Back from vacations x3

Yay, I'm finally back from a long month of vacation...it was nice, but after a bit it became boring XD

So I'm finally here and I'm ready to start using this blog seriously...or at least I'll try ^_^''

Time for some art

Well, I'm kinda short of things to say recently, so I'll let a pic I just finished to do the talk in my place XD

Here's Zephir Proudhon with his new clothes, hope you'll like it ^^

Bad news for Italian and Spanish Kingdom Hearts fans

Well, even if it's incredible to hear and impossible to accept, it looks like "Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance", the last chapter of the well known Square-Enix saga coming in July for Nintendo 3DS...will not be translated in Italian and Spanish.

Yup, that's right...the european version of the game will contain only English, French and German subtitles.

Is this a marketing move from Disney to sell more "Magic English" here in Italy?

Here's the direct quote from the Square-Enix blog...

As we get close to the launch of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], we want to make it clear to European fans which languages the game will be available in. Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] will be localised into English, French and German. The VO will be in English only, with English, French and German subtitles. In Spain and Italy the game will be available in Spanish and Italian boxes with accompanying documents, but the game itself will be playable in English only.

 

We want to make this completely clear for our European customers so there is no confusion. We hope all fans of the series will still be able to enjoy Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] and the fantastic new features it brings to the series; it’s a game we are really proud of.

Now, personally, it's not THAT big deal...I mean, I know English, I can read it, I can speak it...but it's kinda strange to see a series with many spin-offs, every single one translated in the main european languages...and then, the new chapter (that, as they said, will be directly connected and will act as a prelude to the final game "Kingdom Hearts 3") will not receive this treatement...does this mean that any future "Kingdom Hearts" game will not be translated? Is that because the past games didn't sold enough in those countries?

I don't know and probably nobody will know, I also asked directly on the blog, and this was the answer...

Unfortunately we can't go into any further details other than what has been outline in statement above, sorry.

 So...well, it looks like the 20th of July we'll have to pick up our high school English textbooks...it sucks anyway.

Link to the news - http://eu.square-enix.com/en/blog/product-information-kingdom-hearts-3d

RPG News : Final Fantasy, Pokemon and more...

Plenty of news recently, mostly about Final Fantasy

FINAL FANTASY


- Nomura recently stated in an interview that he's aware that fans really want a Final Fantasy VII remake more than everything.
However, he also stated that Square-Enix is now mainly focused on new games instead of remakes, as they want to create something even better than the seventh chapter. He also said that Yoshinori Kitase (FFXIII-2 producer) is gonna be his successor for Final Fantasy leadership in the future.
Not a bad idea in my opinion, FFXIII/XIII-2 are really good games.

- Speaking of FFXIII-2, new DLC were released: a new colosseum battle against Snow and Valfodr and the Story DLC with Lightning: this one will feature a different battle system, but not really a revolution.
Lightning will have some new roles, different from the Ravager, Commando and Medic ones and will feature a Level up system based on how you do well in battle.

- Final Fantasy Versus XIII will not be at the upcoming E3, big surprise XD

POKEMON


Anime trailer for the new Pokemon Black 2/White 2, and wow, it's awesome XD

PROJECT X ZONE


New info for the crossover game between Namco, Capcom and Sega:



- Support Attack and Cross Hit systems detailed
- Support Attacks are special attacks from your fellow party members
- if another unit is near your unit (around 8 spaces), you'll be able to trigger a Support Attack 
- the support unit will perform a followup attack 
- this can only be used once in battle
- Cross Hit is related to Support Attacks
- if the main unit and support unit strike the enemy simultaneously, you'll trigger a Cross Hit 
- this freezes the enemy and allows for easier combos


Also, new characters:



- Street Fighter’s Chun Li
- Darkstalkers’ Morrigan
- Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier’s Haken Browning and Kaguya Nanbu
- Sakura Wars’ Erica and Gemini
- Dynamite Deka’s Bruno
- Valkyrie no Densetsu’s Valkyrie


TALES OF...


According to a recent interview with producer Hideo Baba



- catch phrase for the new game is "Are you prepared to destroy the world for the girl?"
- this ties into both the story and gameplay systems
- this game will have a more modern theme
- consider this the team's challenge to take the Tales series to the next stage
- Namco Bandai has other Tales games in development besides this entry
- when Tales Studio closed, that studio's staff moved into Namco Bandai
- now members of the Tales team can move to the Idolmaster team, and members of the Soul Calibur and Taiko Drum Master teams come to the Tales team




That's it for now, see ya XD

RPG News: Atelier Ayesha opening

As the title says, they released the opening of the upcoming new RPG "Atelier Ayesha"

What to say...very...flowerish x3



I remind you that Atelier Ayesha is developped by Gust and it'll be released on PS3 during summer in Japan.
American and European releases still unknow

Echoes of Eternia

Now, I feel like I really HAVE to talk about this, being a blog about RPGs I think it's pretty mandatory.

Ok so, a lot of friends pointed me to this indie j-RPG game still in development called "Echoes of Eternia". The director of the game was raising money for it using Kickstarter which is a website used to raise money for various projects from arts to games.
I thought there was nothing wrong with it, I mean, donating a bit to show faith and interest in a game? Cool, it works. But then, I saw this "Echoes of Eternia" project and I realized that sometimes things are just WRONG in any way.

Here's for you the link to the game's Kickstarter

Echoes of Eternia

There you can see the "interview" with the so-called head developper Ryan Harmon. If that didn't gave you a feel of wrong, then, let's analize this game.

First of all, take a look at the in-game screenshots

This game is made with RPGMaker VX, a program that makes you create j-RPG style games...so...a guy is using a program, made by somebody else, using graphic and tilests already inside the program, no added coding, very little efforts...and he NEEDS 10.000$? For what?

I mean, wow, I didn't even know it was legal to sell your games made with RPGMaker, but, apperently it is if you actually bought the program licence (which is 60$) and you use the pre-installed RTP or custom graphic made by yourself...but take a look again at the pictures, the game is made TOTALLY with the pre-installed RTP library, what is the point in asking funds if you don't even try to add something different from all the others (and free to play) RPGMaker games?
Also, I think it'll be good to point out something else about the graphic.
Take a look here...

And now look here...

http://kiwinuptuo.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d2fbhd1

Notice anything? Little hint...IT'S TOTALLY THE SAME!!!!
I mean, did he just cropped the grass down the tree? Are we serious? This is art steal, plain and simple!
In his update journal this guy never mention this artist.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1465600975/echoes-of-eternia-a-modern-take-on-a-classic-desig/posts/212855

And on the other side, the artist never said that it's a sprite for the game...also, I mean...a sprite for a 2012 game, made in 2009??? No shit, you definitely failed here, Ryan...

Ok, enough with the graphic, let's talk about something else.

Stating the official description of the game, Echoes of Eternia has incredible features like...

• 30+ Hours of gameplay. ( Not including all Side-Quests )
• Active Turn Based Battle System. Ex: Final Fantasy
• Highly tactical Battle System. Focuses on player enhancements and Elemental weakness/resistances.
• No random encounters! All enemies will be present on screen and it is up to you to decide whether you fight them or not.
• Complex puzzle solving.
• Emotional and Compelling story line. ( Details coming soon )
• Gorgeous hand drawn battle sprites for Players and Enemies.
• Completely original soundtrack.
• Fully voice acted. ( Only in cutscenes, not for general text. )
• High Quality 32bit Goodness! 
• PC exclusive. ( see FAQ section for more details )

Half of these aren't features but, whatever...
As a special thing this guy added for the donators who gives a lot of money, he give the possibility to add his own voice to the characters, to create a character on their own or even design a sub-quest or an event...what is the purpose of that??? Using inexperienced people to do some of the most important aspects of the game for free? No wait, after they paid you? That's not how GOOD games are made!

As a recap, what are we paying for?

   Your Donation will be used to make Echoes of Eternia as best as possible. The money will be used to fund the Amazing art from Melissa Hui Wang who has done so much to help out this project and has made it so much better than it ever could have been without her. It will also fund an Original Soundtrack produced by Dream Orbit Music Corps, Animation by Josh Buchanan, and Legalities like Copyrights and Trademarks. Any extra funds generated will be used to produce higher quality content and ensure us that we have full creative freedom.

Basically, our money will be used to grant him some commissions from other guys and AFTER THAT, he could use the money for the actual game...nice job pal.
No, seriously, if the artist is in your team, why do you have to pay her for every single art? In fact, is she in your team actually, or you just want to squeeze pictures out of her?

Guys, I REALLY could go on, saying about what is wrong with it, but, I guess it's pretty useless, you just need to analize it to understand that a game that doesn't show any sign of work, doesn't need to be supported with money.
Now, don't get me wrong, I highly support indie developpers, they're part of the gaming future, but the real ones really put efforts in their products, starting from scraps to create good pieces of games.
This is just a preposterous mass of shame. This guy should be ashamed of himself, asking money for something he didn't, promising stuff that (I'm fairly certain about it) will never became real.

But hey, his goal was 10.000$ and looks like he already have almost 35.000$, so well, we'll soon be able to enjoy a really expensive RPGMaker VX game...or...not very soon, since the game is scheduled for release during Q1 of 2013...wow...

Meanwhile, I think I'll probably to play some Tales of Eternia...





Wait a sec...Tales of Eternia...Echoes of Eternia...Eternia...Eternia...





Nah, it's DEFINITELY a coincidence...

RPG News, starting now

Here's another little thing I decided to do for the blog x3
From now on, I'll write here all the news regarding RPGs of all the consoles, so we'll be able to track everything of our favorites games.
Since it's the first, I'll start with a little recap of the news of the week


WII

-Dragon Quest X
Square-Enix finally announced the release data for his new Dragon Quest chapter(which, I remind you, it'll be a MMORPG). The Wii version will be released in Japan the 2nd of August, while the WiiU version is still without date.
There will be two releases: a normal one and a bundle with a 16GB USB Key, probably for downloadable contents.
There is also to say, that you need to pay to play online on this game and that there will be subscriptions of 1.000, 1.950 or 2.900 yen for 30, 60 and 90 days of online play, but Square will give to all new players a 20 days free subscription.
It's really a strange thing to have a MMORPG on Wii, and not even a free-to-play game...but, hey, we'll just have to wait the 2nd of August for the first impressions XD


PS3

-Mass effect 3
For PS3 players, they are finally able to play the Multiplayers events that for now were exclusive to only Xbox 360 and PC players, thanks to both Sony and Bioware

-Atelier Ayesha
Some new screens and info for the new "Atelier" game from Gust company.
Gust confirmed that the new battle system will allow the character to freely move on the battlefield. The distance from the enemy will be essential for the damage and the co-op attacks, but you'll also be able to attack from behind for a great surprise strike.
Down below a couple of screens

XBOX 360


-Dragon Dogma
The demo of this open-world RPG is out on the Xbox 360 Marketplace, but there is also another interesting thing for the japanese Xbox players...buying one of the new Chrome controller you'll also have a special code that will give you access to eight special quests in the game.

A DLC code for a game bundled with a controller? Interesting XD





MULTI


-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Looks like a DLC is on his way on this open world RPG: some users from the official community of Skyrim found on one of the last update of the game a folder named DLC01 with datas, animations, weapons, totally new for the game, so it'll probably be about a new downloadable content that will be relased soon, but since there's nothing official from Bethesda, we'll just have to wait...



-Final Fantasy XIII-2
As most of you know it, during May we'll be able to download two special story DLC: one with Snow and one with Lightning.
We finally know some feature of the young lady episode: the battle system will be something a bit different and from the screens we have, we can see that Lightning possess some new roles different from the original six ones, such as Attack Paladin, Blast Wizard and Defense Knight

Also, new constume DLCs were announced: White Mage dress for Serah and Black Mage dress for Noel, but also a collection of a dozen and more costumes for Mog...and, if I have to say it, the tigerish one is cute :3

PC

-Diablo 3
The recent open beta was played by over 300.000 users, a massive number that really stressed Blizzard's servers, but it was all part of the plan to work on making a better online service when the game will be released on 15th of May.
Also, I was one of those 300.000 and I have to say that (when I was able to log in XD) the game is really interesting and I'll surely buy it if I'll have the money for it ^^

-The Witcher 2
Here's a little interview with CDProjeckt about the new add-ons featured in The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition: new characters, new quests, a lot of new stuff for an awesome game that now even Xbox 360 players can enjoy

-Tera
Good news for the ones who pre-ordered this new MMORPG: the beta access was anticipated and you can actually join it right now.
Level cap is 38 and character cap for each server is 8.
The game will be released on the 3rd of May

-Risen 2: Dark Waters
This pirate RPG game is now avaible on PC, along with two DLC: Treasure Island, a new quest that ties the game with its prequel and some special pirate clothes that will give you 5% of added experience


3DS

-Project X Zone
This NamcoXCapcom spiritual sequel that will now feature Namco Bandai, Sega and Capcom together, is now giving us some info about the playble characters: the roaster gets bigger with Zephyr and Leanne from Resonance of Fate (Sega)

Frank West and Lei Lei from Dead Rising and Darkstalkers (Capcom)

And also Soma and Alisa from God Eater Burst (Namco)

Surely the roaster will get bigger and bigger but still there is no news for an American or European release, damn XD

-Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
Atlus confirmed that they're working on the remake of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, RPG for Sega Saturn and PSX to be released on 3DS.
This remake will feature new graphic, new voice dub, new anime cutscenes and shortened loading times. If they'll have the quality of the first two Persona remakes on PSP, this too will be awesome.


PSVITA

-Surge Concerto: Ciel no Surge
A 10 minutes gameplay for this new RPG

-Persona 4 the golden
New trailer for the Persona 4 remake on PSVita

PSP

-Persona 2: Ethernal Punishment
New trailer with all the characters for this enhanted remake of Persona 2