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Post by xerxes on Apr 12, 2012 20:09:49 GMT -5
One thing I've noticed is that this is not a game where you chase down enemies and slash at 'em. You really have to sit still and wait for them to come to you. Those mushroom thingies are a great example of how this strategy can turn a nasty enemy into a chump.
Also, am I the only one here getting Crystalis vibes? It's like Crystalis, except the part about everything poisoning you...
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 12, 2012 21:15:44 GMT -5
Also, am I the only one here getting Crystalis vibes? It's like Crystalis, except the part about everything poisoning you... You've not the only one, NamelessFragger said the elemental swords reminded him of Crystalis in the GC9X IRC channel. Also, I've found that the best tactic for dealing with enemies is shoving them into a wall or corner and then wailing on them. I'm still slogging my way through this game. I just made it past Destel Cave and the Sea Palace, and while neither are the terribleness that is Greenmaze, they were still terrible in their own ways. Destel Cave was one long ascent that consisted of tedious platforming over a pit that's easy to fall into. If you manage to fall into the pit, you have do the entire sequence all over again. The Sea Palace was filled with incredibly inane and stupid puzzles, and one way doors that, you guessed it, force you to start all over if you exit the screen the wrong way. The game continues to abuse the perspective, too, which made getting through Destel Cave a huge chore. In spite of that, through a series of contrivances, I managed to make my way out of the Sea Palace, at which point I earned the Axe Magic. Now I can chop down all those pesky trees that were hiding hidden goodies.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2012 22:07:14 GMT -5
I've gotta say, while I still do like this game, it's not quite as awesome as I remember it when I first played it. Maybe I just have a lower tolerance for BS in games nowadays, but it gets MEAN Greenmaze and onward. Seriously, Greenmaze is like the Water Temple of Ocarina of Time, the desert from King's Quest V, Diamond Sands from Blast Corps, or whatever other level you hyper-hate in any particular game. It's just that the isometric perspective makes it just THAT more jerkish. It doesn't get that bad again until the final dungeon, which... well, I beat Landstalker once already a long while ago, and the only thing that I remember is how completely batty the last labyrinth drove me. Not looking forward to doing it again, but unfortunately, it's the only thing I have left to do... besides pick up any Life Stocks I may have missed, but I'm not playing this one for completionism. Also, a thought comes to mind: I wonder if Landstalker should have taken the route of most isometric titles I know and just chucked out combat entirely. It seems to be much fonder of puzzles than fighting, where combat rarely ever evolves beyond "bum rush enemies until they die." You can actually shoot projectiles once you get the Sword of Ice in the sea palace ruins, but that's pretty dang late in the game and I find it more effective to just slash-spam without waiting for the sword to charge. As I said, I still do like this game, but... I AM starting to wonder why it has so many fans. To anyone who loves Landstalker, might I ask you why you favor this game so much?
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Post by xerxes on Apr 12, 2012 22:27:50 GMT -5
Do some of the later dungeons require maps? Can anyone do that for this month?
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Post by retr0gamer on Apr 13, 2012 5:33:16 GMT -5
It was pretty much the only answer to Zelda that the Megadrive had until Story of Thor and Soleil came along which I'm sure added to the appeal.
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Post by shelverton on Apr 13, 2012 13:44:14 GMT -5
I fell in love with Landstalker because, at the time, I hadn't played an adventure game with a world that actually felt like a world (or island in this case). I think the world in Landstalker is one of the best in the genre. It was just awesome to explore every nook and cranny. More so than in, say, A Link to the Past which pretty much was my only reference at the time. I think Zelda is the better game but there's something about Landstalker that just screams ADVENTURE to me. I like how detailed the graphics are, how the world is connected and how I never knew what was around the next corner. Also, the town of Mercator felt alive, something I had never experienced before.
The final dungeon is not so bad once you know where the hell you're supposed to go. I found the path by accident. From what I remember it's pretty much impossible to "know" where to go. Not to spoil anything.
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Post by Weasel on Apr 13, 2012 14:54:23 GMT -5
Now that I'm through Greenmaze (nearly ragequitting the entire game in the process), the puzzles have shifted gears back to the kind of stuff that can be figured out logically, instead of through brute force and luck. I think the developers realized what a bloody pain Greenmaze is, because when you reach a certain point in the maze with a tricky jumping puzzle, a gnome appears and shoves you over the cliff and dares you to get up there again, which basically requires you to navigate most of the maze all over again. Anyway...did the witch sidequest, got the Saturn Stone (which is making combat less of a pain thanks to speeding up the sword's charge rate), and learned (the hard way) that just because you can use the dog whistle to bypass a certain obstacle in Greenmaze, does not mean that similar obstacles outside the maze can be circumvented in such a way.
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Post by shelverton on Apr 13, 2012 15:47:01 GMT -5
I wish Game Club would do Alundra someday, though now that you're all playing Landstalker I doubt anyone would wanna play such a similar game anytime soon. It's every bit as evil as Landstalker, if not more. I like it nonetheless and I would even be willing to participate since I can't remember ever beating it. But first things first...
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Post by Ace Whatever on Apr 13, 2012 16:50:37 GMT -5
Lord no Alundra's far more fun and less frustrating than Landstalker. Only the final boss pushes it into nut-punchingly hard territory.
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Post by xerxes on Apr 13, 2012 20:03:33 GMT -5
I fell in love with Landstalker because, at the time, I hadn't played an adventure game with a world that actually felt like a world (or island in this case). That's a good point. Although there's far less variation in scenery and monsters, Landstalker's map does feel like a real place when you walk from town to town. The dungeons are also far enough away from the towns to feel like, you know, they're creepy hidden dungeons. In Hyrule, there's always a creepy scary dungeon about two blocks from the city limits.
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on Apr 14, 2012 1:59:29 GMT -5
Lord no Alundra's far more fun and less frustrating than Landstalker. Only the final boss pushes it into nut-punchingly hard territory. Really? Because I bought it when it was on PSN, and I must say, I gave up a couple of dungeons in. In my current mind, it felt tremendously more difficult than Landstalker did to the teenage me. I think I'm glad I didn't replay Landstalker now - it would only have tainted the memories.
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Post by Ace Whatever on Apr 14, 2012 5:48:21 GMT -5
I guess it's a matter of tolerance. I get the impression that I seemed to have far more patience in my PS1 days than some of the folks here for what is considered to be too hard or too crappy of a game.
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on Apr 14, 2012 6:44:11 GMT -5
I'm not saying Alundra is crappy, far from it. It's fantastic, and there's real intelligence built into the dungeons. But when they started requiring save points INSIDE the dungeon due to length, I had to hang up my controller. I just couldn't bring myself for a long sit down session.
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Post by Ace Whatever on Apr 14, 2012 9:26:25 GMT -5
Maybe we're getting too old for this shit...
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 14, 2012 17:21:35 GMT -5
Here's something interested I noticed in the game. It occurs late into the story, so I'm spoilering it: I noticed that hidden doors look different from the surrounding walls, as seen in this image: (click the thumbnail for a larger image)It's subtle, but you should notice that the circled area has a different border than the surrounding walls. Note that this doesn't apply to hidden doors obscured by other objects. This should still come in handy for later, however!
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