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TopicThe Great 2018 Video Game Challenge (Topic Two)
StartTheMachine
10/21/18 1:08:55 AM
#232
TheArkOfTurus posted...
2. Beat a game released between 1990-1999

Super Ghouls n' Ghosts

6/50

I'm assuming you beat this using save states/the rewind feature on the SNES classic? If not, you are a god.
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TopicPolitics Containment Topic 185: Doubly Negative
StartTheMachine
07/30/18 2:08:07 AM
#380
That is change of stance for the disgraced politician who yesterday insisted that he would serve out the remaining five months of his term. The resignation comes after 48 hours of relentless mocking and calls for Spencer to step down.


the real question is if any of those "calls to step down" actually came from anyone within the GOP
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TopicPolitics Containment Topic 185: Doubly Negative
StartTheMachine
07/29/18 8:54:25 PM
#374
I should add that Jimmy Dore is actually a damn funny comic, which I totally did not expect. Carlin fans are sure to enjoy his stand up.
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TopicPolitics Containment Topic 185: Doubly Negative
StartTheMachine
07/29/18 8:45:37 PM
#372
pxlated posted...
What do you all think about Jimmy dore/his perspective

oh hey since no one responded to this

As someone who enjoys quite a few progressive YouTube shows (David Pakman Show, Secular Talk, The Humanist Report), I unsubbed from Dore a while ago. He's becoming a parody of himself and literally an enabler for right-wing conspiracy theorists. As far as the policies he advocates for -- Medicare for All, a living wage, ending the wars, publicly-funded college, etc. -- I fully agree with him.

Even though he's become a silly enabler for right-wing loonies, at least he isn't Dave Rubin.
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TopicPolitics Containment Topic 185: Doubly Negative
StartTheMachine
07/29/18 8:22:42 PM
#368
Mr Lasastryke posted...
StartTheMachine posted...
did you like....side with Ben Affleck in that infamously awful exchange on his show?


i was unfamiliar with this exchange but i just looked it up on youtube and in the first 40 seconds maher is being insanely stupid. "ALL OF THESE PRINCIPLES ARE LACKING IN THE MUSLIM WORLD." yeah, i'll probably side with ben affleck.

I mean I haven't watched it in years but Maher definitely looks stupid at times there as well -- though nowhere near as bad as Affleck. the whole thing is a shitshow though so have fun!

by some strange twist of fate, I think I remember Harris coming off by far the most reasonable
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TopicPolitics Containment Topic 185: Doubly Negative
StartTheMachine
07/29/18 8:13:13 PM
#366
hating Bill Maher for perceived Islamophobia is the silliest shit ever when there's plenty of valid reasons for disliking Maher. did you like....side with Ben Affleck in that infamously awful exchange on his show?

valid reasons for disliking Maher: becoming a shill for more establishment and neoliberal candidates and largely losing touch with his progressive roots, constantly richsplaining to poor people why they need to "get in line" with the most awful of the corporate Democrats who are basically Republican-lite in their politics, GMUN's aforementioned persecution complex and Suprak's accurate description of his condescending tone, etc.
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TopicJohnbobb has a switch now
StartTheMachine
07/23/18 12:55:45 AM
#12
I put 300 hours into Zelda, and I still want to replay it on Master Mode at some point, probably soon! So uh, yeah, get that.

...buuuuut Mario Odyssey is somehow still better imo.

And yeah, the battle mode in MK8 Deluxe is great and all, but it was totally not worth double dipping after I already played a ridiculous amount of MK8 online on the Wii U. I learned my lesson with that purchase.
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TopicSonic 3 & Knuckles lives up to the hype
StartTheMachine
07/22/18 9:29:09 PM
#21
Whiskey_Nick posted...
2 > Mania > 3&K > Advance 3 > Advance > Advance 2 > CD > 1 > Rush > 4 > Triple Trouble > Chaos > 2 on Game Gear


3&K > 2 > Mania > CD > 1 > Advance 3 > Advance > Advance 2 > Rush

I need to play Sonic 4 Episode 2 but I honestly like the first episode quite a bit and I hear the second is way better. Also played the others but it just feels weird comparing them to the rest for some reason. Even Rush feels weird on that list and I sort of want to take it off, but eh, that's where it would be if I had to put it on there (and I still quite like it so those are all good games). And Advance 3 and everything prior, well, those are all great games.
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TopicSonic 3 & Knuckles lives up to the hype
StartTheMachine
07/22/18 9:23:10 PM
#20
Lava Reef Zone all the way.

That act/setting transition is incredible. That music is incredible. That boss and tease of Death Egg is in-freakin-credible. My jaw was agape that whole ending sequence, and I knew in that first experience playing it that S3&K had elevated itself into all-time greats platformer status for me.

I also think Hydrocity is one of the weaker zones in the game and never fully got all the love for it, but at the very least, it is a water level that is actually super enjoyable.
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TopicM Night's "Glass" trailer released at comic-con
StartTheMachine
07/21/18 8:48:20 AM
#5
I'm super hyped for this film in general, but I'm not really sure if this trailer bolsters that hype at all.
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TopicGlass trailer (Unbreakable 2)
StartTheMachine
07/20/18 11:48:37 PM
#3
Well it sounds like you've already had the surprise of Split ruined for you, so it won't be near as good
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TopicPost good 80s songs.
StartTheMachine
07/20/18 8:00:18 PM
#12

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TopicWho is America? New Sacha Baron Cohen show premiered tonight...
StartTheMachine
07/16/18 10:04:35 PM
#6
this is incredible

also terrifying
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TopicCommunity, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, or Parks & Rec?
StartTheMachine
07/16/18 1:11:36 AM
#33
colliding posted...
AD > Parks > Community > 30 Rock


This is the correct order, but Arrested Development needs a few more greater than signs in front of it. My favorite show of all time, but yes, the first three seasons (before its initial cancellation) are definitely the best.
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Topici saw a kid dabbing in real life for the first time today
StartTheMachine
07/16/18 12:55:19 AM
#19
i thought dabs were fist pounds, but maybe that's daps

the world today has lost me
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TopicBest of the Trope Day 45: Unexpected Character
StartTheMachine
07/15/18 12:17:20 PM
#28
Snake (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
Wii Fit Trainer (Smash 4)
...Matt Damon (Thor: Ragnarok)

If we're putting Matt Damon on here, it's gotta be that Thor appearance.
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Topicwigs plays MARIO ODYSSEY for the first time with random comments oops purge
StartTheMachine
07/13/18 7:28:40 PM
#35
WiggumFan267 posted...
can you find other friends balloons without a code?

They actually seem to appear automatically in the list of three pages of "random" people's balloons. Like if my friends had any balloons hidden in the stage I was on, those would be the first to appear.
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Topicwigs plays MARIO ODYSSEY for the first time with random comments oops purge
StartTheMachine
07/13/18 2:38:46 PM
#32
Jakyl25 posted...
Anyone else actually really enjoy Balloon World? Im rank 40.

Balloon World was pretty cool, yeah. I think I got to rank 37 or something like that. Always like trying to find my own clever hiding spots in a level first and then going to see what everyone else did.
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TopicLet's discuss game design traits that we either LOVE or HATE
StartTheMachine
07/13/18 2:36:11 PM
#47
Love: God Mode Activated (almost every Metroid ever, Half-Life 2, etc.)

You know that moment in Metroid where you get the space jump and screw attack almost back to back, and every area that gave you trouble before is suddenly a breeze as you're wreaking havoc upon the world and one-hit killing everybody. Half-Life 2 might be my all-time favorite example of this with the powered-up gravity gun. So damn good.

And now that I typed all this out, I see Johnbobb already touched on it! But hey, those are some more examples of how to do it right.

Love: Collectibles that mean something (Donkey Kong Country 2)

DKC 2 and 3 are great examples of this, having these fun bonus room challenges where beating them nets you bonus coins, and collecting enough of those lets you play the Lost World. Now whenever I play a game and the collectibles don't net me anything meaningful, I can't help but be disappointed.

But you can definitely have too many collectibles, and locking the game's best content behind that can be a chore. So the newer DKC games still nail this perfectly, where only the Kong letters are needed to unlock the cool stuff and, since there are a ridiculous number of puzzle pieces, those only unlock artwork and music. Still great bonuses, but not as meaningful as new levels and therefore made more optional.
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TopicPapa John: dingus or genius?
StartTheMachine
07/13/18 1:59:10 PM
#50
The funniest part of all this is that it somehow happened during a PR conference call. Now that's some great PR.

Grand Kirby posted...
That guy definitely seems like he has an ego that drives how opinionated he is.

Like the thing he said about jacking up the prices if the minimum wage went up. As if anyone gave a shit about Papa John's to care. It felt like he was trying to hold his brand hostage to use as a threat against the idea of his employees being paid more fairly and that pissed me off more than any racism.

Yep, and he threatened to raise his pizzas by 15 cents or something to that effect if he was forced to give his employees healthcare. And I'm like, dude give your fucking employees healthcare and I'll gladly pay 15 extra cents for a pizza.

As for whether the pizza itself is good or not:

MZero11 posted...
I like papa john's pizza

But i like almost any pizza

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Topicwigs plays MARIO ODYSSEY for the first time with random comments oops purge
StartTheMachine
07/13/18 1:47:36 PM
#27
skullbone posted...
Yeah too bad you got spoiled on Peach's Castle by Luncheon painting. I thought it was a really cool surprise when I played.

I did too but I think it kinda worked out. It got me super hyped to explore that world further and it was kind of all I was thinking about.
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Topicwigs plays MARIO ODYSSEY for the first time with random comments oops purge
StartTheMachine
07/13/18 1:30:04 PM
#25
WiggumFan267 posted...
also that moon where you bring the acorn to the vine and then you do a run fast flower mario thing - with theone moon to the side on a tiny platform. if you fall you have to go back and do thevine thing again. thats just annoying, why not let me restart from the world i just entered (Dashing Through the Clouds or whatver)

man I remember pre-Balloon World this was the way to grind for coins. I think it was the last thing I did in the game after collecting all 880 unique moons. wanted those costumez, yo

also now that you've beat the game, you get to see some of the game's best content! the moon rock pipe challenges are awesome, as are the bonus worlds
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TopicHow far can you make it into this youtube video? (shameless self promotion)
StartTheMachine
07/08/18 9:01:24 PM
#44
i watched the whole thing while pooping congrats!

i feel like in an alternate timeline your YouTube persona would have been a character on The Office
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
07/08/18 2:48:55 AM
#193
I only made it to episode 4 but good stuff! I have a feeling I'll marathon the rest one of these days.
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Topicwigs plays MARIO ODYSSEY for the first time with random comments oops purge
StartTheMachine
07/08/18 2:47:37 AM
#14
WiggumFan267 posted...
i feel like i did everything here, and yet only have 38/66 moons

And once you beat the game, there will be even more moons there! But yes, that 66 is the number of moons you can collect right now. Man is Odyssey loaded with secretz
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TopicWhich Nintendo home console is the BEST?
StartTheMachine
07/06/18 1:25:16 AM
#19
When people shit on the Wii I can't help but feel obliged to remind them that two of the highest rated games of all time -- Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 -- are both Wii titles. Not to mention my personal favorite Zelda ever (hot take), the return of the DKC series, and Metroid Prime 3 just to list a very few. In a way it may be the weakest still, but it had one hell of a library and Nintendo certainly never forgot about their most dedicated audience.
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TopicWhich Nintendo home console is the BEST?
StartTheMachine
07/05/18 7:02:41 PM
#7
I voted for GameCube because I was talking with someone the other day about what a great console that was, but honestly....it's the SNES.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
07/04/18 8:22:59 PM
#189
anti-purge bumpo
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TopicMet Mario's voice actor today, Charles Martinet.
StartTheMachine
07/03/18 5:12:15 AM
#24
HaRRicH posted...
X_Dante_X posted...
you did the mario, right


I understood he didn't do the voice for anything but the games. That's like asking showing Jack Nicholson my impression of the Joker slamming a person's head on a vertical pencil.

Thought of you and 'poooooooooooooooooooooooooot though!

wait was this in Knoxville

i'm the other Knoxville b8er you bastid!

and i don't even know enough about my own city to know we had a thing called the Fanboy Expo
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
07/03/18 5:04:47 AM
#187
Yeah, I looked up that spell to get the achievement for performing all 8 of Alucard's spells, as it was the only one I hadn't done. But I was still able to perform it without equipping him -- does the game actually explain to you how to do the Sword Brothers spell once you're able to equip him? I noticed there was nowhere in the shop to buy the spell input.
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Topici can feel it coming over me. i feel it all around me.
StartTheMachine
07/03/18 1:42:24 AM
#2
can you feel time
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Topicwigs plays MARIO ODYSSEY for the first time with random comments
StartTheMachine
07/03/18 1:40:37 AM
#10
this game is too magical to update with commentary so often

not to deprive b8 of comments but there are a LOT of fucking moons in this game -- like Korok seed numbers -- and you seriously don't want to do a write-up for every one you get

just update every few hours imho and enjoy what is probably the greatest Mario game of all time
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
07/03/18 1:32:51 AM
#183
What do you mean "equip" the sword familiar? Do you mean like, as an item or something? Like I can use the sword itself as a weapon and not as a familiar?

Epyo posted...
Personally, I'm glad they don't explain that shield rod secret in the game anywhere...

I honestly haven't decided if all the weird, cryptic stuff in this game is a positive or a negative, but I'm generally leaning more towards positive. There are a couple of things I wish were more thoroughly explained, but stuff like the shield rod being left cryptic does give it an enigmatic coolness.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
07/02/18 11:39:10 PM
#177
I started working on a final thoughts retrospective of my experience with Symphony like four days ago, when I last posted, but never quite finished it. Look forward to that soon.

LOLIAmAnAlt posted...
My favorite weapon in SotN was the chakram.
This was another thing that I did not know about it until a friend nearly 10 years later got it as a drop on his first playthough. I still have not seen all of the weapons btw. I spent a good amount of time farming 2 for the ability of throwing 4 at a time.

My favorite item in the game is the Cat-Eye Circlet....just becasue it's ridiculous. It gives you health if you get hit by a cat and there is only 1 cat in the game.

The most fun weapon is the Shield Rod, did you play around with it?
Did you equip your sword familiar yet?
Did you buy the duplicator?


I don't believe I ever got the chakram, but I'm glad I finally have some context for the cat-eye circlet. I was wondering for the longest time what the hell that item did because I never remembered seeing any cats in the game...knowing now that it's a joke makes it pretty damn hilarious.

The Shield Rod is bomb. I had a Shield Rod + Herald Shield setup going on for a substantial portion of my playthrough. I did have the projectiles come out quite often but I wasn't quite sure how I was making that happen. And for whatever reason, I never looked it up unlike most other cryptic things in this game (which holy shit there are a lot of). Knowing that it's as simple as back, forward plus attack and knowing that different shields produce different projectiles really makes me want to go play around with it some more. Will likely do a lot of that on an inevitable future playthrough.

I believe I mentioned I was using the sword familiar pretty much exclusively after I got it, didn't I? Well, I was! Think he got to level 35 or something. Still never noticed any new abilities though and that was my highest leveled familiar. So is it really like level 70 until any of them gain new abilities? That's really silly and definitely a missed opportunity for the game, but oh well.

I want the Duplicator so bad I might still just farm money for a bit to get it. I currently have around 200k...just gotta remember which room it was with the two 2k money drops. Think it was in the Reverse Caverns? Maybe it was only two $400 money drops? Hmmm. Does the Duplicator do what I think from that description and essentially give you infinite uses of whatever one-time-use items you have? That sounds amazing, especially for a hoarder like me who rarely used those items (probably more due to not wanting to ruin the pace of combat and open my inventory just to use one though, moreso than actually being a hoarder).

Oh, and Knee, I'm about to check out that video here in a bit.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 9:22:44 PM
#168
Not being a fan of old Castlevanias but loving the Metroidvania style, I am actually now quite hyped for the "real deal" Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Like, call it blasphemous, but they could totally top Symphony.



This legit looks amazing.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 8:55:56 PM
#164
Epyo posted...
I think I pretty much exclusively play Portrait as Charlotte now that I think about it!! That's weird.

I may be misremembering honestly. I haven't played that game since it came out, and I'm the type who always tries to experiment with different characters if the option is there.

I think the only game this was really impossible is Viewtiful Joe 2 because Sylvia was godawful and useless.

Also random aside that has nothing to do with anything: Viewtiful Joe 3 is like the only remaining dream video game sequel that I need now that DKC came back. Oh, and a proper follow-up to the N64 Turok trilogy that ended on a huge cliffhanger. And Half-Life 3.

You know what, never mind.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 8:51:22 PM
#162
Corrik posted...
I thought I did that just randomly jumping as the wolf while charging and broke that. I can't remember. Been years since I played it. Maybe I will load it up one day and check.

You probably did break the rock by doing that but again...that's just getting the underpass opened up. You have to charge through the entire underpass first as a bat and then inexplicably transform immediately into a wolf and charge back the other way and a room suddenly opens up. It makes no sense. Just a weird little secret they put in the game.

And the Jewel Sword causes enemies to drop jewels like all the damn time. I got 70+ zircons after like an hour of using it.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 8:48:32 PM
#161
Oh wait it was Epyo that loved Bloodstained! Yeah, GOG, go play that man.

Epyo - I agree a bit with your critique on the games sometimes being rote, and this is especially true for "item drops" and things like that in the nonlinear Castlevanias. I remember as a kid having the patience to actually 100% all the item drops in DoS, but maaaaan is that tedious and something I would never do now. And the whole soul system relied on random drops didn't it? Yeah, a replay might tarnish that game a tad in my mind, though I'm not certain. At least the luck stat exists to help speed the tedium up, but it's just kind of a silly thing to begin with. One of the reasons why Metroid is the superior series -- though mainly it's just because Metroid's atmosphere is godly.

I honestly never remember using Charlotte in Portrait like...at all. And yeah, Ecclesia totally has the best combat of the three.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 8:42:20 PM
#158
Corrik - I'm pretty sure the Sword familiar's area is a couple rooms wide, so it can't be that. As I stated earlier, no matter how much you poured over the map, unless you do this extremely weird trick by pure luck, there is pretty much no way to get the Jewel Sword without looking it up. Let me explain.

The Jewel Sword is found in a single room near the very beginning of the game. It's accessed from the hall with all the Mermans. You have to transform into a bat, use your charge attack through this rock underpass, then transform into a wolf and use the wolf's charge attack going the other direction back through the underpass. There are no hints whatsoever about this. So as I said, it's basically impossible to get unless by some insane blind luck. Though LOLIAmAnAlt earlier said he did just that...but I mean, those chances are just so astronomically low that he may be one of the few people in the history of the game to do such!

Now... I also just realized that the same room exists in the Inverted Castle, so...you would likely have been at 200.4% if you didn't get the Jewel Sword. Hmmm.

GOG - A lot of nifty info in that little link there so thanks for that! Though I think they got one thing wrong: it's when you double jump and hit a gold Medusa Head that you turn into the giant stone gargoyle thing. At least, that's what I read elsewhere and I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I did when it randomly happened to me in play!

Never played any of the early Castlevanias except Super IV, but your love of III explains why you also liked Bloodstained! Heard they were very similar. I've never played any of the 3D Castlevanias either but hear that I'm not missing much. I wouldn't be opposed to giving Curse of Darkness a shot though.

Interesting reasoning behind your DS Castlevania rankings and I'm largely with you on your likes and dislikes. The sealing stuff in Dawn of Sorrow was silly, but it was an early-era DS game when touch screen gimmicks were mandatory, y'know! It is one of the game's biggest flaws though and it would have been stronger without it. Agreed with Portrait of Ruin, though surprisingly I've always kind of liked "tougher" versions of older levels within the same game. So even though most people rightfully considered it a cheap way to lengthen the game, I'm actually partial to it. I kind of enjoyed it, even in PoR. As for Order of Ecclesia, I actually really enjoy the backtracking in these games. Nothing like the experience of growing stronger as a player and obtaining more moves only to go back and find new paths in old areas. But if it's not as much your thing, I could easily see why this would be your favorite of the DS bunch. No doubt I remember the bosses being the best I've played in the series.

Shake nailed my biggest complaint with Ecclesia -- the castle felt super shoehorned in and exploration is literally my favorite thing about these games. It was still a neat twist on the formula though, especially since DoS and PoR were the only two Castlevanias I'd played at that point.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 7:38:35 PM
#152
Corrik posted...
JonThePenguin posted...
Corrik posted...
I am super salty that Castlevania says I am missing one room from 200.6% to not get me 200/200.

Post your map?

I'm not at home. I have poured over the map. I am convinced I have everything and the game fucked me.

Did you get the jewel sword? You'll know if you did, and I'll bet you anything it's that since you poured all over the map and it's one single room.
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 4:12:03 PM
#147
MegaWentEvil posted...
My favorite boss is Beelzebub, because he's so disturbing.

No kidding! He's up there for me. Seeing his decapitated limbs falling was great, but trying to reach his head to get hits on him after everything else was severed could be pretty frustrating! Mostly in a good, tense way.

Epyo posted...
GJ on SotN! Yeah you should go back and re-play DoS now and compare. It's really hard to go back to the GBA games if you've recently played SotN 'cause the graphics/music are such a downgrade, (but the DS games are comparable there, along with the more carefully planned gameplay design).

I think my ranking of ones I've played more than 10 minutes of is:

Rondo of Blood > SotN > Curse of Darkness > Order of Ecclesia > Portrait of Ruin > Dawn of Sorrow > III > Aria of Sorrow > IV > Lament of Innocence > Chronicles (PSX) > Harmony of Dissonance > Circle of the Moon > CV1 > 64 > Judgment > Adventure Rebirth > Bloodlines > Dracula X (SNES) > II

And if I could include Bloodstained Curse of the Moon I bet it would be third or fourth :thinking_face:...

Rondo of Blood really is that good, huh? It is more old-school Castlevania style though, right? I couldn't possibly foresee myself liking it as much as this or the DS games if so; Metroidvanias are just one of my favorite genres period. I really need to go play like, Axiom Verge, Ori and the Blind Forest, and all those other more recent Metroidvania releases that people love so much.

Interesting that you think each DS Castlevania got better than the last. What's your reasoning there? The only way I could see that is in the bosses, but in terms of map design, I just really loved Dawn of Sorrow. Portrait was a neat hybrid of sorts though between the more confined, linear design of Ecclesia and the Metroidvania design of DoS (although it was obviously closer to DoS).

tazzyboyishere posted...
Good job on beating it! Glad you liked it. Inverted Castle is one of my favorite things in gaming. I just love the hands off approach the game puts you in allowing you to explore at your leisure. Truly a magnificent feat for the time, and still rarely sees replication on that level.

I didn't ever get full completion though. Usually I have my fill just killing all the bosses. Also never got anything out of familiars, but I'm glad some people enjoyed them!

Maaaan, the Inverted Castle would have just been so awesome if looking at the achievements didn't ruin it for me. Still kind of salty about that :( I wasn't even planning on checking them out either. I only did because I saw there were actually neat "challenge" achievements, like killing ten consecutive enemies with a subweapon and not getting hit, and wanted to see what others there were like that.

I can absolutely see why this game as heralded as a masterpiece in the Metroidvania genre, and it being 20 years old now is really mind-boggling. As a first-timer, it still feels modern in almost every way, with the archaic inventory management design being the major exception.

metaIslug posted...
Personally I'm kinda down on the inverted castle. The boss fights are too easy imo. I don't know if it's a result of the nonlinearity or what but yea. Only Galamoth feels like a real boss fight

Still, what a game. Love the dub

Agreed somewhat, though the boss fights in general in this game were a bit too easy for my taste. I'm a big fan of challenging bosses and just ensuring an obvious save room exists right outside the bosses confines. Speaking of Galamoth though, he may have been my favorite boss in the whole game. Him, Succubus (mostly for the set up), and Dracula are likely top three!
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 3:58:39 PM
#146
Richter Mode beated and 200/200 achievements on the XBLA version obtained! Time to finally put this game down and utilize that $1 Xbox Game Pass E3 deal I haven't used at all yet.

Richter Mode Statz:

Time: 1:57
Map: 73.1%
Gold (like it matters): $9,322

If I could tell you how much HP I got from life max ups, I would! But yeah, no way to do that as far as I can tell.

I was originally trying to fight as many bosses as I could and explore a bit of the map as Richter, but once I got to the Inverted Castle and realized I could just go straight to the final boss, I pretty much did that. Though I did fight a couple of Inverted Castle bosses, like Malphas and The Creature, along the way. And The Creature was probably the most fun fight with Richter, if you use only his whip!

But no Dracula fight was super underwhelming. Again, I was also trying to fight Shaft with the whip only until I was forced to use Hydro Storm for the invincibility frames. And then It was just jarring to kill Shaft so quickly, see the achievement pop up, and the 10 second ending. But oh well, can't complain too much about a bonus mode! It was still pretty neat. If they had just done the balancing I mentioned earlier -- upping Richter's defense and lowering his offense, especially on subweapon specials, so that boss fights actually felt like real fights -- and included the final Dracula battle, Richter Mode could have been pretty great. Wonder how good the Maria mode was?

Well, this has been a lot of fun. Thanks to the people who stuck around! May post some more detailed final thoughts about the game as a whole still -- a sort of mini-review -- when I get the time.
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TopicBesides the Wii U, what is the WORST Nintendo home console?
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 5:46:40 AM
#22
In terms of console with the library of games I most want to revisit/explore the titles I never checked out...Wii is probably the weakest here. May be in fact weaker than Wii U.

They're all great though. And N64 currently leading the poll is an affront to my childhood, but I can kind of understand it.
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TopicYou'll never be as cool as this guy
StartTheMachine
06/28/18 5:28:34 AM
#67
So he's a panentheist but calls his conception of God holo-pantheism. Weird but cool.

Also these are very different things than traditional Christian ideology, so thinking along the lines of "hey this guy with a super high IQ is a Christian like me" would be a mistake.
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TopicMario Tennis Aces Discussion Topic
StartTheMachine
06/27/18 7:19:57 PM
#79
can we please get some b8ers to be online directors for nintendo games

please
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TopicMario Tennis Aces Discussion Topic
StartTheMachine
06/27/18 4:06:54 PM
#76
So are people still into this? Is there at least lot more match-up depth with the wider roster than in the demo?

SEP's reaction of "the demo was basically this game's actual online" has me really down. I've been more and more tempted to actually buy this lately, but if the enthusiasm just isn't there from people who own the game then, I dunno. :(
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/27/18 1:57:55 PM
#140
Just read this since I was afraid of spoilers earlier:

LOLIAmAnAlt posted...
Yes, we kept finding legitimately awesome stuff for years and years after the first playthough. Part of this is why it is one of my top 3 games ever.

In general, I love that crazy secrets like these are starting to become a trend in gaming again.

No one's gonna top the stars in Braid though, just sayin'
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/27/18 1:49:44 PM
#139
Got that 200.6%, aw yeah. Man, you guys weren't kidding about getting that Jewel Sword...so weird. That alone makes legitimately 100%ing this map without looking anything up nigh impossible. I went straight to Google after my last post anyway and started comparing my map to filled-in ones. Without any super bombs or anything (you know I can't help my Metroid comparisons), just slashing every single wall/ceiling in the game would not have been very fun. But I'm incredibly proud that I got 197% all by my lonesome, minus looking up how to color in the weird glitched water blocks in the Reverse Caverns!

And okay, I lied...Richter mode is a blast and I can't stop playing it. After playing mainly the Inverted Castle for so long, going back to the original castle in this style is really cool. Apparently they took out some bosses though? No bueno. That minotaur + werewolf boss was so cool and was totally absent here.

Speaking of Richter Mode bosses, I just got to the Hippogryph and it was literally a 5 second fight. Two Hydro Storms and it was over...so it wasn't even really a fight at all. Kind of wish they'd nerfed Richter's sub-weapon special attacks but also increased his defense. Would make bosses actually last longer but keep the difficulty old school brutal like it's supposed to be. ("Brutal" being used a little leniently here.)

At some point, if I can find it laying around here, I may have to replay Dawn of Sorrow just to compare these games. In the order I played them, my Castlevania playquest has gone: Dawn of Sorrow back during its release, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia in a similar fashion, Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance on that "Double Pack" cartridge they released years later, Super Castlevania IV via the Wii's Virtual Console, and now Symphony of the Night at long last. Symphony and DoS are definitely the top tier for me, with Portrait being a tight third. Alas, this is all from memories many years old now. And this endeavor has kind of put me in the Castlevania mindset.

What is each of your all's takes on the DS Castlevanias (or your favorite Castlevanias in general) ranked next to Symphony?
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TopicWell, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.
StartTheMachine
06/27/18 1:48:00 AM
#136
crazygamer999 posted...
StartTheMachine posted...
Also where's dat Richter mode? I know it exists! And maybe a Maria mode too? Hmmm...


Richter mode: make a new game while having a completed save file on your card and put his name in.

Maria mode: if this is based on the PS version, sadly no. Only the Saturn and PSP versions have that.

Yeah, I figured that out on my own like right after posting it, but you must have caught my post before the edit! It also even says on the input screen now that you can type Richter's name in to play as him. Not sure if that was always there or only after beating the game. Guessing the latter.

Typing Maria's name in does nothing, so it looks like that's a no go. However, watching the Tactics videos from the Librarian, on Akmodan II (that weird pharaoh zombie boss), there's an entirely different player character -- like an Axe wielding knight. So how do I play as him I wonder? I'm also pretty sure some of the DS games had a character/mode like that.

So yeah, Richter mode is fun and I might mess around with it a bit, but definitely not gonna do a full playthrough of it now. I'll save it for a few years down the road, most likely :) Does seem like it will be a lot more challenging. Is there basically no leveling up at all?
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