Honestly even for all the flaws mentioned above. SSX 2012 might just be my favorite entry in the series for the online multiplayer.
Lack of split screen is total shit and for whatever reason that’s the trend for modern games, but I loved how my runs were always compared to everyone else’s and how my friends’ ghosts were downloaded to every course and mine were sent to all my friends. All that, plus online tournaments really raised the bar for arcade style gameplay at home.
[unpopularopinion]Simon’s Quest is an amazing game to me.[/unpopularopinion] In some weird kind of way it’s got survival horror elements and it was an interesting take on Castlevania at a time when video games were making the transition from arcades to homes. I think a good bit got lost in translation and I can agree that it hasn’t necessarily aged well, but I still love it. I think you have to remember too that it was made at a point in time where devs were trying to give people an experience that was longer than the arcade experience and were still figuring it all out. I still get a charge out of playing it.
Luck Mode. Best way to play SoTN imo. Your stats are a bit gimped in favor of giving you a higher Luck rating (which is affected by how well you did against Dracula in the opening fight. Do badly and you don’t get much help.) It makes, especially the first part of the game a lot more fun.
But Richter mode is fun too.
No, the game sucked and was terribly designed.
I give you that it was an interesting design and it might have been great if it was done a lot better, but as it stands the game is fucking horrible.
Virtually no boss battles, stupid invisible/secret blocks, boring item grind and terrible enemy placement make this easily the worst Castlevania game to date.
Even Zelda 2 was 10x better. That game at least made some sense and had good bossfights.
You suck and were terribly designed. :lol:
Nah, I’m just messing with you. I can agree that some of the design choices were a bit questionable, but a lot of the things about the game people gripe about aren’t legit.
It’s not a level-based game so why the need for tons of boss battles? The emphasis was on exploration and I imagine they were trying to break away from the CV1 mold.
The only spot where I found it necessary to grind was at the beginning when you need to get the Holy Water and White Crystal. Other than that, you can get all the money you need without having to grind simply by playing the game. Much like the Metroidvanias, if you’re needing to grind, you’re not good at the game.
Secret blocks were a bitch (and a bit unfair in the case of the 3rd mansion where you needed to jump through a wall that looked solid to find the relic in there), but all you needed to do was remember where you fell and toss Holy Water in your path if you weren’t sure where it was. Simple.
Far as enemy placement, wolves & skeletons in the forests, zombies in the towns and graveyards, and armors and gargoyles in the mansions, so I don’t get the gripe about enemy placement.
Far as the clues and all that, most of the ones that didn’t make sense were poorly translated and weren’t worth listening to anyway.
But a lot of folks saw the AVGN review and took it as gospel, which is the way of the internet I guess. I played the game back when it was released, and though I can admit there are flaws to it, it’s nowhere near as bad as modern gamers say it is.
My gripe with the enemy placement is not the types of enemies, it’s how you can run straight through the game without thinking once.
Enemies literally jump in front of your whip and scream “Slay may please!”
So you never die or get hit? They did basically the same thing in CV1 also.
Medusa Heads.
Goddamn Bats.
Fleamen.
Bone tossing Skeletons at the top of stairs.(although this is more a staple of later titles)
Opinion invalid.
Simon’s Quest has:
-Bats that fly in a pattern similar to the medusa heads in CV1
-Medusa Head and eyeballs that head straight for you, which sucks if you can’t kill them in one hit
-slimes that jump at random, can jump at you from across the screen, and WILL fuck you up if given the chance.
-bone tossing skeletons that jump around at random
-armors that move back and forth, then rush you.
-gargoyles that bounce around while tossing fireballs
There are more but this is just off the top of my head. Opinion invalid indeed… 
But you have a shit ton more life in that game*(enemies do less damage)*, and you’re not getting swarmed on by multiple enemy types like you do in the other CV games.
Try jumping across the damn Clock Tower(pick a game) while those damned Medusa Heads are swarming, while Axe Armors are lying in wait on the platforms, and writhe in agony as you lose a third of your health to a bouncing ass Fleaman.
Simon’s Quest challenge has nothing to do with enemies. It’s all about deciphering the god-awful translation and staying awake long enough to complete it.
Trust me, I have NO LOVE whatsoever for evil fucking Medusa Heads and herpes-infested fleamen! But once you figure out your timings for jumps and such, those clock tower segments become easy. You can get killed pretty quick if you’re in the wrong place with the wrong enemies in Simon’s Quest (mansions or the parts with slimes.)
Symphony of the Night’s challenge has little to do with enemies and a lot of people think that’s the best Castlevania game ever, so… Like I said before, the clues that are hard to decipher in Simon’s Quest are clues that can safely be ignored. The emphasis on exploring…Simon’s Quest has a lot more in common with the MV games, and pretty much anything you can complain about in SQ is present in those games too.
Porky is easily one of the best villains in an rpg
Spec ops the line might have been the best game to come out for last gen consoles. Gameplay was ok but what sets it apart is it fully understood the current trend in video games and uses those expectations to manipulate those playing it.
Skate was the best character in Streets of Rage 2.
Raiden was cool in mgs2
Fun industry fact senior level designers are the lowest paid of all the main parts of game creation topping out at around 35k yearly with character modelers starting at about 30k and topping off senior level at around 75k so yes making sure everything looks pretty is far more important than gameplay about twice as important. Not to say I haven’t enjoyed the art aspect but to most guys its everything and a lot inspire to work for Pixar and shit too. I found it kind of sad to be an outsider when talking about game mechanics in a gaming program amongst a bunch of game students. This is why I’ve taken a step back from the industry and am trying to get in via alternat avenues because somethings got to change.
FPS games suck.
There you go, fixed that for you.
I liked Simon’s Quest at the time… the final boss battle was one of the first great disappointments though. I went in there all geared up and ready to take on Dracula himself… dude shows up and he’s literally dead in about 4 seconds! I sat there in disbelief of what just happened. Gold knife and flame whip destroyed him in record time. I don’t recall even being hit at all…this was a final boss…and there he was…destroyed in seconds.
*at this point, portable gaming is more fun to me than regular console gaming. I think it would great and interesting if it flips around within the next few generations… Portable eventually becomes the main thing, with consoles being the side-deal. I love that, by definition, you can play these games literally anywhere, as long as your system is charged up…you could be out on a boat, or even riding horseback in the middle of the desert…perhaps you’re in the underground bunker because the shit hit the fan around the world and nuclear war is going on…the end of the human race is in progress…but in that bunker…you could still be playing a game if you want, thanks to this very concept of portable systems. (*sidenote–if and when I finally buy a house…yeah, I would begin work on my bunker soon after that, of course…better to be prepared to at least try and survive than out there suffering with the rest of the unprepared folks, but that’s another interesting topic for another time)
and yes, perhaps even more on point with this thread, though I’ve already said it–> Vita is still far more appealing to me than the 3DS could ever hope to be. Really, it’s not even close.
Since Daisy being overlooked has put me in this under appreciation phase of games
Mother > Final Fantasy
Shaq fu Has better game mechanics than SF2.
IF shaq fu got updated to modern game standards It would outshine Marvel and SF…
And still be hated by a bunch of niggas that want their hands held in fighters.
I thought everyone liked Mother > Final Fantasty
Partly because it’s way better than final fantasy games and partly because mother was never ruined with modern sequels like final fantasy was.
I’d buy shaqfu HDR
Don’t forget fucking radars, which make it so you don’t need to rely on sounds of movement/gunshots/doors anymore, and instead just look at your radar for little red blips that go off whenever someone shoots their gun or starts sprinting, making streaks that much more difficult because everytime you kill someone everyone and their cousin knows your exact location.
i consider Earthbound >>>> ff4 , ff5
but NOT ff6 ^.^
I’d rather suffer through my shellfish allergy than be forced to play Demon’s Souls.