Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 78

Melody of Memory: A Celebration of Kingdom Hearts

Over the weekend, I finished Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, the Kingdom Hearts rhythm game that came out for the Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.

(I played the Switch version because I like the convenience of playing handheld.)

Going into Melody of Memory, fans had a lot of questions. How much new story content would there be? Is it worth buying? Do you need to play it to stay up to date on the series?

In short, I would say this: if you love rhythm games and Kingdom Hearts music, it’s worth it. If you’re only interested in the new story content, you’re probably better off looking up the scenes. Melody of Memory is about 95% rhythm game, 5% new story… but what new story content it does have will probably be very important to the series going forward.

Since I played Re:Mind, I knew that the basic story premise for Melody of Memory is that Kairi is going back through her memories for any clues about finding Sora. It’s a good thing I knew this ahead of time, because the game doesn’t bring that up until the end. It doesn’t frame the story at all, just throws you right into the rhythm game like there is nothing else. I’d imagine the ending must have felt like it came out of nowhere to anyone who didn’t have that context.

If you’re a rhythm game fan, there’s a lot of content here. It retreads every Kingdom Hearts game except the mobile games, generally with two songs per world, plus additional songs for key moments, bosses, etc.

…Until you get to the Kingdom Hearts III section, which has one song per world, plus the songs for the ending scenes. It really surprised me that Kingdom Hearts III got substantially less content here than the other major games, but it might be because the presentation is different.

Most of the songs in the “World Tour” (story mode) have you running along a track, hitting the correct buttons to the beat to defeat enemies that appear. There are a handful of boss fights that include different mechanics and show a boss fight from the series in the background, with the rhythm game determining how well you attack or defend. But the Kingdom Hearts III Disney worlds all use the “Memory Dive” format instead, where you play a sequence similar to the boss fights while cutscenes from the game play in the background.

This format is also used for certain songs you can unlock for the Track Selection mode, but it felt odd that World Tour went to that only for Kingdom Hearts III. I guess they wanted to show off the cutscenes.

Anyway, as you progress through worlds, you’ll occasionally get a cutscene that summarizes part of the game in question. This is not gradual, so I wouldn’t say it’s a good way for someone new to the series to get a recap.

However, as a celebration of the series for someone who is already a fan, it’s fun, and it reminded me that I really love Kingdom Hearts music. I’m surprised it took them this long to make a rhythm game.

Then once you get to the end of the World Tour, you finally reach the new story content that shows where the series is going next. I’d say it takes about an hour, and it’s very interesting. Part of it involves Kairi’s memory of her past in Radiant Garden, covering the events previously only ever referenced in Ansem’s Reports, and the rest takes place after the end of Re:Mind, dealing with the results of the characters’ search for Sora… and it’s going in wild directions that left me very excited for the next game in the series.

I am never getting off this wild ride.

Once again, if you’re looking for a celebration of Kingdom Hearts and its music, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is worth playing. If you’re interested in the story, you need to at least look it up to see what’s going on. As for me, I can’t wait for more!

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The Game Awards 2020 Highlights

The Game Awards 2020 were last night, and as usual, I mainly tuned in for the announcements (although I was pleased to see Final Fantasy VII Remake and Hades win some awards).

Let’s start with a few things that weren’t at the Game Awards.

There was no new trailer for Bayonetta 3. It has been three years since Bayonetta 3 was announced, without a single trailer or update since then beyond assurances that it’s going well.

There was no new trailer for Elden Ring, either, despite the game being far enough along in development that Phil Spencer was able to play “quite a bit” of it last month.

And the highly-rumored new Silent Hill game did not make an appearance. You’d think this would quiet down the rumors, but I’ve already seen supposed insiders who reported it would be at the Game Awards now claiming Sony decided to postpone the news.

Anyway, let’s move on to the biggest highlights from what was shown at the Game Awards 2020.

Once again, there was no clear distinction between the pre-show, which included award announcements and world premiere trailers, and the actual Game Awards show, which included award announcements and world premiere trailers. Both also had concerts, with the pre-show having a Persona 5 Strikers performance of “Last Surprise,” which I enjoyed.

We got to see a new trailer for the Nier Replicant remaster (which I’ve linked instead of embedding because the trailer is age-restricted and can only be viewed on Youtube, for some reason), and it looks so good. The combat looks fast and fluid and the game just looks great overall.

Moving on, I’m not a Super Smash Bros. player, but the surprise announcement of Sephiroth as the next Smash character was interesting, to say the least.

A new Perfect Dark game is in development, the first new entry since 2005, although there was a remaster of the original in 2010. I’ve never played them, but it’s neat to see a series like that being revived.

There’s also a new horror game coming out called The Callisto Protocol. It’s from the creator of Dead Space, and it looks like it could be interesting. Some sites are reporting that it’s set in the same universe as PUBG, which is a bit of an odd choice if true.

The next big highlight for me was when we finally got a trailer for the next Dragon Age!

Apparently “Dragon Age: The Dread Wolf Rises” isn’t its title after all, since the trailer just calls it Dragon Age. It still doesn’t really show a lot, but this is the most we’ve seen from it so far. Varric is back, and it sounds like we’ll have a new protagonist again.

After a lot of game announcements and updates that don’t particular interest me, we got a new trailer for Scarlet Nexus. My interest in Scarlet Nexus has been steadily increasing, especially because the team working on it previously worked on Tales games such as Vesperia (which I still need to play).

For some reason, the Game Awards trailer only shows Xbox, even though Scarlet Nexus is also coming to PS4, PS5, and PC. I guess Xbox has the marketing rights or something. Scarlet Nexus is due out in Summer 2021, and I’m looking forward to it!

Eventually there was a montage of games coming to Xbox Game Pass, and there near the end was Yakuza 3 Remastered, Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, and Yakuza 6. No big announcement, just quietly included in the Game Pass trailer, and RGG Studio confirmed that yes, Yakuza 3-6 are coming to Xbox and PC.

(It’s kind of funny that we got more Yakuza news from the Game Awards than from the anniversary live stream.)

I have them all on PS4, but I was excited to see this announcement because now even more people can play the Yakuza series!

Getting back to the game announcements, I’m still somewhat intrigued by Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, despite having no interest in League of Legends. It’s being developed by the same team that made Battle Chasers: Nightwar, and it pretty much looks just like it. Since I enjoyed Battle Chasers, I might get this one as well.

And finally, the last big reveal was a teaser trailer for the next Mass Effect game.

It’s very short, but it seems to imply this game will be a direct sequel to one of the Mass Effect 3 endings. That’s curious, especially since the previous Mass Effect tease showed what appeared to be an angara.

I’m not sure how to feel about the new Mass Effect (which has no official title so far). If Dragon Age is in my “cautiously optimistic” category, Mass Effect fits in there even more firmly.

I want to believe they’ll both be good games, but I just don’t know.

Anyway, Nier and Scarlet Nexus were the major highlights for me despite being already announced, and I was pleased to see the Yakuza news. What were your favorite parts of the Game Awards 2020? Did we all collectively hallucinate Bayonetta 3 three years ago? Do you think the new Dragon Age and Mass Effect games will be good? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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No Yakuza Game Announcements, Next Game in Development

I really expected to be discussing a newly-announced Yakuza game after yesterday’s anniversary live stream.

When there were no new games announced at TGS and the producer said projects were underway for the anniversary, fans already guessed the next game would be announced then.

And so when the live stream announcement said it would include a look at future plans, everyone pretty much assumed they would reveal a new game.

I predicted a new spin-off or Kenzan Kiwami, and I went to sleep Monday night thinking that I’d be happy no matter what they announced.

…Well, I didn’t anticipate that they wouldn’t announce any game at all.

You can read a nice recap of the event from DualShockers, but basically they discussed various things about the series (like how Dead Souls was almost about aliens; I’ll take an alien invasion Yakuza spin-off, thank you), announced Yakuza cologne and other collaborations, and revealed the Japanese PS5 release of Yakuza 7.

In his closing comments, however, director Toshihiro Nagoshi did confirm that the next game is currently in development.

I was really looking forward to the next game to be announced, but I have so many Yakuza games to catch up on that I can’t be too disappointed. Besides, this longer gap between titles might provide enough space for the localization team to work on Ishin!

(Please.)

Here’s hoping we get some exciting announcements for other series from the Game Awards tomorrow, the Tales anniversary live stream, and Falcom Day.

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El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron Coming to Steam

Today, it was quietly revealed that El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is coming to Steam.

I say “quietly” because there wasn’t a big announcement of an El Shaddai PC port/remaster or a press release or anything, just the game’s director casually tweeting that he’s working on the Steam version and plans to include dual audio.

I’ve been interested in El Shaddai for a while. It’s an action game originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 with a story inspired by the Book of Enoch.

It sounds pretty cool, but I missed it when it first came out.

I was actually looking at copies of El Shaddai on Ebay earlier this year, but I decided to hold off on ordering anything until after the pandemic ends. Now I’m especially glad I waited!

Have you played El Shaddai? Are you interested in the upcoming PC version? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Persona 5 Strikers (aka Scramble) Release Date

After great excitement when Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers localization was included in a financial report, followed by concern when no official announcement came and it was absent from the next financial report, we finally have news!

Persona 5 Scramble, apparently titled Persona 5 Strikers for the west, will be released for the Switch, PS4, and PC on February 23, 2021.

The addition of a PC version (via Steam) is new, but it lines up with reports that Sega wanted to release more PC ports after the success of Persona 4 Golden on Steam.

Anyway, the trailer was taken down after fans discovered it, but you can find a copy of it in the announcement article from Gematsu.

It was most likely uploaded too early and will be officially announced soon, maybe at the Game Awards.

Persona 5 Strikers is a spin-off/sequel story that takes place after the events of Persona 5. It is a hack-and-slash action RPG developed by Koei Tecmo in the style of the Warriors games.

I’ve been looking forward to Persona 5 Strikers since I loved Persona 5. Now, I still haven’t played my copy of Persona 5 Royal, so I might do that first… although I’ve heard Strikers is a follow-up to the regular Persona 5, without acknowledging the characters/events that were added in Royal.

Either way, I’m excited we finally have confirmation of Persona 5 Strikers coming to the west! 2021 is shaping up to be a great year for JRPGs!

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Yakuza is a Christmas Series

December is here, and you might be looking for a good game to play for Christmas!

There aren’t a lot of holiday games out there… but what about the Yakuza series?

I referenced Yakuza being a Christmas series in my Yakuza Kiwami 2 review earlier this year, and now that the holiday season is upon us again, let’s take a closer look!

Yakuza 0 is an incredible game and the ideal place to start the series, and it’s also set in December. Christmas doesn’t come up often, but there are a handful of references to it.

Next we have Yakuza Kiwami. This remake of the first game (another good starting point) is also set around Christmas, and in addition to Christmas decorations, many of the stores play Christmas music.

It’s a little thing, but it made me happy every time I walked into a store and heard Christmas music in the background.

Yakuza Kiwami 2, the remake of the second game, is yet another Yakuza game that takes place in December and has holiday themes. The screenshot at the top of this post is from an area of Kamurocho decorated for Christmas. At one point, you’re even tasked with finding Santa Claus!

(One of the girls in the gravure studio mini-game also has a Santa costume and wishes you a Merry Christmas.)

Apparently the original Yakuza 2 used “Silent Night” for its ending credits, too, but that was removed from the remake for some reason.

Now I’ve only started playing the Yakuza Remastered Collection, but it doesn’t seem as though Yakuza 3 is set around Christmas. However, Yakuza 5 must be, since I’ve seen clips of one of the protagonists dressed as Santa Claus.

And let’s not forget that despite what you might expect, they tend to have themes about generosity and helping people, perfect for the holiday season!

I’m not sure about Yakuza 4, 6, or 7 (aka Like a Dragon), so I’ll update this page later on if need be. But since Yakuza 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, and 5 are all set around Christmas, I maintain that Yakuza is an excellent Christmas series!

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The Good Life New Trailer, Release Window

It’s been a while since we discussed Swery’s upcoming photography murder mystery game The Good Life, but it now has a new trailer and release window.

The Good Life is being published by The Irregular Corporation, and they announced that it will be coming to the PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in summer 2021.

The Steam page is now live as well.

Now, let’s take a look at the trailer.

The trailer gives a good look at its quirky atmosphere and some of the gameplay in both human and cat form, and it looks pretty interesting. I’m a little worried about the frame rate, though.

Things like a game’s frame rate aren’t usually a big deal to me, but it’s noticeable in the trailer that the frame rate isn’t great during the gameplay sections. And since this is a trailer, I have to worry about how its performance will be in the full game itself.

I backed The Good Life on Kickstarter, so I’ll have a copy when it releases to see how it turns out. What do you think of the latest trailer for The Good Life?

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I Finally Plunged Into the Suspenseful Mysteries of Danganronpa

One series I’d been intending to try for ages is Danganronpa. Murder mysteries, investigations and trials, it sounded like my sort of thing, but I never got around to it.

Well, one of this year’s Celebrating All Things Spooky contest winners chose a game for me to review as his prize, and he picked Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

In Danganronpa, you play a boy named Makoto who is selected to attend an elite school, but when he gets there, he finds himself trapped along with his classmates and forced to participate in a deadly game. They’re told that if anyone can successfully kill another student and get away with it, they will be allowed to leave. If not, they have to stay there forever.

Of course, it isn’t long before a student turns up dead.

Similar to games like Ace Attorney, Danganronpa is essentially a cross between a visual novel and an adventure game. There are long stretches of time that are solely story-driven, but at other points you’re set loose to explore and investigate.

Once you’ve gathered all the evidence for a case, the “class trial” begins. Unlike Ace Attorney, these trials involved much more action. Pieces of evidence become “bullets” that you shoot at contradictory statements while the text is on-screen. I’m not crazy about my ability to solve a case being dependent on my shooting skills, but the game gives you enough time that it isn’t too reliant on fast reflexes.

At other points you’ll have to shoot letters to spell out a key word to answer a question, and there are also rhythm game confrontations. Of everything, the rhythm game parts are the ones I liked the least, but I endured them.

(Fortunately, if you lose all of your health and get a game over, you can restart from right ahead of where you failed.)

In between each case, you get a few “free time” sections. These sections let you pick a character to spend time with and learn more about them, which also unlocks optional skills to help you in trials.

I liked the characters, and I enjoyed solving the cases (especially as they got crazier and more convoluted later in the game), but what I really loved the most was the overarching mystery. Why are they trapped at this school? Who is the mastermind behind Monokuma, the robotic bear overseeing the game (who fortunately isn’t as annoying as I feared, considering my general dislike of “cute” mascot characters)? What is really going on?

I loved thinking over every clue and developing theories about the overarching story. Sure, I predicted some things that weren’t revealed until the game was almost over, but it was still fun to watch them finally come to light.

Danganronpa also did a great job of building up an “anyone can die” atmosphere. By the second case, I was already looking at each character anxiously, wondering if one of my favorites would survive through to the next one or not. It made everything feel that much more suspenseful.

Aside from one particularly annoying point in a case that involved a drawn-out debate to prove something that could have been resolved with a single sentence, I had a great time playing Danganronpa. I’m not going to start the next one immediately, but I’m looking forward to playing the sequel when I finally do get there.

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Hopes and Predictions for Upcoming Game Events

This week’s incredible announcement of NEO: The World Ends With You might only be the beginning of the exciting game announcements we have to discuss.

There are a surprising number of game events coming up as we approach the end of the year, so let’s take a look!

December 8 – Yakuza 15th Anniversary Live Stream

Our next big event is on December 18, when Sega will host a special live stream to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Yakuza series. In addition to celebrating the existing games, it will also include announcements about future plans.

It’s probably too early to hear about Yakuza 8 so soon after the last main entry, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they announce a new spin-off. (Personally, I’m hoping for Judgment 2.) It also would be a great chance for them to announce the hypothetical Kenzan Kiwami, which would also increase our chances of getting Kenzan in English.

…But let’s face it, no matter what they announce, I’ll almost certainly be excited for it. The series is that good.

December 10 – The Game Awards 2020

Two days later, 2020’s Game Awards ceremony will take place. The Game Awards always includes some new game announcements, and this one will supposedly feature the announcement of the rumored Silent Hill reboot.

It was also at the Game Awards in 2017 that Bayonetta 3 was first announced. After all this time, will we finally get a new trailer?

December 11-13 – Granblue Fantasy Fes 2020

Just a day after that is the start of Granblue Fantasy Fes 2020. It will run from the 11th to the 13th, and Cygames announced back in August that more details about Granblue Fantasy: Relink will be coming at this event.

December 20 – Falcom Day

And then on December 20, Falcom will hold its recently-announced Falcom Day 2020 Winter.

It is believed that the next Trails game will be officially revealed during this event. I’m nowhere near caught up on the series (and I probably can’t even read much about the game without risking spoilers), but I’m particularly interested in learning what they have in mind for the new combat system.

Maybe we’ll get an Ys announcement, too, or a game in one of Falcom’s other series. A Gurumin sequel, anyone? Anyone?

??? – Tales 25th Anniversary Live Stream

Finally, the live stream for the 25th anniversary of the Tales series doesn’t have a date yet, but I’m still betting on sometime in December since the anniversary itself is December 15. I’m still greatly hoping for Tales of Arise news.

That’s a lot of video game events with potentially exciting announcements coming up before the end of the year! What are you looking forward to the most?

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TWEWY Sequel NEO: The World Ends With You Announced

IT’S REALLY HAPPENING!

The countdown ended this morning, and a sequel to The World Ends With You was officially revealed!

Titled NEO: The World Ends With You, it is a new action JRPG coming to the Switch and PS4 in Summer 2021.

Although it is set in Shibuya again, it follows a new protagonist named Rindo searching for the truth behind the Reaper’s Game he’s been forced to participate in.

A boy named Fret, a girl named Nagi, and returning character Minamimoto (playable?!) appear to be the other members of the main cast. Some new Reapers are shown, including a new Game Master named Shiba, and Kariya is also back.

Oh, and “Hype-chan” finally has a real name. The girl shown all those years ago in the sequel tease that came to nothing appears in the new trailer and introduces herself as Tsugumi Matsunae, although it’s not clear what her role will be.

NEO: The World Ends With You is a full 3D action JRPG, and while it’s hard to determine specific details about how the combat will work, there are pin icons visible at the bottom of the screen. Since this game is coming to the PS4 as well as the Switch, I assume it will have a more traditional control scheme than the original.

Meanwhile, the TWEWY anime also got a new trailer and will air in April 2021. With the anime in April and the game following in summer, it seems likely that the anime is intended to help get new fans into the series ahead of the sequel, especially since Nomura tweeted from the anime Twitter account that the new game is a sequel to the anime.

(Some people wonder if that means the anime’s story will deviate from the original game’s events, but so far it looks like a straight adaptation.)

I am beyond excited! We’re finally getting a TWEWY sequel. It’s really happening!

I suppose I ought to play through Final Remix to check out that new epilogue before Summer 2021, but either way, I can’t wait to learn more about NEO: The World Ends With You. What do you think of what we’ve seen so far?

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