Milestone release 'Karous' - Arcade 2006 / Dreamcast 2007

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Ceph
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Post by Ceph »

Ganelon wrote:Is it my imagination, or does almost nobody really care about this game? Did everyone get disillusioned after playing/seeing Milestone's other shooters? Or are people waiting for the inevitable ports?
I wasn't impressed by Radirgy, so I'm not excited about Karous. I'm more interested in Trigger Heart and, even though it's "just" homebrew, Last Hope. After all Trizeal was pretty much a homebrew game, too.
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BulletMagnet
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Post by BulletMagnet »

I liked Radirgy, but this one looks rather similar to it, and with invisi-bullets to boot...I guess I'll have to wait for some hands-on impressions to say anything "definitive" about it, but from what I've seen of it so far I'm not particularly excited.
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Post by icepick »

Ganelon wrote:Is it my imagination, or does almost nobody really care about this game? Did everyone get disillusioned after playing/seeing Milestone's other shooters? Or are people waiting for the inevitable ports?
I've played only a bit of Chaos Field, and haven't played Radirgy, although I was looking forward to playing it when it was in development (and still am, but have been busy with other things). As such, I care a decent amount about this game, plus, it does look pretty interesting to me on its own.

Wait, I already said that. Well, just to reaffirm my interest in the game, I suppose.

Somewhat off-topic; I wonder which platform MileStone will switch to after NAOMI/DC, and if they'll continue to port their games to the GCN/Wii. I thought of this because of the "Or are people waiting for the inevitable ports?" question.

... Unless by "ports" you include "the DC port," in which I'd have to say, yes, I'm waiting for the port. 8)

Only six weeks and four days until release! :)
BulletMagnet wrote:with invisi-bullets to boot...
Invisi-bullets, you say? I've heard that term before, and thought it was being used to refer to flamethrowers (or something like that; I've probably got the wrong idea).
NTSC-J wrote:The patterns were difficult only because your ship moves so fast and can't be slowed down, makes tapping through tight spots harder than it should be.
That turns me off a little bit. I don't even have a joystick, which means that I'll probably be in even more trouble. Then again, it probably shows that I have other things to worry about anyway.

I sort of don't mind there being only one ship, as I like the "unified attack method" (except in the case of Shikigami no Shiro, where it's "the more the merrier")... but I understand that the issue here is probably rather ship speed as opposed to shot type. I'm nontheless kinda pleased to hear that there aren't any weird lasers or bubbles in this one, though.
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NTSC-J
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Post by NTSC-J »

I've actually been playing this more recently and have found myself enjoying it in a 'why-couldn't-my-local-arcade-have-chosen-to-get-Mushi-Futari-instead-of-this-shit' kind of way. Going for good scores is a challenge, so it'll keep those interested busy for at least a little bit.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

icepick wrote:Invisi-bullets, you say? I've heard that term before, and thought it was being used to refer to flamethrowers (or something like that; I've probably got the wrong idea).
Follow the "Glossary" link in my sig, there's a definition of it in there. ;)
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Post by Kiken »

NTSC-J wrote:I've actually been playing this more recently and have found myself enjoying it in a 'why-couldn't-my-local-arcade-have-chosen-to-get-Mushi-Futari-instead-of-this-shit' kind of way. Going for good scores is a challenge, so it'll keep those interested busy for at least a little bit.
I know you said that you had played through Easy Mode. Have you tried Normal and Hard Mode yet?
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NTSC-J
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Post by NTSC-J »

I think that was icycalm that had said he beat easy mode on his first try. I've only played normal and it's a fair challenge if you want big points. Otherwise, it's cake.
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Post by Kiken »

NTSC-J wrote:I think that was icycalm that had said he beat easy mode on his first try. I've only played normal and it's a fair challenge if you want big points. Otherwise, it's cake.
Would you say that Normal Mode is roughly the same difficulty and balance as Radirgy? If so, I guess Hard Mode is like Radirgy's Okawari Mode.
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Post by icepick »

BulletMagnet wrote:Follow the "Glossary" link in my sig, there's a definition of it in there. ;)
Oh, invisi-bullets! I can't believe that I didn't think to check there; I remember seeing you mention adding new terms to it on occasion. Such an excellent resource deserves to be used without question! :wink:
NTSC-J wrote:I think that was icycalm that had said he beat easy mode on his first try. I've only played normal and it's a fair challenge if you want big points. Otherwise, it's cake.
I like cake, as long as it's fun. For example, I played Titanion for the first time recently, and it was some of the most fun that I'd had until I discovered the provocation beam. Yes, my score went way up (to about 1/100,000th of the scores in the HS thread) once I started provoking the enemies, but nothing was as fun as the first few times that I played it. I have the feeling that I'll like Karous, but of course I'll have to wait to see for sure.

Also, it looks like this game will have a DVD-style case, although I'm not completely certain:

http://www.sega.co.jp/dc/070301/
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Kiken
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Post by Kiken »

icepick wrote:Also, it looks like this game will have a DVD-style case, although I'm not completely certain:

http://www.sega.co.jp/dc/070301/
Not a bad design... although, I think they should have used the NAOMI poster image of Karasu kneeling and holding a bunch of feathers.

Also, Warashi need to get on the ball! They still haven't released the box-art images for THE.
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Post by SuperGrafx »

icepick wrote:
Also, it looks like this game will have a DVD-style case, although I'm not completely certain:

http://www.sega.co.jp/dc/070301/
Nice art, but I don't particularly care for the DVD case DC releases.
They seem so out of place next to my other DC games...
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Post by Belmont »

I HATE hardshell cd/ps1/deremcast/saturn cases. If my son gets ahold of them 1 time they get cracked if not completely ruined. I freaked out a few weeks back when he grabbed my Radient Silvergun case.....i made him cry, but at least he didnt crack the case :) I love the direction all modern game cases have gone. IF a company wants to release any game in a more durable case im all for it. Im still pissed about gba games coming in cardboard boxes...grrr.
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Post by Strider77 »

i made him cry
good..... RS is more important than a few tears. seriously

but I HATE that games no longer come in standard CD cases. they protected everything alot better than those dvd cases. they were smaller space wise and easily replaced if cracked ect.
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
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Post by roker »

Strider77 wrote:
i made him cry
good..... RS is more important than a few tears. seriously

but I HATE that games no longer come in standard CD cases. they protected everything alot better than those dvd cases. they were smaller space wise and easily replaced if cracked ect.
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Post by icepick »

Kiken wrote:Not a bad design... although, I think they should have used the NAOMI poster image of Karasu kneeling and holding a bunch of feathers.
Maybe that picture's on the back? :)

(Although I admit that I haven't seen it, I don't think.)
Kiken wrote:Also, Warashi need to get on the ball! They still haven't released the box-art images for THE.
I totally agree. They've already got the design sketched out for their phone card, but it's anyone's guess as to what the actual game will have on it. Ha, ha.
Strider77 wrote:but I HATE that games no longer come in standard CD cases. they protected everything alot better than those dvd cases. they were smaller space wise and easily replaced if cracked ect.
I've been wondering about this... How do DVD keep cases fail to protect discs moreso than jewel cases? Yes, they get scuffed up and can be cracked as well, but I don't mind the newer style of disc retention tabs (although my friend's broken a disc from Blockbuster once, because of how the disc is held in the case).

My biggest problem with DVD keep cases is that when the discs come loose during shipping (meaning the game's still sealed), they slide all over. Scratch city. At least with Jewel cases, the only part that'd get scratched would be the plastic ring in the middle, where no data resides anyway.
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Post by LSU »

Ceph wrote:I wasn't impressed by Radirgy, so I'm not excited about Karous. I'm more interested in Trigger Heart and, even though it's "just" homebrew, Last Hope. After all Trizeal was pretty much a homebrew game, too.
This pretty much sums up how I feel as well, on all games you mention.
...Not the biggest fan of Radirgy (or Trizeal for tha matter).
I will get Karous, but I'm not expecting it to be that much better than Radirgy. Which is OK. (Although I'll be very happy if it really is better.)
As long as you know what you're getting yourself into, it's all good...
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Post by Super Laydock »

Famitsu rated Karous:

Karous (DC, MileStone): 6 / 6 / 6 / 7 - (25/40)

Which is actually quite good and exactly the same as Trigger Heart Exelica got. :D

Also, courtesy of icepick , some other scores of other STG´s to compare this with:

Recent DC STG Famitsu Scores
* Under Defeat: 8,6,5,6 (25/40)
* Radirgy: 6,6,5,6 (23/40)
* Trizeal: 6,7,6,6 (25/40)
* Chaos Field: 7,6,5,6 (24/40)


Recent PS2 STG Famitsu Scores
* Ibara: 7,7,6,6 (26/40)
* Homura: 6,5,5,5 (21/40)
* Raiden III: 6,7,6,7 (26/40)
* Giga Wing Generations: 7,6,6,6 (25/40)


This however also shows that rates often don't mean much as for instance Homura (which seems to be regarded as pretty neat here) scores 21/40, while the (imho undeservedly so) badly received Chaos Field gets a 24/40... :?
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Kron
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Post by Kron »

And Gigawing Generations which is one of if not THE worst ports in the history of the genre gets 25.

Can't trust Famitsu.
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Post by Reluctant Hero »

Super Laydock wrote:Famitsu rated Karous:

Karous (DC, MileStone): 6 / 6 / 6 / 7 - (25/40)

Recent DC STG Famitsu Scores
* Under Defeat: 8,6,5,6 (25/40)
* Radirgy: 6,6,5,6 (23/40)
* Trizeal: 6,7,6,6 (25/40)
* Chaos Field: 7,6,5,6 (24/40)


Recent PS2 STG Famitsu Scores
* Ibara: 7,7,6,6 (26/40)
* Homura: 6,5,5,5 (21/40)
* Raiden III: 6,7,6,7 (26/40)
* Giga Wing Generations: 7,6,6,6 (25/40)
Wow, that really is wierd. Famitsu basically rating all shumps the same... what gives? :?
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Post by GaijinPunch »

Reluctant Hero wrote:Wow, that really is wierd. Famitsu basically rating all shumps the same... what gives? :?
Famitsu is a large publication. They are aiming at on-the-surface gamers, not people that know the hitbox data for every shooting game released in the last few years.
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Post by icycalm »

I roughly agree with their scores except for those of Ibara, Homura and Under Defeat.

And I haven't played GWG so I can't tell whether I agree with that score.

edit:
Actually I also don't agree with the Chaos Field score. Meh.
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Post by Monk 0 Nuggets »

Does anyone know if this will come to the GC like Radilgy is?
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Post by Balzac »

Milestone has one unannounced game for the Wii. Read into that however you wish.
Good luck or cry.
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Post by genetik »

Monk 0 Nuggets wrote:Does anyone know if this will come to the GC like Radilgy is?
Most likely not. GameCube games are getting few and far between. Apart from Radilgy, the only other GC games scheduled to be released are kid's games. Even then, that's only states sides. Is there even one game left to be released on the GC in Japan? All the listing i've seen were blank for GC games in Japan. Oddly enough, it kinda looks like the Gamecube will have died before the Japanese Dreamcast did :shock:
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Post by al138 »

Super Laydock wrote:This however also shows that rates often don't mean much as for instance Homura (which seems to be regarded as pretty neat here) scores 21/40, while the (imho undeservedly so) badly received Chaos Field gets a 24/40... :?
Well, at least they do not mean much for shooter fans. I imagine that Famitsu does what most other game publications do when it comes to ratings--they normalize them in relation to the general gaming public. I've relegated myself to the fact that the shooter titles I love are a little left of center of what the mainstream likes.

I'm with you : The rating for Choas Field really makes it moot as to what Famitsu rates shooters in general. Choas Field better than Homura? I'm laughing. :lol: Based upon what I see, a 20-25/40 is a badge of honor for a shooter title in Famitsu. Perhaps it's the fact that you actually need to use the directional pad in a meaningful way with the game, unlike most of the brainless "just hit X and watch the pretty CG movie" RPGs that garner more attention. Does the RPG have an attractive CG heroine model with an endowment large enough to make every lonely late teen Japanese/American/European recluse grab their jock in virginal joy? 30+/40!!!

...wait, some shooters have that quality as well... :?

Personally, I'd take the collective word of a general consensus on this board over a mainstream media publication any day.

Famitsu's relative lack of enthusiasm over Karous hasn't diminished my anticipation of the game one bit.
Last edited by al138 on Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Dann »

I whipped up a little informative clip on karous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZaxHR1lR8Y
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Post by qatmix »

Choas Field better than Homura?

Thats the beauty of reviews, personal opinion. In the case above I agree. The other thing to consider about famitsu is that it doesnt throw around big scores very often.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

Dann wrote:I whipped up a little informative clip on karous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZaxHR1lR8Y
Thanks for the vid: you planning on putting up anything regarding the scoring, etc?
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Post by Dann »

BulletMagnet wrote:
Dann wrote:I whipped up a little informative clip on karous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZaxHR1lR8Y
Thanks for the vid: you planning on putting up anything regarding the scoring, etc?
If I can find a short clip of gameplay that i can do a voice over for or something, maybe. I really don't know that much about the system other than that the total level of your character is supposedly a multiplier for all the chips/scoring pieces you collect. Hence, the faster you can level your weapons up, the greater your multiplier will be. The lower levels of course require less scoring chips to level up, so you're in limbo between leveling up all 3 weapons evenly and getting a high multiplier quickly, or maxing out one weapon to inflict massive damage and create more collectible chips that way.
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Post by lawnspic »

Thanks Dann for the info, that gameplay vid in the arcade looks good. Looking forward to playing this now despite what some critics have said
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