Vidya Gaems General

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-24 20:43:37

Well, needless to say, I was not expecting Pictimos to...well, cheat, the first time I fought him.

...and then, the twentieth or so time I fought him, I wasn't expecting him to go back to his first pattern.

And which boss in Ys 1 is the giant head that spits worms?

Bee · 2013-07-24 21:41:58

Uh...none of them. That might be 2, because I haven't played through it yet.

Also, always always approach Pictimos on a diagonal unless he's already in the middle of the animation to deploy minions/lasers. The fight is already going to take a while -- you can spare another two seconds to make it safer.

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-25 00:49:21

Oh, interesting. Khonsclard is very different as well in the NES version where it looks like a demon that jumps around and shoots fireballs in varoius directions.

I think the common theme is "shoots projectiles in various directions."

Also I was apparently thinking of Gelaldy, which was a golem in Origin. Gelaldy shows up in Ys II.

Bee · 2013-07-25 01:08:36

I think Zava does too, like, she's the penultimate boss or something. Which means that fight in Origin is throwing two penultimate bosses at you at the same time.

Finished Ys 1 on Nightmare. From the mines onward, you pretty much have to have the Timer Ring equipped at all times, because HOLY WHAT THE FUCK things get fast and they kill you absurdly quickly (2-3 hits at times). And the final boss is a cheap bastard.

He's also kind of amusing on the Complete version, because the older artwork is a little off-model, so his menacing pre-fight monologue is undermined by a slight case of strabismus.

EDIT: holy shit Adol is a perv.

EDIT 2: Okay, Ys 2 is amazing.

Herma_Mora · 2013-07-26 13:26:47

its protagonist is infinitely more likable than Kratos

No, he isn't. Gabriel and Kratos are both basically mass-murdering, vengeful assholes with godlike powers.

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-26 14:15:11

^^ Did you measure Feena?

Bee · 2013-07-26 15:49:28

For the achievements, yeah.

Ys 2 makes you do it to someone else, and the Xseed localizer that made the achievement icons censor-barred over the icon with "NO. I REFUSE TO DRAW THIS." I'd like the easter eggs more if it was more along the lines of weird shit like burning random villagers than creepy shit like feeling up Tarf.

It also makes you "sleep" in various women's beds while they're out. With the implication that sleeping is not occurring.

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-26 16:45:02

I wonder whose idea these stupid achievements were.

Bee · 2013-07-26 16:49:57

That'd most likely be Xseed, since they localized it to Steam. But then, it's also running off actual stuff in the original game -- at least the 2001 version, though I'd be even less likely to put it past the original NES.

Japanese NES games got creepy sometimes. Suffice to say a certain Dragon Quest 3 scene did not originally involve a crystal ball scam artist and her father trying to sneak something out of your pants while the lights were out.

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-26 17:46:31

http://steamcommunity.com/app/223870/discussions/0/846945579770325915/

According to ladynadiad, the achievement was XSeed's idea, but the original easter egg was Falcom's idea -- the achievement was just to highlight its presence.

Bee · 2013-07-26 20:54:54

Well yeah, the localization team can't generally do heavy editing of the game itself, but Steam wasn't around when Complete or Chronicles came out in Japan.

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-26 21:14:09

I'd argue that something like this should NOT have been highlighted with an achievement. It should be left as an easter egg, in order to keep it clearly a "What the hell, player?" moment, rather than to give any substantial-seeming positive recognition.

707ruz · 2013-07-27 19:02:22

Phil Fish cancels Fez II because he only likes criticism when it's not aimed at him.

You know, I like Fez but Fish is childish and intolerable.

Myrmidon · 2013-07-27 19:13:58

The word hipsters was used, so I am solidly on Fish's side here.

Schitzo · 2013-07-27 21:35:16

I'd vouch for him and his melt down because of him having Bipolar Disorder, but the fact that he put that much emotional investment in game design, the indie sector being sink or swim as is, makes me lose sympathy points for him in that regard. If he kills himself... I'm gonna have to say "called it."

I sincerely hope he finds help, finds another creative outlet, and that he does not blow up over silly ignorable bullshit.

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-28 00:47:54

...isn't Phil Fish the guy who famously and controversially said that the Japanese video game industry is complete shit, or something along those lines?

nohaynicklibre · 2013-07-28 05:08:19

He said all Japanese games suck, then retracted on Twitter saying he only meant modern Japanese games.

glennmagusharvey · 2013-07-28 11:00:56

~~He should have just shortened it to just "modern games"~~

Bee · 2013-07-29 01:13:12

Rainslick Precipice 3 clear on Insane, including all bonus content.

Lair of the Seamstress was interesting. Most of the main bosses were fairly simple -- I think Evil King was the only one that gave me more than two attempts of trouble, because his minion has a nasty tendency to ignore your Bullseye and oneshot random dudes. The ballbusters were mostly wholly unremarkable trash encounters, primarily in Hobo Alley and the Bank. Too many dudes that hit too hard to be entirely reasonable, and a lot of it came down to dumb luck.

Molly was a hell of a bonus boss, and nearly impossible on Insane. Fast as hell, hits like a fucking truck, and the fight is on more of a timer than usual because she powers up faster and has a big AOE nuke that'll pretty much kill you on the third shot unless you're full and defending. Basically, give Gabe Samurai, Masochist, and stat-all equip, buff the shit out of him and spam him with Energite while setting up defense, speed, strength garden, and regen buffs to recover smoothly from Chi Blast, line up Power Up and Sewing Circle on the same turn, then use Gabe's 9 MP attack. You have enough Energite for two of those that hit for a good 110k apiece, time a defend to soak her third Chi Blast, then burn down her last 50k with Powered Up Director's Cut from Gabe before she demolishes you, because by then she's attacking 2-3 times a turn. Most healing is done on your tank through Potions powered up by an Amp equip. I'm...honestly not certain how you're expected to do that before the Seamstress class from the DLC. Gabe's the only one who can hit for any respectable damage because she resists all magic and Moira sucks as anything but a healer, and without the added boost from Sewing Circle on his two huge attacks it's a bit too much to ask.

By comparison, the final boss was hilariously easy. They're both weak to Holy, you get a battle condition that boosts Holy, and you can kill the both of them in three hits. I don't think I even bothered using Pain Eater.

Blueeyedrat · 2013-07-29 01:28:44

Probably just going to miss the closed bracket in the SC tourney. Oh, well.

Bee · 2013-07-29 01:39:16

I was out at Round 5. After bombing that one, getting screwed out of Round 6 by a homework assignment from a teacher who couldn't be arsed to bring the sample code up to date, and bombing Round 7 even if I didn't get screwed by the two-hour time zone...yeah, not gonna happen.

EDIT: Huh, apparently he put one of my late submissions in the video anyway for the factoid. It wasn't even close to placing and I'm basically out of the running by now anyway, so no harm done.

MadassAlex · 2013-07-29 21:51:00

No, he isn't. Gabriel and Kratos are both basically mass-murdering, vengeful assholes with godlike powers.

I missed the bit in Castlevania when Gabriel went on an orgy of indiscriminate violence because his previous orgy of indiscriminate violence backfired and then destroyed the world as a result. Sure, he became Dracula, but the devs of Castlevania were self-aware enough to give bad-guy stuff like that bad-guy music and other hints that Gabriel had become a monster and all that.

To reiterate:

went on an orgy of indiscriminate violence because his previous orgy of indiscriminate violence backfired

The thing about Kratos is that there's no particular way to justify anything he did at all in any way, shape or form because he was a completely rotten individual from the time any of us picked up a controller. Gabriel isn't what I'd call well-written, but at least he's more interested in fixing stuff than self-pity.

that much emotional investment in game design

I don't see any reason why someone shouldn't put that much emotional investment, or even more, in game design. Making any game, especially a video game, is a long, tedious process occasionally broken up by being able to test the results thus far. The modern gaming industry -- and by that I also mean tabletop gaming and whatnot -- exists solely on a foundation of passion and, indeed, emotional investment. A mechanic or rule can be just as expressive as a paragraph of text and can carry just as much of its designer's identity. To make matters worse, the current state of the video gaming industry in particular actively discourages gameplay innovation, whether that be through the demands of publishers in the AAA sector or the way in which the indie scene is almost pathologically obsessed with recycling retro games.

I don't particularly like the guy, but at the same time, I feel as though your comment trivialises the difficulties in game design and the immense amount of personal investment that's necessary to even begin making games. That's not to say anything personal against you -- it's an easy comment to make if you're not consciously aware of how difficult and finely-balanced the process is. But game design is a job that requires a lot of skill and creativity to excel at, and after all that, it's not always recognised as art. Just look at the VGAs to see what value mainstream consumer society applies to the AAA titles we've grown up with -- and if you hate that, then put yourself in the shoes of a game designer who works 9-5 on a very expensive medium that sees very little artistic appreciation as things stand.

Kraken · 2013-07-30 02:25:27

This isn't Phil Fish's first black mark on his reputation, but it is the largest.

And honestly, I'll freely say that some folks need tougher skin, but we need to remember that folks like Marcus Beer sell their rage, anger, and indignation for internet traffic.

Herma_Mora · 2013-07-30 05:57:23

The thing about Kratos is that there's no particular way to justify anything he did at all in any way, shape or form because he was a completely rotten individual from the time any of us picked up a controller.

Kratos might be an asshole, but the gods are even bigger assholes. And they've been around longer.

Also, the gods killed him a bunch of times. I'd want revenge too, if I were him.

I missed the bit in Castlevania when Gabriel went on an orgy of indiscriminate violence because his previous orgy of indiscriminate violence backfired and then destroyed the world as a result.

In Mirror of Fate, Trevor (who in this continuity is Gabriel's son) went on an assassination mission because Dracula was being a bad dude. Dracula ended up killing him, but not before learning that he was his son. Which triggered an orgy of indiscriminate violence against a civilian population.

I dunno, that sounds like something Kratos would do.

Kraken · 2013-07-30 06:44:18

weeb weeb weeb weeb weeb weeeeeeeeb

vandro · 2013-07-30 12:57:51

I dunno, that sounds like something Kratos would do.

The point Madass was making, I presume was that Gabriel started doing that kind of shit after becoming dracula. Kratos has been doing it since he murdered his family. And the Gods are not bigger dicks by the time of III. Kratos is knowingly destroying the earth, with the death of Poseidon, Hermes, Hades and Helios. The point is that even then, the game tries to paint Kratos as this suffering greek tragedy archetype who in the end does the righ thing. That doesn't make any sense.