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GAF <3's katamari -the thread-

The game is great, just finished it a couple hours ago and I had lots of fun. Same thing has the first one with a better stages variety. A worthy sequel if you ask me.

If you liked the first one you will <3 this one.
 
from ukresistance

We just got our first play of Everyone Loves Katamari. Give us a second to stop crying with sheer joy before we give you simple, point by point explanation of what you should do.

1) The scope is bigger. For example, in the high school level you can travel from room to room and they all load as seperate areas allowing for a whole new level of... er... levels. The boys' shower room has a fat old man trying to peer over the lockers at the boys changing. Every day the game designers show us they understand their demographic better and better.

2) The graphics have been very slightly improved, so it's still like Jet Set Radio only now it looks better.

3) The tone of the game is more whimsical. One level is a huge garden full of magical creatures and you have to start off by collecting flowers. Seeing the ball covered in millions of tiny flowers is fantastic enough, but then you get to reap amoral terror and end up covered in screaming, struggling centaurs, pixies and leprechauns.

4) Whereas the vocals of the original were limited, every level of the demo is backed by a freaky bass-heavy piece of J-rock or pop. So it's even more like Jet Set Radio.

That's why we say to the world and say it loud:

BUY KATAMARI 2 THIS THURSDAY AND PRETEND SEGA MADE IT!
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wow, so it's really all that. i actually thought it'd just be more of the same stuff but this sounds pretty awesome
 
JackFrost2012 said:
I just called my local street-date breaking store and they're SOLD OUT! They've never been sold out of anything before!! AAAAAAH!
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Noooooooo! I hope it's not the same one as me :P
 
I got it, I love it.

The new menu system is awesome.... the music is awesome (wait til you hear the Dokaka cover.... and the game plays wonderfully as always.

My only disappointment is the keitai strap doesnt work with FOMA phones.
 
Wario64 said:
3) The tone of the game is more whimsical. One level is a huge garden full of magical creatures and you have to start off by collecting flowers. Seeing the ball covered in millions of tiny flowers is fantastic enough, but then you get to reap amoral terror and end up covered in screaming, struggling centaurs, pixies and leprechauns.
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that is freaking awesome.

4) Whereas the vocals of the original were limited, every level of the demo is backed by a freaky bass-heavy piece of J-rock or pop. So it's even more like Jet Set Radio.
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hm. that actually worries me. so is the soundtrack going to have less of a wide range of genres than the first game? (say it aint so!)


-
can anyone answer this for me?

Daigoro said:
anyone know where to pick up the soundtrack for the original Katamari for a decent price?
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ah screw it. i guess i just need to plunk down the 30$ (with shipping) or whatever and buy the damned thing.

it is so very good.
 
Mine's shipped! Better make it to the UK before the weekend ...

And if anyone has a spare phone strap they are willing to part with, I will dedicate the first katamari I roll in the game to that person ... :)
 
There should be little to no wait for games like this. It can't be hard to translate a game like Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari.

Like, seriously, the US version should be out next week. Not in September/October!
 
Diablos said:
There should be little to no wait for games like this. It can't be hard to translate a game like Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari.

Like, seriously, the US version should be out next week. Not in September/October!
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Nothing sells until September/October, translation times have very little to do with the wait.
 
I've been playing <3 all night. I have a million things to say about it, almost all of them good, but I really need to get some sleep right now. I will say this, though - the Zoo is just about the greatest level I've seen in a game. And its background music? A medley of every song from Katamari 1, sung by animals, with a different animal taking the lead for each song. Que Sera Sera's vocals are by a cow, for example. It RULES.

Unfortunately, other than that and one or two other choice tracks, the music just can't compare with the original's soundtrack. Don't get me wrong - it's better than 90% of other game music, but most of it lacks the brilliant infectious quality that the original music had. Most of the tracks that I've heard are much more subdued, in the same vein as the bossa nova track from the original game, rather than energetic, poppy, or catchy. And while I love the original theme (Katamari on the Rock), I believe I've counted 3 covers of it so far in <3. That's a bit excessive. The returning singers from the first game deliver only half-as-good tracks, too - the guy who sang the awesome ending theme from Katamari gets stuck singing an only 'pretty good' cover of Katamari on the Rock, and the rapper from Getsu to Oji's song isn't especially great, either. I hate to make this comparison - really - but it reminds me a bit of the Parappa the Rapper 2 situation. The songs would seem pretty awesome if the original game (and Um Jammer Lammy) hadn't set the bar so high, but since it did, they come across as only pretty-good.

That said, I still had a huge-ass grin on my face the entire time I was playing the game, so obviously they're still doing something right! Don't expect a mind-blowing, legendary soundtrack like the original - just a really solid, above-average one. And of course, there's still a lot of room for it to grow on me. I definitely found myself liking certain songs (particularly "Kurukuru Rock," which was downright obnoxious at first) a lot more as I had the chance to listen to them a few times through.
 
bobbyconover said:
I've been playing <3 all night. I have a million things to say about it, almost all of them good, but I really need to get some sleep right now. I will say this, though - the Zoo is just about the greatest level I've seen in a game. And its background music? A medley of every song from Katamari 1, sung by animals, with a different animal taking the lead for each song. Que Sera Sera's vocals are by a cow, for example. It RULES.

Unfortunately, other than that and one or two other choice tracks, the music just can't compare with the original's soundtrack. Don't get me wrong - it's better than 90% of other game music, but most of it lacks the brilliant infectious quality that the original music had. Most of the tracks that I've heard are much more subdued, in the same vein as the bossa nova track from the original game, rather than energetic, poppy, or catchy. And while I love the original theme (Katamari on the Rock), I believe I've counted 3 covers of it so far in <3. That's a bit excessive. The returning singers from the first game deliver only half-as-good tracks, too - the guy who sang the awesome ending theme from Katamari gets stuck singing an only 'pretty good' cover of Katamari on the Rock, and the rapper from Getsu to Oji's song isn't especially great, either. I hate to make this comparison - really - but it reminds me a bit of the Parappa the Rapper 2 situation. The songs would seem pretty awesome if the original game (and Um Jammer Lammy) hadn't set the bar so high, but since it did, they come across as only pretty-good.

That said, I still had a huge-ass grin on my face the entire time I was playing the game, so obviously they're still doing something right! Don't expect a mind-blowing, legendary soundtrack like the original - just a really solid, above-average one. And of course, there's still a lot of room for it to grow on me. I definitely found myself liking certain songs (particularly "Kurukuru Rock," which was downright obnoxious at first) a lot more as I had the chance to listen to them a few times through.
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I agree. The over all mood of the music is so much more chilled out in comparison to the first. There are no bad tracks though. In katamari 1 there were a couple of songs i just didnt like.
That said, despite the ending credits music not being as good as the firsts, the king singing at the end totally makes up for it. Funniest ending theme ever.

:P
 
Jonnyram said:
WTF!? Does this mean all you guys have the game before it's even out in Japan? /cry
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Perhaps they're sailing the KatamARRRRi Damaseas... Although, I often got games a day early in the US myself, thanks to US distributors sending them out as soon as they got them.

sp0rks, please spoiler tag your bit about the ending. As the game's not out yet and all, you may have set a NEW SPOILER RECORD. :)
 
Got my copy this morning with free keitai strap, and the thing doesn't even light up with my phone... and I've got a standard DoCoMo mova phone. WTF?

Pack says it only works with 800MHz/1.5GHz digital sets, but is incompatible with some models. Doesn't work with PHS, FOMA or cdma-one.
 
This game appears to have the GAF importer stamp of approval, but has it been reviewed in Japan yet? I wondered how well it did.

EDIT: I meant "stamp", not staff. D'oh.
 
I remember a few levels in the first game may have been really hard without a translation (Ursa Major and.. um.. Cow levels would have been impossible without knowing you CAN'T TOUCH A TARGET OR THE LEVEL ENDS).

Anything I should know for specific levels, or is there enough english to figure it out?
 
I think it's October 4th, or something like that. I'll doubt we'll get a preorder bonus, and if we do I'm sure it wouldn't be the cellphone strap, since that stuff isn't as popular here, and it probably wouldn't work with very many if any US cellphones.
 
Katamari is about addicting gameplay and not the soundtrack, HOWEVER:

the Zoo is just about the greatest level I've seen in a game. And its background music? A medley of every song from Katamari 1, sung by animals, with a different animal taking the lead for each song. Que Sera Sera's vocals are by a cow, for example. It RULES.
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this sounds awesome. :lol
 
Diablos said:
It can't be hard to translate a game like Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari.
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Katamari is NOT an easy game to translate. TONS and TONS of text, all of which has to be almost completely rewritten for a western audience while maintaining the same level of wit and wackiness as the original. In a short amount of time. With a limited staff and budget.

Localizations aren't half as easy as some of you guys make it sound. Please be happy there are some companies who actually care about the quality of the games you're receiving! The guys working on these games read your posts, and when you say stuff like this, it makes the little princes inside them roll up into balls and cry.

Now look what you've done.
 
bobbyconover said:
Someone else did a soundtrack rip already?

I know my glory would be stolen this time around. :(
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There's a 500mb 289 minute long rip I've seen posted elsewhere. The guy said he didn't do any cutting, so the tracks are probably fairly long I'm guessing, I havent' picked it up myself.
 
john tv said:
Localizations aren't half as easy as some of you guys make it sound.
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Also, and I might be imagining this, I think this one has lots more text than the original did. And DOKAKA has this long speech in his song I think...that probably won't make it to the US version, I'm betting.

I'm liking all the little details they added (the see-through obstacle thing is real nice, as is being able to select what song you want for each level) and all -- it's a good sequel -- but I can't help but feel disappointed anyway. I think it's 99% due to the soundtrack, though, which I think in no way at all stands up to the original. :(

What's with the little 'slot machine' in the bottom left corner when you beat a stage, by the way? I can't read what it says (except for the numbers :P)...so I just ignore it.

Bonus points for the little beat the Prince makes when walking around the menu, and extra bonus points for it speeding up when you run.
 
Not really disappointed; not really impressed. It's basically what I expected. I really enjoyed the original but didn't really see what they could do with a sequel. Now just like I figured, it feels like an expansion pack of the original game. Which is fine as going through new locations with new music is nice and enjoyable. But it just doesn't have that "wow, this is really original, new, and cool!" factor that the original had. Maybe the co-op mode is the big innovation/addition for this sequel but as I'm playing it 1p, but as I can't sample that currently I dunno.
 
Co op is really interesting, its like dancing. Someone has to lead and someone has to follow. If you can tune each other to the same wavelength it becomes like second nature. If you got two people trying to lead then youll never get anywhere.
 
The music isn't as good as the first, but it does grow on you, and it' still appropriate for the game. It's not shocking me with originality like the first did, but I don't think anyone really was expecting that. I'm still feeling it's overall better than the first though, the slightly cleaned up/sharper graphics make a big difference.

FYI, I know someone editing the rough game rip someone did (he didn't edit the tracks, so they were each like an hour long), one loop of the zoo song is thirteen minutes. I wonder if it'll be uncut on the OST or not.
 
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