Last Blade 2 for dreamcast

SH-Kazuya

Kula's Candy
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
Posts
305
Whats the oposite to

Peice of crap, worthless, scrap it total and utter poo!!<--- change ir round and u get the answer <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

hehe yeah its an awesome game...
 

The Black Knight

Cheng's Errand Boy
Joined
Oct 25, 2000
Posts
120
I respectfully disagree, for a number of reasons.

The music is not arranged, and there's no option to turn on the arranged music. The game animates inconsistently, and does not run in a resolution even remotely close to the original Neo home cart. Things looks stretched and out of proportion. It's all right to have it if it's the only version of Last Blade 2 you can get, but I have to say that the home cart is better.

The additions, which are Musashi LB2, Hanafuda (and it doesn't even play exactly like Hanafuda should either), and an art gallery all have their problems.

Musashi doesn't make a very insteresting LB2 character...he should have been redesigned for LB2, but since this was a quick, dirty port, he's...adapted, moreso. There's no new animation frames, of course...it's just everything the old Musashi was thrown into the LB2 mold. If this had been done with every other character when LB2 came out, the game wouldn't be as good as it is. Musashi gets no play from me or my friends...he's just not fun and certainly not competitive with the other characters. This is in LB2, mind you...in LB1 he's pretty good.

The Hanafuda is probably the nicest addition, except the rules are modified (although you have to accept modified rules in most Japanese game adaptations, especially mahjong). It's a fun diversion for a while, but I don't care for the art on the cards, especially when most, if not all of it can be downloaded from SNK's site (or could be, a while ago, before Aruze got stingy) or fansites.

And then there's the art mode. A comprehensive library for all the Last Blade 1/2 art this ISN'T. Since I collect a lot of the LB/LB2 art, I can tell you much of it is missing, especially some of the best stuff, like the original production sketches. And like some art galleries on Dreamcast, and ESPECIALLY on Playstation, this one exists in an overly-twitchy high resolution that is unpleasing to the eye. It's odd to see such a thing when, say, Soul Calibur's art gallery did not suffer this problem at all. Every time I go to look at LB2's art, eventually the refresh flickering gets to me, and my eyes don't want to take any more.

All of this contributes to the slipshod nature of the port. And again, it's important to mention that in color, resolution, and speed, the game is not the same, but close to the Neo-Geo home cart. It's very much like Capcom's port of 3rd Strike for Dreamcast, except that 3rd Strike did a better job of maintaining the original flow of the CPS3 board. It's a hard thing to quantify, but sometimes I feel Last Blade 2 DC is running a little too fast, but not all the time...like the game is trying to maintain a framerate and is constantly overaccelerating. Another game that suffers from this malady is Vampire Chronicles for Dreamcast. It probably has the worst case of it. So you can play Last Blade 2 DC and adapt to arcade play just fine...it's just not exactly the same.

Get LB2 DC on domestic release, for a decent, cheap price, if you need a copy of LB2 to practice on. I have a feeling the same thing will go for MotW DC if and when it is released.

It amazes me these ports can be so slipshod when KOF98 and 99 for DC came out just fine, with those unique new 3D backgrounds (they may not match with the characters sometimes, but the art direction in the airport stage is stunning), and tons of extras...I mean, KOF99 connects with Battle De Paradise, for crying out loud. You don't get any more obscure/SNK otaku-ey than that. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

I guess it's just evidence of how SNK performs when it's still alive and kicking, VS how they perform when they are severely injured/near-death/dead like they are now. It's a pity...Last Blade 2 DC and the soon-to-be-released MotW DC could be so much more...

- The Black Knight
 

Taiso

Remembers The North,
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2000
Posts
13,156
Game's a good port. Not perfect, but who cares? It's still good. Get it, but at this point I'd say wait for the domestic since it's release is so close and the text will be in english.
 

Kazuya_UK

NeoGeoForLife.com,
20 Year Member
Joined
May 11, 2001
Posts
1,443
Yeah, it isn't a perfect port, but I thought it was perfectly acceptable - much better than any of the SNK ports on the PSX anyway <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

It just depends on whether or not you are a total Neo Geo nuthead... people who played the arcade version will probably be able to find small faults with it. If it is the only version you can get, you should find it ok though.

By the way, probs with Vampire Chronicles? I never noticed that, although maybe thats just me <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
 

The Black Knight

Cheng's Errand Boy
Joined
Oct 25, 2000
Posts
120
Vampire Chronicles problems not evident? Helps if you own Vampire Hunter 2, Vampire Savior, or Vampire Savior 2 for CPS2. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

- The Black Knight
 

doughboy

Lurker.
Joined
Dec 31, 2000
Posts
398
I'm getting used to it now.

I reckon it has the feel of a 'cult' fighter rather than a mass market game though.

You know what I mean.
 

Kazuya_UK

NeoGeoForLife.com,
20 Year Member
Joined
May 11, 2001
Posts
1,443
Originally posted by The Black Knight:
<STRONG>Vampire Chronicles problems not evident? Helps if you own Vampire Hunter 2, Vampire Savior, or Vampire Savior 2 for CPS2. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
</STRONG>

Yeah I guess so... don't own either of those, so I guess I don't notice as much <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
 

Dan Elektro

Morden's Lackey
20 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2001
Posts
363
I'm still holding out hope that a small US company will do an American port, so that the starving DC folks who don't have access to imports will get a chance to play it too. <IMG SRC="smilies/spock.gif" border="0">
 

Robert

,
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2000
Posts
5,748
one of my friend bought it and he's happy with it so the game presents some qualities.
 

Dan Elektro

Morden's Lackey
20 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2001
Posts
363
I didn't realize Agetec had signed/sealed the deal. I will ask, though!
 
Top