Xanadu Next (2005) - Released on PC

[Damned Registrations]

Yeah after I got past the early game healing suddenly became way too cheap and easy to get. I can just kind of mindlessly faceroll forward now as long as I bother to refill my potions. I've been avoiding using magic as well because it doesn't get weapon proficiency and prevents you from getting the item drops when you finish the last enemy off with it. I do still like the general feel and layout of the game, always seems to be an extra path or two to explore besides the one I'm currently on, finding new spells and weapons is exciting because they might be really useful. I have stupid amounts of hp now though, and if the scaling continues at this pace the end game might be quite different, unless they introduce a higher tier of healing potion.

 

[AArmanFV]

I don't remember a lot of challenge in Ys Origin, I even finished it on Nightmare with not much problem. Oath was the same.

Really I don't know how you can make difficult a game like this, it always comes to lack of levels or equipment, but then you just can do the tipical hit and run tricks or just avoid shit. I can say that the game could be more challenging in the dungeon navigation, is just use the keys, you run out of keys, go to the shop to buy some keys, etc. But anyway, it's Falcom, and I like my Falcom games with only mindless hack and slash action.

 

[Malpercio]

The game is an absolute joy, any Falcom/Action RPG/Person with tastes should at least try it once.

 

[Aothan]

looks like a really good game, are there 'classes' so to speak ?

 

[AArmanFV]

No, you are a knight and always will be a knight

 

[Damned Registrations]

You get to allocate your stats, but the only real options are focusing on magic or smacking things. Both seem pretty viable from what I've seen.

 

[Aothan]

would there be player used skills to select from, I see there are different types of spells, is it the same for melee ?

 

[Damned Registrations]

Yeah, most of the skills are passives but theres some active melee skills too. I've only bothered trying the first one you get, it knocks normal enemies down for basically a free kill.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Looks nice enough to try, but is it very anime in art style?

 

[AArmanFV]

Yes, but the animu artwork just appears in the shops (and is not so bad like the actual moe anime style), the rest is just the jrpg graphics.

 

[AArmanFV]

Yeah, most of the skills are passives but theres some active melee skills too. I've only bothered trying the first one you get, it knocks normal enemies down for basically a free kill.

Yes, but it seems like the skill doesn't work with undead type of enemies.

 

[newtmonkey]

Didn't care for the translation (though the original Japanese was not so great either) and the Steam port is still suffering from some weird bugs (random weird stuttering for no reason, and corrupted text), so I refunded it for now. I did enjoy the combat and dungeon delving, so I'll reconsider buying it 3-6 months from now.

 

[ghostdog]

The funny thing is that the fan-patched jap game with the widescreen hack had no bugs I can recall. Frankly the only thing the steam version seems to do better is an UI with a correct aspect ratio and... achievements, but it seems these are bugged too

 

[Crooked Bee]

Sad to hear some people aren't enjoying the game because of the easy-ish difficulty, there really isn't anything that challenging in the entire game outside of post game dungeon which on other hand is pretty tacked-on chore in itself.

I don't actually dislike the game, it's just that it's not as great as I imagined it to be before playing it - the combat/level of challenge is a letdown for one. I much, much prefer Ys.

I do agree with DR that exploration is fun, though. If there's one reason to play this game, it's not combat, it's exploration. Also you should play it if you're a hack and slash fan I guess.

 

[Hyperion]

Game looks OK, but comes across as a classic case of not aging very well. Probably best to be picked up during a 25%+ sale.

 

[GrainWetski]

In what way didn't it "age very well"? Played about 3 hours and it seems perfectly fine in every way, but I'm not 12 years old so maybe I'm missing something.

 

[AArmanFV]

Same here, I don't get it. When a game age bad is because two things: The game was somewhat groundbreaking but when you go back to play it seems pretty bad designed in comparison to other games of the same years (assuming that the game was good at the moment because had something new, but not necessary well implemented) or because you played the game in the year that came out and you loved it, but when you go back you realize that wasn't so good like you remembered it and is somewhat unplayable compared with other games from the year that were better than you thought.

I didn't played it in 2005 but it seems to me that the game it's still the same thing and hasn't bad controlls or bad design, it may be somewhat easy and linear, but that's not something bad. Maybe my expectations corresponded with my impression of the game.

 

[Hyperion]

Didn't age very well in the sense that it honestly looks like a handheld, dumbed down version of Shining Force Neo which....wasn't very good when it came out. The extremely poor excuse for "puzzles" that plague a lot of games. "There's a block here. Push it on the pressure pad 5 feet away" All of the footage I've watched on youtube shows a complete disregard of mechanics while you swing away at things that deal 1 - 3 damage to you. Diablo 2 came out in 2000 and the combat looks more advanced than this. It looks more like Soul Blazer with polygons than anything else.

but I'm not 12 years old so maybe I'm missing something.

My time to play games these days is very limited and thus, valuable. Why should anyone buy this over a game like Bastion, Grim Dawn, or one of the countless other hack 'n' slash ARPG's that fall in the same price range and also do it better? Hell, I've never gotten around to playing The World Ends With You, why would I play this over those? I don't know, people who have played here it are saying "Eh, it's ok" and you certainly didn't provide any reasons.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Didn't age very well in the sense that it honestly looks like a handheld, dumbed down version of Shining Force Neo which....wasn't very good when it came out. The extremely poor excuse for "puzzles" that plague a lot of games. "There's a block here. Push it on the pressure pad 5 feet away" All of the footage I've watched on youtube shows a complete disregard of mechanics while you swing away at things that deal 1 - 3 damage to you. Diablo 2 came out in 2000 and the combat looks more advanced than this. It looks more like Soul Blazer with polygons than anything else.

So you never actually played the game and are judging it entirely on it's marketing vs the marketing of other games and acting as if you know better? You are the problem with the industry, kindly die in a fire for the greater good.

 

[ghostdog]

This is actually a pretty fun game. I like the style since it refrains from the more extreme jrpg stuff and keeps a fairly tame medieval fantasy setting with gear that actually looks functional. The gameworld is laid out nicely with each area having their own themes and challenges, and they all end up interconnecting with shortucts you have to gradually find and gain easier access to the town-hub. The music is fantastic, which is to be expected since it's Falcom we're talking about here, but it's not the usual guitar-driven Falcom songs, the soundtrack is much more acoustic, orchestral and atmospheric.

The game seems similar to diablo especially with all the fucking mouse clicking which can get annoying... BUT the gameplay feels MUCH better if you use a gamepad. I also used JoyToKey to bind the cursor movement to the second analog and also added autofire to the attack button (bind key X) , so I don't have to constantly click like a madman. After this, the game plays like a charm.

It's indeed pretty easy in the beginning and never becomes very challenging but things remain interesting because of the focus on exploration, the new abilities/skills you learn and some good boss fights from a point on. Special items that help you perform actions that let you reach certain locations reminded me of Faxanadu (winged boots - yay!). Getting new gear and abilities feels good.

Did I say the game is easy? Well that's actually half the game... Because near the end of the normal game, if you've found all the guardian spirits, a secret bonus dungeon appears. It's fucking huge and it's incredibly hard. It has 25 levels, they are randomly generated and each level is always gradually harder, and the enemies there are all very high level. You'll find many new enemies and even get to fight previous bosses as normal enemies here. You also have to go through all the levels in one go, so you can understand this is very difficult to do. This is where the strange "level down" option comes to play. At a certain point you get the ability to gain more attribute points in level up, so by leveling down you can rebuild your character much stronger. You can can regain your levels pretty fast since you get to keep all your abilities, so it's advisable to level down to lvl 1 , if you want to tackle the bonus dungeon.

 

[GrainWetski]

You had "attack repeatedly by holding down key" enabled, right? No more clicking than any other game in the genre and they all objectively work best with a mouse.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

This is actually a pretty fun game. I like the style since it refrains from the more extreme jrpg stuff and keeps a fairly tame medieval fantasy setting with gear that actually looks functional. The gameworld is laid out nicely with each area having their own themes and challenges, and they all end up interconnecting with shortucts you have to gradually find and gain easier access to the town-hub. The music is fantastic, which is to be expected since it's Falcom we're talking about here, but it's not the usual guitar-driven Falcom songs, the soundtrack is much more acoustic, orchestral and atmospheric.

The game seems similar to diablo especially with all the fucking mouse clicking which can get annoying... BUT the gameplay feels MUCH better if you use a gamepad. I also used JoyToKey to bind the cursor movement to the second analog and also added autofire to the attack button (bind key X) , so I don't have to constantly click like a madman. After this, the game plays like a charm.

It's indeed pretty easy in the beginning and never becomes very challenging but things remain interesting because of the focus on exploration, the new abilities/skills you learn and some good boss fights from a point on. Special items that help you perform actions that let you reach certain locations reminded me of Faxanadu (winged boots - yay!). Getting new gear and abilities feels good.

Did I say the game is easy? Well that's actually half the game... Because near the end of the normal game, if you've found all the guardian spirits, a secret bonus dungeon appears. It's fucking huge and it's incredibly hard. It has 25 levels, they are randomly generated and each level is always gradually harder, and the enemies there are all very high level. You'll find many new enemies and even get to fight previous bosses as normal enemies here. You also have to go through all the levels in one go, so you can understand this is very difficult to do. This is where the strange "level down" option comes to play. At a certain point you get the ability to gain more attribute points in level up, so by leveling down you can rebuild your character much stronger. You can can regain your levels pretty fast since you get to keep all your abilities, so it's advisable to level down to lvl 1 , if you want to tackle the bonus dungeon.

Sounds good, I'm tempted to try it...
Protag seems a bit animu, but eh, can handle that for one game I guess.

 

[ghostdog]

You had "attack repeatedly by holding down key" enabled, right? No more clicking than any other game in the genre and they all objectively work best with a mouse.

now I feel stupid

Protag seems a bit animu, but eh, can handle that for one game I guess.

Don't worry the anime factor is pretty toned down.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Okay, startup tips plox, those red monkey thingies outside town barely get scratched when I axe 'em, am I gonna hafta grind much?

 

[ghostdog]

Okay, startup tips plox, those red monkey thingies outside town barely get scratched when I axe 'em, am I gonna hafta grind much?

Circle them and attack from behind, the damage is roughly double.
Every weapon starts with minimum damage output and has a weapon skill you can only use when it's equipped. Every time you use the weapon its damage level rises. In 100% damage you learn the weapon's skill and can use it always. 200% is the maximum damage you can get from every weapon.

Be sure to equip the skills in the top four slots. You've got weapon and magic skills. Use the magic skills too, you've got needle v1 from the tutorial ruins. Ice spells are good too since they can also freeze enemies.