Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 98

Snack World Localization, Project Resistance, and KH3 Re:Mind Trailer

We’ve got a round-up of announcements to talk about today, staring with The Snack World.

Localization of Level-5’s RPG The Snack World had been hinted at before, but now it seems all but confirmed. There hasn’t been an official announcement yet, but the ESRB has rated Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold for the Switch.

This is most likely the localization of The Snack World: Trejarers Gold, the Switch port of the original 3DS game.

“Trejarers Gold” might sound odd, but personally I like that title better than Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold. Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing more from Snack World.

Now let’s move on to Resident Evil. Remember the new Resident Evil game that was being tested? After a few more details came out, fans began to believe it was a new entry in the Resident Evil Outbreak spin-off series… but unfortunately, it’s not.

No, Project Resistance has now been revealed as a team-based horror game for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

It doesn’t quite look as action-focused as Operation Raccoon City (or Umbrella Corps, which I actually forgot all about until I saw someone else mention it), but it doesn’t look like Outbreak, either.

More information about Project Resistance will be shown at TGS, but right now I’m not too interested in this one.

So let’s talk about something I am interested in, Kingdom Hearts 3’s upcoming Re:Mind DLC!

As announced, a new trailer for the DLC came out today.

Warning: The trailer includes big spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III. Don’t watch the trailer if you haven’t finished Kingdom Hearts III.

The trailer doesn’t really clarify much about the DLC, but it does support my favorite theory about what the events will cover/explain. I’m looking forward to the Re:Mind DLC quite a bit, and I hope we get a release date soon!

I’m excited for Re:Mind, tentatively interested in Snack World, and… really not interested at all in Project Resistance so far. How do you feel about these three games?

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Snack World Localization, Project Resistance, and KH3 Re:Mind Trailer appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Xenoblade Chronicles is Coming to the Switch (With Restored Content?)

Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct closed with the announcement of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch.

I admit, I was a little disappointed at first. I love the original Xenoblade Chronicles, but I was hoping they’d announce a Switch port of Xenoblade Chronicles X, which deserves a second chance much like Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is getting.

And I really couldn’t see myself putting in another 100+ hours to replay Xenoblade, even with completely redone graphics. Graphics aren’t a big priority for me, so why would I get it when my Wii copy works just fine?

However, the announcement trailer ends with a glimpse of Shulk and Melia standing in a location that appears to be the Bionis’ Shoulder. (If you’re unfamiliar with the first Xenoblade, it takes place on the bodies of two giants.) Although shown in cutscenes in the original game, the Bionis’ Shoulder was otherwise cut content.

Since the unused map is still present on the game disc, fans discovered that the Shoulder is a massive area with villages, a lake, caves, and a huge walled city, among other unusual feature.

If the Bionis’ Shoulder has been restored for the Definitive Edition, that opens up a whole range of possibilities. Has the gameplay progression changed to have the player visit this area where it was originally intended to appear? Will there be new story content related to it? Or will it just be some sort of post-game area not included in the main story?

Xenoblade Chronicles is still a massive game to replay, but if there’s new content, especially if it ends up being new story content, I’m a whole lot more interested in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition than I was before.

(The Nintendo Direct also dropped a Deadly Premonition 2 sequel announcement on us without warning, and I’m really tempted to get the Switch version of the original Deadly Premonition once they get the reported audio bugs fixed. Aside from the bugs, the reception has been pretty positive.)

What about you? Are you getting Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition on the Switch? Do you think they’ll follow it with Xenoblade Chronicles X? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Xenoblade Chronicles is Coming to the Switch (With Restored Content?) appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Judgment: A Fantastic Story in a Fun World

Coming into 2019, Judgment was one of my most-anticipated games of the year.

And it delivered.

I finished Judgment yesterday after around 65 hours of playtime and walked away conflicted: I really want a sequel, but at the same time, I’m not sure they can top this story.

Judgment is a spin-off of the Yakuza series. You play as Yagami, a former lawyer who stopped practicing law after a client he got acquitted was then convicted of a second murder. Now a private detective, he finds himself searching for the truth as a string of murders leaves the city shaken.

Despite not being a Yakuza game, it plays a lot like a Yakuza game.

Yagami’s combat style is different (and this was my first game in the new Dragon Engine, which definitely took some getting used to), but the basic principles are the same, and the city is filled with mini-games and side content. My favorite was Dice & Cube, a Mario Party-like board game that I really hope returns in future entries.

There are a few additional gameplay elements since Yagami is a detective – investigating crime scenes, presenting evidence, tailing suspects, etc. This was great, but I felt a lot of it was underutilized. (Except for tailing, which got repetitive.) If they ever do make a sequel, I’d love to see them expand this aspect of the gameplay.

Instead of encountering sub-stories in the city like you would in a Yakuza game, here you take on side cases instead. Friendship events with characters throughout Kamurocho also provide smaller sub-story style experiences.

I felt it was a good balance, and while some of the side cases are just okay, others are insane and hilarious.

There’s really only one part of the gameplay I disliked, and that’s the Keihin Gang. Oh, the Keihin Gang. Partway through the game, you get on the bad side of this gang. From that point on, they routinely invade the city, causing a higher encounter rate and mini-bosses to appear. You either need to fight them or wait it out, and it happens so often it got annoying pretty fast.

Now let’s talk about the story. Judgment’s story is fantastic. It starts out pretty slow, but don’t let that turn you away. Once it gets going, it really gets intense and exciting.

Yagami is pretty different from Kiryu, but he’s a good protagonist. One thing I liked about him was that during the side cases, Yagami always had this look on his face like he couldn’t believe the absurd situations he gets mixed up in. The rest of the cast was great too, and the antagonists cover a wonderful range of sympathetic, realistic, and terrifying.

Click for major Judgment spoilersMorita, for example, enabled awful things to happen… but when I heard the story of his past and what happened to his family, I felt bad for him. I understood why he was trying to protect AD-9.

One concern I had was that with how much build-up the story gave “the Mole” (the serial killer Yagami is hunting), I wasn’t sure he could live up to it. I’ve noticed that sometimes a story builds up such a sense of mystery and danger around a character that once they’re actually revealed, they aren’t as impressive anymore. That wasn’t the case here. He lived up to it. Judgment handled the whole thing beautifully.

Click for major Judgment spoilersEvery moment from his first actual introduction (as the Mole) is golden, from the way he calmly shoots the people around him while trying to kill Hamura, to the casual little smirk he gives Kaito and Higashi when they’re watching him from the van, to the final battle with him where you really see his fighting skills.

I found him frightening in a way I didn’t with the villains of Yakuza 0 or Kiwami.

Also, is it coincidence or sneaky foreshadowing that the very first time the game tells us about the Mole, it’s accompanied by a scene of Kuroiwa examining the victim? Either way, I like it.

Everything came together in a fantastic way, and the finale kept me engrossed until the very end. While I enjoyed Yakuza 0 more overall, I think I actually liked Judgment’s story more.

There are so many more things I could praise about the story and characters, but instead I’ll end by saying this: if you like the Yakuza series, detective games, or just a good story, you really should check out Judgment.

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Judgment: A Fantastic Story in a Fun World appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Kingdom Hearts: DLC Trailer, KHUX Updates, and a “Third Line” Coming Soon

Get ready, because we have a lot of Kingdom Hearts news coming up.

First, a new trailer for the Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC “Re:Mind” has been announced for September 9. Hopefully it will shed a little more light on what we can expect.

But that’s only the start.

As we speculated last week, a special Keyblade War event has begun in the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts Union Cross. It appears to be a standalone event, rather than specifically coming up in the story, at least for now.

It’s the 4th anniversary of KHUX in Japan, and Nomura released a special message about it, translated here by KH Insider.

Nomura has been working on the main scenario of Union Cross, and four story updates are planned for October. He shared two screenshots related to the first two of these updates.

The first one appears to be the Master of Masters talking to Luxu, telling him something about when he (the Master) was a child. The second shows Ava meeting with Brain, who says her message has been received. Both of these are significant, the first because it sounds like we’ll be learning about the Master of Masters’s past, and the second because it implies Ava chose Brain after all.

Click for KHUX spoilersEver since Brain was confirmed to be the “virus” in the system, it seemed clear he was the impostor union leader who took Strelitzia’s place… but if Ava chose him, then the actual impostor (and possibly murderer) is most likely someone else.

Of course I’ll be speculating about this in more detail over at my Kingdom Hearts theory site.

Finally, Nomura gave a general update on his current progress: he’s finished the Re:Mind scenario and the first two KHUX story updates, but before he returns to working on the rest, he needs to work on a “mystery request” related to “a yet-unannounced 3rd ‘line’ of KH.”

What does that mean?

A third line of Kingdom Hearts sounds like it could be something separate from the console games and the mobile game (if we take those to be the first two lines, which is my theory).

Is it a game? A parallel universe? Something related to the new Kingdom Hearts novel series from Scholastic?

Whatever it is, it sounds like we have a lot of exciting Kingdom Hearts updates to look forward to. Oh, and Nomura mentioned that “mind boggling” changes might be on the way to KHUX, giving only the hint “double feature.”

What do you think Nomura is talking about? What will the “3rd line” of Kingdom Hearts be? Are you looking forward to the Re:Mind DLC trailer? Share all your thoughts in the comments below, and join me in my current Kingdom Hearts confusion/speculation (the natural state for Kingdom Hearts fans).

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Kingdom Hearts: DLC Trailer, KHUX Updates, and a “Third Line” Coming Soon appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Yakuza 7 Revealed… With Turn-Based Combat?

Yesterday, the next Yakuza game was finally revealed. Shin Yakuza will be officially titled Yakuza 7: Whereabouts of Light and Darkness in Japan, with the western release dropping the number to call it Yakuza: Like a Dragon (that won’t be confusing at all) and it’s due out next year.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a turn-based RPG that follows Ichiban–wait, wait, wait, what?

Yes, Sega took everyone by surprise by revealing that the next Yakuza game will no longer have the brawler-style action combat the series has used in the past, but will instead have a “live command RPG battle” system where you select commands from menus. A turn-based combat system had been shown on April 1, but everyone thought it was a joke.

I’m baffled.

After so many series have switched from turn-based combat to action, it’s actually happened in the other direction. Yakuza has become a turn-based RPG.

This has not gone over well with fans.

On one hand, I have to admit I’m looking forward to it because I love turn-based RPGs. On the other hand, I don’t like seeing a game change such a core part of its gameplay. In debates about games like Final Fantasy XV and the Final Fantasy VII Remake, I always said I’d be opposed to it happening the other way around too.

And here we are.

【龍が如く7 記者発表会】
バトルの映像を少しお届け！
周囲の環境や物を使ったおなじみの要素は、リアルタイムの物理演算によって取り入れている。
周囲の環境も汲みながらコマンド選択をしていくことが楽しいバトルに！#龍が如く #龍が如く7 pic.twitter.com/UWAM1TEa6u

— GAME Watch (@game_watch) August 29, 2019

Today, they went into more detail about how the combat will work, as outlined here by Gematsu.

Although it is turn-based, characters and enemies will remain in motion during combat, attacks can be interrupted, and the situation will make different attacks available by making use of the Dragon Engine system. For example, you can pick up a bicycle and attack with it on your turn.

It sounds as though they might be trying a hybrid system, but it’s difficult to judge until we see it in motion.

The director has said if fans really don’t like it, they’ll change it back for future games. I find it refreshing to see a developer wanting to experiment but being openly willing to go back if it’s not a popular decision.

Like the Final Fantasy VII Remake, I’m certainly still planning to buy Yakuza: Like a Dragon, even as I question this decision.

Anyway, let’s move on from the controversial combat system to talk about the game’s story. Yakuza: Like a Dragon follows Ichiban Kasuga, who goes to prison for 18 years to take the fall for someone else, only to find once he gets out that things have significantly changed.

But even though things start in Kamurocho, that’s not where the game is set. Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes place in Yokohama, in a district called Isezaki Ijincho that will be three times the size of Kamurocho. I hope it doesn’t start to feel too open-world… but I’m confident that they’ll keep the usual Yakuza feel.

The story trailer got me pretty interested in the game. I wasn’t sure how Ichiban would be as a protagonist, but I like him so far. He’s a video game fan, too, and they even got permission to directly mention Dragon Quest.

(Some fans have speculated that the turn-based combat system is because Ichiban imagines fights as though they’re turn-based RPGs.)

So overall, I’m excited for the next Yakuza game… even though I don’t quite know what to make of the combat change.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be out on January 16 in Japan and later in 2020 in the west.

What do you think about Yakuza: Like a Dragon? Do you think dropping the numbers in the west while Japan calls it Yakuza 7 is a good move or one that will cause confusion? How do you feel about the new turn-based combat system? Am I a hypocrite for objecting to combat changes in games like this and the Final Fantasy VII Remake but buying them anyway? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Yakuza 7 Revealed… With Turn-Based Combat? appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Telltale Games is Coming Back (Sort Of)

Last year, Telltale Games shut down and all of its upcoming games except for the final season of The Walking Dead were cancelled, but now it’s coming back!

Sort of.

LCG Entertainment announced that it has bought Telltale’s assets and IPs and will operate as Telltale Games to release the studio’s back catalog and develop new games.

It’s a bit strange since the original Telltale Games is gone. This is essentially a new developer using the same name. However, their press release says they’ll be hiring or contracting “key talent from the original company.”

In an interview with GameDaily, they went into more detail about how they intend to revive the brand and avoid the original company’s mistakes by not taking on too much at once. It sounds like their focus early on will be to take things slowly enough to get Telltale back on its feet. They also plan to both use the Telltale Tool and transition to new technology.

Personally, I hope this means The Wolf Among Us 2 has a chance to come out after all. The Wolf Among Us is one of the properties they’ve acquired, and it’s the sequel I was looking forward to the most.

Will it feel the same with a new Telltale Games at the helm? I don’t know. But at least now there’s hope that it could still be developed!

How do you feel about the revival of this new Telltale Games? What announcements are you hoping to see? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Telltale Games is Coming Back (Sort Of) appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

“The Time to Remember” is Approaching in KHUX

We haven’t talked about Kingdom Hearts Union χ in a long time, partly because I’ve long since stopped playing it.

However, I’ve still been keeping up with the story updates (of the Japanese version, since it’s well ahead of the English version) and now it seems like something big is being teased.

The official Twitter account recently said “The time to remember is arriving” and “History will soon unfold.” Meanwhile, fans have noticed ads on Crunchyroll showing what appears to be the Keyblade War.

If you haven’t been keeping up with KHUX’s story, the basic premise for the split from the original browser game is that the characters were taken into a new realm with their memories rewritten so they don’t know the Keyblade War occurred.

This sounds like the player character might be about to remember the Keyblade War, possibly making it a playable section of the game for the first time. Of course, the strange part is that this is apparently being teased for the English version of the game, even though the story is further ahead in Japan.

Is it coming to the Japanese version first and it’s just being teased because it’s such a big event? Is it a bonus scenario coming to the English version since we never had the browser game?

Right now it’s unclear, but between this and the upcoming release of the Kingdom Hearts χ novel, maybe the mobile game’s story is about to be tied up in preparation for the future of the saga.

Personally, I still think Kingdom Hearts Union χ should be remade as a console game once its story is complete, so we can play through the events free of the mobile game structure, but that might be asking too much. In the meantime, what do you think the game is teasing?

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post “The Time to Remember” is Approaching in KHUX appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Parachronism: Order of Chaos is Now on Steam

In all the excitement with various reviews, Yakuza news, and everything else this month, I almost forgot to announce that Parachronism: Order of Chaos now has a page on Steam.

For those of you who weren’t following my blog way back in 2015, Parachronism: Order of Chaos was the first video game project I was hired to work on.

Now, after many changes and updates, it is finally nearing completion with a whole new art style and other improvements.

Parachronism is an action RPG with life sim elements about a girl who finds herself transported back in time to a strange land where she is recognized as the fugitive princess of the Western Sea Kingdom, on the run after the Eastern Sea Kingdom attacked the palace.

The life sim elements include time management, relationship-building, a day/night cycle, and more.

This is one of the projects that really helped me get my start as a freelancer, so it’s a strange, wonderful feeling to see it finally nearing completion. If Parachronism: Order of Chaos sounds interesting to you, be sure to check it out on Steam.

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Parachronism: Order of Chaos is Now on Steam appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Yakuza 3-5 Remasters Coming West as the Yakuza Remastered Collection

After rumors that the Yakuza 3 remaster would be revealed for the West at Gamescom, yesterday’s Yakuza news was better than we could have imagined with the announcement of the Yakuza Remastered Collection.

Yes, the remasters of Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5 have all been confirmed. The Yakuza Remastered Collection is available now digitally from the PlayStation Store. Not only that, but Yakuza 3 is out now, with Yakuza 4 to follow on October 29 and Yakuza 5 on February 11.

It seems there’s no way to purchase them individually, which is a bit odd. Maybe that will become possible in the future.

There was also excellent news for fans like me who prefer physical copies. Physical copies of the Yakuza Remastered Collection will be available on February 11 as well, and it even includes an empty Yakuza 5 PS3 case for collectors (as Yakuza 5 was originally digital-only in the west).

An Amazon page is up for the physical collection, but it’s not available to preorder yet.

Check out the trailer.

Now, are these remasters identical to the PS3 releases? No, it’s been confirmed that there are many improvements, including a redone localization (fixing odd translation/localization choices in the original) and the restoration of cut content.

I believe a couple of small things were cut for the remaster of Yakuza 3 itself, but basically the western version of the remaster will have all the content present in the Japanese version of the remaster, which is a lot more than was in the original western version.

Finally, localization of the spin-off Yakuza Ishin is reported to be “under consideration,” with the main holdup being that they don’t know if the West would be interested in the setting. All we have to do now is convince them that samurai games are popular.

So yesterday was a pretty exciting day for Yakuza fans, and don’t forget that information about Shin Yakuza will be revealed on August 29!

I’m waiting for the physical release of the Yakuza Remastered Collection, which is fine since I still need to finish Judgment and play Kiwami 2 before I’ll be ready for Yakuza 3 anyway. What about you? Will you be picking up the Yakuza remasters?

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Yakuza 3-5 Remasters Coming West as the Yakuza Remastered Collection appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.

Shadows of Adam is a Short, Fun JRPG Throwback

Over the weekend, I finished playing Shadows of Adam, an indie RPG I backed on Kickstarter.

It’s one of those games intended to feel like a throwback to classic JRPGs, and in a lot of ways, this one really does.

Shadows of Adam follows a boy named Kellan and a girl named Asrael who leave the small town of Adam in search of Kellan’s missing father when a dark power begins to stir. It’s a turn-based RPG with a few twists, such as a percentage-based AP system that is partly restored each round. Enemies appear on the field, and some of the battles can get fairly tough.

I’ve played a few of these JRPG-inspired games now, and Shadows of Adam is definitely one of the better ones. It has some of the heart and soul they often seem to lack. The soundtrack was also pretty catchy.

Now, the story was fairly simple and its nods to classic JRPGs might have gone a bit too far with one obviously-Kefka-inspired villain, but the plot was enjoyable enough and kept me interested. I cared about the main characters, and it took the time to give each of them backstory and make me want to care.

(And I have to admit, while Kefka’s influence on Malvil was blatant enough to take me by surprise, he did make me laugh.)

Shadows of Adam is a short game. I finished it in just under 16 hours, and that’s on the longer end. Most of that was fairly linear plot progression, which I found stronger than when it did open up near the end for a few side quests. Despite the fast pace, it felt complete and I enjoyed it.

We briefly discussed Shadows of Adam last month when the developers announced two new games, and now that I’ve finished it, I’m more interested than ever in seeing how their next games turn out.

Here’s hoping it retains or even improves on the classic JRPG feel of Shadows of Adam.

Shadows of Adam is available on Steam and recently saw a Switch release as well. If you’ve played it, what are your thoughts? How do you think it stacks up against similar indie games?

Like this post? Tell your friends!







And if you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to share it with your social networks! The post Shadows of Adam is a Short, Fun JRPG Throwback appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.