RPG Alert! Crimson Gem Saga Ships Tomorrow

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Hello there, fine members of the finest official PlayStation community on the internet! I’m Clayton Chan, a Project Lead and Editor at Atlus U.S.A., and I’d like to pop in and talk to you for a second about our upcoming PSP RPG Crimson Gem Saga on behalf of the folks on the team.

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Crimson Gem Saga is a turn-based RPG that boasts all the fundamentals of solid, satisfying RPG action that seasoned genre veterans crave, developed by our fine friends and partners in Korea, IronNos and SK Telecom. We’ve heard the cries and clamoring of PSP owners looking for a deep RPG experience, so we’re bringing you one, just in time for the long summer months. Crimson Gem Saga boasts interesting customization for your weapons and skills, powerful combination attacks, and will keep you on your toes with the ever-present threat/opportunity of Ambush attacks and Critical Combo chains. That’s all in addition to a fun script that is full of memorable characters, entertaining events, and fantastic moments that separate the overall experience from what’s already available out there.

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The Ambush system will keep you on your toes in a way most standard RPGs won’t be able to match. Instead of just wandering into a random battle after “X” steps on the field map, Crimson Gem Saga allows you to either avoid these battles, or exploit enemies who aren’t aware of your presence. Whichever party scores an ambush will be given a free team attack to start the battle. This can severely cripple the opposing side, which leaves the player with an interesting risk/reward conundrum. Should you risk a protracted battle that will cause you to spend most of your MP on special skills for the chance to score an easy victory on a strong enemy at 75% strength?

The Critical Combo system is another little tweak to keep you on your toes. When you score a critical hit with a physical attack, you’ll have a very limited window (we’re talking a split second) to follow-up with a second and possibly third hit. You’re going to have to learn the timing for each character, because the game doesn’t take kindly to mutton mashing. If you’re on your toes and take the time to learn the timings, you’ll be rewarded with a physical attack that punishes the enemy more than a special skill without spending any of the MP. Crimson Gem Saga is a game that rewards your attentiveness, so you don’t end up zoning out in the middle of combat and just spamming the attack button.

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Now for a little bit about our world famous Atlus Localization(TM). The Asian version of this game was already in rudimentary English. Well, rudimentary might be ok for an Asian version, or for other companies, but it certainly isn’t good enough for Atlus. Devin Curry, our lead editor, and our proofreading staff of Jason Ruper, Richard Rodrigues, and Ryan Sharpe made sure that we put out a game script that any fan of ours would be proud of, and to top it off, we even added more than a thousand lines of voiced dialogue to our version of the game. If you want the definitive version of the game, you’ll want to pick up the Atlus release when it drops later this month. When you go to pick your copy up, tell ’em Clayton sent you. It won’t do anything, but just tell them anyways, I like the name drop.

Thanks for tuning in, fans in PlayStation-landia! If you’ve got any questions on the game mechanics, on the game’s localization, or just questions you’ve always kind of wanted to ask about working on a game, feel free to fire them off in the comments, and I’ll reply to what I can. Here’s hoping that you partake of, and enjoy all the hard work the team and I put into this title!

Look for Crimson Gem Saga on May 26th at most places where fine video games are sold.

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62 Comments

17 Author Replies

  • man sure psp is getting RPGs…..

    wat about PS3?

  • PSP is kicking ass in games!

  • Looks VERY nice. Maybe I’ll get it somewhere in the next few months.

  • Awesome that you came mr Clayton Chan, otherwise I would’ve never known about this game, just a shame I don’t have a PSP.

    On a sidenote you guys should really step up your marketing, plenty of great games from you that just pass me by cause I never knew about them. Give gaming sites some hands on or something. Does NOT need to go big with TV commercials or anything. Just spread the word a bit, like this blog.

    • Actually, we pretty much blasted this game to the four corners. The problem is with E3 coming up there\’s so much news that the bigger sites have to get up that sometimes they feel that it\’s ok to put some \”smaller\” games on the back burner.

      SiliconEra, Destructoid, GameInformer, RPGFan and a number of other sites put up hands-on previews, but I guess those weren\’t any of the sites you frequent…

      Which is why I came here to talk about the game! :) Thanks to the Playstation Blog guys for giving me a little electronic soapbox, too.

  • This looks pretty interesting. I’ll have to consider picking this up some time.

  • -_- This sucks…..I was hoping it was for PS3 an it is for PSP……Why can’t we be able to play PSP games on PS3? I mean most of the Playstation games can be played on both, then why not all PSP games?

  • Hey Clayton (Mr. Chan if you prefer)I am glad to see Atlus coming on here to address the PS community as it really is one of the best ways to remind/make us aware of a game. I played the Korean Demo which while hard was great from what I played, at the time I figured its chances of getting localized slim to none, so thanks for picking this one up. I am looking forward to Atlus’s translation of this title as you usually do a fantastic job. Either way this is a day one purchase for me and I urge any RPG fan to pick this one up, download the demo if you don’t mind pecking through the korean text (PM me if you can’t find the demo I have it saved). Thanks again I also can’t wait for Demon Soul

    • The Korean demo\’s actually really tough, because the level they start you at is pretty low. When Devin went through the game and he got to the section of the Asian version where the Korean demo begins, his characters\’ HP and defense were a lot higher.

      I feel that it\’s really not that representative of the game, but if you were able to put up with the difficulty of Korean demo, you should love this game.

  • Yet another boring handheld Atlus JRPG that everyone’s supposed to buy because “zOMG atlus! They make cool RPGs!”

  • NICE, but what about the PS3

  • sorry for the double post: but how about make it dwnloadable and playable on both systems

  • @BlooodyCow

    No kidding. You are missing the point. Yes, everyone knows that Atlus localized Demon’s Souls. Read my post again. I’m asking for PS3 RPGs. I don’t care if Atlus localizes them or develops them themselves.

  • Atlus and Capcom = best developers this gen. Nice works guys.

  • ANIME NOOBS!!!! =P

  • I need to fix my psp stat! O_O

  • Atlus is making something for PS3, it is called Demon Soul’s, it is on the Atlus site.

  • RurouniSaiya-jin

    Thanks Atlus. You always pay such good attention to detail when localizing. We appreciate the hard work.

    This game will probably make its way into my library since a) I love RPGs, b) I’m always looking to expand my RPG selection and C) This game looks awesome ^,^

  • Anime cut scene – Check.
    JRPG – Check.
    Cute girls with pointy ears – Check.
    Bad guys with white air and cool looking red eyes – Check
    On PSP – Check.

    Looks like I’m sold. I’ll be picking this one up along with Infamous tomorrow.

  • Devil Summoner 2 just arrived from amazon, and I’m loving it. Thanks Atlus.

    I’m strongly considering picking this one up as well. I’ve really been in the mood for RPG’s, and this one looks pretty good. I’ll probably try and pick this up along with infamous this week

  • looks cool

  • Atlus… Givee Us PERSONA 5 Or A New Shin Megami Tensei For PS3!!!!!

  • I am getting this hopefully this week. I love my oldschool style games but with new concepts. This game seems to have that. And it’s turn based. Legends of heroes for psp was good too(I have 1,2 and 3). No bring the multi-disc Falcom loh games and maybe some y’s games. Also thanks for the Dark Spire (ds game, I own both) great turn based old school fun!

    If you want this game do yourself a favor and order it online…stupid gamestop will not pre-order it for you. I hate gamestop with niche games.

    Atlus thanks again, and also it figures you guys are localizing demons souls, my Asian copy just shipped yesterday. We would like some ps3 rpgs, so if any japanese dev is making them, please port over here. Asap! The ps3 community is begging for this!

  • All of the atlus games look really good, but a few hours into them I always find myself being so bored with them that I never pick them up again.

    I’d love to give this one a try, but I want something for the ps3 instead of the psp.

  • Looks good, the PSP is doing great in the RPG department but the PS3 needs more. White Knight Chronicles looks awesome, I can’t wait for that.

    Any word on Tales of Vesperia PS3? As far as I know, no US release confirmed yet.

  • Thanks for answering my question about leveling Clayton much appreciated.

    Now all I need to do is wait until E3 is over to pick up a PSP just in case..

  • Hahaha I can’t argue with cold logic.. touchè.

  • I think I’ll buy. =)

  • First off I want to say I love atlus games. I look forward to playing this game, but would rather buy it as a digital download. E3 is right around the courner and there are a lot of rumours about a UMDless psp. I do have a psp and love it, but I would like to know the games I buy will work on future psp systems. Please consider releasing all your new and older psp games via psp network as well as UMD release. Also please release your ps1 classics via download. I’d love to play tactics ogre on my psp. Thanks for listening.

  • This game looks awesome, and I’m glad that the PSP is getting some localization love from Atlus USA, because I’ve been disappointed with the lack of must-buys on the PSP recently. I’m also looking forward to getting Steambot Chronicles.

    Unfortunately, most retail employees value their jobs enough to not give me a free copy, so I’ll have to raise some money first.

  • I’ve been noticing the game has become quite rare in retail stores. Does ATLUS plan to make another shipment or something? I prefer not to order online, but I might have to.

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