Support NeoGAF

[wyrdwad]

I don't really care about this self-imposed challenge stuff. It's very obvious though that enthusiasts of the genre will have to do these challenge runs to get anything out of this game.

Well, if anyone else is getting anything from this back-and-forth, it should be that Brandish isn't for everybody. Resting is NOT the instant heal solution 装甲悪鬼村正 makes it out to be -- especially if you're aiming to recover MP too, since that's restored at a snail's pace compared to HP, leaving you vulnerable even longer -- but yes, it's part of the game. And for people like me, it's a life-saver. I can say with confidence that I wouldn't have enjoyed the game without it.

For some of you, though, it may be a deal-breaker. I guess just read reviews, watch videos and judge for yourself what you think once the game is released.

I just think this title has an uphill battle ahead of it as it is, being a PSP game released in (hopefully) 2014, and I'd hate to see people passing on it because of claims like this. I truly feel it's the most enjoyable, most intense dungeon-crawler I've ever played in my life, and I *do* consider myself a fan of the genre. So... take 装甲悪鬼村正's claims with a grain of salt, but I guess to be fair, take mine with a grain of salt too. We each have our own personal biases, and while I consider this a near-perfect example of how to do dungeon-crawling right, the opposite opinion is clearly out there as well.

-Tom

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

If Wyrdwad's a casual at dungeon-crawlers, then he's still more satisfied with Brandish than Discoalucard, who apparently isn't very good at the games either (he lost street-cred when he noted Galaxy Force II only wants my quarters, as if all SEGA arcade games were designed around the Continue mechanic in the late '80s...sorry for the digression).

How much harder are the Delon floors to complete vs. the main game? Do they do away with the save-states and resting? Or is there certainly less room for the latter, enough to mitigate the former? Maybe 装甲悪鬼村正 should locate a save to get immediate access to said mode.

 

[wyrdwad]

How much harder are the Delon floors to complete vs. the main game? Do they do away with the save-states and resting? Or is there certainly less room for the latter, enough to mitigate the former? Maybe 装甲悪鬼村正 should locate a save to get immediate access to said mode.

Nah, it wouldn't change his mind. Dela's floors have a lot more in the way of timing-based puzzles (dodging boulders, jumping over fireballs, etc.) and a higher concentration of much harder monsters (plus some new exclusive monsters), but you can still pause and save after every successful boulder dodged or every successful fireball jumped if you want, and you can still rest just as readily once the monsters are gone.

I think the reason the saving doesn't bother me is because it's slow. I never wanted to save after every danger I passed because it took a good 20-30 seconds to do so, between checking the memory stick, picking a slot and actually waiting for the save game to get written... and frankly, if I had to stop all the time to save, it would break the flow of the game and make the experience a lot less fun. So at most, I would use Retry Bread after every danger dodged. But the thing with Retry Bread is, the game is NOT paused when you're navigating the item menu, so unless you have it set to a hotkey slot, you're going to be completely vulnerable until you close that menu. Plus, if you use Retry Bread seconds before you're about to die, you're going to continue... and just die again immediately. So it's sort of a double-edged sword.

-Tom

 

[threelights]

But having mechanics that will make the game easier doesn't mean the game is bad or lenient.

It's like people using items in games like DMC and then complaining that the game is easy.

You're not supposed to use items in the first place, they're there so anyone can finish the game and it doesn't become a niche game for only the hardcore action fans.

I imagine this is what was behind mechanics like resting and whatnot, if people use it, anyone can complete the game, but the actual fun of the game is on not using it and getting good enough to go through on your own.

Anyway, I haven't read the entire discussion, but this is what I understood from it.

 

[wyrdwad]

But having mechanics that will make the game easier doesn't mean the game is bad or lenient.

It's like people using items in games like DMC and then complaining that the game is easy.

You're not supposed to use items in the first place, they're there so anyone can finish the game and it doesn't become a niche game for only the hardcore action fans.

I imagine this is what was behind mechanics like resting and whatnot, if people use it, anyone can complete the game, but the actual fun of the game is on not using it and getting good enough to go through on your own.

Anyway, I haven't read the entire discussion, but this is what I understood from it.

I think that's true to an extent, yeah. I also think, though, that the game just follows a different philosophy than a lot of other old-school titles. Whereas other games give you difficult challenges to overcome and punish you for failure, Brandish gives you difficult challenges to overcome and encourages you to try again when you inevitably fail. The challenges aren't any easier than in other hardcore titles -- you still have to use skill, timing and ingenuity to overcome them -- it's just that if you fail, you can try again IMMEDIATELY rather than being forced to repeat 20 minutes of gameplay you've already established you're more than capable of conquering.

Just because you're able to retry the tough parts without having to repeat the lead-up to them, though, doesn't make those parts any less tough. And the rest mechanic may help mitigate some of the difficulty in those tough parts (especially in the original versions of Brandish), but in the heat of battle, it will do you little to no good.

As an example, there's a spot in Dela Mode where you have to defeat six enemies in order to continue. These six enemies

Spoiler

are spaced evenly throughout two dungeon floors, and they have absolutely no restrictions to their movement: they can move through walls, see you through walls, and shoot through walls. (They also erase your map as they move, which makes them trackable, but in the *creepiest* possible way.)

Oh, and they can kill you in like, three hits.

Yes, you can save after you defeat each one. And yes, you can rest between encounters (though they're *especially* likely to catch you and one-shot you if you rest more than just the bare minimum). But still, killing each of these enemies is NOT easy. You need to plan your approach, study your environment, have an escape route in mind and pick them off little by little. Saving at the wrong time could be disastrous -- again, if you're moments from death and you save your game, you'll still be moments from death when you load up your save later. Resting at the wrong time could be disastrous. Approaching the enemy in too tight a space could be disastrous. This is, by all definitions, a very challenging task, even with all the aids the game throws at you... and finally killing each one of the bastards is extraordinarily satisfying.

The rest and save mechanics do nothing to make this easier. If anything, they make it FAIR. I can't even imagine completing this particular challenge without the ability to catch my breath during the rare moments of downtime I have between encounters.

-Tom

 

[threelights]

I think that's true to an extent, yeah. I also think, though, that the game just follows a different philosophy than a lot of other old-school titles. Whereas other games give you difficult challenges to overcome and punish you for failure, Brandish gives you difficult challenges to overcome and encourages you to try again when you inevitably fail. The challenges aren't any easier than in other hardcore titles -- you still have to use skill, timing and ingenuity to overcome them -- it's just that if you fail, you can try again IMMEDIATELY rather than being forced to repeat 20 minutes of gameplay you've already established you're more than capable of conquering.

Just because you're able to retry the tough parts without having to repeat the lead-up to them, though, doesn't make those parts any less tough. And the rest mechanic may help mitigate some of the difficulty in those tough parts (especially in the original versions of Brandish), but in the heat of battle, it will do you little to no good.

As an example, there's a spot in Dela Mode where you have to defeat six enemies in order to continue. These six enemies

Spoiler

are spaced evenly throughout two dungeon floors, and they have absolutely no restrictions to their movement: they can move through walls, see you through walls, and shoot through walls. (They also erase your map as they move, which makes them trackable, but in the *creepiest* possible way.)

Oh, and they can kill you in like, three hits.

Yes, you can save after you defeat each one. And yes, you can rest between encounters (though they're *especially* likely to catch you and one-shot you if you rest more than just the bare minimum). But still, killing each of these enemies is NOT easy. You need to plan your approach, study your environment, have an escape route in mind and pick them off little by little. Saving at the wrong time could be disastrous -- again, if you're moments from death and you save your game, you'll still be moments from death when you load up your save later. Resting at the wrong time could be disastrous. Approaching the enemy in too tight a space could be disastrous. This is, by all definitions, a very challenging task, even with all the aids the game throws at you... and finally killing each one of the bastards is extraordinarily satisfying.

The rest and save mechanics do nothing to make this easier. If anything, they make it FAIR. I can't even imagine completing this particular challenge without the ability to catch my breath during the rare moments of downtime I have between encounters.

-Tom

I see, that makes sense.

It's less of a "dark souls" approach to difficulty, and more of an immediate difficulty then. It totally works, and it seems pretty unusual for this type of game to use it.

Hmm, I want to get my hands on this soon then.

 

[Tizoc]

So what'll the subtitle be?
Anything would be better than 'Makes Dark Souls look like Barbie's Dream House'.

Seeing as it harkens to the good old days of sword and sorcery fantasy, maybe allude to that?

 

[Shizuka]

I don't know, I'd rather do without "Dark Souls" anywhere on the title.

 

[redcrayon]

Count me in for an EU copy!

 

[HyperZone<3]

well you got one sale here. I hope very much that your efforts for this are rewarded.

a gol-dern PSP game in this day and age, I applaud your cojones sirs and madams.

 

[Hastati]

So do the two primary characters ever stop trying to kill each other, or are they rivals to the bitter end? Actually is there a storytelling aspect to this game? It looks intriguing.

 

[wyrdwad]

So do the two primary characters ever stop trying to kill each other, or are they rivals to the bitter end? Actually is there a storytelling aspect to this game? It looks intriguing.

There is, but only just. The story is very simple and progresses very slowly -- you'll get maybe one extraordinarily short cutscene every 5 floors or so. It's enough to give meaning to the dungeon, add an occasional touch of levity to the situation and give Ares and especially Dela a little bit of character development, but the primary focus of the game is just, "You need to get out of the dungeon. Oh and BTW, Dela is in here with you, and she wants to take you as her prisoner so she can claim the bounty on your head when the two of you get out."

As for what becomes of their rivalry... you'll just have to wait and see.

-Tom

 

[Hastati]

There is, but only just. The story is very simple and progresses very slowly -- you'll get maybe one extraordinarily short cutscene every 5 floors or so. It's enough to give meaning to the dungeon, add an occasional touch of levity to the situation and give Ares and especially Dela a little bit of character development, but the primary focus of the game is just, "You need to get out of the dungeon. Oh and BTW, Dela is in here with you, and she wants to take you as her prisoner so she can claim the bounty on your head when the two of you get out."

As for what becomes of their rivalry... you'll just have to wait and see.

-Tom

Thanks! I'll have to check it out. Long live the PSP!

 

[wyrdwad]

So, next month has become... erm... next month. Again. We tried really hard for a December 23rd release, but the timing just didn't work out, unfortunately.

We're endeavoring to make it up to all y'all, though, with lots of extra polish and maybe some expanded region releases... not to mention the first screenshots of English text and some serious localization bloggery! So check it out:

http://xseedgames.tumblr.com/post/105045087630/brandish-the-dark-revenant-localization-blog-2

Hopefully, this will help whet your appetite for the awesomeness to come, and ease your pain a bit from the slight delay.

-Tom

 

[PixyJunket]

At least the thread title is still accurate.

 

[Reveirg]

I personnally really don't mind delays when a small company brings a long-awaited localization for a niche game.

Keep up the good work!

Spoiler

And bring us Shining Resonance, Stella Glow, Ys 8, Lost Dimension, Luminous Arc VITA and most of all Legend of Legacy pllllease!!

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

This has me interested! Looks super addictive!

I personnally really don't mind delays when a small company brings a long-awaited localization for a niche game.

Keep up the good work!

Spoiler

And bring us Shining Resonance, Stella Glow, Ys 8, Lost Dimension, Luminous Arc VITA and most of all Legend of Legacy pllllease!!

And yes please! I especially want Lost Dimension localized!

 

[jdkluv]

[...] as well as other little things (like submitting to PEGI for a European rating)

Interesting. Could this mean there's a possibility for a simultaneous PAL release?

That plaque was fun to read! Some of the new names are pretty badass, too.

 

[Tizoc]

So, next month has become... erm... next month. Again. We tried really hard for a December 23rd release, but the timing just didn't work out, unfortunately.

We're endeavoring to make it up to all y'all, though, with lots of extra polish and maybe some expanded region releases... not to mention the first screenshots of English text and some serious localization bloggery! So check it out:

http://xseedgames.tumblr.com/post/105045087630/brandish-the-dark-revenant-localization-blog-2

Hopefully, this will help whet your appetite for the awesomeness to come, and ease your pain a bit from the slight delay.

-Tom

Is cool, I'll still be there day 1 for dat Falcom goodness~

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

January's when releases get less crowded, so maybe this will help Brandish's visibility at least online. Excited to hear a European rating's in the works.

 

[bobohoro]

Possible EU-Release in the coming months? Thank you, based XSeed!

And thanks Tom for the update, I can fully understand and support delays as long as someones tells their customers what's going on.

 

[wyrdwad]

Interesting. Could this mean there's a possibility for a simultaneous PAL release?

Simultaneous is pretty hard to do, in our experience, as different regions have very different approval processes. We've pulled it off a couple times, but those are more the exception than the rule.

If we are indeed releasing in other regions, though, I wouldn't expect toooooo much of a delay between these releases. It'd be a matter of weeks, not months.

That plaque was fun to read! Some of the new names are pretty badass, too.

Coming from Mr. Brandish himself, that means a lot!

-Tom

 

[Voliko]

It will be a Brandish-less Christmas I see

Oh well, cool blog post though.