Last time on PS.Blog, my colleague Tom introduced you guys to our upcoming release (out today!), Way of the Samurai 4. He expounded on the back story, the sandbox nature of its gameplay, and a bit of the silliness you will encounter if you take up arms in Amihama. He tried to warn you. I’m just going to tell you. This game is crazy. Like, if you punch people, eggs fall out crazy.

Way of the Samurai 4 drops players into a period drama populated by Edo-era Japanese citizens, trade-hungry foreigners and hundreds of crates flaunting their breakability. As a masterless samurai, you’re free to aid whichever faction vying for dominance in Amihama that you like. You can choose to support the local government (the Shogunate forces), the isolationists movement (the Prajna), or the diminutive, sweets-obsessed diplomatic envoy from the British. Or you can do what I did and just run around killing everybody.

Whether or not you play by the rules is up to you. With ten endings and a ton of branching story potentials, I highly recommend just trying everything. Everything.

If you enjoy wanton destruction as much as I do, you’ll surely catch the attention of the lovely Kinugawa sisters, and get to enjoy one of three classic torture mini-games.Yes, you’re reading that right. I did, in fact, utter the highly unlikely word combination “torture mini-games.”

Quests will send you on trips to destroy pottery, dispose of peeping toms and crush the dreams of honest merchants. If you manage to get the language school up and running, you can engage in eloquent and highly intellectual discourse with the foreign settlers (please talk to the half-naked man on the Black Ship wearing naught but a pair of boxing gloves and striped underwear. He has one of my favorite lines in the game). And finally, you can attempt to romance the local and foreign ladies by selecting the correct pick-up line.

There’s also a ton of content to flesh out the silly bits. Here’s a quick rundown of some of Way of the Samurai 4’s features:

• Replay, replay, replay – 10 endings, multiple branching story paths, unlockables…
• Customization – Weapons, appearance and fighting style can all be tailored to your exact liking. There are literally thousands of combos you can make with the weapons available (heck, you can wield a fish if that’s been an unfulfilled dream of yours), 150+ accessories to decorate your samurai with and the more endings you get, the more options you’ll get, like making your avatar a female. Or super-deformed. Or blue.
• Night-Crawling – Navigate the torrid waters of love in Amihama and then meet your paramour for a night of revelation. If you can beat the other guy in the room trying to do the exact same thing (race of love?!).
• Duelists – The game has a cool semi-online feature where other players’ samurais will be uploaded into your game as a computer controlled enemy for you to challenge and vice-versa. If you beat them, you get to claim their stuff.
• Dojo – You can take over and run the local dojo in Amihama… and fill it by beating people up and forcing them to be your students.
• Fishing – Anywhere there’s water pretty much is potential fishing grounds.
• Casino – Buddy up to the foreign consulate and unapologetic hedonist, Jet Jenkins and you’ll get to try your luck at the tables.

So as you can see, this isn’t a title that takes itself too seriously. Things happen in this game. Wonderful things, terrible things, things you can’t unsee…

…but it’s all in good fun, and well worth multiple playthroughs to fully explore the game’s grit and absurdity in equal parts. I hope you’ll give it a try.

Say WotS?! You heard me right! Spike and Acquire’s Way of the Samurai 4 is confirmed for release in North America on the PS3, and we at XSEED Games are pleased to be bringing it to you fully uncut and uncensored. Torture chambers, naughty midnight missions in the dark and all the brutal slaughtering you can handle await in this riveting and 100% historically accurate (shhhh!) sandbox-style samurai period drama.

Admiral Perry has just opened Japan’s borders to the British, allowing for a long-overdue globalization process to begin. Unfortunately, one of the open ports happens to be a modest Japanese burg called Amihama, where a resistance group known as the “Disciples of Prajna” have taken up arms against the arriving foreigners and all who support them.

As a lone samurai who’s just arrived amidst the chaos, it’s up to you whether you want to join forces with the Prajna resistance, fight alongside the foreigners in the name of progress or take your stance somewhere between the two by supporting the local government’s attempts to quell the violence (through any means possible).

…Or you could just hit on all the local women, deck out your samurai in wildly anachronistic (and highly customizable) gear, murder and deceive your way into positions of power, learn English and schmooze with the foreigners, or while away your time in the Eastern-style gambling den or Western-style casino.

You have complete freedom to play the game however you wish, and the possibilities are certain to defy your expectations — often in a nearly surrealistic manner!

For the man who’s always looking to thrust his sword into something new and different, Way of the Samurai 4 delivers. Never the same game twice, this is historic fiction at its best. Viva la WotS! Banzai!

(Oh, and we don’t have a release date or pricing info for you just yet, but we will soon. Stay tuned!)

Well, the day has finally come. We’ve talked about the many ways to play Sumioni: Demon Arts and gone into great detail on how the game perfectly complements the PS Vita’s many unique features, but now it’s time to see for yourself just how addictive it truly is.

Sumioni: Demon Arts is an exclusive PS Vita action platformer from Acquire and XSEED Games that taps into PS Vita’s powerful touchscreen. Using your finger, you’ll be able to draw bridges to cross dangerous obstacles, summon thunderclouds or sacred lions to attack enemies, and much, much more. Sumioni will be available to download for $19.99 later today on PlayStation Store. Or, if you’re feeling lucky, listen to the latest PlayStation Blogcast now and submit a user tip or user question, then tune in later this week to see if you won a free download code for the game.

Still not convinced? Check out the game’s official North American website for gameplay descriptions, screenshots, videos, music, wallpapers and more. This is our first foray into the wonderful world of the Vita, and we’re extremely excited to see how well it’s received. So go forth, loyal masses! Go forth and paint! Just be sure you take some time to let us know what you “ink” once you’ve had a chance to “draw” some conclusions.

So PS Vita is officially out! Many of you are probably holding it in your hands right now, basking in that “new system smell” and lovingly polishing that beautiful screen to a glossy sheen. I know I am!

Still, PS Vita is dauntingly new and different from what I’m used to as a gamer. The touchscreen and the rear touch pad are like strange creatures to one such as I, having played mostly PSP titles since 2006. Even brief stints with other touchscreen devices couldn’t have hoped to prepare me for the subtle sensitivities and nuances of PS Vita – to say nothing of the way it harmoniously mixes its multi-touch functionality with traditional analog stick and button controls.
As more and more PS Vita games utilize these unique features (and game designs get more and more complex and challenging in the process), learning to switch between analog controls and touchscreen actions on the fly, or learning when and how to get the most out of the rear touch pad, will become absolutely essential to your gaming survival.

And that’s where Sumioni: Demon Arts comes in.

Due for release in North America next month, Acquire and XSEED Games’ Sumioni: Demon Arts is a 2D action/platformer with a classical Japanese setting and a general theme of using ink to thwart your enemies’ nefarious plans. And although your main character is controlled primarily through the left analog stick and action buttons, Sumioni also makes use of PS Vita’s touchscreen and rear touch pad in ways quite unlike any other title currently available or planned. And let me tell you, it really is a gratifying experience to walk with the left analog stick upon platforms you’re literally painting into existence on the fly, or to stand still for a mere moment amidst hellish chaos to restore vast quantities of “ink power” by furiously stroking the rear touch pad with every available finger. And don’t even get me started on how fun it is to set enemy pagodas ablaze with your pointer finger alone!

Sound a little too complicated for you? Well, take it from someone who’s always shied away from touchscreen gaming in the past: it’ll become second nature to you in no time, and you’ll have an absolute blast with it to boot. Not only will Sumioni: Demon Arts help get you used to the feel of Vita gaming in general, it may just help you get really good at it, too! In my opinion, no other game in PS Vita’s launch window library combines traditional and new control schemes quite so effectively. If any game can make a PS Vita master out of you, surely this is the one.

So make sure you’re ready for action next month! And if you don’t have PS Vita yet… well, what are you waiting for? It’s a truly amazing system, and you won’t be able to play Sumioni: Demon Arts without it!

Before you stands a tower, and upon that tower stands an angry bowman, shooting wave upon wave of arrows in your direction. He’s far out of reach, and the tower completely blocks your path, so you’re forced to deal with this situation in order to proceed – but how do you go about it?

You could always hack at the tower’s support structure with your sword, wearing it away bit by bit until the whole thing comes tumbling to the ground…but that might take a while, and the bowman would be shooting you in the head repeatedly the whole time. Maybe you’d be better off taking out your paintbrush and drawing a sloped platform up, over and around the tower, creating a bridge to guide you past it safely. Or perhaps you could set the tower (and its occupant) ablaze, or spawn a lightning-spewing thundercloud above it and let Mother Nature handle the rest.

Or, if you’re feeling particularly frisky, how about summoning a phoenix or a sacred lion and directing it to spew waves of holy energy at the tower, instantly reducing it and any threats beyond it to ashes?

In the world of Sumioni: Demon Arts, an ink-themed 2D action platformer coming to the PS Vita this spring, any or all of the above solutions lie at your fingertips. As long as you have enough ink stored up, you can enact endless miracles upon your environment. Need to cross a bed of spikes? Use the touchscreen to draw a platform over them. Flames coming toward you? Douse them with water – and try to time it so the steam this produces burns an enemy soldier.

There are many ways to overcome virtually any obstacle in your path, and most of them make judicious use of PS Vita’s beautiful touchscreen. Should you find yourself too low on ink to employ these features, you can always create more by furiously rubbing the rear touch pad with every available appendage – but of course, you’ll be left defenseless while doing so, so timing these ink-padding sessions is of the utmost importance.

At the end of most stages stands a tall pagoda, from which enemy agents emerge endlessly. It must be destroyed, but not only is it built of sterner stuff than the many watchtowers dotting the land, it also comes equipped with cannons, automated razor arms, flamethrowers and other nasty surprises that won’t make the going particularly easy. But then, you have ink, fire, water and enormous, godly familiars at your disposal, so no one can accuse you of rushing into battle unprepared!

Sometimes, you’ll encounter an enemy who’s simply out of your league and you’ll have no choice but to outrun it. In these situations, you’ll need to use your considerable arsenal of inky abilities to circumnavigate obstacles and enemy fire ASAP, lest you wind up as paste beneath a gargantuan demon’s ugly big toe.

And other times, you’ll be tasked with hunkering down in an open field and fending off waves of hostile attackers, awaiting the opening of an inevitable escape route that always seems another few seconds off.

Sumioni: Demon Arts is developed by Acquire (of Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls and Class of Heroes fame) and will be released on the PS Vita in North America as a launch window title through XSEED Games (yay, us!). Fun, fast, frenetic and fetching, the traditional Japanese “sumi-e” ink art style perfectly augments Sumioni’s fluid animations and diverse gameplay, giving it a one-of-a-kind look and feel on a one-of-a-kind system.

So next time you’re surrounded by deadly foes, just remember: Always bet on ink!

We love to be scared. There’s something so primal and universal about fear, and a good horror story can really bring out the best of it, making our hearts race and our minds veer toward the darkest recesses of the human psyche. And we just keep going back for more!

Yet by the same token, horror has become so passe that we barely even react when we encounter imagery of skeletons, zombies, witches, bats, vampires and ghouls. True primal fear is hard to come by in the modern world, and this applies to video games as well. When you hear the term “horror game,” what’s the first thing that pops into your mind? Probably “zombies” since that seems to characterize much of the horror genre nowadays. Most modern horror games assault you with wave after wave of zombies, and you can typically one-shot them back to their graves. They may look scary, but when’s the last time you were actually frightened in a zombie shooter game? Maybe you had an exciting time playing one, and jumped at a handful of startling moments, but the mere fact that you’re able to defend yourself – that you have a means of fighting back – makes just about every entry in the genre less horror than action.

In many ways, classic Japanese horror is much purer. For movies, think The Ring or The Grudge. For games, think Clock Tower or Haunting Ground. They’re all about unavoidable, inevitable death. You can run, but you can’t not die. You have no weapons. Your foes are immortal. All you can do is struggle in vain to survive, and pray that each door you open – each corridor you traverse – isn’t your last.

Most of each of the aforementioned movies and games achieve true terror through sheer anticipation. You know something horrible is lurking nearby… but you have no idea when or where it will strike. When nothing happens for an extended period of time, your anxiety grows until you reach that point where you begin to think you’re out of the woods. And then — BAM! — that’s when it hits you.

Corpse Party is one such horror experience. It plays out like the best of Japanese horror films, locking your nine main protagonists in an inescapable, otherworldly school building where vengeful spirits seek to end their lives in the most grisly, inhuman ways imaginable – all the while directly infiltrating their minds to drive them to paranoia, madness and suicide. The longer your characters stay in Heavenly Host Elementary School, the more utterly exhausted, certifiably insane and ravenously hungry they become, causing students to turn against one another, resort to cannibalism, hang themselves or simply suffer nervous breakdowns. Death is inevitable.

Any hope of rescue becomes less and less likely with each passing second, causing some to resign themselves to their fates and simply accept the first chances at sweet release that come their way – which usually take very unpleasant and deeply disturbing forms.

Make no mistake, there is a way out – for some, anyway. But finding it takes more time than you have, and more effort than you can reasonably expect most high schoolers to muster under such ludicrously taxing circumstances. There will be casualties, no matter what choices you make. The question is, how many will live, and how many will die? With over 20 endings (most of which are aptly-named “wrong ends”), you can expect to see (and hear) every single character in the game suffer greater cruelty than you’d ever considered possible… and try as you might to be disgusted, you will be morbidly intrigued. These deaths are so creatively sadistic, so drawn-out and convincingly acted, that you’ll hang on your unfortunate protagonists’ every knell – and will never forget the horrors to which you are subjected.

Oddly enough, Corpse Party’s 16-bit-style 2D visuals contribute to the terror. This visual style provides a sense of distance between you and the characters under your control, which has a rather chilling consequence. Effectively, you’re given more than adequate visual feedback to comprehend the exact situation that’s occurring, but since most everything is shown through animated character sprites, you’re left with the task of envisioning the gory minutiae on your own. And as any true horror fan can tell you, the human mind is capable of imagining pain and torment far more potent than anything a screen can display.

Sound plays a major role in this as well. Every line of dialogue is expertly voice-acted in Japanese, and many of these lines were recorded binaurally – using two microphones instead of one, to create the illusion of a 3D soundscape. Play with headphones, and you may suddenly hear the spirits of long-dead children whispering directly into your ear. Some scenes relish in killing the lights, too, playing out entirely through squishy, unsettling noises and screams of indescribable agony that sound all too believable.

Corpse Party is scheduled for release on the North American PlayStation Store this November as a PSP download. We’re sorry to have missed Halloween, but we wanted to make certain everything was perfect before unleashing this demon upon the English-speaking world.

If you’re a fan of true horror, Corpse Party will most definitely be worth the wait. But do prepare yourself: This is no hayride.

So you’ve taken an interest in Corpse Party, have you? Perhaps you were intrigued by the launch trailer, or laughed at the name when you saw it mentioned on your favorite gaming news site (or hilarious webcomic?). Perhaps you’re a fan of survival horror games, or visual novels, or point-and-click adventures… or perhaps you simply enjoy Japanese horror movies like The Ring and The Grudge, and are always looking for your next fix.

Regardless of why you’ve taken an interest or how you got to this blog, there’s one thing that most likely holds true: You have very little idea what Corpse Party actually is.

Our launch trailer focused on the most important aspects of the game – those being its unsettling atmosphere and its dark-as-night storyline – but did very little to indicate exactly how it’s played. So, let’s dig a little deeper and find out exactly what horrors await, shall we?

In the broadest terms, Corpse Party is a horror adventure game. You play as an ensemble cast of seven senior high school students, one junior high school student and one senior high school English teacher. The game’s story is split into five chapters, each of which focuses (more or less) on one particular subset of these characters as they explore a haunted, otherworldly elementary school in an attempt to find some way out without dying or losing their minds. Their efforts are thwarted at every turn not only by those responsible for this ethereal school’s existence, but also by the vengeful spirits of other students just like them who were drawn into this dimension against their will and met with unfortunate (and usually quite gruesome) ends.

Many have posited that Corpse Party plays out like a visual novel, but that’s really not the case. While some scenes (such as the unlockable “Extra Chapters”) consist purely of dialogue-driven cinematics, most of the game is fully interactive, allowing you to walk around and explore Heavenly Host Elementary as you see fit, carefully examining objects and piecing together the sordid history of the school at every turn. There’s no combat, per se, but you are often confronted by hostile paranormals or potentially fatal environmental hazards and must make decisions on where to go, how to proceed or what to say. The wrong decision will either immediately or eventually lead you down a path toward one of the game’s vast multitudes of “Wrong Ends,” or bad endings – generally long, drawn-out and meticulously detailed death scenes brought to life through a combination of 2D sprite animation, full-screen art stills, meaty, squishy sound effects and high-quality Japanese voice-acting (recorded binaurally to create the illusion of 3D sound, making headphones an absolute must!).

Occasionally, you’ll find yourself being chased by a malevolent spirit (or two, or three), and the game never makes it very easy to get away. You’ll often need the perfect blend of dexterity and innovative thinking to survive these ordeals – not just running for your life, but also trying to find some way of escaping a room that really, really doesn’t want to let you leave. In one such instance, getting caught by your pursuer means being shoved into a shallow grave and slowly buried alive as you listen to one of the game’s strongest characters suffocating and retching under endless shovelfuls of dirt, begging for his life for almost five solid minutes before the last gasp of breath escapes his mouth and the “Wrong End” music plays. Wrong, indeed!

So no, this is definitely much more than a visual novel. Though Corpse Party’s gameplay ultimately exists as a vessel for telling an intensely creepy, gory and unsettling mystery story, there’s always something new to see, some new psychotic spirit to escape or some new puzzle to solve. And with over 80 corpses of your predecessors to find, three proper endings to achieve and a whopping twenty-four “Wrong Ends” to witness (and believe me, morbid curiosity will make you want to see them all, even if they’re hard to watch!), you’ll surely be scarred for life long before you ever put this game down.

Watch for its release in the PlayStation Store this fall… and prepare to sleep with the lights on for a while (not that it’ll help!).

Man, what can you say about Wizardry? I’m not even sure where to start. Few game series have as long and storied a history as Wizardry, which is the same age as Mario and helped inspire entire gaming genres. Much has changed in this series over the years, but the base formula has remained the same: create your avatar, hire some help at the local guild, accept a quest or two, then crawl through a seemingly endless maze of corridors, traps, treasure chests and secret passageways… all in glorious first-person 3D!

But do mind the monsters. Everything from adorable Vorpal Bunnies to giant dragons, to a demonic face made out of corpses is traipsing through these same cavernous depths, always just around the next corner. Once you’re spotted, it’s time to fight – and if you’re not strong, clever or fast enough to take them down, you’re going to wind up as a spot on the wall – like all the others.

In the end, it comes down to tweaking your stats, finding or buying new equipment, keeping track of your whereabouts, exploring thoroughly and strategizing like there’s no tomorrow. Think Etrian Odyssey, or Dark Spire, or… well… Wizardry!

There are 10 main characters to choose from, consisting of male and female alternatives for each of the game’s five races, and each of them has a unique personality and an individual story arc to offer. After picking a character, you’re given an opportunity to choose an alignment (Good, Evil or Neutral), allocate points to various stats (Strength, Vitality, Agility, Luck, Intelligence and Piety), then pick your class.

As series fans know all too well, these are not arbitrary decisions in the slightest. Alignment determines which classes you can play and which existing guild recruits will be willing to join your party (as you might imagine, Evil and Good don’t get along too well). And class is absolutely paramount, with vastly different gameplay strategies required — both in and out of battle — depending on the class makeup of your dungeon-farers.
Let’s take a quick look at this game’s 10 main characters, and see if we can determine which would be the best choice for you!

Human (Chris or Odetta)

Humans are well-balanced, given them easy access to every base class. Starting adventurers may find it easiest to begin with someone like Chris or Odetta, whose stats are so well-rounded that they’ll never come up short in any endeavor — even if they also never truly excel. Personality-wise, Chris is rather acerbic. Having been wronged one too many times, he’s essentially become impatient and untrusting in his dealings with others. And Odetta, ironically, proves that Chris is right to doubt others, since her motives are anything but pure.

Elf (Verne or Lind)

Elves, like humans, are balanced enough that any base class is available to them right from the start. Unlike humans, however, the distribution is not completely equal, giving them a slight edge in Intelligence and Piety (qualities befitting a magic-user), and a tiny nudge in Agility and Luck as well (qualities befitting a Thief).

Personality-wise, Verne is a stoic, serious individual with Vulcan-like logic and a constantly cool head. He’s devoted his life to study, and seeks only the funding to further his intellectual pursuits.

Lind has embraced her darker side, and seeks fortune above all else.

Dwarf (Pegma or Nia)

With high Strength, Vitality and Piety from the start, dwarves make excellent Fighters or Priests – though their low base Intelligence, Agility and Luck make them unlikely choices for the job of Mage or Thief.

Personality-wise, Pegma is unusual in that he possesses a cool head and an intellectual bent — qualities more befitting of an elf. Nia, too, defies the dwarven stereotype by maintaining a constant optimistic outlook and friendly, social demeanor. Having lost her memory, she’s chosen to become an adventurer in the hope that someone might recognize her and give her some clue about her mysterious past.

Gnome (Erno or Dia)

Boasting sky-high Intelligence and Piety, gnomes are extremely well suited to becoming Magic-users, yet extremely unsuited for almost any other job. Unlike the other races, gnomes with Good alignment are readily able to begin the game as Bishops – an advanced form of the Priest class – due to their astoundingly high Piety.

Personality-wise, Erno and Dia are very much alike: They’re both naturally Good individuals with high intellect and a desire to succeed. Erno, studying to become a first-class Mage, has taken up adventuring to fund his schooling; whereas Dia, a seminary graduate, has taken up adventuring to gain real-world experience before attempting to secure her desired spot in the local clergy.

Porklu (Boris or Asche)

Natural-born masters of subterfuge, porklu have excessively high agility and luck, making them absolutely ideal Thieves. Their other stats are quite low, however, so the Thieves’ ability to hide in the shadows may fast become an essential survival skill. Still, every good party needs a Thief, and no race is better suited to that role than the porklu.

Personality-wise, Boris is astonishingly social and comes across as a likable and fun individual, having made a living as a knife-juggler. Asche is much shyer than her male counterpart, rarely uttering a word. She responds to almost any question simply by nodding or shaking her head. This shyness largely comes from her previous occupation – that of pickpocket, where socializing is not a particularly useful trait – but she’s resolved to change her ways and make a more honest living from now on.

No matter which starting character you choose, you’re guaranteed a long, treacherous, intriguing adventure into the depths of the earth, filled with mysteries, puzzles, traps and monsters both big and small. If you’re looking for a game to suck you into its meaty atmosphere and never let you go, Wizardry may be just what the doctor ordered.

So consider your options carefully, choose your protagonist wisely, and do whatever you can to survive the trials that await you. This is the Labyrinth of Lost Souls, after all. Getting a little lost within is simply par for the course…

Trails in the Sky will release on both PSN and UMD on March 29th for $29.99. The UMD version of the game comes in both a Standard and Limited Edition package. The LE will contain a soundtrack CD, a 13-inch by 19.5-inch poster and a Bracer Guild replica metal badge for the suggested retail price of $39.99.

For more information and/or facetious musings join us on Facebook and Twitter!

Salutations, readers. My name is Jessica Chavez, and I have worked on such delights as Half-Minute Hero and Rune Factory: Frontier, and inserted something salacious about Pikkards into Ys I&II. I also toiled for months on the enormity that is The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which hits the PSP on March 29, and I shall tell you about it today.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (also known affectionately as “TitS” thanks to the tender caress of the internet) is an RPG that was first released in 2004 for the PC. It gained fame and notoriety on the computer circuit by virtue of being both massive and the first 3D iteration of its kind within the Legend of Heroes series. Fast-forward to 2011 and you now have a PSP version crammed with all the original goodness, polished to a blinding sheen and accented with newly added battle voices. There’s also one crucial addition that is very relevant for you, the reader: those ~1.5 million characters of Japanese have since been put through the translation grinder. Trails in the Sky is ready for its Western debut.

Which brings me to you, the buyer. How will you know if this is the game for you? Let us count the ways…

1) The script for the game was so huge that the translation/editing process straddled 3 separate years (November 2009 to February 2011), which translates to a) employee dementia and b) some serious value for your money.

2) You will travel this huge, detailed world and bludgeon things to death.

3) The dismembered body parts of your foes are great for cooking.

4) There are no random encounters.

5) You do not need to grind, but if that pleases you, you may mill your little heart into tiny, tiny stats.

6) There is a sizeable and painstakingly crafted plot under all those text windows.

7) There is a rotating 3D camera function, and holding either the L or R buttons for prolonged periods of time will make any secondary parties that are watching quite motion sick (I have tried this and enjoyed their suffering; you will too).

8) The soundtrack was composed by the Falcom Sound Team JDK

9) You get to go fishing.

10) A select few NPCs will say unexpected and offensive things. Please enjoy them.

11) There is a dictionary… for cats.

12) There are several in-game books and one very, VERY long novel.

and finally,

13) There is a bath scene.

Anyway, between all the unfolding plot points and dungeon crawling, you have rock-solid gameplay and a virtual interactive novel. As our in-house Falcom fanboy has said before, “It strikes a nice balance between hardcore and accessible, and as long as you don’t mind a game that’s about 70% narrative and 30% action, I guarantee you’ll be hooked.” He’s also said that Dinosaur Resurrection is the pinnacle of gaming, but I think he’s right on this one.

Trails in the Sky will release on both PSN and UMD on March 29th for $29.99. As mentioned above, there will also be a Limited Edition package which will contain a soundtrack CD, a 13-inch by 19.5-inch poster and a Bracer Guild replica metal badge for the suggested retail price of $39.99.

For more information and/or facetious musings join us on Facebook and Twitter!

*Bracer badge, soundtrack and poster are all Limited Edition bonus content