Pre-orders for the long awaited RPG "Mysterious Song" for the Turbo Grafx 16 Super CD are finally open! This is a full game complete with old skool, hand drawn cinematic sequences and voice acting [that doesn't suck!]. Slated for a March 1st, 2010 release. First 25 pre-orders come with a special collector's item.
Wow, nice to see DarkDread's work to be re-touched. Looks like they added cinematics and voices as mentioned, and changed the portraits, font and tiles. The (N)PC and enemy sprites look unchanged in the screenies, as well as those rendered combat backgrounds. I can't find any mention if the combat system was changed. If not, it's basically in the style of the old Dragon Quest/Warrior games.
Quick google search gave me this place where you can take a look at the original QBASIC version, download at the bottom with source: http://www.vplanetmag.com/review33.shtml
Kyper wrote:Wow, nice to see DarkDread's work to be re-touched. Looks like they added cinematics and voices as mentioned, and changed the portraits, font and tiles. The (N)PC and enemy sprites look unchanged in the screenies, as well as those rendered combat backgrounds. I can't find any mention if the combat system was changed. If not, it's basically in the style of the old Dragon Quest/Warrior games.
Quick google search gave me this place where you can take a look at the original QBASIC version, download at the bottom with source: http://www.vplanetmag.com/review33.shtml
Wow, I'm surprised anyone here knew of DarkDread! That's awesome.
I redid all the sprites in the new Turbo version (and made some new ones as well) and the shading is completely different than they were in the original (no more generic pillow shading!). Comparing them side to side you'll immediately see the differences and how much brighter the new ones are. The backgrounds are actually getting further adjusted with a better color conversion process and an option to let players use this really sweet color blending technique.
A HUGE addition the Turbo version will have is a massive dungeon upon completing the game. I can't spoil too much, but it will explain the story more and bulk up the game immensely. There are also hidden features,new weapons/armor, and will be multi-lingual .
The backgrounds are actually getting further adjusted with a better color conversion process and an option to let players use this really sweet color blending technique.
You're talking about converting full-color jpg/bmp/etc. images to be used on the TG? Have you seen this by any chance? http://www.zeograd.com/download_present ... =en&id=325
I'm curious about how your process compares.
We're now using a different app for converting images, I can't remember the name of it. The results have a similar dithering algorithm like the screenshot you posted. The feature we're working on to include though basically shifts the dithered pixels back in forth to create the illusion of color blending. It works great in 60FPS and our game doesn't drop below that, but some emulators can lag the effect which is why it will be an option that can be turned on/off.
I like how the Mysterious Song's instruction manual (the back cover page portion) pays tribute to them ye olde TTI Duo Super CD-Rom2 manuals back in the early 1990s (specifically from 1992 to 1994). Spot on! Too bad TTI didn't release the Super CD-Rom2 version of Fanasty Star Soldier (aka Star Parodier) stateside. Makes me wonder how the front manual cover and the backside cover art would've looked like?
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?
Is this just a graphically updated remake of the original Qbasic version? If, so it wasn't really a good RPG to begin with honestly. Very generic, the basic fire/ice/lit spells don't seem to differ in damage/element aside from the graphics, and it's basically just grinding from one boss to the next with an extremely tiny world and very little to see/explore. The writing was also kind of iffy (the main character is supposedly 'special' but his development consists of one nonsensical paragraph at literally the end of the game after beating the antagonist who's been given zero background and basically doesn't explain anything). Kids of Karendow was a way better Qbasic RPG in terms of its battle system, music, etc.
I wouldn't pay money for it unless it had actually been expanded and had the plot fleshed out, etc.
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