Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Ascendant Hearts is Coming to the Switch on January 30

 My Games, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jan 242020
 

The isekai visual novel Ascendant Hearts, which I wrote the script for, is coming to the Nintendo Switch!

It will be available from the Nintendo eShop for $9.99 on January 30.

Ascendant Hearts is a romantic comedy visual novel about a young man who wakes up in a fantasy world where the rules of RPGs govern real life. It parodies a lot of JRPG and MMORPG tropes, and it’s also a galge/bishojo game with three possible romance options.

I’m excited that a project I played a major role in is going to be available on Switch. I had a lot of fun working on Ascendant Hearts, so I hope you’ll take a look if you like romance visual novels.

(Speaking of such things, people responded positively to my social media polls about holding a romance game event in February, so you can look forward to those reviews coming up next month!)

Here is the new trailer for the Switch release of Ascendant Hearts.

(I almost posted another Kingdom Hearts article today instead, since the KHUX team’s announcement turned out to be “Project Xehanort,” an upcoming prequel about Young Xehanort… for mobile devices. I’ve wanted that game forever, so I would be much more excited if it wasn’t a mobile game.

I decided to save that post for once we have more information.)

Anyway, what do you think of Ascendant Hearts and its upcoming Switch release? Let me know in the comments!

Re:Mind is Almost Here; New Kingdom Hearts Coming “Surprisingly Soon”

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: ,
Jan 222020
 

Kingdom Hearts III’s Re:Mind DLC is almost here. It will officially be available tonight at midnight.

Ahead of the DLC launch, the 1.09 update is also available.

This update includes adjustments to cutscenes in the main game, mainly along the lines of improving lighting and animations, changing some camera angles, more focus on characters like Riku during the ending, etc. So don’t worry about missing any story content if you’ve already played (although the updated cutscenes can be watched in theater mode).

It also adds Oathkeeper & Oblivion (unlockable if you’ve found all of the Lucky Emblems and finished the game on Critical Mode, respectively), new forms, and new abilities.

But for me, the most exciting Kingdom Hearts III news of the day is the “13 Questions of Darkness” Q&A posted on Twitter and translated by Goldpanner.

After going through some general information about the free updates and Re:Mind, including the decision to put the Final Fantasy characters in Re:Mind’s story and the debate about whether or not a certain member of the New Organization XIII should be included among the limit cut bosses, it moves on to the amount of content in Re:Mind.

According to this interview, while a new world was initially considered for Re:Mind before they decided it would feel strange to add it in, the total content included in Re:Mind is equivalent to “more than one world’s worth of content.”

Then it gets into the most interesting parts of all. Re:Mind’s title screen “serves as a piece of foundation” for the next Kingdom Hearts game, which they’re already working on. There are also two more teams working on Kingdom Hearts in addition to the KH3 and KHUX teams, and one of them has a title “coming surprisingly soon.”

A surprising KHUX announcement is also set for tomorrow.

This has spurred all sorts of speculation about the new title coming out. It’s not a mainline title, but that still leaves open a lot of possibilities. Some people think it’s just a port to another system, while others think it might linked to the KHUX team’s announcement and be a full console version of KHUX.

Personally, that’s what I’m hoping for, since the KHUX story is too good (and important) to be confined to a mobile game forever. Whatever it is, I’m excited for both Re:Mind and all the upcoming Kingdom Hearts announcements!

Update: They’ve also tweeted this new artwork, which suggests the KHUX news might be linked in some way to Young Xehanort.

What do you think the KHUX team is going to announce? What do you expect from the non-mainline title from one of the new teams? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation is a Funny, Heartwarming Side Story

 Reviews, Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Jan 202020
 

Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle is a side story set after the events of Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation: Time After Time, a visual novel I read/played and reviewed in 2018.

As a Kickstarter backer, I received a copy of 1.5th Graduation ahead of its public release, and I finished it this weekend.

It’s about 2 hours long and follows Arue as she prepares to take her manga to a doujin event for the first time. An encounter with an arrogant manga artist leads to him betting that Arue, due to her lack of a seal, won’t be able to sell even a single copy.

This not only brings him and Arue into conflict with each other, but also sets her dreams and passion against a belief that profit is all that matters. A new character named Monami is also introduced, and Arue gets to know her across the course of the plot.

I really enjoyed it, and I definitely recommend it if you liked the first Chuusotsu. However, if you haven’t gone through the original, I wouldn’t recommend starting here. Not only is it a short side story, but it doesn’t really explain its world like the original does.

But if you have, it’s great!

There are a lot of funny moments, but many heartwarming parts as well. Just like the original, it takes a premise that could just be a silly story and turns it into something meaningful.

It especially resonated with me since I’m a writer. While I write prose and video game scripts, not manga, I really connected with Arue’s love of creating stories and her general feelings at the doujin event. Talking to someone about your inspirations, the anxiety of sharing your work with people for the first time, the fear of no one wanting to read it… this is all conveyed in a way I connected with quite well.

Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle does a wonderful job of capturing the sense of being a new writer/artist, and it’s a funny, heartwarming side story in the Chuusotsu universe. It ended with a hint that there might be another “graduation,” so I hope we see a full Chuusotsu sequel in the future.

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