Josh now has an overview of the little island, your base/home. Land stuff are still clunky but you won't be spending much time there. It's got more mission types, more treasures to find, and a ton of gear to purchase instead of simply be rewarded with a handful for the whole game.
Endless Ocean: Blue World
Game » consists of 5 releases. Released Feb 22, 2010
The Nintendo Wii-exclusive sequel to Endless Ocean; an aquatic simulator based on real-life scuba diving.
Gameplay Videos
Josh now has an overview of the little island, your base/home. Land stuff are still clunky but you won't be spending much time there. It's got more mission types, more treasures to find, and a ton of gear to purchase instead of simply be rewarded with a handful for the whole game.
Amazing (user, not bullshots!) screenshots from this thread:
It looks fantastic. I like the depth of field to imply focus on camera shots, that's pretty clever, I have yet to play a game that does that,. It works very well on the evidence of those pics above. Oversea still looks weak in comparison to below, it's almost like Akira don't feel the need to put effort into it. Some aspects look just as weak as they were in the first game, but I wont mind too much.
Here's part 2 to the first video:
Looks awesome, cannot wait till it comes out In Europe, and to get online with Wii Speak. This game will force me into getting the device.
edit:
At least the island has a hammock, I had hoped for that. You should be able to listen to music and browse your your collection from it, but sadly by the looks of things you cannot.
So.....do you like get eaten by sharks or giant squids? Or have to fight pirates or jet-ski across the Bermuda Triangle while Cthulhu chases you amidst a raging tempest?? What the fuck IS this? IS THIS A GAME? BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE FUCKING SWIMMING TO ME.
And swimming is NOT a game, sir. No, sir, it is not.
@emkeighcameron:
This review sums up well what Endless Ocean is about:
" So.....do you like get eaten by sharks or giant squids? Or have to fight pirates or jet-ski across the Bermuda Triangle while Cthulhu chases you amidst a raging tempest?? What the fuck IS this? IS THIS A GAME? BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE FUCKING SWIMMING TO ME.Yes. It is a swimming game. That's the whole point.
And swimming is NOT a game, sir. No, sir, it is not. "
Kind of awful cover (imo, incorporating sunset, daylight, underwater, above water, etc) but the intention was good I guess.
I prefer the US box art at least. That's gotta be a first. The top still has the weird "it's sunset, but it's not!" look but the bottom at least shows it's a separate image that shows the underwater bit since it's segmented with the dark blue and the title. But yeah, both awful. Can't wait for Feb 5th!
Edit: Oh, they put dolhpins instead of the whale on the US. I guess they're even now because those are worse than the whale. Lol.
" Too bad you think so, the first game was already pretty damn immersive despite obvious drawbacks compared to the sequel. it actually even managed to be scary at times (though horror games often fail, lol) despite the fact you can never be harmed in any way whatsoever in it. "Fuck the abyss, fucking fish....
The european website's up. It seems to mostly be an exact remake of the Japanese site.
It seems pretty justified actually, if not for the fluid, smooth controls the Wii remote's pointer offers in such a game, then for the fact Nintendo published, maybe even funded both of them. Maybe noone else even cared, even though their previous games were on the PlayStation 2. Go play Aquanaut's Holiday or something, I guess Sony chose to make their own. Not that it looks that much better overall (in the ways it does, I feel Arika could have done a better job on Wii anyway, they're low-end games for it, hopefully they put some more effort into it next time, if there is a next time).
In this case I tend to agree with snail. (gasps from the audience)
This game is about the visuals and atmosphere, and it is not like the game uses the motion controls in a very meaningful way - Endless Ocean on the HD platforms could have made for a breathtaking experience - and really good online Co-Op play!
However, as is always the case, it is obvious that the only reason this game (and a sequel!) exists in the first place is because it was one the Wii. Nobody would have funded this project (and the visuals it required) on the HD consoles and for the HD console audience.
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The sequel has gotten 7's and some rare 8's all around. And for what it is, that is excellent and the best anyone could have hoped for.
It's not a blockbuster action game, of course it won't get all that great scores. And yes, it's about visuals and atmosphere and does a damn good job at it for the most part, with some flaws that are mostly the developer's own failings rather than things the Wii isn't capable of doing (ie, the wonky controls, and often visuals, of the few land sections, the minimal AI, the rare badly modelled species or object, etc). Arika's clearly not a top tier developer and doesn't make use of the Wii's full capabilities, but at least they're improving and will hopefully make a more fully developed and impressive game at some point. Still, where it actually matters, underwater, it doesn't look much worse than Aquanaut's Holiday does on PS3 (compare the user made screenshots and videos here with this trailer, note frame drops galore) and with extra work it could look even closer, showing you need more than a more powerful system to do better. To imagine that if it was on a different system it would also get 3x the budget and talent to be able and improve in the areas the extra power allows (obviously other than the mere resolution bump) is absurd. As for the controls, imo, the pointer adds a lot to the fluid feel. Watching videos of people playing the sequel with the classic controller is painful, as is watching some Aquanaut's Holiday videos, though they offset the latter by having you in control of some machine instead of a diver, making it a bit easier to swallow. I don't imagine their ideas for co-op would extend far beyond the scope of the existing game either. Not just by being on another platform, not without yet more money. It's single player wirh some tacked on co-op as is, which works well enough for what it does. It would just have XBL/PSN friends.
To imagine that if it was on a different system it would also get 3x the budget and talent to be able and make improvements in the areas the extra power allows (obviously other than the mere resolution bump) is absurd.
Yes. Sadly, yes. But that doesn't change the fact that I would prefer this hypothetical 360 version.
I'm not sure actually. I doubt it though. New trailer. It seems more story based than the first game, maybe. I hope the story is not bad enough to detract from the game experience (cos it certainly doesn't seem like it's going to be too great of a story, Arika should stick to what they do best).
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