AI: The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative announced

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

AI: The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative was recently announced, coming to PS4, PS5*, Xbox One, Switch and PC in spring 2022.

 

https://www.siliconera.com/ai-the-somnium-files-nirvana-initiative-revealed/

 

 

*Edit: Seems it will not have a native PS5 version. Will be available on PS5 via backwards compatibility.

Edited July 1, 2021 by SuperSmexy500

[Doomed_Gary]

Fuck yeah! I really liked the first one. Maybe another Uchikoshi trilogy? I'm interested.

[MRR---OFFICIAL]

Nice, still have to play the first one (bought it at Launch) along with Zanki Zero and gotta grab World's End Club (seriously where's our PS Version of that?) none of them seem as good to me as Daganronpa and Zero Escape though, I think they're trying to recapture that magic (and I'm sure these games are fine and everything) but they just haven't been able to ?

[Zircon_Lotus]

I was literally thinking about this game today. Loved it, was the game that I liked the most from everything I played last year. Cant wait. 

[Undead Wolf]

Nice to see some love for the first game here. I thought it was great too and I'm really looking forward to this new one. It's cool that the collector's edition comes with a figure of Aiba. Very temped to shell out extra for that.

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

54 minutes ago, MRR---OFFICIAL said:

Nice, still have to play the first one (bought it at Launch) along with Zanki Zero and gotta grab World's End Club (seriously where's our PS Version of that?) none of them seem as good to me as Daganronpa and Zero Escape though, I think they're trying to recapture that magic (and I'm sure these games are fine and everything) but they just haven't been able to ?

 

I haven't played Zanki Zero or World's End Club yet, but do have them in my backlog. I have played the first AI game and while I did enjoy it, it definitely wasn't any Zero Escape or Danganronpa for me. It's a shame Danganronpa is basically dead now it seems, aside from it getting an expanded version of that mini-game in V3. But at the same time, I'm not sure what else they could really do with the series, and I do like it when a series ends on a high note at the very least. Either way, I'm looking forward to this sequel to AI, and hope it becomes another notable Spike Chunsoft trilogy.

 

4 minutes ago, Undead Wolf said:

Nice to see some love for the first game here. I thought it was great too and I'm really looking forward to this new one. It's cool that the collector's edition comes with a figure of Aiba. Very temped to shell out extra for that.

 

I'm tempted by the collector's edition as well, though it'd be nice to see what the figure actually looks like before I commit.

[Rozalia1]

Excellent news. The first one was a joy to play and it certainly has room to go beyond being just a one off. The choice of new main character is an obvious one if you think about it and she was a nice supporting character in the first one. Loved the big scenes with her.

[Golden Devil Gamer]

This announcement is definitely a surprise, because I'm pretty sure the first game didn't sell very well, especially in Japan (only 4k copies sold in its first week, oof). But I'm super glad that it's a getting a sequel! The first game was excellent! I liked it almost as much as the Zero Escape trilogy (almost as good as 999 or VLR, but considerably better ZTD). The story did have pacing issues, and some jokes kinda dragged or ruined the mood occasionally, but the storytelling was truly amazing and the overall mystery is some of the best I've experienced in the visual novel medium.

 

Reading the synopsis on Famitsu, it seems like the sequel also revolves around a murder mystery that relates to a case from six years ago, just like the first game's case. Uchikoshi must love the number six a lot, lol. Although I'll miss Date, Mizuki is an excellent choice for a new protagonist. And I'm glad to see Aiba back! Only thing I'm curious about is how Mizuki lost one of her eyes ?

[Rozalia1]

17 hours ago, Golden Devil Gamer said:

This announcement is definitely a surprise, because I'm pretty sure the first game didn't sell very well, especially in Japan (only 4k copies sold in its first week, oof). But I'm super glad that it's a getting a sequel! The first game was excellent! I liked it almost as much as the Zero Escape trilogy (almost as good as 999 or VLR, but considerably better ZTD). The story did have pacing issues, and some jokes kinda dragged or ruined the mood occasionally, but the storytelling was truly amazing and the overall mystery is some of the best I've experienced in the visual novel medium.

 

Reading the synopsis on Famitsu, it seems like the sequel also revolves around a murder mystery that relates to a case from six years ago, just like the first game's case. Uchikoshi must love the number six a lot, lol. Although I'll miss Date, Mizuki is an excellent choice for a new protagonist. And I'm glad to see Aiba back! Only thing I'm curious about is how Mizuki lost one of her eyes 

 

Uchikoshi is not a popular director/writer in Japan. The announcement of this game has like 60 times more retweets in English than it does in Japanese. In the west his work was one that helped increase the popularity of the genre, in Japan however, he is functionally a nobody shall we say as VNs were already big perhaps, or the Japanese perhaps just don't like Sci-Fi mystery which is something Uchikoshi has considered. As such, poor Japanese sales are expected for his stuff and he gets by entirely on western sales. 

[SnowxSakura]

21 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

Uchikoshi is not a popular director/writer in Japan. The announcement of this game has like 60 times more retweets in English than it does in Japanese. In the west his work was one that helped increase the popularity of the genre, in Japan however, he is functionally a nobody shall we say as VNs were already big perhaps, or the Japanese perhaps just don't like Sci-Fi mystery which is something Uchikoshi has considered. As such, poor Japanese sales are expected for his stuff and he gets by entirely on western sales. 

Not surprising, eroge vns on pc are a lot more popular than all ages console vns

[majob]

33 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

Uchikoshi is not a popular director/writer in Japan. The announcement of this game has like 60 times more retweets in English than it does in Japanese. In the west his work was one that helped increase the popularity of the genre, in Japan however, he is functionally a nobody shall we say as VNs were already big perhaps, or the Japanese perhaps just don't like Sci-Fi mystery which is something Uchikoshi has considered. As such, poor Japanese sales are expected for his stuff and he gets by entirely on western sales. 

That explains the Xbox port then

[Golden Devil Gamer]

On 7/2/2021 at 7:38 AM, Rozalia1 said:

 

Uchikoshi is not a popular director/writer in Japan. The announcement of this game has like 60 times more retweets in English than it does in Japanese. In the west his work was one that helped increase the popularity of the genre, in Japan however, he is functionally a nobody shall we say as VNs were already big perhaps, or the Japanese perhaps just don't like Sci-Fi mystery which is something Uchikoshi has considered. As such, poor Japanese sales are expected for his stuff and he gets by entirely on western sales. 

Though even by Uchikoshi standards, AI underperformed in Japan. 999 had around 22k sales in its first week despite being a less marketable game than AI. AI's more lighthearted tone with mascot and idol characters should've made the game have a more broader appeal than Zero Escape in Japan, and even with that idol marketing, it didn't even come close to ZTD's 18k sales in its first week (which was the third game of a trilogy and barely marketed in Japan). 4k sales in its first week for AI is just depressingly low.

 

That being said, you're right about Uchikoshi games depending on the western market for sales. After all, it's only really Spike Chunsoft's Uchikoshi games that get a simultaneous worldwide release. Not even Danganronpa gets that treatment, despite being the more popular franchise worldwide. 

[zeda12123]

I'd already have this preordered if amazon canada would list the ps4 version already, not even the standard version is up. It's been nearly a week, man, what gives. 

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

10 hours ago, zeda12123 said:

I'd already have this preordered if amazon canada would list the ps4 version already, not even the standard version is up. It's been nearly a week, man, what gives. 

 

That's strange, it's been up for pre-order here in the UK the day after it was announced pretty much everywhere. There has always been those weird few games that don't seem to go up for pre-order till fairly close to release though, Akiba's Trip Hellbound & Debriefed was up basically no where till a few weeks ago here, even when it was less than a month till release. Hopefully it goes up for you soon.

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

ICYMI the Aiba figure that comes with the collector's edition was revealed a couple weeks ago:

 

https://www.siliconera.com/ai-the-somnium-files-nirvana-initiative-aiba-figure-revealed/

 

Spoiler

 

I'll probably keep my collector's edition pre-order, since this is a pretty cool looking figure. Will probably have to relegate some other collector's editions and ornaments to storage to make room for it, but sacrifices must be made.