Samantha Lienhard

Have We Misinterpreted Bayonetta 3’s Ending?

Nov 182022

Bayonetta 3 is out, and I have a full review up over at MonsterVine.

Like many people, I was put off by the game’s ending.

(While there won’t be unmarked spoilers in this post, it might not mean much to you if you haven’t played Bayonetta 3. Instead, maybe you’ll prefer the confirmation that Granblue Fantasy: Relink news will be coming in January or the unveiling of Ace Attorney merchandise at Fangamer.)

Getting back to Bayonetta 3, I felt some aspects were unearned, and one implication at the end left me worried about what was planned for the future of the series.

But lately, Hideki Kamiya from PlatinumGames has made some tweets that sound as though we might have the wrong idea.

Running tweets through Google Translate is never a great way to get information, but let’s do the best we can. First up is a tweet from a few days ago in response to a comment about the ending, in which Kamiya says “everyone seems to have a misunderstanding” but that he can’t say too much because it’s related to the sequel.

Now in another tweet from earlier today, he also says, “it seems that the ending of Bayo 3 wasn’t conveyed correctly to everyone, so I think Bayo 4 will be an unexpected development for everyone.”

These two tweets both suggest that something about the ending is being misinterpreted by a majority of fans.

Click for major Bayonetta 3 spoilers

The main thing I disliked was the implication that Viola would be the main character going forward, so I hope that – and everything related to it – is what he’s referring to.

And yes, he’s also casually referring to Bayonetta 4 like it’s a given, but I wouldn’t take that as official confirmation of anything since he’s already said in the past that he has ideas for future Bayonetta games. Bayonetta 3 definitely felt like it left the door open for a sequel, though.

How did you feel about Bayonetta 3’s ending? What do you think about these suggestions that something about the ending has been misinterpreted?

New Fire Emblem Engage Trailer Sheds Light on its Story

Video games 2 Responses » Tagged with: fire emblem, fire emblem engage, rpg

Nov 162022

Nintendo released a new story trailer for Fire Emblem Engage today.

The announcement trailer left me a bit confused because of the crossover element, although admittedly I was a bit distracted by the other games announced that day.

This new trailer makes it clearer that there are 12 rings, which summon Emblems, the characters from past Fire Emblem games. The main character is gathering these rings to fight the threat facing the world.

If that means the crossover is limited to 12 characters, I think that will work better for a game like this. There are few enough of them to act as supporting characters without dominating the story. It seems like Emblems can also be corrupted, turning them into evil versions of themselves.

The main character also has amnesia, which might be a bit overused, but I’m curious about where it will go since it seems to hint at something bad.

The designs are a bit odd, but they’re growing on me.

Until now, I’d felt we barely knew anything about Fire Emblem Engage even though it’s coming out in a couple of months. Now I feel I have a much better understanding of what it is. Numerous gameplay clips have also been tweeted by the Japanese Fire Emblem Twitter account.

I’d still like to know more about the hub area and how it will compare to the monastery in Three Houses, but I’m getting interested in Fire Emblem Engage. Speaking of which, I should return to my Three Houses playthrough one of these days…

Fire Emblem Engage is due out on January 20. What are your thoughts on it so far?

Game Awards Set for December 8, Nominees Announced

Video games 6 Responses »

Nov 142022

The Game Awards 2022 is set for December 8 at 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET, and the nominees have been revealed.

The most exciting thing to me is that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was nominated for Game of the Year!

I didn’t expect it to get such recognition.

(This means I need to hurry up and make progress by then, since I’ve been on Chapter 4 for ages now.)

Xenoblade was also nominated for best music and best RPG.

God of War Ragnarok is another GOTY contender, and I plan to start that soon. Elden Ring is also on the list, which reminds me that I put my playthrough on hold far too long ago and need to get back to that, too. They were both nominated in several other categories, as well.

Final Fantasy XIV has nominations for Best Ongoing Game and Best Community Support, Bayonetta 3 was nominated for Best Action Game (for my Bayonetta 3 thoughts, I have a review coming soon at MonsterVine), Pokémon Legends: Arceus is one of the other Best RPG contenders, and this all makes me feel like I’ve played unusually few Game Awards nominees this year.

Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XVI is one of the nominees for Most Anticipated, which makes me hopeful that we might get a release date. Recent interviews said we’d have a release date by the end of the year, and the Game Awards seems like a good time to announce it.

That’s what always interests me the most about the Game Awards. While it’s nice to root for games I like to win, the potential for news and announcements is always the most exciting part.

(Here’s hoping for some nice surprises this year.)

What are you hoping for from The Game Awards 2022? Have you played many of the nominees?

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