Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

Note wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 9:50 pm Great to hear your takes on Phantasy Star and 8-bit RPGs in general, SB. Glad to hear you enjoyed Phantasy Star as well.

As someone who hasn't jumped into the Dragon Quest series, are there any major QOL upgrades on the GBC ports? Also, has anyone played the SNES versions of DQ 1-3? If so, any opinions on those versions?

The GBC version adds a quick save, which is really great. It also adds some content and collectibles, if I recall correctly. (Also, it rules.)

……

I’m so, so close to the end of F-Zero X. I’ve claimed the Jack, Queen, and King cups on all difficulty levels, and I’ve completed the Joker cup on beginner and intermediate. That leaves only the Joker cup on expert

The game is so, so good, but the way. It’s fast and exciting, and its blocky graphics have actually aged really well. Better yet, it has incredibly deep mechanics, and my GameFAQs “research” into how to complete this incredibly challenging game revealed people writing detailed guides and discovering new racing techniques almost twenty years after the game’s release.

I hope to beat it soon! Also…Octoman forever!!!!
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by BoneSnapDeez »

Clash is done.

Overall, I thought it was okay. Kinda surprised by how highly this game is rated. Lots of grinding, shrill music, incoherent navigation... I really have no idea what was going on with the bomb diffusion at the end. The radical 1990 style plot was the best aspect of the game, but not enough to elevate it.

Cocoron is next, but I dunno when I'll start!

1. Alex Kidd in Miracle World
2. Clash at Demonhead

3. Cocoron
4. Conquest of the Crystal Palace
5. The Goonies
6. Journey to Silius
7. Little Nemo: The Dream Master
8. Rygar
9. StarTropics
10. Wrath of the Black Manta
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MrPopo
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by MrPopo »

The GBC ports also adjust the difficulty; I know for 1 & 2 they significantly boost exp and gold rewards so they aren't as grindy. I think 3 doesn't need to, as the game was reasonably well balanced, but it does have the thief class originally from the SFC port.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
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marurun
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by marurun »

I have decided that whatever I play this summer is my Summer Games Challenge. And I lead it off with Ys Origin on Switch, which was much less frustrating (but still periodically frustrating) than when I first played it on PC. It's a pretty neat top-down action-RPG that has multiple playable characters and a few annoying flaws to go with the good stuff. It is typical Falcom in that you need to grind AND get the various not so much hidden as obtuse upgrades. I beat the game with Yunica. If I go back to it again it will be to beat it with Hugo. My understanding is there's another character and a "True" ending after that.

The top-down view isn't really isometric at all, but it is down and from the side just a hair, and because all the 3D terrain is not lit or well-indicated for depth there are some frustrating jumps where you're kind of guessing. There were some very frustrating moments where I just could not get a series of jumps to stick, including on bosses, because the game world has flat lighting and no shading to indicate relative position. There's also a bit of elemental switching you have to do that's not really an issue until a particular point in the game when suddenly it becomes a critical skill. There's never really a good explanation for it, so you just have to kind of figure it out. I did have to read on-line to beat a couple bosses.

And now I'm going into No Man's Sky with the Switch 2 upgrade pack. It's super impressive so far. This is exactly the kind of game I can totally get absorbed in, and that's dangerous. I remember reading just how convoluted and difficult it was early on to get antimatter and a hyperdrive, but apparently they've smoothed that out a lot because I didn't have any issues at all. Boy is limited inventory going to become a thing, though. Also, the game likes to crash after waking the Switch 2 from sleep or switching to the home menu and popping back into the game.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

BoneSnapDeez wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 10:56 pm Clash is done.

Overall, I thought it was okay. Kinda surprised by how highly this game is rated. Lots of grinding, shrill music, incoherent navigation... I really have no idea what was going on with the bomb diffusion at the end. The radical 1990 style plot was the best aspect of the game, but not enough to elevate it.

Cocoron is next, but I dunno when I'll start!

Nice work! All of your criticisms of that game are owrfectly valid, and I found the game almost indecipherable without a guide. Still, it has such character and soul that I can’t help but love it. I’d really, really like to see Lizardcube remake it, like they did with Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap (and then <swoon> make an even better sequel or spiritual successor). That almost certainly isn’t going to happen, but I can dream!

……

Two down!

I knocked out the Joker Cup on “expert” difficulty last night to roll credits on F-Zero X. I am so glad I included this game on my summer games challenge because it is now, arguably, my favorite racing game (even if I’m not that great at it). It is just too good, with an insane sense of speed and mechanics as deep as the ocean. I’ll write a more detailed review in the “games beaten” thread later this week.

Next up…RE:CVX! (I’m here for you @key! I’m finally ready. LET’S GOOOOOO!)
prfsnl_gmr wrote: Tue Jun 03, 2025 11:23 pm1. F-Zero X (N64) - inspired by @bmoc
2. Gate of Thunder (TG16 CD) - inspired by @marurun
3. Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast) - inspired by @Racketboy
4. Perfect Dark (N64) - inspired by @Key-Glyph
5. Resident Evil: Code Veronica X (PS2) - inspired by @Key-Glyph
6. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (Dreamcast) - inspired by @alienjesus
7. Terranigma (SNES) - inspired by @SpaceBooger
8. Ys Book I & II (TG16 CD) - inspired by @pierrot
9. TBD
10. TBD
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RobertAugustdeMeijer
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by RobertAugustdeMeijer »

I'm really hoping to become a hardcore gamer, but with hippie festivals, high teas, sex parties, theatre productions, burlesque shows, and family visiting, I'm running way behind.
And Mass Effect 3 just drags on and on and on...
:?
Last edited by RobertAugustdeMeijer on Mon Jul 07, 2025 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SpaceBooger
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by SpaceBooger »

Note wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 9:50 pm As someone who hasn't jumped into the Dragon Quest series, are there any major QOL upgrades on the GBC ports? Also, has anyone played the SNES versions of DQ 1-3? If so, any opinions on those versions?
Others have mentioned some of the QOL updates, but no one mentioned the biggest one - no menu to talk or interact. The action button will automatically talk or search when pressed during the proper situation.
Old RPGs where you have to bring up the menu and choose talk.... drive me nuts. I don't mind the grind, but I hate when I am searching every box, jar, crate, etc and have to press the button once to pull up the menu, press the d-pad three times to get to search, and press the button one more time to select "search" just to be told that the first of six jars is empty...

Update on my progress with MGS2: It took me almost 5 hours of gameplay, according to my save file, to beat the introduction tanker level... I love the story of these games, but man I suck at them. I am now six hours in and met a navy seal that looks just like a MGS staple. Even though I suck at it, I am digging the game.
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Ack
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Re: Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

Post by Ack »

Was hoping to be done with Saints Row: The Third by now, but work has been busy.

Still, I have made progress. I have finished all activities, assassinations, and vehicle thefts. I have 100% control of the city. I have finished two of the three DLCs, and I have done the first of the three missions in the final one. I have one challenge left to complete, which is doing all 26 survival runs; I am at 24 completed currently.

Beyond that, I have the final set of missions to complete. My save file is currently at 97% done. I am so close, it almost hurts.
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