Crimson Tears

[BAD]

Does anyone else have/like this game? I really like it, and I was having fun with it until I got to the second boss. Man, I've been getting the shit kicked out of me for about two weeks now...does anyone know how to beat him? I've tried almost everything...I can't seem to beat him. Any suggestions? There isn't even a FAQ on the game. Please help! I want to see the rest of this game!

[LoneSage]

I remember when I first saw it in Previews years ago and was floored by the unique visual styles.

Then there were so many negative reviews, and even gamers on the web were downtalking it I'd still like to try it out one day.

[Ganelon]

Don't even remember the 2nd boss but the game is incredibly monotonous. I recall comaprisons made to Dream Factory's The Bouncer. That game is so much better than this one, esp. since at least not every single enemy in The Bouncer is a weird looking biomonster as in Crimson Tears (and I mean EVERY).

[BAD]

So then nobody's actually played this enough to know how to beat the second boss? It's actually a very good game. I don't think it gets enough credit...

[Ganelon]

You enjoy dungeon crawlers, don't you? I absolutely despise them so my opinions come with that bias.

[Thunder Force]

I love dungeon crawlers so I'm glad I own this game. It's a good effort. A stylish cross between a randomized dungeon crawl and a beat-em-up. Plenty of customizations, and I love the chick's dual wielding ability. I think I beat the second boss but I don't remember anymore as the game is sitting in my large pile of games to play through. I just haven't found the time to put into it that it deserves.

[captain ahar]

dungeon crawlers? <3 i may have to try this game after all.

wasn't there a sequel planned or something?

[llabnip]

Does anyone else have/like this game?

When someone else claimed it to be a dungeon crawler my eyes lit up! I love those... and went to search for the game... only to find out it was a PS2 game (I don't have a PS2... yet...). When I think of dungeon crawler, for some reason I assumed it would be SNES or Genesis era at best... Most of my favoriate dungeon crawlers are from the earlier 8-bit era. Dungeons and Dragons (both Cloudy Mountain and Treasure of Tarmin) for Intellivsision, Dungeons of Dagorrath for the Tandy CoCo 2 and the best dungeon crawler ever made in Tunnels of Doom for the TI-99 (I still load and run this off cassette tape on my TI-99!).

[Thunder Force]

When someone else claimed it to be a dungeon crawler my eyes lit up! I love those... and went to search for the game... only to find out it was a PS2 game (I don't have a PS2... yet...). When I think of dungeon crawler, for some reason I assumed it would be SNES or Genesis era at best... Most of my favoriate dungeon crawlers are from the earlier 8-bit era. Dungeons and Dragons (both Cloudy Mountain and Treasure of Tarmin) for Intellivsision, Dungeons of Dagorrath for the Tandy CoCo 2 and the best dungeon crawler ever made in Tunnels of Doom for the TI-99 (I still load and run this off cassette tape on my TI-99!).

You left out listing one of the greatest... the Temple of Apshai games

But you're really missing out if you're a fan of dungeon crawlers and not playing next-gen. They've come a long way these days.

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

Now you guy's got me interested!!!
My medieval fantasy days go way back to the very early 80's.

[llabnip]

You left out listing one of the greatest... the Temple of Apshai games

Right! I've got it for the Colecovision only (and it's quite good), though I hear it was excellent on the Atari 800 where it was originally developed.

But you're really missing out if you're a fan of dungeon crawlers and not playing next-gen. They've come a long way these days.

I just can't get too excited about modern games... I've played through D&D Heroes and the Baldurs Gates and do have fun but they don't capture me as much as the classics. I'm willing to take suggestions on good ones to try.

[BAD]

Haha...good to see some interest!

[captain ahar]

But you're really missing out if you're a fan of dungeon crawlers and not playing next-gen. They've come a long way these days.

I just can't get too excited about modern games... I've played through D&D Heroes and the Baldurs Gates and do have fun but they don't capture me as much as the classics. I'm willing to take suggestions on good ones to try.

don't know if this qualifies in your eyes or not, but Record of Lodoss War on dreamcast kicked/kicks some major ass. if you might want to try it give me a pm.

[Thunder Force]

I've played through D&D Heroes and the Baldurs Gates and do have fun but they don't capture me as much as the classics. I'm willing to take suggestions on good ones to try.

I've heard good things about Ys: Arc of Napishtim but haven't had a chance to try it yet.

[CMoon]

Well don't leave us hanging. What are some great modern dungeon crawlers???

[captain ahar]

Record of Lodoss war! see above.

[Thunder Force]

Well don't leave us hanging. What are some great modern dungeon crawlers???

Hard to say, depends on your tastes, there's stuff out there for everyone if you look around...

All around safe bet is usually to try "Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance" 1 (note: realtime dungeon crawl) on either PS2 or Xbox, probably using the elf sorceress, as a good starting point. (Don't let the short quest length fool you, you can keep looping it at higher difficulty levels building up your character, which is where the hook comes in.)

Then if you ever enjoyed the original "Bard's Tale" 1 & 2, or the even more classic "Wizardry: Proving Grounds Of The Mad Overlord" on Apple II, then you can't go wrong with the PS2 installment from Japan named "Wizardry: Tale Of The Forsaken Land" (note: turn-based first person dungeon crawl) which encourages you to use your imagination to immerse yourself, in ways not usually seen these days

The ultimate modern first person dungeon crawl (in fact a "world crawl" is more accurate) is Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition (Xbox/PC), which can consume the life of a dungeon crawl fan like no other offline game

If you just want a sweet combat engine with nothing else (no imagination/story/characters) then Champions Of Norrath has randomized dungeons, thousands of items, and the ability to loop it more than you're ever likely to want to...

[CMoon]

Yeah, just picked up baldur's gate for $10 yesterday. Not seemingly great in anyway, but good fun without sinking to the levels of diablo.

As far as the Wizardry on the PS2, I LOVED the older games but didn't like this one, of course, it wasn't by sirtech so it was really more of an homage than a true sequel.

Wizardry 7 = best dungeon crawler ever.

[CecilMcW00t]

I Don't think its been mentioned but Nightmare of Druaga for PS2 is an excellent dungeon crawler.

[captain ahar]

big problem with Champions of Norrath though. if you are playing purely single player it can be very easy to hit a wall, since some battles (particularly bosses) are obviously designed to be taken on by a group.
haven't played the sequel not sure if this was adjusted.

Cecil could you post some more detailed impressions about Druaga. i have been hearing nothing but smack, so i have some reservations.

[CecilMcW00t]

Yeah Druaga recieves a lot of heat it seems. The game play style is similar to games like Chocobo Dungeon in that it is uses a weird and almost turn-based setup. Like everytime you move or attack constitutes one turn. Every time you make a turn the enemies in the dungeon will move as well. Certain moves like climbing stairs takes 2 two turns. You can use this to your advantage but it can also work against you. Like lets say there is one space between you and an enemy. If you take one step towards the enemy... then the enemy will most likely smack you. But, if you instead stay where you are and just attack... the enemy will walk into the empty square to approach you (using up his turn) and walk right into your sword.

Thats a very basic description of the gameplay I can elaborate if you need. There are rare items and anything you equip is visible on your character Gil. Boss fights are pretty cool as well, along with the music. Also, you can make silver and gold treasure chests appear (similar to Tower of Druaga) by meeting certain requirements. One thing that pisses me off is that Namco got lazy and left out the menu option to see what those requirements are. But maybe they did that to increase difficulty... Yet, there is a good faq on Gamefaqs for them.

Oh and this game punishes you if you die. It has a strict saving set-up. You have to inscribe prized items because any items that aren't inscribed will be lost (!) when you die and the game WILL save. If you reset without saving there is a penalty as well. I can't recall what it is but I will check later. So this may be why it isn't well received by some.

[captain ahar]

i saw a few videos of play, and it is indeed turn-based. and the punishment for dying has been severely stressed in everything i have read. how do the "Ultra Enemies" effect play. i've heard that, being on every level, they can severely screw up a session. also, when you enter the dungeon you get an item to pull you out, right (like the Rope item in Dragon Warrior)? if i use it to leave and then go back in, do i get another? what is the gameplay cost of inscription?

i must say, those short movies i saw have left me intrigued (obviously). the deliberate pace seems to be right up my alley. i've mentioned it, but no one has commented, has anyone played Record of Lodoss War on dc? thoroughly good game to me, but i put it down for a long time and will probably have to re-start cause i can't figure out the damn thing now.

edit: apparently, it's $20 too. so yay!

[CecilMcW00t]

i saw a few videos of play, and it is indeed turn-based. and the punishment for dying has been severely stressed in everything i have read. how do the "Ultra Enemies" effect play. i've heard that, being on every level, they can severely screw up a session. also, when you enter the dungeon you get an item to pull you out, right (like the Rope item in Dragon Warrior)? if i use it to leave and then go back in, do i get another? what is the gameplay cost of inscription?

i must say, those short movies i saw have left me intrigued (obviously). the deliberate pace seems to be right up my alley. i've mentioned it, but no one has commented, has anyone played Record of Lodoss War on dc? thoroughly good game to me, but i put it down for a long time and will probably have to re-start cause i can't figure out the damn thing now.

edit: apparently, it's $20 too. so yay!

The few ultra enemies I have encountered have been nasty. But they can be avoided by running like a little bish.

Everytime you enter a dungeon you get a feather which allows you to escape from the dungeon.

Cost of insrcibing items depends on the item. Seems to be more gold if it is rare.

One thing I forgot to mention about the turn based system. The enemies have different speed ratings. And Gil's speed rating is determined by the heaviness of his equips. You can tell if an enemy is slower than you if he has a blue shadow. If he has a red shadow then he is faster than you.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Started Crimson Tears last night and it appears to be, in more ways than one, a sister game of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (BoFV). I like it. The sense of DEEP exploration is missing in Crimson Tears thus far (I've reached the second boss), as even badly defeated (failed rescue mission or boss rematch) I'm back where I failed in a couple of minutes, but the wealth of fighting styles, the flexibility and customisation easily make up for it.
The reason why it's worth picking up is that it's the last gen Capcom quality job. In this day and age, when Capcom is making games either running at 30 fps or looking like Street Fighter IV (the upcoming DmC is quite likely going to marry both features, isn't it?) their last gen glory is all the more apparent even in such budget, obscure oddities.
Seems like I should check out Tobal 1&2, Ergheiz and even The Bouncer as Dream Factory apparently used to rock pretty hard.
Also, a bit late, but...

That game is so much better than this one, esp. since at least not every single enemy in The Bouncer is a weird looking biomonster as in Crimson Tears (and I mean EVERY).

Not quite. In the very second dungeon of Crimson Tears you fight robots as well (wrecking a huge one with a two-handed sword feels FANTASTIC.

Does anyone else have/like this game? I really like it, and I was having fun with it until I got to the second boss. Man, I've been getting the shit kicked out of me for about two weeks now...does anyone know how to beat him? I've tried almost everything...I can't seem to beat him. Any suggestions? There isn't even a FAQ on the game. Please help! I want to see the rest of this game!

I'm working on it. A monster file I found in the previous dungeon states clearly that his real body is that midget running around the arena (no need for FAQ in this case).

[Drum]

Started Crimson Tears last night and it appears to be, in more ways than one, a sister game of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (BoFV).

:o

Dragon Quarter is awesome. I'd play this, but after seeing that people liked the visuals I got curious and decided to check out some youtube clips ... this game is hideous.

[Obiwanshinobi]

When did you see Dragon Quarter last time? Must have been a while. This one looks a wee bit lousier, but only just a bit. Dragon Quarter's main aesthetical advantage is that it's draker so you can see fuck all in most locations. Wanna see a hideous looking game? The Mark of Kri says hello (even darkness doesn't help it great deal). Crimson Tears at least has got decent character models and animations.

[ZOM]

This thread reminds me that I never completed BoF5 - for shame, I liked it a lot way back but then got sidetracked somehow, I think my file (if it's still around) should be somewhere near endgame - I remember doing a lot of the Ant quest thingy...

Anyways, this game here Crimson Tears sounds interesting - I remember having it many times in my fingers at shops but I guess it never catched my interest at the time. Might give it a try.

[Drum]

When did you see Dragon Quarter last time? Must have been a while. This one looks a wee bit lousier, but only just a bit. Dragon Quarter's main aesthetical advantage is that it's draker so you can see fuck all in most locations. Wanna see a hideous looking game? The Mark of Kri says hello (even darkness doesn't help it great deal). Crimson Tears at least has got decent character models and animations.

The characters are the thing that bothered me. Really hate those designs. The Mark of Kri was a good-looking game from what I recall, way above this. Dragon Quarter had a great atmosphere.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The characters are the thing that bothered me. Really hate those designs. The Mark of Kri was a good-looking game from what I recall, way above this. Dragon Quarter had a great atmosphere.

You'd better steer away from Dragon Quarter and The Mark of Kri vids on YouTube then. If you wanna keep good memories, that is. I like the designs in this one better than in both Sin & Punishment games for what it's worth.

Anyways, this game here Crimson Tears sounds interesting - I remember having it many times in my fingers at shops but I guess it never catched my interest at the time. Might give it a try.

Solid real-time monster bashing and looting this, but not much graphical variety to it. PSP could use a port, provided the loadings wouldn't be too long (here they are just fine for this sort of game).
I've beaten the 2nd boss and it wasn't all that tricky, but grinding is your daily bread here (it's a fun kind of grinding if you ask me).

[Obiwanshinobi]

I should warn those who fancy this game that it's got quite a difficulty spike near the end. Think Silent Bomber: long foreplay, then the final boss and if you fail, you have to replay the long part before facing the boss again. Also, you must be ready to take on everybody during the boss rush barehanded, pretty much without resorting to healing and resurrecting items (doing otherwise would be like buying the access to final boss despite not really having what it takes to strike him down).
That's not what FAQ says. The guy suggests to arm yourself like a madman, but if I learned something about Crimson Tears, it's that you can lose your equipment easily. Even if you heat-spammed through the bossfights first time around, you'll sooner or later have to develop other skills and tactics than mere heat-spamming.
I like it, though, as perverse as it sounds by Diablo standards. Grinding and looting only takes you so far into Crimson Tears. The game certainly sports a hard, um, core. If only the Mighty Destroyer (oddly enough its bigger part looks like Samus Aran in her suit) battle wasn't more of a camera battle... It draws out the boss rush unnecessarily.