The Dillon's Rolling Western Series

[Randoman]

So have any SF members here played Dillon's Rolling Western or its sequel? If so, what did you think about it and how far did you get on it?

I defeated the first game and 5 starred all 10 levels (I found the 7th level the hardest to 5 star). I'm in the middle of playing the second one right now and I have to say, it's much more hectic with train protection being an added element.

In terms of what I think of both games or the series in general, it's a lot of fun, it's really crazy and hectic with how much decision making, prioritizing, and compromising you need to decide on during a raid (and sometimes even before), and it's definitely one of the most unique games I've played, in terms of being a mix of many different genres (tower defense, RPG, action). I have to admit, it definitely took a while for me to get the hang of it (due to reinforcing the wrong gate sides on the first day, going after the wrong grocks first, setting up turrets in the wrong place/with the wrong gun type on the first day), but I still enjoy it a lot and it's never a dull moment during the raid. In particular, I really like how much micro-managing you have to do and how much you have to think about what you put most of your resources/time/money into and what takes lesser priority (gate reinforcing, getting more livestock so you can afford to lose more of them during raids, turret/watchtower construction/setup, equipment that'll either increase item gains but weaken attack power or vice versa, items for use in the middle of battle, searching for ruins that hold really valuable treasure that can be sold for a great amount). Even during a raid after you've decided on how to prepare, there's still so much decision making to make (like deciding between saving a turret from being destroyed or stopping a grock from getting too close to the town, deciding on using grind attacks that'll increase money and treasure gain from enemies but do less damage, deciding on using roll or claw attacks that are stronger but gives off less money and item drops), and it all needs to be done in the heat of battle since the more time you spend deciding, the closer the grocks are to attacking the town. Even after having plenty of experience with the game series, I still find myself changing my mind on which grocks to go after first and changing my mind on protecting an attacked turret and wasting time. Despite all the heavy decision making and craziness of the series, I've come to enjoy the series because of it.

[Slade]

I love Dillon's Rolling Western, especially The Last Ranger. I shift towards the 2nd game cause it is a lot more difficult with the tactic of defending the train and a hell of a lot more new enemies. I also love how there're Allies/Rangers in this game, they add more story and character to the game, not to mention their fast-paced duels (though I wish they could be longer). Gallo was single handily my favorite one, his character design and personality sold it for me, but the other Rangers are bad-ass in their ways as well. I'm currently on the very last village for The Last Ranger, and I have just been trying to brush off any rust since from the last I've played by revisiting villages. I won't spoil it for anyone, but towards the end of the game, you'll unlock something that truly makes this game insanely fun.As far turrets go, I always set myself Cannons & Long cannons. If I have extra change, I'd throw it at a Gatling Gun tower. I really want another game to this series, I love the music that creates that wild-west theme and I'd always save a little cash for the bartender's wisdom.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I wanted to like Dillon's Rolling Western, but...I just couldn't get into it. I hated the controls, as a left-handed person they were extremely awkward for me, it sucked out all the fun from me. I liked the character designs a lot, and the world was interesting. I just wish the controls/gameplay were different.

[FrostyFireMage]

I liked the first one but it got too difficult/complicated in the later levels for me to enjoy

[Randoman]

I recently defeated the final level in the 2nd game, and I have to say it was really epic in so many ways.

The craziness of defending both the train and the village with all 3 partner rangers showing up to help once the train was surrounded, Gallo and the others going with the train to blow up the pyramid with the poison gas cloud knocking out most of the group, having to help Russ rescue the 3 rangers and the power crystal and bring them back to the village on a train car with insanely low HP and having to switch the tracks at the last stretch, the final boss battle on the Giant Wheelgrock where you've got so many obstacles interfering with you trying to destroy the final boss, relying mainly on the turrets to help take down the Giant Wheelgrock, Gallo and the others blowing themselves up with a train car loaded with explosives in a last ditch effort to save everyone (despite them being nothing but money seeking mercenaries for most of the game)... all of it was just so epic and awesome.

Also, just from that final showdown, I can see why Gallo is your favourite, Slade. I think he's probably my favourite partner ranger too, though I still find Nomad to be really cool and original, being an assassin squid.

So Slade, since you've played both games thoroughly, I've got quite a few questions for you. How many stars did you get in both the first and second games? Also, what are your tactics in terms of equipment and the different attacks Dillon has? (eg: do you stick with weak boots to make mining more profitable or do you stick with the strong boots despite them making mining harder? Also, do you mainly stick with claw attacks despite them yielding less rewards from enemies or do you stick with grind attacks which have the drawback of being weaker and taking longer to defeat enemies?) And when you first do a level and have the money limit in place, how do you spend your money on towers? (I mean, I know you like sticking with both cannon types, but since they're expensive, you usually can't build too many on the 1st day and sometimes even the 2nd day).

As for my personal answers to those questions, I've got all 50 stars on the first game, I've got around 45 stars in the 2nd game and plan to get all 70 (and I don't plan on buying any fake stars whatsoever). Equipment-wise, I usually don't bother upgrading the bandanna and boots, since I hardly use charge attacks (the ones that require the meter to fully charge while rolling up) and I really want my mining to be as profitable as possible (I did upgrade my boots to 5 star levels in the first game and defeat the final bosses in both games quickly enough, though). Attack-wise, I go for claw attacks most of the time, though I switch to grinding when it's an enemy that can easily evade multiple claw attacks (like a Spring Grock or any Nozzlegrock types) or when I've got Arma-Mode available and a boss Grock I can grind thousands of Desert Dollars from (that money is actually enough to pay for a turret or a turret weapon!!) As for how I spend money on towers during my first time defeating a level, I usually build up and outfit weapons on the turrets that are closest to the town, them build out from there. That way, I can stick around near the town and defend both the town and my turrets quite easily. Plus, the areas near the town are guaranteed to be the most enemy heavy and the turrets there have a really good chance of seeing heavy usage. Though I do venture out and attack grocks far away as Dillon at the start of the raid, and move back closer to the town once Grocks start getting close to the town.

I wanted to like Dillon's Rolling Western, but...I just couldn't get into it. I hated the controls, as a left-handed person they were extremely awkward for me, it sucked out all the fun from me. I liked the character designs a lot, and the world was interesting. I just wish the controls/gameplay were different.

Aww... That's really a shame. The 2nd game (Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger) does have a left handed mode, though it uses ABXY for movement from what I know of, which I'm not sure would work well for you or not. So controls aside, what parts of the gameplay didn't you like?

I liked the first one but it got too difficult/complicated in the later levels for me to enjoy

Out of curiosity, how far did you make it in the first game? If you need any pointers or tips for any parts of the game, I'd be more than happy to help you out with it.

[Zera]

I'm interested in getting a game from this series. Which one?

[Randoman]

I'm interested in getting a game from this series. Which one?

Hmm... Well there isn't too much of a problem if you skip straight to the 2nd game (in terms of story and catching up in regards to events and the gameplay). The 2nd game is definitely harder than the 1st though, with train protection being added to the mix and having to learn how to get used to a much bigger variety of enemy attacks (especially ones that can destroy the train in essentially one attack, resulting in a Game Over). I know that despite me getting 100% in the first game, I still got quite a few Game Overs in the 2nd game.

My personal verdict would be: start with the first game if you want to ease yourself into the series, start off with the simpler and easier to learn of the two games, and not be overwhelmed with lots of different enemy attack styles and patterns, and start with the 2nd if you want more of a challenge and want a bigger variety in both ways to get the edge over the enemy and ways the enemy will get the edge over you. Keep in mind though, the first game is still quite challenging, despite being the easier of the two.

[Zera]

I don't care about the difficulty level. Which one is just... better?

[Randoman]

I don't care about the difficulty level. Which one is just... better?

In that case, that would likely be the 2nd one for having more levels, mining sidequest areas, outlaws you can team up with to take down grocks, and in general having more content, variety, and options overall.

[Hardin]

Nomad was such a badass, he needs some kind of spinoff game.

[Randoman]

I thought I'd post an update on my playthrough of the 2nd game: I got all 70 Gold Stars and I didn't buy any fake stars whatsoever. Side Stage 5 was definitely the hardest to 5 star, with all the mud on the stage and how limited Speed Orbs are. It took a lot of resets since I kept going ~10 seconds over the 4 star rank limit and I literally had to memorize where each Grock group was coming out from to cut down on time (from what I've noticed, if there are no grocks on the map at all yet the Grock counter still has Grocks on it, Grocks will spawn quicker, which helps to score faster times).

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Aww... That's really a shame. The 2nd game (Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger) does have a left handed mode, though it uses ABXY for movement from what I know of, which I'm not sure would work well for you or not. So controls aside, what parts of the gameplay didn't you like?

Just the overall structure. It was confusing what was where in some parts, some things didn't seem explained or laid out enough.

[Randoman]

Just the overall structure. It was confusing what was where in some parts, some things didn't seem explained or laid out enough.

Ah. Well, I'll admit, teaching mining and turrets on the 2nd and 3rd day, respectively, is somewhat late in terms of teaching a basic task that should be done every day before a raid.

And the small map icons seems to be quite a common issue for people who have played the game. Personally, I didn't have any noticeable or serious problems with the small icons, but I can see why it'd be an issue. I've sometimes mixed up watchtowers with turrets and vice versa.

[Zera]

Reading some of the more negative reviews for The Last Ranger, I am very unsure about getting it. Apparently the game has issues with repetition, and you don't get a timer for the first part of the day, which sounds like something you need.

[Randoman]

Reading some of the more negative reviews for The Last Ranger, I am very unsure about getting it. Apparently the game has issues with repetition, and you don't get a timer for the first part of the day, which sounds like something you need.

Regarding repetition issues, if it's about the fact that you spend three days defending the same town, I don't see why that's a problem when many racing games have 3 or more laps around the exact same track (and most gamers don't consider that repetitive). I mean, even if it's on the same map defending the same town, they keep the 2nd and 3rd days plenty interesting with more grocks hordes, different types of grocks that don't appear on the 1st day (sometimes even the 2nd day as well), and the 2nd game really makes the 3rd day of main stages much more hectic and different by having a train to protect as well. And personally, I didn't find repetition to be an issue at all when I was too overwhelmed with grocks in later days and towns, and lost a good amount of scrogs from the grock attacks.

As for there being no timer before dusk, I along with many others didn't have any problem with it. I mean, I've seen quite a lot of different complaints about the Dillon's Rolling Western games (like being repetitive, tricky controls, it being too hard), and no timer before dusk was never one from any of the reviews I've seen. The sky starting to turn slightly red (with it stopping gameplay and even showing a cutscene for it, so you can't miss it) is all the time notification I ever needed, and even in the farthest corners of any map, that should be enough time to make it back to town for shopping/gate reinforcing/scrog feeding needs.

Well, it's your call either way if you want to buy it or not.

[Zera]

I've cleared Main 1 in The Last Ranger. It's a very interesting game... seems like this one's gonna take awhile to complete.

[Randoman]

I've cleared Main 1 in The Last Ranger. It's a very interesting game... seems like this one's gonna take awhile to complete.

Both Dillon's Rolling Western games are very interesting and unique, in terms of being a mix of two genres (action and tower defense) yet feeling like its own unique game genre. The stylus controls are also really neat and add to the uniqueness of the game.

Feel free to post your progress and impressions of the game in this thread on a timely basis. I'm really interested in hearing your thoughts and experiences playing the game.

[Zera]

I just cleared the Side 3 (the first one with motogrocks). It seems like the grocks are constantly evolving weirdly specific ways to make your life harder. This game has a lot of surprises.

There are also some parts that I highly dislike though. I've deemed this game interesting enough to start writing a review for it, so I'll save the rest of my thoughts for later. If you still want to know my current thoughts, PM me.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Zera

[Zera]

I reached the final boss. He killed me.

[Randoman]

The final boss in The Last Ranger killed me as well the first time. He's definitely the hardest enemy to fight in any of the Dillon's Rolling Western games.

If you want some pointers for the final boss:

-make sure you've got the most powerful boots and claws

-get/save up as many Bombs/Wonder Bombs as possible and use them during the final boss when it gets too crowded with obstacles (if there's 4 spinning blades around the core, that's definitely the time to use a bomb)

-buy tons of Tonics and Snake Oils and use them while fighting the boss when your health gets low

-set up as many turrets as you can aiming for the middle path, so the final boss will be attackable by Dillon much more often.