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E3 so far
10 years ago
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
-William Shakespeare So, as a gamer, I'm liking what I'm seeing from E3 so far. Here are a few highlights in no particular order:
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Okay, so this one was first on my mind. given how it's even make an impact on some of the people here I watch. FFVII is, for many FF fans, the iconic game of the franchise, because I believe it is where a great many of them started, myself included. So Square-Enix has made the official announcement that they will be remaking it for the PS4, slated for 2016 I recall (date subject to change, as most gamers should know). Now the question becomes, will it live up to the self generated hype of all the fans who have been clamoring for it for years? Hard to say, though there are a few factors. First, do they keep to the story as is, and exactly as fans remember, or will the expanded hardware and quite likely new minds involved in it ad "tweaks" or hindsight alterations to the original, and will they be accepted by the masses? I for one am expected some changes on that front, though how minor or major I can't say. The other major item is the gameplay. Will it stay turn based, or will it be more like recent games with a lean towards real time? If they make that change, I think it'll bomb hard, but I can see how they might think that with such improved graphics, the classic turn based may look weird. I for one thought it worked fine in FFX, but that's just me. Time will tell, as it usually does, but I for one am holding out hope that it'll be an honest remake and not a total revamp.
Fallout 4: While I never actually played any of the prior Fallout games, they did get at least some of my attention. The fourth installment, actually revealed prior to E3, looks pretty sharp, and there's a fair chance I'll be picking it up come November (should the release date stick)
XCOM 2: The reason I'll be getting onto Steam in the near future, as that'll be the only platform it's launched on at release. I loved XCOM: Enemy Unknown and the expansion Enemy Within, as I've always had a fondness for turn based tactical games, and XCOM has that on a few levels. Much as people may whine about the story of it (being a "what would have happened had XCOM failed?" instead of a straight chronological sequel), I think it shows a great deal of promise, and the recent "gameplay" reveal (I use quotes as, though it was effectively gameplay, it was clearly heavily doctor for presentation purposes). As a side note, with the source code being made available at release and an encouragement for modding, there are some extensive mods (including a vorish one) I'd love to see which I might delve into in a later journal (or upon request). Not that I'd do the work myself, as neither artist nor programmer, but a guy can dream, right?
Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End: Finally saw gameply of this and I must say, it look gorgeous on the PS4. One thing I love about the series is that there is much dialogue and action that most games would leave to a cutscene that Uncharted does while the player is actually doing something. The banter, usually situation relevant, makes the game feel so much more alive and gives it a character that few I feel can rival, and 4 does it perhaps more than even its predecessors (hopefully not too much, but it seemed to have the right amount, or at least when they were talking, it seemed perfectly appropriate for them to be doing so). What got my attention with that gameplay reveal was that Victor Sullivan, lead Nathan Drake's mentor and I suppose father figure (though I don't think he sees him quite like that) is more than just a set piece and is an actual AI character that can assist in gameplay I get the feeling that the player still has to do most of the work, but in the scenes he's present, Victor can assist the player, as in the the footage when an enemy grabbed Drake from behind and another started beating on the front (a tactic used in 3 if you weren't careful), Victor came and tacked the front attacker, making escape from the first easier and actually taking out the first. I'm really interested to see how far such assists can go. Beyond that, seems the core stays largely the same from 3, which isn't a bad thing. Another 2016 game unfortunately, but dang I am eagerly awaiting it, as it feels each one exceeded the one before. And on a side note here, I wonder if anyone has done 'Nathan Drake" as a drake? Will have to look that up later.
So far, E3 has some good news for me as a gamer, and I'm curious to see if there are any more.
Addendum: Oh yeah, and the new Ratchet and Clank, the game based on the movie based on the game.
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Okay, so this one was first on my mind. given how it's even make an impact on some of the people here I watch. FFVII is, for many FF fans, the iconic game of the franchise, because I believe it is where a great many of them started, myself included. So Square-Enix has made the official announcement that they will be remaking it for the PS4, slated for 2016 I recall (date subject to change, as most gamers should know). Now the question becomes, will it live up to the self generated hype of all the fans who have been clamoring for it for years? Hard to say, though there are a few factors. First, do they keep to the story as is, and exactly as fans remember, or will the expanded hardware and quite likely new minds involved in it ad "tweaks" or hindsight alterations to the original, and will they be accepted by the masses? I for one am expected some changes on that front, though how minor or major I can't say. The other major item is the gameplay. Will it stay turn based, or will it be more like recent games with a lean towards real time? If they make that change, I think it'll bomb hard, but I can see how they might think that with such improved graphics, the classic turn based may look weird. I for one thought it worked fine in FFX, but that's just me. Time will tell, as it usually does, but I for one am holding out hope that it'll be an honest remake and not a total revamp.
Fallout 4: While I never actually played any of the prior Fallout games, they did get at least some of my attention. The fourth installment, actually revealed prior to E3, looks pretty sharp, and there's a fair chance I'll be picking it up come November (should the release date stick)
XCOM 2: The reason I'll be getting onto Steam in the near future, as that'll be the only platform it's launched on at release. I loved XCOM: Enemy Unknown and the expansion Enemy Within, as I've always had a fondness for turn based tactical games, and XCOM has that on a few levels. Much as people may whine about the story of it (being a "what would have happened had XCOM failed?" instead of a straight chronological sequel), I think it shows a great deal of promise, and the recent "gameplay" reveal (I use quotes as, though it was effectively gameplay, it was clearly heavily doctor for presentation purposes). As a side note, with the source code being made available at release and an encouragement for modding, there are some extensive mods (including a vorish one) I'd love to see which I might delve into in a later journal (or upon request). Not that I'd do the work myself, as neither artist nor programmer, but a guy can dream, right?
Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End: Finally saw gameply of this and I must say, it look gorgeous on the PS4. One thing I love about the series is that there is much dialogue and action that most games would leave to a cutscene that Uncharted does while the player is actually doing something. The banter, usually situation relevant, makes the game feel so much more alive and gives it a character that few I feel can rival, and 4 does it perhaps more than even its predecessors (hopefully not too much, but it seemed to have the right amount, or at least when they were talking, it seemed perfectly appropriate for them to be doing so). What got my attention with that gameplay reveal was that Victor Sullivan, lead Nathan Drake's mentor and I suppose father figure (though I don't think he sees him quite like that) is more than just a set piece and is an actual AI character that can assist in gameplay I get the feeling that the player still has to do most of the work, but in the scenes he's present, Victor can assist the player, as in the the footage when an enemy grabbed Drake from behind and another started beating on the front (a tactic used in 3 if you weren't careful), Victor came and tacked the front attacker, making escape from the first easier and actually taking out the first. I'm really interested to see how far such assists can go. Beyond that, seems the core stays largely the same from 3, which isn't a bad thing. Another 2016 game unfortunately, but dang I am eagerly awaiting it, as it feels each one exceeded the one before. And on a side note here, I wonder if anyone has done 'Nathan Drake" as a drake? Will have to look that up later.
So far, E3 has some good news for me as a gamer, and I'm curious to see if there are any more.
Addendum: Oh yeah, and the new Ratchet and Clank, the game based on the movie based on the game.
Hype just tires me out in the end, especially hype of something I don't really care about, and games I couldn't really give a stuff about are just being talked about over and over. It's almost as if because it got announced at E3 that I am obligated to enjoy it... The only thing I really cared much for is a sequel to Mirror's Edge. You can probably guess why