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3DS

Nintendo Newsletter: Live From The Epic Center

by Zachary Miller and Donald Theriault - May 12, 2015, 5:21 pm EDT
Total comments: 5 Source: Anime News Network, Famitsu, Gematsu, Siliconera

Today's Nintendo news seems to be heavy on the roleplaying.

A new game announcement and a couple of RPG updates head up the Nintendo news as we all wait for our E3 plans.


Monster Strike Receiving 3DS Version

The mobile gaming phenomenon that dethroned Puzzle and Dragons in Japan is about to head to the 3DS itself.

Available on both iOS and Android presently, the game is a monster collector where all the battles are conducted by flicking icons around on a touch screen. Similar to the phone version of Puzzle and Dragons, the game is monetized by gems that provide continues after lost battles or expanding the size of the party.

For the sake of comparison, the 3DS version of Puzzle and Dragons Z sold approximately 1.4m copies just in Japan, and the Super Mario Edition has cleared 200,000 copies in its opening week of sale.

Our Take: “I know this game has had some crazy crossovers and clones, so I’m thinking this comes west in a dual pack form with… let’s say F-Zero.” – Donald Theriault

“I can definitely see the seeds of a mobile Pokémon game here. But F-Zero’s good too.” – Zach Miller


New Fire Emblem Details Include Difficulty Options and Weapon Adjustments

Famitsu has provided some information about Fire Emblem if that will serve to eliminate frustrations from prior games.

The key updates include the removal of weapon durability, similar to how the weapons were handled in Fire Emblem Gaiden. A new difficulty option called “Phoenix Mode” will be available that revives party members the turn after their death, while a feature called the “Dragon’s Vein” will allow for modification of the battlefield.

Lastly, the game will come with nine save slots, up from Awakening’s 3, and each DLC campaign purchase will include three more slots.

Our Take: “Phoenix Mode for life. Any Casual players who want to tell me to git gud can sod right off.” – Donald Theriault

“Still not gonna play it.” – Zach Miller


No Objections to New Project X Zone 2 Characters

From the same Famitsu, the roster of characters for the upcoming Project X Zone 2 is growing.

Capcom will be kicking in Phoenix Wright and Maya from the Ace Attorney series, as well as returning Ryu and Ken from the prior game. Sega has contributed Axel from the Streets of Rage series and will bring back Sakura and Gemini from the Sakura Wars series, while Namco has added two characters from their PlayStation hunting series God Eater and a character from Summon Night 3.

All of these characters will join the fight this fall.

Our Take: “I wanted to resist, I really did… but Phoenix killing scrubs with a pointer finger may be my breaking point.” – Donald Theriault

“Still not seeing Kaguya Nanbu’s name in there, Monolith.” – Zach Miller

Images

Talkback

I... I really hope that durability is only out for Hoshido campaign. having a linear campaign with no durability is kinda disheartening for Nohr campaign, as I feel weapon durability is one of the three pillars of strategic balance this series stands on when it gets into the most thoughtful of it's bouts.

Don't get me wrong. I think when you make your game like Fire Emblem Gaiden or like Sacred Stones/Awakening, durability is a HUGE hastle, as it means farming Hammerne or farming infinite regalia.

when you have a game where you can use your killing edge endlessly though, why would you ever bother not having that extra crit chance? this in turns means less risk in say... sitting on a map that has set points that force reinforcement spawns. where there may have been some danger in say... running out your gear or using shitty iron crap in sitting there and farming those sorts of reinforcements, now there is ZERO reason for you not to prolong the mission to try and catch some weaker units up.

Entire calvalry lines that you used to maybe have to think about how you deal with them can just be torn through with one guy with a horseslayer with no fear of it ever breaking. no more saving your uses of your hammer for helping to take down armored bosses or allowing weaker units to overcome Knights.

Speaking of that, if they give your main character something like a Rapier that has advantage against Knights and horses, that's almost good enough to use through the whole game without ever even considering an iron or steel sword, that's for certain!


I'm all for getting rid of draconian NES holdovers (like churches in Dragon Quest, for example!), but ridding Fire Emblem of durability is like getting rid of waste management in SimCity.

MASBMay 12, 2015

Quote:

“Phoenix Mode for life. Any Casual players who want to tell me to git gud can sod right off.” – Donald Theriault

Wouldn't it be hardcores that would tell you that or is that the joke? So I guess this is the middle way between no dying and permadeath?

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Monster Strike for 3DS. Could portend good things if it's as big a hit as P&D Z was.

Dragon Quest VIII was also announced for the 3DS. Great news, except you realize it has little chance of being translated from Japanese, so not much point for Westerners, alas.

fred13May 13, 2015

Phoenix Mode sounds great for my 3 year old...and nobody else!


Let me get this straight, if one of my guys die, they come back to life the next turn? Doesn't this make it almost impossible to lose? As long as you didn't lose ALL your players in a single turn you can't lose.


Doesn't sound fun to me. With Awakening (my first Fire Emblem game) I played through on Casual Hard, then I did Classic Hard both were fun and they are different enough that it almost felt like a different game the second time as I had to use completely different strategies. I tried lunatic, but I have yet to figure out how to beat the second level on that difficulty. (Yes I'm still playing that game it was my overall favorite 3DS game until Xenoblade 3D arrived)

hhgjfMay 14, 2015

"...revives party members the turn after their death..."

I would strongly suspect there is translation mistake here; I guess the source would have meant "next map" rather than "next turn" which makes absolutely no sense at all.

Reviving on the next map is casual mode. Phoenix is for people who are more interested in the story, so it's the next turn.

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