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the art and design hasn't changed, the culture has.

dsheinem wrote:the art and design hasn't changed, the culture has.

You're definitely right. The mid-'80s were pretty rockin' that way!

It just frustrates me that there is a great (though not without its flaws) game here, and so many people spend more time talking about something superficial than the game itself. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that one podcast I listened too spend almost the entirety of the cast talking about that, rather than the gameplay.

And the fact that people criticizing the look of the sorceress, conveniently make no mention of the elf strikes me as a double standard. Within the game itself, the princess and the fairy certainly don't follow the same design as the sorceress either.

But like someone said, I am now guilty of doing the very thing I was ranting about. So I'll just get back to talking about the game.

I'm currently at level 41 with my amazon. Hard mode has been kicking my ass, so I replayed the first stage a bunch of times to level. I then went back to normal difficulty in order to have an easier time with all the new side quests I got after you beat normal difficulty. I really could use the skill points and XP they provide as I'm tired of replaying stages over and over

It's the grindy parts that annoy me with this game, but it is what it is. It'll pay off when I have a badass amazon cutting through enemies on hard mode like a knife through butter. Already her dps against bosses on normal is impressing me with my set up

I definitely agree with you about all the attention the Sorceress is getting - of all of the things in the world that actually might contribute to "sexism" in society, people want to get upset about a video game character. So she has big tits, who cares? Lots of women in real life get breast implants (not just those in the adult industry either, that's for sure); is this contributing to sexism?

Hypocritically, why is there no discussion over the proportions of the Warrior? Aren't his huge chest, pecs, and biceps a male stereotype of "perfection and masculinity?" Of course, but you don't hear people crying "Sexists! How dare they portray men like that! It's demeaning and degrading!" Sexism is a foolish debate, in my opinion, inherently because of this double standard.

I think I may be calling it quits with this game. I'm just really getting tired of how unbalanced it is. I was complaining about how hard the second half of the game is on normal. Hard mode is even worse. EVERYTHING is more powerful than you. Every single enemy you encounter can kill you quickly, and and that goes double for your AI companions. And there is absolutely NO WAY AT ALL to level up quickly in this game. It takes EONS to level up. I have never seen a game so unbelievably stingy with experience points as Dragon's Crown. Seriously. It's just ridiculous. Even chaining dungeons is a time consuming process even with the increasing bonuses you get

Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind.

I'm just a few levels over 50 and I have to play through a stage like 5 times to level up, and given how cheap and overpowered every enemy is on each of those playthroughs, the game is just not fun anymore

I like Dragon's Crown, I really do, but I could have LOVED it if the designers weren't such goddamn assholes. The game is TOO HARD and it detracts from one's enjoyment of it significantly. The real problem is that Dragon's Crown skews much more towards rpg than beat 'em up. And as an rpg, it is the stingiest on XP points of any I've ever played

I haven't gotten that far to experience the unpleasantness of grinding later. Is it any worse than something like Diablo? Besides the fact that Diablo is, IMO, better. And definitely better with the multiplayer.

Overall I easily like Muramasa Rebirth more from my experience so far. But Dragon's Crown has still been fun.

Anyway, picked up the PS3 version so now I can play either with anyone that wants to play online.

Played a bit on PS3. Lack of touch is kind of annoying. Using the cursor with the right analog stick takes a bit of getting used to.

Executing the right attacks is easier with the PS3 analog sticks than the Vita sticks.

For whatever reason the confirm and cancel buttons are swapped for me. PS3 is x for confirm and circle for cancel. My Vita is the opposite. Not sure if that's just how it is, for whatever odd reason. Or if it's because I have a Japanese Vita and the game sensed that and that's why it made circle confirm and x cancel.

Which buttons do you guys have to press on the Vita? Or was there some setup when I first started the Vita game that I now can't undo? Either way, it's just a minor thing. Weird when I switch from one to the other at first.

Been playing it for awhile and it's awesome, everything I had expected. Looks amazing and plays just as well. Very addictive. I don't think it's been that hard yet, I just finished the Minotaur level and I haven't run into too much challenge or died yet. Then again I'm using a ranged character (Sorceress) so combat feels pretty safe. I'm going to have to look into how this game handles NG+ and additional difficulties, I'm eager to get there already. Way too early to say if it'll rival Muramasa for me (probably not), but I'm loving it nonetheless.

The game feels... surprisingly Western. I know it has the heavy Western fantasy theme and all that, but Odin Sphere still felt very Japanese in style despite that.

Also the woman shopkeeper is so Lords of Thunder.

ZenErik wrote:My Vita is the opposite. Not sure if that's just how it is, for whatever odd reason. Or if it's because I have a Japanese Vita and the game sensed that and that's why it made circle confirm and x cancel.

It's probably because your Vita is Japanese. Some PS3 games do that too when mixing hardware/software region. It's a weird programming quirk. I could be totally wrong though, but I know I've encountered that on PS3 and PSP a lot.

To me the game is a side scrolling Diablo, but not as well made. That isn't to say that I don't love it. I do love side scrolling beat em up/action RPGs. But the multiplayer isn't as well implemented as it could be. Especially for local PS3 play.

You end up doing the same stages over and over. Yea, you can say the same about Diablo, but those dungeons are larger and partially randomly generated. This game doesn't have that sort of replay value but does have an equally 'why did they even bother' story. It's not even worth paying attention to the story here. Huge downgrade from Muramasa for single player play.

And I know people complained about the backtracking in Muramasa, but I actually PREFER the backtracking over the no effort hub setup of Dragon's Crown. Maybe it's weird to say.. But I think it may actually be too easy to get around.

The online multiplayer I did tonight was pretty fun. So I'll give it that. Just doesn't have the depth of a Diablo. Local multiplayer should be fun.. But I'm not looking forward to starting over. I will be at a friends' place on their PS3. And there goes my character. Can't even use it. The game badly needs an account system like any online PC game these days. Even for local multi. Let each player sign in on their own ID.

ZenErik wrote:To me the game is a side scrolling Diablo, but not as well made. That isn't to say that I don't love it. I do love side scrolling beat em up/action RPGs. But the multiplayer isn't as well implemented as it could be. Especially for local PS3 play.

You end up doing the same stages over and over. Yea, you can say the same about Diablo, but those dungeons are larger and partially randomly generated. This game doesn't have that sort of replay value but does have an equally 'why did they even bother' story. It's not even worth paying attention to the story here. Huge downgrade from Muramasa for single player play.

And I know people complained about the backtracking in Muramasa, but I actually PREFER the backtracking over the no effort hub setup of Dragon's Crown. Maybe it's weird to say.. But I think it may actually be too easy to get around.

The online multiplayer I did tonight was pretty fun. So I'll give it that. Just doesn't have the depth of a Diablo. Local multiplayer should be fun.. But I'm not looking forward to starting over. I will be at a friends' place on their PS3. And there goes my character. Can't even use it. The game badly needs an account system like any online PC game these days. Even for local multi. Let each player sign in on their own ID.

Sounds like you are wishing the game was Diablo...if so, why not just go play Diablo? As soon as you start adding accounts, log-in screens, and the usual PC-esque systems, all you end up with is a Diablo clone with side-scrolling elements, and I'm very happy the game isn't like that. I'm very happy this game even made it to the PS3 and they didn't opt for a strictly PSN or Steam release.