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The NeoGaf monthly gaming "challenge"
- Thread starter Ledsen
- Start date
Colette is OP. Like seriously OP. You know the secret boss? Abyssion? Two hits. TWO. One to hit him with Toss Hammer, causing poison that drains 4-5000 HP per second, and one to finish him off after a minute or two of that. But Colette has low defense and HP? Pfft. "DAMAGE GUARD!" Colette has parry. Like a really good parry. Invincible good. This is the true power of the clumsy one: No damage, solo, Abyssion... at level 6! Just look at his health draining away.
Would be fun to learn how to do that. Her only weakness really is her lackluster melee combo, but you can cancel the recovery and just spam the first hit. Hit, cast spell, cancel spell, hit... repeat. Infinite combo.
But I'm going after the Black Knight. I'll go for Tales of Colette another time. Got my game running in Dolphin, too, so I can take screenshots. Yay. I'll probably post the killshot on the Black Knight as proof if I make it to him. 27 chapters, some can be done in 20 minutes, some are over an hour long. Yup, not a quick challenge.
Nocturnowl
Member
To think, I went through many high level long co-op attempts to finally beat Abyssion.
Blood Diamonds
Banned
Guess I'm playing Wind Waker for this.
Seven Force
Banned
Gonna run through Symphony of the Night for this.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
A few people have urged me to do Mega Man 8. So I'm doing Mega Man 8.
Prior to Playing Post
I am not very fond of Mega Man 8. I like how it looks and sounds, but I am not terribly fond of its design (or level design), nor do I like the voice acting. Oddly, I remember not minding the jump jump slide slide parts which should probably irk me. Some of the bosses and character animations are pretty nice, though.
I do like the FC versions of 7&8 quite a bit, and it's been years since I've played the original games. So maybe I'll like the original MM8 more when I play through it soon.
The music's really awesome, though; for example, Frost Man -- freaking awesome bass, and nice instrument progression.
Man, I hope I like this game a little more than I did before. Let's do this.
Prior to Playing Post
I am not very fond of Mega Man 8. I like how it looks and sounds, but I am not terribly fond of its design (or level design), nor do I like the voice acting. Oddly, I remember not minding the jump jump slide slide parts which should probably irk me. Some of the bosses and character animations are pretty nice, though.
I do like the FC versions of 7&8 quite a bit, and it's been years since I've played the original games. So maybe I'll like the original MM8 more when I play through it soon.
The music's really awesome, though; for example, Frost Man -- freaking awesome bass, and nice instrument progression.
Man, I hope I like this game a little more than I did before. Let's do this.
I don't think I've ever played Golden Axe to be honest :/
I'm thinking of maybe Vectorman or Comix Zone.
That's a shame, it's incredibly fun with local co-op.
Lost interest in replaying Kingdom Hearts after about an hour. I forgot how picky I'd become over the years about camera controls, and the L2/R2 scheme is really bothering me here. I'll try again when I feel more patient because I remember how much I loved the story.
Black Knight Grudge Match Update!
Reached chapter 8, met the Black Knight. Ike's father fought the knight. Ike is now an orphan. Could have gone better. Also found the legendary blade "Ragnell". The only weapon that can harm the Black Knight, and the blade granting a free +5 Def. Ike will carry it around, but never use it, for some reason. Ike is not a clever man. What he is, though, is slightly ahead of the curve. His HP, Str and Def are average, but his Spd is 4-5 points ahead of the average Ike at his level. Outlook: Promising.
No losses and no resets, but chapter 8 is where the training wheels come off. Shinon and Gatria have left so I'm out two blockers. But on the flipside, recruiting Mist is in two chapters. A powerful Mist is a great asset in the Black Knight fight, even if she can't wield Ragnell. Fun fact about Radiant Dawn:
Next chapter: Defend the castle and recruit Ilyana. Not sure if I'll use her. On one hand, not quite the mage Soren is, on the other, Soren doesn't support with many people and since I'm not going for a Radiant Dawn transfer, I don't have to A-rank him with Ike. Ilyana supports with Mia, though, and Mia has massive potential as a Myrmidon with the Vantage skill. (Mia always goes fist in battle, even on the enemy turn.)
To those of you who know the game, should I go for Ilyana, with a Mia support or an unsupported Soren? I also need to figure out who Ike should support. Lethe is an option.
Reached chapter 8, met the Black Knight. Ike's father fought the knight. Ike is now an orphan. Could have gone better. Also found the legendary blade "Ragnell". The only weapon that can harm the Black Knight, and the blade granting a free +5 Def. Ike will carry it around, but never use it, for some reason. Ike is not a clever man. What he is, though, is slightly ahead of the curve. His HP, Str and Def are average, but his Spd is 4-5 points ahead of the average Ike at his level. Outlook: Promising.
No losses and no resets, but chapter 8 is where the training wheels come off. Shinon and Gatria have left so I'm out two blockers. But on the flipside, recruiting Mist is in two chapters. A powerful Mist is a great asset in the Black Knight fight, even if she can't wield Ragnell. Fun fact about Radiant Dawn:
She can wield Alondite, the Black Knight's blade, though.
Next chapter: Defend the castle and recruit Ilyana. Not sure if I'll use her. On one hand, not quite the mage Soren is, on the other, Soren doesn't support with many people and since I'm not going for a Radiant Dawn transfer, I don't have to A-rank him with Ike. Ilyana supports with Mia, though, and Mia has massive potential as a Myrmidon with the Vantage skill. (Mia always goes fist in battle, even on the enemy turn.)
To those of you who know the game, should I go for Ilyana, with a Mia support or an unsupported Soren? I also need to figure out who Ike should support. Lethe is an option.
Nocturnowl
Member
My bias says you go with Ilyana because, well it's Ilyana.
But I do think that Soren even with limited supports probably winds up better, more likely to pull off double hits as well as adept, I think there's more opportunities for super effective wind damage than lightning.
As for Ike, wasn't Ike/Oscar one of the best support options if you wanted to become an evasion machine?
But I do think that Soren even with limited supports probably winds up better, more likely to pull off double hits as well as adept, I think there's more opportunities for super effective wind damage than lightning.
As for Ike, wasn't Ike/Oscar one of the best support options if you wanted to become an evasion machine?
Ike/Oscar is nice. Earth/Earth support and all. But don't supports only work when both characters are near each other? If I'm wrong about that, then I should go Ike/Oscar, because it all comes to down to the second part of Chapter 27: "Moment of Fate" and only Ike and Mist are in that one. Sadly, they don't support each other. Apart from Mist granting Ike +10% critical chance, but the Black Knight is immune... unless you give Ike Wrath, but then he doesn't have room for Aether.
And yes, part of thinking of Ilyana as a pick is because she looks better than grumpy old Soren. Also, she has a Strength growth. She can use heavier tomes than Soren can without a speed penalty. It's a really tricky call. Soren is great, and all, but unless you get his Str up 3-4 points, he'll lose out on his Spd advantage. Unless you forge a superlight Elwind tome for him. But since the amount of times you can forge is limited, do you make this or a high-crit sword for Mia?
And choices like those are why I like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. There is no right answer. Most things can be workable. And with Bonus EXP, you can catch up most characters if you go for it. Mist is going to get a lot of bonus EXP, boosted in part by soft-resetting for good level-ups. Why? For that bonus challenge I set. Mist vs. The Black Knight for one round. It's possible. Barely.
EDIT: The Black Knight is immune to all non-Wrath criticals. I suddenly get an idea. Math time!
HOW TO BEAT THE BLACK KNIGHT WITH MATH
Or "Why Aether might not be the best idea..."
Assuming a maxed out Defense on Ike, which is a very safe assumption, he'll have 24+5 Def against a whopping 48 Atk on the Black Knight.
Ike takes 48-(24+5)=19 damage per exchange.
However, the knight has Luna which has a chance to cut Ike's defense in half before calculating damage.
Ike takes 48-(29/2)=33.5, and FE rounds down, so 33 damage. If Anna hates Ike that's 66 damage per turn... Ike's max HP is 60. Ike risks dying on turn 1.
Ike's Atk with Ragnell is 26+18=44. Against The Black Knight's 30+5 Defense he deals 9 damage per exchange, 18 per turn. But the knight heals 6 damage on his turn. After the Enemy Phase on turn six, the battle ends in a draw.
So, assuming everything hits, which is a bold assumption, the Black Knight's HP over time is...
Turn 1: 60, 51, 57, 48.
Turn 2: 39, 45, 36.
Turn 3: 27, 33, 24.
Turn 4: 15, 21, 12.
Turn 5: 3, 9, 0.
In a straight up slugging match, Ike wins as long as he's alive and never misses an attack. But Ike usually has 80-85% chance of hitting, which means about 90-ish% due to how Fire Emblem lies to you. Also, this assumes that The Black Knight never activates Luna, which he has a 30% chance of each exchange. So... what to do?
Problem one: Ike dies to Luna.
Solution: Deny the Black Knight the use of Luna. Equip the "Nehil" skill on Ike.
Problem two: Ike loses a fair fight.
Solution: Mist. If Ike has 60 HP and loses 19 per exchange, and the threat of Luna has been Nihil'd he can last three exchanges before needing to heal. So Mist heals after Ike attacks on an even turn. Ike needs at least 58 HP for this, leaving him at 1 HP.
Problem three: Ike cannot afford to miss.
Solution: Increase Ike's damage. The Black Knight is immune to criticals, except if Ike has the Wrath skill which gives you a +50% chance of doing a critical. And as mentioned earlier, Mist provides a 10% critical boost to Ike if she's in an adjacent square. But Wrath only kicks in at less than 50% HP.
So, let's track Ike's HP at the start of an exchange assuming 58 HP.
Turn 1: 58, 39
Turn 2: 20, 58
Turn 3: 39, 20
Turn 4: 58, 39
Turn 5: 20, 58
Turn 6: 39, 20
Four shots. With Mist next to him, four shots of 60% chance of doing 27 damage. And that affords Ike two misses for each Wrath Critical.
TL
R: Aether sucks for the Black Knight fight. Nihil/Wrath might be a better choice. Mist is the key to winning it all. She needs to have a B rank in Staves so she can use a Recover Staff as a Mend is too weak. And she needs enough fighting power to kill the enemy priests that appear to heal the Black Knight.
There, I did the math. 19 more chapters and I'll go for it.
And yes, part of thinking of Ilyana as a pick is because she looks better than grumpy old Soren. Also, she has a Strength growth. She can use heavier tomes than Soren can without a speed penalty. It's a really tricky call. Soren is great, and all, but unless you get his Str up 3-4 points, he'll lose out on his Spd advantage. Unless you forge a superlight Elwind tome for him. But since the amount of times you can forge is limited, do you make this or a high-crit sword for Mia?
And choices like those are why I like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. There is no right answer. Most things can be workable. And with Bonus EXP, you can catch up most characters if you go for it. Mist is going to get a lot of bonus EXP, boosted in part by soft-resetting for good level-ups. Why? For that bonus challenge I set. Mist vs. The Black Knight for one round. It's possible. Barely.
EDIT: The Black Knight is immune to all non-Wrath criticals. I suddenly get an idea. Math time!
HOW TO BEAT THE BLACK KNIGHT WITH MATH
Or "Why Aether might not be the best idea..."
Assuming a maxed out Defense on Ike, which is a very safe assumption, he'll have 24+5 Def against a whopping 48 Atk on the Black Knight.
Ike takes 48-(24+5)=19 damage per exchange.
However, the knight has Luna which has a chance to cut Ike's defense in half before calculating damage.
Ike takes 48-(29/2)=33.5, and FE rounds down, so 33 damage. If Anna hates Ike that's 66 damage per turn... Ike's max HP is 60. Ike risks dying on turn 1.
Ike's Atk with Ragnell is 26+18=44. Against The Black Knight's 30+5 Defense he deals 9 damage per exchange, 18 per turn. But the knight heals 6 damage on his turn. After the Enemy Phase on turn six, the battle ends in a draw.
So, assuming everything hits, which is a bold assumption, the Black Knight's HP over time is...
Turn 1: 60, 51, 57, 48.
Turn 2: 39, 45, 36.
Turn 3: 27, 33, 24.
Turn 4: 15, 21, 12.
Turn 5: 3, 9, 0.
In a straight up slugging match, Ike wins as long as he's alive and never misses an attack. But Ike usually has 80-85% chance of hitting, which means about 90-ish% due to how Fire Emblem lies to you. Also, this assumes that The Black Knight never activates Luna, which he has a 30% chance of each exchange. So... what to do?
Problem one: Ike dies to Luna.
Solution: Deny the Black Knight the use of Luna. Equip the "Nehil" skill on Ike.
Problem two: Ike loses a fair fight.
Solution: Mist. If Ike has 60 HP and loses 19 per exchange, and the threat of Luna has been Nihil'd he can last three exchanges before needing to heal. So Mist heals after Ike attacks on an even turn. Ike needs at least 58 HP for this, leaving him at 1 HP.
Problem three: Ike cannot afford to miss.
Solution: Increase Ike's damage. The Black Knight is immune to criticals, except if Ike has the Wrath skill which gives you a +50% chance of doing a critical. And as mentioned earlier, Mist provides a 10% critical boost to Ike if she's in an adjacent square. But Wrath only kicks in at less than 50% HP.
So, let's track Ike's HP at the start of an exchange assuming 58 HP.
Turn 1: 58, 39
Turn 2: 20, 58
Turn 3: 39, 20
Turn 4: 58, 39
Turn 5: 20, 58
Turn 6: 39, 20
Four shots. With Mist next to him, four shots of 60% chance of doing 27 damage. And that affords Ike two misses for each Wrath Critical.
TL
R: Aether sucks for the Black Knight fight. Nihil/Wrath might be a better choice. Mist is the key to winning it all. She needs to have a B rank in Staves so she can use a Recover Staff as a Mend is too weak. And she needs enough fighting power to kill the enemy priests that appear to heal the Black Knight.There, I did the math. 19 more chapters and I'll go for it.
Nocturnowl
Member
Well that's certainly one way to plan things out, the extent of my plan was...
- Don't chicken out of the Black Knight fight this time
- Actually level Mist for healing needs
- Leave myself at the mercy of random numbers
- Victory?
Yeah that managed to work for me, by comparison to those multiple mathematical plans up there I was flying by the seat of my pants.
I still have no strong idea of what game to play for this challenge, it's only just occurred to me that most of the games that would be suitable for this challenge require me to drag out my old consoles, maybe now is the time to jump on the XBLA versions of Perfect Dark or Banjo Tooie.
- Don't chicken out of the Black Knight fight this time
- Actually level Mist for healing needs
- Leave myself at the mercy of random numbers
- Victory?
Yeah that managed to work for me, by comparison to those multiple mathematical plans up there I was flying by the seat of my pants.
I still have no strong idea of what game to play for this challenge, it's only just occurred to me that most of the games that would be suitable for this challenge require me to drag out my old consoles, maybe now is the time to jump on the XBLA versions of Perfect Dark or Banjo Tooie.
Well, I figure something will go wrong with that plan, but why not stack the deck in my favor? I lost last time because the Knight got Luna about four times. With Nihil, he won't be able to. Besides, it's how you beat him in Radiant Dawn. He has Luna's superpowered evil twin skill there: Eclipse. "Atk*5, enemy defense is halved", if i remember right. It's three digits of damage. In Fire Emblem. Equip Nihil or die.
It'll be interesting to see if it works, but I can always just save in the base before chapter 27. Use Nihil/Wrath on Ike, see if it works, if not, restart chapter and come back with Aether. I just kind of got carried away with the math thing...
And Ike continues to level like a champ. Only thing lagging a little is his Def and maybe Str, but I know where to find a Dracoshield if needed. Ike will cap Def before the Knight. I'll cheese all the BEXP opportunities he gives me. BEXP was made to be cheesed. You can even if you're really stingy with it, add them one at a time so any level before 20/10 costs 100 BEXP or less to to do. Sort of big decision coming up in a few chapters. Do I stealth the prison level for a huge BEXP bonus or trigger the alarm and go for kill EXP? The stealth would be a massive boon to Mist and let me cheese a level or two for Ike, too... Also on Chapter 9 now, I need to save the homes there to get a Recover Staff for Mist.
I've been using Titania somewhat actively this time. I mean if no one else can reach the boss in a Defense map, I might as well have her ride out on the final turn and kill him. No EXP stolen from other people that way since no one else could do that. Also learned that she can wield spears. Looks weird when I'm used to seeing her with axes.
It'll be interesting to see if it works, but I can always just save in the base before chapter 27. Use Nihil/Wrath on Ike, see if it works, if not, restart chapter and come back with Aether. I just kind of got carried away with the math thing...
And Ike continues to level like a champ. Only thing lagging a little is his Def and maybe Str, but I know where to find a Dracoshield if needed. Ike will cap Def before the Knight. I'll cheese all the BEXP opportunities he gives me. BEXP was made to be cheesed. You can even if you're really stingy with it, add them one at a time so any level before 20/10 costs 100 BEXP or less to to do. Sort of big decision coming up in a few chapters. Do I stealth the prison level for a huge BEXP bonus or trigger the alarm and go for kill EXP? The stealth would be a massive boon to Mist and let me cheese a level or two for Ike, too... Also on Chapter 9 now, I need to save the homes there to get a Recover Staff for Mist.
I've been using Titania somewhat actively this time. I mean if no one else can reach the boss in a Defense map, I might as well have her ride out on the final turn and kill him. No EXP stolen from other people that way since no one else could do that. Also learned that she can wield spears. Looks weird when I'm used to seeing her with axes.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I finished Mega Man 8 on Friday.
When I first played through Mega Man 8 when I was younger, I didn’t really like it, for reasons I’ve stated before. I watched two people (fellow GAF poster Noi, and one of our GAF lurkers) run through it prior to doing this playthrough, so I guess that’s what factored into me picking the game up again.
I cycled through dislike -> indifference -> this is okay -> this stage is really pushing it towards indifference / this boss is pushing it to indifference -> this is okay.
Overall, I don’t feel strongly about Mega Man 8. It’s not my favourite Mega Man game by any means, but it’s an alright game nonetheless. It’s certainly not among my favourites when all is said and done, but at least I can say that I don’t dislike it now. I still like the things that I liked before: the boss animation, the character animation, the background art, and the music. I still don’t mind Jump Jump Slide Slide. I still think Dr. Light’s voice acting is hilarious as hell, and I still think Wily’s probably the best voice actor there. I also still think I dislike Mega Man’s voice. I still like the FC version 8 a lot. But that’s because I’m strange. Apparently.
I still don’t like some of the levels like Astro Man and Sword Man. I really don’t like that sort of level design in Mega Man. I was joking around saying “Tomb Raider: Mega Man Edition” when addressing Sword Man in the presence of friends, and Astro Man’s level? Well… man, that level is annoying when you’ve forgotten where to go (watching people go through a game and playing it yourself are two entirely different things). Though, that’s probably partially my fault.
I genuinely dislike that the levels have two halves rather than be seamless. It feels like they’re lengthened for the sake lengthening when really it’s not necessarily the case. I feel as though Wily 1 in that game is the perfect length for a MM8 level, while other levels like Sword Man and Astro Man just feel long for the sake of length (having cutoff points and then having to load up another section of the level when really being seamless would not have messed with the level cohesiveness). There are a few bosses I genuinely disliked (Wily 1's in particular). Some of the game structure just didn't jive well with me.
I do like that the weapons matter this time around, in that they’re used to facilitate you getting around the level easier or collecting bolts. Well, even moreso than before. Also, credits music was great. It has a lot of great music. Search Man, Stage Select (really love the stage select theme), etc. Lots and lots of nifty stuff on the soundtrack. I recall feeling that the soundtrack was boring at first, and to be fair, I still feel like the soundtrack has a few duds, but overall, I think it’s alright.
So, yeah. I hadn’t played MM8 in a long time. Replayed it now, and I think it’s alright. Not my favourite, but it’s passable. I do feel like the game’s general approach is to be a gentler MM game for people new to the series to get into.
--------------------
With that said, I decided to grab a copy of MMX4. When that gets here and if I have time on the weekend for it, I would love to go through that game again to see if it holds up. I love that game very much, so it'll be an interesting experiment.
Thanks for the thread idea, Ledsen.
When I first played through Mega Man 8 when I was younger, I didn’t really like it, for reasons I’ve stated before. I watched two people (fellow GAF poster Noi, and one of our GAF lurkers) run through it prior to doing this playthrough, so I guess that’s what factored into me picking the game up again.
I cycled through dislike -> indifference -> this is okay -> this stage is really pushing it towards indifference / this boss is pushing it to indifference -> this is okay.
Overall, I don’t feel strongly about Mega Man 8. It’s not my favourite Mega Man game by any means, but it’s an alright game nonetheless. It’s certainly not among my favourites when all is said and done, but at least I can say that I don’t dislike it now. I still like the things that I liked before: the boss animation, the character animation, the background art, and the music. I still don’t mind Jump Jump Slide Slide. I still think Dr. Light’s voice acting is hilarious as hell, and I still think Wily’s probably the best voice actor there. I also still think I dislike Mega Man’s voice. I still like the FC version 8 a lot. But that’s because I’m strange. Apparently.
I still don’t like some of the levels like Astro Man and Sword Man. I really don’t like that sort of level design in Mega Man. I was joking around saying “Tomb Raider: Mega Man Edition” when addressing Sword Man in the presence of friends, and Astro Man’s level? Well… man, that level is annoying when you’ve forgotten where to go (watching people go through a game and playing it yourself are two entirely different things). Though, that’s probably partially my fault.
I genuinely dislike that the levels have two halves rather than be seamless. It feels like they’re lengthened for the sake lengthening when really it’s not necessarily the case. I feel as though Wily 1 in that game is the perfect length for a MM8 level, while other levels like Sword Man and Astro Man just feel long for the sake of length (having cutoff points and then having to load up another section of the level when really being seamless would not have messed with the level cohesiveness). There are a few bosses I genuinely disliked (Wily 1's in particular). Some of the game structure just didn't jive well with me.
I do like that the weapons matter this time around, in that they’re used to facilitate you getting around the level easier or collecting bolts. Well, even moreso than before. Also, credits music was great. It has a lot of great music. Search Man, Stage Select (really love the stage select theme), etc. Lots and lots of nifty stuff on the soundtrack. I recall feeling that the soundtrack was boring at first, and to be fair, I still feel like the soundtrack has a few duds, but overall, I think it’s alright.
So, yeah. I hadn’t played MM8 in a long time. Replayed it now, and I think it’s alright. Not my favourite, but it’s passable. I do feel like the game’s general approach is to be a gentler MM game for people new to the series to get into.
--------------------
With that said, I decided to grab a copy of MMX4. When that gets here and if I have time on the weekend for it, I would love to go through that game again to see if it holds up. I love that game very much, so it'll be an interesting experiment.
Thanks for the thread idea, Ledsen.
Well, the Black Knight Grudge Match is still on. Reached chapter 16 today. Ike is still witin normal rage, except for Speed, which is far ahead, and i have a bunch of stat-up items, too. Ike will pretty much guaranteed have the required 58+ HP with capped Strength, Skill, Speed, and Defense.
Having a little trouble leveling up Mist, she's a staff user, but I've played this game enough that I can take out a lot of fodder enemies without taking damage. She really needs to be a Valkyrie before the Black Knight battle.
Ah well, next up is Chapter 16, and indoors map, and then... Chapter 17. Those of you who know Path of Radiance will just nod quietly at that, but for those of you that don't, here's what's going to happen next. Chapter 17 is not ONE map. It's not two or three, either. It's four maps, in a row, no resupplying, no fresh weapons, and I forget if you get a heal between each map. You need fresh weapons for everyone who will fight, and you get to field nearly everyone.
In short, it's a glorious madness that is worth a good 3-6 levels for everyone involved. There will be a few in map Class Changes coming. And the reward for beating Chapter 17? Ike gets his Class Change to Lord. Normally this would mean teaching him Aether, but since I'm going for the Wrath/Nehil thing, I'll have to make do without it for now. That does leave a free Occult scroll, so I need to think about who gets it.
As for the question about going with Soren OR Ilyana... I chose a third option. I dropped Jill and I'm running both. Ilyana is the better mage of the two at the moment, but only just.
Having a little trouble leveling up Mist, she's a staff user, but I've played this game enough that I can take out a lot of fodder enemies without taking damage. She really needs to be a Valkyrie before the Black Knight battle.
Ah well, next up is Chapter 16, and indoors map, and then... Chapter 17. Those of you who know Path of Radiance will just nod quietly at that, but for those of you that don't, here's what's going to happen next. Chapter 17 is not ONE map. It's not two or three, either. It's four maps, in a row, no resupplying, no fresh weapons, and I forget if you get a heal between each map. You need fresh weapons for everyone who will fight, and you get to field nearly everyone.
In short, it's a glorious madness that is worth a good 3-6 levels for everyone involved. There will be a few in map Class Changes coming. And the reward for beating Chapter 17? Ike gets his Class Change to Lord. Normally this would mean teaching him Aether, but since I'm going for the Wrath/Nehil thing, I'll have to make do without it for now. That does leave a free Occult scroll, so I need to think about who gets it.
As for the question about going with Soren OR Ilyana... I chose a third option. I dropped Jill and I'm running both. Ilyana is the better mage of the two at the moment, but only just.
Nocturnowl
Member
That's my Ilyana, she hungers for victory.
If worst comes to pass for Mist there's always the master seal, but i'm sure Bonus EXP will help the class change to happen "naturally".
Chapter 17 is such a fiendish move on your first playthrough, it greatly benefits from preparation.
I finally made a decision of what game to play for this challenge and started it up just an hour ago, since i've got other games on my plate right now a short game is in order and seeing that Luigi's Mansion 2 is a week away i'm taking the GC original for another run.
Considering that it's a GC launch title it holds up really quite well visually, the wobbling of Luigi's nose and he walks is almost hypnotic.
I've just unleashed all the Boos, i'm dreading the moment one of those buggers decides to scamper through a wall into a locked room. It's such a unique game and I might come out of this replay liking it more than I already did, though I bet i'll still hate Boolossus when it's all said and done.
I'd like to say that i'm going for the A rank mansion but in the PAL version i'm pretty sure that's near impossible unless you play the PAL only hidden mansion mode (mirrored layout, tougher ghosts, slightly revamped bosses, stronger poltergust and more money to nab), i'm sticking to the standard game so i'll settle for a nice B rank hopefully.
If worst comes to pass for Mist there's always the master seal, but i'm sure Bonus EXP will help the class change to happen "naturally".
Chapter 17 is such a fiendish move on your first playthrough, it greatly benefits from preparation.
I finally made a decision of what game to play for this challenge and started it up just an hour ago, since i've got other games on my plate right now a short game is in order and seeing that Luigi's Mansion 2 is a week away i'm taking the GC original for another run.
Considering that it's a GC launch title it holds up really quite well visually, the wobbling of Luigi's nose and he walks is almost hypnotic.
I've just unleashed all the Boos, i'm dreading the moment one of those buggers decides to scamper through a wall into a locked room. It's such a unique game and I might come out of this replay liking it more than I already did, though I bet i'll still hate Boolossus when it's all said and done.
I'd like to say that i'm going for the A rank mansion but in the PAL version i'm pretty sure that's near impossible unless you play the PAL only hidden mansion mode (mirrored layout, tougher ghosts, slightly revamped bosses, stronger poltergust and more money to nab), i'm sticking to the standard game so i'll settle for a nice B rank hopefully.
Yeah, and it also has this wonderful little "screw you" move of having Ike being forced to carry Leanne for most of it, significantly lowering his Speed. If you've been dependent on Ike for most of the game, then, well, as Anna says in the tutorial: "Sucks to be you."
And yeah with Mist. For one I got the desert Physic staff, so she'll be able to heal at range now, and when she gets the ability to wield swords, I'll probably forge her something nice and let her go nuts. But since I know the trick in the Neasala fight and the trick to the guy who hides behind all the priests in a later map, I won't be wanting for Bonus EXP. I have just over 1000 stores as is, and my team is wrecking stuff as is.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I've decided to play something else for this thread. And it is the game I had intended to play!
Mega Man X4 is one of my favourite games of the forever.
Or at least it was when I was younger. I ended up rebuying a copy of it this week and it came to me today, which means I get to play it today. Because it is good, and the soundtrack's great. It's not often that I get to fangirl over a game, so let me have my time to do so.
Mega Man X4 is my favourite X game and it's where I think the X series truly peaked. I love how it stuck to sprites over the system leap, and I loved the animations. The backgrounds and foregrounds are absolutely beautiful. The game sticks to "beauty in simplicity" and doesn't try many things that are too elaborate in favour of trying to take advantage of the capabilities of newer hardware. To some that might be considered a flaw, but I like my games simple.
The levels are nicely designed as well, despite having that 2-area division that bugged me a lot in MM8. I think I liked the pacing and variety a lot. The bosses aren't perfect and they are kind of easy even with just the buster or the sword.
Zero finally becomes a fully-playable character. While this marks the beginning of where the series started being about Zero as opposed to X, I loved the idea of finally getting a shot to play as Zero because he uses some close-range combat skills rather than a buster. To that end, both characters were markedly different to play, and offered a variety of skills to the player to facilitate how the player felt when choosing either character for a playthrough. Some like long-range charge / learn different skills combat, while others like short-ranged combat / learn technique combat. Being able to play as Zero was refreshing.
I generally like my games to be quick and difficult, and X4... isn't really that difficult. In the past, I could've done no-hit runs with little issue. That's a bit of a flaw, I guess. I don't like the voice acting too much (shit, that goes without saying), but everything else about it is fantastic.
Also, the music is fucking awesome, but that goes without saying considering the series.
Let's see if I still think as positively as I begin this playthrough.
Mega Man X4 is one of my favourite games of the forever.
Or at least it was when I was younger. I ended up rebuying a copy of it this week and it came to me today, which means I get to play it today. Because it is good, and the soundtrack's great. It's not often that I get to fangirl over a game, so let me have my time to do so.
Mega Man X4 is my favourite X game and it's where I think the X series truly peaked. I love how it stuck to sprites over the system leap, and I loved the animations. The backgrounds and foregrounds are absolutely beautiful. The game sticks to "beauty in simplicity" and doesn't try many things that are too elaborate in favour of trying to take advantage of the capabilities of newer hardware. To some that might be considered a flaw, but I like my games simple.
The levels are nicely designed as well, despite having that 2-area division that bugged me a lot in MM8. I think I liked the pacing and variety a lot. The bosses aren't perfect and they are kind of easy even with just the buster or the sword.
Zero finally becomes a fully-playable character. While this marks the beginning of where the series started being about Zero as opposed to X, I loved the idea of finally getting a shot to play as Zero because he uses some close-range combat skills rather than a buster. To that end, both characters were markedly different to play, and offered a variety of skills to the player to facilitate how the player felt when choosing either character for a playthrough. Some like long-range charge / learn different skills combat, while others like short-ranged combat / learn technique combat. Being able to play as Zero was refreshing.
I generally like my games to be quick and difficult, and X4... isn't really that difficult. In the past, I could've done no-hit runs with little issue. That's a bit of a flaw, I guess. I don't like the voice acting too much (shit, that goes without saying), but everything else about it is fantastic.
Also, the music is fucking awesome, but that goes without saying considering the series.
Let's see if I still think as positively as I begin this playthrough.
I succeeded! Finished Advance Wars, did the regular campaign and the war room maps. Not going to do the "advance" difficulty mode since I'm busy now but at least I can finally say I passed the game.
I think I like it less than Fire Emblem, although I felt the reverse as a kid. The story was... barely there and kind of bad, and the difficulty spike on that last mission was terrible. Still a good game though, very fun.
I think I like it less than Fire Emblem, although I felt the reverse as a kid. The story was... barely there and kind of bad, and the difficulty spike on that last mission was terrible. Still a good game though, very fun.
Black Knight Grudge Match update.
Thanks to putting aside an afternoon... and part of an evening... for it, Chapter 17 is now competed. And as customary on this particular playthrough, the Defense part ended with a Rout. Nephenee is turning out scary here. But Boyd was the only one to hit level 21 and get an auto-promote this time. Usually one or two more would do that. He has sad defense, though, so I gave him Vantage. Sure, you can hit him, and if you do it will hurt, but... Boyd goes first. Also of note: Ilyana frying the Meteor Mage in part four in one shot of Bolting. Atta girl. Soren is keeping up, barely, but Ilyana is turning out to be the top mage this time.
But of course, the real treasure...
"Rise! Lord Ike!"
My Ike in bold, average Ike according to Serenes Forest in italic.
HP: 41 (37.25) Str: 18 (17.5) Mag: 8 (6.8) Skill: 18 (17.5) Spd: 22 (19.45) Luck: 14 (12.65) Def: 14 (15.6) Res: 11 (9.6)
So... a quick, but defensively lacking Ike. Not bad, but not great either. I've used a Seraph Robe on him, so subtract 7 from his HP for his natural number. To reach the 58 HP I want for the Black Knight battle, Ike has to hit a 75% chance of +1 HP 17 times out of the 19 level ups he has left. That's... possible, but unlikely. But I do have a second Seraph Robe lying around, but even then I need a 10/19 success rate to hit 51. I'm going to have to do some bonus EXP fiddling here.
Thanks to putting aside an afternoon... and part of an evening... for it, Chapter 17 is now competed. And as customary on this particular playthrough, the Defense part ended with a Rout. Nephenee is turning out scary here. But Boyd was the only one to hit level 21 and get an auto-promote this time. Usually one or two more would do that. He has sad defense, though, so I gave him Vantage. Sure, you can hit him, and if you do it will hurt, but... Boyd goes first. Also of note: Ilyana frying the Meteor Mage in part four in one shot of Bolting. Atta girl. Soren is keeping up, barely, but Ilyana is turning out to be the top mage this time.
But of course, the real treasure...
"Rise! Lord Ike!"
My Ike in bold, average Ike according to Serenes Forest in italic.
HP: 41 (37.25) Str: 18 (17.5) Mag: 8 (6.8) Skill: 18 (17.5) Spd: 22 (19.45) Luck: 14 (12.65) Def: 14 (15.6) Res: 11 (9.6)
So... a quick, but defensively lacking Ike. Not bad, but not great either. I've used a Seraph Robe on him, so subtract 7 from his HP for his natural number. To reach the 58 HP I want for the Black Knight battle, Ike has to hit a 75% chance of +1 HP 17 times out of the 19 level ups he has left. That's... possible, but unlikely. But I do have a second Seraph Robe lying around, but even then I need a 10/19 success rate to hit 51. I'm going to have to do some bonus EXP fiddling here.
How long is the game? I really want to replay it one day but need to find the time.
Nocturnowl
Member
Boyd was my top killer last time, beating Ike to the top spot by one kill and that was with him snoozing through the end game, the man is a true beast, more so than any Laguz!
Vantage Boyd, interesting idea, his defence can be a bit naff at times so that's certainly one scheme.
If you really know what you're doing it you can finish around 5-6 hours, more realistically it could range from 8 to 12 depending on how fast you go.
It helps to play each world in one sitting due to the way the note collecting works (unless it's the XBLA version).
I need to crack on with more Luigi's Mansion, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is doing a fine job of devouring my gaming time right now and i'm getting ever closer to the LM2 release date.
Gintoki313
Banned
I guess I'll have to play one of my favorite N64 games for this. I gotta decide on Conker's Bad Fur Day or Donkey Kong 64.
Decisions decisions decisions.
Decisions decisions decisions.
Well, until Boyd promoted, Mist was beating him in Defense. Not that Boyd had awful defense, I mean an 8 is respectable for a Fighter. It's just that... so does Mist. And she's had that for more levels than Boyd. She's also rocking 11 Strength. Valkyrie Mist is going to be an absolute terror like this. She has enough strength to use swords properly. Forged her one already, she'll come out of the gate with a 25-30-ish Atk. I have a monster Mist in this game. Good, I'll need her.
Vantage Boyd works out fairly well, too. I need to forge him an axe that hits really hard to get the most out of it, but the AI loves to go for the unit it can hurt the most. Or just Ike. It's like Ike has a "Kick Me!" sign on his back when it comes to the AI. But I suppose that's the usual Fire Emblem AI... if it can make you lose, it will. It's just that to Ike is not pushover.
EDIT: BEXP'd Mist to 20 and Master Seal'd her. 27 Atk. And 11 Defense. Same defense as Boyd. She isn't letting him go just yet. Almost considering tossing an Occult scroll her way and giving her Sol, just for laughs. But that'd probably be a little wasteful. Actually, when not going for Aether, what are the better options for the Occults?
Nocturnowl
Member
DK64 is substantially longer than Conker, a point worth factoring in here.
The AI do have their targeting quirks, nothing quite as bad as when faced with many units that all focus on the one unit (as you say, Ike is often the target) and then you're left actually not wanting the counter attacks to kill as each sort of sacrificed enemy unit lands a blow on the target of choice, that crazy numbers game adds up in damage no matter how swiftly they drop.
I was never too sure which Occults were the best regarding other units, I think I shoved one on Gatrie last time since he doesn't always pack enough punch or speed to instantly clean out a unit, the occult ability could come in handy.
I remember putting one on Shinon just because I like the deadeye animation but it's a pretty awful skill, you often ended up sacrificing a kill opportunity to send them to sleep instead, well at least they were put to sleep with style, aerial archery is nothing to sniff at.
I made use of the last hour or so to continue Luigi's Mansion, i'm kind of impressed about how much I remember, hidden cheeses for gold mice, treasure rooms,gem locations, it just comes flooding back.
I sped through Area 2 and a bit of Area 3, the portrait ghosts are getting more frantic in their attempts to survive and thus i've missed out on a few gold frames, once again i'm thinking this is another thing that was made tougher in the PAL version since the hidden mansion mode gave a stronger vacuum, alas this means the one in the standard game just doesn't have the pull to cleanly reel in the most fidgety buggers in one go.
Now, I must remember to keep watering the big plant in the garden after each boss, it drops one of two gold gems if I recall.
I've been leveling up Volke for this one. Might give him Lethality. Tag, you're dead! Volke can be such a bully when an enemy thief beats him to a chest. Steal the item from the enemy thief, then beat him down with a dull knife.
Well, next chapter is an important one. I has the Recover staff, Wrath, and, of course, Shinon. Whose way of re-recruiting is just so needlessly complicated. At least I've been leveling Rolf. He's 100 EXP from becoming a Sniper himself. Also, of course, Reyson. One more squishy to protect... but a good one.
Well, next chapter is an important one. I has the Recover staff, Wrath, and, of course, Shinon. Whose way of re-recruiting is just so needlessly complicated. At least I've been leveling Rolf. He's 100 EXP from becoming a Sniper himself. Also, of course, Reyson. One more squishy to protect... but a good one.
Lowlander2
Banned
I guess I'll crack open Parasite Eve 2 again. That used to be my favourite game ever.
georgetheplushie
Member
Games I've beaten this month:
March 1st - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game: One of my favorite games growing up despite never owning it until starting to build my NES collection. At some point I got it in my head that it was completely inferior to the arcade version because of the lack of 4-player. I totally forgot about the extra levels that actually do add some nice things to the experience. Now it's obvious that both have their own advantages, and honestly how often am I going to find three other people to play through the arcade version with? That said, TMNT III: The Manhattan Project and TMNT IV: Turtles in Time are both better experiences in my book. I think this game has the best final boss fight out of all them, though.
March 1st - Mega Man 8: Yay, a repeat in the thread. I played this because I had never beaten it. I've owned it for quite a while, but only ever got through the intro level because I found it incredibly mediocre. After beating it, I won't say it's a bad game--just a bad Mega Man game (probably the worst of the main series). Like Dark Schala, I feel like the breaks in the levels really hinder the flow of the game, and certain stages just drag on. I legitimately cringed at every snowboard and shoot 'em up section. I'd say about half of the bosses are okay, but the weapons were completely unimpressive. Searching for bolts was cool, but there was no way I was going to stress about finding them all with the level design in that game. I just grabbed enough to get the powers I really wanted and was done with it. The FMV-cutscenes are hilarious because of the voice acting, but I'd be embarrassed if it was my own work. It's worth playing because you can feel how stale the series was getting even now, and nothing they tried seemed to help.
March 2nd - The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse: I received this game as a gift for my 6th birthday. It was a fun Capcom platformer that still holds up even today. The levels are nice and varied, the soundtrack is pretty good, and you have a nice array of powers to get you through the levels. The game is incredibly short and very easy, though. There are so many awesome mechanics throughout the game, and it's a crime how underutilized they are: the awesome flying fruit in the first level, the giant rolling fruit you can ride down the brambles, pushing blocks with the fire hose (this does get reused in the final level, but not to the degree that I'd have liked), the ice sled, the fucking Bionic Commando grappling hook (this is also a bit underpowered, I feel), the flaming platforms, the magic carpets, and more. The bosses are a little uninspired and all pretty easy. The item shop if fucking overpriced and way too hidden. There's no way I'm going to farm for coins just so I use less weapon energy or get another heart tank. I feel like the sequels aren't quite as good as this one, but I remember the third one being pretty close. Also, changing your outfit totally takes way too long and messes with the flow of the game way too much.
March 3rd - Donkey Kong Country: Legendary game, but I hadn't played through it in some time. This game is easily trumped by 2. The levels just feel uninspired in a lot of cases, about half of them seeming like obstacle courses thrown together with platforming that's never really that hard. A few others have one-off gimmicks that aren't very interesting, but a few of them hit that sweet spot of exploring game mechanics and showing the player new things. Bonus rooms are pointless, so you can really understand the idea to add the bonus coins and the secret world in the sequels. Once again another game with mediocre bosses, something I feel the series never quite got right (2's were better, and although gimmicky 3's were pretty good). The soundtrack is amazing, though, and the definite highlight of the game now that we're all done ogling its graphics.
March 15th - Pilotwings: A game I'd never played and just felt like giving it a try; it largely feels like a tech demo for Mode 7 that somehow made itself into a retail game. All the flying mechanics are fun, the bonus games are fun, but the challenges themselves aren't very interesting and never get very difficult. The chopper sections can be tricky until you learn the trick to them, but I wish they could have fleshed out the main game a little more. It's a little silly how the entire world is flat, but I understand the limitations of the sytem are mainly at fault there. With not much to explore, a free flight mode would seem silly, but after playing the 3DS Pilotwings, you can't help but miss it.
March 15th - Battletoads in Battlemaniacs: A game I struggled with for years since I was a kid. Now this game seems incredibly easy for me. For a game that's touted as difficult, I feel like it all really comes down to just understanding and mastering the game's mechanics (with some memorization). Many may never see past Turbo Tunnel, the jet bike level, but it's really not that bad. I feel like the levels hit that sweet spot of having just the right amount of content. The problem is that there aren't very many levels. Compared to NES Battletoads there is like half the stages! For people who can't get through the game easily enough, the continue system will really wear on you, especially considering the levels in this game. A really lame final boss fight, and a really lame ending don't help much either.
---
Other games I've been working on this month:
Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge: Another game from my childhood, but this game is bad--really bad. The soundtrack is good. I'll try to finish it before the end of March to really give it to this game.
Super Metroid: I wanted to try out the Any% speedrunning route. It's been fun. So far I'm at just after Speedbooster with a gametime of 19 minutes. Not winning any records since I'm learning a lot of this as I go, but it's an awesome way to play through the game.
March 1st - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game: One of my favorite games growing up despite never owning it until starting to build my NES collection. At some point I got it in my head that it was completely inferior to the arcade version because of the lack of 4-player. I totally forgot about the extra levels that actually do add some nice things to the experience. Now it's obvious that both have their own advantages, and honestly how often am I going to find three other people to play through the arcade version with? That said, TMNT III: The Manhattan Project and TMNT IV: Turtles in Time are both better experiences in my book. I think this game has the best final boss fight out of all them, though.
March 1st - Mega Man 8: Yay, a repeat in the thread. I played this because I had never beaten it. I've owned it for quite a while, but only ever got through the intro level because I found it incredibly mediocre. After beating it, I won't say it's a bad game--just a bad Mega Man game (probably the worst of the main series). Like Dark Schala, I feel like the breaks in the levels really hinder the flow of the game, and certain stages just drag on. I legitimately cringed at every snowboard and shoot 'em up section. I'd say about half of the bosses are okay, but the weapons were completely unimpressive. Searching for bolts was cool, but there was no way I was going to stress about finding them all with the level design in that game. I just grabbed enough to get the powers I really wanted and was done with it. The FMV-cutscenes are hilarious because of the voice acting, but I'd be embarrassed if it was my own work. It's worth playing because you can feel how stale the series was getting even now, and nothing they tried seemed to help.
March 2nd - The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse: I received this game as a gift for my 6th birthday. It was a fun Capcom platformer that still holds up even today. The levels are nice and varied, the soundtrack is pretty good, and you have a nice array of powers to get you through the levels. The game is incredibly short and very easy, though. There are so many awesome mechanics throughout the game, and it's a crime how underutilized they are: the awesome flying fruit in the first level, the giant rolling fruit you can ride down the brambles, pushing blocks with the fire hose (this does get reused in the final level, but not to the degree that I'd have liked), the ice sled, the fucking Bionic Commando grappling hook (this is also a bit underpowered, I feel), the flaming platforms, the magic carpets, and more. The bosses are a little uninspired and all pretty easy. The item shop if fucking overpriced and way too hidden. There's no way I'm going to farm for coins just so I use less weapon energy or get another heart tank. I feel like the sequels aren't quite as good as this one, but I remember the third one being pretty close. Also, changing your outfit totally takes way too long and messes with the flow of the game way too much.
March 3rd - Donkey Kong Country: Legendary game, but I hadn't played through it in some time. This game is easily trumped by 2. The levels just feel uninspired in a lot of cases, about half of them seeming like obstacle courses thrown together with platforming that's never really that hard. A few others have one-off gimmicks that aren't very interesting, but a few of them hit that sweet spot of exploring game mechanics and showing the player new things. Bonus rooms are pointless, so you can really understand the idea to add the bonus coins and the secret world in the sequels. Once again another game with mediocre bosses, something I feel the series never quite got right (2's were better, and although gimmicky 3's were pretty good). The soundtrack is amazing, though, and the definite highlight of the game now that we're all done ogling its graphics.
March 15th - Pilotwings: A game I'd never played and just felt like giving it a try; it largely feels like a tech demo for Mode 7 that somehow made itself into a retail game. All the flying mechanics are fun, the bonus games are fun, but the challenges themselves aren't very interesting and never get very difficult. The chopper sections can be tricky until you learn the trick to them, but I wish they could have fleshed out the main game a little more. It's a little silly how the entire world is flat, but I understand the limitations of the sytem are mainly at fault there. With not much to explore, a free flight mode would seem silly, but after playing the 3DS Pilotwings, you can't help but miss it.
March 15th - Battletoads in Battlemaniacs: A game I struggled with for years since I was a kid. Now this game seems incredibly easy for me. For a game that's touted as difficult, I feel like it all really comes down to just understanding and mastering the game's mechanics (with some memorization). Many may never see past Turbo Tunnel, the jet bike level, but it's really not that bad. I feel like the levels hit that sweet spot of having just the right amount of content. The problem is that there aren't very many levels. Compared to NES Battletoads there is like half the stages! For people who can't get through the game easily enough, the continue system will really wear on you, especially considering the levels in this game. A really lame final boss fight, and a really lame ending don't help much either.
---
Other games I've been working on this month:
Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge: Another game from my childhood, but this game is bad--really bad. The soundtrack is good. I'll try to finish it before the end of March to really give it to this game.
Super Metroid: I wanted to try out the Any% speedrunning route. It's been fun. So far I'm at just after Speedbooster with a gametime of 19 minutes. Not winning any records since I'm learning a lot of this as I go, but it's an awesome way to play through the game.
georgetheplushie
Member
I'd say whatever you want is fine.
CrazyTank940
Member
What a time to just get to this thread, I'm replaying Disney Magical Quest 3 on GBA, I used to play that game a lot since it first came out stateside. Now for old times sake I'm playing it again as of a few days ago on Hard. As of yesterday I'm on the desert level.
Also because I grew up with the mouse quite a bit, I'm planning on playing some Mickey Speedway USA this week. I still need to beat the final cup on higher difficulties lol
Also because I grew up with the mouse quite a bit, I'm planning on playing some Mickey Speedway USA this week. I still need to beat the final cup on higher difficulties lol
Nocturnowl
Member
Right, I've beaten Luigi's Mansion, consider the challenge complete.
It's an odd title in many respects, a GC launch title that had to try and carry the early hopes of the system but a solid 8 out of 10 range title that only lasts a few hours is hardly the equivalent to past Mario related launch titles, and of course it's not a platformer either.
Actually i'm not sure what you'd call it, it certainly isn't survival horror, a vacuum 'em up? maybe its best to just give it the Adventure label. Light combat, light exploration, light puzzles and even light scares, it's not a game that knocks any singular element out of the park but it pulls all the parts together in a cohesive package that's mostly fun from start to finish though I do have some issues that mostly crop up late game.
Luigi's Mansion has a great deal of charm and personality, the various portrait ghosts make for an oddly engaging extended family or whatever the relation is that these ghosts have to each other, they're the highlight of the game with each offering a small bit of puzzle work in order to capture, though towards the end you could tell they were running out of more standard ideas, clockwork soldiers and a jar ghost? okay then.
The use of sound in Luigi's Mansion has always been a memorable point for me, the game lacks much variation in music tracks, the main theme is most of what you'll hear traversing the floors and grounds of the Mansion but how its played varies on numerous situations, Luigi hums the theme in the dark and whistles it in the light, his current health varies the tune, the lower his health gets the more warbled and erratic his music making will get, it's such a great touch that I still love a lot. Dark mansion hallways relevant to the current area (the game splits itself in 4 areas) and exterior locations add their own backing to the main theme as well, I guess this is what you call a dynamic soundtrack, it's just a shame there's not much more of it. Oh and having a "press A to Mario" button never gets old.
The controls are one of the games more fiddly points, first of all the Poltergust uses inverted aiming controls and I can't change them, so much annoyance is not good for me. Combined with the camera the act of aiming the flashlight and Poltergust can get fiddly, discerning the exact position of a ghost relative to Luigi can be wishy washy, late game Boos with lots of health often had me stumbling into them as I tried to hoover them up before they'd inevitably jump through a wall, more on that later. The shoulder buttons various levels of sensitivity is fully used, I only noticed on this run that ever so slightly weighing down on R starts up the Poltergust minus its actual suction, pointless in function but that's some attention to detail. The Ice element on the other hand gets really fiddly with the L button, failing to start up in time and not always blasting out the ice shots when fully pressed down, it makes Boolossus a tremendous chore.
Speaking of Boolossus i've got to get to the bad points, yeah Boolossus is one of the games few boss battles where the above issues of camera, targeting and Ice use all combine to make a nice tall glass of frustration, you burst a big boo made from 15 boos and then try to capture the scattering spectres with Ice to freeze them, once 7 odd Boos fall victim to the Ice they play it smart and flee the moment you try to use the ice, they also become more erratic in movement and lets just say I bloody well hate this boss, I spent more time on the last Boo than the rest in this boss fight.
Boos in their more traditional form here hide in most mansion rooms, when you light up a room you can unearth them from the furniture and try to capture them, Boos can freely leap from room to room, potentially flying off into rooms currently locked and such or causing an extended journey across the mansion to track them down if they get really lucky with their chosen wall. Now this isn't so bad at first but by area 4 the boo chasing starts getting old and their health starts getting higher (more so in the PAL version) leading to a lot of extended chases, it's kind of a chore.
And the other issue is another late game one, the last areas of the mansion to be explored are the top floor, roof and basement, oh yes you know what this means, backtracking, up and down the stairs, no lift/elevator or anything unfortunately. In fact when you beat Boolosus you get dragged back to E Gadds lab, then have to walk all the way back up to the boss room (the balcony) to get to the locked door you can open due to beating the boss except then the mansion gets the power knocked out requiring a tricky trip right down to the basement to turn the lights back on, and then after that its straight back up to the balcony again, poor Luigi's legs must be knackered.
Anyway those are pretty much my only gripes, I guess King Boo and Fake Bowser make for a pretty anticlimactic finale (King Boo isn't any bigger than a normal Boo! just has red eyes and a blue tongue with a gem crown) but that's a small gripe compared to the rest of the ghoul gallery which carry things well enough as foes. I finished up with the B rank mansion which turns out is the highest you can muster on the PAL version without going into the hidden mansion, I did briefly step into another files hidden mansion and witnessed the improved powers of the vacuum first hand, it's ridiculously more powerful here or perhaps it's just underpowered in the normal PAL mansion (ghosts like the explorer and bodybuilder do well to prove this, there's just not enough power to hoover them up in one go).
Well i've really said more than I expected to here, I could make a LTTP thread with this alone, Luigi's Mansion is a game that I appreciate more having replayed it now, it's a unique little gem that isn't quite a top tier title but its great fun only losing a step towards its finish as well as being a bit too short in general, fortunately for me it seems that the sequel looks to fix these flaws and make a more definitive LM game and I really can't wait.
It's an odd title in many respects, a GC launch title that had to try and carry the early hopes of the system but a solid 8 out of 10 range title that only lasts a few hours is hardly the equivalent to past Mario related launch titles, and of course it's not a platformer either.
Actually i'm not sure what you'd call it, it certainly isn't survival horror, a vacuum 'em up? maybe its best to just give it the Adventure label. Light combat, light exploration, light puzzles and even light scares, it's not a game that knocks any singular element out of the park but it pulls all the parts together in a cohesive package that's mostly fun from start to finish though I do have some issues that mostly crop up late game.
Luigi's Mansion has a great deal of charm and personality, the various portrait ghosts make for an oddly engaging extended family or whatever the relation is that these ghosts have to each other, they're the highlight of the game with each offering a small bit of puzzle work in order to capture, though towards the end you could tell they were running out of more standard ideas, clockwork soldiers and a jar ghost? okay then.
The use of sound in Luigi's Mansion has always been a memorable point for me, the game lacks much variation in music tracks, the main theme is most of what you'll hear traversing the floors and grounds of the Mansion but how its played varies on numerous situations, Luigi hums the theme in the dark and whistles it in the light, his current health varies the tune, the lower his health gets the more warbled and erratic his music making will get, it's such a great touch that I still love a lot. Dark mansion hallways relevant to the current area (the game splits itself in 4 areas) and exterior locations add their own backing to the main theme as well, I guess this is what you call a dynamic soundtrack, it's just a shame there's not much more of it. Oh and having a "press A to Mario" button never gets old.
The controls are one of the games more fiddly points, first of all the Poltergust uses inverted aiming controls and I can't change them, so much annoyance is not good for me. Combined with the camera the act of aiming the flashlight and Poltergust can get fiddly, discerning the exact position of a ghost relative to Luigi can be wishy washy, late game Boos with lots of health often had me stumbling into them as I tried to hoover them up before they'd inevitably jump through a wall, more on that later. The shoulder buttons various levels of sensitivity is fully used, I only noticed on this run that ever so slightly weighing down on R starts up the Poltergust minus its actual suction, pointless in function but that's some attention to detail. The Ice element on the other hand gets really fiddly with the L button, failing to start up in time and not always blasting out the ice shots when fully pressed down, it makes Boolossus a tremendous chore.
Speaking of Boolossus i've got to get to the bad points, yeah Boolossus is one of the games few boss battles where the above issues of camera, targeting and Ice use all combine to make a nice tall glass of frustration, you burst a big boo made from 15 boos and then try to capture the scattering spectres with Ice to freeze them, once 7 odd Boos fall victim to the Ice they play it smart and flee the moment you try to use the ice, they also become more erratic in movement and lets just say I bloody well hate this boss, I spent more time on the last Boo than the rest in this boss fight.
Boos in their more traditional form here hide in most mansion rooms, when you light up a room you can unearth them from the furniture and try to capture them, Boos can freely leap from room to room, potentially flying off into rooms currently locked and such or causing an extended journey across the mansion to track them down if they get really lucky with their chosen wall. Now this isn't so bad at first but by area 4 the boo chasing starts getting old and their health starts getting higher (more so in the PAL version) leading to a lot of extended chases, it's kind of a chore.
And the other issue is another late game one, the last areas of the mansion to be explored are the top floor, roof and basement, oh yes you know what this means, backtracking, up and down the stairs, no lift/elevator or anything unfortunately. In fact when you beat Boolosus you get dragged back to E Gadds lab, then have to walk all the way back up to the boss room (the balcony) to get to the locked door you can open due to beating the boss except then the mansion gets the power knocked out requiring a tricky trip right down to the basement to turn the lights back on, and then after that its straight back up to the balcony again, poor Luigi's legs must be knackered.
Anyway those are pretty much my only gripes, I guess King Boo and Fake Bowser make for a pretty anticlimactic finale (King Boo isn't any bigger than a normal Boo! just has red eyes and a blue tongue with a gem crown) but that's a small gripe compared to the rest of the ghoul gallery which carry things well enough as foes. I finished up with the B rank mansion which turns out is the highest you can muster on the PAL version without going into the hidden mansion, I did briefly step into another files hidden mansion and witnessed the improved powers of the vacuum first hand, it's ridiculously more powerful here or perhaps it's just underpowered in the normal PAL mansion (ghosts like the explorer and bodybuilder do well to prove this, there's just not enough power to hoover them up in one go).
Well i've really said more than I expected to here, I could make a LTTP thread with this alone, Luigi's Mansion is a game that I appreciate more having replayed it now, it's a unique little gem that isn't quite a top tier title but its great fun only losing a step towards its finish as well as being a bit too short in general, fortunately for me it seems that the sequel looks to fix these flaws and make a more definitive LM game and I really can't wait.
Black Knight Grudge Match Update
That's the last point of HP Ike needed. Now all I need is the Nehil skill found in chapter 24, which is the next one, and Ike is ready for the Black Knight fight. Ike will max out Strength, Skill, Speed, and Defense, and will have at least 58 HP. I have the stat-up items I need to do all of that now, no amount of bad level-ups can stop this now. Even if one more natural point of Skill and Defense would be nice. Can save a Secret Book and Dracoshield for someone else like that. Mist just hit S-rank in Staves. She'll be packing the Recover and Ashera Staves for the fight. And her custom made Steel Sword. If Ike is at 1-3HP, she'll heal him, but if she's injured from the reinforcements herself, she'll use a charge of the Ashera Staff. It's a full heal to both of them, no matter the range. And Ike will be packing an Elixir just in case Mist needs to fight a turn where he also needs a heal. But that shouldn't happen, I think. Still, redundancy is a good thing in healing.
Yet after all that it comes down to the RNG, I've stacked the odds pretty much as well as I can in Ike's favor this time, but I can see a couple of ways I could fail to kill the Black Knight in the five turns I get. The most amusing one is if the Black Knight misses every attack he makes. I need Ike injured for this to work...
I don't really see much else I can do for this fight now. The odds are much better than the Aether strategy, so I guess it's just a matter of getting there and seeing what happens.
Also Ilyana > General Petrine. But we all knew that already, right? I gave her Flare, too, just for fun.
That's the last point of HP Ike needed. Now all I need is the Nehil skill found in chapter 24, which is the next one, and Ike is ready for the Black Knight fight. Ike will max out Strength, Skill, Speed, and Defense, and will have at least 58 HP. I have the stat-up items I need to do all of that now, no amount of bad level-ups can stop this now. Even if one more natural point of Skill and Defense would be nice. Can save a Secret Book and Dracoshield for someone else like that. Mist just hit S-rank in Staves. She'll be packing the Recover and Ashera Staves for the fight. And her custom made Steel Sword. If Ike is at 1-3HP, she'll heal him, but if she's injured from the reinforcements herself, she'll use a charge of the Ashera Staff. It's a full heal to both of them, no matter the range. And Ike will be packing an Elixir just in case Mist needs to fight a turn where he also needs a heal. But that shouldn't happen, I think. Still, redundancy is a good thing in healing.
Yet after all that it comes down to the RNG, I've stacked the odds pretty much as well as I can in Ike's favor this time, but I can see a couple of ways I could fail to kill the Black Knight in the five turns I get. The most amusing one is if the Black Knight misses every attack he makes. I need Ike injured for this to work...
I don't really see much else I can do for this fight now. The odds are much better than the Aether strategy, so I guess it's just a matter of getting there and seeing what happens.
And copying over the Fire Emblem save file after making a Suspend save in Chapter 27-2.
Also Ilyana > General Petrine. But we all knew that already, right? I gave her Flare, too, just for fun.
Final Black Knight Grudge Match Update!
This is my Ike.
That's a good Ike.
This is my Ike posing dramatically after a critical hit.
That's a good hit.
The plan worked out as I thought, well apart from having to retry it because I forget the Black Knight also had healers. Nihil kept Luna at bay, with a nice white flash on Ike's part whenever the Knight attacked, and once Ike hit 22 or 3 HP, Wrath kicked in with a big red flash, giving Ike a 50% shot at doing a critical on the otherwise immune Black Knight. As illustrated above.
But the Black Knight is down. One black mark wiped from my gaming history. I really wanted to beat him, and now I have.
Also fun to get Dolphin up and running, my PC is exactly powerful enough to run it. With a little overclocking. So yay for that, too.
But I think all that's left, apart from Ike's victory lap and beating up Ashnard, is saying one last thing: "Challenge... COMPLETE!!!"
This is my Ike.
That's a good Ike.
This is my Ike posing dramatically after a critical hit.
That's a good hit.
The plan worked out as I thought, well apart from having to retry it because I forget the Black Knight also had healers. Nihil kept Luna at bay, with a nice white flash on Ike's part whenever the Knight attacked, and once Ike hit 22 or 3 HP, Wrath kicked in with a big red flash, giving Ike a 50% shot at doing a critical on the otherwise immune Black Knight. As illustrated above.
But the Black Knight is down. One black mark wiped from my gaming history. I really wanted to beat him, and now I have.
Also fun to get Dolphin up and running, my PC is exactly powerful enough to run it. With a little overclocking. So yay for that, too.
But I think all that's left, apart from Ike's victory lap and beating up Ashnard, is saying one last thing: "Challenge... COMPLETE!!!"
Nocturnowl
Member
Congratulations McNum, you have joined the elite, the elite group that have taken Nasir into the final battle and thought that they deserved something a bit more rewarding for their efforts...or maybe that was just me.
Clearly you haven't tried having Ena along for the final battle. She might as well just not be there...
Also, Geoffry is pretty decent. None of my other Paladins worked out this time, so I'm running Geoffry for the last part. Actually benched Reyson for this chapter, couldn't see the need for him. And Nephenee is hitting 5-7% critical chances way more than she should.
Also Soren is lagging so much behind Ilyana this time it's not even funny. Poor grumpy Soren... Oh, you should see my Mist, too. It's not natural for Mist to cap Strength. At level 20/11. I didn't even BEXP abuse her much. She's hitting harder than Mia with the same forged Steel Sword. Honestly, until Geoffry, Mist was my best Paladin. Thinking of throwing the spare Dracoshield in her direction and using her on the frontline. She's awesome enough to handle that. Maybe even an Occult, for fun. Got two sitting around unused. Sol Mist just has a nice ring to it... Does Nasir come with his Master skill?
Also, Geoffry is pretty decent. None of my other Paladins worked out this time, so I'm running Geoffry for the last part. Actually benched Reyson for this chapter, couldn't see the need for him. And Nephenee is hitting 5-7% critical chances way more than she should.
Also Soren is lagging so much behind Ilyana this time it's not even funny. Poor grumpy Soren... Oh, you should see my Mist, too. It's not natural for Mist to cap Strength. At level 20/11. I didn't even BEXP abuse her much. She's hitting harder than Mia with the same forged Steel Sword. Honestly, until Geoffry, Mist was my best Paladin. Thinking of throwing the spare Dracoshield in her direction and using her on the frontline. She's awesome enough to handle that. Maybe even an Occult, for fun. Got two sitting around unused. Sol Mist just has a nice ring to it... Does Nasir come with his Master skill?
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Although yesterday was the final day for this, I had beaten Mega Man X4 last week but didn't really type up a reflective post for it. I was a little busy, to be fair. I also managed to sneak in a bit of a Zero run, but boy am I rusty. I can't no-hit this thing without a fair amount of practice at the moment.
Mega Man X4 is still one of my favourite games ever. While X4 kind of marked the beginning of the Zero era to me (with playable Zero for an entire game (I know you could play as him in X3)), I think it also marked the beginning of the subseries being incredibly narrative-driven. Voice acting, animated cutscenes, lots of text (something I generally dislike in Mega Man, but I digress), etc. gave players a chance to experience Mega Man X in ways they hadn't before. The voice acting sucked and some of the lines were cheesy as hell, don't get me wrong, but it's simply interesting that the plot became more of a focal point in X4.
As I'd mentioned before, playing as Zero and X are entirely different affairs. X is typically suited for beginners/people new to the game, since it's your standard "find upgrades, fight Mavericks, get their powers, levels are slightly harder to complete but bosses are easier, etc". Zero brings something a bit new to the table with close-range melee combat, zipping through the levels, and bosses being slightly harder than they should be. You only get sword upgrades at the end of bosses with Zero, so it's rather difficult to take bosses down since you have to a: get up close and personal with them, and b: you don't have power taken from the other Maverick bosses to make them go down fast.
Controls in X4 are great. But controls in Mega Man games are usually great and tight. There are some exceptions, of course. Coming back to this game felt like coming back home, though. I was incredibly satisfied with how the game felt.
Level design is generally decent, and I don't really mind the two-part divisions like I did in MM8. What I truly appreciate, though, are the leap of faith sort of jumps and the timed platforming. I also appreciate the level aesthetics, the enemy sprite design, and the playable character design. Mega Man X4 is a very lovely, beautiful game. Sprite animation is top-notch, background and foreground changes and activity are very nice to look at, and there's tons of colour everywhere. Personally, I kind of wish the X games didn't deviate from this style, but nonetheless, we don't always get what we want. Going in this direction truly made X4 a true successor to the original three games and demonstrated that yes, indeed, sprite-based platformers can survive on the PS platform.
And, uh, well, you know what I'm going to say about the soundtrack. Mega Man music isn't shitty, not in a general sense. Even if the game isn't very good, you're still going to get a fairly decent soundtrack out of it (Xtreme / Xtreme 2 notwithstanding). X4, like the other X games, tends to knock it out of the park. On and off of GAF, I've expressed my general dislike of synth when it isn't used correctly. X4 does it right (ex: Slash Beast, Cyber Peacock (with some awesome as hell bass), Storm Owl, Sigma (Final Form), etc.).
I also want to add that I love the final boss in this game. It's a bit of a difficulty jump because the rest of the game is so easy, but man, I love that boss. I love how it's designed, I love that it can break you completely, and I love that it's so fast. And I kind of like that sort of boss design in games; final bosses are supposed to be hard to me. They're supposed to be tests of attrition. This isn't bad boss design by any means. At least, I don't think so. I love that boss.
With that said, though, MMX4 is still an easy as heck game. I'm super-rusty at it and can't really no-hit run some of this anymore. Regardless, it's not very difficult to no-death run this game at all unless you make some stupid mistakes. X4 isn't perfect (Split Mushroom's stage can be super slow, for example; Jet Stingray's stage can be a bit irritating for first-timers, but after some practice you can get the hang of it), but it's still one of the best X games to me.
Long story short, Mega Man X4 is still the shit. Play it if you have not.
Mega Man X4 is still one of my favourite games ever. While X4 kind of marked the beginning of the Zero era to me (with playable Zero for an entire game (I know you could play as him in X3)), I think it also marked the beginning of the subseries being incredibly narrative-driven. Voice acting, animated cutscenes, lots of text (something I generally dislike in Mega Man, but I digress), etc. gave players a chance to experience Mega Man X in ways they hadn't before. The voice acting sucked and some of the lines were cheesy as hell, don't get me wrong, but it's simply interesting that the plot became more of a focal point in X4.
As I'd mentioned before, playing as Zero and X are entirely different affairs. X is typically suited for beginners/people new to the game, since it's your standard "find upgrades, fight Mavericks, get their powers, levels are slightly harder to complete but bosses are easier, etc". Zero brings something a bit new to the table with close-range melee combat, zipping through the levels, and bosses being slightly harder than they should be. You only get sword upgrades at the end of bosses with Zero, so it's rather difficult to take bosses down since you have to a: get up close and personal with them, and b: you don't have power taken from the other Maverick bosses to make them go down fast.
Controls in X4 are great. But controls in Mega Man games are usually great and tight. There are some exceptions, of course. Coming back to this game felt like coming back home, though. I was incredibly satisfied with how the game felt.
Level design is generally decent, and I don't really mind the two-part divisions like I did in MM8. What I truly appreciate, though, are the leap of faith sort of jumps and the timed platforming. I also appreciate the level aesthetics, the enemy sprite design, and the playable character design. Mega Man X4 is a very lovely, beautiful game. Sprite animation is top-notch, background and foreground changes and activity are very nice to look at, and there's tons of colour everywhere. Personally, I kind of wish the X games didn't deviate from this style, but nonetheless, we don't always get what we want. Going in this direction truly made X4 a true successor to the original three games and demonstrated that yes, indeed, sprite-based platformers can survive on the PS platform.
And, uh, well, you know what I'm going to say about the soundtrack. Mega Man music isn't shitty, not in a general sense. Even if the game isn't very good, you're still going to get a fairly decent soundtrack out of it (Xtreme / Xtreme 2 notwithstanding). X4, like the other X games, tends to knock it out of the park. On and off of GAF, I've expressed my general dislike of synth when it isn't used correctly. X4 does it right (ex: Slash Beast, Cyber Peacock (with some awesome as hell bass), Storm Owl, Sigma (Final Form), etc.).
I also want to add that I love the final boss in this game. It's a bit of a difficulty jump because the rest of the game is so easy, but man, I love that boss. I love how it's designed, I love that it can break you completely, and I love that it's so fast. And I kind of like that sort of boss design in games; final bosses are supposed to be hard to me. They're supposed to be tests of attrition. This isn't bad boss design by any means. At least, I don't think so. I love that boss.
With that said, though, MMX4 is still an easy as heck game. I'm super-rusty at it and can't really no-hit run some of this anymore. Regardless, it's not very difficult to no-death run this game at all unless you make some stupid mistakes. X4 isn't perfect (Split Mushroom's stage can be super slow, for example; Jet Stingray's stage can be a bit irritating for first-timers, but after some practice you can get the hang of it), but it's still one of the best X games to me.
Long story short, Mega Man X4 is still the shit. Play it if you have not.
ThatStupidLion
Member
I love you. such a freaking great game. time just FLIES with this one....
can sit down at 8 am and itls 3am before you know it.
good luck.