Post Your Progress in Your Games

[the_blunderbuss]

Who am I *not* to post in my own thread right?

August 11th

Mirror's Edge [PC] - Played and finished. Double thumbs up for this game (though it's too short for its price tag.)

Starcraft II [PC] - Dealing with my super-noobness (and rocking at the novice league with friends.)

[Rune Factory Fanboy]

Mother 3

Beat the whole game. Cried at the very end. Overall I liked Earthbound more but I did have a lot of fun with Mother 3. Hats off to the translation team for doing such an amazing job.

Chrono Trigger DS

Beat the original story the RIGHT way (to get the balloon ending). The moving ending brought me to tears once again. I will save the extra content for a rainy day.

Star Ocean: First Departure

I've never played Star Ocean before. So far it feels like a Tales game in many aspects, especially story and battles. I swear even the battle victory music is the Tales jingle. The story reminds me way too much of Tales of Phantasia. I like that there is a ton of voice acting as it gives the characters way more personality.

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by Rune Factory Fanboy

Chrono Trigger DS

Beat the original story the RIGHT way (to get the balloon ending).

Yes!

Star Ocean: First Departure

I've never played Star Ocean before. So far it feels like a Tales game in many aspects, especially story and battles. I swear even the battle victory music is the Tales jingle. The story reminds me way too much of Tales of Phantasia. I like that there is a ton of voice acting as it gives the characters way more personality.

It's not coincidence--the team that developed Tales of Phantasia split up afterward and one of the resulting teams founded Tri-Ace and created Star Ocean as its first game. And they went straight to Motoi Sakuraba for the music, for that matter.

Edit: Got me good when I first found that out... The main reason I bought Tales of Symphonia was that I watched a video of it on the official site and thought it looked a lot like Star Ocean 2.

[Hive]

Originally Posted by Rune Factory Fanboy

Star Ocean: First Departure

I've never played Star Ocean before. So far it feels like a Tales game in many aspects, especially story and battles. I swear even the battle victory music is the Tales jingle. The story reminds me way too much of Tales of Phantasia. I like that there is a ton of voice acting as it gives the characters way more personality.

which system did you play this for?

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by Hive

which system did you play this for?

If it's Star Ocean: First Departure, it's the PSP. The original SNES game didn't have a subtitle.

[Jiggy]

I'm now revisiting the NES version of Dragon Quest IV and it's stomping me silly. DS-only players have no idea how much more frequent the battles in this version are--I'm pretty sure I beat Chapter 1 at level 9 in the DS game, but in this version I'm level 7 and I haven't even entered the tower. I remember the Thief's Cave in Chapter 2 giving me nightmares way back when, so we'll see if I can relive the experience!

Edit: Three and a half hours later, I've just completed that cave and made my way to the Bazaar. I can beat the entire DS game in under thirteen hours, but when it comes to the NES version I've been playing this game for about four and a half and I'm not even done with chapter 2.



On another note, I went through Napalm Man's stage in Mega Man 5. He doesn't have the same pattern as in Mega Man 10, but he still only took me two tries and on the second of those I only took one hit.

[Rune Factory Fanboy]

Originally Posted by Hive

which system did you play this for?

Originally Posted by Rune Factory Fanboy

I like that there is a ton of voice acting as it gives the characters way more personality.

Originally Posted by Jiggy

It's not coincidence--the team that developed Tales of Phantasia split up afterward and one of the resulting teams founded Tri-Ace and created Star Ocean as its first game. And they went straight to Motoi Sakuraba for the music, for that matter.

Well that explains a lot.

The Battle system is confusing to me right now. I like the Tales system because of its 2D simplicity. With SO it seems a little difficult to line up with the enemy depth wise.

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by Rune Factory Fanboy

Well that explains a lot.

The Battle system is confusing to me right now. I like the Tales system because of its 2D simplicity. With SO it seems a little difficult to line up with the enemy depth wise.

Wait, it doesn't automatically line you up for depth in Star Ocean 1? It does in Star Ocean 2, no matter whether you're using manual, semi-auto, or auto controls.

[Jiggy]

Wiped out Mega Man X and Mega Man 7 early this morning (12:00 - 3:40 AM.) Two standout gameplay moments and two standout story moments:

• Gameplay: The entirety of Mega Man X--I completely forgot how consistently non-stop awesome it is. Not one bad level.
• Story: The MMX ending says that those who sacrificed themselves for the victory over Sigma will never come back--and "those who sacrificed themselves" refers to Zero. Yeah.
• Gameplay: Spring Man's stage in MM7 was probably my favorite.
• Story: When Auto hands Mega Man a Metool helmet to start his journey.

I started up Rockman and Forte and got two levels into it before dying to the ice boss. The chill jazz music kind of weirds me out considering how brutal I know the upcoming game is.



I also beat the training dungeon of Lufia II real quick right after Mega Man X (and before MM7) because I wanted to record some footage of it, which I can't do with my SNES copy... but oddly enough, the screen proportions are wrong in the rom I'm using. I can't tell by exactly how much--between 91% and 94% vertical zoom gets me in the right range where the top edges of dialogue boxes and battle menu boxes aren't being cut off, but I'm not sure which of those it is. Tried investigating, but I have yet to find an answer... I might have just to try recording at each of those percentages, grab someone's YouTube video, then play it side-by-side with my own, and blow both of them up to huge proportions so I can figure out the point of pixel perfection.

Edit: I know of no RPG in the world with faster battles than Lufia II. Even today and even having played it so long before, it still amazes me.

[Jiggy]

Even after all these years, Lufia II still blows my mind. I haven't reached any of the dungeons with really hard puzzles yet (still at Alunze) like that blasted Treasure Sword Shrine or whatever it was called with the color-changing blocks, never mind the place with the World's Most Difficult Trick (that's the in-game name, not my nickname for it) and the entrance to it (crazy puzzle in its own right just to get inside), but it's great just how quickly they bring in the puzzle elements. I seriously get more fun adventure and fun puzzles in less than two hours of this game than the entirety of modern 3D Zelda games that aren't Majora's Mask.

And speaking of Zelda, I constantly don't have enough money instead of constantly having too much, which is nearly always the better path.



Edit: Forgot to mention the best part: my rom somehow fixed itself (or, rather, it only messed itself up the first time) and now the video is fine.

[Hive]

Games that Jiggy has overrated to a sickening degree:

Kirby Super Star
Lufia II

[Jiggy]

You haven't even played Lufia II, unless something changed in the past eight months.


Edit: Oh, but if this is about the Zelda comparison, then you should know that my opinion of the non-Majora's Mask 3D Zelda games is pretty low, so I'm not saying much with that part. :P


Edit 2:

Now, if I said it packed in more fun than every 2D Zelda game combined, you might have a case, but I wouldn't say that since I don't even put it on par with Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons, or A Link to the Past individually. Or if I said it was more enjoyable than every Mario game that isn't Yoshi's Island and every Kirby game that isn't Super Star all combined into one game, which I say about Kirby Super Star, that would work. Or if I said it was a transcendental cosmic experience that made Tales of Symphonia look like some kind of piteous joke even though Tales of Symphonia is my third favorite game, which I say about Tales of Vesperia, that would work.

Lufia II isn't even in my top 40, much less my top 8 like Kirby Super Star. It might be somewhere in my top 50 and it's definitely in my top 65, but I'd have to seriously map that out since competition in the B+ and A- range is enormous.

[Jiggy]

Just finished up Mega Man 5.

  mini-blogthrough:

Okay, I have Napalm Man's weapon. Which of these guys would napalm beat...? ...hmm. Let's go with Stone Man.
Hey, it actually worked!

Is it just me or does this game hand out extra lives like candy? I have five of the things, so really six lives total, and I only beat two levels and only died twice so far.

Okay, what would stone beat...? Not Wave Man, I'm sure. Stones would be heavier than normal against Gravity Man, and they would shatter Crystal Man.. Let's try... Gravity Man. Nothing else sounds like it would defeat him, except maybe Gyro Man.
Well, that was a fun level.
Aw, got the weakness wrong. :( Oh well, easy enough on my second try.

Alrighty, now I have gravity and stone and don't know what to use on what. Let's go for Crystal Man.

Rawr, falling crystals keep killing me. D:

...oh, I see. There's no pattern--I'm just supposed to jump as soon as one falls.

...hmm, that last hole area looks like I can safely fall into it without dying. Time to jump in!

...nope, that was a death trap. :(

Okay, this is beginning to match Mega Man 3 for overabundance of E Tanks.

...I honestly had that thought and then one screen later they gave an M Tank on top of the E Tank. In the same level.

Neither stone nor gravity beats Crystal Man. Yay! And this is the hardest Robot Master in the game so far. Still didn't need an E Tank, though. Haven't yet.



Okay, so I have stones, gravity, and crystals. Don't know where any of them go, but there are only four Robot Masters left, so my chances should be good. Gravity could pull a star and definitely affects the tides... let's go for Wave Man.

Oh hey look, it's Splash Woman's stage.

And now a scrolling shooter!

...and nope, not gravity. Nor crystals. Nor stone. A 75% chance that I would have one of the weaknesses, but I was still wrong!

And still didn't need an E Tank.



Okay, now I definitely have a weakness for each of the remaining bosses. I'll just head for them in interesting-sounding order: Charge Man, Gyro Man, Star Man.

...how does it make sense for a train to be weak against roc--oh, never mind. Still no E Tanks needed.

Now to Gyro Man. Hey, he looks like Tornado Man! Alright, so... weak against gravity. Huh. But don't gyroscopes use gravity to--oh, never mind. Still no E Tanks.

Okay, to Star Man--not to be confused with Starman from Super Mario Bros. or Starman from EarthBound or Starman from Pro Wrestling or Starman the David Bowie song or Starman the movie. What an interesting level. And his weakness... waves. Okay. Not only did I not need an E Tank, but I didn't even take a hit.

Hmm, I'm missing a letter from Stone Man's level. Gotta go find that. I'll try jumping down that suspicious hole--nope, that's a death trap. Ooh, another suspicio--nope, also a death trap. Okay, I just went through the whole level and the only thing I couldn't figure out was the 1-up behind blocks, but that wasn't a letter. None of the other holes seemed suspicious, but I guess I do have extra lives, so... nope, that was a death trap. And another death trap. Hmm. Maybe there is no letter here. To GameFAQs! ...oh. A destructible wall I might never have found ever. By the way, even though I died so many times, I still didn't need a continue and have four lives left. Total candy.



Proto Man castle?

Oh hey, this second stage was in the Endless Mode in Mega Man 10. But geez, are the bosses in here uninspired.

Goody, the third lookalike boss.

what the--

Huh. This fourth fortress with destructible pillars moving the stage upward is the second good level idea in this game--the first being Gravity Man's stage. ...and then it ends in one screen.

Okay, yet another lookalike boss. And why are nearly all the bosses in this game such wusses? :| The slow fall of post-MM3 Mega Man that I always hear about wasn't that it was "getting old"--it's that the actual quality was going down.

Anyway, moving on, Dr. Wily as always, blah blah blah.

Oh hey, this second stage of the second fortress was also in Mega Man 10's Endless Mode.

Hey, I finally had to use an E Tank! ...on a normal enemy. Some giant green robot started jumping on me while I was on a tiny platform and couldn't get away. :|

And my second E Tank! ...on another one of that enemy the next screen up. Mega Man 5: where normal enemies are harder than the bosses.

...okay, I take it back. That boss was the first legitimately hard one in the game.

Boss rush time. ...wait, how is this slide attack supposed to work as a weakness if I get hurt every time I use it? Moving on, Stone Man would be almost indistinguishable from a Dragon Quest golem if not for the fact that he has a mouth.

Easiest Wily first form ever.

With only seven E Tanks and an M Tank, can I defeat the real Wily?

...easiest UFO Wily ever.



Since when can Mega Man hold up falling ceilings? If he could do that, hen he wouldn't have died all those times--oh, never mind. Really short ending.

  quick Mega Man ranking since I've been playing them recently:

8. Mega Man 5
7. Mega Man
6. Mega Man 4
5. Mega Man 7
4. Mega Man 2
2t. Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 10
1. Mega Man 9

I either haven't played or don't remember MM6, and I know I've never played MM8.

[Hive]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

8. Mega Man 5
7. Mega Man
6. Mega Man 4
5. Mega Man 7
4. Mega Man 2
2t. Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 10
1. Mega Man 9

that's a fair list. But why did you spoiler it?

Anyways, MM1 is my second-favorite Mega Man.
But I don't blame you for placing it at #7 on your list.

[Jiggy]

I don't know, kind of thought it wasn't very on-topic.

Mega Man 1 is completely fine on level design, but I just find it falls apart everywhere else. Running is slippery, a damaged Mega Man can fall straight through solid platforms, invincibility frames don't protect from spikes, and I'm practically convinced that it's literally impossible to dodge Fire Man's attacks--and even if not, the fact that they cause slowdown is an issue. Oh, and then there's that clone Mega Man boss. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm almost as convinced as I am with Fire Man that he doesn't have any exploitable pattern. All in all, it just feels like a beta test to me. If not for those things, it would actually be pretty cool.

Still better than MM5, though, because the bosses don't suck!

[Rune Factory Fanboy]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

Wait, it doesn't automatically line you up for depth in Star Ocean 1? It does in Star Ocean 2, no matter whether you're using manual, semi-auto, or auto controls.

The more I play it I realize you are correct, it does auto line you up. Sometimes the Auto feature gets retarded and my characters end up running around in circles instead of attacking the monster right in front of them.

I'm getting into the game a little more now. The skill system isn't explained very well but I'm starting to get the hang of it a little bit. I see no reason not to max the determination skill first and foremost. This game seems to take the whole cooking sub-game stuff from the Tales series and expound on it.

[Jiggy]

Yeah, I haven't played SO1 but I've heard they basically dumped SO2's skill system into it for the PSP release--and if that's true, I'd always start by maxing Determination, then at least a decent amount into Effort, then some quick stat boosts from things like Kitchen Knife or whatever it's called now (the cooking one that raises Strength by a whole 20 points).

Star Ocean handles cooking and (non-weapon, non-armor) item creation better and has a great number of random awesome subsystems; Tales handles weapon and armor creation better and has a great number of random awesome unlockables.

[Jiggy]

Mega Man 6 mini-blogthrough:

 

Plant Man first because Capcom almost always makes leafy characters suck. See Spar in Breath of Fire II and the plant boss in whichever one of those Mega Man Zero games she was in.

...huh, Rush Jet already. :O

Will we repeat the Wood Man -> Air Man pattern from MM2 with Plant Man -> Wind Man?
...and nope, no damage at all!

Speaking of "no damage," that's how much I took on my second try. Wussiest wind boss ever!

Really cool how the Rush Jet works in this game, though.

Okay, I have no idea on the weaknesses. Maybe Wind Man beats Flame Man like Tornado Man beat Magma Man, but Plant Man definitely wouldn't. Tomahawk Man sounds like he would definitely lose to one of the two of them, so..

And I was right! Down he went to Plant Man's weapon. There was a cracked block I couldn't break in the stage, though, and now his stage has a "B" mark on the select screen instead of a Mega Man head like the others...

Alright, since Wind Man didn't beat Tomahawk Man, I assume he'll beat Flame Man. Let's go!

And yep, down goes Flame Man! By the way, a free E Tank in his level? Things have sure changed since Fire Man's unavoidable attacks and Heat Man's massive disappearing block section.

I don't know what a tomahawk would beat, but Flame Man is the obvious choice against Blizzard Man. To the ice stage!

Okay, this Rush Power adapter su--oh wait, I bet this thing breaks those cracked blocks. ...and yep!

And yeah, the obvious weakness was obvious.

Blizzard Man sounds like he could beat either Yamato Man or Knight Man since they're both metal and metal has a low intrinsic heat value... meanwhile, if a tomahawk beats a samurai or a knight, I'm going to cry. So I'll assume it beats Centaur Man. To Centaur Man!

...okay, a water stage definitely isn't what I think of when I think of centaurs.

Reverse-gravity water even less so!

Blar, he's weak against neither Blizzard Man nor Tomahawk Man's weapon. Also, time-freezing is another think I don't think of when I think of centaurs. Finally, wimpiest time-freezing boss ever. That's three now!

Okay, I probably have the weaknesses for both bosses, so I'll just do Yamato Man now.

And there we go. I'd like to know in what non-Mega Man universe a hunter-gatherer can beat a samurai.

And finally, by contrast, a samurai beating a knight makes sense.

Now to defeat Mr. X--as opposed to Copy X. Good thing Mega Man didn't have to fight HIM.

And oh look, it's Dr. Wily in disguise. What a shocker!

Now through his second fortress...

Wow, that was the least damage I've ever taken from any Wily first form. Only one hit.

...and NO HITS from his second form. :|

And four from his third form, but I was being sloppy because I was getting impatient with it being so easy.

So in one game we have the easiest wind Robot Master, the easiest fire Robot Master (okay, maybe you could argue Heat Man), the easiest time-freezing Robot Master, the easiest Wily first form, the easiest Wily second form, and the easiest Wily final form.

All in all, the game filled me with a profound sense of sorrow. So did Mega Man 5, for that matter. It boggles the mind how far they fell from Mega Man 2 and 3, and how very long it took them to return to that quality.

[Jiggy]

Just got Dekar in my Lufia II party. I have to say that even though I remembered the awesome music and puzzles, I definitely forgot two great things about this game: 1) how amazingly fast-paced it is, and 2) it's funny. I honestly don't think any game has made me laugh as much as I have when revisiting Lufia II after all these years. It's making me want to do a blogthrough or something after I beat it and re-unlock the Retry Mode. (In Retry Mode, battles give you 4x experience, defeating bosses in X number of turns grants cool new items, and beating it on this mode unlocks the Gift Mode where you can organize everyone into any party you want and go plowing through the 99-floor Ancient Cave. You can visit the Ancient Cave in any normal playthrough too, but you'll be stuck with the story-mandated party.)

As for the fast pacing, you could play three hours and blaze through five towns and five dungeons unless you got hung up on a puzzle somewhere, and 93% of that time will be spent in dungeons. I mean, this is a game that seriously doesn't have any delusions of grandeur about its story or hesitation in the direction it wants to take. You walk into a town for the first time and you're done with it for good in five minutes max, no matter how many cutscenes they had to toss at you. The towns, battle system, and story are distilled hyper-speed RPG essence, the puzzles are distilled hyper-speed Zelda essence, the overworld goes by so quickly it's almost non-existent, and the music is spectacular.