Sudeki

Sudeki
Developer(s)	Climax Studios
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios[a]
Director(s)	Jason Avent
Producer(s)	Mark Simmons
Designer(s)	Tuomas Pirinen
Programmer(s)	Stewart Lynch Leigh Bird Dave Owens
Artist(s)	Chris Gottgetreu James Brace Kevin Martin
Writer(s)	Eamon Murtagh
Composer(s)	Tom Colvin
Platform(s)	Xbox Microsoft Windows
Release	Xbox NA: 20 July 2004 EU: 27 August 2004 Microsoft Windows EU: 25 March 2005
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Sudeki is an action role-playing game developed by Climax Studios and initially published by Microsoft Game Studios as an Xbox exclusive in 2004. It was later ported to Microsoft Windows, released by Zoo Digital Publishing.

Gameplay

Protagonists Tal and Buki battle a group of enemies.

Sudeki is an action role-playing game where players take control of up to four characters, exploring a variety of locations including towns, rural areas and roads, wilderness, and underground temples and mines from a third-person camera perspective.^[3][4] The world is split between the main world Haskilia, the mirror world Akloria, and the Realm of Shadows.^[5] During exploration, the party can interact with non-playable characters (NPCs), break containers to find items, interact with local facilities, and discover treasure chests.^[5][6] Each character has a dedicated health (HP) bar and Skill Point (SP) bar which powers magic and special moves.^[5]

While in towns, the party can visit shops to purchase materials and items for healing and status buffs, stay at inns to rest and recover character stats, and use the blacksmith purchase and upgrade weapons.^[5] During exploration, each protagonist has unique abilities; Tal can push and pull heavy objects, Ailish can reveal hidden objects including chests and pathways, Buki can climb some surfaces, and Elco can use his jetpack to cross otherwise-impassable gaps between areas.^[4][5] In addition to the main story-driven quest, talking to certain NPCs lead into side quests which can be completed for different rewards.^[7][8] Save points are found at different points through the environment.^[5]

The combat system is a combination of real-time fighting action, and menu-based item and ability selection which pauses time.^[7][8] Combat takes place in specific arena areas within locations outside towns. The characters have different combat styles and perspectives.^[4][5] Tal and Buki fight in third-person using timed button combos to execute different melee attacks, being able to move or dodge around them during combat. Ailish and Elco switch gameplay style to first-person shooter, moving freely around the arena and using assigned weapons to fire projectiles at different rates.^[4][9][10] Characters not under the player's control have customisable behaviour patterns, such as attacking directly, keeping distance, or focusing on providing support.^[5][7] There are different status buffs (health regeneration, attack boost) and ailments (poisoning, slowed movement) which play a role in battle for both the party and enemy groups.^[5] Items are accessed from a shared inventory.^[11]

As they progress through the game, defeating enemies and completing quests, party members are rewarded with experience points. After raising a level, they acquire an ability point to invest in one of a character's four statistics (health, skill point pool, attack power, skill duration and effectiveness), or purchase new combat abilities.^[4][5] All characters have access to standard Skill Strikes, which can buff the party or be used against enemies. When Skills are being selected and used time slows down.^[4][9] Cinematic Spirit Strikes, which are unlocked by progressing the story, can be activated once a special meter is filled by killing enemies, taking damage, or performing successful combos. Similar to Skill Strikes, they can either deal damage to enemies or buff the party.^[3][6][12]

Characters

Tal

Tal's father left his family in order to pursue a place in the Illumina army, leaving Tal and his brother to be raised by their mother. The war claimed the lives of Tal's brother and mother, leaving him alone. Lacking a role model in life, Tal sought out to prove himself and soon joined the Illumina Guard, only to be put under the command of his own father. Though a strong swordsman, memories of the loss still haunt him. He happens to be the descendant of Kariston the Wolf and his weapon of choice is the sword.

Ailish

Daughter of Queen Lusica and princess of Illumina, Ailish has lived her life in royalty. Since she was young she was gifted with magical abilities. Her father, Baron Felson, died a tragic and mysterious death when Ailish was conceived. She was led to live a sheltered life that left her yearning for more, to go out and venture into the world. Though she lacked friends of the same stature as herself, her only friends are Yemi and Tilly, her servants. She usually likes to sit at her balcony and watch Tal train in the courtyard below. She is the Descendant of Olivetess the Eagle and her chosen weapon is a staff. When fighting with Ailish, the view goes into first person.

Buki

Voiced by: Karen Hayley

The huntress Buki's parents were leaders of the hunting pack that provided food for the people of her village. When a great plague struck the village, all of the adults died leaving the children on their own. The village shaman saw this as a way of renewing the tribe, so he took Buki under his wing and trained her. She is an Anthropomorph, a race of half-human half-animal beings sharing the world with humans. She holds great respect for the mystical world and honors the deities that watch over it. Buki is also a formidable warrior, she is the Descendant of Mo the Great Cat and her weapon of choice are wrist mounted blades.

Elco

Voiced by: Matthew Wolf

A tireless scientist and inventor, Elco is extremely smart for his young age. He lost his left arm in an industrial accident and endured the pain of grafting a mechanical arm in its place, paid for by queen Lusica. He is mistrustful of mystical beliefs that are not grounded in the world that he can see and understand, but his loyalty to his friends and his liege is unquestionable. He is also married to Tilly, who he holds highly above everything else. He can be heard talking Dutch with one of his professors, implying it to be the language of his hometown. He is the Descendant of Lebius the Dragon and his weapon of choice is a gun. When fighting with Elco, the view goes into first person.

Release

Sudeki was first announced in January 1999 under its original title Symphony of Light.^[13][14] It was re-announced in September 2002 at X02 with its final title, platform and publisher.^[15] Originally scheduled for release in the 2003 holiday season, it was postponed to the following year to allow the developers more time to polish the gameplay.^[16] It released in North America on 20 July 2004,^[17] and in Europe on 27 August 2004.^[18]

A Japanese release was announced at a press conference in June 2004 alongside other Xbox titles.^[19] It formed part of Microsoft's strategy for promoting the console in Japan, principally by tapping into the RPG market that at the time was dominated by the PlayStation 2.^[19][20] As part of its promotion, several notable voice actors were brought in to dub the characters.^[21] The cover art was designed by manga artist Yamato Yamamoto.^[22] It released in the region on 14 July 2005 under the title Sudeki: Sennen no Akatsuki no Monogatari.^[b][23]

A port to Windows was developed by Climax Action, a studio division formed through a team merger following the release of Sudeki which incorporated the staff of Climax Solent.^[1][24] The port was announced in February 2005, and was published by Zoo Digital Publishing on 25 March 2005 as a European exclusive.^[1] The PC version was published in Asia during August 2005 in Hong Kong and Singapore by Typhoon Games.^[25] Climax re-released the PC version through Steam and GOG.com in 2014; the Steam version released on 24 February, while the GOG version released on 23 April.^[2][26] The GOG version was delisted on 28 May 2020.^[2] While a sequel was assumed to exist following a job request from Climax including the title Sudeki 2, the title was revealed to be a typo: Microsoft, owners of the Sudeki IP, had not either requested a sequel or hired Climax for any such project.^[27]

Reception

In a September sales report from the NPD Group, Sudeki was the tenth best-selling Xbox title of August in North America with sales of over 16,500 units.^[37] In the UK, the game only reached #25 in general sales charts.^[38] In Japan, the game sold over 6,200 units, making it the 78th best-selling Xbox game in the country.^[39]

Computer and Video Games described the title as a reasonable RPG experience for children and genre newcomers, but lacking anything to hold genre veterans.^[11] Edge Magazine generally enjoyed the combat and exploration, but felt that it had an identity crisis going on between its complex elements and intended audience of RPG newcomers.^[31] Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer summed up that "despite building most of the game upon fondly remembered Japanese RPGs, Sudeki doesn't really leave us with any that justify the time we invested in it."^[9] Matt Helgeson of Game Informer said that the maind draw for him had been its character customisation systems, with other elements feeling unfinished or unpolished; a second opinion from Lisa Mason praised the genre balance and art direction but found multiple frustrating points.^[10]

Brian Gee of Game Revolution found the game too linear and called it worth a look but not worth buying or playing for a long time.^[33] By contrast, GamePro was very positive about the game, praising its narrative choices and gameplay design while noting its linear structure.^[32] GameSpot described Sudeki as "more style than substance", with the numerous faults he found outweighing the merits of its combat system.^[4] Christian Nutt, writing for GameSpy, felt that its combat system was a good foundation for potential sequels but it was otherwise an underwhelming experience.^[34] Hilary Goldstein of IGN, found it an enjoyable experience despite its short length and weaker parts to its narrative.^[12] Francesca Reyes, writing for Official Xbox Magazine, felt that the game was ambitious but let down by underdeveloped or poorly-implemented elements of its narrative and game design.^[35] PC Zone shared many points of praise and criticism with console reviewers, also noting several moments of slowdown even on powerful PCs.^[36]

The story often saw a mixed reaction, with most calling it overly generic and poorly paced.^{[4][10][31][33][36]} The combat system and its customisation met with general acclaim from critics,^{[10][12][31][34][35]} though several cited a lack of greater depth and floaty aiming and controls.^{[4][9][11][33]} The puzzle design also saw a negative reaction for its simplistic or uninventive design.^[10][31][34] The graphics met with general praise for their smooth design and bright aesthetic.^{[12][32][33][35][36]} The main character designs were faulted by a few reviewers.^[31][34] Though GamePro and Goldstein praised the quality of the voice work,^[12][32] many other critics panned it for poor delivery.^{[4][9][35][36]} Frame rate issues were also noted across both versions.^[12][35][36]

References

Citations

Notes

External links

• Sudeki at MobyGames