On June 11th, we had the opportunity to meet with NIS America at Triple 8 China Bar & Grill for a spread of excellent Chinese dishes and to check out the latest JRPGs. Just like any other scheduled event, our appointment with NIS America did not go quite as expected. Now that’s not to say it was horrible, let alone bad, just different. We started out the appointment by helping NIS America rearrange their meeting room for optimal utilization. For our assistance, we were rewarded with Chinese food to our heart’s content. At E3 2019, NIS America showed us a variety of JRPG titles coming to the west including the anticipated The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III.
During our meeting, Erin Kim, North America Media Relations for NIS America, and her team showed off upcoming games headed to America within the next year; there are also a few titles shown that we are unable to reveal at this time. During the E3 presentation, we were provided with information for Utawarerumono Zan, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III, Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers, The Alliance Alive HD Remastered, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen, and Disgaea 4 Complete+. The presentation also included the pre-order and special edition bonuses for each game.
Unlike other Marooners Rock members, I am rather naive to JRPGs; so each title previewed, left an interesting taste in my mouth. Although I had the opportunity to preview a variety of these titles, Istuck predominately to Trails of Cold Steel III. Despite spending the majority of my time on Trails of Cold Steel III, I could tell that all six of these titles had a different experience to offer.
Utawarerumono Zan
Utawarerumono Zan, which is exclusive to PlayStation 4, is the story of an amnesiac man marked by fate. Haku Kuon and his allies must fight to defend their home from invaders who seek to destroy what they know and love. This cross-country narrative will allow players to either fight together or alone online and up to four player combat is supported. The game features twelve playable characters, each with their own unique fighting capabilities. The game looks similar to Dynasty Warriors, in that players combat hordes of enemies with varying objectives. Characters who are not controlled during battle will still be available as AI in the battle.
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers will be available on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. This title offers rather simplistic but cute elements that will surely remind players of cartoons from the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Players must uncover the events that have transpired in the town of Clocknee on New Year’s Eve 1999. The player must travel through time while confronting hostile machines in order to discover what has occurred before time runs out. The art style of the game is similar to the most recent Dragon Quest and the Xbox 360 title Blue Dragon.
Alliance Alive HD Remastered
Alliance Alive HD Remastered will release on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in Fall 2019. Alliance Alive is a strategic, turn-based RPG that had previously released on the Nintendo 3DS. In the game’s story, daemons have caused an event called the Dark Current. The Dark Current divided the world into themed realms. Heroes must forge unlikely bonds to reclaim their home and free their lands. Alliance Alive HD Remastered is a story by Yoshitaka Murayama of Suikoden fame with music from Masashi Hamauzu who worked on Final Fantasy XIII.
Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen
Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen is a complete remake of the first game in the franchise. The game will be available to PlayStation 4 owners and digitally to PS Vita owners. Prelude to the Fallen is the story of Hakuowlo, a man who has amnesia. The player must help Hakuowlo discover his place in the world, while uncovering the man’s fate with a narrative focus on the man dealing with love, war, and destiny. Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen is a tactical RPG that focuses on type advantages to swing the tides of battle.
Disgaea 4 Complete+
The second to last title shown to us was Disgaea 4 Complete+, which is scheduled for release this fall for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The player must combat the power of Hades after discovering corruption within the organization. Players lead Valvatorez, a vampire with a conviction, against the forces of evil and spark a fuse to ignite a rebellion. The game’s turn-based tactics and over-the-top gameplay makes this the ultimate Disgaea experience.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
Finally, the last and most exciting title was The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III. Trails of Cold Steel III will be available on PlayStation 4 and offer an encyclopedia to catch players up on the events of the other two games.
For this play session, Travis Shrodes, Marketing Manager for NIS America had us playing Trails of Cold Steel III using a GAEMS Sentinel and a PlayStation 4. Instead of playing through a special demo made for E3, we had access to the full game. In order to focus on the characters interactions and combat mechanics, we were instructed to skip through multiple cutscenes. Our preview started with the four main characters interacting with one another after entering the testing grounds. The combat mechanics were easy to understand and utilize. Even the training grounds level was colorful and made us eager to explore. Each character benefited from having their own unique fighting style and personality and it will be interesting to see how these characters grow and develop throughout the story and if their personalities will conflict later on.
One of the more interesting mechanics I noticed while playing was Brave Order, which is a gauge on the screen that is filled with Brave Points. Brave Points are collected in battle and once the player has enough Brave Points, the character is able to consume them to use a move that will either buff the party or debuff the enemies. A Break system has been introduced underneath the enemies health bar to show when their armor has broken which then makes enemies more vulnerable to attacks. The game also features a variety of mini-games including fishing and a card game called Vantage Master to break up the JRPG battle flow.
Hopefully, have the time to dive deep into The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III when it releases on September 24th, 2019.
For more information from NIS America, check out their official website.
