Dragoon Might (Arcade)

If we talk about fighting game, you probably think of games made by Capcom, SNK, Midway or Namco/Bandai Namco. Sega made some but most of them are not memorable except Virtua Fighter. Tecmo/Koei Tecmo have Dead or Alive series. Then there's Konami. Konami made some fighting games! Crazy, huh? One of them is Dragoon Might (1995). 

I'm bothered with that huge portion on white marble on the title screen. My brain keep suggesting it's overly large border thus the main portion looks shy. I mean even you're not as famous as Samurai Shodown, you don't need to feel that modest. Bright up and show us what you got! Why i relate this game with the famous SNK's swordfighting game? Obviously because this is also fighting game with weapon. If you wonder why the fighters in this game hack each other up, the reason is kind of generic. It's said that there's dragon medallion pieces all around the world and when it's fully combined, it will grant you a wish whether you want fame, riches, power to rule the world, or even eternal life. The last one sounds like trap because I learnt something from Curse of the Dead Gods.

 

One of special feature in this fighting game is the ability to jump to part of stage like trees or pipe. Calling this game Samurai Shodown seems bit inaccurate. It's close to another SNK's fighting game: Savage Reign which also feature ability to jump to other part of stage like hanging on rope or lighting set. But the big difference is on Savage Reign you do that by pressing both punch and kick button. While in this game you have to press all 3 of kick buttons which seems more complicated to do. There's also special function if you press all of punch buttons but we will get to that later.    

 

So here's the roster. Like Street Fighter, it include only 2 female characters. Why not 3 or 5? I don't know! The main protagonist is Yamato and you can guess that he's shoto which is the popular trend for character that have ability to shoot projectile from range and attack upward that's meant to punish anyone that dare to jumping kick them. Hold on! he reminds me of someone. 

 

Yamato reminds me of Viktor from Suikoden II which is also Konami's game. Perhaps because they're both sport messy black hair and long sword. Also, they both have pleasant but bit cocky smile. Anyway, i won't pick Yamato. I already have someone else in my mind.

If you like fighting game with pre-fight quote then you probably like Dragoon Might, because there's always character's quote before the fight merely begin yet. What a healthy sportsmanship [Standard long sword-sized sarcasm]

 

You might think that i play as Reggie the one who sports fancy mullet and probably a grappler type fighter. Sadly, no. I play as the brat with heavy sword. This is not a good start. Demoman_negativevocalization04.wav

 

Reggie has shorter weapon than me but he makes up for powerful grab and more aggressive movement. So as Zack i have to play more defensively (maybe?) to make up for his tedious attack. I mean look at him. He throw all his body and balance for that heavy normal attack and the distance can't cut it [pun may intended]. Also get this! If this attack connect it deals just measly damage. The reason why me (and some people) like to pick fighters with heavy sword is usually for their great attack range and power despite their cumbersome movement. Their fighting style is simple yet efficient. Heck! Even in Monster Hunter, i fancy being Greatsword. But Zack here is anomaly. He only has the cumbersome movement right. His attack range and power can't make up for it. Let's see some comparison, shall we?       

Let's compare Zack with my all-time favorite swordsman with heavy sword: Goat from Asura Blade (1998). Look at their jumping heavy slash! Goat certainly has more range into it because he keep his sword in front of him for the rest of animation. Meanwhile Zack move his sword to the side which results in significant less attack range and duration. That means less reliability to make the attack connects. You probably think if Zack moves the sword away he can produce more damage upon hit but sadly that's not the case. You can see by yourself how much damage that Goat and Zack inflict by looking at the red/orange bar on their opponent's health bar. It's not good comparison because Asura Blade has 2 health bar system. But i would say that Zack's attack should inflict more damage by 25% or so to be equal with Goat's.    

Also notice the blood is green in Dragoon Might because it's international version. "Red blood is too horrible for children. Censor it into green!"

 

But i stick with Zack no matter what even when I already regret this decision. Look! I hit Reggie with crouching normal heavy attack. So, we can work this out. The control is pretty basic. There's 6 attack buttons. Light, medium, and heavy for each punch/slash and kick. You block attack by holding joystick backward, jump by holding joystick up or any diagonal up, crouch by holding joystick downward, dash forward the enemy by wiggling the joystick forward twice (then hold the joystick) and back step by wriggling the joystick backward twice.

I like the transparent effect on flowing water on foreground. It's beautiful.

 

It's irony to defeat a grappler with grab. Wait for him to charge at you with either shoulder ran or kick, block it, and grab him. The grab system is the usual. Pressing forward + medium slash/punch, heavy slash/punch, or heavy kick when you close to your opponent. Like very close that you can see their nostril in detail.  

 

With Reggie defeated, my next opponent is Layla. How can you make me eat my word exactly? If you can, i would like that with some swirly fried fries.

 

Ok. No swirly fried fries. Only tonfa with bladed extension for me to eat. Fine!

I know trendy fashion of jeans with ripped knee. But jeans with only half leg? I think Layla's weird fashion can make home at Azur Lane.

Notice that my weapon is dropped? Yes. I can be disarmed if i keep blocking my opponent's attack. Turtling strategy is discouraged.   

 

Zack's crouching heavy kick is sliding kick with very long distance. I know i can count on you, lad! Demoman_positivevocalization05.wav

 

It goes without saying that Zack has some special move like this where he throw his large sword. It's executed by holding punch/slash button for 4 seconds then releases it. 4 seconds! That's why too long! Take Jax or Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat 3 for example of fighting game character with special move that requires holding attack button. They need 3 seconds at most to hold attack button and become partially defenseless because the attack button put to hold. But the reward is satisfying fast bicycle kick or earthquake punch. But in Zack's case, not only he need to hold the attack button for 1 second longer (that feels like fairly eternal) but also the result is lackluster which is slow flying sword that can be easily blocked by enemy's blocking or their own projectile. It's homing pretty accurate, i think. Even if it hits successfully, the damage is not bigger than the jumping heavy slash does. What a rip-off!   

 

Eventually i can defeated her thanks to aggressive yet accurate sliding kick. So this guy fight using his own knuckle, unarmed? Thanks, i guess?

 

You liar! You use spiked yoyo like Rygar. Bastard!

 

He's like Reggie having large muscular body and small blade weapon. But in his case he uses blade gauntlet and instead using straight charging attack and grapple, he use charging uppercut and spiked yoyo. I think the solution to this fight is block then grab him like what i did when fighting Reggie.   

 

There's on-the-ground attack that you can perform by holding joystick to up direction and pressing punch/slash button. It works quite fine but i think for Zack's case, he often execute it too slow giving his opponents time to get up and avoid it. But because his weapon is cumbersome, that's kind of make sense. But the other problem is: Zack has special attack executed by holding joystick to up direction and pressing punch/slash button while jumping. Naturally those command inputs conflict with each other. More often than not when i ask for the downed attack, he spins around flies like demented chopper's blade instead.

 

I think i notice a trend especially on the pre-fight banter, everyone looks smug with each other. There's another bad thing in this game.         

I find strange for someone named Ryan dressed like Japanese monk or maybe it's just me. Ryan here is distance fighter. He likes to conjure thunder wave along the ground with his staff. Lucky for Zack (maybe), he can also generates ground thunder wave. Performed by pressing punch/slash button repeatedly! What an obtuse input for projectile shooting move! Perhaps the idea is like Blanka's electric discharge but can generate ground projectile for once. That seems neat idea in theory. But in the fighting game where everyone wield weapon as extension from their hand, it doesn't work because the electric field simple get outranged by any weapon attack. I mean i get it. If this electric field get higher priority over any normal attack, the move is simply broken (in working way). But in the current situation, the move seems useless to execute. It has long start-up, unlike Chun Li's Hyakuretsukyaku which has noticeable faster execution. At least the electric field can block projectile, i think

Then he unleashes his Super Attack which is an effective anti air move. Every character has this Super Attack performed by pressing all of punch buttons or according to FAQ that i read, it only needs 2 buttons pressed. However this Super Attack cost a sliver of health of the user. So you have to be careful when you want to use it.

 

Certainly, Zack also has Super Attack which he rides his broadsword and fly to the sky a bit. I just notice that Zack has too many anti air move! First is where he spins wildly with his sword. Second is flip kick which he use his sword as pedestal (performed by holding down on joystick then move up and press kick button). And lastly his super attack right here. Mention any fighting game character who also has 3 anti-air move! There's no one else! Do you know why? Because it makes the character way too defensive!

 

But there's more to that! There's another Super Attack that can only be performed when the user's health blink which is about 20% left. It goes without saying that this Final Attack also cost some of user's health when executed. Ryan's Final Attack is neat. He slides backward that can dodge enemy's jump kick and then unleash big beam. Each character has different input on this super special move. For Ryan: move joystick forward, then half circle forward and press 2 punch buttons. As for Zack: move joystick diagonal back and down then up and press 2 punch buttons! That joystick motion is so freaking unfriendly! Maybe for those who main Guile, Honda, etc that motion is piece of cake. But for me, it's dumb hard. I can't successfully execute the Final Attack. Not even once. I take -what's so called- "pretzel" motion like Ryan's as long as it flows smoothly and doesn't involve up directional. Because whenever i do move input with up directional in any fighting game, it only results in my character nonchalantly jumps like idiotic grasshopper.

Correction: Zack's Final Attack can be executed quite accurately and i can execute it in mid-air too. The final attack is: he plunges his broadsword into the ground, fire sparks come out of it and fly in 6 directions. It's neat. I wish it was Super Attack instead of the sudden air surfing with his broad sword because -again- Zack has too many anti air move.

 

Next opponent is the last female character on the roster and her specialty is mixing up between you're and your.  

 

Spy_autoonfire03.wav .She can blow fire from her mouth. Good to know.

 

Tsugumi can also conjure whirlwind by spinning her weapon. Here's funny moment where i get hit by said whirlwind but she also get by my sliding kick. She's another zoner type character but i don't remember i witness she has any anti air move so she's noticeably easier than Ryan. Moreover, i can slip beneath her fire breath or ranged super move safely with my sliding kick.

 

Next opponent is Suiko. I forget to take snapshot of his pre-fight quote. My bad. We fight at violent slum kind of place. Is it just me or the place doesn't fit with Suiko's status as benevolent monk? Anyway much like Tsugumi, Suiko doesn't have any anti air move. So the fight should be easy, right?  

 

Look at those kids cowered in fear while their pet dog barking at us. I like this meaningful detail.

I just notice that the crouching slash can be blocked with standing block! The basic combo is jumping attack then crouching attack. If the jumping attack is blocked, hopefully the enemy doesn't have enough time to block low. But that basic combo can't work in Zack's case because both his jumping  and crouching attack can be blocked with standing block! If you think i should replace the crouching slash with crouching kick, well it doesn't work either. Because crouching heavy kick when my opponent is near, become flip kick (without high jump  like in special move version) that can also blocked while standing. So i resort to string the jumping attack with crouching medium kick that significantly weaker and shorter than the crouching heavy kick.

 

Then i discover that Zack's grab with heavy kick input is Frankensteiner with help of his broadsword. It's entertaining to watch.

 

To answer my previous question "the fight with Suiko should be easy". It's easier than Ryan because Suiko doesn't have anti air move but it's harder than Tsugumi because of his Final Attack here. He floats and then summons 3 malevolent evil spirits from the ground and proceed to haunt you. It deals big chip damage when blocked. But he need long start up to actually order the spirits to attack you. If you're fast enough you can interrupt his final attack by hitting him in mid air.

This guy also looks smug but at least his quote is less toxic.

 

Kodama is a ninja and armless. He like to jump above me so here's golden opportunity to show off the "spins around wildly like demented copter's blades" move. Engineer_cheers01.wav

 

Don't underestimate unarmed Kodama because he can disarm you! (Although this special counter move doesn't work against another Kodama). So Kodama is specialized at counter move and jump high like decent ninja. He can also throw throwing stars in mid-air. His fighting style is rather interesting.

 

Finally! We get to fight the main protagonist. Sniper_battlecry01.wav

 

Like i said before that Yamato is shoto. He has (ground) projectile and uppercut move. With this kind of fighter, i have no idea how to fight him. How do i approach him? Sliding kick is certainly no go because his projectile travel along the ground. If his projectile travel in middle height like Suiko's, i can get past underneath it with sliding kick. Jumping attack is bad idea because he has this anti air move. Maybe if i execute jumping attack in very perfect time, i can deal with him well. So what's left is standing normal attack. Zack has pretty good range with his sword but his standing heavy normal is too cumbersome to use. Using his ranged specials also not good idea because both of them requires long start up. 

 

Yamato's super attack looks stupid. He throws himself forward with all his body. But if it connects, he will unleash wicked sword combo.

 

While his Final Attack is just him throw big flaming fist forward which is quite lame. I was hoping for big projectile move but no. So Yamato's style has big similarity to Ken's than Ryu's from Street Fighter.

 

I only need one more piece of medallion to complete it but suddenly this seedy person demands me to hand over all of pieces that i got. No way i will hand them to you, impudent schmuck!

 

Dogma is also unarmed like Kodama. But he has some trick under his sleeves [Pun may intended]. First, he can conjure red evil laser but i can slide underneath it! Scout_beingshotinvincible14.wav

 

His Final Attack is crazy! He set himself aflame and charge at me. Note that this final attack is unblockable! Scout_autoonfire01.wav

Dogma can also do sliding kick both along the ground and floating slightly above the ground. The latter ones has higher priority over my sliding kick. You know why i never show you the "hanging on object" move which is kind of the main feature of this game? Because i keep cutting the objects (like this war sickle) incidentally with my big sword! Not that feature helps me in this wretched boss fight.

 

Then Dogma charges at me and unleash electricity at my knee! I thought that move can be blocked with standing block but no. It hits low. Quite creative, i would say. I try to counter it with the lame lightning move and it doesn't work. He bypasses my electro field and the lightning wave projectile too! The hitbox on the electro field is too small for proper defensive use. In case you can't tell that Zack is bad character to pick but i already invested my time and interest on him. There's no turning back. If only the input for "Boomerang sword" move is holding back direction then forward and pressing punch button like Guile's Sonic Boom. Zack become better at fighting.  

On the other hand, Dogma perhaps has the same level as the usual SNK fighting game's boss even though he's unarmed, i remind you. He moves fast. He attacks fast and relentlessly. He slide kicks fast and he can do that in mid-air. His laser beam travel fast. His fingernails are long (to cover his weapon absence). He blow bigger and stronger flame than Tsugumi's as his Super Attack. His Final Attack is unblockable.

 

I think i figure out how to utilize this awful move that apparently hit enemy on the ground. I fell him with my jumping slash like usual then i immediately execute this move while he lies on the ground briefly. If i lucky or fast enough, i can follow that up with same move and hopefully hit him while still on the ground. Maybe this how you utilize this move. Buffer it with jumping attack so you can chain it after jumping attack. But i don't think it's not powerful combination because this move doesn't hit low.

 

I know right? Being defeated by underpowered character must be very humiliating.

 

Then the game re-narrates the legend about the dragon medallion. So what's Zack so desire? Big riches? Earth conquest? New spiffy PS 5? Girlfriend? Golden Axe? Or perhaps better moveset?

 

I hope you don't expect something interesting for Zack's wish because there's none. Presumably the Dragon Medallion becomes alive and said that the world change too much that it's impossible for The Medallion to make it better for Zack. But you're the FREAKING LEGENDARY MEDALLION! You should be able to make things happen or at least fulfill 1 wish! Do you ever heard Aladdin or Dragon Ball story? So i assume the legend lies and the medallion does nothing except talk and being weary like someone lose all of their money on many casinos in Las Vegas.

 

Then Zack goes home where his mother waiting for him with warm smile and meal. That's it! That's the end of Zack's story. We don't even get to see how his mother look! I say, it's as lame as his moveset.

 

But before we move on to conclusion, i should tell you that there's 3-on-3 team fight mode besides single match mode. So this game takes some inspiration from King of Fighter as well. In team fight mode, the damage ratio goes bigger than in single match mode. Besides Zack, i pick Yamato and Reggie for this mode. And tell you what? They feel much better to pick as due to their better moveset even though Zack does damage the most with his normal attack. Like in KoF, each character can only fight for at least a round. I don't think the winner will get some heal for next round though. Then there's POW bar on the bottom that is proper super bar that carried over rounds. Maybe you can use it for Final Attck and it will no longer require health cost? I'm not sure.

Scout_sf12_seeking07.wav

Konami's Dragoon Might (1995) is pretty decent weapon-based fighting game despite the horrible experience that i went through. The fault is on me because i pick the character with the worst moveset. But you can also blame related Konami's team that design Zack's moveset so bad, if you want. The gameplay is rather solid with good distinctive feature. I like the idea of Super Attack and Final Attack that require slight health cost upon cast rather than the usual using super bar. It adds to "Risk and reward" element to the game. The roster of 12 characters is pretty big and each with their unique fighting style. One of the noticeable ones is Sarumaru who has monkey-like face and he fights with sword strapped on each of his foot. He use the swords like demented stilts. Hitbox detection is reasonable. The music is fairly good. The sound effect also not bad. The graphic is colorful and bit pastel-y like Metamorphic Force.  

 

I reckon Dragoon Might (1995) needs more acknowledgement. More people should play this rare Konami's fighting game. Note: do not pick Zack. Anyone else is fine, i reckon. Although i keep picking Zack as my main. That one is just my personal foolish-yet-noble mission like collecting piece of medallion that doesn't grant any wishes when combined into one.

By the way, the "Dragoon" part could be typo for "Dragon" but since the game involves some swordsman. I let that one off.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force 3 (PSP) - Part 2

Previously, a new kid with red cap (me) is appointed by Chancellor Sheppard to participate in ceremonial tag duel at the graduation ceremony. Later he choose Alexis Rhodes as his partner for said important duel. For the preparation, the pair must strengthen the bond between them by going anywhere together and card dueling once in awhile. One day, Alexis' friends ask her to help for teacher-qualification test because they want to become one for future career. Alexis teams up with this new kid to test her friends for tag-duel test. Even though Alexis' friends beaten up badly, they feel their bond grow stronger and feel ready for the test in future. What's Alexis and i confront next? Spoiler: more card duels.

We went to Volcano area (that completely safe and full of visitor) and play some minigame provided by another anime Man in Black and...it's freaking Othello! I decide the horizontal coordinate for the new piece while Alexis (randomly) pick the vertical coordinate. More often than not she pick a spot where there's already a piece thus the new ones immediately explodes! Also the new piece suddenly explodes if placed in completely blank spot. I don't get it. :(

Sunday...

 

That Vellian's expression is the same as mine regarding that blasted Othello/Reversi game. Anyway, every Sunday there's no class to attend (naturally). Instead your partner will ask you whether you want to participate in Tag Tournament or not. If you skip it, Sunday will end instantly. From now i choose to join the tournament for Alexis' duelist honor. The harsh rule of this tournament is tie makes you eliminated and the saving feature is disabled. Back then it was really hard, but now i play this in emulator i can abuse the save/load state! :P 

 

You also can't talk to other fellow students. During this tournament event, their bloodlust rise abruptly and all they want is tag-dueling you. What a healthy academy relation.  [Medium-sized Sarcasm]

For the first tournament, you have to tag-duel other Slifer Red students. They're the lowest tier in this Duel Academy including you. But don't be disheartened by that fact, the main protagonist of the show is also Slifer Red students, Syrus Truesdale used to be ones. So not all Slifer Red students are just lowly duelist.

Anyway, through this tournament, i learn some fellow Slifer Red student's deck. For some reason: Zanny is cunning git using deck filled with trap cards and some of them become monster card. Tryston has deck contains fiendish clown monsters. Khadim favors Rock-type monsters and "The Rock Spirit" monster. Sigthor's deck consists of "Dark Blade" and "Pitch-Dark Dragon" monster combination.

 

Quite miraculously, we manage to defeat all duelists here without any lose. The reward is good sums of DP and the funny shocking expression of Vellian Crowler. :)

I also unlock new card pack in the store. It's called "Power of the Heroes" and consist of Elemental-hero archetype which Jaden Yuki use! Or to be more accurate when he's still naive and not fused with Yubel yet. I remember using Elemental Hero Wildheart a lot back in the day. He's powerful because he's unaffected by any trap card (including mine). Although he has measly attack power of 1,500 points but that mean i can special summon with Warrior Lady of Wasteland's effect!

 

The KENYoU guy has more something on his sleeves. He have "Blast Held By A Tribute" trap card! If you happen to have Level 5 or beyond monster that summoned with monster tribute and have them attack, he can activate the trap card which destroys all of your monsters and you take 1,000 points damage so i advise you don't use high level monster against him. By the way i happen to have "Bait Doll" spell card that force activation of a trap card, if it's a spell card it will return to face-down state and its effect doesn't activate. If the trap card's precondition doesn't meet when it's activated by "Bait Doll" spell card, it will be negated and it's destroyed. Since most trap cards require specific precondition before it can activate, i reckon this "Bait Doll" spell card is super useful. Even it triggers trap card that activates within general condition for example "Jar of Greed" that allow the user to draw 1 card from their deck or "Birthright" that revives normal monster from their graveyard zone, i think it's better to trigger trap earlier than you get nasty surprise at Battle Phase. Also note that most trap cards work at Battle Phase  or at least work more efficiently within that phase.

This "Penalty Game!" trap is quite annoying. If i happen to have 4 cards, i must either skip my next draw phase or cannot activate any spell or trap for the rest of this turn. KENYoU usually choose skip my next draw phase which i think about it, it's not bad compared to can't activate any spell or trap. By the way, is that Dr. Doom's picture on the trap card?

Here's the detail of my duel's earning. Level bonus is determined by my own level. Its formula is: My current level X 2 DP. Turn bonus is naturally bigger if you finish the duel within longer turn but you get special bonus if you can break the record of minimum turn in a duel. Duelist bonus is determined by your opponent's power/deck. Every duelist has level. The formula of Duelist bonus is: Lvl number X 90 DP. KENYoU's level is 2 so i get at least 180 DP every time i defeat him. LP Keep bonus is basically Flawless Victory or Perfect win in which your opponent doesn't get to lower your LP in any method. LP Keep bonus is flat 10 DP so it's not so worthy to achieve it. There's other bonus such as no special summon when your opponent does special summon or your fill entire monster or spell/trap card zones.

KENYoU also have Anteatereatingant monster. I love it. I used it often back when i play Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force 1. It's effect monster that can only be (special) summoned by sending 2 or spell or trap card on my field to graveyard. It's useful when your hand happens to have no other monster card and lots of spell/trap cards at the moment. The monster can destroy opponent's spell/trap card once in a turn but in return it can't attack for the rest of the turn. By the way, the name is a pun. Anteater-eating ant. The picture is giant ant that about to eat anteater that happen to eat regular small ants. The lore behinds the picture is funny. :)   

Besides Elemental Hero Wildheart, i acquired Elemental Hero Bladedge. He has special CG cutscene when i summon him and when he attacks. Thank you for being his first punching bag, KENYoU! :D 

 

I found "Eldeen" card on the dungeon minigame! I'm curious about it, i hope i can reach checkpoint so can keep it in my inventory.

This git is stupid beyond reason. He deploys "The immortal of thunder" monster that increase his LP by 3,000 points when get flipped from face-down position but he get 5,000 points damage when the monster is destroyed in battle. Sniper_domination12.wav

 

With some luck and load/save state i manage to reach checkpoint and i get 1,110 DP. Engineer_mvm_collect_credits03.wav  

Don't mind me, Chancellor Sheppard. I just cleaning your room from  cards without owner. They're not happen to be yours, are they?  

 

So Alexis' affinity reaches 2 heart that unlock 2nd event where Chazz Pirnceton challenge Alexis before he and Aster Phoenix leaving for the pro league after they graduate. And you can guess that i'm dragged to their duel.

 

So Chazz using the V-Tiger Jet, W-Wing Catapult, X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank combination deck instead of Zane Truesdale. My bad. Now i remember that Zane using deck with "Cyber End" archetype monster which is machine type and some of them are dragon robot! While Aster Phoenix uses "Destiny Heroes" which rival to Jaden Yuki's "Elemental Heroes". Anyhow, the duel over rather quickly perhaps Zane and Aster happen to have serious bad luck when drawing their cards in this particular duel.  

 

Fired shot by Aster Phoenix. I think they can make a great pair, judging by their cloth. The pair of black and white. Even though i don't think V-Tiger Jet, W-Wing Catapult, X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank deck can work well if paired with "Destiny Heroes" deck.

 

I forget to check this duel field for stray cards. With the name of "The Fiend Megacyber", what do you think the type of this monster? Fiend? Machine? No and no. Believe it or not it's warrior-type monster. :P

It's effect is pretty neat. It can be special summoned when your opponent control at least 2 or more monsters than you. Useful for emergency situation.

 

On the other hand, Eldeen monster here sucks! I shouldn't fired up over that petty loot in the first place. Scout_jeers10.wav. >:(

To search your card collection easier, you can filter it by using text. In this case, i want to search for the warrior-type ritual monster that i recently got. I thought it has word "dance" on it so i use it as keyword and it showed. "Commencement Dance" is the ritual spell and "Performance of Sword" is the actual ritual monster.    

I have a whim to challenge Syrus Truesdale which sports "-roid" vehicle monsters. Oh no! He activates "Torrential Tribute!" but Elemental Hero Wildheart isn't affected by it. Demoman_positivevocalization03.wav   

Heavy_domination03.wav.  Fine! I just want to use card conversion machine, anyway.  

The detail that i like from this conversion process is: they show the actual cards that i put into the machine, swirling into that dazzling spiral. You can skip this animation by pressing circle button. To use this machine, you have to put at least 10 cards into the machine. The output of the conversion, depends on the amount of card that you put. I read some spoiler from some FAQS that there's like 8 - 10 possibility for every amount of input card. The maximum of card that you can convert is 99. So there's at least: (99 - 10) X 8 = 712 cards that you can possibly get from the machine! But naturally not all cards are useful. Some of them probably already unlocked from the store, or garbage normal monster. There's even forbidden card that you can't use at all! To be more accurate, in single player mode.

The process is less aggravating when you play this game in emulator because you can save/load state. I do that, obviously. ;P

By the way, through some trial-and-error of me putting 88 cards i got "Nightmare Wheel" which has more or less same effect as "Mask of the accursed" in Loggy's deck but it's trap card instead of equip spell card.   

I also "accidentally" got this "Coffin Seller" trap. It's useful in battle-oriented deck and further push your opponent to the brink of defeat besides having monster with strong attack power also to break stalling tactic that your opponent can come up with like putting defense-position monster one after another. I think i never get this card back in the day when i play this in real hardware. Demoman_mvm_loot_rare01.wav   

Once your partner's affinity reaches 2 and a half hearts, you can start to edit their deck. Thus you can improve the deck by putting better/stronger cards or cards that you currently use so you can have better teamwork on tag duel that mostly happen in plot events.   

 

But keep in mind that you can't remove your partner's favorite cards. They have bold yellow border on them. You partner's card collection is the same as yours plus cards on their deck. So yours card collection is important to upgrade your partner's deck. Note that all of cards in their collection have quantity of 3 numbers which is the maximum standard cards that allowed in deck even though some of them are limited or semi-limited. Semi-limited cards can only be 2 at most in a deck. While limited cards can only be 1 of its kind in a deck.

Oh hey! I found new juicy prey: Shannon. He likes bug cards and "Gaia Power" field spell which increase attack power by 500 points and decrease defense power by 400 points to all earth-element monster. Whaddya know? Most of my warrior monster's element is earth (and dark element is the second). I can take benefit from that! His insect monster are normal type and that's big advantage to me. But beware that much like Loggy, Shannon also has "Justi-Break" trap card. I think everyone that like to use normal monster card, most likely have "Justi-Break" trap card one their sleeve deck.

 

Usually i don't like gambling factor in Yu-Gi-Oh! (i.e., roll dice or flip coin). I think throughout my experience in playing  Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force 1, i have "Anti-luck" talent which is when my opponent using mechanism of roll dice or flip coin, they most likely fail or meet least accepted result. So i don't think it's a good idea for me to use the gambling mechanism.

However i like to deploy "Maximum Six" monster whenever i get the chance even though involving rolling dice. The dice determines attack bonus that he will get when he's successfully summoned (with a tribute, because he's level 6 monster). The attack bonus is: number on the dice X 200 points. His base attack power is 1,900 points. Even you happen to get 1 on the dice, His attack power becomes 2,100 points which is standard good for level 5 or 6 monster. So there's no detrimental gambling failure in this case. Plus "Maximum Six" is a warrior-type monster which is fit in my deck!

It seems everyone but me have "Premature Burial" equip spell card. This limited-category card effect is to revive a monster in attack position from controller's graveyard at the cost of 800 LP. You can inspect any card on the field and see their detail that including from what card pack you can get it. "Time to Gear Up" is that card pack that about equip spell card. You see the small gold label on the Pack List tab? It means the card is in "Super Rare" rarity within the card pack. Silver label signifies "advanced rare" rarity and bronze label marks "(trivially) rare" rarity. Naturally, no label means the card is as common as 4-legged cow.

Do you see 2 small icons on grey box on left bottom? That icon is the context key. It's important for filter your card collection. The first icon is "a card out of tombstone" which means card retrieval from graveyard zone. The second icon is symbol for special summon. Thus those context keys can be translated as this card have effect of both retrieve card from graveyard and special summon it. Currently my deck lacks of graveyard retrieval. I must have this "Premature Burial".     

Turns out, Shannon has this rather powerful "Javelin Beetle" ritual monster. Scout_negativevocalization05.wav

But i manage to kill it by using "Widespread Ruin" trap card and looks like he doesn't like that. Everytime you manage to destroy your opponent's favorite card, you get this special cutscene where they shocked because you do that. Additionally, you get hefty bonus DP whenever you destroy their favorite cards.  

I obtained this "Allure of Darkness" spell card from abandoned building although you can get this from "Creeping Darkness" card pack. It allows me to draw 2 cards from deck but i have to remove 1 Dark monster in my hand otherwise i have to discard all card in my hand.This is the reason why i need dark warrior monster in my deck even though i don't have many of them. But it's quite good alternative to get more card when "Pot of Avarice" spell is not viable at the moment.

 

Finally, the cat likes me as i pet him! Soldier_cheers01.wav

But suddenly...

What? There's a test? I though today is just like other day of regular class day. I can tell that Vellian Crowler is killer-type teacher by the look of he smiles when test time has come.

Ok. The first test wasn't so bad. It's multiple-choice question within limited time. Thankfully the answers are only 2 which are selected by pressing either "triangle" button for top choice or cross button for "bottom" choice. Command Knight is one of my favorite card. How naive of them to test me about this reliable warrior monster. If you see many many cards from either card pack you bought or conversion machine, you should be fine doing this test. Or you can guess your way out of it. There's only 2 answer options, afterall.  

The second test is practical test where you do tag team duel with your partner like in event but your opponents are randomly chosen. Coincidentally, we encounter Aster Phoenix and this time he's able to show his true potential. He relies on "Clock Tower Prison" field which generates "Clock" counter on my standby phase. Once the counter number reaches 4, Aster takes no battle damage. Also he can send the field card (once the counter is 4) to graveyard, to special summon "Destiny Hero - Dreadmaster" that have the attack and defense power of all "Destiny Hero" that currently on his side. Needless to say that The Dreadmaster is imposing threat but you can decrease his attack and defense power by destroying other "Destiny Hero" on his side.

You also need to be careful of "Destiny Hero - Dasher" level 6 monster with attack power of 2,100 points. However, he can gain additional attack power by 1,000 points if Aster sacrifice 1 monster on his side. Although once the Dasher attack, he will change his position to defense.  

 

Don't be so sad, lad. You gave me a tough fight. I'm sure your father is proud of you...or not. I'm not sure. I'm not your father afterall.

 

Engineer_positivevocalization01.wav. I broke some many record on that tag duel test!

 

Our score is 2,671 %! Defeating Aster Phoenix is really something, huh? Then i got to choose my reward. Card reward is really tempting but none of that option yield good result. I don't think i get garbage normal monster card from first option but it's still not good in my opinion. 5th opinion is slightly better. One of them is "Nightmare Penguin" which is not bad but it's not warrior type card that suits on my current deck. You can check all possibility of card reward by abusing save/load state. But in the end, i choose 5,000 DP instead.

 

I got some good amount of DP from Vellian Crowler so i don't think i want to do more duel for today. You can choose to end the day earlier from main menu or by holding "R" shoulder button and pressing "square" button.

 

I usually mark good cards by putting them on side deck. But there's more general approach for that. You can put label on them and later you can use Narrow Search (which is this game's term for filter) to find them with key filter "Label". Below "attach/remove label" is "Set/Clear Destiny Card". Destiny card is card of your choosing within deck that can be drawn in "Destiny Draw". When your LP is low (around 1,000 points or so), you can do "Destiny Draw" instead of normal draw. You should set destiny card that will be helpful in critical condition. For me, "Mirror Force" trap card (that i just bought) and "Lightning Vortex" spell card fit when in emergency situation. Both card has effect to destroy all of your opponent's monsters which is why i set them as Destiny Card. You can also set some powerful monster card as Destiny Card. Everyone's preference may vary on this.       

On the next day...

Finally the day of ceremonial duel has come! Alexis has arranged our opponent. They are Atticus who's none other than her big brother and the protagonist of the show: Jaden Yuki. We will see how it goes.

Atticus' deck use generic strong beast-warrior type monster while Jaden Yuki -as i said before- use the "Elemental Heroes" archetype deck. Oh, i see Elemental Hero Stratos! I use that. Such a shame that i have to destroy it.

 

The tag duel goes quite smoothly for us. Atticus is inspired to make all of us into duel team and travel around the world but both Alexis and Jaden refuses the idea. That sounds great, i wish i can speak my agreement to that idea but no. I shall remain silent protagonist and have to agree with Alexis.

 

"The A. Forces" continuous spell is remarkable. But do you know there's equip spell card version of it? It's called "United We Stand" which boost attack of equipped monster by 800 for each face-up monster on my side (including the wielder themselves). In addition, It's not strict to warrior type monster. You probably think it is broken (in a good way) and it is. That's why this equip spell card is in "limited" category meaning i can only have one copy of it within my deck.

Ok. Turns out Shannon also has this strong "Saber Beetle" monster and not just garbage normal insect monster. I should be more careful.

On the other hand, Bawnji employs bunches of normal monster with zombie type and also "King of The Skull Servants". His deck wastes a lot of his zombie monster and my time but it's level is quite low. I better stick to humiliate further either Shannon or KENYoU.

I said that everyone here doesn't use Synchro Summon. But Rei here employs "Tuner" monster! But he doesn't have any Synchro Summon on his extra deck. Nevermind.

In beach area where i meet Bawnji and Rei, i also find minigame called "Survival Dodge Ball"! Hey i know this gameplay! It's like Worms! God bless Andy Davidson! I played Worms, Gunbound, Scorched Earth, Hogs of War, and Fortress 2 Blue Arcade. I can handle this. You press "Cross" button to decide the aim's angle, ball type, and power meter. You can only move one block left or right from previous position. Defeat enemies by either hitting them until their LP is zero or destroying their ground so they fall in cartoon style.

So there's 5 weapon that you can choose. Dodge ball is the standard strong weapon. Tennis ball is the weakest but it launches 3 of it with slight less distance from previous ball in the front. Rugby ball has moderate attack power and bounce 3 times before disappears. Bowling ball (!) has the most destructive power on both duelist and ground but has the wildest power meter and aim's angle. Finally there's cream pie...which i have no idea what it does and i didn't try to use it because it looks like novelty weapon in my opinion.

I no longer have solid ground, don't i? This is minor setback. No worry! I just need to get used to the power meter and the aim's angle. It feels bit different than Worms.

 

There's no shame for using Tennis ball for the first shoot. Hah! I got 2 of them in a swoop. Scout_battlecry01.wav

By the way for some first matches, my opponents only have 1 LP but later matches they have more LP.

 

It seems Alexis like the minigame. How about we plays Worms World Party someday, huh? :)

Shocking twist! The last event is Alexis challenge me for duel. However it's not so shocking to me because i remember it clearly. Because she duels you with deck that you can edit, you can "sabotage" her deck to increase the odd of your victory. But i'm not that horrible person. I just remove "Monster Reborn", "Mirror Force", and "Swords of Revealing Light" from her deck. I want our duel to be as fair and square as possible. I don't have "Monster Reborn" and "Swords of Revealing Light", you see. But i do have "Mirror Force". I'm not so fair person, am i? :P

 

She attack me with "Spell Striker" monster that i add on her deck. I'm proud of her. :)

She makes me cornered. Well done, Alexis! But i happen to have "Lightning Vortex" in my hand. Too bad!

Finally, she's cornered without any cards on her side. But you've done well, Alexis.

 

After defeated, Alexis talks about her future career. First, she wants to be research student. But then Chancellor Sheppard asks her to study abroad at Duel College overseas and she tells me that it's great honor to be student there. She talks at length about it and when she asks me about my opinion about it, she's embarrassed and she restart the same talk about her future career all over again. It goes on like three times and finally she says that she can't think straight and it's not like her at all. 

If it's about asking me to be your boyfriend, i have to turn down your request there, Alexis. I already married to HMS Hermes. There you go, you get the snapshot of Alexis sheds a tear while smiling under golden sunlight as the ending. Maybe she's moved by my card dueling skill. Good for her, i guess? 

Then the credit rolls. I finished the game several times back in the day and just now i realize that KENYoU is the producer and game designer! He deserves big credit because he let himself defeated quite easily in early part of the game because his deck is a joke. To be fair, i get heavily distracted by Atticus there swinging his buttock while wearing Hawaiian shirt. I get to say. You have weird big brother, Alexis. I feel sorry for you.

After credit rolls, i'm back to main menu. So what else should i talk about this game? There's info database for starter where you can see all duelist, cards, CG movies (including when you summon Elemental Hero Bladedge and he attacks your opponent), and Photo (which is your partner's ending). There's tutorial too if you're new to the game. I think i know how to perform Synchro summon from that tutorial. 

Much like fighting game. There's Free Duel mode where you choose your own opponent in either solo or tag mode and you can even set 2 CPU duel against each other. I'm interested in Joshua because he sports warrior-type monster like me. But because his deck is using only Six-Samurai archetype has better order than me, naturally.

You know what? Screw it! My partner for next run is Joshua! Period!

Ok. I have a confession. Partnering with Joshua (and also apply to other duelist on 3rd tab) is less fun. Because when you can change his deck, i'm not allowed to remove/change any card from it. I can only add card into it that may lead to less efficiency of his deck. Plus our teamwork can't be improved because of that. 

You can see heart icon on partner that you finish the game with and you get their deck recipe that you can see in recipe viewer. I think most duelist in first tab has alternate version that you can unlock by finishing the game with related partner. Like here, i unlock angry Alexis that perhaps has stronger deck. You can switch between the version with left/right button on D-pad. Upon finishing the game once you unlock duelist on 2nd  and 3rd tab as your partner candidate. The duelists on 2nd tab are the support cast on the show such as Bastion Misawa, Vellian Crowler, and Atticus Rhodes. While the duelist on 3rd  tab is the generic npc duelist. I think you have to be extra careful on picking these duelist on 3rd tab because most of them (especially Slifer Red student) don't have strong deck. There's no shame on picking powerful partner. Because if you don't you will have very hard time on event tag-duel and eventually you can't finish the game with weak partner. If you already pick wrong duelist as your partner, you can restart the game without losing your card collection, DP, and level. Note that every in-game week or after finishing the game, the duelist are randomized throughout the map. In their location and character availability. I think we can move on to summary.

 

As i said before. Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force 3 (2008) is my most favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! video game. Naturally, the main thing on this game is Yu-Gi-Oh! card duel. But not only you do that for DP (a.k.a. money) but also to boost your partner's affinity which is your main objective. Because if it remains low, you can't make any plot progress and it goes without saying that you also need to win the duel at the plot event. For the first heart, losing the duel will increase your partner's affinity. But after the first heart is fully filled, you must win to fill the next heart and losing drains the heart. You can give sandwich (it cost 200 DP each) to your partner to fill the heart but only up to half of it. The rest, either you or they have to win card duel. By the way if you eat the sandwich instead, you will find some card inside of it! The format on this game is kind of similar to fighting game what with free match mode and unlocking character. Even though the unlockable character is your partner, they will affect the gameplay in some occasion regardless. The music is pretty great especially during the match. There's difference music for normal and event match. Then there's also difference music when the match goes normally, your opponent cornered, and you're cornered. Then i realize that Konami use the music from the first Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force! Albeit with some modification. The sound effect is nice. The minigames are welcome addition to the game. If you get tired of card dueling, you should play those minigames. Just avoid the Othello/Reversi minigame, it's awful. The drawback of playing the minigames is you don't get much DP from them or at least compared to winning duel. Also if you don't win the minigame long enough, your partner affinity will goes down. At least the minigames are considerably more beneficial unlike in Goemon game in SNES where you need to spend big cash before playing minigame. You can also get access to those minigames (including the quiz or the dungeon explorer) from main menu.

The story is amazing. I can see the creativity on it. Like you can see what Konami (or perhaps KENYoU) do with the characters. What they do, their behavior, and such in believable way throughout events. For example in first event when i partner with Joshua Vellian Crowler unite with NPC teachers and Tyranno Hasslebery against graduation because he fell lonely if students keep graduating one by one. When defeated, Tyranno hears one of the Blue Obelisk student's confession that she wants to graduate soon because she need to continue her family's business. He become touched and decides to oppose Vellian. Also the story emphasize that you take a big hero role. Characters in the game really acknowledge your feat or saying that they believe in you. Also some part of the story is modified that your character get the big critical role. For example, in flashback when Jaden Yuki become antagonistic Supreme King. Your silent protagonist challenges him to duel and win. While in the show, Axel Brodie does that instead of running away and eventually getting zapped by Supreme King in the game.          

Here's the rundown of the series: 1) The first Tag Force has very slow pace but it's the most beginner-friendly so it's good for those who are new to card duel 2) I don't play Tag Force 2 but i heard the story is convoluted because lots of time skip and better be avoided 3) The Tag Force 5 takes setting in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. It has slower progress pace than the 3rd because you have to find your partner first, duel with them a lot until you fill their first heart, then they can walk together with you. But it's not bad to play. 4) Then there's Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force 3 that i think of it as the best in the series. However it's not without flaw. The biggest flaw is probably the card database is rather outdated especially compare to this day. There's no XYZ-summon and Link-summon (that i still don't understand how it works :P). Then Synchro summon is still relatively young at the time so you don't get many variant of Synchro and tuner monster in this game. Come to think of it, i don't get to buy card pack that contains Synchro and tuner monster. I mean there's some of them in Fire-element card pack but still feels lack. Here's the most technical flaw: you are not allowed to put the card in specific space. The placement is automatic: starting from center column, then second placement is: right on center, 3rd placement is: left on center and so on. This problem is not apparent unless you use card that related to columns such as: "Blasting Fuse" trap. Maybe the automated card placement is meant to make the match goes faster but it feels not right. I remember Yu-Gi-Oh! game on DS gives you ability to place the card manually. Then there's big potential of softlock when you choose weak partner in 3rd tab. I feel like that in early part of the game, i don't get many new warrior-type monster that i can add in the initial deck. So probably making new deck from the scratch is not bad idea if you manage to amass a lot of DP and stock up hundred cards. The way to unlock card pack feels slow that if i have tons of DP and buy lots of card pack, i don't get much of improvement for the initial card because of lacks of new warrior-type monster as i mentioned before. So you should spend DP for sandwiches and farming your partner's affinity by giving them those sandwiches. You can get cards outside of card pack that you unlock with the help of Conversion machine and Password machine. But the former feels too random and the latter requires you to rent the card that leads to reduce your DP income. Regardless, this game is still my favorite.

If you like to play Yu-Gi-Oh! card duel with story and gameplay fairly similar to sim dating, i recommend you to play this game. Speaking of which, there's new free Yu-Gi-Oh! on steam. At some point, i play that game for the sake of late Kazuki Takahashi. Rest in Peace, Kazuki Takahashi. You are forever within soul of card duelist around the world. o7