[Basukesu]

For those of you who have not yet heard of this game:

http://www.konami.jp...e/frontiergate/

And some footage



Character Creation



The demo is out on JP PSN and I have been dabbling with it a bit. Here are some impressions.


Impressions/Summary:
Konami is calling it an Open World RPG. It bears close comparisons with games like Phantasy Star, Monster Hunter and White Knight Chronicles.

You make a character that is enrolled into a guild, from there a sort of haphazard story starts to take shape and gets a bit better as you roll along. The actual developer is Tri-Ace better known for their work on Valkyrie Profile, so the story has the same sort of pacing as that in some regards.

Like Monster Hunter and many RPGS that are open world inventory management is key to success in the field. Field access is granted via a Phantasy Star like quest system. Quests are undertaken in the guild hall and from there you have to meet the conditions in the quest to return home.

Like Monster Hunter you begin your field operations at a base camp, unlike monster hunter you can do a little more here, via a the camp guard NPC, but the comparison stops there, item management and supplies are handled via this NPC only it seems no boxes or anything. You may also return to this NPC to return to town and give up on the quest if you need to.

So far the demo is really nice. The story get decent enough to want to play it and the action is free flowing enough to keep you engaged but I do warn you here, it is RPGish in this regard with a turn base system in effect, not the real time active sync battles we are used to in Monster Hunter. As you progress your toon so too progresses your ability set, but armor also is key in much the same way as in MH and Phantasy Star.


Graphics:

As is hinted by the above movies, the graphics are pretty nice considering the now aging PSP platform. In fact there are hints of Valkyrie Profile 2 in the town design and world expanse. The town in particular in very nice to behold and the NPCs are nice to interact with. They are a bit more lively than the ones in MH on PSP so far. But to a point. Their dialogue updates infrequently but during major events some of them seem to show awareness of things in the world. Color are fitting to the overall mood and the frontier feels like a frontier, with ever expanding worlds the further you progress. Valleys roar with expanse and the mountains look distant and yet enchanting. The sky opens in wide perspective shots and the characters move quite naturally. Except the hero you made, He/she moves in a bit of a jerky fashion when dashing and looks a bit awkward moving about. Not sure if that is a design choice or just some prelim code work rather than the final piece, but otherwise the models for your hero character are exquisite on the PSP. They have a wide range of both racial and facial characteristics which ensure you can make a character all your own.

Sound

The wind roars, the town sounds like a bustling place the guild is full of people drinking and chatting and the music fits the world nicely. Not a bad effort but not quite VKP2 caliber.

Turn-offs

The overall feel of the game feels cliche at this point. Knights in armor anyone? Medieval guild thematics? Tired but well trod ground in RPGS I guess but kinda disappointing.

Overall

Quite promising and the open world ambition sure feels like it is coming together, if Konami can get a few things more in order and keep the show together and cohesive by release I expect it could do quite well here in Japan as a kind of Monster Hunter-esque RPG. Time will tell, but the demo sure has wet my appetite a little.

Release

Konami says it will debut this game by the end of 2011.