Dreamcast: Last Hope

[kainemaxwell]

http://www.lasthope.ngdevteam.com/

Did anyone here pre-order this DC title?

[jeffg]

i just did the other day.

[weirdguy]

I pre-ordered Last Hope, Trigger Heart and Karous on friday.

[Vectorman0]

The gameplay is supposed to be pretty decent, and the whole game is supposed to be impressive for an independent release. Of course, this depends on the port of it being true to the original.

I don't think I will get it right away, but hopefully see if I can try someone elses first. If I like it, then I will certainly pick it up.

[kainemaxwell]

The gameplay is supposed to be pretty decent, and the whole game is supposed to be impressive for an independent release. Of course, this depends on the port of it being true to the original.

I don't think I will get it right away, but hopefully see if I can try someone elses first. If I like it, then I will certainly pick it up.

I want to hear some reviews first before ordering this myself. Graphics looks like that from the R-type series, gameplay like SCAT for the NES or a horizontal Space Harrier.

[jpark203]

I preordered it in November, but switched over to the limited edition last week. They say you can adjust the speed and frequency of enemy shots in the DC version. I'm hoping that literally means what it sounds like and isn't just another standard easy/normal/hard system.

[Kamisama]

I preordered the LE aswell. And yes it's true that you can make the game easier like that. I've already played it :)

[Hwj_Chim]

I have had my preorder in since November, I can't wait for it.

[VACRMH]

Where can I preorder the LE dreamcast edition? I only see Neo Geo for sale.

[kainemaxwell]

Where can I preorder the LE dreamcast edition? I only see Neo Geo for sale.

Can't pre-order the LE anymore, but get the reg from play-asia:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-x-49-en-15-last%2Bhope-70-1lza.html

[Vectorman0]

I want to hear some reviews first before ordering this myself. Graphics looks like that from the R-type series, gameplay like SCAT for the NES or a horizontal Space Harrier.

It's a long thread with a ton of BS to wade through, but there are a few people's take on the game here: http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134414

[mr_nihilism]

Pre-ordered it last week. Looks good.

[Captain Wrong]

It's a long thread with a ton of BS to wade through, but there are a few people's take on the game here: http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134414

Between the screen filling "signatures" and the NG drama, I can't take that thread. Can we get a Reader's Digest version? LOL

[CosmicMonkey]

Yeah, I had the normal version on pre-order, but I changed to the LE version too.

Also have the Sega Direct LE of Exelica on preorder, just waiting to see if they do a LE of Karous.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Between the screen filling "signatures" and the NG drama, I can't take that thread. Can we get a Reader's Digest version? LOL
Yeah, seriously. Why wasn't I surprised to see that the thread was 60 pages of drivel? I gave up on neo-geo.com a long time ago.

Besides, aside form the fact that it's neo-geo.com, any reviews of the game in that thread would be from people who bought the $700 Neo Geo cart version of the game and I don't think their opinions would be trustworthy on the matter. Such a person would most likely be ridiculously rich and rich people completely lack the ability to judge value and quality from my experiences. Or if they're not rich, they had to scrimp and save for months to afford the cart, in which case their impressions of the game would be way too heavily skewed by the money they paid to be meaningful.

I haven't pre-ordered the game yet myself, but I'm right on the verge of it. I'd like to wait and see some impressions from people who didn't spend $700 on it, but I'm afraid that there won't be any more copies available by then. What a conundrum. I'd like to support the developers anyway, so I guess I should just get it. At least it's a little cheaper than the Japanese DC shooters coming out these days and probably as good as either of the other upcoming ones anyway.


...word is bondage...

[lordnikon]

I have yet to pre-order Last Hope. The videos of the game show it running with no collision detection except for the force bit absorbing enemy fire. The ship doesn't get destroyed from enemy bullets, and the ship's fire doesn't destroy any enemies.

If this is what the developers needed to do to make a preview movie of the game, I question the gameplay. I have a feeling once you remove the "well it is an independent title" excuses, the game will feel clunky and inconsistant from a gameplay perspective.

[Muscelli]

Such a person would most likely be ridiculously rich and rich people completely lack the ability to judge value and quality from my experiences.



what you said is completely wrong. Wealthier people just have a different standard on materialistic items, and actually look at value and quality as well. Anybody who wears higher end clothes knows what I am talking about.

[roushimsx]

If this is what the developers needed to do to make a preview movie of the game, I question the gameplay. I have a feeling once you remove the "well it is an independent title" excuses, the game will feel clunky and inconsistant from a gameplay perspective.

I'm in pretty much the same boat as you with this one. While I've really enjoyed Milestone and Warashi's past games enough to drop the chunk of change on preorders for their latest titles, Last Hope is from an unknown and all of the currently released material make it seem so...so totally not worth the $40 they're looking to charge.

I would love to be proven wrong and for the gameplay to really be rather solid and not a broken mess, but I really don't see the chances of that being very high. The graphics are pretty snazzy, though.

[Ze_ro]

I'm a sucker for the Dreamcast shooters... but question: If I go to play-asia right now and pre-order Last Hope, Trigger Heart Exelica, and Karous... will they wait until Karous is released and send me all three at once, or will they end up sending me three seperate packages? Frankly, I'd be perfectly happy waiting a couple months if it means I get to pay 1/3rd the shipping price...

--Zero

[fishsandwich]

I'm a sucker for the Dreamcast shooters... but question: If I go to play-asia right now and pre-order Last Hope, Trigger Heart Exelica, and Karous... will they wait until Karous is released and send me all three at once, or will they end up sending me three seperate packages? Frankly, I'd be perfectly happy waiting a couple months if it means I get to pay 1/3rd the shipping price...

--Zero

You have to make three separate orders and pay three separate full shipping charges if you want to get each game as it comes out. If you want to save on shipping you order all three on one order and they will ship all the games once the final game is released.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I'm a sucker for the Dreamcast shooters... but question: If I go to play-asia right now and pre-order Last Hope, Trigger Heart Exelica, and Karous... will they wait until Karous is released and send me all three at once, or will they end up sending me three seperate packages? Frankly, I'd be perfectly happy waiting a couple months if it means I get to pay 1/3rd the shipping price...
Play-Asia's shipping prices are so super reasonable, though. They're like less than you'd pay from most domestic game shops. Last Hope is $2.60 and while Trigger Heart and Karous don't have shipping listed yet, I imagine they'll be the same or possible even free. I know I got free shipping when I ordered Under Defeat from them.

I imagine this has been discussed before, but I'm curious what thoughts you guys have about the future collectibility of releases like Last Hope or the GOAT Store Dreamcast games. There have also been a handful of similar releases for the GBA, probably with even lower production numbers. And what actually got me thinking about this was the DS Motion Card I recently got for my DS (it's a homebrew accessory that adds accelerometers and gyroscope motion detection for use in DS homebrew games). I know there's been similar homebrew productions for some classic systems (thinking more of the homebrewed Vectrex or Coleco carts that were offered in limited production runs than one-off productions you can get from Atari-Age), but these are different since they're sold to more or less actuve gaming communities rather than collector communities. They're almost more like the releases from the old independent companies like Wisdom Tree or all the ones on the 2600, though of course very different from them mostly because the larger video game industry is so different.

I don't care too much about the collectibility, I buy these games or accessories because I want to use them, of course, but I do tend to be extra careful with them and especially their packaging because somewhere in the back of my mind I have idea that they might be super-valuable ten or fifteen years down the road. Unfortunately the DS Motion Card didn't come in any packaging at all which will probably make it less desireable than it could have been if it had had just a simple insert or one-sheet manual or something.


...word is bondage...

[Kamisama]

Well, at least for Last Hope I think It wont go down in value too much. Expecially the Limited Edition.
I mean it looks like a professional game (Packaging), its a Shmup (you know how many Shmups are pricey), there are many people who want to play it and whatnot.

[segagamer]

I agree with roushimsx that this game is not worth the asking price. I have already played it on Neo-Geo, and while it is good, it is not worth $40, especially given it is not an official JPN release.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I dont understand "especially given it is not an official JPN release." Would it be worth $40 if it was? A game is a game, let the gameplay be the judge, not whether it comes from Japan or Germany or has Sega's license or not. What other reasons do you have for not feeling that it's worth $40? Gameplay stuff, I mean. A short review would be nice.


...word is bondage...

[lordnikon]

Well there is one valid point about it not being an official release. It wasn't printed on a GD-ROM format. CD-R's tend to put more stress on the Dreamcast laser.

This point aside, I fear this game has gameplay issues, inconsistancies and or clunky enemies / bullet patterns. I am going to want to try before I buy on this one.

[PapaStu]

Bump!

[Captain Wrong]

OK, can someone please explain or point me in the direction of an explinataion at to why this game isn't good? I really tried with that NG thread. All it did was remind me why I don't lurk there anymore.

I keep seeing people make comments about how bad this game supposedly is, but never anything to back it up.

[ave]

Last Hope got shipped today.

Two pictures of the actual game:
http://www.zockertraum.de/contents/media/last%20hope%20-%20dc%20front.jpg
http://www.zockertraum.de/contents/media/last%20hope%20-%20dc%20back.jpg

[mr_nihilism]

Excuse my ignorance, but is this game on a GD-ROM?

[ubersaurus]

Excuse my ignorance, but is this game on a GD-ROM?

Nope.

someone on shmups.com got their copy and reviewed it, basically describing it as being very much in the same vein and difficulty of Pulstar and R-Type. He also said that bullets were easy to distinguish from explosions, which is something I hear they changed for the DC release from the neo.

[Muscelli]

damn, whats on the limited edition? I wanna get a copy, anybody willing to sell me one?

[jpark203]

damn, whats on the limited edition? I wanna get a copy, anybody willing to sell me one?
It comes with the soundtrack. That's pretty much it. Best of luck on tracking down a copy of the limited edition.

Speaking of the limited edition, did it ship today as well?

[fishsandwich]

My recent post regarding the debut of Last Hope was locked but this one was moved to Modern Gaming so I shall post here.

I just got LAST HOPE in yesterday in the mail (see pic above... looks just like that.) The packaging is very nice... very close to looking like a legitimate GD-rom release. It came shrinkwrapped with a spinecard and nice-looking/feeling manual. The case says it was manufactured in Germany but the designers went a long way to make it look like a legitimate Japanese release and it will fit right in with any collection. Nearly all the text inside and out is Japanese.

You boot the CD (not GD-rom) up and you get the familiar "Licensed by Sega" and then a disclaimer that says "Correction: This is not licensed or endorsed by Sega" or something close to that.

Then you go straight to the title screen. The game is region-free any will play on any Dreamcast, no chip or bootdisk required. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of an intro or storyline but perhaps I just haven't hit the right buttons or let it sit long enough.

Upon playing I IMMEDIATLY had an R-Type flashback. The first level is very, very similar to R-Type. I haven't played Pulstar much so I can't compare it. I made it past the first level and then had to stop to go out. I plan on playing it more today.

This game was originally programmed for the Neo-Geo hardware (the NG cart came first and cost something like $600.) The games's 16-bit roots certainly show in the graphics... no hint of a polygon in sight (I have been ruined by Zero Gunner 2 and Border Down) but it's certainly colorful enough and the levels are well-designed. The game moves at a quick pace and controls nicely (just like R-Type, charge beam and all.) The music is less than exciting but I have only played through the first level so it might be fantastic later on. Last Hope does not push the Dreamcast hardware at all (this game could have been ported to run on a Sega Genesis) but it's still a fine game.

I'm glad this shmup came out and I hope the Dreamcast homebrews keep coming. It appears the main programming was done primarily by a husband/wife or brother/sister team with some help by a few other folks. Several Japanese people are credited, most likely for the Japanese text (but I don't know that for sure.)

Video are available on youtube if you feel like watching. This game is going to be very easy to copy due to its CD format and we'll probably see it available for download on the web somewhere in a day or two but I suggest to all interested gamers that you actually PURCHASE the game. The packaging is quite good and if this project is profitable we may see more new releases for the Dreamcast long after the official GD-rom format is abandoned.

Youtube video of Neo-Geo game...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8xiiFdJeag


Word

[ubersaurus]

Well, now that the LE has shipped out, and I've gotten my copy, I'll post up my views on it:

First off, if you're starting out on the game, I really recommend setting the difficulty down to the lowest level. that's already pretty hard-no need to punish yourself.

That said the game is beautiful and the soundtrack is a thing of greatness. Playing through the day, I've gotten up to level 5. It's very much a game of memorization, trial and error, that sort of thing...like R-Type or Pulstar before it. I've yet to hit a snag that I couldn't work through eventually, but it's not an easy game. Lots of fun, though.

I don't think I've played my dreamcast this much in a long while. Kudos to Last Hope.

[robotriot]

It appears the main programming was done primarily by a husband/wife or brother/sister team with some help by a few other folks.

From what I know, it's two brothers (René is a male name in German).

I haven't gotten around to playing the game much yet, but it did seem really hard on the default difficulty.

[GameCollector]

a used copy on ebay.com for 153$ !!! but it is definitly worth every cent ...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Last-Hope-Limited-Edition-Dreamcast-DC-NTSC-J_W0QQitemZ300104189636QQihZ020QQcategoryZ62053QQr dZ1QQcmdZViewItem