Well. After getting a couple of keys, I was able to get around pretty much the entire map. Picked up the Griffin’s Wing and Crush Boots too, so I then could get round the entire map, and killed a few more bosses on the way and collected fahsands more power-ups and some well ace armour. I reached Level 48 or so, and my DEF stat was so high that almost no enemy could deal out more than a couple of …
ROCK ON! Two player SUPER ROCK OUT this evening, as my friend Chris and I twin-axed through some tracks. That makes it sound about a million times better than it actually was, but in reality it was crap because I lost every single one. Rubbish.
Grr! I’m stuck again! I’ve explored everywhere I can, and even though I now have the smash-through-walls whip attachment, I have exhausted every area there is. I have killed a couple more bosses (including a Giant Merman), and found a load more HP/MP/heart Max power-ups, and have explored 125% of the castle(s) now, but I have no idea where to go next. There are loads of doors still locked, a hole in the floor that is sealed, and at least …
After half an hour of searching, and finally resorting to watching the first part of a speedrun on YouTube, I eventually found somewhere I could reach but hadn’t been to yet. And so, I had opened up a huge new area! In fact, my exploration status went from about 65% of the castle, to 102% in this evening’s play. No, that isn’t a mistake – it turns out there are two castles. Cripes. Both are effectively the same layout, but …
Hmm. Some of the flaws are starting to show in this game now. The map isn’t as easy to navigate as in Circle of the Moon, especially in the way that there are rooms which serve no purpose than to slow you down. No baddies, no spikes, just a poorly laid out room to navigate. They’re not hard, just annoying. Then there’s the structure of the bosses. You don’t seem to have to do them all in a specific order, …
Well, now you can! We’ve got a Samsung VHS-to-DVD recorder at work, and on some of the on-screen menus you’re asked to press any key. Helpfully, the remote includes an Any Key for those people who wish to take the request literally.
And so it’s out with Circle of the Moon, and in with Harmony of Dissonance. I’ve played it for almost an hour and a half already, and I’m enjoying it. There’s something not quite right about it, though. Maybe it’s the way Juste (your character) has a bizarre blue glow and shadow trails. Maybe it’s the fact I had to start again completely powerless. It could be that L and R perform dashes rather than special moves. Or perhaps it’s …
After trying several times to kill Dracula, I gave up. The final boss has two phases: one where he appears and disappears, and has three attacks – poison clouds, laser beam, and meteor strike, and after that he flies around a lot, then turns into a load of bats and a giant eyeball. The first phase was easy, especially if I used the DSS card combo that effectively grants you double energy. The second, however, was not. Dodging Dracula flying …
Damn that Devil thing! I either get past it unscathed and then have my HP demolished by the Dark Armours, or the thing kills me. Thankfully, I found a fantastic way of killing Hugh without me losing much energy at all – shoot a load of crucifixes away from him, then jump over him and them as they come back, they all pass though Hugh and Super Damage ensues. Aces. So after a couple of attempts with this tactic, he …
I’m getting near the end now. I can smell it. That, and I’ve uncovered more than 80% of the map and have only one “magic power” left to obtain. Killed Camilla, who was actually very easy once I took my time about it and actually dodged her attacks rather than blindly trying to whip her. My axes proved very useful too. My power-up gained was Roc’s Feather (isn’t that Link’s power-up? Hmm…) which lets me jump very high indeed. Then …
Spent about an hour playing online, and managed to get the Complete 50 Games Online achievement. Had some decent games, with no restarts like yesterday. I just wish people would think a little more about what they’re setting up – Walls mode with the full map and only three players simply doesn’t work. You have very little chance of even seeing any walls by the other players, let alone being forced into colliding with one.
Off I went to the bit where the acid water was, and as expected, it became normal water again. I then worked my way through quite a few lizardmen, ice women things, and some witches, before finding a huge ice demon thing which killed me. So I tried again, took a slightly different route, and found a save point. Just past that, was the next boss – Camilla (who is the woman right at the start of the game who …
I chipped away at the Pro goals for a while, managing to bump about four Ams to Pro. Still at Rank 6 though. I still can’t see how to get to the goal in the Slums either. I then spent quite a while playing online, partly to get the Complete 50 Games Online achievement, but also as something else to do in the game. Most of the games played were Trick Attack ones (which are dull), but got in a …
I was going to have a go at completing a few songs on hard, but decided against it and and went straight in to Quick Play instead. Improved on my Easy and Medium scores on about 5 tracks, and set scores for the first time on another 5 or so. I even managed Ziggy Stardust on Medium missing just one note (which I don’t think, technically, I missed – it just failed to register). Bah!
I felt the need to play some Tony Hawk, so I dusted this off with the intention of bumping my rank up from 6 to 5. Of course, I didn’t. I got Pro for one goal I previously had Am for, and found about 8 more gaps. Also got another Owned goal. And that was it. There are at least two goals in the Slums area I can’t even get to, which isn’t helping me get at least Am for …