Stella Glow coming to Europe in spring 2016
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 1 Comment
Stella Glow is reaching Europe next spring, NIS America announced today. It will be distributed physically as well as on the eShop.
Stella Glow originally launched in Japan last month. Later this year, Atlus will publish the strategy RPG in North America.
We’ve posted an official overview of Stella Glow after the break.
More: Atlus, Europe, Imageepoch, NIS America, Stella Glow
Further details on how Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem came to be
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 2 Comments
Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami, who is working on Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, further explained how the project came to be in this week’s issue of Famitsu.
According to Yamagami, things began back in 2009. As he explained:
“Our initial contact with Atlus was back in 2009 when we developed the game Itsumo Purikura ? Kuradeko Puremium. Afterwards, Ando said ‘I want to make a game that mixes Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei,’ so I went to Atlus with the proposal.”
Atlus responded by saying “Let us think about it”, which essentially meant no. Nintendo was later told, “We’re too busy and can’t do it right now.”
Although Yamagami was disappointed that Atlus turned down his proposal, he did feel like a partnership could be made a reality one day.
“I was really bummed about it, but it wasn’t as though they had straight out said no, so I told Ando, ‘I’m sure we’ll cross paths with them again some time.’”
Yamagami ended up receiving an email over a year later from Atlus’ Naoto Hiraoka, who asked if talks were still open. It didn’t take long for Nintendo and Atlus to be in communication once again.
Atlus producer Shinjiro Takada told Famitsu that, during the original proposal, the team was busy with Devil Survivor 2. Takada always thought of Fire Emblem as a rival title that he looked at as a goal. Takada mentioned: “That Nintendo wanted to collaborate with us with such a big title was a huge honor and I really wanted to do it.”
SEGA focusing on quality, wants to regain fans’ trust
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 128 Comments
This week’s issue of Famitsu contains an interview with SEGA CEO and president Haruki Satomi.
At one point during the discussion, Satomi mentioned that the company has “learned a lot from Atlus”, which SEGA acquired in 2013. He also spoke about how SEGA is really pushing the idea of quality.
Satomi stated:
“As far as the Western market goes, we learned a lot from Atlus. If we can make a title with proper quality, I believe there’s a good chance for it to do well even in the West for players that like to play Japanese games.”
“I’ve been talking to the employees about how we should start putting serious consideration into quality from this point on. Especially in North America and Europe, where it’s always been more of a focus on schedules, I believe that if we can’t maintain quality, it would be better to not release anything at all.”
“We did our best to build a relationship of mutual trust with older fans of Sega, but looking back, there’ve been some titles that have partially betrayed that [trust] in the past 10 years.”
“Since we’re seriously considering quality, I can’t make that promise for the time being, but I believe we will announce something for home console at Tokyo Game Show.”
Famitsu ends its talk with Satomi by asking what fans can look forward to in the future.
“SEGA in the ‘90s was known for its ‘brand, but after that, we’ve lost trust, and we were left with nothing but ‘reputation. For this reason, we’d like to win back the customers’ trust, and become a ‘brand,’ once again.”
More: Atlus, Haruki Satomi, interview, SEGA
Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem details – takes about 30 hours to complete
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 12 Comments
Famitsu has an update on Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem this week. Additionally, there’s an interview with some of the game’s developers.
Here’s a brief summary of what was shared in the latest Famitsu:
– Has characters from Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
– Characters from both games will appear as heroes as well as villains
– Popularity polls and such helped determine the character selection
– Will see the likes of Cain and Abel in the game
– Characters that appeared as enemies in Fire Emblem will appear as enemies in Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem
– The devs say that the main story will take around 30 hours to finish
– There are also side stories and other extras to take on
– This content will apparently amount to another 30 hours
– Game is being balanced and bug-tested
– All content and features are in place
Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight – Atlus live stream recording #2
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 0 comments
Atlus held a second live stream for Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight last night. You can now see the complete recording below.
Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold – demo on July 14, Bertrand character video
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
Atlus has announced that Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight is getting a demo in North America. The demo, which features the starting floor of Story Mode, is slated for release on the 3DS eShop on July 14. After playing the demo, users can transfer save data to the full game.
Atlus also prepared a video for Bertrand today. We’ve posted that below, along with an overview of the character.
This next one goes out to all the shield-carrying, plate-wearing, unsung heroes in all of RPG-dom. Sure, they may mitigate tons of lethal monster damage and keep the rest of your party safe with guard abilities, but at the end of the day, holding a shield just never gets the same respect as those flashy magic spells or the glint of cold steel as it hacks monsters in twain.
WELL, TODAY IS YOUR DAY! We’re giving a big ol’ RPG salute to the key of any party – the tank. And in Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold’s Story Mode, your tank is Bertrand, the loyal (albeit reluctant) Protector. Your party comes across Bertrand and the war magus Chloe in the early areas of the Ginnungagap Ruins and they’ll join up with Flavio, Arianna, and you!
The Protector’s skills are incredibly useful – early on they get abilities that boost a line’s defense, and skills to protect against elemental damage. They also can provoke enemies into attacking them, and even retaliate with shield attacks. And while Bertrand and Protectors are quite good at soaking up damage, they even have some abilities to heal themselves and allies as well.
Protectors do have support and a few offensive skills, but their skillset leans overwhelmingly towards defense, so they’re probably best left to the tank role.
Source: Atlus PR
Shingeki no Kyojin: Humanity in Chains coming to EU, AUS, NZ on July 2
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News | 0 comments
Atlus announced today that Shingeki no Kyojin: Humanity in Chains is heading to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on July 2. The game will cost €29.99.
In North America, Atlus released Shingeki no Kyojin: Humanity in Chains – where it is known as Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains – on May 12.
Atlus confirmed on its Twitter account today:
Speaking of Shingeki no Kyojin: Humanity in Chains, the game will release in Europe, Australia, & New Zealand on the 2nd of July at 29.99€!
— Atlus U.S.A., Inc. (@AtlusUSA) June 26, 2015
Off-screen The Legend of Legacy English footage
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 0 comments
Footage from The Legend of Legacy’s English build has come in from E3 2015. Check it out below.
More: Atlus, FuRyu, The Legend of Legacy
SMT X FE was initially a a turn-based strategy game, devs on FE characters and pop idol focus, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 6 Comments
Genei Ibun Roku # FE, the working title of the Fire Emblem/Shin Megami Tensei crossover project in development with Nintendo and Atlus (and loosely translated as “Mirage Spinoff # FE”) is the result of one woman’s passion for Fire Emblem.
In an interview at E3, Fire Emblem producer and Nintendo group manager Hitoshi Yamagami told GameSpot that a Nintendo employee who loved Atlus games initially came up with the idea.
Yamagami on how a Nintendo employee who loved Atlus games came up with the idea…
“In our team at Nintendo Co., Ltd, there’s a woman who really loves the Shin Megami Tensei series. This is how this all started. And when she started this conversation within the company, we were working with Atlus at the time on a purikura [decorative photography] program for DSi and 3DS. At the time she said, ‘Mr. Yamagami, there’s something I would like to do. I want to make a game that mixes Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei.’ And we said, that’s exciting, let’s give it a shot! But when we brought it to Atlus, they said, we’d like to but we can’t, we’re busy.”
– Nintendo abandoned the idea, until two years later
– Atlus approached them to revive the concept
“When they asked if I wanted to [work with Nintendo], I was heading the Devil Survivor series. So once that series finished, two years after that conversation, I said, let’s give this a shot.” – Takada
Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem – origins, difficulties, fans, music, and more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News | 18 Comments
This comes from Atlus producer Shinjiro Takata and Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami…
On the speculation there was about the project…
Shinjiro Takata: Everybody is pretty much off the mark with what they’ve thought about this game, but one thing that people got wrong the most in Japan—at the end of the first trailer we announced, there was a line that said—people who are fans of Japanese voice actors knew the voice of Yuichi Nakamura. He generally voices main characters, so they were saying, oh, Nakamura’s going to voice the main character. Actually, he voices someone completely different. They were off the mark there.
On how the project came together…
Shinjiro Takata: What happened was, in the process of making this game—the whole idea started when Mr. Hitoshi Yamagami, who is a producer at Nintendo, brought the idea of making a simulation, a strategy game, to Atlus. This was a problem, because Atlus is well known for making JRPGs. That’s our bailiwick. The next thing was, well, what do we do? Do we make it fantasy-based, because Fire Emblem is known for fantasy settings? That kind of fantasy game isn’t really what Atlus tends to put out, though. In the beginning phases of making this game, we really didn’t know which direction to push it in. Do we push it closer to Fire Emblem or to the modern setting of Shin Megami Tensei?
On how long it took to get to a point where that decision was solidified and production went forward…
Shinjiro: Deciding what to make it closer to, that happened a bit after Mr. Yamagami brought us the idea. The problem is, if you make it too much like a Fire Emblem game, then why doesn’t Intelligent Systems just make it themselves? The goal for this was to do something that the Fire Emblem series can’t do. In the end, the reason the game looks the way it does, the reason the content is the way it is, is because this is something we wanted to do as an Atlus game, a game only Atlus could make.
