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Post by Ex on Jul 5, 2018 13:33:19 GMT -5
The one I actually want is Survival Kids on GB/GBC. Survival Kids is pretty decent. I played through it myself a few years back. Lost in Blue really is the same thing, just a little more advanced. For the sake of posterity, Survival Kids 2: Escape the Twin Islands did receive a full English fan translation: www.romhacking.net/translations/2330/
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Post by Ex on Jul 6, 2018 23:43:22 GMT -5
Spent about an hour and a half with this tonight: As I expected, this 2008 Wii version of Lost in Blue is the exact same thing as both Lost in Blue and Lost in Blue 2 (and I assume Lost in Blue 3). You're a young boy, you get shipwrecked on an island, eventually you find another castaway - a girl. You work with her to survive and escape the island. It's the same thing every game, over and over again. (Well, this time you have a pet monkey named Hobo.) Anyway, despite the fact the graphics are much improved on Wii, the stronger presentation doesn't hide the fact that this is a series about babysitting stat bars. You have to constantly keep up your hunger, thirst, and stamina bars full via collecting resources, and playing mini-games using said resources. In between that, build a raft or a signal fire perhaps. It gets old fast having to constantly make fires every night, or constantly refill water bottles, or constantly cook food, etc. Very tedious stuff honestly. If I were eight years old I'd probably like this... maybe? The demographic seems to be young kids. It's a shame, because I really do like the premise behind the whole Lost in Blue series... but the execution is lacking the fun factor. This just isn't for me at all. But here's some screenshots if you're curious: I'll be looking at some other candidates to fill the "Tropical" theme. I want to beat at least five games for this event, but along the way there will be casualties such as the Lost in Blue series. I'm not going to waste my time beating games that aren't actually fun.
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Post by Ex on Jul 7, 2018 16:19:47 GMT -5
I do want to point out that these prior games were funner: Mainly because they have a faster pace. For instance you don't have to play a mini-game just to make a fire or collect a clam out of the sand. Also the stamina bars didn't deplete as quickly in the GBC initial entries in this series. So don't let my dislike of the DS and Wii successors put anyone off from giving the first two games a try. -- So I plan to check out more DS entries that fit the ocean/tropical theme:
Nope, I'm not kidding about the last three. I will actually try them. They might suck, but only one way to find out for sure.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 7, 2018 16:33:56 GMT -5
DK Jungle Climber looks like a weird Tetris styled puzzle thing?...
Has there ever been anything in the same vein as Donkey Kong for the Gameboy? I loved how that put an adventure spin on the arcade DK formula a bit.
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Post by Ex on Jul 8, 2018 1:09:51 GMT -5
DK Jungle Climber looks like a weird Tetris styled puzzle thing?... DK: Jungle Climber is the sequel to DK: King of Swing on GBA. It's a campaign platformer very much in the vein of DKC. Except the movement mechanics are grab-and-swing based, rather than just jumping based. I've never played a platformer quite like how this works, but it's good so far. I cleared the first island tonight and enjoyed beating the first boss. If I end up enjoying this all the way through, I'll go back and beat the GBA original (never played King of Swing). The same company that made these two, also made Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast on Wii. Solid stuff thus far! - Flower, Sun, and Rain... sucks. It's a Goichi Suda experience that originally debuted in 2001 on PS2. I've enjoyed some of Suda51's stuff, the man has talent... albeit hit and miss. I think his head was too far up his own ass with FSR though. With a video game being an auteur is fine and dandy as long as your game is actually entertaining. FSR was not at all entertaining to me, rather it's a horrid mess that was obviously intentionally a horrid mess (that's the joke ha ha oh so clever ). Intentional or not, FSR is still a horrid mess, meaning not fun. This game has its fans, I'm not one of them. Emperor's naked. Moving on. - So Blonde: Back to the Island seemed OK. Except it's a DS port of a PC original. Meaning all the high res graphics of the PC original were mutilated and squashed to fit the DS' tiny resolution. Obviously playing this game on the DS is not the optimal way to experience it. It was also ported to Wii, but even there the resolution is not as good as PC. I may check this out on PC at some point, no big hurry though. Moving on. - And I spent some time with all of these tonight... Petz Wild Animals Dolphinz Petz Rescue Ocean Patrol Dolphin Island Underwater AdventuresSo the thing about these games is they're all part of one trilogy, made by the same company, despite Ubisoft constantly renaming these games upon release. They share the same two protagonists (guy and girl) moving through a continued narrative. The first two games, Petz Wild Animals Dolphinz and Petz Rescue Ocean Patrol, were not so great when I played them tonight. Decent presentation, but the mini-game aquatic caretaker stuff is not for me. That said the third release; Dolphin Island Underwater Adventures is a big leap from the first two. It's actually an underwater 3D diving simulator, not entirely unlike say Endless Ocean, albeit with a Trauma Center angle as well. I'd like to say more, but unfortunately Dolphin Island Underwater Adventures is a 2009 release. So it's too new to go into detail about on HRG. I'll just say I was impressed with it, and will keep playing.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2018 8:27:01 GMT -5
Too bad for Lost in Blue, you can only make the same game so many times - especially when the original LiB wasn't even so successful to begin with. I tried to get into Flower, Sun and Rain several times but no dice. I still want to give it another chance. I'd actually like to give So Blonde on the PC a try. Game doesn't look too bad.
If you're looking for something tropical, the Tropico game series probably fits the bill? There's also Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! for the Genesis.
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Post by Ex on Jul 8, 2018 10:10:57 GMT -5
If you're looking for something tropical, the Tropico game series probably fits the bill? There's also Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! for the Genesis. I've considered the Tropico series, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get into that kind of gameplay. The screenshots look like managing an island city... like you're a dictator of a tropical SimCity? That sort of game design has never outright appealed to me. I beat Greendog for last year's "Summer Themed Games". It was rather terrible honestly.
I may give Lester the Unlikely on SNES (tropical platformer) a try this year though. There's a few SNES games I'm considering actually, provided I don't run out of steam first.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 8, 2018 21:09:31 GMT -5
My understanding is that Tropico is exactly as you describe. Somehow I have like four of them through various bundles, but haven't bothered installing any of them. I don't really have much desire to be a dictator, much less one inspired by a Cuban one. I'm also a guy that agonizes over decisions in RPGs, and hates to play evil characters.
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Post by Ex on Jul 8, 2018 23:52:34 GMT -5
Put more time into DK: Jungle Climber and Dolphin Island Underwater Adventures tonight. Still enjoying both. I finished the second island (world) of DK: Jungle Climber. I've got to say the game's really impressing me so far, quite creative and consistently surprising. I'm almost ready to call it a hidden gem on DS at this point, but I can't claim that without having beaten it first. I'm cautiously optimistic. I will say I've already enjoyed Jungle Climber more than I ever did Diddy Kong's Quest or Donkey Kong Country Returns.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 9, 2018 17:53:22 GMT -5
Excuse me, that's " Diddy's Kong Quest" to you. (I thought that was so stupid back in the day, although... I guess it makes sense, given that he's questing to save DK. And maybe a play on words: Kong Quest -> Conquest.) I'm not a big fan of DKC2 myself. It's decent enough, but for me, it's the first game that has all the magic.
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