RPGCast - Episode 182: "Petition Perdition"

[sabin1001]

RPGCast - Episode 182: "Petition Perdition"

It's summertime and there's no news, but the fans are stepping up with a great campaign to get Xenoblade and The Last Story released in the US. Find out more about this campaign as well as Cthulhu Saves the World's release date and our impressions of the new 3D Zelda on this week's show.

You can find the links to all our stories on delicious: http://delicious.com/rpgamer/182

RPGCast streams live, sometimes on Friday at 10 PM Eastern / 7 PM Pacific, usually on Saturday at Noon Eastern / 9 AM Pacific.

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[Shaymin]

Good to see some Player One Podcast love - though I can't forgive Sewart for massively overrating Chrono Cross in that one EGM issue. I have to wonder if Manny's tried Tech News Today - they've settled into a good groove of hitting the news with minimal ratholes.

Another show I'd recommend is Radio Free Nintendo, which despite the name does very good discussion of games on non-Nintendo platforms and has interesting retrospectives (they're doing the single-player portion of Perfect Dark on their next episode, for instance).

I'd preorder Monado to show my support for it, but I can't order it with a Canadian CC on Amazon.com and .ca doesn't have a listing for it. :rage:

[VonBeardly]

The song was awesome.

[LegendaryZoltan]

Thanks. That song will be kind of the title track for an album I'm working on. When it's finished it will have vocals done by me as well.

Anyway, about the cast. . . Not much news since E3, huh? I started listening to the player one podcast but it's just not as interesting as RPG cast in my opinion. All of the panelists have the same exact voice. Hahaha. Quin, Emanuel, Chris, Roy, Paws, and Strawberry Eggs all have very distinct voices and it creates a nice and colorful atmosphere. You guys all have fun personalities too.

I guess the best news for me this time around was the Xenoblade American release movement. That is pretty amazing. I can't believe they would release Xenosaga and then not release Xenoblade in the U.S. Since I don't think they'll ever really be able to make that huge epic saga of an RPG series that they want to make, my biggest hope is that they'll make an HD collection of Xenosaga for PS3. OH! That make me so happy! Everybody should make HD collections of EVERYTHING! Hahaha.

As for Rusty Hearts. I don't usually play PC games, and I've never played an MMO yet but since all of you guys are talking about playing it together, that really makes me want to join you. But did you really get three-THOUSAND passes? That is amazing. Not that RPGamer doesn't deserve it.

[VonBeardly]

As much as I would love to see HD collections for rpgs I somehow doubt it'll happen. It would be pretty sweet though.

[Ocelot]

I think it's pretty neat that the fan movement for localizing Xenoblade/Last Story/Pandora's Tower is using actual letter-writing as well, and I hope a lot of people take them up on it. Sending physical mail tends to be a fair bit more effective than electronic stuff, as the time and effort involved is greater.

Of course, it's possible that Nintendo of America already planned to bring these games over here, and just hadn't announced it officially yet... they said they have more Wii announcements coming. Nothin' wrong with showing them that they really do have a sales base over here, though!

[Shaymin]

The reason online petitions don't work is that they require no effort to complete - it's a couple of clicks and a few seconds of typing. With letter writing campaigns you have to go to the effort of putting something in the mail and even the cost of a stamp can be appreciated. Especially with a company like Nintendo who aren't the most online-savvy company on the planet.

[Rosestorm]

As for Rusty Hearts. I don't usually play PC games, and I've never played an MMO yet but since all of you guys are talking about playing it together, that really makes me want to join you. But did you really get three-THOUSAND passes? That is amazing. Not that RPGamer doesn't deserve it.

Yeah, we really did get that many keys, I highly doubt that we'll give all of them away since most of our readers don't use the forums.

[LegendaryZoltan]

I've never been good at advertising but maybe there's a way you can offer the passes out to new people who don't know about RPGamer. 1,000 brand new RPGamer fans would be pretty freaking sweet. I don't know how it could be done. But I think you guys could probably come up with a way. Maybe make a YouTube video? I'm not sure.

[caddyalan]

From what I've heard, it was difficult for publishers to sell Wii games other than multi-player party games. So unless a lot of people bought the RPG titles which have already been translated (the Tales of Symphonia sequel, Opoona, Arc Rise Phantasia, etc), then there's probably no reason to believe that more than a few people will buy Xenoblade or Last Story. I don't think it would be worth it to pre-order on Amazon. Fans should probably be glad that at least one of the two is confirmed for translation in the UK.

[Ocelot]

Eh, ToS: Dawn of the New World and Monster Hunter Tri both sold decently in North America from any numbers I can find, and neither of those games had Nintendo's marketing machine behind them. The few other RPGs released for the Wii haven't been of comparable quality or have had very limited print runs/next to no marketing. You can't just throw a game out into the wild and expect it to sell well, especially not on a crowded platform like the Wii.

[Gambit268]

On the topic of other podcasts to listen to some others that are in the same genre are the Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts podcast, Role Players' Realm, and Random Encounter. Talk Radar, Sarcastic Gamer Brown Show, and CAG Cast are all very good non-serious podcasts. If your a big Arthur Gies fan he appears almost weekly on Podcast Unlocked (Xbox), The Game Spy Debriefings, and Rebel FM.

As far as Nintendo and RPG's, I would love to hear the reasoning as to why they haven't already announced these game in he US. It is ridiculous that NoA hasn't already announced these for North America when two of these have been announced for the PAL region. How hard is it to take languages out of the game? I for one, have already pre-ordered the Xenoblade title, and if I become very motivated might sit down and write a letter to them explaining my displeasure.

Update after Nintendo tweets:

Is it possible for an outside publisher sign a deal with NoA, ie. XSEED, NISA, Aksys or Atlus, to get these games out?
Does anyone know of a site where I can hack my Wii so it can play PAL region games?
How about a website to import these games to the US

[KisakiProject]

Please more Legendary Zoltan music. Thanks.

[Shaymin]

So just saw this on the Twitters:

RPGCast this week will be on Friday July 1 at 7:30PM Pacific.

You realize the show has to be wrapped up in 2 and a half hours or Anna can't be on it... unless the sound of fireworks in the background is appealing.

[Paws]

I'm actually visiting with Chris at the moment, which is why we had to shift the podcast. Blame me!

[Azilis]

I've been enjoying Dungeon Siege 3. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that it's not really a Diablo clone (the games that it keeps getting compared to are Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Secret of Mana). The game is more combat-driven than loot-driven (though there is a lot of loot), and the combat is a lot of fun. Plus it has a pretty good story. The PC controls take some getting used to, but you can easily play it on the PC with a 360 controller.

The biggest problem for me is that the game is pretty short, but the game has a good deal of replayability. The multiplayer doesn't bother me, because this isn't a game that's based around doing lots of boss runs for loot. It's meant to let a group of people play through the single-player story. The host of a multiplayer game has all 4 characters in his party, and they level up as his main character does. When you join his game, you just take control of one of his party members.

Chris - I'd recommend considering picking up this game when the price drops. Based on what you've said in the past, this sounds like a game you'd enjoy (and finish). The game is relatively short, it has adjustable difficulty, and the combat is intuitive (with a 360 controller) and fun.

[LegendaryZoltan]

Oh my god!!! No FREAKING way! I think 7:30 Friday night there is 11:30 Saturday morning here!!! I'm about to LOSE it! I'm going to make so many freaking comments in the chat room that day.

OK, wait. I gotta make sure the calculations are correct . . . . . . You guys... my calculations are correct. I hope there are some PS3 RPGs in the news. Then I can that ONE single person who says "I am!" when Chris says, "Who's excited about such-and-such?" That always happens when I listen. Chris asks who's excited, nobody that's on the show says anything, and I'm over here in my house listening to it after the fact saying, "Me me me!" Hahaha. OK. I'm rambling now because I'm so damn excited. I don't have work tomorrow so you can bet there'll be some RPG Playin' *** on that day.

Finally, thank you, KisakiProject and VonBeardly. I'm glad you liked that song. There will be more in the future.

[sabin1001]

I don't see how it wouldn't be worth it to pre-order an unannounced game, since they don't charge you, if you're certain it won't come out you have nothing to lose.