Nintendo announced Characters for Project Zone 2

Not only am I stoked for this game Bandai Namco Entertainment have announced a few Nintendo characters that will be joining the fearsome roster featured in Tactical-RPG Project X Zone 2. Lucina & Chrom are joining from popular Gameboy/3DS series Fire Emblem Awakening, while Fiora of Xenoblade Chronicles and cyborg KOS-MOS from Bandai Namco's Xenosaga will also be playable.

Lucina

KOS-MOS

Project X Zone 2 launches on Nintendo 3DS on the 19th February, 2016.

 Stay tuned for more updates from here: http://www.projectxzone.eu/

For more adventures into anime, cosplay, gaming and events follow me on Facebook and twitter. 

^_^ Aisha Anime

Review: Fantasy Life

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Level 5
Genre: Adventure, RPG
Players: 3

Release Date:
27th Dec 2012 (JPN)
24th Oct 2014 (USA)
26th Sep 2014 (UK/EU)

The best way to describe Fantasy Life is a real time action RPG from level-5. This came was supposed to come out 2009 in Japan but was delayed and kept in development till 27th December, 2012. This mean't they had to enhance the specifications for DSi to 3DS quality. 

Playing Fantasy life is a different experience from a JRPG and resembles Animal Crossing but with more story and depth to the game - also the online capabilities differ greatly. Missing out the art and CGI counterparts of the Japanese RPG the game has a lot of big Japanese names involved.  In addition to Level-5, legendary character artist Yoshitaka Amano (Art of Final Fantasy) and Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy composer). Most notably, Fantasy Life is the final game developed by Brownie Brown — before changing name to 1-UP Studios  a company that favoured by most JRPG fans’. 

The game is set in a medieval setting, where among a dragon threatening the land, you work with a a new race called 'Plushies' (not cuddly toys apparently)  to expand your skills as an adventurer. In addition to gaining XP and earning 'Dosh' (the in-game money) for vanquishing monsters and cows, each Life has its own series of tasks which make you a wholesome character.

When enough stars are earned, the player ranks up in the Life they are currently living and gaining access to new skills, presents (awarded by a butterfly) or recipes that also mostly remain usable when a character switches Lives which is key to the game's point. You can pick the job of a warrior, seamstress, farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, mage and more - the full experience of Fantasy Life lies in developing your craft 

The gameplay isn't especially difficult and great for new RPG gamers and retro, button presses are used to attack and likewise to use skills. I chose seamstress/tailor as my first life and to complete clothes tasks i simple moved left or right and press 'A' consecutively within a time limit. 

Fantasy Life is more of a customisation game and you don't heavily rely on numbers and statistics. Super cute Gear can be attained from Nintendo codes which they post up on twitter regularly.  

Part of the main story you complete your skill tasks to obtain 'Bliss' which unlock special prizes, part of the main plot was stumbling across a talking butterfly 'Flutter' she is the one who measures your bliss and awards you prizes from pets to more space in your inventory and I highly recommend making your bag bigger - as you end up picking up lots of items to trade.

Fantasy Life’s art has a hand drawn cartoon which works well with the 3D There is a minor visual issue with the perspective, which is midway between a top-down and a side view — combined with the relatively low resolution of the 3DS — means that details lose high definition but I am happy to enjoy the environment art.

There are rarely any cinematic moments in the game which is a shame, any there are used to advance the game's story. The game ios light hearted and has lots of humorous one liners in the game and lovable characters. 

It should also be noted, though its level of attraction will vary, that this isn't an exclusively single-player adventure. Fantasy Life’s multi-player allows players to get together locally or on-line in groups of up to three and accomplish the same tasks and challenges as in single-player mode (although it is not possible to advance the main story in multi-player). With the variety of Lives to live and the range of tasks to perform, any trip to any kingdom with just about anyone is sure to be productive in some way — and you might just get the right help to finally defeat that challenge monster that’s spent far too long in your Life list.

On-line facilities include  StreetPass to have new friends enter your land carrying gifts which you can only obtain after talking to them several times (they are in different areas of the game). Link mode also allows you to send your on-line friends messages (both group-wide and private) whilst not playing the game together.

Final Thoughts

Fantasy Life is a break from Animal Crossing, doing mini games and tasks which has some plot to follow kept me more engaged than I expected. Learning new aspects such as capturing mercenaries and handing them in for bounty. I recommend you choose a fighting type to begin with or else collect money gets a bit challenging. The art is charming coupled with a great soundtrack to make a Westernise RPG with anew concept making the game playable more than once.

7/10 

For more game news check out my Twitter & Facebook ^_^ 

@aisha_anime

~Aisha Anime~

Fight the Dragon RPG Early Access -25% Off on Steam.

3 Sprockets’ multi award winning game Fight the Dragon (www.FighttheDragon.com) exits Steam’s Early Access program today, making it one of the select few games that entered early access, delivered the promised features and well beyond, and is now ready for full launch. Fight the Dragon is the premier action/RPG hybrid entirely comprised of community created adventures, over 4,000 of them so far, providing hundreds of hours of gameplay.  Players create these levels using the in-game Adventure Construction Kit, allowing complex levels to be built quickly and beautifully. Fight the Dragon is available on Steam at http://store.steampowered.com/app/250560/

Fight the Dragon is a single player, couch co-op & online co-op action/RPG hybrid where players adventure across realms created by other players, collecting loot, gaining levels, and acquiring tickets to fight the mighty dragon. Each time the player fights the dragon they have a chance to win great prizes as well as do permanent damage to the dragon that carries over from fight to fight. In this way the heroes will eventually overcome the mighty beast, though can expect many failures along their way.

The crown jewel of Fight the Dragon is the Adventure Construction Kit. From within the game players construct entire adventures from a vast array of provided textures, props, enemies, traps, events and triggers. By utilizing the triggers system they can create complex cascade reactions and puzzles. Players can also create NPCs and NPC dialogue, allowing for story development within the levels themselves or even between levels if players choose to create campaigns that run in sequence. The game automatically scales the levels created to match the level of the players attempting to conquer it. Information on the ACK can be found at http://www.fightthedragon.com/#s2

Join in the fun of online co-op with up to four players, 2 player couch co-op, or single player adventuring.  Explore the realms of your friends, or strange lands made by strangers.

Find out more at www.FightTheDragon.com or on Steam at http://store.steampowered.com/app/250560/

About 3 Sprockets

Based in Melbourne, Australia, 3 Sprockets is a small indie game studio that specialises in cross platform games that focus heavily on user generated content and online multiplayer.

Find out more at http://3sprockets.com

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Review

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Axew is a RPG style video game following the perspective of the Pokemon rather than the trainer. The games features the Pokemon navigating through a randomly generated dungeons using turn-based moves, trademark of Mystery Dungeon games.

These games are based in dungeons, where a floor map is randomly generated. In the dungeons, players fight other Pokémon while obtaining items, and finding steps to the next floor. Similar to Ertian Odessey and Guided Fate Paradox, this is not a style of RPG I like but I appreciated the animation and story.

At the beginning you choose a Pokemon to be Pikachu, Oshawott, Tepig, Snivy, or Axew, then you chose another Pokemon to be your sidekick. The game really utilises the 3DS' capabilities instead of the usual 2D sprites.

The story begins with you waking up as a Pokemon (of your choice) you bump into your partner (of your choice) and you run a farm together, I mean piece of land and it's all very romantic and you have to hire other Pokemon to make your land liveable and it means you have to go to the Mystery Dungeons to get gems and chase mean Pokemon. There are moral dilemmas in this game, Pokemon love to rob you. They add lots of popular Pokemon into the story and you pretty much have an easy ride.

The game also uses the 3DS' camera and sensors for the players to find round objects and turn them into portals, I haven't quite mastered it, it has to be obviously round, so checking people on the train is not advisable. The portals aka Magnagates need to be unlocked, and act as gateways to new dungeons.

The game features both free and paid downloadable content, in the form of additional dungeons. You can also go to the official site and play mini-games to unlock passwords to receive special items in the game too. The game has changed from its predecessors and is a great stand alone game to buy, people new to Pokemon can pick it up and play. It has an easy to use interface though walking through the dungons is a bit sluggish for my liking.

If your a Pokemon fan and enjoy more focus on them this would be a game to get, because of the difficulty. It's aimed at a younger audience, though that isn't to say you wouldn't find a challenge in the dungeons. The story is simple with comical conversations and lots of trait Pokemon behaviours. You can really appreciate the lush backgrounds and 3D Pokemon going about their day in the game. this is more for people who like more action than story.

Review: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is the fourth sequel to 2003's Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the blend of action and RPG is different but abused heavily in this game. The art style is charming, the script is funny even if the story line has gotten a little silly over the years and poor Luigi is still the butt of all the jokes. In light of the 'Year of Luigi' trend, Nintendo have really highlighted his purpose in this game, to sleep - and he does so aptly.

The game opens at the Mushroom Kingdom when Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Toadsworth are flown to Pi'illo Island. There, they meet Broque Monsieur and Starlow. You also meet Antasma and the bat king, who has teamed up with Bowser. They seek to acquire the Dream Stone, a powerful artefact that grants its user endless wishes. Traveling through Luigi's dreams along the way, you enter the Dream World. Here Mario meets 'Dreamy Luigi', Luigi's Dream World counterpart, who helps Mario navigate and battle the Dream World. They also encounter Prince Dreambert, the leader of the Pi'llos, who helps the heroes in their quest.

As usual with lots of backstabbing and bickering between Bowser and bat king the Dream Stone is soon destroyed by Peach and Starlow, only for its fragments to be inhaled by Bowser, who transforms into a empowered living nightmare of himself called 'Dreamy Bowser'. So yet gain Mario and Luigi must save Princess Peach and resume there holiday with the Pi'illo people.

If you had never played  Superstar Saga games, you could play this and be blown away by how unique it is. But having played everything else in the series over the past decade, it's the same as Bower's inside world but with no awareness of the past games, hence probably the lack of any point. It has the same characters, with a different background and the same story - simply with nicer graphics. We would have hoped by now you could use more complex attacks apart from jumping. Sadly this makes the fighting even more tedious, as it's long and drawn out.

The worst possible thing is to do the tutorial as it is drawn out and makes you lose all interest in the game and that is the problem. There is too much focus on 'what is an RPG?'. Players will most likely have played one so all the long explanations and sometimes pointless conversation is not needed.

It was fun using the touchscreen to manipulate Luigi, and any game that lets you flip the DS sideways and interact with just the touchscreen in fun ways, scores points as it gives your hand a chance to recover from all the button bashing to make the game go quicker.

This game holds something new for precisely NEW gamers, if your a fan of the Mario RPG series then this is just a rehash but may have been more popular if released on the Wii U. Lots of soul destroying explanations a few fun mini games and all at the expense of Luigi. Oh and Peach gets kidnapped again.

My Advice

• Equip Wellington boots to make enemies drop beans instead of coins for easy grinding


• Change your birthday on the DS to match the DOB items and you have some powerful equipment


• Don't buy anything, enemies drop better items

Retro Review Bloopers: Final Fantasy 9

So animepicks.co.uk did a poll on the next RPG games to review and i thought 'hey I like those games, why don't I review them?' Emailed the editor however it was someone else's idea (booo) but since they were busy do other articles, she told me to go on ahead - yaaay, while I have free time,  may as-well keep myself busy till I get back to the rat race.

While I refreshed my head on the character names and other interesting facts came across some nostalgic and funny screen caps, enjoy my bloopers folks :D

Distant Worlds: Celebrating 25 years of Final Fantasy music

This morning a mad rush occured after midnight.

Final Fantasy fans around the world went on a button bashing frenzy to procure one of the golden Distant World tickets. Distant Worlds had only made itself known to me last year when a friend offered me an extra ticket. Back then I was like, yeah why not I like the intro song from FF 10.

Little did i know my mind was to be shaken and bounced ala Blitz ball style, they preformed my FF 10 intro song with an array of songs over all the FF games including 2 and different remixes of the Chocobo theme. The Aerith ensemble made me nostalgic and slightly queasy with all the cheesy sequences and images. Yes folks there were screens with old pix-elated favourite scenes playing throughout.

Distant Worlds, Friday - 2 November, 2012 - 7:30pm November is celebrating 25 years of FINAL FANTASY London, England Royal Albert Hall with the The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra plus choir. Tickets were sold out within minutes ranging from from £25 to £65 plus a special VIP meet & greet ticket at £135 see details below Arnie Roth, Conductor Nobuo Uematsu in attendance (original composer). After the FINAL FANTASY concert meet them in an exclusive signing event! Special meet and greet tickets (£135 per person) include:

• Premium seating for the performance in the Stalls, Section K

• Post-show standing reception in a Royal Albert Hall room

• Beer, wine and soft drinks served with nibbles

• Meet with composer Nobuo Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth

• Tour booklet including images from Yoshitaka Amano

• Autograph session and photo opportunity

If anyone is lucky enough to stumble upon some tickets, buy buy buy!