[encephalon]

It has to be Tokyo, or they wouldn't call it 4.

The buildings to the left and right of the most visible one don't look anything like Tokyo. I could be wrong though.

[Absoludacrous]

What's the typical lead time for an Atlus announcement vs their japanese release?

[cosmicblizzard]

Ooh, how exciting.

[Delio]

Shin Megami The Last Remnant

Do want

[cj_iwakura]

What's the typical lead time for an Atlus announcement vs their japanese release?

Far too long.

[Father_Brain]

Do you think this could be similar to what they did for Devil Survivor originally? They put out a 2 page ad teasing it first right? Then they had the 8 page blow out or whatever a week after that. Maybe SMT4 is going to be shown at E3? Nintendo's conference?

Not a chance. 98% of the E3 audience has no idea what SMT is, and since it won't be officially slated for localization until much closer to the Japanese release, it ain't happening.

Now, we are due for another Nintendo Direct about two weeks or so after E3. There's a very good chance of a trailer there.

[Aeana]

The buildings to the left and right of the most visible one don't look anything like Tokyo. I could be wrong though.

I agree with you, but they made a pretty big deal about Tokyo being an essential setting for a numbered entry, and that was the excuse given for why SJ wasn't 4.

[Femmeworth]

Six years.

That's not Sony's E3 conference.

[duckroll]

What's the typical lead time for an Atlus announcement vs their japanese release?

It is typically 3-4 months these days for normal titles. Some times get much longer promotional campaigns and it can be up to 6-7 months (Persona mostly).

[Kazerei]

Shin Megami Tensei IV, Etrian Odyssey IV, Rune Factory 4, Monster Hunter 4 ... hmmm, what else ... Xenosaga IV? Mother 4? That would be amazing.

[shintoki]

It is typically 3-4 months these days for normal titles. Some times get much longer promotional campaigns and it can be up to 6-7 months (Persona mostly).

So probably winter for JPN and spring for NA?

[Absoludacrous]

Not a chance. 98% of the E3 audience has no idea what SMT is, and since it won't be officially slated for localization until much closer to the Japanese release, it ain't happening. Now, we are due for another Nintendo Direct about two weeks or so after E3. There's a very good chance of a trailer there.

Would make a good platform for a reveal though, especially as a "core" game. Slap a "from the company that brought you Persona" on the trailer and you could probably raise a decent bit of awareness while giving Nintendo some needed credibility.

But I agree, not a chance.

It is typically 3-4 months these days for normal titles. Some times get much longer promotional campaigns and it can be up to 6-7 months (Persona mostly).

Cool, much better than I was expecting.

[falconzss]

Fuuuuuuu...

Seems like my 3DS boycott must finally come to an end...

[duckroll]

So probably winter for JPN and spring for NA?

That seems very likely. If they release it around October, it would mean SMT4 is coming out 3 years after SJ in Japan. They spent about 2 years or so making SJ iirc, so a longer dev cycle for a "real" SMT4 makes sense.

[.la1n]

Absolutely fantastic news. Now for the wait for Persona 5.

[cj_iwakura]

Fuuuuuuu... Seems like my 3DS boycott must finally come to an end...

As someone who loves region free, I was there too.

Soul Hackers broke me.

I'm weak too.

[encephalon]

Shin Megami Tensei IV, Etrian Odyssey IV, Rune Factory 4, Monster Hunter 4 ... hmmm, what else ... Xenosaga IV? Mother 4? That would be amazing.

This will unfortunately never happen. :(

[Sophia]

This will unfortunately never happen. :(

Never say never!

;_;

[Hero of Legend]

So is the ad the only thing about the game in the issue? No matter I guess as we'll see more tomorrow hopefully when the site goes up.

[Laughing Banana]

The few original games they manage to put out are still wildly inventive. I see no room for complaint. Or do you not like consistent quality?

The only original games I enjoy from them that comes from SMT universe/lore is Devil Survivor 1 and its sequel. I hated the fact that Catherine is a puzzle game instead of an RPG, I didn't and couldn't enjoy Strange Journey despite my best efforts, and there is no original Persona games after 4.

I'm just rather tired of re-releases and remakes is all, and hell, some of them are not exactly what I would call best quality too.

In any event, I am really glad about a new Shin Megami 4 tensei game. It's already much due that we have a new, proper SMT RPG game from ATLUS.

Never say never! ;_;

Holy shit, I thought I was the only member in NeoGAF's Xenosaga Love Club. Everyone else seems too busy jerking off Xenogears for some reason.

[falconzss]

As someone who loves region free, I was there too. Soul Hackers broke me. I'm weak too.

Basically my argument for not getting a 3DS up until now.
Everything SMT related breaks me sooner or later :/
Soul Hackers love +1

[Kazerei]

This will unfortunately never happen. :(

Believe! :P

[duckroll]

So is the ad the only thing about the game in the issue? No matter I guess as we'll see more tomorrow hopefully when the site goes up.

If there's only an ad, the site will probably just be the ad as well, with.... a countdown maybe. That's what they did in the past.

[Teknoman]

whelp, this series is dead to me.

[cj_iwakura]

The only original games I enjoy from them that comes from SMT universe/lore is Devil Survivor 1 and its sequel. I hated the fact that Catherine is a puzzle game instead of an RPG, I didn't and couldn't enjoy Strange Journey despite my best efforts, and there is no original Persona games after 4. I'm just rather tired of re-releases and remakes is all. In any event, I am really glad about a new Shin Megami 4 tensei game. It's already much due that we have a new, proper SMT RPG game from ATLUS.

Catherine was an amazing game, and my GOTY twice over. I hope you didn't just pass it over at a glance.

[Scythe27]

Finally. Great news esp just having finished Strange Journey.

[encephalon]

Never say never! ;_;

You just said it twice.

Is this the only forum in existence that still has a fair amount of Xenosaga fans?

The only original games I enjoy from them that comes from SMT universe/lore is Devil Survivor 1 and its sequel. I hated the fact that Catherine is a puzzle game instead of an RPG, I didn't and couldn't enjoy Strange Journey despite my best efforts, and there is no original Persona games after 4. I'm just rather tired of re-releases and remakes is all. In any event, I am really glad about a new Shin Megami 4 tensei game. It's already much due that we have a new, proper SMT RPG game from ATLUS. Holy shit, I thought I was the only member in NeoGAF's Xenosaga Love Club. Everyone else seems too busy jerking off Xenogears for some reason.

Hi five.

[kisaya]

Ughhh still waiting out to buy the 3DS but announcements like these make it so harddd

Do wantttt >_<

[Vamphuntr]

Nice! Hopefully it's as good as Strange Journey. I enjoyed playing SJ on the go so this is a good fit with me. Crossing my fingers so that they don't recycle too much assets from previous games this time ;P

[encephalon]

How was the storytelling dealt with in SJ compared to Nocturne or Soul Hackers?

[Aeana]

Nice! Hopefully it's as good as Strange Journey. I enjoyed playing SJ on the go so this is a good fit with me. Crossing my fingers so that they don't recycle too much assets from previous games this time ;P

First screenshot is gonna have this guy right here:

[jorgeton]

xenosaga fan, reporting for duty. would not want a pt 4 though, 3 ended on the perfect note.

the more I think about it, the more i like that SMT4 is on the 3DS. That way I can bring it with me.. anywhere. Not sure about the 3DS' graphical capabilities, but I wonder if they can even approximate some of Nocturne/DDS cel shaded look. that would be uh-mazing.

How was the storytelling dealt with in SJ compared to Nocturne or Soul Hackers?

SJ handled it pretty similarly to Nocturne -- very story intensive opening hour, followed by dungeon crawling that was broken up by NPC's popping up and chatting with you. It also had three main human co-stars that eventually represented chaos, law and order. It was verry similar to nocturne, without the cool cutscenes.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Awesome news. The platform isn't a surprise, but I'm glad to know that they really are making a new mainline game. I'm looking forward to finding out more details.

[Teknoman]

Catherine was an amazing game, and my GOTY twice over. I hope you didn't just pass it over at a glance.

I still need to get that for PS3.

[duckroll]

Xenogears is finished, Xenosaga is finished, Xenoblade is finished. I'm happy with what they've done with the characters and story in each entry and they end on conclusive notes. Takahashi needs to go back to Soma Bringer and do more games to flesh out that world though. :P

[encephalon]

Episode III was the ending of the 1st of 3 story arcs and was originally intended to end with 2 episodes. The story was in no way finished. Moreover, Xenogears wasn't finished either. Both Xenogears and Xenosaga were proposed to have a final arc with the same title. Something about the terminal point of the universe or something.

Unfortunately, both were prematurely ended.

[Cactus]

First Soul Hackers and now SMT4..???

[Sophia]

Xenogears is finished, Xenosaga is finished, Xenoblade is finished. I'm happy with what they've done with the characters and story in each entry and they end on conclusive notes. Takahashi needs to go back to Soma Bringer and do more games to flesh out that world though. :P

Four Player Online Soma Bringer. GIVE IT TO MEEEEE O_O

[Teknoman]

Ughhh still waiting out to buy the 3DS but announcements like these make it so harddd Do wantttt >_<

Dont worry, you've got awhile :P

[Laughing Banana]

Catherine was an amazing game, and my GOTY twice over. I hope you didn't just pass it over at a glance.

Never really like Puzzle genre and I usually avoid them. Just because it is made by ATLUS folks, I've tried it for a few hours and a couple of levels, and it just didn't grab me, unfortunately. I like the story/characters/conversations/social system of the game--from what I've triad--but I just can't bring myself to enjoy the main gameplay aspect of the game, the puzzle towers.

Maybe I'll give it another shot though.

[cj_iwakura]

How was the storytelling dealt with in SJ compared to Nocturne or Soul Hackers?

Very minimalist, like usual. It had some nice touches, and a few awesome moments.

The biggest annoyance for me is Cypher doing his usual nonsense trolling.

[duckroll]

Part 3 was the ending of 3 proposed arcs. The series wasn't meant to be over at all.

It was though. Takahashi made it very clear from the beginning that they didn't really have real intentions to make everything into games. Given a chance he would expand on other time periods in other media forms like novels.

[woahjeez]

Originally Posted by shadyspace:
Does this bode well for Wii U getting P5?

lol, of course not

I can't wait to see the tears when this happens. I feed off of them

[falconzss]

Platform choice makes sense but I guess the times we got a SMT title for home consoles is over...I'm just not to keen on playing these games on a handheld...

[cj_iwakura]

Also, dibs on the wallpaper when that ad goes high-res.

[encephalon]

It was though. Takahashi made it very clear from the beginning that they didn't really have real intentions to make everything into games. Given a chance he would expand on other time periods in other media forms like novels.

I don't think this is true at all. The series was already not limited to games. It had an anime too. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't meant to be 3 game arcs. We also know that KOS-MOs and Chaos were supposed to be the only recurring characters through all 3 arcs, occurring at different points in history. Again, finally ending the "terminal point of the universe" (like Xenogears was intended to).

[Eusis]

I sometimes wonder how much information there is people extrapolating from the Xenogears perfect works? Though I'd love to see more games tackle something like that (epic spanning multiple time periods), but for Xenosaga I think its time is mostly passed. Maybe we'll luck out with someone else eventually.

[duckroll]

I don't think this is true at all. The series was already not limited to games. It had an anime too. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't meant to be 3 game arcs. We also know that KOS-MOs and Chaos were supposed to be the only recurring characters through all 3 arcs, occurring at different points in history. Again, finally ending the "terminal point of the universe" (like Xenogears was intended to).

No, Takahashi clearly said when Xenosaga Ep1 was first announced and he was interviewed, that while they have 6 episodes in mind for the full story of the universe, like they did for Xenogears, not all of them would be games. He did not want to be specific at that time because they were only announcing episode 1, but he already made it clear that he did not envision telling all 6 episodes as one game each.

[encephalon]

I sometimes wonder how much information there is people extrapolating from the Xenogears perfect works? Though I'd love to see more games tackle something like that (epic spanning multiple time periods), but for Xenosaga I think its time is mostly passed. Maybe we'll luck out with someone else eventually.

Probably. Although this is a time when something like Xenosaga probably would be more successful than ever, given the complete lack of high profile console JRPGs and Square's inability to get out console games in a timely fashion. Would probably be too expensive though.

[squall23]

I don't think this is true at all. The series was already not limited to games. It had an anime too. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't meant to be 3 game arcs. We also know that KOS-MOs and Chaos were supposed to be the only recurring characters through all 3 arcs, occurring at different points in history. Again, finally ending the "terminal point of the universe" (like Xenogears was intended to).

So essentially it becomes Turn A Gundam and Kamen Rider Decade. I do not like the sound of that at all.