RPG Progress Report

[Markies]

I started up a game of Shining Force tonight!

After playing so many NIS PS2 SRPG's, there are some modern conveniences that I truly miss. I wish I could look at characters during turns and see their stats/health.

However, besides that, I was really getting into it. The battle system seems really fair and I think I can manipulate many of the enemies. I like the leveling up system and I really like my characters and their classes.

So far, really good game!

[noiseredux]

I started up a game of Shining Force tonight!

YES! This game rules.

[MrPopo]

I started up a game of Shining Force tonight!

After playing so many NIS PS2 SRPG's, there are some modern conveniences that I truly miss. I wish I could look at characters during turns and see their stats/health.

Press B, that gives you a floating cursor. Move it over a unit and you can press either A or C to pull up health and stats. One is just a quick health and mana bar, the other is a full stats page.

[Exhuminator]

Thus far the original Shining Force is the only game I've beaten in the SRPG side of that franchise. I found the experience to be mostly entertaining, if not a bit easy. It's got a lot of charm and is quite good for its time. I remember the shopping system being annoying due to some bad design decisions, and at one point you have to do something that wasn't intuitive, but absolutely required to progress the plot. Overall you're in for a pretty good time.

---

Crimson Shroud
Grinding for better melded gear worked and I beat the Witch Kings finally. I then went on to take out the last boss, beating it on my first try rather easily. I saw the "bad ending" and the credits, and I'm done. I'm not doing a New Game+ for this, as I'm burnt out on the experience. I'm off to write the review now.

[Markies]

I started up a game of Shining Force tonight!

After playing so many NIS PS2 SRPG's, there are some modern conveniences that I truly miss. I wish I could look at characters during turns and see their stats/health.

Press B, that gives you a floating cursor. Move it over a unit and you can press either A or C to pull up health and stats. One is just a quick health and mana bar, the other is a full stats page.

Thanks for the tip! I will make sure to try that when I play it again. I was just having a little annoyances when I would loose track of who needed healing when it was my Healer's turn. Also, being able to attack the lowest HP enemy would be really nice.

Thus far the original Shining Force is the only game I've beaten in the SRPG side of that franchise. I found the experience to be mostly entertaining, if not a bit easy. It's got a lot of charm and is quite good for its time. I remember the shopping system being annoying due to some bad design decisions, and at one point you have to do something that wasn't intuitive, but absolutely required to progress the plot. Overall you're in for a pretty good time.

Yeah, the inventory system is really archaic.

Each person can hold 4 items. When you collect items, it automatically goes into the main character's inventory. Once he has 4 items, then it says you can no longer collect items. So, you then have to move the items to another person to collect more items. It's a bit cumbersome and I can imagine the equipping weapon system to be somewhat similar. A universal bag where items go would have been so much nicer.

Besides those little quirks, the game was really enjoyable. I like that the main character has an escape battle spell from the beginning. It's great do-over along with an easy way to grind experience points.

[Ack]

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

Day 8 in the abyss.

When I had last left off, I had just gathered up the Key of Courage. With this new piece of the puzzle, I now raced my way back through the bowels, first to the mages of level 6 to speak the password which led me to the Key of Truth, and then to Judy, the despairing old woman on level 5, to give her the image of her lost love. Her tears formed the Key of Love, and when thus combined, they formed the Key of Infinity. With the ultimate key formed, I gathered up my equipment and threw myself into the void of level 8.

Let me tell you, the 8th level of the abyss is Hell itself. Broken paths, rivers of lava, halls full of horrid monsters treading on the flayed bones of their victims; level 8 has everything. Thankfully my Ring of Levitation helped me navigate, though too often it would blanch at the thought of letting me travel North or East, and I would have to instead sink into the abyss and tread across molten floors to then rise up on the other side. As useful as this ring is, it also liked to be humiliatingly inconvenient, and more than once the slow pace at which it would let me move made me a juicy target for the spells of fire elementals.

Not unscathed, I navigated the pits until I found myself at a locked door hidden away in an alcove. When the keys I carried did not work, I decided to break it down. Ho, a lone survivor cried out in fear as I broke my way through, and when he realized I was friend, he begged me for food. His own greed had brought him down here in a quest for gold, but with the entrance of Tyball and the imprisonment of the powerful demon, Slasher of Veils, this man had locked himself in for a slow death of starvation. Upon questioning him, he gave me a magic wand and a rough location of Garamon's bones, and off I flew.

I searched through the netherworld, facing hideous golems, laughing gargoyles, and other unspeakable horrors as I fought my way to the corpse of my ghostly ally. But numerous other piles of bones lay strewn about the corridor, forcing me to pile them together. Garamon's bones refused to stay put, and when I realized that they would not go with the rest, I carted them up to his grave and buried him properly. To thank me, Garamon's ghost appeared and informed me of what I must do: throw the talismans in the volcano to create a portal to end the scourge of the Slasher of Veils. With this knowledge and the key to the corridor holding the demon, I swept forth to do battle.

Beyond the door lay even more horrors, but I hacked and slashed my way through the vile horde until I was at the final door. It stood as black as the abyss, foreboding, pregnant with the wrath of the evil thing within. I produced the Key to Infinity, inserted it into the socket, and flung the door open. The stench of pure hate swept over me, and I beheld the great and mighty Slasher of Veils, imprisoned in a pool of lava but salivating with malice as it tore at its bonds. Swiftly did I throw the talismans into the lava at its feet, until finally only the Sword of Justice remained. With a last look at my most favored blade, I did cast it into the pit. The fiery volcano swallowed up the pure, virtuous energy of my artifacts and tore open a gate to another world that sucked the Slasher of Veils inside...along with me.

What I saw within the other world is the very image of madness. Hallucinations of Armageddon, rage, monstrosity...horror. And beside me stood the Slasher of Veils, now free of its prison. I ran. Three paths stood before me of different colors, and I hurled myself down the nearest one. The red one. It was a mistake, and as I reached its end, I found myself teleported back to the beginning. Now, severely weakened to within an inch of my life, I gathered up all of the strength I could muster and forced myself forward to the green path. As I ran, the Slasher of Veils followed, all the while screeching and clawing, attempting to rend my flesh and cleave my body to the bone. Without looking back, I charged to the end and threw myself into the portal, escaping just barely before the demon's foul fingers could rip me apart.

Bloodied but now victorious, I found myself outside the abyss and praised by the very baron who had thrown me in. Three days later, after the excitement had worn off just enough to sleep, Garamon came in a dream to inform me that he had helped the others to escape. The Stygian Abyss was now destroyed, and the Slasher of Veils gone from this world. All was once again well in Britannia, and I was truly the Avatar.

Thus ends the tale of Ack's experience within the Stygian Abyss. It is a tale of dark fantasy and mystery, fraught with terror and endless in its violence. But it is also a tale of hope and success in the face of the worst vile adversity and evil. Take heed, mortal, if ye ever seek to enter the Stygian Abyss. For these are the ways of perilous destiny and high adventure.

[Exhuminator]

I would literally pay you money Ack to play through a King's Field and keep a journal as great as that one was.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I would literally pay you money Ack to play through a King's Field and keep a journal as great as that one was.

Ack really should collect these into a document and post them as a walkthrough on GameFAQs. It would easily be the best one.

[noiseredux]

I would literally pay you money Ack to play through a King's Field and keep a journal as great as that one was.

Ack really should collect these into a document and post them as a walkthrough on GameFAQs. It would easily be the best one.

I was actually (seriously) thinking that he should compile them into a novella.

[Ack]

Ha, glad you guys liked Ack in the Stygian Abyss. I might bust out this format again in the future for some of these first person RPGs. This was a pretty fun thing to write.

As for the guide...that's actually a pretty funny idea. I just checked, and there is one guide on GameFAQs that pretty much tells you the bullet points and then lets you go. Even the guides don't hold your hand.

Seriously, you guys should play this game. It's awesome.