Forget looking ahead to E3 -- today is the name for new DS game announcements. Despite their current issues, Tecmo is still kicking around, and is set to release Wind of Nostalgia, an action game from developer Matrix Software. Matrix has handled Square Enix's Final Fantasy III and IV for the DS, and the similarity is obvious in the snippets revealed on the one-page announcement in Famitsu.

Wind of Nostalgia is scheduled for a Japanese release this year. Also? Looks like it will feature some pretty spiffy airships. We'll get more on this one as details are released.

If we're (maybe) not getting a Skies of Arcadia sequel, Wind of Nostalgia sounds like the next best thing. In fact, it sounds like the same thing, only instead of air pirates, you're ... Londoners. Even with that not-as-cool difference, the gameplay of this RPG includes both dungeons and air battles, just like Skies. Interestingly, though, the setting for Wind is in the 19th century -- you don't usually associate the 1800s and air ships together, not that we're complaining.

IGN pointed out another interesting detail that has us salivating over this new IP. Not only is Matrix (think the Final Fantasy III and IV DS remakes) working on the project, as we knew, but also the producer is Keisuke Kikuchi of Fatal Frame fame. asdlfjasdlkjfa -- oh excuse us there, we were just wiping drool off the keyboard.

Ride the Winds of Nostalgia

Fly the unfriendly skies in Tecmo's latest DS game.
By Kevin Gifford, 07/30/2008
The end of the 19th century was probably not as exciting a time as the Japanese think it was. War was rampant, there were smelly horses and pigs all over the place, and the Hostess Zinger wouldn't be invented for at least another half-century or so. It was a time of adventure, nonetheless, and Tecmo is ready to give Japanese Nintendo DS owners a chance to explore it this fall when they release Nostalgia no Kaze, or The Winds of Nostalgia.

The game, produced by Fatal Frame's Keisuke Kikuchi and developed by Matrix Software (who most recently worked on the DS remake of Final Fantasy IV), is a traditional RPG set in a sorta-anime-ish, sorta-steampunky take on the turn of the century. You play Eddie, a young London native who's decided to adventure off to unknown lands in search of his missing father. Eddie, and the crew of adventurers he'll pick up along the way (including street urchin Pad and mysterious witch girl Melody), will travel all around the world in the search, from Cairo and Rio de Janeiro to darkest Africa and the snowy landscape of Northern Europe.

Every character in Nostalgia has a certain weapon he's best at wielding, ranging from swords to guns and magic. This is worth remembering in normal battles, but also plays a role in some of the more grandiose combat you'll be fighting. Eddie travels the world in a Final Fantasy-style airship, the Maverick, which can be fully outfitted with weapons and armor at the airship docks located in most towns. Airship battles play a major role in Nostalgia, since you'll be running into rogue air pirates and other lowlifes while flying around, and where you position your crew for the fight becomes just as important as what weapons you give them for melee combat. (Everyone in your party also has a given set of skills he or she can learn, using the skill points earned in battle to gradually fill up a skill tree full of special abilities.)

Nostalgia no Kaze is due out this fall in Japan; no US date has been announced.

Ride the search function:
http://www.rpgdreamersforum.com/index.php?showtopic=56079

Very witty, it's not like you didn't start a separate topic on AT2 after one already existed or anything.

Hey dude mine was announcing a long-awaited US release date

Anyway, sorry DB I did a search but it didn't return any results - which often happens. So mods do your thing.

These screens include views of several towns from the airship while navigating the overworld, one being London. Small game details after the shots: