|
![]() Let's Play Sorcerian! What the hell's Sorcerian? Sorcerian is a side-scrolling action RPG created by Nihon Falcom in 1987. Sierra translated and released it for MS-DOS in the USA in 1990. Sorcerian is technically (sort of) part V of the Dragon Slayer series, which also includes Legacy of the Wizard. It was a fairly significant cult hit in Japan, spawning a number of expansions and countless arranged soundtracks as well as versions for the Mega Drive, PC Engine CD, Dreamcast, cell phones, and Windows. In the US it went largely unheralded, except for the time SpaceDrake baited me into buying Fortune Summoners by namedropping it. Although light on plot and honestly kind of janky in the game mechanics department, Sorcerian is not lacking in content and charm. Each of the 15 adventures has its own extensive backstory (in the manual). Your characters grow old as you progress through the game, and they can pass their belongings on to children when they die. The magic/item enchantment system is ridiculously complex. About the Music Sorcerian has a fantastic, expansive soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro and three other people (alright... Mieko Ishikawa, Reiko Takebayashi, and Hideaki Nagata). Rob Atesalp and Ken Allen did MIDI conversion for the Sierra release, and it's fine, but a bit lacking. For the most part I'll be replacing the MS-DOS music with other arrangements. I believe all the albums I'll be using are available on iTunes under Falcom Sound Team JDK. Can I Buy Sorcerian? Unless you're in Japan, not really. Sorcerian is available on iOS here but it's $30 and in Japanese (even though the store page says English). You could always bug @XSEEDGames on Twitter or something, they seem to have U.S. distribution rights for all Falcom games. You can buy a digital download of Sorcerian Forever together with Sorcerian Original (these are remakes) here but I have no idea what their terms are. Original Japanese PC versions are available in emulator packages from Project EGG but again I'm not familiar with the workings of that site. Seems to be a Japanese GOG basically with some kind of subscription service. About the LP The format will be video LP with post commentary. Expect roughly 17 episodes (prologue, 15 quests, and ...?!). I'll be including fluff and images from the manual. Folks in the thread will have three opportunities to create a party for me--one for each "scenario." I will try to show 100% of the game, editing out backtracking. If for some reason you would like to try guest commentary after the first few episodes, get at me. Episodes Episode 0: Prologue Episode 1: The Stolen Scepter Episode 2: The Lost Talisman Episode 3: Lucifer's Floodgate Episode 4: The Cursed Oasis Episode 5: The Tower of Thieves Episode 6: Master of the Dark Marsh Episode 7: The Dragon King Episode 8: Riddle of the Red Jewel Episode 9: The Dark Magician Episode 10: The Cursed Ship Episode 11: The Garden of the Gods Episode 12: The Caverns of Ice Other Content The Book of Magic On Character Death/Rebirth ExMortis fucked around with this message at May 21, 2013 around 20:22 |
| # ? Feb 10, 2013 18:52 |
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2013 00:15 |
|
Video![]() Music Used (in order of appearance) "Opening" from Sorcerian Super Arrange vol. 1 "Where we Meet" from Sorcerian Super Arrange vol. 1 "Dungeon" from Sorcerian Super Arrange vol. 1 From the Manual... ![]() Welcome to the world of Sorcerian, where monsters plot revenge against human kingdoms, sorcerers enchant the swords of adventurers with spells of power, and the Gods of the seven planets rule the lands. In the Sorcerian world, magic is real and powerful, and the knowledge of magic and its workings is necessary for any adventurer hoping to fulfill a quest. Adventurers gather in Pentawa City in the kingdom of Pentawa, awaiting the chance to prove their courage and dedication against the foes of humans, elves and dwarves. While waiting, they equip themselves with the items they will need, and take training in the arts of combat, magic and defense. Real Talk So thread, figure out my starting party. FIGHTERs and DWARFs are melee fighters while WIZARDs and ELFs use magic, let's do one of each for this first party. Specify male or female and name (11 characters, no spaces, but dashes are ok). I'll take whatever strikes me or gets voted up. It'll be a couple days before I can get my manual scanned, so I'll give it until then. Let's Play Sorcerian!!! Almost forgot, refer to here to see what characters will actually look like: http://homepage2.nifty.com/tkdate/P...chara/race.html ExMortis fucked around with this message at Feb 13, 2013 around 20:22 |
| # ? Feb 10, 2013 18:53 |
|
This looks like a game I would have played the heck out of as a kid. I'm amazed at how many games are Dragon Slayer titles or spinoffs in disguise. I loved Faxanadu, even if it didn't feel likewise. 11 characters is quite a luxurious name limit, even now.
|
| # ? Feb 10, 2013 19:39 |
|
How the heck is a dwarf or fighter in the middle of the party supposed to contribute to a fight in any way? Make a female dwarf and name her Penny.
|
| # ? Feb 10, 2013 22:02 |
|
Looking forward to this, I had this game as a kid but could never figure out how the hell to play it.
|
| # ? Feb 10, 2013 22:26 |
|
Oh man, add another to the list of 'I played this when I was tiny.' It might have been one of my first real meaty video games, and it took a long time sitting around with friends trying to figure out how to beat a single drat level. Eventually through sheer grit and determination and a lot of hand-drawn maps we managed to make our way through maybe a third of them but a couple levels remained completely impenetrable. It came with a massive manual with pages upon pages of spells, herb, and enchantment descriptions that I must have read a thousand times -- not that I really remember any of it. It didn't help that we kept running into some sort of game breaking bug. The text would go weird and discolored in the town menu and a bunch of things stopped working right, but I don't remember how. Really frustrating at the time, and eventually led to giving up. This music is all wrong, though. It should be squawking and crunchy and coming from a speaker buried somewhere inside the PC. Female dwarf: Velma Male human: Fred Male Elf: Shaggy Female Wizard: Daphne I'm not very original.
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 03:13 |
|
I'm very interested in this but I have a hard time listening to audio when the speaker is all dry mouthed and I can hear their like mouth sticking to itself and whatever. Just chug some water or something? This game looks cool, I like the semi disorienting movement and how jumping looks with all members cascading behind each other. I like the style of the graphics too, some of these character portraits are great. I'm all named-out from playing Ni No Kuni so I don't have any great name suggestions but I beg you to please include the male Dwarf. His Adult and Old forms crack me up, they've got some good expression for a limited palette and size.
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 04:32 |
|
NmareBfly posted:This music is all wrong, though. It should be squawking and crunchy and coming from a speaker buried somewhere inside the PC. Considering feedback, for the episodes proper I'm going to keep the PC speaker sounds and use the midi version of a given song for like the first loop. Lotish posted:How the heck is a dwarf or fighter in the middle of the party supposed to contribute to a fight in any way? Y'know, a skeleton could come up in the middle of your party or a "bogard" or "ouk" could drop out of the sky or something. 2nd in line is probably best so you don't have to get a wizard all up in a boss's body in order to hit it. Khanstant posted:I'm very interested in this but I have a hard time listening to audio when the speaker is all dry mouthed and I can hear their like mouth sticking to itself and whatever. Just chug some water or something? It was much worse before editing, believe me. I'll try to stay on top of it. I knew someone would go for the adult male dwarf, but dwarves and elves age slower than humans and they might not be likely to get that old. I could pump a character's age at creation if it's a request.
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 06:27 |
|
Lotish posted:Make a female dwarf and name her Penny. What the hell; I'll vote for this.
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 06:27 |
|
You do know that your banner is table-breaking, don't you?
|
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 11:31 |
|
Male dwarf named Lugash get everyone's cat back.
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 12:34 |
|
Pierzak posted:You do know that your banner is table-breaking, don't you? On certain window sizes...? What do you recommend?
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 16:30 |
|
I played a lot of Sorcerian when I was a kid. I was able to get through two or three of the scenarios, but got stuck on all the rest. I spent more time playing around with enchantments and adventurer careers than actually beating the game. I'm looking forward to seeing these for sure! Is this available through GoG or anywhere similar for those of us who want to give it another go?
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 16:43 |
ExMortis posted:On certain window sizes...? What do you recommend?
|
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 17:55 |
|
I don't care who you name it but there has to be someone with the name of RimDank the Brave
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 17:57 |
|
Pierzak posted:Resizing it to 1000px width, as per forum rules? Fixed, but I'm not inviting you to my birthday party. whydirt posted:Is this available through GoG or anywhere similar for those of us who want to give it another go? As far as I know the only way people outside Japan can "conveniently" buy Sorcerian is on iOS, but it's in Japanese (even though the app store page says English) and costs $30 (!!!). I think Xseed has overseas Falcom PC rights now, I guess they could conceivably bring it to GoG but would probably need to make a deal with Sierra and ehhhh... I should probably add something to the OP about that.
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 18:27 |
|
Interesting...I always liked games that gave you an adventuring party you could name and choose the classes for. And since this is one of those... My line-up choices: Fenwick, Male Wizard Sylvia, Female Elf Ivan, Male Dwarf Sorcha, Female Fighter
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 18:35 |
|
I actually have the manual for the English version of this game - lost the game itself long ago. Always looked like an interesting little game.
|
| # ? Feb 11, 2013 19:00 |
|
Video![]() Music Used (in order of appearance) "Where We Meet" MS-DOS version "Pentawa I" MS-DOS version "Dungeon" MS-DOS version "Dungeon" Sorcerian Perfect Collection vol. 1 "Dungeon" Sorcerian: Apprentice of Seven Star Magic "Dungeon" Sorcerian Super Arrange vol. 1 (followed by MS-DOS Dungeon again) "Hydra" Sorcerian Perfect Collection vol. 1 "Dungeon" PC-98 version "Travelers' Inn" MS-DOS version THE STOLEN SCEPTER ![]() It is sometimes said that the history of Pentawa is the history of its battles. Since the first people came here, hundreds of years ago, they have they have never been free of the need to defend their territories and their lives from the monsters that inhabit this land. Those victories were not gained without sacrifice, but there was also a valuable resource that helped maintain relative tranquility: the Royal Scepter. As long as this magical treasure remained with the ruler of Pentawa the people would prevail over their enemies, and the nation would endure. Unfortunately, the human capacity for treachery is always present. One of the king's advisors betrayed the secret of the scepter to a band of Ouks, dangerous cave dwelling monsters. Needless to say, the Ouks were overjoyed to have this information. The Ouks attacked the capital city immediately, marching straight for the castle, and ignoring any soldiers or civilians who were not directly in their path, but destroying anyone who stood in their way. In the end, though the king's life was spared, the scepter was taken to the Ouk stronghold under the city, and the kingdom was left in chaos. Robbed of the source of their power, Pentawa weakened day by day. The people watched in fear as their king seemed to wither before their eyes, and monsters gathered at their borders... GOAL The royal scepter has been stolen by monsters and taken to their underground hideout. The kingdom is vulnerable to attack from numerous sources, and the people are living in fear. The king has issued a proclamation: 'To whoever will recover the scepter, I will give a great reward of gold, and your name will live forever in the history of our people.' Brave the underground caves beneath the city, find the scepter hidden there, and return it to the king. ITEMS ![]() BLUE BALL: A large blue gemstone that fits into a number of holes in the dungeon that are situated near doors. ![]() DIAMOND SHAPED STONE: Can be found in the hand of a blue demon statue somewhere in the dungeon. ![]() ROYAL SCEPTER: Insures victory to the people of Pentawa. Without it, the kingdom will fall apart. Hidden somewhere under the city. MONSTERS ![]() BAT: Like ordinary bats, these use reflected sound emanations to locate objects even in complete darkness. Unlike ordinary bats, these will attack humans. ![]() GNOME: A gnome is a small dwarf-like humanoid that can see in the dark. They are very aggressive. (NOTE: Not in the MS-DOS version of the game, but still in the manual, strangely) ![]() GIANT RAT: About 1 meter long. Multiple bites may cause paralysis. ![]() OUK: Violent semi-humanoid. Attack by throwing rocks from above. ![]() GOBLIN: Related to the Ouks, but much smaller. Attack in large groups, and can be quite ferocious. ![]() BOGARD: Small, wild humanoid. Attacks in large numbers -- uses a saber. ![]() SKELETON: Attacks from under the ground in large numbers. ![]() HYDRA: Three-headed dragon relative. All three heads must be cut off before it can be defeated. ExMortis fucked around with this message at Feb 16, 2013 around 10:55 |
| # ? Feb 16, 2013 07:35 |
|
Seems your video got removed for being too long?
|
| # ? Feb 16, 2013 07:41 |
|
Yeah, it's up now. It was sitting at 95% when I posted, but I didn't realize there was a verification thing before you could upload long videos.
|
| # ? Feb 16, 2013 07:52 |
|
ExMortis posted:Yeah, it's up now. It was sitting at 95% when I posted, but I didn't realize there was a verification thing before you could upload long videos.
|
| # ? Feb 16, 2013 08:04 |
|
This looks pretty neat so far! I love these side-scrolly games.
|
| # ? Feb 16, 2013 09:04 |
|
Yay, you used some of my names! It's a bit hard to keep track of where you're going in the dungeon, with how samey the rooms are. I'm pretty sure I would've gotten my butt lost and gotten frustrated because of that. I love the animations, though. The character sprites have a certain charm to them.
|
| # ? Feb 17, 2013 07:31 |
|
I'm liking the music in episode 1 a lot. It has that 80's feel to it!
|
| # ? Feb 17, 2013 08:09 |
|
I'm done with principal photography, editing, and music on the next episode but it's another 22-minuter so I probably won't get it up until the weekend again. I think I'm going to be drat near out of stuff to say about Sorcerian apart from what's going on onscreen after this update, so if someone wants to guest on ep. 3 we can try that... I'm going to do a non-video update about the magic system between 2 and 3. LucyWanabe posted:It's a bit hard to keep track of where you're going in the dungeon, with how samey the rooms are. I'm pretty sure I would've gotten my butt lost and gotten frustrated because of that. The second adventure should be easier to follow, it has two distinct areas, some NPCs, and there are only two rooms that look exactly the same. Have you noticed the sprites aren't just mirrored left/right? They keep their weapons in the correct hands. If there's one thing Sorcerian has, it's charm.
|
| # ? Feb 21, 2013 05:55 |
|
Do any of the non-key items you pick up in the dungeon actually show up on the dungeon map or are they all invisible triggers?
|
| # ? Feb 22, 2013 21:19 |
|
I enjoyed the first episode of this! Looking forward to more.
|
| # ? Feb 23, 2013 03:58 |
|
I like this, it seems like a cool game and you clearly know how to play it well enough to keep it interesting. The jump cuts are really disorienting even at the level you are using them now. For someone seeing the level the first time it makes following the layout of the level really confusing. Also, you appear to actually teleport when you hit that one switch. Is this the case or was that a jump cut?
|
| # ? Feb 23, 2013 05:03 |
|
Glazius posted:Do any of the non-key items you pick up in the dungeon actually show up on the dungeon map or are they all invisible triggers? Well, I ran 1-1 again to earn some extra money and turns out the Crystals aren't optional at all, you can drain the room where the critical demon statue is but the statue doesn't even appear until you use the two crystals on the jars. To answer your question though, 1-2 IIRC doesn't have any hidden key items, they're either visible or given by NPCs. Nothing set in stone, just depends. Zushio posted:I like this, it seems like a cool game and you clearly know how to play it well enough to keep it interesting. The jump cuts are really disorienting even at the level you are using them now. For someone seeing the level the first time it makes following the layout of the level really confusing. Also, you appear to actually teleport when you hit that one switch. Is this the case or was that a jump cut? The switch that "makes the room glow strangely" is a teleport to under the bridge, yeah. I know 1-1 is confusing, but I'm going to try to optimize my routes better in the future. It was also suggested through outside channels I speed up footage instead of cut, so I'll see if my editing program can even do that.
|
| # ? Feb 23, 2013 05:27 |
|
Video![]() Music Used (in order of appearance) "Pentawa II" MS-DOS version "Forest" MS-DOS version "Debitel Priest" Sorcerian Perfect Collection vol. 1 "Underground Dungeon" MS-DOS version "Forest" Sorcerian Perfect Collection vol. 1 "Underground Dungeon" Sorcerian: Apprentice of Seven Star Magic "Underground Dungeon" Sorcerian Perfect Collection vol. 1 "Underground Dungeon" Sorcerian Forever I "Forest" Sorcerian Forever I "Underground Dungeon" PC-98 version "Forest" PC-98 version "Sand Mariber" Sorcerian Forever I "Travelers' Inn" Sorcerian Forever MIDI Piano THE LOST TALISMAN ![]() The leaves have fallen from the trees in the city of Pentawa, and there is snow on the bare branches. The capital suffers in the grip of winter, but elsewhere in the world it is summer. In frozen Pentawa, people are beginning to whisper 'Perhaps something has happened to the Talisman.' Meanwhile, it grows colder. The Talisman of which they speak is a magic stone with the power to control nature. Even locked inside the golden pedestal which controls its power, it has created a dense forest all around itself. Rumor has it that an evil magician -- Destru -- and a band of his malicious followers have come to live in the Talisman forest, perhaps with the intent of controlling the magic stone for their own purposes. The king sends a scouting party to the Talisman forest to investigate. They arrive to find everything seemingly normal, but as they are leaving, a tree springs up before them and grows with incredible speed until they can no longer see its tip against the sky. It's evident that someone or something in the forest is tampering with the balance of nature. Suddenly afraid, the party hurries to the pedestal where the Talisman is kept, and finds it... empty! GOAL The Talisman, a magic stone with the power to control the forces of nature, has been removed from its rightful place in the center of a great forest, and is being turned against the city of Pentawa. It may be the doing of Destru, an evil magician, and his followers. Find the Talisman and return it to the golden pedestal before Destru uses its power to destroy Pentawa and conquer the world. ITEMS ![]() SAP FROM THE GIANT TREE: This sap is collected from the roots of the great tree in the center of the forest. It has a strong scent. ![]() PRISON KEY: This can be found in a place where some of Destru's followers are hiding. It opens the doors to the jail cells. ![]() PRIEST'S KEY: Carried by one of Destru's priests, it is carved with religious symbols. ![]() GOLD PEDESTAL: Only this pedestal has the ability to restrain the awesome powers of the Talisman. ![]() TALISMAN:A magical stone which has the power to control the forces of nature, for good or evil. MONSTERS ![]() CHRONODEMON: A rotting skeleton in a red robe, summoned by Destru to protect his followers. It possesses strong offensive magic. ![]() HILL GIANT: Semi-intelligent humanoids. They work for Destru, and will lcub to death anyone who comes close to his stronghold. ![]() PURPLE WORM: These 3-4 meter long worms live under ground. They attack when they feel the vibrations of someone passing overhead. ![]() DESTRU: A powerful and evil magician. His goal is to use the Talisman to control the forces of nature and rule the world. Some say he is also a shapechanger. ![]() SAND MARIBO: Crablike monster with a large body and four long jointed legs. It hides in the sand, and pounces on its victims. ExMortis fucked around with this message at Feb 27, 2013 around 01:46 |
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 01:40 |
|
Glad to see a lp of this game. I had no idea what i was doing when i was playing this as a kid, so it's great to see someone who knows what to do playing this.
|
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 04:52 |
|
This was one of my favorite games when I was a kid. It was, is, and will forever be quite janky, but honestly it's pretty smooth and polished compared to a lot of games of the time; this was the "good" old days of MS-DOS gaming. I think you're doing a fine job so far (only watched Video 1 yet), but you might want to talk a bit more about what's going on in the levels; Lost Scepter is particularly bad because the entire level is one tileset (which isn't really a problem in the rest of the game thankfully) but the quests can get rather bouncy and back-and-forth, and Lost Scepter is simpler than many of the quests. Anyway, I'm going to go watch Video 2 and then maybe I'll be back to talk about the game! EDIT: Lost Talisman was even better; much smoother (and since the area has a lot more variety, it's a lot harder to get lost, though the reduced cutting helps as well) and you kept up an engaging stream of conversation. Again, I just want to mention you might want to talk more about what you're doing as you're doing it; due to the simplicity of the player animations it might not be obvious that in the jar of sap room you can "climb" in the sense you don't automatically fall; you mentioned it after, but it would probably be a bit clearer to talk it through as you go. also i am seriously laughing at some of these name translations; while the localization is REALLY good for the times, I am amused now that I am an actually professional translator to look back at "Ouks". If you have a list of the names in Japanese, since you seem to, I would be glad to offer a second opinion for your manual posts. BlondRobin fucked around with this message at Feb 27, 2013 around 06:05 |
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 05:35 |
|
burnaboy posted:I had no idea what i was doing when i was playing this as a kid It warms my heart that everyone had the exact same experience growing up with Sorcerian. Me too. BlondRobin posted:also i am seriously laughing at some of these name translations; while the localization is REALLY good for the times, I am amused now that I am an actually professional translator to look back at "Ouks". If you have a list of the names in Japanese, since you seem to, I would be glad to offer a second opinion for your manual posts. Yeah, I'm happy with the way Lost Talisman turned out. I think the main thing for video flow is I did a test run beforehand to get the route down rather than just kinda derp around and hope for the best, so I'll be doing that from now on. I'm getting most of my info (names, item stuff) from the Sorcerian Data Room which is a super kickass site. Anyway it's cool you posted but you just totally disregarded my underhanded Carpe Fulgur callout in the OP. Maybe it was you who baited me into buying Fortune Summoners, haha. Nothin' but love though.
|
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 06:41 |
|
ExMortis posted:Anyway it's cool you posted but you just totally disregarded my underhanded Carpe Fulgur callout in the OP. Maybe it was you who baited me into buying Fortune Summoners, haha. Nothin' but love though. I take no responsibility for the actions of my localization editor. I am more than willing to provide you personal information if you want to, say, put together a secret plan to exact cold but brutal revenge upon him, so long as you don't tell me anything about it so I can claim innocence. (no, actually, I remember seeing it when I first checked the thread but you were just asking for characters and I didn't want to submit anything then since I played the game just about front to back multiple times, never beat the... bonus, then I skipped straight to the videos when I returned to the thread)
|
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 07:00 |
|
BlondRobin posted:I played the game just about front to back multiple times Maybe you can help me out, I don't remember... is there any way to get poisoned other than gas traps? In other words, does the Cure spell have much of a purpose? Trying to decide how to divide stuff after ep. 3 in my own pointless min/max way. I think I finally solved the sprint conundrum, though, so we can put that to bed... Ep. 3 should be a little shorter than they have been. Of course, I thought the same thing about ep. 2 after my practice run.
|
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 17:39 |
|
ExMortis posted:Maybe you can help me out, I don't remember... is there any way to get poisoned other than gas traps? In other words, does the Cure spell have much of a purpose? Trying to decide how to divide stuff after ep. 3 in my own pointless min/max way. I think I finally solved the sprint conundrum, though, so we can put that to bed... A handful of monsters and areas can inflict poison, yeah; it's not a super common status effect, but it's not limited to traps. As I recall some of the swamp areas in the Swamp Mage (can't remember the english proper name; scenario 2-1) turn it up, it comes up a bit in Cursed Oasis (though that might just be gas traps)... and I think there's a small assortment of monsters, etc. that will toss it around. In fact, now I can remember; it comes up a bunch in Mystery of the Red Jewel, I know there's monsters and stuff in there that can inflict. EDIT: specifically it's all the spiders and stuff in there; they have a chance to inflict poison when they hit you. It's not a huge chance, but they can do it, and I'm pretty sure so can other enemies in other maps. Again, it's not super common, and you can sort of push through with the crystal ring heal, especially once you've got a better MP pool to drive it. BlondRobin fucked around with this message at Feb 27, 2013 around 18:49 |
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 18:44 |
|
That Destru fight is giving me nasty memories of the Vagullion fight in Ys I Chronicles. Looks like pretty much the same crap, just side-scrolling. Also, thank you for not talking over that saxophone solo. It was a hell of a thing. Anime Reference fucked around with this message at Feb 28, 2013 around 02:57 |
| # ? Feb 28, 2013 02:45 |
|
BlondRobin posted:I take no responsibility for the actions of my localization editor. I am more than willing to provide you personal information if you want to, say, put together a secret plan to exact cold but brutal revenge upon him, so long as you don't tell me anything about it so I can claim innocence. Well, certainly glad I paid attention to this thread! But yes, Sorcerian... ah, Sorcerian. Sierra's first and only foray into J-E localization, and an attempt both great and silly at changing up the classic dungeon crawler. Like Robin said, for what it is and the era it comes from, the translation work is really good - when talking it over with Robin I actually idly wondered if, thanks to the fact that Sierra had a ton of great in-house writers back then, they hit on the idea of having a native English writer give the text a massage long before anyone else ever did. The script in general is really very good (though drat the end-of-dungeon screen's a little weird in places ) even if they made some goofs like the "ouks". In fact, their greatest "sin" that I've seen so far is that sometimes the creatures are referred to as "ouks", and sometimes as "ooks"! Inconsistency like that would get you hammered by the fans in this day and age.The game itself is like a lot of Falcom games from this era in that its design is really influenced by the unique limitations of the PC-X8 series. In fact, looking at it again, I'm pretty sure this is the same engine that would go on to power Wanderers From Ys. Certainly the launch-like jumping and multi-colored enemy fading is the same But the choice of color palette, the animations, the way the scrolling works; this was all a byproduct of the game being initially coded for the PC-88. The game would probably be less "janky" if it could've worked around those limitations, but I imagine the resources for re-coding the game to take advantage of common 1990 hardware simply weren't available.Anyway, this thread is rad as hell and I'm definitely going to keep following, hopefully without ranting on in every post EDIT: Also yes, Yuzo Koshiro sax solos tend to be A Goddamn Thing, thank you for not talking over that. Sublime and so very 80s. SpaceDrake fucked around with this message at Mar 1, 2013 around 04:08 |
| # ? Mar 1, 2013 03:55 |
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2013 00:15 |
|
SpaceDrake posted:EDIT: Also yes, Yuzo Koshiro sax solos tend to be A Goddamn Thing, thank you for not talking over that. Sublime and so very 80s. Well I believe most of the music arrangements were done by Ryo Yonemitsu so it wouldn't technically be a Yuzo Koshiro saxophone solo... although Yuzo seems to have been the original composer for the majority of the scenario 1 bgm. But enough half-assed pedantry. I found this set of Sorcerian-related twitter bots, they look like they might be quite humorous if you can read Japanese. http://dslabo.info/ds/omake/bot/SDSLbot.html (IIRC we should be meeting the Jabba lookalike in episode 6) I'm going to try to get episode 3 recorded later today. I jacked up my left pinky so I can't type all good and I certainly don't want to be transcribing a bunch of magic spells, but I would like to do a magic infodump update at some point so people can suggest spells to get in the future. Episode 4 will have some new magic going on besides Flame, at any rate. ExMortis fucked around with this message at Mar 2, 2013 around 18:38 |
| # ? Mar 2, 2013 18:33 |



















































) even if they made some goofs like the "ouks". In fact, their greatest "sin" that I've seen so far is that sometimes the creatures are referred to as "ouks", and sometimes as "ooks"! Inconsistency like that would get you hammered by the fans in this day and age.