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Post by anayo on Apr 11, 2021 9:35:43 GMT -5
2c) Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal (human campaign) 26) The Operative: No One Lives Forever
   Video coming soon. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2021 10:26:50 GMT -5
2c) Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal (human campaign) 26) The Operative: No One Lives ForeverI love The Operative: No One Lives Forever. Might be nostalgia speaking as it was the first PlayStation 2 game I played. |
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Post by anayo on Apr 11, 2021 10:52:37 GMT -5
2c) Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal (human campaign) 26) The Operative: No One Lives ForeverI love The Operative: No One Lives Forever. Might be nostalgia speaking as it was the first PlayStation 2 game I played. Thanks for pointing out this came out on PS2. I was always under the impression it was PC only. |
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 11, 2021 11:00:18 GMT -5
I dominated the future.
48:58 is the Game Clear save. Simulations completed, Elsa 12/14, Darril 11/14 (didn't have 12-14 even unlocked or figured out).
I talked about this game a lot already in the Now Playing thread. There are things I like about the others more (music especially, the internet/lore world building in FM3, more colorful graphics, etc), but this is one of the best playing SPRG's I've ever experienced when it comes to the battle system and mechanics. It's a steep incline early on and while I goofed about the difficulty easing off later on at some points, thinking about it now I do believe overall it's still one of the toughest SRPG's I've beaten. Maybe second after Tactics Ogre SNES, which is still not even close. But the mechanics of the Front Mission series are my jam. I look forward to getting back to the Emma campaign in FM3, since I did the harder and apparently shorter Alisa one, and then I look forward to hitting up FM2 and FM5 with the fan translations someday. This is my favorite SRPG series now.
Props to Ex for the physical copy.  |
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Post by Ex on Apr 11, 2021 11:27:12 GMT -5
XeogredI'm impressed you beat FM4. This SRPG has a notorious attrition rate, I'd wager maybe 1 out of every 100 people who played it, stuck it out to the credits (maybe not even that many). I don't think the difficulty tapers off, so much as you either learn how to play the game properly and succeed, or you lack the understanding of how to exploit the mechanics, and thus you fail and lose interest. Thus once you do understand how to properly play FM4, it becomes easier to make progress through a campaign that stays somewhat even in difficulty. That may give the illusion of a diminishing challenge, but I think it's more the player is growing in capability. I beat Tactics Ogre on PSP, and I agree it is harder than FM4. But only in regards to the "Hanging Gardens" section of TO. That final area was just bullshit. Kinda funny we both finished 23 simulator missions, it is easy to miss some of them apparently. Also humorous to me that you beat Alisa's campaign in FM3, but I beat Emma's. Now we both must to do the reverse. I very much look forward to your opinion of FM5 someday. I believe you will find it a worthy (and more difficult) successor to FM4. FM is my all time favorite SRPG series as well. The only thing that comes close for me is Valkyria Chronicles, but I consider that series quasi-RTS, so it's not a perfect parallel.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 11, 2021 11:46:55 GMT -5
Xeogred I'm impressed you beat FM4. This SRPG has a notorious attrition rate, I'd wager maybe 1 out of every 100 people who played it, stuck it out to the credits (maybe not even that many). I don't think the difficulty tapers off, so much as you either learn how to play the game properly and succeed, or you lack the understanding of how to exploit the mechanics, and thus you fail and lose interest. Thus once you do understand how to properly play FM4, it becomes easier to make progress through a campaign that stays somewhat even in difficulty. That may give the illusion of a diminishing challenge, but I think it's more the player is growing in capability... FM is my all time favorite SRPG series as well. The only thing that comes close for me is Valkyria Chronicles, but I consider that series quasi-RTS, so it's not a perfect parallel. Yeah that's probably true, there was only like one level that was a real pushover but the rest demand attention and strategy no matter what. I think we both agree that Darril's campaign was easier. Funny enough though I think another reason why I liked Elsa's team more is because my Links seemed far more devastating too. Outside of tinkering with defense links and experimenting just a few times, those settings were kind of a set it and forget about it kind of thing for me. Chances are I probably could have studied my Darril team setup a little more to make them stronger, but yeah that side of the campaign was still generally easier. I liked how Elsa's team had more backpack options, EMP and Radio, which really change the battles and some character setups. So it was funny how my Elsa team seemed stronger... but so did their opposition and a lot of those missions required more strategy.
You take on Wagner again in the last Elsa mission... it felt great shredding him down in just 2-3 turns, when the first encounter with him back on like mission 12 or something was one of the toughest up to that point because he could shred my units so easily.
Doing the simulations a few times through, gave me more than enough EP and money (sometimes) to keep beefing up my pilot skills too. Chances are that maybe went over some heads too. Making sure all my units had high AP/AP Charge, level 3 weapon proficiency for my main assault units, beefing them up with more speed, evasion, and EMP resilience, etc. Not only does keeping up with your Wanzer parts change the battlefield but so did pilot skills, big time.
There's not a ton of FM talk online, nor worthwhile guides that are that helpful either. Not a lot of people have logged this game on HLTB. So you're probably right Ex , FM4 is what separates the men from the boys! Sarge needs to pick this one up again... 
I would probably NOT recommend FM4 for someone's first Front Mission. I maybe would have been scared off going that route, heh.
One funny note though, it's humid as heck today and the average music for one of these last missions felt like it was giving me a headache after awhile, lol. A shame the music lost that synth flair the other ones had.
Also amusing you name drop Valkyria Chronicles. I was thinking the other day, if Square wanted to keep this series relevant and modernized, something like VC might be pretty neat. Being able to control foot soldiers, tanks, helicopters, and Wanzers of course, with that cool hybrid 3rd person/RTS style that VC has. But I guess that's probably too complex and asking for a bigger production than Square wants to give this franchise. A shame.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 11, 2021 11:54:09 GMT -5
I worry I won't remember how to even set my mechs up properly...
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 11, 2021 12:02:58 GMT -5
Probably not. In a way I think it might be easier to re-pickup an SRPG over an intense character action game or something. But... this is freaking Front Mission 4 we're talking.  It was hard enough in the first half as the campaign jumped back and forth between the two teams and trying to get comfortable on their differences and styles. I don't envy your situation on this one...
Ex: Also, you might get what I'm thinking here, but hearing that FM5 is even possibly harder and more complex is exciting. Feels like a "reward" in a way for veteran fans. The true ultimate challenge. Maximum Front Mission. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2021 12:34:59 GMT -5
A couple of months ago I finished Bokosuka Wars for the Famicom, a video game I never hear anyone talk about and for good reasons, I guess, as it's one of the worst games I've ever laid my hands on. Anyone else played Bokosuka Wars?
Bokosuka Wars is an RPG (? - I've also seen it called an RTS and a reverse tower defense game). The game is supposed to be responsible for laying the foundations of the tactical RPG. Kōji Sumii (also known as Rasho), president of iTA-Choco Systems (any one of you familiar with the game company?), developed it for Sharp's 8-bit X1 home computer in 1983. After winning the Grand Prix in the first ASCII Entertainment Software Contest, Bokosuka Wars was subsequently ported to all the big computer formats in Japan. In 1985, amidst the Famicom boom-era, ASCII released an altered version for the Famicom. Bokosuka Wars revolves around King Suren, who must lead an army of Knights and Pawns across a battlefield, to take back his kingdom, which has been overthrown by the evil King Ogreth of the Basam Empire. King Ogereth has captured King Suren's forces and turned them into trees and rocks. Knights and Pawns are recruited by letting King Suren bump into these trees and rocks, which will restore the soldiers to their human form. In the computer versions, King Suren begins with a complete army. Due to the limitations of the system, he starts out solo in the Famicom port, which means access to fewer soldiers, as the amount of recruitable Knights and Pawns stay the same across all versions. As do the number of enemy units. This makes the risk of King Suren participating in battle (and therefore getting a game over) is big.
At the time, Bokosuka Wars was considered a major success in Japan, though no version has been released overseas. That being said, I find the Famicom port horrible. My biggest gripes with it are: 1. primitive graphics; 2. excruciating battle music (which loops every 15 seconds); 3. clumsy and unresponsive controls; 4. luck-based battles (a random number is used to calculate who's victorious, meaning a very weak unit can best a much stronger one).
According to some websites, most players don't seem to get Bokosuka Wars - avoiding risks is the real pleasure of the game. It should be tackled as a puzzle game, where battles must be steered clear of. For example, one might make a "wall" with its soldiers to circumvent confrontation.
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Post by toei on Apr 11, 2021 14:13:26 GMT -5
I've seen that game before but I don't get how it's supposed to lead to the SRPG genre. It looks so different.
The more obvious precursors are the early turn-based, character-based strategy games like NCS/Masaya's Gaia no Monshou.
This is from 1987.
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It was hard enough in the first half as the campaign jumped back and forth between the two teams and trying to get comfortable on their differences and styles. I don't envy your situation on this one...