Shikigami no Shiro III

Veracity · Post by **Veracity** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:53 pm

Thanks - I had played the 3 trial (it's here, if there's anyone left interested who hasn't tried it yet). It seems competently ported from that, but there might be issues that only become obvious beyond the snippet on show there. Sorry, should've been clearer: I meant to ask what people who have the full version make of it with regard to replayability - what does the extra mode do (just 'extreme' by another name?), how differently the characters play, that kind of thing. If it has the same degree of mode diversity as 2, I'm pretty much sold.

Regarding 2, it was based on the PC port trial that I bought it for PS2. I've barely touched it, mainly because it really is a pretty manky version. I knew it had a notoriously horrific English translation, but figured that might be good for a giggle or two, anyway, and wasn't likely to matter much. I didn't bother checking details on the PAL release, though. All the dialogue has been unceremoniously ripped out, which isn't disastrous in itself, but it's also bordered 50Hz only, and has some slowdown that feels a lot like it shouldn't be there (yes, even with the wait option off). Probably naive, but I honestly didn't realize checking for 60Hz support on an action-y game was still necessary. It does support rotation and let you turn filtering off, which I guess nets it some credit.

Martinov · Post by **Martinov** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:47 pm

Veracity wrote:Thanks - I had played the 3 trial (it's here, if there's anyone left interested who hasn't tried it yet). It seems competently ported from that, but there might be issues that only become obvious beyond the snippet on show there. Sorry, should've been clearer: I meant to ask what people who have the full version make of it with regard to replayability - what does the extra mode do (just 'extreme' by another name?), how differently the characters play, that kind of thing. If it has the same degree of mode diversity as 2, I'm pretty much sold.

Regarding 2, it was based on the PC port trial that I bought it for PS2. I've barely touched it, mainly because it really is a pretty manky version. I knew it had a notoriously horrific English translation, but figured that might be good for a giggle or two, anyway, and wasn't likely to matter much. I didn't bother checking details on the PAL release, though. All the dialogue has been unceremoniously ripped out, which isn't disastrous in itself, but it's also bordered 50Hz only, and has some slowdown that feels a lot like it shouldn't be there (yes, even with the wait option off). Probably naive, but I honestly didn't realize checking for 60Hz support on an action-y game was still necessary. It does support rotation and let you turn filtering off, which I guess nets it some credit.

Pal Shikigami 2 was also made easier - enemies fired fewer bullets, and larger enemies took less punishment, this coupled with the 50hz mode made the game feel a little pedestrian. Since I've bought the Japanese release, I've been totally blown away by the game! I actually sold my pal copy recently, and I don't miss it one bit.

I should be getting my copy of Shikigami 3 in the next few days, I'll post some opinions if nobody beats me to it.

eretsua · Post by **eretsua** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 pm

Vokatse wrote:SNS2 was a blast on the xbox, even without an arcade stick. What is 3 coming out for?

shiki came out ages ago already for the PC. don't think it will hit any home console anytime soon. :/

~eretsua.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:20 am

Man Siki III is not so good.

I think it was easy, and also the graphics were just meh (the anime artwork is the only thing good in the game).

Just play II and you'll be fine.

Martinov · Post by **Martinov** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:24 pm

Veracity wrote:Thanks - I had played the 3 trial (it's here, if there's anyone left interested who hasn't tried it yet). It seems competently ported from that, but there might be issues that only become obvious beyond the snippet on show there. Sorry, should've been clearer: I meant to ask what people who have the full version make of it with regard to replayability - what does the extra mode do (just 'extreme' by another name?), how differently the characters play, that kind of thing. If it has the same degree of mode diversity as 2, I'm pretty much sold.

Right, just got it and fiddled around with it a little. Contrary to Fighter17, I think the game is way harder than Shikigami 2. There are only really 3 new characters, the others are basically the same as before with one or two changes made here and there. As for extra modes, you can choose normal, easy, extreme (same as Shikigami 2's extreme, really), extreme 2 (bullets are sped up) and extreme 3 (enemies and bullets are given a speed boost).

Overall: not quite as good as Shikigami 2, but then I don't think many shmups are. Worth a purchase if you're interested.

Veracity · Post by **Veracity** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:15 am

Ok, cheers - sounds like I probably want this. And the import shipping amounts to a feeble, but adequate excuse to pick up a less revolting version of 2 while I'm there. I don't think I'm quite at the point yet where I'll die before actually playing everything in the 'when I have time for it' pile, though this'd better be the last purchase until the pile shrinks a tad.

About the graphics, I think I actually prefer 3. It's not likely to win any art design awards, but none of it I've seen struck me as less than adequate, and the contrast between the subdued backdrops and lurid bullets helps prevent it becoming too chaotic to make out what's going on. I thought 2 was too cluttered for its own good at times, particularly when there are coins spraying every which way.

firestorm · Post by **firestorm** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:43 pm

I dont see the problem with SNS 3
i recieved the PC version last week
and the game is great

good sound
the gfx is better then part 2
the poly-count is not so high, but the textures are sharp.

havnt played so much untli now, but it makes ma lot of fun

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:44 pm

An odd tidbit from Majoria News: check the May 12 entry for the full story and a link or two.

Interesting trivia of the day: just found out that Reika from Shikigami no Shiro III is actually the same Reika from Telenet's laser-disc game Time Gal.

Don't recall this having been mentioned around here before...one of the weirdest "crossovers" in recent memory.

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:00 pm

Does this work on Windows Vista? Anyone tried/able to try?

Minzoku · Post by **Minzoku** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:19 pm

Yeah, first you get rid of Vista

(ugh)

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:43 am

Shocky wrote:Does this work on Windows Vista? Anyone tried/able to try?

I just asked the same thing this week in this topic

Since then I was able to find and test the downloadable demo version of Shiki III on Vista Premium Home edition, and can confirm that the demo runs fine with no hacks needed. This makes me hopeful that the full version might also work...

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:54 am

haha pulling the old resurrect.

just noticed this was released for PC after tripping over it on shootthecore.

got some questions.

anyone have the system requirements, in particular i'm wondering about the directx support. on the trial download page it mentions 9.0c. does it take advantage of features added since the 8.0 range version of directx.

i'm still running a very sucky video card (Geforce 4 MX 440 64Mb) and am finally seriously thinking about ordering the shiki EX and II pack from play-asia. anbd certainly III would make a nice little addition to that package.

thanks and i appreciate the help
capt

auryn · Post by **auryn** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:12 am

my old geforce FX 5200 wasn't really up to running shiki III (on a p4 3.2ghz), even though shiki II ran fine. I got a new gfx card now though.

it's a great game btw, can't really say I appreciate it less than shiki II, but I haven't gotten very far yet.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:23 am

looks like i'll have to update then if i want to play it.

got to do that anyway though. my video card can't run call of duty (yes, the first one) properly...

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 12:39 pm

OK, I tested it on a Vista Home Premium. Works.

The minimum or recommended setup (can't tell which one, I got a Hong Kong version and the manual and box are in chinese) was quite scary, 2GHz cpu and such, but it works nicely on my 1.6 GHz laptop (Core2Duo, 1GB, ATI Mobility Radeon X2300, DirectX 9), EXCEPT that first I had trouble installing it, then trouble launching it (took a couple of minutes to get past the Cyber Front logo), and then there was a bug in character selection: Kim Mihee's projectiles were invisible! Then I had some trouble with a TATE setup, I got an image that was in TATE, but had this widescreen aspect ratio which couldn't be changed, so the image was narrow and stretched vertically. At this point I was cursing and decided that this was the last time ever I tried playing a PC game.

Luckily after a reboot all was working very smoothly, I got a correct aspect ratio in TATE and everything. This is where the good life begins...

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:48 pm

took the trial home and tried it out for the old shits and giggles. for some reason it actually plays quite nicely. there is a little bit of inconsistency with the framerate, but overall it is quite playable. i'd say as many as 60 fps with no bullets and around 25 in a heavy storm.

thanks folks, will be buying it. i had a good time.

hirounder · Post by **hirounder** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 6:39 am

Port is coming to Wii/360 as mentioned in new Famitsu Weekly

XBOX360「式神の城III」発売予定
Wii「式神の城III」発売予定

http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/soutahouse/d ... 708220000/

stanski · Post by **stanski** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 6:53 am

Shocky wrote:OK, I tested it on a Vista Home Premium. Works.

The minimum or recommended setup (can't tell which one, I got a Hong Kong version and the manual and box are in chinese) was quite scary, 2GHz cpu and such, but it works nicely on my 1.6 GHz laptop (Core2Duo, 1GB, ATI Mobility Radeon X2300, DirectX 9), EXCEPT that first I had trouble installing it, then trouble launching it (took a couple of minutes to get past the Cyber Front logo), and then there was a bug in character selection: Kim Mihee's projectiles were invisible! Then I had some trouble with a TATE setup, I got an image that was in TATE, but had this widescreen aspect ratio which couldn't be changed, so the image was narrow and stretched vertically. At this point I was cursing and decided that this was the last time ever I tried playing a PC game.

Luckily after a reboot all was working very smoothly, I got a correct aspect ratio in TATE and everything. This is where the good life begins...

1.6 ghz dual core=4.0 ghz p4 (even though its really just 3.2 ghz, P4 processors were always way overrated). Processor speed isn't as important anymore at all though.

Works fine on my vista 1.8 ghz with a very shitty graphics card. Much better game than shiki 2 IMO, and i like the harder difficulties i think it is (where they add suicide bullets).

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:14 pm

hirounder wrote:Port is coming to Wii/360 as mentioned in new Famitsu Weekly

Huh...wasn't the thing released in the arcades around a year and a half ago? That's a pretty long time to wait to release a port...of course, lacking any of the next-gen systems I was hoping for a PS2 appearance, but whatcha gonna do...

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:57 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:
hirounder wrote:Port is coming to Wii/360 as mentioned in new Famitsu Weekly
Huh...wasn't the thing released in the arcades around a year and a half ago? That's a pretty long time to wait to release a port...of course, lacking any of the next-gen systems I was hoping for a PS2 appearance, but whatcha gonna do...

So does this mean no tate support for either of these ports? I really don't know what Microsoft's stance is (we know that they won't do it for XBLA downloads), but will the WiiMote calibrate correctly to a vertically oriented screen... (not that I'd want to use anything other than a joystick with this game, mind you)? I suppose if it's all digital input, it really shouldn't be a problem.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:31 am

Kiken wrote:So does this mean no tate support for either of these ports?

Offhand I think that the few vertical-screen shmups that were released on the GC and original XB all had tate mode included, so I wouldn't think that it would have been somehow prohibited by the system makers in the space between last generation and this one...maybe not?

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:54 am

Wow, I'd buy a Japanese console to be able to play this.

RyanDG · Post by **RyanDG** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:36 am

Kiken wrote:
BulletMagnet wrote:
hirounder wrote:Port is coming to Wii/360 as mentioned in new Famitsu Weekly
Huh...wasn't the thing released in the arcades around a year and a half ago? That's a pretty long time to wait to release a port...of course, lacking any of the next-gen systems I was hoping for a PS2 appearance, but whatcha gonna do...
So does this mean no tate support for either of these ports? I really don't know what Microsoft's stance is (we know that they won't do it for XBLA downloads), but will the WiiMote calibrate correctly to a vertically oriented screen... (not that I'd want to use anything other than a joystick with this game, mind you)? I suppose if it's all digital input, it really shouldn't be a problem.

Unless they add a pointer mechanic in the game with the Wii Remotes pointer functions, it doesn't need to be calibrated to the screen. And as a side note, the Wii remote can be calibrated to a vertically oriented screen for those games that would feel the need to add a pointer function.

As for Microsoft I don't know. I know that their strict no tate policy is pretty much locked in on XBLA, but I'm not aware of any game that has been released on the console as a retail release that would even have tate as an option. This looks like its going to be the first test, but I really don't foresee a problem.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:55 pm

professor ganson wrote:Wow, I'd buy a Japanese console to be able to play this.

You do know there´s a cheap PC port available, right?
About $15 or $20 iirc.

If you´ve got the pc power to run it that is...

stanski · Post by **stanski** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:02 pm

Or *cough*torrents*cough* cost nothing

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:08 pm

stanski wrote:Or *cough*torrents*cough* cost nothing

oh, you scoundrel!

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:40 pm

Cool news. I'll probably pick up the Wii port, as long as there's TATE and they let me use a normal controller.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is picked up for the US, at least for the Wii. SnS2 was released in the US, and Shin Chuuka Taisen is also getting a US Wii release.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:33 pm

Super Laydock wrote:
professor ganson wrote:Wow, I'd buy a Japanese console to be able to play this.
You do know there´s a cheap PC port available, right?
About $15 or $20 iirc.

If you´ve got the pc power to run it that is...

Yeah, but don't you need a Japanese version of Windows? Also, my pc is not set up for gaming.

I hope preorders are coming soon for the Wii and 360.

auryn · Post by **auryn** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:11 pm

professor ganson wrote:
Yeah, but don't you need a Japanese version of Windows? Also, my pc is not set up for gaming.

I hope preorders are coming soon for the Wii and 360.

you don't need JP windows, it runs fine here on the english version.

Veracity · Post by **Veracity** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 10:03 pm

professor ganson wrote:Yeah, but don't you need a Japanese version of Windows?

Installing AppLocale (MS-provided wrapper that lets you run individual programs in a simulated alternate locale environment) isn't a bad idea, but even without it the only problem I think you'll usually see is garbling of non-Unicode text. Serious (because artificially introduced) cross-region incompatibility is really a console phenomenon. In this case I would also think assuming port fidelity has the best chance of being decent on PC makes some sense, since the arcade hardware has PC-in-a-cabinet architecture. Kind of wish more publishers would take advantage of this - Giga Wing Generations springs to mind - but between a probably worse piracy rate and PCs are for porn stereotype in the domestic market, I don't expect it. I know some people simply prefer not to use their PC for games, though, which is fair enough.