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Post by toei on Apr 20, 2024 12:39:46 GMT -5
Altered Beast made me realize I've missed beat-'em-ups, so I've been playing Zombie Revenge on the Dreamcast these past few days. I could never get into it in the past because it has a different feel and pacing to the combat, being an arcade shooter/brawler hybrid. I looked up the controls and found I was also missing some essential things, like running and the evasive roll. When you target an enemy, the target changes from green to yellow to red; waiting until it's red does several times more damage and has a better knock back for smaller zombies, so it's much preferable in most situations. The controls feel stiff at first, when you're trying to button-mash your way through like in a basic beat-'em-up, but you really have to adopt a more mindful approach and learn to prioritize. Just one shot from a zombie with a gun will do crazy damage, for example, and the timer can be harsh in some areas if you're not efficient. You have to think about your moves, but think fast. This is a hard game. There's an Original Mode in the Dreamcast version that adds items and seems to be easier, but I'm playing the Arcade Mode for now because that's the one I tried first and it's the most stimulating. It's actually a blast when you start to understand how to play it, even though it can get overwhelming by yourself.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 20, 2024 22:58:17 GMT -5
Finally got some more SMT Strange Journey in tonight... I keep fearing I'll forget how to play it with these week or two gaps lately (thanks Ys8!), but nah it's pretty easy to jump back into. I have 34 hours, when I thought I was nearing 40. Glancing at a guide I think I'm pretty far and can hopefully roll credits soonish. I don't plan to stick SMT3/4 heaps of time into this one. But I don't want it to sound bad either, it's still really good in its own ways. Strong 8/10.
Just remind me to not play more than one RPG at the same time again. What was I thinking playing some Yakuza 5 recently too?
As always this is just 1 of the ~4 main floors of the dungeon I've been at. lol
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Post by Ex on Apr 21, 2024 0:35:15 GMT -5
Zombie Revenge on the Dreamcast these past few days / Arcade Mode This is a decent game. I beat it co-op back in 2010 or 2011, one of those years. Via arcade mode, I appreciate that it has branching paths for replayability. There are some subtle The House of the Dead references in there. - As always this is just 1 of the ~4 main floors of the dungeon I've been at. Now that's what I call a dungeon! Very stout layout. -
Started playing Metroid Prime 3 this evening. I'll have you know this is the original reason I bought a Wii, to play this game. But for the longest I was hung up on "can't play MP3 until I finish MP2". I finally decided life is short and to just get on with it. Also if MP3 ever does get a remaster, it won't have the special Wii controls that made MP3 unique to begin with, so not worried about that. Anyway, put an hour into this tonight, five initial thoughts:
-Crazy that this game is 17 years old already. -Weird to be talking to NPCs in a Prime entry. -Nice intuitive Wii motion controls interaction. -Oh lawdy the scan everything OCD.
-This is already 5x funner than Dread was.
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Post by toei on Apr 21, 2024 1:30:01 GMT -5
Yeah, it's a House of the Dead spinoff, plus one of the three playable characters (Linda) is from SpikeOut.
I also played some Typing of the Dead. I suck at it. I had tried once long ago, but I didn't remember that the heroes literally walk around wearing Dreamcasts like backpacks, with a keyboard strapped to their chest. That's hilarious. Between this, that Shenmue demo where you chase a real-life Sega director around and SegaGaGa, they were up to some real goofy self-referential stuff in those days.
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Post by Ex on Apr 21, 2024 10:50:16 GMT -5
that Shenmue demo where you chase a real-life Sega director around That one was pretty good If this was called NintendoDoDo it would have been translated years ago.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 21, 2024 12:51:45 GMT -5
As always this is just 1 of the ~4 main floors of the dungeon I've been at. Now that's what I call a dungeon! Very stout layout. -
-Weird to be talking to NPCs in a Prime entry. -Oh lawdy the scan everything OCD.
-This is already 5x funner than Dread was.
Could write a paragraph or two describing what's going on on the deluge of floor panels too. But yeah, these are complex dungeons.
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- Get used to it. Generic Halo styled crap like in Other M poisoning this one. - MP2-MP3 actually aren't half as bad as MP1 in that regard. But it was a cool novelty in MP1. -
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Post by toei on Apr 21, 2024 15:22:47 GMT -5
Ex Yeah, What's Shenmue is a short little thing but it's genuinely creative and feels like a gift to fans. It feels like exactly the thing major Western "AAA" companies would never allow. Can you imagine a special demo for the next Call of Duty where you have to track down and eliminate Phil Spencer cause he's hoarding all the Series X consoles or whatever? With a super serious military mission briefing and everything? Even I would want to play that. I wish this was more common practice. And high-quality Dreamcast graphics just look better than anything on the PS2 for whatever reason. Also completely true on SegaGaga's front. It's wild how even some F-tier, borderline unplayable NES RPG will get more attention in the fan translation community. But hey, somebody just translated some weird Saturn rhythm game. That same guy did Rabbit recently, a VS fighter with little text, so maybe he's working his way towards bigger projects on Sega consoles. Hopefully SegaGaga gets some love too some day. Maybe it could come from the guys that did the Rent-A-Hero project last year. And actually, the DC-exclusive Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden based on Asuka the Swordswoman is being worked on by the same group that did Shiren 2 on the N64 and Shiren 4 on the PSP - reliable guys. At this point, those two are among my most-wanted fan translations, for sure.
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Post by toei on Apr 23, 2024 13:08:06 GMT -5
Somehow I'm playing that Genesis Hokuto no Ken 2 game again. Not using the hack. Because of how it's made, I'm using save states to save between levels. If I can find a good way to beat every boss, I can beat the game legit after. I actually enjoy the core gameplay in small doses - enemies come at you from different heights and directions and you one-shot them - and it's much more satisfying in the Japanese version because of the blood splatter. It's low priority for me, but I'd like to beat it eventually this year.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 23, 2024 14:22:43 GMT -5
Doesn't sound terrible, haha. I'm still mildly curious to give it a look.
I do think that's a very fair use of save states and what I find myself doing a bit thesedays as well, saving at the beginning of a level. Intermission-like spots where you can put it down for a day if needed and pick back up.
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Post by Ex on Apr 24, 2024 0:25:04 GMT -5
Put another hour into Metroid Prime 3 this evening. Man it's weird to have so many talking NPCs, movie-like cutscenes, bounty hunter bros, and pretend achievements in a Prime game. The play structure so far has been highly linear as well, with funneled narrow environments kinda on rails. You can definitely feel the 7th gen influence on this one. I'm not saying MP3 is bad or anything, it's been decent so far, but it's a radical departure from MP1/2 considerably at this point. I'm assuming all the on rails/NPC stuff calms down after a while, and the player starts to get into large open environments to explore, like classic MP1/2. The motion controls thus far are well implemented, no waggle BS. I like the implementation of the ship too... and already had a Ridley fight.
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