Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 44

Granblue Fantasy: Relink News and Trailer Coming Tomorrow

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?

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Baten Kaitos Remake Rumors Surface

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 releasedA leaker claiming to be 100% sure a Baten Kaitos remake is in developmentTwo 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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Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception – An Intriguing Start

It’s been two years since I finished Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen, the remake of the first Utawarerumono game.

Now I’ve moved on and played the second game, Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception.

(I played it on the Vita, but digital copies were delisted and good luck finding physical copies.)

Utawarerumono is often considered a trilogy, but it might be more accurate to describe it as a game with a sequel duology. The original Utawarerumono came out in 2002, only in Japan, and tells a complete story. It was followed by Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Of course, the original was then remade as Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen, which makes it much easier to approach the three games as a trilogy.

Like the first game, Mask of Deception is a visual novel strategy RPG, and I’d say the focus on the visual novel side is even stronger this time. You can spend hours of reading without encountering a battle. When combat does happen, it’s fun enough, but certainly not the game’s big draw.

I got off to a bad start with the game when I couldn’t save in the middle of a scene but had to restart the scene when I loaded my save, but it turns out that’s only an issue for scenes that use the 3D character models. Regular visual novel scenes can be saved and loaded just fine.

You play as Haku, a man with amnesia, and while that sounds similar to the premise of its predecessor, it goes in a different direction. After a woman named Kuon saves Haku from monsters (and gives him the name “Haku” since he can’t remember his own), the two decide to travel together and eventually end up at the capital, with a variety of eccentric characters joining their little group along the way.

It has several connections to the first game, but this entry feels accessible even without that knowledge. However, I’ve gotten the impression that the third game in the series will expect you to have played both previous ones.

The majority of Mask of Deception is fairly lighthearted in tone, with a lot of humor and silly situations. Some of the gags get a little repetitive, but every now and then it would surprise me with a very funny scene. It’s a slow burn that introduces you to its characters and sets the foundations for its world. But when it gets serious, it doesn’t hold anything back. The ending felt like a punch in the stomach coupled with a demand that I play the sequel.

And that’s why I began by discussing the structure of this trilogy. While Mask of Deception does eventually introduce and resolve a major conflict, it feels less like a sequel to Prelude to the Fallen and more like the first half of a sequel. It’s like the Great Ace Attorney situation, where the first game sets up the story to be resolved in the second. Here’s hoping Mask of Truth does as good a job.

In short, I enjoyed Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, and now that the stakes have really been built up, I’m looking forward to starting Mask of Truth to see what happens next.

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Ys IX: Monstrum Nox – Exploring a Cursed City

This morning, I finally finished Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, which I started last year but put on hold for a while.

This is only the second Ys game I’ve played, which I regret in some ways because I could tell certain moments were meant to be callbacks to previous entries, but it was still an enjoyable and largely standalone story.

Ys IX sees adventurer Adol Christin arriving at the prison city of Balduq, where he is immediately arrested. While trying to escape the prison, a strange encounter leads to him becoming a Monstrum, someone with supernatural powers bound to the city of Balduq to fight in the monster-infested alternate world of the Grimwald Nox.

What this means from a gameplay perspective is that you have a bunch of special abilities to help you explore the city. Adol can now zip to special vantage points, and as more party members join you, you gain additional Monstrum skills, such as running up walls and gliding. The Monstrum curse keeps you confined to certain areas at first, but as you complete quests and fight enemies in the city, you’re able to break these barriers.

This was probably my favorite part of Ys IX. I loved being able to explore more of the city each time I gained a new ability, and gradually opening up new sectors kept it from feeling too overwhelming. The city is also filled with collectibles, making its exploration remind me a bit of the 3D platformers I love.

Meanwhile, the weakest link is the Grimwald Nox. A cursed alternate dimension under a blood-red moon sounds fantastic, but in practice it just means you fight waves of enemies while defending a giant crystal. These sections can be fun, since your entire party participates while other allies lend support, but I would have much preferred being able to actually explore the Grimwald Nox realm.

Between the curse and the Grimwald Nox itself, though, this aspect of the story lends almost a gothic horror flavor to some parts, which I appreciated.

The story is interesting enough, with an element of mystery that had me curious for quite a while about what was actually going on, and the characters are likeable. There are plenty of NPCs throughout the city whose dialogue changes as the game progresses, as well.

Overall, I enjoyed playing Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. I’m looking forward to learning more about the recently-announced Ys X, and maybe I’ll have even caught up a bit more on the series by then!

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Bandai Namco Mentions the Possibility of Other Tales Remasters

Tales of Symphonia Remastered is due out for the Switch, PS4, and Xbox One on February 17, and lately fans have been talking about the potential for other remasters.

In the official Q&A on the website, Bandai Namco says the following:

Will there be future remasters or remakes of older Tales titles?

We really appreciate the enthusiasm shared by Tales fans worldwide on wanting to experience our portfolio of games on modern platforms. As of now, we are focusing wholly on the release of TALES OF SYMPHONIA REMASTERED, though we are always happy to hear what our community would love to see for future games.”

That’s not exactly a clear indication that anything is going to be remastered. However, I take confidence from the fact that they highlighted it as a question on their own. When that sort of vague answer is given during an interview, it often feels more like they just don’t want to shut down the possibility, but here it’s something they specifically brought up.

(Why exactly this is coming up now when that Q&A is from November, I’m not sure. I’ve seen people translating the Q&A from the Japanese site, but they seem to be the same answers.)

Personally, I’d like the next Tales remaster to be one of the games not released outside of Japan yet, so that we get another chance at getting it. As I mentioned in my updated list of untranslated games I’d love to see get localizations, Tales of Destiny 2, Tales of Rebirth, and Tales of Innocence R are some of the most notable Tales games not released in the west yet.

One by one, games I’ve wanted to see localized have gotten new, translated releases. Will one of the older Tales games be next? Or do you think something like Tales of Xillia will be the next choice for a Tales remaster?

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Rear Sekai Announced, a New Action JRPG From the Creator of Rune Factory

Several games were announced today by the publisher Bushiroad Games, one of which is a new action JRPG from Yoshifumi Hashimoto.

Yoshifumi Hashimoto has worked on many games and is the creator of the Rune Factory series.

Hashimoto heads a subsidiary of Marvelous Games called Hakama, which handled the development of Rune Factory 5, among other titles. Hakama will be developing the newly-announced action JRPG Rear Sekai.

Very little has been revealed about Rear Sekai so far. Even its short teaser trailer doesn’t show much besides two characters, who are also featured on the website.

Rear Sekai will be out in 2023 for the Nintendo Switch. Nothing has been said yet about localization, but I hope we see more from this game soon.

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Lover Pretend: Sometimes Funny, Sometimes Just Fine

Let’s talk about Lover Pretend, the final game I beat in 2022.

Lover Pretend is an otome visual novel about a screenwriting student named Chiyuki who is searching for the identity of her father and has narrowed it down to a handful of possibilities. When she gets an opportunity to work as an assistant screenwriter alongside people related to the men on her list, she sees it as a great opportunity for both her career and her quest.

During the common route, I had my eyebrows raised about a story premise where most of the love interests have the potential to be the protagonist’s half-brother. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), that aspect is quickly dismissed and forgotten in most of the routes. Despite it being set up as the protagonist’s main goal, most routes don’t deal with it at all.

Instead, each route has a different focus and conflict depending on the love interest. The only thing they have in common relates to the game’s title, “Lover Pretend,” as Chiyuki ends up pretending to be in a relationship with them.

The reason for the fake relationship is different in each route (and despite what the store page says, it’s not because she’s cast as the love interest in the movie, so I don’t know why it says that), and some of them are a bit of a stretch. But whatever, the premise of the game is about getting into a fake relationship, so let’s just roll with it for the sake of comedy and romance.

This fake romance leads you to learn more about the love interest and his personal conflict, with choices along the way determining what sort of ending you get.

One unique feature is the “Pretend Time” mechanic, where you need to answer several questions in a row to lie your way out of a predicament. It’s entertaining, although it really isn’t as focused on lying as the name suggests. While it often is, it’s also used for any situation where you need to make a series of choices – like trying to guess a character’s motivations.

So, now that I’ve explained what Lover Pretend is, how did I feel about it overall? It’s… fine.

It’s a romantic comedy, and there are times when it’s pretty funny, but not as funny as something like Cupid Parasite, for example. The love interests are also just fine. I liked three of them, loved another until his best ending ruined both the character and the romance (seriously), and would have liked the fifth if it was a full-length route like the others.

Click for Lover Pretend spoilersI wouldn’t have minded Kazuma’s “I’ve actually been jealous of you and secretly hoping you’d fail so you’d have to depend on me” nonsense as a plot point, but making it the final trigger for the love confession and now they’re a happy couple?? What the heck was that???

Lover Pretend isn’t the game to play if you’re looking for a deep plot or exceptional humor, but it’s an enjoyable enough time with mostly enjoyable characters. If the premise interests you, it’s worth taking a look, but if you’re on the fence, there are many others I’d recommend before it.

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2023 Writing Goals and the Cursed Oak Island Novel

All right. Last year’s writing goals… didn’t pan out.

In fact, I’m not sure I accomplished a single thing that was on that list, aside from writing a new novel draft in November for NaNoWriMo.

Part of it is because of the same thing that got in the way of my writing goals the previous year: On An Island of Oaks, my Oak Island horror novel that must share the same curse as the island itself, because no matter how many times I rewrite it, it never seems to get any better.

So even though I thought I would be able to proofread the latest draft and then send it to a beta reader, I realized the current attempt was as soulless as the one before it and started over.

I can’t blame it all on that novel, though. I was also just distracted by other things and devoted less time to my fiction writing than I wanted to. My 2023 writing goals, therefore, are more focused.

By 2024, I will:

Send out regular batches of queries for my novels in the querying stage.Rewrite On An Island of Oaks again.Revise any of my other novel drafts.Return to On An Island of Oaks and either revise it until it can be sent to a beta reader, or set it aside for the foreseeable future.Write at least 5 new short stories, any genre.Regularly update side websites and increase traffic to 500+ visits per month.

And as usual, I’ll write a new novel draft for NaNoWriMo in November. It’s funny that the one part that’s a specific challenge is the part I actually got done.

Let’s hope the rest of the list goes better this year. Do you have any writing goals in mind for 2023?

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Operation Backlog Completion 2023

Last year, I aimed to complete another 100 games from my backlog as part of the eternal quest to work my way through all of these games.

I didn’t make it, ending the year with 71 games completed.

Like I mentioned two days ago, this is The Great Ace Attorney’s fault. I spent a lot of time, especially near the start of the year, picking up a game to play only to put it down with a sigh because it wasn’t The Great Ace Attorney. I’m amazed I reached 71.

So with that in mind, I’m going to try again. 100 games is the goal!

Operation Backlog Completion 2023

In addition to the overall number, I also made a list of 20 specific games I wanted to play last year. Of those, I finished… three. (One of those three did end up being my favorite game I played last year, so at least there’s that.)

For this year, let’s carry over the unfortunate number of remaining titles, along with my most-anticipated games of 2023 and a couple others I firmly intend to finish.

Batman: Arkham Knight (followed by Arkham Origins)The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (followed by Witcher 3)Dragon Quest XITales of Vesperia: Definitive EditionYooka-LayleeAurion: Curse of the Kori-OdanDies IraeThe Great GaiasTrails in the Sky SC (followed by Trails in the Sky the 3rd and Trails from Zero)Triangle StrategyGod of War RagnarokYakuza 5The Good LifeXenoblade Chronicles 3Tokyo Xanadu eX+Alan Wake IIEiyuden Chronicle: Hundred HeroesFatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar EclipseFinal Fantasy XVILike a Dragon: Ishin

How many years will I make this list before I decide the games that have shown up on it for half a decade now probably shouldn’t be listed as specific priorities if I just ignore them anyway? Oh well, maybe this will be the year I actually play them!

…Although with the 3DS and Wii U eShops shutting down in March, I’ll want to pick up some games before they’re out of reach forever… sorry, backlog.

Do you have any backlog goals in mind for 2023?

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Top 5 Most-Anticipated Games of 2023

Here we are in 2023 already. It’s hard to believe.

Yesterday I went over my favorite games I played last year, and now I’m ready to look ahead to 2023’s upcoming new releases. As usual, only games announced for 2023 qualify for this list… which means I’ll be excluding Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth due to the unclear “winter” timeframe (as it could mean early 2024) and Hades II because it’s just the Early Access release so far, and I can’t put Ace Attorney on the list no matter how much I want it to be true.

So as of now, here are my top 5 most-anticipated games of 2023!

5. Alan Wake II

Not only are we actually getting a proper Alan Wake sequel, but it’s reportedly going to be a survival horror game instead of the action/thriller approach of the first game. We’ve seen so little from Alan Wake II that I don’t quite know what to expect, but I loved Alan Wake and hope this sequel will live up to it. In the meantime, I should probably get around to restarting my Control playthrough so I can finally finish that…

4. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

When I backed Eiyuden Chronicle back in 2020, its projected 2023 release window felt so, so far away. Now it’s upon us, and this Suikoden-inspired turn-based RPG is set to come out this year.

Everything shown from it looks beautiful, and I can’t wait to play it for myself. I haven’t played the action RPG prequel, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, but maybe I’ll check that out eventually as well.

3. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

What a day it was when I woke up to the rumor of a Fatal Frame IV remaster and localization, which was then officially confirmed in the Nintendo Direct.

The fourth Fatal Frame game has never been officially translated before (despite a European release being planned), but March 9 will see a multiplatform remaster released worldwide. Although I’ve only played a couple games in the Fatal Frame series, I’ve enjoyed them enough to be excited for what this previously-missed entry is like.

2. Final Fantasy XVI

I’ve talked about Final Fantasy XVI enough that you probably know I’m pretty excited for it. I’d still like to see a look at exploration and other non-combat gameplay, but the story and the past works of the people making it are enough to make this one of the games I’m looking forward to the most. Sure, I’d love to see the return of turn-based combat to the main series someday, but I like action RPGs too and Final Fantasy XVI looks like it has a lot of great elements. Will it live up to the hype? We’ll certainly find out when it launches on June 22.

But as excited as I am for Final Fantasy XVI and the other games I’ve mentioned here, there’s one game I’m looking forward to more than any other, due out in less than two months…

1. Like a Dragon: Ishin

Do you know what we were doing a year ago? We were clinging to any shred of hope that Yakuza Ishin would get a localization. One year later, we need not cling to faint hopes any longer – Ishin is getting a remake and a localization, and Like a Dragon: Ishin is due out on February 21!

That moment when I saw it in the State of Play was probably my favorite video game announcement of 2022. I still can’t believe it. We’re getting Ishin, we’re actually getting Ishin!

It looks so much fun! It’s all the glory of Yakuza, but set in the samurai era. Sure, some fans aren’t crazy about certain changes being made, like the addition of equippable powers for combat, but I’d pay a small price like that for a game like this any day.

Ishin is by far the game I’m most excited for next year, and I can’t wait until I can play it!

Conclusion

Look at that, I had the sense to leave any Trails games off the list because we all know I won’t be caught up in time. Similarly, I probably won’t be caught up on mainline Yakuza in time for Like a Dragon Gaiden, although that’s another exciting one set for this year.

Now here’s hoping we get some Ace Attorney news to knock everything else off the list.

What 2023 games are you most looking forward to?

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