/vr/ - Retro Games

Also, a small dump of Yamamoto's art.

>>4735412
I love that big tittied slut.

>>4735417
Soldier girl is pure

Fun fact, in its concept stage Ted Broiler was actually called Mad Broiler.

This is the original design for Red Wolf, the one in the OP is a slight redesign.

And here's some Dinobroiler to finish it off, the other art available is from non retro MM games so it has no place in here.

>>4735404
I first heard about this series when I saw someone play metal saga a few years ago
a post-apocalyptic JRPG about finding and customizing tanks? fuck yeah

after learning there's an entire series of the same thing that we never got, I got kinda mad that we didn't get any of it
at least we got something I guess

>>4735521
Metal Max was pretty niche even in Japan, and Data East probably didn't think it would be worth taking the series overseas, I also question Miyaoka's relationship with Data East given how the recent game seems to take a small jab at it, or maybe it's a weird idea of a homage.
It's an unfortunate case like many others, at least Returns got a english patch so you can play that if you haven't already, I hear people are also working on the DS games so you might be able to play those too in the future, and Xeno is also getting a localization, though having played it I can't really say you should look forward to it unless you're a die hard fan of the series and have played the other games before it.

>>4735404
Great open-world RPG series. Love it.

>>4735528
>though having played it I can't really say you should look forward to it unless you're a die hard fan of the series and have played the other games before it.
Does it have a ton of references that only longterm series fans will get or something

>>4735660
Yes, the game is chock full of various references, most of the stuff is from the first Metal Max but there's also a plot thread that refers to MM2 and a lots of returning monsters from MM3 or even 4, not to mention that 90% of the music you'll hear is all remixed MM/MM2/MM3 music and there's also an alternate version of Maria, an iconic character from MM2(They even kept her old battle pose).
Problem is that's pretty much the only redeeming factor given how it's not free roam like the other games and is a completely linear game for god knows what reason.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a straight out bad game outside of the absolutely horrible dungeon design and characters, mechanically speaking it adds some real good stuff and it's generally pretty good even though for some things it's a bit simplified/casualized coming from the previous entries, but it's simply not a good Metal Max game at all outside of the tanks and all the references from the previous games, which only veterans will get in the first place.

On that note, to all the people who played Returns, you can finally pilot the Rommel Ghost and mass produce it as well.

>>4735698
>it's not free roam like the other games and is a completely linear game for god knows what reason.
Well shit

>>4735837
Yep, it got a massive backlash in Japan, which is why the game bombed.

On the other hand, Miyaoka seems to have been expecting it to a degree, given how he did explicitly say he wanted to test the waters with this game and bring the series forward to a new standard, there's even a ingame message about it in the staff roll, I guess he wanted to understand whether MM4 bombed because it was too much for most people and tried to do a game with a simpler structure and progression.
But MM4 bombed because it had no advertisement, a bad cover, expensive and excessive DLC and horrible graphics, I can't understand why he made Xeno completely linear and with those horrible dungeons, especially when they did add some great stuff on a mechanical level and reworked the basic ruleset a bit with a lot of stuff, even though they got rid of quite a few mechanics that worked fine in the process, I really do not understand how they could remove part breaking, CPUs or shell ammo and not add anything in its place.
In any case, this isn't retro so I'll leave it at that, at least I got that sweet memorial OST from my preorder, I hope the next game will get the series back on the right track.

>>4735412
Looks like Dirty Pair, doesn't it?

>>4735931
Yamamoto is part of the old school of mangaka, the Soldier girl design is based on the classic 80's action girl archetype so it's no surprise she looks a bit like Kei.
He's on good terms with Masami Yuki too and both shared the same passion for space girls with spandex suits.

He seems quite fond of his work for MM, he even made some of the MM characters appear as small cameos in some of his mangas like Saber Cats.

Awww, I come back and there's no comments on the albums? Shame on you /vr/, there's some great stuff in there, Red Zone more or the Bias Vlad arrangements alone are top tier.

Well then, since MM2 is kind of offlimits for most people let's talk about Returns shall we?
>Favorite Tank
>Favorite Wanted!
>Favorite Dungeon/City

>>4736687
>Tank: Abrams
>Bountyhead: Brass Banshee
>Dungeon: Global Relief Center
>City: Eden (City of only train cars as houses which can actually be viable down the line if SHTF and society goes to crap)

>>4736687
>Favorite Tank
Either the Mosquito or the Van, they're both incredibly versatile as far as expansion slots and have a low chassis weight.
Those aspects are probably the two most important things about a tank.
As far as looks, Red Wolf is the best, and it's also great stats wise.

>Favorite Wanted!
You posted it. The one on one is great and he's tough too

>Favorite Dungeon
Probably the skyscraper in Sol. The layout is good and it's important and interesting lore wise.

>>4735404

Don't play Xeno...it is NOTHING compared to MM.

I've played MMR to completion twice. Last week, some anon here on /vr/ told me that if you get too drunk and try to climb onto your vehicle, sometimes your character will fall off it.

You learn something new everyday.

Also who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have a status that can only be cured after you're 1/3 into the game.

>>4736843
>Also who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have a status that can only be cured after you're 1/3 into the game.

? The only status effects that I can think of that persist after battle are acid and paralyze, and you can cure those with an item and a trip to the masseuse respectively.
Unless you're talking about lead mushrooms on tanks, but you have to be even further than 1/3 to remove those.

>>4736726
>City of only train cars as houses which can actually be viable down the line if SHTF and society goes to crap
Yeah, that was a nice touch compared to most other cities that were made up of ruined buildings or the usual caravans, I also didn't find Eden at all during my first playthrough, so it was a nice surprise when I started a new file.
I also like how in some cities like Pobre Obre they can make you a statue if you help them out with their problems.
>>4736747
Yeah. Rodriguez is pretty great, especially how he's one of the more elusive wanted enemies and when you get to him you get this spaghetti western parody with a cyborg rocker cowboy, I have a hard time choosing between him and the Rommel Ghost as my favorite Wanted enemies from Returns, they're both great.
The Devil's Towers are also my favorite dungeon together with the metro linear for the reasons you mentioned, probably one of my top favorite dungeons in the series in general.
>>4736823
Too late, I'm already in the post game, how do you think I got you that present?
Hunter Mode kinda redeems the main game I must say, especially since they add Wanted enemies to the list and up the difficulty a bit, though that really doesn't add much or magically makes the main game less bad.
A shame really, especially since battle wise it's probably one of more challenging titles in the series, and the tanks are all fantastic, especially since you can mass produce them in this game once you get the blueprints, so it's legit possible to have all characters use the Red Wolf or the Rommel Ghost.

>>4736864
Yeah, I'm talking about lead mushrooms.

>>4737592
Lead Mushrooms form in your tank when you have free slot, you can just fill your slots with shell ammo or plate packs and forget about them entirely.

>>4735521
I have this game I ordered it online for ps2 but fuck me if it didnt engage me. I wanted to love it, it has everything i like but i just could not keep playing it. I legit dont know what went wrong.

>>4737321
that pic is dope

>>4737782
I got them on my first dungeon though

>>4737841
Ted is always dope.
MM has a very dedicated niche following in japan, just like all smaller franchises that are still around after 30 years or so, you can find really cool stuff.

>>4735404
I am not your fucking brother, the term used here is /vr/troopers

>>4737321

It lacked the same feel. But the soundtrack is one of the best in the series.

>>4735404
The SNES game has potential, but since there isn't enough of a story to make me care to play it beyond about 5 hours to experience the gameplay, that's as far as I got...I basically just held out long enough to get the hot girl on the box art, then I felt fulfilled after that and couldn't be bothered to keep going.

I played a decent amount of Returns and liked it. Thinking about playing 2 so I figure I'd ask if I should I go with the SNES version or the GBA port. Any real differences between the two?

>>4738581
To tell you the truth, I thought the same when I played MM1. But the point of the game is that there's not much of a story. You're thrown into the world with a weapon, a bounty poster and... go do whatever you want. There's no overarching plotline if you don't want to look for it. You can go back to your home and give up being a hunter. In newer games, you can marry and have kids.

I think the main draw of MM is that it's almost completely open-ended. There's adventure to be had, but you must go out there and look for it. There won't be a "villain comes to destroy your village" plot. This may be a weak point for some, but I guess people also like not having to worry about that kind of stuff.

One of the many series I'm learning Japanese in order to play. MM2 Reloaded has been great, but I wish I could play it without having to look shit up endlessly. Still, it's easily one of the best JRPGs I've played, and I feel like I could put another 200 hours into it.

>>4735874
I remember in one of the interviews before the game was released, the devs were saying that your whole first playthrough is basically the tutorial, and NG+ is where "the true Metal Max begins." Did that end up actually being a thing?

>>4735948
Lu is cute.

>>4738537
Oh yeah, I agree completely.
All the remixes of previous tracks are great and the new boss theme against the SoNS is absolutely the best normal boss battle theme in the series, I also really like how the segment in the Librodome uses a heavy military remix of Call, that was possibly the best moment in the whole game, shame about the final boss theme, coming from the Kuromogura in MM4 it's a bit of a letdown.
>>4738654
Go with the SNES version, the GBA version has impossibly tiny resolution which makes reading anything a chore, otherwise just play 2:R on the DS, the SNES and GBA versions are identical outside of the fucked up resolution of the latter.
>>4738764
Yeah, after you finish Story mode the game unlocks Hunter Mode, in which all the content is restored but you skip the story parts entirely, not only that, you can up the difficulty level if you want and the game adds new drops, new items, new Wanted bosses, changes the contents of chests in dungeons and unlocks further levels of customizations for tanks, and also blueprints for you to find so you can mass produce any model you want, which is very neat.
To unlock all content in the game you must also go through two loops of Hunter mode, since Tech Level is locked behind finding files in dungeon chests and you can only max it out on your third level, there's also some DLC content inbound for new tank models or chassis variation, which is nice since this game has the largest vehicle roster in the series if you don't count Biotank model variations in MM3/4, and even so I think it still has more tank models at the end of the day.
>>4738809
Indeed.

>>4739135
All that about Hunter Mode sounds extremely cool. Shame they lock it behind NG+, because it sounds like a much more classic MM experience. I'll still definitely pick it up. However, I'll have to see who's translating it. If it's NISA, I'll probably just wait a year or two until my moon skills become powerful enough to enjoy it without a dictionary.

>>4739686
Yeah, Hunter Mode is pretty much where the real meat of the game is at since story mode is locked on normal difficulty and doesn't have all the game's content on top of that.
That said, as much as I don't like linearity, especially in MM of all things, I must admit the level of challenge is very stable throughout the whole game with some really clever wanted battles here and there, the final boss section is also pretty balls to walls I actually lost two times to it before getting it right, though to be fair I also found out later that I was pretty underleveled and undergeared for it.
Hunter Mode on Hard is pretty challenging and there's two further difficulty levels I have to unlock, which apparently add and change even more stuff.
>If it's NISA
It is, sorry.

>>4740094
>spoiler
>check online
>it's fucking true

>>4738659
It ends up being like any other open world game for me where with all the stuff to do but no real story that I care to follow I'll just get my fill of the gameplay and then get bored...I've never finished a Bethesda open world game because the main quest is never interesting enough or I can never get that far in the case of Morrowind.

I mean, MM does have some bit of story, but it's a bit more Souls where you have to get it by exploring rather than being spoon fed a linear plot.

>>4735404
Thanks for the gift, anon!
Listened to it a few times since last night and decided to fire up the emulator and give Metal Saga a go, as MM was loads of fun years back when I played it
That Beethoven track caught me off guard though, guessing it was some final boss music

>>4740458
I can see why you have problems finishing MM, it isn't really a plot driven series for most things unless you consider the first two games, and even so they're still very light in terms of involvement with the "big bad" and even in two the plot twist comes at the very end.

It doesn't help that all other games have really self contained side stories that do not have much to do with the main plot thread of the great destruction or Noa, the Saga games did try to have a more noteworthy connection but even so it's still very light and only people who played the previous games and got all the story and lore would care or even just understand what people are talking about, same exact thing happens in Xeno, where there's big implications about the events in the first MM and some kind of sidestory cliffhanger about the main antagonist of MM2, which only longtime fans will get anyway.
It's just a matter of taste in the end, I can see how you don't like that kind of narrative choice, I personally love it and much prefer it to the usual exposition in most games, it all comes down to personal taste.
>>4740489
You're welcome, I hope you enjoyed the various remixes for both MM1 and MM2.
>guessing it was some final boss music
Well, not quite, the MM4 final boss has some pretty crazy electronic music, in fact I'm a bit surprised they didn't arrange that since it's one of the best final boss tracks in the series, especially when there's the final boss themes for MM1, 2 and 3, though on the other hand there's no standard battle theme for 2 either.

Anyway, it's some great stuff, I should try to get my hands on the previous Metal Max arrangements albums, I really like Kadokura's music.

Man, I really need to get back to MMR. I loved rampaging around the desert in a tank named the Dickslam. (Yes, I have the sense of humor of an 11-year-old.) I was playing it on some phone emulator, but I'm sure it'll look great with component out from the Wii.

>>4740297
So what makes NISA's localizations something to watch out for?

>>4742220
>So what makes NISA's localizations something to watch out for?
Search online for "YS 8 NISA" and you'll understand.

>>4742220
NISA is legendary for fucking up games when bringing them over. For example, Disgaea D2 had an error where if you played it for too long, it would fry and literally melt your PS3. Some PS2 games have glitches in the endgame that cause the game to break and become unbeatable. More recently, their translation of Ys 8 was literally so fucking bad that Falcom issued an apology and a huge portion of the game had to be redone. They're also notorious for shitting up the writing, doing rewrites, adding memes wherever they feel like, etc. They're easily the worst currently-existing localization team.

>>4735404

Anon, what other JRPG's feature post nuclear and/or post apocalyptic backgrounds?

Anyone know the singer/band on track 7 of disk 2? Would love to find more by them and I can't read the moon runes: 水野真菜三
jewgle translate wasn't helping me any, just with the track name

>>4742419
https://vgmdb.net/artist/10260

>>4742285
Well, SMT comes to mind, it's the most famous JRPG franchise with a postapocalyptic setting, though you probably know that it's not the same Mad Max like setting used in Metal Max.
Terranigma is another well known game with a post apocalyptic setting, though it's more focused on the buddhist concept of the cycle of rebirth, so while it is technically a post apocalyptic game it's a bit out of the field in terms of execution, it's also a very, very long game which might wear you out but I recommend it since the writing is alright and the gameplay's fine if you like action adventure games like Zelda, good art too.
Another niche SNES game with a postapocalyptic setting is Maten Densetsu, which is pretty much a SMT clone, only with multiple MCs you can choose from, art by Yoshitaka Amano and a more serious narrative style, pretty decent graphics but nothing special in terms of gameplay.
On the Playstation you can play Arc the Lad 3, but to enjoy it to its fullest you should play the first two games as ATL3 is set in the postapocalyptic continuity of the world you explore in the first two games, not to mention you also get bonus stuff if you import the clear game data of Arc 2.
On the Saturn I guess you can count Tengai Makyou: the Apocalypse 4, but I haven't played it myself yet so I can't really tell you much on it.

More or less a newfag to the series, only played Returns. How is Saga on the ps2? Art style looked kind of ametuer so I was put off a bit. There's supposedly some new one coming out for the vita with art by some hentai artist but I have no vita so whatever.

Anything on a MM2 translation? I would take any version honestly at this point.

>>4742713
Saga is good, lots of content and stuff to do, consider it a Returns 2.0.
>There's supposedly some new one coming out for the vita with art by some hentai artist but I have no vita so whatever.
You can read the rest of the thread for that, it's also on PS4.
>Anything on a MM2 translation?
Not that I know, a group is supposedly working on MM3 so they'll probably translate 2:R once they're done with it.

>>4742224
>>4742282
Damn. Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed.

>>4735874
Maybe he doesn't wanna make games and used this test that was doomed to fail from the get go as an excuse to not make any more.

There's never going to a be a translation for any version of MM2 is there?

>>4738659
>In newer games, you can marry and have kids.

A Metal Max game where you can continue playing as your kids, with the kids changing depending on who you marry, your stats and moves, etc could be neat. Kinda like that one Phantasy Star game.

>>4742282
Are they the people on twitter talking about when translating games a lot of it is "OH THANK GOD I CAN FIX THIS!"?

>>4742779
Don't think so, they wouldn't have put any effort into it if that were the case, especially not for an anniversary title, nor would Miyaoka leave a post game message to the player about his intention to bring the series to a new standard after this game.

Xeno's only big mistake is simply making the game linear, for everything else it does things mostly right, mechanically speaking it's only a bit below 2:R/4, which is good, and it still has really good stuff like Shooting or blueprints which are big steps forward in the formula, if you go check the various 5ch/2ch threads most people agree that linearity is the big achilles' heel, most people want to see what the next title will be after this given how the general mechanics have changed.

Not to mention that as disappointing as this game might be it's still not a complete catastrophe like Hagane no Kizetsu, if that didn't kill the series Xeno won't, especially when there two MM mobage that keep making money.

>>4742801
What made Hagane no Kizetsu so awful?

>>4742895
Everything, it was a pseudo SRPG set in the Metal Saga continuity.
The story was more or less fanfiction tier, characters were mediocre and gameplay was questionable at best and extremely tedious at worst, worst of all, you had to control everything with the DS stylus, which made simply interacting with the game a huge pain in the ass, especially since on top of being forced to use the stylus to even move your character the movements were clunky and the menus were needlessly convoluted to navigate.
Hardly anyone even remembers the game because it was simply that bad.

>>4742220
>So what makes NISA's localizations something to watch out for?
https://pastebin.com/PDSaMr6d
>Ar Tonelico series: let's bugtest the game in god mode skipping all text, oh noes a bug that fries your playstation. ah well mocking and banning anyone who complains in our forums is the solution
>Rhapsody DS: let's cut ALL the additional story content from the remake so that it only has the same content as the original version, because we're too lazy to translate the extra stuff since we got the rights to use atlus' script. let's deny it all the way until release date, nobody's gonna care.
>Criminal Girls: this pervy game about lolis has a torture sequence. Better remove all text from it. See, we despise this smut enough to do these cuts but not enough not to make money off it and with false advertising, it's NOT nisa just being their good old lazy nisa selves.
>Atelier series: Oh this girl is Esty Erhart in moon, who the fuck names their child that way? We need to change it to something more natural and culturally appropriate so that burger audiences won't have culture shock panic attacks from, idk, Esty Dee? You see, it means- pffffthahhahhahahahhahaha

>>4742693

Sorry anon, should have told you what I have done so far.

Xenogears/Saga
Tales of...
Makitoushi Saga 1-3
Saga Frontier
MM (all of them, but this is obvious)
Bits of SMT, the post apoc scenes I watched another friend play
Humorous JRPG's that have very small post apoc scenes, but nothing hanging on to a whole narative. I have never heard of Maten Densetsu no Tengai Mayou...will check out. Terranigma was one of the first games I emulated, fine game too. But again...thank you for the response!

>>4742782

Not unless Aeon decides so.

>>4743418
resonance of fate, though last gen and not retro, was pretty post-apocalyptic
FFX/X-2 are also post-apocalyptic in a sense but they don't really count because civilization has rebuilt itself since the apocalypse, same with other games that had an apocalypse ages ago like FFT

>>4743449
Seems pointless to translate MM2 when 2:R exists, nobody translated the first MM on the NES given how Returns is a thing.

>>4743475

In comparison, and I don't speak Japanese...what did you think was better. 2:R or 3?

>>4743530
All in all I think 2:R was better

>Can choose your own MC and class
>Drumcan's henshin gimmick becomes pretty useless very fast
>Subclassing
>A lot more content than 3 in terms of quests and places to visit
>Main story has a bigger scope than 3 and also reconnects to 1
>Better map and location density, the east part of the map in 3 is mostly a wasteland with nothing to do outside of combing the desert with your metal detector, and even there there's not much to find outside of a puzzle dungeon that leads you to a very good secret tank.
>Better dungeon and quest design on average, there's nothing in 3 that can compete with things like the Golden Hotel and even the main story sections are very simple compared to 2:R
>More classic MM wacky stories and characters, MM3 was a lot more serious outside of a few things like the Goemonkey or Alamo Jack questlines, tough that's mostly a matter of taste
>Better tanks, though MM3 had way better bikes and the Biotank so I guess they're even in that sense
>More consistent Wanted monsters and better placement, 2:R had some really well hidden Wanted placements, 90% of 3's Wanted monsters were on the world map and had very little gimmicks or requirements on average, 2:R distributed them better and gave them better battle designs with more unique gimmicks or made them more prominent and gave them a better place in the narrative, see the Pichi Pichi brothers being recurrent parodic characters
>2:R has better music on average
>Bias Vlad and the Bias Army>>>Gluttonous and his furry pals
>More iconic main story moments in general compared to 3, the fight with Garcia alone is better than basically any main quest related fight in 3 outside of Olga Mode, and that's basically a side moment
>NG+

Keep in mind that 2:R had the advantage of coming after 3, so it's only natural that it does a lot of stuff better on a purely mechanical point of view.

>>4743475
I did say any version of MM2, that'd include 2:R.

>>4742512
Sweet, thanks anon

>>4743598
I'm playing through 2:R right now and I'm kind of sad that going for 3 after will feel like a downgrade. Still sure to be fun, though.

>>4742785
Record of Agarest War also did this.

I'm near the end of MMR and oh my god, this game is FANTASTIC. Has anyone tackled other MM games, even in japanese?

>>4744125
3 is still a fun romp, just a bit inferior to 2:R for most things, and less wacky than usual.
>>4744771
Yeah, outside of a few games they're all just as fun and well realized, go play Metal Saga once you're done with returns since it's available in english, it also has some sort of light continuity with it in a non canon way.
So how was Returns for you?
Did you get the lens cannon?
Did you catch on to Red Wolf?
Got teleported to somewhere weird yet?

>>4742951
Oof. That sounds rough.

I think the only one I haven't seen discussed yet here is MM4. How was that one? I know there's an enemy in the game that's basically the Dino Tank from Ultraseven, and the cover has some girl doubling as a motorcycle.

>>4744972
4 is great, it's pretty much a super mix of all the stuff from previous games in one title.
It's less charming or memorable than 2 if you ask me and dungeon design is still not as good, another flaw of the game outside of the bad graphics is that battles are slower than the DS titles, but it's not bad at all, I'd say that objectively speaking it's only second to 2:R in what it does, I slightly prefer other titles to it because I don't like unique characters in MM and the general setting and main quest isn't as interesting as 2:R.
It also got tons of DLC with cameos from previous games, including extra recruitable characters and boss fights.

>>4744905
Unfortunately my PS2 is DED and my PC is not good enough to run rpcsx2 or whatever, so i'm going to stick to other titles for now.

Playing the game was weird because I played a little bit years ago, stopped, recommended to a friend he finished it before me and now I'm asking him for tips LOL. The game is a 10/10 except for the fact that even with a FAQ you can't get everything, and I now that using FAQ on the first playthrough sucks but when I saw that the BSCon keeps track of everything you get I was determined to fill that out, I sporadically looked at the FAQ (mostly when I already was past the area) and lo and behold, Boss drops are unique and if you don't get it, you're fucked.

that got me pretty bummed out, but I'm gonna finish it, today probably. Red Wolf's death was sad man, but the game must go on. The Lens and the Life something Lab I was able to find on my own and with a tip from the gril at the bar, but I think it's strange to leave so many things hidden until the end part of the game, many players probably missed that.

Also can someone confirm to me what triggers the scene with Igor delivering a corpse? I saw it once and never again.

>>4745158
>>474520 here, how can people that played MMR say that MM 4 cover is strange is beyond me. To a normal player yeah, but to a MM player that is a slightly out-of-ordinary sight and that's IT.

Heck, i bet most of the people that love MMR fell in love with the quirky and weird designs. Take Beetla for example, a Beetle on a Beetle! AWESOME!

Does anyone know where I can find the artwork of Sasha in this image but bigger? I can only find ant sized files.

>>4745202
>but I think it's strange to leave so many things hidden until the end part of the game, many players probably missed that.
Eh, that's MM's charm, the games are chock full with content you miss out on a fresh file, there's a lot of stuff that is really well hidden, or quests and dungeons so convoluted you'd spend hours on them, the Devil Towers in Returns for instance are pretty big, the Golden Hotel in 2 is also massive and with a pretty complex storyline to its quest that is very easy to completely miss even when you're navigating it.
Glad to see you enjoyed it though, how did you like the Museum?
>>4745217
MM4's cover was admittedly very low effort, it's not that it looks weird, it's just bad, especially compared to really good cover art like that for MM3 or Returns.
I like Yamamoto's art but he put a lot more effort in the concept art for the game than the cover.
>>4745242
Good luck with that, I'd like to get some high res art of Maria but it's simply unavailable, best I could give you is some of the art Yamamoto put on his twitter account.

Was Steambot Chronicles inspired by Metal Max?
There's so many similarities I can't believe it's all coincidence. Too bad the franchise is dead forever.

>>4745303
That's a good question, there are indeed some striking similarities between the games, but I don't really know, wasn't SC made by IREM? Iirc they had nothing to do with the original MM team on any level.

>>4745248
Honestly, the fact that they managed to put those "attractions" was impressive, but having only 2 mini-games repeated throughout and a whole lot of nothing, it's probably my least favorite part of the game. (Also, I assume you meant the Broadcast Tower, not Museum?)

>>4745320
>I assume you meant the Broadcast Tower, not Museum?
Yeah, my mistake, I confused that with the Vlad Museum in MM2.
You have to admit that MJ and Marilyn were pretty cute though, iirc there's also some special prize for the whack a mole minigame if you get the top score, an accessory if I'm not mistaken.

>>4745202
>Boss drops are unique and if you don't get it, you're fucked.

Are you talking Returns or Saga? And could these drops be save scummed until you get them or does the game decide if you're going to get them once you start the game?

>>4745349
you have to save scum. I was trying out things with my money so i could know what items would do before I bought them (i wasn't going to save so i did all sorts of crazy shit) and I decided to try and fight Gomez and won, then afterwards in my normal game i defeated him and he dropped his hammer, so if you don't repeat the boss fight until you get it, that's it,.

>>4742782
The team fantranslating 3 (DS) plans to do 2R after, which is the best version anyways

>>4745361
there's also some interest for the very first metal max nes version

>>4745361
I had no idea there was anyone translating 3. Also wasn't there a DS game under the "Metal Saga" label as well?

>>4745360
Good to know. Does every boss have a unique drop or just some of them? If there's a list I'd like to have it so I know what bosses I don't need to waste my time save scumming on.

>>4745349
>Are you talking Returns or Saga?
All MM have bosses/Wanted enemies have unique drops, many have multiple unique drops as well.
Ironically, that's one of the things Xeno did fix by drastically upping up the drop rates if you inflict Shield Break, so technically, you could get a boss to drop every single item in its table if you Shiled Break, up your party's drop rate stats and play at high levels.
>>4745373
>wasn't there a DS game under the "Metal Saga" label as well?
Yeah, that's Hagane no Kizetsu, forget about it.

>>4745317
SC is a Kazuma Kujo game, apparently his first work in the industry were in In the Hunt and Metal Slug, but i'm pretty sure he was influenced by Metal Max at some point.
There's any other games that feel like MM?

>>4745360
In the original Metal Max 2 many bosses have two possible drops that depend on how many turns you take to kill them, making it impossible to get every item in a single playthrough. I'm of the opinion that it's best to avoid scumming for rare items in these games. It's too time-consuming and lowers the replay value when you feel like you've already done everything.

Having trouble making myself pick MM2 back up after not playing for a week or two. I always forget what the fuck I was doing in these games, and even though there's a quest log, I still feel lost. Still, it's definitely one of my favorite JRPG franchises. There's just something really satisfying about every aspect of the games.

Damn, Xeno looks like a bomb. I'm so sad, loved Returns and Saga so much. RIP

>>4745532
I'm seeing divided responses. Seems like if you don't mind playing through the main story once, you get rewarded with an excellent and classic MM experience on NG+. I'm looking forward to it.

>>4745438
>There's any other games that feel like MM?
Not that I know. MM is pretty unique at what it does.
I guess you could kind of consider Cyber Knight given how there's a vehicle mechanic in there with your mechs but it's still a pretty different series.
>>4745531
>I always forget what the fuck I was doing in these games
Doesn't help that there's so much to do, especially in 2, what with all those long ass quests everywhere or other stuff that simply disappears if you don't complete it before you get to a certain point in the map.
In that way they're very similar to SaGa games, which is also why I love them so much.
>>4745532
Xeno bombed but there's plenty of goodwill on both the dev and the audience's sides, and given how Xeno still does many things right I'll look forward to the next game.
>>4745548
Hunter Mode is hardly a classic MM experience, especially with that horrible dungeon design, but yeah it does redeem the story mode to an extent and it's fun to play through.

>>4745550
Oh really?I hope so.

If may I ask, what's the difference between the main game and that Hunter Mode?

>>4745550
>Xeno bombed
Didn't it already sell more than MM4? I wouldn't necessarily call that a bomb.

>>4745561
>what's the difference between the main game and that Hunter Mode?
Refer to>>4739135
>>4745567
>Didn't it already sell more than MM4?
Xeno is at around 24K physical copies at the moment, it will probably hit 30K, I don't remember how much MM4 sold but I think it didn't lag behind Xeno that much, maybe it even sold a bit more, I should search for some numbers.

Hmmm, according to vgchartz MM4 sold 60K units total, I don't see Xeno reaching that to be frank.
Though Xeno is getting a localization in the west, so who knows.

>>4745596
I hope it catches on big in the west. Even though it's NISA, since it's launching at just 40 bux I might not be able to resist.

>>4745602
Eh, I don't see it catching on really, especially since all the articles are saying it's open world when it isn't, thanks gaming "journalists".
If NISA doesn't fuck it up too much I'd say pick it up, there's a good chance it will also have all DLC included once it comes out in the west, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get it, as much as I hate them.

People were already raging for the Vita/PS2-HD graphics because graphic whores. I mean, what did they expect SQEX assets from a small dev that's almost an indie one?

Unlikely, but I wish for its succes as well.

Maybe if it had a PC version tho....Zestiria and Neptunia games had decent sales, despite what they usually are.

>>4745618
To be fair they did the same for MM4, especially on the 2ch threads, there was massive shitposting for the graphics alone, and sadly Xeno was the exact same, people saying it was a shit game because of the graphics are now gloating with the usual "I told you so" since the game came out.
>>4745624
Sony actually put a lot of effort in supporting Xeno in Japan so I don't see it getting a PC port.
At least it is getting localized, can't say the same for all the other games, only the ones on Sony consoles got localized for some reason.

I've only played Saga.
last I checked Returns was the only other game in the series with any kind of English translation.
Have there been any developments on that front? I'm honestly surprised that no-one has tried translating any of the earlier games.

>>4747343
>Have there been any developments on that front?
Nothing outside of a small team working on MM3, and possibly 2:R after that.