I completed RE4 nearly 2 years ago and then swiftly moved on to something else in my life. When I powered on the game this past weekend, I saw some new menu options that I vaguely recall being unlocked after winning the game. One of the bonus options is called Assignment Ada wherein the player assumes the role of a supporting character named Ada Wong who is tasked with a subquest of collecting 5 MacGuffins.
This <10min quick play on YouTube has me thinking that I worked entirely too hard to clear the Assignment Ada bonus game:
This speed run is predicated on the fact that the enemies in the game are famously slow on the uptake and don’t react quick enough while the player sprints right past them.
The first time I reached the boss of the assignment, I thought he might have been impossible to beat. Much of the battle seemed to consist of so-called quicktime events where failure to press a random pair of buttons at the precise moment when prompted results in immediate death. RE4 is generally a quite popular and accomplished title, which makes it that much more ironic that it has 2 big features that receive so much criticism, including these quicktime events (the other point of contention is the escort mission, which I am probably alone in enjoying). These event junctures instantly transform a game of skill into a game of chance.
I quit in frustration the first night and gave it another go the next night. This time, I mostly honed my combat technique and studied the most efficient and, more importantly, stylized methods for dispatching foes. When I made it to the boss, I was extremely well-equipped with both weapons and health items. With enough practice I finally took him down.
And then I watched the above video and figured out that there was a much quicker way to take care of him. Figures. Reminds me of a certain boss in Resident Evil: Code Veronica (this guy, the Nosferatu)– first time around, he finally succumbed after I threw every single weapon in my cache at him. The second time through the game, I finally noticed the remarkably useful, specialized weapon nearby that the game was doing everything it could to nudge me towards.
Anyway, the good news is that Resident Evil 4 is still fun.
So I finally sat down and tried to actually enjoy a quality game– in this case, Resident Evil remake for the GameCube. Unfortunately, I soured on the game pretty quickly. I think it’s because it began to feel a tad repetitive. It went something like this:
break through to a new “area” to explore
thoroughly explore the area, knock out a few zombies and other new creatures
study the puzzles, bang my head on them
explore some more, make sure I got everything I can possibly collect by studying the colors of rooms on the map
if I can solve the puzzles, proceed onward to a boss battle and then break into a new “area”
otherwise, bang my head on puzzles some more
Yeah, there are walkthroughs out there, but I don’t feel like looking them up. The graphics are phenomenal in this remake. However, they can also get a bit repetitive.
I was heavily into gaming back in the middle 8-bit NES epoch (1989-1992). By 1994, my interest in gaming had pretty much faded. But in 2001, I picked up a used Sega Dreamcast for programming purposes. But I also procured a used copy of Resident Evil: Code Veronica. That game single-handedly revitalized my interest in video games. I hunted down used copies of RE chapters 2 and 3 for the Dreamcast only to find that they were direct PlayStation ports (I’m quite glad I skipped the early 3D epoch of gaming). Then there was Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube which can’t be beat.
So it seems I really ought to enjoy the first RE on the GameCube. There was something else about this game that nagged at me and the problem crystalized when I read this Cracked.com article: The 7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey, in particular rule #4: Thou shalt make killing fun. I’m quite a ways into the game (though still only on the first of 2 discs) and I still only have a 9mm handgun and a shotgun. I mean, they’re functional, but also a little boring. Well, I have the combat knife too, but that generally stays in cold storage since I don’t have much carrying space to spare. RE:CV was far more generous with the weapons (heck, an early zombie is just carrying a pair of submachine guns for you to take). Handguns, full-auto handgun upgrade, shotgun, crossbow, flaming crossbow, grenade launcher with myriad grenades– those are all just a few of the weapons I remember off the top of my head.
Oh, RE:CV also had a magnum revolver, but that was a special use case. I’m reminded of this because I just got to the point in RE where I obtained a .22 self-defense pistol with 2 rounds. This screams “special use” because it probably wouldn’t even be suitable for shooting one’s own foot.
And of course, Resident Evil 4 switched up the entire series formula in every which way, for the better each time (though I’m probably the only gamer who actually enjoyed the escort mission aspect– I thought it added a fascinating dimension to the gameplay). In fact, I think if I’m looking for a quality after-work diversion game, RE4 might offer some decent replay value.
I saw an ad in for the new PSP version of Final Fantasy and for the first time ever I actually entertained the thought of purchasing said portable console. When it comes right down to it, the original Final Fantasy for the NES has to be my all-time favorite RPG. I sitll have my original copy with all the trimmings which easily qualifies it as one of the most valuable games in my extensive collection (not that that’s saying much).
In order to complete the original game back in 1990, I developed one of the most clever (if I do say so myself) strategies I have ever employed in a video game. My party consisted of a knight, ninja, white wizard, and black wizard. The final dungeon had the party descending down level after level to re-fight the various elementals before making it to the end. My knight was tough and could survive long after the other 3 party members had been finished off. But he couldn’t finish the game all by himself. I reasoned that the knight could make it all the way to the end of the water level to face off with the kraken before more assistance was absolutely required. Though it appeared that I would need to waste more time leveling up so those other 3 could keep up, I figured that it would be nice if I could somehow keep the other 3 party members in reserve and start using them as needed.
Then I realized that I could do exactly that! I could put the ninja and 2 wizards in cold storage and let the knight take care of business until the others’ services were required with the kraken. How? Stoning! Certain monsters had the ability to turn your party members to stone during combat melees. When a character was stoned, they were just frozen– they couldn’t help your party but also couldn’t take any damage. Thus, I went to a section of the overworld where a bunch of cat-like creatures who were known for stoning liked to roam and worked hard to let them stone the other 3 characters. This was a bit tricky, but after it worked (and the correct characters were stoned), I saved the game and was off to complete my quest.
The plan worked famously in the end and I was able to resurrect the ninja first as needed and the wizards even later.
I admire this guy’s ambition– he is endeavoring to play every Zelda game ever and blog about the experience. That sounds almost as nutty as attempting to play one new and usually obscure game every single day and blogging about it. Hats off! He isn’t too far along so far, but he has completed The Legend of Zelda, both the first and second quests (no mean feat, the latter) and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Through his site, I also learned of Blogging Ultima, a blog with the same goal but with Ultima in mind and which is considerably farther along with its chartered purpose; and Blogging Dragon Quest.
Story time: The Legend of Zelda was the first NES game I actually purchased for my NES (aside from the SMB/Duck Hunt cartridge that came with the NES Action Set). I don’t mind telling you that I was fantastic at Zelda back in the day. I was the master, at least of the first quest (the second quest took me quite a while to complete but I did eventually get through it). How good was I? I once had a classmate call me up and ask me how to complete the game. He was standing at the entrance of the level 9 labyrinth. I was able to guide him — completely from memory — through the dungeon, including how to collect all relevant items (weapons, compass, map). Before he entered a room, I would brief him on how many of which type of enemies he could expect to encounter. And before taking on Gannon, I was able to brief him on exactly how to defeat the big boss. I think he did it on his first try.
Thankfully, these days lazy gamers have the internet and FAQ/walkthroughs.
Today is Father’s Day in the U.S. While visiting one of my favorite spent video game shops the other day, a mother and her son stopped in. She explained that her husband had expressed interest in a retro-gaming fix with an Atari 2600 during their 9 years of marriage. She had been to about 5 video game shops in the area but this is one shop that actually stocks really old stuff (I picked up another pile of Sega CD and Saturn games). This shop was able to oblige her with one of several custom wrapped packages that contained an Atari 2600 base console, a controller, the hookups, and a Pac-Man cartridge. Price of the nostalgia fix: $50. Plus, they still have a pile of old 2600 carts for a dollar apiece.
So that wife left happy with the Father’s Day present and I trust the hubby is happy today — provided that their current television accepts coaxial input.
I haven’t posted or even played a game since… oh wow, I don’t even want to think about it. Nope, I am unable to announce my triumphant return to the gaming pursuit and upkeep of this blog tonight. In fact, it’s almost vacation time.
To tide you over for another month, here’s a little something I dug out of my archives: 2 adventure games I absolutely loved on the old 8-bit NES were Shadowgate and Uninvited. These games along with Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True completed something of a trilogy of adventure games developed in the same style. I wasn’t too impressed with the latter game but I liked Shadowgate and Uninvited enough to draw up maps for each game. I have scanned them for your review.
I drew them up on plain white 8×11″ posterboard that was in great supply in my house for some reason. I drew them with pencil and ruler at first to allow for easy correction and then drew over the edges using a darker crayon-like tool. There are several parts of each map with only a portion represented in thumbnail form below. Click for much larger scans:
There’s a funny programming story behind that rough maze diagram: The best I could do for graphing paper was a PrintScreen of a GW-BASIC program I had written to manually draw a bunch of lines on the screen. That’s why there’s that “Ok” prompt in the upper left corner. Come to think of it, since I have been playing around with vector drawing programs lately, maybe redoing these maps with such a tool would be a useful learning exercise.
Hopefully, the maps will bring back some pleasant memories or perhaps even inspire some to fire up the emulators.
