Following Square Enix’s 1st Production Department Premier event, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama sat down for an interview with Dengeki. The topic: the recently announced Final Fantasy XIII-2, which features Kitase as producer and Toriyama as director. While scant few gameplay details were covered – the battle system has seen unspecified upgrades over Final Fantasy XIII‘s – the two did discuss how XIII-2 fits into the series.
Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy XIII-2 Director, Producer Share Details’ »
Media’s here, folks! Hope you’re hungry, because we have a ton of it for you: Atelier Violet, Dissidia 012 Duodecim, SaGa3: Ruler of Space-Time – Shadow or Light, Shining Hearts, The Last Story, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll, and Venus & Braves PSP.
Continue reading ‘Mass Media 01/26/11’ »
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Atlus just announced that it will be bringing Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked, the “expanded and enhanced” version of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor for the 3DS, to North America this summer. SMT: DSO builds on the original game by adding voice acting and an eighth chapter to serve as an epilogue. The official website can be seen here, though there isn’t much to see right now.
Atlus has confirmed that “Demons were harmed in the making of this game,” thus allaying fears about an otherworldly alliance that could have compromised the integrity of Overclocked.
Valkyria Chronicles is an odd beast: a grim war story constructed with standard anime elements, all wrapped around an unusual twist on turn-based strategy and painted with every bright color in the palette. It’s not always an easy fit, and the plot has an annoying habit of telegraphing its punches. Yet there’s a respectable narrative at the core, backed by some solid direction and a charming cast. And if that doesn’t do it for you, the game is still some of the most fun you can have with tanks involved.
Continue reading ‘Valkyria Chronicles – Staff Review’ »
The upcoming 3DS entry for Kingdom Hearts has been titled Dream Drop Distance. Clever, innit? Anyway, it reportedly features a new battle system and will take players to areas not featured in previous games. According to Nomura, Kingdom Hearts‘ current story is entering its final arc, with Dream Drop Distance considered a prelude to the final battle.
Source: Dengeki
Transaltion: Adrienne “Sicondera” Beck
In a press release, Nintendo announced that Pokemon Black and White will launch in North America on March 6. This will be in conjunction with a slew of other new Pokemon media and marketing, from a new movie and TV series to a trading card game expansion in April. The press release in full is available here.
The much-talked-about Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection will be getting an Ultimate Pack. Apart from the PSP version of the game and The After Years, said pack will throw in an official guide book, artbook, and bonus soundtrack called “Final Fantasy IV The After Years Sounds Plus.” Marked at an asking price of ¥9,445, the regular and Ultimate versions of the Complete Collection will hit Japanese stores starting March 24. A US release has not been announced.
Source: andriasang
Dragon Age 2 looks to have some interesting bonuses from outside the game, keeping with the series tradition thus far.
Continue reading ‘Dragon Age 2 Unlockables via Facebook and Dead Space 2’ »
More information about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been making the rounds, with the latest detailing the changes made to combat since Oblivion.
Continue reading ‘Skyrim’s Combat Mixes Up the Formula’ »
In partnership with Atlus, Focus Interactive announced that Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga will be hitting 360s in North America. A “fully remastered version of the original” Ego Draconis, Divinity II includes the Flames of Vengeance expansion and will reach US retailers starting April 12 of this year. Further details about the game can be found at the official site, located over yonder.
In a direct email exchange, NIS America confirmed that La Pucelle: Ragnarok will not be published for a stateside release. The exact quote is as follows: “All right. No, we will not be able to bring it over. We’ve got a lot of fantastic new titles lined up for 2011, and we think fans will get pumped over those even though we can’t bring LP:R out of Japan. For those who’ve supported it over the years, thank you very much for your efforts, but in the end, we won’t be bringing it out of Japan.”
Ragnarok was released for the PSP in Japan back in November of 2009, and, for the time being at least, it looks like it’s staying there.
Source: Siliconera
With the results from the player survey compiled, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida posted a list of planned changes on the Lodestone alongside his reaction to player feedback. The list is surprisingly extensive, and key bits are bulleted below:
Continue reading ‘FFXIV Director Reveals Survey Results, Planned Changes’ »
In an official press release, Square Enix announced that Dissidia 012 Duodecim will hit North American retailers starting March 22, with the SRP set at $29.99. The press release in full can be found here.
Since his recent entry as producer/director of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida has understandably been busy working to turn the game around from its troubled launch. However, he recently stopped to clear a few things up and address player responses to a recent survey. In particular, he revealed the following information:
Continue reading ‘FFXIV’s New Director Clears the Air’ »
You’ll be doing a lot of shouting in the next Elder Scrolls game, according to director Todd Howard. Skyrim centers around abilities known as Dragon Shouts, which are separate from magic but also deliver a range of powerful effects. Historically, this is a power reserved for individuals known as dragonborn; the first emperor, Tiber Septim, was one such person. A major part of your adventure in Skyrim involves gaining access to these powers, which typically requires either defeating a dragon or uncovering words of power from other sources. Players will collect over twenty shouts, each with multiple words to them, and shouts can be used at varying strengths depending on the number of words.
Shout, shout, let it all out starting November 11 of this year.
Source: Game Informer
Unlike North America, Japan has had a booming market for cell phone games for several years, and many popular RPG series have had mobile installments on Japanese phones. Kingdom Hearts: Coded was one such game, originally downloaded to phones in monthly installments. Fortunately, there is a trend to release some of these games on mobile gaming platforms like the DS and PSP with improvements in graphics and pre-rendered videos. This, in turn, brings us to Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, a prime example of how to use a handheld’s accessibility while maintaining the feel of the original game
Continue reading ‘Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded — Staff Review’ »
Square Enix’s news blitz today included more news regarding Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy. A demo for the game, entitled Dissidia Duodecim Prologus Final Fantasy, is now available at the Japanese PlayStation Store for only 300 yen.
The demo features a story mode, which has a short scenario related to the main story, and an arcade mode, which just pits players against the CPU. Players with a completed save file from the demo will be able to unlock Aerith as an assist character in Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy.
In addition, a trailer revealed three new characters: Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V, Yuna from Final Fantasy X, and Prishe from Final Fantasy XI.
Source: andriasang
Square Enix has had a ton of news recently, and with the deluge of Final Fantasy tidbits comes some new Kingdom Hearts 3DS, now dubbed Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Not so clever titles aside, the game takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts II. Players will control both Sora and Riku, and both characters will get some fancy new moves. A press-only trailer shows the pair zooming through the bell tower in Traverse Town’s second district. It also shows Riku facing Ansem’s Heartless and Sora opposite Xemnas.
Translator: Jordan Jackson
Among the many, many things to come out during Square Enix’s 1st Production Department Premier event was long-awaited Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Versus XIII news.
Continue reading ‘EffEffstraveganza: FF Agito XIII Renamed, Versus XIII Trailer Revealed’ »
The ESRB recently released its rating for Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. The third game in a series that has become increasingly suggestive, Ar tonelico Qoga has received an M rating for overt sexual content and language.
The game has nude female characters whose breasts and genitals are covered only by hands or beams of light, female characters wearing only their underwear, and a scene that shows bare buttocks. One scene features a male character verbally coercing a female character to strip, and the installation port scenes have heavy innuendo and moaning. There’s also some swearing; the ESRB description says that “‘sh*t,’ ‘a*shole,’ and ‘b*tch,’ appear in the dialogue.” All ESRB ratings descriptions are censored in this manner, so the game may show the words in their entirety.
