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Thursday, August 20, 2009

3D Dot Game Heroes's Voxel Kingdom

Since we profiled From Software's new PS3-exclusive 3D Dot Game Heroes earlier this week, the publisher has posted details on the game action RPG's parody plot and uploaded a set of impressive screenshots that better show off its .S-like sprites/environments (more after the break!).

The story starts off like many traditional Japanese RPGs from decades past -- you play as a swordsman, descended from a legendary hero, out to save the world from some vague but powerful evil. Part of your quest involves collecting six magic orbs stolen by a demon of darkness.

3D Dot Game Heroes's world, the primary gimmick, is where the title gets interesting. The Kingdom of Dotnia was once a 2D world like many other RPG settings, but Dotnia's king decided he wanted to reshape the land to attract more people. The ruler was able to do this with technology that essentially remade the kingdom in 3D (parody potential for both 3D remakes and the rise of fifth generation consoles!). Something went wrong with the conversion, however, though From Software hasn't yet specified the disaster.

The middleware and developer behind 3D Dot Game Heroes, Silicon Studio, also worked on Cursor*10-esque PSP game Onore no Shinzuru Michi wo Yuke, which sadly hasn't released outside of Japan. FromSoftware expects to ship 3D Dot Game Heroes in Japan this November.

[Via IGN, 3D Dot Game Heroes]

Comments

I _really_ hope these guys are somehow affiliated with Acquire, because otherwise they're shameless ripoff artists: that look is extremely similar to the prototype graphics of the Yuusha No Kuse Ni Namaikida games -- when it was intended for PSN rather than PSP. The final (PSP) versions actually still use the 3D-Dot style in some menu/cutscenes.

It's also basically identical to the style of the figurine you got with a pre-order of Yuusha or2: http://www.siliconera.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/yuushaf.jpg

(that pic doesn't capture the true 3D-ness of it, but trust me, it's exactly like the hero "sprites" in the 3D Dot game screens, the hair and rear-end of the figure is quite sculpted and sticks out)


http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/namaikida/art08.jpg

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/namaikida/art02.jpg

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/namaikida/wall_newyear.png

.. just sayin.

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