The Gamer's Quarter

Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

hee hee

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:33 pm Post subject:

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

So is the Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon game going to be worth buying? Are there going to be any differences between the DS and GBA versions? Should I use the money I'd use on one of those to get one of the BitGeneration games? Should I just start playing NetHack instead?

J.Goodwin · . Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 297 Location: North Shore, MA

Has anyone else played the Puyo Puyo RPG? Madoh Monogatari...
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Playing - Ninety-Nine Nights - Xbox 360

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Puyo . . . Puyo . . . RPG?

*dies*

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

J.Goodwin · . Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 297 Location: North Shore, MA

CamusSirius · . Joined: 10 Sep 2006 Posts: 20

Hello Everyone,

I am a newcomer to this place but I have been playing the Shiren and Torneko games for a long time in it's original language in Japan.

My specialty is Shiren the Wanderer so I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

I have a few questions myself.
Is it only March this year that Shiren has officialy been translated and released in English?
How are the users/gamers finding this game? I mean, is it popular/not-popular etc.
and,
Sorry if this is not the place to write like this.
Please let me know if there are other large Shiren or Torneko(Fushigi no Dungeon Games) websites in English.

I will be most greatful if somebody can help with these questions. I just love these games so much that I want to see how they are doing in English (or outside Japan).

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Just a note: Play Asia's weekly special right now is Shonen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon (PS2), for $12.90.

ronintendo · . Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Anytown USA

I picked up the cart for this game while in Japan based solely on what I read about it here and it has not dissapointed. Getting as far as you can, even if it's just a scant two floors or so more than you got last time is really rewarding. The main character is downright iconic, and has a lot to do with my involvment insofar. I'll admit I've largely ignored most of Chunsoft's catalog up until now, I guess this is as good a reason as any to check out more.

CamusSirius · . Joined: 10 Sep 2006 Posts: 20

Thank you very much Sharpermc for answering. Very Happy

Shiren the Wanderer and Asuka are highly rated by gamers here in Japan, especially by those who have been playing various types of video games for a long time. I am surprised that most of these `Platinum` rated games have never left Japan.

By the way, a lot of gamers here regard the Chocobo and the Druaga game as a separate type of game from the Shiren/Torneko. So I would really hate to see people judge the Fushigino Dungeon games by just playing those. (no offense intended to people who like those games... it is just a different type of game)

A video game television show comentator and well known comedian once stated that `Shiren (the Wanderer) is a game made by the gods`. This was over 10 years ago. I still recommend this games to people today!

I guess you have to play this game for a while before you really start liking it. Yes, all players are expected to die may times to get a hang of the game. If you cleared the game in one try, you would not have any idea of the drama in each village. In Toruneko 1, which was released for the Super Family Computer, you need to die to see the story of the game. Smile

The character in the game becomes stronger with experience from slaying monsters, but it is actually the player that is growning in wisdom, after all the deaths and falls from the mistakes made.

CamusSirius · . Joined: 10 Sep 2006 Posts: 20

Sorry Shapermc, for misspelling your name.
I also noticed a few obvious errors in the last message that I posted.

I should have used some type of spell check.
...still have not figured out how to use some of these functions/options.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

No worries.

Anyways, I don't think that most americans really understood what the Shiren/Torneko games are really trying to do. People here get pissed when they don't save their levels after they die.

Perhaps this Pokemon game will capture people and we will officially get some of the better ones in the future.

Have you played the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game?
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Oh, so hey.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Sushi d · Moderator Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 239

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

With the release of Nightmare of Druaga and a more recent Americanization of the form in the Pokemon Mysterious Dungeons, plus the popularity of the DS, is it too much to hope we may see an official English version?

Someone here's gotta know someone at Atlus or something!

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Cooking Mama made it over!
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

CamusSirius · . Joined: 10 Sep 2006 Posts: 20

Sapermc wrote:
Have you played the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game?

Yes I have. I think it is OK. Hopefully this will bring more people to play these Fushigino Dungeons.

I thought it was interesting how in this game you can take a few NPCs with you and you can pretty much control what they will do...unlike the NPCs in Shiren the Wanderer. Laughing

But of course, my favorite dungeons are the ones where you cannot take any friends, money, items, and start with Level 1. I wish this game had more difficult dungeons in it.

simplicio wrote:
Oh, so hey.

That is in the Chunsoft Official site, so it looks like it is for real! Very Happy

It says, there are new dungeons, new monsters, new scenarios, new items, etc. The monsters now Level up to Level 4. Wow. Yes I wish they can officially put out an English version so that more people can experience the joy of Shiren!

I got trapped in this madness with Torneko 1 and Shiren the Wanderer using the Super Family Computer.
I bought the Game Boy just to play Shiren GB.
I bought a new PS just to play Torneko 2.
I bought a Nintendo 64 just to play Shiren 2.
I bought a DreamCast just to play Asuka.
I bought a PS2 just to play Torneko 3.
I bought a GB Advance just to play Shiren GBA.
Now I have to find a Nintendo DS.
Aaarrgh!
But hey, I have not done any shopping that I ever regretted! Exclamation

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

LordGek · . Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 214

I like your style, you sick Puppy, Camus!

Have you ever played PC Asuka? Pretty much a striahgt port of the DC game but with lot more dungeons and a few more skills. While I still can't read Japanese myself, that was my FAVORITE of the Mysterious Dungeon games I've played so far.

I too love the hardcore, level one, no items, and everything from the game (itemwise) finally unlocked! While this is sort of there in PMD, I think the Pokemon system doesn't work this in as well as it was with Asuka or Torneko 3 GBA. I also wish they took a page from Torneko 3 GBA and gave the option to get RIGHT INTO one of those end dungeons w/o all of the sotryline nonsense. I also miss NOT having a scoreboard for each dungeon like you did in Asuka (Asuka PC has some 30+ dungeons and MOST are of the going in naked at first level variety).

So There!

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

There was a Shiren 64? Was it in 3-D?

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:23 am Post subject:

the characters are polygonal. it's still essentially a 2D game, though.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

If Chun Soft is thinking about porting it to the US at all, the sales of this will be the make or break is my guess. Torneko sold like crap and had no marketing and was poorly received (I think Chocobo slipped under everyones nose) and same with Druaga... so who knows. This could be chun softs huge break. If anything can get a million people interested in a new generea it's pokemon.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

I picked it up but I'm too busy playing Rocket Slime to pay attention to it now. I'm actually kind of glad to hear that it's easy because 1) I really suck at these games and 2) it's going to (hopefully) become my anytime-on-the-go game that's good for starting and stopping in short intervals. FFTA's easiness made it a great game for that, and maybe this'll be the same.
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LordGek · . Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 214

Nyha!

What's all this then?

Shiren DS Trailer
http://gamershell.com/download_15633.shtml

Random Facts I gathered from this:
1) Very close to our SNES buddy here.
2) With the DS you can have your map or inventory up on the top screen (like PMD).
3) Can send out an SOS when knocked down in a dungeon (like PMD).
4) They've even done something now with the "Bungie Jumping Bridge"...not sure if its just a cutscene or if you can do weird bungie jumping stuff.
5) Still has a score board.
6) Not sure here, but looks like you can store replays of some of your bigger runs.
7) I THINK I saw some new baddies in there, but not super sure.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I wonder what the WiFi will be used for...

Anyways, this looks really, really good. Which makes me even more sad that it probably wont come out in the US. PMD seems to be getting panned by reviewers because "it's not a pokemon game"

Fuck them! I want this game bad.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

LordGek · . Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 214

The W-Fi is mainly for the rescues, I'm imagining...maybe they'll even let you trade scores with one another but no real clue one that.

In one part of that video when talking about Wi-Fi it looked like somebody was scrolling through a LIST of many SOS requests...so maybe you can log into some central databnk of rescue requests and then beamback when the mission is complete?

CamusSirius · . Joined: 10 Sep 2006 Posts: 20

LordGek wrote:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

So what do our collective forces know about Izuna?

http://www.success-corp.co.jp/software/ds/izuna/index.html

Because it's coming to the USA!

EDIT: Lot's of info here
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 1:43 pm Post subject:

i first heard of that last night from andy. doesn't look half bad! and hey, girl-girl groping.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Moeeeeeeeeeeeee

No seriously, that artwork scares me.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Page 2 of a shiren DS scan
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:10 pm Post subject:

six dungeons in, torneko (playstation version) is finally starting to get challenging.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:20 am Post subject:

another reason i like shiren so much is because the different areas shiren travels through all have interesting shapes. the forest and the river and the swamp. tenma pass with all those narrow paths. i played a game of shiren (up to the 21st floor!) and then played some torneko. even the forest has square rooms! at least the layouts of the rooms are starting to get interesting.

here's a death story from torneko forest, floor 8: i had chanced upon a shop (one of many i'd encountered in that forest). there were a few weapons, far out of my price range. so i stocked up on sundries: an herb and a couple of loaves of bread. i probably wouldn't even need them, thanks to all the little onion-bread creatures i'd been killing, but i decided it'd be best to play safe.

i stepped up to the shopowner to pay - and hit one of those rock traps that trip you. i fell over, and a few of my items fell out of my pockets - specifically, the bread i'd just bought tumbled onto the groud outside the store. "thief!" the shopkeeper yelled, and clobbered me. i was dead in one hit.

shiren gbc is a little disappointing in that it's probably more like torneko than it is like shiren - square rooms, multiple dungeons. i played through the first two dungeons last night. it gets harder a lot faster, though - towards the top of the second dungeon (or tower, rather) they start tossing debutas at you and other toughies. and the cutscenes feature gorgeous illustrations, not just people running around going "what kind of old man doesn't want people to be happy?"
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OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

So Game Informer (which I only read because I get it for free) had a very derogatory review of PMD last issue that blasted both the Mysterious Dungeon series and the intellgence of its fans. I thought that was very interesting indeed.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Yeah, the square rooms thing is starting to get more of my attention than it deserves (as far as noticing the flaws). My guess is that it's infinatly more difficult to program random organic rooms than square ones.

Anyways, I am curious to hear what GI thinks of the Mysterious Dungeon series. I roll my eyes when they get brought up, but at this point I am curious to see just how misinformed they are.

EDIT: And, no, Torneko PS1 is not Shiren, nor will it be. But is is the closest thing to it released in the US. Confirm/Deny?
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:53 am Post subject:

a funny thing happened on the way to table mountain.

you know that cutscene that plays right before you enter table mountain? well, instead of stopping and looking up, shiren tripped and fell flat on his face. and then the camera panned upwards as usual. it was cute! i'd never seen that before.

i died on the 21st floor again. the underground village really needs to relocate.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject:

i'm getting bored with torneko. it seems like the emphasis is more on bash-pow fighting than on clever use of your inventory. playing torneko makes me want to play shiren. (so i usually do.)

am i the only one who thinks torneko's copper sword looks like a banana?
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dessgeega · Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:31 am Post subject:

new screens of shiren ds.

also sega's publishing this game?
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

So is it a port? The tiles look identical to the SNES ones.
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Pijaibros · Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:01 am Post subject:

I never knew that Sega acquired Chun-Soft! This gives me faith that a US release could happen. Sega being all desperate for monies and Pokemon MD doin pretty well despite mainstream press bashing the series in general.

Unlike the SNES ROM this will give me good reason to actually keep chipping away if I can play it in portable form.

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

a couple of snes hardware questions for you, dess! I didn't really look at the rest of this thread too thoroughly, so I don't know if you mentioned this, but: What hardware are you using to play roms and a real snes? how much did that cost/where did you get it? did the bugs in the translated rom ever get ironed out? I'm kind of idly thinking about getting that setup all... well, set up, so any info you can give me would be super appreciated.

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

I bought Nightmare of Druaga today. It's okay, they cleverly left "Fushigi No Dungeon" in the title as "Fushigno Dungeon" or something like that. It's really not that bad of a game, but, for me at least, The Tower of Druaga just isn't as appealing as Shiren or Pokemon.