Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

[NR777]

Ha, that would at least spice up the "2 short / omg dis game impossible" review drudgery. "This game is too insulting, it repeatedly told me to 'get sum skillz FGT' despite my finishing it in 30 minutes."

That would be amusing. I used to implement similar messages in exception handling code. Things like "Error: must be a number, you fucking numbskull." I'd laugh my ass off if the game said shit like "why the fuck do you even bother?"

[Jeneki]

My favorite was from Gradius II, if you game over on the first level: "You need some practice!"

Soldner X had some goofy insults as well. "Nice work, looks like you've done this befo-" CRASH "Do you even know how to fly this thing?"

[Udderdude]

Ha, that would at least spice up the "2 short / omg dis game impossible" review drudgery. "This game is too insulting, it repeatedly told me to 'get sum skillz FGT' despite my finishing it in 30 minutes."

It would be worth it just for that. "You mean I really AM terrible at these games?! Well, uh, they still suck WAHHHHHH"

Soldner X had some goofy insults as well. "Nice work, looks like you've done this befo-" CRASH "Do you even know how to fly this thing?"

That's just frustrating due to wonky ship controls and inertia. How is that the player's fault?

[2dvertical]

So if i get mbl i get more levels?! do u also get any options for higher difficulty b/c this game was way too easy. Also i seem to remember a different boss in the lava looking level in videos, not a dragon but a king or knight or something. apart from continues they should have the game on the highest difficulty by default for localization.

[Udderdude]

So if i get mbl i get more levels?! do u also get any options for higher difficulty b/c this game was way too easy. Also i seem to remember a different boss in the lava looking level in videos, not a dragon but a king or knight or something. apart from continues they should have the game on the highest difficulty by default for localization.

MBL has level 999 which is significantly harder than anything else in the game.

1.1 also has level 999 but it's a bit different ..

[emphatic]

So if i get mbl i get more levels?! do u also get any options for higher difficulty b/c this game was way too easy. Also i seem to remember a different boss in the lava looking level in videos, not a dragon but a king or knight or something. apart from continues they should have the game on the highest difficulty by default for localization.

You get yet another stage called Ice Canyon that's very long where there's this knight/castle boss in MBL.

[gs68]

My favorite was from Gradius II, if you game over on the first level: "You need some practice!"

Soldner X had some goofy insults as well. "Nice work, looks like you've done this befo-" CRASH "Do you even know how to fly this thing?"

Or Gradius Gaiden, where the announcer's game over quips get more degrading the further in you die.

[GaijinPunch]

1.1 also has level 999 but it's a bit different ..

That's MBL 1.1

[hirounder]

Gamefly has 07/01 for a release date, probably placeholder, and cover is well the same...



http://www.gamefly.com/game/xbox-360/De ... es/141425/

[MachineAres 1CC]

I am not aware if you have already seen the limited edition of the game Agarest wich has been localized for the US market by Aksys, but if the company continues with the same trend (just like they did with Blazblue) I am quite sure that DS is going to have a much better LE than the japanese one.

Given the fan service that Aksys is putting into Agarest, and the simply awesome LE they released for BlazBlue, not only do I now wish I didn't still have a sealed copy of Death Smiles' Japanese LE, but I'm highly considering passing on ESPGaluda's LE as well. Not that it's been formally announced for US release, but given that it's looking less likely to be region free I think it's a no brainer...

I wonder if they're fixing all the broken elements of the game. There were a few areas completely inaccessible in the Japanese version and a few achievements are completely broken and unobtainable, and the developer even admitted this and said they didn't want to fix it. Also, there's about $60 worth of downloadable content on the Japanese marketplace for Agarest, I wonder how they're handling that.

Another thing, I wouldn't take the fact that they have an extravagant release for Agarest to mean anything about DeathSmiles' release. Agarest is a J-RPG which has a million times larger market than the shmup genre does, and I know they're counting on that to release a super special edition like that.

[BulletMagnet]

Assuming that this article is accurate, it looks like Black Label on-disc is confirmed, though other stuff will be offered as DLC:

Cave fans can look forward to Mega Black Label as an on disc bonus. “Mega Black Label was previously only available in arcades. This mode features the new stage “The Ice Palace,” [above] the new character “Sakura,” and a more challenging scoring system that rewards you with big bonuses if you can make it from stage to stage without taking damage.” Mega Black Label was sold separately as downloadable content in Japan. Since it’s part of Deathsmiles I asked about other downloadable content. Baker said, “future DLC will be available.”

[StarCreator]

So since the on-disc content is different, does that mean it will be a completely separate game as far as achievements are concerned? As much, uhh, fun, as unlocking achievements is, I'm not sure I want to have to do it all over again...

Either way, still double-dipping. I got the Japanese LE and now I have a cheaper way of owning the not-LE cover!

[MachineAres 1CC]

So since the on-disc content is different, does that mean it will be a completely separate game as far as achievements are concerned? As much, uhh, fun, as unlocking achievements is, I'm not sure I want to have to do it all over again...

I'm wondering if MBL will have any achievements at all in the US release, then, because every game has to come with 1000 gamerscore out of the box, anything above that has to be DLC. It may just have the original 1000 from the Japanese version and the MBL is just for playing but doesn't unlock any achievements. I'm interested how they're going to pull this off.

[SFKhoa]

DERP.

[Skykid]

Assuming that this article is accurate, it looks like Black Label on-disc is confirmed, though other stuff will be offered as DLC:

Cave fans can look forward to Mega Black Label as an on disc bonus.

Bye bye region free, bye bye Europe.

[Phellan Wolf]

Assuming that this article is accurate, it looks like Black Label on-disc is confirmed, though other stuff will be offered as DLC:

Cave fans can look forward to Mega Black Label as an on disc bonus.

Bye bye region free, bye bye Europe.

Considering that Blaz Blues was region locked it would be a surprise if it was rf.
Waht would be interesting to see is what's going to happen with MegaBlack Label 1.1. Assuming that Mega Black Label will be already on the disc I really don't see it selling the new add on for a pricey 1200 MS Points.

[StarCreator]

Actually, the MBL DLC added another 250 GS to the total.

No one is questioning that MBL added more gamerscore. The issue here is that all retail games must have exactly 1000 GS, and can only top that limit with DLC. If MBL is included in the disc now, it means the US version of the game won't be able to use the original 1250 GS worth of achievements as they stand.

I'm guessing this most likely means the US version is going to have a different achievement list entirely, and people who own both will have the two versions showing up on their played game lists separately.

[MachineAres 1CC]

Actually, the MBL DLC added another 250 GS to the total.

No one is questioning that MBL added more gamerscore. The issue here is that all retail games must have exactly 1000 GS, and can only top that limit with DLC. If MBL is included in the disc now, it means the US version of the game won't be able to use the original 1250 GS worth of achievements as they stand.

I'm guessing this most likely means the US version is going to have a different achievement list entirely, and people who own both will have the two versions showing up on their played game lists separately.

Thank you for sparing me the trouble of explaining this again

[Damocles]

Actually, the MBL DLC added another 250 GS to the total.

No one is questioning that MBL added more gamerscore. The issue here is that all retail games must have exactly 1000 GS, and can only top that limit with DLC. If MBL is included in the disc now, it means the US version of the game won't be able to use the original 1250 GS worth of achievements as they stand.

I'm guessing this most likely means the US version is going to have a different achievement list entirely, and people who own both will have the two versions showing up on their played game lists separately.

This isn't exactly true. Many games are re-released with DLC on the disk and still use the original achievement list. Ultimate Alliance (Gold), Fallout 3 (GOTY Edition), etc. Also, Condemned and Crackdown shipped with less than 1000.

I imagine they'll use the original achievement list, just translated.

[StarCreator]

This isn't exactly true. Many games are re-released with DLC on the disk and still use the original achievement list. Ultimate Alliance (Gold), Fallout 3 (GOTY Edition), etc. Also, Condemned and Crackdown shipped with less than 1000.

I imagine they'll use the original achievement list, just translated.

The key difference there is that those are same-region re-releases where the DLC was already available. Things are quite a bit more grey in our case where it's being released for the US region for the first time, since we know from Mushihimesama Futari that different regions require separate certification.

[Taylor]

It's a grey area to us, who know nothing about the subtleties of the Microsoft approval process. Wait and see? You don't need achievement points in Deathsmiles anyway, it contains an actual sense of achievement.

[chempop]

You don't need achievement points in Deathsmiles anyway, it contains an actual sense of achievement.

This. I never liked the idea of Achievements and don't ever see myself playing a game to unlock those points. I don't need the game to tell me when I'm achieving anything, I'll tell it when I achieve something!

[StarCreator]

Achievements are a very jagged double-edged sword for me... I'm a rabid completionist, so if the game wants me to do some sort of challenge, I'll keep trying and trying until it's done. So, I'm not an achievement whore in the sense that I'll buy games just for the gamerscore, but I very often go through achievement lists of games I do own one by one. Unfortunately, the more gimmicky the achievement, the more irritated I get, and sometimes it gets to the point that I simply can't enjoy an entire game anymore because of one or two stupid achievements (for example, Mushihimesama Futari's lantern achievement - I can't play the game without getting pissed off about it anymore).

So basically, the prospect of having to re-earn things I already did in Deathsmiles should it end up a separate list is not a happy one.

[MachineAres 1CC]

Achievements are a very jagged double-edged sword for me... I'm a rabid completionist, so if the game wants me to do some sort of challenge, I'll keep trying and trying until it's done. So, I'm not an achievement whore in the sense that I'll buy games just for the gamerscore, but I very often go through achievement lists of games I do own one by one.

This, for the most part. The rest of that post makes absolutely no sense to me, but up until where I cut it off, this is basically what I was going to post, so I'm glad I didn't have to.

It's a grey area to us, who know nothing about the subtleties of the Microsoft approval process.

A bunch of us at another forum I go to actually have information from publishers and developers on how the process works and I had tried to explain it earlier in this thread and no one listened. They won't approve a retail game in any region without reviewing that it meets their standards, and upon first release in any region, the game must contain a maximum of 1000 gamerscore on the disc and anything above that must be DLC. If a re-release comes later in time after previous content has already been released on live and probably made millions and millions of dollars, then the re-release is allowed to have more content in the package (see: Fallout 3, Oblivion, Gears of War, etc.)

Another thing, the data for the content might technically be "on the disc" but still be DLC. There are a number of games where the data for the content is indeed on the disc, but not playable until you pay to download the "unlock key" and then it shows up in the game. The biggest examples of this are Beautiful Katamari and Resident Evil 5, but I remember a bunch of reports that this was true of a few other games as well, and they're not coming to mind.

[Elixir]

Unless it's Halo Waypoint or the bunch of other gamerscoreless games which break up that theory.

[Jockel]

Another thing, the data for the content might technically be "on the disc" but still be DLC. There are a number of games where the data for the content is indeed on the disc, but not playable until you pay to download the "unlock key" and then it shows up in the game. The biggest examples of this are Beautiful Katamari and Resident Evil 5, but I remember a bunch of reports that this was true of a few other games as well, and they're not coming to mind.

What about DeathSmiles full voice and Futari 1.01 DLC? ;P
They're both keys, too.

[Ex-Cyber]

Another thing, the data for the content might technically be "on the disc" but still be DLC. There are a number of games where the data for the content is indeed on the disc, but not playable until you pay to download the "unlock key" and then it shows up in the game. The biggest examples of this are Beautiful Katamari and Resident Evil 5, but I remember a bunch of reports that this was true of a few other games as well, and they're not coming to mind.

This almost seems to be standard practice now, not least because they reportedly sell more copies of the retail disc just by offering "DLC".

[gs68]

I wish more achievements were BS-proof--none of this "use very easy, 7 lives, and 5 bombs to get the 1CC achievement". They're called achievements for a reason.

[Taylor]

It's a grey area to us, who know nothing about the subtleties of the Microsoft approval process.

A bunch of us at another forum I go to actually have information from publishers and developers on how the process works and I had tried to explain it earlier in this thread and no one listened. They won't approve a retail game in any region without reviewing that it meets their standards, and upon first release in any region, the game must contain 1000 gamerscore on the disc and anything above that must be DLC. If a re-release comes later in time after previous content has already been released on live and probably made millions and millions of dollars, then the re-release is allowed to have more content in the package (see: Fallout 3, Oblivion, Gears of War, etc.)

Another thing, the data for the content might technically be "on the disc" but still be DLC. There are a number of games where the data for the content is indeed on the disc, but not playable until you pay to download the "unlock key" and then it shows up in the game. The biggest examples of this are Beautiful Katamari and Resident Evil 5, but I remember a bunch of reports that this was true of a few other games as well, and they're not coming to mind.

And this is stuff every body knows.

[originalz]

Looks like the yearly sales for the Japanese release are in! Sold 27,630 copies, did around 10k more than Futari (although that was released later).