Remember back in August when I was excited for the upcoming announcement of a new Atelier game and then never said anything about it ever again?
(Well, not entirely. I mentioned it briefly when making TGS predictions.)
I woke up early that morning to watch the live stream, and they did indeed announce the next mainline entry… which turned out to be a gacha game for mobile and PC, Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night.
A mobile gacha game being the next mainline entry was not well-received by fans, and many assumed it would never come west anyway. Well, it’s still a mobile gacha game, but it was recently announced that it will be coming west after all, in 2024.
It’s a shame it’s a gacha game, because it looks beautiful.
But you know how I am with this type of game. Even when it’s something that interests me quite a bit, like Tears of Themis or Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, I find it a difficult format to stick with. Reception to Resleriana’s Japanese release doesn’t seem too great, either.
Nevertheless, if you were hoping for a western release of Atelier Resleriana, you’ll get your wish next year.
I doubt the backlash to Resleriana would be as strong if it had been announced as a spin-off title. Being a main entry, however, has fans worried that it could define the series going forward if it’s successful. On the other hand, the optimistic view is that a successful mobile game could provide Gust with enough funding for future console Atelier games to have higher quality. Time will tell.
While not specifically stated, this is widely expected to be a new game.
Gust is the company that never sleeps, as they already released Atelier Ryza 3 back in March, as well as the Atelier Marie remake last month. If they are announcing a new game, I’d expect it to be for 2024. Three Atelier games in one year would be a bit much even for them.
With the Ryza trilogy concluded, a lot of fans are expecting this to be the start of a new Atelier trilogy. However, some fans are hoping for a fourth entry in one of the older trilogies or another remake.
Since the first game, Atelier Marie, was just remade, it’s possible they could follow it with a remake of the second Atelier game, Atelier Elie. In an interview with Siliconera, Gust Executive Officer Junzo Hosoi said their goal is to eventually have the entire Atelier series available digitally.
Atelier feels like a series I’ll never catch up on, because they release new games so fast. Still, my enjoyment of Atelier Ryza left me really interested in digging into the series more.
Moving on, the Pokémon Company announced a Pokémon Presents for that same morning at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET. It will last 35 minutes. That’s long for a Pokémon Presents, which usually run around 15-25 minutes.
The announcement tweet includes a short video, which shows the announcement glitch out into a neon purple version before reverting back. What this means, I don’t know. The neon aesthetic is reminiscent of the first Detective Pikachu movie, while some fans think it’s a hint at a Mewtwo event for Scarlet & Violet.
One way or another, we’ll find out on August 8. I’d love to see more of Detective Pikachu Returns, and I have my fingers crossed that the rumors of a new Unova game (especially one in the style of Pokémon Legends) might be true.
August 8 could be a great day for RPG fans! What are your hopes for the Pokémon Presents? What about the new Atelier announcement? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments!
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We ended up with a Nintendo Direct yesterday morning, a State of Play yesterday evening, and then the RGG Summit this morning, and we have so many exciting announcements to talk about, I can’t stand it!
So let’s go through these events and take a look at the highlights!
Nintendo Direct
The Nintendo Direct began with the announcement of the latest Fire Emblem game.
Now, it was actually leaked a while back, but most people dismissed it as being fake. Turns out it’s real, and the protagonists really do have that red-and-blue look seen in the leaks.
It seems there’s some sort of crossover aspect where you can summon characters from past Fire Emblem games… which is a little odd, but I’ll keep an open mind. The one thing I’m not crazy about, though, is the title. Fire Emblem Engage just sounds boring for a main series entry.
Anyway, after a couple of announcements, the next major game was indeed the one I saw leaked the previous day, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.
That’s right, the never-localized Fatal Frame 4 is being remastered for all major platforms and translated. It will be out in early 2023. It’s digital-only, but I’ll take what I can get!
The next wave of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC was also announced for October 13, and I have every reason to believe I’ll still be playing by then.
Fist of the North Star is getting a boxing game, which I’m not interested in, but I had to mention just because of how unexpected it was.
Tunic is coming to the Switch as well.
And hey, remember when Square Enix announced a Front Mission remake for this summer and then never mentioned it again? It’s now set for October, and then the Front Mission 2 remake will be out in 2023. Oh, and they announced a Front Mission 3 remake, as well.
Speaking of remakes, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is being remade (as Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life), but that’s not all. They also announced Rune Factory 3 Special for 2023, and then teased more Rune Factory in development.
They specifically said “a new Rune Factory series,” so I’m not sure if that is just an odd way of saying Rune Factory 6, or if they mean a new subseries within Rune Factory.
In between Marvelous announcements, Square Enix revealed Octopath Traveler II and Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line.
(The trailer and description for Octopath Traveler II both mention intertwining stories, so I’ll keep an eye on it.)
After several more announcements, we got to the reveal that Ib is coming to the Switch. It’s a creepy game that looks like my sort of thing.
And it turns out the new Atelier game is Ryza 3 after all, as Gust revealed Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key for February 24.
(Meanwhile, the Atelier 25th anniversary website was updated so that it now lists only 4 total projects, not 6. That still leaves one unannounced project, but… did they just change their minds? Then again, the Japanese website still lists 6 total but has the fourth filled by a Ryza 1 & 2 dual pack of some sort.)
(Update: The website now has 6 listed again.)
Moving on, I’ve never played Pikmin, but I’m happy for Pikmin fans that Pikmin 4 was at least acknowledged.
Square Enix was back with another Harvestella trailer, along with the announcement of a demo that’s out now.
We got a new Bayonetta 3 trailer, and it’s looking great!
Not only that, they also released an 8-minute gameplay video after the Nintendo Direct. I might have had concerns at one point, but Bayonetta 3 really looks fantastic.
Moving on, remember when we discussed the announcement of Rain Code, from the creator of Danganronpa? It was at the Nintendo Direct too! Now under the title Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, it definitely looks like a game I’ll be interested in.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion got a new trailer and a December 13 release date, and then they announced Tales of Symphonia Remastered, which I was super-excited about since Tales of Symphonia is one of my favorite games of all time…
…although right now, it’s unclear if this is an upgrade over the existing PS3/PC version or not. The official details claim it has visual improvements and “new gameplay enhancements,” but it also appears to be 30 fps.
There is a “Chosen Edition” available to order as well, but it’s not compelling enough to convince me despite how much I love the game.
Anyway, that’s it for the exciting Nintendo Direct announcements for me, although people excited for Breath of the Wild 2 can rest easy now that it’s officially titled The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and has a May 12 release date.
That was an excellent Nintendo Direct. There are so many games I want, and the Fatal Frame news is fantastic! I was much less excited going into the State of Play last night, but little did I know what was in store…
State of Play
WE ARE GETTING YAKUZA ISHIN; THIS IS NOT A DRILL, ISHIN LOCALIZATION IS REAL!
I was idly watching the State of Play when suddenly it happened and I nearly lost my mind.
Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin is being remade and coming west under the title Like a Dragon: Ishin. In Japan, it’s called Ishin Kiwami.
The title concerned some people, but it still has action combat like it did before. It seems like they’re shifting away from the Yakuza title for the west and translating the Japanese title from now on.
It’s really happening! Ishin in English is no longer a dream! It’s coming out next February!
And then some other games were shown.
Okay, it was more exciting than that, but really, I was barely able to concentrate on the State of Play after Ishin. It was already the best State of Play ever, and it didn’t matter what else was shown.
But I did manage to scrape up some remaining focus for a few other games, such as Project Eve, which now has the title Stellar Blade and is set for 2023.
Team Ninja also announced a new action RPG called Rise of the Ronin that seems like it could be cool, although it’s open world, so we’ll see.
They ended with a new trailer for God of War Ragnarok, which I really should have been more excited about since it’s one of my most-anticipated games, but I was too busy screaming over Ishin.
And so, I left the State of Play satisfied and went to sleep last night with the knowledge that I need not feel tempted to wake up at 6 to watch the RGG Summit. They would show more Ishin, likely reveal Yakuza 8, and maybe announce PC ports of the Judgment games, as those had potentially leaked earlier in the day.
RGG Summit 2022
The RGG Summit did indeed bring new information about Ishin, along with a new trailer and some surprising details. Like a Dragon: Ishin will be released on February 21, and several characters have been recast with characters from Yakuza 0 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Notable replacements include the three lieutenants from Yakuza 0, but a gameplay trailer that surfaced later on also showed characters like Bacchus (along with a plethora of delightful mini-games).
They also officially announced, uh… Like a Dragon 8. No, that’s really what it’s called in the west. That’s why I mentioned earlier in this post that they seem to have dropped “Yakuza” as the localized title. It will be out in 2024, and is said to be the largest game in the series to date.
Also, it seems Kiryu will be back with a new haircut (disguise?) as a second protagonist.
It should be fun to explain to people that the series order goes Yakuza 6, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Like a Dragon 8. They should never have dropped the 7 for the English title.
And with Ishin and 8 both shown, that was tha–
Nope! They also announced Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, a game set after Yakuza 6 that follows Kiryu in the events leading up to 7 and 8. It is said to be about half the length of a regular Yakuza game, and will be out in 2023. Like Ishin, it will be an action game.
And that was the end of the RGG Summit. No Judgment news, so–
Then Sega shadow-dropped Judgment and Lost Judgment on Steam, both separately and in a new bundle called The Judgment Collection. If the rumors of Judgment being in danger of cancellation were ever true, this should put an end to that now.
Conclusion
My poor backlog.
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Remember back in August when I was excited for the upcoming announcement of a new Atelier game and then never said anything about it ever again?
