Gorvi
06-23-2010, 06:06 AM
So some details are finally coming out on the third Parasite Eve game, The Third Birthday, this one on the PSP. There isn't much, but here's what's out there.
A short trailer that was released last week for E3:
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Some details from 1UP:
"This game follows in the footsteps of the Parasite Eve series and shares its setting and basic feel," producer Yoshinori Kitase explained to Famitsu magazine in this week's issue. "But we're developing it like a completely new title, one that puts Aya Brea more at the forefront. We had originally planned a mobile-phone release, but we moved it to the PSP because the project's gameplay and visuals had gone beyond the mobile platform and we also wanted to target the world market more."
Kitase is leading a development studio whose main names ought to be familiar to anyone who's played a Square Enix game in the past couple years. Hajime Tabata, director on Final Fantasy Agito XIII, is also handling directorial duties on The 3rd Birthday; he's supported by scriptwriter Motomu Toriyama (Final Fantasy XIII), art director Isamu Kamikokuryo (FFXII and FFXIII), and music composer Yoko Shimomura (FF Versus XIII, Xenoblade). Tetsuya Nomura, the impresario behind much of Final Fantasy's modern look, is listed as creative producer and concept designer.
Taking a look at the E3 trailer, however, you might think The 3rd Birthday is a behind-the-back shooter at first glance. But no: "It's an action RPG," Tabata explained. "You do fight with guns, but instead of searching for enemies and shooting them down, you press a lock-on button to target and fight them. To that basic motion we've added the Overdive system and RPG-style character growth."
What is Overdive, exactly? "It's Aya's special ability that allows her to take over the minds of other people and move them any way she wants," Tabata said. "You can dive into NPCs anytime, anyplace, and when you do, you immediately shift to their position and control them directly. The NPC's external view changes to Aya, but that's just to make the dive more obvious within the game -- it's only her consciousness making the dive in reality."
Overdive is the gameplay feature that gives The 3rd Birthday much of its strategic element -- for example, the trailer shows Aya "resurrecting" herself by diving into an NPC after her life hits zero. "When you Overdive, time goes into slow motion," Tabata explained. "As a result, even if Aya runs out of power, she can save herself by diving into another NPC while she's still conscious. It may not be very ethical to let the people you possess die all the time, but that's what will likely happen a lot when you first start playing. More advanced players will learn how to more effectively use the skill, positioning one soldier and then diving into another one in order to secure some other point."
The game is coming out this Winter in Japan and some time next year in the US.
A short trailer that was released last week for E3:
94St7uJUFUA
Some details from 1UP:
"This game follows in the footsteps of the Parasite Eve series and shares its setting and basic feel," producer Yoshinori Kitase explained to Famitsu magazine in this week's issue. "But we're developing it like a completely new title, one that puts Aya Brea more at the forefront. We had originally planned a mobile-phone release, but we moved it to the PSP because the project's gameplay and visuals had gone beyond the mobile platform and we also wanted to target the world market more."
Kitase is leading a development studio whose main names ought to be familiar to anyone who's played a Square Enix game in the past couple years. Hajime Tabata, director on Final Fantasy Agito XIII, is also handling directorial duties on The 3rd Birthday; he's supported by scriptwriter Motomu Toriyama (Final Fantasy XIII), art director Isamu Kamikokuryo (FFXII and FFXIII), and music composer Yoko Shimomura (FF Versus XIII, Xenoblade). Tetsuya Nomura, the impresario behind much of Final Fantasy's modern look, is listed as creative producer and concept designer.
Taking a look at the E3 trailer, however, you might think The 3rd Birthday is a behind-the-back shooter at first glance. But no: "It's an action RPG," Tabata explained. "You do fight with guns, but instead of searching for enemies and shooting them down, you press a lock-on button to target and fight them. To that basic motion we've added the Overdive system and RPG-style character growth."
What is Overdive, exactly? "It's Aya's special ability that allows her to take over the minds of other people and move them any way she wants," Tabata said. "You can dive into NPCs anytime, anyplace, and when you do, you immediately shift to their position and control them directly. The NPC's external view changes to Aya, but that's just to make the dive more obvious within the game -- it's only her consciousness making the dive in reality."
Overdive is the gameplay feature that gives The 3rd Birthday much of its strategic element -- for example, the trailer shows Aya "resurrecting" herself by diving into an NPC after her life hits zero. "When you Overdive, time goes into slow motion," Tabata explained. "As a result, even if Aya runs out of power, she can save herself by diving into another NPC while she's still conscious. It may not be very ethical to let the people you possess die all the time, but that's what will likely happen a lot when you first start playing. More advanced players will learn how to more effectively use the skill, positioning one soldier and then diving into another one in order to secure some other point."
The game is coming out this Winter in Japan and some time next year in the US.