Gungnir (video game)
Encyclopedia
Gungnir, full title , is a tactical role-playing game
for the PlayStation Portable
, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus
. It is Episode IX of the Dept. Heaven
series, and was released in Japan on May 19, 2011Possible changes to this release date due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
have not been announced, although new site updates were postponed for several weeks after this occurrence. after two years of development.
According to the official website, while the game is a medieval fantasy, it deals mainly with topics such as racial discrimination that are problematic in the present day.
Because of this and incidents such as the "Espada Massacre" that occurred over fifteen years ago, a group of Leonica aided by Daltania sympathizers has formed a resistance army called Esperanza. Their resistance is, however, badly outmatched and struggling.
One day, a young platoon leader in Esperanza named Julio comes upon a slave trader taking a kidnapped Daltania girl out of the country, and he and his men rescue her. He welcomes the girl, Alyssa, into Esperanza, although she worries what response this will bring from the Daltania military.
Shortly after this, during a desperate battle that appears as though it may cost Julio's life, a powerful demonic weapon appears before him. Identifying it as the demon lance Gungnir, he decides to take it up, and uses it to seize victory from the jaws of defeat, striking terror into the hearts of many. Julio and Esperanza come to believe that Gungnir will give them the power they need to win the war with the ruling class, but this acquisition causes Julio's destiny to begin moving.
Sting programmer JaJa remarked in his production blog that "This time we're not going for the 'What the heck is this?!' mysterious approach of Knights in the Nightmare
... I think it'll be the type of thing where people will look at the game screen and wonder, 'Is it this type of game then?'. And at first, that guess will be right on. However, as you play the game, parts that make you go 'Huh? What's this??' will pop up all over the place if we can get the finishing touches right".
According to the game's product page on Gamestar, Gungnir will feature an optional support mode for players struggling with the system and difficulty level. The Amazon product page features one screenshot depicting a decision point, showing that there will be some form of branching in the game; both multiple routes and Easy Mode were later confirmed by an interview appearing in Gamers Magazine.
The game's PV advertisement claims that there are 25 unit classes.
There are twelve generic unit types: Garrison, Assassin, Trickster, Gunner, Shooter, Sorceress, Paladin, Breaker, Venery, Archer, Priestess, and Witch. In addition, eight monster classes exist: Harpuia, Skeleton, Drake, Undine, Pixie, Vampire, Golem, and Rail Cannon. Most major story characters have their own unique classes.
New units can be permanently recruited, and temporarily hired in the case of mercenaries, in between battlefields.
Tactics Points are primarily gained by obtaining control over key locations of each battlefield.
The first to join the player is Einherjar
, the god of rebellious spirit, which deals damage. The second is Midgardsormr
, a monstrous beast that destroys one piece of equipment. The third is Vánargandr, which both inflicts status effects and deals damage. The fourth is Lífþrasir
, who bears a resemblance to series mainstay character Marietta, and heals status effects, damage, and vitality. The last is Fimbultyr
, which bestows the Brave status effect.
Whether or not the Inferno other than Einherjar awaken and become usable depends on how much Quality Gungnir has.
's DS remake, Hexyz Force
, the PSP version of Knights in the Nightmare
, and Blaze Union
, which were developed and released from late 2009 to mid-2010.
The project resurfaced in February of 2011 with an announcement in Famitsu magazine, followed by the appearance of a teaser site maintained by Sting and hosted on Atlus
' domain. On February 24th, JaJa uploaded his first post in two years, confirming Gungnir as Dept. Heaven
Episode IX. According to JaJa, part of the reason he had not updated his blog during this time was because Sting received a great deal of help on Gungnir from people outside the company itself, and he was worried about causing trouble if he mentioned things that weren't supposed to be revealed yet. Attached to the post in question is a sketch by Satoko Kiyuduki featuring the four main characters of the game backstage at the Famitsu announcement, complaining about their two-year wait.
According to a post by Kiyuduki in the staff blog, the game's visuals originally had a much more super-deformed feel to them before changes were made based on Asai's script and Ito's orders for retakes. The opening movie, which was completed fairly early into production, retains the softer and more baby-faced versions of the characters from that time.
In addition, a prerelease mini-album is available for download through iTunes, distributed by Atlus. This release contains the three tracks that play randomly on the Gungnir homepage: The title track , battle theme , and (Paulo's theme).
Preorders of the game from certain online stores (Messe Sanon, Medialand, Imagine, Softmap, and WonderGOO) come with a phone card featuring special illustrations of certain characters (Fiona, Natalia, Alyssa, Alyssa, and Elise respectively).
The game's strategy guide, "Gungnir -Inferno of the Demon Lance and the War of Heroes- Official Complete Guide", will be produced by Softbank Creative and sold starting on June 3. The 2-disc official soundtrack was released under the SMD itaku label on June 22. An official art, documents, and settings book will be released on August 3, also by Softbank Creative.
Tactical role-playing game
A tactical role-playing game is a type of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games and strategy games. In Japan these games are known as , a designation which might seem peculiar to native English speakers...
for the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
. It is Episode IX of the Dept. Heaven
Dept. Heaven
Dept. Heaven is the name given to a series of video games developed by Sting's Product Team A, headed by Shinichi Ito. Currently there are five known episodes, with three already released as well as two spin-off games...
series, and was released in Japan on May 19, 2011Possible changes to this release date due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
have not been announced, although new site updates were postponed for several weeks after this occurrence. after two years of development.
According to the official website, while the game is a medieval fantasy, it deals mainly with topics such as racial discrimination that are problematic in the present day.
Story
Gungnir begins in the year 983 and takes place in the empire of Gargandia, a country populated by two races: the upper-class Daltania and the peasant Leonica. The Leonica race is regarded as "cursed" for yet unknown reasons, and is subjected to harsh class discrimination.Because of this and incidents such as the "Espada Massacre" that occurred over fifteen years ago, a group of Leonica aided by Daltania sympathizers has formed a resistance army called Esperanza. Their resistance is, however, badly outmatched and struggling.
One day, a young platoon leader in Esperanza named Julio comes upon a slave trader taking a kidnapped Daltania girl out of the country, and he and his men rescue her. He welcomes the girl, Alyssa, into Esperanza, although she worries what response this will bring from the Daltania military.
Shortly after this, during a desperate battle that appears as though it may cost Julio's life, a powerful demonic weapon appears before him. Identifying it as the demon lance Gungnir, he decides to take it up, and uses it to seize victory from the jaws of defeat, striking terror into the hearts of many. Julio and Esperanza come to believe that Gungnir will give them the power they need to win the war with the ruling class, but this acquisition causes Julio's destiny to begin moving.
Characters
- The protagonist of the story, a fifteen-year-old Leonica youth born and raised in the poor district of Espada. He has been a part of Esperanza since he was very young, and has taken part in countless battles while growing up. Julio idolizes his father, who is considered to be a hero by those who live in Espada, and wants to grow up to be just like him. He values his friends and family very highly. While he always works as hard as he can, this is actually because he has something of an inferiority complex, especially when he is compared to Ragnus.
- Julio dresses mostly in blue; he has wavy brown hair and green eyes that are depicted as almost completely lightless in Satoko Kiyuduki's official artwork. Although he is capable of using Gungnir, as a Fencer-class unit, his primary weapon is the sword.
- The main heroine of the story. Alyssa is a timid sixteen-year-old Daltania girl who is rescued by Julio from slave traffickers wishing to sell her in another country. Her exact lineage is shrouded in mystery, but she is implied to be nobility of some sort; Alyssa herself prefers not to draw attention to her heritage. She begins the story as a non-player character, but eventually gains the will to fight, and is said to be hard-headed when it comes to doing what she believes is right.
- Alyssa is blonde and has green eyes; she wears a lacy gown and a red hooded cape. Official artwork depicts her wielding a massive lance with a pink flower motif; her unit class is Royal and her secondary weapon is the staff .
- Despite being Daltania, Ragnus came to live in Espada with the Leonica when he was a very young boy. More than fifteen years ago, he saw his adoptive father brutally murdered by Imperial soldiers in the Espada Massacre, an event that traumatized him badly and left him with a deep desire for revenge. Since that time, he has devoted himself to Esperanza, and currently holds the rank of a captain. Julio is his adoptive brother. According to the official site, while Ragnus tries to make decisions coolly in order to be a good leader, he is actually an extremely emotional person.
- Ragnus has unevenly cut dark brown hair and eyes of the same color; he wears darkly colored clothing and a striped scarf. Despite having a delicate constitution, he wields an immense battleaxe. His unit class is Gladiator, and swords are his secondary weapon .
- A mysterious girl who claims to be from Asgard. She speaks of , and while very concerned with Gungnir and Julio, she has interest in little else. Elise participates in battle only in order to assist Julio. Her unit class is Valkyrie, and she can use bows and rapiers; she has blue eyes and hair and her brightly colored clothes are decorated with many pairs of white wings .
- Her development name was Ecrile.
- A prodigy fencer who received her first medal at the age of fourteen. She has an overly serious personality, and is very honest, believing strongly in swordsmanship and learning. She plans to revolt against the Gargandian faction attempting to establish dictatorship.
- Natalia has very long hair worn in a ponytail and wears red armor over a white dress and pink cape reminiscent of MelliaKnights in the NightmareKnights in the Nightmare is a strategy-shooter role-playing game hybrid from Sting Entertainment, and the fourth episode in the Dept. Heaven saga...
's attire, and wields a red rapier similar to Aegina's sword Red Crimson. Her character class is Duelist, and she can use rapiers and swords.
- One of the founders of Esperanza, a former magister at the Gargandian court who was exiled to Espada after a certain incident. While he ordinarily behaves as a genial old man, he has an authoritative position in Esperanza and serves as a surrogate parent to the three orphaned Raguel children. He is seen as the "village elder" of Esperanza. Paulo is wiry and bespectacled with flyaway white hair and a mustache. He wields rods and grimoires, and has healing powers; his class is Alchemist.
- A Daltania woman who became a target of the Imperial Army for political reasons. She seeks to revive the republican political faction, and joins up with Esperanza despite being a different race from most of its members. While she originally had no knowledge of how to fight, she studies the art of the crossbow in order to get revenge for her exile.
- Valery has red hair braided into a bun and purple eyes. Her class is Rebel, and she can use bowguns and claws.
- Julio's blood-related older sister. She was born and raised in Espada, and is fiercely protective of her family due to the loss of her parents. While cheerful, she is even firmer in her beliefs than her brother. Fiona wears blue clothing and appears to work as a bartender, and has the same hair and eye color as her brother. She wears her hair in a ponytail at the side of her head. Unlike the other characters announced thus far, she is an NPC.
- Fiona's development name was Sofia; she likes to cook using hard-to-come-by ingredients and does not like to tell lies.
- The current sovereign of the Gargandia Empire. He is known for his policies of strict racial segregation, and is called by some for his aggressive personality. He is currently bedridden, and it is all he can do to even sit on the throne.
- The chief knight of the Empire, who has fought through many battlefields at the Emperor's side. However, he is opposed to the depth of the racial discrimination in Gargandia. He wields a giant lance and appears to be related to Natalia. His unit class is General, and he is also capable of wielding grimoires.
- A mysterious prophet belonging to the indigenous star-based religion of Gargandia. She sometimes offers Julio and his party prophecies or advice. Her class is Teller, and she wields grimoires.
- A paraplegic man who serves as Wolfgang's chief adviser. Now that Wolfgang is ill, it is essentially Zaird who now rules the country. He holds many opposing beliefs to Robertus, and the relations between the two of them are very bad. Zaird's unit class is Chariot, and he is capable of wielding maces and rods.
- A young girl who practices necromancy. She serves as one of Zaird's subordinates and is called "Corpse Eater" for her skills. No one knows what her true motives are. Isabeli has glasses and brown eyes, and wears her long royal blue hair in a ponytail. Her character class is Necromancer, and she wields scrolls and rods.
- The Dept. HeavenDept. HeavenDept. Heaven is the name given to a series of video games developed by Sting's Product Team A, headed by Shinichi Ito. Currently there are five known episodes, with three already released as well as two spin-off games...
series mascot, a mysterious dancing witch who came from a land far away from Gargandia. She calls her special technique "The Great Pamela's Super Magic". Pamela appears in the same pink and purple costume as in the rest of the series, and wields brooms. Her class is Mystic.
- Leader of a band of mountain bandits. He has no interest in anything but money and alcohol, but for some reason hates Esperanza desperately. He wields a gigantic axe, and his class is Bandit.
Gameplay
The gameplay flow of Gungnir is divided between event scenes, battles, and breaks between each stage in which the player may buy new equipment and change the equipment of party characters. The game display is isometric, with hand-drawn character sprites and environments rendered in 3D, and the official website describes the game as using the orthodox tactical RPG system as a base while employing a time system and an all-new mechanic known as the "Tactics Gauge".Sting programmer JaJa remarked in his production blog that "This time we're not going for the 'What the heck is this?!' mysterious approach of Knights in the Nightmare
Knights in the Nightmare
Knights in the Nightmare is a strategy-shooter role-playing game hybrid from Sting Entertainment, and the fourth episode in the Dept. Heaven saga...
... I think it'll be the type of thing where people will look at the game screen and wonder, 'Is it this type of game then?'. And at first, that guess will be right on. However, as you play the game, parts that make you go 'Huh? What's this??' will pop up all over the place if we can get the finishing touches right".
According to the game's product page on Gamestar, Gungnir will feature an optional support mode for players struggling with the system and difficulty level. The Amazon product page features one screenshot depicting a decision point, showing that there will be some form of branching in the game; both multiple routes and Easy Mode were later confirmed by an interview appearing in Gamers Magazine.
The game's PV advertisement claims that there are 25 unit classes.
Units and Recruitment
Up to ten generic units may be recruited at any one time; Julio and any storyline characters accompanying the party do not count for this total.There are twelve generic unit types: Garrison, Assassin, Trickster, Gunner, Shooter, Sorceress, Paladin, Breaker, Venery, Archer, Priestess, and Witch. In addition, eight monster classes exist: Harpuia, Skeleton, Drake, Undine, Pixie, Vampire, Golem, and Rail Cannon. Most major story characters have their own unique classes.
New units can be permanently recruited, and temporarily hired in the case of mercenaries, in between battlefields.
Tactics Gauge
The gauge displayed on the left side of the screen is known as the Tactics Gauge, and the Tactics Points used to fill the gauge can be employed for various functions. The more Tactics Points are in the gauge, the stronger the party's attacks will be, but these points may also be used for the Scramble function, which interrupts the natural turn order and allows the player to mobilize his or her army any time they please.Tactics Points are primarily gained by obtaining control over key locations of each battlefield.
Beat and Boost
Two extra methods of attack that rely on cooperation between allies. Beat involves up to four extra allies joining in to attack the targeted enemy as long as they are within the plus-shaped target locus; Boost involves allies on a similar locus extending from the initiator lending their strength for a single powerful attack. How many squares these loci extend depends on how many key locations the player controls.The Inferno
Once the player has obtained Gungnir itself in the story, Julio can use it to summon great demons called or "gods of war" to produce various field-wide effects. Doing so costs Tactics Points. Three of these beings were been introduced in an online Famitsu announcement. There are five in all, and they are all named after figures in Norse mythology.The first to join the player is Einherjar
Einherjar
In Norse mythology, the einherjar are those that have died in battle and are brought to Valhalla by valkyries. In Valhalla, the einherjar eat their fill of the nightly-resurrecting beast Sæhrímnir, and are brought their fill of mead by valkyries...
, the god of rebellious spirit, which deals damage. The second is Midgardsormr
Jörmungandr
In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr , mostly known as Jormungand, orJörmungand , or Midgard Serpent , or World Serpent, is a sea serpent, and the middle child of the giantess Angrboða and the god Loki...
, a monstrous beast that destroys one piece of equipment. The third is Vánargandr, which both inflicts status effects and deals damage. The fourth is Lífþrasir
Líf and Lífthrasir
In Norse mythology, Líf and Lífþrasir —male and female respectively—are two humans who are foretold to survive the events of Ragnarök by hiding in Hoddmímis holt, and after the flames have sated, to repopulate the newly risen and fertile world...
, who bears a resemblance to series mainstay character Marietta, and heals status effects, damage, and vitality. The last is Fimbultyr
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, which bestows the Brave status effect.
Whether or not the Inferno other than Einherjar awaken and become usable depends on how much Quality Gungnir has.
Decision Points
The game features nine decision points during cutscenes, which determine both the general path of the game and the contents of each ending. Certain scenes vary based on the player's choices and thus Julio's behavior.Development
Details about Gungnir and its development first emerged in JaJa's blog as early as May of 2009, where it was referred to by the code name "9th", a moniker quickly adopted by fans. However, while 34 entries were posted over the course of May and June of that year featuring development talk and occasional postings of concept artwork, JaJa's blog went silent after that time. While Sting initially projected that the game would be released in late 2010, no more was said about it during the development of Yggdra UnisonYggdra Unison
Yggdra Unison is a real-time strategy game for the cellular phone and Nintendo DS, developed by Sting Entertainment as a "fandisc"-type spinoff to Yggdra Union. The original cellphone version was self-published and released on November 11, 2007; the DS version was published by Atlus and released on...
's DS remake, Hexyz Force
Hexyz Force
Hexyz Force is a 2009 role-playing video game developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus for the PlayStation Portable. It was released in Japan on November 12, 2009 and in North America on May 25, 2010.-Setting:...
, the PSP version of Knights in the Nightmare
Knights in the Nightmare
Knights in the Nightmare is a strategy-shooter role-playing game hybrid from Sting Entertainment, and the fourth episode in the Dept. Heaven saga...
, and Blaze Union
Blaze Union: Story to Reach the Future
Blaze Union: Story to Reach the Future is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation Portable, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus, with its scenario written by R-Force Entertainment. It is currently only available in Japanese....
, which were developed and released from late 2009 to mid-2010.
The project resurfaced in February of 2011 with an announcement in Famitsu magazine, followed by the appearance of a teaser site maintained by Sting and hosted on Atlus
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
' domain. On February 24th, JaJa uploaded his first post in two years, confirming Gungnir as Dept. Heaven
Dept. Heaven
Dept. Heaven is the name given to a series of video games developed by Sting's Product Team A, headed by Shinichi Ito. Currently there are five known episodes, with three already released as well as two spin-off games...
Episode IX. According to JaJa, part of the reason he had not updated his blog during this time was because Sting received a great deal of help on Gungnir from people outside the company itself, and he was worried about causing trouble if he mentioned things that weren't supposed to be revealed yet. Attached to the post in question is a sketch by Satoko Kiyuduki featuring the four main characters of the game backstage at the Famitsu announcement, complaining about their two-year wait.
According to a post by Kiyuduki in the staff blog, the game's visuals originally had a much more super-deformed feel to them before changes were made based on Asai's script and Ito's orders for retakes. The opening movie, which was completed fairly early into production, retains the softer and more baby-faced versions of the characters from that time.
Merchandise
A demo build of the game was made available for download from the Japanese PSN starting on 14 April 2011. It includes the first three stages of the game and the first scene of the fourth, as well as all branches created by choices up to that point.In addition, a prerelease mini-album is available for download through iTunes, distributed by Atlus. This release contains the three tracks that play randomly on the Gungnir homepage: The title track , battle theme , and (Paulo's theme).
Preorders of the game from certain online stores (Messe Sanon, Medialand, Imagine, Softmap, and WonderGOO) come with a phone card featuring special illustrations of certain characters (Fiona, Natalia, Alyssa, Alyssa, and Elise respectively).
The game's strategy guide, "Gungnir -Inferno of the Demon Lance and the War of Heroes- Official Complete Guide", will be produced by Softbank Creative and sold starting on June 3. The 2-disc official soundtrack was released under the SMD itaku label on June 22. An official art, documents, and settings book will be released on August 3, also by Softbank Creative.