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Post by steven on Dec 24, 2014 16:05:30 GMT -5
I just began SNES Harvest Moon. Been wanting to try this one for a while, and this marks the first "sim" game I've tackled in my entire gaming career. As such, it's a bit different for me. I'm used to RPGs where you do the usual town-dungeon-kill-town-talk-save gig, but for my first HM playthrough I was a little confused, haha. First thing I did was uproot all the weeds, but then I realized he can do that after nightfall and I should have done more useful things during the day that one can only do during the day.
I also accidentally saved over day 1 without doing any field work I believe, lol. D'oh. Wasted my first day. Not sure if that's possible to accidentally skip over a day, but if it's possible, I think that's exactly what I did.
Now I gotta hoe the field to grow crops. So today, my 4th day, I gotta hoe the field.
Any general non-spoilery tips for a Harvest Moon beginner? I think it's one of those games that at first can feel overwhelming, but quickly over time becomes insanely accessible and simplistic. It's just playing those first few hours to iron stuff out. I'm only 50 minutes into my HM playthrough, so right now I feel slightly overwhelmed but much less so than at the very beginning. Starting to slowly get the hang and flow of the game. The days go by fast and I can see how it gets addicting. I also like that there's only 3 places to visit essentially, and they're all so close to each other. There doesn't seem to be any excessive backtracking like in some RPGs, lol!
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Post by apachacha on Dec 24, 2014 17:37:39 GMT -5
Onslaught on the Genesis. Got cca. 33 territories now and I wanna ask: are there really only two levels plus one boss fight in the game that gets repeated ad nauseum ?
(Well, three if you count the "hidden" level you get sent to if you don't grab the enemies idol in time which you have to complete to then be able to play the regular level you failed at again.)
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Post by shelverton on Dec 25, 2014 7:30:52 GMT -5
Speaking of Harvest Moon, I finally started playing Fantasy Life (3DS)! It's probably more like Rune Factory or even Animal Crossing but it's still sorta the same genre. So far the game is SUPER COZY! Great xmas game but I don't know if I'm gonna sink 100+ hours into this as some people seem to do... I am not that kind of gamer, I guess. 40 hours maybe? As long as it keeps my attention.
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Post by kaoru on Dec 25, 2014 14:49:24 GMT -5
Any general non-spoilery tips for a Harvest Moon beginner? There's really not a lot you can do wrong in the first Harvest Moon, because it really doesn't have that many options of things to do. The "winning" conditions are also pretty low in all the games and 2.5 years is plenty, so don't stress out about having to fill the days out perfectly. I do still like to play the original every once in a while, because nostalgia and it going by rather fast, but really, besides growing crops and dating the chicks, there's not much else to do in this one. And even crops you can't grow in fall and winter. Collecting stuff on the mountain is usually a good money injection towards the beginning of the game. Those berries and mushrooms sell pretty decent. Also, never buy another chicken after the first one, you can just hatch more from the eggs.
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Post by steven on Dec 26, 2014 3:03:17 GMT -5
Any general non-spoilery tips for a Harvest Moon beginner? There's really not a lot you can do wrong in the first Harvest Moon, because it really doesn't have that many options of things to do. The "winning" conditions are also pretty low in all the games and 2.5 years is plenty, so don't stress out about having to fill the days out perfectly. I do still like to play the original every once in a while, because nostalgia and it going by rather fast, but really, besides growing crops and dating the chicks, there's not much else to do in this one. And even crops you can't grow in fall and winter. Collecting stuff on the mountain is usually a good money injection towards the beginning of the game. Those berries and mushrooms sell pretty decent. Also, never buy another chicken after the first one, you can just hatch more from the eggs. Cool, thanks. I appreciate the tips. Yeah, I figured it's the kind of game where in 2.5 years you get plenty of time to "win" when all is said and done. I did notice that you can only grow crops in Summer and Spring. I'm guessing for HM64 you can grow more crops in all seasons? Speaking of which, I heard HM64 is highly regarded.
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Post by kaoru on Dec 26, 2014 8:27:18 GMT -5
I did notice that you can only grow crops in Summer and Spring. I'm guessing for HM64 you can grow more crops in all seasons? Speaking of which, I heard HM64 is highly regarded. In all other HM games you can at least grow grops in every month but winter, and for the never ones usually even year round. HM64 I never played. But the PlayStation one, which I think is supposed to be nearly the same. That one's pretty good, though I'd rather play the GBA port of it these days.
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Post by GamerL on Dec 27, 2014 6:15:46 GMT -5
Fatal Frame and it's scaring the shit out of me! Seriously I haven't had a game scare me like this in years and that includes recent horror games like Outlast and The Evil Within (though I mean no disrespect to those games). I rented Fatal Frame way back in 2002 and I remember it being scary, but I was like 12 at the time, I assumed being 25 would mean it would not be quite as effective, plus I like to think that I have a pretty thick skin when it comes to horror, but no this game is really getting to me in ways that I thought were no longer possible, Madonna's "Like a Virgin" comes to mind. To be honest the ghosts themselves are only mildly scary, but what makes this game work so well is the atmosphere and the anticipation of the ghosts, the fact that there are "random ghosts" that can pop up anytime means you're always tense, always wondering when the next appearance will be, on top of that the game does such a great job of the atmosphere from the design of the mansion to the music to the camera angles, plus the game has great attention to detail, this includes random "scares" that don't hurt you but startle you and easter eggs like random whispering in some of the rooms and what happens if you leave the game paused for a while (I wont spoil it ), it all makes it to where it's scary just walking around. Another thing I love is hunting down the "hidden ghosts", it's not only fun but the photos themselves are very creepy. Full disclosure though I think one reason this game works so well for me is the fact that I've always been very scared of ghosts, I've always found the existence of such things plausible due to experiences my aunt, uncle and cousins had in an old house they lived in once that was supposedly haunted, my uncle is not a bullshitter so when he says there strange goings on I believe it. Boy, it really pisses me off that 4 never came out in the US.
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Post by onionski on Dec 28, 2014 14:53:48 GMT -5
One thing I really loved about Fatal Frame was in the third game. The proper game takes place in dreams, but when you're awake you're in the main character's apartment. And it's sort of like a subtler Silent Hill 4 effect, in which just little uncanny things start happening. Like there's a stain growing on a really inconspicuous part of the wall and the further you get into the game, the more the stain begins to look like a screaming face. Or some inexplicable feet showing up under a curtain that disappear when the camera angle changes. The whole game was freaky but I thought that was a nice touch.
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Post by Elvin Atombender on Dec 28, 2014 16:36:05 GMT -5
Just started The Night Of The Rabbit, the first of a long series of graphic adventures which have clogged my backlog since a very long time. My mission for 2015 is to complete at least a good part of them, so I guess I'll point and click on stuff for a while.
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Post by Catalyst on Dec 30, 2014 6:07:38 GMT -5
Currently playing through Advance Warfare, cause I wanted to experience more of Kevin Spacey's awesomeness and dabbling a bit in Dreadout which earned bonus points for having a UFO easter eggs. Now if only they could include a certain breed of dog...
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Post by raziel on Dec 31, 2014 3:00:28 GMT -5
Fatal Frame and it's scaring the shit out of me! Seriously I haven't had a game scare me like this in years and that includes recent horror games like Outlast and The Evil Within (though I mean no disrespect to those games). I rented Fatal Frame way back in 2002 and I remember it being scary, but I was like 12 at the time, I assumed being 25 would mean it would not be quite as effective, plus I like to think that I have a pretty thick skin when it comes to horror, but no this game is really getting to me in ways that I thought were no longer possible, Madonna's "Like a Virgin" comes to mind. To be honest the ghosts themselves are only mildly scary, but what makes this game work so well is the atmosphere and the anticipation of the ghosts, the fact that there are "random ghosts" that can pop up anytime means you're always tense, always wondering when the next appearance will be, on top of that the game does such a great job of the atmosphere from the design of the mansion to the music to the camera angles, plus the game has great attention to detail, this includes random "scares" that don't hurt you but startle you and easter eggs like random whispering in some of the rooms and what happens if you leave the game paused for a while (I wont spoil it ), it all makes it to where it's scary just walking around. Another thing I love is hunting down the "hidden ghosts", it's not only fun but the photos themselves are very creepy. Full disclosure though I think one reason this game works so well for me is the fact that I've always been very scared of ghosts, I've always found the existence of such things plausible due to experiences my aunt, uncle and cousins had in an old house they lived in once that was supposedly haunted, my uncle is not a bullshitter so when he says there strange goings on I believe it. Boy, it really pisses me off that 4 never came out in the US. I'm playing the third one right now, and I agree, it's a great series. Third one is pretty freaky so far, but I think the first one was the scariest because of the random ghosts. I think the encounters in the second and third are a lot more scripted. Also, the unraveling of the story behind the hauntings is wonderfully executed. As you collect notes and recordings, you really feel like you're unearthing some mystery on your own. I also agree about the easter eggs. I just recently encountered a devilishly well executed scare, which is completely optional but the way it's pulled off is ingenious. The only thing that is abysmal in the series is the English voice acting. I'm playing the third one undubbed at the moment, and the voiceover is a lot more believable and natural, especially the voices of the ghosts (and not because I don't understand, the level of spoken Japanese by the ghosts is rather elementary). This has greatly benefited the atmosphere. Btw, I'd consider those spoilers whoever posted about the SH4-like effect.
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Post by GamerL on Dec 31, 2014 5:49:05 GMT -5
I'm playing the third one right now, and I agree, it's a great series. Third one is pretty freaky so far, but I think the first one was the scariest because of the random ghosts. I think the encounters in the second and third are a lot more scripted. Also, the unraveling of the story behind the hauntings is wonderfully executed. As you collect notes and recordings, you really feel like you're unearthing some mystery on your own. I also agree about the easter eggs. I just recently encountered a devilishly well executed scare, which is completely optional but the way it's pulled off is ingenious. The only thing that is abysmal in the series is the English voice acting. I'm playing the third one undubbed at the moment, and the voiceover is a lot more believable and natural, especially the voices of the ghosts (and not because I don't understand, the level of spoken Japanese by the ghosts is rather elementary). This has greatly benefited the atmosphere. Btw, I'd consider those spoilers whoever posted about the SH4-like effect. That's one thing that's neat is collecting the notes and diaries and stuff, most of which seems to be optional, there's a few that are pretty well hidden and I only found them because I'm the kind of gamer who likes to explore every nook and cranny and keep tapping X to examine things, I imagine a lot of gamers probably missed out on some of this info. Also, what is the random scare you're talking about? (you can mark spoilers) I agree the voice acting sucks and while being able to play it in the original Japanese would make it feel more authentic, at the same time having subtitles appear on the screen for the ghost's dialogue may spoil some of the atmosphere.
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Post by Lash on Dec 31, 2014 18:02:39 GMT -5
Playing through Final Fantasy VI again.
I am so tired of hearing the veldt theme...
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Post by JDarkside on Dec 31, 2014 23:17:22 GMT -5
Room 9 of the Final Path in Escape Goat is probably the most bullshit puzzle I have ever encountered holy shit. I might honestly not bother beating this one because the possibility of me breaking something on that stage is ultra-high.
Loren the Amazon Princess is just as enjoyable as I remember it. Shame they didn't do anything more interesting with the visual novel elements. But that battle system ....it gets sooooooooo good around the second chapter. I love the focus on status effects, buffs and debuffs.
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Post by Neo Rasa on Jan 1, 2015 11:33:59 GMT -5
Playing through Final Fantasy VI again. I am so tired of hearing the veldt theme...
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