Patapon (PSP)

[merf]

seeing the amazing respone my Downstream Panic firstplay thread generated lets try another one on the psp.

not sure what to make of this, only really bought it for the art style and because I read it had Loco Roco connections (which I loved).

the look of this is amazing and the music sounds pretty good too but not loving the gameplay yet, seems to consist of hitting 4 button combos in time to drum beats to make your odd little army attack or advance.

only tried first 3 levels and sure there must be more to it but can't report on that yet.

got a jap launch psp and not sure my square button getting stuck every few presses is helping with this.

[crocky-chocky]

Love this so far.

I'm around 3 levels in too, and indeed the gameplay seems a little basic so far. I'm sure it'll get more interesting when you get the other 2 drums though.

The look and atmosphere of the game is fantastic, the world is really nicely fleshed out with great little ideas. The sound is perfect too...I love that when you activate Fever mode the Patapon's singing changes from tribal chants in to more scat-like singing. Ace.

I don't really mind if the gameplay never gets too in your face. It's the kind of game I enjoy playing just to look at.

[Dogg Thang]

Having played the demo, I'm a little concerned that this would end up like LocoRoco - gorgeous style and presentation but just not all there by way of gameplay. Anyone know if it gets more meaty and there's more to the gameplay as it advances?

[Destrukticor]

have you got the little trumpet dude yet?

if you play his minigame with meat earned from hunting you get items that are used to create better patapons the game does open up with spells and other things only about 90 mins in myself but an utterly charming game.
Nice to see original games on the ol psp and one that deserves to do well.

[NekoFever]

I'm loving this so far. The art style is great, and the gameplay doesn't seem to get old as quickly as LocoRoco did, good though that game was.

If anyone wants it I recorded this audio. It makes an excellent ringtone

[crocky-chocky]

Anyone know if it gets more meaty and there's more to the gameplay as it advances?

I've just encountered my first real gameplay meat. I don't want to spoil it, as I thought it was a really nice idea. But basically it meant there was a stronger emphasis on keeping the 'Fever' thing going, thus making it more challenging and engaging. The whole set-up for the idea was lovely too...there's so many great ideas so far.

I love it to bits, and I'd say give it a try even if you're unsure. It's not like something this innovative happens often on the PSP.

[Dogg Thang]

Cool, I think that's all I needed to hear. I'll check it out!

[phl0w]

Definitely a great game, but I think it's too level-grind heavy. Also, the mini-games and miracles are so cumbersome, repeating the same song and rhythm over and over and over and.... (you get it). Would've been great if they included different rhythms for that, but I guess it wouldn't fit into the story, seeing that "primitive people" such as the Patapons have their rituals that are carried out in an orthodox and conventionalised way.
I'm after the fourth Boss and have access to 5 of the 6 songs and can't really say it's gotten more complex, easier if anything, because of the added possibilities. Won't spoil you though.

[Number45]

I can't believe the lack of Patapon love on here... or is everyone waiting for their cheap (US) copies to turn up?

I played through the demo five or six times, which is unheard of for me, as I loved it so much. The full game turned up from Tronix today (They're so quick!) and I jumped straight in from where the demo left off.

I've only played a couple more levels so far but I'm still in love. As well as the general progression of the game (Which is pretty tough) you can go back and fight against the bosses you've already beaten (Who level up each time you fight them) and also go through the hunting section to provide meat and supplies for your army.

The only little complaint I have is the economy - the cash is quite hard to come by as you play through the game naturally so you'll find yourself doing the hunting section quite a bit as that's probably the easiest way to bump your cash.

I would definitely recommend people give this a try though. There's a demo up on each store (I believe the US demo is the longest of the three) so there's no excuse.

[briareos_kerensky]

I got my copy yesterday, it's fun but I'd like that some items wouldn't be so minigame-dependent...getting a hold on branches for spears and bows is quite hard.
Kachings (money) aren't a real problem, you just need to do a few hunting missions to collect a lot of meat (for the tree minigame...does someone understood how to do it? I'm completely helpless on that one) and once you have enough Patapons killing the beasts to gain money is quite easy.

[Destrukticor]

If by the tree minigame you mean the little Pan the Pakapon dude with the trumpet, then it's reasonably simple you just have to repeat the phrases you hear with the trumpet:

Example.

tree sings BON BON BON

you press O O O

of course this is in time with the beat and TBH is quite hard to explain in text, it only really gets tricky towards the middle of the singing but once you get the hang of it it's really easy to gets lots of very nice braches rocks etc.

hope that helps

[Johnny]

I'm really enjoying this but the progression seems to be reach a boss, get completely annihilated, go back and hunt/do previous boss fights, then easily defeat the boss and play a few more easyish levels until the next boss.

Definitely great for a half hour here and there between other games but I don't think I could spend an hour or more in one sitting on this.

Having said that, overall definitely one of the PSP's best. This and Wipeout are keeping me occupied before GoW, FF VII Crisis Core and echochrome later in the month

[r3z]

After getting frustrated at losing a couple of battles in a long-winded way I decided I'd focus on the hunting/items (earning a decent amount of kaching was the hardest thing) and tried to get some decent/stronger Patapons in my units. Since then it's been a lot easier to get through missions without getting destroyed. My timing has seemed to improve as well, so that I can get fever within a few taps and then keep it consistently bar the odd missed/wrong button.

But I've now got to a point where you need to start using some proper tactics on which type of units to send out, and making more decisions on when to attack or hold-back, so it might start to get a little harder.

[Number45]

I think I've put about seven hours into this now (And have unlocked four of the minigames, not sure how many there are in total) and I'm really finding it a joy to play. Even ignoring the fact that it's backed by an insanely catchy set of tunes which never seem to get old or irritating, I'm even enjoying the grinding aspect because there's always a chance that you'll get a cool new item that you can play around with.

My only complaint is the lack of any real management on the birthing aspect. You always go into the creation blind (The ka-ching needed is an indicator of quality) unless you can remember each combination for each type of Patapon (Which is a fair few). Jeanne D'Arc had a similar combination based sub-game for the spells/weapons where you'd need to experiment, but as soon as you've used a combo once it's held in a database and you can see precisely what it does each time after that. A slight spoiler on what I'm expecting to be a contender for my game of the year this year.

Incidentally, GAF pointed me in the direction of this website, which goes a little way to uncovering the mysteries of birthing.

[FatGit_UK]

Feeling bit supid right now...it's only after reading this that it's occured to me that I can birth more powerful soldiers using different items. Until now, all I've done is select the type of soldier I wanted and hit [Birth] - I had no idea I could select the materials to use . I've currently got six of each type for axe, spear, archer but can't birth any more of those - is there any way of replacing the weaker ones with more powerful ones?