Planet Puzzle League: The Ultimate Puzzle Game

[Bahamut]

So, I know I can't be the only one who snagged this game, one of the ultimates in gaming. Come on out you OCRers who picked it up, I know you're out there.

I was reminded just now about how much depth this game holds as a puzzle game. For the first time, I got completely decimated in Birthday Battle, against some Japanese guy who didn't try to outchain me, as that has proven futile to anyone facing me, but to send me hardly anything, but enough to force me to make a few big chains/combos in retaliation, as well as sending me a ? block in the beginning. He/she doesn't seem to be the brightest out there, as I saw some stuff ilke 17x chains in the beginning, but this strat almost has me convinced that it is the ultimate strat for online battling seeing as my brutal chain spamming broke against it.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Fuck, I wish I had the money to get a DS just for this game.

But alas, I'm flat broke and in debt.

[Merk]

I tried playing your way with the d-pad and did even worse. I just have trouble seeing those huge chains. I guess I got too used to the keyboard with Tetris Attack that the d-pad is too small.

[CHz]

That's such a gay strategy, but I can't believe I've never thought of it before. :\

I didn't even realize I'd been hit by it until Baha was ranting in #ocremix about this guy who was doing it to him and it turned out I'd played and lost to him before. >____>

(although that was by a stupid error on my part)

Also, greatest game ever, etc.

472549-375548

[atmuh]

for the love of god tetris attack is boring

[MaGi_TekK]

Yeah, pretty much when you get to a certain skill level in tetris attack, the online gaming part becomes flawed. That's because with the new controls, it's super easy to do 15+ chains and any decent player can survive for ages as long as they conserve pieces and continue to resend back garbage blocks. Most people including the japanese are playing on normal mode online, which is way too slow. Also I've noticed some people using a technique I have named cloaking. I.e., they'll play badly the first couple seconds. This makes the other person think they've got the game in the bag and they then proceed to play less cautiously, bringing out the big guns and chains early. Then they amp up their game and for some reason this creates a psychological advantage I've noticed, which is important when so much of online battling requires endurance rather than skill.

[Bahamut]

Yeah, pretty much when you get to a certain skill level in tetris attack, the online gaming part becomes flawed. That's because with the new controls, it's super easy to do 15+ chains and any decent player can survive for ages as long as they conserve pieces and continue to resend back garbage blocks. Most people including the japanese are playing on normal mode online, which is way too slow. Also I've noticed some people using a technique I have named cloaking. I.e., they'll play badly the first couple seconds. This makes the other person think they've got the game in the bag and they then proceed to play less cautiously, bringing out the big guns and chains early. Then they amp up their game and for some reason this creates a psychological advantage I've noticed, which is important when so much of online battling requires endurance rather than skill.

I actually never had a problem with those who do that, since my game revolves around rushing to the shock blocks and sending as much trash to get them to screw up...but that minimal garbage strategy really makes it hard for me to compete with that since raising the screen is suicide if you make enough chains. I wish Nintendo didn't empower such a strategy, since it is less demanding in terms of skill...and this is probably the most hardcore game Nintendo has in its arsenal.

I tried playing your way with the d-pad and did even worse. I just have trouble seeing those huge chains. I guess I got too used to the keyboard with Tetris Attack that the d-pad is too small.

Similarly, I just use the d-pad since I'm so used to Tetris Attack on the SNES, and Pokemon Puzzle League on the N64. Maybe I'll adopt the stylus at some point though.

Also, there's a friend's code database here: http://drack.1111mb.com/index.php

It's from the ClanOCR thread, and it's nice and nifty.

If there's anyone who wants assistance in getting better, I can post stuff about chaining & predicting chains sometime in the next few days.

Also, I'm almost always on IRC in #ocremix in irc.enterthegame.com, excepting maybe today and sunday since I'm going to Baltimore for 2 days.

[Dhsu]

I admit to often being guilty of "cloaking"...not because I want an advantage, but because I play a significant number of newbies, and I don't want to discourage someone who's probably never seen a chain in the double digits.

Anyway, versus mode does have its flaws, but I still find it enjoyable. It's certainly much more interactive than the 2P Time Attack mode in the previous games, which was essentially nothing more than just two people playing 1P Time Attack in parallel.

I think Friend Battle might be PPL's saving grace here. Certain items might be unbalanced, but they add some much-needed variety. The ability to talk smack to someone across the continent is also not an unsignificant perk.

I'll probably be up for another hour or so, so if someone is looking for a battle, look me up in the friend code database.

[Bahamut]

Oh, also it should be noted that you only play in Hard Mode in Birthday Battle if your win-loss ratio and your opponent's win-loss ratio is high, although I'm not sure how high it has to be. Hard Mode definitely is a lot more fun than Normal Mode, where I just get sleepy and chat in #ocremix while playing it.

[CHz]

Hard Mode definitely is a lot more fun than Normal Mode, where I just get sleepy and chat in #ocremix while playing it.

He does. Cocky bastard.

[Evilhead]

I guess I'm one of the few that finds this game incredibly boring. Maybe because I'm not so great at making chains, but to me it seems like it has a lot to do with what is given to you rather than your skills (although I am definitely a noob). Playing the normal game is the most boring thing ever though... I just keep playing until I get bored and turn the thing off. I've tried to get into this game many times over the years but just never could. I find chain building in Puyo Puyo to be much more satisfying. Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary for the DS is one of the best versions ever, by the way, since you can play with so many different rule sets.

[Dhsu]

A person's enjoyment of Tetris Attack is definitely directly proportional (maybe even exponential) to his skill at it. Which is unfortunate, since the learning curve to the point where you're actually good at it is quite steep. I imagine it's a similar situation for Puyo Puyo. But even so, there will probably always be a Puyo players vs. TA players rift...it's just a different style of play. Puyo seems much more deliberate and calculating, while TA is about pushing your mental and physical reflexes to the limit.

Tetris Attack certainly isn't about randomness and "what is given to you," or at least no more than with Puyo Puyo. Both games have a limited element of randomness, but it's to provide variety, and doesn't mean the game is based on the luck of the draw. How good you are at manipulating this randomness is where a player's skill comes into play. A good Tetris Attack player will be able to manipulate any given block to where he wants it, to the point where he can use almost all of them in a single gigantic chain. The same is probably true for good Puyo Puyo players.

The reason that Tetris Attack appeals to me so much is that there is so much more action in involved. You are actively, constantly, and directly involved in the outcome of your chain. You cannot EVER stop thinking two steps ahead, even while the playing field is constantly changing, or else your chain will break. As opposed to Puyo Puyo, where judging on what I've played and seen of it, the gameplay is much more oriented towards the setup aspect, and the actual chains are essentially "fire and forget". In Tetris Attack, there's little to no initial setup, mainly because it would be next to impossible to pre-engineer a chain above 5 or 6x with any given configuration. You have to just set a combo off and let your reflexes do the rest.

Unfortunately, Planet Puzzle League is what I'd consider a sloppy port. Or maybe not "sloppy" per se...the game itself is quite clean and spartan. The problem is it's too spartan, to the point of being almost sterile. There's no story mode or cute characters (I was really hoping for Puzzle Fighter-style attack animations and sound effects), no unlockables, the soundtrack is mostly mediocre and repetitive, and some features were actually taken out that actually significantly affect the gameplay (e.g. the extra dark blue block). Of course, us addicts are so relieved to finally have online play that it overshadows everything else, but even there Nintendo has thrown in silly and unnecessary things like the "Birthday Battle" ranking system.

Wow, that turned into a pretty big post. Oh well, hope people get something out of it.

[The Mutericator]

I personally picked it up just a few days ago, and I've been playing off and on. I absolutely love the stylus controls, but I'm nowhere near being a pro... most I can do is the occassional three or four chain, and nothing beyond that. If anyone can post any pointers, I'd really appreciate it.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I personally picked it up just a few days ago, and I've been playing off and on. I absolutely love the stylus controls, but I'm nowhere near being a pro... most I can do is the occassional three or four chain, and nothing beyond that. If anyone can post any pointers, I'd really appreciate it.

There really are no pointers to give. There's nothing to it but to practice, and gradually your fingers and your pattern recognition will get faster and more accurate.

[Dhsu]

Yeah, that's the thing that sucks about Tetris Attack, it's no fun to play against people who are like twice as good as you, and they can't (or perhaps won't?) really give you advice either. So the good players are cursed to wander around and look for other good players, all the while bragging about how good they are and complaining that they can't find anybody as good as them. Come to think of it, I think the worst thing about Tetris Attack is probably the players.

Personally, I would try GameFAQs, and watching the videos on TetrisAttack.net and YouTube. Those helped me a bit. I used to be at the 3-4x chain wall too before I got PPL. Now I'm at the 9-10x chain wall. Highest so far is a 17x with exploding lift. Still haven't broken 30k on time attack...

[vega12]

I don't have my DS here, nor ready access to wifi, but when I get home I'll put up my Panel de Pon friend code (I think it's compatible with the NA Planet Puzzle League).

So what are the highest scores you've all done so far on Time Attack? I've managed to break 112,000 with a (I think) 57x chain. The stylus really helps inprove ones ability to control chains by having rapid access to all panels on the screen, as well as making multi-chaining much more managable too.

[CHz]

the soundtrack is mostly mediocre

I agree with everything except this. The soundtrack is amazing and you're a terrible person for thinking otherwise.

(I cut off the "and repetitive" part because I agree with that too.)

So what are the highest scores you've all done so far on Time Attack? I've managed to break 112,000 with a (I think) 57x chain.

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With the exploding lift, my high score's somewhere in the 58K range with I think a 33 chain. I haven't played Planet without exploding lift, but when I was at the top of my game in Pokemon Puzzle League, the highest I could get was somewhere in the 30,000's.

[Bahamut]

There really are no pointers to give. There's nothing to it but to practice, and gradually your fingers and your pattern recognition will get faster and more accurate.

That's not really true - there are some pointers. There are a few chain tricks to keep a note of, although the tutorial, if it's anything like the Tetris Attack tutorial, should be amazing. For an example, when you're clearing a line of vertical blocks, you can drop a block from the side of the stack into that hole before the blocks drop down, and if there is a clear that happens that is not a clear directly from the block you dropped, then it counts as part of the chain. Also, there is a midair clear trick, where if you clear a horizontal line of blocks, and you move a block from the bottom of the stack into that hole just before the first block to fall hits and just before the stack that the block was from falls, then you can create a chain that way, although that is an incredibly hard trick that's more suited for Hard Mode. Another Hard Mode trick is to switch a block that is falling with a block from a side stack to create a clear, which is also considered a part of the chain.

Tetris Attack and its variants though are games of depth. They're designed more for the hardcore players, although I know many who enjoyed it on a more superficial level too.

[Dhsu]

I agree with everything except this. The soundtrack is amazing and you're a terrible person for thinking otherwise.

I dunno, I like the soundtrack alright, but it's definitely no TA. There are a couple tracks that stood out though, like the one that sounds like it came from Rub Rabbits, and the Advance Wars-sounding one. The standard Lumines-ish song isn't bad either, but it does get old after a while.

I'm just mad they took out Lip's theme and stage for the US version.

[CHz]

My favorite new thing added to Pokemon Puzzle League were the action puzzles. In PlanPL, they're basically just skill chain practice, but in PokePL, they were all about how to exploit different timing tricks in the game. They're an awesome way to get familiar with mechanics like the ones Bahamut mentioned two posts above.

The "vacuum suck" addition to PlanPL also increases the number of opportunities. I haven't really played with it in depth and figured out new ways of chaining, but in matches I've made chains that I really don't think should have worked.

it's definitely no TA.

I vigorously agree.