Star Odyssey - Official Thread

[The Coop]

Looking forward to seeing how this develops. Please reduce the number of random encounters! Beggar Prince and Wukong were bad enough in this regard.

Allow me to emphasize this. Please lower the random encounter rate and up the amount of experience and money you get from the newly adjusted rate to make up for the difference. I'm having flashbacks to the horrific random encounter frequency of Sword of Vermilion watching that video

[old man]

I'm glad this is finally getting an English release. It's one of those "what if?" games that you were always wondering about.

[synapse]

Yeah I could see why the logos would be dropped

And why is that?
(honestly, I don't know)

Too bad the opening SEGA logo will need to be dropped.

Why? If it was an official release years ago, why does it have to go?

[Christuserloeser]

Because this version of the game was licensed by Hot-B / Star Fish and not SEGA.

[KillerBean2]

Uh... I don't really like the look of this game... Both gameplay and graphics look quite dated.

I agree. It better have a freaking amazing storyline, or else I'm never gonna buy it

[synapse]

Because this version of the game was licensed by Hot-B / Star Fish and not SEGA.

But why shouldn't a Mega Drive logo appear on the cover as with Beggar Prince?

Also, as an officially released game, doesn't Sega have anything to say about the localization? I don't know how these things work, obviously.

[djshok]

And why is that?
(honestly, I don't know)



Why? If it was an official release years ago, why does it have to go?

Well Sega owns the copyrights to their own logo, as well as the Genesis and MD logos. They may not be ok with someone using their logos on what is technically an unlicensed product. Whether this is the actual reason or not, I don't know, but it would make sense if it was. After all, how many companies out there are going to let you use their logo on a product they have nothing to do with.

Also, while it was an official product in Japan in the 90's it was probably never officially licensed in North America and Europe. Thus being "not official" in those regions. Ie: if it gets sold there, Sega doesn't make any money from the sales.

[synapse]

I know Sega owns their logo. Come on, man, I get that. What I mean is why should SFT delete the logo from a product that was officially released WITH that logo. Anyway, my question was why can't the mega drive logo be used if it was alreay used for Beggar Prince.

I'd like to know all the legal stuff happening here. Of course I'm confident that Cobb has studied it all.

[Nightwolf]

... in the other hand, that's gives to sega more advertising...

[Dark Sol]

Allow me to emphasize this. Please lower the random encounter rate and up the amount of experience and money you get from the newly adjusted rate to make up for the difference. I'm having flashbacks to the horrific random encounter frequency of Sword of Vermilion watching that video

Well. All OLD games were like this. They were ain't for pussies. And i personally like it. Without effort involed it's hard to move on. Like in real life, ya know.

[The Coop]

Well. All OLD games were like this. They were ain't for pussies. And i personally like it. Without effort involed it's hard to move on. Like in real life, ya know.

This isn't real life. It's a game. And no, not all old games were like that. Only the one's that felt like a chore to get through at times.

There should be a good five seconds before the player is attacked again, that way you get the sense you're making progress. It's one thing to be attacked once in a while within a few seconds, but nearly every turn? In that video, the player moves for roughly three seconds, two seconds, one second, two seconds, seven seconds, three seconds, and six seconds (half of which was spent talking to another character) between attacks. That's simply too frequent much of the time. It could use some toning down.

Even Phantasy Star II and III, which some complained about in this area, usually gave you more time to move around between attacks.

[Nightwolf]

indeed... so many random combat ruins the game.... please, no more...

[Christuserloeser]

What I mean is why should SFT delete the logo from a product that was officially released WITH that logo.

The Japanese version was released in Japan using the logo. That version was licensed by Sega hence the Sega logo.

This version however is not. That is why Joe Redifer assumed that there won't be no Sega logo.

Anyway, my question was why can't the mega drive logo be used if it was alreay used for Beggar Prince.

I cannot know for sure but here's one possible explanation:

The logo is intellectual property by Sega, not SFT. The game Star Odyssey is officially licensed by Hot-B / Star Fish to SFT and I think it is understandable that SFT probably is not interested in putting a negative light on this release by using intellectual property of a third party (Sega) as this release might spark quite A LOT of attention.


On the other hand we're staring at an ad that is *not the final product*. D already mentioned that it is indeed the artwork he reworked for use with the actual release (based on a scan of the actual Japanese cover), but apparently slightly modified for presentation at the convention.


Btw, I am glad you guys kept the original Japanese artwork! - Yet at the same time I can understand people's complains about the switch from the black grid design from previous releases. (Kinda reminiscent of the switch from the black grid design to the blue and red templates Sega did in Europe and the US in late 1993.) Perhaps it would be a good idea to print both sides of the insert with a different cover: one side would feature the design based on the Japanese original, and the other side would feature the same artwork but using the grid template.



-EDIT-

I've also been involved in several other Super Fighter Team productions.

I'd like to use this opportunity and thank you for your work! So far I only played Beggar Prince but it is such a polished work of art. It's truly fantastic!

[username]

From what I recall, Blue Almanac/Star Odyssey was one of those games that was supposed to react dynamically to your skill level - there was a BLAST PROCESSING-esque marketing term Sega used that I can't remember - and in Blue Almanac's case it'd automatically scale the enemies' level to match yours, so not only was it an unforgiving grind but it never stopped being an unforgiving grind. If you absolutely have to tinker with the game then you'd do well to remove that "feature".

Anyway, it's nice that this is finally coming out, I guess, although it still bugs me that people won't know whether the game's worth paying for until after they've already bought it.

[CMA Death Adder]

Hello, everyone.

Three things:

1). Our new company website is now online @ www.superfighter.com
2). The official Star Odyssey website is now online @ www.starodysseygame.com
3). A report of our visit to the Retro-gaming Connexion event in France is now up @ http://www.superfighter.com/events/rgc2010.htm

Pardon the short reply but I'm exhausted. Enjoy!