Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Pokémon Presents Announced for February 27

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Feb 202025
 

Can you believe it’s almost been a whole year since Pokémon Legends: Z-A was announced?

February 27 is always Pokémon Day, and there’s usually a Pokémon Presents on that day to celebrate.

2025 is no exception, as the next Pokémon Presents showcase has been announced for February 27 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET.

Last year, Game Freak took everyone by surprise when they announced not a new Johto or Unova game like rumors claimed they would, but a new Pokémon Legends game set in the Kalos region and seemingly involving Zygarde, Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

We still know almost nothing about this game, except that it will be out this year for the Nintendo Switch.

I absolutely loved Pokémon Legends: Arceus, so even though X/Y wasn’t one of my favorite Pokémon generations, I’ve been excited for Legends: Z-A ever since it was announced. Learning more about it at this Pokémon Presents feels almost like a guarantee, and it’s the one thing I’m looking forward to the most.

It would also be nice to see another spin-off announced, too, like a new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (no, I haven’t played the ones in my backlog yet) or a third game in the style of Detective Pikachu (I might be the only one cheering if that happens), although they tend to devote a lot of time in these presentations to their mobile game updates.

And is it too soon for them to announce the next gen? If they do, I wouldn’t expect more than a tiny teaser, to avoid distracting from Z-A.

What are you expecting or hoping to see from the Pokémon Presents?

Xenoblade Chronicles X Previews Reveal Promising Quality-of-Life Changes

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 192025
 

Previews for the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition went live today, and there are a lot of interesting details!

The biggest overview has come from RPG Site, which describes several quality of life improvements.

For me, the best piece of news is that you can change your party at any time. I mentioned before how tedious it was in the original X that you had to find your party members in the city and talk to them to switch them into your party – with 18 party members and a big city, I actually kept notes about each party member’s location. Being able to change party members from a menu is the one change I was hoping for, so I’m glad to have that confirmed.

The site also shows a screenshot of the party screen, which has spots for 22 party members. That means there’s four new party members being added, not just one or two?!

Blade level, Division points, and most Field Skills are also gone, which is a change I’m a little more indecisive toward. I like coming across things that I can’t interact with yet while exploring and needing to come back for them later. Still, that’s not such a terrible change that it outweighs the positives for me.

There are some other nice changes as well, like a gauge you can spend to ignore an Art’s cooldown time and exp gain for party members not in your active party. The preview from Destructoid also confirms multiple save slots, and a look at the settings from Shacknews reveals dual audio.

All in all, Xenoblade Chronicles X sounds like it will be a wonderful Definitive Edition. My biggest disappointment is that it doesn’t look like it’ll get a collector’s edition, but I’ll still hold out hope for a little longer.

What do you think of the new changes described in these previews?

Let’s Talk About the State of Play Highlights

 Video games  2 Responses »
Feb 172025
 

The State of Play on Wednesday didn’t have any news earth-shattering enough to get its own post over the latest Fantasy Life i news, but it still had some good announcements.

I’ll only be talking about the highlights that stood out to me, so be sure to check out the full showcase if you want to see everything.

The first major highlight for me was one we sort of already expected.

As anticipated from the surprise retailer listing, a new Digimon Story game was announced.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger is set for later this year and involves traveling between the human world and the Digital World to prevent an apocalypse.

It’s also been confirmed to be a turn-based RPG, so that’s great! Sign me up!

Right after that was a new trailer for Lost Soul Aside, which will be out on May 30.

I remember when this game was first shown, and all the Final Fantasy XV / Versus XIII comparisons it got. It still definitely has that look, and it also still looks fantastic. Depending on the state of my backlog when the end of May rolls around, I’ll want to play this one eventually.

Moving on, a demo was announced for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii! I won’t be trying the demo, since I already know I’m going to play it once I finish Infinite Wealth, but now is the time to be extra careful about avoiding spoilers.

Like a Dragon is also getting a crossover with Dave the Diver, which is unexpected yet entertaining. I haven’t played Dave the Diver, but it sounds like a fun collaboration.

There was a new trailer for Split Fiction, which looks interesting, and the announcement of a new game from Supermassive, Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game.

Onimusha also got highlighted at the State of Play, with both a trailer for the Onimusha 2 remaster and a new one for Onimusha: Way of the Sword. It looks great, and it seems you’ll be able use the environment to your advantage in combat. The new trailer also confirms that the protagonist is Miyamoto Musashi.

The Lies of P DLC could be interesting (if I ever get around to playing the main game), and Dreams of Another looks very surreal and unique. Stellar Blade is also getting more DLC, this time a collaboration with Nikke, in June. (Hey, maybe by then I’ll have played that one at least!)

Blue Prince looks intriguing, too, a sort of puzzle exploration game set in a manor where the floor plan changes each day.

But the standout surprise for me was Tides of Annihilation, an action game inspired by Arthurian legend. It looks beautiful and like it could be a lot of fun.

There were other games shown, of course, including a new trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta and the next game from Housemarque, but these are the highlights that stood out to me the most! Overall, it was a decent State of Play, but one without anything huge.

What did you think of the State of Play?

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