So Fortune Summoners, the newest Carpe Fulgur release, is finally out, after a couple of obnoxious delays. Demo and other details here.

As a longtime fan of the all-too-rare Zelda II/Wonder Boy/Faxanadu style of action RPG, I was looking forward to this for quite a while. Based on an hour or so with it, I love it--the way it controls is kind of floaty and takes some getting used to, but there's a lot of meat to the combat, and the translation seems every bit as charming as Recettear's. Anyone else checking it out?

Never heard of it before, is it a side-scrolling RPG similar to The Spirit Engine games? Thanks for the info, will check it out later.

Not really similar to those at all. They aren't action RPGs so the only real similarity is the perspective.

This is more like the aforementioned Zelda II (but probably better).

Last I heard it'd been sent off to all their distributors so I guess it's just a case of it being too late at night in Sweden.

Bugger. Looks like Steam or GG :/

What's wrong with GG? It'll be DRM-free there, Carpe Fulgur are pretty committed to that. Apparently it was quite a job convincing Lizsoft (the game has Ubi-style DRM in Japan).

yeppers, it's up on GG now.

For those in CA, US, and UK not allergic to Steam, there seems to be contest for this game on RPGamer here:
http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q1-2012/020212b.html

Shame it's yet another おま国 game. Seriously fed up with the Japanese games not being sold on Steam in Japan trend =/

As a result will only get it when it's in a $5 sale despite enjoying the demo.

Note: For those interested, おま国 (omakuni) is a term that indicates regional restrictions on Steam. It's an abbreviation of "お前の国には売ってやんねーよ" (omae no kuni niha utteyanee yo" - It's not sold in your country (on Steam)".

Yep, regional restrictions are such an issue here that a specific term was coined for it =(

Here's hoping that CF will do for Lizsoft what they (eventually) did for EGS - help with securing domestic distribution on Steam. Something Valve sure won't do on their own accord, despite allegedly having Japanese speaking staff).

Picked it up, and finding it fairly enjoyable. One of the nice things is how the combat feels fair to me, which is something important to me when it comes to videogames: I like being able to say "It was my fault" for taking a hit or losing a fight.

However, a downside is the dungeons, there is no quick way to back out of them or to return to where you left off, at least not without dying or getting lamps at Kotok village after 4-5 dungeons. I often find myself making multiple forays into a dungeon so that I can clear puzzles and treasures, before going back to town for supplies - some dungeons don't have savepoints or healing pools before the boss, so being prepared beforehand is useful for me.

In this case it's probably because Lizsoft don't want the competition. I believe the original version of the game costs a lot more than $20 and has some pretty nasty DRM.

I doubt it has anything to do with not wanting competition as it's apparently been made known to him that there's a customer base that wants the game on Steam and he's made it known that he's not looking for 100% of profit from direct sales on Steam. CF have stated that they have no interest in taking a cut of Japan based sales, which is pretty much why they are so reluctant to help their Japanese partners to get on Steam -- something I and others think they should be readily offering to do as after all, without the original games, they wouldn't have a business.

And FYI, Fortune Summoners is only excessively expensive if you are purchase the retail version which sells for 6,800 JPY. It could be purchased for much less when it was available online (which looking at the website, is no longer the case).

Picked it up yesterday - now only the third game I've ever bought on the release date from Steam. I tried it out superficially yesterday and I'm rather enjoying it. The translation (or should I say the dialogue, because I don't know Japanese) is the typical high quality we've come to expect of Carpe Fulgur. I'll spend the weekend on it methinks.

I just got it yesterday but won't really start playing it until Monday. I enjoyed the demo and really enjoyed Receattear, I think I'll feel the same way about this game.