Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 165

E3 2015 Part 9: Solid Gameplay from Nintendo Treehouse

Despite Nintendo’s lackluster E3 2015 digital press conference, it still had a chance to reveal itself with Nintendo Treehouse. Last year’s Nintendo Treehouse was fantastic, and I looked forward to seeing gameplay.

Rather than watch all of the Nintendo Treehouse livestreams, however, I only watched those for the games I was most interested in. For those games, I’ve embedded the videos below. For all others, you can find them on Nintendo’s Youtube channel.

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

Nintendo E3 Games Not in Digital Show

Nintendo’s E3 site lists quite a few games that weren’t shown during the digital event, most notably Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, Chibi Robo: Zip Lash, Bravely Second: End Layer, EarthBound Beginnings, and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water.

Yes, the newest Fatal Frame received both its official localized title and a new trailer that was absent from the press conference for some reason.

The other games on the E3 site that weren’t in the press conference are:

LBX: Little Battlers eXperience
Runbow
Typoman
Mutant Mudds Super Challenge
Fast Racing Neo
SteamWorld Heist
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Just Dance 2016
Extreme Exorcism
Soul Axiom
RIVE
Freedom Planet
Lovely Planet
forma.8

Nintendo Treehouse

The first game I checked out was Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. For me, this was the best surprise from Nintendo this E3, but I started the video with a mix of anticipation and… dread. I’m still scarred from the last Paper Mario game, and I’ve heard mixed things about Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. Antipathy toward Sticker Star and ignorance of Dream Team aside, this is a crossover between two of my favorite series, so I really hope it’s good.

Nintendo Treehouse’s demonstration of Paper Jam’s gameplay reassured me of one thing at least: it won’t be like Sticker Star. It’s a legitimate RPG, with characters gaining experience and leveling up. In at least this section, you didn’t have a partner like in traditional Paper Mario games, but fought in a party composed of Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario. The combat looked very much like the Mario & Luigi series’ system.

Another good sign is that they mentioned the game’s story. While they were just setting up the basic premise, it at least provides hope that Paper Jam won’t go the no-story route, either. On a more amusing note, they briefly discussed the past Paper Mario games: the original, Thousand-Year Door, and Super Paper Mario. If they want to pretend Super Paper Mario was the last entry in the series, that’s fine by me.

They showed a few different gameplay mechanics, how Paper Mario’s unique nature gives him special abilities, and a bizarre segment where the party controlled a giant “papercraft” Mario. Overall, I liked what I saw. I have hope that Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam will be a worthy addition to our two beloved Mario RPG series.

Next, I checked out Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash. Other than the demo for Photo Finder, which didn’t impress me, I’ve never played a Chibi-Robo game. From what I’ve heard and what they discussed in the stream, though, Zip Lash is very different from the rest of the series. It’s an action platformer, with lots of collectibles to find and secrets to discover.

I’m not sure if I’ll get Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash, but it was entertaining to watch and it sure is cute. (This really was the E3 of Cute.)

After that, I moved on to a game I’ve been anticipating for a long time: Yo-kai Watch! (And even though I call the mythological creatures “yokai” and tend to spell the game’s name the same way, I’ll try to stick to the “yo-kai” spelling from now on when discussing this.)

Yo-kai Watch, a game where you befriend monsters so you can use them to fight and befriend other monsters–yeah, it sounds like a Pokémon clone when you describe the premise. More than anything else, watching the gameplay from Nintendo Treehouse showed me how it isn’t just like Pokémon.

You search for yo-kai with your yo-kai radar as you move throughout the town. Once you think you’re close enough, you can search to find the hiding monster. After that, you track it on the screen until your gauge fills up, and then the battle begins. Battling also differs from the more popular monster-catching series. In Yo-Kai Watch, your yo-kai automatically attack the enemy. You support them by using items, playing little mini-games to charge up attacks, and switching different yo-kai in and out of battle according to the techniques you need at that time. Battles earn you exp. so your yokai can level up.

Unlike the kind of yokai I like to write about, the beings in Yo-kai Watch aren’t malicious. Rather, they affect the world just by existing, and some of these affects can be harmful (like making people argue).

Some of the yo-kai are original, while others come from Japanese mythology. When I first heard that, I was disappointed that a game with “yo-kai” in the title didn’t draw all of its yo-kai from mythology. The stream, however, showed me one very cool thing. They demonstrated that if you jaywalk too many times, you’ll be attacked by a very strong yo-kai that targets jaywalkers. That is hilariously weird, and it feels true to yo-kai myths. There is, of course, no jaywalking yokai in mythology–but if those myths were created in modern times, that sounds exactly like the sort of myth you’d see.

Next I took a look at Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, or Genei Ibun Roku #FE as it’s now being called. (I assume that won’t be its localized name, but who knows?) The trailers left me really confused about what sort of game this even is, so the gameplay video was extremely clarifying.

Despite its nature as a crossover, they said it’s really like this is a brand new series of its own. That’s fine by me, especially since I have very little experience with either series. Genei Ibun Roku #FE is a “J-Pop RPG” set in a modern world. Creativity is a big thing in the game, as characters can unlock their inner “Performa.” As an example, one of the characters in this section wants to be a pop singer, and the player had the option to encourage or discourage her. Each character has a side story about realizing his or her entertainment dreams.

Forces from another world are invading the real world, the Idolosphere. This is also where you’ll find the Fire Emblem characters, though they don’t have memories of their Fire Emblem lives. Characters transform when you enter the Idolosphere, and the locations you visit there all have special puzzles based on their real-world counterparts. In this video, the dungeon was based on a fashion-centric area, so the dungeon had puzzles related to clothing and fashion, like moving the arms of a giant mannequin to explore.

Combat seems fairly standard for a turn-based RPG, albeit with a strange, quirky atmosphere. It uses both series’ ways of exploiting enemy weaknesses. There are also special “session attacks” that can unite multiple characters’ power to deliver a powerful blow to the enemy.

I… really liked what I saw. I’m not very familiar with either series, and the J-Pop emphasis feels a little weird to me, but I might want to play Genei Ibun Roku #FE.

Like with Paper Jam, I watched Nintendo Treehouse play Xenoblade Chronicles X (both videos) with mingled excitement and fear. I want to like this game. I love RPGs, I love my Wii U, and I love Xenoblade Chronicles, so a new Xenoblade RPG on the Wii U should be a given. It probably would be, if not for two things: 1) one of Xenoblade Chronicles X’s selling points is that it has a massive open world, and 2) open-world is not my genre of choice.

As I watched them explore this massive, sprawling world, though, they mentioned one thing that made me feel better. To avoid the sense of confusion that open worlds can cause, X’s world is subdivided into sectors so it feels to some extent like a series of smaller areas. They even mentioned the satisfaction of filling in blank spaces on the map, which is one of the things I love when exploring semi-linear games!

So, aside from the open world, what did I think of Xenoblade Chronicles X? Well, I like the setting itself. The alien environments are beautiful, and I like the way modern and futuristic designs mix in Ne Los Angeles. (After just watching the Genei Ibun Roku #FE video, I found it amusing that creating New Los Angels also required a lot of research into the real-world location.) One thing I found disconcerting in the city, though, was the lack of collisions. Not that I want New Los Angeles cars to mow people down, but watching a car drive straight through an NPC with no effect bothered me a little.

Combat seems very similar to that of Xenoblade Chronicles. One notable change is that you can target specific parts of enemies, and this can affect the dropped items. For example, attacking an enemy’s horn might increase your chances of receiving a horn at the end of the battle.

Xenoblade’s affinity system has returned, but now it’s even more involved. Your affinity with other characters is affected not only by conversations with them, but by the choices you make during the game (along the lines of Mass Effect or Dragon Age). Unlike Shulk, this protagonist is silent and communicates only through your choices. I like gameplay choices and branching dialogue, but one part was jarring: the sound and music completely stop when you get to make a choice. Rather than immerse me by putting me in control of my character’s decisions, that feels like it will pull me out of the game when choices arise. Why not just continue the background music?

One other thing concerned me. As they played, there was a notification in the corner telling them to go back to the base to receive the next story mission. I didn’t like that. Missions are fine in a game like this, but something about that made it feel so… separate.

Maybe I’m nitpicking. Xenoblade Chronicles X is a game I want to love, but which I’m afraid might let me down.

Once I finished worrying about one RPG, at least I could relax by checking out an RPG with a classic, old-school feeling, Bravely Second: End Layer. I still haven’t played Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, but I enjoyed the demo a lot and can’t wait to get into it. Everything I saw of Bravely Second (which they said is accessible to people who haven’t played the first game) made me confident I’ll love it.

These games have found a great compromise between keeping the old-school feel of random encounters and making them less annoying. While I like systems that let you auto-win easy battles (as in EarthBound) or skip battles (as in Wild Arms 3), Bravely Default and Bravely Second have a different solution. You can adjust your encounter rate–crank it up if you want to fight lots of battles, and set it low if you want to hurry through an area without worrying.

Monsters you face in random encounters will be more difficult at night than during the day, but that’s not the only thing time affects. You’ll also be able to talk to different NPCs at night, or find them in different places.

Battles themselves are turn-based and often challenging. The Brave and Default systems from the first game return, where instead of taking your turn normally, you can choose to use multiple attacks in a row at the cost of however many extra turns you used, or sacrifice your turn to stockpile turns to use all at once later on. This adds strategy, especially during boss battles. You also can obtain new job classes by defeating bosses of that class, such as the new wizard class in the video.

In general, Bravely Second: End Layer looks like a solid RPG as far as the gameplay goes, and what little we got to see of the story interested me. I can’t wait for this game… so I better hurry up and play Bravely Default already!

The last Nintendo Treehouse game I watched was Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. As a survival horror fan who wanted this one to come west for a long time, I was really excited to take a look at it. First, it’s beautiful in a terrifying way, very spooky and atmospheric. The section shown in the video featured a forest.

Second, it’s definitely horror. Even beyond its ghosts, spooky setting, and limited resources, all of which add tension for the player, even this small section of story went to some dark places. At first it amused me that they warned people at the start of the stream that this is an M-rated horror game, but parts of it legitimately unsettled me, even as I watched from the safety of my well-lit room.

If you’re familiar with the Fatal Frame series, you understand the basic gameplay. You fight ghosts using the Camera Obscura, which in Maiden of Black Water is the GamePad. That is one of the best uses of the GamePad I’ve seen. By holding the ghost in the frame and taking a picture at the right moment, you deal damage to it. If you take a shot right as it’s about to attack you, you get added points for the “fatal frame.” This game also includes something called the “fatal glance,” which allows you to witness the ghost’s final moments before death.

Even picking up items is a tense experience in this game, as a ghostly hand will sometimes attack you as you reach for the item. They described this as a new feature, but I believe it was at least in the Fatal Frame 2 remake that never came to America. Water is also your enemy, as you’ll be more vulnerable when your “wetness gauge” fills up. It isn’t normal water, so you want to dry off as soon as you can.

In general, I loved watching this game. The one thing that concerned me was a lack of locked doors and puzzles. While they said there are plenty of optional areas to explore that they avoided for the sake of the stream, I hope there are locked doors and puzzles along the course of the main story. It’s a survival horror staple!

Even though Nintendo’s E3 announcements disappointed me, Nintendo Treehouse showed off some great games and made me excited for the future. I can’t wait to learn more about… well, all these games, really. What was your favorite game streamed by Nintendo Treehouse this year?

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E3 2015 Part 8: PC Gaming Gets a Press Conference?

Although I love playing games on my PC, I was confused by this announcement. How can PC gaming have its own press conference? PC gaming isn’t a company. What would they show? I tuned in hopeful I’d see some great new games, despite my confusion.

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

PC Gaming E3 2015 Show

For me, the PC show didn’t get off to a great start (not to mention the hour delay announced right as the stream was supposed to start). With no interest in Killing Floor 2, Rising Storm 2, Star Citizen, or Squadron 42, I was starting to zone out even before AMD’s Chief Gaming Scientist (which is a cool job title) came on stage to discuss graphics cards. I may love PC games, but I’m nowhere near hardcore enough to sit and listen to a graphics card discussion.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was next. As I mentioned the other day, it looks cool even though I haven’t played any games in the series. On the other hand, I was less interested in the Total War series and the new game, Total War: Warhammer.

I was excited when Phil Spencer arrived, especially since Microsoft had a pretty enjoyable press conference this year, but the games they chose to focus on were Fable Legends and Gigantic, followed by the Gears of War Ultimate Edition, which will be available on the PC.

And I really didn’t care about American Truck Simulator. Or EVE: Valkyrie, even though the virtual reality stuff seems cool. When the DayZ creator arrived to talk more about Ion, I decided to stop watching live. That’s why this blog post is coming so long after the PC show ended last night.

I picked up this morning with the live demo of Strafe, which I didn’t care about, but then it finally reached something interesting!

I haven’t played Pillars of Eternity yet (this E3 is really making my game backlog painfully apparent), but I want to. It sounds like just the sort of RPG I’ll enjoy, and it got fantastic reviews. Its newly-announced expansion, The White March: Part 1, just makes me more excited to finally play it.

Next up, a game in a genre I don’t really care for, Planet Coaster. To all of you Roller Coaster Tycoon fans out there, it was previously announced as Coaster Park Tycoon.

I watched the next trailer with moderate interest, because even though I’m not a fan of MMORPGs, Guild Wars 2 is 1) fantasy, and 2) a game one of my friends has been bugging me to try. We’ll see. If you’ve played Guild Wars 2, let us known in the comments what you think of the new expansion, Heart of Thorns.

Hitman came back, making this the third time I got to watch footage of the new entry in the series. Three times was enough to convince me I’m probably not going to try it. Then the CEO of AMD discussed graphics card technology, which didn’t interest me any more than the Gaming Scientist’s talk. Nor was I interested in the new expansion for Arma 3, Tanoa, because I’m not an Arma 3 player.

Beyond Eyes, however, looks interesting. I liked what I saw of it earlier, and as its creator discussed how the blind protagonist’s sense will create sometimes-false impressions of the landscape, I became even more interested. Envisioning the world without, well, vision is an intriguing concept for a game, and I can’t wait to see how it’s handled.

No interest in the next game, Dirty Bomb, but after that it was time to talk to The Fullbright Company about Tacoma. The concept is intriguing, although I might want to play Gone Home before I make up my mind. (It would probably be inappropriate and mood-breaking to play Gone Home while listening to Bobby Fulbright’s theme from my Dual Destinies soundtrack, huh?)

With my interest already piqued, I was delighted when attention shifted to Frictional Games and their upcoming horror game SOMA!

Spooky! Wait, was that it?

A trailer for SOMA was all they had to share, much to my disappointment… especially since the show went on to cover another set of games I didn’t care about: DayZ, Take On Mars, Project BlueStreak, and Enter the Gungeon.

I was mildly interested in Blizzard’s discussion of the new expansion for Heroes of the Storm, Eternal Conflict, as well as their announcement of Whispers of Oblivion, a 3-mission prologue to StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void.

The E3 PC Gaming Show ended with another look at the game everyone wants but me, No Man’s Sky. Overall, I found it to be a dull show, certainly not up to the excitement levels of the other E3 press conferences. But maybe it’s just because of the sorts of games I like. Give me a shout in the comments below with your thoughts on this showcase of PC games.

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E3 2015 Part 7: I Love Square Enix’s RPGs

Like Bethesda, Square Enix isn’t typically one to have an E3 press conference. Since I enjoy several Square Enix games, I looked forward to seeing what they had in store… although I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t save the announcement of the Final Fantasy VII remake for their own show.

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

Square Enix’s E3 2015 Press Conference

I consider myself a Square Enix fan, mainly because they make a lot of great RPGs, and I love RPGs. (This is why my game backlog is so long, you know. I can’t just play short games, no, I play the 60+ hour games.)

Not everything Square Enix makes is an RPG, such as the first game they started with, Just Cause 3. A lot of people are looking forward to them. I am not one of them.

But that’s not to say none of Square Enix’s non-RPG games appeal to me…

When I saw the name PlatinumGames, my heart stopped for a moment. I’ve been interested in Platinum ever since I fell in love with the Bayonetta series. I almost forgot they were set to announce a new game at E3. I never dreamed it would be a partnership with Square Enix.

And it’s a new Nier game? That I really didn’t expect. While I’ve never played the original action adventure game Nier, I’ve heard enough good things about it to make me interested in trying it. With PlatinumGames developing the new one for the PS4, it feels like a better idea than ever.

Rise of the Tomb Raider was next, along with a new mobile title called Lara Croft Go. I’m still undecided on the main Tomb Raider series, but since Lara Croft Go is a puzzle game, maybe I’ll gift it a try.

A montage showed clips from a few more games, including Dragon Quest Heroes, and then it was on to Final Fantasy VII! I’d hoped to see some gameplay of the remake, but it sounds like the announcement itself is all they’re ready for at this time. (There goes my only theory about why they didn’t save it for their own conference.) More details will come, while fans pray they don’t mess it up. Meanwhile, the PC port coming to the PS4 will also come to mobile devices.

The next game was a surprise… both in terms of its reveal and in how much it interested me.

I’m not a Kingdom Hearts fan yet. I started the first game this past Sunday, and that’s my only real experience with the franchise. When I realized they were showing some sort of mobile Kingdom Hearts game, I didn’t think much of it. Yet the more I watched, the more fun it looked.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained x (that’s pronounced “Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key,” for reasons I assume I would understand if I knew more about the series) is a mobile port of the browser RPG previously released in Japan. It ties in to the story of Kingdom Hearts III, and… I think I want it…

It’ll be free-to-play with in-app purchases, so we’ll see how that goes.

And then they moved on to the Kingdom Hearts game everyone really wanted to see, Kingdom Hearts III. Like I said, I’m just getting into the series, but it sure looked beautiful! Best of all, it was a gameplay trailer.

Awesome!

Square Enix showed the adorable World of Final Fantasy game, although like the Final Fantasy VII remake, it was just the same trailer shown at Sony’s conference. The new Hitman game also made an appearance, and after another brief montage that gave us the only glimpse of Final Fantasy XV of the press conference, it was time for another exciting RPG.

Like Kingdom Hearts, I’m excited for the new Star Ocean game even though I haven’t played any of the others in the series yet. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness looks just as good as it did when it was first announced, and its localization has now been officially confirmed!

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided looks like a cool game even though I’ve never played the series (man, I’ve been saying that a lot…), mobile devices will receive a special app devoted to Final Fantasy news, which I may or may not get, and then… a new IP! A new RPG IP!

Square Enix has formed a new studio called Tokyo RPG Factory, and it’s working on a brand new IP currently known only as Project Setsuna. Other than some concept art, nothing else was revealed… but it’s new, it’s an RPG, and it’s by Square Enix. Consider me interested.

Well, after the disappointment that was Nintendo’s E3 2015 show, Square Enix’s press conference was surprisingly good! I saw a lot that I’m interested in, including a few surprises, and it left me impressed.

We still have one E3 press conference left to go, the mysterious “PC gaming” show, so come back later to see my thoughts. For now, let me know what you thought about Square Enix at E3 2015.

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E3 2015 Part 6: Nintendo Misses the Mark

No matter what anyone else thinks, last year Nintendo’s digital presentation was the best of all the press conferences. Although I couldn’t watch it live, I was hopeful for another exciting show… and if we were really lucky, Ace Attorney news.

(Spoiler: neither came true.)

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

Nintendo’s E3 2015 Digital Event

Oh Nintendo… It started out so well…

Similar to last year’s claymation silliness, this year’s show took advantage of its digital format to present the Nintendo leaders as puppets in a quite entertaining opening. It then plunged into one of the Wii U’s most anticipated games, Star Fox Zero.

I haven’t played a lot of Star Fox, just a single playthrough of Star Fox 64 3DS. Still, I really liked that trailer. It was exciting, looks fun, and prepared me for a great E3 show.

Then they showed more of Mario Maker, which has been renamed to Super Mario Maker. I didn’t care about it last year, and I still don’t. Up next was Skylanders, which I’ve never gotten into, and the new Amiibo characters created for it.

The next game, though, caught my attention, a new Legend of Zelda game for the 3DS! Well, a Zelda game intended to be played co-op. The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes could be fun, but it didn’t quite convince me yet. I’ll see as more details are revealed.

As for Hyrule Warriors Legends, I haven’t even played Hyrule Warriors yet, so I don’t know yet if I’d be interested in a 3DS version or not, even if it does include one of my favorite Zelda characters (Tetra). And then, once they finished with The Legend of Zelda, it was the moment Nintendo fans have been waiting for, Metroid!

……a cooperative multiplayer Metroid game… with no Samus and presumably no lore… called Metroid Prime: Federation Forge… and the soccer game shown the other day, now known as Metroid Prime: Blast Ball.

What was Nintendo thinking? Fans have been begging for a new Metroid game… and this is what they get?

Nintendo decided to troll its fans this year.

That was the beginning of the end.

From there, they showed a trailer for Fire Emblem Fates, which seems to be the English name of Fire Emblem If. It appears there will be two versions of the game, just like for the Japanese release. They also showed another trailer for Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem (which is now called Fire Emblem Shin Megami Tensei?), but it wasn’t much more informative than the version shown in the Nintendo Direct. I’m not even really sure what it’s about.

Xenoblade Chronicles X got a new trailer and a release date! It will be out on December 4.

Yay! Though I have my concerns about Xenoblade Chronicles X due to its open-world nature, I’m still fairly excited for it. There’s a chance it’s one of the few open-world games I care about enough to play.

Nintendo followed that with more of the previously-announced Animal Crossing spin-off, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. And then, even though I’m not an Animal Crossing fan, I cheered a little as Nintendo started to unveil its Wii U Animal Crossing game, because I knew how much fans wanted one…

…but it turned out to be Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, some sort of Amiibo-driven Mario Party with Animal Crossing characters. Really??

Yoshi’s Woolly World was up next, as cute and endearing as ever. After that, they moved on to a game I’ve been very excited about, Yo-kai Watch. We already knew it would be localized, but it was still great to see. (And if you prefer your Japanese monsters darker, please check out my yokai-themed horror story, “Rokurokubi,” found in Wicked Words Quarterly.)

And then, finally a surprise I care about!

I was hoping for a new Paper Mario game, and I love the Mario & Luigi series. The two together should be a good thing… although I’m still a little scarred from the last Paper Mario travesty, and I’ve yet to play Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. Nevertheless, I can’t wait to learn more about Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam!

However, I don’t care about Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash any more than I cared about all the sports games shown by EA, and I couldn’t believe they chose to end with more Super Mario Maker (which is getting a special 8-Bit Amiibo).

I finished Nintendo’s E3 2015 digital event feeling disappointed. While last year they were on top their game, this year they missed the mark. Despite a few great moments like the Star Fox trailer, Xenoblade Chronicles X’s release date, Yokai Watch, and the surprise Paper Mario/Mario & Luigi crossover, the rest of the show didn’t live up to expectations.

Especially for Metroid and Animal Crossing fans.

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E3 2015 Part 5: Sony Takes the Lead

Sony’s E3 conference was one of my favorites last year, so I was really excited going into this one. It’s only a matter of time before I get a PS4. Would this press conference convince me? Would Sony’s offerings rise above Microsoft’s great announcements?

Well…

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

Sony’s E3 2015 Press Conference

Some people like to save the best for last. Others prefer to start with a heavy-hitter. Sony falls into the latter camp, as it began its E3 show by announcing a long-awaited game many people thought would never come at all: The Last Guardian.

I still haven’t played ICO or Shadow of the Colossus, but The Last Guardian looks like a charming game, at least, and the gameplay seemed interesting. (And that giant creature is adorable!) With so many people anxious to get it, this was an exciting way to start the conference.

The next trailer shown was for a surprise game, Horizon: Zero Dawn. Set in a future after civilization as we know it fell, it focuses on the new tribes of humanity in a world populated by machines. This gives it an interesting blend of styles, as primitive weapons and futuristic tech are seen side by side. While I’m not sure yet what sort of game it will be, its sense of mystery and slightly ominous tone at the end suggest it could have an intriguing story. I can’t wait to learn more about it.

Take a look.

A new Hitman game was featured next. While I’ve never played a Hitman game before, it was a decently cool trailer. I’m not a big fan of fighting games (heck, not even Smash Bros), so the following game, Street Fighter V, didn’t really hold my attention. And then it was time for No Man’s Sky, one of those games everyone wants except me. Beautiful, impressive… and just not my sort of game.

Similarly, when Media Molecule demonstrated their new game Dreams, where you can create and share dreamlike experiences, I really liked the concept but don’t intend to play it. My lack of artistic skills, for one thing, might hinder my enjoyment.

Then the show moved onto Firewatch, an intriguing mystery game. I’d heard about it before and thought it sounded interesting. The new trailer confirmed my feelings that I’ll need to keep an eye out for this one.

After that, my interest in the conference waned for a little bit. Destiny’s new expansion, The Taken King, sounds interesting, but Destiny isn’t my sort of game. As for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which was shown next, I saw enough of it earlier.

Next, it was time for Final Fantasy… a chibi spin-off game called World of Final Fantasy. They didn’t really share much about gameplay or even what the game is about, but it sure is cute. (I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot. Is “cute” a dominant theme of E3 2015?)

And then…

It happened.

I lost my mind a little bit. It’s actually happening.

The Final Fantasy VII remake, which Square Enix swore it wouldn’t do until it created a game that surpassed the original FFVII, is actually happening.

IT’S HAPPENING!

I didn’t dare hope…
…and then I knew.
It was real.

A Final Fantasy VII remake… It blew my mind.

While I was still reeling, Sony went on to show a quick montage of new games coming from Devolver, and then proceeded to break the Internet by announcing a Kickstarter for Shenmue III.

I never played the Shenmue games. With how I feel toward open worlds, they didn’t appeal to me enough. However, I know the name… mainly from fans requesting another one. For Shenmue 3 to be announced, even as a crowd-funding project, on the heels of the Final Fantasy VII announcement… it was mindblowing.

From there, they jumped straight into Batman: Arkham Knight, a game I want and will play. Scarecrow took center stage behind the scenes like in last year’s trailer, although he didn’t glitch the theater this time (that remains one of the best moments of E3 2014 for me). I’m a little disappointed that the Scarecrow missions announced are PS4-exclusives, since I’m playing on the PC, but it was still fun to watch.

Then things started to wind down. Project Morpheus and virtual reality games, streaming with PlayStation Vue, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Disney Infinity (after a general montage of games coming to the PS4 and PS Vita), Star Wars Battlefront, and… Uncharted 4 to finish the show.

My feelings toward Uncharted are… well, let’s just say I played Paper Mario: Sticker Star to completion, played Final Fantasy XIII to completion, and could not bring myself to complete the much-shorter Uncharted. People say the first game is the weakest in the series, though, and I do have the second, so I’ll give Uncharted 2 a try sometime. Besides that, the Uncharted 4 video was… genuinely entertaining.

Well, Sony’s was the most enjoyable press conference so far this E3! I still can’t get over that Final Fantasy VII news… but the festivities are far from over. Tomorrow, we’ll see if Nintendo can top this! To my disappointment, I won’t be able to watch Nintendo and Square Enix’s press conferences live, but as soon as I see them, I’ll be back to share my thoughts.

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E3 2015 Part 4: EA and Ubisoft Do Okay

Even though I like quite a few EA games, I wasn’t thrilled with last year’s press conference. With Mass Effect 4 in development, though, I was hopeful this year would be different. As for Ubisoft, I wasn’t very confident.

Like last year, the two conferences were short enough that I’ve covered them in a single post, although you can navigate to the Ubisoft section separately. (EDIT: As was pointed out to me in the commments, their press conferences weren’t short. They just had fewer things that I was interested in.)

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

EA’s E3 2015 Press Conference

I have to say, EA got its E3 press conference off to a good start. First of all, “Ghost Riders in the Sky” was playing. I like that song. You might remember it from my discussion of the Wild Hunt. But then it got even better, because it was playing for my most-anticipated EA game!

Yes, we have our first trailer for the next game in the Mass Effect series, Mass Effect: Andromeda. Not much else was revealed, which disappointed me (but at least we got to see more than last year). I’m not sure why “Ghost Riders in the Sky” was picked as its music, but I approve.

Need for Speed was next, but I’m not a racing fan, so I don’t have much to say about it. After that, it was Star Wars time, with the announcement of a new expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic. And what an expansion it is!

Knights of the Fallen Empire, while not exactly the Knights of the Old Republic 3 I’d love to see, is a story-driven expansion from BioWare that focuses on the individual player’s choices and companions. It sounds more or less like a tiny slice of what KotOR 3 could be, and its trailer was really cool.

Despite my love of Star Wars and BioWare’s RPGs, I’ve never gotten into The Old Republic because I don’t like MMORPGs. This, however, could just be the expansion that convinces me to give it a try.

After that, EA showed a brand new, adorable game called Unravel. It’s a puzzle-platformer in which you play as a little yarn creature. Yarn games seem to be getting popular…

Unravel was the last highlight for me. They showed more Garden Warfare. I’m interested in it, but I saw enough earlier this afternoon. Then it was time for sports games, a new mobile Star Wars game called Galaxy of Heroes, a mobile game called Minions Paradise, and more sports.

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst looks pretty cool, though I should probably play Mirror’s Edge eventually to see if I like it. Then it was time for another sports game, and they concluded with one of those games everyone but me is excited for, Star Wars: Battlefront. I love Star Wars, and I tried the original Battlefront, but I just couldn’t get into it.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm, EA definitely beat Ubisoft, so check out the adorable trailer for Unravel before we move on.

Ubisoft’s E3 2015 Press Conference

I’m just not an Ubisoft fan. I’ll get that out of the way first. If you’re reading this and you are an Ubisoft fan, give us a positive perspective in the comments to balance out my Ubisoft apathy.

The show started with a new South Park game, The Fractured but Whole. I’m not a fan of South Park. The next trailer got me excited, because it was full of knights and sword battles, things I love. However, Ubisoft’s new IP For Honor is a 4-vs-4 multiplayer game. As much as I enjoyed the trailer, the competitive multiplayer just doesn’t appeal to me.

After that, it was a stream of games I didn’t care about. The Crew: Wild Run, Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max, more of Tom Clancy’s The Division which we saw earlier, a city-building RTS called Anno 2205, Just Dance 2016, more of Rainbow Six Siege, and TrackMania Turbo.

I’m not a fan of Assassin’s Creed, but the trailer for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate was at least somewhat interesting.

They closed with Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world game that probably would have been more interesting to me if I was a fan of either Ghost Recon or open world.

So, it ended on a less-than-stellar note… but Sony’s press conference is just over an hour away, and I’m excited!

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E3 2015 Part 3: A Good Showing from Microsoft

Last year, Microsoft exceeded my expectations, so I was looking forward to this year’s show. With Halo 5 looming on the horizon, would this press conference convince me to get an Xbox One?

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

Microsoft’s E3 2015 Press Conference

As a big fan of the Halo series (single-player and lore, rather than multiplayer), I was looking forward to seeing more from Halo 5: Guardians. The press conference did not disappoint, with new gameplay footage. I was a little disappointed that it focused on Locke’s team rather than the Master Chief’s, but I’m fine with two characters sharing the spotlight like in Halo 2.

Some aspects of the gameplay reminded me of Star Wars: Republic Commando, which is great because that game was awesome. (Side note: now that the Star Wars Extended Universe is non-canon, doesn’t that mean they can wrap up that Republic Commando loose end? The only reason they couldn’t was just in case LucasArts wanted to do something with it. The new canon should make that void.)

A new Halo 5 multiplayer mode was also shown, but I’m more interested in the story. I’ll want to play Halo 5 eventually. The only question is when.

The next game brought with it some names I didn’t expect to see.

Yes, Keiji Inafune and the creators of Metroid Prime are working on a sci-fi game called ReCore. Of all the surprises, this is one of the most interesting to me. I’m not sure what genre of game it is, but the protagonist, setting, and robots look like they have potential. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one for sure.

Microsoft moved on to a truly exciting announcement: backward compatibility!

Before the Xbox One was announced, I hoped it would have backward compatibility. I hadn’t replaced my broken Xbox 360 yet, and if the new console could play 360 disks, I intended to just go with it and possibly an original Xbox for the few games I have. Well, that time has passed and I replaced my Xbox 360.

Backward compatibility is still fantastic news, though, and I hope my unplayed games will be a part of the program. It will start with 100 titles playable on the Xbox One, with more to come. From what they said, it sounds like the hardware solution I dreamed of: the Xbox 360 games will be available digitally, and if you put in an Xbox 360 disk, it will recognize it and let you download the digital game.

Eighteen games have already been revealed. I hope this list expands to include Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, and many others. Xbox 360 fans, share in the comments what games you most want to be playable on the Xbox One.

They went on to show a new, “elite” controller that you can customize. Cool, but I’ve never had a problem with standard controller designs. Bethesda returned to show more Fallout 4, which I cared for as little as I did last night. For Fallout fans, however, you’ll be happy to know Fallout 4 on the Xbox One includes Fallout 3.

EA talked about EA Access, which I don’t care about, and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, which I do care about. I never did get the first Garden Warfare, but PvZ is a quirky series I’m pleased to see expand.

Forza Motorsport 6 was next. Since I don’t like racing games, it meant little to me, but after that, another great trailer appeared!

Ah, Dark Souls III! It seems rather quick after Bloodborne, but it was still an enjoyable reveal (pity it was leaked beforehand). I have a lot to catch up on to be ready for a new Dark Souls game…

From there they went on to show Tom Clancy’s Division and Rainbow Six Siege, which I have no interest in. Up next was a free MOBA game called Gigantic, which was very cute and colorful.

Then it was time for a short indie montage, with trailers shown afterward for Tacoma, Ashen, Beyond Eyes, and Cuphead. Of these, Tacoma was the most interesting to me, with an eerie abandoned space station. Beyond Eyes just looks beautiful.

Microsoft then discussed a new early access program called Xbox Game Preview, which is how some players can already check out the backward compatibility feature. Unless Steam’s early access, this program will allow you to try the games for free. I think that’s great. Paying for in-development builds is one of the main things that turns me away from early access.

Next, the creator of DayZ announced a sci-fi game called Ion. I don’t know much about DayZ, but I’ll need to see more of Ion before I make up my mind. Rise of the Tomb Raider was next, and while some parts looked pretty cool, I’m not sold on it yet either.

And then… it was time for Rare to take the stage.

30 games from Rare in one collection

While not the new Banjo-Kazooie game I was hoping for, Rare Replay will bring 30 games from Rare to the Xbox One in a single collection for only $30. 30 games for $30 is hard to beat, especially when you consider the games in question…

Jetpac
Atic Atac
Lunar Jetman
Sabre Wulf
Underwurlde
Knight Lore
Gunfright
Slalom
R.C. Pro-Am
Cobra Triangle
Snake Rattle N Roll
Digger T. Rock
Solar Jetman
Battletoads
R.C. Pro-Am II
Battletoads Arcade
Killer Instinct Gold
Blast Corps
Banjo-Kazooie
Jet Force Gemini
Perfect Dark
Banjo-Tooie
Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
Perfect Dark Zero
Kameo: Elements of Power
Viva Pinata
Jetpac Refuelled
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

That’s an impressive collection of Rare history (thanks, IGN, for the full list). As exciting as it is, though, part of me is a little disappointed that Rare didn’t announce a new sequel…

…but it did announce a pirate-themed MMO, Sea of Thieves. Now, I don’t like MMOs, but I do like pirates. Will Tales of Berseria be my only pirate adventure, or will Sea of Thieves win me over? We’ll see.

The game showed after that looked interesting, but it was just Fable Legends, which has been shown before. After that, they dove into the world of virtual reality: partnerships with Valve, a connection between the Xbox brand and Oculus Rift, and Microsoft HoloLens. And while I’m not a fan of Minecraft, I have to admit that the HoloLens Minecraft demonstration looks really cool.

Finally, it was time for Gears of War. An enhanced remake of the first Gears of War game was announced for the Xbox One, Gears of War Ultimate Edition. I’ve never played the series and have had no interest in it, but some parts of the next trailer–the much-anticipated Gears of War 4–looked pretty cool.

Microsoft’s E3 press conference was good. It had some games I’m not interested in at all, of course, but also some great announcements. Still, I think Sony and Nintendo both have a chance of beating it. Let’s see how it goes…

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E3 2015 Part 2: Bethesda’s First Show

Shortly after the Nintendo World Championships concluded, it was time for our first press conference of E3, from Bethesda! It was also Bethesda’s first-ever E3 press conference.

Table of Contents

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

Bethesda’s E3 2015 Press Conference

Like when Ubisoft’s show started last year, I went into this trying to remember if Bethesda has any series I like. As such, this will be one of my shorter E3 posts.

The show started with Doom. I’ve never played any games in the Doom series, and I don’t think this will be my first one. Still, to fans of the series, I’m sure it was impressive. They showed off both single-player and multiplayer, as well as Doom Snapmap, which lets fans create their own content to share with others.

Next they announced Bethesda.net, a Bethesda-centric hub. They followed that with footage from Battlecry, a free online multiplayer game. (I think Battlecry had been previously announced, but let me know if I’m wrong.)

So far, not much caught my interest… and then this happened:

Dishonored 2. I haven’t played the first Dishonored (I have it thanks to PlayStation Plus, but if you don’t, you’ll be pleased to know they also announced the Dishonored Definitive Edition for the PS4 and Xbox One), but maybe I should. I really enjoyed the trailer for Dishonored 2, and I remember liking the marketing campaign for the first game, as well.

My reaction to the Dishonored 2 trailer went something like this: “Hmm… interesting… interesting… looks kind of cool… hmm… SHE’S SWORDFIGHTING A ROBOT THIS IS AWESOME!”

After that excitement, the focus switched back to series I don’t care for. They discussed new content coming for the Elder Scrolls Online, announced a digital card game called Elder Scrolls Legends (card games are big now, aren’t they?), and then moved on to what everyone except me was waiting for, Fallout 4.

I’m sure Fallout is an amazing series, for fans of that type of game. For those of us who dislike open worlds, not so much.

After a considerable amount of Fallout 4 footage, they announced a free-to-play mobile game called Fallout Shelter where you build and manage your own vault. While cute, it’s again just not a genre I enjoy. Then it was back to some more Fallout 4 to conclude the press conference.

Overall, Bethesda’s press conference wasn’t the greatest for me, because I’m not interested in most of the games shown. On the other hand… robot swordfights!

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E3 2015 Part 1: Nintendo’s Surprise

It’s that time of year again! Like I did last year, I’m going to cover the events of E3. Unlike last year, however, I won’t wait until the end to compile my thoughts, but react to announcements and conferences throughout the event.

You already know what I’d love to see so let’s go straight to this year’s table of contents:

Nintendo World Championships

Bethesda

Microsoft

EA

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Square Enix

PC Gaming

Nintendo Treehouse

It’s a bit more populated than it was last year, as Bethesda, Square Enix, and… PC games (I’m not sure how this is going to work) have their own conferences. Once again, Nintendo plans to keep the E3 fervor alive after the press conferences have ended…

…and give it a boost before they get going.

I didn’t really expect E3 announcements until Bethesda’s conference at best. Yes, Nintendo announced new content for Super Smash Bros. this morning, but I didn’t think today’s Nintendo World Championships would include anything except the competition itself.

But in the pre-show, this happened:

When I finished EarthBound, I said I think the story would have meant more to me if I went into it familiar with the original Mother game. Now I wish I’d waited a few weeks before playing EarthBound… or maybe I just shouldn’t have spoiled the original’s story after the fact.

But it’s too late for regrets. Mother is being released as EarthBound Beginnings on the Wii U Virtual Console tonight!

If I wasn’t distracted by Velvet, I would have used Friday’s blog post to predict a Mother 3 announcement at E3, but I wasn’t expecting this at all. Still, Mother 3 now seems more likely than ever.

Nintendo also used the World Championships to debut Blast Ball, a third-person shooter soccer game for the 3DS.

Nothing else is known about Blast Ball.

The Nintendo World Championships themselves were entertaining to watch, much like last year’s Smash tournament.

With the release of EarthBound Beginnings, Nintendo has kicked this E3 off with a bang. The E3 excitement has already begun, and we have a lot to look forward to…

E3 2015 Press Conference Schedule:

Bethesda – tonight at 7 PM Pacific Time/10 PM Eastern Time

Microsoft – tomorrow at 9:30 AM Pacific Time/12:30 PM Eastern Time

EA – tomorrow at 1 PM Pacific Time/4 PM Eastern Time

Ubisoft – tomorrow at 3 PM Pacific Time/6 PM Eastern Time

Sony – tomorrow at 6 PM Pacific Time/9 PM Eastern Time

Nintendo – Tuesday at 9 AM Pacific Time/12 PM Eastern Time

Square Enix – Tuesday at 10 AM Pacific Time/1 PM Eastern Time

PC – Tuesday at 5 PM Pacific Time/8 PM Eastern Time

And then Nintendo Treehouse live streams will follow for the remainder of E3, along with other announcements and gameplay demonstrations from the floor.

Share your thoughts on the surprise EarthBound Beginnings announcement and the start of E3 2015 in the comments below!

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Is Tales of Berseria’s Velvet a Vampire?

The newly-announced addition to the Tales series, Tales of Berseria, is about pirates. But with a clearer scan of the protagonist and a few more details revealed, I have to ask: is Velvet a vampire?

Let’s take a good look at Velvet.

Last week, when Velvet was revealed, some fans expressed skepticism about her clothing. Namely, that there isn’t much of it. You have to admit, her outfit doesn’t exactly scream “pirate.”

On the other hand, would it really look that out of place on a vampire? The primary colors are red/pink and black (the coloring is actually pretty similar to Gaius’s outfit in Tales of Xillia 2) and it’s skimpy in a torn-up way that makes it look “edgy.” Her black choker and what looks like a jewel on the front of her top also fits a vampiric image.

After the initial reveal, I noticed something else about her attire. Although it was difficult to be sure due to the low quality of the early images, the new scan makes it clear: Velvet wears a black cape.

Her armored boots also caught my attention, but I completely missed what’s going on with her left arm. Wrapped up in bandages like that, with the end coming undone, it evokes a definite sense of horror–especially when combined with the color scheme.

And while your attention is on the bandages, compare them to her skin. She’s so pale, the difference between her skin tone and the white bandages is tiny.

Let’s step away from her appearance for now. The original Tales of Berseria announcement at the Tales Festival included a quote from Velvet:

“I will not give up. No matter how much I have to, I’ll devour them.”

Devour? That already sparked some curiosity about what sort of protagonist she was. It’s not the sort of thing you expect the hero of a story to say. But when Anime News Network posted the new scan today, they had a slightly different translation:

“I won’t give up. I’ll bite them as many times as it takes.”

O-okay then…

New details are also given about Tales of Berseria’s world. It’s set in the Kingdom of Midgand, which has vast climate differences, archipelagoes, and an emphasis on shipbuilding and sailing. As for Velvet, her “life took a complete turn after a certain incident” three years ago.1

She is also “an existence that greatly shocks the world.” An existence? What does that mean, if not to imply she’s unnatural?

To summarize, Velvet:

…is scantily clad in red and black clothes, a choker, and at least one jewel
…wears a tattered black cape
…has one arm entirely wrapped in bandages
…is extremely pale
…either devours or bites people
…suffered some sort of “incident”
…and shocks the world through her very existence.

If she isn’t a vampire, I’d bet she’s at least some sort of dark or undead being. This also fits with my theory that the name “Berseria” comes from the word “berserk.” Vampire bloodlust could lead a character to go berserk, after all.

Do you think Velvet is a vampire? Let me know in the comments!

1:While my source also says she woke up due to the incident three years ago, Gematsu and other sources translate it as “in the wake of an incident” instead. The original appears to be a mistranslation.

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