Monday 30 June 2014

This Week's New Releases in Localised and Import Games! (1/7/14)

Welcome to JRPG Jungle's new, much needed weekly segment!

Each week, a lot of games come out. If you're a JRPG and/or Japanese game fan, you may just want to skip all the AAA games to get to the Japanese games you want to play. Once a week, we'll compile all of the Japanese imports and localisations into one post to make things easy and get you excited. Enjoy!

Localisations


Child of Light (PS Vita)
Child of Light is technically not a localisation or a Japanese game, but it's a similar game style so I'm putting it here. We gave Child of Light on PS4 a 9.6/10 a few months ago for it's beauty, touching story and new take on old school JRPG battle systems. I'm sure on Vita it will play just as well as it did on PS4 and hopefully they'll let you use Igniculus on touch screen like they did on Remote Play.

Child of Light on PS Vita is scheduled for release on PS Vita July 1st. Europe and Australia can expect it July 2nd.

Buy/Pre-Order:
Europe: Amazon UK
Australia: JB Hi-Fi
(Will update with a US link when I find one!)


Pokemon Art Academy (3DS EU)




While the US is still waiting for a release date, Europe, Australia and New Zealand can look forward to seeing Pokemon Art Academy this week. The game is a cross-over between the Pokemon and Art Academy games and features a bunch of lessons to teach you about (you guessed it) drawing Pokemon. I feel this game will probably appeal to kids and die-hard Pokemon fans than anything else, but it's still a kinda neat idea.

Europe will receive Pokemon Art Academy July 4th. Australia and New Zealand will receive the game the following day on July 5th. Pokemon Art Academy has already been released in Japan.

Buy it/Pre-Order:
Europe: Amazon UK
Australia: JB Hi-Fi
Japan: Play-Asia

Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn (PS3)


Fans of the Dynasty Gundam games can look forward to new features such as Burst Mode and Mobile Armors, along with a roster of over 100 characters to play. If you haven't played Dynasty Warriors games, it's a fun 'beat-em-up' kind of game. If you were a fan of the other Dynasty Warrior Gundam games, I'd say you'll enjoy this too.

The game is already out in Europe, Australia and Japan, but will be released on the 1st of July for US players. Enjoy!

Buy it/Pre-Order
US: Amazon
Europe: Amazon UK
Australia: JB Hi-Fi
Japan: Play-Asia

Imports from Japan

Akiba's Trip 2 (PS4)



The super humourous take on Akihabara's culture Akiba's Trip 2 is by far the game I'm most excited for this week. Basically you have to destroy human demons by exposing their skin to the light - and that means taking their clothes off. It's set in an open world version of Akihabara, which is Japan's nerdiest city and the game includes a bunch of jokes on Anime and Otaku culture. I'm waiting for the Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed to be localised (which is the same game, just on PS3 and PS Vita and possibly without the PS4 bonus content), but if my Japanese was better I would be importing this in a heartbeat.

Buy it/Pre-Order: Play-Asia


Island Days (3DS)
If you watched the School Days anime or read the Visual Novel, Island Days is a new story spin off in appropriate dating sim form with an added Tower Defense game. The product photos on Play-Asia seem a little risque, so I already wonder if the game will go along the route of the slightly cleaner anime or will it go all out. In any case, Island Days finds Makoto and the girls of School Days stranded on a desert island and you get to see all the drama that I'm sure will occur between Makoto and the girls.
(Side note: My boyfriend is actually picking this one up, so if there's anything worth noting I'll post about it here!)

Buy it/Pre-Order: Play-Asia

Demon Gaze (Global Edition - PS Vita)


Demon Gaze is a dungeon crawler where you can explore dungeons (duh), create characters to come with you and build relationships. In the upgraded Global Edition the English language track is included and the DLC that involved cast members from Disgaea.

Pre-order/Buy it: Play-Asia
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Review - Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend (PS Vita)


Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend may be two years old and have a sequel, but there's nothing dated about this 'everything but the kitchen sink' fighting game by Arc System Works. For both fighting game masters and casual fighter fans, Continuum Shift Extend packs not only a brilliant and complicated fighting game into a little cartridge, it manages to also introduce a killer, console sized story for on-the-go gamers. The best way I can sum up my experience with Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend? I came for the slick fighting game and stayed for the intricate story.

For those new to Blazblue and Arc System Works fighting games, Blazblue is a 2D anime fighter that stays true to the 'easy to play, difficult to master' arcade terminology that you might have heard of. If you enjoy fighting games just for fun and aren't interested in combos, you'll enjoy Blazblue, particularly in Stylish Mode which allows your to perform powerful combos by holding down a single button. Fans of the technicality will be beyond pleased by the variety of characters and the variety of combos available. The diverse roster of characters gives something to everyone who plays Blazblue - for example, characters like Hakuman, Platinum the Trinity and Ragna the Bloodedge all provide completely different ways to play and different combos and finishing moves to master. All characters have different weapons and even species types help give all the characters a vastly unique style. My favourite character in the game's story was Makoto and her fast, fist based style was cool but I was much more inclined to play as Noel because using her guns were a lot more fun. I like that this is how I felt inclined to play, as most other fighting games I just end up playing as my favourite character.


Personally, my only problem with playing this stellar fighting game was my beloved PS Vita. The controls of the Vita are significantly smaller than a PS3 controller and I just couldn't use the D-Pad or the Analog stick efficiently and precisely enough to do some of the harder combos and even something simple like getting my character to 'dash' to the other side of the screen was hard. I'd like to give my Vita the benefit of the doubt as I never have been (and probably never will be) a remarkably skilled fighting game player however from doing a little Google search, I found that there are other players with this issue. The game was originally a PS3 game, so after my good experience with Continuum Shift Extend on Vita, it does make me wonder if I could have a great experience playing it on PS3 instead.

If Blazblue's fighting game mechanics weren't deep enough, prepare for a long, intricate story, complete with anime cutscenes and lots of dialogue. There are 18 character stories, true ending, bonus content and the prequel Blazblue Calamity Trigger's story remastered. It is a huge story to get through, especially if you're looking to unlock the true ending. I spent many train rides trying to do this and discovering all the heroic and colourful characters of the Blazblue universe. Each character's story is told from their point of view so a serious story such as Jin Kisaragi's will constrast heavily with Taokaka's more humourous approach based purely on their personality. Each individual story provides plot choices for the player much and in the game's brilliance, will provide different endings dependent on this including hilarious gag reels and bad endings. It reminded me of a visual novel, but with fights. The length of each characters story was usually around half an hour to an hour in length, which I think is rather admirable when compared to other fighting games.

For players new to the Blazblue series, I highly recommend taking advantage of the included remastered Calamity Trigger story. It really helped fill in some of the gaps in the new story of Continuum Shift and various characters' individual stories. For those who have already played Calamity Trigger, you can look forward to a remastered version of the story you remember.

On the topic of story mode, Continuum Shift Extend's soundtrack really packs a punch and heightens epic scenes with it's combination of heavy rock and atmospheric music. What I didn't appreciate from the game's sound was it's tendency to turn up the music to double the volume (and consequently turn down the voiced dialogue) whenever I unlocked my Vita or while doing something simple like viewing the time on my Vita and then re-entering the game's app. The music would only put itself back to a normal volume (and turn the dialogue up to a normal sound level again) at the next 'looping' of whichever song was featured in the scene. This isn't a huge game-breaking issue and doesn't effect the overall feeling of positivity I have for the game, but it's a two year old game. I don't understand why a patch hasn't been released for this as I'm not the only one with this problem.

See this screenshot I took? The volume turned up after.
Along with story mode and arcade mode, Blazblue also features some unique fighting gameplay modes of it's own. Along with your typical versus, score game and network features, it features Unlimited Mars, Challenge and Abyss. Unlimited Mars is a mode where you fight characters that are controlled from a ridiculously hard A.I. that is a challenge for players of all skill levels (I had no success playing that mode). Challenge is basically a training mini game that challenges you to perform various combo sequences. Abyss was my favourite of Blazblue's unique fighting modes: You progress through difficulty levels and have the option of using your in game points to buy special attacks and stat boosts for whichever character you choose. It also doesn't fully heal you every battle, so you have to think about how you'll use your points - whether you'll need them on healing or can afford the luxury of a stat boost to get you through some of the harder levels.


While I do think I would have a better experience on the home console edition, Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend fits a mammoth experience onto the PS Vita that would be worthwhile to any fighting game fan on the go. If you like fun characters, an epic story and a solid and fun fighting game, your PS Vita needs Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend.

Score: 8/10
Played on and off over the last year and properly dedicated myself to it's story mode for a month.

Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend is available now at Play-Asia.com.


Please note: I have not played the other Blazblue titles such as Calamity Trigger or the more recent Chrono Phantasma, but my playthrough of Continuum Shift was enjoyable enough to make me want to. If playing Calamity Trigger ever alters my opinion on Continuum Shift, I will update this review.
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Thursday 26 June 2014

Hyperdimension Neptunia Rebirth 1 Release Date and Trailer


Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 is bustling with new features and has been given an official release date! The Vita reboot of Hyperdimension Neptunia can be expected August 26th in the US and August 27th for Europe. Australians can also look forward to the getting Re;Birth via the Playstation Network Store. (no official date has been announced at this point)

Below is a trailer for the game and it displays some of the cool new features that will grace the Vita remake. This will include new dialogue, a whole new ending, changes to the battle system and the new "Remake System" which allows players to adjust parts of the gameplay, which is pretty neat!

Pretty excited to play this one - I've always been an afar fan of the Neptunia games, the games look incredibly humourous and silly. I'm keen to play the remake as my first one. Comment below with your first Hyperdimension Neptunia game and if you'll be getting the remake. :)



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This Week's PSN Store EU New Releases, JRPG Style! (26/6/14)


Still no more new JRPG releases on PSN this week. Oh dear. But there is a discount and some DLC. You can find these updates on the Playstation Network Store.

(This lack of updates is making me want to start a general new releases article. In fact...why haven't I?)

Discounts





Rainbow Moon: Technically not a JRPG, this game hails from eastasiasoft, a Hong Kong game company. It has a old-school JRPG feel with it's turn-based battle system and the main story takes about 40 hours. If you enjoy long JRPGs with towns, equipment and leveling, at a discount this may be worth a look.

(Note to self: This is on your Vita's memory card. Play it!)

DLC


  • Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends - Various DLC
  • Mugen Souls Z - Various DLC
  • Soul Sacrifice Delta - Japanese Voice-over Pack

Season Pass

  • One Piece Unlimited World Red - Pass Now Available
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Monday 23 June 2014

An Epic New Ifrit Screenshot from Final Fantasy Explorers!

Photo from Gematsu. View more at their original post.
I wasn't going to post about the new Final Fantasy Explorers Ifrit screenshots, but the above photo of Ifrit was too incredibly awesome to pass up. You can view more Ifrit Final Fantasy Explorers awesome-ness at Gematsu's original post.

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Enjoyed the Gargantia Anime Series? Now You Can Play Gargantia: Sky Courier The Game! (+ My First Impressions)


Last year, there was a popular anime series called Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. The show was a sci-fi anime with a little bit of mecha mixed in and was set in Gargantia, a fleet of ships on a beautiful water covered version of Earth. If you want to know more about the anime, it's available to watch (for free!) on Crunchyroll.

Production I.G. (the original company that worked on the Gargantia anime) and Internet Explorer have created a game for the series called Gargantia: Sky Courier, which is out now and it's free! The game is set between Episode 5 and 6 of the original anime. Playing as Ledo, you get to fly over the Gargantia doing jobs for friends. I loved the look of those gliders in the anime, so the idea of flying one (even in game form) really appealed the me!
According to the site, how well you play the game will determine which ending you will get out of three possible endings.

My First Impressions


I played through the game for about half an hour/40 minutes because so far, there's only one mission available to play although they have promised 4 more. The game starts in a visual novel-like form. The dialogue wasn't that interesting, mostly just Amy helping Ledo get a job and a basic setup of reasons about why Ledo has become a 'Sky Courier'. Even if the story isn't groundbreaking so far, it was nice to hear the use of the same voice actors from the show.

The gameplay is simple - you accelerate with one button and direct Ledo into hoops. If you have a touch screen and Internet Explorer 11, you can apparently use touch screen which I haven't heard of being used in browser games before. Your score is affected by whether your fly into the centre of the hoop easily or brush the side of the hoop instead. Don't stray too far from the path of hoops to look at the beautiful landscape though - you lose points if you miss any hoops.

The 3D landscapes look stunning, and there's something very relaxing about flying over a beautiful ocean town. I was hoping I could fly really close to Gargantia and see more detail, but this made Chamber tell me I was flying too low. Oh well.

If you don't know the story of Gargantia or just want to fly around, Sky Couriers features a Mission Mode that let's you play the mission without the dialogue. If you want to explore the skies of Gargantia without the hoop mission, there is also a Free Flight Mode.

Unless you stray from the path, it's nearly impossible to lose once you get the hang of the controls. If you're looking for a challenge, this is the wrong game for you. For me, I enjoyed the nostalgia it gave me of other flying-through-hoop games I played as a kid such as Spyro or Harry Potter. I wouldn't play it for hours, but I did enjoy the short time I played it. At this point, it's not a must play for Gargantia fans - so far, you're not missing out on a big chunk of story. But as the new missions and story content is released, if you've got the time it is a light fun and harmless game to play for a short while.

If you want to try out this new free Gargantia: Sky Couriers game, you can play it in English or Japanese at http://fly.gargantia.jp/ . Let us know what you think in the comments!

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Sunday 22 June 2014

Atlus Gives Us Trailers For Yu Narukami and Tohru Adachi For Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

Keep those trailers coming, Atlus! With Persona 4 Arena Ultimax's Japan August release creeping up, we are treated to two more character trailers - this time for Yu Narukami and Tohru Adachi.

These trailers are both in Japanese, but Yu's shadow saying 'Nanako' at the end of his trailer totally sent a couple of shivers up my spine.


I love how they mention cabbages in Adachi's trailer. Brilliant.


If (like me) and you're waiting for the localisation, you can pre-order Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and get extra goodies (more information about it's contents here, but it comes with a mini Teddie Punching Bag - you probably want it.) from Amazon. If you want the Japanese version, you can pre-order that from Play-Asia.

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New Info On Final Fantasy Explorers - Classes, the World of Amostra and More!

Photos from the Final Fantasy Explorers official website.
With the recent appearance of an official website for Final Fantasy Explorers, more information has come to light about the upcoming 3DS game, along with some cool screenshots which you will see in this post.

Classes


So far, these 11 classes have been announced for the game:
  • Knight
  • Monk
  • Black Mage
  • White Mage
  • Dragoon
  • Paladin
  • Thief
  • Ninja
  • Red Mage
  • Time Mage
  • Bard
Each of these classes will have their own ability sets to learn. Abilities will be interchangeable between classes after you have learnt them, there is a catch though - if you are to use an ability from a foreign class (let's say a White Mage uses a Black Mage ability), you have to pay the full cost of points every time you use it. In contrast, if you use an ability that is native to your class (Black Mage uses a Black Mage ability), you can enjoy paying half the cost price.

Along with being able to switch abilities around, you will also be able to change your Weapon, Armour and Accessories.


Party


Final Fantasy Explorers has been talked about as a 3DS game with a multiplayer function, however you can play solo too. Parties will feature four members, which can include friends, monsters and other things depending on the situation. It has also been revealed that in battle, your party members positioning is important to keep in mind.


World


In Final Fantasy Explorers, you can look forward to exploring the world of Amostra. The island of Amostra was created by the Earth's crust moving at a quick pace and beneath it's surface are Crystals. 'Explorers' come to island to gather these crystals, which are guarded by the beasts that inhabit the island.


As of yet, a localisation of Final Fantasy Explorers for the West has not been announced although a U.S. trademark for the game was filed recently.



Thank you Siliconera for translating/writing this article about Famitsu's Final Fantasy Explorers news and for Gematsu for their article covering the info from the Final Fantasy Explorers website.

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Saturday 21 June 2014

Onigiri - The Anime MMORPG Coming to PS4, PC and Xbox One

The characters from Onigiri
MMO and Anime fans should get excited for Onigiri, a free-to-play Anime MMORPG coming to PC in July. If that didn't sound exciting enough, the game is also scheduled for release on PS4 (in both the West and Japan) and Xbox One (Japan only so far - an English release for Xbox One hasn't been announced). The game was originally released in Taiwan and is going to be a launch game for Japanese Next-Gen consoles.

Onigiri is set in a mythical version of Japan. One of the three ancient seals keeping away the destructive monster Kamigui is broken. A young women and the child of the Oni are brought together by fate and that's where the story begins! If you want to see more, watch the promo video below.


You can find out a lot more about the world of Onigiri at the game's official website. According to the website, you can download Onigiri on PC now to prepare for the service to begin July 1st.

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Drakengard 3 DLC Trailer


Playstation has posted on their Youtube account a video featuring all of the new DLC for Drakengard 3 in action. It includes costumes and new story DLC, available now in the Playstation Network Store.

A list of the DLC Featured in the trailer:

Costumes
  • Manah's Garb (Drakengard 2)
  • Gaim's Garb (Drakengard)
  • Furiae's Garb (Drakengard)
  • Eris' Garb (Drakengard 2)
  • Zero's Garb Variety Pack
  • Nier's Garb (Nier)
  • Kaine's Garb (Nier)

Mikhail's Headgear
  • Experimental Weapon
  • Tokyo Tower
  • Beautiful Child

Sound Elements
  • Japanese VO Pack
  • Nier Arrangement Tracks
  • Intoner Arrangement Tracks

Story Elements
  • One's Prologue
  • Two's Prologue
  • Three's Prologue
  • Four's Prologue
  • Five's Prologue
  • Zero's Prologue

You can purchase the new Drakengard 3 DLC from the Playstation Network Store. Drakengard 3 is available now in our Amazon Store.

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Another JRPG Coming To PS4! Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II Announcement Trailer


Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II has been announced by Compile Heart for PS4! Compile Heart are also working on another PS4 game called Omega Quintet, giving PS4-owning JRPG fans a lot to look forward to.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II is the seventh game in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series and will feature three different game dimensions for players to explore. The game will also feature a new character, called Uranus (below).

Photo Source: Hyperdimension Neptunia Wiki

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Akiba's Trip 2 - Costume Trailer!


Because Akihabara is a special place in Japan, Akiba's Trip 2 was bound to have some equally special costumes. I'm sure there a lots of costume references I missed in this video (comment below with which ones you recognised), but I particularly enjoyed the Super Sonico costume!
Akiba's Trip 2 will be out in Japan for PS4 in July and is currently available for pre-order now at Play-Asia. Don't want to wait for the PS4 version to be released or localised? Akiba's Trip 2 is out on Vita and PS3 in Japan and it's English release is due out in August.

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Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call Is Just The Beginning - DLC Will Feature For New Games



Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call sounds like it's a solid foundation to something very cool for fans of Final Fantasy's music. According to the game's producer, Ichiro Hazama, as future Final Fantasy games are released we can expect corresponding DLC tracks for the game to be released for Curtain Call. He told Polygon:
"We wanted to make it so Curtain Call is like your base and then you would add more songs as newer titles joined the roster and be able to accommodate for DLC or things like that and build upon it. But that would be our final form of Theatrhythm that handles the Final Fantasy songs. 
In terms of Final Fantasy songs, we will continue to produce new Final Fantasy titles and with that, there'll be new songs added to the repertoire."

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call already contains over 200 songs and I think it's wonderful they are willing to continue expanding as the Final Fantasy series does. This is what I personally think DLC should be - not just milking money, but adding where it is appropriate to the game's purpose.


Let us know what you think of this DLC decision in the comments!

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is currently available for North America pre-order from the game's official website or at our Amazon Store. European readers can pre-order at Play-Asia.

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Friday 20 June 2014

Hyperdimension Action Neptunia U Shows Off It's Opening Video

Photo source: Destructoid
A few months ago, a new Neptunia game called Hyperdimension Action Neptunia U was announced in Dengeki Playstation Magazine in Japan. The details given at that time were that it was an action spin-off of the original series and we could expect it in Japan on the 28th of August 2014 for PS Vita.

The video below is from the Youtube of the game's developers Compile Heart. According to the videos title, it is the Opening Video for the game. The video showcases the characters and gives a small taste of what we can expect from the game.


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Wednesday 18 June 2014

Persona Q To Feature DLC (And the DLC That Just Got Revealed In Japan)

While we Westerners patiently await the release of 3DS game Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Japanese players have already received two free Sub Personas for the game. On top of this, they are about to be offered two more powerful Sub Persona's for a small fee of 200 yen.

Photo credit: Siliconera
Photo credit: Siliconera
Japanese Persona Q players originally received the above Personas, Kaguya and Orpheus Kai for free within the first few weeks of the release. Now players will be treated to (for that small fee of 200 yen) Magatsu Izanagi from Persona 4 and Thanatos from Persona 3, with both featuring strong special attacks.

Photo credit: Siliconera
Photo credit: Siliconera
Atlus has also teased more upcoming DLC, featuring "the three siblings will help you on your adventure." Always with the exciting surprises, Atlus!

(Special thanks to Siliconera for their original article)

You can pre-order Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth in Standard or Limited edition in the JRPG Jungle Amazon Store. You can also buy the Japanese version of Persona Q from Play-Asia.
Please always be aware of your game/3DS's region when buying 3DS games!

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Tuesday 17 June 2014

BlazBlue....the Card Game?!



In a completely unexpected turn of events, Alliance Digital Media will be releasing the official BlazBlue Battle Card game for iOS in Fall 2014 (Australian Spring). It is worth noting this game is the first BlazBlue game that will not need localisation as it will be developed in English.

The card game will allow players to play online and will have leaderboards. Not much of the gameplay has been revealed, but in the trailer you can see the characters special combo's displayed as cards and the layout of the game looks very similar to BlazBlue's console game fight layout.

Players will be given the option to choose from 12 characters. As you can see in the trailer below, Hazama and Ragna are (of course) in the game, so only time will tell who the rest of the characters will be (characters like Jin and Noel are probably a good bet).



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Monday 16 June 2014

Final Fantasy Explorers Is Being Developed For 3DS



In a recent issue of Jump Magazine in Japan, a new game called Final Fantasy Explorers was announced. The game is to be released on 3DS and will involve searching for crystals and fighting summons from previous Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy Explorers will also take a more traditional RPG method of leveling up, including the use of job systems such as Black Mage and Monk.

More recently announced, the game will also incorporate online multiplayer through both Wi-Fi and Adhoc. We will post more information as it appears, including if a localisation gets announced!

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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Shows Off The New Villain: Sho Minazuki


The mysterious newcomer Sho Minazuki has received his own trailer for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. It seems that there's also a brief glimpse at his Persona Tukiyomi when he's fighting Chie. Translations from Siliconera have pointed out that he wants to destroy the world and only one life will live on. *chills*




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Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem is "Right On Schedule"


In January 2013, a crossover RPG for WiiU  featuring Shin Megami and Tensei and Fire Emblem was announced. Since then, the game hasn't had any other news, leaving fans to speculate about what's going on with the game.

During a developer conference at E3 2014 for Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., Hitoshi Yamagami was questioned on Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem. His reply:
"We're right on schedule, but if I answer in any more detail I will lose my job so please have mercy on me."
It's not much news, but it's something!

(Quote from this Polygon Event Highlights)

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Saturday 14 June 2014

Finding All The E3 News Overwhelming? Here's A Complete List Of Posts From Our JRPG E3 2014 Coverage!



E3 is a crazy time of year and if you want to keep up with all the news, it can take dedication and a change in sleeping pattern (at least if you're in my country!). To make things easier for you, here is a master list of JRPG Jungle's E3 2014 coverage, sorted by conference/company. Happy hype train!

Nintendo

Atlus
Sega

Square Enix:

Bandai Namco
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Thursday 12 June 2014

E3 2014 - Bandai Namco: Tales of Hearts R English Trailer


Fans of the popular Tales of series will be pleased to see a new trailer for the recently announced Tales of Hearts R game for PS Vita. The game is due in Winter 2014.

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E3 2014 - Bandai Namco: Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment English Trailer


Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is a game that myself and other fans of the SAO anime have been excited about for some time. Here is the first English trailer of the game! The game is due for release in Summer 2014.

For more information on Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, check out our previous articles here and here on the game.

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E3 2014 - Aksys Games: Guilty Gear Xrd Sign Trailer


Coming to PS4 and PS3, this is the trailer for Guilty Gear Xrd Sign. The game features fighting game mechanics from Arc System Works (which feature in Persona 4 Arena and Blazblue) and is the first of their games to be released on Playstation 4. The game is due for release in this year's holiday season.

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E3 2014 - NIS America: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Trailer


NIS America have shared another trailer for Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. For a slightly longer look at Danganronpa 2, check out our post on the other recent trailer for the game.

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You can pre-order Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair from Amazon.

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E3 2014 - NIS America: Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited Trailer


During E3, a trailer for Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited has been released. The game is a PS Vita port of the original game Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, this time featuring all DLC for the game plus new content and scenarios.

Disgaea is a popular Strategical JRPG franchise that is known for it's kooky Netherworld shenanigans and extreme stat grinding potential, including the option to level up to level 9999.

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E3 2014 - Nintendo: Fantasy Life Trailer


On October 24th 2014, a life-simulation RPG called Fantasy Life will be coming to 3DS. Fantasy Life was originally released at the end of 2012 in Japan and features music from Nobuo Uematsu, whose music has featured in many Final Fantasy games.

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You can pre-order Fantasy Life for 3DS from Amazon. Please note - the 3DS is region locked, so always make sure you are buying the right 3DS game for your console's region.

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E3 2014 - Sega: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd Trailer


Sega has released first English trailer of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd for PS3 and PS Vita. The video features one of the new songs we can expect in the game and also shows off some of the new gameplay elements, specifically involving the 'star' buttons we saw in the last game. Interesting.

If you haven't played the original Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F game (you can read our review on the PS Vita Demo here.), the game is a fun rhythm game features multiple characters from the popular Vocaloid synthesiser, including Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len. The game also let's you win costumes and accessories and has 4 difficulty settings, ranging from Very Easy to Extreme.

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You can pre-order Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd for PS3 and PS Vita from Amazon.

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E3 2014 - Square Enix: Final Fantasy VII G-Bike is Announced for Mobile Phones


Didn't see this one coming. In the spirit of a mini game from Final Fantasy VII, a free to play iOS and Android game will be coming later this year called Final Fantasy VII G-Bike. Although the game is free, it will offer In-App Purchases.

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E3 2014 - Square Enix: Final Fantasy Agito is Announced for the West!


A few months ago, a cool Final Fantasy mobile game was released in Japan based in the same world as Final Fantasy Type-0 (which just got announced for a HD Remake). Square Enix announced that this mobile game called Final Fantasy Agito will also be coming to Western iOS and Android devices. The game is free to play, although In-App Purchases will be offered.

The game allows you to create your own character to attend Akademeia. During weekdays, gameplay takes a school social route and on weekends, players battle together to defeat monsters and bosses. This is a very unique gameplay model and so perfect for a handheld game - a fun social game for on the way to work during the week and a battle game on the weekends where you can get more involved. Awesome.

No official release date has been announced, but I will be sure to post more information when I see it!

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E3 2014 - Atlus: New Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Trailer


Atlus has treated us with yet another new Persona trailer. This time, the trailer is for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first trailer in English and with the English voice cast! We've seen plenty of cool Japanese trailers for the game but hearing the awesome English cast was very refreshing.

(I guess until I learn Japanese properly, there will be nothing like being able to understand the trailers of one of my favourite Japanese game series. *sigh*)

Anyway, very excited for the game, especially with the new pre-order bonuses, which you can read about here!

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Persona Q and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Pre-Order Perks Announced + Persona Q's European Release

So many good Persona announcements, it's killing me with joy!

Atlus has announced their pre-order perks for both Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Since Persona 4 Arena Ultimax's release date on Amazon is September 30th and Persona Q's is November 30th (don't get too excited - they're still place holder dates, not real dates), let's start with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax's perks!


If you pre-order Persona 4 Arena Ultimax from these listed retailers (including Amazon), you will receive the game on whichever platform you choose and also a Teddie Bop Bag and the first set of 11 Tarot Cards (you'll hear about the second set in a minute). If you're a Persona player, you'll instantly recognise the cards - they are the Arcana cards from the game.

Atlus also teases that there is more to come. I wonder a) what else they're going to include and b) if it will be included in the standard edition!

Now for Persona Q....

(Please Note - these are the pre-order perks for the North American release. The 3DS is region locked.)


If you pre-order or buy a first print copy of Persona Q for 3DS (retailers haven't been officially listed, but you can pre-order from Amazon), you will receive the game in special packaging and the second set of 11 tarot cards.

This means if you want the full set of tarot cards, you will need to pre-order both Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Persona Q.

But there's more for Persona Q fans! Atlus have also announced the Wild Cards Premium Edition for Persona Q:


As you can see in the photo, the Wild Cards edition includes the game, special packaging, the 'Sound of the Labyrinth' Music CD, Nintendo 3DS XL Case (which you can actually buy separately from Play-Asia), a Persona Q Artbook and the second set of Tarot Cards. Wow.

And in true 'Atlus, shut up and take my money' spirit, I just pre-ordered the Persona Q Premium Edition to go with my Persona 4 Arena Ultimax pre-order. Please note - I haven't even bought my 3DS yet. My god.

Congratulations are also in order for Atlus - Persona Q debuted at number one in the gaming charts in Japan.

And for European readers, Persona Q has finally been announced for European release. An all round good time for Persona fans right now!

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