Random JRPG News Thread

[Siveon]

Stranger of Sword City isn't being developed by Team Muramasa, but the people that usually publish them, Experience inc.

I have not played the game, or even know much about it beyond what Dorarnae has told me and what I've heard from this site (as well as NISAs). I believe it's definitely going to be one of the Vita's finest crawlers (for English speaking countries), as well as the Xbone (duh), with an art style that wouldn't make people cringe, but that's about it. It is certainly without Team Muramasa patent crafting if that's what you're worried about.

EDIT: And I've never played Wizardry Xth so I wouldn't know how to compare.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I just hope combat text auto-scrolls. Having to hit X or triangle for every combat action got old in demons gaze.

 

[aweigh]

siveon experience inc = team muramasa. they're basically a Voltron-like studio-robot. TM = Exp. inc. they're basically the same thing. They share the same building too.

e-mailio estevez

this is part of what i mean by TM / experience inc. re-skinning Wizardry XTH. this has been a "feature" of their games all the way back to their very first game for the PS2, wizardry xth: unlimited frontier. every single Wiz-clone they've developed under whatever name (team muramasa / experience inc. / michaelsoft) does not feature the option for auto-scrolling battle text feedback.

what does this mean? that they don't make even basic changes to the game engine; and that they've used the same engine for every single one of their dungeon crawlers since Wizardry XTH for the PS2.

 

[aweigh]

picture of wizardry xth: unlimited students for the ps2:

picture of SoSC:

notice the button-promot in the SoSC picture which tells you already that it does not feature auto-scrolling text.

in any case, i'm sure SoSC is good. Dorarnae has already confirmed that the game itself is a very good crawler and that he has finished every single iteration of the game to come out so far; he only does that for Wiz-clones that he likes.

and my god is the original art style lovely, just look at that screen! it's still unbelievable to me that the english localization will use the demon gaze art-style as the default option... i'm just relieved they're keeping an option to toggle back to the original art at all.

 

[Hobo Elf]

STEAM
WHEN

 

[Siveon]

I'm at least positive they don't re-use the same dungeons. Demon Gaze and Operation Abyss have vastly different dungeons and I have no reason to believe they'll use the same ones in this game.

 

[aweigh]

well, at least that's some good will points then. i assumed they had reused the dungoens since they dumbed down other aspects of the game it seemed logical to me they would not go through the trouble of updating the dungeons.

so it seems the Generation XTH remakes (operation abyss / operation babel) and demon gaze on the VITA raked in enough dough for Team Muramasa / Experience Inc. to actually spend some money on their games. That's good. I approve and it gives me hope of seeing better Wiz-clones out of them in the future.

my bad will points were being generated because i've played partially (i stopped playing them, is what i mean) generatino xth 1, 2, 3 and cross blood labyrinth on the PC (the japanese versions) and i found out they re-use dungeons wholesale from the PS Wizardry XTH 1 and 2 games (which i've also played partially in japanese).

i've actually stopped playing games in japanese though because frankly it's just not as enjoyable. it's a big part of the reason why i want to translate them all.

btw, class of heroes 1 which was developed by ZeroDiv, the OTHER half of Team Muramasa / Experience Inc, i.e. the half that got left behind when Michaelsoft dissolved also uses maps wholesale from Wizardry XTH 1 and 2; but by Class of Heroes 2 and 3 (have not played 4) everything is new dungeon-wise. They also changed the mechanics a lot after CoH 1.

Still CoH is an incredibly mediocre series; although i had a fun time finishing CoH 1 and I made it half way through CoH 2 before stopping. In the end it was the endless crafting that made me stop playing. Same reason i stopped playing cross blood labyrinth and generation xth 2 and 3 as well; the endless crafting. I would rather play through the same dungeons in eveyr game than have to suffer their crafting systems again.

the only Team Muramasa / Experience Inc game i have yet to play is, of course SoSC and Students of the Round Table (i refuse to leave out the word Table!); and SotRT was basically re-skinned as Cross Blood Labyrinth so i don't have any plans of playing it now that know this.

in the end i guess it all comes down to the quality of ALL the ingredients as playing through re-skinned dungeons can still be enjoyable if the mechanics under the hood are good enough. i was just leery of these guys because the PC versions of most of their games (i.e. the original releases), let's just say... BORROW extremely heavily from their two Wizardry XTH games on PS2.

that can be white-washed though with the explanation that their PC games were developed right after they dissolved Michaelsoft and formed Team Muramasa / Experience Inc and one must assume they were very limited in budget.

the same reason would apply to ZeroDiv's first CoH game's re-used Wizardry XTH dungeons as well. ZeroDiv is doing well monetarily as well but not as well as TM / Exp Inc; at least i say this because zeroDiv is making new Wizardry-franchise games in japan, one of which got localized (labyrinth of lost souls) but their international output is much less than TM / Exp. Inc's output. Demon Gaze really raked in a lot of money for them.

 

[duanth123]

picture of wizardry xth: unlimited students for the ps2:

picture of SoSC:

notice the button-promot in the SoSC picture which tells you already that it does not feature auto-scrolling text.

in any case, i'm sure SoSC is good. Dorarnae has already confirmed that the game itself is a very good crawler and that he has finished every single iteration of the game to come out so far; he only does that for Wiz-clones that he likes.

and my god is the original art style lovely, just look at that screen! it's still unbelievable to me that the english localization will use the demon gaze art-style as the default option... i'm just relieved they're keeping an option to toggle back to the original art at all.

I've played the first hour of the game on XBONE.

The game indeed has two game speed options, as well as a "repeat previous party action" command.

The first option allow you to see each battle message, holding x to move past them quickly.

The second option instantly skips all battle messages and animation, meaning a single turn takes maybe a second, as if you're using cheat engine or an emulator.

As for the art style, the alternative art design is pretty cringey imo and unbefitting of the setting.

When it comes to skills/party diversity, my impression so far is that the game is somewhere between Demon Gaze and Elminage in that you won't find as many "utility" spells (though that may change in mid-game), even for mage; however, that being said, there are party-wide skills called "Divinity" (such as an instant escape) that seem to allow additional diversification at the cost of a resource called "morale", which gradually accumulates in dungeon.


The dungeon movement is smooth, no real(ly) annoying lurching. Some sound effects from Demon Gaze are used.

Level-ups are like demon gaze, in that you assign a single attribute point and gain class skills automatically.

The monster design is ace so far.

The translation is slightly spotty, but less so in an "Engrish" sort of way than in the form of grammatical errors and the occasional odd spelling.

There may or may not be a Mary Sue character ala Operation Abyss...we shall see...

 

[aweigh]

everything you've written sounds great! btw, i always turn off movement animation. once i played through the original Wizardry games i realized that having each "step" be animated is completely useless. when you're dealing with a grid-based dungeon crawler where each step equats one tile, a genre which features stuff like dark zones and such; i find that having no movement animation works the best since it speeds up the gameplay. complete personal preference though as having each step move the camera doesn't detract in an active way: just as long as they always let me turn it off i'll be happy.

as for the translation don't get your hopes up too high. as i've mentioned in like four different threads already in this very forum: small-scale japanese studios nowadays utilize software-translation for the majority of the game text to save money. it is too expensive to hire human-translation.

your mention of "instant escape" skills and the like does make me think the game might turn out a bit too easy though. still looking foward to it; i already know it's a "solid game" from various sources including now your own account. that's not what i'm worried about at all.

perhaps it might even be the first Experience Inc. game i actually play to conclusion + post-game; especially since it doesn't feature a mind-bogglingly annoying crafting system.

 

[Siveon]

Oh, yeah, to note: I believe the Xbone version is self published/localized (which is great!). So it's very well possible that the game I'll be playing will have a different translation.

 

[CryptRat]

Just in case anyone would be interested, I came across a first person grid-based dungeon crawler made with RPG Maker, I don't think it's a common thing : https://pokosoft1192.itch.io/lord-of-the-seal

I won't try it now, but it's $1.50, not such a big deal even if it proves to suck.

 

[aweigh]

man, that looks great. speaking strictly in the sense of "rpg maker games". i didn't even know it was possible to make a grid-based first-person view crawler in rpg maker. i might just waste 2 years of my life not-releasing one... hmm, very interesting.

i don't know why they made the trailer so short though? i mean it didn't look that bad at all really. if you can replace portraits or (my preference) they featrure stock class portraits for the allies then it would look like any other jap dungeon crawler i.e. you'd never even know it was rpg maker

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Just in case anyone would be interested, I came across a first person grid-based dungeon crawler made with RPG Maker, I don't think it's a common thing : https://pokosoft1192.itch.io/lord-of-the-seal

I won't try it now, but it's $1.50, not such a big deal even if it proves to suck.

Looks fantastic! I may need to give this one a try soon-ish.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I have Lord of the Seal but I'm having an issue with the input commands. One slight button press on the d-pad or the stick and my characters slides at least 2, if not more spaces. Makes it virtually unplayable which is a real shame because the little I saw of the game has enormous potential.

Any ideas of how to get this issue fixed? The developer himself is at a loss and he doesn't speak every good English, which doesn't help.

 

[LESS T_T]

Code of Princess, a 2D beat'em up with RPG elements, is coming to Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/408640/

 

[Siveon]

The port is gonna be shoddy, but at least they're trying. This whole port phenomena is pretty damn trippy.

If anyone cares, this game is a little bit like Guardian Heroes I've heard. I would love to see the HD edition of that get ported.

 

[GrainWetski]

The Steam leak continues to be accurate.

 

[LESS T_T]

Romancing SaGa 2 for iOS and Android is coming to West.

 

[Siveon]

What no Vita version? For fucks sake. Seriously, the first twitter comment mentions it.

 

[Abu Antar]

What no Vita version? For fucks sake. Seriously, the first twitter comment mentions it.

The Vita is dead in Square's eyes.

 

[LESS T_T]

Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart for Steam is coming next week: http://store.steampowered.com/app/415480/

After less than a month Neptunia U released? They're speeding things up, it seems.

 

[Abu Antar]

I wonder if gameplay's any good. I've got the urge to play a game like this on PC. Already did FF Tactics and Tactics Ogre a bajillion times.

 

[Siveon]

It'll probably be just as casual/grindy/still-somewhat-entertaining as the rest of the series.

 

[LESS T_T]

Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart for Steam is coming next week: http://store.steampowered.com/app/415480/

It's been delayed to April 26. Same release date with Danganronpa 2 is no more.

 

[Hobo Elf]

http://personacentral.com/shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-announced-north-america-summer-2016/

It's habbening. tfw no Euro release in sight.