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The first time I played KOTOR I didn't know that the system underpinning it was basically 3rd Edition D&D because I hadn't played D&D since the B/X era, so I had a very frustrating time fighting through the underground levels of Taris (and dying repeatedly) before realising I could level up. Very recently played D2 on Dreamcast (emulator) because I thought, why not? From the little I'd seen of it, I was expecting some sort of supernatural horror thing in a snowbound Stephen King-esque town. I was very surprised when after several minutes of extremely dated 'virtual actors' delivering horribly awkward dialogue, it suddenly turned into a plant-based version of The Thing.  And then I went outside the cabin and discovered that the controls were apparently meant for some kind of drunkenness simulator.Similarly, I tried Power Stone without instructions. It's a fighter, how hard can it be? Uh...
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Nov 22, 2019 23:13
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Payndz posted:Similarly, I tried Power Stone without instructions. It's a fighter, how hard can it be? Uh... Welcome to Power Stone World! Where the poo poo is the block button
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Nov 23, 2019 03:28
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ukrainius maximus posted:My aunt gave me a copy of Mystic Quest when I was really young and I loved it so much that I dove into any RPG I could get my hands on. At one point, she gave me a copy of 7th Saga and despite my best efforts, I don't think I ever even made it past the first dungeon (the one with the big demon dog guy). That game was loving hard and I had no idea how to even have a chance of surviving. I always picked the big robot dude too because duh, I was a little boy. Extremely  on picking Lux. I managed to get reasonably far at one point only to have the elf mage (Esuna?) take the rune that lets you warp from place to place and could not get it back from her. Her ice spell took like 85% of Lux's HP in one shot and afaict the companions have infinite MP one-on-one combats like that, so there isn't even a chance to just heal heal heal and outlast her.I don't remember what pig thing everyone is talking about but I've been meaning to play Illusion of Gaia again so no spoilers please, let me ruin my brain on my own. 
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Nov 25, 2019 01:58
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ukrainius maximus posted:My aunt gave me a copy of Mystic Quest when I was really young and I loved it so much that I dove into any RPG I could get my hands on. At one point, she gave me a copy of 7th Saga and despite my best efforts, I don't think I ever even made it past the first dungeon (the one with the big demon dog guy). That game was loving hard and I had no idea how to even have a chance of surviving. I always picked the big robot dude too because duh, I was a little boy. There's a reason The 7th Saga is so hard. The original Japanese version is called Elnard and is actually fairly easy. Unfortunately, this game was released during the time period when the general thinking among Japanese game developers was "Americans like their games to be very difficult" and increased the difficulty of the overseas ports. The 7th Saga is an unfortunate extreme case of this mentality, where they cranked up the difficulty to a truly masochistic level. It almost certainly wasn't actually playtested for difficulty at any point. All enemies were greatly buffed. Some of the harder enemies could only be encountered one at a time in Elnard but could be encountered in sets of three in The 7th Saga. The player characters were nerfed into the ground. Your stat gains per level up are much lower than in Elnard and some abilities were pushed back to later levels. Some of this can be somewhat mitigated by just grinding the everloving poo poo out of the enemies. There are two problems with this: The stat caps in the overseas versions are lower, and the BIG problem... When you have to fight other apprentices, they are not nerfed like the player is. They will always have the same stats as in the Japanese version. And since they're always the same level as the player, grinding levels actually makes the apprentice fights harder because they gain stats at a MUCH faster rate than you do. This can make late game apprentice fights literally unwinnable unless you get extremely lucky and their AI has a brain fart and doesn't obliterate you in the most efficient manner. And since they steal all your runes (your main source of healing/buffing/debuffing/fast travel) when they kill you then you should just reset because there's no way in hell to get anywhere without those drat runes. gently caress The 7th Saga and the geniuses who decided to make the US/European versions so insanely difficult.
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Nov 25, 2019 04:55
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PneumonicBook posted:The 3DS version of kid icarus (the one with 3d backgrounds but was otherwise the nes kod icaurus) seemed fine when I played it, not sure if it was rebalance though. It was, but maybe not by default? There's a custom control option that makes the character's movement a lot more responsive and adds some moves like being able to slow-fall by mashing jump, plus the framerate's solid and not jerky as hell like the NES version. It also has saves (which were a thing in the original Japanese version, it's one of those disc games that came out on cartridge overseas that didn't get battery backup, like Metroid). https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/3d-classics-kid-icarus-3ds
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Nov 26, 2019 10:32
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Quiet Feet posted:Extremely You need to get on that and report back here once you know what we are talking about.
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Nov 27, 2019 13:16
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As someone already mentioned, Frankie Goes to Hollywood on the C64 didn't make any sense to my 10 year old self but neither does it now. Also, the game always scared me somehow with it's creepy music and mysterious empty houses. Does anyone know what the hell was going on in Manhunter New York? Had this on some old rear end CGA graphics pc. It sure was interesting but I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
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Dec 16, 2019 11:29
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Klaaz posted:Does anyone know what the hell was going on in Manhunter New York? Had this on some old rear end CGA graphics pc. It sure was interesting but I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I beat my head against that game for a long time as a kid but never really made any appreciable progress. Many years later, I'd end up reading an LP of that game and its sequel (from this very site!) that showed me not only what was going on but that there's no way I could have ever gotten any further than I did without some serious assistance. Those games were obtuse.
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Dec 16, 2019 12:08
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Somehow someone gave my mom a bunch of NES games and we ended up with Maniac Mansion for NES. I had never, ever played any of those types of games in my life on any system. They are basically impossible to play without the book, when you're a dumb turd of a kid, and without an instruction manual or the internet. I'm not sure I ever made any "progress" on that game because progress is in no way measurable or linear.
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Dec 16, 2019 22:35
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charity rereg posted:Somehow someone gave my mom a bunch of NES games and we ended up with Maniac Mansion for NES. I had never, ever played any of those types of games in my life on any system. They are basically impossible to play without the book, when you're a dumb turd of a kid, and without an instruction manual or the internet. I rented Shadowgate for the NES one time and had no idea wtf was going on, and of course the book didn't come with it
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Dec 16, 2019 23:03
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charity rereg posted:Somehow someone gave my mom a bunch of NES games and we ended up with Maniac Mansion for NES. I had never, ever played any of those types of games in my life on any system. They are basically impossible to play without the book, when you're a dumb turd of a kid, and without an instruction manual or the internet. Oh for sure. It’s odd seeing Maniac Mansion held in such high esteem nowadays, without acknowledging it wasn’t much fun without any guide or context. The multiple endings and character abilities aren’t appreciated when you can’t figure out how to get out of the dungeon or upstairs. It’s like how New Vegas for $5 with all the patches and expansions is top tier, but buying it at release meant enduring glitches so half your party stops responding during the finale. Luckily most of my time went to LucasArts, and I got the full benefit of being unable to die and a non-hostile interface. Sam & Max owned so much, especially with their comics in the Adventurer.
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Dec 17, 2019 02:56
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I find that a lot of complaints about NES games not explaining things is because you’re meant to read the manual before playing. Maniac Mansion can be pretty obtuse, but the manual flat out tells you how to get into the mansion and also mentions that there’s a loose brick in the dungeon. It also came with a poster that had hints on it.
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Dec 17, 2019 03:10
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Uh... Maniac Mansion is and always has been awesome, you weirdos
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Dec 17, 2019 04:07
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A bitch to play on an NES though.
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Dec 17, 2019 04:13
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I'm pretty sure it was already mentioned but holy poo poo Milon's Secret Castle. I actually really liked that game, but I could never get past the first floor because of that dumb brick you had to "push" by just walking into it for 2-3 seconds. Didn't help that my copy was in Japanese, so I didn't know what items do what, but it was pretty funny discovering all those years later that it wasn't even an issue. Playing it on an emulator revealed that the game behaves exactly the same after the brick part. A shame, really. I've played La-Mulana recently, and I loving loved it, so if Milon were a game that actually gives you clues as you explore the castle, it could've been great!
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Dec 18, 2019 09:36
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Bravoman for TG-16 in a sense. When I played it as a kid I was able to figure out what I had to do to complete the stages, but as someone who didn't (and still doesn't) read Japanese, I had no idea what a lot of the in-game text (the dialogue is in Engrish) was saying. The icons you picked up might as well have spelled out 'gently caress You' for all I knew/know. For the NES, Defenders of the Crown. Probably less an issue with the gameplay than my not understanding how the game works, but you spend money to build an army to go attack enemy castles. Sometimes, you hold a jousting tournament over which you don't seem to have any control. Strange little game that was probably better suited for the PC.
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Dec 19, 2019 18:20
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The thing to remember about rentals is how often they didn't come with manuals. For example, my experience with Ducktales for the NES, where I didn't figure out that I needed to use the B button (which by itself does nothing) in combination with the d-pad and A button in order to use the cane at all... ...until about an hour before the cart had to go back to the store. Similarly, Dragon Warrior 3, where the game tells you to go to the tower on the nearby island but if you're a kid with no grasp of needing to level up A LOT to get anywhere in a DQ game, that was basically a wasted rental. This one's a real weird corner case, but it's one of those things that makes a lot more sense as an adult - Countermeasure for the Atari 5200. I know, you've probably never heard of it, and that's because it's a complete one-off, never been ported. And TBF, that sucks a little bit, because it has some cool ideas for the time. So on the one hand, it's a tank game with an independently-controllable turret, where you have to blow up missile silos before nukes hit DC, but not only can you just shoot the silos, you can park your tank in one and take a crack at a randomly-generated three-letter password against the clock (the numpad overlay for the game marks 1, 2, and 3 as "L," "E," and "O," and the code phrase is some combination of those three letters.) It's the sort of thing that can make for an interesting, tense game now, but will just make an eight-year-old cry.  (Countermeasure's game over screen)
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Dec 22, 2019 05:43
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hexwren posted:The thing to remember about rentals is how often they didn't come with manuals. Countermeasure is one of my favorite 5200 games. I owned it and loved it. The only real problem is the slow tank movement speed. Each level gives you a ten minute time limit to either blow up seven silos or enter a silo and enter the code before the end of the countdown. The tank moves so drat slow that it's nearly impossible to take out all seven silos. I would just get the single-letter clue from the first fuel depot then take my chances entering the code in the first silo. Edit: And that screenshot of the "nukes hitting Washington" game over doesn't fully capture the horror of the actual game over. The skull slowly flashes menacingly while eerie, ominous background music plays. It's awesome. ...! fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Dec 24, 2019 |
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Dec 24, 2019 22:49
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Randaconda posted:I rented Shadowgate for the NES one time and had no idea wtf was going on, and of course the book didn't come with it
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Dec 25, 2019 19:58
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FactsAreUseless posted:Same story, but it was the Nintendo 64 one. I was unaware there was a N64 port. Odd game to port
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Dec 25, 2019 21:29
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I remember being a kid and reading about upcoming N64 games in a few different magazines and at least a couple of them were breathlessly hyped for Shadowgate?? Like I had this idea at the time that Shadowgate was this very highly respected classic game or something
Pretty good fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Dec 25, 2019 |
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Dec 25, 2019 22:38
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Pretty good posted:I remember being a kid and reading about upcoming N64 games in a few different magazines and at least a couple of them were breathlessly hyped for Shadowgate?? Like I had this idea at the time that Shadowgate was this very highly respective classic game or something It was. It was the third of the MacVenture games after Déjà Vu and Uninvited. It was also pretty dire, but we didn't get, by modern standards, good at making adventure games until the mid-1990s.
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Dec 25, 2019 23:05
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Randaconda posted:I was unaware there was a N64 port. Odd game to port It's a sequel, rather than a port. Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers.
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Dec 26, 2019 02:09
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Mission Impossible for the NES. I could never make any progress in the game. As far as I ever figured out, I wandered around, found this one locked door that you had to turn into a different character to unlock, then while I was walking around outside I would get shot by a helicopter for taking too long or something. Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers: I could never clear the first boss. Could never figure out how. There was a big red ball, and I was sure it factored in somehow, but nothing I tried ever worked. The Toxic Avenger. Same thing. I'd get to the sludge boss, and I KNEW FOR A GODDAMN FACT that you needed to use the kitty litter, because I watched the cartoon and had seen that episode, but nothing I did ever worked. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I could never get the jokes correct to save Roger from the weasels. In my defense, I was a small child and the game never had the instruction book when I rented it. That, and all I really wanted to do was drive around in the car. Skate or Die. Once again, since the instructions were never with the game, I couldn't ever figure out how to get past the half-pipe level.
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Jan 1, 2020 10:54
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die die die DIE DIE DIE
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Jan 1, 2020 11:25
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Man, you really didn't know what was going on in Rescue Rangers, did you? You had to press B to pick up the ball and then B again to throw it. I'm surprised you actually got to the boss in the first place without figuring out how to pick up and throw things; it's the game's main mechanic.
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Jan 1, 2020 14:10
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Rescue Rangers was a good game.
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Jan 1, 2020 14:23
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Randaconda posted:die die die DIE DIE DIE I still remember the digitized speech in the opening theme song for Skate or Die 2. Very unusual for an NES game. Skate. Or. Die. Skate or die. Die die die die die. Skate. Or. Die. Sk-sk-sk-sk-skate or die. D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DIE
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Jan 1, 2020 15:03
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...! posted:I still remember the digitized speech in the opening theme song for Skate or Die 2. Very unusual for an NES game. That's what I was trying to quote  I just couldn't remember the lyrics
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Jan 1, 2020 15:14
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Impossible Mission on the Sega Master System. You just go around searching desks and other things for whatever and... where the gently caress am I even going anyway? I could play this now and I'd probably still be loving clueless. Even the box art baffled me: 
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Jan 1, 2020 19:32
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If that's the same game as the one on the C64 and it comes anywhere close to it, you've missed out on a terrific game. If my memory serves me right, the desks and stuff can contain parts of keys you need in other areas of the game.
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Jan 1, 2020 19:45
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ZogrimAteMyHamster posted:Impossible Mission on the Sega Master System. You just go around searching desks and other things for whatever and... where the gently caress am I even going anyway? I could play this now and I'd probably still be loving clueless. That's just a photo montage of a dude tripping balls. Seriously look at that top right corner. Dude looking like he's seeing his fist for the first time.
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Jan 1, 2020 19:46
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Who is the old man looking on in disapproval?
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Jan 1, 2020 19:47
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...! posted:Man, you really didn't know what was going on in Rescue Rangers, did you? You had to press B to pick up the ball and then B again to throw it. I'm surprised you actually got to the boss in the first place without figuring out how to pick up and throw things; it's the game's main mechanic. No, I knew how to throw it. I just couldn't ever throw it where it apparently needed to go. No matter what I did, it just bounced around uselessly.
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Jan 1, 2020 19:57
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Klaaz posted:If that's the same game as the one on the C64 and it comes anywhere close to it, you've missed out on a terrific game. It is indeed the same game as on the C64. A mate of mine had played it as a kid on that system long before we even knew each other and insisted it was called "The Giant Rat" or some poo poo. I haven't played it myself in god knows how long, since some time in early '94 or something. It may well be a great game, but as a six-year-old I didn't have any idea what I was supposed to be doing.
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Jan 1, 2020 19:59
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the_steve posted:No, I knew how to throw it. I just couldn't ever throw it where it apparently needed to go. No matter what I did, it just bounced around uselessly. You were supposed to throw it at the boss.
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Jan 1, 2020 22:24
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...! posted:You were supposed to throw it at the boss. Dude, I was 5 years old. All I remember was that there was a big Tesla Coil looking thing in the background and nothing else but the Chipmunks and a big red ball.
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Jan 2, 2020 00:11
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Someone at a garage sale inexplicably gave me a free cartridge of Eye of the Beholder for SNES. Having to figure out 2nd Edition D&D without any manual or in-game instructions whatsoever was a cruel task to give to an 8 year old. I specifically remember struggling through until there's a section with warp tiles, and getting forever stuck there because I didn't know I was being spun around and sent backwards over and over. Years later after I understood more I actually got to the second goddamn area and then accidentally hit a dwarf and got owned 
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Jan 2, 2020 04:51
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Kite Pride Worldwide posted:Someone at a garage sale inexplicably gave me a free cartridge of Eye of the Beholder for SNES. Having to figure out 2nd Edition D&D without any manual or in-game instructions whatsoever was a cruel task to give to an 8 year old. Jesus god almighty you've just reminded me of that massive D&D turd on the NES, "Heroes of the Lance". Walk around a maze for a bit and watch as your "heroes" all die in embarrassingly stupid ways, usually by falling down a hole. Granted I only played this for 10 minutes at most but that was enough. It's rough as gently caress. "The Immortal" on NES is another one I had no loving clue about when playing. First room and you get eaten by a worm thing for daring to take in your surroundings without moving. Great. Then you go into the next room and fight a goblin via some lovely attempt at a Punch-Out! styled dodge-and-counter combat system. You'd think that a wizard -- even one of the crappiest -- would have spells or something to attack with from more than 2ft away, but no, he just goes at it toe-to-toe to twat goblins with his gnarled old stick. I was in my early teens (almost 20 years ago  ) when I first discovered both of these thanks to the magic of emulation enabling me to play weird obscure things but loving hellfire if they weren't awful experiences that made no sense at the time. I've not touched either of these since then, so if they are actually any good then whatever. But I doubt either of them are even remotely close to good.
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Jan 2, 2020 05:16
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Back to the Future 2&3 on NES. Bought Terminator 2 on SNES. Bought Mission Impossible on N64. Rented on blockbuster gently caress me running i had no idea what was going on in any of these games. The only one that even remotely followed the movie was Terminator 2, but the game itself was an uncontrollable piece of poo poo. Back to the future if you haven't played, just skip to any longplay and try to parse what the hell is going on
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Jan 18, 2020 15:37
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