Ecco the Dolphin ... :X

spaghetti · Post by **spaghetti** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 1:10 am

I don't want a cheat or a walkthrough... I just want to know if I'm doing something really wrong....

So I'm in Coral Reef and I've found a four of five vitalits... I've gotten the songs of the fish, shark, and turtle.... and I found loads of those gift orb thingies that tell me "Power of vigor not mastered yet." And then I find this big fooking shark at the end of a tunnel and the music changes and such...

What exactly am I missing here? I can't seem to find anything new... I did all the activities that seem around, I killed all the sharks almost (not the big one, of course)... and I even found this cave with a big green glow or something. But I can't seem to get anywhere.

I always feel bad about taking hints and stuff... but can someone just nudge me in the right direction? Do I need to explore more, or do I need to do a certain task... or what? If I need to explore more just tell me... but I think I've found ever nook and cranny. It's just getting real boring.

Post by **melancholy** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 1:35 am

Well, the first thing your doing wrong is playing this horribly boring game. That's my opinion anyway...

However, I can offer you some help, although I highly suggest you get a guide, because this game get a whole hell of a lot more confusing. They never tell you what your suppose to do next, so you will always have that feeling of being lost. Anyway, on to the help:

Okay, find that huge shark again. You see that pillar thing that is in the center. See how it has two holes inside of it. Notice how you can easily swim through the holes in the pillar, but if a certain shark would chase you as you were passing through the holes, he would most likely get stuck? I think you know where I'm going with this...

spaghetti · Post by **spaghetti** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 1:53 am

melancholy wrote:Well, the first thing your doing wrong is playing this horribly boring game. That's my opinion anyway...

However, I can offer you some help, although I highly suggest you get a guide, because this game get a whole hell of a lot more confusing. They never tell you what your suppose to do next, so you will always have that feeling of being lost. Anyway, on to the help:

Okay, find that huge shark again. You see that pillar thing that is in the center. See how it has two holes inside of it. Notice how you can easily swim through the holes in the pillar, but if a certain shark would chase you as you were passing through the holes, he would most likely get stuck? I think you know where I'm going with this...

ack!!! My brother insisted this is what I had to do, but I didn't believe him cause I can't even get the shark to chase me.... !!!! I'll have to try again.

SHEESH!!!

Sultan of Saturn · Post by **Sultan of Saturn** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 2:24 am

Although those message stones sound so philosophical, they are their to give you a hint. Also, before you start a new level/stage, the preliminary view that is shown is the path you are to take. To get the shark's attention, use that song of shark to get its attention but look out. It will gobble you up big time. One thing though, the 2 holes thing is right on the money, but there is also a message stone on the other side from where you first enter. Check out the stone, and it will give you the hint you need. I myself have run into a bit of trouble myself. I think I will be getting a guide soon for it as well or simply check out gamefaqs.

reaper2k2 · Post by **reaper2k2** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 2:47 am

hey its a great game my wife loves it got her to play dc only thing that could

wash your mouth out poor ecco would be so upset lol

CoasterKing · Post by **CoasterKing** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 10:56 am

reaper2k2 wrote:hey its a great game my wife loves it got her to play dc only thing that could

wash your mouth out poor ecco would be so upset lol

Strangely enough, this was one of my ex gf's favourite DC experiences. She wasn't a huge game fan though(obviously

). Ecco the Dolphin is a beautiful game both visually and aurally. The problem is, like Melancholy said, is that the game is incredibly boring. You spend half the game searching for your next objectives because they are so unclear and when you do eventually find them, you are either asleep or you have thrown our controller out the window. I have never came close to completing it and I don't think I ever will!

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 11:16 am

I never could beat any of those games. I at one point had the Sega CD versions of the first 2 ecco's and just never could beat them. I only played the one on Dreamcast a few minutes before getting bored with it. Luckily it was only a CD-R copy otherwise ID been pissed for buying it.

spaghetti · Post by **spaghetti** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 7:25 pm

Well I'm able to get the thing to chase me but I can't get it to follow me through a hole, or anything. He always dodges away.

liltimmyw · Post by **liltimmyw** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 7:50 pm

i had fun playing this game for a few mins at a game store back when it was new on DC

Sirmorpheous · Post by **Sirmorpheous** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 8:02 pm

i like the genesis version of Ecco The Dolphin a lot more

Post by **melancholy** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 12:13 am

That's it, I think I'll go dig up my review on Ecco the Dolphin that I posted in OT a very long time ago. Be right back...

...searching...

Okay, found it:

melancholy on May 2, 2002 wrote:The next game on my list is: Ecco: Defender of the Future!

IGN rating:7.6
Gamespot rating: 8.2
My rating: 2.5

Deep in the bowls of Appaloosa Interactive...
"Hey, let's make another Ecco game! We'll spend all of our time making the graphics push the Dreamcast's limits! So much so, that the CD-ROM will make more noise than the fan from loading all the time! And will make every level look the same so the player will get lost and only focus on the pretty graphics! Plus, we'll have Ecco's friends have useless information that'll make the player confused and just go back to looking at the graphics! It'll be a hit! Did I mention the great graphics?"
Since it did have nice visuals, it gets a .5 on the 2.

[UR4]Dutch · Post by **[UR4]Dutch** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 4:32 am

It's a game where you have to do stuff in order to complete it...... what's wrong with that?!?!? So it's hard, does it mean you can't beat the game?!?!?! I like Ecoo because it's unclear, you have to explore everything and keep an eye out for all the small details. You can get totally lost in every level and it's never striaghtforward.

Ecco is only for old-school gamers. Not for the new generation that want their games all explained and outlined.

smelialichu · Post by **smelialichu** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:35 pm

[UR4]Dutch wrote:It's a game where you have to do stuff in order to complete it...... what's wrong with that?!?!? So it's hard, does it mean you can't beat the game?!?!?! I like Ecoo because it's unclear, you have to explore everything and keep an eye out for all the small details. You can get totally lost in every level and it's never striaghtforward.

Ecco is only for old-school gamers. Not for the new generation that want their games all explained and outlined.

I think quite a lot of people here are 'old-school' gamers. The one's just after free games on their dreamcast probably don't post, but most that do are likely to want to give their favourite games from the past a new lease of life. i can see why Ecc appeals to some people, but it certainly can be frustrating. It isn't the fact that it's hard, it's the fact that it's hard because they make it so you don't have a clue what you're doing. I personally have never been a fan of Ecco the Dolphin even though I'm a big point and click fan.

[UR4]Dutch · Post by **[UR4]Dutch** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 2:19 am

I understand what you're saying.... Still I would like to see more games that are a liitle bit harder than all the stuff currently on the market. Most of the DC & PS2 games are fairly hard, X-Box & GC games are useally a bit easier (Starfox Adventures anyone, Halo....) and more focused on the graphics. Personnaly I like hard games since they give me more value for my money. It's very frustrating to buy a game for 60 ~ 70 Euro's (about 50 ~ 60 US Dollars) to finish it in just a few hours.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 3:47 am

[UR4]Dutch wrote:I understand what you're saying.... Still I would like to see more games that are a liitle bit harder than all the stuff currently on the market. Most of the DC & PS2 games are fairly hard, xbox & GC games are useally a bit easier (Starfox Adventures anyone, Halo....) and more focused on the graphics. Personnaly I like hard games since they give me more value for my money. It's very frustrating to buy a game for 60 ~ 70 Euro's (about 50 ~ 60 US Dollars) to finish it in just a few hours.

Yea but it is even worse when you pay 50 dollars for a game and its way to difficult for you. And remember there is more casual gamers then there is hardcore gamers out there. You just don't see most of your casual gamers cause there on the phone complaining to AOL about how there 1.5 gigahertz modem don't work.

Best solution is to have a true EASY and HARD mode. First Person shooters seem to do it the best. Id rather have a game that is rather easy (Jak and Daxter) then a game that is too hard for me (Sunshine).

reaper2k2 · Post by **reaper2k2** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 3:49 am

ECCO on dc is by far the best version of the game. it has allways been like this

go play it on segacd or gamegear or megadrive it does not tell you what to do on any of them ether

women ,gurls love this game

that should be ennf to buy it

my wife is more then halfway throu it and siad its great had no problem playing it .....

she is a old school gamer loves castlvania all version

yes this game has better grafix then mostly any game on any system

its not a boys game lol its all female like lol and they love it trust me

im so lucky my gurl loves games as much as me we have big gaming sessions VS each other then work it off in other ways lol

[UR4]Dutch · Post by **[UR4]Dutch** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 3:58 am

You played Sunshine??? What's it like? We have to wait till the end of the month for it's release...

Have you seen this small British campaign: http://www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk/

Simple games are also a complaint (along with the ridiculous prices). The point is that the game industrie lives of the hardcore gamer. I have a huge Dreamcast collection, I have most games in PAL, JAP & USA (the same game....). Companies live of gamers like me. The casual gamer gives them little profit since they are not that fanatic when it comes to buying new games, useally they burn stuff. Although Ecco might be too hard for the casual gamer it gives great value to the hardcore gamer.

For me a game is not a quick fix for something, I want to finish the game....doesn't matter how hard it is. Games where meant to be challenging....

This is becoming a useless topic since our opinions are totally different, has been fun though.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 4:23 am

[UR4]Dutch wrote:You played Sunshine??? What's it like? We have to wait till the end of the month for it's release...

Have you seen this small British campaign: http://www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk/

Simple games are also a complaint (along with the ridiculous prices). The point is that the game industrie lives of the hardcore gamer. I have a huge Dreamcast collection, I have most games in PAL, JAP & USA (the same game....). Companies live of gamers like me. The casual gamer gives them little profit since they are not that fanatic when it comes to buying new games, useally they burn stuff. Although Ecco might be too hard for the casual gamer it gives great value to the hardcore gamer.

For me a game is not a quick fix for something, I want to finish the game....doesn't matter how hard it is. Games where meant to be challenging....

This is becoming a useless topic since our opinions are totally different, has been fun though.

What someone don't know what I think of Mario Sunshine?? Basically I hated it cause it was too hard. Check off-topic and you will see my posts about it. I thought it was way to jumpy cause about the only challenge in the game was trying to jump from block to block with a horrid camera view. And hardcore gamers don't completely keep the game companies running. I read a article about this in a computer magazine a month or too ago and it was about this. IT was said that too many games coming out are being produced by hardcore gamers and therefore made for the hardcore gamers. But they said for every 1000 hardcore gamers there is like 9000 casual gamers. They went on about some examples of the different and I feel I fit somewhere in the middle. While I don't enjoy playing a game with god mode all the way through, I also don't go into quake3 games and have the 50 frags compared to the 5 and 6 others have either. Quake 3 turned me away from on-line gameing big time. Not much fun for me when as soon as you spawn BOOM your dead...spawn BOOM your dead.

Anyways I contacted Nintendo and they said if I mailed them Mario Sunshine they would exchange it for another Nintendo title and I did. She even said herself they had a lot of complaints about unhappy people with kids crying cause they couldn't play this game to its high difficulty. I had this game almost 3 weeks and after about a week absolutely could get no farther cause every level was just another jumpy level pretty much.

Most games even if you think there too easy have things you can do. Like Mario 64 was easy to just finish, but there was still a good challenge to getting all 120 stars. In Jak and Daxter its easy to just beat the game, but if you get all 100 power cells something else happens, and it would offer a decent challenge. And look at classic games. People loved Mario World for the SNES right? That was one a rather easy game if you ask me. If you take the shortcuts you can beat the game in less then a hour probably. First time I played it I had like crazy amount of lives at the end of the game. Same goes for Yoshi's Island. I recently finished this game on GBA with 99 lives. I think I died like 4 or 5 times from just being stupid and falling off a platform, thats it.

Point being is a game that is hard for the hardcore gamer is probably something the casual gamer won't touch. IF they do touch it there going to be unhappy with it since they can't do nothing but watch themselves die and get stressed out about it. Games are not meant to be stressful, that is what work is for.

What games is it your refering to anyways that are just too easy and you beat them in a week? IF you want a game you can't beat in a week try a MMORPG. They keep you interested a loooong time.

[UR4]Dutch · Post by **[UR4]Dutch** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 4:33 am

I play for that excact reason online MP games. You're absolutely right about that.....

MP games never get boring since only the best players keep on playing. The challenge is fantastic. Right now I'm totally hooked on SOF2. a lot of the SOF2 players have gone to get a new fix with UT2003 and Battlefield. Only the real good SOF2 players are still online now, and it's always fun to play with/against them. This is excaclty the same reason that I'm very excited to see all the online serviceslaunch for our favorite consoles. With the Dreamcast it was too expensive unless you have the BBA. With X-Box & Gamecube it's easier and cheaper to acces and could give you a great challenge.

Online gaming is the only thing that can save game industrie as it is right now. All the good singleplayer concepts have been done and about 80% of all new games are rip-offs or ports. Online gaming always gives a great challenge and more fun. Overall, it's a more satisfying experience.

SMS still looks like fun, I heard that it was a bit difficult. I had no idea about the camera angles though. That could surely drain everything good out of a game....

smelialichu · Post by **smelialichu** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 11:13 am

[UR4]Dutch wrote:Simple games are also a complaint (along with the ridiculous prices). The point is that the game industrie lives of the hardcore gamer. I have a huge Dreamcast collection, I have most games in PAL, JAP & USA (the same game....). Companies live of gamers like me. The casual gamer gives them little profit since they are not that fanatic when it comes to buying new games, useally they burn stuff. Although Ecco might be too hard for the casual gamer it gives great value to the hardcore gamer.

The problem is that the real casual gamers are the ones who buy what they see on an advert, and usually don't obther reading reviews etc. You could say the casual gamers are responsible for the fact there are so many crap games (sort of). I mean SOMEONE has to buy those damn Army Men games