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Otogi - first impressions


Bappo

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Haven't read any reviews yet so have nothing to compare it to.

 

Went and picked up my SC2 to day and came home with SC2 and Otogi. Wonder how that happened? Otogi is $39.99 so that probably has something to do with it. SC2 is fun but had to try the other.

 

If you played the demo you know what gameplay is like, no need to repeat. A 3D fighting game where the prefered combat is in the air. Magic force decreases slowly through a stage and can be replenished by releasing souls, killing demons, etc. If your MF goes to 0, your life force starts to deplete to an eventual death. Kind of an artificial level timer. You gain levels, buy and sell items and magic, use different skills and magic, and generally complete your goals. One interesting twist is that you can complete your goals fairly quickly but you dont release many spirits if you do so. You can DEVISTATE your environment if you want...no you must to gain exp and cash. You can go back and redo any completed stage from it's current state so that is nice.

 

Fun factor is very high IMO. I like weighing the time pressure with destroying the level and creatures Hard to score a perfect A on a stage.

 

Quite pretty at 480p 16x9 DD5.1 is used well. Camera use is not hard to get used to although it is a bit odd. Using target lock helps.

 

All in all I like the game considering I have completed 3 of 25 stages all be it I have redone each of those 3 levels to better my performance. I know there are unlockables just not sure what and how many. They are unlocked by some combination of spirits released, % of the environment destroyed, # of creatures killed, and score.

 

This is a SEGA game and it reminds me of Panzer Dragoon Orta in that it is not a formula game. Nice and daring in approach. I still like PDO better though, so far.

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Loving this so far. Fun factor is definitely through the roof. So far have passed the first 8 stages (splitting my time between this and Buffy Chaos Bleeds). The graphics are marvelous, sound and soundtrack are to die for. The game plays as a sort of amalgamation of the sword play in Onimusha and the dash gameplay of Gunvalkyrie but with a far more simplified control scheme.

 

Once you get to the nuances of the control scheme and camera control (for instance locking onto your enemies) as well as collecting new weapons and spells the game becomes that much deeper and enjoyable. The production values are high and the art design comes close to Panzer Dragoon Orta in some areas (though Orta is still reigning champ in my book :D ).

 

Really enjoying this game and thus far it looks like one that is easily recommendable. Put simply I can barely put it down.

More info when I beat it (soon...soon).

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Through the fourth stage. I'm afraid to use the spells as the magic level to me is precious (time). I have only one "A" score so far. The other 3 are D's :oops:

 

I know I can do better on level 4 as I ended up not wasting much time enjoying the sights. Need to go back for cash anyways.

 

Not an easy game. Fast but makes you think and plan.

 

Fun, fun

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How would you stack this title up to PDO? From your posts, you seemed to enjoy PDO every ounce as much as I did. Was Otogi put together by the Smilebit team as well?

 

Two very very different games to be honest and not comparable. PDO is a rail shooter while Otogi is a third person action title ala Devil May Cry or Onimusha. Just happens to be a damn stylish one. Also Simlebit had nothing to do with this game. It was developed by From Software (the folks who developed the Kings Field series) and only published by Sega.

 

I will say that I'm still in love with this :D. I'm on level 13, with 100% and A grades on 9 of those levels. This is just utterly addictive stuff. Best game From Software has done IMHO.

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Just wanted to add that Otogi is shooting right up the list of favorite Xbox games. I cannot (and will not) put it down! Currently on level 21 and the challenge has ramped up significantly. I currently have 18 of the 21 levels at A+ scores and 100% souls found. This is, simply put, a phenominal game.

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None shall pass!!!

 

Yes that level was annoying and I don't want to go back for a better score because of that. I finished that stage with only 1 kill. Had to shut him up. I just ran and jumped till the life square flying thing, destroyed it for the ball, then ran till the end boss and killed it. Cheezy I know.

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"None shall pass!" -repeated 327 times on the same level.

 

Thats why you enable the japanese language track like your supposed too and you wont have to worry about that annoying problem.;) I find the game far more authentic with that enabled as it is. In light of everything else the game does right, even that can't bother me.......much. :D

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  • 3 months later...

Well, thanks to the KBToys sale that Glen clued us in to, I picked this game up for $15 over the weekend. I thought it was about time to resurrect this topic, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who grabbed this game.

 

So far I've played through the first 3 levels, and I am really enjoying myself. It's quite a change of pace from Gotham and Rainbow Six! It's also one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, second perhaps only to Panzer Dragoon Orta. And by "beautiful" I don't mean it has the most polygons or the best lighting, I mean the look of the game, from the dream-like mist in some of the levels to the Japanese architecture, to the nightmarish demons (already I have seen demonic birdmen, ghastly undead sorcerers, floating skulls, and some kind of weird undead plant), and even to the look of the main character with his fearsome armor and pale white skin. The game does a great job of transporting the player to another world while playing the game, which is something that not every game gets right.

 

I'm not very good at stringing combos together yet, and I definitely have not mastered jumping and dashing either. I really like how you can go back and replay a level to improve your stats, because so far the highest grade I've finished a level at in my first go-around is a "D". Eep.

 

Anyway, as I said I'm sure other people took advantage of the KBT sale to pick the game up as well, so I figured I would bring back this post so we can talk about it.

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I freaking LOVE Otogi.

 

The atmosphere, the music, the style... all of it is just amazing. It comes darn close to Panzer Dragoon Orta as far as presentation.

 

It's worth keeping forever just so I have an excuse to come home from work, walk into a town as the Japanese equivalent of the Angel of Death, and destroy everything in sight.

 

And yes, that KayBee sale is insane. I saw Panzer Dragoon Orta for $9.99. Personally it should be illegal to sell that game so cheap, but whatever.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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