Julius

Ben Moore is leaving Easy Allies at the start of July, it's just been announced during tonight's group stream his wife got an opportunity to move on to a better job back in Iowa, and she'll be taking that opportunity and Ben with her, no hidden beef or anything like that. From the Easy Allies Patreon: Kyle, Brandon, and now Ben leaving in the space of just 2 short years (hell, Brandon's and Ben's official final days are just 2 months apart!) -- in case the writing wasn't on the wall for Easy Allies before, I think it certainly is now. Even after the funding drive a few months ago, they're still far short of their $40k/month goal to comfortably tick along, though I suppose Ben leaving might alleviate things for them a bit financially. I also can't help but wonder if the dream gaming journalist goal of living in LA to cover E3, and E3 now being pretty much buried, has played a factor? I don't know if it's just me, but over COVID I think Ben lost a bit of his wide-eyed love for games - I'm not saying he isn't still passionate, because boy is he, but I think out of all the Allies, he's the one I think has noticeably become a bit more jaded over the last couple of years. I think it's a natural reaction, to be honest, and I feel the same way, I think he's just seemed a little burnt out I guess is the best way to explain it? He seems like a smart, deeply empathetic and genuine guy, and is easily the best reviewer of the Allies in my eyes, so I hope he continues to work in games journalism, but ultimately just gets some space if that's what he needs; it's been a whirlwind of a two years for everyone, but throw in working from home and being on Zoom all day (also applies to a lot of people, sure, but then I guess they're also gaming a lot and don't really get to rest from it if needed), E3 all but going under for a games journalist living in LA and not one, but two, of your close friends/colleagues leaving your company, as well as your company steadily and consistently sliding from its peak? I can't really blame him. After Bosman and Jones left, the Ben/Brad/Huber dynamic on Frame Trap and in reaction streams was all that really kept me going. They're the only set of Allies who I think have truly continued to click since Bosman and Jones left, and "The Boys" just weren't capitalised on nearly enough outside of Frame Trap. To speak about Ben for a moment, his wealth of gaming knowledge, his thoughtful approach to discussion, and wonderful writing really makes him stand out in this day and age when so many traditional reviews and impressions feel so emotionless and boilerplate. All of the Allies are passionate about games, but Ben, to me, has been the one to best convey that passion, which in turn just makes him fun to watch and listen to. Frame Trap has been my favourite gaming podcast - period - for years now. I still go back and frequently throw on old episodes in the background when for some ambient noise when my apartment is a little too quiet for my liking. It tries to tackle some bigger questions but just focuses all of its energy on people talking about games, which I feel is frustratingly uncommon these days, at least coming from those in the industry. I honestly don't know where to look for another podcast at this point -- my gaming podcasts list has shortened year on year since I joined up here and started getting into games, and now my favourite one - and the only one I keep up-to-date with - is going away. Lastly, though, let's go out on a high: one of the greatest drunk tweets of all time -- Truly one of the Greats. Wish him all the best, but this sucks.

Per Gematsu, the game will be releasing on 15th September 2022 in Japan, with The Sleeping Hero and the Guiding Ally Offline expansion delayed from Fall 2022 to Spring 2023. Still no word on a Western release, but this wouldn't be the time or place for it

Well there's your problem! There's no E3 this year, didn't you hear? Eh, we've had Directs before which had a "focus" on a game, and the game still ended up with its own Direct. Didn't this happen before with Xenoblade Chronicles 2? It's 20 minutes long and focused on a niche and not exactly mechanically simple game, I can absolutely see the benefit of them having a Direct focused on this prior to a more general Direct, as in that Direct they can then go "go watch last week's/month's Direct for more details, oh also just a reminder that it's out at the end of the month" sort of deal. It saves all of us complaining about Xenoblade taking up 15-20 minutes of a 40 minute Direct, that's for sure Anyways, I'm inclined to agree with @killthenet. No idea if one is happening next week on the 29th as rumoured, but I'd be very surprised if we didn't get a Direct before this game launched, and so next week on the 29th is as likely as a number of other dates in that period when a more general Direct could drop. It could just as likely not happen, but I don't think this is a sign one way or the other. For a company which seems hell-bent on being increasingly unpredictable, illogical, and the Kings of Left Field, I don't think any level of logic can be applied to predict their next move with much accuracy beyond vague and general sweeping statements I do wonder who they're aiming at with a dedicated Direct here though, I feel like a lot of those buying the game are going to steer clear/know what to expect anyways?

Well...not quite what we were hoping for, but not exactly unexpected? Seems like we've seen so little of this considering that it's out at the end of next month. UK stream link:

Late last night I found myself in the mood for The Last of Us, I know Part I is just around the corner, but I've been in the mood to go back for a while, so lazily got to downloading the digital PS+ version of the game instead of throwing my disc in. Wait the 20 minutes for it to download, then boot it up; I figure I'll play Normal+ to pick up a couple of trophies to mark this playthrough, and just because I was looking for a chill time. Well, for some silly reason, the option to start a New Game+ playthrough wasn't there, only the option to start a New Game. Double- and then triple-checked that my save from my last playthrough was actually downloaded from the PS+ cloud - it was - but noticed that if I viewed the product in the PS+ Store, it would treat the PS+ and disc versions of the game separately. Waited the 10 minutes to install the disc version, and what do you know, I can start a New Game+ on that version. Just...WHY IS THIS A THING?! (this is a rhetorical question, I imagine it's an SKU thing, but still: WHY IS THIS A THING?!) To make it even better, it was late when I started the game, but boy does that disc drive love to sing, even when I cleaned it just a few weeks ago, and even with just a PS4 game I actually had to put the volume up pretty loud to compensate for this, so feel sorry for the nightmares that the click-clack of Clickers will now be giving my neighbours the next few nights! Is this the start of my transition to digital story, I wonder? Omori is still not up on the PlayStation Store, and the game's Twitter has been radio silent since Friday. I'm sure that a good sign

I don't have an Xbox so can't comment there, but even on the Switch yesterday it wasn't up until later on in the day; I know as I checked a few times because I was curious about the pricing, but it was still only available to wishlist based on its previous reveal(s). It's pretty bizarre that it's still not up on the PlayStation Store. Their Twitter asked for a bit of patience a day ago... ...but it's still not anywhere to be seen, despite, like you said, already being up on the Switch and for Xbox. Still undecided on what platform I'll play this on, and got a game or two to finish up before I get around to it, but it's been very bizarre to see this go from an underground Japanese indie darling that everyone was praising to getting barely any coverage here in the West the last few months, and now having these launch issues Either way, still very excited to get stuck in when I'm ready to! Heard that it's a heavy game, so might be one I need to mentally prep for

Thanks for sharing that @BowserBasher, hope you don't mind but I'll quote a bit of the article as they've got some juicy stuff in there to discuss! And also steal their image, just because it's a helpful visual They go on to explain that obviously none of this is 100% confirmed, but it's been corroborated with their sources, and the dates are more estimates than anything. But still, potential news is news, and it's fun to discuss! I'm actually surprised they'd seemingly go with a Kyoshi movie first? I guess I can understand them wanting to hit three eras and doing so in chronological order, and I suppose Kyoshi is a bit on the darker side of things from what I've heard than what we've had before, so it could be a good way to set the tone? Of the three I suppose it's also the one that they've got the most room to expand on in terms of on-screen presence (still haven't read those Kyoshi novels, so I still need to get around to that! But I do wonder if that will have much overlap, if any?) while not being a 100% new character and era. I'm 1000% onboard either way though! I feel like they could maybe also kind of make up for Nick's completely abhorrent handling of Korra and Asami's same-sex relationship to some extent here too. Zuko is the one I thought we'd get a focus on first, just as a sequel to the end of ATLA I thought that would be the one they came out of the gate with. I know not everyone is keen to see a story already told be retold, but adapting The Search just makes way too much sense to me. They could tell other stories in that era post-ATLA I suppose, but if you skip over The Search and have a movie based on Zuko...well, that would certainly be an odd choice, at least to me, I feel like providing answers to the lingering questions from the end of ATLA to a wider audience - especially if a movie is centred around Zuko - is essential before moving onto other stories in that era, you know? Especially other stories involving him. Honestly though, I think I might be most excited by the idea of Korra returning. LoK was hamstrung to hell by Nickelodeon before, so getting some Korra and Asami stuff where they're not having to do the thing that also happened with Adventure Time (what the hell were these dopey higher-ups thinking in the mid-2010's, seriously?) where they're tiptoeing around stuff a lot and getting in trouble for it would be nice. We never got to see what the state of the Fire Nation was really like from them inside in LoK other than through their presence (or lack thereof) during issues of politics and war outside of the Fire Nation, so sign me the hell up for that! Curious what everyone else's thoughts on that are There's been a lot going on with the Netflix show as of late which has kind of passed me by. To go over some of the recent stuff, there have been leaked set photos going around from inside their volume (the massive LED walls and set used for live-action Star Wars, they actually got a Guinness World Record because theirs is currently the biggest! They've also been filming on location too, apparently doing what's best for each individual scene, so that's exciting to hear) and honestly, they look insanely good; Amber Midthunder (an Indigenous Sioux actress) has been cast as Yue; C.S. Lee has been cast as Roku; and, well, shooting wrapped on the show yesterday. I don't feel like a Q1 2023 release is out of the question for the show? There was also confirmation that the first season will be 8 one-hour episodes, meaning it'll be roughly as long as the animated season 1 of ATLA, and reports are saying the show will have a budget of $120 million for its first season, or $15 million per episode. For context, this puts its budget in excess of shows like The Mandalorian. At this point, do I think the Netflix show is needed? Still probably not. Will I watch it? You're damn right I will

New Digital Foundry video on the footage we saw at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase: Might as well also throw that footage in here while I'm here too:

I mean, we've known that since Remake released It's a tricky one for me, and I don't have the nostalgia some have for VII seeing as I only played it for the first time 5 years ago (it's already been that long?!), but a remake of something of the scale of the original Final Fantasy VII just isn't feasible in one game with today's audience expectations for AAA titles, so splitting the title up makes sense. Once you do that it's still a case of paring the game back compared to the original for a modern day effort, and I think you end up with 4-5 titles off the back of that if being faithful was the route they went, meaning the remake naturally needs to make the experience more linear anyways for story structure and flow, but also just for the scale to be suitable. That means needing to build out characters more, adding more to do, and so on, so very quickly the game just can't be a traditional remake. I think another aspect to think about too is that the original VII kind of saves going off the rails for its final third (where, personally, I think it becomes a bit weaker than the preceding two thirds of the game, but that's besides the point) whereas everything else I've seen in terms of Compilation stuff - I've watched Advent Children, seen quite a few cutscene and gameplay snippets of Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus - and I think it's that final third of the original game going off the rails which set the tone going forwards. That Remake ended up falling in line with that isn't all that surprising to me? It's ending absolutely caught me off guard a bit, and I wasn't a fan immediately at the time, but it grew on me as I took more time to think about it. If there's any problem I have with the Remake project, it's that Ever Crisis didn't release before Remake. I played original VII prior to release and I was caught out by the sudden mania towards the end of the game, which was certainly hinted at, but they went nuts with it and that's what caught me out; how many went into Remake completely unaware that it wasn't just a more fleshed out remake? Anyways, I think the move they made was bold, which deserves credit, and at least they clearly have a plan for it. In an age of crossovers and multiverses, heavy nostalgia plays, especially with a fanbase as devout as Final Fantasy's and VII's specifically, I don't think it's all that surprising that VII's Remake project looks to be the first in the gaming space to really attempt something of that scale and with the history and characters to try it. Going in a different direction to the original means that while they can revisit similar beats, they're not beholden to them, and with that expectation set now, they have more flexibility to tell their story and can capitalise on new ideas too. I think some will make an argument that the original game will always be there, but I'd argue that this simply isn't a faithful retelling of VII's story. They've changed enough to where we don't know exactly what's going to happen, the original is now more of a reference for structure and the main beats (or has been so far) and they are now basically doing a post-mortem and subversion on their own work from 25 years ago. I think that in and of itself is pretty fascinating (though fascination =/= actually pulling that off successfully). Kazushige Nojima is cited as the lead writer for Remake, mainly because he's frequently credited first and is the one seen writing supplementary material for Remake outside of the game. Don't forget that Nomura didn't know that he was directing the game until the announcement trailer was shown internally, and there are four writers and two other directors alongside him, as well as Kitase to report to, so I don't think one person can be held accountable; if anything, I think it just goes back to wanting (and having) to try new things with current technical limitations meaning a true remake of the original game with AAA production values isn't feasible. No doubt he had some level of signoff as one of the directors and would have been heavily involved in figuring this thing out, and I do think he set the tone for what the project ended up being with his previous work on Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children, but heading in that direction and having that tone wasn't strictly his decision. EDIT: to add and just to make it clear, I don't think Remake is flawless, and I don't want to seem like I'm blindly defending it; I enjoyed it a lot, but if you didn't, I can understand the frustration. This post is more me trying to say that I can see why they went the direction they went in, not that that's necessarily the right or best direction to have gone in.

Trigun is getting a sequel series next year: Trigun Stampede!

Yeah, I genuinely thought that Remake was going to get announced either tonight at VII's 25th Anniversary Celebration stream or at Xbox's Showcase on Sunday. My line of thinking was always that it came out on PS4 with a year of exclusivity, Intergrade last year basically got them to re-up with PlayStation for another year of console exclusivity, and then this year after the Intergrade exclusivity was over - and after being paid twice by PlayStation for exclusivity - that they'd cash out this month with Xbox and bring it to Game Pass ASAP, similar to how they got exclusivity on PC with the Epic Games Store but have now announced a Steam release. But I guess not hate to be the one to suggest it, but at this point I think there's been a lot of shady backdoor dealing here by PlayStation with the above not happening. Now I'm of the opinion that I don't think Xbox are getting it until Rebirth is out at best, or at worst just not getting it at all/until the entire Remake project is completed.

Looks at the rest of the people in positions of power in America Well, they're nothing if not consistent I guess

Yeah, I know. It's probably a good enough reason to not go with it. Thing is, if it were titled in a normal way (i.e. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Reunion), I think Final Fantasy VII Reunion would be completely fine. It's just the fact that it's Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion (I seriously can't believe they kept the titling scheme the same ) that means searching for "Final Fantasy VII Reunion" is going to have a whole lot of crossover (you know...in case it didn't already) that potential muddies the water a bit for branding. I mean it is Square Enix, so goodness knows. Be a shame though, Reunion would be a perfect title in the context of the story. Remade, Reunite, Revenge, Rewind, Retold, Return, Requiem, Retread, Re:Mix 1.5 + 2.5 + 3, Re:Minder That This Is FF Not KH, Re-Remake, Re:Verse, Revengeance...so many possible titles to go with if they stick with the trend of these first two games in the trilogy. Or they don't and they just call it something boring like Finale instead

It's definitely odd that they decide to release spin-offs on Switch first, but I think it's just a side effect of the Switch doing so well in Japan when more traditional consoles aren't, so anything that can run on it is thrown it's way by publishers over there Persona 5 came out on PS3 too, so while I'm sure it'd take some work, I think it could very feasibly run on the Switch. And if you want to believe recent internet chatter, it's coming. Whereas VII Remake would risk burning your house down just being in the same room as a Switch, let alone trying to run on the thing

Just looked it up to confirm and I stand corrected, that's my bad! my understanding of the game was mostly based off what I'd heard and seen clips of, so think I misunderstood their explanation of the Pawn system. On the upside though, that means I can go play it solo, as I'd been steering clear of it for so long thinking it was multiplayer! Well, fingers crossed for multiplayer for II then think it'd be a smart move for Capcom considering how well Monster Hunter has done in recent years, and it'd be like a semi-realisation of Deep Down, so...hopefully? Maybe? Please?! RE Engine confirmed too, so either way, at least it will look good

The first game heavily utilised multiplayer features where you could play online with friends or their avatars could be "pawns" and fight alongside you when they weren't online, so I'd wager it's a safe bet that II will have similar features That being said, you've planted a seed of doubt in my mind now, so...

There are some more details sneaked into the updates given on the Final Fantasy VII Remake Twitter, namely that there are already some working on the game following rebirth (i.e. the untitled game to end the trilogy): Honestly, the turnaround on this game - whether it makes next Winter or not, but let's hope it does - is going to be insane. Kitase mentions change in structure being key to this, but still, even targeting Winter 2023 would mean we potentially see a sequel to Remake in just 3.5 years (I imagine they already had some working on it to some extent beforehand, mind), which considering the impact COVID has evidently had on everyone in the gaming industry, delaying many projects by 12 months or more, is crazy. I imagine having the game be based on another game certainly helps, but still, it'll be one heck of a feat if they get this out door by the end of next year or by the middle of 2024 in my eyes. The Remake project pipeline and everything they've got going on around it is insane, too. I mean, we got VII Remake in 2020, Intergrade/Episode Intermission last year, Crisis Core remaster this year, potentially Rebirth next year. We could get an Intergrade sort of deal in 2024, another remaster (Dirge of Cerberus maybe?) in 2025, and possibly Ever Crisis done and dusted and ported to consoles (please!) before the final game in 2026 or 2027? Oh lord, that'd be 7 years of Final Fantasy VII, wouldn't it? Also...the last game is totally going to be called Reunion, right? Same, think I'll be saving it for next summer to be fresh on it going into Rebirth I might need to replay OG VII again too I think!

NO WAY I MISSED THIS COMPLETELY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Finally a multiplayer game from Capcom I can play with my friends that they'll probably love! glances back at Monster Hunter World

Holy crap We're touches all the wood getting this and XVI within six months of each other

Square Enix just won Not-E3 in less than 15 minutes They surpassed all of my hopes! Well, unless you're on Xbox, sorry guys

Let's freakin' mosey! This does look like the Promised Land Seems to be a similar deal to the first game in that it will be a PS5 exclusive at launch. No details beyond that, though I imagine it'll be a similar deal to what we've seen with Remake, coming to PC after some time has passed. We'll wait and see about elsewhere I guess? In addition, the Remake project has also now been confirmed by Kitase to be a trilogy.

Time to see why everyone likes Zack more than Cloud!

< 1 minute until the 10 minute long Final Fastest VII 25th anniversary stream starts: Time to create a quick summoning circle! Cool countdown to get us going. Don't know where expectations should be, but maybe Remake on Xbox, maybe an update on Ever Crisis or something cool like Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus being ported (please!), probably a First Soldier event reminder or something... ...and maybe a 5 second tease for Part II? See you in 10 to be crushed by disappointment

Easy Allies have completed their search for a community manager: (if you want to save a click, it's going to be Gabby Montoute, who has appeared here and there as a guest, mostly on things Isla has worked on) Long needed, hopefully it has the impact they're hoping for

A fair bit of new content inbound: