Great Edo of Nippon
by Orion_NGC1976, HSM team writer
One of the first spaces that I visited when I initially discovered Home was Irem Square. I was immediately captivated by the simple Japanese architecture and music. It reminded me of the annual Japanese festival held in my town, with the games, food vendors and the raised center stage. That night I spent the night dancing and chatting on the central platform with new acquaintances. I will always have a special fondness for Irem Square and I was sorry to see it leave. Out of all the spaces that have left Home, it is Irem Square that I have missed the most.
Even before the Irem spaces had left Home, Granzella had already launched their replacements in the Japan region with the Southern Island Hideaway and the Great Edo of Nippon village. Both of these new Granzella spaces offer more detailed environments than their Irem predecessors.
The Edo period in Japanese history lasted from 1603 to 1867, where Japan was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. Granzella has recreated a village from this time period with the Great Edo of Nippon.
Irem Square was broken into basically two areas: a field with a raised center stage and the area above with benches that looked out over the sea. Edo village is a much larger space with different districts.
Irem Square was eternally at the time of dusk, which was very beautiful to look at the setting sun in the distance. The new Granzella spaces show the passage of time and we are treated to all periods of time and not just sunset. Although the sunset and fireworks at Irem Square gave the space that festive feel of the night party on the verge of happening. It is this that I truly miss of Irem Square. Edo has a very realistic city life atmosphere, but it lacks this overall festive feel of Irem Square.
At the riverside
The sea view from Irem Square has been transplanted to Southern Island Hideaway and a new landscape was created for the Edo village, consisting of Mount Fuji looming over the village.
There are interactive characters placed throughout the village; more than there were at Irem Square. Some function as greeters for the store, mini-games and for the vendors. Others speak of spirits that are plaguing the village. The vendors complain that they have no food to sell, because the spirits are stealing their food.
The vendor booths are on the riverside, with stone steps that lead down to the water’s edge. This makes a wonderful place to congregate with friends and sit on the stone steps. Boats carrying goods move up and down the river and across the way on the other riverbank partiers can be seen.
In addition to the food vendors, there is also a shooting mini-game featured in one of the booths. Four different types of doll/statuette items are arranged on shelves: Umbrella Ghost Doll, One-eyed Monster Doll, Red Ogre Doll, and Human Soul Doll. To win the item, one knock the items off the shelf with a blow dart. There are several different types of blow dart guns from which to choose.
These booths in particular remind me of the booths that are at my local Japanese festival each year.
In the middle of town, where the two main roads intersect, is a mini-game to catch goldfish, similar to the one that was in Irem Square. Catching fish is done with a handled loop that has a thin paper film stretched across it. It takes finesse to catch fish without breaking the paper film. If you raise or lower it too quickly you may break the film and the longer you use it, there is a greater chance of it breaking.
There are four types of fish that you can catch: Popeyed Goldfish, Japanese Wakin, Ryukin, and Round Fish. Each of the fish that you catch are decoration items and can be placed in a fish tank. A bonus hand item is also awarded, when you catch at least one of each of the four types of fish. This reward is a hand item – a fish ball in a carrier made of netting.
Fishing Mini-Game
Further down the road that there is an avatar standing outside of a blue tarp that drapes the entrance and exclaims his dismay that both men and women enter the same bathhouse. Inside, your avatar changes out of his/her clothing and puts on a towel. When Edo was first released in the Japan region, you were rewarded with a towel clothing item. At some point this item was removed and has been removed from everyone’s inventory.
In the back, one crouches under the divider to enter and sit in the batch. There is also a flight of stairs that takes you to the locker room area that also has a place to take tea with friends and an interactive server.
There is also a housing district that has the humble abodes for the towns people. There are characters to interact with in this area as well. There is also a straw dummy, where one will receive a bamboo practice sword. There is a mini-game here where you can practice different sword fighting moves with the straw dummy. Stray too far away from the straw dummy and the mini-game will exit and the bamboo sword is put away.
At the end of the main road there is a hunched over old woman, leaning on a cane for support. She asks if you are a spirit hunter. Looking around, there are spirit hunting challenges posted on individual boards. The three on the left are group challenges and the three on the right are challenges for individuals. It also states that they are not ready and to come back.
With the acquiring of the bamboo sword and the challenges posted, there is a promise of a spirit hunting game to be added to Edo. In Japan there is the Spirit Hunting game. To enter the game, equip your sword and click on one of the six posted challenges. Once in the game you do battle against the spirits. This is a nice replacement for the sword fighting game in the Japan region where you fought skeletons and ogres to storm the castle.
Tea in the Bathhouse
The store features clothing a weapons that will help you in the spirit hunting game. The description of the clothing item will state what attributes that will be used during the game. Although, Granzella has added a few new clothing items to the store since its first release, the Japan region’s store has a much wider selection of choice. I would like to see some more of those items, if not all of them, in the North America store.
There are several “No Thoroughfare” signs that may indicate that Granzella is planning for even more additions to the area. One of these possibilities may be the tradition wedding chapel that was in Irem Square. The chapel in the Southern Island Hideaway (and in its predessor) do not compare to the elegance of the traditional chapel that was at Irem Square. With those presiding over the ceremony and those participating in the wedding all dressed in traditional Japanese clothing really make this look stunning. It would be a real shame to lose this. Granzella please bring the tradional wedding chapel to Edo village and to the NA region.
Overall there is very much to do in the Great Edo of Nippon space, a great place to hangout with friends, and there is still more to look forward too with future updates to PlayStation Home.
- Beautiful, realistic setting, with open spaces that are perfect for hanging out with friends.
- Interactive characters that enhance the reality of the Edo period life.
- Mini-games with rewards.
- Promise of more to come; mainly, the Spirit Hunting swordplay game.
- Lack of the large selection of items in the store.
- Glitch: Inability to enter your wardrobe, after exiting the bathhouse.
- Lack of the traditional wedding chapel that was at Irem Square.
February 26th, 2012 by Orion_NGC1976 | 3 comments
Father, husband, dolphy racer and sometimes Home world traveler.
I have been to the Japan Edo and the one here as well and they both have a lot to offer as well as hints of what might come. I hope they bring the spirit game soon as well, it is kind of fun and although it is a single player type game, I think if you go into it with friends and are in a group you might be able to make it a coordinated effort to beat the bad spirits.
As for the wedding chapels, they would both be welcome additions, but what I really want is the wedding dresses that are separates like Irem had in Japan. Those were never brought here and every woman I know wants them disparately.
When is a developer going to get the hint and offer us more separates with long skirts that blend properly so we can mix and match? Whoever does is going to be in the top ten that month I can guarantee that. Irem did it with their wedding dresses and if they had ever brought them here they would have made a mint.
As a rule I like both of the Granzella spaces but they have been a bit laggy since their arrival and that has kept many people away I think. Whatever that issue is, it needs to be rectified.
Good review Orion.
I miss the Irem Square location a lot, but this space fits like that one did in many ways. I also love the wide openness of it. It’s a big space to explore with nooks and crannies to check out. Also it’s about time we had a sushi stand in Home!
I too was so sad to see the Irem Square go away.I had so much fun there. Allow me a reflection please. I met (and still know) a great lady that I spend much of my time with on Home, and when we wanted to pass the time in each other’s company, it was often at the benches at the foot of the ramp in Irem. We miss the countless hours of fun, people watching on that bench. (I was almost forced to type a sad emoticon of a colon/left parenthesis, but i will continue). I looked eagerly to the opening of The Grand Edo, and was very happy to see that it was so large and truly grand. We still have yet to stake out a place we like , but that will come. I eagerly await the opening of the Spirits game and was happy to see the introduction of the fishing game and shooting game. The green neon bars that restrict us from some areas tempt me when I think about the vast potential of this large place.This promise is made more tempting looking at what has been done in terms of quality already. Edo is a great replacement to the long missed Irem Square, and I hope that soon, very soon, I will find my place there to simply sit or stand and people watch.