Preview RPGDot plays Seal of Evil

[Spazmo]

Tags: Object Software; Seal of Evil

<a href="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPGDot</a> have got a <a href=http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=1057&sid=5caef14c48e2d804f160f9260ba63073>preview</a> about the upcoming Chinese RPG from the developers of Prince of Qin, Seal of Evil.
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<blockquote>The cornerstone of Seal of Evil is a consistent theme of five traditional natural elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth. This is used to create a fairly complex rock-paper-scissors balance relationship that runs through almost every aspect of Seal of Evil: Metal promotes Water, Water promotes Wood, Wood promotes Fire, Fire promotes Earth and Earth promotes Metal; Metal restricts Wood, Wood restricts Earth and so on.
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This system forms the major character attributes and drives the secondary derived attributes - Metal affects Attack and Wood affects HP and health recovery, for example. It's also used to create bonuses and immunities in attack and defence, skills, weapons and armour. For instance, the skill Inferno receives a bonus if a fire-weapon is equipped while Poison Wave is wood-based. All up, it's an appealing theme and adds strategic depth to item and skill choices in combat. It also forms the basis of the "Making Things" item creation feature, which I'll touch on later.</blockquote>
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That's a pretty neat and original system right there. Hopefully, this title will earn more attention than Prince of Qin did.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

... Wood restricts Earth? Strangely, I think both should combine rather than clash.

 

[Astromarine]

do not argue with ancient chinese mystics, for they are easily pissed off and know Kung Fu to fuck your shit up.

 

[Sabotai]

Those screenshots do look promising.

Haven't played Prince of Qin, but I'm ordering it right away.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I will likely be reviewing the game for the Codex as soon as I get it.

 

[Brillo]

Hidden beneath Seal of Evil’s dated exterior....

Dated exterior? Anyone else think this and this both look better than most of the new 3d stuff out there?

 

[Whipporowill]

Actually - that's nothing particularly exciting to me. 3D hasn't gotten up to the level of pre-rendered 2D backgrounds yet though, that's true.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Yes, because obviously highly pixellated and cruddy looking 3d graphics like this:
EXAMPLE OF 3D GOODNESS looks better than EXAMPLE OF 2D "DATEDNESS" in all of its fully detailed glory.

Weird!

Reminds me of when Ortchel called Kult's graphics 'horrible'. Schmuck.

 

[Brillo]

God, I always get all depressed when I see gorgeous graphics like that, and then have to go back to shitty 3d. Blah.

 

[xemous]

just played the demo
while the graphics is good, the animations are poor
the voice acting and music is abysmal
soe has a good setting,but the gameplay just isnt fun

 

[Dhruin]

Dated is appropriate. I mentioned several times that those who still like pre-rendered backgrounds (myself included) will like the art but max 1024x768, absolutely no movement in the environment, no dynamic shadows or lighting, no zoom/rotate and the worst animations I've seen in a retail release for some time make it dated. Simple as that.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Fair enough. Still, I would urge you to elaborate on that when you next write your review and in all fairness, you should point out how gorgeous the backgrounds are, even though they are somewhat static.

It's not really a big deal, though. The game's got plenty of RPG content and makes up for the somewhat lacklustre visuals with its other features.

 

[Azael]

EVIL SEAL[url]

The title of the game made me think of this. Still, the system sounds fairly interesting, should they manage to pull it off properly.

 

[Astromarine]

There are two branches to the discussion, one of which focuses on the mad rush to convert perfectly solid, genre defining 2d games into three dimensional piles of dogshit. The urge must just be overwhelming, because the results of this process are almost universally reviled. Gaze ye upon the insulting, monstrous Metal Slug 3D, for example. It is true that when the Metal Slug series began, technology of the sort used to project 3D scenes like that was not available. The presumption, I suppose, is that if two Ds are good, then three Ds must be glorious beyond imaginings. When they sodomize classics in this way, do they think of themselves as selfless intercessors between the technology gods and huddling, primitive peoples? Do they imagine that they are engaged in a work of unalloyed benevolence?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Yeah, the incessant, fanatical embrace of 'future' technology really pisses me off. It's one thing to dump a steam engine for a diesel one but there's absolutely no good reason to dump a perfectly good petroleum powered BMW for an electric powered 'solar car'. That is what a lot of developers are doing: dumping their petrol cars for solar cars.

 

[Mnemon]

Well this screams for an OT reply, just to make Exitum happy. There is no good reason to switch from petrol to renewabale energy? Impressive.

I guess once the time for the bang is there you'll have an idea in relation to what ressources are and what we were doing with them. I think I remember writing something about that some time ago, elsewhere on the forum but was told it wasn't relevant.

-Mnemon

[BTW - Exitum - your comparisons get worse lately, quality wise, regardless whether you have the one or the other point in all these discussions around the codex]

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'm not talking about the world governments switching use of petrol to use of renewable energy (which, by the way, isn't viable). I'm talking about going from a good, strong petrol powered car to some stupid little solar car that goes to a maximum of 50mph. Sure, you could argue that it's 'the future' and it has 'renewable energy' and point out all sorts of other great details, but would that not be the same as developers who believe they can make more 'immersive' titles just by using three dimensional graphics engines? Oh look at the neat particle effects! Less work to be done! Fully rotating 3d camera! How immersive!

That's basically comparable to what people who argue for the use of solar cars say. Doesn't use a lot of energy! It's renewable! It's clean and efficient! Oh wait, it's not actually efficient though, is it? Having to power up your dinky little scooter/car for 2 hours before you can drive, and not being able to exceed a certain speed limit (40-50mph) means you can't even use it on the highway. Solar powered cars, like 3d engines, are highly overrated. Solar powered cars do not provide a superior driving experience (but sure, they're friendly to the environment), just like 3d engines don't necessarily provide a superior gaming experience. Compare Baldur's Gate 2 to NWN.

As for protecting the environment, I don't think switching to solar powered vehicles is going to save the planet. There's worse things screwing up the planet, like toxic waste, poor farming techniques (refusal to switch to hydroponic farms for the sake of creating jobs for a billion africans), refusal to switch to GM foods because of retarded religious beliefs or superstitious nonsense about how 'people will turn into mutants' that is no more real than saying shattering a mirror will cause 7 years of bad luck. Luck doesn't even fucking exist, either.

 

[Mnemon]

Well point is however - there just will be no petrol left at a point. Regardless of any arguments whether they are good or bad for the environment that is the time when we will have to resort to alternative energies - whether "viable" as a solution or not. And in that way your comparison just doesn't work. There is no "must" involved with discarding 2D graphic engines. It's not like it just won't be possible anymore, at some point not to do it the "traditional" way - there won't be some external non-human related (i.e. in this case business/technology love, whatever) reasons that force games to be 3D.

Very, very different thing. If our oil reseves would not be limited I am fairly certain the car designers/companies would be much much less likely to invest as much as they do right now into alternative energy propulsion. Despite what people claim about themselves there still is not much of a public pressure to preserve and save nature.

-Mnemon

 

[Sol Invictus]

Peak oil is a silly myth.

 

[Knifemare]

This mabey sound stupid and all but im stuck in the demo, i dont know where and how to sleep. :S can someone plz help me :D