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Level 5 to reveal new PS4 game at E3

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They had a soft launch on mobile. There were a lot of problems and complaints. Eventually I think they managed to iron out a lot of the bugs and relaunched it. That's about the last I heard about it. It was never released on any of the other platforms, I don't think they ever go on with that "pirate island" collaboration with Shonen Jump which they were teasing too.

In fact, out of the 3 games they announced for smartphones initially, Wonder Flick is the only one running right now. The pervy slot battle game was discontinued due to poor performance. And the other high profile Majin Station game never came out. In fact they never showed it again. We've never seen any actual game screenshots or footage. Just dead. They paid Khara a bunch of money to make a really nice CG animated trailer though. :p
So chances are console Wonder Flick died a quiet death?
 
They're not ready to show it off yet, and Sony wants them to have a bigger presence.

For a mid-size production house like Level 5, that's huge.
So it doesn't nessecarily mean a Western focused game right? Just that Sony wants to push the studio and game?
 

duckroll

Member
Anyone remember the crazy self-promoting hype coming out from Hino when he first announced White Knight Chronicles? I recall him having this huge bulletpoint thing where he was talking about how the game would have the GRAPHICS OF FF, the STORY OF DQ, and the SCALE OF MH... or something like that. Can't remember exactly what he said, but man, the kool-aid must have been fucking strong. ;P
 

thuway

Member
Shame there's probably no chance it being Rogue Galaxy 2. I loved the first one.

It's almost insane that they haven't went back and remastered it. It has an incredible voice cast, soundtrack, and sense of adventure. Like zero fucks given about how awesome it is :(.
 

Gamer345

Banned
That awkward moment when their next big thing comes from the 3DS.


Introducing the All-out command, especially defend after you fight the genie shows how badly the gameplay execution really is. The boss try to use arena-wide attack with long wind up? Just defend and see your ally AI got wiped out as they futilely strike the boss. The story doesn't really do well either despite having such a great premise of joyous adventure fill wonderful discovery, exotic places, and interesting, weird persons, but instead took the cliched choosen one route.



Yeah, I lost my heart after frustatingly tried to defeat the genie boss without anyone knocked out in battle, and my own soul can't tolerate any story with choosen one premise no more.

So you had a problem fighting the boss and have a problem with a story that is meant to be fantasy cliched like most Level 5 games to be honest hence it was horrible

That neogaf exaggeration
 

wmlk

Member
So it doesn't nessecarily mean a Western focused game right? Just that Sony wants to push the studio and game?

Considering they were on a Japanese stream with SCEJA talking about a PS4 game, I think that's a safe assumption to make.

Besides, unlike what naysayers preach, big-budgeted JRPGs do sell well.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
It's almost insane that they haven't went back and remastered it. It has an incredible voice cast, soundtrack, and sense of adventure. Like zero fucks given about how awesome it is :(.

I'd want this too, but since its just one game that might have a hard time getting the go ahead. Now Dark Cloud 1 & 2 really there is no excuse why this couldn't get a remaster set.
 

Begaria

Member
It's almost insane that they haven't went back and remastered it. It has an incredible voice cast, soundtrack, and sense of adventure. Like zero fucks given about how awesome it is :(.

The insane part is not having Dark Cloud 1/2, DQVIII, and Rogue Galaxy as PS2 classics to download.
 
Ni No Kuni has such a great chance at being the console pokemon that they would be insane to not try to go with it.

They should also do something along of Red and Blue.

Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of the White Witch

Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of the Dark Elves

Battle with your mons. Create your own personalized Magician. Customize your wand. Whatever, the posibilities are endless.

They should just improve their battle system, and keep the Ghibli artstyle.
 
Wonder Flick is really a huge joke. Seems like after all the huge hype when they were announcing it as their next BIG thing and how smartphones are the future, they just fell flat on their faces.

It is a bit funny how they announced those smartphone projects all at once (not-SMT, Layton 7 and WF)....

.....only to land a home run on a traditional system lol

Well, I´m all for it if it means more handheld and console games by L5 .
 
I remember back then they said they want to make a new Ni No Kuni but more mature.

But from what he said, it's likely a new IP.

Anyhow... anything from Level 5 is most welcome as long as it's a cel-shaded game.
 
whiteknightchronicles20081210092647.jpg


Man, WKC was such a mis-step.

Had some pretty cool ideas, though.
 

thuway

Member
I'd want this too, but since its just one game that might have a hard time getting the go ahead. Now Dark Cloud 1 & 2 really there is no excuse why this couldn't get a remaster set.

Honestly, it was released so late into the life span of the PS2, I played it on my PS3 and the majority of people had moved onto shinier things at that time. It was lost in the ether and a gem that goes totally forgotten.

On top of that, Japanese reception was luke warm during it's hey day.
 

duckroll

Member
The insane part is not having Dark Cloud 1/2, DQVIII, and Rogue Galaxy as PS2 classics to download.

PS2 Classics in general seem to be a thing which never really took off. It's pretty weird. The selection is really limited and missing a ton of obvious classics from every publisher, including first party titles!
 

wmlk

Member
Also, Ni no Kuni was a NDS release first before the PS3 release.

They said that they started from scratch when they made the PS3 version, but you could clearly see its NDS roots. It would be cool to see what they do this time starting anew.
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
Ni No Kuni was much more successful in the US than Japan right? That gives me hope for a sequel... great game though could've used a new battle system! :p

Still, more console RPGs are always a good thing.
 
I find myself buying almost everything I see with Level 5 on it so I'm already setting aside the cash for this game.

Dark Cloud 3? Ni No Kuni? Rouge Galaxy? White Knight Cronicle? JRPG with a bunch a kids dicking around while pissing off someone insanely powerful?

I'm game. Just tell me the release date and the price for the best version with the extras. I missed out on the Ni No Kuni extras, never again.

Edit: Happy Thanksgiving to US Gaf and those who celebrate it.
 

thuway

Member
PS2 Classics in general seem to be a thing which never really took off. It's pretty weird. The selection is really limited and missing a ton of obvious classics from every publisher, including first party titles!

So much truth. The PS2 RPG library is just as expansive as PS1's.
 

Philippo

Member
Yes please, WKC always felt to me like it had big potential that got lost somewhere.
I hope they'll be able to shoot for a big RPG like those of pre-PS3 era.
Let's hope they get Ice Team's support tech-wise and Sony's for a faster translation.

Also, E3 is too far away, dammit!

Oh, and a PS4 Youkai Watch to skyrocket PS4 Japan's sales wouldn't hurt-
 
Ni No Kuni was much more successful in the US than Japan right? That gives me hope for a sequel... great game though could've used a new battle system! :p

Still, more console RPGs are always a good thing.

It was definitely more successful in the west than in Japan. Before its release, Hino said that its performance in the west would determine the chances of a sequel. We just don't know what performance they needed to justify making it.
 
Ni No Kuni was much more successful in the US than Japan right? That gives me hope for a sequel... great game though could've used a new battle system! :p

Still, more console RPGs are always a good thing.

They should use the DS battle system which plays more like a traditional JRPG.
 

wapplew

Member
I remember back then they said they want to make a new Ni No Kuni but more mature.

But from what he said, it's likely a new IP.

Anyhow... anything from Level 5 is most welcome as long as it's a cel-shaded game.

Something like Princess mononoke! Please
My favored Ghibli movie
 

Begaria

Member
Yeah, I lost my heart after frustatingly tried to defeat the genie boss without anyone knocked out in battle, and my own soul can't tolerate any story with choosen one premise no more.

"Chosen One" tales are abundant in JRPGs. It's hard to fault and single out Ni no Kuni for going with another one. We have the grand list of RPG cliches for a reason - to be used, dammit!

I will agree that not having All out Attack/Defend given to you until after you have all three party members and after a boss battle in which would be useful as bullshit. I breezed through that Genie battle myself, without losing anyone, but that's because I had the completely overpowered pre-order bonus Griffin familiar that wrecked shit for half the game before any Familiar could catch up to him :p
 
Ni No Kuni was much more successful in the US than Japan right? That gives me hope for a sequel... great game though could've used a new battle system! :p

Still, more console RPGs are always a good thing.

Hit the top spot in the PAL charts when it came out as well. It wasn't huge or anything, but it definitely found an audience outside of Japan.
 

dramatis

Member
Except he's written and designed pretty much everything at Level 5 which has produced some amazingly good and popular titles. He wrote and designed Dark Cloud, Dark Cloud 2, Rogue Galaxy, and Ni no Kuni (written by him, not directed or designed by him), all of which scored critically well, and sold well on consoles. He certainly had his missteps with WKC 1/2, but I partially blame Sony Japan's incompetence during the PS3 era for those moreso than Level 5. He has this ability to write charming characters and dialogue - Professor Layton wouldn't be the same series if it didn't have that charm factor.

I will agree that he should delegate some of that work to others in the company. It's good to mix it up now and again.
I think he's always aimed his stories and characters towards children. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but he botches it up by being super cheesy and often writes cringeworthy dialogue that seems out of place.

Layton's original scenario was by him (and another dude), but the actual scenario was fleshed out by other writers, which is probably why it ended up well. Direction and storyboards were not by Hino either.

I suppose without knowing the actual depth of involvement he had on each title, it's unclear how much of the bad was really him. It's likely he has good ideas and concepts and just needs to work on the execution or tone it down depending on the work. Dark Cloud 2 was good because they kept it simple, but it's a struggle to remember anything that happened in Rogue Galaxy. I also don't think "Sony Japan's incompetence" can explain the horrible romance story of WKC1/2 when their primary function was to support development on the technical side.
 

CHC

Member
I loved Ni No Kuni... Had disposable income at the time it released so I bought the collectors AND normal editions just to give it an extra boost. I'm actually surprised and glad that it did well in Namco Bandai's eyes, I always assumed it was kind of destined to barley scrape by.

Whatever this next game is I'm pretty excited. Mostly excited by "PS4" - I like portable RPGs as much as the next guy but I'll definitely welcome something a little larger scale at this point.
 
Ah yes, Ushiro revived for consoles.

;_; I will never understand why I got so attached to that game. Need more horror-rpgs, I guess.
 

Takao

Banned
Yeah, it's probably NNK 2. The first one sold a lot better in the west than in Japan so an E3 reveal makes sense.
 
Rouge Galaxy 's ending led me to believe that there will be a sequel someday. I want ni no kuni 2 but the Adventures of Jaster and his merry band of space pirates are far more interesting.
 

RalchAC

Member
Level 5 should try to chase the Skylanders money. They could earn an(other) insane amount of money with that.

They should use the DS battle system which plays more like a traditional JRPG.

I think i would have liked Ni No Kuni if it had a turn based battle system...

Shame we never got the DS version and AFAIK there isn't any fan translation.

Interesting to know that there is more JRPGs on the system though. I'd love a Dark Cloud sequel / reboot / spiritual successor.
 

sublimit

Banned
These news really made my day! I'd love to see another game with studio Ghibli but this time i hope they make the world map 3D.
 
They had a soft launch on mobile. There were a lot of problems and complaints. Eventually I think they managed to iron out a lot of the bugs and relaunched it. That's about the last I heard about it. It was never released on any of the other platforms, I don't think they ever go on with that "pirate island" collaboration with Shonen Jump which they were teasing too.

In fact, out of the 3 games they announced for smartphones initially, Wonder Flick is the only one running right now. The pervy slot battle game was discontinued due to poor performance. And the other high profile Majin Station game never came out. In fact they never showed it again. We've never seen any actual game screenshots or footage. Just dead. They paid Khara a bunch of money to make a really nice CG animated trailer though. :p
I still remember the whole Level 5 event and how we all flipped out at them focusing on Smartphones.

Feels so good to hear that it was a disaster in the end :D
 
Considering they were on a Japanese stream with SCEJA talking about a PS4 game, I think that's a safe assumption to make.

Besides, unlike what naysayers preach, big-budgeted JRPGs do sell well.
So, so true. Big-budget as the name implies a big marketing budget and a wide audience appeal, both of which JRPGs are perfectly capable of providing.
 
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