A lot of people would argue that rogue-like games are boring. About the same percentage of people would argue that Ninja are superior to Pirates. What do these figures mean? I have no idea.

Anyway, I picked up Izuna 2 with memories fresh in my mind of how poorly the first game was received. But alas, my faith in Atlus and female Ninja were strong. Plus the game is about $10 cheaper than most DS games, which is always nice.

Visually, the second installment only features slight improvements. The dialog-art and sprite quality is a bit better, but dungeon appearance, backgrounds and UI are virtually identical.

The story once again revolves around our misfit group of comically unemployed ninja:

• Izuna: The young, stubborn Ninja who often acts before she thinks.
• Shino: Izuna’s level-headed friend whom she considers to be like a sister.
• Gen-An: The group’s wise old leader.
• Mitsumoto: The member of the group taken least seriously. He loves women, but they all pretty much ignore him.

The group is still wandering ancient Japan after their last adventure. They stumble upon a tea house in the mountains and proceed to eat their fill. Izuna, of course, goes overboard and soon they are penniless again.

Lucky for them, a friend in a nearby town is holding a wedding, and they are all invited to the festivities–that means more food! During the celebration, Shino eats some tamagoyaki which she distinctly recalls eating during her childhood. She inquires as to who catered the wedding.

She learns from the townspeople that it was a girl dressed in foreign clothing. Shino is positive the girl is her long-lost sister, Shizune, so during the night she sets out alone to try and find her. By the time Izuna catches up to Shino, Shizune is nowhere to be found.

Izuna can see that this is important to Shino, and doesn’t want her to go off on her own again, so she decides to help Shino trace Shizune’s trail. Thus the game begins.

The largest improvement to the game, without a doubt, is the battle system. The last game received a bunch of negative press over this feature, and even left fans of the game wanting just a bit more.

Tag System Devistation

The name of this improvement is the Tag System. This system allows the player to enter a dungeon with 2 characters. You don’t even need to bring Izuna if you don’t want to. If one player is knocked unconscious, the other one takes over where he or she left off. If both characters are alive, they may perform a team attack that affects a large area–great when you are surrounded. There are some restrictions, though. You can only swap 3 times, and there is a gauge that must be full in order to perform a team attack. The gauge and the number of swap tokens regenerate as you perform actions. I believe it is about 10-20 actions for the team attack gauge to fill up.

I won’t go into detail over who can be recruited for Izuna’s team, but I’ll just let you know that less than 10 hours in, I already had about 8 characters to choose from.

The weapon system remains about the same although there are several new weapon types added. Different characters excel at different weapons, or in some cases, can’t equip them at all.

Dying makes you lose all held equips and money, but character level is retained. It’s not hard to find new weapons by simply going back into a dungeon and picking some up. However, weapons that you use in battle and repair frequently generate LUV, which increases critical hits, damage etc. If losing everything sounds scary there is a nice storage system which makes socking away cash and extra items easy.

I was happy to see that the localizers kept the Japanese voice-overs, which probably cost them a lot less. All in all I am enjoying just about every aspect of Izuna 2. The game is fun, the story is enjoyable, and I love the character design and setting. If a gamer had never taken on a roguelike title before, I would recommend this one in a heartbeat. If you are a veteran of roguelike or dungeon crawlers, then Izuna 2 should still provide a decent challenge and show you some cool new features to the genre.

Related Entries:
Izuna 2 Preview
Windy Windam Preview

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Success, the company responsible for Rondo of Swords, and the Izuna series is again taking gaming as we know it a step further. Haniniwa Seikatsu: Hitusjimura (箱庭生活　ひつじ村), roughly translates to Small Garden Life: Hitsuji (sheep) Village. The game is in the same vein as the Harvest Moon series, in that it is about a person who leaves their modern life behind to adopt the “simple life.” Its graphics are 2D with anime style character designs.

The game’s purpose is to show how easy our lives are in the modern world, and boy does it succeed. The only things the game is kind enough to give you is a plot of land, a shack of a house, and the fruits of the earth. From there the player (either a girl or boy) must make it day-by-day keeping himself/herself fed, clothed, and maintain good standing with the towns villagers. All this of course entails the usual: growing crops, raising livestock, and selling both to upgrade to bigger and better equipment.

	The main feature that separates the game from similar titles is the addition of a cooking system. If the player acquires various fruits, vegetables, and spices, he can combine them with slaughtered animal (or not if you wanna go vegetarian) to produce a meal. Producing quality dishes will keep the player in good health and not waste valuable ingredients.
	Probably the best reason to be a good cook, is attracting the spouse of your choice. The player can invite different individuals from town over to cook for them and engage in conversation. Depending on the tide of the conversation and the quality of the dinner, you could end up making a dear friend or miss the chance at forming a connection.

Another benefit of making food if preparing for the change of seasons. Should you keep your bushel of strawberries, or turn it into Jam which goes longer without spoiling? There are a variety of tools necessary to cooking different dishes, which the player will have to buy with money he earns on the farm.

The guys working on this game definitely put their heart and soul into it. If you take a look at their blog you’ll see that they are actually doing some field work by spending some time immersed in the “simple life.” Hijitsumura comes out June 26th 2008 in Japan.

Atlus has been picking up Success games like no-one’s business so I am confident we will (eventually) see an English version. The game’s official Japanese website can be found here.

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Strange it seems that I just made a post about Izuna 2, and then its localization is officially announced. Do I have psychic powers? Anyway, the game is scheduled to be released on July 22nd. Atlus sent me some exclusive stuff so I will share it with my loyal readers (there are some right?). The game’s official, albeit sparse website can be found here. If you wish, you can preorder the game from Amazon.com for $29.99 here.

Related Posts:
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja 2 Preview

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If you played Izuna: Legend of Unemployed Ninja for Nintendo DS, you are in the minority of gamers out there. If you enjoyed it, that would bring you into an even greater minority. The game received some pretty harsh reviews for its gameplay style which is classically roguelike. Roguelike games are characterized by heavy dungeon crawling, turn-based combat, and starting from square-one after dying.

The popularity of the game in Japan led Success to release a sequel to Izuna, which came out on November 29th, 2007. Surprisingly, the sequel brings some new features to the table which should make the gameplay more interesting.

• Tag System: There will be times in the game that Izuna is accompanied by allies while dungeon crawling.
  • The Tag system can be used to perform team attacks, which affect a large area of the map, and deal more damage than two characters attacking independently. This is ideal for times when Izuna is surrounded.
  • The Tag system also allows Izuna to switch to another character when she runs low on HP and SP, so the player can still complete the current dungeon.
  • There are various characters to ally with. Each one can change the difficulty of the game (bringing a seasoned warrior versus a feeble young girl).
  • Shino from the previous game is confirmed as an ally.

• 190 Monsters total (about twice as much as the first title)
• 210 Items total (about twice as much as the first title)
  • New Weapons (Bow and arrow, oversized shuriken)
  • New Accessories (shoes)
  • New Talismans
• Utsushie System(写し絵システム): As the player progresses in the story they can collect cut-scenes, character art, compile monster profiles, and take photos.
• Larger world to explore with more dungeons, more towns, and more people to interact with.

The trailer below features some in-game action and a look at the Tag system. If you’re a veteran of the series you should definitely check it out. The official Japanese website for the game can be found here.

Hopefully all of the negative press the first Izuna generated won’t stop Atlus from bringing over the sequel. It didn’t seem to stop them when it came to Etrian Odyssey II, so I am confident we will see an English release. If you want to give the first game a try, you can purchase it off of Amazon.com here. I highly recommend it.

If you can’t wait to get your Izuna fix, she makes a guest appearance (along with Shino) in Atlus’s upcoming Rondo of Swords… and here is some cosplay. Enjoy!

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Atlus’s Rondo of Swords comes out this week for the Nintendo DS. If you enjoy strategy RPGs this game should be a breath of fresh air after the dozens of crappy SRPGs to be released as of late. While Rondo’s story (to me) is pretty boring–dead king, prince, kingdom yada yada (it’s been done people)–the battle system is where the game really shines.

The biggest innovation is the new “Route Maneuver System” which allows units to pass through enemy units, for a hit-and-run effect. This means multiple targets can be attacked in one turn. If you are “countered” by an enemy, you will be stopped and cannot proceed past them. Ramming through an enemy from the side, or the back makes it less likely that your characters will be countered. Passing through friendly units can (depending on the unit) cause stat boosts. It is important to note that a route can not double-back or cut through the same path at any point, which forces the player to think carefully before making a decision.

The battle itself is reminiscent of games like Fire Emblem. It is entirely overhead, with a visual path laid out by the player. Once a friendly unit comes into contact with an enemy unit, a more detailed cut scene ensues in which the two units duke it out.

If a player wishes, he can send his units out on missions or “errands” for the duration of one battle. These errands fall under 4 different categories:

• Quest: a mission with a set goal that is either completed or failed based on the characters abilities. Rewards can be money or stronger weapons.
• Training: Designate stats to focus on increasing.
• Shopping: Become a gofer
• Journey of Trials: “Increase your potential by obtaining the items necessary to change classes.”

The player must have the the foresight not to assign characters to errands that would be an asset in the next battle. Likewise, the player should strive to send characters which would be weak in the coming battles due to some hindrance.

Another cool feature is the MC or “Momentum Counter” gauge. When a unit performs skillfully on the battlefield by defeating enemy units, this gauge will rise up to a maximum value of 99. The higher this gauge gets, the more EXP the unit will receive. The drawback is that enemy units will actively seek out units with high MC. This can be dangerous for units with low HP such as mages. The MC gauge adds a very cool and somewhat realistic element to battling.

To top it all off, Rondo of Swords has 4 possible endings making the game somewhat less linear than your average SRPGs.

If you are looking for a game with an innovative and fun battle system, this is the one. Don’t expect much from the story and you won’t be let down. Rondo of Swords comes out for the Nintendo DS on April 15, for $29.99. You can preorder it from Amazon.com here.

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