Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

[Ack]

I started up RE:CVX last night. It’s classic RE, alright! I’ve got to get used to tank controls, running away from fights, and absolutely horrendous voice acting. It’s a good time so far, though, and I just made it from the prison to the palace.

Any tips from those you who’ve beaten it?

For classic RE games? Of course.

Enemy types make unique sounds. Learn what they are. When you first enter a new room, unless you are immediately besieged, listen for a few seconds. The audio will clue you in on what you are facing.

Experiment with shooting up or down with close enemies. See what gets headshots (or blows off heads) and what disables legs so you can escape. Also, learn to use the knife on line enemies to conserve ammo.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Thanks, @Ack. This is the last of the “classic” RE games I need to beat; so, I think Ive got this (despite reading the RE:CVX) is the most difficult of the original series). I’m conserving ammo decently so far, and I have a few healing items in stock in case I need them. I’m making my way through the military training facility right now - Steve just killed his zombie dad - and it feels like I’m making good progress.

After RE:CVX, I can go a few different directions with the RE series. I could push forward with RE5 and RE6 to wrap up all the games before Capcom quietly rebooted the series with RE7. Alternatively, I could go back and play the remakes, starting with RE0 and working my way back up to the RE4 remake before proceeding with RE5 and RE6. Thoughts?

[MrPopo]

I think you want to do RE0 before 5 & 6, as it introduces the multiple protags thing but does so in a way that still feels like classic RE. 5 and 6 really amp up the increased action we saw in 4, and by the time you get to 6 it isn't really what I consider to be an RE game, it's just a game in the RE universe.

Also, you should definitely put Revelations 1 & 2 on your to-play list, as those are closer to the classic RE gameplay compared to their contemporaries in 5 & 6.

[Ack]

Yeah, I would also recommend RE:0, as it's still closer to the classic side than 5 or 6.

CV and CVX are the hardest if the original types, because they expect you to have played previous games, so they're willing to throw a lot more at you right from the start. But it's still a manageable challenge, and from the sound of it, you're proceeding right along. You definitely got this.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I had zero idea the Code: Veronica ports had that "X" in the title. Huh.

[pierrot]

Finally on the other end of moving, with most of my stuff set up outside of having my physical games still stored in bankers boxes on the floor and a desk I need to get around to building. (I've built entirely too much furniture over the last month--.)

So with that I was able to get back into Dragon Quest VII recently. I have such a love-hate relationship with it in a lot of ways, though. I find the story and general vibe to be pretty appealing (I got a bit choked up again by the continuation of Linda and Pepe's story), but the stat/growth/economy balance and general sense of player character progression sucks, and I keep getting caught up at times trying to find map pieces. I actually resorted pretty quickly to looking up one piece for the map I'm on now, which I'm really thankful I did, because it was apparently in a chest somewhere I didn't bother going back to after the Darma segment. It didn't seem like there was any reason to go back there, and it makes me pretty upset to now know that these things are potentially easily missed like that.

Anyway, I was able to make fairly short work of the Time Master, fortunately, after figuring out where I was going wrong with trying to progress when stopping time with the clock tower. It's interesting, because the Time Master was added as a coin boss in Dragon Quest X maybe about a year ago, and I remember watching a video one of the JP players who does a lot of X videos put out about Time Master getting added by mentioning it as 'the first really tricky boss in DQVII,' which I kind of assumed meant it was a boss that showed up in the late part of the game, not the middle. So I was a little psyched out about it going into the fight. It is kind of an annoying fight, but it was fairly simple at the same time, so that was nice. I imagine I could have gotten poor RNG and just been assaulted with Iora over and over, though.

Now I'm working on going after Grakos (another VII boss that has a coin boss version in DQX) while practically seething about how the game still will not give me a friggin' fourth party member, and that I missed the opportunity to grab a Dragon Tail for my main character.


Aside from DQVII I was also slowly chipping away at the third character's story mode in Ys Origin. Finally finished it up today and saw the "true" ending. Like Ys III on the PCEngine, I think it's a fun game, as in I enjoy playing it. Unlike Ys III I find the story to be kind of inconsequential and uninteresting. It's all sort of predicated on caring about the story in Ys I & II (which I really don't), and basically grafts a bunch of background lore onto it with some character stories for each of the playable characters that are much more miss than hit. Also, while I do enjoy playing the game (and it's worth noting that the graphics, art direction, and music are all quite nice), each of the player stories are modified slightly from each other to conveniently push them all through the same tower in largely the same way. This means that, functionally, you end up playing the same game three times with the only real variation being the way the characters themselves play. Also, the alterations made in each character's story essentially makes them retcons for something in the other character's story.

It's a little bit of a Frankenstein's monster in that sense, and I guess maybe the third character's story is actually meant to be canon, but that kind of makes the decision to require playing through at least one of the first two beforehand a little head scratching if they're not even canon.

Anyway, qualms aside, Origin is definitely an Ys game I can put alongside Ys III as an Ys game I actually like, which I did not really anticipate going in.

[pierrot]

One down! I knocked out the final boss in Ys Book II today to finish up Ys Book I & II for the TG16CD.

Question for you, if you happen to remember, but was there an author's name attached to any of the six books? It's been too long since I played the Saturn versions, and I was going to play the Chronicles version, which I'm sure will have at least added an author to the books. Curious if it's something added after the fact (lol, puns), or not.

Any tips from those you who’ve beaten it?

Before too long (if you aren't already there) you're going to get really tested by some Stretch Armstrong MFers, and it's tempting to just try to get rid of them all on sight, but you're still probably better off preserving ammo and running from them if it's not an area you need to travel back and forth through too much.

I had zero idea the Code: Veronica ports had that "X" in the title. Huh.

"Code:Veronica" is actually only the original release on the Dreamcast. Code:Veronica X is all based on the Dreamcast Kanzenban that was only released in Japan.

[Note]

Made a bit of progress in Super Metroid last night. Managed to defeat the Crocomire, acquire the Grapple Beam, and make my way back to Crateria. Hoping to put some more time into the game later today.

Also, it's always great to see some Resident Evil discussion. Good luck with CVX, prfsnl! I may go for CV next as well.

I played RE 6 a few years ago in co-op mode with my girlfriend. We had a fun time with it and while it's far from the classic RE gameplay, we appreciated it for what it is. The snowmobile sequence was a pain though!

[marurun]

Aside from DQVII I was also slowly chipping away at the third character's story mode in Ys Origin. Finally finished it up today and saw the "true" ending. Like Ys III on the PCEngine, I think it's a fun game, as in I enjoy playing it. Unlike Ys III I find the story to be kind of inconsequential and uninteresting. It's all sort of predicated on caring about the story in Ys I & II (which I really don't), and basically grafts a bunch of background lore onto it with some character stories for each of the playable characters that are much more miss than hit. Also, while I do enjoy playing the game (and it's worth noting that the graphics, art direction, and music are all quite nice), each of the player stories are modified slightly from each other to conveniently push them all through the same tower in largely the same way. This means that, functionally, you end up playing the same game three times with the only real variation being the way the characters themselves play. Also, the alterations made in each character's story essentially makes them retcons for something in the other character's story.

It's a little bit of a Frankenstein's monster in that sense, and I guess maybe the third character's story is actually meant to be canon, but that kind of makes the decision to require playing through at least one of the first two beforehand a little head scratching if they're not even canon.

I finished Yunica's scenario and while the game was very fun, I don't anticipate re-playing it any time soon, so I guess I won't see the "true" ending? Also, I didn't play Ys I or II outside of the PC Engine versions, and it feels weird that Ys Origin has so many characters and so many character moments to provide backstory and preface a game which has far less investment in character development and story.

I also have a critical complaint with the graphics, which is that the lighting is so darned flat across everything, and that flat lighting combined with the camera perspective means some of the 3D platforming bits are weirdly awkward. Games had largely figured out 3D platforming perspective issues by the time of the game's original release, so it seems strange to see the game occasionally struggle with it.

I do think it's pretty interesting to play Yunica against a couple bosses that felt almost like shooter bosses, with their bullet and enemy patterns. Why hasn't Falcom attempted a shooter by now? Clearly they have some staff who are interested in the genre.

[bmoc]

All this Ys talk makes me want to play some of them. Sadly, I've only completed Ys VIII which I enjoyed greatly. I actually have Ys Origin Collectors Edition sitting on my shelf sealed. I picked it up at a LRG scratch and dent sale a few years back (one of the corners of the box is ever so slightly smushed). I figured I needed to get a few more Ys games under my belt before I play it.

Clock Tower Rewind (PS5)
Alien Isolation (PS4)
Capcom Fighting Collection (Switch)
Nier (PS3)
Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
Luigi's Mansion (GameCube)
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance (GameCube)
F-Zero GX (GameCube)
Convention Pickup 1 (TBD)
Convention Pickup 2 (TBD)

Super Mario 3D Land
I've been slowly plugging away at this one in bed for a few weeks. I enjoyed it but it is near the bottom of 3D Mario tier list. I have a 3DS XL and I've never been able to play it for extended periods of time without it become uncomfortable. I have large hands and they just don't fit around it nicely. I can go a lot longer with RPGs that don't require a lot dexterity with the dpad or circle pad. Maybe I should invest one of those 3D printed grips?

Comfort aside, 3D Land is a decent enough Mario romp. Despite being a 3D Mario title, camera controls are minimal. You can temporarily angle the camera slightly to the left of right and that is it. I found the 3D capabilities of the screen to be worthwhile in this game. It really helps in-game proprioception. I avoid 3D movies because my brain eventually ignores the added depth. That wasn't the case with 3D Land. Whenever I turned off the 3D effect, it was immediately noticeable and detrimental to the timing of my jumps.

My biggest criticism is that it was far too easy during the normal courses. By the time I beat the game, I had over 100 lives stockpiled. I wasn't counting how many times I died but it had to be single digits. Now the special courses after you beat the game are another story. The first several special worlds weren't that tough, but by the time I got to special world 7, I was dipping into the 90's for my lives. There was even one level that I completely noped out on (I think it was 7-2? It is one of the levels where your shadow follows you and kills you if you touch it). I got to the 8th and last special world before giving up. Special world 8 requires A LOT of star medals and I just didn't feel like going back to hunt down the ones that I missed. Maybe I will go back one day if I invest in one of those 3D printed grips.