It’s fairly one-note at first, but you will get options later that will allow you to soak some hits. Make sure you’re keeping your pictos updated.

That said, yeah, in a game with a fully developed dodge and parry system, you’re going to be expected to at least dodge almost everything when playing on high difficulty.

LT: I knew pretty early the scope of the universe, the level, and the script, so I made my dream soundtrack. For example, I would take a level and would want to write three environment tracks, two battle themes, and one boss theme. I do that for the whole game and — one by one — I’d write the track for five years until the end.

This is what’s so nuts to me about this soundtrack. It’s not only quality; it’s quantity too. Those who have played the JRPGs that inspired this game know: for the entire game, you get a few regular battle themes, a few boss themes, and a final boss theme. Some of the consensus top soundtracks in the genre aren’t this big. Yet this single composer did multiples for each level. Only the biggest projects in the genre get this kind of treatment.

I’m glad Broche gave Testard so much run for this game, and gave him the tools to make it sound great, too.

Mine does, yes, and it has a great inter-library loan system, too. As long as it hasn’t come out recently, I have access to a big chunk of the Switch library.

Unfortunately, it looks like going forward that it’s not software costs that are going to be the biggest problem, it’s hardware. Adjusting for inflation, hardware has never been this expensive this late in a generation in my country. Not even the PS3.

For me, FTL: Faster than Light still hasn’t been topped. Hades II might get there, though. Disco Elysium, Ikaruga, and Papers, Please are also high on the list.

There are a few franchises that still have me day 1 even if they went to that price point (The Witcher, Persona, Trails). Those are always 80 hours minimum, though.

Per Gematsu (and others by now, I’m sure).

The irony is outlets have never been more transparent about review process, embargoes, disclosures, etc. because of all that, and yet…

Can only lead a horse to water, though. A staggering amount of people can’t tell the difference between independent reviewers and paid influencers.

Like you said yourself, it’s risky.

That said, I think SQEX is one of the better large publishers out there about giving ideas some leeway. Hell, they let Yoko Taro make really fucking weird shit for far longer than was reasonable until it finally paid off with NieR: Automata.

If by capital “R” Remake you mean the full three-game treatment FF7 received, Kitase’s already said they’re not planning on doing that again. Future remake projects, should they happen, will be smaller in scope. An FF9 project was leaked twice and is heavily rumored, so it’s most likely next (if it wasn’t quietly cancelled, anyway). We also don’t know exactly where it would fall on the spectrum between remaster and remake, but the Epic leak suggests it’s more of a remake.

FFT is the one I’d like to see the most, and it has even more rumors around it. But, I would expect that would look something like Tactics Ogre Reborn, mostly a remaster. It could really use some modern features, like a move undo and some UI enhancements, like a helper for zodiac signs. What I want the most from it is an orchestrated soundtrack. It’s a gorgeous work that deserves the full treatment. I’d also love to see more content, like extra side quests, but I’m not holding my breath on that.

FF6 is the most logical next step after those in terms of enduring popularity, especially if they want to target the Western market. It would probably be super controversial in the fandom, though.

I’ve actively tried not to be a Blizzard doomer, but Nexon? I guess wealth extraction is where these IPs are now. Bleh.

Pains me to hear it called a failure, it’s such a delightful game. While the Western release years after was not part of initial development, it’s also a landmark game in English localization history. The script brilliantly handles the puns and other specific quirks of the original Japanese while also setting a standard tone for this series and similar games that followed. For example, I don’t know if Kansai-ben was translated into a US Southern dialect in a video game before this one.

I think this one’s going to sell quite well once word-of-mouth spreads.

I’ve played several hours of this already and the deeper I get, the more it makes me think of Dark Souls. It has that same sort of cadence in the dungeons, just turn-based instead, with a party. What’s wild is even with how derivative the concept is, it’s a brilliant, fresh-feeling idea for dungeon design. I’ve been feeling like JRPG dungeons have been stale for a while now, and I’m loving both how dangerous the dungeon trash is and how there isn’t a ton of it. Normally by this point in a more traditional Japanese-style RPG I’m starting to skip around in boss rush mode. Not here. I’m wanting the challenge.

It’s nowhere near as difficult as a Souls-like though. I’ve seen many complaints about how not-optional the dodge/parry system is, but at least so far, I think there are ways around it. I’m not even through Act 1 and there are already enough tools that even people that miss most dodges can find busted builds to offset with (and I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of helpful Pictos and other loot already).

I have some nits to pick, but it’s been a great game on the whole so far. The soundtrack and voice acting in particular are top-notch.

Really curious about how well this game does. Being at a significantly lower price point, if it ends up a major GotY contender, that will make waves.

Depending on just how JRPG the game feels, it could also have a big impact there, too. The genre doesn’t have a regular, clear market leader anymore.

Highly recommend the sitting in the character’s shoes approach. I ended up

and really kicked myself for missing that cue after. Still one of my most regretfully memorable gaming moments.

I really do think they should have flipped the timeline for the two in W3. Even players of the first two games don’t really know Yennefer that well, so her proper introduction to the player comes very late, all things considered.

Not being immersed in their backstory also doesn’t really convey how messed up it is that Triss got together with a man who lost the memories of the woman he was in love with (a woman she knew).

Headline doesn’t match what’s in the report. It’s not just gacha; the question in the survey is inclusive of other games that offer in-game purchases (課金 in Japanese). So we’re talking about skins and boosts in MMOs, MOBAs, and shooters, hints in games like Candy Crush, etc.

The report posted here last week showed just how much MTX spending there is on PC, of which gacha is still a small part. I suspect there is a higher rate of gacha spending in Japan than there is globally (outside of China, perhaps), but I’d be surprised if gacha even made up half of the spending SMBC is reporting on here.

The Eternal Life of Goldman is visually stunning. Plus Yasunori Nishiki? He’s had some amazing music lately. I’m definitely in for this one.

I think this money grab wouldn’t have gotten as much run in the media if it hadn’t been front and center in the Direct. Feels like a misstep, but then, so does €90 Mario Kart…

Rumors abound for a remaster of this one, but I’m gonna start thinking it was a casualty of SQEX’s recent restructuring if it doesn’t surface this year.

Pure speculation here, but I’m pretty sure the reason Nintendo significantly ramped up their legal hiring in the past few years is because they figured it was cheaper to chill the development of custom firmware and emulation than it was to tighten up their hardware.

I’m sure they still made an effort, but I’d be very surprised if the security isn’t broken fairly quickly.