Emulator:
- Gens 9F (nitsuja cleansed)
- allow left+right (under options > joypads)
- all controllers set to 3 buttons, instead of 6 (again, under options > joypads)
chakan: the forever man
- fastest time on HARD(est) difficulty
- takes damage to save time
- collects minimum alchemy necessary to complete game
- uses warps
so, whats the difference between hard and the other difficulties?
- hard has enemies who do more damage (twice as much by my guess), it also must have an extra battle because the FAQs i used to research this game said nothing of the TRUE last battle.
- easy mode would be more equivalent to NORMAL, far as i can tell.
- practice gives you unlimited potions, and could thus make the game even shorter (but, wheres the challenge when you're spoon fed?).
- the warp is an alchemy combo that nifboy tuned me on to. it requires a red and clear potion (each potion represents an element BTW) in the main area. it basically takes you to the last 12 levels and gives you all weapons.
however, i pick up some additional potions to make the game more manageable.
fire sword combo - red & blue
this is used to DRAMATICALLY shorten the battle time of the earth boss and the water boss. otherwise, even the great AXE will take well over 5 minutes for each (possibly more if i didnt get bored with it all).
invisibility - blue & blue
this is used to get through earth level 5 much faster. the maggot (yeah, thats what i read from the FAQ) here can grab you and take you back to the beginning, as well as making you go number 2 when you see what caused the rumbling.
high jump - blue & clear
this was used first in order to jump higher (duh) to obtain other potions.
NOTE: i end the game with 1 extra potion, but it wasnt out of the way and was in fact in my direct path, so no gripes.
as well, the axe is generally the BEST weapon, unless mentioned. such as the hammer easily killing lizard men and elemental swords (you only get elemental swords, not others).
so, a little walkthrough
Earth level 1
i came here for a CLEAR potion and to get the axe. this level also conveniently has a boss that can be skipped and just get the axe.
Water level 1
this level is litered with BLUE potions and an extra CLEAR potion. i also pick up a RED potion because i'll need that for the warp trick to work here in a second. as well, the octopus is made much less threatening when hacked with an axe.
Main Area
the solitary platform is where the trick is performed. we've just been elevated from the terrestial plane to the element plane (we skipped 10 levels, and have 12/13 more to go) and gained all weapons along the way.
i choose the Air levels because:
- its closest
- it doesnt require anything special
Air Worlds 4-6
the beast i ride here is called the Synard, and only his tail is fearsome. the levels have some VERY tight squeezes where i originally just ditched one Synard and got another. the boss here has a huge hit range as well.
Main Area
the fire world has the only other of the 4 elemental "fiends" that dont waste insane amounts of time (without special weaponry), so i go there.
Fire Worlds 4-6
the waiting here is hell (no pun intended), but not as bad as the last world. the fire bats are also pains because they can often come from both sides. and on top of all that, theres the fire... yeah. but thankfully, the boss is just a big fire breathing panzy who only seems to have one routine.
Main Area
the earth level us attempted first because its boss is NOT as monotonous as the waters.
Earth Worlds 4-6
these go by in a breeze. the big guy at the end must be queen maggot/king maggot? in either case, its tough without the element sword.
Main Area
well, theres only one place left to do.
Water Worlds 4-6 (hahaha... kevin costner... kills me...)
these have GOT to be the most boring levels (5 and 6) simply because of the platform waiting game. its just... AH! i hope you're not too annoyed by it... its not like i could conjure up death to have a cup of tea with while we waited. and the Tundra Beast is perhaps the most boring boss in the entire game (id rank him up there on all-time video games too). left, right, left, right, eye laser, claw close, claw far, pricklies (VULNERABLE). rinse and repeat, and the credits roll... but its just NOT over
Death's Door
so i'd had this sinking feeling in the back of my mind that this was gonna happen while playing the game. really, i kind of figured it would be TOO easy if you just played through the game and ONLY fought mindless fiends and didnt meet up with some incarnation of death at some juncture (well, on hard mode).
in any case, each head has to be taken out one by one. and there are no MISSED shots to my knowledge, just a NON-BLINKING head (its necessary for decay of the first head so i can move on... look closely when you think ive missed... and i dunno why it took 2). as well, opportunities to hit him not taken were due in large part to his damn lightening which does 2 damage and send Chakan FLYING in one direction or the other.
Ending 2
like sands through the hour glass... yeah... it keeps doing that for about 17 more minutes and then says NOT THE END. nice jingle, eh?
Thanks:
nifboy - support, pointers (warp area, 'should you use element swords?'), feedback
nitsuja - how to break the ice floors with the hammer.. its actually a bit more complicated than it sounds; tuning me into a better version of Gens, without which i would have been to frustrated by numerous desyncs and freezing to continue.
Freaksh0w - bringing game to attention.
MOVIE MAKING - a pain in the @$$, but i loved every minute of it. chakan has to be one of the oddest moving VG characters ive ever used (Genesis' seems to produce these more from my experience). the roll is fastest, but making him stop is somewhat troublesome, especially since most rolls are followed up by jumps and its the same button. jumps carry height the longer jump is held down. and something i can only seem to do via slowdowns is rolls off an edge and then do a spin jump. it saves some time and gets in that extra inch or so needed at times. ive restarted several times with this game, trying to find the most optimal potion routes (and often experimenting with a PRACTICE movie file). there were some desyncs... but nothing major.
WHY WOULD YOU LIKE IT - come on, Chakan owned Death's @$$ not once, but twice. on top of that, hes like Kuros or the Light Warriors and he defeats 4 element fiends. we've got alchemy, creepy crawlers, 5 different weapons (not counting element possibilites) and he can infact be invisible and invincible if the right potions are collected. this is the... *dramatic pause* FOREVER MAN! (echo, echo, echo)
as far as gameplay, you'd have to play through to understand his movements... they're just very... odd. truncated noted that it seems the same people who made this may have perhaps worked on X-men 2: Clone Wars (*cough*). so the mechanics can either be unforgiving or cheated a little.
