What games are you playing?

[KobaBeach]

Tecmo: Secret of the Stars - At the Upper Continent, grinding a few more levels to prepare for Booth's Castle.

can't believe i'm in bones!!!!!!!! i can't wait to meet dr. brennan

[Bean]

Apparently, my goal is to beat mediocre SNES games this summer along with the rare good one like Shiren was. Joe & Mac was the latest one to be taken down. It's fine but nothing special. Definitely has that 90s "We're so cool (but aren't)!" kind of feel to it as you go through a dino-tastic adventure, dudes!

[KobaBeach]

Apparently, my goal is to beat mediocre SNES games (...) Joe & Mac

I mean that's by Data East and the big rule of Data East is either
a) you get the dorkiest damn games that own due to how absurd they are (metal max is this honestly)
or b) you get pretty mediocre games

like makoto mizoguchi and zazie muhaba are two of my many comfort characters but i dont really feel like fighters' history is that good of a game sadly. zazie's such a good ass design holy shit. need to watch otokojuku and it's like mizoguchi and one of my artist friends' fault*

this does explain why idea factory is Like That, they spun off from DECO's death (it's why the big three dead gamindustri bitches that show up on occasion are flight-plan (felistella), compile (shitpile fart) and data east (idea fucktory))

* - my artist friend has a character heavily based on bancho characters similar to mizoguchi and todoroki from the osu banchou pachislot gambling machines and i am pretty sure they're both just plagiarizing momotaro from a manga called sakigake otokojuku (no relation to cromartie high but it also involves delinquents)

...i am playing wild arms 3

[SiFi270]

Apparently, my goal is to beat mediocre SNES games (...) Joe & Mac

I mean that's by Data East and the big rule of Data East is either
a) you get the dorkiest damn games that own due to how absurd they are (metal max is this honestly)
or b) you get pretty mediocre games

what about night slashers

yeah it certainly fits a) but i think there's also quite a bit of unironic good to it

[KobaBeach]

what about night slashers

yeah it certainly fits a) but i think there's also quite a bit of unironic good to it

i haven't played it yet but it looks nice. i wanna play technos' combatribes too

[raekuul]

Pokemon Yellow Legacy - Starting the Rocket Hideout (apparently my Jynx trade is locked behind story completion so Go Go Gadget RICO Warrant I guess)

Pool of Radiance - I picked this back up and am chipping away at it between work orders. This is pretty much the usual D&D CRPG Early Game Hell but with the added problem of throwing hordes of monsters at you (who will win? six level one player characters with virtually no resources, or thirty orcs?)

[KobaBeach]

Wild Arms 3 - This game is weirdly kicking my ass what th efcuk.

Went from the Leyline Observatory to beating Gemstone Cave and the second battle with Maya's crew and the battle with Olivier was like a huge nightmare because I didn't save beforehand. I think me being up for almost 24 hours didn't help, the battles felt so overwhelming since FP charges so slowly in this game, though I do understand not wanting to make it as broken as in WA2.

I was very concerned about using Mystic for group heals due to limited Heal Berries for now, since Virginia had Schturdark due to her higher MAT for healing, and Gallows had Stare Roe which gives him the Esuna-type spell.

I kind of liked it though, but again, I am pretty sure it's due to me being bad at the game and the game probably has reverse difficulty scaling the more you continue through Gella Coins, like Trails. On the other hand, Olivier (from Wild Arms 2!!) did had a party wide status attack that hit you with Disease (inability to heal HP as long as you have it) and an attack that can cause Poison if it connects, which, yeah that's how you make a boss kinda brutal in a game with limited resources in the early game.

And Maya's second battle has four bastards wailing on you with mostly magical attacks and one attack that can cause Confusion in a party member, which is super annoying since you need to waste a turn with one of em using a Pinwheel. I also beat the Diobarg encounter since he's easy enough, but I'm not gonna do all chests and Millennium Puzzles to fight Black Box or complete the overworld map for the EX File, that sounds stupid.

The plot is still super good omg, I always love how weirdly philosophical Wild Arms gets, juxtaposed with the anime bullshit. Maya's special skill, revealed in the second battle is literally

kinning fictional characters to gain their special abilities

and it's phenomenal. Danganronpa fan behavior, take note I kin shit in a casual way (I will still laugh at FF House and the Suikoden House but also feel sad because man that's kind of abusive behavior).

The staff her Wonder Witch form had also gave me flashbacks of Old Man Lap's staff from Legend of Heroes 3 which is a good thing, you can see Chris (the girl) wield it in boxart for reference. Watch out for the bare feet jumpscare in the PC98 cover, shout outs to this one really good cozy artwork of Chris and Julio cooking but whoever drew it could not fucking draw feet so she just has a mangled mess attached to her leg. It's hilarious

Pokemon Yellow Legacy - Starting the Rocket Hideout (apparently my Jynx trade is locked behind story completion so Go Go Gadget RICO Warrant I guess)

get that racist yuki-onna, white girl

Pool of Radiance - (...) This is pretty much the usual D&D CRPG Early Game Hell but with the added problem of throwing hordes of monsters at you (who will win? six level one player characters with virtually no resources, or thirty orcs?)

Damn, no safe space to build up your party? Game looks damn cozy, I need more games with random encounters that are just mini strategy RPG battles.

[raekuul]

get that racist yuki-onna, white girl

I'm pretty sure that Yellow Legacy uses the less blatantly blackface design of GSC? They did a surprising amount of respriting. In any case Jynx should be violet instead of outright black since Yellow Version was when they started actually paying attention to that problem. But Ice/Psychic is a powerful combination and I... actually I'm pretty sure that's why they gated it behind story completion.

Damn, no safe space to build up your party? Game looks damn cozy, I need more games with random encounters that are just mini strategy RPG battles.

It's less bad than I'm making it sound; the capital-E Encounters are all scripted, the random encounters are much closer to the party's expected power level. It's mostly just they expect you to save early and often and in multiple save slots and that takes some getting used to (Baldur's Gate sort of does this as well but it's a less lethal game overall and I know the first baldur's gate like the back of my hand so doing a pseudo-ironman run of Baldur's Gate is just another coin in the collection hat for me). The real problem is that the game closes itself if you get a game over so you have to sit through the copy protection screens each time you game over.

[KobaBeach]

I'm pretty sure that Yellow Legacy uses the less blatantly blackface design of GSC? They did a surprising amount of respriting. In any case Jynx should be violet instead of outright black since Yellow Version was when they started actually paying attention to that problem. But Ice/Psychic is a powerful combination and I... actually I'm pretty sure that's why they gated it behind story completion.

Yeah I mostly play Red and FireRed for Gen 1, because it feels weird to have a Pikachu just forever tethered to you even if he is the mascot, but I forgot. And yeah no Pokémon type balancing is hilarious.

If I ever do Let's Go through emulation (my heart goes out to Game Freak devs but I am not paying Nintendo and TPC €60 for this), I'm probably going with Eevee because he's kinda cuter as a little mascot animal. Wish there were more round anthro Pikachu boys on the internet,,

It's less bad than I'm making it sound; the capital-E Encounters are all scripted, the random encounters are much closer to the party's expected power level. It's mostly just they expect you to save early and often and in multiple save slots and that takes some getting used to (Baldur's Gate sort of does this as well but it's a less lethal game overall and I know the first baldur's gate like the back of my hand so doing a pseudo-ironman run of Baldur's Gate is just another coin in the collection hat for me). The real problem is that the game closes itself if you get a game over so you have to sit through the copy protection screens each time you game over.

oh god what the fuck @ closing itself

I think Astonishia Story on DOS does the same thing but at least I can skip the intro cutscene executable (you load it from a batch file of all things, take note this was coded by Korean college students in like 94).

And yeah I've been doing backup saves like raocow more often, I just did it recently in Tenerezza and I am definitely doing it in Unlimited Saga. I think I also have two saves on Fallout 1 just in case. Doing a backup save during a temporary point of no return is super good, I usually keep an in-battle save and an out of battle save in the mainline Summon Night games, and will do the same for more Strategy RPGs that allow me to save at the start of battle.

I do relate to suffering from Saves, I literally lost 3 hours of skill tree progress on Star Ocean Blue Sphere because of forgetting I could save anywhere like in Pokémon, and checking up on the Memory Statue or expending a Gella Coin is why Olivier gave me so much shit in Wild Arms 3, because if I were to restart to reconfigure my guardians and their magic and such I'd have to undo my progress on the Fortune Gear and Leyline Observatory dungeons AND the cutscenes I saw there and in the town of Humphrey's Peak.

[KobaBeach]

Wild Arms 3 - Beat Faraway Lands and Decaying Labyrinth.

Decaying Labyrinth's "1 HP until you leave" gimmick was actually kinda neat and it helps that the game tries to heal you back after a death. The boss against Ring Keeper was much easier than I anticipated from all the precautions Shotgunnova's walkthrough had. Faraway Lands was also neat, I loved how Unknown and Vacuumon looked a lot like Ultraman kaiju, especially Vacuumon.

Otaku shit is a heavy influence on Wild Arms, so that's no surprise, but.

Harvesting some healing items in Florina's garden for now before continuing. May catch up with chests I missed, but I'm not making Black Box a priority. Game's hard..

[raekuul]

Pokemon Yellow Legacy - Silph Scope get! Also my Shrooooooms is faster than in vanilla so I guess they buffed Parasect? I'm not used to some of these speed ties for spore.

[KobaBeach]

Wild Arms 3 - Filled in a bit more of the map and got a few chests I missed but wound up triggering Balal Quo Naga because I clunked against the rocks near Jolly Roger with the Sandcraft

And I didn't save with a Gella Coin like Emelia advised

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[Bean]

Up through World 5 now in Penny's Big Breakaway. I'm getting better at the controls to move at a decent clip and safely but still have my moments where I just flop. This is another game with a double-tap dash only it's the same button as your yo-yo. I really need to check if you can turn that double-tap part off and just set it to triangle because that is the easiest way to completely miss a jump. Also had one stage where I clipped through a staircase and nearly fell to my doom before saving it by backtracking fast. Emulating 3D Sonic a little too much there, game!

[KobaBeach]

Wild Arms 3 - Same gardening time, same gardening channel. Again, just building a nice nest egg with the items for safe travel. Heal and Potion Berries are maxed out, but I'll probably not max out every item. Undecided about going for EX File Keys or not.

After this I'm gonna try to keep track of the chests I've opened in the dungeons, since you can basically revisit them all. Den of Miasma and Gob's Hideout are still a ways off but regardless. Mostly for Migrant Seals and the such, but if I can fight Black Box, then that's a nice bonus.

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - Getting a better handle on 100%ing maps now, but still not gonna go for that I feel, much less all Battle Trophies.

Is. Is this one of the earliest games with a cheevo system? Anyway I'm levelling up a bit at the Kirlsa Caverns after getting out of the Airyglyph Aqueducts, just booted this up a bit before going to bed last night.

Fun game, but I can't really do battles on 2x speed due to the sensitivity of using special attacks (hold Light or Hard Attack buttons). I seem to be able to keep the Bonus Gauge up a bit better, I think that's due to having the knowledge of Tales of Destiny 2 (and technically onwards?), which also have a stamina bar.

I can't block to charge it up through hits, but I can strategically back off to quickly charge it up much faster. The enemy lock on feature is a pain, but I'm gonna see how to mitigate it by getting a better handle on it, swapping lock ons and such. I'm glad they accidentally retained the "enemies getting stuck above the character" battle quirk from Star Ocean 2. I don't know if 2R has that but probably not since 4 doesn't either I believe, and that's sad. I also completely forgot this game had on field encounters!

Technically the first Star Ocean with em is Blue Sphere, but! Sad you can't "attack" them to get an upper hand on em like you can in that game. Shout outs to Dias in SO:BS for having the most pathetic range on that end, "Baby's First RPG Maker 2003 Action Battle System" ass motherfucker. He's pretty good in battle though, even before you build him up.

The plot is pretty anime Star Trek as usual, but the "warring countries" backdrop to this part of the game is kind of really sad, even if it is "evil warwaging country vs. good peaceful country". Kid NPCs out here just wanting to be soldiers, people from the "good country" like Nel using dirty tactics to just survive longer. Probably not something tri-Ace put too much thought in but man. This sucks.

The voice direction /is/ pretty bad but it has a charm to it? I will say this, Farleen is abysmal, she sounds like Cream the Rabbit. And the voice mixing is pretty bad too, outright Sonic Adventure 2 levels of inaudibility.

Gonna try to go for Nel and local misogynist 9yo Roger this run, even if Albel is kinda cool in his visual kei kinda way. I cannot sacrifice Mirage or Adray I'm sorry. I'd rather not get rid of Peppita either ( ;x;) /staroceanbrainrot

[KobaBeach]

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - I kind of get the Hauler more now but who the fuck thinks its a good idea to give you this massive a map?? The fact you take damage (increase the stress of the hauler) the more you touch the debris on the track is not the most obvious thing either, but I'm probably being stupid.

Kirlsa Training Facility complete after levelling up to lv15 with Fayt and Cliff and, the dungeon is as bad as ever, up there with the Astral Cave system from SO1. Thankfully the game's fun enough to counter that. Just had to hurry so I could take a bath. Shout out to me just remembering you get the key from one of the cooks, that would have been a whole thing.

Almost half of the way through Disc 1.

[Noelle]

Tecmo: Secret of the Stars

That's actually a childhood game of mine, never beat it, but I have good memories of it, the music is amazing too, I honestly need to finish it at some point.

[KobaBeach]

That's actually a childhood game of mine, never beat it, but I have good memories of it, the music is amazing too, I honestly need to finish it at some point.

yeah I didn't pay attention to the audio much but Japanese opinion on it seems to be the music is amazing and the story is neat despite the subpar game feel, and I agree the writing is actually super cute and dorky if you get past the Dogshit Translation, Uncle Save is a terrific gag. but yeah i can see this being a comfort game for people who grew up with it even if it's kind of mediocre otherwise, that's the beauty of games as an artform in my opinion.

Been downloading some free RPG Maker games to play later, mostly Ikusaden 2-4 on Vector (i like clunky action rpgs im sorry). Commercial stuff (like a Steam-less copy of Hylics, Fear and Hunger) is for later, after I deposit some money I still haven't gotten around to. Really need to go to social security and give them my bank account ough

I also downloaded Ikusaden 1 made in the PC98 RPG Maker (Dante 98 I believe, possibly D98 II?), managed to get it to run on Neko Project 21/W with the help of YAHDI (explanation here) and DiskExplorer.

Might download Adventure Story, Creative Story and Hiyoko Samurai too, gotta find some neat turn based ones too.

[KobaBeach]

Wild Arms 3 - Ark of Destiny visited, Survey Point #17 complete, Boot Hill visited. Parked outside of Infinitum.

Also did the first Millennium Puzzle, and double checked the chests. Have at least 136 open right now, have to double check Den of Miasma still. That ate up a lot of my time playing.

[raekuul]

Pokemon Legacy Yellow - poked my head into Silph Co and whoops the whole place is scaled assuming you go to Fuscia first so I guess I'm going to Fuscia first (rip Lola). Switched out Tubby the Poliwhirl for BoOoOoOoO the Haunter.

[Noelle]

After a long while, I finally played more Pokémon Red with my self-imposed challenge. I got through Pokémon Tower, it was surprisingly more difficult than I remembered, but it feels great honestly, I don't think I'd have a hard time if I was playing normally, having limited resources definitely helps, although since Pokémon isn't really punishing in general, it doesn't ever get unreasonable, like during the middle section of the tower, there's a healing spot that works exactly like a Pokémon Center.

After being done with the tower, I talked to Mr. Fuji in his house and got the Poké Flute, which means I can now progress and I have two paths to reach Fuchsia City, both are excellent spots for leveling up, I also got the Super Rod on the Silence Bridge, which may be handy in the future, although I feel like there's an abundance of easily available water types. I head back to Celadon and exchange the game coins for a Dratini at the Prize Corner, it's mainly for future usage, also because I can't spend money in regular Poké Marts for items, so might as well use it for something like this. I caught the Snorlax that blocks the exit to the city.

I haven't done as much during this play session, but I will resume my playthrough later today and keep updating this.

[KobaBeach]

im very normal and i totally did not bookmark nitroid's booth.pm page to buy it later since i pirated the english patched version (rest in piss talkhaus fansubs) bc the game is very important to me

EDIT: also changed ikusaden 1 to be in a general purpose hdi image with freedos pre-installed and nothing more, out of convenience. YAHDI is more for people making floppy disks and such for their own pc98s which. i feel like if i owned a pc98 it'd instantly combust, i doubt my brother's old amiga 500 even works anymore.

dosbox-x may have been a better choice but im not doing it.

the windows dante 1&2 emulators (well d2win at least) didn't run on my end either, just a black fullscreen, which, man im glad im less scared of fullscreen programs now. rpg maker 2000 opening that way may have been helping, since those games tend to be just super dorky at the worst (like mister big t's dooms seems to be just absurd gore and edgy humor rather than anything actually scary, at the most they may trigger an obscure trauma)

[Bean]

For some reason, I decided to start playing The 7th Saga during this summer of beating any SNES game I felt like. It's a double-patched playthrough to basically restore stats to their original, both for my character and enemies. Not really much to say other than I think this is the only way I could tolerate this one as it still feels pretty archaic. There's a limit to how obtuse old-school RPGs can be for me. This game, much like the Breath of Fire 1 replay I did a week or so back, are really testing that. Chose Esuna the elf as the main character and Kamil has been the one that joined up with her.

[raekuul]

Pokemon Yellow Legacy - Sat down yesterday and cleared the eastern sea routes, then the Fuscia Gym and Silph Co. The Gyms might not be in a fixed order but the trainers sure as shit are (both Silph Co and Fuscia Gym were poking 43 at the high end). Currently picking away at the Saffron Gym; switched out my Gyarados for the gift Lapras (which is given at level 35 now so it's still underlevelled for what you need to get in there but not by nearly as much).

[Bean]

In the final stretch of The 7th Saga. With the patches, it's at least a playable game. Without, I can see why this game has its reputation.

Edit: Cleared. That sure happened. Next.

[Bean]

Got through Worlds 6 & 7 in Penny's Big Breakaway tonight. Needed a small break from editing, so I chose to run away from penguins. Fun time.