Konami brings Otomedius Excellent (Xbox 360) to U.S.

[dieKatze88]

OK, now how about the JP ver DLC, do they work or not in the NA ver.

Nogo.

[Gus]

Finally, a Konami shmup where i can touch a wall and not explode.

Gradius Gaiden. Why is collision damage such a huge issue anyway

Because it's frustrating as hell to die that way?

[WHI7EW0LF]

OK, now how about the JP ver DLC, do they work or not in the NA ver.

Nogo.

So that's a definite no?

[xbl0x180]

I can attest that Otomedius X is also pretty shit, but it's still 100x better than Otomedius Gorgeous was. Finally, a Konami shmup where i can touch a wall and not explode. As for the question of why I'm buying it; I honestly have no idea. I already own the JP release and almost never play it. I think my primary motivation on this one is more as a collector (there no way this will have a sizable print run).

I dunno if "limited prints" equate to "collector's item." As a collector of junk, I find limited prints of books, music, videos, and video games which are essentially worthless all the time, except for the entertainment value I place on these things. I'll end up getting this crappy game once it goes into the barg'in bins at 10 bucks a pop or less

[NeoStrayCat]

Ehh, whatever about your hate people, I'm already liking it, and to each their own opinion.

Other than that, shame it doesn't work, well, just have to wait for the DLC to hit US shores someday.

[ZenErik]

Just confirmed this does NOT boot on a Japanese 360.

Darn.

Thanks though, I was wondering about that.

Same here. Konami said it wouldn't, but it would have been nice.. Not sure if this game is worth importing. Doesn't seem too popular on these forums.

[njiska]

Finally, a Konami shmup where i can touch a wall and not explode.

Gradius Gaiden. Why is collision damage such a huge issue anyway

Because it's frustrating as hell to die that way?

My answer exactly. It annoys me like crazy, but then again so do most Konami Shmup Mechanics.

I can attest that Otomedius X is also pretty shit, but it's still 100x better than Otomedius Gorgeous was. Finally, a Konami shmup where i can touch a wall and not explode. As for the question of why I'm buying it; I honestly have no idea. I already own the JP release and almost never play it. I think my primary motivation on this one is more as a collector (there no way this will have a sizable print run).

I dunno if "limited prints" equate to "collector's item." As a collector of junk, I find limited prints of books, music, videos, and video games which are essentially worthless all the time, except for the entertainment value I place on these things. I'll end up getting this crappy game once it goes into the barg'in bins at 10 bucks a pop or less

When I say as a collector's item I don't mean that it will be something of value, just that it will be something uncommon that will look nice on my shelf. For me the joy of collecting is all in the presentation, not the cash value.

[Friendly]

I can attest that Otomedius X is also pretty shit, but it's still 100x better than Otomedius Gorgeous was.

You've got it backwards, which anyone with a sense of taste can attest to.

[Estebang]

laughable difficulty (I 1ccd it the very first time I ever played it).

It's got 99 loops for a reason, and the hitbox is friggin' huge by modern standards, anyway. Though they are a bit too generous with shields. It's also pretty hard to actually kill a lot of the bosses, since weapons will only stay leveled beyond 1 for a limited time, and the fights time out quickly.

I don't think the game will rock anyone's world, but it's a perfectly acceptable new entry in the Konami Kanon of horizontal scrollers, and the massive amount of customization is fun to dick around with. I'd say to just ignore the vitriol and go for it if you like Gradius. It's the equivalent of Gradius IV or Raiden III--games that do nothing wrong besides lacking polish and flair. I don't think that's such a heinous offense. When we focus too heavily on these things, we end up with glorified audiovisual software like Arkham Asylum/City, or at least the unskippable, masturbatory cutscenes in Gradius V.

For the record, the arcade version of Gorgeous has been dumped for non-emulated play on PCs, although its functionality is limited without the E-Amuse card scanner. I find it no more exciting than Excellent, and far easier.

[Cuilan]

For the record, the arcade version of Gorgeous has been dumped for non-emulated play on PCs, although its functionality is limited without the E-Amuse card scanner. I find it no more exciting than Excellent, and far easier.

Isn't it actually the loketest version, which is missing a lot of content?

And if you're playing Otomedius arcade for score, it is most certainly not easy.

[Estebang]

I have no idea about it being a loketest version, except that it keeps whining about not having a card scanner or online connection.

By the arcade version being difficult for score, are you referring to the fact that it's an endurance round with infinite loops?

[Cuilan]

By the arcade version being difficult for score, are you referring to the fact that it's an endurance round with infinite loops?

The arcade version has zero looping. Basically, it goes like this :

You select 3 stages in the order you wish to play them, you then select the difficulty on a per stage basis, and then once you finish the 3 stages it's game over (unless you run out of lives sooner). In order to get the highest possible score, you have to play each stage on the hardest difficulty (Ultimate). In that difficulty : each stage has way more enemies, those enemies will also shoot bullets more often and in larger numbers, those bullets also travel much faster, and most enemies will also spawn suicide bullets when killed. Playing on the hardest difficulty is important because scoring well is dependent on triggering a consistent Fullpower D-Burst->Recharge->Fullpower D-Burst cycle; all enemies killed by a Fullpower D-Burst attack drop a power-up capsule, and each capsule is worth 1,000 points, so the more enemies on a stage, the higher the score you'll be able to get.

You cannot fire your weapons while charging a D-Bust to full power, so keeping the D-Bust cycle going while avoiding Ultimate-level enemies and their bullets is quite a challenge.

[dieKatze88]

Yeah, that's not the Location Test version, it's the day0 version. It's identical to the version on the restore discs I own.

That said, without network it's completely useless.

[MintMania2DX]

I don't understand why anyone is saying that Otomedius X is garbage. I've played Gradius 1-5, and I love Gradius. I tossed this game in and loved it immediately. I'm pretty bad at it, so I have some set goals in trying to improve myself, as I haven't played a Gradius game in what feels like years. Why is this game bad? It doesn't seem worse than any other Gradius game, save for V.

[Bananamatic]

I don't understand why anyone is saying that Otomedius X is garbage. I've played Gradius 1-5, and I love Gradius. I tossed this game in and loved it immediately. I'm pretty bad at it, so I have some set goals in trying to improve myself, as I haven't played a Gradius game in what feels like years. Why is this game bad? It doesn't seem worse than any other Gradius game, save for V.

Because it's made by Konami and the name ends in -ius

The girls do look damn hot though

[Gus]

People have been spoiled by bullet hell games. These days they need more than mostly empty levels and anime girls to think a game is good.

[Friendly]

You wish to know why people say that Otomedius X is crap? Because it is.
It's boring, ugly, too easy. Unlike it's predecessor, which was just ugly. Disregarding its uglyness, Otomedius G is quite playable, with a decent challenge.
Otomedius X on the other hand is a badly designed and dull game that offers no challenge. No redeeming qualities.

And just to clarify, the Gradius games of old are great games; if you can't see that then that is YOUR problem.

[Cuilan]

You wish to know why people say that Otomedius X is crap? Because it is.
It's boring, ugly, too easy. Unlike it's predecessor, which was just ugly. Disregarding its uglyness, Otomedius G is quite playable, with a decent challenge.
Otomedius X on the other hand is a badly designed and dull game that offers no challenge. No redeeming qualities.

I haven't played Otomedius X yet, but everything I've seen/read about the games makes it seem worse than Otomedius arcade from a gameplay standpoint. It looks more like a sequel to Gorgeous mode.

Even so, it at least retains some of the features that make it better than most of Konami's old horizontal shooters in my eyes :

No more insta-death when touching the foreground (so long as you have shield)
No checkpoints
A chance to pick up your options after death
Extensive weapon/speed-up customization

It's a shame they got rid of the core gameplay elements that made Otomedius arcade feel more contemporary in terms of scoring. The removal of stage select and per-stage difficulty select is also upsetting. And being limited to just a hand-full of stages per play-through is far better than looping.

If Konami ever does an Otomedius 3, I hope they reintroduce the elements that made the original arcade version fun to play. Some refinement on top of that would be nice though.

[NeoStrayCat]

Ehh, well, at least besides the countless continues poured in this game, but then right after I know where everything is and after picking the right weapon set, at least I 1cc'd it with no-missing it, but sadly, I used the shield most of the time, and only destroyed around half of the bosses, but at least I'm getting better at it a little.

Other than that, if that would have happen, it would be possibly be called with the title...(R)Evolution or even Premium/Delicious or something like that, since Slayers (the anime) also had the the titles Gorgeous and Excellent before.

[NzzpNzzp]

I don't understand why anyone is saying that Otomedius X is garbage. I've played Gradius 1-5, and I love Gradius. I tossed this game in and loved it immediately. I'm pretty bad at it, so I have some set goals in trying to improve myself, as I haven't played a Gradius game in what feels like years. Why is this game bad? It doesn't seem worse than any other Gradius game, save for V.

The level design is pretty zzz compared to the good old games. Compare levels like the cell stage in Gaiden or the speed level in Sexy to the ones in this, there's no contest. I mean, it's not as boring as in G, but it's still not very good. The little things like the game being too easy/half the charge attacks being crazy overpowered/the other half of the charge attacks being worthless/the game wasting your time with stupid unskippable boss cutscenes don't help either.

Most of the hate is probably from people that just don't like Gradius games, though. It's not like there aren't a few people here who think shooters automatically suck if they're not bullet hells. Older Gradius games are kinda sacred cows so they're immune to criticism, but if Gradius II had been released today instead of decades ago people would probably be writing essays on how terrible it is.

Even so, it at least retains some of the features that make it better than most of Konami's old horizontal shooters in my eyes :

No more insta-death when touching the foreground (so long as you have shield)
No checkpoints

If you can't avoid flying into walls or can't get past sections of the games without dying then maybe you need more practice bro. It's not the game's fault.

[Estebang]

Man, for the longest time I had the impression that Excellent was an upgrade/revision of Gorgeous, but they have none of the same stages. Kinda wish they'd brought over Gorgeous first, so the second game would still be a possibility. The problem being that Gorgeous' graphics are even more dated, so it would be a hard sell, and probably have even more difficulty getting approval from Microsoft.

[dieKatze88]

Man, for the longest time I had the impression that Excellent was an upgrade/revision of Gorgeous, but they have none of the same stages. Kinda wish they'd brought over Gorgeous first, so the second game would still be a possibility. The problem being that Gorgeous' graphics are even more dated, so it would be a hard sell, and probably have even more difficulty getting approval from Microsoft.

Especially with the E-Amusement upgrade being required, but free DLC. It's just confusing, and 300 megs.

[NeoStrayCat]

And if only they may brought G as an On Demand release, possibly with the game untranslated like DS2X, but who knows...

[Estebang]

I don't see Konami as the kind of company willing to try an import GoD release. Anything that might significantly alienate and confuse some of their customers, like a text language barrier, is a no-go.

I wouldn't be surprised if Excellent was only released here because of a small group of people at Konami USA relentlessly fighting for it, though I guess they had to blow around $20,000 on rejected application fees. We know that Konami Japan never even considered an overseas release, and was rather surprised to find out that any gaijin might be interested in one.

[dieKatze88]

I don't see Konami as the kind of company willing to try an import GoD release. Anything that might significantly alienate and confuse some of their customers, like a text language barrier, is a no-go.

They refused to do this with games that are completely playable without the text (Dance Dance Revolution, beatmania/IIDX, etc) So I somehow doubt they'd do it with something as text heavy as Otomedius Gorgeous.

[Estebang]

True, but the era of Beatmania home releases was before that of large-scale digital distribution. There's a lot more at stake with a retail release--especially one with a massive proprietary peripheral attached.

We did get that unfortunate Beatmania USA, which most people simply bought for the controller.

[dieKatze88]

True, but the era of Beatmania home releases was before that of large-scale digital distribution. There's a lot more at stake with a retail release--especially one with a massive proprietary peripheral attached.

We did get that unfortunate Beatmania USA, which most people simply bought for the controller.

I bought two for the controllers.

But that said, it also doesn't help that Otomedius G is just absolutely massive. Uncompressed the game is 7.8gb or so, even with compression the game is still upwards of 4gb, before patches and required DLC. Digital distribution is great, but until it can REALLY handle these massive files, it's not going to replace physical media.

Either way, as good as Otomedius Gorgeous was (Step off. I liked it, and I like Excellent) I don't see it getting a release here, it's too big, too old, and way too different from traditional Gradius. Otomedius Excellent at the end of the day is a widescreen Gradius game, and nothing more. Otomedius Gorgeous has a lot of extra stuff that I'm not sure other markets would respond well to, no matter how good Versus Mission is.

[Cuilan]

What Konami should have done was release both Gorgeous and Excellent as a 2-disk bundle overseas. A shooter released at retail with that much content would have made it a far more appealing purchase to people outside of Japan. Too late now, sadly.

If you can't avoid flying into walls or can't get past sections of the games without dying then maybe you need more practice bro. It's not the game's fault.

Those things aren't an issue for me 99% of the time. But when they are, it makes the games feel really archaic. And when scoring well is entirely reliant on enduring a large number of loops that get progressively harder, a single death is sometimes all it takes to completely ruin a run and makes the game a chore to play. There are far better ways to make a game challenging these days (case in point : Otomedius arcade).

But that said, it also doesn't help that Otomedius G is just absolutely massive. Uncompressed the game is 7.8gb or so, even with compression the game is still upwards of 4gb, before patches and required DLC. Digital distribution is great, but until it can REALLY handle these massive files, it's not going to replace physical media.

You sure about that? My console tells me that an HDD installation takes up 3.4gb (no DLC). As far as I know, Games on Demand releases are the same size as the HDD install size.

[dieKatze88]

But that said, it also doesn't help that Otomedius G is just absolutely massive. Uncompressed the game is 7.8gb or so, even with compression the game is still upwards of 4gb, before patches and required DLC. Digital distribution is great, but until it can REALLY handle these massive files, it's not going to replace physical media.

You sure about that? My console tells me that an HDD installation takes up 3.4gb (no DLC). As far as I know, Games on Demand releases are the same size as the HDD install size.

I'll have to reinstall it, because when I installed it the compression wasn't as good.

Even then, 3.4 versus 4? Otomedius Excellent is tiny in comparison.

[BulletMagnet]

Okay, I've had some time to play this now, so here's my Big Post O' Impressions, Questions, and Who Knows What Else. Note that I have played Gorgeous, but haven't played either game online - also haven't unlocked any of the hidden characters yet.

- On a completely separate note from how good or bad the game is, I hafta say I'm just glad, on one level, that the thing managed to claw its way to a Western release at all - if nothing else, this is the sort of title that all-profit-all-the-time boardroom minds wouldn't allow near non-Japanese shelves under most circumstances, so imho it's something of a pleasure just to see one last pair of uncensored 2-D boobs and a cheesy un-dubbed theme song available over here amidst all the pretentious angrybrown.

- I bought the "Special Edition" for the extra twenty bucks, and the package actually isn't bad - aside from the (shiny!) outer box, you get a soundtrack CD with 30 or so (IIRC) tracks from both Otomedius games on it, plus a small but nicely-packed artbook with pictures, again, from both titles in the series. Haven't opened the pillowcase (honest).

- When I hooked my 360 up to the internet to redeem my code for Detroit Lions Anoa (as one fellow member calls her), I was also prompted to download an update for the game itself: is this the same patch that was released in Japan to make the game more difficult? It felt pretty much the same to me afterwards as it did before, unless I'm just too thick to notice.

- In terms of presentation the game is hardly at the cutting edge, of course, but has been improved nicely over Gorgeous: I found the stages and bosses, in particular, to be more memorable overall than their somewhat bland predecessors (though I do kinda miss the penguins). I also kind of miss the original music compositions, which were my favorite part of Gorgeous, but the various Konami remixes that have replaced them are fine too. I also dig the Pink Sweets-esque text scroll that gives you at least a small idea of what's being said, though I'd have to consult someone who knows Japanese concerning how accurate the translation is (as if it matters much).

- The manual is laughably thin (partially, I'd assume, to fit all three languages in there), Konami's website explains next to nothing, and there are no in-game tutorials, so while figuring out the basic controls is no problem, some of the less visible game mechanics are never explained, and I'm still not 100 percent sure how some things work. Most notably, do elemental gems do anything besides offer a point bonus (in the first game they could power up or down different characters' weapons, but I didn't notice any difference here)? Also, the back of the box mentions something about "upgraded option controls" - any idea what they're talking about? I've seen videos of players seemingly manipulating the movement of their options while their character stays still, though I have no idea how to do it myself...can anyone point me to a decent English guide or FAQ?

- On a related note, unless I'm somehow looking incorrectly, it appears that picking up regular ol' power-up capsules doesn't add any points to your counter...is there any point to not leaving the power-up bar on Shield at all times after your weapons are set? Also, I've managed to find a couple of 1-ups and burst charges at specific spots (almost all of them on stage 3), but there don't seem to be any other ways to get more of either...am I missing something? Finally, what exactly determines when/how you get new weapon cards? I'd guess that you earn most of them simply by killing specific enemies for the first time on various difficulty levels, but something tells me there's more to it...

- Though a lot of people seem to think this one is easier than Gorgeous, I actually had a tougher time with it, at least at first: in the first game I managed to 1CC Normal (on both modes, for whatever it's worth) without using any of the unlockable weapons, but here I had trouble until I got access to the Boomerang weapon, which is loads more powerful than anything else you have at the start (as others have stated, I timed out a lot of bosses before this, especially the ones with really hard-to-hit cores, which make any speed above 1 too inaccurate to keep the pressure on them). After the Boomerang upgrade, though, the 1LCs started rolling in (including one on Expert with the boss-killing girl with glasses) - haven't gotten into Score Attack though, so I can't speak to the difficulty of the loops and whatnot. On a final note, I do appreciate the ability to use Practice mode to get a clear look at your character's hitbox.

- Despite a handful of improvements, several aspects of the game still feel disappointingly sloppy. First and foremost are the bullets, despite an upgrade from Seriously WTF Konami Gray to Taito/Psikyo Mediocrity Orange - shots still get lost in the background way too often, especially in bloom-heavy areas. You are sometimes warned when enemies are approaching from odd directions, which is appreciated, but 1) These warnings don't always show up, and 2) The advisory marker can itself be hard to see. Then there's the matter of enemies that can attack (and be attacked, if you know where they are) before they even enter the screen....they can also leave behind items which are impossible to pick up. On a more minor note several areas have a bit more slowdown than you'd think was necessary...the game also froze on me once, but I'm not sure whether that was the disc or the system misbehaving.

- All in all, while the game isn't terrible imo, there's a lot of unrealized potential here - I like "non-serious" shooters, so the silly fan service doesn't bother me a heck of a lot, but the lack of polish and scope in several areas is disappointing. Another mode or two might have been nice to shake things up a little, for starters...also, there's obviously a good amount of detail put into the back story, but you never see most of the characters long enough to get much into it (how many times are you told "we'll meet again" and never see that boss later on? Not to mention that there are no real unique endings). In this way the game fails to stand apart even in the least-taxing manner, as it feels like just as much of a "hmm, ehh, let's go here and shoot stuff...next, let's go here, why not" experience as the oldest Gradius titles. The more superficial elements are what obviously got most of the focus here, and honestly I'm not THAT bitter about it (deviate too much and the purists will be after you even more fiercely than the non-diehards), but I still wish they'd taken even this aspect to the next level instead of teasing us with what might have been.

That's about all I can think to say for now - take it as you will.