Well what a week it has been for me…. constant news of Cyclone Yasi (Dubbed Yasu by some Umineko fans), constant heat wave and my spending two days of the week doing a lab project that was very time consuming. So, now that the week is over, I am now going to do a number of posts to catch up on gaming updates, alongside a review for RvB: Season 8 and Resonance of Fate and/or Toro! Lets Party. However first, it is time to catch up on the latest news from NISA.
For those who like limited edition goodies, Hyperdimension Neptunia, just like they did with Atelier Rorona, are offering bonus items for both their store, and first print copies. The first print copies of the game, which are not exclusive to the NISA store contain each the PS3 game, a hardcover colour artbook and a special, slightly better cover art for the game. The good thing is that these come at no additional cost! For those who order from the NISA online store, you not only get all the bonus content mentioned above, but you also get an exclusive pack of playing cards and free shipping within the US (Cards whilst stock lasts, and I do not believe they have many sets left at all). To visit the store, click here. Personally, since shipping is quite dear with the NISA store to Australia, I ordered from play-asia.com, which I had some left over credit for. The have closed pre-orders due to them being out of First Print editions however they will open orders up again once the game is released. For Australians, we will actually be getting this game in our stores at some point, and after confirming it with the NISA PR team, I can say that Namco Bandai will be the publisher for our region, however I am unable to find an actual release date as none of the major game stores have it on their listings yet.
Gust-chan and Nisa-chan… currently missing 
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From information I have gathered, the game is a completely patched version of the Japanese game, thus eliminating previous bugs. I can almost certainly say that GUST, nor Nisa will be obtained without DLC content and will need to be purchased from the PSN store at a later date.
One of the more intriguing game systems is the possibility of importing your own images to appear in disk attacks, therefore if you want a Galgun to be summoned by Green Heart or Zetta from every skill attack, then you can. There are some restrictions that I can confirm before.
Multiple file formats are possible however only images stored on the PS3 system can be used (From USB, ingame images etc). The minimum image size is 16×16 and the maximum depends on the file type, however all images will be automatically scaled down to 1:1. The maximum size restrictions are:
PNG – 1500 x 1500
JPG/JPEG – 3900 x 3900
GIF – 600 x 600
BMP – 1000 x 1000
TIFF – 560 x 560
According to what I have read on other forums, although not able to personally confirm, the bigger the image, the stronger it is, however at the expense of an higher AP cost, so using the maximum size image at the start might look epic, but will result in it being unusable until part way through the game.
However from how things looked, this game is shaping up to be a rather interesting game with several similarities to Trinity Universe gameplay wise.
Ar Tonelico has suddenly emerged with loads of information. Originally this was a title that was released at a PR Event in the middle of last year however was not heard from since. That being said, unlike most of NISA’s series, this game was never released in Australia, so this will be the first time I have played a game in the series and not fully sure what to expect.
First of all, just like Hyperdimension Neptunia there is a special set that I am not sure if it is for first print only or not, however it contains the normal artbook that all their premium editions come with, as well as a 60 minute soundtrack CD, which is always a nice bonus. As a store exclusive item, for an extra $10, you can get a sort of Premium Premium edition that comes with a Ar Tonelico III themed calendar, not sure if it is good value or not, since game calenders are usually either very good or bitterly bad. For the NISA store links, click here for the Premium and click here for the Premium Premium. For those who prefer another site, play-asia also have the premium edition on sale, which you can see if you click here.
As of something like a week or two ago, they released a website for the game which can be found here. It appears to require a date of birth to be given to enter, so minors beware. This is most probably because some of the characters wear risqué clothing and some of the characters are known to strip during the battles when certain requirements are met…. and I am sure that is a big plus to at least some of you. The website is relatively empty now and contains stuff like character bios, world information and information on the exploration system, but keep an eye on it since it looks like it will be updated very soon!
That is it from me for now, will be back soon with my next Catchup on Everything _________.
Related posts:
- Hyperdimension Neptunia Announced by Nippon Ichi Software America
- Hyperdimension Neptunia Website and Prinny 2 Contest
- Christmas Catch-Up Part 1 – Hyperdimension Neptunia (Trailer) and Phantom Brave (PSP) Preview
- NISA Suggests they MIGHT be getting Super Dimensional Game Neptune
- Negima!? Catchup Episodes 14-15
