So, it’s been about three weeks since I quit Fire Emblem Heroes and swore off playing it, or any other service based game. I can be a somewhat obsessive person at times, and the idea of missing out on something that is time limited instills a sense of anxiety and guilt within me that I absolutely cannot stand. It is an awful feeling, and I honestly never want to feel this way about another game ever. Henceforth, I am not allowing myself to play any service games, because it causes me to express unhealthy tendencies.
To mark the end of this new fiscal year, Square Enix have announced the formation of a new subsidiary headed by Final Fantasy XV Co-Director Hajime Tabata by the name of Luminous Productions. The studio will handle AAA products that follow a vague description, but will most likely be allowed to pursue more interesting ideas without the same barriers that exist in Square Enix proper. It is very easy to view this news as a form of thank you gift from Square Enix to Tabata who, in case you forgot, basically saved Final Fantasy XV, and it is nice to see him be rewarded for his efforts, though I have no real idea what Tabata and his team could be working on, and people likely will not know until 2020 or some such thing.
Though, that was not the only way that Square Enix set things up for the upcoming year, as they recently announced localization details for last year’s Dragon Quest XI. The title is set to release on PS4 and PC on September 4th in the west, and it will come with a few upgrades over the Japanese release, including full English voice acting as opposed to no voice acting, an improved UI that does not look like it was carried over from 1992, and better movement controls.
For those wondering about the other versions of the game, the unique 3DS version of the game simply is not coming to the west, which I actually fully understand since it is basically a different game. Meanwhile, the Switch version is not coming until “much later”, which is strange considering how the game was announced for the Switch all the way back when it was called the NX. Regardless, I am very glad to hear that this game is coming soon, and on PC no less. Maybe this will encourage Square Enix to port the Android versions of the first 6 Dragon Quests to the platform. Even if they’re still vertically oriented, I’d buy them… so long as Square Enix does not apply a stupid filter to the game or something. I swear, it’s like they want people to emulate their old games.
Now, I sort of expected to hear about other bits of news that were trying to get in before most companies close out this quarter, but there really was not much news that rose to the top for me. Just minor sales tidbits, speculation about possible future releases, and another remastered game from THQ Nordic with a delightfully stupid name. The April Fools gags will assuredly pop up by the time this post is published, but until then, I guess that’s all for this week.