This Week in Games

The Scions Discover Margaritaville

Welcome back, everyone! We had one heck of a week this past week—after all, it was Xenoblade Chronicles 3's first anniversary!

Yeah, I'm still behind on that game. But I'm still thrilled that it has come as far as it has. From the grassroots movement that was Operation Rainfall, back when Japanese games were anathema to the American gaming industry, to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 getting a cursory nomination during Geoff Kighley's Self-Congratulatory Hour (and Pedro Eustache's absolutely legendary moment playing X3's music), the Xenoblade series has thankfully "made it" as one of the major players in Nintendo's line-up. I don't see a new game happening soon, especially not with Monolith working on the new Baten Kaitos collection—or that as-yet-untitled fantasy game they're working on. But as Phantasy Star showed us, sometimes the greatest trick you can pull is throwing up "THE END" on the screen and meaning it. In the meantime, the soundtracks for all four Xenoblade Chronicles games are available for purchase!

Holy crap, is it time already for another crazy revival out of nowhere?! I think it is! Shadow of the Ninja is a pretty obscure NES game starring the ninja Hayate and his partner Kaede as they battle against the forces of Emperor Garuda. The game is best known for featuring artwork from Dynamic Production. Y'know, the studio responsible for stuff like Mazinger Z or UFO Grendizer. Specifically, the artist Shunichi Taniguchi, best known for their work on Natsume's classics like The Ninja Warriors or Wild Guns. A little-known sequel was released on the GameBoy Color, Return of the Ninja, but I don't think anyone remembers that one. The good news is, we're getting a Shadow of the Ninja revival from Natsume Atari—and they even brought back Dynamic Productions to handle the art!

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That there is Mikio Tachibana's art, best known for Mazinger Otome. It's a long way from the original art with its heavily '80s tone (this is more '80s throwback), but it still nails the "spunky ninja fighting an evil emperor" vibes. Anyway, there's a ton of pedigree to this one; it's made by the same team that handled the Pocky & Rocky Reshrined remake, with music by Iku Mizutani, who composed the NES original. For now, there isn't much else known about the project, outside of a demo being made available at Tokyo Game Show this September. We also know it'll be released on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Xbox Series X|S. I'm excited about it! I'm a sucker for games with these vibes. Dynamic Pro, please do the art for more games...!

So last week, we had a head-tilter on Sega's behalf. I've complained before about Sega's reluctance to do anything with their non-Sonic the Hedgehog properties like Ristar, Comix Zone, Herzon Zwei, Bonanza Bros or Afterburner, to name a few. For their part, Sega is content with... not doing anything with their non-Sonic the Hedgehog properties, like all the games I just mentioned. See? The system works!

Anyway, the news came around that Sega filed for a new trademark in Japan, for something named "Sonic & Friends".

The trademark includes a logo with the words "SONIC & FRIENDS" in big balloon letters, with Sonic's iconic face filling in for the "O" in "SONIC." Is it a new game? A TV show? A spin-off comic? We don't know, it's far too soon to tell, and Sega hasn't said anything about it—they've just filed for the trademark. So we should measure our expectations because corporations file trademarks for things all the time, even if they don't plan on using them for anything; I remember when Saban bought back the rights for Power Rangers in 2012 and everyone thought that they were about to move onto Kamen Rider because they had later quietly secured the trademark on "Power Rider." Nothing came of that, likely because Saban wanted to make sure nobody else would try to make "Power Rider" (the joke's on Saban; we're past their style of localization for anything that isn't Power Rangers).

What stands out is that the proportions on Sonic's face in the logo, plus the name and design of the "SONIC AND FRIENDS" logo, implies more of a child-like tone for The Most Famous Hedgehog in the World—basically, Muppet Babies but Sonic. So I can see a Sonic cartoon aimed at little children being in the works. Not the worst idea in the world; it's a good time for Sonic media. The live-action movies have both been big hits, with fans actively anticipating the third film. Paramount+ is gearing up for a spin-off series featuring Knuckles the Echidna, with Idris Elba reprising his role as Knuckles. And apparently, Sonic Prime has quietly been doing well as a TV show. Making a Sonic show aimed at younger audiences makes sense, especially since Sonic the Hedgehog has always appealed tremendously to kids. Seriously, people drag the Sonic games as being horrible, but it says something that Sonic could have been "horrible" for the entire period between Sonic Adventure 2's release in 2001 to Sonic Mania's release in 2017—like it or not, there are kids that grew up loving Sonic Unleashed or Sonic and the Black Knight. Heck, those kids have likely grown up and still love Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Black Knight. Few franchises can "suck" for sixteen years and still be culturally relevant.

What we can be sure of is that it likely won't feature the Freedom Fighters, though I'd have to question the faculties of any Sonic fan who seriously thinks Sally Acorn, Bunny Rabbot, Antoine, or Rotor the Walrus might come back from the Archie salt mines. So if we get a Sonic the Hedgehog Kids situation, it'll likely just be baby versions of the typical Sonic lineup: Baby Sonic, Baby Knuckles, Baby Tails, Baby Amy Rose, a younger Dr. Eggman (maybe we'll get to see his Ovi Kintobor/Mr. Tinker days?). Maybe baby versions of Orbot and Cubot since they've become Eggman's de-facto henchmen for a long time now; RIP Scratch and Grounder. There might even be a Baby Shadow, which will be weird considering everything involving Shadow's lore.

We'll likely get more news on Sonic and Friends in the future. Whether it's a show or a game, it can't be as weird as the weird Sonic Underground Baby Sonic.

It's an understatement to claim that Visual Arts is a big deal in the visual novel space. We've talked before about their bigger hits like the trio of Kanon, Air, and Clannad, but chances are you know Visual Arts best from the many successful animated adaptations of these visual novels and more. Some people go to bat for Angel Beats!, so much so that I'm interested in checking it out one of these days. Visual Arts made some big headlines last week with the news that they'd be selling themselves off... to Tencent, the Chinese conglomerate that's been making waves for how many pies it has been sticking its fingers into.

Current Visual Arts president Takahiro Baba will stay on board with Visual Arts as an advisor but explained his desire to follow through with the process, citing his advanced age (he's in his 60s, which is a heck of an age to be still developing games at). So rather than the company scrambling to figure out what to do after a sudden disaster, he'd rather see Visual Arts slowly transition into it while still in his good faculties. I can respect that; over the decades, we've seen way too many game studios and franchises yanked away from their creators. For further reading, look at the history of stuff like the Ultima series, Sierra Games, Visceral Games and the Dead Space series, Maxis studios, Bullfrog studios... basically, any studio bought out by EA Games or Activision-Blizzard.

Visual Arts being sold off to Tencent makes me turn my nose a little. It's too late to pretend Tencent is some weird corrupting influence in games, especially since Tencent is even working with Nintendo on releasing the Nintendo Switch in China. It's hard to divorce any of the potential criticisms of Tencent from the rising sentiment of "Grr, grr, China bad." But also, they own over 600 studios, and I'm no fan of rampant corporate acquisitions. Remember, there's no such thing as something "too big to fail"!

Do I think Tencent will be a negative influence on Visual Arts? That is not likely; Tencent seems to be pretty relaxed regarding the stakes they own. And Baba is still around to advise Visual Arts on stuff, so we can count on him being there to ensure the company's standards for quality. Hopefully, this includes an English localization for one of the beloved Sad-Girl-Dying-In-The-Snow trilogy. Hmm, I wonder what's the word on that Kanon remake...

In the category of things that made me do a spit-take!

We've been talking about Shiravune a lot lately; between the White Album release and the upcoming Kara no Shojo release, they've been doing a ton of heavy lifting when it comes to bringing visual novels to the U.S. It hasn't been easy, given the recent news concerning Dungeon Travelers 2, but otherwise, they've done a pretty bang-up job in making a ton of adult VNs accessible. Fans of ero-VNs, in particular, have much to thank them for, like when they brought over the complete version of Kuroinu. We've also talked about the Taimanin games before—notably Action Taimanin, a safe-for-work action mobile game set in the Taimanin universe. But the original visual novels were hotly-desired by many fans, along with the H-OVA. Unfortunately, studio Lilith has been reluctant to release it in the U.S. Many believe it's because of how heavily the games were pirated; I can't offer any insight into that. Even Media Blasters had difficulty making any business deals with them. There was some hope a few years ago when MangaGamer localized Space Pirate Sara, but that went nowhere.

So, Taimanin Asagi is finally being brought to America! It's an Adult VN, so no kids are allowed. In a fantasy version of modern Tokyo, the world of Taimanin is split between the Human World and the Demon World. The criminal underworld commonly deals with demons, ogres, and evil spirits—such that one of the leading criminal figures is a vampire named Edwin Black. Fighting against the hordes of demons and criminals are the various "Taimanin" (literally "Anti-Demon Ninja"). Asagi Igawa, the series' protagonist, is one of the greatest Taimanin alive, known by many as the "Almighty Taimanin" for her prowess. Also, she has a spunky younger sister named Sakura, who can manipulate shadows. The story starts with an evil ninja from Asagi's past, Oboro, kidnapping her fiancé, and uh... well, you'll need to play the game on your own to get the rest. Y'know, if you're 18 and up.

I have many opinions about hentai, including the Taimanin universe. In isolation, it's just a fantasy, so Asagi left to the whims of a bunch of orcs is just what it does. On the other hand, many hentai love the idea of a "competent woman getting completely broken to pieces," which has always sat unwell with me. This is why I like that the Taimanin games eventually made a safe-for-work spin-off with Action Taimanin. Much like with Fate/Stay Night, the world of Taimanin has tons of complicated political schemes and factions vying for supremacy, along with hordes of cool ninja characters running around with crazy superpowers. My favorite is Emily Simmons, an honest-to-God American ninja who rides on a floating gun platform. It helps that these individual Taimanin all have their own rich inner lives, from Asagi being torn between her dedication to her calling as a ninja to her few dalliances with romance to the ongoing struggles of Tokiko and the extended Fuuma clan to Oboro's endless quest for vengeance against Asagi. I had always hoped that the Taimanin universe would make the jump to a safe-for-work series with non-erotic anime where Asagi could properly rip orcs apart without the other stuff happening.

Until then, Taimanin Asagi is a trashy, pulpy, sexy action series about hot ninja babes fighting creepy demons. Problematic? Yeah. But it's great to see it finally coming to America, and I'm excited to play it in English finally. And if it does well, they might even bring over the rest of the Taimanin sequels and spin-offs! I look forward to it later this year (Shiravune has it listed on Steam as "Q4 2023").

Hoo boy, did we get a big one last week! Square Enix is still rolling in the accolades for Final Fantasy XVI; we haven't even begun to hear about any DLC for that game. But Final Fantasy XIV still keeps chugging along! I think it's safe to say that it's handily replaced World of Warcraft as the king of the MMO hill, and small wonder: Yoshi-P isn't infallible, but he's displayed a deep commitment to earning the loyalty of the FFXIV fanbase. And I don't mean commitment as "Apologies for messing up the thing we made as a smokescreen for the last time we apologized for messing something up." Like, people are actually excited for the stuff being added to FFXIV. It's rather disarming to see a relationship between a developer and a fanbase not be antagonistic.

This past weekend was the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival, a two-day event celebrating Final Fantasy XIV and its fanbase. I didn't go, though my This Week in Anime alums Nicky did. And while there were plenty of announcements, I want to take a moment to point out some of the cute nerd stuff they did. Besides cosplay, there were cool bits like the fan art contest or the in-game screenshot contest. There is a lot of talent and passion among the fans of Final Fantasy XIV; it must feel amazing to have your stuff personally spotlighted during the festival.

Thanks again to Nicky for sharing these photos with me. I love Final Fantasy XIV, but I dropped out about a year ago after finally beating the post-ARR content and making it to Heavensward. The problem is, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 came out and has bogarted all of my spare time, so I haven't been able to come back to it. And even if I did, there's a ton I don't know—I'm very grateful to Nicky for taking the time to comprehensively translate all of the news from the Fan Fest. Anyway, what big news did Yoshi-P have for us? Well, there's the revelation of a new Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Dawntrail!

This is the first new expansion after the climactic Endwalker, which put to rest a decade-long story arc that had begun way back with A Realm Reborn. It's quite hard to set up a new arc immediately after the end of a particularly beloved one (ask the poor schlubs working on the MCU). So Yoshi-P and crew are using this time to build up to the next ten years of content for Final Fantasy XIV. Dawntrail represents a lot of new beginnings for FFXIV, but also an opportunity for our beleaguered Scions and Warriors of Light to let their hair down. The crew will go to a new continent in their world, the land of Tural. Yoshi-P and crew have explained that Tural is supposed to represent South America in a way. At the same time, many have pointed out that the land's architecture resembles many South East Asian countries like Thailand. Yoshi-P has also acknowledged that racial matters haven't been handled the best in prior FFXIV expansions; they're focusing on getting this world right. Yoshi-P is definitely up to the challenge, going so far as to tell fans to "Keep your expectations high!" I'm just happy about my boy Urianger. Look at him, tossing back a piña colada inside an actual pineapple. Call it "How Urianger Got His Groove Back," the poor boy needs a break after mourning Moenbryda for so long. (It's okay, he's got Y'shtola to keep an eye on him.) Also, we finally have the sequel to the beloved burger cat: Taco Cat . Fans went wild for G'raha biting into a taco. You get that fancy food, cat-boy.

So, what else does Dawntrail bring? Well, a lot of details make FFXIV fans very happy. Because fashion is the true end-game for FFXIV, fans cheered over the news that articles of clothing now have two dye channels for coloring. Also, glasses have been added as accessories, separate from headgear like hats. The furnishing limits have been increased, so anyone looking to decorate their houses has more options to make their little in-game dreamhouse. The in-game textures are finally getting updated after a decade.

The bigger news is that Dawntrail will add two new classes. Unfortunately, Yoshi-P has been cagey about what classes we are getting, so people have to go off of context clues based on the shirts he wears (it's a thing he likes to do). We know both will be DPS classes ("because they're easier to balance," says Nicky). Fans are theorizing that the first class will be the Fusilier/Buccaneer/Cannoneer, given that there are hints that it's a new combo-based DPS class (think a non-magical version of the Red Mage). I like this idea; a naval class works well—especially given the context of the characters sailing to a new world. Also, I remember Cannoneers having been added to the list of Final Fantasy jobs in the GBA Final Fantasy V port. As for the other class? No clue yet. The most we have to go on is Yoshi-P wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt while talking about it. Some people theorize it might be a Beast Master class. Still, I'm with the other group theorizing that it'll be the Pictomancer class, as popularized by Relm Arrowny from Final Fantasy VI. Y'know, 'cuz the four Ninja Turtles are named after Renaissance artists. So, how would a Pictomancer class work? If Relm is any indicator, it might involve using skills based on monsters. That's all I got; Pictomancers aren't very widely used in Final Fantasy. The FFXIV crew is scraping the bottom of the barrel regarding new classes it can add, but they're still interesting classes with their own mechanics.

Notably, fans were confirmed that critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime is now expanding to include the also-award-winning Stormblood expansion as part of its free trial, and raising the maximum level to 70. With no restrictions on playtime, of course. So, uh, update your copypasta as necessary.

Staff also announced that Final Fantasy XIV is finally coming to Xbox consoles. Phil Spencer even showed up on stage to pat himself on the back over it all. Fans can look forward to instant crossplay between the Xbox version and all other FFXIV versions. Likely, what kept FFXIV off the Xbox was ensuring that Microsoft didn't shove it onto Gamepass. That kind of thing would take a lot of money out of Square's pockets; it's one thing when Microsoft wants to loss-lead with their games, it's another when they're trying to convince the biggest MMORPG to do it. Also, the massive influx of players courtesy of the gate being thrust wide open would be way too much for FFXIV's servers to bear.

Finally, there's the news of a Fall Guys/Final Fantasy XIV collab coming later this month! It'll run from August 22 to October 3. There will likely be more news later this month; we've got little Fall Guys beans doing the Hildegard pose.

But I'm still going! As Nicky went to the Fan Fest, we have exclusive shots of the event! Nicky described several AR games people could play, like one where people played soccer with Paissas or threw beanbags at a Proto-Carbuncle. There was a Pusheen-themed quiet room (because apparently, Pusheen has had collabs with Final Fantasy XIV before), and even a nightclub-looking room where famed FFXIV composer Soken DJ'ed for fans at night! The goody-bags were also great, including a Loporrit-themed pen ("Penningway"?), a Jobstone I have no context for ("It's an Endwalker-thing," Nicky says)—and my personal favorite, a Squapes squishy. Final Fantasy XIV's low-resolution grapes became a bit of a meme when Endwalker first came out. They were eventually updated, so they don't look like polygons with a grape-flavored texture (sadly), but they have been forever memorialized as squishy. Best merch ever. The Fan Fest was fun but suffered from some major crowding issues. Hopefully, the next fan fest can be held in a bigger venue. And speaking of, we can look forward to further news on Dawntrail at the London Fan Fest on October 21. I leave you with the picture of Urianger with the pineapple again.

He might be an Arcanist, but my articulate boy has guns. Big thanks to Nicky for helping decode all of this for me; it was a blast having her walk me through all of this post-Heavensward stuff!

That'll do it for this week. We've got Armored Core looming ever closer in the future; I hope you guys are looking forward to it! Hopefully, this week gave everyone some happy stuff to get excited over. Keep safe in all this heat, people! Be good to each other; I'll see you in seven.