Curse the evil of the Gamecube....

[Fel]

Yah, yah, as you can probably surmise by the topic title, this is an official announcement that the chapter's gonna be late.  I'm only up to page 11, and the direct culprit responsible for this delay is my belated Christmas present.

I got a Gamecube.  ;)

I've been playing the hell out of it the last few days, it's an absolute blast.  I've already gone about halfway through Metroid Prime (came with the Gamecube), and if you didn't know, I'm also a devoted fan of Pokemon games.  I've been playing them since 1995, since the original Red and Blue came out (and BEFORE the evil that was the anime series), so I've been giving Pokemon Colosseum a major workout as well.

I'm gonna go buy the Zoids game tomorrow after I get back from feeding the animals at my uncle's farm while he's on vacation.  I played a demo of it at Babbages and it ROCKS.

But, I've mostly come to my senses, and I'm back on the writing track.  I'll try to have chapter 17 out soon.

[J-Man5]

Maybe I shouldn't add to the problem.  But Animal crossing and Pikmin and Pikmin 2 are very very fun.

Fave fun but try not to stay p more than 24 hours at a time playing.  I speak from experience.

J-Man5

[sOmeone]

NOOOO     don't you just love the time sucking abilities of videogames?

[J-Man5]

Fel,

I think this may be plot line coming to life.  The demon lord that Tarrin is battling has found out about your weakness for video games and "arranged" for you to acquire a new gamecube.   Thus taking Tarrin out of any more battles.


J-Man5

[Fel]

ROFLMAO

[J-Man5]

I forsee Tarrin as in a pokemon ball!!!   or Tarrin playing live pikmin with troups throwing them on the demons and letting them hack the demons to death.

J-Man5

[Lochar]

Heh.  I"ve been abusing my Gamecube as well.  Tales of Symphonia.  Fun RPG.

[hatten_jc]

I forsee Tarrin as in a pokemon ball!!! or Tarrin playing live pikmin with troups throwing them on the demons and letting them hack the demons to death.

J-Man5

Prepair for trouble i take a double team rocket blasting of...

I pity any fool that trapps Tarin/werecat in a pokeball.


Ash grabb his poke ball and trowit  "I chose you Tarin"
A tall black haired Catt suddenly jumps out and turns around towards Ash and attack loots of blood and guts later.

Picatchu "Freee Im free"

[Fel]

Oh man, I'm in love.

I played that zoids demo at Babbages and thought it was fun, so I went and bought it, and started playing it at home.

For those of you who don't know, Zoids are a line of toys that are robotic versions of many types of animals.  Zoids are so popular in Japan, they created an anime about the toy, turning them into fighting machines, which was actually pretty good.

Needless to say, I was getting my butt plastered.

Seems that that demo at Babbages wasn't the actual game, it was just a demo, and its difficulty was MUCH lower than the REAL game....

Can we say "bait and switch?"  ;)

Just about the time I decide I'd thrown away $30 American, I go to bed, get up, and decide to try it ONE MORE TIME.

Oh, and this time, I READ THE F$^&#ING MANUAL, and discovered I wasn't using a critical move feature (lunge, where your zoid sidesteps/dashes forward/hops backwards).  I regroup, start a new game, and THE DESTRUCTION COMMENCES.

The game's AI is challenging, and the enemies you face get both smarter and their Zoids get upgraded with better weapons, more armor, etc. even after you beat all 24 stages and start over.

And if that's not challenging enough, you can play "story mode," where you can't upgrade your zoid like you can in battle mode, where you have to take what they give you and clear stages where you don't always just pound the snot out of the other guy.  At the moment, I'm stuck on a stage where I have to protect a cargo transport while it crosses the map.  Even though I keep losing, it's an absolute blast to play, cause I got access to a great Zoid that's lots of fun to play with.

Before that was a really nasty stage where you had to run a gauntlet of 5 enemy zoids clogging a VERY NARROW, twisty canyon.  That took me several tries before I got it right, hehehe.

From "stick on the bottom of the entertainment center never to be seen again" to the place of honor on the top of the game stack...what a promotion in 24 hours.  ;)

[J-Man5]

Can we say "the Demon Lord is laughing his ass off at your expense?"   Now I have to go and buy a damm zoid's game!!!!!  ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Evil GameCube brought to you today by the letter F and the Letter E and the Letter L .  Thank you for watching Tarrin Kael Street Productions

J-Man5

[Fel]

hehehe, right now I'm trying to beat the first stage (12 battles) using one of the starting Zoids, which is a "one hit wonder" type. You know...you get hit once, you're dead.

The rules are simple: I have to use the original Command Wolf, but I'm allowed to buy any upgrades for it I can get. I'm also allowed to buy only TWO upgrade Zoid for my NPC partner. I already bought one, took him from a cannon tortoise to a shield liger. When I have the points, I'll buy him something tankish, cause I'll need some tankage when I get to stage 8 and have to fight that mean Dark Horn and that evil evil evil evil evil EVIL EVIL EVIL Iron Kong with the camo mod (partial invisibility, no radar lock-on).

Stage 7 won't be easy either, it's 2 Lightning Saix, and one has a camo mod as well. Camo mods are evil. In fact, they're so evil that I intend to get one for the Command Wolf. The AI kinda has fits when you use a camo mod, even to the point where they just run against walls and buildings until the camo runs out of energy and has to recharge.

This is kinda dumb, because though you can't lock onto a Zoid using camo, you CAN see it if you're paying attention (it's the camoflage effect like in the movie Predator), it still shows up on radar (but you can't lock on for weapon targeting), and there IS such a thing as "manual aiming." Not easy in this game because you're flying around like a maniac to get good position on the enemy, but it IS possible. But NOOOO, the AI just assumes that you vanished into thin air, and then proceeds to run in a straight line until you show back up.

Me, exploit an AI glitch? nahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

****
hahaha, beat the first stage with the one hit wonder.  Fear.  :)

[J-Man5]

Me, exploit an AI glitch?  nahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  ;)

Evil. Fel. Evil.  

Now I have to go out and rent or buy this game.

Evil!!!!!!!!!

J-Man5

[Fel]

Yah well, just be warned, the game is not easy.

My best words of wisdom is DO NOT PLAY MISSION MODE UNTIL YOU ARE GOOD.  Mission mode is VERY hard.  The stage I'm stuck at now requires me to defeat 2 Zoids armed to the teeth and with about double the HP of my best Zoid.  Oh, and I have to fight them in an area where I'm constantly bombarded from above by gun turrets.  ;)

Play Battle Mode, it's easier than Mission, but be warned, it's still very hard.  Expect to spend quite a while on the first battle until you get the hang of it.

When you start Battle mode, use the Command Wolf, put your partner in the Cannon Tortoise, and sell absolutely everything else.

Then, turn around and buy the "Mema" (sp) cannon for the Command Wolf, protect armor, and an upgrade that increases either mobility or turning rate.

Don't worry about equipping the tortoise, it's nothing but a big target to distract the opponents, and for some reason when you put your AI partner in the turtle, it does surprisingly well.

You play a battle a great deal like you'd fight a Deathmatch mode in Quake or Half-life.  It's a game of circling and strafing, trying to get into a position where you can use your melee attack, which does the most damage right now (there are expensive weapons you can buy later that do more damage then melee).  Two things you need to learn how to do to be effective is learn how to set up a melee attack, and when to know the opponent is about to try to melee attack YOU, and that's when you use the lunge feature to dash aside.

Seriously.  One full melee sequence (usually 3 hits) will take half your Zoid's HP.  Learning to see it coming is critical to survive.

Because melee does so much damage, expect just about every opponent to focus on setting you up for a melee attack.

Setting up a melee attack usually involves using a gun.  If your gun hits hard enough, a hit will "stun" the enemy for a split second.  You use your gun to stun and immediately turn into the enemy and mash the melee button.

Some don't do this though...expect Zoids like any of the Liger series to try a melee attack without a gun set, because they turn VERY fast, and the AI is good at leading you and jumping at where you will be.

In this game, it's not speed that wins, it's turn rate.  Whoever can turn inside the opponent's arc will usually win.  ;)

If you equip ANY weapon that reduces turn rate, buy an upgrade that increases it.  Oh, and watch your mobility, that's your base speed.  It's OK to equip a fast Zoid with a heavy gun that lowers base mobility as long as you're STILL faster than the other guy.

[Addicted]

hm...... we're not going to start seeing giant robotic animals kicking demon lord butt are we?

[Journeywoman]

Well, I guess I'm saved from another addiction (I don't have a gamecube).