February 25 - March 1

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Here's a glimpse of what the next few weeks are like from a release perspective. Next week the Tomb Raider and SimCity reboots hit the shelves. The following week offers God of War: Ascension as well as StarCraft: Heart of the Swarm. Another week and Gears of War: Judgment and Lego City: Undercover arrive to entertain to say nothing of PAX East and the GWJ Conference Call 2nd annual live show with Jeff Green and Justin McElroy. Hooray for self promotion.

The week after as we likely all work through recovery from the PAX plague, March caps off with some game called BioShock Infinite before the release schedule finally loosens up again.

Of course, if I'm starting the week ahead talking about other weeks, then that probably means there's not much to talk about this week. While that's the case for me, I've learned enough to know that when I see a release by Atlus or a PS3 or 3DS game with a title like Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan, I should probably at least give a quick glance to see if this is the sort of thing others are likely interested in. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that it is, particularly since Famitsu rated it quite highly on the heels of its Japanese release. So, let's call that our game of the week, just so I can blow ClockworkHouse's mind again. A 3DS JRPG is game of the week? What devilry is this?

As for me, this week I'll be brushing up on my StarCraft II, playing some Minecraft with my boys and waiting, ever so patiently, for the Spring gaming thaw.

PC
- 99 Levels To Hell (download)
- BIT.TRIP Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (download)
- Brutal Legend (download)
- Driftmoon (download)
- Expeditions: Conquistador (download)
- MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship (download)
- Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army (download)

Xbox 360
- MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship

PlS3
- MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship

Wii
- Retro City Rampage (WiiWare)

Vita
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus

3DS
- Coaster Creator 3D (eShop)
- Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan

Comments

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/1IJLtja.gif)

Can't stop watching...

And it's really getting to be about time to get a 3DS.

EOIV looks great. Probably not going to play it for a few years though.

Meh, nothing for me in this set of releases. Good!

Expeditions: Conquistador just notified their Kickstarter backers that they're missing their release date, blaming unspecified distribution channel problems. Of course, they then went on to say their doing another polish pass and adding multiplayer, so...

Logic Artists wrote:

Let's just get the bad news out of the way first: we have to push the release date. I suppose this is particularly disappointing given both the lateness of the announcement as well as the fact that everybody has been lauding us for making the release date, but this is how it is: the game is in a pretty good state, and we could release it now, under other circumstances. Of course we're missing some of the polish we'd like to apply to the game, but it works, it's playable, and it's good fun.

Unfortunately some distribution complications have come up. We're honestly not sure how much we're supposed to talk about this, and I don't want to cast anybody as the villain here - nobody has done anything wrong, it's just that kind of situation where things turned out to be a little more complicated than we'd hoped, and we need a little extra time to get our ducks in a row.

...

The good news is that we're going to have multiplayer. A few of the previews that hit the Internet over the past couple of weeks mentioned it, but here's the official word: Expeditions: Conquistador will feature a hotseat and TCP/IP skirmish mode where you and a friend can connect to each other and pitch your tactical cunning against each other. I assure you this is not the reason for the delay - the multiplayer is already implemented and working quite nicely.

Just got Fire Emblem and now EO4 is out? I'll have to hold off EO4 for a bit. I beat the main "end" boss in EO2, but never made it past extra or upper levels (whatever they were called). In EO3 I had a poor team build and I kept trying to make it work instead of starting over with a new team, but the amout of time it was taking me to make progress was too brutal. I probably dropped 40 hours into it, and too much was just gridning.

Brütal Legend on PC for me! I didn't think I'd ever see the day, but I pre-purchased it the day it showed up on Steam. Despite its flaws, I really enjoyed the game when I played it back in 2009, and I'm very much looking forward to revisiting it on my platform of choice.

Now if Rockstar would release RDR on PC, I'd have no reason to keep my 360 around. I know that's highly unlikely, but after seeing Elysium pick a JRPG on the 3DS for GotW, anything's possible, right?

I played the EO4 demo, and found it to be the easiest one I've played yet. That's a good thing since I don't have the patience for overly grindy rpgs anymore.

Playing Skies of Arcadia recently was bad enough.

I am so very excited for HotS. I stuck a good deal into SC2:WoL and enjoyed competitive multiplayer more than any other online experience; though original Team Fortress comes close.

I may give Sim City a look, but I still have Dark Souls to load up for the first time.

Also PSA
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is supposed to come out this week on PSN as well.

I love this community.

Stele wrote:

Can't stop watching...

And it's really getting to be about time to get a 3DS.

I second that. I usually put off the handhelds because I just end up not using them enough to justify the purchase, but the 3DS is really starting to lure me in. I was setting money aside for a Wii U, but I think I may repurpose it for a 3DS.

Plus - I don't know really how to really explain it, but after playing a lot of "serious" or dark games in the previous months I'm really looking for something a bit more colorful, light hearted and just pure gaming goodness that isn't about staring down the barrel of a gun.

I can't stop feeling that Heart of the Swarm will be a disappointment.

JohnKillo wrote:

Also PSA
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is supposed to come out this week on PSN as well.

I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.

...although I should probably play Innocent Sin first.

garion333 wrote:

I can't stop feeling that Heart of the Swarm will be a disappointment.

Yeah, I'm so torn.

PoderOmega wrote:

Just got Fire Emblem and now EO4 is out? I'll have to hold off EO4 for a bit. I beat the main "end" boss in EO2, but never made it past extra or upper levels (whatever they were called). In EO3 I had a poor team build and I kept trying to make it work instead of starting over with a new team, but the amout of time it was taking me to make progress was too brutal. I probably dropped 40 hours into it, and too much was just gridning.

Just don't forget to buy the game when you see it, Atlus games get sold quickly and with little to no reprints.

wanderingtaoist wrote:
PoderOmega wrote:

Just got Fire Emblem and now EO4 is out? I'll have to hold off EO4 for a bit. I beat the main "end" boss in EO2, but never made it past extra or upper levels (whatever they were called). In EO3 I had a poor team build and I kept trying to make it work instead of starting over with a new team, but the amout of time it was taking me to make progress was too brutal. I probably dropped 40 hours into it, and too much was just gridning.

Just don't forget to buy the game when you see it, Atlus games get sold quickly and with little to no reprints.

Etrian Odyssey IV is also available digitally on the eShop, so unless you avoid digital purchases on the 3DS, supply shortages shouldn't be a problem.

Minarchist wrote:
JohnKillo wrote:

Also PSA
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is supposed to come out this week on PSN as well.

I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.

...although I should probably play Innocent Sin first.

I sorta want the PSP version but I will take the PSN classic instead.

Really looking forward to 99 Levels To Hell. Been on a roguelike kick of late.

theschap wrote:

I am so very excited for HotS. I stuck a good deal into SC2:WoL and enjoyed competitive multiplayer more than any other online experience; though original Team Fortress comes close.

I may give Sim City a look, but I still have Dark Souls to load up for the first time.

Just go fire up Dark Souls. The rest of the gaming world will cease to matter for at least a month, if not more. Had somebody said that to me before I had tried Dark Souls I would have called them crazy.

Does EO count as JRPG other than being an RPG made in Japan?

Does EO count as JRPG other than being an RPG made in Japan?

I do not have a sophisticated appreciation of JRPG beyond that.

JohnKillo wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
JohnKillo wrote:

Also PSA
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is supposed to come out this week on PSN as well.

I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.

...although I should probably play Innocent Sin first.

I sorta want the PSP version but I will take the PSN classic instead.

Not on Vita or PSP, you won't. Eternal Punishment does not work on anything but PS3 right now. Worst case scenario is that it might take a few weeks to fix.

Elysium wrote:
Does EO count as JRPG other than being an RPG made in Japan?

I do not have a sophisticated appreciation of JRPG beyond that.

The entire Etrian Odyssey series is an elaborate remake of Wizardry -- it owes much, much more to old-school dungeon crawlers than Final Fantasy.

But yes, it's a Japanese developed game. And yes, there are anime-influenced character designs and enemy designs.

OzymandiasAV wrote:
Elysium wrote:
Does EO count as JRPG other than being an RPG made in Japan?

I do not have a sophisticated appreciation of JRPG beyond that.

The entire Etrian Odyssey series is an elaborate remake of Wizardry -- it owes much, much more to old-school dungeon crawlers than Final Fantasy.

But yes, it's a Japanese developed game. And yes, there are anime-influenced character designs and enemy designs.

But is it a JRPG in the cliché idea of an amnesiac with a giant sword fighting against a sprawling Imperial power seeking to kill God? No, it's not that kind of JRPG.

No, it is not Xenogears.

(And thanks to all that is good and holy in the world for that.)