Topic: Shiren the Wanderer

Well, I just got the DS version to give it a shot. First time I've played one of these types of games so I really need to get used to the entire system. Its fun though. Thanks for turning me on to the series, Adam.

Haha, yes, I own a whopping THREE games! And I agree, the Wii is definitely all I need for current gen games (the SNES will always be there unless Earthbound is put on VC by the grace of Itoi), but at the moment I want the PS3 for just a couple games this year before I sell it. I imagine my number of games will total four, possibly FIVE, by the end of the year! It will put all other collections to shame, for sure.

You sold TvC then, Adam?

I traded it in toward FF13. It was fun for awhile, but I barely played it after awhile. I only play multi-player games maybe once every week or two, and when I do, we generally prefer Smash Brothers or Mario. I play MvC on occasion with a friend online, and we prefer that, anyway.

Oh. I stopped playing it after I trained for so long and finally went online and was obliterated. That really killed the game for me.

@#$^^&&(@$%"$&$&&13452345874956357068724908eightnineten!!!!!!!!!1111oneoneone...periodperiodperiod

Alrighty, got to the boss easily, but with only one problem - my jar of healing herbs is cursed. No problem! I gotta Blessing Scroll. Let's read that little sucker and fix my jar of herbs. Haha yeah worked right? Wait, what's this text here? The floor I'm standing on prevents spells from working? What the fu...? Why didn't you tell me this earlier? Well we're going to die pretty quickly against this guy then... yep. Oh well let's try again and put the healing herbs in a few different jars. Lalala hmmm hmm humdeedoo... Hey, Mr. Gaze, stop hypnotizing me... No seriously... Please don't make me put myself in this hiding jar. Wait Asuka you bitch get back here. Stop wandering off. Seriously, I wasn't treating you that badly last night. Oh great, you got yourself killed. Emo. You know what else I'm going to kill? This classic controller I'm holding here. bang bang bang

Hahaha, you didn't notice the symbol on the floor that had a scroll circled with a line through it? I constantly forget to heed the floor signs, but it's only due to inattention, not that I didn't know better.

The Gaze is an annoying enemy, but like with many enemies with such devastating effects, you can generally defeat them easily by either hitting them with a projectile before they come in range, or surrounding them with two or more characters. Got to make sure they can't land a single hit.

I will say that it annoys me too when you can't control an ally due to a hiding jar or some similar effect. It makes no sense. Having full control of allies doesn't make sense in many contexts, which makes me miss Shiren DS a bit, but only a bit.

I noticed it but I never knew what the hell it meant and it was never explained to me. Now I do. The Gaze caused my untimely demise a few weeks ago too. It's really bad when you run into them in a tunnel, because there's essentially no escape. I got wrapped up into a semi-infinite hypnotism loop, and with a few very unlucky misses all of my key items were used up or destroyed.

This is indeed a game of trial, error, and bad luck. But I love it anyway.

_{Does that mean I'll become a gambler? D:}

Well, I don't think it's particularly more trial and error than any other video game, but your adventure certainly does seem to be marred by bad luck. Just be glad you chose easy mode.

Finally got to the boss without any problems. I quickly moved Asuka to the bottomleft tile and then she hid in one of those Hiding Jars for the rest of the battle. It took some tricky maneuvering but I was able to knock out one of those annoying minions with Shiren, and then I easily made it to the last jar.

Anyway, you're most definitely right. The story is pretty weird, but I'm liking it all the same. I'm uh, on the third world map now and just saved at the teahouse. :3

Edit (Spoilers!): _{And I just found out that Koppa's ancestor is a Tanuki. AWESOME.}

The third world map is when the levels start to get more interesting and challenging, especially two levels from where you are, when the dragon orbs are introduced. Make sure to learn how this works, as it can make the game significantly easier if used well. In fact, if you just ignored them, it'd probably be quite difficult. Took me quite a bit of trial and error before I figured out how they worked.

The story sort of meanders without direction for awhile, but it's forgiveable and funny enough to ignore the boring parts.

Duly noted. Are there any more of these "puzzle" style bosses in the game? Because I really hate them.

There is one that is kind of confusing later on because you can only do one damage to it with any attacks, and he can hit you for a good deal more, so I kept thinking there was a puzzle to it. But there wasn't. You just have to be able to sustain a good bit of damage by that point in the game.

Other than that, I can't think of anything. The bosses are by and large just giant enemies that aren't too difficult to beat but are generally a satisfying reward for making it through the dungeon. Only two or three were tough for me, but each one ended up being very easy the next time I played it (either after I died fighting it, or when I replayed recently on easy).

Okay, good to hear. :3