Namco Bandai has finally let us know when we will get our hands on this Level-5/ Studio Ghibli collaboration. The fantastic looking J-RPG will be coming to America January 22nd, while the Europeans will be getting it on the 25th. It might be a little ways off, but I know I cannot wait for this PS3 Exclusive. Along with the release dates, they’ve given us a new trailer to enjoy.
At least from the beginning, you’ll probably feel like you’ve heard this story before. A ragtag group of young adults has joined together as a group of mercenaries, fighting for fame and fortune around their homeland. Very quickly, their goals change as their world is plunged into the depths of a brutal war with an ancient race that is one of mankind’s oldest enemies. Along the way, our protagonist crosses paths with a strange a beautiful woman, who wields mysterious magical powers.
This particular series of plot devices may seem a little overused, but there are enough twists and turns to keep a player’s attention in The Last Story. Players take control of a young mercenary named Zael. His ultimate goal is to be recognized by the monarchy so they can be made official knights of the court, but the war that breaks out between the humans of Lazulis Island and another ancient race quickly changes the goals of this group of youngsters. While none of this is exceptionally different from RPGs we’ve seen thus far, The Last Story is a game all about shaking up deeply entrenched clichés. Continue reading »
Any gamer with a Twitter account can probably tell you about Operation Rainfall, and the three large scaled RPGs for the Wii that were slated to be released worldwide…
…except for in North America. In a blazing streak of Internet activism, Operation Rainfall was formed in an effort to convince Nintendo to localize these games for North American audiences. The second game in this series, The Last Story has some especially notable talent behind it, and thus seemed to garner a bit more attention than the other two titles. Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series and current head of Mistwalker Studios, directed The Last Story, which only intensified gamers’ desire for this game to hit Western shelves.
As you may remember, I already unlocked my Wii to play Xenoblade Chronicles, so despite the recent announcement of The Last Story‘s imminent NTSC release this summer, I decided to get my grubby paws on the European version. After about 90 minutes of time spent in the world of The Last Story I can safely say that this game is one any RPG fan with a Wii will want to check out when it hits our shores.
Environments you visit look great. Image courtesy of GamesPress.
First of all, this game looks fabulous. I hesitate to say “for a Wii game”, because I believe everyone is familiar with the Wii’s limitations at this point in time. What I will say is I can’t help but to wonder why Wii games haven’t looked this good since the console was launched. The art style is very reminiscent of modern Final Fantasy games, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Everything sort of has that light sepia-toned wash that has become so prevalent in this console cycle, but it works well for the setting and tone of the game.
Where this game really shines is the combat system. This could easily be one of the most intuitive and elegantly designed combat systems of any RPG I’ve played. The Last Story features truly real-time combat, which is almost unheard of in a JRPG. There is a cover system, over-the-shoulder shooting elements, strategy game influences, and a unique take on the typical RPG magic system. All of these pieces congeal into an experience that is both enjoyable and challenging enough to be rewarding.
Combat is surprisingly well designed. Image courtesy of GamesPress.
As with most JRPGs, the story is a deep and complex affair. The plot promises to be speckled with bits of action, romance, betrayal and more; but after an hour and a half with this game, it is clear that I am just getting started in terms of story. I’ve been able to identify the protagonists and their main goal, but little else. This goal is likely to change over the course of the game, and in true JRPG fashion I feel like I will be unraveling the mysteries of these characters until I see the credits roll. So far the development of most characters is good, and the team at Mistwalker has done a good job at creating characters I will relate to.
It will likely be many, many more hours until I am able to discern if The Last Story is worthy of the accolades it has already been receiving. It is clear that this game was created with a level of care and detail we rarely see in Wii titles. Will this be the game to revitalize the Japanese Role-Playing Game genre, which has become almost unbearably stagnant in the last few years? Keep your browser’s homepage set to RoboAwesome.com to make sure you don’t miss out on our full review, coming up in the next few days!
Just when gamers start crying that the JRPG genre is dead, Nintendo pulls a doozie like Xenoblade Chronicles out of their bag of many tricks. This game promised to be the complex, sprawling RPG that Wii owners had been begging for. Unfortunately, everyone got it except North Americans, much to the chagrin of those behind “Operation Rainfall“. It’s very unfortunate that Nintendo made this decision, because my experience with this game so far has lead me to believe it is not only the best RPG for the Wii, but maybe one of the best JRPGs of this console generation.
*If you haven’t seen any trailers or such for Xenoblade Chronicles there could be some spoilers in the ‘Story’ section.
The opening cinematic of Xenoblade Chronicles portrays two seemingly robotic titans, named Bionis and Mechonis, battling each other. It’s hard to tell who wins this battle, but eventually you are shown that there are human-like creatures called Homes living on the creature known as Bionis. Their nemesis, mechanical beings known as the Mechon presumably live on the titan called Mechonis. Get it? Biological beings on Bionis and mechanical entities on Mechonis. How clever!
Through a series of unfortunate events, the game’s protagonist, Shulk, realizes he has the ability to wield a weapon known as the Monodo. It is an energy-based blade weapon which is the only thing that can damage the minions of the Mechon. Over the course of the game, Shulk will gain new abilities, called Arts, that he can execute on his own. He also learns a separate set of Arts that are related only to the Monodo. Just where this weapon came from, what it’s full range of abilities is, and why only certain people seem to be able to wield it will be just one set of mysteries you will be trying to uncover as the game’s events unfold.
The story sticks to JRPG clichés: there is still a young boy who teams up with some lifelong friend and uses his newfound and amazing abilities to save the world, but the development team at Monolith managed to make it easy to swallow. Perhaps this is due to the unique setting of the game, or it’s mostly straightforward storyline. Or it could be that everyone seems to have clear motives, ranging from revenge to protecting loved ones. Nothing feels obscure or convoluted, which is a departure from the standard storytelling methods in JRPGs lately.
Slashing Mechon to bits with the Monodo
It would be all to easy to write a thousand words based solely on the gameplay in Xenoblade Chronicles. The game is the most delightfully complex thing ever played on a console, so it would be impossible to cover every nuance here. Instead, we will focus on what seem to be the essentials.
Accessibility
The developers went through great lengths to make sure the game was accessible to both seasoned JRPG vets and new players looking to break into the genre. They did this by including simple design elements like giving the player complete control over the time of day without any penalty. This was great for triggering time sensitive events without standing around and waiting for the in-game time to advance. Another thing they did was include a simple to use fast travel system that allows players to travel instantly to certain areas or landmarks once they have been discovered. Xenoblade Chronicles also allows for saving anywhere you want, which is essentially unheard of in a RPG of this caliber these days.
Quests & Collections
While attempting to complete the main quest of you will come across NPCs that want you to complete sidequests for them. These are all fairly typical for an RPG, and involve finding a certain item or collecting a number of another item. Unlike other games in this genre, you usually will not have to return to the NPC that issued the sidequest in order to complete it. There is a trade off, however, because you will not get any help from the game’s mini-map like you would with main quest objectives. Completing these quests will net you rewards in the way of experience, gold, and items.
As you’re running around finding lost earrings and collecting bird feathers, you will come across blue orbs laying about the world. Grabbing these items will complete an entry in the “Collectipedia”, and if you collect everything for a certain category you will be awarded a special gem that can be affixed to weapon or armor to enhance its attributes.
Combat
Combat is turn-based, though you are not limited in terms of where or when you can move your characters. You simply need to be in range of your target to initiate an auto attack, which will hit persistently as long as you are close enough. If you’ve played Final Fantasy XII you will feel right at home in Xenoblade Chronicles battles. In between auto attacks you will have the option to execute one of the many Arts available to your character, provided your talent gauge, which you keep full by successfully landing auto attacks on enemies, is full enough. Once you defeat a monster, you will be awarded experience points, gold, skill points with which you can level up your Arts, and occasionally items. Some of these items will be crystals that can be made into the aforementioned gems by way of a very simple mini-game.
This is one of very few console games where managing “aggro” (if your unfamiliar with the term, aggro just means the monster is focusing all of its attention on you) is important. Knowing each character’s strengths and weaknesses will be very important for getting through a battle victoriously. For example, Shulk, a well-rounded character as far as stats go, has substantially less HP than his lifelong friend Reyne does. Reyne is a warrior type character built for taking hits and keeping all an enemy’s attention focused on him. It is prudent to let Reyne keep aggro so Shulk can maneuver around the target to use his attacks, because most of them are only effective beside or behind a monster. Constantly spamming Arts will pull aggro off of Reyne, so it’s vital to use a good balance of auto attacks and Arts. For emergencies, Shulk does come with an Art that reduces his aggro level but it’s not fool proof. It’s easy to tell who has the baddie’s attention, because the character will be marked with a red ring around him so you can easily tell when it’s time to get Shulk the heck out of dodge.
Some monsters are simply enormous in scale.
Another well-implemented feature of combat in Xenoblade Chronicles is the Party Gauge This blue gauge at the top of the screen fills up a little with each successful hit on an enemy, or you can get one of the three bars filled up instantly if you are able to cheer one of your teammates on at the right time when prompted. You must have at least one bar in the Party Gauge to revive fallen party members or warn them of an impending attack — but more on that later. You also can expend a completely full gauge to execute a Chain Attack, in which time temporarily freezes and you issue a command to each party member to carry out. These Chain Attacks, if used properly, will net huge damage bonuses compared to standard attacks, and will be absolutely crucial for certain bosses.
The last unique, and possibly most interesting, combat element is Shulk’s ability to use the Monodo to predict certain events in the near future. In combat, the image becomes slightly distorted and wavy, so you will instantly be able to tell when Shulk is having a premonition. Then at the top of the screen, you will be able to see which of your party members the monster is going to attack, what type of attack they will use, and how much damage it will deal. After the vision is over, you will have a few seconds to warn the target of the attack and select an appropriate move for them to counter the attack with, but this only works if you have at least one full bar in your Party Gauge There are other methods you can use to keep your party safe that you will unlock as the story progresses. It would be a great loss if players look at all the complexities of combat and become overwhelmed or think this isn’t the game for them to play. The game features an in-depth tutorial system that you can access at anytime which will teach you all of the game’s finer points.
The graphics in Xenoblade Chronicles are, for the most part, great looking. The environments are finely rendered and give as much of a “photo-realistic” feel as I’ve seen on the Wii to date, with the exception of Monster Hunter Tri (a game I will obviously be gushing about forever). Battle animations are smooth and fluid and special effects are completely top-notch. Cutscenes are rendered with the in-game engine, which is nice because your characters will be wearing all the actual gear they’re wearing during a battle or otherwise. The only shortcoming for the visuals is that up close. Characters’ faces look flat; as if someone drew a picture of a face and wrapped it around a Styrofoam ball.
There is a wide variety of terrain in the game. There are environments ranging from lush forests, dank caves, and sprawling prairies. These vistas are beautifully detailed and really give you a sense of the scale of the world you’re traveling in. Caves were rendered a little too darkly, but a quick visit to the game’s settings menu was all it took to move the brightness to an acceptable level.
The soundtrack is superb. It’s fully orchestrated and the composer was really able to capture the grandeur and epic scale of the story he was scoring. I found the voices to be a little cheesy, but that could be because they’re very British. The general consensus is that the voice acting is good so we can chalk any perceived hoakiness up to my American ears.
Battling it out on the open plains.
Since the Wii released almost five years ago, one of the major complaints of its naysayers has been that there are no “in-depth” games for the system. While that was mostly true at the time, it is obvious that Xenoblade Chronicles was just the game that these people and long-time Wii fans were holding out for. It’s unfortunate that by the time this game was created, the JRPG has become mostly a dead genre in the eyes of Western gamers. This colossal title offers a sprawling world, an intricate battle system, and a great story all wrapped up in the package with some of the best graphic on offer from the Wii. After playing just a portion of the game, it left me hoping that there will be more games this accessible and ambitious in the console generations to come…and hopefully with a North American release.
| Pros | Great story, excellent graphics, intricate yet easy to learn battle system |
|---|---|
| Cons | Character faces look a little flat, caves are way too dark. That's it really. |
| Verdict | Xenoblade Chronicles is the definitive JRPG of this console generation. |
| Rating |
“Power up by eating sardines, Dawg!” Valvatorez is a sardine-obsessed vampire who, because of a promise made long ago, refuses to drink human blood. Together with his werewolf manservant Fenrich, he resides in the fiery prison of Hades as a Prinny Instructor. When the demonic “Corrupternment” decides to rid the Netherworld of Prinnies due to overcrowding and budgetary issues, threatening a promise made to the recent Prinny school graduates, Valvatorez sets out to violently set things straight. Thus begins one of the silliest, most ridiculous, and entertaining jRPG adventures I’ve had the pleasure to experience in Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten.
This is the EU bundle, that comes packaged with a red Classic Controller.
For a few months, rabid Nintendo owners across the globe were petitioning the publisher to release a series of “hardcore” RPGs in the United States. Xenoblade Chronicles was one of the central titles in this effort known as “Operation Rainfall”, but it failed to influence Nintendo’s decision to exclude North America from this game’s release. This behemoth of a game did not make it Stateside, but thanks to being translated into English for the European Union release ,and the ingenuity of internet hackers, I have had the pleasure of playing this game.
Continue reading »
Dragon Quest, as a whole, gracefully achieves what any other given long-running JRPG franchise strives for. It simultaneously adheres to a canon of familiarity and tradition while managing to find fun ways for each entry to feel not only like a member of the family, but also wholly unique. The latest release, Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, is the third in a “trilogy” of remakes on the DS, and like Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, this is the first time the game has been officially available in North America. However, unlike Dragon Quest V, the original Super Famicom version of part VI never had a complete fan translation. So not only are gamers getting a new, delicious helping of Dragon Quest goodness, but for most it will probably be a very new experience.
There’s going to be a new Rune Factory for PS3 and Wii. Some of you might be scratching your heads asking what Rune Factory is, but I know JRPG fans probably have a good idea. It’s like a more action packed Harvest Moon, but that simple description doesn’t quite hold a candle to the actual experience. I know some fans of the series personally, and I am confident they will find this new trailer pretty neat. I for one have not played the series, but this trailer really makes me want to play it. It’s in Japanese, so I have no idea what they are saying. It’s probably important details about the game or something to do with Tentacle Rape. Let us know what you think!
It’s hard to imagine how a video game franchise with roots digging twenty three years deep into the soil of video game history can still put out a decent game. Games bearing the phrase “Final Fantasy” have been both fantastic and failures, to the point where any gamer worth their salt will approach them with the eyes of a skeptic. Despite all this, the development team of Matrix has teamed up with Square Enix to conjure Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, which plays like a modernized version of the classic JRPGs of past generations. Continue reading »
Ridiculously over-sized sword? Check! Hot-headed, brash and unnaturally skilled protagonist? Check! Unlikely group of youths rising to overcome insurmountable odds? Check! With the release of Image Epoch and Marvelous Entertainment’s Arc Rise Fantasia, Wii owners can finally set out on a traditional, turn-based adventure! But is this a battle worth fighting until the end? Or is this an encounter from which gamers should flee?
In Arc Rise Fantasia, players take on the role of L’Arc Bright Lagoon, a brash 17-year old mercenary fighting alongside the Meridian Imperial Army against the plague of noxious Feldgraons whose most recent attack is aimed at the very heart of the Empire itself. Amid the conflict, L’Arc suddenly finds himself in the company of Ryfia, a naïve and sheltered Diva from the Turemilian republic charged with guiding the Children of Eesa. The Diva explains that her mother’s dying wish was for Ryfia to visit the city of Jada which houses the Dragon Prison – A kind of power plant which draws Ray, the Empire’s primary source of energy, from demigods known as Rogress.
"If only someone visually distinct from the rest of us could -- Oh, good!"
Eventually joined by Prince Alfonse, L’Arc’s regal childhood friend, the trio reaches Jada just before it falls under the attack by a mysterious necromancer. In desperation, they seal themselves inside the Dragon Prison and stumble upon the mighty being known as Simmah. The Rogress identifies L’Arc as a child of Eesa and chooses to devote itself to our hero’s as-of-yet unknown cause. From there, Arc Rise Fantasia weaves a tale of international war, conspiracy, betrayal, and friendship.
However, while there are some interesting twists and turns along the way, Arc Rise Fantasia’s cliché characters and rudimentary story never exceed the expectations one would place on a campy Saturday morning anime. The painful voice acting is a black hole of emotion and drama that will leave you wishing for the Japanese dub, but because character dialogue is vapid and corny anyway, you can’t help but wonder if professional actors would have mattered at all. Fortunately, Image Epoch was gracious enough to allow players to silence voices altogether. They didn’t bother me initially, but hearing the characters spout-off comments such as, “Piece of cake” six or seven times in a single battle was more than I could handle.
Gasp!
The majority of the soundtrack is just as uninspired as the vocals and with the exception of a few stand-outs, entirely forgettable. It’s a shame considering industry veteran Yasunori Mitsuda was involved in composing the score. Battle music, which you’ll naturally hear most out of any track, is appropriately paced and sufficiently fits the action on the screen. The music isn’t necessarily bad; it’s just too generic to establish its own identity and some of the more dramatic moments fall flat as a result.
Graphically, Arc Rise Fantasia is solid. There are some very impressive locales that are a marvel of scale and the world itself is very strikingly detailed from wildernesses rife with flowers and trees right down to the stylish character and weapon designs. There are some aliasing issues and the framerate occasionally suffers to accommodate heavy action or significantly populated areas. At times, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was playing a PlayStation 2 port.
Excel Acts and summons are impressive and fluidly animated.
Arc Rise Fantasia’s pacing is a standard and straight-forward affair that can become monotonous at times. Characters traverse the world to reach towns where they gather information before heading to dungeons to do battle with bosses who tip them off to new locations where they can gather information. Rinse, repeat. Fortunately, this stale formula is somewhat alleviated with the addition of Guilds.
Located in towns throughout the world, Guilds offer optional missions which fall into various categories and objectives. For example, Hunt quests require you to slay a set number of a particular enemy type and Collect quests are all about obtaining items that enemies drop after battle. You can track your progress from the status menu and once you’ve completed the task, you can cash-in on your rewards at any Guild location. Not only are they a nice distraction, but the items and money you stand to gain from side quests can be pretty substantial.
Get used to it.
In Arc Rise Fantasia’s battle system, characters draw from a pool of Action Points (AP) displayed in the top-left corner of the screen. All functions of combat draw from this resource which replenishes slightly at the start of every new round of combat. While you won’t find yourself too concerned with this facet during standard enemy encounters, strategic and calculated use of AP is a crucial factor in the title’s challenging boss battles, as mindlessly depleting this resource in one round can leave your characters vulnerable and sometimes entirely inept in the next. Skies of Arcadia veterans will know exactly what to expect.
Some actions such as Excel Acts (character-specific special attacks) and summoning Rogress require more than just AP to execute; beneath each of your party’s status displays at the top of the screen are Special Points (SP) gauges. Unlike your Hit Points (HP), which are represented in whole numbers, the SP gauges go by percentages and increases slightly when a character attacks an enemy or suffers an enemy attack.
The battle system is fast, strategic and fun!
Rather than showcase every action character-by-character as in other traditional JRPGs, your party and their enemies will move and attack each other simultaneously – a feature that significantly increases the speed of battles and serves to alleviate the “sluggish” pace of combat many have come to associate with JRPGs. The spacing between characters and enemies plays an important role in combat as those characters within close proximity of one-another may occasionally perform extra attacks at no cost to the AP gauge. However, this also leaves them susceptible to enemies with the capability to inflict area-of-effect damage. While it doesn’t feel as fleshed-out or as smart as it could be, it’s still a welcome addition to the formula.
A row of portrait cards in the bottom-right corner of the screen indicates the order in which actions will occur between your party and their enemies. This display is altered in real-time to reflect your choices during the “planning” phase of combat and provides an extra layer of consideration in deciding on your strategy. For example, you’ll want to make sure that healing abilities can affect a wounded character before an enemy’s attack can and that you fight efficiently by eliminating gaps between character portraits.
Pictured: Efficiency.
Overall, the battle system is a traditional, tried-and-true experience with some nice touches thrown in to keep things somewhat fresh. While the normal encounters fall a little flat in terms of difficulty and impact, boss battles are lengthy, challenging, and will regularly put your abilities to the test.
One of the most surprising aspects of Arc Rise Fantasia is the level of depth and character customization its subsystems allow for on top of standard equipment. The Arm Force Frame allows you to customize weapons with Weapon Pieces, which are unlocked as your armament increases in level. Each weapon comes stock with bonus abilities such as Attack +2 or skills such as Lone Wolf, which makes the wielding character stronger when fighting alone. Once you’ve gained enough Weapon Points (WP), these abilities unlock and can be equipped on other weapons. The Arm Force Frame is an expandable grid in which you can facet the Weapon Pieces as long as there is room. It’s a great feature that essentially allows you to build your own perfect weapon.
The Arm Force Frame is a clever and addictive feature.
Orbs are separate pieces of equipment to which you will affix elemental gems in order to manipulate magic. At the start of the game, L’Arc has no magical abilities, but a quick trip to the local Workshop can change that. There, you can purchase slots to equip more gems, increase elemental bonuses, increase your maximum MP in any level, or pay to have your orb completely reset to start-over from scratch. It can get expensive quickly, but the extra coin is worth creating highly specialized magic adepts.
There are four levels of Magic in Arc Rise Fantasia and rather than the more traditional single pool of Magic Points (MP), each level has its own numerical value. Each spell costs a single point of MP, so if your character has 3 MP in the level one category of spells, then he or she may cast up to three level one spells. The value is determined by the upgrades you’ve made to a character’s Orb. Unfortunately, this change to the norm quickly becomes costly and annoying and I still can’t understand why they chose to implement it.
Rogress themselves form a level of customization exclusive to L’Arc. Up to three of these behemoths can be “synced” at any one time and each provides various stat boosts or penalties, though the system isn’t as deep as Orbs or the Arm Force Frame. Only synced Rogress can be used in combat, so you’ll have to decide on a team that coheres well both on and off the battlefield.
I think my bowels would have "synced" with my pants....
An interesting though slightly useless feature of Arc Rise Fantasia is Outfits. With outfits, you can change the appearance of your characters on the status screen and trigger extra skits. Unfortunately, this is the entire extent of the system as your party won’t look any different in or out of battle and outfits don’t provide any kind of bonuses.
Arc Rise Fantasia isn’t the sprawling role-playing epic that starved and deprived Wii owners have been waiting for, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t worth playing. It may not do anything exceptionally well or push the genre in any meaningful way, but the title’s length, layers of customization, streamlined battles, and $40 price tag make for a solid package. While fans of more western entries in the genre should probably look elsewhere to level-up their collection, JRPG veterans should feel right at home.
| Pros | None |
|---|---|
| Cons | Terrible voice acting, stale pacing, predictable story, cliche everything |
| Verdict | Staunch JRPG fans only |
| Rating |