Interview:
Book I PSVita Gameplay:
Book II Gameplay:
It has been a year since we last spoke with Muteki Corporation's head Adam Rippon about his upcoming RPG Dragon Fantasy Book II, and what a year it has been! We got to speak with him about the game, its unique contents, and the process of bringing it onto Sony platforms. You can see that in the interview above.
Dragon Fantasy is a series starring the previously-retired hero Ogden who is pulled out of retirement to help save the world once more. Book I told the beginning of the story through a collection of three chapters (and one bonus chapter exclusive to other platforms), while the upcoming Book II will be played as a complete adventure, although Rippon noted it would be effectively chapters four through six (and a touch of seven).
Book I was originally released on mobile devices, PC, and Mac, but now it is being released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The game's 8-bit graphics and soundtrack have been completely reworked to fit a new remastered 16-bit style, but players can swap between the styles at any time. The game's status system has been reworked, and the PSN edition will also have a new dungeon added in, as well. From playing the demo, I found the ability to change styles on-the-fly to be quite nifty, and other than that the game played like a pretty standard RPG of the age it reflected. Of course, it was a short playthrough, but it still particularly reminded me of the older generation RPGs of yore.
Meanwhile, Book II will be a PlayStation Network exclusive, releasing for both PS3 and PSVita. By this point in the series, the heroes are being pursued by the Imperial Armada and in the southlands quickly find themselves split up into three groups. These three groups end up venturing throughout the land and discovering the mysteries of the war between the Kingdom of Tundaria and the Empire of Sandheim. Will all our burning questions be answered? Potentially.
Book II will still follow the same humor and storytelling style of its predecessor, but the gameplay has been greatly changed. The battle system of old has been replaced with a more real-time-based battle system akin to Chrono Trigger. While a battle rages on, enemies wandering the world can join in the fray to join their comrades, and the same can be said for the game's heroes, especially using the game's multiplayer capabilities. On top of that, the game now features ship battles, in which players must battle other ships by using whatever they can find (or knock out) on the ship's deck. While I did not get to play the ship battle, I did get to play a little bit of the more traditional segments. The battles seemed quite active, as characters would bounce and move within the battle zone, although I am not sure if it had any effect to their abilities in-battle. Graphically, it looked sharp for an indie retro RPG, and I anticipate seeing more soon.
Both PSN games will have cross-save features, allowing people to transfer saves between the Vita and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, and there is also a You Only Pay Once deal for the games, as well (buy one, get the other free).
Dragon Fantasy Book I will be on PSN April 16th, and Book II will be available in the summer of this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment