[Anime Culture Monday] NIS America Press Event 2017 - Post-Show Field Report

6:00 PM February 28, 2017

Anime Convention / Anime Expo [Article Category]

NISAmerica-press-event-2017Image-1-560x371 [Anime Culture Monday] NIS America Press Event 2017 - Post-Show Field Report

NIS America Press Event Wrapup:

http://nisamerica.com/blog/nisa-2017-press-event-wrap/

2017 is well underway and with it, a slew of new video games have been announced for 2017. This season, Honey’s Anime was lucky enough to attend a press event for NIS America where they announced their biggest lineup yet. If you don’t know NIS America, they are the ones notable for bringing games like Danganronpa, Disgaea, Yomawari, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Criminal Girls, the Atelier series, and Etrian Odyssey to life. If you didn’t recognize a single title, well, welcome to the world of Japanese RPGs.

Basic Location

The Foundary in San Francisco, California.

Established

NIS America is a Japanese video game publishing company that originated from Japan in 1991 as Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. In 2003, Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. established the subsidiary that we all know and love, NIS America that is now based in Santa Ana, California (The OC for those of you who do not know anything about Southern California).

Length of Event

The Press Conference lasted only one night (4 hours) and was broadcasted live.

Cost

Free Admission (Press Invite Only)

The Event

NIS America promised us its biggest year ever and boy, did they deliver. For its lineup, there is a total of 19 games to be released in the year 2017 with the biggest titles being Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Disgaea 5 Complete, YS III: The Lacrimosa of Dana, and Birthdays the Beginning with Culdcept Revolt making a surprise visit! That is not all as NIS America is doing a giveaway for many fans: a trip to Japan to the birthplace of Japanese gaming itself! Now, how can you beat a press conference like that?

Culdcept Revolt was a very welcome surprise for many fans as, despite its popularity, has not seen many releases in the west. Yet, this amazing game that many have compared to as an amalgamation between Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly, is sure to be met with great enthusiasm when it hits 3DS screens near you. Speaking of the 3DS, another title that NIS America is releasing is RPG Maker Fes! Ever wanted to use your own creativity to make your own RPG for your friends? Well, RPG Maker Fes can help you do just that.

Yet another surprising title was YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, a big named JRPG series that has seen much success thus far. This latest installment of the series is said to be the biggest one yet with new battle systems and upgrades, storylines, and new adventures. It also comes out in English and French! It will see a release in the fall of this year on the PS Vita and Steam.

NIS America even had its first Nintendo Switch announcement. It announced that Disgaea 5 Complete will be making its way to the Nintendo Switch on May 23, 2017. While Disgaea 5 saw a release on the PS4 as Allegiance of Vengeance, seeing this release on the Nintendo Switch is exciting as we see more companies releasing more than just decent games on the new console. The game itself was available for demo via PS4 at the event.

At the NIS America Press Event, attendees were given the honor of seeing Kazutaka Kodaka. Kodaka is known for being the creator, writer, and director of the Danganronpa series. With Kodaka, he brought a giant Monokuma! He sure knows how to get fans. Kodaka announced that Danganronpa will be a whole new setting at Ultimate Academy with 16 new students as well as cameos from your favorite characters including Makoto and Hajime. There will also be whole new trial mechanics including one where multiple characters talk over each other just to take the game up a notch! Of course, that’s not all as the game will have much higher production values allowing the characters to be more lively compared to before allowing gamers to become more involved in the game itself.

While the Danganronpa series is receiving a lot of excitement as Danganronpa 1.2 Reload and Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls will be released on the PS4 for video gamers who haven’t gotten the chance to play it on the Ps Vita, there is no news more exciting than the official release date of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony developed by the lovely Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. The game is due to be released on September 26, 2017, in North America with a European release date of September 29, 2017, and it will be available on the PS4 and the PS Vita.

Lucky attendees were given the chance to try out the game and boy, you can be sure we did! While the demo was only available in Japanese on the PS4, that didn’t stop us from checking it out. The game seems to start off similarly to Trigger Happy Havoc and many of the mechanics seem the same, but right from the start, you find yourself face to face with Naegi Makoto. We can only wonder what will happen next. Evidently, there is a new set of Kumas that join Monokuma in his journey to spread despair. The demo only took us so far, but it is similar to the old Danganronpa gameplay, but of course, the magic happens in the story and in the courtroom.

Following Kodaka was Goichi Suda with the announcement of The Silver Case, an exciting visual novel about a string of serial killings and the possible return of the infamous serial killer Kamui from the “Silver Case” twenty years ago. The Silver Case was remastered last year for PC and is now seeing a PS4 release on April 18, 2017. There will be 2 new scenarios, new compositions, and all new illustrations. Suda hopes it will be an exciting game for all video gamers. The Silver Case was available for demo on the PS4 and we have to say the develops Active Gaming Media, Inc. did a good job on porting the game to PS4. It plays out like any visual novel but the game has the eeriness of any other mystery.

One surprising title that really caught our eye (aside from Disgaea 5) was Birthdays the Beginning. It seems very childish at first, but after being given the chance to try it out, we can say Birthdays the Beginning has its merits. It looks very similar to a prehistoric version of Minecraft (with better graphics and visuals), but since it is from the creator of Harvest Moon, Yasuhiro Wada, Birthdays the Beginning is actually much more interesting. You are given the chance to create a world where dinosaurs coexist with humans! You can raise dinosaurs and grow plants to create the world that you want. It was actually very interesting to play and the mechanics were very simple.

There were many other titles available to demo at the event that just wet our appetite. We are so ready for the new releases this year!

Final Thoughts

NIS America did not disappoint with their game lineup this year with some titles hitting newer consoles, 5 new game titles, and a few sequels that are sure to get fans excited. We feel honored to have been allowed at this event and got to try out a few of the games. Who doesn’t love NIS America games?

Editor

Author: Jenangelx3

California based workaholic. Current mottos are “I don’t care” and “I’ll try almost anything once”. Interests include traveling, eating, video games, and weightlifting. Currently living life to the fullest, pursuing my happiness, and conquering my fears. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

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