Operation Backlog Completion 2024
Aug 302021
 

Not too long ago, rumors of a Xenoblade Chronicles 3 circulated due to Jenna Coleman (who plays Melia) saying in an interview that she thought a third Xenoblade was in development.

Maybe yes, maybe no – it didn’t sound to me like she necessarily knew for sure.

Something that definitely makes me hopeful we might see a new Xenoblade soon, though, is the recent work of composer Yasunori Mitsuda.

Mitsuda has worked on a lot of games, not just Xenoblade, but the more details come out, the more hopeful it seems. Several months ago, there were tweets that suggested Mitsuda might be working on a project with ACE, a group that also worked on Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, although it wasn’t clear.

A couple of months later, the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra posted about recording music for a Japanese video game, to which Mitsuda replied saying it was a great recording session. The Bratislava Symphony Orchestra previously worked with him on Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

And now, Mitsuda is remotely recording with someone from Ireland. Another group that contributed to Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s music is the Irish choral group Anúna. When asked if they’re the ones he’s recording with now, they just replied “Aha…”

Is this related to Xenoblade Chronicles? Who knows? It’s certainly not confirmed. However, a composer who worked on Xenoblade in the past seems to be doing several collaborations with groups that also worked on Xenoblade… so it’s starting to feel likely.

(I still hope we see a Xenoblade Chronicles X sequel someday, though.)

Do you think we’ll see a Xenoblade Chronicles 3 announcement soon?

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Aug 272021
 

When the new Tales game announced at Gamescom turned out to be a mobile game, I was a bit disappointed.

Not that I expected a whole new mainline title to be announced before Arise is even out, but I was hoping they’d remaster some of the other titles.

Instead, they announced Tales of Luminaria for iOS and Android, the latest in a long line of mobile Tales games that haven’t had much longevity in the west. The most recent was Tales of Crestoria, which I’d like to play for its story once I get a newer tablet (so I really hope this isn’t a sign that Crestoria will be shut down like the others).

However, Tales of Luminaria is not a crossover game.

According to the recent developer messages posted by Bandai Namco, “none of the previous series characters will appear in this title, so you will have the experience of following the encounters and growth of an all-new cast of characters.”

They also said it will have “a volume of content that surpasses that of previous original titles.” Its official themes are “possibilities and discoveries.”

Back when Tales of Crestoria was first announced, that’s what it sounded like it would be, until they revealed the crossover element. It’s interesting to hear that Tales of Luminaria is completely original. The way they describe Luminaria makes it sound like a normal Tales game, just built for mobile devices.

Is it too much to hope that means it won’t have gacha? I’m not crazy about mobile games, but I’ll be interested in learning more about this one and what they have planned. What do you think of Tales of Luminaria?

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Aug 252021
 

Gamescom 2021 is in progress now, and this afternoon was the Gamescom Opening Night live stream.

I went into it with more curiosity than ever about the whole Blue Box/Abandoned conspiracy theory, because after following it out of amusement for a while, the latest phone antics made me wonder if there’s really something to it.

But in general, I just hoped to see some good games, preferably some surprises.

So let’s go through the highlights (highlights for me, that is, since some big-name games don’t interest me).

There was a short pre-show ahead of the main show, and it included some jokes that actually made me laugh, like the instruction to criticize any streamer who doesn’t talk over the boring parts.

House of Ashes and Dolmen both look nice and creepy. Dolmen in particular has had my attention for a while since it’s supposed to be cosmic horror.

DrinkBox’s new game, Nobody Saves the World, looks like it could be fun. A mysterious new game called Dream Cycle was also announced from the creator of the original Tomb Raider games, and even though they barely showed anything from it, I’m interested in learning more. (Update: It’s inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, but apparently it’s a sandbox game.)

Halo Infinite got a new trailer for its multiplayer, as well as a December 8 release date.

Then there was a game that looks both very cute and very dark called Cult of the Lamb.

A new character for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania had been teased, and it turned out to be Morgana from Persona 5, who will be available as DLC.

They showed a new trailer for The Outlast Trials, although it was delayed to 2022, and a game called DokeV that looked pretty cute and entertaining, but it’s an open world MMO, so I doubt I’ll play it.

Now, I’m usually not thrilled when there’s a musical performance during one of these events, but this time it was Lindsey Stirling performing music from Tales of Arise (dressed as Shionne, no less), so I enjoyed that. And then they said Arise wasn’t the only Tales news they had and announced a new…… Tales mobile game.

Tales of Luminaria will be the newest Tales mobile game, and I have to admit I was disappointed since I keep hoping they’ll port/remaster some of the older games. Lost Judgment also got highlighted briefly.

Finally, it closed with a new trailer for Death Stranding: Director’s Cut. I never got around to getting Death Stranding, so I’ll probably pick up the Director’s Cut eventually. (And it was just a Death Stranding trailer, so people are searching for connections while I’m firmly back on Team Confused.)

Those were the highlights for me from Gamescom’s opening night show! What games stood out the most to you?

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