Mistwalker ASH Videos (DS)

[Kamalot]

GameTrailers is showing off new videos for Mistwalker's ambitious Nintendo DS RPG, Archaic Sealed Heat (ASH) (http://www.gametrailers.com/game/5510.html). Created by Final Fantasy father Hironobu Sakaguchi, ASH is a tactical RPG game that pushes the envelope of what is possible on the DS. The system used makes extensive use of the touch-screen for gameplay, and the 3D models are downright incredible for the little handheld. In fact, ASH utilizes the largest capacity DS cartridge to date (http://gonintendo.com/?p=26314), with 2 gigabits of information dedicated to voice work, battle animations and cutscenes.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa55/goodavatar/ASH.jpg (http://www.gametrailers.com/game/5510.html)

ASH is scheduled for release in the USA in early 2008.

Thanks to sorvey for providing this information in an extreme case of thread resurrection (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6645).

[Nura]

2gb DS game? I'm sold!

[[VSK]BadCRC]

I'd really like to see a Final Fantasy game use something like this, or a ChronoTrigger remake or new title to the series using something like this.

It's really quite amazing what people are doing with the DS in terms of graphics. I mean DS is hardly the graphical beast, but I always enjoy games that make really good creative choices in their game engines that really present fantastic ways to use the system.

[Kamalot]

BadCRC;1018393']I always enjoy games that make really good creative choices in their game engines that really present fantastic ways to use the system.

Sounds like you are talking about Halo 3 not running in HD in order to achieve huge levels and great lighting at a nice frame rate.

Yeah, I went there, cause I agree. :cool:

[DaXIthR]

Sakaguchi is pissing me off with his rhetoric.

I don't care if you managed to use 2GB of data on a DS game or 4 DVD's on the 360 game. Make it good...

Do not make it Blue Dragon.

[Kamalot]

Sakaguchi is pissing me off with his rhetoric.

I don't care if you managed to use 2GB of data on a DS game or 4 DVD's on the 360 game. Make it good...

Actually, that's my rhetoric. I don't see any articles where Sakaguchi is boasting about the size of his DS cartridge. I thought it was an interesting fact about the game. You and I both know that the amount of data in a game has no bearing on the final game's quality.

[Tyrant]

Famitsu reportedly gave the game a decent rating, although numbers can only say so much as no other information was attached with it.

Just to clear up any potential confusion, 2 gibabits = 256 megabytes.

[divinechaos]

Wow, this looks really amazing. Is it just me or is the gameplay a little bit like the original Shining Force? I really hope so because SF is my favorite RPG ever.

[Heretic Machine]

Wow, the gameplay video looks damn nice. I was expecting something along the lines of FFVIII (tried to do too much with it's hardware, came out looking horrible) but this actually looks quite clean and good. I'll be waiting for it.

[Xerxes]

WOW... I first made a thread on this game when everyone was talking about Mistwalker's other two game. I always figured it would be Blue Dragon warmer, Lost Odyssey would be much better, and ASH would be on point. The videos looks amazing. The jury is out on LO though. Tons of reading, 20 hours of movies and shit. It's not what I had first expected but I think I'm still up for getting it. Look at all the shit there was to read in Morrowind. I actually read a lot of those books too. I still think the Mistwalker project is a success dammit. Or will be. For MS at least. Even if the money comes off a DS game.

[DaXIthR]

Actually, that's my rhetoric. I don't see any articles where Sakaguchi is boasting about the size of his DS cartridge. I thought it was an interesting fact about the game. You and I both know that the amount of data in a game has no bearing on the final game's quality.

Oh snap...my bad.

But it was less than two weeks ago that the only details he gave out concerning his next console project was that it would span four DVDs. I figured he was just going off again.

I also misread you - it's 2Gb, not 2GB. I believe a few N64 cartridges ran as large as 512MB, or twice the size of this game. It's testament to the DS that developers are trying to cram that much data into the cart.

I watched the movies. Looks better than a PS1 game, which I think is compliment for a cartridge-based system. I hope the US release is pushed back. They better take their time with localization.

I think I'm going to buy this one...

[jpublic]

Wow, that's impressive. I'm sold.

[Gaz]

As has been said, you've got to divide by 8 to get Gigabits in Gigabytes, so it's going to be 256MB, and as the largest cartridges so far are 128MB, it's an understandable progression really =)

The largest N64 cartridge, however, was 512 Megabits, or 64 Megabytes in size. So no, the N64 didn't go that high; seriously, flash memory was really expensive back then.

[Xerxes]

But they have those bootleg carts that could put like a Gig in there.

[Gaz]

They don't count. It's more than possible to boot an 8GB DS cart, but that doesn't mean games are ever going to be produced with that much data on the DS.

Oh, and I've got to admit; I don't give a damn for FMV's on a tiny screen (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25090.html?type=mov). There's no need for that, it really breaks the continuity of a handheld title when it's broken up with video like this.

[Xerxes]

I actually like it. That makes the boss fight before that fire dragon is going to be ON!!! The real fight with him won't be that awesome but you'll know what his flare is really about.

[TrackZero]

Looks very nice. But I don't know if I could handle the delays due to the animation.

[Xerxes]

Looks very nice. But I don't know if I could handle the delays due to the animation.

Which delays?

[Gaz]

In the battle scenes the animation takes a while to complete your attack. It's like Advance Wars, you just eventually end up turning off the attack and move animations because you've seen it all before and they just take far too long.

[Xerxes]

Hmmm... It got bigger better and flashier in Golden Sun. I hope it keeps escalating or like you say, turning it off my be a option.

[Disgustipated]

Wow, the gameplay video looks damn nice. I was expecting something along the lines of FFVIII (tried to do too much with it's hardware, came out looking horrible) but this actually looks quite clean and good. I'll be waiting for it.

I actually thought FF8 looked quite good, and it still looks good if you run it in an emulator/on PS3.

[tombofsoldier]

You mean gigabytes right? Because 2 gigabits would be 256 megabytes.

[gojira]

Damn it, just when I thought it was safe for my wallet to be out in the electronics department.

[Bone]

You mean gigabytes right? Because 2 gigabits would be 256 megabytes.
Correct, as was discussed above- the largest DS cart currently is 128 megabytes (1 gb). You really don't need much space for textures when the screen is so small. Sounds on the other hand- they sometimes have to suffer.

[LostToys]

Oh, and I've got to admit; I don't give a damn for FMV's on a tiny screen (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25090.html?type=mov). There's no need for that, it really breaks the continuity of a handheld title when it's broken up with video like this.

FMVs are fine. It only becomes an issue when the FMVs look nothing like the ingame characters. Go check out the latest Final Fantasy IV TGS trailer (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25846.html). Those FMVs are completely out of place.

And this game intrigues me, but so far I have not been too impressed with the Mistwalker showings. I will have to wait for some Western reviews before I stake a stab at ASH.

[Darkmatter]

Do we really need to use 2 different methods of calculating size in 1 thread, and then convert them to the other over and over again. My head hurts. lol ;)

Anyways, textures as was already meantioned can remain small but so can 3d models if they are rendered in game in real time like a character model. They're only ever going to be 1.5 inches tall so your not going to see a lot of detail anyways. Some well placed shadows and detail on a texture can take care of a lot. Sure you could go crazy and have some really high poly char that looks perfect but you wouldn't have room for anything else.

The backgrounds could actually be high poly if they don't move or show real time perspective shifts (as opposed to a multiplane paralax effect) because they could just be a rendered background.

[Heretic Machine]

I actually thought FF8 looked quite good, and it still looks good if you run it in an emulator/on PS3.

I thought it looked like shit at the time, and I still think it looks like shit now. Attempting to produce detailed 3D graphics with no anti-aliasing = shit.

[tayaya]

To me the game basically reminds me of good ol' Donkey Kong Country - pre-rendered sprites over pre-rendered background images. The game definitely looks "cut and pasted" together at times in the screens I've seen leading up to the game's release. However, in the video it looks pretty clean and the animations are very stunning, even if from a technical standpoint pretty simple. Still, it pushes the sprite handling on the DS to a level I haven't seen before, and I applaud the use of a large cart for less compression and ultimately a higher quality game.

Still... the early versions of this game were 100% polygonal, and I am disappointed in some ways to see the game take this kind of change. It looks cleaner but the graphics in the early screens were still amazing, if not a bit jaggy. I said back then they looked too good to bee true and as it turns out, they were.

That said, I got a good price on the import today $45, after finding it mis-listed on an import site. Advertised at $45.90 but when put in the cart $58. I e-mailed them though and sent a screen grab of the "wrong" price and they decided to honor it. So I'll get it Wednesday most likely and I'll post impressions as soon as I actually have time to play it.

[Xerxes]

To me the game basically reminds me of good ol' Donkey Kong Country - pre-rendered sprites over pre-rendered background images. The game definitely looks "cut and pasted" together at times in the screens I've seen leading up to the game's release. However, in the video it looks pretty clean and the animations are very stunning, even if from a technical standpoint pretty simple. Still, it pushes the sprite handling on the DS to a level I haven't seen before, and I applaud the use of a large cart for less compression and ultimately a higher quality game.

Still... the early versions of this game were 100% polygonal, and I am disappointed in some ways to see the game take this kind of change. It looks cleaner but the graphics in the early screens were still amazing, if not a bit jaggy. I said back then they looked too good to bee true and as it turns out, they were.

That said, I got a good price on the import today $45, after finding it mis-listed on an import site. Advertised at $45.90 but when put in the cart $58. I e-mailed them though and sent a screen grab of the "wrong" price and they decided to honor it. So I'll get it Wednesday most likely and I'll post impressions as soon as I actually have time to play it.
Technically I this is good because Square and Atlus and tons of other handheld devs will be forced to do more with the DS.

[Kamalot]

Here are some new ASH wallpapers (http://www.gpara.com/tobira/wp/ash/index.htm) up for your pleasure.

[sorvey]

1up now has a ASH preview

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3163647

[Kamalot]

Sweet! Thanks for the update. Reading it now.