Operation Backlog Completion 2025

An Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Demo is Now Available!

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Aug 232024
 

We’re quickly approaching the release date of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, and as if that isn’t exciting enough on its own, they’ve actually released a demo.

The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection demo will let you play through the start of each game’s first case, so you can try both the start of Turnabout Visitor and Turnabout Trigger.

Progress will transfer to the full game, too!

They announced it through a new trailer that also lets us hear some of the new Investigations 2 voice lines, but I didn’t embed it here because it includes some out-of-context shots from both games that I feel could be considered spoilers (such as a scene from the first game’s final case).

This is the first time they’ve released an Ace Attorney demo since… well, since we were last getting brand-new Ace Attorney games, back on the 3DS. None of the other collections got public demos.

Since the Investigations games play differently from the rest of the series, I wonder if that’s why they chose to give it a demo – to let players experience the new mechanics for themselves. It’s great to see, and it feels like they really want to give Investigations the best chance to succeed.

Meanwhile, the official Ace Attorney website has now been updated with an official timeline that shows all of the games – excluding the crossover – in chronological order, provides information about each individual game and what collection it can be found in, and shows some basic character relationships.

(It also confirms that they do not see Athena as a main protagonist of Spirit of Justice, only of Dual Destinies, which lines up with how she’s handled in the game.)

Honestly, all of this makes me more convinced than ever that we’re getting a new Ace Attorney game soon. They’re going hard with the Investigations Collection’s marketing and making it easier than ever for players to get into the series. That timeline page feels like the sort of thing you’d bring out to prepare for a new Ace Attorney game – and I’ve still got my hopes set on the Tokyo Game Show.

Are you going to try the Investigations Collection demo? Do you think Capcom is gearing up to announce Ace Attorney 7?

Thoughts on the Emio Demo So Far

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Aug 212024
 

When we discussed the demo for Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club last week, I said I wasn’t sure if I would play the demo or just wait for the full game.

But when the first part of the demo became available yesterday, I decided I couldn’t wait and downloaded it to give it a try!

The current demo contains the prologue and Chapter 1, introducing the player to the start of the game. It definitely feels like a Famicom Detective Club game, with a presentation and controls very much in line with the Switch remakes of the first two.

Like in those games, you pick commands such as “call,” “ask,” “look,” etc. from a menu as you interact with other characters and investigate areas. And yes, sometimes you’ll need to choose the same option multiple times in a row or come back to actions after having chosen others.

However, the “think” command seems to have been improved so that when it’s not necessary for progression, it provides you with a slight hint toward what you should be trying. If that holds up throughout the whole game, it will go a long way toward avoiding the tedious “try every option and then try every option again” cycle the first two games often fell into.

It’s too early to have a good feel for the mystery in Emio, but the prologue and first chapter provide the basic setup for the case and introduce some new characters. There are a couple of fun easter eggs, too.

(And like with the first two, if you have save data from either of the others you can transfer the name you used for yourself instead of entering it again.)

One thing that feels a little strange is that the main character and Ayumi decide to split the investigation work, which means you spend the first chapter talking to the police while she meets with the victim’s family off-screen. Having that part handled off-screen is odd, but since the game’s description says Ayumi will be playable, I wonder if that means the next chapter will show that investigation from her perspective instead of picking up where Chapter 1 ended.

Either way, I’m looking forward to playing Chapter 2 when it becomes available tomorrow, and of course, I’m looking forward to the full game. Have you tried the Emio demo?

Fantasy Life i Delayed (Again)

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Aug 192024
 

The Nintendo Direct in February 2023 had a huge number of exciting announcements, including the great return of Level-5 with DecaPolice, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, and Professor Layton and the New World of Steam.

Fantasy Life i was eventually delayed to 2024 and given a Summer 2024 release window, and then at this February’s Nintendo Direct, it got a release date of October 10.

The delay made me a little nervous…

…and now it’s been delayed again.

The announcement says they’ve decided to “change the release date,” which I was faintly hopeful about since it doesn’t actually use the word “delay,” but Nintendo of Europe tweeted about it and called it a delay. So I doubt this is one of those rare cases of a release date being moved up.

More information will come at Level-5’s live stream, which was originally planned for April but was itself delayed to summer and still has no specific date.

As a Level-5 fan, I was so happy to see their big return, but now I’m getting worried. Maybe Fantasy Life i’s new delay is a strategic one, to avoid it being released on top of highly-anticipated games like Metaphor, but it doesn’t feel good that all of the games announced last February still seem to be in limbo. Plus, as a Professor Layton fan, I can’t help but worry this will push New World of Steam even further out.

On the other hand, I don’t want Fantasy Life i to be rushed, either. Here’s hoping that when it does come out, it’ll live up to its predecessor.

In unrelated news, Silent Hill 2 got a new story trailer that looks pretty good (although it’s uncanny to hear lines that are word-for-word the same as in the original but being said with new voices) and Final Fantasy XVI is coming to PC on September 17. Gamescom is tomorrow, so we might get some new announcements there as well. There’s a lot of great games coming out, so I hope Fantasy Life i will be one too when it has its time to shine.

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