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Post by Varion on Sept 29, 2010 17:13:36 GMT -5
So, now the game's finally out we need a proper thread for the game.
As far as spoilers go, I think it'd probably best if we used spoiler tags anyway, at least for a few weeks as while many of us will be playing the game, we're going to be playing it at different paces.
Anyway, an hour and a half into it now (playing slowly) and the music is sooo good. That is all.
Spoiler: THAT INTRO... way to get my interest right away Falcom. When it comes to the Kiseki series, talk of manipulating events from the shadows can only lead one way...
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Post by Ascended Mermaid on Sept 29, 2010 17:19:52 GMT -5
At least wait a few months after the US release to uncover spoilers. That would be fair for everyone, I think. Not to mention as I moderate the board, I find it easier to use the "25 recent posts" feature to catch up. Anyway, glad to hear it! I can't wait to catch up with everyone else!
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Post by Varion on Sept 29, 2010 17:25:43 GMT -5
At least wait a few months after the US release to uncover spoilers. That would be fair for everyone, I think. Not to mention as I moderate the board, I find it easier to use the "25 recent posts" feature to catch up. Anyway, glad to hear it! I can't wait to catch up with everyone else! Never even knew we had that feature... yeah, that makes keeping all the spoilers in one hidden thread not quite as simple as it sounds then. Okay, I'm fine with spoilers all hidden. Let's go with that.
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Post by Varion on Sept 29, 2010 21:56:53 GMT -5
Okay, admittedly I'm playing slowly, but here's 5 and half hours worth of impressions:
- Crossbell City is big. It's not unmanageably big at least, but it is pretty damn big. Thankfully the map is available at all times, and I'm slowly learning my way around. - The battle system is mostly unchanged, but what new changes there are relatively significant. The 'stun the enemy on the field' system isn't as easy as I expected it to be, as the stun wears off really quickly and has to be done from behind otherwise it just makes the enemy angry and charge at you. Which you don't want. It's worth it though, get a Max Advantage with stun and your whole party gets critical hits to start with with a high chance of a party attack which when combined usually annihilates most enemies before they've even had a chance to attack. - The Police and Detective Point systems are pretty much unchanged from the Bracer System. Not really anything new here. - The interface and such has been changed to be more suitable for the PSP, so there's no 'Bracer board saved as a screenshot and resized' type issues with the text. Which is nice. - On the whole the graphics are actually really good. Good environments and classic style sprites. The resolution is, as expected of the PSP, terrible but's the way it rolls. I'm just playing it in a RJL window. - The story... a leisurely pace so far but they had me from 'Kiseki' in the title. It's great seeing a whole new region of Zemulia, and I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic when I heard 'For those intending to travel to Liberl...' in the announcement on the train. It was almost like being away travelling and going past a train home that you're not on, that kind of feeling. - Did I mention the music is so good? I knew it was going to be as soon as I heard the absolutely gorgeous piano rendition of 'Way of Life' start playing on the title screen and it hasn't disappointed.
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Post by Mutagene on Sept 29, 2010 22:32:12 GMT -5
Damnit Varion, way to make me feel bad for not being able to get the game yet.
SO HYPE
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Post by yotaka on Sept 29, 2010 22:40:35 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't even know where my package is because Falcom forgot to give me a tracking number and it'll probably get here before I could ask for the number and get a response back. At least this time they've said they're shipping it before the release date instead of several days after.
Also, the bit under the spoiler tag in the first post: Unsurprising but naturally awesome. Can't wait for my copy to arrive.
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Post by Varion on Sept 29, 2010 22:48:41 GMT -5
At least this time they've said they're shipping it before the release date instead of several days after. Well that's nice of them at least, they've always done that for Japanese orders so I've never understood while they wouldn't for foreign ones. Also coughspluttercough.
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Post by Mutagene on Sept 29, 2010 23:34:04 GMT -5
Persona 2 has one of my favorite soundtracks, so I'm really eager to hear Zero's now.
Gonna have to resist the temptation to grab that rip...
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Post by yotaka on Sept 30, 2010 0:07:10 GMT -5
Cuts? Have they done that before (aside from not duplicating stuff in SnK when the later games reused music from older ones)? Or did you mean shorten in length as opposed to dropping entirely?
Although speaking of discs, I shudder to think how many the complete Alternative Saga OST would require should Falcom feel the urge to give us one.
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Post by Ashurei on Sept 30, 2010 0:31:23 GMT -5
At least this time they've said they're shipping it before the release date instead of several days after. Well that's nice of them at least, they've always done that for Japanese orders so I've never understood while they wouldn't for foreign ones. Also coughspluttercough. Your contribution to the local music collection has not gone unappreciated. <3
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Post by ParanoiaDragon on Sept 30, 2010 1:20:22 GMT -5
And ofcoarse, now I gotta wonder how long it'll be before we get this game in the US. I know the TitS games will take awhile to be all released, I'm worried by the time they're done, & this has would have a chance, the PSP2 will have been out for quite some time, making it less likely to get this. Tom, what're the chances of us getting this,.....roughly speaking that is
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Post by ParanoiaDragon on Sept 30, 2010 2:33:35 GMT -5
Yeah, that's why I said roughly speaking, but, it's kind of agonizing(atleast for me) to think of how long it could/will take to get this game in english, if ever! I suppose I should be just grateful for TitS!
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Post by Nalacakes on Sept 30, 2010 3:23:44 GMT -5
<3! Thanks for the impressions, too! Do keep us posted. I'm glad to hear that the game delivers so far. My copy is yet to arrive, and since I haven't actually finished SC and 3rd yet, I probably won't be playing it when it does anyway. At the rate I play games, I probably won't start it until it's almost out in English. :'D
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Post by sushi on Sept 30, 2010 7:19:32 GMT -5
How's the OST comparing with say Xenoblade? I want to wait till the right time to let the music penetrate me. Until then, I'll wear a ring.
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Post by Varion on Sept 30, 2010 12:38:38 GMT -5
Is 7102 an overworld theme? I bet it is! And it's awesome enough that it might have made my top 25 list! Actually, it isn't. It's been used in a couple of event scenes, usually with Grace in them, and usually replaces the town theme for a bit afterwards. Unless it's used as an overworld theme too, I haven't even left Crossbell yet. Anyway, just finished the prologue and time to go get food before more. So far, the game is really good. But I would expect no less! How's the OST comparing with say Xenoblade? Well I refuse to listen to any track I haven't heard in the game but so far I think it's better. Xenoblade had some awesome themes too, but overall this OST feels more memorable.
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Post by Red Hairdo on Sept 30, 2010 18:18:23 GMT -5
This is the greatest thing I listened to ever since Vantage Master Japan.
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Post by HJ on Sept 30, 2010 21:17:10 GMT -5
SO tempted to listen to the soundtrack, but I really don't want to spoil the music for myself. And for the sake of my own sanity, I should probably never check this thread again.
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Post by Yakra on Sept 30, 2010 22:37:06 GMT -5
SO tempted to listen to the soundtrack, but I really don't want to spoil the music for myself. And for the sake of my own sanity, I should probably never check this thread again. Ye really should! X'D I hate spoiling myself musically as well as storywise before playing a game, but the few tracks one HAD heard made this too tempting NOT to listen. That, combined with the fact that IF that game ever gets localized, it probably won't be anytime soon. (So I'll be relying on my wonderful memory to pull it's magic and forget all X'D) But... truly... the music in this game is AMAZING. It's very rare that... I liked almost each and every track this much. :'D I love Varion's magical coughs very much. Thank you!
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Post by Varion on Sept 30, 2010 22:56:53 GMT -5
Whoo, about 2/3 of the way through Chapter 1 now I think. The pacing feels somewhere faster than FC but slower than SC so far - the writers don't seem to be in any particular rush to show you everything, but it's never so slow as to get boring. Or at least it hasn't been for me, but I love this world and its characters so I'm all for the leisurely pace. It's nice to not only explore Crossbell but get to hear about more of the remaining countries on the continent too - while Remifelia was namedropped a few times in Sora it seems like it's going to play a larger role in Zero. Probably the biggest mindblow of Chapter 1 so far though has been (Spoilers up to the return from Armorica Village): Harold's introduction. My initial reaction was that he seemed too nice, so I should suspect him for that... until the back of my head started telling me he looked eerily familiar... then when he started talking about his new child it finally hit me in the face like a hammer that he is, with 99% certainty, Renne's father, as we can see in this spoiler image. Of all the people to show up. I guess that means we're guaranteed more of Renne's story in this game, which seems to imply she'll almost definitely show up at some point. I couldn't help but cringe when he left and Lloyd said something to the effect of 'While there are people like the Rubarche Company, there are good men like Harold. Yeah, such a wonderful guy. Oh Lloyd if only you knew.Also, talk about a showoffy entrance Estelle and Joshua. So nice to see those two again, and talking to them twice does indeed reveal that this is taking place 3 months after 3rd, much as the manga seemed to suggest otherwise. Goodgood. SO tempted to listen to the soundtrack, but I really don't want to spoil the music for myself. And for the sake of my own sanity, I should probably never check this thread again. Yeah, it's difficult initially but you'll probably forget about this soundtrack after a while and go onto other things. I've always tried to do that for games that have really good music like this, then when it's finally localised you can enjoy the music to its fullest.
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Post by Kimimi on Oct 1, 2010 9:15:11 GMT -5
So jealous! Good to hear though, even if I'm not going to get to play it for a while
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