First Gameplay Video of Upcoming Action RPG 'Across Age'
posted by arn on November 18th, 2009 5:30 AM EST in Exclusives, Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch games
In late September, FDG Entertainment announced that they were bringing a new "time traveling" action RPG Across Age to the App Store. The game has drawn comparisons to Chrono Trigger and Zelda and is a co-production between FDG Entertainment and a Japanese studio called Exe-Create.
Across Age is said to have over 15 hours of gameplay and is set played through the eyes of two characters that you can control as a party or individually. Switching between the characters can be done at any time and required for some of the cooperative and time traveling puzzles found in the game.
At about 55 seconds into the video below, you can see one of the coop puzzles that requires one character to help another character onto a ledge, go around, and open a door. The video also shows the main town, basic combat and ultimately a boss fight.
FDG warns that the movement speed is set very fast in this production build, and the final speed of the game hasn't yet been determined but it will definitely not be "the slow-sort of game".
Across Age is still in beta testing and will be submitted this winter. The game will be sold at $9.99.
Damn, this looks good. If my daughter sees these screenshots there's no way to avoid buying this. (Not that I'll mind.)
Personally, I think with the advent of Dungeon Hunter, Ravensword, and other more and more advanced 3D RPG, these types of mobile phone, pre-FF6-esque RPG games would just have a hard time competing, at least to me.
@Reinhart: I don't think so. Yes, Dungeon hunter and Ravensword just raised the level of 3d Graphics on the iPhone. But there are other parts in the game, like playability and controls, which you can improve beyond that (look at Ravensword e.g.). I like the game-concept of across age, and I hope they find a little more time to tell an entertaining story, just missing that!
I agree with Rollibock. I'm actually very excited about this game. I think it's great to have a variety of RPG and action/adventure games on the platform.
No way dude .. newer, flashier, 3d graphics aren't likely to take away from the popularity of the classic JRPG looking title. There are plenty of people out there who love that style of artwork and that type of game. ..I'm pretty sure this title is gonna do well. (I'm wondering if they've priced themselves a bit high though.)
Looks fantastic, but like you guys are saying, tooo expensive. Will probably pick up after it drops in price. Not like I have a shortage of games to play on my iphone anyway.
looks good,i like the switching of characters for puzzles
and wait,so the male character can attack by just running torward monsters?
anyway,i think this kind of RPG still have a place for iGaming
but i hope next 2d RPG will have a better graphics
Suikoden graphics would be good
Personally love this kind of 2D adventure/RPG games, works for me better than 3D.
Reminds me a bit of Zelda on SNES.
You mean Squaresoft's "Secret Of Mana"!
Secret Of Mana is EXACTLY like the above video, even down to the graphics of the trees aligned together (although SOM used coned trees instead of rounded ones). It's Action-RPG, so you whack enemies in realtime, while upgrading your stats. You also get to hook up with two other characters who follow you around the map, and each have their own specialties (Warrior, Wizard, and equivalent of a healing warrior maiden). I loved playing that game!
I didn't see a radial menu, 3 characters, orb forging, etc….don't say it's exactly like SoM…there are lots of action RPGs
ewwww whats with the horrible looking character art? Looks like really generic prerendered 3d.
And change the font. The current font makes the game look like something made from rpg maker (looks unprofessional)
Is it just me, or does $9.99 sound much for this?
The music *really* reminds me of Phantasy Star II, which (even though it seems pretty boring in the old emulator nowadays) was one of my favorite RPGs of all time, in its time.
looks interesting, but not at 9.99, for me. one too many 9's there.
Looks pretty generic, but better than Zenonia which limped along with a terrible frame rate.
Well, personally, in my "non-gamer" way of thinking, i LIKE this type of graphics over the shots i just saw of Ravensworld. The animals look like they floating on that shot. Yuck. SO it's a personal preference…. and I still like playing Adventure, which was my first computer game.
I would gladly pay 10$ for Wild Arms on iPhone. Across Age reminds me that title a lot. Anyway, no turn-based fight, no buy for me.
I was expecting a jRPG and we get a Zelda-style game, and that's exciting news to me. I definitely like the run speed (slow movement was always one of my dislikes of similar games). The two-person puzzles with fast switching looks very entertaining. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
love games like this. totally for the iphone
I agree that $9.99 seems WAY too high for this type of game. Don't get me wrong, I love this type of game and have for something like 20 years now, but I have a hard time paying more that $2.99 for an iPhone app unless it is a well-known and well-loved commodity.
Please no more 'previews', just post about released games.
I'm a bit skeptical they can be on par with 2D Zelda games, but I'm going to keep an eye on this. I always liked 2D games of this sort better then 3D.
Unfortunately lots of people forget that games shouldn't set their goal to the best graphics but to the most fun. Bad graphics (with bad I only mean 'not photorealistic, not 3D') are no disadvantage as at the point where the graphics aren't realistic enough to present the whole game our own mind kicks in and creates it's own imagination and world on top of the game!
Why can we read books without any 3D, Graphics and stuff? Because our mind creates it's own world while we read it, a world that's much more powerful and impressive than any videogame could ever be, as it's directly our own imagination! So I really like games with technically 'old' graphics because they don't decrease the fun you have when you play them!
Graphic plays small role in JRPG game, the storyline is the most important part. FF6's pixel graphic can be considered terrible to kids these days who are spoiled with all the 3D graphic engine however the story of FF6 is one of the best out of all FF
Looks wonderful! 2D Sprites and tiles FTW. Can't wait!
Looks fantastic, and I'll definitely get it, but probably not when it's first released—that price is a bit too high.
Expensive
Also how is it action? your auto attacking at a set speed, no different from a generic mmo.
Show me some flashy skills like in zenonia and I might get remotely interested…
Don't mean to be a graphics whore but… I can't get over the shoddy copy of Square's art style/character design in the character pics and the seemingly choppy sprite movement animation.
I know its a Beta – I just hope they polish that stuff out
tim
Am I the only one who can see the resemblance to Knights of Xentar or Dragon Knight 3, as it also was know as?
Which I though was a great game at the time (I still play it sometimes). Definitely a fun story.
hmm looks like another zenonia