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SpaceBooger
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by SpaceBooger Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:17 pm

Note just started playing his first game and I just beat my first game - Soul Blazer

I loved this game. Normally I am not feeling the overhead action games, but working the angles to add strategy to the fights makes this game as much a strategy game as an action game - which I loved. Many associate it with Zelda, but it felt like an RPG-ified Gauntlet, which is awesome. I like how you have to backtrack to old levels after receiving new weapons and items because as I mentioned the last time I talked about this game I loved defeating a monster house and then having to decide to go back and see what was released in the hub-world or keep fighting and go back to the hub later. There were many times I found enemies I could not beat only to find that I needed a different weapon, armor or item found later in the game.

So some advice for Note - use the "start button" often to determine how many monster houses are left and remember/revisit creatures often because they may be important later in the game. The last piece of advice - on the last level there are these flipping, or rolling, walls and once you can defeat them you get 4000xp each one. So there is a warp tile that lets you hit 3 at once, leave, reenter, and repeat. I was able to grind from level 26 to 30 in less than 10 minutes making the final boss a breeze.

I am adjusting my list after playing a bit of Fire Emblem I was not digging it (it's no Shining Force - and that is my JAM) so I am replacing it with Paper Marion N64.
Here is my REVAMPED list for the Summer Challenge 2022:
1. Soul Blazer (SNES) Beat 6/2/22
2. Fire Emblem (GBA) Paper Mario (N64)
3. Adventures of Lolo (NES)
4. Popful Mail (SCD)
5. Shantae (GBC)
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Note
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by Note Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:34 pm

Thanks for the tips, SB! I appreciate it. Also, I totally agree with your assessment of Soul Blazer. Definitely feels like a Gauntlet style game with more RPG elements than something like Zelda. In regards to the placement of your character, it definitely adds a unique and engaging element too. You have to position your character just right against enemies to get your sword to connect while avoiding enemy attacks.

I played for a few more hours tonight and am now up to the Fire Shrine. Really addictive game! I've been looking forward to playing it after my work days.
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by SpaceBooger Fri Jun 10, 2022 11:08 am

We are taking two camping trips this month and I am teaching summer school, so my gaming time will be cut short. That being said, I was able to put some time into Paper Mario. I am about 3 hours in and just beat the Buzzard at the top of the desert mountain. The QuickTime elements to the battles are fun, but I am not that good at blocking. I also like the leveling system where you can up one of your stats at each level. I usually always deck out defense first in RPGs, but this one makes the game so much harder if you max out your HP first without grinding.
Overall I am enjoying this take on the RPG genre and am motivated to keep playing this all the way through.
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Key-Glyph
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by Key-Glyph Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:21 pm

prfsnl_gmr wrote:
VG_Addict wrote:How about a Dante Must Die Mode: Make a list of 10+ classic games you've never beaten.
Try to finish all of them before the summer's end.
They must all be RPGs.


That would be too easy…They all have to SPORTS games! :lol:


This made me laugh out loud both times, first because of VG_Addict's idea, and then because prfsnl_gmr reminded me that I once spent almost AN ENTIRE SUMMER OF MY ADULTHOOD playing through a season of Bases Loaded II. :lol:

So glad you've all been keeping it going in here. Really sorry that I vanished; we had several family health emergencies emerge in late May that threw us for a loop. We're still navigating them, but I'm hoping I'll be able to move on and enjoy another game on the list. And that's because... I finished Scribblenauts!

key-glyph wrote:1. EarthBound Beginnings (Switch)
2. Toejam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron (GEN)
3. Scribblenauts (DS)
4. Journeyman Project: Turbo! (PC)
5. Prince of Persia (ApplII)
6. Out of This World (GEN)*


I actually finished Scribblenauts close on the heels of my last post. I'm sure we're all familiar with the concept, but in short, you're presented with levels that require you to either solve a puzzle or reach a MacGuffin, and by typing in the names of objects you'd like your character to use to surmount the obstacles, the game magically supplies them. There are two types of levels: puzzle and action. When the puzzle conditions are solved, you're rewarded with your MacGuffin; in the action levels, you have to make your way to the MacGuffin by avoiding any number of ridiculous hazards. Some levels have restrictions (e.g. "don't harm the shark!"), some levels require you to play them through three times without repeating any objects, and several are very inspired and very, very clever.

One of my favorite puzzles involved
a royal family under siege; vagabonds with weapons were actively progressing their way through a series of rooms on the way to the throne room, and if they killed the queen, a noble, or any castle soldiers, you failed. The noble was easy enough to protect because they were in the room adjacent to you, but there were more enemies further inward, and a big hulking behemoth near the throne room. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage to protect everyone because it didn't seem possible to hoof it through the run in time, much less survive the increasing enemies... but then I realized, I didn't have to. I straight-up armed the noble and all the soldiers with rifles and phasers and let them do the fighting. It was delightful. :lol: It was also a nice breakdown of the standard game formula of your player character having to handle everything on their own. It made my brain feel good.

I will say that in my initial flash of brilliance I also armed the queen with a bazooka to take out the behemoth, which backfired epically when she destroyed the entire throne room. :lol: That's another thing about this game... sometimes the consequences of your ideas are the most fun of all.


The thing with this game is that although the concept is brilliant and the humor is great, you wind up steamrolling your way through it once you establish your personalized set of go-to objects. There were a lot of levels whose puzzles were completely bypassed by my #1 item, and there was even an environmental tool whose purpose I never understood because I never had to utilize it. (I actually wish I knew more people who'd played through Scribblenauts so I could find out what their most-used items were. I feel like it's a personality test of sorts.)

This doesn't really take away from the game per se, because my breezy solutions were just as valid as any other, you get kind of addicted to racking up the finishes, and there's a lot of replay value. I can see myself going back to this game sometime and applying my own restrictions, just to see what ridiculous stuff I can come up with. For me, though, the best levels were the really clever braintwister ones that, once you've figured them out, they're figured out forever.

Super excited I finished this one, though! This was another game from my past that I never thought I'd finish, but I felt "connected" to in some way. This is what I love about the Summer Games Challenge: It really inspires me to get the most of these titles that I'm forever saying, "I wonder if I'll ever get back to it..." about.

Next up is Journeyman Project: Turbo, which I never could figure out as a kid and has haunted me for my entire life. Really excited to install Windows 98 on a virtual machine from my original disc. Hoping to do that this weekend or next.
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Note
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by Note Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:06 am

Well, I finished Soul Blazer tonight! I also completely enjoyed this game. Really fun gameplay, it was awesome to see what would unlock in the town after defeating the monster lair and to traverse back to previous areas with new weapons or abilities to be able to unlock other items or finish up some missed lairs. I found the gameplay pretty addictive. Whenever I sat down for a gaming session, I had a tough time putting it down.

I also enjoyed the strategic element to the battles in the game, where positioning your character became very important to avoid taking damage. This is a fun element that really kept me engaged while moving through the various dungeons.

The ending was really cool too, IMO. I'm not going to say much about it, but I enjoyed the storyline towards the end of the game, and some cool cut scenes at the end. Amazing game!

Feels good to knock off first game from my Summer Games Challenge list. Next up I think I'm gonna play Shadowrun on SNES.
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by Note Tue Jul 05, 2022 1:04 am

It turns out that the save battery on my copy of Shadowrun for the SNES isn't working anymore, so after getting about 2 hours into the game, and grinding for some Karma and Nuyen to build up the main character a bit, I returned to my save file gone. I'll have to head to a game store in my area to get the battery replaced later this week.

Due to that setback, I've switched things up, and pivoted to another game on my list, Shadow of the Colossus on PS2. I played for about two hours tonight and got through the first three Colossi. Wow, really unique and interesting game. Can't say I've played anything else quite like it. It's taking me some time to get used to the controls, but overall I'm enjoying it a lot so far. I've found it to be quite a challenge but it's also really satisfying when you're able to take down a Colossus and make progress.
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by prfsnl_gmr Tue Jul 05, 2022 11:13 am

Key-Glyph wrote:
prfsnl_gmr wrote:
VG_Addict wrote:How about a Dante Must Die Mode: Make a list of 10+ classic games you've never beaten.
Try to finish all of them before the summer's end.
They must all be RPGs.


That would be too easy…They all have to SPORTS games! :lol:


This made me laugh out loud both times, first because of VG_Addict's idea, and then because prfsnl_gmr reminded me that I once spent almost AN ENTIRE SUMMER OF MY ADULTHOOD playing through a season of Bases Loaded II. :lol:


I’m glad that made you laugh, Key! I thought of this after playing through one game of 2020 Super Baseball. I’m like, “Wait…I have to do this FIFTEEN more times to beat the game?! That’ll take FOREVER…” (There may be like one or two people on earth who actually beat this game in an arcade, and since the game makes you feed a credit based on a timer, it cost each of them at least $50 in quarters to get through the game.)

I’m going to pick this back up very soon, but if any game beats me this summer, it will definitely be 2020 Super Baseball!
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by SpaceBooger Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:18 pm

Congrats on beating Soul Blazer Note!
It's crazy how satisfying that game is. It was an early SNES title and you can tell by the graphics, but the gameplay and its uniqueness/charm make it one of my top 10 SNES games.

I am almost 30 hours into Paper Mario and have 6 of the 7 stars rescued. I currently am at the Crystal mountain palace place in the snow... The game was fun, but it's getting old and repetitive. There are some characters I don't use since I can not stand the QuickTime events for them. I love grinding but the leveling system does not really help. I have full HP and Badge slots and only 15 flower points since I rarely use many of the powers.
I think I'm close to the end of this and am excited to finish it.

I have also been playing Adventure of Lolo on the GB(C). It was never released in the US, but I am playing the European version. I bought a bootleg Pokemon Silver cart and can write ROMs over it with my GB Operator. So I have been working on that game as well.
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by Limewater Tue Jul 05, 2022 1:16 pm

SpaceBooger wrote:I have also been playing Adventure of Lolo on the GB(C). It was never released in the US, but I am playing the European version. I bought a bootleg Pokemon Silver cart and can write ROMs over it with my GB Operator. So I have been working on that game as well.


I still remember the password for the last room of the U.S. NES release of Adventures of Lolo. It's one of the first games I ever beat.

I really loved that game, but never came across the sequels.
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Re: Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2022!

by SpaceBooger Fri Jul 08, 2022 1:38 pm

1. Soul Blazer (SNES) Beat 6/2/22
2. Paper Mario (N64) 7/8/22
3. Adventures of Lolo (NES or GB)
4. Popful Mail (SCD)
5. Shantae (GBC)

I beat Paper Mario this morning. I will continue playing Adventure of Lolo on the GameBoy, but I will try the NES version soon as well. I liked Paper Mario a lot at first, but by the end (the last two areas to be exact) the game started dragging. I don't know if the gameplay or story lost its charm for me or if I just wanted something different. I did finish it and am happy I could check it off my list. I may have officially beaten the most games on my Summer List ever, which is surprising since I took a break from SoulBlazer to play and beat Alwa's Awakening the 8-bit Version.

The next game on my list I plan to sink the most time into is Popful Mail. I have the Un-Worked Design version which resets all of the values of the US game (Working Designs is notorious for ramping up the challenge on their translation). Details of the changes between the Original and the US can be found here: https://tcrf.net/Popful_Mail_(Sega_CD)
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