nerdynebraskan | 345 Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 (edited) Hey @scaryice, you missed my clear of Puzznic. It's nice to see a few new faces here. There are definitely some good titles left. I should be starting Dragon Warrior IV any day now, unless someone says something about it. Edited June 3, 2022 by nerdynebraskan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerdynebraskan | 345 Posted June 11, 2022 Share Posted June 11, 2022 Played through the first chapter of Dragon Warrior IV tonight. I broadly enjoyed it quite a bit, aside from not being able to control my Healer sidekick. But it was still pretty funny that I was joined by a benevolent member of the Healer jellyfish monsters, especially when his appearance scared NPCs in the towns. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerdynebraskan | 345 Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 Finished Chapter 2 and started 3 last night. I didn't see myself playing shopkeeper, but my newest character is going to adventure around the world to become the greatest arms merchant? Dragon Warrior IV is stranger than I imagined, but it's been fun so far. What is everyone else playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaryice | 579 Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 (edited) DQ4 is fun, but I can't help but prefer 2 & 3 because of the more open structure. I actually started up another NES rpg a few days ago, Juvei Quest from Namco. My first impression was that it was very generic graphic and sound-wise, especially for a 1991 release. Even the game's logo looks like Dragon Quest's. However, there's been more and more unique elements as I've gotten further, so my opinion is becoming more positive. Edited June 15, 2022 by scaryice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 5 hours ago, scaryice said: DQ4 is fun, but I can't help but prefer 2 & 3 because of the more open structure. I actually started up another NES rpg a few days ago, Juvei Quest from Namco. My first impression was that it was very generic graphic and sound-wise, especially for a 1991 release. Even the game's logo looks like Dragon Quest's. However, there's been more and more unique elements as I've gotten further, so my opinion is becoming more positive. I played through it last year, and it definitely does start pretty generic. It comes into it's own after the first few chapters though. Great game overall, just a bit slow to get started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronzeshield | 293 Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Beat Hook: It's not as bad as I initially thought it was, but it's still a pretty dumpy game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronzeshield | 293 Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 OK, Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf is done -- -- if you want to call a score like that "done". I didn't read the manual so I had no idea how to keep every shot from hooking severely, but I just played around that and had 3-4 passable holes and a whole bunch of absurdity. Dull, slow game, but I played during a long phone call so it all worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerdynebraskan | 345 Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 I'm into Chapter 5 now and I've just united all eight star characters for the first time. I'm having a good time, but I'm not sold on only being able to control the Hero during combat. I have a lot of grinding to do before I can fight Balzack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaryice | 579 Posted June 22, 2022 Author Share Posted June 22, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, nerdynebraskan said: I'm into Chapter 5 now and I've just united all eight star characters for the first time. I'm having a good time, but I'm not sold on only being able to control the Hero during combat. I have a lot of grinding to do before I can fight Balzack. I think that's why most people prefer DQ3. Also, how that one is way more replayable with class customization. I'm still playing Juvei Quest. Last night, I finally made some progress after being stuck for a while. There's this very Startropics-esque music puzzle you need to solve. Now, I have a distinct lack of musical knowledge or talent (although I'm quite good at Project Diva, somehow). I remember only getting the Startopics puzzle as a little kid after seeing it in Nintendo Power. Or, maybe I didn't even try to solve it, I dunno, I don't remember. Anyway, you get the following sequence of notes and you're expected to finish it: do-re-mi, do-re-mi so-mi-re-do... The npc then says that he doesn't remember the rest. After not getting anywhere and feeling like I'm missing something, I remembered the character said that it was called the "Tulip Song". There's nothing in the game about tulips, unless it was in the manual or something. With a simple melody like that, it maybe sounded like a nursery rhyme? My first thought as a huge Famicom nerd was then to check Karaoke Studio and see if it was one on the songs included there. That game, of course, is the Japanese-only peripheral that came with an attached microphone. It had a lot of kids songs, including the first song on the list, Ichinensei ni Nattara. Why do I bring that up? Because several times in my weeb career of playing Japanese games and watching anime, I've seen references to "making 100 friends". It turns out that those references come from that song, so I had a bit of a light bulb moment when I realized that. Would this be a similar situation? Unfortunately, I didn't see any tulip-related songs in Karaoke Studio. Back to to Juvei Quest. Before giving up and checking a guide, I decided to just google 'tulip song japan' and yeah, of course it was a Japanese kids song. The kind of thing you would easily know if you grew up there. No wonder I was stuck, since I can't be expected to have that knowledge. Although, the actual solution was simple and maybe I could've stumbled upon it by accident... Regardless, it's back to business in the game. Here's the song in question: Spoiler Edited June 22, 2022 by scaryice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khromak | 768 Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 13 hours ago, nerdynebraskan said: I'm into Chapter 5 now and I've just united all eight star characters for the first time. I'm having a good time, but I'm not sold on only being able to control the Hero during combat. I have a lot of grinding to do before I can fight Balzack. Yup, this is exactly why DW3 is my favorite and not DW4. The characters are really interesting and unique in DW4 and the ability to swap them in/out is amazing, but the fact that your tactical decisions are limited to choosing a party, choosing a "tactic" type, and controlling the hero really does it in for me. It's still a really fun game, but doesn't hold a candle to DW3 for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerdynebraskan | 345 Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 I did a couple of hours of gold/exp grinding last night. I have the metal babble armor for everyone who can wear it, and added 3-5 levels to each character. Then I went and killed Balzack with ease. I'm not really sure what comes next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaryice | 579 Posted June 26, 2022 Author Share Posted June 26, 2022 Still going with Juvei Quest. It's quite a long game! I currently have 7/9 cosmotrons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerdynebraskan | 345 Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 I've been loving Dragon Warrior IV, but I'll have to pause on it for the next week as I'm going on vacation. The Big Evil had just been resurrected in the mine, and I was just starting to explore that at the end of my last playthrough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaryice | 579 Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 (edited) Finally, I beat Juvei Quest yesterday. So much of the game was similar to Dragon Quest, from the logo to the battle system to the menus and even some of the monster designs. Still, if you're going to copy, do it from the best. Despite some lackluster graphics and sound, the battles and gameplay were fun, and I think this game had enough unique elements to stand out compared to some of the other 8-bit rpgs I've played. There were a few tricky 'puzzle' elements to it, which will probably be the most memorable part of it for me (I mentioned the song before, but I got stuck a few more times until I eventually worked it out). There's also two sections in the game where you switch over to a completely separate party that you build from scratch - these parts aren't too long, but they're a nice change of pace from your main party. I think Kaijuu Monogatari (an earlier Namco Famicom rpg) had something similar, where you could switch between party members and eventually join them. That's another one on my list to play eventually. Juvei Quest also has helper characters you can summon (to fast travel or talk to animals, for example), and your party members have out of battle abilities as well, like the dog who can sniff for hidden items. I feel like I say this for every Famicom rpg I beat, but the game was quite long. I definitely had to grind a bunch at the end. The game does allow you to save at any point, which I'm not a fan of, since it trivializes any kind of risk-taking or danger. But in this case, it seems like it was balanced around this save system, since it does unfair stuff like warp you out of a dungeon for failing to disarm a chest. Reminds me of Tomb Raider 2, how the game allowed you to save anywhere on PS1 but massively increased the difficulty as well. I still don't like it, though. This was the 16th turn-based 8-bit rpg I've beaten. Here's my rough ranking: Dragon Quest 3 Dragon Quest 2 Final Fantasy Mother Phantasy Star Dragon Quest 4 Final Fantasy 2 Final Fantasy 3 Metal Max Sweet Home Ultima 4 Lagrange Point Mouryou Senki Madara Dragon Quest Legend of the Ghost Lion Juvei Quest wouldn't go in the top half... I'd say around 10th, slightly better than Sweet Home & Ultima 4? I'm starting to wonder if I was too hard on Lagrange Point. I think maybe, I just expected a lot out of Konami, whereas a more unknown Namco game can leave me with a better impression. Hmm... Edited July 2, 2022 by scaryice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 It's not like Konami is known for their RPGs though. I haven't played much of Lagrange myself, but it really didn't grab me much. I'm surprised you ranked Metal Max so low though, from your list I'd probably put it around 5 or 6 myself. I do agree that Juvei Quest should be a mid-tier RPG, but for me it would be the higher end of the middle. Of course, my list would be MUCH longer than 16 games Anyway, sorry I've been so quiet lately...with my real life shit and my focus on both the weekly contest, I haven't been gaming much at all, and the bit that I have been has been for my personal completion. I'm at 49 personal first completions this year, already a personal best, but since my personal list is at 19 Famicom games, I'm making #50 a double-milestone. Sadly, that means I'm not doing anything for the list right now, as I'm working on Tenchi wo Kurau II (Destiny of an Emperor II). I'm roughly half-way through and just loving the game...takes everything good about the first one and makes it that much better overall. Once that's out of the way, I think I'll jump back into Krusty's Fun House (if it isn't claimed by then), since I'm already a few levels in. Romance of the Three Kingdoms II was another that I'd put a bit of time into before my focus shifted, and I could easily pop back into that one. And then there's also Bases Loaded, which I haven't played in a while, but I'm still 15 games closer to the end than anyone else at this point But I'll figure that out once Destiny is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagusSmurf | 577 Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 My list isn't especially similar otherwise, but I too have Dragon Quest/Warrior 1, Ghost Lion, and Mouryou Senki Madara as my bottom three 8-bit JRPGs. I guess crap transcends taste! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Dragon Warrior 1 was great as an introduction to the genre, but it's hard to play once you've played better. Still worth playing through once, but it's just such a slog by comparison. Madara I haven't put much time into but it seems alright. And Ghost Lion...did that for the first and last time this year. It's okay, but nothing special, and I just don't see enough value to replay it. I'd put it honestly square at the bottom of the list, at least off the top of my head (I should make a list of RPGs I've beaten to see how it all stacks up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaryice | 579 Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 (edited) On 7/14/2022 at 2:52 AM, the_wizard_666 said: I'm surprised you ranked Metal Max so low though, from your list I'd probably put it around 5 or 6 myself. I could possibly put it over FF2-3, but I don't think it would be in the top 6. I'm still a big fan of Metal Max, though! I did play Metal Saga first (which is very similar but more advanced and open world) and I prefer that one. As for Madara, I thought the auto-playing battle system was just too boring, with little strategy involved. Edited July 15, 2022 by scaryice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagusSmurf | 577 Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 Yeah, the ability to significantly positively impact battles in Madara by the player intervening seemed generally pretty limited (and randoms were mostly untaxing enough on resources that I seldom saw a reason to bother trying; sometimes I didn't need to try on bosses either!) and out of battle preparations, while unusual in some ways, weren't interesting either. The game's got some neat graphics and music stuff and kinda tries at a story (without much success), but the good aspects are stretched way too thin between unusually many and unusually boring (even for the genre and era) random battles. At ~20 hours with mostly the same content this game could have maybe been justified as a quirky experiment with some weird ideas, many of them not good, but kind of worth it for the neat bits. At, what, probably ~40 hours, instead it's just a slog. On the other hand, you maybe shouldn't give my opinion too much weight! I'm pretty harsh on 8-bit JRPGs in general and: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/579581-mouryou-senki-madara/stats You see that 3.03% of users (1/33) that rated the game 1 1/2 stars out of 5? That's me. I am apparently pretty much the biggest hater of this game on the entire English-speaking internet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khromak | 768 Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Just finished deadly towers. I've beaten it a few times before, I actually like it more than most, I'd say. It's not an absolute gem, but for how early it came out, it's quite good. Without a map or a lot of experience, it can be extremely mazey though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khromak | 768 Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Best Krusty's fun house. Another one I've done in the past, this time around i remembered all the tricks, but still had to figure out most of the puzzles from scratch so it made for a nice replay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Well, I guess I won't worry about Krusty's Fun House for this list anymore Still made some good progress though, so I may still do the rest for my personal list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khromak | 768 Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Oh...haven't really been keeping up with the chat in here as much as I probably should've...Definitely finish it, it's a fun one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,883 Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) Karnov Is Done Edited 7 hours ago by PII Edited February 15 by PII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBryce | 370 Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 Took down Conan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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