Classifying Dissidia Final Fantasy as a fighting game seems like an understatement after watching this video.  The game may be unclassifiable, which is a good thing.  I think the video game world could use a nice violent shake.

Square Enix seems to really enjoy the transition from standard turn-based battles into fast, real-time action.  I believe this love of action engines began with Kingdom Hearts and is now slowly seeping into Final Fantasy titles, like Dissidia, and soon Versus XIII. 

I was surprised to see the quality of the cut-scenes between battles – although I admit I have a hard time imagining what would trigger these cut-scenes, which involve several characters at a time.  According to some sources I have read about Dissidia, understanding the game’s full story requires the player to clear every character’s story.

Another thing that I saw for the first time was a square-panel board on which the player can move their character around.  This appears to be how progression is measured.  It seems like this may offer some non-linear aspects, but I can’t say that for sure.  I can’t really imagine another reason for a map like that…

Does anyone else think that the Onion Knight looks a lot like Sora?

*UPDATE* It just dawned on me that this game will be neeeding extensive voice-acting.  I would like to say that Square is one of the few companies who I trust to not hire a bunch of talentless hacks. 

Related Entries:
Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Exciting Square Enix News From DKΣ3713

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The opening video for the next installment of the Devil Summoner series has been revealed to the public.  Some things we have already seen such as masked men jumping on rooftops, Raidou summoning multiple demons and Narumi being a bonehead.

The video did provide new information, which I was able to investigate further (I’m a gumshoe too!) at the game’s main site.  The man with the white hair is in fact a Kuzunoha.  His name is Kuzunoha Gaylin the 17th and is also a Devil Summoner.  Gaylin has spent some time in America, perhaps explaining his sudden appearance and unusual name. 

Another character has appeared named Nagi, she is the girl with long black hair.  She is half Russian and is Gaylin’s disciple in the Devil Summoning arts.  She is also the 18th member in Gaylin’s lineage.  I wonder if she has a connection with Rasputin who appeared in the first game…

The two, along with Raidou, appear in some strange labyrinth.  It seems they will work together in the game.  

Lastly, there is a scene where the man-with-the-red-mask shows his face for the first time.

Little is known about this man but he sure seems… unstable.

I want to see a Devil Summoner where Nagi is the main character!  Do it Atlus!  But seriously, I am glad that some new characters are being brought into the story.  In the first game, Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. The Soulless Army, it kind of felt like Raidou was on his own.  That’s probably because Narumi comically expected him to take care of everything. 

Related Entries:
Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou Vs. The King Abadon Preview
Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abadon Story Info
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abadon Packaging and Battle Elements

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The end of the world sure looks bittersweet in this newest CP for Fragile: Goodbye Ruins of the Moon.  As I was watching the video, it dawned on me that I recognized the singer of the cripplingly sad song–it is Teshima Aoi. 

The song which made me first know about Teshima was Teru no Uta (テルーの唄), or Therru’s Song from Studio Ghibli’s animated film Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea).  Here is the song that made my Japanese teacher cry when he heard it on the radio while driving to work, along with some scenes from Gedo Senki.  Brace yourself. 

Real men cry too… Real men cry too… 

Teshima Aoi performed live at Bandai-Namco’s Fragile booth on the last day of Tokyo Game Show 2008.  So far she sings two songs for the game, the opening theme entitled Light (光), and the ending theme entitled Moon’s Warmth (月のぬくもり).  I am not sure which song appears on the video, but I am guessing it is Light.  You can check out Teshima’s main website here.

This video is the longest yet when it comes to Fragile.  It appears some force tries to come between Seto and Ren being together.  I think there were about 3 scenes where they were seperated by a fence or something…

I was glad the video showed some of the support characters and even gave them a chance to talk!  I think Psy (the floating girl) may be my favorite character.  I love her character design and the way she talks.  I wish I had a ghost friend!

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

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The battle system of Crossedge has always been a bit confusing to me.  I understand the basics, but it was hard for me to really imagine it in action.  Luckily, I stumbled upon this video the other day which shows an actual battle from the game.

The video shows a few different characters participating in some team attacks, as well as performing some special abilities.  I am glad to see that Etna’s Prinny is in fact playable.  The one special ability he does towards the end of the video is pretty cool.

In addition to this video, some updates to the Japanese website for Crossedge have been made.  One update concerns some possible pre-order bonuses.  Depending on which store the game is pre-ordered at, Japanese gamers can get 1 of 4 different bonuses.  The participating stores are Sofmap, Geo, Messe Sanoh, and Imagin.  I didn’t include the link for Messe Sanoh because it’s well… not work safe.

The two on the left are Telephone cards, the one all the way to the right is a clear file, and the one next to it is a tosho card (kinda like a pre-payed debit card).

It has also been confirmed that X-Edge will be released with a series of downloadable content.  So far the confirmed content is an Item Pack, and two seperate dungeons.  More will be available sometime after the game’s September 25th release.

A website for the game’s OST has been launched as well.  You can check that out here.  There are 4 songs you can listen to for free now, one of which is Blade of Tears, the game’s featured song.

Sadly there is still no news on Crossedge coming to the West, although I remain hopeful.  NIS has mentioned the game in an interview with RPGamer.com.  Hopefully the other 4 companies (Gust, Capcom, Bandai-Namco and Idea Factory) won’t have to OK the game’s localization as that could take forever.

Related Entries:
X-Edge (Crossedge) Announced for PS3
X-Edge (Crossedge) Video and Website Update

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Bandai-Namco released a new Fragile: Goodbye Ruins of the Moon video. The video doesn’t reveal a whole lot more about the game’s story, but does show a bit of actual gameplay. Most of it is just Seto exploring ruins with his flashlight, nothing too exciting–still no look at the battle system, which I am  waiting for.

I noticed that there was a scene in which the graphics changed to an almost anime-like cutscene.  I wonder if that will be happening much in the game.  I have a feeling it may just be the game’s intro that is animated like that.

 At the very end of the video, all of the support characters are shown in quick succession.  If you are not familiar with any of them, you can check out my previous posts concerning new Fragile characters in the Related Entries section of this post.

I don’t own a Wii yet, I pretty much just bum my girlfriend’s when I can–this game makes we want to own one more than any other title so far…

Related Entries:
Fragile Character Update Part 1
Fragile Character Update Part 2

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