How available is Culdcept Saga?

[DonMarco]

It was released this week, but I've heard stories that some areas/cities never got any. Bestbuy.com has it listed for next week and the local Target and Walmart didn't have any in stock. Amazon seems to have pushed back orders a day or two.

Is there anyone on these boards that found or has looked for the game? I got a copy at GS, so maybe it's just a problem with the big box stores.

[FantasiaWHT]

Big box stores rarely get marginal games quickly (if at all) - they don't pay for the overnight shipping that gets the games to gamestop the day after (sometimes the day of) the shipping date.

My gamestop didn't have my preorder yesterday, but that was more a function of 20" of snowfall, heh. Got the phone call Wednesday night saying it would be in Thursday, but the stores were never open on Thursday. Who knows if it'll even be here today? The shipping might be all screwed up with the storm, too.

[Mangar]

I pray for a PS3 Port.....

[walrusmonger]

I got the only copy at the gamestop I bought mine at, but there could have been more in the stock room. I didn't reserve mine either.

[c2000]

I'm so pissed off about the region lock..grr.

[FantasiaWHT]

I hear ya, c2000. The first time my friend from London visited, he bought an insane amount of PS2 equipment and games, including Culdcept, which he became instantly hooked on. Saga doesn't even HAVE a release date in England =/

So I called GS and they have them now, I'll get mine tonight! Anybody know if, if/when the game comes out in England, I'd be able to play with him on Live?

[UndeadKing]

FantasiaWHT,
Going by the manual, No. The manual says you can play online only with those in the North American region.

[Half Japanese]

Just ordered my copy this morning from Amazon with overnight shipping (yay for Amazon Prime's free trial). A friend is already playing it and informed me that there are team battles. A card/board game hybrid with online cooperative play? Instant win.

[PapaStu]

My closest GS got in two copies. The clerk and I were surprised that the store got in two. Even if they only had a single copy it wouldn't have bothered me much. I've got 5 GS stores in a 4 mile radius of me.

[Dangerboy]

Just to add in the 'behind the counter' angle:

It seems like most GS in my area got in two copies of the game - they may be testing the water, They did a similar thing with Carnival Games for the Wii, and taht sold so well we get restocks of like 10 copies at a time.

Considering how many people wanted my PS2 Culdcept in B/S'ing, if the 360 version keeps the demand you should see better restocks on it.

Killer art-style in the game, if I may add.

[Goodwill Hunter]

It was sitting out on the shelves in 3 GameStops in my area. Picked up one, and innocently asked if there was some sort of mini-strategy guide that went with it. Guy tossed it in the bag without a second thought...pre-order score with no pre-order! I'm at the first battle on behalf of the kingdom, and for some reason I'm getting all of the big weapon items right away...claymores, tridents, etc. Still a bit sparse on creatures and spells (especially blue creatures, that was my best deck in the PS2 version), but I'm having a blast! Looking forward to some online battles.

Rich

[FantasiaWHT]

Did everyone start with the blue-yellow deck?

In the PS2 version, for some reason my wife and I both started with different decks - I had blue-yellow, and she had red-green. But with this version, everyone I've talked to so far (just 3 people) have had blue-yellow.

[Goodwill Hunter]

Did everyone start with the blue-yellow deck?


Nope...red/green all the way. I'm about 10 battles in, and still have fewer yellow and blue creatures. Continuing to love the game, but it sure seems that they could have put a bit more effort into the visuals on the the 360. The damage animations on the board are unimpressive to say the least, and where the hell are my banner-wielding cherubs before the victory tallies!? If they didn't want to upgrade them, they could have at least left them in as-is. Oh well.

Rich

[FantasiaWHT]

Damn, anybody know HOW you get the red/green? Random? Some function of name input or hair design?

I'm so jealous of my friend... he somehow got a Kelpie in his first couple of fights! Lucky bastard, that and the Old Willow are the two best creature cards in the (last, at least) game.

[Trebuken]

$39.95? is that what everyone paid for this? I hope we see more of this pricing on current gen consoles.

[FantasiaWHT]

$39.95? is that what everyone paid for this? I hope we see more of this pricing on current gen consoles.

Nah... it's only $40 because it's virtually identical to the PS2 version. New story and cleaned up translation, but probably 90% of the same cards, same graphics (except for some different card art), same rules.

[boatofcar]

I tried the demo. I had heard great stuff, so I was ready to enjoy it, but either the demo sucks, or it's a pretty mindless game. I heard someone mention Monopoly in a review, and while I know most people would say "cool!", I was hoping that was just because he had a limited knowledge of boardgames to say something better. I mean, it is common for the average person to see a boardgame, regardless of what it is, and say it's "like Monopoly." Unfortunately, he was right on target with this game. It is a lot like Monopoly, except instead of building houses, you have a deck of Magic cards and you play creatures. Sure, there is more to it, but not enough to get around the fact that you are still rolling a die to move around a track and "buying" properties hoping the other person lands on them.

Yeah, I was pretty letdown by the demo. On my way out, though, they added one last insult that almost had me fired up enough to start sending some hatemail to their marketing department. It was possibly the most ignorant tagline they could've come up with regarding their game: "The luck of a boardgame, the strategy of a cardgame." What?! Fine, all they know is Monopoly, Sorry, Parcheesi, whatever... But what about Go, Chess, Checkers? Zero luck!

[Beefy Hits]

I don't get how all the reviews bag on this game so much.
I think it's a great game, one of my all time favs, but maybe I just haven't played enough board card games. The online adds a lot to it, but I have a feeling it will be harder to find people to play with as time goes on.

[cyberfluxor]

Ironically won the JPN Saturn original on eBay last week. :D

Looking forward to checking it out, seeing I don't have an Xbox360. Certainly it could always end up on my list of "to get" whenever that happens.

[Oobgarm]

Most Best Buy stores should have it available on Tuesday. We got 2 copies, but YMMV.

Just tossing that out there.

[Half Japanese]

I don't get how all the reviews bag on this game so much.
I think it's a great game, one of my all time favs, but maybe I just haven't played enough board card games. The online adds a lot to it, but I have a feeling it will be harder to find people to play with as time goes on.

I meant to send you an invite after we played last night but forgot about it before turning the 360 off.

From what I've played so far it's well worth the $40, and hopefully other games that may struggle to find an audience at full retail will follow the pricing scheme. The cards and how they interact with each other will add a good bit of depth to it, and the settings allow games to last as short or as long as you want.

As for decks, I started out with blue/yellow and haven't had much luck in scaring up red and green cards, though to be fair I've only played online so far and haven't even begun the single player mode.

[backguard]

is there good online multiplayer for this? leaderboards, random matchups etc?