P.N.03 - official

[Rocca]

Was their something you didn't like about GV? Not a flame war, I'm merely curious to your thoughts on GV.

[Joust Williams]

Well...I can't say that I played a whole lot of it, but a) I thought the control method was atrocious (by comparison, PN03 just clicks for me) and b) I'd kill every guy in the level but maybe one guy I missed and then have to go all the way back to find him and kill him.

[Rocca]

Matter of taste I suppose, but that's what made it so great . PN03 was a puzzle for me, I enjoyed the first hour or two but afterwards, it was easy to see that they just rehashed the same levels with added lighting effects. It's still very good, I just didn't welcome it with open arms on the first shot. Might pick it up now that it's 20$.

[Joust Williams]

Yeah...it's definitely not a game for looking around in ;p The combo system sold me within 2 seconds.

[Rocca]

But I really enjoyed the control scheme in P.N.03, unlike alot of people [except perhaps tnl], it utilizes the dancing part of the game, you know timing. I'm pretty sure Matt Casamassina [who reviewed the game] was having an angstful weekend and just threw it on pn03.

[Clash!]

I like Gunvalk better my self, mainly due to interesting environments and enemies and everything. PN 03 is still great, but it almost to me feels like GV Lite, in some ways.

[James]

I'm really enjoying PN 03, although I'm playing it through on Normal for my first round and it's kicking my ass every level. I can chain a few rooms all the way through with no damage but nowhere near all of them.

It's distance from an enemy rather than enemy size dictating combo time? Are you sure? I'd noticed that the weak flying guys that only take 3-4 hits gave far less time than the medium-sized tanks, which gave less than the turrets that shoot the one-hit kill beam at you. I hadn't realized there was a distance element in there too. Time to investigate...

I'm finding the mission interesting enough in their own way, but it's the between-level Trial missions that I really enjoy. Random room arrangement means near-infinite replay value.

Oh, and either it's a hard game or I suck at this. Not sure which yet.

James

[Rocca]

I just love the style, even though it gets a bit repetitive, the bland, grey architecture is real sweet

[BioMechanic]

Is it just me or do you guys through this into the same catergory as Gunvalkryie? Sure they technically play differently, but feel the same.

Aside from the fact that they both share an unusual control scheme, a female lead, and shooting, they don't feel the same to me. It took me five minutes to adjust to P.N.03, three hours to learn GunValk. As much as I enjoy GunValk for the atmosphere, P.N.03 has more replay for me value due to the combo system. With GV, once you learn the controls, the game's quite easy.

Also, Professional is the highest rank you can get on a level correct, and then its Destroyer, Amateur, and then Rookie correct?

Pro is the highest. I think Regular is between Amateur and Destroyer. I don't know how the ranking system works, but if you want Pro, you'd better get lots of hefty chains and No Damage Clears.

And I have only one trial mission unlocked so far, do I need to get more Professional rankings to get more?

Each level (except the last one) has a set of five trial missions - yes, that's 50 total - and the only way to unlock the next one in the set is to score a Professional ranking. If you want all the Aegis suits and endings, you'll have to score Pro on all fifty during the same game.....time consuming, but worth it, both for the unlockables and the challenge.

I don't think there's a distance factor in the chaining - enemies give you a certain time extension, no matter how/where you waste em.

[James]

Whoops, looks like I'm stuck with a replay then. I was just using the trial missions as an easy way to getenough points to collect the suits and power up whichever one I wanted to use next. No Aegis suit for me on this go-round.

James