The fifth and final game in the long-running Blackwell adventure game series from Wadjet Eye Games is coming soon and from today onwards, The Blackwell Epiphany can be preordered to secure a heap of special preorder bonuses. For seven years Rosa Blackwell and her Jazz-era ghost partner Joey Mallone have helped the recently deceased find peace and cross over, but what they didn’t know is that their work comes a price and until now they didn’t even know it. The PC game features full voice acting as well as some excellent retro sprite work.
On April 24, preorder customers will get The Blackwell Epiphany as a DRM-free download, along with the following special bonuses:
Exclusive video interviews with voice actors Abe Goldfarb (Joey) and Rebecca Whittaker (Rosa) discussing their work on the series
Exclusive New York City video tour with series creator Dave Gilbert showing and talking about the real-world locations that inspired the Blackwell games
Exclusive virtual invite to the Blackwell Epiphany launch party — streamed live from Dave’s apartment the evening of April 24! (Includes a hangout / Q&A session with members of the dev team)
Blackwell Epiphany MP3 soundtrack
Free Blackwell Epiphany Steam key that can be redeemed at launch
The Blackwell Epiphany launches on April 24th and can be preordered for $14.99 from here. When it launches, the game will sell from the Wadjet Eye website, GOG, and Steam. You can check out our review of the Blackwell Trilogy by following the link.
Overview In the video game industry gamers have come to expect certain titles to be released annually. There will almost always be a yearly release for sports fans or first person shooter fans, but rarely do we have yearly releases for RPG players. However for the last ten years Gust has been doing just that with their Atelier series and even after being purchased by Tecmo Koei they have remained fairly strong every year. Now that their latest entry into the series, Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky, has been released have they managed to keep up their fairly impressive track record?
Story The story of Atelier Escha & Logy revolves around the small village of Colseit, best known for their apple orchards, where both a fresh young alchemist by the name of Escha Malier and a more skilled alchemist from a major city with certain circumstances forcing him to move named Logix Fiscario, or Logy for short, have begun working for the city’s Research & Development team. Because they are new recruits they have to start from the bottom and work on building the city back up a bit and eventually expand their focus into bigger things such as why the world is currently suffering from a massive catastrophe.
You see, one of the main reasons that Colseit has an established R&D team is due to a mysterious floating ruin in the sky that simply goes by the name “Unexplored Ruins” because no one has ever ventured there before. As such, one of the main goals of the game is to reach these ruins but as with a few of the past games in the series, the main story in Atelier Escha & Logy isn’t a major driving force although there are some very interesting and incredibly challenging revelations that occur later on in the story.
What makes Atelier Escha & Logy’s story worthwhile is something that Gust has always seemed to implement into their RPGs to various levels of success and in this title they have done an amazing job. For those unfamiliar with the Atelier series’ strengths I am talking about the characters of course. In many of my past reviews for games in the Atelier series, especially in the Arland trilogy, I mentioned that the characters in the game would make the whole thing worthwhile and that the old saying that the greatest part of a story is not in the destination but in the journey.
Well not to sound like a bit of a broken record but that description fits Atelier Escha & Logy perfectly. The characters in the game all have a goal of their own and a unique likable personality that never feels out of place in the game and will have players struggling to choose a favorite since every character, including our two leads, are developed nicely. Especially Logy as his past is only hinted at initially and is eventually developed later on in the game.
Now as you may have noticed, we have two lead characters in the form of Escha and Logy and although players can choose to play as either character at the start, the overall story remains pretty much the same overall regardless of which alchemist you choose, although there are some unique scenes and a few developments exclusive to each character. It is also worth noting that, while Atelier Escha & Logy features a number of different endings like past Atelier games, this one has endings that are character specific so you will not be able to see all of the endings if you only choose to replay as the same character, giving this title perhaps the most replay value of the series.
Gameplay Now anyone familiar with the Atelier series probably knows what to expect in Atelier Escha & Logy but for those who may just be looking into the series now, the game is broken down into four sections: alchemy, combat, quest completion, and exploration. All of these segments then fit into the time limit that is placed on players as they must reach certain goals in a set period of time to continue on their journey. This might sound brutal but it this time constraint is fairly forgiving if you manage your time correctly and do not make any accidental side trips as your goals can almost always be met long before the set date.
Players will have to complete these tasks either by synthesizing items with alchemy, gathering items from exploration, or defeating a set amount of monsters and while many of these quests can be story related, it is good to spend some time on the side-quests as they can not only provide the player with additional items and recipes, but a way to test their skills and occasionally kill time.
Now before I touch upon the revamps to the battle system, it is worth noting that the alchemy system in Atelier Escha & Logy remains very simple at the forefront but incredibly complex at the same time as players will need to balance the cost vs reward of creating specific items that may need to be used to complete a request or be used in battle, the time that it takes to create such an item, and then the grade and value of the ingredients necessary to add specific bonuses to the created item.
Despite how deep the system can be at times and how complicated players can take their alchemy, the game never feels like it throws too much at the player at any given time and allows them learn at their own pace. It is also interesting to note that although both characters are alchemists, the majority of the alchemy will be performed by Escha as she is more skilled with item synthesis while Logy is better with forging equipment.
Now as for the exploration aspect, players will need to traverse a map and explore fields to gather ingredients for synthesis and again all of these factors take time and days can pass relatively quickly when you are in the field, so it is always good to keep an eye out on what specific items you may need or where you should be heading next as gathering items from one spot can take up to half a day of in-game time when there are numerous gathering spots in one field.
As players travel in these fields or occasionally dungeon areas they will encounter a number of monsters which can be attacked on the field for a pre-emptive strike. Once players enter battle they will be presented with the standard turn based battle system that the series has used for a while but this time things have been changed around a bit. You see, up to six fighters can take part in battle now and the support gauge is now contained in one bar instead of each character having a support gauge of their own.
Now players can only really fight with three characters at any given time, with three other fighters serving as back up. These three back up members can be called in to deliver extra damage or take a hit for the player, but they can also be swapped out with the front fighter. This is a useful tactic to move a wounded character to the back as all characters in the back will regenerate some health which is useful for difficult battles.
As for the support system, by creating a single gauge the company has made combat a more fluid affair that doesn’t limit the player too much and leave them wide open. By creating this one gauge system which fills up whenever the player gives or takes damage, it is easier for the player to call in numerous supporting attacks to deal a large amount of damage to one enemy or protect a vulnerable character from an incoming attack.
By allowing players to have six usable characters in a fight but still limiting them to three active fighters at any time Gust has made these battles not only a bit easier but also more enjoyable as the pace has been improved significantly over past titles and feels quite fast at times. That being said, even with the refined battle system there are a number of difficulty spikes that can catch players off guard, so it is always wise to make sure you are well equipped for long journeys, especially those that involve a story mission.
Visuals Another thing that has always been a highlight of the Atelier series is how gorgeous the games can look and I can say that although I had some concern about how Atelier Escha & Logy would look considering it is using a new engine and Ayesha lost some of the charm of the Arland trilogy, I can happily say that this game is wonderful looking. It is also nice to note that the mouth flap issue has been revised and a characters mouth actually stops moving once they are done speaking.
The character designs are incredibly well detailed with clothing that feels unique to the series. Plus the soft coloration used in the game makes for quite an eye-pleasing experience and although the places that you can explore still are lacking in detail, they have been improved upon. It is also nice to note that the character animations and battle animations are handled nicely and work well with the new system.
Audio It is nice to note that Tecmo Koei has not made the same mistake twice regarding the voice track option as the company has provided both the newly recorded English voice track as well as the original Japanese voice track for those who prefer that option. For what it is worth, the English cast handles the characters quite nicely with Escha being the standout of the bunch, but at least the option is there.
Now although I found myself initially concerned for Atelier Escha & Logy’s soundtrack upon hearing the game’s intro song, I am pleased to report that Gust has continued to provide excellent pieces of background music for their games. Atelier Escha & Logy’s soundtrack is wonderful with numerous tracks fitting a variety of scenes and even though a few themes may be overused, they never wore out their welcome simply because of how impressive they were.
Overall Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky brings us the tried and true method of storytelling that has served Gust so well for so long and I wouldn’t have it any other way. With a time limit helping to keep the player focused on advancing and a cast of characters that you can’t help but enjoy, this feels like a great continuation for the series, especially when you factor in the refined combat mechanics and the nice inclusion of two playable protagonists to give players even more incentive to play through the game more than once. Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky has everything fans of the series could want and might even serve as a nice entry point for those who are still sitting on the fence on this long running series.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Since Tecmo Koei has already finished releasing their developer diary series for the game, they have chosen to release a new set of screenshots that show off a massive boss battle that players will need to go through at some point in the game.
The boss appears to be Mayan related and fairly gigantic as it seems that the boss has a number of powers to unleash. You can check out the screenshots below and be sure to keep an eye out for Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z when it is released next week on March 18th in North America and March 21st in Europe.
A couple of days ago Atlus USA released a trailer focusing on the first of seven heroines in Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars by introducing us to Torri and now they have released their second heroine trailer and this time the focus is the pink twintail Fuuko who uses dual pistols and frost magic in combat.
Atlus describes her as a bright and sweet girl who is one of the better attackers in the game. Check out the video below and keep an eye out for Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars when it is released in North America on April 15th.
As you may already know, Atlus is going to be publishing another title from ACE Team, the company behind the Zeno Clash games, and this title happens to be called Abyss Odyssey. Since the game was announced last week today the company has released some extra gameplay footage in what will likely become a series of video releases.
This video focuses on the Judith enemy, one of many that players will be able to possess in each stage. When an enemy is possessed you will be able to use its full skillset and as such this trailer highlights the various combos you can pull off with Judith.
Xbox 360 gamers are no longer left out with the release of the Sanctum 2 Expansion Pack for Xbox 360. The pack contains the first two DLCs released for PCs, Road to Elysion and Ruins of Brightholme. Owners will receive a new playable character, eight new maps, four new weapons, four new towers, new enemies to battle against, and new perks to use.
Sanctum 2 is a FPS based tower defense game from indie developers Coffee Stain Studios. Players will need to defend the precious oxygen cores that keep the human population alive against wave after wave of aliens. The game features both singleplayer and co-op support for up to four players.
To celebrate the launch, Sanctum 2 is on sale at $4.94 on Xbox Live. The Sanctum 2 Expansion Pack costs $4.99 on Xbox Marketplace.
Spiders Games and Focus Home Interactive released new screenshots and announced the official release date for their upcoming RPGBound By Flame. The new screenshots show off some of the creatures players will battle in game. The beasts have varied behaviours and abilities, which will require players to carefully plan their strategy to conquer them.
Bound By Flame is an upcoming RPG that allows players to create their own unique combat style, balancing demonic magic and vicious martial combat. The game has been officially dated for May 9th for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. A new trailer featuring new information about the combat system will be released in the coming weeks.
Get ready comic fans because Warner Bros and Turbine have just launched the Open Beta for Infinite Crisis, a DC inspired multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title.
Whether you fight for peace, hope, justice, mayhem or chaos, Infinite Crisis has a character for you. Batman, Superman, The Joker, Wonder Woman, and so many more. The Open Beta also adds Green Arrow, Aquaman and Mecha Superman to the fray, so feel free to dole out some good ol’ fashioned justice. The Beta also includes three maps for you to test you skills in. The recently announced “Gotham Divided” is a tri-lane map where you are able to battle across Gotham City and its multiverse variant, Gotham by Gaslight.
So whether you lean more towards heroism or villainy, visit the official site and sign up for the Beta. But before you do that, check out the trailer below and bear witness to the clash of good and evil. What do you fight for?
She did it! Through sheer willpower and a lot of help from the powers of love and friendship, our dear Ryuko managed to break the brutal mind control of Ragyo and regain herself. I know the whole “love and friendship” thing is cliche at this point, but that doesn’t make it any less touching. Anyway, with everybody back on the right sides of good and evil and last week‘s depressing glimpse into the heart of madness behind us, it’s time to start the real fight. You know, the one for the fate of humanity.
First of all, that’s a lot of blood. Well technically it’s the right amount of blood, by anime standards at least, it just a little more…outside of Ryuko than it should be. To add to this overall terrifying scene, in this replay we get to witness the pupils of Junketsu shrink in unbelievable pain. Being torn to pieces will do that I suppose. Look, I know he’s a horribly violent garment that has tried to essentially eat his wearers alive, but still, I couldn’t help but feel for the guy…pain I mean. So much pain. Also watching him crawl away in tatters was equal parts gratifying and depressing, mainly due to the mystery behind Junketsu. As the only other Kamui in the series, he really hasn’t seen a great deal of fleshing out. Though I suppose it does a great job of presenting him as an antithesis to Senketsu. Though ultimately these points are now moot as, after a healthy does of Ryuko’s blood and Senketsu’s fibres, Junketsu is now loyal to Satsuki. The transfusion process also left Junketsu able to utilise Senketsu’s repertoire of transformations, which is one hell of a cool side effect if you ask me.
Beware the cute ones…
With Ryuko rightfully wearing Senketsu once more and the blood of Mako and Satsuki now flowing through his threads, they are now more powerful than ever before. Which is really handy considering the situation. The most obvious example of their newfound power would have to be the return of Senketsu Senjin’s claws. Unlike last time, these blades are now able to withstand the force of the Scissor Blades and serve as an effective weapon until Ryuko takes back her father’s weapon from Nui…with extreme prejudice. Would it be wrong for me to say that Nui was disarmed? Probably. But I’ll say it anyway because it’s funny. It is also at this moment that we learn a little more about the true power of the Scissor. Able to halt the regenerative properties of Life Fibres, the weapon will surely be useful in the fight against foes who are entirely comprised of said Life Fibres. Don’t you just love it when things work out? I’d also like to draw attention to Nui’s overall inadequacy when compared to Ryuko. Despite her existence as a sort of anti-Life Fibre being, she has progressively lost her edge as the series continued onwards and Ryuko gained power. Even though she possessed both Scissor Blades, she was bested by Ryuko and subsequently maimed. Another interesting fact is that Ryuko’s half of the Scissor did not change to purple in Nui’s grasp, hinting that she was not able to unify the pieces. Ultimately though it was her rage that once again saw her downfall. She makes some really stupid choices when she’s angry.
After netting a brief respite from the carnage, we are presented with a surprising amount of character development. Having finally understood the truth of her world, Ryuko realises that the greatest part of her life is the bat-crap crazy people who call her a friend. It might sound a little tite, but everybody needs something to fight for. Better yet, something to live for. It is this very same notion that presents Mako and Senketsu as parallels to the Elite Four, each of whom are loyal to the point of insanity, willing to lay down their lives for the one they care for the most. Continuing this train of thought, Ryuko realises that she and Satsuki are not that different after all, a sign of the familial relationship forming between them. Not long after, the boundary crossing Mankanshoku’s sparked a beautiful moment where everybody sat down to a meal together. To be honest it was nice to see Satsuki finally reveal the true extent of her personality, spending most of the meal (and the episode in fact) smiling. The softening of her fearful visage served as the final sign that she has always been a good person beneath it all and is now wholeheartedly a Nudist. There was also an undeniable sense of poetry present when Satsuki bowed before Ryuko. Having stood above everyone for so long, it was reaffirming to her character to see see this compassionate and respectful side of her. Also during this moment, Satsuki once again shone with the blinding radiance of her former tyrannical self. Only this time it was different. Rather than for the purpose of intimidation, it was used to express the truly overwhelming sense of charisma that has always defined her. It was truly the first time she had ever earned that light…and it was magnificent.
One big happy family…strange, but happy
Speaking of visages, we also got the chance to see Ryuko’s tender side, something usually overshadowed by the layers and layers of rage and disbelief. Having been reunited with one of her dearest friends, Ryuko immediately falls back into her habits with Senketsu. Though let’s be honest her, we all know that their snide comments and jokes are all just manifestations of the love they feel for each other. Heck, Senketsu was moved to tears by Ryuko’s words. Twice. In addition to this and despite her most vehement denial, Satsuki’s words struck a cord with our heroine, allowing her to slowly accept her new family. A drastic change from her previously all consuming hatred for the former Hannouji President. Seriously, how cute was it when Ryuko stumbled over calling Satsuki “Sis”? So cute.
As the situation grows ever more dire, we finally learn the true scale of Ragyo’s plan. Essentially, the multi coloured psychopath wants Earth to wear clothing. Which will in turn cause it to explode and spread the Life Fibre menace to other unfortunate worlds. Remember when this show was about a girl trying to avenge her dad? It was so much simpler back then. Though I have to admit I really didn’t think Ragyo was being literal when she spoke about making the world wear clothes. That was somewhat surprising. It’s also a rather interesting revelation in that the Life Fibres systematic domination of planets is little more than their reproductive cycle. A twisted, genocidal cycle, but nature works in mysterious ways. Especiially space nature, that stuff is crazy.
Sisterhood of the Kamui
So with our heroes en route to kick the everloving crap out of their insane mother, next episode is sure to be filled with all sorts of familial chaos. Plus, Fight Club President Mako is back and raring to go. See, this is why I love this series. When there’s a chance for something awesome to happen, it just takes it. That being said, these choices are also often the smartest course of action. Who wouldn’t utilise the enemies materials to empower their own forces. That’s just simple strategy. And one that will hopefully help keep Earth nude…you know what I mean.
The Might Quest For Epic Loot has reached a might milestone today with Ubisoft having announced that the game has received over 1.5 million registrations since the game went into open beta just a short two weeks ago.
The 1.5 million registrations hail from 240 different countries and have collectively put in a total of 28 million hours of gameplay at the time of posting. To celebrate this monumental achievement, Ubisoft have released a brand new trailer for the game titled ‘Sir Painhammer Forever’.
Be sure to let us know what you think of this announcement in the comments section below. Stay tuned for more Mighty Quest news as it comes to light.
