Summer Games Challenge 2016

[prfsnl_gmr]

Just murdered Hargon and Sidoh and, in doing so, finished of Dragon Warrior II. It was OK. I will write more about it in the games beaten thread tomorrow.

[Michi]

.... so, finished of Dragon Warrior II. It was OK.

Well, there's a ringing endorsement if ever I heard one

[prfsnl_gmr]

.... so, finished of Dragon Warrior II. It was OK.

Well, there's a ringing endorsement if ever I heard one

Yeah... When you think of a primitive, no-frills JRPG, you are thinking about Dragon Quest II. Of the games I have completed, it is easily the weakest entry in the series, and the jump in quality between Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest III is astounding.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yeah Dragon Quest II is one of the worst in the series.

Just last night I was talking to a GameStop employee who told me he had a goal of playing through the DQ series on his Android(?) phone. He was really bogged down in part II. I told him to persevere and that the series gets dope as hell once you hit installment III.

I played a bit of Guardian Heroes last night. Game is much more in-depth than I anticipated. And much harder. I thought it would be similar to Code of Princess, with simplistic combat and ample opportunities to grind. Nope. It's more like Streets of Rage with a light XP system and fighting game combos. There's a true Game Over too, sending you back to the beginning. Didn't expect this in a 5th gen game with a save feature.

I'm playing as Nicole. Always go for the cutest character, I say. She has some rad healing magic.

[Exhuminator]

Just last night I was talking to a GameStop employee who told me he had a goal of playing through the DQ series on his Android(?) phone. He was really bogged down in part II. I told him to persevere and that the series gets dope as hell once you hit installment III.

Heh, I also tried the Android version of DQ2, but I didn't think it was better than the GBC version. I'm glad the DQ games are on Android though.

What's interesting to me is that playing through the first Dragon Quest on GBC was a joy. But that's probably because of how simple it was. With better balancing, the GBC version can be finished in like 12-15 hours (if it's your first time without a walkthrough). Which to me felt just perfect, and I really enjoyed it. However I haven't been able to get excited to play DQ2 on GBC yet. Mainly because all I ever read is DQ2 is kinda bad. In that it just takes the ideas of DQ and amps up the difficulty without innovating beyond you have multiple party members now. So in that regard, yeah DQ3, DQ6, DQ7, and DQ9 are all more appealing (listing DQs I haven't beat yet). I'm most excited for DQ7 when it comes out here on 3DS. And of course whatever DQXI is gonna be like.

[alienjesus]

Yeah Dragon Quest II is one of the worst in the series.

Just last night I was talking to a GameStop employee who told me he had a goal of playing through the DQ series on his Android(?) phone. He was really bogged down in part II. I told him to persevere and that the series gets dope as hell once you hit installment III.

I played a bit of Guardian Heroes last night. Game is much more in-depth than I anticipated. And much harder. I thought it would be similar to Code of Princess, with simplistic combat and ample opportunities to grind. Nope. It's more like Streets of Rage with a light XP system and fighting game combos. There's a true Game Over too, sending you back to the beginning. Didn't expect this in a 5th gen game with a save feature.

I'm playing as Nicole. Always go for the cutest character, I say. She has some rad healing magic.

Nicole's best boss killing tactic is to trap an enemy in the corner and spam the barrier attack. If they can't get out of it's range then it shreds their HP.

My favourite character is Randy for sure though. That lightning attack is awesome.

[Ack]

Well, I expected the SNES port of Mortal Kombat 3 would be a challenge, and it has proven my point. Unfortunately it doesn't include the character I play most in the series, Scorpion, so I'm having to pick up a new character almost from scratch. It also adds in the run button, but it maps it over the block button that I tended to prefer from previous installments on the SNES, so I'm having to relearn blocking all over again. And now I get to try and pick up the MK3 combo system again, after not having used it in...10 years? My work is cut out for me.

It's also strangely buggy with the AI. I moved into the Novice tier since I'm having to relearn so much, and I discovered that the AI will beat the tar out of me...on the first attempt. If I continue, the AI opponent then pretty much stands there and lets me win. I move on to the next opponent, get trashed, continue, and once again they stand there. With the base 5 credits, I made it all the way up to Motaro this way on a first attempt with Sektor. I then proceeded to win the first round by constantly abusing jump kicks because I could. Also why is the Pause feature locked behind a cheat code? That seems...idiotic. Hell, why is the Tournament feature hidden for that matter?

That said, there are some bits and pieces of MK2 that carries over in ways I can use. Inputting directional commands for special moves while airborne can still be accomplished, so I can jump back and immediately pull off a special the instant I touch the ground. The timing for some moves is trickier(Sektor's missile and teleport punch were pretty consistent, though I had a lower success rate with Cyrax's net), but it works well enough to give me a step in the right direction. I beat MK2 by abusing this trick via Scorpion's spear while exploiting the AI to jump into it. I don't foresee having such luck here.

Oh well, I need to beat this game so I can bring my total set of unbeaten NTSC-U SNES fighters down to 4. Any tricks I learn here will also translate to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, so the more I pick up, the better.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Mainly because all I ever read is DQ2 is kinda bad. In that it just takes the ideas of DQ and amps up the difficulty without innovating beyond you have multiple party members now.

It innovates to the extent that it is drastically less linear than other JRPGs. Once you find the boat, you can explore the entire world at your leisure, and none of the enemies are difficult enough to deter you from any part of the map. The downside is that you often have no idea where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do, and the game is just as cryptic as any RPG of its era. Other than that, however, your description is spot on.

Also, the game requires a tremendous amount of grinding at the end. Between grinding gold to get the best armor for the Prince of Cannock and grinding experience so that I could survive the final boss, I probably had to grind ten levels at the very end of the game. (The Prince of Lorasia was at level 31 when I beat the game - and I barely survived my encounter with Sidoh - so, I accumulated nearly 1/3 of my characters' levels afterI had done everything in the game except defeat the final boss.) The insanely difficult enemies at the end of the game give a tremendous amount of experience points; so, I didn't take that long to grind it out. It was still kind of a drag, however.

Accordingly, I think that Dragon Quest II is a hard game to recommend. I am glad that I beat it, but if you aren't trying to beat every game in the Dragon Quest series, I would probably skip it.

.....

Here is where I stand with my challenge right now:


1. Adventure - Broken Sword (PC/iOS)
2. Beat 'em Up - Guardian Heroes (SATURN/360)
3. Fighting - Virtua Fighter Remix (ARCADE/SATURN), Virtua Fighter 2 (ARCADE/SATURN/PS3), and Fighting Vipers (ARCADE/SATURN/PS3)
4. FPS - Perfect Dark (N64/360)
5. JRPG - Dragon Warrior II (NES/GBC)
6. Racing - Virtua Racing (ARCADE/PS2), Daytona USA (ARCADE/DREAMCAST), and Sega Rally Championship (ARCADE/SATURN)
7. Rail Shooters - Virtua Cop (ARCADE/SATURN) and Virtua Cop 2 (ARCADE/SATURN)
8. Run 'n Gun - Ikari Warriors (ARCADE/PS3)
9. Shmup - Galactic Attack/Layer Section/RayForce (ARCADE/SATURN/XBOX/iOS)
10. Sports - Decathlete (ARCADE/SATURN)

I have beaten twelve games in seven categories. My copy of Decathlete is currently in storage; so, I think I will dive into Guardian Heroes in the hopes that Bone and I can co-op it when I come to visit next week. I usually play as Han; so, we should be well matched!

[Michi]

.... so, finished of Dragon Warrior II. It was OK.

Well, there's a ringing endorsement if ever I heard one

Yeah... When you think of a primitive, no-frills JRPG, you are thinking about Dragon Quest II. Of the games I have completed, it is easily the weakest entry in the series, and the jump in quality between Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest III is astounding.

Alas. Yet another franchise that sounds like it suffered from the dreaded "sophomore slump."

[prfsnl_gmr]

Alas. Yet another franchise that sounds like it suffered from the dreaded "sophomore slump."

Yep. I am now coining the phrase:

"More disappointing than the second entry in a JRPG franchise."