For anyone who has been put off playing the original Haunted Castle, play it on the Dominus Collection, which is the Japanese release, not the infamous NA revision. On default difficulty, it’s really not the holy terror it’s made out to be. I made it through the whole thing in less than two hours. It’s a “do it exactly like so” game but it’s short and not too hard to learn in its natural state. I “continued” less here than I did with Chronicles (and that’s an experienced replay, not a first time.) It’s still not a favorite but it’s leagues better than something like The Adventure for Game Boy.
Disappointed to see more of the same old stuff about the Genesis sound chip in the Bloodlines bit. That game alone should be enough to recast the entire notion - this is what that system sounds like. People always judge SNES sound on the best of the best, not the mushy, muffled bland stuff that so many of its games have. Similarly, we should judge Genesis sound on its best, not the infamous streamlined GEMS stuff. There’s nothing wrong with overtly synthetic music. It doesn’t need to imitate an orchestra, it can be its own great thing.
@DeusX I don’t agree that it’s fundamentally different. The difference has something to do with it in the way superficial differences are easy to pick at but I’m inclined to believe the “legend” of Zelda 2 has more to do with dumb little kids like me (four when I first played it) who couldn’t really read or play most games beyond Mario properly never made it far and let the idea that it’s super difficult or that its difference is a negative build up in their heads over time. Really, getting through Zelda 2 is as simple as the original - read the dang manual and be thorough (being thorough in this game takes far, far less time than the most menial tasks people like doing in open world games.)
Whenever I hear Zelda II is the ‘Dark Souls of its day’ I always think, “Does that mean Dark Souls isn’t nearly as hard as people make it out to be?”
I’ve had too many encounters with “Classic” JRPGs that turn out rather disappointing…
Earthbound - As a Winsor McCay and Peanuts fan, this should be up my alley. Instead, it’s the same quirks repeated ad nauseum with a complete afterthought battle system that just feels like broken Dragon Quest. Not a bad experience but lacking.
Xenogears - Final Fantasy XV was unfinished? Yes, but this is too, and more profoundly so, yet it’s considered a “masterpiece.” A battle system where basic fighting is just drawn out into repetitious button combos with long animations, where magic is completely useless. Exploration is pointless (this is far more linear than FFXIII, by the way, never mind that “linear” is usually a ridiculous criticism for JRPGs - they just are linear.) Its “themes and stuff” are just ideas flatly stated at certain points, not dramatized at all (and it’s ill-digested Evangelion; sophomoric philosophy and psychology.) And, again, half of it is completely unfinished.
There’s the loads of generic titles that are “classics” just because people remember them from their youth or just wanted more RPGs, like Breath of Fire.
So I’m kind of skeptical when a game like this is puffed up. There are lots of occasions where games do interesting things only to not implement them well at all.
Comments 3
Re: The Best Castlevania Games Of All Time
For anyone who has been put off playing the original Haunted Castle, play it on the Dominus Collection, which is the Japanese release, not the infamous NA revision. On default difficulty, it’s really not the holy terror it’s made out to be. I made it through the whole thing in less than two hours. It’s a “do it exactly like so” game but it’s short and not too hard to learn in its natural state. I “continued” less here than I did with Chronicles (and that’s an experienced replay, not a first time.) It’s still not a favorite but it’s leagues better than something like The Adventure for Game Boy.
Disappointed to see more of the same old stuff about the Genesis sound chip in the Bloodlines bit. That game alone should be enough to recast the entire notion - this is what that system sounds like. People always judge SNES sound on the best of the best, not the mushy, muffled bland stuff that so many of its games have. Similarly, we should judge Genesis sound on its best, not the infamous streamlined GEMS stuff. There’s nothing wrong with overtly synthetic music. It doesn’t need to imitate an orchestra, it can be its own great thing.
Re: Miyamoto Has Admitted This Zelda Game Is "Bad"
@DeusX I don’t agree that it’s fundamentally different. The difference has something to do with it in the way superficial differences are easy to pick at but I’m inclined to believe the “legend” of Zelda 2 has more to do with dumb little kids like me (four when I first played it) who couldn’t really read or play most games beyond Mario properly never made it far and let the idea that it’s super difficult or that its difference is a negative build up in their heads over time. Really, getting through Zelda 2 is as simple as the original - read the dang manual and be thorough (being thorough in this game takes far, far less time than the most menial tasks people like doing in open world games.)
Whenever I hear Zelda II is the ‘Dark Souls of its day’ I always think, “Does that mean Dark Souls isn’t nearly as hard as people make it out to be?”
Re: Is Quintet's Robotrek The Most Underrated SNES JRPG Ever?
I’ve had too many encounters with “Classic” JRPGs that turn out rather disappointing…
Earthbound - As a Winsor McCay and Peanuts fan, this should be up my alley. Instead, it’s the same quirks repeated ad nauseum with a complete afterthought battle system that just feels like broken Dragon Quest. Not a bad experience but lacking.
Xenogears - Final Fantasy XV was unfinished? Yes, but this is too, and more profoundly so, yet it’s considered a “masterpiece.” A battle system where basic fighting is just drawn out into repetitious button combos with long animations, where magic is completely useless. Exploration is pointless (this is far more linear than FFXIII, by the way, never mind that “linear” is usually a ridiculous criticism for JRPGs - they just are linear.) Its “themes and stuff” are just ideas flatly stated at certain points, not dramatized at all (and it’s ill-digested Evangelion; sophomoric philosophy and psychology.) And, again, half of it is completely unfinished.
There’s the loads of generic titles that are “classics” just because people remember them from their youth or just wanted more RPGs, like Breath of Fire.
So I’m kind of skeptical when a game like this is puffed up. There are lots of occasions where games do interesting things only to not implement them well at all.