Tuesday, December 13, 2016

FromSoftware Should Make An Escaflowne-esque Game And Here's Why

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Imagine a Dark Souls game with giant medieval mecha




Think about it.  The company behind titles like Dark Souls and Armored Core would be great at combining the sense of detail and scale needed for something like this.  For those of you who don't know, Escaflowne is an anime series about a fictional fantasy world called Fanelia that is now steeped in war.  In Escaflowne there are knights that pilot giant mechanized suits of armor called Guymelefs that seem to be powered by steam and dragon's blood via a dragon's magical heart.  Thanks to their knightly training guymelef pilots incorporate their swordsmanship into their piloting skills.  So just imagine playing a normal game of Dark Souls then stepping into a giant guymelef for fights on a larger scale.  Imagine having to face an opponent that's like 10x the size of the Gaping Dragon.  Or imagine actually getting to fairly challenge someone like The Dragon God from Demon's Souls.  Only something of the scale of a guymelef would allow you to do that in a non-game breaking manner.

The cool thing is I think Fromsoft is uniquely positioned to make a game like this, moreso than even than one of my other favorite studios Level 5 who had a similar premise with White Knight Chronicles.  I think making a game like this strictly action based with RPG elements like the Souls series would be a much more enticing and visceral way to go.

Also imagine something with the modification options of Armored Core, like the gear swapping I mean, and imagine being able to equip various gigantic swords, shields, axes, lances, mauls, and perhaps even side weapons like crossbows, cannons, etc.  That would be super frickin' neat!  Namco is also no stranger to handling games with a mixture of normal battle systems and mecha battle systems.  The Xenosaga series has also incorporated both, particularly in #3 where both were served up heartily.  FromSoftware has announced a new IP and so I can only hope that this is what that turns out to be, because it would truly be a dream project for a fan like myself who loves all the above creative properties.

4 comments:

  1. Didn't Miyazaki express interest in doing a fantasy mech game and mentioned escaflowne anyway let's hope

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    1. I'm not sure. I believe he recently said that one of his three current projects wasn't a fantasy mech game. But I hope he eventually puts two and two together and sees how this might be his biggest hit yet.

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  2. Coming in VERY late but believe it or not, they already did one. Their one Dreamcast game Frame Gride is a more arcadey version of Armored Core (1v1 duels only, simpler customization) with magically powered fantasy mecha with big swords that shoot spells.

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    1. Awesome! Thanks for this tidbit. It looks like a hidden gem. Looking at it reminds me of Virtual On but it has that Fromsoft Dark Fantasy look.

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