Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

I ♥ all Zelda games because of its hardness.


I mean, I took about 20 minutes figuring out how to defeat TrineXX. Soooo hard.


This boss:
Trinexx.png



I then eventually figured out that I had to use the fire rod and the ice rod to destroy the heads.
 
Gundam Tanaka said:
Lost 250 HP? How much HP does this game give you?

100 HP, but I grinded for hearts during the battle because I didn't want to die.

Also, the boss of Old Clockworks is the best grinding spot as of now.
 
The second boss was way easier than the first one. (but that eerie staircase was SO cool).

I lost only 40 HP on this boss compared to 200 on the first one.
 
played multiplayer while in a skype call with 3 friends. This is easily the best multiplayer game on 3ds
 
Just beat the game. The final puzzles will bust you chops if you don't keep your wits about you and if you don't pay attention to the surroundings.

The final battle was pretty great. I loved King Boo's taunts ("Why if it isn't my old pal Luigi. Or is it Baby Luigi? I can't tell the difference"). The battle was pretty nerve-wracking mostly because I couldn't get the spiked balls to fall onto him.

I have yet to try Scarescraper.
 
Looker said:
King Boo's taunts ("Why if it isn't my old pal Luigi. Or is it Baby Luigi? I can't tell the difference").
Ah man, that's hilarious.
I hope there's more little shout-outs like that in the game.
 
Pinkie Pie said:
Looker said:
King Boo's taunts ("Why if it isn't my old pal Luigi. Or is it Baby Luigi? I can't tell the difference").
BLOF would love this.


YESYESYYESYESYEYSYESYESYYESYESYEYSYESYESYYESYESYEYSYESYESYYESYESYEYSYESYESYYESYESYEYSYESYESYYESYESYEYS!!!!!!!!!!

I HAVE TO GET THIS GAME NOW
 
So I got Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon the other day... Where to begin?

Well, I definitely like all the call-backs to the original Luigi's Mansion. I like how Prof. E. Gadd seems to acknowledge that it's been a long time since they were last together... Really, it has. Too long, in fact. I also like the setting of Evershade Valley, and how Prof. E. Gadd moved his base of operations there to study the more peaceful ghosts. I think what I like most about this is that Next Level Games is making it, which in my mind, means this is part of what can be laughingly called "Mario canon". It's weird because this game was basically made because Shigeru Miyamoto wanted it to, and here we have a non-Japanese developer making the game! Just kind of blows my mind a bit, especially considering they've only made spin-offs before.

The fact that the game is split up into missions is a cool idea, too, though it does kind of mean you can't just explore on your own, and sometimes you have to go to the right mission in order to get some things, but still, no real problems with it.

I like Luigi's run when he's in a dark room... or rather, when he's scared because there surprisingly aren't that many "dark rooms".

Okay, I'm about to go into nitpick territory, because there are quite a few things that annoyed me in the game, either that or just felt... off.

So apparently most of the rooms are turned on, and only turn off when a ghost appears. How's that work? I mean, I know these places are haunted and whatnot, but in the original Luigi's Mansion, the basic idea was to catch all the ghosts and turn the lights on, and when the lights were on, that meant there were no ghosts in that room. It made sense, especially when the power went out and the ghost had a complete run on the mansion. Here, a room can be bright and STILL have a ghost randomly show up. I guess it adds to the unexpected factor, but... I don't know, it seemed weird to me.

Another weird thing is that Luigi will ALWAYS have his light on, even in a lit room. Why? Shouldn't he save batteries? And I'm not talking about the Dark-Light Device, that you can turn on and off on a whim, or even the Strobulb, which you can ALSO turn on and off when you need to. Why can't Luigi just turn the flashlight on when he's only in a dark room?

...You know, I might as well talk about the controls, and I WOULD say they take some getting used to if I was being charitable, but there are just so many things that annoy me about them. First off, why the *bleep* do I need to hold down the be button to run? Why can't I just run by, you know, sliding the circle pad all the way? Like most 3D games, including the original Luigi's Mansion? Not to mention, it would make things SO much more convenient when using the other features of the Poltergust 5000, where I can move as quickly as I want using them and NOT having to switch between the buttons or holding them down simultaneously! but now for the part that annoys me the most: you can't control which direction Luigi sucks stuff up, or points the Strobulb or Dark-Light Device at! Well, you can by holding the 3DS at a certain angle (which is stupid, BTW, I'd rather NOT have to physically move my 3DS in order to make something work in the game), but you can't actually turn around or point in a specific direction like you could in the original Luigi's Mansion! I've lost SO much health because of this, it's such a crippling gameplay mechanic; there MUST have been a better solution than this! Like using the D-pad, maybe! Yeah, all it does is make Luigi cry "Hello", which is kind of a cute shout-out to Luigi calling Mario in the original game, but there, he only does that when he's not banging on walls or checking cabinets and drawers, so they basically wasted TWO potential buttons with this control scheme!

...And speaking of checking stuff, I missed how in the original game, you can pretty much check whatever you want, whenever you want, either by the aforementioned banging or with your Poltergust, and it indicates that it's been searched by giving off a puff of dust. In THIS game, you can only check certain objects by pressing X, and the Poltergust just makes thing shake, and there's NOT indication as to whether something's been searched and there's nothing there, so there are moments where I use my Poltergust on, say, a ceiling fan, to see if I can get some money or something, only to keep spinning it and nothing happens!

The music... Well, it's not bad, but I feel like the main theme just isn't scary, just sort of generally gloomy, at least in the first mansion. I don't find it as memorable as the original theme, not to mention, aside from a few variations in the other mansion, I don't think it's actually present in a dark room, which I can't remember the theme of... In the original, the theme was consistent, and easily distinguishable, and oh-so memorable! Luigi whistles the theme in a lit room, whereas he hums the theme in a dark room, where it gets a LOT more scary... Maybe it's because I was younger back then, but I found the game, it's music, and it's enemies to be rather terrifying. Of course, I don't so much now, but still, there wasn't much in the game to suggest they are otherwise nice or goofy. This game, they look much more cartoonish and we see their antics constantly, kind of takes away from the scary factor. See, I always kind of sympathized with Luigi in the first game since he's clearly terrified and worried about his brother in a very dangerous mansion. In this game... Well, there is clearly danger, since I keep losing health, but I don't get the terrifying factor here...

At least until the first boss, I thought she was kind of creepy... Although I DID like that
she's actually rather friendly-looking once you knock the possessor out of her.

I also like that there are name sand descriptions of enemies in the game. See, I always liked knowing the otherwise nameless enemies of games like this, especially if they feel unique and have unique names. It's something that's lacking in a lot of modern-day games.

I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention about this game... Something else that annoyed me... Eh, I'm sure it'll come to me. Besides, I think I've been mean enough, I actually really like this game, I just wished it could have ironed out a few things or took more of an example from the original game in some regards.

Edit: OH CRAP, I just remembered what I wanted to mention before! Two things, actually.

So like before, Prof. E. Gadd contacts Luigi via a modified version of a Nintendo portable console, in this case, an original Nintendo DS. In this game, though, he contacts you WAY too often, and considering you're usually in-and-out of a mansion thanks tot he mission system, it feels really intrusive, especially since a lot of what he says isn't really necessary and kind of pointless...

EXCEPT for when you encounter your first Boo. He waits until AFTER you already captured it to contact you! And let me tell you, unlike Boos in the first game, which were like normal ghosts only you just had to keep pointing your Poltergust at it instead of actively sucking them up like regular ghosts, here, and I swear this was not at ALL self-explanatory when I first tried it, you have to locate him with the Dark-Light device (not too bad in and of itself), then you suck up ITS TONGUE, not the actual Boo himself, but it's TONGUE, have it bounce about across the screen, then when it's dizzy, suck it up... And you have to be right next to it for it to work, too, the first few times I tried it, it was under a table and I couldn't reach it! Given how much Prof. E. Gadd preps you on every other aspect of this game, it felt WAY too obtuse for you to just get the hang of it immediately... Hell, there isn't much in this game that you get the hang of immediately... Hell, I relied mostly on what I knew from the last game, and even THAT had a practice mode. :/

I feel terrible for complaining so much, but at least I got these things off my chest.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
So apparently most of the rooms are turned on, and only turn off when a ghost appears. How's that work? I mean, I know these places are haunted and whatnot, but in the original Luigi's Mansion, the basic idea was to catch all the ghosts and turn the lights on, and when the lights were on, that meant there were no ghosts in that room. It made sense, especially when the power went out and the ghost had a complete run on the mansion. Here, a room can be bright and STILL have a ghost randomly show up. I guess it adds to the unexpected factor, but... I don't know, it seemed weird to me.

The mansions weren't empty like in the first game, they were research areas for E. Gadd, which is obvious by all the equipment seen lying around the dungeons.

Smashgoom202 said:
...You know, I might as well talk about the controls, and I WOULD say they take some getting used to if I was being charitable, but there are just so many things that annoy me about them. First off, why the *bleep* do I need to hold down the be button to run? Why can't I just run by, you know, sliding the circle pad all the way? Like most 3D games, including the original Luigi's Mansion?
Because it's awkward, especially on such a small system where you need to be precise on some parts.

Smashgoom202 said:
The music... Well, it's not bad, but I feel like the main theme just isn't scary, just sort of generally gloomy, at least in the first mansion.
Because the original Luigi's Mansion theme was so scary.

Smashgoom202 said:
I don't find it as memorable as the original theme, not to mention, aside from a few variations in the other mansion, I don't think it's actually present in a dark room, which I can't remember the theme of... In the original, the theme was consistent, and easily distinguishable, and oh-so memorable!
I'll give it some time before the theme grows on you.

Smashgoom202 said:
This game, they look much more cartoonish and we see their antics constantly, kind of takes away from the scary factor. See, I always kind of sympathized with Luigi in the first game since he's clearly terrified and worried about his brother in a very dangerous mansion. In this game... Well, there is clearly danger, since I keep losing health, but I don't get the terrifying factor here...
Luigi's Mansion is not supposed to be a game that strikes fear into you. If you expected such, your expectations are high. The ghosts are goofy because that's their personality. The shattering of the Dark Moon only changed their behavior, not what they do. Even before the Dark Moon shattering, you could see them goofing off in E. Gadd's lab. Personally, I liked how they actually gave the ghosts a personality in this game, rather than the "ghost appears, SUCK IT UP" mentality of the original. The ghosts did nothing there. They were just there, like Goombas in SMB and other stuff.

Smashgoom202 said:
So like before, Prof. E. Gadd contacts Luigi via a modified version of a Nintendo portable console, in this case, an original Nintendo DS. In this game, though, he contacts you WAY too often, and considering you're usually in-and-out of a mansion thanks tot he mission system, it feels really intrusive, especially since a lot of what he says isn't really necessary and kind of pointless...

I think it's the opposite, personally. In the original, E. Gadd was just that one guy you visit in the lab to return the ghosts and basically that's it. In this game, he's basically Luigi's coach.
 
Looker said:
The mansions weren't empty like in the first game, they were research areas for E. Gadd, which is obvious by all the equipment seen lying around the dungeons.
Well, you got me there. Still, why would he leave the lights on in a room he's not in... Also, the Haunted Tower, it's supposed to be out of power because it's run by water flow, right? And yet there were lit rooms in that as well?

Looker said:
Because it's awkward, especially on such a small system where you need to be precise on some parts.
Couldn't be any more awkward then holding down the B button, for me anyway. See, this is why I'm not one to suggest improvements, because I'm more reactionary when it comes to that kind of thing. Not sure what I like, but I don't what I don't like.

Looker said:
Because the original Luigi's Mansion theme was so scary.
I'm glad we can agree on that!


Looker said:
I'll give it some time before the theme grows on you.
It's not that I don't like the theme, I just don't find it as instantly memorable as the original. Like, listening to the music of that game makes me realize just how much of a musical genius Kazumi Totaka is, he's good at making memorable music! ...I want to see who the composer of this game is, now that I'm curious about it.

Looker said:
Luigi's Mansion is not supposed to be a game that strikes fear into you. If you expected such, your expectations are high. The ghosts are goofy because that's their personality. The shattering of the Dark Moon only changed their behavior, not what they do. Even before the Dark Moon shattering, you could see them goofing off in E. Gadd's lab. Personally, I liked how they actually gave the ghosts a personality in this game, rather than the "ghost appears, SUCK IT UP" mentality of the original. The ghosts did nothing there. They were just there, like Goombas in SMB and other stuff.
Well now, I GET that Luigi's Mansion is not mention to be intentionally scary, it's just that the original always scared me when I was younger. What you said makes total sense, though; I guess I'm just thinking too much of the original and not enough about the context of this game. Actually, in retrospect, the reason why the ghosts, sans portrait ghosts, don't have personalities is because they were all created by Van Gore, and were basically mindless monstrosities. Actually, when I think of how the ghosts in this game actually have personalities, I think of how it kind of makes me feel bad to suck them up... At least, unlike the ghosts in the original, we know the ghosts captured here are kept safe (both for them and for E. Gadd and Luigi) inside the Bunker's Vault.

Looker said:
I think it's the opposite, personally. In the original, E. Gadd was just that one guy you visit in the lab to return the ghosts and basically that's it. In this game, he's basically Luigi's coach.
I like that E. Gadd and Luigi have a closer dynamic in this game, too, but I still think he calls Luigi WAAAAAAY too often, though maybe that's just because I've only played the first few missions so far... Still, he didn't call that much in the first game, but then again, the first game now feels like a different beast compared to this game, in terms of how it's played.
 
MCS said:
Looker said:
Just beat the game. The final puzzles will bust you chops if you don't keep your wits about you and if you don't pay attention to the surroundings.

Jeez, already?

yeah man mario games are so freaking long

not sure how he did it
 
Doesn't Luigi look so weird when E.Gadd calls him with the Dual Scream? He always wonders what is that noise, then realises it's the DScream. Since he always does that, I believe he has anesia, or something.
 
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