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GAME: Klonoa: Phantasy Reverie Series




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wolf10



Joined: 23 Jan 2016
Posts: 931
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:11 pm Reply with quote
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Klonoa is super-adorable and he goes “Wa-hoo!” and his ears are fluffy and he has a little Pac- Man pin on his hat
This is all that needs to be said.

Haven't picked up the full version yet, what with Live-A-Live, Xenoblade 3, and Digimon Survive being right there, but I gave the demo a shot. Both games hold up very well, and I like that the Wiimake's expanded health bar is retained as "easy mode." May use that for Lunatea's Veil because I prefer taking my emotional suffering without adding on physical suffering as well.

After a quick peek in the options menu, I noticed a "Pixel Filter" which, more than just a cheap mosaic, fully imitates the color-space and resolution of the original PlayStation. Sort of. The modern enhancements like bloom, water refraction and render shadows are retained, and the overall effect is really striking without affecting playability as much as screen filters usually do. I teared up a bit watching the recreated opening to Door to Phantomile in all its low-bit, pixelated glory.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2696
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:15 pm Reply with quote
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The version featured in this set is the 2008 remake on the Wii. It's a minor disappointment, but given the original's striking mix of 3D backgrounds with amazing 2D spritework, the 2008 remake is nevertheless given a new lease on life and ultimately stands as a fantastic remake from the ground up. It also stands as an improvement on the 2008 port, as the U.S. version of that game had a new dub recorded for it. It wasn't a bad dub, but Eric Stitt's take on Klonoa was poorly directed, giving him much too old of a voice. Instead, the Phantasy Reverie Series uses the PS original's voice track. While heavily compressed and showing its age, it works brilliantly; Kumiko Watanabe's cheerful “Wa-hoo!”s are perfect, and the filtering mixes well with the made-up “Phantomilan” language. It also serves to make the villain Ghadius sound far more menacing and eldritch.


This isn't really accurate. The DtP that's featured in PRS is a new remake from the 2008 Wiimake, though they obviously do share similarities as they're based on the same original source. Klonoa's design in PRS, for example, is his original PS1 design & not the Wiimake's redesign (which was fine, but I can see why people would prefer the OG), as well as various differences in the visuals when you actually compare between PRS & the Wiimake.

Also, it astounds me how everyone seems to forget that the Wiimake was actually a triple-audio release, featuring not just the maligned English dub but also both Japanese audio & a brand new Phantomilian audio track, both done by the Japanese cast; I played the Wiimake in Phantomilian. Not just that, while DtP's voice work is used for 98% of PRS' audio, there are two moments in which the audio is very obviously taken from the Wiimake's Phantomilian audio, as those two instances feature crystal clear voice work. In fact, hardcore fans have even gotten annoyed at this, as they felt that the first instance of this clearer audio from the Wiimake (spoiler[for when Grandpa dies]) isn't anywhere near as well delivered as the DtP original audio. I think what we got is fine, and likely was done this way to emphasize the moments, or maybe the original PS1 audio for these moments was just in that bad of a shape.

While I do understand that the staff behind PRS likely used DtP's script for the translation, I think it would have been neat if we at least had the option of both Phantomilian audio tracks (DtP & Wiimake), as while the scripts do have some changes, I don't think any other than the most pedantic hardcore fans would have really noticed the differences in a made up language.

As for PRS, though, both games are excellently remade & I had a blast playing through them recently. At the very least, I hope this does well enough to prompt Bandai Namco to hire M2 to do a collection of the three handheld platformer entries (Moonlight Museum for WonderSwan, and Empire of Dreams & Dream Champ Tournament for the GBA), in the vein of the Castlevania Advance Collection.
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wolf10



Joined: 23 Jan 2016
Posts: 931
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:48 pm Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
This isn't really accurate. The DtP that's featured in PRS is a new remake from the 2008 Wiimake, though they obviously do share similarities as they're based on the same original source. Klonoa's design in PRS, for example, is his original PS1 design & not the Wiimake's redesign (which was fine, but I can see why people would prefer the OG), as well as various differences in the visuals when you actually compare between PRS & the Wiimake.
I popped in the Wii disk back when this collection was first announced, and there were several tells that the Wiimake was used as the base, but with some obvious changes like Klonoa's model. I'm now playing through both opening stages at the same time, and the level geometry is identical, down to the three individual rocks in the wheelbarrow in the cave, but the textures have been completely redone, rather than simply upscaled, and plants that were static before now move in the wind, among other visual improvements. It's a very, very good remaster, which is why it feels like a completely different game. They basically took the Wiimake and modded it like it was Skyrim.

EDIT: Klonoa's eyes move less in cutscenes, but the camera movements are the same, with only a the occasional static angle changed to account for the text box on the bottom. Balue's model is taken exactly from the Wii version. There also appear to be some balance adjustments, like more re-spawning enemies during jumping puzzles, but nothing besides the textures and Klonoa's new model appear to have been done entirely from scratch. It's not a 1:1 port, certainly, but the version used as a base is pretty clear.

EDIT 2: The Wiimake came packaged with a coupon for a free fish taco from Wahoo's. That is all that needs to be said.
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Gasero



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 939
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:02 pm Reply with quote
Klonoa is a franchise I adore and I consider it heavily underrated among 2D platformers. Klonoa places emphasis on puzzles in a way that many platformers do not. This is especially felt in the GBA games.

I think that future Klonoa games would be better off as small-scale digital only games that are more like the GBA versions than the Playstation versions. I hope that Namco Bandai finds value in making more entries for the franchise soon.
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BlueAlf



Joined: 02 Jan 2017
Posts: 1555
PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:43 pm Reply with quote
I knew Klonoa games were good but I'm surprised by how many people were fans of it. Really glad they made this release.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5524
PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2022 1:50 am Reply with quote
I would have brought this in a heartbeat, if it had included the original PlayStation game.
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1dbad



Joined: 12 Jul 2015
Posts: 726
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 11:10 pm Reply with quote
I'm a Klonoa fan who got into the series via Lunatea's Veil. It's been fun getting to re-visit a childhood fave, and I'm enjoying getting to do my second ever playthrough of the original game.

Really hope this has done well enough for a Klonoa 3 to at least be a possibility. I also second that a collection of the handheld titles would be nice.
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