Julius

Looks like an all-digital E3 is back on the menu, boys (and girls): Sigh.

My progress with Elden Ring has slowed down a lot as I wanted to get my grinding out of the way, the last big thing I did before today was that boss I last posted about. I haven't got my hands on the armour I wanted yet, so I'm using another armour set for now, but I think I may have gone a little overboard with grinding... Anyways, back on the horse (/elk/bison thing that Torrent is) today, and went through what I could of an area I had access to before, but was saving, and now wanted to see. Some pretty breathtaking imagery there... Man, I still can't believe how much I'm loving this game, and I'm getting to the point where I'm kind of happy to slow down a bit more and smell the roses. I haven't fallen head over heels with a From Software game before, and it's rare we get open world games that I enjoy this much, so part of me wants to savour it. And well, the other part of me wants to blaze through the rest to get the slightest inkling of what's going on Hoping to play it quite a bit over the weekend, grinding is out of the way now so I'm planning to warm up with a few caves and catacombs, finally get the armour I want, then head over in the direction of where I think the questline from Caria Manor will continue

Oh dang, Windows officially inbound for the Steam Deck:

Super Nintendo World coming to Universal Studios Hollywood next year: Must be nice

Oh yeah, I'm happy with where we're at with Ahsoka, but I do still wish they worked out the longer head tails. Cad Bane looked a little off to me, but again, it's me nitpicking and just thinking that if they wanted to have it be pretty much perfect, they could, they just decide not to (for financial reasons or what have you). But yeah, I'd agree and say the Grand Inquisitor looks odd, as well as the Fifth Brother. I know we knew Mustafar was on the way from the concept art, but damn is that a great shot of him in his chambers in his Castle! Eh, it's pretty different in that in motion in scenes shot in The Volume, if you pay attention to what isn't the focus (for example, here it would be Reva and the sign), at times there's a noticeable sort of jittering to the scene as a result of the camera focus not being the same and the shape of The Volume that you wouldn't get with a green screen, just due to the nature of how the background is being inserted. Other times it looks a little too smooth - the best way I have to describe it is it looks like the framerate of the background don't match the foreground/points of focus. I'm glad you haven't really noticed it with the Disney+ shows so far, so hopefully that continues for you with Kenobi, but for better or worse, I'm really sensitive to noticing things like this, and it can definitely take me out of it at times. Not to discredit the accomplishments in The Volume so far, though, and I agree that it's useful for actors to have context to the scene. It's probably the most Lucas-like thing they've done since the Disney purchase, to be honest (trying to push a new technology as far as it can go to lower the costs moving forwards as it - and places like it - become a more common stage for shows and films to be made with, kind of similar to how TCW aggressively ate the cost with regular, television 3D animation), I just hope they continue to improve it as time goes on

I think it was better in Mando S2, sure, but I noticed it quite a bit in Boba - mostly on Tatooine, and honestly Tatooine has probably consistently been a problem child in the shows for me when it comes to both smaller sets and the wide, sweeping shots. It's getting better, but CGI sand can still look incredibly rough. And yeah, definitely benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, but considering that this is a limited run mini series, I think it's much harder to justify than it is with Mando/Boba, which have had very tight deadlines, what with them coming out on a yearly basis - things like The Volume were built mainly for that situation. I personally would much rather it be shot on location in the case of Obi-Wan Kenobi, like with Andor, especially when you consider this could be the last time we get Ewan and Hayden portraying Obi-Wan and Anakin. It's actually one of the reasons I'm very excited about Andor, because I won't feel like I'm constantly jumping between my disbelief being suspended or not. Like with everything else, I'm sure COVID got in the way of their plans to some extent, and I'm not going to make a mountain out of a molehill, because is it going to wildly tarnish my enjoyment of the show? Unless it's more distracting than I've found it before, probably not. I just think that of all of the live-action Star Wars Disney+ shows officially announced so far, this is the one where I think you need to push all of your chips into the middle of the table and go all-out.

Doug Jones is a good shout, though I'm not sure how demanding this portrayal of the Grand Inquisitor will be. On the one hand, I get not going with the same practical makeup and costume design as in Revenge of the Sith, because it took a long time in that film, and might not be suitable if the role is physically demanding. But at the same time, I agree, it looks derpy as hell (I even saw some people online say they thought it was helmet-less Vader at first viewing of the trailer), heck, other parts of the get-up are wrong too, like the teeth and eye colour. I mean, just look at them next to each other: I get that you'll probably never nail it perfectly, and hey maybe they'll edit it with some CGI, but then why would you show this now if that was the case? It's yet another case (though, well, maybe the outright worst case) since the Disney takeover where they just aren't getting some of the looks right, and so they look more like Halloween costumes. A lot of continuity in appearance has been sacrificed, some classic races just don't look quite right, and look I get there are practical reasons, but at the same time, another thing is the head tails on live-action Ahsoka being too short. They managed it in the past with Shaak Ti (though cut from RotS proper), so I really think there must be a way they could have handled it better. And the same goes for Sung Kang as the Fifth Brother, another one that I also think looks pretty atrocious, considering the guy is supposed to be a bit of a giant and hulkingly muscular: It's a shame because the look and feel of these shows is otherwise pretty much spot on, it's just some of the alien races, look, well, too human. I'm sure the cost of CGI work isn't cheap or short, but this is Disney, and this is Star Wars, I don't think there's really an excuse for some of these characters to look quite as off as they do. Hopefully they just made a mistake of showing too much too early and it'll be cleaned up, but I have my doubts. The only other thing really with these shows is I hate that I'm getting to the point where I'm like "oh hey, they're in The Volume", "they're clearly on a super small set", etc., and I'm personally finding it very jarring. As a result, some of these locations just feel so much smaller than they should, such as that shot of Reva on a rooftop on Coruscant clearly just being them on a soundstage.

Well, that was a bit rough. First game that came up was a futuristic looking game by Capcom, and it's not Pragmata, but a third-person multiplayer shooter with mech suits where you fight hordes of dinosaurs, and it's called Exoprimal. Looks like it could be dumb fun, but also looks destined to be a PS+ game at launch. But 2023? Capcom, come on guys, seriously: chill the heck out with these release dates that are so far in the future! Ghostwire Tokyo was then shown, and I know it's out in a couple of weeks, but feels like it's really getting the Deathloop treatment. I'm just so tired of seeing that game that I couldn't be much less interested at this point. Introduced super weirdly too as a "fan favourite"? – the game's not out yet, so I struggle to see how it could possibly be a fan favourite. And then we got a TV spot for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which abruptly cuts at the end. Kind of what I was expecting considering we had the "final trailer" a few weeks ago, but not really a great spot for selling the game? Really surprised it wasn't the game with the licensed music here, and hey there's a new demo which is cool, as we found out would be the case earlier today, and it's been confirmed that from the demo that you can carry progress over to the full game, which is pretty neat. Didn't really make the game a must buy on Day One deal for me, I'm fine just playing Elden Ring and other games for now, but I still love the sound of the (original) music that's in store, so look forward to checking it out at some point this year. And then another big AAA Square Enix game in Forspoken, which we know got delayed this week, so my mind immediately went to "yup, this is a contractual obligation" and half checked out. The more we've seen of this game the less interested I've been: I still think it's first trailer was it's best, and everything else shown from it is kind of one big mess in my mind. Gundam Evolution - not my thing, I mean especially a first-person hero shooter mech game where you don't even get to see your cool ass mech? I'm sure there will be fans, but it's not for me. TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection actually looks pretty neat, I've heard so much in podcasts about Turtles in Time, so depending on its price, could be interested in checking that out, if not waiting for a sale. GigaBash is a kaiju game which we saw so little of I have no idea if I'm interested, but given how short the trailer was, I guess there isn't anything to be interested in? Again, I'm sure it'll have it's fans, but yeah, not for me. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - All Star Battle R will also have it's fans, but having not watched the anime or read the manga, all I can say is that it's got cool music. Trek to Yomi looks great, getting a voice cast with some names that I won't claim to know offhand but will be digging into is cool. I am a bit concerned that it's looking more and more like a game we've seen plenty of (INSIDE, Limbo, Little Nightmares, etc.) just in a new genre, and so my concern is about the combat mainly. Still looks great, it's apparently coming in Spring, but guys it's March, I don't like the idea of setting unrealistic goals which cause crunch but not even a month, when it's supposedly dropping in the next three? Returnal's Ascension in Update 3.0 coming on March 22nd in all honesty is one of the highlights of the show, and well, that's pretty concerning considering that it's not one of the games from a Japanese publisher that we were told to expect here. Co-op could be great fun in a game like this, but as someone who doesn't know anyone IRL who has played the game, let alone would want to return to it, it doesn't mean much to me. And while I really enjoyed the game on the whole, as you might have guessed from my posts about the game in its thread, the idea of an endless tower is pretty much exactly what I don't want. Still, @drahkon is undoubtedly excited, so I'm looking forward to hearing his thoughts on it! And then the last two games, set up as being two brand new games from Square Enix. I immediately thought Welp, no XVI, no hope for a DQ VIII remaster, but maybe there's still hope for a remake? And then the trailer started for the first game. We saw the art, it looked a bit generic, but whatever, there was still a glimmer of hope. Oh jeez, this is clearly a fantasy tactics game - a Tactics Ogre or Final Fantasy Tactics remake or sequel or something? And then we saw the alliance names and I immediately thought Well, those names are just too stupid to be Final Fantasy, and they're just a shade better than some of the location and event names in Triangle Strategy, so I guess this actually is a new IP. So yeah, those were my thoughts on The DioField Chronicle. Stupidly named game with stupidly named locations with a super generic art style, which is a massive shame because I was really digging the brief look at gameplay that we got, but we saw so little that that being the only real differentiator to a lot of other SRPG's means it didn't sink it's hook into me and sell me why I should play it over, well, every other Japanese SRPG out there. And then finally, Valkyrie Elysium. All I really saw was a character doing Naruto run and stupid faces, the rest of the game being watercolour (but the kind of extreme, almost too light and washed out kind) for what I'm guessing is an ARPG just didn't really grab my eyes any which way, and so was ultimately pretty forgettable. I haven't played but have heard a bit about the Valkyrie Profile games, so I'm sure it has its fanbase, but nothing shown here really made me want to play this game. As I started with: I just thought this was a rough State of Play. Trek to Yomi, TMNT Collection and Returnal update aside, it felt like PlayStation's equivalent of Nintendo's Partner Showcase Direct Minis, which is to say that I didn't think this was a particularly well put together showcase of games, and that it felt put together out of contractual obligation for all but the three aforementioned games, which just really made it tough to care. Weakest major event so far of the year for me, despite a surprisingly high volume to show for how short the show was. Even with tempered expectations, I don't think it was ultimately worth tuning in for. There was nothing new shown today that got me excited for a game I didn't already know about. My Verdict for State of Play: March 2022: 4.5/10 Square Enix out-Square Enix'd themselves.

Here we go! Been a great day with a lot of news and trailers, fingers crossed this delivers! See you all on the other side

I'm not sure how helpful a tip it might be so deep in, but something I've found really useful with the map markers is...

Oh man, that sounds like it must have been a great time! I never got to see Revenge of the Sith in cinemas, a combination at the time of my parents not being in a great place financially, and them just being very busy. I never kicked off about it like some kids might have, but looking back...I kind of wish I did Being a little kid, I also had no idea when the film was coming out on VHS, so there was a long gap between the release of the film and me getting the chance to see it. I actually played the game first (which my dad bought for me the day I bought the PS2 I'd saved up for - the start of March 2006 - had to get it from WHSmith as I think it was a Sunday and all of the other shops were closed!), which is based on an earlier cut of the film and so is a very different experience, and then ingeniously took the terrible advice of buying someone what you would want for their birthday, so my dad got Revenge of the Sith on VHS for his birthday at the end of April 2006 It was the first film I ever picked up on a super small inconsistency in, which was that the Magna Guard on the bridge of the Invisible Hand was still functional after getting its head sliced clean off, but one later on in the film half crushed under the machine (which I always thought looked like a massive AC unit) that Obi-Wan drops on them as they're circling around him on Utapau is finished off with the same move Oh man, while I would've loved for it to be focused on only Anakin vs Obi-Wan, swapping from their battle on Mustafar with Battle of the Heroes/Anakin vs Obi-Wan to Yoda vs Sidious and Duel of the Fates blasting just...chills! Think there's a very strong argument to be made that of all of the Star Wars OST's, Revenge of the Sith has the single greatest OST of them all (and by far the best credits medley, too). And yeah, some spectacular lines, both in a comedic sense and just incredibly quotable. I remember walking into rooms in primary school and just being like "Hello there", or "you are wise and strong", or "did you ever hear the Tragedy of [insert whatever the topic of conversation is here]" "another happy landing" is definitely a favourite I still use to this day, especially when surviving falls from great heights in games haha. Perhaps best of all, the film was a cautionary exchange for young boys/men on how confusing and complicated some girls/women can be: Anakin: You are so…beautiful. Padme: It’s only because I’m so in love. Anakin: No. No, it’s because I’m so in love with you. Padme: Then love has blinded you? EDIT: forgot, I also had one of those plug and play controllers!

I just love that they decided to go balls to the wall hype with it! No fuss about showing it as some artsy, five-brain, two-head trailer, just "hey, here are the two best composed Star Wars battle themes, here's the Force theme (twice), here's Anakin's Dark Deeds, and maybe the new theme John Williams has been working on, idk." They teased a lot but they showed what feels like so little. I think that's the best Star Wars teaser trailer we've had in a very long time - again, so little time spent building things up! - and it's possibly one of the better ones since Disney started sitting on the Emperor's throne. Revenge of the Sith isn't the best Star Wars film from my point of view, but it's absolutely one of my favourite (it's probably the one I've seen the most), and I do think - as a whole, with how poor parts of The Phantom Menace, and especially Attack of the Clones, were - still managed to salvage the mess of the prequels as a trilogy to an extent and put a nice big bow on things at the end. Personally I think it's the best prequel for what it accomplishes on the whole. It's the one I know the most intimately: I know the film back to front (it's comfortably one of my most watched films), I know the game back to front (it was my first PS2 game!), I know the soundtrack back to front, I know the Making Of book from back to front. I used to run around the playground and after church copying Anakin's stances from the film, quoting his final showdown with Obi-Wan on Mustafar, gunning down Jedi as a 501st clone (which is hilarious given the context that we were all of youngling age!). It and the prequels mean so much to me and so many others, and man oh man, am I so happy that kids like myself who grew up on the prequels get to be the louder voices these days and talk openly about how much we personally can find enjoyment in these films. It's a shame that George and many of the actors, like Hayden, didn't get the love they deserved at the time from fans on the whole, and so seeing how well they were received during SWC 2017, and how well this is being received, does put a massive smile on my face. It really feels like this is coming at the perfect time in the saga of prequel forgiveness. I can't freaking wait. I'm cooking my food and then I'm watching Revenge of the Sith before the State of Play. This is the most excited I've been for Star Wars in a good few years

Trailer time let's gooooooo I'll just be talking music here, because they did it, they pressed the button! THEY REMIXED DUEL OF THE FATES AND BATTLE OF THE HEROES AHHHHHHHHHHHH And then ending on the ending stabs of Anakin's Dark Deeds with Vader's trademark breathing before going into the Force theme...genius. Much as I've loved it's minor appearances in Mando and Boba, it's so awesome to hear it used so triumphantly and liberally (twice) in this trailer. Also the trailer starting out in a super similar way to the first trailer for TLJ, which immediately takes me to the next conclusion: from the start up until the drawn out Battle of the Heroes solo, I wouldn't be surprised if what we're hearing is the new Obi-Wan theme that John Williams came on to create. The chime is pretty much directly lifted from Tales of a Jedi Knight (which is mostly referred to these days as the Force theme, but was originally talked about as Obi-Wan's Theme) but that definitely isn't Tales/the Force theme playing directly after that chime. Right then. Think I'm watching Revenge of the Sith tonight

Except there's a perfectly valid and understandable reason that it's been delayed, and as has been said, they said that it's being delayed. I don't think it's time to freak out just yet. Now, if things miraculously wind down in Ukraine by mid-June when we'd expect a special Direct from Nintendo (I'd give wiggle room up until the end of July considering E3 seems all but gone), and if we don't see it during their big summer Direct, then by all means I think we can start to question what's going on. But again, it all depends on the climate and situation in Ukraine by that time -- if at that point in time things are still anywhere near as bad as they are now, I wouldn't be surprised if it releases somewhere between September and December. I still think it'll release; the world and this industry is very different to how it was back when the original games first released, and it takes a whole lot less for a company like Nintendo to market a game like this than was the case back then. I can see why in the days of the GBA a game like this might get cancelled if it was delayed, because there would be practically zero marketing momentum, logistics were more of a nightmare, etc. Nintendo can tweet that the game is coming May 15th or whatever in a month's time - if things have stopped being as crazy as they are - and instantly get far more eyes on the game that way than they would have been able to back in the early 2000's. There are plenty of other games to play for the time being, and like @Hero-of-Time says, and as I agree wholeheartedly: considering what's going on, it really doesn't matter. It's a game which will no doubt make some people smile, frustrate others, or just be completely ignored by some sections of the Switch crowd, and that's fine. At the end of the day, it's just a game. I'm surprised by the delay -- I genuinely didn't think it would happen myself. But again, fair play to Nintendo, because it's the right thing to do.

I know it's been rumoured but I can't remember it ever being confirmed - I was shocked that they really just casually mentioned the Grand Inquisitor turning up! I still find it kind of hilarious that the show that should have been a planet-hopping, intergalactic adventure (Boba) ended up with the main character spending all of his time on Tatooine, whereas the show that would have been easiest to argue for it all taking place on Tatooine (Kenobi) is going to end up being a planet-hopping, intergalactic adventure

It's just getting delayed, it won't be getting cancelled. This is a much better and more obvious reason than we got for the previous delay, so hopefully it'll be fine? Depending on how things go - which is obviously completely out of their control, so if things continue as they are now for the next few months, it could be a while, but I think this might be a more immediate response to the news being so front and centre at the moment - I could see them pushing it to mid-May. May looks fairly quiet anyways, and there's currently a noticeable gap between Switch Sports on April 29th and Fire Emblem Warriors on June 10th, so I imagine that's where they'd want to put it. But like I said, whether they get to is kind of out of their hands

Coming October 25th 2022.

It's getting delayed. It's the right move.

Yeah, that's the spell I found and am working on levelling up my INT towards - if nothing else because NG+ for the other endings I don't get (which I'm now going to commit to unless the game becomes stupid in its final third) could be pretty straightforward. I've tested a few of the spells I've got with my current INT level and yeah, magic kind of breaks this game like it does in the other Souls games I've played, so that'll be fun to play around with Speaking of levelling up, I'm just shy of where I want to be with my build - with the time I've put in, I figured I might as well just use it to prep for NG+ too. Just got a little more to go with my farming, still got that last quest to do for the armour I want, and then I should be good to go, so I'll give an update them. I may have gone a little overboard with my farming, but well, hopefully it will have paid off! Already have my first port of call once I'm done and that's the pair of Abductor Virgins. I hated those guys. Time for some sweet as heck, blood-letting, metal-scrapping revenge!

I feel a disturbance in the Force. It's as if a million voices suddenly cried out in joy and died of the hype. EW's article can be found here. Bunch of great images to take a peek at and some light details to get the marketing ball rolling.

So Square Enix have just launched a dedicated music channel on YouTube: Over 5500 tracks and they'll be adding themed playlists. Take note, Nintendo.

Looks like something for Stranger of Paradise may have slipped out that we'll see in the State of Play today. Damn right I actually realised while playing Elden Ring that I've only played one game developed in the West so far this year of the five games I've played. Not to suggest that Western developed games are bad by any stretch - there are many that I love - but there's definitely some secret sauce to a good number Japanese games that typically makes them that much more appealing to me. I imagine it's just the shift in cultural perspective which enforces their design and writing to be so...unpredictable, I guess, compared to what I'm used to with Western storytelling and design? Got to imagine there's a TED Talk or GDC presentation on it somewhere My expectations are really reined in when it comes to XVI news today, I feel like that would either get a State of Play of its own or a blowout from Square Enix, just based on how far along it seems to be, how Unit III generally handle their development and marketing timeline, etc. I'd love to be surprised, but kind of like with Breath of the Wild's sequel, I feel the smart move would be to announce that they're showing the game off at an event ahead of time, just because there's that much hype and expectation to see more of it. Then again, smart moves aren't exactly S-E's forte, so Deep down there's a weird part of me - and I imagine this is just down to XVI failing to turn up so much before - that thinks we've got better odds at seeing something like a Final Fantasy Tactics remaster, or even VII Remake Part 2 (yeah I went there), than XVI today. Not that I think that they're terribly likely, just more likely. Gut feeling, and seeing how my past is with FF hopes and dreams, naturally this means XVI is going to be shown today and announced to be coming to PS Now exclusively, as well as streamed on mobile

F-Zero X is being added to the lineup this Friday:

Funnily enough, they go on to call out that for streamers there may be some licensed music used, so to be careful when streaming. So I guess that means we're almost certainly getting another trailer for Stranger of Paradise also imagine we'll see a final spot for Ghostwire Tokyo, too. Focus on Japanese publishers is nice to see, but 20 minutes doesn't really give me much hope to see much outside of Square Enix and Capcom. I know we're expecting Final Fantasy XVI news soon based on the update we got towards the end of last year, but I'm trying my best to imagine that's not happening, as we've been burned a few times by it not turning up at other events at this point. Outside of that from S-E the only thing I can think of is a potential remaster of something like Tactics, which has long been rumoured, though the timing would probably kill Triangle Strategy on Switch if it did show up here. Hell, give us Parasite Eve or something. Or, you know: Dragon Quest VIII Remastered. Please? Over at Capcom, if Street Fighter 6 is exclusive (though I don't think it would be wise for it to be), then maybe it's here? But something like Resident Evil 4 Remake could be saved for June, if we see it at all this year, so maybe we finally get a classic RE Collection on modern consoles instead. With that in mind, I'm only really backing two horses that I would love to see here that I think are reasonable to hope for: whatever is next for Astro Bot (a full-fledged non-VR game PLEASE) and Granblue Fantasy: Relink.