Games Beaten 2016
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Geez, I should have talked about Klonoa as well. I've briefly played the PSX version, but finished the Wii one. It's good stuff. Are there any substantial differences between the two, though? I was always under the impression that there weren't.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
The one on the PS2 I think it was, was awesome. Been needing to check out more of the series.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
114. Lightning Warrior Raidy | 2005-2008 | PC | 7/10
Lightning Warrior Raidy is a hentai dungeon crawler. That is to say, it's a dungeon crawler with lewd situations and an emphasis on sexuality. An interesting aspect of this game is that despite how niche it is, Lightning Warrior Raidy has been remade several times by its developer ZyX. LWR was originally released in Japan in 1994 for MS-DOS, with FM Towns and PC-9821 versions releasing later that year. In 1996 LWR was ported to Windows 95. In 2005, Lightning Warrior Raidy received a full remake for Windows XP. All of these versions of the game remained in Japanese. But finally, in 2008, G-Collections (JAST USA affiliate) released Lightning Warrior Raidy (2005 version) in English. And that's the version I played.
Raidy is a wandering warrior, with the power to summon lightning magic. During her travels she comes across a town that keeps losing its women. The women are being taken captive into a mysterious tower. Raidy decides to explore the tower and discover what's actually going on. Inside she finds that monsters are sexually torturing women, brainwashing them into love slaves for a dark evil that feeds on female lust. Raidy decides she's not okay with this, and makes it her mission to stop the dark evil. Yes it's a contrived plot that creates a basic framework for a hentai game. But no one's playing this for the story.
The draw for a hentai gamer here, is that every enemy (sans final boss) in the dungeon is an attractive female. When you beat them in battle, you get to see them nude. However, a casual hentai gamer might be surpised to discover Lightning Warrior Raidy is no push over. This is a legit dungeon crawler that doesn't cater to those merely seeking easy eye candy. Unless you are a wuss and use a strategy guide and premade maps, you're in for a real challenge. You will need to make hand drawn maps (until you find the current floor map at least), and deal with classic first person dungeon crawler traps like false walls, spinner tiles, and nasty warp portals. In addition, LWR expects the player to grind to succeed. Every new floor represents a big leap in difficulty, and if the player hasn't spent a significant amount of time grinding on the floor below, they will hit a dead end.
The gameplay is formulaic. You enter a floor, seek the map, seek item chests, seek gear upgrades, grind and grind, but there's one catch. If you try to fight a floor's boss without first finding and talking to a slave, you won't know said boss's "weakness", and you'll lose to the boss. The boss will then sexually molest Raidy in its own special way (hardcore lesbian S&M typically). However, if Raidy knows the boss's "weakness", Raidy can successfully defeat the boss. That is, if the player can use the proper strategy to win. By that, I mean attack, cast magic, and use items strategically as possible. Typical dungeon crawler battling 101.
Despite the dungeon crawling being rote as it is, Lightning Warrior Raidy does have some strong positives. The production values are fairly high, the localization is done very well, the OST is quite good, and the cutscenes are often just as humorous as they are naughty. Most importantly, given its genre, LWR's character artwork is top notch. Those seeking ecchi anime style females in precarious situations should be well satiated. However, the dungeon aesthetic itself doesn't change for the first five floors, with only the sixth floor deviating. The repetitive dungeon appearance does get quite monotonous. But every floor has new enemies with a unique boss at least.
Let's be honest, this game is not for everyone. The dungeon crawling genre is niche in and of itself, and adding in hentai makes it even moreso. But for anyone who finds the concept intriguing, I'd recommend Lightning Warrior Raidy. No it's not the best dungeon crawler in the world, but I enjoyed it more than Legend of Grimrock. Which only goes to show that for the proper audience, there's a place for hardcore hentai and hardcore gameplay in equal measure. So it's no surprise this game has been ported and remade as many times as it has. In addition, the ending leaves room for a sequel. Wouldn't you know it; LWR actually has two sequels, both available in English.
P.S. There were tentacles.
Last edited by Exhuminator on Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
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alienjesus
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
prfsnl_gmr wrote:Good reviews, guys. Keep it up.
Also, Klonoa is excellent. That ending, though...just devastating.
Sarge wrote:Geez, I should have talked about Klonoa as well. I've briefly played the PSX version, but finished the Wii one. It's good stuff. Are there any substantial differences between the two, though? I was always under the impression that there weren't.
BoneSnapDeez wrote:Klonoa looks so rad, I've been meaning to check out that series for the longest time. Don't thing I've ever actually seen one of those games in person though. They must be scarce.
laurenhiya21 wrote:I'm generally not a big fan of platformers (being really bad at them doesn't help), but I had a lot of fun with Klonoa. Even when it got really challenging near the end I still was able to push through it.
Only big problem I had with it is that physical copies are expensive. Cheapest copy on Amazon right now is $120
Hey, Klonoa seems popular. Maybe I should have chosen it as a Together Retro game :S
My udnerstanding is that the main differences between the Wii and PS1 versions are that the Wii one is prettier and cheaper. However, it's still a pricy game now
fastbilly1 wrote:alienjesus wrote:P.S. I've heard mixed stuff about Escape From Monkey Island, which I've yet to play. Has anyone here tried it? Worth a punt?
It is worth playing to finish out the series, but it is a disappointment.
That's a shame. What are the issues with it?
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Partridge Senpai's 2016 Beaten List
1-50
51. Axiom Verge
52. Otomedius Excellent
53. JUMP Ultimate Stars
54. Dynasty Warriors 3
55. Fire Emblem if: Byakuya (Birthright)
56. Fire Emblem if: Anya (Conquest)
57. Fire Emblem if: Invisible Kingdom (Revelations)
58. Stubbs the Zombie
59. Mori Mori Slime
60. Metal Slug 7 (DS)
It's Metal Slug, but on DS! On a gameplay level, there's not really too much more to say about this one. It's a unique Metal Slug adventure on DS, with it being somewhere between the arcade games and the other portable games with the fact that you no longer have a health bar like the other portable games had, but you do have the collectable POW's just like Metal Slug Advance did.
The two biggest additions to this game are the playable characters and the training school. The training school is run by a very tsundere anime girl army officer, and allows you to practice specific and certain things in regards to every level you beat on arcade mode. This is a fantastic way to practice going through each stage so you can wreck arcade mode, as there are missions that scale up from just beating a level within one continue, to beating it without getting hit with only your pistol, to practicing specifically hunting for POWs, specifically just fighting the boss, and even special stages dedicated to navigating the unique eccentricities of each level's static obstacles. The better you do on these challenge/practice stages, the higher rank you will get on them. The more high ranks you get, the deeper your relationship(?) with the tsundere girl gets (you can see both her dialogue and thoughts), and the weird sort of crush she develops for you had me giggling quite a lot whenever I used the option to specifically chat with her.
The game and these training missions are enhanced by the fact that there are six playable characters in the game. Now, Metal Slug usually has at least a few, but these guys are actually STATISTICALLY DIFFERENT!!! For example, Marco's pistol bullets are twice as powerful as everyone else's, Tarma's Slugs have twice as much health, Ralf can knife twice as fast and more powerfully, etc. This really adds a well needed level of customization to the runs, and makes your choice of character really feel a lot more important than just petty cosmetics.
Verdict: $30 is a bit steep of a price for just another Metal Slug game, but if you've played the Anthology to death and you absolutely still need more Metal Slug in your life, then this is a great pick up to seek out. In a sentence: This game does for the Metal Slug series what Contra 4 did for the Contra series (a fantastic farewell game on DS with a great final campaign and tons of challenge stages).
60. Dream Mix TV: World Fighters (GC)
This is another Japan-only crossover Smash-Bros-style fighting game on the Gamecube with characters from Takara, Hudson soft, and Konami. I'll say right out the gate: Like for most of these crossover Smash-style games, if the novelty of the characters doesn't sell you on it, don't buy it. There's a PS2 version that goes for only 20 bucks, but that version doesn't have a 4-player mode, and the Game Cube version runs about 50 bucks, so when you can get D.O.N. Battle Stadium (which I feel is a technically more competent game) for like 10 bucks, this is really hard to recommend for the price.
For reference, the fighting roster is: Power Pro Kun (From the Konami Baseball games), Simon Belmont, Twinbee, Solid Snake, Moai (from Gradius), Optimus Prime, Rika chan (she's basically the Japanese Barbie equivalent), Micro Man (apparently his toy line got a US release in the 80's (?)), Taoka Kun (the Beyblade guy), Azura (honestly no idea what she's from other than the fact she's a Takara toy), Megatron, Momotaro (from Momotaro Densetsu), Adventure Island guy (I can never read his name properly, and that's just what I call him), Mejimaru (the protagonist of Far East of Eden (I think)), Bomberman, Yugo (from Bloody Roar), and Binbougami (also from Momotaro Dentetsu).
Mechanically, it is far more similar to something like D.O.N Battle Stadium than something like Smash Bros. or Playstation All-Stars. There are so many hearts distributed between the lot of you, and you've gotta beat the hearts out of them to lower the amount they have. When someone loses their last heart, it flys out of them really high, and once it's collected they're out. You can recollect it though and get back into the game though, but it's hard to do that because the enemy can potentially just grab it the instant it flies out of you. Definitely my least favorite mechanics out of the 4 games like this I've played.
Despite my earlier comments, this game does control just fine, as it's yet another crossover fighting game from the guys at Eighting (who would go on to make the also great Castlevania Judgment and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, and the Naruto Ninja Taisen series). My main problems is that the balance on the characters is ALL over the place, and mechanically it isn't as deep as something like Smash Bros (in most areas). The most notable changes from Smash Bros are less special moves (only a standard and then a direction-you're-facing + special) as well as less normal attacks (though you do have smash-attacks, effectively), and no ducking or block-rolling. The only mechanic which really adds anything is the ability to parry an enemy's attack by blocking at the moment their attack hits you. It does add a different layer to the strategy, but it doesn't really make up for all of the things they omit, in my opinion.
Granted, this game is about as competitive as Smash Bros. Some of the characters just downright suck and there's no reason to use them unless you just really like the character. Binbougami, Megatron, and Moai especially are so fat and slow, they're the (Brawl versions of) Gandondorf, Bowser, and Dedede of this game in how they're bad guys who hit hard but are way to slow to do jack shit when the game revolves around collecting hearts, not just hitting people. Then there are characters like Momotaro who move quicker but have basically no range or attack speed so they're useless as well. Then you have guys like Optimus and Taoka who just have such crazy speed and natural combos that there's no reason not to ever use them if you're trying to win. Again, it's not the biggest problem in the world because it's a party game, but it's just more pronounced than something like Smash Bros because the game is so much more simplified mechanically that the more obviously better characters really stand out. The biggest nice thing I can say about the characters, though, is that they're very simple and easy to unlock. No faffing around with rediculous arcane banalities like Smash Bros Brawl and Melee, just beat the single player mode with everyone, and you'll have everyone unlocked.
Verdict: As I said before, really hard to whole-heartedly recommend for the price you'd have to pay. If that roster sounds like something you'd have fun with and you're okay paying for it, then go right ahead. You'll probably enjoy it about as much as I did (and I did, really, despite all of my complaining). An okay game, but really only stands on its fanservice as mechanically and price-wise it just isn't up to par with the other entries in the genre, let alone on the same console.
1-50
51. Axiom Verge
52. Otomedius Excellent
53. JUMP Ultimate Stars
54. Dynasty Warriors 3
55. Fire Emblem if: Byakuya (Birthright)
56. Fire Emblem if: Anya (Conquest)
57. Fire Emblem if: Invisible Kingdom (Revelations)
58. Stubbs the Zombie
59. Mori Mori Slime
60. Metal Slug 7 (DS)
It's Metal Slug, but on DS! On a gameplay level, there's not really too much more to say about this one. It's a unique Metal Slug adventure on DS, with it being somewhere between the arcade games and the other portable games with the fact that you no longer have a health bar like the other portable games had, but you do have the collectable POW's just like Metal Slug Advance did.
The two biggest additions to this game are the playable characters and the training school. The training school is run by a very tsundere anime girl army officer, and allows you to practice specific and certain things in regards to every level you beat on arcade mode. This is a fantastic way to practice going through each stage so you can wreck arcade mode, as there are missions that scale up from just beating a level within one continue, to beating it without getting hit with only your pistol, to practicing specifically hunting for POWs, specifically just fighting the boss, and even special stages dedicated to navigating the unique eccentricities of each level's static obstacles. The better you do on these challenge/practice stages, the higher rank you will get on them. The more high ranks you get, the deeper your relationship(?) with the tsundere girl gets (you can see both her dialogue and thoughts), and the weird sort of crush she develops for you had me giggling quite a lot whenever I used the option to specifically chat with her.
The game and these training missions are enhanced by the fact that there are six playable characters in the game. Now, Metal Slug usually has at least a few, but these guys are actually STATISTICALLY DIFFERENT!!! For example, Marco's pistol bullets are twice as powerful as everyone else's, Tarma's Slugs have twice as much health, Ralf can knife twice as fast and more powerfully, etc. This really adds a well needed level of customization to the runs, and makes your choice of character really feel a lot more important than just petty cosmetics.
Verdict: $30 is a bit steep of a price for just another Metal Slug game, but if you've played the Anthology to death and you absolutely still need more Metal Slug in your life, then this is a great pick up to seek out. In a sentence: This game does for the Metal Slug series what Contra 4 did for the Contra series (a fantastic farewell game on DS with a great final campaign and tons of challenge stages).
60. Dream Mix TV: World Fighters (GC)
This is another Japan-only crossover Smash-Bros-style fighting game on the Gamecube with characters from Takara, Hudson soft, and Konami. I'll say right out the gate: Like for most of these crossover Smash-style games, if the novelty of the characters doesn't sell you on it, don't buy it. There's a PS2 version that goes for only 20 bucks, but that version doesn't have a 4-player mode, and the Game Cube version runs about 50 bucks, so when you can get D.O.N. Battle Stadium (which I feel is a technically more competent game) for like 10 bucks, this is really hard to recommend for the price.
For reference, the fighting roster is: Power Pro Kun (From the Konami Baseball games), Simon Belmont, Twinbee, Solid Snake, Moai (from Gradius), Optimus Prime, Rika chan (she's basically the Japanese Barbie equivalent), Micro Man (apparently his toy line got a US release in the 80's (?)), Taoka Kun (the Beyblade guy), Azura (honestly no idea what she's from other than the fact she's a Takara toy), Megatron, Momotaro (from Momotaro Densetsu), Adventure Island guy (I can never read his name properly, and that's just what I call him), Mejimaru (the protagonist of Far East of Eden (I think)), Bomberman, Yugo (from Bloody Roar), and Binbougami (also from Momotaro Dentetsu).
Mechanically, it is far more similar to something like D.O.N Battle Stadium than something like Smash Bros. or Playstation All-Stars. There are so many hearts distributed between the lot of you, and you've gotta beat the hearts out of them to lower the amount they have. When someone loses their last heart, it flys out of them really high, and once it's collected they're out. You can recollect it though and get back into the game though, but it's hard to do that because the enemy can potentially just grab it the instant it flies out of you. Definitely my least favorite mechanics out of the 4 games like this I've played.
Despite my earlier comments, this game does control just fine, as it's yet another crossover fighting game from the guys at Eighting (who would go on to make the also great Castlevania Judgment and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, and the Naruto Ninja Taisen series). My main problems is that the balance on the characters is ALL over the place, and mechanically it isn't as deep as something like Smash Bros (in most areas). The most notable changes from Smash Bros are less special moves (only a standard and then a direction-you're-facing + special) as well as less normal attacks (though you do have smash-attacks, effectively), and no ducking or block-rolling. The only mechanic which really adds anything is the ability to parry an enemy's attack by blocking at the moment their attack hits you. It does add a different layer to the strategy, but it doesn't really make up for all of the things they omit, in my opinion.
Granted, this game is about as competitive as Smash Bros. Some of the characters just downright suck and there's no reason to use them unless you just really like the character. Binbougami, Megatron, and Moai especially are so fat and slow, they're the (Brawl versions of) Gandondorf, Bowser, and Dedede of this game in how they're bad guys who hit hard but are way to slow to do jack shit when the game revolves around collecting hearts, not just hitting people. Then there are characters like Momotaro who move quicker but have basically no range or attack speed so they're useless as well. Then you have guys like Optimus and Taoka who just have such crazy speed and natural combos that there's no reason not to ever use them if you're trying to win. Again, it's not the biggest problem in the world because it's a party game, but it's just more pronounced than something like Smash Bros because the game is so much more simplified mechanically that the more obviously better characters really stand out. The biggest nice thing I can say about the characters, though, is that they're very simple and easy to unlock. No faffing around with rediculous arcane banalities like Smash Bros Brawl and Melee, just beat the single player mode with everyone, and you'll have everyone unlocked.
Verdict: As I said before, really hard to whole-heartedly recommend for the price you'd have to pay. If that roster sounds like something you'd have fun with and you're okay paying for it, then go right ahead. You'll probably enjoy it about as much as I did (and I did, really, despite all of my complaining). An okay game, but really only stands on its fanservice as mechanically and price-wise it just isn't up to par with the other entries in the genre, let alone on the same console.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
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alienjesus
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 8775
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
- Location: London, UK.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
PartridgeSenpai wrote:Adventure Island guy (I can never read his name properly, and that's just what I call him),
It's either Takahashi Meijin or Master Higgins, depending on region.
Also....I like those 'arcane banalities' that Smash Bros has to unlock stuff. I felt more involved when there was a goal to achieve with a reward that actually felt worthwhile. I'll take that over a crappy achievements/trophy system any day
Re: Games Beaten 2016
3/19: Sonic Generations (3DS)
3/22: Sonic Colors (Wii)
4/10: Sonic Adventure DX (GCN)
4/17: Knuckles in Sonic 2 (SG/WiiVC)
6/15: Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP/PSTV)
8/4: Metal Slug (Arcade/PS4)
8/5: Metal Slug 2 (Arcade/PS4)
8/5: Metal Slug X (Arcade/PS4)
8/5: Metal Slug 3 (Arcade/PS4)
8/22: Megaman X (SNES/GCN)
8/29: Megaman X2 (SNES/GCN)
9/3: Megaman X3 (SNES/GCN)
9/3: Megaman X4 (PSX/GCN)
9/4: Megaman X5 (PSX/GCN)
9/5: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PSN/PS3)
9/6: Street Fighter V (PS4)
9/10: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (PSX)
9/17: Dragonball Xenoverse (PS4)
10/1: Metal Gear Solid (PSX/PS3)
10/09: Marvel vs Capcom 2 (Dreamcast)
10/11: Metal Gear Solid 2 HD (PS3)
10/18: Metal Gear Solid 3 HD (PS3)
10/21: Rival Schools: United by Fate (PSX/Retropie)
10/30: Dragonball Xenoverse 2 (PS4)
11/3: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
11/23: Suikoden (PSX/PSTV)
My year of no Nintendo games continues (In your face, Noiseredux)! I finally played through the original Suikoden and it was a surprising experience. Many of the mechanics and systems of the game have not aged super well but I still came away feeling like the game was very tidy and well designed.
The combat system is varied and interesting enough that I found myself finishing most combats and I rarely was frustrated by random encounters. The leveling system is brilliant - characters level relative to the enemies they are fighting so even though the game includes something like 60 or so playable characters, you could level a character up to the party's average within just a few combats.
If I had any complaints it would just be that I thought the music was pretty boring. I cannot recall a single tune from the game and I just got done putting 23 hours into it. The artwork will stay with me for a long time. These are some of the most detailed 2D sprites I have seen in a 32 bit era RPG and the numbers of frames of animation for simple actions like holding up a sword blew me away. The dedication and investment the art team put in for this game is something that we almost never see anymore.
3/22: Sonic Colors (Wii)
4/10: Sonic Adventure DX (GCN)
4/17: Knuckles in Sonic 2 (SG/WiiVC)
6/15: Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP/PSTV)
8/4: Metal Slug (Arcade/PS4)
8/5: Metal Slug 2 (Arcade/PS4)
8/5: Metal Slug X (Arcade/PS4)
8/5: Metal Slug 3 (Arcade/PS4)
8/22: Megaman X (SNES/GCN)
8/29: Megaman X2 (SNES/GCN)
9/3: Megaman X3 (SNES/GCN)
9/3: Megaman X4 (PSX/GCN)
9/4: Megaman X5 (PSX/GCN)
9/5: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PSN/PS3)
9/6: Street Fighter V (PS4)
9/10: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (PSX)
9/17: Dragonball Xenoverse (PS4)
10/1: Metal Gear Solid (PSX/PS3)
10/09: Marvel vs Capcom 2 (Dreamcast)
10/11: Metal Gear Solid 2 HD (PS3)
10/18: Metal Gear Solid 3 HD (PS3)
10/21: Rival Schools: United by Fate (PSX/Retropie)
10/30: Dragonball Xenoverse 2 (PS4)
11/3: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
11/23: Suikoden (PSX/PSTV)
My year of no Nintendo games continues (In your face, Noiseredux)! I finally played through the original Suikoden and it was a surprising experience. Many of the mechanics and systems of the game have not aged super well but I still came away feeling like the game was very tidy and well designed.
The combat system is varied and interesting enough that I found myself finishing most combats and I rarely was frustrated by random encounters. The leveling system is brilliant - characters level relative to the enemies they are fighting so even though the game includes something like 60 or so playable characters, you could level a character up to the party's average within just a few combats.
If I had any complaints it would just be that I thought the music was pretty boring. I cannot recall a single tune from the game and I just got done putting 23 hours into it. The artwork will stay with me for a long time. These are some of the most detailed 2D sprites I have seen in a 32 bit era RPG and the numbers of frames of animation for simple actions like holding up a sword blew me away. The dedication and investment the art team put in for this game is something that we almost never see anymore.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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noiseredux
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- Contact:
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Exhuminator
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 11573
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
My favorite thing about Suikoden was how fast the combat system was. A random encounter would resolve itself very quickly compared to typical JRPGs of the time.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.