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#1 02/01/07 18:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

JIAMs

JIAM (Japanese Influenced American Made) games are few and far in between.  I know two JIAMs in particular, which are Oni and Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator.  For those of you who want to find out exclusive (As far as I know) facts about Septerra Core, try this link:

www.lith.com/sites/septerra/

I have Septerra Core, and I have felt a connection to that game that I haven't felt for any other game (Except for possibly Oni).

What about you guys?  Do you have Septerra Core?  Have you tried it out?  Have you even heard of it?  I'd like to hear your input on all that.  smile

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#2 02/07/07 20:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

Oh, and it might interest you to know that at least one voice actor in Oni was in Septerra Core.  Pete Stacker, the voice actor for Terrence Griffin, did the voice for the main villian in Septerra Core, Doskias.  I tell you, Pete Stacker is good at what he does.  I mean, in Oni, he sounds normal and businesslike, and it's not until close to the end that his voice changes in terms of yelling.  However, in Septerra Core, he sounds low and sinister, and at the end, he's pretty much yelling.  Not bad for a Budweiser commercial announcer, eh?  (Wikipedia)

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#3 02/08/07 07:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

Pete Stacker owns, yeah.
Where does he "pretty much yell" in Oni?

BTW, Septerra Core on Wikipedia
For those who (like me) never heard of it.

Last edited by geyser (02/08/07 08:02)


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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#4 02/08/07 18:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

Well, in Oni, Griffin yells when Shinatama is coming at him, and he also yells when he shows up with some Black Ops troopers, telling Muro that he's under arrest.  On a side note, in that one level Dream Diver, Griffin sounds all low and sinister.  Let me tell you, that's just a taste of what Pete Stacker sounds like in Septerra Core.  smile

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#5 02/09/07 04:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

I'd say he's sinister enough in the commercials. I don't see them as inferior to his voicework in Oni, BTW.
If ol' Griffin actually yelled his lungs out in either C13 or C14, I think I'd noticed. I'd say he doesn't.
In C14, he's panting. In C13, he sounds vaguely alarmed but still hardly raises his voice.
It's a shame because I'd like to hear him actually yell. And no, I'm not getting Septerra Core smile


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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#6 02/09/07 09:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

Oooooh, that hurts!  big_smile  Well, that's okay!  I started this topic because I thought it was horrible that Septerra Core never got much attention, despite its great quality, and I figured that this was a good way to start giving it the justice it deserves.  If you did decide to buy it, then I would consider that an unexpected bonus and a feather to my cap.  Oh, and thanks for setting up that link to the Wikipedia entry on Septerra Core, geyser!  It was very kind of you, and didn't even think about that!  smile

It may not seem like it, but Septerra Core has a couple things in common with Oni.  First, they are not well known, but the people who know about them usually have them and are die-hard fans.  Second, they produced by companies who folded soon afterwards.  Oh, and did I forget to mention that both games were the only ones made by their corresponding companies?  Finally, they were made by American companies who were inspired by Japanese anime styles (What's a little interesting is how both games have a touch of realism to them in certain aspects, like the environment or character faces).  I know I would be happy to try to make some JIAM games myself!  big_smile

As for buying Septerra Core, allow me to take a certain old man's words and change them a little.  "That's your call.  You can buy Septerra Core or not.  It's up to you."  lol  smile

Last edited by stripeytiger (02/09/07 10:02)

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#7 02/09/07 17:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

Who's the girl on the cover (featured on the Wikipedia page)?
Looks a bit like Konoko... Or do we have to buy SC to find out? wink

Last edited by geyser (02/09/07 17:02)


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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#8 02/10/07 19:02

Tosh
Member
From: Oregon, USA
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

I haven't played, looks kinda interesting though i don't play RPGs often. To mention another "JIAM": Sigma Star Saga. :3 I love that game.

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#9 02/10/07 20:02

Soul
Member
Registered: 01/14/07

Re: JIAMs

I played it.It was reeeally nice(despite the horrible german voice acting). After about 75 hours playtime i stopped,because it got rather repetatve in the end.A really nice game,that i can only recommend and its really cheap,so buy it(no,i dont work for the selling company XD)


I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.
or should I?
You know what I'd like to be?
I mean if I had my goddamn choice, I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.

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#10 02/11/07 08:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

Oh, the girl on the cover is Maya.  She is the main character of the game, and her main weapon is a gun.  She is voiced by Karin Anglin, who does a wonderful job at voice acting in Septerra Core.  Two interesting facts to point out here is that in RPGs, the main character is usually male, and the main character usually has a sword.  It goes without saying that Septerra Core has the word "different" written all over it...in capital letters!  big_smile

You know, Maya does resemble Mai in certain ways, now that mention it.  smile

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#11 02/13/07 01:02

Phydur
Member
Registered: 01/13/07

Re: JIAMs

Tosh wrote:

I haven't played, looks kinda interesting though i don't play RPGs often. To mention another "JIAM": Sigma Star Saga. :3 I love that game.

awesome game, but kinda short IMHO.
for those who dont know what it is, and dont want to bother to look it up,
it is an interesting RPG where you are sent in as a double agent for some aliens that attacked earth.
what makes it interesting though, is that it plays like a platformer, you walk around 90 degree angle view (like super nintendo Final fantasy) , and in dungeon levels you get telleported to your ship. this is the interesting part becasue its a side scrolling shooter, much like R-Type, or Gradius.
and it is here where you level up.
you must shoot enemy ships and for each one you kill you get exp. (you have to pick it up though) and the goal of the level is to kill a certain number of guys.
then you go back to the ground and continue to puzzle solve and what-not.

oh and also, Maya and Mai even sound simmilar (maia)
but that probibly dosent even need to be said...


I intentionally spell dang, dange, FYI.

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#12 02/13/07 02:02

Mango
Member
From: VIC, Australia
Registered: 01/20/07

Re: JIAMs

Notice this reference to Bungie:

Wikipedia wrote:

This game was scored by Marty O'Donnell, and featured minor voice work from Steve Downes. When O'Donnell was asked to score Halo: Combat Evolved, he suggested Downes for the voice of Master Chief, which has brought Downes great fame and critical acclaim.


Bite off more than you can chew... then chew like hell!!!

oniuserbaren4.png

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#13 02/13/07 07:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

Let me tell you, Steve Downes is a great voice actor, in my opinion!  He talks in a deep, serene-sounding voice that's like, man!  There have been times when I look around and wonder if North America even has good voice actors.  I mean, I keep hearing about how Japanese voice actors do a better job than American voice actors (Although I'm starting to get the feeling that that's a biased viewpoint), and how American voice actors seem to stink.  Then a game like Septerra Core comes along, and bam!  You find out that there are great voice actors in America...you just don't hear them a lot!  big_smile

Now, if you compared Amanda Winn Lee and Karin Anglin and asked me which one I would pick as the better voice actor, then I would say Karin Anglin, definitely!  Why?  Well, that's because Amanda Winn Lee, in my opinion, sounded high-pitched and chirpy at several points in Oni.  Karin Anglin, on the other hand, demonstrated a wider range of emotions in Septerra Core.  Yep, that's what I think!  big_smile

Last edited by stripeytiger (02/13/07 18:02)

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#14 02/15/07 17:02

Soul
Member
Registered: 01/14/07

Re: JIAMs

Hmmm,i wish there were any german voice actors who knew how to do their job...in Septerra,especially Korgan and Leila(his girlfriend) speak without ANY emotion(even badu has more)


I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.
or should I?
You know what I'd like to be?
I mean if I had my goddamn choice, I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.

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#15 02/15/07 18:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

Soul? you're German?

I've checked out both Oni and Beyond Good & Evil in a variety of languages.
Germans don't do very good usually. The actors mostly just say their stuff without actually acting...
(they had some nice vocoding for Shinatama, though, but that's not exactly voice acting, and doesn't redeem the rest)

I don't think much of Amanda Winn Lee as Konoko: she's overacting. Stacker is overacting too, of course, but he's a lot better at it smile
Shinatama's overacting mostly sucks (actually, if it wasn't for the Easter Egg tirade about Karen, I'd be close to hating Shinatama's voice)
(Yes, I'm talking about the English version)

The English voice actress for Jade/Shauni in BGE, sounds great. Possibly the best voice actress I ever heard. Starcraft's Kerrigan comes close.
Name (well, probably alias) is Jodie Forrest (the French voice actress is better known: Emma de Caunes). Forrest apparently voiced Fahrenheit, Siberia, etc.

It's a shame that we're limited to JIAM here, otherwise maybe I could throw BGE somehow...
Or Oniblade, for instance. It's definitely Japanese Inspired, but it's made in Russia...
BTW, Oniblade is not only about screenshots now! there's a gameplay trailer (56 MB). So go get it ^^
Dunno if there'll ever a playable demo, though. Development seems to take "longer than expected".
Well, there's a bit more than for Strident already. BTW, wish we could talk Korean games, too...
There's more to this world than Japan and America, right?

Last edited by geyser (02/16/07 18:02)


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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#16 02/16/07 01:02

Phydur
Member
Registered: 01/13/07

Re: JIAMs

geyser wrote:

There's more to this world than Japan and America, right?

there is?!? yikes

sorry, i just couldnt resist. tongue


I intentionally spell dang, dange, FYI.

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#17 02/18/07 07:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

I have Beyond Good and Evil!  I bought that game at a computer store from the Devonshire mall.  It was just one of those games that caught my eye, and well...I have never regretted buying this game.

I'm confused, though.  It wasn't made in America?  I thought Ubisoft was in America.

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#18 02/18/07 08:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

Ubisoft is French. Lead designer: Michel Ancel, BGE composer: Christophe Heral, etc.
Team used to be based in Montpellier (southern France, where my parents live) at the time of BGE. Now the HQ is in Montreuil (near Paris).
Not quite BTW, I might be putting some of BGE's soundtrack up on oni2.net soon. And not BTW at all, Oniblade seems to be fun...

Last edited by geyser (02/18/07 08:02)


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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#19 02/18/07 17:02

Soul
Member
Registered: 01/14/07

Re: JIAMs

Yep geyser, im german^^
I played beyond good and evil too, it had really nice voice acting as far as i remember(i played the english version, i dont know if there is a german one).
OniBlade looks neat,i want to try that right now^^


I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.
or should I?
You know what I'd like to be?
I mean if I had my goddamn choice, I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.

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#20 02/20/07 08:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

I have a couple websites that I think would be interesting, and here they are.

www.the-underdogs.info/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_of_the_Underdogs

Home of the Underdogs is a website that specializes in games that aren't being sold or are hard to find anywhere, and as far as I know, Septerra Core and Oni aren't available there.  There are plenty of not famous games there that are really good though.

Last edited by stripeytiger (02/20/07 08:02)

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#21 02/20/07 09:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

AFAIR, it's a matter of choice: HOTU doesn't have any polygonal 3D games at all.
I recommend Abuse (Wikipedia...). Awesome gameplay and atmosphere.
In another life, I'd make an Abuse mod with a melee component and call it Oni 2D smile
Unlike most of the stuff on HOTU, Abuse is officially public-domain now, not potentially illegal "abandonware".
Interestingly, Bungie did the Mac port smile

Last edited by geyser (02/20/07 10:02)


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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#22 02/21/07 03:02

Mango
Member
From: VIC, Australia
Registered: 01/20/07

Re: JIAMs

What about this?


I played Prince of Persia [1] a really really long time ago. It may have been before I knew what a computer game was!


Bite off more than you can chew... then chew like hell!!!

oniuserbaren4.png

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#23 02/21/07 04:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

Mango wrote:

What about this?

As I said, "in another life".
Maybe as part of Serious Konoko.

Last edited by geyser (02/21/07 04:02)


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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#24 02/22/07 08:02

stripeytiger
Member
Registered: 01/25/07

Re: JIAMs

You know, guys, I was thinking that maybe instead of using JIAMs, maybe I should use Japanese Influenced Games (JIGs) or Far Eastern Influenced Games (FEIGs).  I mean, considering how there are several games made in several countries using Far Eastern ideas, why not?

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#25 02/22/07 14:02

geyser
Member
From: beyond the veil
Registered: 01/14/07
Website

Re: JIAMs

I'd make it "East Meets West", and I wouldn't limit the stuff to games.
Then we can talk just about anything from Oni to Kill Bill to GBG...

For those interested, Gaijin (the developer of Oniblade) is finalizing a racing game called Adrenalin 2.
I'm not too hot for "Fast & Furious" kind of stuff, but if they release A2, they might do OB... eventually.

If I understand correctly, they released more screenshots in September.
And the release date has been pushed back to "1st quarter of 2007", i.e., Soon(TM).
And if I also understand correctly, the game genre is very much like Serious Sam (-firepower+melee) smile
Now that will let me tease Croteam folks about their engine stabilization/upgrade-in-progress...

Last edited by geyser (02/22/07 20:02)


Behold the power of that which is yet unborn! For the swirling images that flow forth from the Chrysalis are only a shadow of the sleeper's true power.

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