Julius

If you’ve still got some, could I get one please @Ganepark32?

A summary of the new information given by Yu Suzuki and Hiroaki Takeuchi from G-Fusion Tour 2018, courtesy of Spaghetti over on Shenmue Dojo (roughly translated from Chinese):

So, at the start of the month, some job listings turned up from The Pokémon Company International advertising numerous localisation roles, many of which specifically refer to the translation of in-game text and strategy guides. The advertised roles were added by the company’s London office, and, in their descriptions and lengths, seem to line up with the previously speculated late 2019 release. Also, in their typically annual letter to Famitsu leading up to the new year, Game Freak thanked fans for a good 2018, and expressed their hopes of wanting to surprise them in 2019.

A bit late, but I hope everyone had a great Christmas! My birthday was on Christmas Eve, so I never know what to ask for for Christmas I just ended up with a lot of cash this time around — the worst thing about getting older is definitely that I didn’t know what to ask for for my birthday, either, so I ended up with some cash for that too First thing to attend to was a small raid of the PlayStation Store’s Christmas Sale, in which I picked up: I’d been waiting for a sale on The City That Never Sleeps DLC; LIMBO and The Unfinished Swan cost me a bit over £5 between them, which is a steal for games I’ve been interested in for a while; and I mainly picked up Requiem for Symphony of the Night, which has been on my radar ever since I got more into gaming, and I can’t wait to check it and Rondo of Blood out. I also picked up FIFA 19, as it was 50% off, just as something I can play mindlessly when I feel like I need something along those lines. I also have a few games that I ordered which are on the way, though I don’t expect them to turn up for a week or so: — which gives me ample time for me to finish off Dragon Quest VIII and NieR: Automata before the end of the year I’ve been wanting to play Chrono Trigger for a while now, but the price for the DS version was always a bit too high every time that I checked (somewhere between £60 and £100 for the UK release with everything included) — I spotted that it was only £40 on CeX and that it was back in stock, so that’s on the way. Think that’ll be my first game of 2019 Persona 5 is something that I’ve wanted to pick up for a while now, as I’m loving what I’ve played of JRPGs so far, and I found it on sale for only £20; even if I don’t get to it for a month or two, it’s nice to know that I got it on sale and I can start whenever I like. The Last of Us Remastered (without the strange-looking PlayStation Hits strip) I’m picking up as I mostly enjoyed my playthrough of the Nathan Drake Collection a few months ago, and wanted to see where Naughty Dog went next. Oh, and people keep claiming that it’s one of the best games of all time, too and, finally, I picked up Yakuza 0 after reading nothing but good things about the series here, hearing good things about it in podcasts and in YouTube videos, and plus, I had a great time with Shenmue I & II, so I want to see what SEGA’s spiritual successor to the series was like. Honestly, the early months of 2019 were lining up to be pretty empty for me in terms of new releases — I haven’t played any of the Kingdom Hearts games, so would feel lost jumping in with KH3; though I want to check out the Resident Evil series, and hence 2 Remake at some point, I haven't played a horror game before; and, to put it simply, I have other games that I really want to dive into from my list of games that I want to play, that I’ve been interested in for longer, and are (generally) a lower price. I also have one eye on the price of the SNES Classic in the coming days — a good chunk of the games that I want to play are from the era, and though I have played a few on 3DS Virtual Console, it felt a bit strange to me, so I’d like to try playing them on the TV. Plus: Final Fantasy VI So, yeah. I guess these are the games I’ll be playing for the first few months of 2019 oh, and I also got some clothes and films Hope everyone has a good, fun — and safe — end to the year!

Yesterday we got a behind-the-scenes look at Galaxy’s Edge: We also got to see a very familiar bounty-hunting droid courtesy of Jon Favreau on Instagram, confirming that IG-88 will indeed be in The Mandalorian:

Got Ending A yesterday...this game was weird as hell — probably the strangest game that I’ve ever played — but I absolutely loved what I’ve played of it. As I mentioned before, the traversal, music and combat are all excellent, and the themes driving the heart of the story are really compelling. The game’s art style, character design and sound design is also excellent throughout. Maybe it’s just me, but I get the feeling that the game was made on something of a tight budget? I’m not too sure, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way: more so, that the way in which Yoko Taro and his team seem to have creatively overcome some obstacles in their methods of storytelling seemed almost experimental in some ways, and a lot like some of the extremes I’ve only heard talked about by some indie filmmakers/game developers. I’m going to put it down for now — I’d like to go back to Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS as something a bit lighter over Christmas — and then pick it up again to see the other endings later on, but man, I’m probably going to have to play other games by Taro-san at some point for some (read: probably a lot) more context.

As revealed at the end of the trailer, the game is currently scheduled for release on the Nintendo Switch in 2019 in Japan, and I can’t see the English version of the game being too far behind. Here’s a comparison between the Switch and PS4 versions of the game (the Switch version is the top image): UPDATE: More comparison shots, with PS4 screenshots on top and Switch screenshots on the bottom this time around: We also have a Japanese site for Dragon Quest XI S. As for the Japanese VA that @Hero-of-Time mentioned: Maaya Uchida voices Veronica; Ami Koshimizu will play the role of Jade; Erik is voiced by Kouki Uchiyama; Serena by Sora Amamiya; Sylvando by Masaya Onosaka; and Rab by Mugihito. Voices can be toggled on/off. Square Enix confirmed that there will be over 200 characters voiced in Japanese, which is likely on par with the amount of voice acting featured in the English release. Finally, Square Enix said to look forward to the New Year, promising a broadcast for Dragon Quest XI S, as well as more news on the Switch release, in January.

We’re 12 months from Episode IX releasing! Which also means that we’re 12 months from The Last Jedi’s release, and I still don’t know where I land on that film... I really, really enjoy The Force Awakens, and I like The Last Jedi for the most part, but I am nervous as hell for IX; I just think that there’s too much to potentially see and wrap up, and far too little time to do that in — at least when compared to the original trilogy, or even the prequel trilogy, because at this point with those films we knew the general direction that their plots were going in. Hopefully we’re only a month or so out from a title reveal, and I’d love to see something prior to Star Wars Celebration in April, but yeah, I’m much more excited for pretty much everything else Lucasfilm has planned for Star Wars right now

Picked up the game the other day, and I’m around five hours in. It got off to a really rough start. I think the beginning is a bit obtuse, and not from a storytelling perspective, but completely from a gameplay perspective. The tutorials (or lack thereof) were pretty poor, and for someone who hasn’t played a game developed by Platinum before, I found myself dying time after time against the first boss, and constantly losing thirty minutes of progress to then be booted back to the home screen felt completely jarring. The initial controller configuration also felt very strange, which I think only compounded my difficulties and therefore frustration. However, that opening segment aside, I’m enthralled. The through the world feels great, and I love the sound design and the general themes of the story so far. I also find myself being consistently humoured by what’s going on around me, even in the middle of an intense battle. I’ve finally started to come to grips with the controls after nearly five hours, and it’s becoming very fun very quickly. I accidentally wandered into a chasm where I was outlevelled by nearly 20 levels, and yet thanks to the great combat system, I didn’t feel the need to run away, but wanted to test myself against some stronger foes. The boss battles too have been really fun so far. The music is absolutely phenomenal — I think I might have to pick up the OST after I’m done in particular:

Well, I guess I’ve found the suit that I’ll be playing in when I pick up the DLC and have my second playthrough...probably put Danny Elfman’s score on in the background too

The main cast for The Mandalorian was confirmed last week — I thought that I’d posted this already, but apparently not?. Anyways, the press release from StarWars.com: Seriously, what a stellar cast! I can’t wait for this show...and we also got a look thanks Pascal at some gorgeous Dave Filoni sketches of the show’s protagonist: Speaking of The Mandalorian, an excellent composer has been selected for the show in the form of Black Panther and Creed franchise composer Ludwig Göransson. I’m looking forward to hearing his take on classic themes, as well as surely adding some great pieces to the franchise’s musical catalogue. Finally, to round up the news on announcements, Warwick Davis has been announced as the host for Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019! He was excellent last year, especially during the particularly packed opening panel for the 40th Anniversary Celebration. Finally, @Ronnie recently mentioned reading about the possibility of a teaser trailer this month. That still seems very unlikely — though the phrase “footage” in particular is being thrown about a lot (not particularly by anyone with a great track record, mind you), so maybe it’s possible that some footage could be released at the end of something like a short montage of the Saga so far? Okay, time for the actual final announcement: it seems that our first preview of Galaxy’s Edge, the Star Wars-themed expansion coming to Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, and Disney World Resort, Florida, and it will be coming on Christmas Day. Speaking of which, for anyone wondering how development is going, it looks to be going swell...

Some developers in Japan were asked what they think of the New Year for an upcoming article, and with Kingdom Hearts III finally releasing at the end of the month, it seems like Nomura-san and Kitase-san have finally taken it upon themselves to start teasing us with the possibility of some news coming in 2019. So, I’ll see you all in 2023, then?

A free theme and avatar bundle completely went under the radar when it launched last Wednesday on the PlayStation Store Avatars: Party Time Theme (when in upper menu): (when in lower menu): The bundle is available for free here.

So, the beta goes live tomorrow...but only for those subscribed to the Media Molecule newsletter. Prior to today. Yeah. Looking ahead, the public beta will begin on Tuesday 8th January 2019, with sign-ups beginning on January 4th — though this will seemingly only offer you the opportunity to try the game “in waves” during the week of the 8th, and seemingly opening up afterwards. The public beta is scheduled to close on Monday 21st January 2019, but will not feature PSVR functionality as it will in the final game. The beta client will be approximately 4GB in size, and will not require you to have PlayStation Plus.

Good to see you back @Fierce_LiNk, and you make a lot of great points. I have to wonder if the board have been waiting to sack Mourinho ever since the summer transfer window closed, but didn’t think it an ideal time to replace him? I think that @killthenet was referring more to the job as a “poisoned chalice” in the sense that it’s a position which seems to have the potential to do much more harm than good to anyone who takes the job — what is there to gain from managing Manchester United right now, and what has there been to gain from managing United since Ferguson left? Moyes, once one of the most consistent managers to stick with one club in the PL, had his entire career virtually destroyed by taking the role (and every role he’s had since has been nothing short of a failure); van Gaal, one of the most storied managers across Europe in the last twenty years or so, had his career end on a bitter note, having his contract end a year early despite meeting the club’s goals at the time; and Mourinho’s resume was left in tatters when he left Chelsea for a second time, and can arguably only be viewed as having been made worse by his stint at United — despite having added a few trophies to the cabinet. That’s not his fault in a lot of ways, not least because he lost his father recently and his desire on the pitch clearly hasn’t been the same since (if I recall, his father got ill towards the end of his Chelsea stint — it’s probable that is a key reason for his “lack of progression” since his great 14/15 season with us, which seemed more like him getting back into the flow after his time at Madrid). For Mourinho, I hope that he takes a sabbatical, at least until the end of the season, and comes back primed for whatever’s next. Italian football is on the up again, and he loved his time at Inter, so I’d love to see him to return there just to see how well he’s treated by the fans. All of this talk about him being done as a manager at the top level (not here, but of course, by his best friends in the media) seems well off the pace to me; he seemed to rush into the United job, so hopefully he uses this time more wisely so that he can come back in a big way. I think the thing is that United never looked like challenging for the title last season, and so I think that them finishing in second actually only speaks volumes more about how poor a lot of the clubs in the top six were last season, and not how well they performed. It also doesn’t help that it is one of the only clubs in Europe’s elite being treated as a commodity to be sold off more than it is a living, breathing, legendary football club. No-one wants to make a loss, sure, but when you’re on the New York Stock Exchange, it’s much more about money than it is about football. That’s something that needs to be changed.

It’s about time, to be honest. I think we got a bit of a hint of that yesterday when Martial’s one-year contract extension was activated — there’s no way that was done with the intent of Mourinho sticking around. And Pogba sells shirts and won the World Cup — there was no chance they were letting him leave over Mou. Apparently his sacking is going to cost United £24 million. As much as I still feel uneasy as a Chelsea fan about the fact that he went to United in the first place, I do feel sorry for him in that he didn’t get the support from the United board that his resume probably warranted. At the end of the day, his tactics are being studied meticulously by every manager and coach coming through — is it any surprise that everyone seems to have United sussed in one way or another? I wonder where United go from here: Zidane would likely be turned off by the lack of ability/desire in the first team, and the excruciating challenge of being an underdog to qualify for the Champions League next season alongside competing in the knockout stage seems too big of a challenge with this team; Conte, I believe, is still awaiting his Chelsea settlement; and I can’t think of too many other high profile managers that are available at the moment, let alone anyone that would be interested in walking into a job like this one. United needed a top-to-bottom change when Ferguson left, and the fact that they still haven’t done that makes it no irony that, in the most competitive start to a Premier League season that I can recall, United is nowhere near the top. The question now is whether or not Ed Woodward and the board finally realise that a top-to-bottom investment is needed as well as a multi-stage, multi-year plan, or if they’re happy to continue doing a whole lot of nothing. My bet would still be on the latter, and I think that’s a shame for any United fan.

Some fun Arlo predictions for Switch’s 2019

[insert pun about dreaming for a beta/demo/release date here]

That’s a surprisingly even draw all-around, some great matches to be had Hopefully Real won’t be much better than they are now in two months, because I’d love to see Ajax progress. I don’t think Lyon can be written off, even against Barça, after their excellent group stage performances. Tottenham v. Dortmund could be a counterattack fest. Atlético v. Juve finally gives us the chance to find out what happens when an immovable object meets an immovable object — I guess all eyes will be on Ronaldo there. And United v. PSG has the potential to be a bloodbath — Manchester will be red alright... The only game to me that doesn’t seem on par with the potential competitiveness of all of the other matches would be Schalke v. Man City. City could slip up, sure, but it doesn’t seem at all likely.

Uh, wait a second...couldn’t our rarest trophy stats be used to roughly estimate how many units have been sold (and played) of a given game? For instance, my rarest trophy was Now I Can Sleep from Shenmue II, which 4287 players had unlocked by the time that I checked my stats. Having a look at the stats for that particular trophy in the ‘Trophies’ section of the PlayStation app, I can see that roughly 9.7% of people who have played the game have achieved that trophy. 100% / 9.7% = 10.309... 4287 x 10.309... = 44195.874... So, roughly 44200 people have played Shenmue II on PS4. My stat isn’t particularly helpful in estimating the sales of Shenmue I & II on PS4, seeing as it’s the sequel in a two-game collection — there are likely players that have played both; other players that have only played Shenmue; and other players that have only played Shenmue II. But either way, we can tell that not so many people have played Shenmue II on PS4... It’s not the most dependable way to calculate these things — there’s a higher margin of error the greater these sales numbers get, and it only takes into account the trophy data which has been synced by players — but it can at least give us a rough idea of how well some games are doing on PS4, which I think is quite interesting, as the sales numbers for a lot of games typically go into hiding shortly after their release.

Update from Nomura-san: