For all four Ecco Fans...

[sheath]

I really enjoyed playing through the Sega CD version of Ecco the Dolphin. I've only played it through once though. The Dreamcast game is absolutely stunning, but I haven't finished it, it gets freaking hard.

[TheSonicRetard]

TheSonicRetard - Yeah, I do remember all that. In fact, the plot of Ecco 3 was supposed to have Ecco visiting the Atlantians. I should have specified but I was trying to keep things simple. All I meant was that there are no humans at all in the game, so we can presume its not set on the shores of Mexico or something like that. It appears to be an alternate, human free world, from what the story implies.

just checking. I like the tone and feel of the story in ecco - everything about it has this ominous, unknown quality to it. One of my favorite aspects of the game is the so-called dolphin speak. I like how everything is phrased by the sea creatures, because it sounds alien and bizarre. Little touches like the dolphins never referring to themselves as dolphins, but rather "singers." Or how the asterite tells ecco, "it's wonderful to feel your song again" when they meet again in the future.

It just all adds up to a very atmospheric, thick feeling. I'm hard pressed to think of another game from that time period which produced such a rich, dark story and feeling, especially given the limited amount of text in the game.

Part of me wishes they would have made Ecco 3, either the planned 32X version (which was never started, and exists only as a cinepak video of ecco jumping through his own logo, on a cart displayed at CES 94) or the canceled saturn project (which did get started, but not very far). But over the years, the lack of resolution in the story has felt more and more right. A game as dark and ominous as the original ecco games doesn't deserve a bright and cheery ending, and the ending we got with ecco forever lost in the tides of time, never seen again, while the vortex is forced to go back in time, only to find creatures so primitive that she cannot control them, and has to evolve over eons into the crustaceans we know (which explains why they're always so aggressive towards ecco) feels so right today.

[TheSonicRetard]

Am I the only person that actually prefers the Genesis versions?

Despite the lack of checkpoints, I prefer the chip soundtrack of the Genesis version.

I know quite a few people who prefer the genesis version, I'm just not one of them. I do recognize that the Genesis music has charm, but I much prefer the dark, melancholy feel of the Sega CD soundtrack. It's one of my favorite soundtracks ever, written by Spencer Nelsen.

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

That sounds like a really compelling story. I see that the Dreacast version was released in 2000 but that the PS2 version came out 2 years later. Is there any difference between the two that would make one more enjoyable over the other?

[TheSonicRetard]

That sounds like a really compelling story. I see that the Dreacast version was released in 2000 but that the PS2 version came out 2 years later. Is there any difference between the two that would make one more enjoyable over the other?

I've never actually played the PS2 version, so I can't say. Sheath is correct though, it's outrageously hard, I'd probably call it at least on par with the Genesis version of Ecco 1 in difficulty.

Oh, and the DC version sounds like it's killer on the drive - it makes my dreamcast scream in pain. Something to keep in mind.

[Gogogadget]

I know quite a few people who prefer the genesis version, I'm just not one of them. I do recognize that the Genesis music has charm, but I much prefer the dark, melancholy feel of the Sega CD soundtrack. It's one of my favorite soundtracks ever, written by Spencer Nelsen.

This is more a case of I didn't own a Sega CD when I was younger, I grew up with the Genesis versions, meaning the chip soundtrack just feels so much more.. right, to me.

[NeoVamp]

Were I a rich man I would have purchased the rights to the Ecco series and forced coders to create an Ecco 3 game for the Genesis.

But I'm silly like that.

[Phosis]

I prefer the music in the Genesis versions well above the Sega CD ones. But still, the Sega CD versions are a pretty nice treatment.

[Phosis]

Oh if anyone is interested since there is some talk about Ecco 3, some rather disappointing developments which actually took place yesterday:

Ed Annunziata just stated on his Twitter that Sega will not agree to go ahead with a new Ecco the Dolphin game.

https://twitter.com/#!/edannunziata

[TheSonicRetard]

Were I a rich man I would have purchased the rights to the Ecco series and forced coders to create an Ecco 3 game for the Genesis.

But I'm silly like that.

Ed Annunziata, series director and writer, still very much loves Ecco and frequently talks to fans on The Dark Sea. He'd absolutely create a third game if ever given the chance. He's posted renders of what he would have the Ecco series look like today on modern consoles if he had the chance:

[TheSonicRetard]

Oh if anyone is interested since there is some talk about Ecco 3, some rather disappointing developments which actually took place yesterday:

Ed Annunziata just stated on his Twitter that Sega will not agree to go ahead with a new Ecco the Dolphin game.

https://twitter.com/#!/edannunziata

It's disappointing, but not all that surprising. Ecco: Defender of the Future bombed on both the Dreamcast and PS2. They're just not very accessible games, even if they do establish a very cult following.

[NeoVamp]

Ed Annunziata, series director and writer, still very much loves Ecco and frequently talks to fans on The Dark Sea. He'd absolutely create a third game if ever given the chance. He's posted renders of what he would have the Ecco series look like today on modern consoles if he had the chance:

Fuck that looks stunning!

... I would still like Ecco 3 on Genesis though, if not to finish the story as it was supposed too..

[TheSonicRetard]

I remember being so frustrated by the secret password you were given in Ecco 2 that does absolutely nothing. It was supposed to be a way to tie together Ecco 3 - you could use the password in the sequel, and it'd change the game based on stuff you did in Ecco 2.

Sega was very experimental in those days, and that was such a cool concept which never fully materialized.

[NeoVamp]

Who owns the Ecco IP btw? is it Ed Annunziata?

Edit : wait I'm stupid, if he owned it then he wouldn't need Sega.

[TheSonicRetard]

Who owns the Ecco IP btw? is it Ed Annunziata?

I would guess Sega, but I'm not sure. It might be one of those joint-ownership deals, like how both Sega and Toejam & Earl Inc own Toejam & Earl, or how Treasure and Sega own Gunstar Heroes.