-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron |OT| You sure thats enough armor?
- Thread starter desu
- Start date
This very well may be one of the most tripped out games I have played. It is like traveling through some fucked up dream world or something. Aside from the high strangeness and beauty, the rhythmic combat is something I find to be simplistic, yet completely awesome once you get into a flow. Incredibly unique experience. IGN are out of their minds giving such a low score to such an original game that actually succeeds at doing something fresh.
ironcreed said:
Indeed. The review is really weird though. I thought the "no-HUD for the first playthrough" was a brillant idea. Instead of throwing plenty of numbers and game mechanics on the player, you get to concentrate on the fantastic visuals, which help a lot for the immersion. I thought it was a bold but very nice move from the developers.
The fact that you can play again WITH the HUD is just icing on the cake.
And for some reason, the reviewer barely mentions AT ALL the gameplay elements outside of battling, which is a only a very small part. I just don't get reviewers sometimes... Unfortunately though, a lot of so-called gamers are ignoring the game for the same reasons.
Really don't know about this one. I applaud the originality but the game is extremely bad at telling a story. Most of the time you don't even know what the hell is going on until the cheap voice over with stills during loading. I dislike nearly every platforming section but the one with the spikes was especially terrible. Motorcycle sequence was nearly as bad as the one in Tron Legacy although it was nice to look at. I really don't understand the incredible reviews this and Catherine received. It's nice to see something different in the age of the blockbuster shooter but premise cannot carry a game alone.
distantmantra
Member
Beat the game. Kept waiting for
Lucifer to betray you based on his one phone conversation with God... "Oh, take a break, I can take care of everything while you're away..."
ZephyrFate
Banned
IGN is fucking stupid for giving this game a 5.0.
distantmantra
Member
ZephyrFate said:
Why does it matter? Everyone has an opinion. Did the 5.0 make you enjoy the game any less?
ZephyrFate
Banned
No, but that review makes no goddamn sense. It's like how they gave Shadow Hearts 1 a 5.5 when it's clearly an 8.0 game. IGN is just fucking retarded.distantmantra said:
jetsetfluken
Member
Wait, who is publishing this in Europe?
It was under Konami games in Gamescom coverage, but Gamefaqs (lol) says Ignition like US/JP are.
It was under Konami games in Gamescom coverage, but Gamefaqs (lol) says Ignition like US/JP are.
ZephyrFate
Banned
Shadow Hearts is a great fucking RPG, that's what. Fuck you.Q8D3vil said:who gives a fuck about shadow hearts, god hand man god fucking hand
jetsetfluken
Member
Jintor said:
Oh, Konami is in the North American version logo sequence?
It matters simply because IGN is a very popular website whose opinion can have an effect on the purchasing decision of some people. For a lot of us here, it has not impact whatsoever, but it would be a shame if their low score turned potential customers away. Their poor score could have a negative effect on the sales of the game which may prevent the team from attempting something else this unique in the future.distantmantra said:
Well that's unexpected, just got a notice that my Fry's order shipped. Glad I waited instead of cancelling and picking it up at Target/Best Buy. It's a little annoying that it'll be a few days late, but I chose the cheapest shipping so I wouldn't have gotten it until the weekend anyways. I can last a few more days I think.
YuriLowell
Member
dark10x said:
review scores dont matter on game sales.
I sorta agree with IGN if they gave it a 5. It's a great looking game with a cool premise and average gameplay. I just got past the sequence with the dancing boss and I really don't know what to say. I know some people here may like zany for zany sake but that was the equivalent to a Gallager act at a stand up show. People love to give western shooters shit for being roller coaster rides with formuliac level design but the design here isn't good. It's basically a corridor with terrible platforming and every time you get to a circle you can expect enemies to spawn. Not only is it predictable, it's the same combination of 3 or 4 characters repeatedly over the course of multiple levels. For those that dislike the Killzone/COD approach of just warping you around from level to turret to vehicle without any explanation..you've got plenty to be mad about here. You go from title sequence to save point to side scrolling escape the darkness to motorcycle with the only thing holding it together being a tower filled with bosses to fight.
distantmantra
Member
dark10x said:
So they're not allowed to have a differing opinion about the game? "How dare they not like this game, now it won't sell!" Isn't this view just as bad as companies paying for positive reviews? I've always thought all the bitching and moaning about review scores incredibly lame.
Anyway, all done with the game. Beat it in like 8 hours. Good times.
chris121580
Member
That part got real frustratingLostconfused said:
Ugh, I can't get a G Rank on Chapter 2 on Normal. My score is about 1,500,000 and it's still only an S Rank! I beat the Watcher fight at the end of the chapter too and the special bonus still isn't high enough! I checked out the leaderboards and the top players have 2,300,000! Big surprise, they're all Japanese players, lol! I must be missing something here!
A couple things I figured out that are pretty cool. I thought the Watchers didn't say anything different when you beat them, but I was wrong. They DO say something different. The one at the end of Chapter 2 was like, "How can this be!?" when I beat him instead of "This was not amusing." when I lost. Pretty fucking cool! A few other things I noticed about the scoring system...
-It seems like stealing weapons adds a small 500 point bonus. It also keeps your combo going during the stealing weapon animation. Pretty rad.
-Guard Breaks and Counters, I believe, add 500 points as well. Correct me if I'm wrong. Kinda bummed they don't add more to the score, from what I can tell anyway.
-The Gale weapon is a beast. It racks up combos big time! It almost seems beneficial to not purify so you can do little damage to the enemy. This way your combo counter will keep rising without killing off an enemy too quickly. The only thing you got to watch out for is if an enemy guards. They take no damage and your combo counter falls FAST. Also, I believe the air/ground dash with Gale does damage to enemies so this can keep combos going too.
A couple things I figured out that are pretty cool. I thought the Watchers didn't say anything different when you beat them, but I was wrong. They DO say something different. The one at the end of Chapter 2 was like, "How can this be!?" when I beat him instead of "This was not amusing." when I lost. Pretty fucking cool! A few other things I noticed about the scoring system...
-It seems like stealing weapons adds a small 500 point bonus. It also keeps your combo going during the stealing weapon animation. Pretty rad.
-Guard Breaks and Counters, I believe, add 500 points as well. Correct me if I'm wrong. Kinda bummed they don't add more to the score, from what I can tell anyway.
-The Gale weapon is a beast. It racks up combos big time! It almost seems beneficial to not purify so you can do little damage to the enemy. This way your combo counter will keep rising without killing off an enemy too quickly. The only thing you got to watch out for is if an enemy guards. They take no damage and your combo counter falls FAST. Also, I believe the air/ground dash with Gale does damage to enemies so this can keep combos going too.
yo_soy_el_topo
Member
So are their online leaderboards? If so, are they pretty decent?
MotionBlue
Member
Teknoman said:
Haha! I came into say something similar. Weapon designs resemple ZOE very much so, in a good way.
I'm a few hours in now. Hard to tell what is going on, i reached the first fallen angel, only to have her break my weapon and send me into netherworld. I seemingly(?) escaped only for the boss to disappear. Very confusing.
Also, the music and visuals in this game are incredible.
Edit:
Also, Enochs armor and long bonde hair keeps making me think he is female. The armor looks like a bra!
desu said:
Thanks. I found the guy you were talking about. The crazy Gamefaqs Yakuza guy, The Patrick, made a thread about how the ranking system works. It's pretty interesting and most definitely vague and hidden, lol!
The special category on the results screen seems to matter most when going for Godlike (G) Ranks. The special category is comprised of 4 elements, apparently. Not sure if there are more hidden elements, but these are the four that The Patrick describes and I've tested out a few Chapters following these guidelines and my score has been greatly improved. The four elements are:
1. Do not fall into pits.
2. Do not get knocked out. (this is when you have to mash buttons to revive yourself.)
3. Collect all large Red Flame items. (the ones that majorly increase your boost level.)
4. Steal as many weapons from enemies as possible. (almost seems like you have to steal ALL of them to get a good bonus.)
I was kind of right about one thing. I thought beating the Watchers during those mid-chapter boss fights where you don't have to win contributed to the special category. It does and it doesn't. It's not the fact that you are beating them, it's the fact that you are not getting knocked out by losing to them. You basically HAVE to beat these guys to score high.
The stealing all weapons thing sorta bothers me. I kind of liked using one weapon I was comfortable with to get mega combos. As I've said earlier, using Gale racks up hits, fast, but in the end since I am killing enemies I should be stealing from I am missing out on the bonus from the special category at the end. THANK GOD your combo meter doesn't break during the weapon steal animation because then this whole system would have been garbage-town. I guess it's pretty cool this way because it makes you change your weapon style back and forth during fights. You can argue/look at it in many ways, I suppose.
Lostconfused
Member
That was the last boss? The pacing in this game is insane, I had no idea what was going on. It's pretty cool and original. But I wish I would have liked it more than I did or that the game was better.
Now it's time to play some No more heroes. Well after I get some sleep.
Now it's time to play some No more heroes. Well after I get some sleep.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Just cracked this game open to take a break from studying. I'm only an 90 minutes in (and I think that's about it for me today).
This game is so beautiful and the music is pretty great so far. The localization seems good. This is an Ignition game? It's really fun. I was expecting DMC-esque combat and combos, but the simplicity of this is kind of nice. I'm not concentrating too much on nailing the best combos, but I'm taking in the scenery. I also like that the game manual seems to matter as well.
And having Lucifel the Turk talk to God on a cellphone in order for you to save. :lol This is amazing.
I'm definitely loving it so far.
This game is so beautiful and the music is pretty great so far. The localization seems good. This is an Ignition game? It's really fun. I was expecting DMC-esque combat and combos, but the simplicity of this is kind of nice. I'm not concentrating too much on nailing the best combos, but I'm taking in the scenery. I also like that the game manual seems to matter as well.
And having Lucifel the Turk talk to God on a cellphone in order for you to save. :lol This is amazing.
I'm definitely loving it so far.
I'm at chapter 4 now, iirc.
Am i going to be able to upgrade my abilities yet? I've been collecting these red orbs for awhile, and i'm starting to think that they aren't worth anything.
I just beat those two boar bosses and i cleared through that platform area with the jumping human/angel hybrid things.
Am i going to be able to upgrade my abilities yet? I've been collecting these red orbs for awhile, and i'm starting to think that they aren't worth anything.
Mr_Appleby
Member
ok so i finally played the demo. this game is beautiful and awesome and the difficulty is totally appreciated. i did fall down a few holes before realising they were holes but my eyes adjusted eventually
MushroomSamba
Member
Do you guys think the demo is representative of the final product? I've only played the demo so far, and I thought the combat and platforming was pretty lacking. I'm basically wondering if you guys think the combat/platforming controls better in the final game or if it at least gets more interesting than what's presented in the demo, or that if I didn't like it then I probably won't like it now either.
bigdaddygamebot
Member
duffyside said:
14.000 in the first two levels. ;D
I've got G Ranks up to Chapter 4 on Normal. These ranks are extremely strict. You pretty much HAVE to follow the requirements I listed above in order to earn these ranks. Thank god you can load save points/auto saves (like Bayonetta) if you mess up a section. Chapters are too long to do this in one shot, I'm sure the devs realized this for those looking to get the best ranks.
It felt so good though at the beginning of Chapter 5 the first enemy area I linked perfectly. I had a 50+ combo and stole every weapon during the process. I strung the entire segment together. The scoring system makes this game WAY more fun.
It felt so good though at the beginning of Chapter 5 the first enemy area I linked perfectly. I had a 50+ combo and stole every weapon during the process. I strung the entire segment together. The scoring system makes this game WAY more fun.
So this is just slightly off topic, but did anyone else get totally excited when they saw an ad for a new Mercury game on the back of the manual? Mercury was the reason I bought a PSP, it's probably my favorite puzzle game of all time. I am just ridiculously excited for a new one. I think it's for PSN/XBLA, which if true, is AMAZING.
Edit: Oh god it's on iOS too. I will buy this game so many times.
Edit: Oh god it's on iOS too. I will buy this game so many times.
FateBreaker
Member
ZephyrFate said:
god, chill out.
I'm really interested in this game. Not $60 interested, but maybe $30. I'll wait for a drop. Glad to hear the good impressions.
Similar threads
- Poll