Pier Solar, Brand New MegaDrive/Genny RPG

[NeoSneth]

Nice. Hopefully my Kickstarter Dreamcast edition isn't too far behind. This Kickstarter has taken longer to fulfill than any other I've funded.

I've been waiting over 2 years for one of my kickstarters.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Finally got mine + the soundtrack too. Debating on whether or not to open it.

 

[ratson]

Don't open it, it's not that good a game.
Glad i downloaded it on the ps3.

 

[kuze]

Finally got mine + the soundtrack too. Debating on whether or not to open it.

It would be one thing if there was a final ROM that you could play (e.g. via everdrive) and leave your physical copy sealed.

I say open it. You'll be impressed with the effort they put into the manual, bonus stickers, etc.

I've only put a couple hours into it so far, but it is definitely a good game -- perfectly captures the essence/style of the MD days.

 

[Gentlegamer]

I received my copy yesterday, very impressed with the physical components. In fact, the manual is far far higher quality than vintage Genesis games!

The game itself looks and sounds great, I'm particularly impressed with the enemy animations.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

It would be one thing if there was a final ROM that you could play (e.g. via everdrive) and leave your physical copy sealed.

Ugh, come on guys, I thought we hated sealed collectors... Open the game, if you don't like it, sell it to someone else.

 

[kuze]

Ugh, come on guys, I thought we hated sealed collectors... Open the game, if you don't like it, sell it to someone else.

Hey, I told him to open it.

I can't imagine waiting a year plus for a game, just to then receive it and proceed to not open it.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

I was also including Atsushi and anyone else who might keep a game like Pier Solar sealed. It took forever to get shipped, very silly to not open it.

As I've said before, Pier Solar isn't technically worse than most JRPGs from the old days. If you like JRPGs, you'll probably enjoy Pier Solar, at least one playthrough. Just open it, factory seals are for assholes.

 

[GohanX]

Agreed. I specifically sold my copy because I wasn't playing it, so it should go to someone who would.

 

[TheBigBB]

Alright, I finally played this thing. Other than the music, the game feels like it wasn't polished at all. The enemy variety is pathetic. The game is mind-numbingly easy after you buy elemental accessories, but brutally hard in the first few sections. No balance at all. In fact, most of the bosses are so easy that the game can be beaten by running away from every fight and just fighting bosses without levels; there's an achievement to do so. The gather system is terrible since casting high level spells can fail if an enemy strikes you before you get it off; might as well never use them. The story is mostly terrible. The dialogue is inspired more by Working Designs than actual authentic JRPGs, except the quality of the writing is really far below even that. I mean there's a part in the game where a major character dies, and the guy's best friend (who is a major party member) doesn't say anything about it. It's like they forgot to write lines for him, and never went back and added it in. 90% of the game is just wandering around looking for the purpose of a magical compass. There's one big plot reveal which happens at the very end, otherwise the plot of the first 30 minutes is pretty much what you'll still be going on 15 hours in. I could go on and on. Don't open your copy of the game. If you love JRPGs, don't assume you'll love this.

If there's one thing I would say to someone to convince them that this game sucks, it'd be about the healing. Every time you want to cast one single heal, you need to open the menu, cycle to the spells, menu down to the heal spell, select the character to heal from an overhead arrow on the world map (good luck if your party is in a bunch) and then watch a 5 second spell animation. The heal is single target only, and early on it takes up to 3 casts just to heal one character to full. Utterly ridiculous. What JRPG did that? Almost every RPG I ever played had you simply open the menu, choose the spell, and spam away. Ironically, you can actually do this if you use items to heal. Why not use the same interface for spells as items? I don't get it. A complete mess of a game.

That all being said, the game could probably be made really good if a real game designer were given a month with it. It's pretty sad how close they came to making something that resembled a classic RPG while still failing.

 

[kuze]

If anyone was interested in the PC version, it's included in the latest Humble Bundle if you pay ~$5 or more: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

 

[Pasky]

Alright, I finally played this thing. Other than the music, the game feels like it wasn't polished at all. The enemy variety is pathetic. The game is mind-numbingly easy after you buy elemental accessories, but brutally hard in the first few sections. No balance at all. In fact, most of the bosses are so easy that the game can be beaten by running away from every fight and just fighting bosses without levels; there's an achievement to do so. The gather system is terrible since casting high level spells can fail if an enemy strikes you before you get it off; might as well never use them. The story is mostly terrible. The dialogue is inspired more by Working Designs than actual authentic JRPGs, except the quality of the writing is really far below even that. I mean there's a part in the game where a major character dies, and the guy's best friend (who is a major party member) doesn't say anything about it. It's like they forgot to write lines for him, and never went back and added it in. 90% of the game is just wandering around looking for the purpose of a magical compass. There's one big plot reveal which happens at the very end, otherwise the plot of the first 30 minutes is pretty much what you'll still be going on 15 hours in. I could go on and on. Don't open your copy of the game. If you love JRPGs, don't assume you'll love this.

If there's one thing I would say to someone to convince them that this game sucks, it'd be about the healing. Every time you want to cast one single heal, you need to open the menu, cycle to the spells, menu down to the heal spell, select the character to heal from an overhead arrow on the world map (good luck if your party is in a bunch) and then watch a 5 second spell animation. The heal is single target only, and early on it takes up to 3 casts just to heal one character to full. Utterly ridiculous. What JRPG did that? Almost every RPG I ever played had you simply open the menu, choose the spell, and spam away. Ironically, you can actually do this if you use items to heal. Why not use the same interface for spells as items? I don't get it. A complete mess of a game.

That all being said, the game could probably be made really good if a real game designer were given a month with it. It's pretty sad how close they came to making something that resembled a classic RPG while still failing.

Yup, I have buyers remorse about this. Got it in the mail (megadrive version) and played it, lost interest after about 3 hours, no motivation to complete it. It felt really mediocre. May sell my copy as I really have no interest in the game.

 

[Renmauzo]

Alright, I finally played this thing. Other than the music, the game feels like it wasn't polished at all. The enemy variety is pathetic. The game is mind-numbingly easy after you buy elemental accessories, but brutally hard in the first few sections. No balance at all. In fact, most of the bosses are so easy that the game can be beaten by running away from every fight and just fighting bosses without levels; there's an achievement to do so. The gather system is terrible since casting high level spells can fail if an enemy strikes you before you get it off; might as well never use them. The story is mostly terrible. The dialogue is inspired more by Working Designs than actual authentic JRPGs, except the quality of the writing is really far below even that. I mean there's a part in the game where a major character dies, and the guy's best friend (who is a major party member) doesn't say anything about it. It's like they forgot to write lines for him, and never went back and added it in. 90% of the game is just wandering around looking for the purpose of a magical compass. There's one big plot reveal which happens at the very end, otherwise the plot of the first 30 minutes is pretty much what you'll still be going on 15 hours in. I could go on and on. Don't open your copy of the game. If you love JRPGs, don't assume you'll love this.

If there's one thing I would say to someone to convince them that this game sucks, it'd be about the healing. Every time you want to cast one single heal, you need to open the menu, cycle to the spells, menu down to the heal spell, select the character to heal from an overhead arrow on the world map (good luck if your party is in a bunch) and then watch a 5 second spell animation. The heal is single target only, and early on it takes up to 3 casts just to heal one character to full. Utterly ridiculous. What JRPG did that? Almost every RPG I ever played had you simply open the menu, choose the spell, and spam away. Ironically, you can actually do this if you use items to heal. Why not use the same interface for spells as items? I don't get it. A complete mess of a game.

That all being said, the game could probably be made really good if a real game designer were given a month with it. It's pretty sad how close they came to making something that resembled a classic RPG while still failing.

Best and most comprehensive write up I've seen for Pier Solar. I have been on the fence about picking the game up for months, but your review seals cements my inclination to pass. I kept getting the feeling that the average owner of this game just didn't have it in them to rip on the game because they were trying to cling on to the idea of the game invoking memories of the great Genny RPGs of old, so it's nice to see someone say "no, this doesn't cut it".
Haven't seen you about in a while BB, hopefully parenthood has been treating you well

 

[NeoSneth]

Didn't people complain the original Genny version was too grindy? I guess they got rid of that entirely with the HD remake.

 

[outlaw_moon]

I guess it all depends on your expectations really. Like others here, I waited over 2 years to get my copy, so keeping it shrink wrapped was not an option for me. After completing the game I came away with a sense of satisfaction, the game isn't the best game ever nor is it the worse game made. It has its pros and cons, but for me the biggest pro is that I was able to play a brand new game on my Genesis years after SEGA discontinued it.

I give the game a B+