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Post by Ex on Jul 21, 2021 10:43:40 GMT -5
XeogredI've sampled many Turrican games over the years, but always end up petering out on them. Usually it's the wide open level designs that don't enthuse me, combined with constant barrage of cannon fodder enemies. The SNES version of the original Turrican was the entry I played the most of. I remember it had a really great OST and impressive bosses. I may have beaten that one actually, I can't recall.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 21, 2021 11:05:59 GMT -5
Xeogred I've sampled many Turrican games over the years, but always end up petering out on them. Usually it's the wide open level designs that don't enthuse me, combined with constant barrage of cannon fodder enemies. The SNES version of the original Turrican was the entry I played the most of. I remember it had a really great OST and impressive bosses. I may have beaten that one actually, I can't recall. Have you tried Mega Turrican on the Genesis? It has a grapple hook that's necessary throughout.  I might go through this one again today before shelving the Flashback Collection. Just be sure you're not playing the Genesis port of Turrican 1 (or 2?), which sucks. The sound is terrible. This is the final boss in Super Turrican SNES, I'd say it's pretty striking. So maybe it's a refresher if you beat it or not? You fight the Stryfe looking dude in Super Turrican 2 SNES.  Xeogred I beat Mega Turrican in 2018. Its strong points were its soundtrack and graphics. Plain ‘ol Turrican is in my Sega Genesis library somewhere. Whenever I get it out to play it I don’t like the way it feels kinesthetically so I always quit after a few minutes and put it back. I’m one of those Americans who has a hard time getting into Amiga games, too. They often look and sound amazing but feel weird when I actually interact with them. Maybe the Amiga appeals to me less as a gaming platform more for how it put powerful creativity software like music composition and animation in peoples’ homes. I guess not unlike how I like Macintosh computers but wouldn’t want to game on them. Perhaps these aren't too different from American PC sidescrollers either though? I'm not sure. I think Sarge is a fan of the Jazz Jackrabbit games. I haven't played those since the 90's, at some random places every once and awhile. At a glance I wonder if the Amiga Turrican's are kind of like Commander Keen or the sidescrolling Duke Nukem's. Either way, those kind of games I like to look at from a glance... but I don't think I have any interest in playing them. I'll always have my consoles bias for this genre of that era, lol.
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Post by Ex on Jul 21, 2021 11:27:44 GMT -5
XeogredYep I remember that boss, hard to forget such a blatant ripoff.  So yeah I've beaten at least one Turrican game. I'm more interested in playing Gunlord X than other Turrican entries. I plan to get it on PS4 via PSN. You might like the Thexder series, if you've never played it. Thexder Neo (2010) is probably the best entry point these days: It's on PSP/PS3.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 21, 2021 11:32:59 GMT -5
That looks pretty cool. Almost thought it was maybe the same creator as Turrican, even the original sprite looks similar heh. Hopefully you dig Gunlord. Like I said, it does seem to pay homage mostly to the Amiga Turrican's, but it really is just a lot more fun and refined. It was also far more forgiving with checkpoints. The campaign was lengthy for this genre too but I'm pretty sure you can save and stop in between levels. Unlike the Amiga Turrican's, you only get one continue to clear the whole thing... well as always, it probably kept kids in the 90's busy for a whole summer.  |
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Post by paulofthewest on Jul 27, 2021 18:28:09 GMT -5
I finished Dark Souls. I don't have time for a full review so here are some recaps from all the talk we had:
1) While I consider the game firmly on the 'hard' side of things, there are a decent number of more difficult ones I've played (including Demon's Souls.) 2) The bonfires are a true blessing allowing you save at certain points in the 'stages' and (eventually) warp between them. 3) More depth in weapons, shields, and armor upgrades than Demon Souls. These can make a huge difference in battles. This was especially true for the final boss.
4) Unfortunately, magic is overpowered. I mean *way* overpowered. One cast from my "ultimate" spell (that has almost no casting time) took 1/4 of the final bosses life. Ya... I decided to drop the spells and finish it melee (I didn't want to lose my HRG card ) That said the final boss, as a melee fight, is a worthy end (I don't remember my death count.)
The magic thing did get to me about this game. Mainly because at the beginning to midway it was well balanced. Since the powerful spells took a long time to cast, if I wanted to use them I would need to dodge and setup the enemies for the long cast. Many times I would get the spell off at the last split-second and then dodge. I wish the upgraded spells continued in this vein as the battles would have been more interesting.
Ex If you think of Dark Souls as a souls-like game and not Demon Souls 2, I think you will enjoy it. I don't think of Dark Souls as worse/better than Demon's Souls, just different.
8.5/10: A truly well done ARPG with many areas to explore, epic battles, numerous build possibilities, and item upgrade paths. Unfortunately, the overpowered magic system distracts from an otherwise masterpiece.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 27, 2021 20:34:33 GMT -5
paulofthewest has leveled up! Did you do the DLC? I still think difficulty is really subjective for these games. Can't wait to see how it goes for Ex heh. Now for some big spoilers I'm curious about... Did you ever consume the Fire Link shine's Firekeeper soul? If you accidentally use that one, that bonfire goes out for the rest of the game. I recall you can warp to it but then not from it. That happened to me my first time beating the game and that was such a hassle haha. Especially when having to run through New Londo Ruins and fight Four Kings. I recall having to warp from Anor Londo all the time, so that extra loading got old heh.
Did you get Crystal Great Spear and Crystal Homing Mass? Those are probably the best spells in the game and for my INT character on a replay, I killed the final boss with those two spells alone... used once I believe. It was crazy.
I agree though, the final boss is really tough otherwise. It was glorious finally beating him.
Now last but not least, did you find the ultra secret level Ash Lake? It even has music... some of the lore supposedly claims that all of Dark Souls 1 takes place on one of those large tree's. But yeah man, this place is SO hidden. I'd be shocked if someone found it blind:
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 27, 2021 20:40:18 GMT -5
I'm hoping he did the DLC.  Otherwise like Demon's Souls, beating the game takes you into NG+ immediately without choice. You'd have to replay a lot of the game to get to the DLC basically, not to mention it's generally tougher than most of the base game.
EDIT: I'll just say this is kind of a general rule for all of them, you'll want to look up how to access to DLC before beating these. It is a bit weird how they're integrated.
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Post by Ex on Jul 27, 2021 20:40:23 GMT -5
paulofthewest Nice job taking down Dark Souls.
A few questions I have: About how long did it take you? Do you plan to do the DLC? What attracted you to using a magic user, as opposed to melee, from the start? It is disappointing that magic wasn't better balanced, compared to how overpowered it already was in Demon's Souls. But at least armor apparently works now in Dark Souls. This does sound like a great game, I think I'd enjoy it too. I still plan to beat this sometime this year. Then we can compare notes. Right now is not the right time for me though.
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Post by EasyHard on Jul 28, 2021 10:33:00 GMT -5
I find magical builds in Souls games, **especially** when the character still relies on weapons, to be far less enjoyable than being pure melee. In this case, having access to buffs and damage spells feels like a perpetual allocation problem. "Where is the best place to spend this surplus resource?" "Where is a place that I can use up a charge that isn't literally a complete waste?". A minority of instances will feel satisfactory, a majority won't.
Builds where you are using magic to kill 90% of enemies are different since, for the most part, the feeling of redundancy exists between your strong and weak spells instead of between your spells as a whole and your weapons. But this type of magic build will generally make the game significantly easier and less complex than a melee build, which usually means it is going to be less enjoyable. I think it can still be a fun tradeoff though when you are consciously seeking out a play experience that will feel very different.
For what it is worth, builds that incorporate magic tend to be more fun to dream up and plan. Both in the spreadsheet sense and in the evocative imagination/roleplay sense.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 28, 2021 12:52:35 GMT -5
Builds where you are using magic to kill 90% of enemies are different since, for the most part, the feeling of redundancy exists between your strong and weak spells instead of between your spells as a whole and your weapons. But this type of magic build will generally make the game significantly easier and less complex than a melee build, which usually means it is going to be less enjoyable. I think it can still be a fun tradeoff though when you are consciously seeking out a play experience that will feel very different. I had fun doing a glass cannon build for another replay of Dark Souls 1 a few years ago. I certainly had to think and play differently compared to my usual playstyle, but that was fun and only took me 20 hours to beat including the DLC haha. It was cool to try out the Master Key too, so I could sequence break and do whatever.
That was 2017, then just last year I finally gave a glass canon build a shot in Demon's Souls. Honestly, it wasn't as fun compared to Dark Souls 1, because there was less spells. Even though it's easier to stock up on Faith/buffs as well and I did only stick to a few usual spells in Dark Souls, but it just felt like you could be a more true mage and have a lot more options there. That Demon's run didn't leave a huge impression on me. Perhaps a testament to Dark Souls 1 (and 2) being more varied with a lot of potential to do drastically different builds across equipment, stats, and spells.
That said, my Platinum NG+++++something character in Demon's with endless options is pretty damn fun to use haha... Second Chance, Curse Weapon, etc.
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I might go through this one again today before shelving the Flashback Collection.
So yeah I've beaten at least one Turrican game.
Otherwise like Demon's Souls, beating the game takes you into NG+ immediately without choice. You'd have to replay a lot of the game to get to the DLC basically, not to mention it's generally tougher than most of the base game. 