I'm sad at the lack of Rescue (I don't care about the other two features), but I respect Atlus for being upfront about it (see how that works, Infinity Ward?). And free DLC in-disc! Plus they're keeping the good boxart.

Why there is no rescue mode on the NA release? :(

It'd probably cost them more than they think it'll bring in. Let's face it, the game's not exactly going to be a blockbuster, and online costs money.

Yeah... it would be a risk. :(

However I am really happy with Atlus. They are bringing Shiren: The wanderer Wii and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. That's all I need!

BTW: I love Shiren on the DS (as well as the Izuna games), it's too bad that we don't have the second game. Good to see that Shiren 4 was announced, I hope it will be released here on the West.

Interesting.  I'm not sure I like losing everything I worked so hard to gain if I die though.

Is there any humor in this game?  How customizable are your stats?

i remember seeing this game waay back, not a lot of info on it back then... it's an anime-ish RPG so i took a look at it, but that screenshot is really bad looking.

what exactly is the genre? action RPG, or turn based?

I'm a little bit interested, even though I don't really know what the game is about...
RPG + Atlus usually works for me though.

Not sure about the humor (the original was light on that) but good news! In this game, you keep your levels post-death! You still lose your items though.

 Roguelikes are generally low-budget affairs because they're incredibly niche: only we masochists care enough to really learn the system well enough to beat the game. And they're usually HARD games.

As for genre, "roguelike," which means turn-based overhead RPGs.

 Roguelike RPG, now with a party of three from the outset (before you had to recruit party members). They're difficult dungeon crawlers with minimal plot but lots of emphasis on game mechanics. Think of them as the thinking man's RPG: every action (and towards the end I do mean EVERY) carries a risk/reward ratio that you need to plot out. Few people ever beat roguelikes, as grinding is impossible, but when you do there's definitely a feeling of accomplishment.

When you die, you lose all of your progress and items. In this game, you keep whatever levels you held onto (so grinding IS plausible this time, I guess), but nothing more. You can, however, store items ahead of time, so you'll have access to them in the next playthrough.