Tendo City

And guess what!! It's toonshaded!! That's amazing, because NOBODY makes toonshaded rpgs!!















Magic Box

I liked the PSX game.

It's not Toon-Shaded, it's Cel-Shaded.

Toon-Shading is the term Miyamoto used for Cel-Shading without the black lines around the characters.

Hopefully it'll be a good RPG to go along with Final Fantasy. :) Should bolster sales in Japan a nice lot.

Miyamoto doesn't even call it toon shading (it's JAPAN, they speak JAPANESE). It's actually a stupid term that some of us Americans came up with.

I like it. Is it just me or does the whole thing look like picuters printed on a book? That could be an interesting style, but then again, I'll feel stupid if that's actually a magazine scan and it was revealed in that article I was too lazy to read.

Is it just me or does the whole thing look like picuters printed on a book?

You raise a good point; it does seem to be from a magazine...but if thats how it's SUPPOSED to look, then I'd be turned off. Why can't we ever have a NORMAL rpg, instead of some fruity, new, weird tangient thing?

Nope, that's how the game's supposed to look.



See? The game even features creases in the image to enhance the magazine-effect.

Wow... amazing crease effects! It'll make the game special!

Anyway... looks interesting. I bet it never comes out here...

I think most of the Tales games have, except for the first one on the Snes.

Hahaha, I seriously hope that Darunia and DJ were kidding.

And toon shading is just another way of saying cel-shading. Nintendo just wanted a special name all to themselves.

I'd just like to see some better quality screenshots... still it does look interesting... sorta, given the fact that its probably a random-battles RPG...

Oh, Smoke linked a Gaming-Age forum thread in chat yesterday that had much better pictures of the game *searches for thread*

Ah, here we are. click!

http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread....=symphonia

The Tales series has the second-best battle system ever seen in an RPG, behind only Star Ocean 2's maginificent setup. I'll definitely be getting this, and I'm certain it will be released here.

the tales games are really awesome. and tales of destiny had random battles in some areas and non-random battles in others, but mostly they were random. however, the battle system, as weltell said, is really a joy to play. and yes, every tales game has come out here with the exception of Tales of Phantasia (the first one). apparently this game is the sequal to that...it was originally titled Tales of Phantasia 2. they have a video for it at IGN. i'm really looking forward to it.


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innane ranting

So, no crease effect? Nuts! Really though, considering all the crazy visual styles games have been doing these days, it wouldn't surprise me to see a game try to look like a comic book.

Max Payne tries to look like a comic book... a really VIOLENT comic book... and only in cut-scenes...

Anyways, I think the whole book idea is something that should be explored. Particularly with cel-shading.

Take an RPG (or Adventure game), and have it played, as though it's being read in a book. A narator can introduce it, then you see the book as he opens the first page to a picture with text under it. It then zooms in so the picture completely engulfs the screen. Which is when you take control. Then, in between load areas, instead of the screen going black, the page could 'turn'. Then at the end and beginning of each 'chapter', the narator can take over as it zooms out to the book.

It doesn't even need to be a novel, a Journal, or even a Playboy magazine would be fine.

I think it's a neat idea. Hell, you could even add the Silent Hill noise filter to add that gritty 'paper' effect, and could throw in creases, and tears, and holes in the paper occasionally, just for effect!

And it's not a bad thing that this game is toonshaded, that's actually keeping this game consistent with the look of previous games...

Oh, give it up Weltall! Wind Waker was no where near as good as OoT and MM...it's only partially due to celshading, but still!

Quote:Originally posted by Private Hudson
Max Payne tries to look like a comic book... a really VIOLENT comic book... and only in cut-scenes...

Wha? As if there aren't already any violent comic books out there? Max Payne is very tame by comic book standards.

Those comic book stores are nuts! I mean, I one time saw some comic book that was about one person's experience on 9/11. You can NOT take a hand drawn crying woman looking like the event hurt her seriously. In fact making a comic about it was insulting more than anything.

So I guess anyone who was touched by Grave of the Fireflies is stupid for getting any reaction from a bunch of stupid moving drawings.

I'm very surprised by your narrow-mindedness, DJ. Some people write songs about tragedies such as 9/11, some people make movies about them, some people write about them, and some people draw pictures about them. It's a little think called artistic expression.

The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw this game was "Dark Cloud 2". :D This game looks awesome. If this doesn't come out in America somebody's getting cut. ;)

BTW somebody explained the whole cell/toon shading thing on the Gaming-Age boards. There's a difference between real cell shading (Zelda: WW) and outlining (Dark Cloud 2, This game).

But it was a comic book! It wasn't a REAL person, just some made up person with made up reactions (no one makes a "stay back" motion with their hand while tears the size of muffins poor from vacant eyes, dead, like a DOLL'S eyes, no one!).

Oh there's that, AND the fact that I know what makes nerds angry. Sorry, I don't REALLY feel that it wasn an insult, but it did look pretty ridiculous if you ask me. The cover didn't really look serious so much as comical. The artist who drew that really should have, um, TRIED HARDER.

Please note anything you say in response to this is uncalled for :D. Really, can't you see a half serious half joking comment?

Its very, very hard with you to figure out when you are serious and when you aren't...

Quote:Originally posted by Darunia
Oh, give it up Weltall! Wind Waker was no where near as good as OoT and MM...it's only partially due to celshading, but still!

Call me crazy but I don't think we're on the same page.

I'm referring to Tales of Symphonia... not Zelda ;)

It was half what I actually thought and half joking. What, can't I make fun of my own opinions in a very blatent manner?

Quote:Originally posted by OB1
Wha? As if there aren't already any violent comic books out there? Max Payne is very tame by comic book standards.

I didn't say otherwise..

It's violent comic book!

:woo:

DJ, you are so full of shit. Whenever you're losing in an argument you use the "oh I was only kidding!" card, and we all know that that's a lie. And you're calling me a nerd? You're posting messages on a Nintendo message board on a regular basis! You're just as nerdy as the rest of us!

I'm not a nerd! I have a life!! ...Wait...no I don't. Oh well. *goes back to playing videogames*

I don't know, OB1... I think he may actually be joking sometimes (otherwise why make fun of stuff that he is obviously just as guilty of as we are?)... but still it is kind of strange... and not obviously a joke when he says them at first.

In this case he sure sounded serious... which, yeah, is odd... why is it so strange to do a 9/11 comic? I'd think it could be just as powerful as any other medium...

Oh I know that he jokes sometimes, but a lot of the time whenever he loses in an argument or whatever he just backs off and says "uh... i was kidding!". You know what I'm talking about.

Yes. And I agree, it isn't always exactly believable, true...

What loss? If I didn't even mean it, how could I be throwing a fight because I'm loosing it? Oh, and if you believe me to be a liar, well whatever. I can't say I'm surprised it came to you just saying "you liar" in the end. It's not very nice to just accuse me of lying like that. Name ONE time I've ever lied to you before.

Oh and, really, why does everyone take my nerd comments so seriously? I never EVER am serious when I'm calling anyone a nerd! Yeesh, I myself am a huge nerd and I'm aware, but I enjoy making fun of myself (and consequently, you as well, but that's incedental) often that way. I really must say you need to stop taking everything so personally.

I mean really, with everything I've said in the past regarding animation, do you honestly see my statements there as something that DOESN'T totally contradict that? Really! I mean, I know tone is hard to convey in text, but sometimes I wish I could just use some sort of indicator of exact voice fluctuations. This text thing has actually started an argument, an ARGUMENT, when it was never intended to do so. Dang it, writing SUCKS! (And yes, that too is a half joke.)

I have problems with getting people to fire out when I'm joking... probably because I don't do it all that much here (compared to you for sure)... but for me its sometimes true in real life too...

Well, I don't really joke THAT much. Though, with the apparent local infamy my misunderstood jokes recieve, that's what I'm known for lately. Joke might be the wrong word. What's that thing comedians do when they rant on about how stupid something is, but they don't really mean it, and in fact often probably actually go along with it? That's what I do a lot! I USED to actually designate a persona to them directly, so maybe I should start doing that again. No one assumed I was being serious doing those types of jokes THEN...

You seem to have left behind your multiple persionalities probably a year ago or something...

What, did the psychiatrist help?

Oh come on, you always say that you're joking when all of us know that you're not. That is when you are lying.

Right, whatever. Listen, lying is something I left behind long ago. You can choose whether or not to believe that, but really, you KNOW how stubborn I am. Why would I PURPOSEFULLY insult something I actually believed in before? Decide for yourself if you actually believe me or not, but you really need to stop this thing of yours, getting into fights all the time. Really, a harmless joke turned into THIS? It didn't have to!

Okay, let's look at this logically. If I'm going to give up in some argument, I usually just step out with some last words (and step in again and again, against better judgement). However, I have NEVER argued for a point over and over and later responded saying it was just a joke (that's more Private Hudson's style). When I am pointing out something is a joke, I do it RIGHT after someone responds taking it seriously. Not a single argument actually takes place, MAINLY because I obviously didn't even mean it. Seriously, think about it! You would think if I was actually lying that it would be in situations like where an actual argument was going on for posts on end and THEN I say "I was just joking the whole time", but that's never happened. I'm NOT so clever that I would never slip up and do that if I was lying about that. Really now, not once have you ever accused me of this before. In fact, you merely said I was bad at this self depreciating comments (which lazy makes all the time I might add). Is it REALLY that hard to believe I would actually insult my own beliefs on a regular basis? Come on now! It's like the time I said ABF was some stupid geek for pointing out trivialities. It was so plainly obvious that I myself do the same thing that the sheer obviousness of what appears to be a totally blind statement should have made you laugh, and I bet you did too, like "who does DJ think DJ's kidding? That's hilariously stupid!" and that's the kind of humor I was going for! Of course he's not an idiot, and all of us are geeks wasting time on trivial things! I was just making fun of that in a round about way!

Okay, let me end this silly debate over nothing and ask you something else. Has something happened to you recently? You really do seem to have a chip on your shoulder in the last few weeks. I know you often argue, but never this much and at the drop of a hat too. You seem to insult character and not even bother any real debates. It all seems out of anger. So, have I done something to offend you, or make me your enemy? Has something that doesn't include me in any way upset you recently? Anything that might explain this very irritable attitude you have had recently? I just want to know because it could help us out here. In fact, I don't think you have ever been one to say anything about what goes on in your personal life (like I'm one to talk :D, there, I point out specifically the nature of the humor of this sentence in these parenthesis, though a slight pursposfull undertone is there). Is there something you want to get off your chest? I really want to end all this stupid bickering.

I doubt you're lying, but it did sound very odd...

Well thanks ABF. I guess it was hard to see it for what it was. Really though, I was the one who recommended Greave of the Fireflies to OB1 because of how emotional hand drawn stuff looks. Of COURSE it's silly for me, an anime fan, and someone who had NO problem with cell shading, to go blabbing about how making a 9/11 comic book is horribly evil. Why, calling it evil in and of itself should have been the first hint. Maybe if I went even MORE outrageous it would be more obvious, like if I said "In fact, that comic is the great satan!". Half serious? I can't even remember what the half serious part was (I think it was how silly the cover of it looked, which actually is all I saw, yet another reason it should have been obvious to be a joke).

I just think maybe OB1 was responding a little hotly and got carried away. I don't think he really meant it. Something is likely bothering him...

Well, if it really was all a joke you should have tried to make it more obvious... because it wasn't. It did sound completely ouf of character for you, but that doesn't necessarially mean that you don't mean it...

Yeah yeah, whatever you say, DJ. This whole joking-but-not-really-joking-oh-but-I-really-am-joking thing is really annoying.

Glad to see you are willing to finally end this thing. A small shot at me in there, but I won't take it seriously. It's just nice to see you working with me on this. Now then, truce?

Quote:Yeah yeah, whatever you say, DJ. This whole joking-but-not-really-joking-oh-but-I-really-am-joking thing is really annoying.

Most of the time, yeah, it is.

http://www.the-magicbox.com/game040703b.htm

Nice new screenshots (or at least better looking ones...)

That girl in the second pic is wearing a COWBELL! Aside from that, looks great!

looks pretty rad. and it's crazy just how 2d the characters look.

...an RPG I'm interested in! Holy crap! Any details on when it's gonna be released?

Real time battle environment make Beano happy!

I don't think there are any details are a release date.

Those pics look a lot better than the first batch.