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LTTP: Dust: An Elysian Tail | Furry but good

The anti-anthropomorphism offence force is present even in the OP. Oh boy. What is is about this game's style that is different from movies like An American Tail, The Secret of Nimh, or countless older Disney movies?

Can someone please post an example of "bad" art in Dust? I think it's miles ahead of what it gets compared to, amateur art on DeviantArt.

Even if you think the character portraits are bad (I disagree), the game runs at 60fps and the fluid animations and gorgeous backgrounds / small sprites for the characters more than make up for it. Dust's running animation is incredible.

Dust: AET is the second-greatest individual achievement in video games, behind Cave Story. Dean Dodrill did a lot:
-story
-initial script draft
-programming
-art
-design
-music design
The only things he left to others:
-story editing
-script editing
-testing
-music composition

The single developer behind Cave Story did everything except the testing on his own. He made the game, the music, the story, the script, everything.
 
Mikey Jr. said:
Fantastic fucking game. Also playing on ps4.

Just wish I increased the difficulty from the start. Just smoking everything.

Any word on what the Dev is doing next? Dust 2?
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In hard mode the final boss kills you in three hits.
I started the hardest mode and enemies kills me in two hits.
You can change the difficulty settings ingame anyway.
I've read a Dust 2 was planned but not now.

I didn't realize so many people didn't like furry/anthro/animal art and even consider it as a bad point for this game. It's sad.
 
Really great game, combat is Fantastic, so fast with chaos on the screen, amazing.
Art is really good too (but i get why some people dont like it), dialogue is really good and with great voice acting too, i loved it.

Its a gem imo.
 
Never played it, but will be downloading on my PS4. REALLY love the art style (I enjoy the furry art), and I've heard the story is pretty good. I need a break from D3 and Destiny.
 
SMgamer83 said:
Pretty much echoing what everyone said, great game. While I don't like the furry look, the actual art style (hand drawn cartoon) was really well done, especially for the main character aerial attacks.
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Agreed. And I too pretty much got over the furry stuff because the game is so much fun to play. This has been a great month for PS+ if you ask me.
 
I honestly couldn't make it past the first 15 minutes, just couldn't stand the character design and voices.
 
nicoga3000 said:
Do people really hate the furry art that much that they wrote the game off? That's mind blowing to me...
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It kind of irked me at first but its mostly the villagers that bother me. They look really plain yet the more important characters look really badass. It's kind of inconsistant with how the character design is.
 
Didn't Noogy say that he was aiming for a Disney vibe with the art style and that he didn't expect people to have a "furry" connotation with it?
 
Timeless said:
Can someone please post an example of "bad" art in Dust? I think it's miles ahead of what it gets compared to, amateur art on DeviantArt.
Click to expand...
The usual line I hear trotted out is that Fidget's got Hartman Hips, and that's highly unsettling.

Personally, it seems like people trying to read sexuality in where none exist. It's like arguing that because virtually all of the NPCs are barefoot, Noogy was trying to play up paw fetishism.

Valkrai said:
It kind of irked me at first but its mostly the villagers that bother me. They look really plain yet the more important characters look really badass. It's kind of inconsistant with how the character design is.
Click to expand...
IIRC it's a cost/time-cutting measure. Animating Dust to be as fluid as he is is really time-consuming, so villagers are just made of piecemeal sprites that can be easily animated a la Flash animation.
 
Only played this becuase it was on PS+, ended up loving it! Great little game.

At first i was all
tumblr_inline_mi37z45ueW1qz4rgp.gif

but I got over it.
 
Pretty sure there was a shitload more than five Metroidvanias last gen. The tail end of the gen was flooded with a lot of indie-made ones, wasn't it? Knytt, Rogue Legacy, Guacamelee et al. Granted, a lot of them stayed on PC, and a lot of the ones that were on consoles also made it to this gen by virtue of being released so late in the game (kind of like Dust, really!), but still, they're out there...
 
I hated the artstyle and loathed the voice acting and writing. I skipped through all the story bits as fast as possible just so I didn't have to hear it.

Gameplay was really fun at first, but got stale and repetitive a few hours into the game. I got about 7 hours into the game according to Steam, but never bothered to beat it.
 
Timeless said:
The anti-anthropomorphism offence force is present even in the OP. Oh boy. What is is about this game's style that is different from movies like An American Tail, The Secret of Nimh, or countless older Disney movies?

Can someone please post an example of "bad" art in Dust? I think it's miles ahead of what it gets compared to, amateur art on DeviantArt.

Even if you think the character portraits are bad (I disagree), the game runs at 60fps and the fluid animations and gorgeous backgrounds / small sprites for the characters more than make up for it. Dust's running animation is incredible.

Dust: AET is the second-greatest individual achievement in video games, behind Cave Story. Dean Dodrill did a lot:
-story
-initial script draft
-programming
-art
-design
-music design
The only things he left to others:
-story editing
-script editing
-testing
-music composition

The single developer behind Cave Story did everything except the testing on his own. He made the game, the music, the story, the script, everything.
Click to expand...

This game gets way too much hate for its art style. I like how at first glance it looks like an innocent lighthearted action game but a few hours in and the story starts to reveal some darker themes. This is what peaked my interest. From the postmortem

The animated films that Dean and I grew up with were generally pretty dark, with stuff like An American Tail, Secret of NIMH, The Black Cauldron, and even Jim Henson's Dark Crystal (which wasn't animated, but you get the idea) all dealing with very heavy themes ranging from genocide to animal experimentation, but they also had an undercurrent of absurdity to keep things fresh for kids. That was the vibe we wanted to present with Dust, and I think it helped us craft a story with real gravitas that appealed to both children and adults while also allowing us to maintain the family-friendly E10+ rating.
Click to expand...

The amount of passion that went into this game is incredible. I highly recommend people read the postmortem.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/180520/postmortem_humble_hearts_dust_.php
 
God I would absolutely love more stories in this word. He did write in that there were more mystical talking swords. Having An Elysian Tail 2 focused on a different wielder of one of those blades would just...well, that would just be swell.

Dust is SO GOOD!
 
Fantastic game.

I've only got one achievement left on 360. The hardcore play through.

I still attached it to my PSN account though. Glad Noogy's work will get this kind ofexposure.
 
Shadow Hog said:
IIRC it's a cost/time-cutting measure. Animating Dust to be as fluid as he is is really time-consuming, so villagers are just made of piecemeal sprites that can be easily animated a la Flash animation.
Click to expand...
I would bet memory has as much to do with it as anything. I seem to recall it coming up in a post mortem or similar that Dust's animations alone ate up the majority of the ram available in the 360. Doubt there would have been enough left for enemies to be animated the same way.
 
I've stumbled upon this game when my lust for more Metroidvania led me to basically buy every game with that tag on Steam. Definitely an awesome game and I would love another entry/spiritual successor by the same developer.

Also, remember these fuckers?
http://elysiantail.wikia.com/wiki/Necromancers
I remember having a surprisingly difficult time with them.
 
This is the only indie (is it indie?) Game that I have liked so far. Couldnt get into resogun.. but yeah this game is pretty awesome and I for one like the quests. Except for maybe the 1k combo quest. Lol.
 
Griss said:
I would still find it poor storytelling and highly cringeworthy but I wouldn't be as creeped out. Furry art is firmly in the 'uncanny valley' for me. Too close to human to write off as 'just an animal' but far enough from human to look seriously unsettling.

Chip'n'Dale's rescue rangers? That's fine, they were little chipmunks. When the characters are blatantly human, though... there's a line that gets crossed and my creep sensors just start ringing.
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I gotcha, but Chip n Dale was just as bad

Dale was always going gaga over Gadget
 
The artistyle during gameplay is gorgeous. Really nice to look at

The character artworks during cutscenes look like they came from the lowest hells of Deviantart
 
Beautiful game. You might not like the character art itself, but the backgrounds, animation and effects are effin great. The game's really FUN and that's what counts IMHO.

Plus, the music is damn good (like this and this)
 
I beat this a month ago and while everyone's going on about the art (which I don't love) what I really didn't like about the game is the writing. The dialogue is unrealistic, overwritten, corny and at times cringe-worthy. I think I read someone on Gamasutra say every dev thinks they can write and that is 100% the case here.

Here's a typical exchange:

NPC: "Hey cowpoke, could you do this quest for me?"
Dust: "That should be possible. Sure."
NPC: "Well goooooooooolly! Thanks, pardner!"
Dust: "No problem."
Fidget: "Dust, you sure are growing more kind-hearted."
Dust: "Maybe all your talking is wearing off on me."
Fidget: "Hey!"
Dust: "Well, let's get to the quest."
NPC: "Happy trails, y'all! Cowpoke!"
Dust: "Indeed! We're going now."
NPC: "Bye!"
Dust: "Bye."
NPC: "Don't forget to write."
Dust: "We won't. Will we, Fidget?"
Fidget: "Nope. Bye!"
NPC: "Bye."
Dust: "Bye."

I normally never complain about too much dialogue either, but this game just goes too damn far. Too bad too, because I love the gameplay.
 
I never owned a 360, but I loved it on Steam. There was no negatives for me. I like the way the game looks and I like the art style. Anthropomorphic animals don't weird me out, and it takes me back to Saturday morning cartoons and 80's comics... coupling that with my love for 2D, sidescrolling adventure, and it takes me back to YsIII, Popful Mail and my holy grail SotN... and you've served me a tasty dish.

He expressed internet in seeing it on Vita too, and I would be overjoyed to see it happen.
 
I wish I had a PS4 because I would happily drop the money for this game yet again. Seriously one of my all-time favorites. The whole thing just felt right.
 
I remember hearing about it ages of on X360, a console I didn't have, so I just moved on. A friend messaged me the other day 'Hey, that Dust game is coming to PS+, you can finally play it!"

As corny the VA and dialogue can be, you can always skip it. I do find the enemies slightly repetitive if you play for a few hours at a time but overall, a great Metroidvania with fantastic animation and visuals.
 
Dio said:
This is the only game I've ever felt that the artstyle was just too repulsive for me to stand the actual game part, even though I want to try it. I have played a lot of videogames with artstyles I didn't necessarily like, too.
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Its not that bad, specially when you realize that they are 3D models...

Edit: Or not?, I swear that Shopkeeper looked 3D modeled
 
Excellent animation and sound design with gameplay that is a fun grab bag of Castlevania and Mega Man (specifically ZX) elements.

Sadly, despite playing on Tough the combat never feels complete due to a total lack of competent enemy AI. You just plow through enemies without effort while they do nothing to fight back or even survive. Its like playing Dynasty Warriors. This makes my massive combos and new powers feel less meaningful when there is no challenge presented.

Also, I find the controls a bit sluggish at times, though this may be just my own expectations compared to other games in the genre.

I hate the character designs. Really its not because they are anthropomorphic, but because they are so clearly Furry. I would love a non-furry take on beast people. Perhaps something more akin to Breath of Fire in that regard. As it is, this looks like its straight from the deviant art of someone who jerks it to Sonic porn.

The not so serious writing is perfectly fun while the dramatic writing is terrible.

The voice acting is surprisingly well done, though hamstrung by frequently awful dialogue.

I also dislike how long it takes to get the basic traversal power ups like sliding and the like. I can fly through the air like a whirlwind but I can't slide through a little space. It just feels very artificial to have the power ups not progress based on the impressiveness of the feats performed. Slide should be early, double jump a bit later, and unstoppable lighting tornado of doom should be towards the end.


Overall, despite my criticisms, I love the genre and this game does well enough to keep me playing. I find myself sort of mindlessly blowing through it, but I really enjoy the effort put in to trying to incorporate a variety of environments and different kinds of challenges. The platforming works well, and the game hands out experience at an appropriate pace.
 
Palculator said:
I've stumbled upon this game when my lust for more Metroidvania led me to basically buy every game with that tag on Steam. Definitely an awesome game and I would love another entry/spiritual successor by the same developer.

Also, remember these fuckers?
http://elysiantail.wikia.com/wiki/Necromancers
I remember having a surprisingly difficult time with them.
Click to expand...
They aren't all that hard. Use the sword spin + lightning combo move, strike the closest enemies with a simple combo while the lightning is still fucking them up to regain some stamina/MP/whatever it is in the game, beware of the exploding enemies. Rince & repeat until the enemy is dead.

Aegis Vanguard said:
I hate the character designs. Really its not because they are anthropomorphic, but because they are so clearly Furry.
.
Click to expand...
No they are really not. Stop reflecting your own twisted views on the character designs. They aren't any worse "furries" than a lot of Disney & other human-like animal people. God, people need stop with shitty criticism that has no basis in reality.
 
Vidpixel said:
It still blows my mind that pretty much the whole game was created by one guy. Super impressive stuff. It also helps that the game is pretty awesome, too.
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Yeah, I have to remind myself of this when I think about how I wish there was more weapons and combos. You only ever have the sword it seems and there's only like a few combos besides holding triangle to spin your sword or jamming it in the air to do tornadoes. But the game doesn't seem too long so I guess it's not bad. I'm about 55% of the way through and that's at about 6 or so hours. I've only found 2 of the 12 friends though. lol.
 
I played an hour or two of this on Steam a while back. Art style wasn't a huge drawcard for me, but it all seemed really fluid and well-executed and the gameplay was a lot of fun.

Don't remember why I stopped playing, but the PS+ freebie seems like a good reason to pick it up again.
 
It's one of those games that wouldn't have batted an eye during the 90s, but then the internet came. Which is really depressing, because the art is great and the gameplay, while it sorta lacks depth, is fun as hell, too.
 
the creator of dust also worked on jazz jackrabbit 2. Animated intro and end sequence i think. game had bigger budget than dust.
On dust he wasnt restricted and could design characters as he liked.Now jazz jackrabbit 2 was one of the most successful pc 2d platformers, played online still today, even without online vendors. No furry complain there back then either.

Dust, cave story and freedom planet retain the warmth and love of their creators, while maintaining good gameplay. Very difficult to have both in balance, even in indie games. Hence game gained my respect.
 
MrBadger said:
I wasn't big on the character design (except Dust himself, he looks good) but I really like this game's art style. The backgrounds are really pretty.
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Dust-2.jpg


How the fuck does one get to level 40+? I'm hovering around 20/22 and I'm at 78% completion. Is there a arena somewhere?
 
Just got to Chapter 3. I just got past the (plot spoilers)
funeral of the kid's father
, and holy bathos Batman. I can't take this game seriously. I was laughing out loud at how overwrought the whole thing is. It's fanfiction.net tier.

It takes a lot for me to just mute dialogue in a game, but I've officially hit that point here. Had to shut the game off and browse Gaf for a while. Also, the artwork for the army general / lieutenant / whatever is absolutely terrible as well. Why are the portraits so bad when so much of the rest of the art is good?

Game itself just keeps getting better, though. Spent too long in
the caves
, but other than that I'm having fun.
 
Really loving this game. Planned to buy it but got it free through PS Plus. Amazing visuals, addictive gameplay. My only criticism are the dialogs and the "story", which are pretty boring. Luckily they can be skipped and you don't seem to miss anything too relevant.

Overall I'd say my favorite PS+ release on PS4.
 
Did anyone else find the last level/area too busy? Like, most of the game, the only characters on screen are the player character and the enemies. In the last section, there are a whole bunch of non-player friendly guys running past and killing dudes, and I found it kinda hard to focus on the enemies with so much other stuff going on on-screen.
 
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