Sands of Destruction

Sands of Destruction[lower-alpha 1] is a role-playing video game developed by Imageepoch and published by Sega for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan in 2008, and in North America in 2010. The story revolves around a young man, Kyrie, who possesses the power to destroy the world, though he does not know why. The female lead is Morte, a member of a group that is trying to destroy the world.

Sands of Destruction
Developer(s)Imageepoch
Publisher(s)Sega
Artist(s)Kunihiko Tanaka
Writer(s)Masato Kato
Composer(s)Yasunori Mitsuda
Shunsuke Tsuchiya
Kazumi Mitome
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: September 25, 2008[1]
  • NA: January 12, 2010
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
A screenshot of the field, from the Japanese version

Sands of Destruction plays as a traditional Japanese role-playing video game.[2] The game is made with 2D sprite characters in a 3D environment with a rotatable camera.[3] The battle system is turn based, but has timing and fighting game influences, and utilizes both of the DS's screens.[4][5]

Plot

Setting

The game takes place in a fictional world ruled by anthropomorphic beings known as Ferals. Humans live as slaves, and a group dubbed the "World Annihilation Front" intends to destroy the world in rebellion. They are opposed by the Feral's "World Salvation Committee".

Development

The development team of the game comprised over fifty people and includes key designers who previously worked on Xenogears, as well as former staff from Grandia, Drakengard and Etrian Odyssey. The game was directed by Kyoki Mikage of Imageepoch and produced by Yoichi Shimosato of Sega.[6]

The score of the game was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, Shunsuke Tsuchiya, and Kazumi Mitome. The opening theme was performed by the Czech Philharmonic. A promotional album titled World Destruction Premium Soundtrack was offered with pre-orders of the game in Japan.[7]

The original story draft for the game written by Masato Kato was allegedly much darker in tone and more violent than the final product. In it, humans were food for the Ferals, rather than merely subservient, and there were several scenes of human characters being killed and eaten. Fearing a restrictive rating from Japan's CERO and wanting to market the game to younger audiences, the game's producers had the story altered to appeal to a mainstream Japanese audience. Yoichi Shimosato, the game's producer at Sega, later expressed in an interview that while he felt the developers had made the right decision in regards to marketing the game in Japan, the original concept would have been "more fun and compelling".[8]

North American version

At the Tokyo Gameshow, Ryoei Mikage, the president of imageepoch confirmed that his team is working to localize World Destruction, to be published by Sega USA. A new/rewritten musical score will be created by Yasunori Mitsuda, and the difficulty may be tweaked for the North American release.[9] In December 2008, Sega officially announced its plans to release the title in North America, where it was released on January 12, 2010.

Reception

In Japan, the game sold 56,000 copies in Japan in its debut week.[18]

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[10] Nintendo Power praised the game's battle system and dungeon design but criticized the story and characters as being generic.[17] RPGLand praised the character development while being critical of town exploration and low replay value, ultimately concluding, "Sands of Destruction ends up being good, but not great."[19] RPGamer said that its quality story and presentation were held back by enemies "abusing" the battle system. The review concludes, "Unfortunately, its many irritations in combat cause the game to fall short of the lofty status it wanted to achieve."[20]

Legacy

An anime adaptation, also titled Sands of Destruction[lower-alpha 2] was produced by Production I.G and directed by Shunsuke Tada. It began broadcasting on TV Tokyo on July 7, 2008 and ended on September 30, 2008, spanning 13 episodes. A manga adaptation,[lower-alpha 3] began serialization in July 2008[21] in the Japanese magazine Dengeki Maoh.[22]

Notes
  1. Sands of Destruction (ワールド・デストラクション～導かれし意思～, Wārudo Desutorakushon ~Michibikareshi Ishi~, "World Destruction: Guided Wills")
  2. (known in Japan as World Destruction: Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin (ワールド・デストラクション～世界撲滅の六人～, Wārudo Desutorakushon ~Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin~, lit. "World Destruction: The Six People That Will Destroy the World")
  3. World Destruction: Futari no Tenshi (ワールド・デストラクション～ふたりの天使～, Wārudo Desutorakushon ~Futari no Tenshi~, lit. "World Destruction: The Two Angels")

References
  1. World Destruction -ワールド・デストラクション-
  2. Rowe, Brian (January 28, 2010). "Sands of Destruction - NDS - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 31, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  3. Petit, Carolyn (January 25, 2010). "Sands of Destruction Review". GameSpot. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  4. Winkler, Chris (April 23, 2008). "Sega Announces Original DS RPG". RPGFan.
  5. rawmeatcowboy (April 22, 2008). "Famitsu news - World Destruction for DS". GoNintendo. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  6. Tanaka, John (April 23, 2008). "Xenosaga Developers Deliver New RPG". IGN. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  7. "World Destruction Premium Soundtrack". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
  8. Sheffield, Brandon (November 11, 2008). "Q&A: Sands of Destruction Team Talks Battle System, Story Creation". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb.
  9. Spencer (October 14, 2008). "World Destruction (That DS RPG From The Xenogears Staff) Shattering North America In The Future". Siliconera.
  10. "Sands of Destruction for DS Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  11. Noble, McKinley (January 21, 2010). "Sands of Destruction". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 2, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  12. Laddin, Josh (February 9, 2010). "Sands of Destruction Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  13. "Sands of Destruction Review". GameTrailers. February 4, 2010. Archived from the original on November 12, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  14. Buchanan, Levi (January 19, 2010). "Sands of Destruction Review". IGN. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  15. "Review: Sands of Destruction". Nintendo Gamer: 61. March 2010.
  16. Dillard, Corbie (January 18, 2010). "Review: Sands of Destruction". Nintendo Life. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  17. "Sands of Destruction: The World Is Under Attack - By You". Nintendo Power. Vol. 250. January 2010. p. 89.
  18. Jenkins, David (October 2, 2008). "Japanese Charts: Robot Wars Z Does Super Business". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
  19. Hindman, Heath (January 29, 2010). "Sands of Destruction [date mislabeled as "January 29, 2009"]". RPGLand. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
  20. Moehnke, Mike (February 19, 2010). "Sands of Destruction - Staff Review". RPGamer. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  21. "Manga, Anime Planned for Sega's World Destruction RPG". Anime News Network. April 24, 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
  22. 「ワールド・デストラクション ～ふたりの天使～」第1話立ち読み Archived 2008-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
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