Operation Backlog Completion 2026

The Nintendo Direct Was a JRPG Lover’s Dream

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with:
Aug 282024
 

How does Nintendo keep bringing out awesome showcases like this?

When we discussed the combined Indie World Showcase and Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase announced for yesterday on Monday, I hoped for “some good surprises.”

I got my wish and then some, even though there was no Professor Layton trailer like I’d been hoping for.

The indie showcase didn’t have too much that excited me, although Balatro getting a crossover with The Witcher ranks up there with the most unexpected crossovers, and seeing Sea of Stars DLC reminded me that I never did play that game.

As for Date Everything, the dating sim where you can date personified furniture, I’m still highly skeptical. I need to see more evidence that the stories have actual depth instead of deriving all their interest from the wackiness of dating whatever inanimate object the character happens to be. (Having 100 dateable characters is not proof; if anything, that makes me more concerned that the romances won’t have depth.)

But the Partner Showcase is where things really got interesting.

After a few announcements that didn’t interest me much, they went into a quick montage of upcoming games, starting with… excuse me, was that a Trails in the Sky remake??

Titled Trails in the Sky the First, this full 3D remake of the first Trails in the Sky game got all of 5 seconds despite being a major announcement that sent fans into chaos. Falcom has hinted and teased that they might remake Sky, but nothing had been announced until now. I was shocked when I recognized it, and it being revealed so casually only make it feel more surreal. Fortunately, the Japanese Direct included an actual trailer.

Since then, things have gotten a little strange. No other platforms have been announced yet, which flies in the face of the remake being intended to make Sky more accessible, and it seems they aren’t sure if they’ll even go with a western publisher or not. The translation appears to be the same as the Xseed-published versions currently on Steam.

But regardless of how they handle it, Trails in the Sky the First looks beautiful and it’s exciting to see this remake!

There were a few more announcements after that and then another JRPG announcement… and not just any JRPG, but the next Atelier game! Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land looks a lot more intense than I’d expect from Atelier, but I’m intrigued.

Fans have already jumped to all sorts of conclusion about Atelier Yumia, from believing it’s an action RPG to assuming there are no party members, but further details are set to come on September 2 and will hopefully clear up this confusion.

Moving on, remember the Suikoden I & II HD Remaster announced in 2022? Konami finally remembered them too, as after the long stretch of silence, we got a new trailer, and it looks pretty good. Right on its heels was a new trailer for the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, with a new job revealed.

While not a JRPG, I was also interested in the announcement that the three DS Castlevania games have now been released in a new collection called the Castlevania Dominus Collection.

The next announcement didn’t interest me, but then they moved on to a Tales remaster! Yes, they’re remastering Tales of… Graces? That’s right, it’s not the rumored Xillia remaster, but Tales of Graces f.

Tales of Graces f is being remastered with a bunch of quality-of-life improvements, so unless it turns out buggy, I’ll probably play this over my unplayed PS3 copy. Even more significant than this announcement alone is that the trailer begins with a “Tales of series Remastered Project” logo. It seems Graces f is only the first remaster planned to celebrate the 30th anniversary next year, and more will follow.

(It’s time to localize one of the untranslated games, Bandai Namco! It’s your turn!)

After a few more announcements, they caught my attention again with a new trailer for Rune Factory: Project Dragon, which now has the official title Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. It looks even better than it did before!

Finally, they ended the Partner Showcase by announcing a port of Yakuza Kiwami for the Switch.

I was stunned. Yakuza on the Switch feels like the sort of announcement you’d see in a fake Direct leak. It’s coming out on October 24, and I’m tempted to get it just to support the series on the Switch. RGG Studio had previously claimed Yakuza didn’t fit the image of the Switch, which to me always sounded like an excuse. I personally believed the actual reason was because the original first two games were ported to the Wii U and sold poorly, and they didn’t want to just say that. Yakuza finally making it to the Switch only makes me believe that more.

All in all, it was a surprisingly exciting showcase, especially as a JRPG fan. Trails in the Sky the First, Atelier Yumia, Suikoden I & II HD Remaster, Tales of Graces f Remastered, and Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are all set to be released in 2025, so next year is already looking stacked.

What announcements from the two Nintendo showcases are you most interested in?

Nintendo Indie World Showcase AND Partner Showcase Announced for Tomorrow

 Video games  2 Responses »
Aug 262024
 

It’s only been a couple of months since the last, amazing Nintendo Direct, and while this next one isn’t a general Direct, it’s still exciting.

Nintendo has announced an Indie World Showcase for tomorrow at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET… and a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase directly at it.

Both showcases will be presented back-to-back, for a total time of 40 minutes.

While often not as exciting as general Directs, both indie showcases and Partner Showcases often have a lot of fun announcements. So although I don’t expect it to be as exciting as the last Direct, we could still get some good surprises out of this.

For example, it was a Partner Showcase in February that included Pocket Card Jockey, among others.

Doing both showcases on the same day is unusual, and since Nintendo once again made it clear that they won’t be talking about the Switch’s successor here, I wonder if they’re getting Switch announcements out of the way by doing them together.

It’s a rare event where I’m not expecting Ace Attorney news, but dare I hope for a Professor Layton trailer? What are you hoping to see at tomorrow’s joint Indie World Showcase and Partner Showcase?

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?

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