The official Nippon Ichi company site posted the above image today to show its fans that they’re planning a new Disgaea title for the PS3.  It’s part of their new strategy to help make up for some serious company losses that were shown by NIS a little while ago.

For those not in the know, Nippon Ichi posted a 97.5% profit drop in the first 9 months of this financial year. The total loss is estimated at nearly 300 million yen (about 3,450,000 USD). If things don’t shape up soon for the fledgling game developer, we could see one of the most cherished groups in the niche gaming community close its doors.

Nippon Ichi is blaming externally developed titles for their losses, so they’re going to focus on a high quality line-up, with a lot of attention being poured into PS3 development. In total, they’ve announced 87 new games for the year, with 6 of them being completely original titles. They are also very much aware of their huge fanbase outside of Japan, so they send an assuring note that they are increasing their efforts for the overseas market.

Part of me can’t help but be worried about Nippon Ichi. They are one of my favorite developers after all, but I feel that they should be treading ground more carefully. Disgaea certainly is their most popular title by far, but will it be enough to help pull them out of this financial slump? Not to mention it’s being developed alongside 7 other titles — seems a bit like overkill for a developer in such dire straits. I think they should spend as much time on their next Disgaea title as possible. Many people complained about the sprite graphics for the third entry in the series, especially since it was a PS3 title. NIS could maybe bring Disgaea into the next generation with new, updated 3D graphics to help bring in more gamers. Although in doing this, they may lose many of their loyal fans who would see the change as a disservice to the people who bought their games in the first place.

Either way, they have a lot more to think about if they don’t want to be shut down. I wish them all the best in their future endeavors and eagerly await news on those other 7 titles that they have up their sleeves.

Julius disgaea, nis, ps3 4 comments

DoubleJump Books Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days Guide Available

Those who wisely took my advice and grabbed a copy of Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days will be happy to learn that DoubleJump Books has released a supplemental guide to go along with their original guide from Disgaea 2.  As with their guide for Phantom Brave: We Meet Again, there is a purely web based e-guide as well as a physical copy with access to the supplemental info.  The e-guide is going for $9.99, and the physical bundle is on pre-order $24.99.  I think I got my copy of the guide back when Disgaea 2 first came of for PS2 for $19.99, so the latter may be a better deal.  As always, I think getting the physical guide is better since it’s more easily accessible.  Anyone can type in “gamefaqs” amirite?

Poké-walker Gets New Map:  Amber Forest

Those who purchased Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver in Japan will be able to download a new map for their Poké-walkers via Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. The map is called “Amber Forest” (or yellow forest, I like amber better). As the name and above image suggests, this is a forest populated by only Pikachus. Players who have already acquired their Pokédex can download the map and catch a Pikachu early on for their journey through the game.

It should be noted that these are no ordinary Pikachus: each one inherently knows the move volt tackle.  There is also a high chance that any captured Pikachu will be holding a light ball.  That’s a recipe for one devastating little electric mouse pokémon.

While I am not a big Pikachu fan, I am happy to see that the Poké-Walker is being used for some pretty cool applications.  I hope there will be a lot of other maps to download and get rare pokés.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 New Jobclass Video

A new video appeared on the official site for Valkyria Chronicles 2 which reveals one of the formally unknown jobclasses.  This character is the one equipped with a handgun and has been confirmed to be the engineer.  The video shows one of the game’s main characters, Cozett, healing Avan who is dug in behind some sandbags.  I like that the engineer now has their own unique weapon.  I always thought it was strange that they shared the scout’s rifle.

Generally engineers heal infantry, disarm mines, provide ammunition, and maintain tanks.  I noticed that Cozett did 2 of these 4 tasks which was provide ammo and heal.  In contrast to the appearance of the engineer in the first Valkyria Chronicles, this newly designed engineer wears no wrench set and I saw no heavy duty set of wire cutters which makes me wonder if the task of maintaining tanks and disarming mines has been delegated to a different unit.  Perhaps this is something the lancer or unknown shield-bearing unit does now?

The actual kanji for this jobclass (???) literally translates to “support unit.”  Perhaps Sega USA decided to go with “engineer” based on the fact that they handle tank repairs.  If they’ve been stripped of this task, I am guessing this unit will get a name change — possibly medic?  It’s also important to note that the icon for this job class has changed slightly:

What does all this mean?  Probably just that we don’t know enough to think we know anything…  You have my attention Sega!

Roy disgaea, merchandise, nintendo ds, nis, pokémon, psp, sega 1 comment

OK, I’m attempting to give a slightly more organized look to these chimera posts.  It’s kinda strange for me to change my ways after over a year of homogeneity, so I hope you guys don’t mind a few growing pains!  Also, thanks again to those who offered up some advice.

Persona 3 Portable:  New Video

A new video for Persona 3 Portable appeared on Famitsu last night.  It’s on the longer side and is quite a mixed bag of scenes.  Most of it we are familiar with: the significance of personae, the game’s story, yada yada.

There were a few things in the video which peaked my interest.  We do get a first look at a team attack with Mitsuru and the female main character.  I am still not sure how to trigger these but we’ll find out sooner or later.  Also the screen when initiating an all-out attack looks a bit different.

A message near the end of the video (1:41) reads “You can have a new evolution/progression in your hands.”  I am not sure if that just means this game itself is an evolution of Persona 3 or if there are new story elements.  It then shows (1:42) an area with a bunch of free standing doors, similar to what we saw in Persona 3: FES.  The name of this area is “Vision Quest Gate” and the male protagonist scans over a few different doors.  Each door appears to be for a different shop.  I also noticed that the date is January 22nd, which is pretty late into the game.

I don’t really know the significance of all this, but I feel like it has something to do with the missing person quests.  The new characters shown near the end of the video are almost certainly these rescue-able missing people.  I am glad to see that these people get their own dialog art and everything.  This leads me to believe this aspect of the game will be pretty involved.

Disgaea Infinite Website Goes Live

Today the Japanese website for Disgaea Infinite went live, unveiling a decent amount of info on the game.  I busily began translating what I could this morning.

NIS has definitely outdone themselves this time in terms of originality.  Imagine, if you will simple game enthusiast, if Disgaea and Groundhog Day somehow fused together.  Would that not be the greatest game ever?  Maybe you’re having a difficult time imaging that, so I will elaborate.

The game takes place in Laharl’s castle after he regains his title as overlord of the underworld.  One of Etna’s Prinnies is assigned the task of cleaning Laharl’s room, where he discovers an unusual pocket-watch.  For some reason the hands don’t move at all, so the Prinny attempts  to fix it.  When he does so, he hears an unusual voice:  “User information confirmed.  Commencing soul link — please remain still.”  Soon, the Prinny falls unconscious.  When he wakes up, aside from being in trouble, he learns that he is now able to replay the past few hours in an infinite time loop.  With this immense power he can surely do something to increase his meager salary right?  But if he fails, his salary will surely be severely cut…  I guess it’s a chance he’s willing to take!

The main character Prinny is accompanied by the bizarre talking pocket-watch found in Laharl’s room named Tokiwatari-san.  In addition to being able to re-live the past few hours in a loop, the Prinny soon learns he is also able to leave his body and possess other people in the castle.

The possession system allows the Prinny to experience different conversations during different hours that normally he was not able to.  This allows him to gather information and unlock more of the story.  When possessing someone, the Prinny can also hear the characters thoughts and occasional humorous soliloquy.

The game has been confirmed to be a PSN download-able title for the PSP.  It will be released on the Japanese PSN on November 11th for a yet unknown price.  You can watch a trailer of the game here — be forewarned: you will see a lot of delicious flan.

Fallout 3 DLC Coming to PS3 FOR REAL This Time

Today Bethesda announced the definitive release dates for each item of DLC for Fallout 3 for us PS3 owners.  I have been waiting for this forever it seems, since the dates have been pushed back multiple times.  Anyway, here they are:

• Broken Steel — September 24th
• Operation:  Anchorage — Oct 1st
• The Pitt — Oct 1st
• Point Lookout — October 8th
• Mothership Zeta — October 8th

The release date for Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition will be October 13th.  Most people will probably wait and just purchase this version since it includes all DLC as well as the game itself which makes it the most economical option.  All I know is I gotta bring my character out of retirement.  He’s a low INT build which I guess works better with the new level cap.  I cant wait to find out!

Roy atlus, bethesda, disgaea, dlc, nis, persona, ps3, psp, videos 1 comment

I kind of dig these posts that span a few aspects of gaming rather than just strictly one.  I hope people coming in from Google (i.e just about everyone) don’t mind working a bit harder for their free information.  So what’s new in gaming?

Well, Tokyo Game Show 2009 is bearing down on us.  I feel an intense sense of left-out-ed-ness for not being able to attend. E3 was a great experience, but I feel like it’s truly second to TGS.  Maybe I just miss being in Japan, who knows.  Anyway, as the grand event grows closer, more and more titles which will be highlighted there are being revealed.

One game which definitely has peaked my interest is titled Disgaea Infinite.  There have been a number of rumors speculating what system the game is for, ranging from PSP, PS3, and purely PSN download.  Considering NIS hasn’t really released anything too complex since Disgaea 3, I think it’s a safe bet that Disgaea Infinite will be a substantial title.

The main site for the game (linked above) opens on the 17th.  Hopefully by then we can begin to wrap our minds around whatever that Prinny is hiding behind.

Next, the official site for Persona 3 Portable continues its aggressive series of updates.  A new video was added showing the female protagonist summoning her persona in battle.  Note the pink action dial:

In addition to this video a bunch of blog banners were put on the site which normally wouldn’t interest me much since I never use them.  However, they do reveal a few different outfits for the female protagonist:

It’s fun to watch them dance.  I like how every outfit still features her red headphones — they are quite eye-catching.  In case you are not familiar with Persona 3, the outfits appear to be (from left to right) winter school uniform, winter leisure outfit, and summer leisure outfit.  I really like the winter outfit.  Any ladies out there have any thoughts on these outfits?

Those who have befriended me on the PSN may notice that I have pretty much given myself up to Demon’s Souls.  If I have  a free moment, odds are I am playing the game.  I have made a lot of progress on my character as I can now take on enemies that once struck intense fear in me.  I want to play as much as I can before my review comes out, since this is definitely one of my favorite games this year.  I guess quite a few people have beat me to the punch on their reviews, which may be why there is hardly anyone online for me to play with.  I just got the ability to invade people’s games and murder them to regain a physical form and to nom up their souls.  I definitely wanna experiment with multiplayer before I start the review.

When I am not playing Demon’s Souls or working, odds are I am watching Foxes play Muramasa:  The Demon Blade on my newly acquired Wii.  The game is absolutely beautiful and really has absorbed my friends.  I love seeing all the different yokai since I consider myself to be somewhat of a Japanese demon lore enthusiast.  I realize that most people in the West are probably completely clueless as to the background of many of the demons in the game.  I hope this isn’t detracting from people’s experiences or anything.  Personally, I find myself really enjoying recognizing the demons and the spin the game puts on them.  Also, many of the yokai play an important part in the story which I hope isn’t causing further confusion.  I think at this point the overwhelming success of the game is evidence that the lack of a native background is fairly unimportant.

I believe this game does an amazing job capturing the essence of Japanese culture.  Possibly the best example is the focus on food.  I am always shocked at how food-centered Japan is.  A love of food permeates everything from TV, seasonal changes, prefectures, etc.

The cooking system the player utilizes throughout the game really highlights the food and makes it seem special, like a spiritual experience.  The brief videos (above) which show your character eating make me absolutely ravenous for food you just cant find in the state of Connecticut, which is rather frustrating.

I believe Foxes will be writing a review on Muramasa for the site once she has cleared both Kisuke and Momohime’s stories. You can probably look forward to that sometime in October.  If you haven’t already bought a copy of the game you may be interested in a copy I put on eBay which includes some bonus items I got at E3.

Well that about sums up recent video game news and my personal gaming exploits.  Damn, I am starting this week off strong  

Roy atlus, disgaea, marvelous, nintendo wii, nis, persona, psp, videos 0 comments

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days marks the fourth entry of the series onto a portable system.  The game features a brief prequel starring the unlikely “Dark Hero,” Axel.  A number of improvements were made to the battle system that were taken directly from Disgaea 3, the most recent title in the series.

As a connoisseur of Disgaea games, I feel well prepared to review my experiences with the game.

Story — Bait and Stab

I will mainly be discussing the story of the newly added chapters concerning Axel.  This is because I assume most of my readers have played Disgaea 2 back on the PS2, or are capable of researching the events of Disgaea 2.

The minds behind Disgaea are notorious at drawing you in to a story with humor.  Those familiar with Axel must know that he exists in his own world, where he is still floating high on a cloud of fame that dissipated long ago.  His part of the game takes place before the events of Disgaea 2 where he and Director-san are constantly seeking out employment opportunities.  Due to either his inflated ego or other bizarre misunderstandings, Axel has a hard time holding down any of these jobs.  I found this side-story much funnier than most main Disgaea stories which made me feel that the creators really had fun with it.

Axel’s Mom: Be careful so that you don’t get hurt, itterasshai.

As always, the ulterior motive of drawing the player in with humor is to apply NIS’s trademark bittersweet sadness.  Axel is aware on some level that his fame is gone, but his responsibilities to support his family keep him going despite his misfortunes. All the while he tries to hide from them the fact that he is washed up in the hopes that something will pan out. This formula of bait and stab, ladies and gentleman, is how you make a grown man weep into his PSP.

System — Reverse Osmosis

The updated battle system in Disgaea 3 had a number of improvements which helped streamline the use of monsters in heavily humanoid teams.  These updates are the kind of thing fans of series can’t live without after having had a taste of them in Disgaea 3.  Apparently NIS understood this and decided to carry these features over to Disgaea 2:  Dark Hero Days.  These improvements include Magichange as well as throw/receive.  These features really help to distribute EXP among a team and help keep them mobile.

I would go so far to say that the Magichange system has been improved.  There are no longer the “club” related restrictions that existed in Disgaea 3: any monster can leap into the arms of any humanoid regardless of race, creed, or gender.  This made me much more likely to take advantage of the Magichange system which I found I barely used in Disgaea 3, mostly because my club maintenance was sloppy.

Another bonus for me is the satisfying level of difficulty the player will experience in Axel’s story.  While this part of the game may be brief, you’ll find that considerable time will be spent preparing for the next chapter.  Just to give you an idea of the difficulty, I fought a Majin on my second (non-tutorial) map.  Tcchyea, now you see what I mean?  Maps also seem to almost always have some geo-effect obstacle, although geo-blocks from Disgaea 3 were not carried over.  I actually got a game over in the second chapter which I hadn’t experienced in a long time…  Ahh, the thrill of video game demise.

Another awesome feature from Disgaea 3 that was carried over is the inclusion of level spheres in the item world.  Megalomaniacs like myself formally had to rely on mystery room fortune tellers to achieve a level 200 weapon in Disgaea 2.  Thankfully, there is now another option when it comes to creating earth-shattering weaponry.

Extras — There is always a back door

NIS knows that you poured hundreds of hours into Disgaea 2 when it came out on PS2.  They also know what it takes to entice you into doing it all over again.

The first obvious extra is of course Axel’s story which is available upon clearing the main game.  What’s that you say?  You don’t feel like doing that over again?  You just wanna get right to the point?  Man, some people are so impatient.  Well it turns out that there is a backdoor, like in The Matrix.  It’s the same secret code for Etna mode and Asagi mode in Disgaea PSP and Prinny respectively.  While having “start” selected hit ??????×.  You should hear Axel speak if entered correctly.  Isn’t that nice of NIS?

Two of my all-time favorite units were also added to the game that were not included in the original Disgaea 2.  The first is the Death Saber (aka Saber Kitty).  This little fellow first appeared in Phantom Brave and has been an integral part of my roster in every game since.  The Death Saber is acquired early on when starting Axel’s chapter and there is even a slightly stronger, unique Death Saber unit who joins Axel on his exploits providing humorous commentary.  The move-set of the little bugger is much more conventional than in past games.

The second unit is the female Samurai/Exorcist jobclass.  The method for attaining this unit is a little different than the Death Saber.  Only by having a save file from Disgaea PSP can you create her.  Also, you don’t even need to fool around with the Dark Congress. The effects are instant, which is awesome.

If you don’t already have a save file from Disgaea PSP, I will e-mail a file to you if you donate at least a dollar to the site.  See that?  Backdoors.

Also, word on the street in Japan is there may be some DLC coming our way…

Conclusions — Ahem…  Dood.

I think Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days really deserves to be called Disgaea 2.5 or maybe Disgaea 2.6666…  I can’t remember the last time I saw a port of a game that received so many relevant improvements and to so many different aspects of the game.

I can say without a doubt that this is the best portable Disgaea title to date, making it perhaps the best portable SRPG on either the PSP or Nintendo DS.  If you consider yourself a fan of either the series or the genre I don’t think you’ll be disappointed adding this game to your collection.

Roy disgaea, nis, psp, review 2 comments