Tag Archives: Playstation 3

Yakuza Zero: Goro Majima’s Cabaret Club Management Sidequest

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

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.
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Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd Review (PS3)

After the success of Project Diva F, the first Project Diva game to be localized for the western market, it was inevitable that Sega would end up localizing the sequel as well. Like its predecessor, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd is a rhythm game where the songs are sung by “Vocaloids”, virtual idols whose voices are synthesized by software created by Crypton Future Media. The most famous of these characters is also the titular singer of the game: Hatsune Miku. After two concerts in the US and an appearance in the talk show “Late Night with David Letterman”, the virtual idol’s popularity has certainly increased in the US since the release of the previous game. This means Project Diva F 2nd game should have a good chance at surpassing the success of Project Diva F, if it turns out to be just as good (or better) than its predecessor. And that’s exactly what I’ll be looking into in this review. While it’s been released on PS3 and PS Vita, I’ll be reviewing the PS3 version here. The PS Vita version is largely identical in terms of content to the PS3 version, so a lot of what you’ll find written below will also apply to that version. Read on to find out my thoughts on the game!

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Shining Resonance: Three New Gameplay Videos, Featuring Drag Machina

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.

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

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.

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Project Diva F 2nd and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Released in Europe

Europe got not one but two games from Sega and Atlus yesterday. The first one of those is of course Project Diva F 2nd. We’ve detailed the release of the US version in an earlier article. The sequel to Project Diva F brings with it an improved localization (with English song lyrics) and other features such as Japanese save imports, on top of what was already a great rhythm game. The game is available for both the PS3 and PS Vita.

Apart from Project Diva F 2nd, Sega Europe has also released Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Unfortunately, there’s some bad news here. Despite the fact that the European fans had to wait longer for the release of the game, the Marie/Adachi DLC, which was offered for free in the US for the first week, won’t be free at all for Europe. Instead, they’ll cost you €4,49 or £3.69 each. Despite that setback, the game itself has been receiving very positive reviews. Anyone that enjoyed the first game is unlikely to be disappointed by the sequel. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is available for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

If you’re playing either of these games, why not let us know in the comments? We always enjoy reading the comments from our readers!

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd Launches in the US!

Project Diva F 2nd is available starting today in the US, and Sega have released a new launch trailer to promote the release of the game. The game is scheduled to launch in Europe later this week, on November 21. The game will also be the first Sega game we’ll be reviewing on Segalization, so you can look forward to reading our review in the near future!

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Shining Resonance’s B.A.N.D. System Highlighted in New Video, In-Game Costumes Highlighted

Sega has released another video demoing one of the game mechanics in Shining Resonance. Gematsu shares that this new video features the B.A.N.D. system. The B.A.N.D. system refers both to the configuration of your active party members (most importantly, who is chosen as the player character or “Center”) and the special benefit that comes with a B.A.N.D. Attack. B.A.N.D. Attacks are triggered by filling up at least one third of the gauge on the left side of the screen during battles, now officially known as the Battle Mana Performance gauge.

When activating a B.A.N.D. Attack, certain buffs will be bestowed to your party members based on who is placed as the Center character. The buffs will steadily deplete the entirety of your Battle Mana Performance gauge, regardless of whether or not an entire bar is full all of the way. What isn’t immediately clear is what strength the B.A.N.D. Attacks will be at when activating the Attack with a gauge that isn’t full, but based on looking on the glowing gauge numbers you’ll only get the B.A.N.D. Attack strength level of the highest-leveled and filled gauge. So even if, for example, you have one and one half of a gauge full, it seems you’ll only get the buff strength of gauge level one instead of gauge level two. Depending on how the buffs may vary, it’s an interesting consideration to note in battles. Perhaps depending on the situation, it may be better to fill your gauge all the way to the MAX level or go for lower-leveled but more frequent buffs from B.A.N.D. Attacks.

Also, in the video that Gematsu linked we get some little details confirmed that may be of interest. First, one of the bonuses of having Kirika as the Center is that when the B.A.N.D. Attack is activated, Kouryuu Irvan’s berserk mode will be nullified and he will revert to Yuuma Irvan. This was a special ability of hers that was teased early on in promotional materials for the game, but it’s nice to see confirmation for how it works. In addition to that, Kirika’s outfit changes color depending on the Rune Song used for the B.A.N.D. Attack, as Siliconera writes here. (More information on Rune Songs can be seen here.) If a seasonal-themed Rune Song is chosen and Kirika is the center, her costume’s colors and designs will reflect that Song’s season in battle. Sonia will also have a special costume option, which I will highlight after the video later in this article. Lastly, it seems that during B.A.N.D. Attacks, Yuuma takes on the role of conductor instead of directly playing an instrument. Perhaps it’s fitting for someone positioned as the main character!

To check out the two minute video and some images of Kirika and Sonia’ costumes, hit the “Continue Reading” button!

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Shining Resonance: Yuuma Irvan’s Kouryuu Form Detailed

Gematsu writes that Sega recently uploaded a new video for Shining Resonance that details Yuuma Irvan as Kouryuu Irvan, the dragon. A central part of the story of Shining Resonance and Irvan’s character is that Irvan has a human form (Yuuma), but naturally exists as a dragon created without artificial assistance: a rarity for his time.

It turns out that players can quite easily switch between Irvan’s dragon and human forms without inconvenience as long as Irvan has MP; it is possible there is otherwise no cap on the number of transformations. By default, battles begin with Irvan in his human form, but by controlling him and pressing both the L1 and R1 buttons, players can activate the dragon form Kouryuu Irvan. Irvan’s MP will steadily decrease but your AP (Action Points, a numerical cap on individual actions) will not change. Another bonus of activating Yuuma Irvan’s dragon form is that your party’s MP consumption is cut down by a certain proportion.

If Kouryuu Irvan’s MP drops to zero, then the much talked-about and dreaded berserk state results. During Kouryuu’s berserk mode, he is uncontrollable and attacks indiscriminately, sometimes affecting party members. While apparently Kirika can revert a berserk Kouryuu Irvan to his human form, it might be worth sparing the trouble and pressing L1 and R1 before your enemies can capitalize on your moment of weakness.

Check out the minute-long video below! There are descriptions written in Japanese written within the video, which may be of interest to any of our readers who can understand Japanese.

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Upcoming Sega and Atlus Games for November

November is proving to be an interesting month for Sega and Atlus fans, with plenty of games heading our way. First of all, tomorrow sees the release of Valkyria Chronicles on PC. IncGamer seem to be the first offering their impressions on the PC port, and judging from their article the port delivers exactly what Sega promised, with support for different resolutions, framerate equal to the refresh rate of your monitor and configurable mouse/keyboard support. The game is still available for pre-order on Steam with a 10% discount.

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