Bastion

[Thyroid]

Upcoming PC RPG Zelda/Diablo "homage":

  Quote

Supergiant explains Bastion as an "action role-playing game set in a lush imaginative world, in which players must create and fight for civilization's last refuge as a mysterious narrator marks their every move."

Trailer:

mX48y24t9iU

Looks nifty. I love the colors, but - right now, without any knowledge of gameplay - I kinda wish the background was a little less "far" and blended better with the foreground.

[Garden Ninja]

It looks gorgeous, and "Zelda/Diablo" is enough to get me interested, but I'm going to wait for more gameplay details before I get excited about it.

I see what you mean about the background vs. foreground, but it doesn't bother me personally.

[Twig]

The character art is not good, but the level art is really awesome. And I love the idea of building the world in a dungeon-crawler. I'm in.

[elmuerte]

It looks weird. I'm not really sure if I like the art.

[Irishjohn]

Giantbomb is going to have interesting coverage of the game's development:

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/hands-on-bastion/2513/ (note at the end about their approach and why they subsequently won't review it)

I am intrigued but it's so early at this stage who knows what it will actually be like?

[Defenestrated]

Okay, the use of narration in this game is definitely different and seems super interesting. Not sure how they'll be able to keep it up without it becoming really sparse or repetitive and annoying, but what they've shown is cool.

I particularly like how things are just referred to as "slime things" or "big ol' gas thing" or "somethin shiny" rather than Sygian Mist Horror or Crystals of Archea or some other crazy bullshit. Refreshing.

[Erkki]

I heard on Twitter that Greg Kasavin (another journalist turned developer) is working on that game.

[Irishjohn]

  Erkki said:

I heard on Twitter that Greg Kasavin (another journalist turned developer) is working on that game.

Yup, I think he's "creative director". Some more knowledgeable thumbs could let me know what that means.

[Erkki]

What most interests me about it is the dynamic narration / live commentary. It seems to be done well from the video at GiantBomb. An indie game did that, it's interesting to see ideas from small indie games get into bigger titles.

[Thyroid]

  Irishjohn said:

Yup, I think he's "creative director". Some more knowledgeable thumbs could let me know what that means.

Ron Gilbert's role in Hothead, I guess: he oversees things? I dunno. Tim Schafer was the same on Psychonauts, I believe.

Though I'm not a fan of Kasavin, whose tastes tend to be more traditional than mine. Hmm.

[spindrift]

He was only just hired there afaik, so his input in this project so far has probably been limited to faxes.

ps this game is gorgeous

[Patters]

  Kroms said:

Ron Gilbert's role in Hothead, I guess: he oversees things? I dunno. Tim Schafer was the same on Psychonauts, I believe.

Though I'm not a fan of Kasavin, whose tastes tend to be more traditional than mine. Hmm.

It's the title Clint Hocking had for Splinter Cell 3 and Far Cry 2, obviously dependant on the company the involvement could be different.

[syntheticgerbil]

  Twig said:

The character art is not good, but the level art is really awesome. And I love the idea of building the world in a dungeon-crawler. I'm in.

Yeah I think a couple of the characters had that bad Wind Waker look that Costume Quest did, but a lot of them are great and I like the way they are textured, even though I think it's output prerendered 3D. In a way, it's funny how much Wind Waker was bashed for having such simplistic characters, but when you think about it, the nuances and their designs is a lot more well thought out on first glance. The manual drawings really show a distinctness that perhaps the 3D in Wind Waker couldn't convey at 100%.

I'm sort of just enamoured with the art style even though it's a little rough, but I think this is a game I could possibly enjoy.

Is it wrong of me to haved hoped this wasn't a game that wasn't being developed in Japan (and it's not by the way)? I thought it looked somewhat Japanese in terms of design and art, but the only reason is Japanese dungeon crawlers/RPGs tend to get really tedious and run my nerves up quick. They also tend to be super hard. I think that's one of the things many Japanese developers are moving away from though these days, I hear.

[Twig]

I'll freely admit that my disdain for the character art is largely rooted in a deep, seething hatred for mixing 2D and 3D in video games. I hate it. Oh god do I hate it. It always looks wrong to me. ]:

[Thyroid]

  Twig said:

I'll freely admit that my disdain for the character art is largely rooted in a deep, seething hatred for mixing 2D and 3D in video games. I hate it. Oh god do I hate it. It always looks wrong to me. ]:

Mm. Depends on how it's used. In-game screenshot:

[Twig]

I have no idea what that is and it all looks the same to me.

[Murdoc]

Looks a bit budgety. Not digging the designs. Kinda interesting, I guess.

Anyone remember Breath of Fire 3-4, damn that was some slick artwork/designs, why don't people just make a game that looks like that stuff now?

[Twig]

  Murdoc said:

Anyone remember Breath of Fire 3-4

Yes, I remember 3 quite vividly and 4 somewhat vaguely. I loooved 3 as a child. (Now, not so much. Its flaws are much more apparent.)

  Quote

damn that was some slick artwork/designs, why don't people just make a game that looks like that stuff now?

And I disagree with this. It does not look good. For its time, I suppose, but now that we know what 3D environments SHOULD look like, 3 (I will not speak of 4, as it is "vague") is somewhat hideous. Moreover, it really stands out that the sprites are 2D and the environments are 3D when you start rotating the camera.

[Murdoc]

Sorry, I was speaking of BoF3-4's concept art, not the actual executed game graphics.

[Patters]

  Murdoc said:

Sorry, I was speaking of BoF3-4's concept art, not the actual executed game graphics.

This stuff right? If so I agree, wholeheartedly. I'm going to say that Breath of Fire 4 was one of the best looking PS1 games.

Bastion looks interesting.

[Thyroid]

  Murdoc said:

Looks a bit budgety. Not digging the designs. Kinda interesting, I guess.

3 people are working on it.

[Nappi]

  Quote

Sometimes you just need a drink.

The narration is weird and interesting, but might get old pretty quick as already mentioned. Definitely the most interesting thing about the game for me at this point. However, I wish they had used this guy instead.

[Murdoc]

  Kroms said:

3 people are working on it.

Alright, fair enough, could be neat, not sure.

@patters: yep, that's what I was talking about.

[Twig]

  Murdoc said:

Sorry, I was speaking of BoF3-4's concept art, not the actual executed game graphics.

On that I agree wholeheartedly. I've always especially been a fan of the entire series of BoF concept art. It's good stuff!

[Forbin]

The procedural narration is simultaneously cool and retarded. "The kid... The kid... The kid...". It highlights the weakest point of writing for video games, and the joke wears thin quickly. In that short Giant Bomb video, I've already seen enough.

Interesting concept, I wish it had been done on a game like Deathspank so the writers could focus more on making their jokes in a more traditional way, rather than trying to ram it into every possible flavour text.