Not sure how many of them will end up in English but pretty excited at the recent RPG announcements for PS3. Although much smaller in scale, Trinity Universe is the second RPG for PS3 that features crossover of characters from other series since X-Edge (Cross Edge in the US) and the game looks very beautiful. I have a copy of its recent Famitsu unveils and some new screens just appeared in Japanese news sites, so let’s take a deeper look.

To be published and co-developed by Idea Factory, Trinity Universe features characters from Gust and Nippon Ichi Software’s popular RPG series. Players will be able to enjoy two different storyline in the game. Gust’s characters will be featured in the Goddess Chapter which is lead by an original character named Rizeria. Nippon Ichi Software’s characters are aptly featured in the Devil King Chapter lead by its hero Kanata.

Story: Goddess Chapter

Rizeria has been keeping the criminals in the universe at bay for several hundred years. However, one day she decided to go to demon’s world and learn to understand these criminals and try to guide them to the rightful path without the knowledge of the her superiors in the “Goddess Society”. She encounters various floating objects while inside demon’s world and meet Viorate and Flonne. A story about love and justice will begins here.

Story: Devil King Chapter

Kanata belongs to the race that has been tasked with keeping the demon’s world safe from the attack of the floating objects. A failed ceremony means that instead of a “Big Devil King”, he ended being “Dog Devil King”. As a result, he gets to live his dream of traveling around the universe while on duty. He will meets Etna and Prinny in one of his adventures.

Characters

All the characters from Gust and NIS will appear as if they are original characters for the game. Seven characters were confirmed for the game so far although there are no info if there will be more. Gust is represented by Viorate (Atelier Viorate: Alchemist of Gramnad 2) and Pamela (Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm). NIS is represented by Etna (Disgaea), Prinny (Disgaea) and Floanne (Disgaea). Tsubaki and Lucius are the two other characters, not sure if they are original characters or originate from one of the series too.

AAA (Active Animation Adventure)

No, they haven’t gone as far as declaring Trinity Universe a triple As title but it refers to the animation system being used to make the characters’ expression more lively during cut scenes. You will be able to see minor details like eye movements, characters touching their hairs and comic style icons floating above their head when they are surprised or angry.

Game Flow

A brief description is given about the flow of the game. There will be a world map (first image in this article) with floating objects. By clicking on one of these objects, you will either trigger an event or head into a dungeon. The game switch into 3D when inside the dungeon and your main objective is to destroy its gravitational field, which will then remove the object from the universe. However, things get a little exciting once you destroy the gravitational field as you’ll have to get out of the dungeon in a certain time limit. To complicate things even further, special items start appearing magically from then on and you’ll have the choice of either to gather these items at the expense of precious time or ignore them and run for your life. These items can be used to make armors.

Battle System

Battles are turn-based in Trinity Universe, like the dungeon exploration, there is a time limit for making attacks too. Players get to use special skills like “Multiple Hits”, “Heavy Hits” or Magic when attacking but they will cost some AP, which will further reduce the time you have. When there is still time after you are done with the current character, you will be able to control the next character and launch more attacks.

The game is currently 60% done and is set for release this September in Japan (delayed a little from the original August release plan). Play-Asia has both the normal and special edition available for pre-orders now.

Posted in News on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 12:28 am | Tags crossover gust if nis rpg trinity
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