Introduction
In 2018, most people would have probably considered the Square Enix Press Conference as one of the worst ones of that E3. After the 2018 conference I did not feel like it was a great conference. Would Square Enix have a better showing this year? Let us see.
Announcements
I have to admit that I really liked the opening of the press conference. They had a back splash with New Game, Continue or Remake. Then the animation chose Remake. I thought that this would be the theme of the night but they never went back to that graphic again which is a bummer. That would have been a great theme.
Final Fantasy VII
I have to admit that since the original games on the NES, I never got into this series. Probably because I always found there were too many games. However, the fans that love the series, are super fans. They have been fans since they were small little boys and girls and anything with this franchise they will go nuts.
This title will be released on March 3rd, 2020 and the story will focus on Midgar. The game will take 2 Blu-Ray discs. I guess most people will download the title. Parts of the demo were outlining how the fighting mechanics would work and it seems like a straight forward implementation to me.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Trailer
Final Fantasy VIII
This was just an announcement about how this title is getting the remake love. It will be released on XBOX One, Switch, Playstation 4 and PC later this year. I do not remember an actual date being mentioned.
Final Fantasy VIII Trailer
Romancing SaGa 3 and SaGa: Scarlet Grace
Staying with the theme of remakes, this is another game that is getting redone. This classic Super Famicom game was the 6th game in the series and will be available on a multitude of platforms including, Playstation 4, Vita, Switch, PC, Xbox One, iOS, and Android.
SaGa: Scarlet Grace
This title was released on the PS Vita and it will be ported over to various other systems. It will be released on Switch, PS4, Steam, iOS, and Android.
Romancing Saga 3 and SaGa: Scarlet Grace Trailer
Outriders
This game comes to us from the creators of Gears of War: Judgement and Bulletstorm. I know that the first sequences are there to show you how gorgeous the game is and it did not disappoint. The first moments looked awesome. I especially liked the eyes of the woman in the clip when the light first appears. On the surface from the little that we did see it looks like a Wolfenstein meets the Sci-fi aspects of Doom. It has guns, action and big enemies. I am curious as to how this will play.
The tentative date for this title is Summer 2020. I have a feeling this will be pushed until Winter 2021 (just my opinion). Many games of this type rarely come out on time, which is fine with me. If it is to improve the product, I am all for it. It will also be released on XBOX One, Playstation 4 and PC.
Outriders Trailer
Oninaki
I will be honest, I am not a big fan of this series but it does look really good though. Unfortunately, this is not game for me. The good news is that the release date is very near. It will be released August 22nd, 2019.
Oninaki Trailer
War of the Visions
Mobile game that is not coming out anytime soon. Basically this is just to announce that they are working on it. On the hype train for me, this is a -3. I have not played a mobile game that is worth the money so far. So I have no interest for this.
War of the Visions Trailer
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition
If you did not have enough Final Fantasy news, well here is some more. It will be out this winter. So it is not clear if it will be December of this year or early 2020. This will be playable on all major consoles with the exception of XBOX.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition Trailer
The Last Renmant
This was a game that has already been released on the Playstation 4. However, it will be coming on the Switch as early as now. This looks like a game that would fit in, right at home on the Switch. I can see playing this on the fly. Good announcement.
The Last Remnant Trailer
Kingdom Hearts III - Re:Mind
This was leaked the week prior and was not a surprise. The trailer was weird. All you heard was music but no sounds from within the game. There were only subtitles. Not sure what the thinking was there but it felt off to me. See for yourself and let me know how you think about it.
Kingdom Hearts III - Re:Mind Trailer
Marvel's Avengers
So this was for me the biggest announcement of this press conference. This has been teased since last year and we have not seen or heard much from Square Enix since. From what I can gather from the trailer is that you will be able to play one of 5 characters (Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and Iron Man). The gameplay seems to be good and close to the same type of gameplay found in the Spiderman game on Playstation 4. You will have a main story line with side quests to add extra hours.
There will be an online co-op mode.
Unfortunately the trailer only uses the in-game engine to build the sequences and there is no real gameplay footage. This is a little disappointing for me.
The tentative release date for this is May 15th, 2020. The game will be released XBOX One, Playstation 4, PC and Google Stadia.
Marvel's Avengers Trailer
Bottomline
What did I think of this particular conference?
I think that they did an ok job. D not get me wrong. There was a lot of stuff here but for the most part I was not blown away by these announcements.
The Final Fantasy stuff just does not appeal to me personally. I know there are legion of fans out there, but I am just not into that world at all and that is just fine. Although I would also say that even hardcore Final Fantasy fans would not care about the mobile offerings. Then again I could be wrong on that.
Outriders was a nice surprise for me. It seems like a game that I could enjoy. Like I mentioned above, it has hints of Wolfenstein with a Sci-fi twist. This could be very interesting and I enjoyed the trailer for this.
Having looked at The Last Remnant, I would be interested in playing it on the Nintendo Switch. It looks like it would be fun to play on the fly. This is one of the few games that I went in thinking that it would be just another game. I am glad that I was pleasantly surprised.
The Marvel's Avengers game looks great. Looks like they are going to be doing this right. I saw somewhere that the extra content like characters will be free and loot boxes will be at a minimum. That is good to hear.
One of the main complaints that I saw online is that the character models do not look like the movie. To them I say, who cares. It is better this way. It distances itself from the movies and they can do their own thing. I do not mind at all, especially if the gameplay is good.
The trailer that I was the most disappointed with was Kingdom Hearts III: Re: Mind. I am honest that I was never a big fan of the series but that trailer did nothing to sway me to play it. If I go according to the trailer, the game is just music with no sound effects. I know this is not true, but that is the impression that it gave. Just seemed off to me.
In the end, did I like it? Other than a few announcements, this could have been a press release. There was no entertainment value on stage for most of the presser. Having people that most people do not have a clue who they are, announcing stuff is just not worth the price of admission. Unfortunately, this is the case every year. Most showcases are not that great and seems the trend has continued this year. If I paid money to see this, even as a huge fan I would be disappointed.
What did you think? What did you think of the games announced? Let us know.
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