To save us from the uneventful month of August comes updates on a few games I'm eagerly awaiting. Where to begin...I'll start with Squeenix. I just pre-ordered Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days the other day along with Metroid Prime Trilogy (no relation, but I can't wait to replay through those amazing games with Corruption's controls and other new shiny things - has to tide me over until Metroid Other M is released) and just rewatched the E3 trailer for the second time and first full-time, since I only saw a brief glimpse of it during the previous event, and I just realized something.
Christopher Lee is back as DiZ!!!
I was kinda sad to know that they couldn't get him for Re:Chain of Memories, but Corey Burton doesn't do a bad job, since I've heard his soothing baritone through many a viewing of [The] Clone Wars. While he is good, I'm glad they got Christopher Lee to reprise his role; when Christopher Lee speaks, you listen! He has a commanding grace that penetrates any medium he's showcased in, whether he be a Sith Lord or a denizen of the dark.
Glad to have a solid cast for Days, though it's going to be bitter-sweet knowing it was Wayne Allwine's last performance as King Mickey. I'm sure going to miss him.
And while I know that the Birth By Sleep news will slowly start to pick up now that Days is out, I'm surprised at how well they've seemingly kept everything at bay. Unless I'm mistaken, they seemed to release quite a bit of info. on Days leading up to it's release, but I'm hoping they left the big surprises out of the previews and trailers. I've kind of given up on thinking how or what Xion is and came to be, since I've had to stop reading up on Days ever since the Japanese release, since spoilers abound and it was inevitable that I'd eventually read something I didn't want to. So that surprise is still in the wings as well as how the game eventually plays out. I don't mind it being a Gaiden game at all, since the Organization kind of needed to be fleshed out, with them being sorta important antagonists (to which I hope the game delivers in that regard), and I'm sure the multiplayer will be very much appreciated with characters you may or may not have enjoyed. I guess we'll see.
For Bith By Sleep, they've tantilized us with the simple existence of Ven (being a Roxas look-alike is a good way to make your fans have an opinion, be they 'WTF?' or 'Nomura's a lazy bastard'), the fact it's a prequel, that it's the showcase game of the hidden video at the end of KH2, and it seems to be the 'important' of the three announced games. While they've now gotten around to showing off a bit how their battle system works, I hope it delivers in its story, specifically in the presentation. Days looked to be heading in the right direction with its somber atmosphere (especially if you've played the main series and know a part of the inevitable outcome the game has to take), so I expect BBS to have an epic origin-story-esque feel to it, seeing as how the secret video to Final Mix + is supposedly near the end of the game. It definitely has the element of mystery going for it. I just hope it signals that the series is starting to grow up with it's audience, more precisely in it's story presentation.
Don't get me wrong: I love the fact that the series has an air of whimsy about it. After all, you are surrounded by Disney characters (take that statement how you will). But ever since the first game, which was more Disney than Final Fantasy, the series has started to show off it's more FF elements in story, how it gets progressively more serious and it's own varying level of 'dark' in the storyline. While they shouldn't do away with the charm, it's started to find it's footing in KH2 and hopefully the three Gaiden games will do a good job at prepping us for the much-awaited KH3 when it's released in 2012. And that's me being optimistic.
Now, on the Final Fantasy front, seems our English version is right on schedule. Apparently the English VAs have all been finalized, seeing as how they're done with both Japanese and English recordings. With the Japan version at 90% completion and the English around 65%, we're hopefully right on track for that Spring '10 release date (hopefully around May so I have a great 21st B-Day present for myself!) with Japan's Winter '09 seemingly on the mark. Seems they're going to smoothen out the lip-syncing for the English version, which would be wonderful if they could achieve MGS4's level of sync. Seriously, MGS4 was amazing just to watch the characters' mouths just to see how much attention they put into it. (hint: they did a very good job)
Battle system looks interesting enough, with it's on-the-fly Gambit-like system. Hopefully it's as addicting as XII's to play. And perhaps my wish may come true, seeing as how Squeenix's thinking about an international demo for XIII! And not just any demo, a new one! While it was sorta disappointing we didn't get the same demo for Advent Children Complete like our Japanese friends did, that was a year-old build of the game, which, when you think about it, isn't such a big deal that we didn't get it ourselves. I'd much rather have a demo of a part of the final game and battle system to play with than an outdated one. (Not that I didn't download and watch the crap out of people playing the demo...) Fingers crossed.
Final Fantasy XIV. Now that seemed to come outta nowhere, huh? I refuse to give an honest statement about the game, seeing as how we really don't know anything of value other than it's the spiritual sequel to XI (which I played once upon a time when it wasn't as 'good' as it is now, apparently; supposedly they've improved on it since I last tried it out since I absolutely refuse to pay a subscription for a game, which means most MMOs aren't on my To Buy list). If they make it subscription-free (I'm a dreamer, awrite?), then I'd definitely buy it if it has a good story and/or world, which is what I love about XII. While many complained about XII's story as not being as good as previous installments, I love Ivalice, being introduced to the world from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Ivalice's story is shown through multiple games, and the reason XII was a numbered FF is because it basically set down the foundations of that world that other Ivalice Alliance fans like me enjoyed. If XIV can have a compelling world with a descent storyline to it, then I would definitely buy it. Maybe not on Day 1, but I would eventually buy it. Until more information is given to us, I remain cautiously optimistic.
While I'm ending the FF section, I'd like to point out something else: how bitchy everyone is about these new games.
Okay, they announced XIII a couple years ago, right? Specifically at E3 '06, the year that XII came out. That's reasonable, since Squeenix has done similar announcements beforehand, like when they announced IX, X and XI in the same announcement as a 'classic throwback', a more 'evolutionary sequel', and an 'entirely new experience' back around '99 that were basically released within a year of each other. Since XI came out two years after X in '03, there would be a three year gap until XII was released in '06. Since the release date for XIII is '09 for Japan and '10 for the rest of us, that would be a 3-4+ year development cycle since it was first announced. I like how everyone seems to be all bitchy about how it's taken forever to release XIII when it's only been three years. We're video game players: we should be used to this. Remember when Ocarina of Time was announced back 'round '95? Didn't come out until '98. Halo games took 3 years inbetween their main installments. I could go on... So, while they showed something that wasn't really finished nor really well-throught-out back in that E3 video, it was only 3 years ago.
That's not really terrible, when you factor in that it takes considerably more time to make these games running on more advanced (and more complicated) hardware that use all-together new engines that also take time to develop and upgrade from a last-generation build PLUS the money it takes to make a blockbuster AAA title on the high-end consoles these days. I wouldn't be complaining as much as everyone is. While XIV came out of left field, since it's more the sequel to XI than to XII, I can understand how it was being worked on as well. "Oh, they keep sidetracking these games with other games; work on one game at a time!" many cry. Something tells me that there's prolly more than one team working on all these titles, yes? I suspect that the XIII and XIV teams are different, seeing as how an MMO is kinda different from a JRPG. Not to mention the teams working on Agito and Versus are also working on their own games. (And because people don't think and remember what others tell them, the reason we haven't heard a word about Kingdom Hearts 3 is because the KH team is the team behind Final Fantasy Versus XIII; they're working on that game, so to tide the fans over we're getting three other titles like they did back when they released Chain of Memories, so get over it impatient fans)
Okay, rant over.
Only one other thing to say about Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker:
Love Pak.
That is all, y'all.
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