Classic Gaming, STG High Scores and FF Tactics A2

For the past two weeks, I have been fully absorbed in Crystal Castles and a bit of Mushi Futari, but also a couple of really good console titles, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and Mana Khemia - The Alchemists of Al-Revis, a seriously under-appreciated PS2 title that's got me seriously addicted.

On the classic arcade gaming front, I have spent my time working on a few boards in Crystal Castles and not really going for a high score, so I haven't had to post anything new to increase the size of my classic gaming e-penis, but I have been busy gaming on it nonetheless.

The October CAGDC tourney (classicarcadegaming.com - for those who've never been there - go!) should happen and I want to post an 850K score, which means I'll need to really work some of the level 8 boards, namely 8-1 and 8-2, the Cross Maze, which is a bitch, and working to max the life bonus, which is worth an extra 60K. I have been able to add another 20K to my score, snagging some gemeaters and getting the extra gems, so I should be on track to do well, but as I have enever broken 800K on CC, I know I have some work ahead of me.

This morning, I was on track to beat the holy hell out of my high score, reaching 9-4, Bertilda's Fortress with the short tower and four guys in reserve. As I started the board, what had been an overcast day turned into an obnoxiously bright one, casting some serious glare on the arcade screen. I died five times trying to finish the stage, unable to see the board or the killer balls. I should be depressed, and I am, a bit, but I'm still stoked that my skill set is building quicker than ever and I am really excited to see what lies ahead.

STG-wise, I have been working Futari's Maniac stage 2 with some success, but the counter maxing is tricky and is taking some time to get use to. The game is a hella lot of fun, but really spanks you when you mess up as most of the time its due to waiting too long to max the counter before cashing it in for double the gems, rather than just working the shot and collecting the base amount. The graphics and music are amazing and I always pause to marvel at what Cave accomplished with this one. I'm hoping to see 200K soon, but I also have DOJ here after Dave left it a week or so ago and its starting to call to me. And hell, I still have to work on the ESPrade clear. And maybe another Ketsui high score...



A while back, Mana Khemia came out and garnered some luke-warm reviews as another ho-hum JRPG, but the more I read about it, the more intrigued I was. I bit the bullet and picked it up one week while driving home from work, passing one of the five Game Stops in my area. The day I opened it up and started playing, I was immediately hooked. It combins the best elements from previous NIS titles, namely a fun story and simple but deep menu layout and adds a dose of FFX, but with layer upon layer of depth. I have about 35 hours into it and am just finishing up with chapter 7 out of 12. The graphics are a bit bland, especially after viewing some Vanilleware titles who take 2-d sprites to a whole new level, but you quickly forget the simple graphics when you are cycling through all the wonderful menus. Addictive and fun with a pretty good story and suprisingly good voice acting (Vayne is voiced mny the same guy who did Akihiko from Persona 3).

FF Tactis A2 is jst super fun. Way too addicing and more refined than previous FF titles. I have been pouring in hours playing this and even though it lacks some of the depth of Disgaea, its is a very fun and interesting Tactics title. The auction mini game is typical of the FF franchise, simple and fun and adds a good break to the game evey few hours of battling and grinding. The added character classes are fun and I have found myself doing the 'one more battle' thing too much when trying to walk away to play or do something else.

Crystal Castles high score #2

Been working at this again as there is a tourney comming up in October for the CAGDC and I'd really like to beat Donald Hayes!

I completed a game again, for a high score of 767,983. I'm going to work the levels more and try and sweep up as many gemeaters as possible, using some of Mark Alpiger's patterns from his CC DVD and some of my own (especially on 9-4).

I'm hoping to break 800K soon and try for a high of 850K, which is my goal for the tournament. Just don't let Donald know...

Mushi Futari - Maniac - Reco high score #2

Maybe I should just stay away from posting high scores for a while! I have learned a lot in this game in the past two days and its really starting to come together. 200mil is right around the corner...

Days here in Chicago in the middle of July at 70 degrees are fairly rare and this day couldn't have started out nicer. I woke up next to my lovely girl, went for a run, came home, leveled up some of my Disgaea characters and threw a few credits into Futari for a new high score - killing my old one - for a high of 145,282,315, finally giving up the ghost on stage 4, where I have absolutely zero experience.

I started out by wanting to work stage 2 and the boss's second pattern, which EOJ from Cave-STG recommended (for good reason too - HUGE gains, just on the one pattern). I got to stage 3 without dying and got the first extend with my stage 2 end bonuses, so I turned it into a high score run and went from there.

Stage 3 is probably my fav so far, with awesome music and such a good pace of enemies, that you really get drawn into in the game. I haven't spent much time at all on the later stages (4 and 5) and may start credit feeding to work on them a bit.

Mushi Futari - Maniac - Reco high score #1

After playing a few credits with Palm/abnormal, I decided to try Reco and see what the differences are. I had been mostly playing with Palm just for a change of pace from Mushi and enjoying it, but found him a bit too fast and slightly underpowered for my liking.

Reco, on the other hand, is excellent. She's just the right speed for me and although it took me a few credits to adjust to her speed and timing, I started to see higher scores on the first and second stages immediately. In fact, my patterns were totally thrown off and more than once I had a full counter, just waiting for a suitable enemy to cash in on.

I beat my old Palm high score with 114,745,125, which, frankly, isn't anything spectacular, but I still found Reco slightly liberating and just the right speed for me. I may go back to Palm later, but for now, I think I am Reco all the way.

I made it to the stage 3 boss and died twice on stupid mistakes. I really don't know the stage 2 or 3 bosses well enough to tackle them without dying or bombing. I did have about 68 mil on the stage 2 boss and never once cashed in a multiplier as I just kept holding A through the battle, so I know there were a sh*tload of points I missed.

Futari has yet to really grab me however and I find myself playing alot looking for patterns and trying different things out, only to find that there are so many different ways to attack a stage that almost anything works. Except for flying into bullets, which I seem to do alot on the stage 2 while waiting for the screen to fill up with majestic purple bullets. I know that once I get a few workable patterns down to keep a good, consistent high score, I'll get really into it.

It's just going to take more credits.

ESPrade high score #2

First credit I have played on this in a little over a week and I get past the midpoint of stage 5, for a new high score of 7,627,570. Not a huge jump, but I'm making good progress in stage 5. Stage 4 hasn't given me much trouble, but I do have to use the shield late in the level for safety and really tap it out on stage 5, so I have a lot of learning to do there.

I'm still blown away by Joker Jun's art style and really, really dig this game. It is certainly the best $40 I have ever spent!

DS RPG's, Space Invaders Extreme, STG's, etc.

Portable gamers have had the run of things lately and there looks like there's no stopping the deluge of quality comming out. Certainly an excellent time for DS and PSP junkies and especially so for any RPG fan.

Just this past month I picked up The World Ends With You, a quirky but addicting DS RPG from those guys at Square Enix. I was seriously bummed out by Crisis Core (boring gameplay, laughable story, characters you could care less about - even Aeris. Yup, I said it...) but figured Square was due and after hearing so much good feedback from the guys on the Joystiq podcast, I just bit the bullet and went for it. Especially as it was getting realy hard to find.

The game itself is a fresh take on RPG's in general, set in modern day Tokyo in the Shibuya district (where all the cool fashionistas hang out). The characters are interesting, even though there is a bit too much depressing emo-ishness going on (think Neon Genesis) with the main character, but its playful and kind of a self-parody, if that's possible with the first game of its type.

The battle system is very active and more like Zelda boss battles than traditional Final Fantasy fare (pick the right 'weapon', get some patterns and win) and they are really fun. I only have about two hours into the game, but its already impressing the hell out of me.

The biggest reason I haven't put the hours into The World... is because I have been playing the hell out of Etrian Odessey II. I played through the first one in two weeks, loving every dungeon drawing minute of it and the sequel is no exception. The game play is the same, with a few new character classes, and the dungeon difficulty seems to be fairly even across the board. I haven't flown through any sections like I did in the first installment where the difficulty dropped off in the mid-teen floors. In fact, on the 8th floor, theres a mid-boss that you don't even fight (for now at least) - you just need to sneak past and get the stuff hidden in its lair to pass the Quest (he'll one shot your whole party if you try and lock horns with him).

I seriously cannot put it down. Atlus, you are beautiful.

On my PSP, I have been investing time into Space Invaders Extreme and have been enjoying it, but really haven't been blown away by it. The game play is a significant step forward from earlier Space Invaders sequels and even has a big, blue lazer ala DoDonpachi to mow down scads of enemies. I found the game fairly easy once you understand the scoring and how to get weapon upgrades, so I kinda put it down for the time being. I imagine it will get a good workout on the road later this summer when I am away from home and craving some STG goodness.



I did play a bit of Shippu Mahou Daisakusen (Kingdom Grandprix). I'm considering selling it to get some spending cash for my NYC trip later this year as I'm taking the girlfriend for our first vacation together. I played two credits and 1CC'd in again on the second, not really trying, for a score of 662,261. It's a fun game, but I think not nearly challenging enough to warrant keeping it.

I have been dabbling in a few pcb's recently, namely Mushi Futari 1.5 and ESPrade, but no high score at the mo. I'm really working for score on the former and the clear on the latter, so hopefully there will be some updates in the weeks to come.

Mushi Futari Maniac high score #2

That didn't take long. After my last post, I went back to the game and broke 100 mil, setting a new high score with Palm at 102,614,949, dying deep into stage 3. I'm really starting to enjoy the scoring mechanic and I'm constantly pushing to get a 9999 multiplier before I cash it in.

This game really is fantastic, a bit like a good single malt or a good porter. It can be overwhelming at times, with the graphics and woderful musical score (Namiki again) but leaves you feeling oh so satisfied.