|
Post by toei on Nov 29, 2020 14:08:51 GMT -5
toei Ninja Golf was in my "give it a try bucket", for what it's worth. Easily the 7800's killer app, just based on the concept alone. Tonight I am going to play Way of the Samurai. I was thinking of burning a copy of it to play on real PS2, but eh I'll give it a shot on PCSX2 instead, save the media for stuff that can't be emulated. I'm looking forward to seeing how my fate goes in the game. Banzai! I also gave Samurai Kid a go, and didn't stick with it. Well-made, for sure, but it's for samurai kids, and I'm a samurai adult. Speaking of which, I'm just going to give you one piece of advice for Way of the Samurai Adult. If you're just looking for a quick romp, do whatever, but if you want to see one of the game's proper endings, get yourself a better sword, and do whatever you can to survive. This game doesn't just give you branching dialogue trees, it lets you decide if you want to talk at all, so even during combat, if you see the dialogue icon appear, chances are you might be able to apologize like a bitch and probably live. Though not always. If you live through the game, you can take your sword again next time, so it'll be easier. Or you can just play it on Easy and coast through the whole thing. Honestly, acting crazy and dying can be just as fun, though.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Nov 29, 2020 18:12:09 GMT -5
I've beaten The Last Ninja. I can't say I did it on my own, though - I definitely checked a walkthrough for several things. I can see where this would have impressed back in the day, though. Unlike what you'd expect, this is much more a hybrid of something like Karateka and an adventure game. You can absolutely screw yourself over like I did, though! You can move to the next stage without having all the things needed toward the end, which ain't great. And some of the puzzles are pretty obscure. One of the easier bits is a flower that kills you when you touch it, but you find gloves somewhere else to retrieve it. You have to have a key from the first stage to access the last stage, even! The flower is also used there, opening a door for you when you place it in a large vase. I can't say that it's very intuitively marked that you're supposed to do that, though. Lots of insta-death points, too - you use claws to scale up (and later down) a wall. That second time, if you don't turn around backwards, you fall to your death. If you climb down on the left side, you hit a gap and fall to your death. Only the right side is safe. Oh, and there's the controls. They're best described as "interesting". They take quite a bit of time to get used to. You actually do eventually get some handle on it, although river jumping is always perilous (save beforehand!). I never used anything more than the sword, but you do get ninja stars, nunchaku, and a bo staff as well. In that case, you have three different attacks that you trigger by holding the button and hitting either up, left, or right, which yield slow short-range, fast, and slow long-range attacks. You probably want to use the fast on most enemies once they crowd you, though, as they interrupt you quite well. Combat actually got easier to pull off, although it still usually just comes down to you wailing on an enemy and hoping you get in your licks with minimal damage. Graphically and aurally, this kills it on C64. Excellent work all around, even if there aren't any sound effects. I'd rather have the cool music, though. I'm having a hard time coming up with a score for this one. Despite all my niggles, it's a game I want to like, and that tends to go a long way. Replaying the bits I had to today to get to the end was a surprisingly quick affair, and I rolled credits in an hour. And once you know what to do, you just have to execute. But I'm sure for most, the puzzling was the fun back in the day. I think I'm going to give this a 6/10. Decent, but it really needed some polish on the control side. I won't diss anyone that loves the game, though - I totally see why they would.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Nov 29, 2020 21:36:43 GMT -5
I also gave Samurai Kid a go, and didn't stick with it. Well-made, for sure, but it's for samurai kids, and I'm a samurai adult. Very succinct way to say it. I won't diss anyone that loves the game, though - I totally see why they would. Nice job taking down The Last Ninja. The game absolutely has its fans. It was even made available via Virtual Console on the Wii, surprisingly enough. I had a friend years back that loved this game, and showed me some of it. The controls and interface were less than ideal IMO, but it was a respectable release for its day. Definitely a powerhouse on the C64.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Nov 29, 2020 23:22:57 GMT -5
It was definitely one of those games that I felt I needed to give a go for historical importance. I'm legit curious about the followups now, and the one they apparently ported to NES.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Nov 29, 2020 23:53:32 GMT -5
There's actually a full-fledged 3D platformer on the Saturn, and it starts a ninja penguin. It's called Ninpen Manmaru Ninja:
Another game I wanted to hit up if I had more time, on top of Onimusha, was the PSX cult game Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman, which merged samurai and cowboys before Samurai Western, and was also one of the precursors of the "character action" genre.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2020 1:00:03 GMT -5
I booted up something far older... and I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it. The controls are some of the wonkiest I've had the pleasure of experiencing: The Last Ninja for the Commodore 64. Cool soundtrack, though! Speaking of old, Western ninja games, I was kinda hoping someone would hit up Ninja Golf. It's the Atari 7800's killer app! Maybe, I don't know.I always thought Ninja Golf was slightly overrated, but it is a hoot. It's kind of like Ballz3D, where it's more fun than fun.
I think we need to have a Bionic Commando and Gargoyle's Quest month. Unfortunately we'd have to call that theme; "Games only Sarge and Ex Play" Both of those games are legit, though, Gargoyle's Quest is superior. I don't love the grappling hook mechanic in any game, but it does it well. Gargoyle's Quest could be part of the larger Ghosts-Goblins-Ghouls-Gargoyles them, with everything in the series up through Demon's Crest, though I suppose the Maximo games might count, too.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Nov 30, 2020 1:48:39 GMT -5
Both of those games are legit, though, Gargoyle's Quest is superior. I won't argue that. Glad to see another HRG member that enjoys either game, let alone both. - I put an hour into Way of the Samurai tonight. This game should be called Death of the Samurai, because pretty much everybody wants you dead. Or at least, it sure seems that way in the beginning. I died quite a few times, but I've had fun with each session. It'd sure be great if you could fast forward through cutscenes though, because you're gonna be seeing the same cutscenes over and over and over, trying to suss out the right path to any given ending. I'm definitely not good at sword fighting yet, still trying to master the push/parry move. (The camera is aggravating as well, but it's manageable.) I wonder if one's fighting power is really tied to one's sword's quality, as I've already seen there are ways to level up your weapon. I mean right now, I often have to slash lackeys ten times at least before they die, which is unrealistic obviously. I'd rather this be more like Bushido Blade, where one or two hits is fatal, as that's more believable. I did unlock a few new moves after dying a few times, but in the heat of battle, it's hard to remember random long combo string X or Y. Don't get me wrong though, WotS has been interesting so far. It's very much a Choose Your Own Adventure samurai story, as expected. I can see why this game wasn't a hit with general reviewers, but its uniqueness is appreciated. I'd like to get at least one real ending before calling it over.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Nov 30, 2020 5:35:10 GMT -5
Another game I wanted to hit up if I had more time, on top of Onimusha, was the PSX cult game Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman, which merged samurai and cowboys before Samurai Western, and was also one of the precursors of the "character action" genre. Downloaded!
|
|
|
Post by toei on Nov 30, 2020 13:41:57 GMT -5
Everyone knows about Samurai Shodown RPG, but I never knew there was another game in the same vein. It's a PSX RPG based on the anime Rurouni Kenshin, which also has a samurai setting, and the battle system also looks VS fighter-inspired.
Looks cool.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Nov 30, 2020 17:51:44 GMT -5
I ran through the story mode of the other Rurouni Kenshin game on the PS1, a 3D fighter. It's by Zoom, a company that mostly worked on the Sharp X68000 computer early on (they made the original version of Lagoon and the mediocre mecha side-scroller Genocide, which was ported to the PCE-CD). They went on to make the short-lived 3D fighter series Zero Divide on the PSX and Saturn, which also feature robots. Anyway, this game isn't very good; there are very, very few moves, throws are weird and too hard to pull off - you have to be really, really close to the opponent for them to work, close enough for love - and the canned combos feel divorced from the controls. The graphics are decent, though.
|
|