Yes, I realize this post isn't news, but it's asking for news.
I've already done a forum search and haven't found any posts of people talking actual gameplay on this game.
If this post makes anyone that angry, feel free to move to gameplay, or whatever.
I HAVE NOT PLAYED THIS GAME MYSELF YET.
But the game appears to have been out in Japanese arcades for some time. I've been looking for new screenshots and videos of it, and from what I can tell, it seems pretty disappointing. The sprites are very pretty, picturesque, in fact, in still screenshots. However, the animation seems very stilted, reminds me of Savage Reign or an older KOF...specifically normal and special attacks are built around one good-looking frame of animation, but that frame doesn't really flow into the next move. So, there's a lot of repeated attacks in sequence, which makes the game look really stilted and jerky in action. I don't think I was looking for the oozing animation of Guilty Gear or Street Fighter III (where it's kind of overdone), but after seeing both of those games, this game's animation (or lack of it) is pretty shocking. In fact, it reminds me of Super Tag Battle / Kizuna Encounter or Rage of the Dragons, and if you've ever read my posts, you know that's a very bad thing for me.
Also, even though the sprites were designed to look like the actual animated characters, I'm very, very disappointed with the special effects, which from what I've seen are just lazy lightsourced blobs, similar to the Capcom vs SNK effects. Slightly better than the CVS effects (not as sloppy), but they're still too generic and still look out of place. To do it right, the special effects really should've been animated sprites, but that would've required the artists to actually hand-draw many frames of animation, and it looks like they were trying to avoid having to draw lots of frames of animation (possibly to make the game easier to port, like the PlayStation ports of SS3/SS4?). Anybody know if the game is getting ported?
Also where's the dismemberment? I haven't seen any video of any of the North Star (Hokuto Shinken) guys in action [EDIT: Yes, I have], these are the guys who make your head explode. Just the South Dipper (Nanto Seiken) guys, winning anyway. There are some nice references to the original series (Shin's finisher is apparently his finger torture from the movie; in Jagi's blocking animation, he pulls out his statue and hides behind it). But no exploding heads or guts or anything so far. (Maybe I just haven't seen it yet.) When you lose, you just fall over. Body more or less intact.
Probably the thing I'm worried about most is that the game seems to boil down to just inescapable chain combos and juggles. The actual fighting looks pretty shallow, to be honest. Super Tag Battle or RBS shallow (just do your best combos over and over again until somebody's life bar runs out). Can anyone who has actually played the game speak to this?
Here are some recent movies to show you what I'm talking about. You may have to right-click and save, rather than play in your browser:
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-1.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-2.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-3.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-4.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-5.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-6.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-7.wmv
[Edit: more videos]
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_1.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_2.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_3.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_4.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_5.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_6.wmv
(These seem like matches between pretty skilled players, so I'm assuming that mid- to high-level play looks something like this.)
I'm hoping if someone has actually played the game that they can conclusively disprove all of the critical things I said above. This game is the closest thing to a compelling reason for me to bother with the Atomiswave hardware, but from what I can tell, it really doesn't seem worth it so far.
[EDIT: Added more videos of Raoh & Yuda. Also realized/remembered that Toki actually uses Hokuto Shinken style, so I have seen it in action, as well as in the Raoh movies. No dismemberment there either]
I've already done a forum search and haven't found any posts of people talking actual gameplay on this game.
If this post makes anyone that angry, feel free to move to gameplay, or whatever.
I HAVE NOT PLAYED THIS GAME MYSELF YET.
But the game appears to have been out in Japanese arcades for some time. I've been looking for new screenshots and videos of it, and from what I can tell, it seems pretty disappointing. The sprites are very pretty, picturesque, in fact, in still screenshots. However, the animation seems very stilted, reminds me of Savage Reign or an older KOF...specifically normal and special attacks are built around one good-looking frame of animation, but that frame doesn't really flow into the next move. So, there's a lot of repeated attacks in sequence, which makes the game look really stilted and jerky in action. I don't think I was looking for the oozing animation of Guilty Gear or Street Fighter III (where it's kind of overdone), but after seeing both of those games, this game's animation (or lack of it) is pretty shocking. In fact, it reminds me of Super Tag Battle / Kizuna Encounter or Rage of the Dragons, and if you've ever read my posts, you know that's a very bad thing for me.
Also, even though the sprites were designed to look like the actual animated characters, I'm very, very disappointed with the special effects, which from what I've seen are just lazy lightsourced blobs, similar to the Capcom vs SNK effects. Slightly better than the CVS effects (not as sloppy), but they're still too generic and still look out of place. To do it right, the special effects really should've been animated sprites, but that would've required the artists to actually hand-draw many frames of animation, and it looks like they were trying to avoid having to draw lots of frames of animation (possibly to make the game easier to port, like the PlayStation ports of SS3/SS4?). Anybody know if the game is getting ported?
Also where's the dismemberment? I haven't seen any video of any of the North Star (Hokuto Shinken) guys in action [EDIT: Yes, I have], these are the guys who make your head explode. Just the South Dipper (Nanto Seiken) guys, winning anyway. There are some nice references to the original series (Shin's finisher is apparently his finger torture from the movie; in Jagi's blocking animation, he pulls out his statue and hides behind it). But no exploding heads or guts or anything so far. (Maybe I just haven't seen it yet.) When you lose, you just fall over. Body more or less intact.
Probably the thing I'm worried about most is that the game seems to boil down to just inescapable chain combos and juggles. The actual fighting looks pretty shallow, to be honest. Super Tag Battle or RBS shallow (just do your best combos over and over again until somebody's life bar runs out). Can anyone who has actually played the game speak to this?
Here are some recent movies to show you what I'm talking about. You may have to right-click and save, rather than play in your browser:
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-1.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-2.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-3.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-4.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-5.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-6.wmv
http://big.freett.com/henvoke/hk1218-7.wmv
[Edit: more videos]
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_1.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_2.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_3.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_4.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_5.wmv
http://game41.web.infoseek.co.jp/movie/game41-20051223hkt_6.wmv
(These seem like matches between pretty skilled players, so I'm assuming that mid- to high-level play looks something like this.)
I'm hoping if someone has actually played the game that they can conclusively disprove all of the critical things I said above. This game is the closest thing to a compelling reason for me to bother with the Atomiswave hardware, but from what I can tell, it really doesn't seem worth it so far.
[EDIT: Added more videos of Raoh & Yuda. Also realized/remembered that Toki actually uses Hokuto Shinken style, so I have seen it in action, as well as in the Raoh movies. No dismemberment there either]
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