I fucking love Brogue. Played the shit out of it, and it’s still in my “backlog” so I remember to come back to it again.
There was some … hubabaloo about that because the folks that created the iPad version did so without the permission of the Brogue creator b/c the code is all public domain. They added the virtual joystick and then sold it for $4.99 on the App Store. The Brogue community were not amused.
Right now it’s free on iOS, so at least some dickinness was removed from that move.
I see that there was an Android version and there was some controversy about it too, but my phone doesn’t want to install APK - not that I expect it to be playable on phone screen.
Spoiler - he made it! Going to go play that seed.
Still seeing some movement on Ultima Ratio Regum, which is nice:
https://www.markrjohnsongames.com/2019/02/24/0-8-finale-update-ii/
Shiren the Wanderer is so fucking awesome. It’s just really enjoyable to play, to dive back in and explore and find new stuff. And I’m pretty sure I’ve barely scratched the surface.
@Relayer71 mentioned but it does look super nice on the Vita. I have an older OLED display and it’s just incredible looking, so vibrant. My iPhone can’t do it justice, but I’ll try.
So where I am in the story is I have retrieved 2 of the 3 dice of fate (Past and Present) and finally succumbed to my first death in the Tower of the Future. Those enemies are fucking crazy and don’t mess around. The first two dungeons I finished around level 18 or 19 and using the gear I had on me, but this time I had found early a Growth Armlet that gave me XP just for walking around so I was level 18 or 19 just heading into 1F of Tower of the Future. I had some great gear, honestly.
Now, I haven’t cleared this screen yet and don’t know what happens next, I assume I lose everything I had on me, and my money, but I have saved a decent nest egg in the bank and stored a bunch of other items/pots full of items in storage as well. Since I wasn’t strong enough to get past 4F in Tower of the Future, I’m not sure what to do next - should I grind the first two towers to try and get better gear?
But the game is great. It looks great, the animations and spell effects are as fantastic as the cool and rewarding little items and things you can find, it plays so easy and smooth I had to leave the Vita at my office because I was neglecting my FF9 play through on the Switch!
Yay, glad to hear you’re having fun with Shiren!
Grinding shouldn’t be required this early in the game (I am assuming early because you haven’t cleared the game yet), if I recall. You mainly have to learn how to use the toys and the monters against themselves at the point you are at, I think. If some monsters appear to be overpowering, it means that either something went wrong that made them too strong, or that you need to figure a safe way to dispatch them.
I may be mistaken though, it’s been nearly 10 years, and a different language!
All I can say is keep at it, you shall be rewarded ;)
I did start a new “run” and this time a lady that can morph into creatures joined me thanks to an event that happened earlier, which was awesome. She rocks.
This is why it is good to stay vague: don’t want to spoil any such surprise :D
Dammit, now I have to buy it. THANKS SCOTT.
I hope you’re happy:
I actually AM happy, it will be cool to be going through this when someone else is, so to speak. It’s really, really good so far.
Great point! I have blurred my note out, above. Thanks!
I never realized that both Shiren 4 and 5 released on Nintendo DS.
I might have one of them, I’m not sure. I’ll have to check when I get home. Might be a 3DS one.
I think only the remake of the first game (the one that is going be re-re-re-remade soon for smartphones) may have beneficiated from a localisation, on the original DS — in Japan, the DS saw this remake of the first game, a remake of the second Gameboy game, and the 4th and 5th game in the series which were exclusive back then, I think).
Are the sequels significantly better than the original?
I don’t know why they don’t just port that bad boy to PS4.
I would pull my GTA DS Lite out of mothballs to play shiren. Battery probably long dead, though.
While the first game got the wonderful esthetics going for it, I enjoyed all the sequels I played more. The 5th game for the DS was the best game in the series for me, and I suspect the Vita version Scott is currently enjoying surpasses it.
I think that Shiren 5 is a much better game than the original one, simply because when I played the original game again, it felt very simple and dated in comparison.
Simple: a retail-priced Roguelike isn’t going to sell on console, no matter how good it is, and they aren’t going to port the game and then sell it digitally in the $15-$20 range customers expect for the genre. (Different genre, but we don’t get console Etrian Odyssey games for the same reason, despite how beloved those games are.)