Guilty Gear 2: Overture released

[Raging Tofu]

Yes it's for my sewing, specifically the bias tape that I need to redo my Sol cosplay with. (I find what I used originally is really too wide, been meaning to replace it).

If I wasn't bogged down with work and college, I'd take a stab at them, but I know there are members here who are far better in translating Japanese than I am.

EDIT: Interview scans!

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[Tech Romancer]

No, no, trust me. I've got about as much interest in trolling on a board I've been happily visiting for three years as I've got with arguing with a stranger on a street corner (which is to say, no interest at all). I'm not speculating, just laying out the facts. You can make your own informed decisions, and I'll make mine.

The Maiden of the Grove has wings, ribbons, a connection with Ky, Gear Cells which resemble those of Justice, is speculated by an in-game character to be her backup, and was stated by Ishiwatari to be about 8-years-old. None of that is speculation.

Wait, wait. I don't deny that the connection seems pretty damn close, and ribbon and tail almost have me swayed, but I was reading up on the plot, and I found:

In Lightning the Argent, it is revealed that Dizzy is not the only self-aware Gear; there is a full-blooded Gear named Solaria, created by the Blackard Company for the purposes of taking control of Gears and using them as weapons. However Solaria was rescued from the Company and she is currently living freely under the auspices of the International Police (via Ky Kiske)

Also, in GGX Plus, one of Dizzy's endings had a slew of clones of her being made in a lab. Maybe this "Dizzy" isn't the real Dizzy? Or like above, its Solaria? Not trying to piss anyone off here, but just putting out some conjecture I was thinking of...

Also, admittedly my personal opinion about the storyline in overture is less than favorable (I don't really care one way or another about the game itself) and if there's people like me that also don't like it, there's always the chance its like the drama CD's and represents a timeline that occurs outside the game continuum, so we can just ignore it for the most part.

[Lou_Cypher]

I don't know about that....aren't the Dizzy clones mindless? If Ky made off with a Dizzy clone, wouldn't the implication of that be creepy? I'm talking about Crow/Dizzy here, definitely not what I want to see. *shudder*

[Tech Romancer]

I don't know about that....aren't the Dizzy clones mindless? If Ky made off with a Dizzy clone, wouldn't the implication of that be creepy? I'm talking about Crow/Dizzy here, definitely not what I want to see. *shudder*

Dunno. Just throwing it out there. On another note, perhaps Solaria is a dizzy clone, or maybe she is a clone of justice. That would allow her to be the command gear in the description, as well as have a tail and such. Dunno about the ribbons, but surely Dizzy can't be the only person who wears ribbons in the world. :/

Eh. I'm not really arguing against it, I'm wouldn't really doubt she's Dizzy, just wanna make sure we have all the bases covered. If its true, I hope its not canon - Dizzy X Ky? Please.

[Blade]

Guys, save that kind of speculation for the appropriate thread.

[Circuitous]

The Maiden of the Grove sketchwork, parts of it look like one of Dizzy's attacks (hunched over, wings straight up, blah). INTERESTING haha this bandwagon shit is fun. Also the cover of Volume 2 of the Overture OST... that's nice.

[Vulcan422]

Wait, That Man's hair is white?!

[Zazz]

as for actual game related stuff: i heard arc sys is bringing GG2 back to the TGS next week, so i hope they got some big DLC thing ready to be announced. why else would they bring back a year old game? maybe some new levels? i liked to see something more open with big wide fields or something. maybe the game would play more like an RTS if its less confined like most of the other stages

[Suzaku]

I think they *might* be planning to release a new version in Japan, or a DLC patch, at any rate. They were sorta promoting the English version on the Japanese website (release date, pricing, voice samples, trailers), and I guess they must've indicated that it would work in both North American and Japanse consoles, because they recently had to issue a notice that the English version wouldn't work on Japanese 360s. Not sure if that means they'd be adding actual extra features, or they'll maybe just include the English voice acting or set it up so people in Japan and the US can compete online. And of course, they might not be doing anything at all. It's not so weird to show off old games at game shows, especially when they didn't sell too well, and not many new games are being developed.

[sweetvids]

Y'know sweetvids, your continual use of "Spinzaku" is kinda rude. Regardless of what you define "speculation" as, at least have the decency to spell his name right. First time was cute, but the second time just makes it seem like you're the troll, ya get what I'm sayin'?

Maybe I was just speculating but it appeared that Spinzaku was trying to troll with I forgot common sense doesn't count for anything here. If something isn't explicitly stated, you have to walk around pretending to be oblivious. My apologies! So that was just my response to that. You can spout common sense all you want, but the fact is the japanese don't follow the traditions of common sense. There's lot's of examples. According to common sense, in an anime when someone gets engulfed in a purple ball of nuclear energy they tend to die right? Not the case.

I believe most anime forums use the word "theory".

As for TGS, Daisuke is heavily invested in GG2 so that's probably the main reason why it's even there. I honestly don't know why though since according to vgchartz the game's only sold about 10k copies since it's release.

:psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck:

[Sephi_hatu]

Well, from the Arcs standpoint, I'd be wanting to get as much GG2 exposure as possible. The game came out a while ago and the 360 is just now starting to pick up some steam in japan. Getting a larger installed base and such. It really doesnt hurt to promote it, especially when theres a possibility to sell more.

[sweetvids]

But as a business you have to see whether that investment is worthwhile or not. I don't know. I'm not Arcsys and I don't know how their financial strategists are doing things, but it just seems to be a not worthwhile investment. They're a company that caters to a very niche crowd and they don't make that much money in the first place so I'm just worried that they're going to make some bad choices and go under. If companies like Tecmo and Koei have to merge for the reason of "surviving" then what chance does a small time player like Arcsys have? :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck:

[CABINET SMASHER]

Given that ArcSys is being backed by Sega, I don't see that happening any time soon. They can afford one screwup, but they have to get their asses in gear and create something worth playing if they want the GG license to last. The original GG was a small success in a way that it presented a fresh perspective on fighting games, and, for all its faults, is still a good fighting game. ArcSys tried to recreate a similar success via GG2, but they didn't really need it, so I don't know how it's going to pan out from here. Sweetvids: While I hate hate HATE speculation, I don't really mind it when there's very strong evidence for it. It's really not the same as thinking Potemkin is Gabriel's brother, which will always be the dumbest line of speculation ever.

[Sephi_hatu]

But as a business you have to see whether that investment is worthwhile or not. I don't know. I'm not Arcsys and I don't know how their financial strategists are doing things, but it just seems to be a not worthwhile investment. They're a company that caters to a very niche crowd and they don't make that much money in the first place so I'm just worried that they're going to make some bad choices and go under. If companies like Tecmo and Koei have to merge for the reason of "surviving" then what chance does a small time player like Arcsys have?

:psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck:

This logic might work if Arc hadnt already spent however much on making the game. Andy price they spend to promote it at a trade show (along with all there other games) pales in comparison to that. They havnt made any money off of GG2 yet, so they need to do whatever they can to break out of the red on this deal. This would include promoting the game. Companies dont just say 'nope, bad investment', and take the monetary loss. They try to recoup it.

[sweetvids]

Even if SEGA is backing them up, SEGA has alot of other worthwhile games on their plate right now, to be bothered to fund GG2. Games like Bayonetta, Madworld, Valkyria Chronicles and even Sonic all warrant more attention than GG2. True that they probably haven't made any money off of GG2, but it's very unlikely that they will start to turn a profit since the franchise is a niche one to begin with. Sales have been abysmal on a system that only recently only been seeing surges in sales due to big titles like Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery, both of which are different genre than GG2. Companies do try to recoup loses, but they don't go about it by pushing a dead on arrival title. Arcsys isn't a big enough player to keep doing things at a loss like Sony or Microsoft. :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck:

[CABINET SMASHER]

Which is why we probably won't see GG2:X or GG3 for at least 3 years.

[Suzaku]

They've already developed the game (I'm sure there are tens of thousands of copies floating around in bargain bins in Japan), and I'm sure it won't cost much money to set up some demo stations or a repeating trailer at their TGS booth for the sake of promotion. It's also not like Arcsy has a hell of a lot to promote at TGS. This is a pretty common practice for TGS, lots of companies promote old games, sometimes games that are well over a year old. Fact is, that with the 360 gaining some momentum, setting up a few TVs and DVD players or a couple 360s to play the game on isn't going to make Arcsy go broke.

[Sephi_hatu]

Even if SEGA is backing them up, SEGA has alot of other worthwhile games on their plate right now, to be bothered to fund GG2. Games like Bayonetta, Madworld, Valkyria Chronicles and even Sonic all warrant more attention than GG2. True that they probably haven't made any money off of GG2, but it's very unlikely that they will start to turn a profit since the franchise is a niche one to begin with. Sales have been abysmal on a system that only recently only been seeing surges in sales due to big titles like Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery, both of which are different genre than GG2. Companies do try to recoup loses, but they don't go about it by pushing a dead on arrival title. Arcsys isn't a big enough player to keep doing things at a loss like Sony or Microsoft.

:psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck:

Im gonna make this my last post on the subject, since you seem to not understand the situation at all.

Arcsys has an ARCSYS booth. They're not in Sega's booth.

http://kotaku.com/5057218/whats-sega-bringing-to-tgs

Notice there are no Arcsys games on Sega's list. Arcsys has there own booth so OH SNAP they're filling it up with Arcsys games. GG2 isnt the only game thats being pushed.

Also, lets say you released, oh I dont know, ICO at a low point in a consoles lifespan and it didnt garner much sales. Then later on the installed base was larger and you thought you could make more money, so you promote it some more and MAKE MORE MONEY. Also see ZOE2. Also see Mario Kart DS. God knows that games been out for 2 years or so, but Nintendo still puts out ads for it occasionally (Ive seen them). You may argue that those are all better games, and your probably right. However, the principle of whats being done still stands. You want to sell a game to a market that wasnt there before so you let them know its there. Its that simple.

[CABINET SMASHER]

Oh, so they're pulling their own weight? Sweet.

[sweetvids]

You clearly misunderstood since my post in regards to Sega was towards Cabinet Smasher. Sega may be backing up Arcsys but that doesn't mean they really give a shit about them and they're busy with their own projects. So what I'm saying is that Arcsys may have a booth at TGS but they're funding it by themselves most likely since Sega has bigger fish to fry. Got me son? :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck:

[CABINET SMASHER]

Do you really have to have 8 fucking psyducks per post?

[DonMungMung]

Sephi makes a really good point 'bout videogames and promoting them. The money's already been spent on developing the game, and a few hundred, or even a thousand, bucks isn't gonna ruin Arcsys. Plus, there's been too many times where amazing games did poorly due to bad advertisement, or even just being released at the wrong place or wrong time.

With the 360 increasing in console sales in Japan, that's definitely a smart thing for Arcsys to promote GG2. I'm not sayin' it's gonna make a huge difference, but any coverage is good coverage.

I do hope they'll have some really good extras in either DLC they're savin' to announce for TGS. *crosses fingers*

Do you really have to have 8 fucking psyducks per post?

Didn't you know? There's been an unspoken rule stating that there has to be at least ten Psyducks per page. Sweetvids is just doin' his part.

:psyduck:

Nine and ten. Alright!

EDIT: D: Oh no, it's a new page~~~ Quick, sweetvids, save us!!!

[sweetvids]

I'd have mudkips if I could. :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck: :psyduck:

[theria]

This is the translation of the 50 Questions ("interview") asked to Daisuke Ishiwatari that is included at the end of the new Guilty Gear 2 Material Collection book. And as I didn't see it mentioned before, game-play voices for all characters (Master and Servant) are listed inside the book. And behind the cover wrap on the back are four rough sketches that Ishiwatari had to accompany the short stories (for Valentine, Sin, Sol, and Izuna) but in the end were not used (obviously different from the color ones in the content). Quick Descriptions for the Short Stories: Sol - knocking some sense into Ky and getting a foster kid to raise. Best Line is at the end: "No complaints about how he's going to be raised right." Sin - six months after Sol got him, apparently sensitive about the eyepatch, preludes at the end about how Sin got his weapon Izuna - kind of his origin story but rather on the metaphysical side. Most of you will probably care less. Dr. Paradigm - his discovery of the Cube. Valentine - her "birth" Ky - getting together with his wife, increasing guilt about Gear wife and son, UN offered him the election for Illyuria as their puppet ruler (didn't bother to hide it even) Raven - His first "death" (sounds like the Dark Ages perhaps) That Man - an old memory that resurfaces during his... degeneration and memory dump process, about his theory of the "Apocalypse" previously discussed with Aria and Frederick.

[Blade]

Yes! I was waiting for this!

Edit: minor correction on question 20, Daisuke is referring to Shigeru Mizuki, a mangaka who did stories on ghosts and demons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Mizuki