Mon, 10 April 2017
This week the lads discover just how much they love the new Power Rangers movie. And by that, I mean Scotty almost loses his breath telling you why you should spend your money on literally anything else. That aside, the Addicts are happy to be back and talking' some good ol' vidja games again! Brett has some big news, Scotty can't discuss Resident Evil 7 spoilers no matter how much he wants to, and Nick sure does love hitting' people with fire extinguishers. It's good to be back, folks! Brett, Pocky, TJ, Nick and Scotty also discuss their views on microtransactions- a topic that could honestly encompass an entire podcast itself. What do you think? Check it out! We just debuted on iTunes! Subscribe and be sure to give us a review, because we'd love you even more! And hey! If you missed out on the insanity that was our special live edition of our 100th podcast episode you can always swing by our YouTube page to check it out as well as any other streams we have posted. Finally, gang, are you looking to complete your Atlus collection now that they have joined forces with Sega? Trying to grab that crazy Hatsune Miku arcade controller? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! |
Thu, 30 March 2017
If there was a single Visual Novel series to recommend for newcomers to get into the genre, it’d have to be Zero Escape for blending complex puzzle solving gameplay and decision based visual novel storytelling. The Nonary Games is Spike Chunsoft and Aksys’ swan song for the trilogy; a re-release of the first two titles of the series, a complete HD remake of Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, aka 999, the second title being an improved port of Virtue’s Last Reward. Both 999 and VLR are set around the “Nonary Games”, involving 9 strangers trapped in a closed space. Each participant has a bracelet locked onto their wrists that can end their lives if they break the rules given by the mastermind known only as “Zero”. In 999 you play as Junpei, who wakes up on a mysterious cruise ship with 8 other people. They are given one goal: find a door with a【9】on it and escape the ship that will sink in 9 hours. Each bracelet has a unique number, and they must use different combinations to enter different numbered doors, solving escape the room puzzles along the way. If any person breaks Zero’s rules, a detonator will go off in that person’s bracelet, activating a bomb in their stomach. VLR has you in the shoes a new protagonist named Sigma, who wakes up in a different facility with 8 other people and is forced to play the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition. This death game features a voting system, where each person must vote to Ally or Betray against people they have worked with in puzzle rooms. The goal is to receive enough points from these AB games to get 9 points and escape the place. With a cast of mostly new faces, and a gigantic facility to escape from, Sigma has to make a copious amount of decisions that will decide the fate of his fellow participants. The story sections stay engaging for the players, due to the plot’s masterful writing and puzzle pacing. In 999, the puzzle rooms are pre-rendered spaces you can move around in by clicking the L and R buttons to change your perspective. You interact with objects using either the touch screen or a pointer controlled by the left analog stick, a welcome addition inspired by VLR. VLR on the other hand, uses fully explorable 3D rooms, giving you more freedom in the puzzles you solve, and much more challenging puzzles as well. A new feature in VLR is the ability to switch between your held item with a flick of the right analog stick, a huge time saver. Sadly for touch-screen enthusiasts, the PS4 version ditches all touch control, using only analog stick movement. When you aren’t in escape rooms, you’ll be seeing the story unravel and making choices to change the path you go down. 999 now has the story flowchart feature of VLR, allowing you to jump to different parts of the story; it’s convenient but it can get a little confusing to navigate it sometimes. However, since the original game made you start over every time you wanted to see a new ending, this is a welcome change. The flowchart removes the artificial length the original had from having to replay the entire game to reach different endings, and makes achieving the true ending less of a hassle. One last new feature to note in the remake of 999 is the 2 modes of experiencing the game: Adventure and Novel. Adventure mode only shows the player lines of dialogue, similar to how the DS version’s top screen was utilized. Novel mode provides all the original narration from the DS version, and has text over the characters instead of a text box. They can be switched between at nearly every moment with just a press of a button. I spent most of my playthrough playing it on Adventure, and it was a great way to experience the story. Dialogue has been changed so Adventure mode can provide all the information players need, and the game changes to Novel mode if a scene requires the narration. The environments in the 999 remake look crisp and incredible in HD, but certain sprites weren’t so lucky. The hardware limitations of the DS made 999’s original sprites incredibly pixelated, which is no longer the case; effort was taken to bring this art to current gen consoles. While some character art benefits from this, a couple sprites look unflattering. The art definitely shows it’s age, but stays faithful to the original Each character retains their charming animations from the 2009 release, which look even better with the cleaned-up art. VLR retains its 3D character models and environments are largely unchanged since the 2012 Vita release. This game’s content has remained largely untouched besides a couple typo corrections, those who opt for the PS4 version of this game shouldn’t expect incredible graphics. The game is running at a higher resolution and does have much smoother animation, but texture quality remains the exact same and might be jarring for those used to games made for PS4. I’m the kind of person that prefers these type of games portable, so that’s where I spent most of my time playing these and had no problem. It’ll really come down to preference, so if you prefer handheld or console you’ll be sure to still get a great experience. The music is just as good as it ever was, and Shinji Hosoe’s tracks sound absolutely chilling. The soundtrack is constantly making you feel tense, rarely easing up. All the music tracks remain the same, but I couldn’t help but think that 999’s soundtrack had some improvements made to it. This is the first time 999 has had voice acting, while VLR launched with it. The ambitious second title in the series really set the bar with it’s phenomenal dub, even going as far to outshine the Japanese audio track, so there was a lot of pressure for the new dub of 999. Fear not: the dub is pretty great. There are still some awkward lines here and there, but once I got used to the voices I grew to love them. The two performances that completely stole the show were Junpei’s and Santa’s. Evan Smith returned from Zero Time Dilemma to voice Junpei, and he did a fantastic job bringing the fan favorite protagonist to life. Santa’s voice actor, Sean Chiplock, delivered an absolutely perfect performance.The entire cast does a good job, and overall there’s a great dub here. The games also carry a Japanese audio track, but I’ve never found the Japanese audio track in the Zero Escape games to be as good as the English ones. Despite some very minor presentation flaws, The Nonary Games provides the definitive version of Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue’s Last Reward. There’s definitely more value here for newcomers to the series, but hardcore fans will definitely enjoy the update on the series’ first entry. I’d recommend getting it on Vita if you have the option, but the PS4 version is still great. It’s a wonderful package with some of my favorite games on them, and I can’t recommend this enough. Final Score: A
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Thu, 16 February 2017
Sometimes you play games you enjoy, and sometimes you play games on the Game Gear. This episode included one of those things and we'll let you decide which one. Ayrton Senna Super Monaco GP II was the name of the game this week, and it made Sonic Drift look pretty good. The Addicts also spend a good bit of time discussing what games they have been playing including still more Overwatch, Resident Evil 7, and John Wick 2. Nick thinks the ladder is a game, because he plays as John Wick in Pay Day 2 enough to consider it as such. Everyone also yells at Cullen for spending $50 on Yakuza 2. Don't be a Cullen, kids. Did we mention we also talk about our favorite types villains and go on a 10-minute rant involving the topical TV show, Heroes? Someone has to do it this month. Speaking of this month, folks, we are going to be taking a short break from podcasting due to vacations, and that crazy thing called "life." We will be back mid-March, but our regular streams will continue in the mean time. Keep an eye on our Twitter account for further updates. And hey! If you missed out on the insanity that was our special live edition of our 100th podcast episode you can always swing by our YouTube page to check it out as well as any other streams we have posted. Finally, gang, are you looking to complete your Atlus collection now that they have joined forces with Sega? Trying to grab that crazy Hatsune Miku arcade controller? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! |
Mon, 6 February 2017
Elle, TJ, Nick, Brett, Scotty, and (sorta) Cullen and Pocky X, have tallied their votes and are ready to tell you the most important things that composed the year of 2016 in video games. Sega, or not, they are gonna give it to you straight. Did we all decide on a winner? Did Sega have a great year? What is in store for next year? How many HD remakes can Scotty play in a year? How many times did Brett eat crow this year? All this and more in the latest, totally legitimate, Sega Addicts Game of the Year Awards! Return next week for our regularly scheduled program with the game of the week being Sonic CD. And hey! If you missed out on the insanity that was our special live edition of our 100th podcast episode you can always swing by our YouTube page to check it out as well as any other streams we have posted. Finally, gang, are you looking to complete your Atlus collection now that they have joined forces with Sega? Trying to grab that crazy Hatsune Miku arcade controller? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! |
Mon, 30 January 2017
This week on the worldwide-electronic-voice-box-place Nick, Brett and Scotty discuss the game Iron Man on the original Nintendo DS, because who else would? Is it great? It's is passable? Is it a cash-in? All this and more! Fair warning there are major Life is Strange spoilers for anyone who has not completed the game yet. We also try to decide whether or not character customization actually matters to us in video games and get confused as to who Mickey Rourke may or may not be. All in good fun, right? Except Nick really hates blue hair for some reason. He ain't foolin'. And hey! If you missed out on the insanity that was our special live edition of our 100th podcast episode you can always swing by our YouTube page to check it out as well as any other streams we have posted. Finally, gang, are you looking to complete your Atlus collection now that they have joined forces with Sega? Trying to grab that crazy Hatsune Miku arcade controller? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! |
Fri, 20 January 2017
This week on the show, Elle, Nick, Brett, and Scotty discuss the best use of your rod: Sega Bass Fishing! In a rare turn of events, we all really enjoyed this Game of the Week! But don't take my word for it, take our words for it. We also talk about the latest Sega-related Nintendo Switch news and Nick makes us all feel like idiots by throwing some 10-dollar words around from that fancy college of his with the latest Questionarium regarding moral dilemas in video games. And hey! If you missed out on the insanity that was our special live edition of last week's 100th podcast episode you can always swing by our YouTube page to check it out as well as any other streams we have posted. Looking to complete your Atlus collection now that they have joined forces with Sega? Trying to grab that crazy Hatsune Miku arcade controller? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! Don’t forget that you can still help raise more money for our ExtraLife campaign as we kick of 2017! We beat our $500 goal during the Dreamcast Marathon but we hope to crush that number this year! Want to donate? Find out how right here! |
Thu, 22 December 2016
Woah we are up to episode 98 (degrees) already?! That's right! We are hitting episode 100 with a bang on January 9th at 9:30EST with a LIVE PODCAST TWITCH STREAM where we will be playing Anarchy Reigns on PS3 and want you to be a part of it! We will have an open lobby and answer all the listener questions you can throw at us LIVE, along with others you can Tweet to us right now using the hashtag #SegaAddicts100. Dare I say it will be anarchy? This week, Elle, Nick, and Pocky X discuss the first game Nick played on the Dreamcast: Omikron The Nomad Soul, which explains so so much. *coughsonicshufflecough* After discussing how much Nick loves David Cage, the gang mentions some Yakuza news and million-dollar video game companies whom receive government funding now. This is 2016, folks - horse prince and all. Finally, everyone discusses whether or not developers can actually pull off a cinematic video game experience at the risk of gameplay quality suffering. You may be surprised by the resolution - because who wouldn't want a "German sausage-making" video game? |
Wed, 7 December 2016
This week we tackle another game no one asked for: NHL All-Star Hockey for the Game Gear. Elle and Brett spend almost as much time torturing Scotty with Gex puns as it takes to actually discuss the "game of the week." Everyone Gex what they ask for eventually, right? Our news section is exceptionally exciting this week as we talk about a whole lot of Yakuza announcements, vinyl records and even a brand new physical Genesis game! What decade are we in?! The gang also discusses how sequels have come close to destroying entire game series for them in the past, but how they have also grown beyond blindly judging future releases. Or have they? HAVE THEY, CAPCOM? But I jest. We have definitely learned to save our mobians for safer purchases. Give a listen to how much we have been burned, as well as Shigidy's continued quest(ions) to make us more and more uncomfortable. Looking to complete your Atlus collection now that they have joined forces with Sega? Trying to grab that crazy Hatune Miku arcade controller? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! Don't forget that you can still help raise more money for our ExtraLife campaign! We beat our $500 goal during the Dreamcast Marathon but we are still going strong! Want to donate? Find out how right here! |
Thu, 1 December 2016
This week on the podcast, Elle, Brett and Scotty discuss an unsung Sega Saturn classic: Three Dirty Dwarves. Why haven't more people played this game? Our apologies for the sound issues this episode. Some of us are working out kinks, and Scotty is crying over his new microphone. Along with the Game of the Week, we discuss our views on episodic games, lengthy games, and a whole lot of listener questions, because you guys are awesome to send 'em in! Everything from furries and Panzer Dragoon to our now-sorta-decided Sega Addicts staff-representitive mixed drinks. What have we done? What have you done? Find out now! Yakuza 6 hitting shelves soon! Thinking about pre-ordering it? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! Don't forget that you can still help raise more money for our ExtraLife campaign! We beat our $500 goal during the Dreamcast Marathon but we are still going strong! Want to donate? Find out how right here! |
Wed, 16 November 2016
This week on the Sega Addicts Podcast, we welcome Chris and Marcin from SegaNerds.com to introduce their brand new digital-interactive magazine, Mega Visions! This brand new magazine is a Sega-theme love letter to magazines of old and technology of new, but don't take our word for it - listen to the creators passionately explain all the love and excitement that is going into this amazing project. After listening to the show, don't forget to swing by MegaVisionsmag.com, check out Issue Zero, and then sign up for a subscription! Outside of that, we have our usual insanity discussing the game of the week, Jurassic Park for the Game Gear and answering our pensive Questionarium. And for some reason, the wheel of fate and universe wants to torture us, so we will be playing Sonic The Hedgehog, better known as Sonic '06, for next week. No you are not hallucinating. We will be play Sonic... oh.... six. Yakuza 6 has been announced with a Japanese release date! Thinking about pre-ordering it? Consider doing so through our affiliate link at PlayAsia! Don’t even wanna buy anything? Not a problem, princess! It still helps us out if you so much as click on the link! Want to still donate to our ExtraLife campaign to raise money for the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital? Find out how right here!
Direct download: Sega_Addicts_Podcast_Episode_94_Mega_Visions_Radical_Takeover.mp3
Category:video games -- posted at: 10:00am EDT |
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