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"Mistwalker's first DS SRPG outing, ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat with development being done by Racjin, didn't receive such a warm reception in its homeland. Whether it had anything to do with the zero promotion the game had during its development cycle or its poor marketing is unknown which gave the game a lot of anonymity, but in the eyes of many who've played the game with ample time, ASH is more of a double edged sword than a fine wine. While the game may come from Final Fantasy father Hironobu Sakaguchi and has an overall amazing story with interesting gameplay that can be hearkened to Bahamut Lagoon, its the other details that seem to hurt ASH more than it does help it. Though personally I found the game and its gameplay mechanics to be interesting and somewhat trivial, I can't help but ignore the many criticisms attached to the game. Of course I'm not going to flat out bash the game and deem it a huge failure since I liked it, but for the many of you who've shared an interest in the game since its announcement and release, and have different tastes when it comes to your handheld SRPG fix, ASH may not be for you."
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Siliconera
"I'll admit that the moment ASH arrived in my mailbox I was a bit skeptical of playing it. Not to say I wasn't anticipating Mistwalker's first SRPG on the DS; but considering the impressions I've read from fellow friends who've imported the game, which primarily consisted of roughly 45% good and 55% bad aspects of the game, I had every reason to be skeptical. Thankfully, though, my skepticism was averted when I actually put in the game and played it for myself; and while I can agree with the negative aspects of the game, its the positives that make up for it. I won't immediately dive into the whole pro/con nature of the game and whether or not its worth your time just yet as I've yet to complete 50% of the game and want to reserve judgment for a bigger post, but I will just talk a little about the game. Sounds fair right?"
Full Source:
Siliconera
"Mistwalker is carrying a lot of weight on its shoulders now with the imminent release of Lost Odyssey in Japan. Still Sakaguchi -- Japanese role-playing game pioneer and the creator of the Final Fantasy series -- and company have found time to churn out Archaic Sealed Heat, a new strategy RPG for DS with extraordinary production values."
Full Source:
1up
"The theory making its rounds around the game industry is that Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi was asked by Microsoft to come up with the equivalent of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest for the 360, which spawned the already-released Blue Dragon -- a fantastic title, by the way -- and Lost Odyssey, which has yet to be released. It makes sense though, considering Sakaguchi is what many people believe to be the father of the modern JRPG. So it's a little bit surprising and refreshing to see that Mistwalker's second title after Blue Dragon is far different from his big-budget console games. Archaic Sealed Heat (ASH) is a noble mixture of strategy RPG and traditional JRPG elements which has some interesting results."
Full Source:
Gamespy
"Archaic Sealed Heat opens with a panoramic view of a beautiful city full of lush green trees and red-roofed houses. In the center of the city is a huge castle, and there a ceremony is being performed for Aisha, the young ruler of Milleanear. As she processes up the long hall of her throne room, her soldiers salute her and call out her name. At last she arrives at the end of the chamber to stand before an artifact, her aide Bullnequ, and the priest conducting the rites. It's at this moment that the tranquility of the land is broken: a huge creature made of flame attacks. The castle is in a state of panic. Bullnequ and Aisha rush outside to see the entire city burning. As the creature turns its gaze on Aisha, Bullnequ sacrifices his life to protect her."
Full Source:
RPGamer
"I want the staff to do their best until they really turn into ashes," said Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi to Famitsu in Japan recently. The magazine caught up with him to talk about what's new with Mistwalker's DS strategy RPG Archaic Sealed Heat (ASH).
According to Famitsu, the game is a different mix of strategy and role-playing than players usually see. Characters share action points, opening up a variety of options like rushing all at once with one character or moving all three in your party a bit at a time. The controls are menu-based and stylus centric: to move your characters, you draw a path along the grid. For visuals, the developers promise "spectacular" FMV based animation. But all that data has to go somewhere, so ASH will be the first DS game on a two-gigabit cart."
Full Source:
1-up
