Just a summary of the
major points that interested me at E3 (mostly RPG-focused). There are
minor gameplay-related spoilers, and very small plot spoilers
(relating the premise of a story, not including anything I’d
consider twists).
Not going into detail
into all these games, but some which caught my eye were: Fallout 4,
Mass Effect Andromeda, FFVII, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Uncharted
4.
Fallout 4
I had planned on buying
this but waiting either until the price had tumbled or until a Game
of the Year edition emerged. Got to say that it looked bloody
fantastic, though. A warning: if you check out the videos from E3
about Fallout 4, you may well come across early plot spoilers.
Female protagonist is
confirmed, as is the fact both genders are voiced. Courtenay Taylor
(Jack in Mass Effect 2) will be FemSurvivor, with Brian T. Delaney
voicing ManSurvivor.
Dogmeat returns. He’s
also invincible [although M. Bison thought that about himself too],
so he won’t get killed. Instead, he’ll get knocked out, and you
will get killed. Glad to hear this.
VATS
returns but this time it’s slow-mo rather than time-freeze.
Probably makes combat more exciting, but as I have the reaction times
of a drunk giraffe I’m not sure it’ll suit me.
There’s
a rumour (based on Pip-Boy footage) that there will be no skills,
just stats and perks.
Mods will be coming to
consoles. How it’ll work is unclear (although a console gamer I
know that PC mods can be massive, and a lot are a shade risqué, so I
guess some at least won’t be transferred), but it will happen for
Xbox One in the early part of next year, and come a bit later to PS4
[probably, not sure that’s 100% confirmed].
Crafting looks like
it’s had steroids applied, crack injected into its eyeballs and
nitroglycerin inserted in every remaining orifice. Not only can you
massively customise weapons and armour, you can also build and
decorate your own house. And, in fact, your own settlement. Or
settlements, to be precise. Generators, lights, turrets, traders, it
looks very extensive.
The release date is 10
November 2015.
Mass Effect
Andromeda
Not Mass Effect 4. The
title, rather than number, helps mark a clean break for the series.
Andromeda is a nearby galaxy to the Milky Way, and is used in the
title because the human race is looking for more real estate. It’s
unclear whether this is to escape the Reapers, or happens long (or
soon) after the events of Mass Effect 3.
Sadly, it seems the
protagonist must be human once again, but the usual male/female
gender option will be present (unclear if we’ll get 2 or 4
potential voice actors).
Release is around
Christmas 2016, which is fair enough given people might just have
finished with Fallout 4 by that time.
FFVII
Final Fantasy VII is
being remade. Not remastered. As well as graphics being enormously
improved, it seems the combat will not feature random encounters and
turn-based mechanics but instead adopt a more modern approach. More
surprisingly, the story will not be exactly the same. No idea if that
means little tweaks here and there, or a full-blown re-write.
Whatever they do with mechanics and storyline will cause some people
to be annoyed. I just hope they keep the themes the same.
As an aside, it’ll be
odd hearing Red XIII’s name. I misread it the first time I played,
and have thought of him as Red Eight ever since.
Not Indiana Jones
Lara Croft and Nathan
Drake both get new outings (the former coming to Xbox first, the
latter a PS4 exclusive, as per usual). I may look at the new Tomb
Raider when the price drops (enjoyed the reboot, but I’ve always
been off-and-on with the series). Doubt I’ll bother with Uncharted.
Liked the first two games but they didn’t grab me enough to keep my
interest.
Not a videogame, but
glad to hear Xbox is bringing backwards compatibility to its console.
Shame that hasn’t happened with the PS4 (and probably won’t). I
hope the next generation is another story, but that’s some way off.
Backwards compatibility is not only great for gamers, it’s good for
the firms because helps lock in loyalty from one generation to the
next.
Thaddeus
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