XSEED Slashes PSP Game Prices

[TwinBahamut]

XSEED wants you to buy its stuff this holiday season, and to get you to do so, it is dropping the prices on five of its older games. If you have ever wanted to try one of these games, this may be a golden opportunity.

[Link]

[Zerker]

Seems a good chance to pick up Brave Story finally...

[Macstorm]

There is no reason not to get Brave Story.

[7thCircle]

And there are many reasons not to get the others.

[Zeboyd Games]

Wild Arms XF is fantastic and a steal at $10. Brave Story is pretty good as well.

[Spartakus]

I won't say anything bad about Brave Story, but apart from that game this is just cleaning out the **** barrel.

How about some Ys? Little King's Story? The Lunar remake? Half Minute Hero? Oh wait those are games you'd actually want.

[Minneyar]

The Ys games practically just came out, and Lunar's not too old at this point. I wouldn't expect a price drop for them for a while.

Wild Arms XF is definitely my favorite game out of the bunch, and the first half of the game is easily one of the best strategy RPGs I've played. The second half felt pretty rushed, but I can forgive it. It got mixed reviews, but I blame the bad reviews on gamers who were spoiled by Disgaea and think that "strategy" is about taking whatever classes you feel like and grinding levels until you can steamroll over everything in your way.

[Zeboyd Games]

You want a PSN sale of Little King Story, a game that doesn't even exist on the PSN?

Lunar had a half off sale on the PSN a while ago, so you could have gotten it then. Seemed like a pretty mediocre remake to me so I'm not sure why you would want to though. The best thing about it seemed to be the remastered music, but then they had to go and ruin that by making the music fade in and out everytime the game loads (which is often). And like Minneyar said, the Ys games just came out so you're going to have to wait if you want permanent price drops on those.

Wild Arms XF gets an unfair rap because it's a Strategy/RPG that actually focuses on Strategy and not on powerleveling. It's not without its flaws (having to reset equipment & items everytime you change classes is a bother), but even so, I'd consider it to easily be one of the top 10 best Strategy/RPGs of all time on any system.

[Miyosaka]

So Brave Story is good? How's its story?

EDIT: Besides being "brave" obviously

[Macstorm]

The story is cliche, yet charming. Fun classic RPG feel to it. The gameplay is fast, you can level up mid-battle, and there are no loading times even on UMD. Really solid RPG.

[7thCircle]

So Brave Story is good? How's its story?

EDIT: Besides being "brave" obviously

I'd say it's an example of being a good cliche story. It's light-handed and light-hearted, but won't make your eyes roll or see how fast you can press X to get through the text. It's warm and charming, but not memorable or amazing.

As for XSEED putting games on sale, LKS was $15 online a few weeks ago. You have to keep your eyes out for temporary sales, especially this time of year.

[Pimpalicious]

Brave Story was quite enjoyable for me so I would recommend it at that price.

I would possibly try Wild Arms XF at this price but if I remember correctly it's almost 1GB in size so I'll probably pass on that.

[Wyrdwad]

I'd say it's an example of being a good cliche story. It's light-handed and light-hearted, but won't make your eyes roll or see how fast you can press X to get through the text. It's warm and charming, but not memorable or amazing.

I would just like to add to this, actually, that the Brave Story PSP game also complements its novel really well. Some may not have even realized that it's actually a licensed game -- it's based off of an anime movie that was based off of a very long novel written by a Japanese author named Miyuki Miyabe (and translated to English by Alexander O. Smith of Final Fantasy game localization fame).

But unlike other licensed games, this one didn't seek to retell the story of the movie or novel, instead opting to complement it with a completely original storyline that takes place alongside the novel's, starring a unique cast of characters (but with cameo appearances by the original cast).

The story was apparently written by one of the original Persona writers, who happened to be a really big fan of Miyabe's novel. As such, it's very faithful to Miyabe's established world, and specifically complements the novel rather than the anime (as the anime tried to cram an 800-page novel into 110 minutes, resulting in a LOT of rushing and dumbing down).

And since the novel was being translated at around the same time as XSEED was working on the game, the good translators at 8-4 "compared notes" with Alexander Smith (so to speak), ensuring that all terminology and nomenclature remained identical between these two complementary works.

So yeah... the game is great on its own, and so is the novel (it reads kinds of like a Japanese version of the Chronicles of Narnia, but MUCH, MUCH DARKER) -- but if you read the novel AND play the game, they both become significantly more enjoyable. It's a pretty rare occurrence in the world of video games, and one that I felt was worth mentioning.

-Tom

[Macstorm]

This the novel?

http://www.amazon.com/Brave-Story-No...ref=pd_sim_b_5

[Wyrdwad]

Aye, that be the one. Don't let the Where The Wild Things Are-esque cover fool you -- as neat as that cover looks, it has virtually nothing to do with the book's contents. (:

-Tom

[Nyx]

I adored both the novel and the game and I saw how they complimented each other nicely. It's one of Miyuki Miyabe's better novels (and I've read a lot of her work).

[EmeraldSuzaku]

And thus does the novel hit my Amazon wish list. Probably for purchase next month. I had no idea Brave Story was based on a novel.

[wfb]

Public Service Announcement:
XSEED's twitter says that Brave Story is getting pulled from PSN due to an expiring license. It's up for "a few more day". Last chance for a digital copy.

http://twitter.com/#!/XSEEDGames/sta...00347821195264

[DarkRPGMaster]

I should probably get it immediately, but odds are the Playstation Store problems (too many people on at one time) may make that impossible to do. :/