Dragon Blaze offers nothing new over Gunbird 2?!?!

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:26 pm

DC906270 wrote: too much psikyo leads me to start thinking they are all too similar - dragon blaze in particular offers nothing much new over gunbird 2 for instance. have psikyo stopped developing shmups now? maybe they are out of ideas. cave games kick their arses in terms of originality and game mechanics.

I disagree with pretty well everything here, but I realize that this quote captures a common sentiment. I'd like to have a calm, rational discussion of the matter.

First off, I'll state my own opinion: atm I'm inclined to say that Dragon Blaze is my favorite game ever. I think it is a perfectly crafted masterpiece. (I admit, though, that I've only gotten to 1-5, and refuse to credit feed, so my opinion is not based on familiarity with the entire game.) No Cave game comes close in my book, though I do like DDP and DOJ quite a lot.

It seems to me that a masterpiece like this does not just come out of nowhere: only mature developers with many years of experience are going to produce something like this. I would have been happy with Gunbird 3, a better execution of the same ideas in Gunbird 2, but instead Psikyo created a game with a much better, very different look and with a significantly deeper scoring mechanic in Dragon Blaze. To my mind they also cut down on the cheap deaths by stray bullets. The dragon shot is a thing of beauty: I love the complexity added by the option of leaving your dragon shot out to collect coins or to deploy that special charge shot.

I will add more thoughts as I get time. I have to run just now.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:50 pm

I'm not all that big of a Psikyo fan, truth be told, but I wouldn't say that GB2 and DB are so similar so as to be nearly indistinguishable or anything like that...yes, all Psikyo games have much the same "feel" or "style" to them, but you could say the same thing about Cave or Raizing (though I'd argue to a lesser extent). GB2 and DB do both place a decent deal of emphasis on close-range attacks, but in the latter said attack is also used for scoring rather than survival alone, as in the former. GB2's coin-grabbing mechanic is also much different than anything in DB (that I'm aware of, anyways). In addition, I'd say that DB is definitely Psikyo's best-looking game, not to mention that they finally traded in the so-so orange bullets for easier-to-see neon blobs o' death (took 'em long enough!

).

Again, I'm no big Psikyo fan, but like any other company they have their good and bad points.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:23 pm

I quite like Psikyo, but not to the same extent as Raizing or Cave. In truth though I have to completly agree with Profesor Ganson, in that Dragon Blaze is quite different from Gunbird 2. Dragon Blaze makes wonderful use of the gameplay mechanic - seperating the Dragon from the rider, wich is pretty handy for scoring and some boss encounters.
Dragon Blaze is my favourite Psikyo game, but that wasn't always the case. The more i've been playing it (which is a lot lately for the review that i'm writing) the deeper and much more enjoyable it has become.
And as for the fact that all Psikyo games are the same well, that's just laughable. You could say the same for Cave, but we know that's not true and that's the same with Psikyo.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:11 pm

Ord wrote:I quite like Psikyo, but not to the same extent as Raizing or Cave.

Yeah, I would be hard pressed to defend the claim that Psikyo is the better developer overall: Garegga and DDP are such classics. I guess I'm just tired of Psikyo being dismissed too quickly for making the same game over and over. I don't deny that there is some force to this objection; I just think Psikyo's improvements over the years are rather underappreciated.

DC906270 · Post by **DC906270** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:57 am

i dont mean i think they are all identical - i just mean psikyo seemed to have found a formula that works and they stick closely to it every game. c,mon the fanfare music at the end of each stage is a dead giveaway of a psikyo game. the stage music in each game also sounds like it is made up of the same sampled orchestra sounds/synthesizers and it tends to grate after a while playing nothing but psikyo. also, the graphical style is near identical in each game too. even the power up icons stay the same

ps i am pleased that my humble opinions would result in a special thread to debate my humble musings lol

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 1:57 pm

i adore psikyo games and every one is different enough to merit a total new challenge. i do see how they are similar but i really don't think it's very important in this humble genre of ours. for some reason the constant replication of the same sprite in any other genre would grate on me but here in shmups i love it as it just adds to the sense of progression within a company and it's products. with each game the system gets more complex and usually difficult but there is always an advantage for a player who has experienced the previous games. it gives me a warm feeling inside to see that floating p bullet

oh and strikers 1945 II was the first shmup that i ever put any time into. and i still suck at it.

Ayanami · Post by **Ayanami** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:01 pm

I am not the biggest Psikyo fan either. But Dragon Blaze is one of my favorite shooters of all time. To me it is much more different and original to any thing that Psikyo has released.

I have only been able to get to level 1-5 as well ganson.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:24 am

Dragon Blaze does kind of feel to me like a "re-skinned" version of Strikers 1999 with a fantasy theme... (Or perhaps the other way around) Still good, but Psikyo could have done more to make their games different from each other.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:40 am

The service Psikyo did with Dragon Blaze was taking the few advancements of Strikers 1999 and placing them in a game that wasn't the most boring thing since their "vanilla trilogy."

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:08 pm

The thing that appeals most to me about Dragon Blaze is that the difficulty curve seems more balanced & even than any other Psykio game I've played. I get to about the 3rd level (random nature of level order aside) & get schooled on Gunbird 2, Stikers 1945 2, or just about any other Psykio game. However, w/ Dragon Blaze, I don't feel as though I'm being taken advantage of like I do w/ the other games. It's kind of an intagible thing, but it just seems to me that the difficulty is a bit more manageable from level to level. Not to mention the cool characters

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:29 pm

FRO wrote:The thing that appeals most to me about Dragon Blaze is that the difficulty curve seems more balanced & even than any other Psykio game I've played. I get to about the 3rd level (random nature of level order aside) & get schooled on Gunbird 2, Stikers 1945 2, or just about any other Psykio game. However, w/ Dragon Blaze, I don't feel as though I'm being taken advantage of like I do w/ the other games. It's kind of an intagible thing, but it just seems to me that the difficulty is a bit more manageable from level to level. Not to mention the cool characters

Agreed. Even after many hours with Gunbird 2, I regularly get my ass kicked at 1-3, esp. by level three bosses. As a result I just don't get the practice I need on 1-4 and my progress is terribly slow. I don't have the same problem with Dragon Blaze. The transition in difficulty between levels is noticable but not as crushing.

Don't get me wrong: Gunbird 2 is the first game I really put time into and it's easily one of my all-time favorites.

Strikers 1945 I is the easiest Psikyo game I've played. It didn't take long at all to get to 1-5, though 1-5 is pretty hard for me, as it should be. Strikers 1945 II starts out manageable, but in the end it's quite a bit harder than Strikers I, it seems to me. I have yet to get to 1-6 in any Psikyo game. Perhaps someday.