A look back at: Pokemon Altair & Pokemon Sirius

Well, I almost went the hiatus route with rom hacks, but I then decided to keep my commitments and finish stuff I have. Well, it was a double dosage, and I am NEVER doing it again, I swear. That being said, this is yet another Pokemon ROM hack where you go through Hoenn. They tried to give this one a bit more originality by having new landscapes, new Pokemon, a few old favorites from future generations, and a bit of interesting sub-story, but the whole basis of the hack remains the same as the original game.

Gotta admit, it was interesting to see Steven and Wallace as the evil team leaders this time around. Brendan and May both being actual allies and later rival trainers. Your main rival Gordon/April isn't really much overall. Billy who is Wally's younger brother is kinda meh, and Wally as the champion is only slightly surprising. The weird thing about him may be the fact that he doesn't wear a shirt in his champion bout. Oh yeah, and Norman's an Elite Four member, Brock's the first gym leader, and this Mosmero guy who's role is to be like Scott is actually another Elite Four member and kinda annoying. Aldina was an interesting Pokemon character who was apparently experimented and turned into an artificial Pokemon, sparking quite a bit of nightmare fuel.

After several rom hacks which like to spike difficulties a lot, this one actually felt kinda tame, at least before the post-game. The champion has up to Lv74 though, but this is better than others. Some romhackers make you play for challenge, but this one does alright. The main challenges are all at the end anyways: like the pixel hunting for Pretty Stones, finding Aldina in an annoying hide and seek game, the super-cryptic puzzles in the Sphere Ruins as well as getting the Meteor legendaries. There's a reason I wanted to make a detailed walkthrough here. I plan to make more!

Doom Musings: 10 more secrets I missed for the Top 25

 If you don't know what I recently did on Doomworld, I had recently crafted a Top 25 list with the most nefarious secret sectors, the ones that are very difficult to even achieve. Among them were 5 honorable mentions. But thanks to the replies I got there was obviously a lot that I missed. So maybe we should get down on it and see what kinds of secrets I ended up missing overall?

The Three Worms:
MAP19 of THT: Threnody

You know, I wasn't even thinking of THT: Threnody when I really should've, but yes, the freaking worms here definitely were missed when I did my list. For shame, me. Anyways, if you don't know, this big ass map can easily distract you from the secret, what with the combat being frantic throughout. The important thing is that there's this worm you gotta find, and he's hard to track. But after you smoosh that worm, you gotta find another elsewhere. And another elsewhere. All to get a juicy BFG9000.

Wings of Wrath secrets in general:
E1M3: The Reservoir of Realm of Parthoris (just one example)

I said that as just one example because of the nature of having an inventory item that grants flight. It must be the reason why most Heretic secrets aren't really well built, because unless you don't have a Wings of Wrath item in your level at all, you can bet a player will likely use a Wings of Wrath to fly and get items on high places. Regardless, it's still important to know when and where to use one, and E1M3 of Realm of Parthoris puts a Wings of Wrath in one secret area, then has another secret area that is inaccessible by any means besides using a Wings of Wrath.

The baited BFG9000
MAP32: Doom Deux of 3 heures d'agonie 3

Most secret BFG9000s are hard to get, but for this one, it's just out in the open to the left of the familiar starting point. But just try to get it. You'll be battered, fried, torn up, all thanks to the surprise horde of monsters that pop up.

The Vargskelethor mushroom
MAP02: Phlogiston of Counterattack

Quite surprised that I didn't have a single Mechadon secret, considering how big the levels are and how many secrets to get. But quality over quantity I guess. Either way, Phlogiston originally was made for the first Doom Mapping Contest that Joel had, so there's a leftover secret here. It is of course the hardest one to find out of the ten in the map. Imagine running, finding a well-hidden pair of skull eyes (that's timed!), and then another set of skull eyes, among other things just to get one secret.

Eastern Sun's east side
MAP02: Eastern Sun of Stardate 20X7

Trying to get the secrets in this one made my head spin. At least one requires an arch-vile jump, while another one, the one I'm mentioning here, actually can be permanently closed off by a switch you'll stumble upon by accident. This one combines some waterfall hugging too!

Starting out Opulence
MAP25: Opulence of Akeldama

While most players rush into action, the first thing to do in this level would be to shoot a switch to the east of the starting point. If you go before doing so, the switch will be closed off for good! Deceptive, ain't it? And then it combines moving a long way plus some rock hopping.

The BFG Platform
MAP14: City in the Clouds of Hell Revealed

The important thing to remember about Hell Revealed is that it is made for speedrunners. Therefore, expect weird ways to do stuff as you slaughter. That BFG9000 on the top of the platform with demons around it is incredibly enticing, yet it seems so far out of reach! You gotta do stuff to open a teleporter in the southeast first, then afterwards you gotta do some straferunning. This sure is a frustrating one, but doable.

The strange alcove with the soul sphere
MAP28: Whispering Shadows of Alien Vendetta

From one revered megawad to another, in MAP28 of Alien Vendetta, there's a strange red alcove that contains a soul sphere. So how to get it? The window! Well how to get to the window? Getting over it is the easy part, staying on is the hard part, cause you gotta stay on to jump to the alcove itself.

Speed through SkePLand
MAP03: The Master of Disaster of SkePLand

The author of SkePLand wanted to make you work for the secrets, but in this map one secret goes too far. You've got this switch, it lowers a teleporter near a rocket launcher, except that teleporter is on a higher platform. As far as I know, you need a speed boost from an arch-vile nearby. Yes, a "speed boost". I don't think I've ever gotten this one legitimately.

Letting a monster open a door
MAP15: Clash of Galaxies of Community Chest 3, as well as MAP14: Underground and MAP32: The Super Secret Level of Doom 2 Reloaded and E1M3: Logistics Center of No End in Sight

Those are just a number of the examples of "make sure you don't prematurely kill a monster" before you can get the secret, because these monsters are required to open a door that you can't open yourself. The one in NEIS may be the most egregious, mostly because of how those doors work.

So let me guess, I missed a lot more?

A look back at: Dragon Quest VIII

 

My goodness, I really do spend a good chunk of free time actually playing these games. Maybe cause I knew this would be a long one? In any case, here's one of the better Dragon Quests, and despite many things remaining more or less the same the subtle differences make things a bit better. Psyche ups, alchemy pot, an expansive 3D world map that feels never-ending as you wander it for days. All this while keeping true to form. Whereas Final Fantasy does loads of changes that detract from classic formulas, the Dragon Quest formula remains throughout each successive game.

In the case of VIII, I gotta say the overall feel is quite classic for a Playstation 2 RPG. Only four party members, standard skills and magic, standardized enemy patterns, the usual medieval cliches in place. Arguably I do complain about some gameplay nuances, such as semi-randomized speed values or the alchemy pot taking FOREVER for it to finish on that item that I look up to get great weapons and armor. Hey speaking of which, scouring the area for recipes and such is quite a drag too. Good thing Zoom spells and Holy Protection are available early. The day/night mechanic returns as well for some interesting variation.

Plot-wise, the whole thing boils down to "don't touch that freaking scepter" since an evil being empowers you if you touch it. To think that even a dog would become possessed at one point is just, wow. I may not get into the post-game stuff, much like other Dragon Quest games, because overall, their longevity leaves me exhausted. But this is another Dragon Quest game that thankfully doesn't disappoint. The series really does get better. Given that this is a more 3D game, the Akira Toriyama style of graphics really prevails in each character model too.

Doom musings: Evilution's ten greatest maps

 TNT: Evilution is a rather odd WAD. Sure, it's part of the commercial set of Final Doom, and is the more accessible one as its difficulty isn't on Plutonia's memorable scale. But it's also mired in past controversy over the whole "pay to get Final Doom" stuff and what not. Regardless, this half of Final Doom is one that I go back to, even if I don't always enjoy myself all the time, and after playing through it yet again, I managed to think up the best ten maps that are the ones most enjoyable. So let's see what they are.

(and no, Metal and Mount Pain won't make the list, sorry, you fools).

10. Central Processing (MAP20)

This is certainly a controversial pick, considering all three of Drake O'Brien's levels feel like they all overstay their welcome. Whereas Administration Center has the centralized main area, and the open field that follows it, the side areas tend to be a bit boring. Mount Pain, of course, is an amalgamation of sewer hallways, weird linedef triggers, and lost souls teleporting on the mountain over and over, but almost none of it ends up being fun. Central Processing, which is the first of the Drake maps, is a relatively staggering map, one that is long, overstays its welcome, but at least the encounters are well put. The office area is silly, and once you clear the monsters, the huge valley at the east end feels empty. Nevertheless, the feel is atmospheric over there, and the level definitely proves itself well as an adventure map, with doses of back and forth every now and then.

9. Last Call (MAP30)

Obviously, I made an entire rant about the legacy of the final map in Evilution, the good, and the horrible. Yes, that Icon of Sin fight itself sucks, and a number of areas in the middle of the map are kinda meh. But of course, the torch block puzzle is an outright showstealer and one that many thought was trial and error when they first played it. Further proving this level's memorability is that spiral staircase that gets built, a testament to the fact that this is one of the select few IWAD maps that actually utilized "dummy sectors".

8. Heck (MAP28)

I gotta say, the Casali twins did horrible with their Evilution levels. Mill overstays its welcome and has a couple of puzzles that are non-intuitive, and the two secret levels are fairly difficult, but for all the wrong reasons, plus they are quite large and exhausting too. Heck, the one made by Milo, is generally alright for the most part. It's a fairly standard hub map, which is a blessing for it and a curse at the same time. Things are organized, and you've even got two areas that resemble MAP18 The Courtyard and MAP28 The Spirit World from Doom II, except more compact and difficult. Nevertheless, it's still not as tough for a level this late. This is also the final map in the TNT portion of PSX Final Doom, and I'm quite disappointed there wasn't some majorly big enemies to tangle with here.

7. River Styx (MAP29)

River Styx is yet another map where the player is staggered on approaching the enemies and such. It's got the adventure feel to it too, you go down the path until you reach the marble temple, deal with its trials and tribulations, including a nasty crusher room and another with a spider mastermind (one of three in the whole wad, four if you count the one on Caribbean on ITYTD/HNTR). The tower area with the arch-vile can be quite frantic too. It may not be the best of MAP29's, particularly in buildup, but it works well as any sort of middling level.

6. Dead Zone (MAP15)

While there's bound to be some frantic action in Final Doom, most of it is segmented in mostly linear levels without much in the way of nonlinearity. Dead Zone is a straight-up sandbox, you can enter the main building or run around the sides, picking things off, a testament to the sandbox city levels of Doom II. On the surface, it's probably the ugliest map, with hidden doors not being easy to find without an automap or so. But it plays frantic and well and combat matters more. It sure has its fun moments.

5. Deepest Reaches (MAP16)

I consider Deepest Reaches to be the most interesting of the TNT Evilution maps. For one, its author, Andre Arsenault, doesn't seem to have a record of making any other map, so this is a one-map wonder for the author. Another is that it stands starkly contrast to everything thus far. The hellish parts of Final Doom aren't shown yet, but Deepest Reaches comes the closest, with the iconic-looking scenery of rocks jutting from the slime, the wicked library section, a few chapels here and there, and loads of subterranean caverns. It's certainly a fun adventure map. Later in the WAD, Ballistyx will follow suit with its subterranean combat.

4. Wormhole (MAP04)

The idea of deja vu is rarely explored as it can be hard to make it seem interesting in a way. Sadly for TNT Evilution, this is only explored once, but wow, when you look at TNT-inspired community wads, it's quite obvious that Wormhole served as an inspiration. Its difficulty is deceiving as well, I mean, the cramped corridors are one thing, but the trap in the beginning is another. The familiarity of the layout can be used for the second half, and oddly enough, for this map, you don't need to enter it at all if you find the right linedef for the exit.

3. Stronghold (MAP09)

Metal is such a horrible map. From the start it feels non-metal, you've got hitscanners everywhere, and that stupid end room is just blind luck for a majority of players, especially if they're not fully prepared. Stronghold on the other hand, yes, it's packed to the gills with enemies too, but they aren't gonna go for cheap tricks and open arenas. You'll be fighting all the small fries in Stronghold in more confined spaces, which should be worked to the advantage. In the end though, as far as a hitscanner-centric map, this fares far better than the one that preceded it. An interesting fact is that this map right here has only one demon, everything else is a zombie or an imp and there's nothing stronger than them in the whole map. What fun!

2. System Control (MAP01)

You know what they say. A first impression has got to be the very best. Looking at System Control, well it's just a techbase in layout...what's that? A berserk pack already? System Control starts you with the handy berserk pack, almost as if to convey that this map will be a load of fun right off the bat. Many berserk-oriented maps exist as starting maps (which can be episode starters by the way), and this was the first major one more or less. POW! POW! POW! It never gets old to punch everything on Evilution's starting map, and that's why it ranks highly.

1. Crater (MAP12)

Crater is quintessential Evilution. You've got the decently constructed techbase with slight nonlinearity, the outside areas that are somewhat expansive, the hitscanners and imps out and about, and all within a reasonably sized level. Hallways are done right, stronger monsters are spaced evenly, and there's even the peculiar dark room with border lights. A neat effect. Also neat is the walkway where you can look at a huge slimefall, in one of the most beautiful aspects of scenery in an IWAD ever. The water areas that follow aren't all that interesting, but they do give a Tom Hall-esque design vibe given their optionality. This is the level that just screams Evilution in every which way.