Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 51

Capcom Announces Its TGS 2022 Presentation

Tokyo Game Show 2022 is fast approaching, set for September 15-18.

I’ve had my hopes pinned on TGS for a potential Ace Attorney announcement, and now Capcom has opened up its official TGS 2022 website.

Capcom has announced two events for the online portion of TGS 2022.

First, they will hold an online presentation on September 15 at 23:00 JST (or 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET). It will be a pre-recorded stream featuring “all the latest Capcom news.”

Then, on September 16 at 24:00 JST (8 AM PT / 11 AM ET), they’ll have a second show dedicated to Street Fighter 6.

Meanwhile, at the in-person portion of TGS 2022, Capcom will have a booth where Street Fighter 6, Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, and Exoprimal are playable.

So of course, I’m crossing my fingers that the online presentation will include Ace Attorney news. Unlike their E3 show earlier this year, this one doesn’t say it’s focused on already-announced titles. The website just says, “What will be revealed? Details to follow!” Let’s get some positive waves out there for Ace Attorney!

If they do announce a new Ace Attorney game, I think the most logical approach would be to announce Ace Attorney 7, with a collection of Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies, and Spirit of Justice to be released in the meantime.

But who knows? I’ve even started hoping for Investigations 2 again for the first time in years.

What do you think will be announced at Capcom’s TGS show? Do you think Ace Attorney has a chance of appearing?

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Dragon Quest Treasures Gameplay Loop Explained

Last time we discussed Dragon Quest Treasures, I mentioned that I was still wondering about the gameplay loop.

Well, Square Enix posted a new article that explains the gameplay loop and goal.

On Draconia, a land formed from the bodies of two legendary dragons, there are seven special treasures called Dragonstones, each shaped like part of a dragon.

Your goal is to find these legendary Dragonstones, along with any other treasures you come across, by searching the islands of Draconia.

From your base, you’ll choose an island to travel to. Then you’ll gather materials, work with your treasure-sensing monsters to find bric-a-brac and treasure, and then have your monsters carry it. You have a special item called the Fortune Finder that activates Treasure Visions and lets you see the treasure’s location through your monster’s eyes.

Once you return to your base, your treasure will be appraised. If you find multiple copies of the same treasure, the one in the best condition will be kept.

So it seems like the major gameplay loop is all about collecting treasure and appraising it, with the Dragonstones serving as the major goal of your treasure-hunting quest. With everything else that is coming out this year, I don’t know if Dragon Quest Treasures is a game I’d play right away, but I’m sure I’ll pick it up eventually.

Are you looking forward to Dragon Quest Treasures?

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Kingdom Hearts Dark Road’s Finale Launches August 26

Square Enix has released a new recap video covering the 20th anniversary event.

Most is stuff we already know about from the anniversary event, but the end of the video confirms the release date for Dark Road’s finale.

During the anniversary event, they announced that the final part of Kingdom Hearts Dark Road would be out in August, but with no news since then, that started to seem in doubt.

But it’s still on! Kingdom Hearts Dark Road will conclude with a new story update on August 26.

The video also ends with new tease of what is to come in the finale, connecting it back to the ending of KHUX.

I haven’t played Dark Road since it went offline, so I hope they haven’t geared the finale’s difficulty around the idea that you’ve been grinding this entire time. Since it’s no longer an online game, you’d think it would be significantly less grindy.

(Update: I forgot that offline mode isn’t already out, so I couldn’t have played Dark Road since then even if I wanted to! It’ll be out as part of this same update.)

While Dark Road wasn’t exactly thrilling to play, its story was interesting and I’m excited for this finale. Will you be playing the Kingdom Hearts Dark Road finale?

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New Trailer for “M” (NOVECT’s New Mystery Game)

Back during May Mystery Game Madness, we the upcoming new adventure game from NOVECT in which you play as both murderer and detective.

Now NOVECT is at BitSummit and has revealed a new trailer for the game that highlights the detective and daily life parts.

It’s still using the code name “M,” but that won’t be its official title.

The trailer shows its investigation gameplay as well as some conversations with a couple of new characters wearing gas masks. I can’t follow what’s going on, since it’s in Japanese, so maybe someone could help us out with that.

Since the game has a demo at BitSummit, maybe we’ll soon see impressions of it, as well.

I find the trailer interesting. Something about Marianne’s movements feel strange to me, but since the other characters have similar ways of moving without the same effect, I think it’s mainly her coat.

Anyway, I look forward to learning more about “M” (and getting an official title for it). What did you think of the new trailer?

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New Harvestella Details and Screenshots

The Pokémon Presents didn’t have any new announcements and mainly focused on Scarlet and Violet, so since I’m not especially interested in those, let’s talk about Harvestella instead.

Harvestella was one of the games shown in June’s Nintendo Direct, an unexpected announcement that caught my attention even though I’m not a big fan of farming sims.

(This is the one where the seasons are winter, spring, summer, fall, and death, in case you forgot.)

Square Enix released some new details and screenshots today, including the screenshot shown above of the springtime town of Nemea.

The Nemea screenshots are absolutely beautiful. I also hadn’t realized you’d be visiting multiple towns in Harvestella, which makes it especially interesting.

Also, the way the post describes it, it sounds like Quietus (the season of death) occurs after each season, which should make it a fairly persistent threat.

In Nemea, you’ll begin investigating the “Spring Seaslight” that governs the season to determine why monsters have begun attacking the town. The post also introduces two characters you’ll meet in Nemea, Asyl and Istina.

Harvestella will let you switch between different jobs for combat, and today Square Enix introduced the Sky Lancer (aka dragoon) job. It seems that Asyl is a Sky Lancer, so once you start working together, you’ll be able to use that job, too. Characters will also have their own stories that progress as you get closer to them.

Finally, the post gives some attention to farming spring crops, cooking meals with them, fishing, and shipping out crops for money.

It really does feel like Square Enix’s take on Rune Factory.

Harvestella will be out on November 4 for Switch and PC. Are you interested in Harvestella?

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Pokémon Presents Set for August 3

A Pokémon Presents has been announced for this Wednesday, August 3, at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET.

It will feature “updates on Pokémon apps and video games,” with Scarlet and Violet mentioned specifically.

I’m not enthusiastic about Pokémon Scarlet/Violet because of its open world structure, so I’ll mainly be interested in what other games they might announce.

Last August, they covered Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Legends: Arceus, and a couple mobile games.

I’d be interested in seeing DLC for Legends, but with Scarlet/Violet not far off, they might not want to distract from them.

When it comes to spin-offs, however, I’m still interested in finally learning about the Detective Pikachu sequel, especially now that I’ve played the original.

But you know what? I’ll toss another hope out there. I want them to announce a remaster or remake of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. People praise that game so much, but it’s nearly impossible to find a copy these days. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX was well-received, so let’s see the sequel given similar attention.

(If an Explorers remake is announced, I promise to play Rescue Team DX ahead of its launch.)

What are you hoping to see from Wednesday’s Pokémon Presents?

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Monochrome Mobius Delayed to October 20

Monochrome Mobius, the upcoming new entry in the Utawarerumono series, has been delayed.

While originally planned for a September 8 release, it has now been pushed to October 20.

That’s not too bad of a delay, although it makes the crush of game releases at the end of October even worse than it was before.

The official website for Monochrome Mobius was also updated with new character details.

Curiously, it still appears that the PC version is the only one being localized. Maybe that will change, but so far no one has said a word about localizing the PS4 and PS5 versions. It has a global release date, but only for the PC.

I’d say I’d use this additional time to catch up on the Utawarerumono series, but we all know that’s unlikely to happen, especially with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on the way. Still, I’m looking forward to getting caught up on the series eventually and then seeing how their venture into regular JRPG territory with Monochrome Mobius turns out.

(You know, I really thought we were going to be talking about Nier today, but the great church mystery turned out to be a reveal of modding tools. So we’re talking about Monochrome Mobius instead.)

From what I understand, Monochrome Mobius is an interquel set after Prelude to the Fallen but before the two Mask games, but I don’t know if it would be okay to play out of order or not. Just in case, I’ll stick with release order and play Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth before Monochrome Mobius.

Is it just me, or are a lot of exciting game releases starting to bunch together this year? Is Monochrome Mobius on that list of exciting upcoming games for you?

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Amnesia Release Date, Lover Pretend Trailer

Back in April, we learned that the Switch ports of Amnesia: Memories and Amnesia: Later x Crowd were being localized, and now we have a release date.

Idea Factory has announced that they’ll be out on September 20.

That’s interesting, because Aksys has the Piofiore sequel coming out on September 22. It looks like the end of the year will have some otome competition.

Judging by how they’ve done things in the past, Amnesia’s limited edition, which you can get with either one of the games or both together, will probably open up to preorders sometime in late August. Idea Factory seems to like opening up limited edition preorders around a month in advance.

Meanwhile, in other otome news, Aksys released the English trailer for Lover Pretend.

The trailer confirms its December 2022 release window, which I believe was shown at the Anime Expo showcase.

The months ahead are stacked with games I want, and my backlog is weeping. Meanwhile, let me go check for the thousandth time to see if I have a shipping notification for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 yet (I don’t).

Are you looking forward to Amnesia and Later x Crowd? What about Lover Pretend?

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Tactics Ogre Reborn Appeared On PS Deals

How many different ways can a single game leak?

Tactics Ogre Reborn is one of the many titles that appeared in the Nvidia leak. It appears to be a remake (or remaster?) of the tactical RPG Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.

In June, a listing for it briefly appeared on the PlayStation Store with its logo and artwork.

Now it’s appeared on PS Deals, a site that tracks sales in the PlayStation Store, with a full description and a November 11 release date.

According to the description, it features “a quicker pace of battle, auto save, and a complete overhaul to the controls and UI,” full voice acting, and rerecorded music, among other features. It also confirms a physical release for the PS4 version.

I’ve never played Tactics Ogre, but I’ll be interested in learning more about it. If the listed release date is accurate, though, it’ll be releasing on the same day as Valkyrie Elysium. Square Enix has quite a few games coming out this year, but I’d have expected at least a little distance between them.

Here’s hoping the official announcement comes soon. Are you interested in Tactics Ogre Reborn?

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Collar x Malice Is An Exciting Otome Mystery Story

It took me a long time to get around to playing Collar x Malice, but I’m glad I finally did.

Collar x Malice is an otome visual novel set in Shinjuku, which has been quarantined due to a series of violent crimes counting down to what the anonymous criminals refer to as “X-Day.”

The protagonist is a policewoman who is attacked one night and finds that the X-Day criminals have placed a collar around her neck that contains a deadly poison. They task her with investigating the truth of the X-Day incidents and bring her into contact with a group of ex-cops investigating the incidents on their own.

So from the start, it has an exciting and tense premise.

Despite that, it actually took me longer to get into it than I expected. I think it’s because, due to the situation, there’s some mistrust and hostility between the protagonist and love interests at first. However, the common route is pretty short, and things pick up right away on the individual character routes.

Each route focuses on a different aspect of the X-Day investigation, with the character’s own story being explored at the same time. There’s some overlap between the events covered on each route, but not as much as you might expect.

The routes ended up being a mixed bag for me. Of the five love interests, there are two I absolutely loved, one I found cute but found the route less interesting, one where I loved the route but didn’t feel the chemistry between the characters, and one I where I kind of hated the love interest despite some cute moments. It seems there’s a style of tsundere I can’t stand. Sorry, Sasazuka.

Meanwhile, the overall story is very interesting. There were some pretty intense moments, especially in the final route. The mystery elements don’t play a big role aside from a few questions here and there, but at a certain critical point, it does make you correctly identify where the clues are leading, and I thought that moment was really well done.

Click for Collar x Malice implied spoilersAnd it cracks me up that Enomoto’s route having such a weirdly anticlimactic conclusion to X-Day, which is one of the reasons I found it less interesting than the rest, actually makes perfect sense in retrospect. That wasn’t a rushed end, that was a huge red flag waving wildly in the air.

It might sound like I had more mixed feelings on the game than positive ones, but the parts I liked, I liked enough to overshadow the negatives. My favorite character (Shiraishi) could have carried this game almost on his own.

I do want to briefly mention the mistakes. I’m not too fussy about errors and can overlook little grammar issues pretty easily, but it was noticeable in Collar x Malice. Some routes seemed fine, but a couple had issues where the dialogue box mixed up who was speaking (or even had a line of dialogue instead of the character’s name) and other mistakes, with the most egregious one being a mistranslated choice that pushed me into a bad ending because (as I learned when I looked it up in confusion), the choice in question was actually pretty much the opposite of what was written.

Click for Collar x Malice spoilers“He wanted to kill me” was actually meant to be “He wanted me to kill.” There’s a pretty significant difference there!

I wouldn’t say the mistakes are a huge knock against it, but they were noticeable enough that I wanted to mention them.

Anyway, I’m glad I played Collar x Malice. I may not have liked every part, but I enjoyed it enough that I’ll eventually pick up the fandisc. If the premise sounds interesting to you, I’d recommend Collar x Malice if you’re interested in otome games or mystery/thriller stories.

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