Since we first announced our action RPG Ragnarok Odyssey ACE back in May, we’ve gotten all kinds of questions, the most popular among them being, “What exactly is Ragnarok Odyssey ACE?” Fans want to know if it’s a DLC expansion for the original Ragnarok Odyssey, if it’s a whole new game, whether your character and/or story progress carries over, and so on. Because I’ve got a minute, in between proofreading ACE’s script and heading out to the voiceover studio, I wanted to answer some of those questions now.
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE is a full game — a revised and expanded version of the original Ragnarok Odyssey. We’ll be releasing it early next year in North America for both Vita and PS3, and up to four players will be able to cross-play between the two platforms.
Both versions will retail for $39.99. As a “thank you” to returning players on the handheld, ACE’s Vita version will ship with a bonus soundtrack CD, with 25 songs — including one very nice composition from Nobuo Uematsu, called “Roar of the Black Dragon.”
Players with existing Ragnarok Odyssey saves can import their character’s physical appearance, voice, job class, and cards (except for those equipped to clothing at the time of the transfer — those don’t carry over, and neither do cards acquired by “near”). If you’ve downloaded any of the original game’s DLC, you can bring it over to ACE just by re-downloading it from PlayStation Store.
New players and returning veterans will both take the campaign from the top, but that’s because there’s new content throughout the main story. Likewise, there are new Trophies to earn, so your Trophies from the original will stay with the original while ACE offers more Trophies for your collection.
So what kinds of new content are we talking about? To begin with, there are new skills, items, and quests, including a new 100-floor dungeon called the Tower of Yggdrasil.
More than that, we’ll be bringing over the Japanese version’s expansion patches. The 1.10 patch, which launches in Japan this week, adds new features including daily quests, online rankings, log-in bonuses, random card draws, and special rare random card draws. Our version won’t launch with it, but we’ll be releasing the patch as free post-launch content, so players will have some new features to look forward to after launch. And that’s just 1.10…
Sorry to tease and run, but I’ve got to finish this pile of proofreading and finish getting ready for the studio tomorrow. Until next time, thanks as always for keeping the questions coming, and stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to launch.
Awesome news. I had fun with the first game, and am gladly looking forward to this one.
Nice to know I can import my character over. That might just convince me to pick it up again. I enjoyed what little time I spent in the first one. =)
I never played the original so this seems like a great jumping on point. Will definitely pre-order it for Vita. Speaking of which, are pre-orders open yet? If not, when will they open? Thanks.
Thanks! We’re setting up the pre-orders now. Hopefully, they’ll be open next Monday.