3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3, May 11)

[Matt Young]

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but I kept forgetting. Basically, this is a Zelda game with 3D characters and environments, but seen from a 3/4 view a'la the original Legend of Zelda. You even create a good looking Link as your playable character!

As the title says, the game is for the PS3 and will be released on May 11 for $39.99. It's a loving tribute to Zelda with a great sense of humor. It doesn't take itself too seriously.

It's averaging 81% on GameRankings.

Trailer: http://www.n4g.com/ps3/News-493232.aspx

Old school references: http://www.gamesradar.com/ps3/f/25-heart-warming-retro-references-in-3d-dot-game-heroes/a-20100419174844250053/g-2009111711336173013

 

[AndrewTS]

I approve of people making good Zelda clones, since Nintendo stopped making good Zelda games. ;D

Sadly I have no PS3.

Natural Sword Enhancement Trailer - 3D Dot Game Heroes

 

[Dobbs3K]

Actually, the look of the hero reminds me of the original Dragon Warrior.

Trailers look pretty cool. May have to pick this one up.

 

[AndrewTS]

Actually, the look of the hero reminds me of the original Dragon Warrior.

The look of the hero can be almost anything. You have a ton of pre-created templates plus you can design your own as well. You can even swap out your guy for another look each tiem you start the game.

Watch the giant bomb quick look. There's real-time combat, red health containers, a world map where you wander around and find dungeons, two item slots, a sword, shield, boomerang, puzzle-solving, keys in the individual dungeons that you have to find to advance. It's freakin' Zelda, and it's really rad.

BTW, you can also change the camera angle, and even make it a full overhead, like...well, you know.

 

[DrVenkman PhD]

Nintendo stopped making good Zelda games

Seriously man... Link going through train conductor college, taking on evil via the clickety clack of the steel wheels of justice?

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!

Full disclosure: Never played the game.

 

[Matt Young]

You can make Mario, Link, Mega Man... whoever.

Give it a try:

http://designer.3ddotgameheroes.eu/

 

[vivisectvi]

This game and Dragon Quest Monsters 2 are HUGE right now over here. Every other advertisement in Akiba is for one of these two games.

 

[AndrewTS]

Full disclosure: Never played the game.

If you dislike the move towards linearity in Zelda games, you'll hate it. It's about as far as you can get from Wind Waker in the overall game design, which is quite ironic.

 

[treble]

3D Dot Game Heroes "Mini-Game Rap" Vignette

I looked for the game at Future Shop today, but they didn't have it. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up in the next few days.

 

[Mattdotcom]

haha your parents help you hook it up

 

[AndrewTS]

3D Dot Game Heroes: "The Hero Your Hero Could Be" Vignette

 

[treble]

3D Dot Game Heroes: "Most Interesting Hero in 3D" Vignette

 

[FLAM]

I'm thinking about picking this up right now. Decisions, decisions.

 

[treble]

Played through the first temple. Pretty fun so far, some of the music and sound cues sound exactly like Zelda (opening a chest, for example) and most of the enemies are pretty similar, too (at least in the first temple, not sure if they stay the same later on).

Your smart-ass fairy is funny, too. I liked being congratulated on figuring out that I needed to stand on the switch in order to open the door.

 

[Kageho]

Man this game has been so much fun. I just got by the first temple myself and the game really shines well for a game built on retro. I feel like a little kid once more playing it and you know what? Its been awhile since that has happened.

Oh and the King reminds me of King Steve. I bet that's who they are modeling him after. Also the "its dangerous to go alone" and then getting the sword had me in stitches because he's the last person I'm expecting that from.

Though, dear God does the difficult just crank up when you lose a tick of life. I think I've died quite a few times simply because after I lose that tick of health, I'm not expecting it to jump.

 

[vivisectvi]

I was going to hold off on getting this due to my current backlog of games but I couldn't resist. It's really fun, and I really like the editor option - that's pretty sweet. I've made an 8bit Mega Man. I'm getting onto the 4th temple now. I really have to wonder, though, how did they slip this past Nintendo without any legal threats, etc? A lot of this stuff, visually, is lifted right from the first Zelda game.

 

[Kageho]

Easy, its can easily be classified as a parody and that eliminates it from having those problems.

Parody = free pass.

Though yeah, straight lifted from Zelda, no doubt.

 

[Mattdotcom]

Does Razor Ramon Hard Gay establish that Japan has similar parody laws? I'd imagine that's where the case would emerge if it was going to.

 

[AndrewTS]

Does Razor Ramon Hard Gay establish that Japan has similar parody laws? I'd imagine that's where the case would emerge if it was going to.

From what I heard, the actual laws leave a lot less wiggle room for parody than U.S. laws, but in general it's a much less litigious culture, so they rarely come up for prosecution.

After all, in Japan you can buy fan-made manga that looks identical to the actual, copyrighted works. Sometimes, of course, with hardcore sex. Would never fly over here, of course, although on the internet you can find things like that typically for free.

Nintendo is usually more aggressive than the norm, though. Their JP branch has sent cease-and-desist letters to sites to get them to pull Pokemon porn.

 

[Kageho]

Actually, its probably the fan-made stuff being made available that allows it, now that Andrew points out an obvious thing that I forgot.

Also, its not just the hardcore sex stuff Andrew. T_T Though that's about all you can fucking find translated over here. That's off-topic though...

Still, its pretty much "parody" is what allows it from not getting hammered here in NA. Or at least the only thing I can see.

 

[AndrewTS]

Also, its not just the hardcore sex stuff Andrew. T_T

Ahem.

After all, in Japan you can buy fan-made manga that looks identical to the actual, copyrighted works. Sometimes, of course, with hardcore sex.

 

[Kageho]

T_T was for the second part, not the first part.

I need to play more of this game. So much fun. Though dear God, trying to build your own character takes a long f'n time. I think I'm working on 2 hours right now...

 

[AndrewTS]

T_T was for the second part, not the first part.

What?

I don't understand.

 

[Kageho]

Oi, nevermind... It was stupid to comment about it, looking back.

That's what I get for playing this game while posting. Not a good combination.

 

[FLAM]

Game is a lot of fun for sure.
I use http://www.thegeorama.com/3ddotgameheroes to download characters and then load them on the PS3. I'm playing as Cloud right now, but I also downloaded Kingdom Hearts Cloud, Boba Fett, Kratos, Link, Kick Ass, Solid Snake, Mario, Luigi and Spawn. They all look really good too.