With the Electronic Entertainment Expo — E3, parishioners — just over one week away, we’ve still got a slew of games to preview. Welcome to Day Foh!
***DAY FOUR, June 4th — BATTLEFIELD 1, SCALEBOUND, FINAL FANTASY XV***
Archives:
“SAINT” PATRICK OBLOY @offthegeekend
BATTLEFIELD 1 (DICE/EA – PS4, X1, PC – October 21, 2016) – There is no doubt that DICE has a beautiful game engine and that the Battlefield series is one of the best in the market. And while the others keep pushing into the future, DICE is finally bringing Battlefield back to where it all started. The original Battlefield (Battlefield 1942) took place during World War 2 and was a welcome surprise to the FPS arena, with huge open maps and large team sizes. And now we are going back to the early 1900s of WWI. No more jet fighters, super scoped sniper rifles, or high-power fully automatic guns. Instead, we get the biplanes that started the dogfights in the sky, bolt action rifles, and — best of all — flamethrowers! While little besides the time period is known as of yet, more will definitely be revealed at E3 and EA Play, with a beta to follow in the fall.
(cont.) EA/DICE has also mentioned that they are bringing back the server list system, so players can choose frequent servers or even rent your own for clan practice. Preorders have already started with a regular, deluxe, and collector’s edition. The PS4 and Xbox One will receive all three options, whereas the PC will only get a physical version of regular edition and a digital version of the deluxe edition (available through Origin only). Sadly, the trend of DLC and exclusive packs continues, which puts the game on a path to tragedy. Since not many end up buying them, the community ends up fragmented between the new maps and the stock maps. Let’s hope they come up with a good system to help combat this problem. Despite this information, I still remain optimistic. I can’t wait to take to the skies in a Sopwith Camel or crush the enemy in a British Mk1 tank, or just beat down the enemy with a trench club.
“DUTCHESS” TAFFETA DARLING @TaffetaDarlin
SCALEBOUND (Platinum Games/Microsoft – X1, PC[?] – TBA 2017) – As someone who’s been continually obsessed with Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt over the past few years, the Scalebound trailer instantly caught my attention. Instead of your quests and contracts revolving around slaying beats, you actually team up alongside a fucking dragon. Hell, aside from Yoshi, I haven’t played a video game where the dragon was on my team; and if you couldn’t already tell, the idea of interacting and having cutscenes with a dragon for the first time blows my mind. Also, it’s a fantasy RPG, splashed with the over-the-top zaniness of, say, inFAMOUS or Sunset Overdrive; from what I’ve seen it has its own modern feel while being set in the world of Draconis. Platinum Games is trying something new here with Scalebound, helmed by Devil May Cry‘s Hideki Kamiya, being it’s fantasy/action role playing game. With E3 just around the corner and rumors of a release date are imminent, I’ll be checking in with the crew of GHG in hopes of a confirmed report.
“SAINT SUPERKICK” KENNY SANDERS @hueyskyywalker
FINAL FANTASY XV (Square Enix – PS4, X1 – September 2016) – Ten years in the making. “The Wait” finally.. finally.. finally ends this September. But, believe it or not, my fellow nerd parish, your trusty Saint’s hype for the game is a bit low. At one point Final Fantasy XV was known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII (a then PS3 exclusive). But after so many push-backs, talks of cancellation, and broken promises, FFXV will finally see the light of day. Per usual, Square Enix has a Disney-esque story: A prince is set to marry a beautiful woman in an attempt to bring peace among their families. Despite the fair prince — Noctis — getting cold feet and running off, he must return to the kingdom to stop the invading forces. The combat system is similar to FF Type-0 and Kingdom Hearts, where strange creatures can be called at the behest of Prince Noctis; he’ll also progress via the classic skill-tree system, while his Armiger Arsenal will see seven weapon types. The semi-open world game is as beautiful as.. well, nothing like it. Wait, hold that thought for a moment. I said semi-open because locations are sequential, and not exactly “open” (i.e. GTA V); but don’t fret, you can quicksave anytime and fast travel to explored camps. And, if you played the beta/demo before, you already know that FFXV is about to set the standard for now-gen visuals. The question remains will the ten wait be worth it, or will this tenth year fall flat crying to mama Square Enix?