June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Language

[BoneSnapDeez]

Ys IV is done.

One of the great old ARPGs. Pretty flawless gameplay. The bump system is the greatest sort of video game combat ever devised. Also, the bosses in this game are excellent. They require some modicum of strategy, as opposed to just brute force power-leveling.

My only beef with the game itself is that it drags on for far too long.

Total run time is like 5 hours longer than it needs to be. There are like three or four big "epic" dungeons stacked together at the game's end. Too much. Any one of those would have served as a good final dungeon. Also, the game is waaaaay to verbose. Whoever wrote this story really fell in love with it, but it's really more of the same convoluted JRPG tripe. Kudos to the fan dubbers though, what a tremendous undertaking that must have been.

[pierrot]

Some folks might look at a character like Tony Redwood and roll your eyes saying "well, he's super-obviously a bad guy" but I'm totally on board with it. It feels so COOL.

I guess he's most likely the dude who set off that bomb, but I'm not sure that he won't become this game's Random Hajil. Random was actually a good character, though, and my favorite one in Snatcher. I don't feel like that will end up being the case with Tony. He's a real putz.

I may end up enjoying reading your experience with Policenauts, more than my own experience playing it, honestly. It really hasn't provided me a whole lot of entertainment so far.

Did you fondle the space plane stewardess' leg, by the way? I skipped it, but I was kind of curious if it would actually cause a riot or something.

Total run time is like 5 hours longer than it needs to be.

I agree with this, anyway.

Also, the game is waaaaay to verbose. Whoever wrote this story really fell in love with it, but it's really more of the same convoluted JRPG tripe.

Oh, and this, actually.

[Nemoide]

I don't remember if I fondled the stewardess' leg! I guess that means I didn't.

Okay, Policenauts started really ramping up tonight!
I met with a secret informant who gave me a lead on the case... It turns out the drug problem that folks have been talking about being all over the space colony is actually part of a conspiracy by the massive space-corporation! And the head of the corporation is one of your old Policenaut buddies! Yeah, this isn't the most mind-blowing revelation, but I like feeling like I'm really ON THE CASE!

I also encountered a puzzle that I had to look up the solution for:

There's a puzzle where, in order to use a computer you have to match family names with crests. The solution is in the manual! I assume this was some sort of copy-protection.

Anyway, I'm still digging the game and am looking forward to making more progress tomorrow! Based on how much time I've sunk in, I'd guess that I'm about halfway, but it's hard to say.

[MrPopo]

I ended up finishing Shining Force III. It definitely serves as a swan song for the Shining Force series, and it makes me wish we could live in a world where Sega would let Camelot have the IP to do something good with.

[Nemoide]

And I'm up to the third disc of Policenauts! Lots of exciting stuff happens in Act 2! There was an extended action sequence involving many shooting scenes, shooting-while-driving scenes, and the infamous "bomb diffusing" puzzle!
Let me tell you: I the amount of times I died while attempting to diffuse the bomb is PRETTY EMBARRASSING. But I did it and that's what counts!

But yeah, I thought the story was ramping up last session, but way more went down today. Things don't look good for our heroes, but at least I know for sure who one of the key bad guys is! And I've got some suspicions about where the story's going to be headed, but I don't want to write specifics that could spoil things.

And IDK if I mentioned this earlier in the thread but this is actually my first Hideo Kojima game! I've owned the Metal Gear Solid "trilogy" for PS1&2 for around a decade but haven't yet played them because I was turned off by the idea of STEALTHING everywhere. But now that I'm playing Polcienauts, I feel like I'm really missing out. I'll probably do Snatcher next though, since that one kind of pairs with Policenauts. I wish there was an English patch for the Saturn version of THAT!

[pierrot]

And IDK if I mentioned this earlier in the thread but this is actually my first Hideo Kojima game! I've owned the Metal Gear Solid "trilogy" for PS1&2 for around a decade but haven't yet played them because I was turned off by the idea of STEALTHING everywhere. But now that I'm playing Polcienauts, I feel like I'm really missing out. I'll probably do Snatcher next though, since that one kind of pairs with Policenauts. I wish there was an English patch for the Saturn version of THAT!

Snatcher was my first, and essentially only, Kojima game. I had Metal Gear Solid when I first got a Playstation, but I only ever played up to the building after the first boss. I played way more of the VR Missions, because they were just way better than the main game. I'm pretty sure that was firmly acknowledged by everyone, since they released a MGS game that was just VR Missions, and then never made another MGS game again--pretty sure that's how it went.

Oh, actually I just remembered that Zone of the Enders was a Kojima thing. I actually played a fair amount of both games, but never beat either of them. Anyway, I played the Saturn version of Snatcher, and while I'm not a huge fan of the game, it was pretty good. I may be more of a fan of the Cyberbunk vibe of Snatcher, than the Space Opera thing going on with Policenauts (which would be a little surprising), but I think the other thing that has kept me from really getting into Policenauts is that I sort of prefer the visual novel interface for Snatcher to the P&C gameplay in Policenauts. Kojima would probably attempt to castrate me if he knew that I've only played the Saturn version of Snatcher, though. It's less censored than the PS1 version, but Kojima has expressly forbidden anyone from playing the Sega CD, PS1, or Saturn version of Snatcher. "Best" is the PC-88 version, and next most acceptable is the PC Engine version (probably the MSX2 version is a go, as well). I do totally love the ending credits in the Saturn version of Snatcher, though. I assume it's Tappy's handiwork. Tappy's a mild god.

[Nemoide]

I'm itching to play Snatcher soon but will probably end up playing the less-than-ideal Sega CD version, since that's the most accessible option for playing on real hardware (I'll just have to burn a disc after getting the image from Archive.org). It bugs me that the "better" versions of the game are for hardware that never took off in the US.
I feel like I'm going to have to watch Lethal Weapon 2 in the near future too.

I made more progress tonight with TWISTS AND TURNS that I saw coming but was totally into. Bascally, I found THE REAL DIRT ON THE BAD GUYS, stuff that they CAN'T cover up! But would you believe... THEY MANAGED TO COVER IT UP? IT WAS A TRAP! Now I'm on the wrong side of the system... but the RIGHT SIDE OF JUSTICE!
This stuff is super-formulaic 80s action-movie fare but I love it.

[pierrot]

I just hit Act 2 after about 7 hours, according to the save file (that feels wrong, though). I spent a fair amount of time wandering around before I managed to actually get past the most frightening gatekeeper possible to the Tokugawa Building. Eventually I went back for a third time, and she finally put two and two together when I showed her the Policenauts photo. Was pretty annoying, because I had shown it to her a couple times before, and she was just like, 'Yeah, what of it?' I'm also bothered by the fact that the game won't let me actually take the data disc that I can play on the CD player. It's obviously going to be important at some point. Just let me take it with me already! I'm liable to forget about it if it becomes necessary in Act 6, or something.

I also, against my better judgement, spent a little time in the shooting range at BCP HQ to get 550+ points on training level II. It allowed me to "fondle" Meryl's breasts, which made jungle noises. There was a lot of boob grabbing in the latter half of that first act. Hanging out in the shooting range, I got to see David, and Tony's skills. He didn't say anything about it at first, but it was kind of funny watching David taking a bunch of non-lethal shots; Then Tony busts in, and is all 'multi-head-shot everything, always!'

I still don't especially enjoy the game, but it is fairly playable, at least.

[Nemoide]

And I finished Policenauts tonight! Don't worry Pierrot, you're just about to get to the point where the game ramps up - Act 1 really is pretty slow. After you meet Ed's family, the pace starts to pick up and it just gets faster and faster.
I thought I was taking my time, but I was much faster; I didn't touch Meryls breasts, but I'm okay with that. I'm also pretty sure I missed getting to watch Tony show off at the shooting range.

But now that I'm done I can confirm: I really liked the game! The premise never strays too far from "Lethal Weapon in space" but I'm fine with the fact that it's largely predictable.
There was something I really liked about the ending in relation to Gundam:

So the game definitely references Gundam right from the get-go because the Beyond space-colony's design is identical to Gundam's colonies. I feel like the Japanese otaku audience this game is aimed at would pick up on that *instantly.* Gundam is huge in Japan.
But then at the end, one of the major antagonists (an old former-Policenaut) delivers a long speech about how humans didn't evolve to live in space: they have high rates of organ failure from the cosmic radiation, babies are routinely born with defects, and the human mind panics from the confinement of the colony and *needs* to turn to drugs. Essentially he's saying that the bad guys' machinations are all a necessary step for man to live in space. I feel like this is an inversion of Char from Gundam, who monologues about how humanity must go to space, because life on earth prevents growth and it's in space that humanity can achieve its full potential (ie become psychic "newtypes"). Char is usually the antagonist in Gundam but is usually depicted somewhat sympathetically: he does what he does to encourage humanity to leave the earth and go to space. The villain in Policenauts is very similar, but is depicted as wholly evil and without sympathy (though not necessarily wrong).

I don't know if this parallel is super-significant, but I suspect that a lot of Japanese fans would have seen that as a connection!

As for the translation itself, I think it's pretty alright! One issue is that an "r-bomb" gets dropped, but the original translation was from 2009 and that word was generally socially acceptable at the time. Another thing I felt was awkward was Jonathan calling a guy "fuckface" which I think is a super-goofy insult that kind of detracted from the seriousness of the situation. Aside from that, no real complaints based on my limited Japanese-skills and comparing what's voice-acted to what the subtitles said.

Anyway, I'm glad to have played Policenauts! I've got one more fan-translated game I'd like to play, but we'll see about how much free time I have this month.

[pierrot]

And I finished Policenauts tonight! Don't worry Pierrot, you're just about to get to the point where the game ramps up - Act 1 really is pretty slow. After you meet Ed's family, the pace starts to pick up and it just gets faster and faster.

Wait, was it actually only three acts?

I thought I was taking my time, but I was much faster; I didn't touch Meryls breasts, but I'm okay with that. I'm also pretty sure I missed getting to watch Tony show off at the shooting range.

You didn't miss much. I wouldn't sweat it.

As for the translation itself, I think it's pretty alright! One issue is that an "r-bomb" gets dropped, but the original translation was from 2009 and that word was generally socially acceptable at the time. Another thing I felt was awkward was Jonathan calling a guy "fuckface" which I think is a super-goofy insult that kind of detracted from the seriousness of the situation.

What scene was the bomb dropped in? I'm also curious who Jonathan called a "fuckface," if it's not potentially spoilery for where I'm at.