So, summer is almost over, which means that a slew of video games will soon be releasing! There are a lot of AAA game releases as always such as Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Far Cry and many more. Whatever your poison is, you're sure to be playing something by the end of the year. I know I will be. Currently, I'm putting most of my time into Tales of Xillia 2 right now. I have about 25 hours an I'm enjoying it. My controller is acting up so I'm taking a break from it while I wait for a new one to come in the mail. I want to have that beat by the 16th since that's when Fairy Fencer F comes out. I don't know too much about the game but I've seen the battle system in action and I really enjoy what I see. Hopefully the length and extra content make it a valid purchase. There seems to be a lot of niche JRPGs coming out as the end of the PS3's lifespan. Ar Nosurge Ode to an Unborn Star, Tears to Tiara II, and Natural Doctrine just to name a few. I haven't really gotten into a strategy RPG for awhile so I'm looking forward to trying either T3 or ND.
They FINALLY released footage (well, an anime cutscene of the presumed main character, who I don't know is a guy or gal. It's a guy btw, I checked) from the upcoming Persona 5 and also announced that it's coming to both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. I don't know how to feel about that just yet until I see footage of the actual game. If the PS4 version is way ahead of the PS3 version, I'll be upset. I would've just preferred it come out on PS3 first then a port to PS4 eventually. That seems to be all the rage now anyway! That one minute only piqued my interest all the more for what is easiest my most anticipated game release in the coming year. I can't wait to see what mature themes this series takes on next.
As the year winds down, we're a month away from the new Smash Bros releasing! Well, at least on the 3DS. While I'm really waiting for the console version, I can't wait to play either one. I know they probably said this about Melee and/or Brawl but for real, this roster is easily the best in the series so far. All of the newcomers? Fantastic additions. Seriously, EACH one. I'm going to try them all. I've never been so conflicted as to who I'm going to play with first. Usually, I'll go with a favorite in fighting games. In WWE, it's the guy who I like the most. In usual fighting games, it's the guy who looks the coolest or I'm pretty familiar with. In Smash Bros 4, it's going to come down to who's locked and who isn't. If Mega Man, Sonic, Pac-Man, Shulk and Little Mac are all locked from the get-go, then I'll have to go with either Luigi or Mario as my first pick. Wait, hasn't Luigi been locked in the past games? Maybe not Luigi...Well, I'm going with either Mario or Link as characters I KNOW will be unlocked from the start so I'll pick them. I loved unlocking characters in Melee and I hope that form of unlocking is back. Brawl's character unlock was ok but I prefer doing specific tasks to unlock something rather than just by meeting the characters, talking to them and then they're unlocked. I loved the one on one battles and not knowing if you were actually going to unlock them or not because they were tougher than you anticipated. Ah, good times. I don't think the whole roster has been revealed JUST yet and even if it has, DLC could still be in the works. With Mario Kart adding Link and others, why couldn't SSB? How about Bayonetta? Or a new character from the Xenoblade Chronicles X? Or Daisy? Nintendo has plenty of characters left and could add a dozen more. Going back to not seeing the full roster, I still think there are many names they haven't revealed yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my favorite Smash Bros character of all time, Mr. Game and Watch. He's such an abstract character with a fantastic moveset. If there is any character that I can claim that I main, it would be Game and Watch. GAW, Snake, Luigi and Sonic were my top in Brawl. Hopefully, after the 3DS version comes out, we'll get a solid release for the Wii U version.
Portable RPGs are coming in strong in November with two major series releasing new installments. First, it's the Tales series coming out with Tales of Hearts R, a remake of the Japan only DS game, Tales of Hearts. I know next to nothing about TOHR. I just did a Google search to see gameplay and it looks pretty sweet. In terms of differences, I see this is more focused on aerial combat. I like that looks of that. It's important for Tales games to all be distinct in their own way and if aerial combat is this games distinct trait, I'm fine with that. As great as TOX2 is, I can't help to imagine what a new Tales game in a new universe would have been like. I won't have to wait long apparently with Tales of Zestiria releases next year. So far, it looks to be the most ambitious Tales yet and the fact you get into battle RIGHT from the field, that's something new for the series. Anyway, TOHR will definitely take up all my travel time come November....
..THAT IS until the other big portable RPG comes out 2 weeks later. Persona Q mixes the popular Persona 3 and the even more popular Persona 4 together into one huge installment that apparently plays like the critically acclaimed Etrian Odyssey with known Persona game elements. As noted, Shin Megami Tensei/Persona (since it's own thing now) are my favorite RPG series right now and as I eagerly await the arrival of the series on current gen consoles, this will certainly be a good filler until then. Once again, I don't know too much about the story or other elements of the game but it's Persona, it's a JRPG and it's releasing soon. I'm hype!
2014 hasn't been the year 2013 was. 2013 had some serious blockbusters in Tomb Raider, Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto V, and my Game of the Year, Bioshock Infinite. Surprisingly, I BEAT all of those games! And they were all fantastic and really did a good job of closing out the seventh generation of gaming on a high note. 2014 just hasn't had those slew of games. And they all released at different times. Tomb Raider and Bioshock in March, Last of Us in June and GTAV in September. This year, it seems like all the big releases are either in the fall, like always, or pushed back until 2015, like Batman and Evolve. I just feel this year is lacking the big blockbusters. I've enjoyed many games released this year, like Danganronpa, Tales of Xillia 2, South Park, Lords of Shadow 2, Demon Gaze and the amazing Dark Souls II but unfortunately, those games don't carry the same AAA status of the games of 2013. They're still awesome and I enjoyed them all very much, especially Danganronpa and DS2, my two favorite so far. Anyway, the games are coming people, you just gotta wait!
2015 is approaching and that looks to be a great gaming year. February is going to be hard on a lot of gamer's wallets. The Witcher 3, Evolve, The Order and Dying Light ALL release in that month. The shortest month is getting the biggest games. Also, we got Mortal Kombat X in April, along with Batman, Dead Island 2 and Uncharted 4 all supposedly coming out. And I personally can't forget three games I've been looking forward to for awhile, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Zelda on Wii U and of course, Persona 5. I'm expecting Zelda in November, Xenoblade in May/June and Persona 5 in October. Just guessing...
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