Seismitoad line - oddly Palpitoad is the best, a top-tier design in my opinion too. But I guess the dress on Seismitoad works well.
Bio-active Solstice
A blog where the author talks about video games only
Sunday, May 12, 2024
A look back at: Mega Moemon FireRed
Seismitoad line - oddly Palpitoad is the best, a top-tier design in my opinion too. But I guess the dress on Seismitoad works well.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
A look back at: Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Yes! I'm finally done with this one. There's a ton to cover here, the excellent battle system from the first game returning, the finishing strikes (known as "Soul Crush" now), the 2D puzzle-solving being more complicated, goodness gracious I have way too much on my plate! But that's how the RPG player does it. You gotta customize like crazy to get the best out of everything. Even if those Einherjar are temporary, they are significantly more useful than in the last game due to how equipment is now set up to help with added effects. Plus Sealstones. Can't forget those! Ah, and I love the breaking of enemy parts and the fun break mode. Making the battle system semi-action RPG was a weird touch that oddly enough I actually didn't find too bad either. The tutorials thankfully helped ensure that I understood that complex battle system more.
Overall what Valkyrie Profile 2 does is expand on the original game's mechanics and cut out the stuff that actually was easy to criticize about that game. I think the time limit in that game was a problem, and having to send Einherjar up to Valhalla and giving them equipment to go along and saying bye to a potentially powerful member was, as unique as it was, robbing of awesomeness. Here, releasing an Einherjar is just fine, since they appear as living again and give rewards, plus you don't have any time limit and can hold on releasing them until it's necessary. The game has tons of battle strategies surrounding them, their equipment, and certain other things, to the point where it can be doing a million damage points to your enemies. Which, by the way, is necessary for the Seraphic Gate stuff. Hoo boy.
Okay, enough gushing about the good, the bad thing is actually oddly enough the game's overall plot. I mean, you can tell that since Alicia has Silmeria inside her, basically every other character has a dark secret to hide. Except Arngrim cause he's Arngrim I guess, just a genuine badass. But most people can tell Leone is Hrist from a mile away, and Dylan as Brahms may be a surprise, there was at least one hint with how he mentions what kind of person he is. And those who played the first game know EXACTLY what is Lezard's deal. It was interesting how the plot shifts from Alicia trying to get back home only to be treated poorly, to having to run from Hrist, to accidentally BONDING with Hrist, and then Lezard hijacks everything. He takes Odin, the valkyries (including Lenneth, yeah, she's the creator Lenneth from the "A" ending, but you can tell Lezard had something up his sleeve for her) and tries to pull a Kefka on everyone. Nasty guy. But it really sucks to see all that hard work and all the main characters die except for Rufus and the valkyries (well, they are just souls at the end of it all). Brahms decides to die in that twisted world, both Lezard and Odin are gone, and Alicia unfortunately just took Lezard's stab from Gungnir. I loved her full valkyrie transformation too.
Essentially speaking, Lezard screwed up the original Valkyrie Profile's timeline by removing the event of Silmeria being trapped in the crystal, instead it's Brahms, and then Lezard continues to ruin things by taking what is Odin's later on. And it just feels like a kick in the pants for those who loved the original Valkyrie Profile, which I certainly did. That game was hard but WORTH IT. This one, well, it was enjoyable on all ends but the plot.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
A look back at: Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Well I can consider this franchise more or less done. Got no intention of playing through End of Darkness, since it is quite polarizing in terms of what it offers. This one kinda is like that, except it's much more cherished, and honestly seems to be the fan favorite game in hindsight. Though if you ask me, I love the fast pacing of the very first game the most still.
Thankfully Twilight of the Spirits proves not to be a slump. The idea to play as one protagonist and then shift gears to the other one as the story goes helps splendidly in storybuilding. We see respect, or lack of it in many cases (like many RPGs it seems that hatred for other races just HAS to be a thing, and things overall get ugly in quite a lot of scenarios. Quite graphic to have Darc get his wings broken in his chapter, you know. Or Delma trying to backstab him, or Camellia backstabbing twice. Yeah, the Deimos chapters are full of this. Kharg at least gets some respect from everyone who's not a Dilzweld soldier, and his do-good nature arguably makes him the weaker protagonist since he doesn't face the hardships Darc has. Lilia is the mysterious girl who of course brings everyone together in some way, and of course Darkham and then later the Divine Ruler/Lord of the Black Abyss are the main enemies in the end of it all.
Gameplay wise, it's like Makai Kingdom and Phantom Brave as a tactical RPG with freeform movement. The Spirit Stone distribution system is actually not bad, and the tension gauge is a great way to do makeshift unite attacks like in Suikoden. I actually went ahead and did some arena battles, something I didn't have the time to do in the previous games because I do have spring break hours for now. It was worth it, even if it did make some of my guys overpowered. Not as bad as the second game's pacing, but not better than the third game's and DEFINITELY not better than the first game's. The pacing of battles at least isn't very intrusive on my time and schedule, at least until you get to the final floating castle, thankfully. As a whole, this franchise was so fun.
Friday, March 29, 2024
Pokemon ROM Hack walkthroughs
It really does suck that we have lost the GBAHacks site. I guess due to the inactivities, broken links, and possible strikes, it had to happen. And I did have a number of walkthroughs for ROM hacks submitted to Knuckle San so that they can be of help to those who can't understand the crypticness of certain ROM hacks. In that case, I'll just have to post them on PokeCommunity and here. This post will of course be updated accordingly whenever I finish a walkthrough and a ROM hack.
Just to be clear, these are links to walkthroughs. I'm not here to distribute ROMs.
Full walkthroughs:
Pokemon Adventure Yellow Chapter + Blue Chapter + Gold Chapter + Green Chapter
Pokemon Altair and Pokemon Sirius
Pokemon Dark Cry: The Legend of Giratina
Pokemon Dark Rising: Order Destroyed
Partial walkthroughs/Pokedexs/Other stuff
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
A look back at: Pokemon Polka Aqua 2
Two years ago I reviewed Polka Aqua 1, and now, it's sequel. More sitcom/movie characters, same setting, but different ways of making it through. Tons of modifications to existing Pokemon, many new moves, changes to stats, possibly some changes to types, and Pokemon up to Gen-8. The author even had the gall to include every single legendary up to this point, including the Isle of Armor ones. And of course, lots of Lv100 full team competitive trainers, which is the difficult part, while the gameplay makes itself SEEM easy because you can easily get many decent items in PokeMarts at relatively cheap prices at every PokeMart. Base stat totals are all over the place, making Pokemon like Altaria, Azumarill, and Blissey more viable than some legendaries (it's so unorthodox for BSTs that Salamence for example is basically a joke now). Surely enough, I like having this much to do.
Back in Polka Aqua, my team had five Pokemon in it that I actually decided to also have for this rom hack, just because I liked using them then. Those were Empoleon, Delphox, Swampert, Altaria, and Chesnaught. I also had spiky-eared Pichu in the first Polka Aqua, however for this game, I decided my Electric type was gonna be Luxray, which, oddly enough, was my starter for this game (you can choose between Shinx, Sandshrew, and Spheal here). So other than that change, and the fact that my Altaria this time was shiny (it was a fixed-encounter Swablu in Portland, and I think fixed encounters have better shiny odds), my team was the same.
You know what, speaking of shinies, I'm actually gonna criticize this bit, because some shiny colorations, I'm personally not the biggest fan of. I liked green Beartic to be frank, so why the change to it? And navy blue Blissey is super weird. A lot of blue shinies that are really weird, Raikou and Entei, and even Groudon and Gallade are kinda awkward to see. Also having to keep the Pokemon at the number 386 was a harsh decision when subtracting Pokemon overall, that and the methods to getting Volcanion and Meloetta (which would take the most work overall) were still around. Oh, and I wasn't able to fill the Pokedex here cause I for some reason could not find Carbink. So this is still in to do overall.
I've finished a full walkthrough of this and will put it up eventually on this post. With that said I will announce that I will not be working on any future walkthroughs for Pokemon ROM hacks. The reason being is that I will actually get to modifying my other Pokemon ROM hacks, starting with my Victory Fire walkthrough. That was the first one I ever did, and all things considered, since the author of that hack has updated things extensively, I figured I'm going to redo my Victory Fire walkthrough. Following that, I will help out Allen Ceedos with changes to Pokemon Resolute (if they show up) and perhaps even go back to my Snakewood walkthrough considering a (unofficial) new release was on PokeCommunity. So that's what's going on with ROM hacks right now.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
RPG Ranks: Up to 180
Time to do one of these again, which means I am just inserting in the ones that I recently played into a master list and writing blurbs. You know the drill, this is my personal ranking of each RPG I played, with 180 being the least favorite and 1 being the most favorite. Let's see how the new games ranked too. Read the very first RPG Ranks post to see blurbs for all of the blurbs, I guess.
180. Deep Dungeon 3 (#114)
179. Golvellius: Valley of Doom (#21)
178. Hydlide: (#53)
177. Deep Dungeon (#112)
176. Startropics (#12)
175. The Guardian Legend (#15)
174. Deep Dungeon 2 (#113)
173. Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu (#118)
172. Shining Wisdom (#52)
171. Popful Mail (#103)
170. Deep Dungeon 4 (#124)
169. Ys. (#96)
168. Secret of the Stars (#107)
167. Dragon Quest (#76)
166. Dual Orb II (#86)
165. Ys. III (#123)
164. Ys II (#102)
163. Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (#144)
162. Majin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden (#19)
161. Dragon Quest II (#79)
160. Crusader of Centy (#8)
159. Orphen: Scion of Sorcery (#131)
158. Magic Knight Rayearth (#48)
157. Digimon World 4 (#174)
156. The 7th Saga (#77)
155. Final Fantasy Legend II (#46)
154. Final Fantasy Legend III (#54)
153. Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger! (#17)
152. Ranma 1/2: Treasure of the Red Cat Gang (#121)
151. Grandia III (#133)
150. Final Fantasy (#2)
149. Final Fantasy Legend (#43)
148. Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (#143)
147. Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (#142)
146. Lunar: Walking School (#44)
145. Silva Saga (#119)
144. Great Greed (#47)
143. Tenchi Muyo! Game Hen (#93)
142. Phantasy Star II (#16)
141. Silva Saga II (#122)
140. Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (#6)
139. Robotrek (#101)
138. Final Fantasy Adventure (#105)
137. Warsong (#56)
136. Final Fantasy II (#135)
135. Dragon Quest IV (#94)
134. Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (#129)
133. Shining Force (#106)
132. Shining in the Darkness (#82)
131. Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom: (#146)
130. Wild ARMs 4 (#136)
129. Phantasy Star III (#71)
128. Romancing SaGa (#61)
127. Dragon Quest III (#89)
126. Princess Crown (#126)
125. Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum (#153)
124. Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (#147)
123. Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (#154)
122. Breath of Fire (#9)
121. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (#75)
120. Wizardry: Proving Grounds for the Mad Overlord (#141)
119. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (#157)
118. Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (#158)
117. Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen (#159)
116. Phantasy Star (#3)
115. Dragon Quest V (#104)
114. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (#84)
113. Earthbound ZERO (#88)
112. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (#161)
111. Realms of Arkania: Star Trail (#164)
110. Digimon World (#171)
109. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (#145)
108. Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (#165)
107. Jade Cocoon (#58)
106. Koudelka (#163)
105. Vandal Hearts II (#162)
104. Digimon World 3 (#173)
The most alright game in the Digimon World saga for me. It felt like a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game without the mystery dungeon stuff, and well I haven't even touched that series yet. Arguably they did a great job with the plot here, even if it gets a bit silly sometimes. Probably the best overall battle system, one-on-one, a fun evolution mechanic, and I guess if you're into card games you might like this too? I'm not the biggest fan of that one but I can see others liking it.
103. Tales of Destiny 2 (#176)
Where oh where is my English localization? This is a game I desperately wanted to play, and much to my chagrin I had to play it untranslated, thank goodness someone was able to provide a text FAQ on it, because it would very difficult otherwise. In either case, this is a Tales game, which is generally quite fun and is only down here because it didn't get translated, and while being graded on how well you do in battles is a gripe I have, this one pulls many familiar elements of the first Tales of Destiny and makes a worthy-enough sequel. Complete with a memorable villain even for a Japan-only title.
102. Digimon World 2 (#172)
This one's got the real mystery dungeon vibes of the Digimon World series, and I actually really enjoyed it compared to the first title. And the three-on-three combat system is a load of fun...except that it's incredibly slow-paced, along with the "attack missed" corollary that shows up when it really shouldn't. The combat is very standard turn-based stuff otherwise with hammy voices which are fun. Getting new Digimon is a complex procedure which unfortunately can contribute to excessively-long play times. Good thing I did this during the summer when I had the least amount of work to do!
101. Wild ARMs (#22)
100. Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (#109)
99. SaGa Frontier 2 (#132)
98. Dragon Quest VI (#116)
97. Sailor Moon: Another Story (#37)
96. Star Ocean (#67)
95. Final Fantasy III (#55)
94. Tales of Eternia (#136)
93. Xenogears (#30)
92. Odin Sphere (#34)
91. Spectrobes (#152)
90. Illusion of Gaia (#51)
89. Langrisser II (#73)
88. The Legend of Dragoon (#60)
87. Final Fantasy IV (#4)
86. Kartia: The Word of Fate (#63)
85. Lufia: The Ruins of Lore (#139)
84. Final Fantasy V (#65)
83. Romancing SaGa 3 (#83)
82. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (#140)
81. Mystic Ark (#137)
80. Dragon Quest VII (#127)
79. Wild ARMs 2 (#24)
78. Vandal Hearts (#160)
77. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (#156)
76. Dragon Quest VIII (#138)
75. Thousand Arms (#69)
74. La Pucelle: Tactics (#117)
73. Threads of Fate (#1)
72. Tales of Destiny (#39)
71. Suikoden IV (#66)
70. Wild ARMs: Alter Code F (#29)
69. Sword of Mana (#14)
68. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (#62)
67. Legend of Legaia (#80)
66. Lufia: The Legend Returns (#36)
65. Star Ocean: The Second Story (#98)
64. Secret of Evermore (#10)
63. Secret of Mana (#110)
62. Seiken Densetsu 3 (#120)
61. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (#148)
60. Soul Blazer (#42)
59. Arc the Lad III (#179)
58. Arc the Lad (#177)
Honestly, my personal favorite of the Arc the Lad Collection. This is because the game can be completed in about a week, which is super impressive for a grid-based tactical RPG. It's so barebones you don't even get equipment or shops, everything is reliant on growing stats and farming items. Its length is the selling point for the eventual sequel which would certainly take a lot longer for an RPG, with very little in sidequests to worry about.
57. Arc the Lad II (#178)
It may be the highest-ranked of the Arc the Lad games, but it's arguably the most exhaustive. You've gotta grind and even when you are finished with one storyline plot point, the enemies in the next segment are already much tougher. And with all these characters (plus recruitable monsters), you're talking several gameplay hours. Not to mention they made the fast-paced combat system much slower compared to its predecessor. Its plot is a HUGE selling point, and bringing back old characters also greatly helped it a lot.
56. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (#7)
55. Tales of Phantasia (#18)
54. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (#26)
53. Breath of Fire III (#13)
52. Brave Fencer Musashi (#59)
51. Breath of Fire IV (#28)
50. Paper Mario (#64)
49. Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness (#74)
48. Suikoden Tactics (#81)
47. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (#31)
46. Romancing SaGa 2 (#78)
45. Suikoden III (#38)
44. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#128)
43. Suikoden V (#108)
42. Grandia (#32)
41. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (#175)
A game that LOVES to throw tons of customization is gonna be a Final Fantasy game, natch. This one breaks the fourth wall a ton of times, gives plenty of options to what you can do and where to go, it even goes CYOA as soon as you have a world map! Like Arc the Lad III, this one is heavily mission-based, and is about being as normal as possible, or so it should be. But this game does have the biggest issue of that damn Judge system, which restricts the fun heavily. So it's not the best Final Fantasy Tactics game as a result, just a load of fun when it's fun.
40. Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice (#57)
39. SaGa Frontier (#97)
38. Might and Magic IX: The Writ of Fate (#169)
37. Wizardry 8 (#149)
36. Pokemon Yellow (#151)
35. Pokemon Red/Blue (#150)
34. Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer (#168)
33. Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (#166)
32. Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (#167)
31. Crystalis (#5)
30. Final Fantasy VIII (#85)
29. Final Fantasy IX (#115)
28. Tales of Symphonia (#180)
The most colorful and perhaps most accessible Tales game out there due to its fame as a Gamecube title, Tales of Symphonia features so, so much content that you will get lost in it undoubtedly. Fun skits, great shops, good customization of character equipment, titles, EX Skills, cooking, man there's a lot, but it actually doesn't detract from the primary gameplay experience, improving on the previous titles one step at a time. Now if only there wasn't so much racism being thrown by characters.
27. Earthbound (#99)
26. Skies of Arcadia (#90)
25. Treasure of the Rudras (#87)
24. Phantasy Star IV (#92)
23. Chrono Cross (#40)
22. Final Fantasy VII (#50)
21. Terranigma (#68)
20. Grandia II (#41)
19. Makai Kingdom (#170)
18. Final Fantasy X (#155)
17. Vagrant Story (#70)
16. Final Fantasy Tactics (#95)
15. Suikoden (#27)
14. Suikoden II (#33)
13. Breath of Fire II (#11)
12. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (#130)
11. Bahamut Lagoon (#125)
10. MOTHER 3 (#111)
9. Live-A-Live (#49)
8. Wild ARMs 3 (#35)
7. Final Fantasy VI (#45)
6. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (#23)
5. Phantom Brave (#91)
4. The World Ends With You (#100)
3. Chrono Trigger (#20)
2. Valkyrie Profile (#25)
1. Soul Nomad & The World Eaters (#72