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Post by dsparil on Feb 14, 2023 9:34:43 GMT -5
It's just early bad endings that don't count.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Feb 14, 2023 18:31:42 GMT -5
I've actually had this (and some other games) beaten for about a week, but I've only now remembered to go and write this.
Battle Circuit (original on Arcade, played on Nintendo Switch; First Time; 44 minutes)
This is the fourth Capcom beat-em-up I've played overall, and it's a hell of an improvement on their previous ones. Even just the pure combat alone is so much fun, with plenty of movement, attacks that connect nicely into each other, and a lot of satisfaction from simply punching out a bunch of enemies. That's not even getting into the special moves everyone has and how you can earn more moves/upgrade your health and powers by getting coins - which encourages you to play better so you can expand your abilities. It's a great way to keep things interesting, and it seems that all five characters have their own unique movesets which means there's plenty more reason to keep coming back to the game.
Heck, even just the fact that there's cutscenes with dialogue specific to each of the characters is such a nice little touch, painting a more concrete picture of the world and even creating a neat "just another day becomes a big adventure" story that's surprisingly charismatic. Plus, it's a fair challenge on the easiest difficulty - you still have to have some wits about you, but you're more than able to take everyone on once you do that. Because of this and all the character-exclusive moves and dialogue, this is a game I'll deffo come back to. What a hell of a time.
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Post by dsparil on Feb 17, 2023 15:52:38 GMT -5
[Wicked Holy Sword] Necromancer (TurboGrafx-16, First Time)
The very first PCE RPG is unsurprisingly a near carbon copy of DQ and super grind heavy. The first part of the title, Jaseiken (邪聖剣), means something like Wicked Holy Sword from its component parts but the official English name is just Necromancer.
I finished in an exhausting 11:52:00.
Rating: 6
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Post by spanky on Feb 17, 2023 17:30:02 GMT -5
Huntdown (Switch, First Time)
An indie Contra-esque game with a cyberpunk bounty hunting theme. It was featured on a Game Sack episode a month or two ago and I thought it looked sort of neat. It went on sale a few weeks back, so I took that as a sign.
You work your way through 4 areas, each with their own colorfully themed gang, taking down bosses and eventually the leader. Levels are fairly short with multiple checkpoints. The bosses can be pretty creative but they can be huge bullet sponges and many of them have multiple lifebars. I just get sort of tired of bosses that have an energy bar the length of the screen and it ticks down one pixel every time you hit them. This feels really common in modern games...
Overall though it's pretty fun, there's no fancy bullet time mechanics or anything like that. Just solid run and gun action with plenty of weapons. Though there were times I was very annoyed you couldn't aim your gun. Very detailed and nicely done pixel art, and some of the cutscenes seem to have a 90s Amiga flair to them. There are tons of 80s pop culture references, both direct and a broader theme. Games and movies have been making 80s references for decades now, you kind of wonder if that's going to just keep going on forever. The music is all vaporwave synth stuff. It's not bad but nothing really wormed it's way in my head.
Very solid game but I don't see myself replaying it. 7/10.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Feb 18, 2023 8:50:59 GMT -5
Before I start doing these, I wanted to ask about the Capcom game Three Wonders. It's a collection of three games made specifically for this collection, and I wanted to know if each game can count separately. You don't unlock anything by beating all three and they have individual credit sequences (heck, the 2nd Capcom Arcade Stadium contains stats/records for each game), so it's not like the multiple modes featured in something like Kirby Super Star.
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The King of Dragons (original on Arcade, played on Nintendo Switch; First Time; 43 minutes)
I grabbed a few games on the 2nd Capcom Arcade Stadium since ther were on sale for a euro each, including a pair of beat-em-ups that Sotenga from the HG101 Discord recommended I check out - The King of Dragons and Knights of the Round. (Yeah, Capcom made two similarly named medieval-based arcade brawlers in 1991. The universe is weird like that sometimes.)
It's a fairly neat game, where it embellishes the small pool of moves you have by featuring five characters with different traits and attacks, a blocking mechanic where you pull back at the point an attack hits, and a levelling up system that makes you stronger over time. While I prefer brawlers with a greater degree of basic moves and attacks (like Battle Circuit or Streets of Rage 3), this is a solid enough way of keeping things interesting as the game goes on.
And gosh does it go on, because there's sixteen stages! Often times I felt like I was reaching the end, but then the game just kept going. On the one hand, I rather like that it throws so much at you, but I also feel like it kinda started spinning its wheels after a time. When levels start recycling bosses from earlier stages, but now there's two of them, I wonder if it would've been worth cutting down the stage length if it allowed for more time to design a couple more original boss fights.
Still, it's a pretty good beat-em-up with some nice visuals, solid gameplay and boss fights that require a good bit of strategy to beat without feeling awkward. One that's worth a look if you like fantasy-themed brawling.
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Post by dsparil on Feb 18, 2023 10:13:28 GMT -5
Three Wonders is fine separately.
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Post by JoeQ on Feb 18, 2023 16:40:57 GMT -5
Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below (PS4) - First time, Time: 85:39, Rating: 4/5Dragon Quest meets Koei's Warriors/Musou in a game that adds DQ's RPG elements and tower defense missions to the usual Warriors formula. Features all the familiar monsters and a bunch of crossover characters from DQ4, 5, 6 and 8. A very comfy game, batter downs enemies by the hundreds and watch numbers go up. Repetitive, but addicting. I liked it a lot. I completed the game 100% and got the platinum trophy. Alphabet Challenge: DKR
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Post by lurker on Feb 18, 2023 16:53:47 GMT -5
I'm surprised we haven't gotten a Final Fantasy Warriors/Musou game yet.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Feb 19, 2023 9:12:33 GMT -5
Fire Emblem: Awakening 3DS Replay 35 hours
Man do I miss the dedicated handheld consoles. Awakening is still my favorite Fire Emblem. Yeah the difficulty can be trivialized by Galeforce users but the story and characters are so much fun. I forgot just how many animated scenes are in the game. Makes Engage look pretty sad. Due to the pair-up and child mechanics support conversations occur frequently between battles which are always fun. Also despite having a player created Avatar, Chrom is still the main focus of the story. He must be deployed on all main maps and he recruits the characters.
On a Fire Emblem tear! Later this year I need to go and finally play through Radiant Dawn.
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Post by JoeQ on Feb 19, 2023 9:14:58 GMT -5
Good luck, Radiant Dawn is brutal and one of the hardest games in the entire series. So much so that it nearly killed it.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Feb 19, 2023 10:10:49 GMT -5
Funny, reading perspectives on it now Radiant Dawn has a decent fan base. I’ve always liked Path of Radiance but Radiant Dawn never grabbed me. I quit after part 1 of 4 back in the day but I at least finished that section.
I’ve beaten Hector hard mode in FE7, so I’m not too worried about difficulty. I will definitely be picking the easiest setting in Radiant Dawn though.
Also, 85 hours on DQ Heroes? Whew. I gave that one up after 10 or so. Granted I’m not the biggest DQ or Warriors fan.
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Post by JoeQ on Feb 19, 2023 10:59:25 GMT -5
Funny, reading perspectives on it now Radiant Dawn has a decent fan base. I’ve always liked Path of Radiance but Radiant Dawn never grabbed me. I quit after part 1 of 4 back in the day but I at least finished that section. I’ve beaten Hector hard mode in FE7, so I’m not too worried about difficulty. I will definitely be picking the easiest setting in Radiant Dawn though. Also, 85 hours on DQ Heroes? Whew. I gave that one up after 10 or so. Granted I’m not the biggest DQ or Warriors fan.
Radiant Dawn and the DS entries sold really poorly (to the point Nintendo didn't even bother to bring over the second DS game) and Awakening was meant to be the series swansong. But then the stars aligned again and it became a huge hit, pushing FE to become one of Nintendo's major franchises worldwide.
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Post by dsparil on Feb 19, 2023 11:57:01 GMT -5
It wasn't quite intended as a swansong as in an intentional last game. Nintendo told IS that the series would be canceled if the next game didn't sell at least 250k. That really lit a fire under IS to go all out and it's something that they'll never be able to repeat. I mean they did try again with Fates but that was just a mess.
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Post by excelsior on Feb 19, 2023 12:09:03 GMT -5
There was also a cancelled second Fire Emblem game for Wii, though I don't think it got very far. Still shows there were plans to continue the series immediately.
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Post by dsparil on Feb 19, 2023 12:35:22 GMT -5
The canceled Wii game was between Radiant Dawn and the first of the two DS games so the series still had a few years of fall to go. Regardless, they should revisit that concept. I do feel like the series could use a real shake up. The addition of dungeon areas to Echoes as a good first step, but then that just seemed to turn into the roamable Monastery instead.
Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch, Replay)
I was really looking forward to getting through MP for a fourth time, but maybe that is one time too many. If you've never played it, this is definitely the way to go with GC, Wii and new regular dual analog controls. The problem is that there's really way too much backtracking especially in the last third. The game should have ended with the Phazon Mine with it leading into the Impact Crater and the final boss instead of going on for hours more. I'd still get remakes of Echoes and Corruption though since I never actually finished either.
I finished in 14:39.
Rating: 7
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