Ben-DutkaThe PSP has always been home to a great many fine RPGs and now, it's time for the PlayStation Vita to follow suit.
Today, MonkeyPaw Games, Inc. in partnership with GAIJINWORKS, LLC has announced a new JRPG for both the PSP and Vita: It's Class of Heroes II , which will make its North American debut later this fall. It'll arrive as a digital release, and it'll be the first time gamers on this continent have been able to play the well-received sequel.
Featuring "significant gameplay tweaks and improvements," challenging quests, and "hundreds of equipment and skill combinations, this one should be catnip for JRPG aficionados. The game even boasts branching storylines, which means the replayability should be quite high. For those unfamiliar with the setting and style, Class of Heroes II is basically a dungeon crawler with a twist: All party members are drawn from a pool of students at the Sword and Sorcery School. And at the school there are ten classes: Novice, Fighter, Swordsman, Ranger, Monk, Ninja, Sorcerer, Puppeteer, Idol, and one Mystery Class.
Once you've got your recruits, you choose a quest and take off. You will face "epic encounters of up to 12 or more monsters at a time," where you'll have to manage your team's ranged and melee attacks appropriately. It sounds like great fun, doesn't it? JRPG fans must be agreeing… Said John Greiner, MonkeyPaw Games president:
"We’re committed to fulfilling our promise of bringing both Japanese import and classic experiences to the Western game community. Class of Heroes II is a shining example of the fine lineage of Japanese RPGs that need to see our shores. This series has been very successful in Japan and now our fans can play in an extremely well-done localization. We’re also very fortunate to have the full support of Acquire Corp. in publishing this elevated sequel to a vastly underrated dungeon crawler series."
Related Game(s): Class of Heroes II
Huh, just announced???? I remember sending 2 different articles with this info to PSXE about 3 to 4 months ago.
Anyways, if MP's first COH II does well, Monkey Paw & Gaijin Works also plan to do the whole COH series, plus localize & bring over many other "Japan only" RPG titles too, so this should be well become "Happy Days" all over again for all you RPG gamers.
I think the problem is the whole press release cycle…
As far as localizing other JRPG titles that have only ever appeared in Japan, I'm all for it. I've said again and again that all we need is the text to be in English (or French/Spanish/German/…). There's no need to alter the game in any way, just change the text.
I'll be picking this one up. Class og Heros is fun enough, but primitive, I believe that this game advances things a bit…
I bought the first Class of Heros, and many jrpgs, for my Vita. The second should be good too!
Yeah, I have a bunch on my Vita from the PSP. For example Fate Extra, Mana Khemia 2 and Crimson Gem. Crimson Gem should be the best, in theory at least, but I find it really doesn't cut it. I mean it's OK, but the story is very, very 'meh', and some of the voice acting is 'booooo…' as one of my friends would say (it's not very good). Fate is limited and initially simple because of the combat system, but I like it more than Crimson Gem. Of the three I mentioned Mana Khemia 2 seems to be best of all – yet it's probably the older of the games. There are others, and if Sony ever gets off their arse with certifying PSP games to run in the Vita PSP emulator and get far, far more PSP titles into that. It's ridiculous that all PSP downloadable titles are not 'certified' to work on the Vita emulation.
Wow, of all of the JRPGS, we get the dungeon crawler sequel?! Yup, it figures. While games I am dying to play like Knights Grand History can't even find a publisher.
Would love an HD vita remake of Brave Story: New Traveler.