Support NeoGAF

[Hero of Legend]

Developer: Epics (formally known as G-Artists)
Publisher: Marvelous (XSEED in NA)
Genre: RPG (with a bit of Story of Seasons farming gameplay added in)

This is the first PoPoLoCrois game since the PSP game back in 2005 (which was the only entry prior to release in NA, which was by Agetec). And this time the series is crossing over with Story of Seasons (which is the true Harvest Moon series, Natsume only kept the name. The main games are in-house at Marvelous USA/XSEED).

However the whole crossover bit is only really as a side thing. After a bit into the game, Pietro (the main character) comes across an abandoned farmland, which he has resided and is able to grow crops, take care of animals, basically like SoS. But the game is basically 90% JRPG otherwise.

So far I've played a few hours and I am LOVING this game!

It's a very simple RPG. The battle system is mostly turn-based. You can move your character before ending your turn to move closer to an enemy so you can hit the enemy with an attack. You see a grid, but that's mostly showing distance, and not in a Fire Emblem sort of grid. As you level up your movement area increases since you can only move to where your grid ends, so hopefully you can reach the enemy within that turn.

The overworld is your traditional isometric-view overworld. However, one grip I have is that your movement is forced into 8 directions, there's no free smooth movement, so you'll find yourself zigzaging quite a bit. But like traditional RPGs you have your towns, forests, people to talk to, Inns to save and rest, shops, and all that.

The game uses a very Opoona like artstyle where it's not quite cel-shaded, but every character has an optional black outline around them as if they were cel-shaded. I like the look of that a lot. There's also an option for three different voice tracks; the English track, and also a "Classic" and "Modern" Japanese voice track, the differences are mostly with Pietro and Narcia the pink witch you see on the box above. As Tom puts it:

And yes, there are two… sort of. Most of the game only features a single set of Japanese voices, but the main characters Pietro and Narcia each have two different actors in the original Japanese: one “classic” actor (who plays the role in a very ‘90s style), and one “modern” actor (who plays the role with more of a familiar “moe” bent).

The music I also find to be really nice, which is composed by Yoshiyuki Sahashi, and arranged by Tetsuo Ishikawa, both of whom worked on the entire PoPoLoCrois series together.

As for the story, I think it's very well done, however, one other issue I have is that the English voices at least are not fully voiced. This is a bizarre thing where some sentences are voiced, then midway another will just have the voice say a word or something during a full sentence, and then return to fully voicing a line, all this during the same scene of dialog. Budget issue maybe? Despite this issue, I find the characters so charming and SUPER adorable. Especially Narcia and Pietro, they're so cute together.

Also, another thing I obviously need to address is that the thread subtitle is no joke. The PoPoLoCrois trademark is indeed owned by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. It says so on both the game's website, and on the back of the retail box:

©Yohsuke Tamori ©Yoshifumi Hashimoto(Marvelous Inc.) ©2015 Marvelous Inc. Licensed to and published by XSEED Games / Marvelous USA, Inc. Nintendo trademarks and copyrights are properties of Nintendo. PoPoLoCrois is a registered trademark or trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ESRB rating icons are registered trademarks of the Entertainment Software Association.

Even the creator Yohsuke Tamori referenced this in an interview with Nintendolife:

Originally, the PopoloCrois series began as a first-party Sony Computer Entertainment title, so the series had always been released only on Sony platforms. Because of this crossover with STORY OF SEASONS, however, we were able to open up the door to new platforms, so this title was a big opportunity for the PopoloCrois series as a whole, and I hope that with it, we can bring more people to the world of PopoloCrois.

So crossing over with Story of Seasons allowed this? Huh? I'm confused.

Also, I actually made my own podcast series, and Episode 2 actually talks about that bit above and more, have a watch if you're interested in my thoughts on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62DZWsVm810

Finally, how about some screens and videos!

Screens:

Videos:

Gameplay (07.15.15)
E3 Announcement Trailer
Features Trailer
Release Date Announcement Trailer

AND, as a bonus, XSEED have actually uploaded the entire first Manga issue of the series onto their website to read, all 112 pages of it!

http://www.returntopopolocrois.com/manga2.html

And that's it! What are your thoughts on the game (and the thread )?

 

[Decarabia]

Yeah, I played it back when it came out, and surprisingly liked it a lot. I usually feel a bit overwhelmed by the time restrictions in Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games, so, to me, it was nice to have it more simplified and less demanding.

I pretty much agree on everything you said, and it's too bad I can't find the game's soundtrack anywhere, there are a lot of great tracks, especially from the second half of the game.

 

[ohlawd]

great that you're enjoying it, HoL. bought it when it was on sale for $25 on the eShop but haven't started.

 

[Velcro Fly]

I finished it last month on King difficulty. Pretty sure I did all the sidequests and was probably near 100% completion. Got about 40 hours out of everything but I did mess around a little bit at times. Was a pretty fun game and you can get it for relatively cheap now I think.

 

[Meffer]

I like it but the movement feels so weird to me. Like when you press a direction you slide or rotate in the direction, it feels off to me.
Does anybody else notice this or am I just crazy?

 

[Hero of Legend]

I like it but the movement feels so weird to me. Like when you press a direction you slide or rotate in the direction, it feels off to me.
Does anybody else notice this or am I just crazy?

Yep, I pointed that out, the game uses 8-directional movement, something like Pokemon X and Y when you're walking/running in that.

Makes no sense though as the overworld isn't tiled and neither is the battle system despite the grid showing. There's no reason for overly precise straight movement. Maybe it was to match earlier games for nostalgia purposes?

 

[Meffer]

Yep, I pointed that out, the game uses 8-directional movement, something like Pokemon X and Y when you're walking/running in that.

Makes no sense though as the overworld isn't tiled and neither is the battle system despite the grid showing. There's no reason for overly precise straight movement. Maybe it was to match earlier games for nostalgia purposes?

Hmm maybe.

 

[Hero of Legend]

More should play this, I hope it's doing well.

 

[wyrdwad]

The piecemeal voice-acting is present in the Japanese, too, and we were unable to have more of it voiced for the English (we asked!). It is kind of distracting, but you get used to it after a while.

Really glad you're enjoying the game, though! It's my baby, so any and all kind words spoken about it make me very happy.

-Tom

 

[Mr-Joker]

I plan to get the game, just waiting for a price drop as it's digital only in Europe.

 

[Hero of Legend]

The piecemeal voice-acting is present in the Japanese, too, and we were unable to have more of it voiced for the English (we asked!). It is kind of distracting, but you get used to it after a while.

Really glad you're enjoying the game, though! It's my baby, so any and all kind words spoken about it make me very happy.

-Tom

Was hoping you'd chime in!

Do we have a cast list for the dub? Pietro I think is either Laura Bailey or Kate Higgins, and Narcia should be Laura Bailey.

I swear Gomer is Sean Schemmel, I definitely hear a bit of Goku in him.

You were secretive about the English cast before, was there a reason for that or just to surprise folks?

 

[Parakeetman]

Great little game. Most def worth checking out for those who want a "chill" JRPG to play.

 

[Kallor]

Dang. I need this now. didnt even know it exsited. PoPoLoCrois was one of my first psp games not long after the psp first came out.

 

[StereoVsn]

It's only $20 on Amazon as well, which is pretty darn cheap.

 

[wyrdwad]

Was hoping you'd chime in!

Do we have a cast list for the dub? Pietro I think is either Laura Bailey or Kate Higgins, and Narcia should be Laura Bailey.

I swear Gomer is Sean Schemmel, I definitely hear a bit of Goku in him.

You were secretive about the English cast before, was there a reason for that or just to surprise folks?

We have a cast list in the ending credits and in the instruction manual, though it's not all-inclusive -- for various reasons, some members of the cast are not credited, while others are using pseudonyms (I'm not really at liberty to say why, but I'm sure someone else on here can explain).

As such, we did not list who's who, we just gave a general list of all the actors we could who were involved. I can tell you this, though: Narcia was Cassandra Lee Morris, who also played Trixy.

-Tom