Anyone got it? My youngest are playing it and having problems winning a single battle. They are veteran card players, but the decks they get to start with seem weak. The PS2 version turns cards into pieces you move on a playing field, btw. There seems to be a lot to it.
I’ve been thinking about picking it up (along with the Yu Gi Oh dice title for the GBA), but I’ve heard it starts you off in a very difficult position, with a weak deck.
I believe I saw some specific recommendations on the Duelist of the Roses message boards at www.gamefaqs.com.
-Tom, closet Yu Gi Oh fanI have it. You MUST play some custom duels first. When you win custom duels, you’ll get cards you can use to beef up your deck (good ones) and you’ll then be able to take on the campaign duelists. It seems odd, and the manual/game does recommend you play some custom duels to learn your card combinations, but doesn’t do it forcefully enough given how weak a starting deck you get.
Now that we’ve played about three custom duels, I understand better how the movement system works too. It’s a key part of playing the game and definitely adds some strategy that’s not in the normal card game.
I can’t stress enough though that you MUST play those custom duels to get some new cards. The first custom duel monster is pretty easy to beat and it will give you some spell cards that are crucial to performing better in game.
Yesterday was a rocking release day for PS2. Yu-Gi-Oh!, Breath of Fire and Dark Cloud 2 are big games for me… Disaster Report came out yesterday too which I’d love to play. It also has the worst box art in some time.
–Dave
Disaster Report came out yesterday too which I’d love to play.
Disaster report is weirdly compelling. It’s pretty much a straightforward adventure game, which I’d normally have no patience for. Maybe I’m a sucker for shaking ground, though, because I played the whole thing and had a good darn time. I’m even thinking about starting again so I can try out one of the alternate paths through the game. It features the same cinematic blurring effect that they (the Japanese) used in Robot Alchemic Drive. Maybe that’s what I’m actually a sucker for, because I like both games in spite of some serious flaws. It’s like ICO crossed with the Poseidon Adventure. RPG designer employees take note: It has dialog trees that have no obvious right or wrong answer and that actually effect the game’s outcome. For instance, this one poor lady isn’t wearing any underpants because either the earthquake shook them off or she’s just a whore. At one point, you can choose (through a dialog tree) to either let her climb down a ladder first or go first yourself so you can look up her skirt. Your choice somehow contributes to what ending you get. That makes Disaster Report RPG of the year so far. Now that I think about it, I guess it’s more like ICO crossed with Earthquake.
Thanks for the advice, Dave. I’ll pass it along to the boys.
Tom, I haven’t played it yet, but Yu-Gi-Oh for the PS2 does seem like a decent strategy game in the collectible card game vein. My boys also have the GBA game and have been playing it since Xmas as well. The GBA game is a straight port of the card game – it doesn’t have movable pieces (i.e. cards) like the PS2 version. I’d categorize Yu-Gi-Oh the card game as being more complex than Pokemon and considerably less complex than Magic.
I’ve also heard that you should stay away from the older PSX version. It uses different rules and isn’t supposed to be that great.
YGO:TDotR is another one of those YGO games that doesn’t seem to be able to leave a fine card game alone, so they sort of turned it into a hybrid of the card game and chess. Complex, fans-only, but the tutorial is thorough. And what others have said is true, the decks you start with are so weak as to be laughable.
I haven’t played any custom duels yet, although I did manage to barely defeat the first campaign duelist and score a Red Rose Card (I sided with York). There seems to be plenty of depth to the game, all that’s required is the patience to learn it.
The graphics are still weak and the interface, while smoother than most YGO games, still looks a bit too much like a spreadsheet. Still, the 3D representations of the monsters are decent. It takes too long to load the 3D battles, so I turned them off after seeing four or so, but it’s there if you want it. Another nice touch is the addition of a special “lucky draw” you can use once per match that makes it more likely that you’ll draw a card that will help you out of whatever jam you’re in currently.
I personally would like to see a straight coversion of the card game, rules intact, to the PS2 or other console that simply emulates the play seen in the TV series. Eternal Duelist Soul is as close as it’s likely to get, but it would be nice to see all this play out in 3D using the show’s holographic arena and such.
~MJK
I agree it would be nice to see them do one that uses the exact card rules and the format/visuals of the show. However, I like that I can sit down and play this game on my PS2 and then go play the card game and the two are different (yet similar) games. It keeps the allure of the printed card game alive while giving me some cool and unique gameplay on the console.
I look at YGO:DotR and for me it’s a solitaire game, or when played with others, it’s like a puzzle of sorts you can work out together (as my wife and I did last night). I saw review scores from EGM for it posted somewhere and they were pretty low. I guess you’ve got to have minimal interest in the series/card game to enjoy it. Seemed to me though, that if you like turn-based games, you’ll enjoy this one.
–Dave
Well, it’s sure as hell more compelling than just about any other turn-based strategy game I’ve played in the last year or so. I’d say the last game of this type I encountered that contained this much promise in its basic gameplay was Advance Wars.
And yeah, your point about the variety that keeps the card game “pure” is well-taken. It is nice that they’re willing to go new places with the YGO franchise, really, rather than sticking to a worn formula like certain other collect 'em up games that could be mentioned.
Hey, how often do you get to play an anime card game based on the War of the Roses, anyway?
~MJK
I have been wary of picking up any card-based console games as I was burned by Magic - Battlemage after its 18 month delay. I think they would transfer well if not for having to program the A.I. for the millions of card combos and results. I still whip out Microprose’s Magic iteration for the PC and play through Shandalar a bit until I burn out. Then I will duel for a couple of days and I have had my card fix without having to shell out money for that damn Magic online or even real cards.
I have skipped the Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh crazes as they seemed a bit more simple, juvenile, and just as costly as Magic, et al.
Do they not run into the same A.I. problems or are there fewer cards in YGO? How does it compare to say the dueling in Etherlords, which I really dug? If it is a fun turnbased strat game with combos and a boardgame/chess feel, I do not see how I could go wrong.
Of course that still leaves Breath of Fire, .hack, Dark Cloud 2, Xenosaga… I will never be able to suffer through more of Suikoden III at this rate. :) Oh wait. Xenosaga isn’t a game so I can cross it off the list. I can watch it while reading the instruction manuals for the others that have actual gameplay.
I’d normally avoid gaining insight or knowledge into a franchise that revolves around the use of collectable card decks and guffied up anime ragdolls as a selling point…and this is no exception.
But I can warn you about a few of those games marked in your list Tyjenks. .hack for instance is a rather contrived piece of electronic entertainment that seems more interested in advertising all the optional ‘apparel’ to complement your base game experience rather than really giving you a solid core experience with the main product itself(much like the world of Barbie). The premise is actually creative, but it barely manages to create a playable atmosphere. You have greater options available to you.
Dark Cloud 2 for instance is a well presented piece of coding and an obvious labor of love for the developing staff. Hard to really recommend much else than this one for 40 beans.
BoF5 has it’s own thread with enough info to persuade or dissaude you from purchase right here on Qt3!
Suikoden 3 couldn’t keep me playing very long. In fact I made a thread on this forum not long ago involving my trials and troubles in maintaining sanity when playing this. Sounds as if you aren’t having a ball either with it. For what it’s worth, I’d probably rather ‘watch’ Xenosaga than ‘read’ Suikoden 3 if you follow. :P
(Supposedly Xenosaga actually has a well devised combat and party progression structure with some intensely challenging encounters tucked between the CG reels, but it’s a secret that very well could damage the fabric that binds online gamegeeks if released! So don’t tell a soul. :wink: )
Oh yay… another interesting console title to buy. I’ve been on a cnosole spending spree the past couple months… and between all the big three (and even DC clearinghouse games) the PS2 is just getting it all. And to add another one that seems interesting, coupled with the near release of Zelda and Xenosaga and whatever the hell else, shit. This might really be the year of the console… especially the PS2?
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Xenosaga sitill sounds interesting, but it sounds like one of those games (like alot of console rogs) where I WANT to skip alot of stuff and dread the wait to save my damn game. I remember playing FFVIII and taking a smoke break whenever I summoned one of those cg cutscene attack things.
I just wanted to add that Dark Cloud 2 has the most innovative thing since sliced bread with the Triangle PS2 game control button. You can skip all you want!
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Kinda wanted to bump this one because I think folks should really take a look. Yu-Gi-Oh!:DotR is hard to get started with because you get such lousy starting cards, but when you start to ramp up your deck, the game really takes on a new dimension. As with the card game, there’s so many combinations and depth to plumb. However, the movement system in this title adds a whole lot to the game and as noted above, makes it something different, yet similar, to the card game.
My wife and I have gotten through three duelists now. One cool thing is that when beating one particular duelist, a branch that opened up was against a duelist with a LOWER total deck power, forcing you to retool a deck to fight at a lower level. Since cards have power ratings, it kind of turns your thought process on its ear and makes you put together a sort of weenie deck or maybe one built around a few specific cards to beat this guy.
Anyway, this is definitely worth a look just like the other few big titles that hit the PS2 this week. February and March are really hopping with top game releases this year on consoles.
–Dave
I’d have to agree. I REALLY like this game.
Once you figure out the rules and controls, the game is totally addictive.
When I just brought it home, I was actually considering taking it back to the store that same day. I’m a huge fan of the cartoon series, and wanted to play just like saturday morning toons. I was really turned off to the new movement rules. It also didn’t help that the text is almost unreadable, the music sucks, and there’s no real story to propel you through the game.
I gave the game another night, and now I can’t stop playing it! I have 8 rose cards now. I haven’t played a console game this much in years.
There’s quite a bit of strategy and certain degree of luck depending on the draw of the cards.
The game can be hard at times, and others it’s quite easy. No duel is quite the same.
This is one game I can recommend IF your into turn-based card games.
Basically -
Yu-Gi-Oh: Duelist of the Roses = Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game + Stratego
People should try Etherlords. though it had a bad wraparound game around a most excellent MTG combat thing. I wish pc developers took some fun from consoles and put it in pc games, Etherlords needed that. PC games need that effervescent fruity stuff that console devs dont worry about (Dark Cloud 2/Zelda!). Cute can be cool too.
Anyway, I am picking this up sometime soon, I need a collectible card game video game that doesn’t need me to collect the real cards. Sid Meiers MTG game was good too. An updated 3d version would rock.
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K, I got this game and I have one question for the experts. How do I know what the heck can and cannot be combined when I summon?!? I see the omcputer comboing with ease while I have no friggin clue what works together… the manual doesnt say what type of cards can or cannot be comibined… maybe I’ll check gamefaq’s…
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Haha, that’s pretty sad it took this long for a game to implement that. Everyone has been wanting an “intelligent” skip feature for how long?
There are certain summoning combinations that will produce a certain monster, but you often need to have both the cards to combine AND the card it creates in your hand. These are fusion monsters.
You can also put certain power up spell cards (the green) onto a monster as you summon it. This is the most common form of card combo. From what I read in the manual (which is vague on the topic), it seems there may be other combinations available, but it’s up to the player to find them. The green cards work a bit differently in the card game. You would place that card ON the card already in play to “power up”.
As we noted above, this game’s rules are different from the card game in many ways, providing a different experience, so I wouldn’t want to go too in depth on the differences between Yu-Gi-Oh! the CCG and YGO the PS2 video game because they’ll just confuse you.
I highly suggest you play some custom duels first before trying to tackle the campaign, though you’ll need to start the campaign to get the story going and pick your starting deck. Once you do that, save and jump into the custom duels.
My biggest complaint with the game is the requirement of two memory cards for multiplayer play. I’m not sure why they couldn’t just let you choose a player name and have multiple saves on the same card. I suppose it’s to prevent a player from creating multiple characters and trading all their cards to one of them to get an unfair advantage, but I’m not sure what would stop you from doing this anyway if you’ve got two memory cards in your house?
It’s only a slight annoyance though. I think the game is superb in many ways and the most important one of all, great gameplay.
–Dave
I’m still lost on this fusion things… it appears to have no rules. Thats the only problem with the game for me so far… it appears fusing is too random. They should have made it where beast and beast makes superbeats or some sorta fire plus beast = firebeast… but as is it all feels up in the air… maybe I should just memorize the card fuse combos… but I hate that! It just feels cheap, meaning the ocmputer opponent has an edge being able to know the fuses over the player.
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The CPU and its insta-fusions are really bringing the game down for me. In the CCG, all fusions are pre-designated and clearly marked as to what monsters fuse to form them. In TDotR, it seems almost random. Hell, playing custom matches against an opponent with a deck identical to mine often results in the CPU fusing like three cards into some übermonster that I’ve never even seen before. And since you’re not allowed to see the cards used, you don’t learn anything except what it’s like to get your ass handed to you by a rose beast.
Perhaps I shouldn’t expect much from a game that arbitrarily transplants its characters into a fictionalized English history tale in which nations’ destinies are decided by games of cards, but the AI’s advantage in this realm is really irritating. The manual’s no help, there is no in-game guide to fusions…it’s almost like they’re trying to force me to buy the strat guide…
Nah, couldn’t be that.
I am actually enjoying the game overall, I’m just becoming increasingly aware of these occasional flashes where I realize that the computer’s knowledge of the rule changes from the CCG combined with the manual’s reluctance to fully explain same means that the computer could essentially steamroll me at its convenience.
~MJK