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Fire in the Hole! ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat Japanese Release
- Thread starter ethelred
- Start date
I don't know if this was linked or not, but...
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/yasj/system.html
Click on バトル and there's a movie there that shows a real battle.
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/yasj/system.html
Click on バトル and there's a movie there that shows a real battle.
Desiderus said:
Well, they didn't design the FMA games either -- Square Enix did. I don't really see a difference in the model used for this game and that used for Cavia's or Artoon's. If ASH is bad it will be because Mistwalker designed a bad game, period. But considering no less than five gaffers have the game en route (myself, Beb, Aeana, Trin, Ducky) people should really wait for some concrete impressions before freaking out.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
..Fire in the Hole?
I can confirm the last page of the manual says:
"Developed by
RACJIN Co., Ltd.
Produced & Planning by
MISTWALKER Co., Ltd.
Pubilshed by
NINTENDO Co., Ltd.
@2007 Nintendo/MISTWALKER"
Now I have no opinion on whether using Racjin is good or not, but I think it's fair to state at this point that Mistwalker's strategy is finding the cheapest no-name dev team to actually develop each of their games. If they turn out good and sell lots, it's probably not a bad strategy as it makes them $$$.
"Developed by
RACJIN Co., Ltd.
Produced & Planning by
MISTWALKER Co., Ltd.
Pubilshed by
NINTENDO Co., Ltd.
@2007 Nintendo/MISTWALKER"
Now I have no opinion on whether using Racjin is good or not, but I think it's fair to state at this point that Mistwalker's strategy is finding the cheapest no-name dev team to actually develop each of their games. If they turn out good and sell lots, it's probably not a bad strategy as it makes them $$$.
I dunno, Artoon/cavia/feelplus+ all have pretty notable pedigrees in terms of where their staff came from (Namco, SEGA, Square). Racjin's really the lone "no name" group, and even they have some recognizable games behind them (Fullmetal Alchemist, Snowboard Kids, Bomberman Land/Kart, Bleach SS, Naruto Spirits, Subrebellion, Wizardry, Tengai Makuyo Neo, Trap Gunner, etc).
Did the 1st chapter. Game seems pretty solid from a gameplay system point of view. Had no issues with the touch controls so dunno what people are talking about there. Only GUI problem so far is that it requires too many touches for a lot of things that could've been simplified.
Fun so far. 2d sprites are worse than something Idea Factory would pump out though, lol. The pre-rendered stuff is alright. I know they said they wanted to make it look like a PS2 game, but...it doesn't. Looks like pre-rendered stuff from long long ago.
Fun so far. 2d sprites are worse than something Idea Factory would pump out though, lol. The pre-rendered stuff is alright. I know they said they wanted to make it look like a PS2 game, but...it doesn't. Looks like pre-rendered stuff from long long ago.
Just finished chapter 2. Here's some thoughts and impressions:
There's less voice than I expected, considering the supposed size of the game (2 gigabits?). The first few dialog boxes were voiced, but I haven't heard voice outside of movies since then.
The game is really pretty in battle, but the sprites on the battlefield look kind of cheap. That doesn't bother me, but it was apparent enough that I noticed it.
The perspective of the battlefield sucks. If you have two units standing north/south of another one, it's kind of tough to target the unit that's further north. You can adjust the camera pitch, and rotate in 90 degree steps, which does help a little.
The touch controls are annoying... you have to tap each menu item twice. To attack, you have to double-tap the sprite on the map, double-tap the 'attack' option, and then TRIPLE-tap the enemy (the third tap is for the confirmation dialog...) I really don't see any reason for that. :\
The music is awesome, and it's definitely classic Sakimoto.
The party-wide AP system works as I expected it to: you can move/act any of your party members, as long as you have enough AP to do so. There's a 'battle' marker on the AP bar that, when passed, won't allow you to attack.
You can open chests and talk to people on the map, sort of like Fire Emblem.
Party members who are on your team can join in the battle from a reasonable distance away, but if they're too far away, their melee attacks will be weaker. I think the game said there are 3 distance levels: 1-3 squares, 4-6 squares, and 7-9 squares. This applies for both enemies and your group. When you initiate an attack, it goes until you win, die, or run away... which is pretty cool, I think.
Battles in general are a bit slow, because the attack animations take a while to play, but it isn't that bad at all. The skills seem pretty cool so far, especially the heal spell: you have to sweep the cursor across your characters to select them for the heal spell. I saw some other interactive stuff in the TV ad, so I'm looking forward to that.
The potency of spells (or at least the heal spell, the only one I've tried) varies depending on how many targets it has, which I found to be pretty interesting.
The UI design in the game is really nice. I especially like the setup screen before each chapter, where you can summon party members, arrange your groups, equip characters, talk to party members, etc.
The actual usability of the nice UI leaves a bit to be desired. From what I can see, it's not possible to see how a piece of equipment affects a unit until you buy it, or see how much a currently-equipped piece of equipment affects the unit. Yikes.
On some battlefields, there are glowing circles that, when examined, allow you to restore your group's AP. The game also said they can restore HP/MP sometimes, but the one I saw didn't allow that.
After completing chapter 2, the map I was on became a 'free' map, wherein I can seemingly grind characters if I choose to do so.
I've only tried battler and white mage so far, but they're pretty standard. The class abilities and items actually quite remind me of Final Fantasy. I'm considering bringing in some of the other classes so I can try them out. Stealer and itemer both look pretty cool.
So far, I really like the game. The negative stuff I mentioned is annoying, but it hasn't bothered me that much (except for the shop/equipment thing... I'm going to hate that, unless I'm overlooking something here).
More impressions as I get further in the game!
There's less voice than I expected, considering the supposed size of the game (2 gigabits?). The first few dialog boxes were voiced, but I haven't heard voice outside of movies since then.
The game is really pretty in battle, but the sprites on the battlefield look kind of cheap. That doesn't bother me, but it was apparent enough that I noticed it.
The perspective of the battlefield sucks. If you have two units standing north/south of another one, it's kind of tough to target the unit that's further north. You can adjust the camera pitch, and rotate in 90 degree steps, which does help a little.
The touch controls are annoying... you have to tap each menu item twice. To attack, you have to double-tap the sprite on the map, double-tap the 'attack' option, and then TRIPLE-tap the enemy (the third tap is for the confirmation dialog...) I really don't see any reason for that. :\
The music is awesome, and it's definitely classic Sakimoto.
The party-wide AP system works as I expected it to: you can move/act any of your party members, as long as you have enough AP to do so. There's a 'battle' marker on the AP bar that, when passed, won't allow you to attack.
You can open chests and talk to people on the map, sort of like Fire Emblem.
Party members who are on your team can join in the battle from a reasonable distance away, but if they're too far away, their melee attacks will be weaker. I think the game said there are 3 distance levels: 1-3 squares, 4-6 squares, and 7-9 squares. This applies for both enemies and your group. When you initiate an attack, it goes until you win, die, or run away... which is pretty cool, I think.
Battles in general are a bit slow, because the attack animations take a while to play, but it isn't that bad at all. The skills seem pretty cool so far, especially the heal spell: you have to sweep the cursor across your characters to select them for the heal spell. I saw some other interactive stuff in the TV ad, so I'm looking forward to that.
The potency of spells (or at least the heal spell, the only one I've tried) varies depending on how many targets it has, which I found to be pretty interesting.
The UI design in the game is really nice. I especially like the setup screen before each chapter, where you can summon party members, arrange your groups, equip characters, talk to party members, etc.
The actual usability of the nice UI leaves a bit to be desired. From what I can see, it's not possible to see how a piece of equipment affects a unit until you buy it, or see how much a currently-equipped piece of equipment affects the unit. Yikes.
On some battlefields, there are glowing circles that, when examined, allow you to restore your group's AP. The game also said they can restore HP/MP sometimes, but the one I saw didn't allow that.
After completing chapter 2, the map I was on became a 'free' map, wherein I can seemingly grind characters if I choose to do so.
I've only tried battler and white mage so far, but they're pretty standard. The class abilities and items actually quite remind me of Final Fantasy. I'm considering bringing in some of the other classes so I can try them out. Stealer and itemer both look pretty cool.
So far, I really like the game. The negative stuff I mentioned is annoying, but it hasn't bothered me that much (except for the shop/equipment thing... I'm going to hate that, unless I'm overlooking something here).
More impressions as I get further in the game!
Aeana said:
There are two composers listed in the credits.
Sakimoto
Masaharu Iwata
Game reminds me of Etrain in that it's old-school in presentation. Definitely interested in playing more, but I really should finish Crystal Chronicles DS first because I'm like 50% in and there's only 5 hours left and it's sorta sucky awesome atm. Will probably get to ASH on the weekend.
Well, having heard all tracks on the gamerip, I am 100% sure this is Sakimoto and Iwata only, none of those "other" composers came close to it.
I also think it is the best music by Sakimoto in 2007 so far... much better than Odin Sphere/Grim Grimoire.
You can find the rip at altpop, btw.
I also think it is the best music by Sakimoto in 2007 so far... much better than Odin Sphere/Grim Grimoire.
You can find the rip at altpop, btw.
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
Aeana said:
No buy
I hate when they do this in Strategy RPG's, and when it is implemented I avoid it like the plague (Read: Fire Emblem).
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
jj984jj said:
I hate it in games, so deal with it.
Jeanne D'arc did it right
Hcoregamer00 said:
So you won't play Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, or Fire Emblem? You don't sound like much of an SRPG fan at all, because you've just ruled out a good 70% of the quality games in the genre.
Bebpo said:
Good stuff. Sakimoto and Iwata are a fantastic team.
Aeana said:
This is a very good news. I like my SRPG Hard and difficult. I found Luminous Arc a little bit too easy because there is no perma-death there. the closer a game get to instant perma-death (like Fire Emblem), the better that game is to my taste.
I will buy this game if it is released in US or Europe.
KyanMehwulfe
Member
I'm very fond of permadeath.jj984jj said:
My first time I played through Tactics Ogre, I did so without even Revive. So it was literally a case of KO meaning gone-forever. I remember struggling through the last 5 hours because I started losing some of my better members, and I was barely making ends meet by switching in weaker reinforcements, trying to stretch my gear as thin as possible, etc.
It actually sort of improved the atmosphere of the story since I was feeling that struggle and a real sense of loss from the war. Anyone that's played a permadeath game heavily, such as early Diablo 2 Hardcore, can likely relate; heavy death penalties definitely have a way of improving the value you place on both death and risk.
By no means does it suit every game type but when it works, it definitely works well.
I now have access to all of the classes, as well as three teams, and the battles are really starting to speed up.
I have to say, monster mage is a pretty cool class, I think. It has lots of stat buffs, and also an MP regeneration buff. They can't attack physically, though; instead, they can summon monsters to attack for them. So far, I only have one such attack... but I'm hoping I learn more as I level (as opposed to having to jump through hoops like you do with blue magic in FF games). Their MP pool is a bit small... but they do have auto-MP regen on themselves, which helps over time.
I'm really enjoying the game, and I haven't been able to put it down. I've somehow clocked 5:30 since I started playing earlier today.
I have to say, monster mage is a pretty cool class, I think. It has lots of stat buffs, and also an MP regeneration buff. They can't attack physically, though; instead, they can summon monsters to attack for them. So far, I only have one such attack... but I'm hoping I learn more as I level (as opposed to having to jump through hoops like you do with blue magic in FF games). Their MP pool is a bit small... but they do have auto-MP regen on themselves, which helps over time.
I'm really enjoying the game, and I haven't been able to put it down. I've somehow clocked 5:30 since I started playing earlier today.
One thing I have to say is that the music in this game completely fucking rules. Sakimoto and Iwata are both incredible composers on their own, but together, these two just make an amazing team -- and the ASH soundtrack really, really hearkens back to their classic stuff (such as the score they did for Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre).
I won't say it's their best work (it isn't), but it's way better than a lot of their other recent stuff (for the two of them, it's waaaaaaaaaay better than Stella Deus and TO: Knight of Lodis, for instance) and overall it's easily an A+ level work. I can't wait to get the actual soundtrack so I can hear the arrange versions they're doing (like for the TO, OB, FFTA, and OB64 OSTs).
I won't say it's their best work (it isn't), but it's way better than a lot of their other recent stuff (for the two of them, it's waaaaaaaaaay better than Stella Deus and TO: Knight of Lodis, for instance) and overall it's easily an A+ level work. I can't wait to get the actual soundtrack so I can hear the arrange versions they're doing (like for the TO, OB, FFTA, and OB64 OSTs).
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Yea, just picked up the game, but unlike you schmucks, I have to work, so I've only finished Chapter 2. I have some time to play more, so hopefully I'll be able to get some more done before I put up an impressions post on my site.
So far I'm really liking it. Prerendered characters still look great in battle, but look like poo in close up talky scenes (especially Bullnequ, who looks like something out of a PC game from 1997). Battle mechanics are badass, and it's amazing how much I'm getting into the concept of range, and putting my units in good places for battles.
It seems there's no range limit for healing magic, so I tend to leave my white mage way back in battle, so he doesn't get absolutely ruined by the boss in a freak move.
Can't say much that hasn't been said. It being a Mistwalker game, I'm pleasantly surprised (havign disliked Blue Dragon, and finding the Lost Odyssey demo to be a complete disaster).
I do find the complete lack of originality in item and spell names hilarious, though. Potions, ethers, and even the upper level quake spell is Quara. I really wish they'd just let go of FF conventions and make something for themselves in that regard.
Oh well, at least the game itself is great. MUST PLAY MORE
Uhh...there's nothing of the sort in the game at all...
The graphics in battle are great. The prerendered characters just look terrible in talky scenes really, which I can forgive, because it's ONLY SOME characters. Aishya, and most of the class based characters look great. Only Bullnequ looks like a retard.
So far I'm really liking it. Prerendered characters still look great in battle, but look like poo in close up talky scenes (especially Bullnequ, who looks like something out of a PC game from 1997). Battle mechanics are badass, and it's amazing how much I'm getting into the concept of range, and putting my units in good places for battles.
It seems there's no range limit for healing magic, so I tend to leave my white mage way back in battle, so he doesn't get absolutely ruined by the boss in a freak move.
Can't say much that hasn't been said. It being a Mistwalker game, I'm pleasantly surprised (havign disliked Blue Dragon, and finding the Lost Odyssey demo to be a complete disaster).
I do find the complete lack of originality in item and spell names hilarious, though. Potions, ethers, and even the upper level quake spell is Quara. I really wish they'd just let go of FF conventions and make something for themselves in that regard.
Oh well, at least the game itself is great. MUST PLAY MORE
zeroshiki said:
Uhh...there's nothing of the sort in the game at all...
The graphics in battle are great. The prerendered characters just look terrible in talky scenes really, which I can forgive, because it's ONLY SOME characters. Aishya, and most of the class based characters look great. Only Bullnequ looks like a retard.
Magicpaint
Member
Good impressions, keep em coming.
Here are my first impressions:
How to die in ASH
Step 1: Move Aisya just 1 square too close to the enemies that just appeared.
Step 2: End turn.
Step 3: Watch Aisya get hit by the first team of enemies - 10 damage -> 10 damage + POISONED
Step 4: Watch Aisya get hit by the second team of enemies - 20 damage
Step 5: Watch Aisya get hit by the third team of enemies - 20 damage
Step 6: Rejoice as Aisya survives with 8 HP and get ready to heal when your turn starts.
Step 7: Watch as the turn begins with Aisya taking 10 damage from poison.
Step 8: Cry.
How to die in ASH
Step 1: Move Aisya just 1 square too close to the enemies that just appeared.
Step 2: End turn.
Step 3: Watch Aisya get hit by the first team of enemies - 10 damage -> 10 damage + POISONED
Step 4: Watch Aisya get hit by the second team of enemies - 20 damage
Step 5: Watch Aisya get hit by the third team of enemies - 20 damage
Step 6: Rejoice as Aisya survives with 8 HP and get ready to heal when your turn starts.
Step 7: Watch as the turn begins with Aisya taking 10 damage from poison.
Step 8: Cry.
http://www.amiami.com/shop/ProductInfo/product_id/83708
The franchising begins for ASH in November with a Drama CD release from Sony Music.
The franchising begins for ASH in November with a Drama CD release from Sony Music.
Magicpaint
Member
duckroll said:
>.<
3 hours in, cleared chapter 5. This is a pretty good SRPG.
The gameplay systems are well balanced, and it's pretty fun to play. It's not easy, but if you're playing well you should be doing really well. When you don't play well or make a poor tactical move, it can really hurt. So far the maps are well designed, and the game eases you into the pace really well.
Story-wise it's a mix of "LOLZ!" and "hmmmm pretty interesting". It reminds me of earlier FFs before 6. The story tries to be serious and has pretty interesting themes and characters, but the actual script can be rather silly with a mix of cool and plain silly/weird designs as far as art goes. It's definitely leaning on the interesting side, and I want to know what happens next.
Graphics-wise this is really a mixed bag. And by that I mean a mixed bag of shit. Some of the shit isn't as smelly as the rest but it's all shit nonetheless. The game invokes feelings of early SFC/SNES games, with really simplistic, low-resolution and poorly animated sprite work. The 3D maps look worse than most 2D maps in terms of detail and art. The pre-rendered sprites used for battle sequences are a little stiff, but definitely look the best out of the rest of the graphics. They're not much better than Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct pre-rendered sprites though, and in many ways DKC is much smoother and pleasing to the eye. All in all, this falls under the so-bad-that-its-good category of graphics, because it really looks like some crazy first gen SFC game that no one ever played and just got ported to the DS. It's really charming in that sense.
Music is pretty awesome, Sakimoto and Iwata always do good work. It's not quite up to Koshiro's insanely awesome soundtrack for Etrian, but it's definitely one of the better DS soundtracks out there. The sound fx on the other hand go hand in hand with the graphics. They sound like SFC-era stuff, and it really fits the atmosphere, for better or for worse.
The FMVs are well encoded for the most part, but some are better encoded than others. There's still the pixelated stuff that plagues DS games, especially in the FMVs used for the special Extra attacks. Overall it's better than I expected though. While the game features a pretty nice voice cast, there's actually really little voice in the game. Aside from the opening sequence, I think there's more voice in battles so far than in story scenes.
The presentation and interface is another downer. The game has a touchpen-only control scheme that only partially makes sense. Many things could have been controlled just as well or even better using buttons, but they chose to go with touch only. While that's not as much of an issue, the real problem comes in the horribly designed interface for intermissions. The game is rather tactical, and forming the right teams with good equipment is very important to the gameplay. Unfortunately the game decides to make things harder by hindering how easy it should be to form your teams and manage your equipment. Horrible stuff. The entire interface feels like a website designed in the 90s with no frames and menu buttons that lead all over the place with little proper order. Buying items is a hassle too since you can see the stats of the equipment, but not how they affect the characters you might want to equip them on. The cluttered menus are also poorly placed and you'll likely end up tapping on the the wrong button only to go back again, adding to the frustration.
So far I would give the game a 8/10 for gameplay, and a 2/10 for everything else. What a weird combination of ups and downs. Shouldn't have used Racjin! :lol
The gameplay systems are well balanced, and it's pretty fun to play. It's not easy, but if you're playing well you should be doing really well. When you don't play well or make a poor tactical move, it can really hurt. So far the maps are well designed, and the game eases you into the pace really well.
Story-wise it's a mix of "LOLZ!" and "hmmmm pretty interesting". It reminds me of earlier FFs before 6. The story tries to be serious and has pretty interesting themes and characters, but the actual script can be rather silly with a mix of cool and plain silly/weird designs as far as art goes. It's definitely leaning on the interesting side, and I want to know what happens next.
Graphics-wise this is really a mixed bag. And by that I mean a mixed bag of shit. Some of the shit isn't as smelly as the rest but it's all shit nonetheless. The game invokes feelings of early SFC/SNES games, with really simplistic, low-resolution and poorly animated sprite work. The 3D maps look worse than most 2D maps in terms of detail and art. The pre-rendered sprites used for battle sequences are a little stiff, but definitely look the best out of the rest of the graphics. They're not much better than Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct pre-rendered sprites though, and in many ways DKC is much smoother and pleasing to the eye. All in all, this falls under the so-bad-that-its-good category of graphics, because it really looks like some crazy first gen SFC game that no one ever played and just got ported to the DS. It's really charming in that sense.
Music is pretty awesome, Sakimoto and Iwata always do good work. It's not quite up to Koshiro's insanely awesome soundtrack for Etrian, but it's definitely one of the better DS soundtracks out there. The sound fx on the other hand go hand in hand with the graphics. They sound like SFC-era stuff, and it really fits the atmosphere, for better or for worse.
The FMVs are well encoded for the most part, but some are better encoded than others. There's still the pixelated stuff that plagues DS games, especially in the FMVs used for the special Extra attacks. Overall it's better than I expected though. While the game features a pretty nice voice cast, there's actually really little voice in the game. Aside from the opening sequence, I think there's more voice in battles so far than in story scenes.
The presentation and interface is another downer. The game has a touchpen-only control scheme that only partially makes sense. Many things could have been controlled just as well or even better using buttons, but they chose to go with touch only. While that's not as much of an issue, the real problem comes in the horribly designed interface for intermissions. The game is rather tactical, and forming the right teams with good equipment is very important to the gameplay. Unfortunately the game decides to make things harder by hindering how easy it should be to form your teams and manage your equipment. Horrible stuff. The entire interface feels like a website designed in the 90s with no frames and menu buttons that lead all over the place with little proper order. Buying items is a hassle too since you can see the stats of the equipment, but not how they affect the characters you might want to equip them on. The cluttered menus are also poorly placed and you'll likely end up tapping on the the wrong button only to go back again, adding to the frustration.
So far I would give the game a 8/10 for gameplay, and a 2/10 for everything else. What a weird combination of ups and downs. Shouldn't have used Racjin! :lol
Pureauthor
Member
I really don't see why they made the thing touchpen only.