Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga

Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga
Developer(s) Nihon Falcom
Publisher(s) Nihon Falcom
Platform(s) PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)
  • JP: July 29, 2010
Genre(s) Fighting game
Mode(s) Single-player

Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga[lower-alpha 1] is a crossover fighting video game by Nihon Falcom containing characters from their Trails in the Sky and Ys series of video games. Similar to the concept of Super Smash Bros. or Final Fantasy Dissidia, the game involved players choosing a character and participating in two to four player fights against other characters. The game was released in Japan on July 29, 2010 on the PlayStation Portable, but was not translated or released in any English speaking regions.

Gameplay

Alternative Saga plays as a crossover fighting video game, similar in concept the Super Smash Bros. series of video games.[1] The game is also similar to the Final Fantasy Dissidia and Tales of VS games, where the player chooses a character taken from a JRPG series and directs them in a fight against other opponent characters.[2] However, unlike the aforementioned titles, Alternative Saga takes game's from two separate series of Nihon Falcom's - Trails in the Sky and Ys[2] - and is played from a 3/4 top-down perspective.[3][4]

The game contains a "Story Mode", where a single player play play through a series of battles, while experience story sequence in between battles.[3] Five separate difficulty settings are available - very easy, easy, normal, hard, and nightmare.[5] Additionally, local multiplayer between two and four players is also available via an adhoc connection between PlayStation Portable systems.[5] Battles may be played both competitively and cooperatively.[6]

Story

Characters

The game's roster of playable characters consists of eight characters from Trails in the Sky, eight characters from Ys, and one character from Trails in the Sky related series Trails to Zero.[7][8] From the Trails in the Sky side, there is Estelle Bright,[7] Joshua Astray,[7] Tita Russell,[9] Agate Crosner,[9] Olivier Lenheim,[9] Klose Rinz,[10] Renne,[11] and Leonhardt. From the Ys side, there is Adol Christin,[9] Dogi,[9] Elk, Mishera, Aisha,[9] Geis,[9] Cruxie, Chester Stoddart.[12] The lone Trails to Zero character is Lloyd Bannings.[8]

The game also employees a "support character" system, which entails choosing a computer controlled assist character who temporarily assists the character.[10] These characters not only come from Trails and Ys games, but also from the expanded The Legend of Heroes universe and just other Falcom developed games.[1][10] Some examples include Jurio and Chris from The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch,[10] Dela from Brandish,[1] and title character from the Gurumin series of games.[1]

Development

The game was first announced in November 2009, in an issue of Dengeki PlayStation.[4] The game was created due to Nihon Falcom's desire to make use of the PlayStation Portable's wireless adhoc local multiplayer function, something they had not been able to work into prior JRPG titles.[3] They also felt that both series, Trails in the Sky and Ys, while JRPGs, both had many themes in them related to fighting, that they felt lent to a natural transition to a fighting game.[3] Further details the following month showed that the game's engine was based on Ys Seven.[13] In March 2010, it was announced that the game would have full voice acting.[2] Additionally, the game's music was a combination of original compositions and new arrangements of songs from prior Ys and Trails games.[14] While most characters were pulled from Ys or Trails in the Sky, Falcom included playable character Lloyd Bannings and support character Ellie MacDowell of The Legend of Heroes VII in the game as well, to promote the game's then upcoming release of September 2010.[15]

The game was released on July 29, 2010 in Japan.[14] In addition to the standard version, a special limited edition was also release, which in addition to the game, contained the game's soundtrack, a Falcom "greatest hits" soundtrack of selected music from their game library, a special booklet of game information, and special card for a promotional Victory Spark trading card game.[14] Website Siliconera had speculated that the game would be a likely title for an English localization due to Xseed Games relationship with Falcom, Falcom's stated intention to focus further on Western markets around 2010, and the fact that the game would a smaller undertaking to translate than the typical text-heavy JRPG.[16] However, this did not happen, with XSeed instead choosing to focus on more mainline entries of the Ys and The Legend of Heroes titles in the 2010s.

Reception and sales

The game debuted at number 8 on the Media Create Japanese video game charts, selling 30,047 copies in its opening week,[17] and number 7 on the Famitsu charts.[18] The game was one of many in the release week that IGN cited as being drivers in PSP hardware as well, with the system itself doubling the sales of its prior week.[19] The game sold well enough to warrant a "Sony the Best" themed budget re-release a year later in July 2011.[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese: Īsu vs. Sora no Kiseki: Orutanatibu Sāga (イースvs.空の軌跡 オルタナティブ・サーガ)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Brandish Sorceress Guest Stars In Ys vs. Sora No Kiseki". Siliconera. 15 July 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "First Ys Vs. Sora no Kiseki Screenshots". Siliconera. 12 March 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The Crossover Action RPG Nobody Asked For: Ys vs Legend of Heroes". Andriasang.
  4. 1 2 "Falcom Making Ys vs. Legend of the Heroes Fighting Game". Siliconera. 25 November 2009.
  5. 1 2 "Blurry, But Actual Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Gameplay". Siliconera. 25 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Date Set for Ys VS Legend of Heroes". Andriasang.
  7. 1 2 3 "The Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki Roster Thus Far". Siliconera. 30 April 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Zero No Kiseki Leads Make Their First Appearance In Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki". Siliconera. 2 June 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Falcom Presents This Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Trailer". Siliconera. 29 June 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Two More Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Characters Revealed". Siliconera. 6 May 2010.
  11. ↑ "Ys VS. Sora no Kiseki Screenshots". Andriasang.
  12. ↑ "Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Trailer Hints At More Characters". Siliconera. 12 May 2010.
  13. ↑ "Falcom Shares Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki Illustrations". Siliconera. 17 December 2009.
  14. 1 2 3 "New Ys VS Sora no Kiseki PV". Andriasang.
  15. ↑ "Zero No Kiseki Hero and Heroine Debut in Ys vs Sora no Kiseki". Andriasang.
  16. ↑ "Are Xseed Publishing Falcom's PSP Games?". Siliconera. 21 March 2010.
  17. ↑ "Big in Japan July 26-August 1: Sengoku Basara 3, Project Diva 2". GameSpot.
  18. ↑ "Hatsune Miku Project Diva Tops the Charts". Andriasang.
  19. ↑ Gantayat, By Anoop. "PS3, PSP Surge in Japan". IGN.
  20. ↑ "Soul Calibur, Tekken, White Knight, Ys and more go budget next month". Andriasang.
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