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newtmonkey

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    PC & video games (especially RPGs), horror movies (especially those from 1930s-1980s), boxing, piano

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  1. Tales of Phantasia The game definitely got a lot easier after the one massive difficulty spike where allowing the boss to get a single spell off was basically an instant game over, but I still find myself having to spam spells in some boss encounters; you just cannot let them get their spells off, because they do so much damage to your entire party. Having said that, the party has been getting more powerful simply by progressing through the game, so it's becoming less of a problem. There's a lot to like about this game. It's very linear, but there's some good exploration along the way with lots of stuff hidden out of the way, and I like how each character has his/her own way of learning new abilities. The main character learns sword techniques as he levels up, which you master through use, but can also learn special techniques from various trainers throughout the world; these special techniques combine two regular techniques, and you need to have mastered both techniques to use them. It's fun, because it's something you can realistically work on as you play the game, since it doesn't take too many uses to master each technique. You also have two wizards, and each has his/her own way to learn new spells; the summoner gains new spells at certain plot points, while the elf leans her spells from masters or just by finding spellbooks in bookcases, etc. It gives you a lot to do outside of just following the plot. Each town also seems to have its own optional side quest to do, and often it's just for fun. It reminds me a bit of Ultima VII in this respect, actually. Sometimes it's fun to just talk to the NPCs and solve their little problems not for any reward, but just because it seems like the right thing to do. I know that the fan translation of this game is infamous for its salty language and sexual content, so it was interesting to get to the infamous ship scene and see what the script actually says. It's probably been covered elsewhere, but the original script is very tame in comparison, and the fan translation is beyond Working Designs in its outrageousness. Why did the fan translators decide to sex it up so much? Very bizarre!
  2. I'm in the middle of '93 for most of the mags, so some general comments: Computer Gaming World ('92) At first I really liked the quality of the writing in this mag (full sentences, no typos!), as well as the comprehensive coverage of PC games of all genres... but I have to admit that I just don't like most of the articles and reviews in this mag. The reviewers are too "cute" and are always trying to be witty but, imo, failing miserably. It's a bit tedious to get through most of the reviews, because you often have to skip anywhere from 1-3 paragraphs before the review starts, and then several paragraphs will be devoted to describing the screen to you in excruciating detail; crucial back when the mag didn't even have screenshots, but not in 1992! One perfect example is the review of Ultima VII by Charles Ardai, where he spends two entire paragraphs talking about how seven is an unlucky number, and how many people are avoiding Ultima VII because it's the seventh game in the series (huh????). This is after Scorpia fully reviewed the same game in the previous issue, so I don't understand the point of having yet another review. He also suggests that combat in U7 has a turn-based mode (it doesn't), so in other words it fails as a review because it doesn't even accurately describe how the game plays. He does spend a lot of the review describing the screen and praising the in-game speech, but doesn't actually review the game at all! Is it good? How is it compared with the previous game, or even compared with the back-to-back masterpieces of Ultima IV and Ultima V. I have to wonder if he played those games, or even completed U7! At some point in 1992, the mag dropped the fun Rumor Bag column (they seemed to get a LOT of complaint letters about this column)... though they did reinstate it later in the year. Reading these mags now, I definitely prefer PC Entertainment (from the Game Player's publisher) for PC game coverage. The writing is just much better, and I find myself reading each issue cover to cover, even when the mag is covering games in genres I really don't care about. EGM I just read through the June '93 issue (Mortal Kombat on the cover), and it was a very nostalgic read indeed! I was completely obsessed with MK around this time, so I remember reading the MK feature over and over. It's also just a cool issue overall at around 200 pages long, with lots of import coverage. This was definitely a high point for the mag, though it would get even better in '94 imo. Super Play I ended up mostly skimming through this mag. It's got great screenshots, awesome page layouts, and quality writing, but it's so jokey that I find it hard to take seriously. They are just throwing jokes at the wall to see what sticks, though it is sometimes very funny. The reviews are fine, but it's another case of 1-3 paragraphs of jokes and nonsense before the review actually begins. I did get a kick out of how much they (rightfully) flipped out over the fact that the Super FX chip was developed by a UK company. I think everyone knows this now, but I don't recall Nintendo Power mentioning this back in the day (though I might be wrong).
  3. @Gamemoose I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the AVS! It's a great system. There is an option in the menu to select different color palettes, and I recall one of them being very close to my actual AV Famicom. It was added in a firmware update, so if it's not in your menu you might consider updating!
  4. Tales of Phantasia I just got done with a pretty tough boss battle, at around 7 hours into the game. This guy seemed absolutely unbeatable at first (luckily there is a save point right outside his room). It's you against him (a powerful spellcaster) and his minions. He has two golems that are tough and do a lot of damage if you let them get near you, and also two little flying wizards that can teleport around and annoy you with somewhat strong spells. You also start the battle surprised and surrounded on both sides. Finally, the boss himself does insane melee damage, and can cast a powerful spell that hits everyone for hundreds of damage and is basically a game over. It took several tries, but I was finally able to take him down without needing to grind any levels or anything. I set my wizard to the "don't cast spells" setting, and manually had him cast his one spell on the boss over and over, since doing so interrupts his spellcasting. I set my healer to the "focus on healing" setting, and basically just hoped that she could keep up. Finally, I had the main character focus on taking down the minions with special attacks. That did it! It was cool that I could change my tactics and defeat the boss without needing to level, but it also revealed how annoying it can be to have to micromanage fights using this combat system. Anyway, we'll see how the rest of the game goes.
  5. Gekkan PC Engine This was a Japanese magazine devoted solely to the PC Engine, and it's a decent one at that. I mentioned earlier in this topic the nice layouts, excellent screenshots, and surprisingly in-depth walkthroughs and strategy guides... but like with any mag, the more you read it, the more you start to find annoying. It was fun at first reading these cover to cover (skipping the extensive "lifestyle and hobby" section in the middle)... but I realized after a few issues that much of each issue is just bunch a filler content not worth reading. So many pages are devoted to previewing the same handful of games month after month and basically just telling you that the graphics are AWESOME!!!! or describing the screen to you and telling you what you do in the game ("fly to the right and shoot things!" "walk to the right and bop things!"). With that in mind, I've mostly just been flipping through these and only reading previews of games that never got released or otherwise just look interesting to me (mostly RPGs), and any interviews they have with game developers (very rare). I was also initially reading the reviews, too, but they are some of the worst out there. There is simply not enough space given for the reviewers to go into any detail, and nearly every game gets a 70-80% review from every single reviewer, with the "review" almost always being some variation of "cool characters, good graphics, good pacing, not too difficult." Cosmic Fantasy, which was released in an unfinished/broken state (half the items and spells do nothing, enemies and bosses don't use any special attacks or spells, etc.) gets a round of 70-80% reviews ("cool characters, good pacing, not too difficult")... but the straw that broke the camel's back for me was the round of 70-80% reviews for the complete garbage that is the PC Engine port of Golden Axe (laughably described by one of the reviewers as a "fine port"). One fascinating thing about this mag is that you can see the train wreck that was the development of Tengai Makyo ZIRIA happening in real-time. Early issues of the mag cover the first version of the game, which looked extremely impressive... and then one suddenly the game is some kind of action RPG... and then the very next month it turns out the developers scrapped that and and now the game is yet again completely different. At some point, it starts to look a lot closer to the disappointing game that was actually released... and then just a few months later it's finished and reviewed! That explains a LOT about that game!
  6. I don't disagree that platformers and then fighting games became the dominant genre for the 16-bit consoles, but if companies were still releasing shmups and RPGs in 1992, then there was a market and fanbase for them. It's unprofessional and a disservice to the readers to not review the games on their merits, and if the reviewer in question doesn't "get" shmups, someone else who does should be reviewing them. The major US mags (EGM, Gamepro, Gamefan) at the time heaped a lot of praise on shmups and RPGs alike. It's a moot point anyway, because my impressions were only on the first couple of issues of Superplay. They improved a lot only a few issues in, and started assigning reviewers properly.
  7. Tales of Phantasia I originally figured this would be your typical trivial 16-bit RPG to blast through, but I'm surprised to find that it's actually pretty involved. The dungeons so far are not massive but also not completely linear paths to bosses; in fact, there aren't many bosses so far, and your objective is usually just to get through a dungeon or find some item or character. It also has a pretty unique combat system, because it is basically just a single-character game, with that character being a sort of "tank" (to use MMORPG terminology) supported by the rest of the party. He is mostly there to soak up damage, take out the enemies, and protect the rest of the party. Although the combat is real-time and action-based, it has a real turn-based feel because you have to wait for the attack animation to finish before you can attack again. The combat is also heavily focused on interrupting animation, so you have to learn how each enemy attacks if you want to avoid damage. You get a bonus to evasion if you stand still, so that's another thing to keep in mind. So far, I am very impressed with this one! I didn't think I'd like the action combat, but it's great so far. It's basically the game I was hoping Star Ocean would be.
  8. It's a sad fact of life that Discord is largely replacing forums. I have never understood the appeal of live chats with dozens of people, because there's no way to stay on topic. It's just chaos, and there's no way to discuss anything in depth. I know you can search Discord, but you still end up just tracking down threads of conversations throughout a bunch of memes and off topic nonsense. Of course, forums aren't really helping themselves here, since few forums seem to want to crack down on YouTube shills, people that just post meme gifs or link after link to YouTube with no discussion, trolls, etc.
  9. Some more thoughts: Computer Gaming World I blasted through the '90 issues... there ended up being a LOT of stuff not worth reading imo this year, such as straight-up walkthroughs full of spoilers from Scorpia (adventures and RPGs) and "survey" articles that go on and on for pages simply summarizing a dozen games with a sentence or two. I also ended up skipping the pages upon pages of wargame and sim strategy guides, since I have zero interest in those genres. Scorpia has been given a regular column this year, in addition to her letters section and review of the month. I've complained before about how she would just drop a spoiler-filled mini walkthrough in the middle of her reviews, and she still does that (why would anyone want this???), but she's otherwise an excellent critic and writer, so I enjoyed reading her columns. Having said that, she seems hyper critical of RPGs at the time, criticizing them for not playing just like pen and paper games around the table with your friends. I really don't know what she was expecting, as computers are not even capable of doing this NOW never mind in 1990. She describes her ideal RPG in one column, and it sounds 100% like Baldur's Gate... which is hilarious, because she would somewhat infamously give that game an extremely negative (and bizarre) review years later. I must also mention the particularly awful reviews written by Charles Ardai. He is one of those reviewers who spends 90% of the review talking about anything other than the game, and then wrapping the review up with one of those wishy washy "it's okay, if you like this kind of game give it a try" paragraphs. Whenever I read any of his reviews, I end up with no idea whatsoever as to how the game plays or what it's about. Finally, although the mag thankfully got rid of Arnie Katz's bizarre video game column... they went and restarted the column again, just under a different writer (Roe Adams). If I want to read about the Sega Genesis in 1990, I'm reading EGM or something, not "Computer Gaming World." PC Entertainment I finished the '92 issues, and this magazine is just exceptional. It's got a really clean, professional layout, and the writing is excellent. Featured games will usually get 3-4 pages per review, while smaller games will get a single page. I'm so happy I discovered this mag recently... I would have loved it back in the day.
  10. Tales of Phantasia I've been taking my time with this one and to my surprise, exploring is actually worth it! Unlike many console RPGs of the day, there are some optional areas here and there on the map, and some of these contain extremely cool stuff like powerful accessories, etc. I do really like this game, but I just got done with a really horrible section. You arrive at a mountain to make a pact with an elemental spirit, but the cave in the mountain has been contaminated with poison gas and you need to clear it. This involves pushing three rocks into holes in two rooms, but you continue to take damage due to the gas, you still have frequent encounters, and on top of that there's a super monster that is literally unbeatable that you just have to run from if you encounter it. It's not hard (you cannot die from the gas, and can 100% run from any battle without taking a hit)... it's just a massive waste of time. Anyway, it's not so bad because there's a save point right in the middle of the two rooms, and once you figure it out, it only takes a few minutes to do... but until then it's very frustrating!
  11. Tales of Phantasia I am really getting into this now! Even the combat is quite interesting, once you get used to it (and actually read the manual). Even though it's real-time action, it feels a bit more tactical than the button mashing of Star Ocean. You have three basic attacks: A for slash, Down+A for stab, and A twice to do a jumping attack. Your character automatically runs into range when you attack, and then runs back once the attack is done. I thought this was annoying at first, but it actually gives the combat a bit of a turn-based feel. You can also move freely left and right, switch your party order in combat (in case you get ambushed from behind), and chance the tactics of the other characters. So far, I'm pleased with it. It's a technically impressive game in many ways. It's one of the largest games ever officially released for the system, and it has a ton of voice clips and even one song with full vocals. There's also lots of variety in the backgrounds, and the battle scenes have a cool line scrolling effect to give the ground a 3D feel. However, the graphics are strangely washed out with dull colors. Maybe it will get more colorful later. One unique mechanic that I believe was eliminated in other games is the series (even the remake of this game) is the food sack. You can buy/find food all over the place, and have the option of placing it in your food sack. Doing this adds a certain number of "food" units to the sack (the amount varies by type of food), and this is used to heal your party as you walk around in dangerous areas. I like it.
  12. I played some SFC last night... it's been a while! Tales of Phantasia I only played this for a bit, but so far I like it a lot more than Star Ocean, a broken mess of a game that I've read was developed by ex-Phantasia people. It's similarly technically impressive, but is a bit more traditional in comparison... with the exception being the real-time action game combat that's so far pretty basic and dull. At least you can easily move your character around, unlike in SO. Light Fantasy I'd never even heard of this game before, but I was going through the Japanese roms on my cart to look for hidden gems, and the name caught my eye. Maybe some kind of Final Fantasy ripoff? Anyway, it turns out it is indeed a somewhat traditional JRPG, but has some twists. You have an "invite" command you can use on any character in the game, and certain characters will actually join your party when invited; that includes just regular townsfolk as well a "story" characters. Combat takes place on a single-screen grid, similar to Ultima III-VI. I have a feeling that a lot of this stuff will end up being more annoying than interesting, but the game seems worth continuing so far. Cho Makai Taisen! Dorabotchan This was released outside of Japan under the bizarre (but charming) title of The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang. It's alright so far, but it definitely feels like bargain basement Zelda or whatever.
  13. I love replacing optical drives with ODEs. Of course, it takes knowledge, pride in your work... for example, a disconnected optical drive can continue to see for approximately twenty seconds. So when I have one that's gawking, I always hold it up so that it can see the console it came out of. It's a little extra I throw in for no added charge. I must admit it makes me chuckle every time. Life is fun.
  14. Some random thoughts on mags as I read through them... Computer Gaming World I finished reading through the '89 issues, and I have mixed feeling on this mag. When it's good, it's really good. Unfortunately, you still get some reviews that just tell you what's on the screen and what each button does, without really telling you what it's like to actually play or whether the game is any good or not! Scorpia's reviews are still perplexing... she focuses on RPGs, and in the middle of her reviews she'll just start giving you a complete walkthrough, or in some cases will just spring a paragraph on you telling you the final part of the game and the ending. You have to be really careful reading her reviews, if you want to actually play the game yourself! They are still doing their awesome Rumor Bag column, where each column is written like a little story with the writer adopting some persona or another. These are a lot of fun! There was even a narrative running across several issues. One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that the mag started summarizing articles from Chris Crawford's newsletter aimed at industry professionals. You'd think that this would be fascinating, but I found it to be really wishy washy pie in the sky game design stuff. It was probably amazing stuff for a game designer back in 1989, but I don't think it's of much interest for your typical computer game player at the time. Electronic Games I'm about halfway through the '93 issues so far, and not much has changed with this one. It's VG&CE 2.0, which means a nice clean layout, writing aimed at a slightly more mature audience, and some of the worst reviews ever written. Each game gets a full page review, but as much as a third of the text is usually devoted to telling you the story of the game or complete nonsense (for example, the X-Men [Genesis] review spends five precious paragraphs on telling you what a great idea it is to make an X-Men game, since X-Men are so hot right now, etc.). The reviewer will then basically just summarize the instruction booklet for you, then end with a "if you like this kind of game, think of picking this one up!" paragraph. I seriously doubt that many of the reviewers even played the games, never mind completed them! I do want to mention the layout again, which is text heavy, but basically perfect. This is a seriously good looking mag (though the cover art is often horrible).
  15. I don't have any physical copies of any magazines, sadly. I had nearly complete runs of Nintendo Power, EGM, and Game Player's up through the mid 90s, but they became a hassle to move around so I ended up selling them on Ebay long ago. It would be cool to have them still, just to flip through on a rainy weekend or something, but I make do with scans. This is something I've noticed for many of the mags... as time goes on, they lose a lot of what made them unique, and they all start to resemble one another in layout and content. It's fun to read most of the mags, though, at least up until that point.
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