ABSOLUTELY DO SHADOW TOWER!!__SKYe wrote:and I'm still pondering whether to continue with the company's catalog on the PSX (either Shadow Tower, or the first Armored Core) or to move on to the 4th game. Can you guys give me some thoughts on those PS titles? Is Shadow Tower as good/better than the King's Field games, and/or is Armored Core a decent game?
I'm surprised you'd be torn between KF2 and 3 though, as I felt 3 was a gigantic step down, despite having its own qualities. The thing is, KF3 is a mediocre to decent first person action RPG, while KF2 is a masterpiece of game design. Shadow Tower is closer to KF2, focusing a lot more on the dungeon crawling aspect than the adventure and storytelling. I already wrote my thoughts on it previously, so you might want to find that post. Necronopticous dropped quite a few thoughts on it as well, around the thread.
It starts out a little slow, but the further you get into it, the more you realise how much it has to offer. The variation and feeling of rewarding exploration is much bigger than what you'd have thought from the tight winding corridors of the first area. It's a game that constantly has something new to offer.
Both Necro and I were drawing our own maps as we played. I'm not sure it's a big advantage, but some areas are definitely very cryptic, especially with the cripplingly short draw distance. There are definitely areas where you'll do fine without it, such as the world of fire.
Everything in Shadow Tower is finite, including healing potions which will kind of be your main currency due to how it's linked to equipment durability.__SKYe wrote: I have a question about the cunes/monster rates, though: are there really only that many cunes and monsters in the entire game? If so, I take it that after a while, you simply won't encounter any more enemies randomly spawning anymore. A bit weird, considering how it was in the King's Field games, but probably for the best, taking into account the equipment durability stat.
Don't worry though, as per King's Field standards, you'll be stupidly overpowered by the end of the game, and have more than enough cunes to get through.