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5 Great Strategy RPGs (that aren’t Fire Emblem)

August 7, 2016 Kennedy Blog

I’ve been getting really into Fire Emblem this past year–and although (most of) the Fire Emblem games I’ve played so far have been fantastic, it’s got me looking back on many of the other wonderful strategy RPGs I’ve played. The genre is a bit niche in the sense that in the last few years, there simply haven’t been very many strategy RPGs released in the West–let alone great ones. The mobile market, however, seems to have been getting a steady release of strategy RPG games in the last few years–and I’ll talk about that more in this list. When people who don’t play many strategy RPGs think of strategy RPGs, however, Fire Emblem is the obvious choice. After all, it’s a Nintendo title that’s enjoying a Smash Bro’s (and Awakening) induced burst of popularity, and like I said–in the last few years, we haven’t got many big strategy RPG releases outside of Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates. It’s a shame, too, because (as I’m about to show you) there are plenty of great ones to play! Without further ado, here’s a list of some of the best strategy RPGs you can play that aren’t Fire Emblem.

 

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

via moarpowah.com

Yes, there’s a first Devil Survivor game that’s also good. No, you don’t need to play Devil Survivor 1 to play Devil Survivor 2. Yes, there’s an enhanced port called Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker on the 3DS that’s also great. Yes, this game has an anime adaptation but it didn’t go so well and doesn’t serve even remotely as a summary of the game. Anyways, Devil Survivor 2 is one of my favorite games on the DS. It takes all the familiar themes from the first Devil Survivor game (You, your friends, and a VERY large amount of the Japanese population have been put on lock-down. Figure out why you’ve been put on lock down, make choices that could lead to a myriad of different endings, and ultimately, free everyone.) but, in the typical Shin Megami Tensei fashion, the sequel gets the gameplay and story better. The first game, although great, suffered a lot of balance and grinding issues–all of which are gone in Devil Survivor 2, leaving you more able to actually enjoy the battles in this game, not to mention the incredibly unique (and ultimately, very dark) story. The choices are more heavily emphasized in this game than the first one as well, and it really tests the player’s morals more than most other games. It’s an incredible, thought-provoking game that shouldn’t be looked over.

 

GrimGrimoire

via escapistmagazine.com

Funny story: I saw ads for this game in Newtype USA years ago, when it was about to be a new release, and I thought the game’s art looked gorgeous (after all: This is the first game that Vanillaware made as Vanillaware) and therefore, I wanted it. It came out shortly before my birthday, so I asked for it for my birthday, and lo and behold, I got it. The ads didn’t mention what kind of a game it was–it just had the image on the cover and a short blurb about the story, so going into the game, I had no idea what to expect. I hadn’t played a strategy RPG before then, so it took me a really long time to get the hang of this game. That never stopped it from being a fun ride, though. Usually very overshadowed by the outstanding success of other Vanillaware games like Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown, GrimGrimoire is absolutely a hidden gem. You play as Lillet Blan–a new student in a Hogwarts-esque wizarding school. However, strange things are going on, and in a Groundhog Day fashion, her first week keeps resetting and she has no idea why–and she’s the only one who realizes it, too. So the whole story is you trying to find out what’s going on. Using different kinds of magic (EX: Glamor, necromancy, alchemy, etc.) you’ll summon different familiars to stop your enemies. Needless to say, if you’re into mythology, this game is a must play solely because of how much mythology is present in the game.

 

Valkyria Chronicles

via gamespot.com

There’s an unspoken law in gaming that you can’t talk about great strategy RPGs and not bring up Valkyria Chronicles. War has erupted between the Gallians and the Imperial Alliance. You play as Welkin, the son of a very successful General, who is thrown right into it. He commands a militia squad, Squad 7, and through this, he tries to end the war one battle at a time so he can return to his peaceful life of studying nature. Admittedly, the story in this game is nothing too memorable. It’s the gameplay that makes this game so great. Valkyria Chronicles is a grade-A example of what difficulty should be in a game: Yes, this game is hard–but it’s nothing the player can’t handle. The gameplay is so simple and tight in this game that any mistakes made are 100% on the player. If you die, it’s because you messed up. Grinding, although it can’t hurt, will never be the reason you win or lose a battle. How the game play works is that you decide what troops you want to bring into battle (fun fact: 3 of the troops are characters from Skies of Arcadia) based on their classes and what kind of a strategy you want to use and who, therefore, will be the most useful. For example, if you’re in a battle with several tanks, you’ll bring extra lancers. If it’s a battle with a huge area, you’ll need extra scouts to survey the land. From there, you engage the enemy troops and fulfill your goal–which is usually something along the lines of taking over an enemy camp or defeating an enemy in a specific way. This game is on the PS3 and can usually be found at a really good price–there’s no reason not to give it a try. It’s incredibly addicting from start to finish.

 

Banner Saga

via bannersaga.gamepedia.com

The most recent game on this list, Banner Saga is a critically-acclaimed gem of a strategy RPG. Set in the Viking Age, you play as both Vognir and Rook–two heroes whose stories will, based on your decisions, eventually collide. Decisions are something heavily emphasized in this game, as there are many to make that can heavily change your game based on your choices. One of the best parts about the game play are the many classes and races you can have at your control–some of which come from Viking mythology such as the Varl and the Dredge. This game is available on just about any platform you can imagine–Steam, X-Box One, PS4, PSVita, iOs, and Android. As I mentioned in the intro, the mobile market seems to be a rapidly growing place for strategy RPGs, and Banner Saga is one of the reasons why–with its many features, engaging story, gorgeous art, and wonderful game play, it’s not hard to see why this game is so loved.

 

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

via Square-Enix.com

Another reason that the mobile strategy RPG market is doing so well right now, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a gem on the PSP, and now that it’s available on mobile devices, is enjoying a new wave of fans who simply didn’t have a PSP when it came out. (Or were like me and were too busy playing the same 2 games on their PSP to care about many of the others.) This game is, at its core, an updated version of the original Final Fantasy Tactics which was released on the PS1 in 1997. You play as Ramza, a mercenary who finds himself caught in the midst of a civil war that could affect the fate of the world. Like Banner Saga, this game is very well loved by critics and receives consistently good scores. And of course, it’s not a Final Fantasy Tactics game without a few cameos: Including Cloud Strife (FF7), Luso Clemens (FFT A2), and Balthier (FF12.) This is a game I’d recommend not just to fans of strategy RPGs, but Final Fantasy fans looking to get into strategy RPGs as well.

 

 

Honorable Mentions: Ogre Battle 64, Jeanne d’Arc, and the Disgaea series

Rare Games That Don’t Suck: GBA Edition

August 2, 2016 dan Articles, Blog

Two months ago, I wrote an article about rare games that are actually worth their asking price on the Gamecube. I did this because like many collectors, I’ve noticed that there’s a glut of rare games out there that are so outrageously expensive not because they’re outrageously good games, but more often than not it’s because of things like limited quantities of a game, exclusivity, a certain version or cover or edition of a game, etc. Sure, there are plenty of rare games out there that are so rare because they’re such excellent games and everyone wants a copy–games like Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and .hack//G.U.–but then there are your Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, Cheetahmen II, and Spud’s Adventure sort of games that are only rare and expensive because of the aforementioned reasons: The games themselves aren’t very good, they’re just elusive. I wrote my first Rare Games that Don’t Suck on the Gamecube because it’s arguably my favorite console of all time. Now, I’d like to tell you about rare games that don’t suck on what is by far my favorite handheld console of all-time, the Game Boy Advance.

Final Fantasy VI Advance

Image Courtesy of GameFAQs

Image Courtesy of GameFAQs

The first game I’m going to talk about is one that doesn’t really need much of an introduction. As the title suggests, it’s an enhanced port of Final Fantasy VI on the SNES. Final Fantasy VI Advance has been subject to critical acclaim, just like its SNES counterpart, with an 8.9/10 from GameSpot, a 9/10 from IGN, 9/10 from Eurogamer, a 31/40 from Famitsu and many more. On average, a complete used copy of Final Fantasy VI Advance is $59.48, with a brand new copy costing you about $80.

Final Fantasy VI is the story of a girl named Terra, who is captured by the empire and forced to fight against her will. She was eventually broken free and rescued by The Returners, who also want to use Terra for their own purposes in war, but they ultimately respect her freedom, and let her make her own decision. I’ll stop there because after that is when it gets really good. It has a fantastically told story, a truly unique world to explore, incredibly memorable characters, solid and consistent combat, and stunning visuals for what it has to work with. The limitations of the GBA caused a musical downgrade, but that’s really it. It’s still a faithful version of one of the greatest games of all-time.

Car Battler Joe

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Car Battler Joe is one of the many, many hidden gems on the GBA. As a matter of fact a lot of the games on here are expensive because they’re hidden gems. Car Battler Joe is about this guy named Joe who is basically the standard kind of protagonist you’d see from a show like Beyblade or something, and that goes double for the game. It’s received relatively high acclaim from reviews (8.1/10 from GameSpot, 7.7/10 from IGN), and is one of my personal favorite GBA games. A used complete copy of Car Battler Joe will run you roughly $85. New copies for this game are incredibly hard to find, so getting an estimate on the overall price of a new copy is hard, but recently there was a copy sold on Ebay for $440.

You go around the world doing missions in your car, from fighting off bandits, to delivering packages, all the while collecting parts to either build new cars or upgrade your current one. These cars are equipped with various weapons that you can adjust and customize to your liking for combat. Basically think this weird version of that movie Death Race but if it were super anime, intended for children, and actually good. Mechanically speaking, it’s essentially a third person shooter/cart racer, but without the racing. In terms of sheer control, Car Battler Joe is fantastic. Each car controls differently and each weapon has different physics, and combining this with the tight controls means you’ll get consistently great gameplay. Customization is also complex, especially for a GBA game. The combinations of cars and weapons are incredibly varied, and just trying out different combinations will take up a lot of time in the game. It’s a truly fun experience.

Super Robot Taisen: The Original Generation 2

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Alright, let me get this out of the way right now: I love me some mecha anime. Mechs are like the best things ever. Giant robots fighting other giant robots with high-adrenaline pilots and stupidly overpowered weapons? What’s NOT to love? Being a huge mecha fan, when I found out that there was a strategy RPG series about anime mechs fighting each other, I was all in. What I ended up getting was one of the best strategy games I’ve ever played, along with being loved by the others who have played it (8.5/10 from GameSpot, 85% from RPGfan). Good news, though! This is the cheapest game on the list. A complete used copy is worth about $45 – $60, and a new copy goes between $65 – $90. What a steal!

Super Robot Taisen: The Original Generation 2 (hereon referred to as SRT2) picks up right after the first game left off. I would explain the full story, but it’s so long and complicated that it’s not worth it. All you have to know is that in the first game, there was a war between our protagonists and a faction called the Divine Crusaders, along with an alien race called the Aerogators. What’s happening now is that the world is fixing up its mechs in case something like that happens again, and low and behold, something like that happens again. Only they’re much stronger than the Aerogators or the Divine Crusaders. The gameplay is just complex enough to encourage good decision-making and strategy, and it also has a really good difficulty curve; never getting too hard, but never being a total cakewalk either. The roster of mechs is diverse, and it offers many ways for you to build a personal team (mix and match pilots and mechs, upgrading mechs and weapons, etc.). It’s also absolutely gorgeous for a GBA game and has a fantastic OST.

CastleVania: Aria of Sorrow

Image courtest of GameFAQs

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Ho boy this game. This was back when CastleVania knew what it was doing. It’s no Symphony of the Night, but it gets pretty damn close, as shown in its ratings. 9/10s across the board from all sources. Everyone pretty much agrees that Aria of Sorrow is one of the best CastleVania games. A used complete copy of Aria of Sorrow will cost you around $70, where as a brand new copy will cost you more around $90. You play as Soma Cruz, who is basically the second coming of Dracula except not really, and you’re sucked into Dracula’s moon castle and are trying to get out while also stopping someone else who is also basically the second coming of Dracula except not really.

You’ve got your standard MetroidVania style gameplay, except much better in terms of controls. The previous CastleVania games, Harmony of Dissonance and Circle of Moon, didn’t control nearly as well as Aria of Sorrow. Soma has the perfect weight to him, feeling just floaty enough for the environment while still feeling like you have to move him around well to succeed. It’s got a soul-absorption system which basically gives Soma the powers of enemies he defeats, and then standard RPG stuff like armor and weapons. The game looks and sounds fantastic, though the story is fairly weak. Combat is incredibly satisfying, and the enemies and environments are very well-designed. My only real complaint is that it’s pretty short, but other than that, it’s fantastic.

Ninja Five-O

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

There’s a chance you’ve heard of this one. It’s not incredibly popular, but those who have played it will say that it’s one of the best games on any handheld system ever. It’s received tons of ratings generally around an 8.5 – 9/10 from almost everywhere. But it’s also probably the single most expensive game in the GBA library, and by far the most expensive game on this list. A complete used copy of this game is worth an astonishing $356. What about a brand new copy, you ask? $515. Five hundred and fifteen dollars. And that’s not all. Even if you want just the cartridge, it’s still going to cost you over $100. This game is incredibly rare.

The game itself is a 2D stealth platformer where you play as a ninja, who can slash his sword and fling his projectiles. As you progress through the levels, you have to kill bad guys, rescue civilians, find keys to progress. You can use a grappling hook to traverse high ground, and also find power ups to make your attacks stronger and give you different projectiles. You really do feel like a ninja while playing this game; hopping up and stealth attacking opponents, catching them from behind to go for a kill, and sometimes even just running in guns blazing. The level design is top-notch, really lending itself to a slower-paced, more stealth and timing-focused style of game. Combine that with nice-looking graphics and a pretty nice soundtrack, and you’ve got a recipe for a fantastic game.

As I said last time, when you’ve got some spare cash, don’t be responsible and save it, go spend it on pointless video games!

5 Japanese Games that would make Excellent Anime

July 31, 2016 Kennedy Blog

Ask anyone what some of their favorite 2016 anime have been so far and I promise that almost everyone who’s watching it will include the Ace Attorney anime on their list. Whether they’re new fans who used the anime as a gateway into the franchise or longtime fans who want to relive the fun of the first two Ace Attorney games, several people–including myself–can’t get enough of the Ace Attorney anime. This really shouldn’t be a surprise not just because they’re excellent games, but because they’re so dialogue-based, it’s natural that they would transition well into an anime. Last week I wrote a list of Japanese games that likely wouldn’t make good anime–this week, I bring you a list of 5 Japanese games that I think would have good anime adaptations. Like the previous list, however, there are rules:

  • This is NOT a list of my favorite Japanese games. If you’re really dying to know my favorite games, look at the author description at the bottom. I have them listed.

  • All the games on this list are Japanese, but they’re not all JRPGs
  • All these are games have not received an anime adaption of any kind
  • I’m not saying that these would 100% definitely make great anime–nor am I implying that they ever will get anime. I have no way of knowing if any of these will ever get an anime, nor would I have any way of knowing if they were good unless I’ve watched them. These are just educated guesses–games that I think would have a significantly higher chance at having a good anime regardless of circumstances.
  • When I say “anime” I mean anime–not an OVA, not a movie, not a special. I mean a full-blown anime with at least 12 episodes, though almost certainly more. The fact that most anime from the last decade are 12, 24-26, or 52 episodes should be kept in mind, though.
  • I’m assuming the anime would be an adaptation of the games (EX: Persona 4, Ace Attorney) NOT a continuation, re-imagining, or separate story of any kind (EX: any of the .hack// anime, Advent Children)

On that note…

 

No More Heroes

via newgamernation.com

There are very few games that are practically begging to become an anime as badly as No More Heroes. First of all, this action-adventure, hack-and-slash is home of some incredibly unique characters–most well-known being the over-the-top, nerdy protagonist, Travis Touchdown. These characters alongside the already anime plot (Travis wants to be the top ranked assassin in the world) would let the episodes practically write themselves: Just animate some explosive fights and adapt the writing from there. It could be a fantastic action/comedy that would help new fans fall in love with the incredible world of this underappreciated gem, and would allow older fans to relive this incredible game.

 

The World Ends With You

via TechnoBuffalo.com

Confusing writing aside, The World Ends with You could make a wonderful anime. First of all, there’s the art style of the game–who wouldn’t love to see a TV anime (I say TV anime specifically because of the Redline movie) done in this style? Second, this game is home to a fantastic soundtrack that could be reused in an anime adaptation. Most importantly, I think that the writing in this game would be well-suited for an anime. It’s very easy to see in the game which conversations are important and which are more unnecessary, so it would be pretty easy to trim the fat from this game if it were to be adapted. There’s a large enough cast of characters to make an anime version of it hold the interest of the viewer through the characters in addition to the plot, but without overwhelming them since each character is so unique. Finally, because all the excessiveness of the writing in the game would be gone, it would be much easier to appreciate the character development in this game, alongside understanding the story which, admittedly, gets incredibly confusing at the end. This game will be 10 years old next year, and though we’ve seen some of the main characters appear in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, we’ve never had a sequel to this game. Tetsuya Nomura has gone on the record saying that a sequel is still a possibility, and what better way to get people excited and jog their memories of this game than with an anime adaptation?

 

Final Fantasy VI

via DualShockers

My main reasons for wanting a Final Fantasy 6 anime are the same reasons that I would also love a remake of this game, as I explained in my list of very unlikely games that I’d like to see announced at E3 that I posted in June. To quote the article, “I want to see Kefka’s face twist and writhe as he laughs maniacally, I want to see a more animated transformation for Terra, I want to see the opera scene as cinematically as possible—and I know I’m not the only one, as Final Fantasy VI is generally considered to be arguably the best 2D Final Fantasy game.” Final Fantasy 6 is a fantastic game, which is why I’d like to relive the whole thing, but more visually this time. The graphics were good for their time, but I think it’s time for an upgrade–be it a 3D remake or an anime. The writing for Final Fantasy 6 is incredible, and it contains arguably the best villain in Final Fantasy as well as some of the most memorable characters overall in Final Fantasy history. My only worry for a Final Fantasy 6 anime is condensing it, because it’s a pretty long game, so picking it apart and condensing it could potentially cause trouble, but I’m sure it’s still doable.

 

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

via forbes

Seeing this game on the list probably won’t come as a surprise to most people who read the previous list of Japanese games that I think wouldn’t make good anime. For anyone who didn’t read it, suffice to say, I mentioned that Ocarina of Time wouldn’t make a good anime because it focuses more on the freedom of an open world and game play than it does the story–and in an anime, because you lose the game play and the freedom, it would rely heavily on the story–something Ocarina of Time simply doesn’t have as much of as other Zelda titles. Perhaps no Legend of Zelda game embodies great storytelling as well as Majora’s Mask, which is why I think it would make an excellent anime. It would also be really interesting to see what the production company would do to show the 3-day mechanic, but again, this is a wonderful tool for storytelling. Like Final Fantasy 6, the only foreseeable issue that could arrive is condensing it down, but due to the length of this game versus Final Fantasy 6, I’m sure it would be an easier feat for Majora’s Mask.

 

Any Fire Emblem Game

via Nintendo.co.uk

I think Awakening in particular would make the best Fire Emblem anime, but any given Fire Emblem game would likely be at least a good anime. First of all, there’s the linearity constant throughout the entire franchise: Each game is pretty straightforward in its story and what it wants you to do. This would translate well into an anime because it gives the whole thing an overarching plot–a goal to obtain–and thus helps the viewer stay focused in the writing. Secondly, Fire Emblem games are generally well-known for having very memorable characters–particularly Awakening, which is the first of 3 reasons I have for thinking it would make the best anime of any Fire Emblem game. Having good characters are a staple for having a good anime because they make the viewer care more because they care about the characters and they want to see what they do next. The only major problem with that and Fire Emblem is that, due to the perma-death these games are so famous for, there are dozens of  important characters in each game. It would definitely become a task trying to figure out who’s more important that who, and thus, who warrants more screen time, if any characters should be cut out entirely, etc. Although it would definitely be the biggest obstacle in making a good Fire Emblem anime, I think that would be the only notable one because once you figure out who’s important enough for screen-time, the writing would be easily adapted by the in-game dialogue, and could likely be used word-for-word because of the aforementioned linearity. The other major reasons I think Awakening in particular would make the best Fire Emblem anime is 1. It’s generally called the best entry point into the series. Granted those are for game play reasons, I think it would still hold true in an anime since the characters of Awakening have proved their importance in the future of the franchise as we can see from Fates. 2. Frankly, Awakening has the best story of any of the Fire Emblem games I’ve played. Combo that with the most memorable characters and it’ll be a great experience for the viewer.

 

Like I said in the previous article, I’d like to encourage leaving comments with your thoughts: What are some games you like that you think would make good anime? Why? Do you disagree with any of the games on this list? Did I leave anything out? Again, in the pursuit of knowledge, I’d like to heavily encourage feedback.

TLC’s D&D 5e Homebrew: Level 20 Bard Features

July 25, 2016 Greg Articles, Blog, Tabletop

The Lifecast’s Dungeon Master Greg Fernandes shares some of his D&D 5e homebrew ideas. This edition attempts to improve the Bard’s Level 20 Class Feature.

Potential Builds for the New Pokemon

July 24, 2016 dan Articles, Blog

In the past few months, competitive Pokemon has started to take over my life. I have yet to get into VGC, but I’ve been spending a lot of time playing the Smogon style on Pokemon Showdown. As a result, all of these new Pokemon announcements have been really making me excited to see what I could do with team building potential for Pokemon Sun and Moon. And after the newest announcement from earlier this week, with a few new Pokemon to work with, I want to make a few predictions on how I think they’ll play, along with a basic build idea for them. Keep in mind, I’m not the best at competitive Pokemon right now, as I’ve only been playing for about 2 months, but I feel like I know enough about the game and the way Pokemon work to give a good prediction. Just as a disclaimer: For the sake of keeping this article not stupidly long, I’m not going to do predictions for ALL of the Pokemon; just my favorites so far. Also, I’m assuming all of these Pokemon will have stats to make it into OU, just to make things easier to work with. No exact numbers, just generalizations like “really good” and “horrible”.

Mudsdale

mudsdale

Okay, so can we just talk about the Pokemon that the Assault Vest has been waiting for its whole life? Mudsdale’s new ability is Stamina, which increases its defense every time it’s hit by an attack. Judging from its ability, its Ground typing, and the fact that its design looks relatively bulky, I’ll say that Mudsdale is going to be a physical tank. If you look at its description on the Pokemon website, it says that, “Its legs are coated in protective mud, and the weight of this coating increases the force of its kicks. One kick, and a car is a pile of scrap!” So this obviously means it’s going to have a high attack stat. Or, hopefully, anyway. Judging from its ability and how the site talks about its power and stamina. Now, I don’t know if stamina translates into defenses or HP or both, but I’m betting on both. I believe HP and defense will be its highest stats, with attack coming in next. I’d be willing to bet its sp. def is, uh… Competent, with speed and sp. attack being its lowest stats.

For a potential build, let’s make it a bulky physical attacker. I would give this thing Stamina as its ability, and an Assault Vest for the item. Invest max EVs into HP, and then invest in defense and attack, with preference on defense. For its nature, make it either Impish (+def, -sp. atk) or Careful (+sp. def, -sp. atk) depending on how much “just in case” survivability you want to give it with sp. attacks. Being a ground type, it has access to Earthquake, which is a no-brainer choice. For other moves, I’d say give him Drain Punch (hey he may not have hands but that doesn’t stop Togekiss) for staying power, Grass Knot for coverage, and Stone Edge for another strong move.

Salandit

salandit

Now onto this cute little guy, Salandit. It’s adorable, and since I already love Krookodile, I love its concept. It’s got a poison/fire typing, which is a type I’ve been wanting to see for a while now. Unlike Mudsdale, we don’t have as much information from Salandit’s description to make as accurate a guess, but I’m going to try to make one to the best of my ability. Also, I’m pretty sure this thing is going to evolve, so let’s also assume that I’m talking about its final evolution, whatever that may be. Its information on the site says that “Salandit is not a very powerful Pokémon, but its cunning nature allows it to battle fiercely by throwing its opponents off balance.” This implies to me that its stats are gonna be something along the lines of a stall-y, utility kind of Pokemon. Its attack and sp. attack will likely be its weakest stats, with speed being its highest. I can’t really say anything else for stats because of how little the description gives away, but for the sake of a build let’s assume it’s got good sp. def, decent defense, and decent HP. Its ability is Corrosion, which enables it to poison literally any Pokemon, even steel- and poison-types.

I’d say the best way to make Salandit work would be a stall build, specifically, Toxic stall. EV investment varies on what its stats get, obviously, but let’s assume its high speed stat will be high enough that you don’t really need to invest in it for what it does. Focus max EVs into HP, and spread the rest out between defense and sp. def, giving more to sp. def. When it comes to this kind of layout, I prefer spreading it like so: 252 HP/80 def/172 sp. def. The investment into both allows for more well-roundedness without sacrificing bulk. Give it a Timid (+spe, -atk) nature just to guarantee it’ll outspeed most enemies. If it ends up that way regardless of nature, make it Calm (+sp. def, -atk). For moves, we wanna go for some lame play. Give it Toxic, Sludge Bomb/Wave, Recover/Slack Off/etc., and Roar/Dragon Tail. Toxic because Toxic, Sludge Bomb/Wave so Taunt doesn’t destroy it, a recovery move for staying power, and Roar/Dragon Tail to prevent your opponent from setting up on it. For items, Leftovers. If it doesn’t get access to a recovery move, give it the good ol’ Resto Chesto.

Drampa

drampa

THIS THING IS MY GODDAMN SPIRIT ANIMAL OH MY GOD

Uh… Aaaaaanway. I love Drampa. And I am absolutely using this thing on my team the moment I catch one. So let’s get into it. Drampa is a Normal/Dragon type with the ability Berserk, which raises its Sp. attack by one stage when its health drops below 50%. Along with this, its description says that “While Drampa is usually a very gentle Pokémon, it can fly into a rage if a child it cares for is hurt in some way. The Dragon Breath move that it fires off at such times is powerful enough to blow down buildings!” With this in mind, I’m going to assume its sp. atk will be its highest stat, probably with its sp. def and defense at second highest, with sp. def being a little bit higher than defense because of how calm and indifference he looks. Its attack will likely be abysmal, and speed and HP being okay.

As for a potential build, I’ll go for a bulky sp. attacker. Berserk now not only functions as an ability, but a good potential scare tactic because of how bulky Drampa is. It’ll be hard to OHKO or 2HKO. Give him Leftovers, and make him Calm (+sp. def, -atk) nature. For EVs, invest entirely into HP, and split the rest between sp. def and sp. atk, with preference to sp. atk to make Berserk more powerful. For moves, I’d run Draco Meteor, Recover/Slack Off, etc., Hyper Voice, and Fire Blast. Draco Meteor gets better use with Drampa because of Berserk making the drawback not as bad, a recovery move for staying power, Hyper Voice for your default STAB move, and Fire Blast for coverage.

Hopefully I (or you) will get to use at least similar builds to these when the actual game comes out. This generation has been on point so far with the Pokemon that have been released so far, and I’ve got a lot of hopes for the competitive scene once Pokemon Sun and Moon come out.

All images courtesy of the official website for Pokemon Sun and Moon.

5 Japanese Games that would make Horrible Anime

July 24, 2016 Kennedy Blog

Especially in the midst of the success of the Ace Attorney anime and the convention season, everyone loves talking about what games they think would make good anime–particularly Japanese games for obvious reasons. I’ve watched a pretty fair share in anime in my day, I even co-host a podcast on anime. My point being, I think I know enough about anime and the anime industry that I could make some pretty sound predictions about Japanese games that wouldn’t make good anime. But just to make sure we’re on the same page for this list, let me lay out some rules and disclaimers:

 

 

  • This is NOT a list of my least favorite Japanese games. I’ve exclusively selected games that I like for this list to help get my point across.

  • All the games on this list are Japanese, but they’re not all JRPGs
  • All these are games have not received an anime adaption
  • I’m not saying that these would 100% definitely make bad anime–nor am I implying that they ever will get anime. I have no way of knowing if any of these will ever get an anime, nor would I have any way of knowing if they were bad unless I’ve watched them. These are just educated guesses–games that I think would have a significantly higher chance at having a bad anime regardless of circumstances.
  • When I say “anime” I mean anime–not an OVA, not a movie, not a special. I mean a full-blown anime with at least 12 episodes, though almost certainly more. The fact that most anime from the last decade are 12, 24-26, or 52 episodes should be kept in mind, though. I’m assuming the anime would be an adaptation of the games (EX: Persona 4, Ace Attorney) NOT a continuation, re-imagining, or separate story of any kind (EX: any of the .hack// anime, Advent Children)

On that note…

 

Zero Escape (999/Virtue’s Last Reward/Zero Time Dilemma)

via redbrick.me

Any Zero Escape game–especially Zero Time Dilemma–would make a horrible anime for the same reason Watchmen made a horrible movie and Bioshock would make a horrible anything-but-a-game: The medium this story was told through is no accident–it’s a story that only works as a game. The major theme of the series is learning that your decisions–not the characters in the game, but you, the player–in the game come at a cost, and ultimately, you have to go through every decision to reach a true ending. In an anime, you’d lose that theme: It’s a theme that only works as a game because it’s a theme that thrives on the player’s decision’s. Moreover, without spoiling it, I’ll say that it would also ruin the point of the ending of Zero Time Dilemma, as it also plays into the theme of the player’s choices–not the characters in the game, but the player themselves–will always come at a cost. It’s a very subtle but graceful way of breaking the fourth wall that only works through a medium in which you yourself can make a conscious decision–a medium like a game. In an anime, you don’t have to make decisions, the characters do, and therefore the theme is lost. Again: Bioshock does the exact same thing which is why the idea of a Bioshock movie absolutely sickens me. Watchmen does this as well (although in comic book form) which is partially why the movie never stood a chance at being good.

The entire Silent Hill franchise

via criticalteatime.wordpress.com

Silent Hill is a very tricky beast when it comes to adaptation. As you may or may not know, there have already been 2 Silent Hill movies made in the West. Personally, I think they’re okay movies as long as you’re not considering them to be adaptations of their games (Silent Hill 1 and 3) but rather, a re-imagining. If nothing else, like their games, they’re visually stunning. But there’s a number of reasons why I think any given Silent Hill game wouldn’t make a good anime: First and foremost, the visuals. Silent Hill games are generally made to look like horror movies, which is why we see a realistic art style and dynamic camera angles in each entry. By making it look, well…anime, it loses its tone of realism, and thus a lot of the seriousness would be lost as well as the idea of it being like a horror movie–because now it simply doesn’t look like one. Secondly, it’s a survival horror series: By making it an anime–something you watch rather than experience, you lose the survival aspect of it–therefore losing even more of what makes it Silent Hill. Finally, another important theme in Silent Hill is exploration: Wandering around the almost barren, unfamiliar streets of Silent Hill and exploring–at least when you’re not greeted by a locked door. It’s one thing when you’re the one doing the exploring–it’s another watching someone do it. Although I doubt it would be awful, and of the games on this list I think that (if it were Silent Hill 1-4) a Silent Hill game would have a higher chance of being at least somewhat more interesting than the rest of these, but because so much of the already short Silent Hill games are spent exploring and solving puzzles, I doubt simply watching it (which you’d almost certainly have to because Silent Hill games are so short) would be as fun. Without a doubt it would lead to pacing issues that simply aren’t present in the games. I think that, if done properly, a really good Silent Hill–and I mean really good–movie is very possible. It’s already been proven that it can at least be okay. I just don’t think that, primarily due to the length which would definitely cause pacing issues, art styles, and lack of involvement, a Silent Hill anime would likely get really stale and repetitive really fast.

Besides, if the Silent Hill game that got an anime happened to be Book of Memories, that alone would be a red flag.

The entire Kingdom Hearts franchise

via gamezone.com

As dearly beloved (ba dum tssss) as Kingdom Hearts is, it should come as no surprise that it’s on this list. First of all, the length. Between all the games,  it would probably take so long to finish a Kingdom Hearts anime that covered everything that Kingdom Hearts 3 would probably be out by the time the anime finished–and that’s assuming that its production company would give it all the time it needs rather than restricting its episode count like practically every anime to have come out in the past 10 years as I mentioned at the beginning of the article. Second, Kingdom Hearts is infamous for its horrible, incomprehensible writing. Especially if it had to be shortened and thus further rushing the already questionble writing, you’ll do Kingdom Hearts no favors. If you take the game play out of Kingdom Hearts, you’re left with a story that loses itself in its alleged symbolism, clearly doesn’t know where its been or where its going, and tries entirely too hard to be emotional and unpredictable to the point where it becomes the entire opposite: Dry, predictable, and forceful (and thus highly unsuccessful) in its “emotional plot twists.” The characters make it no better, since almost all of them are two-dimensional tropes rather than characters. The whole thing would look like a desperate attempt by the devs to see how many Disney characters they can throw in before Disney will finally sleep with them and give them some royalties.

In other words, I’m saying a Kingdom Hearts anime would be awful because it would be Once Upon a Time, but animated.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

via dorkly.com

When I think about why Ocarina of Time is such a fun game, I think about the freedom of the game: Freedom to forget the story and go on side quests whenever you want, freedom to leave the temple and explore, a huge open world with so much to explore and dozens–if not hundreds–of secrets to uncover. Sure, none of these things are required to beat the game, but they make it exponentially more fun. Ocarina of Time isn’t a very story-driven game–at least not very much compared to other Zelda games. This is a game that emphasizes the player’s freedom and wants you to get distracted and take your time and do what you want, when you want. This is a theme common in Zelda games, but is most prevalent in Ocarina of Time–at least out of the Zelda games I’ve played. I’m not an expert when it comes to The Legend of Zelda. Far from it. However, without the sense of freedom to do what you want when you want–not to mention the game play and the puzzles–I think Ocarina of Time would suffer more than any other Zelda game to rely entirely on its writing, characters, and story alone–free of side quests or distractions of any kind–as an anime would have to. Because it was made to be such a free game, the story isn’t as interesting as it is in other Zelda games–particularly Majora’s Mask, which has excellent storytelling in addition to freedom and fun game play. In short, Ocarina of Time wouldn’t be very interesting to watch because it would likely turn into another generic adventure anime with no particular highlights. Whereas games like Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess, for example, could still be found generally enjoyable relying on just their writing, Ocarina would struggle exponentially more than them because it simply has less writing because the game emphasizes freedom and game play more than any other Zelda game. The fun of Ocarina of Time comes from its freedom and game play–not the writing and story.

 

Anything Donkey Kong related

 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, to help get my point across, I exclusively used games that I love for this list–including Kingdom Hearts, which I know is probably hard to believe at this point since I trash talked it so much, I’m sure. This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t watch any of these anime though: If an anime were announced for any of these titles tomorrow, I’d absolutely watch them. I just wouldn’t count on them being good unless it were a side story or a retelling of some kind. Regardless, I’d like to encourage leaving comments with your thoughts: What are some games you like that you think would make awful anime? Why? Do you disagree with any of the games on this list? Did I leave anything out? Again, in the pursuit of knowledge, I’d like to heavily encourage feedback.

TLC’s D&D 5e Homebrew: Alchemy and Alcohol

July 18, 2016 Greg Articles, Blog, Tabletop

The Lifecast’s Dungeon Master Greg Fernandes shares some of his homebrew ideas. This edition involves making potions more interesting.

Why it’s Harder for me to get into Pokemon Go

July 13, 2016 Kennedy Blog

Pokemon Go. I don’t need to tell you what it is, I don’t need to tell you how great it is, I don’t even need to tell why this game is revolutionary. TheJWittz uploaded a quick video about it yesterday, and he mentioned that one of the biggest flaws of Pokemon Go is that it’s significantly more difficult when you live in a rural area, and you know what? That couldn’t be more true. I’m writing this article to shed some light on one of the main issues of this game that I think gets incredibly overlooked because of the other issues that effect everyone regardless of where they’re playing–issues like staying on for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, the battery power it eats up, and so on. If you live in either a rural area or a state where it’s overwhelmingly hot during this time of the year–especially if you live somewhere that’s both at once, as I do–this game loses some of its charm because it’s just so much harder to play since you have to go really out of your way to play it.

I live in Northern Oklahoma City, and contrary to its name, there’s nothing “city” about Oklahoma City. Below is a picture of the area surrounding my house. As you can see, there’s one Pokestop, and it’s a pretty fair distance away.  A fair distance I can’t make without a car because the only walkable area of Oklahoma city is Bricktown–which is a 30-40 minute drive away from me. It’s a good thing gas is pretty cheap over here, because you’ll have to drive a pretty fair distance to find a Pokestop or a gym. I don’t even know where the closest gym is to me because I just haven’t been able to find one within 20 minutes of my house.

Wow, look at all these Pokestops

Wow, look at all these Pokestops

But I know what you’re thinking: Going out and exploring is one of the best parts of Pokemon Go. I’m not denying that, but you know what’s not one of the best parts? Needing to go on  a 30 or 40 minute road trip just to catch anything but Rattata and Weedle. Even if you are feeling gutsy enough to go walking around, Oklahoma is incredibly hot. And it’s even worse for me because being the pale ginger that I am, I have a long, illustrious history of sunburns, and even if I were to by some miracle apply enough sunscreen to prevent a sunburn, I live in a very green area full of snakes and bugs. If you don’t believe me, here’s a peek just past my backyard. Pretty, yes, but not very useful for Pokemon hunting.

Welcome to Oklahoma “City”

In summary, it’s really hard for me to really get into some of the best aspects of this game because I just don’t live in a big city. There are a few Pokestops within a reasonable distance of me, but they’re very few and far between, and I can’t even find a gym near me. In fact, despite everything I just said about Oklahoma City, it’s still the most populated area of Oklahoma, alongside Tulsa and Norman. But I know people who live in cities vastly less populated like Clinton and Henryetta who just couldn’t be having a worse time right now for the same reasons, but to a more extreme. I live in a rural state where it’s incredibly hot and sunny, and in a very green area that’s full of bugs and snakes–it’s very unwise to go outside for long over here, especially when you sunburn as easily as me. I hate that I have to go Downtown if I want anything other than Rattata or Weedle. And again, I know that going out and looking for hot spots is part of the fun of this game, but I can’t just make these long, 40 minute trips whenever I want to play Pokemon Go–I wish I could, but I just can’t. As inconvenient as all this sounds though, that doesn’t mean I don’t love this game.

Screenshot_2016-07-13-12-11-29

Here’s a screenshot I took in Downtown Oklahoma City today–as you can see, there’s a few gyms and several Pokestops–because it’s walkable, I was also able to wander around and catch several different Pokemon–Pokemon I couldn’t dream of finding by my house, solely because I can walk and wander around here without worrying about getting bit by bugs, and it’s more shady. When visiting an area like this, I feel like I can finally enjoy the game to its fullest potential. This is without a doubt the best mobile game I’ve played–more than that, this game is downright revolutionary. Pokemon fans have been dreaming of a game like this for years–and the fact that a game like this now exists for free is mind blowing. We’re living in this insane cyberpunk future where local news stations make articles about the best Pokemon spots in your city and I’m absolutely blown away. It’s incredible to see so many people enjoy such a wonderful game so actively.

This game is incredible. It’s made me exercise more in the last week than I have in probably my whole life, it’s making all of my childhood dreams come true, and I absolutely love it. I just wish it were more fair for those of us not living in a big city–especially for those of us living in areas where, for whatever reason, going outside for long just isn’t a good idea. I really don’t like being on the road for 40 minutes if I just want to challenge a gym or go to more than one Pokestop. I know going out and exploring is part of the fun of this game, but you gotta’ realize that we don’t all live in walkable areas and gas costs money.

Diversity in Gaming: LGBT Spotlight

July 1, 2016 Deanna Articles, Blog

Everyone wants to see themselves in video games, and that’s not a problem. In recent years gaming has become increasingly diverse, to the point of some games offering both male and female players an equal experience in playing through the story. What’s rare to see, though, is a character in a story-driven game who falls on the LGBT+ spectrum explicitly. Riding on the coattails of Pride Month and still reeling from the Twitter trends of the past couple of days, here’s a spotlight on some of them.

 

Gone Home

Obvious spoilers ahead, but if you haven’t played Gone Home yet, you’re doing yourself a disservice. It’s a short little game about two sisters. The oldest, Kaitlin, has come home after being overseas for some time (I assume for a semester abroad, though I could be remembering that wrong), and finds a note from her younger sister, Sam upon coming home. Throughout the game you play as Kate, and by finding things throughout the house you find out what happened to your sister.

Going in, I thought that something pretty awful had happened. The game takes you through some pretty dingy basements and hidden passages in the old house, so I initially thought it was a horror game. As I progressed, though, it became clear that Sam had run away for some reason or another. It seemed like she had a good life, albeit a tensioned relationship with her parents.

Again, spoilers ahead, if you’re still reading. While you’re exploring some of the areas in the house, you find a feminist zine that Sam and a friend were planning on publishing. If you didn’t catch it before, the game is set in the mid-’90s, and there’s your proof. As you find out more, you realize that Sam had, in fact, fallen in love with her friend and your parents didn’t approve, so they ran away together.

In the end, Sam’s happy. You’re happy for her, you accept her. It kinda tugs at my heartstring a bit.

I remember when all the cool kids were still making ‘zines in the early 2000s. (via Wikimedia Commons)

Life is Strange

Obvious spoilers here as well, folks. I have my issues with Life is Strange, I’ll tell you that from the start. I think the writing’s pretty awful (though who am I to judge?), the devs are really out of touch with what the young’uns are doing nowadays, and a crucial moment between Max and Chloe is entirely skippable. That crucial moment being the decision to kiss Chloe.

While I applaud the game (kinda) for taking on tough subject matter, the writing really gets in the way. And that’s a damn shame. I probably would have played and actually cared about spoilers had I gotten past that. It grapples with a lot: the toxic environment of exclusive clubs in a college setting, suicide, and the whole lesbian thing, to name a few. I just wish it did it better.

That being said, I’m glad it exists. Take that as you will.

Just gals. Being pals. (via Eurogamer)

Dragon Age: Inquisition

This is the only game on the list I haven’t played more than a couple hours of, mostly because I’ve been lost in the Hinterlands since it came out. So I can’t speak much for gameplay or story, but I do know that it has a cast of diverse characters. My favorite being the Iron Bull, purely due to the fact that he’s the first bi or pansexual character I’ve seen in a video game. Again, that’s in my kinda limited experience. Either way, it hits home. Among others, there’s Sera, my favorite gal with pals, and Dorian. This may sound weird but I like that they’re there and that they have a rich history.

The only thing I have to criticize here is the modding community, which I probably shouldn’t, but hey. Personally I haven’t looked at the mods, but I do know they exist. Again, limited knowledge. Maybe I didn’t wanna give it the attention, but look at where that ended up.

If you guessed what I’m talking about, it’s two mods that are available for Dragon Age: Inquisition which change Dorian and Sera’s programming so that they, effectively, are bi. Both characters have a past that directly involves being uncomfortable with what they identify as. I know plenty of people who fall into that label and choose to appear heterosexual because it’s safer, mentally and physically. I kinda think that discounting the history of these characters just because you wanted to romance them says a lot about what we think of outliers to “the norm” in general. I know it’s a longshot on some days, but not after this fucked up month we’ve had.

Unfortunately Sera’s the one character I’ve heard about the least. A damn shame. (via Nerdy But Flirty)

Overall though, I appreciate devs at least attempting to make their casts of characters more diverse. Like I said, everyone should be able to see themselves in a video game. And I’m glad we’re working closer towards that, even if we take a couple steps backwards sometimes.

Standard Play: The Hearthstone Cards I Miss the Most

June 29, 2016 Adam Articles, Blog

When Whispers of the Old Gods came out a couple of months ago, Blizzard also implemented a new way to keep the game “fresh.” They did this by adding seasonal rotations, meaning that older expansions are no longer part of the main competitive format anymore. They added Wild mode as well, which is where you can still use any card from any expansion. However, I dare you to play this mode without getting Dr. Boom, Mad Scientist and Piloted Shredder PTSD triggers. Recently I’ve been trying out this Wild format and I came to the realization that I miss some of the cards that rotated out so damn dearly. If you had asked me before the patch went live, I probably would’ve told you that the cards I’d miss the most were Loatheb and Sludge Belcher, but I was substantially wrong. Here’s the ones that I miss the most.

 

LIGHTBOMB / DARK CULTIST

               Somewhere in between League of Explorers and the announcement of the new formats, I became very fond of the Priest class. Priest was a class that I never really played until Entomb and Elise Starseeker came out. However, control/monkey Priest is one of my favorite decks to ever grace this children’s card game. You can still play this deck but it’s nowhere as good without these two cards. Priest is in a position right now where it’s really suffering in the meta game. It doesn’t have any powerful defining archetypes anymore and it’s almost completely because cards like these got removed from its arsenal. Priests no longer have a great way of dealing with boards anymore without the Auchenai + Circle combo. They also lost a massively powerful 3-drop in Dark Cultist. For a portion after Naxarramas, Cultist was a shoe-in for almost any type of priest deck and now priest has a massive hole in the 3 mana spot. By taking this card away it made an already reactive class even more reactive and it gives Priest less options to keep up on the board.

12301184px-Dark_Cultist(7735)

MUSTER FOR BATTLE

               In the same way that Priest is in a bad way, Paladin is also in a bad way. At the beginning of expansion once the meta settled for the first time Paladin had one very strong deck and that deck was N’Zoth Control Paladin. A deck with massive amounts of healing and board clears, it was basically every control players dream deck. However as the meta shifted, aggro got better and better making control decks like these almost impossible to play. Muster for Battle was a fantastic card and was an auto-include in every Paladin deck regardless of play style. With this gone, as well as shielded minibot, Paladin doesn’t have a good minion-centric deck anymore.

12223

 

MAL’GANIS / DARKBOMB

               The reason why I miss these two cards so much is because a whole branch of Warlock decks died when these cards left the competitive format. Demon based and even slower Warlock decks are no longer playable and these are the cards I miss the most from those kinds of decks. There was nothing more satisfying than dropping a Mal’Ganis on turn 5 thanks to a Voidcaller. With Darkbomb also missing Warlocks lost a really good way to stabilize the board. However, with the new zoo deck, they hardly need any control tools.

1229412299

Vitality Totem

               I miss this card solely because it makes the outcomes of Tuskarr Totemic strictly better. If you had asked me before the patch, this wasn’t even something I’d consider, but here I am. Vitality Totem’s weren’t necessarily all that useful and it was one of the drawbacks to playing this card. Now, Tuskarr Totemic is almost guaranteed to give you something extremely useful. The Flametounge Totems, Totem Golems and Mana Tide Totems are almost standard now and are very common.

12259-vitality-totem

 

Steamwheedle Sniper

So I don’t really miss this card, rather miss the potential that it could’ve had. Steamwheedle Sniper never got its chance to see competitive play, or any play really. I kept my Steamwheedle’s around for a while hoping that the card would see play. This card would potentially add a little bit of a control playstyle to the Hunter and as time goes on, we’ll probably see more cards that would synergize it. Unfortunately, when Standard came into play poor Steamwheedle never got its moment to shine.

12242-steamwheedle-sniper

 

Antique Healbot

               There have been so many situations since standard came out where Antique Healbot would’ve completely changed the pace of the game. This little guy was a shoe-in for almost every single Control/Mid-range/Rogue decks and I see why now more than ever. Rogue is suffering immensely without it and the Mid-Range style of deck has died out with the lack of this card and a few others. It was a quick, fairly cheap and efficient way of healing. All while giving you a small bit of tempo so you could potentially keep up on the board. That’s something we just don’t really have in the current meta-game.

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Why Linearity Trumps Open Worlds

June 27, 2016 Greg Articles, Best Of, Blog

The Lifecast’s Greg Fernandes discusses why he prefers linear games over their more open counterparts.

2016 in Gaming: What I’m Still Excited For

June 20, 2016 Kennedy Blog

Now that we’re halfway done with the year and E3 has passed, now is a great time to look around us and start thinking about what the best games of the year have been so far, what we’re still excited for, and what the biggest disappointments have been so far. It’s been a very hectic year for gaming: A new generation of Pokemon is on the way, the Wii U’s impending end when we find out more about the NX, new versions of the PS4 and X-Box One on the way, Kojima returning to the game industry, the return of Star Fox and Resident Evil, a 5th Street Fighter game, the upcoming 25th Anniversary Party of Sonic the Hedgehog, 4K gaming,  and of course the beginning of The Lifecast to name a few of the most notable events.

We’ve already had some great games come out this year: So what’s left to be excited for? E3 gave us some great titles to be excited for but most of them won’t be out until next year. There’s still plenty of games coming out this year to be excited about, however. If you’ve been wanting some good titles coming out this year to keep your eye on, let me recommend you these 10 games coming out this year  that I’m excited for (in no particular order.)

 

Zero Time Dilemma

This one comes out on the 28th of this month, so fortunately, the wait won’t be much longer! It’s going to be the third and final installment of my favorite handheld series Zero Escape, home of 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward. The Zero Escape franchise is all about puzzles, the emphasis of choices, and quantum physics. In each game, you play as someone who’s been trapped in a confined space with 8 other people who’ve all been kidnapped by a mysterious man called Zero. You try to escape while solving the mysteries of why you’re there, who Zero is, why he kidnapped you, and so on. Each game emphasizes beating the game multiple times to get through multiple endings and fully understanding the consequences of your choices. The trailers make Zero Time Dilemma out to be much more dramatic than any of the other games, not to mention more visually stunning! A caveat, however, is that these games shouldn’t be played out of order: If this game looks interesting to you, yes, you need to play 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward first. The developer’s have already stated that answering questions that have been unanswered since 999 will be addressed, so you run the risk of both not fully understanding what’s going on and its significance, and spoiling 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward.

 

Tokyo Mirage Sessions:

This one comes out on the 24th of this month for Wii U. Like Zero Time Dilemma, the wait won’t be much longer. I like Fire Emblem. I like Persona. So I should probably like a game that’s basically Persona with Fire Emblem characters, right? Although I never got the chance to actually play it, I did watch other people play the demo at PAX East this year. It doesn’t look great, but it does look like something that I would try playing if I only had a Wii U.

 

Yiik

This game was the biggest hidden gem of PAX East: It’s an Earthbound-inspired post-modern RPG set in a hipster’s paradise in the 90’s and in case you haven’t heard: I absolutely love Earthbound. Gameplay is turn based and like Earthbound, uses real-world objects and even instruments–many of which need specific button-pressing to use, and it’s quite fun. The graphics are very stylized and charming, the developers seem to really understand the kind of world they want the game to be set in, and the story seems intriguing: You and your friends are looking for a girl who got sucked up by something otherworldly and disappeared. To quote the game’s website, “This is a story about what happens when you look for someone who can’t be found “ The game’s site also states that the game will have a 25 hour story, 6 unique dungeons, and an expansive soundtrack featuring songs by Toby Fox, Andrew Allanson, Hiroki Kikuta, and Calum Bowen amongst others. This game is supposed to be out sometime this summer, though there’s no confirmed date nor month. Once it’s out, it’ll be on Steam, PS4, PSVita, and Wii U.

 

No Man’s Sky

A gorgeous, Isaac Asimov-inspired adventure game set to come out August 9th for Steam and PS4, No Man’s Sky has done an incredible job generating hype. The game’s site calls it a “truly open universe” and emphasizes that this is a game about exploring a beautiful, well-built universe with more than 18 quintillion planets to explore. Needless to say, if this game lives up to these claims, this could be the biggest exploration game (second to Minecraft, if you want to get technical) to date.

 

Pokemon Sun & Moon

Duh

 

We Happy Few

I probably shouldn’t want this game after PAX East: I waited 90 minutes in their line to play the demo, finally got to the front, where I was only able to play for less than 5 minutes: They bragged about it being a rogue-like game, and that for the purposes of the demo, after you die it should give you the option to continue. I died, but was never taken to the continue screen and was kicked off because they had to keep the line moving. Needless to say, I was pretty bitter. I still am, although I did comment about it on their facebook page where one of the devs did apologize. That said, it’s really hard for me to talk about the gameplay because, well, I didn’t play it for hardly 5 minutes. What I can tell you is this, though: What got me the most interested in this game is the fact that the devs are saying it’s very Bioshock-inspired and Bioshock is my favorite game of all time. Mix that with some beautiful graphics, a very intriguing plot about drug addictions, and a very well-built world and you have a recipe for getting my attention. There are two things keeping me very hesitant, however: First of all, Compulsion Game’s track record.

(via CompulsionGames.com)

The only other game they’ve made is a platformer called Contrast and in theory, it sounded like a great, game, too! Bioshock inspired, beautiful graphics, intriguing story, and platforming where you use your shadow! That sounds awesome, right? I thought so and bought it on a Steam sale, but a very short duration, a story that never really got much more fleshed out than its description, and an overwhelming abundance of bugs and glitches ruined this game. Had it only been longer, had its story fully-realized, and had been well-patched, Contrast could’ve been a fantastic game. Needless to say, there’s nothing indicating We Happy Few won’t be the same way—but there’s also nothing indicating that it will be. Regardless, the bottom line is, I’m worried We Happy Few could fall into the same situation as Contrast.

Secondly, We Happy Few doesn’t seem to know what kind of a game it wants to be. The developers told me it was a Bioshock-inspired rogue-like survival game with first-person shooter, mystery, survival, and puzzle elements—that seems like an awful lot to be going on at once if you ask me. It’s possible it could pull it off, but the sheer amount of genres it seems to be trying to pull off makes me worried that they’ll try to do too much in too little time.

Despite all this, the trailer looks interesting and I haven’t heard bad things about the demo and from the 5 minutes I played of it, it seemed okay. I do love Bioshock, and so do these developers—so perhaps I’ll find solace in the Bioshock-inspired elements of the game. I guess I’ll find out when I’m finally able to play it—it’s supposed to come out for Steam and X-Box One sometime this year, and early access starts July 26th.

 

Mighty No. 9

(via MightyNo9.com)

Perhaps I shouldn’t say I’m as excited about this game as much as I am just curious. I’m sure by now most, if not all, of us are at least familiar with the story of Might No. 9, but just in case, let me briefly summarize: This game is meant to be a spiritual successor to the Megaman games and is being developed by Keiji Inafune—the man who made Megaman—with no involvement from Capcom whatsoever. It had overwhelming success on Kickstarter and everyone was super excited about this game. Originally, it was supposed to come out April 2015, but needless to say, that didn’t happen. Delay after delay, secretive development process, slipshod graphics, and arguably the most cringy trailer in gaming history killed most of the hype that this game had generated.

Its latest release date is June 21st –tomorrow. Needless to say, it’s a little too late to delay it now, so I think this release date is finally the one. I guess we’ll finally find out if it will live up to its initial hype or if everyone was right to stop caring about this game.

 

Final Fantasy XV

Like Mighty No. 9, perhaps “excited” isn’t as good a word to describe how I feel about it as much as “curious.” This game’s legendary 10-year development has fans wondering if it will have been worth the wait, and frankly, I’m not entirely sure. First of all, there’s the matter of the story. Originally this game was supposed to be Final Fantasy Versus XIII—a spinoff game for Final Fantasy XIII. Two sequels that somehow managed to be worse than Final Fantasy XIII later, however, I guess Square Enix started to realize how unnecessary another Final Fanasy XIII game would be. It makes me very curious about how they handled this change and if we’ll still see elements of XIII in the game. The combat demo we saw didn’t look particularly exciting, nor did it remind me much of a Final Fantasy game, to be honest. I really wish they’d return to the turn-based system from Final Fantasy X, but I realize that’s a very specific thing to nitpick at. It does look like a very expansive game though, and of course, I’m really curious to see how they’ll incorporate VR. This definitely won’t be a game that I preorder nor get on day 1, but it’s definitely a game I’ll be keeping a close eye on. It comes out September 30th on PS4 and X-Box One.

 

Star Ocean 5

I’ll be honest: I’ve never played a Star Ocean game. I’ve been interested in the Star Ocean series for a while now however, and after watching the demo at PAX East, I’m even more interested in it. Beautiful graphics, fun combat, and of course knowing that Square Enix is behind it, all make his game look very promising. This one will be out later this month on the 28th for PS4.

 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice

There’s not a large difference between how much I love Ace Attorney versus my love of Zero Escape. Ace Attorney is a hilarious, fun, and incredibly clever series following defense attorney, Pheonix Wright, who always knows that his clients are innocent and will do anything to unveil the truth! I’ve been a huge fan of the Ace Attorney series since the release of Apollo Justice, so I’m more than welcoming for a new game in the franchise. There are 2 things that make this game really stand out from other titles that have fans the most excited. First of all, the setting:

We’re no longer in America/Japan (depending on what language you get the game in)—we’re in a remote, very traditional Japanese island with no formal court system. Instead, they rely on spirits revealing the truth. How is this going to play into the plot? What new gameplay mechanics will this give us? And of course, most importantly…

(via usgamer.net)

Pheonix’s beloved sidekick Maya Fey is finally back after a long absence that was never explained nor addressed until now. Not only are fans happy to see she’s back, but we’re also excited to find out what she’s been doing and why it hasn’t been talked about until now.

Spirit of Justice will be a digital-only release for the 3DS in September.