(10/17/2015 - 10/23/2015) Game of the Week: Lords of Thunder

[SamIAm]

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October 17 - October 23: Lords of Thunder
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(chosen by SamIAm)

Lords of Thunder is my favorite Turbo game. It's what got me hooked on the system in the first place. It's what goes in when a guest wants to see what a Turbo game looks like. If I could make a close sequel to anything on the system magically appear, it would be to this one. It's among my favorite games of all time. The term "video game" inspires images of it in my head.

What gets me is the stage design. Try and describe with words the environments you progress through during any stage in the game. They're all so fantastic, so dynamic, and so detailed even at the conceptual level. Then, when you get down and look at the actual in-game art, you can instantly appreciate how beautifully realized these concepts are. The stages are colorful, intense, and damned exciting to watch.

Then there's the music. I'll go ahead and out myself as a guy who listens to video game music more than anything else. While it's not quite the most important thing, a game's soundtrack alone can make me love or hate it, and there's nothing better than finding a game with an excellent music. It's the seasoning on the steak. Well, to cut to the chase, Lords of Thunder is a high point in game music history. If I'm playing it next to someone, I'll periodically turn my head, smile and say "Can you believe this music? It's INSANE!"

The game itself is a totally solid shooter. Collecting gems is endlessly entertaining, and aggressively blasting waves of enemies with a powered up armor is more than satisfying, too. Sometimes I curse its difficulty when I get hit a few too many times and lose hope of clearing the game smoothly. However, I know that this is simply the result of me becoming shamefully rusty. Good games should be a little hard.

Whether you've played this game to death already or you've never properly cleared it because of the above-mentioned strictness, I implore you to take this occasion to play through Lords of Thunder again and savor how freaking cool it is. You won't regret it. I promise.

Also, listen to the soundtrack.

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GOTW Schedule:
1. 8/22/2015 - 8/28/2015: Override (lukester)
2. 8/29/2015 - 9/4/2015: Rondo of Blood (o.pwuaioc)
3. 9/5/2015 - 9/11/2015: Street Fighter 2 (Nec.Game.head)
4. 9/12/2015 - 9/18/2015: Bloody Wolf (Gentlegamer)
5. 9/19/2015 - 9/25/2015: Kabuki Itoryodan (Sadler)
6. 9/26/2015 - 10/2/2015: R-Type (crazydean)
7. 10/3/2015 - 10/9/2015: Fray CD: Xak Gaiden (Nulltard)
8. 10/10/2015 - 10/16/2015: Wizardry 3&4 (BigusSchmuck)
9. 10/17/2015 - 10/23/2015: Lords of Thunder (SamIAm)
10. 10/24/2015 - 10/30/2015: TV Sports Hockey (gredler)
11. 10/31/2015 - 11/6/2015: Blazing Lazers (escarioth)
12. 11/7/2015 - 11/13/2015: Genpei Toumaden (VenomMacbeth)
13. 11/14/2015 - 11/20/2015: Hyper Wars (JoshTurboTrollX-16)
14. 11/21/2015 - 11/27/2015: Drop Off (turboswimbz)
15. 11/28/2015 - 12/4/2015: World Court Tennis (grolt)
16. 12/5/2015 - 12/11/2015: Atlantean (jtucci331)
17. 12/12/2015 - 12/18/2015: SideArms (Punch)
18. OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Rules:
-All members are allowed one submission. When there are no further submissions, we will have a reset and everyone will be able to submit another game.
-Each game may only be submitted once.
-If you wish to retract your submission, please do so at least two weeks before your game is due. Your next submission will go to the back of the cue.
-Please don't submit games that have a high language barrier or will take too long to complete (particularly RPGs).

[MNKyDeth]

Lords of Thunder is a great game. It was actually the only game I ever bought on more than one console. SuperCD and SegaCD.

My SegaCD version is mint but I played it so much on my Duo that the disc sustained some scratches. The game plays fine but the music will cut out at times.

This is a game I do go back and play along with Gate of Thunder fairly often since I repaired my Duo earlier this year.

[tbone3969]

The intro to Lords is pure awesomeness.

[shawnji]

I wish I was good at shooters.  I love the game's music, but I just absolutely suck at this genre.  I've gotten close to beating Cotton, but that's the extent of my prowess.  I want to love this game, but I'm the weird guy who loves the PC Engine yet just can't get into shooters (besides Cotton for some reason).

[johnnykonami]

This game is pretty tough, I never played it bitd but picked up my own copy a couple years back.  My friend and I gave it an honest shot one night and didn't make it far.  I'm not a hardcore shooter guy by any means, but I will have to invest a lot more time into this one before I get any results.  Love the graphics, opening cinema animation, colors, just not a huge fan of the music really!  It's good for what it is and has plenty of others to sing its praises, so I'll just leave it at that.  Not really a power metal kinda guy.

[SignOfZeta]

I rarely actually beat a shooter, maybe 1/4 of the ones I have. I've finished Lords though. It's sorta on the easy side. Also, the game is so manic they didn't make you a one hit wonder. You might get hit like 7 times before you die in some stages since you have shields, life bar, and healing items. You even get maxed up before the final boss for free.

I won't be able to finish it if I'm not playing it the exact way I always play it. The way you spend your money will make or break the game, and fuck anything but the Earth armor after the first two stages. If you die, don't bother to continue, just start over. After dying you are left with a fraction of the resources you had when you started that level last time. If you couldn't beat it then, you're not likely to be much better with no money for shields or bombs.

[Gentlegamer]

Feel free to add this to the OP

[geise]

This was the game I got to rub in all of the Sega CD fans faces...until it got released on that system.  Then I smiled when I found out it wasn't as good. (to me anyways).  I was so excited about this game when I got the video promo vhs in the mail.  I don't even know why the promo showed up in my mail box.  I never let TTi know I had the system nor did they have my parents address.  Maybe my bro sent off for it?  Oh well who knows.
I thought this game was hard when I first bought it at EB, and I am good at shooters.  After quite a bit of practice it got to be on the easy side for me.  So, I would try to challenge myself.  I would use a different set of armor for each stage and keep rotating.  I would also not buy anything in the store or continue.  It made the game much more fun to me.  I still pop this music on when I go to work or while I am working.  Besides Ys Book I & II, Gate of Thunder, and Spriggan, this is on of my favorites and always will be.  This makes me want to load it and start posting in the high score thread again.

[johnnykonami]

I rarely actually beat a shooter, maybe 1/4 of the ones I have. I've finished Lords though. It's sorta on the easy side. Also, the game is so manic they didn't make you a one hit wonder. You might get hit like 7 times before you die in some stages since you have shields, life bar, and healing items. You even get maxed up before the final boss for free.

I won't be able to finish it if I'm not playing it the exact way I always play it. The way you spend your money will make or break the game, and fuck anything but the Earth armor after the first two stages. If you die, don't bother to continue, just start over. After dying you are left with a fraction of the resources you had when you started that level last time. If you couldn't beat it then, you're not likely to be much better with no money for shields or bombs.

Any more tips on the Armor selection?  You said use the Earth Armor after the first two stages, but you can pick them in any order, right?  Which ones do you mean?  I figured there was some obvious connections like using the water armor in the desert stage and so on..

[geise]

I rarely actually beat a shooter, maybe 1/4 of the ones I have. I've finished Lords though. It's sorta on the easy side. Also, the game is so manic they didn't make you a one hit wonder. You might get hit like 7 times before you die in some stages since you have shields, life bar, and healing items. You even get maxed up before the final boss for free.

I won't be able to finish it if I'm not playing it the exact way I always play it. The way you spend your money will make or break the game, and fuck anything but the Earth armor after the first two stages. If you die, don't bother to continue, just start over. After dying you are left with a fraction of the resources you had when you started that level last time. If you couldn't beat it then, you're not likely to be much better with no money for shields or bombs.

Any more tips on the Armor selection?  You said use the Earth Armor after the first two stages, but you can pick them in any order, right?  Which ones do you mean?  I figured there was some obvious connections like using the water armor in the desert stage and so on..

Most just use earth armor and be done with it.  It's the strongest no matter what stage.

[SamIAm]

Any more tips on the Armor selection?

I can't remember the name of the stage at the moment, but during that one that starts in the sunset and moves up to a castle in the sky (god I love this game) I think it's best to use the fully powered up water armor. There are enemies that come from behind, and you want to kill them before they shoot homing fireballs at you. Water armor is the only one that makes it really easy to do this.

The rest of the time, I actually prefer fire armor. The lingering fireballs are really powerful when applied properly. Also, it makes the least noise, so you can hear the music all the better. 

By the way, although you can choose any stage, if you go with the one that the cursor defaults on every time, you'll wind up doing them "in-order". Since the first two default stages are fairly easy, it's a good idea start with them.

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I have a question!

Where and when is it optimal to hit the boss of the second stage? She's the only one who beats me up when I play, and it's because I'm always being overaggressive trying to score damage.

[CrackTiger]

Drop Earth armor on her head as she rises.

[johnnykonami]

Cool, thanks!  I will keep monitoring this thread for advice and maybe try again soon.  I remember going with the Desert stage first usually since it felt the easiest, I will try them the rest in the default order now too.

[SamIAm]

Drop Earth armor on her head as she rises.

So she's vulnerable all the time? That's one thing I never quite got with her. It seems like there are times when she is and times when she isn't based on the sound effects.

[csgx1]

She's seems only vulnerable when she opens her mouth.

[shawnji]

Darn it.  Good advice came rolling in, so now I have to actually try and beat it.   

If I manage it, I will feel like a major boss for finally finishing an old school shooter without cheat codes.  Why do I suck so bad at dodging stupid little projectiles?!  If I can beat the Makaimura games and stuff like Battletoads, surely I can beat this... right?

[K-2]

I just finished capping and RGB modding my TurboDuo and what better game to christen it than LoT!!

[geise]

Hell yeah!  Nice.  Welcome btw.

[nopepper]

Lords of Thunder is one of the most perfect video games ever, right up there with the best of them.

I see so many peeps label it as an "easy" shooter, but it seems they equate easy to "can be beaten without becoming OCD with the game". I find that the game requires some dedication in order to crack, in order to learn patterns of tricky sections and develop strategies to get around them, and most importantly, how to utilize your money the best. But it doesn't require a PHD in LOT to beat.

Now, to the folks who are saying the game is hard, I'll outline my basic strategy of armor, level and money usage to start out:

-Always start in the default desert Dezant level. Pick Earth Armor. Spend 200C on Level 2 Life Orb, 100C on an extra bomb. This level is easy, so memorize it well and make sure you come out of it maxed out, or as close to max life/power as possible, so you don't have to break the bank for the next level. Stay on the top of the level until you shoot fireballs diagonally up and be patient with the boss, moving up and down to dodge the energy balls and flame.Until I got better and could do the levels in any order, I would just start over if I didn't have everything maxed upon finishing this level, but its not absolutely necessary, as you should come out of it with at least 2,000C.

***After Dezant, make sure you ALWAYS spend money to max out life and get level 2 shield. All my strategies revolve around this simple pattern***

-Now pick Cielom. I always choose Water armor for this level, as when its on level 3 power, it shoots backwards, which helps tremendously in the first 2/3 of the level. The important thing with this armor is to be in the green range power level, so if you didn't come out in this range in hte previous level, spend your money to do so. MAke sure to max out your life (be wise with money, count the bars to get to max, as its usually unnecessary to spend 500C on Max Life Orb...), max out your bombs and buy the Level 2 Shield. This is one of the hardest levels, but dont spend your money on continues just yet, so if you die, start over.

-If you come out well (meaning, level 3 power and close to max life) in Cielom, pick Helado and Water Armor. Otherwise, choose Auzal and Earth Armor. Auzal is easy (except the boss can be a bitch sometimes), so you'll only have to spend money on maxing out your life and getting level 2 shield, since earth armor at level 1 will suffice.

-The rest of the levels are Water Armor and all maxs. I usually leave Llamarada last, as the boss can be unpredictable, so you might need to use a continue here...

-For the last level, pick Earth Armor, max Life+Shield and get the Elixir.

-Next, try the game in Hard. The boss patterns are much trickier and it feels almost like a new game!!

I love this game, it is the reason I got into the Turbo/PCE!

[geise]

LoT really isn't a game that needs strategy.  It's not that hard to get passed the levels no matter what armor you are using.  I just start with Dezant and use fire, then rotate the levels in a clockwise motion.  Same thing with the armor.  If I want a challenge I just don't buy anything in the store and rely on power-ups in the levels.  Only time I buy stuff in the store is if I am playing it on the hardest setting.

[TurboNeoSega]

One of the best shooters of all time for sure.

[roflmao]

Lords will definitely get some play here at my house this week.  Such an amazing game!

I was just watching the promo VHS tape for it a few days ago. Love the random vehicle stunts thrown in:

[Psycho Punch]

SideArms
That's my submission for the open slot in GOTW, simple but good.

[sn0zc0r3]

This is definitely one that I would love to own for myself. Even though I'm not great at shooters, I do love to play them. I usually don't have the patience to learn the more intricate and complicated scoring systems and bullet patterns, but I'll sure see how far I can get with just gut reflexes.

[grolt]

I'm not OBEY enough yet to own this on the Turbo, but I do have the SEGA CD version and fired it up this morning in this thread's honor.  What a rush.  Not a big metal fan but the music is undeniably epic and fits the godly tone perfectly.  Loved the layouts of the levels and the enemy assortment and design - it never feels repetitive and has a nice mix of dodging portions and blast everything sequences.  The shops make it a pretty easy game, which you won't hear any about complaints from me.  I was able to pass every level on the first try save for the last level that you can select clockwise.  Still, it was such a fun ride I went at it again right after using a different forms (I used Earth for the first playthrough).  Looking forward to trying it out again with all the different forms.  This is a game I can see myself coming back to often when I'm in for a quick fix of awesomeness.  Thanks for getting me to play it with this thread, guys, and now I'm even more remorseful that I was the runner up in that Gates of Thunder raffle...gotta get myself that one right away now.

How does Gates stack up to this?

[geise]

Gate of Thunder to me plays/controls better.  I would say GoT is the better game, but might not have as much of a wow factor for some.

[johnnykonami]

Gate of Thunder to me plays/controls better.  I would say GoT is the better game, but might not have as much of a wow factor for some.

I might fall in this camp, I was infatuated with all of the Duo pack-ins when I got them and played GoT a ton, so it has a lot of nostalgia factored in for me.  I didn't get LoT until 2010 or something like that so it doesn't have that going for it.  I like the music more in GoT, too.  Lords is definitely a great looking game and I think I need to just put some more time in it though.  I am not sure why we compare them so much - is it the "... of Thunder" moniker?  I know Red Company developed them both, are they considered to be loosely related?  I feel like besides being horizontal shooters, they are fairly different.

[gekioh]

Yes this game truly is pure awesome, the colors to the sprite animations and the insanely awesome soundtrack. I can manage to get sorta far on my own skill, but I have to use that cheat code to be able to make it to the final boss.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

She's seems only vulnerable when she opens her mouth. 

Words to live by.  I'm in the camp that Lords is my fave shooter of all time.  Not to say it's a "better" game than Gate of Thunder, but it's just so unique that I can honestly say there's NOTHING like it on any console.

Love this game so much!!

[SamIAm]

SideArms
That's my submission for the open slot in GOTW, simple but good.

Consider it done, good sir!

Other members, please don't hesitate to make submissions!

[csgx1]

I've been playing Lords on 'Super' difficulty and getting slaughtered.  I do well with the 'Hard' setting but 'Super' is on another level.  I passed the first level after several attempts and quickly got killed on the second level boss.  The enemy suicide bullets and more enemies on the screen makes it almost impossible to avoid getting hit multiple times.  Definitely a greater challenge and adds to the replay value.

[Jason_dicarlo85]

Have never played this one gonna have to give it a shot.. Also can I submit number 18

[geise]

So true.  I have no problem on hard ,but super really is on a whole other level.

[seieienbu]

Ran through it again last night.  I absolutely love the aesthetics of this game.  It feels like most shooters are in spaceships and most of the rest are cute-em-up type games.  Lords of Thunder feels like the best of everything I can recall about the 80s wrapped up in one beautiful love letter sent just after the decade ended.

I always liked the look of this guy...



I saw it in a Gamefan magazine talking about upcoming platforms and hoping that I'd get a sequel on the thus-far unreleased PCFX.

[geise]

Haha!  Yeah I was so excited for the PCFX just from that pic in GameFan back then.  Oh, what probably could've been. 

I just tried Lords of Thunder today on Super.  Holy hell I forgot the enemies shot bullets after they die as well.  So, you need to have strategy on which ones you want to kill.  I would get stuck in a corner so I would just have to dodge rather than shoot or I'd eat it.  Funny how on normal and hard there really is no strategy, but man you really need to figure stuff out on Super.

[seieienbu]

iirc, it was the same magazine that said Ys 5 would be a launch title for PCFX.

[shawnji]

Meanwhile, in I-Suck-at-Shooters Land, I tried it again the other day (granted, via emulation with a Wiimote in hand) and I managed a single stage before giving up after about 20 minutes or so...

I don't know why I can get into Cotton, despite dying over and over again just as much in that, yet this just... I don't know.  It just doesn't really appeal to me, I guess.  I like the music well enough, but there's just something about it I can't seem to put my finger on.

[shawnji]

I like the music well enough, but there's just something about it I can't seem to put my finger on.

there is your problem: try using your thumbs. I tried playing it with my fingers and got nowhere. Using thumbs makes all the difference in the world!

Oh, suuurrrreee.... Next you'll be telling me that I actually have to push the buttons instead of just thinking at it really hard!  I don't know where you people get your crazy ideas!

[SamIAm]

Also can I submit number 18

You sure can?

Although it might become #19 by the time you do. ;)

[shawnji]

Well, you guys would be proud of me, I actually finally got the hang of the hit boxes and got up to the end of the sixth stage (I forget the name of it) last night. 

I then took a break and played R-Type Complete up to the mid-point of the fifth stage before I rage quit. XD  Took me forever to realize you could actually shoot the shield and put it on your backside.  Yes, yes; I am an idiot when it comes to shooters, but I'm getting better!

[jtucci31]

Lords will definitely get some play here at my house this week.  Such an amazing game!

I was just watching the promo VHS tape for it a few days ago. Love the random vehicle stunts thrown in

HA! I love watching this VHS. I'm happy Null gave one to me awhile back, it's so great and makes me laugh every time

I've been playing other shit and I know I'm late but over the next few days I hope I can put in the time and effort to beat this one through. I like this game but haven't really dug deep enough yet. Now's the time!

[Gredler]

Last night I finally had some free time to play some games for more than 15 minutes, and LoT was on the top of my list to get to - better late than never!

I had to burn down a shady path to play this game, I never had a duo or cd + system cards until early last year, so this game became prohibitively expensive for me to acquire otherwise, so apologies to the purists

The first thing that slapped me in the face with awesome, as many have mentioned, were the tunes.

Hori spriggan shirt these tunes are mind blowing. I am a bit of a metal head mostly for the guitar riffs these tracks so deftly execute. The tunes gave me flashbacks of Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen - I felt like the reward for victory in this game was going to be the keys to the Lamborghini



But then there was the gameplay, and it did not disappoint.

I initially tried the earth armor, thinking that's what was recommended here to make it easier. I made it through the first level without issue. After the first level I was able to power my guy up at the shop almost fully decked out, and really did feel like a Lord of Thunder raining down death upon the entire screen thanks to all of the gems I had collected. The gem collecting mechanic is rad for various reasons. I love the urge to weave between bullets and position your character in areas you wouldn't if not for trying to grab loot.

The damage system is forgiving enough to encourage this risk taking, and really made for a liberating shooter experience. I ended up loosing all of my HP and getting a game over during the second stage (I was progressing in the automatic order). I restarted the game and tried another armor, the fire armor.

I really was amazed by how differently the weapons acted and changed the gameplay. I was now a lot more comfortable with the level layouts of what I had played, and more aware of what each piece of loot did, so I breezed through the first two levels, but ended up losing halfway through the third.


By this point I was endlessly curious about what the Sega CD version was like. I had the Sega CD as a kid but mostly stuck to Sonic, Lunar, and those bad ass music video generation softwares - you know, just the real FEKA classics.

I procured a charred disc and popped it in, and had a few disappointments right off the bat with the Feka CD version. First, the rad opening cutscene did not appear to play, and the colors were muddied up everywhere. Did Sega foresee the future of game's art generally being tinted brown, talk about ahead of their time. I do have to say the parallax was a bit smoother, and the layers blend together a bit better on the Sega CD version, but the colors really ruin it, and the music, while rad, had lost a bit of charm (fanboysm?!)

I decided to give the gameplay a shot, and these difference carried on past the title screen. I picked the wind armor (i.e. easy mode) this time. I sprinted through the first 3 levels like a hot Nulltard through butter. The enemy patterns, and even variety of enemies, appeared to be a lot different on the Feka version, but am I wrong to think it's significantly easier? I ended up beating all of the select-able stages, and to my disappointment the audio started skipping during the cutscene before the last level, throughout the last levels, and during the ending and credits. I could not believe I ran through the game, and was happy to have beaten it, but really felt like that Obey Karma made the audio skip on the Feka CD's final moments, encouraging me to do it again on the proper platform.

Overall, I am so thankful I played through it, and will do it again asap on PCE - I prefer the color, music,  and enemy placement of the obey version - and hopefully the spin-fried version I have does not skip audio!

It should be noted that the disc I used for the Feka version was pretty beat up, and I think if I used a proper clean disc (as I did on the PCE version I used) I wouldn't have had a problem.

Also, my apologies for the length of this post, I know it's a bit long, but I wanted to document the transcendent moments I had with this game across the two platforms I tried it on