SteamFirst: As most of you reading know, episodic gaming has had its rough patches. For every The Walking Dead we get Sin Episodes, the original Penny Arcade RPGs, and something called Half Life, whatever that is. (Joke. I’m joking!) It seems like most of these starts never reach the finish line. I personally hope the Alpha Kimori series does not fall victim to this curse.
Chaz at Twinfinite writes,
JRPGs are one of the strangest genres out there; it’s a big part of why I love them, I think. They often make no attempt whatsoever at a narrative with the slightest connection to reality, and they’re entirely unapologetic in their dedication to the story they’ve decided to go with. So it is with Alpha Kimori: Part One, which opens with a very brief scene setting the stage for the coming adventure. Fifty years prior, Earth was attacked by aliens. In response, God – in the form of a spaceship (yes, really) and seven ‘angels’ (read: giant mechs called Robotic Intelligent Cybernetic Armor, or RICAs) then transports the chosen few of humanity to a new world called Kimori, where the humans do the natural human thing and split into two warring factions; the peaceful Jinrians who wish to preserve the new world as their permanent home and promised land, and the warlike Bidarians, who seek to ravage the natural resources of Kimori – notably items called Ki Crystals – to build a powerful enough force to reclaim Earth.
Does a roleplaying game have to be made in Japan for it to be a JRPG? Malaysia-based studio Sherman3D has successfully gotten its JRPG Alpha Kimori Greenlit on Steam, proving that a JRPG made outside of Japan is still one legitimate enough to be loved by the community.
Alpha Kimori Episode 1, the start of a trilogy, is a little-known JRPG that was developed using RPG Maker and released back in 2011. Inspired by anime and classic turn-based RPGs, Alpha Kimori mixes science fiction with fantasy to craft what is a fairly original story.
