Dept. Heaven

[Abominae]

Episode I: Riviera
Main article: Riviera: The Promised Land
Riviera takes place on the floating continent of Riviera. The main character, Ein being a resident of Asgard, is sent by The Seven Magi to rid Riviera of demons and becomes tangled in a bid for the Gods' dormant power through The World Tree.

Riviera is played almost as a visual novel, with "triggers" on each screen that can be selected, rather than directly controlling the movement of Ein. In battle, Riviera plays out similarly to the RPG stereotype, however aiming and attacking requires much more careful control, due to the lack of an explicit ability to decide the target of an attack, and the fact that all but one item has a limited amount of uses.

Riviera focused very strongly on the story and character interaction, even going so far as providing the player with the opportunity to slightly effect the ending by developing stronger relationships through his actions with particular female members of the cast.


[edit] Episode II: Yggdra Union
Main article: Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone
Yggdra Union takes place on an unnamed continent. The game chronicles the Yggdra War, where the Bronquian army begins a brutal rampage throughout the world, conquering territory after territory until Princess Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz, of one of the conquered countries, rallies against them.

The game almost seems to play like Fire Emblem on a cursory glance, but the "Union" formation system, as well as the real time clashes that take place therein, distinguish the game, both in how battles progress and in the way a player must plan.


[edit] Episode III
Little information has been revealed regarding Episode III, except that it is currently planned to be a PC MMORPG.[1]


[edit] Episode IV: Knights in the Nightmare
Main article: Knights in the Nightmare
Knights in the Nightmare takes place in Aventheim, a world recently interrupted by the invasion of a demonic army. The player leads the Wisp through the story, unraveling the past through the events of the present, in order to save Avenheim.

The game plays like an isometric SRPG infused with elements of a Shmup. The player moves the Wisp around using the touchscreen, activating attacks on allied characters and avoiding screen-covering shots from enemy characters.

Episode IV was one of the more ambitious DHE games, having a much larger staff and cast than Riviera and Yggdra Union.


[edit] Connections
In the unveiling article for Knights in the Nightmare, it was explained that the worlds share a common Asgard,[2] but no further details on their relations were explicitly given. In a later Dengeki Maoh article it was revealed how each game interacted in the Universe, each initially taking place on the overworld and being connected in some way to either Asgard or the Underworld.[3]


Regardless, many connections can be drawn between Yggdra Union and Riviera, with Grim Angels, the World Tree, Fanelia and Heaven's Gate appearing in both.

Anyone know anything about this? My knowledge is limited to what is stated here.

[Abominae]

I can't tell you how much this game looks like it's going to be otherworldly awesome... I'm surprised more people aren't looking into it.

I was sold merely on the fact that it's part 4 of the Dept. of Heaven Series. Yggdra Union and Riviera are very unique games to their respective genres (altho Yggdra Union is compared to Fire Emblem... play it... It's a hell of a lot different. But I guess since FE is as close to a comparison as one can make...).

Still... It's true... you've NEVER played ANYTHING like Knights in the Nightmare. I have mine preordered... June 6th... here I come.