i see lack of any info, much more, appreciation for this game, i wanted to buy this, but i need more opinions, especialy regarding the PS1 port, how "arcade perfect" was it? or was it in any psikyo ps2 collections??
There is a PS2 Sol Divide/Dragon Blaze Psikyo Collection available (Japan region), and IIRC there is an upcoming (or is it already out?) PAL release of Sol Divide (by itself) on the PS2. It's also on the Saturn (Japan only).
By my reckoning, it's not a particularly popular game around here: I myself don't utterly "hate" it, but I'm not exactly thrilled with it either (then again, I'm not much of a Psikyo fan in general). I haven't compared ports, so I can't say much on that.
Playing Sol Divide is surely more fun than, say, sticking your hand in a blender, but that's the only positive aspect I can think of. I wouldn't even call it a shooter, it's more like a beat 'em up with flying characters, but it even fails at that. Of course you could try it out with Mame, if you're still interested, but I honestly wouldn't bother.
benj wrote:I wouldn't even call it a shooter, it's more like a beat 'em up with flying characters, but it even fails at that. Of course you could try it out with Mame, if you're still interested, but I honestly wouldn't bother.
IIRC MAME still doesn't play it correctly (although it might only be a sound issue, so you can get a feel for the gamelpay).
"Flying beat 'em up" is just about right. Each character has a melee weapon that does far more damage than anything else, and you end up abusing it just to get further in the game.
We recently won the PCB in an eBay auction with some other titles to put out the front in our mini-arcade, but after playing it for a few hours we changed or minds. It's not worth the bother of more than 10 minutes play.
Last edited by elvis on Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
elvis wrote:IIRC MAME still doesn't play it correctly (although it might only be a sound issue, so you can get a feel for the gamelpay).
Yeah, I think that the actual gameplay is pretty much intact, so I'd suggest giving it a try in MAME if you've never played it...or else just buy the cheap "Taito Best" re-release of the Sol Divide/Dragon Blaze pack; most would agree that Dragon Blaze is worth owning (though you can try that out in MAME too, if you want to be sure), so even if it turns out you don't like Sol Divide you can just play the other game instead. Or re-sell it, heh heh.
RoninBuddha wrote:
anyways, any thoughts on the game?
Sol Divide is a womit inducing game in my opinion, and not in a good way. It is so sad that the brilliant Dragon Blaze has to share a disc with such a bad game. And in my opinion it is not a shooter, it is more like a Final Fight without gravity and a bit more shooting.
The SS/PS versions have an extra mode with RPG-esque experience and items. XS screwed this mode up completely in the US version by not offering the ability to save (among other negligences; I wrote a post on this fact but it may have been on the previous forum) so unless you're a complete masochist like I was or actually enjoy the game, that's 4 hours of pain for you right there (where 1 death could end the game).
The game itself is simply awful with laughably generic bosses and repetitive hack-n-slash gameplay (since long-range shots can't do jack) that feels more like a chore.
The PS2 version doesn't have the RPG mode but as everyone has said, Dragon Blaze is MUCH more worthwhile.
i have it on saturn. the grafx are gorgeous and i tried to force myself to like it. but at its core it really is a crappy game with stages that last about 40 sec at the most. wtf!? the last stage is ridiculous only beatable with another player lending a hand.
well, some dude is selling me a ntsc-j ps1 copy, for a cheap price, i might get that (im curious about the game really), im too lazy to try it on mame.. hehe,
im not fond of Dragon Blaze either.. so, i dont thik i'll be getting the ps2 compilations...
thanks for the info...
PS - the basic attraction for me was Katsuya Terada's amazing artwork...
benj wrote:Playing Sol Divide is surely more fun than, say, sticking your hand in a blender, but that's the only positive aspect I can think of. I wouldn't even call it a shooter, it's more like a beat 'em up with flying characters, but it even fails at that. Of course you could try it out with Mame, if you're still interested, but I honestly wouldn't bother.
Agreed. I have the PSX port, & while I believe it's a relatively arcade-perfect port, I can't say that's a good thing. It might have been better if the company that ported it pulled a Capcom & changed the console version (ala Bionic Commando or Strider for NES). Seriously, the game just isn't fun. It's an exercise in frustration nearly the highest order, & becomes a button-mashing contest during boss fights. If you want a fun hori-shmup game that involves a flying person/character, try S.C.A.T. or Burai Fighter, both for NES. You won't be sorry.
505 Gamestreet are mercifully splitting up the Sol Divide/Dragon Blaze pack into two releases, so PAL gamers don't have to bring that trash into their homes when they go out to purchase Dragon Blaze.
benj wrote:Playing Sol Divide is surely more fun than, say, sticking your hand in a blender, but that's the only positive aspect I can think of. I wouldn't even call it a shooter, it's more like a beat 'em up with flying characters, but it even fails at that. Of course you could try it out with Mame, if you're still interested, but I honestly wouldn't bother.
Agreed. I have the PSX port, & while I believe it's a relatively arcade-perfect port, I can't say that's a good thing. It might have been better if the company that ported it pulled a Capcom & changed the console version (ala Bionic Commando or Strider for NES). Seriously, the game just isn't fun. It's an exercise in frustration nearly the highest order, & becomes a button-mashing contest during boss fights. If you want a fun hori-shmup game that involves a flying person/character, try S.C.A.T. or Burai Fighter, both for NES. You won't be sorry.
Sorry, forgot about that one! And yeah, Lords of Thunder (I haven't played it) is pretty much always highly recommended around here, so I think general concensus should be a good indicator of that.
I went to a local indoor go-cart racing track and lo-behold, they had two Psikyo arcade shmup uprights to try out...Strikers 1945 II & Sol Divide. This was in early January 2000 a couple of months before my 2 week venture into Japan.
I really enjoyed both arcade games of Strikers 1945 II and Sol Divide. During my travels in the "land of the rising sun", I did manage to find both minty fresh & sealed brand new Psikyo 1st print run editions of Strikers 1945 II & Sol Divide for the PSX. I paid 5,800 yen for Stikers 1945 II PSX import & 3,900 yen for the Sol Divide PSX import respectively in March 2000. My recommendation is to get the original 1st print run edition of either PSX import game as the later USA released versions were released as incomplete versions of the same game titles.
i see lack of any info, much more, appreciation for this game, i wanted to buy this, but i need more opinions, especialy regarding the PS1 port, how "arcade perfect" was it? or was it in any psikyo ps2 collections??
