Gloria Union [PSP]

[Gorvi]

Announced in this week's Famitsu, Gloria Union is the next collaboration between Sting and Atlus. Siliconera (http://www.siliconera.com/2011/03/29/gloria-union-is-the-next-psp-game-from-sting-and-atlus/) has some early details translated from the Famitsu announcement:
Gloria Union is the latest entry in what Famitsu says is the "Union" series. I suppose this means Blaze Union and Yggdra Union are their own spinoff of Sting’s Dept. Heaven games. The battle system should be familiar to players who played past games. Sting used the same unit vs. unit system where you can use skills to deal big damage.

The lead character is Ishuto, a pirate boy who dreams of being a great pirate. With a great sword in hand, he goes treasure hunting with Pinger. She’s a childhood friend of Ishuto who looks up to him like an older brother.

http://www.dotup.org/uploda/www.dotup.org1475680.jpg


The game is rumored to be coming out in Japan on June 23rd.

[frederec]

Oh crap, I thought this was about the successor to Yggdra Union. It's the second successor? I'm feeling left behind.

[Purple Santa]

I've never played the Union games, but they had me at playing pirate.

[Gorvi]

The only "Union" game that's out here is Yggdra Union, which I've yet to play (I own it, though). There's also Blaze Union, which funny enough came out on my birthday last year in Japan (May 27th), but being out so long in Japan I doubt we're getting it here since nothing has been announced.

That makes me think we don't have much of a chance of seeing Gloria Union come out here, but you never know.

[Purple Santa]

The only "Union" game that's out here is Yggdra Union, which I've yet to play (I own it, though). There's also Blaze Union, which funny enough came out on my birthday last year in Japan (May 27th), but being out so long in Japan I doubt we're getting it here since nothing has been announced.

That makes me think we don't have much of a chance of seeing Gloria Union come out here, but you never know.

Ah, I thought it might be you who I have seen mention the game I can't spell. I keep meaning to add it to my Gamefly list.

[Spigot]

Knights In The Nightmare is essentially the follow-up to Yggdra Union, if I'm not mistaken.

Sadly, I have yet to actually work through Riviera, Yggdra Union or KitN despite owning all 3 games on both Nintendo systems and PSP. SIgh.

[Pinchy]

Yggdra was pretty fun, but healing your armies between battles was a pain. They also do a pretty poor job of explaining what the hell is going on in combat, but after a few levels, it's not too bad. The PSP version seemed a little more forgiving than the GBA one.

I personally think Riviera is Sting's best, KitN after that. I was hoping Hexyz Force would be a little more like Riviera, but it's really more like a regular rpg. Still fun, just didnt feel as special/unique as Riviera or KitN.

[frederec]

Knights In The Nightmare is essentially the follow-up to Yggdra Union, if I'm not mistaken.

Sadly, I have yet to actually work through Riviera, Yggdra Union or KitN despite owning all 3 games on both Nintendo systems and PSP. SIgh.

This is where it gets confusing, which makes sense when you consider how odd all these games are.

Riviera, Yggdra Union, Knights in the Nightmare, and the upcoming SRPG Gungnir are all parts of the Dept. Heaven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_Heaven) series of games. Even better, these games are episode 1, 2, 4, and 9, respectively. However, Yggdra Union is in the process of getting two follow-ups, which aren't part of the Dept. Heaven series proper.

Hexyz Force, while a Sting game, isn't part of Dept. Heaven. I think that's largely why it's more generic than those other games.

[Spigot]

I have Hexyz Force too, but keep forgetting about it. Sigh. Can anyone spare me a null-time bubble to retreat into for about 3-4 weeks so I can catch up on the games I need to catch up on?

[Widgetcraft]

I'll be on board if they ever decide to do a legitimate sequel to Riviera; doesn't need to follow the story, just the gameplay. I'm not real big on strategy games.

[frederec]

I'll be on board if they ever decide to do a legitimate sequel to Riviera; doesn't need to follow the story, just the gameplay. I'm not real big on strategy games.

I'm a little surprised they haven't. I get the impression Riviera is one of their more successful games.