Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Game Awards Nominees Announced, Infinite Wealth Has Two Nominations

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Nov 182024
 

The nominees for this years Game Awards have been announced, and there’s quite a few titles that interest me on the list.

The Game of the Year category, has been drawing the most attention, with Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio being nominated.

Elden Ring is causing the greatest stir, because they said ahead of time that DLC is eligible to be nominated in any category. A lot of people are saying they changed the rules just so Erdtree could be nominated, but I don’t think this is a rule change. The Witcher 3’s Blood and Wine DLC won Best RPG back in 2016, so it seems to me DLC was always eligible for any category and they only emphasized it this year because it was a GOTY nominee specifically.

Anyway, I’ve started Metaphor and have Astro Bot and Rebirth in my backlog waiting for me. Will I finish any of them in time for the Game Awards show? We shall see. I actually played a good deal of Elden Ring when it came out, but I took a long break from it, so I’m nowhere near ready to even try Shadow of the Erdtree. Someday…

In the Best Game Direction category, the nominees are Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor ReFantazio. Yes, it’s the same as the GOTY nominees.

Now for Best Narrative, we have Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and Silent Hill 2.

That’s an excellent lineup of which I’ve finished none (although to be fair, I know the story of Silent Hill 2), but it does my heart good to see Infinite Wealth making the list. Like a Dragon is still a niche series compared to the big ones, and I thought Infinite Wealth might be skipped entirely. I still need to get back to my playthrough, but I’m happy to see it get a nomination.

Best Art Direction has Astro Bot, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Neva as nominees. From what I’ve played so far of Metaphor, it deserves its spot here.

The nominees for Best Score and Music are Astro Bot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Silent Hill 2, and Stellar Blade.

Metaphor has a great score from what I’ve heard so far, and I’m happy to see Silent Hill 2 on this list as well. Meanwhile, Stellar Blade is another game on my list to finish. It’s nice to see it get a nomination, although I haven’t played enough yet to really comment on the soundtrack. On the other hand, it’s also one of the nominees for Best Action Game, which I think it has a shot at.

I’m not going to go through every category, so jumping ahead to one of the categories nearest and dearest to my heart – Best RPG – where the nominees are Dragon’s Dogma II, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Now I might not have gotten far enough in Infinite Wealth to comment on the narrative yet, but it definitely felt like a solid RPG. It’s going up against some heavy-hitters, but maybe it has a chance.

There are plenty of other categories and nominees, which you can check out at the official site, so I’ll just mention that the Most Anticipated Game nominees are Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei, Grand Theft Auto VI, Metroid Prime 4, and Monster Hunter Wilds, none of which would even crack my top 10 most anticipated games. It’s actually a bit startling to see so many games I was excited for and plan to play nominated for other categories, while none of my most anticipated games got nominated there.

Meanwhile, it says something dire about my backlog that there are so many games I planned/plan/want to play but still haven’t. Whoops.

Anyway, I’ll try hard to have at least finished a couple of these contenders so I can root for them properly. The Game Awards 2024 is set for December 12 at 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET, and I’ll tune in more for announcements than for anything else. How do you feel about this year’s Game Awards nominees?

Paper Mario is Back, FFVII Rebirth Has a Release Date, & More!

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , ,
Sep 152023
 

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?

Crisis Core Remaster Will Remain Faithful, Rebirth Won’t Cut Content

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Jul 082022
 

Several new interviews have come out about the Crisis Core remaster and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which were officially announced last month.

Since their announcement, there has been much speculation on how Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Reunion might tie into the remake and how much Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will diverge from the original.

These new interviews shed some more light on the matter.

Gematsu has a nice round-up of the key information, as well as links to the individual interviews.

Although they’re officially referring to Crisis Core as a remaster, it sounds like they’ve done quite a lot. The assets have been replaced, combat has been adjusted to make it smoother, with combos and shortcuts, and the camera can be freely controlled.

However, when it comes to the story, it is a “faithful reproduction” of the original Crisis Core, and “no new story has been added as a result of Final Fantasy VII Remake.”

Fans have interpreted this in many ways (including some who are convinced they’re lying).

Now let’s talk about what the interviews covered regarding Rebirth. First, their rationale for calling it Rebirth instead of Remake 2 is that… calling it Remake 2 might make fans think there will be a 3, 4, 5, etc. They also want the title to give the impression that you can play Rebirth without having played Remake.

Okay… I don’t even know what to do with that first part, but this is the same company that picked the title Bravely Default 2 to make sure fans wouldn’t think it was a direct sequel…

The second part of that is surprising, though. Apparently they believe the story in Rebirth can be enjoyed on its own without the context from Remake. (Then again, companies tend to insist you can start with the newest entry no matter how reliant it is on its predecessors.)

Rebirth will be massive and vast, but they haven’t revealed whether or not it will be open world yet. That will be part of the next batch of information about the game.

More importantly, they assured fans that the trilogy will not trim down the story. Some of the progression is different, and “the order in which you visit some places may change,” but their policy is to not cut content. It will also contain new mysteries, but they’ve tried to avoid deviating from the original, which is… interesting.

That comment in particular has led to a new wave of arguments over whether this remake is telling a completely new story or if it is still following the original’s plot.

I’m curious about where they’re going with this. I’m also looking forward to the next time they release information about Rebirth, since it sounds like it’ll deal with the world. I’d prefer for Rebirth not to be open world, but having large zones to explore would be nice to see.

What do you think about the latest Crisis Core and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth interviews?

 Older Entries