Nostalgia (video game)
A steampunk RPG about a boy searching for his father.
Nostalgia is a role-playing video game developed by Red Entertainment and Matrix Software for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan by Tecmo in November 2008 and in North America by Ignition Entertainment in October 2009. The game is set in an alternate reality steampunk version of the 19th century and follows a young boy named Eddie as he searches for his missing father.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Matrix Software; Red Entertainment
- Publisher
- Tecmo (JP); Ignition Entertainment (NA)
- Composer
- Rei Kondoh
- Kaori Komuro
- Shinichiro Sato
- Released
- November 6, 2008 (JP); October 23, 2009 (NA)
- Genre
- Role-playing video game
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- Nintendo DS
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Nostalgia is a traditional role-playing video game with three-dimensional characters and environments. Players control Eddie and his companions as they travel across an alternate history 19th-century Earth in a high-powered zeppelin, visiting towns and raiding ruins to uncover the truth about an ancient civilization and find Eddie's lost father. The Nintendo DS's dual screens show gameplay on one screen and a map of the current location on the other, which fills as the player explores. Random enemy encounters occur in dangerous areas, leading to turn-based battles where characters and enemies act in order of their speed statistic. A Combat Order bar displays the turn sequence, and players can choose to attack, defend, use items, or employ special skills unique to each character. Airship travel may trigger ship-to-ship combat with unique commands. Defeating enemies grants experience points for leveling up and gaining new abilities. Each battle ends with a letter grade based on speed and flawlessness, which may yield additional rewards.
Characters
There are five main playable characters in the game. Eddie Brown is the son of famous British adventurer Gilbert Brown and lives in a mansion in the London countryside. He sets out to become an adventurer after his father disappears. Pad Remington is a young man from London's east end who learned to survive on his own after being separated from his parents. He initially looks down on Eddie due to his social status but eventually accepts him as a friend; he is reunited with his mother after 15 years and has skill with firearms. Melody Farklight is a young witch from an isolated village who starts with a selfish personality but grows more humble through her adventures; her mother died protecting her from Hartmann of The Cabal. Fiona is a mysterious amnesiac girl saved by Gilbert Brown, known as the Princess of the White Order and the Bearer of the White Wings; she was sealed in Pandora's box for thousands of years and is the only one who can touch the tablets needed to open a portal to Asgard. She joins the party permanently after a short time as a guest. Gilbert Brown is Eddie's father, a famous adventurer who disappeared after saving Fiona and is later found injured.
Development
Nostalgia was first announced in a July 2008 issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu, revealing that Matrix Software and Red Entertainment were teaming with Tecmo for a November release. Producer Keisuke Kikuchi, known for his work on the Fatal Frame series, aimed to inject traditional role-playing elements with simple gameplay to make a product everyone could play. Project director Naoki Morita envisioned the game's setting as an alternate 19th-century Earth, a concept Kikuchi supported after seeing Morita's project book. Morita had wanted to produce an alternate history role-playing game since 1996 but was sidetracked by the success of his Sakura Taisen series; he remained confident the design would not lose its luster. Matrix Software handled programming and had previously worked on the Nintendo DS versions of Final Fantasy III and IV. The music was composed by Rei Kondoh, Kaori Komuro, and Shinichiro Sato under the unit T's Music. Tecmo released a promotional album with ten songs and an artbook for Japanese pre-orders. The game was initially to be published by Xseed Games but was later picked up by Ignition Entertainment, which released it in October 2009.
Reception
Nostalgia received average reviews according to Metacritic. Famitsu gave it a score of 30 out of 40. GameZone rated it 8.8 out of 10, calling it a joy to play. GamePro's Will Herring gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five, noting it felt like a JRPG he had played before. The game sold 7,930 units in its first week in Japan.
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