Gloria Union does not take place in the world of Ancardia, and so its story connections to the other Union games and the Dept. Heaven series itself are unknown.
Story
Thousands of years ago, a great kingdom called Euforia flourished making use of a power source known as "Will".
Through the centuries, Euforia developed many customs based on the use of Will, but when one day they realized that their civilization would soon come to an end, they poured all their Will into crystals in order to leave a record of their culture behind. After this, Euforia sank to the bottom of the ocean.
In the present day, with the ocean now taking up over half of the world, the seas became populated with many pirates. Those pirates, hearing the legend of the crystals, began to search the ocean for clues to their whereabouts.
Among those pirates was one young boy dreaming of greatness.[2]
The protagonist, a hot-blooded youth who dreams of becoming a famous pirate. He wields a blade nearly the size of his body, and travels with his childhood friend Pinger in search of treasure. Put kindly, he is naive; more frankly, he is immature and bad at making judgments. Ishut is not particularly good at dealing with his own emotions. Although he has no memory of it, Ishut is from Lukia, and alongside his brother Ashley is the reincarnation of the ruler of Euforia, giving him the power to unlock the special Euforian cards from the lost crystals. His unit class is "Innocent".[2]
A cait sith and Ishut's childhood friend, she has a pair of black cat ears and tail. Despite being much calmer and more intelligent than Ishut, she still follows his lead rather than vice versa, calling him "Aniki". Pinger was not born as a beastman; rather, she was a human street urchin kidnapped and experimented on by Tracey, who abandoned Pinger upon discovering that beastmen naturally existed. After this incident, Pinger was rescued from Velgas' bullying by Ishut and has followed him ever since. She enjoys making cat puns, and tends to end her sentences with meowing noises. Her unit class is based on the Ax Battler generic units.[2]
One of the members of the Gloria pirate band, who is famous for dual-wielding pistols. She works as the captain's assistant and has problems communicating with Ishut, annoyed by the way he fools around with all the girls. She is interested in him, but Ishut does not notice that. She is seventeen years old, but because of how long she's spent traveling the world she tends to seem more mature than her years.[2] Elisha is advertised as a tsundere character. Her unit class is "Gunner".
A mysterious woman attempting to guide Ishut to Euforia. She has a very airy personality and wields a staff. Sometimes she does things that seem strange to other people, such as eating crushed historical artifacts, and tends to act younger than she looks, which takes the rest of the party off guard.[2] She is knowledgeable about and can sense the power of Will. Unbeknownst to Ruru herself, she is the artificial human Symphonia, and is unable to access her full power and knowledge because she is in safety mode. Her unit class is "Uranus".
Elisha's father, who is actually the captain of the Gloria band. While a steadfast leader often referred to as "old man" by his crew, his freewheeling lifestyle also causes him to be rather aimless and his drinking habit makes his daughter worry.[2] Zazarland was once a general in the Lukian army, but he left to become a pirate after a certain incident seventeen years ago. His unit class is "Captain" and he wields an axe in battle.
A young magical girl who came to this world from Yumira, which she calls the "country of magic", in search of Euforia's secret weapon, Symphonia. She does not seek it to take it, but rather because she just wants to see it after discovering the legends of Euforia. Despite her great childishness, her magical ability and knowledge are top class.[2] Her costume and magic have a candy motif.
Fiebee (フィービー, Fiibii)
Voiced by: Ayaka Shimizu
An Undine from Chantier who came to foreign waters in order to find a way to help her polluted homeland. She was raised to be a knight from a youthful age, and believes she was born solely to help defeat Chantier's enemy, the Lukia Empire. Because of her youth, Fiebee has never actually seen her country in its golden age.[2] She is advertised as a yandere character.
A vampire who left her world in search of an escaped criminal. Though she is only sixteen years old, she is so elite that she is allowed to move on her own. The wings on her back are fakes and simply tools to help her fly, which she was given when she was assigned her task.[2] Raspberry acts as a psychopomp and helps to oversee dead sinners who are working to repent for their crimes.
A traveling minstrel with a split personality that changes based on the time of day. She claims to be searching for powerful men to inspire her. Her songs recall the heroics of Gulcasa and his men, who she traveled with in Blaze Union.[2]
A witch from Yumira who travels various worlds in order to research a number of mysteries. She is the Dept. Heaven series mascot and has appeared in every Dept. Heaven episode and Union series game since Yggdra Union.[2]
Anne Cormack (アンヌ・コーマック, Annu Koomakku)
Voiced by: Aki Nakajima
An infamously greedy female pirate who uses her sex appeal as a weapon.[2] She first appears attempting to collect the bounty on Ishut, and becomes rivals with Elisha.
The leader of the Fantasinia Traveling Band, a group of bounty hunters. She closely resembles the Yggdra of Yggdra Union and Blaze Union, and wields the Centurio Buster, a massive gatling gun. She is not the same Yggdra as the one in the rest of the series, but is rather an analogue with a similar past. Her unit class is "Avenger".[2]
Gangr (ガング, Gangu)
Voiced by: Naoya Nosaka
A small yellow robot that was created as a prototype to Symphonia and sent to guard the ruins that hide the earth crystal. He was thrown into the sea by the invading Lukia military, and joins the party after being fished out of the water by Ishut. Gangr is only capable of speaking the syllables of his own name when not chanting card incantations, but Ruru can understand him.
Kamuru (カミュル, Kamyuru)
Voiced by: Ryouta Asari
A young but promising Lukian knight who joins Gloria to save his own life after accidentally disgracing himself. He is ordinarily shy and polite, but always shouts at the top of his lungs on the battlefield so that he will not lose heart. Kamuru has a strong admiration for Elisha.
Enemies
Blackmore (ブラックモア, Burakkumoa)
Voiced by: Naoya Nosaka
Leader of a group of pirates called the "Black Fang" that are enemies to the Gloria band.[2] He is the primary antagonist for the first three chapters of the game.
Velgas (ベルガス, Berugasu)
Voiced by: Anri Katsu
A childhood rival to Ishut and Pinger, who has known Ishut for ten years. He resents Ishut for being naturally strong and not having to resort to dirty tricks to win, and joins Black Fang to get a leg up on him. Velgas has a crush on Pinger that he is only able to express through bullying her.
Tracey Cormack (トレイシー・コーマック, Toreishii Koomakku)
Voiced by: Eri Gouda
The leader of the Leverage Merchants, a woman with heterochromia. She deals in "rarities" and uses alchemy to artificially create things that do not naturally exist in order to sell them. Her powers are great enough even to raise the dead. Tracey is Anne's older sister.
The escaped undead criminal Raspberry is searching for, who was a famous pirate in life. He desires to live as a pirate again.[2]
Gariored (ガリオレッド, Garioreddo)
Voiced by: Kosuke Takaguchi
Prime Minister of the Lukia Empire. He believes that power itself is justice, and even uses the young Emperor as his tool to accomplish his means. He is the wire-puller behind the Euforia Plan. Wears glasses and wields a massive gun-sword.[2]
Melanie (メラニー, Meranii)
Voiced by: Aki Nakajima
One of the generals of the Lukia military, known as the "God of Protection".[2] Wears her red hair in a braid similar to Aegina's.
One of the generals of the Lukia military, known as the "Garm of the Divine Lance".[2] A very reliable man. A knight who carries a shield with the device of a wolf's head and front leg.
The youthful emperor of Lukia, actually Ishut's older twin brother. He is used as a puppet by Gariored, and due to Gariored's strict training and abuse, Ashley has lost the ability to feel and express most emotions. He resents Ishut's freedom and has a strong desire to become happy.
The president of United Elmare, a group of nations who have made an alliance to defeat Lukia. Noting that peace can often only be achieved through sacrifice, she has determined to choose those sacrifices herself for the sake of a peaceful world. Enryetta appears to be personally acquainted with both Gariored and Zazarland.
Giselle (ジゼル, Jizeru)
Voiced by: Ayaka Shimizu
The queen of Chantier, the Undine nation. Despite having fought with Lukia for a hundred years, she has recently begun to lose the will to fight after having watched her homeland become polluted with war debris. Giselle eventually joins Elmare.
Ajo Grafor (アジョー・グラフォー, Ajou Gurafou)
Voiced by: Ryouta Asari
A mad scientist who is using human experimentation to try to create functional cyborgs. His favorite creation is the Ruru Mk-II, a robotic, emotionless doppelganger of Ruru.
The sole survivor of Euforia's destruction, who has been kept in a dormant state for almost a millennium. Kyra has a masculine style of speech, a feminine style of dress, and is both referred to and treated systematically as an intergendered character. Kyra wields a scythe and appears to be connected to this era's Tactics Cards.[2]
Overworld screenshot of an early battlefield featuring Ishut and Pinger. Note the time/weather display.
Like Blaze Union before it, Gloria Union inherits the same card system, turn-based movement, and real-time union combat used in Yggdra Union; it also keeps the Ax Battler class which debuted in Blaze Union.
However, Gloria Union also introduces a number of new cards and classes, as well as new system functions.
Problems with Blaze Union's battle display (such as character statistics being hidden behind speech bubbles during Skill usage) have also been rectified, with Skill-relevant statistics now being displayed at the top of the screen during use.[3]
According to the newly released PV, there will be 48 Tactics Cards, including several cards newly created for this game.[4] Comparatively, Yggdra Union featured 37 cards, while Blaze Union had 39.
In certain game maps, the Gloria pirate ship itself is available as a mobile cannon battery and piece of crossable terrain.
Gloria Union also contains a hidden feature in certain battlefields which allows the player to swap the formation style of units from male to female and vice versa regardless of their actual gender. A special item is required to do so. Intergendered character Kyra's personal formation overlays the male and female formations, creating a Union radius of 16 squares rather than the usual 8.
Weather
In addition to the day/evening/night time system, Gloria Union also features three types of weather: Sunny, Rainy, and Foggy. Sunny conditions are the default, whereas rainy weather decreases the power of units aligned to fire and gun-using classes. Fog decreases visibility, which results in the Union matrix being smaller, enemy units' manpower becoming indiscernible in battle, and a high chance of units going into Panic when hit with an enemy charge.
New Generic Classes
In Gloria Union, the bow-using classes "Hunter" and "Assassin" are replaced by gun-wielding classes "Sniper" and "Gunner" respectively. Previously Assassin-only card "Bloody Claw" has been reassigned with the male Sniper units accordingly.
Additionally, the "Bandit" class has been replaced with "Pirates", and the "Fencer" class replaced by "Chaser". Like the female-exclusive "Ax Battler" class that debuted in Blaze Union, a new male-only sword-using class called "Paladin" and a male-only spear class called "Sailor" have been added as well.
New Cards
Fifteen new cards were created for Gloria Union, fourteen of which have been revealed on the official website[2]
Tidal Wave (destroys all members of the enemy unit except the Head; usable only by characters with strong Will)
Volcannon (deals damage and inflicts the Fatal Burn status; usable only by characters with strong Will)
Grand Spear (deals damage and temporarily lowers enemy GEN; usable only by characters with strong Will)
Burst Wing (deals damage and lowers enemy accuracy; usable only by characters with strong Will)
Holy (converts enemy Rage Rate into own unit's power, destroys Skill and Rage gauges; usable only by characters with strong Will)
Magic Shield (nullify enemy Skills for the entire turn; usable only by Staff-wielding female characters)
Fusillade (deals great damage and knocks out enemy Head; usable only by Elisha)
Coalesce (combines all subordinate units' power into Head—compare Genocide; usable only by Ruru)
Tyrant (powers up Head but renders her uncontrollable, breaking Skill gauge—compare Genocide; usable only by Pinger)
Dreadnought (deals great damage; usable only by Zazarland)
Salvation (revives all unit members in exchange for knocking out the Head; usable only by Minnesota)
Meteor (deals great damage to either own unit or enemy; usable only by Locomoco)
Crucifixion (temporarily stops time for enemy unit; usable only by Raspberry)
Trickster (uses enemy's Skill against them; usable only by Tracey)
Megiddo (destroys all enemy units—compare Crusade; usable only by Gariored and Ashley)
To make room for the new cards, all character-exclusive cards used in the previous games are unused except for Coma Karma, Judgment Zero, and Insanity.
Development
Gloria Union shares its producer and many other team members with Blaze Union, although Radiant Historia's Hiroshi Konishi and Dokapon Kingdom's Eiko Tameshige are handling the character art for this release rather than Rui Kousaki or Satoko Kiyuduki.[1]
Much like Blaze Union before it, Gloria's development was kept secret until its unveiling, unlike Gungnir, which JaJa discussed in its early stages on his blog. 2011 is the third year in which two Sting games have been released in directly consecutive months; 2009 saw the release of Hexyz Force in November and Yggdra Unison in December, and in 2010 the PSP version of Knights in the Nightmare (April) was followed by Blaze Union that May.
A remastered version of the game featuring various graphical and gameplay adjustments titled Gloria Union: Twin Fates in Blue Ocean FHD Edition is planned for a March 18, 2021 digital-only release for iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch platforms in Japan.[5][6]
Merchandise
Preorders of Gloria Union at certain vendors (Fammys, Softmap, Messe Sanoh, Imagine, Gamers, and Medialand) include phone cards with illustrations of Kyra and some of the game's female characters (Pinger, Elisha, Ruru, Ruru, Kyra, and Melanie respectively). In addition to this, preorders at Messe Sanoh's women-oriented vendor include a full set of bromide cards featuring the male cast, a first for the Union series as well as the Dept. Heaven series as a whole.
The game's single-disc soundtrack was released under the SMD itaku label one week after the game's release.[7] Its official strategy guide was printed by Softbank Creative and released on August 3.[8]
Official soundtrack track list
グロリア・ユニオン オリジナルサウンドトラック
No.
Title
Length
1.
"GLORIA"
0:43
2.
"To the Glorious Sea (栄光の海へ, Eikou no Umi e)"
1:05
3.
"Ancient Euforia (古代ユーフォリア, Kodai Yuuforia)"
1:21
4.
"Tremble of the Battlefield (戦場の戦慄き, Senjou no Wananaki)"
1:45
5.
"To Victory"
2:07
6.
"Depart for the Wide Sea! (大海へ出でよ!, Taikai e Ide yo!)"
Lime-Iro Senkitan is a game series developed and published by ELF Corporation. The story was adapted to a 13-episode anime that aired in Japan between January 5, 2003 and March 30, 2003.
Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone is a tactical role-playing game for the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable, developed by Sting Entertainment as the second episode of the Dept. Heaven saga of games. Atlus USA localized and published both versions of the game in North America. 505 Games published the Game Boy Advance version in a limited number of European countries, such as Italy and France. A Nintendo DS side-game was released in Japan on December 3, 2009, as Yggdra Unison: Seiken Buyuuden. An updated version with bonus features was released in Japan for mobile platforms and Nintendo Switch in April 2019 and March 2020, respectively. A Windows version was released worldwide on February 6, 2023.
Kaze no Stigma is a Japanese light novel series written by Takahiro Yamato and illustrated by Hanamaru Nanto. After the death of Yamato on July 20, 2009, the story remains incomplete at twelve volumes. A 24-episode anime adaptation directed by Junichi Sakata and animated by Gonzo aired from April–September 2007.
Mega Man Star Force 2, known in Japan as Ryūsei no Rockman 2, is a video game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is the sequel and second game in the Mega Man Star Force series. The game was first confirmed on April 12, 2007 in an issue of CoroCoro Comic. The same issue also revealed that a boss design contest would be held exclusively in Japan much like the same contests held for the Battle Network games. A sequel, Mega Man Star Force 3, was released on November 13, 2008 in Japan.
Knights in the Nightmare is a strategy-shooter role-playing game hybrid from Sting Entertainment, and the fourth episode in the Dept. Heaven series of video games. It was released by Atlus USA in North America. Sting released a special edition version of Knights in the Nightmare, called the Knights in the Nightmare DHE Series Special Pack; it includes a copy of Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone for the Game Boy Advance.
Dept. Heaven is a series of video games developed by Sting's Product Team A, headed by Shinichi Ito. Currently there are five known episodes, with four already released as well as three spin-off games. JaJa explained in his blog that the numbering system is more of a goal in originality of game design, for example, with Episode II being more original than Episode I but not as much as Episode III.
Sonic and the Black Knight is a 2009 platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game was released on the Wii as the second entry in the Sonic Storybook series, following Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007). Set in the world of King Arthur, the game combines Sonic's trademark speed with a new sword fighting system, utilizing the Wii Remote's motion-sensing functionality.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a first-person shooter set in a Western milieu for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Developed by Techland and published by Ubisoft, it was released in North America in June 2009 and in Australia and Europe in July. The game was also released on Steam. In December 2011, it was made available on the PlayStation Store and the Xbox Games Store, in November 2018, it was added to Microsoft's backward compatibility program, making it playable on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and in September 2019, it was released on GOG.com. It is the second game in the Call of Juarez series, although narratively, it is a prequel to the first game. The series would go on to include two additional games; Call of Juarez: The Cartel and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.
Blaze Union: Story to Reach the Future is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation Portable, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus, with its scenario written by R-Force Entertainment. It is currently only available in Japanese.
Yggdra Unison is a real-time strategy game for the cellular phone and Nintendo DS, developed by Sting Entertainment as a "fandisc"-type spinoff to Yggdra Union. The original cellphone version was self-published and released on November 11, 2007; the DS version was published by Atlus and released on December 12, 2009. Neither installment has been released in any language other than Japanese. The game display is similar to that of Yggdra Union and Blaze Union, but all action is in real-time and units are allowed to move freely instead of on a grid. The DS version is mainly stylus-based with support functions and menu displays toggled by the R/L and directional buttons.
Rio: Rainbow Gate! is a Japanese anime television series animated by Xebec. Based on Tecmo's Rio Series of pachinko games, the series revolves around titular character Rio Rollins, a popular casino dealer working at the Howard Resort who is known as the "Goddess of Victory", and the thirteen cards called Gates which are used to determine the world's most skilled dealer. The anime aired on Tokyo MX and related channels between January and March 2011.
Gungnir, full title Gungnir: Inferno of the Demon Lance and the War of Heroes, is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation Portable, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus. It is Episode IX of the Dept. Heaven series, and was released in Japan on May 19, 2011 after two years of development.
Chain Chronicle is a tower defense role-playing game developed and published by Sega for iOS, Android, and PlayStation Vita. It was released in Japan on July 26, 2013, for iOS, August 1, 2013, for Android and on July 16, 2014, for the PlayStation Vita. The game is licensed in Asia by SNDA in China, MobiMon for both Taiwan and Macau, Actoz Soft for South Korea and gumi Asia for both Southeast Asia and North American release, however the game was closed down in North America & Southeast Asia on February 29, 2016.
The Overwatch franchise, a series of first-person shooter games developed by Blizzard Entertainment consists of 37 playable characters across both games. The original 2016 game, Overwatch, featured 32 playable characters known as heroes and a number of supporting characters as part of the game's narrative, which is told through animated media and digital comics outside of the game. Its sequel, Overwatch 2, was released in October 2022 and replaced Overwatch. The sequel builds upon the same hero roster and added more characters, currently consisting of 37 heroes. However, as Overwatch 2 had been developed to be a faster game with five-versus-five teams rather than six-versus-six, several of the characters had tweaks or major rebuilds within Overwatch 2, as well as different character designs.
Fena: Pirate Princess is a Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G. The series is a co-production between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim. The series first premiered from August to October 2021, on both Adult Swim and Crunchyroll, ahead of its broadcast in Japan, which aired from October to December 2021.
Shadowverse is an anime television series adaptation of its namesake video game. The series is animated by Zexcs and directed by Keiichiro Kawaguchi, with Rintaro Isaki and Deko Akao handling series composition, Hiroki Harada designing the characters, and Yoshihiro Ike composing the series' music. The series aired from April 7, 2020, to March 23, 2021, on TV Tokyo and has been simulcast internationally on Crunchyroll. The band Penguin Research performed the first opening theme, "Kirifuda", while Yui Ogura performed the first ending theme, "Happiness Sensation". The second opening theme, "Shinsekai", was performed by FLOW, while the second ending theme, "Kokoro Darenimo", was performed by the Game Jikkyōsha Wakuwaku Band.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
