Baroque

Hehe, I haven't touched this game for a while (about a year), and restarted a new game yesterday.

I already did 4 runs of the dungeon without dying..... (which is better than my last try, where I died quite a lot)

now that I'm back into it though, the storyline is actually pretty interesting, but yes, it's can be hard to get into, especially since some bits of the storyline is only revealed if you die outside of the tower, something not a lot of people would do on purpose.

I'm actually broadcasting the game this week ;)

I like bunnies!

Well, to be frank the game is a love/hate one.
More reviews are coming out, and the go between extremes, the lower end being 30/40%, the higher being between 70 and 80%.

It's just funny, Gamespot gave it an aware for amazing storyline and music score, but also gave it the "Bad 1st impression" award.

RPGamer and RPGFan also rated it rather positively.

In the end, people who love Roguelikes will most likely love this one, for the others, they should rent it. The big problem is that the story really start to shine after the 4th or 5th complete tower runs. (the tower isn't only 16 floor deep, it'll grow bigger and deeper as you unlock events)

But this is in the end a game that should require 2 scores, 1 for the usual crowd, and 1 for the fans of the genre. ;)

@00.19: And I thought every little thing they did was magic...

@everyoneelse: You must be grasping at straws when your only argument in favor of a title is shouting its genre over and over again. An unfun game is an unfun game, no matter what genre it is. Saying that the "faults" can be pegged on the fact that it is a "roguelike" you can give any game a free pass due to its genre.

This is Gamervision, not Roguelikevision, we review videogames, and base scores off of what we think of them as a videogame. If you are a fan of that type a game you are bound to enjoy it or, as Sarah said, "If a dungeon-crawler with mediocre graphics, terrible combat, annoying characters, and no story sounds appealing to you, then you should definitely run right out and buy this game."

@00.19: And I thought every little thing they did was magic...

Baroque ba-lows.

seriously though, if this game was made by Sting, where were the rest of the Police during the making of this game, and how could they let him make this weak sauce? I'm sending out an SOS... for a better game! ka pow!

@Obsidian: I feel like any game that keeps the player from understanding the world and/or the story is flawed, whether the game's creator meant for that to happen or not. This seems to be an apologetic excuse for poor game design, instead of something that was created to enhance the experience.

I'm not averse to the idea of a game taking chances or attempting something experimental. However, if that is going to be the case, then the new paradigm needs to be explained or taught at some point early in the game. Otherwise, you end up with something like Baroque: the players' expectations are not met, and therefore, the game cannot be enjoyed.

It's really a pity, in my opinion, to see this game bashed liked this. My real issue with your review, Sarah, is your treatment of the characters and story.

It is perhaps a symptom of being an English major, but what you see as a lack of story/characters, I see as a fascinating experiment in non-linear storytelling within a contained linear time-loop. You're meant to lack understanding of the world and the story, the game's mode of storytelling is an attempt to break the standard stereotype on how a game's story should be told. As you play through practically the same events over and over, both the future and the past of the loop becomes clearer. Rather than beginning at the start, and proceeding to the end in a linear fashion as most games do, this game begins somewhere in the middle, and the story unfolds both forward and backward in time as the game progresses.

I think that perhaps the reason you found the story so distasteful is that you went into it expecting a something "normal," and got something crazy and experimental. It's sort of like going into a movie theatre showing The Fountain or Momento expecting to see Lord of the Rings. I don't mean any slight to you, it's just something a little more artistically directed than you may have been expecting.

Speaking of gameplay flaws, however, I do agree with you on many of those points. The camera controls are hideous, and combat definitely feels clunky. Part of your complaints, however, I again believe may be due to a misunderstanding concerning the nature of the game -- Baroque is not an RPG, it's a rogue-like dungeon crawler. This doesn't alleviate its obvious guilt on the camera angle and combat issues, but it is a different sort of game. Compared to other rogue-likes, Baroque's penalty for death is actually rather mild; you can save practically any time, and unlike meaner rogue-likes, the game doesn't autosave when you die, so you can just reload.

As far as losing everything, this happens when you win as well. Furthermore, there are orbs around the tower which allow you to transfer items to your next "life." I read it once compared to an RTS: "every map, you start again from square one with a small force, build it up, win and start over again, and yet the story continues progressing."

I guess I'm one of those crazy "games as an art form" hippies, so I'm willing to overlook some of the graphics and gameplay flaws to appreciate the unique and novel approach to character and story developement the game takes.

Lastly, on a side note, this game isn't actually by Atlus at all: it's by Sting, and is simply localized by Atlus USA. The American side of Atlus is actually involved in localizing a ton of different niche Japanese games that their Japanese counterparts were not involved in the developement of at all -- Odin Sphere is a great example, it's actually by Vanilla Ware, Atlus is just the localization team.

what i find most interesting about this review is that sarah has been the biggest atlus advocate i know. if she couldn't even pretend to like the game, then there's a chance it's pretty unsatisfactory. as far as everything i watched from it, there's no way i'll be wasting any time on baroque. sorrrrrry atlus.

I guess none of the reviewers who played this game "got it" then, because the scores top out at 40 out of 100 on metacritic (hey, that sounds about what I gave it!)

But hey, at the end of the day, reviews are just opinions. Contrary to what is said, I did play the game for more than a few minutes, and I kept hoping that if I played more and more, I would eventually like it. I really WANTED to like it. It just did not have enough redeeming qualities to make it worth playing.

If that's your thing, then go for it.

I don't know what to think about this game. I mean, it's obvious you hated it, but... it's still Atlus, and even though Ghostlight may not be involved this time it could still be great. I mean, Persona 3 is a wonderful game indeed, but you really need to get into it before you start liking it. Perhaps that's the case with this game too.

... The main problem I have here is that even used copies of Wii games are incredibly expensive. So I will probably give this a miss in any case.

Honestly, this review is terrible. First, factual inaccuracies. Second, bitching about design elements that are STANDARD for the ROGUELIKE GENRE. SHOCKER.

A proper review would have spend time scoring and describing the game while taking the conventions of its genre into consideration, whether the reviewer hated it or not.

So a roguelike is supposed to be a shitty game?

This just sounds like hours of frustration to me.

You know what this sounds to me.

That the author has absolutely NO grasps on what a Roguelike is supposed to be. There is actually a storyline in the game, which is gradually filled by talking to the characters and completing the tower.

Also, the weapon the Archangel gives you is one of the most powerful weapon in the game, and have a key role in the actual tower, but using it is entirely up to you :P

Seriously, I sometime wish the reviewers would give the amount of time they took in playing the game before reviewing it before spouting nonsense about it.

Also, death taking you back to level 1 and stripped out of equipment isn't new in roguelikes either, but the game is actually pretty lenient on that part because you can save between each floors, and you have the possibility to transfers objects back it the "real world" through the use of "Consciousness Orbs" (another hint, that the author barely played the game at all)

I hope the forgotten sin that you're atoning for wasn't giant-fish mutilation.

Cause this massacre is a step in the wrong direction, I think.

I watched about twenty minutes of this game. All I saw was the protagonist fight giant fish after giant fish. I didn't get it. I didn't like it.

GODDAMMIT! Persona 3 and Odin Sphere were still 2 of the best games of '07, too bad 2008 isn't shaping up to be nearly as good for Atlus.