Eschatos [JP X360, April 7, 2011] - REGION FREE

[twoup]

This hasn't left my 360 since I put it in a couple of days ago it's a very enjoyable & generous package. The main game is pretty enjoyable, the perspective shifts don't ruin control of the ship in fact some of them carry a bit of a tube shooter vibe and the transparent green borders showing the edges of the screen when it happens are a nice touch. I also like the way the score changes colour when the high score gets beaten during a playthrough (at least I think that's what happens, been playing late at night).

It's really nice to see how significantly the game changes from one difficulty level to another, things get pretty hectic pretty fast in hard mode and there's a lot more bullets that take longer to cancel & knock the ship back a bit. I'm loving the Advance mode system and Time Attack was really fun as well.

The music is the best shooter music I've heard in ages which is a huge motivator for me personally, if the music's good I'll play the game just to hear it. The wonderswan games were pretty cool too, I like the way Cardinal Sins has a different scoring mechanic every stage and playing them I can see where eschatos got a lot of its style from (there's even some 3D looking bits in CS).

This is the new shooting love for me, heaps of modes, bad 3D graphics and great music. It's going to keep me occupied for a long time.

[EOJ]

Thanks for the impressions. I think I'll have to order this soon. 

[lam47]

Just had my first few goes. I love the WS ports. Something very pure about them. Original feels a little dull after the scoring complexity of most cave games. Advanced I need to learn but the purple circle of chunks you get round the ship look pretty cool and the powerups as mentioned are fun.

[drunkninja]

Original is nice to just try to 1CC.  I've done it on Easy (though I forgot to upload my high score afterward ), working on Normal now.  Can usually get up to Area 20 before things just get way too crazy.

[Bartlebooth]

Hey there

I may not have posted here and there a lot but I cannot help myself making proselytism for this beautiful and rare jewel called Eschatos.
I can't find any reviews anywhere nor the regard that it deserves, especially compared to bullet soul.

I can't stop playing it, the graphics may seem ancient (to be polite) but I looooove the design, the invention and the generosity of it.

The normal mode has a simple but direct score system that keeps you coming back (perfect wave destruction raises the multiplier, missing one enemy brings it down) and the hard and hardest mode (with complete different patterns) will give plenty of challenge for the best of you (last time I checked the first on the leaderboard didn't go past the 6 wave or something on hardest...)

An endless mode gives you the opportunity to loop the 4 difficulty levels in each mode (advance and original)

Advance mode on the other hand is more Cavish/"Yagawish" in its score system design (the better you score, the harder is the game), giving the feeling to play a game from a total different nature (original is really old school)

Though I really would have loved to see a dozen waves added (I think it may be a little bit short) the game is so refreshing, with such a strong identity that I am completely hooked.

I'v got that simple test to judge the goodness of a shmup : you don't feel like playing, load any shmup you'd think about.
If one hour later you're still playing though you didn't feel like it on the first place, you' re dealing with a good cat.

MMP does that to me, and Eschatos does that to me.

The 2 other games are extraordinary, you can see where Eschatos is coming from and how brilliant Qute bullets and bullets patterns are and how strong their personality is.

Plus a tons of little things that shows the love and the work well done : the way your score eligible for leaderboard is in white color (even after a quick restart) , in grey color when it's not (after a continue or while practicing) and how it flashes in yellow when you break your high score; the multiple little secrets you unlock after every good game (new ships, graphical options, game modes etc...) etc ...

Instant love for me, I cannot stop recommending it.

PS: I forgot to speak about the music ... Well that's the best shmup soundtrack I'v heard since Gradius V and Guwange imo (though I have a certain weakness for MMP's OST but it's a guilty one ...)

[Blue_Rei]

Glad I held off on these two. So it seems Eschatos is the one to get then! That's exactly the way I feel about MMP and I can now see why everyone that speaks highly of it holds it in such regard. And those little touches...SOLD!.....as soon as I get the money to do so! ^_^;

[lam47]

Are there any videos of Advanced being played well. I can't quite work out when is best to suck in all the pink.

[Special World]

I have to say that this is an absolutely fantastic package. Eschatos is a pretty fun game, even if it looks terrible. It plays really well, I just wish that your shield meter didn't decrease when you power up, since I want to have tons of purple spinning around my ship. I think it'd be a pretty good system if you actually WANT to stay powered down, with lesser value gems that increase in value as you cancel more and more, but I haven't worked it out yet.

Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins are A+++ shooters, though. They really could hold their own against any shooting game I can think of. Yes, I do like some of Cave's games more, but it never feels like these two are outclassed. Absolutely phenomenal games, completely surpassed my expectations. This package really gives you a ton for your money, too, unlike Bullet Soul.

[EOJ]

I finally bought this about a week ago. So far I think Eschatos is OK, not bad, but doesn't knock my socks off either. Looks like there's some depth to the Advanced mode scoring, which is good.

My favorite game on the disc is Judgement Silversword. It's a really excellent challenge. The Cardinal Sins game is nice too.

[EOJ]

There was a title update released about a week ago:

http://eschatos.qute.jp/titleupdate.html

It also adds a DLC arranged BGM you can purchase. The update adds a TATE option for the classic games, and fixes some other minor issues. Pretty nice!

[brentsg]

It seems odd to me that the 1760 DLC, which I believe is the full game.. is available from the marketplace section of the disk-based game.