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Groove Haircut: Funny, I had just finished dling pretty much every emulator that looked worth its salt on Zophar's Domain just before I got that e-mail. As it stands, Beyond Oasis will only load in Megasis with Fix Checksum turned on, and the music is really skippy and static-laden. I may try killing a lot of the stuff I've got running - this PC is fairly robust, but the dual-monitor setup has confused many a program before...
As for Streets of Rage Quest, we may see something similar in Virtua Fighter Quest, which will doubtless have a recognizable Shenmue influence (wasn't Project Berkeley supposed to be Virtua Fighter RPG anyway?), so that might act as a good proof-of-concept. The SoR storyline is certainly deep enough to allow for some great storytelling, and some good writers got behind it, it could be an excellent gritty story on par with things like Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid (though obviously in a different vein). I really think it could be an excellent game, and I wouldn't be surprised if Sega was more receptive to it now than they were back then.
I want to apologize to immorak for completely ballooning this post with only semi-related replies, by the way! Maybe this thread could get continued on the list itself?
The impetus is taken!
Odd. I can get Beyond Oasis to run on several emulators. It is one of the more complex games released for the system. There are some fairly sophisticated tricks going on in order to get the kind of graphics out of the game that Ancient did -- so a lot of older emulators seemed to have difficulty. But most contemporary ones seem to be able to handle it well. Gens runs on Win2k just fine, last I noticed. (My notebook, on which I have 2000 installed, has needed a hard drive transplant for months; I keep forgetting to bother. But this is why my memory tells me.) I think that Kega has probably the most accurate sound emulation I've heard in a Genesis emulator, though. It's got just the right metallic riinginess to it.
You can usually judge the quality of sound emulation by the sound of Strider Hiryu's sword. This seems to be one of the most difficult noises to balance properly, and it's rare that it sounds even close to as it should. (When, incidentally, was the name of his sword changed from "Falchion" to "Cypher"? I keep wondering this, but there's never any answer. "Falchion" is so much more... interesting.)
Yeah. That's what I was poking fun at with my choice of title. I suppose VFQuest is the chance for all of the characters' stories to finally be told in-game somewhere. This has always been one of the annoying bits of Virtua Fighter; the characters do theoretically have some complex relationships and reasons for being there, but it never says anything within the game. Gives any context. VFQ seems like it's potentially intended to be a supplement to the fighting games, to help explain them.
Stupid roommate, turning on the vile television. Grr. Well, let's see how he deals with the King of Fighters '98 arrange soundtrack What was my train of thought, anyway?
I think I know a way to handle multiple players. Even with these adventure elements, SoR just wouldn't be the same if one didn't have the option of playing cooperatively. It'd be like a single-player Contra. I'm imagining scenarios where, say, one player is distracting a person by talking to him -- and progressing the plot at the same time. Meanwhile, the other player could be wandering around the background, poking his or her nose into places where it shouldn't be -- or perhaps getting ready to clonk the person on the head from behind.
Multiple solutions to any problem, but if you've got someone with you, some faster avenues will inevitably present themselves. This will make the adventure portions go more quickly and will keep the players from just sitting there for long periods. Make it feel like both people are involved. When you're playing alone, though, you'll probably end up having to take the long way around -- and perhaps the plot might end up being a little deeper and slower, to reflect that. While it would be more dynamic otherwise.
That enemy who would normally be spending five minutes blabbling interesting but useless plot details -- if you and your friend just want to play, the other person could just shut him up and allow you both to continue.
Because of all of this, it would seem that the plot would have to be fairly linear -- though the branching structure again would allow for a lot more flexibility and replay value and would give at least the illusion that one were affecting the flow more than was really the case.
I could see some interesting timed split-screen segments as well, where the players have to go on their separate routes in order to get things done before it's too late. Each one might trace a different path which would normally be one possible course of action in the one-player game. I don't think I've seen too many games which do this kind of a split-focus thing. I can't think of any off of the top of my head, anyway. There are a lot of possibilities for characters to be "together, but apart" here in order to keep things lively. Of course, they'd have to rejoin after one or two tasks else they would begin to feel a little alienated. But.
Buh. So much speculation. I wonder if Yuzo Koshiro is secretly lurking on this group. Heh. Kind of neat how he went from mere musician to having control over the series. Just shows the power of a good soundtrack.
Wasn't there something happening a little while ago between Koshiro and Hitmaker? I seemed to recall an interview on SegaWeb where he said he was talking with them about putting together a new SoR game for the Xbox. But I haven't heard anything about that in something like a year and a half, now.
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