A new trailer for Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited was released by NIS America today for E3 and you can check out the full video below. For those that haven’t been keeping up with the game, Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited is an enhanced port of Disgaea 4 for the PS Vita and it will feature all of the DLC from the original PS3 game as well as new story elements, new characters, and more.
Currently Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited is set for a physical and digital release in North America on August 12th and a few weeks later on August 29th in Europe.
Final Fantasy III was originally launched in 1990 for the NES. The game never left Japan until a 3d remake was created by Square Enix and Matrix Software for the Nintendo DS in 2006. Since then, the remake has been ported to Wii, Wii U, PSP, iOS, and Android. Following the Steam releases of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy III is finally available for PC gamers. The PC port boasts improved graphics over previous ports along with Steam Trading Cards and Steam Achievement support.
Story
Final Fantasy III follows the story of four orphans who have been chosen by the Crystals of Light to save their floating continent from an imbalance between the forces of light and darkness. The plot line is pretty standard fare for JRPGs, but has weathered the test of time rather well. The story’s biggest weakness is the game’s sparse writing. Most plot conversations are only a few sentences long, leaving little space for character development. The overarching plot on the other hand is much more interesting. Even still, Final Fantasy III manages to be charming and light hearted enough to balance out the shallow writing.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy III was released long before Square Enix experimented with a variety of time based combat systems. Instead, the game uses the turn based, step forward, attack, step back, let the next person move system most of us know and love. The mana system, on the other hand, may be a little more foreign to modern gamers. Spells are first split into two categories, Final Fantasy’s traditional white and black spells. Next, each spell is given a level. Each character can equip up to three spells of each level. As they level up (and if they are currently using a caster class), their mana pool grows, allowing them to cast a certain number of spells from each tier. The system may be familiar to Dungeons & Dragons players who use the D20 system.
Final Fantasy III is the first Final Fantasy title to implement the job system, which would later make appearances in many other titles in the series. The concept is probably one of my favourite mechanics ever implemented in a Final Fantasy title. It allows for a lot of flexibility. Players can build parties based on their play style, allowing the cast of characters to remain the same while experimenting with a variety of character archetypes. Jobs can be swapped between battles, requiring only a few battles to let the character acquaint themselves with their new job. Once that period is over, they will have access to the full range of abilities and gain job experience alongside regular character levels.
One of my biggest irritants with Final Fantasy III’s job system is the dependence on having a certain job in the party to proceed at certain times. For example, several dungeons in the first quarter of the game requires a White Mage in the party at all times. It is not possible to switch in the White Mage on the fly, as needed as swapping from a non-magic using job to White Mage means a trip to the inn before the appropriate spell can be cast.
Despite some of its flaws, Final Fantasy III still manages to be a solid JRPG experience while staying true to the game’s roots. The game tends to be a bit unforgiving at times. Players are free to wander around at will and are not blocked from walking into situations that would require a much higher level to conquer. The tutorial is a bit on the sparse side and the game does not make too much effort to hold the player’s hand. Smart money management will be a must, as gil is a bit short even if the player carefully seeks out every single secret stash.
The controls in Final Fantasy III are perfect. By default, the controller button layout will be instantly familiar to those who have played Final Fantasy titles on the console. The keyboard works well, though I find the default buttons to be a tad scattered. However, rebinding keys for both the controller and the keyboard is extremely easy.
Visuals
One of the big selling points of the 3d reboot is the complete revamp of the original visuals. Gone are the 8-bit pixel art in favour of a more modern 3d look. The new art style is cartoony, but keep in the spirit of the original sprites. In theory, the PC port of Final Fantasy III is supposed to boast improved visuals, to support the higher resolutions compared to the Nintendo DS’ comparatively miniscule resolution of 240 x 160 pixels. In reality, the game’s graphics have been scaled up a little to fare nicely at full 1080 resolutions, but the skins and the models are still very basic. They clearly have seen little to no improvement over the original NDS game. The only real noticeable improvements are the animated cut scenes. These short videos are on par with more recent numbered Final Fantasy titles.
Audio
The audio in Final Fantasy III is a wonderful mix of retro sound effects and a remastered score. Nobou Uematsu’s score translated wonderfully from chiptunes to a full orchestra. The soundtrack manages to hit moody, epic, and light hearted moments with laser like accuracy, while the retro sound effects serve as a constant reminder of the game’s retro roots.
Overall
Final Fantasy III boasts a great amount of content for the price. The 3D remake is true to its roots, for better or for worse. The resulting game is long and challenging retro JRPG with a very modern wrapper that will not hold player’s hands through the game. The remastered soundtrack is a pleasure to listen to, but the claims of upgraded visuals for the PC version has been exaggerated. Final Fantasy III is a must buy for the nostalgic, the retro fans, and the JRPG nuts everywhere.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire recently received a new trailer straight from E3 2014 and surprisngly Nintendo have also announced that the darkness Pokemon Sableye will be receiving a mega evolution and have released a new trailer to showcase it. Mega Sableye gains a huge jewel that is said to be a very powerful defensive tool, so powerful in fact that other attacks can’t even make a scratch on it. While Sableye hides behind the jewel, it can exploit the opponenet’s weakness and take advantage of the opening to attack itself.
It was recently revealed that Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire would be released on November 21st this year. Mega Sableye joins other new megas Mega Sceptile and Mega Swampert, with many more expected to be announced. Pokemon X & Y introduced around 30 mega evolutions when they were released. Keep checking back with us as we bring you more details on these great looking remakes as they come.
You may remember a unique looking game called Lily Bergamo that was revealed late last year by Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture. Well, it has become something else. Famitsuwas able to take a chance to interview Suda and GungHo’s CEO Kazuki Morshita and in this interview it was revealed that Lily Bergamo has now been changed completely into the gritty free-to-play PS4 title Let It Die.
In the interview it is discussed that while they were developing Lily Bergamo, they decided to change the game into one with online gameplay and survival aspects thanks to “soul searching” by the company. It was also confirmed that the previous protagonist Tae Ioroi has been removed entirely and players will now be able to create their own avatars.
As such, Let It Die will be a title that takes each players’ created avatar and as they die in the game, their avatar will start to be displayed in other player’s games. This means that the more deaths that occur the more players will see other avatars. It is also said that although players will start with zero equipment, they can gain weaponry and amor by killing enemies and taking it from their corpses.
Despite all of this judging from fans of Grasshopper Manufacture’s past titles and what Suda 51 is known for, the general fanbase is taking this announcement as something that might have been better left to die.
Today Sega released their first ‘English’ trailer for Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd. The reason I say English like that is because similar to the first game, it appears that the lyrics of each song are going to remain in Japanese but presented in English lettering.
That being said, it is still great news that Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd is heading to the West and it is still scheduled to be given both a retail and digital release this Fall in North America and Europe. The E3 trailer can be found below where the song “Two Breaths Walking” is shown off.
SYDNEY, 11TH JUNE 2014 – BANDAI NAMCO Games Europe is proud to reveal new details about ONE PIECE: Unlimited World Red exciting “Story Mode”. All true fans will be delighted to discover that a “Difficult” mode has been added after the first play-through! Thanks to this new difficulty threshold, players will see the ONE PIECE universe through an even more thrilling angle; all the enemies and bosses will become much stronger and offer rare items and rewards!
In the Story Mode, all soon-to-become Pirates will be able to fight against:
Shanks and his powerful Haki
The stunning Empress: Boa Hancock
Trafalgar Law, aka “Surgeon of Death”
Aokiji and his freezing powers
Lots of other well-known bosses!
For all the fans eager to get their hands on this brand new game on its Release day, they will be getting very unique content thanks to the “Straw Hat Edition”:
Exclusive Costumes: 10 outfits – Luffy Strong World Adventure Outfit & the Anniversary Pack with 9 outfits commemorating Japan’s 15th anniversary of the One Piece animated series.
A unique quest where the 2 brothers are re-united: “Flame Fist & Straw Hat”
The challenging and promising ONE PIECE UNLIMITED WORLD RED game will release across Australia & New Zealand on 26th June 2014 for PlayStation®3, PlayStation®Vita, and Nintendo 3DSTM. For the latest news and updates, check www.OnePiece-Game.com. For the latest videos, check bngames.eu/OPunlimitedworldredvideos. For more information about BANDAI NAMCO Games’ entire line up, go to www.BandaiNamcoGames.eu.
Sumthing Else Music Works, the record label dedicated to licensing and distributing video game soundtracks, announced at E3 that it has acquired the rights to distribute the original soundtrack of Enemy Front, featuring the musical scores from CI Games’ new first-person shooter title set during World War II. Composed by Cris Velasco (a man who has credits in Company of Heroes 2, Mass Effect 3, and the God of War series), the Enemy Front original soundtrack is available for pre-order on their website, as well as iTunes and other digital music stores. The composer had this to say about this work:
“At its core, Enemy Front is a story of redemption and survival, this gave me an opportunity to write the score as more of an emotional journey, rather than a typical combat score. The Warsaw Uprising is something that hasn’t been addressed in games like this before so I felt a responsibility to do it justice. I was honored to be asked to provide the music and I truly hope everyone enjoys the music as much as I enjoyed writing it.”
Enemy Front was developed and published by CI Games and distributed by BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. The title hearkens back to a time when every second FPS had a level based on D-day and the enemies were pixelated Nazis (were we ever that young?). Th game declares itself to be the first WWII FPS of the new generation with upgraded visuals and interactive combat sandbox gameplay. With the backdrop including a number of famous European locations, players will take on the role of Yankee war correspondent Robert Hawkins, as he fights with Resistance Fighters against the Nazi war machine (not literally, this isn’t Wolfenstein) in France, Germany, Norway, and Poland.
Enemy Front will be released for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on June 10 in North America and June 13 in Europa.
Ubisoft have made an announcement in regards to their next installment in the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six franchise with the snappy title: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. The game is slated for release in 2015 on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Ubisoft Montreal, who have worked on previous Tom Clancy games including the Splinter Cell series and previous Rainbow Six games, will be taking the lead on the development of the new first-person shooter title. Inspired by real world counter-terrorism operations, the game will have a focus on close-quarter fire-fights and combat. In a series first, players will be able to engage in a new gameplay mode called ‘siege’.
“As fans of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six and tactical shooters in general, we set out to create the game we always wanted to play within the counter-terrorism universe. We asked ourselves ‘how could we capture the incredible tension and unique tactics of these confrontations?’ We found the answer in the Siege gameplay and procedural destruction. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is the game that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six fans have been waiting for, and first-person shooter players will be drawn to its unique gameplay.“ – Creative director at Ubisoft, Xavier Marquis
The new mode will allow defending players to transform the map into a modern day fortress while attacking players attempt to overrun their position. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege will give players pretty neat tools to set up their defences including barbed wire, deployable shields, mines, and more. Likewise, players will be given a variety of tools to breach these defences including drones and sheet charges. With these elements introducing new gameplay mechanics, we might see a return of the tactical planning element which made the original Rainbow Six a PC classic.
In furtherance of this game design, Ubisoft Montreal will make use of their proprietary Realblast engine to create game environment which react realistically to player behaviour… mostly by being destroyed. This will all be in relation to factors such as the caliber of ammunition and the amount of explosives used by the players. With these factors now in play, new tactical opportunities open up such as leveraging the destruction in tactical ways. For example: Why go around a wall, when you can go blow through it? Why go up a set of stairs, when you can simply shoot through the ceiling? With enough explosive, any part of the level can become a new access point.
I’m sure players will have a lot of fun messing around with level design in real-time when the game is finally released in 2015.
“All You Need Is Kill”…to think; only a few months ago this particular story was barely known. Not to say it was unpopular, it was just that a small audience were aware of such a tale. Now…well now it has grown into a pop culture goliath! What was once just a Japanese Sci-fi novel has now become a manga series, a graphic novel and a feature-length film starring Hollywood royalty Tom Cruise. What was the catalyst that set “All You Need Is Kill” ablaze with popularity? Some say the book itself while others say it is the movie. I’m not too sure about that, but what I am sure of is that there IS a reason behind it’s success and it may just be the story it tells. (Read the Travis Bruno review of “All You Need Is Kill” by clicking here)
Story
Keiji Kiriya is a Japanese soldier currently fighting in a war against interplanetary monsters known as the “Mimics”. These alien creatures arrived on Earth with only one thing in their sights; complete and utter domination. Our planet couldn’t just sit back and let the Apocalypse rain down upon them so they begun their counterattack. Soldier equipped with power suits titled “Jackets” are thrown into the fires of war with the hopes that we will be the ones to come out victorious…but hope is not something the existence of a planet can survive on. Keiji dies at the hands/tentacles of the Mimics one fateful day but id reborn the next, left with nothing but feelings of Deja Vu.
Death falls upon Keiji once more but, the same as last time, he awakes to live out the same day again and again. He soon realizes that he has retained his memories from before the last time he died and uses this new found “ability” to train himself into becoming the greatest soldier and the Earth’s only hope at stopping the seemingly inevitable invasion. He alongside fellow soldier Rita (also known as the “Full Metal Bitch”) will do everything they can to figure out the “Loop” and to stop the Mimics once and for all, saving Earth and its people. It’s a great storyline.
“All You Need Is Kill” has one of the most unique and interesting plot lines I’ve honestly ever come across. It’s like a mix between “Groundhog Day” and “Independence Day”. It’s quite intelligent and the original novel being such a success has made evident by the explanation of the story and characters within it. The only problem I have with the graphic novel adaptation – unfortunately it is a big one – is that it is massively rushed. You’re not given all the information you possibly could have, you’re left only with the fundamental parts of the story.
Basically enough so that a reader can understand what is happening but is left wanting so much more. Sometimes the dialogue did not even make sense because of how compressed the entire telling of it was and it really made for a disappointing read. It took me barely half an hour to complete the graphic novel and by the end I felt as though I had just read a long issue of a comic. The good thing is that it tells a fantastic sci-fi story that really any fan of the genre can get into and enjoy, the bad thing is that it’s so compressed it looses gravitas which is something a tale of this caliber absolutely needs.
Artwork
Lee Ferguson – the illustrator for the graphic novel – has quite an impressive art style. It’s both simply yet detailed and was utilized properly to nicely show the effects of war and the destruction of a battlefield. Set out like a typical graphic novel of its kind, “All You Need Is Kill” featured some beautifully gritty illustrations alongside a well-suited colour palette that, while sometimes vibrant, was dark and dank enough to highlight the grizzled effects of intergalactic war. I did find it sometimes hard to actually understand what it was that I was seeing and some things did fall to the wayside or blend in to other illustrated pieces but, for the most part, it was well put together and looked great.
Overall
Don’t let the hype surrounding “All You Need Is Kill” cloud your vision; the graphic novel IS good but it is clear that it is also lacking. It seems as though it’s heavy compression of the story is what is truly setting it back. Had the graphic novel been a little longer, I could imagine it would have been a great deal better. It’s such a great story to let yourself become engulfed by but you can’t exactly do that when you’re not getting the full story.
If you’re a fan of the original than the graphic novel may be something you’d love to purchase and I urge that you do because it is you who will be able to appreciate it the most. A good comic book/graphic novel must both look good and read good, “All You Need Is Kill” only does one of those things and it seems as though it just wasn’t enough.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
In the midst of the E3 2014 festivities, ATLUS have today revealed that they will be releasing a special edition version of their upcoming 3DS title, “Persona Q: Shadow Of The Labyrinth“, in North America. The game’s special release, titled “The Wild Cards Premium Edition”, will come with a whole bunch of “Persona-centric” goodies bound to get both new and old fans of the series extremely excited!
This premium edition of the game will come with eleven Tarot cards (all modeled after those featured in the game), a “Persona Q” art book, the official soundtrack of the game (titled; “Sound Of The Labyrinth”) and an official “Persona Q” 3DS XL hard case which had only been available in Japan up until now.
– Standard Edition –
Fans not wanting all these goodies – though I don’t know who wouldn’t – can purchase the standard release of the game which, if they preorder, will come with the aforementioned Tarot cards. “The Wild Cards Premium Edition” will be sold for $79.99 and the standard edition will be sold for $49.99.
It was only North America that is to be getting these releases, unfortunately Australia nor Europe were mentioned but my hope is that we get word of it reaching our shores sometime soon. “Persona Q: Shadow Of The Labyrinth” is set for a North American release on the 3DS sometime this Fall and in Australia and Europe sometime after that.
