TONS OF NEW EXCLUSIVE INFO

*COPYPASTA FROM EMAIL*

"I'm here in Leipzig, Germany at the big game event, and I just came from SEGA's booth where we got a personal viewing of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. You see, I work with a gaming magazine aimed at retailers, so let me share the details of what I saw with you:

INTRO: The intro for the game is about the same as the official trailer you saw, including the cutscene with the boat on the river and NiGHTS in the "flute-playing" position on top of the clock at midnight. However, past the title screen there's an additional intro movie. In this one, NiGHTS starts out flying above a river. Soon he's surrounded by birds (seagulls?) and they fly around him. Then, it cuts to William, who's sitting on a little grassy hill. NiGHTS comes in and flies around him, William fascinated, before NiGHTS comes to a stop in front of him and bows. A moment later, you see Helen running through a crystal-like area smiling with some Nightopians flying around her. After this, the game started.

MODES: There's the standard story mode, and though the game was in Japanese it would appear there was also a multiplayer mode, due to the "2P" in front of the Japanese in the second option. There's one more mode option I assume might be something like a time trial.

CHOOSING A CHARACTER: When you choose a character, they will be sleeping in bed. To begin playing as the character, you highlight their face. There are also other things you can highlight, such as a book and a notebook. These options were not explored so I cannot clarify further.

PLAYING AS WILLIAM: William's story starts out with him playing soccer with his friends, weaving the ball in and out of a row of cones. He kicks and scores a goal. He cheers, when it shows a man picking up the soccer ball coming out of the net: William's dad. He smiles and tosses the ball back. The next immediate scene, William's Dad is leaving the home. He pats William's head, and suddenly they're outside. His Dad gets in the car and drives away, William calling for him. William turns around to see his Dad's plane flying away. The landscape turns cold and blue, and William is surrounded by his soccer teammates. Their eyes turn red and they start laughing, before turning into monsters. William runs away as they chase him, then sees a bright light ahead. He spreads out his arms... (end intro)

PLAYING AS HELEN: Helen's story begins with her and her mother playing violin together. Suddenly Helen's cellphone (or similar device) rings. Apparently her friends are calling. She tells her Mom "C'mon!" and puts the violin down, running off to go hang out with her friends. Her mom looks really sad and looks down at the nearby calendar: it's only a week or less until Helen's violin recital. Next scene, Helen is walking down the street with her friends eating ice cream (one girl is a red-head, the other has black hair). As they're walking and laughing, Helen looks in one of the shop windows and sees violins. She stands there a moment looking sad and thoughtful. She sees her mother's reflection in the window looking sad, when suddenly she snarls and turns into a monster and the window breaks. Helen, frightened, runs away. She sees a bright light in front of her and spreads out her arms... (end intro)

BEGINNING GAMEPLAY: When the game first starts (as either character), you find yourself in a park at night. There are trees surrounded the small round plaza, as well as 7 doorways, 3 looking a bit broken. There's a fountain in the middle with 3 seals in it. An owl will greet you and blabber on for a while about "your first time here", introducing you to various things. When he's about done, NiGHTS comes flying into the scene, acting indifferent to the owl who's a bit ruffled. The owl introduces you and then, the truth:

NiGHTS' VOICE: It's a girl! It's very much a girl/woman's voice. I was pretty shocked to hear that, but there you go: NiGHTS has a female voice and is portrayed much more as a female in the game.

CONTINUING BEGINNING GAMEPLAY: NiGHTS offers her (I'll say her from now on for the sake of the voice) hand to the character. They smile and reach out and take it, and then you get to control NiGHTS, experimenting with the feeling of flying with the first time. Once you've done all the basics, NiGHTS disappears and you'll take control of the child again. Only one door is active, so that's the one you enter to find yourself in...

LEVEL 1: ALP CHASE: This is based very heavily on the Alps/Windmill level in the original game. You'll start out as Helen or William on foot, grabbing a few orbs, before releasing NiGHTS from her cage. The point of the gameplay is to fly through the rings as NiGHTS and gather orbs to gain more time, however in this first level there is also a large bird flying around. Your goal (while flying through rings) is to catch the bird. Not attack it, not pass it, just catch it (fly into it). The bird will fall and NiGHTS will grab a key from one of its' feathers (same you saw in the trailer). You must do this twice in the level (there are 2 birds total) to move on to the first boss.

CONTROL NOTES: The controls for this game are extremely simple. For the basic/classic gameplay, you use the analog stick on the Wii Nunchuk to move NiGHTS up, down, or around in loops or circles. To speed up (the spinning while moving forward) is the B button (trigger button) on the Wii-mote. You can grab things with A, such as passing or falling feathers. The controls are very smooth and when we asked the SEGA representative playing, he said it was very comfortable and easy to adapt to. He also said you never get bored with the game: there's always more to a level and they expand once you beat them. A detail I found very nice in the gameplay was the fact that you can plunge NiGHTS right into a lake/water and she'll swim like she's flying. It's a great transition and really allows for expansive gameplay. But now: on to the boss.

FIRST BOSS: That would be Puffy: or at least something that resembles Puffy to the closest degree (only male, not female it would seem). You start out seeing a giant pin-ball like board that also resembles Wizeman. At the top it has red eyes and teeth that jut out. You have a limited amount of time to beat the boss (around 2 minutes) and the goal is to fly into Puffy, pushing him up through the various boards and gates until he reaches the top where the teeth are. Once there, he spins around and blows up. During the fight, NiGHTS is completely free to fly where you want her to. Anywhere: there's no set path like in the default stages. (You can also fly backwards in normal gameplay, as in, the opposite direction, not feet first:)). It can be difficult, because there are various cubes that you can hit to lose time. If Puffy hits one of these giant cubes, it explodes and Puffy goes flying in another direction: usually down. The farther down he falls, the harder it is to push him back up. At each gate between boards (you're flying up, remember) there are two green circles that act as extra boosts for NiGHTS. The board layout is very similar to the giant pinball machines in the casino level of Sonic Heroes.


Extra Note: The seven arches/doorways in the park at the beginning of the game suggest a solid seven levels. However, there is possible space for an eighth where a park bench is standing. The SEGA representative said we could even have up to a total of 9. There's also some cloudiness around the fountain, and the possibility you could eventually break it or somehow use it to get to an additional level or boss, if so, most likely the final one.

The gameplay and feel of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is almost exactly like NiGHTS Into Dreams. With the exception of the pretty shocking voice acting, it felt like watching the original game all over again. The resolution of the game is still being improved at this point and we've been given a release date arouond Christmas. The levels of the game are also still under construction: one more level was playable on the disc present, but it was so rudamentary that it glitches quite poorly (characters sometimes fall through the ground, etc). The representative said it looked really weird and there was barely anything there. We tried to get him to show us but it also took a LOT longer loading, so unfortunately, no go there.



You may have heard some of this already, but if not, the info's all yours! I love how dedicated you guys are with the site so I figure, having this rare opportunity, you'd be the best people to share it with. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or further comments, as I will be here and will be able to see the game again if I like for another 3 days.

P.S. Sorry, no photos or pictures were allowed (yet). We're still trying our hardest to grab some and convince the people working there, and if it takes us shooting through a mirror if they let us, we'll do it!

So please enjoy and send me a reply soon if you need anything else, or just to comment, too. Take care!"






^_____^


Omgdiscuss. Thanks to the person responsible. You know who you are *hugs*

ALSO PEOPLE THINK OF QUESTIONS, she's there for 3 more days! Now's your chance.


*goes to actualy READ news since she posted it so fast*
@_@;

Woah! So I guess this means they're FINALLY showing the game for reals!

So there's a new "grab" control function.. I wonder how it works without the nunchuk?

Need video!!

That sounds damn sweet. Just skiffing right over, I noticed that she said you could enter the levels as either kid.

So that would imply that the dreamscapes are shared then ? But that contridicts The Dream of Desert info. Hmm.

Also. The Owl. wtf : P. Now I'm imagining the birds Jung and co. from Wtahm, TRiPPY =P

*snortlaugh* well hey, one of my sources was sticking links to my work under the designer doods keyboard
CONSPIRACY I SAY

I keep reading all this trying to take it in, i only read it like 5 minutes ago.
*goes back to absorbing like a fat pink sponge*

Couldn't be more happy that NiGHTS has a female voice.

From the sounds of it, it DOES sound very much like the original, so I'm pretty excited now. I wasn't exactly excited before, but now I r happy 8D!

Thankies TRiP and insider, whoever you are x3.

CONSPIRACY : Unlockable U.V costume ! o_O

I'm also imagining the fountain area to be a re-imagined Twin Seeds Park:



But with doors everywhere, Crash Bandicoot style.

One question I'd like to see her ask the reps over there, is what SonicTeam thought of Project SEGA 2007 ! Whether it influenced them any, or if they appreciated all the hard work that went into it.

Yes, i'm very happy NiGHTS has a female voice because his original voice wasn't exactly Barry White, i was fearing a really deep voice.

Trivia- The original NiGHTS was voiced by a mystery Japanese female member of the Sonicteam, truth. So its not much of a change. He'll just be talking a whole lot more.


Now let us all gather in a circle and hope its not bloody Lumina.

One question I'd like to see her ask the reps over there, is what SonicTeam thought of Project SEGA 2007 ! Whether it influenced them any, or if they appreciated all the hard work that went into it.

AHAHAH that would really put the gits on the spot. great idea XD I WANT TO MAKE THEM SQUIRM (or own up to not giving a damn). Either would be funny.

An owl will greet you and blabber on for a while

My first reaction to that: Kaporea Gaborea strikes again! WHAT IS WITH ALL THE BLABBERING OWLS!? *huff huff* okay, back on topic..

NiGHTS with a female voice!? Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~! I was REALLY hoping they'd make it more..indistinguishable. Not to mention I view NiGHTS as a male.. >.> Oh well, maybe they'll do it differently in english. BUT SO HELP ME SEGA, IF YOU HIRE 4KIDS....bad things will happen.

Otherwise, things sound awesome!

Yes, i'm very happy NiGHTS has a female voice because his original voice wasn't exactly Barry White, i was fearing a really deep voice.

Trivia- The original NiGHTS was voiced by a mystery Japanese female member of the Sonicteam, truth. So its not much of a change. He'll just be talking a whole lot more.
Now let us all gather in a circle and hope its not bloody Lumina.
AHAHAH that would really put the gits on the spot. great idea XD I WANT TO MAKE THEM SQUIRM (or own up to not giving a damn). Either would be funny.

BREAKING NEWS:

NiGHTS is voiced by the same person who does AMY! *SHOT*

I would've had nightmares if it was a deep voice. No kiddin >_<.

I am still cynical about whether they read it. Something yells it my mind that they burned it D8!

I just squeed violently. Im sure it was disturbing to the neighbors.
But f*** it. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Ayway, Now Im super excited for this game, but one major question remains.

HOW DOES THE WIIMOTE CONTROL OPTION WORK?

I think its a pretty fair question. Is it waved around like the trailer says? How does THAT work?
Ill probably play it both ways...about a billion times

Oh Dear god I cant wait much longer for this I cant.

Now let us all gather in a circle and hope its not bloody Lumina.

1:38 - The first precious stone is over here ! : D


Right. Another question. "The persona mask idea has been scrapped, eh ?"

There's been not a hint of news about it since their first revealing, and since then, not a hint of news remains on either SEGA website. No screens. No mentions in any magazines other than the initial few.

You'd think such a feature would be mentioned once or twice.

Now let us all gather in a circle and hope its not bloody Lumina.

Rofl I agree. But yeah I am shocked that his voice is female only because I say he, its going to be weird saying she from now on, oh well. Another thing I was hoping for was if they kind of altered his voice in a cool generated kind of way kind of like how Reala's was, but not as sinister lol. Just to give it a dream feel I guess. It will be interesting to have NiGHTS able to express herself for the same reasons I said why it would be cool to have Claris and Elliot back int he new game.

The only thing worrying me is, and I have never even used a Wii mote before but, it sounds like you don't really use anything further than basic controls to me, no motion or anything and really defeats the purpose of why it was best for it to be on the Wii.

As far as the game being almost exactly the same as they say, this doesn't bother me because its safer than changing it and messing it all up, and I loved the first one for what it is, so I know I'm going to love this one for the same reasons. Although I think they should not change but add more to the gameplay, like more enemies and puzzles, because you can almost avoid any contact with enemies in the first game and just fly through rings, not much of a challenge.

On a more positive note lol: What sounded interesting to me was how the levels expand when you beat them, and you can go to every level with each character. I hope the experience in the level changes with what ever character you chose.

Overall the game sounds promising, and I'm happy I reserved it if its coming out around X-mas X_x

Well, I'm gonna be late for work, and I'm hungry. Be back around 10, maybe I'll have a question to ask then lol.

1:38 - The first precious stone is over here ! : D
Right. Another question. "The persona mask idea has been scrapped, eh ?"

There's been not a hint of news about it since their first revealing, and since then, not a hint of news remains on either SEGA website. No screens. No mentions in any magazines other than the initial few.

You'd think such a feature would be mentioned once or twice.

At this point Im just happy the game is turning out as well as it seems. Anything extra at this point is icing on a really delicious cake. a neko-mimi cake.

I'm hoping the voice isn't too 'girly' as well, really.. leaning toward a child-like voice would be fine.. (I figure either way it'd sound more feminine than masculine)

I'd also like the informant's opinion of the music..

I also wanted to add that the voice should sound like Kino's voice in the english dubbed version of Kino's Journey. Kino is a girl but her voice isnt distinctly girly. It is a rather androgynous voice (though also done by a girl). Its a very pleasant yet ambiguous voice and it would be perfect for NiGHTS.

The trailer shows quite clearly a waving wii remote, so wii controls are likely to still be in the game alongside the traditional (as described long before when the game was first known). Its highly doubtful that they would show a simple control scheme like waving the wiimote around only to ditch it. As for the masks, I think it might still be in there but theres still much mystery behind the changes in this game. so far though, GOLD.

I'm sure NiGHTS will still be androgynous. Even with the female voice actor (which I think was the best way to go). I mean, he was gonna get a voice, so a male or female had to do it. It was always gonna be one or 'tother.

At this point Im just happy the game is turning out as well as it seems. Anything extra at this point is icing on a really delicious cake. a neko-mimi cake.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm adoring how this game is turning out. The fact that I'll be buying my Wii on the same day NiGHTS comes out goes as far to show that. I'm just trying to think of intresting questions to ask : )

Will the stages be more filled with loops and blue chips than screenshots show right now ?

I'd also like to know if the owl has a name.

I'd also like the informant's opinion of the music..

That too, good question.

On the mask thing, i think they'd change the game name logo if they'd scrapped it because the thing under the words is supposed to look like a mask (you know one of the masquerade ones).

I don’t think the female voice bugs me at all ^^

Although I would have thought that for Helen he would have a girls voice and for Kevin a boys… but hey what do I know! ^__^; I don’t mind as long as she’s a good voice actress!!

WHERE IS REALA!!!

Details of this game keep getting better and better. a LOT LOT LOT better than I anticipated.
I just wonder how they managed to put all this into the game in such a short time. I really think that those early terrible looking screens we saw were from leftover Dreamcast assets, and it may have sped up development of the game by having a solid groundwork in place already. Its just a thought, but it makes sense.

An owl will greet you and blabber on for a while about "your first time here", introducing you to various things.

Oh, I see how it is now. The children in this game are British so there has to be an owl in this game, right Harry Potter?

Owls are British... and they live at Hogwarts with Marry Poppins.

NiGHTS' VOICE: It's a girl! It's very much a girl/woman's voice. I was pretty shocked to hear that, but there you go: NiGHTS has a female voice and is portrayed much more as a female in the game.

As expected. Don't want to confuse people with NiGHTS' androgyny.

To speed up (the spinning while moving forward) is the B button (trigger button) on the Wii-mote.

The B trigger? I was expecting the A button but I guess B will do too. I just hope it's easy on my index finger.

You can grab things with A, such as passing or falling feathers.

So B is to Drill Dash and A is to grab... so where does that leave acrobatics? I was thinking B was to be the acrobatics button since, well... it's a back trigger.

The resolution of the game is still being improved at this point and we've been given a release date arouond Christmas.

I assume that means another pushback which is fine. As long as it takes to polish the game until release.

The levels of the game are also still under construction: one more level was playable on the disc present, but it was so rudamentary that it glitches quite poorly (characters sometimes fall through the ground, etc). The representative said it looked really weird and there was barely anything there. We tried to get him to show us but it also took a LOT longer loading, so unfortunately, no go there.

"There was barely anything there"? Are you sure that guy was not playing a beta, or at least attempting to access a level that was suppose to be erased from the demo? Odd.

Welllll theyve been working on it since last year, so i think they've had quite a bit of time now. It boggles my mind though how they still havent finalised some of the main levels so close to deadline. I guess they'll be getting locked in overnight in the HQ like in 96 XD; We should send them sandwiches.

oh neat details details! o-o i'm glad there's title in front of the info cause there's some things i want to find out on my own. But damn, i'm so excited now >3<

Oh man <3

NiGHTS is back! Ahaha! So ecstatic. I wont really have an opinion on the voice actor until I hear her, but everything else is incredible - just like the original. Let's see...my question:

How's the score attack looking? Just as fast-paced as the original, less so, or does the Alp-ish level even look complete yet?

I second on wanting to know about the music, masks, and owl. Other than that... iiiiih!

does the Alp-ish level even look complete yet?

Well if it helps i heard about screenshots of it back in December/January. I'm glad it's been confirmed as of today as i really wanted to know if it was still happening.

Oh, I see how it is now. The children in this game are British so there has to be an owl in this game, right Harry Potter?

Owls are British... and they live at Hogwarts with Marry Poppins.

I'd venture that your indignation is misplaced - considering how owls are traditionally the custodians of wisdom and stand sentinel over godliness and good learning I hardly see how that can be conceived as anything derogatory! Although it perhaps would have been more quintissentially British if your tutorial was conveyed by a to-me-to-you Chuckle Brothers exchange between a lion and a unicorn, from the Royal Family's coat of arms and the Funday Times...

As for questions, I would like to ask the following:

-Will there be any level design or game mode installed to promote "Link Attacks" as with the snow train Mares in the original game?

-I have heard that an A-Life system won't be featured in the new title. Can this be confirmed, and what role will the Nightopians be assuming either way?

-Is a "Free Flight" mode a possibility for exploring the dream without having to follow the Mare routes?

-What will be the mechanism that comes into play after collecting a trick ribbon? Will we be able to utilise the Wii Remote to trace out manoeuvres?

I'm much obliged to our media contact for the opportunity to voice these inquiries, and it's greatly appreciated!

*fanboy squeeeeeee*

...Oh wait, how does that work out? Anyways, I got a pretty good idea of what everything is like, I guess. By the way, TRiPPY, could your source prove or disprove the boss music in the JoD video with the "music" on that Spanish website (forget where it is, rawr X_X). I doubt that it's the real music, but it would be really nice if this could be classified as true/false.

Maybe the "obscured area" by the fountain could be a "secret area" where you get to switch to Classic NiGHTS/Reala/Jackle and play as them. Ku ku ku...

The voice... I think it would be good if, like Innotech said, they used a VA like Kino's. A woman who also does little boy voices and could go either way. With William-NiGHTS she could just drop her voice a bit.

Another thing, I don't think voice really denotes gender in Japanese-made entertainment. For example, Yuki of Fruits Basket was voiced by a woman in Japan. And he didn't sound like a little boy, he sounded like a girl. But he was still male.

Personally the thought that they are this close to release and still only have one level complete worries me... If they have to push it back to finish it, they should! No more releasing unfinished games just to get some quick cash! *cough*sonic06*cough*

The levels of the game are also still under construction: one more level was playable on the disc present, but it was so rudamentary that it glitches quite poorly (characters sometimes fall through the ground, etc).

Sounds like Sonic Heroes on the PS2.

I am glad to hear all this information. Female voice is the best way to go if you can't be ambiguous about it, and the orginal voice from the old game was a girl anyway. I am also happy to hear there might be more than 7 levels. Biggest problem of the old game was being too short. I hope they make this one longer.

I am dissapointed to hear more about the new boss. I hate Puffy because I suck so bad at beating her. This new boss sounds like the same thing buy much much worse. I will probably have to have my boyfriend beat it for me.

Looks like I was right about the Pinball Table design (Yay me!) The Nunchuck controls sound cool. But I still can't imagine how the Wii remote would work alone. I don't know what to say about the Persona Masks. I didn't like the sound of them when they were first introduced. Maybe they will be more like a temporary power-up, like when NiGHTS had the Yellow stunt ribbon.

I don't want NiGHTS as a girl. I was hoping they'd keep him/her genderless. Maybe the female voice will sound like how NiGHTS did in the first. However, maybe NiGHTS spoke in Japanese and we don't have the English voice actress yet. I know NiGHTS has different images/reputations in different countries. So maybe in Japan s/he'll have a girlier, higher voice, as I think TRiPPy said, in Japan, NiGHTS has a 'Cheeky' kind of image. But here maybe NiGHTS will be more uni-sex.

Questions for the informant: I think some people have all the main stuff covered. I'm dying to know what the music is like. Music is such a huge part of NiGHTS. Hopefully also you'll be able to get some screenshots or pictures from the Sega booth.

I'd like to know how stunts work too. I thought maybe A and B would be used to perform stunts.

You fly through rings for more time? So the gameplay's been changed from Collecting 20 Chips and getting them to the idea capture then to the Palace as fast as you can?

Thanks for the info, keep us informed.

Dan.

Thank you for sharing and many thanks to the person sharing with you guys/us!
I'm feeling very pleased and ecstatic. I thought the game was going to go down the drain...

I just want more information on Reala and Wizeman.

It would have been interesting if nor NiGHTS voice, they used someone like Rica Matsumoto (not her's, but in the role dept.).

[All the good questions are already asked n_n;.]

I hope theres a total of 9 levels in this game.

GLEE.

For some reason, the "world hub" thing got me more excited than anything.

...what? I like world hubs. ;_;

Oi! TRiP! I do got a question.:

Do we know exactly what 2P is like? Is there a way to test it or debug/testing data? Or is it too buggy?

I hope there's a 2P acrobatics competition.

My heart skipped a few beats when I saw this topic was up the first time. Some bright to the dark in the day..

Female voice actress, then? That's not horrible. If that was a female in the first game, it's pretty indifferent. Seems like there's more femininity to JoD, from what the information says.

Seems like it's going to be a good game. There are a few patchy areas which I want to see for myself..

As for questions, I'll throw in to the collective of "What's the music like??" ..Otherwise, my only other interest is resolution. I would anticipate a higher resolution than the first.. then, once I get my Wii, I will go take over my professor's new plasma screen TV.

My my, this is exciting, isn't it?


I'm so glad they did NiGHTS female. As much as I thought dual voice was a good idea I prefer Female over Male in this case.


This person deserves a cookie for writing such a detailed E-Mail. >D

GLEE.

For some reason, the "world hub" thing got me more excited than anything.

...what? I like world hubs. ;_;

Did Lode Runner 2 do this to you? XP

O.o... Holy Crap >.< I'm now getting so hyped for this game to come out now, the info is making my heartstop and now I can't sleep at night because, I know I'd have dreams about the release of the game and waking up to finds it a dream and being real pissed, and also WTF? NiGHTS has a girls voice?, I'm sorry I don't have anything wrong with it but I think it would make new NiGHTS fans believe that NiGHTS' is a Girl only to be disappointed that "Shes" a "it".

Sweet. I was disappointed in that you get a little owl that tells you what to do as I've seen that a few times before and it just seems uncreative in general, but otherwise it sounds awesome. I also hope that the voice doesn't sound too female. :|

Sweet. I was disappointed in that you get a little owl that tells you what to do as I've seen that a few times before and it just seems uncreative in general, but otherwise it sounds awesome. I also hope that the voice doesn't sound too female. :|

Lol like the owl from Kings Quest V? "OHHHH GRAM!! HELP ME!"