This video recently appeared on Atlus’s official Devil Survivor site.  I am glad to finally get a good look at the game’s battle system, even if it is only for a few seconds.  It answers some of my burning questions.

The video begins with Atsurou moving next to a Pixie.  Note the way his sprite’s orange bag flaps when he walks – nice touch.  Then it’s Yuzu’s turn.  Here are her available commands:

MOVE
COMMAND
YUZU (possibly status)
END TURN

She chooses to enter a command, selecting Pixie as her target.  The screen switches to a view of her target (it’s almost like a first-person tactical RPG).  Here her only options are attack and guard.  Yuzu finishes the Pixie in one attack and gains some EXP.  You can note here that she has no demons stocked yet, as they would appear on this screen in her “team.”

The Pixie is shocked that she lost to a human, and decides to join up with the team.  I don’t think every defeated demon will join up; my guess is that this was an event scene.

A tactical MegaTen title for the Nintendo DS – I am indeed excited.

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Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor: Pocky Shaman
Devil Survivor: Battle Details

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A few details of Devil Survivor’s battle system were recently unveiled by Atlus, along with two new characters.  The battle system revolves around the keitai application known as COMP, which the main characters use.  Once Tokyo becomes overrun with demons, the main characters can use COMP to form contracts with demons and call upon their powers in battle.

Contracted demons can be collected and each character can “stock” 2 demons.  During battle, the two stocked demons may be summoned by the individual who stocked them.  Battles take place in an isometric view and appear to take place on a grid-based map.  A battle can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes.  Judging by the turn bar in the middle screenshot, combat appears to be turn-based:

STOCK>	BATTLE>	SUMMON

It is confirmed that 2 new characters will be joining forces with the main party:

	Midori Komaki Midori is a huge fan of Cos-Play, as her outfit may suggest.  On a certain online Cos-Play community she is known as Dori. Midori wants to fight with a strong sense of justice and use the power of the COMP to save people.  Her name means green in Japanese.
	Keisuke Takagi Keisuke has been friends with Atsurou since middle school.  He wishes to use the power of COMP to find the parties responsible for the incident occurring in Tokyo.  He appears intelligent and composed, but what does he have against books?

There are still some details about the battle system which I have questions about.  The game appears tactical, but moving and attacking hasn’t really been explained.  Also, is summoning in this game the same as with Devil Summoner in which a demon comes to your side for battle?  Or like Persona, in which they simply attack for you?  Extremely tiny screenshots make me mad!

Related Entries:
Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor: Pocky Shaman

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Bandai-Namco revealed a bit more info concerning their upcoming Wii title Fragile: Goodbye Ruins of the Moon, and has released the game’s cover art, which I love.  You can view it by clicking the banner above.  Here’s hoping the North American cover art won’t be unnecessarily altered…  If you want to see the art without the logo you can find that here. 

In addition to the cover art, a new character profile has been released to the public:

In addition to the news of Sin, we now have a few screenshots of some cut scenes from the game.  They reveal a mysterious young girl who appears to be (like many others) a phantom or ghost.  She meets Seto, and appears friendly.  She may even be giving him something in the screenshot on the right, but I obviously can’t confirm this.

I find it interesting to see how Bandai-Namco, a Japanese company, produces a game taking place after the end of the world, versus Bethesda’s Fallout 3 which features similar themes.  When I saw this girl I was reminded of a trip I took in Fallout 3 to an abandoned elementary school.  At one point between blowing the heads off Raiders I noticed the floor was littered with tiny skeletons, obviously belonging to children. 

While I found this disturbing, giving a face to the dead makes it more personal, which I feel pulls the player in emotionally.  Fallout 3 seems cold and distant about the end of days, where Fragile’s quiet sadness seems to provide more powerful storytelling.  It’s like comparing an action movie to a Yasujiro Ozu film.

Related Entries:
All Kotowari articles concerning Fragile can be found here

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I never really got around to making an initial post on Devil Survivor, Atlus’s upcoming DS title.  I was holding out for some more detailed information.  Well yesterday Atlus updated the Japanese website with some new characters and story info.  Here is what we know so far:

The game’s story revolves around a team of three main characters:

Protagonist	Tanikawa Yuzu	Kihara Atsurou

All three characters are 17 and are sophomores in high school.  Yuzu likes indies bands, especially one called D-VA.  Judging by her character art she seems to also be fond of sweets.  Atsurou is somewhat of a gadget fanatic and frequents internet message boards.

One day the three characters meet in Shibuya when suddenly demons begin appearing from a nearby subway.  Tokyo is closed off to prevent the death and destruction from descending upon Japan, or the world.

Generally humans stand little chance against demons, but thanks to a portable device simply called COMP, the trio are able to form contracts with demons.  With only 7 days before the complete destruction of Tokyo, the player must unlock the key to saving the city.

This info is fairly old news, but as I mentioned Atlus updated the game’s site with some new story elements that revolve around two new characters:

	Naoya Naoya is the protagonist’s cousin.  He lived with the protagonist at his home for the last year after Naoya’s parents died.  He has much insight, and in case his cape didn’t give it away; he is an excellent computer programmer.  He installed the Devil Summoner Program into the protagonist’s COMP.
	Kuzuryu Amane The protagonist will meet Amane outside of Aoyama municipal cemetery shortly before the blockade is constructed around Tokyo.  She is the daughter of the head of a religious group called “The Gate of Sho”.  The aim of said group is to rescue people from their fears.  Amane is a modern day shaman or sorcerer.

I love the dark aspect of this game, – hell, it’s the reason we all like MegaTen titles.  I think a chaotic, closed off Tokyo will provide a really cool setting for the game.  As I have said before I love settings which are confined, I think they provide very unique story opportunities.

The battle system is still a bit mysterious and hasn’t even been discussed on the game’s Japanese site.  From what I have seen, I am reminded of games like Etrian Odyssey and 7th Dragon, which is a good thing.

At first I was a little mad that Kazuma Kaneko wasn’t doing the character design, only the demon design.  But I think the art styles work quite well together.  Kaneko’s art always looks a little other-worldly, and this way there is a clear distinction between human and demon.

Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor will be released January 15th of next year in Japan.  Man am I looking forward to having a new DS game to play at work.

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Flight-Plan, the developers behind the Summon Night series and Eternal Poison have been showing off their newest title in the works for the PS2 entitled Sacred Blaze.  The game is a tactical RPG at its core, but features some pretty unique battle elements and awesome character design.

The player assumes the role of god and at the start of the game chooses whom he or she wishes to guide with their godliness.  There are two choices, each with their own story and supporting characters:

The dashing blonde knight on the right is Aleksheed (アレクシード) and he is on the side of Law.  He is the prince of a territory known as Ojen and he asks for god’s help fighting off the invading forces of darkness.

The raven-haired girl on the left is named Kiyora (キヨラ) and she is on the side of Chaos.  She was a princess of Karashya kingdom, but it was overtaken by the forces of darkness.  She asks god for help in getting revenge and regaining her crown.

Depending on which side the player picks – Law or Chaos – different units will be available to ally with.  For the complete list (including master/servant relationships) check out Famitsu’s page on the game here.

Each story character is a “Master” who is able to command “Servants” which the player, as god, can conjure.  This includes naming the Servants and in some cases adjusting stats.  The Master character receives various bonuses for each Servant he or she has under their control.  Attacks may be executed with up to 7 total Master/Servants for maximum damage.  As god, you control character development in terms of abilities, stats, tactics, etc.

Here Serubina (セルビナ), the white mage on the side of Law, prepares her army of familiar white cats.

Sacred Blaze is slated to be released February 19th of next year in Japan.  Since many of Flight-Plan’s games have been localized for Western audiences, I don’t doubt we’ll be seeing this title next year.  It’s strange to think that PS2 titles will be coming out well into 2009…

I like when games give you some input on how the story will proceed.  It’s safe to say I will be taking up arms with the Chaos side.  I love Kiyora’s character design too much.  In fact I like just about every character, but in terms of the story and the main character, Chaos wins no contest.  Sorry Blonde guy.

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