What's new in the world of Ghostlight
Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Ghostlight Blog. This week we’ve been hard at work on Agarest: Generations of War 2, which has been going well. Once the last few small issues are fixed we’ll be sending it off to SCEE for their approval. So those of you who pre-ordered from us will be happy to know that we’re still well on course for the 6thJuly. As for those of you who haven’t, well take a look at our fantastic deluxe edition here and I’m sure you’ll find something to tempt you.
That’s not all we’ve got to share with you and I know some of you have been hoping for a Shin Megami Tensei flavoured update. While I’ve been concentrating on Agarest 2 recently, work is still continuing on both the Devil Survivor games and so far things are going well. While it’s been a long time since we’ve done anything for the DS and we’ve never done anything for the 3DS before, we’re now back in the swing of things. There’s always a lot to learn when working on a game for a new console, whatever area you’re involved in. From a tester’s perspective there’s lots of new compliance to learn and of course several new functions that might cause the game to break.
As for those of you waiting for the PSN release of the Digital Devil Saga games don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about you and I promise we’ll let you know as soon as we have a release date for you.
Now that’s enough talking about games. Let’s talk about me! Which is what you’re really here for (please don’t dispel my delusions :)). Recently I did an interview with the lovely people over at inthegame.nl where I talked about my games collection and favourite games. If any of you are interested you can check it out over here. English speakers don’t let the Dutch introduction frighten you off as the interview itself is in English. While we’re here I’d also like to apologise for the terrible photography. There’s a reason I don’t take the photos for the blog :).
Finally for one day only I’m being allowed out into the wild so to speak. This Saturday I’m going to be at the Excel Centre in London wandering round the
Anyway, that’s all for now. We’ll be back next week. Until then you can also follow us on our Twitter and Facebook pages, our Youtube Channel and our Google + account, where we’ll be posting all the latest news from Ghostlight. You can also follow me on Twitter for a more personal take on all things Ghostlight.
Comments:
Do you know if ps2 games will be playable on Vita at some stage? I've got Digital Devil Saga games on ps2 already but I much prefer playing RPGs on a handheld so would love to have them on my Vita as well.
Nice interview and great pick for your favourites. I heard that this Planescape Torment has a generally large audience which seems to like it very much for its story. I hope I can get my hands on that game soon as well :D It is cool to see how many Games you own - wish I could see what kind of games those are :) My collection is mostly overwhelmed by PS2 Games followed by PS1 Games. I am a big fan of Mecha Games and I own almost every Armored Core Game ever released on PS2 and even got my hands on a mint Armored Core 2, brand new and unopened for just around 7 € :D I dont have that many PS3 Games that I own, but if there is a question I can ask you Ross: What was your most expensive Game you ever bought ?
@Chris Not that I've heard about. @Ailtin You don't get to see most my PC collection because the photo was too rubbish to use but that might be the biggest part of my collection. I belive GOG has Planescape Torment available for sale. As for most expensive game not sure. It was probably a NES game. they used to be really pricy.
No Ross have Google Translation + Kevin to translate Dutch :P. Wish you did like NISA and send the Game as soon as it was on stock ad you.
Cool collection but the thing that surprised me was that you and you're brother seem to keep a lot of games, do you not sell/trade-in/give away games? I had about 600 games at one stage (mostly N64, Gamecube) thats when I started to rid of them... plus you've probably seen the 200 or so PSN games I have but never played... must STOP wasting money :(
@Pepsi_Biofusion We trade in a few but like I said I'm a bit of a hoarder so I don't like getting rid of games I enjoy incase I want to return to them.
I suppose thats our difference, I still buy on wishful thinking/ impulse alone :P Trying to stop though so no Atelier Meruru for me, perhaps this is terrible logic, but japanese games lately have usually dissapointed me so I'm avoiding them... 'cept Agarest 2, Tales of G f and DoA 5 :)
I'm very glad to hear that the Digital Devil Saga duology is being processed and that it will probably be available soon. But don't stop there! I'm sure more than enough people want to see SMT: Lucifer's Call as well. I have it on disc but acquiring it was a pain. Shadow Hearts: From the New World is also a great game that deserves to get re-released digitally and I don't have it on disc. Even The Plan would be very much appreciated, since it would feel lonely as the only one non-digitized game. Bring it on! Bring it all!
Thanks for the tip Ross ! I found something greater though. It's called D&D Anthology Masters Collection that includes Baldur's Gate I & II, Icewind Dale I & II (I only played II) and Planescape Torment for only 20 € on Ebay :D Didnt know that NES Games were that expensive back then :O My most expensive game is easily Idolmaster 2 Collectors Edition for the PS3. I think the Game was 230 € + 20 € Shipping and about 50-60 € Tax Fees.
@Ailtin That is a bargain all of those are great games. If you fancy modding Planescape Torment up to more modern visuals I believe there's a good article on doing that over on RockPaperShotgun. That Idolmaster Collecter's Editon is a bit more then I spent on any NES games I suspect.
@ Ross and Pepsi_Biofusion. The hoarding instinct is a strong one; that's why I still have the boxes for my gameboy colour and a lot of my SNES games (still have a working SNES might I add, and an Atari 2700). Though I even though I've never sold on a game I've never got anywhere near 600 games, I'm generally very select on what I buy and don't do much in the way of impulse buying, I prefer to spend my money for LEs. I think the jewels in my collection are the mint condition copies of Suikoden I and II for PS1. And speaking of Aterlier Meruru - just had the shipping notice from NISA this morning, looks good - you could be missing out here Pepsi!
Can't wait for Devil Survivor :) I also hope that you guys can get Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers too!!!
Good interview you re a cool guy Ross ^^ I hope you re going to make a LE for Devil Survivor too guys, like always (so you don't have too much choices).
@Belphegor86: I'm not so sure, I though Meruru seemed bloated, something IGN seemed to agree with, Totori had too much filler/trial and error for my liking something Meruru is apparently even more tied up in. Plus its LE looked VERY lazy, not impressed, though it could be good, like Hyperdimension mk-2 was WAY better than I expected :) Though some games lately have dissapointed me in every way (Sonic generations, Sonic 4 ep.2, Ninja Gaiden 3, SoulCalibur V) ... but I still can't wait for Agarest 2, Tales of G f, Mugen Souls and Dead or Alive 5.
Same thing here ! Soul Hackers got me really excited ! All those demons in the cyberpunkiest setting I've seen so far ... First things first though, let me buy Devil Survivor one of those days !
I'm with diaglyph, also can't wait for Devil Survivor (namely 2, since I only have a DS). Hopefully you guys have a nice deal to distribute over here in Portugal :)
@Pepsi_Biofusion I like what I've seen of Meruru so far and I stopped paying attention to IGN reviews for JRPGs about decade ago. Personally it'll be worth it just to see how the characters stories from past games play out. I will agree that the LE is particularly uninspired this time round - the fact they've reverted to the soft cover artbook is a definite step back, but I have the LEs of the other two games so needed to complete the set. I didn't bother with mk-2 as I wasn't impressed with the first game in the series. Still not convinced about Mugen Souls either myself, but ToGf and Agarest 2 are definitely highlights for the past couple of years.
@Belphegor86 I know IGN is hardly the be all and end all of JRPG reviews but they tend to be good at picking out faults, even if the scores are very inconsistent :P I'm only getting Tales of Graces f because everyone seems to love tales, even though its not a game that interests me, that said God of War looked like everything I despise in games but turned out to be a fantastic series I adore. Also I agree Mugen Souls isn't entirely convincing yet, it being a Compile Heart I bet the frame rate runs at about 7 :P Agarest 2 is looking all kinds of awesome though, this may be an odd place to ask but could I possibly add you on PSN? (or SEN or whatever its called now)
Hi Ross, cool interview, you superstar of the gaming world, you! Have to say that I am really OCD with my games collection and having such horrors as them all scattered around the house and – AGH – disks in the wrong cases(!) would probably make me physically sick. I'm an everything-neatly-arranged-in-alphabetical-order kind of a guy. Preferably with no scratches, dents or other damage on ANYTHING. Have to agree with you on the collectors editions though. While I'm frequently tempted by CEs I usually hold off because they take up so much room. The one thing that can often persuade me is a cool soundtrack CD. And yes, I may well have purchased the collector's edition of your TiTS. Some things are just too good to miss :-)
@Pepsi_Biofusion IGN are useless where JRPGs are concerned, or at least they used to be, none of the games I liked scored over 50% from those guys so I determined what they constituted as a good game and what I did were two entirely different things so I stopped bothering. But speaking of reviews check out this one for Meruru: http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/Atelier_Meruru_The_Apprentice_of_Arland/index.html Regarding the Tales series it's all about the battle system really if you like the look of that then you should enjoy it. To be honest I don't use the online aspect of my games very much so I don't really use PSN either, but hey my handle is Synch86 (as in the TotA character, this was before I took up the mantle of Belphegor86) so feel free to add if you can find me.
@Belphegor86 would you mind if I added you too?
@Belphegor86 IGNs new playstation team seems rather reliable, Totori got 7.5/ Meruru 6/ Hyper D 6/ Rorona 5.5... which is the worst review I've ever read to be honest... they said the music was bad!/ Agarest 7.5/ Agarest Zero 6.5... respectable scores as a whole if you ask me, hell Hyper Ds is notably generous :P But I hope you enjoy Meruru and I know its getting some solid reviews just Totori burned meout.
@Ross Of course I don't mind, go for it, seriously man you didn't need to ask. Besides once I've got my vita and polished up my Everybody's golf skillz, I was going to ask you for your's and see if you were up for a round. Just hope my internet connection at home is up to the task :/
@Pepsi_Biofusion They gave Rorona a 5.5! and Neptunia a 6! They said the music was bad!!! I've had that soundtrack on loop over the weekend whilst writing my thesis, sure it's not an Ar Tonelico or early Sakuraba but it's a damn solid soundtrack with some exceptional tracks from the harvesting locations... sorry rant over, this is why I stopped reading IGN. Though it is good to see they're giving them a fairer time than they used to at least. Out of curiosity did you play the Mana Khemia series?
@Belphegor86 Sadly no, I never had a PS2/PSP, I was a Nintendo gamer up until 2010, that said I've only been gaming for 7 years. I just got an Ar Tonelico art book and now I regret not playing the first two as they look so much better, heres hoping gust go back to Ar Tonelico some point.
@Pepsi_Biofusion Yeah my gamer origins were as nintendo fanboy but I broke the trend on getting into the Tales series (after playing ToS on the gamecube I had to have more - it was also what got me into JRPGs and importing... oh how much money that game has cost me over the years...). It's a shame you've missed out on Mana Khemia and obviously Atelier Iris as they had a nice balance between the synth and the RPG elements of the game. Unfortunately I think Gust have moved on from Ar Tonelico with this new Ciel series. AT: Melody of Elemia was a classic - battle system could have done with being a bit more difficult, but the story, artwork and music are excellent. If you ever get the opportunity I really recommend that you try and play them.
@Belphegor86 Gust battle systems seem universally terrible, I got more of a challenge from Pokemon leaf green than Rorona :P Hyper Ds was flat out disgraceful though. Also if your getting Hot shots on Vita I'd recommend buying it from the PStore as its only 12 pound, half its amazon price. I should also point out, although Ross may view this as sin, but I much prefer arcade racers to JRPGs :P
If you do well with 3DS version of Devil Survivor, will you consider localizing Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 3Ds re-make and just announced Shin megami Tensei IV?
@Pepsi_Biofusion My favourite Gust battle system had to be Mana Khemia, some nice flashy special attacks, and with the Synth and stat systems it was easy to alter the difficulty to suit, and if you wanted a bit of a challenge you could always wait until night-time when the enemies levelled up a bit. But yeah Rorona was ridiculously easy (except if you forgot to heal before entering a harvest area and didn't have many healing items on you... not that i've been so stupid as to do that or anything...). Ah Pokemon Leaf Green, now that takes me back, still remember when I bought my GBC and pokemon blue :D Never been a fan of arcade racers, mainly because I'm crap at them, where racing was concerned I always preferred Mario Kart or F-Zero if I wanted something more serious. Now F-Zero 64 - that was a racing game!
@Belphegor86 F Zero X was fantastic, but F Zero GX was just insane, by far the best racer ever made... kinda wish SEGA AM2 would stop making Yakuza games and make racers again :D I never liked Mario kart as its luck based, same reason I prefer F Zero to WipEout. I've allways wanted a game that combines a solid story with racing action, Saints Row the Third was close but lacked much racing :P
do you guys have plans for P4TG?
@ken28 It's a game we're very much aware of but at the moment I have no news for you.
Any news about releasing Fate/Extra on PSN soon?
@Keith Funny you should say that. I've just written a little about that for today's blog :).
@[GL] Ross: Would you happen to find me wondering if Ghostlight is planning to announce Eternal Punishment for Europe in the near future similarly amusing? :)
@Mixobarbaros Well there's nothing about it it today's blog so not really :). In all seriousness I couldn't comment either way on that one I'm afraid.