Sega has revealed that World Destruction on Nintendo DS will be released September 18th.
World Destruction reunites three veterans behind the PS1?s popular Xenogears: scenarist Masato Kato (also of the original NES Ninja Gaiden and Chrono Trigger fame), character designer Kunihiko Tanaka, and composer Yasunori Mitsuda (known for his work on Chrono Trigger, Shadow Hearts, and a number of other titles). Backing them up is a dev team of nearly 50 creators; more on them in a moment.
While most RPGs revolve around saving the world from certain destruction, World Destruction tries the opposite. In a world (you knew that was coming) where humans serve as livestock for the ruling beastmen, and where sand fills the roles of water and fire, you play as Kyrie, a young lad who is recruited by the "World Destruction Committee" to assist in putting an end to their world. As it turns out, Kyrie alone holds the power needed to do it.
Kyrie will be joined by heroine Morte, as well as four more characters introduced in Famitsu: Naja, a half-human, half-beastman fighting on behalf of the world; Agan, a comical member of a pro-human guerrilla organization; Li?a, a 300-year-old dragonkin trapped in a 16-year-old body; and Toppy, a badass, bounty-hunting bear who sports an eye patch.
Their journey is presented in lush 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds, and the team promises to push the 2D sprite animation to the limit, even going so far as to bring Grandia design director Masatoshi Azumi onto the project. Also joining the staff as monster designer is Etrian Odyssey?s Shin Nagasawa. Some of the game's monsters are so huge they span both screens.
Battles are waged with a three-character, turn-based system: characters store up BP (battle points) to use abilities and team attacks, and players can then time button presses to inflict further damage, or cancel the commands altogether like in a fighting game.
imageepoch's Yoichi Shimosato and Takashi Kuroki detail the differences between the Japanese and US releases and also discuss how the anime was handled.
A folder titled "Sands of Destruction Announcement Screens" all but reveals Sega's plan to localize the much-beloved Japanese Role-playing game World Destruction. Although there has been no official...
World Destruction is a DS game that is being developed by Image Epoch and published by Sega. Its design staff consists of the brilliant minds that brought us Xenogears (Masato Kato as the scenario writer, Kunihiko Tanaka as the character designer, and Yasunori Mitsuda as the game composer). Knowing that Xenogears is a classic, there is a lot of hype and anticipation for the team's new creation… in Japan anyway. There's so much hype, an anime series and manga series have been released before the game.
