|
Huh, I thought Cthulhu's angels was pretty good. Sure, it had the worst character, but it had enough to make up for that.
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 00:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 04:58 |
|
|
Original party, best party. Cthulu, Paws, Umi, October
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 00:34
|
|
|
Update Twenty One: In Our House At R'lyeh... Howdy, folks, and welcome back! Last time, on Cthulhu Saves The World, the Narrator was a dick and apparently didn't think that we would want to destroy the world, despite us knowing that was our main goal. He also wouldn't let us have a happy ending, and caused R'lyeh to rise from the bottom of the sea, which offers our ultimate challenge. We're going to tear through a good part of it today, so let's get crazy.  So, as I mentioned in the thread, I won't be doing Cthulhu's Angels. At least, not right now. I'm a little disenchanted with the Zeboyd games at the moment.  They're still good games, don't get me wrong, but the lack of life in the dungeons is getting to me, as is the repetitive music, which actively fades into the background, but not in a good way. Some of the dungeons just drag on too long and looking at the same repetitive tilesets is getting to me.  But, enough of my bitching. We're about to do the special swamp fight.  Remember the sewer dungeon from Breath of Death VII? There was a miniboss of sorts in there, and the Ooze Dragon was it.  It's not quite as special as you'd expect, but hey, kind of a fun callback. Not as fun as having the main protagonist of the last game join you, though. Anyways, as for strategy on this guy--  Pretty much just crush him with your strongest attacks.    Soon, we'll get to the point where everyone is gaining these generic levels, and at that point, I'll stop showing them off. Okay, let's get into R'lyeh. We're taking Umi, October and Paws with us for the final bout.   And that's all the fanfare we get for entering this place!  I could see how that'd be a huge pain in the rear end.  I'm not even sure how'd you go about programming that; sure, have a line of tiles as the marker for when the event happens and then flag the tentacles appearing, but how do they actually appear?  Unless it was a battle tile, and after the battle, your path becomes blocked so that you don't actually have to program the tentacles ripping out of the walls.  That wouldn't be too hard, would it? I mean, it'd require a ton of different maps and warping you to those maps after the fight, so maybe that's not the best idea.   Some of these dungeons feel a little uninspired.  There's no real life to them; there's nothing to make me think that there is more going on here than what we're seeing.  Take the Lunar areas of FF4; they had a very alien vibe to them, like you were somewhere that you shouldn't be. Magus' Castle in Chrono Trigger is very similar to that, but there's also a distinct feeling of evil within the place.  Then again, the music really nails those vibes. This game doesn't have the huge variety of music that those games do, and it really suffers for it.  Alright, I'm done complaining for reals this time.   Holy crap, those guys look really pissed off.  Is it really cosplay if it's Halloween?  The Mariana Trench is about seven miles deep, making it one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. If you were to reach the bottom, you'd be crushed into something resembling hummus.  I can totally see that guy rocking out at a Slayer concert.  As for this guy, I'm pretty sure he'd be the first shoved outta the mosh pit.   Other than big physical damage, there isn't much about these guys to note.     Dacre already has pretty good HP and this would just make it better.  But, hey, 25% to the party's stats is always better.   There are a few treasures to snag on this floor, and they're pretty good things to have.    Nothing really special in this encounter; just your standard upgrades, pretty much.  Huh, there's no :goth: smiley. That's kind of odd.  I bet he's trying to start his own Christian rock group, too. I can see him shredding.  They have absolutely insane physical defense, though. Cthulhu or Sharpe would barely break 100 damage against them; Paws can do full damage, but that's because the Anti-Matter Claw ignores defenses, which is the poo poo.  Magic will also wreck their poo poo, no problem, so I have no idea what they're capable of in combat.   They're not too bad, all things considered. They look a lot worse than they are.  Hell, their holy men pimp smack harder than they do.  As well as being able to heal the enemy party. It's nothing I can't erase quickly, but it's just...    There's the stairs to the next floor, but we're not popping up there just yet.  Thankfully, I know which way is up this time. And which way is down.  We'll be snagging those treasures first.  And fighting new monsters along the way.  The Teethchu has 2,080 HP and nothing special about it. It might have a special physical, but they tend to not live long enough to show it off.   A bit later, about ten steps, we get into another fight.  With a Tchode.  So...Nobody calls him that. Gotcha.  They're about as strong as anything else around here and get their asses beat just as well.   First, we find a great piece of armor for Cthulhu.  I'm not sure why this is here instead of in Cthulhu's closet, but I'll admit, I don't know the first thing about where eldritch abominations store their clothes.  Before we get the next bit of treasure, let's have some levels.   I take the five hit version, as I'm wont to do.  While Umi gets a general level.  Hrm.  The Deathblow was tempting, but if I'm using something like that, I'll just use the Cthulhu/Sharpe Unite tech that does the same thing but at a much higher power.   October gains an extra hit, because if I'm going to sacrifice my combo, it's going to be for something much stronger than that.  Paws gains some extra Strength.  And Dem gains another round of stats.  From that, we're done with showing off levels. They'll all now be the choice between extra stats or the HP/MP boost, and I'll take the stats each time.   The giant bug is the rear end in a top hat here.  Not only do they have a good chunk of HP, but they have one powerful attack that I dread seeing.  Starfall deals pretty good damage, and to the entire party. It only gets worse after the first turn, and if you turn them Insane.  They're a good priority target.   Now that is a weapon I can get behind. Look at those stat boosts!  Alright, up we go.  The second floor is a bit shorter than the first, especially since I don't have enemies to talk about.  And it's true; this bridge is fuckin' looooooong.  It's a really long bridge. That's about half of it right there. It's just really fuckin' long.   But eventually, it does end and we emerge onto the second floor.  I do like the Cthulhu statues around here.  Cthulhu seems like the type to decorate his pad with statues of himself.  Oh, crap, I forgot I had one enemy to explain on this floor.   Fittingly, it's a tentacle monster like Cthulhu, but in a more traditional form.  Aww, that's special.  Here's Death in action. It just kills an enemy. I know, I, too, was expecting something that looked fancier than that.    That chest we just saw holds these 1-Ups.  And we press ever deeper into R'lyeh.  I can type "Cthulhu" without having to double check it, but R'lyeh makes me double-check each time.  It's the apostrophe.    Up here is a new weapon for Sharpe.   +2 hits? Hell yes. That puts him at five hits with this weapon equipped.    And from here, we'll grab another treasure chest.  With some more emergency supplies. I shouldn't need these, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.  Okay, let's get to the next floor and the save point.  That's also my break point for this update.  We're pretty close to the end of the game now.   But, that's for next update, where we fight one of the hardest bosses in the game. Stay tuned!
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 02:40
|
|
|
In a little disappointed they didn't try to go for crazy architechture, poo poo like, I dunno, parallel halls that intersect.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 04:38
|
|
|
No, I can totally see how you'd get burnt out. The dungeons just aren't very interesting to look at or listen to, none of them have interesting gimmicks, and there's no real narrative connection either. The narrative in general is really, really one-track too. The narrator summoning the final dungeon is the closest thing to a plot twist there is, and without any side quests or side stories, you can only hang onto one thread before it gets stale. It's really rather unfortunate that you have all these cool and interesting party members, but once they've joined, the story completely forgets about them. Umi has something of a personality, but the others are just kinda... there. Then again, fleshing all of these things out requires time, tools, and personnel, all of which are in short supply in game development, even more so if you're a small indie studio. I'm actually quite impressed at how much Zeboyd managed to do, particularly in regards to the combat system, which looks pretty fun. It's just that with a project this ambitious, eventually you've got to pare things down, and it's pretty noticeable in this case.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 04:39
|
|
|
Having the tentacle-barriers appear would actually be pretty simple, at least in later versions of RPG Maker (not sure how events were handled in RM2k). The barrier's event would have one page for the "appearing" animation and a second for when the tentacle was fully extended. Event A: "Tripwire" event, activates on player touch, sets switch A Event B: the actual barrier Page 1: becomes active when switch A is toggled, autoruns, plays some kind of sound effect and steps through the tentacle-erupting animation, then sets switch B Page 2: Active when switch B is toggled, shows the tentacle sprite and is impassable If you were so inclined you could add a third page for the tentacle retracting again, so that the barriers would only be visible when close. I saw a few games where events actually reacted to the player coming close (as opposed to being activated by invisible tripwires), but there was a pretty crazy level of Ruby scripting involved.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 05:35
|
|
|
Oh boy, I know what's coming next! That boss kicks rear end on so many levels! Death Reel all over again!  I totally agree about the level design and the story, though I didn't think about either much at the time I was playing. It's especially evident with Ry'leh. They put the biggest most repetitive dungeon (with the most backtracking required for treasures too!) at the end of the game. Admissions that they're trying to hide the repetitiveness makes things worse, as do how many of the enemies are palette swapped upgrades. At least most of the treasure is kick-rear end. The Tcho enemy is another obscure Lovecraft reference btw. The Tcho-Tcho people are a Burmese tribe of degenerate cannibals who worship the Old Ones- they appear in a number of Lovecraft stories. August Derleth wrote of them first and Lovecraft picked up on the thread, as did many other Cthulhu Mythos writers. Some Lovecraft fanfics I've read have the group hiding in modern society as just another ethnicity with odd customs. Others have the USA seeking their aid in the Vietnam War. Naturally they didn't get much of a presence in this game. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 08:55
|
|
|
Don't suppose once you're done with this dungeon you'll go kill the soulcaster and his buddies now that you've got some awesomer equipment?
I can have moments of... eccentricity and sometimes be quite curious about things. Please forgive me if I do something foolish or rude.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 10:09
|
|
|
Stephen9001 posted:Don't suppose once you're done with this dungeon you'll go kill the soulcaster and his buddies now that you've got some awesomer equipment? Oh, I've gone and stomped those motherfucker's out. I even made a video!
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 13:47
|
|
|
Isn't R'lyeh supposed to make you insane? This is pretty euclidean architecture.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2016 14:59
|
|
|
Update Twenty Two: ...We Save The World Welcome back, everyone! Last time, on Cthulhu Saves The World, we entered R'lyeh and started tearing through Cthulhu's old house. Today, we're going to finish off R'lyeh, save the world and end the game. Let's get crazy.  Alright, let's get across this big-rear end bridge and--  --Who the hell is that?  You have to be making GBS threads me.  ...Nope, no making GBS threads here.  Alright, dickweeds, prepare to regret gathering those crystals.  Oh, God, they're still talking.  She's not wrong. Totally right.  As is Cthulhu.  Alright, it's been a while. Let's see what your adventure has done  To...  You?  Hrm. There's one thing I can think to do.  It's the easiest way, guys. Just lay back and think of England.   Alright, good show, everyone!   Hey, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.  Yeah, we have some commentary back there. Before we press forward, we can do that.  Part of me wishes they had scaled them up.  Though, he's right. It is a good measure of how far we've come; back at the beginning of the game, 100 HP was quite a lot to get rid of.  Now look at us; 100 HP ain't poo poo! We're dealing with thousands of damage.  I do like having a nice metric of how powerful we have become.  Speaking of which...  This is one of the tougher enemies around here, but we'll chump him.  As in, this is the only attack he got off.   Our power attacks are extremely efficient at annihilating a single target before they're truly aware of how hard they're getting murdered.  It helps when they're Insane and taking extra damage.  Alright, we've seen this layout before.  Nothing new or interesting really happens on these floors.  I mean, there are some more statues around, but I don't think that counts.  This is second most interesting thing on the floor.   Because this motherfucker is hanging out here, too. I immediately equip it, since October's strongest single target attack is Dark element, and our bosses from here on out are all alone.  Holy hell, a new enemy. I thought I was done talking about these guys.   I think I beat the hell out of his brother.  Why can't the Reaper have some hair? An afro or something, don't just leave him bald like that.  Oh, uh...Well, I guess death is no longer an obstacle for us. Always good to know.  As to be expected, beating death is pretty profitable.   How many goddamned bridges are in this place?  Jeezy-creezy.   Ooh, more commentary.  This is my biggest gripe with the game, truth be told. It's weird to think that I was complaining about an issue that they're directly addressing here.  I didn't know that one was coming, I swear. Anyways, let's do a treasure round-up.  It's true; disappointment does strengthen the character.  We now have 24 1-Ups. That seems excessive.  Hey, neato.  And up we go!  Well, this is a final boss area if I've ever seen one.  ...loving really, guys?  Oh, giant golem twist. I didn't expect that.  Yeah, but golems aren't self-sufficient like that. They've always got someone controlling them.  But, hey, it's another rear end to kick.   Is that the best they can offer?  Maybe this isn't as high as the others' single-target crushing attacks, but it still inflicts Insanity and is decently powerful in its own right.  I'm uncomfortable, because this is my 69th image and it involves tentacles.  What? Hell yes, I stunned it.  And then promptly beat the living hell out of it.  Oh, that's a guaranteed level!  Alright, let's reveal the shadowy master.  Well, ain't this something. Azathoth is an Outer Gods, also known as Nuclear Chaos, the Daemon Sultan, and...The Blind Idiot God. Other Outer Gods include Gnarlyhotep, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, and the Nameless Mist. This page has a ton more information on the entity, but he's one of those who exist beyond angled space and has a throne at the center of ultimate Chaos.  Calm down, Sharpe, we haven't even gotten there yet.  Okay, now this is a final boss area.   Just ahead is the last bit of commentary we'll be seeing.  eighty-five times. Perhaps it's even a title that I've LP'd before...  At least, I think that's the reference here. But, let's get it on. Azathoth, what do you have to say for yourself?  Alright, that's impressive.  That is also suitably impressive.  And I thought it was great, up until that last line.  But, hey, it's the final boss. Let's get crazy.  That's all you got? poo poo, son, I thought you were bringing your A game.  So, my general strategy here is to beat the living poo poo out of him.  As well as ensure that we're going before him.  There is a point to this.  Azathoth, as to be expected, has some pretty powerful attacks, but what final boss doesn't?  What? I was trying to make him the Blind Idiot God.  Focus will double the power of skills that inflict damage over time, too. Thinking about it now, I should have Focused again and hit him with some poison.  I'm not sure how big of a drop this is, but it doesn't seem very significant. I didn't much notice if Cthulhu's damage dropped or not.  Just wanted to mention how metal it is to be raining fire on one of the Outer Gods.  And, of course, we drive him batshit.  Which could easily end badly. I mean, that's a shitload of damage.  He also has an instant death attack, because why not?  I like to think that October threw this final Dark Blast like a Hadoken, just for the dramatic effect. I know Cthulhu would have.  Being the final boss, he drops a ton of EXP and Gold. I mean, that's a guaranteed level for everyone. Forever.  Have we finally saved the loving world?    Well, holy poo poo, we definitely did some world saving. I mean, we saved an entire universe! That's, like, a billion worlds! Or two billion!  Well, that's certainly a Metroid reference. Not what I was expecting to end the game on. Maybe if we'd had some sort of a parody of Samus' opening monologue of Super Metroid, this would be a nice bookend, but it's just another reference tossed in, slightly haphazardly.   ...Majora's Mask?  I can't really picture Ember giving enough of a poo poo to see Cthulhu and Paws off.    Oh, for Christ's sake, game, just get her on the ship.   Ugh.  This is like some sort of odd, half-assed T2 reference. But I'm also sure that's not what they were trying here. It's just a coincidence. I think.  Well, that's certainly an ending. Uh, I thought there would be more.    Alright, folks, that's another LP down. We're finished up here. Cthulhu Saves The World is still a really solid game, if a touch rough and unpolished in parts, but like someone in the thread said, it was a small indie studio. It's not like they had a gigantic team to focus on those parts, and I can't truly fault them for it. Sure, I'm not crazy about how the dungeons tended to devolve into similarity with nothing much to set them apart, but it's not really a terrible thing. It doesn't lend itself to pretty screenshots and being able to effectively lay out what I'm doing, but that's not a personal gripe, but one as an LP'er, and I can't imagine they were considering LP material when making the game. Cthulhu Saves The World is a really good game from a really small studio, and one that I would highly recommend. It's simple and easy to get into, both story and gameplay wise, without any major hurdles to overcome. It's simple enough for even the newest of gamers to enjoy, while having a combat system robust enough to have veterans trying to figure out the best way to snap it over their knee. The different difficulty modes can offer some crazy challenges (as I learned in the stream I did of the Insane difficulty), but it should have enough to entice gamers of any status and skill level, which is one of its greatest strengths. Having a game be simple to start and get through is not a weakness of any kind. Is there anything I'd change about it? Sure. I'd like to see the dungeons become a little more dynamic, have a little more of a sense of life to them. Have a few gimmicks here and there; the Water Shrine needing the water raised and lower to get around was a good start, but if they had done a little more with that, even if it devolved into draining some parts just to grab treasure, would have been satisfying, just for a bit of difference. Hell, if we'd needed to cross some lava in the Volcano, or even had non-euclidean geometry to cross in R'lyeh, that would have been just about perfect. Just a few little touches here and there would have made this experience even better. All in all, though, CSTW is a very good game, and something that, if you enjoy RPGs, should definitely be checked into. This LP was a lot of fun to do, even if it was frustrating to be trying to find good shots of a dungeon that looked the same from top to bottom, and even if I consistently forgot the Chat option and to show it off, but for $3, there is no reason not to check it out. Hell, you even get Breath of Death VII in that $3, so you'll have twelve to fifteen hours of enjoyment, just for $3. And with Cthulhu's Angels, that's several more hours of entertainment. Seriously, check them out; I can practically guarantee you won't be disappointed. Oh, and before I forget, remember the Quartet of Assholes that completely stomped my poo poo in a few updates ago? I went and got my revenge, and I always like to end on a high note. Anyways, folks, see you next time! Thanks for reading! Leave fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Jul 29, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 05:04
|
|
|
Those sure were a lot of level ups in the end there! Thanks for LPing this! I'll be honest, I feel like I stopped my playthrough at almost the perfect time. I missed out on Demon Dragon, but I also skipped on the story getting kinda eh. Oh well, it's still a cool experience taken altogether.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 07:12
|
|
|
Thanks for showing this off! Though I guess you missed the Hitchhiker's Trilogy reference hidden in there? Fun fact: Given how dangerous Azathoth is presented to be in the Cthulhu mythos (as noted in the link, if he wakes up then he ends the universe), Arkham Horror and its spinoffs all treat Azathoth similarly. In each of them there's a timer that your group is racing against to win, but generally if it runs out you merely have a very difficult and potentially hopeless boss battle on your ends. Azathoth, on the other hand, is not nearly so kind. If his timer runs out, he just destroys the world and makes the group instantly lose. (To balance this out, his timer is the longest out of any of the potential opponents.)
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 07:35
|
|
|
Thanks for doing this run! Old-style JRPGs aren't really my thing so there's basically no way I would have the patience for this normally, but it's fun to watch someone rip through it. I also actually like the good ending. Given the usual metaphor of humanity basically being to Cthulhu what ant colonies are to humans, this is the story of someone who went camping and woke up cursed by the local magical wildlife to help them out, in the process coming to like them enough that when he eventually leaves with others of his kind, everyone's friends. It's a sign we've gotten more upbeat about the Impossibly Alien over the past century. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 07:43
|
|
|
I really wanted this to end with something like "a week later, Chtulhu was really bored, so he went back and destroyed the world/s after all. It was a good day."
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 09:35
|
|
|
Thanks for the LP Leave! Great job. Sorry you couldn't do Angels Mode, but maybe someday. The Bonus Options are now unlocked on the Main Menu after you beat the game. All are fun in their own way. I could describe them, but first I want to check if Leave is planning to do so himself. Not stealing anyone's thunder here. I am also still willing to post a spoiler review of Angels Mode if you want, but not without permission. And um, it won't have any screenshots, just a link to someone else's LP with screenshots followed by a longass summary full of spoilers. Taking good screenshots is one of the skills I lack as far as LP-writing, patience is another.  If my half measures aren't enough, never mind. If they are, say the word and they will be contributed.Regardless of your answer, thanks again. Also, enjoy this fanart of Cthulhu and Umi's future life-  
achtungnight fucked around with this message at 11:48 on Jul 29, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 11:42
|
|
|
Thanks for doing this, Leave. I got this game in a bundle about a billion years ago and never got far with it due to the stale dungeons, despite all the quality of life Zeboyd added to the JRPG formula. Great commentary too, will be keeping an eye on your future LPs. Kind of wish they'd had the guts to finish the game with the "and after saving the world Cthulhu destroys the world" ending.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 11:44
|
|
|
Congrats on finishing yet another LP! Though that ending sure was one hell of a letdown. It's almost like you can pinpoint the exact second when the devs stopped giving a poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 18:42
|
|
|
Well, I guess that's basically what I was expecting from the ending! If only the final boss had been a collection of angry Lovecraft fanboys, though. Thanks for the LP--I've always been mildly curious about this game, and now I don't have to be. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2016 20:48
|
|
|
If you didn't know, I've started a new LP! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3784915&pagenumber=1&perpage=40
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2016 21:45
|
|
|
Just wanted to give my two cents for you doing a great job with this LP and showing off this underrated indie game before this thread gets closed. Mainly in the form of fanart, of course. This hastily sketched one is in response to your remark about Cthulhu's awesomeness not being contained by a shirt:  Is Cthulhu plain embarrassed or is the shirt too small? You decide! And this one, well, what if Azathoth got cursed into a lesser humanoid form like Cthulhu and tried to duke things out with him the old-fashioned way?  Spoilers: Azathoth still sucks.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2016 13:34
|
|
|
Daigerus posted:Just wanted to give my two cents for you doing a great job with this LP and showing off this underrated indie game before this thread gets closed. Mainly in the form of fanart, of course. Holy gently caress, these are incredible.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2016 13:37
|
|
|
In response to any potential curiosity about the Bonus Modes of the game, especially Cthulhu's Angels Mode, I was given permission to post this link to a full LP of the game including that mode. https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,11482.0.html Angels Mode has quite a different storyline, more coherent in some ways, that fills in many plot holes in Normal Mode (including just who cursed Cthulhu). I like its characters and ending better. That said, there's only one new dungeon and lots of the others are stripped bare or changed in bad ways. So it's a toss-up whether it's preferable or not. Still, I recommend it. The LP does a better job than I could laying it out. If you're curious, give Page 2 a look. (Page 1 mainly details the Normal Mode.) See y'all on other threads!
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2016 14:11
|
|
|
Did the Mythos ABC come up in this thread yet?
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2016 18:36
|
|
|
Im still open to playing Call of Cthulhu if you guys ever do that . Congrats on yet another finished LP Leave!
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2016 20:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 04:58 |
|
|
Of course Cthulhu would be cool with going to space. It's just an accident that he's even on this planet in the first place, a quirk of the uncaring cosmos.
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2016 11:46
|
|
