[LordGek]

Hey Gang,

Just heard about your forum thread here from dessgeega at Gamer's Quarter.

I know they planned to tone down the difficulty on this one and FEARED it meant losing the whole "character level reset to 1" mechanic which I think is one of the most unique/cool aspects of the COOLER Mysterious Dungeon games. Since this was lost in most of Torneko 3 and Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon (only an option in a few post game dungeons) I sadly figured they'd be doing that here.

I ordered it day 1 anayways (not here yet but could I pick a stupider time of year to order something?) and was STOKED when I learned the level reset deal WAS still in effect...but now you tell me about "up stairs"...ARRRRRGH!

I know I could just NOT ABUSE THIS FEATURE...but I'm afraid the game now will balanced in such a way that ASSUMES everybody is doing it.

My only feeble hopes at this point would be:
1) Fei's Ultimate Dungeon has no up stairs.
2) The upstairs mimics (I saw something to this effect in a screen shot) really tone down the abusability of this feature.
3) The game has new ways to stamp out excessive scumming maybe via some tough out of level dudes suddenly showing up to give you grief.
4) Your end score is somehow effected by abusing/not abusing...like some sort of score multiplier if you NEVER use an upstairs or something like that.

I'd love to hear more about new items or traps, if you've noticed any yet, Jeff.

[LordGek]

YEAH!

After a long delay (they supposedly sent it out on Dec 16th) I finally got my copy of the game.

Not a whole lot to add so far that Jeff didn't touch on except that for the non Japanese speaking among us you might find this FAQ handy:

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/fuurai_no_shiren.txt
(using Japanese EUC encoding)

This is an English FAQ written for the Japanese Famicon game (obviously before the other folk made the English patch) that does a great job translating all of the objects, characters, creatures, etc. It's not going to cover THIS game 100% since there have been a number of tweaks (I think Fei's puzzles are all new in this one) and additions. That being said it still will give you a HUGE step up on the game.

From Jeff's initial post I was expecting to see two sets of stairs on each level but what they do instead is that when you reach the one stairway or exit from the level you have the choice to take it up or down. I already tested some of its abusability by using the upstairs option to go back to the town level with the first shop only to find, yep, you get a fully re-stocked shop when you re-visit so it will now be easy to simply "re-roll" the shop until it sells the items you're looking for. I can only hope the creatures you meet on the re-visited dungeon levels are at least scaled up a bit according to your current level, but I have yet to be able to concretely prove that.

Oh, and found out the hard way, while you now can do any number of Fei's problems in one sitting...even more in any order as you can chose from all 50 right off the bat, you better remember to store your prizes in between puzzle runs as EVERYTHING you were carrying when you start a puzzle is vaporized. Since it checks off each puzzle as you complete it, I'm assuming you can't get rewarded for completing any puzzle multiple times, so at least that could be a step up from the old days of endless rewards (although I have yet to confirm this).

[LordGek]

I won't let this thread die!

I've finally cleared Table Mountain and opened almost all of the Bonus Dungeons (3 more ontop of the original 3 of the SNES game).

Table Mountain has been made easier in countless little sublte ways, and even the two initial bonus dungeons by allowing you to bring in buddies and keep the few levels you gained on the way to them from the first few levels of Table Mountain (as they, like the original, are in the second and third villages), are lot easier...but Fei's Final Problem is still hardcore fun!

All three of the NEW bonus dungeons are essentially extensions of the main Table Mountain and allow you to bring in any and all equipment and buddies. They're all pretty extreme with limited items and lots of level 3 and 4 guys with different themes.