Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Well I beat Oblivion this morning and I was satisfied with everything. I decided to open up Street Fighter IV and was blown away at how awesome it is! Now I just have to juggle that with Dragon Quest V

As of late, been playing lots of War of the Monsters for the PS2, which, as I look at it, is what would happen if you combined Rampage and Smash Brothers. I have a thing for games with a parody element, and this game is really nothing BUT parody of all the crappy giant monster movies out there. You choose a monster (there are 10, that low number is one of my gripes about the game, especially since they somehow forgot to put in a Gamera rip-off), select a place, and totally lay waste to it while beating the snot out of another monster. Environments are totally open (but some a bit small), totally destructible and most of the things in the environment can be used as weapons, including cars. I do enjoy playing the Godzilla rip-off and using a water tower to beat the King Kong rip-off to death. Thus as fights progress, there are more weapons strewn about as buildings get destroyed and become large piles of rubble ripe for the picking of rocks, steal pipes and what-have-you to equip yourself with. The giant monster concept seems to be one that you'd think would translate well for a video game, but it seems developers struggle with it some. This one does it pretty well, and I can't help but think it might be because it doesn't take itself seriously AT ALL and is so over-the-top with its sci-fi B-movie cheesiness I can't help but laugh at it and respect it simultaneously. And have fun with it.

But tonight I might play a hacked version of Earthbound I found on Earthbound Central that someone created for a thesis project. Quite the thesis project! The video doesn't give much info, but I think I'm going to try it.

I was playing the Dragon Quest III remake for the SNES (fan translated), but I grew frustrated because of many small factors that add up to one huge annoyance.

The music is all orchestrated. That's fine, I love orchestrated things, but it really didn't have the same charm or feel that the NES version did. At times it's too soft, especially for the dungeon themes. It doesn't make crawling through dungeons thrilling or imposing in any way at all, it just feels like a stroll through the park with a few pests. =P I'd give it a 2/5 if you asked me to rate it overall.

Speaking of pests, the encounter rate which used to be frequent was definitely changed. I have gotten through a cave or two with under five fights (thankfully not all dungeons suffer from this, like the Pyramid still had its fair share of encounters). Such a disappointment, too.

The battles themselves? Enemies in general are way too easy and I got away with zero grinding until I reached Orochi (my party of a Hero and three fighters were obliterated xD), then I had to level. I first saw it at level 17 but my Heal spell and Medical Herbs weren't sufficient for keeping the party alive when it would spit fire at the whole party two times in a row for a whopping total of 60+ damage. I realise that life would've been easier had I taken a Cleric or Wizard, but I am stubborn and stuck with my three fighters. =P I finally killed it after learning Healmore at level 29 (really, why so late? and you learn Healall at level 34... >.<)

The Boss Troll was a joke compared to Orochi, but one thing I did note was that all the bosses in the game feel as if they have much more HP. I recall killing Orochi and Boss Troll in one round each on the NES. I reached Baramos and grinded a lot (level 35, fun stuff) but I don't believe it's doable with my current setup, but again, I refuse to change it. And lemme tell you, I am NOT looking forward to Zoma.

Another small disappointment. Recall how you could have anyone use a weapon or armor if it had a spell effect? (like Shield of Strength having Healmore) In this remake, you can only use said item if you can equip it. It made life much more frustrating when I wanted to use the Orochi Sword for the Defense spell, but only my Hero could use it. :|

Those are my biggest problems with the game. Graphically, it looks nice, but graphics alone don't hold my interest when the gameplay is as lacking as it is when it comes to a challenge (bosses are the only exception to this!). Monsters are animated too, but again, I don't really care. Never been huge on graphics, to be honest. The walking speed has also increased in towns/dungeons, which isn't too bad. Makes exploring a bit quicker, if anything.

I may pick up this game again if I am bored, but at the moment I just might play Soul Blazer instead. ^_^

Jumping between a lot of games right now:
Super Mario Galaxy, which I never finished.
Metroid Prime, in which a small part here in the Phazon Mines is giving me trouble and I keep dying, I wish save points weren't as spread out.
Super Smash Bros Brawl, as I'm always playing that with friends.
Earthbound...well, it's me, and I'm still trying to get all the 1/128 item drops (give me your fargin' sudden guts pill you freaking Musicas!) This valiant effort to obtain this particular 1/128 item drop for over a month now is also the reason behind my location in my profile. I'm not sure if that's funny or not. This enemy is only in this one location, and what's worse, after this one, the next place I get to (Moonside) has TWO 1/128 item drops with enemies found only there. >_<

Tsunami wrote:I was playing the Dragon Quest III remake for the SNES (fan translated), but I grew frustrated because of many small factors that add up to one huge annoyance.

Are all those changes just part of the basic SNES remake, or is some of it stuff the fan translation changed? It sounds like the game is
really nerfed from the NES version.

Thoul wrote:

Tsunami wrote:I was playing the Dragon Quest III remake for the SNES (fan translated), but I grew frustrated because of many small factors that add up to one huge annoyance.

Are all those changes just part of the basic SNES remake, or is some of it stuff the fan translation changed? It sounds like the game is
really nerfed from the NES version.

It's part of the basic remake, yes. The translation is pretty spot-on and there is nothing -too- different. It's just little things the bothered me. :\

I should probably play through it again and get sages next time to see how easy it is. Maybe I could try finishing it at a really low level or something...still gotta finish the game I got goin', though. x_X

I'm working on Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360 now. It's four discs and I've just gotten a little way into the second disc. So far it's pretty good; there were some very nice story scenes in the first disc.

Ohhh Thoul I absolutely loved Lost Odyssey. Definitely a great addition to my gaming collection, what's your favorite part thus far?

Right now I am completely drawn in to Fallout 3. Of course I am a big fan of the previous 2 and feel that this one is a worthy member to the Fallout Universe. Although a lot of people tend to disagree and say it's "Oblivion with guns" [it is made with the same engine Oblivion runs on], I like it for what it is. Now with the newest DLC for it [3 total, which I have the other 2], it just expands on the exploration factor and continues to keep me enthralled.

I'm up to disc 4 on Lost Odyssey now. I'm in the "do sidequests before last dungeon" bit of the game. My favorite cutscene so far is probably finding Kaim's daughter and the funeral, because that did tremendous things for Kaim's character development. Most of the stuff with the main villain is nice, too. He's really well written and acted.

Well, I'm home for a week before I start working, so been playing games. Mostly, Super Mario Galaxy, because I never finished it and I think it's a good time to tackle something I started and didn't finish. I just defeated Bowser the first time. I chose that one because Galaxy is fun, and the section of the Phazon Mines in Metroid Prime where I keep dying is getting a bit frustrating, since I can play for half an hour-45 minutes and see it all go to waste repeatedly because save points are so spread out, which is my major complaint about that game.

And then of course, there is the continuing saga of the Musicas in the Fourside Department Store in Earthbound that just won't cough up their sudden guts pill...I'm not sure if I'm stupid or persistent.