|
|
Post by Sarge on Aug 16, 2024 15:18:19 GMT -5
Heh, I was going to say, I'm typically fine walking on the tightrope of having my lives stolen - I'm pretty darn good at Contra at this point. Ex got some Ken skills, too. I should probably be practicing, haha. |
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Aug 17, 2024 15:02:43 GMT -5
Beyond Oasis Rank: 30, Blue: 10, Red: 10, Black: 7, Green: 11. Kills 895 ~5h50m
I'm kind of glad this one is over with. My patience was really being tested in the end here.
Producer & Music Composer (actual in game credits too) = Yuzo Koshiro ... HOW? The music was so average at best and probably hurt it in the end for me. That was one of the weakest and most annoying final dungeon themes out there.
My complaints from another post still stand: Half the enemy roster is annoying to fight (bats, blobs, crawling zombies, just have to mash buttons and wait for your lower kick to be pixel perfect hitting them below), the breakable weapons/menu controls are awkward, and I had a hunch the way your MP constantly drains and having to cycle through these spirit friends later on would eventually annoy me. It's good these dungeons had puzzles and all but this system wasn't great. Have to backtrack some rooms to summon the right spirit to continue or just hope you have the correct one a few rooms later. Really annoying platforming sections at times too with how loose the jumping is. Also screw those torch puzzles. In the final dungeon I thought I had somehow soft locked the game, but turns out I just missed some torches. Unlike Zelda or other games with this gimmick, here you have to light torches across entire dungeons that effect a single room. It's not always contained to one room that needs all torches lit, that's typically how other games work with this stuff. So I was banging my head against the wall on some room where I had lit everything, stepped on all the green blocks, etc, until I finally just backtracked to the beginning of the dungeon and found the unlit torches. I guess I got lucky in one of the mid dungeons lighting all the torches along the way (had a fire arrows thankfully). But then I had to look up something in the final dungeon (my patience was gone) using the Shade spirit's second or tier ability to reveal a warp point in some room. What the heck, this was never anywhere else in the game that I know of.
It's not bad. I can see what people like here, but it really waned on me the more I played and doesn't hold a candle to any SNES ARPG I can think of. I might even take Illusion of Gaia over this, which is my punching bag of SNES ARPG's since I have nitpicks on that one. Beyond Oasis beats Ys V, but all the other Ys games I've played this year were a lot better than this to me. At least the final boss was awesome looking.
So I'll go with a 7/10 here. Peaked at an 8 early on for me but dragged after awhile. Least now I know I'm not in love with this one.  |
|
|
|
Post by toei on Aug 17, 2024 16:05:32 GMT -5
I remember you being annoyed with Brain Lord, too. I like both a lot. They're definitely more hardcore with the puzzles and dungeon design. You have to be very thorough exploring the dungeons in both Oasis games - can't miss a torch, a key, anything, and it's all one big level instead of being room by room, as you pointed out. I personally like those hardcore dungeons much more than anything in Zelda. I'll admit Oasis has a propensity to get you stuck once or twice with some weird spirit puzzle. Coming off something Ys which is so straightforward, that's probably jarring. You should probably skip Landstalker then, cause it's the ultimate game in that style of action RPG (not with the spirits, but the hardcore element), at least on 16-bit consoles. Alundra is overall, and my favorite ARPG of all... but it'd probably annoy you instead.
|
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Aug 17, 2024 16:45:43 GMT -5
To me Beyond Oasis felt kind of one note after awhile and bland, so the random few times I got stuck frustrated me more than normal since it was uncommon. The majority of these dungeons were not challenging at all themselves. It was just goofy stuff like a long vertical room with water throwing you around that you had to jump over while big blobs are hovering towards you and smacking you around. Or the floating platforms over pits sections with a bunch of spawning mages shooting fireballs. Combat wasn't hard, but I just wouldn't call fighting all those things I mentioned "fun" after awhile, and this game was very heavy on the combat. Moreso than Zelda and others. Seems like something I would have more patience for as a kid and liked more back then. I still thrive on challenging games nowadays, so that's kind of hit or miss on what works or doesn't. I can see how someone would prefer this, Brain Lord, etc over Zelda's. They're definitely different.
Might just still be in the mood for some simpler stuff. So not sure I'll touch those other Genesis ARPG's anytime soon. I'll try Landstalker for myself someday, but yeah maybe I won't love it, and I've already attempted to play Alundra once or twice.
|
|
|
|
Post by toei on Aug 17, 2024 16:49:27 GMT -5
I'm sure you'll like Nayuta, but yeah, probably wise not to play it so soon after all that Ys.
|
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Aug 17, 2024 17:32:34 GMT -5
Just sampled some Landstalker, honestly seems pretty cool to me. Maybe even better than Beyond Oasis already.  But I'll play it more another day. |
|
|
|
Post by toei on Aug 17, 2024 17:50:20 GMT -5
I like it better than Beyond Oasis. Just keep in mind that you need to play it with a cool head. Some of the puzzles are more physical and require precision in execution, like a difficult part in an old platformer. A lot of people swear the platforming is hard or bad but I didn't find it so. Got used to the controls pretty quickly too.
|
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Aug 17, 2024 18:10:12 GMT -5
I'll try to remember to read the manual when I get to it too. Definitely seems like the kind of game where that knowledge comes in handy and might be essential. The way you can pickup blocks for some platforming stuff reminds me of Vagrant Story.
|
|
|
|
Post by toei on Aug 17, 2024 18:43:51 GMT -5
The one that sticks out in my memory involves a room with two rows of pillars, one vertical and one horizontal, which cross at the corner. There is a statue on the first pillar you see, a switch on the floor, and one of those button switches on the last pillar (the ones you have to stand on and stay there to keep them active). There might even be another button like that and a second statue on the first pillar of the other row, I don't remember. Flip the switch and the statue starts to walk, but it'll fall in the gap between the first and second pillars. As there are no blocks, it's pretty obvious what you have to do; fill the gaps between each pillar with your own body as the statue advances through the rows, so it walks on you. But it's a little harder said than done, because of the isometric view/controls and the timing of it. You have to keep a cool head and think of the controls you're inputting instead of going purely by instinct, and it might take a little practice. That's the type of puzzle I remember Landstalker for - sort of precision action puzzles, which fit with the treasure hunter/Indiana Jones theme.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Aug 17, 2024 20:59:14 GMT -5
That was my biggest complaint with Beyond Oasis, considering the talent behind it, its paltry OST is inexcusable. >I might even take Illusion of Gaia over this I agree IoG is better than BO. >So I'll go with a 7/10 here Fair enough given the issues you mentioned, plus the bad platforming. But these were my pluses: +Awesome graphics. +Fun and unique magic system. +Big bad bosses that are a joy to defeat. +Well paced game design (even includes a waypoint system). +The last third of the game introduces decent puzzling. And I gave BO an 8/10, so I liked it a bit more than you did. But your complaints are all fair. I can see how someone would prefer this, Brain Lord, etc over Zelda's. I haven't beaten Brain Lord since 1998, but I remember thinking it was 8.5/10-9/10 material back then. It still has my all time most favorite SNES OST. The puzzle designs are definitely more cerebral than Zelda. I'm with you on Alundra being "meh". It's got great atmosphere but the game design is tedious and punitive in disrespectful to the player ways. The enemies take way too many hits in the Working Designs version. I also do not like Landstalker's game design at all. Pretty much hate that game's design. Landstalker has decent graphics, that's about it. I'm not trying to dissuade you, because toei and Sarge (IIRC) both enjoyed Landstalker. Maybe it'll be a winner for you. Keep in mind Landstalker is ~17 hours long HLTB time, so you'll need a few hours in to really get a taste of its bullshit. There are plenty of other Genesis action-RPGs that stomp LS for my tastes, including Sword of Vermilion, Cadash, and King Colossus. Landstalker is just too finicky and sadistic in bullshit ways for me. |
|
But I'll play it more another day.