This is the most 90s music released this decade, rad as hell (think it's a Shinji Hosoe track, those synths sounds like his music for Tetris Grandmaster):



"SAY YEAH!"
"Come on, come on, come on, come on"

Such a shame the Mass Effect series is now dead. Heck, most of my favourite Western IPs are dead or dying this gen - same with Deus Ex. Western RPGs on the whole this gen seem to on the whole be failing to capture the same magic as last gen (you've got your exceptions like Witcher 3 and erm, well...).

Anyway, been playing lots and lots of FFXII HD - still as magical as I remember it, in fact, I think I love it even more now, there isn't any other JRPGs out there like it with such quality VA or restraint with its presentation. The atmosphere and world building is such 10/10 mastery. Just as addictive to play through all of the Hunts as before too.

Also loving that there's new music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto in there as well, which enhances the Ivalice atmosphere even more. New location themes (Nam Yensa Sandsea actually has its own musical theme now) and new Boss themes which are all wonderful.

Also appreciate the cast even more now, you don't get a cast of badasses like this game - Balthier (so much swagger, so much smirk - Ren might get along with him), Ashe (most badass Princess in fiction?), Basch, Fran, Reddas (rocking those pink trousers like a boss; he's also voiced by Phil La Marr so that automatically makes him cool), Larsa, Vossler (Nolan North!), Dr. Cid (most enjoyable villain in the game for me), Ba'Gamnan (Steve Blum!), The Judges (Ghis and Bergan being my favourites), Vayne, Venat (being all like "fuck the system"). The story is actually making more sense to me this time around, found it mysterious last time I played it and just let it roll, now I can see why the characters react the way they do and think the characters have understated depth to them all. Just seeing snippets of their background or hints of it (Balthier getting awkward whenever he hears about his father's lab, Vaan explaining his reason for continue his journey with Ashe etc) makes it better for me, I personally love how mysterious Yasumi Matsuno characters are. Still my favourite cast of characters in a JRPG outside of Matsuno's other games and Persona 2.

Really glad I left my second playthrough until this came out since there's plenty I've forgotten about since it's been around 6-7 years since I played it last.

I let it sink in a bit and I'm rather happy with what I'm seeing, the environments are stunning and the character models are...okay, Ryo is getting there at least, I think, but they're mostly placeholders or stuff for them to work around with, I mean, this was pretty obvious, it's game development but hey people were going bananas. The game has a long way to go yet and the fact that they're getting more funding now as well will hopefully help development in a big way (Suzuki is even going as far as to say he's got more people in development now in one of the interviews). I can see a lot of positivity out of this update, onwards and upwards. I have trust in the man and his team.

Must admit seeing Ryo doing martial arts against various people was pretty exciting to see. Kinda hitting me that Shenmue 3 is a reality, which in itself, is fucking ridiculous really. I for one am glad it is a reality.

Spaghetti? That you Spence?

Nah bro.

Survey about Ryu Ga Gotoku's Team's upcoming projects asking international audiences how interested they are in each (Kiwami 2, Fist of the North Star and Yakuza Online), show your interest here (it's the quickest survey ever, seriously, took 2 seconds for me to fill it in).

http://yakuza.sega.com/RGGStudioAnnouncementSurvey/

Nice little note afterwards, that sounds a bit positive to me.
Everybody fill it in!

Shenmue series cracks the Top 20 Best Games of all time reader list for Famitsu:

Famitsu just released their 1500 issue, as they've done on previous milestones they asked their readers to pick the best game ever and the results are in:

[1]Persona 5
[2]Dragon Quest III
[3]Splatoon
[4]Nier Automata
[5]The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
[6]Final Fantasy VII
[7]Danganronpa V3
[8]Chrono Trigger
[9]Sakura Wars
[10]Shenmue
[11]Danganronpa 1 2 Reload
[12]Shenmue 2
[13]Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone
[14]Yakuza 0
[15]Otocadoll
[16]Persona 4: Golden
[17]Okami
[18]Xenoblade: Chronicles
[19]Suiokoden 2
[20]Final Fantasy XII
[21]Super Danganronpa 2
[22]Danganronpa
[23]Earthbound
[24]Dragon Quest V
[25]Zelda: Ocarina of Time
[26]Final Fantasy X

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1427219

Holy shit, now there's a blast from the past.

Guys, guys...You know what I think would be the best promotion for Shenmue 3?

Yeah 0 definitely has my favourite music in the series. Top to bottom it's great all around, think it's Hidenori Shoji's best work next to 3 (joint favourite OST for the series). I enjoy a couple of the tunes from Kenshin as well.

Biggest weakness I've noticed with Kiwami vs. 0 is the side quests - think 0 has the best collection of subquests in the series, whereas Kiwami so far might have the weakest in comparison (since it's including a lot of the ones from OG 1 so it's outdated in comparison). Still enjoying the game greatly. Really need to go back to 5 and finish it before 6 comes out!

So this slipped under the radar yesterday at TGS conference but Square Enix announced a brand new Front Mission game that's basically Metal Gear Solid (stealth action) with mech action (the Armored Core aspect). The game is being Directed by Armored Core series director Toshifumi Nabeshima (formerly of From Software), character designs by Yoji Shinkawa (Metal Gear series artist) and Produced by Shinji Hashimoto at Square-Enix.

http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/13736620170920_182538_10_big.jpg

http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/13736620170920_182537_0_big.jpg

http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/13736620170920_182537_3_big.jpg

http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/13736620170920_182537_2_big.jpg

http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/13736620170920_182537_5_big.jpg

http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/13736620170920_182537_6_big.jpg

http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/13736620170920_182537_7_big.jpg

- The three protagonists are the people featured in the key visual. All three are isolated in the city where the game is set, and each act independently in order to survive.
- Keyword: “The One Day Incident” – The setting is a city in Russia. The game depicts a one day incident that occurs there. A war is happening in the city, and the protagonist will inevitably get caught up in the conflict.
- Wanzer – Since Left Alive is set in the same world as the Front Mission series, the walking-type mobile weapons known as “Wanzers” will appear. Although you will mainly confront Wanzers as enemies, you can also steal a Wanzer away from the enemy.
- Survival Action – The primary objective is survival. The game will have a varied setup, including traps laid out to stir up the battlefield. There is also a crafting element, which allows you to use the materials you obtain to craft items.
- The Route You Take is Up to You – For example, if you head straight to your destination, you may be in danger of having to fight enemies, but you can also take hidden paths and stay out of the enemy’s line of sight, or take a big detour far away from that area. How you progress is up to you.

- Director Toshifumi Nabeshima: “Since I always place emphasis on things that might give me a sense of accomplishment, it probably is not going to be very easy. (Laughs.)”
- On downloadable content: “We have ideas, so maybe we can do it if the main game does well.”

Really liking these Sonic tunes I'm hearing, very reminiscent of Sonic 3 to me. Makes me more excited for the upcoming release for Mania.

Was the best source for game news on the internet so it's a shame it's dead but the admin sounded like a right idiot and always came across that way with how he conducted business.

I was not cool with how they tried to make the controversy of the pedophile/mother beater/thieving mod (Amir0x) go away like they did so quickly. That shit was pretty shocking and disgusting. What the admin did in comparison was fucking nothing.

Since the place is dead may as well just let it be known that I went by the name Sumio Mondo there, by the way. :lol:
Ah well, dunno where I'll get my gaming news from now aside from Gematsu and IGN. I learned about a lot of really obscure games through GAF so it's a shame.

I seriously think Mitts is a friend of a friend (of a friend), going by the description of the game design course he did which was in manny Manchester.

I'll just keep my bit brief: my girlfriend has somehow convinced me to do salsa dancing. I'm such a bad dancer and told her this as a warning but she doesn't seem to care, so will probably end up looking like this on the first session: \:D/ (and then crawl into the hole in the floor out of embarrassment).

#-o

On another note I went to Japan for the first time end of last year which was amazing, just been working and working and working since then for various organisations. Aside from that, just been listening to lots of synthwave (AKA the NEW new-wave/synthpop movement nowadays), darkwave (as in edgy edgelord dark synth music, some retards call some of it "witch house" - some of which sounds fantastic, regardless of the wanky and pretentious sounding name) and watching shitloads of crime/mystery TV shows. Life's just swell.

I finally took the courage to start doing martial arts again (Jiujitsu). I did a lot of Karate and Kickboxing before entering college, but after so many years in the workforce I felt a bit uncoordinated and too old to go for it again. What really got me to do it is the fact that I started to show symptoms of depression over the years and I don't often exercise as much as I used to.
Sure, I hit the gym here and then but it was not enough to instill a sense of discipline and motivation in me.



I used to do Jiujitsu for years as well. It's one of the most "fun" martial arts out there, I think. Did Judo for a very long time as well and took part in competitions which were brutal. Shame that for Judo the sensei passed away and for Jiujitsu the sensei moved away. Just go gym nowadays which is a nice time waster but like you say, it isn't the same as doing martial arts. Good on you taking it up again.

Step forward, step again and then kick. Oooookay?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NZmh_XJprw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipefhtez2gQ

Jesper Kyd is a legend. Kane & Lynch series, Hitman series, early Assassin's Creed games, Freedom Fighters the list goes on and on.
His soundtracks sometimes sound quite melodic (Assassin's Creed, Freedom Fighters, Battle Chasers: Nightwar) but can also sound so crazy, nihilistic and dark all at the same time (Kane & Lynch, Adventures of Batman & Robin, Hitman). Either way he's a master synth keyboardist. Also loved his work on Darksiders 2 (despite having never played the game, it's just a good sountrack).

This is the best reveal I've seen this year from a dev:

And it's coming out for everything this gen (Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC). And includes Online for the latest iteration of each.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQuFErrUEAE-Q5p.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQuEodeV4AEB1_q.jpg

https://twitter.com/StreetFighter/status/939989924727595008

I'm getting this day one!

Looking good. Closer to how I imagined the character models to look. Like a real evolution of the Dreamcast aesthetics.

Definitely the best looking model yet. Kickstarter comments don't realise that outsourcing has been a thing in game development for decades and decades. They won't be the only development team Shenmue 3 will be outsourced to. ResetEra forums brought along some of the nuts people from GAF along with it who don't realise the budget isn't astronomical and actually looks good for a mid tier game made on an indie budget (environments are stunning so far).

This is one of the best updates yet for me. Haters gonna hate.

lol.

Next time don't post when you're high. Also, when you come back (7 day timeout) please do something about your awful signatures. Cheers.

Boss fight against Alan Rickman.

And an Alien/Aliens world too? Mariiines!

And an X-Men world?

What about a Simpsons world?

Not anime enough?

Like others are saying, they're really their own beast. I suppose the 2D equivalent for Yakuza is the Kunio Kun series (River City Ransom games being a subseries of its own within it), which seem like one of the main inspirations for Yakuza.

I'd also say Way of the Samurai series as well, which are at least similar to the samurai styled Yakuza games but are also their own things. But they have their own day/night system, side quests, multiple endings, fun combat systems, wacky characters, set in various parts of Ancient Japan between each game.

Japanese adventure games in general are a good bet if you enjoy methodical, slow paced gaming:

Glass Rose (PS2) - notebook system, Shenmue voice cast, point and click interface, developed by Capcom, Cavia (NieR devs) and Cing (Hotel Dusk devs).

Shadow of Memories/Shadow of Destiny - time system that plays a very important role in the plot, launch era PS2 game so has that old CG look to it, multiple endings, third person camera, dense areas to explore, unique NPCs to talk to to advance the plot. Developed by Konami during their peak as a developer.

Resurrection: Panzer Dragoon Saga 20th Anniversary Arrangement (Only available Digital now, CD & Vinyl sold out):

http://store.bravewave.net/album/resurrection-panzer-dragoon-saga-20th-anniversary-arrangement-2

Music is just as wonderful as it was back in the 90s, the remixes and rearrangements are great (from the same composers)!

I was at Monaco, pretty sure I caught Biscay saying to wait for further game events this year such as Gamescom, E3 and others to see the game again. Anybody else that was there please feel free to correct me on that.

Everything in that trailer is old hat, so the "issues" with character models (placeholder), QTEs (placeholders), QTE Fight animations being off (placeholder) and other such stuff is no concern for me. It was just great immersing myself in that Shenmue atmosphere with that music and the look/aesthetic of Shenmue 3. Those screenshots capture the Dreamcast aesthetic very well for me. That's what I wanted exactly. It's made me excited.

UPDATE: confirmed to be port of the PSP version of the first game to iOS/Android. Spring 2018

https://www.resetera.com/threads/valkyr ... 018.26801/

http://www.valkyrieprofile.com/LENNETH/index.html

THIS IS THE BEST NEWS OF THE YEAR! OH YES!

https://twitter.com/steelballrunner/status/974995137817321472

https://78.media.tumblr.com/ea7af785af74e6b9c209da0c723b1a01/tumblr_npjtnwgdHi1rr5qhqo1_540.gif

https://lparchive.org/Flower-Sun-and-Rain/Update%2020/8-27yyjw0.gif

https://mynintendonews.com/2018/03/17/apparently-killer7-and-flower-sun-and-rain-remasters-were-announced-at-hoppers/

\:D/

Junya Nakano. 1993. Konami.

Before he would compose for Threads of Fate & FFX, he composed crazy hardcore 90s electronic beats for Konami arcade games. Very reminiscent of the legendary Namco Sound Team.

Yes, Tak Hirai who was lead programmer on Shenmue, so is the original game's co-director Keiji Okayasu, the original writer (Script writer) Masahiro Yoshimoto, Hiroaki Takeuchi (Animation Producer), the environmental artist designer (whose name eludes me right now), the concept artist/character artist (whose name eludes me right now also), the original composer of both Shenmue 1 and 2 Ryuji Iuchi and I'm pretty sure Tak Hirai's team is made up of former AM2 developers too (some developers joined YSNet too but are kept secret, probably due to contracting reasons). There's plenty of AM2 talent working on this.

Sooo good.

Anime tie-ins and arcade games that never leave Japan.

This. Their games are stuck in Japan. Border Break looks like a cool mecha action game and Soul Reverse (a fantasy action game) is releasing across arcades in Japan which also looks pretty cool. Hopefully we get them released over here.

And who knows? Virtua Fighter placed in the top 5 for Japan's most wanted SEGA game revivals.

Between the ones who left to join the likes of YsNet and Neilo or join other divisions (Nagoshi and pretty sure AM2 and AM3 [nowadays known as the Yakuza Team/Ryu Ga Gotoku Team] staff members were pretty much rotating between both divisions), SEGA Japan are wanting to explore their back catalogue more, hence why the likes of Sakura Taisen is getting a revival (yay for SRPGs with 90s anime art styles), Daytona and House of the Dead are both getting new entries in arcades (yay!) and seeing some of those extremely exciting IPs place so high up the list from fans in Japan like Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio and Panzer Dragoon, we may see more revivals yet. Hopefully. The new CEO said he's wanting to see more IP revivals. Exciting times for SEGA fans, for sure.

I'm hoping this optimism ekes over to AM2 and we get a new Virtua Fighter!

Vita was great for Japanese games, though. Which was the lifeblood of the PS1 and PS2. Some really underrated and really overlooked games on it!

But yeah, Vita is well and truly done for now, even Japanese devs are swapping over to Switch and Phone games to create these kinds of games (mid tier or lower budget games).

Surprised so many think it's so late into the year...nobody thinks that would be too late if Shenmue 3 is releasing in Winter as well? Or is everyone thinking 3 is getting delayed again into early next year?

The latest PSN sale is insane .

My purchases:

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (PS4)

Collar X Malice (PS Vita)

Dead Storm Pirates (PS3)

MOON DIVER (PS3)

Dark Rose Valkyrie (PS4)

Forbidden Siren (PS4)

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PS4)

Valkyria Revolution (PS4)

METAL SLUG ANTHOLOGY™ (PS3)

Star Ocean® Till The End Of Time™ (PS4)

Your Basket
Subtotal:
£256.90 (would normally cost)
Discount:
-£183.70 (the deductions due to the sale)
New Total:
£73.20 (the total for 10 games)

Most of these games that have physical copies costs waaaaay more (Dark Rose Valkyrie for example, retails for 44.99 with no sign of dropping). Gonna start with Moon Diver on PS3, beat that in one night hopefully, have some fun playing Metal Slug Collection with my brother then move on to Collar X Malice on Vita and try out Valkyria Revolution, see if it's as bad as it looked initially and reportedly was...if it is, oh well, Dark Rose Valkyrie it is.

I'll keep Forbidden Siren replay for Halloween. Supposedly they touched the game up and smoothed it out whilst adding trophies. Gonna keep Dead Storm Pirates for when I'm in the mood for a lightgun game.

The rest are just for playing throughout the year at some point. That might be me for the year now with regards to buying games outside of getting Yakuza 6 in May and my pre-orders of Shenmue HD and Yakuza Kiwami 2.

Yakuza 0 is a masterpiece, in my opinion and the best game Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has ever put out. I remember you and certain others on here annoyed that Majima is getting so much limelight but I'm like Yakuza 0 actually put him up as a really deep character and showed another side to his character. Yakuza 2 used to be my favourite story in the series but Yakuza 0 just has the best cast of antagonists in the series for me. They're all intimidating presences and so distinct from each other. And they're all amazing boss battles and those boss battle music themes...think it's actually the series composer Hidenori Shoji's best work as a composer yet as well.

I absolutely loved the side quests in Yakuza 0 as well, so many highlights and the funniest ones in the series yet as well. The writing really shines in this game. Yakuza 0 is actually my favourite game this generation thus far. It didn't just rejuvenate my love for the series, it surpassed other greats from this gen for me like Gravity Rush and Bloodborne.

And yes Orange, it actually enhances Yakuza 1's storyline as well thanks to the events of Yakuza 0.

And yeah 0's ending with Majima was actually the only one in the series to actually make me choke up too. I wanted to give Majima a hug, haha. Poor guy. Such a melancholic, and yet beautiful ending.

Go for a job in IT, Animegamer. Or something of that nature. There's plenty of decent office jobs nowadays that don't involve just stapling and filing nowadays. You can get in via Helpdesk jobs and work your way from there.

Double post, sorry and all that, don't ban me!

But I got a Nintendo Switch and Mario Odyssey for my birthday. The console is fantastic, so small and easy to get started. The game itself is a masterpiece. Best Mario game I've played since Super Mario 64, for me (yeah, I played Galaxy, not my thing, although I'm willing to give it another shot now I am loving Odyssey so much). The levels are incredibly fun to play and I did a session on Friday that was 4 hours straight, just lost track of time. It's one of those kind of games.

Also got Shadow of Rome (PS2) off my brother. This game is just amazing as well. Such a fun cinematic experience from Capcom (the Onimusha devs made this and you can tell). I'm a good few hours into the game now and honestly feel like this has got to be one of the most underrated Capcom games of all time. Without a shadow (heh) of a doubt! Such a shame it's so forgotten nowadays and won't be getting a remaster since it bombed so hard for Capcom.

Some of them don't even get credited! (See: Tose)
Depends on their contract. Also, I recall some of the members of the team being in the office having their faces blurred out on the group photo, so it may be a second job to some of them (work at SEGA during the day, help out for a couple of hours at the end of the day with Shenmue 3). I've heard stories like that before. Those people normally just get "Special Thanks" credits.

The biggest problem with being critical is not actually seeing the game in motion for real. We really just have very short videos of prototype stage development, which usually are just normally kept in house shared between personnel within the building, kept under lock and key, not for the public eye to see, a lot of the characters we've seen are constantly being changed, tweaked here and there. But really it all comes down seeing the game in motion when it's nearer completion. I can't for the life of me understand the original 2017 release date, no way was the game going to be visually (or from a gameplay perspective, things would have gotten cut for sure) up to par with what either the fans or the devs themselves wanted.

I'm personally glad it has gotten delayed again, let them iron out the kinks and release it at the best they can with the resources they have. They are going for a hybrid art style that combines the look of the old with the new, I personally like the direction they've gone, the little girl literally looks like she is from the same art style/DNA of the classic games to me. Same goes for the roided bodyguard enemy, like one of the street fighters from Shenmue 2, just built in the Unreal Engine. I think they're trying to stay true to the art style that fans expect. I personally would have been more disappointed if they went the other way and made the art direction more realistic. We have plenty of those sort of games nowadays. As they near completion, I'm sure more might warm to it as the character art become more cohesive and they make Ryo look like what we all want (which seems a bit divisive going by the topics on here, ah well).

Nakamura is also the composer of the original Virtua Fighter and a load of other AM2 games (as well as non-AM2 games like Ehrgeiz & Lumines).
It'd be great if he composed some music for Shenmue 3, his most recent composition work was on Yuji Naka's game Rodea the Sky Soldier, which had that really good classic SEGA sound, lots of upbeat electronic music that evokes that blue skies feel. He's a really good synth composer. At least we know the sound should be on point now (of course, we knew about Iuchi who is also really good).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c-Rda9I7mg&index=8&list=PLx5ZE9FYUWsiyTFt8wpeSLheB4fsrt53G

Old school Shoji Meguro!

That reads like a fanboys wet dream list. Vanquish 2? DMC5? RE2 Remake? Splinter Cell? MGS3 Remake? Beyond Good and Evil 2 Gameplay? Yakuza Kiwami 2 given time on Sony's E3 stage? PS2 and PS3 Backwards Compatibility? Shenmue 3 Gameplay? FFVII Remake LAUNCH Trailer?

Most of those are just...lol.

RIIIIIICHAAAAARD!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DfLNxGeV4AMEhJe.jpg

https://twitter.com/devolverdigital/status/1005091916906713091/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%231005091916906713091

Around a year ago From Software made a Tweet noticing the cult status of Metal Wolf Chaos (since it had basically become a kind of meme) which made Indie publisher Devolver Digital take notice. Looks like they're going to release From Software's lost game Worldwide now, if that tease is to believed! I'll be watching Devolver Digital's E3 conference for the announcement now.

For those not in the know, Metal Wolf Chaos is a hilarious action game where you play as the President of the United States on a mission of vengeance...piloting a mech. The voice acting is really something else. The game was only released in Japan on the original Xbox despite being fully voiced into English.

Ewwww. Looks like Scalebound even down to that "attitude" and corny feel to the dialogue.

Chris Avellone writing = Day 1.

More excited for this than I am for Shadows Die Twice! Hehe.