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A WANDERER, A WEASEL, AND THE TRIP THROUGH IMPASSE VALLEY
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:38 am    Post subject: More Baroque ramblings... Reply with quote

I just found this site the other day:

http://baroque.gkwiki2.com/

Its a Japanese SPOILER site for the game.

From looking through it with a decent Japanese to English web translator I found out some fun new facts:

1) After you finally beat the main story dungeon a number of specialty themed dungeons/towers open up (and much like Shiren there are both a Food and Trap dungeon).

2) The game has cursed nasty items, so be careful what you pick up.

3) While not sure I like this aspect as much but maybe cute and clever, what monsters drop when you kill them isn't that random. Each monster tends to drop the same 2-3 items specifically tied to them. So while its handy when trying to find some specific item you may be lacking, it also means that you may now know darn well that the box this specific Spoozel (made up monster name) dropped is probably one of those nasty item eater boxes as that is what he ALWAYS drops.
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

WTF? The DS English port is almost here (March 4th) and this thread is DEAD?

Here is my feeble attempt to get things going again!

SPOILERS AHOY!

Alan Kwan wrote these little fictional portrayals of two of his runs in the Kitchen God Shrine (as this bonus dungeon is now being called in the DS port) back in April '96 playing the SNES version (I'm pretty sure all mechanics and creatures discussed in this story hold up 100% in this DS port):

Run #1

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.nintendo/browse_thread/thread/6d98c3ca2a327fb1/9b8aca10ce706efa?hl=en&lnk=st&q=Shiren#9b8aca10ce706efa

Run #2
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.nintendo/browse_thread/thread/2acb14bd9c2feb6b/47bd52465293b531?hl=en&lnk=st&q=Shiren#47bd52465293b531

(Please excuse the painfully long links)
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Shapermc
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, revival of thread for Wed release of the DS version. I'm actually really excited because I have a lot of time to play portable games, but nothing I'm really interested in playing portably. I'm pretty psyched. I preordered just to make sure the closest game store (30 minutes away) will have a copy.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I should go preorder today. I've been crazy excited for this.
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
Oh, I should go preorder today. I've been crazy excited for this.


I can only hope they had extras already on their way as I'm not sure how the pre-orders work when the game is already in the pipeline...I guess it at least will reserve you a copy of the previously unreserved ones.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Picked it up today. Played through the intro level, which is treated as an entire dungeon and is very easy. I can't wait to dig in.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now I need a DS
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Isfet
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i need to stop spending my money but i want to pick this up badly.

hmmm...what's another $30...
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My local gamestop said it was delayed till April sometime. Clearly he lies; I went home and ordered from amazon instead.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

simplicio wrote:
My local gamestop said it was delayed till April sometime. Clearly he lies; I went home and ordered from amazon instead.


Baroque was delayed until April 8th in the US and Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer won't be released in Europe until March 31st...but I'm figuring this was just one of those asses pulling something out of nowhere so he doesn't need to look it up. It looks like, without pre-orders, only 1-2 copies are likely to show up in most locations.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I picked up my preordered Shiren from Gamestop today. This is my first time ever playing the game and I'm currently at the mountain town. So far, I'm lovin' it(apologies to McDonald's)! Although I've played lots of computer roguelikes, the only other consolized version I've played is Izuna. It is almost immediately apparent that Shiren is a much more complex game, but then, everyone here already knew that. Other than that though, the only thing I can add right now is that Shiren's atmosphere is realy wonderful. It evokes such a sense of mystery.

EDIT:

I died and am currently awaiting rescue! Not sure how this works but my rescue request # is something like 000-000-000-0013 and my name is just jjsimpso. I probably won't do this most of the time, but I must admit that the idea is pretty neat!
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simplicio
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, they adopted a rescue system on this one too? I'm not sure I agree with the ideology behind that; I like my roguelikes nice and solitary with serious consequences.
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

simplicio wrote:
Oh, they adopted a rescue system on this one too? I'm not sure I agree with the ideology behind that; I like my roguelikes nice and solitary with serious consequences.


Enh, you can only use it 3x in a run and IF you die deep down in something like Fay's Final Problem, good luck on having anybody bother to revive your sorry ass. Most importantly I'm pretty sure it hoses your end score if you've received rescues (not completely sure on this but I made it to the 30th level, was revived once at level 26, and only ended up with some 220242)!
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, I don't really plan on using the rescue feature very much. For one, you have to quit playing until someone rescues you. I really wanted to try it out and see how it worked though. If no one has rescued me by tonight I'll give up and probably never use the feature again.
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jjsimpso wrote:
Yeah, I don't really plan on using the rescue feature very much. For one, you have to quit playing until someone rescues you. I really wanted to try it out and see how it worked though. If no one has rescued me by tonight I'll give up and probably never use the feature again.


Yep, I almost never used it with the Japanese version for that very reason, not a big fan on depending on strangers. I've done a few rescues with the Japanese version but don't think I EVER received a thank you.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've sunk my teeth in and died several times. On my first run I made it to the little girl, but ran out of useful scrolls in a room with 4 monsters, all the worse when a tank killed another monster. There was no way to make a mad dash for the stairs, they were all surrounding it.

On my last three runs I've gotten killed within the first four floors. I forgot how brutal this can be. If you start in a room with two monsters and no items, you're pretty much boned.
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
I've sunk my teeth in and died several times. On my first run I made it to the little girl, but ran out of useful scrolls in a room with 4 monsters, all the worse when a tank killed another monster. There was no way to make a mad dash for the stairs, they were all surrounding it.

On my last three runs I've gotten killed within the first four floors. I forgot how brutal this can be. If you start in a room with two monsters and no items, you're pretty much boned.


Get some basic gear by completing some of Fay's Challenges.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

picked this up last night. it felt pretty remarkable to hold an american-localized copy of shiren in my hands.

there's a tutorial dungeon that you're not allowed to skip, and its biright happy-meadows visual style jars with the rest of the game's sullen appearance. it's fortunately very short, and serves its purpose of introducing just the basics of how to navigate shiren's world.

i've only played one game so far (died in the mine). there are new enemies and some balancing tweaks (when you enter a town everything you're holding is identified), but maybe the most substantial change is that you can go back to previous levels. no items appear on a level you've returned to, though (items being probably the most important reason to linger on any level in the first place - not to mention: no food!), and if you go all the way back to the inn your level's reset to zero.

the other thing that stuck out at me is that the impasse valley is now the kobami valley - what, that kobami?
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got the little girl home at the cost of barely fighting/leveling up in the mine. But in this version, I can go back! I have plenty of food, so this shouldn't be a problem.
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
I got the little girl home at the cost of barely fighting/leveling up in the mine. But in this version, I can go back! I have plenty of food, so this shouldn't be a problem.


I always found the toughest part was simply keeping her alive with all of the tanks, regardless of my level. Realize that another change in the DS is that companions will follow you to the next level even if not in the same room when you leave the level. I'm assuming the same goes for the little girl. But, unlike in the SNES, baddies can actually target your allies directly if more convenient than hitting you.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just got insanely lucky and spawned in the same room as the stairs on every single floor. But yeah, there were definitely a few points where she got clobbered, even though I only ran into one tank. That little quest always kicked my ass when I was emulating it, so that's given me a really good feeling today.

It seems the item distribution has changed. I'm running into way fewer arrows and a lot more pots. Maybe it's just these runs.
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Swimmy wrote:
I just got insanely lucky and spawned in the same room as the stairs on every single floor. But yeah, there were definitely a few points where she got clobbered, even though I only ran into one tank. That little quest always kicked my ass when I was emulating it, so that's given me a really good feeling today.

It seems the item distribution has changed. I'm running into way fewer arrows and a lot more pots. Maybe it's just these runs.


While the probabilities have definitely shifted (I think I was told in the SNES version all items had the same odds and now they are much more weighted) but I also think the item weighting changes as you go on more and more runs.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Picked this up today. In addition to the big changes I am pretty thrown by a lot of the little monster and item tweaks, like:

-Things besides weapons and shields can be cursed
-Rusting monsters take your equipment down two levels per attack
-Wood shields rust, somehow
-Chain heads have an extra square of range

In general it feels easier than it used to (I made it past the Table Mountain village on my second run, which is ludicrous) but it's still plenty hard enough. Localization-wise, I am 100% behind the decision to replace the offensive Chinese guy Fei with the Elizabethan Englishman Fay. Most of the dumb puns didn't make it but that's probably OK.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I made it to tabletop mountain for my first time today. This means that either A) I've gotten better at roguelikes since the last time I played shiren*, or B) that the game is easier.

I really don't know which it is. I'm pretty stoked either way. Unfortunatly I didn't get the little girl to her home. I also hadn't picked up any riceballs since the cook in the starting town. Top that off with only having a polearm and woodshild +1 going into the marshes. I had a ton of staffs and two Chiropractic Jars [3], and I was underleveled from 2 pitfall traps and a Monster House**. So I went into the marshes totally boned on food and underleveled. I basically tried to explore safely around for food and/or weapons while keeping the monsters at bay with wands, and frequently running away while healing. I made it to Tabletop mountain with a Polearm -3 and a Wooden Shield -2 (i.e. helpless because of purple slime). I died in the Tabletop Mountain on the second room I made it to with almost no items in my inventory.

Still, for me, a pretty good run.

Sidenote: the only scroll of identification I've ever seen was in one of Fei's Dungeons. Do they exist in the wild? Same with Blank Scrolls?

* This is an honest possibility as I played a ton of Crawl since then.

** Is it me or are there WAY more Monster Houses in this version?
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

LordGek wrote:
Swimmy wrote:
I've sunk my teeth in and died several times. On my first run I made it to the little girl, but ran out of useful scrolls in a room with 4 monsters, all the worse when a tank killed another monster. There was no way to make a mad dash for the stairs, they were all surrounding it.

On my last three runs I've gotten killed within the first four floors. I forgot how brutal this can be. If you start in a room with two monsters and no items, you're pretty much boned.


Get some basic gear by completing some of Fay's Challenges.

At what point do Fay's Challenges start rewarding equipment rather than herbs/riceballs/scrolls, if ever?
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dessgeega
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bulkor wrote:
-Chain heads have an extra square of range


i've gotten killed at least twice by these so far.

i got the little girl home today. i was never able to do that in the super famicom game.

a little disappointed at the loss of the scoreboard.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bulkor wrote:

-Rusting monsters take your equipment down two levels per attack
-Wood shields rust, somehow


Ouch, I didn't catch the wood and if so that's pretty cheesey but rust monsters I'm pretty sure start off doing only 1 point BUT it may be that when you see them in the swamp levels they are already the second level form of the slimes (realize almost all monsters now have 4 levels and, especially in the main dungeon, the first version of the monster we see may not be their first level form).
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shapermc wrote:
So I made it to tabletop mountain for my first time today. This means that either A) I've gotten better at roguelikes since the last time I played shiren*, or B) that the game is easier.

I really don't know which it is. I'm pretty stoked either way. Unfortunatly I didn't get the little girl to her home. I also hadn't picked up any riceballs since the cook in the starting town. Top that off with only having a polearm and woodshild +1 going into the marshes. I had a ton of staffs and two Chiropractic Jars [3], and I was underleveled from 2 pitfall traps and a Monster House**. So I went into the marshes totally boned on food and underleveled. I basically tried to explore safely around for food and/or weapons while keeping the monsters at bay with wands, and frequently running away while healing. I made it to Tabletop mountain with a Polearm -3 and a Wooden Shield -2 (i.e. helpless because of purple slime). I died in the Tabletop Mountain on the second room I made it to with almost no items in my inventory.

Still, for me, a pretty good run.

Sidenote: the only scroll of identification I've ever seen was in one of Fei's Dungeons. Do they exist in the wild? Same with Blank Scrolls?

* This is an honest possibility as I played a ton of Crawl since then.

** Is it me or are there WAY more Monster Houses in this version?


I'm personally convinced that item probabilities and items available chnages over time (i.e. number of runs), but, of course, I have no proof of this and it could all be in my head.

Oh, a cute tip I thought I'd read but now I'm not so sure. Has anyone noticed if just having a specific item in your warehouse means it will already be IDed in the wild? I mean I know this is valid if its in your pack once you start the run, but does what you just have stocked in your warehouse make a difference?
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dessgeega wrote:
Bulkor wrote:
-Chain heads have an extra square of range


i've gotten killed at least twice by these so far.

i got the little girl home today. i was never able to do that in the super famicom game.

a little disappointed at the loss of the scoreboard.


The scoreboard is now dinky, only holding your top three personal runs per dungeon, but its still in the game...well, okay, sort of out of the game. Before loading your current game check out the options, look for "Rankings".
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Bulkor
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have this theory that a lot of the difficulty change has to do with the new enemy selection. For starters, there are no more ghost daikon enemies, (the walking tubers that poisoned or confused you, whatever they were called) at least on the levels they used to be on. There are also no more reapers on the forest level, which means you don't have to worry about them leveling up via ghosts and killing you at double speed. Not as sure about the mine levels, but I think just having more enemy types means less tank + fire guy combos.

A ghost just killed that little blind girl and leveled up. Ghosts can level up now?
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bulkor wrote:

A ghost just killed that little blind girl and leveled up. Ghosts can level up now?


Yep, have often seen a ghost jump into another ghost. I'm pretty sure they still only level up an inhabited baddy one step BUT higher level ghosts have more hps and I think are more likely to teleport away when damaged.
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Shapermc
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dessgeega wrote:
a little disappointed at the loss of the scoreboard.

There's still a leaderboard, it's just not in game, which is disappointing. There's also a thing that tracks all of the story elements you've uncovered, which is a nice compensation.
Bulkor wrote:
there are no more ghost daikon enemies, (the walking tubers that poisoned or confused you, whatever they were called) at least on the levels they used to be on.

Yeah, they're called Radish something, and they exist. They caused me a really hard time until I remembered that I had an armband of calm which prevents confusion.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry, the radish enemies do still show up at the marsh. And they are still jerks. I'm glad that the game seems to be a lot more generous with chiropractic pots, because I generally go through a lot of uses just running away there.

I keep getting way, way farther than I used to with relatively lousy equipment, but I don't think I'm good enough to actually beat Table Mountain without the big game-breaker item.

I found a Japanese spoiler site and I'm trying not to ruin the game for myself, but I'm happy to see that bungee jumping at the Janus cliffs, which was supposedly scrapped from the original SNES version, has made it back in.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK, seriously is there a way to quick unequip all your equipped gear? These purple slimes are devestating me and my equipment and I'm shit in Table Mountain. (and btw, I've made it to Table Mountain a couple more times since last.)
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've made it to Table Mountain on my 3rd run, which is my 3rd run ever in Shiren of any form. I guess those who are experienced with the SNES version can guess how improbable an accomplishment that would be in the SNES version, and thus make some determination of the difficulty of the DS version. My first run ended in the mines due to traps in a monster room that I had pretty much cleared out with a blastwave scroll before I stepped on a summoning trap. My second run ended on floor 13 when I mistook a shopkeeper for a monster(he shows up red on the map!). Oops. Those radish thingies put me in some tight spots on my current run but I was able to avoid death by hiding in a jar of hiding and by using one of my two chiropractic jars.

I am having a blast so far. The options the game provides make it feel quite different from the PC roguelikes I usually play.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i never ever ever played roguelikes ever and shiren is my first and now i am obsessed with roguelikes

although i feel like its like going to vegas or buying a scratcher really

do you ever play shiren and think that you should probably just be pulling the crank on a slot machine?
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

daphaknee wrote:
i never ever ever played roguelikes ever and shiren is my first and now i am obsessed with roguelikes

although i feel like its like going to vegas or buying a scratcher really

do you ever play shiren and think that you should probably just be pulling the crank on a slot machine?


Ohh no, more like a Video Poker machine since at least Shiren gives you the ILLUSION your choices make a difference! Laughing
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I finally made it to Table Mountain. Made it fairly deep, too, but when I saw things were getting bad I stuffed my farsight bracelet into a storage pot. I think I should get a decent weapon sent back to storage before I risk taking the thing out for a serious run. I have good shields in about every storage hut now.
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Cossix
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

floor 23 is the furthest ive gotten
man i am totally genociding these chain guys
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daphaknee
just enemies now
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LordGek wrote:


Ohh no, more like a Video Poker machine since at least Shiren gives you the ILLUSION your choices make a difference! Laughing


oh okay just making sure

also last post was me fuck
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Swimmy
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Joined: 16 Sep 2005
Posts: 990
Location: Fairfax, VA

PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm getting kind of jealous of everyone who's having an easy time with this new version. My best run so far:
Quote:
On floor 26 of Ravine of Illusions, Shiren was defeated by hunger. (I managed to walk two steps before dying.)
Level: 23
HP: 131
Gitans: 5773
Experience: 12749
Strength: 13/13
Sword: Polearm+8
Shield: Iron Shield+1
Armband: Sleepless Armband
Score: 371271


Adventure journal so far: 13:11:54, 19 total adventures.

In my next two runs, I made it to floor 25. I was doing pretty good just now, but a stupid Gazer hypnotized me and made me eat my last riceball, my invincibility herb thingy, and my dragon herb. Combine those bastards and the dancing boxes that make you hungry and I'm just stumped. The dark hallways mean I never even see the gazers coming, I just stumble right into oblivion.

Then again, I guess most people here spent a lot more time with the original than I ever did. This probably is easy in comparison, but damned if I can beat it.
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dessgeega
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

so yeah, this new version is definitely easier, but it's easier for reasons i can't really fault: mostly it's due to enemy redistribution. the flying reaper monsters no longer appear in the summit woods, where ghosts can level them up; flame priests no longer appear on the same floors as tanks, whose cannon blasts can make them split into more enemies; daikon monsters, who can permanently reduce your strength, no longer seem to appear at all. this lends to a more even difficulty curve, where the original has a similiar difficulty curve periodically interrupted by trouble spots. i think i honestly prefer the latter, but the former's not bad (and much preferable to chunsoft's last release).

i also like many of the new enemies. the little assassins who hide and wait for you to approach them. the tiger guys who pick you up and chuck you into a monster house. mimics are now much more interesting: you can pick them up and carry them around, and they don't reveal themselves until you try and use the item they're posing as. the tengu on the early floors have been replaced with other enemies because the real tengu have been promoted to shapeshifters, whose true forms aren't revealed until they're killed.

on the plane back from california i reached floor 29, the final trial.
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Swimmy
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Joined: 16 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dessgeega wrote:
flame priests no longer appear on the same floors as tanks, whose cannon blasts can make them split into more enemies

Actually, these do still appear together, rarely. I had an unpleasant encounter in a monster house.
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jjsimpso
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Joined: 27 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man, those gazer enemies are a pain! Ditto for the polygons if you are low on riceballs. I died due to gazers on 25 or 26. I'm with Swimmy in that I'm not sure how I should deal with those bastards.

Anybody team up with the masseuse yet? That guy kicks ass. Unfortunately he died when I came down the stairs into a monster house.
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daphaknee
just enemies now
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i have zatoichi and the blinding girl in my party and they help SOOOO much
but they always wander away

i haven't gotten past floor 23 and i've played about 20 times

i always have to check myself so i dont throw my ds across the room
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LordGek
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jjsimpso wrote:
Man, those gazer enemies are a pain!


Yeah, I love how the Gazers make you do DUMB STUFF!
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Swimmy
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
At Table Mountain, Shiren successfully cleared the adventure!
Level: 30
Score: 1435861
Sword: Katana+1
Shield: Armor Ward+4
Armband: Pitcher's Armband

I found something like 6 or 7 jars of holding in a monster house, so I was able to pick up every item I found. By the time I got to the insect, it was just a matter of paralyse, attack, repeat. I had no healing items but I had two scrolls of need. It's weird, because for so much of this run I felt things were going very badly and I should start dumping things in storage, but by the tme I got to Table Mountain I decided to just make a mad dash for the end and see what happened.

Feeling very accomplished ITT.
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daphaknee
just enemies now
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

arrrghhhhh how could you
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Bulkor
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just beat Table Mountain too. Couldn't get my hands on the Bufu staff in that run but the sloth staff is already pretty nuts. Swimmy, I am pretty awed that you did that good having never played the game before this week.
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Six
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Joined: 15 Jul 2006
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

so, uh, i'm pretty sure i've been absurdly lucky with my first few runs. before starting, i did a few of fei's challenges as a primer -- i've only played the snes shiren for about an hour or so -- which also netted me some decent gear from the get-go. i'm fairly experienced with other roguelikes, so i played cautiously, but it was mostly smooth sailing; didn't run into any monster houses, and i stumbled upon an anticorrosive armband right before encountering corrosive slimes. i got up to the twentieth floor before succumbing, starving and weak, to a pair of those purple immobilizing dudes who pinned me in a hallway (i switch-staffed myself with one of them hoping that might break the hold, but no dice.)

on my second run, which i haven't finished yet, i've been happening upon a ton of nice items. as of the village before the swamp, i've got five holding pots, three chiropractic pots, three changing pots, armbands of calm, pitching, and happiness (which continuously confers experience as you walk), and a +1 mastersword upon which a wandering blacksmith conferred an extra +3 in one forging (which i assume is pretty unusual.) i'm actually kind of upset about this, since there's no way i'm going to make it (having never encountered most of the monsters in the coming sections.)

i guess my best plan of attack is to use up all of those changing pots before going back to the dungeon, hope i get some decent scrolls, and made a mad, giggling run for it.
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