Caves of Narshe: RPG News

The Hironobu Sakaguchi Digest: Winter 2012

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:44:35 GMT

Sakaguchi, busy as always, made the news twice recently with regards to his work with Mistwalker. The biggest news is that, now that it's been out for over a year in Japan and is coming out in Europe this week, is that The Last Story is getting a North American release this summer. The localization for North America is being done by XSeed, known for localization of other RPGs; no other details are known at this time. Now that both Xenoblade and The Last Story will be available worldwide, perhaps the Wii can - too late - become a go-to destination for RPG players?

Of course, to partner with that interesting news, Sakaguchi is also working on three non-RPG games for iOS. These will be his, and Mistwalker's, first foray into Apple's world, and it's clear that none of the games are necessarily meant to appeal to his core audience. The first game will be somehow surfing related, and he gave no details on the other two games at all other than to say that they were small and "palate cleansers" for him after the development of The Last Story. All that said, it seems like there's not much there to keep our attention, but if he surprises us with something interesting for iOS, we'll make sure to keep you updated.

Source: Kotaku, TUAW

Xenoblade Chronicles Hits US and Canada in 2012

Sat, 3 Dec 2011 16:16:05 GMT

Following multiple claims denying any release for Xenoblade Chronicles in the United States or Cananda, Nintendo backed off from that stance when a release date for the fan-favorite Wii RPG infiltrated the internet - April 3rd, 2012. This leak was followed by an acknowledgement from Nintendo in the form of several pieces of Xenoblade Chronicles concept art on Nintendo of America's Facebook page.

This is wonderful news to Wii-owning RPG fans. Xenoblade Chronicles is developed by Monolith Soft, makers of the Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos games for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. The company was founded in 1999 by former Square staff that had previously worked on Xenogears and Chrono Cross, among other titles. Xenoblade Chronicles has received rave reviews from critics, with a MetaCritic score of 92/100 and a GameRankings index of 93.82%. RPG Fans in the Americas have been petitioning-slash-clamoring for an official English-language release in North America for over a year now, with no dice until yesterday's leak.

We still have six months before this comes out, but it's a very positive announcement that many gamers have been hoping for. [pretend that this space includes a conclusive, funny, thought-provoking statement and not laszlow drawing a blank from all the painkillers]

Source: GameSpot, concept art gallery from GiantBomb

Square Enix News Tidbits: Cocoon Showgirls

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 14:13:50 GMT

Final Fantasy XIII-2 inches ever closer, so it's no surprise that the week's news is primarily related to the sequel inbound. Kotaku posted not one, but two articles this week with nothing but new screenshots, and it seems that the hottest thing revealed within (no pun intended) is the new merchant, Chocolina, who dresses up like a chocobo on fire - if the chocobo wanted to show some skin. I'm hoping that getup is all faux chocobo, or else PETA will be on Squenix' case now that they're done with Mario.

The sequel also changes up the battle system a bit, as well as the excellent battle music, from its predecessor. It looks like the changes are subtle - to me, the battles in the video seemed a little faster-paced from what I've seen so far in Final Fantasy XIII, and the addition of quick-time events with chained combos from different party members looks good. It appears that you might be able to change the party leader during combat as well, which perhaps will also mean a change in the "hey, your leader's dead, no reason to keep fighting now game over hahahaha" aspect of the first game.

Also, for some reason, there will be DLC to allow Noel to dress up as Assassin's Creed's Ezio. This paragraph is short because, really, what else are you going to say about that?

An interview by Destructoid with Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama has been making the rounds since being published last week, and it seems to have caught a lot of people's attention for the fact that it seems to indicate the possibility of a Final Fantasy that is a first-person shooter. Naturally, this has a lot of people up in arms (again, no pun intended), but if the quote is correctly written, the interview really says nothing more than "anything could happen at any time." There could just as easily be a FPS Final Fantasy as there could be a cart racer set with Final Fantasy charact... okay, well, that's a bad example.

Last news of the week, breaking just today, is that there actually will be a new action-RPG IP coming from Square Enix in the near future, once they can finish all the hires they want to build the game out. The first image representing this game was released today, and it means very little. If you presented the image without content, I would have guessed Devil May Cry at first. Not sure what that means, to be honest, but, hey, there's a big white owl.

Source: Kotaku, Destructoid

Final Fantasy X Coming to PS3 and PS Vita in HD

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:57:58 GMT

OK, maybe it's not the remake fans were waiting for, but it's something, right? Square-Enix's 2001 megahit will receive a high-definition makeover and be available as a PS3 game and a PS Vita download. Final Fantasy X follows hot on the heels of several other PS2 games receiving HD remakes on the PS3, including God of War I and II, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and the entire Sly Cooper Series.

This continues a trend of PS Vita games and PS3 games receiving near-identical ports. Multiplayer Vita games can play online against PS3 players and include many other connectivity features. Presumably, Final Fantasy X HD will have trophy support and scale up to 1080p, just like the other HD remakes mentioned above.

There is no release date yet for Final Fantasy X on the PS3 or PS Vita, but you can bet your memory card Caves of Narshe will report it as soon as it's made public.

Source: Kotaku

Square-Enix Show New Project, and Silly Title

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:39:38 GMT

Normally, I'd be the first to make a joke at the name of this game. I mean, it's so asking for it. What kind of game company would name their new independent project for the 3DS: Bravely Default: Flying Fairy? It practically screams "Quick, make Navi jokes out of me!" Good work, Square-Enix. What, Theatrhythm and Dissidia Duodecim weren't odd enough? Had to go all out on the random train, with destination Tuesday, huh?

Anyway, we don't know a whole lot about the game so far. It's an RPG, using a similar engine that DS games Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light, and the III and IV remakes used. Instead of 3D backgrounds in areas, though, it seems to use pre-rendered backgrounds, in the same way that the Playstation Final Fantasys did, and a 3D world map. The effect looks pretty sweet, even if I was somewhat reminded of Myst by some of the screenshots. But that's not a bad thing. You can check out a short video of the game here, and another one mostly in Japanese, and mostly not actually gameplay. The other notable feature is the planned usage of AR cards and the 3DS' cameras as part of the gameplay. Just how exactly this works, we do not yet know, but hopefully they'll work well.

To be expected sometime in 2012.

Source: Nintendo, Kotaku

Dragon Quest X - Wii and WiiU MMO

Mon, 5 Sep 2011 20:12:31 GMT

Square-Enix held a press conference yesterday in Japan (very early this morning for Europe or North America) detailing the much-anticipated Dragon Quest X. Turns out it's been structured as an multiplayer online RPG, complete with selectable races and subscription fees.

Dragon Quest X: The Wake of the Five Tribes: Online will have Wii and WiiU versions made, very similar to the GameCube and Wii versions made of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess soon after the Wii's launch. Players will create their own character, choosing from one of five different races, and can choose to play either entirely offline (with other online players replaced by NPCs) or pay a subscription fee to play online with others. The game will retain the series' trademark turn-based combat and menus, but will take the limited online features of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies several steps further.

DQX still has no formal release date (neither does the Wii U, for that matter), but lead designer Yuuji Horii is hopeful that it will come out in 2012. There is no word on a release outside of Japan, but Square-Enix and Nintendo have been pushing the DQ brand somewhat recently, so an eventual English-language release is likely.

Source: Kotaku

Diablo III Controversy

Mon, 1 Aug 2011 16:39:37 GMT

Diablo III has been on many a gamer's horizon, a potentially quality sequel from a trusted and favourite developer. Today brings a twist in the story. Some fan reactions include 'I'm defecting to Guild Wars 2', 'I'll never trust Blizzard again', and 'boycott Diablo III!'. It might seem like someone at Blizzard personally ran over a family pet, but that's actually not what happened. So what's the news?

Three things have been revealed. The game cannot be played offline, there will be no modding available, and arguably most controversial of all it will be possible to buy and sell items for real money in the auction houses.

Blizzard seem to be modernising their game to fit into the current generation of piracy and cheating. No doubt for some RPG players it's a little galling to see another classic single-player series (although admittedly co-op as well) succumb to online exclusivity. Blizzard's reputation as a supporter of fan-made content in their other series, most recently in StarCraft II, makes the modding ban surprising. However it's the new auction features that have caused the biggest stir. Players will have kitty where they can buy and sell between themselves with real money. When players cash out at the end of a hard day's grinding and farming Blizzard will take a small cut. Click here for more information and screenshots. Blizzard emphasise that they intent to cover their costs, not make a profit from these microtransactions. Assuming that boycott doesn't get off the ground, and knowing Blizzard's track record of success, it might just well pay off. Due to the imbalances of a player-based auction house it might be worth tacking on another 6 months of playtesting to any estimated release date just to be safe.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Square Enix News Tidbits: Maybe Tokyo Game Show

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:44:30 GMT

I know you're here at the Caves of Narshe because you play RPGs, specifically Square Enix RPGs, specifically Final Fantasy games. Well, if you've not been following E3 this week, I've got news for you: there's precious little of that to be had here today. With E3 wrapped, here's what Square Enix hit heavy.

The biggest coverage to come out of the conference had everything to do with Eidos. The Tomb Raider reboot, which really did look very nice, got a lot of press (including a long-form controlled demo early in Microsoft's keynote). That game is still scheduled to come out next year, but the progress so far looked pretty impressive for a game that far out. Later in E3, the Hitman series took center stage, with a big crowd for the debut trailer. Absolution, the new title, is also due out in 2012. Deus Ex was also everywhere - a third title that a couple years ago would have been part of Eidos' booth, but fortuitously has fallen under Square Enix' umbrella due to smart corporate buyouts.

For the core RPG/Final Fantasy output of E3 2011, you really can't look much further than Final Fantasy XIII-2. We reported earlier in the week that a new, longer trailer debuted during E3, and while I admit that I haven't watched it (as I'm afraid of spoilers, since I still have yet to beat the first one!), it seems to have at least generated buzz, though of course it's not universally positive. One thing that surprised me, though, is that the game was actually playable at E3, as evidenced by these videos posted by Kotaku earlier in the week. RPGSite managed to get an interview with the director and producer of the game, as well, during the tumult of E3.

There was no news about Type-0 or the new Kingdom Hearts that I've seen come from E3, which is very disappointing. I can't speak for whether they simply had no presence at E3, or if the presence they did have was merely news old enough that it wasn't worth reporting, but there was almost certainly nothing new at all to appear. However, the official Type-0 site updated as E3 was closing, with some new screenshots and character reveals, so all is not lost there.

In other happy news emerging from E3, Square Enix announced a big, round number from the Final Fantasy series, and you have to admit it's impressive: the Final Fantasy series as a whole has now shipped over one hundred million copies worldwide. That's more than four million copies of the games every single year - maybe that's not a huge feat given the many remakes over the years, but you have to think back to the eighties and early nineties, when there just weren't that many from which to choose. The company, wisely, didn't talk about whether that includes just the core numbered series or also sideline series like Tactics, the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, or games that were called "Final Fantasy" in some regions but not others.

Even knowing that milestone, you'd be forgiven for being generally disappointed in Square Enix at E3 this year. I would have expected a stronger showing myself, if I'm perfectly honest. But, if you're unhappy with the company's performance, you're not the only one. Even at least one Square Enix executive shares concern over the company's core game franchises, going so far as to call the lack of Japanese output from the company at E3 "humiliating." Is there a way to bounce back from this? Koji Taguchi, the aforementioned executive, is clearly worried about it. Got any advice for him that doesn't start and end with "remake Final Fantasy VII?"

That does it for E3 this year, as far as CoN is concerned. Hope you enjoyed our recaps and editorials, and we'll be back with more of the same when it's time for the Tokyo Game Show in a couple months, where one hopes Squenix will be back with more gusto. If I missed anything good, make sure to respond and set me straight!

Details Emerge for Wii RPG Pandora's Tower

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:24:24 GMT

It may come as some surprise that there's a Wii RPG in the works; it might come as further surprise that now that the details have begun to emerge and a bit of gameplay video has surfaced, that it looks a bit promising.

The game is called "Pandora's Tower," and it's an action RPG. Despite having little experience with games like Devil May Cry, I have to say that my very first impression of the snippets of game play remind me of that sort of game. There are some large beasts, some rapid-fire combat, and fairly expansive environments in which to fight.

The storyline begins at the harvest festival of the nation of Elysium, where a young girl performing for the crowd falls stricken as monsters attack the festival. This girl, named Ceres, is rescued by her (considerably older) friend Ende and a merchant named Graiai. However, Ceres has been cursed by the monsters, and Ende must immediately begin some dungeon crawls in an effort to break the curse forever before Ceres is consumed.

The game's out in a little over a month in Japan, but no American or European release has been announced. With the dearth of RPGs for the Wii, though, it would seem like there's a decent chance it will make it over. To see more, check out the writeup and the video from andriasang.

Source: andriasang

Final Diablo 3 Class Revealed

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:08:12 GMT

During Blizzcon proceedings today, Blizzard revealed what will be the final class in the upcoming (at some point) epic Diablo 3 - the Demon Hunter. The Demon Hunter joins the Barbarian, Sorcerer, Witch Doctor, and Monk as the five classes that will be available on release date. She appears to be ranged, with crossbows that fire exploding bolts. Not many details have been released yet.

There's a video from Blizzcon available, but it doesn't actually show the class in action - it's an introduction video, FMV-style, and while it doesn't show gameplay, it's still really cool.

Source: Joystiq, Kotaku