A look back at: Mystic Ark

 

A little variety in the gameplay is enough to make it go a long way and make it feel a bit more fresh. And it's quite odd too, considering that Mystic Ark is tied to the game Brain Lord as well as The 7th Saga in some ways. In any case, this is a fairly quaint SNES RPG that is probably worth looking at. Weird settings, figurines to collect and revive, and characters that are allusions to stuff. All this makes for a really weird game overall. Much, much easier than the 7th Saga too, although there's a bit of early game hell where you only have one character for the entire first chapter.

Characters in-game really do resemble the ones from 7th Saga in mechanics, except for Tokio who's unique ninja class is hard to compare with other characters from that game. One problem with this game is that there's no revival spell, and reviving party members involves walking back to the shrine, the main hub of the map, and retrieving their figurines again. Even worse it's a game over if the main character falls in battle and I never like those types of game over conditions. This is particularly bad considering this game has a few instakill spells (luckily the Blackout spell which two party members get is very accurate against enemies too). For some cases I'd have to put up Deathguard or the reusable Cross item right away. Magic and physicals tend to be different overall, and the Powerwave skill is probably the most useful of all as long as the character's HP remains at full.

One complaint I have is overall movement, it's so clunky and doesn't work well with the SNES-generated environments. You can easily get stuck on things even when you shouldn't and it's a hassle to go around. The encounter system is similar to 7th Saga, the best thing about that game for the record, and I'm glad it was returned for this game. Go ahead and try this, it's an interesting adventure.

Doom Musings: The best old-school slaughtermaps

So overall, the genre of "slaughtermap" has become a major staple in just about every modern wad. The need to throw hordes of enemies at the player has prevailed through the years due to everyone's lust to fight more and more. Because of how it's become more popular, many often forget about the most old-school of slaughtermaps. This post will talk about the best of those.

SQUARES.wad

Costa Lappas is credited with probably creating the most basic of all slaughtermaps. As its WAD title shows, this is a WAD with squares. There are square rooms around everywhere, and each room will have monsters and weapons. The monsters tend to have multiples in every room, with the central room being the biggest challenge. This wad is notable for being a huge inspiration on the famous Deus Vult, which in itself was a "first map". Insane, isn't it?

Showdown (Memento Mori MAP23)

I would say this is the first slaughtermap I can easily remember. In this coop-heavy megawad, Showdown was constructed around open fields and enemy armies, and while a bit rough on the edges, Showdown shows that there's going to be blood spilled at every turn. The author is one of the Casali twins, for the record, which actually becomes a nod once they throw the big challenge of Plutonia (remember that Final Doom came out after Memento Mori). Memento Mori unfortunately doesn't have a lot of really memorable maps at all, but this comes the closest. And since the set is largely coop-based, the slaughter gets turned up to eleven with more meat and more friends to help out.

Resistance is Futile (Hell Revealed MAP22)

Some will probably be surprised that Post Mortem (MAP24) or perhaps Mostly Harmful (MAP32) doesn't make this post. Well, they have a few problems. Mostly Harmful is a super secret map and is largely symmetrical, so even despite the insanity within there's still ample strategy that can be reused. Post Mortem is a powerful Living End-style level, but stuff like repeatedly teleporting mancubi as well as potentially cramped combat (assuming you don't go wading in damaging blood all the time) slows the pace considerably. Maybe this is why Resistance is Futile is the best. It has none of those things, instead opting for the Showdown approach, open fields, areas with armies behind them, well the two center buildings are also highlights in their own ways. In any case, this format will end up being reused as much as the Post Mortem format, and in many ways, they are done quite well each time.

Demonic Hordes (Alien Vendetta MAP25)

Of course Alien Vendetta makes the list, and what better way to do that than by putting in a map that says exactly what to expect? I think of Demonic Hordes as the first adventure-slaughter hybrid map. The map is still mostly slaughtering hordes, but goes further than the simple Showdown/Hell Revealed mantra and makes it into a substantial adventure. You'll be creaming enemies in many different areas and it feels like a fun odyssey no matter what. Other levels before and after this level tend to do the same thing a lot, but this is the one that really sells you as to what it's all about.

Fear (Scythe MAP26)

Eh, why not? We might as well end this one with the level that took many by surprise in Scythe. Everything at you at once! Scythe's Fear is a surprisingly simple slaughtermap, fight your way through the hordes to get the keys and then unlock the exit. The sheer magnitude of what you're facing is what makes it difficult though. Think about it, those cyberdemons guarding the keys themselves are one thing, the teleporting hordes at the bottom are another. And the way the revenant teleport closet is constructed is novel enough to make it seem endless in some way. People will remember this level and there's no denying it.

A look back at: Tales of Eternia

 

You know, perhaps it's just my overall familiarity with the JRPG genre that is causing me to start feeling senile towards many games I end up playing, or maybe I'm just trying my best to care but not finding it. But overall, Tales of Eternia didn't really do much in my opinion. It's thankfully not a BAD game, but it's just painfully average. I have quite a few pet peeves with the game overall. First and foremost, the title for the North American version is that of Tales of Destiny 2. This can EASILY be confused with the REAL Tales of Destiny 2, which would actually be the fourth game of the Tales franchise. Eternia, the real name of this game, has nothing to do with Tales of Destiny. That other sequel does.

Another pet peeve? The voice acting. It's HILARIOUSLY BAD. Like, wow. Farah's the kind of altruistic person with super messy hair so you'd expect her to be vibrant, yet her voice actor sounds boring. Reid's voice actor too, has barely any emotion for his somewhat wild personality. And then you have stupidly reused catchphrases like "You bet!", "No problem!", and my personal favorite "Yeah!" from Max, just, laugh out loud. You've got plenty of sidetracks in the game's plot that it is so easy to forget where you're actually supposed to go, especially after you get the Van Eltia. I spent way too much time sailing and doing sidequests involving Chat, Max, and other unimportant characters that I forgot what the plot was about very often.

But even when I remember what the game's plot is about, I remember not a lot in terms of overall excitement. All I know is: Meredy speaks a super weird Melnic's language and isn't understood for the first half of Disc 1, two worlds are about to collide (hello Star Ocean what are you doing in a Tales game), Keele's a scholar and kind of a jerk, the Inferian kingdom are the biggest douchebags in that entire world, Ras is a double agent, somehow Reid, Keele, and Farah destroyed their own town but it got rebuilt, and you can hop between worlds in a neat way. Oh yeah, and a nice little rebel movement to fight Balir except well it's his wife that does all the work. And of course, the ending is quite cookie-cutter, just barely saving the worlds from destruction even if it means the eternal separation. Well, it's better than Star Ocean 2's plot at least.

I even hear a lot of stuff was unfortunately cut from the North American release, including extra spells for Shizel during her final fight as well as a truckload of skits which would have made the game far more interesting plotwise. There's a lot of stupid references to previous games as well as Namco's other stuff, but somehow a lot of the stuff that would have mattered in the game was ultimately cut? Makes no sense. So overall, Tales of Destiny even beats this game, and I just don't know what I should do with regards to the rest of this franchise.

A look back at: Pokemon Dark Rising 2

 I seem to always play every game the same way. I have the time to do it for a few hours or so, multitask a bit by checking all my social media for any and all updates, then finish off at a comfortable point. Must be why I adore RPGs and Pokemon rom hacks that much, since they usually have comfortable places to leave and come back to. And then when I get close to the end I always rush it so that I can move on to my next game. Did that here and plan to do it yet again. Aren't I just weird?

Well, Dark Rising 2, you're kinda great and kinda disappointing. I found the new music silly, and a bit underused apart from the trainer battle. Graphics as always are better and encounters are fun. Trainer gauntlets are still a thing as usual and are quite fatiguing, but a seasoned player like myself knows that they are just small roadblocks on the way to victory. Dark Rising 2 continues to try to overwhelm the player, offering lots of Pokemon to catch, many moves to take use of, and many of the strongest mons fought are not even catchable, sadly.

I guess if there's any real problem that the series has, it's that a lot of it is more or less the same as I've been familiar with for the previous Dark Rising. In other words, this game is just a direct continuation and the new stuff isn't as noticable. It's great that familiar faces show up, and the idea of fighting every single known enemy team is novel, along with actually battling Darugis. That and the overpowered mon he uses, along with one YOU are supposed to use which is Arceus, makes things much nastier overall. A few glitches here and there make it not as good, then again, this is less glitchier than the first Dark Rising. One thing that disappoints me are the layouts. Once again, Kanto and the Sevii Islands are recycled often, and then you have the dungeons and gyms having completely recycled layouts. So overall, Dark Rising 2 really does try to be a more interesting sequel, but not necessarily a better received one.

Doom Musings: OMG Weapons and Monsters and why I love it so much

 Well I'm definitely hitting a writer's block at this point, having a lot of responsibilities makes me forget what I'm doing and what I usually do. I certainly don't want to disappoint any viewers in any case though, so I must remain active in any way I can. I guess I'll talk about a weapon mod that I still enjoy to this day, despite its age. OMG Weapons (and Monsters)! made by deathz0r is a relic of its time, but is somehow still one of the most enjoyable mods out there.

First off, it's a randomizer. It randomizes the enemies and the weapons. What I love about them is that they are simple palette swaps, so it fits for an RPG fanatic such as myself. The weapons and monsters all usually are fundamentally different and such to make sure each experience in a WAD different, and that's more or less the main beauty of it. Some weapons kick a lot of ass, while others just outright suck. The same with the enemies. My overall opinion on things is as follows:

-First off, the very first release of OMG Weapons is so bugged. Like, it would replace all the weapon and monster locations in a map with the spawners, but the fun part is that nothing's flagged deaf, so the moment you shoot, then everything in the level has woken up and is ready to attack, making things silly.

-The auto railgun is way better than the railgun, both are mainly sniping weapons but the auto railgun has more mileage.
-The flamethrower is easily the most overpowered weapon in the game. It eats ammo like mad and is short ranged but most big enemies fall quickly especially since the flames go through enemies.
-The mega proton cannon is very innovative and works well as a bombing weapon.
-The streetcleaner and minigun are excellent weapons for bullet and shell lovers
-The hellraiser is the most potent of the rocket weapons with a huge radius.
-I'm so glad the laser chaingun (which is already a weaker plasma gun) is gone.
-The mini-missile launcher's sound effects are TOO LOUD
-The vapour gun is HILARIOUS and fun to use when surrounded.
-The vortex launcher used to be a huge laughingstock of a weapon. Seriously, what idea was it to make the monsters get pushed away by the vortex? It no longer does that at least, but it was dumb.

-For the monsters, the hitscanner variants believe it or not are the most dangerous. Particularly the hellraiser and rocket variants who are dangerous to anything around them.
-The mini demons and mini spectres remain incredibly annoying to hit.
-The newer versions have given melee-only enemies a jumping ability so they aren't useless, or in the case of the Psychoskele, an agitation mode that makes them stupidly hard to dodge.
-Personally I'm not a fan of the mini-cyberdemon and mini-mastermind variants (although the latter gave the tarantutron a new role at least) but I guess they can make things weirder
-The biggest enemies don't trigger pain chance with the flamethrower, making them a little more difficult to deal with. Also the boss enemies are immune to the vortex launcher and vapour gun.
-The lord enemies that would replace the spider mastermind and cyberdemon are hit or miss most of the time. Even after the newest versions, because the imp lord still retains its lame attack even though it can summon ghost imps, and I think the new pain elemental lord is dumb because it summons former humans instead of all lost souls. The only other thing to say is that the spiderdemon variants will not work well with Ultimate Doom due to them being replacements for Doom 2 monsters.
-Many of the monster variants are hit or miss, but none really feel that awful except for two. One is the Shadow Imp, which is way more trouble to fight than it should due to it consistently fading in and out to avoid your attacks. The other is the Mystic Cacodemon, which would bring up a Heresiarch-like invulnerability shield often. Both cases force you to not use the handy rapid-fire weapons and drag out battles.

But you know what the best thing about this mod, at least with the newest version, the ability to customize what shows in the randomizer. This ranges from which weapons and monsters should be spawned to even the ammo that former humans drop, along with "fun house" options. The customization aspect is something that I always love to delve into in any game, and this isn't as different. In any case, the best thing to say about it is to try it at least once, with any wad of your choosing, and see the effects.