Avalon Code: Smacking things with a book all day!

Bedlam · February 2009

Whats all this then?
An RPG for the DS developed by the same guys who did Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. It features top down real time combat and a book that you smack people with to change the world.

Literature as a weapon?
Not quite. The world is ending and its your job to record everything worth saving for the next world. This is called a code scan and the person you are smacking dosent even know it happened. The fun part comes is that every thing has a code much like DNA. You can alter anything that you can smack which includes NPCS, Items, Monsters, etc.

Ohh I wanna know more!
Here is the English website. Also you can download a DS demo through the Nintendo channel, which is highly recomended.

I hate your thread
Then you should have made it first, also you smell and have a butt for a face!

Honestly I really wanted to talk about this. There isnt that much info out there that I could find as there is a deluge of DS RPGs in March. But I think this one is going to be one of the best!

Aldo · February 2009

Nice art style.

Japan still fails at drawing boys, though. http://www.avaloncodeds.com/images/char2-8_02.jpg

Food · February 2009

I have no idea how it actually works, but the DNA system sounds like it has potential to be awesome.

Bedlam · February 2009

Food wrote: »

I have no idea how it actually works, but the DNA system sounds like it has potential to be awesome.

You can remove an element from anything, and stick it on something else. But you can only store 4 of these at a time.

In the demo you remove Illness from your sword to eliminate the rust on it. Then remove Iron from a goblin to drop its hitpoints. You can do much more than that, but thats the basics.

ChrisDude · March 2009

Looks interesting and pretty. I can already tell that the first hour of the game I'm going to keep saying "Throw the book at 'em, Dan-o!"

Also, the 'E' in the title of the game is kind of fading into the background so I keep reading "Avalon Cod" which just sounds delicious.

Vi Monks · March 2009

Bedlam wrote: »

Food wrote: »

I have no idea how it actually works, but the DNA system sounds like it has potential to be awesome.

You can remove an element from anything, and stick it on something else. But you can only store 4 of these at a time.

In the demo you remove Illness from your sword to eliminate the rust on it. Then remove Iron from a goblin to drop its hitpoints. You can do much more than that, but thats the basics.

Sounds intriguing. Since I can't access the demo, can you elaborate a bit on how in-depth the "DNA" system is? Is it open-ended with room for experimenting or is it just stuff like "remove the sick from the sick guy so you can do his quest" sort of deal? If the former, that could be loads of fun.

Khavall · March 2009

Ambitious idea...

We'll wait for the implementation.

Sorenson · March 2009

OooOOOooo...:o I saw the trailer on Amazon but thought it was just generic RPG stuff, but this whole DNA thing's piqued my interest - and if the dudes who're behind Rune Factory are working on it, more incentive to buy it for me.

Also, the idea of being able to essentially play Noah sounds like it could have really fun implications - how many of you wanna' bet there'll be some annoying little shit that you'll have the choice of keeping out of the literary Ark as the floodwaters rise?

Bedlam · March 2009

Vi Monks wrote: »

Bedlam wrote: »

Food wrote: »

I have no idea how it actually works, but the DNA system sounds like it has potential to be awesome.

You can remove an element from anything, and stick it on something else. But you can only store 4 of these at a time.

In the demo you remove Illness from your sword to eliminate the rust on it. Then remove Iron from a goblin to drop its hitpoints. You can do much more than that, but thats the basics.

Sounds intriguing. Since I can't access the demo, can you elaborate a bit on how in-depth the "DNA" system is? Is it open-ended with room for experimenting or is it just stuff like "remove the sick from the sick guy so you can do his quest" sort of deal? If the former, that could be loads of fun.

The demo was about ten minutes tip of the iceberg stuff, and was obviously very early in the game. You only scaned maybe two or three things but there wasnt any limits to the elements outside of the 3x3 grid that you see in the pictures. I think the copper was three blocks wide and the iron was three blocks tall so those couldnt be on the same thing. Otherwise its basically putting all the bad stuff on the goblin and putting all the good stuff on your sword giving you an awesome flaming galdius.

I was killing all the goblins in one hit so I slapped the copper back on them to give the air juggles some more time. They always stayed goblins but eveything I changed messed with their title so they were sick goblins, tired goblins, and Iron goblins.

I imagine there is going to be alot of expirementation and messing with stuff outside of the obvious quests of just curing sick people.

Chrono Helix · March 2009

Makes me think of Rohan Kishibe and his Heaven's Gate from JoJo.

Vi Monks · March 2009

Bedlam wrote: »

Vi Monks wrote: »

Bedlam wrote: »

Food wrote: »

I have no idea how it actually works, but the DNA system sounds like it has potential to be awesome.

You can remove an element from anything, and stick it on something else. But you can only store 4 of these at a time.

In the demo you remove Illness from your sword to eliminate the rust on it. Then remove Iron from a goblin to drop its hitpoints. You can do much more than that, but thats the basics.

Sounds intriguing. Since I can't access the demo, can you elaborate a bit on how in-depth the "DNA" system is? Is it open-ended with room for experimenting or is it just stuff like "remove the sick from the sick guy so you can do his quest" sort of deal? If the former, that could be loads of fun.

The demo was about ten minutes tip of the iceberg stuff, and was obviously very early in the game. You only scaned maybe two or three things but there wasnt any limits to the elements outside of the 3x3 grid that you see in the pictures. I think the copper was three blocks wide and the iron was three blocks tall so those couldnt be on the same thing. Otherwise its basically putting all the bad stuff on the goblin and putting all the good stuff on your sword giving you an awesome flaming galdius.

I was killing all the goblins in one hit so I slapped the copper back on them to give the air juggles some more time. They always stayed goblins but eveything I changed messed with their title so they were sick goblins, tired goblins, and Iron goblins.

I imagine there is going to be alot of expirementation and messing with stuff outside of the obvious quests of just curing sick people.

Well color me curious. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this one.

Grislo · March 2009

Their previous attempts at a real time combat system haven't exactly been stellar, but then this game is something quite different. It sounds interesting, but I'd have to try the combat before I'd ever consider buying it.. For those who have played it, is the combat similar to anything else you've played?

Bedlam · March 2009

Grislo wrote: »

Their previous attempts at a real time combat system haven't exactly been stellar, but then this game is something quite different. It sounds interesting, but I'd have to try the combat before I'd ever consider buying it.. For those who have played it, is the combat similar to anything else you've played?

Kinda like zelda I guess? Dpad moves your charecter X and Y uses a weapon for each hand. A does an Air juggle that you can shoot the enemy straight off the world and into space if you time it right. And B swings the book.

Very easy to use. Air juggling seems like a cheap gimmick but you get items with it so if you're low on health I could see it coming in handy.

Also you can touch the bottom screen at any time which automatically pauses combat.

Bedlam · March 2009

oh hey, the demo is back up/still up for another week on the Nintendo channel. So if you're even a little bit interested you should check it out. As thats what put it from kind of interesting to a must buy from me.

Bedlam · March 2009

Review up on IGN

Vi Monks · March 2009

Bedlam wrote: »

Review up on IGN

Sounds like fun to me. And so far as I'm concerned, as long as the code modifying mechanic is robust, the rest of the game could be utter tripe and I'd still play it.

Vyolynce · March 2009

Yeah, I pre-ordered this when I reserved Madworld based solely on NP previews; the concept was just too awesome to ignore. I was afraid they'd hit in the same week like this, but hey.

Of course, I need to finish up WEWY (or at least the "main" game; I'll find time for the postgame stuff later). Only 5 days left, I think...

Dyvion · March 2009

I played the demo of this and was wondering how long it would take for a thread to pop up so I could spout loads of oohs and ahhs about it. (And I'm too lazy to start a thread myself)

The combat system was tons of fun. I do agree the juggle system is a bit gimmicky, and I didn't see what items you could get from the gobbo's... also, there's a farming aspect where you have to kill a certain amount of gobbo's to progress... but the DNA system was a lot of fun... after I de-rusted my sword and make the goblins sick and then put the iron on my sword... I was thoroughly enjoying myself... then it ended. heh... I had to go back and play through again to figure out the juggling thing.

Also... did anyone figure out what you could do with the flower that you smack first? Is there anything you can do with it? Or is that going to be another farming aspect...

There also seems to be around 1000 pages in the book, so lots of stuff to smack. (Creatures, items, plants and maps all ended up in the book, and you can turn the page to access the different items... hopefully there's a search function in this thing.)

e: n/m... guess I missed the screenshot at the totp that shows page 1683... oops. that's a lot of smacking.

Renzo · March 2009

Pull the fire element off the flower and pull iron and justice off the enemy. De-rust the sword, then put fire, iron, and justice on your sword. Now you have a fiery gladius that 1-shots bad guys.

UnbreakableVow · March 2009

Holy shit I just played the demo of this and holy shit.

Shadowfire · March 2009

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Holy shit I just played the demo of this and holy shit.

Demo? It's still up on the Wii shop?

UnbreakableVow · March 2009

Shadowfire wrote: »

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Holy shit I just played the demo of this and holy shit.

Demo? It's still up on the Wii shop?

Yeah, just played it like an hour ago.

Vi Monks · March 2009

So this comes out today, right? Anyone picked it up?

UnbreakableVow · March 2009

I'm stopping by GameStop on the way to work to see if they have it. If not, tomorrow.

Renzo · March 2009

Unbreakable is apparently a fan.

UnbreakableVow · March 2009

Man, I smacked a Goblin with a book, took away all his good attributes and gave him the attribute of "Sickly".

Who the fuck could not love this game?

Renzo · March 2009

I'll wait for reviews, but I really enjoyed the demo. I have too much stuff to play as it is.

UnbreakableVow · March 2009

So do I, but it's Atlus. So I'm getting it before it goes away.

EDIT: Oh, it's not Atlus. Still, I can't imagine this one being not hard-to-find after a while.

Renzo · March 2009

It's XSeed

Dyvion · March 2009

I didn't realize it was coming out this early... I planned on not buying anything else until Knights in the Nightmare came out... grrr... wonder if I can sneak this one passed my wife...

Bedlam · March 2009

Renzo wrote: »

I'll wait for reviews, but I really enjoyed the demo. I have too much stuff to play as it is.

There are a couple out there and while it probably wont be the next big thing it is getting solid scores.

And Knights in the Nightmare is a looooong way off you should at least buy something to hold you over :P

Bedlam · March 2009

Went out looking today and didnt see a copy at all :<

Should I be upset or should I just wait a few days to see if it ships?

Alternatively I was thinking about just waiting for suikoden next week. Pending reviews on that though.

jeddy lee · March 2009

This sounds really neat. I may have to check it out.

EdS25 · March 2009

My only complaint about this game is that the "hot spots" (trigger points?) for finding environmental clues are way too small. You'll think you've checked a bookshelf but didn't click A at the right pixel. It wouldn't be a big deal if it was just extra items or what not, but in many cases searching the environment gives you recipes for new items and I need that shit.

Not a complaint but I do tend to overthink things in this game. I was trying to nerf one of the first major bosses and nothing in my book seemed to work. However, all it really took was a minute or two of careful dodging to put him down (compared to the 10-15 minutes I spent perusing my book, swapping codes around). Come to think of it I also really would have liked a few more free spots for swapping.

Lots of great stuff here tho - the book/codes are a great concept, the 3D environments are probably the best I've seen on the DS (textures especially), the juggling is fun, and unlike other games you will want to search every nook and cranny, slap every flower/npc to make sure you get everything.

SAW776 · March 2009

My only problem thus far is how restrictive the story progression can be sometimes. For instance..

With the little girl. She tells you her name, you see the novelist guy basically walk right through her, and you can then stumble upon the graveyard and find her grave. Yet there is nothing triggered by that event. Obviously something will happen later, but it's silly that finding her grave after meeting her doesn't automatically trigger something.

But maybe that's just me having played too many Hotel Dusk-ish games lately.

freakish light · March 2009

I'm not a fan of the timed minigame progressions (Hit all the switches!) It seems jarring and out of place.

Otherwise I'm enjoying it, though.

EdS25 · March 2009

Anyone else still playing this? I'm having a really hard time liking it (mainly the fucking stupid pixel hunt and story progression that is so disjointed it almost feels buggy. I've spent about 2-3 hours just walking around trying to trigger the plot.) The code system is cool, and I love the combat and big book o' stuff, but fuck me. Right now I'm agreeing with the reviews that are more excited for the refined sequel than the present mess. An ambitious mess, but this ain't gonna cut it with everything that's come out lately.

Vyolynce · March 2009

Just started last night, played up to beating the Mutated Chimera in the forest. Was upset that removing his fire code did not stop it from breathing fire.

It's... different. It's not really an RPG, or else I'd have more than 5 (now 6) hit points and each room of a dungeon wouldn't be self-contained mini-games. Also, I wish there was more of an indication of when MP is consumed while messing around with codes.

Is it just me, or is there pretty much no penalty for dying? Every time I get dropped I'm just able to continue right at the same spot, with all of my alterations retained.

Not sure what to think of it yet, honestly. Coming immediately after playing WEWY isn't doing it any favors, that's for sure, but since I really can't consider it an RPG I'll have to realign my thinking.

Vyolynce · March 2009

After trying -- and repeatedly failing at -- the Judgement Link tournament for what had to be at least half an hour last night (before finally winning), I have 1) become much better at the timing for JL (and have learned about special attacks), and 2) started enjoying the game more, since I can now more reliably refill my MP and HP. Weird.

About to go digging for the Ice Sprite. Hopefully I can find stuff with Frost codes, since I have a ton of tablets that want them. Learned the hard way that ICE != FROST when my hammer wouldn't change. :P

EdS25 · March 2009

If you're referring to "FRST" what you actually want is FOREST. Which you probably have plenty of.

Vyolynce · March 2009

Huh. You know, that would make a lot more sense... :oops:

Stupid four-letter codes that are spelled out explicitly in the back of the big-ass book that I can't be bothered to look up or pay any attention to as I move things around...

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