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An appreciation of the PlayStation Vita on its 10th birthday
The PlayStation Vita was powerful, beautiful and less popular than the 3DS. Join us as we celebrate our favorite titles on Sony's last handheld.
Xenogears, SaGa Frontier resurface in Theatrhythm Curtain Call DLC
Xenogears, SaGa Frontier, and other classic RPGs from Square Enix's back catalog make an appearance as part of this week's DLC lineup for the publisher's 3DS rhythm game Final Fantasy Theatrhythm: Curtain Call. New Battle Music Sequence tracks hitting the eShop today include Final Fantasy 7's "Opening: Bombing Mission," "Primal Judgment" from Final Fantasy 14, "Soaring" from Xenogears, and "Last Battle: T260G" from SaGa Frontier. Players can also download the Battle Music Sequence track "Sacrifice Part Three" plucked from the Japan-exclusive Secret of Mana follow-up Seiken Densetsu 3 starting today, along with the Field Music Sequence stage "In Search of the Sword of Mana," originally featured in the Game Boy action-RPG Final Fantasy Adventure. All DLC tracks are priced at 99 cents apiece. Square Enix notes that additional songs will hit the eShop on January 22. [Image: Square Enix)
Hiromichi Tanaka leaves Square Enix
Hiromichi Tanaka, a producer and designer who has been a part of Square Enix since before it was even Square Enix, announced his departure from the company during Vanafest 2012, an event held to commemorate Final Fantasy XI's 10-year anniversary.Tanaka's departure is due in part to his health; he suffers from a "major illness" of some kind, according to Andriasang's translation of a Famitsu interview. Tanaka also cited a desire to work as a "single creator" on future development projects as a reason for resigning his post as Final Fantasy XI's producer.Aside from FFXI, Tanaka's portfolio at Square dates back to 1984's The Death Trap, although his work on the original Final Fantasy probably garnered more exposure. He also worked on Final Fantasy II, III and IV, as well as Xenogears and Chrono Cross. Akihiko Matsui, currently part of the Final Fantasy XIV team, was named as Tanaka's successor. Matsui will work on both FFXI and FFXIV, primarily focusing on FFXIV until Version 2.0 is completed.
In defense of Xenogears
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. When it comes to grandiose adventures, there are few games like Xenogears. Few games' stories are as stirring, as twisty, as poignant. Few games' characters are as bizarre and entrancing. But fans have skewered the sci-fi masterpiece for its second disc, a potpourri of cutscenes and monologues that may have been the consequence of rushed development. While the game's first 50 hours gave you access to a world map filled with towns, dungeons, and secrets, Xenogears' final act was more book than game, unfolding like a visual novel with very little player interaction outside of the final dungeon and a few boss fights. Gamers took umbrage at this sudden shift in pace. As one GameFAQs reader points out, "Xenogears would have been great... if it had been finished." Which is too bad, because I loved every minute of it.
PSN's classic JRPGs: What holds up?
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. "Hey Jason," you say, an innocent twinkle in your eye. "I've never played any old-school JRPGs. Where should I start? Which are the best ones? Do any of them hold up in 2011?" Excellent questions, my hypothetical friend. There are plenty of ways to get your paws on the classics, but it can be tough for newbies to tell exactly which ones are worth playing. You could try asking a more experienced JRPG fan, but he might be too blinded by nostalgia to discern whether or not his favorite game has aged well. So to help you sort through the chaos, I'll be delving back into a whole bunch of old JRPGs over the next couple of weeks. I'll spend about 30-60 minutes with each one -- certainly not enough time to properly review a game, but enough to get a feel for whether it holds up today, and how it compares to my memories of it. Today we'll start with the PlayStation Store, a veritable treasure trove of classic JRPGs.
PSN Tuesday: Dragon Age 2 and Yakuza 4 demos, Xenogears
Demo high fantasy and Japanese gangsterism with this week's PSN update, which will let you take Dragon Age 2 and Yakuza 4 out for a spin.If you're in to the classics, RPG epic Xenogears is available for download alongside non-classic Dragon's Lair follow-up, Space Ace. Both titles cost $10. Resident Evil 2 has been marked down to $3 and Fallout: New Vegas DLC, "Dead Money," is available after its timed Xbox 360 exclusivity. The full update details can be found after the break. Update: Realigned update details to latest version, reconfirmed some confusing platform listings. Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Xenogears mechs its way to PSOne Classics this week
Just when we were about to give up on Square Enix, melting all our intricate Final Fantasy figurines in protest of the company's lack of offerings on the North American PSN, we receive a ray of hope. PlayStation Blog has announced that Xenogears -- which has been available on the Japanese PSN since June 2008 -- will arrive on the U.S. PlayStation Store with its next update this coming Tuesday. We'll still need a few more PSOne RPGs to come our way before we stop being so totally mad at Square Enix -- but if memory serves, Xenogears is something of a lengthy affair. Maybe it'll be enough to distract us from our unbridled rage for a month or two.
Vagrant Story, Xenogears, and more rated for PS3 and PSP release
For over a year, we in North America have been taunted by the presence of Yasumi Matsuno's PlayStation masterpiece Vagrant Story on the European and Japanese PlayStation Stores. Now, depending on how optimistic you feel, there's new information that is either encouraging, or just another taunt. It's been rated by the ESRB for release on PS3 and PSP, suggesting that Square Enix plans to release it here ... eventually. It's joined by ratings for other Square RPGs, including Threads of Fate, Xenogears, and Legend of Mana, along with Working Designs-published Arc the Lad 3 (and Ridge Racer Type 4, which doesn't fit the RPG theme at all, but is still noteworthy). We can't know from the ratings when these games will be published, but we're shocked to have some PSOne Classics on the way from someone other than MonkeyPaw Games.
Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger creator working on an iPhone project
Good news for the new year from Touch Arcade: Hironobu Sakaguchi is developing games for the iPhone. Just in case that name doesn't ring a bell for you, maybe the games he's helped create might: Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and Xenogears. Yes, those of you who know your console RPG history will know that those are some of the best role-playing games ever made, and if you don't know that, then walk away from whatever you're doing right now and go play all of them -- they're brilliant. Sakaguchi announced over on the blog for his latest company, Mistwalker, that his team was working on a brand new "blockbuster project" in 2010, and they're also working on releasing something for the iPhone. He doesn't share much at all about either, though he does say that we'll see the iPhone project on the App Store soon. We can't wait -- having a legendary developer like this working on the iPhone platform just shows that while 2009 was a great year for iPhone gaming, 2010 has plenty of potential as well.
OverClocked ReMix releases Xenogears fan tribute compilation
Yasunori Mitsuda is the composer behind some of the gaming industry's most moving soundtracks, including the accompaniment for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. His work was recently honored by the video game music preservationists of OverClocked ReMix, who recently released a re-imagination of what many consider to be Mitsuda's magnum opus: The musical compositions of Xenogears. The album, which the group has been working on since 2006, comes in two parts: "Humans," which focuses on natural sounds and acoustic instruments, and "Gears," which features electronic instruments and darker selections from the soundtrack. It's the group's most impressive endeavor to date -- and at the low, low price of free, you've got no reason to avoid it.
Square Enix to release PS1 classics, begins with Xenogears
According to a NeoGAF posting, this month's Dengeki PlayStation reveals the very first PS1 games Square Enix will revive on the Japanese PSN. The titles will be available for 600 yen each, and will begin releasing in Japan today. There are twelve titles planned, starting with Xenogears. However, there are a number of other titles to be released today, such as Einhander, Astronoka, Rakugaki Showtime, Raystorm and Fighters Impact. While none of these titles feature the words "Final" or "Fantasy" in them, many are considered classics of the PS1 era. Titles like Xenogears can be pretty rare, so these re-releases are of great convenience to those that missed them at first. At only 600 yen each, this is an incredible bargain, especially when one considers the ability to play these downloadables on both the PS3 and on the go with the PSP.Unfortunately, SCEA and Square Enix USA haven't announced any similar plans to release English language versions of these classics. We hope that they follow suit soon.[Thanks, Noshino!]
Sega's new RPG, World Destruction, depicted
The protagonist of Sega's superstar RPG World Destruction is a boy named Kyrie who joins a secret organization called the World Destruction force, whose goal is not to save the world from destruction, but to cause the world to end. Kyrie was apparently a normal student until one day when he just up and joined a shadow organization devoted to the destruction of the world.You'd probably want to destroy the world too if the world you lived in was populated by monsters who enslaved humanity. You'd probably also just want to try your unique world-ending power once. Famitsu's got lovely screens of this vaguely morbid game!
Sega destroys the world with new RPG
Not to be outdone by The World Ends With You, Sega has announced its own apocalypse-impending RPG in the latest issue of Famitsu, World Destruction. With Masato Kato, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Kunihiko Tanaka managing the game's script, music, and character design, Image Epoch (Luminous Arc) is also working on the production, clearing up at least one of the developer's three mystery projects listed on its company site.World Destruction will be a traditional RPG with turn-based combat and giant bosses filling up both of the system's screens. Following Blue Dragon and Inazuma Eleven's example, Sega will accompany the game's summer release with an anime starting July. Turn your Bible to the Book of Revelation and head past the post break for a glimpse at two of World Destruction's characters.
Nintendo buys Xenosaga dev Monolith Soft
Japanese development studio Monolith Soft has been purchased by Nintendo from Namco Bandai, according to a press release (PDF file) from credible Japanese news source Nikkei translated by gaming site The Platformers. Our team of translators have discerned from the release that Nintendo now owns 80% of the company's stock, while Namco Bandai still retain 16% of their original 96% holdings in the developer, whose total worth is approximately 75 million yen.The studio, formed in 1999 by former Square employee Hirohide Sugiura, is responsible for the Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos series. The company is also reportedly developing Disaster: Day of Crisis, a Wii title that hasn't been seen since its appearance at E3 2006.We've contacted Nintendo further details. For the console maker, this gives them an experienced second party RPG developer. We'll keep you updated as this story progresses.[Thanks for the translation help, Patrick and Andrew]
Our most wanted PSone games
We have faith that one day, the PlayStation Store will be accessible via PSP without the need for a PS3, and will flourish into a glorious realm of classic games, one that will be untouched by the competition. Of course, homebrew users will rip their own games ... but for the rest of us, this is my personal wishlist of PSone games that I'd like to see available for download.
