• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Crimson Shroud |OT| Matsuno fails saving throw, relegated to eShop release

duckroll

Member
The official site is up: http://level5ia.com/blackbox/us/crimson-shroud/

I'm getting an orgasm looking at some of these screens:

OXpRb.jpg
Y2IBZ.jpg

FZ9uu.jpg
RJcZh.jpg
 

Gambit

Member
...and bought.

Not sure when I will actually get to play it, but I wanted to make a statement by buying it right away.
 

Wiz

Member
Impressions from anyone who is getting this please. If it's good I'll buy it. I kinda held off on Liberation Maiden because it was getting mixed reviews.
 

TEJ

Member
MATSUNICA

FUCK YEAH

GIVING US A GAME TO SAVE THE MOTHER FUCKING DAY YEAH

I love Matsuno almost as much as I love America. Almost

Buying this game today for sure!
 

Peff

Member
FINALLY.

Dat Sakimoto music playing along the intro <3 Even the title screen is quite Vagrant Story-ish.
 

luca1980

Banned
i don't know how much i will be able to hold on my 3ds purchase...
Matsuno goodness is a must!!!!

anyway let's change the name of the topic, let us roll toghether
 
Very early to give proper impressions but so far so good. As you expect the whole game has that "Vagrant Story" feel in it. Good music and great writting for now.

never heard about this game, sounds really interesting... do we already know the EU price?

7,99&#8364;
 

Zornica

Banned
never heard about this game, sounds really interesting... do we already know the EU price?

7,99&#8364;

edit:
I wish they'd just release a "eShop best of" cartrige with all relevant eshop games on it for retail or through club nintendo for 5000 Stars + 50&#8364;, or something like that
I am not ready yet to pay for stuff I don't really own (aka digial content).
 

Peff

Member
Finished playing through the intro and first rooms, which are pretty much a disguised tutorial, but even now I think it's safe to say that fence sitters should be fully aware of what they'd be getting into, that is, a game that tries to appeal to a quite specific set of tastes. It may be a precarious prediction, but I can definitely see the slow/plodding complaints ringing true for later encounters. Not that I mind as long as they're interesting, but it could be an issue for some.

Other than that, the talk of "Visual Novel+battle system" going around from the Japanese version does give a good idea of what to expect. As you read through the story (the translation is decidedly evocative so far) you are prompted to make choices and in some cases you have to pass a dice check to see your choice successfully carried out. Besides this, you get to move around a 2D map to trigger new events. It's similar to Unlimited SaGa, but without drowning in Event Reels all the time. The battle system feels like a small scale version of Tactics Ogre. Each character has their own set of skills and/or magic and you gain MP each turn in order to use them. You can use both an skill and an attack in the same turn, but the more actions you take the longer it'll take for that character's next turn to arrive. After the battle you get to use Barter Points (how many you get depends on your performance) to obtain part of the loot dropped by the enemies: each item has a set value and you have to spend as much as possible because it doesn't transfer. You also get to choose extra skills after certain fights, which I imagine are scripted because characters don't level up, you have to use Gear to both modify their stats and spells, which could be another potential source of frustration with the pacing. After the end of each battle you keep the accumulated MP, but it goes down every time you move to a different room.

The graphics are kind of a mix bag. While the models look great and have a decent amount of detail, some of the backgrounds they strangely decide to focus on are pretty low-res, plus everything looks jaggy, though this might be lessened in 2D. Sakimoto's style will be easily recognized by everybody, and he doesn't disappoint so far.

It's too early to say more one way or the other, but the prospect of exploring a brand new Matsuno title after so long makes me feel fuzzy inside. We'll see!
 

Oxx

Member
I'll probably be in for this once I make more of a dent into my pile of retail 3DS games.

Onto the 'Watch-list' it goes.

(Does the watch-list do anything other than listing stuff so that you don't have to navigate the eShop to find it again later?)
 

Ryuukan

Member
Just finished first battle, this is very Matsuno. The stats, the menus, the story, its like Matsuno is dripping onto my floor from the 3DS XL.
 

panda21

Member
i actually have guild 01 but i never played this because i assumed it would be too confusing (in Japanese). i think i might try it and then buy it in english if its good..
 

duckroll

Member
Played about 40 minutes, which is about the first two battles. The presentation is fantastic, and I have no problems at all recommending this game to anyone who enjoys Matsuno's previous games and really appreciate the layers in their mechanics. This is totally a love letter to tabletop RPGs, and it feels so good. It's also the perfect sort of portable game for those looking for Matsuno writing and stat driven battles. It feels like reading a short novel, while interacting with a passive game master from time to time. There's no way to replicate the feel of a real tabletop RPG with other players and a real game master, but this totally captures the presentation tone of the playing pieces assembled on a board, while the actual game mechanics feel more like a really well written choose-your-own-adventure novel. The music and sound direction also feels really high effort, and that adds a lot to the story scenes, since the pieces can't move. Great stuff so far.
 

Suzzopher

Member
Have to agree with duckroll. Really enjoying this so far. I am a huge fan of table top RPGs and Matsuno games.

The music and presentation is fantastic.
 

zroid

Banned
I'm counting on you GAF to give me the low-down on this. Reviews and early impressions have been all across the board so I don't know what to believe.
 
Played about 40 minutes, which is about the first two battles. The presentation is fantastic, and I have no problems at all recommending this game to anyone who enjoys Matsuno's previous games and really appreciate the layers in their mechanics. This is totally a love letter to tabletop RPGs, and it feels so good. It's also the perfect sort of portable game for those looking for Matsuno writing and stat driven battles. It feels like reading a short novel, while interacting with a passive game master from time to time. There's no way to replicate the feel of a real tabletop RPG with other players and a real game master, but this totally captures the presentation tone of the playing pieces assembled on a board, while the actual game mechanics feel more like a really well written choose-your-own-adventure novel. The music and sound direction also feels really high effort, and that adds a lot to the story scenes, since the pieces can't move. Great stuff so far.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand bought
 

Ryuukan

Member
I'm counting on you GAF to give me the low-down on this. Reviews and early impressions have been all across the board so I don't know what to believe.

If you have a system that you're buying $40 games on, this is an easy call. It's only $8. Be very glad we aren't forced to pay $40 for it along with some other crappy games.
 

zroid

Banned
If you have a system that you're buying $40 games on, this is an easy call. It's only $8. Be very glad we aren't forced to pay $40 for it along with some other crappy games.

Based on what I heard from players of the JP version, this one's actually the weakest of the four titles!

(note I'm not necessarily inclined to believe them)
 

duckroll

Member
The 3D effect works really well in the game too. I keep it on most of the time, and because it's such a slow paced game (this is NOT a bad thing) the extra depth in the screen makes the tabletop feel stand out even more. I love the controls too. Using the touch screen feels really natural when navigating the menus, even if the number of options do feel overwhelming at first.
 
Tabletop RPG's + Matsuno + Sakimoto + Unlimited Saga miniatures and board movement + Dice Rolls sound so good to me.

I really hope this experimental small game becomes something larger in the future. Can't buy today but will jump on it this weekend, when I have time to play.
 
Top Bottom