With a rough financial year for nearly everyone last year, recently merged Koei Tecmo has posted some heavy losses. Despite these pressures, or perhaps because of them, a couple of games slated for Japanese release next month have been postponed indefinitely.
One of the two is their upcoming PlayStation 3 hack-n-slash action-RPG, Trinity: Zill O'll Zero (to be known as Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll in North America). This is at least the second delay for the game which has dropped on and off the radar sporadically over the last year for no given reason.
Why the title has been put on the back burner is anyone's guess, but it is likely along the same lines as the excuse for the other postponed title: quality improvement.
Trinity: Zill O'll Zero's release has been changed from 'March 2010' to 'TBD.' We'll let you know when Koei Tecmo announces a new release date.
Well, maybe "dominate" is a strong word. But given the limited number of JRPGs present at this year's event (especially on HD consoles), 4 separate hack-n-slash RPGs at one conference is enough to feel like a significant portion.
Hack-n-Slash RPGs are sort of a mixed bag. On one hand, mindless slaughter of even more mindless enemies definitely has its perks, but on the other, hack-n-slash RPGs tend to be light on interesting subject matter and heavy on pressing X repeatedly. A tight-rope walk, to be sure.
Anyways, this year's show has hands-on demos and new trailers for Square Enix and Cavia's NieR (both Gestalt and Replicant), Microsoft, feelplus, and Konami's Ninety-Nine Nights II, and Koei Tecmo's Trinity: Zill O'll Zero (known as Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll in North America). Let's take a look!
NieR Gestalt / NieR Replicant Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 Cavia, Square Enix
NieR is an interesting position of being both a multiplatform and an exclusive title all at once. Originally announced as multiplatform, Square Enix recently revealed that the game would be altered and released separately on Microsoft and Sony's platforms.
The original concept of a middle-aged father searching for the cure to a deadly disease for his daughter will be called Nier Gestalt, and reportedly be exclusive to Xbox 360 sometime next year.
Conversely, NieR Replicant will follow the same basic storyline, but has Nier (the main character) as a young man searching for the cure for his sister (who appears to be the same girl as in Gestalt), and will be exclusive to PlayStation 3 sometime next year.
Quite why Cavia or Square Enix (whoever made the decision) felt the need to alter only the main character's age and relationship to the girl needing saving, then release them "exclusively" on 360 and PS3 is beyond me.
Anyway, Cavia is a developer with a shaky history. I disliked Drakengard, but really enjoyed Drakengard 2. Also, I liked the concept of Bullet Witch, but thought the execution needed some polish. Altogether, this is a hard game to judge for me right now. It could be great, mediocre, or crappy, and I have no way of telling right now.
Ninety-Nine Nights II Xbox 360 feelplus, Microsoft, Konami
The follow-up to one of Microsoft's first attempts to appeal to the Japanese market, N3II is clearly going for a darker, more mature feel than its predecessor, and seems to be going for a more coherent story as well (though that's only a guess from watching the trailers).
Employing the development talents of Lost Odyssey's feelplus, and with the publishing cooperation of Konami, N3II touts bloodier combat, darker heroes, simultaneous co-op play, and more varied gameplay. Check it out below.
I personally enjoyed the original N3, despite its glaring flaws. I'm not sure if I like the change in style for this one, but I am interested to see if they manage to improve on the things that I disliked about the original.
Also, I have no idea why Konami is publishing this instead of Microsoft.
Trinity: Zill O'll Zero PlayStation 3 Omega-Force, Koei Tecmo
Zill O'll is an obscure RPG series that has never seen the light of day outside of Japan. With 3 previous iterations, Trinity breaks away from the series' previous traditions and goes for a hack-n-slash fest on the PS3 that has been confirmed for North American release someday.
Giving you control over 3 unique characters (a swordsman, a barbarian, and an elf girl), Trinity looks otherwise fairly generic, especially considering its obscure roots. Nevertheless, hack-n-slash fans will likely enjoy the hordes of monsters waiting to die by their hands.
So, a lot of hack-n-slash, right? Hack-n-slash RPGs tend to be pretty polarizing. Either you really enjoy them, or you swear you will never touch them. I always end up buying them if I own the system they're on, but Drakengard 2 is the only one I can ever remember seeing through to the end. (Though I did come close to finishing N3.)
Koei Tecmo dropped off a new trailer for their upcoming PlayStation 3 ARPG, Trinity Zill O'll Zero (to be known as Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll in North America) as part of their E3 presence. Take a watch below.
As the first Zill O'll game to reach North America, I hate to say this, but it feels a little generic from this trailer. In fact, it looks like another Koei hack-and-slash fest that we've all come to know and love(?) Koei for.
That said, I like the subtle cell-shading they have going on, and the elf girl, at least, has an attractive character design.
Winter 2009/2010 is still a ways off, so let's hope the game comes into its own by then.
Trinity Zill O'll Zero will be available for PlayStation 3 this Winter in Japan, and sometime next year in North America.
Wow, that was fast. Just revealed for Japan last week, Koei Tecmo announced Friday that it would be bringing Trinity Zill O'll Zero to North American PlayStation 3s as well.
Though no release date has been given yet, the game will still apparently release under the Koei brand, but will be given a name change to Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll for the North American market.
Koei Tecmo will reportedly be showing the title off at E3 where we hope to see the game in action and get a release date.
Trinity Zill O'll Zero will be available for PlayStation 3 sometime this Winter in Japan.
Koei Tecmo announced this week via Weekly Famitsu that they will be bringing their highly obscure RPG series Zill O'll into the current generation with Trinity Zill O'll Zero for PlayStation 3 under the Koei brand.
If you haven't heard of Zill O'll before, don't worry about it, most people haven't.
The original Zill O'll was a turn-based RPG for the original PlayStation that never made it out of Japan. Since then, it was remade once for the PS2, and again recently for the PSP. Thus, despite the 'Trinity' and 'Zero' elements of the new installment's name, this is actually only the second original Zill O'll title.
Unlike previous installments, TZOZ is an action-RPG. Unfortunately, the scan is too low quality to be read properly, but you can check out the images below.
Well, I suppose this seals it: the PS3 is the official home of the obscure RPG.
Though none of the previous Zill O'll installments have seen Western shores, the lack of big name RPGs on the PS3 (and the lack of RPGs in general this gen) gives Trinity Zill O'll Zero a much higher chance of seeing the light of day in North America.
Trinity Zill O'll Zero will be available for PlayStation 3 sometime this year in Japan.
With a rough financial year for nearly everyone last year, recently merged Koei Tecmo has posted some heavy losses. Despite these pressures, or perhaps because of them, a couple of games slated for Japanese release next month have been postponed indefinitely.
