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 Who? What? What are these games? Joymasher is a gaming company based in Brazil, mainly focused on making indie platformers for the PC. In 2012, they made a game that went wildly under the radar known as Oniken. A few years later, they would go on to make Odallus: The Dark Call. These games channel a lot of inspiration from both 80s anime and gaming at the time and add their own little bit of flair and delightful engrish, and I couldn't help but fall in love with this small company's ambition to make such simple but entertaining games, so I decided to LP both their games. How's this LP going to work? Super quick post-commentary LPs with ThornBrain and BigTUnit from TheStrawhatNo providing blind commentary to show how ludicrous these games get. Oniken will be hosted on TheStrawhatNo, while Odallus will be hosted on my channel. Oniken's gonna be a 100% no-death run, while Odallus is going to be a 100% completion run. Oniken's gonna come first since its a super quick LP. Odallus soon after with a 100% completion. After that, I plan to link some heavily edited streams of Odallus Veteran Mode (aka Master Quest) as per a request for that in the LP request thread. If there's demand, I might attempt Oniken Hardcore Mode. Schedule? Tuesdays and Saturdays. This one will be super quick. Thread Rules Have fun with it. This is the best kind of anime bullshit and reactions are the best part of it. Go nuts.  About this Game Oniken is Joymasher's first official game to be released in a commercial setting. In Oniken we take on the role of Zaku, the most dangerous gei-mercenary that exists in this post-apocalyptic era. Zaku was hired by a millitary team to lead a resistance against the robot army known as Oniken, and lord knows he gets the job done. Gameplay wise this game takes inspiration from games such as Ninja Gaiden and Contra, while the design direction lifts a lot from Fist of the North Star and MD Geist. Table of Contents      About this Game Odallus: The Dark Call is Joymasher's second, and much more ambitious game. In Odallus we play as Haggis, ex-soldier turned single father after a war presumably took his wife. One day, during a hunt, his hometown of Glenfinnan was attacked by brigands and his son had gone missing. From there we go through 9 grueling levels trying to get Haggis' son back. Gameplay wise, there's a lot of Castlevania 3 seen in the overall design of the game, with some Ghost & Ghouls ideas sprinkled in. Design direction for the game however is almost 100% lifted from the anime Berserk, with some other cheeky references sprinkled in. Table of Contents       Veteran Mode Playthrough (Livestreamed) Odallus Veteran Mode Stream, Part 1 Odallus Veteran Mode Stream, Part 2 Odallus Veteran Mode Stream, Part 3 Odallus Veteran Mode Stream, Part 4 Odallus Veteran Mode Stream, Part 5 Highwang fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Apr 19, 2016 |
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Mar 15, 2016 11:57
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I endorse this anime
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Mar 15, 2016 13:59
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I'm sure Oniken is inspired by a bunch of old NES games but mostly it reminds me of a faster-paced Shadow of the Ninja, with the swording things while clinging to the ceiling and so on. Shadow of the Ninja was by the same team as Shatterhand so it's quite similar, but with more post-apocalyptic anime ninja swords, robot samurai and cutscenes. It also has one of my favorite NES soundtracks.
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Mar 15, 2016 15:27
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I really wanted to like Oniken, but I just couldn't get a handle on how Zaku moves, so I'm interested to see where this goes.Xerophyte posted:I'm sure Oniken is inspired by a bunch of old NES games but mostly it reminds me of a faster-paced Shadow of the Ninja, with the swording things while clinging to the ceiling and so on. Yeah you're right, all it's missing is a playable Jenny and that really lovely chain weapon.
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Mar 15, 2016 17:27
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Well, this game so far is perfectly encapsulating my childhood. Does the game have an option to emulate the flicker and/or slowdown from the NES? I feels weird to see a game look like this but not have any of that.
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Mar 15, 2016 17:43
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PureRok posted:Well, this game so far is perfectly encapsulating my childhood. Does the game have an option to emulate the flicker and/or slowdown from the NES? I feels weird to see a game look like this but not have any of that. Sadly it does not. Odallus has this visual option, however I turn it off because I usually despise how people handle simulating that.
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Mar 15, 2016 19:03
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I'm never sure what to call this graphical style. I know it's trying to evoke 8-bit, but it's way too good to be 8-bit. It isn't good enough for 16-bit, though. In a way it reminds me of computers of their day, your Atari STs and such.
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Mar 15, 2016 22:01
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MechaCrash posted:I'm never sure what to call this graphical style. I know it's trying to evoke 8-bit, but it's way too good to be 8-bit. It isn't good enough for 16-bit, though. In a way it reminds me of computers of their day, your Atari STs and such. Its basically faux retro. Devs nowadays are weird, the keep advertising it to be an homage to the NES era of games but they never follow the color constraints that most games of that era were forced to work with. There are some devs that try to stick to the proper style to the best of their ability though. Oniken & Odallus use color ranges outside of the NES' tech capacity but it still has that general look that makes it feel like it would be a NES game. I think Shovel Knight & Yacht Club games were the team that actively stuck the closest to a NES color scheme, only breaking the color range for two specific types of dark hues to get better shading.
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Mar 17, 2016 00:37
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Highwang posted:Its basically faux retro. Devs nowadays are weird, the keep advertising it to be an homage to the NES era of games but they never follow the color constraints that most games of that era were forced to work with. A good dev back then would easily be pushing the hardware to the limit, meaning they'd have to cut, snip, and mince things just to fit on the carts, effectively limiting what they can do with their game. We don't need to do that anymore, our level of technology has progressed by such a great extent that an extra megabyte or so is literally less than an afterthought, when back then they had to make every byte count. If they can display more colors, use more sound channels, display more sprites, and maintain a smooth framerate, then they absolutely should if it'll improve the game.
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Mar 17, 2016 02:41
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Seiren posted:This game rules and I've been loving this somewhat-recent resurgence of the old-school NES-style visuals, sounds, and gameplay, but I truly don't understand why anyone would want to make their game look objectively worse (or even attempt to emulate "sprite flickering") just to fit within the hardware restrictions of those times. It's a design decision that bugs me when I see some games emulating the old-school. Why not use the available features to make the games look, sound, and play as good as it can, while keeping the spirit intact? The term escapes me right now, but there are a lot of hardcore loyalists out there that would criticize neo-retro games for going beyond what the capabilities of a system could do. I mentioned Shovel Knight awhile ago with their slight deviance from NES' pallete and they still got flak from a select few sources/customers just because of this. There's also the matter that combining the blocky retro aesthetics with modern stuff such as shaders/lighting effects/post-processing is really tacky. A couple good examples are "Dungeon of the Endless" and "Superbrothers: Swords & Sworcery," where all the visuals meant for 3d models and the like just fall flat and really clash with the simplistic style of the "8-bit" aesthetic. Pixel art can be amazing, especially when you see things such as the Metal Slug series or Street Fighter 3rd Strike. Its hard to pin why most of the indie scene can't seem to grasp this, but I'd imagine its either budgeting issues or just a general lack of effort.
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Mar 17, 2016 02:58
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Seiren posted:This game rules and I've been loving this somewhat-recent resurgence of the old-school NES-style visuals, sounds, and gameplay, but I truly don't understand why anyone would want to make their game look objectively worse (or even attempt to emulate "sprite flickering") just to fit within the hardware restrictions of those times. It's a design decision that bugs me when I see some games emulating the old-school. Why not use the available features to make the games look, sound, and play as good as it can, while keeping the spirit intact? Part of the aesthetic is the limited palette and synthesizer and so on. Sure, you don't have to obey the NES hardware limitations exactly, but there is a fuzzy line somewhere between sprite art game and plain badly drawn game. The really lazy faux-8bit games have chunky pixel graphics because that's easier than detailed graphics, and then combine that with high res particle effects, post-process filters, geometry and physics because that, too, is easier than discretizing those things. The end result just looks inconsistent and a bit poo poo. Joy Masher and Yacht Club are both pretty damned careful with what they do add: mostly very minor palette cheats and diagonal scrolling for both, it seems. I think it does make the visuals a lot more consistent and appealing than the less disciplined retro nostalgia cash in studios.
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Mar 17, 2016 03:10
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Episode 2: Jenny saves herself You know what can stop the Oniken army? A gun.
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Mar 19, 2016 19:55
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"...if there's demand." There is demand.
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Mar 20, 2016 04:52
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Episode 3: Chainsaw Jazz Hands Remember when I said FotNS Influences? Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
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Mar 22, 2016 20:42
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Hell yeah! Shame Grimm is the Arrogant Henchman, but hey, he had a skull robot, and skulls... YEAH! This game is actually p. cool, and I may have to draw Grimm in full angry mode. Also, drat, they love their flashing lights, thankful that isn't my specific trigger for an epileptic fit. 
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Mar 22, 2016 21:08
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You know, I was fully expecting Zaku to say that he wasn't aiming for him when Grimm said that he missed. That's like the most cliché line you can think of, but thankfully they didn't go for it.
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Mar 23, 2016 00:40
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I wonder how much our hero is getting paid for all this bullshit? He is a merc after all Also it's probably just the general jump ’n’ run / action vibe of the game but man I can't stop thinking of the good old Shinobi games
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Mar 23, 2016 16:37
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Tin Tim posted:I wonder how much our hero is getting paid for all this bullshit? He is a merc after all All the 100% whey protein power they got, plus some sword polish.
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Mar 23, 2016 16:53
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Episode 4: Doozer you Loser! And that's Oniken. Odallus to start soon.
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Mar 26, 2016 17:54
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The final area is just the Brain Palace? That's right out of MD Geist, and "the robots will go around and kill everybody" is just exactly the Death Force. You said that you don't get to see the new soldiers, but I think that the mid-boss that you called the least threatening enemy in the game, that you blew up its legs and it crawled towards you and then you finished it? I think those were the new soldiers.
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Mar 26, 2016 22:20
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MechaCrash posted:You said that you don't get to see the new soldiers, but I think that the mid-boss that you called the least threatening enemy in the game, that you blew up its legs and it crawled towards you and then you finished it? I think those were the new soldiers. Yeah I kinda realized that post-recording. Its just so non-threatening compared to the simple grunts and the robot beetles.
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Mar 26, 2016 23:15
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Highwang posted:Episode 3: Chainsaw Jazz Hands I can't usually say this literally, but I laughed when I heard 'The explosions are like hugs for my faaaace.' Were you doing a specific voice there, or just a goofy one?
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Apr 1, 2016 05:07
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FredMSloniker posted:I can't usually say this literally, but I laughed when I heard 'The explosions are like hugs for my faaaace.' Were you doing a specific voice there, or just a goofy one? That was Thorn doing the voice of Cupil from their Skies of Arcadia LP. Really fun series, go check it out. Also while I'm posting here, Been having a tough time getting scheduling down for Odallus. If its not up by saturday I'll try to have it up asap.
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Apr 1, 2016 05:28
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This game is loving insane, I love this. Thanks for showing us Highwang, I can't wait to see Odallus next!
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Apr 1, 2016 18:34
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Odallus: The Dark Call is go. If the vid seems fuzzy initially, YT's taking a while to process. Also for those that care, the OP is updated with info on the game along with spiffy new images.
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Apr 3, 2016 20:16
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Odallus rules, veteran mode is especially dope. Looking forward to more of these.
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Apr 3, 2016 20:58
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Hearing you guys keep referring to 'Ghosts n' Ghouls' hurt. But it hardly matters because the gameplay and the rest of the commentary was great as usual. (there's Ghosts n' Goblins and Ghouls n' Ghosts)
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Apr 3, 2016 21:06
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Oniken looked fun, but not for me. Odallus looks like it's extremely my poo poo though. It looks like Beserkbornevania and metal as hell 
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Apr 3, 2016 21:17
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Odallus was very vocally influenced by GnG and Demon's Crest(which is one of my favorite games of all time) So it was basically the easiest sell of all time for me.
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Apr 3, 2016 21:29
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So I'm wanting to say that all the Twin Peaks references in games at the time might have been because they were trying to kickstart a new season and it was having troubles? But I might be getting my time frames wrong. Either way, if anyone starts to watch Twin Peaks...please just watch the first season and maybe the movie. Just pretend a second season never happened.
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Apr 3, 2016 21:32
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Niggurath posted:So I'm wanting to say that all the Twin Peaks references in games at the time might have been because they were trying to kickstart a new season and it was having troubles? But I might be getting my time frames wrong. Either way, if anyone starts to watch Twin Peaks...please just watch the first season and maybe the movie. Just pretend a second season never happened. I do remember hearing about that at about the same time of all these games' release dates. That might be the case. Also Season 2 wasn't bad...just very strange with a specific character. *Very* strange.
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Apr 3, 2016 21:59
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Highwang posted:I do remember hearing about that at about the same time of all these games' release dates. That might be the case. Just watched the First part of the Odallus LP, look forward to seeing more of their bosses. How long does a play through take you? I didn't watch twin peeks season 2 or the movie, I'll probably just watch the second season with the expectation that its gonna get strange.
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Apr 3, 2016 22:40
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Yussss I got Odallus when it released and it resulted in myself and the bf staying up late to get everything in the game. I think Berzerk-esqe stuff is extremely my poo poo.
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Apr 4, 2016 15:26
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HAGGIS?! HAGGIS?!?! I am DEFINITELY okay with this name, that is an honourable name in my country of Scotland  he does have a very Scottish look to him, all that thick fur and the claymore on his back which I will say is pretty accurate for the cross-hilt it has, it's very 14th century, definitely pre-Elizabethan.
FinalGamer fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Apr 4, 2016 17:58
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Odallus is looking pretty awesome so far. And of course Not-Guts is named for a dish from sheep guts.
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Apr 4, 2016 19:39
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So yeah, this game looks extremely cool and fun. Demon's Crest and the NES Castlevanias were both big on my favorite games of all time lists as a kid, and this looks like a nice mix of both, and also Berserk which I have enjoyed a great deal. And it turns out Odallus is on sale on Steam until April 11th! And...has DLC with skins that make the hero look like a Belmont, Arthur and Firebrand respectively. I was not expecting that, but it's a nice touch--they even change the jump animation to match their respective games. marshmallow creep fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Apr 4, 2016 22:56
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Lotish posted:And it turns out Odallus is on sale on Steam until April 11th! And...has DLC with skins that make the hero look like a Belmont, Arthur and Firebrand respectively. I was not expecting that, but it's a nice touch--they even change the jump animation to match their respective games. So does it also gimp jump control to match? 
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Apr 5, 2016 03:07
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Lotish posted:So yeah, this game looks extremely cool and fun. Demon's Crest and the NES Castlevanias were both big on my favorite games of all time lists as a kid, and this looks like a nice mix of both, and also Berserk which I have enjoyed a great deal.
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Apr 5, 2016 04:14
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Tin Tim posted:I wonder how much our hero is getting paid for all this bullshit? He is a merc after all Responding to this old post because I didn't know about this thread, but the green robots with a physical shield that throw grenades are an almost frame for frame imitation of the orange/purple sword/shield guys in Shinobi. Also both these games are cheesily great. They didn't just get the style right right, but also the insane bombast.
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Apr 5, 2016 07:09
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Astyanax. Don't ask me why or how I remember it but I'm 99% certain that's the game you were thinking of--and it turns out there is a pretty strong resemblance. Not to be confused with ActRaiser, Abadox, etc.
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Apr 5, 2016 14:17
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