Support NeoGAF

[Amir0x]

So I was watching this video about Odama, and man... it's even more odd in execution than I imagined. Did anyone get hands-on time with this at any point? It's like, some weird music and big giant pinballs crushing opposing armies and shit. I'm sure the substances involved to create these titles are enlightening, but I'm genuinely curious now. I was never interested before I saw the video.

 

[sprsk]

I got quite a bit of hands on actually. Essentially you have your dudes and you tell them what to do, you request more dudes and you fire food all while you juggle the odama. The odama is your main weapon but its kind of a goofy main weapon because its hard to control and you end up killing your own guys alot.

It's hard, it's hard not to kill your own dudes, there is a way to not kill them but i didnt really know how to do that. I probably also wasnt using enough food to lure the enemies away. Anyway the game seems really strategic, but its hard because of the sort of randomness of the odama.

The stages were cool, the basic first stage has a river that will wash away your dudes if you dont hit the dam with the odama. You can also control the flow of hte river by tilting the board(i think). It's a strange game, but yeah its hard.

 

[Deleted member 284]

So I was watching this video about Odama, and man... it's even more odd in execution than I imagined. Did anyone get hands-on time with this at any point? It's like, some weird music and big giant pinballs crushing opposing armies and shit. I'm sure the substances involved to create these titles are enlightening, but I'm genuinely curious now. I was never interested before I saw the video.

Oh I did get to play it.

The best way to describe it is familar and unfamilar at the same time. The familar parts would be that it's pinball and that we can command army units. It was the mixture of the gameplay that got me. At first we can only use the Odama to destroy the enemy units/buildings, but must take care to not wipe out your army. Soon enough, you'll see scrolls on the field. Sending your Odama to one of the scrolls allows you to learn a new voice command for the army. (ie "Send More Men", "Charge" and "Move Right/Left") Once you get a scrolll, the strategy part of the game opens up as now you can send your army to fight the opposing army. All while still playing pinball with the Odama. You can get more troups by finding Hamburgers on the field and you get a real sense of the struggle in trying to overtake and opposing army as they have the field advantage. If not for the destructive power of the Odama, you would feel really weak. So it's a very satisfying feeling when your Odama/Army has laid waste to the entire field.

If your looking for a different type of experience, I strongly recommend at least trying the game once. It looks like a real sleeper hit.

 

[Amir0x]

I got quite a bit of hands on actually. Essentially you have your dudes and you tell them what to do, you request more dudes and you fire food all while you juggle the odama. The odama is your main weapon but its kind of a goofy main weapon because its hard to control and you end up killing your own guys alot.

It's hard, it's hard not to kill your own dudes, there is a way to not kill them but i didnt really know how to do that. I probably also wasnt using enough food to lure the enemies away. Anyway the game seems really strategic, but its hard because of the sort of randomness of the odama.

The stages were cool, the basic first stage has a river that will wash away your dudes if you dont hit the dam with the odama. You can also control the flow of hte river by tilting the board(i think). It's a strange game, but yeah its hard.

Hm, I'm getting a sort of conflicted message here. Is it hard because the game has poorly implemented controls/Odama physics or whatever, or just because it seems like it'll take time to get used to and master it? I guess what I'm asking is if what you say distracts from the experience, as a underlying fault of some kind?

Oh I did get to play it.

The best way to describe it is familar and unfamilar at the same time. The familar parts would be that it's pinball and that we can command army units. It was the mixture of the gameplay that got me. At first we can only use the Odama to destroy the enemy units/buildings, but must take care to not wipe out your army. Soon enough, you'll see scrolls on the field. Sending your Odama to one of the scrolls allows you to learn a new voice command for the army. (ie "Send More Men", "Charge" and "Move Right/Left") Once you get a scrolll, the strategy part of the game opens up as now you can send your army to fight the opposing army. All while still playing pinball with the Odama. You can get more troups by finding Hamburgers on the field and you get a real sense of the struggle in trying to overtake and opposing army as they have the field advantage. If not for the destructive power of the Odama, you would feel really weak. So it's a very satisfying feeling when your Odama/Army has laid waste to the entire field.

If your looking for a different type of experience, I strongly recommend at least trying the game once. It looks like a real sleeper hit.

A lot of it sounds awesome, and some of it just strange (Humburger's, heheh), but it's an interesting concept. I definitely got the feeling from the video that setting destruction to an entire opposing army would be gratifying, part of what impressed me most actually.

 

[sprsk]

Hm, I'm getting a sort of conflicted message here. Is it hard because the game has poorly implemented controls/Odama physics or whatever, or just because it seems like it'll take time to get used to and master it? I guess what I'm asking is if what you say distracts from the experience, as a underlying fault of some kind?.

It may be a fault, but it may be not playing the game right. I'd like to give a clear cut answer, but i dont think i can. towards the end i kind of got the hang of it and wasnt killing my own men as much, so i'm leaning more towards a learning curve. Just fire the odama at units that arent battling your units. The game would be hella easy if they let you roll the ball over your own units ALL the time. There are times in the game where your men gain temporary invinsibility from your odama though.

 

[Deleted member 284]

A lot of it sounds awesome, and some of it just strange (Humburger's, heheh), but it's an interesting concept. I definitely got the feeling from the video that setting destruction to an entire opposing army would be gratifying, part of what impressed me most actually.

Yeah, the hamburgers felt out of place, but I guess that might have been changed for E3. Maybe they will put more recognizable JP foods in the final version.

Oh, I forgot to mention. The "Move Right/Left" and "Charge" commands have to do with two little guys carrying a giant Bell. The only way to finish the stage IIRC is to break down the opposing Army's gate and move your Bell guys through the gate. All while the craziness is going on.

At E3, it felt like the kind of game that would be rewarding if you pur some time into it. (not necessarily 80 hours though :lol)

 

[Amir0x]

Yeah, the hamburgers felt out of place, but I guess that might have been changed for E3. Maybe they will put more recognizable JP foods in the final version.

Oh, I forgot to mention. The "Move Right/Left" and "Charge" commands have to do with two little guys carrying a giant Bell. The only way to finish the stage IIRC is to break down the opposing Army's gate and move your Bell guys through the gate. All while the craziness is going on.

At E3, it felt like the kind of game that would be rewarding if you pur some time into it. (not necessarily 80 hours though :lol)

How was the music? Might be hard to hear on the show floor, but it sounded incredibly wacky in the video.

 

[Deleted member 284]

It may be a fault, but it may be not playing the game right. I'd like to give a clear cut answer, but i dont think i can. towards the end i kind of got the hang of it and wasnt killing my own men as much, so i'm leaning more towards a learning curve. Just fire the odama at units that arent battling your units. The game would be hella easy if they let you roll the ball over your own units ALL the time. There are times in the game where your men gain temporary invinsibility from your odama though.

Sporks, the Booth Babe (fuck she was hot...I need to develop my pictures), explained to me that you can make your Odama friendly by pressing a button. Then it would turn the same color as your army and would even boost their fighting spirit.

 

[Deleted member 284]

How was the music? Might be hard to hear on the show floor, but it sounded incredibly wacky in the video.

I played the first stage only and it sounded like Traditional Japanese drumming in a war like setting. But, yeah....it was incredibly hard to hear.

 

[sprsk]

Sporks, the Booth Babe (fuck she was hot...I need to develop my pictures), explained to me that you can make your Odama friendly by pressing a button. Then it would turn the same color as your army and would even boost their fighting spirit.

no shit?

see, i knew i was missing something.

 

[gunstarhero]

I really wanted to play this at E3... but the sweaty masses playing it in front of me were practically eating the microphone. I mean one kid was salivating over the mic so bad I almost threw up just watching it. Fucking gross.


Other than that - the game looked interesting - enough for me to purchase.

 

[worldrunover]

If I'm not mistaken, when the Odama turned the color of your army, you could knock it into opposing forces and they could join your side.

I haven't played this game in over a year but I really hope it comes to the States.

 

[Deleted member 284]

If I'm not mistaken, when the Odama turned the color of your army, you could knock it into opposing forces and they could join your side.

I haven't played this game in over a year but I really hope it comes to the States.

Your right actually. I forgot about that little dynamic. It helped to build up your reserves too IIRC.

 

[Amir0x]

Man, all these little added strategic elements sound awesome. I'm really hypin' myself for this now.

 

[jenov4]

I swear this game could have been passed off as a PS2 title judging by the huge amount of jaggies it has. It was really interesting though.

 

[TTP]

I swear this game could have been passed off as a PS2 title judging by the huge amount of jaggies it has. It was really interesting though.

Dont forget E3 displays SUCK!!!

Anyway, I've just seen others playing the game. Hadn't time to test it myself but yes, looks like a sleeper hit to me. And LOL at the mic. It's "huge" and sticks out from the top of the controller. Everyone was playing with the controller near their faces. Then there was this guy playing "normally", with the controller abandoned on the upper part of his legs and the mic looked like his erected penis :lol

 

[Jonnyboy117]

Hm, I'm getting a sort of conflicted message here. Is it hard because the game has poorly implemented controls/Odama physics or whatever, or just because it seems like it'll take time to get used to and master it?

Both.

 

[Apenheul]

I thought this would be another gimmickly game, but it sounds pretty interesting to me.

 

[ToyMachine228]

I'm looking forward to it. More and more, I'm liking Nintendo's "pick up and play" games that they occassionally release like Odama, Wario Ware, etc.

 

[Flynn]

Last year the game had Bongos attached for two-players. One player handled the ball, while the other beat a rhythm to spur the troops on.

In my discussions with Nintendo reps, none of them could confirm that the bongo option had been permanently axed from the game.

I was a bit disappointed to see that feature go, partly because I found the voice recognition a bit difficult. Perhaps the background noise at E3 made it more difficult.

 

[jgkspsx]

I've been looking forward to this one since it was released. I'm VERY unconvinced by the microphone stuff, but I'll give it a try anyway. I'm still hoping they have 2P mode with the bongos.