Topic: General Xbox Series X|S Thread

@Yousef- Some Super Mario 64 courses perfectly describe what you mean, depending on the chosen star, there are different courses in each course, with a start and an ending. Think of Rainbow Ride.

I completed Super Mario 64 many times with 120 stars because it was my first N64 cartridge and as I kid I wasn't given many games. I can't say it's overrated because it's revolutionary, but Banjo-Kazooie is much more enjoyable. It's more about free exploration and collecting, like you said, but also it has much more charm, it is more beautiful and has a better soundtrack. Moreover, it's like a traditional European story and that is invaluable.

@Banjo- Yeah, aside from the gameplay, I think it was the settings and characters that made me lean more towards Banjo than Mario 64, not saying Mario is bad, I love it a lot and it’s pretty much been apart of my childhood, but I think Banjo-Kazooie having a focus on making its cast of characters fun and memorable as you play is what made me like it a lot and why it was the first game I immediately started playing the second I got access to the Expansion Pack on the Switch years ago.

Rare always liked to give their characters some sort of personality and charm in their games, and Banjo shows it quickly with its opening music sequence featuring its main characters. I think that plays a factor into why I can’t stop thinking about the games even after completing them.

@Pastellioli Yep, Rare's games are more than games, so they stick with you. Probably, because they are a reflection of a deeper involvement by the developers. Remember Cranky in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, Banjo, Kazooie, Conker... Super Mario 64 as a game got a lot of things right and even better than modern games, like mapping walking and running to the analogue stick, instead of requiring an additional button to run like some stupid modern controls.

@Banjo- I think I just love older games from the 1990s a lot because of the vibe they give off, usually with its memorable characters, settings, and music, not to mention a lot of them were very revolutionary in gaming and liked to add twists to its gameplay and subvert common tropes, which I feel Rare’s games did a lot, especially in the Banjo-Kazooie games and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, which I find to be one of the best deconstructions and subversions of the platformer genre.

I feel like the vibes a lot of N64 games gave off are really hard to find in modern titles, which probably is why a couple of modern games don’t stick with me a lot.

@Banjo- oh damn hello there. I got confused because I thought the site bugged and was taking me to an old ping. I really gotta better learn how to read dates Lmaoo. Anyways why hello there, good too see you : )

Yeah I relate to getting all 120 stars over and over. These days I don’t consider a replay of SM64 or Banjo to be “proper” ‘less I get everything.

Mario’s mission structure is something I was happy to see in bowser’s fury upon my first playthrough of it just a day ago.

I would probably consider ape escape to be incredibly close, almost a distant cousin of Mario 64. Because you can’t finish a level without catching a specified number of apes and each one is a unique quest on its own with satisfying controls to beat!

My next banjo (and subsequently, most other Rare titles such as donkey Kong 64) are gonna be on the RAP64 emulator. A 64 emulator with achievement support. I’m actually a huge achievement freak so replaying the games like this is a complete MUST for me. RA username is in forum signature.

I can understand the setting point actually. It’s why I do gravitate towards Kirby more than Mario and subsequently Rare stuff too.

The Big Bad Kong will always be a Rate hero in my eyes!!

If you ever find the time, friend, I think you would love the Ratchet and Clank trilogy : )

@Yousef- First of all, I need to beat Kao the Kangaroo on Xbox that I already started. I've played Ratchet & Clank on PS4, but it was mostly shooting. It was fine, but nothing special. I also played Knack 2 that I enjoyed somehow. Why do you like about Kirby so much? I'm curious. I've played Kirby 64, Kirby Super Star and I have a few more downloaded for 3DS, but I've never been a fan. Cranky is so funny 🤣.

@Banjo- oooohhhh, that last part was directed at @Pastellioli because he said he’s interested in older platformers and R&C felt exactly up his alley because of edgy and adult themes in the ps2 trilogy similar to how Conker is xDDD
But I’ll reply to your comment regardless, I do think the ps4 game is pretty lackluster. I wholeheartedly agree with you there. Hence why I specified the ps2 trilogy, it’s what most fans like me recommend. Has so many iconic moments, including this gem https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DgD80npg5L8&pp=ygUVUnlubyBy...

As for this part, I’m more than happy to elaborate!! Though there’s not much I can tell you since you’ve already played what I consider to be my favorite Kirby xDDD
Maybe it’s the familiarity? I played Kirby for the first time at a McDonald’s that had a N64 and I saw the anime when it was new. So you can say I’m attached, but I just ADORE any game where you steal power ups. This part I cannot deny. And the crystal shards letting you combine them is still mind blowing to me.

Though don’t expect me to give this kinda praise to most the others, I don’t remember much about them xD

And yes cranky is funny. I adore every single one in the entire DK cast. All of them. It’s why the animated movie was actually right up my alley. They all have this “guy I love seeing on screen” vibe to them.

@Yousef- Conker is maybe the only game that is “edgy” and mature that I really like haha! I don’t have an interest in things that are overtly “edgy,” and Conker was the only exception to that since the “edgy” content was done intentionally and to try to subvert expectations and cliches associated with platformer games, and I’d say the game did a good job with that.

I have definitely heard good things about Ratchet and Clank and I did see my dad play the 2016 game years ago, but I unfortunately don’t have any PlayStation consoles anymore I would love to play some PlayStation games again. I remember playing LittleBigPlanet 3 with my siblings and we nearly finished it but the console got its data wiped and it got traded in for a different game.

@Pastellioli ahhh I see I see. Well if you do get a cheap ps4, the original ps2 games are finally on ps4/ps5 and they’re phenomenal!! Amazing controls, gameplay, level design, sense of humor and comedic social commentary. They’re quite addicting and the music is impeccable.

@Yousef- Hopefully. I did play PlayStation a lot alongside Nintendo a lot before me and my family swapped exclusively to Xbox. I absolutely love anything that’s a platformer.

@Pastellioli same!! I look forward to our DK64 discussions once we both get there xDDD

@Yousef- Haha! That is going to be a treat. I’m going to have to rely on emulation once on DK64 once I get onto it since I don’t have an N64 and didn’t buy the WiiU port before the Eshop was closed unfortunately. I just hope that the emulation and controls aren’t bad when I emulate it, since other games like Diddy Kong Racing are super hard to play on the emulator I use and I’m super doubtful I’ll be able to complete that one.

I have maybe two games I really want to finish before I get onto DK64, and if the Pure Xbox game club picks Conker as its next title, it might be three, since I might want to attempt to complete a full second playthough of it and really want to gush about it to others lol, though that game always loses in voting since not a lot of people are active there unfortunately. It’s maybe four or five others that actively participate in it.

Matt Booty implies Studio's shut down due to Leadership changes - particularly Tango https://www.eurogamer.net/matt-booty-implies-tango-gameworks-...

This kind of confirms what I thought - the fact that the Studio founder and the creator of Games like Resident Evil and Evil Within, even Ghostwire, is no longer at the studio, maybe means that Studio doesn't have the leadership or creative talent to make the Games that made 'Tango' the studio it was, may not have been able to make another 'Evil Within' for example.

The same can be said for Arkane Austin too as we also know they lost staff during the Redfall era so may not have had the staff or the 'leadership' in place to make another 'Prey'. Was Infinity Ward the 'same' Studio after they lost half their Staff team when the creators of CoD left and set-up Respawn? Arguably not as Activision had to pull in more studios - inc Neversoft who ended up being merged into Infinity Ward.

Amy Hennig leaving Naughty Dog too made a 'difference' to Uncharted 4 - which does have a different 'vibe'. The first 3 were more 'Indiana Jones' with Mystical, other worldly aspects whereas 4 is much more Goonies, looking for 'Pirate Treasure' to set them up for the future. I kept expecting some mystical element, maybe end up fighting Pirate Skeletons for example. Not saying that was a 'bad' move, just that without certain people, you maybe don't get the same game - even if its the same 'IP'. Without Kojima at the helm, will a 'new' MGS game made by Konami without Kojima be the 'same', have the same direction, humour, ambition, ideas etc that MGS fans want/expect? Even if made by the SAME studio that made MGS before, without Kojima, its not the 'same' studio anymore.

It doesn't always mean that a Studio has to be closed or can't produce 'great' games or be 'more' successful, but you can't always expect that Studio to make the games that those creators created if those creators aren't there. People say Rare aren't the same studio and not capable of making the games they did for N64 as those staff are now at Playtronic making Yooka-Laylee games.

Very intresting article and note @BAmozzy (even if I had not had time to read the article yet). It does seems a bit strange to me that a company such as Microsoft should not able to hire some great talent that would make up for if like one or two persons decide to leave, that is something I find a little bit confusing. Maybe they have concluded it is not worth the expsense it menas to have the studio open and operate on full speed then.

@oliverp I don't know and maybe we will ever know.

Its possible they could have tried to hire the right talent and invest money into building that Studio back up, commit to investing for the next 5yrs+ until that Studio has produced something that MS can 'sell' to start recuperating on all that Money they've spent on Recruitment, wages, rates etc. However, they may think that money is better spent on their current Studios to ensure that the games they have in development come out when expected, not delayed and at the quality we as Customers expect.

MS also took on ABK - a massive influx of staff and Studios - a massive increase in their costs - much higher wage bill, much higher rates bill, much higher cost to keep many more studios open making games. Many of which are at full speed on Games we expect to see in the coming years, whilst Tango may not have anything in pre-production yet, no 'product' for MS and waiting for 'leadership' to take that Studio forward.

The article doesn't come out and say that Tango or Arkane was 'closed' because they had no leadership or because those staff left leaving MS no choice. As I said it implies that their 'history' and the Games we think of were made by a 'different' staff team so no longer the 'Studio' that created those games so you have to look at where that Studio is today and near future.

MS have had numerous 'teams' take-over from Original teams - Halo isn't made by Bungie anymore, Gears no longer by Epic - so they could make Evil Within 3 with a different team. Yes it maybe won't be a Shinji Mikami game, but Evil Within 3 made by Tango wouldn't be either in the future. So you can't keep 'Tango' just because they made EW in the past, you keep them because whatever game is coming 'next'.

With Tango being in Japan, a country with rising Costs, the 'cost' to hire, build up and get product out could be very high making whatever 'Product' extremely expensive to produce requiring even more sales to recuperate when Elsewhere in Poland maybe would cost 'less' due to lower costs and therefore a lot less 'risk' and won't need to sell as many either. If it gets delayed, that extra development time too is less.

I'd have rather seen Tango be 'let go' rather than closed - but I did think it would be difficult as the 'ONLY' Japanese Studio, a very different culture and time zone. They could have felt very isolated in a much bigger pond where everyone else is in the US/UK/EU.

Again not trying to say MS was 'right' to shut Tango and/or Arkane but that MS perhaps had little/no choice as a 'business' and as we don't truly know, trying to find a rational reason from the little info we can determine. MS no doubt would look at the 'cost' of Hiring and keeping that studio and maybe the numbers didn't make sense to them...

Slowly itching to end my month long break from the green and white box. I think there’s a couple things I need to be doing.

My GP sub needs get cancelled at some point and now feels like the right time. If I cancel it today, I’ll have approximately 30 days to give it one last spin to see if it’s worth canceling.

GTA IV is a game I’ve replayed countless times, but I don’t wanna touch the PC port ever again so I think I’ll go back to just playing it on Xbox like before.

A few other games have this similar setback to me, where I feel better off playing them on Xbox.

Additionally, I need to play Alan Wake 2 at some point. Since it’s Max Payne’s voice actor’s last performance, it holds some sentimental value for me already (May he rest in peace).

My month long hiatus from using Xbox ends today and the first thing I’ve done was immediately boot up GTA IV. Such an incredible game.