NatUral DoCtrIne takes place in an (stop me if you’ve heard this before) Eastern medieval high fantasy world. A lot of the game’s aesthetic borrows highly from Fire Emblem and games like it, in fact, its almost as if the characters just stepped out of a Fire Emblem game. That is, their anime renderings do at least. The in-game models however, look like deformed board game pieces and barely resemble the 2d versions of themselves. It’s a really odd disconnect, because outside of the seemingly random anime cutscenes, the game never looks like the colorful anime portrayals. It’s really strange and it almost feels like the anime renderings were added after the fact by someone who was given a rough description of the characters over the phone.

"In the case of Natural Doctrine, [..] maybe this game would have been better left as an importer’s curiosity. "

This game just doesn’t look very good. Even with the 1080p resolution and added DOF and SSAO effects on the PS4, it just looks like a weird mix of gritty D&D art book and discolored  Play- Arts action figures. I mentioned above how there is very little cohesion between the in-game models and their anime counterparts, but that isn’t the only thing that caused dissonance and took me out of the game. Anyone remember Final Fantasy Tactics on Playstation? Well the maps are sort of like that, suspended in midair and disjointed from the world. It is really bizarre when you take into account the platforms the game runs on. Maybe it was an artistic decision, and I would believe it based on some of the other questionable ones, but it just looks..well, cheap.

Being a Strategy RPG, you are thrown into closed areas and can move around the map when it’s your team’s turn. You choose adjacent enemies to attack when you’re close, and whoever is stronger will prevail. That’s all standard fare for games in this genre, but NatURAl dOcTRine adds a complicated buff and debuff system on top of that depending on your character’s placement in an area.

From what I gather (because the tutorial teaches you how to move and attack and pretty much nothing more), critical hit percentages rise when having your characters close to one another in a line formation. It’s really hard to illustrate with words, but the further back in a zone the second character stood, the higher the critical chance. Add in a few subsystems where free hits are given to enemies seemingly at random and you have a mess of combat mechanics that is just not fun to deal with.

"Add in a few subsystems where free hits are given to enemies seemingly at random and you have a mess of combat mechanics that is really not fun to deal with. "

Now, I’m not the world’s biggest SRPG fan, but there are a few that I really enjoy. I love Valkyria Chronicles, Advance Wars, and XCOM for instance. So I know when I go to one and something just doesn’t feel right. In NaTUrAL dOctRINe’s case it has to be the game’s overall pace, It’s just too slow. Everything from load times, to battle animations, to enemy turns, takes way too long to accomplish.

Even though the game has a skip/fast forward button(It’s the circle button, thank me later), it doesn’t do enough to move things along. And there is a huge oversight that makes using it annoying in Itself. Circle is also the cancel button. What does this mean? Well when you are holding down the button to fast forward to move the game along at a speed snails would scoff at, you need to hit confirm when the enemy turn is over so you can start yours. Except..if you are accidentally still holding circle in this phase, you will have to watch the entire enemy turn all over again and pray you don’t fall asleep doing it.

"If you are accidentally still holding circle in this phase, you will have to watch the entire enemy turn all over again and pray you don’t fall asleep doing it. "

Which I guess leads me to the difficulty. I noticed some talk of it being billed as a really hard game. I’m of the mind that if a game is setting out to do this, it has to strike the right balance in order to be fair but challenging. In this game, it just feels unfair when you get railroaded by 1-2 enemies and its never understood exactly why that happened. For example, two goblins were able to hit one of my characters repeatedly until she died and the game never let on why that was. I repeated the same actions after the Game Over screen and it didn’t happen again. I still have no idea why. It just felt like I was robbed, like it wasn’t my fault. And I say this as a guy who appreciates hard games, when they are designed well.

I know that in the current climate of the gaming industry, everyone is clamoring for hardcore games that don’t hold their hand, but I don’t think nATuraL DoCtRIne is what you’re looking for. The game isn’t challenging so much as it is just inconsistent because the enemy rules are seemingly made up as it goes along. It just isn’t enjoyable to play, and that’s a really big failure in a game like this. The game is budget priced on PS4 ($39), but It’s more like it was made with the budget of dollar store Christmas wrapping. You know, that really thin crap you can get for $.50 a roll. It may seem like a good deal but each roll is only 2 feet long, so you need like 18 of them to finish your wrapping. It’s probably better to just spend more for better wrapping.

This game was reviewed on the Playstation 4.

Natural Doctrine, while certainly interesting when judged solely from its premise, was roundly rejected by Japanese gamers when it released in that market earlier this year. Not only was the game a commercial bomb, but general reviews and impressions seemed to indicate that the game was not too hot either.

Of course, Japanese reception doesn’t always translate to western reception- see also, Demon’s Souls, which was similarly critically panned in Japan (although it did find commercial success), and went on to become extremely well received in the west. Therefore, those of you who want to make your own minds up regarding this game, rest assured! We now have an official release game for the game in the west.

Natural Doctrine will be releasing in North America on September 16, and in Europe on September 19; it will be launching on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. Stay tuned to GamingBolt, of course, for more coverage of the game as we near its release.

Natural Doctrine, the upcoming, intriguing looking RPG coming up for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, is releasing in the west courtesy of NIS America, and we just got the ‘debut’ trailer for its western release just now.

The game looks… interesting. It doesn’t look particularly stunning as far as graphics go, but that’s because it’s being developed for the PS3 and PS Vita in addition to the PS4; the gameplay and general setting and premise, however, both look interesting, and it should be an intriguing addition to anyone’s library (particularly if that anyone happens to be a Vita or PS4 owner, both of which have rather lacking libraries at the moment).

Natural Doctrine was released in Japan earlier this year, where it failed to do absolutely anything- maybe its western reception will be less muted than its reception in Japan was. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more info and coverage.

Media Create software sales for the week of March 31st to April 6th have been revealed and previous week’s number one Mario Party: Island Tour for the 3DS is still on top. It sold 47,106 units to make for lifetime sales of 257,873 units. Coming in second was Samurai Warriors 4 for the PS3, which sold 25,572 units (total sales currently at 192,514 units).

Level-5’s Yokai Watch is still doing fairly well, selling 23,663 units this week and garnering 686,387 units in lifetime sales. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes only sold 20,799 for 179,031 lifetime sales while Just Dance Wii U debuted in Japan with 18,403 units sold. From Software’s Dark Souls II has sold decently since release, notching up 9,924 units this week for lifetime sales of 320,177 units.

The only PS4 game to make the top 20 was Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes which sold a rather dismal 7,859 units for lifetime sales of 112,137 units. Kadokawa Games’ Natural Doctrine debuted for the PS Vita and sold a disappointing 6,046 units in its first week.

(Source)

Natural Doctrine, the strategy role playing game for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita that was already announced and slated for a Japanese release (it releases there later this month as a matter of fact) has now been confirmed for a western release as well, IGN confirms.

The game is confirmed to be launching on all three platforms in Autumn this year, and it will be published by NIS America in both Europe and America, meaning there shouldn’t be absurd delays for one or both territories at the expense of the other (see also: Shin Megami Tensei IV for the Nintendo 3DS, which still hasn’t launched in Europe).

Natural Doctrine will be getting a digital and retail release, and it will have Cross-Play and Cross-Save functionality, although Cross-Buy is probably going to be out of the question. Still, stay tuned and we’ll update you with new information as soon as we have any.

From the creator of well beloved PSP franchise Patapon comes Natural Doctrine, a fantasy simulation RPG that integrates Charles Darwin’s concept of natural selection within its gameplay. The game looks to have some really unique and interesting gameplay, and it should be a title to keep an eye out on.

If you want to see more of what it plays like, check out the eight minute long gameplay video above- don’t be fooled by the typical fantasy setting and characters, and try instead to understand the gameplay, the mechanisms that drive the game. It looks like it is something rather unique, and hopefully the final game does not disappoint.

Natural Doctrine will be out in Japan on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita on April 3, 2014. It will be one of the first major releases for the PS4 since its launch in Japan, and subsequent cratering at retail (Japan does not get inFamous: Second Son until May), so it will be interesting to see what impact this game has on the system’s performance (although obviously any effect will be dampened by the fact that the game is also available on two much more popular systems).

All new set of screenshots, along with the second in a series of trailers, for the upcoming Kadokawa Games RPG, Natural Doctrine were released, giving us our best yet look at what to expect from the proposed February 2014 released title.

Natural Doctrine follows some typical RPG elements, such as turn based combat, the utilization of magic both in and out of combat, and the inclusion of multiple sentient species of life. All pretty standard fair, right? Where Natural Doctrine deviates, however, and becomes a more unique game is that the over arching theme of the game is natural selection. It’s humans versus a number of other alien races battling it out for supremacy. However simple, it’s actually a pretty unique and awesome idea for a fighting game, especially an RPG.

The trailer and screens give us a good look at what we’ll see in terms of both battles and the overall environment of the game. Check them out for yourself to see. Things are looking good.

Natural Doctrine is planned for release exclusive on PlayStation across PS Vita, PS3, and PS4.

One of the bigger albeit understated launch titles for the PlayStation 4 when it released in Japan on February 22nd 2014 was Kadokawa Games’ Natural Doctrine. However, Dengeki PlayStation (via Siliconera) recently revealed that the game has been delayed till March 19th in Japan.

Natural Doctrine’s name pretty much indicates the game’s premise – that of natural selection amid a fantasy simulation. Though there hasn’t been much revealed about the story till date, aside from the fact that you’ll play as some one named Jeff and be tasked with wiping out monsters, but we do know that it will feature both single-player and multiplayer modes along with several fantasy monsters such as minotaurs, goblins, orcs and more.

The game will also be heading to the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita in Japan, with a special PS4/PS Vita set to real for 7,980 yen on release. No details have been provided for a Western release as of yet, but stay tuned in the coming months for any updates.

First, we’ve got Kadokawa Game Studio’s Natural Doctrine which will be arriving for PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. Described as a fantasy RPG with natural selection – the strongest species serving the basis for evolution – it will support multiplayer and cross-play.

Then there’s Arc System Works’ Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- was next, and it will be arriving for the PS4 and PS3. Though announced some time ago, this is the first confirmation of a PS3 release we’ve heard since its initial announcement.

Finally we have Dynasty Warriors 8, which will be arriving in Japan for the PS4. It will be launching on February 22nd 2014, the launch date for PS4 in Japan, and is truly the eighth game in the series. We don’t know who would care outside of Japan, but the series is still big there at least.