encourage cooperation. They did the job well, but I hungered... for more...
Anyway, FSA has puzzles that will, for the first time in a while, actually leave you scratching your head! It'll really bring back memories of the LTTP days, back when puzzles were MEANT to actually STUMP you. Everyone will be talking with each other and going around experimenting, and it'll REALLY foster a need for good communication and cooperation. I mean, it's just classic fun! It reminds me of the old days when one's family or friends would start tossing out ideas on how to solve some puzzle (when the player FINALLY gave in let everyone help them that is). To have that sort of thing back, it's just beyond words... This game is simply too fun. It's still an INCOMPLETE package of course, but what IS there is just plain... awesome...
Four Swords Adventures - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2004
And how many RPGs have no permanant stat building? :)
It's still more similar to those games I mentioned than anything else, though, in many ways, I'm sure.
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 11th June 2004
I've never called this an RPG, or even the series for that matter.
Four Swords Adventures - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2004
True. I didn't either... just saying it's hard to categorize a game like this, when the gameplay is in a genre that seems to have been dubbed 'action-rpg' but the RPG elements seem weak in many of said games... this one more than most though.
Four Swords Adventures - OB1 - 14th June 2004
I got a chance to play some FSA over the weekend, and I must say that it's a lot better than I expected it to be, and I loved the GBA game. The lack of permanent progression is very important in a game like this, as you do compete a lot with your teammates. If I played through single-player mode and got a really great sword and shield, for example, and then invited a friend or two to play with me, I could beat the crap out of them and it really wouldn't be even. Nintendo made the right choice by keeping it simple like that. I agree with DJ on all of this. And the puzzles really are great, right now I'm stumped at one part with my brother. FSA is really more like a regular Zelda Adventure just with four people, whereas FS GBA was more like a stripped-down, action-oriented dungeon game. It works great for the GBA, but having a full Zelda adventure makes the GC game worth the full price (though it still sucks that we didn't get Navi's Trackers).
I only got to play a little bit of Shadow Battle, but it was a ton of fun. Nothing beats getting on a horse and trampling over the other players. :D
I also noticed that each Link has a slightly different voice, with the purple Link having the lowest voice (perhaps to make up for his feminine garb? :D ) and the red Link having the highest. Just a cool, minor detail I noticed.
Four Swords Adventures - Dark Jaguar - 16th June 2004
Odd thing to think about, the very first game in the series as far as story chronology goes isn't even made by Nintendo.
Four Swords Adventures - OB1 - 17th June 2004
Well both Four Swords games had EAD producers supervising and/or producing them.