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Post by derboo on Oct 16, 2012 5:05:29 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2012 7:05:03 GMT -5
Good to see an article for this game. This is one of my favorites (period) because of the weird humor. I had no idea John St. John was the one telling us we'd "shit with fear." Here's a couple of trivia tidbits you can add: -Character designs are by Masaki Segawa, who went on to do various ninja manga, the best known over here being Basilisk. -Jorg was named after Jörg S. Tittel, who was a game journalist that worked for Climax Graphics/Crazy Games as a publicist (he's in the credits). -Cork was originally called Inda (IIRC this was on the Japanese website, too), and I remember seeing photos in magazines of him without the beard/mustache, making him look more like Woody from Toy Story. EDIT: Here's a link to Masaki Segawa's blog with a blurb about Illbleed (scroll down to the Eriko figure): segawa-page.way-nifty.com/iiwake/2006/12/ym_5391.html
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Post by kal on Oct 16, 2012 7:14:50 GMT -5
Illbleed, is such a strange game - it's not always fun and can be tedious but it's certainly unique. Concerns with the article - firstly the emulated (or at least they look emulated) screenshots aren't entirely indicative of how the game looks on the hardware - it's a heck of a lot smoother from what I recall. The Anti-Alisasing is out of wack in the screenshots which makes it look more like a PS2 title. Also you didn't mention the inexplicable 4 player bonus mini-game involving mushroom stacking. No idea what the story is behind that easter egg. Here's some junk left over on the disk although it seems they don't know where the unique Eriko model actually came from since it's not from the disk.
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on Oct 16, 2012 7:57:09 GMT -5
I recall owning this. Good times during the DC heyday. Never got very far because I found obscenely difficult, and rather confusing. I should probably replay it.
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Post by derboo on Oct 16, 2012 8:08:31 GMT -5
Concerns with the article - firstly the emulated (or at least they look emulated) screenshots aren't entirely indicative of how the game looks on the hardware - it's a heck of a lot smoother from what I recall. The Anti-Alisasing is out of wack in the screenshots which makes it look more like a PS2 title. It's always a trade-off with console game screenshots, no matter what you do. Some screenshots actually show a graphical glitch with character hair in nullDC you can see when you click for the full size screens. I want to blame the "heck of a lot smoother" on a lossy cable signal, though. (Didn't test the game with a VGA box, so I can't claim it for sure.) Here's a comparison with a lower res, lossy jpg promo shot from the Crazy Games homepage. Of course we don't know what the capture method for those was, but I know for certain that the colors look washed-out and the lines blurry compared to what I get with an RGB cable. Most bits of trivia are in now. Gotta check back for that mini game later, though... EDIT: Screenshot and mention of the mini game is now in, too.
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Post by Allie on Oct 17, 2012 9:15:38 GMT -5
When the game first came out, every time I discussed it with anyone, it invariably revolved around the "You'll SHIT WITH FEAR" tagline.
And then none of us ever played it.
I watched most of the important bits on Youtube, years later.
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Post by kal on Oct 17, 2012 9:32:11 GMT -5
Yeah it's certainly possible Derboo, it's been ages (4+ Years) since I last played Illbleed. Like that Gameboy topic earlier I'd suggest that Illblleed probably was intended to be viewed more like the Crazy Games image - the woes of preservation. The DC gets hit pretty hard though because unlike the PS2, the games tended to look very smooth at lower res due to the hardware AA.
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on Oct 17, 2012 11:12:01 GMT -5
Hmm, I haven't booted it in ages (I suppose I could to check), but my recollection is that through RGB SCART on an SD TV, it looked closer to the emulated shots than the blurry one from the website (jaggies aside - though that one from the website looks like it was done through RF lead, bleurgh!). RGB SCART makes everything look hawt. I am regularly astounded at how crisp older games look on an SD TV with RGB connection. Sadly with modern HD TVs, such visual joys will eventually be a thing of the past. EDIT: I restarted this, given the article, in an attempt to finally finish it. I can happily say, that the game on my TV looks pretty much exactly as it does in these screens - with jaggies and all. This screen is quite jagged, but it looks very much like this through RGB SCART, the accepted best method of hooking a console up. If there's any kind of internal anti-aliasing go on, it's very, very slight. I also forgot how gorgeous the Dreamcast's 3D can be. So much brighter and mroe vibrant than a lot of what you see on PS2.
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Post by chaoticgood on Oct 19, 2012 9:33:23 GMT -5
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Post by jubibbles88 on Oct 19, 2012 15:35:36 GMT -5
Hooray! You guys took my request! This game is so cool and you guys are so cool. I was impressed with Illbleed back then and I'm still impressed with it now. I'm very glad you guys covered everything from the Blue Stinger referances to the Sonic demon monster. THANK YOU!
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on Oct 19, 2012 16:22:29 GMT -5
I must say, playing through it now, this game has gotten better with age. Or perhaps I've just gotten better as a player. Really enjoying it, much more than before, I think because I'm better with item management (it's also slightly less scary, but still damn creepy).
I love how idiosyncratic its design is, and so typically "video gamey" - like the helicopter escape from battles. Much like Deadly Premonition, this game is memorable because it's the kind of set-up that could only ever work within games. It's not a game trying to be a film or a cinematic experience, it's 100% straight up GAME, with references to films but still its own unique thing.
I love it. In fact, I went and bought Blue Stinger off eBay because of this.
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Post by Resident Tsundere on Oct 20, 2012 15:28:45 GMT -5
@joseph Joestar: " I had no idea John St. John was the one telling us we'd "shit with fear."" Me neither! I remember seeing this game on Xplay, and the game did strike me as a bit creepy. Probably b/c it seemed so random? Also b/c Eriko suffered greatly at the hands of her father's attempts to scare her as a child. Psychological trauma, whut?!
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Post by kal on Oct 22, 2012 21:06:14 GMT -5
Blue Stinger isn't great, certainly has not aged well. An awkward survival horror game with grinding - its main saving grace is that it's the best EXCLUSIVE Survival Horror DC title (with Resident Evil : CV been ported to the PS2).
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Post by hellomrkearns on Oct 20, 2016 18:56:38 GMT -5
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