I took a look at the Inotia 2 thread... I didn't get very far with that due to it being a rediculously long thread at this point. I've played alot of ARPG's. I mean ALOT. I've also played alot of sprite-based JRPG style games and such. This game makes a very strong arguement for the platform in general, it's fairly well done. The game amazes me and disheartens me all at the same time. On the one hand, the classes are excellent, the visual design is great, and the character and monster sprites animate well. On the other hand, the translation is laughably bad, the story is terrible, and there are many minor visual let-downs that bring down the whole package. Why do fireplaces not animate? Why do townsfolk stand like statues without any animation? Why, when you get your first mercenary, is there a chance that you might get a clone of yourself? Why even have that god-awful intro movie? These sloppy little things break what is otherwise a great experience. It all comes down to psychology. Am I playing a well-made game, or something churned out for the mobile market? All too many games on the IPhone that are considered 'great', are only 'great' compared to anything else you might have played on a mobile device before. This has been the trend for as long as I've been gaming on my bloody phone, and I'd like to see this trend dissappear. I was extremely pumped that Rockstar was going to release Chinatown Wars on the IPhone just because it would raise the bar, and other companies would have to start thinking quality over quantity going forward in order to compete. Have the Inotia devs committed to raising the bar? Are they going to look at improving the experience, or was this another fire-and-forget mobile game? Thoughts or comments anyone?
Comparing Inotia and Inotia 2 I'd say they've done an amazing job and I really hope (and believe) that the trend will escalate even further, meaning that Inotia 3 (or whatever their next RPG will be) is going to be something awesome. There are flaws in Inotia 2, that I agree on, but they're pretty much the things that don't bother that much. I'd rather have non-animated townsfolk than a totally linear gameplay where you can go against mobs only your own level. I'd rather have a poor translation than a really good story with excellent translation (if needed) that lasts only for 4-5 hours. In other words, Inotia 2 has gone under the fence in just the right places (for me).
In regards to your "visual letdowns" and lack of animations. 3gs specs: 256 RAM, 600 MHZ Processor, not to mention the limitations that Apple imposes. Afterall it's a phone first. Yeah I'd say these games are pretty darn good.
lmao, my really old com had 256 MB of ram. It's amazing how technology has advanced, 600 MHz single core is not much but I guess it's realy good for a phone. Back on topic, if you want to know what bad translation is, check out SEED. Inotia 2 has slightly better translation although it seems like they used Google Translate. It's slightly funny because characters animate so well but other 'background' things don't.
I imagine that the background animations, or lack there of, aren't related to the power of the phone. As for the translation... When you get to the sage, there's a guy that gives you a quest inside his house. He rambles on about how his 'transparent' cloak or isn't working. It's so obvious that he means invisible, or invisibility cloak. Silly silly mistake!
All your complaints are so minor that they do not affect gameplay at all. How many seconds are you going to stare at townspeople? How much time will you spend beside a fireplace? The mercenary thing could be a bug that may be fixed in the next patch, along with picking up a warrior seal that has the same class as your character. The translation is a feature in every single non-western RPG, not a flaw. You cannot expect perfect English from the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, just like you cannot expect yourself to have flawless Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. The dialogue in the game is readable correct? I don't see why anyone would complain about it. In fact, I would prefer this type of broken English, it adds flair to the game. The only complaint I have about this game is the luck status, which cannot be revealed until you have grinded the game for 20 hours or something. Then you find out you have terrible luck and will be stuck with a low item drop rate for the rest of the game. That to me is very unfair, and such an unnecessary addition to the game. Luck either shouldn't exist (everyone has a fixed "drop rate", where item chance enhancements can add to it), or is visible at the stat-rolling screen.
Actually...you can easily determine your luck without killing anything and at level 1... There is a guide in our Inotia 2 forums.
You follow up a critique on my minor flaw-finding skills, by giving an example of a flaw that bothers you. It really is a matter of perspective I guess. Anyone that takes pride in what they do, like myself for instance, will not accept flaw in the work they do. I think what I'm really wondering is if this is a work of love, an expression of pride, or not. But really, this whole concept of games for money, or games for love extends to almost every niche on gaming atm. There are far too many games made that lack love, that are only made for money. I don't think this is the case with Inotia 2. I think whoever created these character sprites, whoever build the classes did so out of love for what they do. I suspect want of money, or rush to publish explains the lack of love in some other areas of the game. Remember, a game is basically just a virtual toy. How do you judge a real toy? By it's construction, functionality, it's sculpt, the quality of the product. The same applies to games. GI-JOE action figures wouldn't be well remembered if the arms fell off after playing with them once or twice. (Anyone remember the retarded MR. T Doll from the 80's that would lose it's legs if you accidentally pushed them together a little? lol)
I have no complaints with this one...cause the first one was god awful awful - the storyline was like 5 words long, extreme pointless grinding, monsters swarming you all the time, and like 3 pieces of equiment
Inotia 2 has good visuals (but bad animation quality), and some nice polish all round. However, I tried to get into it several times, but the combat bored me to no end, so I kinda gave up on it. I guess it did raise the bar though, because the other RPGs were pretty low quality anyway. I could not disagree more on this. I don't find flair in poorly structured sentences with bad spelling/grammar, and it makes the game look unprofessional. Square Enix, for example, are usually praised for their high quality translation in their scripts nowadays (as well as good voice acting, but that's a different matter). I really, REALLY hope there isn't broken English in J/KRPGs in the future.
In a way, you are right. All the small things that the op mentioned do not affect your ability to play the game. But it adds so much to the immersiveness and feel of the game. I was recently playing a pokemon game for gba and it felt so much more alive than inotia 2, even though the graphics were significantly worse. IMO, it's the little things that really make or break a game, and that is where inotia 2 failed.
NOOB QUESTION Resurrection? I bought the scroll and have three people in my party and one died, and it says im in the wrong place?
I also am sick of iphone games being rated based on what's expected from a mobile phone game. If the iphone is ever to be considered an actual handheld gaming device then its games need to be rated accordingly. IMO many of the 4-5 star rated iphone games are actually really like 2-3 star games by ds or psp standards.
I actually agree with Aurora on this. I find bad translation rather appealing. However, I'm done with ARPGs. In addition to being more shallow than TBRPGs, the market is just flooded with them.
Please help, tell me where to find ork assaults? All I can find is orks please tell me where to find ork assults please!
