Random Gaming Thoughts

[Exhuminator]

20 years later this is now in full English:



"Here is a full English translation for Wizardry Gaiden IV - Throb of the Demon’s Heart. After years of hard work the project is now finally completed! We hope you enjoy the release!

NOTE - Before starting to play, make sure you go into the options and select the English dialogue in all the menu choices. Not enabling this will give you the Japanese text only."

http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2061/

[Ack]

Damn, impressive.

[Sarge]

I don't like bad framerates, either, but it happens when a developer wants to do something that the system can't really handle well. The reason all the other party members are still visible is that you could play the game multiplayer, so you could have everyone on screen at the same time there. I agree that a switch to disable seeing them in single-player would have been nice, though. It's really mostly the first town that I remember most of the chugginess, although I know there are other places, too.

Also, it's an RPG, so the framerate just isn't as high a priority. Nice, but not a priority. If it were a Platinum action game, it would be completely unacceptable.

Very cool on the Wizardry game. Now there's another one that I'll never get around to beating!

[pierrot]

VIXEN 357

I'd sure play it if I could.

Played up to the beginning of the third mission in this the other night, and had very mixed feelings about it. Earlier that day I was considering actually buying it, but I think I've nixed that idea.

The artwork on the box reminds me a lot of Patlabor, but in game, it feels like it takes a lot of inspiration from UC Gundam series. Maybe a little too much: The enemy really wanted to 'procure' my new Gund-- I mean "Vector" technology. Except, the story is much less interesting. There's a flood of political nonsense unloaded at the beginning of the game, but after that, there doesn't seem to be much going on.

The combat is really slow, at least in the first two missions, because there are a ton of AI controlled units (both enemy and ally--about a 6 to 1 ratio, AI units to PC units). The ally AI is practically worthless, and there were only three units I had control of. I spent a bit over an hour playing the first two missions, and of that, maybe 20 minutes involved me actually doing anything. It was mostly just watching the AI make terrible decisions.

The missions were pretty standard Thunderdome rules. There appear to be some load-out options, but there's not much going on with the game, from what I can tell. Third mission involved guarding some bases, but I would think this would be pretty playable, even without a translation. I don't think it's really something I'm interested in playing through, though. Maybe if the music were a little more consistently good. It's a nice looking game, for the most part, anyway.

--

EDIT: I was reading through a review of Vixen 357, here (Japanese). Seems it was sort of billed as a successor to Hisou Kihei X-Serd for the PC-Engine (a strategy RPG that predates Fire Emblem, but didn't enjoy much success). There do appear to be some commonalities in terms of names of locations/organizations, but nothing actually linking the two, story wise. Apparently that author was as unimpressed with Vixen as I was; particularly about the length of attack sequences, and how they can't be skipped. If his word is anything to go by, X-Serd is supposedly really good, though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

20 years later this is now in full English:



"Here is a full English translation for Wizardry Gaiden IV - Throb of the Demon’s Heart. After years of hard work the project is now finally completed! We hope you enjoy the release!

NOTE - Before starting to play, make sure you go into the options and select the English dialogue in all the menu choices. Not enabling this will give you the Japanese text only."

http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2061/

Saw that today. Awesome.

Worth noting that the first three of those Gaiden games were fan-translated two years ago.

[Gunstar Green]

VIXEN 357

I'd sure play it if I could.

Played up to the beginning of the third mission in this the other night, and had very mixed feelings about it. Earlier that day I was considering actually buying it, but I think I've nixed that idea.

The artwork on the box reminds me a lot of Patlabor, but in game, it feels like it takes a lot of inspiration from UC Gundam series. Maybe a little too much: The enemy really wanted to 'procure' my new Gund-- I mean "Vector" technology. Except, the story is much less interesting. There's a flood of political nonsense unloaded at the beginning of the game, but after that, there doesn't seem to be much going on.

The combat is really slow, at least in the first two missions, because there are a ton of AI controlled units (both enemy and ally--about a 6 to 1 ratio, AI units to PC units). The ally AI is practically worthless, and there were only three units I had control of. I spent a bit over an hour playing the first two missions, and of that, maybe 20 minutes involved me actually doing anything. It was mostly just watching the AI make terrible decisions.

The missions were pretty standard Thunderdome rules. There appear to be some load-out options, but there's not much going on with the game, from what I can tell. Third mission involved guarding some bases, but I would think this would be pretty playable, even without a translation. I don't think it's really something I'm interested in playing through, though. Maybe if the music were a little more consistently good. It's a nice looking game, for the most part, anyway.

I felt the exact same way. It was a game I was eager to buy it when I first heard of it but after several missions in an emulator I just found it mediocre. There's an ocean of far better mecha strategy games out there. Maybe none of them are on the Mega Drive but I'll find a way to carry on... somehow.

[J T]

This upcoming PC game, Scorn, looks like it will let me finally run around in the disgusting H.R. Giger nightmare I have always wanted to visit (but never live in).



http://www.scorn-game.com/

[ElkinFencer10]

Bad framerate bugs me a lot, and it can kill the game for me, but as long as it's at least a stable 30 (stable is the operative word there), I'm content. I HATE inconsistent framerate, though; I'd rather a game be a solid 30 start to finish than waver from 20 to 60 sporadically. -cough cough- Mighty No. 9 - cough cough-

[PartridgeSenpai]

So very glad that I'm not in the group of people bugged by sub-optimal framerate. I notice it (sometimes... sub 30 I usually can) but it doesn't really bug me. Makes life easier.

I have trouble differentiating between 30 and 60, but I definitely notice drops between the two, and it's just such a immersion breaker. It's annoying, but I can live with it.

What I CAN'T live with, is sub-30. Sub-30 means your game runs so poorly that it directly affects gameplay, and that is just not an excusable thing for me, especially for hardware exclusives that should run optimally.

[samsonlonghair]

Frame rates don't bother me much, but controller lag or display lag will put me into fits. If the TV screen takes an extra 1.5 seconds to display my inputs I'm going to feel most unhappy about it.