It's a thread! (Games discussion, etc.)

[Moge]

I watched a few trailers from the Nindies Direct. I'm still salivating at the mouth to play Metal Slug Tactics. That games does a much better job at capturing the spirit of its property than Advance Wars (which i'm also looking forward to). Having just got into Jet Set Radio last year (was almost my GOTY), Bomb Rush Cyberfunk interests me since Sega has no intention of making a sequel. Bomb Rush is also a 2022 release.

This year is looking pretty barren in terms of major first-party releases. Halo, Horizon, and Metroid will have to carry this year. Feels nostalgic to see a Metroid sequel and a Halo sequel releasing in the same year again. It happened with Prime 2 and Halo 2 (2004), and again with Prime 3 and Halo 3 (2007).

[JG]

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk also reminded me a lot of Sunset Overdrive - at least all the rail skating to move around. I didn't think of Jet Set Radio on Wednesday but you're totally right.

Given that this year has been so light on first party releases (and will continue to be so until for a while), its another good year for some indie games to make a big impact (like last year's Hades). Bomb Rush Cyberfunk and Metal Gear Tactics were the only two I saw that had potential to do so, but they're coming too late. By the time they launch we'll be seeing the first party titles coming back into play. Cyberfunk doesn't really appeal to me much but MGT might have, had it arrived this year during the desert we're currently mired in. By the time it comes, Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope may already be out and probably be the better of the two tactics-style shooters.

[JG]

A little pissed at SquareEnix the last few days.

They've had their fingers in their ears the last few years in regards to their western fan base, ignoring major problems like the DQB2 PC version's fatal saving bug, and refusing to acknowledge that PS4 and Switch players haven't gotten access to DLC that Steam, Xbox, and Japanese players all have. They finally came out of their shell with the 35th Anniversary presentation in May, inviting western audiences ot find out about upcoming DQ games at the same time as the Japanese.

And now, they've offered an English-language survey to get input from English-speaking audience. https://www.facebook.com/DragonQuest/posts/4403461769711398
Unfortunately, it's mostly a questionnaire to see which previous DQ games are most popular, based on which ones have been played, which were played first, which ones are favorites etc.

The real kicker comes on question 29 (of 30) where they ask what upcoming DQ games shown during the 25th Anniversary presentation are you most excited about, and list DQ12, Eraser, Treasures, and the DQ3 HD-2D Remake. Notably absent is Dragon Quest X Offline. SquareEnix just tipped its hand that it has no intention to localize this game to English, despite doing the hard work of removing the MMO element of an MMORPG, which was the main hurdle preventing localization of the Online version. Barring DQ12, which is likely another year or two off, this is clearly the game western audiences want the most. I'm sure Eraser and Treasures have a small niche of fans, and the DQ3 remake will reengage some players or bring in some new ones but we've had that story for a while. DQX is a new story, badly needed in the west to make sense of the greater mythos. But it seems fingers have gone back into ears.

[Moge]

As much as i like Square, they make a whole lot of head scratching decisions. The remaster of Crystal Chronicles was incredibly underwhelming and didn't address its biggest issues, Balan Wonder World was full of jank, the awful font in the FF Pixel Remasters that fortunately can be easily fan fixed, Nier Automata on Steam FINALLY getting a patch to address its launch issues, etc..

I would very much like to see DQ 10 get an official localization. I've heard so many good things about the numerous stories in the game. Hope it doesn't have to come to fans having to make an unofficial translation, but i will say Square has been good about localizing its obscure games as of late, like the Saga games.

[JG]

Well I get why it didn't happen before. SquareEnix always intended for the story to be episodic, which meant if they were going to support localization they'd be committing to it for many years without a strong sense for whether it would succeed or not outside of Japan. If chapter 1.0 launched in the west and flopped, they'd have to keep paying for remote servers and translating the dialogue for later chapters to keep up with the Japanese version.

This isn't an issue with the Offline version. All it's going to take is the one time translation, and maybe followup if they add additional chapters to it later. And there's no server cost. So the reasons why it couldn't be done with Online version are now mooted with Offline. The only reason to not do it now is a fear that it won't succeed outside of Japan, which is hard to believe given sales for 8, 9, and 11 all exceeded expectations (which are typically low for JRPGs.)

The online nature pretty much prevented an unofficial translation, but if SquareEnix doesn't do it themselves then they're pretty much inviting fans of the series to apply an unofficial translation patch to pirated copies. That's not good for SquareEnix, or the industry, but it will happen. They only need to look to Mother 3 as an example.

[Moge]

I don't know how much text is in DQ X, but i'd wager it'd be a massive undertaking to localize a game that came out during the Wii era and is still getting updates to this day.

Mother 3 getting a fan translation has never stopped fans from bombarding Nintendo with demand for an official localization. Despite having never gotten an official release, Mother 3 has become a pop culture icon, and it certainly wouldn't have earned its place without the fan translation. Nintendo might not be making game sales off of people pirating the game, but they're certainly making money in other avenues with fans willing to spend on official merch. Not any different from you trying to get merch for a certain adult franchise

Seeing as how the DQ3 remaster is a far ways off, i've been hankering to start DQ4, but i feel they might release either a DS collection or a remaster of 4 in the near future.

[JG]

Its probably around the same amount as DQ8, DQ11, and DQB2, which as I've seen are all in the same ballpark. DQ11 maybe as much as 25% bigger, but I'd be surprised if DQ10 is far away bigger than those three.

But they also have the benefit that some of the text it is as much as 10 years old, and even the most recent chapter to be included (5) is almost 2 years old. Its not like they have to wait for the game to be developed in Japanese, and THEN translate it like most games. They should be translating it while the game is redeveloped for its new graphics. If they're talking about releasing new games like Treasures and DQ12 simultaneously worldwide, then there's absolutely no reason they couldn't with DQ10. They should already be translating it before DQ12 comes along and takes up all their time for a good long while.

The translators are a limited resource, but they haven't been in much use since DQB2 over 2 years ago so if they knew DQ10 was going to be remade 2 years ago (and they certainly did) they should have already been working on translating it. Stars, Tact, and the DQ3 HD-2D Remake will not have required much over the last 2 years and the upcoming Treasures and Keshi-keshi are probably light on text. My worry is that if they fumbled and failed to start DQ10 translation a year or so ago, then they're going to sit on it until they can't translate it because DQ12 is then the priority. That would simply be careless project management. Shame on SquareEnix if it comes to that.

[JG]

Today's Sony Playstation Showcase recap. Since Sony skipped E3, this is their big presentation for their year (with much less fanfare than E3 presentations got)

I don't understand why it took 2 minutes and 58 seconds into the presentation to see the first game footage. The whole chess match with real humans thing didn't seem to be at all connected.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Remake: Trailer shows "Not Actual Gameplay"subtitle and not one second of gameplay footage shown. So far not a great start at all. Five minutes in by the end of this trailer and there's been perhaps 20 seconds of gameplay footage.

Project EVE: Much better in this trailer, which says actual PS5 captured footage. It looks nice, but was hard to follow what's happening on screen and reading the Japanese subtitles at same time. Second half when the characters weren't taking so much was more interesting to watch.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands: This one looks fun. A first person shooter that isn't taking itself seriously at all. Kind of doing some oddball things that a few other games like Borderlands and Fortnite have done. But extra weirdness like the river being poured out of a soda can, a giant 20 sided dice next to the path, or giant flying sharks. Charming isn't a word normally associated with FPS games, but it applies here. I haven't really been interested in the Borderlands series (of which this game is a spin-off), but perhaps this one gets a shot.

Forspoken: This is SquareEnix's big super-jumping fireball-slinging title that everyone's been wanting to see more of (including myself) and was absent from SquareEnix's E3 presentation. They teased it as E3 last year, but haven't seen much of it since and it looks really impressive.

Rainbow Six Extraction. Yeah, we saw this in Ubisoft's E3 presentation. I'm sure there's some new things to see for people who are interested, but I'm not.

Alan Wake Remastered: I'm not terribly familiar with the original. Remastered looks merely "ok". The car driving sequence looked rather unpolished with a car that appears much too blocky and unrealistically lit. Not my forte so I don't care if this port is low quality.

Grand Theft Auto V. This game is over eight years old. Either make a VI or stop feeding us new remakes of V every year. I mean, the game dates to PS3 era, and here we are watching PS5 previews like its something new. I get it its a popular game - but at some point you just grow tired of seeing the same thing. I'm sure they'll charge $70 for it, too, despite being able to find a PS3 or PS4 copy for next to nothing.

Ghostwire Tokyo: Looks similar to Forspoken (or maybe more like the plasmid abilities of Bioshock). I can't figure out if its all the main characters head (ie, comatose) or is supposed to be actually happening. Too confusing.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Saw this one during SquareEnix's E3 presentation, too. Some new things like a very brief look at the StarFox-style space tunnel shooter segment in the Milano. I still think this might be solidly on the good side of superhero games, which are typically quite bad.

Vampire Blood Hunt: Another Vampire first person shooter. Or one of the two from E3? I'm losing track. Given the enemies fired more shots than an Star Wars stormtrooper and landed just as many hits (zero), it looks to be incredibly easy, focused on NPC interaction and harvesting enemies than actual FPS content.

Deathloop: Ok, now I see a game that reminds me a lot of BioShock. So many FPS games now that to differentiate, they need to come up with magical powers for the shooter to hurl enemies around, or blast them with magic, or perform other tricks. But that's not new either. However, I like the idea that you have to accomplish your targets (kill the 8 bosses) within 24 game hours or it resets on you, ala Majora's Mask, and a rival assassin who seems like she might take out one of the eight if you don't do things correctly adds a bit of intrigue.

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition: No idea what the game is about. I'm not even sure it is a game. Maybe just a music light show, or graphics to accompany the music. (For the record, Kid A and Amnesiac are Radiohead albums from 2000 and 2001 which are getting a 20th anniversary rerelease, though Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, and A Moon Shaped Pool are all better albums in my opinion.) As a fan, I'm probably going to look into it more once additional info comes to light.

Tchia: Pleased to see a game (a real one this time) that isn't a first person shooter. An open world adventure type game where apparently you can warp into animals to cross the land or swim under the waves to find whatever (or whomever) it is you're supposed to be searching for. Colorful, cute.

Uncharted: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Remastered. They're making it for PC as well.

Marvel's Wolverine: The first of the PS5 exclusive titles. Not much other than a teaser. I really want a Wolverine game to be motion controlled though. There's only so many superhero properties that work with motion control, and a short-range brawler type like Wolverine is perfect for it. So I'm really hoping it'll be a "PS5 VR" launch title and not just another "press X to attack" game.

Gran Turismo 7: Some of the reflections look ridiculously authentic. I don't really care for racing games that don't have some aspect of aggression/destruction but boy does it look pretty. Microsoft might have captured all these realistic Mexican landscapes in their game, but GT7 looks better overall to me.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2: Wait, I thought Spider-Man: Miles Morales was effectively Spider-Man 2... And he's here in this game (along with Peter Parker). So why isn't this 3? Only guess I can figure is that Miles Morales, being a launch title, won't be played by enough players before PS5 reaches saturation and they didn't want to make players feel like they missed a chapter (though apparently many will have.) Undoubtedly one of the big PS5 titles for 2023. I really hope Metroid Prime 4 isn't also 2023 now, because the two share a lot of similarities. I don't want to be web swinging with Spidey in the same year I'm grapple beam swinging with Samus and have to choose between the two, but its looking likely.

God of War: Ragnarok: Looks amazing, but I worry its too much like the last God of War: too much focus on graphics, with too poor gameplay, and a story that drags on. It looks fascinating, but its a direct sequel so anyone interested will really need to have played the first to completion.

And then the video just ends without any closing remarks. And no news on the highly desired black model PS5 (something Sony desperately needs going into Christmas season.) A little disappointed. While a few of them like Tiny Tina's and Forspoken are something I'd consider buying, nothing's jumped out at me yet to make me go out and buy a PS5. Microsoft has Halo coming and its starting to get a Series X hook into me stronger than anything Sony is offering.

[JG]

Full-sized Nintendo Direct : Thursday, September 23, 6pm Eastern / 3pm Pacific

https://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/09-23-2021/

Hopefully will see more than what we already know is on the horizon from E3 (because half of it are remakes/ports):

• Dragonball Z Kakarot + A New Power Awakens DLC, September 24
• Astria Ascending, September 30
• Life is Strange Remastered Collection, September 30
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, October 5
• Metroid Dread, October 8
• Samus and E.M.M.I. Amiibo, October 8
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, October 26
• Mario Party Superstars, October 29
• Just Dance 2022, November 4
• Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda, November 12
• Shin Megami Tensei V, November 12
• Advance Wars 1 + 2 Re-Boot Camp, December 3
• Danganrompa: Decadeance, December 3

Last year's fall Direct gave us Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity which wasn't mentioned during E3 so there's a good chance there will be a surprise or two.

[JG]

Not bad. A lot of games covered, maybe more than what they had in the E3 direct. And thankfully not a lot of repeats from the E3, besides Mario Party Superstars and Metroid Dread.

Biggest news:
* Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak DLC, massive expansion coming Summer 2022
* Final Super Smash Bros Ultimate character to be announced on 10/5
* Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Spring 2022
* Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games will be added to a new (higher paid) tier of Nintendo Switch Online in October. Wireless controllers for each are also going to be sold for $49.99 (I must have the N64 controller!), but sadly only 3 button Genesis which seems to limit which games will make it onto NSO
* Triangle Strategy (Square Enix's mashup of the Tactics and Octopath Traveller games): March 4, 2022
* Super Mario movie release date set for December 21, 2022, with an all-star cast (Chris Pratt voicing Mario, Anya-Taylor Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong) but no trailer
* Splatoon 3 shown in more detail, including new special moves, and some of the story campaign, "Return of the Mammalians". No update to release date of "2022"
* Bayonetta 3 trailer, with a another vague release date of merely "2022"

Sadly, no real updates to anything coming in November of December besides some stuff already out on other platforms or already known (like Shin Megami Tensei V and Advance Wars 1 + 2 Re-Boot Camp). Pretty weak holiday lineup for Switch. I was hoping to hear a major IP drop for late November or earl December, be it Splatoon, Bayonetta, or even Zelda. Instead, a very weak year looks like its going to end weak. (But 2022 looks to be as monstrous as 2017 was.)

Perosnally, Actraiser: Renaissance has me interested, but not at $29.99. Other than the NSO upgrades I didn't see anything else I'd buy for myself, though the Kirby game is maybe closest to the mark. (Looked like the Super Mario Odyssey engine.)

[JG]

Star Control 3 is today's Wikipedia featured article, celebrating its 25th anniversary date.

Can hardly believe its been that long. A nice read though. Reminded me of a few things, seeing as I've not played it in maybe 20 or 21 years. (While I replay the incomparably awesome Star Control II open-source port, The Ur-Quan Masters, every 3 or 4 years.)

[JG]

but sadly only 3 button Genesis which seems to limit which games will make it onto NSO

And yet, the Japanese version of the controller WILL have six buttons. This is looking like a catch-grab by Nintendo. Sell three button controllers for first year, then start offering six button games to force everyone to upgrade. Or stuck only offering three button games for non-Japanese NSO while Japanese NSO gets a fuller slate. Nintendon't.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/09/japans_switch_online_service_gets_the_six-button_sega_mega_drive_controller

Now there really is no reason not to buy the 8bitdo controller over the "official" model. It has the proper number of buttons at a cheaper price.

[Arizona]

I'd rag on it more, but I do know people who genuinely prefer the 3 button model.

That said, if they're making a 6 for Japan anyway, I'd rather they give us the choice up front.

[JG]

As someone with large hands, I prefer the size of the three button more as the six button is a little smaller. But I'd still rather have the six button because of the wider gaming options. I'm sure these are going to be a popular export for Japanese players.

I'm rather surprised they haven't added shoulder buttons. If L+R activates the suspend menu in both NES and SNES games (and presumably N64 as well), exactly how is it going to work in the Genesis games if they don't have such buttons? They have added small (and generally worthless) buttons for Photo and Home on the top, but L and R are still absent. I'm convinced it'll be some weird combination (A+C or A+B+C) that is not easy or quick to press, which reduces the usefulness of creating Suspend Points in a split second between getting attacked by an enemy. So there's not just one thing wrong with this controller, but TWO.

Other than accuracy to the Genesis Mark I model, I really don't see how this controller is comparable to the superior Pro Controller, which has more than 3 buttons, shoulder buttons, is more comfortable to hold, and works with almost all Switch games, rather than Genesis-only (possibly NES as well.) If you're going to pay $50 for the Genesis (plus tax and shipping), why not pay $80 (plus tax but free shipping) for the Pro?

[Arizona]

I can only figure they're zoning in on the nostalgia more than anything.

By the way, have you used that 8bitdo M30 you linked earlier? Some people seem to think it is legit the greatest D-pad ever made, comparing it at or above the Saturn. I know they make good Bluetooth connectors, but my 8bitdo experiences aren't as favorable with their own controllers (the d-pad on the SNES GP thing I had was abominable, accidental or missed diagonals before and after the "tape fix").

[JG]

No. I generally stick to official hardware. The 8bitDo Genesis 6-button controller is what I'd rather have than any three button controller though. But I'd also rather have the Japanese official version than the 8bitDo controller. The price to import it just isn't worth the higher cost.
What I'd want: NSO Japanese ($50+), 8bitdo ($25), NSO USA ($30)
What I'd actually buy: 8BitDo M30 ($25), NSO Japanese ($50+), NSO USA ($30)

Saturn controller had almost perfect size and feel, but I remember its shoulder buttons being atrociously loose. Like two flimsy plastic panels over a shallow trigger. Certainly worse than SNES and N64 as I recall, but I sold all my Saturn stuff several years back and can't compare it now.

[Moge]

Nintendo's built quality is leagues ahead of third-party alternatives. I've used 8bitdo's famed Pro Plus controller. While it is decent, it just doesn't compare to the quality of a first-party pad. With that said, i was very impressed with the features on that controller. Being able to swap button inputs and record macros are very useful features.

I've heard speculation that Retrobit owning the license to the 6-button Genesis pad in the west might be why we're not see the 6-button variant over here. Disappointing if true, but i find it neat otherwise that there are two different versions of the Genesis pad available for the Switch. That 50 quid price tag is really killer though

I'm completely on-board for the N64 controller. It's one of my favorite pads actually for 2D games, strange as that may sound as the N64 was more heavily 3D focused than the PS1 and Saturn. The 6-button layout and the 2 extra shoulders make it absolutely perfect for fighting games (well, there's actually an extra ZR button at the top, so 3 shoulder buttons).

[Arizona]

Retrobit showed off a bunch of weird hybrid prototypes a while ago and it looks like they got a good opportunity to officially introduce their "3 button pad but with 6 buttons" Genesis controller.

https://twitter.com/RetroBitGaming/status/1441432324063727628

Soooo that's interesting.

[JG]

That too would be a better option to the NSO offering. With exception that its missing the Snapshot and Home buttons along the top. Though I can certainly do without either, if you're making new product to compete with NSO offerings, you should add the two buttons at the top to account for this feature.

I've heard speculation that Retrobit owning the license to the 6-button Genesis pad in the west

I'd say this is partly right.
I'd be fairly sure Sega still owns the copyrights for all their hardware. Retrobit does possess a license to that copyright though. But this wouldn't stop Sega from licensing to others unless there were a non-compete clause in the licensing agreement. This is what may be the holdup. Its not Retrobit's license itself, but the fact Sega can't offer new licenses until Retrobit's expires (or bought out, if that's an option)

If I were Nintendo, I'd have just skipped including Genesis until I could get that license back and do it properly. Supplying GameBoy in its place could accomplished the same thing of offering two new systems to justify the higher subscription tier, and allow for a "GameBoy style" controller to be offered without strings attached (as well as all the money going into Nintendo's pockets, instead of being split with Sega.)

[JG]

The other shoe drops. Or two shoes from two pairs I suppose.

SquareEnix has now said that Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi (presumably to be called Dragon Quest Eraser in the west) is still on track for a 2021 release in Japan, but will now no longer meet a simultaneous worldwide release. Not that it matters much because it was probably the least exciting game shown in the Anniversary video, depending on your take on the need for a DQ3 remake. But its yet more bad news for a series that isn't having a good year outside of Japan. The anniversary calendar year of 2021 is now going to close with only the "meh" Dragon Quest Tact of January as the one and only appearance of the series in the west. No DLC, no remakes, no ports, no anime, no merchandise. Might save some face in the practical year that runs through May 2022 but 2021 has been a complete disaster. If you don't count the ports of earlier games, the 'S' upgrade to the DQ11 storyline, or mobile mini-games like Dragon Quest Walk, Dragon Quest of the Stars, and Dragon Quest Tact, then Dragon Quest Builders 2 remains the last significant installment of the franchise in the west at nearly two and half years old (July 12, 2019). That's a very long time for a series that has no less than SIX games lined up for release in Japan just in the next four months alone (DQX Online Chapter 6, Dragon Quest X Offline, Infinity Strash, Hero's Bonds, Keshi Keshi, and DQ3 2D-HD Remake), with another (Treasures) likely on the heels of those.

And Nintendo continues to flub the NSO Expansion Pack launch. Just a few days after bumming everyone out with their too-late announcement that controllers were available for purchase (despite being sold out by the time of the press release) they announce the pricing - and its sticker shock. Currently is $19.99 a year for a single member. I know I, and several sites I visited, were expecting it to jump to $29.99. After all, its just adding some games. Its not providing cloud saves, online multiplayer, special offers and other stuff that comes with an NSO membership. I always thought the NES and SNES libraries were sort of free add-ons, primarily to round up support to buy the controllers. I was onboard to pay a bit more for N64 and Genesis games, but only a bit more, knowing I'd have to invest in a N64 controller to play them correctly. Yet the price is going to jump all the way to $49.99 a year. Yikes! $30 a year for N64 games that have mostly been remade in one way or another (ie, to DS like StarFox and Ocarina of Time or repackaged for Switch already like Mario 64) or have been easily emulated since the 90s (Genesis), plus the $50 investment in hardware no longer excites me. Now I'm sure I won't upgrade my NSO until (and if) I can get an N64 controller for it, and if Sony or a retailer slips in a juicy Black Friday deal on a PS5, that might get my money and game time instead. If you like Metroid Dread or Pokemon remakes then I suppose Nintendo's given you a good holiday season, but for me this is another miss and barring a change in NSO pricing or some great Black Friday game deal I might well go through the season without buying anything for their hardware.