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Official Blade Dancer (new PSP RPG) Thread:
- Thread starter Mejilan
- Start date
I tried the game at E3, but I didn't really formulate any sort of coherent opinion on it beyond "this is pretty" -- mainly because I was in overload by that point, as it was the last day of the expo and I had played about 20 games before I realized it was tucked away in a corner of the Atlus/NISA booth.
I'll be buying both VPL and Blade Dancer on Wednesday.
I'm hoping it's better than the last few PSP RPGs I bought (PoPoLoCrois, Legend of Heroes, Legend of Heroes 2, Kingdom of Paradise, Astonishitia Story).
I'll be buying both VPL and Blade Dancer on Wednesday.
I'm hoping it's better than the last few PSP RPGs I bought (PoPoLoCrois, Legend of Heroes, Legend of Heroes 2, Kingdom of Paradise, Astonishitia Story).
When you're getting VP, you don't need another portable RPG for at least a good month.
I mean say it's your first time playing VP. You'll play it on easy or normal and won't get the best ending. So you'll hear about the best ending then re-play it on hard (only way it should be played imo), then you'll get to the end, beat the game then find out there's this huge secret dungeon filled with awesome things like being able to play as
. That's gotta be at least a good 60-80 hours of fun
I mean say it's your first time playing VP. You'll play it on easy or normal and won't get the best ending. So you'll hear about the best ending then re-play it on hard (only way it should be played imo), then you'll get to the end, beat the game then find out there's this huge secret dungeon filled with awesome things like being able to play as
Brahms and Lezard in one party
Tabris said:
Yeah, I play my handhelds pretty much exclusively when I'm not at home (with the exception of sometimes playing GBA games on my GameCube Game Boy Player when I'm at the house). Having great games that I love playable portably is fantastic. However, VP is still a game I've played before... so like I said, it's simply not going to be the same as having a good original RPG.
Whether Blade Dancer is a good original RPG or not, I dunno yet. We'll see on Wednesday.
Tabris said:
I always play my portables on the go (daily commutes of up to 3 hours ftl), but I've got plenty of other portable games (that are not RPGs, necessarily) that I have not or barely touched. I'm more inclined to play those than to play a portable version of something I've already beaten once or twice.
Edit - I'll make exceptions for the GBA versions of FFV and FFVI, but to be fair, I haven't played those in AGES, whereas my last playthrough of VP was at most 2 years ago.
ethelred said:
I kinda have.
I mean, I picked up almost every single RPG that the GBC and GBA had to offer (and DS as well, so far), but I"m lacking quite a few PSP RPGs on the simple basis of their horrible reviews and my piss-poor experiences with those I did pick up. :/
pancakesandsex
Member
So who bit the bullet?
does it suck?
How's the loading?
how's the combat?
how's the translation?
does it suck?
How's the loading?
how's the combat?
how's the translation?
I was kind of interested in this game, especially since you can play 4 player in co-op. I thought it was online as well though, but maybe I'm mistaken? Anyway, reviews haven't exactly been stellar so I think I'll skip this one or at least wait for impressions and price-cut.
BTW, here are all the review scores for the game so far on Gamerankings (average is 62%):
PSM Magazine - 7.5 out of 10
Official Playstation Magazine - 2 out of 5
Games Radar - 4 out of 10
RPG Fan - 80 out of 100
Hardcore Gamer Magazine - 3.75 out of 5
PSP Advanced - 9 out of 10
BTW, here are all the review scores for the game so far on Gamerankings (average is 62%):
PSM Magazine - 7.5 out of 10
Official Playstation Magazine - 2 out of 5
Games Radar - 4 out of 10
RPG Fan - 80 out of 100
Hardcore Gamer Magazine - 3.75 out of 5
PSP Advanced - 9 out of 10
Okay, Mej, you owe me one. I'm now playing a bit of Blade Dancer. VP:L will still be getting the majority of my portable gaming time, but I'll try to squeeze in a bit for BL.
Anyway, ten minute impressions:
-looks nice graphically, though the character art is a bit... gross. Well, for Lance (the main character), at least.
-voice acting is shit. NISA did an awesome job on the VA for Makai Kingdom. They did not do so well this time around.
-I don't like one huge thing about the controls -- the camera control is backwards. Left shoulder button moves the camera to the right, right shoulder moves the camera left. It's pretty ****ing annoying.
That's about it. What do you expect after ten minutes?
Back to VP!
Anyway, ten minute impressions:
-looks nice graphically, though the character art is a bit... gross. Well, for Lance (the main character), at least.
-voice acting is shit. NISA did an awesome job on the VA for Makai Kingdom. They did not do so well this time around.
-I don't like one huge thing about the controls -- the camera control is backwards. Left shoulder button moves the camera to the right, right shoulder moves the camera left. It's pretty ****ing annoying.
That's about it. What do you expect after ten minutes?
Back to VP!
sugarhigh4242
Banned
OPM tore this game apart in the most recent issue.
More detailed impressions after a bit more playtime... but please bear in mind that I am still very, very early into the game.
Overall, I'm liking this well enough. It seems like a pretty good game so far -- not great, not terribly above average, but not bad, either.
Good things:
-graphically this game is very nice. Nice realistic style (aside from anime-style character artwork, which is selmdom seen), very large, open environments.
-fun battle system. It's mostly Final Fantasty-inspired -- they say "real-time" everywhere all over the box and promos so you might be expecting an action RPG, a .hack sort of thing, but it's really just your standard Final Fantasy ATB system. Character gets a turn, selects an action from a menu, all while time is moving an enemies can attack. It's well done, though.
-There's a bit of a PSO vibe in the environments and in the loot. You collect lots of items/weapons/equipment, but the latter two all seem to be level restricted so you can't power up too high too early. I like that.
-I like what I've seen of the magic system so far. Magic is used through a Skies of Arcadia style bar that is shared not only by the entire hero party, but also by the enemy party. The bar's a gauge that builds up whenever you or the enemy makes a successful attack (stronger attack fills the bar faster). Because enemies use the same gauge as you, you have an incentive to be faster and less conservative about using your special abilities because otherwise the enemy will consume all the points.
However, there are some definite, serious flaws with the game, also:
-Control is a bitch. It's not just the camera problems I mentioned before -- control's bad all around. The analog nub is required for movement (d-pad just switches to a first person camera). The menus are laid out very poorly, so it can take way longer than it should to locate an weapon for equipping, or to go into your item list to use a potion outside of battle.
-This is especially problematic because the real-time component, sadly, carries over to outside of battle as well. You can defeat an enemy, go into your menu to heal, and while you're scrolling through it, the enemy you just defeated will regen and attack you again; voila, you're back in battle, unhealed. There's also no pause command, so if you need to stop the game momentarily to scratch an itch or take a drink, you can't go into the menu and you can't pause, so you're obligated to use sleep mode.
-More control issues: You can't just be next to a person/object and press select to talk/examine it. You first need to press square to target the person/object and then press X. Sometimes this means you need to scroll through stuff to find the target you want... rather than walking up and pressing X. It can be a pain. If you're doing a mission and need to give someone an item, you need to press square, target them, then bring up your menu, find the item, and use it.
-Loads. Lots and lots of loads. Expect to see the load screen every time you enter an area, enter a house, etc.
-I haven't seen much of the story yet, but it seems quite generic so far. There's a Blade Dancer who defeated a Dark Lord a thousand years ago before fighting the Dark Lord's Dread Knight; now you've got a young, eager warrior who wants to prove his skills in battle and meanwhile he's having dreams about a mysterious girl. Also, the story takes place in the island of Foo, which is just atrocious naming. Someone should be shot.
-Music is blah overall. Batlte music is decent.
Neutral:
-Item/weapon crafting seems to play a big role in the game. I can't really comment on how this is as I haven't used it yet, but it seems really important. I'll probably find this to be a negative in the end as I usually don't like item crafting -- basically, if it's done tri-Ace style, I won't like it; Atelier Iris style I might like it, but only if it's funny as hell. It's looking more like Star Ocean/tri-Ace style, though.
So that's it so far. Like I said, I'm still in the earliest part of the game, so don't hold me to what I'm saying here. But I like it well enough to this point -- decently good, fairly average RPG.
Overall, I'm liking this well enough. It seems like a pretty good game so far -- not great, not terribly above average, but not bad, either.
Good things:
-graphically this game is very nice. Nice realistic style (aside from anime-style character artwork, which is selmdom seen), very large, open environments.
-fun battle system. It's mostly Final Fantasty-inspired -- they say "real-time" everywhere all over the box and promos so you might be expecting an action RPG, a .hack sort of thing, but it's really just your standard Final Fantasy ATB system. Character gets a turn, selects an action from a menu, all while time is moving an enemies can attack. It's well done, though.
-There's a bit of a PSO vibe in the environments and in the loot. You collect lots of items/weapons/equipment, but the latter two all seem to be level restricted so you can't power up too high too early. I like that.
-I like what I've seen of the magic system so far. Magic is used through a Skies of Arcadia style bar that is shared not only by the entire hero party, but also by the enemy party. The bar's a gauge that builds up whenever you or the enemy makes a successful attack (stronger attack fills the bar faster). Because enemies use the same gauge as you, you have an incentive to be faster and less conservative about using your special abilities because otherwise the enemy will consume all the points.
However, there are some definite, serious flaws with the game, also:
-Control is a bitch. It's not just the camera problems I mentioned before -- control's bad all around. The analog nub is required for movement (d-pad just switches to a first person camera). The menus are laid out very poorly, so it can take way longer than it should to locate an weapon for equipping, or to go into your item list to use a potion outside of battle.
-This is especially problematic because the real-time component, sadly, carries over to outside of battle as well. You can defeat an enemy, go into your menu to heal, and while you're scrolling through it, the enemy you just defeated will regen and attack you again; voila, you're back in battle, unhealed. There's also no pause command, so if you need to stop the game momentarily to scratch an itch or take a drink, you can't go into the menu and you can't pause, so you're obligated to use sleep mode.
-More control issues: You can't just be next to a person/object and press select to talk/examine it. You first need to press square to target the person/object and then press X. Sometimes this means you need to scroll through stuff to find the target you want... rather than walking up and pressing X. It can be a pain. If you're doing a mission and need to give someone an item, you need to press square, target them, then bring up your menu, find the item, and use it.
-Loads. Lots and lots of loads. Expect to see the load screen every time you enter an area, enter a house, etc.
-I haven't seen much of the story yet, but it seems quite generic so far. There's a Blade Dancer who defeated a Dark Lord a thousand years ago before fighting the Dark Lord's Dread Knight; now you've got a young, eager warrior who wants to prove his skills in battle and meanwhile he's having dreams about a mysterious girl. Also, the story takes place in the island of Foo, which is just atrocious naming. Someone should be shot.
-Music is blah overall. Batlte music is decent.
Neutral:
-Item/weapon crafting seems to play a big role in the game. I can't really comment on how this is as I haven't used it yet, but it seems really important. I'll probably find this to be a negative in the end as I usually don't like item crafting -- basically, if it's done tri-Ace style, I won't like it; Atelier Iris style I might like it, but only if it's funny as hell. It's looking more like Star Ocean/tri-Ace style, though.
So that's it so far. Like I said, I'm still in the earliest part of the game, so don't hold me to what I'm saying here. But I like it well enough to this point -- decently good, fairly average RPG.
Musashi Wins!
FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
sounds like shit.
Oh, one other thing I forgot, for the positives column:
-From what I can tell early on, there are a ton of side quests in the game (always a very good thing for a portable RPG). Blade Dancer has a mission system; talking to NPCs and (I would guess, though it hasn't happened to me yet) progressing through the story will trigger missions where you'll need to accomplish a particular objective and then you get rewarded. It marks down all the missions you complete. Some of them so far have been fairly menial (deliver lunches to people around the town), but I'm hoping they'll get progressively more in-depth, and at the very least, there are a lot of them (five or six triggered in the first town).
Maybe it will be in the end, but I'd like to give it a fair shot first. The control issues... are going to be there forever, and aren't going to get better as I progress through the game. But like I said, the battle system is solid and the magic system is solid, and I like what I've seen of the environments so far -- if those get better and more complex, that'll go a long way.
And while the story seems awfully generic so far, it could improve. I dunno, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance took a villain as seemingly generic as a "Black Knight" and turned him into a phenomenal adversary -- this game could do likewise. I'll give it a fair chance.
-From what I can tell early on, there are a ton of side quests in the game (always a very good thing for a portable RPG). Blade Dancer has a mission system; talking to NPCs and (I would guess, though it hasn't happened to me yet) progressing through the story will trigger missions where you'll need to accomplish a particular objective and then you get rewarded. It marks down all the missions you complete. Some of them so far have been fairly menial (deliver lunches to people around the town), but I'm hoping they'll get progressively more in-depth, and at the very least, there are a lot of them (five or six triggered in the first town).
Musashi Wins! said:
Maybe it will be in the end, but I'd like to give it a fair shot first. The control issues... are going to be there forever, and aren't going to get better as I progress through the game. But like I said, the battle system is solid and the magic system is solid, and I like what I've seen of the environments so far -- if those get better and more complex, that'll go a long way.
And while the story seems awfully generic so far, it could improve. I dunno, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance took a villain as seemingly generic as a "Black Knight" and turned him into a phenomenal adversary -- this game could do likewise. I'll give it a fair chance.
cleveridea
Member
this game is pretty old school, like a decade ago. At first I was massively disappointed. Everything about the game is slow - the movement speed (which the guide mentions NEVER improves, ie there is no speed increase items), lack of a run button (you look like u are running by default but the speed is slow), lots of levelling needed (right from the start - dont go too far without leveling), the breaking up of areas into multiple small zones.
there's a lot of stuff in the game though, 500+ recipes, huge variety of weapons and items, hundreds of 'spells'.
The game has potential to be rewarding to those willing to accept relatively unexciting production values, and SLOW, deliberate, old fashioned gameplay. Most PSP owners will prefer Tales Eternia and VP I think. If I was reviewing this game in a rush, I'd HATE THE GAME. I can see where some of the really low scores come from.
there's a lot of stuff in the game though, 500+ recipes, huge variety of weapons and items, hundreds of 'spells'.
The game has potential to be rewarding to those willing to accept relatively unexciting production values, and SLOW, deliberate, old fashioned gameplay. Most PSP owners will prefer Tales Eternia and VP I think. If I was reviewing this game in a rush, I'd HATE THE GAME. I can see where some of the really low scores come from.
cleveridea
Member
BTW the luna bar during battle gives you bonus experience, 1 XP per 10 lunar points left on the gauge after battle. The lunar bar grows bigger by completeing quests/missions.
kisakiproject
Member
I got it. Dunno why its getting all the negative press. The only flaw I have seen so far is that you have to level alot, and by alot I mean a ****ing ridiculous amount. So its hard, but really has no other flaws. Its a case of softcore game reviews not being able to handle a hardcore game. For hardcore RPG fans I'de give it a 8.5. BUt for everybody else stay away its to hard for you.
Drinky Crow
Banned
It sucks. Stay far away from it.
BTW, I have yet to see ONE print press gaming review comment on Astonishia Story's WAREZ FAIRY antics. Did they even PLAY the game? (Not that I'd really blame them if they didn't.)
BTW, I have yet to see ONE print press gaming review comment on Astonishia Story's WAREZ FAIRY antics. Did they even PLAY the game? (Not that I'd really blame them if they didn't.)
Drinky Crow said:
I THINK (meaning, barely recall but am way too lazy to go and confirm) that GameSpot made a brief mention of it -- so slight that you wouldn't even really recognize what they had been talking about unless the WAREZ FAIRY had been explained to you in more detail elsewhere, or if you had encountered it yourself.
But I agree with you. Given the way Astonishia tried to present a melodramatically serious story overall, and how much the godawful WAREZ bullshit clashed with that, not mentioning it in greater detail is pisspoor reviewing.
Bebpo said:
Thanks! After Astonishia Story and now Blade Dancer, I'm afraid, though, that this may become my "thing" -- torturing myself through mediocre to horrendous RPGs to warn others away.
The more I play through Blade Dancer, the more unforgivable I find its shody controls, slow speeds, low production values, and poor menu layout. I've no problems at all with RPGs that stick with the tried and true play mechanics (not every game can be a genre-defining innovator), but if you're going to go with the tried and true, for ****'s sake, get it right.
ethelred said:
Funny that you mention that, my fiance is playing AS right now and hit the two Warez Fairy parts, and said that they were not nearly as bad as you said they were, and you would've had to be totally spazzing the button and not paying attention at all to answer that question wrong where your health goes down, and apparently when you answered it correctly you got XP or something.
Everything else was pretty much accurate, but she's insisting on slogging through it since she likes the sprite graphics and it's apparently pretty short since she's halfway through with a day or two of playtime.
SailorDaravon said:
Aw come on. The very fact that there even IS a warez fairy in the game, is horrible enough. That it appears more than once is unforgivable. :lol
And ethelred, I'm really getting scared for you. If Sony doesn't bring over Monster Kingdom, Brave Story or Jeanne d'Arc anytime soon, I'm afraid of what else you might pick up for the PSP. How can you continue to do this to yourself?! >_<
duckroll said:
I'm... kinda getting a bit scared for me, too.
It's like a sickness or something.
This isn't even taking into account the time I've put into the Legend of Heroes games or Lord of the Rings "Hey guys, remember that fantastic, visionary, blockbuster game Vandal Hearts II?" Tactics.
Please, somebody stop me.
Well, your next project is to finish Kingdom of Paradise Hey, I did it, you can too.
Anyway, I played through 14 hours of Blade Dancer with the review copy, but there was a bug that restarted my PSP.... so I was tricked into playing a game I couldn't finish. As time went on, I started hating it less and less though. One thing that pissed me off, and it's just a little thing, is that foot steps on grass, dirt, rocks, whatever, all sounded like you were walking on stone. Seriously, when grass clinks, that's not a good thing.
Hey, I did it, you can too.Anyway, I played through 14 hours of Blade Dancer with the review copy, but there was a bug that restarted my PSP.... so I was tricked into playing a game I couldn't finish. As time went on, I started hating it less and less though. One thing that pissed me off, and it's just a little thing, is that foot steps on grass, dirt, rocks, whatever, all sounded like you were walking on stone. Seriously, when grass clinks, that's not a good thing.
Kuro Madoushi
Unconfirmed Member
ethelred said:
You can change the camera control in the options.
I hate to bump an old thread, but it's better then starting a new one...
I'm not really feeling all the hate towards this game myself. Here's what I've discovered after putting in about 10-15 hours.
-LOTS of walking. The earlier posters weren't kidding about the slow walk speed. Some of the cities have beautiful expansive areas, but it's pretty much BS having to take 30+ secs just to walk from one end to the other (x3). Prepare to do a LOT of back tracking as you push further and further into the wild areas. So far I've only found a single teleportation device, but it just transports you from a far place to a further one.
-Overworld. No random encounters. This is a major plus for me. You can see every encounter and avoid most of them (especially in outdoor areas) if you want to sneak your way through quickly. The enemies in fields are generic looking skulls that have 4 different colors corresponding to the difficulty of fighting with your party (Blue, White, Red, Grey(?)) The latter 3 will chase you around the map if you get too close to their patrol zone, while the blue weak ones will try to avoid you. If you enter combat and flee, the monster remains, but is stunned for several seconds. I LOVE the fact that you can target and view the names of monsters in each group from the overworld before engaging It makes it much easier to pick your fights. Monsters respawn 20 or 30 seconds after being defeated. As long as you stay out of their patrol zones you don't have to worry about being attacked and can do whatever crafting/healing etc that you want without interruption. The lack of pause during combat or in the field is pretty annoying to me.
-Battle system- The battle system has been pretty well covered so far, but I'll add that this game has weapon durability.... Annoying to some, liked by others. I'm rather neutral about it in this game since swords are cheap to craft, and your unarmed combat does almost as much damage at least in the early (1-10hr) game. You do need to have a weapon equiped to cast magic though. I don't believe that the big combo attacks add any wear on your weapons, so apart from a loss of bonus experience (100LP combo reduces it by 10xp) I didn't sweat it too much. There are a TON of worthless buff spells. What's the point of wasting an attack turn that can deal 1/3 of the enemy's HP just to increase party defense, attack, or speed by 10%? They might be useful against bosses, but they're just worthless to me so far. The earlier posters were correct... There is a lot of leveling up in this game. Things can get pretty hairy if you try to speed through it, but at least you can see the red enemies on the field to give you a heads up before getting butchered.
-Saves- There are far too few save spots in the game, Of the two towns I've visited so far, each has one, and there is one every 5 or so maps apart in the overworld.
-Crafting- Normally I hate crafting in games, but I've been finding this game's version quite fun. Every armor, weapon, and item is made of components, and each of them can be analyzed for 100coins to learn the recipe for that item. In other words you can make copies of whatever you find or buy (no need to guess recipies) , assuming take it to an analyzer before the weapon wears out (items and armor don't have durability points) Some items are made from several nested levels of items meaning you can either buy the components for a sword, or the sub components to create the components and so on. I've saved a lot of money by creating weapons and armor instead of buying them. A sword that may cost 2500 coins, can be made for around 1000 in purchased components, or even cheaper if you craft those components from items found in the field. I like the fact that the armor shop advertises the components of each of the items. I don't need to buy one to get analyzed, I just mix it without a recipe by selecting the ingredients. After a successful one, the recipe is added automatically and can be reproduced for free assuming I have the required components.
Overall I'm quite fond of the game except for the annoying amount of running and give it a 85/100
I'm not really feeling all the hate towards this game myself. Here's what I've discovered after putting in about 10-15 hours.
-LOTS of walking. The earlier posters weren't kidding about the slow walk speed. Some of the cities have beautiful expansive areas, but it's pretty much BS having to take 30+ secs just to walk from one end to the other (x3). Prepare to do a LOT of back tracking as you push further and further into the wild areas. So far I've only found a single teleportation device, but it just transports you from a far place to a further one.
-Overworld. No random encounters. This is a major plus for me. You can see every encounter and avoid most of them (especially in outdoor areas) if you want to sneak your way through quickly. The enemies in fields are generic looking skulls that have 4 different colors corresponding to the difficulty of fighting with your party (Blue, White, Red, Grey(?)) The latter 3 will chase you around the map if you get too close to their patrol zone, while the blue weak ones will try to avoid you. If you enter combat and flee, the monster remains, but is stunned for several seconds. I LOVE the fact that you can target and view the names of monsters in each group from the overworld before engaging It makes it much easier to pick your fights. Monsters respawn 20 or 30 seconds after being defeated. As long as you stay out of their patrol zones you don't have to worry about being attacked and can do whatever crafting/healing etc that you want without interruption. The lack of pause during combat or in the field is pretty annoying to me.
-Battle system- The battle system has been pretty well covered so far, but I'll add that this game has weapon durability.... Annoying to some, liked by others. I'm rather neutral about it in this game since swords are cheap to craft, and your unarmed combat does almost as much damage at least in the early (1-10hr) game. You do need to have a weapon equiped to cast magic though. I don't believe that the big combo attacks add any wear on your weapons, so apart from a loss of bonus experience (100LP combo reduces it by 10xp) I didn't sweat it too much. There are a TON of worthless buff spells. What's the point of wasting an attack turn that can deal 1/3 of the enemy's HP just to increase party defense, attack, or speed by 10%? They might be useful against bosses, but they're just worthless to me so far. The earlier posters were correct... There is a lot of leveling up in this game. Things can get pretty hairy if you try to speed through it, but at least you can see the red enemies on the field to give you a heads up before getting butchered.
-Saves- There are far too few save spots in the game, Of the two towns I've visited so far, each has one, and there is one every 5 or so maps apart in the overworld.
-Crafting- Normally I hate crafting in games, but I've been finding this game's version quite fun. Every armor, weapon, and item is made of components, and each of them can be analyzed for 100coins to learn the recipe for that item. In other words you can make copies of whatever you find or buy (no need to guess recipies) , assuming take it to an analyzer before the weapon wears out (items and armor don't have durability points) Some items are made from several nested levels of items meaning you can either buy the components for a sword, or the sub components to create the components and so on. I've saved a lot of money by creating weapons and armor instead of buying them. A sword that may cost 2500 coins, can be made for around 1000 in purchased components, or even cheaper if you craft those components from items found in the field. I like the fact that the armor shop advertises the components of each of the items. I don't need to buy one to get analyzed, I just mix it without a recipe by selecting the ingredients. After a successful one, the recipe is added automatically and can be reproduced for free assuming I have the required components.
Overall I'm quite fond of the game except for the annoying amount of running and give it a 85/100