Arriving on the Shores of North America, Glory of Heracles Is Not Just a DS Carnival Trick

When a new technology becomes available in the gaming industry, everyone jumps at any opportunity to play with the new toy. Whether it's a new graphical engine or a new graphical feature in general, we see a lot of developers trying to make a title with nothing but the new feature as its selling point, and the same goes for a new type of controller as well. While there are a lot of games that make good use of the Nintendo DS stylus and touchscreen, there are a lot for which the new control is just a gimmick. But the Assistant Producer at Nintendo, Kentaro Nishimura, assures us that this is not the case with Glory of Heracles, and he says that the new game is just a fortunate coincidence.

"When Nintendo DS hardware became available, a new type of fun using stylus was sought after; the resurgence of Heracles was just an example of great timing," Nishimura said while talking to Kotaku. "It was decided that the game mechanics of Glory of Heracles were ideal to create a new type of RPG that uses a stylus." And one of the things that were considered necessary when working on the game was to provide a new player-friendly game system, but even so, the title didn't stray from its original concert to accommodate the new feature.

"A user-friendly game doesn't necessary mean a simple game," Nishimura said, further explaining that, "Glory of Heracles provides step-by-step tutorials and easy battle events for novice players. For core players, the game provides higher level of battle events." A higher level of battle that the North American release got speeded up compared with the Japanese version, after the game got criticized for its sluggish pace.

But one of the main aspects of RPGs, more so than for other games, is the story and, with this being the first title in the series to come to America, some might fear that they won't understand what is going on in the universe. Well, American RPG fans should rest assured, since Nishimura promised that the story was made so that everyone could enjoy it to the fullest. "When I wrote the scenario, I kept in mind the need to make the game enjoyable for those who are completely new to the series," he said. "So, I think it is no problem if North American players know nothing about the previous game."