Racketboy Summer Games Challenge 2020 - begin when ready!

[alienjesus]

It took me almost eight and a half hours to get 103% in DKC3, which was a little longer than I was planning on spending with the game. It’s a really solid platformer, however, and I think it plays even better than DKC2. The levels are also better designed, and from a pure gameplay perspective, I think DKC3 is probably Rare’s best work on the SNES. As I mentioned earlier, the whole thing feels a bit off-brand, though. Neither Donkey Kong nor Diddy Kong make an appearance; many of the enemy models are different; it is set in some sort of European resort town; none of the music from DKC or DKC2 is in the game, etc. (Aesthetically, the game seems more like Banjo Kazooie than DKC3.) Accordingly, while I think DKC3 is probably the better game, DKC2 is probably my favorite game in the SNES DKC trilogy.

I’ll probably do a PS1 game next. What should it be? King’s Field or Silent Hill?

I'm glad you liked it. It definitely gets looked at as the black sheep of the bunch, but I share the opinion that it's the best game of the trilogy. It's also my favourite but I won't begrudge someone for preferring the other 2 - all 3 games are pretty great.


I'm STILL working away at Fire Emblem. Turok is currently somewhat on hold whilst I work through the mammoth task that is Fire Emblem 4. I started Turok because I was struggling to get into FE4 a bit, but I'm starting to get into the swing of things now so trying to use my momentum whilst I'm enjoying the game as much as I can. I'm on chapter 8 now, which means I'm 2/3rds through the game (there's 12 chapters, and chapter 8 is actually the 9th one - the first was called 'prologue' not chapter 1). Chapter 7 was an absolute monster after the breezy and quick chapter 6 - it took me 50+ turns just to feasibly beat it, before worrying about sending people back to level up in the arena and similar. Chapter 8 looks hopefully a bit quicker - it's certainly a more direct route through the map.

Anyhow, my units range from level 7 to level 20, with most being about level 10-13. Seliph is level 20 and promoted to horseback, which is sweet, as one of the reasons chapter 7 was so long was waiting for his slow ass to move around the battlefield to capture castles. Now he can move twice as far practically. I made use of the paragon ring to feed him double exp, especially in chapter 6, to speed the process up. He's now sold it to Leif, who is the lowest level party member currently (Patty is probably next for the paragon ring...) - I know he'll be good when he promotes because he is basically the same class as Raquesis in gen 1, and she got like +8 in every stat and access to all weaponry, and a horse, and pursuit. So he's definitely the next candidate, to go from shitty to great when he promotes.

And here's thoughts on the MVPs of my party currently - and those at the other end of the spectrum...

MVPs:
- Seliph is great all round and higher level than everyone else.
- Lakche and Ulster are the go to combatants, especially the former. Decent stats and abilities all around - slightly low HP though.
- Oifey is great all round, and Shanan is the most ludicrously OP combat unit I've ever seen in Fire Emblem
- Ares is decent generally, but he has the ridiculous sword that has 30 might and grants 20 skill and 10 resistance, which pushes him over the top
- Fee spends most of the maps flying around on her own - and yet I've never had to worry about losing her as she's too fast to hit and doubles everything. Been lucky with stat growths too

Not so valuable people:
- Lester is fine stat wise, but he only has access to weak iron and steel bows currently because he didn't inherit any good weapons from his dad. He also got decent but not exceptional skills (miracle and pursuit) so hes just OK.
- Patty is a thief who currently can't reliably dodge, has low attack despite her dad being Holyn, and no pursuit as of yet. She should be better after promoting
- Leif is kinda screwed by his forced parentage currently, meaning he is a foot soldier with no pursuit - a pretty terrible combo. Luckily he should be redeemed when he promotes, but that's gonna take a while...

The oddities:
- Arthur and Tinni are kind of odd units in that they are decent, but could be better. I used Lex as a parent, which gives them Vantage (attacks first always if below half hp) and Wrath (always criticals if below half hp) as a combo, which could make them deadly - but currently their low magic and weak tomes make the strategy unreliable - too many 50+ hp enemies who don't go down to a single critical wind spell unfortunately! Because Lex is their father, they also have high hp & defence and low resistance, especially arthur. This is a bizarre combo for a mage!

[prfsnl_gmr]

So...I basically ran a marathon around the RIDICULOUSLY WIDE streets of Silent Hill trying to figure out how to get to the elementary school. (Seriously, the streets in that town could easily accommodate four to six lanes of traffic.) I finally figured out what to do, though. I found some keys, picked up a ton of handgun ammo, ran away from a lot of hairless dogs, and I’m on my way.

So farm this game seems much easier than the RE games that inspired it. Does it stay that way? Or, does the challenge pick up later?

[pook99]

Started castlevania: harmony of dissonance today for my summer challenge. So far it is basically what I expected which is a good thing. I just made it to the second castle so I'm probably about halfway through.

[CFFJR]

So farm this game seems much easier than the RE games that inspired it. Does it stay that way? Or, does the challenge pick up later?

It definitely gets more challenging than what you've seen so far, but I'd say the two series are about on par with each other. Though the puzzles are probably more difficult than what Resident Evil usually put up. It's not what I'd call a hard game though, especially if you're diligent in your exploration. The game gives you a lot of resources.

Started castlevania: harmony of dissonance today for my summer challenge. So far it is basically what I expected which is a good thing. I just made it to the second castle so I'm probably about halfway through.

I remember liking what I played of Harmony, but I never finished it, and the last time played it was probably 15+ years ago. I plan to revisit it one of these days.

Coincidentally, I started Aria of Sorrow today. It is a lot of fun, and I've put about 4 and half hours in so far. My map is currently at 91.8%, and it appears I only have one major area left to explore. My understanding is that this game does not have a second castle, so it seems I'm near the end already. Nothing wrong with being short and sweet though!

[CFFJR]

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Donkey Kong Country 3
Dragon Quest V
Final Fantasy VIII
Grandia
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Persona 3 FES
*Bonus* Persona 3: The Answer
Shadow Hearts
Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne
Xenosaga Episode 1

Alright, sorry for the double post folks, but I finished up Aria of Sorrow.

So this game takes place in 2035, where main character Soma Cruz and his pal Mina get sucked into Dracula's castle during an eclipse. You meet Genya Arikado there (Alucard, with the worst undercover name ever) and the initial goal is just to escape.

But you learn pretty quick that Soma mysteriously has the power to control souls of the enemies in the castle, and this is how you get your powers and abilities. Enemy and boss souls account for all of your traversal upgrades (double jumping, walking on water, and so forth) as well as subweapon style attacks and passive skills that increase your stats or let you absorb hp. You can equip three of these at a time, of different types, and it's a cool system that got just a little bit irritating in the one water area where you often switch between water walking and sinking. It was also basically reused as the Shards in Bloodstained.

You also run into a suspicious type named Graham who is ultimately revealed to be a nut who thinks he's Dracula and is after the power to control souls, and Julius Belmont, who starts out an amnesiac but eventually tells you he was the last guy to kill Dracula back in 1999.

So the neat thing about the souls is that throughout the game you come across 3 ancient books, and these books point you towards specific souls. The powers they give you are the ability to shoot 3 fireballs, a transformation into a bat that allows you to fly, and the ability to recover some hp each time you hit an enemy. All extremely useful, while also foreshadowing Soma's true identity. They are also the path to the real ending. If you fight the "final" boss without them, you escape the castle and are warned that Dracula will eventually return. But if you use them during that fight, Soma then absorbs all of the power Graham had accumulated, and realizes that he himself is Dracula reborn (something about his soul being linked to Drac's magic, they don't specifically call it reincarnation even though that's essentially what it is). You then get to explore one final area, getting in to a fight with Julius on the way, before the real final battle (in a fight that was also remixed for Bloodstained) with a being of chaos that is trying restore Dracula through Soma.

Funny enough, Julius, being a Belmont, is significantly more challenging than the actual final boss, and by far the hardest in the game. He hits like a truck and has the most versatile move set and patterns, and he even uses classic sub weapons and item crash against you. Very appropriate.

Helluva fun game. Nice visuals, good music. A bit shorter than most Castlevanias of the Metroid persuasion. Took me just about 5 hours, making the game a great example of all killer no filler. In some ways the castle itself is not as interesting as other castles in the series, but there are still some really cool areas, my favorite being the Floating Garden, a maze-ish area represented on the map by random squares separate from the main map. The whole thing is still fun to explore and doesn't have any sections that are irritating to traverse, which is really nice.

This game has a direct sequel on the DS, which I'm now going to have play sooner than later.

As for what's next, I'm undecided. But I'm still playing through The Answer, which I'm enjoying a lot. Maybe halfway through that one.

[prfsnl_gmr]

School’s out! I just finished off the lizard boss in Silent Hill, and I’m heading back into town. This game is not that hard, but it is very, very creepy. Easily the creepiest PS1 game I’ve played since Shadow Tower. Also, the use of the flashlight was a pretty ingenious move by the game’s programmers. I think it both adds to the game’s creepy atmosphere significantly, and allows the game to render more detailed models and textures. The game looks and plays really well for its age.

[prfsnl_gmr]

D-d-d-d-double post!

Here’s my list:

Donkey Kong Country*
Donkey Kong Country 2
Donkey Kong Country 3
King’s Field
Metal Gear (NES)
Silent Hill
Streets of Rage*
Streets of Rage 2*
Streets of Rage 3
Super Baseball 2020

My son and I played through Streets of Rage 2 yesterday. We played through it on “easy” difficulty because he’s eight years old. (I came so close to a 1CC, though!) It remains one of the best beat ‘em ups of all time. Even if I slightly prefer the first game’s music and graphics, the fighting mechanics and level design mechanics are drastically improved in the sequel, and it is just so much fun. We’ll attempt SoR3 next, high I’ve never played before. I’ve read mixed reviews of that game, but I’m still look8mg forward to it.

Silent Hill’s still coming along. I made my way to the hospital, and I’m sure it’s about to get really creepy again...

[alienjesus]

If you have a means to do so, you should play streets of rage 3 but also play Bare Knuckle 3 to get an idea on how different they are as experiences

[prfsnl_gmr]

If you have a means to do so, you should play streets of rage 3 but also play Bare Knuckle 3 to get an idea on how different they are as experiences

Great idea. I am going to try that, actually. I’ve read that they’re almost two different games entirely.

[pook99]

@cffjr: Aria is on my list as well, I played Dawn of Sorrow and it was a very cool game but I definitely should have played Aria first since the story in Dawn is a continuation of Aria

@prsnl_gamer: I never played the OG silent hill, but I watched a friend play it and it is creepy AF. I did recently pick up the remake of it on Wii which emphasizes the use of the flashlight and completely removes all the guns, which I'm sure further adds to the creep factor