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Grand Knights History won't be published by XSEED, 'development resources' noted
XSEED Games announced late yesterday that it will not publish turn-based RPG Grand Knights History in North America as previously announced."Unfortunately, it was determined that development resources required to localize the game were not available, necessitating its cancellation," the official statement from XSEED sent to Joystiq reads. "We regret not being able to bring the game to our fans, but we are committed to our 2012 lineup and look forward to sharing more on these games in the coming weeks and months."Vanillaware, the developer of eye candy like Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Odin Sphere and the upcoming Dragon's Crown; will still see Grand Knights History published on PSP later this year in Europe by Rising Star Games.%Gallery-134648%
Xseed publishing Vanillaware's online RPG 'Grand Knights History'
XSEED has picked up Vanillaware's recent PSP release, the turn-based RPG Grand Knights History, with the intention to publish it in both UMD and digital releases this winter. Rising Star Games will publish it in Europe at an unspecified time. Vanillaware, if you can't quite place the name, is the developer of absurdly pretty 2D games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Odin Sphere, and the upcoming Dragon's Crown. Grand Knights History depicts a war between three European-style nations, Union, Avalon, and Logres. Players choose one of the factions, recruit teams of soldiers, and face off against the other two armies in battles that take place over 30 hours. Each team member is fully customizable. During TGS, I spoke with producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto, from development partner and publisher Marvelous, who explained the unique online functionality of this title -- the part that he thinks will help appeal to western audiences. "The way it works is you have these four parties online," composed from within a group of 32 characters you've built. "When you're online, you can take direct control of one of these; the other three will battle automatically. The other three parties are synced up to the server. But if you can't get online, all four will fight on their own." While the online play is seen as a feature to draw in western players, the choice of gameplay system displays what seems to be a uniquely Japanese view. "The reason this was chosen: we did Muramasa: The Demon Blade with Vanillaware previously," Hashimoto said, "an action game. Some people are good at action, and some people are not. So with this game -- everybody can play a turn-based battle, and so every player will be able to get through the story and see the end, which is what we wanted."%Gallery-134648%
Muramasa dev Vanillaware creating 'Grand Knights History' for PSP
The latest (leaked) issue of Famitsu brings word of a new project from Vanillaware, creators of Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Odin Sphere. Vanillaware's Grand Knights History is a new RPG for PSP to be published by Marvelous -- with whom the dev worked with on Muramasa -- and planned for release this summer. Players control the leader of one of three warring factions -- "Logress, the ancient kingdom," "Union, kingdom of the knights," or "Avalon, kingdom of magic," -- and take part in turn-based battles accompanied by a group of knights. Grand Knights History is said to include some kind of innovative online play that Vanillaware has yet to explain, but it involves connecting with other players during battle -- and allows for "infinity" players. Chances are we'll hear more about the online system soon, as the game is reportedly 70 percent complete. And knowing Vanillaware's previous output, we can't wait to see the first screens.
