Topic: Let's Play NitM

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

The slowdown and the dithering mess the game up... sadly.
I actually like playing as Maria.  A lot.  But really playing as her means DESTROY EVERYTHING, so it's kinda why I'm into it.
Now that I think about it, I agree about the triple jump, they could've made the first jump look and feel better somehow.

The specials that bounce off of the walls are also done in Richter Mode in Portrait of Ruin, I think.

[X]

Sonic Reaper is correct on all counts. I too have played it, and found it to be a completely inferior version. The fake transparency really is God awful.

That is one of the flaws with the sega saturn. It's inability to properly do transparencies. Just like the genesis. You'd think with a new CD based system that pulling of a trasparant look would be easy. the SNES was able to do it, why not the saturn?

-X

[VGuyver]

Well, it wasn't designed with 3D graphics being the main focus. That's why the system had a high powered 2D card but he PS1 didn't.  So the system was not as easily program ale for the effects. Just like the PS1 had to filter it's 2D graphics through a 3D chip, Saturn had to have it's transparency coded via some sophisticated coding techniques.

Of course, the main flaw in the port is that. Well it's a port, one that was not overseen by IGA, one that wasn't ported using the original team (a secondary team was used), and it was also rushed to meet the demands of jealous Japanese Saturn owners whom Konami hoped to make a buck off.

Overall, it just wasn't given any proper treatment.

[X]

Well it's a port, one that was not overseen by IGA

IGA wasn't overseeing the port because he wasn't the main producer at the time the game came out. He was however, the assisstant producer.

-X

[Sonic_Reaper]

I was playing Albert Odyssey the other day, and it utilizes transparency effects.  However, I don't believe they are true effects.  If my eyes are not deceiving me, the programmers used a clever technique that quickly alternates between a solid block of color and empty space.  As it flashes quickly between the two, it creates the illusion that the solid color is in fact, see-through, but it's not.  So there are ways to work around it.  I guess when it came to SotN though, this wasn't an option, since my guess is that would have required much more coding than it is worth.

Jorge, as for Maria, I suppose I was being a bit harsh at first.  She is definitely meant to destroy things, and she's good at it.  In a way, it answers a problem many of the original players had with Richter, in that, you could simply use his whip-dash attack to just plow through any and everything, offering little incentive to actually kill anything from point A to point B.  Whether it was just overlooked or a genius strategy, because Maria doesn't have any easy-access special attacks that render her invincible while passing through enemies (I don't really count the invincibility spell, as it's difficult to do on the spot when you're surrounded by approaching enemies), you're forced to stop and tackle whatever is in your way.  So it's more akin to the old school Castlevania games, where you didn't necessarily kill enemies because it made you "stronger", but because they're in your way, and there's no going around them.  I see that they gave her an air dash in the PSP version.  I suppose, she's just another Richter clone here, with a different variety of weapons in her arsenal.  But anyway, I suppose my initial complaint was that, when you're just not in the mood to fight, Maria has fewer options to freely wander in comparison to Alucard (bat-dash, mist, Alucard Shield ... etc) and Richter (whip-dash and to a lesser extent, the slide, which causes damage and is useful for going through weak enemies).  Of course, I'm also very used to performing Richter's whip-dash, that it's become the go-to attack of choice for most enemies, whether I want to pass through them or not and it's so easy to perform.  Her jump still bothers me.  Double jumping to clear small regular jumps just doesn't feel right.

I see a lot of talk about the Saturn being the superior 2D system and the Playstation being the superior 3D system, but to be brutally honest, there are many more impressive 2D games on the Playstation than there are on the Saturn.  Either it was never utilized to its limit, or people are grossly exaggerating the real difference between the two, I've found to experience that the Playstation, 3D or 2D has always run much smoother than the Saturn could ever hope to.  I think the fact that the Playstation filters 2D graphics through its 3D chip, is the reason for this.  We have many instances of flat polygonal enemies in SotN that move and rotate with great fluidity, much more than could be afforded were they simply 3D!  I've never seen the Saturn do that.

[VGuyver]

If you look at certain games like Dragon force you'd see just how damn well the system pull off 2D. The biggest flaw with the Saturn wasn't the system itself, but the lack of focus on it's 2D capabilities by SEGA, who wanted to showcase that it can do 3D. So what we got was mostly 3rd party 2D games that really didn't do the system justice. Also admittingly, the PS2 was a much better overall gaming system (technologically) then the Saturn, but unlike the Saturn, many 2D games such as C&C Red Alert for the PS1 suffered from a coding limitation and evident lines between every few layers on sprites. Basically, it was a very faint dark line or discoloration between each row of sprites. Not noticeable on small screen, but very evident on big screens. From what I remember, no Saturn games had that same problem. Which makes SotN on the PS1 so much more impressive in my eyes.

The SotN game was such an incredible feat on the PS1 on many levels. It's really a shame no games have come out since to replicate it's sheer quality in work. In the 16 bit era we really had some incredible games that were at a near SotN level in their respected systems such as Demon's Crest (capcom's underlooked sleeper hit) and Rocket Knight Adventures (Another game done by some members of the SotN team if I'm not mistaken.

These days, it's pretty much all "3D!, 3D!" But will change in time as HD 2D games are becoming the norm. Also the new 3D graphical interface presents countless new possibilites to 2D gameplay (and of course 3D) But it's just itching to bring back a metroidvania to a console again. If not done, I'll create one myself if I must.