This AMAZING looking 2D RPG is coming stateside. Hopefully it plays as good as it looks.

Nippon Ichi, the people who made Rhapsody, Disgaea, La Pucelle Tactics, and Phantom Brave have opened shop in the US!

Announcement:
http://com4.runboard.com/bnisamerica

Random Info:
http://the-magicbox.com/Jan04/game011604d.shtml

SCREENSHOTS:

Wow, that looks great. I picked up Phantom Brave yesterday so I have a nice long holiday weekend to play.

YES! There is a god, i've seen pictures of this game and weeped because I thought it'd never come over. Looks great!

I still have to pick up Phantom Brave, argh!

Oh man this is such a great time to be a RPG fan. I think my girlfriend hates me because of it though. Tales has been eating up a lot of my time lately, and Disgaea, FFX-2, and La Pucelle are sitting on the shelf waiting to be opened. Hopefully this will be out by the time I finish everything else.

May have to buy a PS2 soon. Come on price drop.

Heh.. I'm not fully excited yet. I've seen pictures of this a long time ago, but I still don't know how the actual game plays yet. The RPGs I've enjoyed in the last couple of years have all been Action-RPGs (Ys series, Tales series, Kingdom Hearts). If it has a good battle system I'm game.

Of course, Nippon Ichi's titles are usually a little too anime-ish for me. I love the art-style, but I usually can't stand the characters, haha. Who am I kidding? I'll probably buy this just to support my love for 2D games. I wonder how they've managed to get four 2D games over to our shores through Sony of America's Hitler-like policy on 2D games..

I'll see if I can dig up some gameplay information later tonight.

Those are some of the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen. Why can't all games look like that? I guess I'm one of the few who would rather see sprites than polygons.

No, no!! I'm with you 200%.

Part 2 is almost out in Japan.

http://www.the-magicbox.com/0503/game050323b.shtml

IGN's look at Part 1 (coming here in May?):
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/593/593597p1.html

AND THE GOOD NEWS? IT'S AN ACTION-RPG!

"In an interesting twist, Atelier Iris also provides real-time action controls despite its strategy/RPG nature. So while you'll still have to tactically approach each battle as you would in something like Growlanser or Phantom Brave, your characters will still be able to run, jump, and attack just like they do in Kingdom Hearts and similar titles. Moreover, the game also employs what's known as the "Cost Turn Battle" system that gives players two moves per turn with more needed for special attacks. Additional gameplay mechanics like monster summons, knock backs, and on-the-fly party member switches, should add an extra layer of strategy to the fight."

Any word yet on when Stella Deus or if Magna Carta are coming to the US?

Who and what?

I'm buying this as long as reviews don't say that it sucks. On the subject, has anyone got any reviews of the american release yet? cheers!

Lots of info:
http://nisamerica.com/games/a6/index.html

Bumping this one to the top since the game is finally coming out this week. Anyone seen any reviews? I plan on picking it up before the week is over.

Ah! Finally.

Does anyone have any feedback on this game yet? A friend of mine who is a big Altelier fan is complaining that this game is more like a cookie cutter console rpg and not so much like the other altelier games on PS1 and DC which had a fairly original gameplay style.

Still waiting for a review on gamespot...

I'll most likely be picking this one up tomorrow. Here's a review from RPGamer.com.....

LINK

This sounds like a pretty good RPG that I can enjoy at the moment. A good 30ish hours of game play will be nice for the summer when I'm busy busy busy. The last thing I need is to get sucked up into another long RPG when I could be doing other things. I will definately be picking this one up.

Pre-ordered mine at gamestop a while back. Should be coming any day now. Can't wait.

Played this yesterday at work, and WOW this game is gorgeous. Too bad I didnt pre-order it because those who did got the soundtrack . From the screen shots I thought it would play like a "Tales of.." game but the turn based combat is nice. One thing I noticed while in a town, if you are gathering elements and leave the screen the items you got elements from respawn.

It's turn based? What was that preview about being an action-RPG all about?!

I dont know, think maybe those who wrote the preview didnt actually play the game?

I picked this game up last night. So far, I'm in love. I've only played about an hour, but if the game continues the way it is, I know I'll enjoy the whole game completely. The battles are classic turn-based, but you can jump and swing your weapon while walking around to collect mana and destroy boxes and stuff like that. The graphics are everything I was hoping for, and the music is even in 5.1 for the cut scenes which sounds amazing. I HIGHLY recommend picking this game up if you enjoyed RPG's from the SNES days.

Sounds pretty good! I'm still working through kirby canvas curse but I can't wait to try this one.