Any love for the Disaster Report games here?

[MontyMole303]

I figured there might be a dedicated thread, but I couldn't find one (apologies if there is one!)

Just finished Part 4: Summer Memories a few weeks back - and that crazy ending just popped into my head again a few moments ago. I'm still coming to terms with its total randomness.

I won't spoil it, but the game is all very standard Disaster Report fare, getting out of difficult situations, offering advice, going to look for something to open a door, etc... the usual. But part 4? We played it over a period of about a year and a half - and right up to the end, I'm thinking where's the twist? Where's the dramatic ending?

Well, it certainly pulled the rug from under me. In 1 and 3 - the story and inevitable conclusion are quite well woven into the game play experience from the start - characters get established, some come back, some reveal a bit more. But part 4? What were they smoking? And some of those side missions (holy water/cult leader) - crazy, just crazy.

Fell in love with the series with the first one on the PS2 back when it was released in the early 2000s - I also finished the fan translated part 3 on the PSP a few years back - which was fun, but definitely felt like a cut down version. Have yet to play part 2 but it's next on the list.

So, any love for some rather quirky earthquake survival in Japan in the forums here?

And is there going to be a part 5?

 

[Macaulay Kong]

Love me some Disaster Report. Fantastic little games. I've yet to play the 3rd one but 2 is my favorite as of now, love the atmosphere and plot in that one, the multiple characters and their stories are a lot of fun. I wish we had more info on DR5 but it's been pretty quiet. I imagine Granzella is probably struggling to find an investor/publisher and doing it all by themselves might be out of their budget. If I remember correctly, they were focusing on some R-Type releases some time ago, probably to try and get some cash to help with future projects
In the meantime, could always check out City Shrouded In Shadow which is by the same devs as Disaster Report but instead of natural disasters, it focuses on surviving kaiju and giant robot attacks. Unfortunately it's Japanese-only but maybe it'll get translated someday. Another Japanese exclusive that has a somewhat similar feel to these games is PachiPara 14, it's a pachinko game but they went all out with adding a storyline and various side activities and quests to it and a lot of dialogue choices like what you'd find in Disaster Report. Not sure if the rest of the PachiPara series is as ambitious as 14, though but if they are, that's a lot of games to get through lol
And finally, shout-outs to Steambot Chronicles, another Irem banger that's closely related to Disaster Report

 

[Turbo Kid]

Tried one, didn't finish it, but did find it very interesting.

 

[gwardojones]

Summer Memories is like an all-time favorite for me. That game was magical. I've played a little bit of 3, but fell off. I'll get back to the other games at some point, but it's hard to trump how great 4 was.

 

[Vexicrypt]

I actually played through Raw Danger (the 2nd game) very recently. And then again couple days ago. Its story structure and situations it puts you in is very fun, I loved it and now I will continue exploring the series. Framerate can be very rough sometimes, like in single digits, but it didn't ruin my experience one bit. In fact it made it even better, because the whole game slows down and characters start talking like they are high out of their minds.