Most Anticipated Video Games

[Mustang]

Well the game awards was something lol.

I'm not a fan of Tomb Raider, but it looked good. Probably will buy it to support, but we'll see. Other than that, Phantom Blade 0 got a Sept release date, and that's pretty much it for me. I think I got a lot of stuff for me announced last year, so I won't complain, but if I had to give it a grade, it's definitely in the D-C range. Presentation was weird. Like everything flowed at a nice pace, but the "big" hitters were placed in spots that made it feel like a boring show (on top of nothing being there for me). But I'm not going to poo-poo too hard on it this time around.

As for the awards itself, I hate clean sweeps. Nothing against Expedition 33, but when it's set in stone whose winning, like no conversation need to be had/ no competition, it also makes things even more boring for me. Granted, I don't ever watch for the awards, but this year in particular I definitely ignored the majority of what won what.

Hope next year will be better (doubtful consider GTA6 and whatnot).

[Mustang]

Is anyone aware of this game?

Avatar is that you, one of the dream games I've always wanted?

If this is made by Chinese studio, I swear, they should just takeover since nobody else knows how to handle things anymore (not to mention, they have been killing it lately).

[Daikun]

I thought Kratos was already the God Slayer...

[Mustang]

This game is definitely speaking to me, but I just don't believe it's real even though it's coming out next month. If it takes the way a lot of people are hoping (myself included), I hope the industry doesn't follow. Let it be its own thing (not to mention, they have the money to do this). This is setting up to be a banger year for me. Nioh 3, this (Crimson Desert), Phantom Blade Zero, Trails Beyond the Horizon. I'm eating good. And then there's games across Asia that's suppose to come out this year as well (doubt it. They look like AAA games, but supposedly they're AA). The flip side, it's also going to set me back a few as well lol.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Saw the Crimson Desert footage and it also appeals to me. Weirdly it gave me slight Ninja Gaiden vibes only in that it's combat is more grounded than style heavy, which I always appreciate (as much as I love DMC).

[Mustang]

That was one of the better State of Plays I've seen in a while. Nothing really stood out for me in terms of, I "MUST" go out and get that today type of energy, but it was definitely solid.

Dead or Alive is "back", but I am very cautious with DoA6. They definitely might be following in Virtua Fighter's foot steps with VF5, but I don't know if it'll see the same success. Usually when they do stuff like that it's usually to test/gauge the audience to see if it'll be worth it. I hope it'll be a success, but I'm wishy washy on it. There's a tournament scene for VF5 in Japan (and it's big). Not so much for DoA6, so, I don't know. The new one on the other hand could be interesting. I'll say this so it don't sound like I'm trying to rain on the party. Maybe it was time for a change up regardless of if it does well or not. Team Ninja need to take a risk and this might be the one they need to risk it on. NRS need to follow suit. Do a different game that's not a fighting game for once (I'm going to continue saying Capcom is king for a reason).

It's good to see Metal Gear Solid 4 finally unlocked from the PS3 hell. Konami in general might be on the uptick, but I still remain cautious on them too.

Marvel Tokon, I won't lie, looks good, but I'm over it. Modern fighters is kinda going through it right now, and I'm not too keen on fighting games either (although I am kinda getting into Tekken 8) at the moment.

God of War 1-3 Remake... All 3? Really? Why? This is telling me a lot about Sony Santa Monica and I don't like it. It's giving me Naughty Dog vibes, like they can't make anything else. I'm happy for TC Carson though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hey, we're getting more DOA, so I ain't complaining. The fact that they are clearly teasing DOA7 leads me to believe that it's already in development. Even though it's a different genre, I think the success and rave reviews for Nioh 3 gives Team Ninja's name a lot of clout and momentum going into a new DOA. I'm really just hoping that they learned their lesson from past mistakes with DOA6 and give fans a great game. For one thing, I'm hoping that Last Round has Tag Team mode in it, which has been a series staple since 2 and shouldn't have been left out of 6 in the first place.

If you give people a lot of content on release and great QOL improvements over the base game, I do think that people will show up for it.

Also, for nothing other than proper courtesy, there should be some small tribute to Itagaki in the credits or in some part of the game, as a final farewell to the series creator.

[Mustang]

Umm... GOATED?

Anyway, I've been looking at a lot of games in development in Korea and China, and if they just so happen to make it to the USA, oh boy, considering the noise that Crimson Desert has caused, I'm not looking forward to the future lol. Semi-joking, I want those games, but I don't want the drama that's gonna come with them.

[Mustang]

State of Play was Tuesday but the woke vs anti-woke ruined it to the point where I was just out of it. Both sides fucking sucks. I'm rational to know what I like and what I don't like. I don't care about agendas. I don't care about conspiracy theories. Fuck off with that shit. Let me watch trailers and game in peace. The way people act on the internet, it needs to be regulated at this point. Only 2 games I remember being announced/shown was Wolverine and God of War: Laufey because of the noise surrounding both.

Summer Game Fest was today. I thought it was my internet, but apparently it was something going on with the stream itself. All the de-sync's took me out of it. That being said

Stranger Than Heaven - I don't know how I feel lol. Snoop being there, I can let slide even though he don't fit (I get it though), but I can see the vision. PAC? Errr I don't know.

Sword of Legend - China's been killing it. They got a slew of games in their pocket that would cause people to go nuts.

TMNT: The Last Ronin - I'm cautiously optimistic. I was never on the Platinum train like everyone. Other than MGR, something about their games just never clicked. Definitely want to see game play.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation - I HATE that this was released in 3 parts. I hate this episodic stuff. Just give me the game. That being said, wow, lol. This is going to be a long ride for me since I've yet to start remake or rebirth, but I chose that. I rather play the game all at once instead.

Virtua Fighter Crossroads - I want to say take my money, but the FGC just has a way to get me so angry to the point of saying fuck everything, but at the moment I'm sold.

Gundam Rogue Orbit - Outside of Dynasty Warriors Gundam I've never played any of the Gundam games. But because of Armor Core 6 I've been more open to them, especially now, seeing some of the combat in these mecha games (I just wish they weren't following the free to play model)

Stellar Blade: Blood Rain - I still have to play the first one, but seeing fisticuffs, that's one way to hook me.

And then there's Street Fighter 6 Season 4 characters. I heard the rumor of Tifa being in it. Never cared. I never cared for Tifa being in a fighting game period, but her inclusion is good for Square (Capcom is probably standing over Nintendo at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if Capcom wanted to enter in the console market, but lets slow down there lol). Square need a major win at this point. I'm more interested in the newer characters, Bosch, specifically. I hope he has a style that fits me especially since I have no Cody, Dudley, Guy, Yun or Yang. Jaime ain't them dammit lol.

I would say solid showcase, but as I said, the de-sync really took it outta me.

Edit:

Xbox showcase was pretty solid. It was better than State of Play (I do remember it now), but then they always seem to do better here in that regard.

Wo long 2, Persona 6, and Persona 4 Revival, obviously were the ones that got me excited. Gears, Halo, and Doom were solid (I wish Halo and Doom would go behind the back though, kinda like Gears/Mass Effect), but barring Gears, I wouldn't be able to play them due to me having a bad case of vertigo that messes with me when it comes to FPV. That's about it for me though. Waiting on Nintendo now, but overall, solid showcasing all around this year (indie stuff was ho-hum)

Edit2:

Just finished watching the Nintendo Direct..... It was something lol. Overall, it was ok, but there was something that just wasn't clicking. I don't know if it was the pacing or where certain spots where a game I like was shown, but something was definitely off. Anyway,

Ocarina of Time Remake - I was aware of the leak, but truth be told, I think I'd rather it be remastered. I don't think any of the console versions of Zeldas need to be remade. They were all great, and certain adventures should be left alone. This might get the FF7R treatment. All us old heads love it, but kids today don't particularly care.

Final Fantasy Resonance - Apparently this was a phone game. Whatever, I'm down. I like the HD2D stuff.

Edit3:

Lots of Indie stuff to finish out, but a lot of them are relatively the same. I'm not knocking them for it. They're mostly copying metroidvania's or hades/diablo (I did have a problem originally, but there's not much that can be done when you're working by yourself or on a small 3-10 person team, so I'm looking over that)
but I'm still looking for one that speaks to me. The closest one might be Ember and Blade. It's more Hades, I think, but people are saying it's a combination of Hades and Vampire Survivors, so that's cool. I'm still wanting one of these type of games that'll have jumping lol. I think that's kinda why I want a Devil May Cry in this type of style, if not a full game, at least give me Dante, Vergil, Nero as playable characters in one.

The other type of game I'm looking for, it already exist sort of (but it's split among other games if that make sense), but not to the degree that I'm envisioning. Take Solo Leveling (My fantasy lol DON'T JUDGE ME). We already have Persona/Shin Megami Tensei, Elden Ring, Diablo/Path of Exile (any game like these I think) and Baldur's Gate 3 I believe. All of them have the leveling mechanic down. Elden Ring might be the closest in how a Necromancer should be handled (in my mind lol) especially because of all the ash's you can summon (There's no game that'll allow you to summon an army unfortunately, but that's what I want, but I'll settle for 10 soldiers, and they level up as well). Combat, this is where either we go Devil May Cry or Hades (with Combos). I need each class/sub-class to be as drawn out as the Necromancer as well (can't be the only badass lol). That's my dream game that I know will never happen.

That's about it for me.

[Mustang]

No Rest for the Wicked

I've been ignoring this game since it's been in beta for the last 2-5 years (?), but turns out this might be the game I've been looking for all along. It's got that isometric view, but there's actually a jump button. One of the classes can be Shadow Master. All the right things to make my ears perk up. The art style is probably the only hiccup (I'm not into the quirky looks), but I've overlooked bigger things, and this look is no biggie. Supposedly this will be getting a full 1.0 release in October (Horrible timing). Looking forward to it.

Edit1:

Ok, looking more into NRFTW. I'm not seeing stamina at all. If anything, I'm seeing Hades, but combos, and the bosses are huge like what you would see in souls, etc. Some of these builds I'm seeing, and with the movement being the way that it is reminds me of Nioh when you have tonfas. I'm getting some strong vibes from this. Like this could rocket up into top favorites very fast.

Crimson Moon is another one. Smaller. Similar premise. One youtuber (fleekazoid) called it Darksiders (jokingly), but I can see why he'd say that. It has the same look and movement, but with soulslike stamina bar. Combat looks more fast pace, similar to No Rest. Definitely digging the design in this one a lot more.

There was a couple more indies but I can't remember the name. One of them was focus on martial arts, or at least had that Raid-like style, but looks like a metroidvania/rogue-like.

Aug-Oct is going to be crazy. Never had an interest in GTA, but we already know how wild Nov is gonna be for that game.

[Mustang]

So I'm caught up on Gamescom. It was garbage no doubt, but at the same time there was a little bit of sauce there.

GeniGods: Nehza is the next big China game I'm looking forward to, although, China has a boatload of games hopefully coming to the west. I say hopefully, because right now journalists got this weird hate boner for games made from China and they wonder why there is such a disconnect, but whatever. More power to them.

Witcher 3 Remastered. This was probably the first big W that AAA games had in a long time, and a much needed one. I was never big on Witcher, and could never get into it, but I was always curious about it and perhaps this remaster will change my mind about it.

Ananta finally getting a release date. This and that Hoyoverse game is the ones that journalists are hating on. Ananta being criticized for looking samey (fair), but then they praise Warlock (hmm... it looks like Witcher), but I get it. Like what you like. The Hoyoverse game is getting heat for looking like Elden Ring. You know what kills me? These same people say things like "clone this, clone that" but then goes on to say things like "this should've had said mechanic from said game". Make up your mind.

Then there's Grand Theft Auto 6. Talk about a game that looks samey, heh. Never been a fan so I'll be skipping for sure. I am happy for those who've been waiting forever for this game. I will say this. It's been long overdue. Considering all the extraction shooters, looter shooters, whatever these games are called (genre is escaping my mind at the moment), it's been long overdue for a 3rd Person shooter like this. Sure there's Gears of War E-Day and Resident Evil and Pragmata, but that blockbuster has been needed for a long time. I am curious though. This is the first time I've heard noise surrounding this franchise, like "no disc no buy", so I'm curious how many people will actually speak with their wallets. I still think this is gonna sell like no tomorrow.