I'm downloading the hi-res gameplay video now... I'll probably comment more once I've seen it, but I've been looking forward to this since the last one. Should be quite hot. Of course, knowing the track record, we won't see anything on shelves until Holiday '09 at the earliest, but still, nice to see it around.
The one change that I hope they do, is to make the money worth something... Either let us carry infinite money, or make something useful to high end players buyable. Or both. Witch Doctor looks interesting, but I spent most of my D2 time with the Sorceress, Paladin and Amazon, so I hope something resembles those three.
Aerosmith can go die in a hole. Whoever thought that they should make an entire game dedicated to them should be shot.
If only the members of metallica weren't such *******s and they could make a GH Metallica edition, or some other good band that has songs that might actually be challenging.
Uhh, Guitar Hero: Metallica has already been announced.
By your calculation you need $320 to complete a playset of Lorwyn rares and "only" $294,28 to complete a playset of Shards of Alara rares. You're still better of with the new distribution.
For all that care I did a bit of calculating. See attachement! You can see for yourself what the "actual" rarity of the rares and uncommons in sets of the past few years has been, i.e. the chance to pull a given rare and the number of boosters you have to open on average before you see that rare. Enjoy
The $ was meant as a variable, for the average value of a rare, but thanks for extrapolating the math for me. Let's continue on with that as $1 for example's sake. Of course, the Lorwyn rares playset would be 320 cards, vs the Shards rare/mythic playset being only 272 cards, and this does mean more money per card. Less money overall, perhaps, but if the set sizes were the same, the playset would go up in cost to $EDIT:346.21. So playsets go down because set sizes go down, not because mythic rares exist.
Edit: I do like the smaller set size though. That is a change I can agree with.
While it's true that rarity per pack is the same as tenth (which was really high btw), the fact is, that the average price per rare will be higher, because of the more common regular rares between them.
Let R = the average rare value, and M = the average mythic value, and $ the average price per rare under the old system.
At the new ratios, there will be 105 of each regular rare for each 53 of each mythic rare. Therefore 105R = 53M.
And the amounts opened per pack show:
M + 7R = 8$
A little algebra later:
476R = 424$ or R= about .89$
68M = 120$ or M= about 1.76$
So even though there as many Mythics as there are rares in say 10E, they will be worth more on average, because the cards in between will be less. This is bad IMO. Also note that the value of the regular rares does not go down a whole lot with this plan, only 10%.
Have a rarity level higher than one per pack is the thing I hate most about EVERY OTHER TCG OUT THERE. It's ridiculous. Math-wise, you will now have "Mythic rares" at 1/120 packs, and regular rares at 1/60.5 packs. This can serve to do nothing more than sell more packs, and although the mythic rares are really only twice as rare as the regular ones, the perception will drive their price beyond all logic and sense. If any of them become tournament staples, even Tarmogoyf will be chump change by comparison.
The black hammer is the hammer from Donkey Kong (the music should be a dead giveaway)... The golden hammer I beleive is from Wrecking Crew. (Ninja edit: Checked it, I'm right)
Sonic's/Pikachu's final smash is quite dodgeable actually. Practice dodging it to learn to dogde bosses, or vice versa. My Sonic playing friends get mad at me when I dodge roll out of the way... four or five times in a row. The one I have the most trouble escaping is actually Mr. Game and Watch... except the one time my friend got the octopus stuck under one of the platforms. Well, that and I have nightmares about Luigi's FS on any small map.
I gave the classic controller a shot, and it's not too bad, I basically rotated the buttons around to better match the GC layout, and it works in a pinch. So I think that means:
X: Jump
Y: Special
B: Normal attack
A: I don't use it, I leave it as normal attack, because I still have to use it in the menus
I leave grab and block as the default, and never really used the C-stick before, so I don't use the right stick now. It's good because the GC controller cords are too short, and I always have to drag my Wii onto the coffee table to play with 'em.
I haven't had that kind of time lately to play through a single game so much. Too many games to play these days I guess. The average game that I tend to play takes a little longer these days as well. I have gone through Portal about 3 full times though... the regular, once for the commentary, and once to try to get the cameras for the achievment... But I missed one and got mad.
But back in the day, I must have gone through Final Fantasy IV (II) about 7 or 8 times. Not to mention a bunch of runs to try to improve my times at Super Punch Out.
I'd be using the hammer to break challenges for all characters. I'm not picking up Yoshi under any circumstances.
I don't think there are enough. IIRC, you have Boss Battles, Classic, All character trophies (All Classic + Zero Suit Samus/Shiek/the other two Pokemon), All-Star, All Final Smash (All All-Star + Shiek/ZS Samus), All 5 levels of Target Test, 100 Man Brawl, and using everyone on the Home Run Contest. You'd need 12 hammers to never touch Yoshi.
I have 5 hammers, apparently that's all of them. I think I have 20-25 things left to uncover, most of them are of the "do this with everyone" variety... but I still need to do Boss Battles on Hard and higher, and get the time for target test 3. The only problem with breaking "Beat Classic with all characters", is that you may not have enough trophies for "Get 500 trophies" without all of the character trophies. It's kind of a pain. But breaking 500 Trophies, Classic with all, All character trophies, All Star with All and all Final Smash Trophies is probably the way to go for time saving. 50/100 hours can be earned by leaving the system on overnight on a stock match with all your controllers plugged in.
Edit: An alternate option, if it works, could be Boss Battles with all, 50/100 hours, 100 man Brawl with all, and one of the target test ones. I still say that if you break any of the Classic or All star ones, you have to break 500 trophies as well. By the way, does anyone know exactly how many trophies and stickers there are? I still can't beleive I don't have all the stickers.
Final Fantasy VI (PS1): Cool, I found 2 bonus characters, but where are Locke/Shadow? I still keep looking for them.
If you didn't go back for him on the floating continent, Shadow's dead. Locke is found at the Phoenix Cave.
Like a lot of you, I too have a large list of games that I've not quite finished, or have been meaning to get back to, or just plain haven't started yet...
Advance Wars: Day of Ruin - I'm about done with the story though... at least I _think_ I am. Really no way of being sure without reading ahead, which I try not to do.
.hack: The original 4. On the last one (Quarantine)... I want to finish it before I start the G.U. games. (Kinda embarrassing to not have finished it, because I do some work on a .hack//Roots abridged series...)
God of War - I got stuck on the part where you walk over the narrow rafters and the spinning blades knock you off. Never could get that part done.
Half-Life 2 - Eh, I bought the Orange Box for Portal... but I gave HL2 a spin, it's fun, but a little hard to get around at times. Barely started on it though.
Assassin's Creed - Barely started it. The story seems ok though. What I've seen of the gameplay is just a bit too slow for my tastes.
Super Mario Galaxy - Got the main ending, but there is so much more to hit on that one. Hmm, never finished Sunshine either...
Piles of other stuff that I don't feel like going into too much detail on, but they include: Blue Dragon, Mass Effect, La Pucelle: Tactics, Phantom Brave, Atelier Iris (1), FFX-2, FFXII, Super Paper Mario, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime (1)... scans room... Well, that's the stuff I've STARTED and not finished... I'll have to save the stuff I haven't started for another time. How can I get a month off of work and not get fired?
Wait a minute, why do we assume there will be 22 cards with Q? If Q is a cost, doesn't it stand to reason that Q has to be included separately as part of the reminder text where it is used? (Q means to untap this tapped permanent/sacrifice this permanent/half-tap this permanent/etc)
Where else?
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/
The one change that I hope they do, is to make the money worth something... Either let us carry infinite money, or make something useful to high end players buyable. Or both. Witch Doctor looks interesting, but I spent most of my D2 time with the Sorceress, Paladin and Amazon, so I hope something resembles those three.
Uhh, Guitar Hero: Metallica has already been announced.
The $ was meant as a variable, for the average value of a rare, but thanks for extrapolating the math for me. Let's continue on with that as $1 for example's sake. Of course, the Lorwyn rares playset would be 320 cards, vs the Shards rare/mythic playset being only 272 cards, and this does mean more money per card. Less money overall, perhaps, but if the set sizes were the same, the playset would go up in cost to $EDIT:346.21. So playsets go down because set sizes go down, not because mythic rares exist.
Edit: I do like the smaller set size though. That is a change I can agree with.
While it's true that rarity per pack is the same as tenth (which was really high btw), the fact is, that the average price per rare will be higher, because of the more common regular rares between them.
Let R = the average rare value, and M = the average mythic value, and $ the average price per rare under the old system.
At the new ratios, there will be 105 of each regular rare for each 53 of each mythic rare. Therefore 105R = 53M.
And the amounts opened per pack show:
M + 7R = 8$
A little algebra later:
476R = 424$ or R= about .89$
68M = 120$ or M= about 1.76$
So even though there as many Mythics as there are rares in say 10E, they will be worth more on average, because the cards in between will be less. This is bad IMO. Also note that the value of the regular rares does not go down a whole lot with this plan, only 10%.
Sonic's/Pikachu's final smash is quite dodgeable actually. Practice dodging it to learn to dogde bosses, or vice versa. My Sonic playing friends get mad at me when I dodge roll out of the way... four or five times in a row. The one I have the most trouble escaping is actually Mr. Game and Watch... except the one time my friend got the octopus stuck under one of the platforms. Well, that and I have nightmares about Luigi's FS on any small map.
I gave the classic controller a shot, and it's not too bad, I basically rotated the buttons around to better match the GC layout, and it works in a pinch. So I think that means:
X: Jump
Y: Special
B: Normal attack
A: I don't use it, I leave it as normal attack, because I still have to use it in the menus
I leave grab and block as the default, and never really used the C-stick before, so I don't use the right stick now. It's good because the GC controller cords are too short, and I always have to drag my Wii onto the coffee table to play with 'em.
But back in the day, I must have gone through Final Fantasy IV (II) about 7 or 8 times. Not to mention a bunch of runs to try to improve my times at Super Punch Out.
I don't think there are enough. IIRC, you have Boss Battles, Classic, All character trophies (All Classic + Zero Suit Samus/Shiek/the other two Pokemon), All-Star, All Final Smash (All All-Star + Shiek/ZS Samus), All 5 levels of Target Test, 100 Man Brawl, and using everyone on the Home Run Contest. You'd need 12 hammers to never touch Yoshi.
Edit: An alternate option, if it works, could be Boss Battles with all, 50/100 hours, 100 man Brawl with all, and one of the target test ones. I still say that if you break any of the Classic or All star ones, you have to break 500 trophies as well. By the way, does anyone know exactly how many trophies and stickers there are? I still can't beleive I don't have all the stickers.
Like a lot of you, I too have a large list of games that I've not quite finished, or have been meaning to get back to, or just plain haven't started yet...
Advance Wars: Day of Ruin - I'm about done with the story though... at least I _think_ I am. Really no way of being sure without reading ahead, which I try not to do.
.hack: The original 4. On the last one (Quarantine)... I want to finish it before I start the G.U. games. (Kinda embarrassing to not have finished it, because I do some work on a .hack//Roots abridged series...)
God of War - I got stuck on the part where you walk over the narrow rafters and the spinning blades knock you off. Never could get that part done.
Half-Life 2 - Eh, I bought the Orange Box for Portal... but I gave HL2 a spin, it's fun, but a little hard to get around at times. Barely started on it though.
Assassin's Creed - Barely started it. The story seems ok though. What I've seen of the gameplay is just a bit too slow for my tastes.
Super Mario Galaxy - Got the main ending, but there is so much more to hit on that one. Hmm, never finished Sunshine either...
Piles of other stuff that I don't feel like going into too much detail on, but they include: Blue Dragon, Mass Effect, La Pucelle: Tactics, Phantom Brave, Atelier Iris (1), FFX-2, FFXII, Super Paper Mario, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime (1)... scans room... Well, that's the stuff I've STARTED and not finished... I'll have to save the stuff I haven't started for another time. How can I get a month off of work and not get fired?