Espgaluda 2 Black Label [JP X360] - SE Region free, LE Region locked to Japan

[Schrodingers cat]

I think for the first time ever we have Arrange music that's on par w/ the original.

Yeah, totally.  Stage 6 is my favorite track in the game and it's nice to hear something that doesn't make me want to go back to the original right away.

The video looks great! I've never seen any Cave game look that good before.

My only minor concern is that the red/black bullets blend more with the backgrounds somewhat and are probably going to take some time to get used to.  The pattern at 2:15 looks like it'd be a fair deal easier with bright blue/purple bullets rather than dark ones.  I can just see myself getting smacked by stealth bullets for a while before I adjust.

[cstarflare]

So if Novice Black Label mode is still in the final build (not clear on this), then we'll have 7 modes to choose from. If not, then we'll have 6.

Novice Black Label is confirmed by the achievements.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/espgaluda-2-black-label/achievements/

(link stolen from shmups)

[EOJ]

Yeah, I noticed that. 7 modes is great! Way more than anyone expected.

BTW I think this game will sell more than Futari did, in part due to all the content crammed on the disc with no DLC bullshit to deal with. Though I am in the minority on this. We'll see. 

[adverse]

There seems to be a lot of arrange mode-centric achievements, which hopefully means they spent a lot of time on those modes.

With Mushi, I was able to get most of the achievements pretty easily, but for Esp II it'll probably take me a much longer time.

Hyped for Arrange!

[EOJ]

The Arcade/X360 mode 1CC achievements in this game will be much harder to get than the 1CCing Futari 1.5 Maniac achievements. Even moreso if you're using a character other than Ageha.

Warning for the unaware: anyone who knows anything substantial about this game knows that it's much harder than most Cave games.  

[adverse]

I have a friend who's good at both EspII and Futari and claims that EspII's difficulty is somewhere between Futari 1.5 Original and Maniac.  Any thoughts?

[EOJ]

I have 1CC'd Galuda II, but I've never done it in a scoring run.

I'd say it's on par with 1CCing 1.01 Maniac.

[krokounleashed]

You and me, both. This video has got me pumped.

Count me in.

[GaijinPunch]

I have a friend who's good at both EspII and Futari and claims that EspII's difficulty is somewhere between Futari 1.5 Original and Maniac.  Any thoughts?

Generally that he smokes too much grass.  But, I guess it really depends on whether it's a scoring run or not.  If you learn to use the kakusei & kakuseizetsu for survival (yawn) the difficulty obviously goes down.  You're going to have to do some planning though as the gems will run out quickly on the final two stages.

[EOJ]

Region lock confirmed in today's interview with Asada on Siliconera:

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/02/12/cave-chats-about-deathsmiles-and-overseas-expansion/

"Makota Asada: Mushihime-sama Futari was our first region-free game and we were happy enough with the response to finalize our plans for the US release of Deathsmiles.  Ultimately, releasing the game region free doesn?t make as much sense to us as localizing our games and building a real fanbase overseas.  That doesn?t mean that we?re only going to release games in the US of course, it really depends on interest from fans."

[PsychoDiver]

I guess we can expect a port of Espgaluda 2 to the US, if Deathsmiles sells well enough. I guess I will have to get my RROD 360 from Japan fixed for the time being. 

[ookitarepanda]

I reserved the copy of the Limited Edition thinking in the VERY tiny tiny chance it was region free then I'd be in on it.

I guess my options are to buy a J360 which is unlikely because of money, cancel my pre-order and not bother, or sell it off as soon as I get it. Thoughts? I'm leaning towards getting it anyway because I'm sure I could make back at least the cost by selling it...

[EOJ]

The faceplate will probably be a collector's item down the road. I think that's the main reason why people are going to buy this, whether or not they have a JP X360 to play the actual game. A lot of people who buy LEs never even take off the shrinkwrap, and prefer to just display them, so I'm sure you could sell it off with little problem and probably make a few bucks as well.

[mushi_klopfer]

even if there comes a us-version, people from europe still have to buy a us/jap console

[neofrank]

http://kotaku.com/5471899/if-you-want-to-play-espgaluda-ii-read-this-post

Standard ver region free, while limited edition isnt?!?  Could that be accurate? doesn't really make since to me, I would have figured the disc would be the same for both versions, just sans the limited edition items....guess we will wait and find out when its released.

[Monouchi]

Strange indeed, the disc should be same except for art maybe. .. 

[HVL]

>Kotaku

For some reason, the credibility of the article just hit rock bottom.

[GaijinPunch]

This one's too stupid to be false.

[Kewing]

Wow, if this were to be true I'd definitely sh*t my pants...
But, it does seem strange, when theoretically the discs are the same. Unless they put in some extra content on the LE they haven't announced so it is a surprise. Kind of far fetched though.

[PsychoDiver]

It is good news. I am ordering both, one for displaying and the other for playing.

[ookitarepanda]

I just the post on Kotaku about this and rushed over here to see what you guys were saying. I really want to get the standard edition now but I feel like I should wait until I hear from Asada through a different source, like his blog. Anybody with ideas?

[NR777]

Kotaku also broke the news regarding Mushihimesama Futari's region-free status, so I am not inclined to call BS on this...even though the timing is really strange and the news itself is somewhat bizarre.  Outside of siliconera, kotaku is one the few Western-based gaming news sites to talk to Asada.  I put in my order.  If it turns out to be bullshit, I just sell it and probably make all of my money back.

[ookitarepanda]

Kotaku also broke the news regarding Mushihimesama Futari's region-free status, so I am not inclined to call BS on this...even though the timing is really strange and the news itself is somewhat bizarre.  Outside of siliconera, kotaku is one the few Western-based gaming news sites to talk to Asada.  I put in my order.  If it turns out to be bullshit, I just sell it and probably make all of my money back.

Very good point. Now to decide whether I want to go with NCSX for their more reliable shipping or go with Play-Asia because I have a $5 off coupon...

P-A (w/ coupon) with standard airmail bubble - $72, with UPS ground or EMS - $86
NCSX with UPS ground - $83

I think I may actually go with NCSX on this one because Play-Asia is being unnecessarily slow for the last several months. If you guys have thoughts, I'd be receptive...

[brentsg]

Kotaku also broke the news regarding Mushihimesama Futari's region-free status, so I am not inclined to call BS on this...even though the timing is really strange and the news itself is somewhat bizarre.  Outside of siliconera, kotaku is one the few Western-based gaming news sites to talk to Asada.  I put in my order.  If it turns out to be bullshit, I just sell it and probably make all of my money back.

Very good point. Now to decide whether I want to go with NCSX for their more reliable shipping or go with Play-Asia because I have a $5 off coupon...

If you go with Play Asia and later bitch because they are slow as hell, you will be strung up by the beard.

[skykid]

It is good news. I am ordering both, one for displaying and the other for playing.

Who are you going to display it to?

[ookitarepanda]

FINE. Ordering with ncsx...

[skykid]

This one's too stupid to be false.

I just think Cave take some kind of perverse pleasure in engineering the future values of certain items - it gives the company desirability. 

[brentsg]

It is good news. I am ordering both, one for displaying and the other for playing.

Who are you going to display it to?

Says the guy that horded all those kit-art-bits..   

[neomoe]

This one's too stupid to be false.

Wow, if this were to be true I'd definitely sh*t my pants...
But, it does seem strange, when theoretically the discs are the same. Unless they put in some extra content on the LE they haven't announced so it is a surprise. Kind of far fetched though.

In the past, I know the content on the actual LE and SE discs have always been the same....but the artwork on the actual discs has been different (for example for futari Palm was on SE and Reko on LE, and same happened for Deathsmiles).  So perhaps SEs and LEs are sent for production at different times/different batches...so perhaps there is some truth that the SE will be region free and the LE wont...

and perhaps this difference is why Cave didn't make an announcement concerning the region-free status earlier...

I guess we'll all find out for certain soon enough  

[ookitarepanda]

Because the allotment of LEs was a percentage of how many people ordered standards, NCSX has a bunch more LEs up for grabs.