Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Suikoden Anime and Mobile Game Announced

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Mar 052025
 

The Suikoden I & II HD Remaster is out tomorrow, and Konami held a special Suikoden broadcast on Monday to celebrate.

It was hard not to hope they’d announce a remaster of Suikoden III or a brand-new game, especially when they said the Suikoden I & II remaster was only the first step of their Suikoden plans.

Then they announced Step 2…… which turned out to be an anime.

Suikoden: The Anime is an anime adaptation of Suikoden II and will be produced by Konami Animation. It’s not the news I was hoping for, but it was neat to see.

After that, they said the anime was only the first part of Step 2. Step 2 also includes a new game… for mobile devices.

All right, that was the part that hurt, especially because Suikoden: Star Leap actually looks beautiful. If this was a regular game, I’d be excited for it without question. But it’s going to be a mobile gacha game, and even though they claimed the gacha is just an additional aspect that you don’t have to worry about, I’m too skeptical to accept it that easily.

Is there a chance I’ll give Star Leap a chance? Sure, if it comes out and people say the gacha really is non-intrusive, I might give it a try after all. I would much rather see a regular, non-gacha game come out, though.

They also announced a stage play as the final part of Step 2.

Well, this does leave the door open for a “Step 3” that could include more remasters or a new (non-mobile) game, but it was a little disappointing (if funny) to watch them keep announcing other things instead.

For my part, though, I’m still at the very start of the series. I played and enjoyed Suikoden back in 2016, but I never got around to starting Suikoden II before the remasters were announced. I’ll probably play the remaster, since it seems to be well-received. Maybe by then, it’ll be time for Step 3?

What do you think about the latest Suikoden announcements?

New Details About Fantasy Life i’s Development

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Mar 032025
 

You know I’ve had some concerns about Fantasy Life i despite my initial excitement when it was announced, both due to the increased scope and its several delays.

Well, thanks to a new Level-5 blog post, we’ve gotten some insights into what happened during Fantasy Life i’s development.

The biggest revelation is that Keiji Inafune left Level-5 last year.

In case you’re unfamiliar with how things went, Inafune’s studio Comcept was acquired by Level-5 in 2017 and became Level-5 Comcept, and they were in charge of developing Fantasy Life i. According to this blog post, his departure meant they had to “reassess and restructure” the game.

This included “adding open-world exploration and parkour-style actions, restructuring the system’s progression flow, improving the core mechanics, and refining the scenario to be even more emotionally impactful.”

Knowing this makes me feel better about the game’s expanded scope. At the time, it had me worried they were making it bigger just for the sake of being bigger, but now that I know it happened as part of the project being overhauled after the producer left, it makes a lot more sense. Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino took over as producer, and since he was the producer of the first game, that makes me more confident too.

Meanwhile, the blog post goes on to mention that Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road might be delayed again due to all the trouble with Fantasy Life i. That poor game’s been delayed so many times it’s almost funny. More information about Inazuma Eleven will be coming in a showcase on April 11.

It’s funny to read a blog post about troubled development and delays and come out feeling more optimistic about the game, but this look at what was going on with Fantasy Life i did clear some things up. I’m looking forward to Fantasy Life i when it launches later this year – hopefully without any further delays.

What do you think about the latest Fantasy Life i news?

Let’s Talk About the Pokémon Legends: Z-A Trailer

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 282025
 

Yesterday was the Pokémon Presents, and it wasn’t especially thrilling.

It mostly focused on updates to the mobile games, a new battling game for Switch & mobile called Pokémon Champions, and finally a new trailer for Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Check out the full presentation if you want, since I’m going to focus on Z-A.

We didn’t get a release date after all, only an updated release window of “late 2025.”

I’m a little disappointed in that, but on the other hand, having a longer development cycle might be a good thing. I can’t really complain.

So let’s focus on the new details we’ve learned about the game.

In addition to the trailer, they also released a second video that shows off more of Lumiose City and gives a closer look at how gameplay will work.

The three starters are Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile, which is an unusual selection since Chikorita and Totodile were Gen 2 starters while Tepig was a Gen 5 starter. Since it takes place within Lumiose City, it’s not entirely clear how exploration will go, but the trailer shows things like climbing onto rooftops. In the extended look, we see that parts of the city are designated as Wild Zones, where you can find and catch Pokémon.

It also seems to be set after Pokémon X/Y after all, instead of in the past like I had theorized. AZ is running a hotel. Zygarde is also shown, although its role in the story hasn’t been revealed.

Catching mechanics look like those from Legends: Arceus, but the combat system is completely new. Instead of turn-based combat, it’s now a real-time system where you’ll need to pay attention to positioning and timing. Your Pokémon’s moves are on a cooldown, which makes the new combat system remind me more of Xenoblade than anything else (albeit with more action).

I have mixed feelings about these new details. The time setting doesn’t bother me; even though I theorized it was set in the past, being a sequel is still fine. The extended look also shows what appears to be Looker’s office, so I’d love if he has a new story here. And even though I’ve seen a lot of criticism about how the graphics look, I think it looks fine.

On the other hand, the city setting doesn’t quite look like it will capture the same sense of exploration that the zones in Arceus did, which is disappointing. I hope there’s more to it than what they’ve shown, because the Wild Zones aren’t impressing me so far. Games set within a city can be great (for example, Yakuza), so I hope they make the most of this setting to keep it interesting.

Finally, I’m a huge fan of turn-based combat. I was so happy that Arceus still had turn-based combat. I don’t have anything against Z-A’s new system, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed in it.

We’re still a long way off from Legends: Z-A’s release, and I’m sure we’ll learn more about it in the meantime. That could help sway me in one direction or another. After all, I had mixed feelings about Legends: Arceus when it was first announced, too, and I ended up loving it!

What are your thoughts on Pokémon Legends: Z-A?

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