inbtwn

...& I'll take any excuse to get back into the swing of writing stuff, so here we go! (Quote of Mario's)

I watched the Direct twice, because I have memory problems, and also because my partner was busy basically all day & we wanted to watch it together. (I've included some of Puzz's thoughts that I remember, because they're good.) I don't really like doing the "live reaction" thing because I like having time to collect my thoughts and ruminate on stuff. Well, I've had two watches and 1 entire bedtime to stew, so here ya go.

PIKMIN 4: Imagine I'm putting that fake Arlo tweet here except I changed it to say "FUCK HER... I need Pikmin 4". The bit of environmental design they showed seems real fun; I love when they lean harder into the whole "btw this is Earth" thing and show very clearly human-populated areas. I always wonder if we'll ever see a human in one of these, but I don't know if it'd be any good if we did. The dog is very cute, people are gonna eat that up (I'm people). Seems like the game is going to be another treasure hunt-focused game, which makes my "Pikmin 2" enjoying ass happy. Playable nighttime (or so I assume) seems like it could be a neat spin. I saw some people speculate they might be giving us larger, more open environments to explore, & I kind of hope there's something to that. All the previous pikmin types coming back is neat! (Do purple & rock pikmin have anything differentiating them...?) The new ice buddies are cute & I'm interested to see what kinda puzzles they'll allow for. I keep forgetting this thing is out in a few months.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "I've never played any of these games, but I'm excited to watch other people play it!"

XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3 DLC: I haven't played this game so I don't have too much to say. I know people liked the game (certainly more than people liked "Xenoblade Chronicles 2"), so hopefully they have fun with this. I think "here's a randomized run-based challenge mode" can be real cute, so that's neat. I don't know what the "new hero" thing means but her outfit is A Lot compared to what I've seen from the game so far. I know a tiny bit about this game's plot, so the bit about the fourth DLC made me go "oh, they're doing This, huh". Some day I'll play through these games but I imagine it'll be a while.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "Ohhhh, her titties are OUT out."

SAMBA DE AMIGO: PARTY CENTRAL: There's a couple rhythm games that are kinda like this & they don't really appeal to me. This is for someone, I'm sure, but not me. The Blues Brothers are in this one. They showed this one shot of a city level(?) and it looks like this weird mix of New Donk City and a "Balan Wonderworld" level. I said this out loud to Puzz and she got mad.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "What did they do to the monkey? He looks weird for some reason."

FASHION DREAMER: This one also isn't for me. They hooked me at the start with the "passion for fashion" line, but this isn't a "Bratz" game, so I checked out.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "I know this statement is factually wrong for a lot of reasons, but this looks like someone tried to make Picrew into a video game."

DEAD CELLS: RETURN TO CASTLEVANIA DLC: "Dead Cells" is fun. I still think this crossover getting to happen at all is very cute, given how much this game was inspired by "Castlevania". Good for them. I've been meaning to play more of this game at some point. Getting to spin the whip around like "Super Castlevania IV" does make me smile a little, it does.

TRON: IDENTITY: The first time I watched this I completely missed that it was a Bithell Games project. I feel like "TRON" is always a weird pull, IP-wise, but Disney keeps trying to fucking bring it back every few years!!! Maybe this time will be different!!! "Frozen 3" is coming soon, everyone!!!! I'm being very cynical, but if anyone can make an interesting narrative-puzzle-adventure game out of this I'd certainly believe Bithell Games could do it.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "My biggest worry about this is that Disney is going to be Disney and prevent the devs from doing anything especially cool story-wise."

GHOST TRICK: PHANTOM DETECTIVE RE-RELEASE: LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've never beaten this game, but I've always loved what little I've played and what bits I've seen. It's getting a PC port which I'm probably buying day one unless it's a mess. Capcom's been alright about PC ports recently, though. I know people can be cynical about re-releases to some extent (hell, sometimes I'm people), but it's neat to see a game like this acknowledged and brought back for new audiences.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "Now I have no excuse to not play this!"

DECAPOLICE: What a weird trailer. I'm a sucker for detective fiction, which sometimes falls into the realm of "This Is A Cop Story". & which I can put up with to a certain extent. Open-world investigation and deduction with this sort of virtual world cyber-crime intrigue stint seems cool, aaaaaaaaaaand then also for some reason you have to do Turn Based RPG Battles and I've lost most interest I had. I think there's some interesting pieces here, & I think you can do interesting stories about police, but I don't really know if I can expect that out of this.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "I don't think I've ever seen a game that simultaneously felt so pro-cop and also so anti-cop at the same time. I think this was by accident. The furry designs are cute, though."

BAYONETTA ORIGINS: CEREZA AND THE LOST DEMON: I'll admit I'm kind of soured on Bayonetta after "Bayonetta 3". I'm not really feeling it on that basis alone, but maybe that's petty. The gameplay looks neat enough. I like the critter and world design, the storybook style is fun. Cereza's face looks weird.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "Things like this always make me wonder if this was originally an unrelated project that had the brand name slapped on at some point."

SPLATOON 3 EXPANSION PASS: This portion was framed so fucking weirdly. I'm looking forward to "Side Order"! They did a lot of cool and interesting things with "Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion" & I feel like they frankly pushed some borders with it in ways I never thought I'd see in a current day Nintendo game. Maybe I'm setting my expectations a little bit too high for this. I'm still excited, though. There's a lot of interesting thematic and narrative ties they've been setting up and pulling from over the years, and I hope they go a little harder into the whole Having A Single Player Story for the single player story mode DLC. "Octo Expansion"'s writing was so tasty. Gimme more of that standard. Real interesting and evocative imagery in the teaser. The fact that they're setting this up as Two Waves of DLC just makes Wave 1 feel like a wet fuckin' fart in comparison. I think going back to Inkopolis is very fun and cute! Framing the expansion pass as two equal weighted waves where one is "a cute little overworld" and the other is "Actual Content" feels so weird!!!! I already see people speculating that they're Clearly And Definitely Hiding Something about this 1st wave and I feel like these people are setting themselves up for disappointment!! I don't understand why they didn't just, like, set this up as "we're working on new story DLC! here's a fun little preorder bonus if you buy now" or whatever. It's neat to see the original "Splatoon" hub again, though. I'm just sour about marketing.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "I love all of this. I hate Fred Crumbs, though."

DISNEY ILLUSION ISLAND: This is a game for child. I hope it's a good game for child, for the sake of children having a fun toy.

FIRE EMBLEM ENGAGE EXPANSION PASS: I don't remember this game ever releasing.

HARMONY: THE FALL OF REVERIE: I don't know what DON'T NOT's pedigree as a studio is, but I liked what I saw of this. Pretty art. "Narrative adventure with branching paths where you can actually keep track of what those paths are" is a fun concept. I like games like this so I'm probably gonna keep an eye out. Lena Raine's doing the soundtrack, so at the very least I know the music is going to go hard without question.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "The branching paths thing reminds me of the Zero Escape games, kind of."

OCTOPATH TRAVELER II: Oh yeah they're doing this one! I never played the original "Octopath Traveler". I know a bunch of people really liked the mechanical side of it, & praised the art, but I remember a lot of people saying the writing wasn't much to write home about, & that the stories didn't really come together in any sort of cohesive way. (They don't necessarily have to be directly related to feel cohesive - I think "LIVE-A-LIVE" is a good example of that.) I think there was a mobile game or something? I remember seeing some folks whose thoughts and opinions I enjoy say that the mobile game had a much more interesting story, so maybe there's hope for this one in that regard. Mostly the trailer just reminded me that I still need to play the "LIVE-A-LIVE" remaster.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "These 2D HD games always just make me think of Pixel Chix toys from the early 2000s."

WE LOVE KATAMARI REROLL + ROYAL REVERIE: Including this one in the RPG block is funny. I think this is Puzz's favourite Katamari game, so I know she's excited about this.(FUNNIEST FUCKING POSSIBLE ADDENDUM: PUZZ TELLS ME SHE'S LITERALLY NEVER PLAYED THIS GAME & I WAS MIXING HER UP WITH ANOTHER FRIEND OF OURS LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) I only ever played the first of these "REROLL" remakes, but I liked it a lot, so I'm interested! The new stuff means nothing to me because it's all new to me.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "Honey we're playing this together."

SEA OF STARS: It's a turn-based RPG! That's all I really got from the trailer. Very pretty pixel art, though. Good music, too. One of the main characters is fat and that makes me happy. I don't know anything about people who made this so I'm going to hope they're the sort who wouldn't be weird about a fat character.

OMEGA STRIKERS: Dude what if air hockey was esports and had characters and supers? Now we know, I guess. Nothing's really selling me here. The big hamster and the slime lady are cute, I guess. This mostly makes me want to replay "Pyre". They said "PREORDERS BEGIN TODAY FOR THIS FREE TO PLAY GAME" but how the hell do you pre-order something free? I didn't look it up.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "They know exactly what they're going for with that sexful catgirl."

ETRIAN ODYSSEY ORIGINS COLLECTION: I've always enjoyed this series from afar, but I've never played one. I admire devs making a niche, hardcore game title & knowing exactly who their game is for. I've seen a bunch of fans of the games say "this will probably be fun but maybe wait for a sale" which feels a little unfortunate. They accidentally designed an extremely transgender pastel goth woman for one of the new character portraits & I think that's funny.

ADVANCE WARS 1+2: RE-BOOT CAMP": I feel like this game's going to be weird forever just because of how / when it was delayed. Delaying the Cartoon Wars Awesome game because of the conflict in Ukraine is something but it sure feels weird to go "well the war is still happening. anyways here's our game!" At least it feels weird to me. Meanwhile "Call of Duty" is still full steam ahead about it's Realism Wars Awesome games coming out. There's something to be said for all of this & tying into military propaganda but I don't think I have the geo-political knowledge to really say anything interesting or useful about this other than "damn, sucks, huh." I remember the "Advance Wars" games being fun when I was a kid & didn't think about stuff like this.

KIRBY'S RETURN TO DREAM LAND DELUXE: I remember a while back I saw people online freaking out because something-or-other about the game had leaked, but never saw anyone actually talking about the supposed leak itself. I guess it was this? These alt. game modes in Kirby games tend to be pretty fun, and I guess making it about Magolor makes sense when you already have playable Dedede and Meta Knight in the base game. "You're the villain and you got the shit beat out of you so now you're weak and pathetic" is cute. I remember liking "Return to Dream Land", but I never got to play the multiplayer mode, and this doesn't seem to have online multiplayer, so I suppose I never will. The current Dedede design is so good, though, and I'm glad they're using it.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "They made Magolor look like a pathetic wet beast in the rain. Good!"

NEW VIRTUAL CONSOLE STUFF: Hey cool. I like having more of these available. I'm in a family plan with the "pay extra for more goodies" tier, and I feel like adding more systems makes that a better value proposition. The starting lineup is strong, but there's a nagging cynic at the back of my mind that wonders how consistent this is going to be! "Wario Land" and "Minish Cap" are all well and good but I wonder how long it's going to be before we get another presentation going BIG NEWS!!!! "TANG BROS" AND "GUMBY VS THE ASTROBOTS" ARE COMING OUT NEXT WEEK!!!!! This stuff getting bungled just makes me glad emulation's in as good a state as it is nowadays.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "They can't be releasing these now. I have work I need to get done. I need you to lie to me and tell me Tetris isn't out yet."

METROID PRIME REMASTERED: That's a hell of an "OUT NOW!" announcement. I'm surprised there was no lead-up to this & I'm more surprised this never leaked. The new visuals look very pretty. I'm glad they kept the original music, as far as I can tell. This has gotta be to build up excitement for "Metroid Prime 4", right? Certainly better than just going "WE'RE STILL WORKING ON IT BTW! COME BACK NEXT YEAR TO HEAR THIS AGAIN!" My two biggest negative thoughts here are "how well is this going to run on the Switch?" and "40 bucks USD for just the first game? what about the others?" Also I feel like I'm a bit spoiled by something like PrimeHack existing. Still, this is neat, I think.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "Samus has two hands, baby!! One for each of us!!"

MASTER DETECTIVE ARCHIVES: RAIN CODE: Again, I'm a sucker for detective fiction. I know people riff on "Danganronpa" and the like, but Spike Chunsoft seems very consistently good at making detective games, so I'm hopeful. The character design isn't suuuper my thing, but I don't hate it, and also I like the rest of the art direction in this.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "I forgot what this game was until I saw the titty ghost. Also Holly we gotta hit up Somnium Files some time soon."

BATEN KAITOS I & II HD REMASTER: This is the season of GameCube game remasters, I guess! I never played these games as a kid, but Nintendo Power made it seem so cool, so I always wanted to. Maybe now I can hunt down my white whale. Not much to say other than "looks cool" and "the card system looks goofy and fun" and "man this feels like a wild pull for a remake".

FANTASY LIFE i: THE GIRL WHO STEALS TIME: Another "Fantasy Life" game feels like a small miracle. I loved the 3DS game to pieces so I'm nervously eager to lose another several hundred hours to this. I'm a sucker for "fantasy RPG where you can just be a tradesperson instead of a fighter".

PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE NEW WORLD OF STEAM: Hey everyone! Layton's back! Okay, bye! Given how weird the marketing for this franchise can be I'm not too surprised that the announcement was essentially Level-5 rotating a 3D Layton in front of us and then walking off stage, but it IS very funny. Not much else to say about a 10 second teaser. The environment design they showed in it was real fun. I'm excited about this a normal human amount & you'll just have to trust me here.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "The twelve other Layton fans in the world are eating GOOD tonight!"

MARIO KART 8 DELUXE DLC: A "Yoshi's Island" map is targeted at me specifically. Cute music, cute level, fun little references to my favourite childhood game. Also, Birdo's back! Good for her & good for Yoshi. #StraightYoshiSweep

THE SIZZLE REEL IS AS FOLLOWS: MINECRAFT LEGENDS: I always forget this exists. The critter design is cute. BLANC: Oh yeah, this game!! ...Oh, it's published by Gearbox. Oh well. MEGA MAN BATTLE NETWORK LEGACY COLLECTION: People like these games, right? Neat to see All Of Them (I think?) in one package. Shoutouts to my friend Snoruntpyro. HAVE A NICE DEATH: I wish Gearbox never got into indie publishing. I don't want Randy Pitchford to get my money ever. WBSC eBASEBALL: POWER PROS: This game costs a dollar or something? I think I saw that. That's wild to me. DISNEY DREAMLIGHT VALLEY: You WILL eat Bugs with SIMBA, Yes? Puzz described this game as "the game where Mickey gets divorced, or his wife gets stolen, or something, and then he gets depressed" and I'm still reeling over that a day later. TALES OF SYMPHONIA REMASTERED: I know this game's had other HD re-released already but I'm still filing this under GameCube Games Getting Re-Released This Season.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM: I like the new critter designs and the cool floating island / ruins stuff. I don't like Ganondorf(?)'s voice very much. The montage of "here's all the Nuts and Bolts-ass vehicles you can ride" was very funny. I love Link's famous shit-car. New powers seem cool & I love that one CANNON CLUB they showed off. I loved "Breath of the Wild", so I'm eager for this, but... 70 fucking US dollars? For a Switch game that's bound to have performance issues?? A little easier for me to justify, given what I do for a living, but even then!!!!! That's fucking steep, dude!!!!! That gives me pause!!!! Anyways, I was convinced this was somehow a trailer for a weird new Mario game, so I was very sad 5 seconds in when I realized it wasn't.

• PUZZ QUOTE: "That Ganon voice needs more gravel and more sauce. The art book seems cute!"

A NEW AMIIBO IN 2023: lol