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Jul - Gaming - So, Mana Khemia PSP. New poll - New thread - New reply
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Tina
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Posted on 03-31-09 03:25:03 PM Link | Quote
Mana Khemia is a fairly obvious Gust RPG that was ported to the PSP and then published by NIS.

Originally posted by IGN
Do not buy this game. Do not look at this game. Do not think about this game and hopefully the sales will send the message that ports like this won't fly -- especially when stuff like Disgaea runs flawlessly on the PSP.


Let's just say that the review is very much right.... mostly. It's a good game, the port is just absolutely horrendus:

- A lot of fonts are squished together and hard to read.
- Memory stick piracy and CPU speed at 333MHz speeds up the load times, but it doesn't stop it from having very jarring loading screens between every action. Go though a door? Loading. Enter battle? Loading. I mean it's not like there have been (many) other ways to mask these, even with just a blank screen for the second or two it takes.
- The frame rate is stupid. It's varied anywhere from 10-30 FPS normally, usually settling on a very choppy 20FPS; and if you slash your sword it usually jumps back up to 60 until you leave the area/something happens. This is unacceptable. It will also vary wildly between cutscenes; for example, it will go 60FPS for a few bits, then back to 30FPS shortly after. It's not even using 100% CPU (averages 10~20% on 333MHz)!

I like the game, really. I started it last night around 2 AM and haven't put it down since (now 9:22 AM, and I haven't slept ). It's just that this port is utterly unacceptable.

As if Rhapsody DS and Ar tonelico 2 weren't already botched to hell, now Mana Khemia can be added to that list. What the hell, NIS(A)?

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Posted on 03-31-09 03:53:31 PM Link | Quote
Man, I love Mana Khemia. It's a shame that the port sucks.

Though I don't have a PSP and I already played the original, so I guess I'm not losing out personally.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:18:04 PM (last edited by Nao at 03-31-09 01:18 PM) Link | Quote
After Ar tonelico II fell out stateside, NISA laid off fired people.

Hopefully that says something for X-Edge when it comes out.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:19:07 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Nao
After Ar tonelico II fell out stateside, NISA laid off people.

Hopefully that says something for X-Edge when it comes out.

Generally, NIS's flagship games get very good work (see Prinny). Its not-so-well-known games (Ar tonelico, etc) get shafted.

Considering what Cross Edge is, I have my expectations set at the highest. Unfortunately being disappoitned wouldn't really surprise me.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:22:55 PM Link | Quote
In my opinion, and a lot of other people's, it's last chance on X-Edge.

If NISA fails again on this, I'm pretty much shoving them to the side. ATLUS started it for me with Disgaea, after all...not NISA.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:24:13 PM Link | Quote
Yeah. Mana Khemia's failing was basically Ar tonelico 2 to me (since, you know).

It's just distressing that they're doing this. Seriously, what in the hell could've caused this? It's insane.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:26:01 PM Link | Quote
Bad hires. Get a bunch of talentless shlups that wanted to get on NISA's staff because they knew of their legacy and thought they were all that and yea...you get a bunch of dumb lazy slobs and you get crap results.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:29:36 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Nao
Bad hires. Get a bunch of talentless shlups that wanted to get on NISA's staff because they knew of their legacy and thought they were all that and yea...you get a bunch of dumb lazy slobs and you get crap results.

That is what QA is for. Play testers, bug testers, previewers, whatever -- it just simply shouldn't have happened.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:31:23 PM Link | Quote
But it wasn't and they got fired for it.

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Posted on 03-31-09 04:33:21 PM Link | Quote
Dunno about this one, though... sounds like those problems are part of the port and can't totally be blamed on NISA.

I mean, if the game was like this in Japan... :\ Not much you can do. Maybe you can cross your fingers, change a few bytes around and hope the game's more stable, but other than that...

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Tina
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Posted on 03-31-09 04:34:10 PM Link | Quote
I guess.


In other news, though, Chapter 2. I need more goddamn synth shit; way too many items with 0s

(Also, Gust games seriously need a SORT ITEMS feature, because goddamn it's a mess trying to find something)

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Posted on 04-07-09 08:46:57 PM Link | Quote
I've been playing it more.

It outright hard locked on me last night, losing an hour of progress.



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Posted on 04-07-09 08:53:54 PM Link | Quote
Might want to try the Japanese version to see if there's any difference.

I usually love the localizations from NISA, Disgaea PSP felt better than PS2 because of that. Atlus tends to be too dry for my taste.

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Posted on 04-08-09 05:19:59 AM Link | Quote
Eh... that *could* be an AT2-like bug but the other bugs shouldn't be things that show up due to a translation job.

If the Japanese version was stable, then yeah. Damn them.

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Posted on 04-08-09 09:20:38 AM Link | Quote
Don't feel too bad...I got up to the game-killing boss fight in Ar tonelico II last night.

You aren't beating that normally.

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Posted on 04-08-09 09:27:30 AM Link | Quote
It's probably a really good thing I don't have a knack for such games, then.

I just hope D2's PSP port comes out better than this. I'll be incredibly upset if it sucks.

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Posted on 04-08-09 09:29:14 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Syaoran
Eh... that *could* be an AT2-like bug but the other bugs shouldn't be things that show up due to a translation job.

If the Japanese version was stable, then yeah. Damn them.

There's always the text, which is stupidly drawn, then resized, making it look like shit.

And the lag problems, which I mostly fixed with a fucking cheat code (video pending).

The graphics in this port are utterly atrocious, too. Basically imagine downsizing the PS2's to like 1/4 and you have it right.

For a while I was thinking I was playing a PS1 game.

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Posted on 04-08-09 10:17:07 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Bloodstar
...I just hope D2's PSP port comes out better than this. I'll be incredibly upset if it sucks.


If there's a constant by NISA it's that they don't let their flagship series (Disgaea) take it up the ass in terms of quality. It's the only series that's been decent through and through.

I was watching a bit of Axel mode online last night, btw...


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Posted on 04-08-09 10:21:24 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Sakura
If there's a constant by NISA it's that they don't let their flagship series (Disgaea) take it up the ass in terms of quality. It's the only series that's been decent through and through.

Yeah, but then take a look at Cross Edge. If that goes down badly, I know of a few developers that are going to be pissed (hello Capcom)

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Posted on 04-08-09 10:25:03 AM (last edited by Sakura at 04-08-09 07:25 AM) Link | Quote
There's already been hurrrr about Dmitri's voice...actually most of the voices.

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Jul - Gaming - So, Mana Khemia PSP. New poll - New thread - New reply


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