05/01/2016
Coveted Games: Early 2016, a.k.a. Games aplenty
Happy New Year, fellow gamers! I hope your Christmas holidays were as fun as mine, with plenty of delicious food and gaming involved. Now comes a new year, along with a new list of coveted games! The first months of 2016 look promising indeed, with lots of exciting physical and digital releases for both the 3ds and the Vita. And when I say "lots", I mean lots. There will be spending! Without further ado, here's my (long) list of coveted games for early 2016! Enjoy, and don't hesitate to share your own coveted games in the comments!
—Atelier Escha and Logy Plus (Vita): My heart skipped a beat when I learnt that NISA would release limited physical copies of that game, just like they did with Ar Nosurge Plus. I promptly secured myself a copy—for a small fortune, since I'm not lucky enough to live in North-America and be able to order directly from NISA. But as they say, when it comes to love, you don't count the (shipping) cost!
—Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (Vita): I'm still hesitating about this one. On one hand, I very much want to discover the series, and I've read only good things about that particular game; on the other hand, this is a digital-only release, and I decided to avoid these as much as possible since my unpleasant discovery regarding the PSN and digital games. A good compromise would be to buy the European digital version on a sale, play it and then purchase the Japanese physical version for collecting purposes if it turns out that I like the game. Let's wait and see! Edit: I just discovered that Play Asia have pre-orders opened for a physical Asian version of the game, supposedly with english text and/or dialogues. Now that would solve the issue!
—The Legend of Legacy (3ds): This game is already out in North-America, and reviews from both critics and gamers are not exactly stellar. I still want to play it though, if only because I've loved poorly reviewed games often enough to give me hope that I will love this one. I toyed with the idea of importing the gorgeous North-American launch edition for a while, but the cursed region lock and the prospective custom taxes deterred me from taking the plunge. Instead, I'll just patiently wait for february like the rest of Europe.
—Stella Glow (3ds): Another game that has been released in North-America some time ago, but this time to critical acclaim. It also has a beautiful North-American launch edition that I won't buy because of the cursed region lock. Different game, same annoying story! Anyway, this game has already gone down in history as Imageepoch's swan song; and in an ironic twist of fate, it may turn out to be the very first Imageepoch game I'll ever play. I own several other games from that company, but they are still untouched and I highly doubt that my gaming instinct will prompt me to play them before Stella Glow, which I very much want to play as soon as possible.
—Stranger of Sword City (Vita): I read about this first-person dungeon crawler extensively on Kina's blog, with many a wistful sigh at the though that I would probably never touch that great-looking game. Then, lo and behold, it's being released on the Vita! In Europe!! Boxed!!! To say that I'm elated about this unexpected turn of events would definitely be an understatement. (Insert starry eyes.)
—Odin Sphere Leifþrasir (Vita): This Vanillaware RPG soaked with references to Norse mythology looks just as good as Dragon's Crown, which amply justifies a purchase. I was rather surprised to learn that it is actually a remake of a PS2 game, because I had absolutely never heard of the original. (Not that I'm a PS2 expert by any means, mind you.) Although I'm not too fond of port and remakes, porting or remaking unknown games is perfectly fine in my book, since it can give them an opportunity to shine and perform better than during their first release. It's still unclear whether Europe will get a physical version, but yours truly will get one no matter what. Bless the Vita and its absence of region lock!
—Trillion God of Destruction (Vita): Any dungeon crawler with roguelike elements is a must-have as far as I'm concerned, so I'm going to purchase this game with my eyes closed. It has a touch of harem to boot, and I hope the romancing parts will be well handled and engrossing. After the tepid romances I've endured in Lord of Magna, Conception 2 and Criminal Girls, I could use a bit of thrill in that departement, thank you very much.
—Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon (3ds): Another dungeon crawler with roguelike elements that I must absolutely purchase, all the more so as I loved the first 3ds entry of the series. This new instalment is supposed to take its cues from Explorers of Sky rather than from Gates to Infinity, which would delight me since I loved the former even more than the latter. The only thing that saddens me is the absence of an evocative subtitle such as the two mentioned above—not to mention that slapping "super" in the middle of the title is a cheap throwback to the '90s that I could have done without. Oh, well.
—Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight (3ds): Although I have yet to play any Etrian Odyssey game, this won't stop me from purchasing this remake of the series' second instalment. We're talking about first-person dungeon crawlers here, so it's absolutely sure that I will adore this game—and its predecessors. And since I own the whole series already, it only makes sense that I buy The Fafnir Knight as well. Collection consistency, folks!
—Final Fantasy Explorers (3ds): I'm not expecting any kind of gaming greatness from Square Enix in general and from this game in particular. FFE seems to be an shameless attempt to capitalize on the success of monster-slaughtering franchises like Monster Hunter, peppered with a heavy dose of Final Fantasy fan service to boot, and that's a mix that is hardly bound to excite me. So why is that game on the list, you may ask? Well, first because it's a Action-RPG, and these little darlings of mine are getting pretty rare nowadays; and second, because I'm an eternal optimist and I may be pleasantly surprised by this game after all—all the more so if I expect nothing amazing from it in the first place.
—Senran Kagura: Estival Versus (Vita): After SK2 on the 3ds, we are getting another Senran Kagura entry on the Vita. I fully commend Tamsoft's dedication to craft SK instalments for both systems as well as Marvelous' dedication to offer all sorts of yummy special editions, and I think the two are doing an amazing job with the franchise. I have not yet decided which edition I will pre-order, but I will definitely get myself that new instalment and indulge into more campy, busty fighting. Bring it on!
—MegaTagdimension Blanc+Neptune vs Zombies (Vita): The title is a hot mess, and the concept of the game even more so. Some Hack'n'Slash involving zombies laced with a bit of dressing up, if I understood well. Not that it matters so much, mind you: I love the series and I love its amazing fighting physics, and that's amply enough to justify a purchase. Plus, I already own all the Vita entries, so I might as well keep on purchasing every HN instalment that comes my way. Collection consistency again!
—Summon Night 5 (PSP): A PSP game, of all things! What a pleasant surprise! I knew right away that I needed the limited physical edition of that game, and I pre-ordered a copy a couple of weeks ago. I'm now crossing my fingers and hoping that everything will work fine and that my pre-order will not be cancelled because of a lack of stocks. (Unlikely though, since we're not talking about Nintendo merchandise.) Anyway, the release of a PSP RPG in 2016 is incredibly refreshing, and I can only hope that we will see more of these late RPG releases in the years to come—starting with Class of Heroes 3, also brought to us by Gaijinworks. Better late than never, indeed!
That's a whole lot of games, and this list is only covering the first four months of 2016—and that's without even counting the random digital indie RPG à la Bastion that pops up unannounced. 2016 promises to be a glorious gaming year indeed, and I cannot wait to get myself all these mouth-watering games. This most auspicious start should help to make up for the end of 2015, which looked promising but turned out to be a trifle disappointing. Some of my coveted games of that time were delayed, such as Return to Popolocrois and Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice, and the unanimous criticism regarding Tri Force Heroes' poorly implemented and frustrating single player mode deterred me from purchasing the game. After these snubs of fate, I am more eager than ever to gorge on gaming purchases, and 2016 seems more than ready to indulge me. To a glorious gaming year to come! Happy 2016 again, fellow gamers; may your gaming wish lists be bursting at the seams and your consoles be stuffed with great games! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
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I'll just give you two words of advice:
ReplyDeleteRegarding Trillion God Destruction: the game is more of a raising sim than anything. It's very light on Dungeon Crawling and more of a (also light) roguelike.
Regarding the Odin Sphere port/remake: it's actually a double game. The original PS2 game with updated graphics and a remake with a totally different engine making it faster paced and more akin to Muramasa.
Oh, and regarding the Digimon game: the localized version has a lot of bug fixes and new features (like a NG+ and more Digimons) but I'm not sure if the english asian version has those since it's probably based on the JP release. It's not all that much but just saying.
Thanks for the advice; that's quite instructive, as always! :)
DeleteSo Trillion is a raising sim? Well, that's... very interesting, actually! I've never played a raising sim, so that makes me even more curious about the game and eager to play it.
According to Play Asia, the Asian version of Cyber Sleuth is "identical to the US version". Granted, it could simply mean that it supports english and not that it is actually the same game, but I think I will purchase that version no matter what. I'd rather get a physical copy with less features and a couple of bugs than a picture-perfect digital edition!
What are your own coveted games for the beginning of 2016? :)
"So Trillion is a raising sim?"
DeleteIt's funny how they marketed the game to look like some sort of Disgaea game but it's actually more akin to Princess Maker with some RPG elements added in. Either way, the game seems pretty good so I'll keep an eye on it and maybe buy it down the line.
Let's see...
For the 3DS the only game I'm actually interested in is SMT IV Final. And maybe that River City Ransom (Kunio-kun) remake that's going to release on the 3DS (dunno if it's even getting a physical release, even in Japan).
For the Vita, however, I have a considerable list: Odin's Sphere, God Eater R, God Eater 2, Saga Scarlet (if it releases this year, of course), Summon Night 6, Tokyo Xanadu, Uppers and Yomawari/Night Watch. There's also going to be a new SAO game for the Vita/PS4 which it's some sort of complete overhaul of the first one on the Vita (Hollow Fragment) and the Attack on Titan game.
Outside of that, Persona 5 for the PS3.
Of course, this is the beginning of the year! We'll probably get some nice surprise announcements or releases during the next 11 months.
"We'll probably get some nice surprise announcements or releases during the next 11 months": I'm sure that will be the case! 2016 already looks like a stellar gaming year, maybe the best year so far as far as the Vita is concerned.
DeleteAre you going to purchase the "15th Anniversary Commemoration" edition of Summon Night 6? That pack is a thing of beauty, and AmiAmi currently has a discount on it. Just sayin'. ^_^
Nah. I'm a big fan of the Summon Night games, but I made a personal role of not buying anymore Special or Collector Editions. Nearly all the ones I bought on the PS3 were a gigantic disappointment (except for Tales of Graces f's).
DeleteTrillion resembles Princess Maker more than Disgaea? That's amazing, I love raising sims and they're so rare in the west. Oh, I'm completely hyped for the game now, way more than I was before. I can completely understand why IF marketed it differently though, a lot of people hated their idol raising spin-off in the West, so they're hoping to hook in more people by showing that no, this is not just a raising sim. I hope it goes well.
DeleteAs for my list, identical to yours, but the 3DS games are of low priority. I also have the two god eater games, atelier Escha and Logy, Samurai Warriors IV Empires, Attack on the Titan, the PS Vita Gundam Game and Langrisser for the 3DS. And these are just confirmed to be localized tittles, I'm still hoping for Yoru no Nai Kuni, Tokyo Xanadu,the Operation Tokyo Abyss sequel and the other Digimon game to come over this year. We'll see, but either way it's already an excellent year.
I never played any Princess maker game yet though, but that was the comparison a couple of guys who played the game gave me. Yeah, I do understand their marketing when taking it up a worldwide release, thing is, they marketed it the same way even in Japan.
DeleteYoru no Nai Kuni was already confirmed for being localized. A physical Vita edition is still up in the air though. Tokyo Xanadu as well is already under XCEED's radar for localisation.
You buying Attack on Titan game too, Elisa? You think they'll do a god job? Unlike that horrible 3DS game?
Same here Elisa, I'm actually more hyped for Trillion than I was before! I was dreading to get yet another dungeon crawler with tepid and boring romance, and instead I'm getting a game belonging to a genre that I never played, which is a much better deal!
DeleteSieg: It was confirmed at least digitally for the Vita? When? I've been following Tecmo Koei's twitter for a while, and the last time they talked about it was when they did polls to gauge interest in the Vita version. Did I miss them confirming it? If so, I would be so happy, best start to the year ever. And an official confirmation for Tokyo Xanadu would seal the deal, but Xseed hasn't done too many 2016 announcements yet, so I don't want to throw the fireworks before the party.
DeleteIt is kinda odd how they also marketed it that way in Japan too. Hmm, that makes the game look suspicious, like they have no confidence in it, but I'll remain being excited for it. I love raising sims so much but they're as rare as red emeralds here. Not even the indie scene gives them decent attention.
I have great faith in the new Attack on the Titans game. I was also disappointed by the 3DS game, but this time the game is being developed by Tecmo Koei who I believe have what it takes to make a good action game. People may criticize the Warriors games for being repetitive, but speaking as someone who now plays them, they at least know how to make those games be so damn fun you won't get sick of it. They have done something amazing with the Warriors series, making all characters have the same controls but almost all of them feel different from each other. Given that they have 100+ characters in Warriors Orochi alone, that accomplishment is amazing. And all the trailers show that they do care about being faithful to the combat in the manga/anime. So while I'm not getting too hyped about it and the game might be a disappointment on some other areas (like how faithful they are to the story), I do at least believe I will have fun playing it. That's more than what I can say for the 3DS game. Plus, I just believe in the more powerful Sony consoles, the 3DS is really not the best system to make the action packed game Attack on the Titan needs and it shows. The game did have some nice foundations, but the execution killed it.
Isleif: Oh, I think you will love raising sims. You should try out Princess Maker 2, it is a lovely game that has aged well. Plus, if Trillion is like other raising sims, you will have the choice to ignore romance if you want so it doesn't matter if the romance ends up being mad. But if for some reason it's required like it was in Lord of Magna, IF does have a lot of experience with romance, so they either make it decent or make it a fun parody like with the Neptunia series.
Oh, I forgot to say that I'm also looking forward to Yomawari. I really like horror games but the latest Corpse Party games have gone the way of visual novels too much for my tastes. It will probably be brought over since it's by NIS, but once again, I always try to wait for the official announcement before getting excited.
DeleteUps, sorry. My bad. Yoru no Nai Kuni's Vita version wasn't officially announced however, they made some polls on Twitter to gauge interest (with 60% favoring a Physical Vita version) and said they'l take those results into account.
DeleteYeah, I too have faith in Koei doing a decent AoT game however I'm not entirely confident since they already announced that it will only have 10 playable characters. Well, it's something. I just hope they hit the action part correctly.
Oh, if you're interested in Yomawari as well, I suppose you played Hotaru Nikki/Firefly Diary? It's a really nice and underrated game NIS released for the Vita. If you haven't, I recommend you pick it up. You too, Isleif. It's a little on the creepy side, but the story slowly unveiling itself and the puzzles are really worth it. The only problem is that it's unnecessarily hard in some parts.
Thnaks for the advice! I thought Hotaru Nikki was yet another indie vanilla platformer, but upon further inspection, it looks more interesting and promising than that. Since it's rather cheap on the PSN, I think I will give it a try! If I love it, I may even consider investing in the limited physical edition.
DeleteI hope the poll regarding the Vita version of Yoru no Nai Kuni will yield positive results, i.e. a physical Western release! I'll cross my fingers and keep rooting for it. And if it doesn't happen after all, I will most definitely import a Japanese copy! :D
If you're busy right now and for the upcoming times, don't bother buying it now. It's one of those games that go as low as 6€ on sales.
DeleteLet's hope so. If they actually release it here in physical format, I'll buy it. Even though I'm not too interested in the game, I'll buy it just in a way of supporting the Vita.
I already own Hotaru Nikki. I bought because I like the atmosphere I saw on videos. However, I have only owned a Vita since July, and in the meantime I've been playing very long games on it (at least 50 hours, one had 140+ hours) so I haven't had the time to play it yet. I've also just not been in the mood for its type of game either, but it's definitely something I'll get to later in the year.
ReplyDeleteI know that feeling. I have more than 200 hours in Freedom Wars and more than 100 on Disgaea 3. I've wasted way too much time on those two instead of clearing my backlog. Bu hey, as long as it's fun, I'm good.
DeleteBut still, Hotaru Nikki is like a 10~15 hours game. You can easily squeeze it between sessions of other games.
Forget the backlog, finding a game that you love enough to pour so many hours into it is a rare occurrence that must be enjoyed to the fullest! I remember playing Dragon Quest IX for more than 200 hours and Avalon Code for roughly 150 hours, and those were amazing playthroughs that I won't ever forget. In fact, it's been a long time since I poured that many hours into a single playthrough, and I'd like to find a game that makes me want to do that again!
DeleteNo, no, no! Don't tempt me any further! Just when I had promised myself to work at my backlog first and save some money, all these great games are being mentioned. There are some on your list I would like to have a go at myself, like Stella Glow. I played the extensive demo a couple of weeks ago, and I was pleasantly surprised. It reminded me a lot of a mix between Fire Emblem and Lord of Magna.
ReplyDeleteCome on Yvonne, a gaming year that starts this gloriously must be celebrated and all these great games must be praised!^^ Forget your backlog and treat yourself to all the new games you want, you deserve it! :)
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