[DS] Deep Labyrinth (DS)

It looks nice. And cerberus are always cool to fight in games. And you have...a dog? But wow, I was having flashbacks to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on the Intellivision from that map screen.

I'm going to wait and see how well the sword slashing/magic casting works with the touch screen. It would nice to see a game that actually uses the feature in a beneficial way rather than just making it seem like a replacement for an analog stick or buttons. It looks like a typical dungeon crawling otherwise, but that would be a good genre to have on a handheld that you'll probably be wasting away your time with on long trips. Either way I might pick it up when it drops to $15 or so. Then again it's Atlus, they'll make 5 copies and it will stay at $40 forever.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

DS games are $30 =p And this is no different. I doubt it'll drop to $15. Chances are it'll be a sleeper hit and it'll be undersupplied (see Phoenix Wright). But then again, this genre is an acquired taste. It'll be anything but incredibly successful I'm afraid. Folks just don't like this type of game.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Contact is supposed to be $35, as were several other games like Metroid Prime Hunters. But either way, while the chance of it dropping is pretty minimal, I have gotten lucky with a few Atlus releases in the past (Sky Gunner for $15, for one).

The fighting in the game still looks a bit...clunky though. I'd have to play it for myself, but I'm having a hard time trying to tell just how you're supposed to fight efficiently in it, especially against the bigger monsters. It seems like it's hard to judge the depth of your sword swipes and such. But hopefully you can do more damage depending on where you swipe and at what angle, it would be nice to see a game like this with some strategy in it's battles. The Diablo style point and clicking got old with...well, Diablo 2, really.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Really bad reviews kinda deterred me from buying this...maybe if I see it cheap somewhere I'll pick it up..ah well

I was speaking idiomatically.

It's getting bad reviews because this and Kings Field are RPG niches that most folks don't take kindly to. If you hated Kings Field, you'll hate this. If you liked it, you'll like this. None of the reviewers for RPGamer or Gamespot or what-have-you gave high marks to the KF games and those are dynamite, if you enjoy the genre. Playing through The Ancient City (KFIV) right now in fact. Bought it for $10 online and I love it to death more than I remember.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Gechmir

DS games are $30 =p And this is no different. I doubt it'll drop to $15. Chances are it'll be a sleeper hit and it'll be undersupplied (see Phoenix Wright).

Well, Lunar DS came out for $40, and it's now selling for $20, so it's not that hard to believe. But since this is Atlus, I doubt this we'll be the case. Just look at Trauma Center, it fits the scenario you described perfectly (undersupplied sleeper hit), and it's still going for $30.

FELIPE NO

I'll get this game, though I think I'm only getting this game because of Mitsuda. That and the wonderful catchy advertising by Reznor.

Originally Posted by Reznor

use the touchscreen to SLASH YOUR MOTHERFUCKING SWORD and CAST YOUR MOTHERFUCKING MAGIC.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by nazpyro

I'll get this game, though I think I'm only getting this game because of Mitsuda. That and the wonderful catchy advertising by Reznor.

Same here

I just hope the quality of the soundtrack isnt hampered by the DS speakers

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Flashblade

Same here

I just hope the quality of the soundtrack isnt hampered by the DS speakers

True, true. But if it is hampered, you could just plug in some headphones, which is often my situation anyway. This game seems hard to find. It might need to be eBayed. :/

How ya doing, buddy?

I think Atlus had some kind of unannounced delay in shipping, because I went to four different stores (Target, Best Buy, and two different Gamestops) and none of them had it. I also checked Gamestop's website, and they list it as out of stock. I remember this same thing happened with Guilty Gear Dust Strikers, so hopefully this game will be here by the weekend like GGDS was.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well some folks on Gamefags report having it. No luck getting it here today but it'll be here tomorrow.

If not tomorrow, I smell foul play from Atlus =(

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I picked it up today actually It was at my local EB, though nowhere else. Plenty of copies, so it isn't exactly flying off the shelves. A girl picking up Brain Age had actually heard of it though and was wondering if I'd played it, though of course I haven't until this evening.

So far, my short impressions

Pros:
- Great soundtrack, obviously.
- Dialogue is witty and for the most part well-localized
- Overall storyline seems intriguing so far, considering it is Masato Kato

Cons:
- Movement is a bit clunky. It follows the Resident Evil school of forward-backward + rotate, except in first person. I suppose I'm too used to well-constructed FPSs with mouselook.
- Slashing the sword gets superfluous when all you have to do is tap, really. Update: Actually, slashing matters more once you progress further. Some enemies are smaller and hence you have to aim your swings carefully or else you just miss a lot.
- Spell casting requires you to press a button after you do the spell motion, which seems a little redundant. I'd think if you execute the spell motion, it should just cast.
- The "talking with NPC" BGM is extremely short and loopy. I kind of wish they just kept the normal BGM running instead of switching.

Semi-con:
- Playing left-handed is kind of awkward with the buttons used as a D-pad, but it's even more awkward to play right-handed since I can barely hold the stylus well with that hand. I'll probably get used to it though.

So far, I'm playing Storyline Part 1 with the boy and his dog, or rather the "lighthearted" beginner mode, and it's pretty simple. I'm still in the first tutorial area. Feels very much like oldschool 3D games on the Playstation.

The pre-titlescreen sequence is horribly compressed and is just sort of a mass of jumbly polygons forming into a mansion. However, once you start off the game, there's a nice little anime sequence complete with mediocre voiceovers. Caught me off guard, since I was assuming it would just be comic-style storyboards with text. Cool stuff though. The opening scene makes good use of the two screens.

I'll have more impressions when I play through a bit further.

Oh, and there's a few gems in the instruction manual...

-Don't use a broken stylus. Just go buy another one, you tightwad.
- Don't rub the Top Screen with the stylus, unless you're using the DS of someone you don't like, in which case go crazy.

Double Post:
After playing for another few hours... I have to say I'm hooked. While things started off roughly, I'm getting the hang of controlling. I found out that you can double-tap left or right to strafe-dash in either direction. Helps for avoiding spells or projectiles. Also, once you actually enter the labyrinth itself, the gameplay becomes much more interesting- and of course more claustrophobic, as there's more winding maze-like hallways instead of big wide-open fields with a save point every 2 seconds. Hence, tutorial. Right.

Also, play this game with headphones. Always. The DS's speakers just don't do the sound justice at all.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Alright, you got me. I might go and pick up the game sometime before the end of this week, if I can track it down. If just for Yasunori Mitsuda, then...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm liking this game so far (just played around a bit and beat the first boss).

It's like a faster, brighter, more light-hearted King's Field (which I was a fan of). I like the fact that you get upgrades in your sword or magic skills depending on which you use. The drawing of magic spells is pretty responsive, as far as I can tell.

Basically, if you liked King's Field, you'll like this game.

The fact that they included 2 full-length quests is what seals the deal.

FELIPE NO

The only things snagging me thus far are minute.

Firstly, inability to pan/look up and down.
Secondly, items are ONLY in chests or on monsters. I remember in KF that you'd hafta look around (and closely) to spot all armor and weaponry. They'd be stabbed into walls or tucked behind objects, what-have-you.

But oh well. It's still quite good :O

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I didn't bother w/chapter 1, so I went w/the second one to start.

It's not too hard, i mean if you just strafe around everything, you'll almost never get hurt . Otherwise it's entertaining.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I just got through playing for almost an hour, and I must say this is a pretty fun game (heck, I'd say it's one of my favorite single-player DS games so far just based on the little I've played so far). The controls took a little getting used to, but after you get past that it's pretty damn fun.

The combat is pretty good. It's easy to get close to the enemies and strafe around them while attacking them with your sword, and the magic is great to use if you don't want to get to close to them. Also, the magic system in this game is a hell of a lot easier to use than the one in LostMagic.

The graphics in this game are also pretty good for what it's worth. The DS isn't the most powerful handheld out there, but they still managed to do a good job with the 3D graphics. I also really like the music as well.

Overall, this seems like a great game so far. If anybody is reading this who's on the fence about getting it, I'd say go for it, because you most likely won't regret it. Plus, I don't know about everyone else, but I had a hard time finding it in my area, and this is right when it just came out. So if you do want it, I'd say get it now, because like all Atlus games, this will probably be nearly impossible to find in a couple of months.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Holy crap. I went through a few stores today, and none of them had Deep Labyrinth still. They didn't have 2 other DS games I've been hunting for, but I kind of expected this since it's "new." :/

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, this game was a bitch to find, especially for a game that's supposed to be new. Your best bet is to just keep checking Gamestop's website until it says a store near you has it. That's what I kept doing until I finally got my copy yesterday. Only about half the stores in my town had them yesterday, but now pretty much all of them do.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I personally don't want to get this game after my friends(ZOMG! I got more than 1 friend!!) bitched how bad this game is. I don't know, I need my fellw GFF members to tell me their opinion

I was speaking idiomatically.

has anyone played this game long enough to get up to Story 2's 1f the Aqua palace? I need a spell to open teh door to leave this area, but i have no idea where to find it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I just beat the first chapter today (in all, it took me almost 18 hours to beat it), and I started on the second one. So far, I don't like it as much as the first one (the story seems more generic), but maybe it'll grow on me. Gameplay-wise though, it's almost exactly the same, so I haven't experienced anything to difficult yet (all the bosses so far have been especially easy). Unless they made this chapter ultra long, I'll probably beat it way faster than the first one.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Gechmir

It's getting bad reviews because this and Kings Field are RPG niches that most folks don't take kindly to. If you hated Kings Field, you'll hate this. If you liked it, you'll like this. None of the reviewers for RPGamer or Gamespot or what-have-you gave high marks to the KF games and those are dynamite, if you enjoy the genre. Playing through The Ancient City (KFIV) right now in fact. Bought it for $10 online and I love it to death more than I remember.

If this is true then I will get this game. I had completely forgotten about Kings Field! I picked it up when I got my PS1 (which I can't believe was 10 years ago, feels like yesterday) and loved it. I didn't realize they actually made 4 of them. The ending piano music was beautiful too, gotta check to see if there is a rip of it somewhere.

Back on topic, I am now excited about this game. Must add it it to the list of cool DS games I need to buy!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?