So far, pretty fun game. The single player experience is more fun than I'd anticipated, and lots of people loving the multiplayer. They seem to be "gating" levels and features for later patches, but they're free. It's an odd way to do things.
I just saw Mad Max and got blown to the back of my skull. Then the title card dropped and the movie destroyed me. "Manly" isn't really the right word. This movie made this sort of high octane action gender neutral.
I might copy this over into the reviews forum once I create a subforum for the Turbografx.
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The front of the box
This is a 2d platformer for the PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16), developed by Hudson Soft, that released in 1991. There is also a CD version released the next year, but I have the HuCard.
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The title screen, and one of the few times all characters are seen in their Arabian outfits. It’s a nice title image.
Introduction and Story
This is a game I got fairly recently, and decided to try out. At first the game seemed simple and average, but it actually gets pretty good, so I stuck with it and finished the game in a few days. This game’s fun stuff! Dorabian Nights is a fairly standard Hudson platformer, so it’s not one of the greats of the genre — Hudson platformers never were — but it is a good, solid game that’s fun to play. This game is a licensed platformer based on the popular, long-running childrens’ comic series Doraemon. As usual in Doraemon games, you play as Doraemon, the silly blue cat/alien/robot guy, and have to save the day. Unlike the SNES or N64 Doraemon games, you cannot also play as Doraemon’s human friends, only Doraemon himself.
In specific, this game is loosely based off of the animated movie of the same name as the game. One odd thing about this game is that even though it’s a licensed game based on a movie, from what I’ve read about the movies’ plot, almost none of that happens in the game. The movie is almost entirely set in the fantasy Arabian setting of the title; Doraemon and his child friends go on an adventure there. The girl character gets kidnapped and the others have to rescue her, etc. I hate ‘rescue the girl’ as a plotline, and you still have to do that here, but it’s different. In this game, in the intro cutscene the four children jump into four different storybooks, and Doraemon has to go into the books to rescue them. Each book is set in a different time period. The first is dinosaur-themed (just dinosaurs, thankfully, no cavemen!), the second ancient Japan themed, the third creepy/’horror’ themed, and the last Arabian themed. You rescue a child at the end of each book, with the girl last, but as they’re not playable in the game, this doesn’t matter as much as it would in the SNES games.
So, as far as the Arabian, or “Dorabian” (heh), setting goes, on the title screen Doraemon has a turban on and the four children are in Arabian outfits as they fly on a magic carpet, fitting the Arabian setting, but ingame he only wears this in world 4 and the final level. Similarly, his human child friends only have their Arabian outfits on on the title-screen image and in the second part of the end cutscene, too. It’s a little odd, but there’s only five levels in Arabia in this game. So yeah, don’t expect much of the movie here. Of course, games that try something different often end up better than movie games that strictly follow the plot, so it’s okay. Plus, I like the variety of the four worlds. Every level has a different setting, and they’re interesting to see as you progress. I’ll get back to that, the level variety is a strength of the game.
Level 1
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The first level. Doraemon starts out with just the stun gun, in the age of the dinosaurs.
Level Setup and Items
Another good point of the game is the mostly well-designed difficulty curve that starts out easy, but gets much more difficult in the second half of the game. By the end, the game’s a legitimate challenge. Dorabian Nights uses a map screen between levels, with a new map for each of the five areas. You can go back and play earlier levels whenever you want. The game has four worlds of four levels each and a final level at the end, so it’s not long, but it isn’t overly short either. The first world is very easy, the second fairly easy, the third pretty tough, the fourth about on par with the third or maybe slightly easier, and the last level is hard. Overall I had the hardest time with level 3-3, I died more in that level than any other. It had me stuck for some time; beating that level took a few days of leaving my TG16 on. I had to do that because you can’t save in this game, sadly, though you do have infinite continues… from the beginning of the world. Die in a level and you start it over, lose all your lives and it’s back to level 1 of the world. This may be a kids’ game, but it’s not as easy as you might think. The first SNES Doraemon game is a lot easier than this game, for sure, and all of the SNES Doraemon games have password save too. Still, I like the challenge in this game, and it’s probably more fun to play than most of the SNES games as well. The game is by a more prominent developer and it shows.
While the game is fun, replay value is somewhat limited. You can go and play the levels again after beating the game so long as you don’t turn it off, because the map screen is accessible if you start the game again, but there is little reason to; there are a few areas in earlier levels you can only access with items you get later in the game, but these only give you extra lives and such, so they probably aren’t worth it unless you really want to replay the game right away, or see absolutely everything. Ah well, it’s fun while it lasts.
In the game, you have 4 hits per life. Green things you can dig up give you a hit point back, if you’ve been hit, and these do respawn… but so do the enemies. Doraemon has five different weapons, one of which you only use during the final boss fight. You’ll get a new weapon in each world, pretty much. The four weapons you use through most of the game have some nice variety. The starting gun stuns enemies, the second is the best all-purpose gun, the third is a homing gun which fires slowly but the shots will curve to hit a target, and the last is a cape which sends enemies flying back to damage other enemies, which can be fun. You also can collect some other items which give you a shield, invincibility, and more. You get these items from doors; hit Up at a door to go in. Doors either have a powerup, a bonus minigame (for an extra life or health), or in a few cases some other usually-silly scene in them. There are never enemies in these rooms. The bonus rooms are amusing and add more variety to this already varied game. This is a slow-paced game, though — Doraemon moves slowly and there is no run. I don’t mind, though some people do. I think the game plays well despite its slow-ish pace.
Box Back
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The back of the case shows some the games’ level variety.
Visuals and Level Design
Graphically, the game looks like a standard late ’80s to mid ’90s Hudson platformer, with Doraemon in it. As with all of their platformers from the era the game is cute and cartoony and looks nice. The art is well-drawn and there’s more graphical variety here than in many cartridge games. Visually, the one downside is that, as usual on the system, there isn’t much parallax scrolling, unfortunately — only two stages have any, the rest are flat. one of these two is the first level, and it looks good, but you won’t see parallax again until one of the last levels, and that’s its only other appearance. The graphics are better than I thought they’d be; I was expecting something maybe more like the mediocrity of Bakusho Yoshimoto Shingeki, but this game looks better than that one for sure, and it’s also a lot longer and harder than that game is. The music is good, but not hugely memorable. Still, it’s catchy, fun stuff, and it held up well throughout my time playing the game.
As I said earlier, the game also has some nice gameplay and enemy variety. Almost every one of the 17 levels in this game is visually unique! Every single level has multiple enemy types you will only see in that level as well, and no enemies return when you go from one world to the next. As a result, Dorabian Nights is always mixing things up by introducing new enemy types and level styles. Many levels have one-off challenges or stage-design gimmicks that only appear in that one level. For example, there is one (and only one!) underwater level, one level where you ride a dinosaur for part of the level, one level where you shuffle along platform edges where one hit knocks you back down (this is 3-3, the hardest level), one level is loaded with these pots you can break, some of which keep spitting out enemies at you, and more.
The variety is great, but I kind of wish some of the better ideas appeared more than once — more later levels with platforming as hard as 3-3 might have been a good idea, for instance, or an animal or vehicle to ride on after the first stage other than those flying-carpet bits in the last level — but still, it works, and the game is challenging even without more levels like that. The final boss is definitely a good challenge, for instance. This is one of those games where the final boss plays differently from anything else in the game, and it uses that special 5th weapon as well, but I won’t spoil how it plays; I’d recommend playing the game instead! The boss took a while to beat, and I finally beat the game with 1 hit point left on my last life. Yes, really; it was pretty tense! I thought that a death would send me back to 4-1, but I think that actually you might be able to start from the last level, since it has its own screen on the level-select map, though fortunately I didn’t test it. That was close, though… I had to survive for quite a while with only that 1 hit point left! Tense stuff, but it was fun. The ending’s decent. A bit short, but good enough.
Doraemon Nobita No Dorabian Night Screenshot
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This is from the CD version, but the HuCard version looks the same here. This is the first level in ancient Japan.
Conclusion
Overall, Doraemon Nobita no Dorabian Nights is a simple but fun platformer, and I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I didn’t think this would be all that great, but it’s a fun game for sure. It’s not as good as the Bonk games, but after them it’s better than some of Hudson’s other platformers for the system. The game has decently nice graphics, lots of variety (I really like that every single level has a unique look and feel to it; that’s not common in a game like this!), and good level design. It’s a good game. The main flaws are that the game should have had saving (having to leave the system on for this long is annoying), I’d have liked to see parallax in a lot more levels than just two, and the difficulty is uneven — why is 3-3 the hardest level (other than maybe the final boss), for instance? And why is the desert stage, 4-3, super easy, while the other levels in world 4 are a reasonable challenge? Ah well. The game is pretty good, these issues aren’t too bad. The game is also slow paced, something some people really dislike, but I don’t mind this; as with, say, the Bonk or Tempo games, the slow pace fits the design well. I give the game a solid B.
On one final note, there is also a Turbografx CD Super CD version of the game that released in 1992, a year after this HuCard version. Sadly, it is an INCREDIBLY lazy port — Hudson just redid the intro and ending with voice acting and more animation, redrew some graphics to make them look a little better, put in vocal songs on the title screen and in the new end-credits sequence (yes, there are actually credits on the CD version), and added some voiced sound effects. That’s it, no other changes. It even still has chiptune music ingame. That’s not an issue with this version, though, just with Hudson failing to improve the later CD port much at all. Anyway, this game is fun, try it out if you like platformers.
Following the rather annoying trend of naming new games in a series in confusing ways, we have the upcoming Doom, which is Doom 4, but it isn't, because it's Doom now. But, it's not Doom, it's a reboot, called Doom.
Isn't Doom 3 also a reboot? They called that Doom 3, even though it was a reboot, right?
Read that article, and all you'll find at first is a description of it as a common chemical reused and repurposed throughout many living creatures. As this is incredibly common (numerous chemicals are reused and repurposed throughout living things), it doesn't sound particularly more noteworthy than any other chemicals. Then you read the "conjecture" section (which seems to have been a concession Wikipedia made to the weird cult), and things go off the rails, with description of mechanical elves and otherworldly beings mixed in with the notion that this chemical is linked to "higher perception" and so on. As reigned in as that section is, the implication seems to be that this chemical, in drug form, is somehow unlocking psychic stuff.
If you go too far beyond this initial relatively safe description, you find this:
Just... check out a few of the reviews. There is a long tradition on Amazon of wanna-be comedians first testing their craft with comedic reviews (some hilarious... some... needing some work), and this book is no exception. What IS exceptional is how quickly you lose the ability to discern which ones are genuine and which ones are mocking, almost as some mad parallel to how detached from reality this drug can make someone. Going a bit further down the rabbit hole you'll find whole communities have popped up with the mad fervor normally reserved for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the god made man who WALKS AMONG US NOW.
What the hell is going on here? Why am I listening to nose-ring guy wearing the most boring shirt outside of a 1950's prison? "Spirit molecule"?
You'll quickly find they aren't being metaphorical with that title. They literally believe that DMT isn't just a drug that functions as a gateway, it is, in actual fact, REAL spirit particles, the stuff souls are made out of, "embedded in all living things". They keep repeating that last part there, as though it's the ultimate proof of just how magical it is.
As commenter tomfable at Cracked states:
Quote:PLEASE DONT STATE FACTS BASED ON INTERNET ARTICLES WHEN IT COMES TO DMT. AND PLEASE KNOW:
First of all, to all those who think DMT is a drug, you're wrong. The spirit molecule is much more than a substance that makes you hallucinate. In order to understand this, you'll have to observe it on the 5th dimension (or in other words, experience it). In our world we have hundreds or even thousands of trees or maybe even plants (probably many undiscovered) containing enough DMT for use. Each one of those sacred trees is a teacher, with knowledge rooting thousands of years ago and a unique lesson for every individual who asks to learn. Afterall plants have probably even been here before us, why not choose them as your teacher?!
I think it's great that the fabled Tom here thinks that plants have "probably" been here before us. Someone who paid that much attention in biology/theology (BOTH of which make it clear they came first) is certainly someone we can trust to inform us about 5th dimensional meta-chemistry and which ents we need to listen to.
That's the part that gets me. Pot heads can get a bit annoying about their particular crusade at times, but generally I'm on the side of legalization purely because punishing an addict solves nothing. These days, most pot heads don't try to argue the hippy dippy "weed reveals the truth of the soul" stuff and stick with "I enjoy it so I'd like to do it without getting arrested" part, which is basically all you need. Most alcohol drinkers will say the same (outside of a few bizarre rants from the lazy fat bums of the world). These ones are WAY worse about this thing than ANY other drug promoter I've ever dealt with online though. There's trying to sell me on an experience, and trying to sell me my SALVATION, and these people are certainly in the latter camp. Most of the time, just saying no is enough, but I get the distinct impression DMT promoters are just crazy enough to want to trick people into taking it "for their own good". I'd be wary of this group.
hey y'all I'm here to tell you about ~*BLOODBORNE*~, a game I ignored for many weeks because all the preview videos on Polygon made it look boring. There was no zest, it was just some cookie-cutter Victorian hack-n-slash. For reasons unspecified, I picked up a copy today on impulse.
Fuck, 65 bucks for a PS4 game?! And with Gamestop, it used to be that if you didn't like a game, you could take it back within one week and exchange it for another. For a full refund, maybe not cash, but store credit at least. But now, taking it back means I'd only get half that in store credit, what the fuck Gamestop?!
Anyway, ~*BLOODBORNE*~ is a game where you go on and fight baddies and harvest their ~*BLOOD*~ so you can get ~*BLOOD ECHOES*~. If this sounds like a shit Anne Rice novel, well... just be glad there aren't any rock star vampires. Yet. You start the game pretty much unarmed, and you have to fist-fight a large wolf. Inevitably he kills your ass, so they send you to some Dream world, to let you equip some weapons to go back and beat the snot out of him.
So I get to select a Melee weapon and a Projectile one. Okay sure fine, I'll take this big saw thingy here. I have a choice between two guns, no idea how either of them work. Fuck it, flip a coin, good enough. Now let's get this show on the road. LET'S GO KICK THAT WOLF'S ASS. Wait. How do I get out of here? So I'm running all around the Dream-world like a chump trying to figure it out. I finally google it, and you have to go to some random gravestone to escape, wtf. How was I supposed to know that? I kind of wish video games gave stupid people like me more direction to figure out wtf I'm doing.
Okay so I get summoned back up and YEAH, TIME TO ICE THAT MOTHER FUCKING WOLF. Ow, hey, fuck, stop that. Oh shit, he bit me the third time. I'm dead. My character crumples to the ground.
...yes, I died. Thanks, game. So I gathered. So I'm taken to a loading screen that says
and it takes a minute to load. C'mon, hurry up. I want to play again. Whew, okay, here I go again, let's take this wolf dow-
...you son-of-a-bitch. Okay, I'm still getting used to the controls, that's alright. Now if I could-
I KNOW I FUCKING DIED, I SAW MY CHARACTER DO IT, STOP
tanoehutrneouhrsaepuhcrRRRRGGHHH
So after maybe ten tries, I finally get the bastard. Frustrating, but manageable. So I pop out of whatever castle I'm in and get on the streets. Everything has a brown/red/gray tint. Boring aesthetic, boring color scheme. Where's the personality to this game for Christ's sake?? Okay, here's some townsfolk and they're a little easier. Dodge, slash once-or-twice, bing bang boom... blah.
I'm at a part where there's a big fuck-off mob of people marching the streets with torches and pitchforks and whatever else they could arm themselves with. Sounds pretty cool, right? ...no, it's not cool. It's fucking
Okay, this hack saw thing I've been using is pretty good, now let me use my gun. I'm at the point where I really need a projectile weapon. ...wait, where is it? I pressed the left D-pad like the game told me to. My Helsing stand-in just kind of stands there, worthlessly patting his ass-pockets and then looking back at me, like he's shrugging and saying "Well, you tell me ol' Beanjo."
wut. Open inventory, go to weapons... yep, it's right there. Two menu options:
USE (grayed out)
DISCARD
...I paid good fucking money for this gun! Now I can't use it?! As I kill enemies, I keep getting these Bullets, but I guess my gun can't use them? Fuck, should have chosen the other gun. Maybe I can go back to the Dream world and exchange it. I think there was a portal back there... YES! Okay, here I am, now where was that weapons shop? ...it's gone. fuck. I'm saddled with a projectile I can't use, constantly teased by getting the wrong bullets and making the wrong choice. Well fuck damn it, how was I supposed to know?!
God fucking damn it ~*BLOODBORNE*~, you're getting on my nerves. Should have never listened to the guy at the auto tire shop.
3/10 so far, let's hope it improves. How the fuck did this get good reviews anywhere? ...oh, right. Video games reviews are worthless. Someone get those Gamergate morons on the line and tell them to fight the real injustice, websites like Polygon and IGN pretending that shit like ~*BLOODBORNE*~ is not only passable, but purportedly entertaining.
Okay, I'm having issues with a hard drive, and I wonder if anyone can help.
I have Windows Vista, and there are 4 hard drives in the system (two 320GB drives, a 500GB, and 2TB). One of the four SATA ports on the motherboard broke off several years ago, so I got a PCI SATA card for one of the drives. The 500GB drive is the one attached to the PCI card. I recently got a 4TB external drive, which uses USB.
Some time (I don't know how long, for a while I didn't notice the drive was missing... :p) after moving a bunch of stuff over to the new drive, the 500GB drive, the one attached to the PCI card, has vanished from Windows. Neither the drive nor any of its partitions exist in Disk Management, and the disk does not appear in the Device Manager either. The drive isn't listed in the system BIOS either, but since it's attached to a PCI card and not the system, that might be expected. The drive IS listed in the PCI card's RAID-settings BIOS, which is by Silicon Image, but you can't do anything there except set up RAID options, which I'm not using. So I knew the drive wasn't totally dead, something (I have no clue what) just went very wrong.
Next, I tried attaching the drive to the motherboard, using the SATA port that the 2TB drive is on (I forget which of the two physical 320GBs is the boot drive, so I didn't want to mess with those unless I have to). I didn't attach the 2TB to anything, just left it unconnected. This... caused Windows to fail to correctly boot -- the screen went black after the Windows logon screen (where you choose an account and enter your password). I could get the Task Manager to open and get to a few things through that, but it didn't really work. This was quite concerning to say the least.
After this, I re-hooked up stuff the way it was at first -- 2TB to motherboard, 500GB to PCI card. If the problem is something relating to the PCI card, I don't want to mess up some other drive too by hooking it up to it...
Most recently, I tried a Linux boot DVD that I made several months back, to see if I'd get any farther there. Here things get interesting -- Linux can see the 500GB drive! Now, the 500GB drive has three partitions on it, two about 220GBs and one about 9GB. Linux could see, and access, two of those partitions, the small one and one of the 220GB ones. I copied some files off of both partitions to another partition and it worked fine; access was slow, but it's doing it off of an OS on a DVD, so maybe that was a factor. Anyway, it worked with no problems.
Now, the third partition, called Amur, is an issue; Linux can't mount that drive. It can see the partition name and the amount of data on the partition (~120GB full of ~220GB), which is correct, but can't open (mount) the drive. Maybe this is related to why Windows can't see the drive at all? The OS gives the error message "This location could not be displayed. Sorry, could not display all the contents of “Amur”: Error when getting information for file '/media/ubuntu/Amur/$RECYCLE.BIN': Input/output error". Hmm.. interesting; I don't know what it means, but it's something different anyway. Is there any way of fixing this and gaining access to the drive again?
Going back to Windows afterwards, the drive still doesn't exist in either the Disk or Device Managers. Other partition management programs in Windows cannot see the disk either.
So uh... any help here? I'd prefer to not lose the data on the drive (I could at least copy over the two partitions Linux can see to another drive, but not the other one of course), but anything that gets the drive working again would be great.
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