For starters, it seems more likely than ever that Square Enix's Bravely Default: Flying Fairy and Level-5's Fantasy Life finally will see release outside of Japan.
In regard to Bravely Default, siliconera.com revealed last Wednesday that during the recent Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, "multiple trusted sources" confirmed that the thus-far-Japan-only 3DS RPG will be localized for English-speaking audiences. As for Fantasy Life, the same site reported on Tuesday that Level-5 has filed a U.S. trademark for the Animal Crossing-esque title (also for Nintendo's latest dual-screened handheld system).
Sadly, neither game has officially been announced for European or North American release, although it now seems likely that news will be shared sooner rather than later.
In other not-so-new 3DS news: the folks prepping Sayonara Umihara Kawase (it'll hit Japanese store shelves sometime this summer) unveiled the following trailer for this eagerly anticipated platformer on Friday.
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I find it kind of disappointing. I know the Umihara Kawase games that were released for the Super Famicom and PlayStation (and later ported to the PSP and DS) could hardly be considered "lookers," but I think they were far more attractive than what's on display in the video above.
That said, I'm planning to follow through with my pre-order of this 3DS title and I'm also feeling hopeful that the team behind the game will make sure it plays better than it looks.
Are any of you excited about any or all of the above-mentioned news nuggets? If so, which ones--and why?
(Video via tinycartridge.com)
13 comments:
I'm excited about BD, of course, and a little bit about Fantasy Life - I'm not sure if it will be able to keep my interest for long tho, as I quickly got bored of games like Animal Crossing or that magic school one... even the adorable London Life that was included in one of the Layton games wasn't able to catch my interest for more than a few hours... but Fantasy Life does look quirky and interesting and since I don't have much for the 3DS, I'll probably give it a go should it come over to Europe one day. ;>
Not sure it'll mean anything to you, miruki, but Fantasy Life is supposed to be a bit different from Animal Crossing. I can't say if it's also different from the magic school one, as I've never played any of those, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were (different). Anyway, it seems it's coming to all regions now, so you may want to prepare for buying and playing it :)
I'm eager to play Bravely Default, silly name and all. A new RPG is always good, but I'm also hoping I can use it as a final bit of bait to convince one of my buddies to buy a 3DS. He was a fan of Four Heroes of Light, so this could be the one that does it. lol
Ah, without knowing a thing about your friend I already like him :) After all, I'm a HUGE fan of Four Heroes of Light, too.
Anyway, if this can't entice him to pick up a 3DS, what would??
Did you see that recent post over at Siliconera saying that Sayonara Umihara Kawase will likely come out in English? It sounds like they're in the process of looking for a publisher. That's certainly nowhere near as close to the almost-announcements we have for Bravely Default and Fantasy Life, but it's good to hear, none the less.
It sounds like you were a little underwhelmed by the trailer, too, so I hope I don't upset you (or anyone else who reads this) when I say I really don't dig the game's graphical style AT ALL. The environments just look so muddy and... blech. I understand the gameplay is the real draw, but I generally have hard time getting excited about something that doesn't appeal to me visually.
As for Bravely Default and Fantasy Life, I'm very excited to hear that they're probably coming out in English! I find it odd that Siliconera was able to let the cat out of the bag regarding Bravely Default, though... I'm still going to reserve the majority of my excitement for when we get an official announcement from Square Enix ;)
Yussss, I'm glad to hear about Fantasy Life and Umihara Kawase...it would have been nice of course to go back to sprite based graphics for that one, but I can live with the crappy polygonal ones. Looks like there'll be new characters this time, so I wonder if they're going to attempt some kind of storyline? I always just assumed it was a daydream sort of scenario on the part of the main character.
I'll just horn in here. :) I'm relieved to hear from more people who don't like the look of the new Umikawa! We all say things like "well, it was never about the graphics..." but I feel like the PSX version especially had a really effective, pleasant style to it. When I look at this by comparison, it just looks cheap and amateurish. That doesn't mean it'll be a bad game but how can it not be disappointing to see a step backwards like that?
Hi Anne! Oh, yes, I saw that post over at Siliconera, and I nearly updated my post here to include the same news. (I didn't do so in the end because I was too lazy.)
As for being underwhelmed by Sayonara Umihara Kawase's trailer and art style: that would be the understatement of the decade :|
Seriously, I don't like the art style AT ALL--and this is coming from someone who actually thinks the SF and PS1 games look pretty great.
I'm hoping it'll look better upon release, but let's be honest: it probably won't. If that proves to be the case, though, hopefully it'll still play better than it looks.
Oh, and as for Bravely Default and Fantasy Life: yes, I'll definitely withhold any real excitement until they're officially announced. Still, it's good to know they're distinct possibilities at this point.
I'm with you, Michael. I liked the looks of both the SF and PS1 games, but I'm not liking the looks of Sayonara AT ALL. Like you said, it looks cheap. Why couldn't they have gone with something a little more in line with the PS1 game, which had sprites on top of polygons? That would have been far more appealing, IMO.
Hello :) Ah, a contrary opinion, I see. That's great! I can live with these crappy polygonal graphics, too, I guess, but I'd still prefer it if the game looked better than it does at the moment.
As for it having a storyline: that will be interesting to find out, won't it? Surely there'll have to be some sort of story to tie these characters together, right?
Heh! Really it's the backgrounds that I don't like the looks of! The characters are a little weird but I'm ok with it, the polygon backgrounds are what really get me (and they looked so good in the PSX version).
Yes, long time no see! I've been neglecting my poor blog and everyone else's too. Don't get me wrong, the graphics ARE pretty bad, but I've never been a big fan of Umihara Kawase's presentation in any of its incarnations so I take them in quiet resignation, haha. I'm just shocked it's even coming to the US...I wonder who the publisher is going to be and what/if they'll rename it to?
Ah, well, Michael, I'm glad to hear you're OK with the character models, because I can't say I like them much more than I like the backgrounds. In fact, I'd say the whole thing looks like a bad PS1 game, but I know that's not completely true. They certainly look worse than the PS1 Umihara Kawase game, though :|
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