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Post by bonesnapdeez on Dec 14, 2022 17:27:34 GMT -5
Jaleco, you're next... Awful early shmup with ugly graphics, shrill music, and downright unacceptable controls. The gimmick here is that you play as a robot that can transform into a fighter jet; both control like ass. Also, while I'm a fan (barely) of the larger series, Ninja-Kun: Ashura no Shou is awful. Super difficult with this weird wall jump thing you have to master. I hate it. Play the first three platformers and then jump to the RPGs.
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Post by toei on Dec 18, 2022 14:02:25 GMT -5
The newly-translated Genesis RPG Maten no Soumetsu is hot garbage. I had a bad feeling about it - same publisher as Blue Almanac, generic low-budget look, unknown developer, no one ever talks about it, and the only really good officially released traditional turn-based RPG on the Genesis is Phantasy Star IV ... but I still expected better. The mandatory level grinding is insane. This is a common criticism against 16-bit RPGs, but usually it's exaggerated - you can often get away with little level-grinding if you're not a scaredy cat and you play smart. In this game, though, enemies will go from doing 1 damage per attack in one area to killing you in a single turn in the next. Said areas are ridiculously small, so you're forced to level grind forever in these tiny spaces. It takes a ton of experience to go up just one level. I legit had to fight over 150 battles to make it to Level 7, and that's the absolute minimum level at which you could make it through the very first dungeon, if you're lucky; if you encounter a group of skeletons and your attack misses (which is not uncommon), you will die in one turn. The most important stat in this game is speed, as you can usually kill any enemy in one turn, but they will slaughter you if you don't. Whoever goes first wins. In the first town, you can rent a weapon that attacks all enemies at once (you pretty much have to rent it, unless you want to grind even more, I suppose), so you either take no damage in the whole fight or there's a high likelihood that you will be gameover. Encounter rate is insane, the tiny bit of story I've seen does nothing to peak your interest and almost reads like a parody, and there aren't even any sound effects during combat. It just feels like a cheap, rushed game by people who had no idea how to balance a RPG and didn't care about their product. It's easily one of the very worst 16-bit RPGs, from what I've played so far. The only one I can think of on the Genesis that might rival it Legend of Wukong, and that wasn't officially licensed.
Actual summary of early events: your father dies. You go to the castle to see the King in his place. He tells you your father was investigating the source of the recent monster surge. It's all very DQ3. You'd like to do the same, but the Queen is dying, so he asks you to go pick a medicinal herb in the forest. As you approach the forest, bandits attack you in a scripted event. You wake up in the castle without your belongings. The King informs you the Queen died because you couldn't bring the herb, so you might as well go on and investigate the source of all evil in the world now. What was the point of this whole thing? I think it might have been a joke - subverting your expectations of a clichéd fetch quest - but it just doesn't land. Then you have to go rescue some townsfolk, but not before you level grind for two hours. That's it so far. It's funny that the game's publisher called itself Kodansha Research Institute. With a bit more research, they might have discovered that patience has its limits, or that fun exists. Who knows.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 18, 2022 18:29:19 GMT -5
Welp, strike that one off the list. Blah. Still wish someone would release an English version of Surging Aura, although I've heard tell it isn't as good as it looks.
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Post by toei on Dec 18, 2022 19:10:28 GMT -5
Welp, strike that one off the list. Blah. Still wish someone would release an English version of Surging Aura, although I've heard tell it isn't as good as it looks. I know I mentioned it before, but I played a few hours of Surging Aura through the French patch. There was very little story going on, and basically no characterization - we're talking 8-bit-levels of script. So it's definitely no Phantasy Star IV-level lost gem, even though it looks like it visually. But it was playable, at least.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 18, 2022 19:23:29 GMT -5
Yeah, I knew someone had mentioned it before, couldn't remember if it was you or not, but I should have known it was!
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Post by Moulinoski on Mar 4, 2023 23:49:29 GMT -5
I recently tried out Secret of Mana Turbo. It makes Secret of Mana a bit less of a chore to play. At least, I can smack enemies over and over without having to wait to recharge. Charging my attack up is less effective than just smacking them over and over. But then I got magic and it still sucks. I can’t beat the fire giant because my magic isn’t strong enough and my sprite has very little of it.
So, turns out that I still don’t like Secret of Mana after all and will probably dump this version of it too. It surprises me how fondly people think of it but whatever. I like Sonic R (PC/GCN) and no one else does so I guess this balances things out.
I just kinda wanted to rant about Secret of Mana. I already mentioned it before in this thread (I checked) but playing this hack made me angry that I still can’t click with the game. What’s funny is that the game was kind of enjoyable while my character was on his own. Then the girl joined and it was okay. Then the sprite joined and it was fine. Then I got magic and I was like “ugh, I have to level this up now…” When a game makes you groan, you know you’re not having fun with it.
Also, is it just me or is Secret of Mana slow? Like, this hack makes it go a little faster but even then it feels like it’s still a slow game. I don’t get it. Why does it feel so slow to me?!
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Post by toei on Mar 5, 2023 0:18:57 GMT -5
It's a somewhat slow game because its battle system is really kind of semi-real time. Hence the charging. Apart from that, I don't know. Maybe you should try to play something else than an action RPG, seems like you've been juggling 20 of them for months. That's not conducive to getting into games for me, anyway. I like to take games one by one and alternate genres often. If you just finished Ys VIII, which moves fast (but requires a million hit per enemy, which negates that speed IMO...) then a game in the same genre that moves at a normal pace is going to feel too slow. That's because Ys VIII is still lingering in your mind and is going to temporarily remain a comparison point by which you judge other games. That's the same reason I never play two games from the same series back to back, either - it makes it harder to take the second game on its own terms.
Back to SOM, I don't think it's one of the great action RPGs at all, but it's a decent 7 to 7.5 for me. Seiken Densetsu 3 (the sequel) is absolutely horrible, though. One of the most tedious games I've ever played through, with basically no quality to speak of.
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Post by Xeogred on Mar 5, 2023 0:25:24 GMT -5
Loved Secret of Mana and SD3. Have replayed both a fair bit, especially SD3 with its multiple characters/classes system. Extremely hit or miss games I guess.
On some days I might call SoM's OST my #1 favorite on the SNES. Even though it's got a few annoying tracks in there, heh. The atmosphere is just sublime in the good ones. Love the graphics too.
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Post by Ex on Mar 5, 2023 0:32:39 GMT -5
So, turns out that I still don’t like Secret of Mana after all and will probably dump this version of it too. I can understand where you're coming from. Back in the '90s I owned a copy of SoM and beat it twice. Once solo, and once co-op. Both times I loved it. Many years later I tried SoM again and couldn't stand it, bored me silly. Then I tried Trials of Mana (AKA Seiken Densetsu 3) and couldn't stand that one either. For being action-JRPGs these are slow moving games, and waiting on the charge meters to build up is annoying. They have pacing issues, difficulty balancing issues, and navigational issues (as in where do I go now). I wouldn't call these two bad games though, as their graphics and music are above average. They're also ambitious for their time and I appreciate they offer couch co-op. All that said I have purchased and intend to try the PS4 remakes some day. The SoM remake for co-op with my wife. ToM remake because I want to give that game another chance in a different iteration. Perhaps these remakes smooth some of the issues above out. If you want to play another good SNES action-JRPG, go for Brainlord, Brandish 2, Front Mission: Gun Hazard, or Demon's Crest next. All of those get the Ex Seal of Approval™. If you want to play a fun older Mana go for Legend of Mana... it is underrated.
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Post by Moulinoski on Mar 5, 2023 12:35:25 GMT -5
I have some of those already on my RG353V. I couldn’t get into Legend of Mana. I got it on my Vita and it didn’t click. The only Mana game that has clicked so far has been Adventure of Mana (and Final Fantasy Adventure but I enjoyed the remake more).
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