mrsambarlow

Having read the manual cover to cover twice and looked at my Mii in HD for way too long, time to turn off the Wii U and wait till my games arrive or the patch goes live -- whichever happens first... So in conclusion -- ordered from Amazon, standard delivery. It's here, but I can't do ANYTHING with it. Hope that makes all you Prime people feel a little bit better.

Ack, my children are going to hate me. They'll wake up tomorrow to see that daddy has set up essentially a glorified HD Mii viewer!

My Amazon (basic) Wii-U arrived today. Still waiting on games to arrive, so was hoping I could grab some eShop titles. Hooked everything up but the system says there's "no update required". I can't do internet or shops or anything... does this mean I have to wait till Friday before the patch goes live??? Icons for Netflix, etc. but these are just placeholders. Anyone else getting this?

Completed the game for the first time last night! (By the skin of my teeth.) Absolutely *love* this game. I've avoided any use of the warehouses generally -- I find that doing a couple of rescues leaves me with enough decent loot to get stuck in and have a bash at the main challenge. I've also been using the evil soldiers to level up a rice changer to its level 3 form, then toasting it with dragon herbs to level up super fast -- seem to be able to engineer this on most visits to level 6. Got to the end again a second time, only to have a metal dude knock and smash my uber katana, leaving me empty handed vs. a room of dragons. Just got out after using every scroll, stave and herb I had on me and had to settle for returning to the canyon, tail between legs rather than .

Despite the screenies, this isn't much like Advance Wars. Closest thing I can think of is Ogre Battle 64. It's like an Ogre Battle 64 where they've taken the one bit I didn't really like with the game--the formation system--and expanded upon it. It *does* work better here--the tile-based setup means it's less random, but in making it more fun they've made it a bit more abstract. It never feels like you're really involved in the business of war because of this. A unit that's separated from the fight by a mountain range, for example, can be pulled into battle because they're in a formation's range. Also, whilst they're nice I find the visuals a bit too busy for the GBA's resolution... All said and done, this is still an interesting and fresh take on things and is worth a look.

What did you like about the GBA one? I liked FFT PS1, but much preferred Tactics Ogre (and Ogre Battle). The GBA Tactics Ogre game trounces FFTA for me. Much less emphasis on level grinding, much more emphasis on clever use of abilities and tactics. I played some ridiculous number of hours of FFTA, but never actually enjoyed it... I've tried to figure out why I kept playing and attribute it to a perfectly tweaked battle length -- one was never enough (and also not long enough to become tedious). FFTA had the best art though -- lovely isometric tiles.

Not sure what I think abou the new link system yet. The tweaks they've made have changed its function almost completely. In 4 it was a system that let you set up little set piece combos, the system in 5 is closer to an abstracted overwatch type setup. There's a nice foundation here for a PS3 version where you can see all the screw heads on the robots and stick in loads of nice smoke. & They could absolutely litter the game with microstransactions. On reflection, perhaps DS is a nice home for the franchise. One thing that does bug me a little: are trees/etc permeable or do they act just like any other blocking scenery? I never seem to be able to shoot someone who is the other edge of a corner tree to me?

Got this now it's knocked down to budget. Very cool! My limited Japanese has got me through the menus and upgrades but fails at the story and dialogue (doesn't help that the font is very curly...) But as said above, the cutscenes are cool even if you're not sure of the nuances. Across the board this does seem to be a step up from 4 -- though I'm sure the camera controls were better in 4. I'm sure you could tilt the camera down for a long view -- can't seem to do that here. So far I'd definitely recommend other people take a punt on this (it's ~ £20 on Playasia?) as if you've played similar games you can figure your way through it and it's premier stuff. Feels odd to see such production values in a genre that's so niche here and is often associated with rough edges & low-fi 2D art, etc. Lovely meaty big robot gun noises too.

Scan here: http://www.theimageplace.net/uploads/aa8f5fdb27.jpg I'd assume from the title that this is a DS port-up of the first game in the series? --Sam

Cool news! PSP? Damn. That's a pain. Fingers crossed for a DS version. The GBA one was almost there, the extra oomph of a DS -- and the stylus control would have pushed it to the next level.

Personally, it's the only Nintendo game I've *ever* bought where I feel ripped off. Yeah it tries to do something "different", but it does it really badly. It looks bad, sounds bad, plays bad... yuck. I was a bit miffed that Nintendo actually let this be released, when they usually either can or polish experiments like this. I couldn't recommend anyone part with more than a fiver for it.

I'm at 4450... but I know if I do a better job doubling up (and doubling again) my proceeds from the first autobahn that I can probably triple that... just need to concentrate harder... I love it when the game gets fast and you have to go all D.A.R.Y.L. Also: Sound Voyager -- can I add my voice to the love in? This screams for a sequel. It might even work with the stylus for more analogue movement and panning?

So, seen some reviews of this. Fairly average so far. How does this sit on the continuum of SRPGs? Is it more Front Mission than Fire Emblem? How does the level of strategy compare to, say, Front Mission and Final Fantasy Tactics? Is the skill in creating the right robots or in making the right plays on the battlefield? The reviews make it sound like the strategy is fairly basic...

The bit I don't get is the inclusion of double jump. The majority of the "platforming" sections of TNZS require a very careful use of the small/large jumps and have carefully calibrated platforms to force this. Adding in double jump is just going to break all of that? Other than the balloons and the fact that generally contact with baddies doesn't kill you, the mechanics of the platforming are the most memorable elements of the TNZS experience for me... To be honest I'd rather see a full on 3D update than a tinkered with 2D version.

higher quality movie at the same link