February 2016 - Page 2 of 5 - Samantha Lienhard

Developers of Bravely Default and Lost Odyssey Announce Collaboration

Video games 4 Responses » Tagged with: rpg

Feb 222016

Silicon Studio, which developed Bravely Default and Bravely Second with Square Enix, has announced a partnership with Mistwalker, the creator of The Last Story and Lost Odyssey.

According to the translation from Gematsu, it will be a game “fans around the world can enjoy,” which suggests it might be localized. It also will have “a new and original setting.”

That last statement is especially important because the concept art (pictured) included with the press release has also been used for the console version of Terra Battle, Mistwalker’s mobile RPG.

The concept art makes it seem like this could be the long-awaited release of Terra Battle for consoles, but then it wouldn’t be “new and original.”

(Apparently the art also surfaced in 2009.)

And due to the timing, this probably isn’t the Mistwalker game I mentioned at the end of my Detective Pikachu post.

Mistwalker fell out of prominence in recent years. After Blue Dragon (2006), Lost Odyssey (2007), and The Last Story (2011), along with a few lesser-known DS titles, Mistwalker shifted its attention to mobile games. This might be another mobile game.

If it’s a major RPG, though, it sounds like a dream team. Bravely Default is often heralded as the true continuation of classic Final Fantasy games, and Mistwalker is headed by Final Fantasy’s creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Another planned console RPG from Mistwalker, Cry On, was cancelled in 2008, although Sakaguchi mysteriously released a trailer in 2014.

Cry On will probably never be revived, but this partnership, together with Sakaguchi’s plans for another console game, suggests Mistwalker might become a big name in JRPGs again.

I still haven’t played Lost Odyssey, The Last Story, or Bravely Default, despite having copies of all three. Maybe I can fix that (as part of Operation Backlog Completion) before Mistwalker’s next game comes out.

What do you think Silicon Studio and Mistwalker are collaborating on?

Final Fantasy XV Promises Unforgettable Dungeons

Feb 192016

Square Enix has promised regular updates about Final Fantasy XV starting today. They should be out every Tuesday and Friday.

The first update is about dungeon design.

First of all, I want to say I’m happy Final Fantasy XV has dungeons. With the open world design, they could have chosen to go a different path and not have dungeons to explore. While we don’t know exactly what these will be like, I hope they’ll be traditional RPG dungeons to visit at key points during the story.

As posted on the official blog and translated by Dualshockers, Environment Artist Hiromitsu Sasaki (pictured) and his team hope to make Final Fantasy XV’s environments “beautiful but also dark and scary, so that gamers won’t forget them.”

On Twitter, Sasaki reiterated his points and said he wants to “add beauty in dark/scary places.”

He also expressed his desire to make dungeons “unforgettable experiences” and referenced underground areas.

It sounds like we can look forward to underground dungeons, then.

(Sasaki and his team are also working on technical details, such as balancing light and darkness and determining the angle of the slopes you can traverse. They also mentioned that battles can take place on sloped surfaces.)

While this update is a little short on actual content, I like these details. I’ve noticed that horror games, from survival horror to games like Bloodborne, often have the most beautiful environments. I look forward to seeing that sort of dark beauty in Final Fantasy XV.

As for being unforgettable, good. This should mean they’re unique. Something that has frustrated me in a few recent games (such as Tales of Zestiria, trial shrines excluded) is when dungeons follow typical patterns and look more or less the same.

In your opinion, what makes a video game dungeon unforgettable?

Pokémon: The First Movie Retold in iBook Form

Books, Movies and Shows, Reviews 11 Responses » Tagged with: pokemon

Feb 172016

Last week, I learned the Pokémon movies are now on iTunes. Not only that, but they also have “interactive iBooks.”

Since the first Pokémon movie was one of my favorites as a kid, I decided to try the iBook.

“A Pokémon Super Story! Pokémon the First Movie” isn’t quite a novelization. It retells the story with basic descriptions, not adding much or going into additional detail. It isn’t a manga, either, although each page uses images from the movie as its background.

Video clips from the movie are mixed in at key moments, and together they follow the entire course of the movie. For example:

Team Rocket watched the battle from a nearby cliff. They saw a Dragonite arrive and deliver a message-bearing hologram to Ash.

(video clip of hologram message)

Ash was excited by the unexpected invitation. “I guess the world’s number one Trainer wants to challenge me to a match!”

Jessie and James decided to follow the trio to find out more.”

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this as a book. I’d also question why you wouldn’t just watch the movie instead. Nevertheless, if you want to enjoy the story in 48 pages and 24 video clips instead of sitting through the whole movie, it’s a decent (and cheaper) option.

iTunes also has the movie digitally… though so does Amazon, and it’s actually cheaper to buy a DVD copy from Amazon, or as part of a Steelbook Blu-ray Collection of the first three.

None of them contain the Pikachu short, for some reason.

I love this movie. Sure, people criticize its hypocritical (poorly-localized?) message about how Pokémon shouldn’t fight in a series all about making Pokémon fight, but I’m here for Mewtwo! Mewtwo and his journey still resonate with me.

This iBook did contradict my theory about the crying-Pokémon scene…

Spoiler

I always believed their sadness made Mewtwo relent and restore Ash to life, not that Pokémon tears have miracle resurrection powers.

…but I might still interpret it my way.

“A Pokémon Super Story! Pokémon the First Movie” isn’t the ideal way to re-experience the first Pokémon movie’s story. It’s not quite a novelization and it’s not particularly interactive. Nevertheless, if you just want a quick, basic retelling, it’s not bad.

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