I think u can get farther in Zelda 2 by never improving and pushing forward than u can in castlevania 1, maybe with exception of some of the palace bosses . Idk if that’s “easier” per se but
1 Like
i sucked at both those games until i learned really specific basic things that i probably couldve looked up in the manual like
-you can save your exp when prompted to level up in Zelda 2 your stats dont raise in a fixed pattern. it just “recommends” a balanced stat spread
-and beating a palace maxes out your exp so optimally you do so at low exp
-Castlevania: killing enemies with subweapons guarantees you 
and 
drops so you can throw more of them per second. this is how you murder Death
9 Likes
I remember the final dungeon in Zelda 2 was an order of magnitude harder than the rest of the game. It’s the game’s largest map, mostly consisting of dead ends, where the correct path involves clipping through walls with no visual hints, and dropping into specific pits also with no hint. That would be fine except there are also ultrafast enemies and throwable spammers so I usually died before I even explored one single path up to its dead end.
On my second playthrough I had set a personal rule of no save states/no maps to appreciate the challenge as intended, but wound up caving at the very end.
It was part of a micro-era in game design where ultra-harder final levels was trendy, I had a similar experience when I tried to beat Wonder Boy in Monster Land (also 1987).
12 Likes
Trying out Mafia 2 definitive edition after playing Mafia 3 for a month and it feels bad to play.
3 Likes
Has anyone been playing Dark Forces Remaster? How is to play that game today, level design-wise?
i’ve not played the remaster (honestly if you’re on PC and curious I’d go the Force Engine route) but Dark Forces rules especially if you like the older maze shooters like DOOM except it’s more of an adventure game which is cool cuz you’re trying to like rendezvous with an NPC or steal something and bring it back to your ship and gtfo or you’re like thrown into a pit to punch a Kell dragon to death before you can recover your gear (ah that’s the area with this really thin geometry you have to hop on idk why that always sticks with me, some good geometry to poke at in this game! some nice leaps too) the first level (like its sequel which I also love but is more uneven)) is that kinda E1M1/Bob-omb Battlefield perfect vertical slice I spent many hours with when it first came out)) but maybe not always capital ‘F’ fun when it comes to some puzzles like unlocking the paths on the sewer level or that one elevator sequence (you’ll know it when you see it so HINT: there’s actually an in-game guide diagram on a nearby wall that I only noticed on my last playthrough! still might prove to be a pain in the ass tho…) but the shooting is sharp and the levels are fun to explore if you don’t mind getting a little lost, slick cutscenes too, it’s great
8 Likes
The obvious thing I was missing here–was reminded of this by @exodus, who wrote the Yosaku entry in SNK 40th Anniversary Collection–was that the new wiki entry, and MobyGames Yosaku (1979) - MobyGames and Arcade Flyers Yosaku - SNK / SNK Playmore Corp. (Video Game, 1979) - Japan | The Arcade Flyer Archive , credit development and publishing of 1979 arcade Yosaku to SNK; the flyer backs this up, at least the publishing aspect. But if SNK developed it, why put the “OLCA CORPORATION” development credit on the title screen? Was it a joke? Were the Orca Corporation people working at SNK at the time?
Update:
Ah, some of the comments (Google translated from Japanese) below that one OLCA CORPORATION video,
mention that Orca Corporation produced a lot of pirated boards; so this could have been a pirate board by Orca of the SNK original. Whatever this version is, it has hazards also dropping from the tree branches! = o
According to the SNK fandom wiki, Yosaku is the first action game SNK published–their earlier action works were licensed Taito clones.
2 Likes
Oh shit, fucked around and got the credits in Shiren 6.
13 Likes
i tried tokimeki memorial for almost an ingame year. i don’t understand the appeal at all. like, conceptually maybe, but in execution? these girls are dull and the events repetitive. and because it’s a perfectly safe game i can’t even expect drama to arise. absolutely rancid.
meanwhile, the made in abyss game keeps evening out to just pretty ok. a big bird emptied my life bar prompting a little cutscene of it taking my characters head away, leaving the neck and part of the chin spouting blood. nice
also, on the very opposite end of otaku games from tokimeki memorial, i’m not sure how to talk about the plot itself in nitroplus’ muramasa, but i like how the affection chart is part of things. it’s like a leaderboard that shows up anytime feelings change, except rather than (just) determine who you’ll fuck it determines who has to die next time he kills. you end up perversely gaming these to sacrifice temporary friendships in order to save lasting ones until later. if there’s noone left you die.
also, i love my murder wife kanae. self-hating sad murderer & his sadistic killing euphoric executioner is a pretty nice pairing
10 Likes
Started the Mafia 3 DLC because its the only way to unlock a huge portion of the game’s map, which doubles in size. but I don’t know if I can take on another 10-15 hours of videogame
one day someone will explain to me why tokimeki memorial is good without sounding like a creepy old man
5 Likes
Slowly scrolling background textures makes anything good
8 Likes
Tokimeki Memorial’s systems concept of scheduling your days over 3 years to raise numbers to achieve a certain outcome, when the criteria to achieve it are not revealed so you have to guess instead of minmaxing, is pretty interesting. It has been done better in other games since then, but Tokimeki Memorial popularized it
8 Likes
the game lets you be a psychotic parasocial mute without implicitly calling you out on it like, say, if you were to max all Persona social links instead
6 Likes
ok i’m not sure if you’re helping
3 Likes
but did I sound like a creepy old man
3 Likes
always
3 Likes
you shoulda seen bachelor stream the game, it taught us all a lot about love, baseball, and megalomania
4 Likes
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Main Who Erased His Name (PC)
Rushing to the arcade games as fast as I could–turns out early forced main story mission “Find a place to have a smoke” sends you right past hole on the wall Game Center Sasaki, in E. Tsurukame Alley,
w/ all of Gaiden’s Sega arcade games in it, even Sega Racing Classic 2 aka Daytona 2, a previously unported Sega Model 3 arcade game.
Also this may have got me back into Virtua Fighter 2(.1).
The mandatory CRT scanline filter on the emulated arcade games is about as subtly & attractively done as possible; didn’t hate it.
Sega Racing Classic 2 drives very differently from what I remember of Daytona USA on PS3: PS3 USA’s emphasis on drift-turning seems largely pushed aside in favor of just driving & drafting, & the steering feels smoother, even just on d-pad (I set d-pad to simulate left analog in Steam Input). I’m all in favor of this; in retrospect the twitchiness of the earlier game is probably a big part of what put me off it.
In 2, multiple voices talk at you as you race, & the medium & hard tracks (still only 3 tracks!) go wild, one like an amusement park & one a big city downtown. = ) The AI rams you lots, at times like a wreck-'em battle. Into it.
Motor Raid (Sega Model 2A; was in the earlier “Judgment”) is awful, steering pinned-insect-like around the mid point of your space bike;
release the gas during a turn & the world lurches oddly around you, also lurching if your bike veers off-track–it bonks off invisible walls.
You’re supposed to fight off rivals but the control is again bizarre: 1 button kicks left, another awkwardly weapon-strikes right. The sci-fi tracks are awful brown & polygonized.
Fighting Vipers 2 (Sega Model 3) is colorful, shiny, & noisy; thought the flashing FX would mess /w my eyes but maybe wasn’t TOO bad? Was on pad rather than stick so don’t really know yet how well it plays; felt sort of fun in a mash-&-sparkly-stuff-happens way.
The Digital Foundry analysis of the Gaiden port of Sega Racing Classic 2 https://youtu.be/4IgcEeK40Qg said they felt input delay in this FV2; didn’t notice on pad but was just mashing.
It’s still got the blow-their-armor-off cheesecakery of FV1. ; P
Sonic the Fighters was maybe less motion-sickness-inducing here than on PS3? Probably just didn’t play enough. Colors felt even MORE saturated!
Virtua Fighter 2.1 felt…good? Had got turned off of the PS3 port but now I’m thinking it was probably from being obsessed w/ trying to beat it by spamming throws–but 2’s throw mechanic is mysterious & difficult; if I DON’T obsess about throwing this might be a cool game as long as I don’t mind hitting a wall vs the CPU at some point. Should probably try the EASY cabinet. On PS3 I stuck to Jacky as the 1 character w/ whom I didn’t have to fight in sister Sarah’s lighting-laden Coliseum, but maybe that flashing isn’t so bad; picked NORMAL & Akira here & had no idea what I was doing & couldn’t beat Pai,
who seemed to be toying with me. Still want to play more.
Gaiden’s mobster combat felt better than what I remember from Yakuza 6, but still soft, mashy, formulaic, & not my thing. Had to switch to EASY to pass 1 boss fight before the arcade.
5 Likes
This game is much better when you have the IRL cab and have a plastic bike to ride
2 Likes