Shadow Madness

[psicomaniaco]

I was willing to buy this game, but I heard somewere that it sux, so I wan't your opinions:

1. Is it really sucky? Why?
2. Its worse than FF9?
3. Its long?
4. Its perfect in VGS?

[Exodus]

1. it sucks because there is no challenge, the graphics are horrible, the battles are boring, the characters have no distinguishable features in battle other than casting spells.
2. FF9 is so much better its not even funny.
3. i don't know, never finished it. but i think its short.
4. well, it doesn't work in epsxe. i know that much.

[psicomaniaco]

Ugh, its really that bad? So, are u sayin' I shoudn't buy it? Not even if its cheap?

[Kamina]

The cheapness was what atrracted me as well since I remember how FFT was only $15 when I originally bought it all those years ago(used of course.)

The graphics as far as the world and characters both in and out of battle are like FF7 if it was done by a blindfolded chimp on crack. It has a sort of under and over world, instead of reaching the underworld at the end of disc 1 you have to swap discs as you travel between the two. Random npcs in towns have pages of pointless drivel to say when you talk to them, 1/20 has something to do with the plot or is actually amusing to read. As for how long the game is, I dunnu, it's fairly long though I never finished it, I had one of those wonderful multipage memory cards that had the nasty habit of writing over one page with another.

Though... I thought the music was okay

[fujita]

Trust me. I have finished Shadow Madness, and to be honest, it is like a torture! This game is way too much worse than FF9 (not that FF9 is a bad game). The storyline can take a while, but the plot are quite boring. There are six party member all together, but there is no party management. You'll switch party member automatically during plot (Grandia anyone?). And the inventory is very messy. You can't sort the items, and you'll know that this is quite annoying, knowing that you'll have to switch your members and items as well. Oh, did I tell you that you'll have to buy each of Windleaf's arrows? This is very tiresome. Next, the graphic is also horrible (for it's type). For example, some of the magics use the same GFX, although the magic is totally different.

I think that is enough for now. There are many more about it, but it may take some spaces. Whether you wanna play it or not, it's up to you. I finished the game just to complete my collections.

[Exodus]

so, even if someone is willing to pay you to get it, don't fall for it. you'll end up paying alright, with you sanity. THATS where the madness comes in.

[Ryos]

> 1. it sucks because there is no challenge, the graphics are horrible, the battles are boring, the characters have no distinguishable features in battle other than casting spells.

That sums up my thoughts. BTW, you reach the maximum level even only doing casual fights (in other words, minimum fighting needed to get through areas) about half of the way through the game. And the last boss does only about 5 damage with his best attack to each character (each having about 999 HP). Laaaaaaaaaame. There's good reason why it's often called the worst RPG ever made and why the development team was disbanded immediately after the game's reception.

[psicomaniaco]

I didn't know a game could be this sucky! Thanks for convincing me not to buy this crap.
BTW, what about Guardians Crusade? Is it good? I really need to put my hands on another RPG (I finished most RPGs for psx, snes and mega allready!

[Kamina]

Ah, forgot about the leveling system... I farmed a little in the first area and soon realized that if I was looking for a challenge that was a deffinite mistake.

Psico, haven't played Guardians Crusade so I can't give any feedback. Though if you're looking for rpgs that you might have overlooked I liked Alundra. It's more an action rpg, dunno if you ever played Land Stalker for the genesis, it's essentially a seq... sequ... geez, I don't remember how to spell that, guess I need to lay off the crack for a while

[Kaotic Soul]

Too slow of battles{I went and got something to eat while the characters finished their first turn}, too much story(get lost rather easily)

[Exodus]

speaking of battles, after a while i just put the gameshark code to no random battles, which means no EXP and still bosses were easy. another thing is the cheesy attemps to being funny. occasionally they'll something witty, but most of the time its pathetic.

[Ryos]

> BTW, what about Guardians Crusade? Is it good?

Not particularly. The two characters of the game are silly. It's very frustrating at times with the battles and the annoying plot. The graphics do look much better in ePSXe, however.

[Exodus]

would you say its more of a... kiddy game?

[Ryos]

Originally posted by Exodus
would you say its more of a... kiddy game?

YES. It has a pink hippo/dragon for one of the characters. Need I say more?

[Exodus]

is it rated E for Everyone?

[psicomaniaco]

MMM... so Guardians Crusade is no good either, huh? Ok, I'll just look for another RPG. BTW Kamina, I've finished Alundra and (the sucky) Alundra 2. Is there another good action-rpg game for psx?

[Exodus]

would soul reaver be considered one? because legacy of kain is, but its kind of old...

[Ryos]

> Is there another good action-rpg game for psx?

If there is one, I've never played it. The original Kain might be, but I never got around to getting it. And Soul Reaver doesn't count because it's TOO much action and just about no RPG.

[Kane]

For the life of me... hold on a sec: apparently Dewperism (Threads of Fate) is an action RPG, and there is also Vagrant Story

[Ryos]

Vagrant Story is a mistake that should have never happened. I don't know about Dewprism yet, might run into that Tuesday. And hopefully LoM (if only because of the neato soundtrack).