Julius

My expectations for this event right now are literally just Legends Z-A, give me those starter Pokémon and show me how the Legends format is going to work in Lumiose. Oh and yeah, just confirm new Mega Evos are on the way, too. A returned focus to trainer customisation would be neat to see, too! I'm really curious about when Z-A is going to drop, it's got to factor in (note: not into) the Switch 2 launch and I can see them not going with the typical November launch this time around. Not expecting mainline games on NSO - 30th anniversary next year seems the more obvious choice for when we're going to get those legacy mainline games on Switch, if ever, and as stated before I'll be shocked if they're on NSO and not sold piecemeal - but maybe some more spin-offs come to the service? There aren't too many left prior to the DS but the Ruby & Sapphire Pinball game on GBA would be a neat get, and hey, a nice surprise like TCG2 getting released in the West via NSO would be awesome. Would love a new spin-off or two, just not sure what they'd be. Explorers DX seems to be off the table for a bit, maybe something a bit out there like a PokéPark spiritual successor?

Next Thursday. Please be excited!

Dan Da Dan was Done Do Done a while ago, loved it. Easy 9/10. Really sudden and abrupt end to the cour, though, which isn't too bad considering we get the next part in July...but yeah it was just odd Also got back to watching Yu Yu Hakusho a couple of days ago after drifting away from it at some point last year, and just now rounded off the Dark Tournament arc. Still a good ways to go before it's all over, but man, that was brilliant! Still think I'd give HxH the nod ahead of this with where I'm up to so far as Togashi's better story, mainly just because there's a better flow between arcs and also because they aren't as weirdly paced (well, apart from Chimera Ant, perhaps), but hey, it's definitely more Togashi, and it's obvious which ideas in the show so far sorry of planted seeds in his mind of where he'd eventually take HxH.

Season 2 arrives Sunday 13th April: The different posters are neat: I'm so curious to see where S2 ends and what they do differently, especially after coming around to just how brilliant (yet flawed) Part II was when I replayed it at the start of last year. There's a lot which could potentially get spoiled for people - if it hasn't already been - depending on where they round this season off. There have been rumours about the adaptation of Part II being split into three seasons, too, which has me a little nervous. While the first season was great as an adaptation, I came away feeling like it was such an obviously inferior retelling of the game's story – weird pacing, weird things cut out and new things included, not to mention the last episode, which I feel really dropped the ball at times. Part II is much more ambitious but isn't nearly as untouchable in my eyes as Part I, so I do think there are room for things to be improved – I guess the question really, then, is if they have been.

Bunch of new details came out on Friday per an interview IGN carried out with Kamiya, Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, and Machine Head Works producer Kiyohiko Sakata. Key points I've jotted down and cross-referenced below, but the whole thing is well worth a full read. I was going to stick this in a quote but that cuts off weirdly now, so: • Capcom publishing; Kamiya directing; Clovers developing with support from Machine Head Works, staffed by Capcom vets who supported the previous Ōkami HD release. Machine Head Works have also supported on recent Resident Evil remakes. • being produced on the Capcom side by Yoshiaki Hirabayashi – he was produced on Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 Remake, and has been with Capcom for several decades. In fact, he was lead designer on the cinematics for the original Resident Evil 4! • being produced on the Machine Head Works side by Sakata – whose history with Capcom dates back to the original Resident Evil on PlayStation. He was Lead Coder on the original Resident Evil 4. • game is VERY early in development. Talks started after Kamiya left Platinum. Development started this year. • the game will be developed in RE Engine; [Hirabayashi says] "But we from Capcom, we believe that without RE Engine at this point we wouldn't be able to realize Kamiya-san's artistic dreams for this project." • Kamiya has spent time watching back YouTube reaction videos for the announcement and fins himself crying along with fans. • Hirabayashi thinks the sequel is justified from the Capcom side – while not a runaway success originally, the original Ōkami is on their IR list of million+ sellers, and sales have remained steady throughout the years, making Ōkami a very unique IP for them. • asked about the IGN watermark on the cover of the Wii release of the game, all three declined to comment. • when asked about the Switch 2, both say that they can't really comment – but Kamiya does say he would like to see the Virtual Console rebooted. • this will be a sequel and continuation to the original Ōkami. • confirmed that it is Amaterasu in the TGAs trailer.

According to Jeff Grubb, PlayStation are considering whether their event for the summer should be a State of Play or Showcase. Makes sense to me, feels like they're at the point where there's a lot to show/reveal. Saros is set for 2026; Wolverine, according to the Insomniac leaks, was set for 2026; Venom was set for 2025 according to those same leaks (less than 6 months between launch like Miles in 2020 for a spin-off seems right if it's still a thing and still aiming for 2025? A lot of if's there ); Ghost of Yōtei is still waiting on its release date to be announced but is set for release this year, and surely we'll know what Rockstar's plans are for GTA VI by the time this event rolls around, so GoY will be due a blowout; there are all the GAAS titles they've got lined up (Marathon, Fairgame$, Convallaria), one will surely get its due; then there's Intergalactic, which I think could realistically be aiming for 2026*, just based on how Naughty Dog and Druckmann have talked at length about how they regretted showing The Last of Us Part II early, and even regretted the E3 demo, which was shown only 2 years before release – I do think they were smart not to throw a year on that trailer, though, just to set expectations and in case things slide. It feels like their summer event could easily be propped up to be like PlayStation's E3 2018 showing, which was a blowout for the big titles we'd see between then and the PS4 winding down in 2020 – The Last of Us Part II, Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, etc. Not that I'm expecting a Showcase, honestly, but personally, I'd much rather see a blowout than this pace of tacking on just the one PS Studios title at the end of each, because inevitably that won't happen and people will be very vocal about it AND I think a blowout event this summer tied with potential price drops this Black Friday/Christmas season and the launch of GTA VI would completely blow the lid off PS5 sales. Oh, and there's potential Cory Barlog's next game, too. The * for Intergalactic is I think that game has to be 2026 so that it doesn't rub up against and clash with Barlog's game, which I think would then come in 2027, a d I guess is when we assume the PS6 launches unless COVID is actually taken into account and they aim for 2028 instead? ANYWAYS Grubb is also saying he's heard Fairgame$ will be 2026 k thx bye

Really wish the Network Test would at least let you finish your session before kicking you out I took charge of a session with randoms and we were kicking ass! I was pretty bulked out: And we were literally waiting for the Night 2 Boss to spawn Ah well, main takeaway from this NT after 6 hours is: I'm so in.

Just had by far my best session. Got to the end of Night 2 and boss down to ⅒ of his health (Fell Omen), but just wasn't to be. I didn't actually go down in that entire run until the end (last man standing), even at Lv 2 Vs the Carian Knight at the start, in fact I got the Duchess up but because her "getting up" animation overlapped with my death animation we lost? A bit rough but eh. Had a huge Holy Hammer Thing and Magmawyrm Sword (which dealt fire and burning damage), coupled with a Hoarfrost which commenced upon initiating elevated sprint. Just initiating it to get Frost off and then getting Burn on after? Felt so damn good! Also knowing about passive abilities from other weapons in inventory helped a ton, +20% buff to two-hand + health regen + so much more, hell yeah! We were Lv 12, Lv 9ish I think by the end of the first night. Guardian just couldn't handle being the mark of the Fell Omen unfortunately. These guys I were with 1000% new the route they were doing and it was A BLAST!!!

Lol, I lied Genuinely uninstalled the game and then reinstalled it to jump on the evening session. Yeah, it's got its hooks in. Those runs were B A D – first time we went off different directions with no-one following pins, so I just followed the Duchess around eventually. We ended up finally teaming up, all three of us, in the most stupid fashion: fighting a Godslayer Noble at the top of a watchtower...in the rain. Yeah, we died. After that we respawned, ran to the centre of the circle for the Night (you only level down upon team death), one guy spawned in the floor and so left, and then the boss never spawned in for me and the Duchess, so we seppuku'd together out in the rain at the exact same time which was super funny. The last run I had was actually the smoothest, great weapon drops, seemed like we had momentum and I think we could've destroyed the Night 2 boss...but then the session ended. Whoops. Think I'm going to be jumping on today's lunchtime session (which *will* be my last) This is super moreish, been thinking about it a whole lot when not playing. Kinda love it

Merlin Crossingham, director at Aardman, has chimed in on the prospect of taking on projects based on popular IP such as Pokémon (and Pingu): Zero doubt that they're going to pull this off with aplomb, I'm just really curious which direction it's going to take!

Just jumped off the bonus session they threw up and yeah, this is a lot of fun! Made it to the end of Day 2 on each run. First run I was Wylder along with a Guardian and Duchess, and that felt like the best run. Everyone being a different class meant our play styles weren't clashing or overlapping too much, and the highlight of this run for me was having a slither of health left after chugging all my Tears (didn't realise until this point that it shows your charges in the top left next to health), having both my teammates go down halfway through, and getting them both back up successfully. We died with this boss on about half health. Second and third runs, I continued with the Wylder class (sword & shield is my thing in the more traditional Souls games), by the way I love his Pile Driver move (stolen from AC?) and hookshot! Anyways, on both these runs I was paired with a Guardian and another Wylder, ended up with the same boss at the end of Day 2 where it's not one boss like it was in my first run, but a main boss and two supporting bosses, and yeah...I think this is where the game falls apart a bit with randoms – these match-ups call for coordination and strategy, and that's impossible to pull off with randoms you have no way of communicating with. Voice chat, some Apex Legends sort of strategic commands, anything would be better than how it is now. Anyways, horse-mounted enemies when you've got two Wylders, so need to use close-range weapons and melee? Not it if you start taking on the same enemy, because you just end up in this chaotic cluster in the arena. I tried several times to kite enemies out but, again, impossible to communicate what I'm doing to the others, so that was that. Ideally I think two of us would've taken on the smaller bosses while the main boss is kited by the person best at dodging? Then the other can jump in and lay into him as and when they've taken down the smaller bosses. Highlight of the second run for me for sure was noticing our Guardian was down and me sprinting back into the rainfall to rescue him! Felt pretty epic and a bunch of dodge rolls and jumping felt like a deserved thanks! I think it also highlighted that you need someone to take charge – the Guardian did in my first run by leading the way and placing markers on the map, and so I just defaulted to whatever he was doing, and it was great! No-one took charge in the second run until I did, and the third run me and the Guardian were on the same page, but the other Wylder was a total, uh, Wyld card (heh). This is because randomly someone on your party can get marked and chased by a pursuer who will track you across the map, and who is, in fact, a mini-boss. Me and the Guardian got caught trying to take this pursuer out - a Fell Omen, btw, so nothing to sneeze at - by the rain coming in, and so I started sprinting away...and the Fell Omen kept teleporting to my position. I then ran into a Leonine Misbegotten out in the open world and ended up needing to kite TWO mini-bosses for what felt like 5 minutes, needing to find Sites of Grace and healing spots to heal myself while occasionally getting clobbered – yeah, it wasn't an ideal time. Eventually I found a Site of Grace at the bottom of a cliff next to a spirit spring, so levelled up in the middle of all of this (the pursuer doesn't care about you needing to do this, by the way, and will continue to attack!), sprang back up the cliff to the Guardian who had finally caught up to me, and then we took him down together (I lost the Misbegotten at some point in all of this). Felt good. Where was the other Wylder you ask? Other side of the map. Crazy. Anyways, shared runes dropping from enemies, boosts in stats or stronger weapons from mini-bosses and main bosses, there's a very chaotic and intense flow to all of this while you level up every stat with a level.up – no focusing on a build, your character is pre-built. Some weapons you pick up have passives which are applied even when not equipped so long as they're in your inventory (e.g. a flat % boost to magic negation from a shield I'm not using). I'm not really sure why you'd take the time to upgrade your weapon rather than find a new one, when Smithing Stones are rare to come by above ground, and going below ground seems like you'd be running a massive risk of getting caught out in the rain. Max level I think is 15? I consistently got to around Level 10/11 by the end of Day 2, some well timed Gold Pickles Feet pops during the end of boss fights seeing me go above that in one of my runs. Some weapons are level-gated and you'll level up pretty quickly. I think staying above ground, killing enemies you come across that seems at/just above your level for efficient levelling, building up to the bigger castle areas later in the day/run by taking out checkpoints and watchtowers and focusing on taking out appropriate mini-bosses seems the way to go. What I'm not too sure about is how much I'll ultimately play this, especially if I know it's going to be a vastly superior experience with friends in a party chat vs strangers I have no way of communicating with? There's some semi-permanent progress with the relics you get at the end of each run providing permanent boosts that can be equipped back at the Roundtable Hold but they're randomly assigned, I didn't get a single one I could equip to Wylder until the end of my third session (when I jumped off), which feels like a silly decision and makes me worry a bit about possible microtransactions in this? From don't seem the type from their other games to go that route but why else would you not make it so that playing as Wylder just provides you with relics for Wylder, playing as the Duchess provides you with relics relevant to her, etc.? I'm also a bit puzzled by the lack of customisation, I know character classes are pre-built but different clothing options seems like it'd be the way to go, especially seeing as you don't pick up any armour out in the open world (I didn't pick up any during my three runs, anyways). Think that's it for me, going to wait until the full game now because I'm totally sold on the concept, and plan to play it with friends at launch, minimising the messiness of teaming up with randoms (albeit they're friends who have zero Souls experience, so, uh, wish me luck?). Looking forward to trying out some other classes too, I think for me just having Wylder use Pile Driver to decimate an enemy's stance and get them down quickly and how familiar I am with Sword & Board in a game like this felt like the way to go for a quick 2 hours. It feels very moreish but I only spent 2 hours with the game, I wonder how much that might persist after getting to grips with it? Looking forward to the full release and seeing what other classes are in store for us, as there are 4 not in the Network Test which we haven't seen yet!

An additional session has been added to the line-up, which will go live in about an hour!

Huh. Just had a weird thought. Will this be the first time a Level-5 game has launched simultaneously on Xbox? I'm having a quick flick through the games listed on their list of games developed and it looks like they all launched either on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms (makes sense, obviously: Japanese dev and a huge audience on those platforms to boot). I know there are games on their platforms now, for instance Ni no Kuni's remaster and II both are on Xbox now I believe, I think announced during an event, but both were added well after their releases on other platforms. Guess it just speaks to their dire situation at the moment. That's certainly possible. I was more referring to the previous PS Store leak that it was releasing in April on PlayStation too (April 21st/22nd) – just seems odd for that to leak and for it to then be pushed back (off the record) a month just a couple of weeks later. Guess someone might've just mistyped the release date when accidentally pulling the trigger early, though? Worth highlighting actually that, prior to this, and making it all the more stranger, is that their CEO Akihiro Hino personally started to tweet about and market the game early this week: He's even tweeted about it more since then. Just so wild to see, you'd think it could've easily factored into one of the events we've had the last few weeks –which really makes you wonder just how recently they jumped ship from teaming up with Nintendo to market it like @Dcubed mentioned.

Obviously you're a HUUUUUUUUUGE Armored Core fan and got it specifically for the PS1 games coming to the service, right? RIGHT?!

Undergoing maintenance during the first session: Whoops. Bit of a shame this isn't just being left open over the weekend, to be honest. I get they're stress-testing and stuff but 3 hour session and rounds of 35-40 minutes (if you complete them) doesn't seem nearly enough time to truly experiment with the game, especially with it being the first of these to have pre-built characters. Curious to see if they put up another/extend this session