#005: Vampire Fortress

[Redryhno]

Really not seeing how this is supposed to be any different than CM personally, except the gigantic plot holes that are more pronounced in this simply because it's taking itself alot more seriously than CM's Erin.

The one redeeming quality for me is the Red Panda, and that's simply because he seems to be doing something.

 

[Groverfield]

Crowbat spotted in the last panel. Turns out Erin does understand friendship in this continuity.

 

[esserin]

Wait

so this version of Erin hasn't gamed in years?

Is Pandaboy trying to reinvigorate Erin with videogames?
Success in videogames to build up the confidence to try life?

 

[Xman490]

"But the first two Zelda games are the best in the series."

Sure they are, man, sure they are...

Yeah, they are, in a way. They capture a sense of adventure the most, incentivising mere acts of exploring and killing things with money and strength, without using the typical RPG system of barren wastelands and turn-based battles like in Final Fantasies. Also, the enemy types aren't awfully limited like in the "game" shown here and Skyrim.

 

[vallorn]

"What's that noise?"

"It's challenge."

*Goes into the fog gate to fight the Blue Smelter Demon, only lose half your health in 4 seconds*

Every time man... every time.

OT: Really enjoyed this comic, and i'm really starting to like our little Red Panda friend here. Seems on level with reason, isn't someone trying to get Erin into trouble AND most certainly someone who can have faults too. Basically a person I enjoyed this comic.

Pfft Blue Smelter Demon? Try Flamelurker. *Shudders*

Crushing difficulty can be very fun so long as it's mostly fair. The problem with old games is sometimes they have sub par controls and so it feels like the game is cheating you when you die. And then there are the ROMhacks and games like IWBTG which just ARE the game cheating you over and over.

And then... There is Dwarf Fortress.

Spoiler

May Armok have mercy upon our souls.

 

[Norithics]

Whoa, this is what this comic is gonna be like? I'm on-freakin'-board with this! Even if it's not an all-the-time sorta thing. How keen!

 

[PunkRex]

I'm loving Erin's 80's action girl corset... thing. Kind of reminds me of early WoW, Thrall's balls, those designs were freaking stupid.

 

[Enzbe]

"It's unforgiving. Brutal even!"

*it actually is*

"Ok, maybe it is a bit overated."

What? Seems to me like it fulfilled the expectations.

Wouldn't it make more sense if he said "...not a good start." or something?

 

[Kae]

I don't know, you're kinda forgetting about Vampire Fortress Spheric of Plasma but of course that's because it was only released on Japan for a CD add-on of a relatively obscure console so nobody really played until the remake for the Game Terminal Mobile was released that also included the classic version and Symphony of the Swarm, also don't you dare talk smack about Vampire Fortress 1 and 3, they are amazing, Vampire Fortress 2: Leroy's Adventure is kinda shit though.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Ah yes, the trend of retro gamers to mistake the higher difficulty of classic games as some kind artistic choice by devs who took their audience seriously, rather than as a holdover of the days when the object of a game was to separate a child's pocket from as many quarters as possible. XD

**blinks in surprise, rummages around in his warehouse of old gaming equipment**

Nope, still don't see a slot for quarters in my NES, Genesis or SNES... so what was that you were saying?

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Just saying, but since these Zubats end up underwater, they're not Zubats at all.

...

They're Scubats.

Yeah, I'll shut up now.

 

[Rad Party God]

It would've been hilarious if they actually finished that game :3

 

[Darth_Payn]

I don't know, you're kinda forgetting about Vampire Fortress Spheric of Plasma but of course that's because it was only released on Japan for a CD add-on of a relatively obscure console so nobody really played until the remake for the Game Terminal Mobile was released that also included the classic version and Symphony of the Swarm, also don't you dare talk smack about Vampire Fortress 1 and 3, they are amazing, Vampire Fortress 2: Leroy's Adventure is kinda shit though.

I understood every reference you used, and that was genius!

Goddamned Bats [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoddamnedBats] are annoying, sure, but I always hated Demonic Spiders [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DemonicSpiders] more...

Bats? Spiders? BAH! I have 2 words for you:

Medusa.

Heads.

[shakes fist at the sky] Damn you, Medusa heads! [thunder cracks]

 

[Rect Pola]

Ah, a "classic"

That's code for "it hates you a little"

 

[balladbird]

**blinks in surprise, rummages around in his warehouse of old gaming equipment**

Nope, still don't see a slot for quarters in my NES, Genesis or SNES... so what was that you were saying?

The imperative word in my post being "holdover." As in, "A trait that remains from a previous time when this was the case."

A lot of the older games, including castlevania, which this was a parody of, were started as arcade games. They were ball-bustingly hard to increase the rate of failure, and thus to increase the number of times a player would have to continue. This method of game design saw a lot of crossover into the early console generations, even though at this point, as you so succinctly pointed out, there was no longer any financial gain to doing so... other than selling issues of nintendo power and tip line calls.

... the more things change, the more they stay the same, now that I stop to think about it. o.o

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

**blinks in surprise, rummages around in his warehouse of old gaming equipment**

Nope, still don't see a slot for quarters in my NES, Genesis or SNES... so what was that you were saying?

The imperative word in my post being "holdover." As in, "A trait that remains from a previous time when this was the case."

A lot of the older games, including castlevania, which this was a parody of, were started as arcade games. They were ball-bustingly hard to increase the rate of failure, and thus to increase the number of times a player would have to continue. This method of game design saw a lot of crossover into the early console generations, even though at this point, as you so succinctly pointed out, there was no longer any financial gain to doing so... other than selling issues of nintendo power and tip line calls.

... the more things change, the more they stay the same, now that I stop to think about it. o.o

Don't get me wrong, I pumped plenty of quarters into arcade games in my day (Galaga you quarter eating bastard) but I always found the challenge of the Nintendo-hard days to be just training yourself to get better at those games rather than a holdover from the arcade days. Maybe I'm just not that cynical to think everything's about money and nothing is about challenging folks to get better at something instead of holding their hands with infinite health/lives/continues, save-scumming, etc.

I could be wrong though, I have been known to be on occasion.

 

[Frankster]

I'm sad, I clicked on this expecting some announcement for a Dwarf Fortress style game only with vampires and better graphics/UI and well... Got a completely different kennel of fish. Or bats.

 

[ArcaneGamer]

Crowbat spotted in the last panel. Turns out Erin does understand friendship in this continuity.

So, what do you think we should call the bat? I'm thinking Batty.

 

[Haru17]

"But the first two Zelda games are the best in the series."

Sure they are, man, sure they are...

Yeah, they are, in a way. They capture a sense of adventure the most, incentivising mere acts of exploring and killing things with money and strength, without using the typical RPG system of barren wastelands and turn-based battles like in Final Fantasies. Also, the enemy types aren't awfully limited like in the "game" shown here and Skyrim.

UUUUGGGGHHHHH. Don't tell me about adventure. Adventure is having more than four directions of movement and one attack animation.