Nintendophiles 12.24.08
Posted by Theo Fraser on 12.24.2008
FFCC: Crystal Bearers is still in development (and a new trailer is promised in the new year), SEGA unveil some great online features for Phantasy Star Zero, a new Blue Dragon DS RPG looks promising, and LostWinds 2 might be arriving a lot sooner than we thought. Nintendophiles has got you covered in the run up to Christmas!
*Sings* It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! *Voice trails off...* Stupid Christmas songs, getting stuck in my head. I'm feeling suitably festive for once, however, so I won't complain. Tomorrow should be a Very Good Day, partly for all the family stuff, but also partly because I've set aside a load of quality time for a good ol' gaming session. I haven't bought any new games for Christmas as I really need to get through the ones I've got on the go at the moment. So tomorrow it'll be a little bit of Smackdown vs Raw 2009, followed by Zack & Wiki, then a good spell of Final Fantasy IV, followed by more DS action with Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, topped off with some family fun via the means of Guitar Hero. And that doesn't even touch my collection of PC games I need to turn my attention to. I think I need to give up university; it's CLEARLY getting in the way of my gaming addiction.
Crystal Bearers: It Lives!
Credit: Cubed3, Famitsu
Square Enix representatives assured us a couple of months ago that the upcoming fully-fledged ‘proper' Final Fantasy title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers, was still in development, despite there being no sign of it for at least a year. Fans started getting especially anxious once FFCC: Echoes of Time was announced for Wii and DS, with many fearing/assuming the new Wii title meant that Crystal Bearers had been canned. Claims that the title was very much still on the cards did little to ease FF fanatics' woes, who wanted to see the game in motion. Luckily, those fans will finally get the chance in the not too distant future.
Still one of the few existing screenshots from Crystal Bearers. Here's hoping for something new come the New Year!
January 29th spells the release of Echoes of Time in Japan (for both the Wii and DS versions), and at a recent press briefing regarding the launch date, it was revealed that the disc containing the Wii version will also include an exclusive new trailer for Crystal Bearers. Great little incentive for fans right there. I'd expect most FF diehards are already queuing for Echoes of Time, so it's unlikely to sway anyone into buying the title, but these kinds of bonuses are simply a classy touch to show appreciation to us gamers. Of course, within hours I'd expect the trailer to end up on Youtube (and thus, you'll likely see it here in Nintendophiles at the beginning of February), but it's good to see Square Enix taking the matter seriously, going out of their way to assure fans that the title is clearly still in development.
I'm surprised Nintendo don't take this approach more often. You'd think a title like Wii Fit would be the perfect place to advertise Wii Music, especially considering they're both ‘casual' titles, and it wouldn't have been hard to slap a brief trailer on the disc, but no, Nintendo don't seem very interested in this form of publicity. If enough buzz is created over this new Crystal Bearers trailer, perhaps they'll sit up and take note.
Early Christmas present for Phantasy Star fans: PS Zero details emerge
Credit: Famitsu, ONM
SEGA have pulled out all the stops for Phantasy Star fans this Christmas! Not only did they just release Phantasy Star IV for download via the Virtual Console, they have also released a ton of details regarding the highly anticipated Phantasy Star Zero DS outing. If you consider yourself a Phantasy Phan (note to self: make puns better next time), you'll want to make the most of the free time you have this Christmas, as you won't have ANY once this baby comes out in the US!
As with all the recent Phantasy Star entries, a single-player option is available, and it's fine; it plays well and offers some reasonably enjoyable level-crunching. But as any fan of the series will tell you, it's the multiplayer where it really hits its stride and comes into its own. Phantasy Star Zero doesn't disappoint.
Zero looks to trump all other Star's before it due to the inclusion of an in-game PictoChat-esque service. Yes, it means you'll be fighting monsters alongside a big floating penis, but it's the most intuitive way of communicating on the DS and allows players to really express their personality (...through drawing a penis). It also instantly cures the issue of language barriers, meaning you'll be able to play against literally anyone in the world with no hassle. Pre-made, bilingual text messages are also at your disposal if you don't fancy drawing anything, so the option is there.
Character creation is alive and well, and the usual Phantasy Star universe classes and races return. Choose between Human, Newman (a forgotten race left on the moon, who specialise in Techniques), and Cast (androids/robots) races, and then select whether you want to be of the Force (magic), Ranger (long-range weaponry), or Hunter (melee) classes. Standard stuff, as you'd expect from the series.
For PS experts, there will be a range of difficulty settings to really give yourself a challenge. Going over to the Quest Counter, you can enter Hard or even Super-Hard mode, where monsters will obviously be a heck of a lot tougher, but will drop rarer and more valuable items. Only the hardcore need apply! Upon joining a multiplayer session, you can also toggle the difficulty level to suit everyone's needs. Ramp it up to Super-Hard and watch the noobs get trashed!
Lucky Japanese gamers will wake up tomorrow morning to find PS0 available in shops, but the Western world will have to wait a while for the obligatory long localization process. But I'd guess you'll want to clear your schedule from Summer 09 onwards.
New Blue Dragon title leads the way for DS RPGs in 2009
Credit: Cubed3
Square-Enix may have cornered the market on DS RPGs, but Bandai-Namco look to be giving them a run for their money in 2009 with a brand new Blue Dragon entry headed to our favorite handheld. It should be pointed out here that this is not Blue Dragon Plus, which is coming to the DS in February and is the sequel to the original 360 title. Very confusing. BDP is a lot more strategy-oriented, akin to Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, and didn't perform terribly well in Japan, hence the decision to go down the more traditional route of a 3D action-RPG.
With so many DS RPGs out there of this ilk, they can all tend to blur into one, so what sets this apart? The real-time aspect of battles give this an edge over its competition. Think of the combat as a cross between Secret of Mana (which you should all be playing on the Virtual Console, by the way), and Tales of Symphonia (albeit with added time gauges) and you're kinda on the right track.
Your party consists of three characters (yourself and two other AI-assisted characters), and in a move straight out of the FFCC: Echoes of Time playbook, you'll be able to take the game online and join up with two friends to tackle your nemesis Nene and his cohorts. Battles can get pretty hectic, as each character can unleash ‘Shadows'; inner demons/beasts that basically do all your dirty work for you. Blue Dragon is main character Shu's ‘Shadow', hence the name of the franchise, with other beasts at your disposal, depending on the character you're teamed with, such as a Minotaur, a Phoenix and a Killer Bat (eh?).
As you can see from the trailer (which is largely FMV but does feature some nice in-game shots), it's a very pretty adventure indeed, and with names such as Toriyama (Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest), Hideo Baba (Tales Of series) and even Nobuo Uematsu accredited as being involved in the project, it looks set to be of a very high standard in general.
LostWinds 2 to come sooner than you might expect
Credit: Edge-Online
Everyone's been a bit down in the dumps about all the recent closures, from EA's Black Box to the massive loss of Free Radical Design. However, it's not all doom and gloom. Developer Frontier Designs is looking better than ever, recently expanding to a 200+ strong team and still hiring more.
The Chairman and founder of the company, David Braben, spoke out about future plans for the company:
David Braben: Although we already have 200 talented development professionals here, we are still hiring for all aspects of games and technology development. We have always planned for the long term and remain as passionate as ever about the creative, technical and commercial potential of the medium.
Due to the immediate success of LostWinds, a sequel was confirmed and development got underway very quickly. Obviously the team of 200 have other projects on the go, but it's almost a certainty that a fair few of those will be free to concentrate on LostWinds 2, in theory cutting down the development period significantly. The engine is already in place; all we need is a couple of new creative ideas as well as a considerably longer adventure, and we'll all be happy campers. I've yet to purchase World of Goo (which everyone is raving about at the moment), so LostWinds remains my favorite WiiWare title to date. Assuming the Frontier Designs gang can build upon the groundwork they laid in the original and maintain its charm, I can see no reason why this won't be an automatic must-buy.
The 411 Games Crew
Derek Robbins checks out the new LittleBigPlanet patch in this week's B3yond the Report.
Tommy Coloma keeps you up to date in a festive edition of The Release List, including the release of the new CGI Resi Evil movie, Resident Evil: Degeneration, which I'm really looking forward to watching at some point.
Greg Bruno has a few more quirky ideas for you to ponder in the latest What If?, featuring Armando Rodriguez and Joe Roche discussing Master Chief in Smash Bros, character taking a dump mid-game, and the economic downturn causing the gaming industry to collapse.
Check out Living LIVE, the latest addition here at 411 Games, and welcome Trace Aber to the team!
The Select and Start News Report and Vincent Chiucchi covers the story of the new Metal Gear title being for the iPhone, an update on Duke Nukem Forever, and much more.
Find out Derek Robbins' Top 10 Least Favorite Games Received For Christmas in the Christmas edition of The 10th Hour.
I've just been reading an interesting IGN article about the state of wrestling games, looking back at the so-called ‘Golden Era' of No Mercy. One particular line brought back a flood of memories; "Most of us can remember matches where we were completely dominated, and sat there mashing the controller hoping for a reversal or lucky break." I remember in one of the WWE Championship storyline paths, your character was forced to compete in a handicap match against X-Pac & Road Dogg, and a win was compulsory. My God, I remember being stuck on that match for weeks! Talk about being dominated! Ah, good times. I love the Road to Wrestlemania in Smackdown vs Raw 2009, but it hasn't presented all that much of a challenge.
Anyway, enough rambling for this week. Merry Christmas from Nintendophiles, and I'll be back in 7 days for a New Year's Eve...uh Eve edition, where I'll be previewing the 2009 "Ones to Watch". And yes, for the third year in a row, Sadness will probably be on the list.
