I have to direct a few of my friends to that video. We've all played the SNES and Genesis Shadowruns (and some have played the PnP), so seeing a new game in the franchise come to life is very exciting.
The more I hear about this game the more interested I am in trying it out. My experience with the original games is limited, too, so I might not take issue with this game's change in direction. That said, I happen to like open, yet structured, games that have a healthy bit of non-linearity to them. I also like combat that makes me think - cover, positioning, resources, and all that - which the new Tomb Raider seems to emphasize. All I need to do now is watch some videos of the game in action.
I don't know why I couldn't get into this series. I like action-puzzle games, so my inability to enjoy this series is a little bizarre. I ran into it so many times in the past, either as a rental or through emulation (both on the NES as Boulder Dash and its clone, Crystal Mines), but I always had trouble playing it. I'm guessing I wasn't patient enough with it. Anyway, it looks like I'll be taking another shot at this game soon to see if I can appreciate it this time around.
I think it's time for Sega to start pushing this property in the West. It's been rather popular in Japan for a while now, and there's a good chance the same thing could happen over here. Sega has a number of versions they could market and release over here (especially the iOS version), and it would silly for them not to try it.
If you found a working Sega Saturn for $30 (it might need some maintenance, however), that's a pretty good deal. As for the game prices, if you're asking about Lunar: Walking School, that was import which means its price is going to be pretty high.
Good ol' Contra; when will I ever stop playing this game? Probably never, now that I have it in portable form through Contra 4! Anyway, this has to be one of my most played NES games. Between all the years I spent playing it with my brother when it first came out and all the time I put into single-player challenge runs (like beating the game in one life with the standard weapon), I simply love it.
Also, I absolutely hated it when my friend would start stealing my lives. He had a knack for taking my last remaining life just when I was about to die, leaving me with nothing to come back with.
You definitely make the game sound better than what I've been reading around the Internet. It's not enough to sell me on it, though. From what I've seen, Mirror of Fate places too much emphasis on combat, which I don't particularly care for. I prefer games that give me the option to bypass encounters (the original games did this), especially if there is little reason to fight.
So, how does Otacon see what you're doing? Is Snake bugged with a camera on his body?
That said, I'm sorry that your capture card doesn't work anymore. Perhaps you could try the one I have, the Diamond VC500. It doesn't do HD (it's composite and s-video only), but I can confirm that it does work with XP and Windows 7.
It looks like we followed the same rule. If we were playing anything other than one-hit kills, you could not go after an unarmed player unless they attacked you. It was unsportsmanlike and those who broke that rule were hunted by everyone for the rest of the game.
As for some other rules we played by, you couldn't use auto-aim and the map was always turned off. Oddjob was acceptable, though, only because of the hilarious moments he created (my brother would always use him for melee during OHK matches).
Square has nothing to lose by publishing this game on the PSN. But, they seem to not care about this game, or the entire series, in the West. Otherwise, they could have released Frontier 1 and 2 over here along with the DS remake of Saga 2 to drive some awareness for the series. I mean, I would buy them if they released them over here.
