Author Archives: InTheSky

Yakuza Kiwami: Story PV, New Character Introduction

InTheSky December 12, 2015 Leave a reply

Sega has produced a new promotional video for Yakuza Kiwami and uploaded it to their Japanese YouTube account for the Yakuza franchise. It’s an eight minute trailer that skims over the story of Kiwami, a remake of the first Yakuza title. We see here Kiryu’s sacrifice and Nishiki’s descent as he is overcome with guilt and inadequacy. While one man falls and then rises from the ashes, the other rises to power but falls into corruption.

Of course we see other key characters receiving some spotlight in this trailer, with Haruka’s introduction (“I am not ‘omae’/you. I am Haruka”) and Majima being his lovable self, who will be around to harass Kiryu at the player’s leisure. A new character introduced specially for Kiwami is Shinichi Shinohara, a videogame representation of a real-life retired judo talent. He’s the new face shown in the featured image for this article, but he’s not shown in the Story video. Kiryu is supposed to be his tour guide for Kamuro-cho, but Shinohara is also a participant in a underground fighting club and invites Kiryu to participate. Between him and Beat Takeshi in Yakuza 6, Yakuza’s certainly got its celebrity cameos covered. Not a bad look for the franchise.

Yakuza Kiwami’s Japanese release date of January 21, 2016 is fast approaching. Check out the trailer below!

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final’s Animated Promotional Trailer

InTheSky December 12, 2015 Leave a reply

Atlus uploaded an animated promotional trailer for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final to their Japanese YouTube account. It clocks in at a little under two minutes, and details the havoc that the continued war between deities and demons is wreaking on the human world. Let’s not forget that these powerful beings are not exactly looking to cooperate with humans either, aiming ultimately for the servitude of humanity in some form or another.

In any case, the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei IV Final is apparently at the wrong place at the wrong time during a demon attack…and yet all the same, it’s an accident that will change his life and the course of history. What that ultimately means will be up to the player.

Continue reading to view the trailer!

Genei Ibun Roku #FE “WebCM”

InTheSky December 11, 2015 Leave a reply

Nintendo’s official website for Genei Ibun Roku #FE has been updated with a new short “WebCM” video, alongside another developer blog post. The WebCM is under a minute long and is perhaps being used to advertise the game online. The developer blog posts have been produced rather regularly and are lengthy.

Continue reading to check out the trailer! The promotional phase leading up to this game’s release has been noticeably active, with trailers for each character and a variety of game concept and system trailers. Genei Ibun Roku #FE will hit stores in Japan on December 26, while release for Western regions is set for sometime next year.

7th Dragon III Code: VFD OST To Be Released This Month

InTheSky December 9, 2015 Leave a reply

Famitsu recently announced the production of an OST package for 7th Dragon III Code: VFD, to be released December 23rd. What an opportune Christmas present, especially if you’re a Yuzo Koshiro fan! The OST includes 45 tracks across three CDs. Check out the Famitsu article at the start of this writeup to view the tracklist. After checking out preorder pages for Amazon.jp, HMV, and CDJapan, it appears the sale price is at ¥3600 with tax.

7th Dragon III Code: VFD released this past October. It was just shy of 100k before dropping off of the ranking of the top-selling Media Create games the following week after the above-cited link (maintaining a presence on the list for a good month or so.) Not bad at all for a turn-based RPG selling only in Japan.

Credit for the featured image goes to the above-linked Famitsu article.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final Formally Reintroduces Nozomi

InTheSky December 9, 2015 Leave a reply

We’ve seen her more than once in promotional media for the game, but in the most recent issue of Weekly Famitsu Atlus is now reintroducing Nozomi from Shin Megami Tensei IV to its sequel, Shin Megami Tensei IV Final. She was prominent in certain quests from Shin Megami Tensei IV, and in the sequel Nozomi is now a “fairy queen” following certain events of the previous game.

Famitsu describes as formerly being a high-ranking member of the demon-exterminating Outlaw Hunters, the same group to which the protagonist belongs. Considering some of the previous promotional material featuring Nozomi, it appears that she and the Polytheistic Alliance will be opposed (does anybody want to work with the Polytheistic Alliance?)

Nozomi has a casual but caring personality that willingly watches over others. Nozomi will be one of the partner characters available to the player in this game, besides Isabeau and Asahi. Besides all of the intense world-changing affairs of the Shin Megami Tensei IV universe, Nozomi has a love for photography.

Continue reading to check out a short dialogue scene featuring Nozomi, Asahi, and Navarre.

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition to Receive DLC Characters, Including Yuuki from Sword Art Online

InTheSky December 7, 2015 1 Reply

Dengeki Online recently revealed that Sega is planning DLC characters to coincide with the release of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Ignition on PS3, PS4, and Vita later this month. First up is (playable) and Ren of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online who will be an assist character. Both will be free DLC for a limited time, but additional details such as date of availability and the specification of the free download period will be announced later.

Both of the new characters are on the left side of this image – Yuuki is on the left, and Ren is on the right, for reference. No word yet on Yuuki’s fighting style or any video footage of her in action, but it won’t be long before we find out since Ignition releases on December 17. It’s entirely possible that we’ll get another playable character or two, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Nice looking stage, by the way.

Credit to Dengeki Online for the information and images!

Genei Ibun Roku #FE: Yashiro and Introduction Videos

InTheSky December 5, 2015 Leave a reply

Two new trailers for Genei Ibun Roku #FE have been recently uploaded to Nintendo of Japan’s YouTube chanel – one being another from the character introduction video series and the other being an extended Introduction Video that summarizes the game itself, clocking in at around five minutes.

Yashiro Tsurugi is cool and composed, and incredibly distant to the point of being stand-offish. He’s an accomplished idol unlike some of the other members of the cast. Perhaps the pursuit of success has warped Yashiro’s personality? Or does it have to do with a certain incident in the past that he’s tied to, wherein a number of performers seemingly vanished into nothing? He’s also got heterochromia, and that bright blue iris certainly stands out compared to the rest of his color scheme.

Also, note that Introduction Video starts off with “ATLUS X Fire Emblem.” It’s an interesting pivot from when this project was first introduced as “Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem” years ago but conceptualizing it now as Atlus X Fire Emblem does seem to make the most sense. The Video itself covers all of the bases of the game, but another reason to watch it is for the flashy and dramatic battle sequences. Performances are the lifeblood of this game’s concept after all.

Anyway, continue reading to check out both videos!

Yakuza 0 and Phantasy Star Online 2 Recognized at Playstation Awards

InTheSky December 4, 2015 Leave a reply

The winning titles of this year’s Playstation awards have been announced, and certain Sega games have received some distinction for commercial performance or through fan recognition. These awards are based on the performance of games released from the start of November 2014 to the end of October 2015 and covers combined sales throughout Japan and the Asia commercial region.

Phantasy Star Online 2 (PS Vita version) received the Playstation Network Award for being one of the top three highest-selling downloadable titles.

Yakuza 0 received the the Gold Prize for shipping over 500,000 units, and the User Choice Prize for fans polled in the Asia region (Yakuza 0 being one of five recipients for this award.)

It’s worth noting that with receipt of the Gold Prize, Yakuza 0 earned itself recognition alongside some powerful competitors. Here are the other Gold Prize recipients:

Bloodborne
God Eater 2: Rage Burst
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
Grand Theft Auto V

While it’s true that Japan is generally regarded as a hostile environment for conventional “packaged games” (games on dedicated gaming platforms like Playstation 3, Nintendo 3DS, etc.) a number like 500,000 is quite good for a franchise that releases as regularly as the Yakuza franchise does. It also probably shows that Sega’s pivot towards more inclusion and marketing in the Asia region is going to pay off. With a strong Playstation 4 and PC userbase in North American and Europe, hopefully with some proper execution Sega can gain more footing in games in the West. I’m sure many fans can attest to the sentiment that Western Sega presence of its Japanese franchises could be better.

Toshihiro Nagoshi and Masayoshi Yokoyama were present at the event as representatives of the Yakuza franchise, per YakuzaFan. You can check out some nice images of Nagoshi and Yokoyama accepting awards at this DualShockers article.

Credit goes to the above-linked YakuzaFan post for the featured image.

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition Opening Video

InTheSky December 2, 2015 Leave a reply

Sega has just released the opening video for Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition, the second iteration in their Fighting Climax series of games featuring Sega and Dengeki Bunko properties. The game is being released for dedicated gaming platforms (PS3, PS4, Vita) on the 17th of December in Japan.

A reminder that Blade Arcus from Shining EX also recently hit stores. With the gap in release dates, it’s not likely that Blade Arcus from Shining EX and Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition will compete with each other.

Continue reading to ~~choose your envoy of hope~~ check out the video! The video is about a minute and a half long.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final Demo Footage from Recent Niconico Stream

InTheSky December 1, 2015 Leave a reply

Atlus’s development staff for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final recently demoed the game on a SegaNama Niconico broadcast. Sega’s SegaNama channel is periodically used to show off new footage for Sega games, like Yakuza 6. NintendoEverything uploaded footage from the Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final to their YouTube account. Check out the footage below.

The archive shown below includes demon fusion and random encounters, and the dungeon appears to be some sort of underground waterfall area. The last four minutes or so include a boss battle against Sukuna-Hikona.

I hope everyone appreciates the esteemed Toshihiro Nagoshi’s presence in the bottom left screen, between the two female commentators. I think he’s….adding an air of sophistication to the stream. Or something. It’s hilarious and I like it.