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[jarrod]

There's an interview with Nomura about the 3 KH games, and he confirms that it is not the Crisis Core team that is working on the PSP game (might still be the same engine) but the Osaka S-E team that worked on KH Re:CoM.

Yep, it's the team that also used to handle Musashi and Square's sports games. They made Einhander too way back iirc.

The teams of for the new KH games are...

DS = h.a.n.d.

PSP = Musashi/COM+ team (formerly Square Enix PDD5)

mobile = Before Crisis team (formerly part of Square Enix PDD1)

 

[jarrod]

Jupiter was a shitty dev team and working with Nomura suddenly they churn out a portable GoTY-worthy title.

Jupiter was a solid team well before they worked with Nomura. Picross series >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> all of Nomura games

 

[soul]

Can someone please re-host the Dragon Quest IV/IX & FFXI scans?

 

[charlequin]

Nomura has great ideas for story concepts, but he sucks at directing stories IMO. The only game directed by him where the story was decently directed was the original KH, and even then it was far from perfect. When it comes to story directing, the best one still working for SE at the moment is probably Toriyama, although I might be forgetting someone else.

This sounds about right. The first Kingdom Hearts had a pretty tightly executed storyline -- the Disney and Square elements were well integrated, the plot seemed to move along at a consistent rate, and anything important seemed to be explained. KH2 is a disaster in comparison, just on an execution level. Is there some staffing difference (a missing storyline director) or did KH2 just bite off more than Nomura could chew?

 

[Pureauthor]

KH2 was fantastic despite flaws.

No, it wasn't. The battle system was the living definition of mediocrity, and the rest of the game was relatively uninspired. And for all the hype the 'revamped' Gummi Ship system got, it's still a tedious, pointless exercise.

Jupiter was a shitty dev team and working with Nomura suddenly they churn out a portable GoTY-worthy title.

Are we talking CoM or IAWW here? If it's the former, I'm going to have to not so respectifully disagree.

 

[Xzbeat]

Putting Kigdom Hearts on both the PSP and the DS is a smart move from S-E.
If it sells more on the PSP we will most likely see KH3 announced for the PS3 because of the shared philosophies between these 2 machines (and probably the consumers).
On the other hand if it sells more on DS we'll see some nice meltdowns.

 

[Dascu]

Thanks for the scans cvxfreak.

No More Heroes: Looks like the Man with the Golden Gun will be revealed next. We already know his rank from the trailer though. Glad to see the James Bond (and even Killer7) reference. Too bad he won't have a little midget assistant. :lol

Also, explanation about the Tiger! Woo! We already heard the Tiger indicates a super-mode. Travis looks like he's going Super-Saiyan. Probably more info in the scans, if anyone'd care to translate.

ASH: Score's lower than hoped for. Hmm... The arguments aren't very convincing though. Long battles? That's what SRPGs are for.

 

[AceBandage]

On NMHm is it just me, or is the lighting better than it was at TGS?

 

[ethelred]

I think it's to be expected since that's the big new thing. Horii already said that the single player should be standard Dragon Quest, so for me, I'm not worried.

He said that, yes... but I'm kinda with Aeana on this one. I really want to see him say, well, more about it. I'm just too leery of the idea that there won't be a fully developed Dragon Quest game here and we'll get some MMO (minus the M and the O) dungeon crawler.

 

[Error]

those characters models in DQ9 are freaking impressive.

I cannot fucking wait. throw us the trailer SE!

re: the SP of DQ9

Im not worried, they are pimping the wireless play because that was the major reason they moved the series to DS. so it's obvious they are going to concentrate on that mode, Horii already confirmed the SP will be up DQ standards.

 

[neo2046]

del

 

[neo2046]

Ar Tonelico II
No More Heroes

thanks a lot cvxfreak
wow @ No More Heroes

 

[Threi]

NMH looking good as usual

I like the Silvia shot =D

 

[Ananaz]

Is there some staffing difference (a missing storyline director)

Yes, there is. The original Kingdom Hearts had Jun Akiyama (Vagrant Story cutscene/event director) as the Event Planning Director, but after the game was finished he went to work on FFXII and has since been replaced by some FFVIII Map/Field planners for the KH series. Can't say if it's due to Akiyama's absence or not, but KH2 definitely was inferior to the original game as far as event direction, story pacing and plot continuity issues (ie. some cutscenes in KH1 changed slightly depending on the order you played through the worlds, which certainly isn't the case in KH2) are concerned.

But damn, those DQ games look really sweet. I'm just about to finish Dragon Quest 8, and it's been sooooo good for the entire 120~ hours I've clocked into it. Can't wait for DQIX and the remakes.

 

[speedpop]

The original Kingdom Hearts had Jun Akiyama (Vagrant Story cutscene/event director) as the Event Planning Director...

Aha! It all fits into place now. I had disliked Kingdom Hearts a lot when I invested a few hours into it but the thing that really stood out for me were the cut-scenes and I had never questioned over who had done it or whatever.. just basically sat in awe when it all happened whilst I watched my brother play from time to time. Knowing that a certain someone was essentially behind them makes sense to me now.

Im not worried, they are pimping the wireless play because that was the major reason they moved the series to DS. so it's obvious they are going to concentrate on that mode, Horii already confirmed the SP will be up DQ standards.

I'm thinking more in terms that DQIX might be an experiment of sorts to see if there is a viable "atmosphere" for a MMORPG using the DQ classes. Of course I could be horribly wrong with that analogy.

 

[ethelred]

Im not worried, they are pimping the wireless play because that was the major reason they moved the series to DS. so it's obvious they are going to concentrate on that mode, Horii already confirmed the SP will be up DQ standards.

I'm thinking more in terms that DQIX might be an experiment of sorts to see if there is a viable "atmosphere" for a MMORPG using the DQ classes. Of course I could be horribly wrong with that analogy.

I worry all the same... and probably will continue to do so until we see a real character unveiled for the game, like Yangus or Jessica or Maribel or Keifer or Hassan or Bianca.

 

[Stormbringer]

No More Heroes

Holy shit, "Dark Side Mode" ! And it seems like they finally explain what the goddamn tiger on the HUD is for ! Can anyone help translating that ?

[edit]

Thanks for the scans cvxfreak.

No More Heroes: Looks like the Man with the Golden Gun will be revealed next. We already know his rank from the trailer though. Glad to see the James Bond (and even Killer7) reference. Too bad he won't have a little midget assistant. :lol

Also, explanation about the Tiger! Woo! We already heard the Tiger indicates a super-mode. Travis looks like he's going Super-Saiyan. Probably more info in the scans, if anyone'd care to translate.

ASH: Score's lower than hoped for. Hmm... The arguments aren't very convincing though. Long battles? That's what SRPGs are for.

Haha, well, yeah, I'm late. Anyway, clearer scan and complete translation please.

 

[Sharp]

Yes, there is. The original Kingdom Hearts had Jun Akiyama (Vagrant Story cutscene/event director) as the Event Planning Director, but after the game was finished he went to work on FFXII and has since been replaced by some FFVIII Map/Field planners for the KH series. Can't say if it's due to Akiyama's absence or not, but KH2 definitely was inferior to the original game as far as event direction, story pacing and plot continuity issues (ie. some cutscenes in KH1 changed slightly depending on the order you played through the worlds, which certainly isn't the case in KH2) are concerned.

But damn, those DQ games look really sweet. I'm just about to finish Dragon Quest 8, and it's been sooooo good for the entire 120~ hours I've clocked into it. Can't wait for DQIX and the remakes.

Oh, okay. That makes a lot of sense. The story in KH2 seemed so disjoint in comparison, especially the Disney cutscenes, which seemed tacked-on.

 

[Error]

maybe they are going the DQ3 way of letting the player create his own party?

 

[acabado]

The mobile one is looking better than DS,but as all mobile games it's almost impossible to play.

The PSP version is @m@zing!

 

[Aeana]

maybe they are going the DQ3 way of letting the player create his own party?

I really hope not... for their sake. I personally wouldn't have a huge problem with that, but I know a lot of people would.

So far, the character creation stuff that's been shown is strictly for multiplayer...

 

[Lady Bird]

Yes, there is. The original Kingdom Hearts had Jun Akiyama (Vagrant Story cutscene/event director) as the Event Planning Director, but after the game was finished he went to work on FFXII and has since been replaced by some FFVIII Map/Field planners for the KH series. Can't say if it's due to Akiyama's absence or not, but KH2 definitely was inferior to the original game as far as event direction, story pacing and plot continuity issues (ie. some cutscenes in KH1 changed slightly depending on the order you played through the worlds, which certainly isn't the case in KH2) are concerned.

The cutscene direction in KH2 was far worse than in KH1 because of Jun Akiyama, for sure, but I'm not sure if he was responsible for some of those story's technical aspects like pace and flow. KH2's story also suffers from a lot of filler, so does Advent Children, another Nomura-directed product. And that's exactly my problem with him. Both KH2 and AC were written by Nojima, the same guy who wrote FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, etc; yet FFVII and FFVIII had a superior narrative (which were directed by Kitase) and FFX was really excellent in that aspect (directed by Toriyama), while the products Nomura directed suffer from those issues. (Even the original KH had pace and balance issues.)

 

[Grecco]

Why did the Wii version of Meteor rate higher than the PS2 version?

 

[ethelred]

maybe they are going the DQ3 way of letting the player create his own party?

Right. I don't like that, personally. I like the more character-driven direction the series has taken in the almost 20 years since Dragon Quest III. So much of the humor of the scenario is handled through their personalities and interactions, and more importantly, so much of much of the substance of the world gets invested in them.

Angelo's personality and his relationship with Marcelo was the main driving force in showing the decadence and corruption of the church in VIII; the reactions by Maribel and Keifer, and Keifer's eventual decision to leave, played a big role in the wonder you feel at the new worlds in VII and the way they impacted the timeline. And Yangus said "cor blimey" a lot.

I think the series will lose one of its major edges (archetypal but interesting and funny characters built around their world) if he switches away from that style, and I doubt I'd like that approach as much. I'm not saying DQ9 would be a bad game that way, but the characters Horii creates bring a lot to the series.

 

[Stormbringer]

Why did the Wii version of Meteor rate higher than the PS2 version?

Probably thanks to the online.

 

[Error]

it seems to me that DQ9 is a throwback in terms of scenario to the old ones.

the old trailer certainly made it look that way. you enter a town, talk to NPCs to see what the problem is, try to solve it (be it either killing a monster or looking for an item in a dungeon) get your clue/reward for the next place to go.

the scene in the old trailer where the player is talking to a king reminded me a lot of the old DQs (mainly the first trilogy).

 

[speedpop]

Could be onto something Error.

Certainly rhymes to the tune of Toriyama stating that he was very excited to "go back to the roots" of DQ development via his character/monster designs.

 

[Aeana]

it seems to me that DQ9 is a throwback in terms of scenario to the old ones.

the old trailer certainly made it look that way. you enter a town, talk to NPCs to see what the problem is, try to solve it (be it either killing a monster or looking for an item in a dungeon) get your clue/reward for the next place to go.

the scene in the old trailer where the player is talking to a king reminded me a lot of the old DQs (mainly the first trilogy).

Right, it does seem that way.

But I don't think that sort of game would do as well as a character-driven installment. I really feel like it would be a mistake.

 

[Error]

I wouldn't mind honestly, I enjoyed the characters (with what little development they had) before but I wouldn't miss them either.

I dont feel it would be a mistake, I really like DQ3 for that same reason the game doesn't get bog down by a story or anything. From the moment you get out of Aliahan the pace of the game never goes to shit, it's a non stop awesome adventure till you reach the credits. not to say that having a story with characters in DQ9 will be bad, but if the game turns out to be a modern re-imagination of DQ3 I'll be in heaven (in terms of scenario and gameplay).

 

[Magicpaint]

Yeah, I'm with you Error, I appreciate both the old school DQ of having generic characters but I love the modern style DQ, too with the unique scenario and characters. But yeah I understand where Aeana and ethelred are coming from.

The only thing that could seriously worry me in DQIX is if the multiplayer components (like the indepth character customisation) don't make it to the single player game. I really don't care about the multiplayer unless it's fully compatible with WFC.

 

[Ananaz]

The cutscene direction in KH2 was far worse than in KH1 because of Jun Akiyama, for sure, but I'm not sure if he was responsible for some of those story's technical aspects like pace and flow.

Actually, I just did a recheck on KH1 staff credits and what do ya know; Akiyama was credited as one the scenario writers along with Daisuke Watanabe and Kazushige Nojima, so he must have had a big input on how the story was paced and presented to the player, aside from just directing the cutscenes. Square needs to bring this man back to the KH series, along with Ryo Yamazaki (the synth operator on KH1)!

 

[rollingstart]

O_O

When's the release date on this? I thought it was due at the end of the year! I loved me some Battle Royale and considering this game is in the same vein... *fanboy splooge*

I think it is the 10th of next month.

watching the pv for the game, it looks like 0083, CCA, ZZ, and a few others were added. It has Sazabi and Nu Gundam!!!! SAZABI!!!!!

and I hope the next Gundam game on PSP had UC vs AC type stuff

 

[neo2046]

del

 

[jj984jj]

Nomura/Tabata made the best decision, they decided the direction they should go with was sprites and look how good it turned out compared to the DS game, and it even looks 3D.

 

[MCD]

Nomura/Tabata made the best decision, they decided the direction they should go with was sprites and look how good it turned out compared to the DS game, and it even looks 3D.

"Despite what shots look like, the characters are all prerendered 2-D. It did not look so hot in motion at TGS. 358/2 Days looked a lot better."

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7995673&postcount=37

 

[Fady K]

No, I don't hate it. It's mindless fun. I wouldn't want that system in a mainline FF title though. We all need brainless button mashers from time to time.

Everyone I know that finished it thought it was anything but mindless :/ but opinions are opinions.

Spoiler

do u hate the psp

I wouldn't mind honestly, I enjoyed the characters (with what little development they had) before but I wouldn't miss them either. [/spoiler]

Nice avatar dude, Killeys cool. I just witnessed one of my favorite cutscenes in any game in Suikoden V

Spoiler

what really happened in the Sol-Falena Palace :/

. Good stuff.

Edit: ASH got a 33? Not bad at all, though since its Famitsu it worries me. Oh well, Suikoden v and Shadow Hearts II both got a 32, and they ended up being some of the best RPGs i ever experienced ( still at the end of SuikoV tho.)

 

[Desiderus]

Right. I don't like that, personally. I like the more character-driven direction the series has taken in the almost 20 years since Dragon Quest III. So much of the humor of the scenario is handled through their personalities and interactions, and more importantly, so much of much of the substance of the world gets invested in them.

Angelo's personality and his relationship with Marcelo was the main driving force in showing the decadence and corruption of the church in VIII; the reactions by Maribel and Keifer, and Keifer's eventual decision to leave, played a big role in the wonder you feel at the new worlds in VII and the way they impacted the timeline. And Yangus said "cor blimey" a lot.

Why can't they let you pick your character class but still have characteristics and personality for those characters? I never seen why characters should be silent if you can customize them. Their weapon/class doesn't or shouldn't make them...

Now if your character's job is very story driven (Cecil dark knight) then yeah. If not though picking a class shouldn't be a problem, it didn't change Ramza any.

 

[Firestorm]

Is this real?

If so, does it confirm AC Character for Brawl?

 

[Femmeworth]

KH DS looks good though I am really worried about the controls. KH PSP looks :O. I need a PSP stat.

The shitty PS2 one. But with Nomura at the helm of these projects, I don't think fans will be remotely disappointed. Seriously.

Edit: The ASH review basically says that the game is founded on team formation tactics, the characters are tiny on the map, but touch controls are rather smooth. The interface is fine for actually playing and controlling but they seem to have issues with certain issues like like you're forming your party and stuff. They also mention that the battles take really long and hence finishing each map takes ages.

I was afraid of that.

 

[jj984jj]

"Despite what shots look like, the characters are all prerendered 2-D. It did not look so hot in motion at TGS. 358/2 Days looked a lot better."

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7995673&postcount=37

Oh, well then I shall wait to see them in motion.

 

[Link1110]

Why can't they let you pick your character class but still have characteristics and personality for those characters? I never seen why characters should be silent if you can customize them. Their weapon/class doesn't or shouldn't make them...

Now if your character's job is very story driven (Cecil dark knight) then yeah. If not though picking a class shouldn't be a problem, it didn't change Ramza any.

Or any character from Final Fantasy 5.

 

[Eteric Rice]

Putting Kigdom Hearts on both the PSP and the DS is a smart move from S-E.
If it sells more on the PSP we will most likely see KH3 announced for the PS3 because of the shared philosophies between these 2 machines (and probably the consumers).
On the other hand if it sells more on DS we'll see some nice meltdowns.

The DS has the best chance at the moment, imo. Just because of the sheer size of the userbase.

 

[Majmun]

KH for PSP is looking AMAZING

Day 1 purchase.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Why did the Wii version of Meteor rate higher than the PS2 version?

Probably because of online.

If I were to insert my own opinion, Tenkaichi 2 was more fun to play with the Wii controls and I wouldn't be surprised if it stayed that way for the third game.

 

[Jiggy]

Probably because of online.

If I were to insert my own opinion, Tenkaichi 2 was more fun to play with the Wii controls and I wouldn't be surprised if it stayed that way for the third game.

Even without online, if it were me I'd probably rate the Wii version higher just for at least offering the option of motion controls. Probably not a full point higher, so it might not reflect in the Famitsu style of scoring, but higher in my mind at least.

 

[soul]

This week Nomura was interviewed by Famitsu, but no new details have emerged. Here's a translation I wrote:

· Nomura was never involved in the creation of any Final Fantasy title as deeply he is right now, and he likes the fact he can take Final Fantasy Versus XIII where he wants it to be.

· Nomura says the PlayStation 3 hardware plays a huge part in the development of both projects, and by using it "all visions can come true". He says that visual-wise both Final Fantasy XIII and Versus XIII are superior from any former title in the franchise, and they are "close to perfection".

· As in any interview, Nomura was asked about the game's exclusivity. This time he mentioned that the TGS 2007 trailers had the writing "for PlayStation 3 ONLY". He says it's an advantage for one team to concentrate on one console, even if some fans are disappointed.

Scan

 

[Akai]

Is this real?

If so, does it confirm AC Character for Brawl?

Someone answer this man!

 

[SolidSnakex]

· As in any interview, Nomura was asked about the game's exclusivity. This time he mentioned that the TGS 2007 trailers had the writing "for PlayStation 3 ONLY". He says it's an advantage for one team to concentrate on one console, even if some fans are disappointed.

*standing ovation*

 

[sprsk]

Someone answer this man!

Well, a quick run through photoshop didn't send off any fake flags. I can't read any of that shit though.

 

[Defuser]

· As in any interview, Nomura was asked about the game's exclusivity. This time he mentioned that the TGS 2007 trailers had the writing "for PlayStation 3 ONLY". He says it's an advantage for one team to concentrate on one console, even if some fans are disappointed.

Scan

Suck it, 360/Wii owners.