Return to PopoloCrois: A STORY OF SEASONS Fairytale - Info

[wyrdwad]

This just popped up on the 3DS Reddit



True or nah?

Sure is! Marvelous Europe just released an announcement trailer of their own, too:



So EU gamers may not be getting the game physically, but they are getting it earlier than we are!

-Tom

[Arcy]

I can't help but find that cool, even though we are going to be looking on in envy for 12 days! EU gets the shaft so often that as long as we're both confirmed to get a game, I can't help but cheer every time they get something approximating simultaneous release, or when they get a game early.

(That doesn't mean I forgive you for Style Savvy 3, though. XP.)

[Bluie]

(That doesn't mean I forgive you for Style Savvy 3, though. XP.)

(I will NEVER forgive them for Style Savvy 3)


I'll update the front page accordingly!

[wyrdwad]

The second part of the manga is now up:

http://www.returntopopolocrois.com/mang ... #mybook/20

Featuring the introduction of the White Knight! As well as one of my favorite scenes (the whole "guts" thing).

If it's not showing for you, just click Reload.

-Tom

[Night Owl]

The baby dragon is adorable. And I have to say, Pietro's old design took me a moment to get used to, but I enjoy it.

This digital manga is really cool. I'm glad you guys managed to get it translated for over here.

[wyrdwad]

This week's manga update is up! Click here to go directly to the new stuff:

http://www.returntopopolocrois.com/mang ... #mybook/42

If it doesn't show up, once again, just click Reload.

This week sees the introduction of more mainstay characters, including none other than Narcia herself -- so it's definitely a special one!

-Tom

[Bluie]

Daaaaw, Narcia!

Its really fun seeing their old designs!

[wyrdwad]

Fun fact: The whole set of manga was sent to Tamori-sensei for approval after translation -- and usually, when you send something to the creator for approval, it's common to just... get it. Like, with a lot of companies, I swear the rights-holders don't even look at your work half the time, instead opting just to sign off and be done with it.

Unsurprisingly, though, Tamori-sensei is much more thorough and hands-on, and while 112 of our 113 pages of manga got approved right off the bat, the last page of this week's set did not... because Tamori-sensei noticed that Guilda's sleeves in the bottom-right panel weren't colored in, and he didn't want there to be an inconsistency from one panel to the next, so he insisted upon coloring them in and sending the page back to us.

I thought that was really cool. It shows that he wasn't just stamping his approval, but carefully looking over every page. Makes me confident that our work actually did meet with his approval, rather than simply meeting with his stamp of approval.

...Which, as a big fan of his work, makes me feel very proud and happy.

-Tom

[wyrdwad]

Well, the game is out in Europe now! And with its release, there's a new launch trailer from Marvelous Europe that's... actually really good! It's pretty much what I was attempting to do with my trailer, but far more successful.



Additionally, I've found three English-language reviews posted for the game so far:

Gamersftw - http://www.gamersftw.co.uk/return-to-po ... le-review/
USEaPOTION - http://www.useapotion.com/2016/02/18/re ... fairytale/
NintendoEverything - http://nintendoeverything.com/review-re ... fairytale/

Note that they all spoil some early-game plot twists, though that's almost necessary in order to properly review the game -- I managed to avoid spoiling them in my website text, but that took some real doing.

Generally positive, though the NintendoEverything review is pretty critical. Its conclusion is one that I can agree with, though: this is a game that you play for the charm, not for the challenge. (Though how that reviewer could say Nino and Rue "aren't all that interesting" is beyond me -- I love those guys!)

Looking forward to reading more reviews leading up to the game's American launch!

-Tom

[Bluie]

So jelly!

[wyrdwad]

Also, US Gamer just posted some brief comments from Tamori-sensei (the creator of PopoloCrois) about the game:

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/popoloc ... -crossover

I love his last comment in particular. It's just such a sweet sentiment!

-Tom

[Arcy]

Also, US Gamer just posted some brief comments from Tamori-sensei (the creator of PopoloCrois) about the game:

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/popoloc ... -crossover

I love his last comment in particular. It's just such a sweet sentiment!

-Tom

I just read this, and it is such a sweet interview all around, I really love Tamori's design philosophy a lot more than the current slew of grimdark needlessly convoluted RPGs. You know how it is. "Please buy NEW JRPG and the six DLC costumes, also preorder it everywhere for vendor exclusives, also here's a list of imaginary technical terms that you must memorize, and let's start by shoving down your throat around five to ten hours of unskippable tutorials and cutscenes in which we're going to kill the character that your MC is most emotionally attached to because we're so edgy."

I'm in a weird situation where I love games that are very technically competent in trying to attempt something "different" or "retro", but that also tend to review poorly exactly because they aren't the kind of games that are physically impossible for me to play, so I mostly ignore reviews and scores unless there are a lot of corroborated reports that a game is unplayable due to bugs or design flaws.

I'll take a pass on the reviews for this game, I think. I'm sure if there were major crashing issues or severe framerate problems (and I'm physically unable to see most of these, so they have to be really bad for me to notice) like Story of Seasons has, you (Tom) would have played this game enough to have found them and gotten things fixed.

Also, still following the manga, and it is so great!

[wyrdwad]

I'm sure if there were major crashing issues or severe framerate problems (and I'm physically unable to see most of these, so they have to be really bad for me to notice) like Story of Seasons has, you (Tom) would have played this game enough to have found them and gotten things fixed.

Knock on wood, but yeah, I've played the heck out of this game, and I haven't encountered any issues of that sort at all. The closest thing is probably when you pass near an NPC for the first time on a map, you'll automatically hear a voice that says something like "Hello!" or "Nice to see you!", and for a split second when this voice plays, the framerate drops very, very slightly (as it's presumably loading the voice file on the fly and isn't entirely optimized for that). But aside from that one specific instance, there are no framerate drops I've experienced anywhere in the game, and certainly no crashes -- and that particular frame drop is so minor, so quick, and so irrelevant compared to the coolness of having NPCs wish you good tidings, that I don't really see it being a problem for much of anyone.

-Tom

[Arcy]

I like it when stuff like that happens, actually, because it reminds me to stop and sniff the metaphorical roses - a voice sample when you walk past a new character is a great reminder to just talk to people and let the game world immerse you. I doubt I'll notice a less-than-jarring frame drop in any case, so it is good to hear that the NPCs have things that are good to hear as well.

Edit To Add: Nintendo Life interview with PopoloCrois Creator Yohsuke Tamori: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/0 ... _fairytale

I used to play the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, but I haven't played much of anything lately. I feel like the contents of games in general have gotten more realistic, more intense, and just downright brutal in a lot of cases, and that kind of stuff makes me not want to play video games any more.

Someone should tell Tamori-sensei that the Dragon Quest series has stayed true to the roots of Dragon Quest (even the MMO entry looks good, though I can't play it) and it is probably my favorite game series. However, the entire rest of this quote plus an increasing industry pressure for everything to be an action game instead of using a turn based or active time battle system is why I've been steadily falling out of love with most RPGs lately. This quote really is alluring to me because of that.

[wyrdwad]

Someone should tell Tamori-sensei that the Dragon Quest series has stayed true to the roots of Dragon Quest (even the MMO entry looks good, though I can't play it) and it is probably my favorite game series. However, the entire rest of this quote plus an increasing industry pressure for everything to be an action game instead of using a turn based or active time battle system is why I've been steadily falling out of love with most RPGs lately. This quote really is alluring to me because of that.

I'm actually pretty hopeful for FFXV -- I like action battle systems, and if it's done well, I could see it being a nice change of pace that could revitalize what is, IMHO, a series that's lost most of its allure since its PS1 heyday.

But yeah, on the whole, I totally agree with him (and you!). Most of the games I've played lately have either been legitimately retro, or modern indie. I've turned into a total gaming hipster because there are so few games like Return to PopoloCrois being made anymore.

-Tom