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Post by Chema on Dec 1, 2020 5:27:58 GMT -5
The Dreamcast is a console that fascinates me. I wish the PS2 hadn't obliterated it.
I think I'll play Maken X.
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Post by Ex on Dec 1, 2020 12:06:59 GMT -5
I think I'll play Maken X. Nice pick, I'd certainly enjoy reading a fresh take on that one. I've never finished it myself. There is a PS2 port of Maken X, but it had a lot of changes. The biggest being, the PS2 version plays in third person, instead of first person as the original incarnation does. - I've been doing a deep dive into Japanese-only DC games. There are more than I expected. Finding some potential hidden gems, perhaps. Oh yeah, Dreaming is not over.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 1, 2020 12:53:00 GMT -5
Looks like King's Field... with real combat?
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Post by Ex on Dec 1, 2020 13:00:15 GMT -5
Looks like King's Field... with real combat? Geez, two anti-KF slants in one day on HRG.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 1, 2020 14:42:59 GMT -5
Heh, I swear that's just the first thing that came to mind! The DC version looks a lot cooler than the PS2 one.
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Post by Ex on Dec 1, 2020 14:44:45 GMT -5
IIRC Atlus said that Japanese gamers were getting nauseous from the first person view in the original Maken X, so when they did the PS2 port, they switched to third person. I don't know what it is with Japanese gamers and first person viewpoints, but I've often read they have issues with it.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 1, 2020 21:55:05 GMT -5
Knocked out my first Dreamcast game for this month: Cannon Spike.
For those that might not know about this one, it's a joint Capcom/Psikyo venture. It stars a few original characters as well as several Capcom characters like Cammy, Arthur, and Mega Man. It takes the form of a sort of arena-based run-and-gun with some melee and bullet-hell features, which is about what you'd expect with the team on this. Fun stuff, and definitely worth a play. A single play can go quickly, but you likely won't finish it the first time through (or the second, or the third). I finally made it through, and I've beaten it before - it just took some time for the muscle memory to come back, and even then, I almost didn't pull it out. Also, I think the game awarded me an extra credit as I kept making attempts.
Anyway, Arthur is awesome. He has a ridiculous missile volley as well as a powerful melee attack, and those are often enough to see you through. 8/10.
EDIT: And another one - a quick play of Capcom vs. SNK. I usually play through Capcom vs. SNK 2 because of the much more flexible options and larger character selection, but this game was where it started. I remember quite clearly how big a deal it was that SNK and Capcom were burying the hatchet to do a crossover fighter. It was pretty mind-blowing, honestly.
This one gives you tiers of fighters, so you can't adjust how weak or strong they are. So you have four points to burn on fighters from tiers 1, 2, or 3. That means you're probably going to have to use a character you might not care for, although most of the real mainstays (like Ken) sit in tier 2. I got lucky and managed to take out Geese Howard on my last low tier character (team of Ken, Sakura, and Cammy), so that's a 1cc run. Very good, just pales in comparison to what came after it. 8/10.
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Post by Ex on Dec 2, 2020 2:48:00 GMT -5
I always play as Cammy in Cannon Spike, seems wrong not to. - Made a bunch more progress in Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes tonight. There's a total of 9 missions from what I understand, and I'm now saved at mission 7. Great stuff so far, I'm lovin' it. The game's fairly challenging too, which I appreciate given its genre... but all the same, if I stay at this clip, this one will be in the bag soon.
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Post by Chema on Dec 2, 2020 7:24:12 GMT -5
I played the first three levels of Maken X. My impressions so far are good. The game runs at 60fps and has a very good image quality. I'm using the emulator flycast because, to my knowledge, it has the most accurate recreation of some of the system's graphical quirks. This makes it more GPU-intensive than other emulators, so I'm playing the game on the Dreamcast's original resolution and emulating a VGA signal. Despite the low resolution, the game picture look so much cleaner than many PS2 and GameCube games on my LCD panel. I'm digging the storyline and the art style. Kazuma Kanko's artwork is unbelievably cool and stylish. Such a shame that art direction in Atlus games is becoming more otaku-like. As for the gameplay, it's alright? I can see why Japanese players would feel nausea. It takes a while to get accustomed to the player movement. It feels like you're always gliding over the ground and one of the game's core mechanics is jumping over your enemies while you rotate backwards automatically, so that you can hit the enemy's back. This can cause confusion at first. Moreover, the field of view is sometimes too narrow, so there are times when stopping to look up or down is essential for progress because you cannot see clearly enough on which items you could jump on. Plus, rotating left and right is a tad slow, which can make it difficult to focus on two or more enemies simultaneously. I'm still playing it, though. I think I can deal with all these issues.
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Post by Ex on Dec 2, 2020 10:35:17 GMT -5
I'm using the emulator flycast because, to my knowledge, it has the most accurate recreation of some of the system's graphical quirks. What kind of graphical quirks are you referring to? I thought about using Flycast, but I didn't see any immediate advantages to doing so, if one is playing via Windows PC. Except that Flycast does better on the broadband adapter/modem utilization, which doesn't matter to me. From what I was reading, Flycast's game compatibility is lower than DEmul, as in Flycast can't run some of the games DEmul can.
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