Author Archives: InTheSky

Puyo Puyo Quest Cafe Logo

Puyo Puyo Cafe! Featuring An Extensive Menu And Other Special Treats!

Lately it seems that cafes for many Sega franchises are operating in Japan! And certainly, why not? From Valkyria to Yakuza, if I had the opportunity, I’d check these out myself.

Sega opened up an official webpage for this new cafe, featuring image previews and menu item descriptions. There are quite a lot of menu items to choose from at this cafe! Patrons who purchase a set of menu items together (the set of descriptions that can be found above the beginning of the menu) will also receive special bonus items like coasters. The cafe is set to last from March 17 to May 15. Check out a gallery of menu item preview images below (credit to the Sega webpage linked in this paragraph.)

Unfortunately, it’s not quite clear to me what the Witch Drink is comprised of. My apologies to our readers!

Additionally, there’s a special Puyo Quest promotion for those who order the Puyo Quest Cafe Special Set. The cafe has its own Wi-Fi hotspot set up – connect to it, and search for quests while connected, and you’ll find a Puyo Quest Cafe quest. You can participate in it by yourself or with a friend. Completion of the quest will net you special exclusive items.

In addition to this, there is a special booth for fingernail decoration at the cafe! The planners have certainly went all-out for this cafe. This Japan Trends article (written in English!) notes that this year actually marks the third year of cafes for Puyo Quest! Be sure to check out their writeup as well!

Additionally, Dengeki Online recently went live with a preview of a newly-opened Puyo Puyo cafe, based in Sweets Paradise at Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Their own article features many pictures of the menu items and some images of the cafe’s interior.

Project DIVA X 9th

Ninth Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X Songs PV

Happy Hatsune Miku Day! March 9th is recognized as “Miku Day” in Japan, since “mi” and “ku” can refer to “3” and “9.” Miku Day is not the same thing as Miku’s birthday in Japan (August 31) but is nevertheless a widely celebrated occasion.

While Miku Day has passed in Japan, many of us in other parts of the world have not had a chance to celebrate. Give thanks to Hatsune Miku today!

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DBFCI Netoge DLC

New Characters From “Netoge no Yome” To Be Added To DBFC: Ignition

Remember when we last wrote about Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition? Did you think updates for the game were finished?

Then, news of a new round of DLC characters to be added to the game might surprise you. Dengeki Online has announced that Ako and Lucian from “Netoge no Yome wa Onna no Ko Janai to Omotta?”, a light novel series, are going to be introduced as paid DLC characters for Ignition. While both of these characters have leading roles in their franchise of origin, Ako will be a playable character and Lucian will be a support option. In our featured image above, Ako is on the left and Lucian is on the right beside her. Ako will also be receiving a Story Mode scenario when she is made available for Ignition.

There’s no word on release date or pricing yet, but the characters will be available for playtesting in a new build at the Dengeki Game Festival taking place on March 13 (this upcoming Sunday) in Akihabara, according to the Dengeki Online article linked above.

Following the localization of Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax for the West, the expanded iteration “Ignition” hasn’t been localized yet for Western audiences.

Credit for our featured image goes to the above-linked Dengeki Online article.

Official_SonicSEGAFJ_logo_16

Sonic and SEGA Fan Jam 2016 is Announced!

The Sonic and SEGA Fan Jam is returning for its third year! For those not aware, this is a fan-created event series based in the state of Georgia, typically taking place in the Fall season. SEGABits has opened up a revamped subpage for the 2016 iteration of the Fan Jam, which you can check out here. Many details are to be announced and the information for the submenus seen at the top of the page will be specified as the year passes. Tickets cannot be ordered yet, however…

The gogetfunding link for this year’s event is here. A new set of reward tiers have already been put in place. Contributions to this event go towards a number of elements that will bolster the Fan Jam experience including (credit to the gogetfundinglink for the info):

  • Cover the expenses of special “SEGA” guests to announce
  • Secure an awesome venue for attendees
  • Equipment for the event with cool rewards to give out for the support.
  • Provide SEGA games to play and activity events

This time around, the planning staff have opened up a Twitter account. Be sure to follow it for easy access to news and event staffers. If you have Facebook, you may also want to check out the Fan Jam Facebook Page.

Kiryu Majima DLC Kiwami

Yakuza Kiwami and its…Special Majima DLC?

Sega has announced an interesting piece of free DLC for Yakuza Kiwami on the official Yakuza website. It was made available starting yesterday in Japan. The DLC contains various items, some of which allow you to customize Kazuma Kiryu in the image of…Goro Majima. The tables have finally turned.

Besides items for visual purposes (including Majima’s trademark snake skin jacket, unbuttoned by default of course,) some of the items include parts for weapon crafting, for the purposes of perhaps better paying tribute to Kiryu’s best friend ever.

Between projects like this and the Valentine’s Day promotion from February, It’s nice that Sega is continuing to support Kiwami in unique ways after the game has been released. Yakuza Zero has been announced for localization in the Americas (no known localization news for Europe since the initial announcement) but there’s no word on Yakuza Kiwami at the moment. Yakuza games are substantial translation projects. In any case, we’ll keep you posted.

SMT IV Official artworks cover

Shin Megami Tensei IV Artbook is Out Now!

Shin Megami Tensei IV Official Artworks, the official artbook of for Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei IV, is now available for purchase at select retailers! Publishing is being handled by UDON Entertainment, responsible for many other video game artbooks such as those for the Valkyria Chronicles series.

Shin Megami Tensei IV Official Artworks boosts 208 pages and has a suggested retail price of $39.99. The book will feature detailed character profiles and a glossary of terms (in English) to give added color to world of Shin Megami Tensei IV, alongside some special interviews from development staff. As for the art itself, Masayoki Doi is the lead artist for Shin Megami Tensei IV, but the game also features a handful of guest character designers with various backgrounds including Keita Amemiya (Capcom’s Onimusha series) and Yasushi Nirasawa (Kamen Rider), with other artistic talents in tow, too.

You can check out some preview images at the announcement news post that UDON made on their official website!

Live Quest Mode Gameplay Demo from Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X

Famitsu released a video of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X featuring a new addition to the series – Live Quest mode. My colleague Draikin has written articles on Live Quest mode previously, and now the video can act as a sort of visual synthesis for the detailed coverage he’s provided on this mode.

To summarize: there are five Areas in Live Quest mode, each of which are themed after the five Elements in Project DIVA X. The player is free to cycle between the five Areas at their leisure. Within each Area are Elemental-themed songs that must be cleared, and after clearing a song the player acquires Voltage that “restores” the Area of a particular Element. But any given Area cannot be fully restored without finally completing a Medley featuring songs of a particular Element.

Check out the video below! It lasts for a little more than five minutes and serves as a comprehensive overview of the Live Quest mode experience on the Playstation Vita. If you missed out on Rush Notes before, you can also see it in this video.

『初音ミク -プロジェクト ディーヴァ- X』ライブクエストモード紹介動画

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X is due for release in Japan on March 24. We still do not have any word on localization outside of Japan.

EOV New Logo

Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth

Etrian Odyssey V’s promotion is certainly accelerating as of the last couple of months. To start, we have an official subtitle to accompany Etrian Odyssey V- “長き神話の果て”, which is generally being translated as The End of the Long Myth. We can see it in the new logo being used as this article’s featured image.

The new world of Etrian Odyssey V is called Arcadia. And in this new world, Etrian Odyssey V will be deviating slightly from franchise conventions. Characters will be one of four races: Aslan are humans; Lunar are elves; Brani are dwarves; Cerian are beastkin. While character classes are an Etrian Odyssey mainstay, in this particular game certain classes will be exclusive to certain races. So far, the known classes for each race are as follows:

  • Aslan: Fencer, Dragoon, Cestus, Reaper
  • Lunar: Necromancer, Warlock
  • Brani: Herbalist, Shaman
  • Cerian: Warrior, Hound

There is probably some sort of consistency to the types of classes that each race will have access to (whether or not they are support-oriented, or magic offense-oriented, etc.) but we’ll know more later. However, it does appear that there will be skills specific to each race – adding further to the complexity of character options. Director Shigeo Komori, in an excerpt from Famitsuu, mentioned that it will be more difficult to synthesize teams that work together, as units are going to be created with heavily specialized skill sets in mind. When this week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu is fully published, more access to artwork and information will be available.

Character customization will be give more depth in Etrian Odyssey V. The game is designed to give players a greater sense of freedom in character design, even down to more coloring options (specific note was made of giving characters differing eye colors.) Hair and skin colors are also adjustable.

Players will be assigning voices to the characters they create, from a large trove of voice talent. For those who were following our 7th Dragon III Code: VFD coverage, this is the same idea. A list of the seiyuu who have recorded lines for the game can be found below:

Shouta Aoi (hey, it’s the PSO2 anime protagonist!)
Satomi Arai
Akira Ishida
Touru Oukawa
Ayaka Ohashi
Yoshihisa Kawahara
Misaki Kuno
Mitsuki Saiga
Takuya Satou
Asami Seto
Atsuko Tanaka
Kousuke Toriumi
Jouji Nakata
Kaori Nazuka
Natsuki Hanae
Saori Hayami
Megumi Han
Youko Hikasa
Rina Hidaka
Yui Horie
Ayumu Murase
Tsubasa Yonaga

Some of these names are probably familiar to those who are regular anime watchers or fans of other JRPGs!

Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth is due for release in japan on August 4th of this year, priced at ¥6,480. There will be a limited edition (priced at ¥10,778) that includes an art book, official soundtrack CD, and downloadable content. And it’s still for the Nintendo 3DS!

Development for the game is currently marked at 60%. On March 5th, 9 PM (JST), there will be a Niconico broadcast dedicated to Etrian Odyssey V featuring some of the voice talent for the game alongside premiere of its first promotional trailer.

Credit to this Gematsu article and to this NeoGAF thread for the information.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X’s Challenge: “Ultimate Medley”

A special song was revealed in Famitsu this week for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X, and it’s styled as a monumental challenge. Introducing the “Ultimate Medley ~Delusional Suite of Transcendental Finesse~”! If that mountain of syllables for the song title didn’t intimidate you, then perhaps the song list that comprises the medley might be more convincing:

  • “The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku” by cosMo@BousouP
  • “Two-Sided Lovers”by wowaka
  • “Sadistic.Music∞Factory” by cosMo@BousouP
  • “2D Dream Fever” by PolyphonicBranch
  • “The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku” by cosMo@BousouP

There will be “Ultimate” modules for each of the main six Vocaloids to accompany this song. Be sure to check out this Hachima Kikou post for song previews!

Credit for the information found in this article goes to the Project DIVA Wiki group.

Valkyria Chronicles Cafe Menu Spread

Valkyria Chronicles Cafe in Japan!

Surprise attack! Valkyria Chronicles and Sweets Paradise are collaborating for a Valkyria Chronicles-themed cafe in Japan. February 26 marked the grand opening, and the project will run until May 8. Quite a long time! The cafe project is taking place at the Marui Kinshicho department store in Tokyo. Look for it on the 7th Floor, running from 11:00 A.M. to 10:30 P.M.

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