In this city, one hope shines through the night: The Gamesline Podcast starring John, Rose, Lilith, and Nikolas! John enters the pastoral world of Pokopia while also returning to Raccoon City in Resident Evil 9. Rose played many games, including Resident Evil 9, Nioh 3, Marathon, Slay the Spire 2, Trails Beyond the Horizon, and Mewgenics! Lily played ULTRAKILL Layer 8: Fraud, Trails to Azure, Monster Hunter Rise and numerous Next Fest demos, including Annihilated, Cicadamata, and Firestarters. Finally, Nikolas has also been playing ULTRAKILL and Mewgenics!

In the news, Nagoshi Studio is in danger of shuttering, Nintendo is suing the US government over tariffs, PlayStation isn’t going PC ports anymore, Xbox is officially making a new console, Pokemon Winds and Waves was announced, Highguard is shutting down, a new Hunter: The Reckoning game was accidentally revealed, and Cookie’s Bustle is free from spurious copyright claims.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on social media @gamesline.net, John, Rose, Lilith, and Nikolas.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and tell a friend about the show!

If you want to send in questions, send them to our email podcast@gamesline.net!

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Edited by Crystal with video production by John

The post The Gamesline Podcast Episode 84: Cookie is Free appeared first on Gamesline.

The Capcom Spotlight Event

The Capcom Spotlight Event showcased a handful of more news and announcements of the publisher’s upcoming games:

The Resident Evil 4 Remake now has a special demo that is now available to play, called Resident Evil 4: Chainsaw Demo. The demo puts players in the beginning of what might potentially be in the final game.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak will be coming to Playstation and Xbox consoles this April.

The official Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective remaster will arrive to all current-gen platforms this summer in June.

The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection continues to add new content, officially compiling 10 titles of the series into a two-parter digital release.

Street Fighter 6 continues to build up hype towards its release by closing in on its roster of commentators part of the Real-Time Commentary Feature that can be enabled in-game, with Japanese actress Hikaru Takahashi being the last to be included in the base game upon launch. Takahashi will be joining Jeremy “Vicious” Lopez, Ryutaro “Aru” Noda, Kosuke Hiraiwa, and Steve “TastySteve” Scott, Thea Trinidad, H.E. Demon Kakka, and James “jchensor” Chen.

In other news…

Square Enix has been facing some hurdles recently, especially in regards to the lackluster outcome of Forspoken, and has further commented that their smaller and mid-sized titles overall are not meeting their performance numbers as expected.

Discord is experimenting to potentially integrate more AI on its platform. The first tests will be a putting forth a new version of the Clyde bot in community servers, allowing it to be able to function as a chatbot with users. Other tests with AI aim to further assist AutoMod. These settings are already enabled by default with Discord’s latest update, so users are being cautioned to check their own settings.

PSA: Turn these off ASAP. Discord are doing dumb shit. https://t.co/aKSk18RaDo pic.twitter.com/1zJWvYKscw

— Lorcan0c (@Lorcan0c) March 9, 2023

The original Atelier Marie Plus: The Alchemist of Salburg is releasing in English for the first time.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie had a dedicated Nintendo Direct special to debut the final trailers before the movie’s nearing theatrical release. The Direct featured appearances with the movie’s main cast, such as Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black. The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be releasing in USA theaters on April 5.

The post The Bulletin: Give That Boy Another Knife appeared first on Gamesline.

In the news, Cyberconnect announced a sequel to Fuga: Melodies of Steel, Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duels are coming, and the boys are back with some looks at Yakuza 8. With the heat wave here, Steam is letting people know they should keep their Steam Deck’s inside for maximum performance. Lebron James and Rick & Morty are coming to Multiversus, the Sony purchase of Bungie has finally been finalized, and in potential great news Blizzard Albany is unionizing.  Outside of that, the FaZe Clan lifestyle brand company who seems to employ a lot of crypto scammers are now a publicly traded company, and Square finally is showing off their NFT’s by charging an extra $30 for digital versions of their action figures.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo,  @ChorbySP and @JudgementScythe

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 403: Lawn Perverts appeared first on Gamesline.

In the news Nintendo of Japan is supporting it’s queer employees and bought Dynamo Pictures.  The Metal Gear games that had to be taken down due to right’s issues are coming back, and Kirby’s Dream Buffet is on the way. Multiversus is coming soon and just so you’re not confused, Rumbleverse is too, and they are not the same game.  Unity is partnering with everyone’s favorite malware provider IronSource, GameStop launched their NFT collections, and the new Skate is a free to play live service game. In October we’re getting both a new Genesis Mini as well as Bayonetta 3. We cap it all off by diving into your questions.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, @ChorbySP and @mavsplaniamania.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 402: Monkey Time With Winston Overwatch appeared first on Gamesline.

In the news, Shinzo Abe got assassinated and a bunch of racist channers tricked people into blaming Hideo Kojima for it. In tragic news, Yu-gi-oh‘s manga creator Kazuki Takahashi died in a tragic accident. Gamestop laid off a ton more people from Game informer, Rockstar is stopping development on Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto 4 remasters because the GTA Trilogy remasters sucked and shifting everyone to Grand Theft Auto 6‘s Development. E3 is coming back in conjunction with ReedPop and Yuji Naka is having a complete breakdown on twitter while Intellivision might be making a comeback. SGDQ happened, and some guy just straight up cheated a run of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Elden Ring hero Let Me Solo Her was gifted a sword and a ton of cool extras after killing Malenia 1000 times. Monster Rancher Ultraman Kaiju is officially being released in the US as well as Witch on the Holy Night. A fan bought enough Nintendo stock to join an investor meeting and ask about F-Zero while some Final Fantasy XIV players bought multiple billboards to advertise an in game event for their ERP venue.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, @JudgementScythe and @mavsplaniamania.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 401: We Huntin’ Monsters. appeared first on Gamesline.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Neptunia Virtual Stars

When I say in my review the game is sensory overload this is what I meanhttps://t.co/tuZ2JROcVt pic.twitter.com/YLZhU6q53V

— Rosarie Maria (@horngal) March 1, 2021

The most insane game ever made. Genuinely I want the medium of games to become a place where shit like this is on the reg. You haven’t lived until you’ve played this game.

Toree 2

This game is like an hour long, and it’s exactly what it looks like. Hopping around as a little cute animal in fun little 3D environments….games don’t do this anymore.

Halo Infinite

The campaign is not very good, maybe it can become good in the future. The multiplayer is the closest that 343 has gotten to getting on the level of Halo 3 and Reach. It is still not either of those games, but, again, maybe someday. Absolutely insane they sell armor in this game for 20 dollars

THE TSUKIHIME REMAKE HASN’T BEEN LOCALIZED SUFFERING AWARD

MELTY BLOOD TYPE LUMINA

I got the deluxe version of the new Melty Blood just so I could read the book about the world-building details in Tsukihime Remake. I’m coping.

10. NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139

The only reason NieR is so low, despite being one of my top 5 games of all time, is that for some reason they decided to make this remake just generally worse overall? For years of my youth I pined over the twink protagonist that Japan got and we never did, but as I’ve become older and wiser I realized, “It was much better when you played as an ugly old man who was gay with a book”.

Also Ending E was kind of just like fan-wank in a way I haven’t really expected from the series. I realize that like, this ending was written in a side-story at one point but it feels like such a weird stupid answer to what was once a very open-ended game. Very Strange.

9. Monster Hunter Rise

This is probably the best Monster Hunter they’ve ever made. It has incredible traversal mechanics, fun new moves, and everything has been so cleaned up and optimized that even people I knew who couldn’t stand the series in the past found themselves falling into this one back in March. 

I think the only reason it failed to resonate in any sort of profound way, is that they made everything so streamlined and fast, that you just sort of…blow through it all. Monster Hunter is usually this thing you dump days and days and months into ever-getting better and stronger, but with this one it was so easy to just finish everything that you never really had to grind. I think going up multiple Hunting Ranks from a single quest was just insane, and the loss of Investigations from World that provided randomly generated and difficult challenge quests was felt deeply.

8. Dorfromantik

I don’t really like most chillout games but this one is so peaceful. All you do is place tiles and spin them around to do combos and gradually fill out this cute little picturesque world of trees and animals and rivers and trains. It’s all so cute. I highly recommend giving it a try because it’s just such a perfectly distilled little thing.

7. Shin Megami Tensei V

So I was really hype for Shin Megami Tensei V, and while it didn’t necessarily disappoint I was sort of left going like, “Why did they do these things”. The Breath of a Wild’ification of everything is a dire plague on the medium of games, and while it was a sort of interesting bit of freshness to add to a series that has largely been the same for 30 years, the trade-off of what was lost by its implementation is just straight up not worth it. SMT is supposed to be esoteric, conceptual, mired in aesthetics over a specific substantial idea, and V trades most of that for….I honestly genuinely don’t know! 

Overall it’s a great game, I love seeing my demon friends again with cute new animations and sounds, but, man, it should have been better.

6. Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

It still has the same problems as the normal Ace Attorney games (wasting time constantly), but the change in scenery and cast really worked so well for this game. It’s also surprising to me how earnest the discussions about the opening of the borders within Japan are in this game, and what it meant for their society. However, the next game on this list handles that better I think. Herlock Sholmes is insane, Britain is insane, everyone is insane. It’s great.

5. Full Metal Daemon Muramasa

This is a game that’s almost impossible to recommend because of how intense the subject matter is, but god….it really is a “kamige” as they say. Seeing twists on classic visual novel mechanics, as well as a genuinely cutting and interesting analysis of Japanese Imperialism and ideology, Full Metal Daemon Muramasa is really incredible to me, and I’m so glad it actually got translated all these years after its release because it has reignited my Visual Novel obsession hardcore. 

I would like it if the game was perhaps a little less fetishistic in its more graphic CGs however, even if I understand where it’s coming from. From a country that has an entire modern infrastructure built from the ground up on the suffering of women (Okay I know this is most countries but) I understand why there would be this idea of wanting to critique the sexualized nature of visual novels in relation to that, but it just ends up feeling equally fetishistic in a different way. Such is the nature of Nitroplus. 

4. Guilty Gear Strive

 This is the first fighting game I’ve genuinely loved since Skullgirls. I love Ramlethal. This also made me realize how badly I need to work on my Anxiety Disorder.

3. Metroid Dread

They gave Samus a Devil Trigger.

2. NEO TWEWY

A rare peek into a world where Square Enix still tries to make interesting new games that aren’t pared down market-tested reiterations that become less interesting over insanely long development times. This is a game that shouldn’t exist, but it does. The way that they actually got Nomura to make a game with an insane Gacha-game addicted lesbian, like man, that’s representation.

1. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

The post Rose’s Top 10 Games Of 2021 That Aren’t The House in Fata Morgana appeared first on Gamesline.

Best Visuals: Psychonauts 2

Runners-up: TOEM, Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective

If I had to describe my aesthetic interests outside of just “anime,” I would have to pinpoint the vibrant and kinetic comic look of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and the caricatured-to-all-hell designs from Ed Edd n Eddy. Suffice to say, Psychonauts overall scratches a lot of itches for what I find visually baller in a video game. The 2021 sequel manages to upscale the Muppet-adjacent cast for next-gen hardware, but also goes above and beyond when it comes to representing the new minds you explore throughout the game. Levels like the PSI King’s Sensorium oversaturate colors to evoke not just 60s psychedelia but also the intensity of sensation PSI King’s panic attacks have on him, which you help him overcome throughout the level. Cassie’s Collection represents one of the former Psychonauts founders through the archetypes she had developed throughout her life; each one a paper sketch representative of these points that try and cohabitate the grand library that is her psyche. 

The cinematography also works hard to highlight the ways brain logic might not lend itself to the rules we consider physical space, seamlessly transitioning between main character Raz standing at a doorway, to only then fall through and end up in nightmarish geometry or a gauntlet against the mind’s internal censors. Psychonauts 2 does a lot to clean up the presentation of its core mechanics to better suit game flow in the current age, but that doesn’t stop the team at Double Fine from pushing the boundary to create something still visually fascinating and emblematic of an aesthetic so many people had been waiting to make a comeback.

– Mav

Best Presentation: Inscryption

Runners-up: NEO: The World Ends With You, No More Heroes 3

From the very first time you see a trailer for Inscryption, you’re most likely either immediately hooked or, at the very least, a little bit intrigued. It boasts a unique visual style paired with really exceptional audio design and a score that sets a tone fitting of a game where you’re trapped in a cabin with a madman who’s forcing you to play a card game he made up. It’s not just one element of this Inscryption’s aesthetic that stands out so well, all of it comes together effortlessly to draw you into the mystery and, if you’re an absolute freak (like me), eventually into a strange multiple century spanning ARG.

Almost every little element of Inscryption feels considered. From the large, hard to ignore text backed by the unnaturally synthesized mumblings of each character, the individual tokens carved out of bone dropping next to your playboard, to the velcro-y sounds of hides slowly being ripped off the bodies of animals in the music for The Trapper’s bossfight, every detail helps fit you into this world. Not only is Inscryption successful at employing sound so well, it’s also great in its utilization of a lack of sound. There are so many moments where you’re sitting there quietly, the only sounds being the shuffling of cards on your board, and you’re left with your thoughts, considering your next move. The twang of a folksy guitar in a minor key will kick in and you’re simply left there in the moment, absorbing the space as it’s laid out so carefully in front of you.

Inscryption doesn’t just have a unique visual style, however, it has three. Inscryption’s different acts shift into almost entirely different games tethered together by the same well constructed card game, and each one is a treat to absorb. While its middle chapter is certainly derivative of a lot of similar trading card game… games, it still sticks out with a really solid soundtrack of it’s own including some great remixes of songs you may have already heard, on top of top notch audio cues (the one that plays when you sacrifice a monster is burned into my brain). Even if you don’t play Inscryption, which you absolutely should, I highly recommend at the very least watching some gameplay. You just gotta see this thing.

– Scott

Best Writing: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

Runners-up: Psychonauts 2, Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk

When Natsuko Ishikawa took over writing duties for the main story of Final Fantasy XIV, there was an immediate and incredible increase in quality. While the narratives of Heavensward and Stormblood had been well-received and acclaimed, Shadowbringers took things to an entirely different level that represented not only a push past the surface-level political aesthetics that the game drowned itself in, but also an incredible attention to detail and character work that made a game of various threads and ideas into a grand tapestry where each thread feeds into the next.

Endwalker uses a narrative approach heavily reliant on retroactive foreshadowing, a technique that utilizes the bedrock of what’s come before as set-up for new stories to be built from. New characters are built out of the ideas and inklings established years and years ago in some off-handed comment or tertiary world-building. Old characters are refined and improved to become an ideal version of themselves, with one-note characters like Estinien, the moody dragoon from Heavensward, becoming a crucial and stalwart friend who’s really bad at managing money, and leaves your room by jumping out the window because he’s a freak. The story of Final Fantasy XIV has always been disconnected and patchworked because of its unfortunate conception, but to see it not only be molded into an interesting story, but a rare testament to what long-running games can actually meaningfully do with their overall experiences, is nothing short of incredible.

There’s a line in the song “Answers”, written by the writer of Final Fantasy XIV’s disastrous 1.0 launch and the English localization lead who’s only become more involved over time: “Look to those who walked before, to lead those who walk after.” While “Answers” was initially used as a cool thing to play in the background of a cinematic, and a cool thing to fight series regular Bahamut to, Endwalker actually managed to utilize this song nearly ten years later to reflect the core thesis of its narrative, while representing exactly the path the development team has taken over and over again. They don’t just forget the past, they learn from it, they build off it, and they remember.

– Rose

Best Mechanic: Metroid Dread

Runners-up: Monster Hunter RIse, Chicory

Samus Aran is not known for doing normal things. Most of her power comes from a mix of technological, terrestrial, and chemical mishaps, like if a sentient 8th grade science volcano was asked to save the galaxy on a regular basis. While it’s been a cool trick, the routine has become stale leaving casual players still asking normal questions like, “Why does Samus always start without any powers? Isn’t she supposed to be a legendary fighter? Why is Samus always so powerless before pillaging the ruins of some long-dead planet looking for ancient algae to shove into her arm cannon?” Nintendo has finally allowed the Metroid series to progress forward by letting Samus start with a tool that builds her as a character as well as helps modernize the conservatively-designed series as a whole.

The parry mechanic in Metroid Dread is not only an extremely powerful tool that helps quickly dispose of enemies, but also the special visuals and sounds that go with it are hype as hell, and its use as a ‘bonus life’ against the one-hit-kill EMMI robots make Samus look like a total never-say-die badass. It’s the last piece of Metroid Dread’s puzzle that keeps Samus looking so fluid and strong through her myriad movement options. The parry has grown from something that was a chore to use in Samus Returns for the 3DS to becoming an inextricable part of the Metroid formula! Metroid games are not known for being normal; the most common way to play them is abnormally, by breaking the game’s mechanics and sequencing to some extent. With this parry mechanic, however, there is now a side-scrolling Metroid game that is just as fun to play the normal way as it is with all the skips and breaks the series is known for. It’s such a normal thing, you’d think Samus always had this power inside her!

– Solon

Worst Mechanic: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl

Runners-up: Balan Wonderworld, Emily is Away <3

The Underground in the original Pokemon Diamond and Pearl was already not much of a feature. You could dig up extra evolution stones, fossils, and other assorted knick-knacks, but the best aspect, to me at least, was getting Spiritomb through interactions you had there. Sure, it wasn’t particularly compelling, making you speak to 32 people in the underground before the Pokemon would appear elsewhere, but it was pretty easily cheesed by exiting and entering the Underground over and over, as each visit was considered a separate person. With online connectivity becoming the norm instead of a luxury, you’d think these connections would be made easier, and Spiritomb made a simpler get.

That’s not the case.

Instead, you must now track down 32 separate NPCs in the underground, who spawn at random rates and in even more random locations. There isn’t even an option to speak to other players online, even though you can watch them rush all around you. As the Underground expands while you progress in the overworld, you cannot get Spiritomb until the postgame unless you’re willing to spend hours upon hours resetting spawn points for these NPCs, and even then it’s all up to luck no matter how much of the area is available. The Spiritomb unlocking mechanic is a snapshot of how frustrating Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are, where a simple fix with more modern hindsight is ignored in favor of a baffling “new” concept that makes the game worse to play.

– John

Best Surprise: NEO: The World Ends With You

Runners-up: Hot Wheels Unleashed, Wildermyth

I fail to come up with a word to describe NEO: The World Ends With You that doesn’t just bring me back to “surprising.” Given Square Enix’s recent track record, this game shouldn’t exist, it feels like we should’ve just accepted that tiny bit of representation back in Dream Drop Distance as “good enough.” However, that’s not the only surprise when it comes to the sequel of a fairly beloved DS game from 14 years ago. Gameplay has been revamped to better suit current gen consoles while still maintaining an energy as kinetic as flicking your DS stylus on the bottom screen while fat-thumbing the face buttons to keep a combo up. The music maintains the energy of the original, while also delivering so many new bangers that drive the themes of the series home effortlessly. New protagonists Rindo and Fret do a lot in terms of giving a voice to a new generation of teens who, while constantly online, still echo the loneliness that made Neku equal parts frustrating to witness, but understandable in terms of where that rage came from.

That’s also putting aside the rest of the cast, who bring so much life to the streets of Shibuya! I can go on about each individual aspect of this game but it all serves to highlight the fact I couldn’t have expected a sequel to The World Ends With You. I couldn’t have expected a sequel that happily makes its audience fall in love with new characters, mechanics, visuals, and sounds. I couldn’t have expected this game to leave such an impact on me months after my initial playthrough. NEO: The World Ends With You could have easily been a throwaway sequel that made me look for a new DS and pay more money than I’d like to replay the original. Instead it’s easily one of the best games I’ve played this year and has managed to reignite the series in a way I could never have thought of first listening to Twister all those years ago.

– Mav

The post Game of the Year Awards 2021: Day One appeared first on Gamesline.

They talk about all this weeks important news with Timespliters 2 being in Homefront, the Another Eden gatcha having kernel level anti-cheat garbage, the new The World Ends With You media empire being on the Epic Games Store. The crew also go into Twitch’s new off stream conduct policies, Sony’s obsession with The Last of Us and Naughty Dog properties, and most importantly, Gabe Newell’s life being lived sitting on a yoga ball.

As always you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, and @horngal

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 353: Gabe Newell’s Yoga Balls appeared first on Gamesline.

Mario isn’t the only thing to die, as the PS3, Vita, and PSP stores are going away along with the idea of an in person E3 this year as it’s all going online. Usada Pekora has been thrown into VTuber Jail with a new outfit and she’ll probably be joined by Sonic the Hedgehog now that he’s started to carry a gun.  Disco Elysium: Final Cut also came out with a cool jacket that sold out almost as fast as the Sanrio Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards and the most important piece of news we could ever report on. That’s right Rose, Bloodborne Kart is real.

As always you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @erikamiaou, @scottblah, @Solonface, and @lvmaeparian

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 352: It Was Sonic And Friends That Did It appeared first on Gamesline.

As always you can support us on our patreon, and follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, and @lvmaeparian

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 342: Mario Super Saiyan appeared first on Gamesline.