Castle Paradox

[JSH357]

I'm not sure how well this one'll turn out, but it's been a while and we've had some pretty good releases lately, so here goes.

First, here is the previous Top 30 List for reference:
http://www.jsh.illuminative.org/top_30/top30winter08.html

NOTE: Please read rule 1. I'm making this change since it's been requested in the past. We'll see how it goes!

Since we've already done general comments and haikus in the past, this time let's describe our favorite parts of each game. You don't have to do this part, but it will make the list cooler! The top comments will be printed on the list.

BONUS QUESTION: Vote for the five best OHR contest games.

Rules:
1. Vote for your five-fifteen favorite OHR games/movies/whatever. Lowest number = highest on your favorite list.
2. You may vote for your own game(s). The choice is yours, but bear in mind that if nobody else votes for your game, it will not make the list.
3. You may not vote for unreleased games. Demos are fine, though.
4. You may not vote twice, including by altnick.
5. You must be an active member of the community in order to vote. In other words, if you just registered and voted your vote will be ignored. This is done to prevent rigging.
6. Type out the entire name, just in case I don't know what the acronym is.
7. Airship 2600 is banned from this list. Sorry, it's just too good. Additionally, any other vaporware games shouldn't be voted for.
8. You are not required to give any reason for your votes, but you can include a short few sentences. The best ones will be posted on the list as flavor text. (Naturally, don't write any if you don't want yourself to be quoted)
9. Vote for individual games, not entire series. (OHR House, Pitch Black, etc)

Some general guidelines:
1. No one cares what you vote for, so don't feel compelled to vote 'in the community's eyes' or for games that you think are good but don't actually like. I want this list to reflect the personal preferences of real OHR users; i.e. I want it to be largely subjective.
2. If you want to vote in private, PM me with your votes and I promise not to reveal them to anyone.

How scoring works:
Your number 1 choice gets the most points. The higher the number, the fewer the points. In addition, the number of users who actually voted for the game is taken into account.

I'll post an example vote soon.

Deadline: around August 21, 2008.

[Meatballsub]

1. Walthros

Overall, it has been one of the best OHR games I have played from beginning to end.

2. Curse of Vampire

A great example of a simple, yet enjoyable, retro-style adventure game.

3. Vikings of Midgard

Superb graphics and decent gameplay presented in a Norse Mythology theme. Need I say more?

4. Bloodlust

A good game that delves into a genre that is barely represented in the community.

5. Attack Fish Chronicles Volume I: The Omega

What can I say? This was a game that was in production for about a year but took almost ten years to release. It is also my newbie game, and I am proud of it regardless.
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MOCBJ Software - My Games
The Hamster Wheel - OHRRPGCE Information Database

[Fenrir-Lunaris]

My list has not changed much since last time. I need to play more games, is what this shows.

( 1 ) Vikings of Midgard - Because a game that I've played over and over and over HAS to maintain my interest long enough to keep working on it. And ifI can stand the dozens of scenes long enough to restart each time to do so, then the game MUST be doing something right. Maybe that's what more developers should do for their games, make the game that makes YOU want to play it, then other people will like it too.

( 2 ) Sword of Jade - I can chase my tail. All day if I really want. Nothing will occur.

( 3 ) OHR House Heroes - I haven't been hyped up by one of RMZ's games as much as this one. Each installment is amazing to watch, full of sound and color, making humorous fun WITH OHR classics instead of AT them. This is how parody should be done, and the result is a blast.

( 4 ) Boundless Ocean - This game is ART, but the playing mechanics degrade into what is functionally little more than a grind-fest of biblical proportions. Despite this flaw, the experience is enjoyable, and the entire game's atmosphere is better experienced than described.

( 5 ) Wandering Hamster - Minigolf! We are being promised minigolf! I must play it!

( 6 ) Final Fantasy H - Time has not aged this classic well. The quality of current OHRRPGCE releases far exceeds this.

( 7 ) Walthrus return of the Crystals - The modern brand of OHRRPGCE humor.

( 8 ) Arfenhouse 3 - Another title that has not aged well. Even our newbie games nowadays are considerably better constructed than those released in its time. The movies are complete, and Housemaster has all but faded from our memories. Except that he's STILL more popular than Kyle for some reason.

( 9 ) Super Concentration Headache Battle Warrior - Genius. Again.

( 10 ) BLB - Vulpes is a filthy whore, and I am a terrible person because of it.

BEST CONTEST GAMES

( 1 ) BLB - It won. Twice. Not many contest games can do that. Now let's just hope we don't ever see BLB:Children's Edition. I'll have to shoot somebody then.

( 2 ) Surf's Up Yuk - Optimus Prime, Grimace, Ronald McDonald, Greedo, Wolverine...

( 3 ) Super Concentration Headache Battle Warrior - Damn you Comrade Bomb!

( 4 ) OHRADIUS - The first version. Where CATS shows up and gives you the finger. That was classic.

( 5 ) Super Walrus Chef - This is the contest game that started the whole (x) judge likes (a,b,c) ingredients. It also does it the best.

[TMC]

Same here. I never find the time to play those games I intend to. I think I'm actually forgetting them faster than I'm playing them - I used to have little difficulty selecting 15 candidate games. I guess I didn't follow the comment theme.

1. Sword of Jade - A game that is complete seems to cause me more despair than abandoned demos.
2. Adventures of Powerstick Man - The Cannonball Strip is one of the most complete settings of any OHR game, Pepsi making sure to render it with fine detail. At the rate that the Extended Edition is progressing, my vote for top game could come back into play!
3. Walthros - What's all this about voting for Walthrus instead?
4. Vampire's Curse - Fenrir has made every room in the castle feel unique and add something to the exploration through gorgeous graphics, the uncountable unique battles they contain, and other interesting contents. The character level up scheme surprised me as fresh and fun.
5. Thanksgiving Quest
6. Wandering Hamster - Something is stirring!
7. City of Dreams
8. Time Flies
9. Monterey Penguin - According to a recent retrospective, this has aged badly, but until I actually play it again I'm going to insist that it is great.
10. OHR House 1 - Liked it better than OHR House 2, but haven't tried the others. I looked forward to episodes, and voted. Guess I'm a slacker these days.
11. Fantasy Under a Blue Moon X V. 4 - Do all versions count as one game under the current rules?
12. Fox and the Eight-Six
13. OHR Date
14. Lolsidothaldremobine - My memory's fading, I can't remember how it was good. :(
15. Pitch Black 2 - Filler I'm afraid, I don't remember anything except Mr. B is a super star.

Other Mentions:
Tightfloss Maiden - I was writing this list and suddenly thought "Pepsi made more games!" and so I went and took a look at them and then - holy wow - I download that special unreleased edition a while back and never played it!
Pliptamer - I play this too much. You're just checking that you didn't just bork up the script interpreter, and then, opps, a couple minutes gone.

Best Contest Games:

Wow, I never released how many great contest games we've got. Great question. Having to pick just 5 was too difficult.

1. Vampire's Curse
2. Thanksgiving Quest
3. Super Walthus Chef
4. Project 'C'
5. Pitch Black
6. The Last Job
7. Put on Shoes
8. Wood - Of all the 48 hour contest games before I turned up, this one sticks out the most. Not because it's any good though. Hmm, someone needs to compile lists of contest games!
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"It is so great it is insanely great."

[Hachi-Roku]

1. Sword of Jade
2. Wandering Hamster
3. Final Fantasy H
4. Spellshard: Black Crown of Horgoth
5. The Adventures of Mikey T
6. OHR House 3
7. Vikings of Midgard
8. Boundless Ocean
9. Attack Fish Chronicles Volume I: The Omega
10. Thanksgiving Quest

Contest Games
1. The Adventures of Mikey T
2. Vampire's Curse
3. Once Upon a Ninja
4. Surf's Up Yuk
5. Hydration

Hot dogs.
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Long road ahead. Ready to walk?

[Pepsi Ranger]

August 2008

Down to the wire again. I like that we have fifteen choices now. I don't like that I can't think of enough new games to make my old list obsolete.

But I'll try because I think my old list may not be as good now thanks to all the engine updates of the last year.

1. Lolsidothaldremobine
Nostalgia is a harsh mistress. I need to do a retrospective one of these days and see if it's still worth being this high on the list. Though, I still think Jargenburg is one of the coolest OHR towns around.

2. Jailbreak
Never thought I'd see the day that a contest game would pounce so high up the list so quickly, but I have to say this game was awesome. I have a feeling more levels are coming (based on a screenshot I saw in another thread), so this cool game might be getting cooler.

3. Mr. Triangle's Maze
Glad Red decided to remake his underrated classic shape puzzle game, as the original was a lot of fun. Thought this one had all the same pleasantries as the first, and thanks to Level 7, all the headaches, too. Great game. Hopefully this one will see more action in the future.

4. The Adventures of Powerstick Man
I feel bad voting for the original nowadays, seeing how outdated it's become and how badly the Extended Edition is snuffing out its faded glory (they're on the verge of becoming two different games). But until the Extended Edition is released I gotta stand firm with my memories, and I had a lot of fun making and playing it.

5. OHR House 3: On the Plantation
I was disappointed how familiar it was starting to feel when Episode 1 released, but JSH turned that around rather quickly with the Chaos Nyte/White Mage subplot and the clever story arc started in Episode 3. It's definitely cool again.

6. Catacombs
Not much to look at, but a lot of fun to play. It randomly generates the maps. When you progress, you actually feel a sense of accomplishment (not with your day, just with the game). And the story is clever. One of those hidden gems that needs to be unearthed again.

7. Walthrus: Return of the Crystals
To answer Surlaw's HamsterSpeak question (on the Surlaw forums), this game can stand on its own without the serious original. The original makes it better, but the jokes are strong enough to get a laugh from players anyway. As it stands, I still like it more than the original, though an update/remake of the original could change that.

8. OHR House: Heroes
It's not often a spinoff can garner as much anticipation as its original series, but this one sure fights for it. The running gag with the monster infestations adds to the story, giving the heroes something to attack when they're not battling with drama.

9. Vikings of Midgard
It's been awhile since I last played the game, but I liked where it was going. One of these days I'll get around to playing the update and cement its status on my personal Top 10.

10. Walthros
Still one of the best OHR RPGs around. The colorful characters far outshine the bad graphics, and the mind-twist at the end still impresses me (those who played it all the way through should know what I'm talking about).

11. City of Dreams
I have to go back and finish playing this. I never did figure out the button puzzle. Sad story, haunting game, and it didn't even use sound effects.

12. At the Risk of Manipulation
Ever wanted to see how well you could charm a bouncer into letting you into a club so the girl of your dreams inside could make you do stupid things and then reject you when it's over? Well, the first half of that dream is yours in this compact little title with the huge intro and manipulative gameplay. An update will surface in the near future.

13. Darkmoor Dungeon
Great use of battles. So great that it boggles the mind. And I could only imagine what the Darkmoor series would look like once battlescripting comes into play.

14. Locked
Stupid puzzles, but a lot of fun. My only real complaint is that it ends when you solve the last puzzle rather than walking through the exit. Hopefully Iblis will release a tiny update someday to address this annoying way of ending.

15. matricx rehacked
An old parody game, but one done right. It's The Matrix. It's a joke game. It's a beautiful combination. And it's green.

Don't really feel like updating my honorable mentions list at the moment. It's pretty much the same as last season's.

Contest Games:

1. Jailbreak
It might be unfair to the 48 Hour games that Aethereal and Mr. J actually had some time to work on this, but they spent their time wisely as this game is awesome.

2. Mr. Triangle's Maze
I just think this one's a lot of fun. Again, a bit unfair to shorter games, especially considering this one isn't even a new idea, but fun trumps fairness, so...there you go.

3. Darkmoor Dungeon
It's big. It's brilliant. It covered two contests. It wouldn't be right to exclude it.

4. The Last Job
From the 2001 48 Hour contest (the best contest turnout in OHR history if I'm not mistaken), it's an action/OHR movie hybrid that brings film noir to life. If you can find it, you should play it. Hopefully the Werewaffle won't eat it.

5. At the Risk of Manipulation
There might be better contest games out there, but I can't think of any. I depleted my resources with the #4 slot.
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Progress Report:

The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

Tightfloss Maiden

Currently Updating: Chapter 2

[Meatballsub]

[JSH357]

Results here:
http://www.jsh.illuminative.org/top_30/top30summer08.html

[Onlyoneinall]

Bloodlust's latest update was Jan 2008 (assuming the 2007 means that was the last update).
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http://www.castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=750 Bloodlust Demo 1.00

[JSH357]

Thanks. I've fixed that now.

The other date I'm concerned about is the Wandering Hamster one, but I cannot for the life of me remember the date of last real update it had.

[Pepsi Ranger]

At the top of the list you spelled your own game "Query: Party One."

Also, Powerstick Man's date should be 2001, not 2008, as the most recent public version found in the Legendary Edition has been floating around other people's hard drives since March 2001.
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Progress Report:

The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

Tightfloss Maiden

Currently Updating: Chapter 2

[JSH357]

OK, those corrections have been made.

[Onlyoneinall]

[JSH357]

Well, you made the game. You tell me which it is!

[Onlyoneinall]

You sir, appear to be confused. I was referring to Wandering Hamster's last update, as you addressed concerns over in your post that I quoted above.
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http://www.castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=750 Bloodlust Demo 1.00