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Atlus is bringing over the Promised Land to the PSP.
June 12, 2007 | 9:53 PM PSTby: Matt Furtado
It's the summer of the RPG. Well, it is at least for PSP owners. Early on in the PSP's life it lacked one genre that the PlayStation name was always bountiful with, and that's the RPG genre. PlayStation has always had strong hitters like Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Xenosaga, Chrono Cross, Legend of Dragoon, Vagrant Story and a bunch of highly unique RPG's from Atlus like Shin Megami Tensei or recently released Odin's Sphere.
But the PSP wasn't like the rest of the PlayStation family and instead was practically uninhabitable for the RPG genre outside of a few titles from NIS and Square Enix. Well all that’s about to change come this summer. Already Square Enix is bringing over remakes of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II and NIS America is preparing to drop Dragoneer's Aria as well, which we'll have a full hands-on preview of in the coming weeks. But outside of those two companies another lurks in the shadows readying an RPG that struck gold once before on the GBA but now readies it for the PSP. Atlus is getting ready to release Riviera: The Promised Land for the PSP early next month.
Now some of you may be saying, "Oh great another port of a GBA title," but how many of you played this highly unique game back when it was released on the GBA? Well in case you missed it and you are hungry for a unique and solid RPG experience; Atlus has your back with this one of a kind RPG. Enter the world of Riviera.
The Promised Land
Over 1,000 years have passed since the Ragnarok, the Great War between Asgard, the realm of gods, and Utgard, the realm of demons.
During the Ragnarok the demons overran Asgard and it was on the brink of destruction with the gods broke an ancient taboo and sacrificed their lives which in doing so created, Grim Angels. Each Grim Angel possesses a godly weapon known as a diviner, a very powerful weapon.
Through many fierce battles the Grim Angels were finally able to defeat the demons by sealing them away. However, the end of the war also brought about the end of the gods. The gods would leave their knowledge and power in the isle known as Riviera.
Within the land of Riviera, formally known as Utgard, new signs of the demons' return occur. No longer are gods present in Asgard and another Ragnarok would mean certain doom for Asgard. Only one way to make sure another great war occurs and that's to destroy Riviera.
Two angels, Ein and Ledah, are now appointed with the task to descend upon Riviera and destroy the Promised Land once and for all.
The Power of Conversations
Riviera is a turn-based RPG title. The game consists of some strategy and dating sim elements, pretty much like all Atlus titles. One of the unique characteristics of Riviera is the conversation concept. Sure, every game has characters talking in them but with Riviera the conversations actually mean something. Players will take role of Ein and whenever you are talking with another of the main characters it will affect the outcome of the game as well as their level of trust in you. Players will often have two options to choose from when engaged in conversation so choose carefully. Sometimes the answers can be comical given the circumstances. For example, Ein may call a female character "Flatty," in which she'll respond, "What do you mean by that?" and your choices will be "I don't know," or "Small chested." This is a real example and fans of other Atlus games will appreciated the sense of humor in the title.
Luckily this time around everything will be fully voiced in either Japanese or English. So for those of you who can't take American dubbing listen to the game in Japanese instead.
Different Than Typical RPGs
In Riviera players don't have complete control of the characters movement to a degree. Instead of being able to move freely you instead move your character through a trigger system. There's two different trigger systems within the game one being Look Mode and the other being Move Mode.
While in Look Mode, the player will be able to press in a direction that goes along with corresponding triggers shown on the screen. Not all the triggers will appear right away and they will only appear once you have completed a certain event, and others require some looking around to activate. In case that sounds like too much work you'll be glad to know that many of them require TP or Trigger Points. Trigger Points can be acquired in battles and will set many of the games events.
Move Mode is the second type of trigger mode within Riviera. While in Move Mode, the player will be able to advance or back track to previous areas. Similar to Look Mode, triggers will appear on the screen. The main difference in Move Mode is that the triggers do not require Trigger Points. So in technical terms you have to freedom to move as much as you want in that area, as long as there is no turn limit within the given area.
The battle system is one of the most unique battle modes to hit RPGs. Once engaged in battle players will be able to choose a possibility of three characters to battle with and then pick a battle formation. The battle formations include Attack and Magic formations. Attack formation allows melee based moves a shorter recharge time, and the latter doing the same for Magic users. Every item will have different effects based on the user. So if one character has a magical staff equipped they may be able strike enemies down in one hit whereas another character might only be able to heal with the exact same staff.
New Additons
Graphically the game is a standard Atlus title in looks. The games 2D sprites have received a makeover from the GBA drawings and look nice on the PSP screen with a new high resolution look.
The game will also receive an all-new dungeon with a never-been-told episode for those who may have already played the GBA version before.
Riviera will release on July 10. Stay tuned for our full review.
But the PSP wasn't like the rest of the PlayStation family and instead was practically uninhabitable for the RPG genre outside of a few titles from NIS and Square Enix. Well all that’s about to change come this summer. Already Square Enix is bringing over remakes of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II and NIS America is preparing to drop Dragoneer's Aria as well, which we'll have a full hands-on preview of in the coming weeks. But outside of those two companies another lurks in the shadows readying an RPG that struck gold once before on the GBA but now readies it for the PSP. Atlus is getting ready to release Riviera: The Promised Land for the PSP early next month.
Now some of you may be saying, "Oh great another port of a GBA title," but how many of you played this highly unique game back when it was released on the GBA? Well in case you missed it and you are hungry for a unique and solid RPG experience; Atlus has your back with this one of a kind RPG. Enter the world of Riviera.
The Promised Land
Over 1,000 years have passed since the Ragnarok, the Great War between Asgard, the realm of gods, and Utgard, the realm of demons.
During the Ragnarok the demons overran Asgard and it was on the brink of destruction with the gods broke an ancient taboo and sacrificed their lives which in doing so created, Grim Angels. Each Grim Angel possesses a godly weapon known as a diviner, a very powerful weapon.
Through many fierce battles the Grim Angels were finally able to defeat the demons by sealing them away. However, the end of the war also brought about the end of the gods. The gods would leave their knowledge and power in the isle known as Riviera.
Within the land of Riviera, formally known as Utgard, new signs of the demons' return occur. No longer are gods present in Asgard and another Ragnarok would mean certain doom for Asgard. Only one way to make sure another great war occurs and that's to destroy Riviera.
Two angels, Ein and Ledah, are now appointed with the task to descend upon Riviera and destroy the Promised Land once and for all.
The Power of Conversations
Riviera is a turn-based RPG title. The game consists of some strategy and dating sim elements, pretty much like all Atlus titles. One of the unique characteristics of Riviera is the conversation concept. Sure, every game has characters talking in them but with Riviera the conversations actually mean something. Players will take role of Ein and whenever you are talking with another of the main characters it will affect the outcome of the game as well as their level of trust in you. Players will often have two options to choose from when engaged in conversation so choose carefully. Sometimes the answers can be comical given the circumstances. For example, Ein may call a female character "Flatty," in which she'll respond, "What do you mean by that?" and your choices will be "I don't know," or "Small chested." This is a real example and fans of other Atlus games will appreciated the sense of humor in the title.
Luckily this time around everything will be fully voiced in either Japanese or English. So for those of you who can't take American dubbing listen to the game in Japanese instead.
Different Than Typical RPGs
In Riviera players don't have complete control of the characters movement to a degree. Instead of being able to move freely you instead move your character through a trigger system. There's two different trigger systems within the game one being Look Mode and the other being Move Mode.
While in Look Mode, the player will be able to press in a direction that goes along with corresponding triggers shown on the screen. Not all the triggers will appear right away and they will only appear once you have completed a certain event, and others require some looking around to activate. In case that sounds like too much work you'll be glad to know that many of them require TP or Trigger Points. Trigger Points can be acquired in battles and will set many of the games events.
Move Mode is the second type of trigger mode within Riviera. While in Move Mode, the player will be able to advance or back track to previous areas. Similar to Look Mode, triggers will appear on the screen. The main difference in Move Mode is that the triggers do not require Trigger Points. So in technical terms you have to freedom to move as much as you want in that area, as long as there is no turn limit within the given area.
The battle system is one of the most unique battle modes to hit RPGs. Once engaged in battle players will be able to choose a possibility of three characters to battle with and then pick a battle formation. The battle formations include Attack and Magic formations. Attack formation allows melee based moves a shorter recharge time, and the latter doing the same for Magic users. Every item will have different effects based on the user. So if one character has a magical staff equipped they may be able strike enemies down in one hit whereas another character might only be able to heal with the exact same staff.
New Additons
Graphically the game is a standard Atlus title in looks. The games 2D sprites have received a makeover from the GBA drawings and look nice on the PSP screen with a new high resolution look.
The game will also receive an all-new dungeon with a never-been-told episode for those who may have already played the GBA version before.
Riviera will release on July 10. Stay tuned for our full review.
November 20, 2009
