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[thetrin]

So some time ago, I got my hands on the full 7 part episodic Capcom Dreamcast RPG, El Dorado Gate.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AEZ2UEVFgWc

My copies of the first 3 volumes.

My question is: what can I expect? Who else has played the series? How long is each disc? How linear is it? What is the gameplay structure like?

More curious than anything. Thanks guys.

 

[Rimshot]

I have always wanted this, but since I don't read japanese I'm fucked :/

 

[thetrin]

I have always wanted this, but since I don't read japanese I'm fucked :/

ADK, one of the coolest motherfuckers ever has comprehensive FAQs of every single chapter up on gamefaqs.

 

[manzo]

So some time ago, I got my hands on the full 7 part episodic Capcom Dreamcast RPG, El Dorado Gate.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AEZ2UEVFgWc

My copies of the first 3 volumes.

My question is: what can I expect? Who else has played the series? How long is each disc? How linear is it? What is the gameplay structure like?

More curious than anything. Thanks guys.

You lucky motherfucker! I only got my hands on parts 1, 3, and 5 when I was in Japan.

2D RPG goodness!

 

[Rimshot]

ADK, one of the coolest motherfuckers ever has comprehensive FAQs of every single chapter up on gamefaqs.

That's cool, but it's not the same having to read on a paper every time you talk to a random npc on screen :/

 

[thetrin]

You lucky motherfucker! I only got my hands on parts 1, 3, and 5 when I was in Japan.

2D RPG goodness!

Not luck...perseverance.

That's cool, but it's not the same having to read on a paper every time you talk to a random npc on screen :/

That's true. I count my lucky stars I know enough japanese to play the game smoothly.

 

[ElectricThunder]

I thought even in Japan this series was an incomplete project of sorts that never went all the way the planned for it...or do you mean you got all 7 games that was all that was actually managed?

At any rate, looks awesome. Hopefully somebody manages some kinda playthrough and/or fan trans of it one day somewhere in the future.

 

[thetrin]

I thought even in Japan this series was an incomplete project of sorts that never went all the way the planned for it...or do you mean you got all 7 games that was all that was actually managed?

At any rate, looks awesome. Hopefully somebody manages some kinda playthrough and/or fan trans of it one day somewhere in the future.

I don't know much about the final thing, but I know I got everything that was released.

And starting tomorrow, I'm going to start playing it.

 

[A Black Falcon]

I thought even in Japan this series was an incomplete project of sorts that never went all the way the planned for it...or do you mean you got all 7 games that was all that was actually managed?

At any rate, looks awesome. Hopefully somebody manages some kinda playthrough and/or fan trans of it one day somewhere in the future.

Yeah, I think you're right, I think it was originally planned to be more than seven volumes... but because of the death of the Dreamcast, they ended it early and had volume 7 finish the story.

Yeah, this preview says that originally it was supposed to be 24 scenarios long (each chapter disc has several on it).
http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/rpg/eldoradogate/news.html?sid=2557776

In comparison, the final game has only 18 scenarios across the seven discs. Obviously several discs were cut. It does evidently have an ending at the end, though, so it was probably just shortened, not left unfinished...

 

[comedy bomb]

And starting tomorrow, I'm going to start playing it.

Are you going to update with impressions and screens? Cause that'd be pretty awesome.

 

[noonche]

So some time ago, I got my hands on the full 7 part episodic Capcom Dreamcast RPG, El Dorado Gate.

My copies of the first 3 volumes.

My question is: what can I expect? Who else has played the series? How long is each disc? How linear is it? What is the gameplay structure like?

More curious than anything. Thanks guys.

I've played the first 16 scenarios and am stuck at the end of 17. The first couple discs are the longest at 6-8 hours. Most of them contain 2 scenarios that take between 4-6 hours depending on how good you are. The game is extremely linear.

As for gameplay, it's pretty standard stuff. You choose locations from a world map, and those will be towns or dungeons. The visuals are fantastic. The battle system is fairly similar to Dragon Quest.

The main difference is that magic is a consumable item. I think you have fire, water, wood, multi, non-elemental and healing. You can combine multiple magics together to get different spells "fire + fire" is a bigger fire. Multi + heal + heal = really good cure-all. A character's magic skill determines how many spells they can combine together; the resultant spell has a magic power, which must be less than the characters magic skill.

You can't gain levels, they happen at key story points.

Aquiring money is a gigantic pain in the ass. Don't buy weapons if you can avoid it, learn to use the combining dude to get better equipment.

I really really like the story and characters. Unfortunately, it is amazingly obvious when the game gets cut short. At volume 5 or 6 the story takes a nose-dive because they start trying to force 12 episodes of content into the remaining 5 or 6.

 

[Majmun]

Is that Amano art?

 

[Ether_Snake]

Is that Amano art?

Yes

I remember wanting that game back in the days. Never had a DC tho.

 

[thetrin]

Are you going to update with impressions and screens? Cause that'd be pretty awesome.

Yes, I'm going to update this thread with live blog impressions copied from my blog.

I've played the first 16 scenarios and am stuck at the end of 17. The first couple discs are the longest at 6-8 hours. Most of them contain 2 scenarios that take between 4-6 hours depending on how good you are. The game is extremely linear.

As for gameplay, it's pretty standard stuff. You choose locations from a world map, and those will be towns or dungeons. The visuals are fantastic. The battle system is fairly similar to Dragon Quest.

The main difference is that magic is a consumable item. I think you have fire, water, wood, multi, non-elemental and healing. You can combine multiple magics together to get different spells "fire + fire" is a bigger fire. Multi + heal + heal = really good cure-all. A character's magic skill determines how many spells they can combine together; the resultant spell has a magic power, which must be less than the characters magic skill.

You can't gain levels, they happen at key story points.

Aquiring money is a gigantic pain in the ass. Don't buy weapons if you can avoid it, learn to use the combining dude to get better equipment.

I really really like the story and characters. Unfortunately, it is amazingly obvious when the game gets cut short. At volume 5 or 6 the story takes a nose-dive because they start trying to force 12 episodes of content into the remaining 5 or 6.

Alske, you're always so remarkably jam packed with info. You've been a giant help.

 

[speedpop]

Almost forgot about this, a shame it would never hit English speaking audiences.

 

[thetrin]

I just started playing the game. The first disc focuses on Gomez, the big burly man with a hammer. It's pretty interesting that every single weapon has an element connected with it. Spells seem to be like FF8's spells: instead of MP, you have a quantity of a specific spell to use.

So far, it looks like item stores sell healing spells, rather than items. I'm guessing that outside of equipment and spells, there are no items in the game. That should be interesting to see.

The battles are really old school DQ style battles, which I actually really enjoy. The only issue is that there are ridiculous amounts of windows to go through just to cast a spell. I think down 5 levels of windows just to cast "leaf" on a worm. The Amano art makes the battles even better.

I can't wait to play more.

 

[thetrin]

I'm still in Disc 1, but I'm slowly getting through this damn thief cave of evil dudes to rescue a girl from a rich asshole.

The first disc is entirely Gomez, the large muscley dude of the eight main characters (you can see him on the cover of disc 1 in the OP's photo).

At first I found it really interesting that all weapons and armor are aligned to a different element, but then I realized that spells in the game are actually items like in FF8. They have a quantity count. What I didn't realize until a few minutes ago was that you can stack spells to increase the effectiveness (or possibly make new spells). So far, I only have a spell called a "light element booster" which, when combined with my Recover spell, increases the amount of health i get back.

I hope it gets deeper than this. I'm liking where it's going.

The game also has great music. Lots of rock n'roll. The game screams 16 bit JRPG.

 

[djtiesto]

I'm appreciating your impressions, trin, so keep them up! I was always interested in this series, being both a DC fan and an RPG fan, but none of them ever made it over to America. I'd love to see this series get a new lease on life, and the serial format would be perfect for the downloadables.

 

[thetrin]

I'm appreciating your impressions, trin, so keep them up! I was always interested in this series, being both a DC fan and an RPG fan, but none of them ever made it over to America. I'd love to see this series get a new lease on life, and the serial format would be perfect for the downloadables.

I would love to see Capcom redo EDG for XBLA or PSN. Keep the story and characters, but completely retell it in the length it was meant to be told.

EDIT: I was mistaken. Only the first scenario on disc 1 is Gomez. It looks like there are multiple scenarios to play. You just have to reload your clear data to access it.

 

[Station42]

I have always wanted this, but since I don't read japanese I'm fucked :/

same problem, well I can read a bit but not good enough to play it...

 

[Mohonky]

Those screenshots look great. Some one needs to make a HD version in this same design style.

 

[thetrin]

I'm finding the transition from field to battle is sometimes a little jarring. All the sprites in the game are very anime-inspired, sometimes looking a bit like SNES era Breath of Fire. The battles on the other hand, are drawn completely by Amano, and have a more mature, artsy look. Some of the characters in battle look nothing like they do in the field. :lol

 

[Krelian]

I have the special edition with all 7 games of El Dorado Gate, but I haven't taken a look at it yet because I wanted to learn some Japanese first... Well, now that some years have passed and my knowledge of Japanese is still not any further than back then, I think I should give it a try with a walkthrough soon. A remake for PSN or XBLA would be much better, though. But I doubt there will be one

 

[thetrin]

If you don't know any Japanese at all it might be a little rough. The battles especially are chockful of kanji. Thankfully, the game is very simple in how it operates, so if you have a tutorial on how to go through it, you should be fine.

It just won't be as much fun.

So, I'm on Radia's scenario on Disc 1. She's a powerful magician unlike Gomez and Kanan, so I'm using my stable of spells far more, and I'm mixing more as well.

I don't want to spoil too much of the plot just yet, but at one part, I was forced to steal the youth from an entire town's people.

Now I'm close to defeating my dead father that has returned as an evil spirit. Once I defeat him, that's the end of Disc 1. I'm going to try and do that tonight.

 

[Krelian]

If you don't know any Japanese at all it might be a little rough. The battles especially are chockful of kanji. Thankfully, the game is very simple in how it operates, so if you have a tutorial on how to go through it, you should be fine.

I only know very little and almost no Kanji at all. I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work I will probably sell it.

 

[thetrin]

Just finished Disc 1. This game is great. Radia is especially fun to use because her magic ability is high enough to stack three spells, which does serious damage. The boss at the end of disc 1 was a lot easier than bosses earlier in the game. It might just be because Radia is a lot more powerful than Kanan and Gomez at this stage of the game.

Can't wait to get started on Disc 2.

 

[noonche]

Just finished Disc 1. This game is great. Radia is especially fun to use because her magic ability is high enough to stack three spells, which does serious damage. The boss at the end of disc 1 was a lot easier than bosses earlier in the game. It might just be because Radia is a lot more powerful than Kanan and Gomez at this stage of the game.

Can't wait to get started on Disc 2.

Is the girl with the younger siblings in the first disc? The magic user I think. Can't remember her name... I really liked her and Bud's introduction; nice heavy stuff.

 

[Jonnyram]

I have every episode apart from 5 which I can't find anywhere so I played the first disc for a few hours and gave up because I didn't want to play it without finishing the set. If anyone has a spare episode 5...

 

[noonche]

I have every episode apart from 5 which I can't find anywhere so I played the first disc for a few hours and gave up because I didn't want to play it without finishing the set. If anyone has a spare episode 5...

NCSX claims to have it in stock. I think I bought 5-7 from them as only 1-4 where easily obtainable from used shops. http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/T-1227M.html

 

[PROOP]

I don't want to spoil too much of the plot just yet, but at one part, I was forced to steal the youth from an entire town's people.

Now I'm close to defeating my dead father that has returned as an evil spirit. Once I defeat him, that's the end of Disc 1. I'm going to try and do that tonight.

ok, that sounds awesome. I'm gonna have to borrow this game sometime.

 

[thetrin]

Is the girl with the younger siblings in the first disc? The magic user I think. Can't remember her name... I really liked her and Bud's introduction; nice heavy stuff.

yeah. That's Radia.

I'm playing through Scenario 4 at the moment. This is the first introduction of human-like beast creatures. Bud, the hero of the scenario, is a warrior within his village, which is inexplicably attacked.

I've heard disc 2 is the shortest. We'll see, I guess.

I have every episode apart from 5 which I can't find anywhere so I played the first disc for a few hours and gave up because I didn't want to play it without finishing the set. If anyone has a spare episode 5...

Yeah, I'm not sure why, but 5 was the hardest one for me to find as well.