Review: Dragon Egg - A Good but Rushed Platformer

[ccovell]

Where can I download this demo?

Cancelled.  I tried to obtain permission for MJ's likeness, but you wouldn't believe the ridiculous rates that mediums charge.

[TurboXray]

I love that you put in the clouds from the game xD

SignOfZeta: Completely agree on the transparencies thing.

[esteban]

I find this aesthetically and thematically pleasing.

[spenoza]

ABF, while there are some here who like to rag on you, some of us are trying to give you some constructive criticism . Maybe you disagree with some of it (the way you respond, you seem to disagree with ALL of it), but try incorporating it, anyway. You might find it gives your review new strength. Being concise makes writing more impactful. Applying community-accepted definitions (e.g. parallax scrolling) makes your review better received within the community. Clearly delineating your impressions and subjective content from objective content (feels rushed vs was rushed - clear evidence needed for the latter to be taken seriously) imparts greater respect for impartiality. I see the time you put into your review, but I want to see your review writing get better, rather than remaining a bit sloppy.

[esteban]

I look forward to ABF's next review, I just hope he is courageous enough to post it here when the time comes.

I agree with spenoza: please do not think that all of us are simply "hating on you".... for me, it is my genuine 2¢...as if I were your editor.



Also, any thread that inspires COVELL to post an image is a GOOD THING.

[ccovell]

Also, any thread that inspires COVELL to post an image is a GOOD THING.

Please, nobody make a thread called "POST PICTURES OF YOUR BALLS" then.

[esteban]

Also, any thread that inspires COVELL to post an image is a GOOD THING.

Please, nobody make a thread called "POST PICTURES OF YOUR BALLS" then.

As long as you continue working on the Super Blodia Special (HuCARD) that I dreamed about, then you have a deal.

[A Black Falcon]

ABF, while there are some here who like to rag on you, some of us are trying to give you some constructive criticism . Maybe you disagree with some of it (the way you respond, you seem to disagree with ALL of it),

"All of it"?  Of course not, I made multiple edits to the review based on critiques from this thread.

but try incorporating it, anyway. You might find it gives your review new strength. Being concise makes writing more impactful. Applying community-accepted definitions (e.g. parallax scrolling) makes your review better received within the community.

The problem with "community-accepted definitions" is, which community?  Different ones online may disagree.  Or which part of the community?  There are more than enough arguments about definitions of terms out there to know that there is hardly some monolith.

Clearly delineating your impressions and subjective content from objective content (feels rushed vs was rushed - clear evidence needed for the latter to be taken seriously) imparts greater respect for impartiality.

I always think I do this well and clearly -- differentiating opinion from fact is essential, and I pay attention to that!   But for whatever reason other people complain a lot about this anyway.  I'm sure part of it is just that it's often people disagreeing with me about something, but the general "you don't separate opinion from fact" complaint is not true and doesn't make sense, what is opinion clearly is opinion and what is fact clearly is fact...

I see the time you put into your review, but I want to see your review writing get better, rather than remaining a bit sloppy.

It's about as good as it'll get with just me writing it.  To imrpove it I'd need an editor, which would mean some kind of professional position.  I know editing passes improve writing, I've seen that before (comparing the earlier to later versions of my thesis...), but you need someone else to be that editor; you really can't edit your own work.
 

Man. I saw this review and didn't say anything at first because it's too fucking long to do anything but quickly skim. It's full of that Wiki-educated Buddy Hacket seagul lecture shit so many YT people use. "Rushed", bringing up the SFC, trying to provide "context" when the author has none themselves, etc. and sure, that's really really played out but really it's the longness that struck me as insane. And a print version? Printed by whom? Funk and Wagnalls don't do that stuff anymore.

It was a natural for a multi page flame thread splitting hairs like atoms.

As for the fake-ness of the parallax. As someone who uses "fake transparencies" a lot to describe that flickery shit that had to make do on every pre-SNES machine, I still find this similar term stupid. All you need to see fake transparencies are fake is to record them and slow them down and see that it's really alternating %100 and %0 opacity every field. That's why fake transparencies induce seizures, real ones don't. Pretty stark. "Fake" parallax looks identical to "real" parallax though so...who fucking cares? It's as real as anything.

There are two ways you can look at this -- either to say that how something is done matters regardless of whether that is visible to the player or not, or to say that the extent of the effect matters.  You make an argument against that first interpretation here, sure, but just by the second one, this game still falls a bit short, considering that the parallax is exclusively (identical) clouds and nothing else.

I know this forum is defensive on the TG16/PCE's parallax weaknesses, but it IS the system's weakness, much like how colors on screen is the Genesis's, or the slow CPU is the SNES's.

You know what game always seemed "rushed"? Dracula X. Those huge stone guys in the first level look better than most of the game, and those hidden passages in the boat that only Maria can get to lead nowhere, WTF, right?

What happens is that you have to ship the game eventually. Someone will be working on the game right up to that very second. Some parts will be uneven. That's how everything is.

Indeed, that is true, games need to be shipped sometime and this often leads to cutting features and content from the final product.  But most games, including Rondo of Blood, disguise this better than Dragon Egg! does.

For another example of a game I reviewed some time back that feels blatantly unfinished, and I commented on that at length in the review, see my review of Power Piggs of the Dark Age for the SNES: http://www.blackfalcongames.net/?p=47

Also, the part about scifi fantasy as a genre being "that all-too-common frustration" seems to indicate...well, autism, honestly, but at the very least I would say they don't know much about art if that kind of thing throws them off. Seeing a sword and a laser gun being held by the same guy is...an idea older than lasers, I'm pretty sure. There is a LOT of stuff to "frustrate" anyone who can't handle that.

Yes, there is "a lot of stuff" to frustrate me in this issue, that's for sure.  But if I like other things about something, I can and will like it anyway, despite having some things I dislike about it.  This game is good despite that, I like the Castlevania games even though they make NO SENSE AT ALL historically (seriously, random elements from Greece through modern day, all tossed together!), there are good fantasy animes with plenty of random too-modern elements (for a classic example, I really like The Slayers...), etc.

So, for me, the issue here is when writers decide that they'll just repeat common genre tropes, instead of trying to create an actual internally consistent world.  I want to see the latter, but most writers, or game designers, just make the former... and anime, and anime-inspired games, have built up a set of tropes for what anime fantasy "should" be, and following those rules ensures a historical mishmash of random stuff that could never exist at one time, all together in one world.  I love history and have degrees in the field, so of course historical accuracy is something I pay attention to!

I've got two theories for how all this happened -- first, that it's possible that because Japan is not a Western nation and does not have as much grounding in our cultural history they don't care as much for accuracy in Western historical settings as Western developers would, and vice versa for Western games and Asian settings.  I do think you see this in both directions -- look at how Western Asian fantasy settings so often randomly mix together Japan and China (Ninjas and Chinese marital artists, etc.), for an example from our side.  And second, that anime and Japanese game fantasy worlds took a huge amount of inspiration from the [Western] early '80s Wizardry and Ultima games... games which have some sci-fi elements in their otherwise mostly fantasy worlds.  Most Western fantasy games are not like that, but those set a bad precedent which Japan fell in love with.

Returning to Dragon Egg!, you have medieval castles in a medieval kingdom, swords and bows as weapons but also floating robot guns and invincible gun turrets, electricity, both modern-style clothing (for the heroine) and fantasy medieval outfits (for enemies like the orc archers and giants), and more... what people are supposed to do is just say "okay whatever" and ignore or never notice this stuff, but I don't, it bothers me.  But again, this kind of thing isn't going to ruin a game for me or something, it's just annoying.

I look forward to ABF's next review, I just hope he is courageous enough to post it here when the time comes.

Whenever I write something else for a game for this system, sure, I will.  The question I have is, should I post anything for other systems here, something I haven't done before?  Links, full text, not sure.

(For instance, I am currently working on a review of one of my favorite console games ever, San Francisco Rush 2049 (N64/Dreamcast, and a bit about the arcade version).)

I agree with spenoza: please do not think that all of us are simply "hating on you".... for me, it is my genuine 2¢...as if I were your editor.



Also, any thread that inspires COVELL to post an image is a GOOD THING.

Certainly, it's not everyone attacking me; indeed, you aren't, and are quite reasonable.  Thanks for that.  What I should do is respond to posts like this, not the insulting ones...

[Gredler]

For instance, I am currently working on a review of one of my favorite console games ever, San Francisco Rush 2049 (N64/Dreamcast, and a bit about the arcade version)

Rush was rushed btw, heard that one from the horse's mouth, so you can safely label that as a rushed game because of the documented facts that its development cycle was rushed

[NecroPhile]

There are two ways you can look at this -- either to say that how something is done matters regardless of whether that is visible to the player or not, or to say that the extent of the effect matters.  You make an argument against that first interpretation here, sure, but just by the second one, this game still falls a bit short, considering that the parallax is exclusively (identical) clouds and nothing else.

Explaining how the effect is achieved and saying it's limited or doesn't look very good is fine; it's your insistence that it's fake that's the problem.  Will you ever get this through your thick skull, or will you continue to twist people's words to fit your bias?

What I should do is respond to posts like this, not the insulting ones...

Or I'll just ban you outright for the lies, shifting arguments, and blatant trolling.

[NecroPhile]

Lies, shifting arguments, and trolling are against the rules. For real, check the rules....

Not posting false and inaccurate material is in the rules, genius.  I rescind my previous threat of banishment, though, as there's no specific rules against being biased, obstinate, and/or not very bright.

.... you'll find this right below the rule against being a douche nozzle and using a member's recently deceased parent to flame them....

It's only cool to joke about someone's dead dad when it's $torino.03's dad, right?  Sorry, bro, my bad.

[NecroPhile]

Big difference between storino and whats-his-name. You made the offensive comment after learning his dad was dead, not before.

And you continued after learning he's dead, so how is that better?  Let me help you with your selective memory:

     Nulltard: "I'll stop harassing you if you trade your mom to me for a $5 amazon gift card.  And your dad.  While you watch."
     storino: "My dad's deceased, but thanks for bringing that into the equation YOU FUCK. End of story."
     Nulltard: "Come kick my ass.  It won't change what your dad and I had."
     storino: "Thanks. What's next, guys?"
     Nulltard: "How about you stop dishonoring your father's memory.... "

Delete your account.

You first, hypocrite.

[NecroPhile]

Yeah, I'm the one that's worked up.  I'm the one that keeps bringing it up, labeling you a horrible person, and rationalizing my tasteless jokes.

Keep grasping at straws, hypocrite.

[esteban]

I have a new title for this thread:

Dragon Egg — How a barely mediocre game  revealed the underbelly of of pcefx.

[CrackTiger]

I've been holding off until I have time to comment on some of the spectacular bs being tossed around, but it is now transcending to all new tiers of deluded fantasy.

The problem with "community-accepted definitions" is, which community?  Different ones online may disagree.  Or which part of the community?  There are more than enough arguments about definitions of terms out there to know that there is hardly some monolith.

This is the crazy nonsense anti-science people always say.

In the case of parallax, the international community of the  human race had a consensus from at least 1926 until recently, when historical revisionists like A Black Falcon became old enough to begin typing out random feelings as reality changing facts on the internet.

You can argue all you want that the Earth is only 1000 years old, it's flat and no one has ever visited the moon. But just because you've got North Korea and the Westboro Baptist Church on your side, it doesn't mean that facts are opinions and vice versa.

[esteban]

[TurboXray]

Remember folks, all parallax on the Neo Geo is fake because it's all sprites.

[CrackTiger]

What're you going to do when you run out of girly disc pics?

Start playing Games Express games in an emulator?

[bob]

well, there is always...

dotsandloops.com/games/takin.jpg

[ToyMachine78]

We need a new thread to submitt re-imagined TG16 cover art.

[nopepper]

I have a new title for this thread:

Dragon Egg — How a barely mediocre game  revealed the underbelly of of pcefx.

Oh man, I don't use lols lightly, but LOL!

That's exactly what I kept thinking while enjoying this thread.

"All this for Dragon Egg?!?"

To ABF, prior to me knowing that the Turbo did not support parallax, I always thought that the parallax in Rondo, LoT, etc. was pretty damn impressive. Who knew it wasn't real, but just some form of trickery. The nerve!!

Also, please pick a better game to review next time, as I thoroughly enjoy reading wordy reviews, but of worthy games. Dragon Egg can be easily summed up in a "meh".

$.02

[NecroPhile]

I actually like reviews of such less well known games.  Reviews of stuff like Dracula X, Sapphire, Gate of Thunder, etc. are fun to read too, but who here hasn't already played the hell out of 'em themselves?

[nopepper]

I actually like reviews of such less well known games.  Reviews of stuff like Dracula X, Sapphire, Gate of Thunder, etc. are fun to read too, but who here hasn't already played the hell out of 'em themselves?

Oh, me too.

But this game, while somewhat enjoyable, could be summed up like this:

http://www.thebrothersduomazov.com/2010/09/falcon.html

I'm being hyperbolic, but you get my drift...

[NecroPhile]

Aww, it's not that bad. 

[SignOfZeta]

I never knew the PCE was the system that sucked at paralax. I've owned all four major 16-bit systems forever (actually, Neo only in the last 6 years or so, but played every MVS I could find BITD) and I never noticed this. I've played probably 1000 different titles from this era and it genuinly never occurred to me.

So if people accept that, what, in their opinions, is the best system at it?

[PukeSter]

So if people accept that, what, in their opinions, is the best system at it?

Genesis>Snes when it comes to parallax and screen resolution

I'll let the programmers correct me if I'm wrong

[TurboXray]

So if people accept that, what, in their opinions, is the best system at it?

Genesis>Snes when it comes to parallax and screen resolution

I'll let the programmers correct me if I'm wrong

You've been corrected. It's the snes. It can do all the parallax of the Genesis and more. It has more BG layers than the Genesis.

[esteban]

What're you going to do when you run out of girly disc pics?

Start playing Games Express games in an emulator?

Yes, I think that will be my only choice.

Oh, and the two ladies from MotoRoader.

[CrackTiger]

[A Black Falcon]

I actually like reviews of such less well known games.  Reviews of stuff like Dracula X, Sapphire, Gate of Thunder, etc. are fun to read too, but who here hasn't already played the hell out of 'em themselves?

I agree with you on this, at least -- I'd definitely rather review a game which is both interesting and not super-popular, than some very popular classic I also like but everyone interested probably knows about already.  Those games don't really need the attention, but something lesser-known often does deserve it!

[johnnykonami]

I always liked the Moto Roader ladies!

[CrackTiger]

Super A'Can was released well into the 32-bit generation.

[jlued686]

I actually like reviews of such less well known games.  Reviews of stuff like Dracula X, Sapphire, Gate of Thunder, etc. are fun to read too, but who here hasn't already played the hell out of 'em themselves?

I agree with you on this, at least -- I'd definitely rather review a game which is both interesting and not super-popular, than some very popular classic I also like but everyone interested probably knows about already.  Those games don't really need the attention, but something lesser-known often does deserve it!

Yep, agreed. I had never heard of Dragon Egg before this review. So, despite all the...what-have-you...surrounding this review and thread, I appreciate it for bringing this game to my attention. I popped in the Everdrive and gave it a go the other day. It's definitely not a "great" game, but I liked the idea and the mechanics behind it. I also liked how it mixed the traditional fantasy elements with "tech" themes.

[TurboXray]

Super A'Can

Nothing from Taiwan ever counts..