Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Metroid Zero Mission - Easy Mode

	Yes, it's another post about Metroid Zero Mission, but this will probably be the last, or at least second-to-last one in a good while. I'm planning on writing a review for the game soon, so there may be a short post having to do with that some time in the future. Anyway, I did decide to go ahead and try out the game on easy difficulty after getting 100% on hard, and as expected it's a total joke after playing hard mode. Right now I'm saved just inside Tourian, the next thing to be done being the destruction of Mother Brain, and so far I don't think I've lost more than a single Energy Tank at a time. I've basically just been running through the game, not really caring much about getting hit, though I have been stopping for power-ups that I don't even need. Ridley hit me all of once before he died, and only because I forgot to aim diagonally and fire a bunch as soon as the fight starts. (So as to block the deluge of fireballs he spits right at first). My current time is about 1:15, if I remember correctly, so I think I'll be able to beat the game in under two hours. Not that it'll matter, considering that you can only get the "worst" ending on easy mode, but hey. I'll at least know that I could do it on normal mode if I wanted to, since easy actually isn't too much different from normal. Who knows whether or not I'll ever get around to it, though. ... But I still don't see how the heck you're supposed to beat it with 100% in under two hours, normal, hard, or even easy mode. There's just too much back tracking after you get Power Bombs in Chozodia, I don't see how you're supposed to go all the way through the game, then go back through each area picking up the stuff you couldn't get on the way through, then hike all the way back to Chozodia to beat the end boss. I mean, you can only run so fast... But yeah, easy mode seems pretty pointless. The only difference between it and normal seems the be the fact that you take less damage. Enemies seem to take the same number of hits, and powerups give you the same amount, even Super Missiles and (I'm assuming) Power Bombs. I half expected them to give you five instead of two, like they did in Super Metroid, but I guess not. I suppose having that many Super Missiles would make any boss a total joke even if you were horrible at the game.

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Monday, March 1, 2004

Pitter Patter. . . .

	I've just sat down to write this post after making a cup of tea, during which time I noticed the sound of rain drops falling upon the metal canopy above our back porch. And now I'm listening to a remix of the Windmill Hut theme from Zelda: Ocarina of Time, that features the sound of falling rain in the background. Where the original was a fast, uproarious song, this remix has always been calm and soothing to me. I like rain; I really do. I don't mind -- and mostly I enjoy -- going out in it as long as I've got a proper jacket or coat to keep myself from getting completely drenched, and small, sprinkling showers along with a slight breeze I find to be particularly refreshing. My love of rain goes beyond simply the feel of it, however. I've always enjoyed breathing deeply the scent of freshly fallen rain, or rain that has yet to fall, and listening to the sound it makes outside my window on a stormy night while I lay in bed reading. My love of rain extends to the realms of hearing and smelling, as well as feeling. If you're wondering where I'm going with this, I'll tell you right now that I'm not going anywhere. I didn't have any particular aim for this post when I sat down to write, and the title was actually the first thing to come to mind, as I thought of the sound of the rain drops outside. My urge to write a myOtaku post came at just the right time to catch me in a calm, relaxed, and somewhat thoughtful mood, so I'm simply writing out my thoughts. Sometimes I find that this enhances the mood I'm in when I begin writing, and other times it changes that mood. In this case, it has proven to have the former effect. Hmm...seems my thoughts on that subject have ceased. Isn't it odd how you can be letting your mind wander aimlessly around a subject, and then it just hits a dead end where it feels like there should be something more? Ah well, I'm still peaceful and relaxed, so I don't care. The mood is wearing off, slowly but surely, however. And eventually I'll have to go to bed and get up for class, but hey, that's life -- and it must go on. I'm just thankful for these simple, peaceful moments where I can just let my mind wander and watch where it goes, even if they are rather infrequent. And now that I think about it, writing out these thoughts and posting them on myOtaku sort of lets other people share the experience, though on a less personal level than the person (me) who's actually thinking them. And when I think about it that way, it's almost as if I'm opening up my mind and letting others peer down at the thoughts within. An odd way of thinking about writing to be sure, but I kind of like it. . . . And I hope you've enjoyed it too.

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Sunday, February 29, 2004

Now Playing #29

	Game/Artist: Zelda: Ocarina of Time Track: Zelda's Lullaby Time: 1:24 Size: 6.81 KB This song holds a lot of fond memories of my first time playing through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and as I was trying to think of what midi to use next, it came to mind. So here it is...and I really don't have much else to say about it. Seemed like a good idea at the time, so I went with it, heh.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004

Metroid Zero Mission - Hard Mode Rant

	I just beat hard mode on Metroid Zero Mission, after three attempts at the end boss and escape sequence. Notice that I include the escape sequence in there. Why? Because the actual escape is the hardest part of the game on hard mode. Yes, that's right, the end boss is totally wussy; easiest fight in the game, for me. You can take it out with six well-aimed Super Missiles, before it can ever get an attack off if you're quick enough. But like I said, the escape sequence was rather difficult. Like I suspected, you only get three minutes to get out instead of five, but that's not a problem. I had about 1:20 left on the clock when I finally did it on my third try. The problem is that, as you're trying to get out, you've got Space Pirates -- a lot of them -- blocking your path. And the thing about Space Pirates is, they actually do more damage than the end boss. 100 energy per hit, whether by touching them or getting shot. The only way it takes less is if you're somersaulting with the Screw Attack. And since you only get six Energy Tanks on hard mode, that means you can get hit six times, and the seventh hit kills you. But really, just the normal red Space Pirates aren't too much of a problem. They die with two blasts from the arm cannon -- one to freeze, the other to kill -- and the Screw Attack also kills them. So if you're just running and gunning with wild abandon, as you probably would be because of the time limit, you can usually get to the gate blocking the escape ship with about two or three hits left. But now here's the hard part: Guarding that gate are two black Space Pirates, and it won't open until you've killed them. Black Space Pirates are much stronger than red ones, so they take a lot more hits, but at least they don't do any more damage. So why not just missile or Screw Attack 'em instead of using four charged up Plasma Beam shots? Well guess what...neither Screw Attack, nor Missiles, not even Super Missiles, can hit them. And they take four charged normal shots or who knows how many uncharged shots. And unless you're Screw Attacking, they do 100 energy per hit. And they jump and climb walls to follow you. And there's two of them. Can you see why I consider this harder than the end boss, now? And I could be mistaken about this (I think Mother Brain might be an exception), but I don't think any other enemy, normal, mini-boss, or boss, does 100 energy per hit. And really, it's not just the sheer difficulty that I was getting annoyed at while dying twice in a row fighting those black Space Pirates, it was the fact that a pair of normal enemies could be harder than the end boss I had fought only two minutes earlier. Personally, I think they didn't quite get the difficulty balance right on the bosses in hard mode. I never even came close to dying while fighting Kraid, Ridley, or the end boss (I'd name it, but I don't want to spoil anything for people). The only real boss I ever died on was Mother Brain. Yet, twice I came very close to dying on two of the mini-boss fights, and on another I did die. And then, like I said, twice against those two Space Pirates. Am I the only one that thinks that's more than just a bit screwed up, or what? After actually playing through the whole thing, hard mode seems like it was just sort of tacked on, with several things changed to artificially increase the difficulty. Namely, powerups not giving you as much, and enemies (but not bosses) doing more damage with each hit. As far as I can tell, those are the only things changed, and it really seems to have screwed with the balance of the difficulty. But despite feeling a bit tacked on, hard mode was fun for the most part, and a decent reason to play through the game again if you were unsatisfied with normal mode's easyness. As for a progress report, I beat the game with 74% at 2:42:57, I think it was, and unlocked another ending in the gallery. (Which makes three total now, though I don't think I'm going to bother trying to get the others since I have png images of them on my hard drive). Now I plan on getting 100% on hard mode so I can have two fully completed games: Samus A on hard, and Samus B on normal. And while playing through hard mode I've kind of been toying with the idea of using Samus C to try out easy mode, just to see what it's like. Maybe I'll go for three 100% files, one for each difficulty level.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Killing Time at School

	Well, here I am at the college where I'm taking algebra, sitting in the cafeteria. How am I writing this, then? I'm actually writing it on notebook paper; this version that you see now is the typed version which I will be posting later this evening after I get home. The reason why I'm writing this now is simply because I have some time to kill. There's about 30 minutes left before I need to go to my class, so.... Welcome to Desbreko's complete waste of time. There is something I can talk about though, besides random subjects that happen to come to mind; the Metroid Zero Mission journey continues. The last thing I did was beat Mother Brain and go a little ways into Chozodia. Mother Brain was harder this time, the difficulty being on hard mode (duh), but really only because I had less life. With only 549 energy, I had to dodge a lot more of the rings and shots from the various turrets in the chamber instead of just taking the hits and continuing to fire at the barriers or Mother Brain itself. This I found out after getting through to Mother Brain with only two Energy Tanks left, and then prompty died during the fight. On my second attempt, instead of having my main focus on offense, I switched to a more defensive approach, shooting only when there was a clear opening. Also, instead of getting two minutes to escape to the surface after destroying Mother Brain, the timer is set for only one minute. I still got out with about 15 seconds to spare, though; time enough for one or two missed jumps, but definitely not as much leeway as the two minute timer on normal difficulty. And now I'm wondering how much time I'll get to escape after the real end boss fight. On normal mode it was five minutes, so I'm guessing three on hard -- I don't think it could be done in two minutes. Oh, yes, another thing to talk about: Last night I was able to indulge in some classic Mario Kart 64 battle mode matches. One of my brother's friends was over for a while and they were looking for something to do, so we fired up the old Nintendo 64 and played a total of 45 battle mode matches. I don't think I've sat and played that many matches in a row since I first got my N64 and MK64. (Oh, and if anyone cares, the score was 22 wins for me, 18 for my brother, and 5 for his friend). This really reinforces my preference for MK64's battle mode over Double Dash's. And now I must depart for class, seeing as it's 12:50 PM and my class starts in ten minutes. Added Later I've still got the un-eddited, hand written version of this lying around. I wonder what I should do with it.... Maybe I could sell it. Anyone interested in owning a piece from the life of Desbreko?

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Sunday, February 22, 2004

Metroid Zero Mission - Hard Mode

	Well, I finally got 100% on normal mode (and got a better ending), which ended up taking me about ten and a half hours, and now I've also started a new game on hard mode. I'm about 35 minutes into the game, currently saved in the Kraid area after beating that acid worm thing, and it's turning out to be a good challenge. I can really see why they make you beat it on normal mode before being able to play hard mode. You really need to already know where all the hidden powerups are, because each one is only half strength. That means Energy Tanks only let you hold 50 more energy instead of 100, Missile Tanks only let you hold 2 more Missiles instead of 5, and I'm assuming Super Missile and Power Bomb Tanks are only going to add 1 more to the amount you can hold instead of 2. Also, I think enemies do more damage and take more shots to kill, but I'm not sure; it could just be I'm used to the super-powerful Plasma Beam and Gravity Suit so it seems like things take and do more damage. I've come close to dying a few times already, and I haven't even fought one of the main bosses yet. I'm expecting Kraid to be a really tough fight now, because I can almost guarantee I'm going to run out of Missiles about half way through the fight. But hey, it really isn't much harder than Metroid Fusion so far, so I'll pull through even if it does take me a couple tries. And the game is definitely just as fun as the first time through because of the increased difficulty. Even though I know where everything is and how to beat all the bosses, I still have to really fight to stay alive. Overall, I'm pleased with hard mode so far--it's added more of a challenge than I thought it would. (I must have had a really funny look on my face when I picked up the first Missile Tank and saw it only gave me 2. I was definitely not expecting the powerups to be changed at all, just the strength of the monsters). The more I play Zero Mission, the more my respect for it grows, after my original feeling of disappointment.

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Now Playing #28

	Game/Artist: Chrono Cross Track: Another World Time: 3:23 Size: 35.1 KB Chrono Cross has a lot of really amazing music, and the first time I heard this song I was awestruck. I just sat there on the overworld and listened for a couple minutes, soaking it in. I won't say this is my favorite song in the game, because I don't think I could choose between this and some of the other game's best tracks. Life - Faraway Promise is another one that I really like, and I was actually going to use it instead of this, but I couldn't find a good midi version of it.

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Friday, February 20, 2004

Some Random Title

	Well, Friday is upon me, which means I shall be getting up at 8:00 AM once more--and guess what? I still haven't washed my big stainless steel travel mug (or would it be more of a thermos?), and it's been almost two months since I got it for Christmas. If that isn't proof of my severe laziness, I don't know what is, heh. In algebra we're doing word problems, having moved on from simple equations and formulas. It's weird, because I always used to be really annoyed by word problems, but now I find I'm actually enjoying them. Like the professor said, you can really think of them as little puzzles, where (in this case) you're trying to translate the English words into an algebraic equation which you can then solve. And since I'm pretty good at understanding confusing little tangles of words if I have them there on paper to read through, I'm finding I'm also good at doing the word problems. Call me crazy, but after I finished the homework assignment just now, I was kind of wishing he had assigned more than the five he did. Really, I suppose I should be going to bed about now, but I know I wouldn't be able to sleep this early. (It's currently 12:25 AM). This annoys me, because if I could, I'd be asleep by about 1:30 AM so as to get a decent amount of sleep. As it is, however, I probably won't be getting to sleep till past 3:00 AM. I don't even know how many times I've wished that I had the ability to go to sleep on command, but here's yet another. My church's highschool youth group is leaving for winter camp tomorrow, or at least those people that are going to winter camp. I'm not among them, for a couple reasons, but my friend is. With the youth pastor gone, there won't be the Friday night Bible study for me to go to, and since my friend's going I won't be able to do anything with him either. This leaves Friday night completely open, which means that more than likely I'll end up back here on the net... Which is kind of sad. Friday night, and I'll be sitting in front of my computer; how fun. Oh, and if this post seems totally unstructured and random, that's because it is. This is what I do when I have nothing specific to talk about but I still feel like writing a post; same as my last post. But hey, that rambling post seemed to be met with approval, so why not try it again? ... That was a rhetorical question, by the way. Don't go and give me smartass answers in your comments. ~_^ Even if I am stranded at home tonight, I suppose I may have something to look forward to on Monday, the day after my friend will be getting back from camp. I called him...yesterday? Possibly Wednesday... But anyway, we're going to try and get together to play FF Crystal Chronicles some more after school on Monday, so hopefully that'll work out. I'm still quite eager to play more of that game. Speaking of GameCube related stuff, I'm finally running out of memory card space. FFCC took up most of what space I had left on my Memory Card 59s, so I've decided to just go ahead and spring for a new Memory Card 251, since they're only a few dollars more than a 59. It's kind of funny, though, because I've never really bought a memory card before, yet I own four. One I got along with my GCN and SSBM as a Christmas present, another I got as a birthday present shortly thereafter, the third I got as part of a Super Mario Sunshine bundle, and the fourth came with Animal Crossing. So this will actually be the first time I've payed for a memory card. Also, speaking of Metroid Zero Mission, I calculated that I'm at about 98% for my item collection rate. The only things left for me to get are two Energy Tanks and then, according to the little counter on the map screen, I'll have gotten everything. Hopefully I'll get a better ending when I beat it again at 100%. Samus showed no skin when I beat it at a little over four hours with 67%, heh. I'm debating whether or not to start a new game on Hard difficulty right away after I get 100%, though. I'm still playing through Zelda: Majora's Mask on the Collector's Edition disc, though I haven't actually played it since I got Zero Mission, and I still want to finish it. I think what I'm going to end up doing is just taking Zero Mission out to the college with me to play during the free hour I have before class, and use gaming time at home to play Majora's Mask. Okay, I must post this AIM "conversation" that I just had. I call it "Jam Session With Manic" lol. ManicWebbX: La la la Desbreko145: do do do ManicWebbX: dee dee dee Desbreko145: da da da ManicWebbX: di di di Desbreko145: dum dum dum ManicWebbX: beep beep beep Desbreko145: bang bang bang ManicWebbX: clink clink clink Desbreko145: ping ping ping ManicWebbX: tink tink tink Desbreko145: tap tap tap ManicWebbX: choo choo choo Desbreko145: clump clump clump ManicWebbX: flop flop flop Desbreko145: schwing schwing schwing ManicWebbX: fizz fizz fizz Desbreko145: slop slop slop ManicWebbX: plop plop plop Desbreko145: chunk chunk chunk ManicWebbX: clankity clankity clankity Desbreko145: boom boom boom ManicWebbX: bzot bzot bzot Desbreko145: hmm hmm hmm ManicWebbX: tsk tsk tsk Desbreko145: cush cush cush ManicWebbX: fizzle fizzle fizzle Desbreko145: tinkle tinkle tinkle ManicWebbX: jingle jingle jingle Desbreko145: crunch crunch crunch ManicWebbX: crackle crackle crackle Desbreko145: hiss hiss hiss ManicWebbX: ting ting ting Desbreko145: clop clop clop ManicWebbX: fluf fluf fluf ManicWebbX: well i'm off to bed bro ManicWebbX: lol Desbreko145: heheh Desbreko145: Do you admit defeat?! :-P ManicWebbX: bah nver ManicWebbX: 'll have to continue tomarrow ManicWebbX: rather...later today Desbreko145: Indeed. ManicWebbX: *rubs eyes* Desbreko145: Of course, I must conclude this round with... Desbreko145: whee whee whee And with that, I shall end this post, for it is now about 1:30 AM and I would like to read for a while before sleep overtakes me. Goodnight...or is it morning? ~_^

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Meh?

	Well, I don't feel like doing anything else at the moment, so I thought I might as well write a myOtaku post. Aimless ramblings can be fun sometimes, right? ... Right? ... Well, screw you, then, because this is my page and I'll post what I want. ~_^ Hmm...I heard the mixer going a bit ago, out in the kitchen. My mom must be finishing the cookie dough she started this morning. Too bad I don't like the kind of cookies she's making. Pretty much anything with citrus in it isn't to my taste, so orange tea cookies aren't my thing. Ironically, though, Earl Grey tea with bergamot oil has become my favorite kind of tea. Funny how things work out like that, eh? Hey, maybe I'll talk about the weather. That's always interesting, right? ... (Okay, let's not get into that again). It's been raining the last couple days, and it's probably going to be raining tomorrow when I have to go out to the college for my algebra class. I wouldn't mind, since my leather jacket always keeps me dry except for my head (which I don't really mind, since I keep my hair tied back), but I don't want rain to soak through my backpack and get my books and binder wet. I've been meaning to get an umbrella, but so far I just haven't gotten around to it... Hopefully it won't be raining too hard, or maybe my mom will give me a ride out there again. A friend just showed me this cool little site: http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi?word=Desbreko It's one of those stupid little time waster sites that are way more amusing than they should be. ... Wayyyyy more amusing than it should be. *has just wasted a good ten minutes or more on it* Well, v7 didn't go up today it seems, but all that's showing for me now is the splash page instead of the password prompt, so I assume that means it's close to launching. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be back up; I'm really looking forward to v7, especially after seeing some of the ways the site has been redesigned. It's a lot more streamlined than v6 was, and I think it's going to make the gaming forum a lot more interesting. Though like Semjaza said on his site, expect the mods in there to be total hardasses for a while until things are running smoothly, heh. Things are going to be set up differently from v6, and we're going to need to make sure people shift with the change accordingly, as well as just making sure post quality is kept up. The reorganization of v7 also prompted me to finally clean out my AIM buddy list and get it organized to match the new staff setup, and I also removed all the old screen names that are never used anymore. I'm actually down under 100 names on my list now, heh. (78, to be exact). I think I was getting close to 150 before this. Finding certain names on the list is a lot easier now, and requires a lot less scrolling. I'm still eagerly awaiting another chance to play FF Crystal Chronicles with my friend. I think I'll call him tomorrow or some time and see when he'll be free again. I've gotten a taste of the game, and now I'm craving more, heh. The only problem is that I get made fun of because my Selkie character looks like a girl, even though he is male. The tie off point of his ponytail (if you can call it that as it is) needs to be higher so the hair isn't spread out so much. But still, I like Selkies; how can you go wrong with beating enemies with a blunt object that shoots when you charge up (faster than other races) for a focus attack? Right, I'm done rambling now. Go find somewhere else to waste time.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Metroid Zero Mission

	As some of you may know, I bought Metroid Zero Mission on February 12--and promptly beat it on February 14. As with all Metroid games, it's not incredibly long (it took me about four hours to beat it), so that's why I beat it so quickly. However, getting 100% is going to take considerably longer. I only had 67% when I beat it, and now I'm up to about seven hours of play time after getting a bunch more powerups. Metroid Fusion took me about ten hours to get 100%, and I expect Zero Mission to take about the same amount of time. And then after I do get 100%, I get to play through again on hard mode. About the game, it's turned out to be a lot of fun. While it doesn't top Super Metroid or Metroid Fusion, in my opinion, it's still very entertaining. It delivers on what I expected from it, plus it has a few things that really surprised me. To balance that out, though, there were also some parts that I didn't especially like. But overall it's a solid Metroid game that I think fans of the series should like. One thing I don't really like is that there are different difficulty levels. (Easy and Normal are open from the start, and you unlock Hard once you beat the game). Until Metroid Prime's unlockable hard mode, no Metroid game had varying difficulty levels, and I think it should've stayed that way. I mean, being able to play through a harder version after you beat the game isn't too bad, but an easy mode just seems ridiculous, especially with Zero Mission. I played through on normal mode and it was even easier than Super Metroid which, until this, I considered to be the easiest game in the series. Hopefully hard mode will provide a decent challenge, though. Another thing that I'm really liking, though, is the puzzles in the game. Yes, puzzles; not something you'd really expect in a Metroid game, but they are there nonetheless. What I mean by this is that figuring out how to get some of the powerups really takes some effort, and it forces you to come up with new ways of doing things. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'll just say that I never thought you'd be able to use the Shine Spark (flying with the Speed Booster) in some of the ways you do. For actual gameplay, Zero Mission feels like a cross between the original Metroid and Super Metroid. Obviously it feels like the original because the areas, enemies, and whatnot are based heavily on the original's, but the gameplay mechanics themselves feel almost identical to Super Metroid (with a bit of Fusion's improvements). This isn't bad, because what was caried over from the original is good and what's taken from the other two games makes it better, but the problem is that there's almost nothing new. The only new suit upgrade is the Power Grip, which just lets you grab onto edges--something that you could do from the start in Fusion. The only real additions are Morph Ball launchers, which pretty much act like you're doing a Shine Spark straight up, and zip line things on ceilings which you can grab onto and have them carry you to the other side of its little track. Basically, a substitute for the ceiling rails that you could hang from in Fusion. So don't expect anything new if you're looking to buy Zero Mission, because except for one part of the game, it's all been done before.

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