So... anyone else pick up the latest import, courtesy of Atlus USA?
(My purchase of choice)
Baroque (which is an updated port of an earlier Saturn/PS1 title that I
also own) is, to be sure, one of the most bizarre games I have ever played.
(Intro here)
Are you familiar with most video game plots being clearly spelled out for you? The story in Baroque is both vague and difficult to grasp; plot strands alter from time to time and will either contribute to your understanding or build up an ever-murky state of confusion.
(Promotional video)
Are you familiar with most video games being forgiving in terms of player death? Not so in Baroque. Much like the 'rogue-likes' it is apparently based off of, death is punished severely... you are dropped back out of the central dungeon, right back at Level 1, with no equipment and no items on hand.
(Basic gameplay montage)
On the other hand, are you familiar with video games cutting off your experience post-partum and forcing you to start anew? Not so in Baroque; death is only a part of the experience. While, arguably, you could live on and succeed in mastering the tower (the aforementioned central dungeon), death is also acceptable... you will start at the very beginning, to be sure, but things will have changed, and the flow of the game itself will eventually be heavily altered.
Are you familiar with many games being overly friendly in terms of health provided to the character - plentiful items and the like? Not so much in Baroque. There is a Vitality meter which begins draining as soon as you begin - before you even enter the tower - and continues to bleed out until it reaches 0... at which point your health starts to bleed away as well. Naturally, reaching 0 in Health equates to death. The benefit of VT is that, while you have a constant supply of it, your HP will regenerate... so it's very important to balance both, to say nothing of such status afflictions as poison, paralysis, lust, and the like.
There is more, to be sure - the twisted character and enemy design, the ever-shifting nature of the tower floors, the fact that items you equip show up on the main character (a factor that pleased me quite a bit), the five or six menus of unlockable sounds, background information, and the like... there's simply a lot to Baroque.
I'm enjoying it thus far... it's difficult, but it's fair, and the experience, which brims with sinister music, dark, gnarled tunnels, and nightmarish enemies is almost comparable to a classic survival horror title. Those who dislike horror elements and/or rogue-like elements may... not care for this title so much. And, hey, that's okay. To each their own.
I recommend each and everyone of you give it a shot, though... provided you can find a copy. (Muwahahaha etc) Now, as the Coffin Man would say, go and play, goddamnit!
PS I would embed YouTube videos in this but I'm not quite sure if that's possible with this forum format. So eh.