Gauntlet Legends (PSX) - Part 2

Previously, a sorcerer named Garm summoned Demon Lord Skorne  and immediately killed by the giant demon. By using the summoning circle left by his late young brother, Sumner summons hero that hopefully can defeat the Demon Lord and his evil army. Thus a valkyrie Izenger brought to this realm. She's doing fine with slaying the evil until a red dragon kill her. But she's back with determined vengeance!

Next hub level takes me to this Valkyrie's castle which has been overran by these blue-white brutes and giant rats because we know that oversized rodents are mandatory enemy in Medieval Fantasy setting.

 

I find another 3-way shoot power up but i have maximum amount of it because i extremely seldom using power ups. Maybe i should use them more frequently.

 

There's also kamikaze guy here. ARRRGH!

 

This level introduces you with these 2-way mini teleports. I know classic Doom too well to know that red square is teleportation device.

 

Also i know that green water is very bad. But thankfully there's invisible rails that prevent me to fall to the nasty water. Demoman_sf13_influx_small03.wav

 

Now the golem is white and angrier that i killed his families on previous levels. Do you see that yellow bird item behind him? That's called "Phoenix". I bought in shop but i forget to use it because i'm stingy as hell.

 

Next level takes place in castle dungeon. Oh man! That skeleton is way taller than me. Maybe he/she dies by torture rack overdoing. God bless him/her. I don't think that's blood on hook. That's probably red alga, evildoer's favorite snack. I know the fad. Trusts me, alright?  

 

I found the obelisk pretty easily but now they hide the runestone very well that i can't find them twice in a row! Of course, my penalty is the Skorne's trash talk which is irritating as always.

 

But at least, i help Sumner to unseal the 3rd hub level which leads to Twinion Town that polluted by toxic green gas that turns people into vicious zombie! The gas is emitted by magic airship that floats nearby. I won't get there just yet. Not until i kill that dragon!

 

On deeper and darker part of the castle, you find the horror of...Walking Armors! Sniper_sf13_magic_reac07.wav

 

There's a hint says that Runestone is hanging in one of these meat hooks and i have to find the switch that raise them. I will search for it, check every crook and nook so i don't get that harsh insult again.

 

This chest contain Grim Reaper. Wonderful! [Castle-sized Sarcasm]. Never mind that! Check that soup  on that cauldron looks so sick and amazing. Evil army gotta eat, you know?  

 

They also get bomb-throwing dude! Engineer_paincrticialdeath02.wav  

 

I see that stronger enemies will be spawned by higher level of enemy generator. Damaging it will reduce its level and finally completely destroyed. Take example of those black walking armor. They're the tier-3 of the walking armors. The tier-2 is white armor equip warhammer and lastly the weakest is white armor equips light spear. It goes without saying that the walking armors are spawned from armor statue.

 

Aha! This different wall reveals the switch that lift the Runestone. I won't get any insult for this level. Soldier_cheers06.wav

 

I go back to the castle dungeon to find the missed runestone and gain more experience. After some hidden switch hunting, i find it behind this destroyable wall along this skeleton. Most likely, he/she is slave that's ordered by Skorne to hide the runestone in this room unless he/she die by The Demon Lord's hand. But later killed by  his minion instead after doing his/her task and later buried. Talking about out of the frying pan into the fire.

 

On to fancier part of the castle, my level turns into 25 and i have hawk familiar as bonus! It acts as option which shoot on the direction where i shoot. Phoenix power up actually act the same as this hawk but stronger yet limited by duration. By the way, i didn't know that my turbo attack can goes through certain wall like this one. Heavy_sf13_influx_big04.wav

 

Because i have so much power up on my pocket, i figure i will use them. Turns out i can combine them like this: "3-way shot" and "auto fire". The result is fascinating! "3-way shot" power up is self-explanatory. As for "auto fire" power up, not only you have the ability to shoot continuously by holding down the shoot button but also increase the shoot rate drastically! Because i have other power up stashed, it's hard for me to toggle on/off this power up combination in short time.    

 

Here's Untar's Ice Axe that said to be lethal weapon against The Dragon. I need to solve another switch puzzle to lower that platform and then my vengeance is as good as mine.   

 

The maximum capacity of keys and magic potion is 9. So i figure i should squander the magic a bit more. As the game instructed before by pressing both attack and magic button (default: "cross" and "circle" button), i can throw magic potion as impromptu grenade which reminds me how Fighter's flechette works in Hexen  

 

My revenge is nigh, dragon! The ice axe flies on its own and damages the dragon by 25% or so. Then the boss fight begins (again)...

 

This is the shockwave that i talked about. There's no way to avoid this attack. It's such a shame that so far the game is friendly enough but now it forces you to take mandatory damage. But this huge attack is the least damaging from the dragon's disposal. His flame breath can sap your health relatively fast but if you move to one of the corner you will be fine. You can try to hack his feet but watch out with that volcanic fault line because it hurts you extremely bad. My strategy is: use the combination of auto-fire and 3-way shoot to deliver serious damage to him and avoid his fiery breath. There's chicken drumstick on his left foot should you need to refill your health. Either because i'm over-leveled or because of the axe, the dragon goes down pretty fast. Huzzah! Vengeance has been fulfilled!

 

The boss of castle's level is this Chimera. As for the ice axe, the scimitar flies on its own toward the giant monster and depletes their health by 25% or so. The boss shoot outs fire breath from their 3 heads and that's the only thing that they can do. Plus this attack is easy to avoid. There's 3 blocks with animal engraving on them that you can destroy for nothing. No, they can't serve as cover from the boss' attack because the fire goes through them. Again, auto-fire and 3-way shoot will prevail against this boss.

 

The defeated bosses drop a piece stained glass with their drawing on it. Sumner put the glass pieces into window behind him. He looks proud of it.  

 

I forget to tell you that there's secret characters on Pause Menu in Main hub's section. The way to unlock them is to find and finish secret levels. They will inherit your character's level and that's as far as i know. They probably have different characteristic. maybe. Thing for sure is that's definitely Minotaur and i'm eager to unlock him/her. I think i will stop right here.   

 

I really love with what they did to Atari Games Corporation (Midway)'s Gauntlet Legends (2000). They put some RPG element into Gauntlet game and it definitely works! It feels like crossbreed between dungeon explore and arcade shooter game. I dare say that it's more appealing than Diablo-clone. I don't say that Diablo-clone is bad, it's just this reformed Gauntlet is more in my taste. My problem with Diablo and its clone is how cumbersome to aim precisely my attack on enemies. I have to point and click my mouse at exact spot. Sometime my aim misses and my character walks into enemies nonchalantly instead. In this Gauntlet, all you need to do is press attack button in general direction and you most likely hit the enemies well as the auto-aim works fairly good. Also the melee combat is simple: just press direction into nearby enemies. I like to add that you don't need to get close to enemies when you're Warrior unlike in Diablo-clone.  Warrior is as good at range attack as his melee attack. It goes without saying that melee attack only good for Warrior (because he has the highest melee power) and Valkyrie  (because he has the highest armor value). They suffer the least risk upon trading blow. The inventory system is pretty intuitive while the items are overall useful. Sadly there's no explanation on power up, which allow you to understand about them better. Because i'm such a big item hoarder, i feel like the shop need a feature to sell unused item. About the healing, the food items are fairly abundant throughout the levels. But not so in Boss fight. I like to suggest the shop sell healing potion that can replenish 50% health at instant but it's expensive -let's say- about 600 gold which is significantly more expensive than meat. Unlike meat or other food item that heal you on the spot, you can carry potion anywhere and use it when activated but you can only carry 2 of it. It will be very handy for boss fight. Also i like to see the shop sells stats-buff potion that last certain time. The difficulty curve is fairly friendly. I really like the idea of "Turbo" function which gives you more degree on Gauntlet-ing around. The music is pretty alright. The visual may look outdated but i think it's okay.

 

Gauntlet Legends (2000) gets my top recommendation. It has the true core of Gauntlet and they develop it into remarkable Arcade-y Action RPG! Naturally, it's much better to play this game with multiplayer. One should be Valkyrie/Warrior and the other should be Archer/Wizard or pick whoever you want. The game still very fun nonetheless! Here's some quick tip on character selection. If you like to have overall great attack power, choose Warrior. If you like "Hit and run" tactic, pick Archer. If you want to deal great damage from safe distance only, pick Wizard. If you are none of those or the uncertain like to be durable, pick Valkyrie. GL get other version than PSX and there's some of the version that allow 4-players co-op! It will be crazy fun if you play it with 4 players!

This game really opens my eyes. I only think Atari Games Corporation (Midway)'s game that awesome with modern feature is Rampage. But Gauntlet certainly great too. What makes my mind blown is there's Gauntlet game on Steam! I will check that in future!