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Post by zerker on Jan 20, 2019 11:59:07 GMT -5
Oh, I finished a game finally! Deltarune: Chapter 1 (Windows, first time). It was pretty fun. I even chuckled a couple times at the dialog, which doesn't happen too much. My only complaint is that the final epilogue/real world sequence is a bit long without being able to save. I'd say its a solid 7/10 game.
Final save clock was 154 minutes. Adding about 45 minutes for the final boss + ending + epilogue gets to ~200 minutes = 3:20.
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Post by lurker on Jan 20, 2019 21:19:46 GMT -5
One question: For modern Mario Kart games do I just have to get a gold in each cup or do I have to get all three stars each, too? Edit: I apologize if I've already asked this question before.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 21, 2019 7:18:25 GMT -5
One question: For modern Mario Kart games do I just have to get a gold in each cup or do I have to get all three stars each, too? Edit: I apologize if I've already asked this question before.
I don't think getting all the stars is necessary.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jan 22, 2019 7:54:34 GMT -5
dsparil, how did you get to this time?: Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 2.5h I've only played one game so far and that took me about an hour.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 22, 2019 9:05:26 GMT -5
dsparil, how did you get to this time?: Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 2.5h I've only played one game so far and that took me about an hour. The How Long to Beat times are being used for now. The original plan was to only use those, but enough people are posting times that I'm planning to switch to a combo of timer+reference and reference only.
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hades
Junior Member
Posts: 57
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Post by hades on Jan 22, 2019 19:44:48 GMT -5
Enduro Racer (SMS) 1000th Replay probably, 6m02s according to timer This is the kind of game I play when I can't decide what to play. I've probably finished it a dozen times already this year, posting best time. A great little isometric dirt bike game, where you race against the clock, passing opponents gives you a point and these points can be used to purchase upgrades for the next race. The game has 10 levels, though it is really two sets of 5 that repeat, the Japanese version has 10 unique levels. Clear clean and bright graphics, a simple but fun little tune to race to, great controls, it feels so good when you hit a ramp, time your jump correctly then land on another ramp and do the same, basically bouncing around on your bike. I've been enjoying this game for close to 25 years and can't see that changing! 8/10
Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SMS) Replay, gamefaqs says 16.2 hours. No way, maybe 1.5 hours to run through twice A fantastic port of a fantastic game. This is one of those ports where they have changed a few things around for the home release, and to me make it a better game. In the original chests contained either armour, a magician or a weapon. In this version you either get a magician who does the same as the original or a doorway appears. The doorway leads to either a place to replenish your health and magic or a 'store' of sorts where you can choose a piece of equipment to upgrade or get a new weapon. You have three types of equipment to upgrade which do different things. Armour increases number of hits, helm increases magic and boots increase speed. These changes, while making the game quite a bit easier, make it feel more like a console game for the time rather than something out to eat your money. The weapons behave differently from the original as well, basically all shooting forward, but increasing in power or range as you upgrade, with the axe firing at a slightly upwards angle. The music has been ported over well considering the usual sound of the SMS, and the graphics are great, with basically everything major here. Loki at the end looks incredible. 9/10
Kung Fu Kid (SMS) First time, Gamefaqs says 3.6 hours, this seems a bit high closer to 2 I reckon as I played while my son napped, and he doesn't nap that long! Very simple side scrolling action game, run from left to right kicking enemies until you fight the boss, a couple of levels have some basic platforming and wall jumping, and the second to last level is a gauntlet of new bosses which was pretty cool. Graphics are decent but nothing special, I can't even remember the music. Controls feel great and hitting guys is satisfying, but there is basically no depth to the game 5/10
Streets of Rage (SMS) First time SMS version, Gamefaqs says 4.5 hours, which again seems long, maybe an hour and 20 minutes. Port of the MD game, I was never that big of a fan of Streets of Rage, when I played the first one it just didn't jump out at me so I never really gave the sequels a chance until years later, only to find they are fantastic! I decided to give the SMS version of the first a crack, and it is pretty disappointing. The graphics and music are great, a quick glance and you could mistake it for the MD version, the music has decent enough renditions of the songs from the original. The gameplay is where this one hurts, it feels nothing like the original, feeling like a cheap knock off. Hit detection is spotty, throwing enemies feels great when it happens as they go flying across the entire length of the screen, but feels random as to when this happens. You only ever fight two enemies at a time which makes all encounters feel entirely nonthreatening and slow, as they are always two of the same enemy. Weapons are essentially useless as the wind up time always allows a free hit on the player. Two player mode has been removed, though this is understandable. The developers put too much effort into making it look like the original, and not enough to get it to feel good. 6/10
The Terminator (SMS) First time, Gamefaqs says 2.8 hours, which again seems long, maybe 1.5 This game takes about ten to fifteen minutes to actually finish, just the difficulty (you only ever have one life) makes you replay it over and over. Looks decent and sounds good. Gameplay is a side scrolling action game, where you play through the plot of the movie. Kind of. I don't think it was Kyle who shot up the police station. The only thing I really think is worth mentioning is in the first level there is a turret you get to that you cannot pass, earlier in the level you pick up a machine gun, and this triggers a bomb appearing at a certain part in the level, which you need to activate to destroy the turret. How you are supposed to know this is beyond me, as if you continue progressing, as one generally would you will never find it and be stuck thinking you have to run through the turrets laser. Which I did like 5 times before swearing and going there must be something i'm missing. 6/10
Ys 7 (PSP) First Time, 32hrs43mins (Hooray for timers) Ys is probably one of my favourite gaming franchises, and while this entry made a couple of changes from the things I love about the games, it is still great. The three biggest changes are that you now have a 3 person party and you can swap control of which character you are using at the press of a button, and there are parts you must use characters other than Adol. Second is the size of the world, while you still feel like you are in a small part of a larger world like other games in the series, this games world is huge compared to others. Third, and this is probably the only negative change (depending on how you feel), is that some grinding has been introduced via a crafting system. All monsters can now drop a variety of crafting materials, and even though the game is speedy it can take some time to accumulate enough materials to get everyone the best equipment. I probably spent the last few hours of my play time grinding out materials, which slowed the game down, as even though it is a significantly larger game than previous Ys games, it still keeps a good pace about it. Still a great game, now onto Celceta 9/10
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Post by GamerL on Jan 23, 2019 7:16:27 GMT -5
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (first time playthrough, PS4)
That's 3 games down this year so far and we're not even done with Jan, that's pretty good.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 23, 2019 20:23:06 GMT -5
Phantasy Star II (Genesis/Switch, First Time)
PSII sure is something, but it's also a one step forward one step backward situation. The story is more complex, but somehow less developed and with fewer graphical flourishes. It feels like a novel condensed down to fit into a pamphlet. It's hard to really get into the plot when it feels like there's even less text than a GameBoy RPG. Really significant events just speed by fairly nonchalantly. Something like half the graphic scenes were saved for the ending, but it would have been nice to have them spread out a little more. What an ending though!
For sake of comparison, FFII (US) is 8Mb while this is 6Mb. Granted it did come out two years later, but it crams in a whole lot more text and greater enemy variety into a cartridge that isn't significantly larger. I very gladly would have given up animated enemies for a more developed plot.
The gameplay is still a little clunky. You still can't directly target individual enemies but you also generally only face a maximum of 4 although there are a small number of larger encounters. It would be nice to just focus on a single enemy at a time as the spreading out of damage drags out battles and makes them more difficult. I've never understood the logic of operating this way, and have never been a fan. You also can't see enemy HP anymore but can see damage output directly.
I'm not really fond of the inscrutable names all the techniques have. As mentioned here elsewhere, they're just regular words from different languages but also occasionally mistranslated. In what may or may not be a coincidence the wind attack here and in Megami Tensei is called Zan as it's taken from Sanskrit. The lack of TP restoratives is a little less of an issue here than in PS1 since characters have larger pools, but it can still be an issue at times.
The weirdest thing is the semi-automatic battle system in general. If you just want everyone to do a normal attack, just hit Fight and sit back. However, sometimes it would disengage on its own or ignore my attempts to bring up the menu again in others. If you actually want to give individual commands, the menu system is very clunky and requires many extra button presses since it always dumps you back to the main menu after issuing one for a character. A traditional per character selection with memory and an auto battle option would have been much more elegant.
Although I didn't really like the first person dungeons of the original, I miss them now that they're gone since the Genesis is capable of correctly animating them and having multiple tile sets. They were such a distinctive element that it's a shame to just drop them. The original US release came with maps and and a walkthrough for a reason as these dungeons tend to be very complicated but in a way that isn't totally fun. If the combat was snappy it wouldn't be such a big deal, but roaming around on your own while also being sucked into frequent and overly slow paced combat is a drag.
Overal, PSII feels a little stuck between the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. The interface and presentation feel very 8-bit, and it's a little under-ambitious compared to the original even though it hypothetically tries to be grander. It doesn't feel like a huge step forward like NES to SNES transitions tended to be. I think that speaks more to the quality of the original than the quality of the sequel though.
Rating: 7
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Post by toei on Jan 24, 2019 1:46:21 GMT -5
Phantasy Star II (Genesis/Switch, First Time) PSII sure is something, but it's also a one step forward one step backward situation. The story is more complex, but somehow less developed and with fewer graphical flourishes. It feels like a novel condensed down to fit into a pamphlet. It's hard to really get into the plot when it feels like there's even less text than a GameBoy RPG. Really significant events just speed by fairly nonchalantly. Something like half the graphic scenes were saved for the ending, but it would have been nice to have them spread out a little more. What an ending though! For sake of comparison, FFII (US) is 8Mb while this is 6Mb. Granted it did come out two years later, but it crams in a whole lot more text and greater enemy variety into a cartridge that isn't significantly larger. I very gladly would have given up animated enemies for a more developed plot. The gameplay is still a little clunky. You still can't directly target individual enemies but you also generally only face a maximum of 4 although there are a small number of larger encounters. It would be nice to just focus on a single enemy at a time as the spreading out of damage drags out battles and makes them more difficult. I've never understood the logic of operating this way, and have never been a fan. You also can't see enemy HP anymore but can see damage output directly. I'm not really fond of the inscrutable names all the techniques have. As mentioned here elsewhere, they're just regular words from different languages but also occasionally mistranslated. In what may or may not be a coincidence the wind attack here and in Megami Tensei is called Zan as it's taken from Sanskrit. The lack of TP restoratives is a little less of an issue here than in PS1 since characters have larger pools, but it can still be an issue at times. The weirdest thing is the semi-automatic battle system in general. If you just want everyone to do a normal attack, just hit Fight and sit back. However, sometimes it would disengage on its own or ignore my attempts to bring up the menu again in others. If you actually want to give individual commands, the menu system is very clunky and requires many extra button presses since it always dumps you back to the main menu after issuing one for a character. A traditional per character selection with memory and an auto battle option would have been much more elegant. Although I didn't really like the first person dungeons of the original, I miss them now that they're gone since the Genesis is capable of correctly animating them and having multiple tile sets. They were such a distinctive element that it's a shame to just drop them. The original US release came with maps and and a walkthrough for a reason as these dungeons tend to be very complicated but in a way that isn't totally fun. If the combat was snappy it wouldn't be such a big deal, but roaming around on your own while also being sucked into frequent and overly slow paced combat is a drag. Overal, PSII feels a little stuck between the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. The interface and presentation feel very 8-bit, and it's a little under-ambitious compared to the original even though it hypothetically tries to be grander. It doesn't feel like a huge step forward like NES to SNES transitions tended to be. I think that speaks more to the quality of the original than the quality of the sequel though. Rating: 7 Phantasy Star 2 was released in early 1989, still very much into the NES era. Its contemporary isn't Final Fantasy IV, it's Final Fantasy II and Dragon Quest III. Even the PC Engine had very few RPGs by then, and the PCE CD had none. Progress in genres and game design is constant and gradual, and doesn't just happen magically all at once when new hardware is released. The transition from NES to SNES was only this blatant because Nintendo kept their technologically archaic but still commercially successful hardware around for years while everyone else progressed beyond it, and by the time the SNES finally came out, its games profited from years of advances made by arcade, PC Engine, Genesis and computer developers, much like Nintendo's big N64 titles (all three of them) benefited from the years the PSX and Saturn had been on the market. PS2 is very much representative of an early 16-bit title - you can only see it as "stuck between the 8-bit and 16-bit eras" if you define the 16-bit era exclusively through the SNES or late releases in general. FFIV is also not representative of early SNES RPGs as a whole - most of them were far less developed narratively until about 1993, including FFV, (though at least you didn't have to suffer through stuff like the whole terrible mind control mess with Kain), and it's not until 1994 that most of the classic SNES RPGs people associate with the era began to come out, after the original Phantasy Star series was already over. I'm pretty certain Phantasy Star 2 has a larger script than PS1. There are many more NPCs, livelier towns, and much more world-building. PS1 was still largely limited to that utilitarian, first-gen console RPG, NPCs-are-only-there-to-give-you-hints approach. I definitely agree that it would've been great to have a more thoroughly-developed story, especially since it has so much potential, but if you compare PS2 to other 1989 RPGs, it was absolutely ahead of the pack. Also, 6mb to 8bm IS significant. That's 25% more space! You could have more than doubled the size of the script with that much extra space. Memory was very expensive at the time, however, and even having a 6mb raised the cost of production significantly, besides which, Sega staff was under pressure to supply the Megadrive with new games as fast as possible as 3rd parties hadn't gotten involved yet. I'm not a fan of the dungeons either (which were designed by an overzealous new employee trying to prove himself), but the colorful towns and animated battle scenes with visible characters were miles ahead of anything out at the time, the character and enemy designs were great, and the soundtrack has some amazing moments. I just wish Phantasy Star 2 had been made around 1993, so the story and characters could have really fulfilled their potential, but then we couldn't have had PSIV.
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Post by Bumpyroad on Jan 24, 2019 3:56:19 GMT -5
I just wish Phantasy Star 2 had been made around 1993, so the story and characters could have really fulfilled their potential, but then we couldn't have had PSIV. According to Wiki, Phantasy Star Generation 2 addresses some of the issues(character development etc.), but i haven't played it myself.
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Post by toei on Jan 24, 2019 7:29:26 GMT -5
Nah, Generation 2 is just a terrible, subcontracted budget game. What little story content it adds is no good, and it doesn't streamline the dungeons at all. Plus it looks horrible.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 24, 2019 10:00:16 GMT -5
Phantasy Star 2 was released in early 1989, still very much into the NES era. Its contemporary isn't Final Fantasy IV, it's Final Fantasy II and Dragon Quest III. Even the PC Engine had very few RPGs by then, and the PCE CD had none. Progress in genres and game design is constant and gradual, and doesn't just happen magically all at once when new hardware is released. The transition from NES to SNES was only this blatant because Nintendo kept their technologically archaic but still commercially successful hardware around for years while everyone else progressed beyond it, and by the time the SNES finally came out, its games profited from years of advances made by arcade, PC Engine, Genesis and computer developers, much like Nintendo's big N64 titles (all three of them) benefited from the years the PSX and Saturn had been on the market. PS2 is very much representative of an early 16-bit title - you can only see it as "stuck between the 8-bit and 16-bit eras" if you define the 16-bit era exclusively through the SNES or late releases in general. FFIV is also not representative of early SNES RPGs as a whole - most of them were far less developed narratively until about 1993, including FFV, (though at least you didn't have to suffer through stuff like the whole terrible mind control mess with Kain), and it's not until 1994 that most of the classic SNES RPGs people associate with the era began to come out, after the original Phantasy Star series was already over. I'm pretty certain Phantasy Star 2 has a larger script than PS1. There are many more NPCs, livelier towns, and much more world-building. PS1 was still largely limited to that utilitarian, first-gen console RPG, NPCs-are-only-there-to-give-you-hints approach. I definitely agree that it would've been great to have a more thoroughly-developed story, especially since it has so much potential, but if you compare PS2 to other 1989 RPGs, it was absolutely ahead of the pack. Also, 6mb to 8bm IS significant. That's 25% more space! You could have more than doubled the size of the script with that much extra space. Memory was very expensive at the time, however, and even having a 6mb raised the cost of production significantly, besides which, Sega staff was under pressure to supply the Megadrive with new games as fast as possible as 3rd parties hadn't gotten involved yet. I'm not a fan of the dungeons either (which were designed by an overzealous new employee trying to prove himself), but the colorful towns and animated battle scenes with visible characters were miles ahead of anything out at the time, the character and enemy designs were great, and the soundtrack has some amazing moments. I just wish Phantasy Star 2 had been made around 1993, so the story and characters could have really fulfilled their potential, but then we couldn't have had PSIV. I think you're misinterpreting what I mean. I'm only comparing it to FF4 in terms of size not the design. The SNES doesn't have any 6Mb games and FF4 is of a similar size. 2Mb is a relatively large increase, but it isn't that much in absolute terms. PSII wastes the space it does have on animating almost every enemy. Some of PSII enemies use the animation well, but way too many are barely animated both when idle and attacking. It's just a matter of differing priorities. Square wanted to push better storytelling first and better graphics second. Sega did the opposite. Expanding the story is always going to be the better option in an RPG. It has absolutely nothing to do with when the games themselves were released. It's not like FF4 is 32Mb or something. I don't know how the space is broken down exactly, but even if FF4 had to get cut down to 6Mb, it would still have a much more developed story. Even compared to FF2, there's still less of an ambition to push gameplay. FF2 is a mess in many ways, but it's an ambitious mess. PSII is very traditional and doesn't use the increase in technology to do anything new. It's basically a given that new hardware will lead to better graphics, but it doesn't come across as fundamentally different than the original. The change to newer hardware also possibly cut advanced aspects of the original. That's what I mean by it being stuck between eras. There's always a transition period between console generations where the conventions haven't changed yet and PSII feels stuck in that period. Also, the original series was not over during the golden age of SNES RPGs. PSIV came out in Dec. '93 in Japan (four months before FF6) and in Feb. '95 (four months after FFIII (US)) in the US. It's the only game out of the four I've never touched at all, but I would be extremely surprised if it isn't informed by the changes that had been occurring.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jan 24, 2019 12:46:13 GMT -5
dsparil , how did you get to this time?: I've only played one game so far and that took me about an hour. The How Long to Beat times are being used for now. The original plan was to only use those, but enough people are posting times that I'm planning to switch to a combo of timer+reference and reference only. Okay, so the time listed is HLTB + my time? Because HLTB is 1.5, not 2.5.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 24, 2019 13:05:06 GMT -5
The How Long to Beat times are being used for now. The original plan was to only use those, but enough people are posting times that I'm planning to switch to a combo of timer+reference and reference only. Okay, so the time listed is HLTB + my time? Because HLTB is 1.5, not 2.5. That's a mistake then. It should be 1.5 although I swear it said 2.5 when I looked at it. I actually posted my time for Travis Strikes Again because there weren't any, and now it seems to be gone. Might not be the stablest site. When I said timer+reference, it'd be the timer times plus the reference when the timer isn't available.
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Post by toei on Jan 24, 2019 13:39:17 GMT -5
dsparil The limited story development has everything to do with when it released. By 1989, console RPGs simply did not have more thoroughly developed stories than Phantasy Star 2. PS2 was actually pushing the envelope at the time with its character death and dramatic arc. RPG stories were constantly becoming more elaborate, but it was a very gradual change, and the two years of difference between PS2 and FF4 are very significant. You can see a progression in terms of storytelling from DQ1 to DQ2 (the addition of the other playable characters, with actual backstories) to DQ3 (the big fake ending plot twist, the quest for your missing father) to DQIV. Same for every FF episode at the time. And FF4 too made graphical improvements, obviously. You have to when you're trying to sell a new system. Final Fantasy 6 came after Phantasy Star 4, as you mentioned, and it was the first of the classic SNES RPGs. All the other SNES classics - Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, etc. etc., came out from '94 to '96. So going by Japanese release dates, where those games were made, the Phantasy Star series was indeed over before all the SNES classics came out, and PS4 was the first console RPG to reach that level of polish.
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