Bioshock has a lovely setting, but it shoots itself in the foot with its storyline and removes the most interesting and compelling piece of its theme by openly contradicting itself. Visually the level designs are spectacular, but the enemies look like cheap plastic toys. The gunplay is painful at best, and most of the game can be handled with the wrench...which is par for the course with the System Shock games because melee is so powerful. If you're afraid to get up close and personal with the critters, well, no wonder you guys find these things hard.
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Anyway, on to my 5 summer games! I'm starting by getting back into Eye of the Beholder II. While I'll likely be dropping the personalized stories of the characters I was writing due to time constraints (seriously those took longer than I care to admit), I still figure I'll be sharing some exploits along the way with my intrepid party, featuring myself, Bone, Exhum, Noise, and a couple of NPCs that wonder what the hell they have gotten themselves into.
When I left off, I had finished the dungeon region and moved onto the first floor of the first of three towers. I'm now at the beginning of the final floor of the first tower, and I've now met the big villain of the game. And he is a powerful cleric. Who has fangs. Crap.
Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
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Key-Glyph
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
Ack, I am so excited for more of your Racketparty RPG tales. My previous Ultima post was an homage to them.
I wish I could keep up the habit, but there's just no way I could compress all this information into episodic tales. As of right now I've amassed fifteen oversized scrapbook pages of maps and NPC conversation, a one page "master list" of important locations/items/virtues/etcetera, and several more pages in a smaller notebook to keep track of my "to-do" list of quests and leads (plus where I last left my boat). And I haven't even explored a dungeon yet.
I am utterly consumed by this game. When I'm not playing it, I'm pouring over my notes again and again to glean new insights.
I wish I could keep up the habit, but there's just no way I could compress all this information into episodic tales. As of right now I've amassed fifteen oversized scrapbook pages of maps and NPC conversation, a one page "master list" of important locations/items/virtues/etcetera, and several more pages in a smaller notebook to keep track of my "to-do" list of quests and leads (plus where I last left my boat). And I haven't even explored a dungeon yet.
I am utterly consumed by this game. When I'm not playing it, I'm pouring over my notes again and again to glean new insights.
BogusMeatFactory wrote:If I could powder my copies of shenmue and snort them I would
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BogusMeatFactory
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
Key-Glyph wrote:Ack, I am so excited for more of your Racketparty RPG tales. My previous Ultima post was an homage to them.
I wish I could keep up the habit, but there's just no way I could compress all this information into episodic tales. As of right now I've amassed fifteen oversized scrapbook pages of maps and NPC conversation, a one page "master list" of important locations/items/virtues/etcetera, and several more pages in a smaller notebook to keep track of my "to-do" list of quests and leads (plus where I last left my boat). And I haven't even explored a dungeon yet.
I am utterly consumed by this game. When I'm not playing it, I'm pouring over my notes again and again to glean new insights.
Yes key!!!! You gotta share!! This fervor is being ravenously devoured! Keep it up!!!!
Ack wrote:I don't know, chief, the haunting feeling of lust I feel whenever I look at your avatar makes me think it's real.
-I am the idiot that likes to have fun and be happy.
Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
Final list, I'll start playing these in June. I threw SS in there since everyone was talking about that series of games.
1. Dragon Warrior III (GBC)
2. Tales of Symphonia (GCN)
3. Advance Wars (GBA)
4. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA)
5. Jet Grind Radio (DC)
6. Shenmue (DC)
7. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
8. Mega Man 3 (Wii U VC)
9. Earthbound (Wii U VC)
10. System Shock (Steam)
1. Dragon Warrior III (GBC)
2. Tales of Symphonia (GCN)
3. Advance Wars (GBA)
4. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA)
5. Jet Grind Radio (DC)
6. Shenmue (DC)
7. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
8. Mega Man 3 (Wii U VC)
9. Earthbound (Wii U VC)
10. System Shock (Steam)
Last edited by Raz on Mon May 29, 2017 10:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
Raz wrote:I threw SS2 in there since everyone was talking about that series of games.
Did you already play through SS1?
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
No, would it be better to play through the first game before the second? I own both games.Exhuminator wrote:Did you already play through SS1?
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Exhuminator
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
Raz wrote:No, would it be better to play through the first game before the second? I own both games.Exhuminator wrote:Did you already play through SS1?
Yes. System Shock 2 is a sequel to System Shock 1. It contains plot elements that reference the original.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
Changed my list, hopefully that's the final finalized list.
Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
That is a pretty amazing list. Dragon Warrior III, in particular, is gonna be good times for you.
Re: Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!
Eye of the Beholder II
Well, my run through the 4-Wind Tower was certainly an entertaining challenge. It's only 4 stories, but each presents new puzzles and dangers, along with some tough enemies who have a heavy reliance on status-inducing attacks. Poison and paralysis are common threats, and in some areas monsters spawn continuously, often in groups, so you're never as safe as you hope. You're also forced to face the "trials" of novices trying to join. In general the wording of the test is intended to misguide, and since it's for an evil cult, usually the nastier option is the correct one. Usually.
The first floor of the 4-Wind Tower presents you with a series of lights that shoot electricity if you step on their squares. A path through the area flickers on and off, but I was never able to make it without at least incurring one massive shock, and it can hit particularly hard. To make matters worse, the "safe" side is guarded by Mantis people, who often paralyze their targets, so getting out of the way of the shocking blasts proved difficult as they took out my tanks. I had Noise rely heavily on a Cone of Cold wand to survive. The rest of the floor was much more straightforward, though battling through the Mantis nest proved it was better to smash the eggs first and take on their occupants one on one than try to wipe them out en masse.
Floor 2 of the 4-Wind Tower was significantly shorter, but it included infinite hordes of giant wasps literally crawling from the walls as well as a test of faith that I was able to solve thanks to Bone blatantly calling out a loose brick in the wall. EotB2 offers characters with more personality than the previous, in that they have personalities at all. They notice things, they talk, and they give you vital information on secret doors, buttons, traps, and other things. Step on a Spinner, and one of the characters will remark that he or she feels dizzy, which is a very blatant warning if you're accustomed to it. I did have to backtrack a bit though: a magic mouth on the previous floor required three femurs to make a key for the second floor, so I had to head back down into the dungeon to find the three femurs I needed.
Floor 3 of the 4-Wind Tower offers up a lot of fake-outs, strange puzzles, and hordes of flying snakes that appear to be infinite in number. The big thing about this floor are the magic mouths which offer riddles as to what they want. They also require you to backtrack around the level a bit, but once you reason out what you are supposed to do, you can advance to the final floor of the tower...and meet Dran Draggore, the leader of the cult, who locks you onto the fourth floor, fully expecting it to kill you.
But you don't get to find out immediately, because first you have to contend with a locked door requiring four keys and a teleporter that behaves randomly. You basically just have to go through and hope you can grab the four keys and then find the room with the door. It's time consuming, but once you have it, you then get to find out the real threat of the fourth floor: beholders!
Yeah, you know the boss of the first game? He's now a common enemy, and while these guys don't have the massive health regeneration that the boss of the original Eye of the Beholder did, they're still capable of casting Disintegrate and a variety of other nasty spells to swiftly annihilate your party. Taking them on at range to unload with Exhum's bow and then dodging and dancing about as Ack and Bone hacked away were how I took them on, making sure to fight each one individually or else risk obliteration. While there are some clever tricks and traps to this floor, the final room locks you in with two beholders and the way out. I tend not to like to run from fights, but hey, it was right there; I made a mad dash and reached my goal, knocking out the first tower.
Now comes the second tower, with what I expect to be harder enemies and even tougher traps. Will my party be able to handle it? Will good triumph over evil? Will Bone ever get spells? Seriously, I'd love to know what level Paladins get spells.
Well, my run through the 4-Wind Tower was certainly an entertaining challenge. It's only 4 stories, but each presents new puzzles and dangers, along with some tough enemies who have a heavy reliance on status-inducing attacks. Poison and paralysis are common threats, and in some areas monsters spawn continuously, often in groups, so you're never as safe as you hope. You're also forced to face the "trials" of novices trying to join. In general the wording of the test is intended to misguide, and since it's for an evil cult, usually the nastier option is the correct one. Usually.
The first floor of the 4-Wind Tower presents you with a series of lights that shoot electricity if you step on their squares. A path through the area flickers on and off, but I was never able to make it without at least incurring one massive shock, and it can hit particularly hard. To make matters worse, the "safe" side is guarded by Mantis people, who often paralyze their targets, so getting out of the way of the shocking blasts proved difficult as they took out my tanks. I had Noise rely heavily on a Cone of Cold wand to survive. The rest of the floor was much more straightforward, though battling through the Mantis nest proved it was better to smash the eggs first and take on their occupants one on one than try to wipe them out en masse.
Floor 2 of the 4-Wind Tower was significantly shorter, but it included infinite hordes of giant wasps literally crawling from the walls as well as a test of faith that I was able to solve thanks to Bone blatantly calling out a loose brick in the wall. EotB2 offers characters with more personality than the previous, in that they have personalities at all. They notice things, they talk, and they give you vital information on secret doors, buttons, traps, and other things. Step on a Spinner, and one of the characters will remark that he or she feels dizzy, which is a very blatant warning if you're accustomed to it. I did have to backtrack a bit though: a magic mouth on the previous floor required three femurs to make a key for the second floor, so I had to head back down into the dungeon to find the three femurs I needed.
Floor 3 of the 4-Wind Tower offers up a lot of fake-outs, strange puzzles, and hordes of flying snakes that appear to be infinite in number. The big thing about this floor are the magic mouths which offer riddles as to what they want. They also require you to backtrack around the level a bit, but once you reason out what you are supposed to do, you can advance to the final floor of the tower...and meet Dran Draggore, the leader of the cult, who locks you onto the fourth floor, fully expecting it to kill you.
But you don't get to find out immediately, because first you have to contend with a locked door requiring four keys and a teleporter that behaves randomly. You basically just have to go through and hope you can grab the four keys and then find the room with the door. It's time consuming, but once you have it, you then get to find out the real threat of the fourth floor: beholders!
Yeah, you know the boss of the first game? He's now a common enemy, and while these guys don't have the massive health regeneration that the boss of the original Eye of the Beholder did, they're still capable of casting Disintegrate and a variety of other nasty spells to swiftly annihilate your party. Taking them on at range to unload with Exhum's bow and then dodging and dancing about as Ack and Bone hacked away were how I took them on, making sure to fight each one individually or else risk obliteration. While there are some clever tricks and traps to this floor, the final room locks you in with two beholders and the way out. I tend not to like to run from fights, but hey, it was right there; I made a mad dash and reached my goal, knocking out the first tower.
Now comes the second tower, with what I expect to be harder enemies and even tougher traps. Will my party be able to handle it? Will good triumph over evil? Will Bone ever get spells? Seriously, I'd love to know what level Paladins get spells.
