If further proof was needed that the PlayStation 3 has taken the curious position of 'niche RPG console' of this generation, look no further than small Japanese developer Compile Heart's latest RPG offering, titled Neptune.
Though still little is known about the game, it appears to be sort of a 'meta-game' (i.e. a game about games), taking place in a world known as the 'Geimu-Gyoukai' (the Japanese word for the video games industry) which is split between the four worlds of Platetume, Rinbox, Lasdition, and Ruwii, each ruled by its own goddess, Purple Heart, Green Heart, Black Heart, and White Heart, respectively. (Certainly by looking at each, you should be able to figure out what they represent, though I'm still not sure what the purple one is supposed to be).
The game is reportedly Compile Heart's first fully 3D title, will be co-developed with Nippon Ichi, Gust, and Idea Factory, and will be published by Sega for the PlayStation 3, though no release date has been mentioned yet.
Well, it definitely sounds... unique. Oh, and the 360-tan they have made for Green Heart is hot.
Some of you may have forgotten about Last Rebellion (not that I would blame you, the game is flying pretty low even on my radar). It's Hit Maker's first home console RPG (they've only done handheld titles up until now, as far as I know), and being published by Nippon Ichi (their usual publisher).
Last Rebellion's premise is still fairly unclear to me, but somehow deals with a warrior named Nine and a sealer named Aisha who share the same soul (or something along those lines).
Anyways, before I sound any more uneducated on this title, I'll just point you to the newest trailer that debuted at TGS. Check it out below.
You know, I don't claim to be completely versed in all the finest points of making a game trailer, but it seems to me that making 80% of a trailer out of static art is kind of a cop-out. The bits of gameplay shown looked interesting, but I really need to see how the game moves on its own, and I'll buy the artbook if I like looking at the concept art. Just my two cents.
Last Rebellion will be available for PlayStation 3 sometime this Winter in Japan.
I know I'm the minority on this one, but I really liked Nippon Ichi when they were making their Marl Kingdom games (the game in this series you would be most familiar with was called Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure in North America). The Disgaea series is okay, I guess. I just thought that the Marl Kingdom series had a charm about it that Disgaea never really matched.
But alas, Disgaea made way more money than Rhapsody, so here we are.
However, it seems like there's someone over at Nippon Ichi that still thinks fondly upon the yesteryear of Marl Kingdom, as the little developer has come forward to announce a spiritual successor to the series in Antiphona no Seika Hime: Tenshi no Gakufu Op.A for PSP. Yuck, that's a long name to spell out. It translates to something like Hymn Princess of Antiphona: Angelica Score Op.A (I don't know what the Op.A part is - maybe there will be an Op.B at some point?)
The game follows a young girl named Miabelle as she embarks on a journey to get her older sister's voice back from the Demon King. Besides the decidedly feminine style of the game, AnSH also reportly features musical cut scenes, very reminiscent of Marl Hime titles.
Antiphona no Seika Hime: Tenshi no Gakufu Op.A will be available for PSP, though no specific date has been announced at this time.
Yes, I have once again fallen behind in scan coverage. So here I am, trying to make it up in one fell swoop. As usual, take a look at the scans below, or at least the ones that interest you. :)
End of Eternity (Resonance of Fate in NA) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 tri-Ace, Sega Winter 2009 (Japan), Spring 2010 (North America)
Last Rebellion PlayStation 3 Hit Maker, Nippon Ichi/NIS America Winter 2009 (Japan & North America)
Magna Carta II Xbox 360 Softmax, Banpresto, Namco Bandai August 6, 2009 (Japan), Q3 2009 (North America)
Tales of Graces Nintendo Wii Namco Bandai Winter 2009 (Japan)
Lots of cool-looking titles on the horizon, that's for sure. I will take translation requests in the comments, though I would like to get a hold of some nicer scans for Magna Carta II and Last Rebellion before trying to read the whole articles.
NIS teased us last fall that they were working with Japanese developer Hit Maker on a new DS action-RPG called A Witch's Tale. Details were scarce, but we were told the game was going to be Halloween-themed, and was targeted for a Halloween release.
UPDATE: Upon further investigation, Hit Maker appears to actually be a Japanese developer, not Korean. Sincerest apologies.
Word came later that the project was delayed due largely to Hitmaker's decision to change the title from an action-based combat system to a more traditional turn-based one, and that the game would like see release a year later than expected.
Since then, we haven't heard anything, and to be quite honest, I hadn't even given it a second thought. But Japanese gaming blog GPara got the scoop on the title which has secured a May release date in Japan. I've given the article a quick and dirty translation rundown to give you a first look in English.
The game's direction is supposed to reflected that of a dark fairytale where the Witches of the Old Book, banished to live underground, engaged the surface-dwelling witches in a drawn-out, brutal war. The Queen of Sorcery, Alice, eventually succeeded in sealing the Witches of the Old Book into a single book, bringing peace again to the world. The book was hidden, and in time the Witches of the Old Book (referred to now as the Ancient Witches), the war, and the Great Queen Alice became nothing more than legends. The game picks up with a young witch attending Witchcraft Academy named Lidel. Both curious and ambitious, Lidel unseals a book deep in the castle looking for ancient witchcraft, but unwittedly unleashes the Witches of the Old Book (like you didn't see that one coming).
The Witches of the Old Book pay little attention to Lidel, but seek revenge on Alice and the world that sealed them away. They cast a curse upon the world, unleashing monsters upon the populace and attack the ruling princesses.
Lidel, apparently uncomfortable with being blamed for the disaster that the world has fallen under, sets out to stop the witches, alongside the library's guardian vampire, Lou.
In order to re-seal these witches, Lidel must seek out the sleeping power of Alice which is said to reside beneath Lolo, at the center of the world. However, in the thousand years since the banishment of the Ancient Witches, no one has claimed to have seen Alice, and the door to the underground has been sealed by the six ruling princesses of the world's six countries.
Battles are a typical turn-based affair. Both your team and the enemy team can only have up to 3 charaters each. During battle, your party can use physical attacks, witchcraft, items, or attempt to escape. Pretty standard, right? A Witch's Tale's claim to originality is what they call their "Revolver Icon System" which allows the player to utilize the touch screen to drag commands from each of your characters into the slots used to attack certain enemies. Details are still limited at this point, but we are assured that there is some depth to be had in the battle system.
The game has been officially announced and renamed for the Japanese market as Witch Tale: Minarai Majo to 7-nin no Hime (lit. The Apprentice Witch and the 7 Princesses). It will be published by Nippon Ichi, and available for Nintendo DS on May 28, 2009 there. The official Japanese site can be found here, and is set to open on February 27, 2009.
There is currently no mention from NIS America on the state of the game for North America, but we're sure that we'll be hearing about it soon.
While this announcement has come a little sooner than I thought it would, it should surprise few to learn that NIS America has announced the Wii port of it's PS2 SRPG Phantom Brave for the North American market.
Titled Phantom Brave Wii in Japan, NISA apparently has a little bit more creative staff, switching out the "Wii" for "We Meet Again." ...Hey, at least it's not "Wii Meet Again." That would just be retarded.
Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is the same game that was originally released on PlayStation 2 back in 2004, but contains a few new characters and scenarios.
Phantom Brave: We Meet Again will be available in North America on Nintendo Wii sometime this June. It will be available as Phantom Brave Wii in Japan on March 12, 2009.
European fans of Nippon Ichi should be pleased to hear that Square Enix has licensed both Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure and Disgaea DS for European distribution in the coming months.
Rhapsody follows the musical journey of the young trumpetist Cornet as she tries to save the Prince from the marginally evil Marjoly Gang using magical puppets. (It's kind of a weird premise, but the game is definitely endearing). Disgaea DS is the third port of the cult classic SRPG Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, which follows the Prince of Darkness, Laharl, as he attempts to reclaim his rightful overlord-ship of the underworld.
Both titles are DS remakes from their original versions, and both came out last year in North America and Japan.
Again, it's interesting to see Square Enix picking these titles up. I know this is sort of becoming a trend for them, but it's still a little surprising.
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure will be available on Nintendo DS on March 20, 2009, while Disgaea DS will be available on Nintendo DS on April 3, 2009 in Europe. Their official European websites are here:
Nippon Ichi has just released a new trailer for their upcoming port of Phantom Brave to the Nintendo Wii, conveniently named Phantom Brave Wii (I imagine their creative department labored diligently to come up with that name).
You can watch it below.
Hmm, it looks a lot like Phantom Brave... But if the new character(s) and new scenario(s) are your thing, or if you missed it on PS2 and wish you hadn't, I guess this might be just what the doctor ordered.
Though the "exclusively on Wii" bit at the end it kind of an eyebrow-raiser. Like, uh, should I be the one to tell them that it's already on another console?
Phantom Brave Wii will be available for Nintendo Wii on March 12, 2009 in Japan.
In another edition of "really?", Square Enix has announced that they will be localizing Nippon Ichi's PS3 SRPG, Disgaea 3 for Europe. Like Persona 4, Nippon Ichi titles are typically localized for Europe by Koei, so to see Square Enix stepping in on these smaller titles is curious indeed.
Regardless, Square Enix has announced that the game will be available in the region on February 20, 2009.
Nippon Ichi loves to milk their Disgaea franchise, no doubt about it. The newest victim of the never-ending port treatment is none other than 2006's Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories.
Currently titled Makai Senki Disgaea 2 Portable in Japan, the game will be making its way to PSP in March with additional content, including a scenario, additional units, and some additional skills.
The new scenario (apparently the largest addition to the game) features the character Axel as the protagonist, though details on what kind of quest he will undertaken are not yet completely clear.
In addition, several characters that were unplayable in the original PS2 version will be recruitable in the PSP port. Currently revealed additional characters are Zeta, Demon Lord Prier, and Mid Boss (sorry if the Englishizations are wrong, I translated them directly from Japanese as I haven't played enough of the English version).
Interested parties can check out some of the new stuff over at the official Japanese site.
Disgaea 2 Portable will be available for PSP on March 26, 2009 in Japan.
Nippon Ichi Software, having recently acquired a license to develop and publish games on the Nintendo Wii, has just announced their first release on Nintendo's home of waggle: a port of Phantom Brave.
The cleverly titled Phantom Brave Wii will be available in Japan next spring with extra content compared to its PS2 forebearer.
Though details are scarce at the moment on what enhancements will be made to the game, or if the game will support awesomely futuristic motion controls, you can be sure that Nippon Ichi will be dedicated to keeping their graphics looking exactly the same as they always have. It's just how they roll.
You can check out N1's official site for the game here, which will officially open on December 19.
Phantom Brave Wii will be available on Nintendo Wii in March, 2009.
Confession time: I haven't paid ANY attention to NIS' Disgaea 3. Maybe it's because I don't own a PS3. Maybe it's because I didn't particularly enjoy the original Disgaea. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my copy of Disgaea 2 is still in its plastic wrap prison. I don't know.
But for those of you who can't get enough Disgaea (I know you're out there), were you aware that Disgaea 3 is not getting its 6th round of DLC? 6th round? Holy crap! Who's buying this stuff?!
More importantly, however, this round of DLC brings some crossover characters into your game, giving you control over a couple of the main characters from NIS' other obscure SRPG, Soul Nomad & The World Eaters (known as Soul Cradle: Sekai wo Kurau Mono in Japan). Namely, you'll be able to recruit Rivea, the female protagonist of the game, Gig, the enigmatic World Eater, and... er... a dragon.
Also, the Hero Prinny from NIS' upcoming not-an-RPG, Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?
Rivea and Gig will cost you 200 yen a piece (ouch), the dragon will run you 100 yen, and the Hero Prinny is the ubeatable price of FREE.
This DLC has been available on PSN since late last week in Japan.
I honestly don't know if any of the previous Japanese DLC has been made available for the North American version or not, nor do I have any inkling as to whether or not this set will make its way into your North American wallet. But if it does, would you be interested in it?
Though not exhibiting at this year's E3, RPGFan was able to catch up with NIS America's Jack Niida and ask him about some of their upcoming titles.
Of particular interest, Niida mentions that the PSP port of Mana Khemia will be making the jump to North America this September, and that at least two more game announcements are on the way this year, one of which will be made before the end of the month!
Though RPGFan was asked not to reveal the upcoming titles, they said that both are interations in established series. The announcement to come this month is apparently in a series that NIS fans are already aware of. (Could this be Ar Tonelico II?) The second announcement apparently won't be made until this fall, but is a from a series that has been long-running in Japan, and that "a lot of the hardcore RPG fans will enjoy." (We have no speculation on this second title at the moment.)
In terms of NIS-developed games (read "Disgaea"), Niida mentioned that Nippon Ichi (Japan) is eying the possibilities of development utilizing the Wii's motion controls, but is still currently developing for the PlayStation group of products, especially the PSP and PS3. Though the previously announced "Makai Wars" game has been put on hold, Niida mentioned that there is a game in development for PS3 that will better take advantage of its hardware than Disgaea 3 did, but could not comment further.
Though I'm excited about the possibilities of Ar Tonelico II and other Gust titles seeing stateside release, I must admit that Nippon Ichi-developed titles are not particularly my favorite games. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what comes from the company in the future as more developers are finally moving to 7th generation hardware.
You can read the full RPGFan article (which also touches on NIS' upcoming DS titles) here.
RPGamer's Run to the Sun feature has always seemed to me like the biggest waste of one of the best ideas ever. In theory, hitting up all of the major RPG publishers in the bay area with questions and comments from real news-hungry RPG lovers personally seems like it would be the kind of exclusive that almost ANY publication would love to get their hands on. In practice, however, the outcome is decidedly boring. Few, if any company's PR staff are allowed to tell more than what they are already telling the press, and even when the RPGamer staff do get exclusive looks at upcoming and unannounced games, they are often asked not to talk about them until the formal press release.
That being said (and it is completely my own opinion), every now and then some really juicy tidbits squeeze through.
In their visit with NIS America, RPGamer was told not only about the upcoming Disgaea 3 and Disgaea DS (which really aren't news), but were given a confirmation of the DS Rhapsody port for North America, hints about the company's work with Gust titles Ar Tonelico II and Mana Khemia 2, and the date of a new announcement from NIS on June 6 (this Friday)!
Yes, in the above run-on sentance, one game was announced, two hinted, and a teaser... um, teased.
Those of you who have been keeping up with the obscure RPG scene since at least the PSX days (and really, back then, RPGs were all pretty obscure) might remember a little Atlus-published gem known as Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. One of Nippon Ichi's first games, Rhapsody (known in Japan as literally "The Little Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom" - the first Marl Kingdom game), Rhapsody was a relatively unknown game, even by that generation's standards.
But now, thanks to Disgaea's success, Nippon Ichi is more of a household name, and they are all about capitalizing on ports of their old games. (Pulling a bit of a Square Enix, are we?) In any case, Rhapsody is officially heading for the DS (at least in Japan) on August 7th, according to the game's site (which you can check out here).
The game has received an art revision (which I personally feel looks inferior to the original), and has received a new subtitle: マール王国の人形姫 天使が奏でる愛のうた (Maaru Oukoku no Ningyou Hime: Tenshi ga Kanaderu Ai no Uta - literally "The Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom: The Song of Love that Angels Play").
Currently there has been no word from NISAmerica (or any other company for that matter) about North American release.
If further proof was needed that the PlayStation 3 has taken the curious position of 'niche RPG console' of this generation, look no further than small Japanese developer Compile Heart's latest RPG offering, titled Neptune.
