Racketboy forums’ Summer Games Challenge 2019

[MrPopo]

That functionality is not mentioned in the US manual.

[MrPopo]

I have seen one possible reference to someone seeing an extra door they weren't expecting. Another possible problem is if you go to another palace before you've finished a previous palace you can put yourself in a bad position key-wise. All the dungeons are designed such that if you go into them with no keys then you will need to find all the keys to progress, get the item, and beat the boss. Coming into a dungeon with keys can take you off the intended path; as I was diving through the maps I saw at least one case where you could burn a key on a door, then decide not to fully explore behind that door (which has a key; you were supposed to go through the door the other way). Since dungeons become closed after beating the boss you can accidentally remove a key.

[pierrot]

Okay, sure, but that isn’t the issue. The issue isn’t that there are any keys that haven’t been accounted for. It’s that there’s literally too many doors for the number of keys in this palace. I’m perfectly willing and able to record this if you can’t believe it otherwise.

[Key-Glyph]

And then they got their revenge by all the times you walked into a door and took damage.

Hey, that only happened like FIVE TIMES, okay? Geeze. Cut a karateka some slack, will ya.

Thanks, Bone & prfsnl_gmr! Akuma himself was easier than I thought he'd be. I'm really interested look up how the AI works in that game. I think I read Mechner say they all the uniquely helmeted warriors have different styles, and I think I got lucky and fell into an exploitable Akuma pattern before things could get out of hand.

Okay, sure, but that isn’t the issue. The issue isn’t that there are any keys that haven’t been accounted for. It’s that there’s literally too many doors for the number of keys in this palace. I’m perfectly willing and able to record this if you can’t believe it otherwise.

That is super duper weird about that extra door. I think you should record it no matter what, to prove that it can happen! That footage might be useful for someone in the future. And, sorry for re-explaining things that you already knew!

[pierrot]

That is super duper weird about that extra door. I think you should record it no matter what, to prove that it can happen! That footage might be useful for someone in the future. And, sorry for re-explaining things that you already knew!

I probably will once I get home today. It's cool, though. I wasn't that clear about the exact steps I had taken through the palace, and was sort of elaborating on things for dramatic effect, more so than describing the actual issue. So that was probably a bit confusing.

Congrats on beating Karateka, by the way.

[Ack]

I've started up FarCry 2. If you are unaware, it's one of the open world FPS games that started rising in popularity on the late 2000s. The game has you select a mercenary as your character and then sends you into a sub-Saharan nation in Africa on the brink of civil war to track down and assassinate an arms dealer that is fueling the conflict. The idea is to complete missions for the factions, other mercenaries, rival arms dealers, and even assassination contracts as you track down your quarry. You also get paid in diamonds, which are more than likely blood diamonds in more than one sense.

For my mercenary, I chose a Northern Irish former member of the Provisional IRA, a terrorist offshoot of the IRA that broke off in disagreement with the Good Friday Accords that ended The Troubles in North Ireland. My family linneage is North Irish, with all lines specifically tracing their way back to Co. Antrim around Belfast.

Right now I'm trying to build up my armory and grab safe houses before pushing into bigger and harder missions. This game starts you off with crap weapons, so you have to do some upgrading to get where you feel halfway decent in terms of power. I like that I feel like just another guy in the field, but there are some issues, such as enemies following you like bloodhounds and respawning pretty quick at checkpoints you take out.

[pierrot]

All right. Here's what's going on in my game: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/455639133.

Key, you may want to avert your eyes around [12:09], if you take a gander.

[Key-Glyph]

Thanks for the warning, pierrot. That extra locked door is just... what?! So aggravating. Out of curiosity, do you remember how many orange knights there were in that corridor? In mine, there were three, and a flying flaming eyeball what pees flame. I'm kinda wondering if somehow the game interpreted one of the enemies' code as a locked door instead. Truly weird.

In my own Zelda II news, this is it, son. I'm at the final palace. I barely dipped my toes in before saving and quitting last week, so next Sunday is fully dedicated to the last confrontation with fresh, naive eyes. Can't wait!!

[alienjesus]

I've been pretty bad at posting on the forums lately, so I'm way behind on Summer updates:

So here's where I'm at.

Strikethrough = done, bold = in progress

1. ActRaiser (SNES)
2. Fire Emblem: Seisen No Keifu (SFC)
3. GoldenEye 007 (N64)
4. Mario Party (N64)
5. Mario Tennis (N64)
6. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA)
7. Mother 3 (GBA)
8. The New Zealand Story (SMS)
9. Shenmue 2 (DC)
10. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

Some updates since last time:

Mario Party:
This one has been in progress since the very beginning of this years challenge, but I'm coming up to the end now. I have to play 3 more boards to unlock the credits, although I might need to play a few more for extra coins to buy the final board. I still think the game is better than I expected, but the mini-games are very hit and miss and there just isn't enough variety with only 50 of them. Will be glad to finally wrap this one up soon.

Fire Emblem 4:
Yeah, I've not really made any progress here. The big maps are interesting but actually really work against me in terms of wanting to play - I don't feel like I'll make enough of a dent in them in my limited gaming time so I end up doing something else instead - even though I could have made plenty of progress by doing a bit at a time. It's a psychological thing I guess.

Shenmue 2:
I'd started this game for last year's summer challenge, so I picked up this year where I left off - at the start of disc 3, in Kowloon walled city. In all honesty, I have some real issues with disc 3 - there are far, far too many QTEs which make you replay and rewatch long cutscenes or difficult battles, and a few of the scenes felt a little uncomfortable and tonally inconsistent with other parts of the series - such as Ryo barely passing comment as a man is murdered in front of him. Disc 4 is a real change in tone afterwards which I honeslty quite enjoyed - it was slow paced but relaxing. The ending of disc 2 really turns the series on it's head a bit though, and makes me sure there's no way Shenmue 3 is going to advance the plot too far towards it's conclusion - the ending of 2 made the entirety of the first 2 games feel more like a prologue. Either way, I have to say I didn't really enjoy Shenmue 2 much - I felt the first game was superior, and even then I'd describe it as more 'interesting' than 'enjoyable'. Sorry guys, I know there's a few hardcore fans out there on the forums, but it's not for me.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon:
I'm using the US title to save confusion, but this game is actually just called Castlevania in the UK. Anyway, I reckon I'm about halfway through this game - I've recently defeated Adrammalech in the cathedral tower area and destroyed all the statues in the game. I like the game well enough, the DSS card system is interesting. I'm not sure about the use of the whip for attacking vs the likes of the sword in Symphony or the glyphs in Ecclesia though - my main issue is that the wind up animation and the way it stops you in place when you attack makes combat feel kinda stilted for a metroidvania title. Still, I'm having fun, and I don't think it should take too long to work through the other half of the game or so I still have left to play.

[pierrot]

That’s sad news, aj. Very sad news indeed. Where would you rank Shenmue II in terms of other open world games you’ve played?


Shenmue III definitely isn’t going to be the final chapter. There was speculation early on, from fans, that it might be, but the first official statement about it from Yu Suzuki was pretty clear that it wouldn’t be. You know fans, though. Sometimes they just hear what they want to hear.

Question: Did you find the duck races? Also, did you finish the tournament?