sych
"Living for the fantasy" -NIGHTS INTO DREAMS- The Classic Saturn Gem!!!
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Post by sych on Oct 3, 2009 17:50:14 GMT
There seems to be a huge fanbase surrounding these two games. I'm thinking of adding them to my collection. Does anyone own these two games? If so how well do they play and how well do they hold up to some of the other more popular RPG'S like Panzer, Grandia, Princess Crown and the Shinning Force series e.t.c?
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Aydan
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Post by Aydan on Oct 3, 2009 18:03:38 GMT
Albert Odyssey is an awesome rpg i highly recommend it. Has a great story and a very cool sense of humor in parts.
I can only play it at 50hz since my saturn is PAL but it's still fantastic and fully playable. If you can get it for a price that isn't ridiculous then go for it, you'll enjoy it I'm sure.
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sych
"Living for the fantasy" -NIGHTS INTO DREAMS- The Classic Saturn Gem!!!
Joined: July 2009
Posts: 2,660
Location:
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Post by sych on Oct 3, 2009 18:34:52 GMT
Thanks. You've convinced me. I'll look into it. Your right about the price though. Very overpriced on various sites.
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Aydan
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Post by Aydan on Oct 4, 2009 21:02:01 GMT
I tried magic knight ray earth out, seems ok but I'd recommend Albert over it first if you're looking for a real good rpg close to grandia and other traditional games.
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Post by Kibbles on Oct 4, 2009 22:38:08 GMT
I have to give Albert the thumbs up as well, very cute RPG.
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Post by superdeadite on Oct 5, 2009 14:46:28 GMT
I like them both. Good games with lots of Vic Ireland humor.  |
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syn
There can be only one. Not eternal spamnation
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Post by syn on Oct 5, 2009 19:12:14 GMT
I would recommend both of them as worth your time playing!
I'm due another round with Albert soon.
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Post by Warlok on Oct 10, 2009 21:23:38 GMT
Just bought Albert Odyssey (as some regulars here might have known) and tried it out first time for like an hour today (it's actually running in the other room, on world map - system menu or something). So, here's some pro's and con's GOOD -Cute altogether -Awesome battle graphics and music, just like old FFIII or something, a bit simpler menu-wise perhaps, but better looking -Amazing world map music with strings and all that shit, kinda shenmue-ish -Instantly recognizable solid true turn-based rpg elements -RANDOM ENCOUNTER BATTLES (yeah it might just be me, but I love that  NOT-SO-GOOD -Since I have no 50/60 hz switch, audio and graphics ain't always in sync (speech [even though it's rare with voicing in it] runs just like on a cd, while graphics are slower since it's a ntsc game). Ex: Wings flap! *SWOOSH* 0,5 second later, you actually see wings flap. When sounds are triggered by events, they usually work well though. -General speed. Even if it would've been 19% (or 22% or whatever, something like that) faster with switch, there's obvious intervals which would've been there anyway. Ex: SLASH THE WEREDOG WITH SWORD! *wait two seconds* Ah, he took 22 hp damage. But why is he still stand... OH! He died. So fucking unnecessary. The graphics are 100% (beautiful) 2D and the game was intended for SNES from the beginning (according to some article/review I read somewhere) so it's not like the Saturn can't handle it - Sunsoft or whatever their name are just liked it that way I suppose. Stupid people. -Bad epic story. "A LAND WAS CREATED FROM MAGIC AND SISTERS AND BROTHERS LIVED THERE AND A DRAGON WAS EVIL! AND BOOM! AND SOME KINDA WAR OR BATTLE! AND SOMEONE DIED AND BECAME A SWORD OR SOMETHING OF THE KIND! Then the darkness returned..." *zzzzz* -Yes, there are crystals. In the twisted minds of the japanese, crystals seem so important everything revolves around them. Not only do they look fine and bend light in strange ways (like on earth IRL), the always produce very powerful forces and contain shit like magic or people. I'm so tired of that I could cry. I'm an RPG conservative, but the crystal-fetish should be banned from them. In general, the game is fucking awesome and I'll be playing it like crazy. |
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Post by superdeadite on Oct 11, 2009 2:12:00 GMT
The story doesn't make a lot of sense to you, because you're playing the 2nd half. The original Albert Odyssey was for SuperFamicom. The Saturn game is actually called Albert Odyssey Gaiden. It's a sequal, all the back story in the intro is what happened in the first game.
The battle pauses are actually due to loading times. It was a very early Saturn game in Japan, and not optomized too well. Working Designs did improve them though. The loading in the Japanese version is awful.
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Post by Warlok on Oct 11, 2009 10:42:32 GMT
The story doesn't make a lot of sense to you, because you're playing the 2nd half. The original Albert Odyssey was for SuperFamicom. The Saturn game is actually called Albert Odyssey Gaiden. It's a sequal, all the back story in the intro is what happened in the first game. The battle pauses are actually due to loading times. It was a very early Saturn game in Japan, and not optomized too well. Working Designs did improve them though. The loading in the Japanese version is awful. I'm thankful they translated, and improved, it then. You know when reviewers jokingly talk about loading times so severe you could go take a coffee while waiting for them to finish? You almost actually can do that here. What also bugs me is that you can't first choose what all the members of the party will do in battle (attack, item etc), then see them all do it, but they get their own little "turns". That's really primitive for a 1996 game. The epic background story is rotten to the core. I don't think part 1 would've helped that much since, for example, the genesis story of the land is so horrendously ridicilous and cliché. "Created from magic" or something like that. And the conflict just isn't clear; I think first there was a dragon who spilled blood or whatever. Then one of the three siblings (why were they so special? were they the only inhabitants in the land which weas created by expert wizards or something of the sort?) became evil. The sister defeated him with a sword who might have been the good brother. And then some evil of course returns, and the connection to the in-game story is vague. I mean wtf. Just plain stupid. The in-game "everyday" story is good though. The humour is nerdy and feels forced somehow, but some parts do shine, such as one person in the second town talking about Chestoria (is the name itself a bad joke btw?) having a queen instead of a king. Then almost breaks the fourth wall by mentioning that it's not very democratic any which way and that the system with inherited absolute power to rule is archaic. No rpg npc has ever questioned fantasy monarchy in itself before as far as I've seen |
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Post by digichan on Oct 11, 2009 17:25:38 GMT
both are good old skool games not brilliant but they are good.. I wished I kepted my MK but I sold it before youtube arrived.. and I sold it as a set I had official sega figurines which I bought seperately but I sold it all as one set on eBay a few years ago  oh the american version comes with some cool sticky's with it anyway MK I would give 6/10.. and AO 6/10 good thing about both those games is they both have good music.  I still got Albert odyssey but I may sell it someday |
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Post by Warlok on Oct 11, 2009 19:45:53 GMT
The story doesn't make a lot of sense to you, because you're playing the 2nd half. The original Albert Odyssey was for SuperFamicom. The Saturn game is actually called Albert Odyssey Gaiden. It's a sequal, all the back story in the intro is what happened in the first game. The battle pauses are actually due to loading times. It was a very early Saturn game in Japan, and not optomized too well. Working Designs did improve them though. The loading in the Japanese version is awful. I would actually like to challenge that statement... First of all, according to wikipedia (I think), Albert Odyssey is more of a side-story than a sequel, so I'm not sure playing it for SNES would have made me understand or like the meta-story or the uninspiring architecture of the AO universe more. Second; 1996 in Japan is not "very early". Early yes perhaps, but it's not like it was a launch app. It's a 2D game ffs, having even ANY loading time between sword slashing and presenting damage made by presenting a simple animation of very small numbers popping up is just silly. The battles themselves load quite quick though (sequence from map to battle I mean). Not like in Skies of Arcadia  And I mean, Ogre Battle for SNES looks kinda like AO graphics-wise (though of course AO looks somewhat better and with higher res) and that had almost no loading times whatsoever. I say the earliness of the game is a pretty lame excuse for such loading times. I would prefer waiting 5 seconds longer before the battle itself than having to suffer through watching the enemy stand there and look stupid like it can't decide whether to live or die after getting attacked. Edit: About Ogre Battle... Sorry for that, of course one cannot compare CD game loading times and cartridge games' ditos. And when it comes to the design of characters (standing movement in battles etc), Dragon Force comes much closer than Ogre Battle. In battle sequences, FFIII is probably the best game to compare with. |
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Post by Kibbles on Oct 11, 2009 23:22:29 GMT
Gaiden as far as I'm a ware actually means a story set in an alternate world/side story :/
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Post by superdeadite on Oct 12, 2009 3:02:47 GMT
Gaiden means side-story. They are usually "half-sequals" often to fill in plot holes, or give extra information. Saturn Albert Odyssesy is a gaiden title because the characters and plot are not directly connected to the first game. But the state of the AO world was set due to the player's actions in SFC AO.
Still though, the Japanese tend to use "Gaiden" for almost anything, there is no set rules. Super Robot Taisen Alpha Gaiden is very much a sequal to Alpha. Art of Fighting 3, is technically Art of Fighting Gaiden in Japan, just because Robert is the star and not Ryo even though the story arc is a direct sequal.
As for load times, I remember all cd systems having icky load times back then. Like Tomb Raider (die, load, die, load, die load). Or any fighting game on PS1, Saturn at the time. Ever play Mortal Kombat Trilogy? haha awful awful loading times. A lot of RPGs at the time used long transition screens to mask the loading times, but they were there.
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cj_iwakura
Newbie
The Rhythm Rogue
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Post by cj_iwakura on Oct 16, 2009 4:45:12 GMT
both are good old skool games not brilliant but they are good.. I wished I kepted my MK but I sold it before youtube arrived.. and I sold it as a set I had official sega figurines which I bought seperately but I sold it all as one set on eBay a few years ago oh the american version comes with some cool sticky's with it anyway MK I would give 6/10.. and AO 6/10 good thing about both those games is they both have good music. I still got Albert odyssey but I may sell it someday I WANT YOUR HIKARU DISC.  I have the Umi disc. Never seen a Hikaru one until now. |
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oh the american version comes with some cool sticky's with it 
And I mean, Ogre Battle for SNES looks kinda like AO graphics-wise (though of course AO looks somewhat better and with higher res) and that had almost no loading times whatsoever. I say the earliness of the game is a pretty lame excuse for such loading times. I would prefer waiting 5 seconds longer before the battle itself than having to suffer through watching the enemy stand there and look stupid like it can't decide whether to live or die after getting attacked.
