How should they do a Berserk game?

We all know how the director from Metal Gear Rising said that he wanted to make a Kill La Kill or Berserk game. Praying to God for the latter got me thinking.

How should they do a game, if it ever happens? Should they just adapt the manga, or add a side story? Gameplay?

Personally, as long as the gameplay is slow and brutal, and full of the red stuff, I'd be satisfied.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Déjà vu :void:

We talked about this just a few days ago in the Dark Souls III thread:

Walter said:
It's actually something I've put a lot of thought into. With the introduction of Fantasia, I think it might be possible to create a Berserk RPG set on the fringes of the world as we've been shown it, focusing on humans surviving by fighting through astral creatures. But in a way that (somehow) doesn't upset the predefined balance of power in the main series. However, it absolutely wouldn't make sense as a Souls-type game.

The major problem with that notion is that eventually you would expect the combat to scale up in difficulty, and thus the player character would encounter apostles. And what then...? The nameless hero takes down 5-10 apostles in one-on-one combat? It'd be apocryphal. Who is this character? And how would they fit in the scope of the Berserk world?

Games are about empowerment, but there's a hard wall in Berserk's universe about how much a human can accomplish. It's the basic premise of the series.

Now, if you make the protagonist an APOSTLE, suddenly things get interesting :zodd: but then, presuming the game is reflecting the Berserk world properly, battles would become too easy.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
TheAlmightyDork said:
We all know how the director from Metal Gear Rising said that he wanted to make a Kill La Kill or Berserk game. Praying to God for the latter got me thinking.

Please note that a single tweet from Kenji Saito means nothing in the grand scheme of things. People shouldn't get their hopes up only based on that.

TheAlmightyDork said:
How should they do a game, if it ever happens? Should they just adapt the manga, or add a side story? Gameplay?

The manga's story just isn't compatible with the medium. It's been done before (PS2 Game), and it was awkward. It works, but it's definitely not the best way to go about it. A side story written by Miura, like that of the Dreamcast game, is the best possible option. As for the gameplay, a third person view action game seems most appropriate if you want to feature Guts as the main character.

TheAlmightyDork said:
Personally, as long as the gameplay is slow and brutal, and full of the red stuff, I'd be satisfied.

Well if you're playing as Guts it shouldn't be slow, on the contrary you should be mowing through hordes of enemies unless fighting a boss.
 
Quite the negative nelly. I get that one Tweet isn't much, but it's just wishful thinking.

And I wouldn't say that a game isn't the right medium for it. As long as it is done right, it doesn't matter how it is adapted.

And to clarify, what I mean by slow and brutal is that Platinum games focus on speed and mobility (Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, Viewtiful Joe, etc.). So a game that focuses more on slow, strategic strikes sounds interesting.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
TheAlmightyDork said:
Quite the negative nelly. I get that one Tweet isn't much, but it's just wishful thinking.

I just don't want people to be disappointed because they read too much into it. But I'm all for wishful thinking, and we've had this kind of talk (what kind of game could be made) many times over the years. :slan:

TheAlmightyDork said:
And I wouldn't say that a game isn't the right medium for it. As long as it is done right, it doesn't matter how it is adapted.

Well you asked for opinions so I'm giving you mine. It's been done before with the PS2 game. The compromises made to the story for it to work as a game diminished it greatly, and were not worth it in my opinion. And with all due respect, how it's adapted crucially matters in order for it to be "done right".

Anyway, my point is that Berserk is story and character driven. The appeal of a Berserk game is to play as a known character, i.e. Guts. Yet because of the fact Berserk is story-driven, there is very little leeway in how a game can work while remaining respectful of the original material. In the PS2 game, Guts fought enemies he didn't fight in the manga, and he fought them differently as well. He had more trouble going through situations for the sake of the game, etc. That lessens his character, and having the story unfold differently from the manga is detrimental to the player's enjoyment. So in that regard I think a side story is really the clear way to go.

TheAlmightyDork said:
And to clarify, what I mean by slow and brutal is that Platinum games focus on speed and mobility (Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, Viewtiful Joe, etc.). So a game that focuses more on slow, strategic strikes sounds interesting.

Sure, that would definitely be the way to go about it.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
TheAlmightyDork said:
Quite the negative nelly. I get that one Tweet isn't much, but it's just wishful thinking.

I'm all about wishful thinking, but I think that when little offhand comments like Saito's come out, the whole Berserk community goes a-twitter (no pun intended) when there's nothing of substance to discuss yet. It's mostly because I think we're used to not getting much besides Berserk references or homages in games, so any little morsel tends to be treated like a big announcement. Still, it's fun to imagine. :guts:

TheAlmightyDork said:
And to clarify, what I mean by slow and brutal is that Platinum games focus on speed and mobility (Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, Viewtiful Joe, etc.). So a game that focuses more on slow, strategic strikes sounds interesting.

Slow and brutal... Hey, that could work! What do you think of Berserk Monopoly? :slan: But seriously though, a fan-made Berserk board game would be fun. Sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands!
 
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