Atlus continues the tradition of bringing over games from Japan that usually would be left to the Japanese market.

Atlus continues the tradition of bringing over games from Japan
that usually would be left to the Japanese market.
by
Aceinet

The Atlus
booth at E3 this year was showing off a total of three games and one game that
is being distributed by Atlus.  The games on display from Atlus were Digital
Devil Saga, Shin
Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Pro Fishing Challenge and Phantom Brave by NIS
America.
With the exception of the
Pro Fishing Challenge, all of the games on display continue the Atlus
tradition bringing to America unique games that usually would be left for the
Japanese market.

One of the
first items mentioned by Gail Salamanco, Marketing Manager, is the fact they
continue to focus on certain sections of the gaming market.  Atlus would love
to have huge sales numbers just like any other publisher, but they put their
time, money and resources into the hardcore gaming market.  The fans of games
produced by Atlus are the ones willing to pay $100.00 for an Atlus game on
eBay.  These are the gamers that purchase the games published by Atlus.  This
segment of the market can remain static throughout the trends within the
gaming industry.

The first
game on display was
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne for PS2.  For hardcore gamers they know
that the Shin Megami series has been around for years in Japan.   Shin Megami
Tensei: Nocturne will be the first game from the series released in America on
PS2.  The game is a RPG game that is set in a post apocalyptic Tokyo where
almost the entire population has been destroyed.  It’s up to you to figure out
what happened and either save the world or destroy it.  The game has a heavy
demonic and apocalyptic overtone.  The graphics for the game are presented in
a cell shaded setting that makes the game play out almost like an anime.  The
game will have over 50 hours of gameplay, over 100 monsters to ally with, and
the ability to customize your character with demonic abilities.  The game even
includes Dante from Capcom’s Devil May Cry series.  Mr. Salamanco mentioned
that the developers at Capcom were so impressed with how Dante worked within
the game that Capcom gave Atlus their blessing to include Dante as a
character.   The game is expected to ship in September 2004.

The next
game shown by Atlus was another RPG game,
Digital Devil Saga.
Digital Devil Saga is the newest game from the developers that worked on the
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne game.  The game was running on an enhanced engine
that powers Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.   Just as in Shin Megami the
graphics are similar to a cell shaded style that looks more like an anime than
a videogame.  The story behind this game is you play the role of Serf who is a
warrior that is suddenly transforming into a demonic creature after a strange
and unusual object called the Pod appears.  But at the same time of the Pod’s
appearance another character named Sera appears that has the abilities to
control Serf’s transformations.  But Sera has no idea who she is or where she
comes from.  You will team up with Sara and try to reach an area called
Nirvana where you will be named champions.   The video on display showed off
some interesting moves during battle.  You can either fight as the regular
version of Serf or the transformed version.  There was even a section where
you could link up your attacks to create different and more powerful attacks.
There will be over 50 hours of gameplay in Digital Devil Saga.  The game is
expected to ship in Winter 2004

The last
game shown by Atlus was
Pro Fishing Challenge. The game is described as the most realistic
fishing game on the market for Xbox.  The game included 4 different lakes,
realistic weather effects, water temperature, wind speeds and day & night
cycles.  You can also customize your character and have the ability to choose
from over 100 pieces of tackle.  The game will include an online mode that
will support up to 8 players that can compete in a virtual fishing
tournament.  The graphics for the game worked well, but lacked the polish that
most gamers associate with an Xbox.  The game is expected to ship in Summer
2004.

The last
game on display was
Phantom Brave by NIS America.  The game is being localized by Atlus
and co-published by NIS America and Atlus.  The game is from the same
developers of Disgaea, Nippon Ichi Software.  Phantom Brave is not a sequel to
Disgaea but players can think of it as a spiritual sequel since it’s a turn
based strategy game.  The game looks similar to Disgaea with close to the same
graphics.   Phantom Brave includes 20 missions with additional hidden missions
that can be discovered.  One of the big changes to the combat system is the
elimination of the grid system.  Your character has the ability to move almost
anywhere on the screen.  Now you have to worry about your attack range, which
is how far away and how much damage can be done during an attack.  If you have
a large attack range then all of the creatures in the attack range will
register damage.  There is also the ability to possess objects, equip objects
as weapons and combine the items to make different items.  Phantom Brave looks
to be a great game from a fantastic developer that has produced some quality
games.  The game is expected to ship later this year.

Atlus has a nice line up of quality titles for release this year.  The titles
might not fit in with the other big name titles such as GTA, Halo or Metroid
but RPG fans shouldn’t pass up Shin Megami and Digital Devil Saga.  Xbox fans
looking for a fishing game should be on the look out for Pro Fishing
Challenge, especially those looking for an online fishing game.  Phantom Brave
shouldn’t be missed by anyone.  It’s a quirky and hardcore to the bone
strategy RPG but you don’t want to miss out on this game. 

.