After some unfortunate news Spike Chunsoft has released a new trailer focusing on showing off the various types of gameplay players can expect when Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is released in April. This includes first-person dungeon crawling to defeat monsters and hunt for items that will aid in your group’s survival, managing the facilities that make up your base of operations, and even how to cook and manage the morale of your team.
As you’ll see, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning features an interesting death and rebirth system where characters can die from numerous things such as enemy attacks, allergies, and even old age only to then be born again as a young child version of themselves with new abilities. Check the trailer out below and keep an eye out for Zanki Zero: Last Beginning when it is released on the PlayStation 4 and PC in North America and Europe.
NETMARBLE
ANNOUNCES KNIGHTS CHRONICLE COLLABORATION WITH FAIRY TAIL
Popular Anime’s Characters Natsu
Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Gray Fullbuster and More Join the Adventure
LOS ANGELES, California (February 28, 2019) – Netmarble Corp. today unveiled that
characters from the FAIRY TAIL animated series are coming to the
mobile role-playing game Knights Chronicle.
Five characters from FAIRY TAIL
will appear in Knights Chronicle: The main characters Natsu Dragneel,
Lucy Heartfilia, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, and Wendy Marvell.
Also, the Erza Scarlet Advent Dungeon will reward
players with four-star SSR Erza Scarlet upon completion, and players can enjoy
the Erza Scarlet Advent Dungeons with half the stamina during the event.
The update features a new Story Region, Tybalt the Capital,
with 10 new stages for each difficulty level (easy/normal/hard). Players can
also play through the new storyline of the FAIRY TAIL characters.
In celebration of the FAIRY TAIL collaboration
licensed by KODANSHA, Knights Chronicle will give out 4-star Wendy
Marvell to all players who check-in and even more rewards will be available
through a seven-day check-in event.
The FAIRY TAIL collaboration began on February
27 and will continue until March 19, so players should act quickly to get in on
the action!
Knights Chronicle
is available now in 140 countries. For more information on Knights
Chronicle, please visit http://knightsgbweb.netmarble.com/.
###
Based on the manga “Fairy Tail” by Hiro Mashima
originally serialized in the weekly Shonen Magazine published by KODANSHA LTD.
Netmarble
Corp. strives to entertain audiences of all ages around the world by providing
great mobile gaming experiences. Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble is the
fastest-growing mobile game company and consistently ranks as a top mobile
developer and publisher worldwide. With more than 5,000 employees, Netmarble
has been producing and servicing some of the most successful mobile games
including Lineage 2: Revolution, MARVEL Future Fight, Everybody’s Marble, and
Seven Knights. As a parent company to Kabam, a top mobile game developer in
massively multiplayer free-to-play games, and the largest shareholder to Jam
City, a leading casual social game developer, Netmarble has a strategic
partnership with CJ ENM Corporation, Asia’s largest entertainment company,
Tencent Holdings, Asia’s largest internet company, and NCsoft, a prominent
MMORPG company. More information can be found at www.netmarble.com.
There are many entries in the Final Fantasy series that fans claim are their favorites and one that appears quite often happens to be Final Fantasy IX so it only makes sense that over the last few years Square Enix has done a bit of digging to bring the game to more audiences. After first releasing on smartphones and later on PC, it took a bit longer before the game arrived on the PlayStation 4 now almost two years later the game has been ported once more to the Switch and Xbox One. So now that we finally have Final Fantasy IX on an Xbox console, is this port worth your money?
Story
Those who have played the original will find that Square Enix has left Final Fantasy IX and its story completely untouched as players follow the journey of Zidane, a heroic thief, Vivi, a mysterious mage, Garnet, a princess of the kingdom, and the rest of their motley crew venture into danger and mystery only to be pulled into a greater plot that ends up threatening the entire world. Final Fantasy IX may be a bit slow off the start but once various plot points start to be revealed and the cast of charming characters grows on you, especially Vivi, it will be hard to put the game down.
In fact, thanks to the way that the story allows for players to see things from other characters’ points of view and the more traditional style of storytelling Final Fantasy IX’s can feel rather refreshing and even a bit lighthearted in some cases, especially with how crazy Square Enix has taken the series in some more recent entries.
Gameplay
Much of Final Fantasy IX‘s gameplay also remains the same to its classic form with players being able to travel through towns and dungeons while dealing with random encounter battles, if they choose of course but more on that later. The battle system uses the Active Time Battle (ATB) that was the norm at the time and sees each member of your party filling up a gauge and then taking their action once it is filled.
This slight alternative to simple turn based combat makes for a more fluid feeling combat and keeps players on their toes when it comes to managing their party, targeting weaknesses, healing ailments, and exploiting weaknesses though you shouldn’t be too worried about keeping up with it during standard play. It is interesting to note that unlike the Limit Break system that fans were used to at the time Final Fantasy IX uses a Trance mechanic that provides a significant boost to a character’s stats and unlocks additional skills while in that mode.
Outside of combat players can also make fun use of the game’s card game, Tetra Master, that makes for a fun little diversion that allows you to challenge most of the NPCs in the game to a card battle that, while not the best in series history, is still a fun little diversion from traveling through dungeons and solving puzzles.
Now the bigger changes to the way Final Fantasy IX plays come in the form of optional features that can be accessed either through the pause menu or delving further in if you want to really cheat a bit. These features are the ability to speed up the game to a nearly unmanageable degree, turn off or reduce random battles, allow players to deal 9999 damage on every hit, and more. These include things like being able to learn certain things earlier than intended but in the end choosing to use most of these features simply hurt the longevity and difficulty of the game as a whole though, at least for longtime fans, at least these give them the option to skip some of the grind or the dialogue of the story if you happen to be playing through a second time.
It is unfortunate to note that despite this being the fourth time that this game has been ported to a new console that it still suffers from a few glitches in the form of crashes. Multiple times throughout the game, even playing without the aforementioned cheats, Final Fantasy IX crashed to the home screen. While not a huge issue due to the auto-save implemented in the port, it is an annoyance that still remains years later.
Visuals & Audio
With Final Fantasy IX arriving on the Xbox One it is worth noting that graphically the game has seen something of an upgrade but be prepared for a mixed bag in that regard. The character models have been touched-up to look as high-res and nicely detailed but unfortunately they clash incredibly hard against the pre-rendered backgrounds that have not been touched at all. Many of these backgrounds are still presented in their original low-res PlayStation era glory so players should be ready for some rather odd looking scenes from time to time. Thankfully it seems that the various cutscenes have also been touched up a bit and they look rather clear.
While not a big problem and something that younger fans may appreciate, it is also extremely evident that Square Enix did not bother changing the UI at all from what was presented in the original smartphone release years ago. What used to be a more stylized and better looking interface in the menu and combat screens is now replaced with bland chunky blocks that really drag down the appearance of the game and is something that could have used some reworking for console release.
The soundtrack for the game features all of the great themes and tracks that fans have grown to love over the years and this release doesn’t damage them in any way, allowing for both returning players and newcomers to appreciate them once again.
Overall
Final Fantasy IX remains an amazing entry in the series as its storyline, once it gets going, is as engrossing as ever and its gameplay mechanics remain solid to this day but Square Enix’s treatment is a bit of a rough one here. Those who are looking for a great JRPG will find it here but will have to deal with the incredibly inconsistent graphics, crashes, and a user interface taken from a smartphone that come with this port. Some cheats for those who want to use them are a nice touch and if you haven’t played Final Fantasy IX before or haven’t picked up any of the various ports of the game since it was released on smartphone, then Final Fantasy IX is certainly worth a shot even with the port’s flaws.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
DEAD OR ALIVE 6AVAILABLE NOW ON PLAYSTATION®4, XBOX ONE AND PC VIA STEAM
Hard-Hitting
Fighter Features Interactive Stages, Intense Training, and Robust Story Mode
Hertfordshire, 1st March 2019 – Today KOEI TECMO Europe and Team
NINJA officially launched DEAD OR ALIVE 6, inviting players to
once again step inside the world of DOATEC’s underground fighting scene to
compete against some of the most brutal and beautiful fighters ever created.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work and effort
Team NINJA put behind this game,” said Yohei Shimbori, DEAD OR ALIVE 6’s
Producer and Director. “As a fighting game fan, I sincerely hope players from
across the world love competing in the game as much as I do.”
DEAD OR ALIVE 6 delivers intense fighting entertainment in the
form of one-on-one battles inside a variety of exciting, interactive stages
including everything from a giant attacking kraken to tenacious pterodactyls.
Players can step up their skills through the newly designed Quest mode, built
to challenge fighters while also teaching them the necessary survival skills to
advance before pushing forward into the most thorough Training mode the
franchise has ever seen. Add in a branching Story mode and online slugfests,
and DEAD OR ALIVE 6 is ready to rock even the most faithful
fighting fan to their core.
In addition, Team NINJA revealed even more
details on DOA6’s Season Pass 1. The DLC will be available for
purchase beginning today and will include two new fighters from SNK’s THE KING
OF FIGHTERS XIV – including Mai Shiranui and a yet to be announced character –
as well as 62 new costumes: DOA6 Happy Wedding Costumes Vol. 1 and 2, DOA6 New
Costumes set Vol. 1 and 2, additional character costumes for the two SNK
fighters, and bonus costumes for NiCO and Nyotengu. Season Pass 1 content will
be made available between March and June 2019.
DEAD OR ALIVE 6 is out now for the PlayStation®4
Computer Entertainment System, the Xbox One family of devices including
the Xbox One X, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft,
and digitally on Windows PC via Steam®. An action-packed new trailer was released today to celebrate
the newest entry of the series!
KOEI TECMO EUROPE LTD. is a
publisher of interactive entertainment software for current generation
consoles, handhelds and digital download content based in Letchworth,
Hertfordshire, UK. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of KOEI TECMO
HOLDINGS CO., LTD., headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. KOEI TECMO’s best known
for their signature ‘one versus thousands’ Warriors series, the fan-favourite
Ninja Gaiden and fighting entertainment title Dead or Alive. Through
collaboration with strong existing franchises, such as A.O.T. Wings of Freedom
(Attack on Titan), has brought fan-favourite shows to life in video game form.
The company’s desire for innovation and diversity has seen the creation of the
critically acclaimed dark-samurai action title Nioh, which takes on new and
unique gameplay styles. The company’s acquisition of GUST, developer of a
variety of heart-warming titles, has seen their flagship Atelier series span
generations of consoles and fans alike. More information about KOEI TECMO
EUROPE LTD and its products can be found at www.koeitecmoeurope.com
NEW EXTENDED
GAMEPLAY VIDEO OF LEFT ALIVE RELEASED WITH DEVELOPER COMMENTARY
Game Director
Details Gameplay Systems and Tactics for Survival Shooter
SYDNEY, 1st March 2019 – Square Enix Ltd., today revealed a brand-new video showcasing new gameplay from the upcoming survival action shooter LEFT ALIVE®. Alongside new gameplay and story for the upcoming release, game director Toshifumi Nabeshima offers his commentary throughout, providing more detail about the various skills and tactics players must use to achieve victory against the odds.
Within this exciting new gameplay
video, Nabeshima details the core gameplay mechanics that players will have to
utilise to find success against overwhelming enemy forces. Whilst some
challenging encounters in-game may appear impossible upon first attempt,
players can uncover alternate routes, craft useful traps and weapons, or even
turn enemy weaponry against them in order to save civilians trapped on the
battlefield and uncover the truth behind the game’s mysteries.
LEFT ALIVE will be available for the
PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and STEAM® on 5th March
2019. For more information, visit: http://www.left-alive.com
Fans of the Kill la Kill anime series will be happy to hear that Kill la Kill: IF is heading to Europe for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC sometime later this year courtesy of PQube. With Studio Trigger assisting, Kill la Kill: IF recreates the feeling of the original series and will feature faithfully reproduced scenes from the original series as it’s story is told once more as well as a brand new “IF” scenario.
Players will be doing battle in 3D arenas and perform devastating combos using their favorite characters to take down their opponents. While no release window is set, North America will be seeing a release sometime this year from Arc System Works.
It looks like Our World is Ended is going to take a little extra time to be ready for English audiences as PQube has announced that the game has been delayed from its previous release date of March 22nd. Now the game’s release will be a little odder as it is set to be released physically and digitally for the PlayStation 4 and Switch in Europe on April 18th while North America will only be seeing the game digitally on that day. The physical release of the game in North America is now set for May 7th.
PQube has yet to announce when the planned PC release of the game is set to be released though it is on the way. Our World is Ended features a team of eccentric game developers named Judgement 7 who are trapped between reality and the game world where simple glitches have devastating consequences. Featuring talented Japanese voice actors and a unique visual art style that will see players visiting iconic Tokyo landmarks players will have quite a lot to see in what PQube says is a game that offers over forty hours of gameplay.
Now that Sega has confirmed that they will be releasing Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s latest game, Judgement, in the West the publisher has decided to give potential players a little sample of how the game will be localized. The trailer, found below, features a scene from the game that is presented with both English (a first in a long time for the Yakuza developer) and Japanese voice overs and then shown with subtitles for English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German speaking audiences.
Currently Judgement is slated to be released sometime this summer in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 4.
In what has become a disturbing trend recently, Spike Chunsoft has announced a number of scenes that have had to be changed or flat out removed for the Western release of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning so the company could “ensure a release for the west.” These include altering the packaging art to remove any images that may be interpreted as sexually provocative, altering a CGI scene involving Sachika where her panties were visible, a CGI in the opening also featuring Sachika where her panties were shown, and the alteration of another CGI where Child Rinko’s arms have been adjusted to no longer cover her chest. The most notable is that all “Child” bedtime event cutscenes have been removed.
At least the news of censorship came with news of some additions to the localized release that include the Japanese swimsuit DLC being included in the game, a lower difficulty level for those who want to focus on story and puzzle solving, dual-audio, and a number of balance and UI improvements. Currently Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is still set to be released on the PlayStation 4 and PC in North America and Europe on April 9th.
Focus Home Interactive and Asobo Studio released a new story trailer for their upcoming game A Plague Tale: Innocence. The trailer follows Amicia and her younger brother Hugo. The Inquisition is trying to track down Hugo, sending the two fleeing into the French countryside where the Black Plague is cutting a bloody swath through Medieval Europe.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is an adventure game that blends in elements of action and stealth into the gameplay. Players will encounter a large variety of people in the French countryside, where player choices will shape their fates. However, there is plenty of danger lurking about, from the bloodthirsty Inquisition to the supernatural plague rats that swarm around like water.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is set to launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on May 14.
