Some thoughts about the February/March releases and random links

It always seems to be February and March that a lot of games see release, and its no different at the moment. There are lots of interesting looking games coming out, some games that will aim to change the future of big consoles like the Xbox One (Titanfall), and PS4 (Metal Gear Solid V) and others aiming to hit hard at the end of the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation (Dark Souls II)

I've been playing a lot of Bravely Default, yeah, still slogging slowly through subquests since I got the game back in December. I'm around 140 hours into the game as I've been taking my time grinding, maxing out job levels, collecting bestiary entries, abilities and items as I work towards 100%
Its a really good game but I stick with my initial impression that the game is too stretched out. I don't want to spoil anything as its still too new, but I really think it could have been a lot shorter, story wise.
Also I've been deciding on what sort of playthrough to do for Pokemon Black 2, as I never finished this game, and want to start transferring pokemon to my Pokemon X game through the Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter apps. I've been watching Egglocke, Nuzlocke and Wedlocke playthroughs on youtube as they make things a bit more interesting.

So I'll give some thoughts about some of the upcoming games or those that came out fairly recently just now. Long rambling and lots of links ahead.

Conception II - Children of the Seven Stars

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/10/conception-ii/ - This one, I'm actually not too sure about. It just seems really creepy on the whole...with ideas that are similar to the Agarest games, and I am just too creeped out by those. On the other hand, the character designs, movies and UI are all really nicely designed. So I'll need to wait and see perhaps.

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Here are some impressions from a youtuber I watch. I changed my mind and didn't want to embed the video as it isn't mine and I didn't ask permission to share it like this. Link

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

I know this came out back in February, but I'm really behind on things in the February/March release window/flood. There are tonnes of games coming out, seriously...It will be on my list of things to get eventually I think.

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Dark Souls II

This is what I've been looking forward to most out of the February-March games this year. I've had the collector's edition preordered for many months...and I was considering cancelling it and downgrading to the Black Armour edition or the standard edition to save some money. I have a weakness for collector's editions though, and this should be shipping out in the next few days as I'm in Europe, and we don't get it released till Friday.

I've also been keeping track of what Twitchplayspokemon (TPP) are up to. It was such a cool idea at first, even though it can be pretty infuriating to watch. I'm actually kind of amazed they managed to finish Pokemon Red and Crystal (at least the Elite 4.)

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster... I can wait for that one to drop a bit in price...I really wasn't a big fan of FFX, as I didn't play it when it first released. I played for the first time a few years ago and...well, I wasn't too keen.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 - I've had my eye on this one for quite a while, reading some magazine articles as more information became available. It definitely looks interesting. Reviews seemed to be fairly mixed but average, and I think I'll get this one when I can pick it up for £15 or 20...or when I have a bit more money. Damn my lack of job (I decided to leave to focus on university.)

As for things a bit further off in the distance, I'll be keeping an eye on the Unsung Story kickstarter development. I didn't actually fund it for a few reasons. The relative lack of experience from the studio itself, the constantly changing reward tiers and stretch goals, the platform they chose (I would have preferred a handheld like the 3DS to be in there, not just further up the stretch goal ladder.) Anyway, they only just made the goal they had set, so the game will release. And I'm definitely happy for them. Anything with Matsuno and srpgs is bound to be good. I'll wait and see what reviews say though (being ever sceptical.)

http://unsungstory.com/wp/ - you can find out some more info about Unsung Story on the official website, as well as signing up for their newsletter for free. (Which I did.)

I've been happy to hear that Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Milennium Girl will release in Europe in May. Along with EOIV, I never thought that these games would release in Europe. I really don't imagine them to have big fan base, but I might be wrong. I mean theres people like me who love these games and imported 2 and 3. I'll defintely pick this one up. The story mode should be interesting, especially with the animation from Madhouse. I heard good things from people online when this came out back a while ago in America.

Also further afield are some new games from the people that brought us Persona. They are working on a few new games, revealed a few months ago. 4 new games were talked about; Persona 5, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Persona: Dancing All Night and Persona 4 Ultimax: Ultra Suplex Hold.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth looks to be pretty similar to some of the recent dungeon crawlers, particularly incorporating elements seen in Etrian Odyssey like the mapping and FOEs. http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/11/persona-q-dungeon-mapping-f-o-e-enemies-like-etrian-odyssey/

Darkest Dungeon is looking interesting. It is a dark styled dungeon crawler RPG with an element of 'sanity'
ie your characters can start to freak out and lose morale or even their mind. Very Lovecraftian/reminiscent of Eternal Darkness (a game I still need to track down)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1460250988/darkest-dungeon-by-red-hook-studios

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/3DS/Darkest+Dungeon/news.asp?c=57254

Their kickstarter is moving into the last day of funding just now. I'll most likely be picking this one up...although I am a bit jaded with the whole kickstarter model. I'll wait for reviews and to see if this one does hit handhelds like they said it might.

http://kotaku.com/the-20-jrpgs-you-must-play-1222229344 - Rather worryingly (for a fan of RPGs), I haven't played a lot of them...I will need to refer back to this and try to play some more of them.

http://tay.kotaku.com/lets-rank-the-fire-emblem-games-from-worst-to-best-1536904138

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-03-11-as-monster-hunter-turns-10-can-capcom-finally-make-the-west-listen

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/03/monster_hunter_producer_ryozo_tsujimoto_emphasizes_the_value_of_community_and_the_3ds_for_mh4_ultimate