52 replies to this topic

[Dandy_Sephy]

European release May 1

Recently there have been various teasers for a Vita game called Soul Sacrifice. Information was minimal, but the original teaser (either print or web i'm not sure off hand) did have some thinking it was a new entry in From Software's "Souls' series, and some thinking it was a attempt to do a Monster Hunter type game.

This week this teaser was released and a announcement date of May 10th was set.



Famitsu has a spread on the game this week and a few details have leaked out ahead. Keiji Inafune is reportedly working on the game, although his role hasn't been specified yet. Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xeno Franchise) and Wataru Hokoyama (not much) are doing the music. Development is being handled by Marvelous, which is at odds with the Japan Studio logo in the trailer.

First gameplay details and explanation of the title are that casting magic requires 'payment' of objects like stones and trees, but you can sacrifice parts of your own body for higher level magic.

Weekly Famitsu lists the following sacrificial magics. While we listed these as summons earlier, they appear to be just magic attacks.

• Excalibur: You stick your hand down your throat, pull out your spinal cord, and use this as your sword.
• Gleipnir: Chop off your five fingers and perform a punch with your extended bones.
• Gorgon: Pull out your eyeballs, and use them to blast out magic beams
• Gungnir: Your bones and nerves emerge from your body and attack

Why would you torture yourself to kill your foes? This is actually part of the background story. You play as a slave who serves a cruel sorcerer.
It appears that you may be fighting people like yourself. Screenshots show massive creatures who apparently used their powerful magic too much and lost their human form.
There are still a few unclear areas about Soul Sacrifice -- for instance, if you chop your fingers off, do they come back? -- but we'll hopefully get additional details later in the day or at tomorrow's unveiling press conference.

Famitsu lists Soul Sacrifice as 50% complete.

1-4 players, Winter (in Japan).

(all info so far from andriasang)

[U-1]

So its definitely not a Vita version of the Soul's series then...Oh bum!

[Wickedkitten]

So its definitely not a Vita version of the Soul's series then...Oh bum!

Nope, it's by the same people that did harvest moon the land of origin

[mushashi]

The Japan studio logo is rather useless now anyway, Sony doesn't do much internal development in Japan anymore, they spent all their money beefing up their Western development this gen, pretty sure Demon's Souls had the Japan Studio Logo too, it just means they have some sort of oversight on the project and are probably funding it too.

Wonder if Inafune will end up like Okamoto did, shame how that ended.

[imp]

What happened to Okamoto?

[mushashi]

After successful tours of duty at Konami and Capcom making some quite big titles, he set up Game Republic with a long term plan to make it a successful Japanese independent studio, they had contracts with Sony/Microsoft/Namco over the years, but rumours started emerging last year about problems and then they officially filed for bankruptcy and Okamoto seems to have gone MIA since.

[imp]

Ah right, little bit before my time, but he was the producer on SFII, and other Capcom arcade classics, right? (Sorry for the derail)

[Dandy_Sephy]

New info:
Player was raised by a twisted sourceror and escapes into a demon book. The book records the battles between sorcerers and monsters, with the quests being derived from said battles. The enemies are former humans who used their magic powers too much, hence the player must balance using their powers with preventing themselves from becoming a monster.

Inafune is doing 'planning and development'.

Pictures up on Famitsu.com Too many to post here.

http://www.famitsu.c...5/10014403.html

[Spainkiller]

This sounds and looks AMAZING.

[Fuddle]

looks mental.
really looking forward to the proper unveil tomorrow.

[Wickedkitten]

[Vemsie]

Cam video full of gameplay goodness.

Looks crazy, despite the poor quality vid.

[mechamonkey]

Woo an excuse to buy a Vita \o/ I'm in looks mental.

[Dandy_Sephy]

English translation of the presentation (from SCEJ)

[nobu]

I really like the art design.

[Dandy_Sephy]

Confirmed for Europe (and US too)

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/06/01/soul-sacrifice-for-ps-vita-is-coming-to-europe/

Inafune:

What I wanted to illustrate in this game was a “reality blended into a fantasy world”. The word “fantasy” normally points to a story that is fictitious; however, with Soul Sacrifice I wanted to illustrate a “reality” within a fantasy that wasn’t sugar-coated. It’s not about focusing on the strange, but to flip the commonly held concept of what a fantasy theme should be with the concept of “reality”.
Cruelty is a reality in our world, and we have to make sacrifices and pay costs on a daily basis. I wanted to blend this “reality” theme into a fantasy world, one filled with magic, and create a new type of gaming experience that relied on the player making sacrifices in order to obtain great power.
There is a “dark pleasure” lying in between fiction and reality that none of us knew was there. If you simply think of it as a “dark fantasy,” then your expectations will be betrayed – but in a good way. Please look forward to Soul Sacrifice. It will be a game that players around the world will surely enjoy. — Keiji Inafune, Comcept

[Keyboard Koala]

Hmm, looks like Inafune watched Night Watch one day, and went "Hmm, a guy pulling out his spine and using it as a sword... I'll use that in my next game!"

[Dandy_Sephy]

Update via Famitsu/Andriasang
http://andriasang.com/con1ss/soul_sacrifice_update/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Soul Sacrifice is a multiplayer action game. So what do you do if you feel like playing by yourself or (more likely) you just don't have any friends?

It turns out the game comes with a collection of AI-driven friends who will adventure with you. When playing the game's single player mode, you can bring two AI-driven party members out with you. They'll support you in battle, and although they move according to AI routines, you'll also have some influence on their actions.

Famitsu.com introduces one of your AI party members, the lovely Nimue. She also plays a central part in the game's story.

[Dandy_Sephy]

Release date:May 1st for Europe. No bundle announced.


March 7 for Japan. They get this bundle:

[Wishdokta]

[Dandy_Sephy]

Europe getting reversible cover
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/03/08/soul-sacrifices-eu-reversible-box-art-revealed/

[Kayin Amoh]

Neither of which is as good as the Japanese box covers. Ah well, the top one ain't bad at least.

Very interested in this, though I'm still rather in the dark as to concrete information on it.

EDIT: That is the JP artwork? Must have seen the limited edition or something as the one I saw was a male / female character illustration. It looked pretty nice.

[bradigor]

I keep telling myself I need to wait for this. I have too much to play as it is.

P4G, Sly, God Of War (PSP), Dokuro, Escape Plan, to name but a few... However I know I will end up getting this day one.

I really want that bundle too, just looks so damn good.

[Chooch]

Running side to side dodging things always looks so stupid.

[Dandy_Sephy]

EDIT: That is the JP artwork? Must have seen the limited edition or something as the one I saw was a male / female character illustration. It looked pretty nice.

Only on the double pack afaik (two copies of the game in one box for disocounted price), one copy has male, the other female

[Dandy_Sephy]

Demo tomorrow. Contains first chapter and the save carries over to the full game. 

 

http://blog.eu.plays...r-to-full-game/

[Qazimod]

I've been kind of interested in this for a while. Part of that might be the post-P4 comedown of waiting for the next new awesome release, but I think the Vita could really do with a decent co-op game of blatting monsters with sticks. Ragnarok didn't really do it for me and we're not going to see PSO2 over here any time soon, so this has received more of my attention lately. Looking forward to the demo.

[mansizerooster]

Demo is up.

[Kayin Amoh]

And really rather cool.