Sands of Destruction

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~^?, lit. "World Destruction: Guided Wills") is a console role-playing video game developed by imageepoch and published by Sega for the Nintendo DS. It was released in 2008.

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.

Gameplay

The game plays in a 3D environment with a rotatable camera.

The battle system is turn based, but has timing and fighting game influences, and utilizes both of the DS's screens.^[3][4]

Plot

Setting

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

Characters

• Kyrie Illunis (キリエ・イルニス, Kirie Irunisu^?, romanized as Kyrie Illunis in the anime adaptation) is the male protagonist of the series, a mild young man who is skilled with knives and cooking. He possesses a mysterious destructive power, which makes him a subject of interest to the World Destruction Committee/World Annihilation Front. He develops a romantic interest in Morte. Kyrie is the Greek word for 'Lord'. In the anime, he is a rather cowardly young man, but occasionally is pushed to be brave. He enjoys cooking and had worked at a local restaurant disguised as a Feral before Morte showed up. Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English), Evan Wood (English game)

• Morte Asherah (モルテ・アーシェラ, Morute Āshera^?, romanized as Morte Urshela in the anime adaptation) is the female protagonist with a troubled past, who wields an enormous blade as her weapon. She is a member of the World Destruction Committee/World Annihilation Front. Morte is the Latin word for 'death'. In the anime, she possesses a black sphere from her deceased brother. The sphere is thought to be the Destruct Code, an artifact that is capable of destroying the world and reducing everyone to dust. She is the initial member of the World Destruction Committee even though she doesn't like the name, she finds it useful. She makes a big deal about being only 16 years old and gets angry at those that believe she is older than she is. She is gruff and hard to deal with by others, and at multiple times, has tried to persuade Kyrie and Taupy to leave her. She does not care about ferals or humans, she just wants to end the world. Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Luci Christian (English), Deborah Eliazer (English game)

• Taupy Toplan (トッピー・トプラン, Toppī Topuran^?, romanized as Toppy Toplan in the anime adaptation) is a Feral bounty hunter resembling a teddy bear. He ends most of his sentences with "kuma" (クマ), which means "bear" in Japanese. He resents being called a bear or a teddy bear, preferring the more proper "dwarf bear." He acts as a mentor to Kyrie, whose unique personality intrigues him enough to join the World Destruction Committee. His beloved Muffy is a much larger bear that he calls in for his special attack, but he keeps a terrible secret from her. In the anime, he is the most adapt at fighting. His goal is to become a hero in his own mind even if the rest of the world doesn't know it. He has no problems with humans. Voiced by: Tōru Furuya (Japanese), Robert McCollum (English), Erik Braa (English game)

• Rhi'a Dragunel (リ・ア＝ドラグネール, Ri a-Doragunēru^?, romanized as Lia Dragunel in the anime adaptation) is a female dragon Feral who looks young, but has actually lived for over 300 years.^[5] As the last survivor of the dragon race, she believes she must live to see the end of world, because dragons must witness the beginning and the end. She wields a pair of handguns and is able to grow wings, tail, and horns when she is enraged. She is intrigued by Kyrie. All her magic and attack names are music themed, but she otherwise shows no signs of being musically inclined. In the game, she also has precognitive abilities, but the traditions of the Dragons won't allow her to do anything to change the future she sees. In the anime, she has a very short temper that is only kept in check by her respect for Naja. She is quick to use brute force over words on either ferals or humans. She and Naja are members of the World Salvation Committee, a group whose goals are to keep the world from being destroyed. Voiced by: Yui Ichikawa (Japanese game), Yū Kobayashi (anime), Trina Nishimura (English)

• Naja Gref (ナジャ・グレフ, Naja Gurefu^?, romanized as Nadja Gref in the anime adaptation) is a half human half silverwolf Feral who wields wind and fire wheels in battle. An intellectual, he always insists he is right, even when he clearly isn't. He is also extremely fond of his human mother. Naja is a member of the World Salvation Committee, but faces considerable prejudice and discrimination because of his half-human heritage. He also displayed the ability to transform for his special attack, but did not appear to be able to do so in the anime. In the anime, he is not a fighter but is good at anticipating where the World Destruction Committee is at. Voiced by: Hiro Mizushima (Japanese game), Daisuke Ono (anime), Anthony Bowling (English anime)

• Agan Mardrus (アガン・マードル, Agan Mādoru^?, romanized as Agan Madoru in the anime adaptation) is a childhood friend of Morte who wields a whip in battle. He's a member of the Sand Tribe, being the chief's son. He used to be second in command of the Golden Lions, a human resistance group fighting the ferals, but it took after a member's betrayal he abandoned the group. It was revealed in his backstory that he was motivated to join the Golden Lions because a Feral friend from his childhood treated him cruelly when they met as adults. Agan's mother is the Chief of the Sand Tribe, and he is next in line for the role of leader. His special attack has him call in ten members of the Mole Tribe to shoot his enemy, indicating that he already has the respect and obedience of some members of the Sand Tribe. In the anime, he's a smuggler with no prior connection to Morte, and continues to run into the World Destruction Committee by chance. Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese), Eric Vale (English), Andre Ceglio (English game)

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] On December 10, 2008, Sega officially announced its plans to release the title in America under the title "Sands of Destruction". The game was released on January 12, 2010.^[2]

Reception

Famitsu gave the Japanese version of Sands of Destruction a 31 out of 40.^[10] The game sold 56,000 copies in Japan in its debut week.^[11] Nintendo Power gave the game a 7.0 out of 10, praising the game's battle system and dungeon design but criticizing the story and characters as being generic.^[12] RPGLand gave it an overall rating of "Good," praising 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."^[13] RPGamer also ranked it "Good" with a score of 3.5/5, saying that its quality story and presentation were held back by enemies "abusing" the battle system and weak voice acting. The review concludes, "Unfortunately, its many irritations in combat cause the game to fall short of the lofty status it wanted to achieve."^[14]

Derived products

Anime

An anime adaptation, also titled Sands of Destruction (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")) 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, spawning 13 episodes. It features an opening theme titled "ZERØ" and sung by AAA, and an ending theme titled "Kaze no Kioku: To the End of the World" (風の記憶 〜to the end of the world〜^?, lit. "Memory of Wind 〜to the end of the world〜") sung by Aimmy. The series features only a single season of 13 episodes. It was licensed by Funimation Entertainment for a North American release, and the DVD set was released in 2010.^[2]

Manga

A manga adaptation entitled 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"), began serialization in July 2008^[15][16] in the Japanese seinen magazine Dengeki Maoh.^[17]

References

External links

• Official World Destruction website (Japanese)
• TV Tokyo's website for the World Destruction anime (Japanese)
• Sands of Destruction (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia