Your Daily Dose of Gaming.

[Kitsunexus]

I am about to partake in the legendary glory that is Syd of Valis on the Sega Genesis.  Who here is jealous of me?

That game's alright, but I think I might go play Landstalker again.

[nat]

Der Langrisser/Lungrissier/Langrisser II/Warsong 2/whatever - These games have a different name on every console they get released on! I picked up this game a while back for my PC-FX. I finally got around to sitting down with it today. This game is the sequel to Warsong on the Genesis ("Langrisser" on the Turbo/PCE). What an awesome game! Highly recommended to anyone who likes turn-based strategy RPG-type games. Actually, I didn't know that I did until I started playing this. At the start you are put through a questionnaire that builds your character based on your answers. Once your main character is built, you get a chance to build armies and equip them using points/credits. You start out with a certain number of "points" and then earn more as you progress through the game. The game is played out through "scenarios" that have certain goals you must reach in order to proceed onward-- usually these involve killing armies of bad guys. Like I mentioned earlier, the game is turn-based and there is some strategy involved in effectively placing your military each turn. After successfully completing a scenario you are treated to a full-screen FMV anime cutscene of the highest quality that segues into the next scenario. Music is top-notch, reminding me in places of Sapphire. For those who don't own a PC-FX, I strongly suggest you buy one. Actually, for those who don't have one, this game also is available on the Playstation, Saturn and Super Famicom. Although it's a given the SFC version is lacking the redbook audio and FMV cutscenes, and graphics are likely inferior.

I've never played the original Warsong, but I'm now thinking about finding a copy of the Turbo CD version.

One thing to note: the game menus are Japanese-heavy, as is the character-building questionnaire, so I imagine the game would be virtually unplayable to someone who can't read Japanese or without a walkthrough/FAQ.

[Kitsunexus]

Der Langrisser/Lungrissier/Langrisser II/Warsong 2/whatever - These games have a different name on every console they get released on! I picked up this game a while back for my PC-FX. I finally got around to sitting down with it today. This game is the sequel to Warsong on the Genesis ("Langrisser" on the Turbo/PCE). What an awesome game! Highly recommended to anyone who likes turn-based strategy RPG-type games. Actually, I didn't know that I did until I started playing this. At the start you are put through a questionnaire that builds your character based on your answers. Once your main character is built, you get a chance to build armies and equip them using points/credits. You start out with a certain number of "points" and then earn more as you progress through the game. The game is played out through "scenarios" that have certain goals you must reach in order to proceed onward-- usually these involve killing armies of bad guys. Like I mentioned earlier, the game is turn-based and there is some strategy involved in effectively placing your military each turn. After successfully completing a scenario you are treated to a full-screen FMV anime cutscene of the highest quality that segues into the next scenario. Music is top-notch, reminding me in places of Sapphire. For those who don't own a PC-FX, I strongly suggest you buy one. Actually, for those who don't have one, this game also is available on the Playstation, Saturn and Super Famicom. Although it's a given the SFC version is lacking the redbook audio and FMV cutscenes, and graphics are likely inferior.

I've never played the original Warsong, but I'm now thinking about finding a copy of the Turbo CD version.

One thing to note: the game menus are Japanese-heavy, as is the character-building questionnaire, so I imagine the game would be virtually unplayable to someone who can't read Japanese or without a walkthrough/FAQ.

Here is a link! ^.^  http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/langrisser/langrisser.htm

[termis]

Warsong / Langrisser is awesome.  Once you figure out the menu/magic and stat systems, I think someone without too much Japanese knowledge can get through it.  Japanese would also come in in handy knowing what class you want your characters to become as they're promoted, but just a quick glance at any faqs flowing around will mitigate this problem.

I only played the original and the first sequel, and to this day, they are probably the most fun I had with strategy games.

It's come some cool tunes, too.

[Seldane]

I am about to partake in the legendary glory that is Syd of Valis on the Sega Genesis.  Who here is jealous of me?

That game's alright, but I think I might go play Landstalker again.

Yay! One of the best games for the Mega Drive! I love this game so much, I've been wanting to re-play it for years, but never gotten around to it. Maybe when I'm done with Chrono Trigger (and Seiken Densetsu 3 which I will play after it), I'll play Landstalker again!

PS: I was awake until 3 am in the morning playing Chrono Trigger... I was so hooked! This game is FANTASTIC!

[Joe Redifer]

I will borrow Chrono Trigger from my friend and play through it soon.  I will also overwrite his pesky save files when he put on there when he originally played it... when the game was first released.  He hasn't touched it since.  But I will, I like touching things.

[Ninja Spirit]

Holy shit a copy of CT with no New Game+ still exists?? I wonder what the ratio on those are in 2007

[Seldane]

It's pretty easy to just reset the SRAM to get a fresh cart.

[GUTS]

CT is the best RPG of all time.

[Kitsunexus]

CT is the best RPG of all time.

I was actually sitting here trying to counter that, and really I can't. CT just has so much AWESOME in it. I think it's just the fact that the settings and overall plot are cool, the battle system is cool (although arguably not as cool as Tales Of Phantasia) and the graphics and music were better than ANY of the SNES Final Fantasy games could hope to be. The storyline is the only RPG storyline to ever enthrall me enough to complete it.

I'd say (since I'm not a big fan of Seiken Densetsu 3, never had time to play it) that Secret Of Mana is really the ONLY thing that comes close to Chrono Trigger.


You know what the biggest JOKE RPG, the most piece of shit RPG I would NEVER pay money for is? Well there's a lot of them, but on the SNES, it's Secret Of Evermore. It's just the smugness that gets me really, they think the cheapass humor is SO clever... ¬_¬ Jeremy Soule WASTED his time.

[CrackTiger]

CT is the best RPG of all time.

I was actually sitting here trying to counter that, and really I can't. CT just has so much AWESOME in it. I think it's just the fact that the settings and overall plot are cool, the battle system is cool (although arguably not as cool as Tales Of Phantasia) and the graphics and music were better than ANY of the SNES Final Fantasy games could hope to be. The storyline is the only RPG storyline to ever enthrall me enough to complete it.

I just wish that completing it opened up an extra hard difficulty mode or something. The low-challenge made me replay it for a much shorter time than other RPGs back then.

It also feels like one of these games that develops a decent system for you to take advantage of... but there's nothing challenging to really use it on. It would've been nice to at least have something tacked on like the Weapons in FFVII.

[Joe Redifer]

So Chrono Trigger is easy?  I axed my friend "Can a nigga borrow Chrono Trigga?" and he said yes, so I'll soon be playing it.  I expect it to live up to ALL of the hype you internet people have been giving it.  If I see any flaws, any at all, I will shove them in your face.

[CrackTiger]

So Chrono Trigger is easy?  I axed my friend "Can a nigga borrow Chrono Trigga?" and he said yes, so I'll soon be playing it.  I expect it to live up to ALL of the hype you internet people have been giving it.  If I see any flaws, any at all, I will shove them in your face.

You'll have a lot more fun with low expectations. Its got a lot of good qualities, but its far from a perfect game all round. I think that if it looked and sounded like Secret of the Stars, it wouldn't be the legend it is to so many people.

I don't think its really necessary to pit RPGs against one another like people do with other genres. As long as you enjoy RPGs, I think all decent ones are fun.

[Kitsunexus]

I just wish that completing it opened up an extra hard difficulty mode or something. The low-challenge made me replay it for a much shorter time than other RPGs back then.

It also feels like one of these games that develops a decent system for you to take advantage of... but there's nothing challenging to really use it on. It would've been nice to at least have something tacked on like the Weapons in FFVII.

What Battle-System mode are you using? The Real-time is slightly more challenging. Plus, have you gotten all the endings? There's like 10 or so of the fuckers, that's what the New Game+ is for. It's a bitch getting all the endings (A task I have not accomplished). And I'm not a fan of difficulty unless it's a fighting game, FPS, or SHMUP. I feel that CT's difficulty is spot on for the game it is.

"Can a nigga borrow Chrono Trigga?"

I LOVE THAT! ^.^  And don't worry, it is COMPLETELY worth the praise; Snerds NEVER lie.

[Seldane]

I agree with Kit, I think the difficulty level in CT is perfect. Bosses are usually hard, and there's always a tactic needed, you can't just choose attack, attack, attack. Pretty much the only flaw I can think of are the graphics. Yes, I don't think the game looks particularly good. I've never been a fan of Square's SNES graphics (they used the same style in nearly all of their SNES games), but they are all right of course, and technically rather impressive, but I find them boring. The game controls are also very clunky, just like in the Mana games.

But who cares about those things, the game rocks!!

[Kitsunexus]

Got Super Monkey Ball 2. I <3 it!

I think getting addicted to heroin would have been less dangerous. If you guys never see me again, you'll know why.   

[Seldane]

I have Monkey Ball for Nintendo DS. I've almost never played the real game, but I often play the minigames (mini golf, bowling, etc) - they are tons of fun. I will try the actual game sometime.

As for Chrono Trigger. Playtime: 28 hours. Finished a couple of side quests. Hopefully there are more left. After that.... final battle.

[CrackTiger]

I just wish that completing it opened up an extra hard difficulty mode or something. The low-challenge made me replay it for a much shorter time than other RPGs back then.

It also feels like one of these games that develops a decent system for you to take advantage of... but there's nothing challenging to really use it on. It would've been nice to at least have something tacked on like the Weapons in FFVII.

What Battle-System mode are you using? The Real-time is slightly more challenging. Plus, have you gotten all the endings? There's like 10 or so of the fuckers, that's what the New Game+ is for. It's a bitch getting all the endings (A task I have not accomplished). And I'm not a fan of difficulty unless it's a fighting game, FPS, or SHMUP. I feel that CT's difficulty is spot on for the game it is.

"Can a nigga borrow Chrono Trigga?"

I LOVE THAT! ^.^  And don't worry, it is COMPLETELY worth the praise; Snerds NEVER lie.

I don't remember there being anything other than realtime battles. I got every ending more than once back in the day, before there were strategy guides or the internet.

The 'New Game+' should've been titled 'Tard Mode'.

[Seldane]

I finished it last night. It took roughly 30 hours. DAMN good game!! Now I need something similiar. Anybody know of anything? Is Chrono Cross worth playing?

I'm going to play Seiken densetsu 3 in a couple minutes.

[jimid2]

Glad to see an appreciation for classic JRPGs here... I've played and completed Final Fantasy III (DS), Final Fantasy VII (PSP), Final Fantasy VI (DS) and Final Fantasy VIII (PSP) since March, but I'm feeling I need a little bit of a break now... As a father of 2 teenagers I don't have a lot of "at home" gaming time, so I have to play my RPGs during the commute to and from work and whenever I can steal a few minutes here and there - that's why I'm on my PSP and DS so much... anyway, I just finished off FFVIII last Thursday, and I'm still in the glow   That's a great game, once you get past the second disc... I'll probably load FFIX on the PSP this weekend or next, but I don't know that I'll start into it seriously for a while - I'm enjoying my Turbo Express too much lately and don't want to give up game time to another RPG at the moment...

[Kitsunexus]

Is Chrono Cross worth playing?

Oh, FUCK YES. Dude, it is an AMAZING game.

[Joe Redifer]

No it isn't.  I almost fell asleep by the end of disc 1.  I never bothered to finish it since it was so damned boring.

[Kitsunexus]

No it isn't.  I almost fell asleep by the end of disc 1.  I never bothered to finish it since it was so damned boring.

Apathy isn't a virtue.

[Joe Redifer]

It's not my fault the game wasn't interesting at all.

[Seldane]

I have a feeling that I will agree with Joe, but I will still give the game a fair chance. Sometime.

As for games that are being played:

Seiken densetsu 3
Castlevania Vampire's Kiss.
Super Mario Bros. 2

Pretty fun stuff.



I want Motorstorm.

[Kitsunexus]

I want to play Speed Power Gunbike!

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/gunbike/gunbike.htm

[GUTS]

It sucks, I used to have it.  The name and premise are cool, but the controls suck pretty badly, it just isn't any fun.

[Kitsunexus]

It sucks, I used to have it.  The name and premise are cool, but the controls suck pretty badly, it just isn't any fun.

Ah, sucks. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Kitsunexus]

Super Monkey Ball 2 rocks so hard! It's games like these that make me swear allegiance to the Cube. I love the bright-and-colorful lastgen look the game has, and the MUSIC is not only great and catchy, but I LOVE the synth quality! (All those Moog leads...  )

And of course the game play is addictive, and after I used the Pro Action Replay to give me 6799999 points, I bought every party game and I am  having a BLAST!!

More games need to be like this. Down with the dark, gory, cliched and contrived FPS games! BRING ON THE FUN! ^.^

[Joe Redifer]

Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 are two of my favorite games ever... and ONLY on the Gamecube.  The PS2 and Xbox versions break the control, though at least on the Xbox the SMB1 stages are in 16:9 480p.  Anway, I love part 2, but I prefer part 1 over it by quite a bit.  No switches or toggles or warps.  Plus I can walk through the hardest setting without much of a problem (though I still have tons of fun).  The music in both is great!

I agree with your last sentence wholeheartedly!

[Kitsunexus]

I didn't even know they had an XBOX version... but I love the Gamecube controller the best anyway so I'd get that over the XBOX anyday.

I can never find SMB1, only 2 and this time I decided to buy it. I'm glad I did!

[nat]

I have a GameCube. I even have a GameCube controller.

Maybe I need to get me some of this Super Monkey Ball and give it a try.

[Kitsunexus]

You should, it ESPECIALLY kicks ass in multiplayer! 1000000000000000000000000000X better than Mario Party as a party game!

[nat]

1000000000000000000000000000X better than Mario Party as a party game!

I was hoping for 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001x better but 1000000000000000000000000000x times better will have to do.

[nat]

Today...

Dusted off the ol' SuperGrafx:
Battle Ace
Aldynes
Ghouls 'n Ghosts

I also played some Art of Fighting while I was at it. Exciting!

For some reason I was really digging Battle Ace today.

[Seldane]

I've been playing some games today. Barbie and the Rose Adventures in Happy Land as well as some dark, gory, cliched and contrived FPS games. I preferred the FPS games.

[terrormask]

I was just thinking about a segaCD game I used to have called Sewer Shark. You probably never heard of it, anyway, the main idea of gameplay wasn't bad, it combined action shooting with random turns you had to remember (it was like a game of electronic Simon combined with an arcade shooter). But what made the game suck horribly was 1) the music, very catchy but above all annoying because it constantly repeats, 2) the dude that I guess is supposed to be my captain even though I'm flying the vehicle thing, during the entire time you play this game you have some idiot yelling at you and calling you names and shit while you're playing. That is the worse thing a game maker could ever put in a game, makes you feel like you want to open the cockpit door and throw the bastard out but you can't because it's a video game. Corpse Killer was the only real decent game on the segaCD.

[Seldane]

No way, we totally know what Sewer Shark is. We've discussed it many times here. Many times.

I just played some Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition for PSP. Even more awesome than the first one! Two gems I have. Play them soon I will.

[Joe Redifer]

Corpse Killer was the only real decent game on the segaCD.

Yeah, it beats the hell out of Lunar 1 & 2, Soul Star, Batman Returns, Road Avenger, Final Fight, etc etc etc.

[NecroPhile]

Surely you jest, terrormask.  Their are many more quality games for the SegaCD.  In addition to Joe's picks - check out the Snatcher, Dune, and Silpheed.

Played a little more Fray yesterday and finally talked to the right people so that I could advance.  What in the hell made them throw a little shmup action in the middle of a RPG?  Thankfully it was short, 'cause it wasn't very good (lots of slowdown).

[Seldane]

You mean why did they throw in a few tiny rpg elements in a platformer/shooter?

[td741]

Haven't had much time to play lately... I have a feeling that I will clear my backlog of games once I retire in 20+ years.

However, my curiosity did get the better of me and I picked up a Game Wave (http://playgamewave.com/).  Apparently TRU in the US was selling the the System off for 19.99$ earlier this year, while here in Canada TRU are selling them for 49.99$ CDN.  The games and 2 pack of remotes at TRU are half-price 14.99$ CDN.  At the 49.99$, it's not bad.  If you can pick it up for 19.99$ I would recommend it unless you're short on space.  (Err, not sure if I would pay the full 99$ price however.)  The system comes with four remotes, batteries, RCA cables, SVideo cable, and a trivia game.

Anyway, the site has more information, videos of all of the games, etc..

I got the system yesterday so I tried the games:
-4 degrees trivia games (Volumes 1 and 2): Not bad for a trivia game.  Reminds me a bit of scene-it, except you don't need a game board and everyone plays at the same time.

-Zap 21: it's blackjack.   There are two modes, but we only played the regular blackjack.

-Lock 5:  Take Yatzee.  Replace the dice with a slot machine with 5 slots.  Throw in a "wild" and a "worthless" in the mix of possible values (along with 1-6) .  Everyone works off the the same numbers in the slot machine.  People can lock the slots they want to keep.  After each round (3 rolls of the slot machine) the players choose from the scoreboard what points to put their sets of numbers to.  Since everyone is playing off of the same set of rolls, people could theoretically copy each other.  The game tries to prevent this by randomly selecting a possible combination on each player's scorecard for bonus points for the first 5 rounds. (I.E. Player 1 could get +10 if they do 3 of a kind, another player could get +10 for the "set of 5"s, etc.)  The bonus changes each round.

-Letter Zap: Bookworm (except you can also select letters that are joined diagonally).  Two modes:  In the first mode, each player has their own (different) 4x4 grid (each round ends when a player gets to 10 words or when the timer runs out).  In the 2nd mode everyone shares a large grid, once a letter is used it gets changed.  It's more competitive as more then one player can try and use the same letter, but the first player to complete their word will be able to use the letter.

-Gemz: (Bejewelled)  There are two modes again.  I think the first one is plain single player bejewelled?  The 2nd mode is 4 player bejewelled.  The twist: each player is given the jewel they need to score against.  After they score, they are given another jewel to score against.  If there is no possible way of scoring, the player can wait or change jewels which costs 50 points.

-Click: (Wheel of Fortune?)  You are given a category and a puzzle to solve at the beginning of each round.  Then you either pick a letter (consonant), or "channel surf".  If you pick a letter that is in the phrase, you get 300 points per letter and given the option to solve the puzzle before play moves onto the next player.  If you pick a letter that is not in the phrase, play moves onto the next player.  Channel surfing is like the "Chance" cards in monopoly, you can get something good or bad happen.  You can get points, lose points, lose a turn, get a visual or audible clue, etc.  If a player knows the phrase but it isn't their turn, they can "click" in.  This will allow them to jump in after the current's player turn and attempt to answer the puzzle.  Answering is done by having the player say the phrase out loud and then having everyone else confirm that the player guessed correctly.  If the player guessed right, he gets points, if wrongly, he looses points.

*Phiew*

All in all, not bad.  Again, I might not recommend it for full price, but under 49.99$ it's not bad.  The bulk of the games are geared towards the board game market and we'll probably take it out when we have some friends over (and they're all Wii'ed out).  The games themselves are programmed in Lua with most animations being mpg files (playable in mplayer).  I tried to play one of the games on my computer using a Lua environement, but it appears that they customized their Lua compiler.  Hmm... It might be interesting to hack and see just how much this thing could do...

With all that said, next gaming session will get devoted to my SGx.

[Seldane]

Wow, I would never get a console for those "games", not even if it was free. They're all available for real consoles, except nobody buys those games as all real consoles actually feature good games, which people get instead.

[td741]

Granted, I'm a hardware whore that is curious on its hackability. ;)  But for 20$ you also get a DVD player, so it's not a horrible deal. ;)

I don't think the market for it is the same as the real consoles.  Heck this thing is in the board-game section at TRU...

[Seldane]

Dvd-player you say, in that case I suppose it was a good deal.

[OldRover]

I played through Cosmic Fantasy 2 on my real machine when I needed a break from coding Mysterious Song. Now I have nothing to play except Mysterious Song itself.

[nat]

Today was not a good day for gaming for Nat.

I popped in Sapphire on the SuperGrafx for a spin and ended up sucking major monkey balls.

So I went for a round of New Adventure Island on the TurboGrafx and sucked a similar type of balls. Lots of ball sucking today.

Does anyone else find they have days of random "sloppy" playing, no matter what the game, system or genre? It seems to happen to me from time to time and I just end up turning the TV off.

[Turbo D]

Ya, I get one of those every now and then. I end up getting pissed off too 

[esteban]

Today was not a good day for gaming for Nat.

I popped in Sapphire on the SuperGrafx for a spin and ended up sucking major monkey balls.

So I went for a round of New Adventure Island on the TurboGrafx and sucked a similar type of balls. Lots of ball sucking today.

Does anyone else find they have days of random "sloppy" playing, no matter what the game, system or genre? It seems to happen to me from time to time and I just end up turning the TV off.

Oh, absolutely. Then I come here to get some relief, only to read things like runinruder nonchalantly mentioning he beat CyberCore the very first time he played it. At times like that, I say to myself, "I'm not just have a sloppy day, I'm having a sloppy lifetime."

[esteban]

Wow, I would never get a console for those "games", not even if it was free. They're all available for real consoles, except nobody buys those games as all real consoles actually feature good games, which people get instead.

I'm like td, I am curious about all gaming platforms, even the lame kiddie stuff (i.e. LeapFrog). Recently, I pretended that I was interested in a friend's son's LeapFrog handheld solely in the name of "research": my daughter wants one and I wanted to see what it was like. Of course, I was just as intriqued as my daughter was. I can't wait until my friend gets another game for his son!

This is also why I am one of only a handful of people in North America who own a Xavix! Except I love the Xavix