Sunday, June 27, 2010

6/27/10 - Busy? In the Summer? Is that Possible?

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another exciting blog entry!

I’m going to keep things kind of brief in this entry, mostly because I will have a video later on talking about Youtube stuff and I’m kind of swamped with things I gotta get done today (and tomorrow). Not like it will make any major difference as I didn’t really have much extra I wanted to talk about. I will still talk about Youtube projects to a small extent and will of course feature a “Game of the Week” section.

Basically, here is a rundown of the stuff I originally planned to get done this weekend. First, I of course had to upload today and yesterday’s video and of course update the blog today as well. Yesterday we had a Mario Kart Wii session for the Blargg Pit’s Gaming Nights section, plus we have a Mario trivia event tonight as well (and I am the host of the warm-up section, not to mention a regular on the main trivia). In addition to that, I had some Mario Party 6 videos to finalize for this coming Tuesday and I have to start and get cracking on my 3rd Year Anniversary special, which I am doing some major, unintentional slacking on. Then of course I also planned for the Youtube update video tonight as well.

Then, at 12 PM yesterday afternoon, we got the phone call of extremely bad timing. It was my uncle asking if we could have our cousins stay the week with us (the same cousins I bitched about in a December entry). Of course, we couldn’t say no because they live in Arizona and we never get to see them as often as we normally get to, even if it was a major inconvenience for all of us (for different reasons). I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my cousins and as I have always stated before in older videos of mine, I am a true family man. I put family on perhaps a higher pedestal than my own health. It’s just that it was a major inconvenience on everyone’s part and we pretty much had to and will continue to rearrange our plans and our schedule pretty much on the spot. Oh well, what’s done is done.

However, because my cousins are so into the Wii, I actually got to play some Mario Party 8! Of course, I wasn’t actually playing against them, but I had the controller for most of the time. In fact, it’s kind of a funny story. My littlest cousin, who is about only 4 or 5 years of age, thought she was picking all 4 characters for herself. I rolled with it for awhile, but then when I tried to make her realize she was just controlling one of them, she didn’t really listen. So at one point during the match, she was cheering for all 3 characters she wasn’t controlling, and was wanting bad things to happen to Dry Bones, the one she was actually moving. And of course, since kids can’t comprehend how the motion controls work, I had to control pretty much the whole game for her, and whenever I had a decision, I had to ask her what she wanted to do. Safe to say, Dry Bones didn’t get any candy or dolphin rides the entire game. However, I was owning the mini-games….which is a shame because she turned the bonus stars off….. Nevertheless, it was a very interesting experience to play a match in the perspective of someone who didn’t realize what exactly was going on. Maybe next time I’ll try to be more clever and try to win without her realizing :P

Anyways, thought you would enjoy that little anecdote. Gotta say, I’m actually looking forward to Mario Party 8, despite how freaking long the games can take in that game.

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Last Week on Channel SlimKirby:

Mario Party 6 – With the end of the project drawing near, the extra videos have begun. I end up getting 2 wins and a purposeful loss on Solo Mode (a lot of people think I sucked at the one I lost despite the fact I made it clear that I was losing on purpose -_-). Then I put myself in the driver’s seat for a taste of Mic Mode, where the voice recognition of Star Sprint is as solid as pudding. Then it’s on to the first part of Mini-Game mode, featuring Battle Bridge, Mount Duel, and Decathalon Park, all modes that I end up ruling with a Gamecube controller shaped fist!

Notes: This week of MP6 videos went pretty well I must say. It’s kind of disheartening that I felt more confident with these videos than some of the actual Party Mode boards.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – I could’ve only stalled the beginning of the first temple for so long. Finally I start the Woodfall Temple after some sneaking around in the Deku Palace and some sticky work in the swamp.

Notes: I’ve learned something from this project; I can never make my fans happy. They either complain about me missing something, complain about not making progress, and complain about the way I accidentally pronounce things. I understand my mispronunciation of “Sonata” is wrong and it can kind of be annoying to hear that mistake several times (because of the fact that I record all of my videos in advance, I often learn my mistakes after I’ve already recorded them. I just really wish some people would actually “think” before posting something. Is it really that much to ask? Apparently it’s way too much for society in today’s world.

Next Week’s Schedule:

Monday (28th) – Majora’s Mask #19
Tuesday (29th) – Mario Party 6 - Mini-Game Mode Part 2
Wednesday (30th) – Majora’s Mask #20
Thursday (1st) – Mario Party 6 – Final Extras and Closing
Friday (2nd) – Majora’s Mask #21
Saturday (3rd) – Majora’s Mask #22
Sunday (4th) – TENTATIVE: 3rd Year Anniversary Special

Notes: As you can see, we have two things to note here (technically 3).
1). First off, Mario Party 6 is ending on Thursday, and that date will be final. So after Thursday, Mario Party 6 will be a done deal.
2). We have something “TENTATIVE” on the list. What does this mean? Basically, I’m not sure if I will be able to release the 3rd Year Special on that date or not. It really depends on how much I can get done during this hectic week. I would like to be able to just sit down and work through it, but that luxury will be very hard to obtain.
3). This note is not as obvious mostly due to the fact that I conveniently have enough Majora’s Mask episodes for this next week. However, after #22, I will be out of them, so I’ll have to find a way to record some more. Because of this, I may take a few days off after the 4th to get some more episodes recorded, but after that, it should be smooth sailing.

Finally, I have a few things I wanted to discuss in regards to the Youtube section of the blog. I was considering doing a little more with section, maybe going into some details about possible video landmarks, and maybe having something like a “Comment of the Week” or something. It’s still a work in progress (in terms of theof the thinking process), but as usual, suggestions are welcome. Just don’t make it something that will take me hours to finalize)

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Game of the Week:

Today’s Game of the Week comes from deep space, and once again from my DS library. This is a game I brought up briefly in one of my Mario Party 6 videos and gave it a fairly harsh mini-view (mini-review) based on the first and only time I played the game. Recently I went back to it to give it another chance, and figured it would be appropriate for this section.

Star Fox: Command


Although Star Fox Adventures is usually considered the black sheep of the Star Fox series (mostly due to the fact it’s almost a Zelda clone), at least I found Adventures somewhat unique with its own charm. In my opinion, I think this game actually did quite a bit to test the waters and test its fans with something new.

The thing about Command is that it tries to be a bit more interactive than the other Star Fox games. Instead of going from planet to planet on a rail system and blasting things all around you, in this game you actually have to strategize your own movements before you actually get to the blasting. It focuses a lot more on the strategizing than the actual action-packed dogfighting. Basically, whenever you start a mission, you have control over a specific number of pilots and their aircrafts (varies from mission to mission) and you have to plan their flight path. You generally want to aim for enemy waves, giant missiles, and bases, and the goal for each mission is usually to take out all of the enemy forces. Whenever you come into contact with an enemy force, you go into flight combat with that force, and you have to take out all of the units before time runs out (your fuel gauge). If any enemy units or missiles come into contact with the stationary Great Fox, or you run out of turns before defeating everything, you will fail the mission and have to start from the beginning. It’s a pretty neat concept, but it gets hindered quite a bit by something I will talk about later.
The strategizing aspect of the game is really quite fair, and usually doesn’t take a genius to figure out. You are generally given enough time to complete each mission and enemy units don’t generally come out of nowhere. Even in the normally annoying “fog-of-war” segments, you are given the option to mark out some of the fog to see what you normally wouldn’t be able to in other games without memorization. Plus, the enemy AI is pretty predictable with what it does.

The problem with the game, in my opinion, comes from the action and flying segments where you actually have control of the Arwing and when you are trying to take out the enemy units. The controls, although not terrible, are pretty hard to work with and get used to. You move the Arwing around with the touch screen and you fire your lasers with either the directional pad or the A, B, X, and Y buttons (don’t think there is really a different). Now, I don’t know what you guys think, but if I had never played the game and if someone was trying to explain the controls to me, I would be confused with how that would even work. They just seem so inconvenient for the type of game Command is. With that being said, the controls somehow work pretty well despite how stupid they are. It just takes a lot of getting used to….A LOT of getting used to. The problems with the controls are actually pretty situational. In my opinion, the most annoying thing to deal with in the entire game are the missile chases. Basically, whenever you come into contact with an enemy missile, you have to play a mini-game where you have to chase the missile through a series of beacons while trying to shoot it down. It sounds pretty simple, but when you try to combine both the moving and shooting controls, while going at really fast speeds, it becomes a very annoying challenge. If you miss just one beacon, the missile gets away and moves closer to the Great Fox. Also, the beacon courses are actually randomly set, so you can’t expect to get the same beacon path every time. I wouldn’t even call the mini-game a challenge…..it’s just annoying. You can make it to the very end of the mission, with just one missile remaining, and fail the entire mission just because of the stupid missile chase.

Besides that though, it’s still a pretty solid title. It’s far from being the best Star Fox game, but if you can get used to the controls and the gameplay, you can actually find quite a bit of replay value. There are multiple branching paths to the story you can unlock after you complete the game once, and so far, from what I have seen, each path is actually pretty unique with different map layouts and challenges across the board. As for the game’s storyline, it’s actually kind of dull in my opinion, and the majority of the stories seem to focus on the failing relationship of Fox and Krystal, where Fox is a complete dick and Krystal is an uptight bitch (excuse me for the language, but that is the impression I got).

Overall, I would give the game a 3/5. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s not as bad as I originally thought it was. Once you get past the controls, it’s actually a pretty good game with some nice replay value, albeit with some problems in repetitiveness. Still though, glad I gave this game another chance.

LP Possibility: Because it’s a DS game, “NO!” but even if it wasn’t a DS game, I would still be somewhat hesitant in LPing it. Because I like 100% playthroughs, I would definitely not be interested in covering the entire game. It’s just has so many different paths, none of which seem to have any major difference, and it just seems like it would be a hassle, and almost a little boring.

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That’s about it for this entry folks! I’m not really sure if I am going to update next week, because I will probably be more focused on my 3rd Year Anniversary special, but I’ll let you guys know beforehand if I decide to cancel next week’s update or not. Later!

- SlimKirby

Sunday, June 20, 2010

6/20/10 - New Week, New Section, New Nintendo Stuffz, Slightly New Format

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here for another somewhat exciting blog entry! I’m sure there are many things to talk about in this entry, but just where do we begin? Well, I do promise this time that I have a few topics in mind of what to discuss, one of them being E3, and the other being a new section I plan to add to my blog. The first of which will occur first in my list of topics and the other at the very end.

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E3 2010: Let’s Start the Nintendo Bias!

Before I start talking about stuff, I want you guys to remember a few things. One, I am not a big Xbox360 or Playstation 3 person. I think that should be made obvious from my videos and LP project selections, but not everybody is that observant. However, this doesn’t mean I hate the two systems or have something against them…. it’s just that they don’t interest me enough to plunk money down to buy them. Two, I consider this blog a part of CrystalStarStudio and the Blargg Pit, and we have made it pretty obvious that we are and will continue to be a website with ties to Nintendo, and that’s just the way it is.

I will admit that that I do have rather high favor to Nintendo, almost to the extent of a bias, but that’s just who I am and what I think. I’m not going to criticize anybody for having the polar opposite opinion (unless their statements are downright unlogical to the point of being blasphemous and ignorant), and if someone disagrees with what I say, I’m not going to throw a fit. I mean, surely we are all grown-ups here (and if not, there is no excuse not to act like one).

Basically, from what I saw and read from Sony and Microsoft’s conference, I wasn’t impressed. They had some good games shown, and some of the technology was neat, but for the most part, pretty damn predictable and boring. At least Nintendo threw in a few surprises (although I will admit the majority of their titles are classic franchises, but at least some of them have unique twists, and others that haven’t been around for awhile). I think Microsoft may have spent more time talking about the Kinect than they should have, and while Sony had a few titles that actually got me interested, their conference just dragged. That’s my opinion….if you don’t like it…fine, don’t let what I say change your opinion, as long as you don’t try to force your beliefs on me.

Now that I’m done talking about that, I think I am going to move into the Nintendo stuff, part by part, game by game.

Nintendo 3DS: Although this was the system that kind of pissed me off earlier in the year (since I just bought a brand new DSi recently), I have to admit that I like what I see thus far. The games look great and the system already has some great 3rd party support. And most importantly, those who tested the system have already given it outstanding reviews. I can honestly say I am looking forward to this system. I just have to get the money for it together.
Kid Icarus: This game is already looking to be a great revival of an NES classic. Probably not the game I’m most excited about, but it did grab my attention. Not to mention that the graphics (even without the 3D aspect) look freaking fantastic.

Other 3DS Games: Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, remakes of Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time…..tremendous 3rd party support from Konami, Square Enix, and even my favorite small 3rd party company, Koei…..there is really not much I have to say, which is kind of appropriate because mostly just images were released from these games. Oh, and no one bring up Nintendogs + Cats, as I will sarcastically laugh at you if you do.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyword Sword: This game is looking great despite the poor presentation of the game during the conference. It was far from Nintendo’s fault from what I have read though. I imagine that the controls will be pretty well polished. After all, I thought Twilight Princess did a great job with that, and now that they have a little more experience, it can only get better.

Mario Sports Mix: Once again, would have preferred a new Golf or Tennis game, but this will be an interesting embark in the Mario Sports franchise. I mean…..FREAKING DODGEBALL! I can’t wait to start throwing dodgeballs at Princess Peach all the live long day. =) The other games are Volleyball, Hockey, and Basketball by the way (yay for no stylus controlled basketball). I’m interested to see how much content they put in for each of the games, and I hope it’s not too limited in variety (like the sports were in Mario Party). Also, I think wifi will be a pretty big necessity after it’s disappointing lack of inclusion in Mario Super Sluggers.

Wii Party: Instead of Mario Party…..we get this! I’m not going to say anything about this game just yet as I would like some more information before I call it a cheap rip-off (and possible replacement) of Mario Party, but I just don’t know. I may get it though because I am a big fan of the party genre and Nintendo generally does a pretty good job of the “Wii ______” games. Also, speaking of Mario Party and Hudsonsoft, I was looking at Hudson’s current project list for the Nintendo systems, and all of you Mario Party enthusiasts may be disappointed to find out that Mario Party doesn’t exist anywhere on that list and at the top is a “Beyblade” game…..I mean COME ON…..Beyblade? Who plays that?

Kirby’s Epic Yarn: Ugh, that name…... I don’t care how original the name is or that it is supposed to be a pun…I just don’t like it. I will say though that the game itself looks freaking fantastic and something that only Kirby can and will pull off. So even if the name changes to “Kirby’s Ugly Yarn.” I would still buy it because I in fact like what I see.

Donkey Kong Country Returns: If I had to pick just one game to be Nintendo’s “Best in Show,” this game would be it. It’s been almost 15 years since the last true “Donkey Kong Country” game (11 if you must count Donkey Kong 64), and while there have been some good attempts by Paon (Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber), this I think will be the one that brings back the classic DKC formula, hands freaking down! So glad Retro Studios grabbed this masterpiece and is trying to bring it back.

Goldeneye 007: I actually heard rumors about this comeback game before the show and when I saw the teaser, I knew it was going to be Goldeneye. I am actually pretty interested to see how this game will end up. I mean, let’s face it, they did try to release a Goldeneye game awhile back (Rouge Agent) that ended up falling on it’s back and we can only hope, especially for those who grew up with this game (including me) that they don’t do the same. So far it looks pretty good, but you can only get so much from a trailer.

Metroid: Other M: A lot of people were wondering what my opinion was on this game, but honestly, this is not a new coming. This was announced last year. The whole feature was basically just confirming that the game would be out soon. There is nothing really to say about it. It does look nice though, I will admit.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Here is another game that my viewers were also kind of disappointed with me for not mentioning. Golden Sun was a pretty big deal on the Game Boy Advance and has since then not really been around. For now, it looks pretty cool, although I was honestly never really fond of the original GBA games. I may have to try and get around to trying those games again before I make a final decision though, since I did leave them pretty well unfinished. Great move to bring this game out again.

Epic Mickey: Of all the games presented, this one actually caught my interest in a very unique way, mostly with how the gameplay works. This is definitely a title I will need to follow in the coming months to decide if a purchase will happen. The gameplay almost reminds me of Psychonauts in that it takes a very common genre (platforming) and adds unique twists to make it a very unforgettable experience.

And finally….because people want me to comment on games I don’t want to talk about….

Sonic Colors: No comment

That about does it for my heavily-Nintendo biased coverage of this year’s E3 event. I hope you guys enjoyed me blabbering on for way too long about stuff you probably didn’t want to hear about.
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Last Week on Channel SlimKirby:

Mario Party 6 – Clockwork Castle: This was a pretty solid playthrough if I say so myself. The beginning was kind of rough as I tried to settle in to a very unfamiliar board and board concept, and the fact the CPUs got some early bouts of good luck didn’t help, but I came through in the end with flying colors. Next week we got some extras, so I hope you guys stay tuned for that.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask: Well, the 2nd cycle is over, and after about an hour’s worth of sidequesting, I’m finally ready to continue the game…you know, the game I should be playing, involving the weird kid with the powerful mask? That’s right! That game! Anyways, I think for all of you progression types, this is the cycle you will live for. Sure, it took me 10 videos (no joke) to get through all of what I wanted to, but it was still the amount of progression I was hoping for. I pretty much cleaned the swamp out of all activity, with really only a few things left to do (most of which I will be covering much later). The LP will be going kind of slow over the next few weeks, mostly so I can finish up Mario Party 6, but it is definitely moving.

Next Week’s Schedule:

Monday (21st): Majora’s Mask #15
Tuesday (22nd): Mario Party 6 – Solo Mode
Wednesday (23rd): Majora’s Mask #16
Thursday (24th): Mario Party 6 – Mic Mode
Friday (25th): Majora’s Mask #17
Saturday (26th): Mario Party 6 – Mini-Game Mode: Part 1
Sunday (27th): Majora’s Mask #18

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Game of the Week:

Here is a new section I am going to be test-running. Every week, especially now, during the summer, I will pick one game that I am currently playing and maybe talk about it for a little bit. I got the idea pretty much from my last few entries when I have been talking about DS games that I have been revisiting. Don’t expect this to be a review, really more of a small quip about the game with maybe some statements of how I originally felt about the game compared with my feelings now, and the possibility of a future LP (or replay, depending on if it is a game I have already LPed).

Super Mario 64 DS:


This was the game that pretty much started the launch of the Nintendo DS back in 2004, a game that tried to recreate that classic nostalgia that many experienced back in 1996 when the Nintendo 64 first released. It definitely brought a lot more to the table than it’s original counterpart, but many felt the awkwardness of the DS’s directional pad would bring this game to a complete downfall. In the end, the game was pretty successful, and many people got over the controls pretty quickly

I randomly picked this game up last weekend during my DS revival and figured I would give this classic recreation another go after a few years of the game being slightly layered with dust. Now, while the game did keep my attention for awhile, I don’t think it did for the right reasons. I think I found myself continuing really just to see how the star missions were different from the N64 versions, and nearly in every case the mission was a lot easier in the handheld than it was on the console. The only real challenge was not making a stupid mistake with the movement controls. It felt like I had to redo the Bowser in the Fire Sea red coin mission for about a half an hour because whenever I made a small mistake, I couldn’t recover from it for one reason or another. Besides that though, you can breeze through it pretty easily….almost too easily. In fact, I never noticed how much Luigi can break the game in certain places (that tornado float is insane).

Overall, it is a pretty decent game, but not an experience I would swear by. Back when it first released, it actually had charm because it was like you were experiencing an N64 game on a handheld (something many thought was unlikely at the time). Now though, it almost seems like the game was made just to give the DS a recognizable launch title. If I had to give the game a score based on my recent experience, I would give it a 3 out of 5. A first timer's experience would probably be a little higher, maybe with a 3.5/5 or even a 4/5.

Let’s Play Possibility: Well, since it’s a DS game, with my current equipment it is an obvious “No!” Assuming the technology were possible (BESIDES EMULATORS AND CAMCORDER LPS), it would be kind of an interesting choice. Hell, comparing the star missions and other general differences betweens the game and the original on the N64 could bring up some informational and insightful commentary.

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That is about it for this entry. I hope you guys enjoyed reading what I had to babble on and on about. Also, feel free to give me some insight on the slightly adjusted format, as well as the new “Game of the Week” section. Besides that though, see you guys next weekend!

- SlimKirby

Sunday, June 13, 2010

6/13/10 - Fairely and Squarely

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another exciting (HA!) entry of FTMOS (for those who suck at acronyms, look at the name of the blog).

Not a lot went on this week worth noting about....really just the same old boring summer antics. Don't get me wrong, I love summer vacation, and the 3 1/2 month break from school and classes will always be a plus for me, but honestly, on a day-to-day basis, nothing interesting really happens during summer anymore. Let me tell you, I've had summers where I've worked, and I've had summers where I completely opened up my schedule, and I honestly couldn't tell you which one is better. When you are working, you are more than likely going to have a job you don't like doing (if you do, more power to you). Once you get that job, that is pretty much all you are going to do until the summer is over, or until the job doesn't need to be done anymore (aka: summer camps), and your schedule is pretty much going to be decided. When you don't get a job and rely on planning out your schedule, you pretty much have to take full initiative, otherwise nothing will get done and you are just going to be sitting in your room staring at the TV screen all day. For example, me and my friends from high school are planning two events for this summer; 1) Going to and observing a Pokemon tournament which will be held in Indianapolis, and 2) Hosting a personal gaming tournament between our group of friends (something we've been trying to do every 2 years since 2004). Now, I am totally committed to both things, yet my friends never seem to want to discuss or plan these things out. They assure me that the events will happen, but they conveniently never answer the questions of "When?" "Where?" and "How?" I think people are like this because they assume that since they have a few months, they can wait as long as they want because of the free time they think they have. However, the more you put it off, the less likely it's going to happen. For example, what if someone's work hours need to get extended? What if there is a family or personal emergency? Once one of those things happens, your plans are pretty much thrown out the window. You have to be persistent in planning something, because it won't happen otherwise, especially if you are like my friends, thinking you have more time than you actually do (although for them, it's more due to the fact that they have jobs, but still).

As I explained in my Faire Square videos, for videogames this week, I got into Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for my DS playthrough of the week. Overall, it's a nice game, but it's also a game that I think needs a lot of different fixes. Some of the puzzles seem almost over the top and to get the best (gold) score, you pretty much have to memorize the best path through each level, which can be kind of annoying. This week I will be playing through Super Mario 64 DS again. At this point, as far as my star count is concerned, I am about 1/3 through the game, so I don't expect to take very long with it. So far I am enjoying the game, but I really wish the game could take advantage of an analog stick, as the platforming is kind of awkward with the directional pad. I'll probably talk about this a little more in my next Mario Party board.

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Majora's Mask:

Ok, so the project has been out for a week now, and so far, I can't really complain. I feel kind of badly about making the viewers sit through an entire cycle of sidequest stuff that doesn't HAVE to be done, but I'd honestly rather get some of it out of the way. I expect to continue the game to the first area on Friday (unless I decide to upload multiple videos this next week).

Speaking of multiple video uploads, that is something I will probably implement as time goes on, especially during the Mario Party 6 Extras. I'd like to at least upload 7 videos of this project per week in the hope that I don't take forever to do this project. I'm still trying to workshop a possible schedule, but at this point, it's kind of hard to figure out a plausible way of doing that. I'll probably post a video next weekend of what I plan to do, or I might wait until I make my Summer update video.

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Mario Party 6 - Faire Square:

As usual, possible spoilers for those who haven't watched (since this upload isn't a day old yet).

For something that took 2 playthroughs of the board to finish, I'm satisfied with the videos I ended up with. In my commentary, I actually felt more alive than usual, I actually had some good discussions and rants, and the board was just a refreshing experience. There was actually not much to get mad or angry about...for once! Yeah, there were a few unfortunate mini-game losses, stupid CPU AI, and some bouts of chance and luck, but it honestly felt pretty minimum, especially considering what I normally put up with when it comes to Mario Party.

In fact, because the board went so well, there is nothing I really feel like discussing....what you see in the videos is pretty much what you get.

Next week, channel SlimKirby will have the finale of the Party Mode boards, (can't believe this part of the playthrough is almost over already) CLOCKWORK CASTLE! Then we will have bunches and bunches of extras.

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CrystalStarStudio:

This past week we put another chapter to rest in our glorious TTYD playthrough when ShadowMarioXLI finished Chapter 5 and left Keelhaul Key with the Sapphire Star. Which means, as usual, I'll have to give my thoughts on how the man did.

To be honest, I really wasn't expecting much from ShadowBoy, but I don't mean that in a negative way. I think he has already proven himself to be a quality LPer, and I already felt comfortable putting the project into his capable hands. Overall, he did a really good job, pretty much what I was expecting...nothing to really criticize, negatively or positively...solid work.

And now, before I can finally sink my teeth into this project, we have one more chapter host remaining....the one...the only....PowerToMario. At this point, as with ThePastaKing, my only concern is updates. PTM has shown me in the past that he can make quality videos (Pokemon Silver), and while I don't think his work lately has reflected that project, I think he definitely has plenty of room to seize and succeed for this project, and I think he will. His updates on the other hand, I haven't been as impressed with. I will admit though, it has been a whirlwind of uncertainty with him as of late since he has been trying to work through his final weeks of high school, college orientation, and all that jazz, which is understandable. In the end though, he has given the members of CSS, and all of our viewers, his commitment and his word that he will come through for the project.

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Anyways, I think that is about it for this week's entry. Next week I will probably be on the subject on E3 and all of the wonderful gaming news, particularly for Nintendo. Should be a lot of interesting information! ;)

See you guys next time! Later folks!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

6/6/10 - Unmasked

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!

Welcome back once again to my weekly blog entries, and of course, the first entry of June. This has been a very busy week and weekend for SlimKirby, and not just in real life. I have a lot of stuff to cover in this entry, and I believe I even had a review planned.

First off, as I mentioned, I had a very busy week this past week, as the case for many families who have high school and college graduations and grad parties around the clock. Although there was nobody really in my household who was graduating, my first cousin (who also lives right next door) did, so my family has been pretty busy cleaning up around the house and such since we had the party at our house. It's been pretty hectic, but now it is over. =)

Also this past week, as I think I mentioned in my last entry, or in another entry, or possibly in my videos, I had to help my mom this week at the elementary school she works at. She is a librarian and every year she has to scan and do inventory on all 15,0000+ books. It's a very long and tedious process and I don't mind helping her with it. At this time I've scanned about 10,000 of them, so in a way, it's like I have scanned 1 book for every Youtube subscriber I have. I may have to go back this next week for a little while too.

As for games I've been playing (besides for Youtube and UStream), the big thing going around the Blargg Pit and our game systems is the reawakening of Animal Crossing, mostly brought on by MadameWario's Let's Play of the Gamecube version. I hadn't touched any of my games in a good while, so I decided to start anew in my Gamecube version and then go back in time to the last time I played in my Wii version (leaving the DS version untouched). I have a pretty nice City Folk town at this point, and I'm still working on the GCN town. Another game I have randomly picked up (this one brought on by a game that has been released in the last year) was the first New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. While the game is inferior to it's Wii counterpart, I forgot how much I loved the game and how much fun it is. I will admit that if I ever had the ability to LP DS games (again, NOT USING EMULATORS), New Super Mario Bros. would probably be the first candidate (behind Mario Party DS, since I'd kinda be forced to do that due to the nature of my channel).

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Let's Play The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

I knew this LP was going to happen on my channel eventually, but despite how weird this will sound, I'm kind of in disbelief that I am doing this game. I've always convinced myself that this game was just too long and would be too much of a commitment to keep up with, but now I think I am ready to handle it, no matter how many freaking parts it will take to finish.

For those who know nothing about Majora's Mask, I am not kidding you; this game is is a big one. It has less dungeons than Ocarina of Time and the in-game area is a lot smaller, but the dungeons are more complex, and sometimes even getting to the dungeons can be a chore. Also, don't even get me started on all of the different sidequests. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this game ends up taking me 80 parts (I don't think it will be that long though). I've seen someone complete this game in 64 videos, however, to the extent of what the individual covered, I am unsure. Either way, I'm up for the challenge, and I'll try not to disappoint.

At the time I am writing this entry, I have fully recorded the beginning part (first 3 days as a Deku Scrub), and it ended up taking me about 6 or 7 videos (some of the footage which will be edited out). I think editing will more than likely be the biggest issue with the project, and also the day-to-day scheduling of the game itself, since there are many events in the game that happen on a pretty strict timeframe. I pretty much know how I am going to handle all of the edits and stuff, but I really need to sit down with a guide and plan my movements, especially since I want to cover 100% in the most efficient way (maybe not the most efficient, but most efficient with some degree of improvisation).

Either way, I hope you guys enjoy the project.

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Mario Party 6: Castaway Bay
(Warning! Spoilers for those who may have not watched yet)

I may be walking out of Castaway Bay with a sense of defeat, but I am definitely taking solace in the fact that it wasn't a big defeat. I think I handled the game pretty well from the standpoint of which I could handle it. I was pretty sharp when it came to the mini-games, my strategy was pretty much on point.....it was really the luck factor that screwed me (once again) this time.

First thing's first....the whole identify crisis fail, I'm really not sure what happened there. Basically for those who are in the dark, or who simply forgot, I went into such a tirade about mistaking myself for Toad at various points in the game, quickly releasing it and calling attention to my stupidity. However, during a particular coin hoarding mini-game (Cash Flow), I went the entire mini-game without realizing my character was kicked out close to the very beginning. I seriously must have been drained or completely out of it to make a mistake like that, but there it was, clear as day. When I read the comments, I thought people were just being assholes or trying to make me look stupid......turns out I'm the only one who made myself look stupid there.

As for the loss itself......meh. That is really all I have to say about it. Toad only won the mini-game star because of either the high yield of the battle game (another game where I kind of showed my stupidity), or the Duel mini-game where he pretty much crippled all of Toadette's funds. That was pretty much a win I don't think he deserved. Another thing that pissed me off was the fact that I was pretty much forced to go see Bowser at the very end. Losing that one star pretty much took me out of the game after leading in stars (or co-leading with stars) during 90% of the game itself. The only advantage Toad really had on me was the fact that he had so many coins from that one battle game.

Anyways, next up we have Faire Square, a board I'm kind of looking forward to. Faire Square has always been one of my favorite boards in the entire Mario Party franchise, and while it seems to be built on some degree of luck, coin hoarders can go into the board and dominate with ease. For those wondering why, you will just have to wait and see.

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June 4th Stream Event:

Last Friday I had a stream event, and as usual, I thought I would talk about it briefly. The coverage won't be as extensive as it was in the past. Really, my goal for this stream was to finish the two on-going stream projects I was working on since December. Unfortunately I was unable to achieve this goal, but I did come pretty close. I started off playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii for awhile, collecting star coins needed to finish off the game. While I was able to get through most of it, the need to switch to something else was high, so I figured I would just get Banjo Tooie out of the way since it was the longer game. Despite starting at 6 PM, I wasn't able to finish what I had left until the very early hours of the of the next day, so I stopped after finishing Tooie.

Besides the decent progress, the stream went pretty well. There were a few problems here and there with spammers and people complaining about things for no reason, but that is to be expected. Also, I made another stupid error with the recording of the stream, but this time I just forgot to start the recording. I do apologize to those who hoped to see the entire thing, but there is not much I can do about it. I just wish UStream would be a bit more reasonable with this stuff........

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Super Mario Galaxy 2 Thoughts

WARNING! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS SECTION! IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED, TURN BACK IMMEDIATELY!

Ok, well, first off, I want to clarify that this won't exactly be a "review." I will broadcast my opinions on the game and will mostly be talking about how the game compares with Super Mario Galaxy 1, so don't expect me to cover every exact detail of the game. Really I will just be covering a few different, key topics.

Now, as you would expect, the game itself isn't much different (gameplay-wise) from the first game, so I won't have to go into much detail about that. I will say that they improved a lot of the old mechanics, and a lot of the new mechanics and power-ups that were added were very well implemented. Many people I knew thought the game would just be rejected and unused Super Mario Galaxy 1 concepts, which I thought it was far from. Cloud Mario, although it had the capacity to completely break the game, was a very fun power-up to use, and the beat blocks were also a unique and fun obstacle to interact with. Another thing I was impressed with was how well Yoshi worked out for the game. I honestly didn't like Yoshi in Super Mario Sunshine and felt he was kind of awkward to control. In this game, it almost felt like I was controlling Yoshi back in good old Super Mario World again.

Game length was another thing I was concerned with...although I guess "concerned" isn't necessarily the right word to use here (interested is more appropriate). I thought the first game had an acceptable length and amount of content, although I was dissatisfied with their definition of "242 stars." Their definition was more, "121 stars twice," rather than a full 242. When I heard that Super Mario Galaxy 2 would have 242 stars, I just figured it would be the same thing, however, as rumors went on and as I finished the first part of the game, I found out that the game actually did have 242 unique stars. Now, when I say unique, I mean that there is no star that is the same (no duplicates), but in reality, the 2nd half/set of 120 (the cosmic jewels) are just simply going through old missions and doing repetitive seek-out quests. It makes the game a bit longer, but some may not consider them to be actual missions (due to their short and repetitive nature). However, they do count for the star amount, and getting them all definitely yields a closing act that hardcore players would be proud of. Also, you can't deny that at least they did something else instead of just making you play the same game twice with barely any difference for a very unrewarding finale.

Replayability is something else I am very big on when it comes to video games, and I think that is where this game actually has a few downfalls, but for very understandable reasons. The game itself is huge.....and once you beat it, you probably won't have the drive to beat it a 2nd time so shortly after. However, the game does have a few things people might be interested in, like mission time trials and speed runs (speedrunners would eat this up, especially with possible sequence breaking). For the most part though, I have no desire to play the game for a little awhile, but the game itself was still very enjoyable, so don't get me wrong there.

All in all, how would I compare this game to the first? Honestly, I would say they are about equal. Now, while that may turn off a few people, let me remind you that there have been some who claimed that despite disliking the first Galaxy, they loved the 2nd. Also, some of the major reviewing sites who give Nintendo a hard time with their games have given the game some amazing scores, some of them being perfect 10s. So if you fit into that uncertain category, don't let the fact that the game is a very similar sequel turn you off at all. For me, it's really hard to say. In some ways I think the first game is a little better for creating the concept, while I think the 2nd game could be considered a bit better for improving the gameplay and coming up with more unique and original features. I think the fact that the 2nd game was able to at least match the enjoyment of the first really shows that the game isn't just a game filled with rejected Galaxy 1 concepts...that's just not true, and I think the game proves that.

Among other things, such as graphics and music, and controls, I don't think much really needs to be said about it. I will definitely give credit to Super Mario Galaxy 2 for its soundtrack though, as I will admit that I was very impressed with some of the musical scores.

If I had to give some suggestions to Nintendo about how to improve the formula if they ever did a Super Mario Galaxy 3, well, first I would encourage them to put a hold on the Galaxy name and focus on maybe making a Mario game more like Super Mario 64 and Sunshine (obviously with less emphasis on water pumps). I mean, in a way, the Galaxy games are like that too, but in a way, I think they make those games a bit too linear (Galaxy 2 is a lot less linear than 1 though, I will admit). I mean, one of the things that really made me love Super Mario 64 as a kid was the fact that I could explore these giant worlds (giant at the time) and just walk around without a care in the world. In the Galaxy games, once I advance to the next planet, I'm pretty much stuck unless I can backwards-sequence break. Basically, I think they should maybe focus on a less linear game and maybe take a break with the whole planet hopping and space traveling. Also, as mentioned earlier, while the cosmic jewels were an improvement, I think that maybe the games are restricting themselves a bit too much with the whole 120/ stars concept. In a way, it kind of felt like parts of Galaxy 2 could have been in Galaxy 1 (which makes the "unused and rejected concepts" theory more plausible) and it almost seems like they held back a little just to reach that number. I don't think Nintendo should try to restrict themselves like that and maybe get a little more ambitious with the amount of content for the game. I honestly wouldn't mind having a big game every 5 years rather than 2 restricted games every 2 1/2, and I don't think others would mind either.

Anyways, great job Nintendo on a great sequel. I really enjoyed playing the game, and I'm sure I will enjoy it in many of my future concurrent playthroughs. Keep up the good work, and remember that there is nothing wrong with being a bit more ambitious in some of your games.

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Anyways, that took a lot longer than I expected, so I'm going to end this entry in a very sudden manner.

Bye!