New Oneechanbara Z2 Chaos Trailer: Aya and Company Are In Double (Plus) Trouble This Time Out…


 

While there’s still NO news of this game coming to North America, I’d be the first one signing a petition and/or bugging my contacts at D3Publisher of America to consider getting this silly sleeper localized. Even if they kept the Japanese voices and just subtitled the whole thing, I’d be happy. Speaking of localization work… Hey D3PoA! I’ll even do the proofreading job on the translated text if you need the assistance and pay me for my work. Yeah, I’m that nuts about Aya and the gang, so hit me up and let’s make this happen. Yeah, yeah, the game won’t sell a single PS4 in this country, but it’ll most likely do well enough worldwide to maybe get the girls a follow-up later on. I hope. Of course, the trick is getting the fickle gamers out there to fall for Tamsoft’s visual style and the simple yet complex gameplay the series offers. That’s going to take some marketing genius and perhaps even some money spent on showing the game off at some live events like a comic convention or other show where the public and press can step up and hop into things for a taste.

Eh, we’ll see what happens, I guess. One has to dream big with a game like this, folks. Oh and yeah, things get kind of… fruity at the end of that video. Ah, Japan. I love you, but MAN… you’re weird sometimes most ALL of the time!

The Bundles, The Bundles! The Mondays, The Mondays!

IndieGala 8-25-2014 Happy Monday! Here are two deals you probably shouldn’t pass up if you’re like me and need to feel terrible about having WAY too many games (ha and ha). JUST KIDDING! Actually, I like what’s in both these bundles, but I have enough of the games in both lots to not need to buy them. You’ll see that in a bit when I do some cleaning up of the backlog and duplicates get loose in the wild for anyone with a Steam account to claim. Anyway, this weeks’ IndieGala Every Monday sale above, Humble Flash Sale below. I’m buried in stuff to do today, so click on either link (or both!) to be zapped right to the sites so you can check out these deals on your own time. Which, by the way, you don’t have a lot of to get these deals!

Humble Flash Sale 8-25-2014

MotoGP 14 Trailer: A Bit of Bike Action Tease To Get Your Monday Racing…

With veteran developer Milestone S.r.L. on the case, MotoGP 14 is looking like a motorbike fan’s dream game. While this particular racing sub-genre doesn’t draw in the legions of fans automobile games do, the developer’s talents at making some very solid racers for quite some time shows once you pick up a controller. I played a few races at Bandai Namco’s NYC event a few weeks back and found the game solid in terms of the excellent controls and sense of speed. Visually, the game looked absolutely great, but I’m betting you’ll be wanting to keep your eyes glued to the road. Speaking of roads, MotoGP14 will feature more than 100 riders to choose from, all the official manufacturers, racing classes and 18 tracks all based on the Official MotoGP World Championship.

As with their other racers, Milestone knows how to yank you into the game they’ve created by concentrating on the details that are the most important, so this just may be one of the better entries in the long running series when it ships out later this year for PS3/PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

NIS America Makes NAtURAL DOCtRINE Look Insanely Hard, But That Won’t Keep Me Away…

Wow. Lots of dead adventurers in this rather amusing and slightly gamer grim trailer for the PS3/PS4/PS Vita game NAtURAL DOCtRINE, set for a September release. Kadokawa Games’ upcoming tactical RPG looks to test the skills of the best of the best and leave the bones of the rest to feed the vultures. Hey, maybe I should write copy for the backs of game packages or something? I sometimes have a way with words, I think. Or so people tell me from time to time. Hmmmm… wait. Lots of games aren’t coming in packages these days, so I guess I should stick to writing about games and keep my amusing talent to myself. Anyway, this one looks like a keeper AND a sleeper, so keep an eyeball peeled for it soon…

Oh Yeah, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition Is Out. Buy It.

 

No, I didn’t forget about this one. Between the low drama of other game issues and crappy connection speeds everywhere, I know all those games dropping into retail this week were overlooked here. It’s funny that with the PS4 version of RoS, Blizzard, Sony and plenty of gamers aren’t even talking about the “last-gen” versions anymore even though MORE people still own and play games on the PS3 and Xbox 360 than their shinier replacements. Hell, I’m buying this expansion on the PS3 because I’m the stubbornest of old goats as well as a total cheapskate. Anyway, as noted earlier, I won’t touch this game at all until I finish up some stuff I need to get done or it WILL NOT GET DONE at all. Diablo does that to productivity…

New Raven’s Cry Trailer: Rough Seas Can’t Dampen My Desire To Give This One A Shot…

 

Okay, so the sound mix is way off balance and sure, it’s not looking as stunning as other games coming out this late for last-gen systems, but I’m still going to play TopWare Interactive’s Raven’s Cry when it’s released. Veteran developer Reality Pump Studios has been working on this game for a while, so I’m curious to see the final result for a few reasons. It’s probably one of the last open world games on the PS3 and Xbox 360, it’s not another fantasy RPG, and while the pirate theme has been done to death and some consider that last Assassin’s Creed game the be-all, end-all game in this sub-genre, it’s just nice to root for the “little” guy every now and then, I say. Besides, rough edges aside, there’s something about a European-made RPG that commands attention and respect. Well, at least I think so…

Raven’s Cry lands on PC, Mac, PS3/PS4 and Xbox 360 on October 14, 2014.

Corrections Dept: Xillia’s Kitties Can’t Do Magic That Well!

Tales of Xillia 2 Standard EditionOkay, I’ll tweak the post tomorrow when I’m more awake, but I made two goofs in my Tales of Xillia review regarding the exploits and some side quests monsters vanishing. One: In Kitty Dispatch mode, Rollo WILL come back faster if he’s carrying certain sub-items with him or you save and come back later in the day (that system clock seems to work for that as well as the bonuses).

Two: while some low-level monsters may disappear from the Job Board when your Badge level increases, those TOUGH sub-bosses stay on their own sub-menu and never disappear. I was up for roughly 37 hours on that last chunk of my playtime, so when I sat down to write from a few notes I’d taken, I ended up adding in a thought I had based on me being half-awake while playing and confusing the Job list with the sub-boss list. Hey, it happens! Anyway, I’m in the final stretch of the game, but I’m saving that until tomorrow or Thursday because if I don’t sleep now, I’ll probably be as dead as some of those monsters Ludger and company go hunting throughout the game…

See you all tomorrow. Zzzzz…

Review: Tales of Xillia 2

Tales of Xillia 2 Standard EditionPlatform: PlayStation 3

Developer: Namco Tales Studio, LTD.

Publisher: Bandai Namco Games

# of Players 1-4

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A- (90%)

tox2-screen02 Tales of Xillia was one of last year’s great JRPGs, offering up an intriguing plot, a party of interesting characters designed by different artists, the series trademark fast-paced battles and plenty of the usual JRPG tropes all adding up to a lengthy and memorable game experience. The follow up, Tales of Xillia 2 changes up things a bit with two new main characters, a much darker tone, even faster combat, a different skills leveling system, loads of reused maps (this is a good thing – more on this below) and a fair amount of humor thanks to a localization team having a blast with their translation efforts. The result is a game that will pull you in for the long haul as it takes Ludger Kresnik and company on a journey spanning a few familiar and all-new areas (well, all-new to those who haven’t played the first game)… Continue reading

Monday Deal: Double Your Bundles, Double Your Backlogs!

indiegala_8_18

 

We interrupt my Tales of Xillia 2 coma (again!) to let you all know that there are two more indie bundles you should take a look-see at! IndieGala’s Every Monday Sale this week is deviously planning to relieve your wallets of $1.89 for SEVEN cool indie games that are all different (well, save for the expansion pack to Garshasp: The Monster Slayer) and bound to give you hours of fun (or longer if you get into replaying some of the shorter titles. Volt looks pretty nifty, too:

 

Oh, and that $1.89 price? It’s only good for the first day, so GRAB this deal NOW!

HFB Rhythm 

 

Meanwhile, over at the Humble Bundle site, it’s an all musical game deal they’re offering up in this week’s Humble Flash Sale. I love that this selection of games actually crosses genres, so you get everything from a music-based run & jump fest to a rhythm-based RPG. Click on that link, choose a price you can swing and get some games. As always, with both deals, some of your purchase price goes to charity, so have some guilt-less gaming and get entertained for not much money!

Monster World RPG Update: Not QUITE Ready, But You Get An Ending, Anyway!

 

And I say HAH! To Max Team for “spoiling” their game for all of you. Well, not really. There’s a good ending in here as well, but I’m not going to spoil that for you at all. Actually, I got a note from the guys (or was it ONE of them? Hmmm. How come you NEVER see Fernando OR Massimo at the SAME time in the same place? Hmmmm?) saying that the game is still being bug tested, but should be done at some point. Hey, it’s a FREE download, so I say take your time, boys. Take your time. If it’s as good as it looks, I don’t mind the wait one bit.