Happy holiday season, OASG readers! It is the third Saturday of the month, so that means it is time for another episode of “The Directional Pad.” Be sure to read Geoff’s November column if you missed it. I was almost certain that December would be a quiet month for gaming news. All of the big AAA releases are out for the remainder of the year. Gamers just need to sit down, kickback, enjoy the holidays, and play a few games. Silly me! I was so consumed with increased hours at work that I forgot about the end of the year industry events. Lots of announcements were made and there was almost TOO much gaming news to follow. I’ve picked out what caught my eye for the month, and a few game details that positively captivated me.
Bayonetta in Smash.
Gaming Events
The PlayStation Experience- The PlayStation Experience is a cool event for fans that are able to attend. The rest of us have to be content with following news from the event. This year the PlayStation Experience was held in San Francisco it didn’t disappoint. Developers had a lot to present and reveal at the conference. Sony kicked the event off by revealing footage from its first-party titles, namely a cutscene from Uncharted 4 and the reimagining of Ratchet & Clank for the PS4. Both games will be released in 2016. Other fun reveals included Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom from Bandai Namco, Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 5 from Sega, Ni-Oh from Koei Tecmo, and the re-release of Final Fantasy VII ported from PC to PS4 and gameplay footage from the Final Fantasy VII Remake from Square Enix. You can read the full list of game announcements here.
The 2015 Game Awards
The Game Awards 2015 happened and it was an interesting event. Unfortunately, thanks to working at night I didn’t see the awards for myself, nor did I feel like sitting through a two hour event when I could just read the recaps. So dear readers, I suppose you’re getting this information secondhand. Sorry! The Game Awards is the internet revival of the Spike Video Game Awards, thanks to Geoff Keighley’s efforts. The show had its second debut and was considered to largely be an improvement over last year. The show was light on big AAA reveals, but there were a few smaller surprises, namely Psychonauts 2, a Telltale Batman game, Shadow Complex Remastered, and a slew of new gameplay trailers and DLC announcements for upcoming games. And the actual rewards? Nothing too surprising, until it was revealed Hideo Kojima was prohibited from attending the Game Awards by Konami. Kiefer Sutherland accepted on Kojima’s behalf and Keighley criticized Konami at the event. The audience voiced their displeasure with the former gaming publisher. If you’re dying to know the full list of winners and nominees, you can read it here.
The Final Smash Bros. Direct
The final Nintendo Direct of the year was fully dedicated to Super Smash Bros. Cloud Strife was already revealed at Nintendo’s November Direct, so the company simply announced he is now available to download for the game. This version of Cloud is based on the original Final Fantasy VII, instead of Advent Children or even Dissidia. Fans of the original RPG should rejoice. Nintendo also announced that more Fire Emblem characters would be joining the roster, much to the annoyance of those who feel FE is overrepresented. As a huge Fire Emblem fan, I am okay with the news. This time Corrin from Fire Emblem Fates will join the fight as either gender of your choosing. The reveal itself was filled with spoilers from the upcoming FE Fates, which wasn’t an issue to Japanese players and importers, as they have already played the game. For everyone else the move was in poor taste. Thankfully I missed the spoilers because I missed the Direct. (Working at night DOES have perks.) Bayonetta was the winner of the Smash Ballot. A PG-13 version of her will appear in Smash, packing plenty her signature attacks from her titular games. Both Bayonetta and Corrin will be available to download in February, which is also the same month Fire Emblem Fates is releasing. Nintendo fans, brace yourselves and your wallets for 2016!
Final Fantasy VII Remake details
I’ll be honest, I really enjoyed the original Final Fantasy VII, but I’m not a super fan. I didn’t get around to playing the game until 2003 and it was the second game I played on my PS2 (Chrono Cross was the first). Perhaps it was because I missed all of the hype from 1997 that FF7 struck me as a great game, but it wasn’t mind-blowing. The game was great, but the graphics were as ugly as hell. When fans were clamoring for a remake for the PS3 in 2006, I had reservations. I felt the game would be changed so much that it would be unrecognizable. As Square Enix continued to change throughout the years and gave us games of varying quality, I doubted the company could deliver a competent remake of FF7. I was confident the project would never happen, until this year’s E3 announcement. At that point I could only hope the game would be good. I certainly knew it wouldn’t be the same PS1 game with PS4 graphics that some fans were hoping Square would develop.
When details and gameplay from Final Fantasy VII Remake were announced, I was glad for some announcements and horrified by others. The game is just as pretty as I imagined it would be and I’m glad the development team is going with a Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII-style battle system. As long as the Digital Mind Wave system doesn’t return, I’ll be happy. Yes, the game is action RPG now, but traditional turn-based RPGs are rare outside of smaller niche developers like Atlus. Square Enix can reach a much broader audience with an action-based system, instead of keeping it traditional– even if it alienates hardcore fans. Those fans still have easy access to the original game on current platforms.
The fact that Final Fantasy VII Remake will be episodic IS a turn off. I’ve never played an episodic JRPG and I’m not sure what to expect, especially from a game as long as FF7. How will the episode breaks occur? Will it be split by discs, major events, or something else? I have no idea where Square plans to go with episodes and how long they will keep the audience waiting. I understand why Square is breaking the game into episodes because it is a great way to charge more than $60 for the game, and to bail on the project if the game doesn’t sell to expectations. That said, I’m willing to give Square a chance as they’ve proven they can turn projects around if they really try. For instance, Final Fantasy XIV was a disaster at launch, but is now a success. Final Fantasy XV is on the horizon, despite being MIA for years as Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Don’t let me down Square, my hopes aren’t sky high for the FF7 Remake, but I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Say “hello” to Persona X Fire Emblem
The more I read about Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem/ Genei Ibun Roku #FE the more the game baffles me. I don’t mind that the game is set in modern Tokyo, but the implementation of Fire Emblem characters is a little disappointing. Characters from Fire Emblem Awakening are little more than weapons for the main SMTxFE cast to use. My dreams of using Chrom in the SMT universe have crumbled. Furthermore, I’m not too hot on idea of the main cast consisting of idols and future entertainers, even if it is a major plot point. Call me old and grumpy, but playing Persona 4: Dancing All Night (which I have yet to finish) has left me entirely cold on Japanese pop idols.
Speaking of Persona, SMTxFE seems to take a lot from of cues from Persona in terms of gameplay. The world exploration and battles are definitely reminiscent of Persona 3 and Persona 4 with a few elements of Shin Megami Tensei IV tossed in for good measure. Fortunately, the weapons triangle from Fire Emblem will be present. The battle system is the only thing that has me excited as a fan of both series. This crossover will probably be a day one purchase for me. Genei Ibun Roku #FE (the Japanese title) is set to release on December 26, and Shin Megam Tensei X Fire Emblem is set to release sometime in an already crowded 2016. (Seriously, we’re getting Fire Emblem Fates in February, Persona 5 near the end of the year, and somewhere in between all of that is this crossover.)
Odds and Ends
So many AAA titles are out- A bunch of AAA titles hit the shelves in November and December in addition to some cool smaller titles. Let’s see, we have Star Wars Battlefront, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, Just Cause 3, Yakuza 5, Yo-Kai Watch, Stella Glow, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon among many, many others. Are you currently playing any of these titles? Are you interested? Or are you waiting on 2016? Personally, I did pick up the special edition of Xenoblade Chronicles X. I have yet to turn on the Wii U. That huge 2GB patch has intimidated me.
Holiday consoles bundles are cheaper than ever- If you’re in the market for a current generation console, this is the perfect time to buy one. We’re only three years into the current generation of gaming systems and prices have already been slashed in half. You can buy an Xbox One Gears of War bundle that includes the console, a gift code for a free game, a remaster of the original Gears of War, and the four Gears games on 360 games all playable on the Xbox One for $300. On the PS4 side, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and the Star Wars Battlefront bundles are on sale for $300. Three years into the previous console generation (2008), the systems could easily set you back $400 to $600 and didn’t include games or HDMI cables. Think about that for a moment. Consoles are more powerful than ever and they’re also cheaper than ever. As a life-long gamer, I never thought I’d see new consoles drop this quickly in price.
Kojima goes to Sony -Coming back around to Kojima and how badly Komani has treated him this year, the game creator was able to announce some good news. Kojima Productions is back and will be partnering up with Sony to release games, movies, and animation. Sadly, all of the franchises Kojima developed while at Konami won’t be going with him, but it should be exciting to see what his studio creates next. Whatever new IP Kojima Productions creates, I hope in some way, shape, or form Konami is given the finger. What? They deserve it.
That’s it for December’s The Directional Pad. This article releases on December 19, which means I won’t be able to cover Jump Festa 2015 since it starts on the 20th and runs through the 21st. I don’t know if Geoff will cover it next month, or if it will fall through the cracks. Square Enix promises to have a massive presence there. Will it be covered? Stay tuned for next month’s The Directional Pad to find out!
