Topic: Sudden Pair of GBA Gems!?

[getter77]

www.mazesoffate.com    and     www.backtostone.com
Mazes of Fate                                     back to Stone
Watch the Trailers...then head over to Amazon or Ebay.  My GBA Player has been collecting dust for awhile now but that trailer for Mazes of Fate has mere severely tempted to just go for it despite money being tight for the holidays.

Folks prolly need to support this fledgling devteam and such though.....talk about a darkhorse in the last stretch of the GBA!

[Kairon]

Mazes of Fate:

I'll have to admit that I'm not a fan of the art style. It looks just like every other indie type of art style out there, especially since I've recently played another indie DS game, Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier, which looks similar.

BUT, after viewing the features list andf seeing how chock full of content they're making the game, I am seriously interested. Not to mention, it looks much more interesting than a standard dungeon crawler, with faster combat, an immense amount of items, and a whole lot of side story and quests. So uh... when's the release date again?

and Back to Stone looks SWEET! Please let that come out stateside! .. Or I could just..import it I guess?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Strell]

I dunno.  They don't look that great to me.

MoF looks like it'll have horrible slowdown.  At least that was the impression I got from the menus during combat.  And generally the whole first person "1 tile at a time" movement was never big with me.  If they can make it not-disorienting, it'll work.

The second one looks like fun, but again, it looks like it's running kinda choppy/slow.  And the graphics look very washed out and messy.  

If they execute these well, they could be great games.

I'm still waiting on Project Exile on the DS.  That one looks incredible.

Good finds OP, we'll all have to keep tabs on 'em.

[getter77]

Both sames can be bought NOW on Amazon and Ebay at the very least for now.

My Ongoing Saga of Developer Harassment complete with rushed, poor written questions.

http://www.sabarasa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4

Bonus:  Newer, Better, Longer Trailer for Back to Stone  ARPG  from same publisher but a different dev team.
Also available on Amazon for now at least.  Comes out in a couple days I believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WsJYBwY5aQ&mode=related&search=

I STRONGLY request the mods/Nintendo World Report staff be made fully aware of this and grant this first endeavor by a new dev team AND new publisher a front page news item mention.   The content of my Developer Harassment also lends some credibility to it being VERY on topic.  Wii is about innovation and something new....thus we need to extend every courtesy to situations like this one and those that may follow it.

[getter77]

New Bit:  Odds of being able to pick up either game at gamestop/ebgames just went down.  Apparently, the publisher was told that they (eb/gamestop) are getting out of GBA games and thus didn't want to carry it.  While I find a hard time believing that seeing as how there's FFVI Advance ont he horizon....it is what it is.  They recommend perhaps asking your local chapter of either to special order it, seemingly to hope that if enough racket is raised the game my get some legs there.

Looking more and more like the official seller on amazon and ebay is the only timely way to get it though, for those curious.

[Kairon]

Well, I guess that since I've become more of a games student, I've become much more interested in both third party and indy game efforts. Also, since all my expenditures are supported by college loans that are made out to be $1000 more than they need to be, menaing I get hefty refund checks every couple months... oh god... I'm bad.

It says my Mazes of Fate will arrive in a couple days, but the rest of my GBA games (I also picked up a few Atlus titles on amazon) will hit next january with super saver shipping (save 8 bucks, wait 2 weeks longer).

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Kairon]

Just played 1.5 hours of Mazes of Fate last night before going to bed. It surprised me as being better done than I expected! Just turning it on, the music struck me as very SNES Zelda-esque and my roommate asked if I was playing Zelda. Very good music! <3

The gameplay is actually everything I hoped it would be. Dialogue trees that aren't straightforward affaris, quick combat in dungeons (yes!), lots of sidequests to undertake if you talk to people and wheedle it out of them, and even a puzzle or two along the way!

I also got Back to Stone in the mail much earlier than anticipated. It's the first game I've seen to tout "Unbeatable Bosses" as a selling point on the back! LOL!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[WuTangTurtle]

I'll say Back to Stone looked well thought out and executed, but i really can't get interested in Mazes of Fate.  It's just I don't like the whole 1st person perspective and narrow hallways where all u do is move forward.

If i find money, or if i decide to take up a job during my last Qtr at school i may try out Back to Stone.

[jasonditz]

what on earth target browser did they design these websites for? They keep crashing everything I throw at them.  

[Kairon]

Mazes of Fate has sucked me in...

Uh... I've poured about 13 hours into it and the game is STILL going strong. They've done an excellent job at content, it looks like I'm only halfway through the game too! And nothing feels really amateurish the way indie game stories and dialogue are wont to be. I can almost see these guys being bought out by another company just for their content creation skills.

This game has totally reminded me about what dungeon crawlers are supposed to be, more Diablo, and less Mystery dungeon. Screw that japanese game genre. Concentrated and conbstructed experiences and puzzles and characters that deliver more bang for your buck!

In fact, that's the best way I can describe it... Diablo as a first person dungeon crawler! Oh, and combat is nice and fast and not boring at all. Things are actually like an active time battle system, and things move in real time. You can actually string along enemies by hitting them, then just before they swing stepping back. They approach and you take a couple more swings, then back away again before they slam you. Just make sure you don't back yourself into any corners!

Seriously... I think I'll play through this entire game straight through before I play Zelda again!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[getter77]

Glad to see you enjoy the game Kairon...it was worth me posting about it! (Still would like to see a front page news item on it though....especially since work(pre-production I think) for a DS sequel has started and they have some conditional hope for a third one for the Wii(All depending on how the sales and such for the GBA and/or DS iterations perform...)

I still need to get funds up to get the game myself...hoping for an x-mas cash influx.  You and me might be the only people that like the music/ambience though...everywhere else I look folk HATE it with a passion I can't understand.

[Kairon]

WHAT? My room mate thought I was playing Zelda when I started it up for godssake! lol...

Oh, and it was neat to find out that these guys are based in Argentina. I have to wish them the best of luck... I'm such a sucker for indie devs!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com