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I had really hoped to be posting that I finished Yunica's story in Ys Origin tonight, but I ran into a boss early into my play session that was such a massive difficulty spike, I wasn't sure I was going to make it through the game at all--. I managed to beat it by what feels like some amount of luck, but I don't even know how many attempts it was. Had to have been close to two hours of attempts to beat it with a bunch of moments where I was thinking, 'okay, I'll set this down for a while after this attempt.'

I'm hoping that was just one really, really poorly designed boss, and not a preview of what lies in wait ahead, but I think I'm getting close to the end of Yunica's story.

Was that the centipede boss? I had a tough time with him but don’t recall any other big issues in my playthrough last year.

Centipede boss? The one with the lightning rod spikes that wraps around the tower? That one gave me the least trouble of any of the bosses so far, I think. (Hoping there isn't some other centipede boss that's much worse than the last one I fought.)

I was getting bodied by the sand rafflesia thing on floor 14 that regenerates itself and turns the game into a shmup. I'd actually kind of prefer it if I missed some major weakness it has and was just trying to bruteforce it, but the only workable strategy I could find was charge fire skill on the pod phase, spam basic fire skill on pods that start to regenerate main body, spam basic fire skill and basic combo on eye when it opens, boost as much as possible, and try as best as I could to avoid the barrage of sand waves and shit while getting sucked toward it by the shifting sands, unless I happened to get lucky with charged skill shots hitting the main body enough to knock it down for a minute. Hellish MFer.

pierrot wrote: ↑Tue Jun 03, 2025 1:44 pm Centipede boss? The one with the lightning rod spikes that wraps around the tower? That one gave me the least trouble of any of the bosses so far, I think. (Hoping there isn't some other centipede boss that's much worse than the last one I fought.)

I was getting bodied by the sand rafflesia thing on floor 14 that regenerates itself and turns the game into a shmup. I'd actually kind of prefer it if I missed some major weakness it has and was just trying to bruteforce it, but the only workable strategy I could find was charge fire skill on the pod phase, spam basic fire skill on pods that start to regenerate main body, spam basic fire skill and basic combo on eye when it opens, boost as much as possible, and try as best as I could to avoid the barrage of sand waves and shit while getting sucked toward it by the shifting sands, unless I happened to get lucky with charged skill shots hitting the main body enough to knock it down for a minute. Hellish MFer.

That boss shut down a Hugo run on PC a few years ago. I could not handle it.

pierrot wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 10:22 pmMan, everyone is planning on playing some of my favorite games. I am excite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30im_ZzhdcM

pierrot wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 10:22 pmLooks like I could save about 30 hours that way, at least.

Please, pierrot... be kind to yourself this summer. Take those 30 hours.

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10. GoldenEye (N64)

Hey, so I've started with GoldenEye, the game that wasn't even originally on my list. And I'm actually having a lot of fun with it! I didn't necessarily expect this. Part of the reason is because the 1960s flavor of spy fantasy has never captured my imagination. But another is that I'd simply forgotten I've learned to like shooters since I last saw this game.

I've had an unconventional journey with this genre for my age, I think. My first FPS was actually Chex Quest on PC, and then I played nothing like it until my first third-person shooter (does this have an acronym? TPS?) a decade later, which was Mass Effect on the XBox 360. I remember how impossible Mass Effect seemed when I first started; I hadn't used a controller more complicated than the Dreamcast's with any regularly up to that point, and I'd never used two analog sticks at the same time. I just thought, my brain can't do this. It's impossible. But I went back to it, and Mass Effect became one of my favorite games of all time.

I mention this because it was kind of fun to be thrown into a game with a control scheme so completely alien again that it was as viscerally frustrating as my first experience with Mass Effect. On the first day I couldn't imagine how GoldenEye would ever become natural. I spent a couple hours running through the first level over and over (I settled on the 1.2 Solitaire setting) and it just wouldn't click. But I had a big sleep that night, woke up the next morning, and suddenly using the C buttons to walk around was working for me. Then the next day my brain figured out peeking and switching weapons. It's been so cool to witness these jumps in competency. There would have been a learning curve anyway, but there are a lot of modern shooter sensibilities to fight against as well when you're going all the way back to 1997!

Other things I've done so far in GoldenEye:

• - Pushed an intruder alarm button, thinking it was a door opener
• - Mistook a data upload timer for a time bomb and ran cursing out of a harmless room
• - Thought I'd jumped to my death without bungee equipment
• - Blew up the wrong tanks in a chemical facility ("Well you see, if you'd seen the movie..." -- Nathaniel)
• - Shot Sean Bean
• - "Covertly" copied a key by murdering all the guards in a building and chucking the original key onto the floor (no one will ever know I was there)
• - Tried to open a book with bullets ("Don't these books look like they're supposed to do something?!")
• - Somehow tossed a remote detonator onto a helicopter 200 feet away

I find I can only play one or two levels of GoldenEye at a time before I tap out, so I'm mixing in a little bit of Mario Tennis here and there as a palete cleanser as I go. More on that later.

This thread is so good this year. I’m loving the game discussion on here. @key’s last post on GoldenEye is - shall I say it? - golden…

This year, I’ve decided to make my Summer Games Challenge list a bit more like Together Retro. That is, I’m choosing games some of you have already chosen (or like games you’ve already chosen) so that we can compare our experiences a bit. Here’s my list:

1. 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

Again…these aren’t all an exact match for some of the games you’re playing, but they’re pretty close!

In case anyone’s interested in my reasoning:
I’ll post thoughts on everyone else’s choices later.

pierrot wrote: ↑Tue Jun 03, 2025 1:44 pm Centipede boss? The one with the lightning rod spikes that wraps around the tower? That one gave me the least trouble of any of the bosses so far, I think. (Hoping there isn't some other centipede boss that's much worse than the last one I fought.)

I was getting bodied by the sand rafflesia thing on floor 14 that regenerates itself and turns the game into a shmup. I'd actually kind of prefer it if I missed some major weakness it has and was just trying to bruteforce it, but the only workable strategy I could find was charge fire skill on the pod phase, spam basic fire skill on pods that start to regenerate main body, spam basic fire skill and basic combo on eye when it opens, boost as much as possible, and try as best as I could to avoid the barrage of sand waves and shit while getting sucked toward it by the shifting sands, unless I happened to get lucky with charged skill shots hitting the main body enough to knock it down for a minute. Hellish MFer.

The trick to most of the bosses is just to grab and extra level or two. Most bosses go from barely damage able to utter pushovers in about 2 level ups.

I didn’t struggle much with the rafflesia - I used charged fire strikes to take out the little guys like you. Maybe I was just a higher level.

The centipede on the other hand took me several attempts even after some levelling

Key-Glyph wrote: ↑Tue Jun 03, 2025 8:34 pmI find I can only play one or two levels of GoldenEye at a time before I tap out, so I'm mixing in a little bit of Mario Tennis here and there as a palete cleanser as I go. More on that later.

But who are you playing as in Mario Tennis?

QUAG BOI wrote: ↑Mon Jun 02, 2025 9:38 pm Welcome to Hell.png

This made me laugh. Congrats on getting through The Machine and the Final Fight without cheats! They are absolutely no joke. You did it! (((

prfsnl_gmr wrote: ↑Tue Jun 03, 2025 11:23 pm This year, I’ve decided to make my Summer Games Challenge list a bit more like Together Retro. That is, I’m choosing games some of you have already chosen (or like games you’ve already chosen) so that we can compare our experiences a bit.

Aww, this is so cute. What a fun idea. I'll be especially interested in your rundown of Perfect Dark; with a description of "it's GoldenEye controls but with an alien buddy and more sci-fi," I can't imagine I won't want to play this myself someday.

Does Resident Evil 0 count as one of the OG tank-controlled Resident Evil games? If so, what did you think of it? I think it's just that one and Code Veronica that I haven't started/finished yet.

Ack wrote: ↑Wed Jun 04, 2025 3:01 pm But who are you playing as in Mario Tennis?

So my main as a kid was Shy Guy, but apparently they're an unlockable character. I wanted to clear the save on the used cart I'd bought to bring everything down to scratch, so I did that knowing I'd lose Shy Guy for a while and spent some time shopping around for a secondary character who felt right. That turned out to be Birdo. Can't say I would have predicted that. But she's awesome!

And now my friends, please meet me on the playground blacktop, for I must ask you a GoldenEye question.

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10. GoldenEye (N64)

Pals, I need your insight here. This "escape with Natalya" level shiiiiiits. How am I supposed to approach this? There doesn't seem to be a way to stealth enough to avoid guards, and since I don't have my silenced gun at first, opening fire brings the entire complex down on me. I had thought GoldenEye didn't do infinite mook spawns except in levels where you set off alarms, but based on how many soldiers were trying to pile through a doorway at me in one of the first side rooms... yeah, it's looking infinite. I was hoping I could just stake out there for a while and clear them all, then wander through an empty facility (best covert agent ever). Ah well.

I get that I'm probably supposed to find my old gear and thus be lethal a little more quietly, but I'm struggling to do that as I employ my current strategy, which is run around like a fool. I basically never stop moving, so I can't form a map in my mind and am randomly dashing into rooms, often circling back on myself. I also started leaving Natalya behind because she would either leisurely stroll into the line of fire or follow me into areas with large machinery and then walk into them as they exploded.

I'm not looking for a detailed answer or step-by-step of how to do this, but a hint to the general strategy would be great. Am I supposed to stealth this? Or am I supposed to keep moving and never stop? I'm mostly uncomfortable that I just don't feel like I know what the game wants of me here. Maybe, if I'd seen the movie,... Thanks in advance!

Are you getting the knives at the start of Bunker 2? They're silent.