Glory of Heracles, part of a long-running RPG series, out in the US now!

[Cao Cao]

First Starfy, now this. Listed at NeoGAF (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15390138&postcount=59) are trademark applications by different companies in Japan. Some, like Nintendo, tend to trademark the names of their English releases. Well in this batch, two interesting entries have appeared:
Nintendo
商願2009-006599 ＲＨＹＴＨＭ　ＰＡＲＡＤＩＳＥ
商願2009-010026 ちょっとたいぜん＼アソビ大全＼おなじみテーブル
商願2009-010027 ふ～ふ～きらりん
商願2009-010028 Ｒｅ：コエティスト
商願2009-010029 うごうごトリニティ
商願2009-010030 かおサピエンス
商願2009-010562 別製張貫
商願2009-013026 Ｎｉｎｔｅｎｄｏ　ＤＳ　ＧＵＩＤＥ
商願2009-013028 つくってあそぶ瞬間アクション
商願2009-013029 Ｗｉｉで＼あそぶ＼セレクション
商願2009-013031 ＥＸＣＩＴＥＢＯＴＳ＼ＴＲＩＣＫ　ＲＡＣＩＮＧ
商願2009-013033 ＴＨＥ　ＬＥＧＥＮＤＡＲＹ　ＳＴＡＲＦＹ
商願2009-013036 ＴＨＥ　ＧＬＯＲＹ　ＯＦ　ＨＥＲＡＣＬＥＳ
商願2009-013038 ＭＡＲＩＯ　ＰＯＷＥＲ　ＴＥＮＮＩＳ
商願2009-013039 Ｎｉｎｔｅｎｄｏ＼ＮＥＷ　ＰＬＡＹ　ＣＯＮＴＲＯＬ！
商願2009-013040 ＮＩＮＴＥＮＤＯ　ＰＯＩＮＴＳ　ＣＡＲＤ
商願2009-013041 Ｗｉｉ　ＰＯＩＮＴＳ
商願2009-013294 ＴＨＥ　ＧＬＯＲＹ　ＯＦ　ＨＥＲＣＵＬＥＳ

For those who don't know, the Glory of Heracles series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_of_Heracles) is a long-running RPG series with a Greek Mythology theme. This release would likely be a localization of the latest in the series, the DS title "Glory of Heracles: Proof of Soul" (Website (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/yekj/index.html)).

Japanese Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l310TZ9dBRE)

[Masterkyo]

Wow, the sound track & trailer is awsome :)

[Gden]

huh, looks interesting

[hero101]

Goodie, something to look forward to.

[blackjaw]

Looks fun, I'd buy it.

[punkmaggit]

Holy crap! That looks beautiful. Very reminiscient of SaGa Frontier. Consider my interest piqued.

[Cao Cao]

It was announced for the US/EU on Nintendo's press site. No video was on there, and the release date is a tentative 2010.

[Cao Cao]

Nintendo officially announced that the US release date is January 18th:
http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=106282

[M-PG71C]

Well, I guess I'll be buying it for sure. It is a game I can afford on one plasma center visit and a game that will last at least fifteen hours. :P

Seriously though, I always wanted to play the series but never bothered to import them, now I just can buy it. :D

[Dead of Knight]

Very reminiscient of SaGa Frontier.

http://blog.internetnews.com/apatrizio/do-not-want-dog.jpg

[Dead of Knight]

So it's out tomorrow. Date is supposedly today but today is a federal holiday so I doubt anyone got it. Amazon has it as coming to me Thursday. I'll post impressions then. It got a 7 from Nintendo Power and a 6.8 from GameTrailers. Those are the reviews so far. The main complaint that I've seen is it's too traditional. That's not really a complaint to me so I'm still getting it to see for myself. Unlike Sega with Sands of Destruction, Nintendo actually improved this game for the US release. The battle speed has been greatly sped up (even GameTrailer comments that the battles are fast) compared to the original. I am not sure of any other improvements, but according to importers, that's a big one that'll help a lot with the enjoyment of the game. As long as this game is better than the atrocity I just finished (Sands of Destruction), I'll be happy.

Any other suckers getting it this week?

[Kaoz]

Any other suckers getting it this week?
Not I, definitely want it, but I gotta finish up with Might and Magic first.

Look forward to impressions from anyone who does buy it tho' =P

[botticus]

I'm in since I've been without a new DS game since... Christmas? I'm going through withdrawl.

[Josef]

Any other suckers getting it this week?

Considering Best Buy is giving a ton of bonus RZ points with purchase, plus I have a gift card to burn, I'll probably be picking it up there.

[Gden]

What about bonus RZ points?

[Dead of Knight]

Apparently you get the equivalent of a $5 RZ certificate in bonus points.... but the deal only starts on the 22nd, so you have to wait a few days after release.

My copy is in Shipping Soon hell at Amazon so I won't be getting it till the 21st at the earliest. :( The lengths I go to save a few bucks.

[botticus]

Yeah, I can't say I've been happy with Amazon's Shipping Soon crap since they got rid of the price guarantee. It'll probably ship tonight/tomorrow if I'm lucky, but man they must have some slow warehouse guys.

[62t]

On a related note the fan translation for Glory of Heracles 3 SNES was also recently completed

http://www.dqtranslations.com/content/early-christmas-grab-glory-heracles-3-now

[Dead of Knight]

Played a bit over an hour so far. Very classic RPG. Good stuff. The only thing that's been pissing me off is the mandatory tutorials require you to use the stylus during the tutorial, even though it is not required at all during normal gameplay. And there are a lot of tutorials even for the most mundane shit. Other than that I am enjoying it quite a bit. Great localization by Nintendo. Sega could learn from them.

[botticus]

"'Pit'? That doesn't even sound Greek!" :lol:

I've put about 4 hours into it, generally echoing DoK's impressions. There's nothing really mindblowing going on, but the battles are pretty fun. Lots of diverse enemies even early on, with elemental affinities, row formations, lots of skills and abilities, etc.

[slidecage]

i wonder if you can combine all 3 deals


deal 1

250 points

Deal 2
buy this game get 15 off other games

Deal 3
there is a 10% off coupon i think that expires sunday


so buy the game for 30- 10% off coupon would knock it down to 27... add those 250 pts would knock it down to 22 bucks then pick up the other agme for 15

so 42 bucks out of pocket for 2 games + 5 buck gift card

[Dead of Knight]

Someone on GAF who's played both the Japanese and NA versions said the battles are 2-3x+ faster than the Japanese version. And there are a lot of other small improvements. Good on Nintendo.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19402652&postcount=57

Sega should be fucking embarrassed. A major part of their PR for SoD was the nonexistent improvements. Yet Nintendo did all this with no announcement or statement at all.

Played a few more hours. Still like it. Still a fun game. Still a classic RPG. It is a bit on the easy side so far though, but I don't care much about that. At least the battle system isn't broken like SoD.

[slidecage]

Someone on GAF who's played both the Japanese and NA versions said the battles are 2-3x+ faster than the Japanese version. And there are a lot of other small improvements. Good on Nintendo.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19402652&postcount=57

Sega should be fucking embarrassed. A major part of their PR for SoD was the nonexistent improvements. Yet Nintendo did all this with no announcement or statement at all.

Played a few more hours. Still like it. Still a fun game. Still a classic RPG. It is a bit on the easy side so far though, but I don't care much about that. At least the battle system isn't broken like SoD.

hope i get it tomorrow via gamefly.. it all depends on if the mail runs early (then i wont get it till monday ) if the mail runs late there is a slim chance...

now if i Doesnt come dont know to run over to best buy sunday and do the deal ....


This game + that box game for 45... have a 10% off coupon that would knock either 3 or 6 off the bill... say 3 at least would be 42 then you get enough pts for a 5 buck gift card in a few months .. so 37 say.. Take that box game and toss it up on goozex for 600 pts and pick up something i want ...

So say around 40 bucks could end up with this game and 600 goozex pts

i really should not buy it cause in the long run i think i will be disappointed with it (doubt it has 50 hours like some places are saying)... that and really need to play the 10+ rpg games that are just gathering dust Ie adventures to go )

Sod wasnt really broken if you never upgrade your stats ,, but then the game would be so freaking insane hard noone would want to play it...

[Dead of Knight]

No, SoD was broken anyway even if you didn't upgrade your stats. Remember if you simply raised your defense once, enemies could go from doing 100 damage per hit to 1 damage? And vice versa for the enemies? And how it was completely impossible to hit anything with agility up unless you used Taupy? That is broken.

[slidecage]

No, SoD was broken anyway even if you didn't upgrade your stats. Remember if you simply raised your defense once, enemies could go from doing 100 damage per hit to 1 damage? And vice versa for the enemies? And how it was completely impossible to hit anything with agility up unless you used Taupy? That is broken.

true i forgot .. one min your hitting for 50 to 80 per hit and the next round your hitting for 1 hp of damage or missing ..... if the random encounter wasnt so freaking high i probally would of been playing it all this week, but after playing last thursday and friday i have not picked it up since (around 8 hours in) , though i probally will go back playing it tomorrow or sunday unless Glory comes tomorrow (hopefully)

i hated that frog boss.. when he hit one of my team members they did like 2 to 5 hp of damage but if he hit another he was hitting for 80 to 90 and he would hit like 7 or 8 hits in a row (meaning death everytime he hit the chic member)

got the game VIA gamefly on Saturday... its an okay game.. dont know if im going to keep it or not for 17.49 (after 5 buck coupoin i got ) next game i want doesnt come out till FEB 2 Puzzle cronicles or somthing like that (even though i bet that game gets delayed)

so i give it until thursday if i want to keep it or not

[botticus]

Has anyone gotten to Troy yet? Just trying to get into the castle, but I must be missing something. And being another town with random battles, it kinda discourages walking around for an hour.

Edit: Got it all figured out, just overlooked a spot.

[Dead of Knight]

I'm a few hours past you.... longer game than I expected.

[botticus]

I'm a few hours past you.... longer game than I expected.
I could have sworn I had heard it was a 30 hour game, but I don't recall if that was referring to the Japanese or American version, and the souped up battle speed would probably make our version significantly shorter. But I'm 17 hours in, have to imagine I'm more than halfway. But without being able to see the whole world map, who knows how much is unexplored.

This is really one of the better localizations I've seen on a DS RPG yet. The script and the characterization are really fantastic.

[slidecage]

I could have sworn I had heard it was a 30 hour game, but I don't recall if that was referring to the Japanese or American version, and the souped up battle speed would probably make our version significantly shorter. But I'm 17 hours in, have to imagine I'm more than halfway. But without being able to see the whole world map, who knows how much is unexplored.

This is really one of the better localizations I've seen on a DS RPG yet. The script and the characterization are really fantastic.

i heard it was 30 to 45 hours (not counting side quest) im 2 hours in.... dont know why but something keeps drawing me back to sands of destruction (yes i love punishment LOL)

hopefully monday i will have more time to put into it. ended up watching Movies and stuff i had on my DVR last night and really didnt put much time into it (maybe an hour, and didnt have time to play it tonight much , another hour)


I just wonder if it has any replay vaule

[Dead of Knight]

I'm 25 hours in and I'm still not that close to the end AFAIK. The story is very slow and not much is going on but for some reason I'm still finding the game intriguing. The game is nothing mindblowing or anything, it's very classic and sticks to classic mechanics, but it's still fun and entertaining. I think the very competent localization helps a lot (note to Sega and especially Ignition).

[botticus]

On the one hand, the fact that attacks that "miss" not only do a decent amount of damage, but can also inflict status conditions is kind of annoying.

On the other hand, figuring out things like the fact that overkilling a unit frees up any other attackers targeting that unit to go after another unit in the same row is nice.

Overall the only gimmick I'm not really loving is getting stuck in a chain of battles, usually on a boat. Usually they let you heal between, but it's still bothersome.

[Dead of Knight]

Over 30 hours in now and still no clue when this is gonna end. They still got me trapped on a very linear path from dungeon to town to dungeon. It's getting rather tiring because the story pacing is very slow. It's sped up lately, but it's still pretty geriatric compared to most RPGs, especially considering I should be nearing the end soon.

[botticus]

I'm up to 22 myself, up to the first taphus. I can see why people were getting burned out towards the end with the Japanese version. I can deal with story pacing as it is, but with the old battle speed, the game would never end.

[Dead of Knight]

Beat it. About 35 hours. The game really really dragged on and the conclusion is pretty unsatisfying. I can write more impressions tomorrow. For now, I'm just gonna link to a topic I made on Gamefaqs about the side content this game has. For what it's worth, it has very, very little. As far as I can tell there are no sidequests in the actual game itself. It's one of the most linear games, if not the most linear, game I've ever played in my life. I am disappoint.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=960573&topic=53227932

[slidecage]

i put my copy away for awhile.... decided to keep it via gamefly for 18 shipped after coupons... i got a few games i just tossed up on goozex that needs to leave by thursday so mostly playing those once more before they leave ...probally pop this game back into the system this weekend

good to know the game is 30+ hours

[botticus]

Hey DoK, I'm at the Rock of Prometheus at 28.5 hours - is that about the same pace you were on? Trying to get a handle of how much further I have to go.

[Dead of Knight]

Yeah that sounds about right, give or take an hour or two.

[botticus]

Finished it up right around 34 hours.

Overall, it was fun. It dragged a bit in the middle and in the last couple hours (a 5 floor linear dungeon in the middle of the endgame isn't really necessary, though Haphaestus' cameo was entertaining :lol:), but the localization and the battle system remained pretty solid through the end.

Only 82% of items collected, gah!

[Dead of Knight]

I only had 68%. I'm not an item whore.

[botticus]

I only had 68%. I'm not an item whore.
I'm not really either, but once I knew there was a counter, I just started buying up 1 of items I hadn't found yet, and some weapons I didn't really have a need for.

[SuperPhillip]

Would anyone recommend this game?

[Dead of Knight]

Would anyone recommend this game?

I'd say once there's a price drop or sale to $15-20. Not really worth full price but it's an ok little game.