Summer Games Challenge 2016

[Exhuminator]

I consider Castlevania 2 to be one of the best NES games. It's my favorite of the original trilogy. It's a classic I'd recommend to anybody. Some people think Castlevania 2 sucks compared to 1 and 3, but really I think that's rooted in the fact that the game design is less arcade-like, and more action-RPG-ish. Castlevania 2 has one of the best NES OSTs of all time.

Not a big fan of Castlevania 3, but I already went over that here this year.

[Ack]

System Shock

I had an hour to kill last night, so I hopped in to continue my jaunt through the underbelly of the Reactor level. Since I already had a base of operations established between the respawn, surgical center, radiation repair, and energy recharge station just a short walk away, I focused on exploring as much as I could. Most of the enemies down here are robots or cyborgs, though I did find a few mutants in a zero-g chamber protecting a flechette pistol. There is also a new enemy wandering the halls here, a small RC car strapped with dynamite. I kept my eyes on the floor for these little kamikaze buggers while exploring.

For the most part, this floor is a giant loop around the central reactor powering the station. I successfully completed the loop, exploring a VR portion to open a locked door or finding alternate paths as necessary. A few of the rooms serve as storage facilities for highly radioactive material; I don't have any sort of hazard suit, so I would dart in to these rooms to search and then book it to the radiation shower or whatever it is for quick relief. Eventually I found a shield activation site which required the isotope I was carrying. I plugged it in and turned it on, then hoped I had done the right thing.

That out of the way, I started looking into central rooms and working to reduce the security rating of the area. I found one locked room I do not have access to, and in another SHODAN shut off the lights and unleashed a horde of killer robots on me. I went down, respawned, ran in and died again, rinse, repeat, while clearing out the infestation. Once it was gone, I discovered I had a new means to access the central reactor room.

Since I don't have any protective gear, pushing into the reactor meant I was pretty much doomed to suffer a terrible death via radiation poisoning...but I had to do it. I pushed in and immediately got into a confrontation with a big, nasty robot I had not seen before while my cells were also being ripped apart from the gamma rays blasting off of the massive reactor core behind me. I did not last long...but I did last long enough to take out the big guy. I then discovered that death via radiation poisoning in System Shock still results in a respawn.

I pushed back into the reactor room and voila, laser configuration controls. I reconfigured the device to detonate upon use and then ran straight on into the reactor to take out a few of the robots there before succumbing and dying a horrible and excruciatingly painful death from massive radiation absorption. If nothing else, there are at least fewer robots protecting the central core now.

Unfortunately I respawned to discover a horde of hopper turrets had also respawned. I took them out one by one until running out of energy for my phaser weapon and then, on the way back, I ended up pinned between three of them. I respawned, got back to work, and then they respawned on top of me while I was cleaning them out. I literally ran down a corridor to a door, turned around, and one was now right behind me. This happened three times. Ugh, I could have done without that. The weird respawn rate is still my chief complaint, and I don't know if it is possible to shut off on this floor.

I survived though, so I moved back up to the second level and headed to the central science lab. SHODAN unleashed a horde of killer robots the instant I stepped in the door, but I blasted them all with flechettes and phaser fire and then primed and fired the reconfigured laser. The device went out with a bang while the shielded portion of the station withstood the blast. SHODAN then greeted me to say she was breeding a new super viral mutagen to reconfigure the human race in her image. I now have to deal with that.

On an interesting note, it's kind of surprising to me how gender-fluid SHODAN is in these games. SHODAN is an AI, so technically speaking there is no gender, but the way people reference SHODAN changes in the games. In System Shock, most of the engineers refer to SHODAN as 'he,' while in System Shock 2 it seems changed to 'she.' I tend to default to female pronouns to refer to "her." Ultimately none of this matters, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

[Exhuminator]

Man for the life of me I don't remember this game respawning the player when you die. I remember this always happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdVxb2vrwj0

And after that sequence it was Game Over.

Granted it's been ten years since I last played through System Shock, but still, I really don't remember that. Crazy.

[Ack]

Man for the life of me I don't remember this game respawning the player when you die. I remember this always happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdVxb2vrwj0

And after that sequence it was Game Over.

Granted it's been ten years since I last played through System Shock, but still, I really don't remember that. Crazy.

Oh, I can still get those. There is a cyborg construction device on every floor with a switch nearby. Flip the switch, and the cyborg construction device turns into a surgical device which operates as a respawn point. Die when it's on the surgical device setting, and you respawn with a preset amount of health that varies depending on the floor you are on. Die while it's on cyborg construction, and you get turned into a cyborg instead. You can also swap it back from surgical device to cyborg construction if you decide you don't want to use it as a respawn point.

Since they all default to cyborg construction, I find it's best to move into each new floor while close to full health and to immediately try to find the construction point. Also they're typically found in out of the way sections or rooms, which can be used as a storage area to give you a headquarters.

[Exhuminator]

I think I vaguely remember that now.

Once you get the Turbo Motion Booster System, and the Sensaround Multi-View Unit, you'll be a lot safer.

http://shodan.wikia.com/wiki/Turbo_Moti ... ter_System

http://shodan.wikia.com/wiki/Sensaround_Multi-View_Unit

[Exhuminator]

Ack seems to be the only member carrying the flame for this thread now. I feel partially responsible for not carrying through with my original list. So let's revisit that original list:

Aquales | 1991 | Sharp X68000
Battlezone II: Combat Comander | 1999 | PC
Beneath Apple Manor | 1978 | Apple II
Dragon Quest II | 1987/1999 | Game Boy Color
Quest For Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero | 1989/1992 | DOS
Malaya's Treasure | 1989 | MSX
New Devil Golvellius | 1988 | MSX2
Night Slave | 1996 | PC-98
Policenauts | 1994/1996 | PlayStation
Rusty | 1993 | PC-98
Shadow Tower | 1998 | PlayStation
The Scheme | 1988 | PC-88

Of that original dirty dozen list, the striked out games I've actually beaten. Revisiting the list currently, I'm still interested in these:

Aquales | 1991 | Sharp X68000
Quest For Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero | 1992 | DOS
Malaya's Treasure | 1989 | MSX
Policenauts | 1996 | PlayStation Shadow Tower Abyss | 2003 | PS2
The Scheme | 1988 | PC-88

Wha...? He's replacing Policenauts with Shadow Tower Abyss? That willy-nilly bastard! Yeah. I'm just not in the mood for a Kojima visual novel right now , sorry folks. And you guys would probably enjoy reading me play through ST: Abyss more anyway. So to redeem myself (and to bring more action to this thread) after I finish The Lost Crown, I will get on these. If I beat those, I will have beaten 9 games for the SGC, not too shabby.

But next year? Yeah next year I'm going with a 5 game list, and maybe even focus on actual classics instead of obscure Japanese PC games. Although we really need an obscure Japanese PC games challenge thread. Step out of your comfort zone, spread your wings with Bone and I!

[Sarge]

This is why I don't make a set list!

Besides, if I had, I wouldn't have gotten around to playing Flashback.

[Ack]

System Shock

I don't usually post much around midday on Saturday, but I'm pressing forward in this.

When I left off, I had just learned of the mutagen. Just after that, I discovered the laser rapier, a melee weapon that uses energy but devastates most enemies it hits. This weapon has become my main tool, and I will often sneak up on enemies or charge them unexpectedly to drop them with it before they can get off a shot. This actually works better than you can imagine.

Anyway, progress...I pushed through Level 4 and then 5 last night, clearing out the storage facilities and the hangars for the flight deck. Level 6 contained the groves, so I made sure to clear out the central region before heading into those. Alpha and Delta groves were easy to clear, but Beta grove was contaminated, so I rushed it last. And I mean that I rushed it. I ran through as fast as I could, laying waste to whatever mutants got in my way. Once the proper switch was pulled and the needed gear grabbed, I prepared to detonate everything and had my first encounter with the new Diego. He's nasty, so I hid around a corner and popped his feet until he teleported away.

Unfortunately when I tried to detach the Beta grove, I discovered there was a fried circuit. This sent me back to Level 3, and I cleared out the side sections and then found a diagnostic which showed me which circuit was fried. I replaced it by examining the weird map the diagnostic provided and then headed back up to Level 6 and separated the Beta grove. SHODAN was none to pleased and announced that she would be downloading herself into Earth's computer network via satellite feed. What was a guy to do? Simple, blow up the comm arrays of course.

Thankfully I had had the foresight to gather up the plastique I had found in Level 4. I snagged enough for the four arrays and arrived on Level 7. It's a maze of a level, but I crept my way through and successfully detonated all four arrays. The people of Earth rewarded me with the right to scuttle the station(I figured I'd do it even if they hadn't) as well as the necessary escape pod launch codes so I could bail before the reactor went critical.

Unfortunately getting the security code is a little odd; you have to go between security rooms on Level 1-Level 6, find the number flashing on the computer screen, and write it down. I couldn't remember where the security room had been on Level 5, so I tracked down the other 5 digits and headed into the Reactor Level, where I proceeded to guess over and over again. Just my luck, the final possibility happened to be the right code. With the reactor now overloading, I rushed back up to the flight deck on Level 4 to escape...and promptly ran back into cyborg Diego again. There was a firefight, I dragged him out into the open, and I successfully managed to pop him from afar with very large bullets from a very large gun. The bum teleported away again, and I hopped into the escape pod...

...and then SHODAN stopped me. She plans to separate the bridge from the rest of the station and fly it towards Earth in the hopes of finding a new way into Earth's computer network. The people of Earth don't want that to happen, so I have to go commando all the way up to the command bridge on Level 9. Unfortunately this means I have to pass through Level 8, the Security level. Joy.

Be vewy, vewy quiet, folks. I'm hunting SHODAN.

[Ack]

Diego is dead. I am securing the Bridge.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Big post followed by baby post. Cute, Ack, cute.

Still spending time with Guardian Heroes, downloaded the XBLA version this afternoon.

After that will come Kid Icarus, which I now have on both FDS and NES.

I don't think Fire Emblem is happening. I've simply run out of time. Still, nine out of ten would be solid.