Cross Edge

Overview

Cross Edge is a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 turn-based RPG developed by Capcom, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai, Gust and Idea Factory, and was designed by Compile Heart. The PS3 version of Cross Edge was released on September 25, 2008 in Japan by Idea Factory, and was released in North America May 26, 2009 by NIS America.  Europe received their version on September 18, 2009, almost one full year after it's original release.  An Xbox 360 version entitled Cross Edge Dash was released on October 1, 2009 in Japan.
 

Plot

York Neely and Miko Aiba are two teenage friends that one day awaken to find themselves in a mysterious world filled with strange beasts.  After coming across a demonic woman named Morrigan Aensland, the three encounter a young girl by the name of May, who is able to tell them about the world they inhabit.  It is a realm where souls from three different worlds have become trapped; one based on fantasy and magic, another where technology thrives, and the demon world.
 
In order for all of the souls to return to their own worlds, York and Miko must work together with May and other trapped souls like themselves in order to locate as many souls as they can and set them free.  But there's an opposing force at work attempting to collect the souls for themselves; the Twelve Knights, who follow the orders of the young girls Cece and Mimi and their timid brother Vivi, who is able to hear the voice of the Empyreal One.
 

Gameplay

Cross Edge is an RPG in which the player controls a party of characters as they explore the world and fight enemies.  While exploring the world map, the player (represented by York) can scan the nearby area surrounding their character in order to search for souls, uncover locations, or discover events.  At special locations referred to as save points, the player can also ask May to perform a wide-area scan.
 
When the player enters a dungeon, the game adopts a side-scrolling platformer perspective.  To explore, the player can run left and right, and perform a double-jump.  Treasure chests are also scattered about and can be opened to collect their contents.
 
Combat in the game is turn-based.  The player's active battle party can contain up to four characters, but individual characters can be swapped out during the player's turn.  The battle screen is comprised of two 3x4 grids, with the player's party being arranged on one and the enemies on the other.  Depending on a character's position on the grid in relation to an enemy, he or she may not be able to attack, but can be moved to another spot on the grid.
 
Individual attacks are performed by selecting a character to attack with and an enemy to attack, and then pressing the face button that corresponds to the desired attack.  Attacks can be chained together, and special attack combos can be linked together.  For instance, if Morrigan uses her attack "Libido Touch" twice in a row, the player can quickly switch to MIko and perform her "Sweep" attack on the same enemy to deal heavy to both the target enemy.  Each attack consumes AP, and a character can continue to attack for as long as they have enough AP to perform at least one.  Each character can also learn special attacks accessed by holding down R2 and pressing a corresponding face button; these strikes consume far greater amounts of AP but the damage done is considerably higher.
 
When combat ends, the party's hit points are restored if they are on the world map.  In dungeons, hit points are not restore and must be recovered using healing items.
 

Soul Scanning

In scanning for souls, three types will appear on the world map, based on their shape:

• Cubes:  Similar to treasure chests.  Upon collecting this soul, treasures are given to the player.
• Diamonds:  Triggers a story event.  Rewards may also be given or new paths may be unlocked.

• Spheres:  Major story events with combat.  As with the other types, rewards may be given out.
• Save Points:  Not souls per se, but some save points are hidden and require the player to scan in order to find them.
  

 
It is not possible to scan for all souls in a zone the first time through.  As souls are collected, the player's scan level will increase.  When this occurs, souls that couldn't be found previously may now be located.  The game encourages the player to backtrack to previous areas using a fast travel system to scan them and find more souls.
 
When on foot, the player can only scan the area immediately surrounding York on the world map.  At save points, May can scan a much larger radius.  However, this wide-area scan costs TP.
 

Costumes

The female characters can collect costumes as the game progresses.  New costumes are unlocked over time as the player accumulates souls found on the world map.  When changing costumes, the character's portrait shifts to display the new outfit.  Costumes alter character stats, and depending on the costume, stats may be adjusted positively or negatively.

Characters

Cross Edge features characters from Darkstalkers, Disgaea, Ar Tonelico, Spectral Souls, Atelier Marie and Mana Khemia 2.

Atelier Marie

Marie - She has the lowest GPA in history at her magic academy because she is extremely absentminded.

Mana Khemia 2

Liliane - Nicknamed Lily, she is known to narrate her daydreams loudly.
Raze -  Lost his parents and was forced to work for Lily's family where they became friends and she developed a crush on him.
Whim - Lily's handmaiden. She is actually Lily's Water Mana
Reicher - A mysterious swordsman who frequently has run-ins with Raze, nobody is sure if this is accidental or not

Darkstalkers

Morrigan - A succubus who's philosophy is to simply serve her own desires faithfully.
Felicia - A catwoman who makes a living through song and dance
Demitri - Lord of the Maximoff Clan, One of the strongest demon lineages.
Lilith - Part of Morrigan's soul separated by Belial, she is subconsciously drawn to her.
Jedah -  Lord of the Dohma Clan, he wants to absorb all mankind's souls to stop their unending cruelty.

Disgaea

Etna - A Sadistic Demon Overlord who is incredibly strong. She has a complex about being flat chested.
Prinny -  Etna's "Loyal" vassal. Prinnies are forced into being slaves to repent for their previous lives. They explode when thrown and are often mistreated.

Ar Tonelico

Lyner - An adventurous, caring young man. He's very indecisive when it comes to girls and relationships.
Aurica - A Reyvatail with the ability to turn sound into other forms of energy. She is actually half human.
Misha -  A Reyvatail with an impressive vocabulary. She is a rare form of the pure breed
Shurelia - A strange woman put in charge of the giant tower known as "Ar tonelico", she is very rational and has a horrible sense of direction.
Ayatane - Lyner's best friend and confidante. He is very gentle and sophisticated, and excels as a chef.
Bourd - A husky warrior who is Lyner's sworn enemy. He believes in treating Reyvatails merely as weapons.

Spectral Souls

Meu - A wide-eyed optimist who wants to one day become a hero.

Absolute Blazing Infinity

Zelos - A mercenary who never fails the job, he has many enemies and is extremely detached, he has no problem killing if the money is good.

Original Characters

Anesha - The only lovely lady among the Twelve Knights, she loves beautiful trinkets and bloody battles.
Cece - One of the caretakers of the mysterious world, the middle triplet, who's youth gives her both innocence and cruelty.
Vivi -  One of the caretakers of the mysterious world, the eldest triplet but often is bossed around by his sisters because of his timidity.
Mimi - One of the caretakers of the mysterious world, the youngest sibling who often loses her temper and is sometimes more cruel that Cece.
Judas - The stoic, honorable leader of the Twelve Knights, His stoic nature make it hard to tell what he is thinking.
Troy - York's best friend, he was separated from his friends when he was brought into the world and lost his memories. Jedah took advantage of this and made him one of the Twelve Knights.

DLC

The game has an extensive catalog of downloadable content packages, with some for purchase and some available as free downloads on the PlayStation Store.  The content in these packs include special item packs to give players a head start in a new game, bonus dungeons, costumes, and other features.
 

Leaderboards

Cross Edge features online leaderboards based on certain stats.  The leaderboards track the players' total cumulative Strength, Vitality, Agility, Intelligence, Luck between all party members, as well as the highest combo count and maximum damage output during battle.