Games Beaten 2017

[Exhuminator]

Not as good as Gone Home IMO, but damn good nonetheless.

Forgot about Gone Home, thanks for reminding me.

so here I am super late in the game, starting up a new healer.

Was the counter-attack skill automatic or something you assigned?

[fastbilly1]

so here I am super late in the game, starting up a new healer.

Was the counter-attack skill automatic or something you assigned?

Counter attacks are automatic. The healer had some wand equipped (I want to say it boosted a stat). Looking it up, a Priest has to have less than 10 kills.

[Exhuminator]

Counter attacks are automatic.

Oof. Yeah, that's just bad game design.

[alienjesus]

I had forgotten so many of the intricate systems that I felt totally lost and even more inept than I did when I was playing it seriously.

I understand where you're coming from. The end game is an unfair shit show. I was actually pretty reserved about TO:LUCT in my review here, out of respect for its fans. But if anyone wants to read a scathing (yet justifiable) review of TO:LUCT that really breaks the game down: http://www.tbstactics.com/2011/10/tacti ... r-psp.html (No I did not write that review.)

Ex, have you played "Everyone's Gone to the Rapture?"

No, but I downloaded it yesterday. I also downloaded Firewatch, Virginia, The Stanley Parable, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and Kholat. I think I've missed out on a significant nascent genre these past few years. Oops.

I put my thoughts here back when I beat the game a few years back too. Seems my opinions were pretty similar to yours, although perhaps a little more positive overall?

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=45249&p=909527&hilit=games+beaten+tactics+ogre#p909527

[retrosportsgamer]

No, but I downloaded it yesterday. I also downloaded Firewatch, Virginia, The Stanley Parable, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and Kholat. I think I've missed out on a significant nascent genre these past few years. Oops.

I'm also looking to snag these as they go on sale.

[pierrot]

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=45249&p=909527&hilit=games+beaten+tactics+ogre#p909527

[...]I love that you level up classes instead of characters, so if you want to add an extra archer to your team in addition to the one you have, you can throw them right in because their level will match. The ability system is nice, and I liked the use of skills to differentiate the job roles further - these are extra abilities you can use without using your turn in battle - such as stealing with a thief or generating more MP as an enchantress.
[...]Crafting weapons[...].

Holy shit! You all played an entirely different game--. This barely even resembles the original. The most difficult thing to manage in the original (aside from individual unit level) is keeping units alive in the early game, since the only reliable way to revive a character is to use the one spell type that is a reward only once in the game (Chapter 2), can not be gotten anywhere else, and can only be equipped by one advanced class (and one character specific class) that happens to be the one Fast mentioned, that can not have killed a certain number of units. This makes some of the missions in the early game, with CPU controlled allies surrounded by enemy units at the start of battle, a practical nightmare, if one wanted to actually keep that ally alive (which I always did).

The unit level management in the original seems like it would, possibly, be easier to deal with, though. For example, if I had a unit at level 25, and wanted to train some other unit that's at level five, I could go into a training field with those two units--no class levels, so both could be whatever class they have the stats for--and maybe a healer. With every action the level five unit takes on the level 25 unit it would gain 100xp, and a level, up to ~level 15; At which point it would start to gain ~96xp per action for a number of levels, then ~70 per, down to ~10 per, until they're the same level. It's actually a bit easy to power level this way, since you could have one unit kill everything in a story battle, giving it the xp from those kills, as well as MVP status at the end of the battle, which grants a bonus level. Then just go into a training field, and have all the other units beat the hell out of the MVP until they're all the same level. It's pretty dumb, and grind-y, but effective.

Units take a long time to move, most maps have at least 20 units on including your own and there's no real way to speed things along. This seems inherent to the PSP version too, as a guide I found said most SNES version maps only had 5 or 6 on each side rather than 10 or 12.

The SNES/PSX/Saturn versions allow the player to use up to ten units in a battle (with one or two exceptions, and exclusive of guest CPUs), and the enemy usually has up to ten(ish) units. I don't think there's really any difference, other than the PSP version allows you to deploy up to 12 units, instead of ten. The pace of battles was one of my biggest gripes, also, though. That, along with how many story battles there were, plus random battles, and the time taken in training mode made the game feel needlessly (exorbitantly) long, to me.

[Exhuminator]

since the only reliable way to revive a character is to use the one spell type that is a reward only once in the game

What about the Blessing and Joystone items that auto-revive a fallen party member?

I don't think there's really any difference, other than the PSP version allows you to deploy up to 12 units

Some battles allow the player to have up to 12 units on the field, whilst allowing the computer up to 15 units versus your own. That's the highest enemy count I can remember anyway, it may have been higher sometimes and I didn't notice. When you've got 27 units slowly taking turns through a battle, yes it can be a drawn out slog.

That, along with how many story battles there were, plus random battles, and the time taken in training mode made the game feel needlessly (exorbitantly) long, to me.

Like I said earlier, I had cleared 84 battles before I finally beat the game. I can't imagine doing all the optional sidequest dungeons in addition to replaying the other paths. You've got to REALLY love the battle system in TO to want to do all of that.

[pierrot]

since the only reliable way to revive a character is to use the one spell type that is a reward only once in the game

What about the Blessing and Joystone items that auto-revive a fallen party member?

Yeah, they're there, but very limited. There's one given out early on, and they pretty much only, otherwise, are acquirable from buried treasure points (can't be purchased). Only a couple types of buried treasure points will actually give the stones out to a character with anything less than 57 luck, though, and I rarely actually found those spots. I think I had five or six stones, total, through the entirety of my playthrough. Also, they require equipping in one of a character's four armor slots to take effect in battle. So there's a trade off in using them. I think I only ever had one on Denim.

I don't think there's really any difference, other than the PSP version allows you to deploy up to 12 units

Some battles allow the player to have up to 12 units on the field, whilst allowing the computer up to 15 units versus your own. That's the highest enemy count I can remember anyway, it may have been higher sometimes and I didn't notice. When you've got 27 units slowly taking turns through a battle, yes it can be a drawn out slog.

I agree completely. The battle speeds can be grueling. Especially for the more meaningless battles. My point was really just that there's not such a huge disparity in terms of the maximum number of units on a single battlefield, between the versions. I know there's at least one battle that had 11 enemy units, with the player being able to deploy ten units, in the SNES/etc versions. I'm sure the maximum number of enemy units in the PSP version is, relatively, proportional to the small increase in maximum player units.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2. Gyromite (NES)
3. Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (Steam)
4. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
5. Radical Dreamers (SNES)
6. Video Games 1 (TI-99/4A)
7. Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (Famicom)
8. Exile (TurboGrafx CD)
9. Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (TurboGrafx CD)
10. Xak (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
11. Xak II (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
12. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
13. Captain Silver (Sega Master System)
14. Märchen Veil (Famicom Disk System)
15. Vanguard (Atari 2600)
16. Kangaroo (Atari 2600)
17. Front Line (Atari 2600)
18. Mario Bros. (Atari 2600)
19. Harmonia (Steam)
20. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
21. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
22. Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (TurboGrafx CD)
23. Gorf (Atari 2600)
24. Neutopia II (TurboGrafx-16)
25. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2, Taito Legends 2)
26. The Lost Vikings (SNES)
27. Blue's Journey (Wii Virtual Console)
28. Wizard Fire (Wii, Data East Arcade Classics)

My recent playthrough of Dungeon Magic had me itching to once again play Wizard Fire: a similar, albeit shorter and simpler, RPG / beat 'em up hybrid.

Wizard Fire was released in the arcades back in '92, but like Dungeon Magic it received no contemporary ports. It finally made an appearance on home consoles via Data East Arcade Classics (Wii) in 2010. It's worth noting that Wizard Fire is actually a sequel, hitting the arcades two years after its predecessor Gate of Doom (these games were titled Dark Seal and Dark Seal II in Japan). Unfortunately Data East elected to leave Gate of Doom off this particular compilation (their only one), which is more than a tad annoying.

There are five playable characters to choose from and (surprise surprise) I go for the lady-elf. The game is presented in a sort of pseudo-isometric view. Walking controls are standard and everyone moves in the typical eight directions, it's just that some stages happen to have a "slanty" feel. This is brief journey, clocking in at around forty minutes or so, and the "RPG" elements are pretty slim. There's plenty of loot and auto-equipped items, but no real XP system to speak of.

Combat is pretty satisfying. The standard attack, at least with the elf, is a projectile that shoots from her sword. There's a "combo" move but I honestly have no idea how to activate it. I mashed buttons, hoped for the best, and seemed to be successful a good 50% of the time. There's magic too, with some varied and random effects. Sometimes our elven heroine would transform into a lazer-firing Medusa head or a crushing tornado. Other times she spent a few moments as a useless pink pig.

The difficulty is a bit unbalanced. It's theoretically not a "hard" game. Enemies can be skipped and are easy to avoid, and bosses move in predictable patterns. Even the final boss can be cheesed, as he has a tendency to stand in one place for lengthy periods - all that needs to be done is to move slightly to avoid his attacks. With that all said, the game's still an obnoxious quarter-muncher as you're only given one life per credit.

The graphics are pretty chipper and well-done, with some great medieval scenery. Music is serviceable, but again, pretty hard to hear under the din of battle. Then we have the cutscenes... There are an impressive number throughout but the quality is questionable at best. The character artwork is strange. It looks like it was done by a Western "anime" artist, like something off the cover of a TG-16 game. The accompanying voice-acting is hilariously inept. It barely syncs with the onscreen text and is super-compressed and muffled. It gets "better": the dialogue. I'm especially fond of the knight who's hellbent on smashing water.

This isn't a revolutionary title by any means, but it's easy to pick up and play and provides some solid entertainment and laughs. I'd assume it's an even superior experience with a second player. My four-year-old daughter was captivated as I played, if that means anything at all.

[Markies]

1. Phantasy Star II (GEN)
2. Guitar Hero (PS2)
3. Adventures of Lolo (NES)
4. Animal Crossing (GCN)
5. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
6. Beyond The Beyond (PS1)
7. R.B.I. Baseball (NES)
8. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (PS1)
9. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (GCN)

I beat GoldenEye: Rogue Agent on the GCN this evening!

Like many people my age, I grew up playing GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64. I had dabbled in Doom and Wolfenstein before, but this was the first FPS that really grabbed me. I became rather good at the game, though I got beat more times than I like to admit.

Since then, I have played FPS games off and on. I really like FPS games that add something new to the table or have universal acclaim. Also, before of GoldenEye, I have grown an affinity to James Bond video games as well.

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent is kind of an off shoot of the Franchise. You do not play James Bond, but an Agent that is kicked out of Mi-6 and hired by Goldfinger to do his bidding.

The story makes absolutely no sense. You are a bad guy beating up other bad guys, but those bad guys are just nameless thugs. It would be cool to play a Bond villain, but that never happens. You just shoot countless enemies throughout the entire game.

And holy crap are there a ton of enemies. There are 8 levels in the game and I was killing 200 enemies per level. And I wasn't killing all of them. Several times, you will walk into a large room and you have to shot like 40 guys. It gets pretty ridiculous after a while.

Thankfully, you get some Golden Eye abilities that help, but they don't do too much except for a shield and some hacking progression. The cool aspect of the game is the ability to dual wield any gun you find as long as it is one handed. Walking around with a machine gun in one hand and a shotgun in another never got old.

The game gets VERY intense in the later levels when they start shooting instant kill weapons at you. That is cheap, especially when they are in the back of a large room with 30 people in them. No part was impossible, but it is very overwhelming at times.

The game also has liberal check points, regenerating health and an arrow constantly telling you where to go. It felt kind of strange to play such a modern FPS on my GameCube.

Overall, the game is like a big 80's action movie. Just turn off your brain and enjoy killing hundreds of bad guys. There is some depth to the game, but you don't need it too much. It's enjoyable for what it is, but not something that is a must play for everybody. If you like FPS games, it is at least worth a shot.