While we (I) eagerly wait for Vanillaware's new type with giant robots and girls, we get a port of Odin Sphere, which was originally on the PS2 and run around 10fps on a good moon. As with all Vanillaware games it was strikingly beautiful, but also flawed; it was a step in the right directon from Princess Crown but it wasn't until Muramasa (and later Dragon's Crown) that Vanillaware really nailed down framerate and combat system.
Odin Sphere Leifdrasir (or Leifthrasir in the west) aims to correct all of that, featuring two main game modes: Classic (where the game runs at 60fps with hi-res graphics but none of the new stuff) and Original (expanded moveset and brand-new skill tree, IIRC there's also new story stuff).
Out with the bad first: voices sound take straight from the PS2 and given a quick facelift, so far all characters had the typical reverb of a lower quality sample brought to higher bitrate by artificial means; I get that re-recording all voices would have probably been more expensive than redoing the the game, but the soundtrack doesn't suffer from this (and I think there are even new tracks), and of course the graphics are in glorious high definition with no smudges to be found. Odin Sphere was a gorgeous looking game to look at on the PS2 and here it's even better: the higher resolution really brings everything to life, and those constant 60fps only make graphics and game more pleasant to sit through.
I've spent a couple of hours with Original mode, the first thing you notice is the expanded moveset that now has multiple attacks based on stick position; I think that the combo system got revamped as well to be much closer to Muramasa, I don't remember being able to juggle enemies in the air on the PS2...but it was a long time ago, so I might be wrong.
The skill tree is completely new though, and the soul mechanics have been changed to make use of it. Defeated enemies drop purple souls that must be absorbed and stored. Souls can be used to grow plants (their fruits are used to recover HPs and gain experience), use special attacks, and upgrade skills. Each time a character collects a special crystal (a new item not present in the original) a new skill is unlocked: some are passive, others are special attacks that can be upgraded with enough souls; the weapon's level can be increased in the same way, instead of having it increase side-by-side with the character's level as in the original. Special attacks are linked to the circle button plus a direction, and can be freely assigned in a handy menu.
So far I've only played with Gwendolyn, and her expanded moveset plus these new special attacks almost make of Original mode an entirely new game. The way you control her, string attacks, jump in the air, juggle enemies, then plunge into the ground only to be afloat again to do a lunge attack just feels good; I'd say that it feels better than Muramasa thanks to the larger number of options available, and about on the same level of Dragon's Crown, although Dragon's Crown is slower than the other two. While not highly technical, Leifdrasir's combat is deep enough for a button masher; I think levels have been redesigned, with a better pacing between mobs, mid-bosses, and final bosses; I also think that there are new mid-bosses thrown into the mix as well.
Added to Leifthrasir are also parchments with more info on the world's mythos.
So far it looks like an excellent port. The game is already out in Japan and scheduled for western release later this year, around summer.
Odin Sphere Leifdrasir (or Leifthrasir in the west) aims to correct all of that, featuring two main game modes: Classic (where the game runs at 60fps with hi-res graphics but none of the new stuff) and Original (expanded moveset and brand-new skill tree, IIRC there's also new story stuff).
Out with the bad first: voices sound take straight from the PS2 and given a quick facelift, so far all characters had the typical reverb of a lower quality sample brought to higher bitrate by artificial means; I get that re-recording all voices would have probably been more expensive than redoing the the game, but the soundtrack doesn't suffer from this (and I think there are even new tracks), and of course the graphics are in glorious high definition with no smudges to be found. Odin Sphere was a gorgeous looking game to look at on the PS2 and here it's even better: the higher resolution really brings everything to life, and those constant 60fps only make graphics and game more pleasant to sit through.
I've spent a couple of hours with Original mode, the first thing you notice is the expanded moveset that now has multiple attacks based on stick position; I think that the combo system got revamped as well to be much closer to Muramasa, I don't remember being able to juggle enemies in the air on the PS2...but it was a long time ago, so I might be wrong.
The skill tree is completely new though, and the soul mechanics have been changed to make use of it. Defeated enemies drop purple souls that must be absorbed and stored. Souls can be used to grow plants (their fruits are used to recover HPs and gain experience), use special attacks, and upgrade skills. Each time a character collects a special crystal (a new item not present in the original) a new skill is unlocked: some are passive, others are special attacks that can be upgraded with enough souls; the weapon's level can be increased in the same way, instead of having it increase side-by-side with the character's level as in the original. Special attacks are linked to the circle button plus a direction, and can be freely assigned in a handy menu.
So far I've only played with Gwendolyn, and her expanded moveset plus these new special attacks almost make of Original mode an entirely new game. The way you control her, string attacks, jump in the air, juggle enemies, then plunge into the ground only to be afloat again to do a lunge attack just feels good; I'd say that it feels better than Muramasa thanks to the larger number of options available, and about on the same level of Dragon's Crown, although Dragon's Crown is slower than the other two. While not highly technical, Leifdrasir's combat is deep enough for a button masher; I think levels have been redesigned, with a better pacing between mobs, mid-bosses, and final bosses; I also think that there are new mid-bosses thrown into the mix as well.
Added to Leifthrasir are also parchments with more info on the world's mythos.
So far it looks like an excellent port. The game is already out in Japan and scheduled for western release later this year, around summer.
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