Operation Backlog Completion 2026

RGG Summit Announced for September 14

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: ,
Sep 092022
 

Okay. So the sneak peek trailer broadcast included neither a trailer nor a sneak peek, making me wonder if the title’s translation was misinterpreted somehow.

(Getting shades of the “unmissable” TGS panel from a few years back from this one.)

Anyway, while they didn’t show a sneak peek of anything, they did announce an event for next week.

RGG Summit 2022 will be held on September 14 at 19:00 JST, which is 3 AM PT / 6 AM ET. So I probably won’t be watching it live (although that’s exactly what I said about yesterday’s broadcast before tuning in for the non-existent trailer).

The official title of this one is “Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio New Title Presentation,” and both the Japanese and English accounts for RGG Studio shared the announcement. It’s also going to be translated, so it sounds like big news.

This will almost certainly be the official reveal of Yakuza 8. Since we know Yakuza 8 exists and this isn’t being announced specifically as a Yakuza 8 reveal, though (in contrast to “Judgment Day” for the reveal of Lost Judgment), I hope they’ll actually have multiple announcements. Multiple announcements at the RGG Summit would more than make up for my disappointment yesterday.

It looks like this is the first ever “RGG Summit,” so we don’t have any past examples for comparison.

Yesterday, Youtube was associating Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin with the video for next week’s broadcast, but now no specific game is linked to its page at all. I assume that was just Youtube automatically making the connection due to the series/channel name. I won’t get my hopes up.

…but that doesn’t mean I won’t still wish with all my heart for multiple announcements from this event!

Here’s what I’d be most interested in seeing:

  • Yakuza 8 (all but guaranteed)
  • Hint of the future of Judgment
  • Kenzan and/or Ishin localization please
  • Dead Souls remaster
  • New spin-off

Of course, it could end up just being a Yakuza 8 reveal and nothing more, which will still be exciting, just not as exciting. What do you think will be shown at RGG Summit 2022?

Process of Elimination Looks Like an Intriguing Detective Game

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Sep 072022
 

NISA held a showcase today that included a few new game announcements.

Of them, the one that stood out to me the most was Process of Elimination.

(It wasn’t a huge shock, since they accidentally leaked their own lineup after announcing the showcase, so I knew it would be there.)

Process of Elimination is a visual novel about a group of 14 detectives searching for a serial killer on a mysterious island, only to learn the killer is one of them.

It was released last year in Japan under the title Tantei Bokumetsu. Looking back at details revealed leading up to its launch shows that it has a mix of visual novel segments and investigation segments. During investigations, you control the detectives on a map of the area and use their strengths to find clues.

As soon as the trailer started, I knew this was my sort of game.

It sounds pretty neat, and I’m especially pleased to see a visual novel from NIS actually being localized. Maybe that’s a good sign for the future.

Although it has no release date yet, Process of Elimination is planned for early 2023 for the Switch and PS4. There’s also a limited edition that comes with a soundtrack, art book, and keychain, so I’ll be looking into that. Meanwhile, we’ve got another little cluster of game events here, as tomorrow should bring us that new trailer from RGG Studio. Fingers crossed for good things!

What are your thoughts on Process of Elimination?

New Atelier Game Teased

 Video games  5 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Sep 052022
 

With TGS less than two weeks away, Koei Tecmo is teasing a new Atelier game.

This was largely expected already. Koei Tecmo’s TGS schedule includes a spot for a new game from Gust.

While Gust develops other games besides Atelier (I wouldn’t mind seeing more from Blue Reflection in the future), they almost always release a new Atelier game each year, so an announcement felt likely.

Well, in the new Atelier 25th Anniversary Trailer celebrating the series, they tease the next title directly.

The trailer walks through the entire series, from Atelier Marie back in 1997 all the way up through this year’s Atelier Sophie 2, although it skips spin-offs like Nelke. At the end, after showing frames for all the protagonists, it focuses on a new frame and shows glimpses of new environments and locations.

I’ve been expecting Atelier Ryza 3 to be the next Atelier game, since Ryza has been a big seller and they usually make each cluster of games a trilogy. The music at the end of the trailer sounds like Atelier Ryza music, so that supports the idea.

However, fans have pointed out that since the new game gets its own picture frame in the teaser, that might mean it’s a new protagonist. The trailer also specifically referred to Atelier Ryza and Atelier Ryza 2 as the Secret series, not the Ryza series. Ryza’s voice actress also sent a tweet that many fans are taking to mean she’s involved, which would most likely make it a third Ryza/Secret game, but she could just be restating her appreciation for being in the series rather than specifically saying she’s in the new game. In short, the clues are pointing toward a third game in that world, but the specifics aren’t clear yet.

Whatever it is, the glimpses from the trailer look like it’ll be a beautiful world.

(Meanwhile, am I the only one bothered by Atelier Lulua appearing with the other Arland games in the trailer but Atelier Sophie 2 not being grouped with the Mysterious series?)

If you’ll recall, the Atelier 25th Anniversary was set to include 6 new Atelier projects. Of these, the first was Atelier Sophie 2, the second was a collaboration with Tales of Arise, and the website still lists the remaining four as unannounced. One is certainly this new game, but that still leaves us with three unknown projects. Is it too late to hope for a remastered collection of some of the older games?

This trailer reminded me painfully of the huge backlog of Atelier games I have, but I’m still looking forward to seeing the new game when it’s announced at TGS! What do you hope the new Atelier game is?

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