NIS America Has No Regard For Their Fans' Social Lives
NISA showed off three awesome looking new titles at a press event in San Francisco and we were there to soak it all in.
Published: March 30, 2012
Last night NIS America, localizers of many a fabulous Japanese RPG's, threw a swanky event in San Francisco to announce three new titles that I'm sure we'll all be sinking countless hours into over the next year. They also had playable builds of Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland for the PS3 and Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention for the Vita on hand. Atelier was looking as moe as ever, as has come to be expected from the series. Disgaea on the Vita...it's a PROBLEM. I don't understand how I'll be expected to have a life when I can grind on the go so beautifully. It's as if the folks at NISA have no regard for their fan's social lives. We can't keep buying your games if we die from malnutrition while playing them damnit!
As far as the new title go, here is the rundown:
[ Legasista - Screens | Trailer ]
The first title they showed off was a top-down action RPG called Legasista, which is slated for a PSN only release in August of this year. They showed a trailer at the event that had the crowd giggling at its...foreign-ness, but it was actually quite packed with information on the gameplay systems. You take a party of 3 fully customizable characters into a theoretically endless series of randomly generated dungeons in search of the protagonist's sister, Mari. You only one member of your party is on screen at a time, but you switch on the fly a la Trine to meet whatever is facing you down with the appropriate character. In that sense it reminds me of the old Saturn ARPG Magic Knight Rayearth.
Customization is being touted as a huge part of the experience. The trailer claims that you can craft new characters “with your own hands” and showed a player making a Leharl lookalike. There are 6 classes to choose from - warrior, explorer, pyro, cyro, thief, war mage. You can also customize weaponry and choose personalities which will actually affect the character's combat performance. Finally, they showed a “poison” system where mixing different poisons and drinking them could result in negative or positive status effects, or even death. The menus and HUD had a lot of elements to them that I couldn't quite reason out (lack of Japanese reading skills), so it looks like the game will have a fair bit of depth, despite its simple, colorful art style.
[ Mugen Souls - Screens | Trailer ]
Next was Mugen Souls which is being developed by Idea Factory. When introducing it, they mentioned that out of the three new games they were showing, this one most closely resembled their popular Disgaea series, though with some key differences. The most obvious departure was the free roaming battle maps that you can navigate in real time while either avoiding or engaging enemies. Another clear difference is the use of 3D models for the characters and enemies rather than sprites. Don't worry though, the game retains the overall aesthetic that NIS games are known for. The trailer shows off some Truly Outrageous special attacks that frequently involve other planets/outerspace. Among this are the so called “Moe Kill Techniques” (not even joking), devastatingly adorable maneuvers that enslave enemies by turning them into usable items. Oh and trans-galactic fuchsia colored cat heads collide with our planet for TOTAL DAMAGE! It's over 9,000,000,000!!!
[ The Witch and the Hundred Knights - Screens ]
NIS America saved the most interesting title for last, but sadly also provided the least information on it. It's an isometric view, action RPG, in the vein of Diablo but with Nippon Ichi flair. Not only is it the most detailed art work I have seen from them, it's also the most forboding. While it retains the great use of color they are known for, the overall style is more menacing than anything the studio has produced before. Not too many gameplay details were divulged but the press release mentioned being able to equip up to 5 different weapons at once in order to string together huge chain combos. The PR also claims that you will be able to “save the innocent or take part in the ransacking”, perhaps implying a morality system of some sort. Apparently, you will also have control of a complete retinue of 100 knights, though the screens only show the same, lone knight over and over, leaving me to wonder how exactly the other 99 will play their roles. The Witch and the Hundred Knights is going to be a PS3 exclusive when it hits in early 2013 and I intend to watch it very closely.
Well that's all from the NISA preview event in San Francisco. Be sure to explore the media galleries for each game to stoke your curiosity, and remember to check back here for up to date info on all these titles as it becomes avaliable.
As far as the new title go, here is the rundown:
[ Legasista - Screens | Trailer ]
The first title they showed off was a top-down action RPG called Legasista, which is slated for a PSN only release in August of this year. They showed a trailer at the event that had the crowd giggling at its...foreign-ness, but it was actually quite packed with information on the gameplay systems. You take a party of 3 fully customizable characters into a theoretically endless series of randomly generated dungeons in search of the protagonist's sister, Mari. You only one member of your party is on screen at a time, but you switch on the fly a la Trine to meet whatever is facing you down with the appropriate character. In that sense it reminds me of the old Saturn ARPG Magic Knight Rayearth.
Customization is being touted as a huge part of the experience. The trailer claims that you can craft new characters “with your own hands” and showed a player making a Leharl lookalike. There are 6 classes to choose from - warrior, explorer, pyro, cyro, thief, war mage. You can also customize weaponry and choose personalities which will actually affect the character's combat performance. Finally, they showed a “poison” system where mixing different poisons and drinking them could result in negative or positive status effects, or even death. The menus and HUD had a lot of elements to them that I couldn't quite reason out (lack of Japanese reading skills), so it looks like the game will have a fair bit of depth, despite its simple, colorful art style.
[ Mugen Souls - Screens | Trailer ]
Next was Mugen Souls which is being developed by Idea Factory. When introducing it, they mentioned that out of the three new games they were showing, this one most closely resembled their popular Disgaea series, though with some key differences. The most obvious departure was the free roaming battle maps that you can navigate in real time while either avoiding or engaging enemies. Another clear difference is the use of 3D models for the characters and enemies rather than sprites. Don't worry though, the game retains the overall aesthetic that NIS games are known for. The trailer shows off some Truly Outrageous special attacks that frequently involve other planets/outerspace. Among this are the so called “Moe Kill Techniques” (not even joking), devastatingly adorable maneuvers that enslave enemies by turning them into usable items. Oh and trans-galactic fuchsia colored cat heads collide with our planet for TOTAL DAMAGE! It's over 9,000,000,000!!!
[ The Witch and the Hundred Knights - Screens ]
NIS America saved the most interesting title for last, but sadly also provided the least information on it. It's an isometric view, action RPG, in the vein of Diablo but with Nippon Ichi flair. Not only is it the most detailed art work I have seen from them, it's also the most forboding. While it retains the great use of color they are known for, the overall style is more menacing than anything the studio has produced before. Not too many gameplay details were divulged but the press release mentioned being able to equip up to 5 different weapons at once in order to string together huge chain combos. The PR also claims that you will be able to “save the innocent or take part in the ransacking”, perhaps implying a morality system of some sort. Apparently, you will also have control of a complete retinue of 100 knights, though the screens only show the same, lone knight over and over, leaving me to wonder how exactly the other 99 will play their roles. The Witch and the Hundred Knights is going to be a PS3 exclusive when it hits in early 2013 and I intend to watch it very closely.
Well that's all from the NISA preview event in San Francisco. Be sure to explore the media galleries for each game to stoke your curiosity, and remember to check back here for up to date info on all these titles as it becomes avaliable.
