[DS] Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

[icycalm]

This and the new FE title look like rushjobs. I actually kinda like the look of this a bit more -- not sure exactly why. Something to do with the colors perhaps.



http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/doc ... /niss2.htm

[ei6]

The character art looks a bit grittier and the palette appears considerably more muted compared to the bouncy, happy colours of the previous two installments. Perhaps Intelligent Systems is aiming for a more "mature" feel this time around?

[CosMind]

Perhaps Intelligent Systems is aiming for a more "mature" feel this time around?

As I questioned in my reply in the FE thread, I honestly can't believe that Intelligent Systems is even producing this (or FE). It's just not like them to put together such sloppy presentation.

This one makes it even scarier, as the skewed angle of the units is clearly less-than-optimal for gameplay (something IS has always been so amazingly tuned into). It makes the clarity of positioning and spatial relationships so muddy.

What's going on?

[MAXCHAIN]

FUck, what are they thinking? Next they'll come out with a shitty looking 2D Metroid.

[icycalm]

this one makes it even scarier, as the skewed angle of the units is clearly less-than-optimal for gameplay (something IS has always been so amazingly tuned into). it makes the clarity of positioning and spatial relationships so muddy.

The angle is skewed? The viewpoint looks to me like any other Wars game... I must be blind or something.

[Kaede]

I think he's referring to the fact the angle of the units on the map are rotated 45 degrees.

Good to see that they are actually trying to change things for this version as the first three games were all so similar, but this does look pretty ugly. :(

[CosMind]

The angle is skewed? The viewpoint looks to me like any other Wars game... I must be blind or something.

I think he's referring to the fact the angle of the units on the map are rotated 45 degrees.

For surely, as Kaede clears up. Apologies for not being a little more clear in my comment.

Here's a video of the game in action. Man, it really, really looks like garbage on the aesthetic front:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26459.html

Oh well, here's to hoping the mechanics will not take a turn for the ugly, too. Which, i'm sure it won't. I have every reason to believe that it will play like good sex, still :)

[icycalm]

Oh my, that looks pretty damn interesting! Heavy metal riffs, a pink map, gritty-looking characters and units with a cell-shaded look?

Man, this looks cool.

[CosMind]

Hey, that's sweet. I'm glad that the new audio/visual direction strikes your fancy. That's one thing that makes life so slick -- the rich palette of tastes that we all have.

As I mentioned before, even though I personally don't dig the new aesthetic, I'm sure the game will turn out just as ace as the previous iterations.

Can't wait to play, indeed.

[JoshF]

Can Photoshop art qualify as a sprite if they make it low-res and sharpen the edges?

[icycalm]

Review by EightEyes, who as it turns out works for Australian developer Tantalus, and who's worked on a bunch of DS games already. (Number 1 Google search result with his name + DS is this interview.)

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/ds/advancewarsdaysofruin/

I have said often enough that I hate it when reviewers become developers, but I should also note that I love it when developers become reviewers. Reminds me of film directors such as Godard and Truffaut, who were not only top directors, but also top critics at the same time. Can anyone imagine Miyamoto or Sid Meier or any of those guys actually reviewing games? If not why not?

But that is a subject for an article or a theory thread.

To return to the subject at hand, I have one question about this game:

[Days of Ruin is a] deeper, better-balanced version of the game

Is it really? I mean, from your comments, it's obviously deeper, but better-balanced? What does balance mean in such a game? Doesn't it mean that the various COs must be very close in terms of effectiveness, if they are handled by a skillful player?

But then you have also said that:

The COs and their abilities are still meaningfully differentiated from each other, but they're not as significant a part of the game as they once were.

So I guess the above change makes the COs easier to balance. But are they actually well balanced? You didn't mention anything in the review, so I am assuming that they are...

[icycalm]

Also, lol at this game not being available in Japan over a year after its US and EU releases. Even the Oceanians have got it by now.

I guess Nintendo Japan is too busy with games like Wii Breakfast and such, or DS brain training games whose purpose is to train the general population into acquiring enough intelligence to one day be able to play a game like this.

[BlackerOmegalon]

I did not know that. I guess that explains that game's gritty design. Is it possible Mad World is in the same boat? They have not announced a release for the game yet.

[JoshF]

So is this game an example of the Xboxification process?

[Vert1]

No.

[EightEyes]

So I guess the above change makes the COs easier to balance. But are they actually well balanced? You didn't mention anything in the review, so I am assuming that they are...

The COs are better balanced than they were in the previous game, partly (as you correctly guess) because their overall influence on the game's outcome is greatly reduced. There are certainly still CO tiers, but the game isn't won and lost at the CO select screen any more.

The overall unit balance has been improved too, with the addition of cheap anti-tank units, and unit costs having been tweaked across the board. My own unit selection varies based on my opponent's actions and on the overall situation - the game doesn't seem to have broken down into a single degenerate strategy, and most of the units in the game get at least some use.

[EightEyes]

So is this game an example of the Xboxification process?

That's a bloody good question.

This is a game that, for better or worse, designers love, and love to talk about. (The "Wars" games generally, and perhaps especially Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising.) It's one of the best examples we've got of how to present a deep, complex, interesting game through a very straightforward control interface.

[icycalm]

Guys, let's get some perspective into this thread.

The Wars games are IN NO WAY COMPLEX GAMES. We are talking about turn-based strategy here. If you call Advance Wars complex, WTF are you going to call Universal Military Simulator, Civilization, Galactic Civilizations, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Nobunaga's Ambitions, Bandit Kings of Ancient China, Master of Orion, Master of Magic, Age of Wonders, etc. etc. etc.?

The Wars games are kids' games by comparison. They are little snacks only to be had when you are really hungry between main meals. The same is true of the Fire Emblem games. But that doesn't mean that they are "bad". You can have good snacks and bad snacks, and these games are the most awesome strategy-flavored snacks in existence.

But that is not to say they are anything more than snacks.

So yes, some perspective please -- this isn't lamefaqs.

...

As for Xboxification, if Josh wasn't being facetious, the answer is no, this game has nothing to do with it. Xboxification is the process wherein venerable, complex PC games get console updates in order to cash in on brand recognition, but which are also dumbed down to appeal to the crude tastes of console-only gamers. Japanese games, therefore, or games that started out on consoles generally, cannot be Xboxified -- because they already are!

There is another process though that this game could belong to -- though I am not the expert on it (Recap is). This is the Americanization process, wherein Japanese console games acquire Western sensibilities (either in terms of mechanics, aesthetics, or both) in order to become more appealing to the more lucrative Western markets. Examples abound: No More Heroes, Quantum Theory, Vampire Rain, and even JRPGs these days, like Shirokishi Monogatari (White Knight Chronicles) for example.

Note that, in most cases, the results of both the above processes are negative, but there are exceptions (Halo is one in the former process; Namco's beat'-em-up-slash-FPS Breakdown in the latter).

[Vert1]

Something that has bothered me about this game is that it lets you zoom in (not helpful), but not zoom out. I really would love to know why the developers thought it was important to let me zoom in so I could see building lights flicker.