Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Final Fantasy XVI New Trailer, Resident Evil 4 Remake Confirmed

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , ,
Jun 032022
 

There was a State of Play yesterday, and it had a few nice surprises.

In particular, all I wanted was news about Final Fantasy XVI, and we finally got it!

Final Fantasy XVI now has a summer 2023 release window. That’s a bit further off than I was hoping, since I thought it might actually come out this year, but on the other hand, it gives me more time to work through my backlog.

(Especially with games like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 coming out this year already.)

The release window came along with a new trailer. It’s age-restricted so you can’t watch it outside of Youtube, but I’ll embed it below so you can follow the link.

It’s now rated as “likely Mature,” so it seems this will be an M-rated game like was speculated before.

The trailer introduces some new characters, most notably a woman named Benedikta Harman, who is Garuda’s Dominant, and a man named Hugo Kupka, who is Titan’s Dominant. The official Final Fantasy XVI website has more details about these two, saying that Benedikta “crosses paths with a like-minded Clive and is forced to face her past” and Hugo amasses a fortune but “Benedikta Harman will teach him money and power are far from all the world has to offer.”

The website was also updated with some beautiful new screenshots, including the one I used in this post, so be sure to check those out. It looks incredible.

Getting back to the trailer, we also got a better look at combat.

Three main types of combat appear to be showcased. One type shows Clive up against a single opponent, with each of them having a large health bar. Boss battles, perhaps? We also see Clive facing several enemies with small health bars above their heads. One of these short clips has a different UI for Clive, but we’ll get back to that in a minute. Finally, we see several combat segments in which the player appears to be controlling an Eikon, fighting another Eikon.

Combat seems to be fast-paced and stylish, with special abilities linked to some sort of class system the player can switch between. Judging by the icons in the upper-left, this probably is related to the Eikons.

Now, much attention has been drawn to the fact that Clive appears to be fighting alone. There is no indication of party members in this trailer. However, one thing does stand out as odd, and that’s the UI difference I mentioned above. Most combat clips in this trailer show three class icons in the upper left beside the health bar. However, the clip at 0:49 instead shows Clive’s name there.

Showing his name in the UI suggests it might be possible to control someone other than Clive. On the other hand, that never reappears in any of the other combat scenes, so I don’t know what that means.

The other possibility of having a party, or at least companions outside of combat, is the way Benedikta and Harman are described. I wouldn’t rule out the idea of them traveling together with Clive. That could be linked to how he apparently gains power over multiple Eikons.

Anyway, there’s a lot we don’t know about Final Fantasy XVI, but I’m cautiously optimistic. Combat looks very different for Final Fantasy, but it has a strong team behind it, including the main scenario writer for Heavensward (which I greatly enjoyed), Kazutoyo Maehiro, as the creative director and screenplay writer. And while it was widely assumed already, it’s now officially confirmed that Final Fantasy XIV composer Masayoshi Soken is also the composer for Final Fantasy XVI.

So I’m interested. I want them to say there’s a party, but either way, I’m looking forward to more details about the game being revealed.

Before we finish up for today, the State of Play also included the official announcement from Capcom of a Resident Evil 4 remake for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Now, I haven’t made a big secret of the fact that I’m in the minority that doesn’t like Resident Evil 4, and I resent it for steering the series more toward action. But the interesting thing here is that the remake looks like it might have more horror elements. If they remake Resident Evil 4 as an actual survival horror game… yeah, I’d be on board with that.

The official Resident Evil 4 remake website also says it will have “a reimagined storyline,” so it sounds like it might be significantly different from the original. I’m not sold yet, but I’ll be keeping my eye on it. It’s set for March 24, 2023.

And those were the two big announcements from the State of Play that caught my attention. What are your thoughts on the new Final Fantasy XVI trailer and the Resident Evil 4 remake?

Yomawari 3 Has Been Announced!

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Dec 152021
 

It’s time for another sequel announcement I’ve been hoping for, this time in the horror genre!

Ever since I finished the Yomawari games, I’ve been hoping NIS would make another.

And now, Yomawari 3 has been officially announced.

Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows feel very different from one another in some respects. The first focuses more on exploration, putting you in the town at night to search for clues and find the next place to visit, while the second is more linear and also more story-driven.

You can check out my thoughts on Yomawari: Night Alone here, but I don’t think I ever covered Midnight Shadows on my blog. I enjoyed both of them, though, so I’m thrilled we’re getting a third.

(This time I will be prepared for the tutorial to do something horrible.)

The short teaser trailer doesn’t show much, but its style looks in line with the previous games.

The third Yomawari game will be out on April 21 in Japan for the Switch and PS4. No localization has been announced yet, so I’ll go into every potential NISA announcement with the hopes that it will be this until it’s finally revealed.

Are you interested in Yomawari 3?

I Finally Played Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (on the Wii U)

 Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 222021
 

Although I didn’t finish in time for Halloween like I planned, this weekend I finally finished Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water.

You might be wondering why I say “finally.” Well, that’s because I bought Maiden of Black Water at launch for the Wii U. And yes, that’s the version I stubbornly decided to play.

The Wii U is practically made to order for Fatal Frame. A game about fighting with a camera, played on a system in which you’re holding a second screen in your hands already? I couldn’t pass up playing Fatal Frame this way, and while the two screens weren’t as different as I would have liked, angling the GamePad to get a better shot of a ghost made it worth it.

(I’d have re-bought it when the remaster came out if we got a physical copy this time…)

If you’re unfamiliar with the Fatal Frame series, the concept at the heart of the gameplay is that you have a special camera known as the Camera Obscura that allows you to damage ghosts by taking pictures of them.

Taking the shot right as the ghost is attacking deals more damage, and Maiden of Black Water also has you deal more damage for getting five or more targets in the shot at once. This includes spirit orbs that appear as you photograph the ghosts. Ghosts often disappear and reappear elsewhere, turning combat into a frantic affair as you try to keep track of enemies and time your shots.

You earn points for your photographs, which you can use to improve your camera, along with special lenses and upgrades you can equip for additional effects and bonuses.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really find Maiden of Black Water scary. Combat could be intense, and the story had its share of creepy and disturbing moments, but it didn’t have that same sense of dread and tension that the first game had.

(I haven’t played 2 or 3 yet, so I can’t make comparisons to those.)

Water plays a key role in the story and lore, and there’s a gameplay mechanic where getting wet makes it more likely that ghosts will appear. Of course, the game frequently puts you in situations where it’s raining or you have to wade through a river. This should add tension, but I never found water to feel like as big of a threat as it wanted me to.

The whole game feels significantly different from the older games in the series, and not just because of the modern controls and over-the-shoulder camera. If you’re expecting the classic survival horror approach to exploration, puzzle-solving, and unlocking new areas, there’s only a small amount of that here.

There is exploration, as you visit a number of large areas ranging from forests to shrines, with film and healing items to be discovered as you explore, along with ghosts to photograph. But you also revisit these areas, and going through the same area to find more items made it feel less like I was exploring an area to discover it, which took away from the atmosphere and reduce the amount of exploration I did later on.

Maiden of Black Water is divided into chapters. It follows three main characters, each delving into the secrets of the sinister and somber Mt. Hikami for his or her own reasons. At the end of each chapter, you’re given a grade and a chance to spend points on additional items before starting the next chapter. Items also don’t carry over between chapters (and I was halfway through the game before I realized that). The characters always seem to return from the mountain at the end of a chapter, so each new chapter begins with them setting out again for one reason or another.

All of this makes the game feel very different, very segmented compared to the exploration-driven focus of survival horror, and I wasn’t a big fan.

Story-wise, it was fine. You find notes throughout the game providing more details about what’s at work on the mountain, and it had enough unsettling and emotional moments to be interesting enough despite a few questionable choices. I enjoyed it as a ghost story, even if I didn’t enjoy it as a survival horror game.

My final feelings on Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water are mixed. It was a fine ghost story and some parts were fun, but it wasn’t quite what I hoped for from Fatal Frame. If and when we get a Fatal Frame 6, I hope it follows the survival horror structure more closely.

 Older Entries  Newer Entries