SEGA News Bits: Let’s Talk Shining Resonance Refrain Coming West

On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we go over all the details surrounding the western release of Shining Resonance Refrain, including the new platforms it was announced for, what is new in this version of the game and some background on the Shining franchise in the West. Tune in and let us know what you think of Shining Resonance Refrain being announced for the West in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

Tokyo Game Show 2016: Valkyria: Azure Revolution story trailer

Tokyo Game Show 2016 revealed a new trailer for Valkyria: Azure Revolution, the latest installment in the Valkyria franchise by Media.Vision and SEGA. This trailer focuses on the story of Valkyria: Azure Revolution, with the story being about a nation discovering a special material called Ragnite, the source of “Magic Arts” that brought many blessings to the world, creating the titular “Azure Revolution”. But this revolution would come at a cost, as the Rus Empire gains rapid industrial and societal expansion, creating a monopoly in European territories.

The only thing that can stop the Rus Empire is Jutland, a small economically blockaded country that strives for independence from the colonel rule. The trailer highlights varies characters you will encounter along the way, such as the protagonists Ophelia and Amleth, The Circle of Five (Aka Five Grand Criminals), and the Valkyria Brunhild. However no gameplay is shown.

Valkyria: Azure Revolution will release on the PS4 on January 19, 2017 in Japan.

SEGA teases Valkyria: Azure Revolution 2.0 demo

Valkyria-Azure-Revolution-1-1280x720SEGA has announced that more information regarding the second Valkyria: Azure Revolution “Battle Demo Ver. 2.0” will be released towards late August, if their official blog is to be believed.

If you didn’t know, SEGA released the Valkyria: Azure Revolution Battle Demo Ver. 1.0 a few months back to some very heavy fan criticism. The developer Media.Vision and SEGA said that they would be taking the fan feedback seriously and implementing changes to the core game, now those changes will be displayed in the new upcoming Valkyria: Azure Revolution Battle Demo Ver. 2.0. According to the team, the new demo will be more ‘strategic’ in nature.

But that isn’t all the upcoming news, the blog promises that we will get other information about Valkyria: Azure Revolution before the end of August including confirmations about the game’s Japanese voice cast. Valkyria: Azure Revolution will also be shown at this year’s Tokyo Game Show in September.

Valkyria: Azure Revolution will release on the PlayStation 4 in Japan this winter. There has been no western release announced.

[Source: Gematsu]

Valkyria: Azure Revolution to focus less on action and more on strategy due to demo feedback

Valkyria-Azure-Revolution_2016_02-09-16_012

Valkyria: Azure Revolution, a spin-off from SEGA’s Valkyria Chronicles franchise, saw a demo released in Japan alongside the retail release of Valkyria Chronicles Remastered for PS4 in early February. While Valkyria Chronicles Remastered was met with positive reactions, reactions to the demo of Valkyria: Azure Revolution were mixed to say the least. According to Siliconera, via Hachima, developer Media.Vision received three times the amount of player feedback than expected and plenty of it was harsh. Based on what they heard, the developer has since reworked the battle system, which was more action oriented in the demo, to be more RPG-like in the final game.

Added is a new action gauge for both sides of combat which will allow players to strategize. The new system will allow actions to be done once the gauge fills, and players will be able to stop time while using weapons and abilities – much like a traditional RPG. The game’s director, Takeshi Ozawa, believed that since this is a Valkyria title, a more strategic battle system was required. It’s great that Media.Vision is taking the feedback to heart, but it is kind of odd that it took them this long to realize that a Valkyria Chronicles game functions best when the combat has strategy involved. Makes me wonder if this early demo was a test to see if a action Valkyria game would fly with fans.

The next demo for the game should be available this summer.

[Via: Siliconera]

Shining Resonance: A new Shining RPG by the developers of the Wild Arms series

ShiningResonance

It seems that SEGA isn’t done with the Shining IP, at least not for now. SEGA is still working on and promoting their Shining fighting arcade game and now they revealed that they are working on a Shining RPG for the Playstation 3. The game is called ‘Shining Resonance‘ and is being developed by Media Vision (Wild Arms series, Shining Ark and Valkyria Chronicles III). Tony Taka is also being confirmed as returning for the game’s character designs.

After the break we take a look at the first character announced, Kirika Towa Alma.