Gamertell

YUKE’S Company of America and Atlus will be teaming up to bring Idea Factory’s strategic, card-based RPG Neverland Card Battles to North America. Come October, 2008, PSP owners will be able to pick up the title, which will also feature new cut-scenes, tweaked controls, ad hoc multiplayer card battles and optimized music and graphics. Neverland Card Battles is known as Cardinal Arc Portable in Japan, and is a port of a Japanese PS2 called Cardinal Arc: Konton no Fuusatsu.

In Neverland Card Battles, players take the side of Galahad, a Dominator who is collecting Spectral Cards so he can seal Hellgaia. A war has been raging in Neverland between the humans and demons, and Hellgaia could break free if the fight escalates. As Galahard, you try to collect territories and fight to make sure that doesn’t happen.

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Atlus is going to be bringing the strategic RPG Poison Pink to North America as Eternal Poison on November 11, 2008. The PS2 game is going to be a special edition release, with both the game and a CD soundtrack.

Eternal Poison looks like a highly customizable adventure. You begin the game by choosing one character from three possible choices as your hero/heroine, each with their own reasons for exploring Besek, a realm that is partway between the human and demon realms. So depending on who you choose to play as, you could be saving a Valdian princess, looking for revenge or trying to get famous. You also capture demons, both bosses and ordinary enemies, and recruit them into your own army as troops.

Click through for an Eternal Poison trailer…

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I knew it! I knew Atlus would step up and bring North America Luminous Arc 2: Will! It is bringing the DS strategic RPG as Luminous Arc 2 in November, 2008. In even better news, Atlus will be offering the same promotion with the translated version of the game that the Japanese version received - every copy of the game will come with a CD soundtrack. It will jack the price up $10, making the game $39.99, but at least you’re getting something special. IGN received the exclusive inside look at the game and the right to reveal the good news.

Luminous Arc 2 is a lot like Luminous Arc. There are witches, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection battles with other users and the ability to bond with characters after battles. Except Luminous Arc 2 expands on it all. Roland and his friends, from Carnava, are charged with going after the Shadow Frost Witch, who has left the Rev Magic Association and hunkered down in the forbidden land of Granend. It has more side quests, branching story options and multiple endings.

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Two sleeper hits from Konami and Atlus are coming to grace the US market this year with confirmed dates. Konami’s Time Hollow is slated for a late Summer 2008 release while Atlus’s Persona 4 is scheduled to appear on store shelves early December 2008.

Click through for an in-depth look at both releases…

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Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, the sequel to the original DS game Trauma Center: Under the Knife is now in stores and ready for purchase. The story of Trauma Center 2 picks right up from the first game - Dr. Derek Stiles and Angie Thompson R.N., along with the rest of Caduceus, are dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist virus GUILT.

I’m excited about the way the game’s been improved. Each surgery’s directives are much clearer and the tools supposedly work better. There is also an Easy-Play mode. Since I had trouble with the first DS games’ missions, and wasn’t able to finish, I’m definitely starting on easy.

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I love both Atlus and NIS, so I’m always pleased when the two companies collaborate. A recent announcement revealed that Atlus will be distributing NIS America’s three, upcoming RPGs. Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, Disgaea DS and Rhapsody: a Musical Adventure.

The first release will be Disgaea 3, on August 26, 2008. It is a PS3 exclusive of the latest entry in the wildly popular Disgaea series. It follows Mao, the best student at Evil Academy, where the worst student is the best. He decides he wants to be an overlord, but somehow misinterprets things and thinks he needs to become a hero to become an overlord. It will cost $49.99 and will also have additional, downloadable content later on.

Click through for information on Disgaea DS and Rhapsody DS…

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Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard gives fans of the original Etrian Odyssey exactly what they want - more. More mapping tools, more character classes, more enemies, more quests, more equipment - you get the idea.

In doing so, some things were also altered. Classes from Etrian Odyssey may not have the same skills or abilities in Etrian Odyssey II, forcing players to rethink parties that may have worked in the previous entry. So after a bit of research and experimentation, Gamertell came up with five potential parties that might be great for exploring the dungeon.

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Yggdra Union, the strategic rpg story of Princess Yggdra, the holy sword Gran Centurio and the thief Milanor and their battle to restore Fantasinia, is going to be resurrected. Atlus will be releasing the PSP port of the 2006 GBA game in North America, just like it did with Riviera: The Promised Land.

The battle system can be a bit complicated in Yggdra Union. You can only move all characters a certain number of spaces. Then you must choose which of the cards you have available for the unit to attack an opposing unit. You then watch your unit attack the other one. After the battle is finished, the winning unit’s morale is raised, and the losing unit’s morale is lowered. Like in Fire Emblem, certain unit types are strong or weaker than others, so you really have to think ahead.

Click through to watch Atlus’ official trailer for Yggdra Union......

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Anyone who has played the Gamecube or Wii versions of Mario Party know the potential for such a game to destroy friendships. So Atlus is using that fact as a selling point for it’s October 14, 2008 Wii and PS2 release, Dokapon Kingdom. Like Mario Party, Dokapon Kingdom is a party/board game, but at the same time it is a multiplayer RPG. It also features quite a few gameplay aspects that will make your best friends your fiercest rivals.

In Dokapon Kingdom, four players were asked by the king to save Dokapon and his daughter, Princess Penny. The winner gets to be the hero, and the losers only receive shame. So players set off to battle monsters, find items, level up their characters, attack their former friends, steal from other players and slander their opponents’ good names. 

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The Xbox 360 is going to enjoy strategic RPGs as long as Atlus is arround. Zoids Assault, a strategic RPG based on the Zoids toy/anime/manga. Players will command an army of Zoid mechs, which they can fully customize. The game, rated “Teen,” will be available in North America on August 26, 2008.

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