VinnyVania: Simon's Quest - Part 02

The return! Glad to see the NY office putting out some more content.

Finally. It's been way to long, but now I have a feeling Vinny will finish this quite quickly.

Also I do actually like this game. The music is just amazing, the combat is fun (except for some obviously broken bosses) and the world is cool too. If it weren't as cryptic as it is, it would be in my top 3 Castlevania games probably.

And yes to more Kerbal content!

Vinnyvania is the blockbuster that starts the summer season.

What a horrible night.

Kinda feel like too much of the premium content is focused on old games these days. I like some old games coverage, but when all your non-UPF premium content is completely focused on old games now (Metal Gear, Vinnyvania now, Mario Party, Old Games Show, Demo Derby) plus UPF is often like half the show or more focused on old games too still, it's a bit much, becoming kind of a nostalgia circle jerk. There's lots of cool newer games too I'd like to see them playing more of outside just quicklooks...

Also I think old platformers don't really allow for enough craziness or freedom for Vinny's particular... talents. I think Alex Vinny duo is best playing silly co op games where Vinny can go wild while Alex struggles to keep them somewhat on task. But o well, any Vinny premium content is still more than welcome. Sorry to be a debbie downer, just trying to give some feedback.

This only served to remind me that I have two Castlevania games left unfinished Super Castlevania IV which I'm stuck on and also Symphony of the Night which I bought on PSN and is untouched....not sure if I count Castevania 64 as well? I've got that finish but it's horrific.

guide written by C. Moriarty

So its Colin Moriarty

from kinda funny i am guessing

Lol at Sandwich time with Vinny and Alex at the end XD

Good to see GBeast content starting to pick up. I've missed V-Bomb.

This is why I got a premium membership last year :D

I don't think I was conscious of what Simon's Quest even was until AVGN. Looking at it now for the third time(Let's say the last Vinnyvania was the second time), it seems sort of incomprehensible. Like, it's cool that it's a big, sprawling world. But I'm really happy they went on to make it Metroidvania and not Questvania in their next attempt at that sort of thing. Maybe it's better if you know what you're doing, but watching Vinny play it just looks like a chore, from the block jumping to the garlic throwing.

I'm happy you're doing this series again. Looking forward to seeing some of the other Castlevania games as well. I don't remember if it was ever established what you were gonna play, but any of them are fine, until GBA/DS I had hardly played any of them save for a bit of 4.

You're a crazy person! You're completely crazy for liking that... thing!

But I applaud your courage and dedication.

Video notes?! Awesome!

Vinny, there is nothing I want to see more than you playing more KSP. That game is infinitely watchable..

@nbz: Yeah, once I heard C. Moriarty, I started excitedly explaining why this was so great to my GF. She couldn't be bothered.

For the record I am very interested in watching more KSP.

I found the lack of an actual Graveyard Duck very lacking.

@darknorth said:

Has nothing on Chuck-chucks.

Video notes are great. Thanks!

It is indeed. He used to write a lot for GameFAQs well before working at IGN.

fuck yeah I'll watch you play more KSP Vinny!!

I also would like to see you guys play more Kerbal.

@dprotp: Well, here's the thing. I can watch Vinny play this game now, and clearly see how he is interpreting the game in a way that makes it more difficult. I woudl say the only way a random player could go back to CV2 and understand why it is awesome is to do something similar to Metal Gear Scanlon, where an expert modern day fan oversees Vinny while he plays. The reason for this is to help keep him aligned with the way you need to think in order to truly understand the game.

It's hard to just dive in, especially now, and make sense of some of the things in this game. RPG mechanics are in this game, but waaay before they were established in any form. You can't reason with it by applying modern day concepts. You need to see it for what it is. When you look at CV1 and see how far they reached with CV2 by comparison, it's amazing.

The game has an in game clock, multiple items and tools (abilities might be a stretch), multiple weapons, experience points and upgradable HP, and unique items that get you in to new areas. It is Dark souls in 2D. It has everything, just in an earlier incarnation. It even has different endings!

On top of all that, the game is also unusually artistic given the myriad limitations of the hardware. The storyline is really grim, and very mature for the NES. Dracula is dead after CV1, but Simon is still cursed, so he has to resurrect Dracula by assembling his disembodied pieces (which grant him "abilities") to kill him for good to end the curse. Depending on how long you take to complete the game, Simon might die to complete this task.

I just wish they had a person who knew the game to help Vinny. The FAQ is not cutting it, because they are going to interpret the game in a negative way. Not because it is bad, but because it is a game like Dark Souls. It does not fall into normal traditions of game play. If you find a way to interpret it, it's a massively impressive journey for an NES game.

I mean, you can watch this video right here (and Part One) and you should be able to understand the hate. The game is convoluted in the worst of ways -- "Hey guys, we hid critical items necessary to progress in the game behind invisible walls and vanishing floors, and we're not going to tell you where unless you pay us $49.99 for the official strategy guide." Or, "Hey guys, here's a jumping puzzle which is absolutely impossible to complete unless you know how we specifically programmed the game. Don't forget to buy our strategy guide! Only $49.99!"

Games like these make me want to crush a beer can against my forehead whenever some grognard self-importantly talks about how old games were hands-down better than modern games. :b

Rorie's GameFAQs username: xXMustLoveDogs420Xx

@vinny Yes, please, to more Kerbal. I really enjoyed the recent Quick Look, and pretty much any persistent series on the site are greatly appreciated.

Has Vinny lost weight? Dude is looking good!

@dasakamov I beat this game by myself, with no guides, tips or faqs, in 1989 when I was 6.

The players of today are not as patient as they were back in the day. these things weren't bad design. they were mysterious and things that felt VERY cool figuring out. By today's standards, there is no difference between this game being convoluted, and Demon's Souls.

The hate Simon's Quest gets is not being pro-rated. the game came out before action RPGs were even a thing. Metroid changed the way people thought about games, and you can see how nearly all games that came out in 1988 were roughly metroid like. Sprawling worlds, that need to be poked and prodded. That was the mentality you had playing these games back in the day, even as a 6 year old.

"Bang your head on Deborah's Cliff"

No difference here, and with Fez. You have to interpret this riddle\puzzle through the game's mechanics. How would you bang your head on Deborah's cliff? Why do I have this Red Crystal? the Blue Crystal Made a lake disappear, what does this one do?

I'm not saying the game isn't unruly when it is taken out of context. But instead of writing it off, try to put it in to context. People, including Giant Bomb guys, wrote off the Souls series completely for largely the same reasons. Now, even Jeff has come around.

Which is whyyyyyyyy I am saying Vinny needs a resident expert to help him with putting the game in to context. There are a ton of NES games that would seem terrible if you just jumped in with no context. Doesn't at all mean they are actually bad. There is so much good in this game, it is a shame and a loss to see people write it off for things other games get a standing pass for.

The film Brotherhood of the Wolf has a Whip Sword straight out of Soulcalibur.

My body is so ready for more VinnyVania.

Wow, is it just me or is the camera that is capturing this super different? Vinny and Alex just look different, is it the fov, the lighting? Are they were setting makeup like in the old Gamespot days?

It's just so high res and super clear too, they look good, but feel like this is some alternate dimension version of the two.

@norrin_radd: I'm watching this game for the first time now. I can appreciate the idea of having a journey through multiple villages, and all those secrets are kind of cool to discover, but it seems like a lot of these secrets are essential for progression.

The game never explains what the deal with the boatman is. You would only know that he can take you to different places if you found out by accident. It just turns into a 'equip everything until you end up at a new place'. That's the part that makes me think it's a bad game.

a game like Link to the Past shows how secrets can be done. Some of them are optional and whenever an item should be used, the game telegraphs that by using symbols for the temples.

The actual castlevania part of the game seems totally fine, and i do like that the world changes at night.

Oh, wow. I thought this was dead.

Great necro.

Isnt Colin having the special stream on Monday with IGA about his not-castlevania surprise?

@kinggi: Yeah the Kinda Funny crew are hosting a stream for the IGAVANIA reveal. Very excited about it

The entire format was perfect. I enjoyed it a lot. Can't wait to see the next part.

@norrin_radd: I dunno man all I remember of this at the time was incomprehensible nonsense without having that Nintendo Power.

@efesell: I could have just been the right age, and in to the right games.

Think about it like this. Metroid changed the way developers were "interpreting" games. A lot of games after Metroid had this basic core concept.

Zelda 2, Rygar, 8 Eyes, Simon's Quest, Battle of Olympus, Faxanadu etc.

There was a revolution in game design that was taking place that was a perfect zeitgeist of that time (the late 80s). This was a genre of game that I was personally most enamored with when I was 6-9. Even if I didn't quite understand the reasons why things happened, I knew how to poke and prod the game. And if you talk to absolutely every person in this game, LIKE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO IN 1988, you would get a ton of cryptic messages that do actually tell you exactly what to do. You just have to think in terms of "their systems".

All of the nutty stuff is covered in some dialog, somewhere. It just needs to be contemplated. Of course, that style of playing will not lend itself to Vinny and Alex blindly colliding head first with this game. They need a local resident expert to help translate the modern expectations they have been exposed to for 20 years, through this old archaic language of NES Action RPGs. They are all the same, and they need to be considered in particular ways, especially if they are to be enjoyed for what they actually are.

Look, if some dude is singing you the most epic song ever in another language, how would you be able to tell if it is a poetic song or not? In the end, it all comes down to whether or not you want to like the game, or just take part is hating for the sake of hate. I am telling you, at least from my experience, Simon's Quest is one of the most mature, artistic and sprawling NES experiences. But, I am just some dude. I just wish Vinny would get someone who has beaten the game in on these vids...

Spoiler: The last castle is a decrepit, rotting away castle that has NO ENEMIES. At all. You run through a whole castle that is totally empty just to resurrect Dracula in the main chamber. On top of that, the song that plays in that castle is among the most straight forward, sombre and creepy Castlevania songs I can recall (It always literally scared me as a kid, just like the floating castle song did in Rygar). This game has got style that is sadly, woefully misunderstood.

@onemanarmyy: The Ferry Man is definitely a sticking point for a lot of people, but again, the mechanics of the Ferry Man are more or less dealt with in the game's lore. You need to talk to villagers, or find hidden books to uncover some of the mechanics.

I can't recall, specifically, what is said about the Ferry Man, but Vinny and Alex are kind of doing the game and even themselves a disservice by reading a faq and poking fun at how obscure it is, without seeking a resident expert to help them actually enjoy the game (ala Dan with Drew in Metal Gear Scanlon). Any game with nuance will be obscure sounding if you take it out of context, especially over 20 years later. CV2 has got a lot of nuance, absolutely, but in the same way the Souls games do now, if you bother to learn those nuances, and how the game works, it is easier to interpret why the Ferry Man works that way, or why the Souls games tell you next to nothing about anything in very much the same way.

I am not saying it works great, but man, so much NES games had this exact level of tom foolery. There was a TON of localization problems throughout the history of the console. But at the time, it really did just feel like some weird have ancient language version of English, that you had to interpret the best you could, and Simon's Quest actually attempted to explain itself and it's weirdness with that language. I never remember being upset at Simon's Quest when playing through it.

This game is really creepy and that walkthrough seems bad.

Vinny's got some style going on in this video.

Also: of course more Kerbal! Why is that even a question?

Barkerville! Ba-bah-Bar-ker-viiiiiiille!!

Graveyard Duck is my favorite Bloodborne NPC.

No idea why but "1, 2, buckle my lizards." was way funnier that it had any right to be.

Barkerville! Barkerville! Barkerville! Awoooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

I heard C Moriarty and I thought, "wait a second... I wonder..."

+1 for watching Kerbal career mode

@calles89: Me three!