#Super Hydlide

[vgadvisor]

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Japanese Advertisement 'Super Hydlide ' SEGA Mega Drive

[wonncageart]

It's okay, I like your game! :) I drew this while fixated a bit on Super Hydlide/Hydlide 3 - based off of the Heavenly City shopkeep in the Special Version.

[smbhax]

Hydlide 3: The Space Memories (PC-88) aka "Super Hydlide"

-- https://youtu.be/C7gSebfmwXo?t=387 -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Hydlide

[sheepgirlbulge]

ah yes, sagely wisdom

[blueempty]

It's been a while since the clouds were normal

Band was good today. I had been wanting to learn Them Bones by Alice in Chains for a while and my uncle just randomly started playing it today so we know it now lol. My brother also brought an extra acoustic out and now I'm learning guitar I guess. I think the main reason he thought to do this was because he needs other parts to play Need 2 by Pinegrove lol. I had kinda been thinking about it too recently but I haven't even been keeping up with hiragana or drawing lately. Not even the games I used to play daily like theatrhythm. It's been a pretty extensive bad brain era that like, re-ups every time I have to drive which is 6 days out of the week minimum

Me and the partner looked at the Pokémon Center website for the first time in a while last night and bro its lookin like a plushie christmas once again. I really need to get a shelf for those thangs cuz I have a giant bin full of them just sitting in my closet and I want to see my little guys

I also watched the GDQ 2020 Super Hydlide run my Mike Uyama and that lead me to a game on Switch called Fairune, which is basically what if Hydlide was good, and it is good, I like it a lot. It's a stark contrast to the other game I was playing yesterday lol. Although the morning after those fucked up Fatum Betula endings I get one thats just a gif of a spinning skeleton and it was really funny, and theres at least 2 or 3 more endings I havent seen, but probably more. I hope there's a few more goofy ones

Barony update for the day is I played Shaman in multiplayer and we're doing alright but that job seems needlessly complex, I love being a rat though. Its basically a shape shifter job but your stat gain is weighted based on what form you are when you level up. So you gotta kinda decide if you want to be magic or physical, but magic sees diminishing returns later on so its weird. I want to love it but I really just love playing Conjurer and not doing anything. Just like in real

Peace and Long Life

[gorematchala]

I've been kinda keeping track of how I got into shmups and the path I've taken through the genre cuz I was not a fan of them at all, and then suddenly got super deep in there, but at its core its basically all because of Monster Hunter and Hydlide and it has nothing at all to do with Tohou which is just funny to think about. I might make an image or a video one day about it cuz maybe other people will realize they actually like shmups too lol

[scrappaperpalace]

Hydlide idea project

The very oldschool RPG Hydlide was published by T & E Software for the NEC PC-6001 and PC-8801 before being ported to other platforms. The game ports has been reviewed by AVGN, ProJared and SuperDerekRPG. The general consensus being that the game is riddled with anachronistic game play systems and mechanics that create a player hostile, grindy unfun experience.

And well... My mind has been a whirling with how Hydlide could have reached their potential if the series wasn't hamstrung by it's 1984 Japanese 8-bit home computer console restrictions and system formatting.

A big thing I think the game needs, isn't necessary a top-notch cream of the crop animation and graphic fidelity; I think the game can still work as an isometric, screen sliding action-adventure game just like Legend of Zelda. Just boost it up from 8-bit to 32-bit, a lot of criticism of the OG game is everything feels indistinct and garish and hard to discern (things like a lone tree that needs to be burned to progress looks like every other tree, gravestones don't look distinguishable and there are a few fake walls that look like everything else that house necessary items). This massive leap of graphical format would allow for dungeons, environments, enemy NPCs, items and combat to be easier to see what is where and what is what all while maintaining the retro-feel of the original game.

Another big issue that would need to be re-worked if a studio (AAA or indie darling) were to make a Hydlide game in the current industry would be to root out the player hostile combat structure and restructure it with a replacement based off of modern era top-down RPGs. Mostly based off of ProJared and AVGN that the game has a counter-intuitive Attack-Defense mode mechanic and the old school bump combat is a coin toss as to whether or not you win; on top of which in order to be levelled enough to progress, the player is forced to aggressively grind and farm EXP and having to save spam and find grass to restore health by standing completely still. How i would fix this is split into a handful of directions: One is to keep the old school Bump style combat, but with the extra 32bit graphic design the enemy NPCs could be able to move in all four directions and detail their front and back of the model to allow for ambush attacks by backstabbing the NPCs. This would radically fix the major complaints that ProJared and AVGN had about the bump style combat. The next part would be to re-tool the experience system to allow the player to level up slightly easier to avoid grinding Slimes in the starter area for an hour just to become level two due to the clunky coin-toss combat equations. Another aspect would be to add in Items or to actually implement the magic spells properly and allow the Player to kill NPCs with magic and gain EXP from it. These are all the known complaints about the OG Hydlide combat and fixes that would keep the combat as unchanged as possible but also making it actually enjoyable to engage in as a player.

Another re-working of the combat would be to scrap the bump style all together; Hydlide did a similar option for Super Hydlide, opting for a active combat system. effectively this style of combat would be one that is very much close to old-school Legend of Zelda. having sword swinging animation, actively needing to hit the enemy, having findable items that can be used in combat in specific areas eg. specialised armours for swimming, fighting the dragon, a lamp to highlight illusory walls and ranged weapons for specific enemies). This model would require the studio building Hydlide to study older games in the genre and pick apart what would work within the confines of Hydlide.

[doshmanziari]

Screenshots from Super Hydlide using an NTSC filter.

[probablyinsan3]

i just realized. legend of zelda ocarina of time is literally exactly the same as virtual hydlide. no difference at all. literally, frame for frame identical. wow

[vgadvisor]

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Japanese Advertisement 'Super Hydlide ' SEGA Mega Drive

[thevideogameartarchive]

Some of the enemy character artwork from Super Hydlide on the Sega Megadrive.

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[chartreuse-gale]

Dragon Warrior/Quest ramblings/collective review

I rant about the Dragon Quest franchise a lot.

Two of my video game pet peeves are when people laude the original Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest as ground breaking (it’s not, see Wizardy/Ultima), or the great grandfather of JRPGs (it’s not, see Hydlide/Dragon Slayer/Fantasian/) I’m generally not a fan of silent protagonists. I rarely identify enough with a character to feel like I’m “in” the game, so I prefer to be playing the role of a character with some kind of dialogue and a personality. Every dragon quest (that I’ve played) has a silent protagonist. That said, I do have some love for the series. I’ve suddenly found myself interested in giving Dragon Quest XI a spin, but instead I went back to Dragon Warrior IV. I remembered liking it as a kid and I’m happy to say I’ve been having as much fun playing it now as I remember having back then. Here are my thoughts on the dragon quest games separated into the ones I’ve finished and the ones I haven’t (mainline only).

Games I’ve Finished

Dragon Quest: This is grinding the game.

Strategy is almost nonexistent in the battle system outside of “Grind XP to LVL UP/Gold to buy better equipment”. You have 1 character and you never fight more than 1 enemy, so all fights are one-on-one. There isn’t any equipment with special traits or functions (just better Attack/Defense). You get access to a total of 6 spells in the game: Heal Heal More Heal Most Hurt Hurt More Hurt Most (these last 3 are usually a waste of MP) The plot is linear (except for potentially at the very end of the game). At least there’s a decent amount of exploration. Worse than Final fantasy I and Phantasy Star I by far, but to be fair, Enix did better with Dragon Quest II, which beat both of these competitors to the punch. Dragon Quest II: So much better than the original.

The grind is mediated by choices that matter in regards to equipment and combat. Also, you have an actual party this time (of 3), Also, Also, you can fight multiple enemies at the same time. Dragon Quest II added a much wider variety of spells (buff, debuff, and elemental damage spells); Equipment that had special functions when used as an item in combat (e.g. the Lightning Staff can cast whoosh), and a smidge more plot. Many people say more grinding is required in II than in the original, but I would argue that Dragon Quest I is nothing but grinding whereas Dragon Quest II breaks up the monotony with a dose of strategy. Comparable to Final Fantasy I. Far worse than Phantasy Star I. Dragon Quest V: Decent.

Also the first game originating on the Super Famicom (although we didn’t get an official English translation till the DS remake)

Allows for a party of 3 (4 in the DS remake). Considered groundbreaking by many for it’s monster recruitment system but it wasn’t the first game to have one by any means (Megami Tensei beat it by 5 years and Wizardry IV by 4). The game is divided into sections based on time periods as you grow from a kid to a teen to an adult, which is a cool way of pacing the games content, and gives you a little more perspective on the setting than you typically get in a Dragon Quest game. Characters are mostly boring outside of one (or two) of the love interests. Did I mention this game has love interests? I think I would have liked it better if there was only one, because it punched me in the heart for not picking the one it leads up to as the primary love interest (who also happens to be the canon one). Has really frustrating setting/plot-gender dynamics with two characters late in the game who I won’t name because spoilers.

Games I’ve Played but haven’t finished

Dragon Quest III: My least favorite game in the series (out of the ones I’ve played).

This time you have a protagonist and you can hire adventures to join you on your quest. They are all nobody characters. Their personalities are assigned at random, and (from what I can tell) only effect their growth. There’s no fucking dialogue with them (which is something I expected after DQ II). Personalities and seeds are fucking annoying, because both of them are random, have huge differences in their effects, and their effects make a huge difference in character capabilities, so it makes me want to spend hours saving/reloading until I get the effects I want. Fuck this game for introducing seeds to the series which appeared in many Dragon Quest games after this (thankfully I haven’t run into personalities again yet). Often lauded for having the “groundbreaking” option of changing character classes/jobs. Yes this came out before Final Fantasy III (Japan), but I would like to make the following points: - Final Fantasy I let you pick your character classes (which came out beforehand) - Final Fantasy III had a class change system you could actually make use of throughout the game (unlike DQ III where you need to get about halfway through the game first) - The original Wizardry came out 7 years earlier and also had a much more accessible class change system than DQ III I played very little of Dragon Quest III (I dropped it before even getting to my 2nd town). Two great thing about this games: It’s the first in the series to give you the option of playing as a woman, and I heard it’s the game that introduced the casino/mini games to the franchise. Dragon Quest IV: This game is Great! Also, Unlike the first three games in the series, Dragon Quest IV might actually be groundbreaking. You ever play Wild Arms I, II, or III? Did you enjoy playing through the prologues that introduce your early party members? Well Dragon Quest IV does a similar thing: The game is divided into chapters. Each chapter has a different protagonist. In their chapter you play them as silent protagonist, but when you encounter them later in the game they have dialogue. This does a lot to develop much of the cast, because you can see how people react to/talk with them and later on you can see how they engage with the player character (who you’re actually introduced to last). The cast is great and falls into a mix of both very old school and very uncommon tropes for a JRPG: You have an aging knight who goes on a mission to rescue children and then goes on a journey to find more about the ominous forces behind their kidnappers (Ragnar). Then there’s a princess who wants to go on an adventure against her fathers wishes so she kicks a hole in the wall of her room and jumps out of the castle (Alena); she’s joined by a young priest (Cristo) and an elderly mage (Brey) employed by her father, who give up on bringing her home and instead ask to travel with her to help her out. Next you have a merchant who wants to raise enough money to buy his own storefront (Taloon). After that you play a Fortune Teller (Nara) who travels with her dancer sister (Mara) on a quest to avenge the death of their father (an alchemist who was murdered by his apprentice).  Each chapter ends on a climax related to motivations/goals of its lead character and each chapter shows more of the world/gives out more info on what is going on behind the scenes. While you actively control the primary characters of a chapter other characters are either controlled completely by AI (in chapters I-IV), or loosely follow a tactical strategy you select (chapter V). I’ve been getting on fine with it, but this might be a deal breaker for some. The music is better than any of the Dragon Quest games I’ve finished (and what I’ve heard from any of the ones I’ve played, but not finished). A remake of this game has an interesting flaw: they cut all the party chart dialogue from the foreign language versions of the DS version; so if you don’t know Japanese, you’ll probably miss out on a lot of character interaction with that version. (I heard this had something to do with concerns that the game wouldn’t make enough sales to cover translation costs of the party chart [which was reputedly two thirds of the game’s script]). Dragon Quest VI Honestly I’ve barely played this one. You have actual characters for party members (a big plus in my book). I’ve heard there’s a job system as well. Plot/setting seem decently interesting on first glance. I might come back to this one later. Dragon Quest VIII I got about halfway through this one.

They included a character-specific skill tree system which is cool, except that there are objectively best routes to take for some (possibly all?) characters and these best routes are not even close to obvious from the outset. It introduced a pretty fun crafting system.

There’s  a decent cast of characters, but they don’t have quite enough going on for my tastes (my fave is Yangus). Plot has an interesting premise, but feels very barebones, and the environments/towns/npcs aren’t very interesting (maybe about as good as DQV, but worse than IV).

This game gets lauded for the 3D models of characters/enemies, but honestly I’ve never been a fan of the character designs of Dragon Quest (especially the monsters), so I feel pretty “meh” about it outside of being able to see your party members in combat (for I think the first time in the series), which is very nice. The music is very ambient a lot of the time. It does a good job of fitting melancholy moments, but doesn’t do such a great job of building excitement during battles and high-tension events. Dragon Quest IX This game feels a lot like Dragon Quest III.

You don’t have any actual characters, you just recruit them and use them in battle (no meaningful intraparty dialogue, character development, etc.) I think I played around 10-20 hours before dropping it.

Final Thoughts

Dragon Quest games vary from game to game in terms of gameplay mechanics, but they vary a great deal more when it comes to characters.

If you like having a lot of control over your party composition and don’t care about having characters with personality, you might like Dragon Quest III, V, or IX.

If you want a party comprised of characters who interact, have personalities, and might even develop over time, you might like Dragon Quest IV, or (sort of) VIII (I haven’t played much of VI, or any of VII or XI, but I heard they also fall into this camp). If you want to play an old school, 8-Bit JRPG that launched a spectacular franchise, might have actually been ground-breaking for its time, and is still fun to play today, check out the original Phantasy Star. . . . . . . (at least, for me it’s still fun to this day) [notes: - edited some typos, and mistakes most notably regarding the Hurt series of spells in Dragon Quest I - Revised some word choices - Added a comment about being able to see your party in combat in Dragon Quest VIII]

[ssjrodimus]

27x Nintendo NES games (4x boxed)

NES Zapper / Light Gun (orange) - Nintendo

Eliminator Cleaning Kit (NES) - Naki

Super Mario/Duck Hunt, Mach Rider, Pro Wrestling, Nintendo World Cup, Street Fighter 2010, Mickey Mousecapade, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adv. of Bayou Billy, Jackal, Tiny Toon Adventures, Athena, Ikari Warriors, Wizards & Warriors, IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II, Demon Sword, Hydlide, Xenophobe, The Karate Kid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, WWF Wrestlemania, WWF Wrestlemania Challenge, Goal!, Magic Johnson’s Fast Break. 

Boxed:... R.C. Pro-AM, Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach, Rad Racer, MTV Remote Control.

[blueempty]

Toy story lookin ass

i had a weird few hours today where I was super overstimulated and itchy all over for some reason, but once I left work things were good. I didn't get to play my OLED Switch yesterday but today I made all my groups again and played a few of my nicer looking games to see the new screen. Even ones that I didnt expect to look much different like Fairune and Hydlide actually get a lot out of the color boost. Metroid Prime and Monster Hunter GU look amazing on there. Theatrhythm too

And speeeeaking of Monster Hunter!!! A neat little present that the world gave me when i got home was my brother sent me a link to an HD mod/ english patch for Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. I fucking LOVE Portable 3rd. We didn't get it here but I had an ISO on my old PSP in highschool and that game is so good. Its basically the bridge between Freedom Unite and Tri. It has all the cool monsters Tri had without the swimming. It introduced the Switch Axe, Zinogre, the Misty Peaks, it had the hot spring instead of food in the gathering hall, all the facilities in town are close together an convenient, the blood effects are fuckin off the shits because it wasnt a Nintendo game yet. Fuck man. It's really tough going back to the games that came out before 4U, but at the same time if youre patient they're just as fun and charming as any other old, kinda inconvenient, kinda slow and shitty kind of games. Its like playing RE1 after RE4 or the remakes. Its not nearly as comfortable with the menus or movement but its got that old game swag to it. Idk how to articulate this feeling I just love MHP3rd man shit

Heres a bird

Live Long and Prosper