Oh God! Can't wait!

[Garple]

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[Horticulture Tycoon]

Pixel-art: cool. Cube-art? Kinda misses the point.

[Garple]

Pixel-art: cool. Cube-art? Kinda misses the point.

Your face kinda misses your mom!

Edit: C'mon, it's Atlus. How could it be wrong?

[Roderick]

I think I read that there's huge potential and support for modding and making your own stuff, is that correct? Anyway, this is a nice thing. Funny that they're pushing pixelart into 3D. Come on, have a sense of humour!

[Garple]

Funny that they're pushing pixelart into 3D. Come on, have a sense of humour!

Yeah, I mean, it's not like they're not aware it's kind of cheesy. Again: it's Atlus for Christ's sake. They know what they're doing. To me, it's actually kind of clever that they've come up with a goofy way to make an analogue to pixel-art in 3D...whoever developed this...if they hadn't done so...I doubt any one else would have thought of it.

[eljay]

To me, it's actually kind of clever that they've come up with a goofy way to make an analogue to pixel-art in 3D...whoever developed this...if they hadn't done so...I doubt any one else would have thought of it.

Except maybe Fez two years ago? (admittedly not released yet and in some kind of limbo)

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[toblix]

Don't you mean...

[Noyb]

Whoa. Neat art style. Vaguely reminiscent of that Q-Block flash art app that was floating around a little while ago.

Except maybe Fez two years ago? (admittedly not released yet and in some kind of limbo)

Fez isn't in limbo. Polytron is updating their site semi-regularly, and it seems on track for a 2010 XBLA release.

(Hell, even Limbo isn't in limbo if the IGF entry list is to be believed. )

[Garple]

Except maybe Fez two years ago? (admittedly not released yet and in some kind of limbo

I forgot about that. Oh well. Somehow...this seems different from that. Fez isn't trying to do a warped take on 8-bit graphics the way this is, is it?

[eljay]

Conceptually the graphical hook is the same on both, but yeah they are very different and cool for different reasons.

[Thrik]

Oh man, Atlus looks amazing — I'd never have imagined turning pixel art into cube art could look so great. Fez doesn't really do it for me.

[Irishjohn]

I think this looks pretty rad.

[Marek]

I dunno about this game. It doesn't feel like an homage to Zelda, it feels ... creepy.

[DanJW]

I dunno about this game. It doesn't feel like an homage to Zelda, it feels ... creepy.

Like a shrine to Zelda in someone's basement?

[Roderick]

LIMBO OF THE LOST

[syntheticgerbil]

I don't understand this game. The "almost plagarism" aspect of it makes me uneasy. Not that Zelda was incredibly original, but I really don't understand if this is supposed to be a homage, parody, or a game for those who hate regular 3D Zeldas. Maybe all three?

[Jake]

Not that Zelda was incredibly original

Do you mean aesthetically, or just Zelda in general?

[twmac]

Would like to point out that Atlus are only distributing this.

It is developed by someone else and was originally published by From Software, as massive From Software fanboy (Otogi, Metal Wolf Chaos, Ninja Blade, Demon's Souls) just wanted to point that out.

Just saying.

Really... I thought I should bring it up. No need to thank me...errr.

[Murdoc]

I don't understand this game. The "almost plagarism" aspect of it makes me uneasy. Not that Zelda was incredibly original, but I really don't understand if this is supposed to be a homage, parody, or a game for those who hate regular 3D Zeldas. Maybe all three?

I'm not sure if it's fair to call it plagarism. I mean I have some pretty liberal views about copyright, but if I want to make a zelda game, why couldn't I? Though if I went that far I'd probably have lofty enough goals to come up with my own story and such, but from the sense I get from this is kinds of a spoof/tribute game? It could even go farther and play off a lot of the common knowledge of zelda and try to twist that up a bit or make fun of it a bit (though I think windwaker and twlight princess already covered that ground)

At least thats what the art direction is telling me, so I assume the music/story setup is just giving a nod to it.

Kind of a neat idea for art; not expecting an amazing game, but something to keep my eyes on.

[OssK]

Do you mean aesthetically, or just Zelda in general?

I don't know much about aesthetics ('cause it's for pussies) but thematically I wouldn't call it original even if I wouldn't burn anyone for it's lack of the aforementioned quality.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I don't know much about aesthetics ('cause it's for pussies) but thematically I wouldn't call it original even if I wouldn't burn anyone for it's lack of the aforementioned quality.

There's a big difference between lack of originality and plagiarism.

[syntheticgerbil]

Do you mean aesthetically, or just Zelda in general?

Oh oops, I should clarify. I just meant aesthetically and storywise with all of the usual fantasy elements. The gameplay and the manner in which you collect tools has always the most enjoyable and unique aspect of most Zelda installments to me.

So I would guess even with gameplay similarities, Nintendo couldn't really call plagiarism on 3D Dot Game Heroes even though everything up to the soundtrack is Zelda like.

I'm not sure if it's fair to call it plagarism.

I said "almost plagiarism." Which is a lame way for me to say that although I don't think Nintendo could really do anything, I would not be surprised if they made a case against it. Someone already mentioned Limbo of the Lost, but it's not quite in the same vein.

I mean I have some pretty liberal views about copyright, but if I want to make a zelda game, why couldn't I?

But then again, why would you? Zelda is already made.

Though if I went that far I'd probably have lofty enough goals to come up with my own story and such, but from the sense I get from this is kinds of a spoof/tribute game? It could even go farther and play off a lot of the common knowledge of zelda and try to twist that up a bit or make fun of it a bit (though I think windwaker and twlight princess already covered that ground)

At least thats what the art direction is telling me, so I assume the music/story setup is just giving a nod to it.

Again I'm having a problem understanding what the intentions were for making this based on all of the promotional material I've seen so far. Homage? Tribute? 3D Zelda game for Zelda fans that hate 3D Zelda games? Parody? I'm not clearly seeing any of those things. More like I'm seeing something that maybe wanted to be all of those things or just generally had a hard time committing a clear idea.

Just seems like a game that you would see on a freeware website of fanboy type games rather than a full blown release you pay for.

Edited November 20, 2009 by syntheticgerbil

[Thrik]

I think you're reading a bit too much into the Zelda thing, although it's completely understandable why considering the trailer. I'm getting the feeling it'll be more a homage to the genre/era in general, and not just Zelda — though they obviously focused on that for this trailer.

From looking at the screenshots it'll look and play like a psuedo-3D version of any number of overhead RPGs of the late 80s/90s, with the more dramatic angles in the trailer used sparingly. In fact it looks a lot like Phantom Hourglass, except more blocky.

The gameplay could be wonderfully original like you'd expect from an indie title, or it could be derivative as fuck. If it's the former then I'm pretty happy with that. While I wouldn't go as far as to say it's like a freeware fan game, it does seem more like an indie title — not sure if the concept can stretch to the full retail price it's going for.

[syntheticgerbil]

Well to be clear, I did see the Japanese trailer first which seemed to go much less in the parody direction compared to what's at the top of the thread:

hoFYEtj2tDw&

The enemies are ridiculously similar to what was in the first three Zelda games. Why is the jumping spider pretty much exactly a Tektite? Do I see the character using a boomerang to hit a switch in a dungeon? Is someone running much like they are equipped with the Pegasus boots? Why is the main character being attacked by a bunch of chickens?

I see caves in hillsides, I'm wondering if you have to acquire bombs to open them. There's trees blocking paths that I suspect you may have to burn with a candle or lantern.

I know all of these things are in no way only allowed in the Zelda universe, but when they are all put together in one similar game in a way that doesn't seem to be adding a twist to create parody or expanding on the original Zelda action RPG type ideas outside of making the pixels cubes in 3D world, again, I just get confused.

[Murdoc]

But then again, why would you? Zelda is already made.

.

Why would they ever make sequels to zelda for the last 20 years? Same reason I'd like to make a Zelda game.

Really, when a game approrpriates a style of game or a theme from a nother game we throw down a hammer, but if a game does it to a movie we don't bat an eye, we just smile and go "oh I see what your doing, nice one"

So, what's the big deal? Dragon Age is great, but its lotr heavy and aside from a person choice of that being a fault, no one cares.

Halo, GoW, and every other Space marine game is basically Aliens 2.

Braid is essentially a Mario game without the Mario license as well.

And yeah I agree, their intentions are pretty unclear. I call it somewhat of a parody because of the novelty on the art direction, but everything else presented doesn't say that. My point above though is what does it matter? Zelda is a great game, if more people want to make me a zelda game, whether they divert from the source more or less, why would I complain?

I'll wait, try it and if it's awesome and still awesome even when not original(coughDRAGONAGEcough) then that's a good thing for us all.