Shouta
Member
So uh, game's been out for two weeks in Japan and no one's posted anything on it yet? Sheesh. I guess I'll do a bit, been awhile since I've done a thread though. No pictures at the moment unfortunately as I'm at work.
Anyway, the game can be described basically as Level-5 Medabots. The robots are actually toys in the game's setting, albeit really dangerous toys. So much so that they were banned in the game's world once before the beginning of the story. However, because Enhanced Cardboard was created, the toys were allowed again because they could fight in those boxes without having to worry much about damage. They were then called Danbell Senki or Cardboard Troopers (literally robot) hence the title of the game.
Graphics
So despite not looking anything like the PR shots they released ages ago, the game is actually rather nice-looking. It's very colorful, the areas are packed with a lot of neat little details. In a lot of ways, these graphics are the style I'd imagine a new Megaman Legends game would look like on the PSP, a very cartoon-y but warm feel to it despite the technical deficiencies. The character models look very close to their artwork and the robots are pretty details themselves. So while the game isn't anywhere near what the expectations were, I think it's a rather great looking game still.
Sound
I'm not a big aficionado of game music but the soundtrack seems very nice overall. Much of the map music is pretty good and the battle theme isn't too bad either. The biggest point on the sound issue is that there's a lot of voice-acting in the game. I'm only three chapters in and it's surprising how much there's been for almost all the characters. Most of it is solid which helps as well.
Gameplay: RPG section
As the game puts it, there are two sections to it. There's the RPG section, i.e. walk around town, talk to people, progress the story, customize your LBX etc and the battling section.
The RPG section is pretty standard fair though actually, it reminds me of Persona 3/4 in a lot of ways. I think it's because of the way the game sets up the areas and the map. It works exactly like P3/4s map system, areas of town are contained and when you exit it you go to the town map to pick another area. On top of that, the usual areas are all found in it, there's the shopping district, the school, the station, the housing district, the area by the river, etc. In fact, the perspective in the shopping district kind of reminds me of P4's district as well.
One of the other reasons why this section reminds me of P3/4 is, while there is no actual time system to DS, the game progresses the story and presents the characters as living their day to day lives. So your characters go home because it's their curfew or they have to go to school, or an event is set at a certain time to their day. So while you don't have control of the day, it still feels like you're watching their daily lives occur. You also get periodic emails from your friends and can call them to battle at designated spots.
To take it a step further, the game has a Quest BBS that looks a little like the quest system from P3/P4 and functions the same too. You go around town solving people's problems for rewards and the like. It's all really strange how close it feels.
The biggest part of the RPG section is the customization though. The LBX can be customized to a ridiculous degree parts, weapons, internal chips, special attacks, etc. You can mix and match however you like to make your own robot. The only thing I haven't seen yet is the ability to customize the coloring scheme. I haven't seen any option for it in Chap 3 yet but I highly doubt it'll be in the game though I could be wrong. The parts you like also increase in stats as you use them so you can create your own robot and use it for most of the game you want.
Gameplay: Combat
Before the start of matches you're given a chance to customize your LBX and scope out the type of terrain and your opponents a little bit it comes up as a nifty little VS screen
The game is far more action-based than I imagined it to be. Battles are up to 3v3 as well or can be handicap matches as well. You run around the field smacking your opponents with the weapons you equipped to your LBX (up to 2 at a time). It actually reminds me a lot of the gundam arcade games in how it moves or maybe some of the arena battling games.
You'll be running around the field and beating up opponents is basically the concept. However, to prevent you from spamming in the game, it uses a tension meter that drains with every attack. If you repeatedly attack too much, the meter drains and your LBX temporarily becomes massively weakened dealing pretty much no damage to the enemy and taking more. So the game isn't just about mashing the attack button as much as possible. Maneuvering to get in using Jump and Dash is pretty important to the game as well so of course the game moves very quickly overall
You'll also get special attacks and items to use in battle that you can customize before the fight. Special attacks are initiated by R1 if you have enough Charge Points to use them. You can equip a max of 3 between your two weapons and they come in two varieties, the Special and the Super variety. Specials are lower level and come out instantly while the Supers charge some, require more CP to use and usually deal bigger damage as well. You can also avoid special attacks, though I'm not sure about Supers.
There are also different rules for matches that can occur. One style involves the first side to down your opponent three times wins the other is is side with a robot still standing wins. And within that, there's matches with restrictions on items and the like. There are also battles where the limiter is released on the LBX giving them 3x HP and 2x the attack power. It's all a little confusing until they explain it to you but it certainly keeps it a little interesting. I could describe the match setups that they have in the game but eh, too much space taken.
The 3v3 matches in the game are interesting and a little hectic at times. You control only one of your units and the other two are AI partners. You can change their AI setting mid-battle as need be though. The AI is generally competent enough to handle itself as well which is a relative relief. The game hasn't been super hard though and considering L5, it probably won't get hard either.
Other stuff
I think the thing that's surprised me the most is that it has that kids franchise look to it and they're trying to have a story in it. Right from the get go we have folks smuggling tech out of labs, torn families, conspiracies, and presidential assassinations. That's all in the first 2 or 3 chapters of the game. It's all kind of simple stuff but it manages to be strung together in a rather fun manner and it's actually trying something with its setup. Game feels like it's closer to Inazuma Eleven/Layton L5 than it does WKC L5 (not that it would be hard to be better than WKC L5). I'm actually rather interested in how the story turns out, which is crazy for an L5 game.
That's all for now, I'll update this thread as I get farther into the game. No one else is playing it and there's no official thread so oh well!
Anyway, the game can be described basically as Level-5 Medabots. The robots are actually toys in the game's setting, albeit really dangerous toys. So much so that they were banned in the game's world once before the beginning of the story. However, because Enhanced Cardboard was created, the toys were allowed again because they could fight in those boxes without having to worry much about damage. They were then called Danbell Senki or Cardboard Troopers (literally robot) hence the title of the game.
Graphics
So despite not looking anything like the PR shots they released ages ago, the game is actually rather nice-looking. It's very colorful, the areas are packed with a lot of neat little details. In a lot of ways, these graphics are the style I'd imagine a new Megaman Legends game would look like on the PSP, a very cartoon-y but warm feel to it despite the technical deficiencies. The character models look very close to their artwork and the robots are pretty details themselves. So while the game isn't anywhere near what the expectations were, I think it's a rather great looking game still.
Sound
I'm not a big aficionado of game music but the soundtrack seems very nice overall. Much of the map music is pretty good and the battle theme isn't too bad either. The biggest point on the sound issue is that there's a lot of voice-acting in the game. I'm only three chapters in and it's surprising how much there's been for almost all the characters. Most of it is solid which helps as well.
Gameplay: RPG section
As the game puts it, there are two sections to it. There's the RPG section, i.e. walk around town, talk to people, progress the story, customize your LBX etc and the battling section.
The RPG section is pretty standard fair though actually, it reminds me of Persona 3/4 in a lot of ways. I think it's because of the way the game sets up the areas and the map. It works exactly like P3/4s map system, areas of town are contained and when you exit it you go to the town map to pick another area. On top of that, the usual areas are all found in it, there's the shopping district, the school, the station, the housing district, the area by the river, etc. In fact, the perspective in the shopping district kind of reminds me of P4's district as well.
One of the other reasons why this section reminds me of P3/4 is, while there is no actual time system to DS, the game progresses the story and presents the characters as living their day to day lives. So your characters go home because it's their curfew or they have to go to school, or an event is set at a certain time to their day. So while you don't have control of the day, it still feels like you're watching their daily lives occur. You also get periodic emails from your friends and can call them to battle at designated spots.
To take it a step further, the game has a Quest BBS that looks a little like the quest system from P3/P4 and functions the same too. You go around town solving people's problems for rewards and the like. It's all really strange how close it feels.
The biggest part of the RPG section is the customization though. The LBX can be customized to a ridiculous degree parts, weapons, internal chips, special attacks, etc. You can mix and match however you like to make your own robot. The only thing I haven't seen yet is the ability to customize the coloring scheme. I haven't seen any option for it in Chap 3 yet but I highly doubt it'll be in the game though I could be wrong. The parts you like also increase in stats as you use them so you can create your own robot and use it for most of the game you want.
Gameplay: Combat
Before the start of matches you're given a chance to customize your LBX and scope out the type of terrain and your opponents a little bit it comes up as a nifty little VS screen
The game is far more action-based than I imagined it to be. Battles are up to 3v3 as well or can be handicap matches as well. You run around the field smacking your opponents with the weapons you equipped to your LBX (up to 2 at a time). It actually reminds me a lot of the gundam arcade games in how it moves or maybe some of the arena battling games.
You'll be running around the field and beating up opponents is basically the concept. However, to prevent you from spamming in the game, it uses a tension meter that drains with every attack. If you repeatedly attack too much, the meter drains and your LBX temporarily becomes massively weakened dealing pretty much no damage to the enemy and taking more. So the game isn't just about mashing the attack button as much as possible. Maneuvering to get in using Jump and Dash is pretty important to the game as well so of course the game moves very quickly overall
You'll also get special attacks and items to use in battle that you can customize before the fight. Special attacks are initiated by R1 if you have enough Charge Points to use them. You can equip a max of 3 between your two weapons and they come in two varieties, the Special and the Super variety. Specials are lower level and come out instantly while the Supers charge some, require more CP to use and usually deal bigger damage as well. You can also avoid special attacks, though I'm not sure about Supers.
There are also different rules for matches that can occur. One style involves the first side to down your opponent three times wins the other is is side with a robot still standing wins. And within that, there's matches with restrictions on items and the like. There are also battles where the limiter is released on the LBX giving them 3x HP and 2x the attack power. It's all a little confusing until they explain it to you but it certainly keeps it a little interesting. I could describe the match setups that they have in the game but eh, too much space taken.
The 3v3 matches in the game are interesting and a little hectic at times. You control only one of your units and the other two are AI partners. You can change their AI setting mid-battle as need be though. The AI is generally competent enough to handle itself as well which is a relative relief. The game hasn't been super hard though and considering L5, it probably won't get hard either.
Other stuff
I think the thing that's surprised me the most is that it has that kids franchise look to it and they're trying to have a story in it. Right from the get go we have folks smuggling tech out of labs, torn families, conspiracies, and presidential assassinations. That's all in the first 2 or 3 chapters of the game. It's all kind of simple stuff but it manages to be strung together in a rather fun manner and it's actually trying something with its setup. Game feels like it's closer to Inazuma Eleven/Layton L5 than it does WKC L5 (not that it would be hard to be better than WKC L5). I'm actually rather interested in how the story turns out, which is crazy for an L5 game.
That's all for now, I'll update this thread as I get farther into the game. No one else is playing it and there's no official thread so oh well!
