ADventure Lib

August 3 – August 9

Section: 

My eyebrow was one of many that were raised when conductor Arnie Roth casually mentioned at the Pittsburgh Distant Worlds concert that Final Fantasy XII was getting a "remake", something that he stated we had "all heard of by now". Plenty of hands were brought together in a crescendo of applause.

I find myself shaking my head at how fast the rumor has spread, though I don't believe it lacks weight. My guess is Square Enix was holding onto an HD remaster announcement for either Gamescom or Tokyo Game Show, and poor Arnie Roth simply jumped the gun. Even so, this is a rumor let loose by someone that's not involved in the game's development (though FFXII composer Hitoshi Sakomoto was in the audience at the time and made no move to hush or correct Roth). So while I imagine a remaster is coming, I wouldn't consider it "announced" quite yet.

...what? Pick of the Week? Oh, crap. Uh, I dunno. Rare Replay, I guess. Surely someone out there has been dying to play Grabbed By The Ghoulies in HD? In fact, a critically panned title with a small selection of fans? Sounds like Greg's cup o' tea.

Erik "wordsmythe" Hanson

I was about to pick something that came out in 2013. Phew!

Anyway, Bedlam on PS4 looks neat. Animated, Mad Max-style post-apocalypse? Sign me up!

Felix “Nickname” Threepaper

Castle Game is another valiant sally at the “console RTS” wall. Has it cracked the elusive “I can never select my troops or get them to go where I want them to” walnut? Submerged is a combat-free explorer sporting a cool new telescope feature, which is so handy you’ll wonder why it’s not standard in all walking simulators.

Bedlam gets my vote for offering a Greatest Hits tour down FPS memory lane with present-day smoothness.

Greg "DoubtingThomas396" Decker

Rare Replay is a hair's breath from selling me an XBox One. Battletoads! And RC Pro-Am! It will be worth playing if only to see what they make you spell.

I won't be getting an Xbox One, though, so there must be something else. ADventure Lib is the ticket. Combine an RPG with Mad-Libs? That brings to mind the old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials.

Person 1: You got crazy in my RPG!
Person 2: You got RPG in my crazy!
Person 1 and Person 2: Two great things that play great together!

ADventure Lib gets my pick of the week.

This week:

PC

  • Last Half of Darkness: Society of The Serpent Moon
  • Wave Mechanics
  • Cursed Sight
  • Fingerbones
  • Zombie Killtime
  • Broken Bots
  • Submerged
  • Fairy Fencer F
  • Dandy: Or a Brief Glimpse Into the Life of the Candy Alchemist
  • ADventure Lib
  • Princess Kaguya: Legend of the Moon Warrior
  • Icebound
  • Hidden: On the trail of the Ancients
  • Metro Warp
  • Empyrion - Galactic Survival
  • Demon Hearts
  • Close Order

[Editor's note: Some items (strikethroughs above) were included in error.]

PS4

  • Galak-Z: The Dimensional
  • The Castle Game
  • Bedlam
  • Submerged

Xbox One

  • Rare Replay
  • Submerged

Wii U

PS3

Xbox 360

PS Vita

Nintendo 3DS

  • Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight

Comments

I was going to create a Greg-level montage of games, but that screenshot for AD(venture) Lib just demanded all the attention.

ADventure Lib makes me think of a less intentional Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It. That lack of intention makes me think the joke will get old pretty quick. It's a short game that is banking on the humor of shuffling the terms to make it entertaining multiple times through. "Ha ha! Those chickens are pants instead!" doesn't really feel like it will get more entertaining next time through when they are potatoes or doors or monkeys or whatever (ok maybe monkeys).

I guess I have no real sentimental attachment to the stable of Rare games (and no Xbox) so maybe that's a big deal for some people.

Galak-Z is looking pretty enticing. I'm a little surprised nobody bit on it.

Nothing on Wii U? Everyone must've been too scared to release against the big Splatoon patch this week

Does anyone know how long Galak-Z is exclusive to PS4? I thought that was also hitting PC.

Shame on you all for not knowing Galak-Z is gonna be awesome! Or at least pretty fun. Hopefully.

shoptroll wrote:

Does anyone know how long Galak-Z is exclusive to PS4? I thought that was also hitting PC.

It'll come in a few months, though they didn't lock down a release date.

Looks like a good week for pile progress.

Didn't the FFVII remake get announced at E3?

The FFVII remake did get announced at E3, but Roth was specifically discussing FFXII and its composer as he was announcing a group of songs they were prepping to play.

Arnie Roth went to clarify that the term "remake" was used in error, but did not comment further.

Dear friends,
In response to comments posted by fans, I want to rectify a statement made from the stage Saturday night at our Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY concert in Pittsburgh.

Following conversations with composer Hitoshi Sakimoto regarding new concert arrangements of music from FINAL FANTASY XII, regrettably, the term ‘remake’ was used in error during one of the announcements that took place from the stage during the concert.

We sincerely regret any confusion this has caused.

Arnie Roth
Producer and Music Director
Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY

Doh, I completely misread your post and didn't realize you were talking about XII. Thanks for helping me get there in the end!

Well, they have until I get through (*checks to do list*) 11 earlier Final Fantasy games to get that out and ready for me to play on a modern system

Re: this weeks releases.

Submerged is looking pretty tempting - all the exploration of a Tomb Raider or Uncharted, none of the combat and killing.

Would it make sense to add PS+ and Xbox Gold games that are free-leased to the appropriate column of the month?

Tanglebones wrote:

free-leased

IMAGE(http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab75/andycapps614/0002fzar_zps38ca67f9.gif)

Tanglebones wrote:

Would it make sense to add PS+ and Xbox Gold games that are free-leased to the appropriate column of the month?

I'll take it under advisement for next month.

pyxistyx wrote:

Re: this weeks releases.

Submerged is looking pretty tempting - all the exploration of a Tomb Raider or Uncharted, none of the combat and killing.

One of my colleagues showed me the trailer a few months ago, and I thought it looked pretty intriguing. And then I completely forgot about it until today. (For the record, so did my colleague.) Looking forward to tomorrow!

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

Would it make sense to add PS+ and Xbox Gold games that are free-leased to the appropriate column of the month?

I'll take it under advisement for next month.

Can you do something about how I don't own all the games because I don't have all the money in the world?

Princess Kaguya: The Legend of the Moon Warrior, you will be somewhat surprised to find out, is a beat'em up and not an rpg or visual novel.
I'd still give game of the week to Etrian.

Also, kittens do not solve the problem of cat allergies.