Polygon has a terrific article about a new Japanese-styled RPG that will be unveiled next week at E3 2015. Called Project Zodiac, the game is being developed by a French studio, Kobojo, which is not just incidentally populated by some of the genre's top game makers including several key members of the Final Fantasy series and one Mario Rizzo who heads up the studio.
Zodiac is a Japanese-styled RPG developed (at least in part) in France. It’s also a persistent online game. It’s also a free-to-play game that will run on iOS devices and the PlayStation Vita – with more platforms under consideration, including the PlayStation 4. It is all of these things simultaneously, and Rizzo recognized from the start how ambitious that was.
"The idea with Zodiac was to create a full 2D RPG with a story that you could play with your friends in a persistent universe," he says. He mentions lengthy cutscenes, an enormous script, a complex crafting and gathering system. It’s not your traditional mobile free-to-play game.
Above all else, Kobojo’s goal was to capture the feel of classic Japanese role-playing games, particularly Final Fantasy. As such, the game will use a Final Fantasy 5-style job system, with the 12 starting jobs based off the 12 signs of the zodiac. While exploration will take place in 2D side-scrolling levels that best take advantage of the gorgeous, hand-drawn art, the battle system is a more familiar turn-based style.
You can read the full article at Polygon.
We'll also have a full report straight from E3 next week when our full MMORPG.com team lands with boots on the ground to bring you the best and most relevant coverage out of the premier convention of the season.
The War Within Hotfixes - 18 March
The War Within Hotfixes - March 18
