The play order for the Atelier games we got are Rorona>Totori>Meruru, which make up the "Arland Trilogy".
The new "Dusk Series" goes Ayesha>Escha & Logy.
Both Totori and Meruru (and Ayesha soon apparently) have gotten "Plus Version" re-releases for the Vita that have extra content. Rorona is also getting a remake some time soon for the PS3/Vita with extra stuff and redone graphics to match the later games.
If you're lucky, you could find some of the older ones, but none of those have been remastered or made available on PSN. Those would be the Atelier Iris trilogy, and the Mana Khemia pair (different name, but still part of the Atelier line). They're quite hard to find, but not impossible.
Also the latest one, Escha & Logy, won't be out here until March. I'm looking forward to checking that one out, since it's finally breaking the standards lately by having multiple protagonists as well as multiple alchemists to play.
My Secret Santa got me a copy of Tales of Xillia and I've played the heck out of it. I just came off a marathon run of Final Fantasy XIII-2 so it's nice to play something more light-hearted.
I've actually had a few out loud laughs playing the game. The story/dialogue isn't deep or philosophical, but it's entertaining. On par with a typical anime series.
Do the Atelier games need to be played in order? What are the chances of the New Ateltier Rorona getting a US release? Should I just start with the original?
My Secret Santa got me a copy of Tales of Xillia and I've played the heck out of it. I just came off a marathon run of Final Fantasy XIII-2 so it's nice to play something more light-hearted.
I've actually had a few out loud laughs playing the game. The story/dialogue isn't deep or philosophical, but it's entertaining. On par with a typical anime series.
Do the Atelier games need to be played in order? What are the chances of the New Ateltier Rorona getting a US release? Should I just start with the original?
That's one thing I was deeply impressed with when playing Xillia. The localization was actually really good, and while it may have tried to throw the occasional trope in there, it wasn't enough to hijack the entire mood. In fact, most of the humor is in the skits that are completely optional.
As for Atelier, while it's better to play them in order of what land they're in, you don't miss anything skipping parts of the series except the occasional callback. The Arland series would go Rorona/Totori/Meruru, with the previous alchemists always showing up in the later ones. If you want to play it safe, play Ayesha. By the time you're finished with that, Escha & Logy will be out. You can always backtrack to the previous trilogy if you need your fix.
0
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Damnit, you guys are making me want to get Tales of Xillia, and I haven't played a JRPG in a long time. Hrmm.
Damnit, you guys are making me want to get Tales of Xillia, and I haven't played a JRPG in a long time. Hrmm.
Need an explanation of the game? If it makes you feel better, Xillia was my first Tales game as well.
For $10 you'd get a fairly traditional JRPG with a few twists. The combat is what sets the Tales series apart, which is similar to Star Ocean if you've played that series. Combat happens in a circular arena in real time, with a combo meter and paired attacks keeping the gameplay fresh. The Tales series is also known for skits, which are short conversations happening at certain areas or during certain times. They're purely for more background information and a lot of the time are done for comedic effect, but sometimes are used to point you towards side missions. In Xillia they're all fully voiced, which I think is a first, and are animated using mostly-static avatars of the characters.
I think it's a really really good combination of old JRPG values with enough innovation to make it more fun to play.
Defenders Of The Mystic Garden – Minis $0.99 $1.49
Dead Space 3 $19.99 $29.99
Army Of Two The Devil’s Cartel $19.99 $29.99
Sales
PlayStation 3
Game Title PS Plus Price Sale Price Regular Price
BIT.TRIP Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien $3.75 $7.49 $14.99
Crysis 3 $5.00 $9.99 $19.99
Deus Ex Human Revolution: Director’s Cut $13.49 $14.99 $29.99
ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West Premium Edition $5.00 $9.99 $19.99
F1 2013 $20.99 $29.99 $59.99
Far Cry Blood Dragon $3.75 $7.49 $14.99
Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut (Cross Buy) $5.24 $7.49 $12.99
Pool Nation $2.25 $4.49 $8.49
Puppeteer $7.00 $13.99 $39.99
Rain $3.75 $7.49 $14.99
Rayman Legends $35.99 $47.99 $59.99
Tales of Xillia $10.00 $19.99 $39.99
The Wolf Among Us Season Pass $13.49 $14.99 $19.99
Thomas Was Alone (Cross Buy) $2.50 $4.99 $9.99
PS Vita
Game Title PS Plus Price Sale Price Regular Price
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two $7.50 $14.99 $29.99
Killzone: Mercenary $9.00 $17.99 $35.99
LIMBO PS Vita $3.75 $7.49 $14.99
Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut PS (Cross Buy) $5.24 $7.49 $12.99
METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER $6.99 $9.99 $19.99
PIXELJUNK MONSTERS: ULTIMATE HD $3.75 $7.49 $14.99
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time PS Vita $6.75 $13.49 $26.99
Soul Sacrifice $9.00 $17.99 $35.99
SPELUNKY (Cross Buy) $3.75 $7.49 $14.99
Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (Cross Buy) $4.19 $5.99 $9.99
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season $5.00 $9.99 $19.99
Thomas Was Alone (Cross Buy) $2.50 $4.99 $9.99
Velocity Ultra Vita $2.00 $3.99 $7.49
Worms Revolution Extreme $3.75 $7.49 $14.99
Other Sales
Game Title Sale Price Regular Price
Bit Trip Presents Runner2 Future Legend Of Rhythm Alien $7.49 $14.99
Class Of Heroes $7.49 $14.99
Crimson Gem Saga $7.49 $14.99
Djmax Portable 3 $19.99 $39.99
Dragon’s Crown $39.99 $49.99
Dragon’s Crown PS Vita $29.99 $39.99
Dragon’s Crown: Dragon’s Crown Ps Vita – Storyteller Voice Pack $1.49 $1.99
Dragon’s Crown: Dragon’s Crown Ps3 – Storyteller Voice Pack $1.49 $1.99
Dragon’s Crown: Into The Labyrinth Theme $1.49 $1.99
Growlanser: Wayfarer Of Time $9.99 $19.99
Gungnir $9.99 $19.99
Hexyz Force $7.49 $14.99
Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble $7.49 $14.99
Knights In The Nightmare $7.49 $14.99
Limbo (Cross-Buy) $7.49 $14.99
Persona 4 Arena – Additional Colors Full Pack $2.99 $5.99
Persona 4 Arena – Additional Colors Pack #1 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Additional Colors Pack #2 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Additional Colors Pack #3 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Additional Colors Pack #4 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Glasses Full Pack $2.99 $5.99
Persona 4 Arena – Glasses Pack #1 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Glasses Pack #2 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Glasses Pack #3 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Glasses Pack #4 $0.99 $1.99
Persona 4 Arena – Navigation #1 (Teddie) $1.49 $2.99
Persona 4 Arena – Navigation #2 (Yosuke) $1.49 $2.99
Persona 4 Arena – Navigation #3 (Mitsuru) $1.49 $2.99
Persona 4 Arena – Navigation #4 (Aigis) $1.49 $2.99
Persona 4 Arena – Navigation #5 (Fuuka) $1.49 $2.99
Persona 4 Arena – Navigation #6 (Nanako) $1.49 $2.99
Persona 4 Arena $14.99 $29.99
Persona 4 Arena Ultimate Edition $22.49 $44.99
Persona 4: Golden $19.99 $29.99
Proteus (Cross Buy) $8.49 $13.99
Proteus Vita (Cross Buy) $8.49 $13.99
R.I.P.D. $2.99 $9.99
Riviera: The Promised Land $4.99 $9.99
Sly Cooper : Thieves In Time $13.49 $26.99
The Cursed Crusade $7.99 $19.99
Yggdra Union $4.99 $9.99
-(PS3) Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation HD ($19.99)
-(PS3) The Raven: Legacy of A Master Thief ($29.99)
-(PS3/Vita Bundle) Guacamelee! Bundle Fantastico ($19.99) (Includes PlayStation 3 system and PlayStation Vita system versions of the game, Costume Pack DLC, El Diablo’s Domain DLC, Official Game Soundtrack (remastered), All 3 themes, 10 favorite avatars, Chickens, lots of chickens.)
-(Vita) Age of Zombies! ($4.99)
-(Vita) Doodle Devil ($5.99)
-(PSOne Import) Double Dragon ($5.99)
-(Soundtrack) Tearaway Official Soundtrack ($7.99)
-(Soundtrack) Guacamelee! Soundtrack ($7.99)
One of these days, they'll fix the sales thing so that I don't have to manually fix every single goddamn part of it. One of these days.
Anyway, there's no real surprise - the Guacamelee! bundle is pretty good, but who doesn't have the game by now? Double Dragon heads off MonkeyPaw's latest batch of Import titles that will end with Tomba! 2 sometime in February, so that's something to look forward to. Otherwise, dem sales.
Oh, Riviera was on the PSP? Was the PSP port any good? I played part of the way through the gba version, but I don't think I have anything that can still play gba games.
It was an enhanced port with crisper graphics and a little extra content. Plus a little bit of voicework? Maybe? I forget. I don't think anything was lost between the GBA and PSP transition.
Hmm... Puppeteer for $7 and Thomas Was Alone for $2.50 are what's standing out to me. I think I'll pass for now on A Wolf Among Us for now. I have no problem waiting for that whole package to be out before diving in.
I've played it before, so I know what to expect. It's good to know that it's a decent port.
Edit: silly drafts.
LD50 on
0
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Well, I went ahead and picked up Tales of Xillia. I don't think I mentioned it, but I've also never played a Tales game beyond maybe a demo back in the PS1 days...or maybe not! Hard to remember.
Oooh, Proteus is on sale too. Completely missed that since it's outside of the 14 for '14 sale.
Ok, added Puppeteer, Rain, Thomas Was Alone, and Proteus to my cart, comes to $19. If anyone wants to make the case for/against this group, speak now. I'll probably pick them up tomorrow and throw them on the backlog pile.
Ok, added Puppeteer, Rain, Thomas Was Alone, and Proteus to my cart, comes to $19. If anyone wants to make the case for/against this group, speak now. I'll probably pick them up tomorrow and throw them on the backlog pile.
Puppeteer is awful. Shallow gameplay and generally boring level design that is constantly interrupted by cutscenes.
Puppeteer was reviewed pretty well I guess, but I couldn't get into it. It's a simple platformer, which could be fine, but the only new thing is the scissors, and it's not that interesting. And the narration and cutscenes are constant. There's never a moment where someone's not talking, or more accurately, yelling/shrieking. The graphics are VERY nice, though.
I got here too late, damn this human speed of mine
You saved at least one person.
[hope] Unless it is some dual-audio version that I have been unaware of?[/hope]
Namco Bandai doesn't "do" dual audio, unfortunately. Their view is that we should consider ourselves lucky they even grace us with the game at all. Best you can hope to do is crank the voice slider to zero.
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Eh, the voice acting in that review wouldn't have swayed me from buying it. Seems about on-par with a lot of JRPGs.
I mean, I played through Ys: the Ark of Napishtim on PS2 despite that voice acting. I cringed almost every time there was spoken dialogue, but I can look past that stuff. Tales of Xillia doesn't sound that bad at all, comparatively speaking.
Now debating double dipping on enslaved, and lone survivor. What's lone survivors deal? I honestly don't get how something that pixely can be scary...
Also debating killzone...
Enslaved comes with the Pigsy DLC(meh..) but there's also two new costumes for Monkey and one for Trip. They give bonuses to each character too. Ninja Monkey gets Unlimited(I think) plasma ammo for his staff, Classic Monkey gets a melee damage boost and Sexy Robot Trip gets increased duration and recharge on her decoy and EMP abilities. You have to beat the game before you can use the costumes, but if you want to platinum(like me) the game, you're going to play it more than once anyways.
As for Killzone, dooooo eeeeeet!
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Yeah, the VA is corny, but it's also not a $60 AAA title.
This is why I wish they would just subtitle Japanese games and leave the original VA and get those games over the pond quicker.
Wow, Xillia has bad VA? I admit the quality goes up and down, but I honestly found it to be better than most JRPGs, and it was certainly localized a lot better than most.
Milla and Elize can be a little grating, but Jude's voiced by Teddie in P4G, Teepo's voiced by Chie, and Alvin's voiced by Matthew Mercer... who people might know as Troy Baker's replacement for Kanji in the P4 Animation second half. It's honestly not as bad as you might think.
Puppeteer was reviewed pretty well I guess, but I couldn't get into it. It's a simple platformer, which could be fine, but the only new thing is the scissors, and it's not that interesting. And the narration and cutscenes are constant. There's never a moment where someone's not talking, or more accurately, yelling/shrieking. The graphics are VERY nice, though.
Posts
If you're lucky, you could find some of the older ones, but none of those have been remastered or made available on PSN. Those would be the Atelier Iris trilogy, and the Mana Khemia pair (different name, but still part of the Atelier line). They're quite hard to find, but not impossible.
Also the latest one, Escha & Logy, won't be out here until March. I'm looking forward to checking that one out, since it's finally breaking the standards lately by having multiple protagonists as well as multiple alchemists to play.
Outrageous, truly.
I've actually had a few out loud laughs playing the game. The story/dialogue isn't deep or philosophical, but it's entertaining. On par with a typical anime series.
Do the Atelier games need to be played in order? What are the chances of the New Ateltier Rorona getting a US release? Should I just start with the original?
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
That's one thing I was deeply impressed with when playing Xillia. The localization was actually really good, and while it may have tried to throw the occasional trope in there, it wasn't enough to hijack the entire mood. In fact, most of the humor is in the skits that are completely optional.
As for Atelier, while it's better to play them in order of what land they're in, you don't miss anything skipping parts of the series except the occasional callback. The Arland series would go Rorona/Totori/Meruru, with the previous alchemists always showing up in the later ones. If you want to play it safe, play Ayesha. By the time you're finished with that, Escha & Logy will be out. You can always backtrack to the previous trilogy if you need your fix.
For $10 it's a steal.
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
Need an explanation of the game? If it makes you feel better, Xillia was my first Tales game as well.
For $10 you'd get a fairly traditional JRPG with a few twists. The combat is what sets the Tales series apart, which is similar to Star Ocean if you've played that series. Combat happens in a circular arena in real time, with a combo meter and paired attacks keeping the gameplay fresh. The Tales series is also known for skits, which are short conversations happening at certain areas or during certain times. They're purely for more background information and a lot of the time are done for comedic effect, but sometimes are used to point you towards side missions. In Xillia they're all fully voiced, which I think is a first, and are animated using mostly-static avatars of the characters.
I think it's a really really good combination of old JRPG values with enough innovation to make it more fun to play.
Killzone Mercenary
TWD Vita
Enslaved
Tales of Xillia
Killzone is odd. When you add it to cart, it asks you if you want to pay $35 or $9. Well it doesnt ask, but you have to choose a version.
-(PS3) Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation HD ($19.99)
-(PS3) The Raven: Legacy of A Master Thief ($29.99)
-(PS3/Vita Bundle) Guacamelee! Bundle Fantastico ($19.99) (Includes PlayStation 3 system and PlayStation Vita system versions of the game, Costume Pack DLC, El Diablo’s Domain DLC, Official Game Soundtrack (remastered), All 3 themes, 10 favorite avatars, Chickens, lots of chickens.)
-(Vita) Age of Zombies! ($4.99)
-(Vita) Doodle Devil ($5.99)
-(PSOne Import) Double Dragon ($5.99)
-(Soundtrack) Tearaway Official Soundtrack ($7.99)
-(Soundtrack) Guacamelee! Soundtrack ($7.99)
One of these days, they'll fix the sales thing so that I don't have to manually fix every single goddamn part of it. One of these days.
Anyway, there's no real surprise - the Guacamelee! bundle is pretty good, but who doesn't have the game by now? Double Dragon heads off MonkeyPaw's latest batch of Import titles that will end with Tomba! 2 sometime in February, so that's something to look forward to. Otherwise, dem sales.
Is Rain worth a look?
Edit: silly drafts.
No idea when I'll play it, but I figured why not.
This is a clickable link to my Steam Profile.
I'm wondering the same. The aesthetic looks so goshdarned wonderful, but I haven't heard a single thing about it, positive or negative.
And what exactly makes Lone Survivor PS3/Vita version a Director's Cut? I have the original on Steam so I was wondering what's different.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Ok, added Puppeteer, Rain, Thomas Was Alone, and Proteus to my cart, comes to $19. If anyone wants to make the case for/against this group, speak now. I'll probably pick them up tomorrow and throw them on the backlog pile.
Puppeteer is awful. Shallow gameplay and generally boring level design that is constantly interrupted by cutscenes.
Yes. It's no ICO but it's still a really cool little game.
Here, let me unsell you
http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/6jcjtw/tales-of-xillia-review
Just listen to that voice acting
Listen to it
EDIT: Oh no, you bought it
I got here too late, damn this human speed of mine
Oh wow, it's like Resident Evil 1 revisited.
When I get to playing the game, voice volume dowwwwwnnnn.
Now debating double dipping on enslaved, and lone survivor. What's lone survivors deal? I honestly don't get how something that pixely can be scary...
Also debating killzone...
You saved at least one person.
[hope] Unless it is some dual-audio version that I have been unaware of?[/hope]
Namco Bandai doesn't "do" dual audio, unfortunately. Their view is that we should consider ourselves lucky they even grace us with the game at all. Best you can hope to do is crank the voice slider to zero.
This is why I wish they would just subtitle Japanese games and leave the original VA and get those games over the pond quicker.
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
I mean, I played through Ys: the Ark of Napishtim on PS2 despite that voice acting. I cringed almost every time there was spoken dialogue, but I can look past that stuff. Tales of Xillia doesn't sound that bad at all, comparatively speaking.
No VA is bad after that.
Enslaved comes with the Pigsy DLC(meh..) but there's also two new costumes for Monkey and one for Trip. They give bonuses to each character too. Ninja Monkey gets Unlimited(I think) plasma ammo for his staff, Classic Monkey gets a melee damage boost and Sexy Robot Trip gets increased duration and recharge on her decoy and EMP abilities. You have to beat the game before you can use the costumes, but if you want to platinum(like me) the game, you're going to play it more than once anyways.
As for Killzone, dooooo eeeeeet!
Oooh ho ho... really?
Wow, Xillia has bad VA? I admit the quality goes up and down, but I honestly found it to be better than most JRPGs, and it was certainly localized a lot better than most.
Milla and Elize can be a little grating, but Jude's voiced by Teddie in P4G, Teepo's voiced by Chie, and Alvin's voiced by Matthew Mercer... who people might know as Troy Baker's replacement for Kanji in the P4 Animation second half. It's honestly not as bad as you might think.
Sounds perfect to play with my 3 year old then.