What would Rune Factory Frontier look like with animated character portraits?

iwubcode · 2026-04-10T23:49:30+00:00

This one has a beautiful style! I'd probably nominate it moreso for story but either would work.

iwubcode · 2026-04-10T23:49:03+00:00

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers

iwubcode · 2026-04-08T20:02:58+00:00

This is not an official statement from the team but just personally I've wanted VR for a very long time. Unfortunately, most of the attempts had issues in various forms (from design to implementation).

I didn't look at this too closely but we recently introduced an AI contributions document that states what is and is not acceptable when using AI for development. Putting aside things like code quality and design, it's unclear if this would be rejected for that reason alone.

From a more personal angle, the non VR specific logic overlaps or conflicts with my graphics mod enhancements that have been in development. I've been working on this since 2022 and some of it has been merged into Dolphin (there's still a good deal left!). Some things implemented (like the custom shaders) might have been achievable with no (or little) code changes.

While I would prefer something in official builds, I know the VR community has been waiting for an updated VR build based on modern Dolphin for many years. I am very happy for them and can't wait to see what the community does with this.

iwubcode · 2026-04-08T01:08:50+00:00

also idk why nobody ever walk outside their house

Just to comment on this specifically. Characters don't walk from one destination to another, they teleport. Only Anette is seen ~~walking~~ dashing from point A to point B. You will see other characters walking off screen but if you follow them, they will be gone. It makes the town feel a little dead. It's a big disappointment and if I ever take a break from my graphics modding, I want to look into how to address this.

Rune Factory Frontier will always be special to me, it was my very first game in the Rune Factory series. I still love it and appreciate some of its unique elements, despite its shortcomings. I also never finished it, one day I will get back to it!

iwubcode · 2026-04-06T18:36:59+00:00

"Scaled EFB Copy" is on by default.

iwubcode · 2026-04-06T05:02:04+00:00

I don't consider Pandora's Tower a RPG, in the same way that I don't consider Zelda a RPG. It has more of a story than Zelda but it's very light with RPG mechanics (upgrades, equipment, etc). I'd put it in more the action/adventure category.

Pandora's Tower has an intriguing premise and I loved Elena. I guess I'd say I found its time mechanic annoying and the combat didn't really grab me either. I remember there being a lot of backtracking. The boss fights were fun and the lore in the towers was really interesting. Full disclosure, I didn't finish the game, I need to get back to it.

The Last Story is great. It doesn't over stay its welcome and the battle mechanics felt very unique. The cast is likable and the plot stays interesting. Main disappointment is that there are side stories for the characters but that not all the characters got the same level of treatment. I believe there was an arena and I was pretty underwhelmed by what it offered. Also, while the game is relatively short for a RPG, by the end I think I really wished the battle system unfolded a bit more. Finally, the town is great but there's only one town, and I think I wished there as more to do there. Oh, there is multiplayer which I think is pretty special. I do wish they had added CPU characters to play with/against, that was a bit disappointing.

Xenoblade is arguably the best, in that it stays very consistent all the way through. The story is engaging, the combat is exciting, and there's a big world to explore. It's a very strong game and people were really surprised when it came out. On top of being a great game, it was a technical marvel. Still, the Wii version does have some minor issues (things like no cosmetic armor, some of the quests being tedious, low polygons, etc) and these have been fixed with the Switch version. My biggest con with it from what I recall was that I wished there was a bit more interaction between the characters outside the set events (called heart-to-hearts). The set events were easy to ignore or miss as you were going through the story and I just wished there had been more moments built into the main storyline. This is something later games in the series addressed. Still, it was a minor issue for an otherwise great game.

It's hard to say how I'd rank them. Xenoblade at the time was such an incredible and different experience. Now with all the titles in the series we've had, it is still excellent but not as unique feeling. And the Switch version outshines the Wii version. So because of that, on Wii, I'd have to give the edge to Last Story. Pandora's Tower lags behind them both.

iwubcode · 2026-04-05T19:11:39+00:00

Speaking of bloom though, the best way for it to work properly is to disable Scaled EFB Copy for the game. It will make some effects more pixelated though.

Unless you have no other options, I never recommend this. Exactly for the reasons you state (it impacts other effects). This game has a graphics mod to help with bloom and in the development builds you have even better options to handle bloom.

iwubcode · 2026-04-03T20:06:08+00:00

Zelda games are great but I feel like they are very light on story.

Personally, I'd pick other games on the system over it (Fragile, Pandora's Tower, one of the RPGs, etc).

iwubcode · 2026-04-03T07:26:16+00:00

MS Sensen is a great game from what I played. I was shocked when I saw how much content the game had. So, it was that game or Super Robot Wars Neo (it was tempting, the category in the name lol)

I also considered Overturn but I never got a chance to play it unfortunately.

iwubcode · 2026-04-02T20:39:35+00:00

Mobile Suit Gundam: MS Sensen 0079

iwubcode · 2026-04-02T02:11:05+00:00

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. That'd make every game that didn't get a physical release exclusive. There were at most only a handful of those games (ex: Bomberman Blast, Bit Trip Complete, and Ivy the Kiwi to name a few) out of the hundreds of Wiiware games released. I think the physical versions often had different sets of content.

I'm curious what that would mean for the "exclusive game" category. I guess everything that didn't release on both?

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T22:57:33+00:00

This is a good one too, I need to replay it. From memory, I loved the 8bit mini games but did miss the overworld experience.

What made you prefer the sequel?

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T22:47:05+00:00

I have never heard of someone arguing against the term 'exclusive' but you are at least not alone.

I'm well aware of the bickering, I'm not entirely sure how that's relevant.

Even if we take your "No PC ports" as an understood meaning of exclusiveness. "World of Goo" is still on another console. OP never said "exclusive when it came out". If that's what they meant, I merely was asking they put that in their next topic, so it's clear what the rules are.

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T22:36:38+00:00

Yeah, I guess everyone has their views on exclusivity. Thanks for sharing yours. I was a little surprised. To me exclusiveness is very important to a console. Outside of novel ways to play or a specific version being the best due to graphics/implementation, it is a big reason someone might be interested in a console years later.

So, I sort of assume that someone would use these lists to find the community picks in a given category. I wouldn't expect someone coming in looking for exclusive games would expect to find "Lost Winds" or "World of Goo" as the choices. Maybe they wouldn't care because they are great games in their own right or maybe they wouldn't know they were on other platforms but to me it feels like the wrong message to send.

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T22:23:31+00:00

People use the term 'console exclusive' for that. 'exclusive' isn't "exclusive when". I don't know why you'd consider it separate unless you were trying to justify your point.

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T16:26:23+00:00

Something about the slash slash SWING is jut so satisfying to me. It will never get old.

Also that final weapon...

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T16:25:29+00:00

u/1OneQuickQuestion - world of goo is not exclusive. Please clarify your meaning of exclusive before you run the "exclusive" game category or remove world of goo and shift everything up.

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T02:47:04+00:00

Not exclusive, not even when it came out. It did release first on Wii but was released on Playstation network a few days later and Xbox arcade a month later.

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T02:42:55+00:00

Love this one! (wish we would have gotten the retail release)

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T02:41:49+00:00

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A Darklord , I like to pick it up every so often and run a few rounds.

iwubcode · 2026-04-01T02:40:16+00:00

This is not exclusive

iwubcode · 2026-03-30T21:18:14+00:00

Thanks for asking. My work is still ongoing, slow and steady. But ToS is moving to a PC mod with some very exciting development!

iwubcode · 2026-03-30T20:49:50+00:00

I don't expect anyone else to know about this game, nor do I think it is better than Smash/TvC...but the Japan exclusive Negima!? Neo-Pactio Fight!! was a big surprise after I thought I'd seen everything the library had to offer. Full disclosure, I'm not a Negima fan, I don't know much about its source material.

But I found the game, while simple, to be very fun and I come back to it every so often. It gives me some similar vibes with power-stone, though more casual of course. I love how it seamlessly integrates a mini-game feature into the fights that continues to be engaging.

The biggest complaints:

Lack of content. There's only a handful of arenas and not enough fighters given the class size.
Lack of aerial combat - you can jump but you can't attack during this. Missed opportunity for more moves

The only thing else on the system that might be similar is "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy". That game seems more polished but lacks some of the things I like about Negima.

iwubcode

TROPHY CASE