Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 56

Small Development Updates on FFXVI and Yakuza 8

Okay… I really thought we’d have some sort of Yakuza news to discuss today, but no announcements were made at the Super Talk Stage event.

However, at least a small update came from it.

According to the translation here, the script and voice work for the next Yakuza game are in progress, and we should get more news later this year.

Unannounced projects are also in development.

Meanwhile, today also brought a tiny update on Final Fantasy XVI. As translated by Gematsu, Final Fantasy XVI is in the final stretch of development and will have a strong focus on story. Yoshida wants it to be the sort of game that brings back the enthusiasm of players who drifted away from Final Fantasy once they grew up.

(People are coming up with all kinds of strange interpretations of Yoshida’s quote, but that’s all it sounds like to me, or at most hinting that the story will have serious elements.)

So… is this the Final Fantasy XVI news we were told would be coming in spring? It doesn’t feel like that sort of big reveal, so I think we’ll have more news coming in the near future.

On the other hand, I was disappointed to not wake up to any Yakuza reveals this morning. Still, at least it’s good to know Yakuza 8’s development is going well.

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Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten Releases September 8

As we hoped, yesterday brought Utawarerumono news regarding the upcoming new title, Monochrome Mobius.

Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten will launch worldwide on September 8.

Now, when it comes to platforms, things seem a little strange. In Japan, it’s been announced for PS4, PS5, and PC. However, it appears that only the PC version is being localized.

The official English website lists it for Steam, with early purchase bonuses of a digital art book and soundtrack. Shiravune is publishing it, and I think they’ve only published PC games in the past, but no other publisher has said anything about the console versions.

So there’s a good chance we’re only getting Monochrome Mobius in English on PC, at least for the time being.

(This makes me wonder about how Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth were delisted from PSN when their licenses expired, and the licenses have yet to be renewed. Do these games sell poorly on consoles?)

Anyway, the news came alongside a Monochrome Mobius trailer, so let’s take a look.

Like we suspected when it was first announced, Monochrome Mobius doesn’t feature strategy RPG battles like its predecessors. Instead, it appears to have regular turn-based combat.

It probably won’t be a visual novel, either, since we see a lot of 3D cutscenes in the trailer. However, the website and Steam page still put the primary focus on the story, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it still has a similar setup of being mostly story with battles interspersed between.

Monochrome Mobius is set ahead of Mask of Deception, so I’ll wait until I’ve played Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth before getting to Monochrome Mobius. I’m still exciting for it, though, because it looks great!

What do you think of Monochrome Mobius from what we’ve seen so far?

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Potential Yakuza News Coming This Friday

This Friday, April 29, Sega is holding an event called Yakuza Super Talk Stage at Niconico Chokaigi 2022.

(Or… the Ryu Ga Gotoku Super Talk Stage, since I assume they’re using the Japanese title.)

Now, I’m not entirely sure when this was announced. I saw someone reference it as a place to potentially see Yakuza 8 news, and then I went and saw it listed as an event on Gematsu.

The important thing is that this presentation will feature director and executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama answering questions and might include information about the future of the series.

So, what could potentially be shown at this event?

(Hey, it worked out well for me when I predicted Kingdom Hearts announcements.)

Yakuza 8

The next mainline Yakuza game feels like a safe bet. Yakuza 8 has been confirmed to be in development as another game following Ichiban, but has yet to be revealed. Since they release Yakuza titles pretty frequently and Yakuza: Like a Dragon came out in 2020, I wouldn’t be at all surprised for Yakuza 8 to have a 2022 release date.

What will they title it in the west, though? Dropping the number for Yakuza 7’s western title makes that quite a question. Yakuza: Like a Dragon 2, maybe?

Anyway, I think there’s a good chance we’ll learn more about Yakuza 8 on Friday.

Kenzan and/or Ishin Remasters

No, I will not let it go.

So many games people said would never be localized are being localized now. RGG Studio knows people want Kenzan and Ishin. The major sticking point is said to be over-saturation. I don’t think the games’ content will actually get in the way like some fans fear. The PlayStation Wrap-Up mysteriously recognized Ishin as Yakuza Ishin. I say it’s a question of when, not if. Could this finally be the time?

A remaster of Kenzan and a remaster or port of Ishin would be the first step toward localization, so I have my fingers crossed for such an announcement.

Judgment PC Ports

Unlike with Kingdom Hearts, where I thought PC ports were the most likely answer and turned out to be completely wrong, I think Judgment and Lost Judgment PC ports are unlikely. The report that the Judgment games can’t be brought to PC due to Takuya Kimura’s agency still remains a rumor, but nothing has really debunked it, either. On the other hand, a new claim is going around that a Lost Judgment PC port exists, but people say the screenshots could easily be from the Amazon Luna version.

But who knows? Maybe it’ll happen. I was completely wrong about Kingdom Hearts, after all.

Mysterious Unannounced Title

Back when they confirmed the development of Yakuza 8, they also said unannounced titles outside of both the Yakuza and Judgment series were also planned. Now, you might think it’s pointless to predict such a game for a Yakuza event, but since I’m counting Judgment as a plausible prediction, I think another spin-off also qualifies. Of course, we don’t know if those unannounced titles are linked to Yakuza or not, so this is probably the least likely prediction.

But who knows?

What do you think will be announced at the Yakuza Super Talk Stage event on Friday? Will any of these predictions actually come true? Share your thoughts and predictions in the comments!

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Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten Appears in SteamDB

SteamDB, which keeps track of everything in Steam’s database, has a new entry that should catch the attention of Utawarerumono fans: Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten.

Back in November, we discussed the announcement of a new Utawarerumono game called Monochrome Moebius: Toki no Taika.

The appearance of Monochrome Mobius on SteamDB along with the new subtitle “Rights and Wrongs Forgotten” suggests both English localization and a PC version for the upcoming Utawarerumono midquel. No platforms have been officially announced yet.

This lines right up with the expectation of an announcement in the near future, too. April 26 is the 20th anniversary of the series, and the official anniversary website has opened up with a concert being streamed on that day.

Announcements have been hinted at for that day as well.

So with its sudden SteamDB entry right ahead of the 20th anniversary celebration, it’s quite likely we’ll learn more about Monochrome Mobius next week.

I still need to catch up on Utawarerumono, since so far I’ve only played Prelude to the Fallen. I’m excited to see the series getting new entries, though, so I’ll be looking forward to hearing about Monochrome Mobius. What do you think we’ll learn about the upcoming new Utawarerumono game?

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Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Moved Up to July 29

Remember how thrilled we were back when Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was announced for a September 2022 release?

Yep, that’s not happening. It’s coming out July 29 instead.

An anticipated game actually having its release date moved sooner instead of being delayed is pretty rare. I know it’s happened before, but it’s still a shock.

So instead of having five months to get my backlog in order (hah!) so that I can play Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I have three months instead.

Alongside this release date change came and exciting new trailer, although I’ll admit I didn’t watch the trailer as attentively as I often would because trailers have spoiled me too often in the past.

I did watch enough to catch the major ideas, though, such as having more characters than ever in combat and a fusion system that is where the name Ouroboros comes into play.

They also announced a Special Edition, which includes a hardcover art book and a steelbook case. It will only be available from the My Nintendo Store, with details to come at a later date.

(I used the special edition’s art for this page image, although I took it from the Japanese site since the other images I found were all too small.)

Now, some people have taken this to be a bad sign, assuming that content must have been cut from the game or it’s been rushed, but I’m not worried. If they were trying to avoid a delay, then I could see it, but I find it hard to believe Monolith Soft would cut content or rush just to get the game out months ahead of the already-announced release window.

Everything shown of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 so far looks fantastic, so I’m confident this will be another excellent game.

Meanwhile, Digimon Survive’s worldwide release date was confirmed for… July 29. Xenoblade and Digimon Survive are now coming out on the same time. That’s just a few days after the Live A Live remake, as well. This year might not be as jam-packed with must-play games like the second half of the year was for me in 2021, but it’s starting to put forth a good effort.

What do you think about Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s sudden July 29 release date, trailer, and special edition? Will you be picking it up?

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Digimon Survive Has a Release Date: July 28

Today brought an unexpected piece of news for players looking forward to Digimon Survive: a release date!

The long-awaited Digimon game, which was first announced in 2018, will be out on July 28 in Japan for the Switch and PS4.

Digimon Survive is a strategy RPG visual novel/adventure game that sounds like it will be highly story-driven.

Back in February, there was a Digimon Survive Q&A at Digimon Con. When asked about the game’s content, they said the ratio of text adventure content to tactical battles would be roughly 7:3. Your choices will lead to the game branching into three main routes later on, as well as a secret route.

However, since they weren’t able to give a release date for the game, it seemed as though it was probably delayed once again. Apparently not, though, since now they’ve announced the July 28 release.

I’m not too familiar with the Digimon series (although the Cyber Sleuth games are waiting in my backlog), but I’m curious about this one since it seems to be so story-driven. 70% visual novel/adventure to 30% combat sounds a bit like Utawarerumono levels of story-driven.

(Speaking of which, I need to get back to that series, too.)

People have been waiting for Digimon Survive for quite a while, and now it seems like it’s almost here… in Japan, at least. What the western release date will be, we don’t know yet.

Are you interested in Digimon Survive?

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Witch on the Holy Night Official English Translation Announced

Witch on the Holy Night is a visual novel that first came out in Japan in 2012, with no official translation ever released.

Now it’s receiving an HD, fully-voiced re-release for the Switch and PS4, due out later this year.

That was all already known, but this week brought the unexpected announcement that it will also have Japanese, English, and Chinese language options available.

Witch on the Holy Night is a visual novel from Type-Moon, the same company that developed Tsukihime and Fate/stay night.

While Tsukihime and Fate spin-offs in other genres have been localized with some frequency, no actual Type-Moon visual novel has been translated before, to the point where some fans claimed the writer was actively opposed to having his work translated.

Apparently that’s not the case, at least not now.

There’s no word yet if Witch on the Holy Night will be actually released outside of Japan, but since both platforms are region-free, it will certainly be playable in English. Here’s hoping an official release will be announced, for convenience and ease of access.

I don’t know a lot about Witch on the Holy Night, but the plot has something to do with magic and witches, and it sounds interesting enough for me to both be intrigued and want to support such an unexpected translation.

First Broccoli and now Type-Moon, in addition to all of the other “never ever” translations that have materialized lately. Who will be next?? (I’m still hoping RGG is the next one to join this list with translations of Kenzan and Ishin.)

Meanwhile, my site was recently included on a list of the Top 25 Visual Novel Blogs and Websites, so that’s pretty cool. I’ll keep on spreading the good word of visual novels.

What do you think about the surprise English translation news for Witch on the Holy Night?

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Kingdom Hearts IV Really Was Announced!

It actually happened!

Sure, I had Kingdom Hearts IV on my list of hopes and predictions for the weekend’s anniversary celebration, but I thought the best we could hope for was a title.

Instead, Square Enix officially announced Kingdom Hearts IV with a trailer and screenshots!

It is apparently part of the Lost Master Arc, so it seems we now have a title for the new story arc now that the Dark Seeker Saga is complete.

This news came as part of an anniversary trailer that also included an update about the finale of Dark Road, which is now set for August and looks like it should be quite exciting story-wise, as well as the announcement of a new mobile game called Missing Link.

(Kingdom Hearts IV starts at 4:06 in the trailer.)

Kingdom Hearts Missing Link appears to be set after the events of Union Cross. Despite being a mobile game, this one is 3D. It looks interesting, but I’m sure it will be another gacha game. A beta test for Missing Link will take place this year.

The Kingdom Hearts IV trailer begins with Sora waking up in Quadratum, which looks very much like our real world. Not only that, but Strelitzia is there with him! She refers to it as an “afterworld” for herself and Sora, which makes me wonder if people who die (or perhaps die in certain circumstances?) end up in Quadratum for some reason.

A giant Heartless appears in the streets, and Sora fights it. It actually shows gameplay for this part, although that might just be for demonstration purposes.

After the fight scene, we see two figures in black coats observing from above. Yes, two. One of them is probably the Master of Masters, but I’m curious about who the other is. Luxu shouldn’t be there, right? Luxord, maybe, or his Somebody?

The trailer ends with Donald and Goofy walking through a dark place before being confronted by someone indicated by blue fire, which probably means it’s Hades. (I’ve seen people say it sounds like his Japanese voice actor, too.) That would line up with the idea that they’re looking for help because Sora is “dead.”

Kingdom Hearts IV doesn’t have a release window yet, although I bet it won’t be as long as people are joking. I’m excited for this next game in the saga, and I can’t wait to learn more!

What are your thoughts on Kingdom Hearts Missing Link and Kingdom Hearts IV?

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Hopes and Predictions for the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Event

It’s almost upon us: the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary event will take place this weekend.

There won’t be any live stream to watch, but if any exciting information is revealed, we should hear word from people attending the event in person.

On March 28, the actual anniversary itself, Nomura shared the in-progress 20th anniversary art being prepared for the event. That’s all we know, but of course there are plenty of hopes and predictions.

So here are some possibilities for what could come out of the anniversary event…

Kingdom Hearts Steam Ports

This feels like the most likely prediction to me. The Kingdom Hearts series came to PC last year, but only via the Epic Games Store. Since other EGS exclusive have had exclusivity periods of a year, a lot of people think Steam versions could be announced soon.

That doesn’t personally matter to me too much, but I know many fans are hoping for it, and it seems like the safest bet.

Dark Road Finale Update

When Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road went offline, we were supposed to get the conclusion to the story in a finale update later on. However, the conclusion was delayed to winter, and then delayed again, this time due to a “major scenario addition.”

I’m not the biggest fan of mobile games, but I was interested in Dark Road’s story. I’m looking forward to when we finally get that finale update, so here’s hoping some news is on the way.

Next Kingdom Hearts Game

Finally, the least-likely-yet-not-impossible prediction for the anniversary event is the announcement of the next entry in the Kingdom Hearts series. They did say 2022 would be a good year for Kingdom Hearts, and we’re getting far enough along to hope for at least a teaser of the next game.

Kingdom Hearts 4 was also on the list from the Nvidia leak, which so far has proven to be pretty accurate. I don’t know if the next game will actually be Kingdom Hearts 4, but that lends support to the idea.

I’d absolutely love it if the next entry in the series was announced during the 20th Anniversary celebration.

Of course, there’s also the fear of another mobile game being announced…

What do you think will happen at the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary event? Will one of these announcements be made? Will something entirely different be announced? Will there be no game-related news at all? We’ll find out soon enough.

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Let’s Talk About Yurukill: The Calumniation Games

One upcoming game we haven’t talked about yet that has intrigued me for a while now is Yurukill: The Calumniation Games.

As described on the official website, you play a character falsely accused of killing 21 people, now imprisoned and forced to play a game to win your freedom.

It’s a mystery game that features puzzles, cross-examinations, and…

…shoot ’em up segments.

That’s the one thing that has kept me from making up my mind about Yurukill just yet. The story and overall style looks like my sort of thing, and I like that sort of death game/escape game premise, but I’ve never been a big shoot ’em up fan.

Still, it’s an unusual combination and the game seems pretty interesting. A new story trailer came out today, which is what caught my attention.

It will be out on May 25 in Japan, July 5 in North America, and July 8 in Europe, for PS5, PS4, and Switch, with a PC version to follow sometime as well.

What do you think of Yurukill: The Calumniation Games? Are you planning to pick it up?

(In unrelated news, the replacement of the broken mobile Phoenix Wright Trilogy with a better port has now been confirmed for the west as well, but I didn’t think that warranted its own post.)

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