Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Oct 12, 2020 4:12:42 GMT
stratogustav and dschult3 - I've just beaten Ninja Gaiden III on a "legit" play, which means "as if I was on a real NES": no save states, BUT, on level 7-2D (I think it's this one), there is an extra life that reappears if you get it, go back to the previous room, then go get it again (it seems you can also do this on level 6, but I didn't know). Of course, 7-2 is the penultimate area, so getting there alive is already hard enough; but once you get there and know this, then it's much easier to reach the final bosses with enough lives to kill them. You still have to be good at the bosses, as dying to any of them still sends Ryu back three stages, but the bosses in NG3 are the easiest in the NES trilogy. Now I'm finally completely burnt out on this game! That said: man, this game would be so much better without limited continues, floatier jumps and if it had a better story. I imagine they were trying to shake things up a bit, maybe to see what would work before they did a SNES Ninja Gaiden. It's sad that the 2d series was killed after it: if a 16-bit Ninja Gaiden could follow the kind of evolution we had with Mega Man->Mega Man X, the next game could be really something (I'm not counting the cancelled Genesis project, as that one was being done by Sega, not Tecmo). Maybe I can later play The Messenger and see if it feels like that "lost" SNES Ninja Gaiden.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Oct 12, 2020 4:49:16 GMT
Cervantes congratulations man, that's a worth it achievement. Even if the story may be a little off, getting to that final cutscene after beating the whole trilogy is quite a feeling, very emotional indeed. Something I only get from very few franchises like Mega Man, Contra, Gradius, Kid Icarus, Super Mario, Zelda, and Castlevania for example.
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dschult3
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Post by dschult3 on Oct 16, 2020 20:20:42 GMT
Last month I played through Xenoblade 2 and Torna. I absolutely love the stories, but New Game + really wasn't difficult, since I spend hundreds of hours getting everything the first time. I lowered my level, and that wasn't all that challenging as well. I suppose I should just start from scratch next time on a fake profile so I don't have to erase my hundreds upon hundreds of hours sunk into that game. It acts like a trophy, I guess.
Right now, I am playing Mario 35 2-3 times a day. I'm up to a level 67, and I don't like to go a day without playing it. I especially love playing at 3 AM so that I can take on the plethora of Japanese players who are amazing at it. I am thrilled when I pull off a 1st place at that time.
My son got a few games for his birthday at the end of September. Since he isn't playing them all at once, I have been borrowing his copy of Zelda: Links Awakening on the Switch. At first, I was bored, because I hate the garbage linear model of the old days. I hate the fact that holes or boulders blocked my way as a convenient way of halting my forward progress. I know this is a classic game room forum, so this is blasphemous. Yet, the original Zelda on the NES allowed you to go into dungeons out of order (not all), and you could explore more than this game does in the beginning. I love having fewer and fewer restrictions in modern games, and it is hard to go back to this method of directing the player. Anyway, as the game started to get going, it has become unbelievably fun. I now find myself thinking about the next dungeon I have to conquer after I turn it off. It really is a lot of fun once you get passed the opening portion.
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Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Oct 20, 2020 9:54:07 GMT
I've finished Resident Evil 2 (Leon A / Claire B's campaign)! I'm going to post my impressions in the game's thread, I liked it a lot.
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Cervantes
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Posts: 2,821
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Post by Cervantes on Nov 6, 2020 1:00:50 GMT
I ended up also playing Claire A / Leon B, which is considered the "canon" story by Capcom. I can see why, as some events are more fleshed out. While RE2 was my main October game, what I actually played on Halloween was Kenji Eno/Warp's D! As it's very short (around one hour), I then went for the sequel, D2. I was always impressed by Enemy Zero on the Saturn (the second game of this loosely connected trilogy), which I still consider the best Alien adaptation besides Alien: Isolation, so I was curious about the other two.
D (PC) is a FMV horror game; it's in first person and plays like Myst, but instead of cutting from one screen to the next, the game uses CG pre-rendered videos to show the character walking to each screen. Enemy Zero later used it in explorable rooms, but in D that's the entire game. You walk around a medieval castle and get items to solve very simple puzzles. People always talk about the 2-hour time limit and not being able to pause the game, but the truth is that the game will probably be just around one hour for most people: even getting stuck and losing a lot of time on some puzzles and in a QTE event, I still managed to beat it on a first try, so the time limit shouldn't be a problem. The game is too short and the gameplay too basic, but what made it famous is the atmosphere: the lone woman investigating the castle, going through a few jumpscares and seeing messed up scenes makes it feel like a Dario Argento movie - it's similar to the final scenes from Suspiria or most of Inferno. In that sense, if we consider that it was released before Resident Evil and Silent Hill, D, as archaic as it is, is very successful at creating horror and dread. I think Clock Tower was the only other full on horror game in 1995, so most of its faults (slow and simplified gameplay, short length, limited animation and video quality) could be overlooked in that context.
D2 (Dreamcast) is a completely different beast. Kenji Eno was the 90s equivalent to Suda51, and in many respects D2 feels like his Killer7. The homaged movie this time is The Thing: a plane crashes in northern Canada and, ten days later, some of the survivors are infected by something that makes them transform into horrific abominations. There are three main types of gameplay: while indoors, it's like D, but now in real time instead of FMV, so it's faster and allows more freedom to look around; on outdoors, it's in third person with tank controls, and Laura (the main character) can explore the snowy mountains to discover new places, items or hunt with her rifle to gather food, strangely precognizing Rise of the Tomb Raider; finally, the game has random encounters and bosses, for which it turns into a first person view and plays like an on-rails shooter, so it also precognized Killer7's combat gameplay. It's quite impressive how forward-thinking Kenji Eno was while trying to make this game stand out. All three gameplay styles work very well, though the random encounters lessen the horror side: it's more strange and bizarre than scary or tense, which isn't a problem either. The graphics are beautiful and might be among the best on the Dreamcast, around Shenmue's level; it also has hours of very well directed cutscenes, comparable to a Hideo Kojima game (Kojima does appear in the "Special Thanks", so Metal Gear Solid's cutscenes were certainly an inspiration). The story isn't as cohesive as D or Enemy Zero and tries to reach too much, with many monologues that should've been shortened or cut, but I still like how insane and out there the entire thing is. D2 was Warp's final game and the last major one for Kenji Eno, so they went truly ambitious this time. Having finally played this trilogy, I can say that I miss more developers like them.
Here's the CGR review for D2:
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 21, 2020 14:08:08 GMT
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 for the DS on emulator with a fan translation patch (still) The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure on PC with a fan translation patch Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on PS4 Burnout 3: Takedown for the Xbox, played on an Xbox 360
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Nov 21, 2020 23:07:30 GMT
I have Ritual Of The Night twice as well. I have beaten the Switch version with 50% completion, and I haven't done the PS4 version yet, but I want to do 100% there. It is one of the best games in this generation.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Dec 1, 2020 11:45:55 GMT
I have Ritual Of The Night twice as well. I have beaten the Switch version with 50% completion, and I haven't done the PS4 version yet, but I want to do 100% there. It is one of the best games in this generation. I've got to disagree with you there, I'm afraid. It was a pretty good Metroidvania-style platformer, but that's about it. I think Curse of the Moon 1&2 have been the better games to come out of this franchise so far.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Dec 1, 2020 13:29:15 GMT
I've got to disagree with you there, I'm afraid. It was a pretty good Metroidvania-style platformer, but that's about it. I think Curse of the Moon 1&2 have been the better games to come out of this franchise so far. No worries, I'm super bias because I'm a massive fan of IGA stuff, so anything that feels with that formula is an instant goosebumps generator for me, but I do love the Curse Of The Moon old school formula as well.
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Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Dec 14, 2020 17:05:25 GMT
I've been playing Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 (PC) and replaying Burning Rangers (Saturn)!
I got back to Burning Rangers to see if this time I can save every victim and 100% it. The game does some great things, but it's also flawed. First of all, it's probably the most visually complex game from that generation: it's a very colorful full 3d game with detailed and varied textures everywhere, complex architecture in its levels, a lot of particle effects, explosions everywhere with transparency effects (a nightmare to program on the Saturn), lots of colored lighting and a cool wavy effect on underwater sections. I can't think of a single console game in that generation that stacks so many effects on top of each other... But then, it's also clear that the Saturn can't handle it all, so the visuals look glitchy, with disappearing polygons, the resolution is low and there's too much slowdown - while the visual work is technically incredible, the game sometimes just look like a mess. The controls are a mixed bag: even with an analogue controller, there's no "walking" function and the characters make huge turns; the camera is also far from ideal, especially in cramped spaces with too many explosions going around. Flying with the jetpack is nice and you can do a lot of maneuvers, but it's also easy to mess up a command and do an air dash instead of a double jump, for example.
Then comes the content, its biggest problem: while the levels are huge, there are just four of them and the game is beaten in just over one hour, even on a first playthrough. The previous Sonic Team game, Nights into Dreams, had different levels for its two playable characters (for a total of seven levels), but in Burning Rangers the only difference between playing with Shou or Tyllis is the different dialogue. There is some replayability, as the victims' locations and which doors are closed or open in a level change everytime (so you may visit different sections of a level in new playthroughs), but that's not enough variation - the game really needed more levels, at least seven or eight, as by 1998 a 3d adventure game this short, for a full price, was pretty much unnacceptable. All in all, I like the game, but Sonic Team needed more time with it to tighten the performance/visuals and make more levels - too bad that, with the Saturn being almost dead, they didn't have more time.
Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 puts together the six NES Mega Man games. The collection is worth it for three reasons: 1. The emulation is spot on, with even the NES slowdowns being preserved correctly (they added an option of eliminate the slowdowns if someone isn't interested in that much accuracy); 2. They added a museum for each game, with plenty of concept art and promotional materials for each game, and there's a lot of stuff that I've never seen before; 3. There's a challenge mode with 50 levels: it mixes levels and bosses from the different games to be beaten in a time limit, so it's a fun distraction. Outside that, it is what it is: six of the best 8-bit games ever made, as even the worst Mega Man classic games (1, 5) are still well above most games from that era. I had played 1, 2, 3 and 6 many times before, but 4 & 5 were new experiences and I liked them - 5 is weak, but 4 was a good surprise and holds up among the best. I played all of them in order and am in the middle of 6 right now; as I finish it, I'll go on to play the second collection.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Dec 14, 2020 18:27:16 GMT
I bought all the Legacy collections for the PS4 because they are all fantastic, I even have that one on the 3DS because it came with the Mega Man Gold Amiibo.
You can't go wrong with those collections. Those are some of the best games ever made, I'm very happy Capcom did these along with the Beat 'em Up bundle, the Street Fighter collection, and the Disney Afternoon Collection.
Konami has a few good ones already, but they are still missing the PS2 Contra games, the Gradius PS2 games, and the IGA Castlevania games. I hope they do them because that would be gaming perfection.
If someone tells me I cannot play games anymore, but I can keep playing those classics Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, Gradius, Sonic The Hedgehog, and the Super Mario games I wouldn't need anything else other than maybe Ninja Maiden, and Shinobi.
Those are what I call the essential games for every player ever. Of course assuming you already have the the entire Neo Geo library which is obviously the gold standard in terms of arcade gaming.
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Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Dec 14, 2020 23:00:57 GMT
stratogustav - I bought the Castlevania Collection on Steam. It's just a bit disappointing that they didn't include Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night (which they released as a separate collection for the Playstation, but still haven't ported it to PC). It's still a very solid collection overall. I'm hoping they'll do a future collection with those two and the GBA and DS games. I was also looking into the Contra collection, but it really should've included Contra 4 and Hard Corps Uprising (or Konami should create a second volume with them and the PS2 games).
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Dec 15, 2020 2:14:35 GMT
Cervantes PC is the best way to collect games because you are not subjected to companies deciding to do backwards compatibility, plus they have achievement, and online scores, that stay recorded. I'm so glad more and more console games, remasters, and collections are hitting PC because that's the future, and I'd something doesn't come out, eventually it will come probably in an even better package. Rondo Of Blood is not credited to IGA, but he worked so much on that game that it very well could be, and it is the prequel to Symphony Of The Night, which means they should go together not separated, along with all the amazing Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS games. Those games are masterpieces of gaming and deserve the same treatment Capcom has been given to the Mega Man X games, and the original ones, also Zero, and ZX. In terms of Contra Hard Corps Uprising is an stellar game, but I'm in the minority when I say that it could easily be its own IP. It has enough of its own originality to be its own thing. Contra 4 is a very fine game too, but it is not as important to me as it is Rebirth, Shattered Soldier, Neo Contra, Hard Corps, and The Alien Wars. I also hope they get another release because I love those a lot. I do have Gradius V, Lament Of Innocence, Shattered Soldier, Neo Contra, Capcom Vs. SNK 2, Shadow Of The Colossus, and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 on my PS3, so I'm happy with that. Then I have Ikagura, and the Super Mario games on the Switch along with all the essential SNK games like Metal Slug on the PS4, but I'm still missing KOF 2002 UM, and F-Zero GX. And of course, I'm also missing all the IGA Castlevania handheld games that are trapped just like Radiant Silvergun in the Saturn, and the Killer Instinct games on the Xbox platforms.
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dschult3
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Post by dschult3 on Dec 28, 2020 21:46:12 GMT
When my son isn't playing it (He suddenly decided to play Luigi's Mansion out of nowhere. Kids...), I have been playing Mario 3D All-Stars. I'm not impressed, really. Mario 64 has some serious problems with the camera. I don't have the same issues with the N64 version, and I can say that confidently, since I still have the system set up and ready to play. There is some wonky physics with the coins too. Sometimes I defeat an enemy, and the coins will start floating up hill. Weird.
I will say this, though. SMB Galaxy is still quite awesome to play. I really dig that game, and it looks amazing in HD.
I'll try out Sunshine soon enough to give some feedback. I can't be too authoritative on it though, because I never played the Game Cube edition. I'll have to look to others like I did with Yuri and the gang in Tales of Vesperia.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Dec 28, 2020 21:55:28 GMT
I didn't see those issues on Super Mario 64 when I played it, but I'm bias because I can play that game without fixing the camera.
The reason is that I probably played Super Mario 64 too much back in the day that I can jump backwards, and still fall on a platform.
The same thing goes with Super Mario World, but the one I need more practice is Super Mario Bros. 3. I need to play that one more to bring it to the other games level.
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