It wasn't a major shocker but it was finally confirmed that Persona 5 will miss its intended 2015 release and now shoot for a less crowded Summer 2016. I would be more upset if I wasn't expecting it but when it missed E3, I started to have my doubts. It's fine though as my 4th quarter is PACKED with Tales, Dragon Quest, WWE, Fallout, Tomb Raider, Yo-Kai, Just Cause AND Xenoblade. The game will still be released so I won't fret, we just gotta wait a little longer for the extra polish the game so rightfully deserves. It's a hit to the gut but not one I didn't see coming.
The summer months are a drought period when it comes to gaming as gamers start to save all their money for the major releases in the fall. This summer was no different. While Metal Gear was released in September, I didn't play it as I'm not a huge fan of the series. The game that took most of my attention was Until Dawn. I've already gushed over it in my post from last month but it's a seriously great experience. It wasn't on the same level as Heavy Rain but the fact that all 8 characters could die from minor decisions was a nice effect. Also, the cast was amazing, the music was appropriate for every situation and the scares, while cheap, were nice. It will definitely crack the Top 10 for my Game of the Year list but when compared to Batman and Bloodborne, I'm not too sure it will take the top title.
Another great title that released was Lost Dimension, a hybrid PS Vita game that mixed together strategy RPG elements with that of visual novels games. I gushed over this as well already but the game was great. The only flaw was the fact you HAVE to play through it a 2nd time to get the true ending and that it could be even more since the traitors in your party are up to chance, which means just because you need the party members to stay alive until the fourth floor just so you can do their character missions doesn't necessarily mean they will. I had a case when the same person was a traitor twice but luckily, I already filled out their character mission the first time around. It's a cheap system but the gameplay was spot on so tactical RPG experience and finding out who the traitor was was always fun to do. I don't think I tensed up more with a game this year than when I was trying to find out who the traitor was on my 2nd playthrough. As always, I narrowed it down to three people, two who I NEEDED to survive so I was banking on the person I needed it to be. It turned out to be that person and I never felt more relieved. Anyway, great game, weird system.
I've also been playing Mad Max and Steins Gate but I haven't really gotten deep enough into either to render a fair judgment just let but both are great experiences, Mad Max is a sandbox game is an amazing post apocalyptic world while Steins Gate is a visual novel game dealing with time travel, the butterfly effect and many other science terms. SG is as novel as a visual novel game can get. There's really no gameplay, with all the decisions coming from whether you send emails or answer your phone. There are 6 different endings in the game, 2 of which I have gotten and they pair up the main character with one of the many girls in the game, which is weird because that was never a topic of discussion until Rintaro starts time leaping and such. While not unexpected, it's just strange. It doesn't affect my already high marks for the game. It's not up there with Zero Escape or Danganronpa, but Steins Gate handles the theory of time travel very well. The game was good enough to make me go watch the anime now so that's saying something.
That's pretty much it for video games this quarter. Like I said, summer is a drought but next quarter, be prepared for a LONG section as here are a list of games I'll be playing:
Dragon Quest Heroes
Tales of Zestiria
WWE 2K16
Fallout 4
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Just Cause 3
Xenoblade Chronicles X
And that's ONLY the games that I'm going to play. That doesn't include other blockbusters such as Assassin's Creed, Halo, Call of Duty or Star Wars Battlefront. There's a little something for everyone this holiday.
So, I'm going to have a lot to discuss next quarter. Let's get to wrestling.
-Rollins survived again! In the 3rd quarter, Rollins survived Brock Lesnar, beat John Cena to hold both titles at once and defeated Sting to leave another quarter with the World Title. He heads into the 4th quarter restarting his feud with Kane, which will probably lead to a Hell in a Cell match. While I'm not a big fan of the match, it makes sense storyline wise. Rollins terrorized Kane during the summer and ending up attacking him leading into his match with Lesnar. Rollins/Kane isn't a bad idea.
-Where to begin with NXT? They continue to be the best thing about WWE as a whole. Let's start with the fact that they called up Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks all at once to start a Divas Revolution? Sasha teamed with Naomi and Tamina while Charlotte and Becky teamed with Paige. Both teams were looking to dethrone the dominance of Team Bella, which is of course Nikki, Brie and Alicia Fox. It started off with a bang, with a great Triple Threat match between Charlotte, Sasha and Brie at Battleground and took a huge backstep at SummerSlam even though all three teams were involved in an Elimination match. Nikki ended up becoming the longest reigning Divas champion of all time in September before she finally dropped the title to Charlotte. After that, Paige turned heel, citing frustration over the division, which means instead of giving us Sasha/Charlotte right off the back, they're going to do a Charlotte/Nikki/Paige feud. That's completely fine with me. Keep Charlotte and Sasha far away from each other at this point. It's a crazy dream but I want to see Sasha VS Charlotte at Wrestlemania. It won't happen but so far, they've kept the two away from each other on the main roster. Can they keep that up? Paige turning is a fantastic idea, mainly because there's only one Divas Title. All the girls need to be chasing after it so why team up unless it's against the Bellas? Hopefully, all the teams will disband and we'll start getting a lot of different matches.
When Sasha was called up, she was still with the NXT Women's Championship and with Charlotte and Becky also gone, all eyes were on Bayley, who is the only one of the Four Horsewomen who weren't called up. Bayley went on her Sami Zayn redemption tour, beating all the Divas she couldn't beat in the past, like her tormentor Emma, her frenemy Charlotte and Becky Lynch. The last person to beat was Sasha and the two had an amazing match at NXT Takeover which, for the first time, took place in outside of Full Sail University and was in Brooklyn. Like I said, it was a show stealer and the moment after the match was even better. Charlotte and Becky came out to congratulate Bayley and then Sasha got up and hugged Bayley, leading to all four celebrating and putting up the iconic number 4 with their hands. It was a magical moment that resembled the infamous Curtain Call with The Kliq back in 96. The universal praise for this match led to WWE deciding to do it again, this time though, it will be a 30 Minute Iron Man match. It's on October 7th at NXT Takeover Respect so I'll cover that next quarter definitely but that's an amazing match up. Oh, did I mention that it's the main event? Yes, Bayley and Sasha will main event a Takeover special. While it's a little late and not as big since the NXT Title won't be defended, it's still an amazing accomplishment.
Balor won the NXT Title on July 4th at the Beast in the East special and retained it Owens in a Ladder main event in Brooklyn. He then started teaming with Samoa Joe and they took part of the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament. With them teaming, everyone is waiting for Samoa Joe to turn on Balor at NXT Takeover and start their feud. While I can't wait for their eventual main event match at the next Takeover in London, why does Joe have to be the heel? Balor recently got a new shirt with the name Balor Club on it while donning a black jacket like in his Prince Devitt Bullet Club days. Why not turn him heel? That way, he can change u his body paint as well. Also, he can feud with Hideo Itami upon his return as well and Itami can take his rightful spot as NXT Champion. Itami/Balor in February or March at Takeover would be awesome. I hope Gable and Jordan win the whole tournament but if they do, they'll be facing another heel team in Corbin and Rhyno at Takeover. What if it's Balor/Joe VS Corbin/Rhyno and Balor starts this Balor Club with Rhyno and Corbin in it? Just a thought. Here's hoping Jason Jordan and Chad Gable get the win!
-Kevin Owens ended up losing his war with John Cena AND Finn Balor but did win his first title on the main roster. He won the IC Title from Ryback at Night of Champions. This is what I call, a GOOD thing. Owens is a workhorse, who can put on consistently good matches with anyone he wrestles and there happens to be a lot of guys in doing nothing right now, like Ziggler, Neville, Cesaro, Ambrose, etc. He has A LOT of potential contenders and all guys who would give him a fight and put on great matches with. If Owens can be the same fighting champion he was in NXT, then the IC Title can be elevated to the status it used to be at. John Cena did a fantastic job with the US Title and now that's he champion again, I hope he does more of what he was doing. Anyway, I'm happy for Owens and I hope that this is only the beginning for the championship and him. Will this eventually lead to an Owens/Bryan feud upon his return? One can ONLY hope.
-Brock Lesnar and Undertaker main evented SummerSlam. Yay. They will do battle again inside the Hell in a Cell to finally end their feud. What? You're expecting more? Not on this blog my friends.
-The Dudleys returned for some reason to start their quest for another tag team title reign. During this time, The New Day have become the most interesting tag team in awhile. They look like they are genuinely having a good time out there. I'm glad they all ended up together on the main roster and hope they run with this gimmick for a long time.
As we enter the 4th quarter, it's time to start looking ahead to potential Royal Rumble winners and Wrestlemania main events. Is there any clear cut favorites? Last year, it was all but certain that Roman Reigns was the chosen one but so far, it looks like it's anyone's match to win. I'm obviously bias towards NXT so if one of their alumni was to win, I would be fine with that. The only one worthy of that accolade right now though IS Kevin Owens and I don't think WWE is ready for that at this point. I guess I'll speculate more on that as we get closer.
With Taker/Lesnar handling their business at HIAC instead of WM32, that leaves both guys open for a match but who would getting the billing? Owens VS Lesnar is money but I think that's down the line. That's a very tall task for your first Wrestlemania. The Sting/Taker dream match looks likely now but it's a match that I don't want to really see. I'll keep saying it until either one of them retires, but John Cena and The Undertaker NEED to wrestle each other. It's a crime that these two haven't had a proper feud since John Cena has become the Franchise of the company. This is how I would book it; give Cena his 16th World Title, have him either lose it before Mania or have him defend it, either way now that he's won his 16th title, let him say there's only one thing he hasn't done in his career and that's face Taker at Mania. It's a win-win for everyone. If it's for the title, they can give Taker one last reign that he deserves before he retires and if it's not, then it's still a dream match between two WWE legends. They didn't do it at 30 when they had the chance and they didn't do it at 31 when they had the chance. It's now or never. If John Cena and The Undertaker don't wrestle at Wrestlemania 32, it will NEVER happen. It may not be the technical dream match but it's a mega clash of two stars. Book it.
John Cena has apparently requested time off after HIAC which begs the questions, who will take the US Title from him? He can't still be champion if he decides to take the rest of the year off. It's not fair to all the other contenders. Maybe someone from NXT will get called up or maybe Neville will get the rematch he deserves. Neville had Cena back but Rusev ruined that dream. Cesaro is another guy I can see Cena dropping the strap to. If Cesaro and Owens both hold the midcard titles, that would be amazing.
That's it! We have the MSG Special on Saturday and NXT Takeover Respect to open up the 4th quarter in style. Will Balor or Joe turn heel? Will Bayley and Sasha have another match of the year contender? Will Rollins end the year as champion? We'll find out in the months to follow.
I'll be doing the 4th quarter review in early December and then my year review at the end of December. Stay tuned!
That's pretty much it for video games this quarter. Like I said, summer is a drought but next quarter, be prepared for a LONG section as here are a list of games I'll be playing:
Dragon Quest Heroes
Tales of Zestiria
WWE 2K16
Fallout 4
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Just Cause 3
Xenoblade Chronicles X
And that's ONLY the games that I'm going to play. That doesn't include other blockbusters such as Assassin's Creed, Halo, Call of Duty or Star Wars Battlefront. There's a little something for everyone this holiday.
So, I'm going to have a lot to discuss next quarter. Let's get to wrestling.
-Rollins survived again! In the 3rd quarter, Rollins survived Brock Lesnar, beat John Cena to hold both titles at once and defeated Sting to leave another quarter with the World Title. He heads into the 4th quarter restarting his feud with Kane, which will probably lead to a Hell in a Cell match. While I'm not a big fan of the match, it makes sense storyline wise. Rollins terrorized Kane during the summer and ending up attacking him leading into his match with Lesnar. Rollins/Kane isn't a bad idea.
-Where to begin with NXT? They continue to be the best thing about WWE as a whole. Let's start with the fact that they called up Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks all at once to start a Divas Revolution? Sasha teamed with Naomi and Tamina while Charlotte and Becky teamed with Paige. Both teams were looking to dethrone the dominance of Team Bella, which is of course Nikki, Brie and Alicia Fox. It started off with a bang, with a great Triple Threat match between Charlotte, Sasha and Brie at Battleground and took a huge backstep at SummerSlam even though all three teams were involved in an Elimination match. Nikki ended up becoming the longest reigning Divas champion of all time in September before she finally dropped the title to Charlotte. After that, Paige turned heel, citing frustration over the division, which means instead of giving us Sasha/Charlotte right off the back, they're going to do a Charlotte/Nikki/Paige feud. That's completely fine with me. Keep Charlotte and Sasha far away from each other at this point. It's a crazy dream but I want to see Sasha VS Charlotte at Wrestlemania. It won't happen but so far, they've kept the two away from each other on the main roster. Can they keep that up? Paige turning is a fantastic idea, mainly because there's only one Divas Title. All the girls need to be chasing after it so why team up unless it's against the Bellas? Hopefully, all the teams will disband and we'll start getting a lot of different matches.
When Sasha was called up, she was still with the NXT Women's Championship and with Charlotte and Becky also gone, all eyes were on Bayley, who is the only one of the Four Horsewomen who weren't called up. Bayley went on her Sami Zayn redemption tour, beating all the Divas she couldn't beat in the past, like her tormentor Emma, her frenemy Charlotte and Becky Lynch. The last person to beat was Sasha and the two had an amazing match at NXT Takeover which, for the first time, took place in outside of Full Sail University and was in Brooklyn. Like I said, it was a show stealer and the moment after the match was even better. Charlotte and Becky came out to congratulate Bayley and then Sasha got up and hugged Bayley, leading to all four celebrating and putting up the iconic number 4 with their hands. It was a magical moment that resembled the infamous Curtain Call with The Kliq back in 96. The universal praise for this match led to WWE deciding to do it again, this time though, it will be a 30 Minute Iron Man match. It's on October 7th at NXT Takeover Respect so I'll cover that next quarter definitely but that's an amazing match up. Oh, did I mention that it's the main event? Yes, Bayley and Sasha will main event a Takeover special. While it's a little late and not as big since the NXT Title won't be defended, it's still an amazing accomplishment.
Balor won the NXT Title on July 4th at the Beast in the East special and retained it Owens in a Ladder main event in Brooklyn. He then started teaming with Samoa Joe and they took part of the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament. With them teaming, everyone is waiting for Samoa Joe to turn on Balor at NXT Takeover and start their feud. While I can't wait for their eventual main event match at the next Takeover in London, why does Joe have to be the heel? Balor recently got a new shirt with the name Balor Club on it while donning a black jacket like in his Prince Devitt Bullet Club days. Why not turn him heel? That way, he can change u his body paint as well. Also, he can feud with Hideo Itami upon his return as well and Itami can take his rightful spot as NXT Champion. Itami/Balor in February or March at Takeover would be awesome. I hope Gable and Jordan win the whole tournament but if they do, they'll be facing another heel team in Corbin and Rhyno at Takeover. What if it's Balor/Joe VS Corbin/Rhyno and Balor starts this Balor Club with Rhyno and Corbin in it? Just a thought. Here's hoping Jason Jordan and Chad Gable get the win!
-Kevin Owens ended up losing his war with John Cena AND Finn Balor but did win his first title on the main roster. He won the IC Title from Ryback at Night of Champions. This is what I call, a GOOD thing. Owens is a workhorse, who can put on consistently good matches with anyone he wrestles and there happens to be a lot of guys in doing nothing right now, like Ziggler, Neville, Cesaro, Ambrose, etc. He has A LOT of potential contenders and all guys who would give him a fight and put on great matches with. If Owens can be the same fighting champion he was in NXT, then the IC Title can be elevated to the status it used to be at. John Cena did a fantastic job with the US Title and now that's he champion again, I hope he does more of what he was doing. Anyway, I'm happy for Owens and I hope that this is only the beginning for the championship and him. Will this eventually lead to an Owens/Bryan feud upon his return? One can ONLY hope.
-Brock Lesnar and Undertaker main evented SummerSlam. Yay. They will do battle again inside the Hell in a Cell to finally end their feud. What? You're expecting more? Not on this blog my friends.
-The Dudleys returned for some reason to start their quest for another tag team title reign. During this time, The New Day have become the most interesting tag team in awhile. They look like they are genuinely having a good time out there. I'm glad they all ended up together on the main roster and hope they run with this gimmick for a long time.
As we enter the 4th quarter, it's time to start looking ahead to potential Royal Rumble winners and Wrestlemania main events. Is there any clear cut favorites? Last year, it was all but certain that Roman Reigns was the chosen one but so far, it looks like it's anyone's match to win. I'm obviously bias towards NXT so if one of their alumni was to win, I would be fine with that. The only one worthy of that accolade right now though IS Kevin Owens and I don't think WWE is ready for that at this point. I guess I'll speculate more on that as we get closer.
With Taker/Lesnar handling their business at HIAC instead of WM32, that leaves both guys open for a match but who would getting the billing? Owens VS Lesnar is money but I think that's down the line. That's a very tall task for your first Wrestlemania. The Sting/Taker dream match looks likely now but it's a match that I don't want to really see. I'll keep saying it until either one of them retires, but John Cena and The Undertaker NEED to wrestle each other. It's a crime that these two haven't had a proper feud since John Cena has become the Franchise of the company. This is how I would book it; give Cena his 16th World Title, have him either lose it before Mania or have him defend it, either way now that he's won his 16th title, let him say there's only one thing he hasn't done in his career and that's face Taker at Mania. It's a win-win for everyone. If it's for the title, they can give Taker one last reign that he deserves before he retires and if it's not, then it's still a dream match between two WWE legends. They didn't do it at 30 when they had the chance and they didn't do it at 31 when they had the chance. It's now or never. If John Cena and The Undertaker don't wrestle at Wrestlemania 32, it will NEVER happen. It may not be the technical dream match but it's a mega clash of two stars. Book it.
John Cena has apparently requested time off after HIAC which begs the questions, who will take the US Title from him? He can't still be champion if he decides to take the rest of the year off. It's not fair to all the other contenders. Maybe someone from NXT will get called up or maybe Neville will get the rematch he deserves. Neville had Cena back but Rusev ruined that dream. Cesaro is another guy I can see Cena dropping the strap to. If Cesaro and Owens both hold the midcard titles, that would be amazing.
That's it! We have the MSG Special on Saturday and NXT Takeover Respect to open up the 4th quarter in style. Will Balor or Joe turn heel? Will Bayley and Sasha have another match of the year contender? Will Rollins end the year as champion? We'll find out in the months to follow.
I'll be doing the 4th quarter review in early December and then my year review at the end of December. Stay tuned!
