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Professor Layton Delayed to 2025, Cupid Parasite FD Confirmed, and More!

Video games 4 Responses » Tagged with: cupid parasite, decapolice, fantasy life, otome, professor layton, professor layton and the new world of steam, puzzle game, visual novel

Nov 292023

Today had the potential for some exciting video game announcements, so I was looking forward to it, starting with Level-5 Vision 2023 II early this morning.

It began with a message from Professor Layton’s Japanese voice actor, who revealed that when he was first given the part of Professor Layton, he drew inspiration from James Bond. Not what I expected, but that’s a fun detail.

The first game they showed was Megaton Musashi Wired, which will be out on April 25, 2024.

Getting an actual release date for one of the games relieved some of my worries, even though I’m not interested in that one specifically.

Next up was a new trailer for Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, which I’m really looking forward to! The new trailer highlights changes from the first game as well as a summer 2024 release window. While that’s further off than I’d like, at least it gives me a chance to get through the rush of early 2024 games first!

They spent a good deal of time looking at the next Inazuma Eleven game after that. I’ve never gotten into that series, but since this game has been delayed over and over again for over 7 years now, it’s nice to see it finally making progress. While it didn’t get a release date, there will be a closed beta test for the online features in March 2024.

Now, you know I only watched this live because I wanted Professor Layton news, so I was thrilled when they showed Professor Layton and the New World of Steam next.

The new trailer shows a small section of the game, including a 3D cutscene and some gameplay. Watching them tap around for hint coins and encounter a puzzle might not sound like a big deal, but seeing that good, familiar Professor Layton gameplay make me so happy. Hearing narration during the puzzle-solving was a bit odd, so I think that might have been purely for the trailer (unless that’s the way hints will be handled in this game). It also appeared like they were using the touchscreen, which is interesting.

Unfortunately, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam won’t be out until 2025. With the other games all delayed to 2024, I was expecting it, but it was still a little disappointing.

I had expected them to end with Professor Layton, but instead they went on to briefly discuss the success of the Yokai Watch mobile game, and then they continued with Decapolice.

I’ve been interested in Decapolice since I love mystery games and it seems to have JRPG elements as well, but I was surprised to hear them describe it as an open world game. The showcase also said the release date had been moved to “post-2024,” although a tweet later clarified that they meant 2024.

The showcase ended with the announcement that the next showcase, titled Level-5 Vision 2024: To the World’s Children, will be held in April 2024, teasing an announcement implied to be a new Yokai Watch game. So that’s certainly exciting!

While it was mainly a showcase full of delay news, I was still thrilled to get a longer look at the new Professor Layton game. And the day wasn’t over yet, because Idea Factory’s otome-themed “just chatting” stream was coming up next with the promise of an announcement.

Indeed, Idea Factory kicked things off with the announcement that Cupid Parasite: Sweet and Spicy Darling, is being localized! This is the fandisc of Cupid Parasite, which I loved.

I’ve been hoping the fandisc would get localized, so that was a great surprise! It will be out in 2024, and a Limited Edition will be available as well.

All in all, it was a great day for video game news for me. And while the Level-5 delays might be disappointing, I’ve got plenty of games in my backlog to occupy me in the meantime.

How do you feel about the new trailer for Professor Layton and the New World of Steam? What about Level-5’s other announcements? Are you excited for the Cupid Parasite fandisc?

Level-5 Showcase Announced for November 29 (with Professor Layton News Confirmed)

Video games 3 Responses » Tagged with: fantasy life, professor layton, professor layton and the new world of steam

Nov 102023

Following yesterday’s announcement that Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has been delayed to 2024, Level-5 announced Level-5 Vision 2023 II for November 29.

The first Level-5 Vision online event was back in March, when we got a few more details about the upcoming lineup of games they’d announced earlier in the year, most of which had 2023 release windows.

Now we’re here, nearly at the end of 2023, and none of them are out yet.

I have to say, it’s made me a little nervous. When Level-5 came out swinging in that fateful Nintendo Direct with three new announcements, it felt like their triumphant return after such a long period of silence. Then most of the year passed without any of those games even getting release dates.

Level-5 Vision 2023 II should help with that. Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, DecaPolice, Fantasy Life i, Megaton Musashi Wired, and Professor Layton and the New World of Steam will all be featured. According to the Fantasy Life i delay announcement, release dates will be announced for at least it and Inazuma Eleven.

Since only a single month of 2023 will be left by that point, I’ll be surprised if Inazuma Eleven, DecaPolice, and Megaton Musashi all still have 2023 release dates, but who knows?

Meanwhile, the official Professor Layton account also confirmed that new footage from Professor Layton and the New World of Steam will be shown.

Professor Layton is likely the farthest out of all these titles. While the others were given 2023 release windows, it never was, with a presumed 2024 release window instead. If the other games are being delayed to 2024, that makes me worry that Professor Layton could be pushed to 2025. But again, we’ll just have to wait for Level-5 Vision 2023 II to see what Level-5 has to share with us.

The live stream will take place at 9 PM JST, which is 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET, so I doubt I’ll watch it live. Either way, though, I’ll be eager to see the new Professor Layton footage and potential release dates for their other games. Are you planning to watch?

Professor Layton News, Ghost Trick Release Date, and Ace Attorney Sale!

Video games 3 Responses » Tagged with: ace attorney, adventure game, ghost trick, professor layton, professor layton and the new world of steam, puzzle game, visual novel

Mar 102023

Yesterday featured both the Level-5 Vision 2023 showcase and a Capcom Spotlight showcase later in the day, so we have quite a few things to talk about.

Level-5 Vision 2023

In Level-5’s showcase, they reiterated their new commitment to releasing all of the games showcased worldwide, in multiple languages.

All are planned for 2023 or 2024 releases (and since everything was given a 2023 window except for Professor Layton, that’s probably a 2024 title).

They started with another trailers for Decapolice, which looks like it should be a lot of fun. A detective investigation game with turn-based combat sounds like it was made for me. They also had a new trailer for Fantasy Life i (the “i” stands for “island,” “Internet,” and “individual”), and while it does look like it has more of an emphasis on customization than the first game did, it still looks like it will follow the original game’s direction. I’d like to see more of the game world beyond the town, but I’m excited.

Next came Megaton Musashi: Wired, a mech game that is an updated re-release of the previously Japan-exclusive Megaton Musashi X.

Then the fourth game Level-5 showed was the one I was waiting for the most, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam (with proper capitalization in its title and logo now). It still feels like a dream that we’re getting a new Professor Layton game, and while the new trailer is short, we do have some more details to work with.

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam is set one year after the events of Unwound Future and features Layton and Luke reuniting in America, in a town called Steam Bison (seriously). No one in America knows who Professor Layton is, while Luke has already solved mysteries there and become known as a detective, so that’s an entertaining way to play with the usual dynamic.

This trailer gives us our first look at Luke, as well as art showing some new characters and steampunk devices.

Curiously, the trailer says, “This time, it seems like the more puzzles you solve, the more the city will develop.” I don’t entirely know what that means, and some fans are worried it will feel less like a Layton game, but I’m intrigued by the potential. What I hope for from that concept is a Professor Layton game that progresses like usual, but earning more picarats and solving optional puzzles makes the city change and grow. The games always have some sort of side mini-game, and I could see city development taking a similar form.

One more detail from this trailer is that the puzzles are being developed by a group called QuizKnock. I’m not familiar with QuizKnock, but a fan on Reddit who follows their content had a lot of praise for them, so that’s the best thing I’ve heard about this new game so far. Layton’s Mystery Journey suffered from both a weak story and weak puzzles, and the puzzles are what I was most concerned about going into a new entry. So although the original Puzzle Master, Akira Tago, is no longer with us, the fact that Level-5 has called in a team of accomplished puzzle designers to work on the new game fills me with much more optimism.

The trailer also claims this adventure will “go beyond your wildest imaginations,” and I sure hope so. After Layton’s Mystery Journey, I want this one to return to form with an intense mystery culminating in an absurdly bizarre twist.

Finally, Level-5 concluded their show with Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. I never got into the Inazuma Eleven series, but this game stood out to me for the past several years as a sign that Level-5 might be in trouble. First announced in 2016 as Inazuma Eleven Ares and expected to release in 2018, it was delayed repeatedly and then renamed to Inazuma Eleven: Great Road of Heroes and announced for 2020, only to be delayed multiple times again before being announced for 2023 as Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road of Heroes. Now it looks like it’s finally on track, so I’m happy to see this game escaping its troubled development.

Capcom Spotlight

That was it for Level-5’s show, and then Capcom had a showcase later in the day! Their release dates all leaked ahead of the show, but at least that meant I learned early that Ghost Trick would indeed be getting a release date. The remaster of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective will be out on June 30, and digital preorders are available now.

Preorders also come with some bonus digital content, four backgrounds and two extra music tracks. The game itself features a remastered soundtrack and some other extras.

I love Ghost Trick, so I already preordered. I still wish it was getting a physical release outside of Japan (especially since Japan is getting a special edition), but I’ll absolutely buy a digital copy if that’s what we’ve got, at least to show support.

Now, they said during the pre-show that there wouldn’t be any new game announcements, so I dampened my faint Ace Attorney hopes. Ghost Trick is pretty much all I cared about from the showcase, since I’m not the biggest fan of Resident Evil 4 and therefore didn’t care about the Resident Evil news as much as usual.

(Ace Attorney did appear in the showcase when they announced their upcoming digital theme park to celebrate Capcom franchises, though. Some people think this is a means to sell NFTs. I won’t buy NFTs even for Ace Attorney. I’d much rather spend money on new Ace Attorney games, or perhaps merchandise like these adorable things if they would just please start selling them here.)

Ace Attorney 3DS Closing Sale

But while there wasn’t any Ace Attorney news, we do have reason to discuss Ace Attorney. With the 3DS eShop shutting down on March 27, Capcom put all of their 3DS games on sale, and it’s an even better sale than the last few 3DS sales they’ve had. You can now buy any of the 3DS Ace Attorney games for $2.99 each from now until the eShop closes. The DLC episodes remain $5.99 each, however.

Phoenix Wright Trilogy: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-trilogy-3ds
Apollo Justice: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/apollo-justice-ace-attorney-3ds/
Dual Destinies: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-dual-destinies-3ds/
Spirit of Justice: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-spirit-of-justice-3ds/

(I picked up Apollo Justice during the last $4.99 sale just to have an extra copy, because I thought that was the best sale it would get.)

I still hope they’ll port the later games to modern platforms, but if you’ve been meaning to get the 3DS games, at least they have one last sale to close out at a great price.

Conclusion

Phew, we ended up with a lot to talk about today. What did you think of Level-5’s showcase and the new Professor Layton news? And are you excited for Ghost Trick getting a release date?

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