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[AAK]

Radical Dreamers + Chrono Trigger = Dream Trigger

 

[Father_Brain]

IGN has a preview, with the first trailer. Looks decent, though it'd be nice if the snippets of gameplay footage weren't constantly obscured by random sparkly shit.

I didn't beat a single level in Dream Trigger 3D. It kicked my ass over, and over, and over. Hell, half of the time I didn't last 30 seconds in a level. But it has officially made it on to my list of Nintendo 3DS launch window games to buy, not only because I refuse to go out like a chump and let it beat me, but, more importantly, because it's a 3DS game where the 3D actually matters.

Dream Trigger 3D is a bullet hell shooter somewhat similar in presentation to Bangai-O, though far more abstract. Each of the more than 50 stages is a surreal, animated dreamworld. Invisible enemies fly around, shooting at your character. In order to defeat them you have to send out sonar pings by either swiping on the touch screen or holding down the A button. When the enemies get hit with the sonar pings, they appear and you can take them out. It takes a few tries to get used to, so hopefully the game has some sort of extensive tutorial because even level one was a total bitch.

The game is effin' hard (seriously, even the producer kept dying), but it's also gorgeous. The stages are separated into five-level chunks of increasing difficulty, and each group has a similar visual aesthetic, though each one is different. There are forests players zip through like they're on speeder bikes from Star Wars. There are huge lightning storms. There's even a Virtual boy homage that looks like someone developed Rez for the ill-fated red and black device. The 3D adds an extra layer of depth, but the constantly animated backgrounds look great even with the 3D turned off.

 

[Xiul]

Anyone else get their hopes up and think this was a sequel to Chrono trigger when they read the title?

It hurts you know.

 

[Why would you do that?]

IGN has a preview, with the first trailer. Looks decent, though it'd be nice if the snippets of gameplay footage weren't constantly obscured by random sparkly shit.

Looks pretty interesting. Definitely on my watch list.

Maybe you should start a new thread, something like "first trailer of 3DS shooter Dream Trigger" which will stop the Chrono Trigger crowd and bring in the shooter crowd.

 

[AceBandage]

Interesting.
Hope there's more depth to it, though.

 

[Instro]

I got excited again but then I remembered what this game actually was.

 

[Why would you do that?]

Interesting.
Hope there's more depth to it, though.

Obvious depth joke aside, I don't think shooters really need to be that deep. I mean, look at Touhou, or most other shooters. For some reason, they're just fun for what they are.

 

[AceBandage]

Obvious depth joke aside, I don't think shooters really need to be that deep. I mean, look at Touhou, or most other shooters. For some reason, they're just fun for what they are.

I just mean, I hope it feels like a real arcade shooter that I'd put many hours into, and not just a quick cash in that would have been better as an eShop download.

 

[Naked Prime]

Sounds cool, but when the thread title reads D3 announces EDF for 3DS, call me.

 

[From The Dust]

reminds me of Bangai-O Spirits. if its anything like it, then it will be a must buy

 

[aerts1js]

YES! ANOTHER CHRONO GAME... wait.. oh.

 

[Regulus Tera]

The sooner you guys accept that the Chrono series died with Cross the better.

 

[Why would you do that?]

I just mean, I hope it feels like a real arcade shooter that I'd put many hours into, and not just a quick cash in that would have been better as an eShop download.

Oh, I see what you mean.

Personally, I'm not too worried about that, because it looks like it features a lot of unique environments/areas/levels. I'm mostly hoping that it will have difficulty without being "cheap".

 

[coldvein]

good morning crono

 

[sixteen-bit]

Those disappointed really need to understand the Chrono series' naming convention.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Those disappointed really need to understand the Chrono series' naming convention.

Radical Dreamers

I mean I doubt anyone here seriously thought it was a new Chrono game, but there's a precedent.

 

[neoism]

Holy shit it downloaded in like 10 mintues... :O GODDAMN it looks sooo good on PSP :O
Man I miss Matsuno

 

[Zerokku]

Anyone else get their hopes up and think this was a sequel to Chrono trigger when they read the title?

So glad I was not even remotely the only one thinking this.

 

[GDGF]

Bought. Bought. Fucking bought.

I was hoping this was going to turn out well. I love shooters, and I wanted something extremely trippy that I could play while maybe enjoying a puff of something green

 

[Xena]

Anyone else get their hopes up and think this was a sequel to Chrono trigger when they read the title?

I know I did! -_-'

 

[Vic]

Could we get an alternative link for the video? I hate IGN :/

 

[To Far Away Times]

I was hoping for a new Chrono game. )=

 

[BishopLamont]

Let's post more bout how we thought this was a Chrono Trigger game and get this thread past 5 pages, so more people will think the same.

 

[Fernando Rocker]

I was dissaponted when I heard that this wasn't a sequel to Chrono Trigger... but still... it looks fun. Here is a Joystiq preview and some new pics:

D3 Publisher's 3DS launch window title, Dream Trigger 3D, takes the basics of bullet-hell shooters and scrambles them into something unexpected and even more difficult. Well, perhaps I should say it takes a basic of bullet-hell shooters: bullets all over the damn place. The rest is pretty much all new, and crazy.

How crazy? Dream Trigger is a shooter in which you can't see the enemy ships, and in which you fire into the screen.

ream Trigger makes use of two mechanics that separate it from, well, anything. Before you can really see, and fire upon, the enemies that dance onto the screen in Galaga-esque formations, you have to find them with your sonar. This is done by dragging along the touch screen, at which point a blip will ping out along the path of your finger and reveal any enemies it touches on the top screen. The enemies are always visible on the bottom screen, so it's not as much of a game of Battleship as it sounds. Also, the enemy ships in Battleship don't spray bullets out in all directions, constantly -- which every enemy in this game does.

The second core mechanic is the fact that your shots don't actually radiate outward toward the enemies. Instead, when you hold the fire button, you shoot directly into the screen, toward the enemies. At least, that's the visual effect. Functionally, it just means you have to get right on top of an enemy with your gun firing in order to make contact.

This would be suicide if holding the fire button didn't also put a shield around your own vessel while active -- until your gun runs out of energy (replenished when sonar pings an enemy ship). Actually, it's kind of suicide anyway. There's a lot of finesse involved in timing your sweeps so that enemies are made vulnerable by the sonar just as you fly by and zap a bunch of them, then retreat to relative safety.

"Finesse" is code in this case for "skill I didn't pick up in my demo session." I'm pretty sure I didn't clear a single level, in fact. Dream Trigger 3D is quite difficult. At least until you get used to it, all those interacting mechanics make it a lot harder to intuit than traditional shooters, even if the actual bullet patterns and enemy waves aren't as intense. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect from Dream Trigger before playing it -- I kind of thought it would be a me-too shmup. But while I don't know how much fun it'll be in the long term (not much at all if I'm never able to complete a level!), I can confidently describe it as unique.

 

[Vic]

New screens:

 

[Fernando Rocker]

Wow... this could be the first rare gem for the 3DS...

 

[From The Dust]

The screens make no damn sense. Even the videos didn't

 

[NEO0MJ]

What I see makes no sense, and certainly I'm not dense.

 

[The Main Event]

So who's picking up this one today? Any impressions anywhere?

 

[Deleted member 13876]

Every time this thread comes up there's a half second delay in my brain that causes me to hope for a Chrono game only to come crashing back to reality almost immediately afterwards.

 

[sfried]

No OT yet? I have it in my hands...

 

[GDGF]

Do it! I need to see more video of this game and hear impressions and stuff.

 

[Izayoi]

No OT yet? I have it in my hands...

How is it?

 

[Acrylic7]

Anyone else get their hopes up and think this was a sequel to Chrono trigger when they read the title?

of course

 

[Why would you do that?]

I'm curious to know how this game is, too.

How is it?

You changed your avatar.

 

[aparisi2274]

No OT yet? I have it in my hands...

Let us know how it is... I may pick it up!!

 

[sfried]

How is it?

It's as IGN says. It's hard.

Basically you use both the stylus and the Circle/Control Pad. The touchscreen to layout "ping" mines that help you uncover enemies, and then the Pad w/ Shoulder button to fire. The ping mines "detonate" as your sonar sweeps from left to right, at the same time you have to watch out because enemies still fire bullet hell patterns even when hidden. Luckily you are invincible when you fire out your laser stream, at which point the cursor which you use to dogde bullets becomes your aiming reticule. You laser stream, however, is only charged when you kill enemies/collect power ups.

It has a lot of that steep Ikargua learning curve since the moment you stop firing you are vunerable again, so you have to make sure your shots count.

Just watching the demo makes it very compelling to play. But the moment I laid my hands on it it quickly makes me realize how much I suck. I really can't blame the game because everything in the attract mode is feasable. It's just...maybe I have to read the manual or something.

 

[Father_Brain]

It's as IGN says. It's hard.

Basically you use both the stylus and the Circle/Control Pad. The touchscreen to layout "ping" mines that help you uncover enemies, and then the Pad w/ Shoulder button to fire. The ping mines "detonate" as your sonar sweeps from left to right, at the same time you have to watch out because enemies still fire bullet hell patterns even when hidden. Luckily you are invincible when you fire out your laser stream, at which point the cursor which you use to dogde bullets becomes your aiming reticule. You laser stream, however, is only charged when you kill enemies/collect power ups.

It has a lot of that steep Ikargua learning curve since the moment you stop firing you are vunerable again, so you have to make sure your shots count.

Is it yet another 3DS game that should run at 60fps considering its genre, but doesn't?

 

[Amir0x]

So who's picking up this one today? Any impressions anywhere?

Just got home and it's in my hands.

Will be posting impressions as soon as I put some time into it - it's the first 3DS game I purchased out of want, and not because the horrible software meant the only alternative was buying more horrible software.

 

[nincompoop]

Wow, this is out already? I'm almost tempted to pick up a copy now even though I don't have a 3DS, since by the time I pick one up who knows if it'll even be possible to find the game.

 

[GDGF]

Hey man, you ever play Dream Trigger...

...on weed?

Looking forward to Amirox impressions. I think we like similar trippy shit.

 

[sfried]

Is it yet another 3DS game that should run at 60fps considering its genre, but doesn't?

Oddly enough I switched from 3D to 2D mode with no notable change in framerate. Only thing is it's harder to discern foreground/background objects in 2D mode. You'd want to keep 3D on for the sake of gameplay.

 

[Amir0x]

no but I'm about to play it on Morphine. Just as good

 

[Father_Brain]

Oddly enough I switched from 3D to 2D mode with no notable change in framerate. Only thing is it's harder to discern foreground/background objects in 2D mode. You'd want to keep 3D on for the sake of gameplay.

That doesn't answer my question, though.

 

[GJS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIiursuiUd4

I still have no idea how you are supposed to play this game, the explanation seems fine but for some reason I just can't imagine how to play it without trying it.

 

[panda21]

It's as IGN says. It's hard.

Basically you use both the stylus and the Circle/Control Pad. The touchscreen to layout "ping" mines that help you uncover enemies, and then the Pad w/ Shoulder button to fire. The ping mines "detonate" as your sonar sweeps from left to right, at the same time you have to watch out because enemies still fire bullet hell patterns even when hidden. Luckily you are invincible when you fire out your laser stream, at which point the cursor which you use to dogde bullets becomes your aiming reticule. You laser stream, however, is only charged when you kill enemies/collect power ups.

It has a lot of that steep Ikargua learning curve since the moment you stop firing you are vunerable again, so you have to make sure your shots count.

Just watching the demo makes it very compelling to play. But the moment I laid my hands on it it quickly makes me realize how much I suck. I really can't blame the game because everything in the attract mode is feasable. It's just...maybe I have to read the manual or something.

that sounds cool, but impossible for left handers? how important is the touchscreen stuff?

 

[Amir0x]

first 5 minutes impression: Yeah you need to be fucked up for this shit.

 

[thetrin]

That doesn't answer my question, though.

What do you want people to say? Your question answers itself.

 

[Captain N]

that sounds cool, but impossible for left handers? how important is the touchscreen stuff?

the touch screen stuff is very important and its hard for right handers. left handers? ugh it is terribly hard. I am having a hard time playing the game. The 3DS is going to make me good writing with my right hand.

 

[The Main Event]

first 5 minutes impression: Yeah you need to be fucked up for this shit.

Sold. At Best Buy with a copy in my hands.