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Monster Tale |OT| Taking care of your metroidvania pet!

Emitan

Member
RaidenZR said:
29ngh0z.gif
I've been telling everyone I know about it, just like I did for Henry Hatsworth. You keep making amazing 2d games, and I'll be your advertising team! :D

Seriously, this game is beautiful and I'm loving it so far.
 
Black-Wind said:
:O

If I weren't so attached to Pikachu I would SO avatar that!

I might do it anyway if the game is as good as I hope. Wont know until my 3DS comes :/ (But the game will be here in a few days!)
Oh!

And on top of that I was the 100th person to like "Monster Tale" on FB! :D
 

Salsa

Member
RaidenZR said:
I typically don't post here about the games that I work on but in this case I feel compelled to make an exception. I'm one of the DreamRift guys and Monster Tale is important to me/us. As tempting as it is, I don't intend to really discuss the game though, since it's new and I feel strongly the game should represent itself.

I simply want to thank those of you who are supporting the game in some way, shape, or form. Be it acknowledging that it exists, discussing it, purchasing it, borrowing it, looking at it, googling info on, etc. I can speak on behalf of those who worked on Monster Tale and we truly, truly appreciate it. This is underlined now especially when we know that the 3DS is competing for people's interest, attention, and dollars this month. You have our utmost gratitude.

If you enjoy the game, I'm very glad for that and hope it was worth it to you. If for whatever reason you don't, well.... We'll try harder next time!

29ngh0z.gif

Thank you sir for keeping this genre and art direction alive!

added that gif to the OP :)


edit: oh and sorry about the "kinda fugly drawn art" there, tee hee
 

sfried

Member
RaidenZR said:
If you enjoy the game, I'm very glad for that and hope it was worth it to you. If for whatever reason you don't, well.... We'll try harder next time!

29ngh0z.gif
Thanks for posting here. I'm a big supporter of grassroots devs, and much like WayForward's stuff, this one didn't have much marketing and was more word-of-mouth. As for the art, I agree that it could use improvement (proportions, perhaps?), as right now it's trying too hard to be anime-y, not that I have anything against that, but the early promotional artwork was indeed a bit wierd looking (I swear Ellie's face looked like the Something Aweful smiley). The spritework, however, is very nice.
 

Boney

Banned
I'd love to get this, but 3DS, being badly burned by Hatsworth, and this not coming here most probably is gonna make me pass.
 

Emitan

Member
Boney said:
I'd love to get this, but 3DS, being badly burned by Hatsworth, and this not coming here most probably is gonna make me pass.
What? I can understand not liking it, but "badly burned" seems a bit weird.
 

RaidenZR

Member
SalsaShark said:
edit: oh and sorry about the "kinda fugly drawn art" there, tee hee

Please say whatever you want to say. No need to censor yourselves, as it doesn't benefit anyone and only serves to limit the conversation that can take place.
 

Powercast

Member
Seems really nice, I love this metroidvania type of games but is there a european release date or I'm going to have to import?
 

RaidenZR

Member
Powercast said:
Seems really nice, I love this metroidvania type of games but is there a european release date or I'm going to have to import?

We provided the European language support in the game itself, but it's 100% Majesco's decision at this point. I really don't know, though. Last I've heard through other publisher grumblings is that the DS release scene in Europe is next-to-impossible (piracy being rampant) and a guaranteed loss for them. I really don't have any insider information for you, sadly. :(
 

TEJ

Member
Does this game use the L/R shoulder buttons extensively? I want to buy nit seeing as how I loved henry hatsworth, but my shoulder buttons have seen better days.
 

Gassey

Banned
Being in Australia (AKA EUROPE), not a lot of hope for picking this one up locally.
Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll pop up on iPhone/iPad :)
 
RaidenZR said:
Please say whatever you want to say. No need to censor yourselves, as it doesn't benefit anyone and only serves to limit the conversation that can take place.
I actually like the art.

It's simple and more minimalistic than other concept art I have seen for games but it translates perfectly and it has a lot of appeal/ charm. :)

I also like how simple Ellie is designed. It may look plain in the art but in the game it works some how. Probably could have added some other details to her clothes though, she looks a bit lacking compared to Chomp's designs. :/

Can't wait to see what you guys are doing on the 3DS.
 

Cranzor

Junior Member
These graphics are gorgeous. If I weren't broke right now, I'd pick this up along with the 3DS. I'll definitely pick this up later though.
 

Salsa

Member
RaidenZR said:
Please say whatever you want to say. No need to censor yourselves, as it doesn't benefit anyone and only serves to limit the conversation that can take place.

Great! :)

To be fair though that's some early art i posted there. Ellie's design specially looks better on the thread banner for example. Same artist behind the Hatsworth artwork ?
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
Radio Free Nintendo talked extensively about it more than a month ago. You can listen to the episode here.

Johnny sounded sort of down on it, but he said even with its faults he liked it a lot. If it really is Metroid lite, it might be up my alley.
 

Goody

Member
Picked this up at a GameStop today, when I just wanted to put more down on my preorder. Pretty nice surprise. I had a good chuckle over the "pre-order" bonus just being printed on the receipt.

Too bad I won't be able to play it until Sunday.
 

Deku

Banned
RaidenZR said:
We provided the European language support in the game itself, but it's 100% in Majesco's decision. I really don't know, though. Last I've heard through other publisher grumblings is that the DS release scene in Europe is next-to-impossible (piracy being rampant) and a guaranteed loss for them. I really don't have any insider information for you, sadly. :(

Just want to say good job on shipping an amazing DS game.
 

Salsa

Member
Updated OP with new screens that show the updated visuals that better represent what the game looks like now. They are the last batch released before the game came out! left the old ones to do a bit of comparission.
 

RaidenZR

Member
Deku said:
Just want to say good job on shipping an amazing DS game.

Thanks very much. I'll pass it on.

And thanks to SalsaShark for making the thread in the first place and updating it. I'm tipping my hat in your general direction.
 

Emitan

Member
TEJ said:
Does this game use the L/R shoulder buttons extensively? I want to buy nit seeing as how I loved henry hatsworth, but my shoulder buttons have seen better days.
L/R are for Chomp's special abilities. I've been doing alright so far with only one fully functioning button. Most of the abilities don't seem very important yet.
 
I'm going to grab this since I can't think of any other games coming out this week that I just gotta have, and it's always fun to go spend money.

If it doesn't require extensive use of shoulder buttons, then I'm all over it.

For some reason it keeps giving me this Wonderboy vibe. Not sure why. Maybe the bright colors and semi- cutesy monsters? Definitely up my alley though.
 

Chris R

Member
How hard/challenging does the game get in the later stages? Judging by the quick look the game seems easy, but that was just the very beginning.
 
RaidenZR said:
We provided the European language support in the game itself, but it's 100% Majesco's decision at this point. I really don't know, though. Last I've heard through other publisher grumblings is that the DS release scene in Europe is next-to-impossible (piracy being rampant) and a guaranteed loss for them. I really don't have any insider information for you, sadly. :(
That sucks. GB's quicklook made me really interested. I'll keep checking this thread for updates though.
 
Billychu said:
What? I can understand not liking it, but "badly burned" seems a bit weird.

Hatsworth was great, but it was also brutally hard towards the end in a way I imagine many people didn't enjoy.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Boney said:
It was alright. Guess badly burned is overly dramatic, but i was hyped for it.
I really enjoyed Hatsworth (one reason I've got my eye on this) but goddamn did that game get stupidly difficult.
 

Emitan

Member
The_Technomancer said:
I really enjoyed Hatsworth (one reason I've got my eye on this) but goddamn did that game get stupidly difficult.
I've never actually finished it. Although that's more because I lost my copy for over a year than due to difficulty.
 

Salsa

Member
I truly cant remember the difficulty spike you guys are talking about on Hatsworth. I didnt have any trouble with it and i found it incredibly fun. Not trying to sound like omghardcoregamer!1! here or anything.
 

bridegur

Member
I'll probably get this just based on how much I enjoyed Hatsworth (at least up until I was no longer good enough to progress through it). I'd love to see these guys do an HD downloadable platformer.
 
SalsaShark said:
I truly cant remember the difficulty spike you guys are talking about on Hatsworth.

This is basically an absurd position. I honestly can't take anything you ever say about any video game's difficulty level seriously ever again.
 

Yuterald

Member
I was trying to beat Hatsworth around the holidays and got to that colorful block world or whatever and it was seriously testing my patience. Hatsworth is tough, but it's not a good tough. Levels are endless and they break up stages with mindless enemy arenas. It's artificial difficulty. Also, the level design in Hatsworth was too much of an obstacle course. There was no design sense in those stages.

That's not to say it was bad or anything. Usually when a game becomes more difficult I become more interested. But Hatsworth was just all kinds of frustration at one point and that jelly bean-looking block world left the biggest 'bleh' taste in my mouth.

Monster Tale's design sense feels MUCH better and I am enjoying it way more so far. I just got the first kid crown and the first major boss fight was pretty bad ass. Good stuff!
 

Boney

Banned
SalsaShark said:
I truly cant remember the difficulty spike you guys are talking about on Hatsworth. I didnt have any trouble with it and i found it incredibly fun. Not trying to sound like omghardcoregamer!1! here or anything.
It spikes like a bitch, you get eternal "fight the enemies" rooms, and they start to deal a lot of damage. And some platforming elements are a bitch with unforgiving checkpoints.

...

bitch
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
charlequin said:
Hatsworth was great, but it was also brutally hard towards the end in a way I imagine many people didn't enjoy.

Could you grind previous levels in Hatsworth? I never checked, since I thought it would be absurd for that type of game. I also really enjoyed it until it got crazy hard.
 

Lanbeast

Member
Anyone know if this has a 30 or 40 dollar price tag?

Excited to see some more Gaffer opinions 'cause this game looks like it's gonna rule.
 

Emitan

Member
A Link to the Snitch said:
I still have to beat the last area of Hatsworth. My only complaint is that I can't go back and play the boss levels (the Lance Banson battle is awesome).
I have a save file right at his boss battle so I can always refight him. Plus I have the soundtrack on my iPod so I can always listen to his music.
 

koma

Member
rhfb said:
How hard/challenging does the game get in the later stages? Judging by the quick look the game seems easy, but that was just the very beginning.

I'd like to know about this too, Hatsworth is one of my favourite games ever, because of its "difficulty" too. Does anyone played the game more than the first few hours?

I live in Europe, so i'd like to buy the game as soon as possible, before it could became rare to find (for now it's available to pre-order at AxelMusic: http://www.axelmusic.com/productDetails/096427016571 )
 

Stinkdog

Neo Member
Well... it looks like I'll be picking this one up on my lunch break. I loved Hatsworth so I will no doubt love this one too. Keep up the great work DreamRift!
 
So I've played this a few hours and I must say that while I considered it a risk when I got it, I'm incredibly satisfied with the experience so far. I was mostly concerned because when I first got Hatsworth, I didn't enjoy it at all. It just didn't click for me. Recently I picked Hatsworth back up and had much more fun with it, but seeing the similarities between these two games made me a bit wary.

I'm happy to say that this game works really well for me. I think the genre combination is a better match. The level design seems to be improved and the enemies seem to be more varied already as well. I also simply like the theme much better. It's pretty cute-sy, but that adds to the charm.

You can't help but see the similarities to Hatsworth. For instance, instead of a knight with a big sword that makes a big vertical slash, you get a lizard man with a big mace. Many of the same abilities that Henry had are used by Ellie, though I'll admit that she's got many more tricks up her sleeve than Henry already. The level design and enemies encourage a diverse usage of skills, too; I found myself using the same tricks in Hatsworth, not so here. You also get multipliers for hitting enemies in combos (I really don't mind this similarity at all, though).

In fact, I still get a kick out of pounding enemies with huge combos, watching them spin around helplessly. Or going for the low hit, tripping them off of a high ledge and watching them fall down to a lower level.

The monster raising element is great and Chomp is very adorable, or was. Now that Chomp has grown up a bit on me, he(she?)s not as cute, but rather a bit scary. I actually wish that Ellie's skill set was treated similarly and that she could allocate experience to skill trees and learn new tricks that way. Just finding new skills as you explore areas seems a bit robotic to me and I'd like to control how she progresses, even if it means having to grind in order to get to new areas.

The boss battles I've played were pretty awesome and challenging. Those that are worried about the difficulty should probably be left at ease. I found the first kid king fairly challenging and while the levels are pretty easy early on, there have been a couple times where I relaxed a little bit or underestimated enemies and ended up dying for it. I thought back-tracking would bug me, but it doesn't. That probably has to do with having a diverse group of enemies and environments to traverse through. It also has to do with wanting to grind Chomp and gain new abilities for my somewhat-now-intimidating pet.

I'll update with more impressions as I progress further, but right now, this is a solid title that just happens to come around at an unfortunate time.
 
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