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Post by Ex on Dec 10, 2019 0:29:15 GMT -5
Played some more Forever Kingdom tonight. My current progress is at the bolded part:
4.1 - Beginning 4.2 - Forsaken Village 4.3 - Chasm of Tranquility 4.4 - Cave of Testing 4.5 - Testing Grounds 4.6 - Mist Shrine 4.7 - Shrine Halls 4.8 - Shrine Courtyard 4.9 - Buried Cavern 4.10 - Canyon of Defile 4.11 - Land of the Dead 4.12 - Lake of Dreams 4.13 - Palace 4.14 - King's Throne 4.15 - Hall of Memories 4.16 - Ruins of Frost 4.17 - Ruins of Fire 4.18 - Garden of Harmony 4.19 - Endless Waterfall 4.20 - Misty Cavern 4.21 - Hall of Wandering 4.22 - City of Lost Hope 4.23 - City of Hope 4.24 - Hall of Wandering 4.25 - Hall of the Banished 4.26 - Forgotten Valley 4.27 - Sanctuary 4.28 - Final Bosses
Getting close to wrapping this one up. Thankfully I have fought some bosses lately!
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Post by Sarge on Dec 10, 2019 11:35:43 GMT -5
You got this!
I didn't get any real playing time in last night. Too tired, so I watched a lot of TNG. I did, however, fiddle around with my PSTV again, hooking it up to the bedroom TV and checking to see what I had rolling around on the memory card. I need to see if the ISO I have of Nayuta no Kiseki is the last patched version; I may very well target that one before the year is up.
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Post by Ex on Dec 10, 2019 12:09:24 GMT -5
I honestly believe you would have a great time with this hidden gem action-JRPG, once getting over the slow beginning. I remember you said you didn't like the graphical dithering, but I think that aspect will cease to bother you once you're actually playing and having a blast.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 10, 2019 12:26:50 GMT -5
Yeah, that's why I keep bouncing off, I think. The beginning is pretty blah. The translation's rough edges aren't helping, either... but I suspect that's not the reason to play a game like this.
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Post by Ex on Dec 10, 2019 12:36:07 GMT -5
I suspect that's not the reason to play a game like this. Once it gets going, Nayuta is very similar to Napishtim/Oath/Origins-era Ys. Except with more elaborate jumping mechanics. And That's all I'll say about it here, because it's not a retro game!
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Post by Sarge on Dec 10, 2019 12:37:53 GMT -5
Oh, dang, you're right. For some reason, I've gotten to where I think pretty much all the PSP stuff is compliant, but it ain't!
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Post by Ex on Dec 14, 2019 12:07:09 GMT -5
I made a tad more progress in Forever Kingdom last night. I'm at:
4.25 - Hall of the Banished 4.26 - Forgotten Valley 4.27 - Sanctuary 4.28 - Final Bosses
The "Hall of the Banished" area was just a large room with a rather difficult boss in it. Took me a while to figure out a strategy to take her down. The "Forgotten Valley" area is a legit place, that is rather cool looking to wander in. However Forgotten Valley has a fair amount of "attire puzzles" (I'll explain in the review) in it, which I find tedious, and decided not to do all of last night. I'm hoping I can finally wrap this one up late tonight though. (I usually only play video games late at night, as my daytime and early evening windows of opportunity are obligated to real life responsibilities.) The game clock says I'm at 7 hours 45 minutes, but there's just no way that's accurate. I feel like I have closer to 10 hours at least in this one.
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Post by Ex on Dec 16, 2019 1:55:21 GMT -5
And tonight I made it to:
4.25 - Hall of the Banished 4.26 - Forgotten Valley 4.27 - Sanctuary 4.28 - Final Bosses
Forgotten Valley and Sanctuary were both areas full of time consuming puzzles. But I got through them just fine.
Final Bosses - Well my party first fought three bosses at the same time. After five or six tries, I finally managed to beat all three of those bosses. Is the end? Oh of course not. There's two surprise bosses after that. Both of which you have to fight at the same time. Well by the time the second boss wave started, my party was out of all health restoratives, so we died. And there was no checkpoint. Nope. You have to start the whole boss run over again. Ugh. That was enough for me tonight. This wasn't a difficulty curve at the very end, so much as a difficulty mountain. Freaking ridiculous lack of balancing. WTF FromSoftware?
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Post by Sarge on Dec 16, 2019 13:16:50 GMT -5
What, you don't like massive difficulty spikes?
Seriously, though, that's obnoxious.
I've jumped into another partial play with Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. I already had 15 hours in, so I'm betting I could finish it up pretty soon.
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Post by Ex on Dec 17, 2019 1:46:37 GMT -5
After many final boss tribulations the deed is done... Forever Kingdom | PS2 | 2002
Forever Kingdom is an action-RPG developed by FromSoftware, and published by FromSoftware in Japan in 2001. In 2002 Agetec localized and published this game in the USA. Forever Kingdom was not published in Europe. This game was called Evergrace II in Japan, because it is indeed a sequel to Evergrace. Although from a plot perspective, Forever Kingdom is a prequel to Evergrace. This is good for newcomers, because they can skip the middling Evergrace and just play the mostly good Forever Kingdom. This game's plot is hot garbage, and I won't bother explaining it. All you need to know, is that you are controlling a party of three characters who are out to kill a wizard. The wizard has put a spell on these three people (called a Soul Bind), wherein if one person dies, the other two die. This is a contrivance so that all three party members share the same life gauge. Not always ideal considering the partner AI is lacking to say the least. So there will be times where you will lose, due to no fault of your own, because one of your partners fails to block a devastating blow. Beyond that aspect, insofar as combat goes this is a basic action-RPG in most ways. You will explore levels, beat up baddies, defeat bosses, and gather loot. The loot in Forever Kingdom is where this game becomes unusual however. For instance, you don't level up your characters, rather you level up their equipment. That is to say your characters' strengths and abilities are all tied to their presently equipped materials. Wearing equipment goes pretty deep in subsystem land. First off it allows different elemental alignments. Elemental alignment is very important in this game. An enemy can kill you with one hit, if they have full elemental advantage over you. (Let's say they use a strong fire attack, but you're wearing ice armor.) Also many puzzles are based off the clothing your party members are wearing. I call these "attire puzzles", and I've only seen this sort of thing in Evergrace and Forever Kingdom. Basically at times you will need to be wearing certain articles of gear, or have certain weapons equipped, in order to solve a puzzle. This approach is not always intuitive either. Other puzzles are based off elemental magic. Like using fire to melt ice, that sort of thing. Indeed, Forever Kingdom is quite puzzle heavy, even compared to Evergrace, which itself was puzzle heavy for its genre. There are no friendly NPC filled towns in Forever Kingdom. Instead your party spends all their time marauding through levels, collecting money and solving puzzles. There's a very robust shopping system at the core of the experience though. At save crystals, you access an inter-dimensional bazaar run by mystical tapirs. These creatures allow your characters to buy all manner of equipment and items. Also in the bazaar, is where your team can upgrade their equipment using special rocks found in game. Unlike Evergrace, Forever Kindgom does not allow the player to change the color of their equipment. This is a good thing, as Evergrace obnoxiously used that aspect for some of its own "attire puzzles". Lastly in this tapir bazaar, the option to fight in coliseums exists. If you manage to win, you'll receive unique gear that can be sold for very high prices. +A strong improvement over its predecessor in every department. +Rather good graphics with great particle/lighting/fog/shadow effects. +Lots of interesting weapons and offensive magic to toy with. +Unusual level designs with obscure aesthetics. +Eclectic OST to put it mildly.
-The plot is simultaneously boring and confusing. -Many long inane cutscenes with terrible voice acting. -Lackadaisical partner AI that's unhelpful to say the least. -Close quarter camera issues can cause serious aggravation. -Final boss rush is disingenuously, absurdly difficult. Forever Kingdom released barely a year after Evergrace. I find it extremely impressive that FromSoftware could produce such an improved sequel in such a short time frame. There's a lot of innovation in Forever Kingdom, including a combat system that works similarly to, but predates, the modern Ys games. I think this game is at its best when you're simply exploring strange environs, fighting extraordinarily weird monsters, and soaking in the alien scenery. That said, it's no wonder that Forever Kingdom received such mediocre reviews in its day. This is certainly not your typical action-RPG. Average gamers would not care one bit for this experience, even back in 2002. Beyond the goofy attire puzzle gimmicks, the difficulty can be very high at times. More so than most folks would want to deal with for sure. This all culminates in a final boss battle which is absolutely infuriating. I'd go so far as to say, you can sometimes see FromSoftware's Souls series' DNA percolating in this ancestor. All of that said, if you enjoy action-RPGs of the JRPG persuasion, and you're looking for an entirely unique experience, Forever Kingdom is well worth playing. Especially if you enjoy haggling over kitty cosplay gear with exotic merchants sporting flexible proboscises.
Ex's time to beat: 8 hours 54 minutes* Ex's rating: 7.5/10 *Thus says the in game clock. I think 11 hours is more realistic.
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