 |
| Liz Maas |
No, we don't mean the costumes this time. Really!
11.19.10 - 8:49 PM
With all the new outfits being revealed for The 3rd Birthday's Aya Brea lately, it was no wonder that RPG fans started wondering when Square Enix would talk about the game itself again. If you don't care for the costumes, you'll be glad to know that they did just that, talking to Famitsu magazine about the customization system.
How do you customize Aya, your protagonist? By modifying her DNA. Enemies in The 3rd Birthday will drop OE chips, which you'll then fit into Aya's 3x3 DNA grid - these chips provide your skills and abilities, like healing and attacks. You'll know what chips will provide what abilities before inserting them so don't expect a guessing game there. Some chips take up more than one slot though, so when you have several you'll have to map her DNA carefully. However, sometimes you can place chips on top of another; this will just cause them to fuse - not to mention the chips will 'level up,' so to speak. Alternatively they can be placed in adjacent slots instead and their levels will be added together in this scenario. You can do this with more than two chips so long as the slots are linked.
But don't be fooled. Aya herself still levels up via EXP in classic RPG style. With her levels, her Revelation attack power increases and so does her Overdive Kill (which we'll get to in a minute). Famitsu also made some brief mention of the BP from past Parasite Eve titles but didn't actually elaborate.
We mentioned the other day that Kunihiko Maeda, the mitochondria specialist, makes a return to The 3rd Birthday. Because of the Twisted outbreak he is back in New York, taking up shelter in a nice, cozy... storage house. No new characters were introduced, although the magazine did have pictures of Aya, Eve and Kyle (whom Aya doesn't recognize). Among other things, it depicts Kyle unwilling to let Aya know where Eve is.
Overdive, as mentioned before, involves Aya diving into the minds of soldiers so she can control them in battle. If the soldier has an actual name, then Aya is able to Overdive into them. But some of these soldiers have little eagles beside their name, and Famitsu suggests that these guys might have some special ability.
Overdive Kill, on the other hand, is an attack that we detailed the other day but didn't have a name for - it lets Aya dive into the enemy's consciousness so she can attack from within. Once she catches the enemy in a vulnerable position, you'll get a chance to lock on and dive into the enemy's mind for some pretty deadly results.
The 3rd Birthday will be out in one month in Japan, while we wait for an exact date for North America from Square Enix.
