BAROQUE/Sting Megathread

_games
1

We all know BAROQUE, the classic Rogue-Type RPG Dungeon Crawler originally released for Sega Saturn by Sting in 1998. It was also later brought to PlayStation and then had a remake for PS2 and Wii that actually got localized in English, though many prefer the original. Anyway, since we’re all familiar with this beloved classic, I wanted to create a thread about it.

bafkreigozhvbmatkam5qn6psdsvmzultmr3sy4oaorbtxn3bbtwx5yibda
bafkreigozhvbmatkam5qn6psdsvmzultmr3sy4oaorbtxn3bbtwx5yibda1920×1440 216 KB

My copies of BAROQUE and related material :3

Recently Sting announced the collection Baroque-Ya (Baroque Shop) for Switch, which includes BAROQUE: Original Version (initially released on the Japanese e-Shop in 2020), an emulated re-release of the original Saturn version of the game, as well as new versions of BAROQUE Syndrome, a visual novel initially released on PSX, BAROQUE Shooting, a vertical shmup that I think was originally a fan game? and BAROQUE ~Become a Meta-Being~, the inexplicable 2022 mobile Frogger clone.

Of course, the big question is, is this going to get any sort of release outside of Japan? It’s hard to say, but I while looking for information about Baroque-Ya, I noticed something interesting, so far there’s ONLY been mention of it being a physical release for Switch. I think the reason is that each of these titles are getting standalone releases digitally, since BAROQUE: Original Version has already been on Switch eShop for years, it doesn’t really make sense to also release a collection containing that title, unless I guess they delist it? But anyway, this is significant for a couple of reasons: One, it means they could be planning a separate announcement for the digital versions, and two, they could be coming to Steam.

Sting has actually been pretty supportive of Steam recently, since 2023 having released Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord, Yggdra Union, Dokapon Kingdom: Connect, Riviera: The Promised Land, DATE A LIVE: Ren Dystopia, Dokapon! Sword of Fury, Touhou Spell Carnival, MACHO DE PON! for Steam (yes that’s the title of the game) and most recently, Viractal: World of Viractalia, an early access title that is currently available ONLY on Steam.

Viractal: World of Viractalia is pretty neat by the way and y’all should check it out. I haven’t bought the game yet but I played the demo. It’s a board game RPG similar in spirit to Dokapon but it also seems to take some inspiration from indie deckbuilding games like Slay the Spire. It’s pretty neat to see something like this from a Japanese developer and it’s a shame how little press and attention it has gotten outside of Japan.

Anyway, this tangent is to say hey maybe they’re gonna release those BAROQUE games on Steam with localization (Become a Metabeing already has a localization anyway) or you know even if they don’t maybe they’ll still put them on Steam and they’ll be moddable or something. Wouldn’t that be neat?

Aside from that, please feel free to share your experiences, post your BAROQUE/Sting treasures, ask questions, or whatever, nya~

4 Likes
2

Hah, actually just posted about this in the “What game(s) have you been enjoying recently?” thread.

I’ve really been into dungeon crawlers lately and I’ve been aware of Baroque for some time, had been meaning to sit down and play it. I honestly think it’s in my top 10 games now. Under the hood there’s nothing terribly special about the gameplay, but the atmosphere and vibes all come together really well. I think a good dungeon crawler should be kind of melancholy and oppressive and this one definitely has that.

Played Shadow Tower: Abyss earlier this year, still looking for similar highs.

2 Likes
3

That’s cool, I wasn’t actually aware Shadow Tower had a sequel. I should really give those games a shot.

and yeah, Baroque’s gameplay isn’t extremely unique, it’s very directly inspired by Mystery Dungeon, and it pretty much just is that, except in first person and without the grid movement.

1 Like
4

This game was such a fever dream and I just had a shock to my childhood, my first exposure to that game was the wii version. I tried way too hard to finish that game with motion controls but if it wasn’t rng ruining me it was just my arms giving up from shadow boxing for hours on end. I might have been in fighting classes at the time but that still wasn’t enough to push my little arms to where they needed to be to go a thousand floors up that tower and see how it really ends :sob:

Got my paws on the ps2 version at one point and was trying to poke it again. Too many ps2 games are on my backlog to make meaningful progress on it, but I got to show a friend and infect them with the need top poke this too specifically when they got to see how fun and cursed the lust status effect is. Nothing like literally everything on the screen looking perfectly identical.

2 Likes
5

The idea that using motion controls on the Wii version is required if you just have Wii + Nunchuck is nuts. I’ve been playing it with the classic controller and the idea of needing to swing the remote every time I wanna hit simply boggles the mind. Even as it is the Wii/PS2 remake is such a slog, I swear the RNG is all messed up too because it feels like every single run I do, my pockets end up filling up with a bunch of the same item, particularly Convergence, which is an item you only want to use in very specific circumstances, so it drives me absolutely nuts.

I do want to push through to the ending on the Remake, I want to see what all is different, but I’ve already made up my mind about which version I like better. There’s simply no comparison between it and the original. It’s such a shame too because I feel like if they decided to make it a few years later, like say, after Dark Souls came out, it could have been much better.

2 Likes
6

It was nuts trying to do it with mo-co, and it was even weirder that it had no support for a GC controller. Never got my hands on a Wii Gamepad since the only game that needed it was Baroque. Eventually I would get tired of being tired and start doing nothing but power attacks which would just throw the run but honestly what else was I supposed to do after a dozen or so floors? Especially after like four attempts back to back with armor that would be cursed to you with terrible stats, similarly unhelpful weapons if any at all, and every bone I tried eating was terrible but if I tried to throw one it would invariably be the one helpful one I got all day.
The RNG was atrocious and deeply evil :sob: I need to try playing the original version eventually, this isn’t the first time I heard rng was borked on the remakes.

1 Like
7

recently played through the Saturn version and loved it way more than I expected

do you think the PS2/Wii versions are worth checking out?

1 Like
8

yoooo i only recently played Baroque but it’s one of the most interesting games of that era!! i really need to play through more of it again soon. i did like… 4 straight hours the first time i played it and haven’t really gone back to it but man do i want to.

1 Like
9

I mean, if you’re curious what they’re like, I would recommend emulating one of them. They’re slogs to get through though, aside from other things mentioned in previous posts, the tower also has twice as many floors as the Saturn version. You can also read more about the differences between the versions of the games on the Nerve Tower Neocities (I can’t believe I haven’t shouted that website out yet), bearing in mind the author makes it very clear what their position is on which versions they like or dislike.

1 Like
10

In other STING news!

I finally got around to getting Viractal and I quite like it! It’s definitely very early, currently there is only one scenario, it doesn’t yet justify the $15 price tag but more content is coming soon. There’s an oddly unsettling vibe to the game, maybe it’s not entirely unintentional but I kinda dig it. It reminds me a little bit of Inscryption, though definitely nowhere close to the level of overt horror of that game. I also like how snappy it is to take turns, the game doesn’t mess around and waste your time with long animations or anything like that. I do like the look of the game but it’s maybe a bit too sterile, maybe could use some polish or additional stylization.

If anyone’s a sicko like me and ends up buying the game, let me know, maybe we could play it together!

EDIT: of course I should have checked Sting’s official website before posting here, they’ve announced “Dokapon 3, 2, 1 Super Collection” for the Nintendo Switch, including the three titles originally released on Super Famicom. Of course, no word on an official English and/or Steam release but given Dokapon Sword of Fury made it out here earlier this year, it’s not unreasonable to think it might. The thing is, so far there haven’t been any screenshots or anything released. It sounds like it’s an emulated collection? given they advertise you can save and load at any point and speed up the game, which may cause some issues with trying to translate the games as it would require hacking the original ROM files, but, well, we’ll see I guess.

1 Like
11

I had never heard of BAROQUE before this and now I plan on playing. This looks exactly up my alley (also a big fan of King’s Field and more recently Lunacid). I’ve never delved deep into the Saturn’s library, and this seems like a fun place to start :slight_smile:

1 Like
12

Of course, the big question is, is this going to get any sort of release outside of Japan?

It turns out the answer is Yes for Become a Meta Being and Baroque Shooting, the former already has a localization (you can go and download it on your phone right now) and the latter I presume has little to no Japanese text to begin with. This is kind of what I was expecting to happen, but hey, maybe if there is demonstrable interest in these then Sting will bring official localizations of Baroque Original Version and Baroque Syndrome… maybe…

No word of any sort of Steam releases yet.

13

on Steam, and out on the 17th

(Baroque Syndrome is Japanese Only)

Unfortunately no sign of Original Baroque, localized or not.

1 Like
14

Shame they aren’t including the original, I’ll have to grab the physical switch release then, so I can own yet another copy of the original (i have the ps1 port and switch digital release)

1 Like