Lost Saga beta draws to a close as final steps are taken in readiness for launch
Nexon Europe’s highly anticipated multiplayer brawler well received by dedicated community
Luxemburg – 10th March, 2014: Nexon Europe is one step closer to launching the multiplayer online brawler, Lost Saga, as the closed beta comes to an end. Having seen enormous success, the beta engaged the rapidly expanding Lost Saga community in helping shape the title in the final stages before launch.
Providing an extensive cast of characters from the greatest heroes of our world and beyond, battling it out over a variety of maps, Nexon Europe welcomed a huge number of users testing the closed beta. Players took control of over 100 characters from myths, sci-fi, history and legends, coming together for relentless brawling action.
“From the reaction of the thousands involved in the beta, we’ve continued the magic of Lost Saga and satisfied a community that has long been looking forward to the title,” Minkyu Kim, Manager of Game Operations at Nexon Europe. “We want to thank everyone who participated in the closed beta, and assure them that all feedback will be taken into account to ensure Lost Saga is one of the greatest multiplayer online experiences ever come launch.”
With the exceptional feedback, Nexon Europe is looking forward to the official open of Lost Saga in 6 languages: English, German, French, Italian, Polish, and Turkish.
The official Lost Saga site can be found at lostsaga.nexoneu.com.
About Nexon Europe
Established in March 2007, Nexon Europe is one of the leading publishers of free-to-play MMOs in Europe. The company has brought the worldwide hit casual MMORPG MapleStory to Europe in May 2007, and the successful FPS Combat Arms in January 2009. With the launch of the 3D action MMORPG Vindictus in 2011, Nexon Europe has strengthened its position as a promising publisher in Europe. Next to these in-house franchises, Nexon Europe was also able to acquire and fully operate Atlantica Online, an innovative, tactical MMORPG; Dekaron, an authentic action MMORPG set in a grim fantasy universe; and the action-packed FPS War Rock. The newest additions to its growing portfolio are Navy Field 2 alongside the legendary FPS game Counter-Strike Online in Turkey. For 2014, the company’s first browser-based full-scale MMORPG Arcane Chronicles and fun-packed, action fighting game Lost Saga will join as new line-ups. For more information on Nexon Europe and its games, please visit the official website at www.nexoneu.com.
About WeMade Entertainment Co., Ltd.
Established in 2000, WeMade Entertainment Co., Ltd., (KOSDAQ: 112040) is an international game developer and publisher with some of the most popular mobile games in Asia. WeMade has grown from a handful of passionate game pioneers to more than 1,000 game enthusiasts including one of the most robust mobile game development teams in the world. WeMade’s first hit title “Legend of Mir 2” drew more than 200 million online PC gamers into its world. Since debuting in the mobile games space in April of 2012, WeMade has released 27 high-quality mobile games including “WIND RUNNER”, which became the most popular mobile game in Korea and Japan with over 30 million downloads combined.
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love is an indie game about exploration and colour. Players will roll around a grey landscape, spreading colour and life across the world. Along the way, players will discover the artifacts left behind by the ancient cubes that came before them.
Story
The player is set on a journey to spread colour in the grey world. As colour is spread across the world, journal entries and coded historical pieces begin appearing. The plot is surprisingly dark given the game’s light and colourful nature.
Gameplay
In the beginning, the player is presented with an entire world of grey, filled with trees and bushes with yet to be discovered colour. After knocking off the first bit of coloured fruit from a nearby tree, the player’s cube will absorb the colour and slowly release the colour into the landscape as they bounce around. The cube’s colour slowly becomes lighter as it seeps into the ground. As the land becomes coloured, the trees and bushes will assume their natural colour. When bumped, they release stars and more coloured fruit. Players can bump up against stone pillars scattered across the land to retrieve various gems. In the coloured land, journal entries, coded history snippets, ancient artifacts, and monuments that will bestow the player with new powers will begin to appear. As the world fills with colour, new and wonderful creatures will begin to appear, giving the world a feeling of life. The player can trigger the special powers to cause mass destruction or summon strange buildings that will spawn small little pyramid people.
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love is a unique game. It is a digital cross between a Japanese zen garden and blank canvas with tons of paint laying around. The game moves at a turtles pace, encouraging more of a meditative state. Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love is definitely not a game designed for those with instant gratification in mind, as something more action packed like the most recent iteration of Call of Duty may be a better pick. Cube & Star is much better suited as a vehicle for relaxation. The coded history snippets are a fun little mini-game that provide some background on the world. Players will need to crack a simple code to make sense of the history left behind.
The controls in Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love are simple. The game supports controllers and mouse/keyboard. I found using the mouse to move the cube was the most awkward of the three control schemes.
Visuals
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary love has a simple visual style that suits the game well. The simplicity puts a greater emphasis on the colours that are spread around as the game progresses. The map is disappointingly low resolution and fails to convey the rainbow of colours laid down by the cube. Though the game is not graphically taxing, there are no graphic options. The game is forced to run in full screen at maximum resolution.
Audio
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love has a wonderfully relaxing soundtrack and syncs nicely to the player’s movements. The game’s sound effects become an extension of the music, as the cube bumps into trees and uses special abilities. Unfortunately there is only one song in the game, which can get repetitive after long periods of time. Certain parts of the game have are voice acted, in the sense that a computer generated voice reads out the script. I found it really jarring and out of place. The game would have probably been better off without the voiced parts.
Overall
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love is one of those unique titles that could only be created by an indie studio. The game is the antithesis of the commercial video game. Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love is played at a meditative pace. Instead of the perfectly polished presentation of commercialized games, Cube & Star explores a more artistic niche. It may not be a game for every gamer, but is definitely a must try for those looking to experience something new.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Unity Games has announced Space Noir, a new narrative-driven, space combat title for PC via Steam download and tablets. The game is headed by N-Fusion Interactive who previously developed Deus Ex: The Fall and Air Mail.
Space Noir is the latest in what seems to be a resurgent space genre, promising ship-to-ship combat and customisation, boss battles, planetary missions and a dark storyline.
Hal Markham, an educated man from a prosperous family, joins the Intergalactic Planetary Consortium only to discover that, rather than protecting colonies, he’s enforcing draconian martial law. Hal quits the consortium after a tragic incident and returns home to find his family dead, his fiance married to a ruthless politician and his life quickly falling apart. Hal finds work as a mercenary, traveling throughout the universe to collect bounties and pursue black market jobs. Space Noir begins in a long-neglected outpost world, as a deeply hungover Hal is awoken by his ship AI Rhonda only to find himself in the middle of a pirate attack.
The game is set for launch sometime during summer 2014. Check out the screenshots below and for more info visit the official Facebook page.
Respawn Entertainment’s new game for Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows operating systems, Titanfall, is set to have a midnight release event in Sydney, Australia. Titanfall is a first-person, multiplayer shooter in which players can fight each other in mechs and as puny infantry with jetpacks… which I guess isn’t so puny. The game is slated to become the new flagship franchise for the Xbox One console and has had previous coverage by us, here. Fans are invited to attend the event at the headquarters of the fictional ‘Hammond Robotics Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation’ and hosted by the not-fictional: EA, EB Games, and Xbox Australia. Guests will be able to play the full game in 6v6 online matches prior to the game’s national release and opportunities to purchase the full game will be provided during the event by EB games as well as other merchandise. Inquiries about the possibility of purchasing a real titan for personal use were only answered with bemused laughter, so one assumes that they must be provided complimentary to guests.
With every purchase (of a non-titan item), guests will go into the draw to win various prizes ranging from Xbox One consoles, Collector’s Editions of Titanfall, and much more (possibly more titans… for your friends). Also during the event, every purchase of the game will come with a free shirt but only while they’re in stock (I assume that every guest will be guaranteed their own titan however). In between games and (I assume) riding around in your own titan, guests will be treated to food, drink, and other entertainment. The luxury taxi service, Uber, will be providing guests with a $50 voucher for the evening if they wish to be ferried home with their service. Invitations are only being extended to fans 18 years of age and over as I assume children will not be able to reach the piloting controls of the life-sized titans.
If you would like to be put on the guest list for the event, which will be held at Luxe Studios, 279-283 Liverpool Street, East Sydney on Wednesday 12th of March, register your interest at [email protected] with your full name and contact details. The full game will be available on PC and Xbox One in Australia on the 13th of March and the 14th of March for gamers in New Zealand.
Edit: Much to my disappointment, there won’t be real-life titans at the release event… I’ll have to console myself by playing Titanfall until real world technology catches up with my ambitions.
As Sio spent the early parts of last episode in a hospital bed, she received a small gift from an unexpected person: the Commander. A brief moment that expressed the idea that perhaps the head of DOGOO is more than just a stern figure. This week tkaes that concept and runs with it, as we receive a glimpse into the interesting life that the Commander has led these many years.
Long ago, when she was just a young girl, the Commander was left the sole survivor of an attack that decimated her village. It was at this point that the mysterious DOGOO (the alien) appeared and decided to utilise her in his quest for E-Genes. Now the first thing you might notice about this particualr encounter, is that it takes place in the year 248…yeah. I guess that makes the Commander a little older than she looks. Resigning to DOGOO’s ship/base/thing, she is placed in a glowing green tube (the same present in a number of previous episodes) and locked in suspended animation. Though awakening only briefly every couple of hundred years, we catch glimpses of the strange relationship developing between DOGOO and the COmmander. Though a crucial task in humanity’s existence, DOGOO never once forces her into anything, allowing her to serve of her own free will. It’s interesting to note that this is the same viewpoint she adopts as the head of DOGOO (the organisation), showing that perhaps the alien helped to shape her own beliefs.
What is the weight of a human soul?
At some point in their journey through time, DOGOO picks up Saint Germain, to serve as the Commander’s interlocutor. Though an impressive sounding title, it merely means that it is Germain’s job to talk to her. This expresses that, though an alien, DOGOO still understands that the Commander must be lonely and possess a sense of empathy towards his companion. IT is also at this point that we learn that Saint Germain was once a prisoner in his time…also that he’s immortal. Kind of a big deal that second part isn’t it? Though it remains unseen, it can only be assumed that during the Commander’s hundred year slumbers, that Germain continued to aid DOGOO in the search for special genes. Either that or they sat around doing nothing.
One of the most interesting things to note from this episode is the fact that it was actually the Commander who sought out the various “heroes” who would lend their genes to the fight for humanity. It is for this reason that the E-Genes chosen are so varied in nature. For example, when faced with countless brave and fearsome warriors, she opted to gather the genes of a man who possessed great speed (presumably Dai Zong). It is also this desire to choose skilled heroes that led to her eventual falling out with DOGOO. Desiring an army of great power, the alien sought to gather the essence of Nobunaga, a task we all know he succeeded in. However, the Commanders compunctions about enlisting the help of such a ruthless seeker of war, led her to run away, thus creating the need for DOGOO to approach Nobunaga himself (as we previously saw). Beginning their lives anew, we see a snippet of the time that led to the Commander and Saint Germain becoming so close, being the only family they have left. Unfortunately, history has a habit of repeating itself and, for the second time, the Commander’s home is razed during a siege. However, it is this traumatic event that steeled her resolve and forges her into the stoic leader we all know and respect. Though it was definitely nice to see that she too has a softer side, one not shown in the series thus far and one that will hopefully continue to shine through.
Behold the face of disbelief
It is also revealed that the alien who so strongly desires to protect Earth carries some sort of terrible burden. This mysterious element is strong enough that his very body is in the process of breaking down. It is for this very reason that the Commander placed DOGOO within the green tube where we most often see him, returning the favour of life he gifted to her long ago. Hopefully future episodes will delve further into DOGOO’s past, exploring his life before journeying to Earth. There’s still just so many mysteries.
Back in the present, DOGOO (the organisation) is in shambles as a plan is developed to defeat the menace that dwells within the tunnel. In the meantime, Jack decides to act anime savvy and asks Sio about her tactical acumen, with her having been the only one to anticipate the attack on the Clayton Forrester. He reveals that he knows her E-Gene has been speaking to her and explains that the spirit of Jack the Ripper himself is asking for her help, lending to his apparent skill at sensing danger and the best way to combat it. What’s interesting about this exchange, is the revelation that Jack tap into his E-Gene without his AU Weapons in hand, something that Sio achieved in the last episode. Though it still remains unknown if she is the only one capable of forming a weapon through willpower alone. We also see that her dance routine was not a one off and serves to focus her mind, allowing her access to Nobunaga’s memories.
A new hero arises
All this being said, the best part of the episode by far was watching Sio finally come into her own as a DOGOO operative. Though initially hesitant about explaining her thoughts to the planning committee, she taps into her dormant courage and almost outright states that they’re current plan is wrong. Now, am I the only one who thought it was awesome watching Vidocq sit in shock at the fact that he, the “smartest” E-Gene Holder of them all, made a mistake? Because it was pretty cool. It also revealed that, while his Easy Chair is able to crunch every conceivable number in any given scenario, he must first have a concept. An idea. Something which he occasionally misses, adding a human element to his statistical power. That being said, he did accept Sio’s conjecture and swallowed his pride for the sake of the operation. It was also nice seeing the other members of the First and Second Platoons praise Sio for coming up with such a thorough plan of attack. See, they do care about each other after all. Isn’t that sweet?
With Nobunagun’s latest plan set to launch, you better believe that next week will be action packed. Will her strategy pay off as predicted, or will an unexpected variable descend chaos upon our heroes? I guess we’ll have to wait another week and see how Operation Stone Forest plays out. Which, by the way, is most probably a reference to manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori (with “ishi no mori” being the Japanese translation of “stone forest”). That’s what you get for letting an otaku name your strategies…
Closing out the numerous licensing announcements from Viz Media recently we have another treat for fans of the company’s Shojo Beat label. The company has announced that they have acquired a brand new manga series named Yukarism which will start being released in December 2014, a number of additional Vampire Knight books and a Black Bird Complete Box Set. Now first let’s go over the new acquisition which is Yukarism, which follows the story of Yukari Kobayakawa who can travel back in time to live out his past life of a courtesan in the Edo period. As he ventures between the past and the present he begins to unravel a “karmic relationship” between him and his classmate Mohoro Tachibana.
Since the company has recently released the final volume of Black Bird, they are planning on releasing the entire box set, volumes 1-18, in October 2014 for $149.99. They are also releasing the final volume of Vampire Knight and they are giving it a limited edition release that comes with an alternate cover as well as a mini art book which will be available in October 2014 for $15.99.
Continuing with the Vampire Knight announcements we have the “Fleeting Dreams” collection of short stories which includes special illustrations and a color fold out that is set to be released in December for $14.99 and a second box set for the serise which contains volumes 11-19 for $89.99 which will be available in November and comes with a mini art book.
Viz has had a lot of announcements to make over the past week and it seems that they aren’t done yet as the company has revealed a few new releases which will please Hayao Miyazaki fans. The company will be releasing two new hardcover books related to the film Princess Mononoke.
The first license is for “The Art of Princess Mononoke” which will be priced at $34.99 US. This is a re-release that will be available on August 2014 and it features all new translation and presentation in a hardcover book that contains insightful interviews, concept sketches, character art and finished animation cels from the actual movie.
The second pick up is for “Princess Mononoke: The First Story” which is also priced at $34.99 US and will be available in hardcover sometime in October 2014. This release is planned to be an oversized illustrated storybook with original watercolor art from Miyazaki and contains the original Princess Mononoke story written back in 1980 long before he thought of creating the full movie. This version of the story follows a samurai who is lost after the war and stumbles upon a giant wildcat called a mononoke and after it saves his life, he must offer his daughter’s hand in marriage.
While this may be a rather odd sounding piece of news considering a number of titles don’t even break a sweat by hitting this milestone, but recently Grasshopper Manufacture has announced that since the game’s release back in June 2012 Lollipop Chainsaw has now sold a million copies worldwide, though exact sales figures for each region were not revealed Warner Bros. handled the title in North America.
The full announcement including various pieces of art can be found at the game’s official website here. As for the game itself, it truly deserves the amount of sales that it received, not just because of the fan-service in the game but because of how fun of a game it is and how off the wall it can be at times.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 will be receiving new content DLC starring Alucard on March 25th. The DLC entitled “Revelations” serves as a prequel to the main game. Alucard is preparing to battle Satan in the ultimate showdown. Players will get to use Alucard’s vampire abilities to dominate his enemies. Players will be able to drink the blood of their enemies to fuel skills like summoning swarms of bats, controlling time, and transforming into a wolf. Not only will the DLC bring new quests to complete, but also new locations to explore.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is available now for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows. No word how much the Revelations DLC will cost.
Overview There are a small number of RPG franchises that can stand the test of time and consistently see popular releases over a nearly twenty year period of time. One such franchise that has done this is the Tales series from Namco Bandai and among the numerous titles they have released, the eleven year old Tales of Symphonia is often regarded as being the best game in the series. As such, when an HD release of that game and its sequel Dawn of the New World was announced for release fans of the series were ecstatic. Well now that Tales of Symphonia Chronicles has been released, does the original Symphonia hold up as well as we may remember?
Story The land of Sylvarant is slowly dying as the mana needed to grow crops and sustain life is slowly disappearing from the world and only the “Chosen One’s” journey of restoration can bring mana back to the land. Since the last Chosen failed in their journey, a girl named Colette in Iselia has been raised as the next Chosen and when she is summoned to start her journey; her childhood friends Lloyd Irving and Genis Sage leave the village to help protect her on her journey.
Now while Tales of Symphonia’s storyline sounds like the most basic set-up for a JRPG story and honestly it is a bit simplistic. The world can be saved by a group of younger heroes fighting against everything in their path. At least that is how Symphonia seems at first, as the game’s story quickly grows in scale as the player advances through the journey of restoration. What begins as a few small hints quickly leads to interesting plot twists culminating in a great story made all the better by the colorful cast of characters found within the story.
While Tales titles generally have a likable cast of characters, Tales of Symphonia’s characters are probably the best around. Each of the characters have their own stories that develop and grow alongside the main plot, something that is rare in today’s RPG standard where character growth is usually kept at a minimum. Then again, it also helps that as mentioned before you can’t help but love the cast’s personalities and their interactions with one another.
That being said, what comes as a disappointment to many who pick up this bundle, Tales of Symphonia’s sequel Dawn of the New World is not only unimaginative but ties the story to two generally unlikable new characters. Sure many of the characters from the first game return but there is a lack of connection between them. So while it does help continue the story so players can see what happened after the events of the first game, it is an unfortunately bland experience with a story that is overshadowed by the first so much that many may wish it wasn’t there.
Now as a quick mention to the characters in the game, throughout both Tales of Symphonia titles there are numerous “Skits” that appear at specific times or found at specific areas. These skits are small tidbits of dialogue between the characters as they either discuss something that just happened or something at random. These moments really help bring the cast to life as characters and, even though we are limited to only character portraits in the first game, these skits the characters are highly expressive and reveal more about themselves than the basic story lets on.
Gameplay Many Tales titles have a very standard style of gameplay that can be both simplistic and in-depth at the same time. As players venture out in their journey in the original Tales of Symphonia they will be able to explore numerous towns, venture out into the open world, enter dungeons and solve little puzzles to advance, all while fighting against numerous enemies. The same can be said for Dawn of the New World, though the overworld map is removed from this game.
Players will be spending the bulk of their time fighting against enemies in both of these games as both of these titles are classic JRPGs which means that they do not pull any punches and will require the player to grind levels at points to face off against upcoming bosses. Once again Dawn of the New World is downgraded in this aspect, the combat system is incredibly fluid and fun to use. Every battle takes place in real time with players running around the field in straight lines as they charge at their opponent to defeat it. Using “Artes” (Skills) is as simple as one button press to always keep the action fast paced and even the most inexperienced RPG player can find themselves comfortable with this enjoyable system.
Of course if you want to make things a bit more complicated, players can also choose to set up their AI partners to perform certain actions and many enemies in the game have various elemental weaknesses and strengths that can be exploited to deal increased damage. There are also “Unison Attacks” that can be performed which sees all four party members being able to perform an Arte at once to deal a large amount of damage to an opponent. Depending on what skills are used and when they are used can also allow players to unleash a final combined attack that deals additional damage to help serve as a coup de grace for most basic foes.
Now, as mentioned above Dawn of the New World’s battle system is not quite as enjoyable as the first game’s and this is mostly due to the fact that players can use various monsters they have created pacts with in battle instead of players. While this is a neat idea and one that we have seen used since, it doesn’t offer the same feel as the first game, especially since most of the time these monsters are almost mandatory party members.
Visuals Now taking one game that is over ten years old and creating an HD experience is quite a challenge but thankfully I can say that Namco Bandai has tackled the challenge quite nicely as the various character models and the environment in Tales of Symphonia look gorgeous and smooth compared to the GameCube version and there are even some shiny new pieces of artwork that is used for Skits and Mystic Artes as well as some bonus costumes from more recent Tales games if you have a PS3 save file for Xillia. It is worth noting though that the over world is still incredibly under detailed and it almost appears as if the company did little to touch it in their revamp.
As for Dawn of the New World, it is easy to say that this title does look better than its predecessor since it was created back in 2008 for the Wii. It also abandoned the same character style for a more modern look which took to the new coat of paint better than the first game, but it seems that a lot of the environments have lost their charm because of this.
Audio It is worth noting that although both games in this collection have been given the HD treatment, very little was done to improve the game’s voice over. That being said, the company has offered for the first time ever the Japanese voice track for the game which means that players can choose to listen to that instead. The English cast for Symphonia remains very impressive to this day and considering how many gamers have fond memories of the title, hearing their Japanese voices will serve as either a treat or a shock. Anyways, as mentioned the game’s voice work was not revised which means that the voice actor changes in New World still remain which means that if you don’t feel like trying it out on the first game, then you should probably use it on the second.
One thing that the Tales series is known for its incredible soundtrack and Tales of Symphonia does not disappoint as the game features some amazing pieces of music throughout the game and even Dawn of the New World is impressive to a lesser extent.
Overall Tales of Symphonia Chronicles takes one of the best Tales RPGs in the series and combines it with one that many fans would rather forget. Tales of Symphonia is the shining example of what a JRPG should be and the HD modification from Namco has made the game as viable as ever for today’s gamer. Although a number of fans would have been willing to jump at the cheaper than normal price for the original Symphonia alone, it is at least nice that Dawn of the World is bundled in even though it is eclipsed in every way by the other game and it allows players who might have never touched the second game to see how the story continues.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Closing out the 
