Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment announced for PSN & XBLA

[thcrock]

This seems to have slipped into Winter 2010. I haven't heard of a release date yet, but hopefully it'll come in the next two months.

[eldrasidar]

it certainly will be nice to have a classic SRPG series revived. I hope they aren't going to be using suikoden tactics as the basis. While I realize it's going to be using the same grid system system as pretty much of every tactics game since Tactics Ogre, suikoden tactics isn't a particularly interesting subset of the tactics genre, honestly, stealing a bunch of stuff from FFT-advanced, poorly, and then sticking in a bunch of suikoden characters. Vandal Hearts would be better served by keeping to it's roots.

on a side note, I wouldn't mind seeing another Tactics Ogre either. There's some classic Tactics gameplay(I maintain it to being the father of the genre, particularly as many of the people involved later made FFT, which is what most people associate with the genre today).

[patapi]

While I realize it's going to be using the same grid system system as pretty much of every tactics game since Tactics Ogre, suikoden tactics isn't a particularly interesting subset of the tactics genre, honestly, stealing a bunch of stuff from FFT-advanced, poorly, and then sticking in a bunch of suikoden characters. Vandal Hearts would be better served by keeping to it's roots.

Which exactly bunch of stuff did Suikoden Tactics steal from FFT(A)? The grid system is one of the things that defines the subgenre, so it should hardly be berated for conforming to certain conventions. Like calling a game a fighting game without actually direct control of your fighters.

on a side note, I wouldn't mind seeing another Tactics Ogre either. There's some classic Tactics gameplay(I maintain it to being the father of the genre, particularly as many of the people involved later made FFT, which is what most people associate with the genre today).

I appreciate Tactics Ogre, but it is hardly the father of the genre. That honour rests with Fire Emblem, which even to this day, arguably remain as the most fun of the subgenre, without resorting to convoluted class systems and over-relying on character stats (read: grinding) over actual tactics.

[eldrasidar]

the quest guild, daily rune affinities are two the pop up quickly to mind as being very similar to concepts in FFT(not just FFT, it just happened to be the one i was thinking about). but then I'm really against the whole quest guild idea, in any game that it's been used.

I would grant fire emblem its status as original, but I can shake the feeling that Tactics Ogre has been so successfully rehashed over and over. Indeed, even some of the newer Fire Emblems have a feel about them that reminds me more of Tactics Ogre than the original Fire Emblem. The original Fire Emblem, much like the Original ogre battles and many other olders games, are at this point unique, where nothing really is quite like them anymore. While elements of both find their ways into newer games, they both clearly show their age and simplicity, meanwhile Tactics ogre could be republished today, and a new player wouldn't be able to tell it's 12 years old. you might say that it was the first one where all the correct elements came together, and since then the genre has almost been in something of a rut. Valkyria Chronicles I believe is the first game since to really bring anything novel to the genre.

[Antimatzist]

Well, but what makes Vandal Hearts unique? I found the first one pretty k storywise, and stopped playing the second because the character-portraits are the ugliest thing I've seen in my life.

[thcrock]

Vandal Hearts by itself wasn't very unique, but it was a fun game. While it came a year after the SNES Tactics Ogre release, it predates pretty much all of the Tactics Ogre imitators.

The second game did some more interesting things gameplay-wise. I don't remember seeing the 'move at the same time as the enemy' system in any other SRPG, but there's a lot I haven't played.

[Antimatzist]

The second game did some more interesting things gameplay-wise. I don't remember seeing the 'move at the same time as the enemy' system in any other SRPG, but there's a lot I haven't played.

I think that was one of the first thing in that game.. ok, it gave the game a bit more strategy, but basically, you could read the enemies movements pretty easy.

[suiko2fan2]

I am so excited to see this series alive again. VH was the reason i started playing suikoden i the 1st place, with the advertisement for suikoden in the cd case of VH. Nonetheless, VH was great game, sadly i never could finish the 2nd one, it was just so awful. So, here's hoping they do a good job with 3.

[LanceHeart]

I think that was one of the first thing in that game.. ok, it gave the game a bit more strategy, but basically, you could read the enemies movements pretty easy.

I'm pretty sure that was the point. It still added some strategy, but they couldn't make the AI impossibly cheap or unpredictable since that would have turned a strategy game into a game of chance.

[thcrock]

Looks like this finally has a release date: January 20 for XBLA. PS3 hasn't been mentioned (this release date was on an Xbox Japan site), but it could very well be January 21 (PSN usually updates on Thursdays).

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/01/08/va ... his-month/

[Raww Le Klueze]

Is there some sort of rule about Vandal Hearts having terrible character art..? 2 had those obnoxious digitized photographs and this... I don't know what the hell it is.

[LanceHeart]

Is there some sort of rule about Vandal Hearts having terrible character art..? 2 had those obnoxious digitized photographs and this... I don't know what the hell it is.

Even the first game had craptastic character art. Then again, I say that and I'm a fan of the original Tactics Ogre character designs.

[thcrock]

Is there some sort of rule about Vandal Hearts having terrible character art..? 2 had those obnoxious digitized photographs and this... I don't know what the hell it is.

Probably. I'm sure they just hire the character artists who don't make the cut for Suikoden games. These screenshots, at least, look like Suikoden-style, just not nearly as good.

The art hasn't hindered my enjoyment of a Vandal Hearts game yet though, so if they nail the gameplay I'll be happy (especially for $15).

[Antimatzist]

I'll ask my (PS3 having) friend to get this one sooner or later. But first I want to know more about the gameplay. The VH "series" had always had more or less of a class-system... I want my flying guys again!^^

[Raww Le Klueze]

The art hasn't hindered my enjoyment of a Vandal Hearts game yet though, so if they nail the gameplay I'll be happy (especially for $15).

I dunno... I gave VH2 a fair try when I got it for the demo of Suikoden II but the strange system of having to guess where to attack coupled with the art style made me give it up.