Then Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was announced for February 29, turning February into an insane month for JRPGs…
…and last night, at the RGG Summit, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was confirmed for January 26, which is far earlier than I expected.
While the RGG Summit didn’t have any new surprise announcements, it did show a lengthy story trailer and a fun-filled gameplay trailer for Infinite Wealth, and all I could think while watching them is that this has the potential to be one of the best games ever.
The story trailer was emotional, with one shocking reveal that you’ve probably seen posted all across social media by distressed fans by now unless you’re good at avoiding spoilers, and the gameplay trailer looks like it’ll be so much fun.
I’ve been playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon now in the hopes of catching up ahead of Gaiden, and my one criticism of the combat so far is that your position matters but you can’t actually manually move your character. So the gameplay trailer confirming that you can move in combat in Infinite Wealth is all I needed to see. It’s actually the one thing I was hoping for from a combat reveal!
They showed so many mini-games that look fun, too. When Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was first announced, they said it would be the largest game in the series so far, and I believe it after seeing these trailers.
In short, I’m excited, terrified (of the story), and desperately trying to figure out how to manage my backlog in early 2024!
Like a Dragon Gaiden is out on November 9, with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to follow on January 26. Since they had no other surprise announcements, that just leaves me wondering what RGG Studio might have in store next… hopefully with a long enough break in between for us to catch our breaths.
Yes, watching. The story set up in Danganronpa, Danganronpa 2, and Ultra Despair Girls is concluded in the anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School, which is not to be confused with the entirely different game called Danganronpa V3.
As if that isn’t confusing enough, Danganronpa 3 is split into two arcs, the Future Arc and the Despair Arc, and the intended viewing order is to alternate between the two.
(Note: Due to the nature of the story, it is impossible to discuss Danganronpa 3 without implying spoilers for the previous games, especially Danganronpa 2. If you haven’t finished Danganronpa 2, stop reading this post now.)
The Future Arc is set after the events of Danganronpa 2, with Makoto being called in by the Future Foundation to answer for what they see as treason. However, this inquest is brought to an abrupt end when everyone is trapped and forced into a new killing game. Each person is given a bracelet that restricts them from performing a specific action. Breaking the restriction will result in death via poison. The bracelets also knock everyone out after a set amount of time passes, at which point an attacker will awaken to kill someone.
While a different setup than the traditional Danganronpa situation (it actually reminds me a bit more of Zero Escape), it creates a great deal of paranoia and tension amongst an already-fractured team.
Meanwhile, the Despair Arc is set ahead of the games and follows the events at Hope’s Peak leading up to the Tragedy.
For about the first half of the anime, I was really enjoying it. The Future Arc was exciting and suspenseful, even if it amped up the action to the point where being an Ultimate basically means you have superpowers, and the Despair Arc was full of comedy tinged with sadness due to my knowledge of where it was going. There were a few things I had to get used to – like different voice actors, different translations for key terms (“Super High School Level” instead of “Ultimate”), and the dub’s decision to make Monokuma’s laugh “nyek nyek nyek” instead of “puhuhu” – but overall I was having a lot of fun.
Then things started to fall apart.
Click for major Danganronpa 2 and 3 spoilers
I already had mixed feelings about Chiaki being a real person, but I could accept it. And I didn’t like Junko making the Student Council kill each other instead of Izuru actually killing them all, but it was just a minor gripe. And Monaca giving up on despair and blasting off into space was a bizarrely boring way to handle her character, but at least it wasn’t a major plot point.
Then the brainwashing part started.
I had been looking forward to seeing Junko interact with the Danganronpa 2 cast. I expected to see her psychologically manipulate them into falling to her side. Some of them, such as Mikan, felt especially set up for this sort of manipulation.
But no. Junko creates a despair-filled murder video and adds in subliminal messaging created by the ultimate animator, and this causes anyone who watches it to be brainwashed into loving despair. The Remnants of Despair ending up that way because they saw a magical brainwashing video was so, so much less interesting to me than what I’d expected. It’s basically presented as mind control, too.
That plot point made Junko a less interesting villain to me and retroactively lessened the impact of 2’s reveal that you are the Remnants of Despair. It changed Makoto’s perspective from, “You did terrible things, but we believe if you’re reminded of hope and given a chance to bond, even you can be saved” to “You were brainwashed, but we can undo it,” which weakens it a lot for me.
And then, when the secret of the Future Arc turned out to be that there is no traitor, just that one person is woken up each time and shown a brainwashing video that makes them kill themselves…… well, I suppose I felt some despair at that plot point, so at least that’s something.
While the Future Arc remained interesting for a while before falling into the same trap, the second half of the Despair Arc increasingly felt like less-interesting retcons to what the games implied.
The climax, therefore, hinged on a plot point I hated… but I actually didn’t mind the final episode. It had a lot of fanservice (of the “catering to fans” variety) and glossed over some points too quickly, but at least it was fun, which is more than I can say for those earlier plot revelations.
In the end, I’m not sure what to say about Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School. It has a lot of fun parts, especially in the first half, but I also feel like my overall Danganronpa experience would be the same or even improved by not watching it. Regardless, I’ve now finished the Hope’s Peak storyline, so next up for me is Danganronpa V3!
If you watched the Danganronpa 3 anime, how did you feel about it?
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?
When we talked about Granblue Fantasy Relink coming out on February 1 and Persona 3 Reload on February 2, I commented on how Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth were also set for “early 2024.”
