Coveted Games: 2014’s glorious end and the puzzling current state of portable RPG-dom

While the first half of 2014 was rather quiet as far as RPG releases on portable systems were concerned, the second half of it is unexpectedly clotted by tons of appetizing games. A tidal wave of mouth-watering offerings is slated for release up until the end of the year, paving the way for a most glorious Christmas shopping. And since I’m currently busy playing and don’t have any finished game to review, I’m going to indulge instead with this generous, yummy slice of filler in which I will survey the upcoming games I covet the most. Enjoy, and don’t hesitate to share your own desired games in the comment section!   

Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited (Vita): This one is already on the shelves and is promising to be a smash hit. An enhanced port of PS3’s Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, it’s certainly going to become one of the jewels in the Vita’s RPG crown, along with hits like Persona 4: Golden and Ys: Memories of Celceta. 

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (Vita): The sequel to the critically acclaimed Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, it’s also already been released, to even greater critical acclaim than its prequel—which reminds me that I still have to play the said prequel, preferably before I purchase Danganronpa 2. (Or maybe it would be better to purchase Danganronpa 2 first and then play the two games in a row? Oh well, we’ll see.)

Fantasy Life (3ds): Freshly released, this title promises a lot of RPG goodness. A vast open world, extensive customization and lots of tasks to accomplish at your own pace: what’s not to love, really? Fantasy Life seems to be the perfect hybrid between RPG and life-sim, and I’m really thrilled about it: any game that offers a huge amount of freedom and the possibility to follow your own agenda is definitely bound to pique my interest. 

Natural Doctrine (Vita): Also freshly released, this one seems to be a mixed bag. On one hand, it looks promising, with its tactical gameplay and inventive soundtrack; on the other hand, it’s been criticized for being too slow and too difficult, and the graphics and colours look horrendous. Granted, it was designed from the start as a hard game that would force the player to streamline their strategies and map out their progression with great care, so it succeeded in that regard; but since tough games are not exactly the rage nowadays, it sold quite poorly in its home country. That didn’t deter NIS from publishing it in the West, and it will hopefully turn out to be an interesting game—especially since SRPG releases have become quite scarce lately. 

Akiba’s Trip (Vita): Oh dear, that pun… Really? Here is a game that flaunts its campiness without shame, and we can hope that it’s as pleasantly ironic and self-derisive as it appears to be at first sight. It’s supposed to be a mix of RPG and Beat’em Up, and although the reviews leaned on the mixed side, it’s still an intriguing offering that I will probably try at some point.

Tales of Hearts R (Vita): Another full-blown RPG, Tales of Hearts R is an enhanced remake of Tales of Hearts, previously released on the Nintendo DS. Like all Tales games, it features a party of weirdly dressed characters, a convoluted storyline and yet another variation of the series’ trademark fighting system. It’s actually one of the most praised Tales games, and that Vita remake is hailed as even better than the original, which makes it a worthy addition to my precious collection.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3ds): This Persona spin-off is a crossover between the Persona and Etrian Odyssey series, mixing the characters of the first with the dungeon crawling and chibi art direction of the second. This is a seriously attractive proposition, and the fact that it will be released as a special edition pack with a handful of adorable feelies makes it even more desirable. (I SO want that 3ds case adorned with these cute characters!)

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (3ds): Need I say more? The two much-awaited remakes of Gameboy Advance’s Ruby and Sapphire revamped for the 3ds, all dressed-up in gorgeous 3D and full to the brim with new features. And of course, I’m getting both of them. 

Freedom Wars (Vita): Built around the fulfillment of missions in order to reap points and ultimately set your character free from life imprisonment, this Action-RPG features an interesting storyline, glossy graphics and gorgeous character art. It was an instant hit in Japan and sold very well, and it’s now headed our way, as a physical release to boot. And as an Action-RPG aficionado, I’m definitely delighted and very eager to play it. 

Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (3ds): This game is slated for release in early November in North-America; for Europe and Australia, things are a bit murkier, and an official release date has yet to be confirmed, although Natsume has announced an arrival on our shores in 2015. Well, we’ll see. The interesting thing is, this Harvest Moon entry is actually very different from its predecessors: instead of being a localization of Marvelous’ Bokujou Monogatari as all Harvest Moon entries before it, The Lost Valley is a game entirely developed by Natsume, sole publisher of all Harvest Moon games in North America up until now and owner of the ‘Harvest Moon’ brand name. Marvelous recently decided to excise Natsume from the publishing process in North-America and to publish all future Bokujou Monogatari entries through their own subsidiary Xseed Games, even though this meant parting with the well-established ‘Harvest Moon’ name. On the other hand, Natsume, not so eager to abandon its biggest cash cow, decided to keep milking it as much as possible by creating their own Harvest Moon game—and why not, since they own the name and have been dropped so carelessly by Marvelous? We can thus expect a Harvest Moon game that will be different from what we’re used to, and it will be interesting to discover Natsume’s own take on virtual farming after nearly two decades spent localizing the world’s most famous farming sim. 

Story of Seasons (3ds): Now, this is the real latest Harvest Moon entry, the one developed by Marvelous and part of the Bokujou Monogatari series. It will be published by Xseed Games in North America, supposedly sometime before the end of 2014; no European release date has yet been announced, but we’ll probably get it sooner or later. (Or maybe not: Rune Factory 4’s cancelled European release showed that we’re sadly not on safe ground anymore as far as the publishing of all things Harvest Moon is concerned.) The name change was triggered by copyright issues first and foremost, but may actually turn out to have a positive impact: not only does ‘Story of Seasons’ sound really good and manages to be much more evocative than ‘Harvest Moon’, but it also refreshes the series’ ageing image and could very well bring new potential players to the fold.

That’s an excellent line-up already, and that trail of goodness seems to carry on to the upcoming year. Very promising games are slated for release in early 2015: Monster Hunter 4 on the 3ds, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters and Criminal Girls Invitation on the Vita, to name only a few. And I must say that I’m highly pleased to see the Vita getting some love and attention at last and being showered with heaps of excellent games. I bought mine nearly as an afterthought and didn’t expect my Vita library to count more than a dozen games; but to my utter surprise and great delight, it’s been growing at an exponential rate lately and will continue to do so thanks to all these excellent future releases. On the other hand, I have to admit that I’m a trifle worried about the current state of RPG-Dom as far as the 3ds is concerned: nearly four years after Nintendo’s eighth generation handheld made its debut, I find its library to be still very much devoid of RPGs—alarmingly so, in fact. Not only that, but the RPG release pace doesn’t seem to be increasing over the years, as it is usually the case: when 2014 comes to an end, only a handful of full-blown RPGs will have been released on the 3ds, and early 2015 isn’t exactly bristling with new and fresh offerings. Could it be that Nintendo relies a tad too much on the 3ds’ backward compatibility, assuming that the large DS RPG library is enough to sate players’ cravings for the genre—and forgetting older RPG aficionados who are already quite familiar with the said library in the process? In the meantime, the Vita is carving out an ever-larger niche in RPG-Dom at a breakneck pace, welcoming tons of quirky dungeons crawlers and hybrid RPGs with open arms. I wonder if there is a connection between these two seemingly opposite trajectories: did Sony explicitly encourage the development of RPGs for its resident handheld when seeing that Nintendo wasn’t exactly in a hurry to make the 3ds a new RPG heaven? Are they planning to reverse the Vita’s fortunes by transforming that much-maligned system into the eighth generation’s reference handheld for RPGs? If this is indeed the case, then it’s working brilliantly: I’m now considering my own Vita with renewed interest, and I’m looking forward to discovering all the upcoming Vita RPG releases—not to mention all the Vita RPGs that I already own. And of course, there is still the hope that some excellent RPGs will grace the 3ds before the end of its lifetime; after all, there was hardly any RPG on the Vita just one year ago, and the 3ds could experience in the future the same type of deliciously hectic release schedule that the Vita is currently undergoing. 

My, my; writing about these games made me even more impatient to get my hands on them. They will all become part of my precious collection sooner or later, and I’m looking forward to 2015 and hoping that it will be as excellent a gaming year as 2014. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!