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Atlus, Nippon Ichi Cue Up Japanese RPG Goodness

Posted by simoniker on from the magically-delicious dept.

Thanks to RPGFan for its post covering forthcoming U.S. PlayStation 2 RPG releases from Japan-based publisher Atlus, linking to a preview of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, "big news for fans of the series, given that it typically doesn't see many releases outside of Japan." In addition, the site previews Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, "a brand new creation from the MegaTen creators" also coming to the States, and also looks at Phantom Brave, explaining that Atlus "had a hand in getting NIS America's (The North American division of Disgaea and La Pucelle: Tactics developer Nippon Ichi) [title] ready for prime time." Elsewhere, in more signs that the 'hardcore' Japanese RPG is making a U.S. comeback, NIS America have announced in-progress plans to bring Gust's Atelier Iris - Eternal Mana, "the sixth installment in a popular line of alchemy-based [RPGs]" to the States.

15 comments

  1. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    (On the subject of the Nintendo patent)

    Getting crowded out of what used to be your biggest market by sharper and more innovative competitors? Faced with the prospect of serious competition in the one market you still hold a monopoly on during the next 12 months? Unable to match the pace of change that your competitors are setting? Don't worry, just flex your patent muscles a bit.

    Be interesting to see how the slashdot "usual suspects" manage to spin the patent story into an example of Nintendo being wonderful and fluffy and innovative and helping small animals and old people across the road.

  2. Lack of awareness... by zaxios · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. Lack of awareness
    2. Lack of demand
    3. Poor distribution
    4. Return to Step 1

    More niche items for the in-the-know, I suspect. It would be nice to see the Western gaming palette expand, but in a clone-saturated market, trying games you haven't heard of usually ends up being a waste of time and money.

    1. Re:Lack of awareness... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      On the contrary, some of the best games I've played in the last year have been impulse purchases of games I hadn't previously heard of, because I liked the box art and concept. Disgaea is the most obvious example (it seems to be easier to find here in the UK than it is in the US) and Naval Ops: Warship Gunner is another.

      This is one of the peculiarities of the PS2. Because it has so many releases, you can't keep track of all of them. When a good game hits the X-box or Cube it's a major story, but games that would have been big news on either of those systems can pass almost unnoticed on the PS2.

    2. Re:Lack of awareness... by _KiTA_ · · Score: 1

      Congratulations, you just proved that you haven't played Disgaea. If you had, you'd have already preordered Phantom Brave. ;)

      Yes, this is me saying that you're not "in-the-know". But come ON. What kind of RPG gamer are you? Disgaea was the biggest suprise hit of last year, so big that even Atlus, who NEVER re-prints games, had to reprint it. It plays similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, but actually has a decent story. It's a comedy game, and the attacks and stuff are over the top, but that's definately intentional and very much part of it's charm. You can beat the game at level 50 or so. The level cap is 9999. Higher if you consider transmigration and "stored" levels.

      Phantom Brave is the same genre -- SRPG -- but with a ton of new features and tweaks. And the story is supposed to be one of the best out in years.

      Basically Phantom Brave has every gameplay feature of Disgaea and every gameplay of La Pucelle that Disgaea left out AND a ton of new twists, turns, and features. Like titles, which are similar to the "rank" ("Good for nothing", "Genius", etc) in Disgaea when you transmigrated people. Except these titles and be put on players, random dungeons, and items, and all have differing effects depending on it. And can all be changed on the fly.

      There's a ton more, but this isn't the place to rant about how awesome the game is. Just, please belive me when I say that Disgaea and the other Nippon Ichi SRPG titles are something special, because they are. Simply put, NIS is the new master of the SRPG genre. :)

  3. This is some fantastic news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Atelier Iris has some absolutely gorgeous graphics, a nice, refreshing change of pace to the 3D, bump mapping, normal mapping, bloom lighting etc etc so prevalent in today's gaming society. I don't know how Atlus manages to stay in business, since their games are made for such a niche market, but I'm really glad they do... There's definitely a market for these games... I'm definitely interested in Atelier and the 2 Megaten games, hopefully this time they won't be butchered to death, as was the case with Persona!

  4. /love by Jayjr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've played Disgea and LPT, they are both tactical rpg's with nice twists on the usual (FF:TActics) systems, the stories are very humours and serious in the same breath. I for one cant wait for these games to come state-side.

    I bought disgea on a whim after looking for a new game at EB, was on the of the best game puchases i made in 2004. I'm sure others are now big fans of Atlus/Nippon Ichi as I am.

    1. Re:/love by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      I would definitely agree, and am looking forward to Phantom Brave (as the "spiritual sequel" to Disgaea and LPT).

      From the comments made by the people that were working in the stores at which I bought these games, they did fairly well, so, hopefully, Nippon Ichi will continue bringing these games stateside with the help of people like Atlus.

      Beyond that, it's always good to see Japanese RPGs outside of the usual FF fair come over. Now if only we could get more US RPGs on the consoles without publishers deciding they need to be dumbed down. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and its sequel may be fun games, but they don't satisfy the itch for RPGs.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    2. Re:/love by Jayjr · · Score: 1

      "Beyond that, it's always good to see Japanese RPGs outside of the usual FF fair come over. Now if only we could get more US RPGs on the consoles without publishers deciding they need to be dumbed down. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and its sequel may be fun games, but they don't satisfy the itch for RPGs."

      Totally agree about the need for more non-FF rpg over here, but from what ive seen the only thing the US can make are titles like KoTOR (heavaly reliant on existing SW universe/other existing media) or games like Sudeki which are advertised as RPG's but IMO its an adventure game that has RPG elements and are as you said dumbed down, i dont want my rpg's to have a 1st person shooter mode (aka Sudeki)

      maybe im spoiled by FF and baulders gate (pc version) but where does an RPG need a FPS mode, i like my rpg's to go at MY pace and have an ounce of stretegic elemtent and the only games that ive seen to fill this niche are from companies out of the East...

    3. Re:/love by shadowcabbit · · Score: 1

      If you have a 'Cube, Tales of Symphonia is an excellent choice (though, given your "dumbed down" comment, I would recommend you set it on the high difficulty setting immediately; I'm about five hours in and I find it a little too easy).

      I'm looking forward to seeing the Atelier series come over as well; I'd been following them for quite a while from afar and am just now getting ready to dive into importing, but having the English-language version available is always a plus.

      I still think that a US-developed FF-style RPG could be wildly successful if it has the sense to learn from the mistakes made in the last few times it was tried (Secret of Evermore, Shadow Madness, etc). Oh, and if they get a decent writer. I guess what I'm saying is that I really wanted Advent Rising to be an RPG, but we'll see.

      --
      "Why Subscribe?" Good question...
    4. Re:/love by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      Totally agree about the need for more non-FF rpg over here, but from what ive seen the only thing the US can make are titles like KoTOR (heavaly reliant on existing SW universe/other existing media) or games like Sudeki which are advertised as RPG's but IMO its an adventure game that has RPG elements and are as you said dumbed down, i dont want my rpg's to have a 1st person shooter mode (aka Sudeki)

      Obviously, though, with KOTOR being based on the Baldur's Gate engine, it's possible for US developers to bring the PC RPGs to the consoles without dumbing them down. It's simply a matter of getting the publishers to believe this, which they don't seem to be ready to do, despite the success of KOTOR. On the other hand, the XBox does have a couple of RPGs coming up that look like they may be good as well, namely Fable and Jade Empire.

      I would also like to see US developers branching out from the d20 system. One of the things I find most interesting about the FF series is the number of changes they've been willing to make to the battle, skill, class, etc. systems in the games, and Square, Enix, (now SquareEnix) and others among Japanese RPG developers have been willing to take even more risks, with sometimes mixed results, in other titles.

      It might also be interesting to see some of the US strategy developers take on the SRPG format, though it really seems that RTS has sucked most of the life out of the US developers in this area, and most RTS developers would probably have a hard time coming up with something interesting for either the turn-based format or the RPG elements of the genre.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    5. Re:/love by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      If you have a 'Cube, Tales of Symphonia is an excellent choice (though, given your "dumbed down" comment, I would recommend you set it on the high difficulty setting immediately; I'm about five hours in and I find it a little too easy).

      I already have it, but as an RPG rather than an SRPG, it gets relegated to shelf space until I have a weekend to myself (I thought I would have one by now, otherwise I might have waited a bit longer before picking it up, though as an RPG on the GameCube I almost had to buy it just to satisfy that itch that says if I don't buy it, they won't make any more RPGs for the system).

      I'm looking forward to seeing the Atelier series come over as well; I'd been following them for quite a while from afar and am just now getting ready to dive into importing, but having the English-language version available is always a plus.

      I'm simply hoping that they either do well on the English voice acting, or allow the Japanese voices. In almost every translation (even movies/anime) the English voices tend to irritate me because they're so stiff, so it's always a pleasure to be able to switch it over and just read the translated text (maybe someday I'll learn enough Japanese to not need it).

      I still think that a US-developed FF-style RPG could be wildly successful if it has the sense to learn from the mistakes made in the last few times it was tried (Secret of Evermore, Shadow Madness, etc). Oh, and if they get a decent writer. I guess what I'm saying is that I really wanted Advent Rising to be an RPG, but we'll see.

      I'm not even necessarily concerned about FF-style RPGs, but US developed RPGs in general. The major RPG titles from US developers were severely hamstrung when it came time to develop console titles in the series, with probably the best-known examples being Baldur's Gate and Fallout. Again, while Dark Alliance was a fun game, it wasn't a strong example of US RPGs, whereas KOTOR was, but the only thing the publishers have gained from that is sequel-fever.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    6. Re:/love by Jayjr · · Score: 1

      Blizzard did the whole RTS-RPG with warcraft 3, though just using the "level" part of the RPG. The game was well done, but i would like to see a RTS with a much heavier RPG/SRPG influnece.

      SquareEnix takes risks on known battle systems, and changes them, but some of the systems can be seen in previous games just with different implementation. FF3/6 espers were the same basic system that was used In FFX-2 with dress spehers, but they changed the functionality to allow the jobs to be changed in battle. Again same proven idea/system, new twist, this combo is very reliable yet fresh.

      I don't see what US developers are affraid of, well i do its money but regaurdless. If the PS2 had to rely soley on US developers it would have failed 20 times over, IMO Microsoft is really doing a margianl job with RPG's but that can be accredited to not having bug names behind them aka Square. The gamecube is a totally different story, they have the Japanese ties, and even backing of large names (again aka Square) but the 1st rpg for that system that didnt require $400 of extra hardware (FF:CC) just came out (Tale of Symphonia) and is a very nice game but very reminicent of the Star Ocean Series, SO: till the end of time another GOT TO HAVE PS2 title.

  5. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shut up, McDick.

  6. But no Tactics Ogre? WHY! by Lowridah · · Score: 1

    All I want to know is WHEN DO I GET ANOTHER TACTICS OGRE GAME. The last one, Tactics Ogre: the Knights of Lodis was on the GBA and is easily my favorite GBA game. There's depth to class requirements and class changing that makes more sense than in any other tactics style game, although the storyline was very weak.

    The tactical aspect of the game easily surpasses either of the Final Fantasy Tactics games in my opinion. Can we please get another?