~Beyond the Border~ > Akyu's Arcade
Gather around for SNES chat
Ghaleon:
Back when SNES was the hottest thing since sliced bread, I would have said Secret of Mana and final Fantasy 4. But now...the game that never seems to get less fun after all this time is Ogre Battle. I don't know which of the first two I should demote... objectively, Secret of Mana's combat system is actually pretty weak despite appearing great. Most if not all enemy attacks are very easily dodgeable, and most of the damage you get are spells or homing projectiles that may as well be in any ATB 'turn based' rpg. I mean yeah enemies have 'normal' attacks you can avoid but you do that simply by not being standing right next to them while your attack is charging.
Speaking of B.O.B. though, I actually have that game on the Sega Genesis. I don't know if that's considered better or worse than the SNES version though (didn't even know it had one). I imagine the SNES version is better. I own both but I did favor the snes for nearly everything.
dosboot:
B.O.B. is the same on the Genesis as near as I can tell, although the SNES version uses the shoulder buttons to switch weapons and items, so I imagine that's much better than whatever the Genesis does. Right now I've made "World 3" (then final dozen levels or so), first during a playthrough that used save states to restart after deaths and then again a second time playing it legitimately. The game just keeps cranking the difficulty though, so I think I might be out of steam, even with save states.
Ogre Battle is an interesting favorite. I've always found it fascinating (and have managed to finish it a couple times in the past), but I find as time passes the charm of the game is harder to grab a hold of when I replay it (sort of opposite of your experience). I can still find that charm for the first few levels, but after Zenobia I'm feeling done with the game and all its micromanagement. What really exasperates me is movement commands. Like, the enemy AI is programmed to avoid fighting in so many circumstances and what they do instead is constantly maneuver out of your path towards a town. It's a futile attempt on their part because you can pause/tweak your movement/repeat until you intercept but it slows everything down. The game also just naturally gives you mountains of gold when you beat levels efficiently, so I don't see why I shouldn't just use an all-heal item after every battle. But it again slows stuff down and makes it feel like less of a struggle.
I started playing True Lies for the first time in I don't know how many years. It's a Schwarzenegger movie game, but it is definitely a hidden gem! It plays like a top down shooter, and you hold Y to lock your aim in any of 8 directions (allowing you to strafe while firing). Really fun, and mechanically the game is surprisingly balanced and strategic. I remember the game just keeps getting harder and the levels keep getting bigger and labyrinthine though.
Edit: It's funny how every so often the game reminds me 007 games. It's got the secret agent setup of course, and the arsenal of weapons is very FPS-like. For a while after the SNES generation I was into the various 007 games, but this is probably the first time I've played True Lies since. (oh man... why couldn't Perfect Dark on the GBC be as good as True Lies!?)
Ghaleon:
Whenever I boot up ogre battle or tacfics ogre (i didnt care for tactics much though) and it has that ogre battle main menu music... I get that magical feeling like the snes is still a brand new and wonderful system. I dunno. Its the only main menu bgm I really like. I mean some games have good music in the menu. But none of them in a main menu kinda way.
I just dont like how when you finish the game it says chapter 7 or something. Wdf is chapters 1-6. Damn japanese game devs and only releasing portions of some fiction they invented and rubbing it into your face
Hello Purvis:
--- Quote from: Ghaleon on August 08, 2017, 05:14:15 PM ---Whenever I boot up ogre battle or tacfics ogre (i didnt care for tactics much though) and it has that ogre battle main menu music... I get that magical feeling like the snes is still a brand new and wonderful system.
--- End quote ---
Illusion of Gaia's map theme (Beautiful World) does that for me. Makes me get misty-eyed and shit.
dosboot:
I made an entertaining Actraiser thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NahFQQgd5xI
This is a video story about Actraiser using music and gameplay clips from two Let's Plays I did. In it, the Master from the Japanese version (your player character) experiences endless vexation while the Master from the European version breezes through everything. You can think of it as a slightly comedic mixture of a highlight video, a music video, and an LP trailer, edited so that it presents a short story of two dueling LPs.
As for the title, the video is loosely unified around the various apple items, which are far less generous in the Japanese version (to the Master's dismay).
This was a huge video project, I'm proud of how it turned out. If you aren't familiar with Actraiser it's probably not terribly interesting, but if you are I hope you enjoy it.