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Topic: Questions about Homeland.

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Athronox
rank 4
Posted:
Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:11 am
quote : #1
profile : pm
Posts: 22
Type: NTSC-U/C
Hello guys,

I am new to the board, and I thought my first post should regard a few questions I had about Homeland, and the Gamecube online abilities in general.

First off, I have heavy nostalgia for the Gamecube era, so I recently purchased a $30 Gamecube at Gamestop for the heck of it. I, however, did not do this completely without purpose, as the Gamecube's online functions have always intrigued me, and I think that if I explored them a little more, I might get a little more enjoyment of my 'cube than I originally had back in the day.

So, with that being said, here are my questions:

1: I have an NTSC (American) Gamecube. If I buy Homeland at Amazon or Ebay, will I be able to play it? Or will I need to import a Japanese Gamecube to play it?

2: What is the game like? I have researched it as much as possible but due to the fact it only came out in Japan, there doesn't seem to be a lot of information regarding it. If you could help me get a better understanding of what it is like, that would be great.

3: If I do indeed get to play Homeland, how do I go about getting it connected to the network and start playing with you all?

Thank you, hope to see you all around the board!
 
Cosmonaut
rank 2
Posted:
Wed Jul 15, 2009 1:06 am
quote : #2
profile : pm
Posts: 6
Hey how's it going? Always nice to see another person interested in Homeland. Hopefully I can help you out a bit.

1. The GameCube is region locked, so yes unfortunately you would have to import a Japanese Nintendo GameCube or else some how mod/or get a modded GameCube with a region switch.

2. The basic gameplay is pretty typical RPG fare; you quest around, defeating monsters, leveling up and getting new equipment, etc. The battle system is a cross between turn-based and a kind of action RPG setup. You encounter enemies in real-time, but you battle in a turn based manner. Similar to games I guess, but it's a lot faster, due to it's simplicity.

Anyways, when you first start the game, you're required to complete the game first before being able to unlock the online mode where you can do quests with up to 30 other people and etc. I am currently on hiatus from playing the "main" or "beginning" portion of the game, so I can't give you much details about what you unlock and how the game plays afterwards. The beginning part plays out like a standard lite-RPG. It's a lot of fun. If you've noticed all the weird characters in the screenshots, those are what the game calls Mascots and basically you're able to transform into them and call them into your party (offline), each having they're own unique abilities, etc. At first there's only 2 available to you, though after beating the game once you can unlock more, including Big Kami-sama (Big God) which allows you to be the dungeon master in the online mode.

That's kind of the gist of it. Like I said, I'm currently taking a hiatus from the game. Me and my girlfriend were playing together and slowly translating things like items, techniques, etc. and dialog (to help us along).

3. To go online with Homeland, first you must have a broadband adapter for your GameCube. Second, you need to clear the game once. Third, the servers for I guess was the main "list" or something are offline. But I guess it was found out it was possible to directly connect to someone's IP address., thus making the game "permanently" online. However, I'm not sure how many people (Westerners at least) play it. Unfortunately I am unable to play it at the moment, and I don't know if anyone on here does. As you can tell, there's not a lot of traffic on this board. If people got interested in playing online, I'd definitely find a way to join in though.

Anyways, I hope that helps. If anyone finds any problems with my info, feel free to correct me. I'm not exactly a Homeland wizard, haha.

By the way. You can pick up a copy of Homeland for $22 US off the website yesasia.com, and also a cheap brand new Japanese GameCube off Play-Asia. That's how I got both a few months ago.
 
lordnikon
rank 47
Posted:
Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:10 am
quote : #3
profile : pm
Posts: 1636
Type: NTSC-U/C
Cosmonaut wrote:
3. To go online with Homeland, first you must have a broadband adapter for your GameCube. Second, you need to clear the game once. Third, the servers for I guess was the main "list" or something are offline. But I guess it was found out it was possible to directly connect to someone's IP address., thus making the game "permanently" online.

Playing the game and hosting requires a lot of offline gameplay. Which means everyone would be required to complete the game offline to play online. This is an unrealistic expectation for people who cannot read japanese. If the game were in english I would simply encourage people to beat the game offline, but this situation is unique. Luckily, in my searchings online I have tracked down an action replay code that unlocks everything. So people can play online as well as host and be a dungeon god without having to play tons of hours offline. I am sure people will want to play offline, but people also want to get online and mingle and learn about the game that way as well. I personally have two saves on seperate memory cards. One for just offline solo play, and the other with everything unlocked for online play.

I will be both providing the codes on the site for people to use if they already have an action replay. Just remember this website does not condone cheating. Only the provided code should be used.

If anyone does not have an action replay, people can mail me a gamecube memory card and I can copy over an unlocked homeland save file and mail it back.

Since I have multiple gamecubes and multiple copies of Homeland, I will probobly be hosting a lot of games. Since then I could host on one gamecube and play on another.

Cosmonaut wrote:
I'm not sure how many people (Westerners at least) play it.

OC's GameCube community is essentially the only place in the West that focuses on or really talks about Homeland at all. Currently only myself and 2 other players here have actually be on when the game was officially online and hosted by Chunsoft. The key thing to realize is that this not a Homeland community that was once really active and played a lot online, but one that hasn't even started to get into the game yet. It is going to take some time to evolve.

Cosmonaut wrote:
Unfortunately I am unable to play it at the moment, and I don't know if anyone on here does. As you can tell, there's not a lot of traffic on this board. If people got interested in playing online, I'd definitely find a way to join in though.

Yea there is not a lot of traffic but the key is to not assume that doesn't mean the potential for activity isn't there. This site has been going strong for over 6 years and the GC site has always been rather slow due to its small library of network titles, but there is still activity. Since I have been here this long and run the site, trust me that if you stick around you will find people to play Homeland online with. Wink

Cosmonaut wrote:
By the way. You can pick up a copy of Homeland for $22 US off the website yesasia.com, and also a cheap brand new Japanese GameCube off Play-Asia. That's how I got both a few months ago.

I would advise against YesAsia for the moment. I mean you can try, but last time I checked people were saying they were coming back with "out of stock" notices after ordering. Play-Asia is a great place to get used hardware, especially with their UPS shipping which gets it to you in like 3-4 days.
  _________________
Homeland Character: トライジール (TRIZEAL)
PSOEP1&2 Character: lordnikon - Lv57 HUcast
Athronox
rank 4
Posted:
Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:23 am
quote : #4
profile : pm
Posts: 22
Type: NTSC-U/C
Argh! Well, it looks like no homeland for me then :/

However, there is still the alternative of PSO. Speaking of which, how many people on this site actively play PSO? And how do I go about joining up with you all? I heard that its kind of an exclusive thing, that you have to be a member for awhile or something?

Oh, one last question. The Ikaruga and F-Zero GX ranking tables are offline....On the official page....But does anyone know if there is a dedicated site to retaining such records? Thanks.
 
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