Share your hidden gems and insider tips

BadFurDay

Kuru Kuru Kururin on the GBA is a brilliant puzzle game that doesn't seem to be mentioned much.

thelostsoul

@BadFurDay There is a good reason for, it didn't got an US release and so many people didn't know. I personally never played it, but looks simple (in terms of a straightforward idea) and fun. There is a successor to it, which even didn't got a EU release, Kururin Paradise.

BadFurDay

@thelostsoul I was none the wiser about that, thanks for sharing. Will have a look for the sequel.

brianon

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but....

ZX Spectrum : Batty.

Great little bat and ball game. Even has a great two player co-op mode where P1 takes left of screen and P2 takes right.
Easy enough to configure to use joypads. Looks great also.

skraz

Terranigma on the SNES is amazing, the best rpg i have ever personally played, created this account just to say this lol.

Brigane

@skraz Welcome to the forum and thanks for contributing :)

mediamogul

On the subject of RPGs, I've been wanting to get into roguelikes for some time, but have never found an entry point that appealed to me. For those that don't know, roguelikes are very difficult RPGs where each playthrough starts your character at level one and generates floors, enemies and loot unique to each play session. The result is a game where each time you venture out, the story of your journey will be wildly different. The problem for many like myself is that the games can be so daunting to start that it can be hard to find a jumping on point. That all changed recently when I found 'Shiren the Wanderer'.

Shiren was created by Chunsoft, who were not only responsible for creating the first five 'Dragon Quest' games, but also the massive achievement of bringing RPGs to the more accessible console platform to begin with. Here they had an even greater challenge in bringing an RPG sub-genre that previously only appealed to the most hardcore players. Shiren ingeniously makes learning roguelikes more accessible with a bit of deception to the player. The main game is difficult enough when you begin, but it lets you have NPC allies, keep equipment in warehouses for future runs and is only about one third the length of most roguelikes. What is never admitted though is that all this is only a tutorial for things to come so that you don't get overwhelmed too early.

After beating the main game, two more dungeons are unlocked that introduce the ability to use the vast array of traps you encountered previously against your foes, as well as the brilliant monster meat mechanic, allowing you to become any monster in the game, complete with very unique abilities. Each of these two bonus dungeons could be their own game, but here they are simply two more tutorials that once completed, result in the true reward of a 99 level dungeon with all the previous mechanics, none of the hand-holding and you now actually having the skill to complete it.

One thing to know here is that, again, roguelikes are difficult and require a little imagination as how best to use your equipment in ways that maybe others might not think of. Every time out is deeply personal to the player and will more likely end in death than not. However, that's the whole point. Each time out can produce an interesting story unto itself. You might think you had it great, then die, only to find that your next immediate play session was even better. Keeping that in mind, I implore anyone reading this to resist the urge to use save states. Doing so will rob you of a million stories you wouldn't otherwise experience.

An example of one such story is the time I was almost dead simply from not haven eaten anything. I just never found any food in that particular play session and was having to survive off of eating my medical herbs. All of a sudden, I turn a corner and see a shop that sold nothing but different types of food. I couldn't believe my luck, so I grab the first rice ball I see and eat it with the intention of paying for it as I leave. However, a randomly placed spring trap in the store launched me into the main dungeon. Seeing as how I had not yet paid for the rice, the theft mechanic was triggered and I had to run for the floor's exit, being chased by deadly guard dogs. On top of everything else, the rice didn't even fill me up.

So far though, nothing has surpassed the first time I beat the main game. I didn't expect to win and had already made peace with restarting if I had to. However, I cast an effect that did room damage, which included the final boss. By the time the giant boss approached, I had taken a lot of damage, but so had he. My inventory was exhausted and I had nothing left to fight him with. However, I got the idea to use an effect that would make him receive any damage he gave me in return. So there we were, the final show down. He towers his way directly in front of me and I have to admit, my heart was pounding. He then attacks with all his might leaving me with less than ten hit points. However the damage he received in return was enough to see him keel over from his own single blow. It was an amazing end that was unique to that particular play through and I'll never forget it. Anyway, I've written enough about this great hidden gem and I'll end by just saying I can't recommend it enough.

simpleethat

@mediamogul I'm not crazy about rogue-likes but that sounds pretty awesome.

celly

@mediamogul just reading your review alone, makes me want to get into that game. Thanks.

Clyde

@skraz A warm welcome from me too, and thanks for the tip. I didn't know about Terranigma, but I watched this retrospective review right now. It seems like a very outstanding game, and I will try it out some time, albeit too many games are fighting for a piece of my limited free time already.

edit: And I just learned that Terranigma never got officially released in Northern America, but in Europe even with French, German, and Spanish versions. How unusual!

skraz

@Clyde thankyou for the welcome :)

yeah it never made it to NA for a few reasons, like enix publication house in america being shut down just before and some concern about religion in the game, thankfully it has an english version thanks to UK and Australia though. Well worth the investment.

Unfortunately i too feel the pain of so many games, so little time lol, im trying to finish the star ocean series atm (im a huge rpg fan)

VictimRLSH

The greatest Rougealike of all (and possibly the hardest) is Ancient Domains of Mystery. Good luck solving that one, never done it myself despite playing for years in my Amiga days.

mediamogul

@VictimRLSH

I'll be sure to check it out. Now that I'm familiar with the ins and outs of survival, I want to look into the more complex ASCII-based origins of these games, such as 'NetHack' and the original 'Rogue'. At first glance, 'ADOM' appears to prioritize character building, which seems very unique and even hilariously cruel considering the disposable nature of Roguelike protagonists.

VictimRLSH

@mediamogul My favorite character type is actually quite counter-intuitive. Try a troll wizard. You'll have no problem just pounding the tar out of things until you get enough spells to actually use magic effectively. I found the best weapon for them is the Small Sword, level it up with improvement scrolls and it can kill just about anything until you get a Wish and ask for the Trident of the Red Rooster, the most powerful weapon a wizard can wield. If you don't die first... :)'

mediamogul

@VictimRLSH said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

ask for the Trident of the Red Rooster

I love that combination of words so much, I'm seriously considering having a T-shirt made.

ts-x

@mediamogul I actually have DOSBox .map files for both ADOM and Rogue that map all critical functions to an Xbox360 controller (plus printable control cards). Was planning to upload them to GitHub for public consumption in the next few weeks as part of a larger batch, but can put those two up now if you or anyone else here is interested.

I'd suggest trying POWDER for the GBA as well. In addition, there are controller friendly GBA versions of both Rogue and Hack. Search "Donnie Russell Rogue" and they'll both turn up. Lastly, if you've never played them, the two Intellivision AD&D games and Tower of Doom are what I would call roguelike-lites. AD&D Cloudy Mountain was a favorite of mine as a kid. The other part of my planned GitHub upload is a large package of customized Xbox360 controller .kbd files for jzIntv, that includes .kbd files for all three of those games.

Clyde

@skraz I just tried out the English (EV) and German (GV) versions of Terranigma. The German translation seems a little odd sometimes, and even wrong at others! Examples: Right at the start in the kitchen after Ark breaks the vase ("Topf" (pot) in the GV), the woman tells Ark "You're going hungry to bed today!" in the EV, but "Shall I put you in chains again?" in the GV, which I took literally before I played the EV – so the woman (his mother?) did chain him up in the past?! Only in the GV, it seems. There are many deviations in both translations in the starting house alone, but this was the weirdes one, because of its implications if taken literally.

As for an actual error, when the elder ("Weiser" (wise man) in the GV) confronts Ark with his actions from yesterday, you can either "apologize" or "make an excuse" in the EV. In the GV, however, the choices are "Entschuldigung!" (Apology!) or "Tut mir leid!" (I'm sorry!). So, the meaning of both is roughly the same, and I was surprised when the elder scolded me after I took the second answer.

Thus, when I finally get to play the game sometime in the future, I will choose the EV over the GV, although the rather traditional German wording of the latter fits the game's setting very good.

mediamogul

@ts-x said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

Was planning to upload them to GitHub for public consumption in the next few weeks, but can put those two up now if you or anyone else here is interested.

I definitely would be interested, but feel free to take your time as I'm still working my way through the final 99 floor dungeon in Shiren and I don't expect to beat it overnight. If you could just post a mention here when you get around to it I would greatly appreciate it and I'm sure others would too. Thanks!

Edit: Also, I'll look into the other games you mentioned as well.

ts-x

@Clyde @skraz If you haven't played it yet, give the SFC/SNES version of Tales of Phantasia with the translation patch a try. There's also an English dub patch for the cut scenes, but I actually prefer the original Japanese. The opening screen in particular sounds far more ominous with the Japanese voice over! I haven't ventured all the way through the game yet, but what I've played so far is pretty great. It has received a ton of positive reviews elsewhere, which is what led me to it to begin with. The combat system is kind of unique, as it's sort of an action/turn-based RPG hybrid.

Clyde

@ts-x Thanks for the tip, I'll definately translate & try it. I think I'll also prefer the original dub, though. This review sounds rather promising, especially the combat, which seems refreshingly different from the usual suspects of FF-like and Zelda-like combat of most JRPGs.