roguelike
Latest
2008's Biggest Blips: Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
Developer: ChunsoftPublisher: SegaRelease: March 4If you're going to check out a roguelike, you might as well try the best dungeon crawl Japan has to offer -- Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. Unfortunately, most will find themselves turned off by its intense difficulty, SNES-level graphics, and turn-based battles/movement. It's a game with a very special appeal -- you won't survive Shiren the Wanderer's monsters and hazards by grinding or mashing an attack button; you'll have to rely on your wits and use your limited equipment to their best advantage. It's a rewarding experience, to say the least.Oh, and did we mention that the game is insanely hard? What's worse, unless you've got an online buddy to revive you, every time you die (and you'll die very often), you lose all of your items and equipment, starting over at the beginning town at Level 1. Beginners usually die dozens of times before picking up the rudimentary skills needed to survive the dungeons. To help you in your journey, we've cleared up four mysteries for you, so you won't have to sacrifice a playthrough to figure them out yourself!Mystery #1: How do I approach arrow-shooting enemies without having my face rocked off? Don't attack arrow shooters head-on! You'll want to creep up to them with zig-zag movements, keeping yourself out of their direct line of sight. Unfortunately, this strategy won't work against other ranged attackers like rock throwers and magic users.Mystery #2: What the hell is this dancing polygon monster? That affable-looking polygon figure might not look so dangerous, but he has the power to reduce your Hunger meter by 30% (Hunger meter decreases 1% for every 10 moves), just by dancing his jig right next to you! Once that meter hits 0%, you'll lose 1 HP every turn until you find something to fill your belly with. Don't let yourself get served by this guy!Mystery #3: Why are sleep scrolls so dangerous? While having a Sleep scroll might come in handy when you've got monsters surrounding you, what that piece of parchment doesn't tell you is that once your enemies wake up from their nap, they'll move around with double speed. Make sure you don't dally around!Mystery #4: Why should I let a monster puke on me? We're not sure yet if they've been renamed in this remake, but the original Shiren the Wanderer had Nigiri beasts that would throw up on you, somehow transforming items in your inventory into rice balls. Very useful in case you run into some Polygon Jives later on! Just make sure you don't have anything you'd rather not lose in your inventory. Really, one of the greatest features of Shiren the Wanderer is its unique monsters! Far from generic characters, every one of them seems to have an interesting special ability or idiosyncrasy. Like puking on you.%Gallery-11488% Jake Hunter Back You spoony bard!
Friday Video: Enter the Chocobo
Chocobo's dungeon (wii) cinematic intro 3Uploaded by HinataLovely This glimpse of the opening for Chocobo's Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu makes us long for the game to retain the Japanese voice acting come the inevitable English-language release. It just looks and sounds so good! Of course, we'll probably love it as much in English, but it's hard to argue with this video, which is why we've decided to drop it into our weekly spotlight.
We will make you love Shiren
Sega really wants to make sure you notice Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, and we're firmly on their bandwagon. But we're crazy, sprite-loving masochists around here; we frequently whip ourselves with strips of leather wrapped around old River City Ransom, Ninja Gaiden, and Castlevania carts. We relish the pain. Come March, we'll be fashioning a cat o' nine tails from all the copies of Shiren we'll find lying forgotten on shelves. While we practice a little flagellation, wander into our gallery and check out the latest array of screens from the forthcoming roguelike wonder.%Gallery-11488%
A Bestiary of the Mystery Dungeon
Knowing, perhaps, that we're all about the Mystery Dungeon (or, alternately, that we write about DS games), Sega just sent along a partial list of monster descriptions and tactics for dealing with them. This is, of course, welcome; we've talked about Shiren's difficulty a lot, but we haven't mentioned as much that there are many monster types to be found in this game, all with unique properties. So you'll die in an interesting variety of ways.Along with the tips, we got a bunch of new screenshots, which we invite you to enjoy in our gallery. We've posted the list of tips after the break!%Gallery-11488%
IGN casually reveals U.S. plan for Shiren 3 release?
This could be a simple mixup with the DS version, or it could be something awesome. In IGN's writeup of the regrettable Shiren the Wanderer 3 delay, writer Anoop Gantayat made the following statement:"... Shiren is set for US release under the name Shiren the Wanderer 3. As the U.S. version is currently with a TBA release date, expect the TBA to come post Summer."This is actually the first we've heard of any North American release plans for the brand-new roguelike. With the DS Shiren 2 remake coming out in March, localization of further Shiren games seems like a definite possibility, but we haven't heard any announcements from Sega. We would be more than enthused about having a shot at the gorgeous new dungeon game. If we were to get Koppa here as well, even better.
Shiren 3 not out of the development dungeon yet
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 3 was originally planned for a February 28 release in Japan. While we'd like for it to be released as soon as possible so Sega can go ahead and announce a U.S. date (please?), we're all going to have to wait a while. The game has been pushed back to June, for good reason: to add more content, as well as improving the general quality of the game.We aren't sure if this was Chunsoft's decision or Sega's, but since the delay was announced concurrently with the delay of Red's Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Taisen, we suspect that Sega is cracking down on their developers. If you were Sega, wouldn't you be concerned about the quality of your releases? Maybe as a result of the extra time, we'll get an improved game along with an improved Koppa Wiimote holder.
We summon our courage to look at some Shiren screens
As Chunsoft's roguelike masterpiece, Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, approaches, we have found ourselves overstating our own abilities in our minds. We so want to enjoy this. We read other people's experiences with roguelikes and are utterly fascinated by the complexity and the freedom (in a manner of speaking) afforded by the genre. Maybe this will be the time that we get more than a few floors into a roguelike before becoming overwhelmed and putting it down forever! We're just going to look intently at these new screens and imagine ourselves not failing. And when that gets too difficult, we can let our eyes drift up to the pretty, watercolor-esque map portion.
Shiren trailer: Wondering why you're not into Wanderer
The lack of enthusiasm American gamers have shown for Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer is depressing. Reading the comments viewers left on its GameTrailers page, it's clear that many just don't understand the appeal of roguelikes. Trust us, despite its SNES-level graphics and infamous difficulty, Shiren the Wanderer is an excellent game. As for "the appeal of roguelikes," for us, it's always been about the satisfaction that comes from surviving with limited resources, relying on your wits to escape what initially seem like sure-death scenarios. If you're looking for something with more action (Mystery Dungeon games are all turn-based) and better graphics, you should probably look into an ARPG like Dungeon Explorer instead. Otherwise, expect Sega to ship out Shiren the Wanderer to North American and European stores around early March.%Gallery-11488%[Via Siliconera]
New Shiren screens wander into sight
A new set of screenshots, plus some lush artwork, popped up today, just in time to get you excited for Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS and its March release. Well, new may be a bit of an overstatement; after all, even the new screens look a lot like older titles, but that doesn't mean they don't make us happy. We'll be pleased as punch, in fact, right up until the moment Shiren wanders into the DS, at which point in time we'll start spitting and swearing arbitrarily over the game's difficulty. We do love the punishment factor of a good roguelike. %Gallery-11488%
Europe to explore Mysterious Dungeon in March
They might well be a teensy demographic, but DS-owning, Europe-based fans of hardcore dungeon-crawling have had it tough in recent times. Etrian Odyssey has yet to make the trip across the Atlantic, leaving only Orcs & Elves -- albeit a title of respectable quality -- as the only option.Until now, that is, because SEGA has informed French site Wiiz that Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS will be available in Europe from March, where it will probably sell around a dozen copies. Why, it's like having Dreamcast-era SEGA back, the one which didn't give two hoots about selling stuff. We love it![Via Go Nintendo]
Roguelike updates remind us to play roguelikes
Are you one of the four roguelike fans out there? If so, and if you also can't wait for Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer's February release, why not play NetHackDS or Powder -- two recently-updated homebrew dungeon crawler ports -- in the meantime? While NetHackDS has the edge in terms of "graphics" and name recognition, Powder has the advantage of being immediately playable in an emulator, so even if you don't have a flashcart, you can still enjoy the addictive game ... if you consider dying a dozen times while trying to figure out how to live longer than five minutes enjoyable.See also: Nethack your DSRead - NetHackDS 1.12CRead - Powder 094
Growing items in the Mystery Dungeon
One of the new systems in Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 3 allows you to imbue items with elemental (or other) attributes at certain locations around the dungeon. When you happen upon a spot marked with (for instance) a lightning icon, you can set an item down and allow it to "grow" a lightning attribute. This is done by first setting the item down in the right spot, then using scrolls to create a barrier around the item. After a few turns, the barrier will break down and the item will be ready! And you'll probably be dead anyway, but the item will be there just in case you aren't.Famitsu has screens showing off this process, as Shiren turns his sword into a Dark sword. It looks just like it did, but, it's got like a different icon on it in the menu.
Mystery Accessory: Koppa the Adorable Wiimote Stand
We didn't realize until about five minutes ago how badly we needed a Wiimote stand, but now we're pretty sure we're going to die of hypo-standia without one. Specifically, the promotional Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 3 Wiimote stand seen here (in concept art), in the shape of Shiren's weasel companion Koppa.Thanks to Sega, the novelty Wiimote stand will be the Wii's version of the novelty stylus, and we could not be more okay with that. What we could be more okay with, however, is the method of obtaining one of these. It's a limited-edition preorder gift for the game (due Febuary 28th), and we're not about to spend the $60+ on an unusable Japanese disc just to get one of these Wiimote stands to serve a function that we didn't know existed.But we thought about it. [Via GAME Watch]
Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon commercials are high-budgetedly adorable
Square Enix has updated their Chocobo's Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu homepage with two versions of a really cute commercial. We know it's Square Enix and everything, but we're still a bit taken aback by the high production values on display in this ad (accessible from the homepage via the "movie" link). It's a Wii sequel to a spinoff series that we thought was a low-budget, low-key affair. The FMVs are actually really nice!But mostly we just wanted to post about the commercials so we could post this picture. We totally cheated by snapping the screenshot mid-blink, but we think the resemblance is uncanny. [Via Dengeki]
Mystery Gallery: Shiren the Wanderer
Sega has posted some new screens of their Roguelike remake, Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS, and they look ... pretty. Even though we probably can't handle the actual game, we appreciate the Japan-centric setting (or really any setting that isn't Generic Medieval RPG Land). While the graphics look pretty much identical to the Super Famicom game (the backgrounds are completely identical), we think we can see subtle improvements in color and sprite definition. Or maybe we're imagining things.Chances are you won't be concentrating too much on the nice graphics, anyway, instead focusing entirely on staving off yet another death. We're curious to see how American gamers react to such an anachronistically hardcore game when it arrives in February.%Gallery-11488%[Via GamesPress]
Shiren's mysterious tote bag
Sega is selling a "DX Pack" of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 3 from their SegaDirect online store, like they are for NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (and also Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity). While the included swag doesn't approach the elfin cuteness of the NiGHTS figurine or the spinniness of the keychain, it's much more, uh, spacious.Along with a telephone card (whose design has yet to be shown) the DX Pack of Shiren 3 will include this handsome tote bag. Buying video games just wasn't enough like donating to PBS. DX Packs will either come with the telephone card (8,680 yen, or $79) or without (8,000 yen, or $73). This isn't the first time Sega has handed these things out -- the same bag was packed in with copies of Shiren the Wanderer DS.[Via Famitsu]
Mystery Dungeon site opens, travelers begin descending into it
Sega has opened the promotional site for Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, providing further comfort for those of us as yet unsure it'll really come out. The page confirms the February release that has been previously announced. And, to soothe our worry a bit more, there are some English screenshots! That's encouraging.The website outlines some of the new DS-specific features in the RPG remake, including what may be one of the weirdest uses of the DS's Internet capabilities yet. When you die (which you will, frequently), you can "summon another player to revive you via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection." We suggest buying this game in pairs and coordinating a buddy system for optimal chance of rescue.[Via GoNintendo]
Shiren the Wanderer 3 picks up a Scroll of Awesome Boxart
Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 3 is a total surprise. The graphics look great, the trailer is classy, and now this boxart is just beautiful. We had no idea Sega was putting this much money into a dungeon-crawling RPG, and, in fact, we're a little shocked that they would want to. The budget for this must be enough to fund four or five Sonic Riders sequels. Is the Japanese audience for roguelikes really that large? We're suckers for great boxart, which the Wii is sorely lacking. It's not the only consideration for game quality, but we bet more boxart like this would at least draw curiosity from shoppers. And it's certainly nice to look at for free on the Internet!
A supernatural advantage in Shiren the Wanderer 3
You're likely to need all the help you can get in Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 3, whether it comes from enchanted weapons, scrolls, or -- for the first time -- talismans called o-fuda. While o-fuda are used in Shinto tradition to ward off harm from a home or family, their effects are a little more direct within the Mystery Dungeon. Shiren uses o-fuda to afflict status ailments on monsters.Another advantage new to this entry: other characters. It's rare in a roguelike to have someone around who not only isn't a monster, but will in fact help you kill monsters. Not that any of this matters. Only the most dedicated, and luckiest, players will do anything in the game besides die. We have to keep telling ourselves that before we get sucked in to basically the hardest RPG on the Wii.
Is Mistwalker's next DS game a random dungeon crawler?
Are the Blue Dragon developers working on a "roguelike" action RPG for the Nintendo DS? And more importantly, what the hell is a roguelike?Siliconera has deciphered the Japanese press release for Mistwalker's DS title Away, which has been renamed Away: Shuffle Dungeon. Using the Socratic method common sense, Siliconera has deduced that since the Blue Dragon random dungeon generator DLC for Xbox 360 has been titled "Shuffle Dungeon Maker," Away must be using the same term to describe its primary gameplay mechanic: randomly-generated dungeons that the player has to traverse.Roguelike is a special term reserved for dungeon-crawling action games that utilize randomly-generated level design. The term comes from the game Rogue, and the genre includes titles like Nethack and Tales of Middle Earth. Away could potentially be the first game in this genre to appear on the DS (although homebrew efforts have previously been made). Roguelike or not, Away: Shuffle Dungeon is is due out in Japan on February 28 (which just happens to be someone's birthday...).
