Macross 30

[TyrValein]

I've been playing Gundam Senki since it came out and there is pretty much no english in that game at all, not even the names of the mobile suits. I have no understanding of Japanese and was still able to get around in that game so I doubt this one will be too difficult for non-japanese players.

Plus in my opinion Macross storylines aren't anything I'd miss anyway, I'm just in it for the valks

I don't know...that list of parts in one of the first scans is pretty daunting (attached pic). Not that that will prevent my enjoyment of the game. I'll be a bit sad I missed some of the story actually.

Thanks for taking one for the team. I don't buy Sony products so I'm SOL on all of these Macross games, but I like to see what they look like and how they play. Free flying sounds like a lot of fun though, hopefully the play control is strong enough to warrant the freedom.

Yeah...its going to be embarrassing, but I feel almost obligated to record it. Maybe I'll even do a sort of Let's Play.

[TyrValein]

I come bearing gifts of news!

YF-30 is officially the "Chronos"! http://www.mechadamashii.com/news/news-yf-30-kronos-revealed/

We have more news on the structure of missions. It seems its not as open world as we once thought, but there may be some ability to travel between maps after they're completed. http://www.mechadamashii.com/news/news-macross-30-mission-structure-update/

And last but certainly not least, we have a 4Gamer article on how missions are played. Chrome isn't translating too well so I'll leave that up for grabs but it has high-def pictures of all the scans that were in magazines recently as well as some new ones so you can't NOT check it out! http://www.4gamer.net/games/185/G018559/20121129047/

You can thank me later...

[VF-15 Banshee]

TyrValein, you are a prince among men. How's that?

[LOW_ALT]

Looks like shell casings (or in this case entire bullets ) eject from the gunpod when fired. That's a nice little detail.

[TyrValein]

TyrValein, you are a prince among men. How's that?

This pleases me greatly.

Looks like shell casings (or in this case entire bullets ) eject from the gunpod when fired. That's a nice little detail.

It is. But I've been impressed by Artdink many times before. Its gotten to the point where I'm starting to expect this kind of quality from them, honestly. If you look at some of the pictures, you can actually see the armament on the hardpoints.

Edited December 5, 2012 by TyrValein

[LOW_ALT]

Its gotten to the point where I'm starting to expect this kind of quality from them, honestly.

^Though in that picture you just posted...It's disappointing that the huge space ship is not reflected in the water

Bit of a slip up there.

[Tochiro]

I come bearing gifts of news!

YF-30 is officially the "Chronos"! http://www.mechadama...ronos-revealed/

We have more news on the structure of missions. It seems its not as open world as we once thought, but there may be some ability to travel between maps after they're completed. http://www.mechadama...ructure-update/

And last but certainly not least, we have a 4Gamer article on how missions are played. Chrome isn't translating too well so I'll leave that up for grabs but it has high-def pictures of all the scans that were in magazines recently as well as some new ones so you can't NOT check it out! http://www.4gamer.ne...59/20121129047/

You can thank me later...

Nice spot! (altho I'm not a fan of 4gamer since they often seem to rip from Famitsu and not reference their source. But hey thats just me).

Same basic news is up on famitsu.com.

http://www.famitsu.c...2/06025164.html

Am on my way to work now but will check the print edition at lunch, once the office copy arrives, for further details.

As for gameplay, with the exception of outlining how main story missions are launched from your ship, the world-stuff is the same as famitsu described it 2-weeks ago. None of the translations ever used the term 'open world.' They just said you could fly around the planet and find towns from which sub quests and races could be accessed (sub quests only being accessible if you join a hunter guild).

^Though in that picture you just posted...It's disappointing that the huge space ship is not reflected in the water <_</>/>/>

Bit of a slip up there.

Well that pic IS an old one (was posted online 2 weeks ago) so hopefully the build has been updated since then. Fingers crossed! Either way, Bandai Namco has a maximum of 1month of dev. time left on the title so heres hoping more details come to light soon!

Also, love the fact that the YF-30 is called Chronos, given the plot of the game :-)

EDIT: no additional info in the print edition of Famitsu (unless you count the fact that they made one of this weeks Gamer Angel girls cosplay as Sheryl, lol).

Edited December 5, 2012 by Tochiro

[D.D. Ivanov]

Any idea on how the game controls are? If they're like the one's in the Hybrid movie releases I just might give this a miss. They're not very intuitive to me and half the time I'm wondering what the hell am I doing, and still getting "A" or "S" ranking anyway.

I would even say that as mediorce as the VFX games were, they at least still feel quite natural, so long as you're not stomping around in a gravity enviroment, compared to the hybrid games.

At least Gerwalk and Battroid mode don't control horribly in the Artdink games like they did in VFX-2, not to mention how hilariously weak the gunpod was in that game.

[Raptor One]

I wonder if I can learn Japanese by the time this game comes out. Or at least by the time I can afford a PS3 to play it on

[VF-15 Banshee]

And amusingly enough it sounds like NUNS is gonna be one of the antagonists in this game. They also seem to be borrowing plot elements from the Musicalture.

And given the description, should we be worried about these new characters being featured more than the classic characters?

Edited December 6, 2012 by VF-15 Banshee

[Sorata]

I come bearing gifts of news!

YF-30 is officially the "Chronos"! http://www.mechadama...ronos-revealed/

We have more news on the structure of missions. It seems its not as open world as we once thought, but there may be some ability to travel between maps after they're completed. http://www.mechadama...ructure-update/

And last but certainly not least, we have a 4Gamer article on how missions are played. Chrome isn't translating too well so I'll leave that up for grabs but it has high-def pictures of all the scans that were in magazines recently as well as some new ones so you can't NOT check it out! http://www.4gamer.ne...59/20121129047/

You can thank me later...

I Like the YF-29 Special paint scheme atthe 4gamer article.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Sorata

[KubeStick]

the game is looking great visually. i hope that artdink will finally nail the gunpod sound effect though. it seems the only game in macross history that nailed it was the ps2 game from sega.

[Chronocidal]

I wouldn't worry about that ship not being reflected, I don't think it's supposed to be that big, so it seems much closer than all those background elements that are reflected. It's reflection might fall below where the bottom of the frame is.

Looking good either way, and I'm looking forward to the after-Christmas sales to finally grab a PS3.

[LOW_ALT]

^The next-gen Playstation is getting hurried along rapidly. There are talks of it being a summer 2013 release, which would mean that PS3 prices will plummet.

[Raptor One]

Summer 2013? I HIGHLY doubt that. I'm in for some after-Christmas sales though

[LOW_ALT]

Doubt away.

Sony confirmed that they will have their new unit on display at next years E3. They have been all hands on deck ever since the LV0 access was leaked allowing all past and future PS3's to be hacked. Developers are already shying away from the PS3 since anyone can now obtain their games for free. Sony has no choice but to move on immediately.

[KubeStick]

Doubt away.

Sony confirmed that they will have their new unit on display at next years E3. They have been all hands on deck ever since the LV0 access was leaked allowing all past and future PS3's to be hacked. Developers are already shying away from the PS3 since anyone can now obtain their games for free. Sony has no choice but to move on immediately.

considering sony's decision to remove backwards compatibility from the ps3 slim, i'm betting they won't have it all together with the ps4. plus, all of the articles i can find suggest that it won't be able to play ps3 games. so, if you want to play macross 30, your best bet is to get a ps3 now if you don't already have one.

[Tochiro]

Doubt away.

Sony confirmed that they will have their new unit on display at next years E3. They have been all hands on deck ever since the LV0 access was leaked allowing all past and future PS3's to be hacked. Developers are already shying away from the PS3 since anyone can now obtain their games for free. Sony has no choice but to move on immediately.

The PS3 hack did not have that much influence and resulted in far less piracy on the PS3 than there has been on the 369 for years. Certainly, Sony isn't happy, but it's hardly enough to force the rush of a new platform launch. More importantly, it hasn't had that much of an impact at all in Sonys two main core markets- Japan and Europe. Especially Japan, where HD gaming has only become common over the past couple of years and many developers are only just now coming to grips with the costs of current gen development. (The only two devs who have put major resources into the next cycle are Konami and Square Enix with their new engine tech).

I think a PS4 announcement is likely in 2013 but not a launch. The 720, on the other hand, I expect to be out by the end of 2013.

All this is beside the point however because PS3s simply aren't all that expensive anymore, especially if you hint one down during post Xmas or Black Friday special seasons.

But to get back on topic, and to answer vfbanshees question, yes the new character is the main character and as such we will probably be spending a fair bit if time with him (this also probably explains how the existing cast members had already finished recording their lines back at TGS). But is this a cause for concern? IMO quite the opposite. It means we are more likely to get more original story elements (as opposed to yet another rehash of the series storylines with prettier gfx), which is just what I think Macross needs.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Tochiro

[TyrValein]

But to get back on topic, and to answer vfbanshees question, yes the new character is the main character and as such we will probably be spending a fair bit if time with him (this also probably explains how the existing cast members had already finished recording their lines back at TGS). But is this a cause for concern? IMO quite the opposite. It means we are more likely to get more original story elements (as opposed to yet another rehash of the series storylines with prettier gfx), which is just what I think Macross needs.

To comment on the PS3 topic, I'm going to just go out an buy a slim before the release date next year (I'm a 360 owner). Oh, and I hope the 720 does better in Japan than the 360 does, so hopefully we get a few more of their games overseas for the 720 too.

Back on topic, I think that the original story elements are a good thing too. We get a cool new pilot to add to the ranks of heroes and a love triangle between two heroines. I wonder if we'll be able to actually choose which one he ends up with?

[KubeStick]

To comment on the PS3 topic, I'm going to just go out an buy a slim before the release date next year (I'm a 360 owner). Oh, and I hope the 720 does better in Japan than the 360 does, so hopefully we get a few more of their games overseas for the 720 too.

Back on topic, I think that the original story elements are a good thing too. We get a cool new pilot to add to the ranks of heroes and a love triangle between two heroines. I wonder if we'll be able to actually choose which one he ends up with?

i hope there's branching story elements where your actions determine who you end up with. i can only hope. either way, i know i'll enjoy it.

[Tochiro]

To comment on the PS3 topic, I'm going to just go out an buy a slim before the release date next year (I'm a 360 owner). Oh, and I hope the 720 does better in Japan than the 360 does, so hopefully we get a few more of their games overseas for the 720 too.

It wont. Microsoft has all but given up on Japan - they didnt even attend the Tokyo Game Show this year. Then again, this is in line with the size of their miniscule user base - The halo 4 'launch event' was a single room with 50-70 people, and finished before 11pm. ^^; As in the past - if you want to maximize the availability of titles from a specific region, buy the hardware made in that region. For Japan, this means Sony consoles and always has ever since they entered the videogame industry. On the flip side, I imported my 360 all the way from the US for exactly this reason (many many 360 titles either dont come out or are censored here).

But anyways, off topic, sorry!

[Strumvogel]

But what is the point though? Sony may be worried about piracy for the PS3 but then again they don't have the numbers to back that up in the first place unless they're still using the PS1-PS2 numbers here. (Something of which I don't doubt coming from that mismanaged company of late)

Heck, they don't even really have develop enough games for it in the first place. Everyone instead was focusing on the PSP and Vita. (Disclamer: For which I'm still quite bitter about i.e. Valkyria Chronicles sequels anyone? No? Because they're all on the PSP instead... The series past the first game is dead to me as a result)

They're also blind to the possible fact that the casual gamers, which makes up the bulk of their market are pretty much beginning to feel burned out by consoles by now. Which is not helping.

As for the story of the new Macross game: Whatever. They've rarely been good anyway. Won't be surprised if I see a Dynasty Warriors: Gundam getting pulled here.

[sketchley]

Heck, they don't even really have develop enough games for it in the first place. Everyone instead was focusing on the PSP and Vita.

They're also blind to the possible fact that the casual gamers, which makes up the bulk of their market are pretty much beginning to feel burned out by consoles by now. Which is not helping.

Are you referring to the Japanese market, or overseas?

If it's Japan's, then there's a reason why developers here are focusing on portable game players, and not ones that are chained to a TV at one's residence: it's where the lion's share of the market is. Period.

[Strumvogel]

Are you referring to the Japanese market, or overseas?

If it's Japan's, then there's a reason why developers here are focusing on portable game players, and not ones that are chained to a TV at one's residence: it's where the lion's share of the market is. Period.

Overseas.

Though I can understand why games are being developed for the portables, it's just that they're really shooting themselves in the foot (Sony's that is; third party developers, not so much. Their development can migrate to phones in the future) in the long run by doing this. Why does Sony even bother making a new home console in light of all this is beyond me.

[Jasonc]

I was able to get one of the LE versions from CD Japan. Early early birthday present.

[Gian]

I'm buying a PS3 just for this too!

I bought a PSP just because of the artdink macross games. Totally worth it.

[Mommar]

Screenshots are nice but you can't get a sense of gameplay from them like you can with video.

[TyrValein]

I'm buying a PS3 just for this too!

I bought a PSP just because of the artdink macross games. Totally worth it.

Cool! We should make a club. I mean, there are other games I want for PS3 of course, but I was always on the fence about buying one. This totally pushed me over the edge.

Screenshots are nice but you can't get a sense of gameplay from them like you can with video.

Yeah, hopefully we get a video by christmas or early next year.

On a different note, I noticed that most of the names of the equipment pieces are in katakana. I'm okay at hiragana but not katakana, so I guess I should brush up on my skills before the game comes out. Especially since katakana usually denotes English words. Being able to sound out English words and read some is better than not being able to read at all.

[David Hingtgen]

Milia's VF-1J? Awesome. Pink YF-19? Maybe awesome.

Grace sighting? Awesome. VF-27 in game? Awesome. Please oh please oh please let Grace be an unlockable VF-27 pilot...

[VF-15 Banshee]

Pink YF-19?

Actually I believe that's a VF-19E.

[TyrValein]

Milia's VF-1J? Awesome. Pink YF-19? Maybe awesome.

Grace sighting? Awesome. VF-27 in game? Awesome. Please oh please oh please let Grace be an unlockable VF-27 pilot...

Don't forget that the VF-27 will most likely have its Super Pack from Sayonara no Tsubasa too. Personally, the fact that it has the YF-29 is what made the game a deal-maker. Especially if it has its Super Pack.

[David Hingtgen]

That YF-29 looks more like Alto's, than Alto's does.

::edit:: Or apparently, it's a VF-29B. Man they got those into production fast...

[Lightning]

any VF-4's in the game?

[TyrValein]

That YF-29 looks more like Alto's, than Alto's does.

::edit:: Or apparently, it's a VF-29B. Man they got those into production fast...

The one in that picture is the normal YF-29. It only has 1 head gun, unlike Alto's which has 2. Since Rod's YF-29B has 2 head lasers, we can assume Alto's YF-29 is actually closer to a YF-29B (despite it being an entirely custom valkyrie with stats different from the only other prototype at the time).

Compare this one

to this one...which looks a little more like Alto's despite the paint job/different colored exhaust.

any VF-4's in the game?

Not that i can see. Fingers crossed though.

[VF-15 Banshee]

VF-11s were listed in targeting information on some of the scans and considering the number of Valkyrie models already revealed, I wouldn't be surprised if VF-4s and -17s were available, especially since Gamlin is in the game.