Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 20

RGG Studio to Reveal New Game at TGS

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth just came out at the end of January, but we’ll find out soon what RGG Studio has lined up next.

Back in May, Sega and RGG Studio opened up auditions for actresses to appear in the next Like a Dragon game. The 5 winners have now been announced in the latest live stream from RGG Studio.

The winners are Misoshiru, Ai Hongo, Enako, Kaho Shibuya, and Seiko Kirishima. The audition was to appear as both in-game models and in live action scenes, so the next game will probably have some sort of live action mini-game or side content again.

Unfortunately there are no subtitles for the live stream, so I can’t confirm what they’re talking about, but it seems RGG Studio also said their next game will be announced at Tokyo Game Show 2024.

It’s not clear if this is referring to the next Like a Dragon game that the auditions were for or something else. During a panel at Anime Expo, however, they reportedly said fans would be “surprised” by their next game.

For as fast as RGG Studio releases games, it feels a bit too soon to be announcing Like a Dragon 9, and that wouldn’t be a surprise unless they’re doing another genre shift. Maybe another Judgment game? A new Gaiden game, since they said its success made them interested in making more? A Kenzan remake? Or, hear me out, a spin-off starring Ichiban in a full fantasy RPG styled after Dragon Quest. Like a Dragon Quest.

Whatever it is, I’ll probably be interested in it.

Now, I’ve more or less been avoiding all Like a Dragon discussions since Infinite Wealth came out, to avoid spoilers. I still need to finish both that and Lost Judgment. Will I be done by the time of Tokyo Game Show, so that I can dive fully into whatever news this may be? Tokyo Game Show is a little over 2 months away, so… probably not. But I’m excited anyway!

What do you think RGG Studio is going to announce?

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Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Announced for August 29

Well, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Last week, when we discussed the mysterious “Emio” teaser, we went over several theories that had been presented.

One theory was that it was a new Famicom Detective Club title, but I dismissed that one.

The only credence I gave it was that “The Smiling Man” sounded like it could be a Famicom Detective Club title, but the atmosphere of the teaser felt too horror-themed for me to accept it as a plausible theory.

Well, I was wrong. Today Nintendo officially announced Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club.

That’s right, a brand-new Famicom Detective Club game is being made, and it will be out on August 29. Not only that, but it will be available both digitally and physically.

When a student is found dead with a paper bag over his head that has a smiling face drawn on it, it calls back to both a string of unsolved murders from 18 years past and the urban legend of Emio, the Smiling Man.

That premise reminds me of The Girl Who Stands Behind, so I’m excited to see where it goes. According to a video from producer Yoshio Sakamoto, Emio is the culmination of the team’s experience working on the previous games, and he describes it as “the Famicom Detective Club series at its best.”

He also says the story’s ending will be divisive, so make of that what you will.

I played the Famicom Detective Club remakes this past May, first The Missing Heir and then The Girl Who Stands Behind. Although they had some tedious elements, I enjoyed them and finished by asking when we could have a third game. I didn’t actually expect it to happen… and certainly not this soon! As neat as it would have been to get a first-party survival horror game from Nintendo, I’m pleased with this outcome.

(Actually, it turns out that Emio is technically the fourth game in the series. In 1997, Nintendo released an episodic Satellaview game starring the main character’s assistant, Ayumi. Like me, it seems most fans aren’t aware of it… and since Emio is being billed as the first new Famicom Detective Game in over 30 years, and the official store page says Ayumi will be playable in certain parts “for the first time in the series,” I’m not sure Nintendo remembers it either.)

The first two Famicom Detective Club games are quite short, with each taking less than 10 hours to beat. I’m curious as to whether a brand-new entry in the series will be of a similar length, or if it will be longer.

Its file size listed on the store page is 5.4 GB, compared to 3.5 GB for both of the remakes together. File size isn’t always an indicator of length, but since it looks visually similar to the remakes, I’m inclined to think it will be significantly longer.

We’ll find out when Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club comes out on August 29! Are you planning to get it?

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Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is My Favorite Expansion So Far

It’s time to talk about Final Fantasy XIV again!

Last year I finally played Stormblood after the winner of one of my contests picked a Stormblood playthrough & review as her prize, and that same winner won the Celebrating All Things Romantic contest back in February and picked the same for Shadowbringers.

(Yes, February. Shadowbringers took me a while.)

Note: talking about Shadowbringers is impossible without discussing its premise, so if you don’t want to know anything about what leads up to this expansion, stop reading now.

The post-Stormblood patches started out on about the same mixed level as Stormblood itself, but they quickly became more exciting as they began to build toward Shadowbringers. I’d say they were the most exciting patches yet, even beating the intensity of the patches after A Realm Reborn.

And so after a dramatic lead-in that brought us to another world, Shadowbringers began.

Different parts of Final Fantasy XIV have had different tones, and Shadowbringers is the closest it’s come to horror. Set in a world overtaken by the light, the survivors live in danger from the monstrous sin eaters. It’s filled with unsettling moments and creepy events that made me joke I’d started playing a horror game instead.

This also flips the usual situation on its head, as we see firsthand that an abundance of light is just as catastrophic as letting everything be overtaken by darkness, and although the main character has been known as the Warrior of Light, we now step into the role of the Warrior of Darkness trying to bring back the night.

It’s a great way to kick off the story with a decidedly different feel, although for the most part everything still follows the tried and true Final Fantasy XIV formula.

Maybe too much so. For the most part, the structure of Final Fantasy XIV has started to feel very formulaic to me. That goes double for dungeons; there’s now a system that lets you do main story dungeons with a party of NPCs, which I absolutely love, but even though I can theoretically explore to my heart’s content, there’s nothing to explore now. I disliked doing dungeons with other people because they always rushed through without giving me time to look around, and now that I can take my time, dungeons are basically a straight line from start to finish anyway.

But that’s not an indictment of Shadowbringers itself. In fact, a major change starting in the post-Stormblood patches is that there are occasionally set piece duties where you play as a different character. There was even a solo duty with some interesting mechanics besides just fighting. Things like that shake up the formula, so I hope to see more like it.

Now, the story is pretty interesting, although it does hit a bit of a lull in the middle parts. The end makes up for it, though, as it hits those same high notes as in the beginning with pretty exciting parts. I even ended up with a new favorite character.

Click for Shadowbringers spoilersNo, I’m not talking about Emet-Selch. I’m talking about G’raha Tia!

G’raha Tia was ready to sacrifice everything, to save both us and the world! He’s been through so much! Someone give this man a hug! He rose rapidly from a guy I barely remembered to being my #2 favorite character after Estinien. I love him, and I hope we get to take him with us from now on.

Now, as for my joke there at the start… I kinda don’t understand the obsession everyone has with Emet-Selch. He’s fine, probably the best antagonist in Final Fantasy XIV, and sure, he’s somewhat sympathetic… but I don’t know. Something about him just didn’t click with me like it did for a lot of fans.

So it started out strong, leveled out in the middle, and then peaked again for an epic conclusion. After thinking about it, I’ve decided Shadowbringers beats out Heavensward to become my favorite part of Final Fantasy XIV so far.

As always, I still need to get into the post-expansion patches before I’ll have completely wrapped up this storyline, and I intend to move on to those soon instead of taking such a long break this time. Endwalker is on the horizon! Although the next expansion is already out as well, there’s finally a very real chance that I’ll be caught up in time for the next one after that.

What did you think of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers?

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Radiant Tale -Fanfare!- is Disappointingly Short, Yet With Some Fun Parts

I loved the lighthearted otome game Radiant Tale, so I was thrilled when they announced localization of its fandisc, Radiant Tale -Fanfare!-.

(As a reminder, a fandisc is similar to a sequel, but focuses more on the aftermath of the romances like a game-length epilogue, often with some other new content as well.)

Radiant Tale -Fanfare!- is split into three main parts: after stories, interludes, and “if” routes.

After stories are usually the main draw of a fandisc. These are the extended epilogues that follow the end of an individual character’s route from the main game. Unfortunately, I found Fanfare’s after stories to be… lacking.

It started out well enough; I picked my favorite love interest, the intimidating-yet-actually-sweet warrior Ion, and was treated to some cute romantic scenes. Then I reached the end of the first chapter, much sooner than I’d expected to.

Now, fandisc after stories are always going to be shorter than full otome routes, just by their very nature, but these ones feel very short. I completed each after story in an hour or less, which made them feel like they finished disappointingly soon. (I’m a fast reader and usually move to the next line once I’ve finished reading, so I’d expect it to take closer to 2 hours for a story if you let all the voice lines play out.)

Worse, the after stories of my two favorites, Ion and Zafora, both felt more focused on external events and conflicts keeping the couple apart, instead of the romance emphasis I want from a fandisc.

Click for Radiant Tale Fanfare spoilersZafora’s in particular being focused on him not communicating his feelings and taking until the very end to tell Tifalia he loves her felt frustratingly like we were still in his main route, not experiencing an after story.

Because of this, I find myself in the bizarre position where Radie, whose route was my least favorite in the main game, ended up having my favorite story in the fandisc. His after story had the perfect emphasis on fluff and romance, along with a lot of funny moments.

That’s one area where I can’t fault Fanfare. Its after stories might be short, but they aren’t lacking in humor. There were a lot of parts throughout the game that made me laugh.

The interludes are great for that, too. These are a collection of scenes, each only a few minutes long, that focuses on short interactions between the characters. For example, there’s an interlude where the younger side characters are attempting to adopt behaviors they believe will make them gentleman. These scenes are funny and cute.

Finally, we have the “if” routes. These are two all-new routes that branch off from the end of the common route with a short new common route that lets you pick choices that lead to a route for either Jinnia or Liyan. These routes are still shorter than the main game’s routes, but fortunately longer than the after stories. Additional choices lead to short endings featuring Colivus and Alest, as well.

Jinnia turned out to be the MVP of this fandisc. The flashy, flamboyant type isn’t usually my preferred character, but his route is so much fun, with a great amount of romance (and more spice than all the after stories combined) and a believable conflict. The character dynamics in his route were excellent as well.

I didn’t enjoy Liyan’s quite as much, but it had some exciting moments near the end that also made it a fun read.

As for the two characters who only got bonus endings, Colivus’s scenes were quite cute, and Alest’s… made me desperate for a full Alest route. He’s such a great character, and I love him. Despite my criticisms here, I’d still buy a second fandisc in a heartbeat if it delivered a full Alest route.

Overall, I did have fun with Radiant Tale -Fanfare!-, it just felt lacking compared to other fandiscs I’ve played. If you loved Radiant Tale, I’d still recommend getting the fandisc eventually… but maybe when it’s on sale.

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Nintendo Seemingly Teases a New Horror Game With “Emio” Trailer

I thought we’d be talking about the Radiant Tale fandisc today, but instead we’ve got something much darker and weirder to discuss.

Without any explanation, Nintendo shared a mysterious new teaser trailer across social media today.

Titled only “Emio” in English and “The Smiling Man” in Japanese, the teaser is only a few seconds long and shows a man standing with a bag over his head that depicts a smiling face, with quick glimpses of other faces as well. Everything about it appears to be a teaser for a horror game, and the trailer shows that it’s rated M.

The Japanese trailer’s description includes a link to the official website. There aren’t any more details there yet, but that supports the idea that this is either developed or at least published by Nintendo.

As you can imagine, this has resulted in a ton of speculation. Many people have suggested this could be related to Eternal Darkness or Fatal Frame, but there isn’t much evidence for that besides those being the horror games Nintendo is most closely associated with. I would love to see a new Eternal Darkness game someday, but nothing in that teaser suggests the Lovecraftian atmosphere of that game.

Fatal Frame is a closer match since it has that sort of Japanese horror styling and presentation, but it doesn’t feel like a teaser for a story about ghosts. I’m also inclined to think a new Fatal Frame would be teased as Fatal Frame.

A few people have guessed a new Famicom Detective Club game. While I’d love that, this feels like it’s going too much in the horror direction to fit with that series (although I have to admit, “The Smiling Man” would be a title in the vein of “The Girl Who Stands Behind”).

All of that makes me inclined to think this mysterious “Emio” game is either a new IP or something obscure.

Rumors started circulating shortly after that it might be developed by Bloober Team, but there’s no basis for that beyond Bloober Team saying they were working on a game for Nintendo platforms. It’s not even remotely confirmed that their game is Emio, certainly not enough for people to be arguing about it as much as they have been.

Whatever the case may be, I’m excited at the potential of a new Nintendo horror game. What do you think Emio is?

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Battlefield Waltz and Temirana Are Coming West as Well

We left off on Friday with the announcement of two new otome localizations from Aksys at Anime Expo, while waiting for news from Idea Factory at their summer festival the next day.

Idea Factory also came through with two new otome localization announcements, both set for 2025.

First up is Battlefield Waltz, or Senjou no Waltz, about a girl with a cursed sword training at a military academy.

This is an interesting choice, because it originally came out on the Vita in 2014 without ever being translated, before being ported to the Switch last year. It shows that older titles with Switch ports are still on the table.

It doesn’t seem like an especially popular one, which also makes the choice unusual.

Still, it looks interesting enough that I’m probably going to get it anyway. I’ve enjoyed titles that have gotten mixed reception in the past, so I try not to let that influence me too much.

The second otome they announced is Temirana: The Lucky Princess and the Tragic Knights, often referred to by fans as TsuiTsui. This one is about a princess who sees people shining when her life is in danger, and when she sees five men shining with an unusual sort of light, she invites them to become her knights.

It’s a fairly new otome, having only come out last year, and it seems a lot of people were hoping for it. I’m definitely interested in this one.

The websites for both Battlefield Waltz and Temirana show that they’ll be getting Limited Editions as well.

Along with these new otome announcements, they also revealed the contents of the 9 R.I.P. Limited Edition and showed a new trailer, although it still doesn’t have a release date. In non-otome news, they announced Death End re;Quest Code Z, Neptunia Riders vs. Dogoos, and Touhou Spell Carnival.

(Death End re;Quest interests me, but this new one being a roguelike has me uncertain.)

So 2025 is already looking pretty stacked with new releases! Are you interested in Battlefield Waltz or Temirana?

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Mistonia no Kibou and Utakata no Uchronia Localizations Announced

I waited until after Aksys’s news from Anime Expo to write today’s blog post, and Aksys didn’t disappoint!

Before we get to Aksys, let’s talk about a couple other Anime Expo announcements quick. First, yesterday Sekai Project announced that the upcoming new Nekopara game, Nekopara After, was originally intended to be DLC but has now become a full release on its own.

Second, NISA announced that Ys X: Nordics will be out on October 25 in the west, and preorders for the limited edition have opened. Today, they followed that with the largely-expected news that Trails through Daybreak II will be coming west in early 2025.

Now let’s move on to Aksys!

On the otome front, we got three main announcements.

Mistonia no Kibou – The Lost Delight has been confirmed for localization next year. This is an otome dealing with fairies and a heroine seeking revenge, and it looks beautiful. It’s the one I’m the most interested in right now (although I wish the main character’s name wasn’t Applause, because I’m not sure I can take that seriously).

The really surprising thing, though, is that it isn’t even out in Japan yet. It’s coming out on July 18. For localization to be confirmed before the game is even out in Japan seems like a great sign for how much the otome localization situation has improved.

Utaka no Uchronia is also coming west in 2025. This one is set in a flying city, and I know a lot of people were hoping it would be announced.

The Switch port of 7’scarlet is also coming west, with a more specific window of Spring 2025. I never played the Vita or PC version, but it’s one I’ve considered, so I might keep this in mind.

As for their already-announced titles, the Virche Evermore fandisc got a release date of November 7, and the 2025 release window for Despera Drops was also narrowed down to spring.

2025’s otome lineup is already looking stacked.

They had a few non-otome announcements as well, including a zombie RPG called Raging Bytes that looks like it could be interesting.

So we’ve gotten plenty of great announcements out of Anime Expo so far, with still more to come. Don’t forget that Idea Factory is holding a separate event tomorrow as well!

What announcements have interested you so far?

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Ys Memoire: The Oath of Felghana Coming Next Year

When we discussed the upcoming Anime Expo announcements, I mentioned that Xseed had a secret title to be announced ahead of time.

That game turned out to be Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, which will be coming west for Switch, PS4, and PS5 sometime next year.

This… was not a huge shock, because on Sunday Xseed accidentally sent out a tweet meant for after Anime Expo, which showed The Oath in Felghana in place of the secret title placeholder. But whether you saw the accidental tweet, learned about it from the official announcement, or just found out right now, this is exciting news!

Since the Ys titles can get a little confusing, here’s a quick explanation. In 1989, Ys III: Wanderers from Ys was released. It was remade in 2005 as Ys: The Oath in Felghana, which was ported to the PSP in 2010 and then localized for both PC and PSP. In 2023, it was remastered for the Nintendo Switch as Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, and that remaster was brought to the PS4 and PS5 earlier this year.

That is the version we’re talking about today – the remaster of the remake of the third Ys game.

According to the official website, it features quality of life improvements, remastered visuals and audio with the option to switch to the classic illustrations or between different versions of the soundtrack, and voice acting for Adol for the first time.

They also announced the “Refined Edition” (pictured above), which includes the game, a soundtrack, a postcard set, a microfiber cloth, and an acrylic keychain diorama set. Preorders have already opened for just $59.99, so I’m pretty tempted.

Ys is one of those series I’ve been slooowly getting into, so I’m not ready to play this one yet. Nevertheless, it’s great to see this remaster coming west (which also opens the door for other Xseed-published Falcom games to still appear despite NISA handling most of the new localizations now). I look forward to getting there eventually!

Are you interested in Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana?

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Tokyo Clanpool Coming West for Switch and PC

Today, publisher eastasiasoft held a showcase of their upcoming games.

One of the games they showed was an unexpected announcement: Tokyo Clanpool is coming to the Switch and PC later this year, with an English (and Chinese) translation for the first time.

Tokyo Clanpool is a Compile Heart dungeon crawler RPG release in 2017 for the PS Vita, although it never made it out of Japan.

When a mysterious tower appears and monsters threaten Tokyo, you play as the young Prime Minister leading her “Diet Dolls” into the tower to fight the monsters in turn-based combat. A unique feature due to the main character’s status is that you need to keep an eye on your approval rating to keep the support of your citizens.

It’s a weird idea, but it sounds like it could be fun.

Now, I would have said I never heard about Tokyo Clanpool before, but the funny thing is that while I was looking for information about it, I found a reddit post about the initial PS Vita version that I had upvoted. It seems I knew about Tokyo Clanpool at the time and was hoping it would get localized.

So… even though I completely forgot about it in the 7 years since then, I’m finally getting my wish!

In addition to the standard edition, a Limited Edition will also be available from Play-Asia, with preorders opening on July 4. The Limited Edition includes the game, a manual, an art book, a sticker sheet, a poster, and a numbered certificate.

Eastasiasoft has had a number of interesting titles lately, with the major one for me being Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom. They’re quickly becoming a publisher whose announcements I look forward to, and this is yet another one to keep an eye on!

Are you interested in Tokyo Clanpool?

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July 4-6 Could Have Some Exciting Announcements

“E3” season might be past, but now we’re heading into July – and with it, a new lineup of potential announcements.

Anime Expo is running from July 4-7, and several video game panels with potential announcements are scheduled for that time period, so let’s take a look!

July 4’s panels include one on Ys X: Nordics, where the release date is set to be announced. Sekai Project has a panel that day as well, so we might get some visual novel news from there.

Now July 5 is when things really get going. Falcom has a panel for Trails through Daybreak, where a big announcement is rumored to be made. An English logo for Trails through Daybreak II (aka Kuro no Kiseki II) was leaked last week, so it’s pretty much guaranteed that its localization will officially be announced. (There’s another Trails panel later in the day, as well.)

After that, Aksys Games has a panel that promise some surprises. Their panel at Anime Expo two years ago was insane, so I can’t help but be excited. I doubt we’ll get as many otome announcements as we did then, but I’ve still got my fingers crossed.

Bandai Namco and WayForward have panels that day as well.

That’s already a lot, but June 6 keeps the momentum going. There’s a Type-Moon panel, and with the Tsukihime remake having just come out in English, I’m hopeful we’ll get news about the Fate/Stay Night remaster, if nothing else. Spike Chunsoft also has a panel later in the day, and they’ve said they’ll be making announcements. There’s a lot of Spike Chunsoft series I like, so I’m looking forward to what they might have in store. (I’ll go crazy if there’s a third Somnium Files game announced.)

Xseed also revealed their Anime Expo lineup, with a secret title included that they’ll reveal ahead of time.

Meanwhile, while Idea Factory isn’t part of Anime Expo, they’re holding their own event on July 6 where they also intend to make announcements. Whether it’s otome games or RPGs, I’m interested to see what new games they have in store.

I’m not sure if any of these events will be livestreamed, so we might have to wait for news from people attending them in person. Nevertheless, we have a good chance of getting several exciting announcements! What are you looking forward to?

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