It should come as no surprise that Square-Enix would lead off their show with Final Fantasy VII Remake. After all, they did finally confirm the release date for 3/3/20. The rendering of cutscenes sure is beautiful, just like their FF movies. Yoshinori Kitase took the stage to talk about the game, but he needed an English translator. He had a lot to talk about, but waiting for him to finish and then have it translated became boring. The first game will be so massive from the looks of it that it will be stored on two Blu-Rays. It still sounds episodic, even though the first part "will be its own game in its own right". I'm worried that the project may possibly never be finished. Hopefully, they're much further along with the following chapters so we don't have to wait so long as we did for the first part.
Neal Pabon walked on stage to talk us through the gameplay. The main combat style is hack and slash, but there's a tactical mode that slows things down to a crawl where you can choose different actions without pressure. Cloud and Barret were shown, each having completely different abilities and play styles, and can be swapped to and fro with a press of a button. It also looks like they're bringing back staggering from FFXIII. The demo footage ended with a boss fight that looked really cool. There was all sorts of action all over the place, but my concern is that some boss fights might be a little too grandiose and may overstay their welcome.
Tetsuya Namura, director of the game, came out to talk more about it. Again, all the talk in Japanese and having to wait for it to be translated was boring me. It will be playable today at their booth, so lucky dogs for those there. A new trailer was shown and Tifa was revealed. The crowd went completely ape shit, and we also got to see her in action. Sephiroth was shown as well, and more people went ape shit. The game will release on 3/3/20, but I'll believe it when I see it.
After more than 20 minutes in, a trailer is finally shown for a new game. This turns out to be Life is Strange 2. For some reason, SE thought it was necessary to show clips of streamers reacting to the ongoings of the game. It was just distracting. Anyway, it looks cool, but I've yet to play the first. Doubt I'll ever get to it.
A new trailer played revealing Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered for PS4, Switch and Mobile. I passed on this game for the GameCube, and nothing about this remaster sparks a desire to try it again on other platforms. But cool for people who do, and it could be a perfect fit for Switch as well.
Then there was a trailer for Octopath Traveler comin to Steam. Anyone who doesn't have a Switch but loves JRPGs will be in for such a treat.
The next trailer announced The Last Remnant Remastered on Switch. I don't think I known anything about the original game, but hey, any new JRPG for the Switch is good news.
There was a video showing Dragon Quest Builders 2. It showed a lot, bigger worlds, lots to build and harvest. There's also combat as well. I never was into Minecraft-style games, but I heard that the first was actually really good and the second looks to be just as good. July 12th will be the release date with a demo on June 27th.
Then there was a trailer for Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age S: Definite Edition. Holy shit, what a long name. What caught my eye is that it looks like you can swap to 8-bit style at any time during the game. That's neat!
The next trailer was a montage of games. Some developers were talking about a new driving game coming next year. It'll be a top down racer. It reminded me of the Micro Machines games from a long time ago, and I know they showed the title, but I can't recall it. I'll most likely pass on it.
A video of a game called Battalion 1944 was shown. I don't know why this was E3 worthy, It looked just like the hundreds of generic war shooters that I see kids at my library playing. Hard pass.
There was a video advertising Square Enix Music, which is apparently a service that allows you to listen to all of the Final Fantasy soundtracks, and it will available on all streaming services.
Next up was a trailer for Kingdom Hearts III: ReMind, which is the game's next DLC. It kinda looked like a Dragonball fighting game from what I saw...
Naoki Yoshida to come out to talk about Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, but I'm taking a blackout on this, so left to get dinner. When I came back, it was still going and I caught the end of the cinematic, and it looks fantastic. July 2nd will be the release date, but I already have it preordered, so I'll be able to access it about a week earlier. I'm looking forward to it, but not really looking forward to trying to catch up from when I last took a break.
A new video from Techland was playing, so this was unmistakably Dying Light 2. It focused on parkouring and it just looks so much fun! Just like the first, this is Mirror's Edge, but with zombies! This is a definite must buy for me, even though I'm not really into zombie games at the current moment.
A video played announcing that two games were getting remastered. One was Romancing Saga 3, and the other was Saga Scarlet Grace Ambitions. Not really a fan of the Saga games. The last one I remember playing, I don't remember which one, wasn't really that good.
Apparently, every fucking company has to talk about a mobile game now in their conference. SE decided to show a video for War of the Visions, a new game in the Final Fantasy Brave Exvious universe. Pass.
A new trailer from developer People Can Fly showed cinematics from their new game Outriders. That studio was responsible for Gears of War and more importantly, Bulletstorm, so this game has my attention. Sebastian Wojciechowski came out to talk about the game, but unfortunately didn't SHOW anything from the game. Instead, a video played showing developers talking about their game. Would much rather see the game itself than all this talk. Anyway, next year.
A new trailer for Tokyo RPG Factory's Oninaki was shown, and I got to say, it looks a lot more promising than I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear. I'm going to keep my eye on this one. Some of the moves during combat look really sweet.
Well, it looks like someone finally found the master for Final Fantasy VIII, because there was a trailer for it. Now, I'm of the unpopular opinion that FFVIII was the better game between it and FFVII, so it's nice to see that it will join the other FF remakes.
Just as we all knew Square-Enix would open with Final Fantasy VII, it was a certainty that they'd end with the Marvel's Avengers game. The trailer showed the usual suspects of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and the Hulk enjoying a celebration called A Day. During the same time, an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge occurred so they jumped into action. I was having a hard time differentiating gameplay from cinematic, but it could all be cinematic. There's just something about the graphics that's bothering me.
Anyway, a couple people come out to talk about the game, and then a video played featuring the voice actors, one of which was Nolan North as Tony Stark. Then another video of a cutscene played followed by more Crystal Dynamics people coming out to talk about it. I've roughly followed the Youtube chat since this show started, and I could just feel their frustration through the screen. Even during FFVII's showing, they were screaming for Avengers. They finally got it, but instead of being shown gameplay, they were just met with more and more talk. Ohh god.. they just announced it as an ongoing game that will last for years. It will be a four-player online co-op game. What does that sound like to you?! A game that rhymes with BANTHEM? Wait, did they just say all upcoming content was free? Was that right? If so, that's already a step in the right direction. I just hope the game stays on course. One last video plays showing Ant-Man shrinking a giant boss. That was pretty cool. The game's release date will be May 15th 2020.
I already told someone that if SE lead with a sizable demonstration of the FFVII Remake, they would win E3 so far, and that's exactly what happened. Although there was a little too much talk for my taste, it was really nice to see just what the combat was going to be like. Now, I know there are opponents to this game because of the myriad number of changes, but all I've been getting from this game has been good vibes. It's going to be extremely fun! Nice to know that a company that makes RPGs is still making a lot of RPGs, and it's also very comforting to know that someone finally found the FFVIII master. The mention of another mobile lost them a point or two, and although they ended big with Avengers, they stumbled by not showing any gameplay, even though they have the game playable at their booth right now. Still.. they won E3 so far... That speaks volumes of just how... underwhelming this year's E3 has been.
Overall grade: B-
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