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Valhalla Knights continues PSP's amazing RPG flood
Uh-oh. It looks like there's yet another amazing RPG heading to the PSP from Japan. If the upcoming Jeanne d'Arc isn't enough for you, then you might want to check out Valhalla Knights. From developer K2 (Tenchu series), it's one of the few Japanese RPGs that feature a fully customizable character for you to control. Battles look especially intense, with its real-time combat and six-member parties. The newly-updated official Japanese website has tons of things to look at, such as videos and wallpapers. The game releases on August 30th in Japan, and currently has no release date in the US. Hopefully, that'll change soon.[Via IGN Boards]
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime Preview
Square-Enix knows how to make money and they do it very well. With Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest (among many others) they dominate the RPG world. Their latest venture? Spin-offs. Any type of spin-off they can make based off their popular empire they do and loyal fans buy it all... us included. Square now realizes that they have already abused the hell out of Final Fantasy and they need more spin-off character games and they need them now! Why not make a game about that cute little slime from Dragon Quest? Sure! We have already seen screens and trailers for DQH:RS and GameSpy has delighted us with another preview for it. What's unique about this preview is that it starts off with one of the toughest questions of all time -- "Who would win between the Millennium Falcon and the starship Enterprise?" It's a doozy. Better take your time.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker details
Thanks to the typical chaos-incarnate informative advertisements found in Japanese magazines, some new details regarding the upcoming Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker have surfaced. The game will have the player choose a team of monsters to battle for him or her, and in typical RPG fashion, they'll get stronger as you use them. You can (genetically?) combine two monsters together, providing for new abilities and balance: the key is not simply choosing the strongest two of your bunch, but to pick the pair whose abilities compliment each other. We'll be honest, the game does remind us vaguely of a Pokemon clone. However, the Dragon's Quest series is nigh revered in Japan; the depth of the game, in both complexity and plot, will most likely exceed the typical "defeat the Elite Four" business found in everyone's favorite cuddly GBA cartridge.
Final Fantasy XII releasing this Halloween
For those dreaming of the gorgeous gun ballet glimpsed in Final Fantasy XIII, it may come as a rude awakening when we loudly exclaim, "Hang on, we haven't even gotten number 12 yet!" Thankfully, Square Enix has answered our call by officially announcing the North American release date for their next inevitably epic RPG. Final Fantasy XII will be in stores this Halloween, 31 October 2006. If ever there was a good reason for Sephiroth and Rikku cosplayers to head out into public and purchase the game in full fantasy garb, this is it.Not to be left behind on the platform as the Collector's Edition trend train heads off, the game will be arriving in two distinct versions. The vanilla package will retail for $49.99, whereas the Collector's Edition, laced with interviews, series featurettes, trailers, art galleries and ancient evils, will be available at Gamestop and EB Games exclusively for $59.99. Depending on how fond you are of the non-final franchise, that's either a trick or a treat.[Image: Advent Children.net]
Trusty media for Trusty Bell
Xboxyde has posted several screenshots of Namco Bandai's upcoming game Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream. Yes, that Chopin. The game stars the tuberculous pianist and his friends Polka and Allegretto. Together, the group traverses a land where fatally ill people are given super powers. That's right, super powers. I guess any RPG for 360 is better than nothing, right? [Via 360Era]
Namco Bandai's new Xbox 360 RPG to star Chopin, the composer
Famitsu recently previewed Namco Bandai's latest project, an Xbox 360 RPG known as Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream. The game will star Frédéric François Chopin, the famed 19th century composer, along with fictional characters Polka and Allegretto, as the trio traverses a dream world where the terminally ill* (in the real world) are granted special powers. (Yep, that pretty much sums this one up. Nothing more to say here...) *Chopin died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 39.
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker magazine scans surface
While it is unconfirmed which magazine source these scans originate from (the forum poster assumes V-Jump), the media within is very appealing to the eye. It appears that DQMJ will retain the cell-shaded graphical style of Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King. While DQMJ will have the player capturing, training, and battling with monsters, the article does not present any further information on the game unless you're fluent in Japanese. So, anyone out there care to translate?
Dragon Quest details emerge
Supposedly the newest iteration in the Dragon Quest series, geared to release on the DS and set to release over in Japan this year, is being officially dubbed Dragon Quest Monsters Joker and will feature 3D visuals for both battle and movement. Also, the game is to support Nintendo's wonderful Wi-Fi service, allowing the Japanese to have at it in by causing their monsters to battle in a tournament called Jokers' GP. As if that wasn't enough "Pokemon inspiration" for you, the lead character holds the Scout Ring, something which delegates his Monster Master status. In all, however, these tidbits of info do sound reasonably appealing, so let's hope that when a trailer and/or screens are released, they live up to the promising ideas presented by the game so far.
[eM] -eNCHANT arM- becomes Enchanted Arms
[em] -eNCHANT arM-, the bizarrely named JRPG that snuck up on us in January, is coming to North America this summer with a shiny English translation (we assume) and a new, easier typable name, Enchanted Arms. IGN says, "As Atsuma, an Enchanter-in-training, you'll caper through 50 hours of gameplay adventuring with more than 75 unlockable creatures in turn-based strategy warfare."Combined with the upcoming Japanese titles announced at last month's press conference, Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker games, and the recently announced Phantasy Star Universe, Microsoft's plan for Japan is looking increasingly strong.[Thanks, Master X 24]
Dragon Quest VIII to ship with Final Fantasy XII demo
Square Enix has announced that it will include a playable demo of Final Fantasy XII in the long-awaited North American release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. The new release will also feature English-speaking voice-overs, a full-orchestral soundtrack, a completely renovated GUI menu system, new battle abilities, and improved animations. Dragon Quest VIII ships on November 22nd. [Thanks, rhino]
