We're diving head-first into weeb central, folx, and I'm here to remind you that none of us are safe from the hobby-grade beatdown we're about to receive in the coming weeks and months
Next week is a two-for-one special, coming right out of the gate with Gundam's apology for New Gundam Breaker - and if it doesn't live up to expectations, they will face the ire of GunPla enthusiasts the world over, let alone their investors. At the very least, it can be used to satisfy the primal need to build and paint GunPla without going bankrupt:
A day later is Visions of Mana, which is Square-Enix realizing they have dormant IPs they can break open to help out with their financial woes, so it better sell copies or the big wigs might get the brain disease where they think people don't want these sort of games anymore. Absolutely poor optics to put it even remotely close to Gundam Breaker 4 though!
A few weeks later is Final Fantasy XVI and its DLC being set free from the PS5, and at a whopping 170 GB install size with an SSD requirement, perhaps it is best to wait for a combination of optimization patches and Black Friday sales on an external SSD before considering the purchase - and by then it should go on sale as well, so it's a win-win. If I haven't been obvious enough, please do not buy this at launch, unless you have money to burn:
Speaking of dormant(ish) IPs that Square-Enix is sitting on, the remake of Romancing Saga 2 will most likely be widely ignored by and large, but I greatly appreciate their efforts in keeping the SaGa IP alive and well. Perhaps this could lead to the pipe dream of a new SaGa game being made in this style, and not like Scarlet Ambition or Emerald Beyond? Who could say, but I have immense amounts of copium that has persisted for about a decade or so!
Don't forget to book your time off for the Latinx government-mandated holiday that is the launch period of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and it better push insane numbers both in honor of Akira Toriyama's passing, and to show that Budokai Tenkaichi style games should have continued support. You can't even begin to imagine the sheer number of Gokus and Vegetas that you can play as in this game.
Somehow, on the same day as Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, Atlus is launching their new fantasy IP that is a culmination of experience gained from their catalogue these past 35 years. There has been enough gameplay shown that, yes, this is going to be an excellent JRPG that will possibly chart Top-10 GOTY lists for 2024, but they are fighting against the beast that is Dragon Ball for audience share during the launch period. Hopefully, they set a better schedule for their inevitable game-revision expansion years from now, let alone the sequel.
A few weeks afterward is Ys X: Nordics, which I'm surprised is releasing in the same year as Trails through Daybreak, but I'll take it. Surely, it won't have the same localization issues as the base launch of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, right? It's launching on the same day as Romancing Saga 2, so I'm willing to bet it will absolutely bury it in sales, if not just cannibalize it outright, because Ys has more of a mindshare than SaGa among regular JRPG enthusiasts (that I am currently aware of).
Starting out in November is Farmagia, which is a monster taming/farming sim hybrid with character design by the creator of Fairy Tail. While it might go under the radar, it should fill a similar niche to something like Harvestella (which I am still waiting for an expansion or sequel to). Otherwise, they should try to capture as much of the Palworld audience as possible if they were smart with their marketing (but they probably won't).
Capping off the year is Dragon Quest III: HD-2D Remake - yes, there will be concerns that it's censored, to which I personally say, shut the fuck up. Dragon Quest III is a cultural icon in Japan, I can tell you right now that they're not going to fuck it up in any major way, or they will unironically face the ire of an entire nation. If they DO somehow fuck it up, and face the ire of an entire nation, then that's going to be evergreen content in itself for ages to come, and I'll be right here reporting on it! That being said, if the changes mean that much to you regardless, save your money and play one of the current Dragon Quest III ports available on Switch and Mobile.
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