Luke wrote:Once I finish Ninja Gaiden (xbox)...But for now, NG is kicking my tail.
That game is awesome, but it does take some time to get acclimated to the intracacies of its game play mechanics. Accordingly, the game get both more difficult as you progress (in the sense that the enemies are more difficult to defeat and the obstacles are more difficult to overcome), and it also become significantly easier (in the sense that you get better at "being a ninja" and using all of Ryu's abilities and weapons to maximum effect). Despite a frustrating start, I ended up loving the game when I played through it a few years ago...My skills have diminished with time, however, and I am now scared to touch either the PS3 HD remake or its sequels.
Luke wrote:Once I finish Ninja Gaiden (xbox)...But for now, NG is kicking my tail.
That game is awesome, but it does take some time to get acclimated to the intracacies of its game play mechanics. Accordingly, the game get both more difficult as you progress (in the sense that the enemies are more difficult to defeat and the obstacles are more difficult to overcome), and it also become significantly easier (in the sense that you get better at "being a ninja" and using all of Ryu's abilities and weapons to maximum effect). Despite a frustrating start, I ended up loving the game when I played through it a few years ago...My skills have diminished with time, however, and I am now scared to touch either the PS3 HD remake or its sequels.
The key in the NG games really is mastering that whole tap the charge button as soon as you land from a jump to instantly absorb all nearby orbs for a special attack
Also, block, counter, izuna drop got me through most of NG...and there's also flying swallow spam when all else fails
RyaNtheSlayA wrote: Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
I decided to count the whole season as a single game.
Overall I think the story is interesting, although it really loses itself at time and becomes a bit of a mess. I like the attention to detail they paid Hill Valley, though they reused the city center far too often.
The game was also really easy.
I think by the end of the 5th episode, I was tired of the formula, which just repeats itself over and over again, I would have liked it a lot more if it did not spend what felt like at least 75% of the time in the early 1930's, not once going to 'the future' was a bit of a drainer as well.
Episode 3, while the concept looked like it was going to be great, the execution was horrible. By far the most boring of the episodes.
Overall it was nice, I am a fan of the series, but it was not really anything special, glad its over with, not something I like to say about games.
1. Blood II: The Nightmare Levels (PC)(FPS) 2. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun) 3. Clive Barker's Undying (PC)(FPS) 4. Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death (PC)(FPS) 5. Lagoon (SNES)(RPG) 6. Tin Star (SNES)(Light Gun) 7. Cacoma Knight in Bizyland (SNES)(Puzzle) 8. World Heroes (MVS)(Fighting)
I have been a busy boy.
Lagoon is a relatively short action RPG originally built for the Sharp X68000 and then ported to the SNES with some modifications. The biggest one is that you can now swing your weapon as opposed to just holding it in front of you to run into enemies. Unfortunately, your weapon has almost no range whatsoever, and the game feels like it was not really meant for this kind of action. That said, I've heard other collectors claim that the game is unbeatable as a result. It's not. It's still beatable, though you might have to be occasionally cheap against the bosses. The bosses are a high point for me because they do feel like a building curve up until the final battle, with each boss either more challenging than the last or changing in such a way as to keep things fresh. Some bosses are more interesting and effective than others, but it really helps the game feel fresh after what amounts to relatively bland dungeon layouts and monster designs. And the soundtrack is excellent and really helps to build a sense of action. The game is also short, as I sank fewer than 10 hours in it over the course of a week and was still max level when I finished.
Tin Star I recently picked up. I've had experience with this game before, and it works with the SNES mouse, so I gave it a whirl. On the plus side, the game has a sense of humor about itself and knows the base Western material that it is riffing. Each day in the game(it takes place over the course of a week) features a variety of gameplay styles, involving duels, first person segments where the player protects something from a constant barrage, or third person segments where Tin Star wanders a set path but shoots wherever you tell him to. Unfortunately these sequences tend to repeat each day, often with the same settings as previous days. By Wednesday you'll be bored. But Friday, you'll be begging for something else to do. The game also often relies on cheap hits from enemies only partially on screen or who are extremely fast. Memorization is about the only means to getting everything, such as the health canteens(necessary to get the bonus games), but this just highlights the problem with the game's scoring system: you acquire money over the course of the game as your score, but the saving system requires you spend it to save your game. As your score affects which of the three endings you get, you effectively cannot save if you want anything beyond the lowest one. That is a hard pill to swallow considering there's about 28 levels. That said, it really doesn't matter, as none of the endings are actually satisfying. That said, it's a shame that there are so few games that use the Western setting.
Cacoma Knight in Bizyland I've had in my collection for a little over a year. It's fun, which is why I kept returning, despite the fact it kicked my butt over the course of that year. But now I can set it said. Cacoma Knight is a Qix-esque puzzle game with a goofy story about Bizyland being switched with Lazyland. The lazy king of Bizyland discovers that only the laziest people survived the switch, so he orders them to take magic track and mark out the corrupted Lazyland segments and find the hidden mirror segments of the kidnapped Bizyland princess. The game involves simplistic gameplay but features a variety of enemies that can at times be downright cruel. I also had some trouble adjusting to the separate run/draw buttons and often found myself pressing the wrong one at the wrong time while learning the game. That said, I really do like the game, along with its other Datam Polystar siblings on the SNES.
And finally World Heroes, a game I used to beat only a daily basis. My skills with Dragon are rusty from not having played in several years, but with the MVS up and running again, I have successfully powered back through this while testing a wiring connection in the player 1 joystick. I love the simplicity of World Heroes: there are no counters, no combo system, and no super moves. Characters have limited movesets with relatively few specials, making them easy to learn. I think this is an excellent place for beginners in the fighter genre since it allows so much focus to go into frames of animation, hit boxes, and even chipping.
Tales of Graces f, you bitch and your filler content on the last dungeon. Just felt like the last 1/4 of the game was just to stretch it out so you felt like you got more for the money.
Also, sometimes felt like a beat em up with bad controls. Too many cut scenes that were not needed. All in all I am seriously disappointed with it.
Does Xillia get better?
Here I come Diablo 3, do not let me down.
dsheinem wrote:In any case, sorry that my avatar makes you cringe these days, but I haven't really changed my posing habits at all.
Nice job finishing Lagoon. It's not that bad is it?
How long is Cacoma Knight in Bizyland anyway?
No, I didn't think so at all. I really enjoyed it. That said, I understand why a lot of people get frustrated over the size of your attack range.
Cacoma Knight's final level is 8-3 if I remember correctly(maybe 8-4). I believe you have to section off about 84% of it to win. Also, a few of the later levels are just rehashes of older levels, just with a higher percentage to clear, so you should be able to get through those much easier. Really the biggest challenges in the game come from the enemies which follow you down your unfinished lines and the ones that shoot projectiles which kill you if they cross your line. The easiest way to deal with the ones following your sectioned off segments is just to take two steps on a new line and let them pass. And though they're not easy to discern at first, a lot of the enemies follow set patterns, such as the airplanes.
