Topic: E3 2018

Its I think going to be very difficult to market and could easily take up the whole E3 on its own to try and explain what it is. It also doesn't seem like its 'a' game either and reminds me a bit of Lego Worlds (I think it was) where you collect objects that then allow you to use them to create your own experiences. Its much harder to market than LBP which had a game at its core and allowed users to create their own levels - similar to Trials in that respect. With LBP and Trials, you could market the main game - the fact that LBP was a platformer with 'infinite' levels or Trials was a physics based game with infinite levels because users can create their own or play other user generated levels.

The fact that 'dreams' is so open ended - its not pigeon holed into say a 2D/3D platformer or a 2D/3D puzzle game or shoot-em-up or an interactive adventure - it can be all of those or none of those if you don't want it to be. The main hook is that if you can 'dream' it, you can create it. The story mode is just 3 levels designed to showcase what could be possible but the main reason to buy is either to be able to create your own 'experiences' or to play those that others have created. It almost seems like the Project Spark of the PS4. If you are not very creative, it maybe worth picking up once those 'creative' types have got their hands on the game and built up a sizeable collection of experiences for you to try.

What surprises me though is that they are also not taking the opportunity to remind people that they still have Wild or updating us on games like Shenmue 3 or FF7 remake too. Spider-Man has been at the past 2 E3's and I can understand why the other 3 are being featured as those haven't really shown us 'much' - not that the Last of Us 2 really needs to but there are still people unsure of what Death Stranding is and Ghost of Tsushima only had a teaser trailer so those all make sense but they also have games that were announced years ago and not had any publicity or mention since. Wild could feel like a 'new' game announcement as its been so long in the 'wilderness' (LOL)

@BAMozzy Square Enix is doing its own conference, so I expect FFVII will be shown off at their own. WiLD is vapourware at this point.

I think it would've been a great idea to launch Dreams earlier in the year. Get people to develop some games on it and by the time the masses get a copy during the holidays, there's plenty of content available to play around with.

@Octane The reason I mentioned FF7 was because it first appeared on Sony's stage and it does seem that Wild is vapourware although its still supposed to be in development too - at least according to Michel Ancel but that was over a year ago now with the 'promise' of 'strong updates in the coming year'.

Dreams almost needs to have a 'post release' feature from Sony - that way they can feature more examples of what the community have created and can sell it on that to the more 'general' consumer who may not be that aware or even interested in what they may have seen so far. Its different from those that may have seen 'Days Gone' and just dismissed it as a Last of Us wannabe or just another 'zombie' game as that has the content to show what it is and how it can differentiate itself prior to launch but Dreams seems more likely to be a game that could grow into something special when the community really get their hands on it. Its like trying to sell a game engine with just a small snippet of one developers game when it would be much easier to sell if they showed a variety of different games with different styles to show how versatile and varied it can be etc. Like I said, it almost feels like the PS4 equivalent of Project Spark and whilst this may have great tools to create a variety of different games, it needs post launch coverage to show the creations that others have made. If you don't like 2D platformers, even it has a level creator that offers 'infinite' levels, even post launch examples of the 'best' community levels won't entice someone but if you can literally create any type of game, then some could see something they want to try and maybe more tempted. It really does seem that Dreams needs more 'post launch' coverage than pre-launch - not saying it needs no pre-launch as you need to get the creative community invested early to feature their creations post-launch.

According to leaks, FromSoftware's next game will NOT be Bloodborne 2 but more likely to be Tenchu. A major leak detailing various E3 plans over on ResetEra has confirmed "Shadows Die Twice" is not "Souls-adjacent". Connecting the dots ("Shadows die twice" is a line said by a boss in Tenchu, and it was once a sizeable franchise bearing FromSoft's name), it nigh-on confirms the series is making a comeback.

Not sure how people will fell but I am not a fan of 'Souls' games so I wasn't interested in Bloodborne 2.

@BAMozzy I'm more happy FromSoftware gets to do something different for a change.

@YummyHappyPills As I said, It doesn't bother me at all as I am not a fan of the 'souls' games anyway. I doubt I would buy Bloodborne 2 if/when they do make it. I am not a big fan of Tenchu either (although I did prefer it to souls) and I wonder if it will be multi-platform too as the franchise has been on all consoles.

Also wonder if Bluepoint are working on remasters?

@BAMozzy Xbox One, PS4 and PC

@YummyHappyPills More than likely - but maybe Switch too - if not simultaneous release, later on down the line. I guess that will depend on the game and its structure, whether or not it can be ported down to the Switch. If they go for the 1080/60, it maybe possible to get that working on a Switch at 30fps with obvious scaling down of visuals too as necessary but again may also depend on the game structure. Tenchu is a game that could fit the 'modern' idea of what a lot of games aim for - big open world, action RPG (whether RPG lite or more complex) with side missions etc too.

Anyway, we will just have to see...

@BAMozzy People also said Code Vein was coming yet here we are

@BAMozzy The east-Asian music during the teaser gave it away. Tenchu is the first game I thought about when I saw that trailer. It doesn't seem ''Bloodborne'' at all to me.

There was little pointing to shadows die twice being bloodborne 2, it was really just fans' wishes and dreams.

@Octane Tenchu is certainly the most obvious but there are a lot that probably don't remember these games and so it wasn't as 'obvious'. Its also possible that FromSoftware could have a completely 'new' game (new IP) that is like Tenchu - in the same way Bloodborne was like the 'Souls' games. I wouldn't mind the 'horror fantasy' setting of Bloodborne for example in a lot of different genre games - an open world RPG like Witcher 3, Fallout or a linear story like Dead Space, Bioshock.

As I said in a post (or 2) above, Tenchu would fit into the big open world action RPG games we see to be quite commonly around today. The style and setting would be great - although could be a bit 'close' to Ghost of Tsushima in some ways. I know we know little about Ghost but it is an open world action game set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan. Tenchu is more 'Ninja' though compared to the Samurai of Ghost so may be more 'stealth'. I picture it as maybe more of an Assassin's Creed:Origins with Ninjas which I think could really work for Tenchu.

Whether it is 'Tenchu' or not, we will have to see but the franchise has had its up's and down's and may be better to make a spiritual successor (so to speak) than to put the Tenchu name on it and put some people off - either because of playing mediocre games in the past or because they hadn't played the older games. Some do think that because they didn't play 'older' games, they can't play newer ones.

Anyway, its only 4 weeks until E3 - unless we get more leaks in the meantime - so we will no doubt find out exactly what FromSoftware have been working on...

General Wants:

Microsoft - Just show SOMETHING worthwhile
Sony - Let Ghost of Tsushima be interesting to play
Nintendo - Just don't suck

General Expectations:

Microsoft - Well ya didn't show jack all
Sony - Eh. Solid if unremarkable
Nintendo - Well that sucked.

@YummyHappyPills

or more likely we will get

Microsoft - great games but mostly multi-platform and supplemented by lots of Indies too.
Sony - Deja vu, Solid but not too many games shown and only a few VR/Indies in a showreel
Nintendo - Sucked but people will still flip their lids because of 'Zelda, Mario or Metroid'

MS's E3 2017 did show more games than anyone else and will probably do so again - whether their own titles can stand alongside the big third party games or seem more like the plethora of indies they had, who knows. Only Forza 7 to me stood out but its not as if there aren't alternatives and didn't really offer much (if anything) more than other Racing sims. PUBG looked rough (like a F2P with just the 1 selling point), Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 looked like some of the indies they had and Crackdown 3 didn't stand out - another 'Agents of Mayhem' and that was forgotten very quickly. The games that did stand out were AC: Origins, Anthem and Metro as well as maybe the indies like Ori and the Will o the Wisp, Cuphead and the Last Night.

Sonys felt very 'Deja Vu' with a lot of the same titles appearing as the year before. Only SotC was announced (if you don't count the VR/Indies and multi-plat releases) and that was a remaster of a remaster. Not saying VR doesn't count but with only 5% of PS4 owners with a PSVR headset, it wasn't that appealing to me as one of the 95% without a headset.

I didn't watch Nintendo's myself because I had no intention of purchasing the Switch and haven't owned a Nintendo since the Wii - which ended up gathering dust quite quickly. I do keep up with 'news' on youtube - just in case there is sufficient games that would justify purchasing but as I don't game other than at home on a 4k HDR TV, the games really have to be something special to me (not to anyone else) to really merit the cost. As such, I can't comment on their E3 2017 presentation.

For me, what I look for in each, is what games can I add to my wanted list. If the games were added the year before, then seeing a 'bit' more of these, with no clearer idea of when I will actually get my hands on them, isn't all that exciting. Solid maybe but not exciting. If the games are 'new' but mediocre or not my thing, then these too won't be added to my wanted list - at best my 'wait and see' list but what I want is to add to my wanted list. The best (or as others may say, the winner) of E3 is the one that adds the most games to my wanted list. If, for example, MS do show a few games that make it to my wanted list, and Sony show games that were added last year - even if those games are 'higher' on my wanted list, its not the 'best' in my opinion.

@BAMozzy We arent getting Zelda, Mario or Metroid this E3. Sorry. Nothing for people to flip over

@YummyHappyPills Maybe a actual game-play from the metroid prime 4 that was teased - that maybe enough for Nintendo fans to flip over - that or a tease of smash bros or some other Mario spin off - like tennis, golf etc... Even if its just a 'deluxe' version of a Wii U game...

@BAMozzy They confirmed no 2019 or beyond games will be shown.

This leaves Fire Emblem, Yoshi, Super Smash Bros. and the potential of a Pokemon or surprise title.

Thats it.

Enjoy.

Also before you say Nintendo fans will buy anything, just remember how poorly most of their 2015 and 2016 releases sold This year is decidedly as bad as it was back then.

@BAMozzy Thanks!

Now the question: who will show off this game? Tenchu has always been closely associated with PlayStation on which the series debuted. But the last Tenchu game was released on Xbox 360 only.

Also, the fact that Sony is going to focus on Ghosts, also a ninja game, a lot, and Microsoft had Dark Souls 3 a few years ago, makes me believe we'll see the game on their press conference.

@Kidfried Who shows it off is irrelevant I think. Tenchu may have started off on PS1 but then the Xbox wasn't in existence and the only alternatives were really the N64 or Sega Saturn. The N64 had limitations - hence Final Fantasy 7 ended up on PS1 - and the Sega Saturn was a 'commercial' flop so may not have had the 'numbers' to justify making the game for. Tenchu 3 was on the OG Xbox as well as the PS2 though although the 4th was PS2 only which was the last Tenchu to arrive on a PS home console - although the PSP did receive a couple of games after and the Nintendo DS had a release too. The last two Tenchu games for home console (Z and Shadow Assault: Tenchu - an Xbox live arcade game that was similar to 'Bomberman') were both exclusive to the Xbox - at least in the European and North American markets - there maybe others in the Japanese market that may have released on the PS3/PS4 but if not, Tenchu hasn't been on Playstation home consoles since the PS2.

Its difficult to say that if FromSoftware were to be making a new Tenchu, that it would be more likely to be on PS4 or Xbox - even just on their stage. Arguably it would be much more important for MS to secure the deal (marketing and/or timed OR permanent exclusivity) because of the lack of 1st party exclusives and the fact that Sony have a number of Japanese games as well as Ghost of Tsushima BUT then FromSoftware do have a history with Sony and it may fit better with the Playstation (being Japanese and the popularity in Japan). Whether Sony or MS are willing to invest in it too though could determine the choices open to FromSoftware and where it ends up. I would think it will be multi-platform but again, time will tell...

I'm OK with Tenchu as long as it is similar to a Souls/God of War type of open world, ie not a sandbox type game but you still have a bit of freedom in the world.