Sunday 30 September 2007

Dungeon Maker Hunting Ground

I just finished Dungeon Maker Hunting Ground, or rather... I beat the Wandering Demon, and saw the credits. I could just go and build more, but I thought I'd rest for a while.



The box art doesn't look very impressive, does it? Strangely, the cover of the instruction booklet inside is a better picture. ^_^;;

This game is very simple, the premise is laid out to you at the start and you follow it. There is a kingdom. There are monsters around the kingdom. Boo. You can build a dungeon near to the kingdom, and the monsters will move in, keeping them away from the people. Yay! And you can then go in and slay the monsters for profit, buying more building materials with the cash!

It feels a little exploitative and predatory, especially at the start when you're mostly up against harmless bats... you feel like this is some strange kind of hotel sim where you sneak in at night and murder all the guests and steal their money.

But it also feels... a bit like in Harvest Moon where you work hard every day on your land, plotting where to put stuff, and make money out of it...

It doesn't have any time constraints per day, either. You go home when you feel like it or if you "die". So mostly when you run out of building material, and have filled up your item bag with goodies (or killed all the monsters in the dungeon, whichever comes first).

There are also quests set for you by the townspeople (usually "bring me this item" or "kill this monster") that make the game more varied, and that's also how you progress to further levels.

The first 3/4 of the game were really great fun, the last 1/4... I think it was my own imposition of a rule of farming enough items per level to maximise the day's earnings that made it quite slow (that plus I wasn't feeling well anyway).

Oh and btw the music in this game is really really super-repetitive. I suggest putting your own music on while playing!! -_-;;

I beat the Wandering Demon! See:



And in 80 days of in-game-time. ^_^


My tips on beating the demon:
* Do what the old man in town tells you. He knows best.
* Train your body up first by eating well - Grilled Wolf is good, farm in the 9th level unknown dungeon for ingredients.
* Run around a lot, avoiding damage is better than shielding it.
* Equip a sword - I used the Flamberge. Seems to do the optimal amount of damage. Everything else is too slow or too weak.
* Attack him either when he's stopping to attack you (when a circle appears under him, think of that as a target!), or from a distance with a bow and arrow (composite). Use your magic chiefly to heal and protect yourself.

PSP games

I've spent the weekend on my own, sleeping and playing video games, this weekend. I wasn't feeling too good on Friday so I went into "standby" mode. ^_^;;



I'm amassing a pretty good collection of PSP games, aren't I?

Here we have... Tales Of Eternia (European version, dub), Jeanne D'Arc (North American version, dub), Dungeon Master Hunting Ground (North American version), Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (North American version), Blade Dancer (European version), PQ (European version), Dungeon Master Jewel Summoner (North American version), LocoRoco (European version), Popolocrois (European version, dub), Generation Of Chaos (North American version, dual language), Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (European version, dub), Taiko No Tatsujin 2 (Japanese version), Me & My Katamari (European version), Super Robot Wars MX Portable (Japanese version), Exit (European version), Tekken Dark Resurrection (European version).

I also have the UMD only of Mercury (European version), which I bought in an ebay auction, the demo UMD of LocoRoco, and a copy of WTF (North American version) but I've decided I've defeated that game so I don't have it here. ^_^

I haven't even tried out Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (it's a card game and comes with 3d glasses!), Blade Dancer (it was cheap), or Jewel Summoner (is not a Shin Megami Tensei game). Maybe I should...

Monday 24 September 2007

Machida Yoshito

Well, not being able to post pics from my camera and going to Prague for a week... I didn't post anything here for a while, did I? Sorry...

Today I've been repeatedly listening to Machida Yoshito singing the OP theme for Takarajima, the 1978 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel "Treasure Island". Oh, I love this song. It's far better on CD than it is on youtube, btw. It's got a great dynamic feel to it.

I don't know much about him, but I see that he was a member of Godiego and also performed themes for a 1979 Emeraldas anime and Cyborg 009. There's a Super Best compilation album out of his works, maybe I'll buy a copy...

Maybe I'll look into the Takarajima anime, too. ILA fansubs have taken it up as they have with lots of other series directed by the director Dezaki Osamu - they must be fans of his (as am I, ever since watching Rose Of Versailles and the Air movie)