I know the feeling... ;~;

Jealous wife is jealous

AMERICA

...<_<...>_>... in America

is sanaewife no parsee isn't

I got a little too carried away. I'd rein it in as much as possible when I noticed, but sometimes it'd just spill out, for which I apologize.

I drew strips 502 and 503 on the plane ride home, but working on a tablet PC is a bit of a pain, efficiency-wise, isn't it. I wished I had my usual left-hand controller, but I couldn't, since it was in my luggage. (^^;)

Another event sequence and more travel/vacation material for the survey:

I'd like to go to a hot spring
• Go to the Underground hot springs hotel
• Ride Orin's wheelbarrow shuttle
• Go to the Tokamak hot bath
• Get Kisume's back scrub
• Get Yuugi's Newbie-Killer Massage

The actual term used in the last one is shoken-goroshi, or "kill on first sight". It's used to refer to places (usually video game levels/areas) that totally massacre your player character when you first visit them. Front-on attacks don't work, enemies attack more often than expected, and you're practically guaranteed to die if you take it on without any foreknowledge. Often, they prove easier than other areas once you go through a couple of times and/or figure out the enemies' set-up.

If there's an actual gamer term for this, please say so and I'll edit the list accordingly.

I'll take a back scrub from Kisume please!

yotta said:
AMERICA

F*CK YEAH!!

Moonspeaker said:
If there's an actual gamer term for this, please say so and I'll edit the list accordingly.

In relation to Touhou, I think it's called Stage 4.

Nyxshade said:
In relation to Touhou, I think it's called Stage 4.

Or Beef Gate for other games, probably.

Huh, just noticed the subtle style change at the 500th strip onwards.

auton_merlin said:
Or Beef Gate for other games, probably.

Hadn't heard of that one before. Checking into it, I see it's supposed to refer to game areas that are ridiculously hard if you reach them too early relative to the planned sequence of a game—i.e., visiting area N directly from area J, when you need to level up via areas K-M first. These areas can be defeated if you have very good luck or know a special trick. Shoken-goroshi doesn't seem to have that qualification. It's somewhere between a Beef Gate and Nintendo Hard, I guess, a level you reach in correct sequence, but which is abruptly so hard relative to what you or your character has experienced so far that you're almost guaranteed to die, sometimes immediately.

Moonspeaker said:
If there's an actual gamer term for this, please say so and I'll edit the list accordingly.

Subterranean Animism.

Zemyla said:
Subterranean Animism.

Not exactly wisely said, but in any case, ANY STAGE 4-6 of the Touhou Series.

Moonspeaker said:
If there's an actual gamer term for this, please say so and I'll edit the list accordingly.

Trial-and-Error Gameplay seems pretty similar.

If letting TVTropes ruin our vocabulary, it sounds like a combination of Difficulty Spike and Easy Level Trick.

I would go to the Tokamak.

I always found Stage 4 to be pretty easy, relatively speaking, for Subterranean Animism. I got through without continues on my first try that I got past stage 3 without resetting. (I reset if I can't get past stage 3 without losing less than one life, since I figure there's no way I'm completing the game at that rate.) Only Rin was hard, although because I was playing Mari-Patchu, Satori was a cakewalk.

Stage 5, however, is (literal) Hell. I died on the first friggin' wave of bullets. Took me 6 or 7 continues just to get past that stage.

zebcar said:
Trial-and-Error Gameplay seems pretty similar.

Probably the best "translation", aside from just outright "Newbie Killer" or "Newbie Punisher".

stage 4 in Touhou can be rather rough, especially in IN and MoF but it's stage 5 that ruins the 1cc runs with tricky bosses (save for IN and MoF) and tough levels.

Reimu/Marisa and Aya are more stage 5 tier than Reisen and Sanae.

Moonspeaker said:
If there's an actual gamer term for this, please say so and I'll edit the list accordingly.

as people have mentioned, Trial And Error Gameplay, or Fake Difficulty (may involve Revive Kills Zombie for when some tactic that makes some attacks more trivial is discovered).
At times, bosses may be called Wakeup Call Boss (even if they're only difficult in the first attempts; this trope refers to a sudden increase in difficulty, rather than how certain parts in the game are only difficult on the first attempts or has their risk more dependant on lack of memorization); some may name it Darwinian Gameplay ("adapt or die"), some may call "memo garbage" too.

Trial And Error would sound more fitting, imho.

Suddenly I remembered those two trolls from youtube that plays videogames and one always yells "AMERICA" whenever something patriotic happens

They need to play "Metal Wolf Chaos": a game so American it could only be made in Japan.

We're all living in America
America
ist wunderbar

I couldn't read Ran's line without thinking of Rhythm Heaven.

Welcome to America.

Moonspeaker said:
Another event sequence and more travel/vacation material for the survey: The actual term used in the last one is shoken-goroshi, or "kill on first sight". It's used to refer to places (usually video game levels/areas) that totally massacre your player character when you first visit them. Front-on attacks don't work, enemies attack more often than expected, and you're practically guaranteed to die if you take it on without any foreknowledge. Often, they prove easier than other areas once you go through a couple of times and/or figure out the enemies' set-up.

If there's an actual gamer term for this, please say so and I'll edit the list accordingly.

So in other words, the japanese term for "That One Level".