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Hoi, there an update last page. Yknow, I'm actually kind of surprised that they aren't doing some form of fuckery to the peach bits. ... presumably they just can't.
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Jan 24, 2020 02:06
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Supremezero posted:Hoi, there an update last page. Update back here Supremezero posted:Yknow, I'm actually kind of surprised that they aren't doing some form of fuckery to the peach bits. They chose not to... though this involved reverting several changes that clover, the maker of Paper Mario Pro Mode, had done to the segments. These included making the Koopatrol guards see much farther and move faster. Also, making the timing of baking the cake much more precise, as previously mentioned.
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Jan 24, 2020 02:12
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WtWMByFGYU
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Jan 24, 2020 02:18
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One thing I enjoy about Gourmet Guy is that you can cook the cake for... Certain multiples of the valid time interval. Like 4.5 years. Another thing I enjoy about him is that I once overheard my neighbour yell "Where did you learn to cook, Truck Driving School?" during a heated argument. Sorites fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jan 24, 2020 |
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Jan 24, 2020 02:18
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That's just ridiculous lmao. good poo poo op
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Jan 24, 2020 02:30
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Even if it was a chapter early, having to do that much maths is bloody ridiculous. I applaud your wit and commitment, Quackles, but that was bonkers. As for the cake baking, I'm surprised that this mod didn't make Peach fight for the eggs by whacking them out of a giant chicken with 200 HP whose attacks are unblockable whose feathers are all Anti-Guys whose attacks are also unblockable.
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Jan 24, 2020 02:55
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I didn't know Zach Barth was into modding, too.
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Jan 24, 2020 03:51
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The master mode strawberry cake recipe should've included the cleanser as every other ingredient so that fat bastard would keel over and die after he told us what we needed to know, mafia style 
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Jan 24, 2020 04:34
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Good God, you're a madman doing all that work to beat a bonus boss a chapter early.  Also in the original, nothing went above 99HP. Was there extra work done to break into the triple-digits, or is that something natively possible in the base game that they simply never used?
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Jan 24, 2020 05:38
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MR. J posted:Also in the original, nothing went above 99HP. Was there extra work done to break into the triple-digits, or is that something natively possible in the base game that they simply never used? I'll be interested to see if the boss with the highest HP caps out at a power of two.
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Jan 24, 2020 05:42
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MR. J posted:Good God, you're a madman doing all that work to beat a bonus boss a chapter early. The game is technically capable in a sense, but the number is stored as a 2 byte signed value (meaning that any value above 127 would result in a negative number.) This was worked around, but not entirely without consequences. As in Pro Mode, it was possible to instantly kill bosses with the use of Chill Out on any boss that fell under that condition. MQ "fixed" it by removing the instant kill... which just resulted in the game crashing. Meaning that Chill Out was unusuable at several bosses, when it's likely to be a tool you wanted to use. I believe it's either entirely or mostly fixed by now.
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Jan 24, 2020 05:42
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MR. J posted:Good God, you're a madman doing all that work to beat a bonus boss a chapter early. Extra work was done - there's a patch in the source code that handles drawing the extra digit on the HP bar, etc. Sorites posted:I'll be interested to see if the boss with the highest HP caps out at a power of two. HP can go up to 255 now.  Araxxor posted:As in Pro Mode, it was possible to instantly kill bosses with the use of Chill Out on any boss that fell under that condition. MQ "fixed" it by removing the instant kill... which just resulted in the game crashing. This is entirely patched now. I'm pretty sure. Though you were still able to KO Kent C. Koopa with it this way before the crash was fixed. Quackles fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Jan 24, 2020 |
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Jan 24, 2020 05:43
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Goddamn, well done OP.
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Jan 24, 2020 05:47
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That spreadsheet looks like something out of Keep Talking and No One Explodes. Quackles, you're a madman.BlazetheInferno posted:Great, now Thamz is gonna buff Master II to make it unbeatable before finishing chapter 5. You've heard of level check bosses, well get ready for Chapter check bosses!
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Jan 24, 2020 09:43
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Man Quackles, you really go above and beyond with this stuff.
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Jan 24, 2020 11:13
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And an update with the line "Double Dip moved to Chapter 6" in 3... 2...
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Jan 24, 2020 14:33
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Thamz is going to get his hands on some polonium before this LP is over.
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Jan 24, 2020 16:46
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This LP is incredible. I would never have the patience to deal with all this bullshit. Good job op.
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Jan 24, 2020 23:17
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I'm not joking in the slightest when I say that I am genuinely worried that someone on the dev team will learn about what Quackles just did and change things to make it impossible to beat him a chapter early. "My way or the highway" is clearly a big part of their philosophy and the even more difficult patch is clearly going to be that to the 9th degree.loving love Fiona Apple posted:This LP is incredible. I would never have the patience to deal with all this bullshit. Good job op. I agree on all counts. By the way, love your avatar though I have no strong feelings on Fiona Apple.
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Jan 25, 2020 03:22
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JustJeff88 posted:I'm not joking in the slightest when I say that I am genuinely worried that someone on the dev team will learn about what Quackles just did and change things to make it impossible to beat him a chapter early. "My way or the highway" is clearly a big part of their philosophy and the even more difficult patch is clearly going to be that to the 9th degree. Thamz has stated that there are to be no further difficulty changes to MQ (aside from the General Guy ice thing, which was intended before but never implemented). That's what MQ Sr. is for. 
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Jan 25, 2020 03:27
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Apologies for the delay; I was finishing work on my thesis. The next update should be coming shortly - expect it within a day or two.
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Feb 13, 2020 12:07
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Quackles posted:Apologies for the delay; I was finishing work on my thesis. Is it a math thesis?
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Feb 13, 2020 12:26
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Gridlocked posted:Is it a math thesis? Computer science, as it happens.
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Feb 13, 2020 13:21
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As a fellow bachelor in Comp Sc., do tell. What is it about? Working on my Master's atm.
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Feb 13, 2020 17:03
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AlexMCS posted:As a fellow bachelor in Comp Sc., do tell. What is it about? OK, so, byzantine agreement - for those who don't know, where you have a network of computers working on a problem, but some might be faulty or trying to screw it up. So, the goal is to find an algorithm where everything always works despite the faulty processes' best efforts. I implemented an algorithm of my professor's which had previously been theoretical, and improved one part of it so that - previously, it had worked if less than 1/4 of the processes were bad. Now, the part works if less than 1/3 are bad (which is proved to be the maximum resilience possible for byzantine agreement stuff).
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Feb 13, 2020 22:13
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Fuckin' nerd. (Not really, that's awesome you're working on your thesis, I'm sure it'll be great even thought I didn't understand a word of what you just said)
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Feb 13, 2020 22:17
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Quackles posted:OK, so, byzantine agreement - for those who don't know, where you have a network of computers working on a problem, but some might be faulty or trying to screw it up. That's really cool, hope you get it published XD. Now I get all those calculations for the bosses. Take your time.
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Feb 13, 2020 23:32
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Quackles posted:OK, so, byzantine agreement - for those who don't know, where you have a network of computers working on a problem, but some might be faulty or trying to screw it up. That is very interesting! Is this in any way applicable to quantum computing, where you have the quantum computer run an algorithm a gazillion times and the average/most common result is correct because you have to deal with quantum randomness?
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Feb 14, 2020 07:41
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So does the algorithm work despite having the traitor computer in the network or does it work by identifying the traitor then removing it from the loop?
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Feb 14, 2020 08:37
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Carbon dioxide posted:That is very interesting! Not to my knowledge. Gridlocked posted:So does the algorithm work despite having the traitor computer in the network or does it work by identifying the traitor then removing it from the loop? Both. A large portion of the algorithm acts like a parliamentary voting system, where only 2/3 of the 'votes' need to be collected for a decision to be reached (in case the faulty nodes refuse / are unable to vote). In addition, there is a step that identifies suspicious nodes and removes them if the process goes on for long enough (indicating malicious interference).
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Feb 14, 2020 09:48
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That's a rad thesis. These sorts of set-ups are super important in systems that require a lot of redundancy due to the consequences of failure in certain sections due to malfunctioning sensors or outright malicious attempts at sabotage. Things like flight control systems or self driving cars. I'm really glad that this sort of thing is getting refined and hopefully gaining traction.
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Feb 14, 2020 15:17
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Quackles posted:OK, so, byzantine agreement - for those who don't know, where you have a network of computers working on a problem, but some might be faulty or trying to screw it up. But is it better than THE BLOCKCHAIN? (That's cool stuff. Good luck!)
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Feb 14, 2020 17:04
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Karia posted:But is it better than THE BLOCKCHAIN? Ha! One thing I almost did for my thesis was a position paper, to be titled, "You Probably Don't Need a Blockchain". This was at least partially a reaction to all the ICOs and blockchain "snake oil" that was floating around at the time. But, byzantine agreement can be used in blockchain algorithms, so. Bonus funny story: I decided the cryptocurrency boom had gone too far when, for my own amusement, I decided to visit https://gently caress.it - and found an advertisement for a supposedly environmentally friendly ICO - "to help refreeze the poles". Before that, the site was apparently a link shortener that let you add a message to the link. Nowadays, the site hosts only a single Ice T video. Go figure.
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Feb 14, 2020 21:54
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I like XKCD's take, "blockchains are like grappling hooks; it's cool when you encounter a problem for which they're the right solution but that happens way too rarely in real life."
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Feb 15, 2020 00:16
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Cool stuff, Quackles. Good on ya! Tangentially related to this thread, I just stumbled on a new Stryder7x video about playing through the game with it hacked to keep Mario at level 1 forever. Kinda in the spirit of hard mode, anyway... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GhOJkQEtjw
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Feb 15, 2020 06:10
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KeiraWalker posted:Cool stuff, Quackles. Good on ya! Really interesting having seen that. I mean most battles kinda boil down to a single strategy, but it's pretty fun watching it happen
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Feb 15, 2020 09:17
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Kemix posted:Really interesting having seen that. I mean most battles kinda boil down to a single strategy, but it's pretty fun watching it happen [insert joke about how it really is just like Master Quest  ] Yeah, I had the same thought. He does get a little more creative later on, but particularly the early game is a lot of peril-power bouncing and bitchslapping dudes with Bow.
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Feb 15, 2020 14:44
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KeiraWalker posted:[insert joke about how it really is just like Master Quest Pffft this is way less dumb than Master Quest
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Feb 15, 2020 15:32
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Part 31: Welcome To The Jungle  When we last left off, we’d just beaten The Master again, at significant cost.    After a quick rest, we head off to Donlow’s House.  Inside the mysterious chest is the Power Bounce badge that Princess Peach recovered for us.   The badge has been heavily nerfed. It costs 3 BP instead of 2 to equip, and 6 FP instead of 3 to do the move. In addition, each hit does 3/4 of the damage of the previous one, rounded down - though the starting hit does get +1 Attack. (In the base game, each hit did 1 less damage than the previous hit.) On top of that, there is now a forced cap of 5 jumps on non-boss enemies, and 3 jumps on bosses.  Heading up to Donlow, we find ourselves at a bit of a loss what badge to buy - but we can afford the most expensive badge in his stock.  So we buy it - it’s none other than Flower Fanatic! This badge acts like Flower Saver, but it decreases the cost of attacks that use FP by 2, to a minimum of 1.  The catch is that it costs a whopping 8 BP to equip! If we somehow come up with the 13 BP needed to equip it and Flower Saver, the effect stacks.   Armed with our new badges, we head back to Toad Town’s port.  Kolorado the archaeologist is there…  …as is what looks to be a strange blue island.  And Kolorado’s in a predicament!  It would seem that there are ancient treasures waiting in a volvanic cave. I'm in a bit of a fix, though. No way to get there, you see. The solution to that is close at hand!    Looks like it wasn’t an island after all.  Music: Whale Meeting Oh, good heavens! I was wondering what this was. It seems to be a huge tuna!  …And I have problems! It feels like something's jumping around in my belly! Hmm... I say... Old boy, this great tuna seems to have a bit of a bellyache. Mario, what say you lend the fish a hand, hm? Ugh... I told you I'm not a tuna... I’m not even a fish... I can’t promise it will be the safest place. I imagine bad things will happen to you and your partner. You should be prepared for the worst. What ever you have to do, make sure you do it fast. That won’t stop you, right?Huh. That warning wasn’t in the base game.   The whale opens his mouth. We switch to Watt, because it’s dark in there!   We also add Peekaboo and Hammer Throw, for reasons to be explained in a little bit.   Inside the whale, well… it’s really dark! Watt reveals a large mouth and gullet.  And deeper in… hey, it’s Fuzzipede from earlier! But how’d he end up in here?!   Fuzzipede starts jumping around. We run into him. Time for a fight!   Hey, fella! You want a piece o’ this? You got it! I’m as ornery as all get out! Prepare for some pain!So this battle has a minor complication: it’s dark in here! If I switch to any other partner than Watt…  …it gets so dark we can’t see anything. And in particular, Goombario won’t be able to tattle anything. That’s why we're wearing Peekaboo. Fuzzipede only had 20 HP in the base game, notably.   So, we jump on and smack the errant Fuzzipede. He responds with a 7-damage tackle - up from 3 damage in the base game.  He also moves up to the ceiling! Getting to him’ll be a little harder now.   Then something interesting happens. The Fuzzipede fight has had environmental effects added to it (thus the whale's warning). Specifically, after Mario’s first turn, a 7-turn (!) Poison effect is applied to him! We take 3 damage from the poison.    With Hammer Throw, we’re able to donk Fuzzipede for 6 damage. He climbs back up to the ceiling after being knocked down, though.   This time, the ’environmental effect’ is 1 damage to Watt, stunning her for a turn. Fuzzipede remains on the ceiling.   We Hammer Throw again; Mario gets re-poisoned. Presumably, Watt is getting paralyzed again after this, so we’d better make this turn count!   Fuzzipede has moved to the ground, thankfully, so we Turbo Charge, and hit him for 6 damage (two jumps).   However, it turns out Fuzzipede has a second attack. It does one less damage, but, if you flub the timing, it removes one of Mario’s commands (similar to Spy Guys’ hammers). I flubbed the timing.   Mario is KOd with poison damage. We probably could have beaten Fuzzipede if we’d handled that better and/or packed more healing items, but I have an alternate (and more stylish) solution. It’s based on a few things I learned. [1] Fuzzipede has a 75% weakness to Paralyze. [2] Remember the Berserker badge? How, last time we tried it, Mario only occasionally made attack action commands? I’m informed that no prompt’ll appear, but if you do the action command button input, Mario’ll do the full attack. [3] When you’re in Berserker, you’re immune to status effects. So, a cunning plan is formed. Time to try it out! PS before we go back in: It’s a good thing we have the easy option of using healing or attack items while taking on Fuzzipede. In older versions of the game, the whale’s stomach dissolved your items, clearing your inventory entirely! This is not the only time we’re going to see that mechanic.    Resurrecting at the Save block, we put on a very strange set of badges. Mario won’t use any special attacking moves or items, and we’re only using Watt for this battle - so Quick Change and all attack badges (and Medicine Man) come off. In their place, we put on all the HP Plus badges we have. We keep the passive danger buffs (Hold Fast, Power Rush, Mega Rush) on - you never know.    Time for round 2!    Mario opens with a Jump attack, since Fuzzipede is up from the floor and can’t be Hammered. I do the action command, and the jump does a full 8 damage!    Power Shock lands, giving a nice long stun and keeping Fuzzipede in jumpable range. Otherwise, he’d go on the ceiling. (This is actually the second try at this battle using this strategy; the first time, Power Shock didn’t take, and I simply reloaded and started again.)   Mario jumps, on his own accord - after dodging (!!) the room’s poison effect, that is! (This battle was coded when Thamz did not yet know how to make attacks unblockable, so the poison effect is implemented as a blockable 0-damage hit with no tell. There are no plans to change this.)  We Turbo Charge, powering up Mario. Fuzzipede does nothing, of course.   Watt’s stunned next turn, so Mario goes in for two more turns of boosted Jump attacks. The area’s second attempt to poison him simply bounces off - Berserker grants immunity.     We Power Shock again, but this time it doesn’t land. Fuzzipede decides it’s time to recover! If Fuzzipede’s HP is below 35% (that is, at 17 HP or less) on any given turn (and he’s not on the ceiling), there’s a 50-50 chance Fuzzipede will restore 7 HP instead of the normal attack-and-move pattern he’d do. This was a 4 HP heal in the base game.    This does not stop Mario, who jumps on Fuzzipede - Turbo Charge is still in effect, so he does 10 damage. Fuzzipede counterattacks - and then moves to the ceiling!  While he’s on the ceiling, Mario can’t attack Fuzzipede, so he does nothing. Meanwhile, Watt takes damage again, stunning her. This is strange. The first four turns, Watt was stunned every other turn, but now it seems to have shifted to every turn! This fight may be on autopilot going forward.   Fuzzipede attacks - it’s the one that adds command loss. Mario doesn’t block - it turns out Berserker can still lose commands, but will that affect how Mario attacks?   Next turn, Fuzzipede is still on the ceiling - and Watt gets stunned again. To make matters worse, now Mario loses his jump!    But Fuzzipede falls to the ground, and it turns out that Berserker simply ignores command loss - Mario pulls out his hammer like nothing has happened. (I do mess up the action command, though.)     Fuzzipede Recovers - it and command loss don’t stop Mario. He jumps like a champ - and Hammers like a champ, too.   The only thing that does stop Mario is Fuzzipede retreating to the ceiling…  But he can’t Recover up there, and he hasn’t damaged Mario enough to stop him.    By the time he comes back down onto his box, Mario’s got him cornered.  And we level up! I choose BP, as we have enough HP Plus and FP Plus badges to take control of our  Awww…. shucks! First I think I get away from that ol' fishin' man... …and then I get all swallowed up by some huge fish... …and then this fella with the mustache goes upside my head. Mario, it's me! You know, the whale? Can you hear me? That stomachache seems to have cleared right up! I feel fantastic!  And out we go.   We’ve got our ride to Lavalava Island! But we’d better get ready first.    We raid our shop box, and turn some unused ingredients into a Kooky Cookie and a Lemon Candy.  Combining that with the two Sweet Shrooms we didn’t use in the Master battle, we should be good to go for a little while.     And we’re off! Music: Whale Ride    Music: Welcome to Yoshi’s Village The Whale drops us off on the shores of sunny Lavalava Island. Yes, well. Finally made it, eh? So this is Lavalava Island... smashing! Gracious! Behold, Mario! There! Off in the distance! The top of Mt. Lavalava! Triumphant! We must hurry! Make haste!  Off he goes. We’re left on the shore by ourself.  This is where all travelers first set foot on the beach of Lavalava Island. Beautiful water... Deep, lush jungles... A huge volcano... There's something for everyone!   First off, we pick up a Stop Watch that was hidden behind a bush. And hammering the nearby palm tree gives us a Coconut! Coconuts are so hard that we can throw ‘em to use as attack items! Tayce T.’ll be able to make some good stuff out of them later, though.  There’s all kinds of strange plants, too. These grow only on Lavalava Island. When you touch one, it gently stretches out its stem to welcome you. If you're lucky, it'll also give you a heart when it uncoils. Nice, huh? There's a species of mean plant that imitates it, though. Is this one good or bad? It’s a good one!   If you press [Z] while on the flower, you’ll spin up into the air for a while.  It makes a helicopter sound effect!   There’s only one exit from the beach. It leads onto a further stretch of golden sand…    …where somebody appears to have gotten himself into a bit of a predicament. Tally-ho!    This is a Jungle Fuzzy. Jungle Fuzzies are very similar to other Fuzzies, but they live in the jungle, so... that's their name. They cling to you, suck out your HP and add it to their own. What a sleazy move! They won't stop clinging to you unless you tear 'em off with the action command. They also occasionally divide, so let's beat 'em before they get the chance.Jungle Fuzzies have +2 HP from their original appearance. And in the back is… This is an M. Bush. M. Bushes pretend to be bushes and wait for unwary prey. Their bites are always poisonous, so be careful.It was ‘sometimes poisonous’ originally. If you get poisoned, your HP will gradually fall. Your situation could become critical unless you restore your HP as soon as possible. Speaking of critical, it’s critical you don’t waste time using statuses. They won’t work. Let's clear 'em out quickly, OK? Use your most powerful fire attack, why don't you?M. Bushes only had 8 HP (!!!) originally - quite the upgrade! Also, it took me this long to realize their name was a pun on ‘ambush’.  Jungle Fuzzies attack in the same way as Blooper Babies - for 3 HP on a regular basis, until you shake them off. If you mash A at utmost speed, it might be possible to only take 3 damage, but it’s hard! (This was 2 damage per hit in the base game.)  M. Bushes jump at you and bite you. Their bite only does 4 damage (one more than the base game), but it will poison! Poison doesn’t seem so terrifying as it did back in Dry Dry Ruins, as 3 damage is a tenth or less of our HP bar (note that Mario still has a bunch of HP Plus badges on from our Fuzzipede wrangle). However, M. Bushes’ attack timing is now randomized on an 0-10 frame delay - so we’re a lot more likely to get poisoned by them.   We KO the Jungle Fuzzy next turn…   And then begin the task of whittling down the M. Bush’s HP. We even dodge its bite attack.    Some attacks (and time out for a Refresh) later, the Bush falls over.  Well, enough of that! Let's pull ourselves together and press on, what say? We’re going to have to save him again later, aren’t we?  With Kolorado out of trouble, we pick up another of Parakarry’s lost letters. We’ll deliver this one to Boo’s Mansion if we have a spare moment.   Most of the trees here drop Coconuts, but one at the far end of the beach drops a Star Piece!   We follow the beach to Yoshi’s Village.    It’s pretty nice digs, living on the beach!    One screen over, there’s an item shop, a Toad Cabana, a tall tree where a bunch of Ravens hang out, and quite the group of Yoshis and Yoshi Kids! The Cheep Cheep in the background is Sushie, their babysitter.   There’s a Star Piece hidden in front of the village’s Raven statue - and we can finally deliver that letter from the kids in Toad Town.  Oh, my pal made up a new game! I’ve gotta play this later! He also wants me to come over to his town and play with him sometime. But how can I get there? …oh well. Maybe some day I’ll be able to cross the sea and hang out. We get a return letter to take back to Dane T. by the station. A postman’s job is never done!  The Yellow Yoshi Kid has something to say, too.  Speaking of which, today’s the day we put our secret plan into action. It’s so cool!I get the distinct feeling this won’t end well.  The item shop has Melons on sale for 25 Coins, along with Thunder Rages, Super Soda, Mysteries, Fire Flowers and Super Shrooms (off to the right). In the original game, the only way to get a Melon was to give a Tayce T.-made baked good to one of the residents of Yoshi’s Village. Here, they’re not only more easily available, but they restore 5 more HP than before, and a bit of FP too! The shop also sold Honey Syrup instead of Super Soda in the base game, and Snowman Dolls instead of Mysteries (!). Tasty Tonics were available, and Fire Flowers cost 5 Coins instead of 15. It’s worth mentioning at this point: a number of plant-based enemies in Master Quest have had a weakness to Fire added, including Spy Guys and M. Bushes. Particularly M. Bushes.  (That’s a +4 weakness to fire, for the record.)     Anyway, after a quick nap and changing up our badges (including putting All or Nothing on again, and placing Zap Tap for protection against obnoxious M. Bushes and Fuzzies), we’re ready to go! Kolorado went this-a-way, right?  Music: Deep JungleYep, he did!  It seems Kolorado is being accosted by a jungle-dwelling Shy Guy of some kind. We better help him out, I guess.   This is a Spear Guy. Spear Guys are relatives of Shy Guys. They live in the jungle. You'll get hurt if you attack with the Hammer while they're pointing the spear at you. You'll also get hurt if you try to jump on 'em when the spear's pointing upward. Pay attention to the position of their spears when we attack. Oh yeah, they also sometimes call in reinforcements. After they throw their spears, they become ordinary Shy Guys.Spear Guys got the expected +2 HP bump all Shy Guys got, but the green Medi Guy type in the back is completely new. Oh dear.  Thanks to All or Nothing, we can KO the Spear Guy with a 6-damage Jump attack.   Spear Guys attacked for 3 damage in the base game. Here, they attack for 5 damage… three times! And we still have to face two more of them. The upgraded Medi Guy in the back also attacks us.  It isn’t a massive improvement, but sometimes slight changes can make or break a battle. As with all of these guys, they really don’t like getting dizzy. Must be the weird way they float in the air. Let’s keep ‘em all loopy while we take care of the rest of our enemies, okay?Remedy Guys have 9 HP, like Medi Guys. While Medi Guys healed for 6 (single-target) or 3 (to all), and attacked for 4 damage… Remedy Guys heal for 7 (single) or 4 (all) HP, and attack for 5 damage! That’s it. Put simply, all their numbers, except HP and Defense, are bumped up by 1.  We need to stall the Spear Guys somehow, so that we can focus them down. It’s time to try Chill Out!     Chill Out lowers enemy Attack by 3. In the base game, it cost 2 Star Energy and lasted for 4 enemy turns. Here, it costs 3 Star Energy and lasts for 3 turns, but that’s more than enough!   As long as we block, every attack here will bounce off. Unlike Medi Guys, who attack or heal on any given turn, the Remedy Guy always attacks, then heals. He’s not immune to Zap Tap, so wearing it will end his turn early when he rams Mario, preventing him from healing at all.   With Watt’s help, we take out the Remedy Guy before he can cause any trouble. (I attacked him first because I didn’t know about the heal block at the time.)   Then, we concentrate on the Spear Guys.   However, the last one summons another Spear Guy - right as Chill Out wears off. Note that Chill Out isn’t a global debuff. It only applies to enemies who were in the battle when Muskular showed up. So the new Spear Guy wouldn’t be subject to it, if the effect was still hanging around.  We get rid of the new arrival.     The remaining Spear Guy shows off his last available move: throwing the spear! First he runs offscreen, then he throws his spear (and ditches his grass skirt). Now he’s just a plain old Shy Guy. The spear throw did 3 damage in the base game. Here it does 8!  At this point, the battle’s effectively over.  Now, I feel that our destination, the volcano, is quite near. Let’s press on while our spirits are still high, eh? We continue on, past a big tree…  And snag a Jammin’ Jelly hidden behind it. This is our first shot at getting one of these powerful FP-restoring items.  Kolorado is waiting at the entrance to Mt. Lavalava, but a large cliff and a lavaflow mean we won’t be getting in any time soon. Nothing left to do but turn around.   And on the way back… What’s Kolorado gotten himself into now?!  ????  Oh. Explorers must have a sense of humor, don’t you know.[sigh]  On returning to the village, it’s in pandemonium! What happened?! Music: Search for the Fearsome Five  They seem to have secretly slipped off to the jungle. They don’t know its dangers! We must get them back here to safety! Mario, could I ask you to look for these lost children? Well, no way we can refuse a request like that! Off we go. Quackles fucked around with this message at 13:05 on Feb 19, 2020 |
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Feb 19, 2020 11:34
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 Music:  Jade Jungle  The first screen of Jade Jungle is pretty straightforward. No sign of any Yoshi Kids - or an obvious path!  Remember how Goombario said there were counterfeit Heart Plants in the jungle? Well, the one in the front here is a fake.   …and, what is that pink Blooper? Well, first things first. This is a Hurt Plant. Hurt Plants pretend to be Heart Plants, which give you a Heart when you touch them. If a Hurt Plant bites you, you'll be poisoned. Then your HP will slowly fall with each turn. We'd better beat 'em as quickly as possible. Unless you can frequently restore your HP, you'll find yourself in trouble pretty fast.Perhaps I should have packed a Fire Flower…  Jumping on the frontmost Hurt Plant gives a nastier surprise: Hurt Plants now count as spiky, like Piranha Plants. This wasn’t the case in the original Paper Mario! (I’m told that this is the fault of clover, maker of Paper Mario: Pro Mode - not Thamz and co. It’s still obnoxious, though.)   Both Hurt Plants bite us, but something strange happens. You’ll note that the first Hurt Plant bite seemed to do as much as the second one, despite Mario only blocking the one that came later! There’s a reason for this, though I had to look in the code to find it. If Mario is not poisoned, the Hurt Plant bites for 6 damage + poison. If Mario is poisoned, the Hurt Plant bites for 8 damage instead, and poison is not reapplied. That feels like a horrible design choice that, at the bare minimum, should have been signposted.  The pink Blooper does what Bloopers do. The ink attack will poison you if you don’t block, by the way.    After we take Poison damage, we’re at 14 HP. We blow up the first Hurt Plant…     …but flub the block from the second one. The combination of that, Blooper ink, and poison damage puts us at exactly 0 HP. Did I mention that all the enemies in Jade Jungle are Level 16? So is Mario. I’m not getting Star Points for any of this.    We reincarnate, and challenge the Hurt Plant again. This time, we Power Bomb the plants, and Power Smash the first one into the ground before it can attack.   We guard against the plant’s bite, and against the pink Blooper ink, and don’t get poisoned.    Next turn, after KOing the other Hurt Plant, we flub the timing on the Blooper ink (and do get poisoned). Time to find out what the heck this thing is! This is a Bloober. They look identical to Bloopers. Besides being pink. That pink color isn’t to look pretty - it’s probably because of the waters these creatures call home. Of course, it could be something else. These guys aren’t your average enemy - their HP is huge! Be careful, Mario! I want to make it back home alive, not end up in a Bloober belly!OK, that is a lot of HP. As we’ve already seen, their ink spray does 7 damage, and poisons if you’re not careful.  Bloobers also have a tackle attack. It does 6 damage… and thank goodness we have Zap Tap on, or it’d be doing 6 damage twice.    We begin the process of whittling down that massive HP bar, while Goombario charges. The Bloober tackles again - we’re well in position to take it down next turn.    And we do. The Bloober gives us a few Star Points, which is nice.  The other plant here is a real Heart Plant, by the way.   Examining these bushes makes them slide away. The path is clear!  This small, light-colored bush is an M. Bush in the wild. It’ll attack us if we mess with it. We do not mess with it.  In the next room… it sounds like someone’s shouting. Who could that be?  It’s the Cheep Cheep who was babysitting the Yoshi Kids! But how in the world did she get up in that tree?    We get her out in classic Mario style.  Oh, phew...I'm saved. I feel like one big ache. Thanks for getting me out of that tree. I think I'll be OK now. Oh! Oh...those little... I was chasing those naughty little Yoshi boys, and I fell into their trap. Don't they know how dangerous it is to go into the jungle? I have to find them before they get in too deep!  Once the Cheep Cheep - whose name is Sushie - hears why we’re out here, she joins up with us! She’s a master of water attacks on the battlefield, but her best talent is swimming.     We use it on a nearby wooden pier, and navigate around this screen to a small island with a Star Piece.   One of Parakarry’s lost letters is in a tree here, too.  Now that we’re back on this screen, we can hear the sound of snoring coming from somewhere to the left of us.  It’s one of the Yoshi Kids! He’s asleep in a tree. That’s pretty safe, all things considered… but there’s no dock for us to land at!  We have to follow the waterways of Jade Jungle further west, first.    This room has several important things, including a Super Block.  We land at the dock on the west side, first - and hear crying. Where’s it coming from?    The way to the sound is blocked by an M. Bush. Time to see what Sushie can do!  At Normal Rank, Sushie’s Belly Flop ability does 3 damage. It’s not worth trying her special move, Squirt, right now - most plant-based enemies in Jade Jungle are resistant.     We jump on the M. Bush, then tank the barrage of attacks that follows.   Our response: to use our first Sweet Shroom, and for Bombette to blow everyone up.    The front M. Bush Zap Taps itself to death, but their randomized timing means we take a lot of damage.  At this point, I’ve had it with M. Bushes and their nonsense. It’s time to call on our secret weapon: Parakarry.   While we Refresh, Parakarry tosses the rear Bush back into Jade Jungle somewhere.   We block everyone’s attacks, too.    The second M. Bush gets dragged off, we heal, and now it’s just a matter of pummeling the Bloober into last week.  The noise turns out to be the red Yoshi Kid, crying behind a bush.  Aiigh! That was so scary! We were playing hide-and-seek and there was this weird plant and it trapped me here! Sushie, you were right! This jungle’s really dangerous! I’m sorry I disobeyed you.   The Yoshi Kid heads back to the village. We’re going to open a shortcut.    This pathway leads to the beach! We head back to Yoshi Village.   After a quick Toad House stay - and buying a Melon in case of emergencies, because we ate both our Sweet Shrooms - we’re ready to go.    Back in the room with the Super Block, the path to it is blocked by a Spear Guy! But it seems Jade Jungle still isn’t done surprising us. This is a Spike Top. Spike Tops have spikes on top. Duh! They're tough, just like Buzzy Beetles, and fire attacks don't affect 'em at all. But their defense power drops if you can flip 'em over.Goombario doesn’t mention that Spike Tops have 6 Defense, though it drops to 3 when they’re flipped - this was 4 Defense and 0 Defense in the base game. They also have 3 more HP than in Paper Mario.   We KO the front Spear Guy. The Spike Top twirls at us for 7 damage. This is a 4-Attack boost from its original stats.   Since we kind of left Power Quake at home, the easy way out of this pickle is to call on the power of the Star Spirits!  Once Goombario KOs the other Spear Guy, only the Remedy Guy is left.  And Sushie gets upgraded to Super Rank!   Her new ability is Water Block, which boosts Mario’s Defense by 1 (kind of like how Turbo Charge can boost his attack). It costs 1 more FP than in the base game. While we’re here, Sushie’s Squirt attack costs 2 more FP than originally. At Super Rank, it does 6 damage - and her Belly Flop attack does 4.   After a quick side trip to the Toad Cabana, we check out an island with a badge block we ignored earlier. The block is guarded by a formation of Spear Guys.   We KO one Spear Guy and remove another. Then, the rest of the battle’s easy.   We get the D-Down Jump badge from the block! Remember when we mentioned this was on Tubba Blubba’s table, before Master Quest changed things around? In Paper Mario, we'd expect to find Power Quake here instead. While D-Down Jump ignores an enemy’s Defense, it’s been somewhat nerfed from its original incarnation. It costs 4 FP instead of 2 to perform the move; and then, Mario does 1 less damage than normal per hit when using it.  Now, deeper into the jungle we go.   In this room, we can go left over water, or right on land. We’ll go right first - hopefully we can get to where the purple Yoshi Kid is sleeping.   A nearby tree has— a Hustle Drink! This is the third one in the game. We won’t be getting any more for a while.   In the next room, a log bridge is blocked by a Spear Guy - who turns out to have an M. Bush in tow.    We follow the same protocol we did for the other set of Guys: remove the Bush (being the most obnoxious threat), KO the front Spear Guy, and figure the rest out later.     Past the Spear Guy is a log sticking out of the ground. It turns into a bridge when we hammer it.   Past that, we duck off the main path and go by water to avoid a Jungle Fuzzy jumping around on another log bridge.   To the west is the tree that the purple Yoshi Kid is snoozing in.  We get him down with Mario’s hammer!  Ugh… morning. Hey, it's Mario. What's the matter? You were looking for me? Oh? Sushie, too? We were playing hide-and-seek, and I got real sleepy. I figured I'd take a nap here. There's nothing to worry about. The jungle's not so bad. I am starting to get a little bit lonely, though, so maybe I ought to head back home. Bye now!This kid has no idea.     We open another log bridge shortcut, this one leading back to the village, and take the opportunity to have a nap.   Back at the fork, we go the other way.   We land at an island with a ledge, accessible by a Spinning Flower.    There’s Spear Guys guarding the high ground, though. We Star Storm and Power Shell to KO them.  There’s a pipe hidden behind these bushes!   It leads down to a dark underground room with one crying green Yoshi Kid.  There was this flower that spun around and I thought it was way cool so I got on it. And then I spun around and around and then I was up in the air and flying and then I ended up here! I didn't know how I got here. It was so dark...and scary... and I couldn't find a way out. Thanks for coming to get me out of here! I can see how to get out now, so I'm going straight home!   Once we’re out of the pipe room, we can go farther west by water.   It leads to a room with a few small islands, a Star Piece underwater, and… is that crying from over to the west?    It is! It’s the blue Yoshi Kid.  Wuh-huh-waaaaaaa! Sniff sniff... We were playing hide-and-seek. I had to be "it," but I couldn't find anyone at all. I was wandering around, and then I got lost. You were right, Sushie. The jungle's really scary. Thanks for coming all the way out here to look for me. I'll be a good boy from now on and listen to you... Mario, will you be "it" for hide-and-seek instead of me? I'm going home now!If you think about it, we are kind of ‘it’ for hide-and-seek right now.  We regroup at the village. Four out of five Yoshi Kids are accounted for. Where could the last one (the yellow Yoshi Kid) have gotten to?    There is one place we didn’t look: east of the part of the jungle with the log bridges and the raven statue. We dodge around the Jungle Fuzzy and head east.  Yep, we’re on the right track.  Yellow Yoshi Kid is on the verge of being eaten by a pair of Piranha Plants!   Mario to the rescu— wait, what is that?! This is a Bzzrk! Nasty cousins to the common Bzzap! Is the “!” part of the name? How do you pronounce that? Do you just yell? The first person to find these creatures must’ve yelled from the painful sting. Speaking of, that sting is one of the most painful attacks out there. Maybe we should be careful and take them out first.Goombario is dead right: bees are bad news. Bzzrk!s are native to Flower Fields - that’s the next chapter of the game - and were mostly brought here to spice up this miniboss battle.  We jump on the Bzzrk!, but it turns out it has 1 Defense, as well!   These piranhas have two attacks: a 5-damage poison breath attack, which we block, or an 8-damage bite, that doesn’t poison. (You can just barely see the poison breath cloud in the first pic.)  The Bzzrk! attacks for 12 damage plus 1 turn of poison. Yow!   We eat the Melon we saved, and Goombario KOs the Bzzap!.   We get poisoned from the Piranhas’ terrible breath! Now let’s see what we’re dealing with. This is a Putrid Piranha. Putrid Piranhas sometimes bite, but the truly scary thing is their nasty, poisonous breath. You should try to recover as quickly as possible if you get poisoned.  We’re already poisoned, and the bite damage is worse, so Chill Out is the order of the day…    …and then we KO the front Piranha and have time to Refresh.   The last Piranha has only 3 HP left, so we finish it off in style by chucking a Coconut at it.  And the yellow Yoshi Kid is safe!  Whuh-waaa! Are they all gone? I thought those things were going to eat me right up! Thanks for saving me, Mario! I'll do what you grown-ups tell me to do from now on. I don't even wanna do bad things anymore. I just wanna be a good boy. I'm going home now. Bye! And that’s all five.   Understandably, Yoshi’s Village is a lot calmer now…  And the village leader has something to say to us.  You have saved the children of the village. I feel that no expression of our gratitude could be enough. You truly are a hero. We deeply appreciate your valor. At least I can do this... You still wish to go to Mt. Lavalava, don't you? I have remembered a good way to reach the volcano.  He gives us a small jade Raven carving. Whenever events beyond our control occur on this island, we ask the help of Raphael the Raven, the island's master. If anyone can help you reach the volcano, it's definitely Raphael the Raven. He lives in the depths of this island. If you place that Jade Raven into the statue of Raphael, the way into the depths of the jungle will appear. I'm sure you'll find the path. May all your wishes come true. And now we know where we will be going next. Badges: 58/90 (New: D-Down Jump, Flower Fanatic, Power Bounce) Recipes: 38/50 Star Pieces: 113/202 (we have 13) Chuck Quizmo’s Quiz Questions: 34/64 Game Overs (this time): Two - one to Fuzzipede, and one to some noxious Jade Jungle flora. Game Overs (total): 26. SUMMARY OF CHANGES FROM MAIN GAME (in this installment) • Power Bounce located in Bowser’s Castle where Last Stand used to be. • Power Bounce badge costs +1 BP to equip (2 BP in base game), and +3 FP to use the move (3 FP in base game). • Power Bounce scaling has changed to 75% of previous hit (rounded down), but the first hit has +1 Attack. • Power Bounce now capped at 5 jumps on regular enemies, and 3 jumps on bosses. • Fuzzipede a lot more ornery! (+30 HP, +3-4 Attack. Recover now restores 7 HP [was originally 4].) • Fuzzipede battle has environmental effects added. (After Turns 1, 3, 5+: Mario is poisoned. After Turns 2, 4, 5+: Watt is stunned for 1 turn.) • Fuzzipede battle used to destroy your items at battle start, but this was thankfully removed. • Jungle Fuzzies take up MOBAs, learn how to jungle better. (+2 HP, +1 Attack. If you wear Zap Tap, the Fuzzy will deal a fixed 4 damage before detaching.) • M. Bushes brush up on their ambush tactics. (+9 HP, +2 Attack. Attack is now guaranteed to poison. Attack timing randomized. Now extremely weak to fire attacks [+4 damage] and extremely resistant to most statuses [all except Stop].) • Yoshi’s Village shop now sells Melons, Mysteries, and Super Soda, instead of Tasty Tonics, Snowman Dolls, and Honey Syrup. Fire Flowers are much more expensive. • Melons are better for you! (Restores +5 HP, +3 FP.) • Spear Guys have perfected their dancing. (+2 HP, +2 Attack [+5 Attack for spear throw]. Spear stab attack now hits 3 times.) • Shy Guy healers spotted in Jade Jungle. (Remedy Guy: 9 HP, 5 Attack, 1 Defense. Heals one enemy for 7 HP or whole party for 4. Always attacks before healing.) • Chill Out Star Power now costs 3 Star Energy to perform (was originally 2). Lasts for 3 turns instead of 4. • Hurt Plants are almost as mean as M. Bushes now. (+4 HP, +4 Attack (+5 while Mario is poisoned). Now spiky. Now weak to fire attacks [+2 damage].) • Pink Bloopers seen in (and out of) waterways of Jade Jungle. (Bloober: 22 HP, 6 Attack jump, 7 Attack ink spray. Jumps twice in one attack, and ink spray poisons.) • Sushie’s Squirt attack costs +2 FP to perform (was 3 originally). Her Water Block move costs +1 FP to perform (was also originally 3 FP). • Many plant-based enemies in Jade Jungle are now resistant to water attacks. • Spike Tops migrate from volcano to jungle, are much beefier. (+3 HP, +4 Attack, +2 Defense [+3 while flipped].) • D-Down Jump badge costs +2 FP to perform (2 FP in base game). • D-Down Jump does 1 less damage than Mario’s base Attack per jump. • Hustle Drink found stashed in tree in Jade Jungle. • Vicious bees spotted hanging out around jungle Piranha Plants. (Bzzrk!: 6 HP, 12 Attack (!), 1 Defense. Sting attack poisons for 1 turn.) • Putrid Piranhas even less friendly. (+4 HP, +3 Attack [+5 for bite attack]. ) Note that while regular Piranha Plants are spiky, Putrid Piranhas are not - in either the original game or Master Quest. It’s a common misconception. Next Time On Master Quest: A battle you’ll all be ravin’ about!
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Feb 19, 2020 11:34
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