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Famitsu info on Atlus new fantasy RPG Project Re Fantasy (Studio Zero, Hashino)

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I assume there are some rules in place saying we can't post the pictures here? When can we? When they hit public venues like twitter?
 
Japanese publishers now announcing games before they even hire staff at the studio. Jeez


(good to see Atlus expanding. I hope this is good / not mobile)
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I mean they could be co-protags. The Elf girl could be a mentor/protector figure or something for Blondie, like TLOU or Seirei no Moribito.
 
I mean they could be co-protags. The Elf girl could be a mentor/protector figure or something for Blondie.

That's the impression I got, too, looking at the artwork.

While this would be cool (and personally be a nostalgic throwback to Titania from FE: Path of Radiance), I'd really prefer having a canon female protagonist for this new game, especially if they're serious about challenging industry norms.

Her design and the confidence it inspires make her a great choice for a protagonist, IMO.

(Not to mention how non-sexualized she is. No cups on the breastplate, chainmail down the body, proper helmet and pauldron+cape. Her design is just A+)
 

Dantis

Member
I only see her in two. And it's just her hair that changes.

The blonde kid definitely looks like protag material.
I was including the portrait from yesterday.

Haircuts convey the passage of time, and the composition of the horseback scene definitely make her look younger and more vulnerable than what we see in the main portrait.
 

10k

Banned
I am interested. This will give Death Stranding, TLOU 2, Star Citizen and Cyberpunk 2077 a run for their money in development length.
 

Slater

Banned
I was including the portrait from yesterday.

Haircuts convey the passage of time, and the composition of the horseback scene definitely make her look younger and more vulnerable than what we see in the main portrait.

If you include the portrait from yesterday she's still only in two pictures, the original and the one on the horse.
 

barybll

Banned
Wonder if we gonna get anything extra in the magazine

Anyway, recruitment announcement, but a recruitment trailer wouldnt hurt like the cyberpunk 2077 one.

After that I can safely forget about this until 2019
 
I'm really interested to see how they're going to market this. It's so much easier to market their current lineup since so few JRPG developers are doing modern+occult setting games.
 
Really hoping they release a recruitment trailer on the live stream.

(Also, I've been looking/fiddling with the scans, and my god, the art with them on horseback would make an amazing game/magazine cover.)
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Haircuts convey the passage of time, and the composition of the horseback scene definitely make her look younger and more vulnerable than what we see in the main portrait.

Oh yeah I can see this now.

Start of game: Just the two, horseback
Mid game: On the cart, bald eyepatch guy, bandage nipple guy, Blondie's hair is longer
Late game: Blondie has a beard now, ditched the spear and got a haircut. Elf girl probably heroically sacrificed herself to fuel his character development

Boom, there's your game right there.
 
The magazine shows three pieces of artwork

- A dragon facing off against several knights with the subtitle: creating new things by building off successful things from the past
- 4 people riding on a horse carrage together with a dog with the subtitle: bonds
- A young red haired elf girl and a young blonde haired boy riding on horses with the subtitle: adventure
Social link with the dog!

This all sounds pretty awesome. Awaiting the livestream!
 

barybll

Banned
Oh yeah I can see this now.

Start of game: Just the two, horseback
Mid game: On the cart, bald eyepatch guy, bandage nipple guy, Blondie's hair is longer
Late game: Blondie has a beard now, ditched the spear and got a haircut. Elf girl probably heroically sacrificed herself to fuel his character development

Boom, there's your game right there.

I love the concept of a tale that is told through years or decades, so I hope the time passing theory has merit
If its done right of course
 
Late game: Blondie has a beard now, ditched the spear and got a haircut. Elf girl probably heroically sacrificed herself to fuel his character development

Boom, there's your game right there.

You just killed a ton of the hype for me with that one sentence.

I swear if they pull that... It's so overdone.
 
Just seen the art, it looks really good!

Yeah, I just googled around for the scans and they're awesome.

The way they're drawn has this hazy, almost halcyon feel. Although the style is obviously very different, they seem to suggest adventure to me in a similar way as old Amano FF concept art.

Since they're going more medieval themed w/ this one, I hope they keep this more ethereal/softer feel to differentiate it from all the gritty dark hard-edged Western rpg art/themes.

Of course, while I understand the need to recruit for a new studio by getting folks excited, it's painful as a fan to be teased so far ahead of time.
 
I'm really interested to see how they're going to market this. It's so much easier to market their current lineup since so few JRPG developers are doing modern+occult setting games.

There's not exactly a lot of classic fantasy type JRPGs right now, either. There's a lot of fantasy/steampunk and fantasy with sci-fi elements thrown in, but if this is actually just a pure fantasy title, that gives it a more unique flavor.
 

Dot-N-Run

Member
Oh yeah I can see this now.

Start of game: Just the two, horseback
Mid game: On the cart, bald eyepatch guy, bandage nipple guy, Blondie's hair is longer
Late game: Blondie has a beard now, ditched the spear and got a haircut. Elf girl probably heroically sacrificed herself to fuel his character development

Boom, there's your game right there.
I love the concept of a tale that is told through years or decades, so I hope the time passing theory has merit
If its done right of course

I think a story told over the years would be really interesting if the elf was the protagonist, as elves are usually depicted as having long lifespans. It would be cool to follow an elf over decades or even centuries, having the people and world around them constantly age while they themselves remain youthful.

Bringing it back to the blonde-haired kid, imagine if we saw him age from the perspective of the elf. Early on you would simply be his escort, but skip ahead a couple decades and he could be fighting alongside you. And then you go even further and see him pass away as an old man. Or how about instead of the elf sacrificing herself for him, have a much older version of him sacrifice himself for her character development.

I feel there is a whole world of possibilities here, and really I can't think of many games that have explored this idea. I know Lost Odyssey had flashbacks, but I can't think of a game that follows a extremely long-lived protagonist that starts at an early point in their lives and only moves forward from there.
 

2+2=5

The Amiga Brotherhood
Imo it's "just" medieval persona, not that's a bad thing!

I saw the scans and i don't find the rest of the art to be as amazing as others say, i don't see anything particularly new or original, well there are no schoolgirls that's a huge pro but nothing makes me think "amazing".
 
I think a story told over the years would be really interesting if the elf was the protagonist, as elves are usually depicted as having long lifespans. It would be cool to follow an elf over decades or even centuries, having the people and world around them constantly age while they themselves remain youthful.

Bringing it back to the blonde-haired kid, imagine if we saw him age from the perspective of the elf. Early on you would simply be his escort, but skip ahead a couple decades and he could be fighting alongside you. And then you go even further and see him pass away as an old man. Or how about instead of the elf sacrificing herself for him, have a much older version of him sacrifice himself for her character development.

I feel there is a whole world of possibilities here, and really I can't think of many games that have explored this idea. I know Lost Odyssey had flashbacks, but I can't think of a game that follows a extremely long-lived protagonist that starts at an early point in their lives and only moves forward from there.

I really like this idea, if they could figure out how to handle the aging/time-skips without its feeling too disjointed or segmented (a la Dragon Age 2). It would actually be an interesting twist on how Persona 3 - 5 handles time, which is in a much more explicit and granular way than almost any other rpg I can think of.
 
I think a story told over the years would be really interesting if the elf was the protagonist, as elves are usually depicted as having long lifespans. It would be cool to follow an elf over decades or even centuries, having the people and world around them constantly age while they themselves remain youthful.

Bringing it back to the blonde-haired kid, imagine if we saw him age from the perspective of the elf. Early on you would simply be his escort, but skip ahead a couple decades and he could be fighting alongside you. And then you go even further and see him pass away as an old man. Or how about instead of the elf sacrificing herself for him, have a much older version of him sacrifice himself for her character development.

I feel there is a whole world of possibilities here, and really I can't think of many games that have explored this idea. I know Lost Odyssey had flashbacks, but I can't think of a game that follows a extremely long-lived protagonist that starts at an early point in their lives and only moves forward from there.

Plenty of great ideas here, would love to see them happen.

Imagine if you originally play as the blond-haired kid alongside the Elf Knight on their journey, and around 25-50% through the game he sacrifices himself to protect her, and at that point the player/main character changes to the Elf Knight.

Idk, I'd be so down for something like that.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
I think a story told over the years would be really interesting if the elf was the protagonist, as elves are usually depicted as having long lifespans. It would be cool to follow an elf over decades or even centuries, having the people and world around them constantly age while they themselves remain youthful.

Bringing it back to the blonde-haired kid, imagine if we saw him age from the perspective of the elf. Early on you would simply be his escort, but skip ahead a couple decades and he could be fighting alongside you. And then you go even further and see him pass away as an old man. Or how about instead of the elf sacrificing herself for him, have a much older version of him sacrifice himself for her character development.

I feel there is a whole world of possibilities here, and really I can't think of many games that have explored this idea. I know Lost Odyssey had flashbacks, but I can't think of a game that follows a extremely long-lived protagonist that starts at an early point in their lives and only moves forward from there.

I'd rather nobody get fridged out of an interesting cast :/ if they are going to die, they should do it in the best way that shows camaraderie instead of cliched 'forced' development...

I want to see these characters grow naturally, if it is supposed to be a timeskip story, and that also got to be in a way that doesn't shortchange any of them
 
I'd rather nobody get fridged out of an interesting cast :/ if they are going to die, they should do it in the best way that shows camaraderie instead of cliched 'forced' development...

I want to see these characters grow naturally, if it is supposed to be a timeskip story, and that also got to be in a way that doesn't shortchange any of them

Of course, this goes without saying.

Just saying that if anyone's going to be put in a refrigerator, I rather it not be another female character for the sake of another male character. That fridge has been full-to-bursting for a while now.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Of course, this goes without saying.

Just saying that if anyone's going to be put in a refrigerator, I rather it not be another female character for the sake of another male character. That fridge has been full-to-bursting for a while now.

No arguments here, we had our latest example only a few weeks ago.

Atlus is usually pretty good with this though,
Mitsuru's dad got offed so she could gain her Persona's final form, ect
, so i think they could do it better than most if they wanted to go the whole sacrificial route. I just dont like the execution a lot of times, cause it makes the characters who died either underutilized or just around for said purpose.
 
They'll start hiring after the reveal? Good God this game isn't coming out until 2020, isnt it? Why even announce it this early in what seems to be just the embryonic/concept phase? Jesus!
 
They'll start hiring after the reveal? Good God this game isn't coming out until 2020, isnt it? Why even announce it this early in what seems to be just the embryonic/concept phase? Jesus!

Like others have said, it's a Cyberpunk 2077 style situation. i.e: Show off a project that's not like your usual fare to hire people who are more interested/experienced in building that than your usual fare.
  • For Atlus, it's going from Modern-Style JRPGs to Traditional Fantasy JRPGs.
  • For CD Projekt Red, it's going from Fantasy WRPGs to Futuristic Shooter RPG.
 

Dot-N-Run

Member
I'd rather nobody get fridged out of an interesting cast :/ if they are going to die, they should do it in the best way that shows camaraderie instead of cliched 'forced' development...

I want to see these characters grow naturally, if it is supposed to be a timeskip story, and that also got to be in a way that doesn't shortchange any of them

This is very true, why is why I also think that if characters were to die in this hypothetical scenario it could just be of old age. I mean if it did follow an elf over a century I imagine at least some shorter-lived characters would die from natural causes. It could be interesting to have death be free of clichéd drama, just a natural fact of life.

Although...

Plenty of greatideas here, would love to see them happen.

Imagine if you originally play as the blond-haired kid alongside the Elf Knight on their journey, and around 25-50% through the game he sacrifices himself to protect her, and at that point the player/main character changes to the Elf Knight.

Idk, I'd be so down for something like that.

If they did this and actually managed to keep it a secret before release (MGS2 Raiden style), I would absolutely love it just for the reactions it would bring.
 

Dantis

Member
I don't think it'll be that long until we see something. This isn't Cyberpunk, it's an Atlus game.

How long a gap was there between the P5 announcement teaser and the first trailer with the anime scene on the train? I'm expecting something more along those lines.
 
Why talk about this so damn early. I hate how most stuff is announced too early.

Why? It doesn't affect you in any way. If you don't like the trickle of information just tune it out.

This makes me so excited!
I love that they realize their own potential, and the merger with Sega actually ended up reinvigorating their expansionistic aims.

Clearly shows that there is still energy there in the japanese industry, especially in the JRPG field, hope other devs will follow, even with smaller budgets.

I was worried about the aquisition but I love how much faith SEGA has in Atlus to allow them to expand. Hopefully SEGA learns from Atlus how to make quality JRPGs.
 

gngf123

Member
Oh yeah, I'm sure Atlus wants to chase those Tokyo Mirage Session sales numbers ;)

What does that have to do with the Switch?

It's likely that the Switch will be the next gen portable in Japan, with developers making games for it instead of the 3DS. Atlus have plenty of experience there and know that games like SMT4 sell just fine.

And no, I'm not assuming this is a Switch game, I just think that using failed WiiU games as a reference is ridiculous.
 

Philippo

Member
Oh yeah I can see this now.

Start of game: Just the two, horseback
Mid game: On the cart, bald eyepatch guy, bandage nipple guy, Blondie's hair is longer
Late game: Blondie has a beard now, ditched the spear and got a haircut. Elf girl probably heroically sacrificed herself to fuel his character development

Boom, there's your game right there.

Sounds like only the two of them (horseback pic), then a small group of adventurers (horsecart) to end with a full blown company of knights.
 

wmlk

Member
Just had a look now.

I feel like I've seen artwork like this dozens of times before. If they wanted to imitate generic JRPG fantasy with this, they've succeeded. Don't know if that was the intent, though.
 
I was worried about the aquisition but I love how much faith SEGA has in Atlus to allow them to expand. Hopefully SEGA learns from Atlus how to make quality JRPGs.

Yeah, I felt leery also, but Sega seem to be hands-off in their acquisitions so far. They have been letting Amplitude (Endless Legend, Dugeon of the Endless) do their own thing as well. They've been putting together a portfolio of studios who have great ideas and do things differently, and just letting them do that with more money.
 
I don't think it'll be that long until we see something. This isn't Cyberpunk, it's an Atlus game.

How long a gap was there between the P5 announcement teaser and the first trailer with the anime scene on the train? I'm expecting something more along those lines.

About 10 months.
 

Zyrox

Member
Hmm, I wonder what comes out first, this, Death Stranding, the PS5 or FFVIIR part 2.

Really a bummer when devs announce their stuff that far in advance.
 

Dantis

Member
About 10 months.
That seems about right, I'd say.

Just had a look now.

I feel like I've seen artwork like this dozens of times before. If they wanted to imitate generic JRPG fantasy with this, they've succeeded. Don't know if that was the intent, though.

I mean, I wish this were true. I'm struggling to think of a single Japanese fantasy game with a (potential) protagonist with as good a design as the elven lady, though.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
That seems about right, I'd say.



I mean, I wish this were true. I'm struggling to think of a single Japanese fantasy game with a (potential) protagonist with as good a design as the elven lady, though.

Dragon Crown's elf wasn't too bad, especially for Kamitani. If we're going way back, Growlanser had classy designs. Sometimes.
 

kewlmyc

Member
Neat, but just like Death Stranding and Cyberpunk 2077, I will get hype when I see gameplay trailers and it's playable on a show floor.
 
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