Topic: Wii ARPG Ougon no Kizuna revealed

[famicomplicated]

Jaleco combats the Wii's lack of RPG problem.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=16619

 New information about an RPG by Jaleco has come to light through a recent preview in Famitsu magazine.    

Ougon no Kizuna, literally meaning "Golden Bonds," is a highly stylised action RPG with some incredible talent behind it. The scenario writer from Final Fantasy XII and the director of Little King Story and Dragon Quest VIII are teaming up to create what a lot of Wii owners are crying out for: more epic Japanese RPG’s.    

The game features a cell-shaded anime look and promises a huge storyline and epic boss battles. Taking inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus, the bosses will be screen-filling monsters that will require some puzzle solving to beat.    

General combat in the game is very much action-focused; players will point the Wiimote to select enemies, move with the nunchuck, then attack with rapid button combinations.    

There is very little known about the story at this point, and what the "Golden Bonds" are referring isn't fully known. It has been hinted that it revolves around the main character "Rian" and his ties with the people of the world and his sidekick, Princess Ayna.    

Aside from the main quest mode, which is divided into chapters, there will be an additional 100 or more side-quests to complete.    

Ougon no Kizuna is scheduled for a winter release in Japan. There's no news of a North American/European release as yet.

[Morari]

Who's crying out for more JRPGs? If you've played one, you've played them all. Can't we have real RPGs instead? Y'know, the kind that aren't just crudely interactive movies.

[Bill Aurion]

Uhhh, it's an ARPG...Quite a bit different from the standard traditional JRPG...

[SixthAngel]

Maybe you should have at least read the title of the article before you started bitching.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Maybe you should have at least read the title of the article before you started bitching.

Well you know Morari he's a troll without a cause.

[Jonnyboy117]

This could be very cool; I've seen some screens from Famitsu's website, and it looks quite similar to Shadow of the Colossus (although the graphics aren't as good, despite the cool pencil filter).  But... Jaleco?  Who knew they still existed?

[Flames_of_chaos]

I believe Jaleco published a handful of gamecube ps2 and xbox games in Japan and America, I think this is a new Jaleco like how the new Acclaim is now a MMO publisher of all things.

[Bill Aurion]

This could be very cool; I've seen some screens from Famitsu's website, and it looks quite similar to Shadow of the Colossus (although the graphics aren't as good, despite the cool pencil filter).

I would like to own your apparently-very-pretty copy of Shadow of the Colossus, because in mine the visuals are pretty assy...

[Jonnyboy117]

I would like to own your apparently-very-pretty copy of Shadow of the Colossus, because in mine the visuals are pretty assy...

Try hooking it up to a television.

[Dirk Temporo]

Uhhh, it's an ARPG...Quite a bit different from the standard traditional JRPG...

More fun to play, but still not an RPG.

[KDR_11k]

I would like to own your apparently-very-pretty copy of Shadow of the Colossus, because in mine the visuals are pretty assy...

Did they fix the framerate since the preview build I saw at a GC waaaaaay back?

[Bill Aurion]

I would like to own your apparently-very-pretty copy of Shadow of the Colossus, because in mine the visuals are pretty assy...

Try hooking it up to a television.

I'm sure hooking it up to a toilet gets similar results...

Did they fix the framerate since the preview build I saw at a GC waaaaaay back?

I'd buy a re-released version of the game if they DID fix it... =\

[Enner]

Uhhh, it's an ARPG...Quite a bit different from the standard traditional JRPG...

More fun to play, but still not an RPG.

Well, maybe the game will have somewhat robust character creation and interesting quests. Then again, this is Japan and they never seem to be too interested in those two things.

[KDR_11k]

I don't like character creation anyway, you have to decide loads of things about how you'll play the game before you even know how things work. It's better to have player-driven character development instead (i.e. developing the character how you see fit as you progress) but even that often has buy-before-you-try moments with skills and such. Doesn't help that often all the hints you get about something beforehand are manual-quality, describing every crappy pea shooter as a superweapon and pretending status alterations are useful (yet they turn out to be pretty useless as enemies die so fast that wasting time on the status is pointless and anything you fight long enough to actually need these things on is immune).

IOW it would be a lot easier to make decisions about your character a priori if you actually had decent documentation that tells you how good something really is ("does less damage than your regular attack, only useful if the target is weak to fire").

Of course I bet a lot of that is pride, no developer wants to admit they just added 30 practically useless spells.

[Jonnyboy117]

I would like to own your apparently-very-pretty copy of Shadow of the Colossus, because in mine the visuals are pretty assy...

Did they fix the framerate since the preview build I saw at a GC waaaaaay back?

SotC's frame rate isn't perfect, but I don't think it's bad.  In terms of art direction and overall technical polish (especially lighting and draw distance), it's one of the best looking games of last gen.

[KDR_11k]

Well, in the preview build I played it was worse than Ocarina of Time or the DS version of Brothers In Arms. It may have had pretty graphics but that doesn't excuse a crippling framerate when only the world and maybe 1-2 objects are onscreen. Of course the graphics are prettier than games that actually take care not to overstep the bounds of the system they're on. EDF has an excuse for its framerate (hundreds of giant ants) but that part of SotC had just the character standing in an empty building.