Topic: I want my daddy!

[TheouAegis]

I decided to spend this weekend ripping sprites and fonts from Kikikaikai (Pocky & Rocky) 2 and 3 on the SNES for Spriters-Resource. Before I came here and started working on GMvania, I wasted much of recent years of my life ripping stuff for Spriters-Resource; it's an unrewarding, unsatisfying nepenthe for a loser like me.

Anyway, while Kikikaikai 3 is much cleaner looking than its prequel, has branching paths in each stage and the Option system (that's what they call your partner in that game) is pretty fun, it's obvious they nerfed the gameplay pretty bad. The Option Union makes the final boss the easiest boss in the whole game. Some Options like Shinobu make parts of the game a purification festival -- stand in one spot waving your wand deflecting all the enemies while Shinobu picks them off with her shuriken. The wand is seriously overpowered in Kikikaikai 3, able to kill most enemies in a couple hits and it nullifies most attacks, even some boss attacks. The Option Toss, while it can't be spammed like the jutsu in Kikikaikai 2, is still unlimited, whereas jutsu in Kikikaikai 2 was limited by how many orbs you had. And then there are Sayo's cards. Powered all the way up, they can plow right through enemy hordes at later stages and stop bullets too. Way too freakin' powerful if you can avoid getting hit (which decreases the card level).

When you compare it to Kikikaikai 2, the prequel was insanely hard! Two types of card upgrades -- a fireball or dual card toss -- which can be upgraded to slightly larger size and you have 8 hitpoints, whereas in Kikikaikai 3 you had to collect armor. And you could slide out of the way of enemy attacks. Sounds like it would be an easier game, but oh my god it's effin' nuts!. The wand does considerably less damage, and if an enemy charges at you, the wand lets you fend off the enemy (which I thought was the best part of the game, so creative!) but you risk getting pushed backwards into another enemy or off a cliff. One stage has a fight on a raft where Kappas drag you into the water and you lose SIX HITPOINTS! Most bosses have wide-area attacks (the final boss is a freaking joke). Many enemy attacks and most boss attacks can't be deflected by the wand. Even with an Infinite HP cheat, I still ran out of time fighting the last boss. A lot of the enemies continuously spawn, so you can't use guerilla tactics. Most of the fighting takes place on thin ledges or bridges or in tight corridors, so there's little room to dodge attacks. And the final stage has some giant creature in it that jumps in front of you and breathes fire, which is also as wide as the narrow corridor you have to pass through and spans the whole height of the screen. Seriously, how anyone ever beat that game without cheating blows my mind. It's an effin' nightmare! Which leads me to believe that Kikikaikai 3 was Natsume's apology to the world by dumbing down the difficulty considerably (while still keeping a cute story, although I prefer Kikikaikai 2's cute cut scenes).

So, what game series that you've played do you think the developers nerfed in order to make the games more accessible or less frustrating?

[VladCT]

Haven't really played it yet, but comboing in KoF XIII seems to be easier and the gameplay mechanics looks simpler compared to the previous installments, with the Drive system and a simple 5-stock bar along with the return to the bare-bones pre-2000 combat system (no strikers/quick swaps/etc.). No idea about XII though.

Oh, and from an entirely different series, I think Persona 4 is the easiest title in the series, for various reasons I've yet to completely recall.