February 5, 2008

Going Where No Handheld RPG Has Gone Before: Dungeon Explorer
By Louis Bedigian

“You’ll just have to play Dungeon Explorer and find out for yourself.”

Upon the announcement of Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts, John Greiner, President and CEO of Hudson Entertainment, commented that the game will introduce "new RPG gameplay elements never before seen in a handheld game."

That’s a risky thing to say if you don’t have the content to back it up. A lot of games claim to be engrossing and exciting. But when you say that a game will do something we haven’t seen before, our anticipation level rises with a bit of skepticism.

An exclusive look at the PSP version of Dungeon Explorer.

Wanting to know the developers’ definition of “never before seen elements,” GameZone turned to Mike Pepe, Brand Manager for Dungeon Explorer. “There are several things that set Dungeon Explorer aside from the competition,” he said. “For one, the sheer number of weapons, equipment, and armor placed inside the game is difficult to find in any other title. We have also created a unique team combo move in the PSP that has not been attempted before in an action RPG. We call it Big Bang Arts.”

Read on for more about the Big Bang Arts, info on how the DS and PSP versions differ, and much, much more.

That is one huge spell.

Based on the information released thus far, it seems that Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts will not be the same game on both the Nintendo DS and PSP. For example, the PSP version will have 150+ different kinds of fighting arts, while the DS version will have 60+ fighting arts. That is an unusual gap. Talk about these and other differences, their reasons for them, and which version is right for gamers who have both a PSP and a DS.

Mike Pepe: You’re right, both games are different in the fact they are completely separate story lines. The PSP version takes place a century before the Turbo Graphics version, while the DS version takes place centuries after the TG version. While the PSP has stronger graphics and larger memory to store more fighting arts, the DS contains Wi-Fi play and just as strong a storyline as the PSP.

Give us an idea of what the gameplay will be like.

MP: In the PSP version, players can choose between one of three races, the human-like Izark, the long-living magically-inclined Ist, and the tough, horned Olff. Both your character and the various NPCs in the game fall into one of the 6 different Job types (Fighter, Hunter, Monk, Thief, Shaman, or Bishop), making the selection of party members important before engaging in any questing.

As you accumulate experience, you will acquire new Arts, or special techniques that will aid you in battle. Different Arts become available depending upon your Job selection and weapon equipped, giving you over 150 types of Arts to learn!

Each player race begins the game at their own town, and receives quests from the local Adventurer’s Guild. The three races meet up during the storyline with mixed results. Which race you choose will affect the storyline of the adventure.

In the DS version, players can pick between races that hail from the three different lands of Oros, Emporos and Taratta, and can pursue the Hunter, Warrior, or Mage classes. Aside from your race and class, players will be able to resurrect ancient robot soldiers called the Owons. These robots will assist you on your quests and become valuable allies when the battles become fierce.

In the Multiplayer game, you and up to two friends can play together and battle through 50 challenging levels in the Pyramid, a dungeon teeming with deadly monsters. Your goal is a final confrontation with the Demon God, Breed. Trust me, this is no easy task and will challenge the heartiest RPG gamers out there.

“You choose your Art School before starting in the PSP version. In the DS version the Symbol Hall holds the secrets behind the different Art Schools, you will need to fight to get there.”—Mike Pepe

Whichever version players choose, they're going to have access to a lot of different fighting styles. Can you tell us about some of them?

MP: [PSP Version] In Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts, players utilize different fighting styles, called Arts, to fight the monster hordes. Arts are the different types of special abilities and critical strikes available in the game, as well as recovery and support magic. Each type of Art also has elemental properties, making them more effective against certain types of enemies.
There are three different kinds of Arts. Weapon Arts are special attacks that change depending on what sort of weapon your character has equipped, and increase in power if you use the same weapon often.

Job Arts are special abilities that are different depending on which Job you select for your character. Many of these skills are initiated by targeting a party member or monster with your Art Sight and then activating the proper ability.

The last Art type, Big Bang Arts, is a powerful attack style only available when in a party with other players or NPCs. When at least two group members combine their Art Sights over a single enemy, a powerful, explosive attack is unleashed that affects a large area of the screen. The more group members that combine their Art Sights, the more powerful the attack will be. If all party members have precise timing, enemies will receive critical damage.

[DS Version] In the DS version, when you begin the game you are assigned a number of Job Arts depending on which class of character you have selected. Similarly, your character is eventually assigned one of eight different Art Schools early in the game. The four Light Arts are the Lion, Scarab (Beetle), Snake and Moon. The 4 Dark Arts are Axes, Meteor, Skull and Bird. Depending on what Art School you are assigned to, you will be able to use different School Arts against your enemies.

For example, a Mage aligned with the Skull school of Arts can use Job Arts such as Warp Jump, Lighting and Heal, and School Arts consisting of very powerful offensive spells such as Fire Spear (which sends out a flaming shockwave attack), and Storm (which allows you to shock and paralyze your enemies).

How are fighting styles acquired?

MP: [PSP Version] New Job Arts are acquired as you increase your Job Class rating. As you increase this rating, you will be strengthening the Job Arts you already have, as well as acquiring new ones that are specific to the Job you have chosen for your character. New Weapon Arts can be learned by using the same weapon type often. As you increase your experience, new Weapon Arts specific to the type of weapon your character uses will become available, and the current attacks will increase in power and effectiveness.

[DS Version] You start off the game without an Art School. At a specific point in the game you are tasked to choose a fighting Art School. Once equipped with a specific Art School, you will learn new abilities specific to that School when you gain experience from your adventures.

What are some of the weapons we'll get to use?

MP: Some of the weapons and armor you can acquire or purchase in both versions include:
Swords, Hammers, Bows, Claws, Axes, Firearms/Guns, Sickles, Halberds, Throwing Weapons (Boomerangs, etc.), Staves, Scepters, and Clubs.

How will the upgrade system work?

MP: [PSP Version] During Dungeon gameplay, astute adventurers will come across various items that the player can bring to the local Blacksmith. The Blacksmith, for a small fee, will be able to use these materials to temper your weapons and armor, strengthening them and increasing their stats.

Players will also come across Jewels that contain concentrated elemental power. To utilize these Jewels with your equipment, you must take them to the Alchemist. Here, they can be combined into a multitude of different forms, each of which has its own properties. One of the ways to use these powerful items is to upgrade your weapons and armor.

With these new upgrades, you will be able to inflict negative status conditions upon monsters or will be able to prevent your character from receiving those conditions.

Be careful, though – each piece of equipment has a tempering limit, so use the Blacksmith and Alchemist upgrades wisely!

[DS Version] Players in the DS version will be able to take equipment to the local Blacksmith as well to increase the effectiveness of their current equipment instead of purchasing or using found new equipment. Some items, however, are unable to be upgraded.

Upgrading is not always the answer as there will be plenty of fighting and treasure to be had. So the weapon you upgrade today might be outdated after a night of questing.

Both versions offer a multiplayer feature that allows three players to battle against the AI. This seems to be a big part of the experience – co-op battling. How will the game adjust/expand when going from one to two or three players?

MP: Both games adjust to the number of people in your party. The more allies you have with you the more difficult and powerful the enemies become. Although with greater danger comes greater reward as both versions offer better treasure in these situations. Rule of thumb: Travel with friends.

Can you drop in and out of multiplayer games at any time?

MP: [PSP Version] In order to begin adventuring, all players must rendezvous in a special multiplayer version of the Rift, the nexus at which the player can begin exploring the various levels of the dungeon. All players must approach the slate door guarding the entrance and enter simultaneously, and cannot reenter unless it is with the whole party.

[DS Version] All players must meet together in the DS version also before delving into the Pyramid.

Anything else you'd like to say regarding Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts? Anything we should hear but may not have known to ask about?

MP: These are both great RPG hack ‘n slash-type games that fans of this genre are really going to enjoy. Both the single player stories are in depth and the plot really pulls you in. Boss battles are especially exciting and challenging, with each boss having their own style and some surprise attacks up their sleeves that we don’t want to give away. You’ll just have to play Dungeon Explorer and find out for yourself.

Thank you for your time.

del.icio.us | Digg This | Glink It

---