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[cyborg009]

The game went up in resolution if you do a side by side comparison but not by much. TBH Marvelous AQL never made good looking games.

Is there any combo you can made with throwing offerings?

Err since I only played the demo I only saw one with the healing throw magic.

Finished the first quest line for Red Hood. I forgot how much I dug the Japanese writing.

Tis a shame that the English version of Vanilla made everything so bland. ='(

Is this about the name changes?

 

[cyborg009]

sorry double post.

 

[Parakeetman]

*Edit

Game + First print art book sold / info removed.

 

[Hasemo]

For those who transferred their data - remember to check the リオネス in the NPC market. You will most likely get a ton of rumors for your souls etc.

 

[Parakeetman]

For those who transferred their data - remember to check the リオネス in the NPC market. You will most likely get a ton of rumors for your souls etc.

Btw Hasemo so far how do you like the new content?

Im still making my way from the bottom again as my old data got wiped when I screwed up a data transfer that took out a ton of other save data like my P4G and Demon Gaze stuff D:

I still have yet to play this on the PSV TV but so far am pretty happy with Delta. I got the famitsu issue with the fox outfits also.

 

[Hasemo]

Btw Hasemo so far how do you like the new content?

Im still making my way from the bottom again as my old data got wiped when I screwed up a data transfer that took out a ton of other save data like my P4G and Demon Gaze stuff D:

I still have yet to play this on the PSV TV but so far am pretty happy with Delta. I got the famitsu issue with the fox outfits also.

The story is great and I really like the new changes like the magic index which gives you titles, getting rumors from the npcs, being able to give offerings to npcs to raise their affection.
As for the bosses, I think I've fought 2-3 who weren't distributed as the DLC, so no surprises here. I like the idea of taking fairy tale creatures as monsters, so no complaints there.

 

[IvorB]

Finished the first quest line for Red Hood. I forgot how much I dug the Japanese writing.

Tis a shame that the English version of Vanilla made everything so bland. ='(

The voice acting in Japanese in the original was absolutely amazing. It saddens me to think most people played it in English.

 

[baekshi]

The voice acting in Japanese in the original was absolutely amazing. It saddens me to think most people played it in English.

It was a DLC and I don't think most people would pay for it. They should have included in the game.

 

[Hasemo]

It was a DLC and I don't think most people would pay for it. They should have included in the game.

True, too bad they didn't... The voice acting is top notch.
I hate the name changes as well, what was wrong with Arthurian Legends? Those new random names are terrible.

Regarding Delta, I finally understood the potential of rumors. Having 2 big exp+ (medium size) allows me to get 1/2 levels per quest. Already 41/41 and I still have 9 of those rumors left.
I've also unlocked all Grimm forbidden spells, but since they all limit your movement after using, I doubt I'll even try them all. Too bad they are all variations of one spell with slightly different effects, like "making the enemy more prone to status afflictions" etc.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Grimm doesn't have a easy way to renew offerings?

not sure how i feel about that..

 

[Hasemo]

Grimm doesn't have a easy way to renew offerings?

not sure how i feel about that..

Leave to destiny recovers offerings.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Leave to destiny recovers offerings.

i was gonna ask what's that but then i just fucking remembered that there is a third option now lol.

now it makes sense again and its gonna be interesting to see how the character builds will turn out .

 

[Parakeetman]

The story is great and I really like the new changes like the magic index which gives you titles, getting rumors from the npcs, being able to give offerings to npcs to raise their affection.
As for the bosses, I think I've fought 2-3 who weren't distributed as the DLC, so no surprises here. I like the idea of taking fairy tale creatures as monsters, so no complaints there.

Yeah the new designs of some of the fairy tale stuff seems to be pretty cool. Am looking forward to fighting them myself.

Game feels better than the original title thats for sure and its glad to see that they took a lot of the feedback into consideration with all those fixes they worked on too. Cant wait till I get to see the new stage effects for myself like the one where it flips up side down.

The voice acting in Japanese in the original was absolutely amazing. It saddens me to think most people played it in English.

Was the US VA work bad or something? Or was it the translations that brought down the VA work? Then worst case scenario both?

Am curious about this since want to recommend the original to my friend that enjoys games with a good story, but if the writing or VA work is poor might wave him off of it.

 

[Parakeetman]

*dumbass me = double post.

Apologies folks. D:

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

Thank the gods for giving me a way to restore offerings as a hero.

Game is infinitely superior.

 

[TheChaos0]

And keep in mind they've probably build the game around the original Soul Sacrifice. It has been done in a year (or less) and it looks like it added quite a lot of content. They probably didn't have a lot of time to tweak their engine and optimize the game.

I didn't expect an important difference in the visuals. If we see a bump in resolution it'll be in SS2 (if Delta sales are decent enough to greenlight the project).

I think the sequel has already been announced at the same time as delta.

Ability to save/sacrifice/leave it to fate sounds so much better. I assume story progression from original carry overs to delta?

 

[Hasemo]

I think the sequel has already been announced at the same time as delta.

Ability to save/sacrifice/leave it to fate sounds so much better. I assume story progression from original carry overs to delta?

Yes, but only the main story and first chapters of Avalon and Sanctuary sidestories (if you did the former from the dlc).
All the subquests are new, so you have to clear the 10+ chapters again.
The road to the new ending consists of 3-4 chapters, a few quests each unlockable after you clear the Grim storyline.

 

[Parakeetman]

Yes, but only the main story and first chapters of Avalon and Sanctuary sidestories (if you did the former from the dlc).
All the subquests are new, so you have to clear the 10+ chapters again.
The road to the new ending consists of 3-4 chapters, a few quests each unlockable after you clear the Grim storyline.

One thing though that I must say is that I still hate the score for earned rewards system. Id rather have it random, than trying to constantly get the high score to earn everything possible.

Really wished that they dropped that.

 

[Hasemo]

One thing though that I must say is that I still hate the score for earned rewards system. Id rather have it random, than trying to constantly get the high score to earn everything possible.

Really wished that they dropped that.

Join Grimm? We always get the same rewards and sometimes some random ones as a bonus. The bonuses are shown on the score screen, but there is no actual score.

So, finally reached level 50/50, which is a good thing.
Bad thing is that I completely forgot about one of the new features which allows you to sacrifice level 100 in exchange for a seal carved in your heart. Those are extremely powerful (think +150% attack from a certain type of an offering), different for every faction (?) and a must in 15 star quests, if the official information is to be believed.
Guess I'll clear the game first and do the sacrifice later.

Interesting fact - a new level of offerings has been added. The "Black" offerings don't drop from monsters (I think) and can be made by synthesizing golden offerings and "pages".

For everyone wondering how useful the NPCs are... They're awesome this time around. Really effective, don't sacrifice/save trash mobs. With friendship on level A all their offerings are golden and you can rise their affection by giving them offerings. They are almost invincible, at least mine feel much better than myself, lol.

Some screenshots:

Red Riding Hood.

Never forget.

Some sweet rewards for 8/9 star quests.

All Forbidden Arts unlocked.

Always kill the snails. Both of the screenshots above are from one quest. Notice the difference between the boss xp and the snail xp.

Total level 100 ｷﾀ━━━━(ﾟ∀&#65439━━━━!!

Do you want ultimate power? Y/N (TдT)

 

[Parakeetman]

Join Grimm? We always get the same rewards and sometimes some random ones as a bonus. The bonuses are shown on the score screen, but there is no actual score.

So, finally reached level 50/50, which is a good thing.
Bad thing is that I completely forgot about one of the new features which allows you to sacrifice level 100 in exchange for a seal carved in your heart. Those are extremely powerful (think +150% attack from a certain type of an offering), different for every faction (?) and a must in 15 star quests, if the official information is to be believed.
Guess I'll clear the game first and do the sacrifice later.

Interesting fact - a new level of offerings has been added. The "Black" offerings don't drop from monsters (I think) and can be made by synthesizing golden offerings and "pages".

Some screenshots:

Ya I do plan to join Grimm.

Am taking my time currently progressing since am trying to build up the amount of spells I have / combining them and such. Man I really wish I didnt lose my data as then this wouldnt even take half the time Im taking now lol.

 

[IvorB]

Was the US VA work bad or something? Or was it the translations that brought down the VA work? Then worst case scenario both?

Am curious about this since want to recommend the original to my friend that enjoys games with a good story, but if the writing or VA work is poor might wave him off of it.

Just tell them to get the Japanese voice track if they can. Really it's so superb. It's still a great game in English though but the acting in Japanese elevates the story to another level. I didn't play through in English so I don't know in detail how that track is to be honest.

 

[erpg]

The English voice acting is fantastic.

 

[Hasemo]

Cleared the game. The new part of the story is amazing, totally on par with the stuff from the original game if not better.

I also did the level sacrifice for a seal and got a +110% attack for the weapon offerings seal. And that's only level 1 of the seal - there's a ton of them and each has 10 levels, so if someone wants to get only one to the max, it requires resetting your level 10 times...

Will post some seal screenshots later.

Edit:
Wow, the power difference between Golden and Black offerings is huge.
For example, the ice sword I'm always got this much stronger:
Attack: 55 => 110
Time: 80 => 160

 

[Shengar]

One thing though that I must say is that I still hate the score for earned rewards system. Id rather have it random, than trying to constantly get the high score to earn everything possible.

Really wished that they dropped that.

The problem with scoring system is that most of the score condition is very situational. Counter for example, should net you easy point if you fight there are rats and cats. But goddamn you for expecting counter from crows or toadstool/coral rats. Destroying All Cursed Part should be very essential for your total score too, but the thing is that some bosses either have too many parts to destroy (Hydra and Kraken) or have some inexplicably hard part (Phoenix, Illecibra). As such, this make some battles requires you to achive Unscathed score. This makes some fight pretty stupidly frustating because some bosses are very hard to dodge and destroy all of their part at the same time (Wraith). They really need to fix the scoring system in the future.

For everyone wondering how useful the NPCs are... They're awesome this time around. Really effective, don't sacrifice/save trash mobs. With friendship on level A all their offerings are golden and you can rise their affection by giving them offerings. They are almost invincible, at least mine feel much better than myself, lol.

Now Gemini Illecibra will cower in fear

 

[nynt9]

Does this contain all the content in the main game, or is it all new? Also, I'm assuming there are no English voice/text options?

 

[Vhalyar]

Had tons of fun with the first and this seems like more of the good stuff. Sony please announce the English release

 

[Hasemo]

Does this contain all the content in the main game, or is it all new? Also, I'm assuming there are no English voice/text options?

All the old story content + new stuff. All the side quests are new.

 

[Shengar]

What's the overall impression on Grimm's Bosses? Does Red Riding Hood living up to its hype being the flagship boss?

 

[IvorB]

The problem with scoring system is that most of the score condition is very situational. Counter for example, should net you easy point if you fight there are rats and cats. But goddamn you for expecting counter from crows or toadstool/coral rats. Destroying All Cursed Part should be very essential for your total score too, but the thing is that some bosses either have too many parts to destroy (Hydra and Kraken) or have some inexplicably hard part (Phoenix, Illecibra). As such, this make some battles requires you to achive Unscathed score. This makes some fight pretty stupidly frustating because some bosses are very hard to dodge and destroy all of their part at the same time (Wraith). They really need to fix the scoring system in the future.

I hated that scoring system with a passion. The worst part of the game. So many times I would totally dominate a boss in a fight but get a crappy score because I didn't do x,y,z laundry list of things to push up the score. Just a straight style points system would be so much better. Having to do overkill moves like black rite just for points is stupid.

 

[Shengar]

I hated that scoring system with a passion. The worst part of the game. So many times I would totally dominate a boss in a fight but get a crappy score because I didn't do x,y,z laundry list of things to push up the score. Just a straight style points system would be so much better. Having to do overkill moves like black rite just for points is stupid.

Without score system, people will just mindlessly slaugther the boss I think. The problem I see is that the loot we get is depend on the score, which pretty much situational and make it feel like a laundry on almost all bosses, make the fight needlessly frustating while it should not be. Playing online, which where I don't care getting "Unscathed" because it just nigh impossible, proved to be a more entertaining experience than getting choked by the score. My suggestion isn't to scrap the score system altogether, but to make it optional and feel less like laundry lists. Score should only affect randomized loot, not the mission reward.

 

[Zephyx]

Liked the first game but felt it was too easy. I hope this game, whenever it releases here, is better especially when it comes to the customization options. I agree with everyone though that the story was great.

 

[krossj]

Some of the impressions in this thread have me excited to jump back in. Hope we get some information on it's release over here soon.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Guh, Delta sounds great. Never actually got around to playing the original SS before Delta was announced, so I really hope this comes Stateside... don't really wanna play the old version now.

 

[Hasemo]

Too bad it's not possible to use rumors in mp games. It makes leveling solo much more viable. After 3 hours with Kyoufu and Expel I went from 1/1 to 19/19. Later, I set up a pretty extreme rumor exp+ combo and was able to get from the said 19/19 to 41/38 in about 30 minutes.
I think getting from there to 50/50 tomorrow will take me less than an hour.

Dying and being a ghost in multiplayer games is much more fun than before. You really can pick up environmental weapons and hit the enemy (damage is quite low, but...) or take offerings from, let's say, a tree and enter another player to give him the said offerings.
One problem that I had with the latter is that I wasn't able to get out. Pressing R which was supposed to let me out didn't work.

Screenshots:

Random rewards. Things get pretty sweet around chapter 9.

Heart seal for sacrificing level 100. Weapon damage +110% and it's only level one. I'm going to check the diminishing returns on level 2 to decide if I want to reset my level again.

My current set of seals.

Being a ghost in Delta.

The Naked King, one of the new bosses.

An offering dropped by Incubus. Charms the enemy and makes it stare at the pictures.

Expel using one of the new Forbidden Spells.

910 xp for a boss thanks to a set of rumors.

 

[IvorB]

Without score system, people will just mindlessly slaugther the boss I think. The problem I see is that the loot we get is depend on the score, which pretty much situational and make it feel like a laundry on almost all bosses, make the fight needlessly frustating while it should not be. Playing online, which where I don't care getting "Unscathed" because it just nigh impossible, proved to be a more entertaining experience than getting choked by the score. My suggestion isn't to scrap the score system altogether, but to make it optional and feel less like laundry lists. Score should only affect randomized loot, not the mission reward.

That was what pissed me off. It was so difficult to get some offerings because the score dictated what you got. I was doing really well in the fights but getting crap score. So I tried to tick the various items off during the fight but that just wasn't fun and also you needed to do A LOT of them to get a decent score. In the end I just stopped trying. Still loved this game but this aspect pissed me off a lot, especially when you can just murder the bosses and it feels like you are playing well only to get awarded a low rank.

 

[baekshi]

Screenshots:

It looks pretty good.
I'm frustrated with nippon yasan that they haven't shipped the game, and on weekend postal is closed.

;_:

 

[cyborg009]

Wasn't Rumors/Whisper in the original game? If yes then it never worked for us in North America. Anyways did they add anymore challenge mission? like Kill Phoenix in 5 minutes or take no damage against Cerberus?

Also animation was uploaded to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac9ktuLvyfw

 

[Parakeetman]

That was what pissed me off. It was so difficult to get some offerings because the score dictated what you got. I was doing really well in the fights but getting crap score. So I tried to tick the various items off during the fight but that just wasn't fun and also you needed to do A LOT of them to get a decent score. In the end I just stopped trying. Still loved this game but this aspect pissed me off a lot, especially when you can just murder the bosses and it feels like you are playing well only to get awarded a low rank.

Exactly. The game forces you to play a certain way, which is hardly fun considering. Not to mention you are seriously reliant on the rewards given after which leads back to the first point of being forced to play a certain way to obtain what you need from said mission.

Being part of Grimm doesnt really solve that issue all that much either.

Guh, Delta sounds great. Never actually got around to playing the original SS before Delta was announced, so I really hope this comes Stateside... don't really wanna play the old version now.

Considering it was free on PS+ you can get data ready for yourself if they do bring it over.

*Edit
Since this game contains the original too. So if you can play the first for free while waiting "thats if you have it from PS+" then might as well, unless you really are into wanting to wait for the full experience fresh if its announced for the west. How did it do in the US anyways? I generally dont pay attention to US sales info.

 

[Parakeetman]

apologies double posted again. really need to stop this bad fucking habit of using multiple windows. :/

 

[baekshi]

Wasn't Rumors/Whisper in the original game? If yes then it never worked for us in North America. Anyways did they add anymore challenge mission? like Kill Phoenix in 5 minutes or take no damage against Cerberus?

Also animation was uploaded to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac9ktuLvyfw

Wait a second... there's a korean version?

I couldn't find it anywhere to buy that. wtf

 

[Shengar]

That was what pissed me off. It was so difficult to get some offerings because the score dictated what you got. I was doing really well in the fights but getting crap score. So I tried to tick the various items off during the fight but that just wasn't fun and also you needed to do A LOT of them to get a decent score. In the end I just stopped trying. Still loved this game but this aspect pissed me off a lot, especially when you can just murder the bosses and it feels like you are playing well only to get awarded a low rank.

Yeah it does pissed you a lot. Unlike Monster Hunter where simply killing it (bonus if you break all of their body part) will net you satisfaction, is not the same with Soul Sacrifice *and Toukiden to some extent). Killing monsters without breaking all their part or have shitty score for Toukiden and Soul Sacrifice respectively will pisses a lot (especially SS) because the game like telling you that you not playing properly not matter how intense the fight was. Getting score in SS isn;t very hard, it just very situational, and also render some playstyle trapped in low score limbo because of that.

 

[Parakeetman]

Yeah it does pissed you a lot. Unlike Monster Hunter where simply killing it (bonus if you break all of their body part) will net you satisfaction, is not the same with Soul Sacrifice *and Toukiden to some extent). Killing monsters without breaking all their part or have shitty score for Toukiden and Soul Sacrifice respectively will pisses a lot (especially SS) because the game like telling you that you not playing properly not matter how intense the fight was. Getting score in SS isn;t very hard, it just very situational, and also render some playstyle trapped in low score limbo because of that.

Which really is a sign of lazy / bad design decision. Since it alienates a group of players and that is the last thing you want to do in these types of games where the player will be spending a lot of time playing.

The whole chance factor is a lot more exciting than having to constantly do something the exact same way with the same general loadout to be sure you obtain the best possible rewards of what you need. It causes unnecessary frustration for the player.

 

[Kyoufu]

Wasn't Rumors/Whisper in the original game?

Nope.

 

[Parakeetman]

Best place in the whole game.

The things bowman says sometimes are hilarious. Been going through the quests in there for the hell of it.

You need to unlock this place in the story to obtain your DLC bonus costume(s) among other things. Talk to Percent on the far right side.

 

[erpg]

Nope.

Well, they kind of were. There was a whispers section in the network menu that was supposed to add daily bonuses like exp boosts and increased difficulty but I don't think they ever set up any.

 

[Hasemo]

Well, they kind of were. There was a whispers section in the network menu that was supposed to add daily bonuses like exp boosts and increased difficulty but I don't think they ever set up any.

They were added in a patch and I remember them setting one for bonus souls or something at the very beginning. I don't remember how the original system worked exactly.

Edit:
So, I've reached 50/50 for the second time. Because of the diminishing returns on the heart seal, I won't be resetting again any time soon, because each level grants only 5% bonus damage. Yes, this means +45% difference between level 1 and 10, but seriously, getting back to level 1 every time... Uh.

On the other hand, I think I've found the best way to power level. Combine the small, super powerful xp bonus and a snail appearance (オリハルコン類の出&#29694... One snail +boss took me from 38/41 to 48/52 and the boss was maybe 1/4 of that. It literally took me 5 minutes.

Screenshots comparing lv 1 and 2 of my heart seal:

 

[Emalde]

Is anyone playing under the Sanctuary affiliation? I was a scumbag Holy player in the original and simply went for maximized healing/HP and just used the various Timesand/Hourglass variants to trivialize boss fights for my friends in multiplayer and made sure everybody would be at full HP at all times, but discovered that doing any of the 9-10* difficulty hunts solo was virtually impossible (and getting the more powerful seals that would enable me to perform more effectively was thus rendered impossible without dragging people along for LE++ hunting sessions that could span for days) and it put a bad taste in my mouth.

Is it a little less unreasonable now to go Full-Save with the new faction system and added offerings?

 

[Hasemo]

10 star quests are so much easier with a balance build, +850 hp seal and a total of +258% (or something like that) damage to weapon offerings.

Screenshots from today:

Musicians of Bremen, one of the new bosses. Really creepy.

Fast tongue-slapping golem, a drop from the Frog King.

My current set of seals (heart seal is on another page). Can't wait to get my hands on the next weapon dmg+ seal.

Some stats. I usually leave everything to destiny. Sacrificing/saving if I need a certain soul or ki.

27 hours played. And I've barely done any of the 11+ star stuff.

 

[Kyoufu]

Is anyone playing under the Sanctuary affiliation? I was a scumbag Holy player in the original and simply went for maximized healing/HP and just used the various Timesand/Hourglass variants to trivialize boss fights for my friends in multiplayer and made sure everybody would be at full HP at all times, but discovered that doing any of the 9-10* difficulty hunts solo was virtually impossible (and getting the more powerful seals that would enable me to perform more effectively was thus rendered impossible without dragging people along for LE++ hunting sessions that could span for days) and it put a bad taste in my mouth.

Is it a little less unreasonable now to go Full-Save with the new faction system and added offerings?

You'll be able to do enough damage with seals and offerings so I wouldn't worry about it.

Hasemo, let's do 11+12 star quests tomorrow!

 

[Hasemo]

You'll be able to do enough damage with seals and offerings so I wouldn't worry about it.

Hasemo, let's do 11+12 star quests tomorrow!

Unlock them first