El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron

[CMoon]

The combat system is awesome.

...just mash the buttons for forever (because enemies have too much hp) and you can't die because you're here for the art style anyways.

You will get criticized for this, because there is a LOT more to the combat than mashing buttons, but whether I just don't get it or the demo isn't particularly representative, I didn't end up liking it. Beyond the visuals, the combat felt novel because of it's minimalistic approach--but I'm really unsure whether that approach would hold my interest in a world that also has Ninja Gaiden Sigmas.

[Necronopticous]

This game looks like complete ass to me on basically all levels.

[Siren2011]

This game looks like complete ass to me on basically all levels.

Amen to that. I don't remember much from the demo, because I was mostly dazed over from boredom. Mashing the buttons fast enough after "death" could revitalize you or some shit, causing the tension and challenge to flatline. Plus, combat was pathetic. I'm with CMoon on this one. 12 years ago, somewhat minimalist designs in this genre were acceptable (Tenchu for Playstation), but in this day and age it is a retrogression from the conventions established within the hack and slash genre. Think of all the cool shit you get to do in Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden (I'll never tire of using those as examples), and compare them to this. Fuck El Shaddai and the horse it rode in on. I hope the sales numbers are horrible.

[auryn]

I'm interested in this game but only have a J360 so can't get an english language version. Is the game still reasonably playable/enjoyable if you don't understand the dialogue? Particularly, are there any bosses or sections where not understanding the talk means missing vital clues or pointers?

[Elixir]

I'm interested in this game but only have a J360 so can't get an english language version. Is the game still reasonably playable/enjoyable if you don't understand the dialogue? Particularly, are there any bosses or sections where not understanding the talk means missing vital clues or pointers?

Put it like this: people are having difficulty understanding the game in English. It won't make any sense in Japanese and you're not getting much out of it beyond a weird acid trip action game.

[auryn]

Put it like this: people are having difficulty understanding the game in English. It won't make any sense in Japanese and you're not getting much out of it beyond a weird acid trip action game.

that's just the thing... "weird acid trip action game" sounds right up my alley, since I loved stuff like Shadows of the Damned, Child of Eden and Bayonetta. But in japanese, I might just lose interest. I dunno, thanks anyway for the advice though.

[BulletMagnet]

Have you tried the demo? If you have a Japanese account you should be able to download it off of the Japanese marketplace and give yourself a basic idea of what you're in for...

[auryn]

Have you tried the demo? If you have a Japanese account you should be able to download it off of the Japanese marketplace and give yourself a basic idea of what you're in for...

Yeah, I tried it for about an hour... I think I didn't really understand the combat. At least, I got my ass handed to me pretty sharpish. I couldn't figure out what the "weapon charge up" thing was for (that one of the shoulder buttons activates) or what the game was prompting me to do when I died (mash 4 buttons at once?). These are things I could probably look up in a walkthrough though, but, well...

In Bayonetta for example everything's very intuitive once you get the basic mechanics down, and you don't need to understand the story or dialogue to figure out how to take down the enemies and bosses. My main worry is that this game won't be as intuitive, and that I'll constantly be consulting an english walkthrough because I don't understand what the game wants me to do, and that will spoil the fun of discovering stuff myself.

[BulletMagnet]

I couldn't figure out what the "weapon charge up" thing was for (that one of the shoulder buttons activates)

Basically, as you smack enemies around with a weapon it becomes "corrupted" and gets gradually weaker - watch the hit flashes whenever you hit something, they go from blue to yellow to red as it weakens. Every once in awhile you'll need to either steal a new weapon from a baddie or "purify" the one you have (when you've got a moment or two of relative safety, since it leaves you wide open).

or what the game was prompting me to do when I died (mash 4 buttons at once?).

Yeah, that's all it was: the only thing to remember is that every time you die you have to mash faster to revive, and if you die too often it'll eventually become impossible to come back (i.e. Game Over).

I've only played a short way into the game, but so far I haven't encountered anything that couldn't be handled with regular ol' combat (maybe someone who's gotten farther has seen something else) - also, in the full version the game keeps a record of all the little "tutorial" messages that pop up for later reference, though obviously when they're in Japanese it's a bit trickier to make use of them. Basically, if you'd rather not look up an FAQ just experiment with different ways to use that attack button - hold it down for a moment, vary the timing between hits, press it and the "block" button at the same time, see what happens in the air, etc. Then there's some kind of "hyper mode" you learn to activate at some point, but I haven't gotten there yet.

[auryn]

lots of useful tips

thanks for the info man, I think I might give it a shot.

[BulletMagnet]

Oh, and one other thing I forgot to mention: the full version also lets you map certain special attacks (launcher, "hyper" activation, etc.) to unused buttons on the controller, so you might want to mess around in that part of the options menu.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Forgotten one, this, isn't it?
I thought the art style was pants back when, but this is something of Halo: Combat Evolved again, i.e. not much else looks anything like it in hindsight.

Now as I'm searching for less hyped PS3 games, this one's come to mind and it took me a while to even recall its name. Come to think of it, Mighty No. 9 art is looking just as meh to me now as this used to and its name is just as un-exciting, so maybe I will also get interested in it some years down the line out of a sudden.

[Squire Grooktook]

I think the combat is fairly solid. It's not a Platinum title but it's enjoyable, and it's got a nice amount of variety in stage designs what with platforming, racing, other elements.

Boss fights are also hella fun imo. The art also looks much, much better in person. You can't really get a feel for how the game looks from a Youtube video.

[Obiwanshinobi]

MadWorld is by PlatinumGames.
Since Devil May Cry and Ōkami sport some of the sweetest animations around, I'm more willing to give Takeyasu Sawaki the benefit of the doubt these days (because I like good animations in my games).