IC Forum Archive

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

Yarr, Advance Guardian Heroes is complete for this week.

First week of classes is over and I'm sitting here in my cozy little room on a Sunday procrastinating. I attempted to get somewhere with my school work, but the first thing I tried was Advanced Calculus work and I wasn't getting anywhere fast. So I turn to my laptop to emulate this GBA game of mine.

I have played this game before, but really haven't done well. I usually crash and burn in the last bit of the second stage or somewhere in the third. I still had that if I had really wanted to start from there, but I figure I may as well learn to play all over again from stage 1-1. Seeing as how I didn't make any real progress, I've only the three normal heroes to choose from. I go for Ray; he tends to be my choice when I play this game.

Things went smoothly. Jumping from falling rock to falling rock was magical, as I've only succeeded in doing this once. The rest of the stage went quickly, sparing no time in defeating the red swordsman and moving on to the ogre and then the big bot.

I focused on putting points in DEF, ATT, MND and whatever HP is defined in this game. Although in retrospect I probably didn't have to worry about MND so much as it was on Easy difficulty. I eventually was a juggernaut who could knock normal enemies in one hit and physical attacks could be scoffed at; magic attacks were something to worry about still.

The third stage is the one where you have to jump from missile to missile, using that jump lock-on ability, and at the end deal with Zur while trying not to fall from sporadic debris that floats past. Before this I could not figure out how to do it on command. Now, I was a regular frog, being able to hop back and forth from falling rock to missile to debris to ledges to hovering discs of wierdness.

I didn't really pay attention to the discussion of AGH previously on these forums, but I now realize what I'd missed. The finale being a button press after a 10 second countdown to prevent pure energy from destroying the Earth? That was entirely unexpected! All this time I thought my main quarry was that clownish dude, but he was destroyed after the initial foray into his "world".

SO, at 00:00:06 !!! (in min/sec/millesec format), the world was saved and my week quest was done nearly before it had started.

WEEK 3 - Advance Guardian Heroes
Rule 5 COMPLETE (owned game emulated)
Rule 7 Three Quarters COMPLETE (GBA, 3rd system)

Lobst · Posts: 96

I entered the Elite Four arena after building up my party to their early forties, and proceeded to wipe the floor with them using my male Gardevoir.

As time grew on and I was forced to negotiate battle after battle, my roommate became my audience and utilized the type/effectiveness ratio chart in the back of my Mystery Dungeon Rescuer's Guide alongside Wikipedia's extensive Pokémon database for a devestating combination attack. Even so, it rarely altered my tactics as Michelle slaughtered everything (after the first trainer, which was left mostly to Aggron) with his thoughts -- every instance of Psychic was accompanied by a middle finger and a straight-out "Fuck you!"

The highlight came when I was battling Wallace. The bastard lashed out against me with a Ludicolo, which Double Teamed repeatedly until it was near-impossible to hit. After losing half my Pokémon to his Giga Draining and Surfing, I switched over to Sceptile; in the throes of combat he had used all his effective moves, and attempted to Leech Seed and Double Team me while I lashed out against him with Cut until he had gotten to the red; Wallace mercifully decided against giving it a Full Restore as it Struggled so hard it collapsed from recoil.

VICTORY!

WEEK 1 - Pokémon Emerald!
Rule 6 COMPLETE (Portable game completed - Pokémon Emerald)
Rule 7 1/4th COMPLETE (Systems used: GBA)

boojiboy7 · Posts: 1104

So! I beat a game!

Lego Star Wars II (well, the story mode, which should count as beating it, right?).

This fulfills rules 1, 3 (co-oped the whole thing), 1/4 of rule 7 (Xbox 360), and rule 9 (in that it breaks rule 2).

I have no idea what game is next. Maybe I will finish indigo prophecy? who knows?

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

I am withdrawing from BAG club.

Why? Because time limits makes games less fun. Also I didn't beat Prince of Persia in time.

boojiboy7 · Posts: 1104

professor_scissors wrote:

I am withdrawing from BAG club.

Why? Because time limits makes games less fun. Also I didn't beat Prince of Persia in time.

Dude, fuck it, stick with it. I mean, hell, I just beat my first frickin game for this thing.

Or don't. You know. WhatevAR.

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

I thought each week you started a game; that's all you needed to do. You don't necessarily HAVE to finish in that week (as evidenced by RyogAkari's playthrough of Wind Waker), but it's an easy guideline to remember. If you can't manage 15 games, then 10 is still open and is a large number. I doubt anyone could finish a JRPG from start to finish in a week unless they devote all their free time to it.

In fact, I think you could "pre-start" some of the more longer games, if you so choose.

I doubt the BAG club ever started out as a COMPETITION.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Re-joining BAG club.
Why?
Because I remembered that I DID beat a game this week. Co-op, even.

METAL SLUG 1
Played through the whole thing in MAME with my brother. Credit-feeding like mad, but I'm still going to count it... because I can!
Soo yeah. What a game. Less epic than MS3, but more fair.

RULE 1: Check
RULE 2: Check
RULE 3: Check
RULE 5: Check

Lobst · Posts: 96

This is it, Jak! The yellow cup GRAND PRIX! The winner of this race will be a Class D Grand Champion, and take home ALL the MARBLES! Rumor has it that a mystery racer will be showing up -- so be ready for anything! We're counting on you, Jak!

This was a total cakewalk. I'm ashamed of the TV and the scenery surrounding it; luckily, in anticipation of this thread, I decided to move into a new apartment and procure something suitable for playing games on.

Two down, thirteen to go. I'm starting on the next one tomorrow!

WEEK 1 - Pokémon Emerald!
WEEK 2 - Jak X: Combat Racing!
Rule 6 COMPLETE (Portable game completed - Pokémon Emerald)
Rule 7 2/4th COMPLETE (Systems used: GBA, Playstation 2)

chompers po pable · Posts: 325

I'm in. The only game on my list right now is Panzer Dragoon. This game has ever haunted me, mocking my inept abilities with it's cold impermeability. No more! Zarak, your courage has inspired me! I will overcome the beast that is PD.

I don't have any money, so I might have to finish off the challenge by breaking the other nine rules! Or maybe just eight, I think I've got a tiger handheld around here somewhere. would that count?

I will report back with progress.

good luck all.

nocturnedelight · Posts: 430

Just beat Boktai today. I would've beat it last night but I need sun, so I did it on my lunch break. Man, such a good game.

#1
#2 (Shadow of the Colossus)
#6 (Boktai)
#7 (PS2, GBA, ....)

I think I'll beat it again! Which will be #9, even!

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

WEEK 2 COMLETE:
The Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
For extra credit, I played through the entire game in Spanish. I heartily reccomend that everybody do the same. The huge facial expressions the Prince is always making are just so Univision Soap Opera. It's wonderful.
The final boss is one of the greatest final boss designs I've ever seen. It tests every skill you've acquired throughout the game to the limit - combat, speed kills, platforming, everything. And just when you think it has ended totally satisfyingly, it gets better.

RULE 1: Check
RULE 2: Check (It came out last year)
RULE 3: Check (Metal Slug 1)
RULE 5: Check (Metal Slug 1)
RULE 7: 50% (Arcade, Gamecube)
RULE 11 (Secret rule - beat one game in a language other than English or Japanese): Check

boojiboy7 · Posts: 1104

So, in kind of defeating the purpose of this, I beat KOF 2006 like five times last night. I'm only going to count this once I unlock all of the characters, and beat it at least once listening to really bad 90's pop music since im breaking another rule again.

Zarak · Posts: 293

I didn't want to clog up the thread, but I beat Altered Beast GBA like twenty minutes after my last post. I also picked up my old copy of Monster Force (quite a good game) on GBA and finished it off in about half an hour on Wednesday.

This BAG thing for me has mostly consisted of me rifling through by drawer full of gameboy games and finding stuff that I almost but-not-quite completed. Like, I had a run at Operation C and got to the final boss but he killed me dead. I'd get back on Circle of the Moon (I'm at like 80%) but I've really grown to loathe that game, so screw it. Picked up Advance Wars 2 again after like a year... I think I'm already on the final level.

I beat the final boss of Oracle of Seasons but since I'm playing off of an Ages game I still have to beat the Super Ultimate Final Boss of both games.

I hit an FAQ for Lost in Blue and... dammit, I still can't work up the motivation to finish it off. That damn game jumped the shark quite a while ago IMO.

So, completed:

Castlevania (GBA)
Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms (GBA)
Monster Force (GBA)

Probably upcoming:

Lost in Blue (DS)
Advance Wars 2 (GBA)
Oracle of Seasons (GBC)

Maybe upcoming, a little later perhaps:

Half-Life (PC)
Fable (PC)
Operation C (GB)
Silent Hill (PSX)

Guess I need to diversify a little?

RyogAkari · Posts: 148

Hey guys!

Work has been long and I'm preparing for my upcoming bachelor party and wedding so I'm sorry I haven't been posting as much as I've wanted to.

PLEASE PLEASE REMEMBER TO PM ME WHEN YOU BEAT A GAME!!!!!!!

If you are participating in the 10-15 game challenge to get a girlfriend or boyfriend of your choice and the chance to win the ultimate prize for the Extra Stage game that is coming up I'm going to need a record of the games that you beat. Yes, please post it here for all of us to congratulate you, but it will help me keep a record of who has done what if I can have it in my PM box.

I'm currently playing through Castlevania DS on Julius Mode. It's something that I've always wanted to do and I'm getting pretty close to beating it! I will probably beat a co-op game of my choice (and possibly breaking a rule!) this weekend as well.

Thanks!!!

PS - I'll be updating the post stating who has beaten what this weekend. So far only GrimSweeper, Action Jack! and Zarak have PMed me.

RyogAkari · Posts: 148

Hey, my apartment is under water!

I don't know when I'm going to beat a game again. = {

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

No portables/emulatables/PC/MAC/LINUX?

Agent Orange · Posts: 194

I beat Ninja Cop today.
Sorry, no evidence.

RyogAkari · Posts: 148

Dude, WTF?

I and my fiancee nearly drown, I lose all of my games, arcade machines, furniture, etc, and have to fight off hispanic workers from stealing my broken shit so I can claim it on insurance, then finally come back here and find out the BAG thread has been unstickied? Cmon guys, no need to stab me in the back!!

Anyway, I'm back (sorta). I have a new place. A lot of my DVD/CD games are air drying at the moment and I might be lacking in a couple of systems BUT GOD DAMNIT THE BAG CLUB CONTINUES!!!

I beat two new games!!!!!! I discussed one of them with Smartblue and he says I should claim it. I was at the laundrymat doing 200 dollars worth of laundry (.....no really) and was playing the Galaga arcade machine. About a half hour later I got the top spot. I dont know how or why, but I did, and I took a picture of it. So I'm claiming that as a game after all of my pain and suffering.

The next one is a real accomplishment! I beat Julius Mode on Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow! I'm very happy with that one. = D

Anyway, let me get my shit back together and I'll update the my first post.

IF I CAN BEAT A GAME AFTER LOSING EVERYTHING SO CAN YOU!

By the way, I determined the ultimate prize for the BAG Extra Stage game. A BRAND NEW PHILLIPS CD-I. That's right. You two can play horrible Full Motion Video Games!! This Phillips CD-i was taken from it's box new less than a month ago! It's now even survived a flood! Curse you CD-i! Why couldnt you have been the XBOX!?!?!?!? Anyway, Ive decided that it shall be the ultimate prize of this event. It still even has the new sticker on it. You want it? BEAT A GAME! You only have to beat 10 to qualify for the tournament (though if you want to beat 15 like me, GO FOR IT!!).

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

I'd be attempting to complete SOMETHING, but I've somehow got assignments popping up in all sorts of uncomfortable locations. Unless I find something that's easy to do (that Julius mode for DoS sounds swift and painless!), I doubt I'll make a start until Saturday.

16 weeks, though. I can afford to lose a week and still make the coveted 15/15.

TOLLMASTER · Posts: 1977

GrimSweeper wrote:

(that Julius mode for DoS sounds swift and painless!)

lol

It is, until about the time you try fighting Paranoia and Death. You pretty much have to level up a bit, unless you are a waaaaaay better gamer than I.

I just "beat" Boktai 2. I had already seen the credits, but there is ONE more vampire to purify after that, and it involves you getting nothing less than Megaman's Buster Cannon (Holy Crossover, Batman!) so I just had to do it at some point.

Unfortunately, most of the games I'm playing right now (SMT3, Disgaea 2) are long, long, long games, especially given that they're the type you can play over again or spend time doing extra sidequests, so I might just finish up my "villain" path in Steambot Chronicles by next week.

Lobst · Posts: 96

I just finished Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team. As evidence, I animated a positively pornographic conversation from the ending cinema (be warned of minor spoilers).

I was fighting my way up Sky Tower as Bulbasaur with Charmander behind me (and Absol for added kicks), when I come across my very first monster ambush; one Sleep Powder later and I was kicking some hearty Psychic ass, but the first Solrock I sliced to pieces decided to immediately up and join me afterward. I accepted only to find him smashed to atoms by the time I was able to reach the stairs, two Revival Seeds poorer :(

I made it up to the Kangaskhan statue and saved. Then I took two attempts to make it up the final nine floors. By the time I reached Rayquaza, I was out of moves -- but I had a plan. I told my compatriots to Go After Foes while I feinted back and loaded a Bullet Seed TM. Rayquaza punched Absol to death, then worked on Charmander while I smacked him around from a minor distance; it was one of those excellent battles where you win by a hair's length of HP (in my case, Charmander was one hit from being torn apart in front of my eyes).

Victory is mine! I expect this game to serve me during the droughts up ahead, but as of now I have a job to do! I'll be moving tomorrow and buying a nice TV and couch; with any luck, you should have wacky Before/After pictures of my Yourself! Fitness quest, among others. It'll be nice to live in a place where we're not forced by a lack of space to keep it like a sty!

SO, to recap:

WEEK 1 - Pokémon Emerald!
WEEK 2 - Jak X: Combat Racing!
WEEK 3 - nothing :(
WEEK 4 - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon!
Rule 2 POSSIBLY BROKEN (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon was technically made in 2005...)
Rule 6 COMPLETE (Portable game completed - Pokémon Emerald)
Rule 7 3/4ths COMPLETE (Systems used: GBA, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS)

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Game numbah three!

Perfect Cherry Blossom
On Normal difficulty. One credit. Still working on hard.

I've played my fair share of bullet hell, but PCB always gets to me with just how FUCKING GORGEOUS it is. It's hard not to get hypnotized by the bullet patterns. But I DID it. What did this make me feel? A burning desire to keep playing, on higher and higher difficulties.

Screenshotoral journey through the last half of the game:
(screens actually taken in practice mode because I was too busy to take them while actually playing but they are just as hard)

Stage 4 boss's first attack
Prismriver gets serious, and brings her friends in to help
Fighting a different sister now, this attack is beautiful in motion
The sisters give their last performance

Stage 5 boss - the sword makes bullets
Sword girl slicing huge bullets into pieces
That sword is just bullet-tastic
Sword girl's winding down now...
...but she's back on Stage 6 for a rematch!

Final boss time... those lasers are pushing me against the flow of the bullets
She's got like a fan or wings or something going on here and it's scary
Goddamn fuck I hate this shitting attack so hard
Final boss tries to fill the universe with bullets
Fucking bitch why won't you die already

Having found an English patch for this game, I have to add - the dialogue is funny. This wasn't something I expected.

7 to go!

RyogAkari · Posts: 148

OK, my first post has been updated to reflect who has beaten what. Thanks again to those that took the time to PM me, it was a real help!

Anyway, I beat Castlevania DS on julius and unexpectedly beat Starfox Command DS. I'm taking out the Galaga entry because I don't need it anymore now that I beat Starfox.

I must go. Aparently the insurance people are here to look at my stuff and I am most certaintly not ready

RyogAkari · Posts: 148

Professor Scissors, corrections have been made to your game info.

I beat Sonic Rush yesterday! I am very happy about that one. I had given up about 4 months ago because I couldn't get past the casino world. Once again the BAG club gave me the courage I needed to try again and make a difference!!

I've decided to make an addendum to the rules. A lot of people have been asking, and I don't see why it can't be different. If there was a 2005 game that came out in Japan that you've been looking forward to playing, then that should count as a game regardless of if it came out here in 2006. That means Final Fantasy XII will be FAIR GAME (and trust me, it's at the top of my list of J-RPGs) along with other games that came out in Japan in 2005.

There has also been a couple questions about the 10 or 15 game challenge. To compete in the final round you only need to beat 10 games. The challenge originally was supposed to be 15, but 15 is unrealistic for a lot of our lives, however I still wanted it to be a challenge! Many of you, like me, are still going for the 15 games and I cheer you on, however if 10 games is your limit, then so be it! You can still have a chance to win the top prize (and recieve a girlfriend in the mail!).

Also, here is a picture of the grand prize! A beautiful new Phillips CD-I. It was taken out of the box less than a month ago.

secondpillow · Posts: 144

TOLLMASTER wrote:

No access to a digimal gamera

I WANT DIGITAL GAMERA

boojiboy7 · Posts: 1104

Digital Gamera vs. Auto Kaufen?

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

Arx Fatalis is currently being played. I'm playing it mostly the same way outlined at It-he.org, except that I first gave the trolls their idol, THEN killed them. Giving their freedom from the goblins, which they then scorn because they can't sell their gemstones to them, is too much of a irresistable situation to NOT destroy both parties. Although the original way would've resulted in a better (worse) situation.

I'm now at the naga palace (ironically called the Sisters of Mercy), sneaking in through their magic fireplace. There's a way to bend the plot so you skip most of the intervening unfun stuff and I plan on doing it. With that done I would be about halfway to 2/3rds of the way complete.

Then it would be on to some smaller game like say Dwarf Fortress done quick.

Mister Toups · Posts: 4943

Not sure why this was unstickied...

RyogAkari · Posts: 148

Mister Toups wrote:

Not sure why this was unstickied...

It's probably because I had 2 feet of water run through my apartment and I thought my gaming days were over. I also didn't have a chance to post on the internet for a week at that time.

However, I was able to save my DS games (thus beating a lot of DS games) and a DS and later on I was able to save my PS2 and my CD/DVD based games. I'll be getting a XBox again soon, a power cord for my workin 360 and another gamecube in due time. Until then it will be PS2 games and DS games that I will beat.

Anyway, though. The BAG club is back in full swing! Get out there and beat some games yo!

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

I sort of realized that playing a game all the way through this week wasn't going to happen, due to upcoming assignments, midterms and thanksgiving to attend. So I shifted focus to Castlevania: Circle of the Moon on GBA, where my save was sitting just before Dracula.

As I may have noted earlier in this thread, I found his 2nd form to be by far the most difficult battle, due to how much damage he does and how little HP-restore items drop. So I went exploring, finding several Increase items to permanently boost my Heart, HP and MP total, slaughtering the Devil to gain XP (the amount was nothing exceptional; I only gained maybe 4 levels from where I started), and trying to find some of the DSS cards I still did not have.

That last thing was the catalyst. It turns out that having Uranus in hand makes the 2nd form ridiculously easy, to the point where I only took damage once or twice during the entire battle. It went a little like this...

Drac shoots laser, SUMMON THUNDERBIRD. Drac spits poison bubbles, SUMMON THUNDERBIRD. Drac summons meteors, SUMMON THUNDERBIRD. Drac gets tired of these proceedings and rushes to and fro, ROC FEATHER AWAY! Drac turns into floating eyeball, SUMMON THUNDERBIRD x2.

Total invincibility when summoning things. As long as your magic bar holds out (mine didn't drop beyond 1/3), you're safe. I probably could've done this at a lower level with Mind Potions.

I was actually a little disappointed that one card made all the difference.

SO!

WEEK 5 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon COMPLETE!
No other rules were tampered with. :/

Zarak · Posts: 293

GrimSweeper wrote:

I was actually a little disappointed that one card made all the difference.

No kidding. The whole damn game's like that. I have a save of Circle of the Moon right near the end but I refuse to beat it out of spite, even for BAG. Fuck that game.

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

The thing is that card isn't really difficult to get either. You just have to find the enemy that appears (which WILL happen just before the fight against Dracula, just because fighting him right then and there is near impossible), while wandering dern near everywhere in the castle. Since that certain enemy does not appear anywhere else, the person paying attention will realize that it MUST have a card. Like the Battle Arena, with the two cards only available there (which I didn't even bother because of the minotaur battle).

That's not why I posted, however. I managed to finish Arx Fatalis on PC! I took Am Shaegar from an amnesiac weakling to the strongest living thing on Arx. He even took down a god (could've been two, but I didn't want to follow the cult who wanted to summon the Goat of a Thousand Young or something to that effect. Then Am's master took him back because my character was too powerful for Arx.

I pretty much followed the "dark side" walkthrough found at it-he.org, as I've said in a previous post. This means I went through and pretty much exterminated each and every intelligent race as my need for them disappeared. Also, I took advantage of Akbaa's supposed blindness for people not on the same eye-to-eye level as him and shot him full of arrows, aiming for the nether region for maximum points (his head has sort of hidden behind the hump of his half-human back so I couldn't exactly hit that. Also, do tentacular gods HAVE anuses? There seems to be an orifice on his primary arm tentacles, but I think that's a mouth, what with all the teeth).

I have two screenshots to show, once I get my laptop hooked up to the network.

One is my successful attempt at killing off the human nobility and their retainers. Yes, the king is only a lower half in that picture. I should also point out that the bard died first. And then you find him later on in Akbaa's temple, in much the same condition!

The second is of my character sheet showing off my ninja-looking "badass" self. That leather helmet really makes me look like a terrorist.

Week 5 x2 - Arx Fatalis COMPLETE
- Four different systems complete

And with that, I can rest easy knowing I don't have any requirements to fulfill. Only rules that can't be broken except one.

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

Now for entry 6 of the BAG fun. I needed to get it done and over with because leaving it unfinished would've made me think of it rather than studying, which I should've been doing anyways.

So, Battle of Wesnoth was this week's pick. For those not knowing about the PC freeware business, this is a hex turn-based strategy game with three or so campaigns that come with the program. Each race has different units, with varying strengths and weaknesses that are quite well balanced against each other. They also level up two or three times, each time giving back the entirety of their health (it becomes a strategic point to consider; do I send this archer on a suicide mission with a measly one health, but 1 XP away from levelling up? Or do I let it sit on a village to heal and wait for a better opportunity?). Add in a day/night cycle that units affliated with light/dark get damage bonuses/penalties and you have a recipe for a surprisingly deep strategy game.

I took it upon myself to get through the main campaign: Heir to the Throne. It is 26 "episodes" in length, with each map tending towards greater pains of strategy as it progresses. I've attempted this twice before, but around 16 or so maps in I just lose interest. In the interest of BAG, this was the perfect game for it!

The last two maps made up for the lackluster part where I stopped previously.

SPOILER (for those few who care and have a PC)
The second to last map pits you on a huge map against four human knight leaders. There is little cover to be found and no forests, so the elves that you used most of the time are not as effective. The leaders generate either quick moving, 2x damaging/2x damage taking horsemen or bowmen of either level 1 or 2 varieties. To succeed in this task, you must take all the leaders out in 52 turns OR prove your worth to these people and kill off 25 of their units, THEN a leader.

The bulk of the knights are across a river (coming from a medium sized lake that doesn't quite split the map in half) with two bridges at the top and bottom. One lone leader sits south of you, so you will want to take him out quickly and move your leader there for a better position to recruit. And to prevent being converged from the top of the lake, you will need a small detachment, using mermen if you've managed to still have some.

I followed up annihilating the south by raising up an army of elven archers and fighters and taking them en masse to the southern leader on the other side of the river, using the remnants of my raiders (mostly dwarves) to hold off the converging units of the other two leaders. The attackers from the top were kept from moving above the lake by a detachment formed from a unique unit, a level 3 scout and two mermen. At this point I had killed about 18 or so of their units, so by the time I moved my army to where I wanted it, I would have my 25 dead.

The large army moved really without a hitch. They weren't harried by the enemy at all; in fact, they tended to hang back and were content in taking my villages (they generate an income to balance my upkeep). Once at my target leader, my ranged units(they still need to be right beside another unit; some units don't have ranged, or have less powerful attacks at range) took him down without a loss. Because I still had a large part of my turns left, I had a massive gold bonus that gave me about 1000 for the next map.

Then the showdown! Myself and the three unique units I gathered on my journey to retake the throne of Wesnoth from the evil Queen and her three cohort leaders: an orc, a human affiliated with horsemen, and a human affiliated with footmen.

The first two turns require me to draw out the best of my units that have survived thus far and sit them in a battle line to hold off the units that the Queen and her subjects recruit. Fortunately with that massive gold bonus from the last map, I could let my upkeep soar to -30 or so and still have money for recruiting fresh "meat".

My line held, bolstered a few times by my character's recruiting power as a leader; I had at one point recruited a team of griffons on the hopes that they would be sent against the Queen for a quick coup, but the proceeding turn had one end of my battleline in danger of being breached, so the majority were sent down to assist.

When their units were vanquished and their leaders were ready to die, I had about 120 or so gold left, about 15 or so units with very few of my original army still standing, and my unique units (all of whom MUST survive) half damaged or much worse. The Queen, damaged from a griffon sent on a failed assassinate mission, was hiding on a village frantically trying to heal herself.

My Elven Champion ran her through.

And that's it!

Week 6: Battle for Wesnoth COMPLETE.

RyogAkari · Posts: 148

Hey guys. I just got back from Disney World on my honeymoon. Give me a couple of days and I'll update the site with the games that have been beaten. There are a lot of you that are now halfway through the minimum game challenge!! Congrats to you who have reached game 5. Only 5 more are required before the ultimate challenge to win the CD-i. Once the first person has reached 10 games, I will release the special instructions for selecting the game that will count as your contest entry.

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

Are people being BAG ninjas, PMing results to Ryog without leaving a trace of their involvement in this thread? Or am I pretty much alone in my obsession?

I sort of feel like L in that Legend of Zelda make-a-dungeon thread. :/

Week 7: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Julius Mode COMPLETE.

When RyogAkari mentioned beating this side story of DoS, it sounded like a nice and easy game to do in the week of midterms. Before venturing in, it sounded like a two-three day game that I could manage on the weekend, when I had to go back to my parent's place for my uncle's wedding. Upon bringing it up earlier in this thread, Toll mentioned this worry:

Scratchmonkey · Posts: 2229

Man, deffo get some screenshots of the Dwarf Fortress try. Supposedly somebody over at the SA forums pulled off a single-dwarf win, which is pretty mind-boggling.

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

From what I remember of somebody posting at bay12games, it ultimately involved using a drawbridge to brain the demons. Which is cool, certainly, but not as cool as boiling them in steam (if it actually worked; at this point it doesn't as it's classified as fire).

Hopefully I won't get dragged down by focusing on making my fortress look good and keeping nobles happy.

chompers po pable · Posts: 325

still working on panzer dragoon.

Scratchmonkey · Posts: 2229

I think I remember a Toady post where he claimed that immunity to fire granted you immunity to steam, so that might not be that effective. Supposedly drowning and braining via bridges are the main routes, aside from just an out-and-out melee.

Crazy Bacon Lips · Posts: 783

I rocked the fuck out of you, Chetyre. Dragon Quarter BEAT.

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

Pseudo-BAG game completion of Dwarf Fortress. I say this because the alpha was released in August of this year, breaking Rule 2. However, I might not want to count it as such because I really don't know people that are interested in co-oping any sort of game. So unless I do find one to do as such, this will be a mere description of events for those interested.

I distributed my points so that I had maxed out:
two miners
one mechanic
one farmer

I had one other dwarf with starting skills, probably the most I've ever given a single dwarf in a game. She had two ranks of Ambusher (to gain the hunter equipment), two ranks of Armor, and maxed out in Wrestling and Marksdwarf. She was to be my 'guardian' of the others, so that I wouldn't need to worry about attacks.

The place I chose was a temperate, woodland area populated mostly by Hippos and gazelles. It was a rather nice place.

One of the two miners drilled directly straight through to the river, while the other dithered about at the entrance, carving out small rooms for a barracks and a food area, in case any vermin decided to steal my food lying about outside. I was fortunate to not have the cave river flood, so my mechanic (also a dabbling mason on the side) could quickly slap together a bridge to continue further on.

While I was waiting for the bridge to be built, my miners dug out a room for a farm. They also expanded part of the corridor to a 5x5 area for a well and installed one soon afterward.

Across the cave river, I made a small 4x3 room as a dining room, then continued the corridor straight onward to the chasm. The bridge across took much longer than at the river, so I had several individual bedrooms set up and the makings for further expansion of a width 5 hallway and more bedrooms.

I hit the lava field even before my anvil arrived. Because of this, I was able to secure a source of iron and have enough lying around that steel bars could be forged for the lava smelter and its greater efficiency once that metalsmith came and started work.

By this point, I had been attacked by a Cave Crocodile from the well (it's bones are still floating at the bottom of it, unreachable by all). Then a huge wave of seven ratmen decided that they wanted no company in their mountain. The miner that found them tried, at first, to battle them in the 1 width corridor but he quickly ran off after the rest converged. He did manage to kill off one and injure another before this happened.

So while this band of monsters chased him, that dwarf I had poured a lot of points into was set on military duty and was quickly on her way to help. Letting the miner by, she fired several bolts into the crowd and then started to wrestle them when they closed to melee range. She killed one with her crossbow and presumably the five left with her hands, all by her lonesome. She did this all without taking a scratch.

Because of her, several invading creatures were quickly dispatched after being found before they did much damage, usually by herself. And again, no damage at all to her person.

As time went on, my metalsmith slowly made charcoal to fuel the smelter, then slowly built the steel bars. It took him to the Spring of next year to set up next to the lava field, where it was closer to the iron deposit and also to some coal for additional fuel.

I didn't have any migrants come all that year. I was quite surprised, because usually I would get swamped at late fall and would have to scramble to secure food for the new dwarves, by then forgetting my main goal.

They came mid-Spring and in a mob: 25 or so. I had barely anything for food by this point, so I sent half to their eventual dooms as hunters, some with the more useless starter jobs as farmers and kept the few that actually would be useful once I got across the lava.

These two screenshots is sometime after that first wave, where I found this poor dwarf lying in my barracks totally ripped apart.

- dark gray means he's missing that part.
- red means mangled, nearly destroyed.
- white is normal.

So now my bridge across the lava was set up, I started to build my bridge trap as close to the lava as possible (so not to accidentally find the pits before I was ready). It took a while, so I started to wonder what would happen if they happened to get through this small thing before I could kill them. So I spent more time carving out a long channel from the river to just before the lava (in my bar stockpile room) and placed a floodgate set on a lever, so I could flood the place at need.

My mechanic was slow. I swear he knew everything hinged on him, so he took his sweet old time in accomplishing anything. It took me at least a year, maybe even 1 1/2 just to get all this set up.

Then one brave miner was sent past to dig onward. The glowing pits were uncovered, the miner changed shifts and BAM! Demons attacked.

I had one happy dwarf constantly playing with the bridge lever. Once drawn up, the bridge was swiftly released to come crashing down on the unsuspecting demon's heads, who were distracted from dominating the fortress by some doors that they didn't like. Which were in front of the drawbridge (I call it a rat trap for demons!). Oddly enough, they didn't leave any corpses after being squished once. They just disappeared.

Then forward into the adamantium, dug out enough to trigger the ending sequence (much more than was required) and here I am to tell the tale.

Here's my fortress moments before the end. Be forewarned, it's large.

Scratchmonkey · Posts: 2229

I think that's the most efficicent fortress that I've ever seen, what with the main hall doubling as food storage and all.

And getting to the demons early makes a lot of sense since that way you avoid the most time-consuming part of the game, which I find to be building up your defenses for the sieges (which is what I'm currently doing in my game and I'm having the exact same problem with my mechanic).

dmauro · Posts: 933

Okay, I came up with ten games I'm interested in trying to beat. I'm not strictly following the rules, but whatever, I'm sure I won't get through all these before the year is out anyways.

Shoot the Bullet
Perfect Cherry Blossom
Metal Gear Solid 3
Shadow of the Colossus
Devil May Cry
God Hand
Pikmin 2
Paper Mario 2
Under Defeat*
Yoshi's Island

edit: also maybe:
Steel Battalion
SkyGunner
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

*1CC

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

dmauro wrote:

Shoot the Bullet
Perfect Cherry Blossom

1CC? Difficulty? Slow mode?

Also, nobody can beat Shoot the Bullet. Nobody.

GrimSweeper · Posts: 530

Scratchmonkey wrote:

I think that's the most efficicent fortress that I've ever seen, what with the main hall doubling as food storage and all.

Well, I was just sitting around and waiting for the end by that point. And my farmers were making great strides with their 100+ store of mushroom spawn. I didn't feel like making store rooms (which I usually do underneath the farms), so I just made it all in the space available.

Which so happened to be my hallway.

It could be even more efficient if I just made a huge barracks instead of individual bedrooms.

dmauro · Posts: 933

No, I'm just going to try to get through them by whatever means necessary. I've been sitting on unopened copies since May.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

dmauro wrote:

No, I'm just going to try to get through them by whatever means necessary. I've been sitting on unopened copies since May.

Nevertheless, I heartily reccomend replacing Shoot the Bullet with something humanly possible for this quest. I got to one stage and tried it dozens, perhaps hundreds of times over the course of several weeks before giving up. This stage was in the third set of stages. There are ten.

I mean, seriously, look at this:

And that's not even in the last stages!

dmauro · Posts: 933

Perhaps I will pop it in tonight and see what I can do.

duckzero · Posts: 244

OK, I was reading the games people had, so I've decided to start up a few games that I have not touched in a while.

I had saves for most of the games, and I was pretty far along in a good portion of them, but alas, I formatted my memory card by accident one day, so that's going to make this a bit more difficult.

GC:
1080
Metroid Prime
PN03
Beyond Good and Evil
Killer 7
Viewtiful Joe

PS2:
DMC3
Chaos Legion
Auto Modellista
Silpheed
Gitaroo Man
Taiko Drum Master
SOTC
Front Mission 4
Socom 2+3
ICO
Tenchu
Airforce Delta Strike
Skygunner

DS:
Lost in Blue
Metroid Prime Hunters
Feel the Magic

GBA
Sigma Star Saga
Gekido adv.

n64
Paper Mario

I'm going to play through the games based on how easy they are for me to get around playing. Most likely i'll do the GBA/DS stuff and ps2 stuff first.

Zarak · Posts: 293

Violating the spirit but not the letter of the rules, I bought Canvas Curse and beat it in the past week.

Me and a friend have put an ungodly amount of time into trying to beat that cocksucker Shao Kahn in Shaolin Monks to no avail. I knew playing on Hard would catch up to us sooner or later. Well, as soon as we take care of that fag that'll be a game beaten on co-op. It's only a matter of time.

Still on the final boss of Oracle of Seasons. Ganon's way more trouble than he's worth. Need to hit an FAQ and figure out how to get the Sword-3.

Also on the final stage of Advance Wars 2, but the final levels of that game are so damn overwhelming it's hard to work up the motivation.