Could someone recommend a little-kid RPG for GUTS?

[RuninRuder]

My buddy GUTS recently purchased the PCE RPG Sol Moonarge.  He'd been looking forward to this game for a while, and boasted about how he'd put his skills to good use and type up a walkthrough for the rest of us. 

Unfortunately, his plans went awry when he got stuck.

Stuck... after just one dungeon.

Following such a humiliating experience, GUTS was thinking about giving up RPGs entirely.  I told him not to throw in the towel just yet, that there's probably some little-kid game out there that he might stand a chance of getting through.

What do you guys recommend?  I thought of the English version of Neutopia, but he already owns that one, and has already gotten stuck and given up on it. 

Maybe that home-brew thing, Magical Song or whatever?  Whenever someone posts screens of it on this forum, there's always some little girl standing next to the monitor.  GUTS is probably at her level when it comes to RPGs, so maybe this would be a good game for him. 

What do you guys think?  And let's limit this to PCE games, none of that Final Fantasy Mystic Quest crap.  GUTS might stink at RPGs, but he isn't enough of a doofus to want to play an SNES game.

[CrackTiger]

Well, if Neutopia is RPG'ish enough, then how about Xanadu II?

[esteban]

Well, GUTS has already experienced Basted in all of its glory, so I really don't know what to suggest...

[RuninRuder]

Well, if Neutopia is RPG'ish enough, then how about Xanadu II?

He tried that one and got lost on the ship, believe it or not. 

Well, GUTS has already experienced Basted in all of its glory,

Yeah, he got stuck in the first town in that one.  Of course, since about 90% of the game takes place in that first (and only) town, I guess we could say he got pretty far.   

[M1Savage]

Seiryuu Densetsu Monbit?

I'll take that Sol Moonarge off his hands if he's done with it. Here's a bit of help

http://pce.sytes.net/sorumona.html

[RuninRuder]

Seiryuu Densetsu Monbit?

I'll take that Sol Moonarge off his hands if he's done with it. Here's a bit of help

http://pce.sytes.net/sorumona.html

He was using that walkthrough and said it wasn't helping.  "It must be a glitch."

Is Monbit any good?  I've yet to try that one.

[M1Savage]

I haven't played much of it so I really couldn't say. I'm in the middle of enough games at the moment so it's gonna have to continue waiting on me. 

[ParanoiaDragon]

From what little I've played of it, Monbit seems decent.

[Joe Redifer]

How about that Bonk RPG that was never finished?  That way when he gets stuck 3 minutes past the title screen, he can blame the game code instead of his 1337 RPG skilz.

[SignOfZeta]

I found Starling Odyssey II to be fun, and relatively easy to get through. I did need help though. When the guy I bought it from couldn't help me anymore, I actually called Rayforce, and talked to the one guys there who spoke English. He explained that I needed the Orichalcum, which would make my airship teleport from tower to tower.

[turbofan1]

Maybe your friend Guts would want to play this game-


http://www.videogameden.com/cdrom.htm?bul

Its not A rpg,But its A kids game.

[esteban]

Maybe your friend Guts would want to play this game-



Its not A rpg,But its A kids game.

This game is actually tough! I have had a tough time with it, no joke! Builder Land is also tough as balls.

GUTS would smash these discs to pieces due to the extreme frustration they cause .

--------------------

Anyway, have GUTS play Necromancer. Tell him that his goal is simply to see a handful of the enemies die a bloody, gory death. This seems like an appropriate goal to set for him, considering his skillz levelz.

[RuninRuder]

How about that Bonk RPG that was never finished?  That way when he gets stuck 3 minutes past the title screen, he can blame the game code instead of his 1337 RPG skilz.

Even if he had access to it, he wouldn't play it.  He quit everything Bonk when he failed to get through any of the platformers. 

I found Starling Odyssey II to be fun, and relatively easy to get through. I did need help though. When the guy I bought it from couldn't help me anymore, I actually called Rayforce, and talked to the one guys there who spoke English. He explained that I needed the Orichalcum, which would make my airship teleport from tower to tower.

That's a really good game.  I completed it myself not too long ago.  When I recommended it to GUTS, he mentioned that he'd already tried it and, predictably, failed to beat it. 

Anyway, have GUTS play Necromancer. Tell him that his goal is simply to see a handful of the enemies die a bloody, gory death. This seems like an appropriate goal to set for him, considering his skillz levelz.

I think he bought that game just recently, actually, and gave up on it quickly.

[GUTS]

Yeah Necromancer was awful, I only fought a couple battles.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Ta-Da!  You speak my name, and I appear. 

Well, perhaps it's just coincidence.  I suggest that GUTS revisits Neutopia, as it's as easy as they come for an action rpg - if you can't handle this one, then maybe rpgs aren't your bag.  Another pseudo-rpg that you can try is Beyond Shadowgate.  The puzzles are fairly easy and you'll die a thousand deaths, but that's just part of the fun.

[Turbo D]

I can recommend to our friend guts to play Ys book 1. Its fairly easy, well, to me at least. All you have to do to kill bad guys is walk into them, haha. It is seriously one of the greatest rpg concepts out there. Well, I guess its more of an action rpg, but he will really enjoy it. If he gets stuck I can walk him through it.

[SignOfZeta]

I can easily see a person getting stuck in an Ys game. There are no plot problems I can see hanging someone up, but the dungeons seem to go on forever. I've cleared Ys 1&2 half a dozen times probably, and I still get frustrated sometimes. Darm Tower, mainly, but also that big pyramid area as well.

[CrackTiger]

Ys II has some terrible design, progression wise. Its like playing a digital comic, where you just continue to try everything everywhere until you make it somewhere new and aren't completely sure exactly how to repeat it.

[GUTS]

The first Ys game was perfect, I have no complaints.  In fact Darm Tower is still one of the best dungeons I've ever played in an action RPG.  But Ys II, fuck man a couple of the later dungeons were just so huge and boring, they went on for way too long.  I've played through the first Ys a billion times, but part II I've only finished a couple of times due to getting bored on those later dungeons.

[nat]

The "mine" in Ys I annoys me. It reminds me of the part in the old Colossal Cave text adventure where you get stuck in a "maze of twisty little passages, all alike".

[Emerald Rocker]

The complex later dungeons of Ys II are what make the game so much better than the original.

[GUTS]

They're not complex, they're cluster-fucks.

[esteban]

You guys are crazy if you think the mazes in Ys II are tough / annoying / boring. I'm with Emerald Rocker on this one.

And I think that Darm Tower is pretty damn lame, to be honest. I thought that back in the day, and I still feel that way. It is very repetitive and tedious... and it is a significant chunk of Ys I!!! At least with Ys II, you felt that there were a bunch of big places to explore.

Don't get me wrong: I love Ys I (I've played SMS and TG-CD versions a zillion times)! But if you're going to fault Ys II without faulting Darm Larm Pooparm Tower, well, I think you're wonky.

Yeah, I'm exaggerating slightly to make my point (and for drama), but you get the idea

[Turbo D]

I really enjoyed book 1 and the little bit of book 2 I played before my duo craped out.

[CrackTiger]

You guys are crazy if you think the mazes in Ys II are tough / annoying / boring. I'm with Emerald Rocker on this one.

And I think that Darm Tower is pretty damn lame, to be honest. I thought that back in the day, and I still feel that way. It is very repetitive and tedious... and it is a significant chunk of Ys I!!! At least with Ys II, you felt that there were a bunch of big places to explore.

Don't get me wrong: I love Ys I (I've played SMS and TG-CD versions a zillion times)! But if you're going to fault Ys II without faulting Darm Larm Pooparm Tower, well, I think you're wonky.

Yeah, I'm exaggerating slightly to make my point (and for drama), but you get the idea

Both Ys II and Darm Tower have too much unclear backtracking.

[esteban]

You guys are crazy if you think the mazes in Ys II are tough / annoying / boring. I'm with Emerald Rocker on this one.

And I think that Darm Tower is pretty damn lame, to be honest. I thought that back in the day, and I still feel that way. It is very repetitive and tedious... and it is a significant chunk of Ys I!!! At least with Ys II, you felt that there were a bunch of big places to explore.

Don't get me wrong: I love Ys I (I've played SMS and TG-CD versions a zillion times)! But if you're going to fault Ys II without faulting Darm Larm Pooparm Tower, well, I think you're wonky.

Yeah, I'm exaggerating slightly to make my point (and for drama), but you get the idea

Both Ys II and Darm Tower have too much unclear backtracking.

I actually don't mind the backtracking. I just wanted to make a point about Ys II relative to Ys I. 

[GUTS]

Darm tower actually has some interesting and devious puzzles (breaking the pillar comes to mind, took me years as a kid to figure that one out), the huge dungeons in Ys II do not.  I can't remember a single puzzle in Ys II, yet I can remember nearly every puzzle in Ys.  If Ys II had even one memorable puzzle I might have played through it more often, but the dungeons and puzzles are all entirely forgettable, the only thing that stands out is the story and cinematics.  Huge mazes are not fun.

[RuninRuder]

Darm tower actually has some interesting and devious puzzles (breaking the pillar comes to mind, took me years as a kid to figure that one out), the huge dungeons in Ys II do not.  I can't remember a single puzzle in Ys II, yet I can remember nearly every puzzle in Ys.  If Ys II had even one memorable puzzle I might have played through it more often, but the dungeons and puzzles are all entirely forgettable, the only thing that stands out is the story and cinematics.  Huge mazes are not fun.

I thought Ys II had some sweet puzzles.  For instance, when you had to put on those earrings to eavesdrop on the monsters, and then you had to turn into a monster yourself to understand what they were saying.

In fact, the ability to change into a monster and talk to any random enemy you wanted to was fucking awesome, and a lot of them made some pretty funny comments.

Ys II also had Dalles who actually did cool evil stuff instead of just making speeches like the other bad guys, and the exciting bell tower scene where Adol had to make a mad dash to the top in an effort to save a girl's life. 

I agree that the last shrine was too big and got kind of tiresome, though.  But at least it had better music than Darm Tower.

[esteban]

Darm tower actually has some interesting and devious puzzles (breaking the pillar comes to mind, took me years as a kid to figure that one out), the huge dungeons in Ys II do not.  I can't remember a single puzzle in Ys II, yet I can remember nearly every puzzle in Ys.  If Ys II had even one memorable puzzle I might have played through it more often, but the dungeons and puzzles are all entirely forgettable, the only thing that stands out is the story and cinematics.  Huge mazes are not fun.

I thought Ys II had some sweet puzzles.  For instance, when you had to put on those earrings to eavesdrop on the monsters, and then you had to turn into a monster yourself to understand what they were saying.

In fact, the ability to change into a monster and talk to any random enemy you wanted to was fucking awesome, and a lot of them made some pretty funny comments.

Ys II also had Dalles who actually did cool evil stuff instead of just making speeches like the other bad guys, and the exciting bell tower scene where Adol had to make a mad dash to the top in an effort to save a girl's life. 

I agree that the last shrine was too big and got kind of tiresome, though.  But at least it had better music than Darm Tower. 

Ahhh, once GUTS clarified his position, I could see where he is coming from. I don't agree that Ys II is totally devoid of enjoyable puzzle-solving, but I do agree that many, many games (in general) fail to be as stimulating as they could be. I don't think Ys II falls short in this respect, but I can appreciate what GUTS is saying. Runin, of course, brings up some great points.

Forgive my faulty grey cells: was it Ys I or Ys II with the sewers that were drained to reveal another level of exploration? I have always loved that! Very, very kool! I'm sure some folks might have felt it was anti-climatic (as opposed to exploring a completely new level), but I loved how the "familiar" had become a brand new maze to navigate / solve ...

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Forgive my faulty grey cells: was it Ys I or Ys II with the sewers that were drained to reveal another level of exploration? I have always loved that! Very, very kool! I'm sure some folks might have felt it was anti-climatic (as opposed to exploring a completely new level), but I loved how the "familiar" had become a brand new maze to navigate / solve ...

I'm pretty sure that was Ys II.  I remember thinking that the drained sewer was pretty damn cool and unexpected the first time I played it.

[Turbo D]

ya, it is ys 2

[esteban]

Forgive my faulty grey cells: was it Ys I or Ys II with the sewers that were drained to reveal another level of exploration? I have always loved that! Very, very kool! I'm sure some folks might have felt it was anti-climatic (as opposed to exploring a completely new level), but I loved how the "familiar" had become a brand new maze to navigate / solve ...

I'm pretty sure that was Ys II.  I remember thinking that the drained sewer was pretty damn cool and unexpected the first time I played it.

If so, then Ys II is certainly holding its own!

[RuninRuder]

Let's not forget that in addition to the sewer draining and the evil antics of Dalles and the awesome transforming-into-a-monster elements already mentioned, Ys II also featured the adorable Lilia, the beastly (but friendly and very cool) Keith Fact, the famous "YOU ANIMAL" line, the mystical scenes where you visit the priest statues, the nifty fire magic to add variety to combat (especially boss battles), and the insanely dramatic climax when the goddesses are engulfed in flames and Adol must face Darm as his sword begins to glow. 

Ys I had great music and Dark Fact.  Ys II had great music and all the other cool stuff.

[CrackTiger]

Let's not forget that in addition to the sewer draining and the evil antics of Dalles and the awesome transforming-into-a-monster elements already mentioned, Ys II also featured the adorable Lilia, the beastly (but friendly and very cool) Keith Fact, the famous "YOU ANIMAL" line, the mystical scenes where you visit the priest statues, the nifty fire magic to add variety to combat (especially boss battles), and the insanely dramatic climax when the goddesses are engulfed in flames and Adol must face Darm as his sword begins to glow. 

Ys I had great music and Dark Fact.  Ys II had great music and all the other cool stuff. 

The cool stuff in Ys II is fine. I just don't consider some of the lesser fun dungeons part of it.

[Keranu]

Solomine Shrine kicked ass!

[GUTS]

Maybe I need to play through Ys II again, I forgot about turning into a monster, that was kinda cool.  But I take issue with runin saying the music was better in II, the Darm tower theme in Ys is one of the best video game music tracks ever written, up there with Mega Man 2 Wily's theme and the main world music from Dragon's Curse.

[RuninRuder]

Maybe I need to play through Ys II again, I forgot about turning into a monster, that was kinda cool.  But I take issue with runin saying the music was better in II, the Darm tower theme in Ys is one of the best video game music tracks ever written, up there with Mega Man 2 Wily's theme and the main world music from Dragon's Curse.

I didn't say "the music was better in II."  I said the final shrine has better music than Darm Tower.  The Darm Tower tune is definitely the one I like the least in the game.

Both I and II, as I've already said, have great music.  I don't mentally split the soundtrack up into two separate books; I consider it one fantastic whole.  That's how I view "Book I & II" as a game, in fact, but since we are comparing, I do think II has more cool stuff.

[CrackTiger]

I can't help but split the games in my mind, since I played so much Ys SMS for years before finally getting the Turbo version.

Although the Darm Tower theme isn't one of my favs, if I remember correctly, I don't like the Darm area music too much either compared to the rest of the soundtrack(s).

[Keranu]

Darm Tower had awesome music, but I prefered the Solomine Shrine song more since it felt a lot more epic and fitted the scene better.

[esteban]

I can't help but split the games in my mind, since I played so much Ys SMS for years before finally getting the Turbo version.

Even though I played the SMS version, I still see TG-CD Ys I & II as a complete whole. In fact, I now see the SMS version as "incomplete"! I know it sounds funny, but Ys I & II is so awesome that I immediately felt that it was the "true" yardstick by which to measure everything else.

SUCH IS THE GREATNESS of our favorite game .

[CrackTiger]

To me, Ys I feels like a complete game that was designed as such from the beginning and Ys II feels tacked on, even though its still cool.

Ys II feels like Back to the Future II.

[esteban]

To me, Ys I feels like a complete game that was designed as such from the beginning and Ys II feels tacked on, even though its still cool.

Ys II feels like Back to the Future II.

Hahahhahaha . Yeah, BthFII = 100% crap. What a stinker. But they really did a good job promoting / hyping it, because I gladly spent $$$$ to see it.

[nat]

Whoa, hold on a minute.

You guys love JJ & Jeff and hate Back to the Future II?

Now I know something is amiss. Are you guys impostors from Opposite World?

Back to the Future II is far and away the best entry in the series, hands down. III is by far the worst (you always know a series is done when it either goes Western or goes into outer space), and I is OK.

[esteban]

Whoa, hold on a minute.

You guys love JJ & Jeff and hate Back to the Future II?

Now I know something is amiss. Are you guys impostors from Opposite World?

Back to the Future II is far and away the best entry in the series, hands down. III is by far the worst (you always know a series is done when it either goes Western or goes into outer space), and I is OK.

BttF I = awesome, awesome. When it came out, it was "one hell of a ride."

BttF II = Lame, lame, lame. Even if I were to try to evaluate it on its own, it falls apart because it is devoid of fun, tension, compelling story, etc. etc. I had more fun wasting my money on Harry and the Hendersons (and that's saying something). I did enjoy BttF 2 more than Cool World (but this isn't saying much, is it?). After all these years, I'm still slightly annoyed I paid good money to see Cool World.

Hell, Short Circuit 2 did a better job than BttF 2.

BttF II, unfortunately, is on par with Speed 2: Cruise Control.

[nat]

Hell, Short Circuit 2 did a better job than BttF 2.

BttF II, unfortunately, is on par with Speed 2: Cruise Control.

Oh no you didn't.

[esteban]

Hell, Short Circuit 2 did a better job than BttF 2.

BttF II, unfortunately, is on par with Speed 2: Cruise Control.

Oh no you didn't.

I was particularly harsh, wasn't I? Not one of my finer moments . But it was fun to tease you.

Anecdote: My friend convinced me (and lots of fellow students) that he had a mail-order catalog with the "surfboards" that were in BttF II! He said he ordered one! We wanted to believe him! He was really good at convincing folks... but he kept forgetting to bring that damn catalog in... kids would ask him, "Hey, did your hoverboard arrive yet?"

I don't know if kids in middle/high school today would be so gullible, but we were .

[Turbo D]

ha ha, you were a gullible kid 

[nat]

What school did you go to again?

A kid at my school said the exact same thing! I never believed it but lots of other kids did. Truth is, I think the kid making the claim wanted it to be true so bad he actually started believing it himself.

[Turbo D]

haha, there were kids like that at my skool too.

[Keranu]

Dude I've been watching Back to the Future 1 and 2 like every night for the past month! I think Back to the Future is like my all time favorite movie.

Anyway, I think Back to the Future Part 2 is about as good and perfect as a sequel can get and when you take into consideration of how the first one ended, the two Bobs did an incredible job writing a sequel for that, with Jennifer being in the DeLorean and all. Biff Tannen was an unbelievabley good character in the sequel, which made it a big highlite of the movie for me as well as seeing the future and Marty having to go back to 1955 again while avoiding himself. Awesome, awesome stuff and I think BttF2 has the most amazing special effects than any movie. I still slightly prefer the first one though since it's pure classic chram, but BttF2 was the perfect sequel.

It's a lot like Star Wars to me where the first one is a timeless fun adventure, the second one being an epic sequel, and the third being duller than the others, though I think BttF3 is much worse of a sequel than Jedi was. Strangely enough, my favorite parts of BttF3 and Jedi where the beginning and end with the middle being boring and silly.