Zodi Plays: Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Pink and Blue Power Hour)

Well this one is gonna be a thing.

Zodi Plays: Kirby's Dream LAnd 3 [6.1] Caveman, Chus, and... um...

Video Length: 26:26

So, this video. This was also recorded yesterday, just due to a combination of time constraints and the summer heat being a Lot to deal with, and poor Blue not having a fan. Normally this wouldn't be that bad, I don't mind taking breaks between recordings, though doing so when you're a day away from the upload date is a little risky boots. Of course, when someone's internet explodes and crashed Netplay... well, these things happen.

In today's episode we do a maze that feels kind of unfair, and then have to somehow bring Chu-Chu to her friend without getting killed. A trickier proposition than you'd expect. Then we enter into one of the game's hardest levels, a massive puzzle dungeon where the items you must collect to get the star-heart are scattered about, and you're given access to every single power and helper in the game! Suffice to say, this level takes a Long Time. So in a sense, the above happening is kind of for the best, since fiting this level in with the boss fight as well as the other two levels would be a bit much!

And thus, this video. I hope you all enjoyed, we'll see you all next time for the finish of this stage, and then the boss!

You want to know something funny Zodi? I've cleared/hearted the pyramid in the past, and I didn't even know it was possible to break those stones in the bird room like that before. Co-op has some neat tricks.

Oh boy. More sand. Yay obstacles in games designed solely to make things slow.

Oh boy. 'Mazes' in games that you just have to guess at where you're supposed to go.

Oh boy. Level where making one mistake requires a bunch of backtracking. ...that aside, I do agree that it's a cool level. Has a neat aesthetic, and an interesting concept, even if the execution looks a bit lacking. I imagine the water in the cannon portion is to try and emphasize "unnaturality", or maybe "this is the center, you get 'zero gravity' here".

Ouch. Technical issues always suck. As does excessive melting heat. Hopefully things become much more bearable over there soon.
(As an aside, you mentioned editing out Real Names, I believe you missed one at the beginning of last video.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jindra34

You want to know something funny Zodi? I've cleared/hearted the pyramid in the past, and I didn't even know it was possible to break those stones in the bird room like that before. Co-op has some neat tricks.

---

H...how did you get the arm them???

Hey-o, I'm finally posting!
I'm glad that you're doing this despite the breakup and I hope you're both doing OK.

On Episode 5:
-I was honestly expecting the smash bros wispy woods music to be the 'very memorable music'.
-Squishing flowers and clearing the way for mushrooms that live in the same area? Are you aiding a race war?
-Oh, there's the music I was expecting!
-There's spider powers in newer Kirby games? I might have to get a Kirby game!

Also, I noticed that all the companions have brief reaction to them not being chosen, and I love it, especially Nago's.

It is time for a perfectly normal video.

Zodi Plays: Kirby's Dream Land 3 [6.2] ...CHAOS. Right, Chaos

Video Length: 29:55

In this episode, we finish the last level of world three. And then also fight the boss. That's it, that's all we do this entire stage. Yes the video is 29 minutes and 55 seconds. This level is indicative of the idea that Kirby is a very easy game series... as long as you aren't going for 100% completion. If you're going for the full game clear you're in for a hell of a challenge. Sadly, at least to me, while this level is really cool an interesting... it also lacks creativity at the same time. I was wrong about each puzzle requiring an animal companion, which is really unfortunate for a variety of reasons. It still works, but ultimately it feels a little bad.

After the stage, we have the boss of Sand Canyon, Pon and Con! These two cuties are probably the hardest Lololo and Lalala variant, with tons of patterns and randomly falling bombs throughout. Even worse, unlike the other bosses of this sort, they don't share a health bar! So you can't focus fire one down and then be left with one on it's lonesome. It's pretty tricky! We're able to get it done, though, and Nago proves himself to be a very good anti-boss animal companion.

But yeah. That's it for this one folks! I hope you all enjoyed, we'll see you all next time.

Co-op has neat tricks, right Zodi? Seeing you rage at that was fitting, it also works for the Kine Umbrella Jump. But yes the pyramid is hell.

Ouch. Losing all that progress, and those lives, that was painful. As were all of those near-successes. But, you pulled through in the end, at least!

And, yeah, I'd have to agree. It's a cool concept, but the way it's executed is... not as good. There's a bunch of trial and error if you don't know what works ahead of time, with every combination in the game, having to backtrack, too, if you die with the power you need.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DataNinja

Ouch. Losing all that progress, and those lives, that was painful. As were all of those near-successes. But, you pulled through in the end, at least!

And, yeah, I'd have to agree. It's a cool concept, but the way it's executed is... not as good. There's a bunch of trial and error if you don't know what works ahead of time, with every combination in the game, having to backtrack, too, if you die with the power you need.

---

Yeah, that's very true.

At least our suffering was funny though!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LaZodiac

Yeah, that's very true.

At least our suffering was funny though!

---

Misery is the root of all comedy after all, eh? :smallamused:

The rebirth of Draculax is here!

A Taste Of: Bloodstained, Ritual of the Night

Video Length: 35:25

We play Bloodstained, which literally just came out yesterday or so! I'm a backer for this, and have been waiting on this with baited breath for quite a while! Does it succceed where other nostalgia bait projects like Mighty no 9 and Yooka Laylee fail?

Yeah, yeah it does. It rules! Like those other two games it plays basically exactly like a game in it's series and genre, but unlike those games it's a GOOD one of those, instead of a mediocre to bad one one, respectively. There are some minor issues here or there, and the plot seems a slight degree sillier than regular Castlevania (in my personal opinion anyway) but overall, it's basically perfect. Time will tell if it holds up, but as far as first impressions go it has impressed!

Hope you all enjoyed this little excersion into metvania. I'll see you all next time for more Kirby.

I feel like the alchemists are threatened because they feel "yo, factories and stuff'll replace our magic ways of doing stuff". And probably also the fact that advancements in machine's could make everyone able to do what they do - much like stuff like weaving. They want their position of power, not to be swept aside in obsolescence.

I do really like the art direction here, too. Very polished.

I played more of it and the answer is "rich people were leaving alchemists to go buy fancy cars and Alchemy is expensive work".

They literally summoned all the legions of hell because of capitalism.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LaZodiac

They literally summoned all the legions of hell because of capitalism.

---

That says so much about the world.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LaZodiac

I played more of it and the answer is "rich people were leaving alchemists to go buy fancy cars and Alchemy is expensive work".

They literally summoned all the legions of hell because of capitalism.

---

...oh. Well then.

Though, isn't one of the hallmarks of alchemy being able to turn lead into gold and whatnot? Geez, guys. :smallwink:

I love how the thing that you got most excited about was the ability to resize the minimap. Ya nerd. :smalltongue:

I wouldn't be surprised if you've seen Gremory (or Vepar) elsewhere. They're both Dukes of Hell from the Lesser Key of Solomon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ninja_Prawn

I love how the thing that you got most excited about was the ability to resize the minimap. Ya nerd. :smalltongue:

I wouldn't be surprised if you've seen Gremory (or Vepar) elsewhere. They're both Dukes of Hell from the Lesser Key of Solomon.

---

That is correct! I only realized it after I finished recording and playing for a bit more. I feel like "wasting" Vepar here is a little weird, especially since the archive doesn't mention she's one of the Goetia, but I guess maybe this is just a minion taking Vepar's name?

This one's a little late since I may have played Bloodstained till 3 in the morning.

Zodi Plays: Kirby's Dream Land 3 [7] Hollyhocks, Hens, and Hues

Video Length: 31:06

Kinda stretching on these titles now, hahaaah. But yeah, in this one we start the next world of Popstar, Cloud Park! It's another jump in difficulty, though in this case mainly from me entirely forgetting what we need to do and much of the layout of the levels! This is also where the game starts to get a bit rude with what it does, level 2 in particular. Not helping the fact is that Blue's internet was a little shaky on this one, making things a little disruptive! That aside we managed to push through, and showed ourselves to be true brain geniuses when it comes to math.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! We'll see you all next time!

How dare you play games you enjoy and lose track of time! Nobody has ever done that before! :smallwink:

Hoo boy. They sure expect you to escort things from the start of the level to the end with no fail.

It's really getting good now.

You'd think with me spending 40 hours 100% clearing Bloodstained I wouldn't of had time to make a video. That's just a sign of my power.

Zodi Plays: Kirby's Dream Land 3 [8] Mochi, Mates, and Model

Video Length: 34:05

In this exciting episode, we round out the finish for Cloudy Park. You'll notice that in terms of difficulty these levels are barely anything compared to some of the last few. Aah, eclectic difficult. My faaavorite. This one has a fun couple of puzzles to deal with though. The first stage we do is the standard "get the right animal companion or such so you can make your way to the pick up that you've gotta bring to the end", though in this case there's no maze involved, just a rather tedious mini boss fight with Jumpershoot, the parasol mini boss. After that we've got the per-requisite "bring an animal companion to their friend" stage, which involves Rick and a whole hell of a lot of really precise, careful jumps. This one is extremely tricky and I'm not actually sure how we'll go about getting it. And finally, we have another puzzle piece who wants us to carve out hisi shape into some blocks. This one is really cute and I like it a lot.

After all that fun, it's time for the boss, Ado/Adeline, an adorable little painter girl! If you've played or watched my LP of Kirby's Dream Land 2, you'll recognize all the old friends she creates to fight you. This is honestly probably one of my favorite bosses because of how hectic and crazy it is, but it's actually balanced fairly well with only the final part of it being boss level in any real regard. And of course, if Ado runs into you, you're gonna take damage so be careful!

But yeah, that'll be it for today. Hope you all enjoyed, we'll see you all next time.

Yeah, the big things that I can see between modern Kirbys and this one is A) it's often a much shorter area of level to traverse without losing a power B) powers in general are more versatile, meaning it's harder to run into a type of enemy that's a nightmare to try and get past, and C) bosses give way more Stars/other ways to fight them when you're base-Kirby.

Also, minibosses in newer Kibry games are much less likely to have arenas with anything meaningfully different going on, I feel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Qwertystop

Also, minibosses in newer Kibry games are much less likely to have arenas with anything meaningfully different going on, I feel.

---

For the better I say. The waterfalls and the air current in some of these miniboss rooms suck!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LaZodiac

For the better I say. The waterfalls and the air current in some of these miniboss rooms suck!

---

Eh. I think there's still room to do something more interesting, even if it's not the forced-movement. Ramps, holes (bottomless or otherwise), sand or ice, multiple floors outside of a Lololo/Lalala reiteration (a dropthrough floor with water underneath doesn't count unless the boss uses it or the game offers ways to attack upward from the water surface, which most don't). When all the miniboss fights are in a featureless room the size of the screen, and you've fought that miniboss in that arena three times already, it gets old.

Also, I think the wind effects could be done better in the newer games, with larger screens and better movement. The DLC quest in Star Allies did some pretty good miniboss arenas, one of which was all flying enemies over a bottomless screen (with a few small floating walkable masses), with an updraft and the need to move catch collectibles while you fought, and it actually worked really well; I just wish they'd done that sort of thing sooner.

There have been plenty of gimmick miniboss fights in modern Kirby games. Maybe not quite as frequent, but they're there. I recall miniboss fights with spiked walls, gaps in the floor, ceiling-mounted Shotzos, a soft time limit, and a conveyor belt. They're generally not drastic changes, but they do add something to the experience.

I've been playing a bit of Kirby lately, and I think a large part of the reason modern games are easier is smoother controls and clearer displays, meaning fewer opportunities for mistimed movement or misjudged distance. And threats are more clearly telegraphed and thus more fair. In the 3DS-era games, whenever I take a hit, it's clear how I could have avoided it, whereas that's not always the case in the earlier games.

Count the amount of times we've been blind sided by an enemy because the screen doesn't scroll perfectly or they hid it in a kinda nonsense place.

Like Blue said, the newer games are easier because they're often just better designed games, which ends up coincidentally making them easier inherently. That's not to say they're without flaws of course, but we'll get to those once we get to those!

I do wish they'd have more creative boss arenas, but ultimately given how complex the minibosses have gotten it just becomes Harder in general to MAKE a unique arena, since you have to account for so many variables.

Honestly, variables is a Thing. Kirby should have more randomness to it. Instead of specific minibosses the minibosses should be randomized, unless the power is required for a puzzle. There should be more chance for random stuff to show up! God now I want a Kirby roguelike in the style of Dead Cells or something.

Onward, into the final world!

Zodi Plays: Kirby's Dream Land 3 [9] Soot, Samus, and Sounds

Video Length: 24:44

In this episode, we begin the final world of Iceberg! Those of you who recall the Dream Land 2 LP will recognize the name, since that's what the final world was called back then as well. Just an interesting reference point.

In terms of difficulty, while we don't get nearly as many star-hearts as we likely should have due to user error and occasionally the game just being rude, I'd say these last levels are basically on par with world 2 in terms of difficulty. A little long, and sometimes with surprising screens that mess you up, but overall not that difficult at all. The real challenge comes from fulfilling the quests for the star-hearts, and even then these ones are actually pretty easy in comparison to the other ones we've done. It's interesting, but the final world seems really tame all things considered.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! We'll see you all next time for... well, the final three levels and the apparent final boss!

Well, I'm glad that for once the penguin-king is living in an ice world. :smalltongue:

Why would Metroids be here, don't they hate cold?
...oh. Volcano. I see. (And I guess that's the hint, if you've never played a Metroid.)

Oh, this bit!
https://twitter.com/i/moments/1141390312373276673