Comments on Rise of the Kasai?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (More info?)

I'm guessing everyone is busy with God of War, but has anyone picked
up Rise of the Kasai and given it a whirl yet?

After months of looking forward to this title, the reviews have been
pretty mediocre, with a gamerankings average of 72%. This wouldn't
keep me from buying it, but I'd like to hear from some people here,
especially those who thought Mark of Kri was deserved a lot more
attention than it got.

Thanks,

Nick

--
# sigmask (lambda deprecation version) 20041028 || feed this to a python
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[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (More info?)

"Nick Vargish" <nav+posts@bandersnatch.org> wrote in message
news:87mzsabt9k.fsf@localhost.localdomain...
> I'm guessing everyone is busy with God of War, but has anyone picked
> up Rise of the Kasai and given it a whirl yet?
>
> After months of looking forward to this title, the reviews have been
> pretty mediocre, with a gamerankings average of 72%. This wouldn't
> keep me from buying it, but I'd like to hear from some people here,
> especially those who thought Mark of Kri was deserved a lot more
> attention than it got.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nick

I loved the original Mark of Kri. While short, the action was satisfying,
the means of tagging enemies and assigning action buttons to them was
brilliant, and the overall animation and artistic look of the game was a
breath of fresh air.

I don't think it's the case that Rise of the Kasai is worse than Mark of
Kri. I think the lower ratings reflect the fact that the game has remained
the same while the competition has changed. Think about it--the original
Kri came out before Prince of Persia and God of War. The sequel has to
compete with those games, and frankly, there is no comparison. Kasai is
still a fun game if you liked the original, but without the "uniqueness"
factor that Mark of Kri had going for it, you are just left with the
artistic portion (which is good, but which can no longer carry the game).
The enemy AI hasn't been improved, and the "co-operative" aspects (remnants
of the scrapped on-line game, no doubt) didn't add much to the game. In
fact, I think they detracted from the game--it's no longer good enough to
hold your own in battle, but now you have to watch out for a partner. Maybe
it's my faulty memory, but I thought a lot of the environments in the
original look better than in the sequel. You no longer have save scrolls,
but must find a save point, which I thought was the only other change for
the worse. Otherwise, it is very similar.

Would I recommend it? Only to fans of the first Mark of Kri, understanding
that the sequel has the same positive (and negative) attributes as the
original. As I wrote in my review, if Kasai were a PC game, it would be the
$19.95 "add-on" disk. It could have come out three years ago, shortly after
the original, and doesn't look or play as if it had benefited from any
technological improvements made since that time. Meanwhile, games such as
God of War and Prince of Persia push the PS2 to greater heights.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (More info?)

Nick Vargish wrote:
> I'm guessing everyone is busy with God of War, but has anyone picked
> up Rise of the Kasai and given it a whirl yet?
>
> After months of looking forward to this title, the reviews have been
> pretty mediocre, with a gamerankings average of 72%. This wouldn't
> keep me from buying it, but I'd like to hear from some people here,
> especially those who thought Mark of Kri was deserved a lot more
> attention than it got.

I haven't been paying too much attention, but is this the sequel to
Mark of Kri? If so, I'd definitely be picking this game up as I felt
Mark of Kri was very underrated.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (More info?)

"Android" <androvich@NOcomcastSPAM.net> writes:

> Would I recommend it? Only to fans of the first Mark of Kri, understanding
> that the sequel has the same positive (and negative) attributes as the
> original. As I wrote in my review, if Kasai were a PC game, it would be the
> $19.95 "add-on" disk.

Thanks for the comments, Mark (it's Mark, right?)... I think I will
be picking it up, though it's too bad they didn't do more with the
three years they had to work on it.

Nick

--
# sigmask (lambda deprecation version) 20041028 || feed this to a python
print ''.join([chr(ord(x)-1) for x in 'Ojdl!Wbshjti!=ojdlAwbshjti/psh?'])

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (More info?)

"Nick Vargish" <nav+posts@bandersnatch.org> wrote in message
news:87ekdmbgq4.fsf@localhost.localdomain...
> "Android" <androvich@NOcomcastSPAM.net> writes:
>
> > Would I recommend it? Only to fans of the first Mark of Kri,
understanding
> > that the sequel has the same positive (and negative) attributes as the
> > original. As I wrote in my review, if Kasai were a PC game, it would be
the
> > $19.95 "add-on" disk.
>
> Thanks for the comments, Mark (it's Mark, right?)... I think I will
> be picking it up, though it's too bad they didn't do more with the
> three years they had to work on it.
>
> Nick

Yep, it's Mark. Good memory! As you are a fan of the original, let me know
what you think about the game if you do pick it up. I'd hate to be steering
people wrong!

I bought a boxed copy of Kasai today, actually, even though I already have
the review beta around here somewhere. Just wanted to financially support
what I thought was a worthy franchise. I'm glad Sony gave it another
chance, after sales of the original were disappointing. Unfortunately, after
reading the reviews of the sequel, I don't expect a third game...not from
Sony, at least. Perhaps Ubisoft or another publisher will be interested, or
maybe the developer will get the online portion working and take advantage
of the power of the next generation PS3 to improve upon the game. In the
meantime, I'd love to see a PSP version...either a straight port of Mark of
Kri or a new game set in the Kri universe.

Mark

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (More info?)

Yep, Rise of the Kasai is the sequel (and prequel) to Mark of Kri.

Nick

--
# sigmask (lambda deprecation version) 20041028 || feed this to a python
print ''.join([chr(ord(x)-1) for x in 'Ojdl!Wbshjti!=ojdlAwbshjti/psh?'])

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (More info?)

"Android" <androvich@NOcomcastSPAM.net> writes:

> In the meantime, I'd love to see a PSP version...either a straight
> port of Mark of Kri or a new game set in the Kri universe.

That would frustrate me, since my chances of buying a PSP are slim to
nil right now (I need to buy a new server for the home and other
hard-luck stories)... But I agree in principle -- one of the things
that set Mark of Kri above the crowd was the stylish and unique world
the designers built. That, and the whole Jungle Book meets Kill Bill
juxtaposition.

Hopefully I'll pick up Rise of the Kasai this weekend or next, and
I'll comment in the newsgroup.

Nick

--
# sigmask (lambda deprecation version) 20041028 || feed this to a python
print ''.join([chr(ord(x)-1) for x in 'Ojdl!Wbshjti!=ojdlAwbshjti/psh?'])