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Bravely Default sequel lights up Japan in April 2015
Bravely Second is flying fairly to Japan on April 23, 2015, though there still isn't word on a Western release. The Bravely Default sequel was due on Japan's retail shelves this winter, but perhaps the publisher thought releasing it prematurely was unacceptable. So, while Japan has to wait a little longer, it can look forward to a shiny-looking collector's pack at launch. The package is on offer for 14,800 yen ($123), and its extras include the "200 years later" companion art book and novel, a "mini soundtrack" on CD, a notebook, a Pope Agnes mini-figure (yes, Pope Agnes), a strap detailed with new character Magnolia, and a code that adds unspecified in-game content.
Bravely Second footage goes on a job search
The debut gameplay footage of Bravely Second is limited to city exploration and a few menu screens, but it does highlight some of the new content coming to the 3DS JRPG sequel. To check it out, bravely head below the break. As captured from a Square Enix livestream by Nintendo Everything, the videos show new character Magnolia trekking through what looks like Istantal, going by official images. According to previously released details, it's a city home to a university of magic where the professors helped to develop a "new structure" of the arcane art. As for Magnolia, Bravely Default fans may recognize her from the first game's special epilogue. The site describes her as having a "daredevil attitude" that we're sure Agnes will find unacceptable.
Fairy sales - Bravely Default ships one million worldwide
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy is proving a commercial hit as well as a critical one, shipping an impressive one million copies worldwide. Square Enix announced (via Dengeki Online) the 3DS JRPG shifted 400,000 in Japan and 600,000 overseas, including download sales. While it has its roots entrenched in old-school Final Fantasy, Bravely Default is still a new property, so the figures are strong. They've already made a similarly strong impression on president Yosuke Matsuda, who said the game's global sales made his company reconsider its approach to JRPG development.
Japan's new Bravely Default demo offers four free chapters
There are demos, and then there are demos that make half the game free. Step in a new Bravely Default demo out July 28 in Japan, which will let 3DS owners play chapters 1-4 of the Square Enix game without spending a single yen. So that's something like 30 hours at least of high-quality, old-school JRPG action for free. That, Square Enix, is some demo. Of course, you don't get that kind of offer without a catch, but it's only the exclusion of voice acting. Japanese audio is added back in with a 2,000 yen download (around $19.62 converted), which also adds the rest of the game with saves carried over. A multilingual alternative with English audio will be available starting August 7, priced 2,500 yen ($24.52.)
Bravely Default dev showcases rendering engine in tech demo
Silicon Studio might be better known for 3DS JRPG Bravely Default, but the company has its roots firmly in middleware development, including its YEBIS 2 post-processing engine. You may not have heard of YEBIS 2, but you've most likely already seen it in action. Its real-time natural light effects starred in last year's E3 trailer for Final Fantasy 15, and its post-processing effects also featured in Ubisoft's Kinect brawler The Fighter Within. YEBIS 2 lighting effects can also be seen in Saint Seya: Brave Soldiers, The Witch and the Hundred Knight and Valhalla Knights 3. While the video hints at Silicon Studio getting involved in its own "nex-gen" development, there's no indication the studio's hiring drive is for work outside of YEBIS 2. That said, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda recently revealed he's considering the company's approach to JRPGs following the success of Bravely Default. It's just speculation, of course, but it'd certainly be a prospect to see the two companies team up on a home console JPRG. In any case, fans of Bravely Default do have a sequel to look forward to in Bravely Second, although we're still waiting for any news of its ETA.
Bravely Default distils its story into a brief trailer
A fantasy world plagued by evil? Check. Powerful magic crystals? Check. A party of four heroes to save the day? Check. Lots of patently ridiculous names? Double check. Bravely Default has the hallmarks a Square JRPG, there's no doubt of that. The 3DS game is two weeks out from hitting North America on February 7. In the meantime, check out the eShop demo to play a side story that's not in the game itself.
Bravely Second details attend magic university
More details for Bravely Second, the sequel to Square Enix's RPG Bravely Default: Flying Fairy announced just last week, have surfaced. The game's familiar locale is that of Luxendarc, "several years" after the Warriors of Light saved the world, according to a translation of the game's official site provided by Gematsu. Specifically, players will be concerned with the "magic university town" of Istantarl, built under the decree of the Lakrika prime minister on the Nadarakes continent in the game's world. The professors of the university helped to develop a "new structure of magic" at Istantarl, indicating that the game may feature some new magic-based battle elements for players to enjoy. Additionally, the silver-haired lady's moniker Magnolia isn't short for "Steel Magnolias" like we'd hoped, but rather "Devil King Buster Magnolia Arch." Magnolia "appears in unexpected places at unexpected times," and also has a "daredevil attitude." Magnolia is the lone survivor of the moon nation, has strong fighting skills and also rescued Tiz Oria, one of the Bravely Default's primary characters. Bravely Second will launch on 3DS in Japan at a to-be-determined date.
Bravely Default sequel adds new character to a familiar world
While the US patiently awaits the arrival of Bravely Default: Flying Fairy on February 7, this week's Shonen Jump magazine (via @Kazu4281) in Japan has already outed the sequel. Titled Bravely Second, the follow-up is set in the same world as the original game and introduces a new silver-haired character named Magnolia. Unfortunately, that's all we have to go on right now. Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, a 3DS RPG from Silicon Studio and published by Square Enix, is the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light and employs similar job and battle systems found in Final Fantasy 5. The western localization of Bravely Default includes updated content and tweaks from the Japanese re-release, Bravely Default: For the Sequel.
3D Dot Game Heroes dev adds Vita support to its Orochi engine
If you're a fan of 3D Dot Game Heroes, then you're likely familiar with Silicon Studio. Perhaps a lesser known part of Silicon's business is the studio's middelware work in Japan with its Orochi engine. Now the engine supports the PlayStation Vita, Andriasang reports. The PlayStation Vita is due to launch in Japan next month. Orochi is a native Japanese language game engine originally conceived as a means to port Windows-based games to the Xbox 360 and PS3 -- 3D Dot Game Heroes was originally conceived as a means to showcase Orochi. It also handles a multitude of development tools including graphics, AI and physics.
3D Dot Game Heroes update adds Sackboy, other new features
We all learned the tragic news that Sackboy wouldn't be appearing in a new video game for a few months longer than we thought. What this post presupposes is: Maybe he will? Not as a part of an officially sanctioned LittleBigPlanet adventure, mind you -- rather, he's been added to the roster of playable characters in Silicon Studio's 3D Dot Game Heroes in an update launched earlier today. The patch also adds 50 player-made heroes to everyone's lineup, allows players to carry weapons over into their New Game + files, and incorporates a handful of bug fixes, which can be read about in detail after the jump. Could the game's former lack of Sackboy actually be considered a bug? We'll have to think on this for a while.
We can't rap our minds around the latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer
Without the proper prior information, the 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer posted above would seem like a rare miss for Atlus' clever marketing machine. After all, it features a fairly horrific rap about some of the game's bonus modes, most of which have been shoehorned into an incredibly awkward rhyme scheme. However, once you realize the commercial is a parody of this 1986 Legend of Zelda ad, you realize -- well, it's still a trainwreck, but it's a parodical trainwreck. Better still, it's an appropriate parodical trainwreck, considering the rest of 3D Dot Game Heroes borrows inspiration from Nintendo's emerald-hatted adventurer. And by "borrows," of course, we mean "straight-up plunders."
3D Dot Game Heroes 'Hall of Heroes' character-sharing hub launched
Are you particularly proud of the homebrewed 3D Dot Game Heores character model you recently whipped up? You know, the one that looks like Link/Mario/Belmont/Your favorite Final Fantasy archetype? Great news -- you can now share your pixelated protagonists with other players, or simply borrow the fruits of their labors, using the recently launched "Hall of Heroes" web hub. There are only a handful of characters live on the hub right now, but they all look like they'd serve as worthy saviors of the land of Dotnia. Especially the one named "Rad Naner," which is a banana wearing sunglasses and riding a skateboard.
UK election campaign spills over into 3D Dot Game Heroes
If you're in the UK and are having a hard time getting a handle on the upcoming general election, perhaps seeing how the three party leaders perform as blocky, giant-sword-wielding heroes will help your decision-making. SouthPeak has added downloadable 3D Dot Game Heroes characters based on party leaders Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. (Perhaps Southpeak is semi-overtly referring to the UK's top politicians as blockheads?) The downloadable politicians are accessible from the "Vault" section of the 3D Dot Game Heroes EU website, which is also home to the web-based character editor. For those of you outside of the UK, there are three new "Guy in a Suit" characters on the site. 3D Dot Game Heroes will be released in Europe on May 14 and in North America on May 11.
Make a 3D Dot Game Heroes hero and win the coolest foam sword of all time
We work in a profession which has us coming into contact with an inexplicably large number of fake armaments, so we feel like we can speak with some authority when we say that the foam sword seen above is the coolest foam sword ever. How can you go about acquiring one of these ultra-rare, pixelated beauties? All you have to do is make something using this simplified, online version of 3D Dot Game Heroes' character creation engine, and you could win the non-lethal blade and a copy of the game. You have until May 11 to whip up a blocky hero and submit a picture of it to SouthPeak (the European publisher of the title) for consideration. Sadly, the contest is only open to our European allies, though the character creator is available to everyone. We demand equality on both sides of the Atlantic! Everyone should have a stab at winning these squishy sabers!
New 3D Dot Game Heroes video: 'The Hero Your Hero Could Be'
Dearest Atlus, These cute 3D Dot Game Heroes videos just have to stop. Your latest, a delightful parody of the equally delightful Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercial, is just too good (see attached video after the break). We realize you have to compete for attention by creating informative, entertaining videos, but how are other niche publishers supposed to compete? The boys downstairs have already ascertained the high quality of the game, and your continued insistence on marketing the product now borders on overkill. Honestly, it's really not fair to all the other American publishers of quirky Japanese games. Sincerely, J. J. Joystiq Sr.
Review: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Silicon Studio set out to make a game primarily as a means of showing off its graphical effect middleware -- and then chose a retro-style action RPG as that showcase. That shouldn't work at all. But somehow, the developer managed to pull it off; 3D Dot Game Heroes is a faithful, expertly crafted reproduction of NES-era gameplay that happens to highlight spectacular visual effects in a logical way. The studio pulled this impressive feat off by designing a world composed of giant cubes, essentially 3D versions of 8-bit sprites. This style is overlaid with insane visual effects, like an exaggerated depth of field that makes everything look miniature, and surreal, sparkling water. Even the spells are winkingly based on graphical effects like shaders and parallax maps. It's essentially the lost NES Zelda game. Or, rather, it's a parody of the Zelda series executed so perfectly that it is itself an excellent Zelda game. %Gallery-70578%
Game Informer puts Link in 3D Dot Game Heroes
It was almost too obvious: 3D Dot Game Heroes looks a lot like Zelda, it lets you make characters, boom: You put Link in it. Done. But like all innovations that were so natural as to be almost self-evident, someone had to be first. In our case, that someone is Game Informer's Tim Turi, whose achievement you can find after the break. Congratulations, Tim. It may have been obvious, but that's what they said about going to the moon and now who's on Dancing With The Stars, eh?
Latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer is Error
It's no secret that From Software's 3D Dot Game Heroes borrows -- and borrows heavily -- from the Zelda series. So, Atlus, cheeky publisher that it is, has released a new trailer for 3D Dot Game Heroes that outright exposes the game's aping of Zelda. Give it a watch and see if you can spot all the references.
Latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer is predictably awesome
It's kind of weird to say this, but the consistent awesomeness of 3D Dot Game Heroes trailers is starting to feel downright cruel. Seriously, how much cheeky, retro goodness are we expected to take? The latest trailer piles it on yet again, showing off anything and everything you ever loved about adventure RPGs. Adorable heroes, dungeons, massive bosses, boomerangs, it's all there. The trailer even offers a glimpse at the game's character editor. Which brings us to the cruel part: the May 11 3D Dot Game Hereos launch is still over a month away. Come on, Atlus, have a heart and stop with the trailers.
Atlus offers video walkthrough of 3D Dot Game Heroes, Twilight fanfic
Atlus has proven to be the distributor of some of the funniest press releases we regularly receive. The party responsible for a majority of that humor, PR manager Aram Jabbari, recently stopped by Playstation.Blog HQ to give a brief video demonstration of 3D Dot Game Heroes, which you'll find posted above. The video shows a walkthrough of one of the game's Zelda-esque dungeons and, appropriately, includes a number of irreverent jabs at 8-bit classics. Though legal reasons prevent Jabbari from naming specific games the title lampoons, he was more than happy to show off his homemade Vampire protagonist's massive sword, remarking, "I'm sure Bella will find that impressive." Oh, Aram. Don't ever change.
