Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Highlights From The Game Awards 2023

 Video games  5 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , ,
Dec 082023
 

The Game Awards took place last night, and that meant we got plenty of new game announcements and trailers alongside the awards.

There wasn’t anything Earth-shattering for me (which is probably good, since 2024 already looks so stacked my backlog is shuddering in fear), but there were still some great announcements.

The following games were the highlights for me.

First, a really big surprise was Pony Island 2: Panda Circus. We talked about the first Pony Island a couple years ago, as part of 2021’s spooky games celebration. It was a puzzle game that was bizarre, funny, and creepy, with some fantastic tricks for the player. I enjoyed it a lot, so I’ll definitely play the sequel when it comes out.

The next big highlight for me was the new trailer for Metaphor: ReFantazio. It was announced ahead of time that it would be shown, so I wasn’t surprised, but I was excited to get another look!

Its fantasy setting comes across more clearly in this trailer, and it looks like it will be a great game to play. It’s now set for fall 2024 (fortunately distanced from the crush of games at the start of the year).

Now, what should have a been a huge, exciting surprise for me was the announcement that God of War: Ragnarok has DLC comeing out on December 12 for free, especially since it’s an epilogue to the story.

But my enthusiasm diminished when they said it will involve roguelike elements. Hearing the term “roguelike” doesn’t immediately turn me away anymore after I enjoyed Hades so much, but it did change my initial reaction from “I need to get back to Ragnarok and hurry up and finish it!” to “Sure, I’ll get back to Ragnarok eventually.”

How about another exciting surprise, then? The Mana series is getting a new mainline entry next year with Visions of Mana. It looks beautiful! I’m disappointed that there’s no Switch version, but maybe they’re assuming the Switch’s successor will be out by then.

(I probably should play some more Mana games before then, though.)

Getting back to DLC, another big announcement of the night was the reveal of two DLCs for Final Fantasy XVI, the first of which is already out while the second will be coming next spring. I’ll get around to playing Final Fantasy XVI one of these days, once I finally pick up a PS5.

The Game Awards was one big long reminder of games I want to play. Don’t forget the epic performance by Poets of the Fall as the Old Gods of Asgard, which I watched even though I haven’t played Alan Wake 2 yet. It just got me even more excited to finally play. Rise of the Ronin also looks pretty cool, and so does the new game from the developers of Ori and the Blind Forest, No Rest for the Wicked.

These are the announcements that stood out the most to me from this year’s Game Awards! What games are you most excited for?

Final Fantasy XVI Has Gone Gold

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Mar 312023
 

Final Fantasy XVI, my second-most anticipated game of the year, has officially gone gold.

Square Enix made the announcement in a tweet that also includes another look at the adorable Torgal plushies I wish they’d sell as merchandise.

I haven’t been following Final Fantasy XVI too closely to avoid spoilers, although I did check out the “World of Valisthea” trailer to see the gameplay environments, since exploration is the one thing I still have questions about. From that trailer alone, the world looks beautiful.

Final Fantasy XVI is due out on June 22, so if the game has already gone gold, I think it’s safe to say we don’t have to worry about any delays.

While I had some concerns early on, I’ve been getting more and more excited for Final Fantasy XVI. April is supposed to feature news about exploration and RPG elements, so I’ll be looking forward to that. Now, I still don’t have a PS5, since there haven’t been enough exclusives to convince me, but this should be the game that gets me to take the plunge.

Discourse around Final Fantasy XVI has caused this strange divide where some people think it’s a disastrous insult to Final Fantasy and other people think it will be the greatest, most innovative game that ever existed. I fall somewhere in the middle, leaning toward the positive side. While I would have loved a turn-based Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XVI looks like it’s shaping up to be a great game.

Are you excited for Final Fantasy XVI? Do you want to buy a Torgal plush? Were you surprised to hear it’s gone gold this far ahead of launch?

(In unrelated news, I saw an article from Noisy Pixel saying a Tokyo Xanadu sequel is being teased, but since the article warns of spoilers and I haven’t finished Tokyo Xanadu yet, I didn’t look into it any further. Here’s hoping I finish my Tokyo Xanadu playthrough in the near future. Then we can actually talk about the potential sequel tease!)

FFXVI Confirms AI-Controlled Party Members, No Open World, and More

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jun 222022
 

The awaited Final Fantasy XVI interviews have appeared and provided us with a lot of interesting new details and answers to questions we’ve had ever since the previous trailer.

Probably the most important information comes from the interview with IGN, in which Naoki Yoshida addressed the question of party members.

Final Fantasy XVI will have AI-controlled party members who “participate in battle, as well as trade banter with Clive.”

So while it sounds like there won’t be other controllable characters, fans who were mainly concerned about the lack of a party for story reasons should be pleased to know Clive won’t be a solo adventurer after all.

We’ve already speculated that Benedikta and Hugo might be party members, but another possibility is the puppy shown in the first trailer. According to Yoshida, the puppy is “more wolf than dog” and is named Torgal. He wouldn’t say if Torgal is a party member or not but said we’ll have to “wait and see.”

Curiously, a detail from the interview with Famitsu, translated here, is that you will have a “buddy” in every battle with you who can be issued commands. Right now, Torgal seems to be the best candidate for that role.

One more important answer from IGN’s interview is that Final Fantasy XVI is not open world. Instead it has an “area-based game design,” which for me brings to mind the sort of games I prefer, ones that aren’t fully open but still have large areas to explore.

Now, some story details came from GameSpot’s interview, which revealed that Final Fantasy XVI will follow Clive in his teens, in his 20s, and in his 30s. Due to these time skips, details about the world will be revealed through side quests and an in-game compendium. Final Fantasy XVI will be “a complete experience so that no other tertiary content will be required to enjoy or understand it.”

This interview also touched upon the M rating, which Yoshida said is basically so that they can explore mature themes without feeling limited.

Meanwhile, the interview with Game Informer revealed that the one-on-one Eikon battles we saw in the trailer will actually be quite unique, with each of these battles having its own system.

As examples, Yoshida suggested one Eikon versus Eikon battle might be “reminiscent of a 3D shooter,” while another could be “like a pro wrestling match,” and a third might “transform an entire area into a battlefield.” These battles all have their own UI, which was hidden in the trailer to avoid spoilers. So the Eikon battles sound like they might be quite interesting and unexpected.

The Game Informer interview also mentioned that a third trailer will be out this fall.

Finally, the PlayStation Blog interview revealed that the game is “fully playable from start to finish” and the remaining time is required for voiceovers, playtesting, and debugging.

There is a lot of information spread across all these interviews, and I didn’t cover it all, only the pieces that stood out to me the most. I’m happy to know we’ll have at least an AI-controlled party and that it isn’t an open world game. What do you think about the latest Final Fantasy XVI details?

(Meanwhile, there was a Nintendo Direct today focused on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which I didn’t watch since I don’t want to see too much of the game ahead of time, but I did see that it’ll get a story expansion DLC like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did. If it’s as good as Torna, that’s fantastic news!)

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