I’m in the beta programme for this MMORPG, although I don’t know why – Anarchy Online is about as much as I can realistically handle at the moment. Spent a while setting up my character (whose name I have forgotten already), and then ran about a bit and did some training things. Looks nicer than Anarchy Online, but the controls and interface confuse me.
I appear to be stuck. Although I went down the well, there didn’t seem to be anything I could do down there, except push a door forwards and backwards. Goombella says I should “leave it for now”, so I wondered if I’d missed anything inside the Creepy Steeple main building. I can’t see anything to so, and tried hitting and blowing everything, but nothing happened. I can’t see any obvious markings anywhere either. I must have missed something somewhere, I …
Had a quick go at catching rabbits to unlock more minigames. I realised that you actually have to catch each rabbit four times, as catching one with Yoshi only unlocks a Yoshi minigame. This could be tedious. The seven minigames I unlocked are pretty good, but nothing special. There’s a pelmanism game, using sounds not pictures, two of those grid-of-squares and touching one inverts it and the surrounding ones type games, which I hate, although most of these are pretty …
Took my new character out for a spin, and spent an hour and some minutes teaming with Los Reverandes from the ugv* groups. We left Newbie Island as it seemed to exist in multiple dimensions, meaning we had to talk Across the Void, but then met up properly in Old Athen. Got a house, and killed lots of Leets and Eleets and stuff. The Rev died a few times, because he isn’t as grate as me. Obviously. Then we went …
For a change, and to see if I could catch up with any of the ugv* n00bs, I created a new character and started again. Decided to be a Soldier this time, and it’s a hell of a lot easier! You get a weapon that kills most of the Beach Leets and Island Reets in one hit for a start. And you get a nanoprogram that bumps your Max HP up by 20 for half an hour or so. Got …
I haven’t played this for a while (Pikmin 2 got in the way), so had a go this evening. I’m in Twilight Town, and have worked my way to the Creepy Steeple and wandered inside. Of course, you have to go down the well outside, don’t you? Had a quick look in there and decided it could wait for another time. Saved and quit for now.
Well. I’m “compensating” with the controls. That means I’m still annoyed with them, but I’m only doing levels I absolutely have to, or levels that don’t requite such precision. Six lives lost to the first Bowser level then, as it is too hard to use the camera and control Mario at the same time. Managed it in the end, however. I also went and got the first star in Shifting Sand Land, and drained the water from the basement. Caught …
It’s an RZX recording frenzy at the moment, so I’ve been trying to beat my personal best. I haven’t fared to well, sadly, as the pressure of recording my gameplay makes me mess it up. However, I have managed a score of 3146, and here’s the RZX to prove it. Weak.
Hurrah! I’ve managed to do 500m, with Puchi, without any items. Go me! Sadly, 1000m is plainly impossible so I’m off to have a cry whilst my DS recharges.
I’ve been honing my skills a little on my new Run Baby Run levels. I’m not sure I’ve managed to create levels as good as the original (although, I’ve only had a week to play with the new ones, and twenty years to master the old ones!), but they’re all certainly playable. I’m alarmed at how similar Green Acres is to Bolton Gas Works, even though it wasn’t intentional. I think it may just play like it, rather than look …
I’m still stuck on that bloody 500m level. I’ve tried with Susumu and Puchi, and have managed to get to 476m today, but then I die. My problem, is that I can’t figure out how to get air that is surrounded by blocks you can’t dig (well, you can dig them, but you lose air doing so). More practice required, I suspect.
Still sticking with it, despite the problems I’m having with the controls. Have I mentioned the problems with the controls? They’re awful. Rescued Mario, which has improved things a little. Yoshi just doesn’t feel “right” for the game. I’ve now got 16 Stars, and so went and had a crack at the first Bowser boss. Not that I could even reach him, as the terrible controls make the tricky platform section before him bloody hard. Grr!
No, not 64DS, the proper one. I went back to this for a bit today just to make sure my brain wasn’t deceiving me, and well, I was mostly right. The graphics are not as good as I recall, but they’re still better than the DS version. The controls are spot-on too. If only the DS had an analogue stick of some kind…
Oh dear, Nintendo. What have you done? Mario 64 was one of the best games ever created. Better in many ways than Mario Sunshine, even. But this DS port is awful – ruined almost entirely by the dreadful controls. The digital pad is no good for the tight turns and run-speed control required, and the touch screen isn’t responsive enough and awkward to use. Played it for a good two hours today, and it hasn’t “clicked” yet. I have 8 …
Had another few goes on this today. It still isn’t much easier! Managed to complete 500m, but only because I bought a “one hit shield” item. Having said that, I had a life spare at the bottom so I could have done it. Unlocked Puchi as a result, and completed 300m with him. Also had a go at Pressure Driller mode, which is even more frantic than Mission Driller. Managed to defeat the 200 ton baddie, and nearly got past …