[Wii] Project O

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Title: Project O (Ousama Monogatari)
Genre: Role-Playing
Developer: Marvelous
Release US: TBA 2008
Release JP: Spring 2008

Quote:

We just got to speak with Yoshiro Kimura, producer at Marvellous Entertainment and man at the helm of their super-group Wii title, Project O (reports of the game being named King's Story are apparently premature, Kimura saying "no, that's not its name, we're still working on a name"). Which was largely exciting, since I'm largely excited about this game, even more so since he also said we were the first Western journalists to check it out.

Earlier comparisons, a lot of them based on the production team's pedigree from the Harvest Moon, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series, seemed to suggest the game was a a strategy title, a nice blend of Harvest Moon, Pikmin and Black & White. Those are...close, especially Black & White, but think more along the lines of The Settlers than the other two and you'll be getting warm.

Essentially you play the role of a small boy who is made King of the land. And you now have to govern said land by bossing your subjects around. Sounds simple (which is the point, the game's setting and art style being heavily influenced by European fairy tales), and plays simple, but again, that's the point: Kimura says the main objective of the game was to make a title that could be enjoyed by the whole family, which isn't exactly common for a strategy game.

Players take control of the King. Personally. You move the little guy around the screen and he serves as the personification of your orders, telling villagers to build things, follow him, attack monsters, etc. This not only gives the player direct involvement in the game (it's "similar to an RPG, where your character grows stronger and more effective"), but removes the need for menu screens, something the development team thought was necessary.

That's about where the concrete information dries up. The game is only 30% done, despite over a year of conceptual design and six months of development time, so a lot of things are still up in the air, including whether the King will age/grow and just how the control scheme will take advantage of the Wii Remote. Calm breaths waggle haters: Kimura promises that they "don't want people shaking the Wii Remote just for the sake of it".

Project O is a Wii exclusive, as Kimura believes the 360 is "too much of a hardcore system", while he "doesn't really like the PS3", as it's too difficult and expensive to develop for. That and the Wii is played by all ages in Japan, bringing it into line with their vision for a strategy game for the family. It's due in Japan around Spring 2008, with a Western release promised soon after.

There's already an official site available for this game, which appears to be entirely in English but subbed in Japanese.

I think the game is running on the Pikmin engine, or something. It's like Pikmin and Animal Crossing had a kid. The art style looks awesome too.

Automatic interest in this as CiNG are co-developing it and it's their first crack at something other than a point and click-ish adventure. Now I want a game that uses that awesome art style in the trailer.

Looks pretty interesting, to say the least. And extra points to them for putting Bolero to good use.

The vid caught my attention... I hope its worth playing when it comes out >:]

The art style is great, and the game looks interesting and funny.

I'm buying this game simply for the fact that it has Bolero playing in the background.

CiNG is involved? That's pretty much an instant sell for me.

Only one big problem. I need to get a Wii.

This... is... awesome!

I agree that the game looks a lot like Pikmin/Settlers in gameplay, but the style is kinda different and what I'm guessing is that each character is more unique than with Pikmin, where you really had an army of ants to control. So it'll be more of an issue of who to take, who has the skills for each task, and so on. Either way it looks really super good, so I can't wait to see more. Too bad the actual game doesn't look like the intro, not that the actual game doesn't look very good, but still.

Also, the Wii was designed specifically to make Pikmin super easy to control. (STATING OPINION AS FACT IS SO 2005)

EDIT: Second trailer. Cute taken to traumatizing levels! "Huhu! Vank Yuu Yuh Haines! Coming! Two Fousanneight!"

That second trailer is included in the video for the first trailer above. Freaky shit.

Originally Posted by Generic Badass

That second trailer is included in the video for the first trailer above. Freaky shit.

Ah whoops, so it is. I didn't watch the Youtube video, only went to the Kotaku link. I guess it's still a nice high quality version though. Cause you really need to see that in high quality... Yeah.