Now here's something unexpected. the lovable prinnies from Disgaea have done enough to spawn their own game called "Prinny - Is it OK for me to be the main character, dood?"
The game will be getting a Japanese release in Japan on November 20th 2008 and a Playstation Store demo will be released on the 29th September 2008. No confirmation of a US or UK release but let's just keep an eye on it for now and see how it fares. You can watch the first trailer in the meantime on the official website.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
European Release Dates as of 20th August 2008
Haven't done one of these in a while now! Here's a quick round up of some upcoming release dates for Europe.
Final Fantasy IV - 05/09/2008
Infinite Undiscovery - 05/09/2008
Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosen - 12/09/2008
Persona 3: FES - 17/10/2008
Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) - October
LittleBigPlanet - 29/10/2008
Valkyria Chronicles - November
Time Hollow - November
Away: Shuffle Dungeon - Autumn
Chrono Trigger - 2009
Time Hollow was the latest addition to the list. Meanwhile, LittleBigPlanet got a solid release date thanks to the Sony conference in Germany earlier today. FES also gets added thanks to Koei's decision to release it for us fans.
Final Fantasy IV - 05/09/2008
Infinite Undiscovery - 05/09/2008
Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosen - 12/09/2008
Persona 3: FES - 17/10/2008
Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) - October
LittleBigPlanet - 29/10/2008
Valkyria Chronicles - November
Time Hollow - November
Away: Shuffle Dungeon - Autumn
Chrono Trigger - 2009
Time Hollow was the latest addition to the list. Meanwhile, LittleBigPlanet got a solid release date thanks to the Sony conference in Germany earlier today. FES also gets added thanks to Koei's decision to release it for us fans.
Chrono Trigger remake for DS
Another critically acclaimed RPG heads to remake land with Square-Enix announcing that Chrono Trigger will be remade for the DS and released this year in the US and Japan. European territories will have to wait until 2009 to see the game make it's debut in the PAL regions. The following has been taken from the official press release:
When a newly developed teleportation device malfunctions at the Millennial Fair, young Crono must travel through time to rescue his misfortunate companion from an intricate web of past and present perils. The swashbuckling adventure that ensues soon unveils an evil force set to destroy the world, triggering Crono's race against time to change the course of history and bring about a brighter future.
Yggdra Union hits the US in September
Riviera: The Promised Land (as I learned to my surprise) was part of a series of games. Guess what? Yggdra Union is part 2 of that series, and the US will see it's release for the PSP on September 16th 2008. The game will boast a few extra features from the original GBA game including new characters, missions and a dual-language voiceover track so those who hate American voice acting can listen to the Japanese instead.
The game has not been confirmed for Europe.
The game has not been confirmed for Europe.
Europe welcomes Persona 3 Festival
Yes, the news came as a surprise to many and the delight to others who thought that the PS2's twilight years in Europe would not see the expansion of the original Persona 3. Yes, you read that headline correctly. Persona 3 FES will be coming to Europe on 17th October 2008.
The announcement was made through Koei's message boards and the many European fans of the original Persona 3 (including myself) squealed in delight. The new version of the game adds bonus features to the original game, additional personas, a weapon creation feature, the ability to change the characters clothing and a 30 hour add-on in which you can gain more of an insight into the game.
The game also allows you to carry over your current save file from the original P3 into FES. The pre-order price is too good to miss as well with many online retailers starting at £17.99. Don't miss it!
The announcement was made through Koei's message boards and the many European fans of the original Persona 3 (including myself) squealed in delight. The new version of the game adds bonus features to the original game, additional personas, a weapon creation feature, the ability to change the characters clothing and a 30 hour add-on in which you can gain more of an insight into the game.
The game also allows you to carry over your current save file from the original P3 into FES. The pre-order price is too good to miss as well with many online retailers starting at £17.99. Don't miss it!
Friday, 6 June 2008
Trailer: Geemu no Nanatsu
This new game by Square-Enix (known for now as "The game with no Name") for the DS is a horror title which has ties between the old Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest games. According to cubed3, the game tries to trick you by mimicking the DS menu screen and sending random messages while the game itself apparently contains players who die 7 days after playing one of Square-Enix's major monoliths. Confused? Have a look at the trailer. It's Japanese but it is well worth keeping your eye on it.
The game will be released in Japan on Thursday 3rd July. Here's the official site for more information and another trailer.
Source: Cubed3
The game will be released in Japan on Thursday 3rd July. Here's the official site for more information and another trailer.
Source: Cubed3
Trailer: Disgaea DS
Yes, if you haven't heard the news already, Disgaea is going to terrorize your DS, with the US release stamped for September. The game is going to be just like the first Disgaea but, of course with added features. Here's a trailer to whet your appetite. Prepare yourself!
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Trailer: Away: Shuffle Dungeon shuffles to Europe
Virgin Play have announced a deal with AQ Interactive to bring DS RPG, Away: Shuffle Dungeon to PAL region DS's in the Autumn. The game is based on a village where it's residents randomly disappear with no warning. The phenomenon is known by the villagers as "Away". You play the hero of the story who is saved from being another vanishing villager by a girl. Her actions however, cause the rest of the village to disappear instead. So, as is normal with a game like this, you have to save everyone - because it was your fault apparently...
A gameplay trailer has been embedded below for your enjoyment. You can also see the official Japanese website to see the style of the game.
Source: Pocket Gamer
A gameplay trailer has been embedded below for your enjoyment. You can also see the official Japanese website to see the style of the game.
Source: Pocket Gamer
Thursday, 22 May 2008
European Release Dates as of 22nd May 2008
As May starts to wind to a close, a look into the future sees a heaven of games to help you cope with those games that you just get bored of hearing about wherever you go for gaming. Coming up is:
Everybody's Golf 2 (PSP) - 06/06/2008
Etrian Odyssey - 06/06/2008
Echochrome - 06/06/2008
Okami (Wii) 13/06/2008
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - 20/06/2008
Baroque (PS2, Wii) - 27/06/2008
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 - 27/06/2008
Final Fantasy IV - Summer
Infinite Undiscovery - 05/09/2008
Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosen - September
LittleBigPlanet - October
Valkyria Chronicles - Autumn
Everybody's Golf 2 (PSP) - 06/06/2008
Etrian Odyssey - 06/06/2008
Echochrome - 06/06/2008
Okami (Wii) 13/06/2008
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - 20/06/2008
Baroque (PS2, Wii) - 27/06/2008
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 - 27/06/2008
Final Fantasy IV - Summer
Infinite Undiscovery - 05/09/2008
Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosen - September
LittleBigPlanet - October
Valkyria Chronicles - Autumn
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Dragon Quest IV, V and VI remakes coming to Europe
Thought you would be getting some free time? Well, start crying. Square-Enix have announced that the 3 Dragon Quest remakes for the Nintendo DS will be hitting Europe, starting with Dragon Quest: Chapters of the Chosen in September. The games that will follow, will also have strange subtitles to mask the numbers (just like Dragon Quest VIII, The Journey of the Cursed King). Dragon Quest V will be known under the subtitle "The Hand of the Heavenly Bride", while Dragon Quest VI will go under the subtitle, "Realms of Reverie".
No release dates have been given for the other 2 installments. There is also no mention of Dragon Quest IX as yet.
No release dates have been given for the other 2 installments. There is also no mention of Dragon Quest IX as yet.
Trailer: Infinite Undiscovery release trailer
A trailer for the latest XBox 360 RPG was released soon after the press release was given out. Have a gander at this exceptionally promising game, due on 2nd September in the US (unconfirmed reports saying worldwide release)
Infinite Undiscovery given release date, confirmed worldwide launch
News on the XBox 360 exclusive RPG by Square-Enix and Tri-Ace has been thin on the ground lately, but the game suddenly exploded onto the gaming news with a release date. The press release states that the RPG will be shipping in the US on the 2nd September 2008. However, the mention of a "simultaneous release" in the press release suggests that the game will be launched worldwide, including in Europe, on the same day (though it will likely be on the Friday of the same week - confirmed - Europe get this game on 5th September).
The RPG is dependant on the discoveries you make in the game. Any discovery made in the game will be immediately reflected in the game world and as a group of enemies are encountered, separate tactics are needed to dispatch them.
Source: Joystiq (stating global release), Kotaku (press release)
The RPG is dependant on the discoveries you make in the game. Any discovery made in the game will be immediately reflected in the game world and as a group of enemies are encountered, separate tactics are needed to dispatch them.
Source: Joystiq (stating global release), Kotaku (press release)
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Game review: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
Game - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2)
Remember your school days? I bet they were full of days out with your friends and just generally surviving exams and tests. That said, I don’t think it will have gotten as eventful as the characters from and near Gekkoukan High school. That’s mainly because there’s more than 24 hours a day, there’s a load of people going "Uhhhhh" and there’s even a few who own gun-shaped weapons that they use to shoot themselves. Welcome to the surreal world of Persona 3.
School
As you can already tell, the game has a unique twist to the RPG genre. First of all, you’re playing a year in the life of the main protagonist (named by you) as he goes through his first year after being transferred. Every day at midnight, the dark hour starts, during which time, electronic equipment dies and people turn into coffins. Except you, as it appears you have the "potential". This potential eventually shows that you’re able to summon a Persona (or to be precise, more than one), which you do by using an evoker (which looks like a gun) and firing it at your head. Your other friends in your dorm can also summon a single Persona each and together form SEES - a squad dedicated to eliminating Shadows.
Story-wise, that’s all you need to know. From this point, apart from dedicated storylines, the game’s progress is pretty much up to you. Every Monday to Saturday, you go to school to participate in lessons, answer quizzes and even take the dreaded exams from your youth. After school has finished, you’re able to go out with one of your friends or, if you’re a loner, go out and do some activities by yourself, some of which may help you later on. For example, studying in the library can help improve your academics, which means better progress in the exams.
Fighting
When evening falls, you have the option to go to Tartarus, the mysterious tower that appears during the dark hour. It is here where you hope to answer questions about the shadows and the dark hour itself. This is where the bulk of the fighting takes place. Persona 3 uses a turn-based system, but you only control the main character’s actions. Everyone else is controlled by the AI. Thankfully then, the AI is pretty good in most situations. You can fine tune the tactics of your team members as well, in case you want to do something specific.
For example, you might want your team-mates to attack the opponent’s weaknesses. If they do this, the enemy will be knocked down, which is rewarded with a bonus attack. If all of the enemies are knocked down, you can call an all-out attack, which produces major damage to all foes. As your personas level up, you are able to use more abilities to help you out and target more of their weaknesses. So, how can you pick up these amazing things?
Going nuclear
Well, you can pick some up (as well as some bonus weapons, money or experience points) after battles. The personas you pick up in this way tend to be poor or have an obvious weakness. What’s the best way to get round that? That’s where fusion comes in. When you have 2 or more personas, you can fuse them together in the Velvet Room where you can create a new persona. These fused personas gain some of the abilities of their previous forms. Not only that, but there’s a way to make them start out even stronger. That is based on social links, the relationships you have with your friends during the day.
Basically, if you establish a social link that is the same type as the persona you're creating, your new persona will gain bonus experience points. The better the relationship, the more experience you will gain and the more abilities you can pass on. Also, if you gain enough experience points, you can gain a lot of the abilities that you would usually have to wait for by levelling up normally.
The combinations you can make are huge and the risks of creating something poor are minimal. That’s because the result of every fusion you attempt is shown to you so you can tailor the persona to what you want, which means there’s no excuse not to experiment with fusion, which suddenly starts to feel like a challenge. Can you make the best Persona you can with all its weaknesses covered? While you are in the Velvet room, you can take on a number of requests to gain items and money. You can also store your Personas in a compendium as they are, and take them out for a fee, which potentially makes fusion even less of a risk than it already is. You can quite easily get your Persona back if you use it in a fusion but want to keep the Persona you used.
Balance your life
With everything said, you need to balance school life and your trips to Tartarus carefully. You can spend a long time studying, but then you’ll be unprepared for future trips to the tower. Furthermore, every month in the game, you will have a major story incident which will usually involve fighting. You can’t train on the day it happens so if you’re not good enough, you could potentially be stuck completely. Going all out in Tartarus is not a good idea either. The game is lenient enough in the hardest setting to not make you have to grind your way through the story and your studies will suffer as a result of grinding. While this doesn’t completely affect your progress in Tartarus, some social links and the exams require you to study more until you’re smart enough. Also, trips to Tartarus tend to get slightly tedious as well if you train too much.
By balancing school life and Tartarus, you will find that the pace of the game is well set. You can run through a set of days in a few minutes, then follow it up with a trip to Tartarus, which depending on your style, can take about an hour per trip. The game is voice acted during major cut-scenes and in general, well presented. There are anime cut-scenes for major story events but around that, the graphics style looks great and suits the game perfectly. This is matched by a bouncy Japanese pop soundtrack which gives the game an urban feel. The story is also solid enough to keep you going to the end and as the relationships with your friends get better, you get to know them better yourself, which is something I really like about the game. It provides a distraction to the main story and makes you want to delve deeper into their mini stories, with potentially great rewards at the end.
There are some minor issues though. The AI in the game isn’t perfect for one thing. In my completed attempt at the game, the AI would very rarely cure status ailments unless the tactics were just right. Their inventory also seems to consist of a large potion and a load of smaller potions. The start of the game can be a little dull as well with little in the way of serious action until you’re about an hour in. Saving is also fairly sparse as you can only save at your dorm, or on the ground floor of Tartarus.
Conclusion
In the end though, these are just minor drops in what is a very large ocean. The game is huge and can take about 70-80 hours to complete. If you get into fusion and social links, expect the game to last over 100 hours and if you want to find every single persona in the game, you can spend up to 200 hours finding them all. That’s value for money right there. The game requires a huge commitment of time but what time you spend in your life playing this, you get back with interest with quite possibly one of the most engrossing RPGs released on the PS2. You will sometimes wish it would never end. Thankfully it does, otherwise, we might never see you again. Prepare that evoker, and get ready for a journey of school and shadows that you’ll remember for a long time.
Score: 10/10
Remember your school days? I bet they were full of days out with your friends and just generally surviving exams and tests. That said, I don’t think it will have gotten as eventful as the characters from and near Gekkoukan High school. That’s mainly because there’s more than 24 hours a day, there’s a load of people going "Uhhhhh" and there’s even a few who own gun-shaped weapons that they use to shoot themselves. Welcome to the surreal world of Persona 3.
School
As you can already tell, the game has a unique twist to the RPG genre. First of all, you’re playing a year in the life of the main protagonist (named by you) as he goes through his first year after being transferred. Every day at midnight, the dark hour starts, during which time, electronic equipment dies and people turn into coffins. Except you, as it appears you have the "potential". This potential eventually shows that you’re able to summon a Persona (or to be precise, more than one), which you do by using an evoker (which looks like a gun) and firing it at your head. Your other friends in your dorm can also summon a single Persona each and together form SEES - a squad dedicated to eliminating Shadows.
Story-wise, that’s all you need to know. From this point, apart from dedicated storylines, the game’s progress is pretty much up to you. Every Monday to Saturday, you go to school to participate in lessons, answer quizzes and even take the dreaded exams from your youth. After school has finished, you’re able to go out with one of your friends or, if you’re a loner, go out and do some activities by yourself, some of which may help you later on. For example, studying in the library can help improve your academics, which means better progress in the exams.
Fighting
When evening falls, you have the option to go to Tartarus, the mysterious tower that appears during the dark hour. It is here where you hope to answer questions about the shadows and the dark hour itself. This is where the bulk of the fighting takes place. Persona 3 uses a turn-based system, but you only control the main character’s actions. Everyone else is controlled by the AI. Thankfully then, the AI is pretty good in most situations. You can fine tune the tactics of your team members as well, in case you want to do something specific.
For example, you might want your team-mates to attack the opponent’s weaknesses. If they do this, the enemy will be knocked down, which is rewarded with a bonus attack. If all of the enemies are knocked down, you can call an all-out attack, which produces major damage to all foes. As your personas level up, you are able to use more abilities to help you out and target more of their weaknesses. So, how can you pick up these amazing things?
Going nuclear
Well, you can pick some up (as well as some bonus weapons, money or experience points) after battles. The personas you pick up in this way tend to be poor or have an obvious weakness. What’s the best way to get round that? That’s where fusion comes in. When you have 2 or more personas, you can fuse them together in the Velvet Room where you can create a new persona. These fused personas gain some of the abilities of their previous forms. Not only that, but there’s a way to make them start out even stronger. That is based on social links, the relationships you have with your friends during the day.
Basically, if you establish a social link that is the same type as the persona you're creating, your new persona will gain bonus experience points. The better the relationship, the more experience you will gain and the more abilities you can pass on. Also, if you gain enough experience points, you can gain a lot of the abilities that you would usually have to wait for by levelling up normally.
The combinations you can make are huge and the risks of creating something poor are minimal. That’s because the result of every fusion you attempt is shown to you so you can tailor the persona to what you want, which means there’s no excuse not to experiment with fusion, which suddenly starts to feel like a challenge. Can you make the best Persona you can with all its weaknesses covered? While you are in the Velvet room, you can take on a number of requests to gain items and money. You can also store your Personas in a compendium as they are, and take them out for a fee, which potentially makes fusion even less of a risk than it already is. You can quite easily get your Persona back if you use it in a fusion but want to keep the Persona you used.
Balance your life
With everything said, you need to balance school life and your trips to Tartarus carefully. You can spend a long time studying, but then you’ll be unprepared for future trips to the tower. Furthermore, every month in the game, you will have a major story incident which will usually involve fighting. You can’t train on the day it happens so if you’re not good enough, you could potentially be stuck completely. Going all out in Tartarus is not a good idea either. The game is lenient enough in the hardest setting to not make you have to grind your way through the story and your studies will suffer as a result of grinding. While this doesn’t completely affect your progress in Tartarus, some social links and the exams require you to study more until you’re smart enough. Also, trips to Tartarus tend to get slightly tedious as well if you train too much.
By balancing school life and Tartarus, you will find that the pace of the game is well set. You can run through a set of days in a few minutes, then follow it up with a trip to Tartarus, which depending on your style, can take about an hour per trip. The game is voice acted during major cut-scenes and in general, well presented. There are anime cut-scenes for major story events but around that, the graphics style looks great and suits the game perfectly. This is matched by a bouncy Japanese pop soundtrack which gives the game an urban feel. The story is also solid enough to keep you going to the end and as the relationships with your friends get better, you get to know them better yourself, which is something I really like about the game. It provides a distraction to the main story and makes you want to delve deeper into their mini stories, with potentially great rewards at the end.
There are some minor issues though. The AI in the game isn’t perfect for one thing. In my completed attempt at the game, the AI would very rarely cure status ailments unless the tactics were just right. Their inventory also seems to consist of a large potion and a load of smaller potions. The start of the game can be a little dull as well with little in the way of serious action until you’re about an hour in. Saving is also fairly sparse as you can only save at your dorm, or on the ground floor of Tartarus.
Conclusion
In the end though, these are just minor drops in what is a very large ocean. The game is huge and can take about 70-80 hours to complete. If you get into fusion and social links, expect the game to last over 100 hours and if you want to find every single persona in the game, you can spend up to 200 hours finding them all. That’s value for money right there. The game requires a huge commitment of time but what time you spend in your life playing this, you get back with interest with quite possibly one of the most engrossing RPGs released on the PS2. You will sometimes wish it would never end. Thankfully it does, otherwise, we might never see you again. Prepare that evoker, and get ready for a journey of school and shadows that you’ll remember for a long time.
Score: 10/10
Platinum Games (Seeds? Clover Studios?) developers announce 4 games with Sega
Some of the developers from the now-deceased Clover Studios have signed up to Sega to release 4 games. Shinji Mikami, Hideki Kamiya and Atsushi Inaba have previously been responsible for Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Okami respectively. Three games were put in the spotlight, with the 4th game currently under wraps.
First of all is Bayonetta, which has been described as a stylish action game for the PS3 and XBox360. Then there is Infinite Line for the DS which is an RPG set in space, allowing you to customise and control up to 150 spaceships. Finally, there is MADWORLD for the Wii which is a game which boasts a black & white graphical style and over-the-top violence.
All 3 games will be released in 2009.
Source: Kotaku
First of all is Bayonetta, which has been described as a stylish action game for the PS3 and XBox360. Then there is Infinite Line for the DS which is an RPG set in space, allowing you to customise and control up to 150 spaceships. Finally, there is MADWORLD for the Wii which is a game which boasts a black & white graphical style and over-the-top violence.
All 3 games will be released in 2009.
Source: Kotaku
Monday, 19 May 2008
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 gets solid European release date
The sequel to the great GBA SRPG Final Fantasy Tactics Advance finally got it's release date set in concrete today as we finally learned that the game will hit Europe on 27th June 2008. The game, along with the long subtitle, Grimoire of the Rift will be released on the DS and will look to sap all the remaining hours of your life as you run through the story and battles in traditional strategy RPG fashion.
Source: Pocket Gamer
Source: Pocket Gamer
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