/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1850096
Landstalker. I liked exploring the land more. Alundra felt more linear to me.

Landstalker, but Alundra is good too. It's just more middle-ground. Landstalker is pure old school isometric. Alundra could easily be called a Zelda clone by the inexperienced gamer.

>>1850096
Landstalker

Dark Savior all the way

Zelda

Is Alundra a spiritual successor, or is it supposed to be set in the same universe?

>>1850096
Landstalker
and >>1850259

>>1850259
I thought Dark Savior was a really barebones sequel that sacrificed a reach world and hours of exploration with loads of items to discover for really shallow combat.

>>1850286
Same artist, different developers, different universes.

To me, Alundra flat out beats Landstalker in terms of:

-Music
-Story
-NPCs
-Equipment

>>1850360
It is by no means a sequel. A spiritual successor at most.

>sacrificed a reach world and hours of exploration with loads of items to discover for really shallow combat.
Dark Savior's real strenght is the story.

Nigel > Garian
Jack > Friday

Convince me to play this, /vr/.

>>1850425
>It is by no means a sequel
on that note, is Ladystalker worth playing?

>>1850438
You can go fuck yourself .
Why should we care about what you play or not.

>>1850360
>>1850438
Dark Savior is a great game. It plays similar to Landstalker (isometric platforming) but has a combat system that's more similar to 2D fighting games (you can also capture and use opponents). The thing that really separates it from Landstalker and other games is the Parallel system (Basically, there are four different routes in the game). The game's story is focused around the concept of multiple realities and what happens when they overlap or even collide.

>>1850442
>Ladystalker
I had to play it if only because of the title but honestly it's not as good of a game as Landstalker. It's pretty charming in an early 90s anime kind of way though

>>1850438
What's wrong with her hair?

>>1850490
yeah it's weird as fuck. I think it's pulled from the back to the front. how it stays in that position is beyond me

>>1850513
cool the bones in bilan's goo arent visible ingame

>>1850096

Landstalker, the ultimate Adventure. As cool as the Ys games, plus truly fantastic music.

Alundra is almost as good but sadly the puzzles makes it almost unplayable without a guide. Plus I feel like the dungeons and the overall world and places are less cool then the whole Landstalker places.

Why did Dark Saviour get trashed by the reviews back in the day if it's so good?

>>1850478
There was also a pretty cool looking Ladystalker remake.
http://www.climax.co.jp/ledy/

>>1850553
>video game reviews
There's your problem.

Besides, it just depends on what review you're talking about. It sometimes got bad scores and also got good scores depending on who it was. Here's some listing of its official review scores:

>EGM 06/20/03 8.37 out of 10
>Game Revolution 02/01/97 D+
>GamePro 03/01/97 4 out of 5
>GameSpot 01/09/97 6.7 out of 10

>>1850553
there was barely any coverage of the game. gamespot was the only major reviewer who did and they happened to give it a shit score.

>>1850553
I feel like a lot of people end up playing the first parallel and even if they are aware of the existence of the others they see it more as alternate endings that they will never bother with when in fact they just played a third of the game and therefore fail to see what makes the game shine.

oh look an actual semi decent video review of dark savior:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGULO_2-BvA

>154 views

>>1850554
>that artstyle

eeeeeeeeh, not for me.

>>1850360
It reuses a lot of its content, sure, but the different narratives and being able cross between Parallels is very fun, and the combat ends quickly for the most part (not that it's bad anyway). I don't think it's as good as Alundra or Landstalker, but it's a helluva lot more challenging and audiovisually appealing than Ladystalker or Timestalker. The opening stage is also a really great idea for a tutorial and Parallel selector.

>>1850362
Actually, the core Landstalker team developed Alundra when they moved to Matrix Software. This includes Tamaki and Orimo, for starters.

Comparing the music from Alundra and Landstalker's a foolhardy effort. Kohei Tanaka had been doing great music since the first airing of Dragon Ball, while Motoaki Takenouchi had just gotten his start composing original soundtracks. Both games sound really great, though. Takenouchi takes a more melodic approach overall, but he gets a lot of texture out of the 2612 chip. And Tanaka's great at orchestration as always.

Story:
Dark Savior >> Alundra = Landstalker

Gameplay:
Landstalker >> Dark Savior = Alundra

Presentation(art, music...):
Alundra >> Landstalker = Dark Savior

Dark stalker because some of alundra's puzzles spoiled it slightly. I ended up printing a massive faq from gamefaqs which my friend stole. What I really wanted was the official guide which was never released in my country and is expensive to import. After reading this thread I went looking for a pdf of the official guide but no luck. Does anyone have a scan of this to share?

Friday will ALWAYS be my Waifu.

Shame the PSP remake simply vanished.

Master race.

>there will never be another Climax roguelike

The dungeons were more interesting in Alundra

>>1850934
>Darkstalker
?

>>1850590
I guess it'll do.

>>1850554
Looks more like Steal Princess to me, which is possibly a positive.

>>1851758
>>1851758
PSP remake?

>>1851794
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2igJr2ZsNE

Shown off, looked good, then vanished without ever being officially canned.

This diorama will be gathering dust in a store room, or will have been smashed up long ago.

>>1851794
>>1851802

>>1850563
>>EGM 06/20/03 8.37 out of 10
>>Game Revolution 02/01/97 D+
>>GamePro 03/01/97 4 out of 5
>>GameSpot 01/09/97 6.7 out of 10
All American publications, ie not worth bothering with.

>>1852296
>>
>not understanding how quoting works
Anyway, pull up those Japanese reviews you're obviously looking at

Alundra is great, but Landstalker is almost perfect.

Would either game benefit from a "HD" Release?

>>1852839
Can't speak for Landstalker but I don't think Alundra would benefit much. The visuals are still really damn good.

Friendly reminder that Landstalker did the fairy companion schtick before Legend of Zelda

>>1853043
Friday is such a cool name for an imp devil thing.

Let's settle this /vr/

Who looks the best?

>>1853058
Nigel probably looks the most attractive at first sight. Garian has a far more serious tone which fits the game he is from so it's hard to make a direct comparison.
Alundra always looked weird to me.

Nigel = Garian > Alundra

>>1853058
the dark saviour bird looks so weird and creepy how do we go from a cute impish pixie to that crap?

>>1853058
Dark Savior is nothing like Zelda, tho.

>>1853097
>Dark Savior is nothing like Zelda, tho.
we were discussing the character designs. what does that have to do with anything?

>>1853058
wth is up with those tubes linking garian's armor to his sword and the weird doll on his right leg?

>>1853058
Nigel by far. At least in the artwork

The Gumi people in Landstalker are a blatant rippoff of ewoks and the carbon freeze in Dark Savior is what happened to Han Solo.

The creator must have had a boner for Star Wars.

>>1853106
And its characters look nothing like anyone from the Zelda series. Are you braindead?

>>1853147
>And its characters look nothing like anyone from the Zelda series. Are you braindead?
but no one was discussing which looked more zelda-like. the question posed was simply who looked the best.

>>1853058
Some big feet they have. You could have used the original art for Nigel though, not the Timestalker concept. He and Alundra have fitting personalities for the games they star in, but Nigel gets ahead by occasionally speaking out. Darian's the most fleshed-out character, however.

>>1853126
Shinya Nagasaki did the scenarios for both, and he had a pop culture boner.

>>1853153
>but no one was discussing which looked more zelda-like.

And you apparently can't read filenames.
>link wannabes.png
Fucking christ. Don't jump in when you don't even understand.

>>1853240
All the art of Nigel I found was small with shitty resolutions. I didn't knew that concept art was from timestalkers.

I feel like Dark Savior beats both the other games in terms of art direction. Shame that it has the worst gameplay.

>>1853249
>person asks: "Who looks the best?"
>you reply: "Dark Savior is nothing like Zelda, tho."
lol

the filename was probably a joke and had nothing to do with what was being asked

>>1853110
I was thinking the exact same thing. I've never played Dark Savior before, does the game ever explain this?

>>1853058
concept art doesnt matter

>>1853294
no. neither the tubes nor the doll shows ingame.

maybe it has something to do with garian's ability to capture enemies so he can use them in battle

or maybe its just typical japanese churazee character design

>>1853058
>>1853294
can anyone who knows japanase read and translate what it says on those textboxes above and below his sword?

>>1853270
>filename says link wannabes
>reply that Garian is nothing like link
>hurrrrrrrrrrrrr wat r u tlkng abut
You fucking retard.

>>1853314
Yeah, just let me get my magnifying glass

>>1853314
They're character bios for Jack and Ryu-ya, I'll take a closer look when I'm not on my phone

>>1853318
Landstalker is inspired by/a rippoff of Zelda. Both Garian and Alundra are based on Nigel.

Therefore all these characters can be traced back to Link.

>>1853328
Thanks mate

>>1853323
I don't speak japanese but all the characters are clearly visible

I fucking love this artist and everything he worked on.

But I think his best works are the gruesome stuff he does.

Like some of the far.out looking monsters in Alundra:

Succubus
Soul Leech
Zorgia
Melzas

>>1853323
I'm >>1853058 so if people are interested here's the image with better resolution

>>1853345
And Ronan of course.

>>1853348
and here's bonus lewd ninja titties

>>1853360
>dat hair
oh japan

Talking strongly for Alundra again, please excuse me.

I also thought that the game did a good job at involving the village NPCs. This gave the plot a more dramatic feeling. Especially since so many of them died.

When I first played Alundra, and pic related got killed I was really shocked. Especially when you found out who killed them.

>>1853360
hnnnnnnng

>>1853383
>tfw no ninja gf

>>1853331
Garian is nothing like Nigel, Link or Alundra. Neither in design nor personality.

>>1853374
>always open the spoilered pics before reading the post
>read it
>it was actually a spoiler
fuck

I never played the game but I feel that "Ladystalker" was a really unfortunate choice for a name.

>>1853409
LOL

if anything it could have helped sales

Nigel is Ryle in Japan. Garian is Ryu. Does Alundra also have a different name?

>>1853408
Here's another legit spoiler.

This death in particular was crushing.

>>1853405
For some reason Garian reminds me a lot of the Xenogears guy... are they anything alike? I never played Dark Saviour

>>1853405
>Garian is nothing like Nigel
blonde green wearing bounty hunter with a sassy flying companion and a sword

he is his spiritual successor ffs

>>1853348
1/2
Jack
Snakebird. A bio-organism dispatched by the Bounty Executive Office to manage Hunters, working with the hunter always and monitoring their actions. It has a Bilan-search capability, it also is adept at minute prayers (?) for any situation.

>>1853110
>>1853294
it's not linked to his sword but to his wrist armor

I think in the game you get lots of "bracelets" that increase your attack/defense/... so I guess those are used on his wrists and they power up his armor or something

no idea about the doll

>>1853475
Garian looks and acts nothing like Link, Nigel or Alundra.

>>1853512
Cool. Thanks so much. Do you have any idea what that minute prayer thingy might be refering to?

>Alundra vs Landstalker thread
>devolves into Dark Savior discussion
Im okay with this. It's probably the first time I'm seeing the game being discussed here or anywhere really.

>>1853360
Is there a name for when you discover your waifu without having played her game or not knowing anything about her?

>>1853512
2/2?

plox

>>1853537
No clue, I actually haven't played this game, just interested in playing and practicing my nihongo

>>1853697
I'm probably screwing this up, but I think there might be a typo in the Japanese...

Ryu-ya
A Bounty Hunter (shoukinkasegi) from Raijin Country, he is also an always imperturbale master of martial arts. After the one said to be impossible to arrest, heinous criminals and monsters one after another, are fed into the prison (bird) Jiirazu (bird) of death. (This makes) the perfectionist nervous, it is a fire that draws the blood of the Oriental (...I did my best... not really sure on the context. It really does say "Blood of the Oriental" though.)

>>1853426
Nope. It's got more syllables in katakana though
>A-lun-dra
>A-ran-do-ra

>>1853876
kinda cryptic but still interesting. thanks man

>>1853537
>>1853876
Going over my work, I actually mistranslated that because I got a kanji wrong.
>分析能力
Is actually "analytical skills" (busenki nouryoku) of which I apparently have none

>>1853374
>>1853429

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-BmHzgxLTQ

>>1853920
dont be so hard on yourself

if you ever plan on playing the game and want to practice your japanese you might want to look into the japanese version as there is a lot of visual differences(censored in the international versions) so who knows how much they censored the dialogue aswell

>>1853937
>The saddest day in Alundra's life comes to an end

So since we're talking Dark Savior... Is the 6th parallel real or just a rumor?

>>1854041
Pretty sure it's just a rumor. I searched extensively on JP internet and there was never a mention of it.

>>1853627
idk but she does got some fine assets. too bad about the haircut

>>1853429
This particular death will always stand out because it was the first time I cried at a character dying and I refused to carry the game on from then, untill a few weeks later when I vowed I would murder Ronan

>>1854293
His letter made things even worse.

>>1853426
He was called Niels in the German version

Is this some Shining spinoff series or

>>1855496
Not even fucking close

>>1855498
When you think about it, they could be.

>Shining in the Darkness is part of the Shining series
>Pyra and Milo from Shining in the Darkness are in TimeStalkers, oh, and Jogurt too
>TimeStalkers is part of the LandStalker series
>LandStalker is loosely connected to the Shining series

>>1850096
Landstalker easily.

Shame the FEDA games never made it stateside.

Do you remember fighting regular monsters in Landstalker?

>wow
>wow
>AAAAAAAAA

>>1855814
Just look at those awesome names.

>Sonia Bluemoon
>Flare Darkwood
>Elle Northwind

No "Bowie" bullshit here.

>>1856112
I love their screams

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD8xKErGhyA

This is probably old news, but this will always amuse me. Cut section of Landstalker where you encounter Kayla, in a bathtub.

I liked the Alundra games more. Yes, both of them. Alundra 2 is pretty good.

>>1856230
since we're talking censorship, in dark savior you're on a prison so the items you trade around are cigarretes, alchool and porn. In the american version it's chocolate, bottles and magazines. Also, cafés became bars and girls dressed as playboy bunnies became cheerleaders.

>>1856321
That's equally funny and embarassing.

>>1856321
bars became cafés*

>>1856439
it's hilarious talking to prisioners and having them ask you for chocolate

>>1856321
Lol yeah it's funny that the whole point of the game revolves around Garian getting drunk and doing something he shouldnt. And they expect us to believe to he was acting crazy because of drinking "jalapeno juice"

>>1850259
this. tho alundra comes close. landstalker is too rudimentary, sorry

Just started playing Dark Savior. the controls are SOOOO bad but still seems promising because im interested in the plot. I got parallel 1 where bilan killed everyone in the ship and escaped on his own. I'm assuming this is the one you are supposed to get on the first run since it's pretty much impossible to get the controls right away to finish the ship in a short time.

>>1858823
I never had a problem with the Dark Savior controls. I don't see how if you had played Landstalker that the DS controls would be a problem.

>>1858823
>the controls are SOOOO bad
They're perfectly fine. Maybe you're not used to isometric games?
>since it's pretty much impossible to get the controls right away to finish the ship in a short time.
No seriously, the controls are really easy and simple. What the hell?

>>1858889
not the one you're replying to but sadly the controls aren't very fluid. it can be a pain in the ass to get the jumps right. specially when you have to change direction in midair

>>1858924
Are you playing on an emulator? On a proper Saturn controller the diagonal movement is toally natural.

>>1858939
I'm not currently playing it. Last time I did must have been like 2 years ago, and yes, it was on an actual saturn

I hear people compare Alundra to The Legend of Zelda nearly every time Alundra is mentioned. I love the 2D Zelda games.

How does Alundra actually compare to, say, A Link to the Past? If I enjoyed that game would I like Alundra? I plan on trying it, but I don't want to go into it with false pretenses.

>>1858924
>>1858942
I can't agree with that whatsoever. They work just like any other isometric game and there's no lag or uncertainty with the inputs. I think it's just your own human error and you probably got frustrated and blamed it on the controls.

Comparing Alundra and Landstalker I gotta say that Alundra has the better bosses. By a large margin.

Starting with the boss music, over the designs over the fights themselves.

Wilda and Nirude alone are better than any boss of Landstalker.

Landstalker could have had interesting bosses, but the patterns were simple and repetitive. A shame, since repetition works well for other parts of the game (Greenmaze is a classic).

I'm gonna play Landstalker for the first time. Anything I should know beforehand??

>>1859313
Heal Boots are best boots

>>1859343
any tips of things to do/not to do to avoid major hassles?

>>1853298
not fair to compare nigel to the other two because of the inferior hardware. but garian wins overall

>>1859348
Don't manually heal with EkeEkes. Once you die, Friday will automatically revive you so long as there's a stock of them. This way, you'll make more efficient use of the item stock.

>>1859387
>>1859343
thanks guise

Question: should I save up money or is it only useful to blow on ekeeks and the ocasional lifestock?

zelda series beats both hands down

>>1859763
Life stocks.

This thread made me yearn for a really solid, old fashioned but well done adventure game.

Any you recommend besides Alundra, Landstalker, Dark Savior and... Ladystalker?

Zelda is kinda a given and I played most of them, so more exotic mentions are welcome!

>>1860102
Ys I & II

>>1860123
Oh yeah, completely forgot about the Ys series. Never played any game of that.

Thanks, anon!

>>1860102

Crusader of Centy

>>1860162
It's a good series, you'll enjoy it.

Also seconding this >>1860175

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8fk0USE7pk