Operation Rainfall

I am more than a little surprised at Nintendo of America (NOA) stance of not bringing 3 original Wii games in the US. Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story are the games in focus of an aggressive online petition where the fans (including me) have been raising our voices in an effort to make NOA bring these games in the US. Operation Rainfall got my attention a couple of days ago on Siliconera and was intrigued at the epic scale of this petition. Unlike a normal online petition the fans have taken steps of pestering NOA on their Facebook and Twitter pages and pre-ordering huge copies of Xenoblade Chronicles on Amazon (still named Monado: Beginning of the World on the site). This prompted a rapid response by Nintendo on Facebook promising the fans an update soon much to the delights of fans and instigators of Operation Rainfall. Now I don't live in the US myself, but I want these 3 games to come out in North America so that I too can have a chance to import these games.

Today NOA gave the update which wnet like this:

"Thank you for your enthusiasm. We promised an update, so here it is. We never say “never,” but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!"

I am still perplexed at response. Sure this looks like a normal PR reply, but for us fans it feels like a blow to the gut. What is really bugging me is why is Nintendo being so stingy about Wii RPGs, considering that Nintendo's own DS has been a RPG haven, both niche and mainstream. Yet when the fans are clamoring for 3 of the finest games on the system (in Japan these games have been pretty big), they are showing the cold shoulder. The kicker is that at least one game can actually make it to the US. Xenoblade Chronicles has a solid September release date for EU territories i.e. the game script is already translated in the English and yet NOA is acting like it doesn't care about the hard core fans. It's beyond logic!

But rather being angry, I am still hopeful. While browsing GameFaqs I read a wonderful reaction by a user named ignasia7, whereby he said that getting a positive reply so early into the operation is asking for too much and that the fans need to step up efforts while being cordial as the fact remains that this operation has made NOA get up and take notice. After reading this I can't help be a little optimistic but still think that one last push may be required to make NOA yeild. And if they do yield then this act will be considered as rebuilding bridges for the hardcore audience who felt betrayed by the Wii casaul angle and while also helping Nintendo in the long run with the Wii U on the horizon.

Till then I can only hope that these games do end up getting an American release, while in the worst scenario I can always import the game from the UK!

My most anticipated RPGs of 2011: Day 8

Solatorobo: The Red Hunter – DS – July 1^st (EU), August 2011 (NA):

In most things in life, time has the ability to change everything. This notion is also true for the video game industry. Staples which were considered as irreplaceable and being the norm of the industry have either been reworked or cast away out right. One of these norms were games which had anthropomorphic characters as their main leads which in itself gave birth to some of the most iconic characters in the industry. From the likes of Sonic and Crash to the modern day Banjo and Sly Cooper, these characters (or lovingly known as ‘furries’) were dime a dozen from the SNES days right down to the PS2 era, at times there seemed no stopping such characters from sprouting up in most games. That all changed when the current generation was ushered in late 2005, as the furries were put on hold and game developers started focusing there energies in created sophisticated, true to life graphics and believable worlds. Although I still have mixed feeling about this trend, but the fact remains that with the evolution of technology, such a change was all but inevitable. So where does that put the furries? Sure a few developers are still interested in creating games with furries, but not as many as before. So hence the game which is featured in this post comes as a pleasant surprise, and like cherry on top it’s a RPG. Match made in heaven if you ask me!

Solatarobo: The Red Hunter for the DS is the spiritual successor to an old PS1 cult hit, Tail Concerto. Both these games take place on spectacularly fantastical worlds which are inhabited by furry humanoid characters. One of the main features shared by both games is Mechs, elaborate robots used for travelling, warfare and every day use (something very similar in those anime with huge mechanical robots). Tail Concerto came out late 1999, developed by Cyber2Connect and published by Atlus, and while it did not win any awards, players were hooked on to the play mechanics and the quirky setting of the game world, and since then fans have to clamouring a sequel to the charming title. In early 2010 Namco Bandai announced Solatorbo for the Nintendo DS, and Cyber2Connect were behind the development, and that unlike the original this game would be an action RPG. Although it has taken the usually localizing shy Namco Bandai a while to announce an English version, the game is finally prepped for a summer release. For a small number of loyal fans this is great news, and for people like myself who didn’t play the original this will be a good way to check out why Tail Concerto gained a loyal following, although both games are very different in nature.

The game takes place on the floating islands of Shepherd Republic where the inhabitants are made up of dog and cat like creature. The story picks up when the protagonist, Red Savarin, a hunter by trader, is commissioned to retrieve an important document from some ruins. The plot is not the most original but it seems to get the work done, while the characters conform to the anime aesthetics. Personally I was intrigued the moment I watched the long trailer from last year’s Tokyo Game Show, as the game looked quite spiffy, with incredible 2D back ground art and solid 3D graphics (something which DS struggles with), while the game mechanics seemed interesting with the meshing of platforming, adventuring and RPG mechanics which come in the form of customizing the aforementioned mechs. The game visuals are a treat in my opinion, and will even call it the best looking DS game yet. The levels of detail in some of the backgrounds are astounding and I can’t wait to see more of this beautiful world. The cut-scenes look quite amazing as well presented like a graphic novel, and it all looks really polished.

The game not only looked amazing, but what really attracted me was the comeback of the furries and the crazy world which the game takes place in. As I mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago how the industry has moved away from this trend and are more interested in creating amazing graphics, so in that regard Solatorobo: The Red Hunter represents a return of innocence, and that is why this game became a part of this list. And with just 10 days to its release, the anticipation is growing steadily.