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Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara |OT| Wel-Wel-Wel-Welcome to the D&D world!

L

L Thammy

Member
Shadow over Mystara is the sequel. It introduces two new characters, the Magic User and the Thief. I think it introduces the alternate character versions too (Press start when selecting a character), some of which have different spells. The game is meant to translate the D&D experience, so every character is very unique.

It's also a much bigger game, I think. Secret items (some of which require multiple characters to get use out of), multiple paths, etc.
 
D

Daigoro

Member
lunchwithyuzo said:
Superior controller, unless you're lucky enough to have a (legit) USB Saturn pad.
Click to expand...
not unless you have a modded arcade stick for Saturn.

this is assuming that the controls are customizable. if they aren't I will throw a fit.

Will check out the demo on xbla in the morning.
 
C

CrazyTank940

Member
So for people who have played the Saturn version, what's the control layout for the Saturn remote for these games? I'm gonna use my fightpad to play this since it's closest thing I have to the Saturn remote, mainly because "why not"
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Oh for god's sake.

Get hit with a crash to desktop. Join the game again and it doesn't recognize my controller. Then a couple stages later I get hit with ANOTHER crash to desktop.

Jesus.

CheesecakeRecipe said:
That was some brutally weird shit we had pepsimanvsjoe, I think everyone got the hard crash at the end there.
Click to expand...

Which is too bad because the game was somewhat stable otherwise.
 
B

BobTheFork

Member
I seem to remember GiantBomb playing this two weeks ago before it was out. I didn't know there was a psn version coming. I remember loving these games in the arcade. I'll grab it and hope I can get some good groups going.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
L Thammy said:
Shadow over Mystara is the sequel. It introduces two new characters, the Magic User and the Thief. I think it introduces the alternate character versions too (Press start when selecting a character), some of which have different spells. The game is meant to translate the D&D experience, so every character is very unique.

It's also a much bigger game, I think. Secret items (some of which require multiple characters to get use out of), multiple paths, etc.
Click to expand...

Seems that way since you've got more moves as well. Strange that there are more voices in Tower of Doom though (the shopkeep lady for instance).
 
V

VariantX

Member
Apparently one of the caves in the forest stage in mystara (one with the Cursed Sword) is bugged on the steam/pc version. We went into it, cleared it out, game wouldn't let us leave.
 
The Spoony Hou

The Spoony Hou

Member
Funny to see people interested in Dragon's Crown wanting to play this. I'm pretty sure this game is going to make Dragon's Crown seem like a very shitty game. Unless Vanillaware learned to make good games recently.
 
T

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
The Spoony Hou said:
Funny to see people interested in Dragon's Crown wanting to play this. I'm pretty sure this game is going to make Dragon's Crown seem like a very shitty game. Unless Vanillaware learned to make good games recently.
Click to expand...

??

GKH and Grim Grimoire are both good games. They may not be action games, but it's not like a company can never improve.
 
The Spoony Hou

The Spoony Hou

Member
thetrin said:
??

GKH and Grim Grimoire are both good games. They may not be action games, but it's not like a company can never improve.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I thought Dragon's Crown was an action game. Never tried both games you mentioned, and I did forget about them, so I apologize if they are enjoyable.
 
B

Bassmastergeneral

Member
I was debating getting on either steam or ps3 while waiting for the wii-u version. Looks like there are a lot having problems with the steam version but how is it holding up crash/freeze wise on the ps3? I'll add some folks tonight
 
S

Synth_floyd

Banned
I don't know why but I want that limited edition set even though I'm not a huge fan of the game. It's fun but it's just one of those games that you can power through in an hour if you have unlimited credits. Probably just because I'm an old school AD&D fan.
 
J

Jucksalbe

Banned
Played the PS3 demo. The game seems to be great (never played it before), but this port looks horrible. Even changing the filter it's still pretty bad. Also, can you turn off that "achievements" on the side (without stretching, of course)? I didn't really mind them in fighting games, but here there are just annoying.
I'll probably wait and see if that retail version turns out to be better, I really don't want to play the game like this.
 
W

Weltall Zero

Member
Synth_floyd said:
I don't know why but I want that limited edition set even though I'm not a huge fan of the game. It's fun but it's just one of those games that you can power through in an hour if you have unlimited credits. Probably just because I'm an old school AD&D fan.
Click to expand...

Credits are actually limited, although the game throws so many of them at you they might as well be unlimited. I think it gives you 4 credits per stage cleared, cumulative, and they're kept indefinitely until you use them. I started with 4 I think and after a game completion with random, clearly clueless people (one didn't even know how to open chests... and he had the thief :D) I ended up at like 11-12. And I'm not that good.

Jucksalbe said:
Played the PS3 demo. The game seems to be great (never played it before), but this port looks horrible. Even changing the filter it's still pretty bad.
Click to expand...

I thought that too, but it turns out there's a trick to it. The game has oversaturated brightness, which seems to be in anticipation of you using scanlines (which tone down brightness by quite a lot). With scanlines on and the "sharp" filter (the smooth one looks terrible and destroys all the detail), the game looks pretty awesome. Try it!

Also, can you turn off that "achievements" on the side (without stretching, of course)? I didn't really mind them in fighting games, but here there are just annoying.
I'll probably wait and see if that retail version turns out to be better, I really don't want to play the game like this.
Click to expand...

Yep, you can. You can either stretch the screen (which evidently looks ghastly, I don't know why they even bothered to include that option) or just display black borders. :)
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Weltall Zero said:
Credits are actually limited, although the game throws so many of them at you they might as well be unlimited. I think it gives you 4 credits per stage cleared, cumulative, and they're kept indefinitely until you use them. I started with 4 I think and after a game completion with random, clearly clueless people (one didn't even know how to open chests... and he had the thief :D) I ended up at like 11-12. And I'm not that good.



I thought that too, but it turns out there's a trick to it. The game has oversaturated brightness, which seems to be in anticipation of you using scanlines (which tone down brightness by quite a lot). With scanlines on, the game looks GODLY. Try it!



Yep, you can. You can either stretch the screen (which evidently looks ghastly, I don't know why they even bothered to include that option) or just display black borders. :)
Click to expand...

So No fliter+scanlines then?
 
J

Jucksalbe

Banned
Weltall Zero said:
I thought that too, but it turns out there's a trick to it. The game has oversaturated brightness, which seems to be in anticipation of you using scanlines (which tone down brightness by quite a lot). With scanlines on and the "sharp" filter (the smooth one looks terrible and destroys all the detail), the game looks pretty awesome. Try it!

Yep, you can. You can either stretch the screen (which evidently looks ghastly, I don't know why they even bothered to include that option) or just display black borders. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, will try that later.
 
S

Syril

Member
Weltall Zero said:
Credits are actually limited, although the game throws so many of them at you they might as well be unlimited. I think it gives you 4 credits per stage cleared, cumulative, and they're kept indefinitely until you use them. I started with 4 I think and after a game completion with random, clearly clueless people (one didn't even know how to open chests... and he had the thief :D) I ended up at like 11-12. And I'm not that good.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that display is telling you how many credits you've used, as a kind of score. It shown each player's credits every time they continue and the party's total between stages.
 
I

Icarus

Member
I played for about 4 hours last night on Steam. Completed Mystara solo and then in a four player online game. The network code was really solid until the fourth player joined in stage 8. Then it had some sporadic issues now and then but was still playable.
 
W

Weltall Zero

Member
Tizoc said:
So No fliter+scanlines then?
Click to expand...

Actually, there's three filter options: smooth, sharp, and no filter. I personally use the sharp filter, which looks a bit like Super Eagle, but no filter is good too (and even more similar to the original arcade, of course). The smooth filter is pretty bad, and it also somehow seems to create afterimages.

Syril said:
I'm pretty sure that display is telling you how many credits you've used, as a kind of score. It shown each player's credits every time they continue and the party's total between stages.
Click to expand...

Oh, really? That makes sense, then... and kind of sucks. :/

loganclaws said:
These games always look better with scanlines on.
Click to expand...

This looks especially good because usually, scanlines bring down the brightness a bit too much (for my taste). Here it seems they preemptively upped the brightness a lot, which makes scanlines look perfect, and no scanlines a bleached mess.

Jucksalbe said:
Thanks, will try that later.
Click to expand...

Sure thing! :)
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Scanlines On. Filters off. Even with Crisp Filter, it still smudges up the details...

One thing I'm surprised about in SoM (On PS3 and 360 versions): The "Hold attack" attack kinda sucks. Even with rapid button presses for combos, the move seems to come out more than I'd like, rather than just letting me use my standard 4/6 hit combo. I prefer SoR timing and "Hold" style really, one never interfered with the other.

Everything in the game seems to have large buffer / cancel windows. I'm kind surprised at how easy it is to get stuck "ducking" after doing evasive backflips.

These things are not game-breaking in the least, but since I've played many more spry BEU/HNS games, it feels clunkier than I'd prefer.

Horizontal slashes seem to be a bit goofy too, actually. I'm surprised at how often I'll miss the 2 goblins pushing the prisoner-wagons in the first part of Mystara, when other times I'll hit both just fine.

Years later, it gives even more reasoning as to why I ultimately prefer GH-style "Plane shifting" VS "Free movement" for Beat 'em-ups.

Looking at the "House Rules" features, I also have to wonder, will the JP PS3 version even end up being the "superior" port? Aside from the fact that it cost more (obviously), I'm not sure if it's value-per-features would really make it better. Though I'd LOVE to have color-edit. Maybe they'll address some of these minor control issues I mentioned...

This actually gets me even more hype for Dragon's Crown, because I can see the room for improvement even clearer now, and I hope DC refines this already great groundwork into something even better. Spellcasters seem to already look superior in that game (since they're more well-rounded, with spell-related functionality through every aspect of their play), so I could see everything becoming more fun and unique between characters, even than it is here.


Tain said:
no 1cc achievements, kinda lame
Click to expand...
I'm actually happy with this. Such hard-to-obtain achievements can take away from the game for trophy/achievement hunters, and often are less about actual play skill (for the majority), and more about unfun / cheap / cheating gameplay that turns the online players into Achievement-hunters, rather than people who want to play the game to actually enjoy it.

However, I would like to see SOMETHING in game tied to doing it. A challenge that unlocked a unique house rule, A Super-Play video, or maybe new color palettes... it is a part of this kind of game, that deserves to be recognized.
 
A

AcceptableGhost

Member
No native support for none xinput controllers in the PC version is kind of a bummer in this game considering a fair amount of people will want to use none-360 arcade sticks.
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Syril said:
What's the downside? You can still limit yourself to a certain number of credits. The game even keeps track for you.

One of the houserules is a 1cc mode.
Click to expand...

Both good points. It'd be cool if they could offer a few more leaderboards for those things as well; A leaderboard for various House-rules custom playlist could have been fun to see.
 
W

Weltall Zero

Member
One thing guys, wouldn't it be easier to create a GAF D&D group? I'm not sure how they work, but we'd be able to see evweryone else in it, right?

Seraphis Cain said:
Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed in the fact that there's no incentives for doing well. The trophy list seems super easy, as well.
Click to expand...

I'm super disappointed. I really wished for credit limiting; why the hell does no game do that anymore outside of indie games? In the 8 and 16 bit eras, arcade ports and even console original games gave you a limited number of credits, and it worked perfectly.

SAB CA said:
Scanlines On. Filters off. Even with Crisp Filter, it still smudges up the details...
Click to expand...

Can totally get behind this feeling.

SAB CA said:
One thing I'm surprised about in SoM (On PS3 and 360 versions): The "Hold attack" attack kinda sucks. Even with rapid button presses for combos, the move seems to come out more than I'd like, rather than just letting me use my standard 4/6 hit combo. I prefer SoR timing and "Hold" style really, one never interfered with the other.
Click to expand...

Yep, I believe it's always been that way in the arcades too. It only affects Mystara, but arguably it's going to be played much more often than Tower.

SAB CA said:
This actually gets me even more hype for Dragon's Crown, because I can see the room for improvement even clearer now, and I hope DC refines this already great groundwork into something even better. Spellcasters seem to already look superior in that game (since they're more well-rounded, with spell-related functionality through every aspect of their play), so I could see everything becoming more fun and unique between characters, even than it is here.
Click to expand...

I'm obviously super hyped for Dragon's Crown. Really, the only thing I'm fervently wishing for is that it is, or at least has a mode, that is arcade-hard. What they showed at E3 looked amazing (even gameplay-wise!) but seemed far too easy. Of course, it was a trade show demo of the first few missions on the default difficulty, so there's pleeeeenty of room to get tough as nails later on... I just wish that's the case.

Syril said:
What's the downside? You can still limit yourself to a certain number of credits. The game even keeps track for you.
Click to expand...

That's like saying that all games include a hard mode; you just have to restart when you fall below 50% health. Well, why stop there, have all games give you infinite health, and replace your life bar by an increasing number; reset when you feel it's too much. :D

I know I can do that; in fact I usually do that. But it's just not the same. Still, I guess counting how many credits you used it's something, at least.

An awesome example is an indie game I'm playing a lot; Super House of Dead Ninjas. The game has two modes; normal, with two continues, and hard, with zero. It's pretty hard per se, but unlocking the last stage requires you to finish it on hard. Do you think I'd still be playing if all modes gave you infinite credits?

One of the houserules is a 1cc mode.
Click to expand...

Which is not bad, but gives you zilch for completing it. There is literally zero unlockables in this game that the worst player in the world can't get. I guess that's in keeping with current game design, but this game isn't supposed to follow that.
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Weltall Zero said:
I'm super disappointed. I really wished for credit limiting; why the hell does no game do that anymore outside of indie games? In the 8 and 16 bit eras, arcade ports and even console original games gave you a limited number of credits, and it worked perfectly.
Click to expand...

The House Rules get everything else right, you think this would have been the first one. Being able to limit ones games to a variety of credits from 1 to unlimited, with any number in between, would have been a great feature. Everyone gets 1 Dollar (4 credits)!


Yep, I believe it's always been that way in the arcades too. It only affects Mystara, but arguably it's going to be played much more often than Tower.
Click to expand...

Reading about the elfs 6 hit combo, and then seeing EVERYTHING I did end in her backflip... thought my button was getting sticky. SO WEIRD.

I'm obviously super hyped for Dragon's Crown. Really, the only thing I'm fervently wishing for is that it is, or at least has a mode, that is arcade-hard. What they showed at E3 looked amazing (even gameplay-wise!) but seemed far too easy. Of course, it was a trade show demo of the first few missions on the default difficulty, so there's pleeeeenty of room to get tough as nails later on... I just wish that's the case.
Click to expand...

Similar to a suggestion I made on the Sacred Citadel MB on PS blog; Give me a mode where all the leveling gimmicks are turned off, I start with a Max Level character with all moves, and you let me go from there, VS enemies that are smart enough to fight such a strong character.

Hard Corps Uprising did something like this, it should be a standard idea in all old-school throwbacks.

Which is not bad, but gives you zilch for completing it. There is literally zero unlockables in this game that the worst player in the world can't get. I guess that's in keeping with current game design, but this game isn't supposed to follow that.
Click to expand...

I guess they put all their difficulty focus on their Tiered challenge list. Though I'm glad from browsing that this game doesn't appear to have many online/multiplayer focused achievements, because I really, REALLY dislike seeing such things pop up, especially when you could buy a game years later, long after the community has dried up, and all the players who would care have long since moved on.
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Finally managed to complete an entire play-through of SoM online.
Course it was with one other person and half the time I didn't even see them attack (but enemies were still getting damaged)

Freaking dash-inputs kept messing up during the final boss. I got burned every time.

I'm not sure why difficulty settings were included. I think they're based off the arcade dip-switches...which tend to not do anything.
 
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