First Impressions

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Martin III
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First Impressions

Post by Martin III » Sat Oct 29, 2011 1:31 am

Now that I've had my 3DO for a few days and have been fooling with some of the games that came with it, I thought I'd share my first impressions.

I love the look and feel of the console itself; very professional. Only problem is, where's the reset button?

The controller's decent. It has the same elegant button layout as the Saturn's, so I was a little disappointed that it doesn't also have the same tight, comfortable grip. It's certainly something I can get used to, though. The buttons work well and it has that nice compact size.

The first game I tried is Guardian War. I was especially drawn to this one because it's by the team behind the excellent Mystaria/Blazing Heroes, and in fact looks to be a spiritual predecessor to that game. It looks like I'm getting just what I hoped for in that regard: the style is immediately evocative of Mystaria, yet there are abundant differences, so I'm not just getting more of the same. I am a bit disappointed by the apparently limited storyline, mainly because from what I understand, Slayer, Deathkeep, and Star Control II don't have much story either. Is Lucienne's Quest the only story-driven RPG on the 3DO? ...Anyway, I'm not ready to fully dive into this one yet, particularly as, much like Mystaria, it's clearly not just a "pick up and play" type of game.

Icebreaker is certainly a pleasant surprise, and the game I've been spending the most time with thus far. I do like action puzzlers, but I don't get hooked on them as easily as most gamers, and I expected the graphics and sound to be along the lines of Zoop: simple and functional, not fancy. On the contrary, I'd venture to say that the game's addictiveness is more due to the satisfying sight and sound of pyramids being destroyed than to the actual gameplay. The gameplay mechanics aren't perfectly elegant, but they do keep me engaged. The one problem is that the levels seem too big. Honestly, 200 pyramids per level? I spend most of my time idly eliminating pyramids and wondering where in the vast offscreen expanse the seekers are lurking. Not that I don't have fun doing so, mind you, but it really slows the pace down. Overall though, really having a blast with this one.

Return Fire looks basically like Mass Destruction with some humor and very low variety of mission objectives, though of course I have to give Return Fire props for being first. I do like the variety of vehicle types, all of which play effectively in their own way, and I'll certainly be giving this one more attention at some point. To be blunt, however, I got tired of Mass Destruction after a few sittings and I doubt this one will fare much better.

Finally, Slayer. Wow. Just wow. I'm blown away by the music; I watched the whole intro three times and it still sent chills down my spine every time. The graphics are stunning, too. The appearance of that monster in the intro almost made me soil my trousers. I certainly had my doubts about Slayer: 1st person dungeon crawlers are my favorite genre, but I like them to be grid-based, and have had bad experiences with ones that aren't. But this, from the looks of it, is right up my alley. I haven't dug into it yet because I want to read the manual first(and sadly the one posted in these forums still can't be downloaded), but I'm looking forward to doing so.

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Re: First Impressions

Post by Trev » Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:04 am

Martin III wrote: I am a bit disappointed by the apparently limited storyline, mainly because from what I understand, Slayer, Deathkeep, and Star Control II don't have much story either.
Actually, SCII has an epic story! Seriously, you'll be blown away. 8)
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Post by Qcombus » Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:06 am

I definitely liked return Fire and Lucienne's Quest the most out of the games you mentioned. As for slayer and Deathkeep its a shame these games are way too hard since the presentation is pretty nice.

I uploaded the slayer manual to google docs here. I think its the one on the forum but I'm not sure. Anyway,you should be able to download it.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sat Oct 29, 2011 3:54 am

Which controller are you using?
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Post by sneth » Sat Oct 29, 2011 6:48 am

Yeah, 3DO got hosed on the RPG front.
I made it all the way through Guardian War, but I triggered a cheat mode somehow. That made it real easy to run through.

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Post by Trev » Sat Oct 29, 2011 1:27 pm

Jap. gamers got more choices in the rpg realm ... Blue Forest Story, Dragon Tycoon Edge, Grand Chef, etc ... I've always been jealous of that.
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Post by Austin » Sat Oct 29, 2011 3:31 pm

Nice to see that you are enjoying the system!

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Post by Martin III » Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:41 pm

Trev wrote:Actually, SCII has an epic story! Seriously, you'll be blown away. 8)
Awesome! Star Control II was already one of the 3DO games I was most looking forward to, due to what I've heard about the gameplay and it being a Crystal Dynamics game. Even better if it has a good story!
Qcombus wrote:I definitely liked return Fire and Lucienne's Quest the most out of the games you mentioned. As for slayer and Deathkeep its a shame these games are way too hard since the presentation is pretty nice.

I uploaded the slayer manual to google docs here. I think its the one on the forum but I'm not sure. Anyway,you should be able to download it.
Thanks so much! I'm actually glad that Slayer is on the hard side, since the recent dungeon crawlers I've played - Etrian Odyssey, Mazes of Fate, Master of the Monster Lair - are all far too tame. I've been wanting to relive the sort of experience I had with my first RPG, the Throne of Chaos, where I was actually afraid to go around a corner.
3DO Experience wrote:Which controller are you using?
I don't know the various models of 3DO controllers. All I can tell you is that it has "Panasonic Controller Model No.FZ-JP1 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd." molded onto the back. :?

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:53 pm

Ah, the normal FZ-01 controller. I'm surprised you don't find the grip as comfortable as the Saturn's.
Last edited by 3DO Experience on Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Martin III » Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:49 pm

The Saturn controller essentially slots into your hands; with the FZ-01 you have to actually clutch the grips. Like I said, though, it is a good controller, just not as good as the Saturn's. I really like the shoulder buttons; neither too big nor too subtle.

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Post by Martin III » Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:28 pm

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask in this thread's original post... I tried "load" on Slayer just to see what sort of saves the previous owner had on the machine, and was taken immediately to the dungeon. So is Slayer absolutely limited to one save slot?

Also, I'd heard Slayer has a memory manager. How do I get to it?

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Post by 3DO Experience » Wed Nov 02, 2011 2:52 am

Martin III wrote:The Saturn controller essentially slots into your hands; with the FZ-01 you have to actually clutch the grips. Like I said, though, it is a good controller, just not as good as the Saturn's. I really like the shoulder buttons; neither too big nor too subtle.
I guess it's all about your hands.
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Post by Trev » Wed Nov 02, 2011 3:23 am

Well, both 3DO & Saturn have multiple contollers so it is easy to find a favorite (For 3DO, I like the Doc's wireless myself)

I'm glad they updated the Saturn controllers in this region to match the Jap. ones ... the original launch controllers felt really cheap
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Post by Lemmi » Wed Nov 02, 2011 7:59 am

i like the Goldstar 3do controllers, they feel alot like Genesis 3 button controllers to me and i played the Genesis for atleast 8 years straight before the 3DO took over for awhile
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Post by Jones » Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:44 am

The 3DO Goldstar controller is truely great - for me, it's definitely the
way to go and absolutely the best 3DO thing produced by Goldstar.

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Post by Trev » Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:40 pm

Jones wrote:The 3DO Goldstar controller is truely great - for me, it's definitely the
way to go and absolutely the best 3DO thing produced by Goldstar.
Even better than B.C. Racers? :lol:
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Post by Jones » Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:04 pm

Very close, but yes. ;)

Seriously - the Goldstar 3DO isn't exactly what I would
call a reliable, solid piece of hardware.
How come the controller is?
Is it just because of that?
Maybe the controller got so expensive, that they
couldn't invest any more money in the production
of the 3DO itself anymore?

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Post by 3DO Experience » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:13 am

Trev wrote:Well, both 3DO & Saturn have multiple contollers so it is easy to find a favorite (For 3DO, I like the Doc's wireless myself)
Yeah, that's one a the great things, lots of companies' controllers to choose from. I also use the Doc's the most simply for not having a cord. Oh and I finally grabbed a Logitech controller, looks cool but is horrible for my small hands.
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Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:13 pm

I want to chip in about controllers, i have a handfull of different controllers, and they all have poor or just functional d-pads.. The one controller i have which has a quite nice feeling d-pad, which is fluent and responsive enough for fighting games to not be a chore is the Gamepad6 controller. HOWEVER, this has a major flaw.. It is a 6 button controller, but instead of having them in this order, A B C in lower and L P R in upper, like any other 6 button ive seen, it has L X P in upper, making it utterly useless unless you can re-map the buttons in game..

My next best d-pad, seems to be the Fighting Sword 6 button controller, but that on the other hand has a turbo switch too close to the d-pad, making accidental switches happen in the heat of the moment.

The d-pad on my original Z1 controller seems to be of the early type, which is stiffer and more unsensitive, than the later revision..

I have had to resort to getting a megadrive controller converter for my 3DO, which has the BEST d-pads in my opinion, but on the other hand feels very small in my hands.. (the official 6 button version)

My favourite controller ever for a retro system, is the official wireless Sega megadrive controller. Its big, somewhat chunky and has THE best d-pad ive ever felt, but i dont know if the reciever would work with the converter for the 3do?

Anyway, i wanted to share this info, and perhaps someone can chip in their opinion on this, and maybe even recommend a 3DO controller to look out for? Most i have has like i said fairly poor d-pads..

Hell, ill list them..

Gamepad6
Fighting Sword
Logitech
Hori Fighting Commander
3DO Speedpad
Capcom
Doc's wireless
and this rare, but good one (just lacking in d-pad as well)
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Post by sneth » Sun Nov 13, 2011 4:59 pm

I find my Goldstar controller almost useless. The dpad feels horrid.

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Post by Martin III » Sun Nov 13, 2011 8:49 pm

I figure I might as well try reiterating this question, since I didn't get any answer that I noticed:
Martin III wrote:Also, I'd heard Slayer has a memory manager. How do I get to it?

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Post by VertigoProcess » Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:04 pm

Trev wrote:I'm glad they updated the Saturn controllers in this region to match the Jap. ones ... the original launch controllers felt really cheap
tell me about it! i've had my saturn since the 90s and have always used the model 2 controllers... then i bought a lot of broken controllers to refurb and there was a model 1 saturn controller in there and i was just like, really sega?! what were you thinking???

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Post by Martin III » Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:53 pm

I still keep going back to Icebreaker. Even though it can be aggravating at times, it's so addictive and there's so many levels to check out. I also love that they named the climactic level 30 after one of my all-time favorite novels.

Gonna have to find me a couple hours where I can read through the Slayer manual and then really dig into the game. That's part of the trouble: Slayer and Guardian War will require me to devote significant chunks of time to, but Icebreaker I can fool around with for as little as 15 minutes at a time.

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:53 am

If you like RPG's, check out Lucienne's Quest too if you can, its pretty much the only japan style RPG on the system, and its a good one too.

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