the_wizard_666

Nightly progress report: Princess Tomato - Just finished Chapter 4, which puts me near the half-way point of the game. Still a decent adventure game, but I've played so many better ones. I feel like this is gonna be another one-time completion that I never touch again afterward. Still, I'm enjoying the run so far. Should have it within a day or two, depending how much time I devote to it. Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing - This one's a pleasant surprise all things considered. I don't particularly like racing games, and racing games with seasons are especially off-putting for someone who could give a crap about the genre (and sport for that matter). That said, the tracks are reasonably short, and the game progresses fairly smoothly so far. I've already got a pretty sizable lead in the standings despite only having three races under my belt - two of them were first-place finishes though. I've got a feeling I could probably quit a couple races down the stretch and still maintain my lead, provided I can build up a good one early on. I mean, if #2 can't catch me with first-place finishes, why bother racing at all? That said, I'll probably still play through...seems the races so far are all a mere six laps, so they end after only a few minutes of gameplay. And the game itself has been a pleasant surprise. Again, I'm no fan of racers, but this one's decent. Kinda glad I tried it out.

So since Princess Tomato is my "slow" game for now, I needed a "fast" game to break it up a bit. As such, I decided to go outside my wheelhouse and try out Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing. It's pretty decent so far, although if you play as Al you start with max stats, which seems to be a bit game breaking in the early phases...but since I don't particularly care about building up from scratch, I'm going with it. So far, so good...two races down, another 14 to go (at least according to AdamL). And while I only managed a solitary point in my first race, the second one I managed to come in first place, which ranks me at #1 overall so far. If I can keep that up, I may actually knock out my first NES racing game ever! That said, I have no clue how tough the game'll get in the later races, so it may or may not be a doable victory. I didn't see any conditions in the Pastebin file though, so I'm assuming it's just come in ranked #1 at the end of the 16 race season?

Just begun work on Princess Tomato. The game always intrigued me, but I've never fired it up. Playing it blind, and am two chapters in. I'd probably be able to progress faster with a guide, but since the bulk of the fun of this sort of game is solving the puzzles and following the story, I decided not to spoil it for myself. So far I'm enjoying it, so that's a plus.

Well, the first quest of 8 Eyes is done. Not sure I want to continue with the rest of the quests if it's not required for the thread, as the game was pretty meh overall. The ending is probably the best part, and it's not the greatest I'll probably get around to doing the rest of the quests eventually, but I'm not really interested in it at the moment if it's just for my personal list.

Started a game I've been intrigued about for years and never got around to playing. I'm now two stages into 8-Eyes. So far, it's not a bad game. Not spectacular, but again, a solid effort. So far so good though!

Pretty sure what bugs people is the jumping mechanics...but those take all of a minute or two to get used to. I thoroughly enjoyed my run through it years ago, and it's something I've been wanting to do again for years...I'm just focused on new completions rather than replays.

One of my favourites! Been a while since I last played it, but man, it's so much better than people give it credit for!

And now Willow has been completed. Pretty solid game, though a touch on the easy side. A few things were pretty cryptic, but nothing that couldn't be figured out through trial and error. A solid game, but it really lacks that special "something" that would make it truly great.

So in under an hour I've managed to get up to level 10. It's actually not a bad grind really. I've stuck around the Bar on the second map, as only a couple screens away (on the route to the underwater path) there is a screen with 4 skulls (80 XP total), and more importantly another one with three crab enemies worth 100 XP each. I've just gone in and out on that screen repeatedly netting 300 XP, and when my magic gets low I go back a few screens to the bar. It's not a terrible grind, just monotonous. At least it's not grinding money for the Silver Shield in Dragon Warrior

Damn, thanks for saving me from going to her repeatedly How many forms does she have though? Maybe I'll just go every time to see all the different animals she can turn to

Yesterday ended up being the first day of the year that I did absolutely no gaming...but I made up for it today with some hefty progress in Willow. Until I hit a wall when I got to Fin Raziel. I actually progressed to that point with minimal grinding, arriving just below level 6. So yeah, she turned into a bird, so I levelled up to level 6 and she turned into a goat. Guess I'm grinding a few levels before I progress any more

That's why I focus on games I need for my personal list as well. If someone comes in and takes the points from under me, the time still isn't wasted for me

Well, I decided to start up something I've wanted to play through for years and just never got around to it. Next on the hit list is Willow. Just beat the first boss, and am about to head west of Dew. Not sure what's ahead, apparently I'm supposed to look for a fairy and a dragon scale, but who knows where those'll come into play. It's been a LONG time since I last played it, and I don't think I even got this far into it.

Just as soon as you contribute a second game to the list

In July, 1561, the Takeda Army went up to the capital, unifying a nation. Shingen the Ruler is done. And only at age 40, so nowhere near having his son take the reins. Decent game, but far too easy for a veteran of the genre. I'm probably never playing it again, but that said, it was totally worth playing through once! EDIT: In fact, the final battle, I won the first portion manually, and then said "what the hell" and auto-battled. Even though I didn't win, I left him with 3 HQ units and 1 infantry, so another auto-battle the following month wiped him out. So I didn't even need to play the decisive battle...though if I did my army would've probably been a LOT larger at the end And for those curious, I was only at level 38 when I started fighting. So yeah, no need to rank up even close to the max, just gotta get strong enough that your rifles and archers can do decent damage to the enemy's HQ units.

I've knocked off a few games I never thought I would. Practice does wonders. You got this! Also, I've reduced Nobunaga to a single territory, leaving two left on the map...I'll probably have Shingen the Ruler done in a couple hours at most, unless I decide to eat

Let me guess, next one's gonna be Dirty Pair? Has anyone else done one of the FDS games, or did you just claim 9/10 on your own?

Sounds like I have my new "break" game then Almost done with Shingen now, down to four territories remaining, although three of them are currently held by Nobunaga. But only one borders my territories, and all three of those borders are near max troops, so it shouldn't be TOO difficult to take him out. I think I'll beat him first, just so he's not the last guy to fall. The other one still outranks me too, but he's only level 42 instead of 55, so he'll fall a bit easier. And with only one border territory at that point, I should have enough troops to take them both out without grinding too much. Maybe another day or two at most, as I have other things that need doing too

I agree there. It doesn't even hold up as well next to similar NES games, like the Kemco trilogy. But it's still pretty solid regardless. Star Trek 25th was also pretty damn good, although it's got a lot more action than most adventure games normally do. As for Magician, is it really that good? It's on my "to do" list, but between you mentioning it here and Crabmaster recommending it, I think I may move it up the list a bit

I have a real soft spot for that one. Love the old Infocom adventures, and that one is no exception. It tries to pass itself off as an RPG, but the only way to be strong enough to beat each enemy is to follow the prescribed path, so it's incredibly linear and doesn't really have any replay value (short of re-experiencing the story, which isn't their best either). It was actually on my short list early in my collecting days, due to having rented it a couple times and enjoying it, but I haven't played it since beating it in 2010, and likely won't for that reason. Still, I'm curious how you felt about it, since it was one of my favourite rental discoveries back in the day. Anyway, my progress report: General Li has fallen (as well as the Ikko Sect shortly after), and my main force is at level 32 or 33 now. I'm pretty sure I'll beat Nobunaga without issue now, it's just a matter of getting to him. This one'll be done soon enough. Still haven't started a secondary game either...I've dabbled in a few titles, but nothing's grabbed me as yet.

Progress Report: Today I focused on Shingen the Ruler, and managed to whittle down Uesugi while building my own forces to take him out, despite the territory next to him beginning a full 20 levels lower than him. I managed to rise from level 17 to 23 between the start and finish. I'm now at the point where I have the entire eastern half of the map, and only three border territories in total. My highest level force is currently bordered on three forces, but two are ranked below me, so the only concern is General Li's level 41 army (mine is only level 28, but I've won a couple skirmishes against him). I've also decided to keep a buffer between me and Nobunaga for the time being, although I'm still slapping those territories periodically to keep their numbers down and boost my border levels a bit, but my primary focus is in the north. I've also got the luxury now of having a "free" move, so I'm using my backwaters to draft troops instead of messing up the front lines. I then buy troops cheaper in the rear and send them to the front, allowing me to keep my focus on attacking. I feel confident that I'll be able to take out General Li soon, and then from there the only real concern is Nobunaga...and even that won't be too bad...I hope I'm also attacking the territory on Li's border to keep it's numbers low, in the hopes that the General decides to expand to it and divide his forces. Anyway, I really am enjoying the game, although it's probably not one I'll play again. While the battles are more satisfying and strategic than the Koei games, the domestic side is kind of lacking overall. I'd take it over the Nobunaga's Ambition games, but I'd put it on the same level as Gemfire, in that it's a good game, but not good enough to want to replay when it's done. Also like Gemfire, I think the difficulty is fairly low overall (once you figure the game out), so I'd recommend it as a starting point for someone new to the genre that wants to see what it's about without getting overwhelmed.

Well, I looked into quick ranking in Shingen the Ruler, and unfortunately the way it's done in the speedrun doesn't work this late into the game, as they simply field too many troops to win the auto-battles like they do in that speedrun. And since I'd rather not restart the game, I'm just gonna play it out. I've now managed to take the entire southeast chunk of the map, meaning I control exactly four territories along borders, so I can pretty much ignore the bulk of the interior. Now I'm focusing on building my armies, primarily in the north but also along the southwest edge, as Nobunaga's level 42 territory is bordering my next opponent in that direction. However, after that opponent falls, that territory will simply be a money field that I'll keep fully stocked with armies for defensive purposes and otherwise just focus on development. That's probably where I'll park Shingen himself as well, so I can focus on building up my heir, who is now two or three years old and, while he likely won't end up taking over at this rate, I'd rather play it safe than be fucked down the road. My primary target is Kenshin Uesugi in the north, and working my way around the island. Once I take out General Li's level 42 army, I should be able to beat Nobunaga in his level 55 home base without much issue. It may take a bit to get strong enough to wear out General Li, (I'm only in the 20s), but since him and Nobunaga are the only ones above level 40, the rest should fall easily after that point. And since Kenshin's in the 30s, he'll end up getting me part way there anyway before I even get near the General. I think if I focus on it I'll have it knocked out in two or three days.

I could go take a quick look I suppose. I did manage to grab a couple more territories too, so I'm carving out a nice chunk of territory now. I may not even need to abandon that one, I'll just send the troops elsewhere and attack it's neighbours with the good provinces But yeah, progress is definitely coming a lot faster than I thought it would. But I do feel like a wall is gonna get hit when I eliminate all these weaker guys.

Just knocked off Captain Comic.

So just for fun, this tax season I decided to set the tax rate at 100%, then give aid immediately for about half my monetary gains (about $500). The wealth loss was minimal, and the loyalty rates actually got HIGHER than they were when I set the tax I'd obviously have a much stronger army if I had known that early on, but now that I do, I'm totally gonna milk that cow...because after selling most of the production I raked in, my money problems will be pretty much solved. Also managed to take one of my eastern border provinces, giving me my first "safe" territory (no enemies bordering it). Since Kenshin Uesugi, my northern foe, is pretty strong in his capital, and high rank to boot, I'm going to focus on expanding south into the Hojo territory, as he's significantly weaker at this point, and then work my way around the southern edge of Japan. From that point I should be able to extend my safe area, and focus on taking out Uesugi, before sweeping through the northern portion and working southwest toward Oda. I probably won't have the levels to take Nobunaga down at that point, but at least I'll be progressing through the map and can chip away at his defences. So yeah, Shingen is starting to progress nicely!