There are few updates on the web that I savor as much when Peachi updates her Livejournal with a new Persona themed comic.  On January first, the most recent comic appeared switching from Persona 4 to Persona 3.  As you can see, this part of the story centers around Ryoji.  For those of you who have not played Persona 3 yet, I strongly recommend saving this comic until AFTER you’ve finished the game — there are some major spoilers within!

Anyway, this comic is a bit short, but surely won’t disappoint any fan of the series.  It certainly helped to brighten my day at work!  Someone really should be paying her to do this…

Related Entries:
Peachi’s Persona 4 Comic: It’s Funny Because It’s True
Peachi’s Persona 4 Comic Part 2 Available

Roy artwork, atlus, persona 2 comments

This may be old news to most, but I can’t help being intensely amused by Peachi’s most recent comic parodying Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. The comic covers the first few hours of game-play and the main plot ideas. Be aware if you have not played the game that there are a few spoilers. Also you should be ashamed of yourself.

I admit I was unaware of Peachi’s LiveJournal, titled hiimdaisy, until Foxes pointed it out to me recently. Perhaps this is because I am not a huge fan of comics. Now I find myself spending WAY too much time at work reading through all her work. I have read all 4 parts of the Snake Eater series, which I found equally hilarious.

I guess the Persona 4 comic in particular has been receiving a lot of press, so consider me an extension of the echo chamber that is the internet.  If you haven’t checked it out, definitely do so and enjoy a hearty guffaw.

Roy artwork, atlus, persona 1 comment

XSEED announced earlier this week that they will be localizing The Wizard of Oz: Beyond The Yellow Brick Road (called RIZ-ZOAWD in Japan, which is an anagram for Wizard and Oz) for North American shores. This isn’t very surprising, as XSEED has made their interest for the title quite clear before it was even released in Japan back in December of 2008. Even so, to get official word from XSEED that they will in fact be localizing it makes this RPG fan incredibly happy.

The great thing about TWoO:BTYBR is that it follows the original story of The Wizard of Oz, but only up until a certain point. The story is followed accurately up until Dorothy, along with her new party in the form of Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, arrive in Emerald City to talk to the Wizard. From that point on, the game gives it’s own imaginative spin on the series and what happens next.

Artistically, everything about TWoO:BTYBR is top-notch. From the colorful and very beautifully 3D rendered game world to the charming, uniquely designed characters. For instance, Tin Man’s design gives him a much more robust appearance which goes perfectly with his job as the heavy hitter of the group. And I really can’t stress enough how beautiful the graphics are for this game. They just might be the best the DS has to offer so far.

As for the gameplay, everything is controlled with the stylus. The player moves Dorothy through the game world with a giant trackball on the bottom screen. There are no random encounters, instead the player must make contact with the enemy while traversing an open field. Once a battle is initiated, it will be carried out in a first-person perspective, much like in the Dragon Quest or Earthbound series. Characters’ abilities are also heavily influenced by their storybook counterparts, i.e. one of Lion’s special abilities is giving your party the chance to flee from battle, which is inspired by his cowardly attitude. Check out the first Japanese trailer, as well as a gameplay video to get a better look at TWoO:BTYBR.

Honestly, after the announcement of this localization by XSEED, I think they might be one of my favorite American publishers of Japanese gaming. Not only are they bringing over one of my most anticipated Japanese games of the past year, but they’ve practically read through my personal wish list of wanted games and are seeing to it that they get a proper release stateside. We have Fragile, The Sky Crawlers, and Ju-on to look forward to by the end of 2009. Not to mention Beyond The Yellow Brick Road is expected for a Fall release here, so we certainly have a great deal to look forward to thanks to XSEED. The only problem they made so far is their choice for the American TWoO:BTYBR boxart… yeah. American publishers really need to learn to just keep the original Japanese boxart:

Julius artwork, guest blogger, japan, nintendo ds, xseed 1 comment

Despite being released over a month ago in Japan, Hero 30’s campaign of adding extras to the game and official site is going strong.  The site now features a collection of classical, 4-panel manga inspired by the game. You can find the collection here.  They are obviously all in Japanese, but I figured some of you out there might dig it.

I managed to translate the above comic while at work, but was forced to use paint.  I apologize for the less than desirable quality…

In addition to the comics, Marvelous has also launched an online ranking system for Hero 30.  While the game is really a single-player title, this ranking system will bring somewhat of a multi-player feeling to the game, adding yet another layer of desire for us Westerners.  The ranking login page can be found here.

Rankings are based on certain attributes the player has upon completing the game.  The above screenshot shows a ranking based on level, but there is also a ranking for total time left and how much money the player has.  Rankings are then divided further depening on what mode the player selects.

This ranking screen totally reminds me of my time spent toiling away in Maple Story…  Good times…  Those were the days when full time employment seemed so far off on the horizon.

I’m sure this is obvious, but I really hope someone is going to pick up Hero 30 for a NA and/or PAL release.  I guess if it is, an announcement should be made soon…. or not.

Related Entries:
Hero 30: Talk-Variety
Hero 30: Talk-Variety Part 2
Hero 30: Talk-Variety Part 3

Roy artwork, japan, marvelous, psp 0 comments

I am not gonna lie: wallpapers get me tons of Google hits, so this is a wallpaper post.  Square Enix updated their Final Fantasy XIII site with some new crap including two wallpapers featuring everyone’s favorite FF vixen Lightning.  I currently have the B version as my wallpaper at work.

I eagerly await new wallpapers from the series, as they provide one more distraction at work.

Related Entries:
Final Fantasy XIII Battle System Mechanics
OMG Toys: A Sound of Lightning

Roy artwork, ps3, square enix 3 comments