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Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Cover, Box Art

My plan was to take my Gothic save with me over the weekend, so I could play it on my laptop. I copied it to my flash drive, but I left my flash drive plugged into my primary PC in Varaždin, so that plan is out of the picture. I thought about my options and then realized I have a challenge that’s sort of in progress, but I haven’t touched it in months – my Legend of Zelda challenge. Because of this, I got a Link’s Awakening rom and loaded up VisualBoyAdvance. Before I get to that, though, let me tell you a story or two.

Challenge Part 3, Link’s Awakening

Link’s Awakening is a Legend of Zelda game I actually played as a kid. As I already wrote on this blog, early gaming in Croatia was nowhere near the level of the West. We were always a generation or more behind the modern world when it comes to consoles and games and even then, we mostly bought pirated software and hardware due to a multitude of reasons.

So with all that in mind, how did I get my hands on an actual GameBoy and an actual game? I didn’t. I had a cousin who did.

Cousin #1, Waterworld and Link’s Awakening

Somehow, my cousin got his hands on an actual GameBoy and owned two games with it – Waterworld and Link’s Awakening. Both were in German and both were a bit advanced for us. At that time, Tetris and simple LED games were about the only thing we experienced as gamers, so an actual adventure game with puzzles, dialogue, equipment and a save option. All of those things confused the hell out of us.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Title

I decided to go with the DX Color version. It’s a straight graphical upgrade with nothing lost.

Because of that, I’m embarrassed to say, I considered Waterworld to be the better game. I considered it, but I still ended up itching to play Link’s Awakening more often. I guess good games are good no matter what you think. In hindsight, I probably annoyed the hell out of my cousin because I kept hanging out at his place. I was the annoying kid obsessed with games, and he was the cool kid who only plays to waste some time every now and then. I guess gaming was my hobby before I even owned a proper console of my own.

I remember an instance where we somehow managed to delete a saved game and then couldn’t understand why Link didn’t have a sword anymore. We actually looked at the manual, not understanding any of it and then tried to create two new save files, named Ganon and Zelda, because we thought that’s what we saw on the screenshots in the booklet, hoping that would somehow give as the sword. Yes, we actually though Zelda was the name of the character we controlled.

I remember how proud I was when I finally figured out where to get the sword on a fresh save. Even then, neither of us understood the concept of saving the game and continuing later. The game we played before that just didn’t have that feature.

Cousin #2 and just Link’s Awakening

I also remember my cousin’s GameBoy somehow just disappeared one day. I never found out where it went, but that was it for Link’s Awakening for a while. My cousin then got an actual Nintendo Entertainment System, with Super Mario, Wild Gunman, Duck Hunt and a few more games, but The Legend of Zelda was gone and we went back to regular, simple games, without dialogue or saved progress.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Intro

The game actually looks really nice, even on the big screen, thanks to a great style and VBA’s smoothing.

About a year later, another cousin, this one some 20 years older than me, also got his hands on a GameBoy and a copy of Link’s Awakening. This time, I managed to figure out you can save your game and continue later and I figured out the concept of equipment. I remember getting to the point where I could jump, lift rocks and even swim, so from what I know now, it’s might be that I was about half done with the game, but I never managed to complete it. My cousin only lent me the GameBoy for a few days and once the third set of batteries was dry, so was my battery fund, so that was it.

In any case, Link’s Awakening was the only Zelda game that I played when it was current and probably the only video game before the PlayStation was out that I played when it was current. Sure, I talked about owning a Genesis, but even that, as ahead of this region as it was, was still nearly a generation behind. It’s a nice memory to have.

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Babel Rising - Cover, Box Art

I invested two more hours into this and today, I managed to complete Babel Rising. First, let’s get one thing out of the way…

How Many Levels Are There in Babel Rising?

Fifteen. There are fifteen levels in this game. Considering the amount of actual content it has, that’s about ten to many. All you ever really need are one level for each of the four elements and one level where you can freely pick two out of those four and use them. Maybe one or two levels added to that, and that’s about it. Everything else in Babel Rising is just padding and completely unnecessary.

Babel Rising - Game Completed

Finally! Now just leave me alone!

Other than the fifteen campaign levels, there are three more survival levels with two degrees of difficulty per level.

Does Babel Rising Get Any Better?

It doesn’t. All the way to the final level, you are limited in which two powers you can pick and nothing new is ever really added to the game. At one point, siege towers are introduced which approach the central tower and spawn workers and priests, which start at already higher levels. At one other point, special sequences are introduced where the camera switches to the nearby sea and you use fireballs to destroy approaching ships. None of these two things add anything to the game.

Babel Rising - Final Level Objective

The final level. At this point, the objective really pissed me off.

The only thing that really changes is that the level objectives take longer and become more annoying to achieve. That’s it.

How Long Does it Take to Complete Babel Rising?

Steam says “3 Hours Played”. As soon as the game was over, I took a quick look at the menus to make sure I’m not missing anything and then I left it. I’ll tag it as completed in steam, uninstall it and try to forget about it.

I’m sorry, but Babel Rising is not at all a good game and even the developer approaching me in the comments won’t change my opinion. Babel Rising is uninteresting and unfun. There’s nothing saving it. There’s a DLC for it, called “Sky’s the Limit”, but from the description, it just seems it adds more padding and nothing substantial.

Babel Rising - Ships

Oh look, another completely irrelevant and empty addition.

So why did I complete it? Because it didn’t take long, it was pretty to look at and I just had an itch to get it over with. I’m weird like that. I’m sure some of you can name a game that did the same to you. I’d be interested to hear about it, so feel free to mention it in the comments. The silence is sort of starting to bug me 😀

So yeah. I’ve completed the game, but It didn’t give me enough to write about, so you get this. I’m sorry.

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Pokemon Platinum - Cover, Box Art

Pokemon Platinum is hard! This is something that absolutely needs to be said. Cynthia, the League Champion of this game, actually has all of her Pokemon around level 60. Level 60!

You Need to Evolve in Pokemon Platinum

Suffice to say, I had to do a lot of training. This time, I actually used the Exp. Share for training as well, hoping to get Gible to a high enough level so he’d be useful, for once, but even at level 50, I did not get a chance to use it properly. In fact, even Pikachu was for the most part useless, not to mention Buizel. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but the stat gap between unevolved and fully evolved Pokemon in Pokemon Platinum seems to be far bigger than in the previous games. My level 55 Pikachu had about 130 HP, while my Torterra reached 200 with a lower level.

Pokemon Platinum - Buizel

Thanks to Surf, Buizel was easy to train at the Victory Road.

Aaron and Bertha Are Easy

It didn’t take long before I was consistently able to beat Aaron, the first of the Elite Four and a bug user. Once Infernape got to the mid-50s, it could sweep through Aaron’s entire team. Soon after that, I could also sweep through Bertha, a Rock user. My Torterra was able to handle it, but I was also able to use Buizel here, once its speed got high enough to make it act first in battle. Before that, though, a single hit, even with a type resistance, would often nearly kill it.

If You Can Get Through Flint, You Have a Chance

Flint, a Fire user was the first hurdle I needed to get through. He was also the one I couldn’t get through until I got Buizel to the high 50s. Once I managed to do that, I was able to sweep through his three weaker Pokemon. His Magmortar and Houndoom gave me trouble, though, Magmortar far more so. I really couldn’t find a way to beat it without abusing items.

Pokemon Platinum - Flint

I finally beat you, you bastard!

Once I got through Flint, Lucian was relatively easy. I didn’t really have a proper type advantage against any of his Pokemon, but by using Flame Blitz, I could still sweep through most of them, thanks to Psychic Pokemon having low physical defense.

Cynthia is Hard!

Finally, I got to Cynthia and by this point, I decided to win it, no matter what. Most of my Pokemon got close to or even beyond level 60 thanks to my many failed attempts, so I was able to survive a hit or two on occasion. I used these opportunities to generously throw items at my team, mostly Revives and Hyper Potions.

Pokemon Platinum - Cynthia

I think Cynthia is my favorite Champion.

Cynthia’s Milotic and Garchomp and Togekiss gave me the most trouble, in that order. The other three, I basically one-shoted, but these guys burned through almost my entire Potion and Revive supply. I pretty much had to wait until their strongest moves ran out of PP before I could even act. Once they did, though, that was it. I won!

A Cheap Victory

Yes, it was cheap. I threw money and items at the League instead of winning it by grinding. I can live with that. Grinding is simultaneously my most- and least favorite part of Pokemon, depending on my mood and the general situation. In this instance, I just fought random battles for so long already, I didn’t feel like doing it any more. It’s not like playing for a couple of more hours would somehow made me more skillful or smarter, I just wouldn’t need as many potions.

Pokemon Platinum - Hall of Fame

It looks like I lied. I didn’t get even close to the 60s with most of my team. My memory is bad.

In any case, there’s only one generation left, and this one will be tough to incorporate into the challenge. As far as I understand it, the anime didn’t get to the League yet and we already have two games for the generation, with a next generation game (Pokemon X & Y) already announced. I’ll see what I can do. I might just go with Black 2 or White 2, since it technically is an upgrade of the first two, kind of like Platinum was an upgrade for Diamond and Pearl, etc. Sure, the story is a bit different, but it’s no more or less true to the anime. Right?

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Legacy of Kain: The Soul Reaver

I know the title of this posting is a major spoiler so I’ll get right to it. I’ve completed Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Bear with me, though. I’d still like to write about it.

 

Soul Reaver - Sun Dial

I had to use my new ability to turn the sun dial and open the passage.

I didn’t really feel like exploring anymore, so I went right for the next area after killing Dumah. I remembered there was a fork in the path next to the last portal I activated, so I went back there and took it.

Oracle Caves

I ended up in an extremely long and pretty linear area. Based on what the Elder God told me, it was supposed to be cold, so I guess the initial cavernous part of the region was supposed to be covered with snow or ice, but it’s really hard to figure it out on graphics alone. In any case, it was colorful, so I liked the region.

Soul Reaver - Oracle Caves

The walls might be ice or snow, but I’m not sure.

I basically had from room through room, connected with extremely long hallways and with a relatively straightforward puzzle in each one. One of them involved pushing blocks to open a door, another involved leavers or using force projectile to push blocks, etc.

The slightly annoying part was fighting a lot of those Morlock enemies. The developers apparently have a sick sense of humor, because they absolutely love placing them in blind spots, so they’d hit me, causing me to lose the Soul Reaver and face them without a weapon. What I ended up doing was just to ignore most of them and run past them.

Eventually, I got to a part that was even more linear. I just walked through a large hallway, interrupted by flashbacks of the past story events. Eventually, those flashbacks turned into premonitions, or hallucinations, Raizel was unsure about that. Finally, I got to the last room of the game, where I had to face Kain again.

The Second Battle with Kain

The second battle with Kain worked basically in the same way as the first one, except it was much harder, or easier, depending on how you look at it. Again, I had to hit him three times before he would hit me and teleport away.

Soul Reaver - Second Battle with Kain

The method to beat Kain is the same as the first battle, but it’s harder this time.

The part that was easier was that a single hit didn’t send me to the spectral realm this time. Instead, I could get through two or even three hits. The harder part was that he started out much further away from me, and with each hit, the distance increased. By the third hit, I wasn’t able to do it in time.

It took me about fifteen minutes of trying before I finally got to him in time and hit him for the last time. To be fair, I did spend a big part of those fifteen minutes trying to figure out the underlying mechanic and somehow trick the game my predicting where he would appear next. Eventually, I gave up on that and just got lucky enough to be facing the side of the room where he appeared.

To Be Continued

This might be a major spoiler, though I personally don’t think so. The game ends with a cliffhanger. I’m not saying the story isn’t complete, I’m saying the game literally shows you a black screen with “To Be Continued” written on it.

Soul Reaver - Final Scene

This is where the game ends. I’m not gonna tell you who the other guy is.

Now that I think of it, Defiance has Raziel chasing Kain to, so it’s quite possible the story stretches all the way to that game, which means it doesn’t end during the two games in-between.

In any case, Soul Reaver is completed. I think Soul Reaver 2 is next, or possibly Blood Omen 2. I need to check. Alternatively, I could also try the first game in the series – Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. I never did play through that one.

Is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Any Good?

Yes, yes it is. In fact, it’s an excellent game. It has graphics which haven’t aged to badly, fun and engaging mechanics, amazing music, sounds, atmosphere and voice acting and an extremely intriguing story.

The downside? Well, I guess the camera could use some work. Heck, it could use a lot of work. The thing is, this was a 90s game. Back then, the camera in most third person games needed a lot of work. It was a new concept. I can forgive a slightly annoying camera if everything else is great.

You should play Soul Reaver. You really should.

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Pokemon Ruby - Cover

It’s been some time since my last part of the “Follow the Anime” challenge, so I think it’s time to start planning for another one. Since I’ve recently attempted a Nuzlocke Challenge in Pokemon Emerald, I decided to go with Pokemon Ruby as my third generation game of choice.

The Pokemon

In the Hoenn region, Ash manages to acquire even fewer Pokemon than in the Johto region, with me being able to count only four in total. Three of those evolve during his travels through the region, but even so, that’s a tiny number. On the other hand, this might also mean I’ll have an easier time with outleveling my enemies. We will see.

The Starters in Pokemon Ruby

The three starters of the Hoenn region are Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip. While I had a tough choice in Pokemon Crystal, what with either having to start with all three of the starters via cheats or step away from the anime by only picking one, which is what I did in Crystal, there really is no choice in Ruby.

Pokemon Hoenn Starters

The hoen starters have the coolest grass type, in my opinion, though as a combatant, it still sucks.

From the three starters, Ash only gets Treecko. This means my choice is simple and I actually won’t have to cheat to have my roster follow that of the anime in this game. Of course, I’ll have to cheat to transfer Pikachu over, but that’s about it.

Treecko’s Moves

  • Pound
  • Quick Attack
  • Bullet Seed
  • Leaf Blade
  • Solar Beam
  • Agility
  • Leaf Storm

Treecko will evolve some time between gyms number four and five – Lavaridge and Petalburg. He doesn’t evolve to its final form during the Hoenn journeys.

Taillow / Swellow

The rest of the Pokemon are also relatively easy. I probably wont be able to catch all of them at the right moment, but outside of that, all of them are available in all three of the Hoenn games, I believe.

Pokemon - Taillow

I always need a flyer in my team.

The first of the remaining Pokemon is Taillow. I’ll have to catch him in Petalburg Woods if I want to follow the anime, though I could do it earlier in the game. This is well before the first gym, so I’ll have three Pokemon by the time I get there. Taillow will evolve into Swallow some time between gyms number five and six – Petalburg and Fortree.

Taillow/ Swellow’s Moves

  • Peck
  • Wing Attack
  • Quick Attack
  • Aerial Ace
  • Double Team

Of course, I’ll need a Pokemon which can learn Fly, so Taillow will have to sacrifice a move slot for that.

Corphish

Corphish will be my surfer, provided I don’t miss to Good Rod needed to catch it. Ash catches it on the way from Dewford City and gym number three, to Mauville City and gym number four. I can fish for it on routes 102 and 117, or even in Petalburg Town, but I need a good rod to do it, which I can get at route 118, so I’ll probably catch it in Petalburg, after I beat its gym, which is gym number five.

Pokemon - Corphish

I can only get Corphish a bit later in the game, after I get the Good Rod.

Corphish’s Moves

  • CrabbHammer
  • Bubble Beam
  • Vice Grip
  • Harden

Harden will, of course be replaced with Surf the first chance I get.

Snorutn / Glalie

Snorunt is the final Pokemon Ash catches in Hoenn and this happens between gyms seven and eight – Mossdeep and Sootopolis. It evolves to Glalie only after gym 8, so if Phanty has anything to say about it, Glalie will probably be useless throughout the game. Then again, it’s an Ice type, which means it might be useful against any dragon masters, so I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Snorunt / Glalie’s Moves

  • Icy Wind
  • Headbutt
  • Double Team
  • Ice Beam

With such a poor list of moves used in the anime, I’m seriously considering to abandon this “rule” I made up in the last game. I need variety in my team and it seems the team I’ll have in Ruby wont have it. We will see.

Pokemon - Glalie

Despite the lame appearance, an Ice type might be fun.

Torkoal

Though Snorunt is the final Pokemon Ash catches in Hoenn, I decided to save the best for last while writing this. Ladies and gentlemen, we might actually have a proper powerhouse in the Ruby part of the challenge. Torkoal is a tough Pokemon which I’ll be able to raise quite well, since I get it about half way through the game. I’m looking forward to this one.

Pokemon - Torkoal

I’m looking forward to getting this one.

Torkoal’s Moves

  • Flamethrower
  • Overheat
  • Iron Defense
  • Body Slam
  • Heat Wave

It’s a tough Pokemon with great moves. What else is there to say? It also get’s Flamethrower very early, so it will be kicking ass  throughout the game.

In any case, this is the plan for Pokemon Ruby. Right now, I need to figure out the best way to import my Pokedex and my Pikachu into a fresh Ruby save. Hopefully, it’s no harder than it was for Crystal, which I think was already hard enough.

 

 

 

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Pokemon Crystal - Road to Lance

Last time in Pokemon Crystal, I attempted the league with a level 45 party and failed horribly. It was obvious I had to train, so train I did.

As I already said, most of my Pokemon had it easy with training at the Victory Road. The cave mostly contained ground and rock Pokemon, with a couple of Golbats thrown in for good measure. My Pikachu simply destroyed everything with his Iron Tail, saving his Thunder and Thundershock for Golbat. Kingler handled it all with Surf and Crabhammer, once he finally got that awesome move. Heracross didn’t really have a super effective move to use, but thanks to his amazing power, he handled everything with regularly effective moves and the STAB bonus on his Horn Attack. Noctowl kicked ass with Confusion, but didn’t get to learn Extrasensory in time. Bayleef had it easy with Razor Leaf against the rock and ground types and a Headbutt or a Body Slam against Golbat.

Pokemon Crystal - Final Team

The state of my final team.

The only Pokemon I had issues with was my Phanpy. It was getting more and more obvious I won’t get any use out of him in this game. He can’t evolve yet, since that only happens later in the anime. I got it late in the game, so his stats are low and none of his moves are really useful. In addition to that, his speed is low, so he usually acts after the enemy Pokemon, which means he usually doesn’t act at all. I tried giving him the Exp. Share, but that didn’t really help, since he would have to outlevel the rest of my group to be effective enough.

Pokemon Crystal -Kingler vs Lance

Kingler steals the last hit!

After about 30 minutes of grinding, I finally got most of my team (Phanpy not included) to about level 50 and then I gave it a few more attempts against the Elite Four.  The first few attempts failed miserably, but this helped me learn which Pokemon the Elite Four actually have, so on my third attempt, I finally managed to get to Lance. After Karen, who used dark and ghost types mostly, Lance and his “dragon” types were easy. I say “dragon” because he used a Gyarados, a Charizard and an Aeordactyl, which Pikachu disposed of with a single hit of Thundershock. His other three Pokemon were all Dragonite, so I had some difficulty with them, but Heracross got rid of the first two and Kingler somehow managed to defeat the last one.

Kingler steals the last hit!

Champion for all eternity!

With that, Pokemon Crystal was won. As with Pokemon Yellow, I failed on my first try, just like Ash did, but then I went and won it anyway, just so I can get some closure. I know it would have probably been truer to the anime to just give up and go with the next region, but it just doesn’t feel right to leave the game at that.

Pokemon Crystal - Hall of Fame

The traditional Victory Screen. I think I’ll save these for later.

Technically, I could now also go through the Kanto region to beat the local gyms and then finally face Red, the trainer of the first generation, but I really don’t feel like doing that, since it has nothing to do with the anime.

Time for Generation III!