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Fragile Dreams: Hello to a new title and screens

by JC Fletcher { Nov 5th 2009 at 5:15PM }

click for moon-sizeToday, XSEED announced a slight title change for the North American release of Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. The company has chosen to go the same route as Rising Star Games and add the word Dreams to the title. Along with the announcement, the company sent out the new logo. It's based on the Japanese logo, but -- to be extremely nitpicky -- loses something with the extra line and the subtitle font.

However, the game, as seen in new screenshots below, still looks lovely. And that's the part that matters, regardless of our petty complaints. The new title does have the bonus of making us think of Johnny Hates Jazz's "Shattered Dreams." Totally great song.

Gallery: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)

Rising Star's Q1 lineup for Europe includes Fragile, Way of the Samurai 3

by JC Fletcher { Oct 29th 2009 at 5:00PM }

Rising Star Games has announced a European release for Fragile (as Fragile Dreams), Namco Bandai's action-adventure game about exploring a haunted, post-disaster Japan, in March 2010. That's around the same time XSEED plans to bring the Namco Bandai title to North America.

Also in March, the publisher will release Rune Factory Frontier on Wii, and Avalon Code and My World My Way on DS. Before that, in February, Rising Star will release Half-Minute Hero on PSP, and, through "affiliate label" Gamebridge, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Way of the Samurai 3. We've got Rising Star's full lineup listed after the break.

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Fragile reveals its solid boxart

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 14th 2009 at 4:30PM }

With a holiday release scheduled, tri-Crecendo's Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon has received its final boxart.

Our E3 impression of the game left us wanting to know more -- a lot more. Considering the post-apocalyptic RPG, from the team that brought us Eternal Sonata, had no expense spared, we'll hopefully see that in the final product. What would make us really happy, though, is if Fragile ends a lot better than Eternal Sonata. Check out the final boxart after the break.

Gallery: Fragile

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Fragile arrives on European shores early 2010

by David Hinkle { Jun 26th 2009 at 5:15PM }

The tri-Crescendo-developed Namco Bandai RPG, Fragile, will eventually make its way to Europe, GameSpot reports. Sometime in early 2010, Europeans will be able to get their own taste of this post-apocalyptic title following Seto, who is believed to be the last living human being. It's kind of like I Am Legend, but, like, bearable.

Made by the same team behind Eternal Sonata, Fragile is currently set to release in North America during the holidays courtesy of XSEED, and will arrive in Europe via Rising Star Games.

Gallery: Fragile

Impressions: Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)

by JC Fletcher { Jun 10th 2009 at 3:30PM }

After over a year of waiting, XSEED has graciously picked up tri-Crescendo's meditative Wii action adventure Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon for North American publication. In a brief walkthrough of an early segment of the game, XSEED introduced us to the protagonist, Seto, who is believed to be the only human left in the world after some unspecified calamity has reduced everything to rubble and left the sky permanently darkened.

Gallery: Fragile

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Interview: XSEED on what happened with Muramasa and more [update]

by JC Fletcher { Jun 6th 2009 at 10:30PM }

[Update: we had attributed some of these remarks to the wrong person. Our apologies to Mr. Berry.]

Last September, XSEED Games announced its intent to publish Vanillaware's Wii side-scroller Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America, to the delight of hardcore action gamers and people who like to see pretty things. Then, in April, it announced that it wouldn't be publishing the title, a duty that then fell to Ignition Entertainment.

At the time, we wondered why XSEED would decide not to publish such an eye-catching game. The short answer: it wouldn't decide to do that. XSEED's Jun Iwasaki and Ken Berry gave us details on the Muramasa situation, as well as the recent Fragile announcement, and the timing of Flower, Sun, and Rain. And, of course, they gamely accepted our pleas for Retro Game Challenge 2.

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XSEED localizing Namco Bandai's Wii adventure 'Fragile'

by JC Fletcher { May 28th 2009 at 12:45PM }

When XSEED and Namco Bandai meet, wonderful things happen. The last Banamco title to be localized by the publisher was Retro Game Challenge. Today, XSEED announced to IGN that it will publish Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon in North America, with a projected Holiday 2009 release date. Wii fans have been clamoring for this game for a long time.

The tri-Crescendo-developed adventure game takes place in a ruined version of the modern world, as one young boy named Seto looks for any other surviving humans, armed only with a flashlight. XSEED plans to include a full English voice track, and has received "very promising" feedback from the development team about a dual language option.

Gallery: Fragile

Fragile screens: great setting, uneven quality

by Alisha Karabinus { Jan 19th 2009 at 9:53AM }

We've been big fans of Fragile since its debut, and it's certainly a highly-anticipated title around here, even though we don't know whether or not it'll ever see a release outside of Japan (though it's likely). That doesn't mean, however, that we won't criticize it occasionally, and so we're going to point out that the latest screenshots, though intriguing, are a little uneven.

We've seen this room before, and it looks tremendous; bright and colorful while still keeping the abandoned atmosphere of the game. But a few of these shots look a little messy; there are ragged, ugly edges on the protagonist. It's probably just the old curse of Wii stills, but next to the rest of the shots from the game, which are mostly fantastic, they stick out.

Gallery: Fragile

Fragile battle montage is very Hitchcockian

by David Hinkle { Jan 13th 2009 at 5:20PM }

Well, maybe not really, because there's only a brief segment at the tail end of this video for Fragile that shows several attacking birds on a sunny beach. The parts of the video leading up to that segment mainly focus on battling other creatures, such as glowing, floating jellyfish. Check it all out in the video above.

Gallery: Fragile

Fragile: 30 hours long, no expense spared on development

by Chris Greenhough { Dec 30th 2008 at 8:10PM }

Three senior members of the Fragile development team have chaired a panel in Japan to answer questions about the RPG.

Between them, producer Kentarou Kawashima, art director Keiko Harada, and head programmer Munehito Yasui revealed that Fragile would take a meaty 30 hours to beat, that developing the game has taken two years, and that the entire process (including advertising) will cost "quite a bit of money" (NeoGAF's translation). Apparently, they also toyed with the idea of basing the game on exploration, with no combat at all -- a daring design choice that didn't come to fruition.

The news that Namco Bandai is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this gives us real, tangible hope for a western localization. We struggle to believe any sane publisher would throw oodles of cash at a project and limit its reach by making it Japan-only. You are sane, right, Namco Bandai?

Gallery: Fragile

[Via NeoGAF]

Fragile videos are awesomely heartbreaking

by JC Fletcher { Dec 26th 2008 at 6:25PM }

Wow. The Fragile theme song is amazing. It's definitely the Japanese video game theme song most likely to get tears out of us. The game looks beautifully melancholy as well, and that mood is in full effect in this haunting trailer. As the January 22 release approaches, and we still have yet to hear a word about localization, we're beginning to feel a bit down for a reason unrelated to the mood of the game. Between this and Fatal Frame IV, we're beginning to wonder what American publishers have against games about walking quietly through creepy old buildings.

If that gorgeous video isn't enough Fragile for you, hit the break for five quick gameplay clips found on Gamekyo. We're glad this stuff came around after Christmas, because we're spared a pile of A Christmas Story references.

Gallery: Fragile

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Shine a light on Fragile's secrets

by JC Fletcher { Dec 19th 2008 at 6:08PM }

The flashlight is part of what gives tri-Crescendo's Fragile its look. The ruined environments look more otherworldly viewed through a spooky light. It makes sense, then, for tri-Crescendo to add some gameplay integration to the whole flashlight thing, to emphasize it some more.

In addition to the normal flashlight, Seto finds (at least) two more portable lights as he explores: a higher-power flashlight that can illuminate farther into the distance, and reveal hidden enemies more quickly, and an eerie green light identified only as the "strange light," which can reveal hidden messages written on walls.

We'd be a lot more excited about this game if we didn't have to trust Bandai Namco's RPG-hatin' US division to provide us with it. But, then, maybe we don't, with XSEED and Atari publishing recent and upcoming Namco games stateside -- the latter due to an anime licensing issue, but whatever.

Gallery: Fragile

Latest Fragile trailer shows off contrasts

by Alisha Karabinus { Dec 15th 2008 at 1:55PM }

In this haunting new trailer for tri-Crescendo's Fragile, it's hard to decide if the haunting opening sequence or the actual in-game visuals are more compelling. As a marketing tool, this one definitely works. Of course, we were already sold on the devastated world depicted in Fragile, with its life-restoring fire and amazing music. We're somewhat forlorn at the sight of the game, however, due to that pesky lack of localization (yet). For all that we stare lovingly upon the latest footage, we are jealous of the bounty Japan is set to receive. We are left picking at the bones of media, and hoping, and dreaming.

Gallery: Fragile

Another character, enchanting boxart added to the Fragile mix

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 28th 2008 at 7:18PM }

Namco Bandai's Fragile isn't short on interesting characters. The latest is Shin, a brilliant (but socially weak) scientist and the latest addition to the game's ragtag cast. He'll be voiced by Toshio Furukawa (all of the game's dialog will be spoken), former voice star of Dragon Ball Z, Gundam, Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, and Jann Lee of Dead or Alive fame.

Though Fragile still can't match the oddball quotient of No More Heroes, it's encouraging to see Namco Bandai isn't falling back on stock RPG characters. We were going to mention how Shin might be the oddest-looking Fragile cast member yet, but then we remembered this guy. Join us past the break for a look at the game's eye-catching Japanese boxart, and catch 14 new screens in the gallery.

Gallery: Fragile

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The healing power of Fragile's bonfires

by JC Fletcher { Nov 7th 2008 at 12:35PM }

tri-Crescendo's Fragile is a game about searching a ruined world for survivors. The decayed, destroyed suburbia gives Fragile a melancholy look, and the newly-revealed bonfire system only strengthens that impression.

Bonfires appear in various locations around the game. They are the only way to identify the type and use of wrapped "mystery" items, but more importantly bonfires unlock the memories each object holds of its owner, helping provide clues to the reason for the world's destruction.

Evidently, bonfires also act as storage for items (represented by cards) in your bag. Only during bonfires can you swap items in and out of your bag. In addition to this, they restore your character's HP.