New and tentative game announcements

**Posts:** 3188

Ugh, tfw the new Ni No Kuni game is basically Sword Art Online.

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/09/ni-no-k ... er-trailer

I give this game a year before it shuts down. Level 5, what heck are you guys thinking??? Y'all have legit been a trainwreck lately. I adored the first Ni No Kuni, and while I don't have a lot of love for the second entry, it was still a really good effort. This? This screams cash grab that'll ultimately be a disappointment. You coulda made a PS5 Ni No Kuni, start out strong and fresh in next gen, but here we are instead. (Not to mention almost all their games are either in development or localization hell rn)

In betterish news (because I'm probs the only one who cares about this game) the Dokapon X Utawarerumono game got it's first trailer and I'm already feeling nostalgic for games I played early in the year LOL.

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/09/dokapon ... ut-trailer

Bit iffy if this will get localized, though it'd have to be NISA if anyone. I'll keep it in the back of my mind for now. :3

**Posts:** 3359

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is a new trailer for Age of Calamity. I don't remember seeing it before, anyway. Apparently we can play as the younger version of Impa in this. There will also be a small save data bonus from having BotW on your Switch...a 'training sword' for Link in AoC.

Saw some other announcements from TGS today of interest to people here, probably, including MH Rise footage and something about Ryza...but I'll leave those to others who actually looked up the details, lol.

**Posts:** 3188

Eyup, the 26th was the next details for Age of Calamity. It seems there's gonna be one more playable character and people are joking it's gonna be baby Sidon LOL.

The big news from TGS for me is NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 has a solid release date in NA and we got to see some gameplay. I am STOKED. Legit my most anticipated game for next year thus far, though tied with Monster Hunter Rise in some cases. :3

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/09/nier-re ... n-the-west

I honestly very pleased with Atelier Ryza 2's showing so far. ALL the main characters from the first game are returning, which is really, really rare for the series + there's new characters too. It also looks and sounds great. Ima' be honest though, the fact that it's getting a PS5 version makes me wanna wait until we get ours. Unless I have absolutely nothing to play when it releases, I'm willing to wait on it. I'm not as free as I used to be and I don't want a larger than life backlog again if I can help it. Anyways;

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/09/atelier ... r-gameplay

Still no news on Pokemon Snap or the Emiya Gohan game. I'll put my expectations for them on next year's news flow along with the BotW sequel.

**Posts:** 3359

If anyone is interested in Monster Hunter Stories on 3DS now that we'll be getting MHS 2 on Switch...it's not only on sale right now for 50% off (there's a fairly big sale going on on the 3DS eshop right now...the only other game I was still considering, Radiant Historia, is also on for 50% off. Hmmph...), you can also redeem a 30% discount for 300 silver coins via your My Nintendo (rewards) account. The 30% come off the sale price, not the full price, but that still works out to 65% off regular price. (For my Canadian account, regular price would be $50, sale price $25, and with the 30% offer it comes to $17.50, pre-tax.)

If you don't know if you're interested and didn't try the demo way back when it first came out, well...now's a good time.

**Posts:** 3188

Pokemon Sword/Shield: The Crown Tundra is coming out on October 22nd.

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/09/pokemon ... october-22

It looks fine and I'll play it, but i'm legit bummed that GO compatibility STILL isn't ready. Having the features after I've already played through the game isn't fantastic. It looks like post game will be more than just catching em' all with the new tournament mode, but I have a feeling i'll lose interest before then.

BUMP OF CHICKEN's new song + music video they showed off is pretty dang rad though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoZ0Zwa ... D%E3%83%AB

**Posts:** 3359

I did NOT expect Torchlight III to be releasing on October 13! I thought it was due out in early 2021. Whoa, not often things come out FASTER than you expected! Small yay on that one. I liked Torchlight II a lot (perhaps due to lots of nostalgia for FATE). Though I won't be getting it on release, I have too much else!

Well, it's not coming to Switch until later this year, but that's still faster than I thought. I do want it on Switch, when I get it. I just have to find a gap in my game schedule to fit it into next year.

EDIT: Oh hey, a date for Cafe Enchante. November 5!

**Posts:** 3188

I PRAY this duology gets fully localized this time around:

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/10/ciel-no ... c-in-japan

Ciel nosurge is legit one of the best VNs I've ever read and I never got to play Ar nosurge due to circumstances at it's time of release. Please, Koei, don't make the same mistake twice. Ar nosurge without Ciel nosurge kills so much of the overarching narrative.

Side thought: Seeing and hearing 'ahih rei-yah' in HD is gonna be awesome. I can't wait.

**Posts:** 3359

There'll be a Treehouse Live tomorrow at 1pm my time (10pm pacific), all about Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Age of Calamity. Announcement:

Spoiler:

**Posts:** 7304

So Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2 Grand Prix has been released today if anyone cares lol.

**Posts:** 349

There will be a Pikmin 3 Deluxe demo released later tonight (October 7th) and you can carry over your save data to the full game on October 30th. Also, if you beat the demo's final boss you'll have the option to play on ultra spicy mode (the hardest difficulty).

Also, Steam's having the Steam Autumn game festival from today, October 7th, to October 13th 10 AM PDT.

Edit at 8:15 PM (my time): The demo for Pikmin 3 Deluxe for the Switch is out!!

**Posts:** 3359

Okay, so I was going to post this yesterday, but I doubted it a bit at first, particularly given their April Fool's day joke, but...My Time at Portia is going to have a...not sure if I should call it a sequel or not, given that we know nothing about it. But at the very least, a second game in the same series, whether or not it is directly connected, tenuously connected, or more like Bokumono where most games stand completely alone.

They are going to have a Kickstarter for it, which may or may not be called My Time at Sandrock (I'm thinking it's not, but it is a "My Time at ______" game), beginning tomorrow. I will NOT be backing, as I was and remain very disappointed with my experience backing a console copy of MTaP. I can highly recommend Pathea to you if you play on PC, but if you plan to back for console, well...I just don't recommend it. They have (and still have) no idea of what to do with their games when it comes to console. They will always be much later, and buggier, and update less frequently, and maybe even get abandoned to any future updates while the game is still lacking a huge amount of content.

I just don't recommend it. However, they do a great job on PC, so if you can back that, you're unlikely to be disappointed. I am still wishing that MTaP on console was closer to the experience it is on PC, but that will probably never happen, as the console versions have not been updated in an entire year, while PC versions have been updated 6 times in 2020...not just with fixes but with lots of extra story content/etc. (Though they did switch off of Team17, so...maybe there's still a tiny chance. But so tiny it's not worth holding your breath!)

Video will premier here.

EDIT: Oh, it really is called My Time at Sandrock! Well, anyway...MTaS Kickstarter is now live. It looks great and I'd be totally into backing it, if I didn't already know that Pathea can't give console players anything near the quality of what they put onto PC.

They say they will 'self-port' to make sure that all content is the same across all platforms, but after MTaP, I just don't have any faith in their ability to do so. After all, they still have not added all that extra content from Portia. Actions speak louder than words, gang.

**Posts:** 3188

I have mixed feelings about Time at Sandrock. I did enjoy what I played with Portia, but I never ended up finishing it because the story dissolved into 'fix this thing before Higgins, but it actually doesn't matter' + it was never fully optimized on Switch. After getting married and going through 2 in game years with the game, I lost the motivation to go back. I've tried to several times, but it just stopped being fun.

I also think that they don't need to Kickstart their second game. They don't have enough funding after their popular game sold well enough to make another? Where'd all the money go? I get that they're a small company, but if you need to rely on kickstarter to fund your next project after your last did really well, something is fishy. I'm gonna refrain from funding it and maybe buy it down the line if they do their ports properly this time.

**Posts:** 3359

They're not really all that small a company, I don't know why they keep saying they are. They have about 75-100 employees and a bunch of shareholders, too. They may not get to keep all that much of their money, and they have a lot of people to pay. (I don't know if they managed to become independent or if they still have shareholders.) I posted that picture, once, of their team. It reminded me of the picture they took of my entire school out on the lawn when I was in elementary school. Actually, here it is, from the digital booklet thing they gave to backers of Portia:

I will DEFINITELY buy this on console once it's out and I can find out if they actually managed to make it as good as their PC version. My experience backing Portia was terrible, and I have no reason to trust their word on console, at this point. If they really learned from all the mistakes they made with Portia, this could be downright stellar, and I loved Portia, honestly...when it wasn't glitching.

I also did not love the continual competition with Higgins, though. I wanted Higgins to just get lost and let me go on about the story without having to worry about being the number one workshop.

**Posts:** 349

https://ranchstoryblog.tumblr.com/post/ ... evelopment

!!!!

**Posts:** 3359

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity may be getting a DEMO! (According to news that was visible on Nintendo Korea's site for only a short time.)

That blew me out of the water...honestly, big-name stuff like that so rarely does. They know they don't have to entice most people...millions are going to by without any demo at all. I'd be so happy! I am so lousy at fighting...I will probably get this anyway. But if I am utterly hopeless at it, I maybe can now find out in advance.

EDIT: Well...it's official, thanks to the Nintendo Direct Mini thing today. The demo is available. (I don't know if it becomes available at noon, or already is.) That..helped a little with my MASSIVE, near-tearful disappointment in 'SoS: Pioneers of Olive Town'.

Ushi No Tane - Harvest Moon

New and tentative game announcements