tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22424103264317155822024-03-05T07:13:01.836-05:00Cut down on the Alfredo SauceHere I'll be discussing what was written on page 128, various cake-baking recipes, and plumbing. Also the reletive advantages of side-scrolling vs. 3D platforms, mushrooms vs. fire flowers, and stars vs. shine sprites (that last one's pretty one-sided methinks).
Oh and Pauline? Stop calling me.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-1032348282317916592012-05-29T13:00:00.003-04:002012-05-29T13:00:49.172-04:00I am Not a Cat PersonSome day, I'll have to come back and case the underground path for hidden items. I know they're there, it's just a lot of ground to cover and I'm lazy. All of a sudden, I'm back up on the surface, and route 6 awaits. I've got a full party, plus my backup rattata, so although I'm not as desperately in need of more pokemon, I am excited to be able to actually choose who to keep and level up. Odds in the grass here aren't bad... 35% shot at another meowth, but otherwise its a pidgey or a bellsprout. I really want a bellsprout now, but I also love the flying type. Good thing it'll choose for me.
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Screw you game. Screw you. I was gonna take a crack at how, having said I want anything but the meowth, I was clearly going to get another meowth. Seriously, 3 pokemon, and it gives me the worst choice twice in a row?! UGH. I'll catch it, but I'm not very motivated to even train the one I've got... what route am I hitting next? Well, 7 has a small shot at a vulpix as well as the pidgey/bellsprout, which is really cool. But, it's meowth odds go up 5% to 40%. We all know how that's going to turn out.
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Turns out my meowth is the jealous type. The wild one is L10, mine is L15, and my next weakest are all L20, so I figure the safest way to slowly work it down is to have my meowth scratch it a couple times. Training back on route 4 showed me how weak his attack stat is, so I'm thinking two scratches should be a good enough set up. Nope. Opening attack crits, one hit KO. On the plus side, my meowth leveled on the kill, so there's that. No huge loss.
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So you can use teleport whenever you want outside battle to warp back to the last "healing spot" you used? Yes please! Even when there's a safe path back, this is a whole lot more convenient. But first, a L20 butterfree has just confused, then slept, my geodude. No one else really has any type advantages, but will he still be confused after he wakes up? I know you can't be poisoned and asleep, but confusion is listed as a "volatile" status ailment (i.e. gone after battle) and sleep is non-volatile, so maybe they can stack... well, time to pop an awakening and see. Well, the opponent tried to supersonic me immediately after I woke up, but geodude is already confused. So yeah. They stack. Balls.
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Aaaand now he's paralyzed too. Ugh. Still, rock throw is x4 effective, and we're equal level. I only need one to get through. Boom goes the dynamite! I'm both very proud of geodude, and very disappointed that a butterfree spamming (and always hitting) with all of its status moves still can't win. Sleep powder, supersonic, stun spore... they really are as bad as I think they are. Ah well, good thing I only really use sleep, and they don't all have awakenings lying around like I do.
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Geodude leveled up! And he's trying to learn selfdestruct? As dramatic as a sacrificial kill would be in some climatic battle, it really isn't worth a slot. I'll think about explosion when it comes up though. It would really be the best way to finish off BOWSA at the very end XDdr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-17574872611941883012012-05-27T20:03:00.002-04:002012-05-27T20:03:33.841-04:00Take it like a DrillHoping to put my bad luck behind me, I'm aiming for another pokemon on route 25. It's got the same rates in the grass as 24, so why not? Same reasons apply.
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Oooooh, found an abra this time. I'm a bit worried, since it can use a move on the round it wakes up, which will be teleport. I pop a successful sleep powder, he stays asleep. I know I've got 1-4 rounds of this, which is very very little. One confusion move does about 30% damage, it stays sleeping. Not worth risking any more, so I throw the pokeball and NAIL it! About time my luck changed.
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All set to take on misty. But first, the State of the Party! L22 wartortle, L21 butterfree, L20 raticate, L19 geodude, L16 kadabra. The strategy is this: lead with butterfree against the staryu. Sleep powder, then confusions until I get the KO. Switch out for wartortle (for the protection from water attacks) and take advantage of starmie's half-psychic type with bite attacks. If wartortle doesn't win that slugfest (or butterfree has trouble getting sleep powder to take), raticate is backing up with hyper fang. He can take at least one hit coming out of the ball, and with STAB hyper fang has 120 base power, same as wartortle's bite (thanks to type effectiveness). Here goes!
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Hehehe... totally forgot there are other gym trainers in here. I guess I'll try out wartortle and see how he fairs. Yep, he and butterfree are gonna be fine. Ok, actually taking on misty now. Butterfree doesn't even get hit, despite misty's super potion. Wartortle gets knocked down to about 1/3 health by a crit, but its only moments before he finishes off starmie. Two badges down, six to go.
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Route 9 to the east is blocked, and route 5 won't quite get me to Saffron city yet, so I'll have to take the underground path. But first, as always, it's new pokemon time! Route 5 is going to be good to me. The possibilities are pidgey, meowth, and bellsprout. Meowth would be an interesting pick, and the other two would will plug holes in the party.
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It's a meowth. Probably the least directly useful, but certainly kinda cool. Only level 14, so he'll need some work, but another dude with bite is always nice.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-25827593815882716222012-05-25T15:40:00.000-04:002012-05-25T15:40:33.899-04:00Serial FailuesSo the decision was made: power level a bit on route 4, then hit up nugget bridge and milk the trainers to the north before coming back for misty. Mankey needs to level the most, and the spearows here are mostly L10, and rarely even use peck. A single hit is only 30% or so of her health, so I'm feeling pretty safe. Oh hey, fury swipes? I recall this move being pretty good, figure I'll give it a try before heading back for healing (Mankey's got about half health).
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Did you not see this coming? I didn't. 'Cuz I'm a fool. L12 spearow this time, goes straight for peck, gets a crit. Mankey II goes down- hard. Didn't even hit with the swipes either. Mankeys appear to be terrible luck for me... but I must soldier on.
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Nugget bridge is pathetic. Butterfree literally wrecked everyone. Tried to give rattata a little bit of XP, but butterfree was just too good. Confusion gets super effectiveness against poisons, which is about half of the pokemon on that bridge, and the lone high level mankey. Sleep powder combos to take down the rest easily enough. I think she almost gained 3 levels on those 7 trainers (I'm counting the camper on the left too).
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Now, more importantly; new route! Again I have the option to wait and swim for some water types later, but I'll defer them to cities and my awesome wartortle. How's the grass? Well, 24% chance of a caterpie/metapod, but otherwise good options. Weedle/kakuna is not actually that bad- I'm a fan of beedrill. Pidgey would fill my flying gap nicely. Bellsprout would finally give me someone good against water, which I desperately need since who knows if I'll ever catch an electric type. And abra, well, kadabra is one of the strongest psychics. So, knowing my luck recently, this'll be a caterpie.
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Pidgey! Booyah. Set up wartortle, get a couple bubbles in, but I'm not confident a third bubble won't kill it. Bring back butterfree, and I poison the poor bird. Let that work its health down for a couple turns, then use sleep powder. If it works, this will put the pidgey to sleep, which boosts the odds of capture more than poison and prevent it from dying after I catch it. Of course, sleep powder only works 75% of the time, but it'd have to fail twice (1/16th chance) for the pidgey to die of poison.
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Again, can you see where this is headed? I had slept him at the opening of the battle already, so I knew he didn't have vital spirit or anything, but why would that stop me? Two failed attempts, and pidgey is no more. Didn't even get the chance to catch this one... le *sigh*.
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Roommate-boy (aka RIP) thinks that since a pokemon can only have one status ailment at a time, one that is already poisoned would be immune to sleep powder. I had always thought that sleep powder would cure the poison and put them to sleep. I can't confirm or deny which it is, so I guess it's crowd sourcing time! Anyone know more?dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-29876515071431980812012-05-22T18:05:00.000-04:002012-05-22T18:05:09.520-04:00Do Your Research: A Cautionary TaleMount moon, and the next member of my party is... a geodude! Hallelujah! Some sleep powder and even leveled mankey low kicking, and she is mine. Of course, I've got two level 8s now, which I really ought to level more... somewhere without poison pointed nidorans and poison stinging weedles. *sigh*
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Mount moon was... kinda dull. Healing often, got a bunch of items, some nice leveling up. Took the helix fossil, in case I feel like grabbing omanyte later. Route 4 was a choice for new pokemon though: wait for now, and come back to grab a water type (very good shot at a krabby, which I've never used before) or go into the grass now, and risk a 35% shot at a spearow? I could really use a flyer, and I figure I can catch a water type inside most cities (nothing else to do there but fish) so I'll try for the grass.
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Nope. Rattata. Guess I've got a back up now, and although the extra mankey came in use awfully quickly, I'm really hoping to keep my current rattata. I like him.
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... dammit. Emotionally bonded already. This is definitely going to end poorly...
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Oh, in other news, roommate-boy (aka premature ejection) beelined it for misty. I guess he forgot that gym leaders are often 10 levels above the surrounding pokemon, and the stuff in mount moon was only a few levels behind him already. Oh, and remember how he took charmander? At this point, without bulbasaur, you really don't have anything with type effectiveness, so you gotta be doubly careful to overlevel. So anyway, he went in with L23 charmeleon, L16 butterfree, and L16 magikarp (tackle FTW). So butterfree knocks out the L21 staryu. Good start, but they have a fairly strong move called "water pulse."
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Aaaaand there's the L21 starmie. Charmeleon tries to get a mega punch in, and does maybe 20% damage at most. Of course, starmies are known for speed, and the only reason that first hit got in at all is that he had 2 HP left. Butterfree takes a hit and hits back, but goes down after the second. And just like that, he's got no one left at a high enough level to take a hit, and starmie is well over half health. A few brutal rounds later, and the whole party is KO'd.
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Game over man. Game over.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-58541932432929003792012-05-22T16:05:00.001-04:002012-05-22T16:05:25.097-04:00Paranoid Pokemon Pose Preventable ProblemsOk, a quick state of the union. Level 13 squirtle and rattata are my main boys, ready to bring the house down on Brock (once I get there). Butterfree's sittin' pretty at level 12. Looking to level her a bit more for sleep powder, for sealing the deal on catching what I can. Mankey's bringing up the rear at level 7, but she's got some real potential. Time to hit up viridian, with antidotes spilling out my bag.
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Pretty easy on the whole it turns out. Butterfree's wrecking of poison types is more than enough, so I cleared the entire forest in one go. Pewter city, and an easy badge, await.
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Stupid mankey is too low leveled to even handle the gym trainer. I don't really want to risk poison costs to train in veridian, so squirtle will just get me through this. Yep, one hits both of brock's guys. Time for trainers, and the massive xp they represent. Also, a new pokemon on route 3...
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I'm kinda hoping for a pidgey. I could use a flyer, but odds are I won't get a spearow (and I use those normally anyway). Another rattata would be a bit disappointing, and jigglypuff is kinda underpowered. Drum roll please... oh. huh. Another mankey. Well... that's sorta meh. This ones higher level than my first, so I won't use it unless disaster falls. I guess I just have to hope I don't end up with a zubat from mount moon now.
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So there's a lass on this road with a jigglypuff. I lead with rattata, but after a quick nip, he falls in love with her!! Not a good sign. Fortunately, he was more than happy to finish her off and beat her into unconsciousness. Ok, maybe not fortunately, given that my rattata probably has some serious emotional issues.
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NOOOOOOoooooo!!! Foolish power leveling of mankey went horrible awry. I figured he could take an under leveled spearow. I forgot about critical hits. My very first loss... not feeling it too too terribly though. I did already have another mankey, although she started at a higher level, but that's fine. A good lesson learned, at not too high a cost. Still... critical hits suck. I have a bad feeling that they'll come back to haunt me again someday.
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Some safer power leveling of the new mankey, then mount moon. Apparently I've got a 69% chance of getting a zubat on floor 1, so I might as well resign myself to that now.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-69810599060486556052012-05-22T10:44:00.001-04:002012-05-22T10:44:50.306-04:00Justified ParanoiaA slow start, even with turbo mode for power grinding. Since I don't have pokeballs the first time I encounter a wild pokemon on route 1, there's no hope of catching one here ever. Ouch. Fortunately, route 2 gives me a level 2 rattata! Just what I want, and low enough to really benefit from training. Let the power leveling begin!
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Ok, time for a brief trip into Viridian forest. Hoping for a pikachu, but get a metapod instead. Level 4, which is respectably low for this region, but would have preferred a caterpie for tackle. This one is gonna take a long time to evolve... although apparently butterfree comes out at level 10, so maybe not *that* long.
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Nope. Forever. Splitting xp with rattata and squirtle actually lets her beat rattata to 10. Yay butterfree! Now to get rattata up enough to hyper fang, and I can go take on BOWSA near victory road.
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Disaster strikes! Roommate-boy (aka fuzzy sunrise) loses his rattata! Sloppy power leveling and a distinct lack of my paranoia, and the poor soul is lost forever. Now I'm even more careful. If I don't have a backup pokemon at more than half health, it's back to the pokemon center for me. Spent half my purse on antidotes to. Viridian might get dicey.
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Ok, new pokemon on route 22 before facing BOWSA. Oh man, a mankey? I don't think I've ever caught one of these here, but it's only level 2. Great for the long term, but I'm more than a little concerned that squirtle will just drop her straight up. Bubble's low attack power is finally going to come in handy... winning. Almost a kill but not quite, perfect set up for the first pokeball. A freaking mankey?! I'm so excited.
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Ok, focus. Time to face da BOWSA. Thanks to roommate-boy (aka break and enter), I happen to know all he's got is a bulbasaur and pidgey, around level 9. Rattata's got hyper fang, at level 13. Pidgey goes down to a one hit KO, and I realize that butterfree's confusion is super effective against poisons. I though bulbasaur might only add poison after evolving, but nope! Not quite a KO, he puts a weak tackle up, and just like that, the "mighty" BOWSA is down for the count. Time to go train up mankey, and fantasize about how easy Brock will be.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-14447206802760063292012-05-21T16:26:00.000-04:002012-05-21T16:26:44.963-04:00Nuzlocke for Life (or Death)So there's this thing that crazy folks (like me) are apparently want to do. It's called a "Nuzlocke Challenge", and I've been talked into it j_verts. If you're too lazy to google it, here's <a href="http://www.nuzlocke.com/challenge.php">what I'm talking about.</a> The rules are fairly simple: Play through a pokemon game. Catch only the first pokemon in any given area (no second chances if it faints or flees). Any time a pokemon faints for any reason, it is now "dead", and you must release it immediately.
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Yep. Gonna be that kind of a summer. My roommate started his own such run yesterday on Fire Red, so I'll be doing Leaf Green, assuming I have the ROM (I do!). Let's get it on.
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Oh Oak. You slay me. First choice: boy or girl? I figure this only affects pronouns (do they even ever use any?) and appearance, so really it comes down to who looks more badass. Naturally they don't show you in game, so the first trip to bulbapedia is in order. The boy looks kinda depressed, and clearly doesn't give a rat's (rattata's) ass about anything. Meh. The girl is rocking a messenger bag instead of a backpack, and those silly loose socks. That said, at least she's smiling. I fully expect to have a dead soul by the end of this, but let's try to start out on a happy note, shall we?
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Forgot that disabling sound speeds the emulator way WAY up. Really freaking annoying to play on constant turbo. Unfortunately, macs don't have the convenient sound output mixer that windows does, and the mac version of vba doesn't have a mute option... huh? Why not?? UGH. Already wasted 15 minutes trying to deal with this. Decided to mess around with values at random, and something that I changed right back seems to have done it. Hopefully, this will be the worst of the technical issues.
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Naming time! Gotta go with "KOOPA" for myself, but what to name the rival... I was thinking about "BOWSER", but although he always loses in the end, I gotta have respect for how hard he makes some of the challenges along the way. Not gonna give this sucker any cred I don't have to, so let's go with the poser punk version "BOWSA". Perfect.
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Time to actually play. Time I predict until I cave and start using turbo mode walking around? 5 minutes. Actual time I last? ~45 seconds. *sigh*.
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Definitely taking Squirtle. Charmander used to be my main man, but Squirtle is, sadly, way better. Plus my roommate is starting with Charmander, so a little variation might be nice. Opening battle? Easy win. Was briefly kinda worried about a false start, but Squirtle's great. I hate grass types. Onward!dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-35299591945930868502011-03-15T03:11:00.007-04:002011-03-15T03:56:05.728-04:00Majestic, If Nothing Else.A friend of mine helped me get my hands on a gameboy color emulator and a dozen or so roms last year. This was possibly the single worst blow to what remained of my work ethic, until now. Now, steam is making a valiant effort to claim that title. Just a couple days ago, I decided to download the demo for Magicka. I'd heard about the game from another friend, and really wanted to try it out. I could go on about how I feel about Magicka, but the point is, steam threw some random gaming news at me automatically when I logged in, and I did just what they wanted. I looked at it. And I saw something. Majesty 2 was apparently 80% off for the next 2 days.<br /><br />Now, I remember the original Majesty with great fondness. My brothers and I played it for many an hour on our family's old imac desktop back in the day. The campaign missions ranged nicely in difficulty, and had surprising replay value (especially months later). The custom maps had great variety (since you could mix and match starting buildings, baddie lair theme, wandering monsters, etc). By placing arbitrary restrictions on ourselves, like using only warriors and mages, or no 2nd tier priests, we extended the enjoyment even further. Basically, original Majesty was a defining part of my formative gaming years (god I feel old now) and I absolutely loved it.<br /><br />Enter Majesty 2. My expectations were high, given just how long it'd been since Majesty 1 was released, and although Majesty 2 isn't on the cutting edge, it looked like a fairly recent release. The trailers looked pretty, although some potential scale problems had me worried (more on that in a bit). So I buy and download it, and the kingmaker's expansion, because hey, they're only $6. I've been playing them for a couple days now, and I've gotten through about 7 campaign levels, plus the first in kingmaker's. So here are my thoughts:<br /><br />*sigh*. Overall, I'm not sure it's actually any better than the original at all. Sure it's enjoyable, but when I'm playing I get an urge to just play the first one again. Let's go with a pro/con list, shall we?<br /><br />Pros:<br />-Buildings look much nicer now. Full 3D is undeniably pretty, and the destruction animations are extremely smooth. Watching an opposing palace fall to pieces is <i>extremely</i> satisfying.<br />-Fully 3D. I do enjoy spinning my view and zooming to admire my heroes, who now get skin upgrades at levels 5 and 10.<br />-Height in terrain. There are actually mountains now, not just flat land. The rivers are nicer too (don't think we even had them before, at least not really).<br />-Level 2 trading posts defend themselves. 'Bout frakking time, guardhouses get expensive fast.<br />-Magical Bazaar. Cool 2nd tier marketplace, nice for later game improvements. I never really used the training grounds that much before anyway, so this is a nice change.<br />-Graveyards let you resurrect heroes without any temples. I'm only ok with this because the cost scales proportionally to level. It does take a little too much sting out of losing a really good hero, which used to be a big deal.<br />-Special attacks for classes other than mage. Definitely nice, and I like that they scale with damage. Sorta ok with upgrading by guild, instead of the previous library system. Haven't decided which I prefer yet, but I don't hate either for sure.<br /><br />Cons:<br />-3D. Ok yeah it's cool, but I don't actually use it in game. It throws off my internal map of what's where, and isn't actually helpful.<br />-Game pace. Somehow, it feels faster. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I don't feel like I actually have time to admire my pretty heroes and buildings and terrain. Sad face.<br />-Mountain ranges absolutely kill the camera. It's annoying.<br />-Scale. If you zoom in enough to actually differentiate your warriors and rouges, or your rangers from theirs, you can barely fit your palace in the screen. If you zoom out enough to see a useful amount of your kingdom, everyone looks like ants. I miss being able to scroll over a battle and get a sense of how many combatants there were on each side without having to think at all.<br />-User interface. Seriously, what the fuck? It feels cluttered, I get giant menus all over everything, and there's no minimap hero tracker. It's the scale issue, but in reverse: everything is too big, and space isn't conserved at all. Before, we could see plenty of the kingdom, we got selection info, building command card, minimap, hero tracker, and tabs on the info for stats. Now, we've lost the hero tracker, and info tabs like stats or graveyard resurrection take up almost half your useful space in the main view. AND, the right third is lost to the hero/party list, unless you get rid of it, but then it stops making up for losing the hero tracker, so it's a lose-lose.<br />-Selecting heroes. So I'm trying to heal a high level warrior to save his life. Firstly, I can't heal him directly from the main view, but whatever because he's too small to click on reliably anyway, and I don't want to heal his attackers by accident. He's in a party, so I select that (he's the leader) and try to heal his portrait. No dice. I get to his normal selection page, but lose my healing icon, and also he's still about to die. Now I can heal him by clicking his face, but of course the fireballs have long since caught up to his out of shape ass, and he's dead. Ugh.<br />-Temples restricted to specific build sites. I'm sorta ok with this, in that the now 3rd tier priests are much more powerful, but it ends up just restricting the heroes you can use. You've got maybe a single temple in most levels, which is 2 powerful heroes, and otherwise you're stuck with 5 classes and 2 races. Original majesty had 4 basic classes, 3 races, 2 or 3 priests (out of 7, thanks to conflicting temples) and possibly an extra special fighter class. So we've gone from an average of around 9 classes, to 6, plus sorta a 7th. And of the 9 you had in original, there were a bunch of different combinations. Now, you've got to choose between elves and dwarves, and which temple you'll use (unless it's just chosen for you, which is often the case).<br />-Custom maps. No setup versatility, they're just campaign missions without a voiceover or the hall of lords. The replay value that's been lost breaks my scales. Yay, we have survival levels now, but I was never a huge fan of those anyway. And then there's what, maybe 6 other missions? 8? C'mon, you even stepped down from 30 campaign missions to 14. You spent so much time on the game, you couldn't make another dozen decent custom maps? I don't need enemy rangers, a giant ogre, and a plot wizard in each, just let me sandbox some and I'll amuse myself.<br /><br /><br />Ok, enough ranting on that. So overall, while there are some nice improvements to some things, there were a lot of fundamentals that they got right the first time and then broke. Most of all, selecting heroes and being able to see them. I can't care much about them individually anymore, because I can't tell who or where they are. It's too much city planning and strategy, and not enough living vicariously through your mighty soldiers. I'll keep playing Majesty 2, and we'll see if I warm up to it some more, but I might just go back to the original soon unless there's some significant turnaround. Also, who would've thought mages could feel like they die even faster and dumber than before? Wow.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-8713860541445393552009-09-28T12:35:00.002-04:002009-09-28T12:41:05.239-04:00Get It Right the Second TimeI now happily reside next door to a SNES. My life has improved greatly from its presence. This said, I now have a small beef with nintendo:<br /><br />Original Mario Kart sucks. It's really just terrible. The controls feel clunky and ineffective, battle mode is absolutely abysmal, and it's generally just painful to play. Now, granted, I am being a little quick to judge, given I've only played it once, but the experience was quite powerful. I will give the game credit in that it has all of the fundamentals that were so well executed in 'Kart 64, so as a lousy version 1 that evolved into something beautiful, the game is great.<br /><br />As a game, it is just straight up bad.<br /><br />Super Mario Bros, on the other hand, should be a religious experience for me. More on that as details become available, but this week is looking unfriendly, so don't expect anything until the weekend at the earliest.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-47524784445440666572009-07-18T23:49:00.002-04:002009-07-18T23:54:07.626-04:00∆So remember that time? Yeah... that was a good time.<br /><br />So diddy kong racing adventure two hovercraft is almost done forever. I say we just do it and never look back. Except that now we're done racing for the night, and I've only just started writing this, so I think it's safe to say this is a disappointing comeback.<br /><br />Try to swallow your surprise.<br /><br />More to follow, once I get the vector from victor.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-40135972975328491572009-01-14T21:58:00.002-05:002009-01-14T22:13:47.487-05:00Catfighting, circa 2325First, a history lesson:<br /><br />Way back, ages past, OSK and j_vert tried a new game out for size (no idea where I was at the time, but if you ask them, the response would probably be "somewhere lame"). They went for Metroid Prime, on ye olde gamecube. Turns out the in-game map isn't bad, but j_vert's internal mapping abilities left them mostly lost (sorry man, truth hurts).<br /><br />After this failed attempt, OSK revisited the game with myself months later. We beat and bludgeoned our way through about 20-25% of the game before hitting a wall. We spent a good amount of time wandering around with no idea of where to go before giving up and moving on. And so metroid remained until just recently.<br /><br />Now, I've been taking solo hits at it in my spare time. A few days ago, I finally passed the high water mark of the koopon-OSK team, and managed to steam ahead. The exploration and adventure elements have really been great so far, and the difficulty has been easy enough this time through that I've been able to use a pretty cavalier attitude towards health and saving. No longer. I finally reached a section that has a succession of actually difficult encounters, all with net loss of health and annoyingly effective enemies. So, today I've died 3 times without reaching a new save point. The hardcore gamer in me is thrilled- perfect chance to get some <i>real</i> gaming done. But the casual gamer in me is disappointed. It's been really nice, just kinda cruising through things, nothing so difficult as to really frustrate me (j_verts should appreciate this, considering how he does rts).<br /><br />So yeah, I figured I'd let y'all know what's been happening on this, and I think I might keep this up, especially if the difficulty keeps increasing. Also if my theory about red energy balls is true (they were totally +50 in the beginning, not +20. I swear!).<br /><br />And one last thing: anyone know what breaks benezidium? It's frakking EVERYWHERE. ugh.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-80082030124725470972008-12-27T01:42:00.006-05:002008-12-29T02:18:06.281-05:00It's Okay, it's okay, it's okayFuck blue coins. OSK is taking forever on them. Granted, they're really hard to find, and it isn't a negative reflection on his mario skills, but still. It's really frustrating. But really.<br /><br />Otherwise, my 64 runs take basically 30 seconds, so I'm spending a lot of time zoned out and doing nothing. Not enough blogging though. Ah well.<br />jvert is trying a cosmic race again. It didn't go so well the first time, but he's doing much better and... wow... talk about fateful. He just got it while I wrote that sentence. I gotta mention what's happening in real time in this blog more often.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-80864956524426255462008-12-22T03:01:00.007-05:002008-12-22T03:43:00.892-05:00Subliminal MessagesMario sunshine is clearly a secret mind-control device being used by those racist against everything blue. They are training us all to instinctively destroy anything blue, like birds and butterflies. But let it be known: I'm onto them.<br /><br />In other news, in addition to invisible block technology, I could really use some of that launch star technology. Or the hover pack. But mostly, the warp pipes. Unless they don't make the sound, then I wouldn't want them.<br /><br /><br />Further evidence of the genocidal nature of sunshine:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBU-YtRwGdHoET6Q6lqgvqHRvH3hrbCjfULy_8bz68588lt-O5L_EYPTXUCXgi8IrMwjG9zzYpnXW6b89-D6tWWCUpgNvmhi8z6byuR2p1LPRL9Udu8B3vehEN0N4McGR8DCNiYWSaGPE/s1600-h/vg+cats+unclean.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBU-YtRwGdHoET6Q6lqgvqHRvH3hrbCjfULy_8bz68588lt-O5L_EYPTXUCXgi8IrMwjG9zzYpnXW6b89-D6tWWCUpgNvmhi8z6byuR2p1LPRL9Udu8B3vehEN0N4McGR8DCNiYWSaGPE/s320/vg+cats+unclean.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282530712739348066" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I rest my case.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-89241601325324782712008-12-22T02:13:00.004-05:002008-12-22T02:20:32.922-05:00Triple ThreatWell, this blog is officially revived, if only for one sake: the simultaneous 120 star runs in galaxy, 64, and sunshine. That's right, myself, OSK, and j_vert are each doing all 120 stars of 64, sunshine, and galaxy, respectively. It is, needless to say, awesome.<br /><br />However, since I'm running original, I've got a good deal more down time than the rest of them. So, I'll be spending some of that time (by which I mean most) writing random shit here.<br /><br />So, we have roughly 20 stars each right now, which is a good chunk of the easy stuff in each game. 64-wise, I'm still plowing through the easy first levels, so no worries for speed there. Galaxy, I don't know as well concerning the time consumption curve (a really bad way to word that), so no idea when that'll ramp up. Probly not for a bit longer, but soon. Sunshine, OSK is done with bianco hills, and some of the plaza, but he's spent enough hours in his life on mario, so I've got no worries at all about his speed. Looks like vert has the most pressure... poor guy. He hasn't even finished galaxy yet. Time for a commitment, space cowboy.<br /><br />Allright, gotta wrap this up: 19-21 are waiting for me. Oh wait, I have no concept of responsibility for quality control here. Guess I can just end it then. On a drawn out clichéd group of sentences involving self reference. Yeah.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-76339801116833888242008-06-13T12:08:00.002-04:002008-06-13T12:13:27.197-04:00Take this Bowser! ... *whif*So I'm sick and feel like crap, and I don't have much time before a plague of boxes is visited upon myself, but this needs to be said.<br /><br />I suck at the bowser level. Which one you ask? The first. It was painful to watch myself do it. I actually felt bad for the people watching me do it, because the secondhand embarrassment and shame must have been pretty hard to handle. Had they politely left until it was over, I would have understood.<br />Anyway, my psuedo-speed run is not completely ruined, nor has OSK overtaken me for good, provided that I pwn the later stuff. Wet-Dry world has me worried though... oh and everything on the floor above it. *sigh*<br /><br />Back to the grindstone. God I should be training...<br /><br />More to come later.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-1166519705453774162008-06-02T13:06:00.003-04:002008-06-02T13:31:18.517-04:00May the Force be with your Lightsaber.So I recently returned to Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast after not touching it for god only knows how long. Knowing, or at least vaguely remembering parts of the puzzles definetly makes the whole game go by faster. Not actually "solving" them right now isn't all that dissapointing (mostly because I still feel smart because I had figured it out once... or had seen someone do it once... or something). Not getting really frustrated at the harder parts is definetly a plus too (thank god Tavion didn't take dozens of tries this time).<br /><br />Anyway, having never played any other star wars based first person shooters (man based at least, so I'm ignoring rouge squadron) I must say, I love lightsabers. They did a really good job of giving the player control over how they attack, without making it rediculously complex. Now I'll be the first to admit that it can easily degenerate into button mashing, with varying degrees of effectiveness, but especially with a force speed going on (everyone else gets slowed down) you get the time to actually think for a split second between attacks and really aim them. Most satisfying against other lightsaber-weilding foes, but certainly fun against stormtroopers too.<br /><br />One of the other good parts associated with the 'saber though is how, especially early on, you aren't a god with it. A good chunk of the enemies use thermal detenators or tenloss disrupters, neither of which you can block with the 'saber and can really mess you up. They aren't impossible to defeat: you just need cover and a couple good guns of your own. It's nice that they can give you the 'saber (awesomely fun to use) and yet still force you to use the variety of more conventional laser guns and energy crossbows. Also, later on, your force powers become strong enough to be able to deal with these weapons without too much cover (unless they ambush you and/or catch you by too much surprise). By the very end of the game, I virtually never use guns: the lightsaber is just too good on its own. It finishes a logical progression from gun slinger to true jedi. The strongest jedi (good and dark) are 99% invulnerable to any and all gunfire, which makes sense and forces you to actually be better with the saber to kill them.<br /><br />Anyway, what I'm basically saying is lightsabers are awesome, well balanced, and... well... c'mon, its a laser sword, of course its frakking cool. So go learn the ways of the force, and paint yourself a couple dark jedi on your 'saber grip.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-82770827087124084852008-04-24T10:37:00.002-04:002008-04-24T10:43:52.634-04:00Speeches from the BalustradeVideo games are awesome. Unfortunatly, one needs time to enjoy them. That time is not now, with APs in less than 2 weeks.<br /><br />But that time is soon.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm hoping to maybe actually post occasionally again, but as we all know that promise is pretty hollow (I'm thinking hollow as a Dyson's sphere) don't expect anything 'till final exams and gaming marathons start. I was writing a review of paper mario, but it's gotten really long and dry and doesn't really flow/isn't really interesting at all, so it's probably going to get scrapped over time by being ignored. Oh well. By the way, I got a 97 on that paper about diddy kong and mario.<br /><br />Until next time, fare well, waste time, punish your eyeballs, and tetris rocks (much like jesus).dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-53486075216900454392008-02-13T13:13:00.003-05:002008-02-13T13:21:26.293-05:00So... How's Life?So I obviously haven't posted in awhile (i.e. forever) and I probably won't again until I'm really bored, gifted with vast amounts of spare time, and struck by inspiration. We all know that basically never happens, so don't expect much/anything until march and I'm playing video games 'round the clock again.<br /><br />... *sighs nostalgically*...<br /><br />What? Oh. Right. My point. Well, I've been meaning to make some crappy excuse for not posting (see above) but I felt that I ought to have a decent post at the same time. So, I'll now give you a paper I actually turned in for english class about video games (I'm not kidding, seriously) and... well... read it yourself.<br /><br />_________________________________________________<br /><br />Many a group of gamers has at least sampled the variety of racing games for the Nintendo 64. Of my two favorites, Mario Kart 64 is by far the better known, and a staple of the N64’s party options. Diddy Kong Racing, while not as widely known, fills much the same niche. When the time comes to put a racing game in one’s Nintendo, the question plaguing both casual and avid gamers alike is this: is Mario Kart 64 or Diddy Kong Racing the better game?<br /><br />Both games have many elements in common. They are animated, somewhat tacky 3D racing games, using a combination of well-known and relatively obscure characters as the drivers. Each one has a story mode, featuring computer-controlled characters to round out the eight participants in each race, as well as a multiplayer option for up to 4 human players. Both games divide their courses into groups; four “cups” in Mario Kart and five “worlds” in Diddy Kong. Both also have a bonus section of the game featuring mirrored versions of every course. This involves simply flipping the direction of every turn on the course, but even such a seemingly trivial alteration can change the race completely. However, It is in the details where the games diverge.<br /><br />In the sheer number of courses available for racing, Mario Kart falls rather short. With 16 courses divided among 4 cups, Mario Kart offers a decent selection. All of Kart’s courses are classic, three-lap races with eight players. Diddy Kong Racing has 20 such courses, as well as four unique arena style courses and six boss races where the player dukes it out with a single opponent on an distinctive, one-lap course. Mario Kart’s story mode forces the player into a single cup at a time, with all four races back to back. Points are awarded based on the finishing order of each race, with the player winning bronze, silver, or gold cups depending on their overall point total compared to the other racers. Diddy Kong Racing is a bit more complex. Every standard race is played twice, once at an easy difficulty, and the second time with silver coins scattered about that the player must retrieve. After placing first in every race, the player must defeat a boss on a linear one-lap course, again at two difficulties. Finally, one replays the four standard races back to back, with a scoring system very similar to Mario Kart. Although Diddy Kong has only two options compared to Mario Kart’s three, both games cover a good range of difficulties, from beginner to expert. Overall, Diddy Kong is far more expansive in this regard than Mario Kart.<br /><br />Both games eventually reward the player with the bonus of being able to play every course in a mirrored mode. For Mario Kart, the “extra” setting can be applied to single player at the maximum difficulty and to multiplayer races. Diddy Kong Racing rewards the player with “adventure two,” which parallels the original story mode exactly, with two changes: all courses are mirrors, and the computer opponent difficulty is greatly increased. Keep in mind that because the silver coin challenge uses all new locations, this means every standard Diddy Kong course can actually be played at four distinct difficulties between the two adventures.<br /><br />Perhaps one of the more major differences between Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing is the choice of vehicles. In Mario Kart, only a car is used. Diddy Kong Racing, however, also allows the use of a hovercraft or plane on most levels. Basic driving skills must be remastered with each new vehicle. Although a few levels, especially water-based ones, restrict the usable vehicles, the extensive implementation of the plane and hovercraft add a new dynamic to traditional racing that Mario Kart lacks.<br /><br />The most obvious difference between the two games lies in the item systems. Both games allow racers to obtain items that slow down opponents or aid the user. Mario Kart has generic “item boxes” that give the player a random item, ranging from offensive shells, to banana mines, to boosting mushrooms and so much more. Because of this variety of both weak and powerful items, Mario Kart often becomes more about what items one acquires than about how good a racer one is. In Diddy Kong Racing, players grab differently colored balloons for items. These balloons provide either an offensive missile, stationary mine, protective shield, magnetic pull, or simple boost, depending on their color. The same colored balloons always appear in the same places, causing Diddy Kong to be under much less sway from lady luck. There is still a variety of items because grabbing multiple balloons of the same color increases the item’s power. Mario Kart comes out on top for variety of items, but suffers from one major setback. Mario Kart weights the “random” items to be more favorable to those farther back from first place. While helping the underdog is a good idea in theory, often in practice a single good driver will lead the race until the very end, when a lucky item obtained by a player who has been lagging the entire race upsets the status quo and suddenly negates the first two and a half laps. I have been on both sides of this situation, and even when I win because of it, the victory always feels hollow. The consistency of Diddy Kong races is much better at ensuring that the best driver, not the luckiest, wins.<br /><br />Diddy Kong also caters to the consistent driver with its “zippers.” Zippers are clearly marked arrows scattered across the course that provide any racer that touches them a temporary boost in speed. Reaching more zippers throughout a race can easily give a good driver a big lead over one less skilled at handling their vehicle. The number of zippers is very well balanced: enough to give a significant advantage to skilled drivers, but not so many as to trivialize items and other driving skills. Mario Kart does use boosting arrows, but only a handful of times, and almost exclusively to propel racers across a canyon or river. Nowhere in Mario Kart can one driver get a boost and another not, assuming neither one strays far enough off the course to be automatically rescued and brought back to the road.<br /><br />Finally, there is the multiplayer mode of each game to consider. Both games support two human players racing against computers, although Diddy Kong requires a “magic code,” which can be easily found online, to do so. They also both support up to four human players in either traditional racing or battle mode. Mario Kart incorporates four new courses into its battle mode, while Diddy Kong has two battles among its arena courses. The items used in Mario Kart make that game better suited for battle mode, while Diddy Kong is more geared towards the traditional racing style. While Mario Kart lets multiplayer races be done on any course or its mirror, Diddy Kong once again has more options. Not only can humans battle each other in any course, they can also play the four race, point system trophy rounds. A pencil and paper allow Kart players the same option, but who really prefers having to record scores themselves?<br /><br />Although Mario Kart 64 has a better battle system, Diddy Kong Racing takes first place in every other category. In sheer number of courses, single player story mode, consistent items and boosts, new vehicles and multiplayer options, Diddy Kong Racing reigns supreme. Without a doubt, Diddy Kong Racing is a superior game to Mario Kart 64.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-18007006372648010402008-01-03T03:27:00.000-05:002008-01-03T03:42:56.031-05:00Requiem for Cheese WhizI’m a firm beliver that one can say “life is like *insert anything here*” and justify it. I believe this primarily because a friend of mine told me so, and he then proceeded to explain how life was like cheese whiz. How he did this has long since been forgotten, but what’s important is that it was done. So naturally, in the spirit of my current pastime (which is really all the time), I will give an appropriate example with an inappropriate amount of excessive explanation. Without further ado…<br /><br />Life is like mario galaxy. You proceed from one stage to another, with each succesive stage only becoming available after the first is completed. However, it is usually necessary to revisit previous stages (with the benefit of increased knowledge and wisdom gained from more recent experiences) to truly master your surroundings. Although you can revist these places, you cannot ever truly return, because the initial problems have been solved, and can never be unsolved to be discovered again like they were in the beginning. Victory, for the traditional goal of pursuing happieness, is arguably reletively easy to obtain, but for most, it seems hollow until every last possible nook and cranny is searched down and explored. Only after this can true contentment be found. Of course, being human, everyone goes back over their memories again and again, reexperiencing as much as they can, but eventually, after enough repititions, all of the passion fades away, and you are left with only the memories of memories, and eventually all will be forgot.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-1442794273850675072008-01-01T23:58:00.000-05:002008-01-03T02:26:22.169-05:00Bouldergeist Daredevil RunThis boss battle was a beast the first time through. Tough enemy in a very cool arena. I had a good amount of trouble as the last guy to face him, took at least a half dozen tries, but we got through with the clutch help of an overshield. Now, however, we are faced with the daredevil run. This means instead of having 6 life and the occasional coins, we have 1. I took it on first, and with a lot of luck managed it in just under a game over. j_vert took the next round, and it didn't turn out so good. After a long duel of wills, j_vert is currently taking a short break between rounds in the ring to collect himself, relax, get his mojo back. Now OSK is taking him on, and once again the bouldergeist is distinguishing himself as the single toughest boss yet encountered by a longshot. So far we've been blessed with continous progress. Yes, sometimes we've gotten hung up on a single star, but typically that's been just nasty on one player. Everyone has their bad moments, and although we give them some crap for it, we all know that it just takes some time to beat their personal deamons. This guy though, this guy's been beating on us all. Eventually, we're gonna take him down, but he's already done a number on us. It all comes down to good luck and well-trained instincts. It's hard to play really conservatively after you've had a half-dozen frustrating attempts, hence why we practice the breathers. Just taking some time off from the tension can have some pretty amazing effects on performance. Hopefully both of them will bring the smack down and beat this shadow-and-rock creature into the ground.<br /><br /><br />Major apologies for not posting this for around 24 hours after I finished it. I'll be better about this sort of thing in the future, I promise (please gods of karma, don't make me eat these words).dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-67953577749454544142008-01-01T17:35:00.000-05:002008-01-01T18:51:49.324-05:00Hey, We Love Luigi and All, but... Seriously?Giant pieces of meat in space = very bad for racing. j_vert had some trouble, but he got it in three or four tries. OSK is having a little more trouble, but he'll get it... eventually. We have faith. On the plus side, he's getting extra lives from star bits, so once he gets it, he's gonna make up some ground on the rest of us, which is going to help a lot with the hungry luma, and future ones too. There, he gots it. My turn XD<br /><br />Sweet stuff with boos and invisible ground. It's like the zelda ocarina of time invisible ground, except you can't stand on this stuff unless you can see it. It's intense.<br /><br />Oh, and on a random note (not at all related to the title), we found luigi. He's looking a little thin these days, being imprisioned by boos really didnt do him any good. Holy crap, luigi actually sucks. Allow me to explain: after you rescue him, he goes and looks for stars you might have missed. Sounds ok, maybe he'll open up hidden stars we couldn't get before. So he sends us some mail, saying he's found a star, with a picture of where he is in the level. Naturally, it's basically at the beginning, takes maybe a minute to get there, but y'know, he's probably just going to show us a new launch star, it'll be this sick new star stuff. Oh, what's that luigi? You have the star right here? <br />... douche.<br /><br />At least luigi's mansion has been pretty good, 2 other good stars plus a nice hidden one. Actually, the third star is unreal. Nicely long, with a sick boss at the end. Even better, they improved on the lousy kill penalties. Each time you just have to refight the boss, but you need 30 new star bits if you want your overshield, so 3 or 4 tries in, if you still can't get it, it get's a lot harder. Very nice. Aww sick, after you kill him, he comes back! It's like gooper blooper, but even better. Except hopefully we'll only fight this guy once, not three times.<br />Dual-wield for the win. Man down. Victory is j_vert's.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-9919363017685011132008-01-01T02:34:00.000-05:002008-01-01T04:32:53.105-05:00Twelve... Ten... Nine... Four...So, it's 2008... looking around, I gotta say the first couple hours haven't been particular better than last year. Galaxy rocks of course, but it rocked yesterday too, so I don't think we can pin that one on the new year.<br /><br />Finally, galaxy has produced a truly beastly star, complete with an ice mario and ingenius use of enemies, wall kicks, all with an element of speed. A little frustrating, especially for the first guy (j_vert) but I think it's one of the best yet. On a completely different note, when d-pad targeting, the star bits hurtling towards you are pretty crazy. Not for those with heart conditions, or war veterans with post-traumatic stress.<br /><br />I must say, the scattered nature of these galaxies is not in keeping with traditional mario, and I don't thinks it's an improvement. Although I love bowser worlds, a game of all bowser worlds just wouldn't work (this isn't nearly as good as that, but it's analogous to the highly sectionalized planets and puzzles). Bowser worlds are the desserts (specifically gumdrops) of the standard world meal (pizza of course). You can't just eat gumdrops... well you can, but it's much better to eat a crapload of pizza first. Some of the galaxies (honeyhive and the penguin beach one so far) are mostly just one planet, but even with that, typically one of the stars is at least half on a different mini-planet, so no single planet has more then 2 stars, and is therefore reletively simplistic and small. No need to really pack stars into small areas, or reuse sections of puzzles without changing them. I've always liked how Bo-omb Battlefield had you run past a chain chomp for 5 stars without making a big deal out of it, and then brought it back for the last star. It wasn't a new addition to the area, it had always been there, it just gained new importance. The galaxies do condense stars somewhat, but only really with comets, which reuse previous stars, with what is quite honestly not a huge change, not enough to really justify a whole new star.<br /><br />Really, I just miss the large scale worlds of mario 64 filled with stars that you didn't have to get in any particular order. They were all there, the order was there just to give you hints on how to reach a star. Sunshine had even bigger worlds, with even more stars. The areas tended to be larger per star, with more specialized puzzles, but it worked out well because most of each level was still reused, with minor changes at most. Galaxy, so far, has been far too highly specialized for each puzzle. It's still good, but the style is a step backwords from its predecessors.<br /><br />Now I'm feeling mean, so I will throw this out there: Galaxy has done very well with gravity and 3D mini-planets, and I'm loving the occasional step back into sidescrolling (especially the uses of gravity there).<br /><br />That being said, I've lost basically all organizational skills, and I'm pretty sure my point rambles quite a bit more then it ought to back there, so I'll wrap this up for now. If anyone wants it, I'll very happily do another longer rant with more specifics (plus more galaxy will let me judge it's content better, we've seen less then a third so far).dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-32177119482866407522007-12-31T02:22:00.000-05:002007-12-31T03:44:26.408-05:00We've Got a Lot of BawlsI'm quite a fan of ray surfing. Blooper surfing was good too, but the rumble gives ray surfing a significant edge. It's true OSK had some issues, but now we know what a game over looks like (not very impressive, kind of a let down) but he got there eventually. Other then that, which really wasn't even very bad, we've been slogging along at a good pace. Maybe not really fast, but I think that stars take longer in galaxy then we're used to. Now, first bowser world. Oooooh, armored goombas. And baby bowser... ugh. Although I gotta give him some props for a sick robot here. I think I'm gonna enjoy blowing it up XD<br /><br />Ships get dolphin escorts, mario gets star bits.<br /><br />I like the next dome's first galaxy, pretty cool setup. But uh... well I don't really have much else to say at the moment. Bawls have been pulled out of their storage (this happens whenever the night gets old enough, we get a little crazy) so expect some strange stuff from now on. Jeez, I actually really like bawls. Tried some of j_vert's bawls, and they were quite good. Smooth, lightly flavored... I can't quite place the flavor, I think I'll have to try some more.<br /><br />OSK's short term memory is apparently crap when it comes to mario. Then again, normally it's pretty good, so maybe our bawls are distracting him. Can't blame the man, bawls are good at keeping him up, and ours are no exception, just juicy enough, a little sticky... what?dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-149918404204810762007-12-30T23:42:00.000-05:002007-12-31T00:51:21.665-05:00A Snack of Cosmic ProportionsSo OSK is about to face a battle fleet. Not really sure what that entails, but I'm hoping for some sick aerial combat, maybe some alien fighter bombers. Probably not gonna be it, but I think it's gonna be sick anyway. Here we go.<br /><br />Wow... it's more like he's boarding the enemy craft, and he's pwning with some sick cocoanut rebounding moves. Giant lava and muck creature? Gone like the wind.<br /><br /><br />So, what's with the beesuit? I mean, I enjoy walking along the furry hindside of a giant bee queen as much as the next guy, but cmon. Ahh, whatever, it's just my beeness.<br /><br />So this is ending up a little too scrambled, so let's see... udalale udalale, si see sea hey. Oh, and by the way: rushian. Shades! PUT ON YOUR SHADES! Whew. Ok, now spin! sweet.<br />Oh great. Fuzzy ass again. *sigh*<br /><br />Even better. OSK died (black holes must hurt) and now we have to go through a fourth round of pleasing the queen bee. Mmmmm. At least we'll get a spaceship at some point.<br /><br />Well, five (5) stars down. Good progress, I suppose. Much left to do, much left to look forward to. Another... wait... wiggler? It IS you! Dude, it's been ages, I mean, ever since tall tall mountain we've been just great friends, and I know we had some problems on that beach place, but that's behind us, and now, honeyhive galaxy? Seems nice, I guess, if you don't mind the bees. And hey, the family looks great too. Y'know, the wedding invitation probably just got lost in the mail, but I really would've loved to be there.<br /><br />Speaking of throwbacks, we've got another windmill here. It's nice, quaint really.dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2242410326431715582.post-37864953456485133972007-12-30T21:51:00.000-05:002007-12-30T22:07:17.922-05:00The Boy is BackWell, here we are, at the brink of a very good thing. I gotta say, Mario's gone for quite the makeover. Toads carry spears, the village gets <i>wasted</i> at the beginning, but just a few minutes later you're playing hide-and-go-seek with bunnies through fields of grass and flowers.<br />... riiight. They totally weren't on 'shrooms when they made this.<br /><br />They kept some things the same though. Peach is still a whore (although less subtle now), she's putting out for mario, bowser is owning n00bs with cool technology (flying ships this time). Oh, and we're listening to kick ass music instead of the actual game sounds. Trust me, way better this way. Plus, with subtitles, we really don't miss anything important.<br /><br />Some stuff done very well so far. Atmosphere on the first little world. They don't always do it, but the other worlds are either artificial or destroyed husks around a black hole... come to think of it, that probably isn't possible. Whatever, it works.<br />Also, not sure how I feel about the "star bits" and how you collect them, but at least it they're using the wiimote.<br /><br />Ok, so the star goddess keeps referring to peach as our "special one". Honey, you can be my special one any time, that peach girl? Forget about her, totally not important to me at all. Honestly, I was getting sick of her anyway. On a completely different topic, do you like to bake?dr_kooponhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02131162563217872389noreply@blogger.com0