Gway "Becky" Radiation (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fwugradiation) wrote,@ 2008-11-18 16:09:00 |
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brandish: turbografx edition
I'm still a Brandish junkie. Okay, since I heard there was a PC-Engine (read: turbografx) version of Brandish with voice acting and animations, I decided to search it out and get it. Man, easier said than done! I don't know Japanese so it took me an hour just to find the ROM, and then I had to burn it to a CD and the computer kept thinking it was an audio CD so I was confused for an hour but when I booted it with MagicEngine it was fun. Whatever.
Anyway, totally not worth it. First the good, and then the bad.
Good
- The animations are fantastic. If you don't like using your imagination, I think it makes things 10 times better. I love using my imagination though so it's pretty much what I thought actually happened before boss fights and during the opening except better explained. Kind of makes the game feel a little too much like an anime in some parts though.
- There's voice acting. There are only like 25 times that there's voice acting ever, and the voices are okay. Pretty much better than Mega Man Legend's voice acting, but that's all I can really say about it.
Bad
- The graphics outside of the animations somehow manage to suck even worse than the SNES versions. The problem with the SNES is that everything was small. The problem with the PCEngine is that outside of animations the pixels grow four times the size and everything looks like a crappy DOS game. Muddy textures everywhere, jesus christ. It hurts my eyes to look at, and I didn't even care about the crappiness of the original game.
- The animations outside of battle suck. Everything is jerky. Really jerky. The outside of battle animations are not synched to actual attacks, or actual sound effects.
- That being said, combat blows greatly. I'd rather play the PC-98 version with a crappy mouse. The premise of Brandish's battle system is that you could attack enemies that were moving ONTO the square in front of you. Now you can't attack them until they reach that spot and start attacking you, making you trade a large amount of unnecessary blows. That's the entire battle system. It SUCKS.
- The new music tracks are redbook audio, which would seem like it would be a blessing, but it's more of a curse. Imagine all those shitty synth trumpets from a generic casio, put them in a room, and make them play the piano with their butt. That's what it sounds like. HQ instruments that sound horrible, with little variety.
- If the instruments weren't bad enough, all the songs sound like effing elevator music now. The point of Brandish is that you're escaping from a dungeon. It's supposed to be dark or mysterious. Everything sounds like elevator music made on a Casio. Also, all of the secondary riffs or other little parts that went under the main melodies to all the songs DON'T EXIST. They only made the main melody of each piece and then failed to add any of the little extra parts that made the songs, y'know, interesting instead of whole notes and stuff. (Of course, one or two songs are okay. Pretty much just King Berebus and the Dragon Statue's theme.)
- You can also only use two buttons to do anything, so it's a pain in the ass having to pause and rest, save, and use items and things like that. It's not the biggest deal in the world, but it's annoying.
Overall, this version of the game sucks with the exception of the animations, which aren't really worth playing the game for. If you've already played Brandish, here's a Radiation protip: Cheat and use the debug code. I didn't even have to clear the first floor before I realized that everything was going to be confusing and crappy.
PC-Engine Brandish Debug Code:
On the title screen, press I, II, up, down, I, II, right, left, and then press I, II, and RUN all at the same time!
Yeah, so, it's crap. If some Brandish fan like me is reading this and they really want to see the animations and stuff, just go download it somewhere (haha GOOD LUCK), use the debug code, and never think about the game again. THE END
ps - also, apparently japanese people usually like brandish 3 --> brandish --> brandish 2, whereas I'm the complete opposite. This is because the original Brandishes were all for the PC-98, an old crappy personal computer, on which the first Brandish looked really primitive and its music was only okay. Brandish 2 was also much, much longer on the PC-98 and partially took place outside (destroying the feeling of claustrophobia).
PC-98-wise, Brandish 3 is definitely the best of the bunch. Great(er) music, great graphics, cool ideas, better fights. But compared to the SNES versions, the PC-98 ones are clunky and awkward to play, not to mention wayyyyy too long. Brandish 2 SFC was actually smooth, fast, and fun to play, not to mention it cut off a large amount of the more boring maps and areas, something I'm actually thankful for. (It also had none of the stupid bugs the PC-98 version had) Games can be too long, and I think Brandish 3 is a testament to that.
The other reason I like Brandish 3 the least is because, like, you go to a glacier, a volcano, a mountain, a sanctuary, TWO GENERIC towns, a castle, a desert... and a goddamn JUNGLE. It's generic. Not to mention some of the parts of the game are just... really annoying. Mostly the jungle, the sanctuary, and the inside of someone's body. Effing cheetahs. Effing killer bees. Effing gorillas. Effing... spike balls and holes in a puzzle that send you down a floor, auto-saving your game. That's just cruel. The game is just cruel. Some of the level design is retarded. Plus... a jungle? What is this, Donkey Kong Country? Goddammit.
Also I have to play Brandish 4 next, but I heard it sucks. I dunno. But it's got redbook audio, so... crap.
I'm still a Brandish junkie. Okay, since I heard there was a PC-Engine (read: turbografx) version of Brandish with voice acting and animations, I decided to search it out and get it. Man, easier said than done! I don't know Japanese so it took me an hour just to find the ROM, and then I had to burn it to a CD and the computer kept thinking it was an audio CD so I was confused for an hour but when I booted it with MagicEngine it was fun. Whatever.
Anyway, totally not worth it. First the good, and then the bad.
Good
- The animations are fantastic. If you don't like using your imagination, I think it makes things 10 times better. I love using my imagination though so it's pretty much what I thought actually happened before boss fights and during the opening except better explained. Kind of makes the game feel a little too much like an anime in some parts though.
- There's voice acting. There are only like 25 times that there's voice acting ever, and the voices are okay. Pretty much better than Mega Man Legend's voice acting, but that's all I can really say about it.
Bad
- The graphics outside of the animations somehow manage to suck even worse than the SNES versions. The problem with the SNES is that everything was small. The problem with the PCEngine is that outside of animations the pixels grow four times the size and everything looks like a crappy DOS game. Muddy textures everywhere, jesus christ. It hurts my eyes to look at, and I didn't even care about the crappiness of the original game.
- The animations outside of battle suck. Everything is jerky. Really jerky. The outside of battle animations are not synched to actual attacks, or actual sound effects.
- That being said, combat blows greatly. I'd rather play the PC-98 version with a crappy mouse. The premise of Brandish's battle system is that you could attack enemies that were moving ONTO the square in front of you. Now you can't attack them until they reach that spot and start attacking you, making you trade a large amount of unnecessary blows. That's the entire battle system. It SUCKS.
- The new music tracks are redbook audio, which would seem like it would be a blessing, but it's more of a curse. Imagine all those shitty synth trumpets from a generic casio, put them in a room, and make them play the piano with their butt. That's what it sounds like. HQ instruments that sound horrible, with little variety.
- If the instruments weren't bad enough, all the songs sound like effing elevator music now. The point of Brandish is that you're escaping from a dungeon. It's supposed to be dark or mysterious. Everything sounds like elevator music made on a Casio. Also, all of the secondary riffs or other little parts that went under the main melodies to all the songs DON'T EXIST. They only made the main melody of each piece and then failed to add any of the little extra parts that made the songs, y'know, interesting instead of whole notes and stuff. (Of course, one or two songs are okay. Pretty much just King Berebus and the Dragon Statue's theme.)
- You can also only use two buttons to do anything, so it's a pain in the ass having to pause and rest, save, and use items and things like that. It's not the biggest deal in the world, but it's annoying.
Overall, this version of the game sucks with the exception of the animations, which aren't really worth playing the game for. If you've already played Brandish, here's a Radiation protip: Cheat and use the debug code. I didn't even have to clear the first floor before I realized that everything was going to be confusing and crappy.
PC-Engine Brandish Debug Code:
On the title screen, press I, II, up, down, I, II, right, left, and then press I, II, and RUN all at the same time!
Yeah, so, it's crap. If some Brandish fan like me is reading this and they really want to see the animations and stuff, just go download it somewhere (haha GOOD LUCK), use the debug code, and never think about the game again. THE END
ps - also, apparently japanese people usually like brandish 3 --> brandish --> brandish 2, whereas I'm the complete opposite. This is because the original Brandishes were all for the PC-98, an old crappy personal computer, on which the first Brandish looked really primitive and its music was only okay. Brandish 2 was also much, much longer on the PC-98 and partially took place outside (destroying the feeling of claustrophobia).
PC-98-wise, Brandish 3 is definitely the best of the bunch. Great(er) music, great graphics, cool ideas, better fights. But compared to the SNES versions, the PC-98 ones are clunky and awkward to play, not to mention wayyyyy too long. Brandish 2 SFC was actually smooth, fast, and fun to play, not to mention it cut off a large amount of the more boring maps and areas, something I'm actually thankful for. (It also had none of the stupid bugs the PC-98 version had) Games can be too long, and I think Brandish 3 is a testament to that.
The other reason I like Brandish 3 the least is because, like, you go to a glacier, a volcano, a mountain, a sanctuary, TWO GENERIC towns, a castle, a desert... and a goddamn JUNGLE. It's generic. Not to mention some of the parts of the game are just... really annoying. Mostly the jungle, the sanctuary, and the inside of someone's body. Effing cheetahs. Effing killer bees. Effing gorillas. Effing... spike balls and holes in a puzzle that send you down a floor, auto-saving your game. That's just cruel. The game is just cruel. Some of the level design is retarded. Plus... a jungle? What is this, Donkey Kong Country? Goddammit.
Also I have to play Brandish 4 next, but I heard it sucks. I dunno. But it's got redbook audio, so... crap.
