snoopeasystreet said:
It's not a great game. I certainly wouldn't of bought it if I wasn't already buying all other games in the summer of arcade. I couldn't really recommend it to anyone. If they were interesting in the based aspect of the game, I'd tell them to buy Deathspank. If they wanted to play a modern Castlevania style game, I'd tell them to buy Shadow Complex.
Eh, for me, I'd recommend this over Deathspank easily (Spank's gameplay is really lacking in strategy and fun for me, this game has much more of that), and as far as Shadow Complex... I like this games character personality and premise more. My main friends and I would get more fun out of this than Shadow Complex, because we could actually play this together.
I feel the premise of the game is sound but it's execution is weak. It seems like it's being held back by some eastern design choices. In the hands of a western developer, we could see a really great game come out of it.
Eh... couldn't disagree more. Of course, I enjoyed Lost Planet 2! Eastern design is stubborn, and people feel it "behind the times", but it gels so well
with what I want out of games, that I find myself agreeing with their stubborn ways. Let me provide examples...
I don't want random drop-ins in the middle of my loot and score games. Drop in/out is fine when the only important things is going from point A to be, but it has no place in a game like this.
A more robust party search system would be nice, but I don't really PLAY these kind of games with randoms, these are the kinda games I wanna know the people I'm playing with first. This game basically offers me "Do you wanna play with people you can talk to, or foreigners?", which is ok, if not perfect. Doesn't effect overall quality for me.
In a western developers hands, a lot of the personality, character quirks, and gameplay would probably suffer. Unless that western developer was, say, the Behemoth. But even their Battleblock Theater looks to be missing much of the personality I fell in love with in Castle Crashers. But back to the Japanese stuff...
I say this not as a "japan fanboy!" but based off experience.
As many people as there are that like Deathspank, I find it lacks any kinda endearing quality to make me REALLY care about it. Which is a shame, because it obviously has a good budget, and a good pedigree. But the gameplay is soulless. It's
MUCH,
MUCH more mashy than Dynasty Warriors ever was; There is no strategy to knocking your opponents around, and for all the elemental potions and stuff the game has, it almost serves no purpose.
There is nothing special about getting new loot in that game, because you get so much in a short amount of time. Hence, there's no reason to grow attachments. While in Castlevania, even to this day, I remember the Rapier, Crissaggrim (or however it's spelled) and the wonderful jokes that where the alucart items, just to name a few. I can't say anything in DSpank has made a lasting impression beyond "Oh look a Zelda ripoff power!" The effects where nice, sure, but nothing in the gameplay was nearly as charming as the writing. (And even THAT only has be funny to me a few times... and mostly only with the Taco lady! The "Felt" guy was almost entirely unfunny to me.)
That said, I am having fun when we play together as a GAF group.
Here's a question to the people that are enjoying it. What's your experience with games like Diablo 2, Torchlight or Titan Quest?
Played Diablo 2 back in the day, and enjoyed Baldur's gate 1 on PS2. BG1 is probably my fav western RPG of all time. Hated BalGate2, it just seemed boring, and way too "Been there, done that!" (the lack of a soundtrack really hurt it, for me.)
Know nothing of Torchlight or Titans Quest. PC adventures lack a lot of charm for me... gameplay to graphic design wise, at multiple levels. Again, speaking from experience, not just blind fanboyism.
I guess, if you go into Castlevania HD looking for western stuff, you will be dissapointed, much as I was going into Deathspank, hoping it could be a 4th as fun as playing Secrets of Mana together. (Doesn't even begin to approach it! I enjoyed Legends of Mana more, and it took me a few days to actualy start liking that, since it betrayed much of my expectations.)
So for me, this game has that "it" factor. The thing that made me play Castle Crashers almost non-stop when it first released. The thing that made Guardian Heroes into a top game for me, even now. It might not have it as great as those games, and it has room to improve, but it feels like such a rare gem in gaming now-a-days!
Much of what Castlevania offers is dissapearing from home consoles, and from gaming in general, with Japan in an acceptance rut. Awesome music that sets a real mood for the entire experience, Quirky humor, subtlety, maturity without overblown vulgarity, characters with special animations, for no other reason than to bring out their personality, boss battles with patterns and memorable designs, vast enemies with unique, inhuman silhouettes, and hard difficulties that require dedicated gameplay to overcome... these just aren't the things modern, western-focused game designers care about.
Even if alot of it is second hand here... the wrapping around this game is something I've wanted for years now, ever since CV went Portable-focused. Playing the Rondo of Blood remake on PSP, and the original, fianlly, after all these years, just made me wish I could see something like this on a proper system, once again. This game took some of my fav elements of that, mixed it with some of my faves from "Metroidvania", and came away as a rather competent mixup!
So... yeah. Hope that gave you some insight as to what a person who'se enjoying this game, might see in it, versus some of the similiar competition. As you can tell, it's a subject I actually believe in, lol. So if anything else alludes you on the matter, I'll be happy to yap away more. :lol
