Classic Dungeon is a PSP action RPG with sprite-based overhead visuals. Retro is in full force here, as the blocky sprites that fill Dengeki's article should indicate. In addition to classic visuals, the game also allows you to switch the music between standard and 8-bit!
The story of Classic Dungeon centers on a forbidden land known as Manoakazu. In the center of this world is a mysterious door which takes you to dungeons. Nine (and possibly more -- see below) heroes have visited Minoakazu to challenge the dungeon in hopes of having their dreams fulfilled.
Gameplay is centered around dungeon crawling and classic sword play. After equipping yourself with weapons and armor, you head off to the door and enter a dungeon. You have to clear the dungeon before you can return to town.
Combat options include direct attacks with your sword, dash moves, and skills and magic. Each character has a job, like knight, mage, and so-forth, offering different skills and magical abilities. You also have access to jumps, which can be used in order to avoid traps.
While most of this sounds like standard action RPG stuff, Nippon Ichi does appear to be experimenting with some fresh ideas for Classic Dungeon. The game has a unique character growth system. You place your characters on a chart, with your primary character in a central spot and the other characters in surrounding support sports. The primary character is the one that you control when entering the dungeons. The support characters grow alongside the primary character, advancing differently and earning different skills depending on the structure of the chart you're using, their position on the chart, and on job of the primary character. As the primary character explores the dungeons, the support characters will come in for assists, acting as shields if you're about to incur damage from an enemy or trap.
You can see a trailer for the game here; - you'll notice how they change the style of the sounds from modern to retro towards the end I think too.
Apparently already out in Japan, there are some user comments on neoGAF (where the contents of this post were admittedly mined from). Possibly something to watch if you have a PSP.
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THIS GAME IS GOOD
I just played 5 hours straight. To get me to do that on a portable machine takes a lot. The fact that the only reason I stopped is because I have actual work to do in the morning tomorrow or else I would have played another 5 hours straight says even more.
This game is win
Imagine your favorite parts of Disgaea combined with gameplay straight out of the latest Ys games combined with the best parts of Shiren...yeah, that is a good combination.
Before I get into details about the inner workings of the sub-systems which are very confusing and hard to explain, I'll just give an overview of how the game works.
Like Disgaea you have a main base town. There's a shop, a place to make characters, ITEM WORLD, a place to change your color scheme, and the main dungeon portal. Like Disgaea you click on the dungeon and do a floor of it and then the next one unlocks and after a handful of floors the next dungeon unlocks. Between floors (which are about 1-3 mins long; perfect for portable size) there are story scenes like Disgaea.
Just like Disgaea you can make characters at any time and you'll get a bunch of story characters that cover all the basic job types if you prefer to use them.
Now when you get into the dungeon floor, that's when it stops being Disgaea and starts being Ys x Shiren. You move around realtime arpg style and you move quickly aka Ys. You can dash and slide from a dash at any time by holding R. But while R is held down your DEF is halved. On the other hand if you hold Square you pull out a shield and your DEF is doubled while you have it out, but you can't run while holding square.
[...]
Now lastly I will talk about THE ITEM WORLD or here it's called the RANGEON short for RANdom dunGEON. If you've played a Disgaea game you know the addiction of the item world. Well it's here and it will eat your soul.
[...]
So yeah, that's the game in a nutshell. The addicting item world grind of Disgaea with a fresh different feel in the palm of your hands to steal many moments of your life away. Coupled with a main (designed) dungeon, very good and fast combat and deep stat systems. For some people, the game will be pretty much what they've always dreamed of.
ARGGGGGHHH!!! Ok, so trying to do some reading on Classic Dungeon, hoping for an English release, I stumbled on this ... and found another game I want! Man, that "3D Dot Game Heroes" looks great fun - and it's PS3 only *sighs*
I wish more PSP developers would make 2D games. Not that I don't think you can't pull off 3D games on the PSP (Gran Turismo, and God of War et al are almost carbon copies of their bigger cousins and work brilliantly) - but it's not playing to the strengths of the platform.
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First two characters I would do for classic dungeon is samus and alucard.
For the creatively bankrupt I suspect there's a lot of possibilities
I'm not much of a sprite artist (I always sucked at it, even back in the days of "Shoot Em Up Construction Kit") but I'm sure there's people out there with guides online for replicating popular sprites. If/when Classic Dungeon comes out in English, you know I'll be running around with a Megaman or Samus
I wonder what level of detail each sprite can handle? Sabin anyone?
Cladun - This is an RPG! is the perfect example of a modern game making overtures to classic gaming styles. It's obvious in both the name, a combination of "classic" and "dungeon" and the 8-bit aesthetic that the game hearkens back to the classic dungeon crawlers of yesteryear but at the same time the incredible flexibility of the magic circle mechanic along with the modern sense of humor makes the game feel fresh and inviting to those that are either new to the genre or looking for something that doesn't play as if it were 15 years old. The result is a game that not only represents one of the best downloadable games of the year but one of the best games on the PSP period.
Hey NB, since this seems like it's going to be our kind of game... what did YOU think of 3D Dot Game Heroes? Personally I'm really looking forward to getting my JB so I can play, but it seems a lot of people disliked it :\
Hey NB, since this seems like it's going to be our kind of game... what did YOU think of 3D Dot Game Heroes? Personally I'm really looking forward to getting my JB so I can play, but it seems a lot of people disliked it :\
Never played it, looks great though.
One of the first games I would get for ps3. And Demon's souls!
All the trailers and reviews and gameplay vids I've seen just scream; "AWESOME! You WILL play this!" to me ... yet people still seem to hate it, heh. No matter; I've got 200GB++ sitting on my external right now, with a bunch of other "internal only" games, all ready and waiting for my Minimus to arrive and I can finally play it
Demon's Souls, Heavy Rain and 3D Dot Game Heroes here I come!
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I half expected tons of whining about the graphics, lol.
