Well, I’d hoped to get a lot more online today (including the contest results & a new contest – will do ASAP, sorry for the delay!), but once again things have ended up busier than expected. If I can get anything else up here next week (despite my other half being home ;)), I shall of course do so!
I received my preview copy of Shining Soul II from Atlus a few days ago, and in fact on the day I got it, I couldn’t tear myself away from it! As you probably know, I thoroughly enjoyed the game in Japanese, but now I’m playing it in English I’m enjoying it all the more!
The game seems to be fully translated now, with only some minor bugs left to be worked out. Although some of the names have been altered in the translation (for example, Princess Cocotte is now Princess Camille, the warrior Alex is now Eric), there don’t seem to be any glaring problems with this. At the moment it’s seeming a little easier than the Japanese release, but this could just be because I’m getting good at the game from playing it so much. I’m only a few areas into this copy so far, so I can’t judge the difficulty too well at this point.
Being a preview, unfinished copy of the game, there are all sorts of neat extras which of course won’t be in the final version – little guys who ask me if I want to change what the shops sell, or open up all the areas etc 😉 Obviously features for testing. I expect this is quite a common thing, but it rather tickled me to find this stuff. You’ll see the “badgermen” (as I call them – it’s actually the Card Master sprite) who ask these questions in in one of the shots below, though not actually being spoken to in it.
I’m typing up all the details etc as I play through this version (despite being able to get to any point in the game almost immediately, I want to play it properly), in order to make a new site all about it 🙂
Atlus have given me permission to post as much as I’d like in preview information, so expect more in the coming weeks 🙂 Looks like they’ve done a really good job on this game, as with the original. Quite exciting to have this as an exclusive, too – I don’t think any other sites have anything about it – yet 😉 Wonder who else’ll pick up these screenshots for use? *lol*
Well, I’ll not bore you with more blathering at the moment – I’ll leave you with the translated intro text (I’m sure it’s okay for me to post that much – don’t expect the whole script until long after the release though!) and a half dozen screenshots to drool over 😉
The Dark Dragon was defeated and Light returned to the land.
The four heroes were hailed for banishing the Darkness.
The people were thankful that peace had returned, and the legend of the Hero of Light was passed down.
But as time passed and people’s lives improved, the legend was forgotten.
So, too, did their gratitude fade, and people began to take Light for granted.
In a peace filled town, an old man stood preaching a seditious prophecy…
“Brothers and sisters, look! The crystal is cloudy!
According to legend, Darkness was defeated!
But, Light will grow out of control, eventually giving rise to Darkness once again.
The clouding of the crystal foretells this future.
The balance of the world will soon collapse!”
The old prophet continued to speak to the passerby, and his voice rang through the town square.
But, those who had forgotten about the legend took no heed of the prophet’s words.
Sadly, at that very moment, the end of peace and prosperity was near.
As the prophet had warned, the balance between Darkness and Light had been lost.
Light had become too strong, and Darkness stirred again.
An alchemist, a servant of Darkness, appeared…
His name was Gillespie.
Gillespie lured the old prophet to the outskirts of town, shattered the cyrstal that told of the Darkness, and robbed the world of one virtuous old man.
As a member of a Dark order known as the Chaos Knights, Gillespie had another mission to complete…
And so, he traveled to Klantol Castle…
He cunningly befriended the knight Deatharte, whom King Marcel trusted above all others, and he gave to Deatharte the “Forbidden Fruit.” With that acomplished, Gillespie left those lands.
Deatharte was suspicious of Gillespie and so he did not eat the fruit, until one day… when his curiousity got the better of him… …and he tasted the “Forbidden Fruit”…
I’ll put up more as soon as I can 🙂 Hope the above is enough for now!
Remember, no release date has as yet been confirmed. All I can say at this point is that the date which was previously mentioned on Atlus’ website by mistake (December this year) was not correct. Rest assured that as soon as I can say more, I will! I’ll make a full review of the game available nearer the time of release.
Once again, huge thanks to Atlus for all their help and support! You guys are the best 🙂