Friday 20 December 2013

Persona Q & Devil Survivor 2: Break Record news

Today Atlus dropped 2 new trailers for Persona Q on the Nintendo 3DS

Persona 3

Persona 4

They both show the characters from Persona 3 & 4 interacting in various scenes. The battle system is shown in more detail and as I previously guessed it's a fusion between Etrian Odysessy's and Persona's. It uses the first person perspective of EO's with the All Out System and Extra Turn Weakness from Persona.

In other news Atlus released a Christmas image. Inside the A is an image of the new original character from Devil Survivor 2:Break Record. Could this be Atlus's hint at a US release of the game? Hopefully it's picked up and released over in the EU in a more timely and less broken state! 

More news to come in the coming months

Andi/Nintendo Editor 

Whats in store for the Warriors series?

In an interview with Famitsu magazine a few weeks ago, Tecmo Koei’s vice president Hisashi Koinuma talked about some next generation ideas that he's been considering for future entries in the Warriors series and what possibilities could be in store for the popular series:

Famitsu asks about what could be in store for the next generation of Tecmo Koei’s Warriors games as development moves forward onto the next generation of consoles.

  • “On the subject of possibilities and new introductions, I believe that an open world Warriors game, or an RPG that utilizes a Warriors system would be quite interesting,” says Koinuma. “Also, we’ve acquired the knowhow of hunting-action games after developing Toukiden, so a Warriors game combined with elements of a hunting-action game would also be a possibility.”
  •  “One more thing: while much remains unknown for the time being, by utilizing the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One’s next-generation specs, I believe that it might even be possible to come up with new game elements that have yet to be seen.”

Famitsu asks if there are any things that Koinuma has personally always wanted to try.
  • “Up until now, the movements of troops in the background of the Warriors games have been simulated in a rather simple way,” says Koinuma. “However, if we could fully simulate it all together, I believe that the strategic elements would see a major improvement, and the fights would be much more fun on a whole other level. Also, when the time comes that we start working on a new game for next-generation consoles, I’d like to thoroughly focus on the landscapes of the game,” he adds. “By adding more destroyable objects, I believe it could be fun to take things in a more realistic direction.”
Famitsu end the interview by asking him to share a message for the fans. 
  • “By continuing to pursuit the respective niches of our three major brands, we here at Tecmo Koei will continue aiming for new challenges,” shares Koinuma. “With this principle in mind, we’ve been working hard everyday on the development of a new IP. We’ll continue releasing games from our popular series, just as we’d like all our fans to continue enjoying them, so please look forward to our next developments.”

While the Warriors series is perfectly fine the way it is, some of these ideas do sound intrigueing. A hunting style Warriors games does sound a little odd to me though, but it could be a lucrative entry for the franchise if it manages to tap into the Monster-Hunter market successfully. Personally Im looking forward to whats in store for Dynasty Warriors 9 as the talk of improving landscapes, destructible environments & improving background troop movements to create a more strategic battle sounds like a great direction to go. There was no mention of Hyrule Warriors, but then with this interview being a couple of weeks old & the Nintendo Direct was only the other day, its understandable. Sounds like fans of the Warriors franchise could be in for quite an interesting generation.

Thursday 19 December 2013

Sony Japan unleashes gameplay and screenshots of Freedom Wars




 Sony Japan released some information about their new upcoming hunting game freedom wars. The tutorial that  you see above, is presented by the new game's mascot, propakun. He gives us a deep overview of the game and its systems, showing more gameplay than we ever seen before.

The screenshots below gives us more information about the whole prison theme in this game. My opinion on this game as your proclaimed sony/vita editor? I'm hyped for this one! I always enjoyed Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Soul Sacrifice was on of my favorite games on the vita. Really looking forward to this!





Drakenguard 3 US news

Today Square Enix US posted new screenshots to go alongside the Japanese release of Drakengard 3. This is good news as details have been few and far between & most felt that SE may have forgotten the game. I'm sure I speak for most when I say YESH!!!!! 

Senran Kagura Teaser Site opened

Senran Kagura hasn't been too widely known in the west, aside from the anime, nothing else has really made its way over until recently with Senran Kagura Burst receiving a 3DS E-Shop release in the US. Here in the EU we gotta wait till February, but then we do get a physical release (Yes, I will be reviewing it [Hopefully its similar to Ikki Tousen - Eloquent Fist Ive been playing recently on PsP]) A teaser site for the series has been launched (LINK), complete with boobs that jiggle as you scroll down in the background, that will no doubt be used to highlight future news for the franchise. Producer Kenichiro Takaki will talk about what’s next in the Senran Kagura series during a Nico Nico livestream on January 8, 2014. He will be joined by Marvelous AQL president Shuichi Motoda, series voice actors Hitomi Harada and Eri Kitamura plus busty members from KNU. Anyone want to guess what Marvelous AQL will reveal? Localisation of the Vita game? Senran Kagura 2? a WiiU release (Takaki commented on the Wii U a while back: "the Wii U gives the chance for many unique ideas — using the control pad to observe bishojo girls, for instance.") I guess we'll have to wait and see

Here's a Hanzo academy trailer for Senran kagura Burst to keep us occupied:

Dynasty Warriors 8 Ps4/Vita Spring 2014 EU

 
With this one simple Q&A, the Ps4's stock has just risen quite a bit for myself. With the news of Hyrule Warriors yesterday and now this, it seems Tecmo Koei aren't pulling any punches going into the new year. There's still no solid confirmation of a date but to have TK themselves state that Dynasty Warriors 8, With Xtreme Legends seeing a release on the Ps3 at the same time, will be coming in Spring 2014 bodes well for the system. At long last an eastern series will be seeing a release on the Ps4 for those of us holding out for that reason.The game is set to release in February in Japan, so with it seeing a release so soon after in spring is a suprise. Also, You noticed what else is beside the Ps4 in the banner above? Thats right, PSVita! Now thats some great news to start the day with.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Braverly Default 3DS review

                         

Today we are going to take a look at this years final RPG and last major release for the Nintendo 3DS Braverly Default. 

Published by Square-Enix and created by the studio famous for 3D Dot Heroes, Braverly Default is a spiritual successor to brilliant but flawed Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light. After a long wait for an overseas release it's finally dropped in Europe. Can they make up for past mistakes or is this game just too brave? 

Setting/Story/Graphics
                          

Braverly Default stars Tiz, a farm boy living in the sleepy village of Norende. As usual not all is quiet for very long as the village is replaced by a giant chasm leaving Tiz all on his lonesome. He meets up with the Wind Vestal Agnes, following this you meet the loveable ladies man and Mr Amnesia himself Ringabell. Last but not least and the only member you have to fight, the fiery Edna!. 

You get the entire team within the first couple of hours, this means no late comers or Arc relevant members. The setting has a real fantasy vibe about it, very close to the likes of early Final Fantasy titles. From Castle towns, to Mill towns, caves, ruins, deserts, secret havens and military bases, Braverly makes you visit all the usual RPG locations. 
                        

What sets it apart from other RPG's is the drawn art style combined with the 3D Effect. Not usually a fan of 3D but I always have it on for this, it looks like a living novel and brings so much more character to Braverly's locations. 

The character art style is identical to Four Heroes, a Chibi deformed art style which makes everyone look cute and young. Usually the opposite of what they are, it's not an art direction that bothers me and it doesn't effect the game in anyway. 

Monster design is the usual fare with zombies, enemy soldiers, mythical creatures and beasts. Some bosses are huge and it also features a cross over with Four Heroes in the shape of antagonist Beelzebub!. 
                        

GAMEPLAY! 

Here we have the core, the meaty heart of Braverly Default, the gameplay. It's your RPG system, you visit a town, story furthers, occasional side quest, dungeon, boss fight, grind. What sets BD apart from others on the market is features and execution. The story is top notch with laughter, sadness and anger all abundant. Character development is grade A up there with the ranks of Persona 4 and Tales Of Symphonia. 

You can cater the game to suit you, this is done by the always adjustable difficulty modifier. You can set how often random encounters happen, how tough they are & for our hardcore minimalist gamers if you get Xp or Jp for battles!. 

Braverly uses the Job system, some hate it I personally love it. You assign a job to some one, for example Monk, that person will then specialise in hand to hand combat. You get Job points after every battle, you use these to level up your job unlocking more moves and bonuses, these can then be used alongside another job to create a sort of fusion!. All the usual jobs are here like Knight, Black Mage and Monk alongside some more unusual ones like Time Mage and Merchant, all have advantages and disadvantages and change how the characters look when chosen. 
                        

A new system Brave or Default. In the most basic terms it's turn management. If you Brave you can perform an extra action but you lose your next turn, you can do this up to 3 times. To Default you go into a defence like status and store a turn, once again you can do this up to 3 times. The key to Braverly Default is knowing when to Brave and when to Default, it's a brilliant system and is a lot more strategic than it first appears.

Following that we have Braverly Default, this is where regardless of turns you can unleash a barrage of actions and boost status. This is done by pressing start and select and uses SP points. These are gained by drinking SP drinks which build up over every 8 hours the game is in sleep mode, unfortunately there is also a lot of advertisement for the Microtransaction section, where you pay real currency for SP drinks. 

I'm not a fan of Microtransactions and wouldn't of minded if this was only on eShop. Unfortunately you access in game, with a constant reminder on your menu screen.

There is another way to gain SP but it's a secret that the player should fine out or look for online.

You can create special moves and the more you level up jobs the more extras you can add to them. You can then send this out online and via street pass and people can summon your character, this also means you can summon them should you need a little helping hand. 

Along these lines we also have the Ablink feature which allows you to link with any friends playing the game on 3DS. What this unlocks is the option to link any of your team with theirs unlocking even more job abilities. 
                        

Just because your village is gone, Tiz isn't the kinda guy to let that stop him!. He has tasked himself with the job of rebuilding it! This is done by using a map screen and choosing the villagers to work on various projects. These unlock more items in the roaming store and improve special attacks. You get more villagers by accessing the online spot pass bit and by street passing friends. Some projects take up to 99 hours but this is only with 1 villager on, you can cut this down significantly by adding more to the job. All of this is done in real time so it's always a case of having the game on sleep mode, building up SP drinks and your village.

Alongside Side Quests you also have challenges along the lines of what you would find in an MMO to accomplish gaining you items.  

Final Words/Score

What we have been given here is a marvellous adventure which uses every part of the 3DS in a natural and useful way. With adjustable difficulty and many ways to make the game easier or harder it's for beginners and veterans alike, though I suspect Vets would get a little more from it.

Occasionally comes off as confused with it being separate from Final Fantasy, then it names the same items, some of the same enemies (cait sith) and even the Crystals plot device from earlier Final Fantasy games.

I'm enjoying my time with Braverly greatly and will go on the line and say that it's THE premier RPG on 3DS. With a stronger plot and better character development than that of Fire Emblem: Awakening, it truly takes the top spot for the handheld. Not only that but it's the finest JRPG I have played this year and I hope this sells well with a sequel on the way I would love this to bloom into a franchise. 
                       

Taking all into account the confusion between spin off or separate entity and the sin of Microtransactions I unfortunately can't give it a 10, but can give it close enough to and I am pleased to announce that Braverly Default is being awarded 

9.5/10

And my personal game of the year award for 3DS
                             Review copy provided by our very own Remy! Thank you for the contribution to the Blog and for giving me the chance to review the game 

Nintendo Direct Roundup

So did you catch the Nintendo Direct feed? If not, don't despair as our Nintendo editor Andi was live tweeting during the show. To save you having to scour the internet for the latest tidbits, Here's the whole live tweet in chronological order for you. Only the content of the tweet is here to keep things snappy for you. Enjoy!

  • ZeldaxDynasty warriors or Hyrule Warriors as it was named (not final title) looks pretty good. Especially as a fan of both #NintendoDirectEU
  • New Kirby as well looks like it'll be quite the platforming game :) love Kirbeh! #NintendoDirectEU
  • Now they are showing off the Pokemon Bank, nifty little idea for fans of the 'mon #NintendoDirectEU
  • Ceribii free with the free trial of Pokemon bank for X & Y :) #NintendoDirectEU
  • The new Donkey Kong for WiiU actually pretty much looks perfect!. Especially with Kranky! #NintendoDirectEU
  • Live tweeting Nintendo Direct :) here @ Otaku Gamers UK -Andi-
  • Feb 21st Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze for EU Release #NintendoDirectEU
  • Sonic Lost Worlds DLC announcement, based on famous Nintendo franchises! #NintendoDirectEU
  • Zelda themed DLC for Sonic next year (hinted at but apparently you can "LINK" your console next year) #NintendoDirectEU
  • Wii Sports Club Golf now.......-Yawn-
  • NES Remix mixed up nes games. E.G Link in Donkey Kong & highlights from the nes era #nintendodirecteu
  • Dr.Luigi "Is in the house" Luigi Puzzle based fun for all! #nintendodirecteu
  • Operation L Mode, for newbies and pros alike, all pills are in the L Shape. Dr.Luigi + Online play :) #NintendoDirectEU
  • Luigi's Mansion 2 Diarama for Stars Club #NintendoDirectEU
  • WiiU Karaoke cheap plug (y) stay classy Ninty!
  • Free download code for Mario Bros Deluxe <3 just create or link a new Nintendo Network ID #NintendoDirectEU
  • Download codes to be shipped out feb 13-feb 18 to registered Email :) #NintendoDirectEU
  • Prof Layton vs Pheonix Wright Confirmed for EU :) nice one Ninty #NintendoDirectEU
  • Rosalina for Smash Bros :) #NintendoDirectEU
  • & now Mario Kart 8 which is looking outstanding #NintendoDirectEU
  • & She's in Mario Kart 8 aswell! Ninty are giving Galaxy all the love! #NintendoDirectEU
  •  & it just ended quite abruptly..... no X, no SMT IV and few surprises. 6/10 #NintendoDirectEU

And that was it. That was everything that was shown/live tweeted. If you'd like to keep up to date for future show reveals we'll be live tweeting them much as possible so you could always follow our Twitter: @OtakuGamersUK.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z EU Demo Today

Namco Bandai should be releasing a demo of the fighting game Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, onto the EU Playstation Store later today. There will be a Ps3/Vita & Xbox360 demo to try if the US store update yesterday is anything to go by. Players will be able to choose characters between Goku, Kid Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo. Unlike other Dragon Ball Z games though, battles are four on four fights. The Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z demo has four missions to try in single player mode, a co-op mission, and battle mode. Your save data from the demo will be able to transfer into the retail game which comes out on January 24th (28th in the US) 2014 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Namco Bandai will also be bringing the Vita version over as a digital download which I suume will be on the same date too.

You looking forward to the game, or not? I may give both the the Vita & Ps3 a version a try later.

Here's the TGS trailer to refresh your memory a little.

Tuesday 17 December 2013

100 Posts & counting.

This post is the 100th post! It seems like an age since that Project Diva review I did for the Ps3 on PushSquare a few months ago that got the ball rolling. Things have really picked up lately though. Staff now consists of  5. Andi is now our Nintendo editor and his experience reviewing for Punx has been invaluable for us with how we've progressed. Remy has brought a somewhat infectious enthusiasm to us and is our self-proclaimed Sony/Vita editor (although it might as well be official) with his Tearaway review being a notable highlight for Media Molecule taking notice of it & carrying it on Twitter. Joe is the latest addition who seems brimming with ideas and seems keen on Video reviews, so expect some content from him soon. The mysterious Koji is our 5th staff member so far. Currently runs a Youtube channel for those interested in checking his work. With views climbing steadily and content continuing to improve, I doubt we'll be going anywhere anytime soon!

I'm always thinking about the future here, but its something that has to be handled delicately. Doing too much too soon could cause things to buckle under the workload. So what have we been discussing of late?

  • Podcast: Now this is an idea that I think would be great. A weekly or bi-weekly podcast where we all get together and have a good chin-wag about games, anime's etc would be great. It was discussed last night so theres a pretty good chance of it happening at some point in the future
  • Video Reviews: This is something I had a look into myself a while ago, even opening up an Otaku Gamers UK channel on Youtube in preparation at one point, but the Content ID system that's currently been brought it made me a little cautious. Joe has expressed interest in this, so I suppose some testing is going to be needed if its Video's are something to look to in the future.
  • Guest Articles: This is something I'm going to keep running with at the moment. Recruitment has been slow & steady so I may stop that for now and See how this idea pans out.
  • Staff Page: Ive already created a page but at the moment it needs filling with content and placing on the homepage. Something I'm going to work on for the next week or so hopefully
That's not all, but other ideas are something to consider at a later date. These few will be discussed over the new year and they may be brought in not long after depending on how things go. This a purely voluntary run endeavour so anyone coming here enjoying the content doesn't have anything to worry about. We'll still be here for a long time yet. You never know though, if things keep improving the way they are, in a years time it could be a little different around here! Lets hope you guys stick around for another 100 posts!

Mysterious One Piece trademark registered.

It seems Namco Bandai registered a trademark for Lost Land Adventure in the states on 10th December. Could it be for an upcoming One Piece title? One Piece: Unlimited World Red hasn’t been announced for release on this side of the globe but with most of the One Piece games (We've already had One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 & Romance Dawn so far this year in the EU) seeming to make there way to our shores these days, its a possibility. Maybe it’s the name given to the upcoming 3DS monster-hunteresque game instead of a whole new game? With the states getting the 3DS version of One Piece: Romance Dawn in February, its most definately not that renamed. Something for the One Piece fans out there to spend some time mulling over.

Here's a trailer for Unlimited World Red, just in case:

Monday 16 December 2013

Final Fantasy X/X-2 Vita EU release date.

After what has seemed like an age, Square Enix finally gave some information on the PlayStation Vita version of Final Fantasy X/X-2HD Remaster. With there being no information for so long and the lack of any mention when the release date for the console version was announced had left many of us pondering whether the Vita version was off the cards. Today though, we were given a release date of 21st March which is the same dayas the Ps3 version. Suprisingly (and contrary to previous speculation) PlayStation Vita owners can get both games in one package!  Final Fantasy X HD Remaster comes on the Vita gamecard and Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster is available via a redeemable download code. Obviously a little miffed at no physical FFX-2 in the package but the fact both are supplied at the same price as the Ps3 version (Quoted as £29.99) is a huge relief. Both versions will have; Cross-Save support, PlayStation Trophies, an updated, rearranged and remastered soundtrack and  International Editions of both games. The Ps3 version though will have what looks like a very tempting special edition. The Limited Edition version (exclusive to European and PAL regions) includes a 48-page art book (collection of concept art from the games with notes from the original Final Fantasy X and X-2 development teams) and a special message from Producer Yoshinori Kitase. Plus, both games will be on the same disk and will no doubt offer a superior game technically to the Vita version. A tough decision lies ahead for some of us (Cross save though seems a shrewd move from SE for people who have both platforms)

Here's a new trailer! (May contain Spoilers)


Original post: Playstation Blog