Exist Archive

Last updated
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
Exist Archive.jpg
Developer(s) Spike Chunsoft
tri-Ace [1]
Publisher(s)
Director(s) Masaki Norimoto
Producer(s) Yuichiro Saito
Shingo Mukaitoge
Programmer(s) Yoshiharu Gotanda
Artist(s) Mino Taro
Writer(s) Masaki Norimoto
Kentaro Kagami
Composer(s) Motoi Sakuraba
Platform(s) PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
Release
  • JP: December 17, 2015
  • WW: October 18, 2016
Genre(s) Role-playing [1]
Mode(s) Single-player

Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky [3] is a role-playing video game developed and published by Spike Chunsoft, with assistance from tri-Ace, for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 video game consoles. It was released in Japan in December 2015 and worldwide in October 2016. [2]

Contents

Gameplay

The game is a side scrolling role-playing video game. Many journalists considered it a spiritual sequel to the Valkyrie Profile series of games also by tri-Ace. [4] [5] [6]

Story

The player follows twelve youths who are killed by an explosion in modern-day Tokyo [7] and find themselves on the fantasy-like planet of Protolexa. [5] There are three different endings, based on the player's actions over the course of the game, and some actions affect the game's new game plus mode. [8]

Development

The game was first announced in July 2015, as a collaboration between Spike Chunsoft and tri-Ace in a fourteen-page article in Weekly Famitsu . [9] The game was developed by much of the same tri-Ace staff that had worked on the first Valkyrie Profile game, with assistance from Spike Chunsoft staff as well. [6] Other key staff for the game include character designer Mino Taro of Konami 's Love Plus series, and music composer Motoi Sakuraba, composer for tri-Ace's Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean series. [9] [10] [11] Although it was originally scheduled for release on November 26, 2015, [4] the game was delayed to its final release date, December 17. [7] Shortly after the game's Japanese release, Spike Chunsoft began downloadable content collaborations with some of tri-Ace's other games, including Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean 5 games. [12] The collaborations, released in March 2016, consisted of character costumes based on character's from the two aforementioned titles, along with a costume to dress up as Monokuma, the primary antagonist from Spike Chunsoft's Danganronpa series of video games. [13]

Until April 2016, no information had been announced in regards to an English language release of the game. [12] [13] NIS America, a frequent publisher for Spike Chunsoft games in English ( Danganronpa 1 , Danganronpa 2 , Danganronpa Another Episode ), gave a "no comment" response when asked about localizing the title. [6] Aksys Games acquired the rights to localize Exist Archive and released it in North America on October 18, 2016. [2] Aksys Games released the game in Europe as a digital-only release on September 8. [14]

Reception

Famitsu gave both the Vita and PS4 versions of the game a 33/40 rating, with the four reviewers giving the title scores of 8/8/8/9. [17] The game sold 37,398 copies in its opening week in Japan, with 17,414 copies sold for PlayStation 4 and 19,984 copies sold for PlayStation Vita. [18]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky". IGN.
  2. 1 2 3 Miscevich, Danny (25 April 2016). "Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky Launches October 18 on PS4, PS Vita". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment America. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Japanese: イグジストアーカイヴ, Hepburn: Igujisuto Ākaivu
  4. 1 2 "Spike Chunsoft And tri-Ace's Exist Archive To Release On November 26 In Japan". Siliconera. 4 August 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky first screenshots". TechnoBuffalo. 30 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "Exist Archive is tri-Ace's Spiritual Successor to Valkyrie Profile". 29 July 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Exist Archive Trailer Shows Us An Overview And The Importance Of Bonding". Siliconera. 20 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Earning Exist Archive's Three Endings Is Easy - Siliconera". Siliconera. 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  9. 1 2 "Spike Chunsoft x tri-Ace RPG Exist Archive announced for PS4, PS Vita". Gematsu. 28 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky Trailer - TGS 2015". IGN. 15 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "4 Character Trailers for Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky". PlayStation LifeStyle. 14 December 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Exist Archive getting Star Ocean 5 and Valkyrie Profile collaborations". Gematsu. 25 December 2015.
  13. 1 2 "RPGFan News - Exist Archive Gets Free Star Ocean 5 DLC Costumes". Archived from the original on 2016-03-19. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
  14. ↑ Romano, Sal (8 September 2016). "Exist Archive coming digitally to Europe on October 18". Gematsu.
  15. ↑ "Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures . Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  16. ↑ "Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky for PlayStation Vita Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures . Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  17. ↑ "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1410". Gematsu. 8 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Media Create Sales: 12/14/15 – 12/20/15". Gematsu. 24 December 2015.
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