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Post by Ex on Jul 14, 2018 10:19:29 GMT -5
I mean, there's Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and Zombie Zone. I own Dead or Alive Xtreme on Xbox, Xbox 360, and PSP. I was thinking of playing the 360 version. For the "ocean / underwater" theme, right now I'm finishing up Dolphin Island: Underwater Adventures. After that I plan to give Aquaria a try. The last two years I've done this, I've finished ten games each time. So my goal here is ten games finished again. I'll go ahead and say number ten is will be Final Fantasy X HD on PS3. That JRPG starts off tropical / ocean themed, and I've always meant to give it another chance (tried and hated it in 2007). Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy its goofiness this time around.
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Post by Ex on Jul 14, 2018 23:06:59 GMT -5
Okay I beat Dolphin Island: Underwater Adventures. It's a 2009 game, so currently too new for HRG. I'll just say it's the closest thing you'll find to Endless Ocean on the DS. I'd rate it 7/10.
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My next "Summer Themed" game: Been meaning to try this since... 2007. Yeah, I've owned it (digitally) that long. This is a nonlinear exploratory action-adventure... thing... under ocean themed... Ecco influenced. We'll see how it goes.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 15, 2018 21:42:15 GMT -5
Geez, yeah, I've had Aquaria ever since I bought my laptop. I've got it on PC and on tablet/phone. I've been meaning to give it a shot; as you say, it falls into the exploratory action game category (METROIDVANIA!!!), so you'd think I'd have already gone through it by now.
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Post by Ex on Jul 16, 2018 0:33:18 GMT -5
Well after putting two and a half hours into Aquaria tonight, I'll say I'm impressed with it so far. Very nice graphics and great music, unique gameplay and an unusual setting... could end up being really good. We'll see how it goes. Right now I'm feeling dumb for waiting this long to play it though.
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Post by chibby on Jul 18, 2018 15:22:12 GMT -5
I picked up a good condition (albeit loose) copy of Ecco the Dolphin for about 10 bucks. I went to an old Flea Market store I used to frequent to get a PS1 memory card (he sold me a 1st party memory card for 5 bucks) and thought I look over the rest of the merch when I spotted it. I know that's not the the best deal, but that's a gap in my collection that it makes sense to fill in time for some summer themed gaming.
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Post by Ex on Jul 18, 2018 21:11:20 GMT -5
I hope you end up enjoying Ecco.
I have mixed feelings about that series. The graphics and audio are strong, the concept itself is intriguing, and these games have impressive atmosphere. However the game design itself is often tedious and overtly punitive, with little regard for the player's free time. The final level and final boss of the first Ecco is especially egregious in this regard. That said, a lot of folks seem to love the Ecco series, so my opinion is a bit of an outlier.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 18, 2018 21:18:55 GMT -5
Strangely, I have never really felt compelled to play through the games. I think it's the second game that I own on Sega CD.
How is Aquaria going? Should I be embarrassed at having not played through it yet?
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 18, 2018 21:30:17 GMT -5
I beat the first one a few years ago finally, the Sega CD version which is apparently harder, lacks checkpoints throughout the levels that the Genesis versions have. It's a bizarre series but I wouldn't change a thing, once I really got into it I was pretty enthralled by the crazy journey. I got stuck on Tides of Time pretty shortly in but I hear it's actually easier, maybe I just needed to get over some weird road block. I'll get back to it sometime.
I somehow have Aquaria in my Steam library. I couldn't get into it though.
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Post by Ex on Jul 19, 2018 0:44:21 GMT -5
How is Aquaria going? Should I be embarrassed at having not played through it yet? No you should not be. I'm afraid I spoke too soon. I'm with Xeogred on this one, Aquaria's not doing anything for me anymore.
I say that after investing four hours into the game (averages 15 hours to beat on HLTB ... wayyy too long for what it is).
The first hour was impressive, I was intrigued. But each successive hour just became more and more boring. Aquaria's graphics are above average, and its OST is seriously excellent... this is really amazing music. I liked the concept of the game in general, and the control input was innovative. But the gameplay itself isn't so hot. The levels are stupid huge and stupid empty for the most part. Exploration becomes a chore due to how large the world is, and your avatar's relatively sluggish movement speed. Whatever fast travel option may eventually show up takes far too long to do so. Combat is terribly weak, puzzles are uninteresting, and the plot is threadbare to say the least. Ultimately it's the lack of proper pacing that's killed the fun factor for me. The pacing is just terrible. There may eventually be a good game here, but it takes far too long to get to that point. I know two talented dudes made Aquaria, one did the programming/music, and the other the artwork. But they really needed a third person who knew how to make a legit fun game, and let that person handle the game direction itself. Oh well, there's a reason no one talks about this game anymore. Guys if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times; it doesn't matter how strong the aesthetics are if the gameplay is bad. Gameplay is king.So that's Aquaria dropped. - I tried to get into this tonight:
1998's B.L.U.E.: Legend of Water on PS1.
Unfortunately this being an action-adventure, the steep language barrier is a deal breaker. There's too much critical dialogue that I can't read stopping me from enjoying this one. Real shame, because I liked what I saw. Maybe after every Famicom and Super Famicom game in existence has been translated into English, our beloved ROMhackers will get around to working on the PS1's extremely neglected library of Japanese only games.
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I wanted to beat 10 ocean/tropical themed games for this event, so far I've beaten 6.
So here's four other games I'm thinking of hitting up next:
Maybe these will stick. July's flying by. Before the month was over, I was still wanting to beat F.E.A.R. , and two more VB games for the black sheep TR we've got going on over at RB right now. (Oh... and yay... "Animal Main Characters" is next month... how quaint.)
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Post by Sarge on Jul 19, 2018 10:17:30 GMT -5
I have beaten two of those ( AI4, FFX), and have played Treasures of the Deep. I really like that game, for whatever reason. I finally snagged a legit copy of it not too long ago. Still haven't put a lot of time into it, though. Still, the only reason I knew about it was through one of those PlayStation Underground discs. Sounds like I won't be wasting my time with Aquaria. I appreciate the heads up. I've bounced off of it a few times already... And yeah, this month's TR isn't going so hot, but I knew that would be the case when I saw the categories. As for the Animal month, I'm totally okay with that. There's plenty of stuff worth playing there. I could be wildly uncreative, even, and play a Sonic game or something. (Which, by the way, I am doing, but it's Sonic Mania, so I can't talk about it.)
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