Tri-Ace and Spike Chunsoft's New RPG Realizes a Decade-Old Dream

You’re caught in an explosion, your fiancée, in her dying breath, tells you she can’t stand rummy master you, then you die and wake up in a strange land as the vessel for the soul of an evil god… How dandy. As previously announced, Spike Chunsoft, creators of the Zero Escape and Danganronpa series, and Tri-Ace, creators of the Star Ocean series, are teaming up for an all new RPG titled, Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); Revealed in this week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu, the game focuses on 12 individuals who are caught in a mysterious adventure that crosses between the worlds of the living and the dead. The protagonist, Kanata Kujo, is caught in a mysterious explosion in Tokyo, together with rummy modern his fiancée, Rannze Miwakawa. As he slowly loses consciousness, Kanata looks to his fiancée who says to him, “I don’t want to die… with you.” When he next awakes, Kanata finds himself in an unrecognizable land. The explosion was caused by the soul of the evil god Yamatoga. Kanata is one of 12 people who have become immortal vessels for the soul of Yamatoga, and they quickly find themselves mixed up in a conflict between the gods. [image: ファミ通.com] The game takes place on the alien planet of Protolexa and according to the game’s director, Masaki rummy nabob Norimoto, is “not simply a generic story where the good guy defeats evil.” The game’s dungeons will be in a side-view format, navigated by deformed 3D versions of the characters. Enemies will appear on the map as symbols and coming into contact with them will initiate combat. [image: ファミ通.com] Combat utilizes the “Active Chain Battle” system, where each party member is assigned the circle, square, triangle, or x buttons on the controller. Pressing a button causes the corresponding party member to execute and attack. Depending on the order, you can execute combos for higher combat ratings and rare item drops. Pressing the L and R buttons causes the characters to rotate their positions between front and rear, with front characters receiving a bonus on their attack and wait recovery and a greater chance of being attacked, and the opposite for rear characters. As vessels for the soul of a god, each character also can execute a special attack. According to the developers, this collaboration between Spike Chunsoft and Tri-Ace was something a long time in the making. Said Tri-Ace top man, Yoshiharu Gotanda, “It was probably nearly a decade ago. Talks had progressed to a certain level, but unfortunately fell through. About two years ago, we decided to give it another go.” Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky is set for release in Japan on the PS Vita and PS4 this year. No word on an international release yet. [image: ファミ通.com] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. To contact the author of this post, write to cogitoergonihilATgmail.com or find him on Twitter @tnakamura8