@GTV reviews the Cosmic Fantasy 1-2 Switch collection by Edia, provides examples of the poor English editing/localization work. It's much worse for CF1. Rated "D" for disappointment, finding that TurboGrafx CF2 is better & while CF1's the real draw, Edia screwed it up...
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Messages - nat

#1
See my post in the other thread for what happened. It was all my fault.

Also, I don't recall anything about a Duomazov facebook page. I don't even remember discussing it with runin, but it wasn't anything I had anything to do with. That would have been all him.
#2
I'm five years late here, and it looks like this forum is now dead but I wanted to set the record straight for history's sake in case a weary soul ever travels this way, wondering.

The Brothers Duomazov was an idea cooked up primarily by my old friend runinruder, along with myself (Ai Cho Alexei) and GUTS/Duomitri late one night. Runin did the lion's share of the reviews (the good ones), and I did the site site design, layout and coding and occasionally contributed reviews, as did GUTS.

The reason the site is gone is entirely my fault. In addition to maintaining the site, I also owned the domain. I was going through a big life change (moving from California to Washington, entering into a new cohabiting situation, etc) around the time the domain was set to expire and to be frank, I was no longer at all involved in the scene.

The expiration of the site was not on my radar at this point, and although runin tried to get ahold of me through the only email he had for me, unfortunately that also was one I had abandoned due to excessive spam. I didn't even realize until almost a year had gone by that it had expired. I tried to reach out to runin at this point but never got a response. I will assume he was probably furious with me, and rightly so. He poured so much time into those reviews, the fact the site is gone is criminal.

It was never supposed to have ended the way it did. I was extremely proud of the work we did there over the 10 years we were active and I had always envisioned the site would endure even after my interest waned. I am still proud to have been a part of it. I should have "signed over the domain" to him long before it expired but my exit wasn't sudden or planned, it was a gradual thing that just sort of happened.

So, to everyone out there who used our site as a resource, and primarily to runin, wherever he may be today, I sincerely apologize for the way it panned out. I hope you were able to archive all your reviews before it went offline. Also, hope life finds you healthy and happy.

Nat
#3
If only there was a way to get rid of these awful pastel blue and pink colors. These are the colors I'd paint my newborn daughter's room, not the colors I'd choose to represent hardened TurboGrafx game thug pixel warriors.
#4
The Valis series holds great nostalgia for me, especially that timeless Valis III cover art.
#5
That's definitely much more efficient, but it doesn't turn off the gay colors.
#6
This poll is so insanely lopsided, it's not even funny. Although who knows with all these younglings running around which game will actually prevail, there's only one real steaming pile on that list.
#7
aslbozz also just acquired his first lesson in reading, reading forum names before creating new topics.

This topic has been moved to PC-Engine/SuperGrafx Discussion.

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=16266.0
#8
Let's see if I remember how to do this....

This topic has been moved to PC-Engine/SuperGrafx Discussion.

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=17926.0
#9
I read the first page and none of the pages in between, but whoever took this isn't going to sell it to some local pawn shop unless they're a fucking idiot. A pawn shop isn't going to give but $20 for a 25 year old game console the east Indian owner has never even heard of. Even with all the games, he'll be lucky to get enough money to buy a eighth of weed.

They're going to sell the shit, piece at a time, on the Internet (probably eBay) for maximum profit. Unless, like esteban said, it was a crime of envy & lust and they're only interested in playing your games.

The only chance you have of getting your stuff back is if it was someone really close to you who did it as a goof or to hold you ransom for some wrong you did them. The chances of this are so slim, hopefully you've already started bidding for replacement items on eBay. If you're lucky, you might even get to buy back some of your collection!
#10
Yeah, it looks like shit and I wish I could turn it off but oh well, it's just cosmetic. Hey guys, nice to see familiar faces.
#11
What the fuck, I go away for a couple years and the forum adopts a color scheme even The Gay Gamer rejected.
#12
Quote from: esteban on 04/05/2012, 04:50 PMAnd, sorry, but this garbage about the music from Ys III as superior to Ys I & II's soundtrack is ludicrous . Ys III has a wonderful assembly of memorable tunes, but Ys I & II still outclasses it. 
This coming from the same guy that worships Dragon Spirit, so.... :)
#13
I was just looking at the (US) VC today, and the TG-16 section is down to 56 titles. It was at 63 at its peak, so we've lost 7 games so far. I haven't had a chance to figure out what the other 4 are.
#14
Same game, with superfluous sampled sound effects and a soundtrack mixed so loud you can't hear the normal sound effects.
#15
Oh yeah, there are at least a few damn good SuperCD fighters. I haven't played Martial Champion or Algunos, but Flash Hiders is excellent. Asuka and Advanced VG are also pretty good. And what about Godzilla?
#16
Quote from: kazekirifx on 04/05/2012, 12:30 AMThe one part I still can't agree with is that it's fair to compare Ys I and II graphically to games that were released years later. Can you find any overhead view games from 1989 that look much better than Ys I and II? I can't think of any. The graphics were the best available at the time, and we can't blame them for not having the best graphic technology of 1992 in 1989. That just wouldn't be fair.
I disagree that the visuals in Ys were the best available at the time (except for maybe the cinemas). I personally think Dungeon Explorer looks downright fantastic, and it was made around the same time, if not earlier. Actually, I've always thought DE is a perfect example of some of the best 16-bit graphics. The graphics are very dark, especially compared to Ys, but this is by design. DE lacks the nice cinemas that Ys sports, so I'm just comparing overhead vs. overhead. The shading and detail is much better in my eyes in DE than it is in Ys. That's the only game that really comes to mind as I tend to associate games with eras vs. specific years, generally speaking. If we were to expand the comparison to include non-overhead non-RPGs, I could think of quite a few more that look substantially better. (I'm only talking in 16-bit terms here, since Ys is obviously going to easily defeat any NES 8-bit stuff.)

Don't get me wrong, the graphical quality in Ys doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game at all (save for the sloppy Solomon Shrine section), I only pointed it out since the visuals are decidedly middle of the road generally speaking, save for the cinemas, 1989 release or not. I should also point out that I don't sit and compare games to other games in my head as I play them and think, "Wow, this certainly looks like shit compared to Sonic the Hedgehog!" It's more along the lines of "Wow, this game looks REALLY dated." (in the case of FEOE: Ziria) or "Wow, this game looks really nice. It's certainly held up well!" (in the case of something like DE). When I played Ys I and II back in '06, it had neither effect on me.

My real point in all this is that for people coming in to the game fresh in this day and age, for all the hype that has been built up over the years, they're likely not to be wowed. It has nothing to do with the visuals specifically, or the story, or any one aspect. It's the overall package.
#17
That pretty much reinforces my point right there. :)
#18
Yeah, if these are the same ones I got a while back, they're basically indistinguishable from the "real" thing.
#19
You should have bought one of those flash carts in the recent group buy. If you had, you could already have the System 1 BIOS loaded on it and be playing Altered Beast RIGHT NOW.
#20
Quote from: BlackandBlue on 04/02/2012, 12:46 PMRan across this on the internets...
It is a cool concept, but not sure how it would play if real. 
Yeah, it's certainly a neat "what if" to ponder, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea to try and pull off in reality.
#21
Quote from: kazekirifx on 04/03/2012, 11:38 PMWhy play a circa 1989-90 game in the first place if you're not prepared to enjoy it on a 1989-90 level?
Seriously?

I play 16-bit games because for me, they are the pinnacle of 2D gaming. This stretched into the 32-bit era a little bit, but by then the focus had mostly shifted to 3D. For me, 2D > 3D. I find (most) 8-bit games really hard to stomach anymore. They are really surprisingly primitive compared to what came later. Much more so than 2D 16-bit games are compared to 2D 32-bit games. 16-bit & 32-bit 2D games have aged incredibly well since there really is not a lot more you can do with 2D gaming that wasn't done during that era.

On the other hand, I don't play 16-bit games because I pretend in my mind it's 1990 again and I'm magically transporting myself back into the past. I play them because they represent the pinnacle of 2D gaming and I have tons of fun with them.

QuoteThe music still holds up pretty well, and the graphics look great if you're true classic gamer like me who loves 80's and 90's pixel art more than modern 3D graphics, and can appreciate each platform and time period for its own distinct character within its historical context. It's like a fine wine!  =P~
If we're talking about 2D 16-bit games in general, I agree with this for the most part. If we're talking about Ys I & II specifically, yeah the music is great, but the graphics? The overhead stuff is passable, but I'd be delusional to try to suggest they're even in the ballpark of "excellent" (not counting the cinemas). This isn't REALLY consequential though as long as the game is good, and Ys I/II would certainly fall into this category.

QuoteI respect someone who dislikes it because they're not into this sort of action RPG, but don't go comparing it to games that came out later and say, "I don't see what's so great about Ys I and II." When I play it, I am magically transported back to 1989, while simultaneously being magically transported to the land of Ys.
Personally, I don't believe in magic, so when I played these games it was 2006 not 1989/90. When one of the newcomers plays these games for the first time, it'll be 2012, not 1989. They'll compare it to other games they've played (or not) and make their own decision. My impression was the games are good, with some flaws, and the music is excellent. My experience with them wasn't epic, but I'm sure they made a hell of a bang back in 1990.
#22
Quote from: jperryss on 04/04/2012, 09:52 AMRight. It's like saying "shooter X is no harder than shooter Y, it's just that shooter X has 10X more enemies and half as many powerups."
But it doesn't have half as many powerups, or 10 times as many enemies, so it's really not the same at all.

Quote from: guest on 04/04/2012, 02:14 PMIncreasing the number of required hits DOES make the game harder, even as it makes it more tedious. Why? Because you have to hit the enemy far more times, while managing not to get hit by the other enemies around you at the same time. That makes it harder. You may not have found it particularly hard, but that's still harder than the Japanese original.
Quote from: Mishran on 04/04/2012, 04:47 AMAs you said, the enemies taking 37 hits while being able to kill you in 3 hit? I would consider that raising the difficulty bar up a bit. That is also only my personal opinion though.
You would? So wrapping a rubber band around your controller's II button and walking away while your player hacks away at the enemy is difficult? I guess, if it's a long walk to the kitchen to make that sandwich.

They didn't alter the AI at all. Maybe my definition of "difficulty" is different than everyone else's, but difficult for me involves faster, smarter enemies, tricky platforming segments, puzzles, that sort of thing. Changing a number that alters the required number of hits to kill an enemy doesn't make a game any more difficult, unless other factors are also changed that put the player in immediate peril. Does it make it longer? Sure. Tedious? You bet. Difficult? Not in my book.
#23
Quote from: VestCunt on 04/03/2012, 11:33 PMAre you guys trying to use flat-rate shipping?  
I guess. In the past, I always just entered in a blanket rate that was reasonable and usually covered shipping and packing no matter where I sent it in the U.S. As of the point in time I sold that last item, this feature seems to have been removed and there are now (unreasonably low) ceilings on what you can charge if you do it this way.

And no, I've never tried the calculated shipping option. I guess I've never been able to place enough faith in the system to accurately figure out for me what it'll cost me to ship something somewhere (the $3.99 ceiling would just seem to reinforce this assumption). If that's the only way to do it now, though.... I guess I have no choice next time.
#24
Quote from: guest on 04/03/2012, 11:39 PMSo, fixing that would still improve the game, despite your intent to suggest otherwise?
I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here.

I wasn't saying anything about fixing the game or not fixing the game, I was only pointing out (since people like to cry about its "difficulty") that the US version really isn't all that difficult. There's a big difference between difficulty and tedium.

I don't think there's any debate that WD screwed things up big time.
#25
I've never tried it on Star Parodia, but "HARD" mode on Final Soldier is significantly more difficult.
#26
Quote from: CrackTiger on 04/03/2012, 03:30 PMSucks trying to sell games from Canada since eBay limits the amount you can charge for shipping a game to $4, but the cheapest shipping by Canada Post to the U.S. starts at $10.
Yeah, when the hell did this start?

I sold something not TOO long ago and it wouldn't let me put down shipping as more than $3.99 or some shit. I used to be able to put whatever I wanted for shipping. I can't buy a box, packing, cover gas to the post office, and ship the item for $3.99. Hell, depending where it's going, $3.99 probably doesn't even cover postage. Maybe back in 1995, but not in 2012.
#27
The game (US ver) is actually not really all that difficult at all, save for a boss or two. It's just that every enemy takes 37 hits, while they can take you out in like 3. Once you realize this, and like Rover said, remember what enemies show up where, the game isn't anything more than tedious.

EDIT: Ironically, I said almost the exact same thing two months ago in this very thread:

Quote from: nat on 02/03/2012, 12:39 AMExile II (US) comes off as really difficult at first, but then you realize that it's just that each enemy requires 157 hits to defeat. Once you realize this, the game isn't really all that hard. It's unnecessarily annoying, lengthy, and inane but only challenging in that you have to find the will within yourself to keep pressing on.
#28
While I'd hardly consider myself a "newcomer" (owned a Turbo and been on the scene for 22 years, although maybe you weren't referring to me), I think a lot of it has to do with style. It was a different era in the late 80s/early 90s. In-your-face and electronic synth-based music was still really popular. Music took a more upfront role in media, and not just video games. You see the same sort of differences when comparing TV shows of that era with stuff that came later. As time has gone on, music in visual media has moved from playing an integral role to one of glorified ambient noise. It's actually a major peeve of mine.

On your second point, I'd argue that a greater percentage of Turbo games have amazing soundtracks than just a "small portion." In fact, for me it seems like 2 out of every 3 games (CD or cart) Turbo games has at least really good music, if not amazing.
#29
That's some "password."
#30
Technically, it's two games not one. They just glued them together and removed your ability to JUST play the second one for the TG-16/PCE release.

Here's my (blasphemous) thoughts on Ys. I didn't play these games until 2006 or 2007 because I wasn't interested in RPGs as a kid... even into adulthood. It wasn't really until the last 7-8 years I even gave most RPGs a chance. Anyway, after 17 years of hype I was a little let down. I often wonder if the large number of people who list Ys I & II in their top 10 is attributed to the people that played it back in 1990 and have those epic memories ingrained in their heads, or if I'm just missing something.

At its core, the Ys series really isn't all that special or different from anything else. Ys I and II's biggest claim to fame was voice acting in an era where voice acting on a console video game was unheard of. By the time I got around to these games, voice acting was old news (decades old) so that particular novelty was lost on me. Strip away the voice acting, and what do you have? In the case of Ys I at least, an above average action RPG with great music. And the music really is great; in my opinion, this is by far the series' greatest asset.

The Solomon Shrine section in Ys II, on the other hand, is just inane. That part brought the whole experience to a screeching halt for me. Not only is the design of the Shrine very poor, it's also poorly drawn. It's often times difficult to tell where you are able to go and the whole thing just comes off as sloppy. This might not necessarily be a dealbreaker, but I remember the Shrine taking up a significant portion of the game. How about the rest of Ys II? To be honest, I don't even remember, but I'm sure the music was nice.

If it sounds like I'm trying to rag on these games, I'm really not. I had plenty of fun playing through them, with a few minor exceptions, although it's true I found part I to be the more enjoyable of the first two. If we're looking at all four entries, I'd say I had the best time with III, for all the slack that people give it. Zeta once pointed out that I/II get hyped so much it'd be almost impossible NOT to be disappointed on some level. The opposite could be said of III, and maybe he's right, although I do have a tendency to like when developers take a series and do something a bit different with it (Super Mario Bros. 2, Zelda II, Ys III, etc). I do remember liking the music in III better than any of the others, also.

Either way, Ys I and II is something you probably should own if you have a TG-CD (or PCE). Shit, it's been six years, I should probably go back and play these things again and see if my initial impressions still hold up.
#31
People always complain about the cat's controls, but I like them. The cat phase of the game is like the R-Type of platformers. You have to memorize basically exactly where to jump to get through, and once you've got it down, it flows so fluidly. Give it a few more tries, you'll get it.
#32
Ah yes, the timeless TurboChip DUDS thread.
#33
From an end-user standpoint, I don't personally think what the DC got was too crippling or significantly less than what the other "128-bit" consoles got. Dreamcast can easily hold its own and sometimes look better than the PS2, and at least competes competently with the XBOX and GC.

The Dreamcast is comparable to the TurboGrafx-16 in that it was designed a year or two before its competitors, with slightly older technology, yet still manages to deliver and perform remarkably well against them.

I remember when the Dreamcast first came out, it was a simply downright AMAZING piece of technology. I remember when a friend got one at launch, I was absolutely blown away. For the first time in my life, I was witnessing polygon-based 3D that DIDN'T look like vomit-textured shards of glass. I recall the hype leading up to the release was pretty big, too, and it certainly didn't disappoint.
#34
That, I'd love to see. I'm having a hard time imagining.
#35
An easy way to figure out of the laser is dead-- open the lid, use something small and pointy to hold the CD lid "door" switch closed, and hold a CD at an angle above the spindle and laser so you can see a reflection of the laser eye in the CD.

Power up,  and press RUN. If you see a red laser from the eye in the reflection, the laser itself is working. You've got another problem (could be laser calibration, stuck gear, sled, motor, limiter switch, etc).
#36
It all goes back to the weak data line/power line/whatever on the cart slot. These things are super-sensitive and it's just the luck of the draw what systems it will work on, and what systems it won't.

One thing I will say from the video, NeoTeam have at least updated the menu since I bought mine. The menu on mine is just a blank blue screen with a single line of text for the ROM name that you can change by pressing up/down. Also, mine doesn't have any sort of "SAVE" options.
#37
What the hell? These games take up a matter of kilobytes on a server somewhere. They're so small you'd have to delete like 6 of them just to have enough space to store a single average-length MP3.

It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Nintendo can't be that hard up for a couple kilobytes that they just can't afford the cost of keeping them around. Hell, even if they sold 1 (or 0!) copies a year on these titles, it takes more effort to remove them than to just leave them there.

This makes no sense, and it makes me angry even though I never had any plans to buy these on VC since I already own the originals.
#38
Quote from: Keranu on 03/30/2012, 10:14 PMWhat I want to know is how ICOM managed to get the license to use Beach Boys tunes in Yo Bro!
In our interview with ICOM, this question is answered.
#39
Thanks guys, that clears things up quite a bit.
#40
Quote from: Psycho Arkhan on 03/29/2012, 01:56 PMlol.

That makes him sound like hes into anal.
If that's the way we're going with this, why not consider Rectal Rambo or Asp Lunder?
#41
Quote from: Keranu on 03/29/2012, 04:22 AMThey haven't been very specific, this is what the replicators have told our project manager:

"So we've gone forward to make the stamper based on this instruction, however we keep getting failure messages that will not allow the stamper to cut correctly.
In short, the errors on the master will not allow for replication.
So we'll need a new master with the error corrected."


They didn't say what the errors were, I'm assuming the data track "buzz." I don't know why MSR is running into these trivial problems when Insanity went through the same company just fine.
I was partially joking about "someone new" taking on the MSR project at their plant, but I'm also partially serious. It really sounds like whoever is handling your disc down there doesn't know his/her ass from their elbow.

It's like calling tech support for anything. There's a 50% chance you'll get the guy who has been around for 15 years and knows his shit, and then there's a 50% chance you'll get some yokel in an out-sourced call center that reads down a script.

In my best east Indian accent-
"I'm sorry sir, would you just try rebooting the system?"
#43
Quote from: tailspin on 03/29/2012, 11:50 AMI'm not that familiar with the architecture of the TG16 but my understanding is that there are two 8bit graphics chips?
You've been listening to too much SEGA propaganda! Contrary to what you've been led to believe, there are actually two 16-bit graphics chips: Hu6260 and Hu6270A. One is called the VDC, the other the VCE.  Neither one controls "just" the backgrounds, or the other "just" the sprites. They work in tandem.

QuoteSince it is always the backround that is missing, could it be that one of the chips or board is defective so that only the output of one of the chips is working?  It would make sense that game design would have one chip dedicated to rendering the objects and the other the background.
I totally see where you're coming from but unfortunately, that's not the case. At least not with the two GPU chips. It's possible some of the VRAM is bad, however. Someone who has dug a little deeper into these things can probably clarify. It's not unheard of for RAM to go bad, in fact, there was someone here a number of years back that was having graphical glitch issues and it turned out one of the VRAM chips was hosed.
#44
Wonderboy 3/Monster Lair is long, and brutal. I'd say it's a runner-up for the "Duomazov Measure of a Turbo Bad-Ass" game list.

I have only beaten it once, and I was significantly buzzed/drunk at the time. True story. Not so intoxicated that my reflexes were severely impaired (obviously), just enough that I was a little "looser" than normal and just enough that my memory of the event is a bit foggy.

I've been unable to duplicate the event in a sober state.
#45
Back in the day (1996 or 97) I got what I thought was a "super high score" in Alien Crush. I filmed the high score screen with my video camera (back when they still actually used tapes) to save it for posterity. Well, I came across that video tape within the past year. I really should find that part on it and convert it to a digital image and post it up here. I'm not sure if the "super high score" is in reality really all that high. I was still a teenager in high school at that point (probably stoned) and my skillz then weren't what they are today.
#46
I mean, what's the problem? Isn't this the same company that Arkhan used to press Insanity? What's the deal? They got someone new manning the controls?
#47
Yeah, I agree with those choices.

The way the title screen music changes to the stage 1 tune as the guy turns into the insect creature is just undeniably awesome.
#48
Excuse my ignorance, but what the fuck is "LFO?"
#49
Quote from: ccovell on 03/28/2012, 09:06 PMTurbo TC"1" is actually PCE TC 2 with the "II" taken off the title screen.
I know. My sarcasm often gets lost somewhere in cyberspace...
#50
TC 1 came out exclusively for the TG-16 in the great ol' US of A!

I voted Alien. Yeah, DC is technically the better game but Alien has staying power. It still kicks major ass, 25 years later. Plus, the scrolling in DC bugs me. I need to see where my ball is going before it gets there. Not to mention two soundtracks are better than one!