/vr/ - Retro Games

Defcon 5, is the most cryptic and obtuse game I have ever played. Total garbage. And I actually tried playing it properly.

>>8323989
can it really be that bad if it made it into a fifth game?

>>8324040

>>8323927
I love Dark Savior, its heavily flawed but also a one of a kind experience

>>8323927
Cool game, one of those flawed but playable and interesting titles we never see anymore.
Why don't you articulate your thoughts on it a little more instead of just trying to sound like an angry youtuber?

One day i saw a meme about Jack from Dark Savior, that he was the most cursed character in the game, does anyone have it?

>>8323927
Street fighter style fighting a bunch of pigs with a dragon man on your head is the best. I love how they give you bonus points for fighting while you're carrying someone.

>>8324692
Dont you mean the stupid myth about the 6th Parallel where Jack is revealed to be resppnsible for the time loop?

>>8323927
One of the very first games I got on the Saturn.

I really enjoyed the story and the fact your choices at the beginning change the story for the rest of the game. The battles were dumb though.

>>8324778
Certainly beats all the lame turn based stupid random encounters from other jrpgs

>>8323927
I love Dark Savior, very interesting game. The parallel system is cool, and I liked how you could capture monsters even if I almost always stuck with Garian anyway.

>>8323927
Most recent case of that happening.
It was odd. So odd in fact that my wife stopped what she was doing and watched me go through it in full.

>>8324873
D is a great game that I enjoyed but never want to even consider playing again.

>>8323989
>Data East
I actually learned recently that Japan uses the term "kusode" to descrdibe thwir games, the "de" being "Data East". It's used for games that are not necessarily good or bad, but have such bizarre and obtuse mechanics that people struggle to understand why anyone would have designed it that way.

>>8324873

>>8323927
I really wished the controls worked properly in this

Curious but who owns the rights to Dark Savior and Lady Stalker after climax went defunct?

>>8325121
git gud

>>8325167
>Curious but who owns the rights to Dark Savior and Lady Stalker after climax went defunct?

Was Dark Savior part of the same universe as Time Stalkers/ Climax Landers? Time Stalkers has Nigel, Lady, characters from Shining in the Darkness and Shining Force as well. Basically a collection of characters made by Climax. I don;t remember if it had any Dark Savior references?

>>8324610
Dont get me wrong despite the jankyness I do look at Dark Savior in a positive light I was just afraid that if I started the thread discussing the game right away it would seem too much like just a Dark Savior thread when I wanted to give a chance for other games to be discussed.

>>8323927
gyromite without rob

>>8325204
No, I don't think so.

>*filters you*
nothing personel kid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEWAvQ1NFME

>>8325790
the music makes it fun to keep trying. it ended up being my favorite part of the game

>>8325790
As someone with a massive fear of heights this still gives me ptsd.

>>8324776
But i saw this before i playing Dark Savior...

>>8325790
Rainbow Ride with the worst control and worst camera.

>>8325204
No

>>8324873
Literally nothing else quite like it. To this day, I'm shocked nobody else tried to create a game that you have to beat from top to bottom. No saving whatsoever. A truly continuous experience. The atmosphere and story, combined with that makes it truly special.

>>8323989
these devs went on to make medievil iirc

>>8323927
In Dark Savior's Index file on the disc there's the message on pic related. If you put it on google translate you get:

>Be careful of spoilers! There is a secret behind it from here. Don't look at those who want to discover it for themselves:

>Something in the room with the falling door on the starboard route of the Sea Bandits ...
>If you reach the captain's room within 3 minutes and run backwards on the ship again ...
>When you press the button while riding the minecart ...
>Calculator in your notebook? ...

Does anyone knows what hints 1 and 4 mean? I assume 2 is about the Love Love Racer minigame and 3 about switching POV perspective during the minecart section but I'm lost about the other two. I guess hint 1 could possibly be about the box shortcut through the ship exterior but am not entirely sure. Really curious about what "Calculator in your notebook? ..." could possibly be referring to. Would probably be helpful to have better translations.

>>8325179
You’d expect inputs to work when you change directions

>>8327575
uh... but they do?

>>8327612
Have you played it?
You need to come to a near stop before you change direction, otherwise you just keep moving in the same direction in spite of the input you used
It’s very frustrating sometimes

>>8327642
>Have you played it?
more times than I can count. if you did git gud you would be run jumping the entire game

>>8325790
Anyone that gets filtered by the platformer is low IQ. I feel the mine cart stage is worse honestly

>>8327717
>Anyone that gets filtered by the platformer is low IQ.
>feel the mine cart stage is worse honestly
you mean the one where you are jumping around over platforms like... you know... a platformer?

>>8327730
thank the lord for savestates

>>8326574
>Literally nothing else quite like it.
You're fucking joking right? It's just a two hour Myst clone banking on the FMV craze in the 90s with the only unique aspects being a real time clock and at the time taboo subject matter for a game.

>>8327517
"Calculator in your notebook" refers to the secret calculator in the menu
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/saturn/197050-dark-savior/cheats
>Hidden Calculator
>In-game, open the Bounty Hunter Handbook item/equip/status menu with X
>Effect Code
>BH Special Calculator press simultaneously: D-pad-Right + Y + Right Trigger

>>8327517
>>8328168
Here's an image of it from https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/197050-dark-savior/78696554

>>8328168
>>8328175
holy shit. it's amazing that I'm still learning new shit about this game 25 years later

thanks anon

>>8328175
>made in rajeen
SOVL

>>8328180
No problem. What really blew my mind is all the hidden conditions the game has for capturing enemies. Under certain conditions (like using the right captured enemy in a fight) you can capture them at the beginning of the first round. And some enemies can only be captured under some conditions. This thread talks about it:
https://segasaturngroup.proboards.com/thread/11186/dark-savior-question-manual-error?page=2

>>8328187
The most recent GameFAQs guide gives more details on how it works
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/saturn/197050-dark-savior/faqs/78514

>>8328187
>>8328191
Yeah I think I played the game enough times to have discovered most of these on my own but with how poorly documented the game is there's always the feeling there could be more out there.

Speaking of, how hard is it to dig into saturn files? It would be nice being able to search for any unused assets in the files or something. Even just ripping all the regular 2d sprites would be nice enough.

>>8328225
Yeah, a lot of Saturn games don't have much info on them online so they still feel kinda mysterious. Always hoped people would dig up something crazy like a hidden 6th parallel even though I know it's not there. That mysterious feeling made it feel possible.

The two player secret in Parallel 5 is unlocked only when you've completed all the other Parallels, and you don't need to complete an extra one, so that kinda puts the nail in that coffin. Closest thing to another secret parallel is the weird branch in Parallel 2 where you abandon Kay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvhCu5rQwIU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdGYfR8KCPw
>Speaking of, how hard is it to dig into saturn files? It would be nice being able to search for any unused assets in the files or something. Even just ripping all the regular 2d sprites would be nice enough.
No clue, would be cool to see though.

>>8328187
Does anyone even know what is the right set of actions to get this path where max fights you in the ruins? I think I've only managed to get it like a couple times. In parallel 1 there's all these different variations depending on whether you save or abandon drizzit, defeat lance or throw him off the rails and pour the nitrogen on lance or warden. It's tricky to keep track and get the right combo to trigger a specific path.

>>8328408
The guide I linked here >>8328191 has good details on all the branches. Apparently you need to lose to Lance earlier.

>>8328470
Oh, that's really useful, thanks. Since you have to "lose" no wonder I only ever got it a couple times

>>8325204
I read that Garian appears in a gallery portrait in Time Stalkers, but that's it apparently.

I like the fighting game style battles, would be cool to see another RPG do that with a bit more depth.

>>8328497
Agreed

And since battles are so infrequent anyways the lack of depth doesn't bother me much specially because there are no repeats besides a couple palette swaps, each enemy is unique so at least it's always interesting to see their moves.

Thanks to this thread I was watching a speedrun as I don't have that much time to replay the entire game myself and I noticed that after he kills Carbon Garian and Jack says we only have 95 seconds to leave the island the timer goes right to 13 seconds. How come? I specifically remember it's not nearly as tight and just like Jack says, you usually get 95 seconds.

at 3:50:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfeOMPdLstM&ab_channel=ARRPEEGEE

>>8328650
That's bizarre. Another video showing 95 seconds like you said
https://youtu.be/tdJPrMfSN8c

>>8328650
>>8328698
https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/dark_savior_sega_saturn_42.html#dark_savior_sega_saturn_42
>The reason I wait for the house to fall down, is it once fell on me and trapped me, and I had to just sit and wait for a game over. Also I didn't make it with 0.2 seconds to spare: after those 15 seconds run out, the timer ticks over 0:99:98 and ticks down from that. Why the game gives you 1:55 instead of the 90 seconds (I think) it claimed is beyond me!
I wonder if it's a glitch or what

>>8328707
>The reason I wait for the house to fall down, is it once fell on me and trapped me, and I had to just sit and wait for a game over.
I'll never forget this happening to me as a kid. Curse you Dark Savior

I'm confused.

In parallel 2 you kill Bilan on the ship at the start so how come if you leave Kay to die and trigger the special bad ending game over after losing to Tracy, Bilan was apparently able to multiply and destroy the world? Did they forgot it was supposed to be dead in that timeline?

>>8328747
I assume it has something to do with Bilanium and the Warden's continued experiments with it (now with the Diary of Wouda in his possession).

Also, when I was looking this up, a couple places referenced Bilan being created originally from Bilanium. Like tvtropes' page says this:
>Bilan, who was created by Lavian scientists trying to harness the power of Bilanium. They instead created a nearly indestructible and violent creature that destroys everything it comes across.
It's been a while since I played, so I can't remember where in the game that's stated if accurate.

>>8329107
Booba

>>8329107
What the fuck is this

>>8329339
Germs: Nerawareta Machi

>>8329067
Was Bilan pink at some point in development?

>>8328175
lmao this fucking game. is it a working calculator or just a visual?

>>8330158
Working calculator

>>8327730
Fair point, I know the line cart stage is still a platformer but all of the cheap deaths solely from the camera moving terribly in those stages gave me a lot of frustration

So are Matt and Dunbar half-fish or what? At first I thought it was a racist caricature but their ears are literally shaped like gills. What's up with that?

>>8330541
>gills
I meant fins but you get the point

>>8325004
What kind of weird world are you on?

Kusoge literally means shit-game. If anything it would be Shit DE. But even then that doesn't work because of how the language is presented. They wouldn't use a truncated English title for a conjunction.

>>8330541
>>8330545
and arent these scales on their pants?

And fun fact, their japanese names are Dunk and Rapper. I wonder if Dunk is just Drunk misspelled.

>>8324040
you tell me

>>8330605
shut your whore mouth. that's kino

>>8323927
For how creative it is it's fucking dank, but ultimately flawed like Ray Blade for DC.

Just watching this trailer i feel the vibe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbPfiH-xab8

>>8323927
I love Dark Savior. The knight with the skeleton horse was my favorite I was always bummed he is unable to be captured

I beat Parallel I and I cant even get to the cabin with the yellow timer. The controls and movement are legit painful

>>8331769
Keep at it, soon you'll be running and jumping through the game with ease. Once you know your way around and the controls click it's easy to get to the cabin fast. There's some shortcuts too that help a ton, like jumping on the outside of the ship.

>>8330541
Why are Max, Bruno and Orion a lion, tiger and Wolf(?)? Dark Savior that's why. They are niggafish because niggafish are based

>>8331769
Git

Gud

>>8330541
>>8330545
we was fishes n shiet

>>8328175
As someone who considers themselves a pretty big fan of the game it feels great discovering something I didn't know yet

>>8330564
insane EOP cope

>>8323927
Is this any good? I played landstalker as a kid and I understand this is some kind of spiritual sequel to that. I just remember getting really annoyed by the isometric perspective though.

>>8334858
The movement can still be a bit of a struggle but with the 3D and being able to jerk the camera prevents those obnoxious perspective fuck ups from landstalker. The highlight of the game is the setting and story system so if you're not into that, maybe the average isomectric platforming, straightforward puzzles and a barebones fighting game style combat might not be worth it by itself

>>8334858
Play the prologue and and see if it interests you

>>8327730
just seeing this screenshot makes me rage

>>8325052
This game was an interesting spin on the alien story line, spoiler, everyone was androids!

>>8336373
Cunt.

>>8335162
yeah the ship section is a pretty good showcase of the sort of challenges the game offers

>>8328175
Are the black rectangles at the top supposed to represent a solar charger? Holy soul

>>8325790

By the time you're comfortable with the game you're pulling some sick shit in the silver tower. Remember jumping over and round all sorts of obstacles and trivialising the section as a kid playing the game.

>>8328168

Honestly fascinating. Played through Dark Savior countless times and did every parallel and available option within the parallels and never knew a thing about this or the unique conditions when using specific captured monsters to capture enemies in the first round.

>>8328710

Happened to me once. Was livid. All that time getting through scenario 3 wasted while I was forced to just sit there and watch the countdown to total destruction stuck under a house.

Rare art of Doc! It's a shame that artwork like this was probably made for all fightable characters and we will never get to see most of them.

>>8339792
>making the possible endings to the virtually unquantifiable! Well, there's supposed to be around a hundred of them, actually.
LOL