Sony\'s "Devil and I" RPG

ANybody else think this one\'s interesting

http://www.sonysource.com/previews/index.cgi?id=200

Many traditional role-playing game fans have been seriously deprived of quality titles lately, at least as far as Sony\'s PlayStation 2 is concerned. However, Sony Computer Entertainment themselves have begun development on one of the most bizarrely original role-playing titles in years, one that may just be the first truly unique RPG on the system thus far.

 Known as "Boku to Maoh" in Japan, Devil and I tells the tale of a young boy who lives in the small town of Tenel. On one particularly dull day though, the boy\'s sister is stricken with quite a terrible disease that threatens her very life. When nothing else can be done, the boy\'s father opens the lid on an old pot, only to find an evil spirit contained within.

 The spirit tells the boy that he can save his beloved sister from the sickness, in exchange for an odd favor; the devil wants to possess the boy\'s shadow. And while I\'m not quite sure whether the devil fulfills his end of the bargain, the end result still occurs as the devil takes possession of the boy\'s shadow and, as a result, begins to follow him around wherever he goes. The visual effect is really quite humorous.

Of course, the boy wants to know why the spirit would want to make such a strange deal with him. (Wouldn\'t you?) The devil then explains that his full name is Stanley High-Hat Trinidad, or Stan for short, and that he is the rightful king of all the devils. He claims that several imposters have taken his right to that title and, presumably using the boy\'s shadow as a means of conveyance, he hopes to usurp the imposters and regain his stolen authority once and for all.

Yes, Devil and I has a very strange premise indeed. As if the storyline wasn\'t bizarre enough, the gameplay is just a weird. Since the devil is always with the boy, he fights alongside him in every battle, goes everywhere he goes, talks to everyone he talks to, etc.

Before each battle, Stan will ask the boy a series of questions, and when he likes the answers he hears, you\'ll start the battle with a preemptive attack status. Stan will also call upon his creepy powers to assist the boy during battle. That is, when he feels like it. And for those of you who hate random battles, you\'re also in for a big treat, because early screens of Devil and I show enemies appearing in-field, similar to the pre-battle exploration system in Square\'s Chrono Cross.

The enemy encounters in Devil and I make use of an Active Time Battle system, similar to Final Fantasies IV-IX, as each character must wait his or her turn in battle. When two or more attacks are appropriately combined, they can be launched at the same time, producing a sort of combination attack.

Elemental magic is also a given in Devil and I, with each and every character having an affinity to one of four different elemental classes. And, as you might have already guessed, each elemental class is weak to one of the others. And quite like Sega\'s recently-released Dreamcast RPG, Skies of Arcadia, the magic points for each character in Devil and I are pulled directly from a common source, which adds a global strategy factor to every battle.

 Some of the more difficult battles in Devil and I are especially humorous, with the boy\'s devil only helping out when the boy is losing badly. After all, if his boy dies, how can he possibly reclaim his rightful title? And that\'s not all; when you\'re not engaged in enemy combat, the devil possessing the boy\'s shadow is still useful, since he can use his flat form to fit underneath doors and reach far away objects by stretching.

Devil and I looks to be an interesting addition to the PlayStation2\'s constantly growing library of role-playing titles and is definitely one to watch for. Though Sony hasn\'t made any announcement of a domestic release, you can bet that the game will at least garner some attention from the import crowd. Devil and I arrives in Japan on March 15th

and there\'s a movie as well

http://www.sonysource.com/previews/rpg/devil/movie1.mov

Very cool indeed! And people say that Sony doen\'t innovate.

looking good

at least this is original unlike dark cloud

What a cool concept, and the video and shots look pretty good too!

yeah..sony is really starting to pic up the gaming ball, now show us Syphon Filter 3!!

It looks like a slightly more stylized version of Evolution 2 for DC... but since I liked Evo 2, I won\'t complain...

Could be a MUST HAVE...

is evolution any good??, it seems that you can pick evolution 1 for 9.99 at gamestop

Evolution 1 is ok, IF:
1-You dont mind randomly generated dungeons.
2-Dont mind a cliche story.
3-Really like rpgs.

If you meet all those requirements, buy Evo 1. If you only meet 1 or 2, get Evo 2. If you meet none... well, obviously, dont get it. It\'s hard to go wrong at $10 though.

One thing that was mentioned about Devil and I is there won\'t be random battles.

The game looks and sounds cool

Just gotta wait and see it as a whole package, or see some videos of it... but the pics do look nice

Yes, this could be a must have... just gotta wait and see.

Originally posted by Darth Joyda
The game looks and sounds cool

Just gotta wait and see it as a whole package, or see some videos of it... but the pics do look nice

Yes, this could be a must have... just gotta wait and see.

The video link is at the end of my original long post there

Thanks

I didn\'t notice it... am I becoming blind?

agh, I just don\'t have the time to watch it now, but I\'ll watch it later \'tho...

bump

That looks really bizarre... which means I\'ll definitely have to get it. It\'s amazing that it\'s that far along in production and this is the first I\'ve heard of it. Sounds like a cool concept though.