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Post by Sarge on Jun 1, 2021 13:20:42 GMT -5
I honestly think that JRPGs are at their best when they stick to the 20-30 hour range. Only the best of the best can really push 40-50 and get away with it. Longer than that, and you run the risk of what most developers did, and that's have a lot of padding to get the playtime up.
I guess I'd forgotten that VP was relatively short, which definitely tracks with the idea that you would play through it multiple times.
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Post by Ex on Jun 1, 2021 13:32:11 GMT -5
I honestly think that JRPGs are at their best when they stick to the 20-30 hour range. I agree 100%. Maybe it's just me, but after 30 hours I really start to get sick of an RPG, unless it's considerably above average and special in some way (like a story that's legitimately interesting, or amazing world design). Maybe we should make a thread someday listing the best RPGs that fit within the golden 20-30 hour time frame.
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Post by toei on Jun 1, 2021 16:59:30 GMT -5
Xeogred It was always 100 hours, for some reason. RPGs may have been short compared to today, but they were several times longer than action games, so they were marketed on longevity. I remember a lot of bragging about "over 15,000 screens!" and other numbers that really mean nothing on their own.
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Post by dunpeal2064 on Jun 1, 2021 21:50:50 GMT -5
Alright, first game for the month down! I played this via the SGB on an SNES, so I had to take actual pictures of my crt rather than the usual screencaps. Apologies for the quality! Gargoyle's QuestThis was my first time ever even playing Gargoyle's Quest, let alone beating it. In fact, until recently I'd never beaten any of the games in this series, until I decided to play through Demon's Crest on a whim last month. I thought Gargoyle's Quest both looked and sounded quite nice for an early GB game, and the controls were sharp and responsive enough to make flying and wall-jumping around a good time. I did feel like the RPG elements were pretty light, and some of it, like the random encounters, felt somewhat unnecessary. The currency you earn felt under-utilized as well, and the powerup process is pretty linear. All that said, though, I still quite enjoyed this game. The action platforming is consistently fun throughout, and the game has a pretty nice difficulty curve. Its fast-paced, even with the random fights and walking about, and finding new abilities/items/powerups was always fulfilling. I don't know if I'd say I found this game more difficult than Demon's Crest, but I think I did die and have to re-do sections more often. Even with my poor play, though, I think I only spent around 3-4 hours getting through this, so the restarts from towns never felt too punishing. The last stage was especially fun, having you take advantage of the various abilities you'd obtained throughout the game, and offering some sweet shortcuts for those bold enough to take them. Its also a vertical level, which I always appreciate seeing in this sort of game. This game has its fair share of sweet sprites, making the GameBoy look good!
Overall, glad I played this one! Having access to a plethora of games now, I still found this to be a fun, quick romp, but if I had this on my GameBoy as a kid, I'm sure I would have absolutely adored it. There are a few other games eligible for this month that I haven't played yet, so hopefully I can knock a couple more out!
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Post by Ex on Jun 1, 2021 22:50:27 GMT -5
if I had this on my GameBoy as a kid, I'm sure I would have absolutely adored it. I can assure you as having been an eleven year old playing this game in 1990, I absolutely adored it. To this day, Gargoyle's Quest is my #1 favorite Game Boy title. I'm glad to see it has aged well, and overall was a fun experience for you. It does take an open mind to learn a new platforming locomotion system like Gargoyle's Quest uses, but like other quality innovative platformer games (i.e. Bionic Commando, Umihara Kawase, Drill Dozer, Somer Assault, Ninja Cop) the effort is well rewarded. I'm definitely a fan of the Red Arremer series, having beaten all the games in it (even the GB version of GQ2). I consider the NES version of Gargoyle's Quest II to be the most difficult entry.
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Post by dunpeal2064 on Jun 1, 2021 23:57:57 GMT -5
if I had this on my GameBoy as a kid, I'm sure I would have absolutely adored it. I can assure you as having been an eleven year old playing this game in 1990, I absolutely adored it. To this day, Gargoyle's Quest is my #1 favorite Game Boy title. I'm glad to see it has aged well, and overall was a fun experience for you. It does take an open mind to learn a new platforming locomotion system like Gargoyle's Quest uses, but like other quality innovative platformer games (i.e. Bionic Commando, Umihara Kawase, Drill Dozer, Somer Assault, Ninja Cop) the effort is well rewarded. I'm definitely a fan of the Red Arremer series, having beaten all the games in it (even the GB version of GQ2). I consider the NES version of Gargoyle's Quest II to be the most difficult entry. I'm a huge fan of platformers that have a new, unique locomotion system, so that aspect of Gargoyle's Quest and Demon's Crest instantly clicked with me. A big strength of these games, imo, is that its much easier to feel like you're "doing it right" in GQ and DC than in a lot of great innovative platformers, so even though you're jumping into new territory, there isn't as much of a learning wall like there is with something like Umihara (I still love Umihara tho!) Adding permanent powerups to a fun movement system is always sweet too, I certainly felt a moment of "fuck yes" when I realized I had infinite flight near the end of the game, and judging the progressive increases of jumps and flight times always kept shit fresh. Very solid game for sure, I'll certainly be giving GQ2 a spin after enjoying the other two games as much as I did.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 1, 2021 23:59:02 GMT -5
That soundtrack is one of the best things about it, but I also like the movement mechanics. The NES game is also very good, even if I don't like it quite as much as the other two.
I've finished my own first game for this theme: Metal Gear Solid. Yeah, I haven't beaten this one since I bought it way back in ye olden times (i.e. 2000). For the most part, it holds up really well. Yeah, it has some chunky graphics (and insane dithering that needs to be blurred away either in an emulator or through composite video), but this really was quite the looker. While the gameplay itself actually doesn't diverge a lot from other entries (largely top-down exploration, lots taken from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), the camera angles and presentation do a lot to make it feel a lot different from the older games.
Honestly, this one was a bit challenging to play with a digital controller, though. I was using my PS Classic, and I can imagine folks being a little frustrated if they didn't have a Dual Shock... but my memory tells me the game was somewhat clunky back in the day, even when I did use a Dual Shock. And that's also largely where I ding it, as a lot of the end-game stuff relies on you using the pain-in-the-butt Stinger rockets in both the helicopter and Metal Gear battle.
Kojima went nuts with the story, as usual. It's full of melodrama and outright ridiculousness, but it's delivered so earnestly that even I couldn't help but have some feels in certain scenes. The politics are a little weird, but that's just what you get with Kojima. The thing I appreciate is that, while being somewhat realistic, the game never forgets that it still is a game. And while it's over half its weight in cutscenes, it still feels lengthy enough (something I was a little worried about for a bit there). My final time was 8h15m, but that actually doesn't capture restarts and my use of the occasional save state (or having to replay a segment because RetroArch decided to go nutty). So I'd say ten hours. But I figure someone skipping cutscenes, even as a "normal" player, could probably finish it in three hours easy if they know what to do.
In the end, I think I'm going to ding it slightly and give it an 8.5/10. I was at a 9/10, but those clunky last battles (a series staple, that!) bring it down ever so slightly. Still, the game has held up fantastically, and you can imagine how many minds this blew twenty years ago.
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Post by dunpeal2064 on Jun 2, 2021 0:44:16 GMT -5
I haven't played Metal Gear Solid since near when it came out either, but I was a huge fan of it back in the day, so I'm glad to hear its held up well. It is weird, now, to see just how much the game borrowed from the first two Metal Gear games.
I do remember in this, and in MGS2, that subsequent playthroughs were really fast, and really fun. Throwing on camo or infinite rounds and just plowing through the game in a couple hours. I think I probably played through them both a dozen times each like this.
I thought I could sneak another game in on the first day, but Double Dragon 2 is fuckin brutal. The end of Stage 8 with its 2x Mustachio Men into 4x Ninjas (Into I assume an actual stage boss) is way too much, and its not even the last stage >.< Will come back and give it another shot later.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 2, 2021 0:51:16 GMT -5
If you want to play that in a more fair form, go with the Japanese version. No screwy continue codes, and you don't have to play on Supreme Master to get the true ending. I've always played the NES version, but was really surprised at how much more fair the Famicom game was.
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 2, 2021 1:12:45 GMT -5
Yeah I think the radar in MGS1 is straight up MG2's. I love it and miss it in MGS3.
I love how you can punch enemies to death in MGS1. Weirdly enough I tend to prefer using the D-Pad for it to this day because of how Snake maneuvers and such. It definitely holds up for me as well and is one I go back to every handful of years. Though yeah some of the boss fights are showing a little age, or take too long haha. It's crazy how good the voice acting holds up too. I for one cannot stomach the Twin Snakes remake because the new music sucks and the redub is abysmally boring, sounded like nobody wanted to be there.
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