Blazblue

[Ramza]

The gameplay itself is all gravy, the graphics are gorgeous. It's just missing some things. Like... there are no character theme songs, only five stages, no bosses, no storymodes, special intros, taunts, or any of that. It's very very barebones. Even the menus are substandard. They're just 'blue'. The core gameplay itself is fine, a little bit simplified from KOF 98, but it's really solid. The only problem is that... even though the extras i mentioned above aren't vital or even 'necessary'... they're a huge part of what gives a game its character and personality. This game doesn't have a personality. I would not buy this game unless you play fighting games with other people (who have the game) regularly. Outside of that, this game is just lifeless.

Yeah. I think Famitsuu was so hard on it because, when you've reached entry #12 in a fighting game series, you better be going NUTS with presentation and throwing in tons of extra modes and beefing up your gameplay too. Seems like 12 was a "back-to-basics" entry, perhaps to appease the self-proclaimed hardcore. Amirite?

[Gen Eric Gui]

It's more likely that they spent so much time and money making the HD sprites perfect that they didn't have enough funding to do anything else with the project.  Remember that SNK isn't the giant it once was, and this was kind of a risky move for them.

[Takezo]

I don't buy it. How hard is it to find computer literate asians in Japan. Look what that group of broke ass college students did with the Chrono Trigger remake project (That I forget the name of). Would anyone be willing to bet against the fact that SNK could find hundreds of skilled VOLUNTEERS willing to devote their time to this game. They made a misstep and are potentially going to pay for it by rushing their work in an attempt to compete with the other major fighters this year.

[Gen Eric Gui]

That's not how business works, my friend.

[Eusis]

Remember that SNK isn't the giant it once was, and this was kind of a risky move for them.

I have to wonder. Arc Systems managed to put out BlazBlue, and they're far less prolific than SNK is even now. Is there some trick here or did SNK halfass something they shouldn't have?

[Takezo]

That's not how business works, my friend.

Unpayed internships? There is genuinely no such thing as volunteerism in the professional world? They're corporations, not governments. There isn't any legally binding system of 'this is what we do'. More over the examples highlight how many things SNK could have done if they weren't blinded by the need to compete with the other three major fighters this year. Since somebody else already mentioned it we might as well lay out the figures:

Arcs systems: 90 employees
SNK: 230 (making about  50,000,000 more btw)

This was a rushed job, adding more stages and music would have no impact on the characters. Smooth character animation is not a good reason for poorly designed menus and amateurish presentation. etc etc etc
 

[Eusis]

As for the volunteer work: I imagine Japanese corporate isn't exactly open to that unless they're outright attempting to appeal more to westerners or letting them call the shots. SSFIIT:HDR had its OST remixed by OCRemix, but that was a downloadable title mostly handled by a western company while this is an expensive retail release made in Japan.

[Aeolus]

I don't buy it. How hard is it to find computer literate asians in Japan. Look what that group of broke ass college students did with the Chrono Trigger remake project (That I forget the name of). Would anyone be willing to bet against the fact that SNK could find hundreds of skilled VOLUNTEERS willing to devote their time to this game. They made a misstep and are potentially going to pay for it by rushing their work in an attempt to compete with the other major fighters this year.

As a computer programmer I find it hilarious that you think the best way to solve programming issues is to throw more people at it. First and foremost is the question of how skilled these "programmers" are. Sure a person can eventually accomplish the task asked of them, but that doesn't mean that their code wont end up as a resource hogging Gordian Knot in the process. Second is a person's programming specialty compared to the programming languages used in the project. Knowing HTML isn't going to help you much in programming anything in C#. Plus having a dozen programmers each with different proficiencies in different programming languages trying to work for the same goal is nothing short of a disaster. Furthermore you have things on the business side of the equation like time and money constraints. After all you have to pay for each of these volunteers for their time (time that they could be using to program their own KoF XIIs), plus time to train them (and you'll have to pay for the training too), and other things like facilities, supplies, and other boring details.

So yes. Yes I would like to take that bet against you. After all that Chrono Trigger game took years in development by a dedicated few to get where it did (before the C&D order came along at least). I'm certain that KoF XII could've been much better if they had a couple of years and programmers dedicated to program their game for free with no other projects to do in the meanwhile just like any other game with those luxuries.

[Dizzy]

On a random note, I managed to get Blazblue to work through Remote Play, so now I can play it through my PSP, while I'm at school. I'm stupid when it comes to technology nowadays, but I'm glad I managed to get it to work. :P

[Ramza]

On a random note, I managed to get Blazblue to work through Remote Play, so now I can play it through my PSP, while I'm at school. I'm stupid when it comes to technology nowadays, but I'm glad I managed to get it to work. :P

wait. That's doable?

I GOTTA get in on that.

[Gen Eric Gui]

You got it to work so that it's not laggy as hell?  How did you manage that?  Mine lags like crazy even on PS1 games.

[Dizzy]

I found that setting the Response Speed to +4 and Image Quality to Normal (512kbps) or -1 (384kbps) to work out very well with me. It is in no way perfect (of course) but I found that I was doing pretty well with the controls on that setting, though the game looks like I'm watching a LQ Youtube video with popping or cracking in the music. I'd assume it looks much worse with the PSOne games though.

The PSP DPad alone is kind of a chore to work with, but I can deal with that. :P

[Esper_Crusader]

*sigh*  STILL waiting to get my hands on a copy of this game...

[Ramza]

Shiguma mentioned on Facebook that the EU console version will include new characters. That version is set to drop Jan 2010.

One might say it's almost a foregone conclusion, that JP and US playeres will get these new characters in the form of downloadable content.

Let the speculation begin!

Hazama/Terumi?
Kokonoe?
Jubei?

We'll see what happens!

[Gen Eric Gui]

I'm going to be a downer and say it'll just be Unlimited Versions of the other characters.

If they're going to include honest-to-god other characters, I don't think Jubei would be one of them.  Historically he's supposed to be the strongest creature to ever have lived, so it would be, let's say hard to make him work.

Kokonoe isn't a fighter so I doubt she'd get placed.  Hazama and Terumi (Those are the schoolgirls that Noel was in the academy with, right?) could be candidates, but it just feels unlikely to me.  Honestly, if we're going to see new characters it's probably going to be characters we haven't seen before, as in totally new characters like Slayer, Bridget, Zappa, and I-No were in Guilty Gear XX.