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Square Enix in your pocket: DS edition
Unlike its PSP counterpart, the Nintendo DS has been no stranger to North American Square Enix releases. Chocobo Tales, Final Fantasy III, Children of Mana and Dragon Quest Rocket Slime have all graced their presence on Western shores. And Square Enix is far from done supporting Nintendo's money-printer.Of the eight titles, we've got 4 Final Fantasy games, 3 strategy games, 2 remakes, and one surefire Japanese phenomenon by way of Dragon Quest IX. Have a look at the publisher's upcoming selection after the break.
Jumping up and down
Are you a jumper? I am.Some people just do it all the time. The easiest simple move in the game-- every character can do it at almost any time-- is to hit the space bar and jump. And some people do it constantly.Of course it drives some others nuts. 9 times out of 10, there's probably something better you could be doing than jumping-- even in an instance, you could be crafting, or summoning, or drinking for mana, or organizing the groups, or getting food and water ready, or organizing your bags. Why are you jumping? Stop it, you're giving me a headache!Then again, I jump all the time. Usually, it's actually to signal impatience-- if I'm ready for a pull and we're not pulling, I'll start with the jumping. And if I ever feel helpless-- I've been spell interrupted, or I'm silenced, or in PvP, where there's nothing for me to do while I'm sitting stealthed defending by a flag. Some times when I'm surrounded and getting murdered in PvP, I'll jump just for the heck of it, like a last laugh against death (sometimes I even do the /laugh emote at the Paladin that's tearing me apart). Or sometimes I'm raidleading and I want to get the raid's attention. There are lots of good reasons for jumping around.But many times, there's not, and I do it anyway. Are you a jumper?
Heroes, Mana-style
Heroes of Mana may not be the Mana game that fans really want, but at least it's looking pretty nice -- and more strategy on the DS can never really be a bad thing. If only it had WiFi multiplayer, alas. We'll just have to make do with ratcheting up the ol' ranking so we can earn downloadable maps and items. Heroes of Mana is scheduled for release in the US this August. [Via press release]%Gallery-4132%
Virtually Overlooked Week: Jason's picks
Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases. Growing up with gaming is an interesting thing these days. Many of you are part of the first generation that was quite literally born into a household with a gaming console, as I was. In my experience, if you start off in life gaming hard, you don't stop. Therefore, in the very near future, I will able to ask a random middle-aged man if he wants to go play Guitar Hero 4, and it won't be totally weird.Who am I kidding? This isn't Japan, and that guy will probably think I am, in fact, totally weird. But man, screw those non-gamers. The hardcore, like you and I, have tons of gaming memories, and thus we frequently long for the games of yore to be released on the Virtual Console. But they have not yet appeased my feral hunger, and thus do I lay these games out in a commanding fashion for Nintendo's minions to take note.You, of course, may gaze as well.
World of motecrafting post 2.1
A couple of interesting Mote related changes have popped up in the patch. I was well aware of the Mote of Shadow change-- those babies are now dropping not off of demons, but only off of void creatures (you can find tons of them in the southern part of Hellfire Peninsula, and in small pockets in many instances). Which makes sense, but makes you wonder why they dropped off of demons in the first place-- or why it matters which one they drop off of at all.The other change was a little more hidden in the patch notes, and most players didn't realize it would be happening until they saw the drops: Essences are now dropping in Outland in the same place that Motes are dropping. You remember Essences-- they're the elemental components of many recipes found on the Azeroth side of the Dark Portal. A few players were unhappy that Essences were dropping instead of Motes, until Drysc confirmed that Essences are actually dropping in addition to Motes-- it's not a matter of either/or at all. Essences are completely extra.And of course that'll have an effect on the economy. Right now, Essences are selling for up to 1g a pop on most AHs (Update: and even higher on other servers, sometimes up to 15g apiece), but they still only vendor for 4s, which is pennies compared to even most gray drops in Outland. And that price will probably drop anyway, considering the market is about to be flooded with them. One solution is to raise the vendor price. And another solution, say a few enterprising players, would be to give Alchemists a Transmute Essence to Mote spell, either at a 2-to-1 exchange rate, or a long-ish cooldown, that would set the economy on these little things right. Clearly there's a need for having Essences around (how else could you enchant firey weapon, right?), but it looks like Blizzard could have put a little more thought into their effect on the economy.
Comparing Square Enix's Japanese and US boxart
In a recent interview with 1UP, Square Enix's marketing communications manager gave us some insight on the process behind adapting Chocobo Tales' packaging for the US. We happen to prefer the Japanese version's modest artwork over North America's chaotic cover, but we understand that the company had a younger audience to appeal to and a different message it needed to convey. We've collected DS covers from Square Enix's Japanese and US releases after the post break for you to compare and decide which one you like best. To its credit, the company hasn't completely mangled its DS boxarts so far (The same can't be said about Nintendo's bastardization of Hotel Dusk's cover). How do you feel about Children of Mana's simplified design? Does Final Fantasy 3's stripped packaging appeal to your western tastes? And do you agree with 1UP that publishers have been doing a better job with dressing their products?
Deals of Mana
Amazon must have a warehouse teeming with Childen of Mana shipments, as the online shop seems to have a sale on the game every other week. Square Enix's dungeon crawler has sold for less in the past, but today's $17.99 pricing is still a significant discount from it's regular $29.99 tag. This offer disappears tomorrow -- likely reappearing in a fortnight -- so don't wait too long to drop the game into your cart.Play-Asia's Heroes of Mana sale will stick around until the end of the week, but there's no guarantee that the title will stay in stock. The Japanese text might be too much for first-time importers, but according to what we've heard, this RTS/RPG is a quality purchase. You can grab Heroes of Mana for $19.90, paying an extra $2.60 for shipping to the US. [Via CAG]
Heroes of Mana confirmed for North America
Heroes of Mana, the latest in Square-Enix's we're-not-exactly-sure-what-genre-this-series-is Mana series, has been confirmed for release in lovely North America. Though many thought the real-time strategy game was a sure bet for western audiences, lackluster sales in Japan had caused worry among David Hinkle pessimists who may or may not be named David Hinkle.Obviously, the Japanese do not enjoy beautiful flash-based websites and things that are not turn-based. Or maybe it was just a lackluster game, but hell, we'll find out soon enough. Rabites, here we come!
The infinite mana bug
Infinite mana sounds like a good thing to me (I always did love fighting Vaelastraz), but this odd game behavior has to be a bug. There seems to be different speculation about what causes it, with some posters on Lurker Lounge suggesting it's a bug involving the priests' Divine Spirit buff. But whatever the cause, it was still in the game prior to today's maintenance, though I can't find any confirmation on whether it's still occuring. Reader Louies, who sent in this video, says that a GM replied this was a known issue which can currently be fixed by relogging.
Heroes of Mana site opens for business
The new site for Square Enix's Heroes of Mana is up, and it's gorgeous. From the faded, dreamy visuals to the included wallpapers and screenshots, it's enough to elicit a tiny hope that this will be the one Mana fans have been waiting for, RTS or not. If nothing else, just leave the site open in another window or tab and enjoy the music![Via GameLife]
Heroes of Mana gets flying ship
Famitsu updated their website with some information pertaining to Heroes of Mana. Revealing the protagonist's airship, it turns out that utilizing it will become a critical aspect of the game. The aircraft will be present in battles and it is up to the player to defend it and ensure its safe escape once battle is complete. Translation isn't the best, so we do not have the name of the ship or any more information regarding its use in the game.See also: TGS 2006: Heroes of Mana trailer excites
Nintendo dishes out the facts on Children of Mana
We haven't had much news on the game as of yet, mostly due to a lack of official word from Nintendo and Square on the game's contents. Now we know, for example, that there are over 180 magic gems that players can use to customize their characters.Turns out, in the game world, 10 years before the start of the game for the player, a great catastrophe has struck the land of Illusia and monsters have taken over the land. This, in turn, causes the Mana Tree to become corrupt with its own power and mysterious Mana pillars to have erected across the world. With the aid of the Sword of Mana, the player must free the locked guardian spirit within each pillar and restore Illusia back to its original status.The main characters of the game are Ferrik, who was saved as a child by a nameless swordsman and has spent the entirety of his saved life trying to become a great swordsman himself. He lost his parents and older sister during the catastrophe. Tess is a more scholarly type, spending all of her time studying the Mana Tree and its Mana Goddess. Poppen is a magician from the desert of Jadd. Tamber is a young dancer who lost her brother and parents during the catastrophe. Finally, Wanderer is an outcast of the niccolos race and is described as loyal and compassionate.
TGS 2006: Heroes of Mana trailer excites
In the latest trailer for Heroes of Mana, a lot of cool animation and music whet our appetite, even if it is lacking in actual gameplay. We love RPGs on the go, and while we wait like crazed madmen for a certain last fantasy, we can still muster excitement over the latest Mana title to hit our shores. One question, however, we must ask: why do the characters all look like they're Padaung with the rings off?As always, the video is embedded into the post, after the break.[Via Go Nintendo]
Children of Mana preview
The Mana tree has always been one of our favorite, er, trees and we are happy to see the series possibly lift back to what it once was after that mistake of a Legend of Mana game. Yes, we said it. Legend of Mana and all its Winnie the Pooh type environments rubbed us the wrong way. Fortunately, Children of Mana, set to release October 30, is forming rather well. Or, we think it is based on what other journalists lucky enough to play it are telling us. Being able to play with a friend via ad-hoc seems fun and we like the sound of investigative revenge streaming from broken-hearted orphans. Hopefully, Children of Mana will aid in healing the series.
Screenshot roundup: Children of Mana
The US boxart and various screens have been released for the latest installment in the World of Mana series. Children of Mana, which is being developed by Square Enix and published by Nintendo for the DS, is set for release on October 30th in North America. The final game will feature four-player co-op gameplay and see the return of the 8 elemental spirits. The game's homepage for English-speaking readers can be found here, while Japanese-speaking readers can access the entire World of Mana page here.
EGM Rumor Mill: RPG Heaven? [Update 1]
Hey, everyone loves rumors. You can usually grab them by the handful at sites like, say, SPOnG, but when you cry wolf as many times as they do, well, it diminishes credibility. EGM, however, have a fairly good track record with their Rumor Mill section, and the newest issue has some delectable bits. First off, Square-Enix is purportedly using the two upcoming incarnations of Dragon's Quest (DQ Joker for the DS and DQ Swords for the Wii) as a gauge to see if the next incarnation of the main series, Dragon's Quest IX, will be released exclusively on the Wii. Though it has a slightly diminished standing in North America, the DQ series is loved by millions upon millions worldwide, an RPG phenomenon second only to the Final Fantasy franchise. If this is true, it's one hell of a victory for Nintendo. We're not done with Square-Enix yet. Second rumor: SE is developing an MMORPG for the Wii based on the Mana universe. While we're not sure if the Wii even has the technical capabilites to run a true MMO (they tend to be very limited without a dedicated hard drive), we still salivate at the possibility. Finally, Nintendo is looking at releasing an Earthbound compilation for the DS. This would include Mother 1, a game never released outside of Japan, the ever-beloved Earthbound itself (a.k.a. Mother 2), and the recent Mother 3, a game well-received in the Land of the Rising Sun. Add touch-screen capabilities, and bam. Million seller. They make it look so easy... And, there you have it. While we must once again stress these are rumors, I'd eat my nonexistent hat if at least one of these three failed to come true. Your feelings, trusty readers?[Update 1: Square-Enix was not the publisher of Earthbound; corrected Rumor 3.]
