Whenever I’m given an option in a game, be it choosing what my character says or how he/she acts, I always want to make the “best” choice. So when I’m faced with two equally bad options, I lock up — and right off the bat, it looks like Nippon Ichi Software’s newest game is going to have me lying awake at nights.
Scheduled for release in Japan this July, 神様と運命覚醒のクロステーゼ (“Kamisama to Unmeikakusei no Kurosuteeze,” God and the Fate-awakening Crossthesis) is the sequel to Nippon Ichi Software’s The Guided Fate Paradox. According to Weekly Famitsu, where the previous game focused on changing or accepting fate, this time, the main focus is about choice, and one of the primary choices will be who the game’s heroine will be. Or rather, which heroine will live, and which one will die.
The story takes place years after the events of The Guided Fate Paradox. Even after the defeat of the devil Satanael, the devils continue to war with the angels, with the devils at an advantage. At one heaven, barely holding its front in the war through guerrilla tactics, a new candidate is discovered to be the absolute anti-devil weapon “God.” In his battles, the new candidate is faced with the choice of saving one of two people he has grown close to.
Systems-wise, the game looks to be similar to the dungeon crawler system of the previous game. The developers at Nippon Ichi Software have upgraded and streamlined a lot of the gameplay elements based on user feedback from The Guided Fate Paradox.
The dungeon graphics have been changed from a quarter view map with 2D sprites to a full 3D environment for better visibility and freedom of controls. The general atmosphere has also become more unified to match the tone of the story, so you won’t have situations where the characters are having life-or-death conversations while wearing tank tread pants and fish head helmets — they’re going to save that stuff for the Disgaea series.
Of course, because this is Nippon Ichi Software, we can probably expect a lot of customizability with the eventual 6 to 7 digit damage numbers that we know and love.
I am a coward when it comes to choices in video games. For me, actively choosing an option that goes against my moral compass often causes literal psychological anxiety (Thanks for the sleepless hours, Soul Sacrifice). More often than not, I want to make the choice that sits well with me after I’ve put the controller down, so a game where the story revolves around hard choices is probably going to tie my stomach in knots.
“Live or die, make your choice.”
Kamisama to Unmeikakusei no Kurosuteeze is scheduled for release for the PlayStation 3 in Japan on 24 July 2014. No word on an international release yet, but considering that the previous game got an English version, chances are good.
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