Thursday, March 29, 2012

Goodbye, UnchainBlades ReXX; hello, Unchained Blades

How's this for a pleasantly surprising piece of news: The folks at XSEED Games announced yesterday that they will be bringing both the PSP and 3DS versions of FuRyu's dungeon-crawling RPG, UnchainBlades ReXX, to the US later this year as Unchained Blades. (Here is an article about the differences between the two versions, in case any of you are interested.)

In case you've never heard of UnchainBlades ReXX, which hit store shelves in Japan last summer, here's all you really need to know: It's a Wizardry-esque dungeon-crawler that was directed by Lunar's Toshio Akashi and penned by Grandia's Takashi Hino.

Should that not mean much to you, you may want to check out the following, action-packed trailer (of the PSP version, I believe), which preceded the game's Japanese release:



Personally, I've been interested in this game ever since I first laid eyes on the video above. I'm especially intrigued by how colorful the battle scenes seem to be. I'm also rather fond of the pyrotechnic special attacks that quite literally litter this particular trailer.

Another compelling aspect of Unchained Blades: Although parties are limited to just four human-ish characters (from a cast of 13), players can attempt to convince the monsters they encounter in the field to follow them. In fact, each character can be aligned with up to four “unchained” (as they are called in the game) creatures at any one time, with each monster assisting said party members by blocking attacks or supplying them with special offensive abilities.

One final, curious fact about this delicious-looking (to yours truly, at least) dungeon-crawler: Both the 3DS and PSP versions will be released as digital downloads.

12 comments:

Bryan Ochalla said...

BTW, here's a teaser trailer for the NA version of the game: http://tinycartridge.com/post/20115163812/unchained-blades-trailer-released-as-a-retail

Retr0gamer said...

More Dungeon Crawling? I'm sold. I've heard this one hyped up as one of the better ones as well.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ah, that's good to hear, Retr0gamer! I think I'm going to go for the PSP version, assuming the price isn't too high. Which one are you planning to pick up?

BTW, I'm glad to hear that Nintendo will soon be allowing full games to be sold digitally as well as at retail. I probably won't buy them unless I'm forced to (such as in this situation), but I'm glad others will be able to buy them freely, if they so desire.

Retr0gamer said...

Should be finally getting a US 3DS soon so think I'll be going for the 3DS version, think the 3D effect would be great in a crawler.

Unknown said...

Ok, so the big question is: what version would you get? Honestly, I'm torn... I'll be reviewing it, so I threw in my interest for the PSP version, but I'm fine playing either, really. The prospect of playing it on the shiny Vita screen does have me a little bit excited, though.

I assume you'd want it for the 3DS, Bryan?

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Breasts much?! Yikes. I didn't much care for the music in the trailer, but the enemies and attacks look great!

Bryan Ochalla said...

Retr0gamer: Ah, yes, that's true! Honestly, I'm not sure why I want the PSP version. May have to rethink that. Anyway, I'm glad someone else is looking forward to getting this one, too :)

Bryan Ochalla said...

Anne: Surprise! I want the PSP version. Not entirely sure why, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I wonder if I'll be able to snag a review copy? Unlikely, but I'll try.

I really can't wait to get my hands on this one regardless. It's been a while since I've playing a first-person dungeon-crawler :)

Bryan Ochalla said...

Justin: I know! I love how the first image you see in the video is a pair of huge breasts. Oh, well. As for the attacks and enemies looking cool: I agree! Yeah, the music's kind of meh, but that's OK with me if everything else about the game is great.

Sinistro said...

I´m currently playing the Psp version, and the game is awesome (in the fourth chapter)! It´s fun like Etrian Odissey from NDS, but the characters have great personalities.

I like the arrogant main character Fang, wich is indeed VERY arrogant, but also a really easy going dragon emperor, he doesn´t care who you are, as long as you are strong!

Some battles that have a system like musical games like dance dance revolution are so fun! But these battles are kinda rare, they are only to see how strong your whole party is, the main characters and the followers (or strikers/meat shields like someone descrived in a forum).

And the Voice Cast is awesome, with many great Voice actors from Persona 3 and Valkyria Chronicles 2 (voices like Akihiko from P3 and Cossete form VC2)!

The music is like a simpler Final Fantasy, nothing really great, but also it was something that I enjoyed. But there´s not any majestic battle theme in it. There are some short animations in this game, really cool.

Unchained Blades is a fun (but hard) game (but not as hard as Gungnir!), worth of any system!
Having it in your Psp or 3DS, anyone will be pleased to play this gem!

Sinistro said...

By the way the enemies reminded me of Dragon Quest/Warrior, and the Titnas... they are the living enormous dungeons that you will explore, but also the very same bosses of the dungeon! I fell like Kratos!

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this game, Sinistro! I'd honestly forgotten about it until now. Glad to hear you're enjoying it, though. I'm waiting for the 3DS version to come out before making a decision as to which version I pick up.