New tri-Ace RPG: End of Eternity

[DPB]

I just hope they hire some new writers this time around.

[Aeolus]

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[magusgs]

http://kotaku.com/5202959/this-is-the-new-multi+platform-tri+ace-rpg

As teased last week, developer tri-Ace's new role-playing-game is End of Eternity, a collaboration between tri-Ace and SEGA.

Set in futuristic towering megapolis Bazel, EoE's main characters are 17-year-old Private Military Firm (PMF) mercenary Zefa, 26-year-old ex-solider Vashron and 19-year-old young woman Test Subject No. 20. She's escaped from a research facility where she was housed. All this set against the background of Bazel, which acts as an environment purifier to cleanse the pollution surrounding the Earth.

The game's a multi-platform title (Xbox 360 and PS3) and is slated for this winter. It's currently 65 percent complete.

From 1up.com
Representing tri-Ace's first project with any company other than Square Enix, End of Eternity looks to be a futuristic gun battle RPG in the vein of Parasite Eve. The game will take place entirely in a colossal machine-city called Burzel, whose millions of citizens subscribe to an (as yet unnamed) monotheistic religion. Director Takayuki Suguro points out that the player will never venture outside of Burzel in End of Eternity; what, if anything, exists beyond its borders is a mystery.

The Famitsu article reveals three characters: Vashyron, a 26 year old former soldier working for a private military company, 17 year old Zephyr, a boy scouted by Vashyron to work for his PMC, and a 19 year old girl known only as Experiment 20 -- an ominous moniker, as she's fated to die on her 20th birthday. Little more biographical info is found in the article, though the startling snippet of dialogue provided for hero Zephyr is worth noting: "The fact that I live is proof there is no God". Deep.

Gameplay appears to be somewhat untraditional for a JRPG: The field is built with hexes, recalling an old-school strategy game like Military Madness. Dungeons, however, play out in traditional third-person, and enemy encounters are seamless. In battle you'll control one of three maximum party members, participating in "semi-realtime" skirmishes with an emphasis on gunplay -- perhaps the feeling will be similar to Sega's own Valkyria Chronicles.

Reminds me of the anime Ergo Proxy.  Seems to have some Xenogears-like overtones as well.  The story sounds like it has an interesting premise...we'll see how well it's executed.

[Losfer]

Sounds generic and boring as fuck.

[Blace]

If any other developer was doing the story, it might sound interesting to me, but I think tri-Ace is bound to screw it up at some point like they have been recently. I have hope that it will be decent, but right now I'm not going to get too pumped for it.

[dalucifer0]

A barebones, generic plot is good for tri-Ace. It's better than them trying to write a space opera like SO4.

[Eusis]

If any other developer was doing the story, it might sound interesting to me, but I think tri-Ace is bound to screw it up at some point like they have been recently. I have hope that it will be decent, but right now I'm not going to get too pumped for it.

It's not that I want a good story as that I want it to stay out of the way. If you're not going to make something worth telling then at least try to not smother me in it.

[Aeolus]

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[AJR]

It sounds so intriguing. The battle system sounds fantastic, the story sounds interesting and could be good if it’s handled well (which it probably won’t be). I’m hesitant though, considering it's tri-Ace.

[Prime Mover]

It's not that I want a good story as that I want it to stay out of the way. If you're not going to make something worth telling then at least try to not smother me in it.

Amen. Cliched stories aren't so bad if they don't force themselves down your throat. I mean, look at every Zelda game ever made. I would say that Zelda has phenominal storytelling because it takes a pretty standard type of storyline, makes it concise and unobtrustive, and tells it well. As apposed to Star Ocean games, which take a cliched idea, populates it with a million forgettable (and often unintelligable) bullet points, and tells the rest badly.

Good storytelling is all about the human connection. You can have the simplest plot in the world, and make it unforgetable by creating great characters, dialog, and interaction. Just look at The Princess Bride. It's the same old Robin Hood: rescue the princess from the evil king, tale we've heard over and over again, yet NOONE will ever forget that movie.

Many game writers seem to forget about the human element in exchange for "obscure plot twist #9" or "armchair philosophy monologue #13". Nothing irritates me more. Why I'm replaying and loving Dragon Quest 8 so much... no plot, at all... just great dialog and characters, one of the best told RPG stories ever.

[Blace]

DQ8 is the best example of a simple story told incredibly well. I loved the characters and was always intrigued.

[Lucca]

It's kinda sad for JRPGs in general that my first though upon hearing one of the PCs was 26 years old was, "Oh my god, that's really old!"

Of course, everyone else seems to be a teenager. Sigh.

I'm more interested in this title since Sega seems to be helping out.

[Fei]

I was reminded of the manga BLAME!  I am hoping that the 19 year old dies towards the beginning of the game and somehow ends up on a different floor of the tower... the plot has to be about more than security guards keeping the lower class from climbing the tower. 

I'm going to mention Baroque also.  The plot in that game was "climb tower, die, repeat" but the interactions with the NPC's were so intriguing that I put over 50 hours into it before stopping. 

I'm interested.

[Sagacious-T]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFHmEeCqsiM&fmt=18

Trailer for the game. Gotta love the Rorschach looking bad guys and badass face-to-wall smashing.

[CDFN]

That trailer surprised me, this has nothing to do with SO. I actually got a FFV13 vibe from it. I hope we'll see some gameplay footage soon.