Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Paper Mario is Back, FFVII Rebirth Has a Release Date, & More!

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , ,
Sep 152023
 

Yesterday was both the Nintendo Direct and the State of Play, and while they weren’t as unbelievably exciting as last year’s, they still had some great announcements.

A few things from the Nintendo Direct leaked ahead of time, including one I never would have expected: a remake of Trace Memory and its sequel.

Another Code: Two Memories, titled Trace Memory in North America, was a DS adventure game about a girl named Ashley searching for her father on a mysterious island while solving puzzles. I loved it, and I was so disappointed that the sequel, Another Code R for the Wii, was never released in North America. Considering how niche they were, I never expected to see them again.

But now Another Code: Recollection has been announced for the Switch, a collection that includes both games. Not only that, but they appear to be fully remade.

They look amazing. Another Code: Recollection will be out on January 19 (even with a physical release), and I can’t wait.

They also showed the upcoming Princess Peach game that was announced in the last Direct, and you know what? It looks like it could be incredibly fun.

Princess Peach: Showtime! sees Princess Peach trying to save a theater that’s been taken over by a group of bad guys, and the way she does this is by transforming to get new costumes and skills suitable to the situation at hand. Swordfighter Peach fights with a sword, Detective Peach investigates a scene to find clues, etc. I was curious about it before, but now I really want it!

This one will be out on March 22.

(Lots of people have been describing it as “Balan Wonderworld, but good” and that’s… actually somewhat fitting.)

Vanillaware’s new game was also announced at the Nintendo Direct: Unicorn Overlord. I was excited to learn what their next game would be because of how much I loved 13 Sentinels, but I’m not sure if Unicorn Overlord will be my type of game.

Nevertheless, I’ll keep an eye on it.

It will be out on March 8.

Eiyuden Chronicle also got a new trailer and an April 23 release date. When I backed Eiyuden Chronicle on Kickstarter, its 2022 projected release window felt like it was so far off, and here we are waiting until April 2024. But it looks excellent, so I’m looking forward to it a lot.

Finally, the Nintendo Direct closed on a surprise announcement… one that’s been rumored so often that the last time it was rumored earlier this year, I dismissed it and actually forgot all about it. Yes, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is being remade.

It looks great, and it appears to be more than just a simple graphics upgrade. In addition to the upgraded visuals, fans also noticed that several characters such as the partners have back sprites now, the partners are more expressive, and there’s at least one new NPC.

I’m so happy. I love the original Paper Mario games, and it’s been so long since we’ve had an actual true Paper Mario game in the original style. I loved Bug Fables enough to come to terms with the possibility of never having a Paper Mario RPG again, but now my hopes have returned. While this might not be a new game, it’s clear they’re putting a lot of effort into it. If the Thousand-Year Door remake sells well, we could see Paper Mario return to the original style with a new entry!

So while it wasn’t a thrilling Nintendo Direct, Another Code: Recollection, Princess Peach: Showtime!, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door were enough to make me happy.

Then came the State of Play in the evening, and while there wasn’t anything as Earth-shattering as last year’s Ishin reveal, we finally got to see the reason for that mysterious Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn copyright.

That’s right, Tales of Arise came out two years ago, Beyond the Dawn was copyrighted almost one year ago, and now Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn has been revealed as story DLC set after the main game.

According to official details about it, it’s supposed to be around 20 hours long. That’s edging into being an expansion, so maybe the long wait makes more sense.

Although I had mixed feelings about Tales of Arise (which is how I already intended to write that before looking back and realizing it’s literally what I titled my review post), I’m intrigued by the idea of the DLC. Unfortunately, it’s out on November 9, which means it’s probably not being played before Like a Dragon Gaiden.

Meanwhile, the State of Play closed with a new trailer for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, and it looks fantastic. The parade scene? The Nibelheim flashback? Cait Sith? Vincent? The Gold Saucer and its mini-games? Oh, I was worried they wouldn’t include the Gold Saucer mini-games in the remake, but there they are and I couldn’t be happier!

It’s appearing more and more like there really are changes being made to the story and my big theory will come to nothing, but I’m pretty excited for what was shown here.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth will be out on February 29, which means next February will truly be an insane time for JRPG fans.

Overall, I would give a slight edge to the Nintendo Direct for having three games that really excited me, compared to the State of Play’s two (one of which is DLC while the other is a new trailer for a game I was already looking forward to), although both events were kind of medium overall with just a few standout moments.

What games are you most interested in from the Nintendo Direct and the State of Play?

Nintendo Direct Set for Tomorrow

 Uncategorized  2 Responses »
Sep 132023
 

A Nintendo Direct has been announced for tomorrow, after being widely expected to happen sometime this week.

Nintendo often holds a Direct around this time of year, especially since that means new games announced at the Direct can be shown at TGS (which begins next week).

This Nintendo Direct will be 40 minutes long and focus on games coming out this winter. Of course, while that’s the Direct’s focus, wording it that way often means they’ll also included a handful of announcements outside of that timeframe.

A few things have been leaked, including one that will make me happy if it’s true, but with 40 minutes to fill, I hope they have some exciting surprises in store. I expect we’ll hear more about some of the games announced in the previous Direct, like the untitled Princess Peach game, and maybe the Baten Kaitos remastered collection since it’s actually out tomorrow.

Of course, I’d be delighted if anything from my list of TGS hopes made an appearance.

(Fatal Frame VI? Anyone?)

While there are also plenty of rumors around about the Switch’s successor, I don’t think they’d include an announcement that big in a regular Nintendo Direct like this. That feels more likely to get a special announcement sometime next year, while this will focus on Switch games ahead of the holidays.

Maybe my dreams will come true and they’ll announce a Xenoblade Chronicles X remaster. Either way, I have my fingers crossed for exciting trailers.

What do you think will be announced at tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct?

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life – An Emotional Ride from Start to Finish

 Reviews, Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with:
Sep 112023
 

Over the weekend, I finished playing Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

I feel like I’ve come full circle in some ways. I remember Yakuza 6 being advertised while I was a new fan having just gotten into the series with Yakuza 0. Having the whole series ahead of me was both daunting and exciting. It was wonderful to read previews of Yakuza 6 and know I was going to love this series. So it’s almost nostalgic to finally reach the game that was just coming out when I got started.

Immediately after the end of Yakuza 5, Kiryu is placed under arrest for dubious reasons. He decides to accept it, believing serving a sentence in prison will allow him to live a normal life once he gets out.

However, Haruka is now under scrutiny by the media, which is bringing unwanted attention to the orphanage, so she leaves in order to take the pressure off of them. When Kiryu gets out of prison a few years later, the group has lost contact with Haruka entirely, and so he heads out to investigate her disappearance.

The Yakuza series is sometimes compared to a soap opera, and Yakuza 6 is the most soap opera of them all. It has a much more personal and emotional story – but don’t misunderstand, it isn’t long before the personal plot ties into yakuza politics and the usual sorts of convoluted conspiracies. So many different factions come into play that I had trouble remembering who was associated with who, and one plot point made me look up additional context to understand the ramifications, but fortunately it lacks the sort of plot holes that bothered me in 4 and 5.

It’s one of the shorter games in the series due to having fewer substories than most, but it has several enjoyable side activities that I had a great time with, including one where you befriend cats around the city for a cat café, which is the cutest thing.

(I half-jokingly tweeted that it would be a 10/10 game if you could pet the cats, before learning that if you sit down in the café, a cat will eventually hop onto Kiryu’s lap to be petted.)

There’s also a spear-fishing mini-game that I’d love to see return someday. It’s basically a rail shooter where you take down as many fish as possible, including a dangerous boss fish at the end of each stage, and it was a lot of fun.

The only thing I really dislike about Yakuza 6 is its version of the hostess clubs. While the past few games used a system that felt as though you were participating in a conversation, 6 instead gives you a list of “cards,” each with a question, statement, request, etc. categorized under various conversation types. By chaining together the same conversation types, you get more points. It felt a bit more like a mini-game, but at the expense of being less like a realistic conversation than ever. As far as I could tell, there’s no way to see your progress toward the next rank, either. I stuck with it because each hostess had a substory, but even those were all very boring and bland compared to other substories. However, one hostess is canonically a Sephiroth fan, and conversations with her made it all worthwhile.

Overall, I loved my time with Yakuza 6. It has a personal, often emotional story with plenty of intense moments, enough humor to balance its darker moments, and a decent array of fun side content.

Next up for me is Yakuza: Like a Dragon, with just under two months to play it if I want to finish it in time for Gaiden! But whether I get to play Gaiden at launch or not, I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to see where this story goes.

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