___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
My fear is that the combat would be as repetitive as the original and of course the boring overworld remains.
They need to revamp the combat focus a lot more on defense and parrying, probably add more weapons than just that sword.
My hope is that the game features wildy imaginative boss battles. Killer 7 and NMH had some stand outs, usually the ones that aren't traditional sword battles. I want the game to be filled with surprising mini games, I loved the part where you turned the wiimote sideways and played a 2D game.
Iga_Bobovic said:Sold!
It had me at the women being thrown.
Dvader said:My fear is that the combat would be as repetitive as the original and of course the boring overworld remains.
They need to revamp the combat focus a lot more on defense and parrying, probably add more weapons than just that sword.
My hope is that the game features wildy imaginative boss battles. Killer 7 and NMH had some stand outs, usually the ones that aren't traditional sword battles. I want the game to be filled with surprising mini games, I loved the part where you turned the wiimote sideways and played a 2D game.
I actually like the combat in the game, I think its very well done control wise, defending works well too. It's better than Madworld in combat terms. I am worried about the jobs which were boring as hell and are returning now. And the overworld, which I hoped they would just cut.
But more than anything polish is what I am worried about. I want a stable freaking framerate for one.
Many of the daily job missions from the first title have been converted into spectacularly old-school 2D games sure to please the retro fan in all of us. Although the open world nature of the first title has not been sacrificed, Touchdown will no longer need to run through it to collect coconuts to gain money; this takes place in a classic 2D game, alongside ones that allow him to shoot, race and even prepare food as a chef.
The combat stage throws Travis into a few fights against just as many enemy types and the controls will feel largely familiar to those of you who played the first game. the AI is noticeably improved -- you can cycle between your lock-ons by tapping the Z button, which works adequately most of the time.
When you go on the offensive, it's no joke. Developer Grasshopper Manufacture has expanded upon the already fast and intuitive fight system created for the original game. You can very satisfyingly string together katana and melee combos -- two or three swipes of your beam and then a swift kick to the chest will send an enemy crashing into a wall. It feels great. Travis will yell, "You're weak!" and "You're a joke!" as foes scream "Help me, boss!" before being dismembered in bloody sprays of gore.
press the 2 button and the character will cycle between single and double beams; Travis will dual wield if you choose the latter. In the video featurette, you will also notice that he eventually gains access to a larger katana beam, which possesses greater reach, but is also heavier
The demo comes to a close during a vicious fight with a boss character seen in previous footage. He's half rapper and half Celtic clansman and carries a ghetto blaster on his shoulders that transforms into a protective shell of speakers for his arms. Yeah -- it's definitely a Suda 51 game. As Travis enters the room, the enemy is flanked on both sides by beautiful afro women. The two exchange words like, "'I've got a shit ton of anger to work out!" Shortly after, the boss unexpectedly picks up his women and hurls them both at the antihero. Within seconds, the ladies are cut limb from limb -- twisted collateral damage and the penalty for standing in the middle of the two fighters as they clash beams.
Although too brief, this glimpse into No More Heroes 2 has me incredibly excited to play more. I always thought the original game had fun gameplay mechanics and an amazing style, but lacked polish. The sequel -- at least so far -- seems to add in the extra finesse, from the streamlined combat to the sparkly visuals, enhanced by little extras like bloom lighting. Also, it's worth noting that the framerate is rock steady throughout both stages, which is hopefully a sign of things to come.
Few extracts^^^
The trailer and more videos are at the IGN preview link up top.
I'm not sure I like the new visual effects like the circle of squares lifebar or the weirdo crisscross squares when doing a finishing move.
Did you guys see the pre-boss fight bit though? I was LMAO!
gamingeek said:I'm not sure I like the new visual effects like the circle of squares lifebar or the weirdo crisscross squares when doing a finishing move.
Did you guys see the pre-boss fight bit though? I was LMAO!
Me neither, looks funky. How were life bars handled in the first one, I forget.
No I did not see the cutscene, dont want to spoil it.
"I always thought the original game had fun gameplay mechanics and an amazing style, but lacked polish. The sequel -- at least so far -- seems to add in the extra finesse, from the streamlined combat to the sparkly visuals, enhanced by little extras like bloom lighting. Also, it's worth noting that the framerate is rock steady throughout both stages, which is hopefully a sign of things to come."
That's encouraging.
Dvader said:gamingeek said:I'm not sure I like the new visual effects like the circle of squares lifebar or the weirdo crisscross squares when doing a finishing move.
Did you guys see the pre-boss fight bit though? I was LMAO!
Me neither, looks funky. How were life bars handled in the first one, I forget.
No I did not see the cutscene, dont want to spoil it.
I can't remember really. Just tiny straight bars I think. Watch the beggining of the boss fight. Seriously its crazy OMG hilarious.
From the Kotaku preview:
Graphics Clash: The No More Heroes can get away with having blocky graphics. Its treasure chests, for example, are designed to look like 3D versions of 8-bit objects. The characters; however, are rendered more smoothly with dark comic book shadow. The aesthetic mix is a cool blend of retro gaming style and some modern graphic novel influences. The problem — sorry to say — is that some of the new sparking and fiery special effects that flare during the sequel's combat look too high-resolution, too advanced and begin to shift what was a striking and dissonant visual style into something that seems messy.
What?
1up has 5 days of coverage:
Screens:
http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3169494&sec=IMAGES
Those of us who visit message boards have likely seen posts that summarize game previews in quick, easy-to-digest bullet points. Depending on whom you ask, this is either the future of communication or a sign that people are too lazy for punctuation. I figured I'd help out this time around and set this story up in a way to make it easy on those who enjoy these kinds of things.
That, and it seemed in the proper spirit -- given that the No More Heroes franchise at its core is a melting pot of things Goichi "Suda51" Suda and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture think are cool -- to list all the latest details I could uncover on the game, even if they are in some ways unrelated.
No. 1 -- Shinobu is playable character #2
If you've been paying attention, you probably know No More Heroes 2 will feature new playable characters, the first of which you may remember from the original game: Shinobu. But to make this entry qualify as something you don't know, Grasshopper provided us with details on how she fits into the game.
As you play through the story, there will be a few times when control will shift away from series star Travis Touchdown, and for two stages you'll use Shinobu as she fights the characters Million Gunman and New Destroyman. Controlling her should feel somewhat similar to playing as Travis, but she can perform unique combos with her katana, and unlike Travis, she's able to jump. No word yet on if that means she'll face platforming challenges, but since these stages are exclusive to her, it seems like a possibility.
No. 2 -- Something is up between Shinobu and Travis
I'm not going to pretend to know much about No More Heroes 2's story at this point, but according to the team at Grasshopper, Shinobu spent her downtime between games becoming the top fighter in Asia, and in the second game, she's serving as an assistant of sorts to Travis. Considering her less-than-civil relationship with Travis in the original game, that she now refers to him as "Master," that certain scenes in the sequel hint at her now having feelings for him, and that one of the screenshots we posted today shows her riding a motorcycle with Travis' [spoiler alert] sworn enemy Sylvia in the sidecar, I get the feeling we'll be hearing a lot more about that relationship.
No. 3 -- Henry is playable character #3
OK, same rules as entry number one -- word is out that you'll be able to play as Henry (the same Henry from the first No More Heroes), but we've got the first light details. Much like Shinobu, he appears in part of the story, so you don't choose whether to play as him. And while Shinobu can jump, Henry will be able to dash, in addition to having his own unique attacks. Grasshopper is keeping quiet on how he fits into the story, but you can make your guesses based on the teaser image above.
No. 4 -- It looks a lot better than the first game
If you've been looking closely at the screenshots and videos released from the game thus far, you can probably tell that No More Heroes 2 is a better looking game than the original, but to humor me, Ubisoft sent over a copy of the demo shown at PAX a few weeks ago, and I put it side-by-side with the original game. And the difference was more impressive than I was expecting. Most obviously, the character models have far more detail in them this time around -- they seem denser and their textures look cleaner. This is still a series that puts style above technical achievements, but the technical side is close to as good as I've seen on Wii.
No. 5 -- MotionPlus is out
Late last year, Suda mentioned in an interview that he was interested in adding support for Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus peripheral to the game, presumably to allow for more precise attacks. But he now tells us that this idea didn't end up making the cut, in part because of the next entry on our list.
No. 6 -- The Classic Controller is in
Grasshopper's tradeoff for leaving out MotionPlus support is that they've included a Classic Controller option. Given that No More Heroes 2's minigames are presented like classic 2D games, this makes a lot of sense, but you'll be able to play the whole game on the SNES-style pad -- not just the minigames.
As it turns out, Grasshopper's motivation for this had less to do with the mingames and more to do with the popularity of Capcom's Monster Hunter Tri, which many people in Japan play using the Classic Controller (and was even packaged at the same time as the Classic Controller Pro). According to Suda, Grasshopper -- and Japanese publisher Marvelous -- wanted to support this controller to appeal to those players.
No. 7 -- Travis Touchdown is Goichi Suda, basically
While piecing together this list, I asked the team at Grasshopper to provide a series of trivia nuggets that most people wouldn't know about the company, and their list came back with a few unexpected entries. Such as: "Suda51 threw out his back recently while watching Friday the 13th; he actually got scared and jumped in fright." And: "When Grasshopper employees go to the bathroom, we say we 'go to save.'"
Their list continued with a few notes describing how Travis Touchdown was inspired by Suda's own tendencies:
- "You hear the sound of Travis' key ring when he walks. This is actually one of Suda-san's habits as well."
- "Suda51 was not happy with the quality of the professional wrestling techniques created by animators, so he tried the actual moves and techniques on the animators."
- "Suda51 is crazy about cats. Travis has a cat in the game just because Suda-san wanted him to have one."
gamingeek said:From the Kotaku preview:
Graphics Clash: The No More Heroes can get away with having blocky graphics. Its treasure chests, for example, are designed to look like 3D versions of 8-bit objects. The characters; however, are rendered more smoothly with dark comic book shadow. The aesthetic mix is a cool blend of retro gaming style and some modern graphic novel influences. The problem — sorry to say — is that some of the new sparking and fiery special effects that flare during the sequel's combat look too high-resolution, too advanced and begin to shift what was a striking and dissonant visual style into something that seems messy.
What?
It's on the Wii. You HAVE to complain about the graphics.
VIDEOS
No More Heroes 2 details
1. What makes Travis' Schpeletiger new is that it is now twice as long (in addition to the better controls).
2. This has already been verified, but there have been doubts and concerns as to how Grasshopper is going to have 50 unique bosses, from their appearance to actual fighting capabilities. Suda explains to EDGE that basically there is nothing to worry about as they incorporated both the original NMH development team and the NMH2 team (many members being of both teams including the character creator) to brainstorm and according to Suda they had no problems shooting out several ideas and characters from that.
3. The name of the "schoolgirl assassin" we all know about is Kimmy. How appropriate. Suda also mentions that Kimmy wants to keep Travis "all to her self." Possible Misery references?
4. At the end of every boss fight, a 2D image of Travis will walk from one end of the screen to the other to hop onto the Schpeletiger and drive off, accompanied by some new piece of midi music.
5. The idea of Travis using other weapons, even projectiles, was considered by Suda, but ultimately canned as Suda says that the sword/beam katana is what Travis should always use. Suda calls Travis the "modern samurai."
6. It was implied that Bishop actually does not die or get killed off, as the article explains that Bishop will have a bigger role to play in the game. At the same time, Suda says that "Travis is fighting for himself" not for anyone else. Travis is fighting for revenge, but perhaps for someone else other than Bishop?
7. Speaking more specifically on the city, Suda explains that Travis had actually left Santa Destroy for those three years, and it wasn't until he came back that he had seen how much it had changed. Where Travis had gone is not said. Only a portion of the original city will be traveled, based on fan responses on the first game. The streets and sidewalks will be much more busier and cars will "get out of the way" of Travis' bike. There are construction signs and lights everywhere. One of the fighting grounds will be a "new school", "construction yard", and a graveyard. Not sure if the school is new in the sense that it is an additional one to the Santa Destroy High School or if it is just a remodeled SDHS.
8. There are still side jobs such as coconut collecting and a new one involving plumbing. Suda explains that he still wants the player to feel like he has to work hard to play the game as that is what it means to be a punk. Otherwise, he says, there is a disconnect between the videogame world and reality. Still, the side jobs are still improved and provide humor as well as entertainment.
9. It is confirmed that Destroyman comes back as a cyborg as wanting revenge against, who else, Travis.
10. Finally, the bosses themselves: it will not be as difficult, time consuming, and at times boring to collect enough money to advance to the next boss fight. In fact, Suda purposely wanted to mix things up to keep it from getting repetitive by having Shinobu and Henry as playable characters and, at times, fighting more than one boss fight, sometimes one right after the other, and sometimes simultaneously.