Author Archives: InTheSky

Puyo Puyo Tetris Xbox One and Playstation 4 Release Promotional Movie

InTheSky December 10, 2014 Leave a reply

It’s been a while since we’ve written about Puyo Puyo Tetris. Last week on December 4th, the Playstation 4 and Xbox One versions of Puyo Puyo Tetris hit retail shelves in Japan; this means that Puyo Puyo Tetris now exists on a total of six platforms!

Leading up to its release, Sega released a two-minute promotional movie explaining some basic concepts of Puyo Puyo Tetris. It’s a crossover of two prominent puzzle gaming franchises, also featuring a colorful story mode and online play options. Beyond that, there are a variety of multiplayer mode options. Puyo Puyo and Tetris both have long histories of competitive play, so these choices will hopefully have something to offer for everyone:

VS is a traditional competition between two players, where the players can either compete in Puyo Puyo, Tetris, or both at the same time.
Puyo Tet Mix is a mode featuring Puyos and tetriminos in the same grid.
Swap is a mode where the game type (Puyo Puyo or Tetris) switches once a countdown on the screen reaches zero. There are two grids, one for Puyo Puyo and the other for Tetris.
Party allows up to four players to compete against each other with the addition of power-up items. Items act as either buffers or de-buffers for players.
Big Bang is a mode where players have to create as much garbage (deleted Puyos or tetriminos) as possible. Periodically, a countdown timer will reach zero during the course of a game of Big Bang. Whenever it reaches zero, player(s) who do not create as much garbage as any opposing party does will lose more HP than the other player(s). Last player standing wins! The game starts off in fever mode or Lucky Attack depending on whether you choose the Puyo Puyo or Tetris style.

Players can compete globally for rankings in the National Puzzle League mode. The article also notes that replays of your gaming sessions can be saved and shared with other Puyo Puyo Tetris players.

Check out the movie after the break!

Yakuza Zero Video Series Week One: “World View Chapter”

InTheSky December 10, 2014 Leave a reply

Leading up to Yakuza Zero’s Japanese release on March 26th, 2015, Sega is producing a weekly series of videos on Yakuza Zero. Today’s inaugural video features a look at the worlds of Kamurocho and Sotenbori with the flavor of the late 80’s. There is no combat – only exploration. Kazuhiro Nakaya, the voice actor for Akira Nishikiyama, is a special guest for this video.

The video is twenty minutes long, and please be aware that it is not subtitled. The first couple of minutes feature some words from Nakaya and Yakuza Zero’s Chief Producer Masayoshi Yokoyama. Skip to about 3:55 to start watching game footage of Kamurocho, and look for the 15-minute mark to check out Sotenbori. Be sure to skip to 13:30 to check out a demo of the disco minigame!

Shining Resonance Commercials Airing Now; Seventh Character Screenshots

InTheSky December 10, 2014 Leave a reply

SEGA uploaded two commercials being used to promote Shining Resonance to their Youtube channel. Both commercials are included in the following clip. The first one features an introduction sequence that should seem familiar to players of the first Valkyria Chronicles game. The second features the introduction of the game’s theme song, Niji no Senritsu. The game is releasing this week – December 11th in Japan.

Additionally, Explosion’s new post here features a gallery, some of which contain screenshots of the seventh playable character. The character does indeed wield the seventh weapon featured on the main website before it’s latest overhaul. Not that it’s a particularly well-kept secret at this point, but those wishing to avoid spoilers should not click on the article.

Continue reading to check out the commercials!

Yakuza Zero: Goro Majima’s Cabaret Club Management Sidequest

InTheSky December 5, 2014 Leave a reply

Not too long ago, we wrote about Kiryu’s major sidequest, Kamurocho Money Island. Siliconera recently produced a writeup describing the major sidequest in Majima’s campaign – the management of the Sunshine cabaret club. The objective here, is to become the premier cabaret club in Osaka. It seems both Kiryu and Majima’s sidequests will have a focus on micromanaging elements.

The army that helps you win this sidequest is certainly different compared to Kiryu’s army. In managing Sunshine, the women make the club and it’s therefore important to choose well. You are provided with a variety of hiring options: women of different body types, personality traits, and more. However, the salaries they ask for vary too. And, do note that such “stats” aren’t always fixed and can be adjusted by talking to the hostesses in classic Yakuza fashion. This has the added benefit of opening up fun bonding activities between Majima and the girls, like karaoke. Other girls can also be found by scouting for them around Soutenbori and by making progress in the Sunshine management sidequest.

It will be important, as club manager, to keep an eye on operations on the ground from time to time. Occasionally you may deal with rowdy customers, and you’ll be servicing both the rich and the poor. It may be possible that Majima will be forced to clean up disturbances in the club if customers become too…undiplomatic. It’s also important to keep an eye on the stamina levels of the working girls. Being overworked means that they will struggle with their jobs, and will in turn produce dissatisfied customers, so be sure to give them a break once in a while.

Success in this game is not merely about staying afloat – Majima’s Sunshine club is competing against other clubs. If Sunshine turns better profits than the competitors, it will boost the club’s reputation (more customers!) and attract new girls interested in working at the club. Eventually, Sunshine can reach a level of success whereby it will drive out competing clubs altogether.

Credit goes to the above-linked Siliconera article for the translated information and the featured image.

Shining Resonance DLC: Grimoires, the Customizable Dungeons

InTheSky December 4, 2014 Leave a reply

As we approach Shining Resonance’s release date in Japan (next week, on the 11th!), the final round of pre-release promotion is out in force. Siliconera produced a helpful article noting that Shining Resonance is receiving DLC for a type of customizable dungeon that the game will call “Grimoires.” Grimoires are unique in that certain characteristics of the dungeon, like the strength of enemies within them, can be customized through “Sigils.” Sigils are acquired in battle but only appear to have use for the customization of Grimoires. These dungeons are not essential to clearing the game, offering an alternative method of farming rewards like experience points or items.
Continue reading »

Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon: New System Videos

InTheSky December 2, 2014 Leave a reply

Atlus recently updated the Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon promotional website with videos showing off some of the core gameplay systems in this crossover title. They play automatically upon visiting the site, with options to toggle audio on or off. These short videos should offer a look at how these two different franchises will blend together. Continue reading to check them out!

Shining Resonance: Three New Gameplay Videos, Featuring Drag Machina

InTheSky November 30, 2014 1 Reply

Gamersyndrome recently caught wind of three new battle demos of Shining Resonance. These appear to be demos of the Trial Version that was available for public testing earlier this month. Each of these three videos feature some random encounters and then end with a fight against one of the Drag Machina. The battles are set to easy mode. Continue reading to check these videos out.

Yakuza Zero: The Secret of Kamurocho Money Island

InTheSky November 30, 2014 1 Reply

Love my Monkey Island reference? Please, hold the applause.

Gematsu recently translated another lengthy Sega press release, this time covering Kiryu’s great real estate adventure known as Kamurocho Money Island. This is the substantial sidequest in Kiryu”s campaign that we’ve often heard about in coverage for Yakuza Zero, and Kamurocho Money Island is being described as a type of strategy game by Sega. It will be available as Kiryu takes control of a real estate firm, an important plot point in his story.

The objective of Kamurocho Money Island is to take your fledgling real estate firm and assume effective economic dominion over all of Kamurocho, all the while padding your personal bank account. Standing in your way are the Five Kings of Kamurocho, who assume control over certain regions of the city and particular industries like electronics and arts. The Five Kings are awful people whose business practices are slimy and existence is oppressive to everyone else. On your quest to be the premier kingpin, you’ll get in the occasional scrap and further develop the plot in Kiryu’s campaign. I’ll expand more on how Money Island works after the break.

Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon Collaboration Announced!

InTheSky November 27, 2014 1 Reply

Atlus announced a crossover between their Etrian Odyssey franchise and the Mystery Dungeon franchise in the same livestream that announced Etrian Odyssey V. Titled “Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon” and developed for the 3DS, the game is a collaboration between Atlus and Spike Chunsoft. The game already has a planned release date of March 5th and will retail for ¥6,980.

Gematsu writes that an announcement trailer for the game describes the crossover as for “those of you who’ve played 1,000 times” and for “those of you who want to play 10,000 times”, perhaps positioning the game as one meant for diehard fans. They have also produced a list of staff working on Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon, information found in the trailer and the newly launched website for the game. I’ll reproduce the table that Gematsu created here:

Atlus (Production)

Producer – Sigeo Komori
Director – Yukari Yokoro

Spike Chunsoft (Development)

Planning and Director – Seiichiro Nagahata
Character Design – Kaoru Hasegawa

Etrian Odyssey Series Staff

Music – Yuzo Koshiro
Class Design Drafter – Yuji Himukai
Monster Design – Shin Nagasawa
Art Supervisor – Nizou Yamamoto

For our readers who want a little more background on the Mystery Dungeon franchise, my fellow staffer Kuronoa offers some help:

Mystery Dungeon is Chunsoft’s pride and joy, their own interpretation of the “Roguelike” formula. Since 1993 they carefully crafted this style of dungeon crawling and made a name for themselves collaborating with the most respected RPG franchises. The series was originally conceived as a spinoff for Dragon Quest, starring DQIV’s lovable merchant oaf Torneko Taloon. Over time, official variants range from Final Fantasy (Chocobo as the star), to Namco’s The Tower of Druaga, Pokemon and an original story series titled Shiren the Wanderer. The series have also inspired clones such as Izuna on DS, Azure Dreams on Playstation and even variants of series we cover like Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon and Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Taisen. To best explain the gameplay common with this series, players are sent to randomly generated dungeons full of hidden traps and enemy crowds. The game is turn-based, in which your every move, walking or attacking, counts as a turn and will cause all surrounding units to make a move accordingly. This thus creates a sense of strategy for the player requiring them to take the time to plan out how to get out of the situation. One wrong move could mean you will lose your items and money, or depending on the individual game the worst case scenario will mean resetting your experience level. This is not too much of a setback, you can always find decent item replacements and store everything valuable for later. I’m curious what Etrian Odyssey will bring to the table, especially if the iconic F.O.E. enemies show up because that can be terrifying in this type of gameplay.

Be sure to check out the trailer below! For those looking for a few additional screenshots, this Gematsu article is worth checking out.

Shining Resonance Character Battle Videos: Yuuma, Sonia, and Agnam

InTheSky November 24, 2014 1 Reply

Shining Resonance is going to be released in Japan on December 11th. Leading up to its release, gamernejp’s YouTube channel is uploading some short character demo videos that highlight certain party members in battle. This post features 30 second videos for Yuuma, Sonia, and Agnam. To check out the videos, continue reading! I’ll also offer my opinion on what sort of battle capabilities these characters seem to have.