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xhonzi

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30-Oct-2005
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13-Oct-2020
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Post
#423833
Topic
Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/423833/action/topic#423833
Time

So, I finished my primary play through of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  I will provide a spoiler free section, a light spoiler section, and a full spoiler section.

 
Spoiler free:
This game came out in 1997, so right there it should tell you a few things:
1. I shouldn't have to worry about spoilers. 
2. It's old. 
3. It's ugly.
4. It shouldn't be competitive with a modern game. 
But it is. 
I think that's one of the highest forms of praise that can be offered to an old game: It's so compelling, that regardless of how 2D or ugly it might be, the gameplay can still capture your attention and imagination in such a way that you put aside the latest games that cost $Millions to produce and $60 to buy...
 
I had ignored the Castlevania series ever since I played 10 minutes of the first one on my cousin's NES.  I was 10- the Medieval setting didn't interest me and I found it to be too hard to be fun.  But I did love Metroid.  I still love Metroid.  When I first saw pics of the newish game Shadow Complex, I thought: meh.  Then someone said the magic words: It's like Metroid.  Then I was told it was also like Castlevania in the same way.  This made me cock my head to the side and go, 'huh'?  Because the Castlevania I played was in no way similar to Metroid.  And that's because I hadn't played Symphony of the Night.  Yet.  After finishing Shadow Complex, I downloaded the C:SotN demo on Xbox Live.  I played the first 10 minutes or so and still thought... hmm... I guess I still don't like it.  Then I kept hearing the game get referenced and then it went on sale for half off, so I put my 400 MS points on the line and decided to add it to my collection, potentially to go unplayed.  I played an hour here and there, but after I finished Assassin's Creed II- I don't know what happened, but I found myself totally engrossed into it.  It's the "open world" exploration that I love from Metroid, and the "now that I have the double jump ability, what can I go back and go that I couldn't do before?" mechanic.  But then there was something else that really got me.  It's a minor spoiler, and a look at the Xbox Achievements will spoil this surprise as well, but I will enclose it in mild spoiler tags:
 
In conclusion, it's amazing to me how well the gameplay has resisted the effects of time.  The only other game I can think of that has done this this well is Flashback.  If you are a Metroid fan, or a fan of open world, exploration, secret item unlockation, you definitely should stop here and go play the game.  It's on XBLA and I think PSN as well.  Push comes to shove, I'm sure you can emulate one of the other systems it's been on.
 
Mild Spoilers:
It's possible to "win" the game without "winning" it.  Whenever you load a saved game, it tells you what percentage of the castle you have explored.  When you're approaching 80 or 90%, you have found Dracula's throne room and, if you feel inclined, you can go there, defeat the final boss, get your pat on the back, and watch the ending credits.  THE END.  However, if you continue to explore the castle to 100%, you'll obtain an item that will so fundamentally change the fight with the final boss... Well, let's just say that there's another castle to explore and that when I finally beat the game and the final, final boss... I had explored 200.6 percent of Dracula's castle.  And this is what I wanted to focus on.  In the modern era of videogames, much ado has been made about "morality."  Sometimes you get to choose to play a good guy or a bad guy.  Sometimes you're a guy and you get to decide to be good or bad.  Sometimes you get to decide if you want to be selfish or altruistic.  But the "morality" of C:SotN seemed really fresh to me.  Instead of a question bluntly put to the player: Are you good or bad?  It was more of a long con that asked "How responsible are you?"  You are there to prevent the resurrection of Dracula.  There are vague hints (that don't come across as hints) that something odd is going on in the castle and if you ignore those things, or discount them, then you head to the throne room and kill a boss, which accomplishes your main goal of preventing the rise of Dracula, but it doesn't bring the greatest brand of justice to the characters in the game.  However, if you continue to search the castle- to investigate the mystery which is lightly laid in, you are rewarded with a game-changing artifact extends the game significantly and ultimately gives the greatest satisfactory ending to the game.  To give you some idea of what you're missing if you don't play "the last half of the game", the strongest weapons and swords, appx half of the life and ammo upgrades, the final-final boss, and 5 or 6 macro bosses, and about a third of the total enemy types.
 
I found this to be awesome, and quite unique, despite the fact that I encountered the "short" ending first.  I had read the achievements, so I knew I was supposed to accomplish more in the game than I had... but I was unsure of how to do it.  So I was a little frustrated, but I knew there were a few corners of the map I had yet to explore.  I returned to them and, with a little help from a full map I found online, was able to fully explore the first castle and then move on to the second.  While the 2nd 100% is theoretically as much "content" as the first, there is a lot less repetitive exploration (since you already have the "double jump ability", etc.) and so it goes by much quicker.
 
Full Spoilers:
Richter, the "hero" of the opening segment (which is, apparently, the finale of the previous game) becomes the unwilling villain of the first half of the game.  Only by obtaining the object referenced above, do you see that he is possessed and not in control of his actions.  When you defeat him in this way, you free him from his possession instead of killing him the way you would have before.  He thanks you and reveals the true villain in another castle visible from the topmost tower of the current castle.  This other castle is actually the first castle, but rotated 180 degrees so that everything is upside down.  A world you've been used to navigating one way is now a new challenge.  As the stairs in a tall room are now found on the ceiling, getting from one level to the next can be a bit difficult.  And, of course, the enemies are also a lot tougher, and the whole thing is familiar, yet unique.  Perhaps I should have been more suspicious when Dracula wasn't the final boss in the "short" game.  But, from a certain point of view, Richter was a worthy villain and a worthy boss for the finale to a 10 hour game.  I'm glad that I found the very strong 3rd act to the game and the real fnale, but I could have been convinced that beating Richter was the actual end to the game.
 
At this point in time, since I have rescued Richter from his possession, I am able to restart the game and play as him.  Richter is a completely different character than Alucard.  He doesn't use objects found in the game, he can't change weapons, he is much weaker and he can't double jump (!!!).  So playing the game as Richter is much more like the "classic" Castlevania formula: A traditional side-scroller.  However, Richter must still navigate the castle and defeat the final boss.  The castle is still laid out like an open world, but Richter should beat the most direct path from A->B->C because there is no advantage to exploring.  Having the benefit of exploring the castle twice, you should have some idea of how to do this...  But again you are navigating the familiar terrain, but under completely new rules, so it's a different challenge.  I'm only about 10-15 minutes into this new mode, but I don't think it lasts more than an hour or two.
Post
#423780
Topic
Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/423780/action/topic#423780
Time

 Hotrod:

I take it I'm the only twat here with a PS3 then????

I have one.  I own 2 disc games for it (Resistance & LBP) and a couple PSN games: Flow, Flower, Trine.  I have borrowed a couple games for it though.  I bought it to knock out the exclusives that I wanted to play, but mostly to play blu ray.  And I'm hoping it makes good on the whole 3D blu ray promise.  It had better.

Nanner:

Am I the only PC gamer in this thread? I take it nobody here is into Team Fortress 2?

I have a PC or 7.  None of them are in "gaming shape", unless you count minesweeper or Farmland.  I've tried TF2 on 360 a couple times... but there aren't many people playing it, and I think I'd just spend my time being jealous that the 360 doesn't have all of the updates that the PC version does.

 cutnshut:

 

Star Wars: Empire at War + expansion

I bought this on DVD 6 months ago or so...  I kinda like it, but I've only played it a couple times.  I totally got my butt handed to me when I played the 2nd level or something because I didn't realize I had to mass forces to the planet before I started the battle.  Then I thought that perhaps it was too easy since I could just Powell doctrine the enemy into oblivion.

Anyways, I'm not answering your quest because I don't know the answer. 

Post
#423353
Topic
STAR WARS: EP V &quot;REVISITED EDITION&quot;<strong>ADYWAN</strong> - <strong>12GB 1080p MP4 VERSION AVAILABLE NOW</strong>
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/423353/action/topic#423353
Time

Rogue Leader said:

xhonzi said:

Rogue Leader said:

Incom T-47 speeders are not equiped with bombs. Thus I suggested the Rebel ground troops running towards the crash with a portable concussion missle launcher with a combined attacked from the snowspeeders.

Yeah, I'm afraid I don't really care what the minutia of the EU has to say about everything.  The fact is that the movie, as filmed, shows snowspeeders using blasters to blow up armor that's "too strong for blasters."  So, yes, you could shoot a completely new scene with ground troops running toward the thing with missile launchers (which probably are also new to the contintuity of the scene) or you could add a bomb or two to the snowspeeders and mostly keep the scene as is.  As you said, the rebels modified the snowspeeders for use on Hoth... who's to say that they didn't add some heavier ordinance to them while they were at it.  If Luke can carry an AT-AT destroying grenade on his belt, surely the light speeders can carry a couple bombs/missiles/grenades capable of the same feat.

Apparently Ady doesn't plan to do anything with the scene, but wouldn't a simple change to the ordinance fired by the snowspeeders be a lot more in line with the subtle changes than filming an entirely new scene?

If that's the case why not have some X-wings diverted from escort duty of the medium transports to slag the walkers with a couple of proton torps. <EU trivia> Or why not just reorient the angle of the <EU trivia> ion canon  to fire at the AT-ATs, if it can take a ISD then walkers should be nothing... Oooo wait, why don't we actually have the Rebel win the battle of Hoth! XD

There's changes for the sake of improvement and then there are changes for nothing more than flash.

I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, and this will be my last comment on the subject, but... 

I don't see how "changing lasers to a bomb to explain why the movie once said 'their armor is too strong for blasters' and then shows the same people blowing up said armor with said blasters" is change for change's sake or 'just to do something flashy'.  I don't see how it's anywhere in the same league as filming additional material with soldiers or other spacecraft or canons or whatnot.  It would probably be a change that no one would notice, unless they were in the camp of people (you know who you are) who consider it an onscreen contradiction.  I'm not suggesting the speeders shoot rainbows, and I'm not suggesting that the Empire brings its mini death star along.  The speeders blow up the AT-AT, I was simply trying to suggest a simple change to the scene that would make sense, but not be too big a departure from the scene today.  Either in terms of pixel count or story effect.

You and Ady seem to agree that you don't think there is an onscreen contradiction, but you don't need to poo-poo the people that do.

You may not care about the EU and that's fine but there are many holes we can all poke in this battle and not everything needs to be explained...

This is true.  It really is stupid to devise a walking tank that only shoots forward.  It's even more stupid to attack that tank from the front.  HigHurtenflurst is right, I guess it's best to just not overthink it.

Post
#423349
Topic
Space War, Hyperspace, Fuel, etc... How it all works (or doesn't)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/423349/action/topic#423349
Time

HigHurtenflurst said regarding the battle of Hoth in http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/STAR-WARS-EP-V-REVISITED-EDITION-ADYWAN-RELEASE-DATE-2011/post/423322/#TopicPost423322

There's not a lot about the whole battle makes any sense.  For starters, where's the air cover?  You gotta have air superiority before you send in the ground pounders....  A few Tie fighters would have knocked all those pesky speeders down in no time, and some Tie bombers could have knocked out all the turrets/ground defenses, etc...  A big atmospheric battle between Ties and Xwings as a prelude to an aerial bombing attack/ground assault would have made a lot more sense in military terms...

And the rebel pilots are morons.  Absolute and utter morons!  You're attacking a slow moving target with an extremely small arc of fire, limited to just a few degrees left and right of center, (slightly better vertically) so what do you do?  Attack from the sides/behind/above/below where they ludicrously  have absolutely no defense of any kind?  Of course not!  Go charging straight in head on every time and get the crap kicked out of you!  Yay rebels!

And the space blockade.  Did it actually stop anybody from escaping?  Again, where were the fighters?  Tractor beams?  Anything? What a bunch of clowns.

The battle of Hoth is my very favorite moment of the whole series, it still gives me a tingle, but when I stop to actually think about it, the whole thing falls apart.  The secret is:  never think.

Post
#423347
Topic
Happy Independence/Insurrection Day
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/423347/action/topic#423347
Time

Warbler said:

I never knew you were a fan of 1776, Xhonzi.   I it one of my favorites.  Before your time, I used John Adams as my avatar here.

You wound me to the quick, sir!  We have had many a conversation on these very boards regarding our mutual adoration of 1776.  I sent you a PM way back in the day when I first saw your John Adams avatar.  Perhaps you have forgotten, but I never have.

Xhonzi,  I have to bet you are not exactly a fan of Dickinson's song, Cool Cool Considerate Men.  ; )

I don't really identify with the so-called "right winged" or "conservative" men of the time, so it doesn't really bother me.  It's not my favourite song in the piece by a long shot...  so I guess it's true to say I'm not a fan of it.  Can you say that you are a fan of it either?

The drifting of definitions such as "progressive", "liberal", "conservative", "democrat" etc. would be interesting to take to the Politics thread.  I don't think many modern day conservatives identify with those guys.  But I bet both left wing and right wing camps claim the likes of Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, etc...