Maybe their trying to get the license for an english release?Originally Posted by JiggiUp
Besides, Unchained Blades looks pretty interesting.
Maybe their trying to get the license for an english release?
Besides, Unchained Blades looks pretty interesting.
Last edited by 321jassman; 04-22-2012 at 08:54 AM.
That doesn't make sense. I would think that the rights to the first game applied across the entire series.
The most likely explanation is that it would be a very hefty translation job, and they've already got Trails SC on their plate.
Oh well, we're just going to have be patient for an announcement then.
Yes, it's the most-rated XSEED paid game on the PSN.
PSP-exclusive weekly sales rankings for a PSN title are not any indication of overall sales, believe me. That's not to say the game bombed or anything (because it didn't), but it's also nowhere near our "best-selling game of all time" by a long shot.Is Corpse Party XSeed's best-selling game of all time? The PSN rankings would certainly suggest so.
Still... we're pretty happy with the reception Corpse Party got from critics and fans, so I think it's safe to say Book of Shadows isn't outside the realm of possibility. I can't specify (nor even hint at) its likelihood of being released in English... but it's not off the table, at least. It's still a viable option. We haven't forgotten about it.
But that doesn't make it a definite, by any means. It's just... possible. Not probable, not unlikely... just possible. So if anyone from Siliconera or Kotaku or any other news outlet is reading this... let's not quote me this time, all right? I'm not saying anything worthwhile at all here -- I'm just talking in circles, I swear!
The real reason I'm replying here, though? Because I want to know what makes Unchained Blades "bottom-tier knockoff crap." Particularly the "knockoff" part, since Unchained Blades is an original IP created by an ensemble team of some of the best and most renowned graphic artists in the modern manga and anime world. And "bottom-tier"? What makes it "bottom-tier"? If you're talking obscurity, well, it's not really any more obscure than Corpse Party -- and obscurity certainly doesn't a bad game make! Often times, the most obscure titles wind up being among the best. Like... you know... Corpse Party, for example!
I just think it's unfair to defame Unchained Blades in this manner. I'd like nothing more than to work on Book of Shadows... but you know what? Unchained Blades is a damned good game too, and I think RPG fans are going to really love it.
-Tom
Last edited by Wyrdwad; 04-23-2012 at 01:09 AM.
He said "XSEED's best-selling PSN game", not "all-times best-selling PSN game", and to that extent, I do believe he was right.
Actually, he said, "Is Corpse Party XSeed's best-selling game of all time?" -- which implies all games, not just PSN games.
If he's just talking PSN games... well, then I'm honestly not sure. It very well might be... but I don't think so. PSN has been pretty good to us with a lot of different titles. Corpse Party is really just the latest example of that.
-Tom
"Bottom-tier" refers to the fact that no one knows who the hell FuRyu is, and there's so many other first-person dungeon crawlers out these days with established brands.
Unchain Blades is a game that reeks of creative laziness and stale design-by-committee development. I can't stress how idiotic it is that every character was designed by a different artist. It completely kills any hope at establishing a cohesive aesthetic. It gives the game a bland, fanfictiony veneer. And some of the character designs are just hilariously bad, like this one. It seems like the only reason they did things this way was so they could put all those famous names on the back of the box. The Grandia/Lunar connection doesn't mean anything to me, as those two series have pretty much defined mediocrity in the JPRG genre for a long time now.
Don't act like UB isn't a knockoff--the flowery aesthetics, verdant environments, and music all SCREAM "Etrian Odyssey." The game would simply not have been made without EO becoming a success.
As for the gameplay, it's really easy to figure out the thought process that went into making it. "Etrian Odyssey made first-person dungeon crawlers popular again! They're cheap to develop and bring decent returns, so let's jump on the bandwagon and put the game out on Japan's two most currently profitable handhelds!" Unlike Opera House, the developers of the Elminage series, it really doesn't seem like FuRyu has any passion for the genre or knowledge of its history. All they made before UB was DS visual novels, anyway. Elminage is a series that pushes the absolute limits of the Wizardry formula and refines it to a razor edge. But FuRyu's just looking to make a quick buck by mindlessly hiring as many artists and veteran designers as they can get. Games in the Wizardry-clone genre are abundant nowadays and Unchain Blades really doesn't seem like it has anything to offer over the competition besides some big names behind it. There's no unique hook like Etrian's FOEs or Dark Spire's retro graphics mode. XSeed made a poor choice. At least it has an automap--Etrian Odyssey is unplayable for me without it.
I saw this on the Gamefaqs Unchain Blades board, and I really have to echo this sentiment:
This also goes for Monkey Paw Games: why the hell did they pick Class of Heroes 2 for their half-a-million-dollar Kickstarter project, when the original game was almost universally panned in the US? (The engine was also stealthily re-used from a Wizardry game.) There's some seriously bad management plaguing the Japanese game localization scene nowadays. My only guess is that XSeed got the UB license really cheap. I can't think of a single other good reason they would opt for it over Elminage, Beyond the Labyrinth, or 7th Dragon 2020. The game's going to fail spectacularly and they'll use it as an excuse to not bring more niche stuff over. What a shame.The other thing I've noticed is they've stopped localizing games anyone actually cares about. The Last Story doesn't count, as they're merely publishing that, but aside from Trails 2 (which we don't even know for sure that they're working on), what else are they doing? A ton of games no one has ever heard of or particularly cares about. There's all kind of localized games that people are constantly clamouring for, like Valkyria Chronicles 3, Half-Minute Hero 2, Retro Game Challenge 2, Senran Kagura, Rodea the Sky Soldier, Earth Seeker, Ragnarok Odyssey, etc, and it doesn't seem like they have interest in picking up any of those.
Last edited by JiggiUp; 04-23-2012 at 02:56 AM.
You might have access to numbers we don't, the only way anyone without that much access could measure those sales are from the number of ratings, that's why at least I think Corpse Party might be your best-selling PSN title.
Jiggi:
(A) Unchained Blades is nothing at all like Etrian Odyssey. See my response to you on the Unchained Blades board for more information, but trust me when I say it's a VERY unique game. It plays unlike any other first-person dungeon crawler, and the only way I can describe it in terms of other games is by naming a LOT of other games, since it seems very much like it pulled some of the best elements from many other popular series (most notably Persona/Devil Survivor) and combined them in the best possible way.
(B) Although there may not have been many people clamoring for Unchained Blades in any of the corners of the internet you frequent, we did get a lot of requests for it. For a time, it may actually have been our most-requested game, in fact! Remember, we don't just receive requests on these forums -- we receive requests on Facebook, Twitter, through email, at conventions, etc. etc.
(C) What makes you think we haven't tried for those games you listed? Remember, when fans suggest games to us, we ALWAYS look into those suggestions. The problem is, if it turns out we're unable to pursue those games because, say, we can't afford them, or the developer refuses to let us work on them, or they're already promised to someone else, or there are some other sorts of rights issues involved, we can't say a thing to anyone about it. And even if we ARE able to pursue those games, we can't say a thing about it until the contract is finalized and localization is well underway -- so for all you know, we could be bringing you guys every last one of those games! Or maybe we're bringing you half of them, and we really TRIED for the other half, but just weren't able to strike a deal. Or maybe we weren't able to strike a deal for any of them. Obviously, due to my NDA, I can't go into any detail on any specific title... but suffice it to say, we've at least considered every single one of the games on that list. Along with pretty much every other game on our suggestions board.
(D) We've stopped localizing games anyone cares about, huh? Are you dissing Ys Origin, then? Because it sounds like you're dissing Ys Origin to me!
And Shizuka:
I think a lot of that may be your doing, to be honest! Remember, you were really pushing for people to rate the game on PSN -- and a lot of people listened! (And considering how amazing its PSN score is, even after all those votes, we're really grateful to you, BTW!)
-Tom
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