Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles Announced

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Jan 302023
 

So the NIS 30th Anniversary live stream began with the announcement of Disgaea 7 localization, as expected.

The next announcement, however, was quite a surprise.

Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles has been announced for summer 2023 for the Switch, PS5, and PC.

While Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure was re-released last year as part of Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 3, this new release is a collection of Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess and Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom. This is the first time these two games will have official translations.

(It looks like they’ll be sold individually on Steam.)

The games are cute and look interesting, so I might pick up that NIS Classics collection to try the first Rhapsody before its sequels come out.

The limited edition looks pretty cool, too.

Have you played Rhapsody? Are you excited for its sequels finally coming west?

Granblue Fantasy: Relink News and Trailer Coming Tomorrow

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Jan 202023
 

It feels like we’ve been waiting forever for Granblue Fantasy: Relink.

This action JRPG was announced all the way back in 2016. In 2018, we celebrated its localization announcement. That was back when it was being developed by Platinum, which it isn’t anymore.

Then in 2020, we discussed the shift in developers and upcoming news. It already seemed like ages since it had been announced, and now here we are in 2023 still waiting for a release date.

Well, maybe it’s finally time. It’s been announced that a new trailer will be shown in the Granblue Fes live stream tonight at 10:45 PM PT / tomorrow at 1:45 AM ET. The live stream will also include Granblue Fantasy Relink announcements. Here’s hoping that includes the release date.

Several new screenshots have also been shown, which you can see here in Gematsu’s article about it. A demo is available at Granblue Fes as well, which people can play for 10 minutes, so some gameplay impressions have started to appear online.

It’s been so long since Granblue Fantasy Relink was announced, it’s hard to believe we might finally get something substantial.

Although at the same time, the wait could be worse. Looking back at those old posts about Relink, I mentioned Atlus’s Project Re Fantasy twice and also brought up Monolith Soft’s unknown fantasy IP. We still haven’t seen anything about either of those. Maybe their time will come this year as well.

For now, we know we have Granblue Fantasy Relink news to look forward to tomorrow. Are you excited, or has the long wait dampened your enthusiasm?

Update: Still no release date, but the new trailer looks fantastic.

Baten Kaitos Remake Rumors Surface

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Jan 182023
 

Nearly two years ago, we discussed the possibility of Baten Kaitos returning thanks to new trademarks filed in Europe.

What stood out the most about these trademarks was that Bandai Namco filed trademarks for both Baten Kaitos games despite Origins never being released in Europe.

Now it’s time to hope for Baten Kaitos news once again, because a new rumor claims a Baten Kaitos remake is in development.

Rumors from anonymous sources should always be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s worth noting that the person who wrote the article seems quite confident in these sources, saying they’ve seen evidence of the remake in development and that it is “one hundred percent happening.”

According to this rumor, it is a Switch-exclusive remake of at least the first Baten Kaitos (possibly a bundle with Origins), being developed by Monolith Soft for a summer 2023 release.

Baten Kaitos is niche enough that it would be an odd choice to make up a false leak about, though it’s not impossible. Still, I’m hopeful that this leak is legitimate.

Adding fuel to the fire, fans on Reddit pointed out that Baten Kaitos director Yasuyuki Honne seemingly moved back to Monolith Soft’s main office in Tokyo despite not working on Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Another fan noted that Baten Kaitos Origins scenario writer Koh Kojima is not involved with the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC (mentioned in a developer interview) despite being a director for every other Xenoblade title.

So here’s what we have:

  • Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins trademarks from two years ago, in a region where Origins was never released
  • A leaker claiming to be 100% sure a Baten Kaitos remake is in development
  • Two prominent staff members involved with Baten Kaitos who can be inferred to be working on something other than Xenoblade

None of this is proof, but when you look at it all together, I think we have a decent shot of actually getting Baten Kaitos remake news. Between that and the potential for a Ghost Trick remaster, I have my fingers crossed that the next Nintendo Direct will be an exciting one.

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