I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm only on chapter 3, but so far the battle system seems alright (Not sure they're done introducing new mechanics yet). The timers so far have mainly been when leaving a level, not when exploring. The dungeons are very Gust, with a lot of respawning alchemy materials lying around. Generally I like most NIS/Gust stuff, but this one seems to be one of their better games. Not a difficult game, but the different combos in the battle system try to keep it from feeling button masher-y. Not sure how long it'll hold my attention, but since it's got custom soundtracks from the XMB at least I can get pumped listening to the Persona 3 soundtrack in anticipation of next week.
I just finished Chapter 1 with Rizelea and I really like it! Lot's of little story bits and tutorial introductions but that's to be expected when introducing an RPG with battle and item creation systems so I don't mind at all.
First of all the presentation is MILES ahead of anything we've seen from NIS so far on the PS3. I would say that PhyreEngine really helped them make a nice looking game this time around and the little upgrades to the character portraits (they actually breathe, blink, hair moves, clothes flex, etc) during cutscenes make a big difference. It's not that the 3D models or environments are particularly impressive on a technical level but rather that NIS's signature "look" has been captured so well in 3D and that extends to the fonts, menus, portraits, everything. For the first time I feel like I'm actually playing a true Next Gen NIS RPG and that's pretty awesome. Oh and that theme song is catchy as hell. I already want to put it on my iPod!
The battle system so far consists of making combos out of various button presses and you get different abilities by using different combo strings. For example 5 presses of "square" will get you a bunch of extra hits on the end of your 5th press called a "Mega Rush" (at least I think that's what the ability is called) and different equippable items also have built in combos with inherent abilities tied to them. This is all governed by your AP gauge (similar to Cross Edge) but so far less confusing that that game.
The first dungeon was easy (but charming) and being someone who enjoys nihongo (Japanese language) I am using the Japanese language voice track and that is only adding to my enjoyment as the characters all use very anime'esque expressions and exclamations during their wanderings. It's all really cute and funny and feels sort of like someone made an RPG out of a popular anime, which is definitely fine by me! So far I'm enjoying it alot and I will post more impressions as I have more playtime tomorrow.
Yeah I know....Not gonna happen. I want to try this game out, but I'm not gonna plop down $50 for something I might hate. Can't really ask for impression either, since the only people who buy these games are...well....you know :lol\
Kagari said:
Um... who the heck do you think the target audience is for this game anyhow? I can't imagine joe dudebro picking this one up.
Don't use GameFly or Goozex. Any stores that do game rentals are too far from where I love.
I have a copy on hold for me. I might pick it up next week (when I get paid). Plus, by then, hopefully, I'll have seen more impressions. Got a lot of games on my plate now anyway. I completely forgot this was coming out :lol
Only beat the first chapter on the Demon Dog King story so far (will obviously play the other one later) but too tired to give really any impressions. I'm easing into it and enjoying the game though. Some minor issues will take some getting used to, but it's all good.
Though I will say I nominate Macaroon for the best character ever. Every time I hear her, I :lol
Did you play and enjoy any of the PS2 Atelier games or Mana Khemia? Their are definite similarities in the look and feel of the game to those titles although this title is a big step up over those in terms of presentation. That's the closest comparison I can make while staying away from gushing fanboyism.
I bought this last night but have not played it yet. I have played the Atelier games casually as well as Disgaea. I'm going to dig in tonight and play a few hours so I can post some impressions from the game so stay tuned =)
I'm wondering whether anyone knows whether there are wallpapers available of the backgrounds shown in the games gallery? They look like this but in HD and without the cut-scene stuff overlaid;
It's a good, enjoyable game if you can overlook its faults and selectively filter out certain characters' voices.
Well made it to the boss of Chapter 3 in Kanata's story, which whipped my ass pretty hard. :/ Must be missing something....
Anyways! Impressions of things so far, with zero organization and sense!
--Music is enjoyable. Main tune is obviously heard a ton, might be annoying to some after a while. Enjoy the boss music and all that.
--Voices are interesting, but good. Pamela's was a little odd compared to hearing her in other games, but it's not so bad. Recit sounds like a male Ulrika. Though Macaroon is the best character with her beep!
--Dungeons are very basic and not exactly intriguing regarding design. Remember .hack? Halls with rooms at the end, some leading to a boss? That's about it. They have their 'theme' based on the floating object you enter, and that's it.
--Graphics aren't super awesome, but not 'bad' for the most part (of course that's my opinion). I like how colorful it is.
--Moving character portraits are still a littttttle weird, but it gives the characters some life so they're not just static.
--Localization seems to be going ok so far, some bits without English VA, but there's still a lot of it in there. Lots of humor that you'd expect from NISA, and the references they snuck in there made me chuckle a bit. And when Kanata's party meets Recit,
how they made fun of his name and he ran away and didn't join the party :lol
--Battles can be kinda slow, but there's a lot of ways to tackle them, though the default might be: charge AP, go into combo fury mode, win! Though the customization with skills and managraphics adds a lot
--They throw a ton of stuff at you, even when you don't or shouldn't worry about it. Monster Coliseum ? Yeah.....you get your ass beat if you go there at the start.
--Story seems kinda basic, but at the same time I haven't seen much of it, so I'm nto sure what to say about it other than I know the premise.
And those are my thoughts at this time, I missed stuff probably, but it's ok.
Ok I played 2 hours tonight and am tired so I'm stopping for now - brief impressions:
-Main theme song to the game seems to be used a lot and while I didn't like it at first, it has grown on me and now i'm humming along to it. Music otherwise is pop stuff and is overall very very average and not too memorable (so far).
-Graphics are pretty good. The Netheruniverse main screen is really pretty. There doesn't seem to be a "town" of any kind in the game so you just go to an Inn and Item Shop screen but can't move around. Otherwise there is a menu you choose to watch Events which are story cutscenes, or Dungeon which takes you into anything that is currently floating around of interest. Back to graphics - they are good...not great but easy on the eyes. Animations of the main character in dungeons is painful looking though.
-Story is average so far. Nothing great or memorable at all but just zany and insane enough to keep me wondering what in the hell is going to happen next.
-Voice acting is WAAAAY over the top. I couldn't decide whether this meant it was horrible or amazing so I guess this is going to be subjective. It definitely gives me a Disgaea vibe in how ludicrous and cheesy/awesome it is though.
-Gameplay. I'm only 2 hours in so I am still learning but the battle system seems to be pretty cool. Each character has an AP pool and you can either do a weak attack, strong attack or magic attack, with each taking up various amounts of this AP pool. Once it is depleted the next character goes until noone has AP left and then it's the enemies' turn. You can also hold a button down to do special attacks (like healing, escape, etc) There are 4 "charge" levels and as you hold the button down the guage fills up. Once it's full it goes to the next "level" which turns it into your next ability. So level 1 is Heal, then if you keep charging, level 2 is escape, and so on. There is item synthesis and from the manual I can tell there are some other systems in the game so it seems there is plenty to keep you busy.
-I have noticed that an insane amount of items drop from enemies. After battles I would somtimes have 7 or 8 items and up to 3 or 4 of each one. I have NO idea what most of it is but I am assuming most is for item synthesis.
I will play some more over the weekend and post more detailed impressions. So far though, I don't feel like I blew $50 or anything, it seems to be a solid (crazy) game.
Got it last night (Think I got the only copy in Colorado Springs LOL), and so far I am lukewarm on it. I have only put like two hours into it, but so far its merely ok and not great as I had hoped for.
I was skeptical going into this one and had almost 0 expectations, but I've got to say I'm really enjoying it so far. As far as I can tell there's no in game timer, but I just finished Ch3 so I'd guess almost 5 hours or so.
The story and characters haven't taken themselves seriously at all, which is good in this case. Lots of humor and the movement really helps express that more than I thought it would. No weird translation issues like there were with Ar Tonelico 2 and Cross Edge, so far the localization is much better.
The gameplay is sort of generic, but honestly I'd rather have bland combat than have something different that really isn't enjoyable (ie Cross Edge). I do like that the dungeons are short and bite sized, you can get in and out of each area in less than 10 minutes.
Definitely my favorite non-Disgaea NISA game so far.
Flonne is hilarious, especially with the Japanese VA option. She cracks me up every time she starts one of her "love and justice" speeches. Definitely my favorite character so far.
The chapter 2 and 3 bosses both required me to grind AND have some item upgrades to get past. Chapter 3 boss especially is tough if you haven't spent some time leveling up and even then I used several of those "heal everybody" grasses during the fight.
I read that there isn't a setting, but there are two characters to choose from at the start of the game with differing difficulty levels. Rizelea's path is apparently the harder one.
One thing that kinda annoys me is trying to remember special skill sequences for 4 different people. D: My memory gets fuzzy after two :lol
Also, got all but one of the 'secret' characters already, so I'll be on my way to the true ending soon enough. They're pretty easy to get, though some can be missable.
Right now I'm on the boss battle of Ch6. It sucks how
the boss gets their turn first, killed poor little Mizuki.
Does this game contain any online functionality? I hate to bring the discussion to this thread, but the game wants me to update to the latest firmware on its disc. I use Other OS often enough that I refuse to update. =/
Does this game contain any online functionality? I hate to bring the discussion to this thread, but the game wants me to update to the latest firmware on its disc. I use Other OS often enough that I refuse to update. =/
Thanks for the information. I have a soft spot for Gust games, but I can't play this game until I can afford a second PS3 to complement my 60GB model. :'''(
Thanks for the information. I have a soft spot for Gust games, but I can't play this game until I can afford a second PS3 to complement my 60GB model. :'''(
Note that this isn't really a Gust game. It's an Idea Factory game with Gust and N1 characters. I wouldn't assume much involvement of the latter companies beyond that.
Played all the way to the first save point prior to the 1st dungeon boss. As has been stated, there is no play time ticker so I'm guessing I put in about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
Story is lighthearted and the voice acting while cutesy is not bad at all. I expexted worse. In reality it fits the character designs well. I do like the colorful pallete and the AAA(A?) system which is like these animated story sequences that drive a lot of the story.
Music is fitting for what the makers intended, poppy and mainly upbeat music selection.
Combat is simple so far but I can tell is going to get more complex with the button combos and abilities come into play.
All in all I can't say I'm dissapointed. I traded in some games and paid 10 dollars for it. It's 50 and so far I would say it's worth it with the ammount of play you will get out of it. It's not breaking new ground but is a solid lighthearted adventure. You do get 2 free pieces of DLC on the PSN store too.
I will probably buy the .99 cent DLC which gives you items and 100,000G since lots of stuff seems to be arriving at the stores. Seems to me that this is a good summer RPG while there is downtime for the barrage to come in the fall. Fills the void nicely for me.
Unrelated but I had to make 2 posts since my PS3 browser would not let me make 1 big post.
I finished with Riz and started NG+ with Kanata over the weekend. I don't know if it's just fatigue or what, but everything about his playthrough is boring compared to Riz. The story and characters aren't clicking with me as much, and maybe it's just me but there's a lot less voiced dialogue than there was with Riz (she had unvoiced scenes also, but they seemed fewer and farther between).
I'll probably have to take a break before I go for platinum, some of the trophies are a bitch. It's certainly doable, but having to drift 100 dungeons is going to be time consuming and boring. Man, this game got tedious quick. :lol I still mostly enjoyed it though.
I finished with Riz and started NG+ with Kanata over the weekend. I don't know if it's just fatigue or what, but everything about his playthrough is boring compared to Riz. The story and characters aren't clicking with me as much, and maybe it's just me but there's a lot less voiced dialogue than there was with Riz (she had unvoiced scenes also, but they seemed fewer and farther between).
I'll probably have to take a break before I go for platinum, some of the trophies are a bitch. It's certainly doable, but having to drift 100 dungeons is going to be time consuming and boring. Man, this game got tedious quick. :lol I still mostly enjoyed it though.
Have any estimations of your playthrough length with Riz? I know there's no timer (which suckkkkkkkkks) but I'm not sure how long to expect the game to turn out plus doing the true ending.
Riz playthrough took maybe 15-20 hours? Sounds about right. I think the second playthrough takes a lot longer though. Apparently the last boss is a pain unless you're at least level 150+ with the top equipment. Luckily just like Disgaea there's a few tricks you can use to level up quickly.
I think I've played another 20 hours with Kanata already. Currently in Ch 11 but I think I have a good amount of grinding left before I'm comfortable to try to get the true end.
Rules and customization are clearer, simpler but still deep enough (but I miss the level up stat modifier, it seems too much equipment oriented).
Plot and dialogs are more NiS Disgaea-Like than in previous games. Agarest dialogs-plot was awful, CrossEdge was a little better, but still much worse than what I saw in the first chapters of TU.
Technical part now is decent, PS2 HD, ok, but at least not PS1 HD (not something that I care too much in those games), but instead of loosing charisma, 3D graphics fits well in the characters. Portraits with the animation system is also a great improvement. And taking into account that the previous games had much worse graphics AND incredible long loading times AND crappy FPS, it's a real improve, here.
But where the game really improved is in the gameplay. Yeah, is a typical PS2-like dungeon-crawler with random encounters, like .hack or Shin Megami Tensei 2. But is really exploring and better than the worldmap random encounters and crappy side-view dungeons of CrossEdge or the fixed point battles and crappy isometric dungeons of Agarest.
Searching, monster arena and also all that thing of the floating dungeons and anchors seems interesting. Syntetizing is much simpler and user friendly. The upgrade - change - split in parts - syntetize of the previous games was a real headache and too confuse to be used without an excel sheet.
So, right now, I'm happy with the game. Simple but fun low budget JRPG. If Neptune goes in a similar way, I'll buy it day one.
My copy finally arrived today. It's the first time I bought the European version of a NISA published game, I naively assumed that would mean shorter shipping times :lol
I'll post some impressions when I get back from work.
I've started the Rizelea side and played for a few hours, and so far it seems pretty enjoyable. The combat system is clearly quite a bit simpler than Cross Edge, but that's not really a bad thing since it still has some depth. At first it looks a bit like a ripoff of the Xeno- games, but below the surface it's actually quite different, and I like the chaining mechanic.
I also really like the Active Animation Adventure system. It's just a small thing and many of the animations are actually not that great, but it still makes the story/conversation segments feel more alive.
Made it to chapter 10 on Kanata's story last night. As always, I think "hell yeah, I can take down a lurker on these lower level dungeons!" Then I get destroyed as it kills characters with one fell swipe.
