Dragoon En Regalia
Member
The only reason I'd buy A-Train for the PSX is to listen to the music, because it's got an awesome soundtrack for a sim game. No mouse support = no buy.
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I want to talk about Artdink and their games.
- Thread starter Dragoon En Regalia
- Start date
Prophane33
Member
Woah, didn't see this topic till now. Artdink is awesome. I own A-Train III S.V. for Super Famicom. (I believe it's available on virtual console?). Also a huge fan of Neo Atlas and Neo Atlas II for PSX. (Both available on the Japanese PSN). I believe that Artdink had something to do with the (at least) the first two Gundam games on PSP. They definitely make some super niche titles. A-Train 8 and 9 are available on Gamersgate too btw.
Edit: Though with my devotion to Koei, Cave, recently Paradox, and Taito's Densha De Go! Series it's probably no surprise that I really dig Artdink.
Edit: Though with my devotion to Koei, Cave, recently Paradox, and Taito's Densha De Go! Series it's probably no surprise that I really dig Artdink.
distantmantra
Member
I've got the DYRL hybrid pack preordered, still a month away.
Aquanauts Holiday, Tail of the Sun, and Carnage Heart were some of the reasons I picked up a PSX back in the day. Unique, interesting games compared to what was being published at the time for Saturn in the US. Sony actually published Artdink's games in the US. It's kind of hard to remember now since Sony has been on a string of epic fuckups with the PS3, but when the PSX came out they were a pretty progressive publisher, especially compared to SOA who had their heads up their ass with the Saturn.
One of Artdink's series that I was always interested in was Lunatic Dawn. I bought the PC-FX version of Lunatic Dawn because I really liked the cool little diorama box art, haha. Also, it was one of the few "non-anime" style games on the system. I never got very far into it though because there is almost no story whatsoever. You're just dropped into the game world, and you wander around and fight monsters. It felt very old school even back in the 90s (like 1980s Western CRPG old school).
One of Artdink's series that I was always interested in was Lunatic Dawn. I bought the PC-FX version of Lunatic Dawn because I really liked the cool little diorama box art, haha. Also, it was one of the few "non-anime" style games on the system. I never got very far into it though because there is almost no story whatsoever. You're just dropped into the game world, and you wander around and fight monsters. It felt very old school even back in the 90s (like 1980s Western CRPG old school).
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
SOA was never the problem early-on, outside of the wacked-out marketing. SOJ had more to do with firing Tom Kalinske and ruining the Saturn's chances from the very start. I don't know how much better Sony was at the time, but it wasn't too difficult to outwit Hayao Nakamura and his idiotic Nikkatsu sense of Japanese business doctrine.
Lunatic Dawn is that one franchise that helps to explain why Artdink could go between stuff like Mr. Domino and A-Train with ease. Around the mid-90s, anyway, a number of different game developers working at the soft-house branched off and started developing their own unique projects with studio support. I think Lunatic Dawn was one of them: a Japanese-developed Western CRPG with less story an more things to do. It even had online-play on Japanese servers in both LDIII and LDIV, IIRC. A lot of cool things that franchise was capable of, and it's disappointing that Artdink's had to invest their time and energy more into mecha games and A-Train to get by (though Carnage Heart's made a stellar return).
Lunatic Dawn is that one franchise that helps to explain why Artdink could go between stuff like Mr. Domino and A-Train with ease. Around the mid-90s, anyway, a number of different game developers working at the soft-house branched off and started developing their own unique projects with studio support. I think Lunatic Dawn was one of them: a Japanese-developed Western CRPG with less story an more things to do. It even had online-play on Japanese servers in both LDIII and LDIV, IIRC. A lot of cool things that franchise was capable of, and it's disappointing that Artdink's had to invest their time and energy more into mecha games and A-Train to get by (though Carnage Heart's made a stellar return).
Cacophanus
Member
Me too, got the box set version pre-ordered. One of my favourite anime of all time too.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
You ever going to try and review Carnage Heart EXA, Caco? It's been a while since, but doing general reviews of the Carnage Heart games would be really-interesting to read.
Cacophanus
Member
May do, yeah. My review backlog is getting a bit big now though!
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Take your time, man. There are more than a few CH games out there!
GhaleonQ
Member
The invaluable http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2013/03/indie-game-publications-scroll-issue-9.html has made me aware of Ray Barnholt's new issue of Scroll. http://scroll.vg/issues/09
I'll likely spring for the issue sometime soon, but can any regular buyers talk about the content? I miss Artdink's regular presence on our shores.
Scroll said:
Hardcore Gaming 101 said:
I'll likely spring for the issue sometime soon, but can any regular buyers talk about the content? I miss Artdink's regular presence on our shores.
Uncle Rupee
Banned
Tail of the Sun was so amazing. I wish we still had games like that today.
I got attracted to A-Train 9 due to it's graphics (sad that it has no population)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDmEcMFqrx8
I'm surprised at how deep the train simulations are in this game, and these stuff tickle me fancy well
Plus the graphics are good even when you get down to street level
Too bad it's hard to earn money fast without exploiting the stock market...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDmEcMFqrx8
I'm surprised at how deep the train simulations are in this game, and these stuff tickle me fancy well
Plus the graphics are good even when you get down to street level
Too bad it's hard to earn money fast without exploiting the stock market...
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Holy crap, Ghaleonwonderful find! This better be good when I sit down with it later. A Western journalist who's played almost all of Artdink's catalogue? There's a true rarity in hardcore gaming.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Looking at the preview for that issue of Scrolls: it looks like someone's finally covering Lunatic Dawn! That's seriously cool. If he delves into franchises like Tokio and HR, that would be even more impressive. Shit, I wish I had the journalistic platform he has.
discoalucard
i am a butthurt babby that can only drool in wonder at shiney objects
Both of the HR games are given two pages each. Tokio is given two pages too. Lunatic Dawn is given two pages, mostly focusing on the first game with summarties of the rest. There's a LOT of stuff covered I'd never heard of, like the two Atlas games, Arctic, Far Side Moon, Topolo and many others. It's a fantastic issue, definitely worth at least buying the digital edition.
TheJollyCorner
Member
I must say it was very comforting to see that classic ArtDink logo on the developer board of PS4 support at the PlayStation Meeting on Feb.20th.
I don't care what they make, I just want to see some ArtDink ingenuity on the PS4.
I don't care what they make, I just want to see some ArtDink ingenuity on the PS4.
distantmantra
Member
ArtDink did a good job on Macross 30 (PS3). Took the basic premise of the PSP Macross titles but moved it to an open world console title.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Holy pastry strudels. This sounds delicious. Only a true badass would cover fucking HR-2 and the rest.
Having a look through the previews, I'm glad to see Tokio and Take the A-Train Z there as well (he could have put in the immediate CH sequels, though). There's a good balance between essential titles and all the misfit ones that define this soft-house.
GhaleonQ
Member
TAKAO, nooooo! I killed them myself! I'll check it out.
Nice! Thanks, and thanks again for the wonderful site! I only know about Topolo because its boxart is fricking boss.
I'll buy this issue soon, then. I almost want to post some of the information for posterity's sake, but I don't want to undermine the hard work it took to come up with it.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
I now know who the artist for NOTAM's cover art is (Hiroshi Nagai), so I've been looking him up just now. He's got a great eye for using an Americana art style to depict Zen-like tropical landscapes, abstract yet familiar. Artdink had wonderful taste in packaging back in their golden age.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
I've finished reading the mag. Excellent production values, irksome typos, and a bunch of useful content that clarifies some stuff about more obscure Artdink titles.
For example: I had no idea How Many Robots? is more of a puzzle game than a simulator, especially compared to its successor. And I find Ray's love for A5 both fascinating and a bit alien to me (the frame-rate's abominable in the PSX version, and I think jazz-fusion is just as wholesome for evoking an evolving cityscape as awesome original orchestrations from the Warsaw Philharmonic). But it's the coverage he includes for games like Tokio and Arctic that's most essential. There's a lot of old, obvious stuff I knew from scouring the web for Artdink information, but information on more obscure titles like this is totally new. It's quite an immersive experience, this issue!
For example: I had no idea How Many Robots? is more of a puzzle game than a simulator, especially compared to its successor. And I find Ray's love for A5 both fascinating and a bit alien to me (the frame-rate's abominable in the PSX version, and I think jazz-fusion is just as wholesome for evoking an evolving cityscape as awesome original orchestrations from the Warsaw Philharmonic). But it's the coverage he includes for games like Tokio and Arctic that's most essential. There's a lot of old, obvious stuff I knew from scouring the web for Artdink information, but information on more obscure titles like this is totally new. It's quite an immersive experience, this issue!