A fun little article on Level 5

Since I'm excited for The Wrath of the White Which, and I'm a fan of Level 5's work, here's an interview I found wiht the head of Level 5!

Level-5: understanding Japan’s best-kept secret | VG247

Saddly no word of Dark Cloud 3. :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Akihiro Hino

“When establishing Level-5, I was set on creating games that would bring the children of today the same excitement I felt as a child. This single desire is what inspired us to start this company.”

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God bless this man. We desperately need more like him. Like, really bad. I play a lot of different kinds of new games these days, but few of them capture that feeling quite like Level-5's games have.

I'll always think they'll never be fully appreciated for what they achieved with Dragon Quest VIII, and yes I am a fanboy of that game, so deal with it. And while I won't buy the sequel, I totally enjoyed what they tried to do with White Knight Chronicles, they got so much of it right, except the one part mainstream game reviewers are going to look at: the scenario. It still managed to give me that feeling again, to be able to play that kind of game on my PS3. And it was the natural progression of the FFXII template, bringing that kind of combat and exploration online, with some really fun multiplayer. They just didn't focus on the one part of the game that would matter, and you know what, I really don't care.

I heard that one of the Nino Kuni games, don't remember which version, wasn't all that, but I can't remember if that was just one lone source. Let's hope it was.

It's a bit of a shame. Besides Dragon Quest VIII (which I've only started; it's currently on the backburner) and Dark Cloud (which I bought for a bargain, then lent to a friend), I haven't really played any of Level 5's games. They seem like a great company.

The Professor Layton games are pretty fun. And DQ VIII was of course amazing.

Whereas before, SquareSoft or Square Enix was all that needed to be on a game for me to purchase it, Level 5 has been added to that. They are simply phenomenal across the board and create such engaging games. One of my favourite studios hands down.

I'm really looking forward to Ni no Kuni on the PS3. The demo is promising and it looks like it's going to scratch that DQVIII itch I've been having.

The only two Level 5 games I've played are Dark Cloud 2 and DQVIII. Loved them both.