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RTTP: Zone of the Enders

ZOELOGO1.jpg


Someone recommended me this game a few years ago since I'm clearing my backlog of games before I get to the current gen games.


So I bought the limited edition. The Artbook is fantastic, I love all the designs of the orbital frames from both games.

Zone of the Enders is awesome, I love the combat, it's fast and that all I can say about because.. the rest of the game isn't so great. I didn't like the mission structure that you had to go back and get other weapons.
The story is pretty meh for the most part, The characters weren't as interesting. the MC is a trope he is Simon/Shinji combined but takes the worse parts of Shinji. The Game itself is really short you can beat this game in about 2-3 hours on normal. Overall I enjoyed it but this isn't Kojima's strongest game. I guess if you like Kojima's other works like MGS or Bokai I can recommend this.
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A few Questions. is there any prequel stuff on how the Orbital Frames were made? And is the sequel better? i'm probably going to do a follow up to this thread for the sequel.
 

SlugSh0t

Banned
Second Runner is a good deal better. One of the best PS2 games. It does everything better. The main character is one of the greatest improvements.
 

ItsTheNew

I believe any game made before 1997 is "essentially cave man art."
ZOE2 takes the series into the right direction, ZOE 1 is pretty repetitive!
 
I second this. The sequel is so much better. I loved it a lot more than the first; the combat is so much better, and it's a lot harder too. The voice acting isn't so great though.

Yeah the VA in the first ZOE sounds god awful it's a shame there's no Japanese Dub for the HD collection
 

Konosuke

Member
IIRC Kojima had no involvement in ZOE1. He was producer on Second Runner and Shuyo Murata was director on both. And ZOE2 is so much better than ZOE1 in every sense. Every sequel should be like it in terms of improvement over the original.
 
IIRC Kojima had no involvement in ZOE1. He was producer on Second Runner and Shuyo Murata was director on both. And ZOE2 is so much better than ZOE1 in every sense. Every sequel should be like it in terms of improvement over the original.

Okay this makes more sense. it doesn't have the charm as most kojima games do. I'm glad i'm hearing that ZOE 2 is better than the first. I'll check this out soon.
 

Ishida

Banned
"Is the sequel better"?

Yes, like a billion times better. It makes the original game look like a tech demo or something, and this is coming from someone who loved the first game.

ZOE2 is one of the finest games of it's generation, and still holds up greatly today.

Regarding prequels, you can check Zone of the Enders Idolo. It is a prequel to the first game and talks about the development of Orbital Frames:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h87ArcAi5lk
 
The first game is a repetitive mess(At least it's really short), but the second one is AMAZING.

It's awesome that you didn't play it when it came out, Hexadrive made the game PERFECT.
 

Aske

Member
The sequel is one of the best games ever made, but I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed the original. Played it for the first time when I picked up the HD collection, and for all its faults I found myself having a lot of fun with it.

Get ready to have your mind blown when you boot up the second game though. High-speed robot action!
 

Shikoba

Member
Great games. For what it's worth, I really enjoyed ZOE: The Fist of Mars on GBA and it never seems to get much attention. Not sure how it holds up these days, but I couldn't put it down when I picked it up many years ago.
 

Fisty

Member
Thought it was a pretty decent game when it came out, was a neat little bonus when you bought the MGS2 demo. Played it again last year in the HD collection, and boy howdy it sure is fun piloting that frame. Will be trying the sequel soon, never did get around to playing it even though everyone says its miles beyond the first.

Yet another series that needs to be sent over to Platinum. It just fits their style so well, maybe after MGR2
 

ZenTzen

Member
Second Runner is a good deal better. One of the best PS2 games. It does everything better. The main character is one of the greatest improvements.

dont know about that, i pretty much prefer Leo over Dingo, but dont get me wrong, i like Dingo as well, but Leo and his interaction with ADA was something i was looking forward to in ZOE2, suffice it to say i got a bit disappointed when that was made minimal

other than that, yeah, ZOE2 is miles better than ZOE1

Such a shame Kojima doesnt trust his younger staff enough to let him do other stuff, it still hurst that ZOE3 was basically cancelled
 
ZOE 2 is where it is at, also there is an anime and a movie about the series as well...


Trust me , you are doing yourself a disservice by not playing ZOE2
 

Peltz

Member
If I wanted to play ZOE 1, which console has the better version PS2 or PS3? Last I heard, the PS3 version doesn't replicate the 60 FPS of the PS2 version. So, which is generally recommended?
 

Fisty

Member
If I wanted to play ZOE 1, which console has the better version PS2 or PS3? Last I heard, the PS3 version doesn't replicate the 60 FPS of the PS2 version. So, which is generally recommended?

Only thing I noticed about the HD collection zoe 1 is that there is quite a bit of slowdown at the very beginning of the last level. Youre only in this spot for maybe 2 minutes and its not one of the repeated levels, so its a very minor thing. Everything else looked and ran very smooth besides that, in my experience.
 

Ishida

Banned
Should I buy the collection for Xbox?

God, NO. AVOID the Xbox version, it is inferior in absolutely every way.

The PS3 version of ZOE2 was patched, and now it features a higher framerate (60fps) and 1080p. The Xbox version currently runs at 720p with extreme framerate drops all over the place.

If ZOE2 was fixed for it, then yes..

Xbox 360 version was not patched. Only the PS3 version was.
 
Should I buy the collection for Xbox?

If you can, buy it for PS3. ZOE 2 had a patch that added 1080p and 60 FPS (for the most part, it has some slowdowns when things get crazy), with some anti aliasing to boot. The 360 never had that patch, so it runs at 720p and drops under 30 FPS if i'm not mistaken.
 

E92 M3

Member
If ZOE2 was fixed for it, then yes.

Also, ZOE2 is definitely better than 1. However, I am fond of the end sequences for ZOE1.

God, NO. AVOID the Xbox version, it is inferior in absolutely every way.

The PS3 version of ZOE2 was patched, and now it features a higher framerate (60fps) and 1080p. The Xbox version currently runs at 720p with extreme framerate drops all over the place.



Xbox 360 version was not patched. Only the PS3 version was.

Thanks ;)

If you can, buy it for PS3. ZOE 2 had a patch that added 1080p and 60 FPS (for the most part, it has some slowdowns when things get crazy), with some anti aliasing to boot. The 360 never had that patch, so it runs at 720p and drops under 30 FPS if i'm not mistaken.

Yeah, I don't want to buy it for the PS3. Guess I'll pass unfortunately. Kinda wanted to play ZOE 2.
 
Now enjoy Zone of the Enders 2 post-patch.

Hexadrive practically rewrote the game's engine to make better us of the PS3's SPU which took a huge work load off the RSX GPU from Blue Points's ZOE2's release which gave them a performance boost across the board; resulting in a higher resolution (goes from 1280x720 no AA to 1280x1080 with AA), higher smoother framerate, higher resolution transparency effects, added back in field of depth effects that was missing but using a higher quality more modern DOF effect instead of the original PS2 approach and fixed things like color banding, and made the HUD 1080 in proper 16x9 support instead of stretching. They did such good work on the fix, it's insane.
 
As everyone is saying. Play the 2nd Runner. The art direction is also a vast improvement over the original. It's almost, not quite, but almost cel shaded you could say.

Also, IF they should make a ZOE3, pray they do not hand it to platinum. good god.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Who else actually liked ZOE1 over ZOE2.

I know I did.
There was just something that didn't click with me for the sequel.
For everyone it's bigger and better, but I just found ZOE1 the more enjoyable game.
I think a big part of it was the short length oddly enough.
 

hal9001

Banned
I thought the first game was good but the second completely took it to another level. Please give us ZOE 3 with fox engine Kojima.
 

JoeFenix

Member
2ND RUNNER is an incredible game, a massive improvement over the original in every way.

Doesn't hurt that the HD remaster is essentially perfect, my pick for best remaster currently out there. Doesn't take away ANYTHING, only improves, as it should be!
 

Furyous

Member
The sequel is the first game on HGH drowned in Coke and forced to dry off in 10 pounds of weed... not that I know of course.

2nd Runner gets rid of the civilian system in the first game but has way more action and enemies on screen.

Just imagine a third game running on these consoles....
OH WAIT, KOJIMA CANCELED ZOE 3.

*grabs a box of kleenex*
 

wwm0nkey

Member
The sequel is the first game on HGH drowned in Coke and forced to dry off in 10 pounds of weed... not that I know of course.

2nd Runner gets rid of the civilian system in the first game but has way more action and enemies on screen.

Just imagine a third game running on these consoles....
OH WAIT, KOJIMA CANCELED ZOE 3.

*grabs a box of kleenex*
Got money on Z.O.E 3 being renamed into just Z.O.E and being the next game after Silent Hills. They might also see if they can slap Del Toro's name on it for marketing reasons.
 

NateDrake

Member
ZOE1 was my first PS2 game & I didn't buy it for the MGS2 demo. I loved the game back then & was so hyped for the sequel. The series is a personal favorite & I think I'll replay ZOE2 tonight for my Extra Life marathon gaming session.
 

Ixian

Member
ZOE1 was my first PS2 game & I didn't buy it for the MGS2 demo. I loved the game back then & was so hyped for the sequel. The series is a personal favorite & I think I'll replay ZOE2 tonight for my Extra Life marathon gaming session.
Strangely, this was the case for me too. I played it at a friend's place and loved the atmosphere. Still haven't played the sequel, but I do own the HD collection so I'll get around to it at some point.
 
I Think ZOE 3 should be co-made by Platinum. Imagine Jehuty in the FOX Engine. damn

You know what your talking about



Even though you played the first one, I like that the sequel had an option (on the title screen) to view events from the first game. It plays almost like a Kojima trailer where they show the important story beats along with gameplay to give new comers a clear picture of what's going on.


ZOE 2 is better in every way. You actual have a reason to use all the sub weapons.

f you don't like stories in action games then this one might get in your way more than you'd expect. But I enjoyed it all. Anime action gameplay fit perfectly with everything that was being told onscreen (along with the "beautiful words" of the english dub)
 

ZenTzen

Member
Who else actually liked ZOE1 over ZOE2.

I know I did.
There was just something that didn't click with me for the sequel.
For everyone it's bigger and better, but I just found ZOE1 the more enjoyable game.
I think a big part of it was the short length oddly enough.

ZOE2 is definetly bigger and better where pure gameplay is concerned, but i think ZOE1 does a couple of things better than ZOE2, and i think the biggest part is the tone of the game, it also had a pretty strong start story wise, and speaking of lead characters, between Leo and Dingo, i much prefer Leo, especially when you look at the interactions between Leo and ADA and we start to notice she isnt a normal AI, Viola was pretty great as well, but something they both do well was boss fights

I reckon the change in leads was more to make the fight between the opposing forces a more personal one

I Think ZOE 3 should be co-made by Platinum. Imagine Jehuty in the FOX Engine. damn

i'd love that too, as long as they dont touch the story, i love MGR, but it obviously had that platinum flare to it, and pretty campy as well, ZOEs plot seems to focus on a more serious tone to it
 
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