• 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.

Falcom officially announces: Brandish - Dark Revenant for PSP!

duckroll

Member
http://www.falcom.co.jp/kaisya/ir/pdf/081128.pdf

Falcom has announced the latest Brandish game - a series of dungeon crawlers, for the PSP. It will be released in Japan on 19th March 2009. The game retains the action based dungeon crawling aspects of the previous games and offers dungeons for the player to explore filled with traps and dangers. Beginners need not be wary though, for the game will also offer extensive tutorials and a save anywhere feature - even when fighting bosses. The game also contains an automapping feature, and 2 playable characters: The hero Ares and the heroine mage Dora.

brandishdr-01.jpg


brandishdr-02.jpg


brandishdr-03.jpg
 

Aeana

Member
Brandiiiiiish!!

It looks and sounds great. If it's as good as Brandish 3, I will be very, very happy.

All that's left now from Falcom's list are Legend of Heroes 7 and Ys 7. Come onn, Ys 7.
 
ZephyrFate said:
What is Brandish?

It is Fuck Awesome in videogaming format.

Serious answer: it's a dungeon crawler with an exquisite sense of exploration that rewards intelligently planned play. You can't run in with swords a swinging or you'll be toast really quickly.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Dragona Akehi said:
Serious answer: it's a dungeon crawler with an exquisite sense of exploration that rewards intelligently planned play. You can't run in with swords a swinging or you'll be toast really quickly.

Is it like shiren 1 ?
 
cw_sasuke said:
Iss it like shiren 1 ?

Hmmm I suppose you could think of it like that, but it isn't really a roguelike in the traditional sense. You don't have to eat to maintain yourself, and you don't get kicked to the beginning of the dungeon when you die (back to your last save). A better way to think of it is an action-y-single-person-party EO game, if you're wanting to draw comparisons. Lots of loot, amazing level design.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Dragona Akehi said:
Hmmm I suppose you could think of it like that, but it isn't really a roguelike in the traditional sense. You don't have to eat to maintain yourself, and you don't get kicked to the beginning of the dungeon when you die (back to your last save). A better way to think of it is an action-y-single-person-party EO game, if you're wanting to draw comparisons. Lots of loot, amazing level design.

Ah, thx sounds very promising .... i loooove EO I and II :D

is there hope for US release ?
 
Captain N said:
what're the odds we'll see this coming out in America?

cw_sasuke said:
Ah, thx sounds very promising .... i loooove EO I and II :D

is there hope for US release ?

Sadly, not much unless XSEED feels pity on english-speaking Falcom fans. I'm totally getting it either way, though, since it isn't a PC game. :p

Also regarding the EO parallel, well you don't draw your map but it is revealed only as you explore, so yeah.

Oh man... BRANDISH!
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
Is Mastiff still around? They release Gurumin here, maybe they'll cover this too.

I don't think there's been a peep out of them recently, sadly enough. It'd be great if I was wrong though, as Gurumin had an excellent localisation.

PS: I am replaying Shantae. Shantae is awesome.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
Anything new from Falcom is swell and all, but I always thought Brandish was one of their less memorable games. Mainly because I played it ten years ago, and I barely remember it.

Maybe the problem was me.
 

Aeana

Member
Brandish 1 was pretty good on PC. The SNES port of Brandish (the only one to come out in English) had some problems, though. The game was originally made for mouse+keyboard. None of the other Brandish games came out in English, though, so... English fans are usually the ones who loved Brandish SNES despite its many flaws.

It's too bad you guys never got to play Brandish 3. :(
 
Aeana said:
Brandish 1 was pretty good on PC. The SNES port of Brandish (the only one to come out in English) had some problems, though. The game was originally made for mouse+keyboard. None of the other Brandish games came out in English, though, so... English fans are usually the ones who loved Brandish SNES despite its many flaws.

It's too bad you guys never got to play Brandish 3. :(

While a mouse and keyboard setup would have been preferable in Brandish, the SFC port really isn't THAT bad. It was perfectly playable, but I am a Brandish whore. As for Brandish 3 it's a game I wish would get ported to a system a little easier to get one's hands on.

Speaking of Brandish 1, Dark Zone had great music! I remember getting to that level at 3am and it's stuck with me ever since.
 
ZephyrFate said:
What is Brandish?

It's very confusing and hard to get used to thanks to the unique "your character is always facing up" camera... will this game have it too, like the older ones? You get lost or disoriented so easily...

If you can get used to the camera and such it probably would start getting good, but it's a definite hurdle for sure. I tried to play SNES Brandish a bit, and the camera was just as confusing as I'd always heard. I haven't played the others.

There's an HG101 article on the series... he didn't like it all that much really, evidently. Read the article:
http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/brandish/brandish.htm
 
Oh for god's sake, just hold L and R (or switch the option to always strafe via the Options menu) if you get disoriented so easily. I never had a problem, but I'm probably the only person on the face of the planet that NEVER had a problem with the shifting perspective of Brandish. In fact I liked it, a lot.

Fortress music!
 

Aeana

Member
They slowly moved away from that. As of Brandish VT/4, it's completely gone. As for this one... it looks like it could be back, but maybe not.
 
Aeana said:
They slowly moved away from that. As of Brandish VT/4, it's completely gone. As for this one... it looks like it could be back, but maybe not.

Yeah, I mentioned it mostly because that one screenshot shows him facing up with an overhead/behind isometric view, very much like the original three games... not a good sign for having a camera that makes it easy to navigate.

Oh for god's sake, just hold L and R (or switch the option to always strafe via the Options menu) if you get disoriented so easily. I never had a problem, but I'm probably the only person on the face of the planet that NEVER had a problem with the shifting perspective of Brandish. In fact I liked it, a lot.

Fortress music!

Really, you don't find it disorienting? As you say, few people would agree with that... I found it pretty confusing, for sure. I'm sure it's not quite as bad on one of the systems with the on-screen automap, but SNES Brandish 1 is made even harder to figure out by not having an onscreen minimap but a map on a pause menu, forcing you to constantly switch back and forth... I think they learned from that mistake, given that even SFC Brandish 2 seems to have an on-screen map. :)
 
A Black Falcon said:
Really, you don't find it disorienting? As you say, few people would agree with that... I found it pretty confusing, for sure. I'm sure it's not quite as bad on one of the systems with the on-screen automap, but SNES Brandish 1 is made even harder to figure out by not having an onscreen minimap but a map on a pause menu, forcing you to constantly switch back and forth... I think they learned from that mistake, given that even SFC Brandish 2 seems to have an on-screen map. :)

No I never had a problem, but I also don't understand the internet-bitchfest about the Water Temple either so I'm willing to accept that I'm "special" on that one. I really liked the fact that you had to make sure you examined everything clearly to progress, and that if you didn't you could miss important clues.
 
PC Engine Brandish > SNES Brandish, thanks to much better controls. Here's hoping they follow the example of the former port.

Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that this is a remake. I was expecting it to be some Diablo clone with no connection to the original, like Dungeon Explorer.

also, hey, in that animu scene the girl's not wearing a thong anymore.
 

Teknoman

Member
I knew I remembered Brandish releasing on the SNES. Remembered seeing it advertised in one of the old EB mags (back when Elbo the dog was the mascot).
 

lordmrw

Member
Aeana said:
Brandish 1 was pretty good on PC. The SNES port of Brandish (the only one to come out in English) had some problems, though. The game was originally made for mouse+keyboard. None of the other Brandish games came out in English, though, so... English fans are usually the ones who loved Brandish SNES despite its many flaws.

It's too bad you guys never got to play Brandish 3. :(

Thats the only one in the series Ive gotten to play since it was in english. IIRC 2 was also ported to snes. I wonder if a translation group will take it on? Doubt it. Would have loved to play the rest of the series in english, along with Xanadu Next.
 
I'd gladly support whoever brings this, Zwei and the Legend of Heroes games. If its Falcom I can even try to get into a dungeon crawler.





PS: But hey, if they want to offer Ys Origins I would also take it :p
Edit: Oh, but if its Felghana I guess I could also make an effort :>
 

ToastyFrog

Inexplicable Treasure Hate
This interests me! But only if it involves awkwardly spinning the entire dungeon whenever you turn left or right. It just wouldn't be Brandish without that sort of obtrusive design philosophy.
 

todahawk

Member
Augemitbutter said:
i need this in english....
you know, i was gonna say this but i played through macross ace frontier with a little help from a translation guide. i've been dying for a good dungeon crawler for my psp. this is definitely on my radar now.

thanks GAF <high five>
 
I beat Brandish and Brandish 2. I never could get Brandish 3 to run.

Looks like they're returning to Varik's story again. They dropped him from 4. I hope this comes out on PC as well like some of the Falcom games.
 
Mastiff is still in business, maybe even MORE than they ever were.

Right now they're bringing all of these hunting or whatever games to the Wii like Deer Drive and such.

But they're also publishing Renegade Kid's Moon for DS.
 
Hah! My curse holds true! Weapons with limited number of uses.



:(

It's weird that they have the experience bars on the screen like that.....I wonder if the game will still allow you to level up your magic resistance by sitting in a room with a fireball-slinging enemy and taking a nap.

also, Brandish 2 SNES music > Brandish music (except for a few themes, like the terrible Battle Point D). Not quite the classic Falcom sound of the first, but much moodier, and good use of piano. Although it runs into tough competition on Brandish 3. I really hope "Begging One's Life" (game over theme from Brandish 1 & 2) is in this game.


edit: oh hey, on a guess I checked music screenshot section of Wanderer's Lodge, and check out this comparison between the PC-98 (3x natural resolution) and PSP versions:

qqof9x.gif

brandishdr-01.jpg
 

Vieo

Member
Despite it's absurd difficulty level, it was my favorite dungeon crawler on SNES. The music and artwork were pretty great as well.

I'd be all over this if it came out in the U.S. and was on another platform.
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
Awesome, hope it comes out here... never played the SNES original, but I love me some Falcom!
 
Because I'm the kind of guy who does this, I decided to compare the other screens.

Here's the SNES cutscene versus the anime that replaces it (don't have any shots of the PC-98 or PCE CD versions:

2lsxtlg.png

brandishdr-03.jpg



And gameplay screen comparisons....

PC-98:
xbxzs8.gif


PC Engine CD:
2sb1zxd.png


SNES:
wuhxtu.png
20h8p4g.png
91mgkg.png


PSP:
brandishdr-02.jpg



As you can see, the PSP version packs more information onscreen than the SNES version and about the same as the other two versions. It also shows you less of the area around you - maybe it zooms in and out?

Minor pointless number differences:
*In the SNES version, you start with a 30 durability sword and get a 40 one soon after, not 40/50
*The player should only have eight keys, not nine (having used one to open the door to the room he's in)
*I have no idea where that magic resistance experience came from
 
Top Bottom