Ciel Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Alundra's tilesets are gorgeous. *16-bit graphic fetish* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Legendary Zoltan Posted October 6, 2007 Author Share Posted October 6, 2007 Thanks, Chapel. That was freaking educational. I don't think the game could have started right where you say because somewhere between the part where Melzas started haunting people and the start of the game that shrine got banished to the bottom of the lake, right. Alundra's tilesets are gorgeous. *16-bit graphic fetish* I agree. Even if they are tiles, they don't count as 16-bit if they were made for Playstation right? Cause I think that one was 32 bits yo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapel Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Thanks, Chapel. That was freaking educational. I don't think the game could have started right where you say because somewhere between the part where Melzas started haunting people and the start of the game that shrine got banished to the bottom of the lake, right. Dude you're right, sorry about that. I forgot that Melzas appears in one of King Snow's dreams where He is ruling a world covered in blood. That's when King Snow decreed that all worship was forbidden and destroyed all of the idols. He then sunk the Lake Shrine by having the seven guardians put a seal on it and divided the crests up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Hyral Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Loved this game.. But on the note of puzzle games with a challenge.. and truely oldschool.. Any of you ever play Brain Lord or Brandish back on the SNES? Brain Lord was great with teasers and puzzles.. but Brandish... My God that game took things to the extreme.. It got to the point where I gave up on the "Here are 50 switches on the floor.. you are told a story.. now follow the path of the story over said tiles to open the door" puzzle. I miss those days.. OH! and did anyone other than myself notice that the song played in Alundra when someone dies is played in Legend of Legaia as the theme of a character named Cara? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armoured Priest Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 As a point of interest, a number of the people on the team who worked on Alundra had previously worked on Landstalker for the Genesis which has many similarities with Alundra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Legendary Zoltan Posted October 7, 2007 Author Share Posted October 7, 2007 Nick and Armoured Priest, you guys both say things that excite me. I've never played Brandish or Brain Lord, but it sounds like Brandish could tear Alundra a new one in the puzzle district. Landstalker, huh? I gotta check that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Hyral Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 A perfect example of a Brainlord puzzle.. you're in a small square room.. with 3 pressure based switches that keep coming back up after you press them down.. there is a locked door with a plaque that reads "Flood Room Gate. The answer to the puzzle lies on the keypad" I spent weeks trying every possible combination.. jumping on each switch in sequence with the letter's "key" in the alphabet.. different combinations.. nothing.. One day I finally stepped up infront of the door and pressed my "Y" key. Opens the door. Just wow.. Brandish. I can't even begin to touch the puzzles in that game. It was raw dungeon crawling and puzzle solving.. I like what turned out to be a quest for survival being overlapped by a much larger story that kinda kept tapping you on the shoulder vaguely explaining itself. You learned as you went along which was a good thing. I liked the dungeon design. The lay outs were nice. the puzzles didn't repeat themselves in simplicity.. what you'd expect from a brain teaser.. it wracked your brains trying to figure things out.. I still have a notebook with 52 pages of possible puzzle solving lay outs on it. The music was okay... the boss fights in it did take some strategy.. You didn't just run in there and hack and slash or you'd die in a matter of seconds. Look before you leap.. very nice way to keep you thinking even while fighting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Legendary Zoltan Posted October 8, 2007 Author Share Posted October 8, 2007 A perfect example of a Brainlord puzzle.. you're in a small square room.. with 3 pressure based switches that keep coming back up after you press them down.. there is a locked door with a plaque that reads "Flood Room Gate. The answer to the puzzle lies on the keypad" I spent weeks trying every possible combination.. jumping on each switch in sequence with the letter's "key" in the alphabet.. different combinations.. nothing.. One day I finally stepped up infront of the door and pressed my "Y" key. Opens the door. Just wow..Brandish. I can't even begin to touch the puzzles in that game. It was raw dungeon crawling and puzzle solving.. I like what turned out to be a quest for survival being overlapped by a much larger story that kinda kept tapping you on the shoulder vaguely explaining itself. You learned as you went along which was a good thing. I liked the dungeon design. The lay outs were nice. the puzzles didn't repeat themselves in simplicity.. what you'd expect from a brain teaser.. it wracked your brains trying to figure things out.. I still have a notebook with 52 pages of possible puzzle solving lay outs on it. The music was okay... the boss fights in it did take some strategy.. You didn't just run in there and hack and slash or you'd die in a matter of seconds. Look before you leap.. very nice way to keep you thinking even while fighting. That sounds SO damn cool! So you pressed Y button for the Y in "key" how did you get the K and the E? You stepped on one switch 11 times for K and another switch 5 times for E? Are you just supposed to leave the third switch? Having 52 pages of puzzle notes is exactly where it's at for me! Nuts! All the stuff that you talked about sound cool, Other than the puzzles did you like the other aspects of Brandish more than Alundra too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Hyral Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 What I did atfirst for one possible solution was take switch one.. the letter "K" is 11 in the list of the alphabet.. hit the first switch 11 times.. E was five.. middle switch.. 5 times. Y was 25.. hit final switch 25 times. but in the end all you had to do was stand infront of the door and press Y.. seeing as "the answer is on the control pad" Comparing Brandish to Alundra.. What I appreciated in Alundra was it had a great story, the music was fantastic... Again.. anyone other than me notice that the theme played when someone dies is the same theme for Cara from Legend of Legaia? Gorgeous environment and such.. Alundra had focused on strategic fighting which was nice. Brandish focused more on puzzles.. most combat was simple hack and slash.. Boss battles made you think.. and later enemies you had to take certain approaches to or get massacred.. Over all Brandish sported a style of "puzzle first" Which really kept me on my toes.. very nice to be constantly thinking.. even in combat.. kept things from being mind numbingly repetitive. Comparing the two in graphics.. I mean SNES vs PSX graphics.. Brandish looked good for it's day. there was enough detail to be appreciated if you took the time to look. Nice color scheme choices and everything. I wouldn't say the environments were as rich as Alundra, but it looked nice. Again I liked the story as it gradually built up.. but here is where I appreciated it most.. I loved the pacing. There was no huge rush, nor were things at a sluggish pace. You progressed well with the game till you hit puzzles. You'd spend time thinking on them.. And it didn't feel frustrating. I'd just listen to the decent soundtrack as I'd write out solutions.. or I'd take a walk... or even write it down, stop playing.. and try and solve it while I played a game like Super Mario 3 with my friend. It was something you could just put down and think on awhile. was very nice. To sport a few examples of what I mean.. In Brandish you'd be walking through a cave and enter a large.. empty room.. things aren't what they seem.. There are weak spots on the floor.. If you were smart to carry some.. you'd have iron weights to drop on the floor to reveal weak spots from strong ones, slowly winding a path through the room to safety... Or you'd walk down a hallway with hidden trip wires.. you get a magical flash powder that when used reveals that stuff so you can jump over it, disable it.. or walk around.. They were randomly placed well enough that you wouldn't expect to see them in the same place.. I started over multiple times.. about eight or so.. and never once did I have the usual moment of "Okay this trap is here.. and this switch is there." I always had to keep my mind sharp. You also had occassional puzzles that were taken to the extreme.. such as the often done "Teleporter A takes you to B.. C goes to D.. etc" Well in this.. you will run into a few areas where you have 50 teleporters leading you all over the place.. you carefully plan and plot a path.. sometimes you find treasure, sometimes an enemy or occassional trap.. But instead of getting out there.. you want to look around and see what all there is to offer in an area.. dulling the "Omg not this AGAIN. How do I get out of here so I can get over this already." moments. You wanted to explore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spineshark Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 I love Alundra, but I've never finished it. It's really hard! I would vouch for Landstalker, even though I can easily admit it's not as good as Alundra. It's basically easier (although the isometric platforming can be a bitch sometimes) and much more lighthearted. The story is really funny and the music is upbeat. The graphics are of course not as good and the combat and puzzles are simpler. But it's a nice fun little adventure and one of my top 3 Genesis games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Legendary Zoltan Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 To sport a few examples of what I mean.. In Brandish you'd be walking through a cave and enter a large.. empty room.. things aren't what they seem.. There are weak spots on the floor.. If you were smart to carry some.. you'd have iron weights to drop on the floor to reveal weak spots from strong ones, slowly winding a path through the room to safety... Or you'd walk down a hallway with hidden trip wires.. you get a magical flash powder that when used reveals that stuff so you can jump over it, disable it.. or walk around.. They were randomly placed well enough that you wouldn't expect to see them in the same place.. I started over multiple times.. about eight or so.. and never once did I have the usual moment of "Okay this trap is here.. and this switch is there." I always had to keep my mind sharp. You also had occassional puzzles that were taken to the extreme.. such as the often done "Teleporter A takes you to B.. C goes to D.. etc" Well in this.. you will run into a few areas where you have 50 teleporters leading you all over the place.. you carefully plan and plot a path.. sometimes you find treasure, sometimes an enemy or occassional trap.. But instead of getting out there.. you want to look around and see what all there is to offer in an area.. dulling the "Omg not this AGAIN. How do I get out of here so I can get over this already." moments. You wanted to explore. That's for SNES? I'm gonna go download this I think. It sounds like such an epic adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.