#1. March 1, 2015 Winning Game Playthrough/Discussion

[Gleeok]

Am I the only one who has gripes with the game mechanics so far? I might not finish this one even though I'm about halfway through.

-Music is terrible.
-Player movement is clumsy.
-Collision rectangles are larger than the sprites.
-I find the level design and enemies shallow and pedantic.

Maybe it's just the fact that I've never played any AI games before, but it feels like a crappy flash game to me. Maybe it's just that this game formula hasn't aged well, which is why you don't see many like it post-NES.

[mrz84]

When I was playing the original, it took a while to realize you can run by holding b. Maybe that's the problem?

I found that I could run by doing that (if anyone here has ever played a Mario game - and who hasn't? - then that should be NES control 101 for them), but it was a bit of a trade off as the B button is also your axe/dino attack button. So in order to attack, you can't run without stopping briefly for a second to toss an axe/dino attack before running again. I aminly only attacked if something was blocking my path and going around it would take more time than it was worth doing so. Makes me glad I got the pacifist achievement outta the way on the 1st level (before I even knew there was an axe powerup, I had assumed you only could attack with dinos.)

[mrz84]

Completed the second island. The crab boss was easier than the plant boss of the first island. Also found out the hard way in one of the second island's water levels to avoid big bubbles floating around as you get immobilized for an unknown amount of time and they are usually in the path of an enemy (so basically you touch a bubble, you lose a life). One usually sees a big bubble in underwater levels for a other games, and they think "AIR! SWEET AIR!", but not in this game. Though the fact you can't drown should have been a hint to me (or least I'm sure you don't need to worry about it as I didn't notice any difference in hunger gauge decrease when underwater)

[erm2003]

So a few things I will note. I got through what I think is most of the first island. One of the stages gave me a really rough time but I am also not sure if that's partially a function of my controller or not. I know I have an older laptop and sometimes I end up with a delay in my inputs. That's no excuse, I am way out of practice for a real NES challenge game (minus the original LoZ).

I also didn't realize you could hold B to run right away. It was definitely one of those smh moments since that's commonly how other NES games control and I have no clue why I didn't try it for the longest time.

I am hoping to get back to it again for another try but I may have to switch to using save states to progress far into the game. Yes it's kinda shitty but I am looking to get further into it and spend some time getting to know Breath of the Wild too!

[mrz84]

Third island is kicking my ass (the first level of it is fairly easy, but not too easy) however I feel like I'm not gonna make any progress for a bit on (it keeps sending me to the same damn cave for the second level, and the jumps are Castlevania style ie: medusa heads just off screen to hump your face) it so I'm trying to get some of the other achievements from the first and second islands while honing my skills. Clearing the first island without dying is the hardest one so far as I've gotten to the point I can go with the axe from level 1 and a fire/thunder dino to the boss level, only to screw myself over by miss-timing a jump or something that should be fairly simple.
Found the Hudson Bee though and got a complete set of dinos.

Also, does anyone think that the blue dino's attack makes look like its crapping lightning? Or is it just me?

[Tim]

So how is everyone doing on AI2? I honestly haven't played since my initial try. I have to say I got pretty far on a first blind session.

[mrz84]

http://retroachievements.org/user/AuthorNumber2

My user page. Also I forgot to send friend requests to the others over there yet from AGN (I've got erm and one other - whoever is diffikolt) though if you want you can shoot one over to me first (I'm tired and not feeling well, gonna do it in the morning before work)

I only found the Hudson Bee by "accident" as I found that in some levels my attacks would vanish at certain areas and make odd sounds., Jumping in the general area reveals an egg that usually contains a key to a bonus stage. The Bonus stage for the first island in a certain level goes to a chamber with a dragon who gives you the Hudson Bee. I had no idea what it is supposed to do until I looked it up (and its the only thing I looked up, everything else I've done so far is either blind or comes from platforming experience from other games such as Super Mario Bros)

So if ya want the cliff notes version, I am at 40% (non-hardcore)

[Chris Miller]

I'm up to 90% in hardcore mode, so really about 45%. It's pretty rough. If it weren't for the sloppiness of the controls, I'd have knocked them all out by now.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Ended up having to deal with a few things like a blown out tire on these days off.

Also been pretty busy celebrating my birthday, my daughters, and playing a bit of BotW.

I'm sure I'll still get through it but it won't be in the timeframe. Next time I'm home I'll work out achievements and whatnot. Hope you guys had fun.

[Gleeok]

I rage quit this game in island-world 4.

Definitely should of used save-states every now and again, but that's kind of lame if you are going for achievements, but whatever.