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News

- Pokémon Producer Directly Responds to National Dex Outcry in Sword and Shield
  June 29, 2019NewsThey won’t change anything for the upcoming games but want fans to hold out hope for the future Pokemon’s E3 appearance was somewhat marred by the news that the National Dex feature would not be returning to Sword and Shield, angering fans who want to catch ‘em all in the Galar region. The Pokémon Company has refrained from addressing any concerns until longtime producer Junichi Masuda published a statement on the official website Friday. According to Masuda, he and the team have been reading the reactions, choosing to read things like the #bringbacknationaldex hashtag and “lazy dev” insults as “your love and passion for Pokémon.” The meat of the blog post addresses their reasoning: “Just like all of you, we are passionate about Pokémon and each and every one of them is very important to us. After so many years of developing the Pokémon video games, this was a very difficult decision for me. I’d like to make one thing clear: even if a specific Pokémon is not available in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, that does not mean it will not appear in future games.” Masuda and other Gamefreak developers have previously stated in interviews that the decision to limit the number of Pokémon was one of necessity: updating animations and the world to fully realize the power of the Switch console meant balancing new and returning features. We recently detailed how the scope of Pokémon games, with ballooning numbers of catchable companions coupled with ever more sophisticated models, would inevitably force Gamefreak’s hand. While Masuda’s comments may not stem all of the contentious conversation from fans, it acknowledges the legitimate disappointment many felt when they realized their longtime friends might not be able to join them for new adventures. Galar’s Pokédex hasn’t been fully revealed, but with 807 possible Pokémon, it’s anyone’s guess who will be returning in Sword and Shield. What’s clear is that Gamefreak will likely return to the feature, or something like it, in future instalments. ...
- Pokémon Masters Wants You to Make Friends With More Than Just Pokémon
  June 27, 2019NewsReleasing this summer, team up with iconic characters to once again prove you’re the very best The Pokémon Company and DeNA took to a Direct-style presentation to provide some small details about their upcoming mobile game, Pokémon Masters. Along with announcing a release date sometime in Summer 2019, producer Yu Sasaki outlined the world and gameplay of this newest pocket monsters pocket experience. The idea for Pokémon Masters apparently started with a sentiment expressed by longtime designer Ken Sugimori. He wanted to create a game where players were encouraged to befriend trainers as much as Pokémon. The team must have taken it to heart because Masters is all about meeting familiar faces and creating teams who can lead you to victory. Brock, Misty and Erica from the Kanto Region were prominently featured, but we also recognized trainers (heroes and villains) from throughout the series’ history. The game takes place on the “artificial island” of Pasio, though what artificial means in this context isn’t yet clear. Was the island man-made, or is it fabricated from artificial materials? Regardless, the island is hosting a competition the requires teams of three trainers to collect badges as proof of their skill before entering a grand championship. Team composition marks a major divergence from past games. Each trainer, including the player character, will only have one partner Pokémon. These are called sync pairs in the game. You will battle and befriend gym leaders, rivals, friends and other notable characters from past games, with the chance to add them to your roster. How that works and who all will be available wasn’t part of today’s presentation. Battle mechanics is another major change in Masters. Instead of PP, moves use a resource that builds in real time during battle. The more powerful the attack, the more of that resource is required, providing a tactical layer beyond the typical rock-paper-scissors type matchup. Additionally, trainers have the honor of using support moves during battle, like buffing Pokémon or restoring the HP via healing moves. Sync moves, with gratuitous names like Thunder of Newfound Passion, likely take the place of Z-moves, Mega Evolution and other generation-specific battle features. Sasaki stated during the presentation that Pokémon Masters is their attempt to broaden the appeal of Pokémon. The simplified battle system and rumoured gacha-style method for unlocking trainers are key components of that desire. Nothing in the promotional material showed implementation of premium currency or an energy/stamina gauge that limits sustained play. But we will have to wait and see when Pokémon Masters drops on mobile devices sometime this summer....

Features

- Just some screenshots of Keanu Reeves at #XboxE3
  June 9, 2019FeaturesWe all love Keanu Reeves. Some of us have loved Keanu our whole lives, even when many others made faces when we said he was one of our favorite actors. (Lauren from middle school, I’m looking at you.) But anyway, Keanu is celebrating a career renaissance at present, and what better way to prolong his time in the spotlight than to join a highly anticipated* game release? Yes, Johnny Mnemonic himself joins the cast of Cyberpunk 2077 as an as-yet-unnamed character who presumably encounters the player character at one (or more than one!) point during the game. To celebrate the extra #blessings of a Keanu Reeves encounter, here’s a series of screenshots from him on stage at Microsoft’s E3 presentation. No, really. That’s it. Just some screenshots. Why? Why not? There you have it. A series of screenshots of Keanu Reeves. Tell your friends, or your family, or no one at all. And happy Bill and Ted Day! *I am not at all anticipating Cyberpunk 2077, for reasons that are my own....
- Have we found the perfect Pokémon in Wooloo?
  June 6, 2019Features / NewsA first look at one of the newest entries in the Pokédex As arguably the best new Pokémon, Wooloo has already captured the hearts of many. From its fuzzy wool that looks like a cloud on a warm summer’s day, to its heart-shaped nose you can’t help but want to boop, Wooloo is perfect. Wooloo stands at two feet tall, and only weighs 13.2lbs. At that size, it’s perfect for hugging. But don’t hug too hard, because at the first sign of danger, Wooloo will roll away like a tumbleweed in high wind. Do you know what would be great? An entire team of Wooloo. In fact, I wish I could have Wooloo as a starter, so I could be ensured 100% Wooloo game saturation. I reached out to the official Pokémon Twitter account for comment, but did not receive a response by publication. Wooloo is cute, and looks very soft. It’s also just a sheep with some braids and bangs, but I’ve never heard anyone say they hated sheep. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield will be released on Switch November 15, 2019....

Reviews

- Snap Impressions: WarGroove
  February 12, 2019Features / ReviewsA new game that has both a figurative and literal dog in the strategy genre fight WarGroove is the newest Indie game from Chucklefish, a developer/publisher that can’t help but keep churning out hits. The strategy gameplay will immediately satisfy fans who, like me, sat hunched over their GBAs micromanaging tiny orange sprites. But wild difficulty spikes and somewhat inscrutable UI elements might confound old-hat COs and green recruits alike. You could be forgiven for saying WarGroove looked like fantasy Advanced Wars, with a splash of Fire Emblem. It’s a largely true statement, albeit one ignorant of the wide belief that Fire Emblem killed the Wars series after 2008’s Days of Ruin on the Nintendo DS. Still, you gotta call ‘em like you see ‘em. The new Switch strategy title lifts the gameplay nearly wholesale from the Wars series. The result is undeniably fun and will almost make you forget the decade without a decent entry in this little sub-genre. The fantasy aesthetic is right up my alley. Give me dragons and alchemists over bombers and helicopters any day of the week. Plus, the main cast of commanders ooze personality and charm. The ostensible protagonist, Queen Mercia, is a young warrior wielding a giant blade and a bigger heart. Her nemeses include frosty vampires, a hot-headed Frankenstein-esque berserker, and the skull-wearing, necromantic despot of the frozen wastes. Counted among her allies are secretive (and carnivorous) plant people, a boy genius piloting a mechanical golem, and Caesar, a battle-pup and goodest boy in the whole dang world. The kingdoms she encounters are monocultures in that way games without much narrative rope tend to have, but plot in Wargroove is largely a vehicle for the challenging scenarios. If you’re new, let’s break down the basics: you command units on a top-down map and are tasked with various objectives, ranging from traversing safely to the other side to complete annihilation of your enemy. Along the way, you will capture villages and barracks, which produce currency and units respectively. The coin produced by the villages is spent on units, but villages cannot protect themselves from enemy attacks and must rely on those units for protection. That’s the macro-level of each game. The more finite, nitty-gritty layer involves manipulating the terrain and unit types (both have wide variations) to your advantage in order to gain the upper hand against your foe. It’s a lot of number crunching and postulating that will become second nature as you try to conquer the more difficult meat of the game. And boy, does it get difficult. Perhaps the fifteen year interim has dulled my skills, but I found the game’s difficulty curve stupefying, if not actually demoralizing. Some missions would introduce a new type of unit, affording you some slack as you played around with your new toy. But the very next would throw you off the tricycle and into a charnel house where the tiniest mistake meant crushing defeat. One of the largest departures WarGroove takes from its predecessors is how it fields your commander alongside other units. Where previously your choice gave you access to a unique super-skill, commanders in WarGroove can attack, defend and deploy special moves called Grooves against your foes. They’re beefier than anything but the most expensive units and can really turn the tide of battle in your favor. But, they also have health and can be killed. These are named characters with importance to the game’s overarching plot, and their continued survival is a win/lose condition. You can choose to hold them off the front lines, but the game seems to be balanced around their power, so the scales will tip if you are precious with your leader. Losing a map 20-30 minutes in feels really, really bad. It doesn’t take much; park your commander one square inside the attack range of an archer or forget about that trebuchet towards the bottom, and you might face the defeat screen mere turns away from winning a mission. This might not be such a negative to lobby against the game if it didn’t play like an elaborate puzzle or chess match. Terrain and production facilities are predetermined, and while the enemy AI adapts really well to shifting strategies, a crafty player can outmaneuver them the same way every time. Bad calls with other units might mean losing a key defensive position or resource; a setback for sure, but you have time to recover and learn from your mistake. Lose your commander and it’s game over. You’re back to the beginning with no actionable knowledge gained. That’s what gets me, I think. Mistakes in games should be teachable moments. Show a player they made a bad call and then provide the space to immediately try again, using their hard-won insight to progress beyond this particular hurdle. Instead, WarGroove makes you invest another half-hour returning to the spot of your possible misclick just to see if things go better this time. I’m certainly not garbage at tactics games, but restarting a main story mission six times out of pure spite is not how you want people engaging with your game. There is so much to love in WarGroove, from the gorgeous and bright art style to the memorable cast of characters on both sides of the conflict. The sprites bounce up and down on wonderful cartoon aesthetic maps, and the soundtrack won’t hardly wear your patience as you try the same map for the sixth time. While Caesar the Dog’s missions are among the most difficult, they also showcase unique play styles that diverge in super interesting ways from anything in the main campaign. Chucklefish has already assuaged a common complaint that information is obscured behind an often inscrutable UI by announcing a series of fixes and updates aimed at clarifying information. I just worry that the game’s spikes in difficulty will turn off players otherwise interested in what this brand of strategy can provide. Have I mentioned all of the alternate modes? Not content with simply playing like Advance Wars, WarGroove contains editing tools allowing the creation of maps, missions and full-on campaigns. You can share these creations online and download the work of other players from within the game. Additionally, there’s a puzzle mode that offers special pre-set challenges, like defeating all enemies on the map in one turn. Both of these are welcome and filling side dishes to the main course. WarGroove scratches an itch I hadn’t indulged since sitting in the back of a church van on the way to Main Event, my GBA linked with four of my friends in what probably looked like a weird techno-ritual. I hope the mountainous challenge of some maps doesn’t dissuade too many from enjoying a richly colored experience sure to delight returning fans and the newly interested....
- You Should Play Octopath Traveler…Today!
  July 3, 2018ReviewsThe free demo of Square Enix’s new JRPG is available on the Switch right now, and our reporter Chase found lots to love in the first 3 hours. Octopath Traveler is a new RPG coming to the Switch by way of Square Enix, in collaboration with Acquire. You can experience what’s promised to be a lengthy, character-driven campaign in just two weeks, on July 13. Or… …you can download the demo and start playing immediately! Now, you might hold the rational opinion that demos, while great for sorting out your feelings on a game before purchasing, are for sampling, only. You’ll be starting over with a new file once you purchase the full game. Don’t waste your time. And normally, you would be right. But Octopath Traveler allows players the rare opportunity to transfer over any progress accrued in the demo to one file on the retail version of the game. This gives you a legitimate reason to download it immediately for the low, low price of zero real monies. As the name would imply, you can begin Octopath Traveler in one of eight ways, each corresponding to a potential party member. These prologues are character unique and also serve as tutorials, teaching you the basics of interaction, combat and the special Path Actions they possess. This is the first of Octopath Traveler’s unique characteristics. The eight main party characters each possess a tool for interacting with the world around them, fitting thematically with their backstory and persona. For example, Cyrus the Scholar can Scrutinize people and things, granting him insight into events he wasn’t around to witness firsthand. In the demo, Scrutinize gathered clues for an investigation, and I can see it being used to uncover well-hidden sidequests and optional content. On the other hand, Olberic the warrior can Challenge NPCs to combat, which strikes me as a fairly static and barefaced ability. Other path actions allow you to recruit NPCs to aid you in combat, each with various strengths and weapon skills. Hopefully, the game will provide opportunities to reward players for cunning use. Depending on the character you choose at the beginning of the game, your experience might be drastically different. I started with Olberic, once in charge of protecting a king but who now lives out a quiet existence in a small hillside village – some fantasy as heck stuff. Throughout the demo, the old warrior regarded the circumstances of his disgrace with sadness while also protecting the townsfolk from smalltime brigands. In another playthrough I was Tressa, the daughter of a merchant family looking to prove herself after meeting a charismatic trader with a gorgeous boat. Her head was full of big dreams, and her heart is full of adventure. I was immediately enamored with her prologue and Path Action, which allows you to trade with a wide variety of NPCs for items you might not find otherwise. But not all of the prologues were winners. Primrose was a dancer who witnessed the murder of her father and now searches restlessly for the three tattooed man who perpetrated the act. Except, she’s accepted a job as a “dancer” in a dirty town for a dirtier master. Her prologue was paved throughout with constant reminders the people in her life treat her like garbage. At a particularly low point she is being assaulted and coerced by her master, and Prim thinks to herself that she can bear anything except letting those who murdered her father get away. Yuck. Hopefully, her story takes a more positive and balanced tack in the full release. Even though my mileage varied on the characters, the combat was refreshingly engaging. More complicated than simply whittling down a health bar, encounters in Octopath involve a careful dance of breaking an enemy’s shield and exploiting their weakness. Shields can vary in strength depending on the enemy, and once broken you get a single turn to unleash hell before they recuperate. Teammates help with this – diversifying your available weapons and magics make sure someone is poised to blow up the armor chink everyone else opened up. But there’s one more wrinkle: Boosts. If your character used a regular attack on their turn, they will gain a charge of power called a Boost. These stack several times and can be spent to power up any attack or spell by a maximum of four magnitudes. Want to pierce a large baddy with a spear strike? Boost it, baby. Scourge the earth with a multi-target firestorm? Boost! Heal your party from nigh mortal wounds? You guessed it: Boost. You won’t gain a charge on the turn you used a boosted attack, so make sure to plan smart. Beyond everything else, Octopath Traveler looks gorgeous. The developers describe it as having an “HD-2D” aesthetic, but I see it more as a pop-up book decorated with lovingly crafted 16-bit artwork. Buildings and trees dot a 3D landscape like papercraft dioramas while stunning light effects play off rippling waters and moody skies. The visuals make traveling about both towns and the overworld a constant delight. I’ll have more complete thoughts once the game is released on July 13, but you will be hard pressed to find a better 3-hour free experience on the Switch right now. Even if you aren’t normally a JRPG fan, Octopath Traveler’s novel approach to visuals and storytelling might just win you over....