110 replies to this topic

[GoldDreams]

I'm really hoping for a delay. I want this game to get that extra time for Sega to polish it up a bit. A sequel of this magnitude deserves to be the very best possible. So Sega should check to make sure things are all squared off with the fans of the original who have been asking for this over a decade now. I really can't wait but if Sega wants to take the extra few months to make it shine a bit, I'm not going to complain one bit.

[Drannore]

Adding to the confusion over the release date, wiiz.fr is saying that the European release date is going to be January 25, but gives no mention of a North American or Japanese date.

Look at Go Nintendo's front page of news for the source.

[DiGi Valentine]

<a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/wii/game/news...402143948293070" target="_blank">http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/wii/game/news...402143948293070</a>

Theres another interview with Iizuka, from Games Radar.



Iizuka lies ! During 1up week he specificlaly stated no Claris and Elliot. lol.

*sekret staff snigger*

Everyone remember how i said Iizuka was lying about something in the 1up interview? Aaaand you remember i said we may see some familiar faces as unlockables in the new game? ...well, do a little detective work and put those pieces of the puzzle together. XD
I don't know if the rest of the old NiD cast will make any sort of appearance or not but those two specific kids are.

[YamiLover13]

How can you think positive when the news is like this?

By standing on our heads and eating gumdrops.

Ok no seriously, we think positive because it makes us feel better. It gives us hope and makes us still want the new game. Now wether or not this will all come crashing down when we play the game...is another story. Sometimes games seem bad but turn out to be quite nice. We are keeping our hopes up and giving this game a chance. The final review will come when we have all had a chance to play it.

---Edit---
I remember that Digi. I just had no idea what was beign lied about but you have spilled the beans now.

[DiGi Valentine]

I remember that Digi. I just had no idea what was beign lied about but you have spilled the beans now.

I better get a mop then before one of those Sega employee's find the mess i just made.

[Jof]

Ah the good 'ol image.



Created back on the day that interview was released XD

[DiGi Valentine]

And how the NiD Crew laughed in the staff forum over that image! XD
Iizuka, man. You can't lie to us! We've been tapping your company for the last 11 years! XD

[YamiLover13]

And how the NiD Crew laughed in the staff forum over that image! XD
Iizuka, man. You can't lie to us! We've been tapping your company for the last 11 years! XD

That doesn't seem to stop him though. XD I wonder if he has even noticed that yet. I am sure someone at Sega has....just not sure about him.

I doubt they will see this mess...unless they really do go through and read EVERYTHING in this news section. Even I haven't done that.

[TRiPPY]

Lol so Iizuka's in London now, oho! He'll be in Amsterdam on zee 3rd. He should go sightseeing and buy cheese.

[Machenstein]

What is he doing in London? He could be doing anything, but the timing is quite odd. I wonder if he got your picture.

[Maresuke]

"He is a mirror of the child's personality, so when the children dream, they become him. So from a boy's point of view, NiGHTS will be a boy, from a girl's point of view, NiGHTS will be a girl. We expanded the storyline in the sequel, so we needed to have NiGHTS speak in this game to get more reaction."

Darn. I was hoping the opposite. Will would hear a Girl voice and Helen would hear a boy voice. Allwell.

[Meggiemaccat]

That actually makes sense; you wouldn't want to suddenly be a girl if you're a boy and you wouldn't want to suddenly be a boy if you're a girl. ^^; Remember, they have to dualize with him, and gender-swapping would be pretty darn disturbing for anyone, nevermind twelve-year-olds.

[Machenstein]

Wasn't that aspect used in the first game? Both Claris and Elliot had a different color hue for their version of NiGHTS if I recall correctly. Elliot's was more blue-ish while Claris was more purple. It kinda hinted at a gender difference.

[iLLViLLAiN]

Ah the good 'ol image.



Created back on the day that interview was released XD

that's hilarious lmao

Sorry I'll just be very PO'd if the scoring system isnt as good as the first one. The core gameplay of NiGHTS is the scoring system.

Exactamundo

[YamiLover13]

Wasn't that aspect used in the first game? Both Claris and Elliot had a different color hue for their version of NiGHTS if I recall correctly. Elliot's was more blue-ish while Claris was more purple. It kinda hinted at a gender difference.

Not that I recall. I don't remember ever noticing that. I remember when I was younger I always thought NiGHTS as Elliot was a bit shorter than usual, but then I realised that it was just my eyes playing tricks on me or something. There is not difference that I can see. I could be wrong though.

Also, I agree with the gender swapping comments. These kids are not the Sailor Starlights or whatever those guys/girls were called. Yet its funny how a lot of us see NiGHTS as the opposite gender of who we are.

Wait a sec...is it saying NiGHTS does have a gender whenever it is close to a dreamer or fuses with that dreamer? I always thought of NiGHTS as genderless all the time really. But that would make no sense.

[CrazyInABottle]

Sorry I'll just be very PO'd if the scoring system isnt as good as the first one. The core gameplay of NiGHTS is the scoring system.

It's okay, and I agree with you on that point. I did finally manage to play the original for a few minutes at a pawn shop, and even with that short time I can see how much fun that had to have been. Like I said earlier, we'll find ways to have fun getting good scores, even if it isn't the same experience.

[DiGi Valentine]

I think Iizuka was answering the question with an 'easy-way-out' method. By answering in that way he's saving himself the hassle of having to explain the whole 'androgenous' thing to the reporters. Besides, by saying it like that he's trying to make it appeal to younger gamers of both sexes. NiGHTS will still be based on whatever you want him to be. He was designed with that very thought in mind (other than the flying, of course).

[Kori]

Whoever made that gif of Iizuka-san, thenkyoo, I'll be having disturbing dreams of that for a week. XD PURE GENIUS!

I'm not terrifically horrified about the scoring system, purely because I suck eggs at getting a high score. But I honestly wouldn't worry! If Iizuka-san was sneaky enough to turn our attention away from Elliot and Claris, he's probably hiding a score-attack system in there too. ^3^

[ayamemaiden]

Whoever made that gif of Iizuka-san, thenkyoo, I'll be having disturbing dreams of that for a week. XD PURE GENIUS!

I'm not terrifically horrified about the scoring system, purely because I suck eggs at getting a high score. But I honestly wouldn't worry! If Iizuka-san was sneaky enough to turn our attention away from Elliot and Claris, he's probably hiding a score-attack system in there too. ^3^

Quite possibly.

[viperxmns]

BUM BUM BUM

Claris and Elliot, eh?

I'll be a happy dreamer when we learn Ideya Capture is IN.

Iizuka is such a sneaky bastard.

[Various Things]

Mmhmm. It's one of the things we were concerned about from the beginning. It seems doing 'laps' is out of the question now.
I think they'll base the score on how quickly you can do a level WHILE getting those high links in. I guess it's just a different way to challenge old fans without reusing the old method of laps. I still loved doing laps though.

I can see how restricting it to one lap could make the game more immediately accessible: people who dismissed the original as "too short" often did so because they missed the fact that you had the option of extending your time on each level by flying over the Ideya Palace rather than into it.

But this lack of laps does seem to be a simplification that will affect the game's long-term appeal. If there's a limited number of items in each "mare" (not sure what the equivalent will be called in JoD), and each level is shorter than the 120 seconds you were given in the original game, and you lose the tension of deciding whether to finish now or risk another lap... well, that reduces the number of elements and variables involved. So it's possible that the "perfect score" will be much easier to obtain than in the original.

Oh well. As long as the core elements of the gameplay are fun, and as long as the game saves records at all, there will definitely be some fun to be had from whatever high score features are in the game.

But I'm still hoping there's a dedicated score attack mode to unlock.

Okay, I want to know why everyone's so obsessed with the score attack stuff. It doesn't seem that great to me...

Depends on what you want out of a game I suppose. Games like GoldenEye, Crazy Taxi and the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series are fun, but I wouldn't have played them anywhere near as much as I did if they hadn't tracked best times or scores.

For me, the quality of the first playthrough of a game's "story" mode is sometimes less relevant than whether I can return to it to try and beat my own records. (Hence why I like the two Sonic Adventure games... for the last few years, I've only returned to them to time/score attack the Sonic/Shadow levels, so thoughts of the shooting/hunting stages have been banished from my mind.)

[DARiA]

I never played the original, but from what I saw, I saw score attacks and laps as not only the chance to have fun and challenge yourself, but also as a chance of exploring a level... With the JoD game, I'm sure I would never reach my goal chasing that bird, because I would stop at every corner to squeal about nice level designs...
Really hope for a chance of exploring game's dreamscapes freely.

And well, from what they wrote about NiGHTS voice... What do they know about crappy voices! XDXDXD I wonder if game will be ever licensed here in Russia, and it will be, just how would be voices messed up...

[YamiLover13]

There is. You'll notice it in the Wizeman battle. Both NiGHTS' are slightly different colours.

I just watched and noticed that the hues and sparkles are always different looking for the AI player during that battle. It doesn't matter if its Clairs or Elliot. You are always the normal looking NiGHTS and then the computer is a bit different. During normal gameplay, Claris and Eilliot as NiGHTS look exactly the same. There is not physical difference between the two. You just see one in the Wizman battle so that you won't get confused on which one you are controlling, or so I think that is the reason. Thats what I was trying to get across.

[temjin]

Didn't know where to put this, but seeing as the game is now released in Japan... Here's a review from someone at NeoGAF, who is a huge fan of the original too:

Heads up... this game is awful, and Sega has raped my memories of the original in the process.

I am NOT amused. I loved the demo at TGS, but they haven't fixed the framerate, and they've added a bunch of unnecessary stuff around the game itself which makes it one of the most offensive gaming experiences this year. DO NOT BELIEVE. I am sorely tempted to take it to a trade store in disgust, but I might also keep playing to see just how deep the anal penetration goes. Oh and you will hurl when you see the realtime cutscenes in this game. Seriously.

:|

CG cutscenes look awesome, but NiGHTS (and Reala) now speak, and they have terrible voices. All voice acting is in English with Japanese subtitles btw. There is a 10-15 minute long tutorial, hosted by a talking owl who says things like "good", "oh", "visitor" - not sure what that last one is all about. The graphics during these segments are horrendous, sub-PS2, almost PS1. The game has a lobby area from which you enter each zone, so it's a bit like SMG in that respect. There are stages where you have a single run to get as high a link as possible and it ends when the link ends. They suck. Did I mention the graphics blowing in the realtime cutscenes... The music is awesome, but it's pretty hard to screw up NiGHTS music when you are obviously using the original score! Oh and they used some of the original samples too, but used one of them for something totally different and it sounds stupid. Fans beware.

:S

[Machenstein]

Yeah, I read that. He seems very disgruntled. He also says things that are very contradictory to other sources such as the framerate. He doesn't even specify what he means by "a bunch of unnecessary stuff". I think he just had a very bad day. Either that or he's trying to lower NeoGAF's expectations so no one will be disappointed in the end.

Odd place, NeoGAF.

[Tsunami]

At this point I really have no idea what to take from the reviews. I've heard everything from "the voices are excellent (except NiGHTS') and the game is a great homage to the old one, you will love it!" to "the voices SUCK, the story sucks, and it hardly lives up to the original, you'll want to commit hara-kiri with the Wiimote". Very contradictory lot of stuff, eh?

From the one clip we've got online, I have to agree that the graphics are wanting for a Wii game. A lot. But I'm willing to put that aside if everything else is good enough.

[Rick Hunter]

honestly I take this sites reviews with more than a few grains of salt... I read their review on Portal... they made it sound like a feminist rally call... (yes the game is non violent and features a woman protagonist, but I don't think VALVe intended the underlying message to be men are evil...)

edit: I was referring to the original link at the beginning of this thread not the NeoGAF one

[temjin]

another use review of the game from a big nights fan:

I've been playing this game a couple of hours.
My first impressions are:

-TOO f^&*(ing MUCH POINTLESS CUTSCENES.
-Cutscenes models sucks hard, they are SO ugly, NiGHTS' face is f^&*(ing creepy.
-The controls feel a little unresponsive for me. In the original NiGHTS I remember myself nailing every ring and linking a lot of them, but I find the controls in this one a bit harder.
-Now every level has different missions, most of them kind of boring. The ranking system it's not like in the original Nights, where you could stay flying through the level until the very last second collecting blue chips and linking. Now it's more the faster you can finish the level or something, I don't really get it yet. Missions with the kids walking around suck really hard.
-The "My Dream" thing with the A Life system it's pointless, it's not like Chaos in Sonic Adventure, you almost can't interact with the Nightopians, other than carrying them from place to place. Also, the garden is HORRID.

+One of the levels, the Glass garden or something like that, looks really great. The game looks nice if you forget the cutscenes.
+Music is great too, many catchy tunes, but not as great as the original. The music in the character selection screen is the same you heard on the original NiGHTS, it made me smile.
+The persona masks thing looks interesting, I'd have to play more to tell

I don't know if the game sucks or not yet, but don't get your hopes very high guys, although it looks like it is a decent (but not awesome) sequel.

[Louis]

Well... at least we have the remake?

[Drannore]

Oh, come on. The first one reeks of bias, even if he says that he is a fan, it totally contradicts what more professional sources have said. The second was written while the guy was not done with the game, which casts serious doubt on his opinions as well.

I am going to calm down and watch some of the new videos on Gametrailers.

[viperxmns]

Oof.. controversial fan opinion not good.. but it works off points I have in mind from now. But keep in mind that perhaps, perhaps the game really benefits from repeat playing (just like NiD), which no one has had the time to do yet.

Seriously though, why is NiGHTS's mouth in the middle of his face in the cut scenes?? I'll never understand.

[Machenstein]

I should have told you guys this earlier but... Journey of Dreams will have its haters. I've known this ever since the game was announced back in March. Even the original game has its haters, if you can actually believe that. There will be many people who don't understand the game and there will be many people who are disgruntled because this game is not exactly like the original.

Such was the case with Gunstar Super Heroes a couple years back. Either many people were not familiar with the original Gunstar Heroes or many long-time fans were not content because of the lack of enemy throwing, combining weapons and co-op... even though it was a great game with its own unique combat system. But a lot of long-time fans on the Treasure Fanpage loved it for what it was; another great Treasure game with an awesome combat system.

What I'm trying to say is... Journey of Dreams will not be the perfect sequel many of us were hoping for. Why? Because no game is perfect, not even the original. How can we expect a sequel to be perfect with unanimous 10/10's when not even the original was received as such? If the game is good, and not as bad as Johnnyram says it is, then perhaps we should make it a goal to welcome the game for what it is and what it has to offer. It might be fun.

We really should stop branding our games like so much cattle.

[Arkiee]

Well it does seem to get some bad fan reviews, though average customer reviews on the Japanese Amazon site is four out of five stars, some people obvioulsy hate it going as low as one star, while others seem to like it, giving it five stars, quite preplixing. Though people who do hate this game, really hate this game.

Hmmm I really didn't want the year to end like this, good game after good game, it would seem only natural that NiGHTS would be one of those good games, real shame. Still I’ll try it out for myself when it comes out in Europe.

[viperxmns]

NiGHTS hate really, really... irks.. me.. to to end. I like the notion that NiGHTS haters just aren't real gamers.

[Purgatory]

I don't think that mentality makes sense. People like and hate what they feel like liking and hating. It doesn't take away their right or their label (since seems nobody can live without a label ) because they don't like something that really isn't everyone's cup of tea. NiGHTS is a very unique game and something that, in its obscurity, many people aren't really into. Compared to other fandoms, there's so few of us. That would give anyone any right to say that because we like a game about a flying clown that lives in happyland we aren't gamers either.

Would you consider yourself a gamer still? Or rather do you consider yourself a gamer? What game do you not like and does that make you less of one? I love NiGHTS, but I'm not gonna say anyone is any less of anything for not liking it.. it makes me think of people who riot over silly things.

The Mischief Committee does not belong in the NiGHTS fandom. XD

[Machenstein]

If it makes you guys feel any better, the people at GameFAQs (*shudder*) seem to like it. The game has been out in Japan for a little while now and the impressions seem spot on with everything we have seen so far. I know it's not much, but given the alternative (NeoGAF), it probably isn't so bad.

[viperxmns]

I don't think that mentality makes sense. People like and hate what they feel like liking and hating. It doesn't take away their right or their label (since seems nobody can live without a label ) because they don't like something that really isn't everyone's cup of tea. NiGHTS is a very unique game and something that, in its obscurity, many people aren't really into. Compared to other fandoms, there's so few of us. That would give anyone any right to say that because we like a game about a flying clown that lives in happyland we aren't gamers either.

Would you consider yourself a gamer still? Or rather do you consider yourself a gamer? What game do you not like and does that make you less of one? I love NiGHTS, but I'm not gonna say anyone is any less of anything for not liking it.. it makes me think of people who riot over silly things.

The Mischief Committee does not belong in the NiGHTS fandom. XD

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I'd rather they have that opinion after they've actually played the game, at the very least. I've read a lot of negative snap judgements about NiGHTS, most likely simply for the rather 'kid-friendly' nature of the game. It's that kind of thing that bugs the hell outta me.

[Purgatory]

Point taken. But there's boatloads of things you or I or anyone would deem boring or disgusting or scary or stupid before ever trying them and just never do it because of an opinion we formed ahead of time. Sure, you should always try new things. But come on. They're gamers. XD What gamer isn't strongly opinionated anyway.