Pandora's Tower

[Labrynian Rebel]

Nintendo has announced a new IP, and practically nothing else about it besides the name, let the rapid fanboy random speculation of death commence!


Here's my silly fanfic theory as of right now:

I think the game will feature the two world gameplay gimmick that Nintendo loves so much.

1. A heavenly or the spiritual realm where the main character is beautiful
2. The mortal plane/real world where the main character is a horrid beast

The gameplay will be about traveling back and forth, and the story will be all about the "beauty within" and all that hoo-rah. I also think the tattoo is a magic curse thing that does the transformation.

What do you guys think the game will be about? This is what the internet is for after all.

[Animerican_Redeemed]

Ooh, beat me to the punch there, Labrynian Rebel. Was considering making a topic for it, but I kinda felt that there'd be too much empty speculation at this point. Still, that doesn't mean it's no less fun to talk about just what it may entail, heh.

On the day of its announcement, someone uncovered this image from the flash site (and yeah, I guess I'll copy-and-paste some of my original post on Kotaku):


(Open image in new window for better reading, or open a Bible)

It appeared that it was Biblical scripture, so looking up the text some on BibleGateway, it appears that it's from, in top-to-bottom order: Job 30:27-28, Job 25, and Job 30:30-31. The only words that aren't a readily available biblical reference are in the text that says "To the very end the mind opend when he shut his eyes"...

Now my best guess (as are many others' best guesses) are that it's from Monolith Software, which was bought by Nintendo and made both Disaster: Day of Crisis and Xenoblade. What we've seen of its aesthetics doesn't seem to vary much from past Monolith games, and past games of theirs have also made use of religious references, like in Xenosaga.... albeit in some ways that are certifiably insane and Japanese. [spoiler]Never played the game, but seriously? KOS-MOS possesses the consciousness of Mary Magdalane? WTH!?[/spoiler] Now, naturally, biblical references are about a dime a dozen in Japanese games, particularly rpgs... but still, with biblical text being the first bits of promotion material in a Nintendo game? Color me impressed, and then saddened that such references might be blotted out entirely overseas.

And Another Very Interesting Fact: it's currently rated CERO C, meaning that's it's suitable for ages 15+. The only recent Nintendo-published titles that I can think of that are rated the same or higher are Disaster (CERO C) or the bloody hack-n-slash Zangeki no REGINLEIV (CERO D). Other "mature" games from the Big N-- like Other M, Xenoblade, and The Last Story-- are rated CERO B.

[Apothem]

@Animerican_Redeemed: The whole Kos-Mos thing makes about as much sense in the context of the story as the whole of the story itself, i.e. none what so ever, and that's coming from a fan of the short lived series whose played through all three games, multiple time. I swear the whole damed "saga" is one massive "WTF!?" moment. Neon Genesis Evangelion made more sense than Xenosaga. To anyone who cares: Though fine games, save yourself a migraine and check out Xenogears instead, the textbook definition of a "PS1 Classic." You likely wont understand the story any better than Xenosaga, but it's much less harmfull to your sanity and much more fun to play.


As for the game in question: I'll take it at literal face value for now and expect it to invole someone named Pandora (duh), who's most likely female, in ownership of some sort of tower to which is either a figurative (likely) or literal (less likely) interpretation of the concept of "Pandora's Box" which, interestingly enough, is for the sake of historical accuracy an urn (read: pot) and not in actuality a box, (but that's just splitting hairs, now isin't it?) where in our Hero, or indeed potential Heroine, must venture, possibly unleashing the many fabled eviles supposedly contained therein, and more than less likely turning out to be the living incarnation of the embodiment of Hope, or some such uplifting righteous drivel. Who knows? This after all is coming from the minds of not only the Japanese, but some of the most certifiably insane buch of wackos on the planet: The fine folks at Monolith Soft, the people who brought you the Bible... in space... with robot girls... who are inturn the reincarnated spirits of people who may or may not have existsed... who fight aliens... in space... did I mention the robot girls? The sexy robot girls? Makes perfect sense, then, that this game will in no way contain any Lovecraftian horror of narrative and story... right?

[Zeroº]

And edit above the original post? Blasphemy!!: Apparently this is what is said on the teaser site:

"Dying and becoming beautiful, or living even though you're ugly. Which will make you happier?"

Oh, and the game's subtitle is: Until I Return to Your Side

So I'm guessing this game is a giant 'fetch quest,' in which the main character must rescue (from death or capture?) someone.
-------------------------------------------------
The tattoo has got to be a container, if not source, of some type of magic (or magic-like ability). It's just too prominently displayed to not have any sort of function.

As for my hopes: I hope it has a more scifi twinge to it. Maybe it's the silver in the logo and the overall look of the image (especially the tattoo), but I get the impression that it might have some futuristicness to it. (If I am anywhere correct one what I am about to say, it would freakishly hilarious.) What if the so-called Pandora's Tower is a tower- nay, space elevator- that extends from the Earth to the Moon, or at least is planned to reach the Moon upon completion. Maybe the main character is supposed to stop its completion, or has to traverse it to reach the ultimate bad guy that is planning something nefarious.

Or, maybe this so-called tower is deep underwater.

Is the main character a prisoner of this tower? Is the tower a projection or creation of the main character? Is the main character infiltrating this tower? Does the journey begin and/or end the tower? Is there even a tower? Is the character portrayed in the image the main character, the main bad guy, or the damsel in distress? Is the tattoo just a tattoo? If not, then is it a blessing or a curse?

So many questions, so little information!!

[Animerican_Redeemed]

Well if that's the case, hopefully the writers of Xenosaga learned a thing or two... and if Monolith is indeed working on it, maybe they improved some? With Nintendo at the helm, it probably won't reach the same kind of convolution (or at least the same degree of Bible-Mangling). If it's supposed to be released just a year after Xenoblade (which was headed by the same creator-man/scenario writer as Xenosaga)... I would imagine that'd it'd either
(a) be a rushed RPG (which Nintendo seems to never do for games)
(b) a less story-heavy genre (maybe a puzzle-platformer? Like... ICO! )
(d) have greater staff diversity (and thus there could be a lower likelihood of convoluted writing)

It would be interesting if the game was tinted with sci-fi elements.... but the whole thing about a tower being connected to the moon? Something... I don't know, sounds kinda "meh" about that overall scenario? Maybe I just can't think of any reason why a tower would have to reach the moon in a science fiction setting (since, you know, it'd be far easier to just get a space ship there)... and maybe I'm thinking a bit too much of Infinite Undiscovery, another game I haven't touched but whose scenario I'm vaguely aware of (something about the moon being "ensnared by the Order of Chains" and crops dying and blahblahblah).

Anyway, gong back to the Biblical stuff... I am admittedly very curious how far Biblical elements could be taken here. If it's referencing the Book of Job is taken far enough, I would imagine that some of concepts revolving around that-- his trials at the hands of God and his askance of why he is suffering-- would be less twisted than anything whatsoever pulled from the New Testament. The thing is, its ultimate message-- that God has ultimate control over his creation and doesn't need its approval-- is not a very "friendly" message to a consumeristic culture, much less gamers overall. Thus the game could thematically end up along the lines of "No, I am the one that takes control of my destiny! What has happened to me is unjust!" or not even go that far, leaving that theological question open-ended for gamers (which I'd prefer).

When was the last time that a product of Japanese pop culture handled something Biblical and didn't mangle it in either an entirely laughable way or extremely sacriligeous way? The only person that I can think of that has actually handled Biblical stuff with some real degree of class is Director Mamoru Oshii, particularly in his work on Angel's Egg, Patlabor, and even Ghost in the Shell ... but maybe part of that has to do with how he himself once was (or believed he was) a Christian, as he trained in seminary school...

[Zeroº]

Earth-Moon elevator/tower-thingy was just the first thing that popped into my mind, don't know why. I faintly remember something similar from some old game or anime or something. It'll likely be something better than that. And yeah, a space ship would be more practical than a giant tower, but this is the land of video games, where practicality takes a step to the side for the sake of... I don't know... stuff that seems neat.

As for the Biblical themes and elements used in games... well... I seem to remember it being handled... decently... somewhere, but darned if I can remember. And I firmly believe that the Bible is evoked so readily because a) it is more widely available/known/prevalent to the population of the world, b) it is easy to work with and manipulate, in much the similar way that the works of Shakespeare are so constantly used, and c) Japanese developers tend to use things from anywhere and everywhere in almost every combination because it seems 'cool' (which is why we get tales of the Second Coming as told by amphibious robots that evolved from samurai snowmen that came from the Sun [which was created by some mad Egyptians in a distant future-past]).

And maybe, for this game, the scripture is being used to describe the plight of the main character that is trying to defy their creator. For instance, maybe we are to control an android (or some other creation of possibly magical origin) that wishes to no longer be under control so that they can reunite with someone. So it's possibly a game about defiance and rebellion... Maybe the tattoo is a restraint. Or a serial number. Probably a restraint. Maybe the protagonist wishes to no longer be used as a weapon and, thus, must use their abilities to fight their way to freedom.

I do get a Legend of Zelda vibe from the thought of this game, as well... (Oh, hopefulness.)

[kronoridley]

If this game has Biblical themes, then I do hope it doesn't really mess around with anything.......

[doc O. Mire]

Has nintendo confirmed this to be an RPG? because if they haven't then i dont think its likly to be one. Nintedo already has the last story and can rerelease xenoblade in america, so you think they'd try for another type of game instead. maybe a puzzle or strategy game or something.
As for the name... pandora's tower... its interesting that a japanese company is now making a bunch of games with greek mythology in them

Yeah, I'm kinda expecting it to be an RPG as well, but it seems interesting so far. Can't wait to hear more on it.

[Animerican_Redeemed]

No confirmation has been given on the genre, though the aesthetic and promotional material give a very RPG-like vibe. But considering how there are already two RPGs on the horizon that have not yet received a 100% guarantee of localization confirmation (I'm excluding Dragon Quest X here because that's definitely Westward-bound, considering the IP), I'd be pretty cool with it if turned out to be a more localization-friendly genre. Maybe a puzzle-platformer, like ICO.

It's kinda funny... some on Kotaku saw a similarity between the tattoo and the emblem from Jet Set Radio Future. So for the hell of it, I theorized that the game's world would be entirely covered in ice, and that the main character would have to wear ice skates and defy physics in trying to climb Pandora's Tower. All set to the hip tunes of Tchaikovsky.

GAME OF THE YEAR MATERIAL RIGHT THERE.

[TheBlackCat]

Job was tortured by God for no particular reason (the quotes in question are from his "friends" telling him he must have done something wrong to earn God's wrath), while Pandora unwittingly released evil upon the world. Then we have the parts about beauty or ugliness, as well as the part about flesh falling off. My guess is that your character unwittingly unleashed some sort of great evil and has now been tasked with sealing it again. If true, I would suspect the titular tower is the source of the evil. My guess is the tattoo is meant to seal the evil within the main character's own body, which progressively deforms and mutates him or her as the game progresses (perhaps providing new abilities, ala Evolva). The part that puzzles me is the bit about returning, perhaps someone important to him or her has been taken hostage by whatever diety or dieties created the tower in order to force the main character to cooperate.

I am not sure the tower is necessarily the setting of the game, it may be the destination and location of the final area and final battle. The part about returning, to me, would imply that the game probably takes place over a wide geographic area.

The artwork, the little we see, reminds me somewhat of that of Hyung Tae Kim, who did the character designs for Magna Carta and War of Genesis.

[ChozoGal]

This sounds interesting....I want more info dang it. This is why I don't, usually, go into this forum.

[doc O. Mire]

I kinda get the feeling the character whose picture we have is pandora, but she's not the main character (kind of like how the legend of zelda is about link) maybe you're supposed to rescue her from a tower or something Ireally hope this game is some kind of clever puzzle game similar to Portal in ingenuity and creativity

[TheBlackCat]

I am not entirely convinced the character is even a female. Some Japanese and Korean artists draw very androgynous males.

[Zeroº]

While generally true (Final Fantasy, I'm looking at you), I can't recall any works from Nintendo that really portrayed androgynous peoples without a purpose (Sheik from OoT was supposed to leave you guessing).

And if you look closely at the bottom left of the image, you can see some semblance of clothing on the person in question. Looks more like a dress to me than anything that a male would wear. Not mention that whatever it is, it's strapless.