Featuring: Ammo, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Tonight we start the show off with Kodra talking bout Celeste and making it past the Farewell segment of the game. We talk about the conclusion of the Epic versus Apple lawsuit and how it is pretty bad for both companies, but especially bad for Epic. From there we talk about our impressions of the games shown off at what would have been the Sony E3 show if that happened. This leads into a discussion of Tam recently trying out Avengers and how it is still not a good game after all this time. We talk for a bit about Pathfinder Secrets of Magic book and martial spellcasters in general. Finally, we have a bit of a discussion between Thalen and Kodra about Super Mario Maker with children.
Good Morning Friends! Yesterday we got the PlayStation Play Showcase for 2021… which far as I can tell is what they would have shown if they had actually participated in E3 this year. As is the case with any Sony presentation, there was a lot of obsequious nonsense, largely in the form of a truly bizarre high art chess metaphor thing at the beginning of the show. I am certain this is going to be what we see from this point on for PlayStation ads on television instead of you know… actual gameplay segments. If you care to experience the entire conference there is a link below. I am pretty hyped about some of what I saw yesterday, and this morning I am going to talk about the elements that excited me.
I have no idea what is going on with this game but I am interested. Apart from being a vehicle for delivering slow-motion butt shots, it appears to be this mashup of Bayonetta, Nier, Devil May Cry, and Korean Horror films… and the only bit that worries me is I could see this leaning into the Soulsborne genre. I knew and still largely know next to nothing about this game but I am intrigued. I think this game represents what is best about the whole convention circuit nonsense, is that it shows you a vision of a future that might come to be. We know nothing about the release date, and apparently, this was originally announced as a game for Xbox and PC so who knows what might have changed in the process to have this being shown at a PlayStation conference.
We’ve seen this game before, but the last time we saw it… it mostly looked like a movement tech demo. Now we actually get to see the world surrounding the character and some of the story elements. I have to say I am not big on spellcasters but this definitely looks like an interesting game. If this goes the way that I think this is going to go… this might just become another big AAA franchise with Frey being as popular as Aloy. This appears to be a PlayStation console exclusive, but is also releasing on the PC. My mindset might be changing about which I prefer, especially given how damned easy it is to play PS5 remotely from bed via my phone.
This trailer has a lot of fucking explaining to do. We are introduced to this adorable fuzzball, given its name… Homer… and then the trailer makes it seem this poor smol baby gets abandoned. You can’t do this shit to us. I demand answers… is the cat okay? Who is going to take care of the cat now that Frey is gone? Does time pass differently in whatever world she is pulled into? Home needs to be okay, and they better explain it to us.
Okay, it was already a given that I was going to give Wonderlands a spin when it is released, but I am always happy to watch another trailer. This time around they set it to the very apt Gimme Chocolate by Babymetal. I am not entirely certain there is a more apt song than this for anything Tiny Tina related. I mean she is a lot… an awful lot… and best served in small doses. That is my only hesitancy with this game, because if it is all Tiny Tina being Tiny Tina… that could get old really fast.
This game knows its players. There were lots of glamour shots of exploding piles of loot. So… legitimately it is like they made a trailer just for me. I love shooting monsters, I love it raining loot, and I love Babymetal. I am super sold.
I love Knights of the Old Republic, Revan is my favorite character in Star Wars history, and this game takes place in my favorite setting. It is not a huge ask to get me to replay all of that and experience it with a shiny coat of paint. I loved going back and re-exploring Mass Effect and I am absolutely certain I will enjoy going back and exploring Knights of the Old Republic all over again with fresh eyes. Early this year I finally got around to playing Knights of the Old Republic II, and I am really hoping this means we might see that get the remake treatment… because god it is a mess with some positive aspects that really needs some tweaks and improvements.
I have loved Wolverine since I was a little kid. I followed the comics religiously for years and was of just about the right age when he got his own solo comic for the first time. There are a lot of people who discount this anti-hero as a gruff single-note character, but he has some depth Bub. I am looking forward to seeing him treated with the same quality that Insomniac brought to Spiderman. Given how many crossovers there have been between Spidey and Wolvie… I could even see these franchises colliding at some point down the line. We don’t have a lot to go on, and that was a cinematic trailer and not something in game… so I expect we will probably have to wait several years for this one to see the light of day. Still that said I am excited to know it is on the way.
I am not certain, but I am pretty sure we are just about to get a game featuring both Spidermen… Miles and Peter… along with Eddie Brock’s Venom… and motherfuckin Kraven the Hunter. Kraven has always been my favorite Spiderman villain and I am so freaking on board to see him in a video game that does so much service to the comics. Like I am not certain… and I don’t think it has been verified… but there is no way that is NOT Kraven doing the voice over in this trailer. It is such a great time to be alive for comic book fans, and these stories are more accessible than they have ever been for those who never got into reading brightly colored newsprint.
I am not super into the fantasy of being a spellcaster, but I really do enjoy weird Japanese horror elements. So when it comes to Ghostwire Tokyo I am intrigued but not entirely sold. I love the strange neon world that it seems to be set in, and I love the monster designs… but it will all depend on how it feels to play. I am hoping a demo gets released at some point, because if it is spellcasting as an equivalent of first-person shooter like it was in the Heretic/Hexen games then I am probably on board. If it is more fiddly than press button get spell I am not sure. If I do pick this game up it is likely going to be when it is deeply discounted.
The star of the show for me had to be Dad of War. I really enjoyed the first game and it reminds me that I really need to get back and finish it. It seems like Kratos gets back his chains from the original series, but also continues getting to use the super fun axe. I am so on board with Ryan Hurst as Thor, because I am going to be honest… him playing Beta in Walking Dead was one of the few things that made the Whisper War watchable. I love the treatment the team has done with Norse Mythology and it seems like we are just going to keep getting more of that good good stuff. It does make me wonder what is going to happen once we have wrapped up the Norse cycle of this game. I would love to see them explore Persian and Babylonian mythos next.
There are a bunch of games that I didn’t really single out. Blood Hunt for example looks really cool, but I don’t really like battle royale games even if you skin them with the Masquerade. Alan Wake getting an upgrade is nice for those who loved that game, but I hated the gameplay of shining that flashlight on things. Grand Theft Auto V gets yet another release and I am sure it will sell well, but I could give a shit because I still have yet to play it. There is something about the rockstar style of doing open-world games that do not jive with my sensibilities. Guardians of the Galaxy looks interesting, but Square failed me so massively with Avengers that I do not trust it. Gran Turismo 7 looks lovely, but I also don’t want to have sex with cars… and I am pretty sure it is specifically targeting that demographic as always.
I am going to be completely honest… it was a great show, but still does not give you much of a reason to buy a PlayStation 5 yet. All of this stuff is coming out in 2022 or later, which means there is still not going to be a lot of truly PlayStation 5 exclusive titles for a long while. I mean I loved Ratchet and Clank and am looking forward to Horizon Forbidden West but it is definitely seeming like this console generation is taking a bit more time to ramp up.
The post Playstation Play Showcase 2021 appeared first on Tales of the Aggronaut.
Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo and Thalen
Tonight we start off with Bel confessing his love for a class that he never expected to like in FFXIV, the Dancer. From there we talk a bit about FFXIV in general and how weird the Bozjan Front is. Tam shares with us a game that is actually way more in the wheelhouse of Bel, Grace, and Thalen and is effectively Cyberpunk-themed Diablo. The Ascent is a game that was shown at E3 and actually the final product is pretty great. A topic that has been hanging on the list for a while is some discussion of Civilization 6 multiplayer and contrasting it to previous versions of the game. More specifically Kodra shares his experiences playing with asymmetrical difficult levels. We talk a bit about MTG Arena leaning into its computer game nature and doing some things that absolutely would break paper magic. Finally, we talk about the board game Bullet Heart.
Topics Discussed
Hey Friends! We continue my half assed coverage of E3 with a wrap up on the rest of the shows. I am sorta batching these all together because after Xbox and Bethesda… everything seems like a downgrade. This morning I am going to talk about games that I thought were interesting and/or got excited about from the following shows with video linked.
There was not a ton in these shows that really piqued my interests, but I did find a few things to talk about. One of my general takeaways from E3 2021 is that it seems like Western developers had a much easier time dealing with the ramifications of the pandemic than Japanese developers. Shows like Square Enix and Capcom which normally have some pretty cool reveals… were pretty anemic at best. It does make me wonder if there is just a more formalized structure there that doesn’t translate to remote work that well? The United States specifically had been moving towards a more flexible and remote office for awhile, and the pandemic seemed to just push already existing plans into motion.
GigaBash
This game makes my inner eight year old happy. Essentially it is a 3D brawler with destructible and usable scenery where you pit one of several Kaiju, Robots and/or Cryptids against one another. I love Monsters, I love Robots and I love Brawlers so I am just hoping I can find some people to play this with when it ultimately launches. I can probably at a very minimum convince Grace to be a Kaiju with me and destroy towns. I particularly liked the volcano level where an eruption was happening and the combatants had to deal with the increasing flow of lava. Fully on board for this particular brand of nonsense.
Release Date: 2021 – Watch the Trailer
Babylon’s Fall
So I am still a bit confused as to what this game is exactly. From what I am reading it sounds like it is going to be a co-op action game where you collect loot and equipment and customize your players to fight tougher encounters. That sounds like Melee Destiny, but also no one has really managed to do Melee Destiny properly yet. It is by Platinum games so expect it to be a little bit on the odd side, and the video specifically states that Nier proved that they had hack and slash chops. However I don’t exactly think of Nier as being a traditional hack and slash game? I am interested and signed up for the beta so I would have to see this in action before I really commit to being excited for it. It is curious enough to gain a mention this morning however.
Release Date: Unknown – Watch the Trailer
Guardians of the Galaxy
You remember that whole Marvels Avengers thing where they make characters look like designers imposters version of the MCU characters? It’s back! This time it is in a single player adventure, which I have to admit I am tentatively interested in. I honestly wonder if this began its life as DLC content for Marvels Avengers, and after the general flop it was ultimately got spun off as its own game? The aesthetics and graphics certainly fit that style with the key difference being this is Eidos and not Crystal Dynamics… but they are all Square Enix studios so who knows. I am interested enough in this to take a wait and see attitude. It could be another Marvels Avengers… or it could be another Spiderman game so I guess time will tell.
Release Date: Fall 2021 – Watch the Trailer
Harold Halibut
Every so often a game comes along that blows you away completely. For me it is Harold Halibut, in part because I love the art style. It turns out that everything you see in the game is hand crafted and hand animated with stop motion. It looks like an old school style adventure game where you are trying to figure out how to get your ship from its watery grave and back out into the stars looking for a dryer home. The textural aspect of the game is just gorgeous and I am going to pick this up as soon as it is available.
Release Date: Unknown – Watch the Trailer
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
This one only really gets a footnote because the PC versions of several of these early games are shit. I am hoping that this release ultimately remedies this and we don’t just get crappy ports of the iPhone versions. The fact that this is releasing on Steam and the two mobile app stores however… makes me think that this is likely not the case. I don’t love the look of FF5 for example on the PC. I really do not like that art style and I am hoping however these end up looking… is a bit closer to the feel of the original artwork.
Release Date: Unknown – Watch the Trailer
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
I have no idea what to even begin to think about this game. Effectively it looks like it is a modern Action Combat Final Fantasy game similar to FF7 Remake… but that loosely follows the story arc of the original Final Fantasy game. Also if you squint your eyes JUST RIGHT you would think this is a Devil May Cry game. I am not sure what this means for the franchise or if it means that they plan on going back and mining the back catalog of Final Fantasy games for future action combat conversions. We live in interesting times, but I have to admit I am sorta into this notion. Maybe the pixel remaster is so that we can remember what was clearly… as they start picking apart the bones to craft crazy mechanized versions for future consumption. In any case there is a demo out now for PS5 and I am downloading.
Release Date: 2022 – Watch the Trailer
Shin Megami Tensei V
I’ve never successfully made my way through a Shin Megami Tensei game but that doesn’t stop me from considering them very interesting. It looks like the next game in that series is exclusive to the switch and we will seeing it releasing in the holiday timeframe. It looks really pretty, or at least a significant upgrade graphically from the ones I have tried to play on the 3DS. I have no clue if I am going to fall for the trap of buying and trying this one or not but it was something that made me interested at least.
Release Date: November 12th, 2021 – Watch the Trailer
Metroid Dread
I have to admit this is the winner of this list far as I am concerned. This is the game that excited me the most out of everything post Bethesda/Microsoft and maybe even competes with some of those announcements. I love Metroid and I specifically love the 2D era Metroid games. All I have really wanted for awhile is for Nintendo to release the remake of Metroid 2 that they did exclusive to the 3DS over on the Nintendo Switch. While this is not what they did… we are apparently getting a brand new adventure which is maybe even better? They specifically labelled it Metroid 5 at the beginning of the trailer… which I am not sure I understand the sequence if that is the case. It seems like there is a chase mechanic similar to Mr X from Resident Evil 2 remake, with your own ways of mitigating this and hiding from what appears to be an indestructible killer robot.
Release Date: Unknown – Watch the Trailer
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Sequel
I want to be excited for this game but I am not sure if I can be. After watching the trailer, I read up some of the information that came out surrounding it… and apparently the weapon breaking mechanic remains in this game. That was a deal breaker for me with the first game and largely ruined the entire experience. I didn’t get into the game until I could play it on a WiiU emulator with a mod that removed weapon durability. After that I had the best time I have had in a Zelda game in a long time. So I guess for the sequel… since it won’t be releasing on WiiU I am going to have to hope for the Switch Emulator scene to get better real fast so I can also play this one… with a no durability fix.
Release Date: Unknown – Watch the Trailer
There we have it folks. That was e3 2021… minus Nacon which is way out of band for the rest of the shows taking place July 7th. It was a bit of a disappointing all around with the only “good” shows being Microsoft/Bethesda and Nintendo Direct. Everything else was either an endless wave of indie games that will be forgotten moments after watching the trailer or expansions for existing live service games. I do feel bad for that endless ocean of indies because it really does take an awful lot to make one of them rise above the surf. Overall I did very much feel the loss of the EA and Sony shows and I would expect in both cases that they come up with some show during the summer to make up for that fact.
Even more frustrating however is the list of games not talked about that we know are in the works somewhere. A few things I want more information about:
Fable 4
Metroid Prime 4
Bioshock 4
Beyond Good and Evil 2
The Division: Heartland
Untitled Ubisoft Open World Star Wars Game
Jedi Fallen Order 2
Everwild
Then there is a whole slew of Sony exclusives that we missed out on by them not having a show. So I guess we will keep waiting on these things and maybe hear something in the months to come.
The post E3 2021 Best of the Rest appeared first on Tales of the Aggronaut.
