Random JRPG News Thread

[LESS T_T]

DarkBlood -Reborn-, originally released on mobile as DarkBlood -Beyond the Darkness-. There seems to be no actual exploration, just following linear corridors and doing series of random encounters.

 

[Endemic]

Triangle Strategy story\character info: https://www.gematsu.com/2021/12/triangle-strategy-character-and-story-trailer-2-frederica-aesfrost

 

[lightbane]

Looks like the code between Mother 3's ROM has finally been cracked, after so long, which means we'll see mods and romhacks aplenty, such as one that tries to restore cut content. This one though, instead, does something more interesting and instead will let you play as the bad guys, filling in what happened between chapters.



Some info here:
https://mother4ever.net/mother-3-hacking-community-showcase/
https://www.instagram.com/mother_3_opposing_force/

 

[Riumedis]

According to Akitoshi Kawazu (creator of SaGa) we are going to get a remaster, a remake, and a new game. It is really nice to see this SaGa getting so much attention for SQ and apparently doing quite well sales wise.

 

[lightbane]

According to Akitoshi Kawazu (creator of SaGa) we are going to get a remaster, a remake, and a new game. It is really nice to see this SaGa getting so much attention for SQ and apparently doing quite well sales wise.

Fun contrast compared to the remakes FF get, which are from bad to worse.

Square Enix embracing NFTs and hoping they are getting the norm....
https://www.videogameschronicle.com...and-blockchain-become-a-major-trend-in-games/

have fun with SaGa NFT edition in the future i guess..

Since when did that push for glorified JPGs began, and why is it pushed so much in gaming?

 

[Endemic]

Mutan working on some kind of remake (RPG) for the PS5: https://www.gematsu.com/2021/12/mutan-insight-hiring-staff-for-work-on-high-end-rpg-remake-for-ps5

 

[deuxhero]

Mutan working on some kind of remake (RPG) for the PS5: https://www.gematsu.com/2021/12/mutan-insight-hiring-staff-for-work-on-high-end-rpg-remake-for-ps5

As a subcontractor studio, this could be damn near anything. The engine, meaning not a company that uses in-house engines, and PS5 as the lead platform, meaning a company with international legs (PS5 software in Japan sells worse than 360 software did) are actually big clues. Square Enix is the only known Japanese licensee of UE5 so far (using it for DQ12), and Mutan has worked for SE in the past so that seems reasonable. The question is what SE game deserves this shiny a remake (I'd dismiss "high end" as puffery if not for the US5 thing).

One thing of note is they want the 2D designer to do characters, monsters, and backgrounds, and wants them to do the concept art. That narrows things further, as it suggests the original's designer is no longer at SE (or is too important to work on the remake directly) and is replaceable (not someone like Toriyama who only getting replaced in DQ, even a side project, when he's dead). 3D Designer is to do both indoor and outdoor work and 3D director's duties include terrain, which eliminates any game that takes place entirely indoors/underground (there's been a few, but none from SE come to mind). 3D Motion designer's duties only list cutscenes (and implies there's significant enough cutscenes to need a dedicated animation group) and wants experience in both UE4 and Unity.

I doubt it's the Chrono Cross thing. 1: Its been in development too long for art directors and that new an engine 2: Geforce Now leaks say it's a remaster despite other things in the leak from SE saying "remake" like the FF9 Remake (and I really doubt it's that, since Toshiyuki Itahana is still with SE).

 

[lightbane]

Not sure if you knew about this already, but it's quite something: Earthbound got into Nintendo's Virtual Console thing against all odds, as I thought the many, many samples from licensed music would make it an enormous hassle. Turns out the shitstorm eventually happened, but decades later, and mostly against Youtube videos because Sony gonna be Sony.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2...os_keep_getting_flagged_for_copyright_by_sony

Spoiler

If you're a YouTube content creator hoping to share let's plays or other videos on EarthBound, SNES' cult classic RPG, you might want to think twice.

Over the past couple of weeks, reports have come flooding in from YouTube users who say that their EarthBound-based videos are being flagged for copyright by Sony. In some cases, it's reported that Sony has claimed the ad revenue for the video in question; in others, the videos appear to have been removed entirely.

As is often the case with YouTube, the reasoning for this lies with the game's music. While Nintendo still owns the EarthBound/Mother brand in terms of its video games and the franchise as a whole, the game's soundtrack was released as a studio album back in 1989 under Sony's then-named CBS/Sony music label, essentially meaning that any piece of music featured on that record can be claimed by the company.


The studio album in question, complete with Sony's logo in the bottom-left corner.
Plenty of YouTube users have taken to social media to express their upset at Sony's decision to remove their content, hoping to find a way to restore their work. The videos will no doubt be getting flagged automatically, what with the soundtrack being part of Sony's catalogue, so unless Sony decides to manually excuse the affected videos going forward, it may be unwise to include music from the game in any future content.

 

[Malamert]

It's confirmed, Mary Skelter 2 for the PC is unfortunately censored. The Switch version of the game isn't censored and it's extremely quick and easy to emulate, so just play that if you're interested in the game.

 

[infidel]

Not a JRPG but I don't think there's any appropriate thread. Koreans dropped a bunch of Uncharted Waters 2 Remake trailers each showing various bits of gameplay and graphics:

Spoiler

I thought this was supposed to be Katalina but Google says 앤 보니 is Anne Bonny.
And this is someone called Lumati (루프마티):

Overall, there's plenty of chicks thrown in everywhere.

카테리나 스포르차 - Caterina Sforza

레베카 롤프 - Rebecca Rolf

메리 리드 - Mary Reed

I wonder how much of the original plot will remain?

 

[Endemic]

Not a JRPG but I don't think there's any appropriate thread.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/random-non-japanese-asian-rpg-news-thread.119765/

Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[deuxhero]

Mutan working on some kind of remake (RPG) for the PS5: https://www.gematsu.com/2021/12/mutan-insight-hiring-staff-for-work-on-high-end-rpg-remake-for-ps5

As a subcontractor studio, this could be damn near anything. The engine, meaning not a company that uses in-house engines, and PS5 as the lead platform, meaning a company with international legs (PS5 software in Japan sells worse than 360 software did) are actually big clues. Square Enix is the only known Japanese licensee of UE5 so far (using it for DQ12), and Mutan has worked for SE in the past so that seems reasonable. The question is what SE game deserves this shiny a remake (I'd dismiss "high end" as puffery if not for the US5 thing).

One thing of note is they want the 2D designer to do characters, monsters, and backgrounds, and wants them to do the concept art. That narrows things further, as it suggests the original's designer is no longer at SE (or is too important to work on the remake directly) and is replaceable (not someone like Toriyama who only getting replaced in DQ, even a side project, when he's dead). 3D Designer is to do both indoor and outdoor work and 3D director's duties include terrain, which eliminates any game that takes place entirely indoors/underground (there's been a few, but none from SE come to mind). 3D Motion designer's duties only list cutscenes (and implies there's significant enough cutscenes to need a dedicated animation group) and wants experience in both UE4 and Unity.

I doubt it's the Chrono Cross thing. 1: Its been in development too long for art directors and that new an engine 2: Geforce Now leaks say it's a remaster despite other things in the leak from SE saying "remake" like the FF9 Remake (and I really doubt it's that, since Toshiyuki Itahana is still with SE).

And I just remembered UE is now on a royalty system and not a flat licensing and UE5 is just a new version number. That actually means it doesn't actually need to be a high budget title and could just be puffery, which opens it up to lots of things (especially with Trials of Mana showing a modest budget remake with relatively generic mechanics can do very well, being at a million sales a year ago). Treasure of the Rudra, Bahamut Lagoon, and Illusion of Gaia could all benefit, and that's not even going into the FC or early PS1 games (let alone DS/PSP) that have really charming ideas but unimpressive execution/interface.

 

[infidel]

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/random-non-japanese-asian-rpg-news-thread.119765/

Still not an RPG, though but I guess it's one step closer :D

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Wasn't demon gaze extra coming out today after the december delay? Can't see it anywhere.

 

[Jermu]

Wasn't demon gaze extra coming out today after the december delay? Can't see it anywhere.

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/demon-gaze-extra-switch/
https://store.playstation.com/en-us...VCaCzCh1nVQpPEAQYASABEgIJYfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Played Demon Gaze 1-2 with vita some years ago and they were okayish blobbers. Dont think extra adds enough to justify playing this again.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I'm waiting for the NSP, i have a hacked switch.

 

[lightbane]

I mentioned before that there used to be a SNES remake of Mother 1 in the works before sadly disappearing. That seems to be the case, as the main dev behind that simply disappeared from the net a few years ago according to some info from Starmen.net, the dude may actually be dead for real. However, not all is lost, someone compiled the code:

https://github.com/PK-Remake/Mother-Remake/

And someone else is trying to continue on from what was left and finish the damn thing.

Spoiler

Apparently, there was a leak, and some butthurt from the devs:
https://youtu.be/0yOOnmreh8s

Links:
Game Builds https://mega.nz/file/b1EG0JrR#_5pFJc5... https://mega.nz/file/ztFAxR7L#54OQfmu... https://mega.nz/file/j1VSTZqS#53G9ulM...
Careful, as these links will quickly disappear.

Remember these leaks? It seems Kiwifarms for once does some good and tracks this to an autistic degree. This topic is worth a look, especially the last pages.
https://kiwifarms.net/threads/oddity-formerly-mother-4.64887/

Some highlights:

Spoiler

https://archive.md/WjRyG#selection-916.0-912.3

>rebrand trailer is coming out soon, was supposed to be finished in late 2017
>game was going to take place long after m3
>final boss is literally the dripping sphere from logo called the dream gate and suit guy in pic related (the Leo guy from the trailers)
>magicant renamed to garden
>the big twist of the game is that everyone is artificial, blood is green to foreshadow, entire human race is extinct
>max party members is 5
>the bad guy, pic related, will be shown off in trailer, supposed to trick people into thinking hes a good guy even though he betrays party later
>one of the last scenes in the trailer will be something from the gameplay trailer but with a twist
>no release date
>barely any progress on actual game
>vhs filter
>"Oddity: Under the Moon"

https://arch.b4k.co/v/thread/574280471/#574280471


The kiwifarms' thread has a pic that seems to imply that the plot is still the same, at least for the leaks.

Spoiler

The fact that the OG 4chan threads were deleted might be a sign that the leaks have some truth within, if the latest leaks aren't enough.

According to Kiwifarms they had yet another engine change recently (to Gamemaker, which was recommended to do so YEARS ago), so don't expect Oddity anytime soon, if at all. Also, tranny devs, which increases the chances of failure by a 41%.

The newly announced Mother 4 also has trannies as part of the dev team according to Kiwifarms, unfortunately. It might be okay if they're kept at arms' length and give little to do to avoid contamination, maybe.

The topic doesn't explain this, but one of the music composers that had a fall out with the devs of Oddity, the Shane guy, also went woke/crazy. His current Twitter pic shows him with pink hair, while I swear he didn't some years ago, if only in one 2 years old interview video I saw somewhere.


Long story short, lots of drama and little to show.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

moby earthbound series
How different was Earthbound from Mother 1+2? I never tried that mother 3 and its a pity the Eathbound N64 never saw release? Was it finished and locked up in a vault? It has happened before.

 

[lightbane]

moby earthbound series
How different was Earthbound from Mother 1+2? I never tried that mother 3 and its a pity the Eathbound N64 never saw release? Was it finished and locked up in a vault? It has happened before.

Funny, usually Mobygames tends to be quite informative, but not in this case.

Try this instead: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/the-life-of-shigesato-itoi/

As for the differences... Mother 2 IS Earthbound as it was known outside of Japan. Later on somehow both Mother 1 and 2 were ported to the Virtual Console store thing under the names of Earthbound Beginnings and Earthbound respectively, increasing confusion.
Mother 3 is not and will never ever be released outside of Japan, due all of the mature topics it takes, especially nowadays with hyper-sensitive people everywhere. Funny that, considering that Itoi is progressive (for a Japanese), but that wouldn't be enough in today's clown world, seeing that he believes in traditional values for men and women.

Either way, Mother 3 is the converted version of Earthbound 64 into the Game Boy Advance. Look for any page with roms, like one about romancing cds if you haven't already. The translation page is worth checking out, if only for the handbook thing they made, which is worth a read.

Mother 1+2 is the Gameboy Advance port of the first two games, which are inferior in screen size and music quality*. The only good thing is that Mother 1 for the GBA has a hack with a better English translation, but I bet you can find that for the OG NES game anyway.

*Not so with Mother 3, which despite the quality of the music being okay, the devs pushed the hardware to the limit and has literally hundreds of songs being used. There's cleaned versions of the games' soundtrack in the internet somewhere.

 

[karoliner]

ABOUT THIS GAME
Post-apocalyptic "Showa America" and "A teenage girl revived from the dead"

Showa 66, Japan has bought out most of the United States with its strong economic power. A surge of immigration has firmly planted Japanese culture within the American continent. Two cultures are rapidly amalgamated, although conflicts are inevitable, citizens gradually adapt to a life never imagined as time goes by.

However, a mysterious catastrophic incident changes the world drastically. The social order is long gone. An unknown amount of time passes, a teenage girl mysteriously revives from the dead, only to find a brand new wild post-apocalyptic world with zombies, monsters, and human survivors of different backgrounds and beliefs.

What happened to me and the whole world? With many questions in her mind and trying to find answers, Choko embarks on an adventurous journey across the United States that will change her forever.
Fast-paced Exciting and Strategy-based Combat

Second life is not the only thing given to the girl, but also a mysterious and frightening power.

SAS features a free-flowing and brutal combat style. Players will fight against hordes of zombies and monsters, moving, attacking, and dodging in countless fast-paced combat situations. Get ready to dive into the ocean of ketchup!

Melee weapons, ranged weapons, and some... strange weapons. Players are encouraged to choose all kinds of distinguishing weapons that satisfy their combat style and use different attack moves and abilities to fight their way out among different types of zombies, monsters, and bosses.
"Living and become stronger" in "A Journey of 80s Pop Culture"

It's more than just combat in Choko's long journey.

SAS will take the player back to the 80s, a golden era filled with good old memories, to experience the unique scenery of post-apocalyptic "Showa America", while exploring stories of people and survivors of different backgrounds.

Using a big RV as Choko's new home, players will be able to customize and upgrade it, as well as enhance Choko's status and unlock abilities through various enjoyable "Living Activities" gameplay with all kinds of resources found during exploration and combat, such as new weapons, costumes, collectibles, EXPs, and last but not least, unexpected nostalgic mini-games. Live a better life and become stronger, even if it is the end of the world!

 

[KDcross]

New-ish update for Elin’s Inn, the colony sim/rpg from former Elona dev

On a side note, Noa posts regular updates for Elins Inn on reddit and seems like a total loon. He claims development slowed down due to “electronic harassment”. I initially thought he was in a bad mental state due to cyberbullying or something but this guy actually thinks he’s being Havana Syndromed by some targeted radio frequency bullshit from the govt. Like some classified Chinese technology is trying to stop him from creating a competitor to Cultivation Sim.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Good news everyone, Seven Pirates is coming to the west this year to Nintendo Switch

Here’s a rundown on the game:

Join young pirate Parute Kairi and pervy boy monster Otton in an adventure to locate the lost treasures of the Monsupi Sea! Determined to make a legendary name for herself, Parute sets sail with a magic compass and the aid of newfound monster girl companions, but what starts as a raucous romp across uncharted islands gradually reveals something more sinister. Through their colorful encounters with rival pirates and locals in need, Parute and company learn some unsettling truths about the king who governs these waters, all leading to a confrontation that could tear their adorable crew apart!

Seven Pirates H is a traditional RPG focused on exploration and discovery with a gigantic dose of fanservice thrown in! As Parute, you’ll command your party of monster girls in combat against naughty enemies, exploiting weaknesses to gain the upper hand in turn-based combat. Adventure across islands and ride Otton to reach secret areas, gather items and enhance your abilities as you level up! With the special “Booby Training” system, you can control the bust size of the all-female crew for stat boosts, bigger for increased power and defense or smaller for improved speed and agility!

Features

• Discover a new stand-alone chapter in the Genkai Tokki series!
• Explore islands and their surrounding waters in search of legendary treasure.
• Take on naughty enemies in turn-based combat enhanced with Auto mode and other quality-of-life features.
• Play bust-enhancing mini-games to control the attributes of your all-female crew!
• Upgrade stats and skills, accept side quests and more as you brave treacherous dungeons.
• Enjoy colorful high-definition 3D presentation, fully voiced characters and loads of fanservice!

https://archive.is/nOKmO

Fun game, more unique than Moero series that always felt like a discount Dungeon Travelers to me while still being fun. I have this game on my vita but haven't finished it yet, will probably play it on switch now.

 

[Malamert]

How cute and funny is this game?

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

As much as you want it to be, you change the breast size of the cast as you want, flat chest get a bonus to speed and monster tits to strength. There's plenty of cute and funny like in any other genkai tokki game.

 

[Malamert]

Alright, I'm sold. Can't wait for it.