This Week in Games

It Feels Like 2008 All Over Again

Hello, everyone! Here we are again, on the verge of the weekend. We've got tons of fun stuff to talk about this week! The year is starting to kick in with plenty of awesome stuff to discuss. Unfortunately, not all of it is good news, but you know how it goes.

This past week was the release of Fire Emblem Engage, and my review went up yesterday! It took up most of my Xenoblade time, but I could still get some side quests done for Lambda Colony.

This is...

Persona fans sure got let down this past week. After much anticipation, the Persona 3 Portable remaster is released, and it's... not good. Just raw jank all the way down. For starters, all of the CG backgrounds have been run through Waifu2X, a well-known AI upscaler. There's nothing wrong with this in and of itself, but considering this is supposed to be a remaster of a game sold at retail price, not just a fan-made mod-pack... it definitely could be better, especially when the results are so underwhelming.

I wouldn't go so far as to claim that Atlus "doesn't care about P3 fans", but I do have to wonder what their quality metric is. It's rather galling that this is the finished product they gave the rubber-stamp approval. There's a way to make 3D models on 2D backgrounds work—see all three mainline PS1 Final Fantasy games from VII to IX. And while there will be an upper limit for how good a remastered PSP game can look, releases of games like Final Fantasy Type-0 on Steam shows that games made for smaller screens can still look amazing even on massive screens they were never designed for (provided you can give them the proper spitshine). And it's not just the visuals, either—the audio is awful. I know that people have made similar claims for the Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster, which I'll take their word on. I didn't play Nocturne on PS2 as exhaustively as I did Persona 3, so I know how BABY BABY BABY BABY is supposed to sound a lot more than ONE MORE GOD REJECTED. So when I'm presented with this...

... it's extremely jarring. And I'm That Bitch™ that went on a tirade over a Puzzle Bobble game not having the right sound effects. (Also, part of what keeps me from playing the latter-day Kingdom Hearts ports is that they redid the music for Kingdom Hearts 1, and it's just not... right.)

The million-dollar question many fans have had is why Atlus doesn't port Persona 3: FES, the updated Persona 3 re-release that added extra Personas, cutscenes, and side quests while also remixing the Social Links. And there's good reason to bank on this one; fans were hoping FES would come out when Persona 3 came out in the US, as it had just been released in Japan. And we didn't usually get these updated re-releases in the US, as folks hoping for the Final Mix version of various Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games can attest to. So actually getting FES within a year or so of Persona 3 felt like a big deal. But I think that even though Persona 3: Portable has a visual downgrade from the PS2 versions of Persona 3, it's a solid choice to port purely on the merit of Minako, the distaff counterpart to Minato Arisato (the Persona 3 protagonist). She's a fantastic character and has way more personality than Minato. But besides that, it seems there are other proprietary difficulties with getting Persona 3's PS2 versions ported. For starters, there's the chance that the assets for those PS2 games aren't around—as any Silent Hill fan can tell you, many devs didn't keep their assets for those PS2 games. But the other is apparently because of the engine itself.

Long story short, Persona 3 runs on an engine called RenderWare, which belongs to EA now. And folks aren't in a hurry to work with EA again. That Retrohistories vid has a comment from Criterion's ex-CEO, David Lau-Kee, citing folks having "third-party anxieties" over working with EA. And... yeah, hard to blame 'em. EA freaking sucked, even in the PS2 days when their reputation hadn't yet sunken to the bottom of the barrel. This is also why Sonic Heroes has never been ported. Never mind Sonic Heroes running like Bethesda made it, it runs off of RenderWare. At least we'll always have the Crush40 Sonic Heroes intro.

There's also controversy over the translation for the games—and it's different from the usual reason. According to folks who've played the game, including former SEGA translator Katrina Leonoudakis, the Persona 3 and Persona 4: Golden ports don't credit the localization teams.

Proper payment and credit towards localization teams have been an ongoing argument in fandom circles. This one's on both Atlus and SEGA. It's a real shame that the localization teams get snubbed for their hard work. Even if the localization is the same as the PS2 version, that team deserves credit for their work in translating those games.

Is there any hope for Persona 3? I hope so. It's an important game, and it was a watershed moment for Atlus and JRPGs both: the genre was no longer under the complete shadow of Square Enix, and Persona 3 thrust the Shin Megami Tensei series into the spotlight. It went from an obscure, hardcore series played only by the most fuddiest of the duddies (like Yours Truly) to a cornerstone of the industry with manga and anime adaptations, stage shows, movies, spin-offs, and merch. At the very least, we can look forward to fans polishing the Steam port up with mods. But for now, I'm urging fans not to send Atlus any hate on Twitter—that won't solve anything. Vote with your dollars, and if you must speak to them—do so respectfully. The folks handling Atlus's social media should not bear the brunt of people's dissatisfaction with a video game. We have the right to expect better—but we shouldn't rake people over the coals over it.

For now, I'll throw my hat into the ring and agree with other folks: Waifu2X? Seriously?

Arc System Works impressed a lot of people with Granblue Fantasy: Versus, the fighting game based on Cygames' popular gacha game (and honestly, one of the best gacha games—and doujin fodder—out there). But there were a few issues with the game that damaged its longevity. Cygames and Arc System Works teamed back up to right their wrongs: with Granblue Fantasy: Versus Rising, they're trying a second time, and they're playing for keeps with this one!

So, first off: fans can look forward to new characters and stages. There isn't any word yet on who will be chosen, but given that one of the new stages we've been shown is a snowy shrine, I think we can look forward to some of Granblue Fantasy's Twelve Divine Generals—characters based off of the Chinese Zodiac, including fan-favorites like Anira the ram-girl or Kumbhira the gyaru-Draph (who is based on the Boar). Past that, we can only speculate. Seeing as the cast already has fan favorites like Beatrice, Narmaya, and Ferry, we can look forward to other fan favorites like the hot-and-cold mercenary duo Sturm and Drang; Fediel, the Amazonian dragon-woman (pleeeease); Spinner, the world's last fidget spinner enthusiast; and Ippatsu, the ramen-loving samurai voiced by beloved scenery-chewer Norio Wakamoto (pleeeease x2). And hopefully, we get more characters that are as goofy as the Lowain Brothers!

Next up, there's a new mechanic in the form of Ultimate Moves. They're upgraded versions of Plus Skills with the bonus of slowing your opponent down. Pretty simple. There's also a fancy upgrade to Arc System Works' beloved online player lobbies. The beloved chibi models of playable characters can now do more than bounce and dance around: players can also romp around the island and play minigames with each other while waiting for matches to start!

But the real draw is the one thing fighting game aficionados have been begging for since Granblue Fantasy: Versus was first announced: rollback netcode. There's no denying Granblue Fantasy: Versus's prospects were limited among anyone who gave a flip about fighting games because the netcode just wasn't there; with rollback, Granblue Fantasy: Versus finally has a shot. Better yet: Granblue Fantasy: Versus Rising is coming to PS4, PS5 and Steam—and it'll have cross-play right out of the box. This? This is how you release a fighting game. And it only took a few years of cajoling Arc System Works to get 'em to do it!

There's no solid release date yet, but fighting game fans can look forward to Granblue Fantasy: Versus Rising later this year. We'll keep an eye out for it!

I love the Little Tail Bronx games. Although I never got to play Tail Concerto on the PS1, I was a massive fan of SoLaToRoBo on the Nintendo DS, and it's a tragedy it hasn't been ported anywhere. CyberConnect2's world of animal people and an ocean of clouds is rich, vibrant, lived-in, and crawling with loveable sorts. Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a definite tonal shift, though: a stark RPG featuring a village's worth of children living in a town-sized tank as they fight against World War 2-esque armies. But there are stakes afoot: their tank has a weapon that can destroy anything at the cost of the life of one of the kids. Friend of the column Todd Ciolek had nothing but praise for it when he reviewed the game two years ago. A sequel was announced a few months back, but now we have confirmation: Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 is coming to the US this May 11th.

The story begins a year after the first Fuga. Several of protagonist Malt Marzipan's friends are trapped aboard the Taranis tank—only this time, it goes on a rampage. Now it's up to Malt and his new friends—plus the First Daughter of Gasco, Vanilla—to track down the Taranis and rescue their friends aboard a new tank, the Tarascus.

Fuga 2 offers several new twists. For starters, and most importantly: the Tarascus offers an alternative to the Taranis's Soul Cannon. Instead of requiring a child's life, the Tarascus's Managarm merely renders the child unconscious until the end of the fight. The new Judgment system allows for different paths along the story depending on your choices: you can either value your Resolution (your dedication to your mission) or your Empathy (your concern for the well-being of your crew). Finally, the battle routes now feature air support for crossing obstacles and reaching objectives in new ways. Also: the games feature artwork from Yusuke Tokitsu, best known for their work on the previous Fuga game as well as Asura's Wrath. I'll definitely miss Nobuteru Yuki's character art, but Tokitsu's art is pretty amazing and perfectly captures the anguish and anger of children trapped in a war.

I haven't had the chance to play Fuga yet (my Switch has been a Xenoblade machine since I purchased it), but it's one I'm itching to get my hands on. With any luck, Fuga will get a physical release that bundles the two games. For now, the Digital Deluxe edition will offer DLC costumes, a digital artbook, and soundtrack, and extra in-game items to grant bonus shots from the Managarm and Soul Cannon without spending someone's life. Look forward to it on May 11th; it comes out on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Epic Game Store.

If you're an older GameBoy Advance lover, chances are you remember Sting's Department Heaven games Riviera: The Promised Land and Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone. A pair of genre-blending RPGs, these games eventually got ported to the PSP, where the Department Heaven series largely petered out. As it turns out, we're due for a do-over in the US: Yggdra Union is coming to Steam Early Access in February of 2023, and the Steam page is already up!

Yggdra Union's Steam port is a long time coming—all the way back from its original release on the GBA in 2006 (fun fact: I might be the first person in all of Puerto Rico to have gotten my copy; the guy at GameStop went into the back to open a box for me when I went to pick it up during Black Friday 2006). Its connections to the greater Department Heaven series weren't confirmed until after the game came out, and a particular character was confirmed to have been the same character in Riviera. But Yggdra Union had problems. For starters, it was way too complicated, what with its card-based system fueling your character's abilities, the Union mechanic emphasizing positioning, ideal character positioning depending on their gender (long story), and an obtuse method of restoring your Morale (i.e., Health) that required you sacrifice items. For another, it was brutally hard: recurring fights against the boss Gulcasa usually boiled down to plain luck (Gulcasa could destroy your energy meter, and their Scythe weapon had an advantage against all weapon types), items and upgrades were hidden in the most obtuse of places, equipped items only lasted a certain number of battles, and the only class upgrade in the game only lasted for three turns because it was tied to an item. It didn't even belong to protagonist Yggdra; it was for turning her Knight Gordon into a Dragon Rider! So when Yggdra Union was released on the PSP, it got tons of much-needed additions that made the game more accessible. To wit: the original GBA playthrough was available as the hard mode for the game.

While other Department Heaven games would come out and expand upon the ongoing story of the depraved, power-mad magus Hector, the forces of Heaven and Hell plotting against each other, and the poor archangel Maria as she struggled to maintain her innocence and virtue, Yggdra Union wound up as the most popular of them all. Riviera: The Promised Land also got a PSP port, as did the later Knights in the Nightmare on the Nintendo DS, but Yggdra Union got three sequels and spin-offs for mobile phones and even the Nintendo DS—none of which were released stateside. There was also a planned MMORPG meant to serve as a chapter of the Department Heaven saga because MMORPGs were the "live-service game with loot box mechanics" of the '00s, but that one was canceled. And that was that. Sting let the Department Heaven games wither on the vine after Gungnir: Inferno of the Demon Lance and the War of Heroes was released on the PSP and nowhere else (so I never got to play it). Knights in the Nightmare has been ported to the Nintendo Switch, but only in Japan (and without the DS's novel interface where you controlled the game via the touchscreen—the reasoning is part of the story). Why Yggdra Union is being ported to Steam before the Switch is beyond me, but part of it might have to do with its localization: Sting wants input from fans on any possible bugs or issues. So if it does well, it could get a Switch port, and encourage a port of the other Department Heaven games! (Knights in the Nightmare would be perfect for that, as Yggdra actually has her own storyline in that game.)

So, what does the Steam version bring? So much stuff, you guys. First off: dubbing! Characters have actual recorded lines in both English and Japanese. There will also be auto-saves, a HINT system for expanding upon where hidden items are stashed, an Easy mode granting items infinite uses, conversation logs, a Trick mode where the enigmatic hunter Cruz swaps places with your party member, the thief Milanor, and varying battle speeds—all things that I wish the GBA version had had way back in the day! But there are new features planned for the Steam version, too: the option to save anywhere, the option to remove equipment (you used to be stuck with whatever you wore until it broke), and the option to use either keyboards or joypads. It's damned comprehensive! Meanwhile, Satoko Kiyuzuki's art looks better than ever. (I also just remembered she had made the Shoulder-A-Coffin Kuro manga, which I couldn't afford back in college. Now I have something to hunt down...)

I was very obsessed with Department Heaven in the mid-00s, so it makes me very happy to see these games return. I'm praying this game does well, and we can get ports of the other Department Heaven games ported. Gugnir needed the extra love, and Knights in the Nightmare is a beautiful game. But Riviera: The Promised Land... she's an old flame. Shout-out to the folks at Lacrima Castle; that site was formed shortly after Riviera was released in the US (fun fact: one of their proposed names was "Cierra's Chest"), and they're still around to this day tracking down any and all Department Heaven news. Much love to you guys; see you in Riviera!

By now, folks are all enjoying Fire Emblem Engage (and a specific subset of players are having a Normal One™ over Anne). There's not much to add to what I have already said in my review, so let's talk a little scuttlebutt for once! Many games during their internal development process will have codenames, it's a natural part of the development process, and it's how the game itself is "named" within its internal code. For Fire Emblem, the internal codenames are usually along the lines of "Iron[number]. For example: Fire Emblem: Three Houses was codenamed Iron17 because it was the seventeenth mainline Fire Emblem title. (Hey, remember when Sakurai was teasing Byleth for Smash Bros and people whipped themselves into a frenzy, convinced that him holding up three fingers was code for Dante being in Smash, and it turns out that the three fingers are how you count to 17 in binary on your hands? And that's why I don't report on rumors.)

Long story short: according to Twitter user DeathChaos, going into Fire Emblem Engage's code reveals it's named "Iron19". The "Iron" part is a cute reference to how "FE" for "Fire Emblem is the atomic symbol for Iron. But most importantly—Fire Emblem Engage is only the eighteenth mainline Fire Emblem game. So why is it internally coded as "iron19", and where's the "eighteenth" game?

Some fans speculate that the "18th" game was Fire Emblem: Three Hopes," but we know this isn't the fact—Three Hopes's internal title was "Seasons," not "iron." So spinoff games have their own sorting system, leaving fans to wonder if there is another Fire Emblem game that wasn't announced—or even canceled during development. And with how secretive Nintendo is, it's not like we'd ever know.

It's fun to speculate on this. Many fans guess that this points to a possible remake for Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, one of the remaining Fire Emblem games not yet released in the United States (the other being Thracia 776, which takes place during Genealogy of the Holy War anyway). And there's a bit of weight towards this one: Sigurd, one of the lead Lords in GotHW, is one of the early Emblems in Fire Emblem Engage. But I'm not too sure on this one, myself. See, back when Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia released in the US to rave review, there were some rumblings that Intelligent Systems would continue the "Echoes" line in Fire Emblem for remakes, and one of the proposed candidates for a possible remake for fans was Path of Radiance—the GameCube-only entry to the series that nevertheless has some of the most popular characters in the fandom, from Ike "I Fight For My Friends in Smash Bros" Greil and his husband the surly goth sorcerer Soren, to the elegant redheaded paladin Titania, to Nephenee the lovely homebody hoplite. I don't know how valid this is anymore, but the title of "Echoes" now appears to be totally associated with Celica.

The most likely story is there were at one point two games in development at Intelligent Systems, these being "iron18" and "iron19" (which became Fire Emblem Engage). Eventually, circumstances led to "iron18" being dropped and the remaining efforts being put into "iron19"'s development. It could have been delayed, it could have been internal creative disagreements, it could have been an order from upstairs at Nintendo brass—who knows, we so seldom get insight into these "Whu Happun?" scenarios when it comes to them. But it makes for a fun campfire story. Hopefully, folks don't point to this as evidence of Fire Emblem Engage being a lesser game—Engage is taking a ton of flak for Alear's two-toned hair and lighter-and-softer tone but it's still up to par as far as the series' standard for quality.

Talking about the Microsoft/Bethesda Direct that Microsoft hosted today is weird because, well, many of these games are outside our purview. Very few involve Japanese developers or franchises—in fact, only one of these games falls under our umbrella. But it doesn't feel right to not talk about a whole publisher direct. Though I guess you could point to how little Microsoft has going for it that the whole thing doesn't give us much to talk about. Let's do our best. First up is... Minecraft?

If it's one big franchise Microsoft owns the rights to, it's Minecraft. They can ride that gravy train until the heat death of the universe. While the PC version is timeless, thanks to all of the wild mods and texture packs people can incorporate into the game; the console versions are a fantastic game for kids to play around with without exploding your GPU with 4K RTX raytraced texture packs for individual grains of sand. Microsoft has been toying around with Minecraft games set to other genres, so here we have what seems to be an open-world RPG. You'll explore a continent, fight little piggy critters named Piglins and the requisite Creepers, and join up with a party to fight off incursions from the Nether. There also appear to be some PVP features included, as well as some form of building as is Minecraft's wont. I'm not sure about this one; it's close enough to the main Minecraft game, but it loses some of the appeal in streamlining resource gathering if you can buy armor. Also, not being able to mess with the environment is a big downside in the face of RPG mechanics. Also, the last time we got one of these Minecraft spin-offs, we got Minecraft Dungeons, a thoroughly lifeless dungeon crawler. Minecraft Legends is due out April 18th—and not exclusive to Xbox. It'll also be out on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Steam.

I'm not much of a "car" guy, but it seems like cars are a common object of passion for many people in nerd circles. And there's a science to them, from all the funky ways you can customize your engine, the pros and cons to the kinds of rotors you decide to go for, or just general love for a specific model. So in the name of all my car-bros out there, I hope you guys forgive me for not having too much to say about Forza Motorsport. The Forza games are on the bleeding edge for realistic car simulation, but their wealth of attention to detail is lost on me. It's a hell of a realistic legacy—the original Forza on the original Xbox would show paint from your car sticking to the wall if you scraped against other surfaces, and that was way back with 2005 tech. The newest Forza will feature over 500 cars, a dynamic day-to-night and weather system (a series first). Best learn how not to hydroplane. I kid—if you're playing Forza, you can make a hatchback stop on a dime in sleet.

We also have the Necrom expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online and a new co-op shooter named Redfall, but the darling of the show was a new game. This is Hi-Fi Rush!

Hi-Fi Rush's cel-shaded graphics and music-fueled gameplay made it the talk of social media the moment the trailer dropped. There were immediate comparisons to the beloved (and sadly trapped in legal limbo) Jet Set Radio Future. It's a complete 180 from what we'd expect from Tango Gameworks, whose previous claim to fame was The Evil Within. You play as Chai, a young man with ambitions of rock stardom with a robotic arm attached to his shoulder powered by an MP3 player (even Microsoft wouldn't bother giving the guy a Zune!). You control Chai as he battles his way through armies of robots and corrupt businessmen, timing his attacks to the beat. It's like a version of Draglade on DS that actually works!

Now, I hate to be a downer because the visuals on this game alone are sumptuous... but I'm not into Hi-Fi Rush all that much. On the lesser side, the soundtrack offered during the trailer doesn't hit the same beat as Jet Set Radio. All you need from "Let Mom Sleep" are four notes to pump you up and get hit with its vibes. Hideki Naganuma's music is central, not just for Jet Set Radio's identity but also for its spirit. It wouldn't have that rebellious nature if it were playing, I don't know, Vampire Weekend or MGMT. And Hi-Fi Rush is missing that, man. The music just ain't there. If you don't have Naganuma, store-brand will not do. Weirdly, Sunset Overdrive managed this kind of thing better by avoiding the Jet Set Radio aesthetic and sticking to a grungier, realistic design while also featuring a soundtrack that seemed inspired by The Offspring more than anything else—and the Awesomepocalypse was better-suited by garage rock to such an extent that even without Naganuma, Sunset Overdrive felt like an actual spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio! I don't care if he's not a real DJ or if he doesn't have his MD, Floyd was a fantastic successor to DJ Professor K.

But the other problem is that Hi-Fi Rush just isn't cool, man. Look, I'm going to level with you: enough with the damn "Yep, that's me! I bet you're wondering how I got in this situation" crap. Forspoken is (rightfully) taking a ton of heat for its garbage dialogue, and Hi-Fi Rush's pretty art style isn't enough to make me not wanna lump it in with its lot. The trailer hits us with a "Yeah, that's me!" and a Wilhelm scream within five seconds of each other. No. This isn't "ironically cringe"; it's not funny, it's not cool. Chai does not get to sit at the table with Beat and the GGs—he gets to keep the table while the GGs find someplace else to eat their lunch in peace. If you attempt a game like this, your protagonist needs to be cool from Square One. They gotta have the bassline pumping in their veins like Beat does. It's gotta be someone who walks into the rap battle, drops the sickest remix that samples a Malcolm X speech (or any other civil rights figure from the 1960s—if you were cool, you'd know some), refuses to elaborate, then vanishes before they can even give them the prize money. You can't be an aspiring rock star. Heck, even our PC in Sunset Overdrive was undeniably cool; they were just stuck with a crappy job while the Awesomepocalypse happened. Own up to your cringe like Sonic does, find your own way to be cool like Floyd tells you to, or shut up and let us continue to patiently wait for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk's release. I can overlook the weak music. I won't forgive the tired snark. Tango Gameworks did not understand the assignment. Hi-Fi Rush is available now on Gamepass.

Hoof. Big week. If you guys are playing Fire Emblem Engage, I hope you enjoy it! And if you haven't picked it up, I'm encouraging you guys to look past Alear's hair. I've got more organized thoughts about it in my review. We've got a big spring to look forward to, game-release-wise, so let's bide our time until this winter ends. I dunno if folks here have any fond memories of the Department Heaven games like I did, but I do hope you guys try one of them out. And if you're like me and you have fond memories of Persona 3, let's hope they fix up that P3P port. Be good to each other. I'll see you guys in seven!