I have been investing far too much time into God Eater Resurrection over the past week. I’ve still been working on my writing stuff, but I found a hole of rewarding and good feeling gameplay for the first time in a while, and boy is it a deep and warm one. Though, that’s not to say my review of the game will be wholly positive. I mean, whenever I get around to it. I have at least four more reviews queued up before that. Also, the header image comes from ModeSeven, check him out if you love stuff that’s so weird it transcends being pornographic. Or is just plain cool and cute and good for childrens.
Another week has passed, and with it another dose of Pokemon Sun and Moon news has come. First off, one of the key differences between the two versions were illustrated. Pokemon Sun takes place during real time, with a traditional day night cycle, while Pokemon Moon takes place 12 hours apart, meaning it is night at 10 AM, and dusk during the afternoon. A notion that differentiates the games between each other, but this time difference can actually be seen as a negative, one that can be remedied by changing the internal clock of the 3DS, but also implies that people would play the game during the day, instead of the evening.
Other new features included the Zygarde cube, a tool used to collect the individual cells of the Pokemon Zygarde, who will play a large role in this game. Along with PokeFinder, a contextual mini game that allows the player to take photos of Pokemon in certain environments before uploading and receiving praise for making that Pikachu look extra adorable. So it’s basically the closest thing to a Pokemon Snap successor there is.
The trailer also introduced the Aether Foundation, an illustrious organization dedicated to creating a better world for Pokemon. However, upon seeing the designs of the various members of this organization, along with the grunts, I can’t help but wonder if Aether will actually be the antagonist after the threat of Team Skull is dismissed part way through, and the player actually allies themselves with the cool punks. On that note, Team Skull’s “enforcer” was revealed as Gladion, an edgy little boy who represents the endearing try-hard attitude of Team Skull rather aptly, I would say. Also, he appears to be positioned as a rival character.
After introducing the expected Alolan Raticate, a Dark Normal type version of the ugly little rodent, with black, fur, puffy cheeks, and an affinity for fine food, a pair of new Pokemon were revealed, both of whom have names that cause me to raise and eyebrow. Jangmo-o is likely the residential Dragon type of this generation, a prideful little big headed dinosaur with a big heart placed outside of their skull, one who will surely evolve into something a bit more impressive. Type: Null is a masked quadrupedal Normal type Pokemon with a collection of oddly proportioned features and a strangely dark color scheme. They look like a Chimera of sorts, which may be the case, as they are a synthetic Pokemon, and were supposedly created to battle legendary creatures before being weakened through the implementation of a mask.
The final piece of information in the trailer was the introduction of Ultra Beasts, mysterious creatures who are neither Human nor Pokemon, and may pose as a threat to both of them. Only one was revealed, the creatively named UB-01, is a jellyfish who vaguely resembles a human. I’d guess that this creature is the true form of the supporting character Lillie, and further relate that the leader of Aether Foundation, who resembles Lillie, actually created her using her own cells, but the footage from the Japanese trailer implies otherwise. It implies that Ultra Beasts come from another dimension. Cool. This whole generation is just looking cool. Also Professor Oak’s cousin, Samson Oak, will appear in this game.
Though, that was far from the only Nintendo related thing revealed this week, as Super Mario Run was announced for iOS, marking Nintendo’s second foray into mobile gaming. The game is what the title implies, and what I expected of an iOS Mario game, a runner where you tap the screen at varying intensities to determine your jump, and go through various levels that look like they were ripped from Super Mario Bros. U. A competitive ghost based time trial was also shown, and it was revealed that the game will debut sometime in December for a premium, implying that microtransactions will not be overtly present in this game. If my description sounds a bit dry, that is because I expected as much from Nintendo and in mild shock that they did something so reasonable and normal.
Meanwhile, Sony was holding their own Playstation Meeting, an event where they were to, as people believed, reveal the Playstation 4 Slim and the Playstation 4 Neo, which were revealed as the new slimmer model of the Playstation 4 and the Playstation 4 Pro. The new model of the Playstation 4 has no noticeable differences over the old one, and will replace it on the market when it debuts on September 15th for $300. While the Playstation 4 Pro will be a 4K and HDR capable device that boasts over twice the GPU power, a boosted clock rate, and 1 TB HDD, one that will debut on November 10th for $400.
The system itself looks a bit odd, resembling a PS4 with half a PS4 attached near the bottom, and while all this talk of resolution went on, the always petulant question of frame rates was not really touched, even though I know some people would rather take 1080p 60fps over 4K 30fps. Regardless, the new console will surely boast some pretty games, one of which being Mass Effect Andromeda, which was strangely showcased along with a few other titles, offering a gameplay reveal of the game, which seems to be adopting a very different tone than the Shepard trilogy, and will also do the Dragon Age II thing where the male and female characters are actually brother and sister.
The general consensus on the Playstation 4 Pro appears to be that while it is a powerful console, it is not that massive of a leap, especially compared to the upcoming Xbox One Scorpio. It also doesn’t support 4K Blu-Ray discs for some reason, and the way in which games are displayed at 4K is not necessarily true 4K. Something about the system rendering half the required pixels and alternating them every other frame. Oh, and in case you wanted something else to make the Xbox One family look a bit better equipped than the PS4 family, Bethesda announced that mod support for Fallout 4 and Skyrim SE is not coming to PS4 due to complications with Sony. In fact, this entire reveal has made Sony look kinda crappy.
Switching the subject, the once prominent video game publisher Interplay, responsible for Earthworm Jim, ClayFighter, Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, and Fallout, fell into a pit of obscurity about a decade ago, and since then have been mostly re-releasing older titles onto new platforms. Apparently this strategy has not worked very well, as the skeleton of a company is now planning to sell off pretty much all of their current IPs, such as Earthworm Jim, Freespace, Giants, Kingpin, Messiah, MDK, Run Like Hell, Sacrifice, Battle Chess, ClayFighter, Dark Alliance, and Descent. I ultimately view this as a good thing, as Interplay is a shell of what they once were, and would not do anything with these IPs anyways.
That’s about all for this week, aside from a stray announcement that leaked out prior to Tokyo Game Show, which is being held next week. The leak was for Earth Defense Force 5, which is supposedly in development for PS4. Probably PC as well, seeing as how Steam Spy says that the port of Earth Defense Force 4.1 managed to sell over 50,000 copies within 2 months, with a $35 to $50 price tag. In case you don’t follow these sort of things, those are quite favorable results. Anyways, that’s all. Get off of my site… or not.