Riviera: The Promised Land

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Riviera: The Promised Land
Developer(s)	Sting
Publisher(s)	Atlus
Designer(s)	Shinichi Ito (Game Design), Sunaho Tobe (Character Design) (GBA and PSP versions)
Released	JPN July 12, 2002 (WSC) JPN November 25, 2004 (GBA) NA June 28, 2005 (GBA) JPN November 22, 2006 (PSP) NA July 10, 2007 (PSP) JPN October 18, 2007 (PSP)
Genre	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: Teen (T) CERO: Ages 12 and up (B), All Ages (A)
Platform(s)	WonderSwan Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable

Riviera: The Promised Land (約束の地リヴィエラ, Yakusoku No Chi Riviera^?) is a console role-playing game originally produced in 2002 by Sting Entertainment for WonderSwan Color and later introduced to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance in 2004, which Atlus USA released in North America in 2005. An enhanced remake was released for the PlayStation Portable in November 2006, and was released in July 2007 in North America by Atlus USA.^[1] Riviera: The Promised Land became a sleeper hit because of its twist to the RPG standard. Its originality and well-written spin has given Riviera a strong fan-base. The player takes the role of Ein, a Grim Angel, who must battle against demons as well as antagonistic Grim Angels to seal away the four fountainheads of evil known as the Accursed. He is accompanied by four heroines—Fia, Lina, Serene and Cierra—as well as his cat-like familiar Rose. Riviera also contains dating sim elements, as the hero can achieve multiple endings with the supporting characters through decisions made throughout the game. The use of voice acting is notable; while not extensive, Riviera goes beyond most other Game Boy Advance titles in amount. The game also features CG and hand-drawn pictures.

Plot

Riviera floats in the sky, with no visible landmass beneath it.

The in-game map of Riviera

Riviera draws from diverse mythologies, most prominently Norse, incorporating concepts like Ragnarok and Yggdrasil into its story.

Setting

The game takes place in the Divine World where the land takes its form in a number of continent-sized islands floating high in the sky, with no visible landmass beneath them. Riviera is one of these continents and is the setting for most of the game. The game begins in Heaven's Gate, at the edge of Asgard, Realm of the Gods, with Ein, Ledah and Rose leaving for Riviera. During the game, the player visits six locations within Riviera: the village of Elendia , Lacrima Castle, the ruins of Nelde, the sinking city of Tetyth, Mireno Cemetery, Yggdrasil and, optionally, Parveeju.

• Heaven's Gate is the final resting place of all Angels who lost their lives defending Asgard during the Ragnarok, and is also the only connection between Asgard and Riviera.
• Elendia is a small village of sprites and acts as a home base for the player. Elendia is home to the Crystal Caverns, an establishment of advanced magical research. The most powerful weapon in the game, the Fanelia, lies buried near the entrance to the spring in Elendia.
• Lacrima Castle is a castle on Rosalina Island. When the demons were annihilated in Ragnarok, the Arcs took up its jurisdiction. While it is well kept, it remains mostly deserted.
• Nelde was a large city advanced in magic; however it was abandoned and its ruins are now covered by a forest. Wyverns and Pelgas ( a large predatory bird) nest there.
• Tetyth is a city founded by seven Fallen Angels who were cast out of Asgard. It is also a city left to the Undines as it sinks, due to the arrogance and extravagance of its citizens bringing down the wrath of the Gods.
• Mireno Cemetery is located in an abandoned village where many thieves take up residence. Its large lake has an elaborate draining system.
• Yggdrasil, the World Tree, is home of Ursula and the aquariums which defend her. When intruders breach it, a race of sprites called the Cefiro will be released within the tree, attacking anything they see.
• The Maze of Shadows exists neither in Riviera nor in Asgard. It is a separate continent, and the place where Seth, Ursula's opposite, lies sealed.
• Parveeju is the underworld, the place in which Hades, enemy of the Gods, is caged. The key to his prison lies at the bottom of the lake in Mireno Cemetery.

Story

A thousand years before the game occurs, the gods of Asgard were attacked and overrun by demons from Utgard. In desperation, the gods broke an ancient covenant. They created black-winged reapers that came to be know as Grim Angels. Each was armed with a Diviner or sacred weapon with which they easily vanquished the demons. This war was called Ragnarok. After the war's conclusion the demons were locked away in Utgard, which was cleansed and became known as Riviera. Soon after this war, the gods disappeared, leaving their knowledge and authority in the stewardship of seven Magi; their power they left in the care of the Sprites, the inhabitants of a peaceful Riviera.

Ein and Ledah set foot on the sacred soil of Riviera.

After a thousand years of peace, rumors of the demons’ return surfaced. Hector, one of the Magi, sends the Grim Angels Ein and Ledah to investigate, accompanied by Ein's familiar, Rose. They are ordered to activate the "Retribution", a hidden power of the gods which would eliminate the demons but destroy Riviera in the process. At the end of Heaven's Gate, they meet Ursula, the guardian of Riviera. Ein falls in battle and is taken to Yggdrasil, the heart of Riviera, by Ursula. Discovering that he has a good heart, she entrusts him with the protection of Riviera. Ein wakes up suffering from amnesia and able to recall neither his purpose nor his origin. He is nursed by Fia and Lina, residents of Elendia, which is a village near Yggdrasil. News about the rebirth of the four "Accursed" - the "progenitors of evil" - reaches them and they set out to investigate. Eventually, they defeat all four and meet Serene, Cierra and even Rose along the way. Meanwhile, Ledah searches for Yggdrasil, so that he may activate the "Retribution". Ein now expects to live peacefully in Elendia with his new-found friends, but Ursula informs them that Ledah has breached Yggdrasil and intends to destroy the three "Aquariums", the sources of Yggdrasil's power in an attempt to activate the Retribution. The six companions (Ein, Lina, Fia, Serene, Cierra and Rose) head out to Yggdrasil. Although they manage to subdue Ledah in battle, it is Malice, Hector's pawn, who deals a fatal blow. A dying Ledah warns them that Hector has tricked them all this time: he does not fulfill the will of the gods, but seeks ultimate power for himself. They chase Malice, but are unable to prevent her from destroying the last Aquarium. They fight with Malice, but it is Ledah who deals the killing blow. Ledah soon dies, asking Ein to take revenge on Hector. The company then race to the "Maze of Shadows" where Seth, the Sealed One, is imprisoned. There they discover that Hector has unleashed Seth. Hector intends to become the one True God and to this end he fuses his body with that of Seth to become Seth-Rah. However, Ein is able to defeat Seth-Rah and is teleported back to Yggdrasil by Ursula just before the entire Maze collapses. Upon their return, Ursula reveals that, with the death of her counterpart Seth, she too will cease to exist. Before disappearing, she charges Ein, Fia, Lina, Serene, Cierra and Rose with the continued protection of Riviera. Since Riviera is a renai, the player can achieve multiple endings depending on his responses to his companions. Depending upon them, an ending may be achieved with Ein and the girl of choice having a special scene together. The ending with Rose is a hidden ending, as it was not in the original WSC game, and Rose doesn't have a trust stat in the game. The last frame also tells (no matter what the ending) that Rose becomes a historian in later life and records their adventures.

Characters

The five main characters (from left to right) : Ein, Fia, Lina, Serene and Cierra

Ein (エクセル, Ekuseru^?, Ecthel in the Japanese version) is a Grim Angel, who sacrificed his black wings in order to receive his Diviner, Einherjar. He wears shorts, a vest, gloves, a cape and a scarf; he has grey-black hair and deep blue eyes. He appears to be an average teenage boy and is quite naïve, an attribute that annoys both his partners Ledah and Rose. He is a kind, caring person and noble at heart. Ein is a skilled swordsman, and can also use rapiers, spears and staves effectively. Fia (フィア, Fia^?, Fiaa in the Japanese version) is a teenage girl with a caring personality. She wears a long green skirt, a black vest over a long-sleeved white blouse. She has long green hair tied with a matching ribbon and green eyes. Originally, she shared a house with Lina, but later made room for Ein, Cierra and Serene. She is, like Ein, kind and noble, sometimes stern and serious and she can cook and mix herbs well. She is extremely mature, despite being the youngest of Ein's four female companions. Sometimes Fia shows signs of shyness toward others, especially Ein, for whom she nurses a soft spot. Fia has astonishing skill with the rapier; she is also a skilled healer and archer. Lina (ルゥリ, Rūri^?, Lyuri in the Japanese version) is a sweet, childlike and energetic teen girl. Surprisingly, she is older than her roommate Fia^[2] though still younger than Ein. She wears a flamboyant yellow short-skirt and overcoat. She has orange hair and brown eyes. Lina enjoys eating, going on adventurous treasure hunts and playing lively games with her friends; she is ignorant about household chores. At times she can also be a very serene and thoughtful girl — her fascination for beautiful landscapes is undeniable. She constantly gets into situations in which she embarrasses herself, especially around Ein, for whom she hosts a secret infatuation. Lina is an excellent archer, while also competent with claws and grenades. Serene (セレネ, Serene^?) is an outgoing, tomboy-ish teenage girl, the same age as Ein. She is an Arc, unlike the majority of the inhabitants of Riviera, who are Sprites. She used to live on Rosalina Island with other Arcs until her entire tribe was killed by the Grim Angel Malice. She alone survives and joins Ein, for whom she develops an infatuation. Serene has large, batlike wings, a trait shared by Arcs. She wears a helmet adorned with a pair of fake cat ears on her shoulder-length dark blue/indigo hair and has blue eyes. She wears a long pale blue vest over a black body-suit and a dark blue shawl. Serene's preferred weapon is the scythe, but can also use spears and claws effectively. Cierra (シエラ, Shiera^?) is a kind, thoughtful witch in late adolescence or early adulthood. She is the eldest of the group and possesses amazing magical powers. She is always optimistic but sometimes clumsy. She rescued Rose after she and Ein were separated, although she accidentally fed her a potion that removed Rose's ability to talk. For enjoyment, she studies and plays with magic. Cierra wears a typical witch's conical hat, red boots, and a revealing, serrated red dress. Cierra's talent lies in magic wands, but can also fight well with whips and magic tomes. Ledah (レダ, Reda^?) is an experienced warrior and one of three Grim Angels shown in the game. He is a strong, loyal, and very solitary man. It is suggested that he is much older than Ein and his companions, given his experience, and the choice of voice actors for him in the GBA and PSP remakes but this is debatable. He follows the order of the seven Magi without question. This is because he traded his emotions for his Diviner, Lorelei, preventing him from reconsidering the orders given to him. Except just before dying, Ledah is shown as aloof, cynical, and pragmatic. The above characters are the only playable characters in the game. Riviera has several dozen supporting characters, notably Rose (Ein's familiar); Hector (the game's villain); Malice (Hector's henchwoman); Ursula, guardian spirit of Riviera; and the Four Accursed, who act as Stage bosses. There are also numerous Elendian citizens, fairies and undines who help Ein along the way.

Gameplay

Riviera is a turn-based RPG game, with some elements from strategy and dating sim games. The last aspect manifests itself in the conversation in the game. Often, Ein will have to favor either Fia, Lina, Serene or Cierra over the others in scenes in which the characters interact with each other. This affects their trust for Ein, and their mood, and eventually the game's outcome.

The player has just completed the Maze of Shadows stage and has received an "A" rank (2^nd highest) for the number of turns taken. However, having left 15 items and managing to please only one of the four female characters, a "B" grade is all that was earned in each of those categories. The next stage will begin with four Trigger Points available for use (bottom-right).

For each of the seven main chapters of the game, the player starts in Elendia, and is given a mission. The player then moves on to wherever that mission takes place, proceeding through nine areas, to the eighth area which will contain the chapter boss. The ninth area is secret, and often has a particular method of infiltration. Within each area are multiple screens, all with events and battles of their own. When a chapter is completed, all trigger points currently accumulated are erased, and the player is taken to a results screen showing how they performed in the chapter, and gaining trigger points based on that performance that can be used in the next chapter.

Field

Unlike most RPGs, when not in battle, the player does not have full control over Ein's movement. Instead of being able to freely move with directional buttons, the player controls Ein through triggers, in two modes.

Look Mode

In Look Mode, the player may press directional buttons corresponding to triggers shown on the screen. Some triggers will not appear until certain events have taken place, and some triggers will change based on repeated investigation. However, many triggers require TP, Trigger Points, earned in battle. These triggers can cue many things, from battles, to event scenes and free items.

Move Mode

In Move Mode, the player may advance or back track (limited) to previous screens. Each area is made up of several screens, each screen having triggers to explore and potentially battles to engage in. In a similar fashion to Look Mode, triggers will appear on the screen and a corresponding directional button must be pressed to move to them, adding a turn to the count. Unlike Look Mode, however, triggers in Move Mode do not require Trigger Points, so one may move as much as one likes, assuming there is no turn limit. Once the player has exited the final screen of an area, the player will be prompted to save and then move on to the next area.

Battle

A typical combat scene: The overdrive bar can be seen in the top-left corner. (GBA version)

Before a battle begins, the player usually has the choice to retreat, giving them time to prepare. For every battle, the player may choose only three combatants out of a possible five, and a positioning scheme for them. The player can either choose the Attack or Magic formation, the former allowing Attack based moves a shorter recharge time, the latter doing the same for Magic users. In the Magic formation, there will be two characters on the sides of the back row, and a single character in the middle of the front row. In Attack formation this is reversed. Following that decision the player must choose the items to bring. Only sixteen items can be held at any time, and there are no methods of storage. A further limitation is that the player may only bring four of those sixteen items into battle for all three characters chosen to use. However, for every item, each character has a different attack, where, with a staff, Cierra might do great damage with a magical attack, Fia would heal an ally.

Once all the preparations are made, battle begins. Turn order is decided by a count down, the count down being based on agility, last move used and formation. When a player character gets to go, they may select from as much as eight different skills. Four normal ones for each item, and, if they are well trained with that item and the OverDrive Gauge is sufficiently filled, a secondary, more interesting skill. Using a skill, however, reduces how many more times that item can be used to perform a skill, as Riviera employs a Fire Emblem-styled system of item endurance allowing the item to be used only a certain amount of times before it breaks entirely. The OverDrive Gauge fills throughout battle, as characters receive and deal damage, and with certain skills. At various levels, characters can use different skills, because certain skills require more of the gauge be filled. There are five levels of skills for player characters: Level 0; skills that may be used whenever and without training, Level 1; skills that usually require two or three uses to unlock and the OverDrive Gauge filled to 1, Level 2; skills that require four to seven uses and an OverDrive Gauge filled to 2, Level 3; skills that require a fully filled OverDrive Gauge and a great deal of uses to unlock, and Execution Level; skills that may be used at any level of OverDrive Gauge fullness, but will shatter the gauge for the battle, and are only obtained through the story. Enemies have a similar gauge, having three levels: Normal, Rage and Max. At Normal they may only use normal attacks, at Rage they may use Rage and Normal attacks, but the latter depletes the gauge. At Max, they may use all three, but only Max skills will deplete the gauge, and will deplete it fully. Enemies also have Etc. attacks, ranging from healing to transformation, that may be used at any time. Once all allies have had their HP depleted to zero, the battle will end triggering a Game Over, which will give the player the option to retry the battle with the enemies' stats lowered and the OverDrive Gauge filled. However, there are Trigger Point penalties for doing this. If all enemies have had their HP deplete to zero, instead, the battle will end in victory for the player. Once the player has won, they will be given a rank based on their performance in battle. The rank is based both on time spent in battle and the finisher, but the rank will also be lowered if the player retried. Trigger Points are distributed based on the rank the player obtained in the battle. Also, if the character used an item enough times, that character will be rewarded with a stat up and the unlocking of an OverSkill that can be used in later battles. Items will also be rewarded based on rank, and on what kind of enemy was the last killed in the battle.

Development

Riviera: The Promised Land was originally developed for the WonderSwan Color and only saw release in Japan in 2002. In 2004, Riviera was remade for the Game Boy Advance, featuring a completely new art style, with several new CGs and events and limited voice acting. This version saw an eventual translation and North American release courtesy of Atlus USA, in 2005. In 2006, Sting announced and released a PSP remake of the game, with more CGs, events, and complete voice acting, but the sprites were merely upscaled versions of those used in the WSC and GBA versions. After several retailers leaked the news, Atlus USA officially announced they would be releasing it in North America,^[1] along with an extra chapter not appearing in the Japanese version.^[3]. In October 2007, a Special Edition was released by Sting in Japan, with a few extra features.

Audio

Riviera: The Promised Land features a large amount of voice acting for a Game Boy Advance title. While the PSP version is fully voiced, the GBA version still contains nearly two-hundred voice clips, something very few other GBA titles can claim. The seiyu for the Japanese PSP version were Rie Kugimiya as Ein, Masakazu Morita as Ledah, Rika Komatsu as Rose, Hiromi Konno as Lina, Natsumi Yanase as Fia, Ai Nonaka as Serene, and Yuko Goto as Cierra.^[4] The Japanese voice work remains in the English release of the PSP version^[1], along with an English track. The voice actors for the English GBA version are largely unknown owing to Atlus' tendency to not release cast lists with their games, though many returned for the PSP version's localization^[5]. The soundtrack for Riviera was composed mostly by Minako Adachi, with a few tracks by Shigeki Hayashi, and spanned less than forty tracks. For each version of the game, the music has been rearranged. Until February 2007, the only official publishings of the soundtrack was the Riviera Full Arrange Soundtrack, with arranged versions of all songs, as well as the GBA versions of the songs that deviated most from the game's sound, and the Riviera Introduction disc which contained the original WSC music. On February 9th, 2007, however, Sting released the Riviera Perfect Audio Collection Plus, a three disc collection containing the original music from the WSC, GBA and PSP versions of the game.^[6]

Reception

Reviews for Riviera were generally positive. Riviera kept a place at the number 1 spot on 1UP.com's top 10 GBA games list throughout the majority of summer 2005. The game was described as "...the most streamlined RPG imaginable." Praise went out to its gameplay design, in which allowed conversations to occur frequently and smoothly. Overall, Riviera was said to be "...lengthy, engrossing and above all unique."^[7] Criticism went to its repeating backgrounds, although beautifully drawn, where 1UP claimed to make the game "lose impact." They also claimed that the experience and item systems were "a bit damaged" and that they "...slowed the pace of the quest to a grinding halt."^[7]

References

External links

• (Japanese) Official Japanese Riviera sites: WSC GBA PSP
• (English) Official English Riviera sites: GBA PSP
• Lacrima Castle, an English Riviera fansite
• Riviera at RPGamer.com
• Reviews at Metacritic