mikeszekely

Bravo! Spoken like a true hater! Sorry, Isamu, there's just no way I can take your opinion seriously when you're trying to tell me that a game as ugly as the N64 Turoks looks better than a game as gorgeous as Halo 2.

Killzone's two biggest problems are that it was actually Sony who was billing it as a Halo killer to get it more attention, and that it was made for PS2. Don't get me wrong, I like my PS2, and I think it's great for games like Ace Combat, which just looks gorgeous on it. But it's not so hot for FPS. And then, when people finally play the game, they find it's nothing really like Halo... more like Medal of Honor in the future.

See, me and my friends did that too, and later with Perfect Dark. And it took awhile to grow on us (and I still wish it had better maps), but Halo captured some of those good old days. Now, the thing is, the friends I used to play Goldeneye with have all moved around the US with jobs and what not... and that's one of the reasons Halo 2 is good. Completely lag free, voice-chat enabled. In the living room, on the TV with the home theater. It's the next best thing to having my bros in the living room with me (and on the plus side, I can play in my boxers). Is that something new and revolutionary? Well, as it's been pointed out, PC gamers have been doing it for years... but it's just not the same. Halo 2 with Xbox Live is a lot closer to those days of yore when we all crowded around a TV with an N64 and Goldeneye. As for the campaign, Bungie heard the (valid) complaints that the levels were rather repetetive in the original Halo, and they took great care to mix things up better in Halo 2. Attacking that big spider-looking mech was like nothing I'd ever done in a game before, and later, I was pleasantly suprised to get to play a level as a Covenant soldier known as "the Arbiter." And the story is pretty good, too. The orignal Halo's story was good for an FPS, but maybe kind of so-so in general. The story is a lot more interesting this time around.

So, anyway, like I said, I worked today. 8 hours of people non-stop picking up their Halo reserves. To give you an idea, my store usually does maybe $1000 on a weekday, $2000 on a weekend. $10,000-$15,000 a week. Big games come out, like Madden, maybe we have two days of $5000 before it goes back to normal. When Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (a game many thought would be the best-selling game of the year) came out, we did $7000 two days in a row, and didn't go below $2000 for a few days after. Well, Halo 2 basically crapped on GTA. We did over $6000 from midnight to 1:00 am last night, and we did $22,000 today (with an hour and a half left to go when I left). Bear in mind, these are just sales figures. I'm not saying that one game or another is definatively better (although I got bored fast with GTAIII an had no interest in San Andreas), and there's no law that says you can't enjoy both. I just think it's unreal how incredible the sales have been for Halo 2.

Is Halo 2 the best console FPS? Yes. PC gaming and console gaming is like pie and ice cream. Sure, they're both basically desserts. They're both enjoyable, and if you like one, you can like the other. But for all their similarities, they're not the same. Halo 2 doesn't bring anything new to the FPS genre, or anything that PC gamers that were weened on Quake and Tribes haven't already experienced. But, Halo isn't made with PC gamers in mind... it's for the people who spent hours playing Goldeneye on four player split-screen. PC gamers are a hardcore lot, and I give them credit for that. But most gamers today don't feel like spending $500 bucks to upgrade their video card to play the newest game (only to turn around later and buy a new motherboard and processor for same reasons), then have to patch the hell out of their game to squat in front of their 17" monitor when a $300 Xbox will let them play most of the games they want with no hassle on (at least) a 27" TV from the comfort of their favorite armchair. It's for that reason that Halo 2 will, in all likelihood, outsell Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 combined. But, anyway, this thread isn't about the pros and cons of PC gaming vs. console gaming. It's a fact that some of us prefer one method or the other, for various reasons, all valid. And some us enjoy both. Let's please just all accept that, remember this is a discussion about Halo 2, and be respectful of each other.

Those new enemies would be the drones. If you have a Battle Rifle, stand back and use the scope. Hit them when they land. Again, the online is the best I've ever experienced on the Xbox. There was aboslurmely no lag. It's like all those times, whenever my friend from VA was visiting here in PA, we'd play Halo 1 in my living room. It's just like that.

All you should have to do is open some ports for the Xbox to use in your firewall.

I worked the midnight shift, and picked it up then. Played on Live a little. It's amazing, and I don't know how it'll be with more people, but with me (in PA) and my bud (in VA) there was absolutely NO lag. For as smooth as it was, he could have been playing splitscreen in my living room. Best experience I've ever had with Live. Blood Gulch and Battle Creek return, but with different names. They're also TONS more detailed. The original Halo is ugly by comparison. Haven't really tried the single-player. All-in-all, if you didn't like the orignal Halo, don't expect Halo 2 to win you over. But if you liked Halo, Halo 2 is a must buy. Going to bed now... it's 3:30 am, and I gotta be at work at noon.

"Puffed up" should be "puffed-up." Hyphen.

Who looks like an "f'n tard"? I mean, seriously think about that for a minute. You have a group of people who use things like capital letters, correct spelling, and oh, a little something we like to call English. And then we have you, who's poor l33t-wannabe net speak is worse than ebonics. You kind of expect that sort of thing in some forums (like, say, Gamefaqs) where the place is crawling with middle-schoolers who think that typing like an idiot is somehow cool, or trendy. But as previously mentioned, it doesn't go over well here. Most of the members here are in their 20's and 30's, and will look down on it as being juvenile. I'm not exactly saying that you should absolutely spell everything correctly, or that your grammar must be impecable. But you may want to at least attempt to write correctly, and then not go off on the other members who wish you correct your attrocities against the English language. If you can do that, then we'll gladly welcome you as a member and hope you can take an educated part in many discussions here. If you are unwilling or unable, then by all means, consider us "teh suxors" and return to other boards typing like a poorly educated 14-year old is the rule rather than the exception.

That would be correct. The only real difference is that the S-32's verticals are spaced farther apart and are canted inward instead of outward, and the exhaust is shaped differently.

Kids today. The marvel of the internet... so much information at your fingertips... so little articulation...

My first run through, like I said, I used whatever fighter I had that was best suited for the mission. A lot of the carrier missions, I used the F-35C when I could have used the F/A-18C or F-14A, but finishing the game was the most important thing. Second time though, planes are important. I used the F/A-22 until I unlocked the FB-22, then I started using the F-14A (while assigning decent planes to my wingmen). Third time through, same thing. I'm starting to play in the Free Mission mode, but it's just monotonous to play the same mission over and over. The only thing I can think of is that kill point value goes up with difficulty, so maybe I should start playing on Expert. Speaking of difficulty, is it just me, or is the only difference between difficulties the ammount of ammo you launch with?

So why not just use exclamation marks, like we have in the English right up until the 21st century?

No, seriously though... what's "11one"?

Can't answer you're second question, but to your first, the answer is no. The only Sukhoi planes in Ace Combat 5 are the Su-27, Su-32, Su-35, Su-37, Su-47, and S-32.

Okay, I get "WTH" is "What the hell?" But what is "11one"? Would it kill the internet generation to actually type out a whole sentence with proper spelling and grammar?

I guess it kind of makes sense, but why is it 51? Just a the numbering order? Well...doesn't the current line of Sukhoi fighters go up into the 40s now? The Su-47 is their current model.

Okay, seriously, there has GOT to be a better way to get plane upgrades. I mean, I'm on mission 11 of my third run through, I've unlocked and earned enough money to purchase the Falken, and all I've unlocked so far is the F-20, the F/A-18E, F-14B, and the FB-22. I'm maybe halfway done working on the F-16C and the Rafale M, and maybe a 5th of the way done with the Su-47 and the F-15C.

Well, the FB-22 is just a concept for serious consideration. One was never built, and from what I've read, a prototype isn't likely to fly before 2013. There have been concept drawings of the FB-22 that were featured in articles by Bill Sweetman in Jane's Defense Weekly and Popular Science. However, how much of that design is what Lockheed has in mind, and how much of it is purely what the artist has in mind, we don't know. If the FB-22 goes into production, it may well have the vertical tails. The concept art that's circulating, though, doesn't. It looks a lot like the X-44, but with kinks in the wings. And while the X-44 is supposed to maneuver purely on thrust vectoring, the tailess FB-22 is supposed to use decelerons for yaw, and movable wingtips for roll.

Is it possible that the floating rocks were a result of manipulation of energy through the subuniverse? We see sara able to see the Kaduns (as black shapes surrounding the weapons) when she is looking at the world through the afos. So she wasn't just being superstitious as others had thought. We see sara able to create an energy barrier around her body when she breaks the fall when shin and herself are descending after thier floating rock, which they are riding on, starts to crumble when Nora shoots it. We also explicitly see them performing some kind of magic ritual on mao to bring her back to consciousness and awaken some new dormant power inside her. So is is possible that those rocks with the glowing runes on them were a result of energy beings (nature spirits) that live in this sub universe who can be used to manipulate certain forces in nature? Like say, gravity, wind, the ability to heal the forest etc anything to explain all the magic (floating rocks) that happens in macross zero? I find it hard to believe Sara has some kind of technology inside her body that allows her to create barrier or levitate. I've always thought the emotions and intent were factors in whether the protection spell or curse would work. She is using the staff in a threatening way as if it would really do harm on a spiritual level. Keep in mind she has the usual heightened senses like seeing into the future (first episode where she foresees roy's fight in the battroid) seeing in the dark well, sensing danger from nature etc. (in the first episode she mentions kadun of water, which I assume are the antiun submarine and octos that would threaten shin if they didn't let him stay on thier land longer to heal - this came from her merely putting her hands next to her ears as if she can hear them) When she is talking about kadun's and how they can possess the person, and when we actually see these things literally moving around in episode5 you got to wonder how they relate to the beings in the sub-universe. Everytime she sings she is creating energy for the plants to grow. But Hasford refers to this energy as not just vibrations in the air but something happening on the spiritual plane as well. ie meaning there is something magical happening too; as in like you would see happen with a healing 'spell'. The singing being the conjuring up of this spell, and the effect being a faster recovery from illness and disease. Why does the singing have a healing effect? Why does the blood sample become active from the song? The rocks themselves can't be alive so it must have something to do with the person who can control and manipulate these sentient lifeforms living in this other universe. My theory has always been that the emotions and mind of the person play an important role and the spirits are atracted to you based on what emotions there are going on in the brain. (anger, hate, revenge etc being emotions where you are possessed by kadun. This offering an explaination as to why shin is sayin that sara is possessed in ep 5 because she is reacting angrily and causing destruction with it. While earlier the head glows in response to love. ie shin + mao kissing. so the feelings and intent of the person play a role in what can happen) Now that's some good theory. The extradimensional beings are something that we accept as being real in Macross 7, as the origins of the Protodeviln. We're even given to understand that they're like the demons of Christian mythology, essentially spiritual or energy beings able to influence or possess other sentient creatures. But, perhaps because we thought that there are only seven Protodeviln, all accounted for, we took for granted that there are likely more energy beings in the extradimension, or that they might be able to have limited interaction with our physical world. One of the things mentioned in Macross Zero is how many different cultures had similar myths about the end of the world, and the implication that those myths were actually refering to the AFOS. Other myths are also likely explainable in modern terms, and perhaps the Christian demons are explained by the extradimensional beings interacting with earth. And perhaps the Protoculture had a way of seeing or interacting with those beings. I mean, the experiment on earth occured after the Protodeviln inhabited the EVILs, if I recall correctly. Maybe awareness of extradimensional beings inspired the Protoculture to devise a way to look for them. Maybe Sara wasn't hallucinating when she saw the Kadun... maybe there were extradimensional beings there. Now this makes you wonder... perhaps the Protoculture weren't really worried about humans spreading war throughout the galaxy. Maybe the extradimensional beings had an interest in humans, and the Protoculture were aware of it. And maybe they were actually concerned that it was the extradimensional beings that were making humans violent, and they were worried that the extradimensional beings would use the humans against the Stellar Republic in the conflict with the Supervision Army.

I don't know how anyone can say that the resolution of the love triangle in SDF isn't dramatic. I mean, in DYRL, it was dramatic, but perhaps a little cliche. In SDF... well, if you consider the resolution to be around the same time frame, right before the final assault on Bodolza's base, then yeah, not so dramatic. But the fact is, that's not where it ends in SDF. Instead, we have a situation where Misa and Hikaru have been getting closer and closer... but all the while, Hikaru never lost his infatuation with Minmay. He runs off during assingments to see her, he even mostly missed a date with Misa to see her. He lets Minmay stay with him when she runs away from Kaifun. And then, during Kamujin's last assault, the city is burning, Minmay is begging him not to go, and Hikaru realizes that he could never give up his life as a soldier, and that Misa is the one who belongs in that life, not Minmay. I think that scene is far better than when Hikaru is trying to get Minmay to sing the song in DYRL.

That's basically the problem I had! I got the drivers installed, and I tried it with Jet Fighter IV (hey, I got it for free). I got to the screen where I could configure the controls, and it looked it was registering the joystick... but then whenever I went to start a mission, it crashed. I'm thinking I'm going to delete those drivers, and then download drivers for the Saitek X36. They're obviously the same thing anyway... like I mentioned before, there's stuff on the Flight Stick II that has no use in Ace Combat, and it's obvious that Hori took an existing product and adapted it to Ace Combat.

Post-Space War One Anti-UN seems to have corporate backing (Critical Path). It doesn't seem unlikely that they'd have corporate sponsorship before SW1, either. Especially amongst defense contractors... can't make a living selling weapons if people quit fighting.

The Flightstick is made by Hori, which is itself is basically a Saitek stick. It works great with AC5, and I know jack about the drivers for the stick for the PC. I know it can be done, as people on the AC forums on both AC net and the official site have used them. Yes, it's pricey, almost $80...but nothing beats it if you want to play AC5 (or AC4). If you think it's too pricey, just get the game and use the Dual Shock. Haven't seen anyone who bought the bundle gripe about the stick though...you get the game, stick, and a huge Wardog squadron flight patch big enough for a jacket. No, I think that the flightstick bundle is a good price, especially since it works with AC4 and PC games... it's a solid, workable joystick that you can use on good games, instead of a really expensive game (ala Steel Battalion). I picked mine up today. The stick is definately comfy, and you do feel really bad-ass playing with it (although I wish that, as a minimum, AC5 should have had better options for configuring it). The controller layout is fairly intuitive, and for the stuff that you do forget (like which button calls up the map), it's posted on the controller. The rumble feature is a nice bonus with AC5, too. I really only have one serious gripe, and one minor issue. First, the serious gripe. The stick is too sensitive. I mean, it feels tight enough, but in the game, pushing it all the way to one side rolls the plane a lot faster than pushing the stick all the way over on a Dual Shock. As for the minor issue, it's kinda obvious that Hori took an existing product and just applied it to Ace Combat... the two wheels and and the pinkie trigger don't do anything, and worse, the pinkie trigger actually gets in the way (but not enough to cause any major issues).