It’s my distinct honor to bring you more information regarding one of the biggest PS Vita titles you’ll see this year – Freedom Wars! The futuristic action game launched last week in Japan, so we wanted to bring a few more details to our North American “Prisoners.”
Those who were able to visit the PlayStation booth at E3 might have had a chance to play our multiplayer co-operative demo – thanks to all who stopped by! I saw a lot of expert thorn-wielders soaring across the skies of the Panopticon, sawing Abductors apart and saving civilians to decrease their 1 million year sentence of penal servitude, and I must say, I was very impressed. However, the one recurring question I continue to hear from the community is – “How’s the story?” Well, let’s take a peek:
Freedom Wars promises intense co-op action with a captivating storyline. I’d like to leave you today with a message from our Japan Studio Producer, Junichi Yoshizawa. Yoshizawa-san has been tirelessly promoting Freedom Wars throughout Japan across the past few months, so I asked him to share a few words with the community:
Last week, we were finally able to release Freedom Wars in Japan. To celebrate the successful launch, I wanted to take a moment to write a message to our eager fans in North America.
Freedom Wars is a title I created to realize a dream of mine. My vision was to develop a PS Vita game that took advantage of the handheld system’s unique features, enabling gamers to come together via ad-hoc and Wi-Fi to overcome terrifying enemies. PlayStation has a storied legacy of creating innovative experiences and our collective goal was to create a Vita game that brought gamers together in a socially connected, location-based, co-op experience.
In order to do that, I gathered a number of well-known developers with an impressive pedigree for creating some of Japan’s most beloved titles – developers Shift and Dimps. These two developers both produce high-quality, interesting titles, but in this case I wanted to utilize both of their strengths, so I asked Shift to be in charge of game design, character design and story, while Dimps handled programming, graphics and direction.
Click here to see the full gallery
The collaboration between these two developers has been wonderful and the “Freedom Wars” that they have helped create has three distinct strengths:
The first is the outrageous world and story, where prisoners are bound by 1 million years of penal servitude for the sin of “living” and need to fight for their freedom.
The second is a new game where the goal isn’t to just defeat your enemy, but to save people from your defeated enemies and create a multiplayer experience where you can clearly divide up responsibilities among your teammates.
The third is a ranked competition where players can contribute to the areas they actually live in and battle on behalf of their own “city state.”
With the coordination of each of these pillars, we created Freedom Wars – a testament to our collective vision of delivering a frenetic, co-op action game that we believe will please the Western community when it launches later this year.
Take care!
Junichi Yoshizawa
This is one of the best Vita games I’ve seen…top notch. Cannot wait!
looking foward to this tittle looks really fun! I personally hope that that there will be a option for English dub :)
I’ve been waiting for this game for a long time. I risked my $29.99 because this game looks awesome, and now, I feel that I was right to do so. I saw some of the gameplay and it just looks friggin delish. My Vita needs more titles, and I will gladly add this to my collection. Also, glad it’s keeping the Japanese dub. There’s a voice I want to use for my character that sounds like Yui Ishikawa. (at least, it sounds like her voice to me.)
Are you guys going to put a demo on US PSN? I didnt get the chance to go to E3 2014. Also, are we getting any kind of pre-order DLC? I already preorder on Amazon.
Is there any chance you can just turn off voices in this game, if there is no English dub? While I get that I’ll be looked oddly at (or likely insulted), I don’t like Japanese voice acting. I just don’t. Happy to read subtitles if that means I can otherwise enjoy the experience. Was rather looking forward to this, but this might be a deal breaker for me. :/
Iv’e been looking at this game for months now. I’m happy it released and hopefully they will release it to NA or ill just have to go to japan and get me a copy.
Any word when the Vita Slim 2000 is going to be available in the US again?
This game really good..i just bought a new Vita and couple of games and cant wait to try this when it relase at my place in Malaysia..currently downloading the demo even i dont understand japanese..huhu..sure will be day 1 buy for me..keep up the great work guys :)
Looks AWESOME !
@Nick Accordino
Yes I would definitely buy a PSVITA Bundle with Freedom Wars.
Then I would buy a Retail Copy because I Love Physical.
As I said earlier, a Themed Silver PSVITA Slim would be Perfect.
It’s time to make a Themed PSVITA Console for The West anyway.
The PSP got it’s 1st Themed Console. Once It went to It’s Slim Model (Star Wars: Battlefront Renegade Squadron)
So now It’s time to make a LE Bundle for the PSVITA Slim.
I’m super looking forward to this, although I’m not a fan of the Japanese voiceover, which brings me to my question. Will we be able to disable the voiceover entirely?
Ok… now that it is official that we won’t be getting Freedom Wars in EU… importing might be the last option…
https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2014/07/02/new-playstation-store-guacamelee-stce-child-light-new-games-ps-plus/#comment-529849
Mr. Nick please… will we be able to play imported game without the need of fake account? That’s our last resort…
Damn… I shouldn’t have bought Vita… I shouldn’t have…
I probably know the answer that due to online pass we won’t be able… that’s why SORRY we won’t be able to pay you by buying game… sorry…
Huh…. I really shouldn’t have bought Vita :/
To all you guys who are mad its not dubbed. Go ahead and start a hash tag movement again ‘no dub no buy.’ If your not complaining thing its another. You consider yourselves lucky its even coming to the US. I feel for Achacus though that tis not coming to the EU.
@263 I’m getting increasingly tired of the trending mindset of “just be lucky it’s coming at all.” by that logic then no one has any right to complain about ANYTHING. Like Duke Nukem Forever, “sure it was God awful but we should just be lucky we got it at all.”
If something does not meet someone’s expectations they have the right to just not buy it and voice their opinions/complain until the cows come home, just as you had the right to complain about it or just simply ignore it.
Personally it irks the hell out of me it’s not being dubbed and HAS made me question my interest. Decisions like that can and will put people off. It comes off as being lazy and putting in less effort, despite it possibly being the opposite of such.
I hope for physical release in Europe. I don’y buy games in DD. the staf of european blog ignored all fan’s requests
Umm, I forgot to ask, will there be an jap dub, english sub for R3 of this game?
Thanks for the answer. :)
LOL, good for R1 users to have the game in eng sub.
We R3 users are in confusion if there will even be an R3 eng sub for this…
To me, it really doesn’t matter if the voice would be jap as long as it has eng sub. Having the original voice acting would be great if you think about it. I have no problems watching anime in jap dub eng sub anyway so why complain? xD
Really?Really?P4G gets a physical release but Freedom wars doesn’t?I just can’t right now I just can’t.
Someone make a petition.
@264
Duke Nukem is the worst example you can give, first it’s not a japanese game, second its not something that needs localizing to the states.
You are being childish, whiny, for even letting the no dubness irk you.
There are so many JRPGs that are not fully voiced act for the majority of the game. Which require you to read a lot, heck there also a lot of JRPGs that aren’t even voice over at all. You should be use to reading text boxes by now. The complaint of no dub is just silly and unnecessary when we have been reading jrpgs sub/text boxes the majority of the time.
I bet you on my life that you have played Muramasa Rebirth, and didn’t complain once about that game. But now all the sudden dubbing is a big deal.
Especially with how many people have been cramming for original Japanese voice overs. And now all the sudden its the other way around. Are you serious.
Part 2
Have you even stopped to think that the reason they are not dubbing the game is so that those people who always begged for the Japanese voice overs, could be satisfied instead of just having the dubbed version.
Why? because if they bring over the Japanese voice overs as a separate DLC, it’s going to take most of the room on mostly all memory cards. It might not even fit on the lower storage memory cards.
Hence why its better to just bring the Japanese voice overs.
Completely pathetic that people are complaining about this, what’s next? hash tag nochangebubbleinterfacenobuy.
Did you complain that even though metal gear solid was dubbed on ps1, Final Fantasy 7 wasn’t? No you didn’t.
correction *Final Fantasy 7 didn’t have any voice overs?* No you didn’t. Btw yes consider yourself lucky that this game is coming to the west.
correction *Final Fantasy 7 didn’t have any voice overs?* Btw yes consider yourself lucky that this game is coming to the west.
Uhmm..
I do get @Lestatdelioncort’s point but we can’t really control other players out there to expect much more from this game specially when this game will be one of those biggest Vita game releases.
Getting their suggestions, comments and even complains can help game developers improve their standard to greatness for their next game..,
If you know what I mean.
Anyway, your positivism that shows from your line “consider yourself lucky that this game is coming to the west.” is good. But it wouldn’t hurt that much to raise your concern to the makers. :)
Just my opinion. haha xD
@269-7 Childish? I’m trying to be civil about this whole thing! You want childish go check out Gamefaqs’ Vita boards. It’s like a freaking war zone over there! I’m just voicing my feelings on this matter, and that’s just how I feel about it. Don’t like it? Don’t have to.
I’ll have you know my favorite game of all time is a game with almost no voicing. The difference? That game is over ten years old! Almost every modern game localized from Japan has had an English voice over when being shipped overseas. What makes this game, and a few recent others, any different?
As to why I’m irked. When a big company like Sony is localizing a 1st-party, AAA exclusive title and cannot/will not provide features that are considered the norm when localizing a game, it becomes very unsettling and can/will be interpreted as showing little confidence or effort. If this was a 3rd party, low-budget game I would have given benefit of the doubt, but it’s not. And like I said, people have the right to complain about anything they please. Just as you have the right to complain about their complaining. It isn’t called ‘freedom of speech’ for nothing.
So, their not including a dub, possibly angering maybe half (just an assumption, don’t know real statistics) of their potential western consumers to appease the other half? … I know you can’t please everyone, but that just plain does not make sense to me fro a business standpoint.
Edit of first comment: @269-272
My bad…
Screw Europe right Sony?
Please reconsider the language options. Choice is always better than no choice at all, especially with an epic story.
Freedom Wars Digital release only :C ?
Hey guys i’ve been playing JRPGs all my life, At first i’ve always demanded for japanese voices, but now i want my games dubbed all the sudden, i don’t know what i want. Even though a lot of JRPGs aren’t fully voice acted and i’ve been reading text boxes since forever i should be use to, reading in jrpgs by now.
So im going to complain now about a minor issue that isn’t even gamebreaking, i should feel that im lucky that the game is even going to come out. But im going to insist and complain anyways just to look important. hashtag nodubnobuy.
part 2
Im going to complain that we should get the english version dubbed as the finish retail product. And get the japanese voice as dlc, even though it won’t fit and the majority of memory cards, because im selfish and an entitled spoiled brat. I feel bad for the people who have to download the game in Europe, plus the japanese voice over dlc, it’s going to force them to buy a new memory card with more storage, but i don’t care because im selfish and entitled
Finally im jrpg fan and ive been reading a lot in jrpgs, but for some reason all the sudden this one has to be dubbed. I didn’t complain about Muramasa Rebirth, i wasn’t there for that game, because im a hypocrite and now im complaining about dubs for this game.
– aka how you complainers sound.
I hate to be “that guy” but
This is definitely a 2015 release.
-SCEA/SCEE refuses to give a release date/window just the vague “hurr durr sometime in 2014”
-Balance issues
-DLC to include the missing modes/content that were left out of the Japanese release have are most likely going to be pre-package for the Western release.
-Very likely that a “G/Ultimate/Extreme/etc.” is going to be made to fix the issues with the vanilla release. and that will probably be the version the west gets.
@282 Muramasa: Rebirth was set in feudal Japan, not a post-apocalyptic future. Historical accuracy is one of few excuses in my opinion.
Honestly, I’m kind of interested in this game. Muramasa Rebirth is fine the way it is, and I’m certain this game will be fine, too.
@SableMarius
Yes, I’m certain they spoke modern Japanese in feudal Japan.
@ 286 You know what I mean… Doesn’t help my case though.
And oh my god, guess what!? Freedom Wars is a game made in Japan, and the original voice acting is in Japanese. They don’t have to dub it if they don’t want to. How about we appreciate the games original form, instead of complaining about something that’s not even gamebreaking. And actually appreciate that the game is coming to the west. If it’s not ‘we want more vita games’ its ‘it’s not dubbed weeeeh.’ For some reason all the sudden you can’t stand reading in a JRPG. Hey everyone guess what the world is ending the game is not going to be dubbed guu guu ga ga lady ga ga someone call the waaaaaambulance.
Let me repeat myself again, most JRPGs are not fully voice acted, a lot involve a lot of reading. JRPGs started with no voice acting, If you can’t handle subtitles and text boxes then im sorry this isn’t the genre for you.
@288 Ooookay… I think someone needs to calm down for a moment. Stating one’s preference is one thing, but I draw the line at insults.
EDIT: Opinions would be a better word. Not preferences.
I love my Vita, especially for RPGs. I don’t want this beautiful handheld to die anytime soon, and for that we need more great games just like this. Thank you for helping to bring this title to the West.
Wow, some of the things I’ve read are incredible. Don’t you guys realize your hurting yourselves as well as the gaming industry. If you don’t want to pick up a game because it’s digital only or subbed only that’s up to you. I would rather support the industry any way I can. I bought Soul Sacrifice Delta and let me tell you it’s a great game and the support has been awesome. And if a game is subbed only so what, they don’t even have to release the game in the west, however, they chose to release it here. You should be happy that it’s being offered. Same goes for Tales of Hearts R. At least we are going to get the chance to play it.
If you don’t like it, it’s ok. But please stop complaining about it. However, if you don’t support the games they do release, when the Japanese developers make sequels and what not, if it’s not supported in the west, we won’t get those games. So some people saying they hope a games fails, if you think about it your shooting yourself in the foot. Because they will eventually stop selling them or even letting companies localize the games for the western audience. If you love video games support the industry don’t hurt it because they aren’t doing things your way. If you don’t like it how about you start your own game company and then let us know what’s lazy and what’s actual hard work. Also before you decide that you don’t like something , you should play it first. There are tons of demos in the Japanese PSN store.
Moving on, I am looking forward to this game. I also played the demo and found it very enjoyable even without being able to understand most of the language. It’s fun to play and the story seems interesting. Thank you for choosing to release it for us Vita fans.
The game is tastefull and it looks like it is going to attract a LOT of people.
although how much is for the digital copy? (My bithday is coming up soon
and 29.99 seems a bit high)
actually 30$ isnt that high
imma tell my friends about this great game
I’m agreed with Lestatdelioncort, most games that came from Japan and does English dub ruin the games such as Phantasy Star 1 and 2. Including Kingdom Heart. Also if they did try to make into English dub, it would be another years to release the games. Which they may cancel the project such as Phantasy Online 2. So whoever complain about the game not being English dub don’t bother buying it.
@298 I call BS on the Kingdom Hearts statement, that was an all-star cast! Phantasy Star I can’t say anything about, never played them.
Also, if this game had to be delayed I would gladly wait. Especially since it doesn’t even have a confirmed release date in NA/EU.
MAN!!! Knowing about the game before the NA release made me happy but now I’m a BELEIVER! TvT
If there was one thing I could ask to be in the game it would be to work with or PvP players around the world like with SS Delta finally putting a region free option in the lobbies.
You are doing a great job in bring in a great game like this to the states and for that reason I would give this a SSS rating in my book :’D
So for all us working to win our freedom in this twisted world run by an unfair government (Like walking 2 meters is breaking the law, LOL) I wish all the future prisoners good luck and to not get eaten by abductors.
WITH THIS!!! Dan-Kun, signing off….