Operation Backlog Completion 2025
Jul 242023
 

Having just finished the third chapter of Higurashi, I’d normally take a longer break, but instead I decided to continue on and read Higurashi When They Cry – Ch. 4 Himatsubushi since it’s shorter than the rest and concludes the Question Arcs.

All of the chapters have taken different approaches so far, but Chapter 4 is the most noticeably different.

Instead of following Keiichi after his arrival in Hinamizawa, it’s set several years earlier and follows a young police officer visiting the town to investigate a kidnapping that could be related to the protests against the dam project.

It has less of an emphasis on horror, although it does have a few unsettling moments.

As I mentioned in my last review, I have theories about what’s going on that never quite seem to answer everything. In keeping with the chapters before it, this one adds a few more details that could support one idea or another but isn’t enough for me to put the pieces together yet.

Click for major Higurashi Chapter 4 spoilers
Rika’s apparent ability to see the future, particularly as shown in the TIPS from her mother’s point of view, make it seem more likely than ever that there’s a real supernatural element.

That, together with her wanting to escape her fate, could fit into my parallel timelines theory… maybe? Maybe she keeps seeing the future and changes things to try to avert it, and that’s how we get different outcomes?

On the other hand, her general predictions could be coincidence while her predictions of the upcoming deaths point to an elaborate conspiracy planned years in advance. Someone with the power the Sonozaki group has could theoretically arrange a sequels of deaths/disappearances to take place across years to create the illusion of a curse. That would still leave way too many questions about the other seemingly-supernatural incidents that have occurred in the previous episodes, though.

I don’t have too much to say about this chapter, although I found it to be an interesting change of pace. This also wraps up the “Question Arcs,” which means the next chapter starts the Answer Arcs… where we’ll get some answers at last, possibly.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the next chapter brings!

Jul 212023
 

Remember when Capcom had a turn-based JRPG series called Breath of Fire?

Breath of Fire feels like a forgotten series, with its last release being a 2016 Japan-exclusive mobile game that fans hated, and the last entry before that being from 2002.

But maybe we shouldn’t lose hope yet.

As part of its new “Capcom Town” feature, Capcom has been holding polls about various Capcom games.

The latest poll, which just ended on the 17th, asked fans if they wanted Sengoku Basara, Breath of Fire, or Capcom Arcade Stadium featured in the next Capcom Town museum exhibit.

Now the results are out (presented by Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey, just as the previous poll’s results were, and I love that Capcom apparently considers Ace Attorney iconic enough to give them this role), and… Sengoku Basara won. But the international breakdown shows that Breath of Fire got 71% of the vote in North America and Europe, as well as 56% of the vote from countries under “Others.”

After the voting ended, Capcom also posted an additional poll on Twitter asking fans which Breath of Fire game they played first. They did a similar poll for Sengoku Basara, although only in Japanese.

While celebrating Capcom history is a big focus of Capcom Town, even this much attention being given to Breath of Fire is more than the series has seen in a while. With fans showing their love for the series, maybe Capcom will realize it’s popular enough to deserve a collection or even a new entry.

Breath of Fire III is still the only Breath of Fire game I’ve played, so I might not be in the best position to ask for more. But I love JRPGs, and I’d love to see the series return. It’s been my hope for a while now that the success of Monster Hunter Stories will show them that they have a market for turn-based RPGs.

In the meantime, maybe I should get around to playing the other Breath of Fire games that are still in my backlog…

Jul 192023
 

Remember a year ago when we got our hopes up unreasonably for a potential collection of the original .hack games, only for them to be dashed?

(“Last Recollection” turned out to be a Sword Art Online game.)

Well, .hack hopes are in the air once again – not because of any rumors, but because the developers would like to see it return as much as the fans would.

For a quick explanation if you’re unfamiliar with the series, .hack began with four games developed by CyberConnect2 for the PlayStation 2 set in a fictional MMORPG.

These four games are .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak, and .hack//Quarantine. This is why you might sometimes see the original quadrilogy referred to as IMOQ, taking the first letter of each title.

The original four games were followed by an actual MMORPG adaptation in Japan, an anime series, manga, novel tie-ins, and other additions to the franchise, and eventually a sequel trilogy for the PlayStation 2 called .hack//G.U., along with even more spin-offs and tie-ins.

So while conversations about the series often focus on IMOQ and GU, there’s been a lot of .hack media over the years.

Anyway, 2017 saw the release of a remastered collection of the sequel trilogy, .hack//G.U. Last Recode, which also added a short fourth volume. The original four games, however, remain stranded on the PS2 without any ports or remasters in sight.

I played .hack//G.U. thanks to the Last Recode collection, and I enjoyed it! Although some parts were repetitive, the story was interesting enough to keep me invested. It came with a recap of the first four games that I watched, but I’d love to have a chance to play them.

In a recent interview with Noisy Pixel, the Vice President of CyberConnect 2 said they would love to bring back or remake the original .hack quadrilogy, but can’t do so without Bandai Namco’s permission. They “urge the readers to fire away all the requests to them so that we can get the green light from them to work on those titles.”

This has led to a new wave of fans tweeting with the hashtag #dothack and petitioning Bandai Namco in the hopes that the series will return.

Fan movements are nothing new – some of my earliest blog posts here are about trying to get Capcom to localize Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (which I still haven’t given up on) – but it’s less common for it to happen at the developer’s request. If enough .hack fans make their voices heard, maybe we’ll see the a .hack quadrilogy collection or even a brand-new .hack series after all!