First, this is my first lttp-thread on neogaf, so if I am breaking any rules here, just close the thread faster than Nintendo should have sued From Software for this game.
Anyways, I recently played Demons Souls to completition, and loved it so much that I ordered Dark Souls the day I beat it. However, ordering from notorious british online retailer zavvi was probably a bad idea, as I have been craving me some awesome souls-hunting all week, so I decided to try my hand at another From Software-developed game that was already in my shelf: 3D Dot Game Heroes. Starting it today, here are my first thoughts on the game:
I was immidiately floored by the fantastic graphics that look both retro and good at the same time with some awesome touches like how stuff explodes into pixles. Its just a really cool looking game with a very unique style, which is of course awesome.
I also find the story to be good enough which is better than most games really. There isnt much of it, which is nice, but what there is seems to be a joke on the notion that everything in the video game world needs to be 3D to be considered good, and since this was released a few years ago only in the start of the 2D boom of the latest years, I feel this is a really appropriate thing to base a story around in a game like this where most of its audience will probably feel the same way about old games. Also, all of the references to other games like Demons Souls, Zelda, Simons Quest, Dragon Quest etc is also extremely cool for a lover of retro-games, and it makes it actually fun to talk to the npc's and not only work like in a lot of modern games.
Now, the gameplay is of course the greatest thing about the game so far, actually being much more akin to the original Zelda than even Link to the Past, with almost no puzzles, but mostly battle-rooms where you need to fight all the enemies to progress (more or less). I actually really like this, as it makes the game feel more different from the more puzzle-heavy newer Zelda-games (in both 2D and 3D) than it would if it would have adopted a more lttp-way of doing it, so I feel this was actually the right choice from the developers. The light rpg-mechanics like the sword-upgrade also feels nice, and I love how the game actually rewards you for exploration.
All this is of course only based on my about three hours with the game this evening. I breezed through the first two dungeons (even though the second boss was a bit tricky), and then spent a ton of time in the sands to find the third dungeon - which I will start tomorrow. Hopefully this game gets even better, for my impression so far is really good, and it follows in line with what I experienced with Demons Souls and therefore expected of 3D Dot Game Heroes: This is games that actually manages to take what is so great with old game-design and put it into modern video games without being only retro. Where Demons Souls felt like someone finally managed to put the precision-based action-gameplay of something like Mega Man or old-school Castlevania and set it in 3D, this game does something similar with that old Zelda-style game by removing the often bloated story and slower puzzle-parts and just focusing of what was the core of the original: Presicion action and rewarding exploration.
Now why was this game never released on a Nintendo-system where the audience must have been much bigger for it?
Anyways, I recently played Demons Souls to completition, and loved it so much that I ordered Dark Souls the day I beat it. However, ordering from notorious british online retailer zavvi was probably a bad idea, as I have been craving me some awesome souls-hunting all week, so I decided to try my hand at another From Software-developed game that was already in my shelf: 3D Dot Game Heroes. Starting it today, here are my first thoughts on the game:
I was immidiately floored by the fantastic graphics that look both retro and good at the same time with some awesome touches like how stuff explodes into pixles. Its just a really cool looking game with a very unique style, which is of course awesome.
I also find the story to be good enough which is better than most games really. There isnt much of it, which is nice, but what there is seems to be a joke on the notion that everything in the video game world needs to be 3D to be considered good, and since this was released a few years ago only in the start of the 2D boom of the latest years, I feel this is a really appropriate thing to base a story around in a game like this where most of its audience will probably feel the same way about old games. Also, all of the references to other games like Demons Souls, Zelda, Simons Quest, Dragon Quest etc is also extremely cool for a lover of retro-games, and it makes it actually fun to talk to the npc's and not only work like in a lot of modern games.
Now, the gameplay is of course the greatest thing about the game so far, actually being much more akin to the original Zelda than even Link to the Past, with almost no puzzles, but mostly battle-rooms where you need to fight all the enemies to progress (more or less). I actually really like this, as it makes the game feel more different from the more puzzle-heavy newer Zelda-games (in both 2D and 3D) than it would if it would have adopted a more lttp-way of doing it, so I feel this was actually the right choice from the developers. The light rpg-mechanics like the sword-upgrade also feels nice, and I love how the game actually rewards you for exploration.
All this is of course only based on my about three hours with the game this evening. I breezed through the first two dungeons (even though the second boss was a bit tricky), and then spent a ton of time in the sands to find the third dungeon - which I will start tomorrow. Hopefully this game gets even better, for my impression so far is really good, and it follows in line with what I experienced with Demons Souls and therefore expected of 3D Dot Game Heroes: This is games that actually manages to take what is so great with old game-design and put it into modern video games without being only retro. Where Demons Souls felt like someone finally managed to put the precision-based action-gameplay of something like Mega Man or old-school Castlevania and set it in 3D, this game does something similar with that old Zelda-style game by removing the often bloated story and slower puzzle-parts and just focusing of what was the core of the original: Presicion action and rewarding exploration.
Now why was this game never released on a Nintendo-system where the audience must have been much bigger for it?
