Blaze Union: Story to Reach the Future (PSP) - Page 2

Lyndis87 · 04-24-2010, 02:27 PM

This does seem rather promising, and I certainly wouldn't mind snagging this title as well to add to my game collection ^_^

redrighthand · 04-26-2010, 01:09 PM

It's been confirmed that playing the game with Yggdra Union save data on your memory card will let you find secret characters. (Any Japanese print of Yggdra Union will work--you may have heard that a new printing of the game just started in Japan, the "Sting the BEST" version.)

I wonder who they're going to add? For story reasons, just about all the ally characters from Yggdra Union wouldn't work... and it would really suck to have to have Yggdra Union data in order to get certain members of the Imperial Army. Gaaah, Atlus better localize this, 'cause if I have to buy the Japanese version, my own save data isn't going to work. It's all from the US release...

Gunloc · 04-26-2010, 08:07 PM

More Yggdra world goodness? I would buy it.

redrighthand · 04-28-2010, 08:37 AM

It's that time again, and oh my god did Sting ever deliver!

The three new characters this update are Luciana, Aegina, and ~~Emilia~~ Emi. Luciana and Aegina are played by Nakahara Mai this time, not Fujino Tomoko; this is probably due to the age difference.

As widely theorized, Aegina's going to be in the party while Luciana is an NPC due to her leg injury.

Emi joins the party looking for her long-lost big brother because ~somebody~ prophesied for her that she could find him with the Gram Blaze team.

It's looking more and more like Garlott's going to grow up to be Gulcasa, since there are age-based voice actor changes and Emi is very definitely Emilia.

I also approve of the fact that the first thing we see Nessiah doing in this game is something genuinely nice. Good to know that "troll everything" is not his only setting.

All five serial numbers have been released, so if you enter them all into the appropriate cards, you'll be able to access the Special section, which has more wallpapers (these from some of the CGs) and voice actor commentary.

antipyresis · 05-21-2010, 02:18 AM

Thought I'd better go ahead and revive this thread.

For those that don't know, Sting has uploaded several gameplay videos over the following weeks. HERE

They show off pretty much all of the playable characters.

Their main site has also been updated with most of the characters, save one slot by the time I post this.

mjemirzian · 05-24-2010, 05:53 AM

That combat vid looks way too slow. Can you skip some of that stuff?

I remember being unable to tolerate the slow pace of the game on a GBA. Had to fire it up on an emulator and speed the game up to 200%.

redrighthand · 05-24-2010, 12:37 PM

Psst. Speeding up battles has been a feature since the PSP remake of Yggdra Union; you can get through them at up to triple the usual speed once you've beaten the game.

shimo · 05-26-2010, 07:25 AM

Oh great they brought the annoying Mizer back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9FQP...os=yazQPF-mFpU

redrighthand · 05-26-2010, 08:16 AM

Well, of course. They can't make the game too easy for us, this is Sting we're talking about.

...

Would you look at that, it seems like there's actually backstory to Mizer's shoe fetish in Yggdra Union. He's barefoot in that video.

shimo · 05-26-2010, 09:07 AM

I bet Blaze Union will be as hard as Yggdra Union even if Mizer is there.

Yeah I just noticed that Mizer was barefooted.And also being paralyze is no fun at all.

antipyresis · 05-28-2010, 02:17 PM

It's out in Japan now!

redrighthand · 05-29-2010, 04:13 PM

There's already a walkthrough wiki being assembled by the crazy fans who have speed-cleared the game and are exploring the branching system. From what I've heard, the game branches during chapter 6 based on what mission choices you've made in chapters 3 and 5. Up through chapter 5, it looks like you can get all the possible allies in the same playthrough. I wonder how many endings there really are?

The game's soundtrack and guide are going to be out in late June, with the artbook coming out in late July. Sting, I thought I told you before to stop trying to bankrupt me!

Oh, and the bath scenes are back. Somebody on niconico douga has uploaded videos of three of them, for the curious. (Hey Sting, when are you going to remember that girls play your games too? I wanna see Garlot showing some skin too, if the girls are gonna be all fanservicey.)

mjemirzian · 05-29-2010, 06:16 PM

ok, ok.. difficulty modes?

is it like psp with easy/normal?

is there more treasure hunting to get items?

redrighthand · 05-29-2010, 09:05 PM

Eh? There seems to be a Hard Mode available for when you clear the game on Normal, yeah. Dunno what differences it'll make to the available endings/BFs/what have you, though.

Finding items is the same as it always was in Yggdra Union.

mjemirzian · 05-30-2010, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redrighthand

Eh? There seems to be a Hard Mode available for when you clear the game on Normal, yeah. Dunno what differences it'll make to the available endings/BFs/what have you, though.

Finding items is the same as it always was in Yggdra Union.

I'm assuming normal/hard is how they had the psp version set up.. normal was an easier version of the gba default difficulty.

Is there still uncontrollable randomness with the critical hits and losing morale? The difference between good randomness and bad randomness is that you can setup situations where the randomness is minimized like in Fire Emblem or SRW. From what I played of the GBA version, it was the bad kind of randomness.

And having to do treasure hunts to find the best items that are scattered all over the map? Not a fan of needing a strategy guide to point out the good hidden stuff.. especially considering how many items they throw all over the place.

redrighthand · 05-31-2010, 02:56 PM

If the game is too hard for you, then just don't bother with it. Again, it's supposed to be difficult. It's not any fun when games have zero challenge to them, so I'd rather play something that makes me think ahead.

And the difficulty level you are referring to is Easy Mode.

antipyresis · 06-01-2010, 02:51 AM

Eh, your mileage may vary. I'm not saying this game should have zero challenge whatsoever, but I do wish that there was an easier difficulty for the newer players. I know too many people that have become intimidated by the difficulty of Yggdra Union.

That said, some of the mechanics in Blaze Union make the game easier than even the PSP version. For one thing, on normal mode at least, you can get morale recovery from both the MVP bonus and leveling up. Also, after clashes, you can move the head of the union freely, unlike the former games where they were locked into position until the next turn.

As for the randomness in critical hits; you could control this based on certain items you equip your characters. Other than that, critical hits rely on certain stats, but this is the same as Yggdra Union.

mjemirzian · 06-01-2010, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redrighthand

If the game is too hard for you, then just don't bother with it. Again, it's supposed to be difficult. It's not any fun when games have zero challenge to them, so I'd rather play something that makes me think ahead.

And the difficulty level you are referring to is Easy Mode.

First of all, Yggdra Union and this game are not relatively difficult compared to other SRPGs I can name. I was pointing to the fact that the randomness in critical hits is too uncontrollable and even someone playing efficiently will end up with large morale drops. I have beaten Yggdra Union on GBA and it was more annoying to me than difficult for two reasons - having to use a guide to easter egg hunt for hidden items, and not being able to use strategy and planning to minimize the chance of criticals that guarantee you lose the fight and a huge amount of morale.

This is in contrast to games that make good use of randomness like Fire Emblem or Battle for Wesnoth, because there's a lot the player can do to minimize it through efficient strategy.

Sorry if you don't know what you're talking about when you use the words 'difficulty' and 'challenge'. I did write a short review for it years ago.

antipyresis · 06-02-2010, 02:24 AM

Again, your mileage may vary. Critical hits, in my opinion, are supposed to be random in contrast to all of the actual strategy taking place. They are supposed to be there to show that, no matter how perfect your strategy is, something can go wrong, or on the other hand, a critical hit to your enemy can save you. Personally, I really like this little aspect, but I realize that some people like more control. It's really just a matter of how much it bothers you.

And with the items, you don't need to get every single item. I managed to get quite a few without a guide just by getting enemies to drop items, talking to people in towns, and searching around those little dead-end paths. You don't need a guide to get what you need. Of course, the good stuff might be hard to get without a guide, but it's not as if they're just going to hand over the most awesome weapons to you. I wasn't too bothered by this, since I never even used some of those powerful weapons in the first place, but I do see how it can bother some people that want to "collect them all", if you are that kind of person. Yggdra Union isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Really, KitN was much worse with this, as you couldn't even get the "good" ending without a guide.

mjemirzian · 06-02-2010, 02:23 PM

The punishment for a critical hit (in the GBA version) is too much considering how uncontrollable it is. Your character will lose half their morale bar, plus since your leader is dead you can't use your selected card, so it's more or less a guaranteed loss. Like I said Fire Emblem does randomness well because there are many strategies you can use to minimize it, whereas in this game there is almost nothing you can do.

Good items should be a reward for efficient play, not Easter egg hunting across the map.

shimo · 06-02-2010, 07:25 PM

On a more positive note of things King Ordene(Yggdra's father) with the Crusade card.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jg8m...EE&feature=sub

This game just got harder to beat.

redrighthand · 06-04-2010, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjemirzian

The punishment for a critical hit (in the GBA version) is too much considering how uncontrollable it is. Your character will lose half their morale bar, plus since your leader is dead you can't use your selected card, so it's more or less a guaranteed loss. Like I said Fire Emblem does randomness well because there are many strategies you can use to minimize it, whereas in this game there is almost nothing you can do.

Good items should be a reward for efficient play, not Easter egg hunting across the map.

If you don't like the gameplay, you don't have to buy the game. (You also don't have to wank about it to people who are looking forward to it; everyone has their own likes and dislikes.)

Also, Shiskia is the only character that can move after having been the Union Ace.

The biggest improvement in my opinion is the fact that the unit head now has a life bar, so you can see how close you are to actually killing them instead of crossing your fingers and fighting blindly. It's easier to come up with tactics if you're able to see how quickly/slowly your enemy is killing you.

Thus far, there seem to be three paths to the game: the Garlot path, the Aegina path, and a third path whose protagonist I don't know for sure (though I've heard rumors that it's Nessiah). There are also at least four separate endings. The game is a little bit shorter than Yggdra Union (there are somewhere between 30-40 battlefields per playthrough based on individual mission choices/extended endings), but there's a lot of depth.

antipyresis · 06-04-2010, 10:33 AM

Oog, not even Shield Barrier can stop Crusade. It's going to be tough.

Agreed, I really like the new life bar for the head, it really helps during the battle. However, if I would have to name something I didn't like about the new battle system, it would be the placement of the stats during a clash. Most of the time they are hidden behind the speech bubbles, which can get even more annoying when a character is using a skill.

On a positive note, terrain-specific cards can be used anytime, but when used on their respective terrains, their potency increases by a large amount. Revolution will also reduce the head's life bar by half (1/4 if it's a large unit). Even more love for the life bar there.

redrighthand · 06-04-2010, 11:48 AM

Revolution has the same effect that it always had, actually--when you use it to defeat all the enemies, the head's remaining life will be replaced with that of the next sub-member to be defeated. It's hard to do, but Revolution is best used when it's timed so that you use it right before the next enemy member dies. It's the hardest card to use, but is also a lifesaver if you can do it right.

antipyresis · 06-04-2010, 12:54 PM

Is that so? Sounds even more complicated than I thought in the first place, or maybe I just forgot after letting that card gather dust for so long. Though my original point still stands: the life bar will help quite a bit when calculating when to use Revolution :3 There's no point in using it when your head's life bar is almost empty.

KingOfPrinces · 06-09-2010, 12:04 PM

Bring It over! Bring It Over! Bring It Over!

Pretty Please.

System_Error · 06-09-2010, 03:42 PM

I'll buy this one for sure.

redrighthand · 06-21-2010, 12:05 PM

I'm playing the game in Japanese right now, and it's excellent. The English-speaking audience needs a chance to experience Blaze Union, too.

...Though I am a little bit worried about potential censorship if Atlus brings it over. Blaze Union has a higher CERO rating than the rest of the Dept. Heaven games, and with good reason. The Persona series is proof that Atlus can handle mature content well and keep translations intact, so hopefully they can do the same with this game...

four_black_hearts · 06-21-2010, 12:15 PM

Haven't Dept. Heaven games been less censored in their western releases so far?

redrighthand · 06-25-2010, 12:37 PM

Only if you're talking about how much skin gets shown during the bath scenes (in Japan, Sony is pretty militant about these things, and CERO has been cracking down recently). Compare the translation of Riviera's GBC incarnation to its PSP version and you'll find a couple of fixed scenes--that conversation with the demon in Lacrima Castle about breast size comes to mind; I'd love to know what Atlus was thinking when they decided to censor that one.

Among other things, Blaze Union's got such hot topics as human trafficking, attempted rape, and implications that the lead is (~gasp~!) bisexual. It's a bit darker than Yggdra Union, and it doesn't bother acting like an optimistic game until two-thirds of the way through the way that Yggdra Union did.