Summer Games Challenge 2016

[prfsnl_gmr]

Game is tough. Made some headway but then GAME OVER. Sent back to the beginning with my save erased. Savage, brah.

I have also been playing this game a bit too, but I have not yet beaten it on regular difficulty. (I have, however, beaten it on easy...which is way too easy.) It is totally awesome, and I love it.

I am playing the HD version on the 360, and it looks amazing. It controls wonderfully; and it is very, very fun. Moreover, if you skip the cutscenes, you can run down one of the paths in just over an hour, making it perfect for multiple playthroughs.

Last night, I made it to the final level on regular, but Golden Silver (i.e., the final boss from Gunstar Heroes) took my last two continues. (I forgot that you have to attack the gems around him.) I then made a run on easy, taking an entirely different path, and I completed the game without using any of my 99(!) continues. (Again, this mode is too easy.) I plan on taking another run or two at it tonight on normal.

I am playing as Han, and I crank his agility and luck stats at the beginning of the game. After that, I alternate upgrading strength and vitality. Is this a good approach? Do any of you who have beaten the game a few times have some tips for me?

Beat Flashback on Sega CD. Summary to come in the Games Beaten thread.

Good work! I beat that game a few years ago for the challenge myself. I liked the opening, but I thought the ending was unnecessarily frustrating. It is definitely a classic in the "cinematic platformer" genre - which I now realize that I like more in concept than in execution - and I am glad that I played through it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I'm gonna attempt a run on Easy tonight. If I have to use more than 9 continues it surely won't be a good sign, huh?

Honestly, if I can finish it on Easy and a Bone/prfsnl_gmr co-op run on Normal proves to be successful I'm gonna call it "beaten" - even if I can't finish it on Normal solo. Now that my "free time" has been reduced to near zero I've become pretty lax about "proper" game completion.

After Guardian Heroes I'm gonna shoot for Castlevania and Kid Icarus. Maybe if those are beaten before August I'll dedicate a good chunk of that month to Fire Emblem. The fact that alienjesus hasn't beaten it yet is making me nervous.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Honestly, if I can finish it on Easy and a Bone/prfsnl_gmr co-op run on Normal proves to be successful I'm gonna call it "beaten" - even if I can't finish it on Normal solo. Now that my "free time" has been reduced to near zero I've become pretty lax about "proper" game completion.

I have only beaten it on easy, and I consider it beaten now. I just want to spend some more time with it before I write it up. (I don't think I will have had the full experience until I have played some co-op!)

[alienjesus]

After Guardian Heroes I'm gonna shoot for Castlevania and Kid Icarus. Maybe if those are beaten before August I'll dedicate a good chunk of that month to Fire Emblem. The fact that alienjesus hasn't beaten it yet is making me nervous.

I've just been busy, lazy and slow. It's good times.

Persona 4 and moving house has been eating up my time quite a bit in the last month or so.

Guardian Heroes difficulty varies quite a lot depending on the route you take through the game. Try some alternate routes and see how you do.

I will say Nicole is probably the worst in single player for me - her moves work much better to support 2 players than to fight alone. Try giving the other character a go. If you can pull off fighting move motions, Randy is great and easy to use - he has massive area coverage, especially with his lightning spell (Shoryuken motion + magic button)

[BoneSnapDeez]

I will say Nicole is probably the worst in single player for me - her moves work much better to support 2 players than to fight alone.

You may be right. I did a solo Easy run last night. Her best spell (Barrier) seems to require the enemies be clustered in the corner of the screen, which is probably best done with the assistance of another character.

I ended up using a few continues, one of which was in level ONE. Yeah, somehow got my ass kicked right off the gate.

[Ack]

Ultima II

Ooh, Ultima II is...rough. Ultima I was a much better experience, probably due to its limitations. Ultima II took inspiration from Time Bandits, but it goes off the deep end with its randomization, and it has a much harder start that its predecessor.

The game starts off with the player equipment-bare and facing limited resources, particularly in terms of food. Food and HP both serve as a "health" system, and running out of either will kill you. Food also ticks down automatically over time(just like in the first game). To stave off the loss of health and food, you need better armor, weapons, and gold. To get better armor and weapons, you'll need better stats and gold. To get better stats, you'll need gold. You noticing a pattern here? To get large quantities of gold, you'll need to delve into a dungeon to loot, which is made significantly easier if you're a caster class with the right spells...which require gold. Unfortunately this means you'll have to grind for gold a bit on the basic monsters roaming the landscape.

Now comes the problem: monsters are strewn about randomly in the world, so you may end up with only one on the continent you are wandering. When you kill said monster, that monster will now give you a random amount of gold, so you may get 10 gold, or you may get 1 gold. The highest I've gotten has been about 18 gold. This means you have a lot that you need to buy but only a randomized chance to get enough to even barely scrape by and survive. There are a couple of ways to offset this, such as being a thief so you can steal food and thus improve your survivability by the slightest bit, but this comes with its own inherent danger: you may get caught and end up in a fight to the death with the town guards, which will likely result in you losing a lot of HP for a little food.

Now this can be made a bit easier by getting certain equipment, such as a plane or a boat so you can bombard enemies and don't have as many limitations with getting to those that spawned in bad spots. Unfortunately you'll need special items to be able to control those, and they are also randomly dropped by monsters. In short, you need gold and items, but they will only randomly be put out by random monster spawns, thus requiring that you be lucky to actually get anywhere in this game.

You'll also likely have to work these reserves up because at some point you're going to end up duking it out with town guards somewhere. You actually have to, because town guards drop keys that you need to get through certain doors for necessary equipment. Want a plane? It's behind locked doors. The quicksword Enilno, a weapon necessary to take on the final boss? Behind locked doors. Easy access to a ship? Again, a locked door.

To add to this confusion, you'll likely need to navigate a series of portals which will transport you through time. Understanding what portal sends you where in what time is crucial; I suggest writing it down once you figure out that X portal on X continent in X time sends you to Y continent in Y time. How to get back? I don't know, keep randomly wandering through portals. I accidentally ended up in the final area, the Time of Legends, by wandering through portals like this at the start of the game. I got the hell out as quickly as I could.

Oh, and then there is space. I don't know anything about space yet because I have not gotten there. I know I have to get a rocket somehow, and that piloting the rocket requires specific items. I don't know if I need to go into space of course, just that it's there. The actual requirements to finishing this game are a little vague. I know I take on Minax with the Enilno in the Time of Legends, but beyond that...not sure what I need.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I ended up using a few continues, one of which was in level ONE. Yeah, somehow got my ass kicked right off the gate.

I made it through the game in normal mode last night (with two credits to spare!). I played as Han again, and I went into the game with the knowledge that the only enemies that really give me any trouble are the robots (and, of course, the bosses). Knowing my weakness, I plotted a path through the game that had me fighting robots relatively early in the game and avoiding them at the end. (I don't know if there is a path that let's me avoid them altogether.) Other than selecting a relatively easy path - and avoiding robots - I also developed a few other strategies for getting through the game:

1. When your HP are critically low, let the NPCs take over for a while. If you make it to the end of the level, you will regain some, if not all, of your HP and save a credit.

2. Grind levels at the very beginning of the game. Soldiers respawn endlessly at that point, and they are relatively easy to defeat. Grinding ten to fifteen levels at the beginning of the game really gets you off on the right foot.

3. The most critical stats to upgrade (for Han at least) are agility, luck, and vitality.

4. Put the undead warrior in "berserk" mode whenever you encounter a boss in the second half of the game. Otherwise, order it to protect you.

5. Keep enemies at a distance. (Han's powerful attack is great for this.) There are only a few enemies with long-range attacks; so, you will save HP if you can manage space well.

6. Switch between planes to "escape" when there is a risk of you getting attacked from multiple directions or juggled. (The robots were able to juggle me very well, and getting juggled is what usually resulted in me losing a credit.)

7. Juggle enemies like a Marvel vs. Capcom game. Very few enemies have good aerial attacks, and aerial combos are a great way to damage enemies without risking a counter attack.

8. You don't have to fight every enemy. Enemies in different planes will sometimes ignore you altogether if you just walk by them. You will lose some XP by passing them up, but this strategy can be helpful if you are trying to save HP for a boss fight.

9. If you are "dizzied" and there are no imminent threats, keep the condition as long as possible. Your HP restore rapidly when you are under this status condition, and if you do it right, you can sometimes leave an enemy attack with most of your HP restored.

.....

Anyway, here is where I stand with my summer games challenge right now:

1. Adventure - Broken Sword (PC/iOS)
2. Beat 'em Up - Guardian Heroes (SATURN/360)
3. Fighting - Virtua Fighter Remix (ARCADE/SATURN), Virtua Fighter 2 (ARCADE/SATURN/PS3), and Fighting Vipers (ARCADE/SATURN/PS3)
4. FPS - Perfect Dark (N64/360)
5. JRPG - Dragon Warrior II (NES/GBC)
6. Racing - Virtua Racing (ARCADE/PS2), Daytona USA (ARCADE/DREAMCAST), and Sega Rally Championship (ARCADE/SATURN)
7. Rail Shooters - Virtua Cop (ARCADE/SATURN) and Virtua Cop 2 (ARCADE/SATURN)
8. Run 'n Gun - Ikari Warriors (ARCADE/PS3)
9. Shmup - Galactic Attack/Layer Section/RayForce (ARCADE/SATURN/XBOX/iOS)
10. Sports - Decathlete (ARCADE/SATURN)

I have beaten 14 games in 8 genres, and I am very satisfied with my progress this year. I cleared a lot of games off of my "to beat" list, and I have learned a lot about classic Sega games. I am going on vacation next week. (I will be in Maine, and I plan on doing a co-op Guardian Heroes run with Bone! ) Accordingly, I will probably just continue playing Guardian Heroes for the next few days, and I will not start Perfect Dark until I get back. Additionally, my copy of Decathlete is in storage right now as I prepare for a move, and it will probably be mid- to late-August before I get it back. (I am also fine with that since I planned on playing the game during the Olympics.)

[alienjesus]

I'll add that its not necessarily best to even out your stats in Guardian Heroes, and it's often more fun not too. Maxing out Vitality makes you live forever, maxing out speed makes you uncontrollably hectic (especially as Randy) and Maxing out the magic stats results in spells that cover the whole screen or a near limitless supply of MP.

I normally stick a few points in Vitality so I don't die in one hit by the end of the game and then work on really pumping up one or two of the other stats, only raising a weak stat when it becomes unbearably bad later on.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Wait, the soldiers respawn? I never noticed this. How does the level "end" then?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Wait, the soldiers respawn? I never noticed this. How does the level "end" then?

You just walk all the way to the right. Your character will say something like, "Let's get out of here!" before moving to the town.