Summer Games Challenge 2016

[prfsnl_gmr]

RIP mysterious map maker. I'm sorry I was such a jerk. When I save Hyrule... know that it will be to avenge you.

FYI

All of the dungeon maps make some sort of picture (like Picross!). If you feel like you are missing something, try completing the picture (by bombing walls, pushing blocks, etc.).

There is a compass, map, and Triforce piece in every dungeon. Each dungeon also has an item/weapon in it, but some of them have more than one (i.e., the first dungeon has the boomerang and the bow and the final dungeon has the ???? and the ????.)

I love the Legend of Zelda, BTW. I have the game pretty well memorized, and I was able to get through the whole thing in a single 4-hour session when I was in college.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Surely Key has noticed this but you actually are given two dungeon maps. One is the actual "item" version; this shows a layout of the entire dungeon. The other is the large beige(?) one that fills in as Link explores. You can cross-reference these to see if you've explored the entire area.

Oh, and you've probably observed that certain black "empty" areas on the map can actually be explored. Check the "eye holes" of creature-shaped maps and so on.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Oh, and you've probably observed that certain black "empty" areas on the map can actually be explored. Check the "eye holes" of creature-shaped maps and so on.

...ESPECIALLY skull-shaped maps...

[alienjesus]

I've cleared another pair of chapters in Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu To Hikari No Tsurugi.

Last time I updated, I promised goofy NPC screenshots. Enjoy:

Anyway, the two chapters I progressed through were easy enough. There were some tough points in chapter 5 as my characters are still rather lacking in strength, and enemy Social Knights (Cavaliers, if you're familiar with later games in the series) are quite strong on defence, but I got through.

I then spent about 20 minutes grinding with my healer. Unlike later games in the series, healers don't level up by using staves. Instead, they have to be attacked by enemies to get exp. They get quite a lot for surviving an attack, but it's still awful to deal with - especially as all of the healers have awful HP and Defence, and have 0% growth in those stats - meaning they will never improve naturally.


Anyhow, I stuck my healer on a fortress. She's the one on the bottom left, underneath the red unit. The peg knight in the top right and the archer in the top left are standing on other fortresses to stop enemy reinforcements appearing, as they were causing me trouble whilst my healers were so busy.


Then I let a lone peg knight attack her for like 90 turns. The fort heals her a bit each turn, and gives her 20% dodge rate.


I had a secondary healer with a staff to hand to heal her when she wouldn't survive another hit. As she levelled up and her dodge rate icnreased, it became easier to deal with.


I did this until the staff I was using to heal ran out and she couldnt survive another hit (peg knight did 9 damage), which took her from level 3 to level 19. That'll do nicely! 1 more level until she'll be ready to promote (once I find the right item).

[BoneSnapDeez]

Oh man I want to play Fire Emblem. Been insanely busy these last few weeks. This Summer Challenge will likely end up like all my others: I get really excited, knock off the first four-ish games in quick succession, and then get burned out / distracted and ignore the rest.

[Exhuminator]

I get really excited, knock off the first four-ish games in quick succession, and then get burned out / distracted and ignore the rest.

I think this is what's gonna happen to me. I'll try to at least finish half my list though.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I'm working through Broken Sword. (It's long.). I think I may fire up some of the racing games this weekend though.

[CFFJR]

Also also, I really need to play Icewind Dale one of these days.

It's much more linear and combat oriented than the Baldur's Gate stuff is. It's semi-comparable to Diablo in that you're crawling dungeons and looting. But it's more complex than Diablo and the better game for it IMO. Way funner single player for sure.

If you've never played the first Dark Alliance, it's really a class act loot 'n' crawler. (I'm not saying every game that used the Snowblind engine* after that is good.) But the OG Dark Alliance (PS2 version anyway) is definitely a classic. I enjoyed it far more than any of the three Diablos.


* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowblind ... gine#Games

I haven't played Dark Alliance, but I plan to.

That's an interesting list. It'd be fun to explore more of those games. The only one I've beaten is The Bard's Tale, but I loved it. Fun and funny.

[Key-Glyph]

I've never played a Fire Emblem game. I don't even know anything about them really, aside from the music, and that I think they're beloved. Any of you guys want to hype them up for me?

I get really excited, knock off the first four-ish games in quick succession, and then get burned out / distracted and ignore the rest.

I think this is what's gonna happen to me. I'll try to at least finish half my list though.

Yeah, that's why I've taken to splitting my list into two halves. The first five are games I've been meaning to tackle for years, or the super classic ones that almost everyone else has finished. They're the mandatory assignments. That way I can trick myself out of feeling like I've come up short at the end of the summer, when really we should be focusing on what we accomplish!

And speaking of...

1. Legend of Zelda (NES)
2. Tecmo Bowl (NES)
3. Metroid II: Return of Samus (GB)
4. Contra (NES)
5. Shenmue (DC)

The big news is, my mysterious cartographer friend is not dead!! What happened was that on my first attempt in Dungeon 8, I somehow opened exactly the right path to confront the boss without finding the compass or map. When I returned tonight for a more thorough search I found the telltale remnants of the mapmaker's adventures. SO RELIEVED.

And that's making me think... wouldn't that be a funny Zelda game? To be whoever it is that explores these dungeons first and makes up the maps, but who isn't strong enough or equipped enough to be the actual hero? Would this be a Zelda stealth game, starring Impa?

Oh, and I guess the other big news is that I broke Ganon into an unrecognizable clump.

I will admit I consulted a guide for the last leg of Dungeon 9, however. I kept accidentally stumbling into Ganon's lair, which was aggravating, and then I thought I couldn't find the silver arrows and assumed I was missing something big. In actuality I'd been one staircase away, but had died and then promptly forgotten about that particular room. I had stopped having fun at that point, so I took a peek.

I'm glad to have The Legend of Zelda behind me. I'll process my thoughts more later, but on the whole I enjoyed it. It was much more intricate and intelligent than I had presumed for such an early game ("early" both in the sense of the series and for video games in general), which really fascinated me now that I'm old enough to truly appreciate this. I did get annoyed a few times, mostly due to map-related misconceptions, but this really only happened twice or thrice -- and that's a very, very low amount, all things considered.

I am not doing the B quest though, probably ever. I get the sense that it is an exercise in frustration, and I don't think the game, however charming and wonderful, can really make that worth it to me.

[Exhuminator]

I haven't played Dark Alliance, but I plan to.

I will add one caveat, when I beat it, it was via local co-op. The co-op experience was blissful, but I think Dark Alliance was good enough that I'd have done it single player.

I am not doing the B quest though, probably ever.

I've been playing Zelda for NES off and on since 1987, and I've never done the B quest either. I've never felt any impetus for it. So you're not alone.

---

I'm revising my overly ambitious Summer Games Challenge list. I've got too much serious stuff going on in real life to add extra stress about beating a bunch of games before the summer is over. So this list:

Aquales | 1991 | Sharp X68000
Battlezone II: Combat Comander | 1999 | PC
Beneath Apple Manor | 1978 | Apple II
Dragon Quest II | 1987/1999 | Game Boy Color
Quest For Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero | 1989/1992 | DOS
Malaya's Treasure | 1989 | MSX
New Devil Golvellius | 1988 | MSX2
Night Slave | 1996 | PC-98
Policenauts | 1994/1996 | PlayStation
Rusty | 1993 | PC-98
Shadow Tower | 1998 | PlayStation
The Scheme | 1988 | PC-88

Is now this list:

Aquales | 1991 | Sharp X68000
Beneath Apple Manor | 1978 | Apple II
Dragon Quest II | 1987/1999 | Game Boy Color
Malaya's Treasure | 1989 | MSX
Night Slave | 1996 | PC-98
Policenauts | 1994/1996 | PlayStation
Rusty | 1993 | PC-98
Shadow Tower | 1998 | PlayStation
The Scheme | 1988 | PC-88

I can manage to finish that before September. I think.