El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

This is 360/PS3, right? Because I really like the look of it.

This game was nowhere near my radar before I watched that video but I have to admit, it looks pretty neat. It's got a good pedigree behind it too. I'll probably check it out.

I love Japan. Keeping an eye on this one.

I've been watching this one-- it looks gorgeous.

I just watched the quick look and am now very interested.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Giant Bomb Quick Look EX with Mr. Bettenhausen.

The visuals from around 23:00 and on were absolutely gorgeous.

At first I thought this game looked really bland and sparse, but that video makes me want it again. So pretty.

Dyni wrote:

I just watched the quick look and am now very interested.

I was interested before the QL but I'm absolutely sold now. The game has a great style, looks interesting and fun. Do wonder whether this is full price retail or a mid-price game Cliff thinks can't succeed. Would love to see this as a $30 downloaded title, but alas the future isn't here yet.

I'm probably going to buy it day one on principle. Games like this need to be supported.

Any whisper of a release date other than "summer"?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Any whisper of a release date other than "summer"?

Man, I still can't find any solid data about the US release of this game. The fact that Bettenhausen went on Giant Bomb to pimp it out gives me confidence that it will be released here, but Ignition sure has been quiet beyond that.

The Quick Look totally sold me on this game. The art style is unique and looks like it has some stunning components. The combat looks slower than Bayonetta, which could be a downer for someone looking to be fully engaged in the action but frankly I could stand to play something a bit less frantic. Platinum Games' insane action has made me realize that I am getting older and slower.

Looking goooooood. And yeah, not enough info out there about it...

It's gone up on Amazon with a July 26 release date. That's the same day as Catherine which I also intend to get. It looks like my August will be filled with Japanese craziness.

imbiginjapan wrote:

It looks like my August will be filled with Japanese craziness.

Oi, you've been told off about your shopping trips into Tokyo more than once, big guy.

Surprise! (to me) Demo is up on XBLM. Not sure about PSN. Away I go!

.....aaand my preorder is all but guaranteed. Plays as slick as it looks, and it looks f*cking amazing. They should let visionary artists take visual control of projects more often. You end up with this and Okami.

My only gripe is that there seems to be a combo system but there's no way to discern it outside of random experimentation.

+1 to everything Blind_Evil just said. Absolutely love the....artistry presented here. And the gameplay is slick, smooth, and more complex than I initially thought. It's just a matter of figuring out the combo system.

Everyone who is a fan of character action games or just simply gorgeous visuals should try this out.

It's up on PSN. Can't wait to play this tomorrow.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Surprise! (to me) Demo is up on XBLM. Not sure about PSN. Away I go!

.....aaand my preorder is all but guaranteed. Plays as slick as it looks, and it looks f*cking amazing. They should let visionary artists take visual control of projects more often. You end up with this and Okami.

My only gripe is that there seems to be a combo system but there's no way to discern it outside of random experimentation.

I tried the PSN demo and will actually try the XBL demo soon as well for comparison's sake. I agree with all this as well.

The combat system will take some practice despite its outward simplicity. Hopefully the game gives a chance to practice the combat before ramping things up. There is really only one attack button and everything else you do is a modifier to what that attack button does. Getting a sense of what those modifiers are is more subtle than having attacks explicitly mapped to multi-button combos. I guess the subtlety complements the overall aesthetic of the game though.

The demo didn't sell me, just confirmed my previous opinion: a solid, beautiful character action game. The 3D platforming didn't feel right to me. I think I'll wait for reviews, and mostly likely a price drop.

I played the 360 demo on normal. It's undoubtedly a beautiful game with some really interesting ideas, but I found the combat to be mushy and unsatisfying. It didn't have the flow that good brawler combat does, where you're gracefully moving between enemies, avoiding attacks, and beating guys down when you had the chance. Someone in IRC said it looked like a game from 2011 but played like one from 2002, and I think that's fairly accurate.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I played the 360 demo on normal. It's undoubtedly a beautiful game with some really interesting ideas, but I found the combat to be mushy and unsatisfying. It didn't have the flow that good brawler combat does, where you're gracefully moving between enemies, avoiding attacks, and beating guys down when you had the chance. Someone in IRC said it looked like a game from 2011 but played like one from 2002, and I think that's fairly accurate.

I said that, though I think I was quoting from someone else (think I saw that on Giant Bomb, can't recall).

Looks great, but the gameplay isn't my thing.

Amazon is now offering a $10 credit with El Shaddai preorders.

I realize this game will likely be $40 within two months, and cheaper shortly thereafter, but Japanese development is in trouble and I feel the need to show support when they go all out. I remember seeing that Kmart would have an offer as well, but it's no longer listed on the CAG post.

Has anyone picked this up? I'm sort of in the mood to play something different, but the reviews are somewhat mixed. I don't want to grab a real stinker for the sake of "different."

I picked it up and played the first three or so chapters yesterday. It's decent. I'm not a huge fan of character action games, so I won't comment on how deep or awesome the combat is, but the story is rather interesting, and the art style looks cool so far.

Joystiq's review is glowing, a 4.5 of 5. His only complaint was a lack of enemy diversity and the rare platforming confusion. He said it really must be played.

Well, I rented El Shaddai through Gamefly after hearing Shane Bettenhausen talk about it on Weekend Confirmed. My impressions are... well, I though I'd keep some notes while running through the first hour.

0:03 - A dude in a black suit is talking to me. I'm thinking he might be God. He's offering me better armor. Thanks, God.

0:06 - The first fight was rigged! Unbeatable!

0:10 - Things get even weirder. I now have an arched, bladed weapon. I had to beat up some stick figures to get it.

0:15 - God, or the dude in the suit, is telling me I have to defeat some angels or he'll send a world-ending flood on the world. Harsh.

0:18 - The visuals are... different. High contrast textures, like a badly edited photo, are all over the first level. Very unique, though. 

0:25 - Getting the hang of combat. Rhythmic-like flow to it. Wishing there was a roll button, like in God of War.

0:27 - Dude's talking on a cell phone to God. In the Biblical past. He also saves my game. Makes perfect sense.

0:29 - Framerate is pretty jerky - it's often solid, but will speed up suddenly interrupting the flow. Also, the tutorial menus seem to be taking forever to load up in game.

0:30 - Just now realizing Enoch is wearing a backwards mid-drift shirt. Hmm, Japan.

0:32 - About to kill my first angel. He has a giant eyeball for a head.  

0:33 - Fake out. No boss killing yet. But, I have learned that God's pretty snarky. 

0:36 - Liking the HUD-less design. Allows the visuals to really stand out. 

0:40 - Guys, this game is hella Japanese. 

0:42 - I think they're trying to condense the story of Enoch in 3 minutes by jumbling around the entire story out of context. 

0:44 - I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON

0:48 - Defeated a boss (I think). My character is now wearing jeans and sandals. Looks like he could be an Abercrombie & Fitch model.

0:52 - The visuals are really beginning to resonate with me. The ground I'm walking on in this grey-black world is imbued with words, which I'm assuming are scripts. Cool touch. 
 
0:57 - Achievement popped "Journey's End". Taking this as a benevolent sign to stop for the night. 

0:59 - Had planned on stopping, but man, the next level is trippy. It's like an acid-induced carnival of colors that's held somewhere in hell.  

1:04 - Fight sequences turn the music from moody, choir-laden ambiguity to a straight up poppy jazz tracks like in Bayonetta. 

1:05 - Stopping for the night. I have decided that the weirdness factor is probably the most appealing thing so far, which is enough for me to keep on plugging away at it for a bit longer. Also, I still have no idea what's going on.

Finished this today. Not a clue what was going on in the storyline, but there is some beautiful artwork in this game (some of the music is pretty good too). The combat is probably most similar to Okami, although the rest of the game is absolutely linear.
My verdict would be, if you're at least mildly interested, rent it and play it on easy, your eyes will be in for a treat.

Huh. So that's it? Only a few post-release impressions?

Minarchist is raving about it in the video game deals thread but didn't even post in here.

Anyway, $19.99 on Amazon, and these guys made Muramasa, which I loved. Thinking about checking it out.

Yeah, the thread was dead and I was playing it right around the GOTY time, so I just posted my thoughts in there. I could do a longer unwind in here, though. You can look at a lot of screenshots, and they're pretty, but screenshots don't really do this game justice. You have to see it in action.

tl;dr: totes awesome.

Stele wrote:

Anyway, $19.99 on Amazon, and these guys made Muramasa, which I loved. Thinking about checking it out.

Not quite. El Shaddai was published by Ignition, who also published Muramasa, but Muramasa was developed by Vanillaware while El Shaddai was developed by Ignition Tokyo.

However, that doesn't mean that El Shaddai isn't without some pedigree. Ignition Tokyo is made up of former employees of Clover Studios, responsible for Viewtiful Joe, God Hand, and Okami.

Ah thanks for the clarification... *checks shelf and sees Viewtiful Joe and Okami*