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We can build on this: Why ideas in The Last Story should be embraced by RPG devs
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. When Hironobu Sakaguchi set out to make The Last Story, one of his main goals was to make something new. It was an approach that made him nervous."With this title, I felt strongly that as the creator of the game, I was laying myself bare, and I was anxious about how the customers would respond to my ideas," Sakaguchi said in an Iwata Asks feature released by Nintendo. "At the same time, there are certain unique things I want to do and express, and in the end, I don't think that my approach is mistaken."In the end, Sakaguchi was indeed vindicated. The Last Story was met with solid reviews, and was praised in large part because of its creative battle system. All told, it's a nice story of a developer breaking out of its comfort zone to create a new and interesting game, and it's worth reading the full interview to see how The Last Story ultimately came out. I don't think it needs to be the whole story though.It's in part because The Last Story incorporates so many new elements that I would like to see it adopted in some way by other RPG developers – especially strategy RPG developers. The Last Story can't really be pegged in any particular genre; but it does have a fair amount in common with strategy RPGs. It's not grid-based, or even turn-based, but it does place a premium on enemy placement, for example, by making it possible to knock out casters or other hazards using alternative methods.%Gallery-155173%
The Last Story review: Sakaguchi's experimental side
The Last Story appears to flip the script on Dragon Quest. Where Square Enix's seminal RPG series normally seeks to tell new stories within familiar mechanical frameworks, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's latest effort offers a very (very) familiar narrative while experimenting wildly with its battle system.The story is vintage Final Fantasy – a collection of traditional role-playing tropes set amid a world featuring an effective mix of medieval and steampunk elements. The hero Zael has a lot in common with the likes of Cloud and Cecil, and his infatuation with a runaway princess brings to mind Final Fantasy IX. There's even a flying fortress ala Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy VIII. For some, it will be charming (I'm in that camp), though others may find it distracting.%Gallery-162388%
The creative maturity of Hironobu Sakaguchi's Last Story
There must be a fascinating behind-the-scenes story as to how XSEED managed to get a hold of the localization rights for The Last Story. Ordinarily, Nintendo has a death grip on the rights to its games: If they don't localize it, no one does. XSEED, for their part, say they "got lucky."The Last Story is the most recent RPG by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, as well as the natural companion to Xenoblade Chronicles, which arrived last month. Both headlined last year's Operation Rainfall petition, along with Pandora's Tower, forever joining them at the hip. Much like Monolith Soft's opus Chronicles, Sakaguchi seems determined to say something new about the genre he once helped create.%Gallery-107120%
A totally unfair No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise visual comparison
During E3, Konami released the intro from the new PS3 version of No More Heroes as a trailer. Since the Wii original started off with the same trailer, we saw this as an opportunity to post a visual comparison between Heroes' Paradise and the original. Unfortunately, it turns out it's really hard to find high-quality YouTube videos of Wii games from three years ago, and even harder to find trailer downloads for games of that vintage on publishers' servers. So what you'll see after the break is the HD, redrawn, retextured, re-lit intro of the PS3 game ... followed by a capture of the Wii game running in a tiny window, in 240p. The PS3 video looks better. Surprise!%Gallery-125991%
Marvelous and AQ Interactive merging
Marvelous Entertainment, the developer of the Harvest Moon series and Japanese publisher of games like No More Heroes, Muramasa, and Deadly Premonition, is entering into a merger with AQ Interactive, the publisher of the Korg DS-10 games, Bullet Witch, Blue Dragon Plus, and the 3DS title Cubic Ninja. Also included in the merger is Liveware, a mobile games company that was originally part of Marvelous anyway. The new company will be called Marvelous AQL when the merger finalizes on October 1. AQ Interactive has been doing some merging on its own. Last year, it absorbed its subsidiary Cavia, developer of Nier and the Drakengard games, into itself. It later did the same with developers Artoon and Feelplus.
Cubic Ninja squares off this summer on 3DS
A couple of months after it showed up in Nintendo's software lineup reel, Ubisoft has officially announced plans to localize AQ Interactive's tilt-based, 3D-less 3DS game Cubic Ninja. The now-confirmed, geometric action game, in which you tilt the system (or use the Circle Pad) to move CC the ninja through dangerous levels and activate ninja powers, will be out this summer. To support the announcement, Ubisoft sent out some new screens, along with the boxart -- which is way busy for such a minimalist game.%Gallery-119123%
Cubic Ninja promoted in appropriately shallow manner
In what we're guessing is a clumsy, hamfisted attempt to demonstrate the game's universal appeal, AQ Interactive posted a clip of women playing the depth-free 3DS title Cubic Ninja. We suppose the video is pretty depth-free too. In addition to footage of the ladies being delighted by the tilt-controlled action game, and, uh, some guys looming over them, you can see a few seconds of gameplay from the stylish, geometric game, during which the ninja is guided through flame traps and bumpers. Cubic Ninja showed up as an upcoming North American release in the software lineup video released at Nintendo's New York event in January, though listed publisher Ubisoft hasn't made any announcements itself. However, we have no reason to believe Ubisoft would hesitate to release another 3DS game after the eight it has planned for the launch window.
Cubic Ninja is a 3DS game without 3D
Most 3DS games will give players the option to use the system's slider to adjust the depth of the display. Not Cubic Ninja. AQ Interactive's puzzle-platformer will not support a 3D display of any depth. A representative confirmed to us that there is "no stereoscopic 3D in [the] main game" because of Cubic Ninja's heavy reliance on another feature of the 3DS: the gyroscope. A report on Japanese site Inside Games notes that it would be difficult to read text in 3D if you were moving the 3DS around. Because the integrity of the handheld's 3D effect is reliant on viewing the screen from a fixed, dead-on position, it will be interesting to see if others developers, also keen on gyroscopic gameplay, might "turn off" the 3DS's big novelty.
The Last Story's insane 'chat' system revealed
Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi and Takuya Matsumoto from co-developer AQ Interactive spoke to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata about The Last Story's online play in a new Iwata Asks interview posted by Nintendo of Japan. The game won't exactly have chat when played online, but it will have a bizarre, kind of useless, but also probably really amusing replacement. Basically, you'll be able to trigger voice-acted lines from the single-player game in multiplayer. Matsumoto offered the silly example of one of the characters being made to say "Father ... Father ..." repeatedly, which is weird, and hilarious. It would have been even more hilarious had Mistwalker not replaced the placeholder staff voice acting with professionals.
Report: Nier developer Cavia dissolved into parent company
Cavia – developer of games like Nier, Drakengard, and the Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles series – used to be a subsidiary of parent company AQ Interactive. Now, according to Siliconera's translation of a 4Gamer interview with director Trao Yokoo, the company has been dissolved, with its staff absorbed into AQ Interactive. Current plans for the team are as yet unannounced, so we don't know if the former Cavia will continue making games for third parties. Officially, however, its last game was Nier, which is kind of an unfortunate note on which to leave.
One more thing: AQ Interactive announces Korg DS-10 Plus
How often is a publisher relaxed enough to announce a product with an extended joke? Usually, trailers are very carefully put together to attract the target market. None of that for AQ Interactive, however! The publisher revealed its new DSi-enhanced version of Korg DS-10 by having producer Nobuyoshi Sano give a fake Apple-style keynote presentation. And it's fantastic.As for the program, it uses the extra processing capabilities of the DSi to double the number of analog synthesizers (to four) and drum synthesizers (to eight), allows the use of twelve tracks, and features real-time editing. Korg DS-10 Plus will be out in Japan on September 17. See the faux Stevenote after the break.[Via Offworld]
Teaser for new European Wii game 'Feels' like Ju-On
Rising Star Games sent out a video teasing the announcement of a new game at the upcoming London MCM Expo. The video features people holding Wiimotes in a dark room in front of a flickering TV, and then having the crap scared out of them -- an idea last used for Nintendo's hilarious Fatal Frame IV commercials.A brief image shown at the end of the trailer pretty definitively confirms the mystery title to be Kyoufu Taikan Ju-On (translated by Siliconera as "Feel Fear Ju-On"), the Wii horror title being made under the supervision of The Grudge director Takashi Shimizu. If Rising Star is picking this up for Europe, we should be able to expect a North American version from either XSEED, who works with Rising Star owner Marvelous on North American publishing, or Ignition, who publishes many AQ Interactive titles like Blue Dragon Plus and Boing! Docomodake DS. The video is available after the break.
The Grudge director working on Wii horror title, 'Feel'
Famitsu has revealed that Takashi Shimizu, director of popular Japanese horror films such as The Grudge, is working with AQ Interactive -- publisher of Bullet Witch, Vampire Rain and the canceled Cry On -- to create a new horror game for the Wii called Feel. Our cohorts at Joystiq Japan -- PSA: There's a Joystiq Japan now -- tell us that Shimizu will serve as the game's "horror adviser," so we expect plenty of creepy, crawly Onryo. The game has players exploring a haunted house using the Wii remote as a flashlight. Apparently the flashlight battery also serves as the player's health meter, though we're not sure exactly how that would work.Feel supports up to two players and is scheduled to hit Japanese Wiis this summer.[Via Cubed3]
Joystiq Review: Boing! Docomodake DS
Docomodake the mushroom is a mascot for NTT Docomo, a large Japanese cell phone company. In Japan, he's a popular enough character (like, for example, our Noid) to carry his own DS game, which was published by AQ Interactive in late 2007. Ignition Entertainment made the rather bold, baffling decision to release that DS game in North America and Europe, where not only is Docomodake an unknown property, the Docomo company itself is virtually unknown.Why would Ignition localize Pororon! Docomodake DS, a licensed game for an unknown license? After playing the game, the reasoning became clear: because it's a wonderful little game, and because the character is more than charming enough to hold up on its own. Either that or the rights came along with AQ's Blue Dragon Plus. But we prefer the former explanation.%Gallery-28640%
Grab a hanky, 'Cry On' canceled
The Xbox 360 has no shortage of role-playing games these days but the Western console has just lost a promised Japanese release. On Christmas Day, AQ Interactive revealed Cry On, the action role-playing game from character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka, has been canceled due to, "the current market environment and forecasts for the future."A joint venture between Cavia and Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker, Cry On would have been the third title from the famed Japanese creator; Mistwalker previously worked on Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. A representative for AQ Interactive told 1UP that the studio "deeply apologize[s] for troubling those who were awaiting its release." No screen shots of the game had ever been released since the game had first been announced in 2005. Down and out for now, but something tells us Sakaguchi isn't hanging up the gloves anytime soon.
AQ Interactive cans Xbox 360 RPG 'Cry On'
Fans of Blue Dragon's Mistwalker / Artoon dream team may have to hold back some bitter tears following the news that AQ Interactive will hold back the release of Cry On. According to 1UP, the action RPG, meant to be the third of Hironobu Sakaguchi's Xbox efforts, has been canceled due to "the current market environment and forecasts for the future." The company added, "We deeply apologize for troubling those who were awaiting its release."Whether you consider it a cryin' shame or prefer fans to cry in shame, you can expect Sakaguchi and Friends to unveil more titles in the future. Old habits die hard.
Blue Dragon Plus: epic battles, small screens
Mistwalker's Blue Dragon Plus bears the distinctive stamp of Akira Toriyama, and at every moment, the game is colorful, even a little cartoony, with bright colors and rubbery characters. Don't mistake that for a lack of epic badassery, however, because these last two trailers for the RPG have been full of one of our favorite things: fighting. Also fire and explosions. Good stuff. Let's just hope we see a better box.
A bombastic trailer for Blue Dragon Plus
With this new trailer for Blue Dragon Plus, Ignition Entertainment seems to be honoring Blue Dragon and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi the best way they know how: by releasing a trailer loaded with explosive, colorful CG, and not one second of gameplay. It does its job well, portraying the game as totally serious business.The trailer originates from the new Blue Dragon Plus website, which currently doesn't have much else on it aside from a story synopsis and a few character profiles. Ignition promises more content in "late November." We can't wait to see more of this game, even though we've been waiting on Blue Dragon for quite some time already.%Gallery-15148%
Joystiq hands-on: Away: Shuffle Dungeon
One part Soul Blazer, one part Phantom Hourglass – that's Mistwalker's Away: Shuffle Dungeon. The DS title is very much like Soul Blazer in the sense that its hero wanders through lairs in a quest to restore his town, piece by piece (and villager by villager). Meanwhile, shades of Phantom Hourglass trickle in via Away's cartoon visuals and arena-like boss battles. And despite these associations with games of the past, Away: Shuffle Dungeon does offer a unique, avant-garde feature not found elsewhere: shuffling dungeons. "Shuffling dungeons" entail dynamic changes to the layout of enemy-infested locales as players explore in real-time. A dungeon is displayed on both the top and touch screens; only one screen at a time will shuffle out an area and replace it with a new section. The objective is to arrive on the other screen before the timer runs out; if a player fails to make it in time, the penalty takes them back to the beginning of the floor they're on. The overall effect of this system makes the tedium of regular dungeon crawling go away. The time pressure and the puzzle-connected areas force gamers to think quickly, making things not only challenging, but quite exciting as well. %Gallery-34918%
Blue Dragon Plus flaps our way next March
Only the twin juggernauts of Wii Fit and Rhythm Tengoku Gold could prevent Blue Dragon Plus from seizing top spot in the latest Japanese charts. Ignition Entertainment will be hoping for similar results when it publishes the big-haired, monster-summoning JRPG to not-Japan, and today it announced a North American and European release date of March 2009, falling in line with its promise of a release this fiscal year. That's still quite a wait (you could say it will drag on, if you were a blogger looking for a lame joke to brighten up a dry story), though should nicely pad out a traditionally quiet time of the year.%Gallery-15148%
