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Highlights from the PlayStation 5 Showcase and Nintendo Direct Mini

 Video games  7 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Sep 172020
 

Yesterday’s PlayStation 5 showcase immediately began with the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI.

That’s right, it’s really happening!

Final Fantasy XVI has been officially revealed for the PlayStation 5. It’s currently unknown if it will come to other platforms or not. It’s also been confirmed that this is the mysterious new game from Business Division 3.

Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) is the producer, Hiroshi Takai is the director, and while it hasn’t been confirmed, fans believe Masayoshi Soken is the composer. There’s also reason to believe Ryota Suzuki, who worked on Devil May Cry 5, might be in charge of the combat, since he joined Square Enix earlier this year to work on an unknown action game.

Whether that’s true or not, it’s definitely an action RPG. Now, I’d have been ecstatic if Final Fantasy XVI was turn-based, but I figured the chances of that were pretty much zero. So with that said, I’m excited for Final Fantasy XVI!

Let’s take a look at our very first Final Fantasy XVI trailer.

The bits of story we get in the trailer have me intrigued, and I can’t wait to learn more about it. (I hope it’s not open world, though.) People have jumped to all sorts of conclusions from this trailer, but I think it’s too early to make any definite judgments.

The next game from the showcase that caught my attention was Hogwarts Legacy. Back when rumors started coming out about it, I wasn’t too interested, mainly because it’s open world.

So… I’m still not sure I’d enjoy it. All the same, the trailer actually does make it look pretty interesting. Going with a setting in the 1800s is also an interesting choice, making it far enough removed from the existing series to allow for more freedom. For now, I’m cautiously intrigued by it.

I’m still not sure what to think about Resident Evil Village. I want to be excited for it, but I’m not convinced yet. I’ll need to see more gameplay from it.

Demon’s Souls, on the other hand, looks beautiful. And I suppose Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition is the version I should play if and when I get that far in the series, since it has new content.

Those were the last of the highlights of the showcase for me until the very end (not counting the split second at the start of the FNAF trailer when I thought it might be Silent Hill because it showed something that looks way too similar to the Halo of the Sun symbol), when they teased the next God of War!

And I do mean teased, because it was basically just a logo.

Anyway, the showcase left me with similar feelings as before. I’m definitely getting a PlayStation 5 eventually, but I feel no need to have it at launch. Not enough launch titles interest me.

That was it for the PlayStation 5 showcase, but this morning featured another Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase… and a surprise announcement of Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.

I don’t care at all for the new main Monster Hunter game, but I’m so excited for this! Monster Hunter Stories was a lot of fun, and I was hoping it would get a sequel someday. I didn’t think chances of that were too good, but it’s happening!

There’s still a lot I want to know about Monster Hunter Stories 2, like whether or not it’s still a turn-based RPG, so I can’t wait to see more.

They also announced Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny and finally showed more of Rune Factory 5, both of which I’m curious about even though I haven’t played anything from their series. There was a new trailer for Balan Wonderworld, too. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is also coming to the Switch… today.

All in all, it was one of the better partner showcases we’ve had.

Final Fantasy XVI and Monster Hunter Stories 2 stand out as the games I’m most excited for from the recent showcases. The only thing that could make me happier would be if NIS America’s localization announcement today is Crossbell, but I probably won’t have that much luck.

What did you think of the PlayStation 5 Showcase and the Nintendo Direct Mini?

September PlayStation 5 Showcase Hopes and Predictions

 Video games  8 Responses »
Sep 142020
 

This year’s numerous “Not-E3” digital events included a PlayStation 5 showcase that I found to be pretty great.

Not necessarily “get it at launch” great, but still many cool-looking games that I’ll want to buy.

A few months have passed since then, and we still don’t know the PS5’s price or release date. Now a new 40-minute PlayStation 5 showcase has been announced for this Wednesday at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET, so here are some things I hope and/or expect to see.

First and foremost, they have to announce the price and release date. We know the Xbox details now, so we really need to know how much the PlayStation 5 will cost and when it’s coming out.

Next, I’m sure they’ll show some of the big PS5 games we already know about and confirm which of them are launch titles.

But what are some new announcements I hope to see?

The next God of War game feels like a solid bet to me. I expected it to be teased at the first showcase and it wasn’t, so maybe this is the time. Depending on when it’s coming out, that’s one announcement that could sway me toward getting a PS5 sooner rather than later.

We’ve also got more Final Fantasy XVI rumors to consider. Along with the rumors that FFXVI will be at TGS, many people now think it will be announced at the PlayStation Showcase.

I’d love to see more from Babylon’s Fall, although we know that’s part of the TGS lineup.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to see a trailer for Yakuza: Like a Dragon to finally learn its PS5 release date, but I’d really love to see a surprise localization announcement for Ishin or Kenzan.

If the rumored Resident Evil 4 remake is real, it could show up here as well (not that I’m particularly excited for that), and maybe they’ll show us more of Resident Evil Village.

And in general, I hope there are plenty of surprises, as well. With 40 minutes for the showcase, it should be plenty of time for exciting news!

What are your hopes and/or predictions for Wednesday’s PlayStation 5 showcase?

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Makes a Fantastic Game Even Better

 Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Sep 112020
 

I love Xenoblade.

I love Xenoblade so much that when my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition arrived, I decided not to jump into the new epilogue content right away but instead replay the entire game from the beginning.

And yes, I still love it.

Xenoblade Chronicles has a fantastic story, great characters, and such a beautiful world to explore. Everything looks more beautiful than ever thanks to the new graphics of the Definitive Edition, and that’s not the only benefit. There are several little quality-of-life improvements (such as marking side quest locations on the map) that made it feel even better.

There are still some frustrating things, like side quests with multiple paths that lock you into one path if you have the necessary items before starting the quest, and I wish it was possible to track Colony 6 restoration materials like side quests, but these are minor.

So much time had passed since I played the original Xenoblade Chronicles that even though I knew it was a great game, my memories of it were pretty fuzzy. Replaying it in the Definitive Edition really reminded me of just how much I love this game.

Backlog or no backlog, I happily put another 100 hours into Xenoblade.

Once I completed the main game, I moved on to the new epilogue added to the Definitive Edition, Future Connected.

Future Connected isn’t quite what I expected when it was first announced. I thought it would tease Xenoblade Chronicles 3 or otherwise tie into certain revelations about the series. It doesn’t do either of those things.

It’s largely just a short epilogue to the original game that helps resolve Melia’s storyline, gives a glimpse of what the world is like after the game’s ending, and makes use of the Bionis’ Shoulder, an area that was cut from the original. It also follows up on a few late-game side quests from the main game.

The story of Future Connected is… okay. Its villain is pretty uncompelling and the major threat is left so vague that maybe it is intended to tease a sequel after all. I don’t know. It just felt a bit bland.

On the other hand, it’s filled with a lot of great character interactions (especially in the “quiet moments,” Future Connected’s version of heart-to-hearts) and the group of Nopons you end up helping and saving are funny rather than annoying. A certain character from one of the main game’s most memorable side quest chains also returns for another side quest here, which was great.

My thoughts on Future Connected ultimately come down to this: it’s more Xenoblade, and more Xenoblade is good. If I’d played it on its own, I’d probably be disappointed, but it’s a nice little epilogue for the game.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition takes the fantastic JRPG that is Xenoblade Chronicles and makes it better than ever. I’m happy I decided to play through the whole game again, and I can’t wait to see what Monolith Soft has planned for the future.

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