Author Archives: InTheSky

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered Announcement

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered For NA/EU Spring 2016 – Trailer, Website, And More

Valkyria, Valkyria

May the bloodline live forever

Today Sega officially announced the North American and European localization of Valkyria Chronicles Remaster, which will be released in the West as Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. Note the “-ed.” It’s important, just like this game. Anyway, all of the in-game goods from the Japanese version are in tow: DLC, trophy support, Expert difficulty. The original version had dual-audio, but if you’re a fan of that it’s back too. There’s no word yet on the Azure Revolution demo, but we’ll find out later.

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered is a Playstation 4 title and is scheduled for release in North America and Europe in Spring 2016, which is right around the corner of this grueling winter that some of us are facing. A limited number of first-release North American copies will be packaged with a metallic Squad 7 Playstation 4 game case. The price for the North America offering is $29.99 US and $44.99 CAN. The European release will also get an exclusive physical offering; more word on that from Sega Europe to come soon.

Sega has even produced an English website for the Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. It hosts a batch of screenshots, and offers a briefing on the story, battle system, and the CANVAS engine. Even better still, Sega of America’s YouTube channel has uploaded a release announcement trailer. Check it out at this article’s end.

Below, check out some screenshots. This first screenshot is the release announcement for the North American region. Our featured image, if you notice, is for Europe.

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered Squad 7 Armored Case Preorder

Prepare for War in Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

Yakuza 6 Demo Footage From Yesterday’s Live Stream

Sega recently broadcasted footage of the Yakuza 6 demo on Niconico. Gematsu has archived the Yakuza 6 section of the stream and put it on YouTube for your viewing. It’s about 11 minutes long.

The demo is accessible to those who purchase a copy of Yakuza Kiwami, which released on January 21. However, the demo itself won’t be playable until the 28th.

Additional comments from the NeoGAF thread on the demo (and this post in particular) help to provide context to the demo. Here are some (not all) of the notes: represents only 70% of what the final product will look like in terms of quality, nothing is pre-loaded until the end of the demo, and new to this game will be the introduction of Heat actions specific to certain body parts.

In related news, the managers of two gaming outlets based in Tokyo have commented that early sales data for Yakuza Kiwami shows the PS4 version selling slightly better than the PS3 version, according to this DualShockers article. One of them expressed confidence in the long-term performance of Kiwami.

Anyway, check out the video below! Look at the seamless transitions!

Yakuza 6 - Sega-Nama Early Demo Gameplay (01.25.16) (Stream Recorded)

Jutland Azure Revolution Valkyria

New Valkyria Azure Revolution Media/Info – Making-of for Songs, More Battle System Details

Sega has produced a new webpage on their Valkyria Azure Revolution website detailing some of the information recently made available on the demo for the game being included alongside Valkyria Chronicles Remaster’s release in Japan. We’ll focus on what’s not been previously covered in our most recent article on Azure Revolution.

First, some additional pieces of information on Maxim, the new character that opposes the kingdom of Jutland and the protagonists. Besides  as having a rather direct personality. We also have a full body official artwork piece of the character, which you can view below:

Valkyria Azure Revolution MaximNext, the kingdom of Jutland. This article’s featured image is of the lovely land itself. The main characters are from Jutland and fight on its behalf against the Rus Empire. It is structured as a constitutional monarchy (it has a king) and it is ruled by the father of Ophelia, who is the game’s heroine. However, the king is more of a puppet with little real influence. This influence belongs to the House of Lords and the House of Representatives seem to have more direct administrative sway on the country’s affairs.

Jutland has a mostly warm climate which lends itself well to agricultural development, and overtime the country has developed a citizenry well-known for its artisanal skills. However, unlike Gallia from Valkyria Chronicles, Jutland severely lacks for Ragnite. As a multi-purpose resource and a prime energy tool, a deficiency of readily accessible Ragnite is difficult for Jutland. Magic Arts industrial production has fallen off, and the “Azure Light” has disappeared. What the Azure Light is specifically and what it means for the plot of Azure Revolution, we’ll learn later.

In the year 1852, four countries formed the BRuFH Alliance, with the Rus Empire at the Alliance’s core. The congregation decided upon obstructing Jutland’s ability to import Ragnite, perhaps as an attempt to weaken Jutland to such a state where it could be conquered and repurposed/occupied to Rus’s liking. This decision, which resulted in an impoverished Jutland, triggers the war that the story of Valkyria Azure Revolution revolves around.

Mission Briefing Azure Revolution ValkyriaSega’s also released some more information on the demo and on the battle system. First – Briefing screens are back! It’s a nice touch from previous Valkyria games. They appear after you select a mission. In the battle demo that will accompany Valkyria Chronicles Remaster’s release, there will be two missions; the first one is described as a tutorial, and the second one is a “real mission.”

Morale Bar Azure Revolution ValkyriaAt the top of the screen, there will be a morale measurement bar that is mutually exclusive between both sides. The HUD for missions when you’re on the field reminds me of Dragon Ball Z: The Legend for the Playstation…anyway, Sega also mentions that mission ranking is a function of clear time and the number of enemies defeated. Rather interesting direction – depending on how the battle system turns out, achieving the highest rank may be very difficult.

Reactions Valkyria Azure Revolution

In our previous writeup about the new information unveiled for the battle system, we learned about preemptive attacking a mob of enemies and how they provide advantages for the player. Sega offers some additional detail by talking about Reactions – which are noticeable on the map prior to engaging in Close Combat. Surprise is a state of shock which lasts for a couple of seconds, and is a chance to gain an advantage in Close Combat. Impatience denotes being in an disadvantageous situation; this is good when the enemy is afflicted with Impatience, because the ability to act is hindered when in this state. Anger increases offensive ability and decreases defensive ability. There is some risk to this Reaction. And lastly, Determined increases defensive stats.

Concluding this deluge of information, Sega released a couple of new videos for Valkyria Azure Revolution. Two of them are for important songs in the game: a making-of for Aoki Kakumei, and another making-of for Eternal Rest (both featuring the talents of Yasunori Mitsuda, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Sarah Alainn.) The last trailer is an extended preview trailer. Check them out!

Aoki Kakumei Making-of, featuring Yasunori Mitsuda:

『蒼き革命のヴァルキュリア』メインテーマ「蒼き革命」 試聴&メイキング映像

Eternal Rest Making-of, featuring Yasunori Mitsuda and Sarah Alainn:

『蒼き革命のヴァルキュリア』メインテーマ「蒼き革命」 試聴&メイキング映像

Extended Teaser Trailer:

『蒼き革命のヴァルキュリア』ティザートレーラー映像 完全版

Credit for the images goes to the Sega website linked at the article’s beginning. Credit for additional information belongs to this Gematsu article.

Project DIVA Demos (Including Future Tone!) Playable at Snow Miku 2016

Sega has announced that Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X (Vita version), Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX (3DS), and the Arcade and PS4 versions of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone will be playable at Snow Miku 2016. Future Tone was announced at Tokyo Game Show last year, as a port of an arcade game. We haven’t heard much about the game since it was announced, but it’s also a port so this may be somewhat expected. “Ren’ai Saiban” by 40mP and “Chaos Medley  ~Giga remix~” by Giga-P will be playable songs, and for Project Mirai DX the playable songs will be “Senbonzakura” by KurousaP and “Ii-Aru Fanclub” by MikitoP. No song-specific demo information seems to be offered for the Future Tone demo units.

Some of you may be aware of Snow Miku as a Vocaloid or Hatsune Miku fan, but this year’s Snow Miku is also notable for Love Live! fans, as the franchise is cross-promoting with Snow Miku this year. Snow Miku is an annual winter-based festival for Hatsune Miku that takes place in Hokkaido, where original Vocaloid developers Crypton Future Media are based. It’s a big festival for Miku in particular, but as for the Love Live characters, snow sculptures and special promotional art is planned, with themed goods likely to come, too.

Credit for the announcement goes to this Gematsu article.

Daguza SMT IV Final

Shin Megami Tensei IV Final Character Video Series – Daguza

Atlus of Japan’s YouTube account will be periodically posting character videos for Shin Megami Tensei IV Final on the way to its February 10 release date. Today’s video is for Daguza. Daguza revives the protagonist and bestows him with the power to control demons. Daguza is likely not so charitable for its own sake – and in the occasional pieces of promotional images we see that Daguza is likely affiliated with the Polytheistic Alliance (Daguza makes mention of Krishna a few times near the video’s end), a group comprised of deities who unsuccessfully attempt to lobby Merkabah and Lucifer to their side. This was all in a gambit to subjugate humanity through a massive coalition of godlike beings, instead of gods warring against each other and then one victor subjugating humanity. To that end, the protagonist may be a helpful tool to the Alliance’s goal. Or he may not be…it’s up to you!

It’s rather long, at about 2:30 minutes, and the extended monologue and sprite animation is a rather unexpected direction. I rather like how Daguza is animated here. But be warned, the same revival sequence that you see once is repeated about half a dozen times, so if you don’t know Japanese you’ll have to learn to love the animation of Daguza floating around.

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January 25th Sega Niconico Live Stream: Featuring Yakuza 6 Demo, Valkyria Chronicles Remaster

Sega has announced plans for another Sega niconico live broadcast set for January 25 (next Monday) at 8:55 P.M. Japan Standard Time. Scheduled for demoing are the Yakuza 6 demo and the Valkyria Chronicles Remaster for PS4.

Additionally, Yakuza Kiwami (which released today in Japan!) will be demoed, and some additional and as of yet unspecified new media/info for Shin Megami Tensei IV Final (which will release on February 10) will be discussed during this stream.

Personally I think it will be quite funny if Toshihiro Nagoshi shows up again, only to act stoic for 90% of the stream. It was strangely enjoyable the last time he did that.

Sign up for a niconico account and view the stream here when the time arrives!

Credit for article info to Gematsu.

Valkyria Azure Revolution – New Character, Battle System/Demo

This week’s Famitsu arrives with a substantive feature on Valkyria: Azure Revolution.

First, the reveal of new character Maxim. His outfit prominently features teal and he sports white hair. Maxim is an antagonist character. The Valkyria series has had a propensity for creating a squad of sub-antagonists under one main antagonist (as the Drei Stern were to Maximilian), perhaps Brynhildr and Maxim might fulfill that same role in Azure Revolution. Besides that, we learn that he was born in Rus Empire-occupied territory, selected to be a young soldier, and received an experimental (possibly unsafe?) Ragnite implant that allows him to use Magic Arts.

Additionally we’ve also got some new information on the battle demo for Azure Revolution that is featured in Valkyria Chronicles Remaster, and how battles for Azure Revolution play out. You control your party through a field and when encountering enemies on the field, you can choose to preemptively attack an enemy party with long range options (described as R1 or L1+Square, separately.) The Circle button can be used to interact with your environment to give yourself cover. If you successfully use a long-ranged attack to surprise the enemy party you’ll be given an as of yet unspecified advantage for the “real” combat phase – Close Combat.

In Close Combat, the player is given four attack inputs, which are assigned to your melee weapons and Magic Arts. The behavior of your allies and the enemy is sensitive to things like terrain, whether or not you attacked first, and how the battle is going thus far. If you initiate a successful preemptive attack, for example, the enemy party will react to your moves in a sub-optimal manner. This all would seem to capture standard Japanese ARPG combat with some Valkyria Chronicles-flairs.

However, should one of your party members reach 0 HP, they’ll enter a near-death state where a timer where appear above them. Either you reach them and heal them, or your party member is permanently incapacitated. Another Valkyria Chronicles staple with a new twist on it for Azure Revolution!

The Famitsu article states that music transitions between the field and entering battles will be seamless. A focus on how to treat and create seamless transitions seems to be more of an adopted trend amongst Japanese RPGs as of late, as opposed to loading screens that produce fights on a separate battlefield.

Yasunori Mitsuda will be contributing his talents for this game’s OST – it’s not clear in what capacity he’ll be around, whether it be for direction or composition, or if he would even be the sole composer. It also notes that Australian-Japanese singer Sarah Àlainn sings the “Song of Death” that can be heard in a recent Azure Revolution trailer. I’ll link it below in case you missed it or want a refresher!

『蒼き革命のヴァルキュリア』ティザートレーラー映像

Credit to Gematsu for the translated information.

New Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X Songs, Modules (January 20 2016)

The newest issue of Famitsu revealed another round of songs and modules for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X.

Songs:

  • The Name of the Sin – ryo
  • Ai Dee – MichieP
  • Akahitoha – KurousaP
  • Hajimete no Oto – mato
  • COOL element medley
    • Unhappy Refrain – wowaka
    • Mairisudame – RaibuP
    • Tengaku – YuuyuP
    • Palette – Yuyoyuppe
    • This Messed-Up Wonderful World Exists For Me – n.k

Modules:

  • Kantatorisu – Yuu
  • Anode Electronica, Cathode Electronica – Fuji Choko
  • Izayoi – One Leaf Mocha
  • Rocking Stone, Dominant Stone, Burning Stone, Lightning Stone, Majestic Stone, Wise Stone – Nidy-2D-

Check out this Hachima Kikou entry if you want to view previews of the songs on Niconico.

Translated names are credited to the Project DIVA Wiki.

Maria Windbreaker

More Sakura Wars Cycling Gear! Featuring Maria Tachibana

After creating cycling gear pieces for Sakura Shinguji and Sumire Kanzaki, it appears Sega and Momoclover are continuing to memorialize other Imperial Assault Force members. Momoclover recently announced the production of Maria Tachibana-themed cycling gear.

Maria Tachibana directly commanded the Imperial Assault Force prior to the arrival of Ichiro Ohgami. The latter would eventually succeed her as the group’s leader, but not without some initial skepticism from the battle-hardened and emotionally cool Maria. She’s another one of my favorites, right up there with Sumire.

It’s worth noting that it seems the character-themed gloves aren’t being offered for any of the Imperial Assault Force members. You may recall the gloves if you visited our other articles on cycling gear for Sakura and Sumire. The other five items (windbreaker, bib shorts, long sleeve jersey, high-function jersey, quick dry jersey) will still be purchasable.

The prices and size offerings are otherwise the same. Click here to check out the Sakura Wars category of the Momoclover shop. If you’re interested in buying any of these items and don’t reside in Japan, you’ll need to check out this English Momoclover Facebook app.

PSOnline 2 PS4Release

Phantasy Star Online 2’s (PS4) Release Date, Closed Beta Info

Phantasy Star Online 2’s Playstation 4 version is set to release on April 20 of this year, according to Sega.

Leading up to the release of the game, Sega will be running a closed beta. 50,000 people will be selected through submitting an application to the Japanese Playstation Store. Applications will be accepted through from January 25 to February 15. The beta itself will run from February 25 to March 6, leading up to the wide release of Phantasy Star Onlne 2 for Playstation 4 in late April.

Additionally, a separate package for the recently released Episode 4 will be made available for all three of Phantasy Star Online 2’s platforms (PS4, PC, Vita) at ¥4,990. A costume scratch for original character Itsuki Tachibana (from the currently-airing PSO2 anime) will also be included in this package.

Still no word on an English-based release of the game from Sega! Hopefully something changes.

Credit for the information goes to this Crunchyroll article and this 4Gamer article.