Nintendo DS Contact - How is it?

[goatdan]

I have seen previews of this game, and I was drawn in by the art style being almost identical to a certain old SNES RPG which I loved (Earthbound). I haven't heard what any gamers have thought of it, and I'd specifically know how it plays in relationship to Earthbound, as I know that if I buy it, I'm going to be making comparisons to Earthbound, which means if it isn't pretty darn good, I'm going to end up hating it.

Any thoughts would be awesome!

[Kroogah]

I just bought it today, and I place EarthBound on a very high pedestal, so here's what I think.

So far, the similarities to EarthBound are in the sense of humor the game has, and little else. It's a good game in its own right. The stat-raising system is cool because it actually makes sense, i.e. you take damage and it raises your defense, the more you walk the faster you get, etc. I like it thus far.

[slip81]

I've never played Earthbound, so I can't compare it to that, but I will say that Contact is a very fun little game.

It's also an Atlus release, so that means it might be tough to find in a couple of months. I'd say pick it up, and if you end up hating it just wait for it to go out of print and then dump it on ebay.

[gamegirl79]

Yeah, this game isn't as similar to Earthbound as I originally thought it would be, but it's still not a bad game. I'm only about an hour and a half into it but I'm enjoying it so far. The battle system was slightly annoying to me at first but I'm getting used to it.

[youruglyclone]

game is pretty fun, a lot of weird aspects (stomach capacity, the dog which is more or less useless at this point). I'm glued to this game nonetheless.

decals are cool though.

[Neo Rasa]

I'm going to cut and paste my post from the other Contact thread:

This is actually my favorite DS game at this time. The entire product is like a big evolution of the old style RPGs.

When I say that I mean OLD, as in Dragon Slayer, Xanadu, the oldest Ultima games, etc. Combat especially is taken right from this kind of game. You set yourself to attack mode but control positioning. I think it owes more to this than it does to current MMOs. Especially since you can kill townspeople, with it effecting your alignment and whether or not other people in that town will deal with you and/or attack you on site. Not many games these days do that.

In addition I love the variety of weapons and foods. The game is very polished.

The soundtrack is really catchy. It's very Chrono Trigger-esque actually. I wasn't expecting that for a game with the tone this one has.

I love the dungeons too. Big old hallways with lots of little hidden passages and alcoves to check out. The best example that would stand out in people's minds of this appearing in the older games is probably Final Fantasy IV.

I like that there's a point where the professor actually says about a boss "Try hitting its weakpoint for massive damage."

[sirhansirhan]

Yeah, here's the original topic, which you may have missed due to a slightly misleading title: Link (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=90247)

Also, you may note that it has already popped up on a few people's "Best Games on the DS" list (including my own) in that recent thread.

But yeah, I love it so far (about five hours in). Think Earthbound plus a little Secret of Evermore plus some shit you've never seen before. It baffles me how bad its reviews have been--I think the highest rating I've seen it get was a 7.0 out of 10. I should just stop reading game criticism.

[slackur]

I'm several hours into Contact, and I agree that it is very polished, with a nice soundtrack, interesting graphic style (Earthbound-simple on the top screen and Chrono Trigger style detail on the bottom screen) and fun to play.

The combat/leveling system is the most interesting combination of simple/complex ideas working together that I've ever seen! Despite the fact that all you do is activate an 'attack mode' with a button press, and Terry and the enemy just whale on each other, the game levels up 26 different stats!!!! And they don't just level up together- you gain levels in things from doing them, like taking hits, elemental damage, running, morality, and types of weapons equiped. The combat actually gets pretty complex later with manual decals, tech hits, and magic, not to mention weapon-specific bonuses and a ton of items.

Other innovations abound, like the stomach system. I always thought it was cheap to be able to use 99 potions to stay healed in a boss battle in other games. In Contact, your stomach fills with each food item, and each has a different fill rate and hp gain! You have to be carefull not to overfill on weak items when you need help, otherwise you end up running around avoiding damage while your stomach empties.

The story is also interesting. Without giving too much away, the 'professor' character breaks the fourth wall and addresses you as the player directly in the beginning of the game, and lots of the game's humor comes from these fourth wall breaks.

The only downside for me so far is that the difficulty is kind of set as a level grind, with some basic enemies and bosses requiring some hefty exp-grinding. As much as I like the combat system, some will find this time spent as tedious.

If you aren't afraid of the time investment, I HIGHLY recommend this excellent title.

[c0ldb33r]

It's a good game in its own right. The stat-raising system is cool because it actually makes sense, i.e. you take damage and it raises your defense, the more you walk the faster you get, etc.
Oh no! This sounds like the Final Fantasy 2J system. :(

That's what I hate about FF2J, levelling up like mad by staying in a battle and attacking yourself.

[Neo Rasa]

It's a good game in its own right. The stat-raising system is cool because it actually makes sense, i.e. you take damage and it raises your defense, the more you walk the faster you get, etc.
Oh no! This sounds like the Final Fantasy 2J system. :(

That's what I hate about FF2J, levelling up like mad by staying in a battle and attacking yourself.

Don't worry, it's nowhere near as boneheaded as that (plus you don't LOSE any experience in a stat for not using it or using its opposite too much, this is what really killed the original FFII, I'm glad it was fixed up on the GBA port).

What I like about it is the very large array of weapons, many of which will be useful for different situations throughout the entire game. So you can pretty easily take on just about anything in a given area if you're exploring everywhere. The result is that you level up various stats pretty frequently.

[exit]

I picked it up today at Best Buy and it's already feeling like a true classic. The menu is HUGE, I've never seen such a large variety of things to look through and I'm sure it'll grow as the game goes on.

Now I want to try the Wifi mode and see how well it works.