Gaia Seed...

[Skykid]

Is fucking horrible imo.

What do you guys think?

[BIL]

The intro voiceover is kinda entertaining. Nowhere near the Taito masterclass of Engrish displayed in your current sig though. :]

[Phellan Wolf]

Is fucking horrible imo.

What do you guys think?

IMO it is not horrid it has its charm.
Reminds me of the old Amiga games due to its ambiance. I enjoy playing it.

[TLB]

It looks awesome, has some great atmosphere, and the soundtrack is pretty cool.

As for the actual game part, it's snoozeville shit.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Horrible? Hell no. Good usage of some 3D effects and not too awful music (Redbook Audio CD thing is a welcome feature too). For a console shmup it's okay, gameplay-wise. I found it being "atmospheric" for what it's worth. Reminds me of the times when "I wandered through my mind in the land of fairy tales and stories".

[bcass]

Worth a punt for $6 on the JPN PSN. Nowhere near worth the prices it's selling for on eBay.

[dcharlie]

Reminds me of the old Amiga games due to its ambiance

yeah, between the sprite design, the "demo scene" style background tricks and the techno, coupled with the almost C64 level comedy intro - i thought the same.

It's not a bad game, it just never quite sparks into life and despite it's charm it ends up feeling dull.

As bcass says - at $6 the PSN version is definitely worth a look, but at $150 or whatever it goes for these days in Japan? Naaa. I sold mine off once i was offered silly money for it.

[Skykid]

I bought an original copy a while back and couldn't believe the suckage.

It's got the worst colour palette imaginable, like the dev kit was either bootlegged or broke. Although there are a couple of moments of interesting scaling, the 3D 'effects' are turd and the graphics are like an unfinished mess half of the time.

It handles like a total dog, like the ship is made of lead - and the weapons are pitiful.
Even the soundtrack is pretty garbage.

I can understand why it's so valuable based on it's rarity, but I'm dumbfounded as to how it made it to PSN. At best, it's not the worst shmup ever (Ghost Pilots might be up for that one), but compared to even the average stuff it's a disc of total fail imo.

[dcharlie]

It's got the worst colour palette imaginable,

now , i don't know if it's my age addled old fart brain, but i seem to recall that the enemies had a brownish hue to them, especially in the first level when i played the original (and that gave them an "Amiga" look)

Yet, in the PSN version, the graphics look a lot more vibrant. Might just be my memory playing tricks but would have been nice to see if there has been any tweaking or if the emu is adding something... or whether my senility is kicking in.

[Obiwanshinobi]

It's got the worst colour palette imaginable, like the dev kit was either bootlegged or broke.

It's got the colour palette like Resident Evil 4 on the PS2 (minus the PS2 smudgedness).

[Drum]

I had never heard of this until now. Regenerating life bar ... what other shmups incorporate that mechanic? Where there any before Gaia Seed?

[Obiwanshinobi]

I had never heard of this until now. Regenerating life bar ... what other shmups incorporate that mechanic? Where there any before Gaia Seed?

Area 88/U.N. Squadron. Technically Giga Wing and Mars Matrix also have regenerating shields. Oddly enough, the SNES version of Area 88 is supposedly better than the CPS1 original.

[Drum]

I only played the arcade version of UN Squadron and wasn't too impressed. Maybe I'll give the SNES version a shot. Arcade version was released in '89 so it's not *too* odd that the SNES version is an improvement.

[Obiwanshinobi]

SNES didn't have the Blast Processing™, don't you know. Even today some people don't believe it was any good for "action games".

[Elixir]

Gaia Seed's really easy. I think I managed to get up to the 6th stage on my first try.

It hasn't aged well, but I didn't get to play it back when it was released. For a PSN classic release, it's totally worth it.

[sunburstbasser]

I only played the arcade version of UN Squadron and wasn't too impressed. Maybe I'll give the SNES version a shot. Arcade version was released in '89 so it's not *too* odd that the SNES version is an improvement.

SNES version is based on the arcade game, but is a long ways from a direct port. Pretty good SNES shooter.

[KindGrind]

I'm with you there.

I was after it for a while for collecting sakes, but ended up being disgusted by the whole thing when I got to actually play it. Quite easy, too.

[Limbrooke]

Area 88/U.N. Squadron. Oddly enough, the SNES version of Area 88 is supposedly better than the CPS1 original.

The SNES game has the regenerative life bar, arcade doesn't. It almost doesn't even act as a life bar, more or less if you're hit more than once before it goes 'extinct', you die. Arcade A88/UNS death occurs when the life bar is drained thanks to too many hits.

Sorry to derail but I don't know what's exactly better about the home game, pardon perhaps some music. It's nice that you can select Shin's original F-8, but the fact it's the default ship for everyone takes it back a notch. It's not bad but it's not the same, graphically or challenge wise.

As for Gaia Seed, I never knew much about it beyond it's very expensive. I saw some clips a while back and it looked and felt uninspired. I believe the only infamy this game can claim is that it's in the non-fixed group of import games that some people usually track down when they first get into the scene: the expensive/uncommon games. I've been there (good old Stahlfeder) although thankfully I didn't have a lot of money so what games I did get I put as much research into without having tried them and without the aid that is the internet as it is present day. In the end, I came out unscatched and satisfied eventually figuring out what I specifically liked to play and not just collect from the same list just because everyone else does.

[Strider77]

Area 88 is pretty damn close to the arcade graphically... I'd argue it looks better in ways. The rotation effects on the submarine boss and those cool bonus stages in SNES are quite nice.

I played the arcade not to long ago and was pretty impressed how the SNES vers stood up to it. I think I prefer it to the arcade version honestly. But I would have to spend time with both back to back again.

*** actually i just took a second look, I can see the differences more now, I can really see them actually.

[Skykid]

I'm with you there.

I was after it for a while for collecting sakes, but ended up being disgusted by the whole thing when I got to actually play it. Quite easy, too.

Disgusted is a good word, that's pretty much how I felt after buying one for a lot of money.

For a PSN classic release, it's totally worth it.

Is it really?

I haven't looked at the list recently, but it must be pretty poor if this is worth $6 bucks to people. How the hell is it on the 'classic' list anyhow?

[Voxbox]

I love the game. As someone else mentioned, sweet atmosphere. You can crank up the difficulty in options, although hard isn't all that hard. Beating the true last boss is a challenge though.

[Ghegs]

Skykid, I think a part of your hostility towards Gaia Seed comes from the fact that you spent a large amount of money for something that just isn't worth that much. If you had bought it for only $6, you might be feeling more ambivalent about it.

On the plus side, you shouldn't have too much difficulties in selling the game and getting most, if not all (or even more, if you get lucky) of your money back.

[Skykid]

Skykid, I think a part of your hostility towards Gaia Seed comes from the fact that you spent a large amount of money for something that just isn't worth that much. If you had bought it for only $6, you might be feeling more ambivalent about it.

On the plus side, you shouldn't have too much difficulties in selling the game and getting most, if not all (or even more, if you get lucky) of your money back.

Definitely true, although I genuinely thought it sucked hard regardless of price. There's a lot of fairly average rarities that I'll keep because they're nice novelties, but this was really disappointing.
I sold it after a week and managed to break even.

I may shell out on it on PSN though just to make 100% sure it was as ass as I remember it.

[sven666]

i quite like the ambience and such, however gameplay is absolute garbage and waaaaay too easy.

philosoma is a better choice all-round tho and wont break the bank either..

[Skykid]

i quite like the ambience and such, however gameplay is absolute garbage and waaaaay too easy.

philosoma is a better choice all-round tho and wont break the bank either..

I'm not sure either are really worth bothering with. I sold my Philosoma too.

[CIT]

I am basically of this opinion:

It looks awesome, has some great atmosphere, and the soundtrack is pretty cool.

As for the actual game part, it's snoozeville shit.

I love how the game reminds me of Taito Shooters like Darius and Metal Black. The story line with the three different new-agey/spiritual endings is kinda Taito, too.

It's a good game to relax with, imo.

[mjclark]

Gaia Seed and Philosoma are sooooooooo pretty that I can't hate them- in fact, like R-Type Leo, it's a kinda meditation blah, blah, blah.

[ZOM]

It's a good game to relax with, imo.

Pretty much this.
That is if you're not already asleep after watching the intro.

[Skykid]

Gaia Seed and Philosoma are sooooooooo pretty

You serious man?

[mjclark]

Gaia Seed and Philosoma are sooooooooo pretty

You serious man?

Indeed at least to my tired eyes.