Messages

1

Modding / Re: Aquaria: Sacrifice v1.04

« on: September 21, 2009, 08:22:57 am »

Ohhhhhhhh my goodness.  This is so spiffy!  I was transitioning computers and starting school again when this came out, and now I finally have time to play it!

Thank you so so much, TheBear.  I have been itching to get my uncharted Aquaria on ever since I beat it the first time, and this wonderful mod delivers, and then some.  The storyline is good, the mechanics are interesting and balanced (although, it's a little odd still remembering most of the recipes and just making them offhand).  I also like teenage Naija the most of anything in it so far; she never seemed like a personable character in Aquaria proper (a consequence of amnesia, I'm sure), and this expands on her quite nicely.

I have yet to finish, so I haven't looked at any of the bug/reaction posts here, but here's a few things off the top of my head:

SPOILERS

1.  Is there any way I could have arranged to fight all the laser-squid in Old Fred's place?  The Walker sucked me out the tube, but I totally could have taken those sucka-fools.

2.  There are a few typos/aesthetic changes (word flow and usage) I would make to the script, if you would like input on it.

3.  The speech interface, while awesome, doesn't support the USB gamepad I use for every other aspect of play; I still have to use the mouse.  Is this any easy fix, that you or I could do?

4.  Turtle menus are excellent!

Props also for making it impossible (I think) to fall off the side of the screen like you can in The Veil proper.  Here's a picture of me hanging on the roof of the world!

2

Games / Re: "Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet"

« on: July 16, 2009, 10:16:44 pm »

Looks redacted... 


However, this one is probably about the same:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=975Zw8BJ3Vg
and looks quite ridiculously spiffy!

3

Games / Re: Eternal Daughter soundtrack

« on: July 14, 2009, 10:46:09 pm »

This is excellent!  I am nearly finished with the game, and having the soundtrack in slightly-improved format is pretty spiffy.

Although, the Shulin Blue-Mountain track just doesn't sound quite right without the dull yells of dying ice-cats in the background.... 

4

Games / Re: Eternal Daughter...I kind of can't play it...

« on: July 09, 2009, 08:10:18 am »

Hey guys, few questions.  There's a couple places where it looks like I should be able to do a crouch and slide, if only I was a little smaller:  one in the room where I get the idol of the dungaga god, below the bestiary, and one underwater, where I got the Sigil weapon upgrade, right near Hume.   Do these do anything?  The door to where Hume used to be is still closed; does it ever open?  And, is level 9 the highest power you can get to?  It seems to be so.


Hints?  I have the walkthrough, but I am loathe to use it; I have yet to need it.




(Yes I know, double post, but I already updated the last one, and this one actually has questions in it.)

5

Games / Re: Eternal Daughter...I kind of can't play it...

« on: July 06, 2009, 11:42:25 pm »

Xaig, which version are you using?  I downloaded this version:

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=4017.0

and it worked no problem.  I don't know whether it's a DOS game or not, but if it is, DOSBox might be useful to you:

http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1


The second gauntlet leading up to the second rider is vastly more annoying, since you can't avoid the bugs or prepare for the bunnicorns as easily as before.  Grr!

Added:  Man, this game has like, plateaus of difficulty.  Up to Hume was incredibly hard, then it evened out for a while after that.  Then the first of the three riders was tricky, but the last two weren't too bad.  Now I've beat the giant crab to get underwater, got the helmet, the sigil, the familiar, and a few odd health/power upgrades.  Aaaand the slimy area leading up to the plant-like god, with all the fire-breathing statues, is murderous.  There's no save points anywhere near!  At least the dungaga god wasn't too bad; but the area you access with the scale, with the flame-throwing flying merpersons, is toasting me.

Also, level 7 power = electric whip?  Badass!

6

Games / Re: Eternal Daughter...I kind of can't play it...

« on: July 03, 2009, 09:50:42 am »

I had left all my saves at a different computer, so I downloaded it here to see how far I could get.  Interestingly enough, you're right; early sections of the game were ridiculously easy compared to when I first stared playing.  I got back to where I was before in something like a fifth of the time.  And, thanks to the fact that you can reach one of the Lorian forest heart containers by injury-bouncing off a leaf-dude once you have the double-jump, and the fact that you don't need water-breathing to get to the high launcher, the wall-jump boots, and the second Lorian forest heart container, I was at full top row +1. 

Finally beat Hume!  Woo!  Also, the Hammer is bitchin', since I can finally attack upwards without jumping.

How do I get by that green blobby fellow blocking the way in the slime area?  I already beat their moldy old king (bats are your frieeeeends, yesss).  What's he saying?  (What's that, Lassie? Timmy's down the well again?  )

Aaaaaand now I'm at the first of the Three Riders, with all the bugs, just after going through that tedious gauntlet with a save only at the beginning.      Fortunately, I didn't waste too much time before figuring out I could slide under the statues' tridents, instead of jumping over them while everyone and their uncle is trying to alternately stab, gore, or otherwise maim you.

7

Games / Re: Eternal Daughter...I kind of can't play it...

« on: July 02, 2009, 12:59:16 am »

Holy crap, this game is hard.  It's like when I played Megaman X for the first time, but I'm just not getting better at it at hardly at all.  Maybe I could get some pointers, see if I've missed some vital move that lets me toast Hume instead of him continually mopping the floor with me?

I've got 3 strength, 50 ammo of the level 1 dagger things, the double jump from the mines, and a full top row of health.  I can get to the Sigil ammo (which looks spiffy!) underwater just outside Hume's area, but only just; it's not long enough to get back out to air with it before I die.  Have I missed a water-breathing upgrade or something?  I remember there being a health upgrade back in the very first area, but it was blocked off by some metal equipment I couldn't break through (not the blue bricks more common).  And now, I can't jump enough to get back there from the woods.  Is it permanently out of reach?

I get that the general idea with Hume is to stay roughly in the middle as he jumps back and forth over you, avoid the drill, and pop the purple things with the dagger.  My main issue is that the angle of attack of the bubbles is too high to start with to pop them easily.  It's very tricky to jump, then press up and allow enough time after you've pressed it to press Ctrl for the dagger shot to take; most of the time I get my usual ineffectual swipe.  And of course, you can't hold a charge shot while you jump, heaven forbid.   By the time the bubbles have followed me for long enough that they're down where I can dagger them without jumping, there's too many, and Hume has me cornered to the point where I can't get out because the injury immunity period is so damnably short.

Am I doing things completely wrong? Have I missed critical upgrades?  Am I even following the guy that the Elder sent off in the right direction?  Or is it just really, exceedingly difficult?

(Yes I know this is an old thread.  It gives some background.)

8

Gameplay / Your Veil Moment

« on: June 30, 2009, 12:38:46 am »

What was it like for you when you first broke through The Veil?  I remember Alec mentioning somewhere that he was particularly touched at what some players have told him about their Veil moments, but I can't seem to find that sort of thing compiled anywhere.

For me, it was just wonderfully lightening (in several ways).  I had just come from trying to explore The Abyss without the Sun Form, and I had been feeling the weight of darkness and the uncountable fathoms of water and rock above me; when I entered this area, full of life and light, and saw that huge flat border on the minimap, I rushed for the surface.  Naija's own experience, and my thrill of discovery and exploration, made that instant my favorite part of the game.

Incidentally, I started this thread as kind of a pet petition.  See, the first time I broke through, Naija did a backflip diving up out of the water, in slow motion.  On subsequent playthroughs, I was surprised to see that this wasn't a default action.  Most times, you just sort of slump back into the water; it's actually really hard to do a backflip on purpose, I found.  The idea of Naija bursting through into the air, arms upreached, to fall carefree into the water on her back, just strikes me as so much more in keeping with the theme of the moment.  So you tell me:  did you backflip, that first time?  Does it make a difference?  I would like to see something that makes it so if you're X degrees within being vertical when you first break the Veil, it automatically has you backflip.  Since I bet most players rush at the surface head on the first time anyhow.  Thoughts?

9

Modding / Re: Aquaria - Sacrifice

« on: June 24, 2009, 10:17:46 pm »

You could categorize the foods by effect, and then put concealment over them.  Like, have all the healing things in one place, speed effects, regeneration, and miscellaneous buffs in their own locations, and rank their price by usefulness.  That way, you won't know what you're buying, but you know if it costs five crystals, and is in the 'Special' section, it's going to be a Magic Soup or a Hot Borscht or something.

This (excellent!) video makes me wonder two things:

1.  Are you using only the music from Aquaria Proper, and is there going to be music for every place?  I've always felt like the various bosses' music could be a little... spicier.

2.  Do the item and food vendors only have items and foods from Aquaria Proper?  Or are there super-secret-brand-new foods and items?

10

Support / Re: Using gamepad with Aquaria triggers screensaver

« on: June 23, 2009, 09:23:32 pm »

No, you're not.  I use a Saitek P2500 Rumble Force gamepad for Aquaria, and have the same problem running on XP.  I got into the habit of nudging the mouse every now and then (familiar from watching long YouTube/Hulu videos) or just disabling the screensaver while playing.

It's not as bad as it could be; when the screensaver activates, Aquaria minimizes and action stops.  Using an N64 emulator, I have to try and pause as fast as possible when the screensaver comes on when I forget to get it, or I get friggin' murdelated in Smash. 

11

Gameplay / Re: rukh egg

« on: June 15, 2009, 06:17:57 am »

In terms of dying a lot, I would recommend a change in overall strategy.  Ten seconds of invincibility is not much, especially for the amount of work that goes into making the damn things.  What generally works best for me is having just loads of different +1, +2, and +3 health food items on hand, cheap easy things that I can stock up on anywhere and spam for health while pausing during boss fights.  Especially good is anything that gives health and regeneration or defense and regeneration, although regen. alone is still good to a lesser extent.  Hard bosses or areas get as much energy form shots in as short a time as I can put out; I perhaps had an easier time of this with a USB game controller, but you can take firepower boosters along to supplement that.

Two things I would recommend in particular:

For the mantis, stock up on lots of health items as I say, and then avoid binding the bombs at all.  By that time, I had the jellyfish suit, and I would just let the middle bomb come down and hit me, making it explode, just after I had fetched him down with a briar pillar.  If I got low on health, I could just hang near the bottom of the bubble and avoid the bombs for a bit.  Coming to the forums after beating the game and reading about the "standard" way to beat him just sounds much, much trickier.  Really, once you get the jelly suit, any fight becomes a matter of patience and avoidance, if it doesn't wound your pride too much.

For training in dual form, here's a nice tactic:  Whenever there's a lull in the action, get into nature form and shoot three briar pillars at a wall.  Switch to dual form and shoot them; they count as kills.  Now you're charged and ready to go.  This works out particularly nicely in the Final Gauntlet, since they tend to set up points of high-numbers low-strength enemies in waves, interspersed with more heavy fire from a few bigger things.  The scream takes care of everything but the big guys, and brings them down to a few hits' worth of mop-up.

Edit:  Eh heh.... I totally didn't read any of the other threads you've posted, where most of this stuff has come up already.  Oh well!  : |

12

Modding / Re: Are you using eyeglasses? Want to upgrade to the new type of eyeglasses?

« on: June 14, 2009, 09:11:20 am »

Ohhhhhhhhh. 

They can't just delete the whole thing? 

13

Modding / Re: Are you using eyeglasses? Want to upgrade to the new type of eyeglasses?

« on: June 12, 2009, 09:38:08 pm »

Whaaaaaaaaaat the heck.

?

14

Modding / Re: Aquaria - Sacrifice

« on: June 09, 2009, 07:39:52 am »

I just want to get it out there that I really appreciate all the effort that you're putting into this mod.  I haven't played Aquaria since my third playthrough; while that has a lot to do with school workload, the game also does have limited replay.  Seeing that there are people out there, willing to make the game keep going with skill and effort that are beyond me, is thrilling.  Thank you!

Also, I am stoked  at the idea of a difficulty setting (do people still use stoked? I do.).  If you do end up putting one in, or having someone else do it, I would opine in favor of an Exceedingly Hard option.  I've only ever played the game with a USB game controller, and it always struck me as quite easy.  Seeing something as hard/ harder than Hiro's Big Energy-Form Battle mod, with the extensiveness of a miniature Aquaria Proper, would be incredible.

15

Gameplay / Re: Energy temple: completely stuck.

« on: March 13, 2009, 02:22:33 pm »

Actually, Zeke, there is only ONE way out from the Energy temple, and that's past the boss.
Seeing when you in the beginning 'fight' the spirit and gain the energy song, the door closes behind you, making you proceed.
Only later on, when you revisit the energy temple you can open it again through a nearby orb holder with the orb in it.

Huh.  That's weird.  I guess in this one instance, they wanted to be sure they player went ahead through the semi-tutorial temple, instead of getting confused/confounded and backing out before fully understanding the form.  If that's the case, it sounds like it could be set up a little more clearly.  Hmm....