RPG Ranks: 10-1

Continued from the previous post.

10. MOTHER 3 (#111)

Well done, MOTHER 3, you managed to be in the Top 10. Easily much better than its predecessors, MOTHER 3 explores a lot of topics while keeping the game joyful and full of euphoria and oddities. The battle system tries for rhythm which is unique, but not necessary, and the game has some challenge at times. The ideals of greed corrupting citizens is one of my favorite moments, and I also gleefully enjoyed playing with different protagonists. There's so much to take in.

9. Live-A-Live (#49)

Squaresoft sure has a lot of underdogs, and this one fits right in. Numerous characters in numerous time periods, with a grid-based strategic battle system that takes a little bit to get used to, along with a final chapter where everything goes wrong for one hero, completely deconstructing his arc and turning him into an understandable villain. Live-A-Live does a lot of things, and does all of those things well.

8. Wild ARMs 3 (#35)

The unsung pinnacle of the Wild ARMs series, 3 nails the setting and the characters in the way the previous two couldn't get much of, giving the Western vibes perfectly while making the characters all gunslingers. There's liable to be some confusion, but figuring out things is part of the fun in this game. Plenty of quests to take and numerous fights with recurring villains are endearing.

7. Final Fantasy VI (#45)

The true quintessential Final Fantasy game will always be VI. No real protagonist among several is a nice touch, since you have plenty of relatable characters to deal with. Tackling the evil empire and obtaining the Espers are among the many quests taken in this replayable RPG. This is the first to really lower the difficulty curve previous games held onto, and eased many players into the series, meanwhile keeping the memorable stuff intact.

6. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (#23)

Zelda-like puzzles, an interesting take on barebones turn-based RPG gameplay with friendly monsters and IP for mad skillz, and the twists and turns of the plot to get rid of four rising Sinistrals are just many of Lufia 2's hallmarks. Again, getting lost is part of the fun in Lufia 2, the tools you get will help immensely, and the exciting moments are always exciting. Never settle for its remake, play the original.

5. Phantom Brave (#91)

There is so much to do in Phantom Brave. Equip weapons to characters, create new phantoms confined to objects, create random dungeons, and fight within the free-range movement tactical battle system with no boundaries. This game's hero is a complete Lawful Good, compared to many heroes who could potentially be anti-hero at first. That do-good nature pays off at the very end too.

4. The World Ends With You (#100)

I had to make my 100th review count, and this one certainly counted. It's difficult to focus on combat in two screens, but certainly possible. Plenty of attack combinations with pins, fashion trends to watch out for, a plot with LOADS of twists and turns that make things unexpected, and even great post-game content. Amazing soundtrack and modern setting too. This was Square's diamond in the rough as far as DS games go.

3. Chrono Trigger (#20)

Honestly, is there anything that really needs to be said here? The ones who hate this game really haven't played it. It does Active-time battle perfectly with numerous encounters being memorable, and time-travel is done absolutely perfectly. The numerous quests taken help out significantly, and every charming moment sticks out.

2. Valkyrie Profile (#25)

It's a sad state of affairs on Midgard, the main setting of Valkyrie Profile, as many die and become drafted into Valkyrie's legion to fight off greater evil. Three different endings, a unique battle system with combos and finishers, and the compulsion to do certain things at certain times so you don't run out of time for what you need. Lots of things to take care of, including sending your soldiers to a higher level to fight! I love this game.

1. Soul Nomad & The World Eaters (#72)

But in the end, this is still my undefeated champion of most fun RPG I have ever played. An accomplishment for the tactical RPG genre, there's loads to customize and even randomize as you plow your way through a fantastical plot of defeating World Eaters. Or turning the tables and going down the Demon Path. There's just so much to do and experience in this game that describing it wouldn't do it justice. It must be experienced head on.

And with that, I have officially ranked all of my RPGs accordingly. Even though I will continue to play more as time goes on, the new ones will probably not show up on this list anytime soon until I hit a target number. Regardless, peace out as I continue my gaming escapades.

A look back at: Pokemon Red/Blue

 

I gotta admit, one of the hardest things for me is to make a full review of something that is immensely popular. And I mean immensely. Explaining the original Pokemon games, stuff that I literally grew up with, is actually kinda hard to do as I have to explain things as if the viewer has never heard of it. I never even knew how to play the original Pokemon through explanation, just by watching someone else play as a child and then after getting my first Pokemon game I would use what I know from watching them play. And then that's where I stand. My main review for this game outlines basically all the mechanics of the game, but this post will talk about my main grievances with Gen-1, as well as how it compares to several contemporaries at the time.

First of all, a major positive is that it gets the whole monster catching aspect right. It's pretty strange really that I'd say this here, but let's face it, Pokemon did it better than other games I played. Like Jade Cocoon? It did well overall, but a big issue is that the monsters you collect have to take up a turn to be summoned, giving the enemy a free turn. And that game didn't have much of the equivalent of trainer battles, in which this series also did well with. Then there's Robotrek, which seemed okay in most cases but was surprisingly slow-paced and awkward to do. I haven't really played any other Pokemon-like clone games as of yet, which goes to show you that Pokemon reigns supreme over the actual contemporaries*.

So I've played several ROM hacks, the vast majority based off of the Gen-3 engine games and a few for Gen-1 and Gen-2. Considering that we've finally replayed the original Pokemon Red/Blue (and I played both in tandem, constantly switching between the two!), I'll say what I gotta say about Gen-1 that I still have concerns with.

-To start off, the odd popularity that Gen-1 has over the rest of the gens has never struck me at all. People who love their nostalgia seem to prefer the Kanto games over everything else, even the Gen-3 remakes.

-Of course, the types in this game have always bugged me for numerous reasons. Bug and Poison were both super-effective with each other, while Bug was the only type effective against Psychic (an actual bug made it so Ghost type moves never affected Psychic). Oh! And speaking of moves, Ghost had only one good one, Lick, as Night Shade was a level-based move. And then there's the only Dragon type move which was the fixed-damage Dragon Rage, making Dragon types (of which there was only one line I might add), not all that amazing anyways! And Bug of course was never popular, with lackluster moves that wouldn't really dent the Psychic type much, and that's considering that Psychic types have bad defense stats.

-Speaking of stats, Special used for Special attack and defense, as well as classifying moves based on type instead of by the preferred method of whether a move is physical or special in the way that it would make contact or not. Maybe I got used to Gen-3 abilities where this was something that could have been considered, or Gen-4 actually doing the (infamous) physical/special split, but I honestly had no real qualms with it then. This? Awkward.

-The dreaded "Gen-1 miss", which is an odd phenomenon that only occurred in the first gen that made even 100% accurate moves like Ice Beam and Thunderbolt have the chance to miss even under normal conditions.

-Honestly the mon designs for the original game definitely didn't look clean. Sure, some definitely had a monster feel, but I wasn't a fan of most of the original Pokemon designs. Man, Pikachu used to look so fat.

-Many mons' move pools were utter garbage. Sandshrew, Ponyta, Koffing, hell, even Rhyhorn. They ended up not learning good moves of their own type (where they get a damage bonus).

But even with these grievances, this series clearly did a number by being great enough to be loved by many, and improves on the formula with several new concepts each new generation. This is all even when people often say they keep milking the same thing over and over, because there's always at least one thing new each time.

*Note, I don't count the tactical RPGs or Wizardry games or what not where you create characters, since character creation didn't involve battling and catching them, just creating them out of what you have and dealing with stats and equipment accordingly. Okay, Robotrek was this too, in a way, but your main character throw the robots to battle from his capsules, so it counts, okay? Pokemon-like RPGs are frickin' complicated.

Doom Musings: Soundtrack rankings: Doom II

Well, since I already ranked the soundtrack of the original Doom, might as well go straight for the sequel! I of course am much more familiar with this one's soundtrack, and the overall gist is that Bobby Prince abandoned much of the grungy rock-sounding tracks for more eerie-sounding music for this particular game. Well, let's get down to it.

21. Title

Kind of obvious that once again, the title track takes last place, owing to its relatively short length. Bobby clearly got the idea for this one from the screeching violins of Psycho or something. It STILL works out for showing that you are about to face your next Doom in any case though.

20. The Ultimate Challenge

This song is just retaken from Wolfenstein 3D, and since it fit for the boss levels there, it fits for Grosse here as well. But not really that great for an actual Doom level per se. There's really not much else to say.

19. Intermission

The intermission screen music for Doom II is a cute little attempt at horror music, and is heavily drum and bass driven, with the accompanying melody that follows it working well enough. It's not really great if you actually put it into a level though, but that's fine, there's very few levels that even use it as a level track.

18. Between Levels

This track stands out in stark contrast to the horror-sounding tracks that the rest of the soundtrack has. It's fast-paced, almost as if it would work in a casual racing game, with a relatively fun-sounding melody. It also is interestingly inspired by another fast-paced-but-not-so-well-used track from Wolfenstein 3D, the track Zero Hour used for E3/6L4/8 in that game. Quite strange!

17. The Healer Stalks

This one just sounds like weird jive music every time I hear it. Very odd to hear it in Doom each time, especially the latter half of the track which just definitely doesn't fit in with Doom much. Not to mention it's almost always heard after you complete a single level Doom II PWAD and are dropped back to Underhalls each time.

16. Evil Incarnate

Like Ultimate Challenge, taken straight from Bobby's own work in Wolfe...er...actually, Spear of Destiny. It definitely set the mood well when it was the Angel of Death's stage there, and it works out even better when you first enter Wolfenstein for the first time. Familiar territory, but it's much darker, much larger, much more forboding. It works, in other words.

15. Bye bye American Pie

The first track that I managed to find the inspiration of, this track definitely wants to let you know the urgency of the level you're in. In a way it's kinda silly, even for Barrels O' Fun. Even more when it's used for MAP23 of both Evilution and Plutonia as well! Its usage is heavily varied, but it's never really been a true favorite of mine. At least he tried to spice up Them Bones to make it even spookier. Still, what's up with using Don McLean's famous song title, and then making it sound like an Alice in Chains song?

14. Countdown to Death

This one would have been one of my lowest ranking tracks because I always thought it sounded boring. But then I found out from a post on Doomworld that apparently there is a clock ticking in the music itself. In other words, the clock ticking is literally the beat of the track. It still has that horror feel to it, but the revelation gives it a few more brownie points.

13. The Dave D. Taylor Blues

I don't know much blues myself, but this one is kinda like Healer Stalks in that it definitely doesn't sound Doom-y. It might work for the city levels, but the only one it's used in is Inmost Dens and eh, I think it would work better in Downtown or something, for that hustle and bustle feel. Then again (foreshadowing) DOOM worked better there. But I digress. This track also seems to have two distinct versions, as the D_DDTBL2 and D_DDTBL3 versions seem to have an erroneous length for the final note in the lead melody. An interesting track, no questions there.

12. Into Sandy's City

I'm sorry, I just don't see the resemblance between this song and Stone Temple Pilot's Sex Type Thing. I really don't. That said here's another track that could fit well in the city theme more than where it ended up. Administration Center (MAP21 of TNT) had a decent use of this track too. It's okay, and the more bleaker sound of this track near the end of the actual song is good.

11. Text Screen Music

Can you imagine having this song play when you're at a campsite, reading a relatively scary story? I could. This text screen music is pretty fun to listen to overall, adding more and more layers as the song goes but never feeling like it will go off the rails. All while you read the words of the Doom II story.

10. Adrian's Asleep

Although it's based off of Alice in Chains' Angry Chair, I had never really thought of that track all that much when listening to this. It's a sleeper hit for Doom II's soundtrack though, the right kind of creepy despite being used only once on one level in the game. Fits very well with any map that is slow-paced.

9. Opening to Hell

Very, very ambient track to showcase the final battle of Doom II. While all those damn JRPGs I played always tried to make final battle themes a mix of both atmospheric music, action-packed battle music, and all that jazz, Opening to Hell just keeps it simple. A whistle melody, with the rest of the instrumentation just slowly churning in. It's an interesting way to open the hellish finale of the game in any case.

8. In the Dark

Bobby Prince's longest track, almost seven minutes in length. Heavily bass-driven, but sort of gives a very strange pop beat, like it would perhaps fit in any Halloween setting. At times, I was never sure if I would really like this track or not, but it's certainly not a track that I would ever hate, since it seems to fit just about anywhere. Yeah, it's a long track, sure, but at least it closes out with some spooky Halloween-like noises at the end before looping back. In other words, it works great.

7. Shawn's Got The Shotgun

Inspired by Slayer's South of Heaven, this track has to be the most metal-sounding out of all the tracks, with drums accompanying the rocking guitars at each turn, making this a memorable track with a memorable riff. Though I'll be honest, the actual unused Doom music is much more fun to listen to. Still, ya can't really go wrong with an action-packed level with this music in the background. And it still works for less action-packed levels too.

6. Waiting for Romero to Play

A relatively calm-sounding track compared to its contemporaries around it, gives you a complete false sense of security when you play The Courtyard, or even some moments in Monster Condo. At times, it feels like ordinary music you'd listen to in a home, which, hey! That fits Monster Condo quite well! Definitely a track for more atmospheric levels, for sure.

5. Message for the Archvile

Easily the most interesting track Prince has constructed, very slow to start, but just adds more and more layers to give it the feel. Something's coming in the beginning, things sound creepier, then the synths start coming making you feel like you should be ready for it. The guitar parts are intriguing, sometimes they seem silly and that possibly depends on the level you're playing with it. But I don't think anyone hates this track and I definitely like it a lot.

4. Running From Evil

Everyone in the community who has played Doom II knows this at some point. Many Doom II single-level PWADs don't have new music, so they'll be treated to this track's opening riffs, then the synth blaring and such. That is, assuming they are the people who are willing to stomach listening to Running From Evil all the time. Me? Got no real problem with the track even with lots of exposure to it. One can even argue that the second half with the guitar solo is more well done than At Doom's Gate's iconic riffage.

3. The Demon's Dead

This is the very first Doom track I was familiar with, only because of the whole installation of Doom95 for Doom II way back when. It's a track with a nice riff to give you familiarity that you're definitely playing a Doom game, combining the sludgey guitar work with the horror theme. An excellent piece of work that Bobby Prince constructed here.

2. Getting too Tense

This has to be the most underrated track in all of Doom II. Barely anyone talks about it, and it's only used in one level in the game, that being MAP28, a very late game map. But in my opinion, this hits all the strides: a sinister sounding beginning, marching drums, a decent melody and a number of riffs that promote not just fear and loathing, but urgency. It seems to work no matter where you place it. Heck, the title of the track checks out fantastically.

1. DOOM

And here we are, #1 pick for my favorite Doom II track, which may or may not be expected. Everything I said about Getting too Tense applies to this one more, a sinister sounding beginning (rendered much more atmospheric), then getting tenser later on, with the slow drum beat, the synths working out excellently, and a haunting melody that exemplifies the two aspects of Doom, fighting monsters in a much more horrifying setting, that of Earth. And the title, of course, basically tells you everything you really need to know.

A look back at: Pokemon Scorching Scarlet

Featuring: Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Lost, Arrow, Castle, Smallville, Sliders, Roswell, Riverdale, The Music Man, Desperate Housewives, Three's Company, The Big Bang Theory, Full House, One Tree Hill, The Odd Couple, The Three Stooges, Samantha Who, Gilmore Girls, Friends, Glee, The Nanny, Smash, Sex and the City, Jessica Jones, Quantico, Beauty and the Beast, Home Alone 2, Forever, I Love Lucy, The Newsroom, How I Met Your Mother, Kyle XY, iZombie, Life UneXpected, Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon a Time, I Dream of Jeannie, Dexter, House, Vampire Diaries, Ally McBeal, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Eastwick, Chuck, America's Sweethearts, Agent Carter, Veronica Mars, 90210, Two and a Half Men, Alias, The Catch, The Timeless, The Scorpion, The Greatest American Hero, Scream, Charmed, Psych, How to Get Away With Murder, and Scandal

Phew, what a mouthful. It's no secret the creator LatiosAzurill really likes sitcoms, and Scorching Scarlet is a rom hack that incorporates the Hoenn region as a huge crossover of sitcom worlds. So Rustboro is NYC, Lilycove is SanFran, Pacifidlog is the island from Lost, etc. And many known characters from the sitcoms can be trainers, like Chloe from Smallville is a gym leader, as is Doyle from Buffy. You also battle known villains from some of these series like Queen of Hearts Cora, Black Fairy Fiona, Eli "Rowan" Pope, and Tom Riddle. Getting to be on the cops' side of things by helping out S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Clark Kent as they investigate a possible murder, and even stopping Lex Luthor's plans and such. Warping through numerous locales with the kooky detective Castle can get you lost a lot, and a lot of places are initially not available due to guards, Wingulls, or Azumarills just blocking the way. Annoying, but you do unlock everything eventually.

Gameplay-wise, Scorching Scarlet plays a lot like the Grass Jewel games by the same author, the level curve is generally much higher overall, and those Lv100 elite trainers are naturally saved for last and are quite numerous in many places. It's not an Emerald hack, so there's a lot less trainers to battle, thankfully. Progression is a bit all over the place, doesn't follow the traditional routes in general. The idea of actually becoming a gym leader in this game by defeating Eric in Hawaii's elite gym though, it's actually a bit cool. Particularly due to facing a few familiar trainers from the series such as Wally, Phoebe, Winona, and Wallace, all who take the challenge! Apart from difficulty the game does offer the incentives of cheaper things to buy and rarer encounters being much more common, and it's still very enjoyable overall.

Doom Musings: Soundtrack rankings: Doom

The idea behind this particular post came from a recent playthrough of Super Mario World. Then, I viewed a blog post that actually ranked every single level in that game. Strange how it's probably the only one of its kind, but I really do like ranking posts, even though there's bound to be some controversial decisions based off of author opinion. So I decided to make my own, this time using soundtracks from the Doom games and many PWADs. I plan to rank each song in Doom based off of their overall sound, how well they fight into each of the maps they are in, and, well, that's pretty much all there's to it. Amazingly enough, I really don't like hearing IWAD music that much anymore. I've heard every single IWAD track too many times to the point where I install my own music wad whenever an IWAD track shows up. That's what happens when you're like me and have memorized everything. And with that, I think it's time to stop yawning and see where each of the 23 original Doom tracks by Bobby Prince fall on my scale of likeyness.

23. Title

Well, obviously this track being only about eight seconds long will rank last. That being said though, it definitely will pull players into the game because DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN........... If you ask me, it's honestly the best of the title tracks for the IWADs for that matter, even if it's the shortest.

22. Sweet Little Dead Bunny

Again, since this will only play in one particular endgame cutscene, this one doesn't get that much popularity aside from one surprisingly scary appearance in Plutonia's Hunted. Not a bad track by any means though. It sounds un-Doom like and peaceful on purpose before the scare factor comes in, giving the obvious sequel hook. To be frank, aside from Hunted, I don't think I've ever seen this music track get reused ever.

21. Facing the Spider

Doom has many rocking tracks to it and Facing the Spider isn't any different from the big rockers. It definitely tries for the crazy thrash metal vibe, which is fun, and I guess it fits for the boss level. For Dis though, it's a bit too crazy for the rather lackluster spiderdemon battle, and got more mileage in say, Plutonia MAP12 (funny too, since there's no spiderdemon there).

20. They're Going to Get You

Ambient, spooky, but in my opinion, other atmospheric tracks do it way better. Plus if your volume is too low you probably wouldn't even hear much of the music. On a side note, I have to wonder if the title makes this track seem like a sequel to the Wolfenstein 3D track "Get Them Before the Get You". You can definitely plod through stuff while both tracks are playing, though this one is gonna be quieter.

19. Nobody Told Me About Id

A track that has some pretty odd mileage. Only used once in Doom, twice in Plutonia, gets used in PWADs on occasion (Community Chest 2 has two levels that have this track, both are long and Go 2 It-y in a way too). It's a showmanship that you're up against something fairly regal in any case though, whether it's hoards of monsters like in Go 2 It, or big old cyberdemon in the Tower of Babel. Fairly nice.

18. Intermission from DOOM

If anything, this is a continuation of the doom and gloom feeling the title track got, before crescendoing into the grungey rock riffage which makes this a popular intermission track. That being said, it's fairly strange as an actual level track, especially in Refinery. It don't really fit well on that level IMO.

17. Deep Into The Code

Heavy, rocking soundtracks go well with nonstop action. E4M3's usage of Deep Into The Code is great, the level is frantic with action all around, as does Plutonia MAP09. E3M3? Not so much. This is a track that fits an action-packed level, but definitely not something with less action.

16. Kitchen Ace (And Taking Names)

Probably the easiest of the Prince tracks to learn on a guitar. The riffs are generic, but the song as a whole seems to do okay in just about any kind of level. Not much else to really pinpoint.

15. The Demons from Adrian's Pen

A long time ago I had this as my favorite track. Nowadays, I really don't like it all that much anymore. It's definitely got the atmosphere going, and sort of feels like a combination of Suspense with Nobody Told Me About Id. Those doots are memorable and swanky, drumming is great, rest is actually quite awkward in hindsight.

14. Sign of Evil

This is a very difficult track to rate. I'm not a fan of those weird doots in the beginning, but the synth that comes in is a definition of atmospheric. As are the guitar lines, but then again the droning guitars could be seen as a turnoff to some. Drumming is nice. It's a track that works better for long levels, and I think Alien Vendetta MAP11 has the best use of this particular track.

13. Untitled

Honestly, the worst thing about this track is the fact that it's just called "Untitled". Not sure if Bobby just couldn't find a good name for a track based off of Pantera's Mouth of War or otherwise. That being said, this is still an interesting track that fits just about any Hell level there is. Yes, even Hell Keep.

12. The End of DOOM

"Dadadada-da" The sound of the end-of-episode music track is brooding to show that despite the marine's best efforts, there's doom and gloom to come each and every time. The End of DOOM indeed in some cases when you finally finish off that last episode, or Plutonia MAP30, or such and such. It's just a great haunting track and feels like it can go anywhere.

11. Suspense

The fact that Suspense barely misses the top 10 will have me getting tomatoes lobbed to my face. But my first memories of listening to Doom's soundtrack had me almost forgetting this track exists, due to it sounding so quiet. But it's often considered the best of the atmospheric tracks for how quiet it sounds, even with the background hissing of the cymbals there. It's quite brooding. I guess the main melody is a bit repetitive too.

10. At Doom's Gate

Starting the top 10 off with At Doom's Gate, the Hangar track. It gets the blood pumping, and the blood will pump with this map on UV for sure. Very memorable riff, while the completely random guitar solos after every eighth riff or so just seem like cake icing. Use it for action-packed levels of course, it's made for such. And interestingly, there is zero conclusive evidence on what this music track was inspired by. Real strange!

9. The Imp's Song

It's those bass riffs, man. An atmospheric opener, followed by bass riffs that basically have you plodding through stuff. Is there really much else to say? The second music track works great, shame it's only used once in the original Doom, as it's a true favorite.

8. Hiding the Secrets

This has to be the most harmonic of the rocking tracks, plus the riffage is fun to learn. Shame that those who avoid secret levels will miss out on this track, it's one of my guilty pleasures by a mile. It's funny how it shows up in Warrens too, the level that plays exactly like Hell Keep until the very end. Maybe first-time players will realize, "Hey, this isn't really Hell Keep!" from just hearing the music. So fun.

7. Donna to the Rescue

A rock track that tries to be slightly atmospheric with its instrumentation. Pretty strange, but another guilty pleasure track of mine. The beauty of it is the goofiness of the main riff; it's definitely unlike the riffs in the other rocking tracks. But it just seems to fit anywhere you put this particular music track without too much fuss, and especially Perfect Hatred of all levels.

6. Dark Halls

When it comes to exploring a dark and danky area that isn't Hellish but has the sense of a run-down base with little lighting and damaging liquid, Dark Halls is an almost perfect choice. Another great plodding track with the proper synth that makes it seem like more than the monsters could come to life to creep you out.

5. I Sawed the Demons

For the pure rocking tracks, I Sawed the Demons wins out for me. Although it took inspiration from a less heavier artist than Metallica or Slayer, this one incorporates the fun riffs from AC/DC's Big Gun and works with them to make a track feel great. While other tracks immerse you into feeling everything with the atmosphere, this one is here to remind you, you're playing a video game. It feels like a true video game song.

4. On The Hunt

On the Hunt screams urgency right from the first note. It just builds up well before it goes into that main riff, which is still plenty juicy to listen to as well. But the whole thing just feels perfect for true run-and-gun, and also feels like an actual video game song. It works well with levels that feel like gimmicks, if we're being honest.

3. Waltz of the Demons

Feel the power of the 3/4 time signature through those violins! A truly beautiful setpiece of a music track for the breather levels of Doom, and for any atmospheric-feeling level in general. Those xylophone bits are cute, and pick up well for each measure of the track. All while keeping the creepy feel.

2. Sinister

But for all intents and purposes, Sinister is much, much better for slow, brooding, atmosphere. A great buildup for a song with a super-sinister riff, almost as if it's telling you you better pay attention to the song title above all else. It's a showmanship to what's really sinister about Doom, and only the #1 track is better than it for its brooding atmosphere. Speaking of which...

1. Demons on the Prey

I really contemplated this decision quite a bit. I never really liked how repetitive this track was in Ultimate Doom considering it was used four times, plus it was used twice in Plutonia, and wasn't as rock-y or as atmospheric as the others. However, after some listens, this is the song that outright defines Doom. It builds up beautifully from the somewhat quiet beginning to some very harrowing and defining riffs, showing how doom and gloom it is while feeling very professional for both Hell and destroyed base settings. Sure, you'll probably get sick of it at some point, but you probably wouldn't change the music to something else when you hear Demons on the Prey because you just know it defines how Doom is supposed to be in story and such.

A look back at: Wizardry 8

 

Whoops, nearly forgot to post about this. Well, in any case, finally a finish a franchise apart from a few spinoff games that are somewhat different than this. But hey, no more of that lame grid-based movement, even though the game loves to give us the bonus dungeons with a fake grid. No random encounters either, things are pre-planned. There's a LOT of customization in Wizardry 8, moreso than any other game in the franchise. Lots of stats to tweak, races to choose, formations to tweak, equipment to utilize, spells to use, even those guest star party members can find some use. Oh yeah, guest star party members! Quite a good addition, especially Vi Domina. As well as numerous races we saw back in Wizardry VII making a return with lots of voice acting, and then there's the newer races like Rapax to consider.

Perhaps it's my experience with the previous Wizardry games being its own reward, but I gotta say, Wizardry 8 is the easiest of the Wizardry games. But of course, a game shouldn't be super hard to be enjoyable, as this game not only offers difficulty settings, but the game is of a decent length and will have its challenges to and fro. Having accidentally stumbled into an area I'm definitely not leveled for is par for the course, so I would save that and go for later.

And then there's the entire idea that all of a sudden, the plot of Wizardry 8 is literally all about becoming gods. As strange as it is, the temptation to do so with such powerful cosmic items, including the Cosmic Forge from the sixth game and the Astral Dominae from the seventh, still in the Dark Savant's hands, all the ideas for what could be done is basically the reason why these games in the Dark Savant trilogy have multiple endings and beginnings. The creativity of it all is a shining highlight. So you wanna turn evil? Join the Savant for good this time and make the races go to war! Or write the Savant out of the book, although you gotta fight the guy. Or go drastic and tear a page out of the book, make it seem like he's not gonna go anywhere with his master plans! I don't think this will make my top 15 RPGs, but I am extremely glad on how well of a high note the Wizardry series ended.

Doom Musings: The legacy of the chaingun

Well well well, what am I thinking of today? My brain is so wired with just about everything I know it Doom maps that I should probably check out something else. How about a weapon? You know, everyone already knows how badass the berserk fist, super shotgun, and BFG9000 are, and can appreciate the rocket launcher and plasma gun for crowd control and other stuff. But you know, the chaingun really doesn't get the amount of love that any of these other weapons have. I wonder why?

The chaingun, when you fire it, fires about 8 bullets for second. Seems pretty chaingun-y right? Well, not really. The chaingun in Doom cannot really be compared to chainguns or miniguns in other first person shooters. Wolfenstein's own chaingun has a higher rate of fire than Doom's chaingun, while the Build engine games with their respective rapid fire weapons also have slightly higher firing rates (especially Shadow Warrior's Uzis and Blood's Tommy Gun). Heck, even Doom's plasma gun has a higher rate of fire and more damage per second at the expense of being a projectile weapon more or less.

But Doom's chaingun really shouldn't be underestimated. While the fire rate is much less than other video game chainguns, it's great for spraying fire against multitudes of enemies in a line. Even though it'll take quite a lot of bullets to fell anything from a cacodemon up, it's still capable of stunlocking most of these foes. You eat up the ammo, but usually clips and boxes of ammo aren't that rare in most levels. And of course, they can be refilled by finding zombiemen clips or just taking out chaingunners and getting their weapons. Then, there's the incredibly strange mechanics of the chaingun itself. You see, the tapping the fire button will let out two shots minimum, but these are on target every time. Holding fire down sprays the bullets horizontally with small inaccuracies. This means that the chaingun is the ideal sniping weapon in Doom, as the player can position themselves far away from an enemy and basically burst fire until they're gone. Since it's a hitscan weapon, these bullets hit instantly, and are more viable for faraway targets that move often.

I've apparently learned that the chaingun is a surprisingly cheap weapon for deathmatch because of that sniping thing in particular. It can explain why the chaingun is less used in deathmatch when compared to the other weapons, including even the BFG. Of course it may depend on the level layout; the bigger the layout, the cheaper the chaingun could get if found and used. In any case most deathmatch maps forgo the chaingun or make it a rare find like the BFG usually is and focus on SSG/rocket launcher/plasma gun deathmatch. Very interesting how the odd sniping mechanics of Doom's very own chaingun end up being cheap for certain deathmatch playstyles and levels. No one really hates Doom's chaingun all that much, they just don't use it nearly as much as other weapons due to them simply being better. Though, any weapon with a good niche will always be used as some point or another. Give the chaingun some love.