Beta testing has started
Moderators: adeyke, VampD3, eriqchang, Angelus3K
I don't look at it so much as constant, nit-picky kind of work. It's an extension of what I normally do in most games; play the living hell out of every area, and try my best to reach 100% completion in as short a time as possible.
Anyone remember the -1 Level hidden on World 1-2 of the original Super Mario Bros.? The only way you could get there was to exploit a collision-detection bug next to the screen with the Warp Zone, and basically walk through a wall to get there. My point in bringing that up, is that I'm going to be spending a lot of time just seeing if I can walk off the screen, or reach inaccessible areas. I'll be trying to make sure that the response that I get when clicking an icon on a character changes when I step one pixel out of that character's sprite (THAT is time consuming, especially when you have dozens, if not hundreds, of different items to test).
It'll make raising my Communication skill easier, at least. God knows, I used to have to spend literally about 10 minutes in real time, alternating between F3 (or Space) and Enter, in front of Dinarzad, constantly using, "tell about self". Now it's going to be like sitting in Rakeesh's bedroom with him in QFG3, using "tell about honor" for 15 minutes straight. Per character build. For a minimum of 4 characters. Sigh...
On the note of older games in the adventure genre; I would actually recommend for everyone interested in the same kind of games to try out the Nintendo DS. Hotel 215, Trace Memory, the entire Phoenix Wright series, a perfect port of Myst; there are a lot of really good, point-and-click style games that are mostly text-based, as are the older, better Sierra titles. I've been addicted to Phoenix Wright games in particular, for the writing style and storyline. Give those a try if you're scrambling to find a decent game in the old-skool style.
Anyone remember the -1 Level hidden on World 1-2 of the original Super Mario Bros.? The only way you could get there was to exploit a collision-detection bug next to the screen with the Warp Zone, and basically walk through a wall to get there. My point in bringing that up, is that I'm going to be spending a lot of time just seeing if I can walk off the screen, or reach inaccessible areas. I'll be trying to make sure that the response that I get when clicking an icon on a character changes when I step one pixel out of that character's sprite (THAT is time consuming, especially when you have dozens, if not hundreds, of different items to test).
It'll make raising my Communication skill easier, at least. God knows, I used to have to spend literally about 10 minutes in real time, alternating between F3 (or Space) and Enter, in front of Dinarzad, constantly using, "tell about self". Now it's going to be like sitting in Rakeesh's bedroom with him in QFG3, using "tell about honor" for 15 minutes straight. Per character build. For a minimum of 4 characters. Sigh...
On the note of older games in the adventure genre; I would actually recommend for everyone interested in the same kind of games to try out the Nintendo DS. Hotel 215, Trace Memory, the entire Phoenix Wright series, a perfect port of Myst; there are a lot of really good, point-and-click style games that are mostly text-based, as are the older, better Sierra titles. I've been addicted to Phoenix Wright games in particular, for the writing style and storyline. Give those a try if you're scrambling to find a decent game in the old-skool style.
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I thought of that, actually, but then I considered the fact that not everyone who imports a character is going to use a hex editor on their save files. Since that demographic is as low as it is, it wouldn't make much sense to prepare characters in that method. I want to have all of my character builds to resemble a regular player's as closely as possible, for beta testing purposes.
At the moment, I'm working through the VGA version of QFG1, just to see if there's any problems with importing characters from that version, as well as the EGA one.
Just my prep-work for beta testing has literally cost me about 10 hours so far. Needless to say, I'm ready to go.
At the moment, I'm working through the VGA version of QFG1, just to see if there's any problems with importing characters from that version, as well as the EGA one.
Just my prep-work for beta testing has literally cost me about 10 hours so far. Needless to say, I'm ready to go.
Logically it makes no sense, but in practice it seems that for a lot of people, RPG's are fun by the process of growth instead of the result of this growth. What matters not is the fact that their stats are maxed, but rather the fact that their stats got maxed by their own time and effort. Some people play an RPG and max to level 99, then go through the game totally slaughtering the opposition. It takes a crazy amount of time to do that much grinding and you could save a week or more by whipping out the ole' hex editor, but that totally destroys the satisfaction upon reaching the point where your stats are maxed out.
It's like beating a shooter on a high difficulty level while on GOD mode. The satisfaction just isn't there.
It's like beating a shooter on a high difficulty level while on GOD mode. The satisfaction just isn't there.
Exactly. Actually, when I get to that level in a game, it's pretty ironic; I lose most interest in even finishing it.
For example; I usually spend over 99 hours on a typical RPG, building a party of Gods, just to beat a single, tough, end-game, optional boss. By the time I've spent 2 1/2 full work weeks grinding, there's about an hour or two left of the actual storyline in the game.
The true fun is the journey to get there. The fact that you chose a path that was grueling, not just getting to the destination; that's a grinder's main creed.
For example; I usually spend over 99 hours on a typical RPG, building a party of Gods, just to beat a single, tough, end-game, optional boss. By the time I've spent 2 1/2 full work weeks grinding, there's about an hour or two left of the actual storyline in the game.
The true fun is the journey to get there. The fact that you chose a path that was grueling, not just getting to the destination; that's a grinder's main creed.
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In the same hand that holds the creed of grinding being satisfactory though is the ease at the end just seems anti climactic. For example Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth can be beaten at level 45. That's where I ended up after going through the story line with a few extras but there would be a lot of people that would get to level 99 on all characters and beat all the optional bosses and such. Thats 400 hours compared to the 40 I played. Personally it would be more satisfying to beat the game at level 40. This is coming from the guy who has a Thief at the end of every QFG with max stats though.
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If your a sonic fan! and you still remember the old^Mo^ wrote:Aren't you better off trying to raise your skills by just editing a save game with a hex editor? Can't be all that difficult I expect (it's more fun than spending 10 or 15 mins of that anyway heh)
up
down
left
right
A
Start
cheat, for the mega drive
It never felt at all that satisfying to skip all the way to the last level to beat robotnic cause A you didnt have the satisfaction of actually beating the game and B because the fat bastard that robotnic was would still have all the Emeralds so screw Hex Editors!
scuse my french.
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Personally, I don't think beta testing is something of enjoyment. You don't play to finish the game, you play to find the bugs. That's how most games enable cheats, it's through a debug optionDomovoi wrote:If your a sonic fan! and you still remember the old^Mo^ wrote:Aren't you better off trying to raise your skills by just editing a save game with a hex editor? Can't be all that difficult I expect (it's more fun than spending 10 or 15 mins of that anyway heh)
up
down
left
right
A
Start
cheat, for the mega drive
It never felt at all that satisfying to skip all the way to the last level to beat robotnic cause A you didnt have the satisfaction of actually beating the game and B because the fat bastard that robotnic was would still have all the Emeralds so screw Hex Editors!
scuse my french.
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SHADOWS OF DARKNESS FOREVER!
Does that, in your opinion, mean that the bug shouldn't be fixed? I think that if there's a good chance a bug will occur (either by cheating or not), then it should be fixedadeyke wrote:There is the concern, though, that if you cheat and then find a bug, that bug is only there because of the cheating, and a legit player would never be able to run into it.
And c'mon, what's cheating here? We're talking about updating the stats through a hex edit rather than having to hold enter for over 15 minutes. The result is that your stats are updated to the max. The hex edit just gets you there a little bit faster I reckon.
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