Phantom Brave: We Meet Again in stores

NIS America’s Phantom Brave: We Meet Again has been shipped to retailers nationwide. Phantom Brave is Nippon Ichi Software’s first Wii title incorporating a free roaming style battle system and an anime influenced character design and story. If you have never played an NIS game before (where have you been?) Phantom Brave is a turn based strategy RPG that incorporates unique battle styles and a hardcore character customization system.

 Players can create units from a number of monster/ghost categories and power them up to their liking. Like the Disgaea series, Phantom Brave is designed for the hardcore RPG fan in mind, offering a skill and RPG system that lets you create characters capable of doing massive amounts of damage using a combination of unique skills and high levels and the game’s oddball mechanics.

Look for the game in stores now.

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again delayed slightly

NIS America announced today that the release date for Phantom Brave: We Meet Again has been pushed back to Friday August 14, 2009. The reason for the change, according to NIS America, is due to unexpected delays related to Wii disc manufacturing.

“Our goal is to provide good games and keep gamers happy,” said a company spokesperson. “Therefore, we will work our best to deliver Phantom Brave to the retailers before 8/14 if possible. We apologize any inconvenience we may have caused.“

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is a turn based strategy RPG that incorporates unique battle styles and a hardcore character customization system. The game is based on the PS2 title Phantom Brave.

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again coming August 11

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again will be released on August 11th, says NIS America. The reboot of this odd, wonderful strategy JRPG will come packaged with a digital art disc containing more than 30 artwork files, 100 character illustrations, 60 background artwork, and more. Phantom Brave: We Meet Again features improved graphics over the original PS2 version of the game, English/Japanese dual voice over, four all new chapters, extra items and skills, as well as a new character named Carona.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Phantom Brave, the game is a turn-based strategy RPG that incorporates hardcore character customization system and unit creation from long list of monster/ghost categories. There are two main phases to Phantom Brave’s battle system: Confine and Battle. Carona, the protagonist of this game, can summon ghosts and monsters as battle units to fight for her but she must “confine” these souls in to objects on the battlefield like rocks, plants, and items. Depending on what object you use as the host, the stats of the units you summon will greatly differ. Some units become stronger when confined to certain objects, so knowing your spirits’ characteristics becomes a very important strategic element.

Look for Phantom Brave: We Meet Again in a few weeks.

Square Enix Revises Forecast, Delays Dragon Quest IX

After a slight delay that didn’t help its stock prices very much, Square Enix has released its forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 and revealed that it has delayed Dragon Quest IX in Japan. The revised net sales forecast for the fiscal year is 16.9 percent lower than previous guesstimates and net income is expected to be down 62.5 percent.

The weakness in numbers is tied to Taito’s amusements business and “offline games.” Sega and other companies still doing business in that sector have suffered similar declines, so no great shock there.. The delayed forecast, according to previous reports, was due to some accounting errors.

Square Enix also announced that the next big Dragon Quest title to hit Japan - Dragon Quest IX for DS, has been delayed. The game, which was slated for release in March of this year, will now be published on July 11. The delay is due, apparently, to some pesky bugs that need to be taken care of. Amongst all the bad news, European gamers will be happy to hear that the company will distribute Nippon Ichi Software’s Disgaea for DS in the region April 3. Australia will get the game shortly thereafter.

Disgaea 3 Released

NIS America’s latest game in the popular JRPG series, Disgaea, has landed in North America today, and on the PlayStation 3 for the first time no less. Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice brings the series popularized on the PS2 to the PS3 with familiar gameplay, a few changes to the game’s mechanics and some additional features.

The game features the same kind of goofy and fun storytelling - this time about another son of an overlord. Mao, an honor student in the Netherworld’s leading academy evil and son of the dean of schools, the overlord, longs to defeat his father and become the overlord himself.

Disgaea 3 tries to expand on the game with new things to go “into” besides items, a change in the way skills are distributed and grown, new monsters and characters, and a whole new school setting. The game will have you battling fellow students, teachers, the PTA and the denizens of your very own heart. To say that the game is weird, wild and strange is an understatement, but so far (from what I have played) the game is pretty fun.

Look for a review soon, and for the love of Pete, buy the strategy guide if you are going to buy the game - you’ll need it.

Atlus, NIS Reunite

Atlus U.S.A. and NIS America are rekindling an old romance with the announcement that the company will publish three upcoming games - two of which are Disgaea titles. Atlus U.S.A. localized and published the original PS2 game, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Some would go so far as to say that the game helped further the company’s foothold in the Western world.

The exclusive North American distribution deal includes the upcoming PS3 game Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (releasing August 28, $49.99), Disgaea DS and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (both to be released in September for $29.99 each).