Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES game

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awbacon
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Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES game

Post by awbacon »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQzPr6QX0uA&t=280s

Anyone else get the chance to check this one out? I swear Human Entertainment never made standard genre'd games...they'd make stuff like Clock Tower and Septentrion.

Its basically "Titanic the Game" with multiple endings and some pretty legit music and graphics. Game can be maddeningly hard at times but its super worth the effort.
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BIL
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Re: Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES ga

Post by BIL »

Have yet to play it much, on account of JP text, but I can confirm the SFC box is magnificent to behold. Image I should probably just play the SNES version sometime. FML!

Although it's an entirely different sort of game in both substance and style (arcadey topdown seek/destroy with a feelgood action blockbuster take on mortal peril), The Firemen is worth mentioning as another SFC disaster 'em up from Human. FIGHTER OF LEGEND rank a wickedly rewarding trial! For the love of god, prospective recruits, note how the "Fire Percentage" stat works! Crumbs, I do hope that URL worked - my workplace filter thinks the SFC thread = HAWT (FIRE)MAN ON MAN ACTION. That's the MD thread you cunts! :o Anyway, you don't need to actually hoover up every speck of "grass" fire. That would suck! It's just the big noisy growling fuckers you gotta douse.
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drauch
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Re: Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES ga

Post by drauch »

Hell yeah. I love Human. Not the people, I don't like those. I loved how creative they were, and I adore disaster fiction like The Poseidon Adventure, which was definitely an inspiration since the boat flips upside down and all that. I need to sink (didn't do this on purpose but glad I did) more time into this since there's multiple endings, but I boot it up every once and a while and just enjoy taking it all in. I've got the sequel somewhere but haven't given it a shot yet.
BIL wrote: "Small sack, LOTS OF CUM" - Nikola Tesla
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BIL
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Re: Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES ga

Post by BIL »

Oh shiii :o Must also give Human praise for the FIRE PRO WRASSLIN series. Never actually played 'em myself (certainly seems like good stuff! vouched for by many sound chaps) - but staff members would later splinter off to form AKI, who would eventually after several formative efforts create... VIRTUAL PRO WRASSLIN 2: OUDO KEISHOU for N64. This game is the apotheosis of technical party brawling. Dead simple to pick up, but button-mash on a pro? Psh. You will be picking up your teeth with a broken arm, motherfucker! What did the rolling armbar counter say to the clothesline? SNAP! Raucous 4P battle royales, bitterly intense 1v1 bloodbaths and anything in between PLUS a freely mix/matchable MMA engine that could've easily been sold as a standalone release... ITS GRAND YO

Encountered an assailant "wa wa wa N64 has no good imports waa"
1) Sin & Punishment
2) Bakuretsu Muteki Bangaioh
3) MOTHERFUCKIN VPW2

World Tour, Revenge, Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy are all good stuff, but VPW2 is the apex. Will need a translation guide for its labyrinthine customisation menus, but if any game is worth burning a little printer ink for it's this one. God damn! I'm hoppin' on the train home, this weenie-ass net nanny is cramping my style! I pray this message reaches you in time. Or ignore and PLAY IT NAO it's MARVEROUS.
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__SKYe
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Re: Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES ga

Post by __SKYe »

I also never got around to playing this one, but Clock Tower is fantastic and most definitely worth playing.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES ga

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

I can confirm it's a cool game. It feels very unique, plays unlike pretty much any other SNES game. I've never gotten a good ending on any of the scenarios though where you're judged based on a few factors such as who you rescued, how many people you rescued. I'm not crazy about games where you have to lead around AI teammates but this wasn't too bad. The tension that builds up as the ship constantly rotates is pretty fun to deal with.

The only issue is the last part of the game has some jumps the AI characters you're trying to rescue have a lot of difficulty handling and will just fall to their deaths annoyingly enough instead of jumping so you can catch them. Apparently the optimal way to do the final portion of the game to rescue everyone is to leave them below, then take a hit near the top of the shaft from the steam clouds on a certain platform. You lose a small amount of time from being hit, but when you recover, the AI characters who were following you will all be next to you, somehow having warped past all the difficult jumps that would normally get them killed.
awbacon
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Re: Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES ga

Post by awbacon »

Human seemed like two steps ahead of everybody else back in the 16 bit era with their creativity. I really wish they'd stayed a company. I'd love to see what they'd release in 2019
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BIL
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Re: Septentrion / SOS - a hard as hell but super fun SNES ga

Post by BIL »

Oh thank goodness the link worked. :o Gawwwd VPW2 makes me ROCK HARD FOR THE VIOLENCE. Image GODS I WAS HARD THEN

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kitten wrote:you're far from the first person with an extensive frame of reference i've seen praise n64 wrestling games, so i'd consider my interest piqued by now into giving at least one a shot. i've never really had an interest in wrestling and sadly am no longer friends with the person i'd most want to talk about this with (she and i had a falling out), but there's probably something of value for me to wring from the multiplayer or even just the brutal fights.
The bolded: absolutely. AKI were basically former Human Entertainment staff who branched off to continue the Fire Pro tradition of excellence. The VPWs are strikingly Technos-esque, actually, with the emphasis on beating down the enemy before landing the killer blow. Go for the big moves early and you'll only get shrugged off. They're perceived as button-mashers by some, probably due to the woefully mistaken belief that hammering your controller will create miracle throw escapes/reversals. Bwahaha no. The only button involved is "R," and the most leisurely of tap-tap-tapping during the attack will get you the escape - assuming you've got the Spirit meter, the remaining good health, and a bit of luck. The last factor's influence will range from overpowering to virtually absent, depending on the former two - creates drama when two bloodied, half-dead rivals are desperately trying for that big momentum-turning slam... meanwhile, if you've just force-fed the enemy his own ass cheeks, you can be 99% sure that DDT is gonna hit square.

As for strikes, the timing-based system ensures nothing but icy-cold skill will work there. And on the flip side, mashing out strikes (or grabs) willy-nilly is a really bad idea! Mash on a pro and before long, you're gonna be picking up your teeth with a broken arm. :shock:

Like any series that saw yearly/biennial revisions, it looks convoluted from the outside... basically, just go for VPW2 (it's still pretty cheap even brand new). It came out right at the end of the series' core refinements, before the Western-only finale No Mercy basically added a ton of backstage "hardcore" fluff. No Mercy is totally fine - even the furniture-chucking hardcore is done to AKI's typical high standards - and it's probably along with Wrestlemania 2000 the next-best alternative. But I prefer the purity of VPW2, which also has its wickedly intense MMA mode - basically an entire game unto itself, FO FREE.

The earlier games (pre-Wrestlemania 2000) suffer from silly balancing... their enormous rosters don't even try, really, especially on the critical matter of strike reversals. Some grapplers have unstoppable submission holds, others are stuck with easily-caught counterstrikes. WM2000-onward let you totally sidestep this with Create-A-Wrestler. Just clone a wrestler into a vacant slot and tweak up/down as needed. In my little groups, we like to go either/or... either everyone has instant reversals, for viciously punishing and likely brief bouts, or nobody does. I recommend the latter; reversal volleys can go on for hilarious lengths, until someone finally botches their timing and eats a knuckle sammich! The SFX of a successful catch will stick in your mind... *BAP!*

TLDR: they're genuinely really well-done head-to-head brawlers, with pitch-perfect party/hardcore appeal. Don't be fooled by the biennial updates and silly pro wrestling gimmicks; a ton of heart and expertise went into these games.
Apologies for thread hijack. :oops: It's for the kids! :mrgreen: Image

A CORNERED FOX IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN A JACKAL (`ω´メ)
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EVEN NINJA APPROVES OF THIS BONE-CRUSHING WRASSLIN (・`W´・)
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