Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Not really as much of an actual "Warning" more a disclaimer. Was too lazy to make a new icon just for that.
Since we already have multiple OTs for the previous releases of the game this OT will be fairly simple, containing information just pertaining to the upgrades. As for the most part since those who have actually picked up the original JP version are quite low in numbers. So with that being said this OT is more to update those who were interested in grabbing this a quick run-through of what they can expect from the changes to the game.
On a separate note according to all of the collected info on the title itself this is basically an upgraded version of the original Japanese Vita version which was released Jan. 22nd 2015. This is not an upgraded version of the localized "Stranger of Sword City" as that apparently is a completely different build due to this game not having the artwork selection and such included in it and this was created as an answer to the feedback the JP fans gave during a survey event they had online. Since there is a bunch of new content, system mechanics and whatnots this is not something which can just be patched in. They had said during their 10th Anniversary Event that they attempted to make it possible to patch the physical version but due to various issues along with the help of Sony they were unable to find an actual solution to this. Which is why only the original Digital Download version can be upgraded, which basically overwrites all of the original data.
Anyways with that aside hope it clears up what this version of the game is. While it is not a "new" product in the sense of being like a continuation to the story, it most def is it's own build in terms of development and not a simple content upgrade DLC.
Early versions with the Light Novel look like the following below courtesy of Crovax.
Saw this picture on Twitter of the package that New Interpretation SoSC comes in with the light novel:
I just figured the book would come wrapped to the game so it's nice to see they made a box to hold the two together. And it looks like they used the novel's cover art for the box art as well.
List of the various additions and changes to the game follows below. I might miss some or translate something wrong as am half asleep on this side. Beware though as its going to be a fairly long list. Under the English list will have the original JP info listed also for those who can read better than I do lol.
- New Traits
- Addition of Origins? to character creation (similar to traits)
- New portraits for the 3 new classes 6 total. 1 Male / Female portrait per class.
- Removal of limit of Class Changing.
- Adjustment of Skill Slots
- Addition of items that increase Exp / Stats / Skill Slots
- Addition of Beginner difficulty mode
- Addition of "Ball of Light" repeat battle challenge system (No idea what this is)
- Adjustment to current and new skills
- Adjustment to current spells
- Buff / Debuff limit setting?
- Addition of enemy skills "Awareness" "Feint"
- Addition of the "Guard Counter" system for the player. Able to KO enemies with it. Loses effectiveness the more its procced
- Divinity skill adjustment
- Addition of repeat Divinity skill command selection
- Addition of new bad status "Curse" and adjustment to existing bad status effects
- Displaying of bad status effects on enemies
- Adjustment of enemy action patterns
- Addition of Lineage Species Subjugation Challenge? system
- Adjustment of Lineage Species respawn location and timing
- Adjustment of random encounter percentage
- Changed set enemy icon repop conditions to changing areas
- Able to obtain treasure from enemy icons
- Removal of rare item limitations (can have multiple rare items now)
- Addition of new equipment
- Addition of equipment strengthening at the shop. Removal of Mumic system
- Addition of shop items restock when items are sold? (translation might be wrong)
- Adjustment of resurrection / recovery healing time / cost
- Addition of "Soul Saving" event
- Addition of new monsters
- Addition of Monster Gathering gimmick in dungeons (think this is the multiple encounter battle icon)
- Addition of hidden treasure points
- Adjustment of some sections in dungeons? (transalation might be wrong)
- Improvement of the auto movement system for passing through cleared sections with spinner panels
- Adjustement to morale usage rate for hiding system
- Adjustment to drop rates for some items (underwear and accessories) in particular
- Adjustment to inventory space
- Removal of limit on amount of playthroughs that can be done
- Change to how one can approach the different ending routes? (translation might be wrong)
- Adjustement to traps in dungeons
- Mausoleum of Ice - limitation on skill usage has been changed (blocked to take damage instead)
- Adjustment to the switch gimmicks in the Ark of Eternity
- Addition of item identification during battle (why? lol)
- Change to ranking categories
- Change to trophies
- Improvement of UI?
- 20 other fixes (not listed)
- Additional dungeon(s)? added after clearing the game. (Not sure on how many total? will try to find out when the wiki is updated)
New Additional Classes
- Freeman - This class can't actually be brought into battle and is meant to be left in the base. Its main purpose is the various support related bonuses it gives such as increased money gain, faster recovery times, better selling prices at the shop etc. Basically designed after a hikikomori or neet hence the lack of desire to go outside. (There was a hilarious bug in the demo where you could "force" one into the party by pressing the square button? forgot which and just moving them into the party. Though they are absolutely useless if you do that due to not being able to equip anything. Not sure if they can even attack. Need to see if this is still possible to do. As you can kinda break the game early on if you level one up faster and unlock their support skills)
- Clocker - Closest thing to describe this class would be a Red Mage + Time Mage. Red Mage in the sense they can use both Cleric and Wizard spells and Time Mage due to their ability to manipulate time to their advantage by speeding up or to put the enemy at a disadvantage with slowing them down. The hard part about this class is deciding on how to distribute your skill points as it uses pretty much all of the stats.
- Puppeteer - This is an odd class as it does not have any actual weapons it can equip, though they are able to command enemies to attack themselves or others. As you gain levels there are other skills which allow them to cause all sorts of trouble for the enemy such as switching rows or preventing them from performing certain actions.
Original Classes
- Fighter
- Knight
- Samurai
- Wizard
- Cleric
- Ranger
- Ninja
- Dancer
1st Official Trailer
2nd Official Trailer
#0:
A: Exp Inc. apparently has stated that there are no plans to localize this at the moment. And since NIS America has also just released their localized Vita / PC versions not sure if they would do it any time soon as it would basically kill the sales of those versions. Seeing the gap between the original Vita release and when the Western localized version came out is a little over a year to give one an idea of the timeframe between JP vs Western releases.
#1:
A: Read the features section, listed all of the changes that we know about / were officially announced.
#2:
A: Its a first person dungeon crawler, based off of the Wizardry series. The developer Experience Inc. specializes in Dungeon RPGs and has quite the long history of working on them, both within Experience Inc. and their past work history also.
#3:
A: This game has been improved to make the overall experience of playing the title more enjoyable. So this one is most def easier than the origianl game from what I have gone through in the demo, which is playing up until the meeting of the 3 vessels and capping out at Lv. 15. Did not start the real game yet, but that is a fairly good playthrough to compare the 2 games.
#4:
A: As far as I know it does not contain English subtitles. As this version is not the same one as Stranger of Sword City that was released on the Xbox One Exp Inc. and PSV / PC by NIS America. Gameplay is pretty much a standard DRPG so if you are adept to playing them you should be able to fumble around and make it. Though not being able to read would make it hard for understanding some mechanics and skills. Plus new events with what NPCs are asking and whatnots. Its possible to play without the knowledge of the language, but to get full enjoyment would not really suggest it either unless you are used to importing.
#5:
A: No with all of the work done to the title itself and from what I have seen with the demo it most def is its own thing from a development standpoint. The devs themselves have said that it was not possible to make the title a simple DLC also due to this. They had tried with the help of Sony but was unsuccessful. The DL ver. upgrade basically overwites the original game with the new data and is not a "patch" I do believe.
#6:
A: This game is connected to both Students of Round (takes place before this game) and Demon Gaze (takes place after this game). One of the characters from Students of Round, Eltha also appears in this game in the newly added event.
#7:
A: Previous game was 30-40 hours, full plat 50-100 depending on your luck. Though might be able to beat this game faster due to the newly added features / adjustments which makes things with the game a lot easier than the original.
#8:
A: Would need to check for a new list as it seems some trophies have changed.
#9:
A: The Japanese one has been updated it seems to include the New Interpretation info. Click this text for the Japanese wiki.
AmiAmi
Nippon-Yasan
CD Japan
Amazon JP
*JP title to CNP into the search bar for JP sites 新釈・剣の街の異邦人 ~黒の宮殿~
*These are not affiliate links
Thanks goes out to Experience Inc. for the resources used to make up the graphics in this OT.
Thanks to the dafont website for having an awesome selection of fonts to download and use, plus to the creators of the fonts used.
Scott Aneloski for his Cartographer Font
http://www.dafont.com/
Other info
First print versions of the game all come with a light novel that contains "another story" set in the SOSC world written by Benny Matsuyama. Who was famous for his Wizardry light novels. Pic below was taken from his twitter showing off the cover of the SOSC light novel and his debut Wizardry light novel. From another tweet it seems that the artwork on the SOSC light novel was based off of his debut light novel cover. The game and novel comes in a special box that uses the light novel cover as the box artwork. The standard game case cover art is the artwork used in the OT title image.
The SOSC Pen & Paper RPG rule book comes with a bonus 6 character portrait download for the game.
ノ
