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Post by toei on Feb 13, 2020 16:56:51 GMT -5
Ex I like PSA a little more than you, I'd rate it as a 7 probably. I do think it has a bit of a PS feel in the general visuals and music. Did you notice that the "beautiful girl" in that screenshot looks a lot like Mieu in Phantasy Star III? Also, I did not ever find it hard to progress or obtuse in any kind of way that would send me to a FAQ. But as you said, you don't like Japanese adventure games. I was glad there was a bit of fighting thrown in, myself, though I agree it was a smart idea not to have a ton of it. As for the PS2 text adventures, the main difference is that they have much fewer visuals. As the (unofficial) name suggests, they're mostly text. In terms of writing, I'd say they vary greatly, because most of them were written by different people. The best one is probably Kindz' adventure, which has a more gritty cyberpunk flavor (it was written by a future Climax employee who worked on major games afterwards). I like Eusis/Rolf's, too, as it's the most RPG-ish.
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Post by Ex on Feb 13, 2020 17:42:22 GMT -5
Did you notice that the "beautiful girl" in that screenshot looks a lot like Mieu in Phantasy Star III? Yes I did. It wasn't that the puzzles were too hard for me and I couldn't handle the challenge. I had no problem solving these simple puzzles. What aggravated me was the amount of backtracking you have to do. A walkthrough mitigated that aggravation, by sending me directly to where I needed to go every time, instead of wandering around trying to find the next plot trigger. I wish on the built-in map, you could have selected which area (scene) to warp to. That convenience would have kept me off the walkthrough. That sounds right up my alley. SargeI originally meant to beat PSA way back in 2004. That was when I first downloaded and tested the game. Well, sixteen years later I finally got around to playing it. Better late then never right? I do think you'd enjoy PSA. I say that because you like portable adventure games (or at least you beat a fair amount of them on DS). It's a brief but pleasant enough affair. And if you don't mind Japanese menu-driven interfaces, then you could add another point to my review score. |
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Post by Sarge on Feb 13, 2020 17:45:40 GMT -5
Yeah, this is probably true. Japanese-style adventure games don't bug me too much. I may very well give it a go, between yours and toei 's scores. EDIT: Well, I did give Phantasy Star Adventure a go, and it was a'ight. It's such a small game, though, that there really aren't that many actions you can take to get too lost. And the text is mostly rather drab. I think if the script were punched up a little bit, I'd like this a bit more, but as it is, I'm going to give it a 5/10. And I do tend to agree that, at least to me, it didn't feel particularly Phantasy Star-ish outside of a few random touches. I also played a different game the other night, and just like every other version of Last Action Hero, the Game Gear version is quite terrible. EDIT 2: Ugh, Super Monaco GP has an engine noise that drives me up the wall. Pass! |
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Post by Ex on Feb 14, 2020 9:52:16 GMT -5
Well, I did give Phantasy Star Adventure a go, and it was a'ight. It's such a small game, though, that there really aren't that many actions you can take to get too lost. Getting lost isn't the problem. I never got lost because there's an in-game map accessible through the menu. Backtracking through dozens of scenes over and over to retrieve an item here, or talk to a person there, or examine an object here to trigger an event there, is what was annoying. Mainly because of having to use a multi-choice menu interface to simply move in one direction. Did you actually finish the game though? Or is that score a takeaway based on what you played? I'm glad we're in agreement there. |
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Post by Sarge on Feb 14, 2020 11:33:19 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, I definitely finished it. It got obnoxious having to use that ID Card over and over, honestly. And since it was so small a game, the only way to lengthen it was to add that backtracking, or it would have been even shorter.
I think I looked at the map once; I saw there was an option, said "cool", and promptly forgot about it. Like I said, the game world is really small, so getting where you need to isn't bad even if you get "lost".
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Post by Ex on Feb 14, 2020 11:48:35 GMT -5
It got obnoxious having to use that ID Card over and over, honestly. Ugh, yes, that was awful. The only parts which I used the map for, were when you are in the lab, around that curvy hallway, with the few doors that all look alike. The map was useful for me there. Kind of weird this game has no credits. You just get the final paragraph and END then bam back to the title screen. |
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Post by Sarge on Feb 14, 2020 12:02:03 GMT -5
That being said, are there any other adventure games in this style on the Game Gear? I suspect if there are, we didn't get them, and they haven't been translated yet. And it's not like I hate this style of game. Y'all know how much I dig Snatcher, even if I didn't understand how much it cribbed from Blade Runner when I first played it. And when I played through Idol Hakkenden, I had a solid time. EDIT: Also, Ex, I noticed you posted your review on GameFAQs. Good show.  |
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Post by Ex on Feb 14, 2020 13:07:03 GMT -5
Also, Ex , I noticed you posted your review on GameFAQs. Good show. Heh, I always do if my reviews here manage to exceed 400 words.  - Speaking of leaving reviews on GameFAQs... it's a weird feeling when you're the very first person to leave a review for a game that's been listed on GameFAQs for about two decades. Out of the hundreds of millions of English speaking video game players on the net, somehow I'm the first person to bother doing so?  |
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Post by toei on Feb 14, 2020 14:33:57 GMT -5
Some of the PS2 Text Adventures are also without credits. Some of them list the writers and nothing else. Yes, it's mostly text, but there's still some graphics and music, not to mention the programming and general game design.
I'm not sure what's up with that. Sometimes it's a sign that a subcontractor was used, but sometimes you'll see the subcontractors credited even if their company isn't mentioned (as with Moldorian).
The information that a company called Japan System House (they weren't know as Biox until 1997, so I don't get why sites like mobygames credit them as such on games older than 1997 - it's like when gaming sites refer to "Square Enix" in a '90s context, it makes no sense to me) worked on it comes from listings on their old company website, which appears to be dead now. Whether they made the game from the ground up, or just contributed to it - say, programming only, or graphics only - is unknown.
I don't think there are other graphic adventures on the Game Gear, Sarge. Or if so, one or two at most, but even then I don't think so. Graphic adventures were mostly found on Japanese computers because they were popular at a time where only computers could afford enough storage to make a game of a decent length (ie late-80s was their peak - that's also when the original versions of Snatcher came out). That's also why they're relatively common on the Famicom Disk System. Eventually they were basically replaced by the Visual Novel.
All this to say that there aren't a ton even on home consoles like the Genesis or SNES, and many of those you'll find were made for special services like the MegaNet and Satellaview, so on handhelds, they're even more of a rarity. The PCE-CD has a decent amount, though.
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Post by Sarge on Feb 14, 2020 16:10:40 GMT -5
Yeah, you're right. I poked around, and there aren't even really many adventure games period on the Game Gear. The ones I see listed can almost go into the action-adventure bucket instead.
You know, I'd love it if the release of the TG-16 Mini inspired someone to actually translate that version. It's supposedly better than the Sega CD version. Although I will forever love the censorship rant Gillian gives in the release we got. It was hilarious.
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