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[Visual Novels] Chaos;Head, Anonymous;Code, and Steins;Gate Re;boot (yay)

cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
edited October 27 in Games and Technology
These could get separate threads, but what the hell, they're both V/N esque, and pretty awesome.

(Brought to the states C/O those lovable lunatics at Aksys Games and XSeed, respectively.)


Fate/Extra:

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Available: Now!

Setting: A virtual world wherein students are roped into an ongoing war for The Holy Grail, or some such.

The Players:

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Well, you can be one of them anyway. Then you get to choose between Saber(easy), Archer(medium), or Caster(hard), but the game's no cakewalk, whichever servant you pick.

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Also, every servant gets unique dialogue with each PC, so that's like six possible paths. Or something.

Combat is very unique, Sort of R/P/S esque.

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You have to pick six actions, from a Guard/Break/Attack triangle, and hope you beat the enemy's choices on each option. The enemy's attacks become more apparent over time, based off of repeated battles and even lucky guesses.

There's also the V/N aspect, which is arguably the most fun.

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Sort of like Persona 3(but not nearly as indepth), you spend days conversing with fellow students/future victims, and gathering info on your next target(s). Sadly, there's not much else to it, but it's still fun, especially for a portable title.

I'm at Day 3 so far, and I went with Saber. The writing is quality, as with all Aksys titles, and is easily the highlight.

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Now for more horrific news.

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This insane little title, the likes of which you'd think would NEVER come out in the US, is reaching our shores because a staff member at XSeed loved it so much that he made all the staff play it, and they loved it too, and so here we are.

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30 years ago a school called Heavenly Host Elementary was the scene of a horrific crime. 4 students of the school were kidnapped, and
murdered. Now, Heavenly Host is a high school and the horrific scenes are about to happen again. Unwittingly, a group of teens conjure
up a forbidden charm that sends them into the world of the haunted. The group must traverse each hall, and class to survive or become another victim in the school's troubled past. Will you join the forgotten souls in this Corpse Party?


Corpse Party is a little of 999, a little of 16-bit RPG, and all horror.

I'll be jumping on this one as soon as I get a larger memory card for the PSP. :( It's like 500 MB, but only $19.99!


Make sure you use headphones.

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cj iwakura on
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Posts

  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    No "Hakuoki: Demon Of The Fleeting Blossom"? I'm sure Aksys bringing over the first Otome (female targeted visual novel) game American consoles have seen is worth a mention.

    I've been enjoying Fate/Extra, but then again I'm a Type Moon fan and enjoy their visual novels, light novels, and movies. Went Archer for my first playthough and the guy feels tactically overpowred - lower stat gains, but great skills that make boss fights your bitch.
    I'm looking forward to playing Corpse Party.

    vagrant_winds on
    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    That's months away, and deserves its own thread. :P

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  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    But yeah, on Archer. I love this guy. He's 100% snark and 100% badassery, and more a bro rather than a love interest like Saber or Caster regardless of gender (none of that matters for any of the servants). He's also the Type Moon fanservice of the game as he's one of only two carryover Fate/stay night visual novel servants and makes mentions of previous grail wars. (Fate/Extra is an Alternate Universe from the original Natsuverse [Kara no Kyoukai/Tsukihime/Fate/Decoration Disorder Disconnection] that splits off in the 1980s.)

    Skill wise the guy has two damage skills that have a high chance of debuffing enemy damage and defense - which are debuffs as good as if they were in a MetaTen game with the exception that they don't last forever (and you can combine them with a self-buff). He has a block-anything-and-everything skill. And his ultimate basically doubles the damage of all his offensive skills for three turns. 40%+ of a bosses HP total on a balls-to-the-wall offensive assault with it up in a single turn isn't unheard of.

    Now Caster? She's just adorable.

    vagrant_winds on
    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    Okay, so I played a bit of Corpse Party.
    Yeah, that's some Amnesia level horror through really good writing.
    I'm scared. :(

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Get, and some nice headphones too.


    Shame I'm literally going to be bouncing between these two games, but hey, at least I don't need to disc swap! (I have Fate on UMD.)

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  • SyphyreSyphyre A Dangerous Pastime Registered User regular
    This is honestly the first time these games have run across my radar. I assume Fate/Extra is related to Fate/stay night? How would you recommend it to someone who enjoys most other RPGs?

  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Just picked up Corpse Party. Looking forward to giving it a shot.

    In the meantime...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeSZ14ivDAo

    RainbowDespair on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Syphyre wrote:
    This is honestly the first time these games have run across my radar. I assume Fate/Extra is related to Fate/stay night? How would you recommend it to someone who enjoys most other RPGs?

    Solid story, unique combat. The dungeons can get a little repetitive, so this isn't a game you play for more than an hour or so at a time. They are fun the first go round, kind of like Tartarus was, since you don't know what to expect.

    Also fun NPC side dialogues, if you're into that thing. The best part is the master/servant itneractions.


    As for the F/SN connections, F/E is an alternate story or something. I'm not a F/SN scholar, but there's some crossovers like Rin Tousaka and Saber and such.

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  • SyphyreSyphyre A Dangerous Pastime Registered User regular
    Sounds like it will be worth grabbing once I finish up my current backlog. Personal Christmas gift I believe...

  • The AnonymousThe Anonymous Uh, uh, uhhhhhh... Uh, uh.Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    cj iwakura wrote:
    As for the F/SN connections, F/E is an alternate story or something. I'm not a F/SN scholar, but there's some crossovers like Rin Tousaka and Saber and such.
    It's an AU. Without getting into spoiler territory, most of the cast is different from their VN counterparts in some way, and there are other changes that happened because of how F/E's timeline diverges from F/SN. In any case, it's all different enough that you can enjoy it without having played the VN, though as usual knowledge of it will enhance the experience.

    The Anonymous on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    My god. Corpse Party has AMAZING sound design.

    Get headphones. You'll thank me.

    Or hate me.

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  • B:LB:L I've done worse. Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    cj iwakura wrote:
    My god. Corpse Party has AMAZING sound design.

    Get headphones. You'll thank me.

    Or hate me.
    Can you play this without having a PSP or is it PSP only

    B:L on
    10mvrci.png click for Anime chat
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    B:L wrote:
    cj iwakura wrote:
    My god. Corpse Party has AMAZING sound design.

    Get headphones. You'll thank me.

    Or hate me.
    Can you play this without having a PSP or is it PSP only

    PSP only.

    z48g7weaopj2.png
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Good god. Examine certain items multiple times and you may be sorry.

    Miiind games. Brr.

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  • HyphyKezzyHyphyKezzy The Best On MarsRegistered User regular
    For some reason I didn't think Corpse Party was comming out until next year. I guess I need to grab some Sony bucks tomorrow before I head to the parents for Thanksgiving. It looks spooky enough to keep me awake while everyone else takes their turkey nap.

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  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Yeah, on Fate/Extra, you don't have to have read Fate/stay night or anything. It's set in the future in an alternate universe from the main Natsuverse, and a good chunk of the 'returning' characters are just character avatars or 'npcs' based upon those characters with a few exceptions.
    That said, the game is chock full of Mythology Gags to Fate/stay night, Tsukihime/Melty Blood, and Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners, and Archer makes a number of references to /stay night if you choose him.
    So prior knowledge is totally not required, but you're almost guaranteed to enjoy it more if you're already a Natsuverse fan. Especially when it comes to the Secret Boss (NG+ only) and a certain Week 5 boss on one of the two paths.

    vagrant_winds on
    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Finished Chapter 1 and got the EX Chapter.

    This game... brr. Scariest thing I've played in years, if not ever. Pure psychological horror.

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  • KaseiusKaseius Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    I wanna play it. :(

    edit: I wanna let's play it?

    Kaseius on
    www.youtube.com/user/kaseius -- Let's Plays
  • B:LB:L I've done worse. Registered User regular
    Kaseius wrote:
    I wanna play it. :(

    edit: I wanna let's play it?
    Oh no, that's corpseparty!

    10mvrci.png click for Anime chat
  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    Played Corpse Party for about 2-2.5 hours last night.

    Thoughts:

    I completed 1 main chapter (out of 5) and 1 bonus mini-chapter (out of 10). Missed one of the bad endings for chapter 1. If the other chapters are of similar length, then it looks like the game is a decent length for the genre (I'm guessing 10-20 hours depending on if you do all the optional stuff).

    Graphics are okay (16-bit for exploration, anime stills for important scenes), but the audio is fantastic. The music is excellent, the sound and voice acting (Japanese only) are great, and if you're using headphones, it has this neat 3D positioning effect for some of the sound/voices.

    Gameplay is a mix of visual novel, 16-bit era JRPG style for exploration, a few simple puzzles, and running away. The added variety makes it more interesting than it would have been if it was just a pure visual novel.

    Overall, I highly recommend it if you like horror games.

  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Fate/Extra beaten. Man, the last couple boss fights really fall off in difficulty. Though I still have to do the bonus NG+ boss.
    (Though it could also be that endgame Archer can do 7k damage/attack with some setup and a balanced non-glass cannon stat build.)

    As for Corpse Party, you guys weren't kidding about wearing headphones.

    vagrant_winds on
    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Chapter 2 is naaasty. Also, the bad ending for Chapter 1 is pretty obtuse.
    You have to avoid the paper.

    And god you'll wish you hadn't.

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  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Kind of lost in Chapter 2. Not sure what to do with the nail puller, around when
    ghost boy starts chasing us.

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  • KainyKainy Pimpin' and righteous Registered User regular
    Fuck, I might have to get these.

    Especially if Archer is that much of a cock.

    IcyLiquid wrote: »
    There's anti-fuckery code in there now :) Sorry :)
  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Kainy wrote:
    Fuck, I might have to get these.

    Especially if Archer is that much of a cock.

    He's a total bro, especially by the end. But he's also a snarky son of a bitch that always points out his masters' faults (i.e. to get you to improve them through tough love).
    And in that screenshot scene, the MC was totally a dick.

    vagrant_winds on
    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • KainyKainy Pimpin' and righteous Registered User regular
    It'll be a little sad to not have the... whole thing from FSN with him, but he's still an awesome-ass character.

    IcyLiquid wrote: »
    There's anti-fuckery code in there now :) Sorry :)
  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    Oh snap. I remember somebody mentioning Corpse Party a long time ago. And since I was coming down off 999 at the time, I was hella pumped for it. Then completely forgot about it.

    And it's out? Now?

    Well I know what I'm doing tonight...

    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • HyphyKezzyHyphyKezzy The Best On MarsRegistered User regular
    That was exactly my reaction when I saw this thread. Got Corpse Party downloaded before I left for the parents for Thanksgiving. But the family friends kid wanted me to bring my Xbox so he could whup me up at Street Fighter IV so I'll have to wait until I get home to check it out.

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  • ReynoldsReynolds Gone Fishin'Registered User regular
    Those Corpse Party screenshots are giving me Sweet Home flashbacks.

    I now own both of these games. I need to beat Fate already...

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  • Darth_MogsDarth_Mogs Registered User regular
    I'm really, really interested in Corpse Party, but I just can't let myself get another PSP game until the Vita comes out because my PSP is just....completely falling apart. (Analog stick floats down, sometimes to the right, internet usage completely ruins the battery anymore, etc.) Granted, it's a 1000 that I've had forever so it's not a surprise, but it's bothersome all the same.

    Hurry up February!

    Kupowered - It's my Blog!
  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    So, Corpse Party. This game is pretty messed up. I want to give a hearty and friendly fuck you to you silly geese who said to wear headphones. :) My ears love it. My bowels... not so much...

    Thing is, while I totally love the story and tone, the actual interactive game-y bits are kinda meh. There's been a lot of times where I've been wandering around with no clue what the game wants me to do. Not to mention that some of the requirements to getting the bad endings can be pretty esotaric at times. Essentially forcing you to replay the chapter at times if you really want to see them (and you do and don't want to see them... god damn). Plus a few times where I died a pretty cheap death. This game badly needs a fast forward button so you can skip through the dialog.

    Also kinda bummed that it's japanese audio only. Not that I want to start that age old debate again. But the fact is that a major chunk of this game's appeal is the story. But when you don't speak the language, all that voiced stuff just sounds like unintelligible gibberish. And simply put, you're getting an inferior experience from it. I'm not going to hold it against the game or developers, but it is a mild disappointment.

    Ultimately though, loving the game. Just gotta make sure I'm not playing it at night. Because... fuck.

    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited November 2011
    There's no way you could call the Japanese voiceover an inferior experience. No dub cast in the world could scream like those actors do.

    That aside,the game is full voice over. It would cost a FORTUNE to dub it.

    cj iwakura on
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  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    Well again, I'm not saying "This game sucks, I can't understand the voices.", I'm saying "The voices are an integral part of the experience. It sucks that I can't understand them.".

    Oh, and some of those actors need to take their screams down an octave... or three. I'm wearing headphones here! :P

    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    They're not dubbed because Aksys can't afford to dub the niche games they bring over and still make a profit.
    Nothing to do with the absolutely retarded sub vs dub debate (a good dub is a good dub, a bad dub is a bad dub, okay, we're done here).

    vagrant_winds on
    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    They're not dubbed because Aksys can't afford to dub the niche games they bring over and still make a profit.
    Nothing to do with the absolutely retarded sub vs dub debate (a good dub is a good dub, a bad dub is a bad dub, okay, we're done here).

    It's actually Xseed who did the game. And they dub lots of their stuff.

    You're right though. I can see why they wouldn't. Especially this game. I can probably make more of a profit cashing in my empties than they will selling this game. :P Just saying, it's still kind of a bummer.

    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    Does this thread really claim that all AKSYS titles have quality writing?

    You should really research that claim before you submit your written apology.

    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • EVOLEVOL Registered User regular
    How scary is Corpse Party? I'm a real wuss when it comes to horror, and I'd really not want to lose any sleep/get nightmares from this game. How does it compare to, say, 999(which, was admittedly not a really scary game at all)?

  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Extremely. Scariest game I've ever played. It's both unsettling and outright shocking.

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  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    So I started up Fate/Extra, and I'm enjoying it well enough so far although I really hope getting more skills/code casting will open up the battle system a bit.

    Only real complaint is that during battle, there's no way to tell what the enemy did on their previous turn short of watching their animations closely and memorizing it, and there's also no way to tell which pattern you entered last turn.
    This might sound like a dumb complaint, but I frequently found myself watching them and then having the next turn come up and go "wait, did they do this on their fourth or fifth attack? I'm pretty sure they did this three times in a row before alternating, maybe"
    There isn't even any subtitle for their attack animation, and it mercifully cycles through all six attacks pretty damn quick, so you need to memorize each one also based on their animation alone. ("Ok, they both attacked each other, did I select attack or break there", etc)

  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    Just finished chapter 3. The game reminds me a lot of Siren in that the biggest part of the gameplay is actually a metagame of trying to piece together the individual stories into a coherent whole.
    EVOL wrote:
    How scary is Corpse Party? I'm a real wuss when it comes to horror, and I'd really not want to lose any sleep/get nightmares from this game. How does it compare to, say, 999(which, was admittedly not a really scary game at all)?

    I'm finding it more creepy and disturbing than outright scary, but then again, I'm a longtime horror game fan. If you're new to the genre, you'd probably have a very different opinion.

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