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Post by dsparil on Sept 26, 2022 12:06:15 GMT -5
I played it a bit just now, and I'll go all the way to A. It's a super fun game with constantly moving action, and your sword actually has huge coverage. It'll hit everywhere except directly behind you. I'm too close to the end of all the PCE shooters to take a break from them now, but I'll definitely go back to Soul Blazer.
Edit: Oops, I meant to say I have beaten it before, and that it's more fun than I remember it being.
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Post by Snake on Sept 26, 2022 19:49:04 GMT -5
Soul Blazer - Rank A
I love Soul Blazer. It's a classic to me, and sets a formula shared with other Quintet games (namely Actraiser and Terranigma). You're a hero, set to vanquish demons, and gradually free up more of the world to explore, powering up to the eventual showdown against ultimate evil. The music is hip and moody. The controls are tight, with some visual features and sound effects that get shared with Actraiser (and even earlier Ys games, from it's developer pedigree). Agreed, the ending is bittersweet, yet hopeful. Wish I had snatched up a CIB copy of this game, back in the early days of ebay. It's one I'd love to have in my collection. It has good pacing, but it's not overly long. I wrapped up this game over a weekend, 2-day rental when it came out. Satisfying.
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Sept 30, 2022 15:43:15 GMT -5
Looks like someone is stealing your ideas, excelsior ... |
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Post by excelsior on Sept 30, 2022 21:07:26 GMT -5
Looks like someone is stealing your ideas, excelsior ... Well... it's good to know somebody's enjoying the forum besides the like 10 of us who still post here.  |
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Post by personman on Oct 2, 2022 1:26:46 GMT -5
I think I tried this way back in highschool for about an hour, said I'd go back to it and never did. Trying it now though I have to say I'm really surprised how hooked I got. I haven't finished it yet but I think I got the gist of things enough to get the idea. At first I didn't think I'd care for it since fighting things usually just involves literally parking your ass next to a monster closet and attacking but I see now the focus really isn't on the action as much as its about exploring. I don't want to be that guy and say its a metroid like affair but its giving me similar vibes. Each time I see a spawn point I'm always eager to take care of it and see what it opens up be it a path in the dungeon or more features in the town. Pretty cool how the two keep crossing over as well giving you items that'll act as keys or just giving you gear with different effects and it's been cool to see what I get next.
I'd say my only gripes so far is your little spinning magic orb really didn't need to be moving around like that and using it can be a bit of a pain. Maybe they did that since they found magic too strong but didn't want to nerf it. I liked what I saw with the first boss where they made clever use of the conveyer belt things but after that the rest have been real mindless and bland. Hopefully they pick back up. I'm at the fourth area now so it's still got some time to explore its potential more.
This was a nice surprise, its a simple but really fun little game. Hell simple enough I think it could be a good game for someone just getting started on games in general. Add in a charming little soundtrack and amusing engrish in its script and it looks like its a real gem.
Think I'm impressed enough I'm gonna give it an A as well!
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Post by excelsior on Oct 2, 2022 23:03:26 GMT -5
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Post by excelsior on Oct 2, 2022 23:29:13 GMT -5
I decided to go with a simpler, more elegant format for the introductions from this week. Hopefully you like it - it saves me some time anyway.
So Mega Man X.... it seems overdue. I guess this was also the feeling when the blue bomber originally landed on SNES. He'd overstayed his course on the NES and didn't land until three years after console launch. Of course, he saw quite the number of releases on the platform, so we had to get to him eventually.
As for the game itself, well I have nothing but good things to say about it. I may go against the grain here, but you can count me as somebody who vastly prefers the X gameplay to the original series and much of that has to do with this initial entry (I'd say the numbered series is more consistently strong, whilst X's highs are higher). It was a nice feature in this one where you started off playing similarly to classic Mega Man and through a series of upgrades you see the characters move set evolve throughout the game. The added dash, wall jump, and refined shooting mechanisms give X a more fast paced, action-packed feel. Level designs are more exploratory designed with the means of hiding upgrades. Especially when considering the added bonus of stages that change as impacted if you've defeated a particular robot boss, it seems that the order stages are approached is even more meaningful than before. The new character design (again evolving throughout) is really nice, though even then he's quickly out staged by the introduction of new character Zero. Both he and the major villain introduced here, Sigma, do much to separate the series identity from the original line, with a more futuristic, sci-fi feel. Robot bosses have been given a shot in the arm with more detailed designs, this now based on animals giving new ideas to draw from. The difficulty has been dialled back some, which for my liking is a positive, since it allows you to see the story, which is given an increase in focus. This whole game gives such a new perspective on an older series that it still feels fresh to me to this day. Some of that energy may have been lost as we transition to the sequels, but the original Mega Man X is a real gem in my opinion.
Ranking - S
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Post by vnisanian2001 on Oct 2, 2022 23:42:25 GMT -5
S for me, too.
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Post by spanky on Oct 3, 2022 6:40:55 GMT -5
I gravitate towards the original series but you could make a strong case that Mega Man X is the best game across the entire franchise. Every idea feels fresh and well implemented.
Permanent upgrades and exploration in a Mega Man game has a potential to be disastrous but nicely restrained here. There is a path that you can take that does not involve tons and tons of level revisiting. Being able to switch weapons with L/R is a great QoL addition and ensured I used them a lot more than I did in previous MM games. Switching the slide to a dash speeds up the gameplay quite a bit.
Adding some more story and drama works here as well though. I love the intro level and how it introduces Zero and Vile in a dramatic fashion. Plus it has lots of zazz with it's collapsing highways and giant enemies. I do think X's pacifist warrior schtick and the overall melodrama get a little much as the series goes on. Also how stupid are the humans in the X universe? "Let's keep creating heavily armed killer robots with free will. Oh no! They're killing us again!!"
The audiovisuals knock it out of the park as well. I like how your weapons can produce unique effects on the bosses (even non-weakness weapons), how some enemies laugh when they hit you and stuff like Mega Man breathing heavily when low on health then his breath condensating in cold areas! I have no idea how this is happening with a robot but it's cool! On my most recent playthrough I noticed quite a bit of slowdown, especially in the mine cart area in Armored Armadillo's stage but I have a bit of a "nostalgia callus" built up towards slowdown so it doesn't bother me that bad. Some of the best tunes across the entire franchise as well.
I think the X sequels immediately start a nosedive in quality with some real dreadful games as the series progresses but it starts off REALLY strong here. A top tier SNES game and a top tier Mega Man game. It's an easy S.
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Post by excelsior on Oct 3, 2022 6:58:10 GMT -5
Also how stupid are the humans in the X universe? "Let's keep creating heavily armed killer robots with free will. Oh no! They're killing us again!!" Hey, it works for Jurassic Park! |
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Oct 3, 2022 12:21:53 GMT -5
Was never a big fan of the direction this spinoff/reboot took in terms of aesthetics and story, and the game is mostly more of the same as the classic series - they basically just tweaked the dash and amount of items to go back for, added wall jumping/clinging and those weather effects. I actually skipped these at the time because I felt like I had already played so many MM games (the first X game I played was X4).
The new additions to your movement are mostly cool though I tend to get tired of mashing the dash button while recharging the gun and the game feels a bit slower than classic MM if you don't (IIRC X4 improved the dashing but then they went back to the previous style for later games). I also never find myself going back for upgrades much, it doesn't work as well with linear action levels and off screen enemy respawning, but it is kind of required for the final boss here.
There's some slowdown too but that's not an issue nowadays. My fave is actually X2 because I think the levels flow better and the bosses were improved overall.
With that said it's still around B or A for me thanks to all the good stuff you'd except from a MM game, overall better bosses and some quality of life improvements. I'll give it a strong B.
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Post by dsparil on Oct 3, 2022 13:25:37 GMT -5
As an SNES game, I'd go with an A for X although it'd drop it down to a B for the overall series. It's a little simple compared to some of the sequels, and there's certain sections I really hate. I do like the way stages change, and it's a shame that X6 is the only other one to have them. It's a solid game overall, and I can't fault it too much for being a good template for future games.
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Post by Snake on Oct 3, 2022 18:08:59 GMT -5
Rank - S
This game was made with love, and it shows. Like Super Castlevania IV, the jump from NES to SNES has blessed Mega Man with an array of skills that makes the game all too easy. But at the same time, it's such a joy to play through. Intelligent design, that really teaches you how to play without instructions. Weapons that effect the bosses and environments in meaningful ways. Stages that get affected by other defeated stages. The music is absolute perfection, from title screen, password screen, every stage, every fanfare. They even sought to add the cross-over Easter Egg of Hadoken!
This is one of those games that I come back to yearly. It's just so lovely, and aged so beautifully.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Oct 4, 2022 4:29:57 GMT -5
Finally one I've played again.
This is one of those all-time classics that I'd always emulated back when I started to get interested in retro games, but never really finished. I finally gave it a full playthrough a couple years ago on the SNES mini, but I just don't think it's a very good game.
The dash and wall jump are nice, but don't really add much to the Mega Man formula, plus they're not used in any particularly interesting platforming challenges. You can charge your X Buster, and like with the classic Mega Man games from 4 onward, it seems like they didn't really balance the game around that, as it rips through things too easily. Worst thing is how unbalanced the whole thing is. Between the heart containers, armor upgrade, and the refillable E-tanks, you end up with about 20x as much health fully-powered up compared to at the start of the game. You'll need it for the final boss, but it makes the rest of the game too easy. Yes, you might not find everything on your first playthrough, but you'll still find enough to be too durable, and it's not like it's that hard to find things anyway. Replaying previous stages to find stuff and having stages be altered based on other stages you've beaten also didn't really do much for me.
IDK, in the end, the level design is kind of bland and the different mechanics don't really come together well. Unfortunately they didn't really improve with the sequels, as X2 and X3 have even blander level design. At least the music and Maverick designs are great, and it's more boring and unbalanced than outright terrible, but I personally consider this a big downgrade over the classic series.
Rating: D
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Post by personman on Oct 8, 2022 1:56:34 GMT -5
The easiest S rank for me. It blew me away when I first tried it at a Demo station in a BestBuy and today it still holds up. Game play just feels like the most logical next step for the formula, it has one of the best if not THE best power set in the series with like nearly all of them being extremely useful and they often designed the stages around their use which is a big plus for me. The hidden upgrades added a ton and are still satisfying to assemble and it looks and sounds wonderful still today.
It's damn near perfect. I'd say the only things I could mark against it is the stage design can be a little flat. Like Flame Mammoth's stage isn't the most exciting and the change happens once you beat Chill Penguin just makes it worse. I think this also is when the series picked up a nasty habit of not only making the weaknesses do a bunch of damage but just end up invalidating the bosses. (Spark Mandrill is famous for this) like cool, I like that you went the extra mile and did more than just big damage but maybe don't just make it an 'I win' button. I think the only one worse about it was Megaman 7.
One of my favorite games of all time though. 2 definitely does some things better like stage design but I'd have to play it again to decide which is better over all. Absolute classic though, one of the best.
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