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Glen-i

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Posts posted by Glen-i

  1. Posted

    4 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

    How do you choose your party with so much choice?!

    Helps that I can discount all the characters who are human. Narrows it down a bit, but still leaves me with options.

    But I imagine this is the kind of game where you can just go with a party of the most interesting characters and stick with that if you want.

    At least, I hope it is. It could also be like Chrono Cross, where only 6 of the characters are any good.

    I doubt it'll be that bad, though.

  2. Posted · Edited by Glen-i

    Argh! So many people not going into the NSO options to remove the buttons on the bottom of the screen! I hate it!

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    Star Ocean: The Second Story R is an action RPG developed by Gemdrops, and was released on the Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC last year. It's a remake of the PS1 game, "Star Ocean: The Second Story"

    The game follows two characters, the first is Claude C. Kenny, an ensign of the Earth Federation (Think of it as the Federation from Star Trek). He's on a mission of some sort, when weirdness happens. Said weirdness transports him to the planet Expel, where he meets the second protagonist, Rena Lanford. Expel isn't aware of intergalactic life, so when Claude whips out a Laser Gun to save Rena from the local wildlife, she mistakes him for a hero in the local legends that wields a "Sword of Light". Word of this gets out quick, and the town mayor asks Claude to investigate the Sorcery Globe, a meteorite that has spawned monsters all over the planet. Claude agrees to look into it, but only so he can find a way off of the planet (he doesn't tell them that). Rena tags along because she wants to find her real parents, she's adopted.

    The framing device is interesting, you choose between Claude and Rena as the main character, and this tweaks the plot a little, as there's a number of scenes where the two are separated and you only see what happens to the character you chose. So there's naturally a few gaps in the plot.

    The general plot is fine, but my big issue is that for 75% of the game, the game kinda forgets that it's in a Sci-Fi setting. The planet Expel is for all intents and purposes, a medieval planet, and Claude's laser gun breaks in the first half hour, so he's stuck swinging a sword for the rest of the game. It does remember that the game is called Star Ocean in the last 25% of the game, but it's kinda too late, and it feels like a missed opportunity.

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    The game plays similarly to the "Tales of" games, in that battles are all real time, with you controlling one character, and the AI handling the other members of the party. They're pretty dumb though, with them running towards enemies with no regard for how dangerous that might be. Luckily, there are a veritable smorgasbord of ways to become incredibly powerful, and they all come from the Speciality system.

    As you play the game and level up, characters accrue SP, which can be spent to improve various things, such as "Aesthetic Sense" or "Penmanship". Some of these provide immediate benefits, but with the right combination of stuff, that character develops a speciality that can be used for certain benefits.
    For example, leveling up Penmanship allows that character to write books that help other characters level up specialties. As well as that, there are "Super Specialties" that require mutliple party members. If multiple characters develop a talent for writing, then they can work together to write an excellent book that you can get published and start collecting royalties for, which is an excellent way to amass loads of money.

    It's not limited to that, you can do other stuff like doubling your EXP gains, calling some weird rabbit monster to help you travel over mountains, or even flat out steal from NPC's (Yes, @Dcubed, Octopath Traveler got that idea from this game)!

    It all snowballed into hilarity for me as Claude accidentally forged the best sword in the game halfway through it, and went on to apply a HP draining effect to said best sword. Add to that an accessory that triples the amount of times he hits an enemy, and he was literally invincible!

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    For comparison's sake, the second highest ATK in my party was 2,100

    I haven't played a game that heavily encourages the player to utterly demolish it like this since Bravely Default, it's loads of fun!

    Anyway, the second unique aspect of Star Ocean is how you build a party. Claude and Rena are the only mandatory characters in the game, but there are 13 other characters you can get, and they are all optional. You can finish the game with none of them if you want. I don't recommend it, but you can.
    The problem is that you only have space for 8 characters, so you can never recruit everyone in one playthrough. The ending cutscenes are determined by who is in your party, and how much they like each other. There's 99 different cutscenes you can see in the ending (!), so multiple playthroughs are encouraged. Good thing this game only took me about 30 hours to beat then.

    The game looks drop dead gorgeous, utilising the 2D-HD look that Team Asano games have popularised in recent times. You probably know by now, that I love this style! If only the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters looked this good. The portraits that show up in cutscenes also look great. Incredible detail that makes the PSP versions look positively amateurish.
    The music is also great. You have the option to use the original PS1 soundtrack, or an arranged version. I preferred the arranged version, but I've not played the other versions before, so I don't really have any nostalgia for them.

    This is a fantastic remake, the only problems I have are small nitpicks with the structure of the original game, but it's not enough to affect my enjoyment. Highly recommended!

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    Dragons, Sci-Fi, that whole connection!

    Spoiler

    Sea of Stars
    Chained Echoes
    Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
    Princess Peach Will Star As The Main Character In A Brand New Game
    Star Ocean: The Second Story R

     

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  7. Posted · Edited by Glen-i
    Man, getting images on mobiles is a nightmare!

    1 hour ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

    I've never played a Suikoden game 🥺

    That's the unique selling point of the series, a ridonkulous amount of playable characters. And seeing as this is a spiritual sequel...

    2 hours ago, Dcubed said:

    The Suikoden series did indeed give you 108 playable characters to collect and battle with in each game; so this game is actually a downgrade by comparison :laughing:

    Actually, the box says "100+", so it may not be a downgrade... I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being 108.

    Anyway, had a quick peek at that box art, and noticed Hogan was there at the top left. He shows up in Rising, and I'm glad he's playable here. Mainly because he looks like he stepped out of Dillon's Rolling Western!

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     Must be Gallo's long lost cousin, or something...

    • Haha 1

  9. Posted · Edited by Glen-i

    45 minutes ago, RedShell said:

    but I think I somehow hit myself (when playing as "Bomberman" Mii Brawler) with the Beetle! :laughing:

    Actually, I noticed this. Any hit to the beetle will reverse it. So you throwing it while you were in Piranha Plant's Poison Cloud was very unwise and hilarious.

    Some really close matches tonight, but a really spectacular finish on the last one. I had no idea you could cancel that into a Final Smash!

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  12. Posted

    4 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

    So, in a hilarious twist of irony, the only way to officially buy Wetrix on the N64, and not resort to either the second-hand market or piracy, is to buy a piracy device :laughing:

    That's legitmately amazing! It's an interesting way of getting some money out of games you have no plan on doing any work on.

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    2 minutes ago, lostmario said:

    Well I didn't brake so meh.. only time I brake in Mario Kart 8 is on 200cc.

    I'm sure I got hit by something that slowed me down but I definitely didn't brake.

    Thinking back on it, it might also be the game correcting your position after dealing with lag.

  16. Posted

    23 minutes ago, Ashley said:

    Shouldn't it be SPRIG-ah-TEE-toh to bring it in line with the Spanish pronunciation of gatito (kitten)?

    Yeah, the thing with official Pokémon pronounciations is that most of it comes from the anime. And when it comes to the English names, that's handled by Americans, who tend to not really care for how certain words are pronounced in other countries.

    The pronounciation for some of the Galar Pokémon will make you want to fold into yourself.

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    1 hour ago, drahkon said:

    Man, you'd think once you've done Act 4 with Aria, the next one (i.e. Act 3) would be easier. BUT NO. It's just difficult in different ways.

    Honestly, I think Zone 3 is the most difficult one. I have to imagine that if you can get past that one, you can get to the end, at least.

  20. Posted

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    Princess Peach Will Star As The Main Character In A Brand New Game is effectively a spiritual sequel to the DS title, Super Princess Peach. It's an action-adventure game developed by Good-Feel for the Switch that released quite recently.

    Peach gets an invitation to the Sparkle Theater. Of course, trouble follows Peach like a bad smell, and the theater is almost immediately overtaken by the evil witch, Grape, and her Sour Bunch minions. The performers of the Sparkle Theater are missing, so it falls to Peach to team up with the guardian spirit of the theater, Stella, to utilise the power of Sparkle to take over pivotal roles of various plays and use those abilities to fight back.

    The big selling point here is the various transformations that Peach gets throughout the game. Normally, Peach has a somewhat limited ribbon attack as her only action other then jumping, but when she finds some Sparkle, what she's able to do changes depending on the setting of the play she's in.

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    I don't think that's a real horse?

    This provides a decent amount of variety to gameplay, it's still very simple and an absolute breeze to get through (Good-Feel aren't exactly strangers to that mantra), with the only possible challenge coming from optional things, like finding all the Sparkle Gems dotted throughout the game. There's nothing inherently wrong with an easy game, and I enjoyed my time with it.

    The aesthetic style in this game is great! Loads of nice touches that sell the idea of everything taking place on a stage. Another nice detail is Peach herself. Her animations all change to reflect the costume she's in, and it's really impressive. It can't be faulted, in that regard.
    That said, the frame rate of this game takes a noticable dip at times, this only seems to happen in the hub area, and cutscenes, so it doesn't affect actual gameplay, making it merely a minor annoyance.

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    I swear, it was like this when I got here!

    The music is... fine. Doesn't really stand out to me, though.

    So yeah, this is a fun game. Doesn't set the world alight, mind.

    Spoiler

    Sea of Stars
    Chained Echoes
    Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
    Princess Peach Will Star As The Main Character In A Brand New Game

     

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  21. Posted · Edited by Glen-i

    Oh my god... I've completely forgotten the name of this region... Lemme just check Serebii...

    Right! Generation 9, or Scarlet and Violet, are set in the Paldea region, a region I totally didn't forget the name of because I literally fell asleep playing it at one point. This region is based on the Iberian Peninsula, which consists of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra. That said, Paldea mostly focuses on the Spanish aspect of it, with a hint of Portugal in some areas. This game is the series' first fully open world game, so naturally, I hate it. But this is a thread about the Pokémon themselves, so that's not important one bit.

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    Sprigatito (SPRIG-uh-TEE-toh) is basically "Litten, but Grass Type". Try and convince me otherwise! It's actually quite astonishing how, lame, this starter is. Pokémon has certainly had it's fair share of cats, so it wouldn't be so bad, but we just had a cat starter two generations ago, and Sprigatito doesn't do anything to distinguish itself from that.
    Paldea's first gym is Bug type, well, I say "first", but you can do the gyms in any order, technically, and the intended order is unintuitive and confusing, so it doesn't matter too much here.

    At least Floragato (FLOR-uh-GAH-toh) goes bipedal quicker then the Litten line. That's all I've got.

    Thankfully, Meowscarada (MEOW-skah-RAH-da) manages to be somewhat different to Incineroar. The Paldean starters have a common theming of the three main pillars of the entertainment industry, it kinda feels like Game Freak wanted another crack at the Gen 7 theming. Anyway, Meowscarada represents acting, specifically the kind of acting you see in the theater. That flower bud that seems to be floating is actually suspended by Meowscarada's reflective fur, an obvious nod to a common trick for a similar effect in theaters.

    Anyway, Meowscarada is Grass/Dark and it's signature move is "Flower Trick" a 70 power, physical Grass attack that never misses and always lands a critical hit! Because of this, it's effectively 105 power, which is amazing! Man, if Inteleon had a move like that, it would probably be really great in battles! 
    As well as that, it's hidden ability is "Protean", sure, it's the nerfed version, but it still helps. Couple those with Meowscarada's base 123 speed (Higher then Cinderace!), and you've got a Grass starter that is far and away, the best one ever.

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    Fuecoco (fwey-KO-ko) is the closest you're getting to a Bubble Dragon in Pokémon. No, seriously. Everyone thinks so, it's not even remotely subtle!

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    I'm amazed Taito didn't sue!

    It's a crocodile-pepper hybrid and is impossibly cute. The colouring on it's face (And the evolutions) is very likely to be referencing calaveras, decorative skulls that are associated with the Day of the Dead celebrations.
    Yeah, I know, that's more of a Mexican tradition, but I can't think of what else it could be.

    Crocalor (KROCK-uh-lor) replaces the peppery tufts with some kind of bird nest. And yes, it does look a bit like a Sombrero.

    Skeledirge (SKEL-uh-durj) is a strange Pokémon. It's a quadruped, when the previous two evolutions were bipedal. You don't see that often in Pokémon.
    Anyway, it's Fire/Ghost, which lends further credence to the whole Day of the Dead connection, and the egg has hatched into a bird now. Skeledirge commands that bird by singing (Guess what the theme is with this Pokémon) into a fiery microphone. You can't see it in the artwork, so...

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    The move above is Torch Song, an 80 power, Special Fire attack that also raises Skeledirge's Special Attack. Considering Skeledirge has good Defense and HP, those stat boosts can start making quite the difference if it hangs around long enough.

    Skeledirge is, decent, simply put. It's got a decent Hidden Ability in Unaware, and it's stats complement it's signature move, but Meowscarada completely eclipses it. A shame too, because Skeledirge is a very cool Pokémon.

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    According to the Pokédex, Quaxly (KWACKS-lee) originally migrated to Paldea from "a distant land". The game doesn't elaborate on that, so it's anyone's guess if it will actually amount to anything.
    I'm not sure if it was here, but I somewhat recall someone calling it "Admiral Quacks", I dunno, that name amuses me. The evolutions do not go in that direction, mind.

    Blah, blah, blah. Quaxwell (KWACKS-well), middle evolution, moving on.

    Quaquaval (KWACK-wuh-vul) rounds off this trio of entertainment with dancing. Naturally, the animal of reference shifts from a duck, to a peacock with this evolution.

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    Biggest GIF I could find, sorry.

    This thing has great animations, by the way. You wouldn't be able to create a Pokémon like this in the 2D style games.
    That said, this Pokémon seems to be a reference to the Rio Festival in Brazil. At least, that's what comes to my mind. If @Jonnas wants to chime in with some thoughts on what else these Pokémon could be referring to, go right ahead, this is probably the only set of Pokémon where I'm not the best person to ask here.

    But I can damn well tell you how it performs competitively! Quaquaval's signature move is "Aqua Step", an 80 power, physical Water attack that raises Quaquaval's Speed. Yeah, it's sort of similar to Rillaboom's Drum Beating, probably a little better though, because raising your stats is generally better then lowering the opponent's. Combine this move with it's hidden ability, "Moxie" which raises it's Attack every time it knocks out a Pokémon, and you have a great revenge killer Pokémon. Problem is, apart from it's Attack, the rest of it's stats are about average, so it struggles in the insane competitive scene with Generation 9.

    And we're done! That's all of the starters! Generation 9 ends on a relatively good note for me here. Skeledirge and Quaquaval are very cool designs, but I'm not keen on Meowscarada. I just don't like it's face.

    Anyway, seeing as we're at the end of our starter journey, it's time for me to flaunt my absolutely impeccable opinion by ranking the Pokémon here.

    Spoiler

    Gonna keep it to one Pokémon per generation for these.

    1. Grovyle
    2. Rillaboom
    3. Serperior
    4. Chesnaught
    5. Ivysaur
    6. Torterra
    7. Decidueye
    8. Meganium
    9. Meowscarada
    Spoiler
    1. Skeledirge
    2. Incineroar
    3. Infernape
    4. Charizard
    5. Emboar
    6. Typhlosion
    7. Blaziken
    8. Cinderace
    9. Delphox
    Spoiler
    1. Inteleon
    2. Greninja
    3. Feraligatr
    4. Swampert
    5. Quaquaval
    6. Samurott
    7. Empoleon
    8. Primarina
    9. Blastoise

    Anyway, you probably noticed that I included the pronounciations for these Pokémon in this post. You see, I recently discovered that @Serebii has a page documenting all the official pronounciation for almost all of the Pokémon. I'll be retroactively adding these pronounciations to the older posts here.

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