Zwei!! question.

[recap]

I think one of the site's greatest features is the comparison between different versions of each game. I hope to see eventually here an article about Falcom's Zwei!!, but, in the meantime, I would love to know your opinions about the game, and especially, the graphic differences between the original Windows version and the recent port from Taito for the PS2.

[Malroth]

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm a Falcom newbie. I've never even heard of Zwei!! until now.

[Discoalucard]

Zwei is a cutesy variation on Rogue-style games like Diablo. It's insanely cute, has gorgeous bright 2D graphics and an incredibly beautiful soundtrack, but I'm not a fan of dungeon crawlers, so I can't say I really like it all that much.

Like a lot of Falcom games, Zwei tries to add some action elements into the RPG gameplay, but it doesn't feel right. At any given moment, you can switch between two characters, a boy and a girl (I can't remember their names.) The boy attacks by leaping and stabbing enemies with a sword, but you don't need to aim or anything - just press "attack" and he'll jump in the direction by himself. Similarly, the girl attacks with homing magic, so there's barely any need to aim or anything. It can get frustrating when dealing with multiple foes. Plus, even though the game might look great, it's the same hallways and forests over and over, hitting switches and killing things and running back when you hit dead ends.

I only played the PS2 version for a bit, but it's a great port. The PC version runs in 640x480, and the console port looks almost as good, except for the obvious downgrade from going to a monitor to a television. The PS2 version is still high-res, and runs almost perfectly (unlike the shameful PS2 port of VM Japan.) It might be cheaper and easier to get ahold of, and as far as I know, it's only missing the Typing of the Ys minigame, for obvious reasons. (Not sure about the shooting minigame.) Zwei is made for a gamepad anyway.

I'd thought about doing an article on it at some point, because the visuals alone at least make it worth trying, and the soundtrack is a definite must download/buy, but as you can tell, I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the game itself.

[Malroth]

Nice. I'm really into Rougeish games, so I might look into it.

[recap]

admin said:

I only played the PS2 version for a bit, but it's a great port.

That's what I thought, being a development from the guys behind the recent PSP Eiyuu Densetsu games. I'm not sure about how the 3D bosses look on the PS2, though.

Anyhow, I usually dislike dungeon-based RPGs if the dungeons get too repetitive, so, despite the wonderful presentation I'm not buying it for now. Maybe later if it gets cheaper. Thanks.