Thu, 17th Apr 2014 | Posted by Ross
Hi everyone,
The last two weeks have really flown by and I’m happy to report that Agarest: Generations of War Zero, the prequel to the number 1 bestseller, Agarest: Generations of War, is being released on Steam today.
At roughly (and I do mean roughly :)) 18:00 BST you will be able to get your hands on the Steam version of this fabulous SRPG. So run (don’t walk, run!) here to pick it up for a fantastic $15.99 instead of the full price of $19.99.
So, why would pick up Agarest Zero on Steam if you already have the original Agarest you ask? Well, if last week’s post about my favourite features didn’t inspire you, here’s a list of some key features to whet your appetite.
- Numerous graphical improvements - including the addition of stunningly animated character portraits
- Vacation Days - improve the bonds with your party and unlock bonus items, costumes and locations
- New Races – a variety of new races are now available for your party
- Enhanced Towns – with more interactivity and additional areas to explore
- Card Skill System - customise the main character’s battle style and skills
- Extra Mode – a new hard difficulty unlocked by players who have cleared the first game, also allowing access to the world map, items and all characters from the original game.
And, of course, that doesn’t mention the new story set many years before the first Agarest game.
Agarest Zero also features new PC-exclusive features such as cloud saving, a full revamp of how DLC is managed within existing saves, plus the ability to decide which direction the controls are to be offset.
In other news, while I realise that the Ghostlight blog has been rather PC-orientated for a while, and likely will be for a little while to come, I would like to return to the wonderful world of PlayStation for a moment. Some of you may have noticed that Persona 2 was unavailable on PSN for the past few weeks. This was due to a Vita exploit that used a file someone had created for Persona 2. I’m happy to report that, as Sony have now fixed this Vita exploit, Persona 2 is once again available on the PSN store for Vita and PSP.
That’s all from me today. Do remember to pre-order Agarest Zero from here.
I’ll be back next week, but until then why not follow us on our Twitter and Facebook pages, our Youtube Channel and our Google + account, where we’ll be posting all the latest news from Ghostlight? You can also follow me on Twitter for a more personal take on all things Ghostlight.
Thu, 10th Apr 2014 | Posted by Ross
Hi everyone. Welcome to another Ghostlight blog. As you might expect this week we’re focusing on the Steam release of Agarest Zero, the epic prequel to the number 1 Steam hit Agarest: Generations Of War. After all, with only one week to go until release we need to make sure that everything is ready for the big day. Speaking of the release, remember you have until next Thursday to pick up Agarest: Generations of War Zero at the reduced price of $15.99 instead of $19.99. Just visit here to pre-purchase the game. And of course if you wish to talk to other fans of the Agarest series on Steam the Agarest Zero Steam forum can be found here.
Even though the release date is just a week away, our team of Beta testers are still doing a top job beavering away, smoothing off any remaining rough edges. While there are still a few small outstanding issues, we’re of course confident that they’ll be ironed out well in time for the release. Testing has been a mighty task, so once again a massive thank you to the Beta testing team for all your help in making sure Agarest Zero is as bug free as possible :)
Since Agarest: Generations of War Zero pre-purchases have gone live, I thought I might give you a (Spoiler free) list of some of my favourite things about Agarest: Generations of War Zero:
- Vacation Days are one of my favourite new features and are not only a great way of building up your relationship with the heroines but also of finding hidden areas with cool treasures.
- The translation is ace! Aksys have done a great job with this one which is, at points, laugh-out-loud funny.
- The game looks a lot better than the first. The graphics have been improved considerably and the stunning character portraits now include excellent animations courtesy of Motion Portrait software.
- Meeting an old friend. You do meet one character from the original Agarest very early on in the game, so early in fact that the name wouldn’t be a spoiler in my opinion. I’ll leave them nameless for now anyway just in case some of you have stricter definitions than I do :)
- The ability to decide which way you want the controls to be offset is a really nice touch.
- The added convenience of Cloud Saving is a true bonus meaning you can continue your save on any PC with no fiddling about with USB sticks.
- Doing battle with the legendary Jumbo Cock. ‘Nuff said I think! :)
To celebrate the launch of Agarest Zero, the original Agarest: Generations of War will have its price slashed from $19.99 to just $14.99 and the Premium Edition is coming down from $24.99 to just $19.99. If you haven’t explored the world of Agarest yet, then now is the perfect time! Agarest: Generations of War is available on the Steam Store here.
I’ll be back next week, but until then why not follow us on our Twitter and Facebook pages, our Youtube Channel and our Google + account, where we’ll be posting all the latest news from Ghostlight? You can also follow me on Twitter for a more personal take on all things Ghostlight.
Thu, 3rd Apr 2014 | Posted by Ross
Hi everyone. Since we announced the Steam release of Agarest: Generations of War Zero we’ve been asked two questions*:
“When is it coming out?” and: “When can I pre-order it?”
I’m pleased to say that I can now finally answer both questions! The answers are, respectively:
“The 17th of April”, and: “Later today.”
That’s right, pre-orders for Agarest Zero will go live later today on Steam, with the game being released on the 17th April priced at just $19.99. What’s more, if you pre-order the game you’ll get a 20% discount, meaning you’ll get Agarest Zero for the bargain price of $15.99.
So what is Agarest: Generations of War Zero? I hear you cry. Agarest Zero is the prequel to the bestselling SRPG Agarest: Generations of War and like its predecessor originally brought its great mixture of in depth strategy and epic multi generational storytelling to console.
Those of you who enjoyed the first game in the series will be pleased to know that some great new features have been added to Agarest Zero.
The new Vacation Days allow you to get to know your party members better and unlock bonus items and locations by visiting various places in the towns. Not only that but as you build your relationship with the rest of your party you will unlock new costumes for them to wear.
In addition some of you may have noticed that the original conversations in Agarest: Generations of War were a little static. Not any more as the Motion Portrait system brings them to life with subtle animations which really help to immerse you in the games world.
With various other changes such as improved graphics and a brand new card system to allow you to customise your starting character this is an upgrade you won’t want to miss.
With so many improvements Laughing Jackal couldn't help themselves and also brought new PC improvements such as cloud saving (which has also been added to Agarest very recently), the ability to decide which direction you wish the controls to be offset in and a big request that we met was a revamping of the DLC menu. We have now given you more control over how the DLC is managed. You can now pick and choose how it is added to your existing saves.
More on Agarest: Generations of War Zero
In a time long forgotten, the gods of darkness and light fought in a savage battle across generations, ravaging the land they had created. A deadlock ensued leaving the Scarred Mountains to divide the continent between the sworn enemies.
With wounds running so deep, the balance could not last forever and soon the darkness would arise to face its foe once again. In this most pivotal installment of our epic tale, we take you back to that most ancient of battles revealing the story of events preceding Agarest: Generations Of War...
...While patrolling the mountains, Sieghart, a young officer loyal to the armies of light, meets a strange girl. This chance meeting will change the world...
Watch the story unfold as you battle hordes of creatures in more than 80hrs of compelling turn-based combat.
Utilise the tactical new Card Skill System to shape the combat style of your uniquely created hero.
Featuring stunning new and beautifully animated character portraits, displaying a variety of emotions.
The innovative Soul Breed System returns! Choose your bride to determine the strengths and fate of the world’s next heroic generation of warriors.
In other news we’re expecting to announce our next Steam project in the near future. Expect to go dungeon crawling with Ghostlight later this year. ;)
I’ll be back next week, but until then why not follow us on our Twitter and Facebook pages, our Youtube Channel and our Google + account, where we’ll be posting all the latest news from Ghostlight? You can also follow me on Twitter for a more personal take on all things Ghostlight.
*Actually we’ve received quite a few other questions, but for the purposes of today’s blog let’s just go with these two. :)