[Pandora's Tower] - Consume the flesh of the Masters.

Krathoon

I have been playing with imports and this one is catching my interest.

Pandora's Tower

http://youtu.be/ay5yctN0Hjw

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/wii/pandoras_tower_45558.html

It seems more like an action RPG. Here is the story from Nintendo UK:

"The victim of a cruel curse, Elena is undergoing a horrific transformation into a grotesque beast.

Determined to find a way to cure her, Aeron takes up the Oraclos Chain and plunges into the Thirteen Towers, where truly terrifying monsters await him.

The words of their companion Mavda offer them their only hope: within the Thirteen Towers reside the masters, and by consuming their flesh, Elena may escape the curse.

This is the tale of the bond between Aeron and Elena, and the vow they make to each other to defeat the curse and be together once again."

Hopefully, the tower masters will be creative.

C2B

It's mostly a dungeon crawler and endings depend upon your relationship with the Elena.

Lanrutcon

I was reading up on this...how's the rpg elements? are there level ups, gear, abilities, point distribution? How can you grind for stuff when you're always on a timer? can you return to old areas to hunt for stuff? Any character customization?

Krathoon

It just shipped out for me in the mail today. It will take a few weeks before I can get my mitts on it. There has to be some UK sites talking about it. I'll dig around.

Edit: I am not seeing much on the RPG elements so far. Reviews are saying that it is more like a Zelda with time dungeons. Also, the times and gifts effect Elena's favor of you. A key difference from Zelda is that you are just limited to your chain weapon and sword. There is a tab for an upcoming weapons list on the Nintendo UK site, so I am wondering if there is more than that.

Edit:
There are definitely weapon and armor upgrades. There is also servant flesh that can reset the timer. There seems to be special moves for the chain weapon as well.
The second half of this review goes into it some:

http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/review/pandoras-tower-review/2/

WotanAnubis

The premise of this game seems pretty twisted in a good way, so I figure I'll give it a shot for that at least.

mere_immortal

If I can find it in town tommorow I'll pick it up on my lunch.

It's obviously not going to be in any shops though becasue it's not FIFA.

plufim

I could have bought it today but fffff money. I'll have it in a week.

edit: I caved and bought it.


It's not like I'm saving up for a house or anything >_>

plufim

After about an hour with the game: it is so delightfully twisted and gross. The combat is a bit odd, but not bad, and the art design is great, albeit with some muddy graphics. Monster design is really cool.

Zephiran

Hey, Eurogamer loves it!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-13-pandoras-tower-review

EDIT:

And fuck it because why not, here's IGN's verdict.

They also think it's pretty good.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/122/1222944p1.html

Xenogears of Bore

Probably going to pick this one up next time I'm in Europe. Might as well complete the set.

Zephiran

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

Probably going to pick this one up next time I'm in Europe. Might as well complete the set.

Did you see the commemorative coins set for the games that Club Nintendo's hawking? It's just fancied up stainless steel, but you'd probably be eligible for the whole lot, so there's another "Might As Well" for the road.

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/the_gold_rush_is_on_as_pandoras_tower_launches_for_wii_49383.html

Xenogears of Bore

Saw that today but I had already given away both my Xenoblade and TLS codes.

Chen

Gosh darn it. I was hoping to pick it up for cheap since the prices of the other two games dropped as well. Now I'm considering getting it just to win some gold (painted) coins.

Quick! How are the motion controls? Better than classic controls? Better than Castlevania Judgment?

Rami

I didn't realise this was more of a Zelda style game than party RPG.

Probably going to have to get this now, too bad I'm not really interested in LS so no coins for me.

Zephiran

Apparently the word "engaging" comes up a lot when used to describe the pointer controls, but I haven't tried the game myself so I can't really give a verdict. A quick trip into town today to see if any of the stores are carrying the game might just change that, however...

Dashui

Zephiran wrote: »

Hey, Eurogamer loves it!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-13-pandoras-tower-review

EDIT:

And fuck it because why not, here's IGN's verdict.

They also think it's pretty good.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/122/1222944p1.html

Did IGN just spoil the nature of the game's twist in that last paragraph? I think they did.

WotanAnubis

I'd heard Pandora's Tower was the least of the Rainfall titles, but after that Eurogamer review...

I'll see if I can pick it up somewhere tomorrow.

Zephiran

I sure hope they didn't, it seemed pretty vague to me...

Krathoon

Zephiran wrote: »

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

Probably going to pick this one up next time I'm in Europe. Might as well complete the set.

Did you see the commemorative coins set for the games that Club Nintendo's hawking? It's just fancied up stainless steel, but you'd probably be eligible for the whole lot, so there's another "Might As Well" for the road.

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/the_gold_rush_is_on_as_pandoras_tower_launches_for_wii_49383.html

Hmm. I wonder if Nintendo UK ships to the US?

Funny thing. The UK Club Nintendo looks more mature than the US one.

In light of the Eurogamer article, I doubt this will be the last great game on the Wii. I bet a few more will squeeze out.

Zephiran

Well, there's still Earth Seeker...

Krathoon

Yeah. I bet any more upcoming ones will be Japan ports.

WotanAnubis

I like Mavda's voice acting. She's like a kindly old lady and a sinister old lady both at the same time.

Lord Jezo

The Last Story, Xenoblade, now this..

What's up with everyone putting out good Wii games at the end of the thing's life now that no one cares about it? Where were all the constant non Nintendo good games when the system was on fire and millions of people were going nuts for it?

EvilRedEye

WotanAnubis wrote: »

I like Mavda's voice acting. She's like a kindly old lady and a sinister old lady both at the same time.

Yeah, she's great. Actually I think they've done a pretty good job with the dub on this one. The lack of the original voices hasn't bothered me at all.

mere_immortal

Picked up the limited edition online, now the always fun waiting game.

Think I'll grab the Last Story next week too so I can get those coins.

Werewolf2000ad

Just picked up the limited edition from HMV for £40 minus trade-ins. Steelbook and a regular case with reversible cover? Nice. Despite the fact that they stopped offering it on their website, they also gave me the slipcase/artbook covering all three games.

cj iwakura

Wow. Project Rainfall should hang that on their wall.

WotanAnubis

So...

I just murdered a peaceful guardian of the forest so I could rip the flesh from its skull and offer that quivering slab of raw meat to a vegetarian.

Not gonna lie. That was kinda awesome.

EvilRedEye

Apparently there's been a lot of problems with the HMV pre-order incentives. My book was missing. When I phoned up customer services I said "My game's arrived but part of the pre-order bonus is missing" and the guy said "Oh, is that Pandora's Tower, we've been getting calls about that all day". He was surprised it was the book I was missing, most people were missing the box.

Krathoon

WotanAnubis wrote: »

So...

I just murdered a peaceful guardian of the forest so I could rip the flesh from its skull and offer that quivering slab of raw meat to a vegetarian.

Not gonna lie. That was kinda awesome.

Hmm. That makes me wonder if ...

... saving the girl is the wrong thing to do in this one. That would be nice twist. It would be like you were being used to weaken the defenses of the tower.

Fiatil

Wow, the premise of this seems kind of awesome. I'm definitely interested now, all you Euros need to post impressions asap!

Zephiran

Slight spoilers, but I came across this the other day, and I figured I'd share it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZTprCEzKtA

Right around the 4:30 mark.

What.

The.

Fuck.

XD

Krathoon

I am tempted to see your spoiler, but I will abstain.

Edit: Also, that one review said the game was rough around the edges. It does not seem that rough to me.

Zephiran

Thing about that spoiler is I don't even think it's a spoiler.

It's just something that shouldn't even be in the game.

Krathoon

Hah hah. I watched it. It is a prank. There is another video that doesn't have it.

Josh5890

I read a story that gamestop leaked a listing of this game for a US release. Maybe we will get lucky!

Lord Jezo

If you had to explain the opening 5 minutes of this game to someone how would you do it? 5 minutes meaning starting from the title screen and going into a new game.

WotanAnubis

Lord Jezo wrote: »

If you had to explain the opening 5 minutes of this game to someone how would you do it? 5 minutes meaning starting from the title screen and going into a new game.

It's just a cutscene. First setting up the conflict (girl gets horribly cursed), then explain the world a bit (it's got this huge, gaping chasm threatening to swallow the world, only held in check by thirteen towers), then explains how the conflict needs to be resolved (girl must eat raw monster flesh from the creatures living in the thirteen towers).

At that, your five minutes are pretty much up, I think.

WotanAnubis

Now that I'm finally starting to figure out how to use the chain properly, I think I'm beginning to enjoy this game more than I did The Last Story.

Not gonna compare it to Xenoblade just yet, though.

mere_immortal

WotanAnubis wrote: »

Now that I'm finally starting to figure out how to use the chain properly, I think I'm beginning to enjoy this game more than I did The Last Story.

Not gonna compare it to Xenoblade just yet, though.

My copy should be coming today, but I've heard it's more of a 3D castlevania than a traditional JRPG.

WotanAnubis

mere_immortal wrote: »

My copy should be coming today, but I've heard it's more of a 3D castlevania than a traditional JRPG.

You might not be wrong with comparison. The game does remind me more of Portrait of Ruin or Ecclesia (the only modern Castlevanias I've played) than it does a Tales of... or SMT.