Topic: Berserk and the Band of the Hawk - Omega Force's "brutal" Warriors game

[Claimh Solais]

I was really confused about the 2016 anime, since it was marketed as an adaptation of the Black Swordsman arc, yet went from part of said arc straight into the Conviction arc. Overall, though, I'm enjoying the series. And since it isn't a direct adaptation, it gives me more reason to both read the manga and watch the show.

The adaptation of the plot wasn't what bothered me about the first episode. I felt it had quite a few pacing issues, along with it being hard to tell what was happening in the action sequences. Episode 2 had pacing issues as well, but very few, and they're only really at the beginning. Plus, it's far easier to tell what the hell is happening in the action scenes.

Basically, my opinion of the anime went up from Episode 1 to Episode 2, and I hope it just keeps going up from there.

[Claimh Solais]

Welp, if Koei's Facebook page is anything to go by, the western release of the game was confirmed for Fall 2016, which is WAY sooner than I expected (was expecting Q2-Q3 2017 at the very earliest). This makes me very happy.

EDIT: The Europe website is finally live, and it also has a "2016" listed on it. Some other things I can confirm since I can actually read it now...

-The Black Swordsman, Golden Age, Conviction, and Falcon of the Millenium Empire arcs will all be present in the story.
-Scenes from the movie trilogy will be used as cutscenes. Additional scenes are also being created, presumably in that style.
-The voice cast from the movie trilogy and 2016 TV series are all reprising their roles in this game (hopefully an English cast, too?)

[zangetsu468]

If rather not have an English voice cast. Japanese works much better for Berserk.

[Claimh Solais]

If rather not have an English voice cast. Japanese works much better for Berserk.

I mean, right back at you, I prefer the English cast, especially due to its largely western setting and tone.

But then, why not both? Every Omega Force game that's been dubbed in the west has also received a Japanese voice option. The presence of an English cast wouldn't suddenly stop you from enjoying a Japanese cast.

(Though track record shows that this game might not be dubbed in the west. Their more recent anime crossovers [One Piece, Arslan, Gundam Reborn, Ken's Rage 2] have only had Japanese dubs.)

[zangetsu468]

I mean, right back at you, I prefer the English cast, especially due to its largely western setting and tone.

But then, why not both? Every Omega Force game that's been dubbed in the west has also received a Japanese voice option. The presence of an English cast wouldn't suddenly stop you from enjoying a Japanese cast.

(Though track record shows that this game might not be dubbed in the west. Their more recent anime crossovers [One Piece, Arslan, Gundam Reborn, Ken's Rage 2] have only had Japanese dubs.)

I just think the English cast was voiced with much less thought than the Japanese. The fact that the setting is more European in context doesn't really make a difference to me, it's more the quality of the voice acting. My biggest gripe was how the original 90's anime voiced Griffith slightly similarly to SOTN Alucard in the sense that he sounds monotone with a nasal cold. Griffith's Japanese voice and the intensity of his and other characters' vocal expressions do not marry up as well in the English dub imo. I didn't mind Guts' or Zodd's voices in eng but it still doesn't compare for me.

Yeah not opposed to having both I just wouldn't use the English at all.

[Claimh Solais]

I just think the English cast was voiced with much less thought than the Japanese. The fact that the setting is more European in context doesn't really make a difference to me, it's more the quality of the voice acting. My biggest gripe was how the original 90's anime voiced Griffith slightly similarly to SOTN Alucard in the sense that he sounds monotone with a nasal cold. Griffith's Japanese voice and the intensity of his and other characters' vocal expressions do not marry up as well in the English dub imo. I didn't mind Guts' or Zodd's voices in eng but it still doesn't compare for me.

Yeah not opposed to having both I just wouldn't use the English at all.

I do agree that Griffith's voice in the 90's anime was eh at best. I do think Kevin Collins substantially improved by the time they dubbed the Golden Age Arc movies, though. I enjoyed his performance in that.

One thing I will always say though is that Marc Diraison straight up nails the role of Guts. His performance in both the original anime (particularly the latter half) and the movies was fantastic.

Not really gonna try and convince you one way or the other though. I just think that having both dubs and subs would be great, though I'm not particularly opposed to one or the other.

[Claimh Solais]

Serpico officially confirmed as a playable character!

[Super Waffle]

I saw some clips from the new Berserk anime. It looks pretty quality.

[Claimh Solais]

Nosferatu Zodd confirmed as a playable character! From the article, it appears he will be playable in both his human and apostle forms.

[zangetsu468]

I saw some clips from the new Berserk anime. It looks pretty quality.

You're kidding right.

The actual anime scenes which are drawn look fantastic. Can't say the same for the CGI. Also the story has been trimmed back way too much.

Nosferatu Zodd confirmed as a playable character! From the article, it appears he will be playable in both his human and apostle forms.

Zodd? Instant purchase 

[Claimh Solais]

The actual anime scenes which are drawn look fantastic. Can't say the same for the CGI. Also the story has been trimmed back way too much.

Oh, goodness no. While the drawn scenes in the intro look great, the same can definitely NOT be said for the drawn scenes DURING the episodes. Granted, certain stills look great (several close-ups on Guts). But any drawn scene that is fully animated is painfully ugly, with some of the worst animation I have ever seen (Farnese running away from the horse, for example). The animation during these scenes is equivalent to Dragon Ball Super Episode 5 at its worst. At least the CGI maintains a consistent "alright at best" quality.

Though I maintain my stance that the visuals aren't the problem with the new anime, but moreso the pacing, which is ALL over the place. I'll take ugly visuals over sloppy pacing any day, but man, this series has both, which is keeping it at a "meh" when I found the manga (so far), the anime, and the movie trilogy all at an "excellent".

[zangetsu468]

Oh, goodness no. While the drawn scenes in the intro look great, the same can definitely NOT be said for the drawn scenes DURING the episodes. Granted, certain stills look great (several close-ups on Guts). But any drawn scene that is fully animated is painfully ugly, with some of the worst animation I have ever seen (Farnese running away from the horse, for example).

I disagree with that, the last animated seen I recall seeing was with Griffith telling Guts he wanted to know his place in the world. That scene looked good to me compared to the cgi. Although the cgi is more consistent.

Though I maintain my stance that the visuals aren't the problem with the new anime, but moreso the pacing, which is ALL over the place. I'll take ugly visuals over sloppy pacing any day, but man, this series has both, which is keeping it at a "meh" when I found the manga (so far), the anime, and the movie trilogy all at an "excellent".

The manga will obviously rule in most peoples' eyes. I would say the 96 anime had the right pacing to suit that particular arc and I liked Griffith's characterisation a bit more than the manga.

In terms of the movie trilogy, they cut so much character development from Egg of the King that it destroyed all the emotion. That film should've pumped its brakes and ended with the Zodd battle. Battle for Doldrey and the last film handled the pacing much better.

As for this series, pacing is definitely not its strong suit and if it was similar to the 96 anime and covered the black swordsman arc then I'd probably love it, despite cgi.

[Claimh Solais]

I disagree with that, the last animated seen I recall seeing was with Griffith telling Guts he wanted to know his place in the world. That scene looked good to me compared to the cgi. Although the cgi is more consistent.

Far as I remember, this is the only 2D scene longer than a couple seconds that actually looked good. Most of the time, the 2D scenes are awful if animated.

In terms of the movie trilogy, they cut so much character development from Egg of the King that it destroyed all the emotion. That film should've pumped its brakes and ended with the Zodd battle. Battle for Doldrey and the last film handled the pacing much better.

I will state that one thing I did not like about Egg of the King is that they cut out almost the entire arc with the younger versions of the characters. Guts' whole spiel about not being that same man to Casca didn't really hold any meaning in the film, since we didn't really get to see what kind of man he used to be. So I'll agree with you there. Granted, I watched these films immediately after the '97 anime so it didn't really feel as off to me.

I -do- like that Guts and Griffith's first fight had the dialogue going on during their fight though. It really helped with the pacing there, instead of having them stop fighting every time they talked. The Battle for Doldrey was far better as far as the pacing, but I felt The Advent completely nailed it, having my favorite rendition of The Eclipse, beating out both the manga and the '97 anime.

As for this series, pacing is definitely not its strong suit and if it was similar to the 96 anime and covered the black swordsman arc then I'd probably love it, despite cgi.

See, this is what I thought the series was going to be, and what it was originally advertised as: an adaptation of the Black Swordsman arc. And originally what I thought was, "How are they going to stretch out an 8-chapter arc over 24 episodes?" What I thought was going to happen is we were going to have an occasional episode with a bit slow pacing, which would have been fine.

Instead what we're getting is a 24-episode adaptation of the Conviction arc, so now I'm thinking "how the hell are they going to shove the entire Conviction arc (save Lost Children, which was mysteriously cut out) into 24 episodes?" And here's how: they're speeding through so much content per episode it's hard to enjoy any of it. Something happens, and before you can even take in what's happening, poof, it's gone.

[zangetsu468]

I -do- like that Guts and Griffith's first fight had the dialogue going on during their fight though. It really helped with the pacing there, instead of having them stop fighting every time they talked. The Battle for Doldrey was far better as far as the pacing, but I felt The Advent completely nailed it, having my favorite rendition of The Eclipse, beating out both the manga and the '97 anime.

Definitely with you on the Eclipse. Aside from some colour changes with obvious red to blue, they nailed that segment and you can tell they put most of the film's budget into that whole set of scenes. Skull Knight stole the show (Sorry Guts)

See, this is what I thought the series was going to be, and what it was originally advertised as: an adaptation of the Black Swordsman arc. And originally what I thought was, "How are they going to stretch out an 8-chapter arc over 24 episodes?" What I thought was going to happen is we were going to have an occasional episode with a bit slow pacing, which would have been fine.

BS arc would have saved the series and bad pacing. I even thought Rosine's arc was a bit too slow to start in the manga, but skipping everything altogether from that and BS really sucks.

Instead what we're getting is a 24-episode adaptation of the Conviction arc, so now I'm thinking "how the hell are they going to shove the entire Conviction arc (save Lost Children, which was mysteriously cut out) into 24 episodes?" And here's how: they're speeding through so much content per episode it's hard to enjoy any of it. Something happens, and before you can even take in what's happening, poof, it's gone.

It will be gone faster than Wyald's manhood when he thought he was going to score with Casca!

[Claimh Solais]

Berserk's Japanese website has been updated. Confirms that both human and apostle Zodd will be playable, as well as confirmed that you can play as Guts in his Berserker Armor. A hefty amount of story info has been added, too, confirming the game will cover everything from the beginning of the manga up to the end of the Hawk of the Millenium Empire arc.

Screenshots show off several additional characters, including Rickert, Mozgus, Skull Knight, Farnese, and Isidro. Other screenshots show off combat against both humans and apostles, use of subweapons, and playing as apostle Zodd and Berserker Guts. This is driving me nuts, the game is releasing in two months. I'm REALLY anxious to see more gameplay in motion.