the_wizard_666

I haven't really found a quick way to grind the levels, but since it's my first time ever playing it, I kinda wanna play it normally. Any pointers for my level 7 province? Or do I have the right idea abandoning it and retaking it afterward?

Progress Update: Shingen the Ruler is coming along swimmingly. I have one province I can take any time (he has maybe 20 troops total), but the location is strategically bad, so I'm hoping either someone else takes it, allowing me to keep slapping that territory for monetary gains and experience from a higher level opponent, or that I can take out the surrounding areas while it's still weak, allowing me to take it with little effort. I also have one neighbour with a ton of troops, but lower level, so I may just take him off the map entirely...his stronger territory is slowly being weakened, and his weaker one I've already slapped into oblivion. I'm also working on a third territory that is coming along swimmingly. But there IS one issue...my weakest province doesn't seem to be generating enough wealth to build troops, hindering me from levelling it up. And it seems transferring troops doesn't transfer experience, so the territory seems to be stuck, with no real prospect of expansion. I'm not sure what I feel like doing about it...maybe I'll just send all my troops out and let the enemy take it, and then retake it afterward with higher level troops. I really have no idea what to do about that one...it's lagging well behind my other territories, which are in the mid to late teens, while it's only at level 7. But whatever happens, I'll ultimately prevail. My impression is that the game is pretty much a gimme, it's just gonna take a LOT of time to get through it. As for game 2, I haven't started one...after finishing Mafat Conspiracy, I went to work on Shingen, and I'll likely decide on a second game in the morning. Fun fact: Finishing both Golgo 13 games back-to-back is only the second time on my list where I beat a game and it's sequel back to back. The other? January 1-2, 2012, when I did Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge back to back. Fun fact #2: Mafat marks #238 on my first-time completion list, and #29 on the year. That's over half-way to my total for ALL of 2012, my previous best year ever with 50 completions on the list (not counting a couple no-death runs and such that I recorded but were not first time completions). So I'm on pace to obliterate my previous best effort if this holds up. It probably won't...I tend to go in spurts on various systems, but I should easily be able to make this year my personal best.

Man, I never realized how close I was to beating this game back in the day...I just got frustrated by the precision jumps and gave up. But now that albatross is dead, and The Mafat Conspiracy is done!

So I'm two acts into The Mafat Conspiracy, and holy hell does it do pretty much everything the first game did, but infinitely better. I haven't played it in about 20 or so years, so I forgot how it played, but everything is vastly improved overall. This is what sequels should be - everything that was good about the first game, but better! The only real tough part is the sniping...that's gonna take some practice/luck to hit, but aside from that, it isn't so bad. Also had a bit of a time on the Arm of Mafat at the end of Act 1, but once I stopped trying to rush him, I took him out with ease. Go figure

Well, I've already knocked off a few of those, but the bulk of that list is either games I've only dabbled in, or games I've never thought to try out. There's a couple there that I don't particularly like (Boulder Dash isn't my cup of tea, nor is Thunder & Lightning), and with my Power Pad in another province right now, Short Order/Eggsplode is out. But I like how varied your recommendations are...basically covers every potential niche there!

Yeah, it's actually on my hit list as well, though it's not very high up there. I borrowed it from a friend back in the day, and got pretty far into it, but never got the job done. But there's others I want to run through before it, so if you beat me to it, c'est la vie.

Progress Report: For the first time since the start of the month, I haven't been running an action game yet. After beating Golgo 13, I just kinda did some stuff around here that needed doing. But I did log some time on Shingen. I picked up a fourth province, and there are a couple territories I could easily take...I just don't have the manpower to maintain my gains afterward, considering the neighbours are nearly maxed out on troops and all outrank me. So I'm slowly trying to build up my forces while my location is centralized and troops can be sent back and forth with ease, while still skirmishing periodically to keep those targets relatively weakened. I feel like this is simultaneously easier and harder than the Koei games...the battles are far more in-depth, and all around fun (although the battle music doesn't exactly scream "FIGHT" ), yet at the same time the management side is more complex and time consuming, and building your army's strength takes ages! I can definitely see why it's still a 10 point game where the Koei games are all lower. Also, I had two princesses born two months apart...Shingen you dog But yeah, progress is being made, albeit slowly.

If you like Lolo, you should try Kickle Cubicle out. It's not exactly the same, but it's similar in a lot of ways, and it's a pretty damn fun game in it's own right.

Any recommendations for a guy who's almost at 240 completions? I've been playing a lot of games I never would've looked twice at before, and would love to try some more oddball games.

And with that, Duke Togo put a bullet through a brain in a jar, saving the world. Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode is done. Pretty solid game too, although it can be pretty cryptic at times. Kinda makes me want to look into the anime though, as the storytelling was top notch as far as NES action games go.

Tonight's progress report: Shingen the Ruler - I managed to take another province, giving me a total of four. However, none are what I would consider to be "safe," so I'm not too confident in being able to hang onto them all. That said, I've levelled my troops up fairly high, and have managed to increase my funds significantly...now if only the merchant would drop his prices so I could buy some cheaper troops... For my other game...well, I managed to knock off two today that I thought would take a lot longer to pull off. The third one eludes me though, as the game is much longer than anticipated. Still, I'm making pretty good progress on Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode. I wanted to do The Mafat Conspiracy because it's a third childhood memory that I haven't been able to knock off yet, but I thought about it, and it made more sense to knock the series off in sequence, due to them actually having a pretty good story. I'm finding the enemies to be more annoying than anything, with only a handful that give me issues...but health recovers a bit with every kill, and there's a few spots where milking kills is easy enough to execute, so I haven't had any issues, aside from deciding to go to sleep mid game. As it is, I just finished Chapter 6, so it'll probably fall sometime tomorrow. Hopefully.

Another childhood albatross falls this year - Time Lord is completed!

Well, after restarting, I managed to get through it with speed. Sutekh is now behind bars, and Metro City is free from his grasp. Nightshade is in the books.

So I'm working my way through Nightshade, and then discover that the statue that I'm supposed to put a dome on seems to be missing, replaced by broken glass. This leads me to assume that it's been stolen by Sutekh and moved somewhere. Does anyone know where I can find it if it's missing from the Gallery? EDIT: Nevermind, it appears that if you beat a boss before covering all the items, then you have to fight that boss again during the final section. Guess that means I'm starting over...but at least I'm getting back into it, getting the flow of the game again. Been way too long, especially for how good this game actually is!

I agree. The only real downside for me was the dogfights. They're not bad, but there are certainly better examples on the NES of that style of gameplay. If they had made it just the action sequences, I'm sure a) more people would talk about it (due to more people playing it), and b) it would've been a better game overall. But as it is I still recommend it to anyone looking for something different to play. I've rather enjoyed tackling some of these games this year. Definitely missed participating in this.

Began work on another childhood albatross and started making headway on Nightshade. I should have it soon, I've relearned most of the fight mechanics, as one or two bad fights can completely break a run. The ninjas still give me issues, but I've more or less got the Brits, the rats, and the Egyptian looking dudes figured out to where I can take minimal damage. As for Shingen, it's more of the same really. Just slowly building my forces while keeping my territories built up to withstand an invasion. It's mostly just a war of attrition, but I'm gonna have to build my levels a LOT more than I have in order to capture enemy strongholds. The command units deal too much damage when you're as far below in levels as I am. Still, I'm able to go through battles with minimal casualties. The trick seems to be figuring out the best times to buy various units. Beating this game is a near certainty, but it's gonna take a LOT of time to get there.

Don Guano's forces have been decimated, and Ultimate Air Combat is in the books. All told, it's a pretty solid game. Not spectacular, but solid. The last stage was a bit anticlimactic, as the previous levels were pretty tough, and that one was one of the easiest in a while (beat it on my first attempt while barely taking damage). But yeah, it's a decent game. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to try something a bit different from the norm.

It's not bad actually. The dogfighting is only about half the game, the rest is an okay action game. Neither segment is really great, but they're decent enough to be fun, and since you get a password after each level, you don't lose much progress upon dying. I'd recommend trying it out for sure. Definitely better than I was expecting it to be.

Progress Report: Shingen the Ruler: Not much progress. Fought a couple battles, and bought some troops, but I don't nearly have the numbers to take the neighbours out, nor do I have the levels required to walk over them. I've been taking pot shots at one neighbour to keep him weaker while building levels, but it's a slow grind. Thus, even though I did a LOT of work, I don't really have any new news. Ultimate Air Combat: This, on the other hand, I've made headway. Knocked off six more levels, and got my final plane upgrade, so now it's just the final four levels plus destroying Don Guano's headquarters (seriously, that's his name...good old Nintendo). So hopefully I'll knock this one out tomorrow so I can take on the next game that piques my interest.

All four loops? Damn dude

Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it when I beat it. Pretty tough to beat without pulling a no-death run though, as you pretty much have to be fully powered to stand a chance on the last boss, and it's impossible to get fully powered on the final stage if you die. But yeah, it's not a great game, but it's definitely an improvement over the first game in the series (our version was Hokuto No Ken 2 in Japan). Interestingly, the third game in the series is an RPG. I'd love to play it too, but nobody's translated it to date, at least as far as I'm aware.

Progress report: Ultimate Air Combat - I've made some significant headway here...on Stage 7, with 2/4 levels completed so far. Hopefully this'll be in the books by the weekend. It's starting to wear out it's welcome, but I'd still call it a hidden gem. Definitely fun for short bursts, and getting a password after every level makes it far more doable than it otherwise would be. But damn, shit's starting to get unforgiving here! Shingen the Ruler - I'm really digging this one. It's pretty slow paced, and you really have to level up your forces through short skirmishes if you're gonna have a chance to expand your territory, but it's definitely a fun game (for those that like this sort of game anyway). I finally managed to take out one of my neighbours, learning that it's incredibly difficult to damage the "command" unit if they have significant numbers and you don't. I won the battle on the final turn before suffering a loss, but my forces are starting to get more skilled, giving me a pretty solid chance. Still not sure if I'm gonna use this as my serious run or if I'm gonna restart, but I don't really see a reason to restart just yet. It seems the way to go is to spend most of your time building the provinces, and if you don't have the means to do anything significant, attack your weakest neighbour to steal some of their resources. Once you have a solid bankroll, you can build your forces up pretty easily. I also did a bit of experimentation with the tax rate - while the FAQ suggests a lower tax rate (no more than 20%), I've been finding that I can tax 30%, then immediately provide aid by spending the newfound money, allowing me to keep the extra product (which can be flipped for cash when the market gives a solid return), while minimizing the lost loyalty and wealth. If you have a lot of cash, you can even go higher than that (I've personally dinged the people as much as 40%, but I see no reason it can't even be higher than that). This one may take me a while to finish, but it seems like a surefire victory given enough time. Also, my first princess was born recently...meaning I'll have to look into how alliances work now

Did another 4 levels of Ultimate Air Combat today, which I believe puts me over the half way point. It's getting crazy though...it's weird, a couple of the levels are insanely tough, but then others are still no challenge at all. I don't really get it...you'd think the difficulty would ramp normally, not jump and drop all over the place. But whatever, progress is being made. For my "grind" game, I decided to start up Shingen the Ruler, and despite the ho hum visuals and passable sound, I'm rather enjoying it. It's like a Koei game in a lot of ways, but the battles are far more tactical in nature, while the city management portion is pretty simple to grasp. I also like how when you invade you can choose to besiege the castle or not...this allows you to whittle their forces down through tactical strikes against them. This was discovered after I successfully fended off an attack, and opted to strike against the wanker that attacked me and sent him packing back to his castle. Anyway, I've only played about one in-game year so far, and this run is more to test the waters than to actually play to completion, but it doesn't seem like there's going to be much need to restart unless I seriously botch something along the way.

Dizzy the Adventurer is done. Considering how brutal Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy is, I was honestly expecting this to be a LOT harder, but it's got just the right balance of length and difficulty. The puzzles are fairly obvious, but that's not a bad thing, as the fun of this kind of game is to explore and find the stuff you need. The map was reasonable to traverse, so it was a pretty fun experience overall. Highly recommended. Also, fun fact, it's the first Camerica game I've ever beat as well! Also knocked off a couple more stages of Ultimate Air Combat, though with how frustrating the dogfights are getting, I may not be progressing as quickly through it as I was initially. Still gonna chip away at it, but thank fuck for frequent passwords. Seriously, I've only had two or three tricky bombing sections, most I get on my first or second attempt...but the dogfights are just brutal.

Well, after making Russia my bitch, I turned and bitchslapped England clear off the map. L'Empereur is in the books!