Vandal Hearts Flames of Judgment. Oh hells yeah... at least until I saw the pictures

[kupomogli]

A new Vandal Hearts. The first game was amazing and the new one takes place as a prequel to what happened in Sostegaria. Then viewing the pictures which is really all we have to go on now. WTF? I don't really care about graphics and all, but are they trying to push this game towards the fanbase or are they trying to push the game towards 12 year olds? The graphics are decent, but the character models look terrible.

Looks like Konami is doing to this series like they've been doing to all their other series lately. So long Vandal Hearts.

http://xboxlivemedia.ign.com/xboxlive/image/article/972/972228/vandal-hearts-flames-of-judgment-20090413031748224_640w.jpg

http://xboxlivemedia.ign.com/xboxlive/image/article/972/972228/vandal-hearts-flames-of-judgment-20090413031742677_640w.jpg

[scooterb23]

A thread about pics, with no pics? How can this be?

[kupomogli]

Look it up. It's not that hard to type Vandal Hearts Flames of Judgment in a search engine.

Making me take the extra time to copy and paste with image postings. Damn you, but hold on.

[heybtbm]

Vandal Hearts I and II are two of my favorite SRPG's. I bought each one on release day, found every item, beat each multiple times, etc. Don't get me started on their excellent soundtracks...probably both in the top 10 of all time.

That being said, the fact that this is a XBLA/PSN game worries me. I want a full game, not some mini-SRPG that lasts 4 hours. I thought the original VH was supposed to come out for DS. Anyone remember that?

[scooterb23]

Look it up. It's not that hard to type Vandal Hearts Flames of Judgment in a search engine.

Making me take the extra time to copy and paste with image postings. Damn you, but hold on.

You know, I've not been having the best of days. But the fact that you came back and had to express how I'm wasting YOUR precious time. Thank you. I needed the laugh.

Not even a game I'd probably ever play.

[Aussie2B]

Wow, now there's a series I didn't expect to see revived.

I dunno, maybe they're sticking with tradition? :P The first Vandal Hearts wasn't exactly a looker. The sprites and the art were both pretty damn hideous, but it was almost part of its charm. But, yeah, this is considerably worse. I have no idea what they were thinking. Did they farm this out to some no-name American developer or something?

[kupomogli]

You know, I've not been having the best of days. But the fact that you came back and had to express how I'm wasting YOUR precious time. Thank you. I needed the laugh.

Not even a game I'd probably ever play.

If it makes you feel any better, I posted those pics just for you. The reason I say that is because you were the only one that posted at the time.

[crazyjackcsa]

I really loved the first one and never played the second. It's one of my favorite Strategy RPG's and my first enterance in to the genre. A full game would be nice, but the look doesn't bother me. It strikes me as a little underwhelming visually though. I'm not a graphics guy for the most part, but give me something! Looks like Fire Emblem on the GC and the Wii and they were very poor graphically.

[Daria]

That being said, the fact that this is a XBLA/PSN game worries me.

I dunno. Band of Bugs was very Vandal Hearts-esque, I loved it and it was a short XBLA game. And Vandal Hearts took like 10 hours tops to beat.

[TonyTheTiger]

I hope it uses the original movement system rather than the stupid "enemy moves when you do" thing from Vandal Hearts II.


I thought the original VH was supposed to come out for DS. Anyone remember that?

Yes, and a small glimmer of hope has been sitting in the back of my mind ever since.


I really loved the first one and never played the second.

It's good but different. I personally don't like it as much as the first. In fact, I don't think it does anything particularly better than the first perhaps with the exception of the more customizable party members. Though the simple class system of the first game has a certain charm to it.

[Press_Start]

Vandals Hearts (and Suikoden) was the very reason I got the Playstation and jump head first into the RPG genre. The pixelated look adds a certain retro charm to it. The Dimension Spell was fun to watch seeing the entire field spring back and forth like in a cartoon. Of course, how can we forget....BLOOD GEYSERS!:texaschain: :texaschain::texaschain:

The second was okay. Character models lacked the colorful and lively designs and movement often found in the first. The goals 99% of the time were just kill all enemies as opposed to the various objectives in VH1 like protecting key characters, all party members reach a certain location, or prevent enemy soldiers from escaping.

Looking at the latest pics, the one thing turning me off is the character models especially the heroes. But nothing is set in stone just yet. I am kinda disappointed with Konami. It's as if they've never made a game like this before.

[heybtbm]

It lives! Achievement list up...

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/vandal-hearts-flames-of-judgment/achievements/

[exit]

Looks like Fire Emblem on the GC and the Wii and they were very poor graphically.

I don't know what game you were playing, but Fire Emblem on GC had nothing close to poor graphics.

[Rickstilwell1]

Well kind of the way I feel about Diablo 3, all I really care is that it plays well. If the fighting system isn't butchered, I'll love this game.

[heybtbm]

Well, I took a chance and plopped down the 1200 MS points for this game yesterday without trying the demo...and absolutely love it.

I was a little nervous after the beginning theme song started...definitely not on par with the previous two game's fantastic soundtracks (Almost embarrassingly amateur (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwSWnj_9Ok)). As soon as the combat started though, the game clicked for me. I put about 3 hours into it last night and plan on getting right back into it tonight. Also, the battle music gets much better for those that care about such things.

The combat is the standard SRPG-fare that will seem familiar to fans of the first two games. You get a set number of spaces to move per turn, the battlefield rotates to your liking, interacting with stores/NPC's is strictly through menus, blood geysers! Leveling up is handled by using your particular battle/magic skills in combat. The individual characters don't have "levels", only the weapons and spells have stats that increase by use (as well as increasing character's HP and MP).

Overall it's a great game so far. Little touches, like automatic counters after being hit, or easily determining if a new weapon or piece of armor is better than the one you have equipped (FFTA2 was almost ruined by the lack of this simple feature) are nice.

Oh, and the art style look fine to me. Not sure what that's all about.

EDIT: I just noticed...the pictures at the top of this thread are nothing like the actual in-game character portraits. Maybe the developers responded to the criticism before release?

[Zoltor]

The map/scene, and all looks fine, but I have to agree with the profile pics on the order bar, yes WTF were they thinking indeed, they look completely out of place, you would think they would atleast use the same style of graphics(aka a more traditional art style approach, not cartoony wannabe anime), but it looks likes they went out of their way to make the profiles appeal to 2 year olds.

[heybtbm]

The map/scene, and all looks fine, but I have to agree with the profile pics on the order bar, yes WTF were they thinking indeed, they look completely out of place, you would think they would atleast use the same style of graphics(aka a more traditional art style approach, not cartoony wannabe anime), but it looks likes they went out of their way to make the profiles appeal to 2 year olds.

The character portraits in the final game look nothing like the pictures in this thread. I think the developer got the hint and changed the art style in the last 9 months since those screenshots were released. The in-game graphics look just like the pictures though...which is good.

[kupomogli]

The character portraits in the final game look nothing like the pictures in this thread. I think the developer got the hint and changed the art style in the last 9 months since those screenshots were released. The in-game graphics look just like the pictures though...which is good.

Not "nothing" like the pictures in this thread. The entire game still looks similar. It could be a fairly good game but I'm not going to try it due to Konami's stupid decision to make it look like this... and being DLC only.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETRI7gaRswM

[Wraith Storm]

Not "nothing" like the pictures in this thread. The entire game still looks similar. It could be a fairly good game but I'm not going to try it due to Konami's stupid decision to make it look like this... and being DLC only.

My name is Wraith Storm and I approve this message.

[Aussie2B]

I guess they attempted to improve how the characters look, but they're still absolutely horrendous and so out-of-place for the Vandal Hearts series. Bringing back the blood geysers makes it all the creepier considering the characters look like little kids out of a bad Saturday morning cartoon. I mean, the art style wasn't exactly consistent between VH1 and VH2, but at least they both had a mature, adult kind of thing going on. I hate to be so superficial, but I honestly can't take the gameplay seriously when the art direction makes me want to vomit. And the gall of the artists to actually "show off" their sketches during loading as if they aren't thoroughly awful looking, ugh. What did they do, hire some 14-year-old off of Deviant Art?

[Zoltor]

I guess they attempted to improve how the characters look, but they're still absolutely horrendous and so out-of-place for the Vandal Hearts series. Bringing back the blood geysers makes it all the creepier considering the characters look like little kids out of a bad Saturday morning cartoon. I mean, the art style wasn't exactly consistent between VH1 and VH2, but at least they both had a mature, adult kind of thing going on. I hate to be so superficial, but I honestly can't take the gameplay seriously when the art direction makes me want to vomit. And the gall of the artists to actually "show off" their sketches during loading as if they aren't thoroughly awful looking, ugh. What did they do, hire some 14-year-old off of Deviant Art?

I'm sorry, but this is even worse then that(most 14 year olds on DA actually make better art then those char, which is rather sad).

To heybtbm: One can only hope that's the case.

[Rickstilwell1]

The long awaited Vandal-Hearts game that was canceled for Nintendo DS and moved to PSN is finally out! Is anyone excited to play it like I am? I wonder how much different it is from the original PS1 games. And hey maybe its release will spark Vandal-Hearts 1 & 2 to make it to to PS One Classics if it does well.

[PapaStu]

Merged with the thread already in progress that was just down the page a bit...

[Rickstilwell1]

Merged with the thread already in progress that was just down the page a bit...

Oops, didn't see it. Sometimes my eyes don't pick everything up.