PSP Preview - Riviera: The Promised Land

Riviera: The Promised Land is a remake of a Gameboy advance RPG that sports some great new advancements to the old-as-all-hell genre known as JRPGs (Japanese Role PLaying Game.) With a solid plot and none of the stereotypes that bog down modern RPGs, this one might just be on the right track.

So you played Odin Sphere and now you’re itching for some more mythological Norse action, right? Right? Ok well probably not considering about 10,000 people outside the gaming press played OS. But nonetheless, there is nary a subject that makes gamers giggle with delight than that of the Norse gods, and the legends of Ragnarok. It’s been used in everything from Valkyrie Profile and Max Payne to recent titles such as Crackdown and Too Human, but we never tire of it.

To me it feels like justice, because for the longest time we were using the barbarian stereotype in games and it’s about time the actual history behind these genre-mainstays got some justice. The story I’m speaking of takes place at Asgard, the capital city of the nation of the Norse gods. Asgard has become overrun by demons and in a last ditch effort, the gods break and ancient taboo by sacrificing themselves to create black-winged reapers known as Grim Angels (not to be confused with Grim Fandangos.) The Grim Angels are able to seal away the demons, and the gods followed suit. Leaving their power and knowledge on the idyllic isle of Riviera. One thousand years of peace pass with the gods hidden away. But evil is stirring in Mordor…I mean Riviera. The demons are about to return and the adorable little sprites of the land know they won’t be able to withstand an assault. From there it degrades into a band of seven friends banding together to try and stop it all from happening…very standard stuff, but everything leading up to it sounds fantastic to me. Especially considering how well the mythology was handled last time Atlus used it as a plot device in Odin Sphere.