David Hingtgen

Xenosaga 1, no question. I'm very partial to redheads. And now Shion's like a Japanese girl who dunked her hair in henna...

And I much preferred KOS-MOS' original design, too. Tatooed forehead not nearly as good as the visor. And being an adult doesn't work as well with the whole "naive android" thing.

I think the biggest issue however, is that they no longer fit. Look at all the other characters--they were changed *very* little, if at all. That just looks weird, when some characters all of a sudden look like they're from a different series. (That's a gripe of mine in anime, too---when some characters are "realistic" while others are as deformed-cartoony as it gets---keep it the same, one way or the other)

It'd be like having FF9, but then sticking Tidus in. A dozen SD people walking around, then a "real" person shows up on screen.

When I beat the canyon mission (about 3 more tries), I basically stayed low, circled back TOWARDS the canyon as soon as I could to go after the baddies, then made one long slow loop along the rim, taking out all the fans in a single pass. Of course, I got tossed about a bit, but I think going really slow helps--you travel less distance in the 1.5 secs you're totally out of control, minimizing odds of hitting wall.

Well, let's see:

F-15U: interesting concept, haven't bought it yet.

FB-22: neat! Haven't actually used it yet. (Though they give it the X-44 name)

YF-23: of course, utterly rocks, better than the F-22 in all categories. I had to repaint it, no pink YF-23's for me! Control scheme totally wrong, they have it set up like a delta-wing, using the flaps as elevons. Yeah. But due to using the ruddervators as rudders (which it shouldn't) it has AMAZING yaw control. Physical model surprisingly good, and they even did the moving trench exhaust right. No gun though. Accurate for the prototype, but the real thing would have had a gun.

F/A-22: can't turn worth sh*t, anyone know why? Power seems a bit low, too.

Yet more Flankers. Su-27LL (PS)U something something. Seriously, like 6 letters after "27". Apparently the very first Flanker to have vectoring nozzles.

F/A-18E: Brian's first good plane. Surprisingly well-modeled, though I think the speed brakes may be off. (But hey, a lot of places get it TOTALLY wrong---Super Hornet's have an entirely different speed brake system than regular's--I'm quite surprised they got as close as they did).

X-29. Bought it because it was cheap.

More F-14 analysis: pylons in wrong spot (forgot to mention last time), Phoenixes aren't Phoenixes, and while it DOES have a dual chinpod, it's two of the same pods...

YF-12A: surprisingly accurate. (asides from the flight model, which is off by about 1000% in most aspects). Fun though. And free.

PS--I love the YF-17. Because it's what the Hornet SHOULD have been. Superior in most every way.

Let's see. Currently trying to beat canyon mission, attempt 4. Can get to the end easily enough, but then the 3 guns in the center plaster me in 5 secs, then the baddies catch up and missile me from behind.

Anways:

F-14 is so wrong it's not even funny. And it's an A, 100%. Not a D at all, even has PW engines. At least they made it rock, though.

Why does the F-16 roll sluggish compared to the F-15? And it's not a block 50.

I don't think I've seen a plane yet use differential stabilizers. Big no-no, IMHO. Don't see spoilers either. F-4's not as good as AC4's--no stabs, wrong wing. But they got the aileron movement right.

YF-17 shouldn't have the strakes above the LEX's.

Man, even I didn't know there were THAT many Flanker variants. Programmer's got to have a Flanker fetish. (And an afterburner fetish, for thrust/speed/power/AB levels are totally off)

What's up with Brian's planes having NO power? A-4's aren't that bad, yeesh, the Blue Angels used them...

Biggest current annoyance: no AMRAAM's on the Sea Harrier FRS.2---that is the reason for that variant's existence. That's like having an F-14D without GE engines...oh wait... (Plus making the AV-8B and Shar the same---Shar's are more agile and faster)

I just got the game this afternoon (used, and traded in another game--grand total of 14 bucks invested). I will of course have a full critique once I'm done, but so far:

Kinda jaggy, but looks ok. Models not as "sculpted" as AC4's. Most noticeable with the Tomcat.

I think pitch-down is too weak, pitch-up too strong, and rolling too slow. I don't like how the camera deals with yaw, always messes me up when I'm trying to yaw like 2 degrees to line up a shot.

Turns bleed speed! Probably the biggest failure in AC4's physics model. You CAN'T go Mach 2 in a 90-degree bank. Man, if they accurately model the differences between planes here, it'll add a LOT to realism. (I still don't have any planes I know well enough to try to compare--need some F-14/15/16/18)

Going *really* slow means you have p*ss-poor control! Also quite nice. No Cobra manuevers starting at 110kts...

I really hated the "carriers disguised as ice floes" mission. Took like 10 tries. Used F-105, always got hit. When I finally won, I had *10* HP. Still don't know what hit me half the time, I'd be way away from everybody, yet my HP just kept dropping.

*Totally* rocked at the Hospital ship mission. (got my F-20 and AMRAAM's) If it was possible to save it, I would have done so.

Overall---actually more sim-ish than AC4 due to physics (don't be trying 9G moves in a Thud), and quite fun, once you totally remap the controls. (I did it like AC4, but made square my airbrake, and triangle "target forward"---there's rarely enough enemies to make it worth having "target back", I think it's D-pad L or something)

PS--nitpick time. The F-5A looks like the F-5E, and it shouldn't. No LEX's on the early ones, that's what makes the F-5E the *Tiger II*, and not an F-5A/B/C/D Freedom Figther. F-14 (from the few secs I've seen) looks to have the same control surface modeling probs as AC4. As in, totally wrong. Will check out the F-4 and Tornado tomorrow.

PPS--they made the A-7 way too slow. It's slow, but not THAT slow. It's basically a fat, afterburner-less F-8. It shouldn't be 100kts below an A-10. (I'm annoyed, for A-7's were our ANG planes for years, I grew up watching them)

There's SO many ways to make composite parts for planes. I'm still amazed whenever I see it on TV. Take a big piece of fabric, a bottle of "goop", a big paintbrush, and get to work. A few days later, you've got an X-32 wing. (May have been UGLY, but the wing construction was ultra-advanced).

I would guess Mitsubishi builds the wing, then assembles the plane in its own factory with the rest of the parts coming in kit form from Lockheed.

I'd HIGHLY suggest reading the 30-page thread here about FFXI. You'll learn a lot more about it than any review could ever tell you.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=3951

PS--while I'm a huge FF/RPG fan in general, I'm skipping FFXI.

Just my IMHO: programmer skill outweighs system power, when it comes to graphics. Look at what happens when Square brings out a new game. It's nearly gauranteed to blow away all previous games on that system and "look like that more powerful system". And then you can have new games that look like they're running off a PSX, or my old 286...

And yeesh--Ace Combat 4 still blows away all other PS2 flight games graphically, despite coming out a LONG time ago (in "game years").

It's all about how you USE the power. (Boy is that a cliche, but it applies)

Age overrules size for cost, almost always. As in, a new "cheap" fighter will end up costing more than an "expensive" fighter of an older design. F-16's about the only plane in history that actually did end up costing less (at least really early on, like Block 1), mainly because it could use an engine already in existence, and it was initially a purely close-in dayfighter. Then they added a nice new radar, kept adding things, and now we have the F-16 Block 50D...

I'd love to see someone say what's "wrong" with Valk Profile. Game's nearly flawless, and in my all-time top 5. And has greater replay value than most any RPG, with the two ENTIRELY different endings. (Ending meaning "the last 15 hours of gameplay")

Opening ships up as in you've already beat it and that's all you have left to do? Dang, I gotta start playing more after I beat Ninja Gaiden.

Can't remember how many I have. I especially like the R9-DH series, as it has my initials. (Though the further I get, the worse they seem to be--the wide beam just isn't strong enough for later-level lackeys).

::edit:: I buy mags pretty much only for playable demos. GamePro sucks BTW, has so for over a decade. Sites I like: Gamespy, Gamespot, Penny-Arcade, and mostly what I hear from people I know have good taste in games. (Namely, the VG store I shop at (they're independent, not a chain) and my brother).

I got a request for a VF-1's main gear retraction sequence explanation, so here goes.

Closest real-life plane I can think of is actually the F/A-18's, though they're somewhat at an angle.

Anyways, assuming the gear's down, you open up the gear bay doors, and retract the strut rearward. While it's doing so, the entire wheel/axle rotates 90 degrees so that the "face" of the wheel ends up facing downwards, when the gear's fully retracted. Then the gear doors close. (There's a lot of debate of which, if any, gear doors on a VF-1 remain open when the gear's down. I myself portray them closed where possible). Really depends on the plane. Most Navy planes keep them open, Air Force planes tend to close them when possible. (Though Air Force planes are also more likely to have them designed so they have to all stay open)

VF-19's gear is similar, BTW. Though it may incorporate a Z-fold, even more like the F/A-18.

Wow, I figured I'd be the only R-Type fan here. Someday I'll get past level 5. Mind-warping as it is... (RX-11's rock, they're the only thing getting me to the boss)

Heh, must have been an older ep. The current high-end engine is the GE90-115B. 115,540lbs thrust. Contingency rating of over 127,000lbs. (Airliners are my true passion).

Anyways---power=acceleration and climb-rate. That's pretty much it.

And as you mentioned, if you want to get to space, you need insane power. The full power of the Space Shuttle is 7.7 million pounds. Need Mach 25 for orbit, takes a lot of power to get to that speed.

My PS2 games outnumber my Xbox like 10 to 1. But JSRF alone is worth getting an XBox for. And don't forget Panzer Dragoon.

Camera sucks, but it's impossible to adjust well. Just keep hitting R to reset to default. Most of the time, just deal with it. Ryu has such incredible "knows where to go" when blocking or fighting, it doesn't really matter. My main gripe is that the camera is simply LOW, not looking the wrong way. I like the camera to be somewhat above the character, looking forward. Gaiden's camera is DIRECTLY behind Ryu, so you can't really see where you're going.

PS--it's HARD. And fight in the air. Staying on the ground is death, always be jumping or wall-running.

Yup, Guilty Gear XX is the last US PS2 2d fighter. Because Sony now officially sucks.

Hopefully (Hori?) will make some X-box 6-button pads, like they've done for most every other system now.

According to "the rules" anything that can reach space, isn't a plane, it's a spaceship. Thus they won't give the X-15 most of its records. YF-19's can go in space, so they're not a plane.

daeudi--well, it got REALLY interesting, when they had an engine failure, and were down to 40,000ft and Mach 0.9, after having alerted pretty much the entire Warsaw Pact to their presence. Came real close to a major incident, as many MiG's were scrambled, and quite a few US planes were launched out of Japan and Korea to intercept the MiG's to protect the Blackbird. Luckily, the engine failure happened close enough to "home" that the Blackbird got out of Soviet airspace before it was in serious danger, and everything was called off.

PS---SR-71 isn't invincible. It has taken a grand total of one small piece of shrapnel, at altitude. Many missiles have gotten fairly close to it, but only the one exploded close enough to actually make contact. The SR-71 is high and fast enough to avoid like 99% of stuff. But not *everything*. It also helps that the SR-71 is moderately stealthy, and has a LOT of ECM gear. It's not simply high and fast---it's got as much ECM as most dedicated Electronic Warfare planes. Many missiles launched at it were quickly jammed and went off course. If it didn't have such an advanced ECM suite, many more missiles would have gotten close, possibly hitting them.

Quite possibly only in Japan. Sony seems to be quite serious with their new "no more 2D" stance on US PS2's. Capcom Vs Snk: Chaos is XBox-only in the US, as Sony said no, purely because it's 2D.

The basic idea is that they don't want "old-looking" games on their new high-end system, that 2D only belongs on the PSX etc.

The only silvering I've ever encountered (asides from those tiny spots which will appear no matter what) is when I decal over gloss.

Yes, I know, everyone else on Earth swears by ultra-gloss triple-layer-future as a base for decals, but it just doesn't work for me. I go over raw flat paint.

I might also add that I trim *all* the excess clear away---no clear, no silvering. (I have dedicated decal scissors).

I use microSET, but I always make sure to put some on the model itself, where the decal is to be applied. That way, you have some under the decal, not just brushed on top.

For me, I believe a key thing about decal application is letting the solution WORK, then blotting out the excess water. The decal isn't "on" until it has taken on the same texture as the paint it's laying on. THEN you get to start blotting out that last bit of water trapped under the decal. Getting the decal to conform, getting the water out, preventing silvering, and decal solution, are all parts of the same step, really. It all goes together, and there isn't truly a set order.

I myself tend to use massive amounts of microSET, and brush and squeegee away until the decal has conformed to the surface (and if it's conformed TIGHTLY to the surface, that means there can't be any water under it, can there? They go together). It takes time---the solution won't soften the decal enough to conform in 10 secs. Decal needs to be soft, to be able to really get tight against the surface. I've never liked microSOL, as I really, really fiddle with my decals to get them perfect--but no touching when you've microSOL'd a decal!

Yes, my method takes time, and goes against what most people say (I like to apply over rough flat finishes, hate gloss, never use strong solutions) but I do get amazing results, I can decal with the very best.

Nothing ruins a plane faster than overheated wheels and brakes.

Where and how? Also, the problem of snagging the cable with one and not the other still remains---instant massive yaw, likely destroying the plane. When you snag the cable, it is trying REAL hard not to move, it is pulling the hook with tremendous force as it reels out. (They're adjustable for how hard they'll pull--if you set it for an F-14, and an F-18 landed, the cable wouldn't budge an inch, and the F-18 would probably have its back end ripped out, or be stopped in midair instantly and fall to the deck)

You hook one, that part of the plane stops moving, and the rest will swing around REAL fast. Which is why real planes have the hook mounted perfectly in the center. Sometimes you will see a "split" one with multiple attachment points to the fuselage, but it always ends in one central hook.

For a legal international air record, clock starts at brake release. (Of course, the YF-19 wouldn't legally be a plane according to their rules)

Just gotta echo everyone else:

2 hooks are a BAD idea.

VF-19: non-arrested landings for normal fighter jets require thousands of feet. Prometheus needs to be *gigantic* to be long enough to have room for a normal roll-out. (Never seen a valk yet with reversers, nor drag chute) Plus, it'd slow down air operations. One of the oft-forgotten benefits of an arrested landing is that it only takes like 2 secs, then the plane's already moving out of the way for the next one to land.