Anyone else played it? It's basically a mix between Dragon Quest and a Studio Ghibli movie, complete with an enthralling score by Joe Hisaishi. Finished the demo in about an hour during my commute to work this morning - and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I have to say something about the design work. Simply put, there's not a single character or environment in this game that I haven't seen in a Ghibli movie.
I haven't bothered looking up the names, so I'm just going to give them labels: the boy looks just like Arren from Gedo Senki; the little doll that comes to life, Shizuku I think his name is, reminds me of the frogs in Spirited Away; the little horned-knight that joins your party at one point looks like the simplified/devolved version of Ponyo. Except with horns.
As far as environments, there's so much that reminds me of Ghibli's films: from the forest that is similar to the environs surrounding Mei and Satsuki's house in Tonari no Totoro to the European town that is just like those used in films from Kiki's Delivery Service to Gedo Senki, a boss reminiscent somehow of both the tatari gami in Mononoke Hime and the giant robot from Castle in the Sky...Ghibli fans have seen all this before. It's clear from this recycling that Miyazaki has had little to no involvement in the game; the last I checked, he's not a big gaming fan anyway.
Having said that - I did mean it when I said I thoroughly enjoyed this demo and I will play it again. There's something to be said for being able to steer an avatar through a Studio Ghibli created world - a world that, while created for this new game, will be instantly familiar to Ghibli fans.
I haven't bothered looking up the names, so I'm just going to give them labels: the boy looks just like Arren from Gedo Senki; the little doll that comes to life, Shizuku I think his name is, reminds me of the frogs in Spirited Away; the little horned-knight that joins your party at one point looks like the simplified/devolved version of Ponyo. Except with horns.
As far as environments, there's so much that reminds me of Ghibli's films: from the forest that is similar to the environs surrounding Mei and Satsuki's house in Tonari no Totoro to the European town that is just like those used in films from Kiki's Delivery Service to Gedo Senki, a boss reminiscent somehow of both the tatari gami in Mononoke Hime and the giant robot from Castle in the Sky...Ghibli fans have seen all this before. It's clear from this recycling that Miyazaki has had little to no involvement in the game; the last I checked, he's not a big gaming fan anyway.
Having said that - I did mean it when I said I thoroughly enjoyed this demo and I will play it again. There's something to be said for being able to steer an avatar through a Studio Ghibli created world - a world that, while created for this new game, will be instantly familiar to Ghibli fans.
