Author Archives: InTheSky

New Miracle Girls Festival Trailer

InTheSky October 16, 2015 Leave a reply

A recently-released shop front trailer for Sega’s Miracle Girls Festival is now playing in retail stores across Japan. The trailer is modest in length but comprehensive, aiming to offer a summary of what’s featured in the game to entice players to buy it. It is narrated by Yuka Ootsubo (who, incidentally, voices characters from four franchises present here: Yuru Yuri, Vividred Operation, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, and Go! Go! 575!) and Ayaka Oohashi. It’s a game meant to be both for fans of certain anime franchises and rhythm gaming fans.

Miracle Girls Festival is a Project DIVA-inspired rhythm game featuring a host of popular anime franchises with girl groups in them, among them being Wake Up, Girls!, the franchise pictured above, and Yuru Yuri. There are two songs available to play per franchise. Notable features include the game’s Tour Mode where you manage your groups and perform, figure collection, and other elements like costumes.

Miracle Girls Festival is set to release on December 17 in Japan, for Playstation Vita. There are no known localization plans for the game. One might say that this game has little chance of localization, but with Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax heading westward and Sega’s consistent localization of Project DIVA games (and these franchises represented in Miracle Girls Festival being moderately popular in their own right, such decisions can be hard to call!

Continue reading to check out the trailer!

Stella Glow English “Witches” Trailer, Demo Planned for October 27 Release

InTheSky October 16, 2015 Leave a reply

Atlus has released a new trailer for Stella Glow‘s upcoming North American (November 17!) release. It features the four “good witches” of Stella Glow: Lisette, Sakuya, Popo, and Mordimort. They are themed after classical elements, and feature colorful personalities of their own. Frequent readers of our site may remember that the Japanese promotional phase for Stella Glow saw individual trailers for the witches, but this is essentially the same thing.

In addition to releasing a trailer, Atlus have announced the release of the Stella Glow demo for North America. It’s set to be available on October 27, and allows players to test out the prologue chapter of the game. However, data can’t be carried over to the full release as was the case with such games as The Legend of Legacy (which was released earlier this week in North America, by the way.) Perhaps it’s just me, but carrying over data from demos to a full game of RPGs recently seems to feel closer to the norm than away from it. Nevertheless it’s better to be informed of whether or not such a feature will be available!

Continue reading to check out the trailer! Again, remember that this is an opportunity to check out the English voice acting for Stella Glow, besides gleaning a sense of the characters’ personalities.

Sakura Wars Museum Running for a Limited Time in Japan

InTheSky October 11, 2015 1 Reply

A couple of days ago the impending arrival of a “Sakura Wars Museum” was announced by Gamers, a retail outlet in Akihabara, Tokyo. This Sakura Wars Museum will run from October 23 to November 3. The store spans multiple floors, and the entirety of the seventh floor will be dedicated to Sakura Wars media. Items on exhibit will include the library of games released for the Sakura Wars franchise, rare promotional items, themed hardware (ever seen the Sakura Wars III VMU?), and sketches and illustrations that shaped Sakura Wars as a franchise over time.

The event isn’t entirely “look and don’t touch”; there will be a variety of merchandise available for purchase. Most of it features the Imperial Assault Force (the Japan team that most people readily associate with the Sakura Wars franchise) but some items do feature the Paris Assault Force and the New York Combat Revue. The spread of items can be seen below, with pricing (and US dollar conversion) for items underneath the following image courtesy of Anime Herald.

First Shin Megami Tensei IV Final PV!

InTheSky October 11, 2015 Leave a reply

Atlus has concluded their stream for Shin Megami Tensei IV Final, and with it comes the arrival of its first promotional video.

We have a little more details on this game. There is a conflict between monotheism and polytheism woven into the story. The course of the plot follows one central progression (not necessarily adhering to the standard law-chaos-neutral trifecta,) but still allows for multiple endings. The protagonist is completely silent this time; previously in Shin Megami Tensei IV most dialogue scenes were voiced though not all of the script received voicing.

Gameplay-wise, the system from Shin Megami Tensei IV is receiving a variety of additions and touches. A notable change is the introduction of the Partner and Assist Attack systems in battle. Partners are human characters who can assist you during battle. In addition, the game will feature more than 450 demons, with some previously absent demons (like the Mermaid) returning. Carryovers from Shin Megami Tensei IV will also receive balance changes to their stats. There will also be UI changes to reflect a new aesthetic and new mechanics.

Continue reading to check out the trailer! It runs for about a minute and half.

7th Dragon III Code: VFD Rune-Knight Trailer

InTheSky October 10, 2015 Leave a reply

The Rune-Knight trailer has been released for 7th Dragon III Code: VFD, closing out all eight character classes. Those familiar with “magic knight” types should be able to wrap their minds around the concept of the Rune-Knight; their melee weapons are used as conduits for a variety of powerful elemental attacks as opposed to the traditional incantations or staves of most mages. The balancing of magic and physical strength is sometimes gifted to the class at the cost of being excellent in any particular offensive facet, if the knight doesn’t possess any especially powerful techniques unique to themselves. At the least, they are capable of healing allies and have high base defense! What would you do with the Rune-Knight in this game…?

Pretty flashy technique from the last Rune-Knight. That’s called overkill. Then again, it seems like overkill is an option for everybody at a certain level!

Continue reading to check out the trailer.

Project X Zone 2: New York Comic Con 2015 English Trailer

InTheSky October 9, 2015 2 Replies

The 2nd PV that Monolith Soft had been teasing for Project X Zone 2 was unleashed on the world earlier today. A large portion of it is dedicated to showing off the attacks of various Solo Units and Pair Units. The recently revealed characters Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue (Solo) and Ranmaru from Sakura Wars V/Sakura Wars: So Long My Love (Enemy) were also featured in the trailer. Some other cool tidbits featured include what appear to be stage hazards and the game’s shop system.

There’s been some concern among fans about this trailer suggesting that the known roster is the complete roster. Once the full roster of playable characters had been revealed for Project X Zone, a similar type of trailer showcasing attacks of each Pair Unit was developed and published. In addition, we can see segments of the opening cinematic (though not in its entirety) in this trailer – and particularly, a wide shot of the known cast of characters. That being said, I would caution against assuming it applies here. An official PXZ2 development team blog post released in conjunction with the uploading of PV #2 teases more surprises – while this wording is obviously ambiguous in what it’s referencing, it would at least mean that we don’t know everything about Project X Zone 2 that there is to know.

This trailer is being used by Bandai Namco Entertainement to promote the game at New York Comic Con 2015. They’ve actually been fairly supportive of Project X Zone and Project X Zone 2 at English gaming conventions, perhaps owing due to the English fans that have shown their support for these crossover titles.

The opening theme “All the World’s a Stage” by marina is also showcased in the trailer. Listen and watch after the break! And if you have any other characters that you might want to see, let us know!

Stella Glow: “The Knights of Regnant” Trailer

InTheSky October 9, 2015 Leave a reply

AtlusUSA is producing English trailers to promote the English release of Stella Glow. This trailer covers the “Knights of Regnant” – more specifically, the 9th regiment of the Knights which features the protagonist Alto and his squadmates Rusty, Archibald, and Klaus. Alto is a spirited young man and acts as you’d expect from a lead protagonist. Klaus is a knight commander who is even-keeled. Archibald possesses a gruff exterior and a strong sense of camaraderie and nobility. Rusty tends to have his mind more on social things than battle or politics. Collectively the Knights of Regnant are tasked with recruiting Song Witches to fight the evil Witch Hilda.

This video is important because it allows viewers to take a look at the English voice acting! Be sure to keep both eyes and ears peeled. Check it out below.

Tatsuya Shiba Trailer for Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition

InTheSky October 9, 2015 Leave a reply

Sega has released a special trailer for Tatsuya Shiba’s introduction to Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition. He’s a very well-known character in his own regard and a rather high-profile addition to the cast. Initial impressions of the character from players and careful study of the game seem to suggest that he’s quite strong relative to the other playable cast members. As it is, he can be revived once his health bar is depleted (although only with a small amount of health restored.) Impressions of the character can change over time, but it is funny to note this considering how the character is regarded as absurdly powerful within his source material (The Irregular at Magic High School.)

Continue reading to check out the trailer!

Blade Arcus from Shining EX Console Release Will Not Have Online Play

InTheSky October 8, 2015 Leave a reply

The official product page on the Blade Arcus subsection of Sega’s Shining website now lists Blade Arcus from Shining EX as 1-2 players but offline only. It’s a rather quiet and sudden revelation and it’s only recently coming to light.

Word started to spread earlier today when a fan-run Japanese Twitter account dedicated to Blade Arcus news claimed the absence of online play for Blade Arcus from Shining EX. There is a Japanese Shining PR Twitter account, but it made no public statements on online play (or the lack thereof.)

While the experience of online play can greatly vary for fighting games, omitting online play altogether is to be a part of a distinct minority as fighting games go nowadays. For those who would opt to import the game, this course of action suddenly becomes a lot less attractive since it is possible that not many prospective buyers will be within proximity to each other. Online play will also allow people to challenge others across great distances, including skilled players from Japan.

At the end of the day, we’re at the point nowadays where both offline and online play are taken as foregone conclusions for healthy fighting games with the aim of developing a following.

Credit for this featured image goes to this Famitsu article.

Dengeki Playstation Interviews Japanese Game Industry on Future Plans

InTheSky October 8, 2015 Leave a reply

Dengeki Playstation recently conducted a round of polling featuring various prominent Japanese gaming industry figures. This survey features people from Capcom, Square-Enix, Koei-Tecmo, and of course, Sega. Satoshi Sakai (Phantasy Star series producer) and Toshihiro Nagoshi (Sega’s Chief Creative Officer, Yakuza series creator and producer) provided answers in this issue. Each participant responded to a specific set of questions; not everyone spoke on the same topic. It’s altogether rather short, but still interesting.

Satoshi Sakai was asked if there were any plans for more entries in the Phantasy Star Portable series, and was prompted regarding a fan desire for games outside of the Phantasy Star Online purview. On that front, Sakai stated that there is nothing planned, but left the door open for the possibility of another game in the future should it be felt that there’s a void in modern Phantasy Star-gaming not occupied by PSO2. This was what prompted the creation of Phantasy Star Nova (spearheaded by tri-Ace) to begin with, but the sales unfortunately weren’t particularly strong. The game itself seemed like a fine idea; perhaps factors such as platform choice just need to be reconsidered. The Vita is in less dire straits output-wise in Japan than it is in the West (especially considering the limited localizations) but it’s still not a strong platform. God Eater, another “hunting” type franchise, has been making overtures towards the Playstation 4. Besides that, Sakai was prompted about making another game with a dragon as a lead character, like Panzer Dragoon, but to that Sakai could only mention that though he’d be interested in such a title he thinks the game would be a rough sell in the current climate. Sorry Panzer Dragoon fans. (Don’t forget to check out The Will of the Ancients!)

Toshihiro Nagoshi was asked if Yakuza Studio were considering the development of new IP’s, but Nagoshi stated that they had “no comment”, though they’re considering it. While I’ve said in the past that Sega is probably not too keen to work on major new IP’s, it seems to me the answer here is ambiguous. Project “LEXUS”, speculated to be a Yakuza Studio title, hasn’t formally been identified; we don’t know if it was Yakuza 6 or Yakuza Kiwami, or if it has been revealed at all. Nagoshi was then asked about whether or not Yakuza 2 will receive a Yakuza Kiwami-style remake, and to that he responded that this would depend on the commercial response to the current Yakuza Kiwami game. Which seems pretty obvious.

Credit to this Gematsu article for the information featured in this writeup. Please consider reading it to glean insight on the plans of other companies!