Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled for Nintendo DS (CT Style RPG)

[DarkeSword]

http://www.studioarchcraft.com/project.htm
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071016/latu162.html?.v=13

Apparently Project Exile's gotten a publisher and is coming to Nintendo DS. For those not in the know, it's an RPG inspired by the look and feel of SNES Squaresoft games, particularly Chrono Trigger. At first glance, I thought these guys had ripped a lot of graphics, but I did some research and they did do everything themselves, however similar it looks.

The trailer looks pretty neat and it really evokes CT in a lot of ways. Hopefully it comes out soon.

[anosou]

Supported!

But honestly, this looks sweet and indie developers need more support. Otherwise we're missing out on some serious gaming action.

[BardicKnowledge]

Hey, this looks great -- whoever notices that it's been released first be sure to say so in a few months. Definitely getting this one if the reviews aren't completely negative.

Edit: I said that _before_ watching the video. This will be mine without question on the day it gets released...holy shit. If the whole soundtrack sounds like that I'll buy the album too. :p

[DarkeSword]

We should get in contact with these guys and do the OFFICIAL REMIX ALBUM.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

We should get in contact with these guys and do the OFFICIAL REMIX ALBLUM.

Agreed. ten characters

[DrumUltimA]

We should get in contact with these guys and do the OFFICIAL REMIX ALBUM.

mmmmmmmmm :)

[Necrotic]

Damn this looks hot. It looks like they've spent a ridiculous amount of time on this game already.

Here's to hoping it'll be a great game, although there's a good chance get it just to support an indie developer who clearly knows a thing or two about what it is they're doing even if it does go below my expectations.

[Baleshadow]

Consider this bought. I'm getting flashbacks to the first time I played Chrono Trigger.

[The Author]

So you say this game is Secret of Chrono Trigger Evermore?

[The Pezman]

The screens on the site say they're from the GBA version... is this already out for GBA?

[zircon]

No. I think it was originally intended for GBA but is now going to DS.

[Ajax]

Wow, after watching the gameplay video, i'm suddenly anticipating playing this game. The fact that it's being realeased for the DS just adds icing to the cake. I hope it's released soon...

[anosou]

+1 for remix album

but one thing, the video show some graphical errors. When the character is moving through the worlds the creen is kind of skipping O.o I hope this is fixed for the release, really

[Schwaltzvald]

I'd buy it when it comes out :)!!

[Sir_NutS]

We should get in contact with these guys and do the OFFICIAL REMIX ALBUM.

_____________

[HalcyonSpirit]

Ho-ly crap. I want this so badly. It reminds me of Chrono Trigger so much, and I loved that game.

... Now I have to find myself a DS...

[Penfold]

While I'm somewhat skeptical of it actually having the same feel as CT from what I've seen, it definitely looks good and I'm looking forward to hearing more about this as it comes closer to release.

[Hawkwing]

Reminds me of a mix of Final Fantasy VI and Seiken Densetsu 3 for the landscapes.

Chrono Trigger for character sprites.

The battle system also reminds me more of Seiken Densetsu 3 more than Chrono Trigger with it's ring system

Edit:
After watching the video the BS resembles CT A LOT more than the screenshots did

[SwordBreaker]

Very nice find, DarkeSword. Going to keep my eye on this game...

[Arek the Absolute]

did anyone else notice it said "The project is currently being ported to the Nintendo DS for release in Q1 2007." on the site?

is this a dead project?

[Necrotic]

did anyone else notice it said "The project is currently being ported to the Nintendo DS for release in Q1 2007." on the site?

is this a dead project?

According to the second link they just got a committed publisher which is probably why that target date is wrong.

EDIT: Looking at the news (http://www.studioarchcraft.com/index.htm) section of their site, the last thing dated was for yesterday.

[Arek the Absolute]

ohok cool
hopefully the game isnt too much to buy since it is going to be hard to find and probably not massively produced

[JoeFu]

Haven't seen this game in a while. Cool that they found a publisher.

[The Pezman]

...their website says they have only one programmer. Shit.

[DragonAvenger]

This looks awesome.

I'm curious if or how they might use the touch screen with this.

I'm also too lazy to dig around the site to find out. :P

[red120]

Wow, it looks really good... looks a lot like CT / SD2 feel.

I wonder if they can really produce it with so few staffs though.

[Arek the Absolute]

i like the female character's concept art
finally something respectable

[I-n-j-i-n]

i like the female character's concept art
finally something respectable

Oh god, not that garbage again.

[Kanthos]

Wow, it looks really good... looks a lot like CT / SD2 feel.

I wonder if they can really produce it with so few staffs though.

Easily. Given enough time and assuming he people involved work well together, a game can be put together with as little as 3 people (assuming no one has overlapping skill sets): an artist, a musician/sound person, and a programmer. I've coded the better part of a 2D RPG engine on my own in about a year, and that was as a beginning programmer; I could do it faster now (or at least, produce better, more reusable code that would fit better with whatever tools the level designer needed).

As a one-person project, RPGs are tough to do, but for that kind of project, they have more than enough staff.

I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not one to buy software without seeing a review first unless it's pretty much guaranteed to be awesome, such as Phantom Hourglass, but I will be waiting for it to come out and will likely be buying it soon after its release.

[E sharp]

I like it. Too bad I sold my DS for bus fair....

[G]

bttt

10 char

[Moguri]

Well Aren't I glad and surprised to see the company is actually from My nick of the world. I'll sure as hell buy it then! Gotta support local game producers.

[BardicKnowledge]

This game still looks amazing -- someone please be sure to let the rest of us know when it comes out in case I lose track of it (again).

[DarkeSword]

Bump!

Looks like this game got delayed until Q2, which is almost here, but still. They also gave it a new name: Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled.

[Foxhull]

I'm gettin' this as soon as it comes out. I don't think the preview video quality does that game justice. It looks awesome!

[yangfeili]

Am I the only one who thinks it should be "Blade of the Exile" (not "Exiled")?

[DarkeSword]

Am I the only one who thinks it should be "Blade of the Exile" (not "Exiled")?

There's nothing grammatically incorrect about "Blade of the Exiled."

[Zombie]

Looks sweet. I really need to get back into playing my ds... the last game I bought was Phantom Hourglass. :?

[Thalzon]

Man, I remember this. Glad to see it finally make its way to the system. I'll buy it for sure, if I can find it.

[Jarvi]

awesome, 've been waiting this for a while.

[Gollgagh]

Oh hay, now that I actually have a DS, I can get this~

[BardicKnowledge]

I didn't see any new media on the site, unfortunately. Hopefully we get a concrete release date soon!

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

This looks like some sort of homage to nostalgia.

Not interested.

[Avatar of Justice]

The fact that it looks Chrono Trigger aside, I thought the plot seemed interesting.

[Steben]

The whole Chrono Trigger DS thing reminded me of this. Their site (http://www.studioarchcraft.com/) says it's in beta testing now, but I have to wonder how the real Chrono Trigger's re-release will effect sales of this game, since most of its buzz was always about how it was like Chrono Trigger.

[Gollgagh]

"Effect" as in "Chrono Trigger will 'directly cause' sales of BotE"?

or "Affect" as in "Chrono Trigger will 'indirectly increase/decrease' sales of BotE (due to stylistic similarities)"?

[Thalzon]

How much looooooooooonger? I really want to get this game, but hearing nothing for so long makes me think either it's dead or already been released somewhere in a limited quanitity and I'll never, ever get it.

[Steben]

"Effect" as in "Chrono Trigger will 'directly cause' sales of BotE"?

or "Affect" as in "Chrono Trigger will 'indirectly increase/decrease' sales of BotE (due to stylistic similarities)"?

Owned. I usually am pretty good about effecting the correct form of that verb, too. :(

[Random Hajile]

I am all about this game. I hope it gets released soon. I ight actually support this game instead of R4ing it <.<

Soundtrack has potential to.

[Sinewav]

Screw nostalgia. CT and SD3 were awesome games and it a travesty that there weren't more games like them. It seems like every RPG today just wants to beat off to FF7.

[Necrotic]

So Black Sigil is apparently going to be coming out this month. Amazon says it's coming out on the 8th.

Jeremy Parish from 1UP seems to have mainly good things (http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8981639&publicUserId=5379721) to say about it. Let's hope this doesn't go under the radar like so many other good low-budget games.

In short, Black Sigil seems to be an effective impersonation of a classic 16-bit RPG -- faithful to the spirit of the era, but with a few unique touches that make it more than just a slavish imitation. Of all the RPGs slated to arrive next month, it's probably the most unknown. But I suspect that anyone who pines for the good ol' days before Final Fantasy went all 3D will be instantly smitten with this under-the-radar adventure. You cranky old-timers should keep an eye open for it.

I'm probably gonna snatch this up. It's available on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sigil-Blade-Exiled-Nintendo-DS/dp/B00104KJ2E/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1236050981&sr=8-1) and only $28 (!!!) which is like the cheapest a new game could possibly be.

[Thalzon]

At last! And on my mom's birthday, no less. I'll need to make a note of picking this one up.

[G]

Bump! Anyone try this?

[Thalzon]

I looked for it today at the store, but it wasn't there and it wasn't on EB's order list, so.... I dunno. I want it, though.

[The Pezman]

I has a cart dump... but no DS yet. So soon enough...

[RedFusion]

Was excited about this game too.

GameSpot gave it 6.5 :(

Cited the high number of random battles as a down point. Stated there was good story though...

If I ever manage to get a DS, I think I'd be more excited over Golden Sun DS. I just don't have time nowadays like I used to, to invest time into oldschool (lengthy) RPGs like this.

[ZealPath]

Looks like something I'd like to try, but lacking a DS and all, not quite sure when.

[BardicKnowledge]

The encounter rate is too high to make for a good introduction to the genre (think the 8-bit Dragon Warrior games) -- but it feels great in all other aspects.

Best new feature: people have different conversations with you based on who is the party leader. Not one shopkeeper (ff6), but almost everyone.

One issue that people should know about: The game has crashed on my twice. Once while putting in headphones on the title screen, and once upon triggering a scripted event ingame.

[Sinewav]

Should I buy this? I've always liked the genre, but the only games I've played that I really felt motivated to finish were Chrono Trigger, Skies of Arcadia, and Seiken Densetsu 3. Random battles are annoying, but I'll push through them if the combat is fun and rest of the game is good enough.

[BardicKnowledge]

Sinewav: if you can get through the high number of random battles, the combat is pretty good. There's just a lot of it to slog through :p

[Gollgagh]

I've got it.

I take anything that most media says with a liberal dose of salt, since apparently I'm an unusual kind of gamer that actually likes archaic kinds of games like rogue-likes and adventure games.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

I picked it up over the weekend. I guess I'm about three, maybe four hours in?

Gameplay is pretty decent. The battle system is very Lunar meets CT. The encounter rate is a bit high, though. And no battle transitions? Wha?

Story's interesting. Characters haven't really grabbed me yet, but they're using a plot device from SaGa Frontier II that I enjoyed.

Music is a bit...meh, though. Very generic sounding. I've heard maybe one song that grabbed my attention.

[Hawkwing]

Well, my mom ordered this for me over a year ago for my 21st birthday in August. And it kept getting postponed. It finally came in the mail while I was visiting them for the weekend. I didn't have my DS on me, and so I started yesterday. I've been plpaying for 3 hours but most of it was grinding for G so I could get the best equipment available to me. I like the battle system, its definitely different from what I've seen before. I like the 16-bit graphics a lot. The music is boring, and could be much better. They add a lot of secret passageways, I've already found a bunch of things that I only found because I'm OCD about exploring maps.

Overall I like it so far. We'll see what happens when I actually get into it.

[Ybrik Metaknight]

I'd not heard of this until tonight. Looks great, like a mix of several of my favorite games (FFVI, CT, SoM, SD3, Lunar). Think I may want to check this one out.