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Post by TV Eye on Jan 23, 2012 19:50:14 GMT -5
I've already raced TV Eye five times and I don't think he ever noticed once! I also joined a race some DKVine member was doing, he didn't realize either! That is extremely frustrating. I have not noticed you at all. |
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Post by Arcadenik on Jan 23, 2012 21:55:23 GMT -5
About how the levels having nothing to do with the characters... really, it's been like this since Mario Kart 64. Toad's Turnpike and Wario Stadium come to mind. And then there's the first Mario Party... since when did Wario run a Bob-omb Battlefield and when did Luigi get his own engine room? And finally, you got the other sports games... it looks like it's spread all over the other spin-off titles. Basically, the sports/party/kart games got their own canon separate from the Mario main games.
It appears we got at least five different Mario canon. Mario main games (SMB1-3, SML1-2, SMW1-2, 64, Sunshine, Galaxy 1-2, NSMB/Wii/Mii, SM3DL). Mario vs. Donkey Kong games (the arcade games and MvDK games), Paper Mario games, Mario & Luigi games, and finally the spin-off games (Kart/Tennis/Golf/Party/Strikers/Baseball).
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Post by Boo Destroyer on Jan 23, 2012 22:00:03 GMT -5
About how the levels having nothing to do with the characters... really, it's been like this since Mario Kart 64. Toad's Turnpike and Wario Stadium come to mind. And then there's the first Mario Party... since when did Wario run a Bob-omb Battlefield and when did Luigi get his own engine room? And finally, you got the other sports games... it looks like it's spread all over the other spin-off titles. Basically, the sports/party/kart games got their own canon separate from the Mario main games. Really, it's not like Mario games are known for making sense to begin with anyway. I concur with kirbychu and DiU on that one; It doesn't matter if the tracks get random character names plastered to them, so long as they're great to go around in. That, and it does add some more variety to the Mario world so far. As stagnant as it tends to be a lot...Some characters don't always have to be seen with what things they're usually associated with. It's not their life force or anything. As for Daisy, as strange as it is, Sarasaland is dead, but she lives on. Better yet.....When was the last time Wario was actually Mario's rival? (Not counting spin-offs here, which...don't count) |
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Post by Da Robot on Jan 23, 2012 22:25:12 GMT -5
Question: what would you want to see in a Sarasaland stage?
(All I can remember is for those that want to have a guess is Sub-pop/Sky-pop, egypt/inner pyrarimid level, "marine" level, bamboo forestly level, easter island/moai level
My idea with those choices would be to go with the level with moai statues and rolling boulders as obsticles and then possible put a underwater section (Sub-pop) in the middle of the track and gliding section at the very end (Sky-pop) like how the SML did it.
The Egypt/pyramid theme clashes too much with existing desert levels ) (end)
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Post by TV Eye on Jan 24, 2012 0:19:18 GMT -5
The thing is...why name a track after a character that it has nothing to do with? Wario Stadium could've easily been "Monty Mole's Mud Course" or whatever. That's just another thing Crash Team Racing did better. You had "Crash Cove" which was based on N. Sanity Beach (the very first level in the first game for anybody not a Crash fan. Then there was Skull Rock. This level had nothing really to do with any of the characters. However, there was a giant stone skull shaped like Neo Cortex's head. Did Naughty Dog name it after him? No. Why? Because it had NOTHING TO DO WITH NEO CORTEX. There was also Hot Air Skyway which featured a blimp that had Pinstripe Poteroo's face on it and... wait a minute...CTR came out in '99...Super Circuit in '01... Did Nintendo...naw, I'm getting off track. Anyways, my point is, why name a track after a character that has nothing to do with that character. There is none. |
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Post by Dances in Undergarments on Jan 24, 2012 0:29:18 GMT -5
Rolling back into this thread, and it seems there have been some good points made - basically any technical issue is spot on, the lack of modes in subsequent games is a great point, not getting notifications that you are playing against friends is mind-numbingly stupid, etc - but there's still a lot of complaining about things that really aren't issues, too.
To expand on what I delicately put as "who cares?", the characters matter little to me because, just as Fry mentioned, the actual characters have been little more than a skin for a long time (strange that you failed to remember that characters (or, pairs of characters anyway) were actually the most unique in DD, though). Much like Fry, and any sane person, I typically use Waluigi (or perhaps, as I mentioned, Koopa Troopa or a variant of his) when presented with a choice of characters that are completely the same essentially (see Mario Party), but because they are all basically the same, if that character isn't in, then, really, whatever. If I can't be one character, I pick another, since it doesn't matter at all.
Now this is not to say this is an issue that cannot be changed. In fact, I think it is something I would like to see. Maybe not completely different weapons ala DD (though I did enjoy the mild strategy involved with character selection in that game), but they could make other differences. Maybe Luigi can jump slightly higher? Maybe when Mario uses a star it lasts slightly longer? Maybe whenever DK gets a banana weapon its slightly bigger than anyone else's? Something like that could actually make the character choices relevant again. Because as they are now, its really inconsequential.
...I will say that Wii's choice of four babies was pretty crap though, but only because its such an awkward amount. If you're going to give us baby Peach and Daisy, then give us baby forms of everyone. If not, don't go down that path.
With stages, its repeating myself, but I'd much rather Nintendo develop interesting courses first, then worry about what to call them, rather than going "oh we need a DK stage lets make a jungle stage stat". I really do not care if its not canonical (....seriously? Mario canon. MARIO CANON. Who gives a flying fuck?) that Toad doesn't own a turnpike or DK doesn't own a snowboard course. I don't understand why it should matter to any rational being, actually.
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Post by Koopaul on Jan 24, 2012 1:24:42 GMT -5
Well its not always about gameplay. Its about the characters you like.
Also here's something interesting I discovered about Mario Kart 7. If you look at you list of friends in the game you can see how many times you beat said person or how many times that person beat you.
I was able to find out that a couple of people from other forums had raced me without me knowing! I beat most of them, but atleast that's one way to find out who you've been racing.
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Post by Arcadenik on Jan 24, 2012 21:37:10 GMT -5
Soooo... negativity aside... what do we like about Mario Kart 7?
Personally, I liked the Wuhu levels... the Maka glitch notwithstanding... my other favorite levels would be Daisy Hills, Shy Guy Bazaar, Mario Circuit (especially the Peach's Castle part and the cherry blossom scenery), Music Park, Rock Rock Mountain (loved the gliding part and rock climbing at the end), Piranha Plant Slide (mainly because it is a throwback to the NES game), Neo Bowser City (because of the track design, not just the scenery), and DK Jungle the best.
The retro levels were good, too... my favorites are GBA Bowser Castle 1, DS Luigi's Mansion, N64 Koopa Beach, SNES Mario Circuit 2, DS Waluigi Pinball (my favorite of the bunch, not because of Waluigi but because of the level and visual designs), GCN Daisy Cruiser, DS Airship Fortress, and SNES Rainbow Road.
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Post by TV Eye on Jan 25, 2012 0:43:30 GMT -5
Soooo... negativity aside... what do we like about Mario Kart 7? I also like Waluigi Pinball and SNES Rainbow Road. Those are the tracks that nobody can ever beat me on online.. I also like that Shyguy is finally playable. I loved him in MKDS but he could only be played by someone without a cartridge of the game. The graphics are really good and the drifting system is finally perfect. No more sprite based enemies (like the Monty Moles in Airship Fortress); everything is in glorious 3D. |
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Post by nocturnal YL on Jan 25, 2012 3:09:49 GMT -5
You mastered SNES Rainbow Road? That's awesome!
I like Mario Kart 7 mostly for the track design, old track selection and that the computers are finally not stupid. I hope they get smarter next time, enough that no more "different top speed" nonsense is needed/used.
And it certainly is good that most things are in glorious 3D now. But then, this has been achieved by MKDD as well, so it's not really like it's unique to MK7. And the MK7 audience are still in 2D.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Jan 25, 2012 15:43:03 GMT -5
Well, the Mario Kart games have always struggled to provide a challenge on the higher difficulty levels when faced with someone very good at the game.
In MK64, the game used excessive "Rubber Banding" to force a computer player to catch up to you, even if it meant ridiculous speeds on their part.
In MKDD there was a significant reliance on items. Now, while this was annoying as hell at the time, it was just-about-tolerable for me. I remember calculating at the end of each race what position I would have to place in the next race to win the cup, etc.
MKDS got the balance right. Yes, you get hit by items, but it wasn't relied on. You would often just be surrounded by very good racers. I don't use power slide tricks to get massive advantages... I use simple power slides around corners. This was the pinnacle of the series.
MKWii was bullshit. It took everything I hated about being raped by Blue Shells in MKDD and turned it up to 100. Now, not only do items slow you down, but they also make you drop all your items. If you use the GameCube controller method there seems to be no way to avoid the POW Block, and the computer players just hang back and item rape you. I gave it another chance last year. It's so totally broken.
MK7 reverts back to MKDS. You play a higher difficulty level, it's harder to speed ahead, other racers are always on your back, which makes their attacks seem less bullshit. It's a good balance. I like it.
I lose quite a lot, but it never feels bullshit. That's how I know they got that balance right.
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Post by kirbychu on Jan 25, 2012 17:53:13 GMT -5
Was there a way to avoid the POW Block using the Wii controller? It was annoying as hell.
Mario Kart 7 still feels like bullshit to me. Not to the extent Mario Kart Wii did, but I still find myself being hit by a Blue Shell and falling into 6th place on the final corner far too often. Which is why I've still only unlocked two characters.
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Post by TV Eye on Jan 25, 2012 23:12:57 GMT -5
I've all but mastered MK7. I have three stars on everything with a good win-to-lose ratio online and I can still say the computer is a bullshit cheap-shot asshole. Playing online, however is extremely enjoyable. Though, people have found a way to make Metal Mario a cheap character, which is why everybody uses him and why I always target the jerks who do  |
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Post by nocturnal YL on Jan 26, 2012 8:42:55 GMT -5
Well, to go game-by-game, MK64 is just annoying that it's extremely difficult to get rid of the CPs behind. Given that I wasn't much of a gamer at that time (not as skilled, at least - it looked to me that playing <insert series> games takes a specific skillset, and I didn't dedicate myself as a Nintendo player before Melee), the rubber band AI was extra annoying to me.
MKDD was outright annoying, and it took a lot of trial and error to win the races. But then, winning in terms of overall score wasn't so difficult. If you have a good second player that dedicates into Player 2 functions (throwing items, double dashing, bullying whoever unfortunate enough to be next to you), things will get pretty smooth.
I guess in terms of item strength, MKDS is just right. The CPs are way too easy to pose as any challenge, though.
MK7 is actually somewhere between MKWii and MKDS, I'd say. Items ARE thrown at you mercilessly, but you don't get as affected as in MKWii, and things aren't as annoying without the can't-help-you-block-anything fake item box and the thunder cloud. And with 12 players, you'd have expected the chance of getting thunders and blue shells should be lowered by one third in accordance.
(Above comments are made with 150cc GP race in mind)
And judging from everyone's comments, it seems that I'm quite lucky with my MK7 experience when I play with CPs (and I don't need luck here; I want luck in other games). Online, on the other hand... I just quit after 45 wins and 48 losses, even though the people I have otherwise beaten have better win ratios.
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Post by kirbychu on Jan 26, 2012 9:08:37 GMT -5
I keep seeing people complaining about unfair AI in MK64 and MKDD lately. Maybe it's just because I'm now so used to Mario Kart Wii, but when I replayed those two a few weeks ago I was starting to wonder if there were any other racers on the track! I only ever saw them at the starting line and when I passed whoever was in 8th place on the final lap.
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