Riviera: The Promised Land (Atlus, GBA, 6/28)

[PDorr3]

Yesterday I found out about Atlus' new RPG Riviera, which is to be in stores on 6/29 (6/28 ship) for the GBA. This game was originaly released on the Wonderswan color in 2002 I believe, but its finaly coming to GBA. It includes hand drawn scenes, great character interaction, and a unique battle system.
Here is the official website http://www.atlus.com/riviera/ let us know what you think.

[philosophyst]

I think this was one of the games on the DVD that came with the most recent Nintendo Power. Check it out if you get NP.

[PDorr3]

let me also add that atlus has a tendency to make their games rare...so for all you gba collectors out there this is something to look out for, especialy being released after the ds is out.

[esquire]

I definitely plan on picking it up along with Atelier Iris on Tuesday.

[FantasiaWHT]

What kind of game is it exactly? With all the press I've read on it I couldn't figure out what the gameplay is like. Strategy RPG? Normal turnbased like Golden Sun?

[Xexyz]

From what I've gathered, it looks to be a dungeon crawler -_- with an isometric view. I haven't ehard about the battle system though. What's it like? Maybe it can interest me into picking the game up after all.

[Leroy]

The trailer is on the Nintendo Power DVD. Looks pretty cool, if it IS a dungeon crawler I'll buy it the day it comes out! I'm glad there are still really good games coming out for the GBA even though the DS is out now. This (maybe), Wario Ware Twisted, Sigma Star Saga and Rebel Star are on my "To-Buy" list this year.

The trailer had a lot of voice acting but it didn't really show if that was actually part of the game or just on the trailer.

[PDorr3]

OK it is a dungeon crawler, but one that is actualy exciting. From the videos I have watched there are plenty of scripted sequences throughout each dungeon, and the conversations are not boring, they are actualy funny, or very well written story sequences.
Based on people that have played it on WSC you go from town to dungeon, but they said it was quite fun because the story still unfolds during the dungeon crawling. YOu cannot backpace through your previous steps, and are often presented with more than one way to go. Instead of controling your character onscreen (like FF7) you do it more point and click style (like broken sword on gba) you are given diferent ways to select to go, or places you can target to inspect for items, and the best part is no sources have complained about this being a bland edition to the game.
From what I understand about the battle system is that each battle you get to choose 4 items to bring with you into combat, this makes for some very strategic battles as only some characters are good with certain items, and you will need to think about wether you want to bring in that oh so powerful sword or that helpful potion for curing.
There are also guages that sway in the tide of battle depending on each sides performance that will help do special powerful attacks, that I must say look great from the videos. Battles also have great animation, and actualy GOOD voice work.
The soundtrack is said to also be great, espcecialy the battle music which I love. All of this game is hand-drawn, including the backgrounds, and uses a similar presentation style of that of disgaea during scripted sequences.
It is said to be 30 hours long, and so far from what I have read the sources like the game, so I am looking forward ot this game alot.

Hope this help for those of you still wondering what this game will be like :)

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I've had mine reserved for a few weeks. I can't wait to play the game, the anime look was what interested me.

[segagamer4life]

it looks good, the video on the NP disk, was pretty convincing, I reserved my copy all ready... sweeeet.

[PDorr3]

im getting it regardless of reviews, the battle music is just too catchy!

[Damaramu]

Looks fun. I'll be picking this up as well.

[FantasiaWHT]

I'll play it at work tomorrow and let you know what I think :)

[maxlords]

Yeah, this was one game I HAD to preorder. I'll be picking it up with Atelier Iris on Friday :)

[SlayerOfFurbies]

this is the first time i've heard of this game

i've been starved of new rpgs for the GBA for a long time

now i have something to look forward to on the system

[FantasiaWHT]

Wow!

It's way neat!

At first it's quite confusing. Like the trend lately, the manual is barely helpful at all, and there is a LOT of stuff going on at the same time. But don't feel overwhelmed, because there's a story-driven walkthrough of all the major functions that works quite well.

I only played for about half an hour, but to describe the gameplay...

Basically, you move from room to room in a dungeon on a track. Each room you are in you are presented with different directions to go. You can also "Look" around the room via a command, and if there is something special to look at or do, you can go do it, but it costs you 1 "trigger point". Sometimes you're rewarded, sometimes you get hurt. You can also uncover new routes with these. Trigger points are limited, and you get them after fights based on how well you did.

Fights are based on standard dungeon crawlers, but have some great aspects. First, you can only bring 4 items, including weapons. But characters can use each others' weapons (with some limitations) and use different skills. For example, when your character uses his friend's sword, he casts Fire instead of swinging. Also you learn different overdrive techniques on different items, but you have to learn them before you can use them. (You learn them by using the weapon/item)

Seems really cool! I'll have to pick it up later, I'm rather broke after buying all my Saturn stuff hehe

[PDorr3]

well I played it for 4 hours so far, and I must say I am in no way dissapointed, infact its better then I had first anticipated. My main concern was the point that you do not control your character, but to tell you the truth it does not bother me at all, infact I like the scripted events when you examine a certain object, as sometimes you might haveto be ready for a quick mini-game.

Battles are also fun, and the 4 item strategy works well, as you use different items to teach different moves, as well as "level up" your characters stats once you master the item.

I really do like the practice mode, that lets you train your characters without having to use up the stock of your weapons. It is dissapointing though that some weapons can only be used 1-5 times in REAL battles, and the overdrive attack you learn fro mthose items are limited to those 1-5 times you can use it, until you find another to replenish your supply (and some seem very rare)

The stary is great, the characters have distinct personalities, and the dialog is written well.

My only complaints would be that the battles become sluggishly slow at times, dungeons become repetitive in the surroundings, items.....wear out (which does add to strategy though), so real leveling up for characters, minimal stats, ability to lose a good portion of those stats (failing mini-games), but none of these really hurt the game into non-playable status.

Overall a great little game, well worth it for fans of well done stories with great characters, or just someone that likes rpg's and wants something alittle off-track of what they arfe used to.

[Fuyukaze]

This game looks good, but as good as it looks I think I will have to pass. The thing is, there simply are to many great RPGs being released by atlus for me to get all the games I want from them. With the Shin Megami Tensai series and the Surgery game for the DS (dont even own one but damn does it look sweet!) I somehow doubt I will be missing it. I may regret it one day, but today I dont.

[FantasiaWHT]

I'm loving it. Have to agree with everything Pdorr said. The limited-use items don't bother me though.

My only real complaint is that the interface seems needlessly complex, and confusing, especially for what's essentially a point and click movement system. It takes way too many button presses to get the simplest stuff done. And a lot of times when you're presented with choices via conversation, it shows up so fast that you click right through it because you're hitting "A" to advance the text. There also doesn't seem to be a way to find out what a specific attribute of an item does when you're looking outside of a fight.

And for some reason hitting "B" during conversation makes them repeat the last thing they just said LOL strange....

Great game though, I'll definitely be picking it up at some time.

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm, another game I overlooked in order to get Cold Fear :(

[PDorr3]

There also doesn't seem to be a way to find out what a specific attribute of an item does when you're looking outside of a fight.

And for some reason hitting "B" during conversation makes them repeat the last thing they just said LOL strange....

Great game though, I'll definitely be picking it up at some time.

Go to the menu, items, battle items, and go to the item you want to know about and press R.

[FantasiaWHT]

There also doesn't seem to be a way to find out what a specific attribute of an item does when you're looking outside of a fight.

And for some reason hitting "B" during conversation makes them repeat the last thing they just said LOL strange....

Great game though, I'll definitely be picking it up at some time.

Go to the menu, items, battle items, and go to the item you want to know about and press R.

Right, but from that point you can't get a description of the effects of that weapon. In the battle screen itself, if you hit R, you get another screen that specifically describes those added effects. The ones that have numbers before them. What's the point of those numbers? I was guessing that there would be a list of them in the manual, but nope.

[PDorr3]

The reason they dont tell you the effects is because the effects change depending on which characters turn it is. For example, a rapier may have an effect for fia but low accuracy for ein.
And what numbers before the item are you talking about?

[Daria]

God damn.

I realized I should have picked up this game a month ago when it came out but I didn't have the money then and figured it could wait. Then I come to find that the game is sold out everywhere, online, offline. No one has it. I went to 7 different stores, and numerous websites. Amazon.com has it listed for seventy-five fucking dollars. Finally found a copy at kbtoys.com for $30 so all's good. But my god I've never had this much trouble trying to find a new game before.

Hope it's good.

[FantasiaWHT]

Pdorr, the numbers that show up before each "effect" Don't have it in front of me, but like "49: X-Avoid" or "31:Low Acc" stuff like that

[Mayhem]

@Daria - it's Atlus, you know by now, low producton numbers ;)

I've still got my copy here sealed, haven't had a chance to play it yet... but soon enough :)

[maxlords]

That's cause Atlus sold out of the first print run. Yes, FIRST :D Same thing that happened with Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. I talked to a customer service rep at Atlus last week and he told me that they've already got another print run being produced, but it won't hit shelves for at least another 2-3 weeks, maybe longer. They couldn't give me an exact date, but more WILL be available. Don't panic everyone! :D


God damn.

I realized I should have picked up this game a month ago when it came out but I didn't have the money then and figured it could wait. Then I come to find that the game is sold out everywhere, online, offline. No one has it. I went to 7 different stores, and numerous websites. Amazon.com has it listed for seventy-five fucking dollars. Finally found a copy at kbtoys.com for $30 so all's good. But my god I've never had this much trouble trying to find a new game before.

Hope it's good.

[Daria]

I've been extremely lucky I suppose, but I didn't have this much difficulty with Knights of Lodis or any other ATLUS release. I know they do small print runs, but I've still been able to pick up their games relatively close to their release dates.

[slip81]

I just picked it up today because Igfigured it was going to be hard to find and I didn't want to pay like $50 a few months from now.

Pretty cool game so far, I don't have a large GBA library and this will probably be the first title I play all the way through.

[Damaramu]

WoW. Is this game really that hard to find? I've seen it at 3 different stores within the last couple of days.