|
Yes, I know the line in the film is "No pithy comeback", but "No pithy thread title" just sounded weird. ABOUT THE GAME I'm sure you know what GoldenEye 007 is. Developed by a small and inexperienced team at Rare and not expected to be a hit, this 1997 Nintendo 64 FPS based on the 1995 James Bond movie has attained legendary status since its release and is still loved by many who put hundreds of hours into the campaign and/or multiplayer on their 13" CRT in the late 90s. While not all aspects of the game (especially the default control scheme on the N64, which is of the tank variety and should only be attempted by trained professionals) have aged gracefully, I think the level design and objective-based gameplay still hold up and, most importantly, the actual movement and shooting still feels satisfying. After many years in licensing hell, GoldenEye finally got an official re-release on the current and last gen Xbox consoles (on the Game Pass service and as a free update for Rare Replay if you own the digital version) and as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service in early 2023. Unfortunately, these were just emulated versions of the N64 original, with each release suffering from a variety of issues (different ones, as these versions were developed by different companies). Many fans were disappointed about the fact these were not based on the cancelled 2007 remaster Rare developed for an Xbox 360 release, which had updated graphics and many other changes and improvements. Still, while somewhat disappointing, these releases aren't all bad and I had a blast replaying the game on the Xbox Series X. ABOUT THE LP Having beaten the game on the hardest 00 Agent difficulty mode on the Series X, I decided it'd be a great idea to do so again but record it this time. So, that's what I'm doing. With me is ChaosArgate, who has very limited experience with GoldenEye so I'm also showing off the game to him and hopefully managing to explain why I love this game so much. Of course, as the Xbox version is far from perfect in many ways, I ended up recording "some episodes" - which turned out to be most of the playthrough - on original N64 hardware. My console is fitted with the N64RGB mod with VI de-blur (which gets rid of some of the N64's infamous blur) and I'm also using a Gameshark hack that removes the first pass of N64's hardware anti-aliasing (which gets rid of the rest of the N64 blur - I don't use this in most games because it tends to cause some gnarly dithering, but it looks very nice in GoldenEye), and I'm upscaling the output to 1440p HDMI with the RetroTINK 5X Pro. Obviously, N64 footage from original hardware is never gonna look as crisp or smooth as an emulator, but this is pretty much the best quality you're gonna get on an actual system. What about those infamously awful N64 controls, you ask? Well, you ignore the default controls and mostly everything else except layouts 1.2 (Solitaire) or 2.2 (Galore), which are pretty drat great and feel very modern for 1997 as long as you use the "left-handed" options for both. For 1.2, this means controlling Bond with the d-pad instead of the C buttons and for 2.2, it means swapping the left-hand controller to the right hand and vice versa. Yes, you can play this on two N64 controllers and get proper dual analog action that feels really nice, although obviously it also means using two N64 controllers and most people can't even seem to figure out how to hold one. Since the Series X version runs at 4K and I don't want YouTube to wreck the quality of the 1440p N64 recordings, these videos are rendered at 4K so you can see all those wonderful 1997 character models in their full splendor. In addition to the main LP on the XSX and the N64, I will show off the XBLA remake in some capacity in bonus videos and extra segments at the end of regular episodes, and after the main playthrough we're doing some multiplayer on the Nintendo Switch Online version. Updates will happen whenever I have time to post them. No spoiler policy this time, this is GoldenEye and we all know how the story goes.  The one rule I will impose on the thread is that this is not the place to slapfight over FPS control schemes. We all have our preferences, just be nice. It's all been civil thus far, and hopefully it stays like that.VIDEOS: Episode 1: Arkangelsk 1986 Episode 2: Beneath the Surface Episode 3: Nightfall Covers Me Episode 4: Janus Episode 5: Derailed Episode 6: Controlling Transmission Episode 007: Licence to Kill Episode 8 (FINAL): Legends Multiplayer, Part 1 Multiplayer, Part 2 Multiplayer, Part 3 DMorbid fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Jul 4, 2023 |
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 02:35
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 21:31 |
|
|
reserved for something I dunno
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 02:36
|
|
|
 Episode 1: Arkangelsk 1986 007 and 006 hit a chemical weapons plant (for England, of course), and everything goes absolutely fine with no issues whatsoever. This re-release, on the other hand, has quite a few issues. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 09:06 on May 9, 2023 |
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 02:37
|
|
|
For England, James? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 03:22
|
|
|
How does the Series X remake compare / contrast to the leaked remake for the 360 that was leaked about a year ago?
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 04:12
|
|
|
ChaosArgate continues his quest to be a part of a let's play of every single N64 game developed by Rare, I see.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 05:39
|
|
|
y'know i've never not seen Goldeneye except through muddied N64 graphics on a tube television
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 07:46
|
|
|
e: my reading comp is off today
tithin fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Apr 8, 2023 |
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 09:04
|
|
|
tithin posted:How does the Series X remake compare / contrast to the leaked remake for the 360 that was leaked about a year ago? There are also various visual anomalies like Z-fighting and visible geometry seams, which were there in the N64 version but obscured by the N64's 240p resolution, hefty anti-aliasing, and limited video output options. What wasn't there in the N64 version (or the XBLA remake or even the Switch release) is the strangely compressed audio, which you probably won't notice unless you know the game very well or play this and one of the other versions back to back but is still not great. Some speedrun tricks also don't work properly with the new controls on this version, although as you can tell I am very much *not* a speedrunner so it doesn't bother me that much. And whenever I do have to straferun at full speed, I can switch to the d-pad because that still works fine. I don't know why they didn't use the 2007 XBLA version as the basis for both the official Xbox and Switch releases. It was nearly done and would've run perfectly on both platforms. I'm assuming there was some sort of weird licensing issue, because the history of attempted GoldenEye re-releases is full of weird licensing issues. Like I mentioned in the video, the XBLA version will make some appearances in this LP's supplementary content, and I might also do something on the N64 once my fancy N64RGB mod shows up. edit: If you want something more in-depth, Modern Vintage Gamer and Digital Foundry's John Linneman have got you covered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou66ppC8stI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxuFc0VkxEw Overall, while these releases could've been so much better than what we got, I don't think this was an intentional effort to sabotage the game's reputation or anything like that as some fans online have suggested, but more of a case of dumb corporations being dumb and not wanting to play ball. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 12:54 on Apr 8, 2023 |
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 10:07
|
|
|
A couple years ago there was a specially-hacked emulated version floating around that worked natively with mouse and keyboard. So Goldeneye 64 became WASD shooter. Did you ever try that?
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 11:09
|
|
|
DoubleNegative posted:A couple years ago there was a specially-hacked emulated version floating around that worked natively with mouse and keyboard. So Goldeneye 64 became WASD shooter. Did you ever try that? Also - and this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine - please don't call it GoldenEye 64. There's enough games called [something] 64 on the N64 as it is, we don't need to add 64 to titles that don't have it. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 11:26
|
|
|
Cool GoldenEye 64! But seriously, I finished hardest difficulty back when I was a kid and sitting at home with a cold..gonna keep an eye on this! I remember one of the hardest levels being a rocket silo, where you have to speed through it to beat a timer? You basically had to memorize every enemy location to speed through it. Vitamin Me fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Apr 8, 2023 |
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 13:11
|
|
|
I've tried to play this and Perfect Dark, which is my favourite, on both Switch and emulated on Odin, and I just find the joystick controls impossible for aiming. The only way that I can play these in the modern day is using mouse & keyboard on a special emulator.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 15:16
|
|
|
A friend of mine as a kid had this, which was special, because until like two years ago, it was actually forbidden to sell the game in Germany. He had the NTSC version, I think, requiring a special adapter to play on the PAL N64. He had all the cheats unlocked already, and I played all the levels a lot of times with invincibility and infinite ammo, not really comprehending how you could possibly play the game without - I didn't even understand the concept of an FPS, like, enemies could be behind me all the time and I wouldn't see them? How could I defend against that? I see everything happening behind Mario, but Bond is helpless! I revisited the game recently with M+KB and found out that, uh, even with that it's actually really drat hard. I would not have gotten through the first level without cheats as a kid, so I kind of made the right call. Granted, I did 00 first because I wanted to see and do all the objectives (something I ofc always ignored as a kid), but after a few deaths you know the general layout, then you just have to, uh, git gud. I think the biggest "oh" moment compared to a modern shooter is probably the lack of any healing. There's protective vests ("armor") in some levels in hard-to-reach spots, but iirc on 00 they even cut down on that, and before you reach said spots, good luck. Any damage you take in an early engagement will carry throughout the whole level, making any kind of awkward firefight, any enemy you failed to spot around the corner, into a death sentence 5 minutes down the line. Game doesn't gently caress around! The levels aren't too long to balance that out somewhat, but it's definitely a rough time if you're trying it legit. You really have to learn your routes and enemy positions, and try to be both stealthy and efficient. That all of that is even possible speaks to the strength of the game's design - it's really drat good, and it was cool to finally experience. ...I didn't finish it...it's loving hard...
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 22:15
|
|
|
Simply Simon posted:There's protective vests ("armor") in some levels in hard-to-reach spots, but iirc on 00 they even cut down on that, and before you reach said spots, good luck. I was very bad at video games as a kid, so back then I only ever beat GoldenEye on Agent and even that took me a couple of months. Unlocking the coolest cheats legitimately seemed like a bad joke - how was anyone supposed to beat Facility on 00 Agent in two minutes to unlock Invincibility, when I could barely stay alive that long on 00 Agent? Or how about beating Control within a time limit on Secret Agent (even on Agent, I was stuck there for at least a month because I just couldn't protect Natalya while she was hacking) for Infinite Ammo, or even getting to Egyptian to unlock All Guns? I didn't actually beat the game on 00 Agent (or even try to beat it because I just didn't think I could) until this year when I played it on the Series X. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Apr 8, 2023 |
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 22:38
|
|
|
Simply Simon posted:I revisited the game recently with M+KB and found out that, uh, even with that it's actually really drat hard. I would not have gotten through the first level without cheats as a kid, so I kind of made the right call. Granted, I did 00 first because I wanted to see and do all the objectives (something I ofc always ignored as a kid), but after a few deaths you know the general layout, then you just have to, uh, git gud. I just wanted to support you on two points. Firstly, I can't play Goldeneye or Perfect Dark myself without a mouse & keyboard emulator. I can't remember the name of it, but there is one that is specifically for those two games that I use. Unfortunately it's the NA versions only and I had the Euro version of Perfect Dark as a lad, but I still appreciate it. These games came out at the end of the 'Nintendo Hard' era and the difficulty/frailty of the main character combined with the awful stick aiming is a deal-breaker for me. The second point has to due with how difficulty levels were handled - the Thief series is notorious for this. It's that phenomenon where higher difficulty has more objectives and shows more of the game, so if one wants to actually play the whole game one has to deal with brutal difficulty. I don't see why the devs wouldn't just include all of the objectives and sub-missions on lower difficulty levels and tone down the enemy health, accuracy and damage, or at the very least include the high-difficulty objectives as a bonus. I've been foodling about with System Shock 1 Enhanced recently, and that game has four different difficulty variables. I wish that there had been more of that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2023 23:50
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:The second point has to due with how difficulty levels were handled - the Thief series is notorious for this. It's that phenomenon where higher difficulty has more objectives and shows more of the game, so if one wants to actually play the whole game one has to deal with brutal difficulty. I don't see why the devs wouldn't just include all of the objectives and sub-missions on lower difficulty levels and tone down the enemy health, accuracy and damage, or at the very least include the high-difficulty objectives as a bonus. Replayability. You practise on the lower difficulties and as you get better you're supposed to play the harder ones.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2023 00:25
|
|
|
Ah nice, it'll be fun revisiting this to see how it feels now, after noping out in about 20 seconds at the controls when it showed up on Switch. Tons of good memories playing it at my friend's house, although more centered around the multiplayer since we mostly weren't sitting around with one person doing the campaign. I've been convinced ever since this game that it should be mandatory for every shooter to include a paintball mode. Also, I couldn't stop laughing at this bit, with the old flatter-looking graphics, my brain would absolutely not stop parsing this as a tiny miniature bunker with two little guys in it 
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2023 02:47
|
|
|
Captain Hygiene posted:Ah nice, it'll be fun revisiting this to see how it feels now, after noping out in about 20 seconds at the controls when it showed up on Switch. Tons of good memories playing it at my friend's house, although more centered around the multiplayer since we mostly weren't sitting around with one person doing the campaign. I've been convinced ever since this game that it should be mandatory for every shooter to include a paintball mode.  The Switch version's default control mapping is completely deranged (the default controls aren't great even on an actual N64 pad, but this is something else entirely), but there is a pretty solid workaround! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QepAQsjUWuo It's not magically going to make the game feel like a 2023 shooter or even the Xbox version since it still uses the original aiming system, but at least the controls won't break your brain anymore.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2023 12:36
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:
On the dam level, you have that one objective on Agent mode - bungee jump off the dam - and all that hacking shenanigans on 00 Agent. But, iirc, you still have that ridiculous hacking dongle in your inventory on Agent and you can still run around inside the dam and do the download thing which was shown off. It's just not required. And it's not as if Goldeneye doesn't have increased enemy health on higher difficulties, either. The enemies do get tougher and more accurate, and the auto-aim from Agent is almost non-existent on 00. I remember enjoying the way Rare managed difficulty in this game. Well, except for on Train, where there is one specific objective which you can fail through no fault of your own.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2023 15:46
|
|
|
Robert Deadford posted:Well, except for on Train, where there is one specific objective which you can fail through no fault of your own. This is very silly, so I'll put it in spoiler tags even though spoilers are generally allowed. Basically, when you shoot Ourumov, you can also shoot Xenia if you line yourself up right (you can also shoot Alec, but that doesn't do anything). She'll say "Wait for me Alec, I'm hit!", which delays the timer by about 20 seconds, i.e. just enough time for Natalya to crack the password and still let you escape the train. I'm not entirely sure why Natalya is cracking Boris's password AFTER she finds the location of the evil Janus base, for which she would've needed the password in the first place, but there it is.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2023 16:12
|
|
|
DMorbid posted:Natalya cracking Boris's password, right? There is a specific trick for that one, but there is absolutely no way you'd ever figure it out unless you try everything or read Nintendo Power (or Nintendo Official Magazine, which was the UK equivalent). That's the one, without the trick - which I didn't know about in 1998 - you get out of the train so late Natalya can and usually will get hit by the explosion.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2023 16:15
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure this is an old M and Judi Dench is The New Boss(tm). The movie has a throwaway line from, Zelensky I believe, to the tune of "I hear the new M line is a lady." It goes with the whole thing the movie's got going with no more Soviets, the times are a changin'
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2023 13:02
|
|
|
Thank you for playing Goldeneye 64. It, along with Perfect Dark 64 were my childhood
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2023 13:07
|
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:I'm pretty sure this is an old M and Judi Dench is The New Boss(tm). The movie has a throwaway line from, Zelensky I believe, to the tune of "I hear the new M line is a lady." It goes with the whole thing the movie's got going with no more Soviets, the times are a changin'
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2023 13:28
|
|
|
Jack-Off Lantern posted:Thank you for playing Goldeneye 64. It, along with Perfect Dark 64 were my childhood For me, PD definitely. I actually saw and enjoyed the film, but Goldeneye was the first effort with the flashy IP. PD refined and improved just about everything, but people don't care nearly as much about it. Both games had pants controls, though. Typical for the N64.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2023 14:24
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:For me, PD definitely. I actually saw and enjoyed the film, but Goldeneye was the first effort with the flashy IP. PD refined and improved just about everything, but people don't care nearly as much about it. Maybe I'm misreading this and you're playing along, but the joke of the post you're replying to is that they appended the "64" suffix to both games' titles when neither had it in the first place.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2023 15:32
|
|
|
Yes. Also they were my childhood
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2023 15:44
|
|
|
as a kid i too added 64 to every n64 game regardless of whether or not they had it in their name
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2023 15:59
|
|
|
PizzaProwler posted:Maybe I'm misreading this and you're playing along, but the joke of the post you're replying to is that they appended the "64" suffix to both games' titles when neither had it in the first place. I completely missed the joke. I was just stating a preference.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 00:55
|
|
|
Sally posted:as a kid i too added 64 to every n64 game regardless of whether or not they had it in their name Snowboarding 1144
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 01:02
|
|
|
Goldeneye multiplayer was our family game up until Halo's 16 player LAN parties came around, and we slapped the poo poo out of each other. Mostly those who picked Oddjob, but sometimes it was the slappers only matches. I somehow managed to beat every level in 00 Agent, and the majority of that time was spent on Control Room. gently caress that level in particular.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 02:22
|
|
|
The most fun I ever had in Goldeneye was License/Throwing Knives/Basement. Close runner up was License/slappers only in the Bunker with the house rule that combat is only permitted in the huge outdoor landing pad arena.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 02:40
|
|
|
Just tried to play Goldeneye on the Switch. Trying to aim with the analog stick is like trying to fire a bow with my feet.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 03:04
|
|
|
Kangra posted:Snowboarding 1144 it was 1080 Snowboarding 64 tyvm
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 03:17
|
|
|
But what about seminal classic Super Mario 64 64?
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 03:20
|
|
|
Eric the Mauve posted:The most fun I ever had in Goldeneye was License/Throwing Knives/Basement. Close runner up was License/slappers only in the Bunker with the house rule that combat is only permitted in the huge outdoor landing pad arena. Throwing knives with low health settings are a riot. Grenades too. Favorite house rules games were on Bunker as well. One was grenade launchers only, and could only be used outside. People would run for the treeline and arc barrages across the map at each other, blind firing in the dark and tracking explosions. No fighting inside the bunker, and a gentleman's agreement (often broken) not to fire until people made it some distance past the bunker doors. The other was Bunker with prox mines and minimum health. One would go to the innermost bunker and leave the room, the others would hide mines around the map, go outside the bunker, and set their controller down. Once traps were in place the other player would return and have to escape the bunker and murder the trapmaster. Usually the trapmaster would win and then they would swap roles.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 03:46
|
|
|
The architecture details are cool and I appreciate learning those things. Also James Pond, I thought no one else played that! Those devs made some trippy-rear end games, I always got lost as hell in the James Pond levels.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 11:22
|
|
|
The island just really feels like a spot an enemy sniper should have been in. Although that might just be from all the time I spent on Siberia in Timesplitters 2.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 12:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 21:31 |
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:The island just really feels like a spot an enemy sniper should have been in. Although that might just be from all the time I spent on Siberia in Timesplitters 2.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2023 13:03
|
|