RPG Backtrack - Episode 11

[JuMeSyn]

A lot of heroes in Castlevania have taken on Dracula, but not all of them did so in an RPG way. Simon Belmont and Alucard paved a new road for the series, so who's better to help inaugurate the return of the RPG Backtrack?
The link!
You'll hear some catchy music, and the credit for it lies here.

[jcservant]

Personally, I really love this podcast. Though, I'm not sure why. Glad I'm not biased in any way!

[risingsun]

DUDE! AWESOME!! Like Totally Bodacious!!!

[solo]

EDIT: Downloading now! Excited, since I really do enjoy the Backtrack.

[DragoonMog]

Good show. Like the new format.

Looking forward to more Castlevania RPG coverage. I missed or skipped a few of the hand held games and would like to hear about them.

I loved the two years back segment. I skipped both of the games you talked about, but I really want to try the Dragon Quest Swords game.

[jcservant]

A quick scan of half.com shows a copy for $16 after s/h : http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQpr...pidZ1375474773 . A small price to pay for good slime slashing goodness.

[Strawberry Eggs]

It's great to see the Backtrack return! I'm liking the new format, too. I imagine you were going for the Legend of Zelda NES commercial with that opening, but thank Arceus you didn't a rap. [img]non-cgi/emoticons/tounge2.gif[/img]

I must confess to not having played many Castlevania, and none of them to completion. I keep meaning to get into them, too...

You're doing EarthBound/Mother next? Yay! [img]non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif[/img] I'm curious as to how much you'll cover on the original Mother for the Famicom since Mother 3 will apparently be relegated to Mike's Import section. We shall see, I suppose.

[solo]

I'm only partway through SotN, but coming to it without the benefit of nostalgia, I can easily say that it holds up very well. Except the voice acting, which is hilariously atrocious.

[7thCircle]

I was in the same boat as solo when I played SotN for the first time in 2005. It was one of the very few times I played a game years after it came out, and it still lived up to the hype.

[Green Nu]

I was in the same boat as solo when I played SotN for the first time in 2005. It was one of the very few times I played a game years after it came out, and it still lived up to the hype.

but they've definitely made improvements, especially in regards to navigating around the castle more easily.

[silktail]

Blue lava? How you could be so nonsensical! I imagine that the water kills him just because Dracula has cursed him with ecsma. [img]non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif[/img]


I blew up every wall when I replayed Zelda on the GameCube. [img]non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif[/img] But by then I knew how they had caves hidden like that and wasn't playing with a map.
Looking at a guide I can imagine the problem was 2nd quest's dungeon 8. Which is on a nondescript cliff with a river below! (An old man does gives a clue, but it's too vague to work it out.)


If you are doing the Earthbound series then things I'd like to hear being covered include:
- How the first Mother game could have been released on the NES and the prototype.
- Why we are unlikely to see a virtual console release of Earthbound. (Music issues I believe.)
- I guess you should probably spoil the secret of how it gets you into the ending.
- Then for Mother 3, mention about the original plans for a N64 release.

[Strawberry Eggs]

Supposedly it's not just the music issues with releasing EarthBound on the VC, but also that the creators don't want the music cues to be changed. As far as I know it's just speculation, though.

[caddyalan]

I'm somewhat interested in action RPGs, but for some reason, I haven't really enjoyed any of the "Metroidvania" style Castlevania games that I've played. They've been okay, but I haven't finished any of them. I put five to ten hours into Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon (with a GBA SP), but lost interest. I managed to play Harmony of Dissonance for about twenty hours before giving up.

I think it's because there's something about the basic gameplay that I don't enjoy. The thing I'm disliking is the need to track down a variety of items just to access rooms somewhere on the map. And that's a pretty core concept of the "Metroidvania" games...

I first heard about Tengai Makyou 4 thanks to RPGCast #99a, and it still sounds awesome months later. Hardcore Gaming 101 mentions it on the second page of their series article here: http://hg101.kontek.net/tengai/tengai2.htm

Finally, there was a brief mention in the podcast of an RPG with ridiculous, obtuse difficulty. That wouldn't happen to be Persona 4, would it? Because even though I really enjoyed that game, it wasn't easy. It had vintage Megaten-style tough bosses, and the decisions needed to reach even the good ending were awfully obtuse. (Especially during the confrontation in the hospital.)

One last thought.

[greybrick]

The beginning of this podcast is hilarious... Phil slowly gets "into the groove" of his dude accent.

[HyphyKezzy]

Allow me to add to the chorus of those who approve of the new format and also say that I'm really looking forward to JuMeSyn discussing Tengai Makyou. It was worth reading through his legendary Q&A letters just to hear more about these games and if I ever were to import I'd probably start there just based off his enthusiasm.

[jcservant]

The beginning of this podcast is hilarious... Phil slowly gets "into the groove" of his dude accent.

hahahaha.... Thanks. I'm better at organizing and creating things than I am at acting them out. I should really leave the acting to the professionals! While the skit certainly wasn't perfect, it was fun... and I don't know of anyone that actually recognized that was Mike before I said his name [img]non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif[/img]

[JuMeSyn]

Never mind, a winner we now have.

[geoffuws]

I really liked the new segements too and I'm glad this podcast came back.

It is good that you look at titles that are more recent as well. On the internet the only games you tend to hear about are titles that are coming soon, then the second they are released they are never heard from again.

Glad there was a little section on Shining force and I echo Mike's endorsement: Shining Force is good. There is just something about the series that I have never found in any other game. I could write a thesis about it but I'll spare you.

Slightly off topic: JuMe (or SRW fans), I've noticed around the net that a lot of people into strategy RPGs praise Super Robot Wars. While I've played many import games before the sheer amount of text did put me off a little. Have you got anything to say that would convince me to get into the series? Also where to start. Only played Eternal Frontier which was more of a spin off.

[JuMeSyn]

Slightly off topic: JuMe (or SRW fans), I've noticed around the net that a lot of people into strategy RPGs praise Super Robot Wars. While I've played many import games before the sheer amount of text did put me off a little. Have you got anything to say that would convince me to get into the series? Also where to start. Only played Eternal Frontier which was more of a spin off.

Do what I did and pick up Original Generation 1 and Original Generation 2 for the GBA. At first I was only interested in the games, then once I started playing I was hooked. Three complete playthroughs for 1 and 4 for 2 speaks highly to my devotion.
Now, as for delving deeper into the series, there are just so many ways to do it that I haven't done it yet (don't bother to try making sense of that comment, it defies logic). If it means anything, the next SRT game I'll be playing is The Lord of Elemental, but how different it will be from what the series has evolved into I can't determine, plus it did a lot of things that haven't been seen again in the series anyway.
Or if something compels me to go handheld again, Super Robot Taisen A will be next. Neither can happen ASAP though.

[geoffuws]

Cool, I've managed to find somewhere that has SRT: OG 1 but it'll set me back a bit (mainly shipping). I'll look into it after the insanity of this month is over.