Ghost Blade: New Shooting Game for Sega Dreamcast

[Jonst]

Got my copy today, I'll be playing it later... My fear is that it's not much of a challenge, (as has been mentioned). As much as I'd like to clear something, as I haven't for ages, I'd like to have to work for it a bit!

[ATTRACTS]

Got my copy today, I'll be playing it later... My fear is that it's not much of a challenge, (as has been mentioned). As much as I'd like to clear something, as I haven't for ages, I'd like to have to work for it a bit!

Nice man, let us know how it is! I'm in the States so I'm assuming mine won't be here for a week or two.

[Mantrox]

Got my copy today, I'll be playing it later... My fear is that it's not much of a challenge, (as has been mentioned). As much as I'd like to clear something, as I haven't for ages, I'd like to have to work for it a bit!

Can we bother you for some video?

There's hardly anything on the net, besides the trailers.

[Jonst]

I would love to do a video, but i don't really have the equipment for it plus know-how to get one up quickly... I will however let you guys know what I thought about it (for what it's worth!)

[Casey120]

...yet the CE has been delayed until 'Early November'.

Fuck right off.

What???

a new way to annoy customers?

Don't complain, early CE adopters who paid up where promised a free beta testing disc version of Ghostblade before release a long time ago ...oh wait that isn't going to happen now either

[ATTRACTS]

...yet the CE has been delayed until 'Early November'.

Fuck right off.

What???

a new way to annoy customers?

Don't complain, early CE adopters who paid up where promised a free beta testing disc version of Ghostblade before release a long time ago ...oh wait that isn't going to happen now either

Damn, life is rough.

[Jonst]

Well, I've just been playing this for the last hour and a half... And it's not great news guys

First off, it is incredibly easy, 1cc on my fourth go, only reason it took that long was due to getting killed by bullets I couldn't see. There is no option (that I could see) to make the game harder, so normal is ridiculously easy. The whole experience is quite underwhelming, graphics are average, music doesn't sound like the trailers (guitars ain't there) sound effects are weak, explosions are unspectacular... It is a fun game, but way too easy and short. Part of what makes it too easy is that building your special weapon, a screen clearing wave is very easy to build and stock (up to 9, maybe even more than that) not that skilled players will even really need to use it! That all sounds really negative I know, it's typical Hucast. Like I said though, I still enjoyed it, just don't expect too much!...

[ATTRACTS]

Well, I've just been playing this for the last hour and a half... And it's not great news guys

First off, it is incredibly easy, 1cc on my fourth go, only reason it took that long was due to getting killed by bullets I couldn't see. There is no option (that I could see) to make the game harder, so normal is ridiculously easy. The whole experience is quite underwhelming, graphics are average, music doesn't sound like the trailers (guitars ain't there) sound effects are weak, explosions are unspectacular... It is a fun game, but way too easy and short. Part of what makes it too easy is that building your special weapon, a screen clearing wave is very easy to build and stock (up to 9, maybe even more than that) not that skilled players will even really need to use it! That all sounds really negative I know, it's typical Hucast. Like I said though, I still enjoyed it, just don't expect too much!...

Bummer. As a caravan game do you see it having a lasting appeal for scoring at least?

[Jonst]

Not really even then tbh... There just isn't much there that would draw you back to bother even trying once you've cleared it. At no point did my heart speed up, get sweaty palms...

It's still fun, you just can't take it seriously. It's such a shame, the mechanic is fun but just no challenge. There are hints of fast striker in there, first level reminds me of dangun feveron, the 3rd stage that features heavily in the trailers is also super short, possibly the shortest in the game...

EDIT: quite why the CE comes with a superplay is a bit baffling considering how easy it is!...

[Mantrox]

Not really even then tbh... There just isn't much there that would draw you back to bother even trying once you've cleared it. At no point did my heart speed up, get sweaty palms...

It's still fun, you just can't take it seriously. It's such a shame, the mechanic is fun but just no challenge. There are hints of fast striker in there, first level reminds me of dangun feveron, the 3rd stage that features heavily in the trailers is also super short, possibly the shortest in the game...

That's a bummer :/
From the trailer i already felt it had very few bullets, but i thought it was a difficulty option.

[Jonst]

Yeah, normal already feels like a novice mode. It does get a busier from stage 4...

[Tigershark]

Evening.

Game arrived today and been playing for about 40 minutes or so. Some initial thoughts.

I love shmups but am not that great at them (let's be generous to me and say "average"). As a consequence the "too easy" moniker probably doesn't apply to me however I would say the first two levels are fairly perfunctory. By level 3 things get more interesting.

Control seems a bit off to me (I'm using the DC stock controller). I can't quite put my finger on it but I would not describe it as "precise". There is also some funny slow down by the third stage and, dare I say it, I felt some movement lag which resulted in an unnecessary death.

The backgrounds are not good. This is clearly subjective but for me they are two static and "painted" which detracts from the overall feel of the game.

Hmm, lots of negative comments there but I do quite like it and I have no issue spending the money on the normal edition.

[Jonst]

Like I said, I did enjoy it, but was disappointed by it. I don't wish to be negative, but they were my honest initial thoughts... You have a fair few negative comments yourself tiger... And you only played it for 40 minutes!

I also have no problem spending £20-£30 for the game, but regret spending £130 for CE.

[Jonst]

For those that haven't seen this yet.

http://youtu.be/sGXDbrYOZSk

[CStarFlare]

Is there actually a caravan mode in this? I think there was talk about one back when the game was announced and it was one of the most interesting things about it.

EDIT: The initial post states 3 modes, and 2/5 minute caravan modes. I see two difficulties and no Caravan on the main menu - are they unlocks or did they fall off?

[Jonst]

You saw correctly.... It must have fallen off. Options and modes are thin on the ground.

[RaidenViper]

They removed the caravan mode? this was supposed to be one of the big features of this game... lmao

[Casey120]

Still haven't seen if the animated sea background is still in there, is it ?

[Mantrox]

Still haven't seen if the animated sea background is still in there, is it ?

Wasn't it dropped when they switched programmers, because of time constraints?

[Jonst]

^ gone! Replaced by clouds... Tbh the best sea effect in the world wouldn't make it any better. I hate to sound so down on it, but I know people want details...

[z0mbie90]

Aw no Caravan Mode. Disappointed. That was the thing I looked forward to. Guess I'll be skipping this.

[dan76]

I just checked out the video. It looks the part, liked the music, but the pacing is really slow and dull. I've not played any of their other games so I don't know what they're like, but this needs way more enemies and bullets. It's a real shame as everything apart from the gameplay is great.

[Kollision]

I'm not into caravan modes at all, so meh...
but I perfectly understand everybody's disappointment

Hucast.... tsc tsc...

[kennyrh]

Having seen that youtube first impressions vid i would say that the sedate pace of the game would be more suited to geriatric old farts like me.

Pity i haven't bought it

[HydrogLox]

They removed the caravan mode? this was supposed to be one of the big features of this game... lmao

... but the pacing is really slow and dull. ... but this needs way more enemies and bullets. It's a real shame as everything apart from the gameplay is great.

This just begs for "Ghost Blade: Extreme Championship Edition" featuring only "hard", "very hard", "insane" and 2/5 minute caravan modes ... coming soon to a Dreamcast near you.

[TransatlanticFoe]

It looks really nice from that video but wow does it look easy. Bullets are slow enough to embarass a novice mode and you barely see any enemies - they die instantly. Whatever must the novice mode be like? Still, the bomb doesn't look like it does much damage and just clears bullets. It doesn't last long either and covers your ship, so it seems an entirely defensive option but not a total cheese.

Neo XYX was pretty brutal and this looks too easy, unless it ramps right up later in the game. A Donpachi-esque stage 4 spike might save it.

I'll have to wait until November anyway.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Watched the video review, well done sprites although some of the enemies look quite generic. Wonderful background graphics. Sound effects totally lacked any punch, but possibly this is due to the way the video was recorded? Didn't have any iconic sounds in it either way. Not much of a fan of the Eurotrancy (?) soundtrack, and while I admit this is mostly a matter of taste, I still think it just doesn't create any kind of atmosphere. The explosions looked horrible, especially on the bosses where you would expect shit flying apart, orange fireballs, not just mostly nothing.
The one thing that really matters is how it plays, but for me the visual and aural aesthetics of a game play an important part in creating the shmup experience...

Spoiler

cool story bro

[ATTRACTS]

The Toaplan vibe still appeals to me and I want to reserve judgement until I get the game in my hands and get past stage 3. I AM annoyed at the removal of the caravan modes (something that appealed to me because I really like scoring challenges) but the art design still looks great for the most part. Would love for it to be more difficult than it seems but it's still a shmup made on one of my favorite systems so I'll give it a fair shake.

[Nick420]

For those that haven't seen this yet.

http://youtu.be/sGXDbrYOZSk

Excitement levels dropped considerably...
And bomb animation = ......wtf was that shit???

Had high hopes for this. They are going to release 3 or 4 upgraded versions before it's where it needs to be by the looks of things lol. Another dux. Except looks a lot less fun than dux. With more boring mechanics and difficulty.

Maybe it's more fun to actually play, I hate to judge something before you actually try it but I dunno on this one.

[Enemy]

Got my one today ... is there something wrong with my dc as it hasnt been mentioned about the terrible slowdown to the point that the game drops to under 30fps for long parts of the levels and its even worse in tate.... infact even when its running at 60fps its not smooth as there are jolts to the update all over the place. Tested it in vga and crt and they are the same, going to break out my jap dc just to check but thinking its the game, it just so unplayable in this state