[Wii] Arc Rise Fantasia

Folks looking for an RPG fix beyond Tales of Symphonia 2: Knights of Rattata are in luck. Arc Rise Fantasia looks like an interesting amalgam of various series we've grown accustomed to, and I have to say I like the overall look of the game. Since I can't read japanese I'm limited to looking at the pretty pictures, but if anyone can, please fill us in.

In the meantime, enjoy the scans (I tried going to the site listed on one of the pages, no luck):

Warning: 3 Large Scans:

Here's another scan:

Spoiler:

I don't have high high hopes for it, but it does catch my interest.

Ah, thanks for the missing scan. Apparently Yasunori Mitsuda and the character designer for Eureka 7 are working on this one. The latter one wasn't much of a surprise, given that's what I was instantly reminded of when gazing upon these characters.

It's being developed by Image Epoch, so you know what that means.

It'll be pretty but buggy and/or crappy.

Also the scenario writers from symphonia and abyss will be on it, with symphonia's being the director.

I expect lots of INFERIOR BEINGS to be thrown about.

What other stuff has Image Epoch done? The name doesn't ring a bell right off.

So far this game looks pretty good, but admittedly I'll say that about anything that involves fighting dragons on the deck of an airship. My first thought looking at these scans was how the pink-haired girl looks exactly like Anemone in the last episode of Eureka Seven, so it's not surprising that it's the same guy and not a bad thing either.

Image Epoch did Luminous Arc (on the DS).

I don't know, I actually really enjoyed Luminous Arc. I'm pretty excited, actually, the Wii does need some more RPGs too, so I expect to pick this up if it does turn out nice.

I'm playing through Luminous Arc right now, and it's "meh" at best. The storyline is not unlike the original FFT (in that you're fighting the church and an evil god) but the actual characters are blatant anime stereotypes. The unskipable dialogue and mostly very easy battles get old after awhile. The presentation is very sloppy in places. For example, random battles generally have the same enemy configuration at the same level, so it's very hard to level up. There's a standard height restriction on everything (I understand not being able to shoot arrows up a hill, but why can't I shoot downwards? Why does magic have a height restriction?)

Luminous Arc isn't a bad game, but it doesn't make me wholely excited for Arc Rise Fantasia.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

but the actual characters are blatant anime stereotypes.

I found that to be a good thing, personally.

As for arrow physics and magic technicalities, I didn't really mind them, as I got used to it after a while. I don't recall not being able to skip through dialogue either. I will agree though, battles are for the most part, quite easy.

Arc Rise Fantasia looks like more turn-based fare, which I prefer over active RPGs. Still a bit early to make a call though. It is coming over to the US, right? Not just a Japan only deal, right?

Originally Posted by Omnislash124

It is coming over to the US, right? Not just a Japan only deal, right?

We'll have to wait and see with regards to a NA release. I don't see a reason why this wouldn't come over on the heels of ToS or something.

The character designs look about what I'd expect from a Game with "Arc" and "Fantasia" in the title. Looks like Star Ocean 3 so far in the graphics department.

My interest is only minimal at this point.

NeoGAF had a thread a while back that painted a pretty bright picture for Image Epoch's future. Since the release of Luminous Arc, they've been steadily increasing their regular staff, as well as picking up several prominent people from other companies.

So, for now, I am optimistic. Not excited, but optimistic.

Guaranteed minimum 1 million copies sold in Japan:
Arc Rise Fantasia to feature undertit | RPG Land

The graphics and art are pretty good at least. It looks pretty generic, but it's better than having [i]no[i/] traditional RPGs on the Wii. I hope there are no random battles, though.

Nintendo's conference video has a short clip of this game in action, towards the end.

The Eureka seveN designer dude must have a forehead fetish. This game looks sort of interesting and the Wii could use an RPG.

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

The Eureka seveN designer dude must have a forehead fetish.

He's not the only one:

Good lord.

Originally Posted by Hindman

Haven't we moved past the "good guys and enemies standing still on opposite sides of a flat arena" thing yet? I mean you can do this in RPGMaker for Pete's sake.

Originally Posted by Dhsu

Haven't we moved past the "good guys and enemies standing still on opposite sides of a flat arena" thing yet? I mean you can do this in RPGMaker for Pete's sake.

No, and I hope we never do. There must always be inexplicably polite monsters in at least some of our RPGs!

DN, isn't Code Lyoko French? Foreheads are probably the least worrying fetish in that show.