CastelloGG

Maybe this will spawn a totally new genre of combat mechanics in the future as other games follow along, and because it is so weird it will be aptly named Strangeslike.

“Yet another game with button controls mapped to body parts.”
“Oh you mean Strangeslike?”

This looks so terrible compared to the Wuthering Waves collab.

Damn, this really reminds me of Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. That was a fantastic game that needs a modern remake, and this might be the closest thing to that ever happening.

I really need a good Knight Rider game. For a TV show as fantastic as it was, we never actually got a good game out of it.

It feels like I’m hearing Ben Starr in the story trailer, but I don’t think he is in this game. Maybe another voice actor that sounds really similar?

With so many recent mismanagements by RGG and Yokoyama, including the issue with Yakuza 0 Director's Cut and Kagawa's involvement in Yakuza Kiwami 3, it would be no surprise if RGG is already on a path to its downfall. They need Stranger Than Heaven to turn things around for the better so let's wait and see what comes next from that project.

RGG really dove deep into Kagawa's a**. Sadly from what I've seen a lot of players don't care and would still buy the game no matter what.

With RGG under Yokoyama recently becoming very problematic with their decisions, this is a very welcome and timely news indeed! As a Yakuza/LAD fan I can't wait to hear more about this game. In Nagoshi we believe!

I'm going straight from Triangle Strategy to Final Fantasy Tactics and I feel like I'm on a SRPG high right now. Just two very fantastic Square Enix SRPGs back to back and I can't wait to experience Final Fantasy Tactics all over again with a fresh coat of paint.

@PuppetMaster Don’t forget Wololo.

Maybe they're looking for the wrong game in the Japanese charts. Heard it's called Something 33 over there.

But yeah, maybe if Sandfall gives it an alternate title that is easier to understand and explains a bit more in Japan it would actually sell better? It's actually quite the norm for movies, like Disney's Frozen is actually known as “Anna and the Snow Queen” over there. Or go for something simpler like Guntai 33 (Army 33)?

Fantasian was good, but Lost Odyssey was completely on another level. I’m really hoping this next one will be more like Lost Odyssey in grandeur and quality. I wonder if by “the team that worked on Fantasian Neo Dimension” it means that Yoshi-P is also involved as a collaborator, because if it does… oh man.

This was a fantastic opener for The Game Awards. Any bets on when it will be released? 2026? 2027? Perhaps this would even be a launch game for the PS6?

I chose Metaphor: ReFantazio as my pick of GOTY, with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in the second spot. It just hits that much harder, especially when you play it as the election day in the US is looming.

Last time they took out the Quick Resume feature and I really hated that I could no longer just skip through title screens and go directly to my last save point. Did they put it back with this update or it’s still missing?

So they actually chose not to follow the plot of the games. Hopefully it will turn out well.

RGG has just dropped 2025’s Game of the Year. I will be there on day one.

Maybe on a sale that brings it down to $499, or if a good trade in program is available.

Maybe it's very unlikely, but I really hope that when the PS5 Pro finally comes out, it will come with good trade-in programs from retailers. Though honestly I don't know who have more say on rolling out trade-in programs, the retailers themselves or Sony.

Mafia: “Those yakuzas have taken the spotlight long enough. It’s time for us to make our comeback, brothers…”

Now if only we can also get a new Sleeping Dogs…

@ShogunRok Is it locked on one difficulty setting like The Answer was or you can choose from different difficulty settings like Reload? Wondering if you can lower the difficulty down to Peaceful (no death in combat) if the combat gets too grating.

Twist that make him scream eh? Since we heard nothing about Majima so far, what if Nishiki kills him at the end of Episode 1, thus changing everything?

I demand justice for the Final Fantasy XVI one. That one looks really amazing and I'm still miffed that they made it only available in Japan.

I just hope it won't actually require the PS5 Pro to look this good...

They got me day one with the Ben Starr casting and turn based Persona battle UI. Music and graphics seem fantastic and I can't wait to see more of this.

@Kanji-Tatsumi Project Phoenix took my money and made me very wary of Kickstarter projects for a while. But then I took a leap of faith on backing Eiyuden Chronicles and I was so happy when I saw my name on the backer credits.

“We recognized Yoshida’s massive contributions to the company and thus we have upgraded him from silver tier to gold tier.”

I met Ana and Kathryn (another person that was laid off from Square Enix USA) last year at the Final Fantasy XVI pre-launch event in Los Angeles, so seeing them being laid off by Square Enix personally really hurts. Hope they find a better place soon.

Sony really picked the wrong community to mess around with.

@get2sammyb How does the assist in Story Mode work? Is it like the Timely Focus ring in Final Fantasy XVI where it gives you a QTE when you have to dodge an attack?

I backed this game and shipping to Los Angeles cost me $6. My package was actually shipped yesterday and is on the way right now, with tracking number and all.

Hm, so action assist is like FFXVI’s Timely Focus ring? That would be really useful.

My GOTY last year was Alan Wake 2, with Star Ocean Second Story R and Sea of Stars (all the stars!) tied at second place. They didn't really need to do this, but they went out and did it and it's freaking awesome. Those new NPC illustrations really makes me want to go through the game again because they look so good!

@get2sammyb Since you said that the combat uses parry mechanics and it also has a lot of skills/abilities to unlock, how would you compare it to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's combat, especially Cloud on Punisher Mode? Would that be a good comparison?

From the screenshots on their Steam page, it reminds me of the Tex Murphy games. Maybe it’s that kind of game combined with Dontnod’s Remember Me mechanics.

Thank you for this review! This fell under my radar with so many games coming out and now I have to find time to play this. Glad to see that DONTNOD has another great game under their belt!

25 hours… I wonder if they’ll have multiple endings like the game that inspired them, you know, the one with 26 endings.

So Takashi Kiryu is the real life Rufus Shinra, bringing a reorganization to the Shinr... I mean Square Enix company?

"While we don't have a firm release date yet, Judas is expected to release on PS5 before March 2023."

You mean March 2025?

I love that Geralt with round glasses is officially canon now.

I don't think Phantom Liberty's Game Awards win was contentious at all honestly. It is an absolutey fantastic expansion that totally deserved the award, and last year Final Fantasy XIV didn't do something major to win Best Ongoing Game (they will most definitely win it again this year with Dawntrail).

Like A Dragon Gaiden is really up there with the best of the series. They have basically perfected the action combat, a culmination of years and years of refining it, which I will really miss after the total switch to turn based RPG. I hope they will continue to have an action series, whether it be with Judgment or something entirely new.

@Flaming_Kaiser You'd have a far better time watching this conversation between Abubakar Salim (Bayek from Assassin's Creed Origin) and Ben Starr (Clive from Final Fantasy XVI) if you want some great discussion about video games, voice acting and game development.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLD-9L_PN2M

“The Game Awards 2023 largely delivered on its promise of celebrating the games industry.”

No, it did not. It was a three hour commercial and did nothing to honor the achievements of game developers and the game industry. The closest to good thing that happened was that segment with Abubakar Salim and him founding a game studio with a personal story about his father, but that was it.

Speaking of racing RPGs, I'm still kinda salty that Racing Lagoon from the PS1 never got an English localization (yes I know there's a fanmade localization now but still).

They really need to perform this at The Game Awards. I don't know if they actually will though, considering the game will be only be out for 5 weeks at that time. Enough for most people to finish the game, but still kinda soon to drop a spoiler-filled musical performance.

Horrible miscast. Both voice wise and the person behind the voice wise. Is it too late for SEGA to recast and re-record the Kiryu English VA? The English dub for Kiryu Gaiden is not yet out anyway.

I got the corrupted save bug so I am unable to proceed. Fortunately I still have a good save in my PSN Cloud, hopefuly they will release 2.01 soon so I can download that save and continue.

The chocobo catching and the Chadley towers really gave me "Horizon: Zero Dawn in a Final Fantasy world" vibes when I watched the showcase and I'm really loving it. Can't wait for this game to suck 300 hours out of my life next year!

I actually just need PS Plus for the cloud save. The day they let me copy my PS5 saves to a USB (which most likely would be never) I would immediately cancel my subscription. Or (also very unlikely) if they ever release a cheaper tier for cloud save only, with no free games and no online multiplayer, I’d gladly take that.