Topic: Soma Bringer: MonolithSoft's Latest RPG

[Bill Aurion]

Release Date: February 28, 2008 (JAPAN)

~ Action RPG...
~ Assign attacks to face buttons...
~ ‘Break System’ used to consecutively attack. Timing is important...
~ You control one character, AI controls two other party members...
~ Customizable characters (upgradeable and visible equipment changes!)
~ Three player wireless cooperative play
~ Story/script: Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga (Xenosaga)
~ Character design: Tadahiro Usuda
~ Soundtrack: Yasunori Mitsuda
~ Multiplayer: Explore the game world at your own will, all players do not have to be on the same screen at the same time...
~ And the first trailer!
~ Japanese TV Spot! (For the curious, the young lady narrating says "Recollection...Oneself...Betrayal...Bonds...My consciousness will clear the way...[lit.: cut in front of me])
~ Trailer 2!
~ Official Japanese Website!

This will be MonolithSoft's first game since their acquisition by Nintendo...The music is fantastic, and the game looks really sharp, and early impressions seem to point towards a fun battle system, so hopefully the end product is good (and localized!)

[Darkheart]

Color me interested but I will need more video and impressions before I start my own personal hype train.  I still dont know what to think about the character designs. . . love the music and the colorful art though.

[Deguello]

What an eclectic bunch on the cover.

[Bloodworth]

We have another trailer on the way tomorrow with more gameplay details. So keep your eyes open.

[Bill Aurion]

Color me interested but I will need more video and impressions before I start my own personal hype train.  I still dont know what to think about the character designs. . . love the music and the colorful art though.

Let's start with another video that shows a bunch of awesome gameplay!
http://touch-ds.jp/mfs/st86/intro.html

This game is starting to look like Secret of Mana done right...

[Infernal Monkey]

The Western release will be renamed Summer Bringer and have the stern dude from the top of the box in a two piece. 

ACTION RPG YES!~

[Toruresu]

Wow! Seems like a good game!

We'll see how the reviews go.

[Darkheart]

WHOA is this multiplayer!?  If so then you got me on the hype train WOO WOO~!

[Toruresu]

Yeah, its multiplayer. Question is, why only three players and not four? I don't think its the DS's fault, the video that I saw had nine characters on screen. Also, why no online and why isn't this on Wii?!

Maybe Nintendo is testing Monolith?

[Bill Aurion]

Yeah, its multiplayer. Question is, why only three players and not four? I don't think its the DS's fault, the video that I saw had nine characters on screen. Also, why no online and why isn't this on Wii?

Because in single player you only have 3-person parties...It's just the way they designed the game (very Secret of Mana-ish, which is what I believe was intended...)

[nitsu niflheim]

looks like fun, but looks are very deceiving... but I'm going to get it anyways, rite Bill?

[Bill Aurion]

looks like fun, but looks are very deceiving... but I'm going to get it anyways, rite Bill?

Hey, I have absolutely no qualms with you getting ACTION RPGS... =3

[KDR_11k]

I hope they don't give you more than three characters then (or make sure dormant chars still get exp), I hate having to make sure all characters level equally or having useless characters later on.

[Bill Aurion]

It looks like you will have a large party throughout the entire game, so I'm sure they'd have to have a "sharing of experience" system implemented...

[KDR_11k]

I don't trust japanese devs on things like that.

[NWR_insanolord]

This sounds good, and the fact that Nintendo bought the company after seeing their work on this gives me high hopes (and the same goes for Disaster: Day of Crisis). And it's another good DS game in what looks to be a lighter year than the past few.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

ahahahahaha the non-news on Disaster is not giving me hope.

[Bill Aurion]

More info:

~Prologue~ (Story tidbits)

A huge ring that wraps around the world---
The people underneath its warmth
sleeping, waking, living
covered by "Soma", a power that fills the atmosphere

A world where an energy called "Soma" governs all...

However, in recent years, due to the balance of Soma crumbling,
mysterious life-forms, "Visitors", have appeared, which has caused
all the people who dwell there to live everyday in fear.

In order to subdue those Visitors,
a militant organization called "Pharzuph"was established

On an investigation deep in the heart of the large forest Junel,
a member of the Pharzuph 7th troupe
met a girl who had lost her memory, and---

And impressions from a retailer who has played through some of the game:

- He likes the direction of the events and story very much. The locations and events do a good job of drawing you into the game.

- The Pharzuph are kinda like the Jedi knights of the Soma Bringer world. As part of an entire unit, the game does a good job of making your character feel like you're part of an organization. Getting missions from HQ in towns, and interacting with the support staff, etc.

- Each character have their own personalities and quirks, and the game does a good job of showcasing it.

- For battles you can actually toggle the Camera Zoom option on or off. There's another setting for Area Cursor which determines if the "starting position of the area cursor for ranged attacks" is near or far. He has no idea what the setting actually does based on the demo they got to play though.

- He also says that while the game is probably going to take 20-30 hours for a single play (this is based on what was briefed by Nintendo probably, since he isn't actually playing the full game), the game isn't really about just playing once through.

[Infernal Monkey]

Each character have their own personalities and quirks, and the game does a good job of showcasing it.

An RPG with characters that actually have personality? This must surely be some kind of lie!

[KDR_11k]

On an investigation deep in the heart of the large forest Junel,
a member of the Pharzuph 7th troupe
met a girl who had lost her memory, and---

- Each character have their own personalities and quirks, and the game does a good job of showcasing it.

OBJECTION!! Your honor, the witness is clearly contradicting himself!

[Bill Aurion]

Having amnesia doesn't mean having a lack of personality... =)

[Bill Aurion]

I like how I'm the only one who will get this game...It's my very own niche game!

Anyways, more info from here! (translated by duckroll at GAF)

- Takahashi is producing the game, and it's his project from the start

- Right from the beginning Mitsuda was involved, Takahashi didn't want to make a game without Mitsuda's music

- Mitsuda would never turn down a friend who worked with him on Xenogears and Xenosaga, in a way it feels like a reunion

- Originally this was planned as a normal RPG, but then they realized that RPGs aren't ideally suited for handhelds and tried to make it an action RPG

- When it turned out really well they decided that this was the way to go, because now you can have both the story of a RPG as well as the ability to just play short bursts on the go

- The scenario in Soma Bringer differs from his previous works in the sense that previously the scenario was written first and the gameplay was made to fit into the scenario. This time they worked on the gameplay first, and based on what kind of dungeons, locations and stuff they wanted the player to experience as part of the gameplay, the scenario was then developed to maximize the gameplay and locations as well as expand the worldview and characters

- The worldview is focused on the fact that Soma is the ultimate energy of the planet and used for everything. This energy source is a completely normal thing on this planet and part of their daily lives. The ring that surrounds the entire planet is also a key point that the story will revolve around

- There will be over 300 different weapons in the game, and you won't be able to get them all or even see them all in a single playthrough

- Lots of customization and freedom for the player to build the character however he wants in terms of stats, skills, etc

- Mitsuda says that this game will feature the highest quality possible yet on the DS. There will be two completely different mixes of the sound in the game depending if you select speaker or headphone output in the settings. This is because the speakers on the DS lack bass, and the output levels are different. Hence to produce the optimum sound on either speaker or headphone, two different mixes are needed

- Takahashi plays Soma Bringer with his young son and older daughter. It's lots of fun and he hopes that with the wifi multiplayer mode friends and family can get together and play the game together, fighting over loot and defeating bosses together. It'll be different for everyone but the social aspect definitely makes it more fun

- When you clear the main story, 3 randomly generated dungeons will open up. Not only will they offer tons of gameplay content, but there will be added story episodes as well

[NWR_insanolord]

- The scenario in Soma Bringer differs from his previous works in the sense that previously the scenario was written first and the gameplay was made to fit into the scenario. This time they worked on the gameplay first, and based on what kind of dungeons, locations and stuff they wanted the player to experience as part of the gameplay, the scenario was then developed to maximize the gameplay and locations as well as expand the worldview and characters

That is what I like to hear. It's a very Nintendo, very Miyamoto way of designing the game, and it's making me more and more interested in this game.

[Darkheart]

I like how I'm the only one who will get this game...It's my very own niche game!

Hey there who said you were the only one?  Dont be selfish ~!

I will get this game once its localized hopefully.  Plus we have an awesome Action RPG coming out in April.

The World Ends With You.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Is this game worth getting a DS for?