I love Deception.
A lot.
Little wonder I was incredibly hyped for the fifth game.
Okay, you're probably confused right about now.
Why is it called Deception IV when it's the fifth game?Glad you asked!
The Story so Far:
Each of the PS1 games was localized as 'Deception'. I, II, and III, respectively.
The fourth, in a timelessly silly move, as 'Trapt'.
So, TecmoKoei(or whatever they call themselves) localized the fifth game as IV.
I guess I'll allow it. Moving on!
Deception V existing at all is kind of a miracle. It's the kind of ultra niche franchise you expect relatively big name devs like KT to give up on in favor of surefire cashcows like Dynasty Warriors and Ninja Gai-.... okay just Dynasty Warriors.
So a company undertaking this kind of project nowadays definitely deserves support.
Especially when the game isn't ruining the legacy, but builds on it in every imaginable way. Deception V is one massive love letter to the series. The devs love the series just as much as I do if not more.
Firstly, bios.
Would this be a Deception game without stupid people flocking to their death in droves? Hell no.
Secondly, the traps.
Oh, V's variety of killing tools is delicious.
Traps in V have three flavors: Elaborate, Sadistic, and Humiliating.
Far more than the wall/ceiling/floor trap limits of old, now there's flavors on top of that.
And with three flavorful Daemon followers to personalize them!
They also make requests/challenges of the player during each level, adding lots of replay value.
They're great for discovering new combos, too.
Oh yeah, story.
Laegrinna, the Devil's Daughter, seeks to revive her father, the Devil. She has three Daemons to help her do it. The means? Murder 12 descendants of the saints that sealed him away.
I'm not a fan of her outfit either, but hey...
(Millennia outfit from Kagero: Deception II)It gets better with unlockables.
There's also four new stages, each with a plethora of fun killing techniques.
My favorite being the amusement park with the deadly roller coaster and merry-go-round, but there's also a factory with conveyors, a castle with armored chariots, and a massive cathedral with devil-powered crushing limbs and moats patrolled by mechanical gators.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XDxVFfDq4D0
Fun stuff.
Then there's the enemies themselves...
Oh, they are nasty now. Despite relying on a lot of palette swapping, enemies now have destructible armor, guns, elemental varieties of magic, and are more clever than ever.
Still, it makes it all the more satisfying when you crush their armor with a pendulum then drop a tombstone on their skulls, doesn't it?
Deception V has all the series staples when it comes to traps: pendulums, bombs, bear claws, lances, arrows, washbins... then add in flaming boulders, pies in the face, and a Delta Horse, and you've got enough torture implements to take on an army of stupid invaders. (You'll need them.)
I played the Vita version and had a wonderful time, but I'm sure the PS3 version is just as good if not better... despite the extra $20 cost involved.
I love the Kagero series and I found Deception IV to be a quite interested game, far better than Trapt, which was a huge dissapointment for me (mainly because of its AI). I played it on PS3 and had a wonderful time :)
ReplyDeleteUp until now, I thought Trapt was the gameplay pinnacle. The story was crap, but the action? Perfection. It's been dethroned.
DeleteKagero II still has the best story(and protagonist), but this is very close. The Daemons are delightful.
Reading this makes me wish I had a PS3 just to play it. Guess I'm waiting for the price to drop a bit while I play through the PS1 games.
ReplyDeleteI've admired this series from afar due to Mr. Swoon's LP series - between the unique premise, the ridiculous stories and the wonderful bios, it's obvious it never got the attention it deserved. I must admit, as a fan of early defense-centric games like The Horde and Chaos Seed which predate the period of about a decade where tower defense clones practically locked the concept into a single mold, I was disappointed to learn that so many ideas from the original game were dropped and never revisited. But as someone who isn't actually playing games, just admiring them from afar, I've no real room to complain.
ReplyDeleteThis, though, on the other hand....I was really ecstatic to hear it announced, but for the first few waves of media they released, I couldn't help but think...."wow, this game seems like it's aimed directly at the kind of people who have a Youtube account which is nothing but 200 videos of Voldo beating up female characters set to have no AI". It was a pretty big turn-off to see something so explicitly aimed at being a turn-on. While I admit I haven't kept up with the game since then, nothing I've seen afterwards - including and especially your Youtube video - has improved my view of the game. The series has always been silly and sordid, but never quite this sleazy.
If this was the only way they could get the game made, well, I can't really blame them too much. But as someone who almost always rolls their eyes when people talk about being embarrassed by video games....this stuff seems pretty god damn embarrassing. I guess I'm glad someone is enjoying it, though.
You guys ought to make a review of Orcs Must Die!
ReplyDelete