Milestone release 'Karous' - Arcade 2006 / Dreamcast 2007

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:39 pm

The theme itself is very interesting so far. Nice change up in atmosphere from Radilgy's bubbly cel shaded visuals.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:44 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTusZtbNK0w

AMS06 video showing six minutes of game footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl4JfiSkj_U&NR

AMS06 video (denoted EASY MODE, where almost every bullet is destructable, ala MUSHA. Difficulty settings selectable at start?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vufCE9vyxEU

AMS06 video showing the players on both cabs and a little party of 3 (4?) watching.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:59 am

Looks like my type of shooter.

Would be criminal if it didn't get a DC release

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:39 pm

Twiddle wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTusZtbNK0w

AMS06 video showing six minutes of game footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl4JfiSkj_U&NR

AMS06 video (denoted EASY MODE, where almost every bullet is destructable, ala MUSHA. Difficulty settings selectable at start?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vufCE9vyxEU

AMS06 video showing the players on both cabs and a little party of 3 (4?) watching.

The game has already undergone some changes since the LokeTest version:

The Karous shield no longer ends by exploding into flashing red & white birds. In fact, the primary portion of the attack has been changed from flashing to a large circular glyph.

The life-meter and weapon meters have been moved around and restructured slightly.

The sword weapon has a double-sweep (swings left then right).

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:09 pm

Kiken wrote:The sword weapon has a double-sweep (swings left then right).

One thing I (think I) noticed in the video was that, like in Radirgy, you can fire your gun and swing your sword at the same time, but in this game it seems that when you do both the sword only has a single swing, like in Radirgy: when you stop shooting and use the sword only, you can do the double swing. I think I saw that displayed in one of those videos someplace...I wonder what else will turn out different from Radirgy in the end...

Post by **Ghegs** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:32 am

From another thread:

Dann wrote:The new Milestone game, Karous, just had a major overhaul on their website.
(Japanese)
http://www.mile-stone.co.jp/product/krs/krs_top.html

Pretty slick site and but not much info yet. Looks promising though.

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:22 am

i found this on Youtube. sorry if someone else posted it already

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93PZohGlgI

it's an offical (?) CM/Promo video.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:23 am

Insert Credit directed me to this new 30-second video, which demonstrates some of the gameplay features. Here's their take on it...

The video shows base and powered versions of: standard shot, sword attack, shield, which interestingly seems to be a projectile itself, should you so desire, and D.F.S., which seems to essentially be a localized 'bomb'-like attack. Other information we can glean from this is that shot, sword and shield can be upgraded individually, and may have their own multipliers (that's pure speculation, there, but the video makes me think). Also the game uses a whole lot of grey. Interesting so far.

The thing that (unfortunately) immediately caught my attention was the inexplicable use of gray bullets over a gray background...I REALLY hope they fix that...

JJG · Post by **JJG** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:49 am

It's not looking too pretty but it could be fun.

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:09 am

JJG wrote:It's not looking too pretty but it could be fun.

Really? I think the art style is really interesting. Definately not a powerhouse, but it looks nice.

JJG · Post by **JJG** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:12 am

Seems pretty much like the cell shading we already saw in Radirgy except less colorful.

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:17 am

Well, I haven't seen radirgy yet (no DC) so it's all new to me.

Kind of curious about the sword thing. The last game I played by milestone with a sword was terrible (Chaos Field, for the slow).

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:55 am

BulletMagnet wrote:Insert Credit directed me to this new 30-second video, which demonstrates some of the gameplay features. Here's their take on it...

The video shows base and powered versions of: standard shot, sword attack, shield, which interestingly seems to be a projectile itself, should you so desire, and D.F.S., which seems to essentially be a localized 'bomb'-like attack. Other information we can glean from this is that shot, sword and shield can be upgraded individually, and may have their own multipliers (that's pure speculation, there, but the video makes me think). Also the game uses a whole lot of grey. Interesting so far.

The thing that (unfortunately) immediately caught my attention was the inexplicable use of gray bullets over a gray background...I REALLY hope they fix that...

Once again, the game has undergone some heavy alteration from the prior revision.

The reflect force-esque barrier now looks like a brain (it was a circular emblem in the last revision). The third strike from the sword attack now swings the character around. The status bars at the left edge of the screen seem to have changed style once again.

You know... it'd actually be kinda cool if they put in an option to change the look of the game back to the earlier revisions.. in a homeport that is. I guess it would be sort of like how Treasure included Prototype Mode in Ikaruga.

Never_Scurred · Post by **Never_Scurred** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:55 am

I so hope they release this for the PS2 even if they don't include an option to play the earier revision of the game. They could make that a limited edition or something. I like the art design but I wish they'd man it up a bit. You know, make it less cartoony. Any word on the soundtrack?

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:26 am

RoninBuddha wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93PZohGlgI

it's an offical (?) CM/Promo video.

Hey, is it just me, or there are really a "japanese" and an "american" styles to put game trailers together?

Really, I get this feeling that japanese trailers always have super-fast editing and soft electronica, whereas american ones go for slow motion shots with swirling cameras and a dramatic orchestral soundtrack.

Never_Scurred · Post by **Never_Scurred** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:55 am

Stormwatch wrote:
RoninBuddha wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93PZohGlgI

it's an offical (?) CM/Promo video.
Hey, is it just me, or there are really a "japanese" and an "american" styles to put game trailers together? Really, I get this feeling that japanese trailers always have super-fast editing and soft electronica, whereas american ones go for slow motion shots with swirling cameras and a dramatic orchestral soundtrack.

What about trailers for any FF game or any other japanese RPG?

Monkey_Man · Post by **Monkey_Man** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:27 pm

What's everyone's beef with Radilgy anyway?

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:11 pm

Monkey_Man wrote:What's everyone's beef with Radilgy anyway?

I hear no beef.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:23 pm

No beef with Radirgy, but it's more that this game is too much like it, only adding a couple extra weapon functions and removing a lot of depth from the scoring system.

Least the game will be a lot harder this time.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:36 pm

The grey bullets in that trailer perfectly blend with the equally grey backgrounds. I don`t like Radirgys graphical style too much to begin with, but taking the cel-shaded comic-style look and draining the colour out of it is a bad idea IMHO. I mean, those bullets look (Garegga-style complaining ahead!) nearly invisible.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 2:18 pm

So this was released yesterday...
Anybody in Japan given it a try... or is everyone still transfixed to Mushi Futari?

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 3:43 am

http://www.mile-stone.co.jp/product/krs ... ory01.html

Story page up...can someone translate?

KBZ · Post by **KBZ** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:41 am

something about...an enemy, that they have to.... shoot(?)

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:24 am

Kiken wrote:So this was released yesterday...
Anybody in Japan given it a try... or is everyone still transfixed to Mushi Futari?

You pretty much answered your own question.

I did watch a few people play it and couldn't understand wtf was going on...it looked like every bullet could be "blocked" or something. There were lots of numbers and stats and things running at all times, made my eyes kind of glaze over with disinterest.

Other players seemed curious about the game, but it didn't seem like anyone was warming up to it much. Not sure how Radirgy faired though. Exelica however, while not by Milestone, seems to be in the same vein as the aforementioned (the high-res-yet-ugly, score-system-heavy, non-Cave-shooter genre) and is very popular.

In short, Crows looked too intimidating for me to risk 100 yen. I'd like to see some players that understand it take a crack at it.

eretsua · Post by **eretsua** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:04 am

guess Milsestone released Karous at a bit of a shitty moment with mushi demanding so much attention? i do hope that the game will get sufficient attention in the arcades, i would hate to see Milestone to go under / missout on a home port. judging by the videos i've seen i don't think the game is ugly and looking forward to playing it.

chtimi-CLA · Post by **chtimi-CLA** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:37 pm

NTSC-J wrote:Exelica however, while not by Milestone, seems to be in the same vein as the aforementioned (the high-res-yet-ugly, score-system-heavy, non-Cave-shooter genre) and is very popular.

exelica is popular? surprising.

SuperGrafx · Post by **SuperGrafx** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:41 pm

NTSC-J wrote:
In short, Crows looked too intimidating for me to risk 100 yen. I'd like to see some players that understand it take a crack at it.

I'm a little surprised that you didn't spend the 100 yen just for the sake of giving the game a try.
Is it that bad from your initial impressions?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:26 pm

chtimi-CLA wrote:exelica is popular? surprising.

Anime girls in techno-leotards make the world go round.

Though I do want to try the game and see how tossing enemies at each other works if it ever gets ported anywhere.

PPA · Post by **PPA** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:40 am

SuperGrafx wrote:
NTSC-J wrote:
In short, Crows looked too intimidating for me to risk 100 yen. I'd like to see some players that understand it take a crack at it.
I'm a little surprised that you didn't spend the 100 yen just for the sake of giving the game a try.
Is it that bad from your initial impressions?

im surprised as well...you were there!

I guess you hadnt the time to give it a try.....

Kaede · Post by **Kaede** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:02 pm

Icycalm has played it, I'm surprised he hasn't posted his impressions here yet. Maybe he's too busy.

The gameplay vids are dissapointing. It still has the Radilgy look of a web based Flash game, only this time with all the colour sucked out. The gameplay appears nigh on identical to Radilgy too which might please some people but in the unlikely event of a home port I won't be picking it up.