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Post by toei on Aug 17, 2020 12:02:49 GMT -5
Shame. I keep saying it, but I can't imagine the Growlanser series not having been a hit out West with a decent push back in the days. Or at the very, very least, a beloved cult series. I guess Sega owns the IP, now? Though it'd dead, and I heard the last game (VI) wasn't very good. Either way, the first four need some more love. And yeah, Ex, that's the reason. Although when the first AtL came out, SCEA was also against RPGs, so it had two strikes against it. Hell, I think it's also the reason they had to release Growlanser 2 & 3 together, too, and part of the reason Working Designs folded. And as much as I dislike some of their earlier practices, they had improved a lot by then.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 17, 2020 22:34:10 GMT -5
Finished off Outlaws. It was a pretty good time, although it wasn't nearly as good as Dark Forces. You can feel the engine similarities, but the games play a bit differently, mainly due to level structures. You can tell it was released during the time levels were becoming a lot more expansive, yet emptier as well. It had a bit of that Jedi Knight feel to it. This moved really fast, though, which was pretty satisfying. I only played on "Good" difficulty after trying "Bad" and getting whacked pretty easily in the first mission. Not sure what's considered "normal", but it wasn't a terribly challenging game overall outside of a few tricky puzzle segments. I think I'm going to give this one a 7/10. That's what I gave Quake, but I actually think I enjoyed this one slightly more than that... but I don't think I'm giving this a 7.5. Still, a pretty fun way to spend around six hours, even if it actually felt a lot quicker than that for some reason.
Oh, and I really liked the soundtrack. Very much on point. This track, though, was a weird one, because I was getting Dragon Quest vibes for a bit. Very somber and easily one of my favorites in the game.
Oh, and the movie sequences are really great. Very striking visual style, although it's a shame that they had to be compressed so much.
EDIT: Oh, that's interesting. The voice of "Dr. Death" in the game is done by John de Lancie, often more known by his role as "Q" in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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Post by Ex on Aug 18, 2020 0:27:50 GMT -5
Sarge I agree with your assessment of Outlaws, a 7/10 is what I remember the game being from 2006 when I beat it. No this game is not better than Dark Forces. It was however a good western FPS for its time. Probably the best western FPS of its day. Good enough that back then I also beat the game's expansion: Back then I was able to buy that promo disc off eBay for peanuts. Today I see the GOG version includes this expansion already. Just thought I'd mention it, in case you had a hankering for more Outlaws.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 3:07:14 GMT -5
I only played on "Good" difficulty after trying "Bad" and getting whacked pretty easily in the first mission. When I played it on 'Ugly', I remember it being pretty tough. Yeah, it's not as good as Dark Forces - would never put this one above Quake either. Wouldn't even dream of putting Gunman Chronicles above Quake 2 and Unreal either for that matter, but hey, tastes. I think ol' triggerman Tsumuri might like this one. Actually I tried several times to get into Call of Juarez to no avail. Something about the main character(s) being unlikeable, forced stealth mission, silly fall damage, annoying whip mechanic, etc. Also, I'm not too much into 1st person shooters lately.
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Post by Ex on Aug 18, 2020 7:55:32 GMT -5
Yeah, it's not as good as Dark Forces - would never put this one above Quake either. Nor would I. I think Gunman Chronicles is better than Unreal, but certainly isn't better than Quake II. Actually I tried several times to get into Call of Juarez to no avail. Something about the main character(s) being unlikeable, forced stealth mission, silly fall damage, annoying whip mechanic, etc. I don't care about Billy much, but Ray is freakin' awesome. The stealth, fall damage, and swinging whip stuff you only deal with in Billy's missions, Ray's missions are pretty much 100% FPS. I also bounced off Call of Juarez myself years ago, when I put 3 hours into it before quitting. Last night I reached the point that I quit playing last time, so we'll see how I handle that section tonight. I'm certainly liking CoJ more than I did years back, but it's hardly perfect agreed. I'm more interested in this game's sequel, but wanted to knock out the original first.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 18, 2020 15:21:43 GMT -5
I can understand why folks would rate Quake higher. It's a much more "proper" FPS experience. I think my issues there were the DOOM 2-style level design, which I didn't care for. Outlaws felt a lot different, in that it was mostly just a very basic FPS that played at a really fast rate, almost a run-and-gun experience at the difficulty I was playing as. That's what I enjoyed from it. The game doesn't make a very good first impression at all, though - that first level looks (and is) pretty blah, and it's even more stark coming off that cool long intro movie.
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 18, 2020 15:30:18 GMT -5
Always knocking on my Doom II. I need to get your thoughts on TNT, Plutonia, and Doom64 someday.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 18, 2020 15:35:05 GMT -5
I do eventually plan on getting to Doom 64.
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 18, 2020 15:51:37 GMT -5
Go with the EX port or official new release over the 64 version. It migrates over to the PC format flawlessly... since it's still 2D like the classics. I think you'll appreciate that the level design is tighter and more compact than Doom II's. Such an underrated gem. Probably because it was kind of niche' on the 64 I guess.
TNT and Plutonia are generally a lot harder than Doom II, so I'm not sure if that'll be your thing. TNT's level design is really experimental and inconsistent too, even though it had some maps I love enough to rank it above Plutonia. Plutonia is very consistent from start to finish for the most part and has its own signature color palette... BROWN walls everywhere. It's just often literally unfair, even for an experienced Doomguy like myself... and the secret subtitle for this game is: "CHAINGUNNERS GALORE!"
But yeah they don't really have the city styled level design of Doom II that you and others sometimes aren't a fan of.
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Post by Ex on Aug 18, 2020 15:57:37 GMT -5
Just for the record; I liked Outlaws more than Doom II: Hell on Earth . My qualms with Doom II is that it's more like an expansion pack than a proper sequel to Doom. I like my sequels to showcase innovation and evolution over what came before, instead of a cookie cutter repeat of what I've already played.
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