News

Mistwalker, the RPG company founded by Hironobu Sakaguchi after his departure from Square, has announced a livestream event to debut a new title. The event will be next Thursday, June 22, on NicoNico. It's set to be part of a previously-scheduled Famitsu stream, and it will include Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu; beyond that, there have been no details leaked about the new game whatsoever.

The stream will go live at 8pm JST next Thursday, which means 7am that morning for American Eastern time.

If you missed Star Ocean: Till the End of Time when it was first released on PlayStation 2, you missed one of the better games in the series, in fact the one often cited as best. While the newest edition was not reviewed as kindly, Till the End of Time stands up, and now PlayStation 4 gamers are going to have a chance to try it out.

The new release will be digital download only, and if you're expecting something akin to what Square Enix has done with recent Final Fantasy remakes, you might be a little disappointed. While Final Fantasy X and XII were heavily tuned for their newer releases, the Director's Cut of TtEoT will instead be upscaled through software, and the cutscenes have not been re-rendered into HD. The game clearly does look better in comparisons, but those expecting a sea change or increases in playable content will likely be disappointed.

As of now, there is no release date or purchase price available.

Source: Siliconera

Announced yesterday, Square Enix has created a new games studio in Tokyo called "Studio Istolia." This new studio, interestingly named with an English word and a Greek one, will be run by Hideo Baba, recently known as a producer in the long-running "Tales" series of RPGs. The new studio was announced as a bit of a footnote to the announcement of a new project called "Project Prelude Rune," which will be the first project produced by Baba in the new studio.

Prelude Rune is described as being a new IP for Square Enix, and will be an RPG "unfolding across a vast land teeming with life." This will not be the final title for the game or games produced under this banner. Obviously, as a brand-new studio, not many details about the long-term timeline of the project are available, and many are not likely to be forthcoming soon as the studio has listed staff openings numbering at least fifteen.

A final note, their logo looks like a cross between the Final Fantasy XV Carbuncle and a moogle. So perhaps this new apple is falling not so far from the tree.

Source: Gematsu, Studio Istolia

Here's some non-Square-Enix news for your pre-Christmas week, from Falcom: the eighth entry in the long-running Ys series, released earlier this year for the PlayStation Vita, will be coming out next May for PlayStation 4.

The original release apparently suffers from framerate issues, and naturally, lower-res textures in its original handheld version; the version for the more powerful console will bump up all of the visual issues into a more polished package. There will also be some gameplay additions.

There has been no indication yet regarding a Western localization. However, over time, most Ys games have made it to our side of the world, and the fact that Falcom is investing now in porting the game to a system with a larger worldwide install base bodes well for the future.

Source: Siliconera

We last talked about Dragon Quest XI in January, in the context of Square Enix aiming to release before the franchise turns 31 years old. Back when the game was first announced, series originator Yuji Horii suggested that the game would be released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo NX, but his parent company quickly backtracked on the latter.

Now, though, in an early-released interview from the October issue of Japanese magazine "Nintendo Dream," Horii is again quoted confirming the game for the new Nintendo system. Not only that, his team is doing both 2D and 3D versions of the game for the 3DS. Now, it's not clear yet whether this means that there will be two completely separate releases, whether the 2D version is specific for the 2DS, or even if the 2D version will be a top-down JRPG like the original Dragon Quest games, but this does mean that they're putting a great deal of effort into the game. Additionally, Horii commits to a simultaneous release on all platforms.

Nintendo are aiming the NX for March 2017, and the end of the Dragon Quest 30th Anniversary year is May 27, 2017. The margins are thin to make this happen!

Source: Gematsu

Here's some non-Square Enix news that you folks are likely to appreciate: Nippon Ichi Software, sires of the well-regarded Disgaea series of tactical isometric RPGs (among other games), announced today that Phantom Brave about to be ported to Steam for Windows. Phantom Brave is a more under-the-radar title from NIS, though it's generally very well-regarded, with reviews of 8.6/10 and 9/10 from IGN and Eurogamer respectively. It's been released in the West before, first for PlayStation 2, then later for the original Wii, and finally for the PSP, with enhanced and expanded content each time. The Windows version will roll up all of the content into a new package to be released in July, specifically on the 25th.

It's worth noting while this post is going, by the way, that Phantom Brave will be the second PC port released here by NIS. It looks as if the first Disgaea (Afternoon of Darkness) is already here, which is something I completely missed. The version of Disgaea released to PC included upgraded graphics and Steamworks integration and is currently selling for $19.99, so one can expect the same from Phantom Brave this summer.

Source: Gematsu, Steam