get the copy back from him.
Thanks, And I actually have the game digitally, so that's not an issue. I just gave him the physical copy I was going to sell. But I tested this out last night with my brother and it worked pretty well. My sister, however, after walking her through setting up an account for her son, realized her internet connection was bad. We're going to try setting up a LAN connection tonight, so I'm hoping it works so we can connect.
na, the distance is not the issue. after all when we play games online it's with people all over the world ain't it
it will likely have sold about half of what the PS3 did by fall. i kinda wish they werent doing this well bc if there was more competition, they'd be more pressed to satisfy the userbase and be less complacent, like MS has been (which unfortunately hasnt worked as well)
Yeah really motoring now. A few more years of sales like that and they'll probably be getting up to lifetime PS4 sales expectations prior to the X1's self-sabotage!
Beta begins today on PlayStation 4.
NIS America has released a new trailer for Grand Kingdom introducing the game’s online system.
An online beta for the game also begins today. It includes access to four character classes (Fighter, Hunter, Witch, and Medic), two complete quests from the single-player campaign, and three online war battles per day.
Users who participate in the beta will be able to keep their save file, including their squad members and mercenary money, for the full release. However, the online war scenario will be completely reset.
Grand Kingdom is due out for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita both physically and digitally on June 21 in North America and June 17 in Europe.
Watch the trailer below.
[YT]Uml5ecb5-Po[/YT]
Read More
PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Clips, Grand Kingdom, MonoChro, NIS America, RPG, Spike Chunsoft, Trailers
The Grand Kingdom beta doesn’t give participants access to all 13 characters. You can make new fighters, hunters, medics, and witches. While that is a little restrictive, you can do quite a bit with what you’re given, especially since each one of the party members learns some pretty helpful and powerful abilities within the first few levels. If someone’s coming around every day of the beta, they could easily get their band of mercenaries to at least level seven.
People will want to use their Fighter as a damage dealer and tank. He can guard at any time after moving and attacking, putting up a defensive front. This can be worn down, depending on how many action points he had when he assumed the guard stance. Seeing as how his Auto Guard stance kicks in after using up all his actions, this may not be very long. Of his attacks, I find Sword Pierce most helpful, as it deals 50% more damaged to ranged units and the Fighter can easily run up to those back-row units.
While many of his attacks are actions that will chain together in a combo, he has two exceptionally helpful support skills. My fighter had the innate ability Heal Cure. Once you start heading into War skirmishes, you’ll come across other players with Hunters and Medics that have attacks that can poison. Heal Cure heals any status effects when the Fighter is healed. He also has a Self-Heal ability that restores 20% of his own HP. Both do a wonderful job of keeping him safe.
The Hunter has been, for me, Grand Kingdom’s clean-up unit. Mine was rather slow, so he’d always act after every other member of the party. He’d always be either stopping a mage’s spell or defeating an enemy someone else failed to finish off. Since he has Friendly Fire, which keeps allies’ attacks from damaging him, I always paired him with the Witch. They could swap positions back and forth on the field, and if she accidentally hit him with Lightning, it’d be fine.
He also has two skills that are fantastic for last minute saves. One is Poisoned Arrow. This, predictably, inflicts damage and may poison. I recommend it against any non-Fighter unit, since it might not penetrate a Fighter’s Guard. The other is Charge Hunting, which is fantastic against Witches. (Or any unit charging an attack, to be honest.) It halts the charge and increases dealt damage by 80% when you use it on a character preparing for an attack.
Grand Kingdom’s Medic is my favorite character, mainly because she’s well rounded and so utterly annoying. She’s great for both attacking and supporting. When attacking, her Acid Throw and Poison Throw are amazing. Both are arcing attacks, so she can stay protected behind another row of allies and still deal damage. They also have an area of effect. It’s wonderful.
She’s also perfect for keeping people healthy and unhealthy. Her Heal Potion, if executed just right, has an area of effect that could heal her and the unit ahead of her, or two units in front of her. Her Attack Mist increases the attack of anyone who walks over it. That works on allies and enemies though, so it’s best to use around your own units. She can also boost the team’s resistances with Resist Zone and send out a Poison Mist that blocks off a spot in the lane and poisons anyone who walks through it. Medics are plain wonderful.
Finally, there’s the Witch. She’s a character that actually makes for a pretty good leader, provided she knows Troop ATK Up. That means everyone’s attack is increased by 5% when she’s leading the assault. She’s great thanks to her devastating spells. While Lightning takes a few turns to charge, the generic Fire Spell is great for bouncing enemies around and dealing substantial damage. I also like her Enemy Profiling, a support skill which reveals a random enemy’s skills.
In fact, the Witch works really well as a crowd control unit in the Grand Kingdom beta. Her Flame Mist sets a small portion of the battlefield aflame. It’s not a bad idea to spend her first turn blocking off lanes, to punish anyone who tries to get close to her. I like to leave one lane clear, for the Fighter and Medic to use. It’s a pretty big help, especially when facing enemy units at a higher level.
You can do a lot with Grand Kingdom’s first four units. I’ve even seen a few parties in battles that have two Fighters, one Hunter, and one Medic, as well as one that had two Fighters and two Witches. While we don’t get as many options as we will in the full game, you can still prepare a pretty versatile group.
The Grand Kingdom closed PlayStation 4 beta begins today, May 3, 2016, and will run until May 10, 2016. The full game come to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Europe on June 17, 2016, then arrive in North America on June 21, 2016.
Read more stories about PlayStation Vita & PlayStation 4 & Grand Kingdom on Siliconera.
Tidbits from a new Weekly Famitsu interview.
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu has an interview with Kojima Productions boss Hideo Kojima and artist Yoji Shinkawa, who share some new insight into the studio and its upcoming PlayStation 4 console-exclusive game.
Get the tidbits below.Did you not want to take a break after leaving Konami?Thanks, Hachima Kikou.
Kojima: “I wanted to take some time off, but if I did that my life’s tempo would go out of wack and no one would forgive me. I’ll need about a year to warm up. We’re currently in the temporary office and have made only the logo and web page.”
Regarding the logo…
Kojima: “I can’t say anything yet, but there is a secret to the logo. It has a very cool body, and we even have plans to turn it into a figure.”
Why Kojima Productions is making its first title with Sony…
Kojima: “Offers came in from all over the world, but these places use a Hollywood system, and I don’t like doing detailed presentations. From there, I wondered who would put their faith in me with just a rough concept, and SIE was who I was looking for. We get quite a lot of freedom and they’re really easy to work with.”
Regarding the new game…
Kojima: “It’s an amazing game. We’re thinking about everything all at once, including the plot, characters, and game systems. Since certain parts are fairly new, we cannot help but experiment.
“While not to say that it’s open-world, users who enjoy today’s AAA games (The Division and Uncharted, etc.) will be able to easily enjoy it. When it is announced, you might think ‘that’s not that outstanding,’ but you’ll understand when you see it and play it. The genre is action.”
Regarding virtual reality…
Kojima: “I want to make something with VR, but right now we don’t have anyone. I think VR holds the key to game development.”
Shinkawa: “VR gave me a feeling that was close to playing Famicom around the time I was a kid. I absolutely believe that a new world is being born.”
Read More
PlayStation 4, Famitsu, Hideo Kojima, Kojima Productions
Grand Kingdom Director On Online Multiplayer And Making 2D Games. May 10, 2016 . 12:30pmTomohiko Deguchi worked with Vanillaware on Grand Knights History, and his more recent tactical RPG Grand Kingdom is releasing in the West next month. Siliconera spoke with the director who shared more on how the game started, what makes it different from Grand Knights History, and his two cents on developing 2D games.
What happened from after Grand Knights History was released to how Monochrome was created?
Tomohiko Deguchi: Upon leaving Vanillaware, I took plans for a new game to various different companies. Among those, I met Mr. Kazuhiro Watanabe of Spike Chunsoft, who had liked Grand Knights History. We hit it off and I was able to present the game design plans for Grand Kingdom to him. We started in a small office with just three people, our staff gradually increased, and finally we were able to complete Grand Kingdom.
It’s disappointing that Grand Knights History didn’t make it outside of Japan, especially since localization work began on it. How do you feel about Grand Kingdom coming to the West?
Having as many players possible play your game is a glorious thing for developers. Even though some time might have passed since the Japanese release, I’m extremely happy to be able to present this game to everyone in a more polished state.
Fantasy games typically begin with a world at war. How is the situation different with the Uldein Empire?
The Uldein Empire has already collapsed and the player, as they interact with each country and complete quests, will uncover the mystery behind its collapse. Furthermore, Grand Kingdom’s powerful story is divided among the Guild and each of the Four Great Nations; the Guild section specifically has a lot to do with the Uldein Empire.
Grand Kingdom has a variety of classes from the standard Fighter and Hunter, but there are a lot of unique classes like the Challenger, Dragon Mage, Shaman, and Blacksmith. How did you develop these classes to fit in with other characters in battle and how do they work?
Shamans sacrifice their allies in order to unleash powerful attacks. Blacksmiths are able to destroy objects in an instant and so on. Each class was created with the theme of the game in mind. Because of that, each unit is created to be especially powerful at one particular aspect of battle.
Both Grand Knights History and Grand Kingdom have asynchronous online multiplayer as a key feature. What inspired you to work with asynchronous online multiplayer and what did you want to do differently with Grand Kingdom?
There are two reasons that we decided to go with asynchronous online multiplayer:
For one, we wanted to have some sort of all “all players vs all players” PvP in the game. There are many games that have online features, but usually they max out at around 10 v 10 or so, and it’s difficult to make it so that all players are encountering the same situation at the same time. Therefore, we really wanted to challenge ourselves to make this possible.
The second reason is that I wanted to present a new idea to developers that would expand the idea of online play. Especially, when I started working on Grand Knights History, pretty much everything was synchronous online multiplayer, and I really wanted to prove that asynchronous was doable as well.
The basic thought process for the setup of Grand Knights History and Grand Kingdom is the same, but there are more elements of being able to compete or indirectly help someone else in Grand Kingdom.
How do you balance the gameplay so one side isn’t completely dominated and stuck in a position where they can’t come back?
For War Mode (the online portion), all players’ support effectiveness is determined by a vote and there are skills that can support other players. By skillfully using these two systems, the player can overcome a negative situation.
Also, the game is designed so that the outcome of War is decided in a short period of time. Because of that, victory or defeat is decided on a short time cycle so that players can regroup and get back into the action again quickly.
For aspiring artists out there, what are some tricks you’ve learned to making beautiful 2D artwork and animations like in Grand Kingdom?
I think that all creative works have their ideas in objects and feelings that actually exist. Therefore, I believe it’s important to carefully observe the real world around us.
Before Vanillaware there weren’t too many developers making high resolution 2D games, but now it seems like more developers are trying this style out. What do you think the future is for high resolution 2D games?
Compared with 3D, 2D development is evaluated as less costly, but in order to create higher quality animation there is a tendency for the cost of development to increase greatly. Because of that, I think that causes the greatest amount of headaches when the game actually ends up with the same development cost as a 3D game. In order for developers to handle this, I think they need to prepare more efficient development environments.
However, that’s just an issue that developers need to face and the more 2D games with high quality visuals are out there, the happier the players will be. As a player myself, I’m really looking forward to the future.
Grand Kingdom will release for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in North America on June 21 and Europe on June 17, 2016.
Read more stories about Interviews & PlayStation Vita & PlayStation 4 & Grand Kingdom on Siliconera.
