u/InsecureBurrito

DMC5's level design is both by far the series' best AND the most representative of what people always claim to want out of it, in the sense that it's the only game in the series with levels which can be called non-linear in any sense of the term (since several levels have multiple routes through them and/or objectives which can be completed in different orders). There are no clunky plstforming sections or pace-breaking puzzles. Arguments as to why DMC5 has "bad" level design genuinely just stem from people not liking how they look and pretty much nothing else. Presentation comprises 99% of why people claim to like any given thing. Mission 7 is one of the most creative levels in all of action games.

The S-Video input is broken and needs replacing on my CRT. Problem is I have no idea what I'm doing or where to start. Apparently it requires soldering? Do I have to take off the whole shell of the TV to do this? I'm still very new to this and would appreciate any help.

During the Cell Jrs. beatdown, why does Gohan say that only Trunks can be brought back by the Dragon Balls ? Piccolo can be brought back too. Shenron was never used to resurrect him. I think the same goes for Tien and Yamcha.

The "free flow" combat system popularized by the Arkham games and also used in the Insomniac Spider-Man games is simple and looks flashy, but it lacks the depth and control of character action games like DMC. The three main issues are:

1. The "paired animation" system they use as opposed to traditional hitboxes makes animations look more realistic when hitting opponents with standard melee, but this comes at the cost of being able to punch/kick more than one enemy at a time like you could in past Batman/Spiderman games. Instead your only real means of crowd control are gadgets, which are limited in use.

2. Spider-Man and Batman instantly magnetize to enemies whenever you attack, removing the need for positioning and spacing. You no longer have to consider how to set up your attacks, the game does it for you.

3. No lock-on system. There's zero reason a 3D action game should not have a hard lock-on since it allows for 100% precision and eliminates the chance of hitting the wrong target. Even Ninja Gaiden got the memo eventually and included one with 4.

All of these problems make for a very rigid and shallow combat system. Imagine if DMC played like this, there would be ALOT of unhappy people.

Fighting Verdugo in the original was more tense because Leon didn't make stupid quips that made him too much of a reassuring presence. The area was also more intimidating since it was grimier and gross, while in the remake it's just a glorified freezer.

In the original game you couldn't always keep sight of Mendez since the camera wasn't fixed on him and he woukd shimmy all over the place. This created tension. In the remake, the camera is fixed on him so that he's always in your sight. Because of this, the fight no longer has that tense feeling to it.

The Insomniac games more or less follow the same combat style of the Arkham games since that's what was popular at the time and it was a relatively easy combat system for people to grasp, but it hurts the games more than it helps. The three main issues are:

1. The "paired animation" system they use makes animations look more realistic when hitting opponents with standard melee, but this comes at the cost of being able to punch/kick more than one enemy at a time like you could in past Spiderman games.
2. Spider-Man instantly magnetizes to enemies whenever you attack, removing the need for positioning and spacing.
3. No lock-on system. There's zero reason a 3D action game should not have a lock-on.

All of these problems make for a very rigid and shallow combat system. Imagine if DMC played like this, there would be ALOT of unhappy people.

I often here claims that if 16 hadn't been the one to die, then Gohan would've transformed into SSJ2 anyway once Goku/Krillin/Piccolo bit the dust. To me, this is a gross disregard for the importance of #16's death and a lack of understanding on why exactly it was his death that allowed Gohan to ascend.

Before #16 died, he gives Gohan a short speech. He encourages Gohan to feel the anger and "set his passions free" because Cell needs to be taken down. He knows that Gohan is having trouble accessing his inner rage power, because Gohan so far has lacked the ability to consciously allow himself to become absolutely ruthless. Gohan's gentle nature made it so that he could never control his hidden power, he only ever had brief access to it in severe emotional episodes. #16 appeals to Gohan's peaceful nature by using his own peaceful nature - he asks him him to protect the things he loved, nature and animals. He is essentially telling Gohan to drop any semblance of mercy in order to protect those that need protecting.

And that ties into what SSJ2 exactly is - it isn't just a simple "Gohan get mad, Gohan transform." SSJ2 for Gohan was him finally achieving control over his rage and weaponizing it. He had make himself drop his gentleness and mercy in order to maintain that power instead of it vanishing almost as soon as it appears like in past situations. After all, if all it took for Gohan to master his hidden power was to get mad, then Gohan would've already achieved control of his rage power way back in the Saiyan arc in any of the numerous instances he got angry there.

If the Cell Jrs. managed to kill any of Gohan's loved ones, would he have gotten mad? Absolutely. Would he have transformed? Well, no. Without the advice and encouragement that #16 gave him, it would've just been a repeat of past situations - he would get thrown into a brief fit of rage, maybe do some non-lethal damage to Cell, but the second he regains himself he loses that power and we're back to square one. What Gohan needed wasn't just to get mad, it was someone to tell him to allow that anger to consume him for the greater good. And once he did that, he could maintain all that power he had inside him with no restrictions.

All of this is why it had to be #16 - it was through his own love of peace and distaste for evil that he best understood what Gohan was going through and how to overcome it. I frequently here people complain how "out of character" Gohan was here for "refusing" to take action against Cell, and these people will also be the ones most likely to tell you that anyone's death would've had the same effect. The problem was never that Gohan had some newfound hardcore pacifist stance, it was that nobody ever told him how to use his hidden power. He had no idea what to do against Cell once he figured out Goku's plan, but he still wanted to stop Cell. He just needed someone to help him understand how to do what was expected of him.

It won't stop, I'm so tired

So in the HD ports of RE4 that bumped the FPS up to 60, you can easily pass any non-mashing QTE by pressing both the shoulder button and the face button pairings for the QTEs at the same time with no consequence. But when I went back to play the Gamecube version, this trick didn't work and led to poor Leon's death multiple times. Tried it out on the PS2 version, and same thing. I tried the Wii version as well, although the addition of waggling makes it a bit harder to gauge how exactly QTE's work.

Now I now absolutely nothing about game development, but I think I might have picked up on a subtle mechanic involving QTE's. Originally there was meant to be a slight "buffer" period if the player pressed the wrong QTE input, likely so players couldn't abuse the trick I talked about before. However, once the game got ported to HD consoles and experienced a boost in framerate, this "buffer" ended up getting pretty much negated since the game renders twice the frames now. So whether they knew about this or not, Capcom ended up making half the QTE's significantly easier since the buffer preventing simultaneous prompt inputs can't keep up with the increase it frames. The downside to this though is that mashing QTEs are now harder to pull off in the HD version, especially when playing on Professional. The Salazar statue QTE is practically broken because of this.

If anyone who knows more about how RE4 works has any input, I'd love to hear it.

Obviously fear of rejection plays a part for me too, but it also just feels like I don't want to give in to the whole "guy has to initiate" rule. I understand why it exists and don't hold it against women or anything, but it's so frustrating to basically be locked out of relationships just because you're shy.