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Siren
Mar 10, 2009 0:19:45 GMT -5
Post by Justinzero on Mar 10, 2009 0:19:45 GMT -5
It doesn't bother me much, but I am used to it. My family is all British imports, and I grew up fully immersed in British film and history. I can see where DA is coming from as it can be weird, but its not something that should be looked at as having a negative effect on the game. Its a personal preference really, just like art style, or musical taste. Americans subtitle British accents in their news casts half the time, so mass official reviews making a big deal over the "limey speak" is not really surprising. As for the games, well I grabbed which ever one came out for PS2, and its been sitting on my shelf since Perhaps a read of the article will inspire me to play through my copy.
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metazoa
Full Member
Vulgar Argot!
Posts: 222
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Siren
Mar 10, 2009 2:29:55 GMT -5
Post by metazoa on Mar 10, 2009 2:29:55 GMT -5
The article looks great, Disco. Thanks! And to Sketch and the other folks who've pointed out problems/inconsistencies: thank you as well.
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Siren
Mar 10, 2009 3:52:46 GMT -5
Post by Sketcz-1000 on Mar 10, 2009 3:52:46 GMT -5
No problem! It's just a little disappointing to discover that Siren 2 is so difficult for people to import. I take it you guys didn't get too far? Someone else mentioned that the Shi and Yami fight each other, and this is true! On one level you need to sightjack Shibito and take control of them, to do various actions (another really cool, unique feature - you can make the enemy do the work for you), and they will get attacked by the Yamibito (or you can attack first).
Are you going to be adding to Siren 2's description? Because if you're OK with it, I'd be happy to write a few supplemental paragraphs on Siren 2 for everyone's approval, just to describe the gameplay mechanics a bit more. I can only do it this Saturday though (or maybe Wednesday, if Kurt is desperate to get this up quickly).
I guess Siren 2 is one occasion when Europe lucked out?
One other comment. You say: "which creates an interesting, almost episodic feel" - but Blood Curse was episodic, like a TV show. You could download it in episodes, and the Blueray disc plays out in episodes. There's even trailers at the start and end of each episode's chapter. Which was an interesting delivery method, kinda meta, since it played on the whole, "TV people doing a documentary" end up in a game which is played like a TV show.
As for difficulty of Siren 1, I'm gonna stick to my guns and say I thought it was an unfair game, since Siren 2 managed to be much easier, but still very challenging. The difference was in the more regimented path of the Shibito (and no flying ones), slightly better (IMO) designed levels, and things like even if you died and restarted, any sub-goals you'd completed would remain. Such as shooting the magic stone blocks, where the game kept track of each one destroyed regardless of when or where I died.
Should we have a mention of how obtuse some of the goals were? Some things weren't particularly well explained, and the main criticism of Siren 2 I'd have is that level goals aren't explained. On the ship for example, I spent 30 minutes trying every door, before I accidentally stumbled across a key in the control room. The stage's goal was "examine control room", which didn't really imply I had to find a key. It could be a mistake of translation, but it was sometimes frustrating not knowing what to do (thankfully the actual game isn't that difficult).
As for accents: As someone who lives in England, I find British accents in my games HUGELY offputting. I hear this stuff everyday, so to hear someone in a mystical setting talking like the woman from my local bakery, kind freaks me out. Bleurgh! I'd much rather hear American accents. DQ8's variety of accents was just weird...
Heavenly Sword is a case in point, she's an Asian-looking warrior and she sounds like she's from London, while her dad has a Scottish accent. WTF?! So I switched the audio to Swiss and Norwegian (both are pretty cool), which actually made the game much better.
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Siren
Mar 10, 2009 6:40:06 GMT -5
Post by DojoCasino on Mar 10, 2009 6:40:06 GMT -5
Is it necessary to play the first game before forbidden siren 2? Or can I just go straight to the second one?
I did rent out the original forbidden siren ages ago, but I got stuck pretty early on... But I remember really liking it, so maybe I should just get that one first. The japanese audio track in the second one does sound appealing though, I'm playing through fatal frame atm and the horrible voice acting is definitely ruining it for me slightly.
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Vonlenska
Junior Member
spinning madly on
Posts: 56
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Siren
Mar 10, 2009 22:47:10 GMT -5
Post by Vonlenska on Mar 10, 2009 22:47:10 GMT -5
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Siren
Mar 11, 2009 0:49:48 GMT -5
Post by Vendaval Este on Mar 11, 2009 0:49:48 GMT -5
Gonna read up on this, the most that I've heard is from the Spoony Experiment, in which he called the first game one of the worst games he had ever played, while the second was close enough to being one of the best I believe.
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Siren
Mar 11, 2009 16:01:22 GMT -5
Post by Sketcz-1000 on Mar 11, 2009 16:01:22 GMT -5
Was playing Siren 2 again this evening - it is so good (especially considering I've got a stack of PS3 games, plus Yuusha Namaiki, and I recently got Michigan and Raw Danger on PS2 - this thing is really keeping me away from it all). Anyway, no article on the Siren series can be complete without a mention of archive item: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC-u8YNIffo*** No. 079 SN-AG1999 AGE MANIAC Character /Mamoru Itsuki Time /15:00 Place /Bright Win/Third-Class Cabin 1F Required /Inspect the TV stand Notes / Available in the first mission. Makes Kunitoris mini-game available from top menu. A videogame console released by an overseas manufacturer, 3G MANIAX, in 1982. The machine featured an awesome 3D graphic chip capable of generating full 3D images. However, a shabby sound chip which couldn’t produce the C, D and E notes proved to be the machine’s downfall. Several games were released on the platform and are still sought after by game collectors. *** It's a rather damn awesome retro-styled puzzle game, which is kinda like Tetris meets... Romance of the 3 Kingdoms? Well, not that advanced, the strategy side is non-existent beyond the map and regions on the map, but it's strangely compelling, since you can flip as well as rotate pieces, and you get bonus points for completing whole blocks in one go. It's a mindless distraction, maybe, but I like the fact they put so much effort into this game. Everything about Siren 2 makes it feel big-budget. Lots of cutscenes, lots of actors, plus there's minigames, ads, songs, film footage, and so on. This stuff all takes time and costs money to make.
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Siren
Mar 11, 2009 16:58:27 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Mar 11, 2009 16:58:27 GMT -5
What's the deal with that Tsuchinoko Game and Watch style minigame on Siren: Blood Curse? I think it's actually on Sony's website somewhere.
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Siren
Mar 12, 2009 13:25:11 GMT -5
Post by Sketcz-1000 on Mar 12, 2009 13:25:11 GMT -5
I found the system in-game, but I did not realise it could actually be played... If anyone knows any more, do tell!
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metazoa
Full Member
Vulgar Argot!
Posts: 222
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Siren
Mar 15, 2009 21:13:19 GMT -5
Post by metazoa on Mar 15, 2009 21:13:19 GMT -5
What's the deal with that Tsuchinoko Game and Watch style minigame on Siren: Blood Curse? I think it's actually on Sony's website somewhere. I did some googling and site searching, and couldn't find it. It might have been available in the past, but I don't think it is any more.
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Siren
Mar 16, 2009 20:43:22 GMT -5
Post by megatronbison on Mar 16, 2009 20:43:22 GMT -5
I thought you got a hyperlink in game is you read the item description or somewhere else on the main menu. I was playing it only a month ago.
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Siren
Mar 17, 2009 17:56:20 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Mar 17, 2009 17:56:20 GMT -5
Added up some stuff Sketch wrote, mostly some stuff for Siren 2, including a bit about the minigame Kunitoris. (Which, uh, I accidentally keep misreading as the Japanese term for a certain female body part.) It's actually a mixture of the words "kuni" ("country") and Tetris.
I'll double check that Game n Watch thing in Siren Blood Curse - I know it brought me to some web page, but I don't think you can interact with it.
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Siren
Mar 17, 2009 22:33:26 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Mar 17, 2009 22:33:26 GMT -5
OK! I discovered a trick! You can actually play the Siren: Blood Curse minigames in a regular web browser. What you need to do is download a Firefox add-in called User Agent Switcher 0.6.11 and install it. Once installed, add a user profile called "Mozilla/5.0 (PLAYSTATION 3; 3.42)" (without quotes). Now, access this website: ps3.scej-online.jp/siren_nt_minigame/toppage_hd.htmlJust click on it, and you can use the keys to navigate, and hit the mouse button to select. There are three games: Tsuchinoko, Skyfish, and Jackalopeman. Neat! I captured some screens and will add them to the writeup later on. You need to download User Agent or else you'll just get a "forbidden" error if you access the address normally. (instructions were taken from this page, which is in Russian): forbidden-siren.ucoz.ru/index/0-40
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metazoa
Full Member
Vulgar Argot!
Posts: 222
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Siren
Mar 18, 2009 1:12:29 GMT -5
Post by metazoa on Mar 18, 2009 1:12:29 GMT -5
It looks great, Disco.
And thanks, Sketch. You really added to the article, and I appreciate your help!
Just a quick typo I noticed: on page two, in the first paragraph below the character portraits, there's an 'Additionall". I think it should be 'Additionally'.
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Siren
Mar 18, 2009 3:38:21 GMT -5
Post by Sketcz-1000 on Mar 18, 2009 3:38:21 GMT -5
Cool, happy to help. You did a good job of integrating the paragraphs. Good find on the Blood Curse games, there's kinda neat for G&W inspired titles. One tiny note: I can 100% confirm that my PAL copy of the game has Japanese text in Kunitoris. It's all katakana, but I couldn't recognise the words. Oh, and I made a typo: it should say: "Goes down faster", not "goes does faster".
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