So, Whoops

That I didn't manage to pull myself away from Drakengard 3 last night to post is pretty much a solid indicator of just how happy I am with the game.  That I can barely even do anything -tonight- is just all the more of that, and I think what we should take away from all of this is that when I can finally talk about Drakengard 3, I will be very, very enthusiastic about it.  Until then, you will have to settle with this one quote from me:

It's fucking awesome.

-Me, in Regards to Drakengard 3

Someone can print that.

Anyway, if you'll allow me one more sojourn into the vast pleasures of the game, to fully savor what it has to offer me, I swear to you that I will eventually condense my enjoyment into text on this screen for you to imbibe, that you might live even a little bit vicariously through it.  In the meantime, I will share with you possibly my favorite song from the game thus far, which I have linked above.  It's called "Prevolt/Amaros" just in case the video gets taken down (or rather, -when- it does) so you'll be able to search it for yourself.  It's a really fast-paced, action-oriented song, which is fair because it's a boss theme, and I just really, really love it.  It gets me pumped and not since, well, probably REVENGEANCE's soundtrack has that happened, and NieR's before it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, once more I go into the beyond!

can you tell I'm excited?  Because I am, because the game is just so good you guys

You guys, You guys!

So, this showed up today.  I'll do impressions and such tomorrow night, but tonight has been and will continue to be celebrating the release of Drakengard 3.  I chalk it up to fate and the universe owing me more than a little bit for me receiving my Collector's Edition a day early.

Take care of yourselves and goodnight!

okay seriously?  Zero's VA is so good

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So, I got an email from Squeenix earlier.

Dear [Mogs],

Thank you for ordering from Square-Enix, Inc. on February 9, 2014. 

The following product(s) have shipped. If you paid by credit card, 

your credit card has now been charged.

Product SKU: 91224 
Product Name: HITMAN TRILOGY HD (PS3) 
Qty Shipped: 1 
Tracking Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Product SKU: 91448 
Product Name: Drakengard 3 Collector's Edition (PS3) 
Qty Shipped: 1 
Tracking Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

[...]

If you have questions about your order, 

please visit: store.na.square-enix.com/orders

Please note: This email message was sent from a 

notification-only address that cannot accept incoming email. 

Please do not reply to this message.

Sincerely, 
Square-Enix, Inc. Customer Service 
store.na.square-enix.com/orders

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  It's happening!

okay, Hitman Trilogy was there to bump the order over $100 for free shipping and also because Blood Money

DRAKENGARD 3 IS BEING LOCALIZED

In a Playstation Blog post, Sakura Minamida did the one thing that I have been hoping for for a while now:  Announced that Drakengard 3 is heading to North America.  Part of me wants to say that it's not surprising, especially after being buoyed a bit last week with that website registration, which is actually a site now, but it is surprising.  It always seemed like one of those "Never going to happen, but wouldn't it be awesome" things, but, hell, that's what this whole year has been like.  Still, this is Squeenix we're talking about, and they're almost on the same level as Sega in the whole dream-killing, terrible decisions game.  God knows we're all damn lucky that Drakengard 3 wasn't a fucking tablet game.

Details at this moment are scarce, really.  The game will be released on North American (and European, I believe) shores sometime within 2014, I'm assuming the latter half of it, and it'll be for PS3.  The above trailer, as you can see, is subtitled instead of dubbed, which, if they were going to keep that way might indicate a Digital-Only release (if you believe KOEI's lies) but obviously the game isn't really in the throes of Localization just yet, so if they're going to dub, they probably haven't even hired Voice Actors yet.  Furthermore suggesting a physical release is the fact that the game is available for pre-order 'exclusively' through the Squeenix Store for $50.  Now, call me crazy, but I don't think Squeenix is crazy enough to take pre-orders this early for a Digital-Only release of a game. 

What this does question, however, is just how accessible the game is going to be.  Perhaps a physical version is only available through them directly, otherwise it's digital-only dub or not?  Or maybe this is just a ploy to gauge interest to determine how much effort needs to go into the game's localization.  Or maybe it's just Squeenix being weird because that's what they do.  I'm not one for internet purchases like this, but it's Fucking Drakengard 3 so of course they're going to get my $50 before the end of the week.  And hell, if the game goes up for pre-order at GameStop at some random point in the future that is 2014, I might just reserve a copy there too.  I'm just fucking excited and happy about this happening that I want to make it worth-while.  Most of all, I just want the damn game that bad.

Now, remember kiddos:

If it does happen?  You better buy the fucking game.  I don't care who you are, I don't care what you want.  If you're looking for a pure action game, I can tell you that this won't be it.  But what it will be is a very particular type of game that has grown amazing over a long-running series.  A particular type of amazing game that I will make you buy.  If you buy the game, that will be the end of it.  I will not look for you, I will not pursue you.  But if you don't, I will look for you.  I will find you.  And I will slam your head against your keyboard until Amazon has ordered a copy for you.
(I won't.  Please just buy the game.)

 It's happening.  Thus, it is on.

really, it's not on but please buy Drakengard 3, I know I tell you guys to buy a lot of games, but especially this one

DO NOT TOY WITH MY EMOTIONS, SQUEENIX

Look.

You guys know that I'm not one to post the most insignificant piece of something and run around screaming and flailing my arms in a comical fashion because I think it's true or anything like that.  I don't like to cling to the faintest hope of something that could be, that has proper time -to- be, because more often than not, that never amounts to anything and it just crushes everyone involved emotionally.  Getting hopes raised up and getting them smashed always hurts and sometimes it just hurts a ridiculous amount.  Which is why I don't do it.  I don't like doing it.  I don't want to do it.

But goddamnit, this is Drakengard 3 we're talking about here.

Basically the story is that some of those internet sleuths out there noticed a new website registration from Squeenix titled "DrakengardGame.com".  It says in very plain detail on the whois site there that Squeenix owns the domain now, but of course if you go to DrakengardGame.com, there is absolutely nothing there.  I am pretty sure that it is legit because I can't see any reason for it to not be legit beyond my pure, unadulterated hope.

It's a weird thing to think about, really.  Trademarking "Drakengard 3" would have been a flag, of course, but companies trademark shit they don't intend to use all the time, so it wouldn't have been a definitive sign.  Website squatting isn't too terrible of a problem though, I don't think, so I don't see the point in registering the website unless you are going to use it.  That does bring up the point that it says "DrakengardGame" instead of "Drakengard 3", however.  But companies do that shit all the time too, have weird ass websites for their normal-named games and whatnot, so that's even more a point in its favor.  Especially because the series has always only been Drakengard over on these shores.  Drakengard has only ever been used specifically for -this series-.  Drakengard is therefore not ambiguous.

It's tiny.  It's a very, very small thing, a kernel of almost miniscule size.  But it's something.  I want to believe that I'll be able to buy a copy of Drakengard 3 from GameStop with the biggest smile on my face and all the wonder of the world in my eyes sometime late next year or so.  I want to believe that Squeenix is going to localize -this- game because they know the very weird niche audience that it has over here that will eat this shit up.  I want to take anything and everything as evidence at face value to point towards the logical conclusion of this goal happening. 

If it does happen?  You better buy the fucking game.  I don't care who you are, I don't care what you want.  If you're looking for a pure action game, I can tell you that this won't be it.  But what it will be is a very particular type of game that has grown amazing over a long-running series.  A particular type of amazing game that I will make you buy.  If you buy the game, that will be the end of it.  I will not look for you, I will not pursue you.  But if you don't, I will look for you.  I will find you.  And I will slam your head against your keyboard until Amazon has ordered a copy for you.

(I won't.  Please just buy the game.)

it's a Taken quote, but you know that already because you're a smart person

Why Should You Be Excited for Drakengard 3?

Some games out there are just kind of a hard sell.  We like them, love them even, even though there are many, many flaws to them.  Many flaws.  Many.  Multiple.  They're not perfect by any stretch, nor can we even say "Oh, yeah, there's -this-, but you can ignore it" because the flaws are big ones.  Drakengard 1 and 2 each have their own which make them particularly hard sells in their own right.

Drakengard 1's combat is archaic, to put it lightly - the entire game about murdering things doesn't actually lend itself well to really getting out there and slaughtering by the tons.  Sure, you'll end up with bodycounts in the hundreds and thousands (Seriously one level in particular you can, oftentimes -do-, end up with a bodycount between 1,000-2,000 enemies) but getting to that point....wasn't that great.  It's unfortunate, really.  Drakengard 2's combat wasn't much better (though some outlets claim it was playable...perhaps I'm a bit biased against it) but it was, apparently, better.  Of course, the entire reason to play Drakengard 1 was for the story which got progressively and exponentially more and more batshit crazy as it went along.  Drakengard 2's story, on the other hand wasn't nearly as good and focused on a cast that was meant to be likeable in contrast to the original's group, yet ended up feeling hollow and annoying at best, going completely counter to point.

Nier, on the other hand, was much, much easier to recommend to folks.  Combat wasn't flashy and amazing, but it was far more capable than the two iterations in the Drakengard series.  Plus, as with Drakengard 1, the story is worth paying attention to, but not because it gets batshit, but because it gets more and more involving, touching and, at times, depressing.  The cast is wonderfully developed as well and remains the only instance in (Action) RPGs where they've introduced a child character that wasn't annoying in every facet of her existence.  Complaints ranged from vapid (as in meritless) - That whole fishing fiasco kerfuffle, whining that the game is ugly, uses too much bloom - to reasonable ones - trying to 100% the game takes forever and is not encouraged, nor worth it, a couple of the areas -are- a bit much, in terms of forced combat and length - but overall are mild enough that, even pitting the litany of them against the pros of the story, the characters and the soundtrack, it's still something we can easily describe as "Worth it" and have it fit a broad enough appeal of the phrase to be correct.

Nier is, however, a decidedly different beast than what Drakengard 1 and 2 were and while it may be the actual progression of that style, I'm not quite sure it will be.  Where Nier had a semi-open world to travel across, Drakengard had levels (Chapters and Verses, rather) that had a set-up for each and every one.  You are in a forest level for this reason, the sea temple for that reason, etc. etc.  It's very constricted, which is something that we've by-and-large out-grown in the games that have come out since.  Not saying that it isn't possible to make each of those levels wonderful so that it's not a problem, just that it's not immediately accessible to people.  Combine with the likelihood of Drakengard 3 following that, with the history of the first and second games and the idea that combat may be merely good at best, it's hard to tell you that Drakengard 3 is a game that will sit alone on a pedestal as a game you should look into, should have excitement for, feel -anything- for.

Yet, that is precisely the reason you likely -should- be excited, should be looking forward to Drakengard 3 for.  Some games have their over-the-top spectacle to fall back on, to be the thing that embeds them in your mind.  We'll all remember Uncharted 2 for that moment when you were inside a building that was physically falling over and God of War 2 where the tutorial was murdering the hell out of the Colossus of Rhodes.  Other games maintain that a tightly-controlled, polished experience will keep you coming back for more and more, and the technical workhorses that are the Call of Duty games (while we may groan, they -are- usually locked to a butter-smooth framerate and tuned to accentuate the shooting) are a good example of this as well given their commercial and critical success, no matter how many people who call themselves 'hardcore' or what have you roll their eyes.

Only a select few games really try to have a story or an experience that will burn itself into your memory.  Games like Heavy Rain do this by making the story personal - the ending you get, considering your actions, is -your- ending from then on, even if you go on to play it again.  Others do this by making the story something truly provocative, intellectually or morally, so that you paint things in other games by your freshly expanded mental toolset.  Games like Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, like Planescape Torment, made particular use of this tactic and because of that, you still hear about them to this day.  While I'm not suggesting Drakengard 3 will be in the same 'hallowed halls' as these games, I -am- suggesting it will likely be special enough to be singled out for a similar reason, as was Nier.  And, in a sense, Drakengard 1, given that it was an experiment in wallowing in Anti-Heroes in a terrible world that only succeeds in getting more and more messed up the further down the rabbit hole you get.

Drakengard 2 was just awful, though.

Drakengard 3 is Officially Official

By officially official, I mean that it has a Japanese Squeenix web page that just so conveniently more or less confirms everything we've found out about the game thus far. This is more or less the 'point of no more news' for a while I would think since this is out there to get initial hype, where in a couple months, there'll be some follow-up and a month or so afterwards again, etc.  You know how the beast operates when it comes to the hype machine and while it won't be working over-time for this game for a lot of people, there are the few, like myself, that will go absolutely froth-at-the-mouth-crazy in the meanwhile whenever something else pops up.  Yet I don't expect anything for a bit, is the point that I was trying to make.  You'll hear it from me if I'm wrong, of course, but for now, let's just cover what we've got.

Some primary things to cover first, of course.  In Japan, the game is only slated for a Playstation 3 release which isn't surprising because PS3's actually sell in Japan unlike the other counterpart of the "HD Twins" as they're often referred to.  (Noted by the 360's inability to crack 1,000 sales last week and definitely not the first time)  In some localization cases, I would suggest that there might be a 360 version outside of Japan, but that's a hard one to count on, really.  Most critics will say that the game probably won't be localized and, unfortunately, there's a chance of that because it's Squeenix and Squeenix is a factory of dream-crushing and terrible games that -do- get localized for whatever stupid reason. 

However, I'm of the opinion that it -will- be localized because it makes perfect sense to do so...in that it -doesn't- make sense at all to do it.  Drag-On Dragoon 3 will release in the tail-end of 2013 for Japan, right around when the PS4 hits that will not be able to play PS3 games...like Drag-On Dragoon 3.  Not a great time for what is, by all accounts, a niche title, to get released.  Localization tacks on at least half a year, I'd assume, so it would come out in North America mid-2014 when the PS4 will likely be in the tepid "Okay, but where are the games?" phase that all new consoles go through which means, for all intents and purposes, that it's probably a better time for release, actually.  People will be picking up PS3's because the PS4 isn't up to snuff yet, but they've got an itch to scratch anyway, etc. etc.  However, it's going to be a budget thing - so a PS3-only release is likely in my head at least.  Which means it is entirely possible that Squeenix will go full-bore and make a 360 version as well.  It's hard to pin down.

As previously stated, the 'Cavia Dream Team' will be working on the game, but under the banner of Access Games, instead of a Squeenix subsidiary or, heaven forbid, a re-formed Cavia.  Because why would we have nice things, Squeenix?  If you're thinking to yourself, "Self, where have I heard of Access Games before?", and haven't gone off to check it through Google or Wikipedia, then allow me to make it easy for you.  Access Games is the developer behind a few niche titles, but Deadily Premonition is likely chief above them all for its cult following and over-the-top absurdity in the ranks of the classic Twin Peaks, since it was...kind of modeled after the show.  It's also the developer that SWERY calls home; SWERY, of course, being the writer and director of the mentioned Deadly Premonition, as well as the writer for the Lords of Arcana/Apocalypse games for PSP (with the latter getting a Vita version eventually).  SWERY is also a pretty righteous dude in his own right and is an absolute joy to follow on Twitter.  (You probably should.)

With the basics out of the way, however, let's get down to the juicy bits, yes?  This is the main character, Zero.  I'm sure I don't have to say a lot about Zero after you take a look at her, but let's just set matters straight.  Yes, that is a metal prosthetic left arm, not a gauntlet, nor armor or anything like that.  Yes, a flower is growing out of her left eye.  No, she's not modestly dressed, nor will anything about her be modest - it's been suggested that Zero is...liberal and very in-touch with her sexuality, let's say, and isn't afraid to let it be known.  Knowing Cavia, it'll be less 'easy' and more 'aggressive, border-line predator' which kind of crosses the line twice to go back into 'yeah, that's okay' territory.  Finally, yes, that is a pretty awesome-looking sword she's got, very similar to other weapons in Drakengard/NieR, and no, she is nowhere near afraid to use it.  Come on, this is a Cavia game - be grateful it's not constantly dripping blood or always disemboweling somebody.

Oh, yeah, about that.  That's a good segue into some of the game mechanics since, well, they do introduce elements of that.  As you can tell from these screenshots, the game is going to be very bloody and, as suggested with the second screenshot there (which, I'm certainly hoping isn't indicative of the final graphics build - at this point, it honestly can't be), some blood will be persistent.  One of the key mechanics -is- getting all bloody from slaughtering your enemies, actually.  Zero is a Songstress, or someone who draws magical power from song, and her magical ability actually grows more and more powerful as she is covered in the blood of her enemies.  No, I am not kidding.  Yes, it is, indeed, metal as fuck.  Pretty....pretty literally, actually, given some of the associations with the metal genre.

That, honestly, is the bulk of the information we have about Drag-On Dragoon 3/Drakengard 3.  While there's another character, One, who is Zero's much more conservative and innocent sister.  And...just happens to have glowing red eyes like a certain other blonde girl in the previous two games.  As in Drakengard 1 and 2, Zero has a Dragon companion, who is featured in some of the art and screenshots, specifically here and here, but doesn't have a specific character page just yet.  In what I can only assume is an assurance of an American localization, the dragon is White, whereas the previous dragons were Red and Blue for Drakengard 1 and 2 respectively.  Let me dream, okay?  Until we get more information, pretty much all I have are dreams, but, well, all I had were dreams before it was announced as well.  So perhaps there -is- something to them!

Drakengard 3 is Being Made, I Could Not Be Happier

Do you have that one game in your head, the game that uses ideas, characters or a world that already exists, and is simply some form of that?  Generally this is a "I wish there was a sequel" idea, like a lot of people pine for Mirror's Edge 2, Psychonauts 2 and the like.  I imagine asking if you have one of those is a little bit rhetorical - I figure we all have those.

For me?  I'd always held the possibility of a Drakengard 3 close.  While an almost impossible thing to consider, given that I don't think the series ever really had much traction -anywhere-, I still couldn't help it.  And even with the dissolving of Cavia, I wished, I hoped there was still some sort of faint glimmer of possibility.  Just let the Cavia dudes do what they do, that's all I wanted.

Every now and then, it happens.  You don't know why, you don't know how, but it does, and it is pretty much one of the best feelings.  You want these things because you think they're impossibilities, so to see them given life is almost surreal, but it's entirely pleasant.  Of course, the news that it gets better helps as well.  News like the entire team behind Drakengard 1/Nier are getting back together for this is something that almost seems to elevate the impossibility to an entire new tier, forgetting that that's nonsensical.  Seeing that Yoko Taro was the glaring thing missing from Drakengard 2, and given how it turned out, while he was present for Drakengard 1 and Nier, it's not a small comfort that he's directing this.  It's almost the perfect thing to assuage any and all early fears.

There are some slight details leaking out already, but I would like to wait until there's a bit more so I can expound on them fully, when I'm confident that we won't get a whole new stream of information directly after I present the initial bits.  For now, I just want to sort of savor the reality of the situation here.  Drakengard 3 is a reality and it's already looking pretty damn sweet from what's been leaked.

Things just keep looking up, folks.

Why Won't They Make These - Alternate Canon Games

Whenever I use the term 'alternate canon', people seem to have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, even though it's sort of a self-explanatory concept.  Perhaps I'm using the wrong term, or perhaps it's a symptom of what I'm expressing here tonight in that not enough games out there properly utilize the idea.  Which, honestly kind of surprises me since not only is it a very versatile prospect by its own nature, but also because it allows creativity to sort of go wild since, well, if it goes off-rails "hey, it's not actually canon".  Perhaps I'm simply under-estimating just how attached people can get to the established and the expectations that come with that, but at the same time, alternate canon is something that celebrates the first part, while also taking the second into consideration, in a sense.

I suppose I should explain just what I mean when I say "Alternate Canon", since it's going to be a thing I bring up a lot in the post here tonight.  "Alternate Canon" is a game wherein it takes something established and drives it into a different direction than what you might expect.  Not a reboot, not a re-imaging, not 'a spiritual successor' or any of those types of things.  Just a story where something drastic happens that causes the established canon to forge a new route that is its own story and not necessarily that of the actual story on which it started from.  Pictured above is Yakuza:  Dead Souls which is the quintessential example that I can think of for this type of thing.

Yakuza:  Dead Souls takes place a year after Yakuza 4 resolves (I believe, that's kind of Sega's thing with the Yakuza games) and introduces a zombie epidemic to the otherwise simple, crime-ridden streets of Kamurocho.  It's all done in a way that, well, actually fits the series staples of story-telling and the already-established characters of the Yakuza 'world' as it were, react as only they could to the whole situation.  It is, in every sense of the word, a continuation of the established canon except for the part where zombies destroy Kamurocho and everyone has to scramble because of it and a lot of people die.  This is kind of obvious, but the existence of Yakuza 5 with a not-destroyed Kamurocho is proof enough that Yakuza still has an existing canon that runs directly into Yakuza 5, but Dead Souls sort of runs parallel along 5 now, as it is -also- a sequel to 4.

Let's take a look at Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE.  It is a direct continuation of Metal Gear Solid 4 which is a direct continuation of the rest of the Metal Gear games.  Even though REVENGEANCE itself doesn't exactly take a lot from the rest of the series, what it does take is rather undeniable and it is, of course, canon.  Let's all forget for a moment that we think we know what Metal Gear Solid 5 is going to be and pretend that Metal Gear Solid 5 takes place directly after 4.  In it, we play as Raiden who has opted out of his cyborg enhancements to simple robot prosthetics that bind to a sneaking suit.  In a return to form, this game would then be stealth-focused and take place in the events following 4's ending.  Now, this will not happen, nor should it, but I introduced it as an idea for a very deliberate reason.

If the above played out, we would then have two established Raidens, basically, where they are both part of Metal Gear Solid canon.  Being that the new game has '5' at the end, it would be labeled as official canon where REVENGEANCE would then be titled incorrectly as a spin-off.  Only, in my little fantasy world, Metal Gear Rising 2:  REVENGEANCE HARDER is also announced, continuing after the events of the REVENGEANCE which is, by extension, a continuation of Metal Gear Solid canon.  Therefore, we now have two storylines.  Alternate canon.  This is the kind of thing I'm talking about and, aside from the fact that MGS5 will probably be a lot cooler than a game where you play Sneaking Raiden again, it's not a bad situation to imagine.

I am deliberately not using the word 'spin-off' here because spin-off has something of a negative connotation when you're talking about story-related matters.  When you talk about a spin-off to someone, you say "It's just a spin-off, don't worry about the story", which immediately dismisses it.  Going back to Metal Gear for a moment with Ac!d, which is very much a spin-off and not Alternate Canon, since Snake in it is a very, very different character.  Ac!d's story is then self-contained and only important to both Ac!d games, which is why it's a spin-off.  They are very, very different things, even well-outside the realm of pedantry.

Another not quite perfect example would be the announced "Tyranny of King Washington" DLC for Assassin's Creed 3.  From what I've been lead to believe, not only does the mini-story tell of an entirely different historic setting in which George Washington doesn't go along with the whole "President" idea and instead becomes King of America, but it takes a different approach with the actual Assassin's Creed story.  While using, presumably, the same build-up, the DLC tells of a Connor who does not join the Assassin order, yet history as we know it remains more or less unchanged....until Washington crowns himself King.  As a Warrior of his tribe, not an Assassin, Connor rises up with the goal of overthrowing the tyrant King of America.  While I'm loathe to call it a continuation of AC3 since, apparently, AC3 just didn't happen for the events of The Tyranny of King Washington to take place, it runs along a lot of the same lines, so I'm pretty sure you're getting where I'm coming from.

While this is a bit spoiler-y, it is also the best example of just what I'm talking about, so I unfortunately have to bring it up, but in a way that will spoil as little as possible.  Now, a search of this blog will turn up the fact that I really really like Drakengard.  A secondary search of this blog will also turn up the fact that I really really really like Nier.  Now, not only are these two games made by the same developer (Now-Defunct Cavia, RIP) with the same director, which is apparently -very- important, but Nier is actually a sequel to Drakengard.  Now, notice that I said 'a sequel'.  Remind yourselves, for the moment, that Drakengard 2 is a thing that exists and is, also, a sequel to Drakengard, as the 2 would suggest.  How is this possible, you might wonder.

Drakengard, in a sense, has two different story-lines that are covered over five different endings.  Ending A is the 'canon' ending from which the unholiness that Drakengard 2 (with a different director) spawned from, whereas Endings B-E unfold in an entirely different way that sort of build off of each other while also ending up quite different in their own rights.  Essentially, the characters, the story bits that don't have anything to do with the -specifics- of Endings B, C and D, are all canon to Ending E.  Where Drakengard 2 is a sequel to Ending A, Nier is a sequel to Ending E.  It's not said -quite- so explicitly in the game, and requires a little dot-connecting, but it -is- intended, and it -is- 'canon'.  So, in effect, Drakengard is my perfect example of "Alternate Canon" which is kind of what this whole thing was about.  Being that Nier was friggin' fantastic, it sort of shows that the idea has merit of use.

While I don't think it's ever really going to become a thing that's done a lot, I -would- like to exist in a world where I can come up with more than two and a half examples of Alternate Canon as I see it.  It might have a too-strict set of guidelines, and it's hard to actually support two storylines in a single franchise, but when such a thing is executed well, it's phenomenal.  If you need an example of that, perhaps you really need to re-introduce yourself to Legacy of Kain.  Immediately.  It's an entirely different thing than what I've been talking about all night, but it does that whole 'two storylines' thing wonderfully and is similarly something that I'm bewildered hasn't become a thing in the time since.  That, however, is a subject for a different night.

Drakerider Trademark Filed by Squeenix

So, Siliconera has informed me (and everyone else that visits them, of course) that Squeenix has put in a trademark for two things:  Drakerider and Blood of Chaos which might be for the same thing or for two different things, it's not really certain.  Now, more or less, you see stuff like that, and have no idea what to expect since it's obviously not the same name of an existing IP or anything, but Squeenix -has- published two games that deal with riding dragons before (as is inferred by the title of Drakerider, literally rider of drakes aka dragons) and as you know by now, I am all over that shit.  The above pictured Drakengard is something I've gone on and on about for several posts, so obviously I am very very excited for what this might bring.  Yet, at the same time, I am also very very worried at the prospect of it all since if it were the fabled continuation of the Drakengard series in some fashion, who knows what the quality is going to be like?

Drakengard the first was a terribly flawed game as far as actual gameplay goes, but the story was absolutely fantastic for as far as it was willing to go, which was likely a lot farther than most people wanted to go while playing it.  Drakengard 2 was absolutely terrible because it was a by-the-numbers anime-RPG-bullshit-wannabe that had one single good thing going for it that they proceeded to piss away over the course of the actual game itself.  Then you have Nier which is included in the franchise despite a notable lack of dragons and the riding thereof which was absolutely fantastic.  It's sporadic, is the point I'm trying to make and while I'm not trying to point fingers here, Drakengard and Nier both had the same Director in Yoko Taro where Drakengard 2's director was Akira Yasui whose involvement in Drakengard prior to being the director of the sequel was being the Chief Designer of Drakengard.  Quite a big jump he got to make and I'm kind of prepared to say that maybe he wasn't quite ready for it.  Just possibly.

I do think Yoko Taro is still with Squeenix, even after the whole of the nonsense that happened with Cavia in being absorbed by this developer who became this one where some of the team scattered or somesuch, but I also believe he's fairly busy with a Dragon Quest related project.  So whether they'd be willing to pull him off that and give him the reigns to yet another installment of insanity is in question, and even if they do, it's hard telling if that will indicate success right off.  Yet in the perfect scenario I've got going in my mind here is that this is what's going to happen, and a PS3 and/or Vita project will come of it and it will be awesome and Caim will be in it and kill a ton of dudes and and and....

Of course, perfect scenarios pretty much never happen, so I'm forced to look at the other theory in play here.  Blood of Bahamut is apparently a thing, which I have never heard of, and it's an Action RPG that was also published by Squeenix for the DS in 2009.  I probably didn't know of it because it never made its way over here in the states, despite Ignition Software offering to localize it for Squeenix because Squeenix is just dumb, I guess.  Were it a Wii game, I could understand, but the DS doesn't have the sort of exaggerated split between First and Third party purchases that I know of, so it's not like the game didn't have a chance of doing well, but I guess they didn't think it did.  Regardless, Blood of Bahamut, understandably, had dragons in it as well, so assuming that both Drakerider and Blood of Chaos are Trademarked for a sequel to Blood of Bahamut is not only possible, it's likely the -more- possible option here.  I'd imagine this project would be for the 3DS rather than the DS, obviously, and a lot of emphasis would be put on the giant monsters popping out in Threeeee Deeeeee and such, and a localization could apparently be questionable.

Still, there's a chance that the two terms could be for separate things and even if they're not I guess that wouldn't be such a bad thing.  I'd prefer no more Drakengard series games over another terrible one any day, and the worry of whether another game would come out terrible would likely drive me mad, but with that way lies the possibility of yet another fantastic game.  Which is the other part that would drive me batty; sitting by through the entire development, fervently scanning for any such update on its progress or indication of quality and micro-analyzing it all....Yeah.  We'll just have to see what turns up out of all this.  It could be one game, could be two, and said games could be terrible, amazing, and/or not even released over here, so it's a bit silly trying to work up a whole lot of excitement or speculation either way.

Character Spotlight: Caim (Drakengard Series) Part 2

Once again, I warn that this post contains Drakengard Spoilers as well as Nier Spoilers (for real this time, I -really- don't think anything was spoiled about Nier in the last post) so if you have not consulted the proper source material for either game, possibly give this post a little skip-over.  With any luck, I'll do an extra post afterwards with general news for anyone who's skipped out on these but wants to read something regardless.  Once again, there is a page break for your convenience.

Character Spotlight: Caim (Drakengard Series)

Something to be noted before I start at it, there's going to be Drakengard Spoilers as well as possibly Nier Spoilers in this post, and as I've said in the past, the best way to experience the former is with this Screenshot LP whereas the best way to experience the latter is to buy it and play it.  Fully.  All four endings.  So if you've not done either, maybe skip this post until you have.  I've even inserted a page break for your convenience, much like I did with the spoiler-heavy post about inFamous 2 I made a while back.

A Look Back - Drakengard

Drakengard is one of those games where I'm going to gush about it for quite a few paragraphs here, but I need you to understand here and now that it is actually kind of a not good game.  In that the actual gameplay of it is like a Dynasty Warriors game (well, the ground portions), but 100x more stiff and wooden and just...not fun.  As a general statement of course, I had fun with it, but my enjoyment isn't a statement of fact and my warning that you will likely not have fun playing it should be enough.  So, how is it that I can sit here and claim that there is something to praise about this game, when in fact I have just said the game is not that good?  Easily.

You see, much like you don't go to an action movie expecting a deep, involved plot, you shouldn't go into Drakengard expecting good gameplay; instead, you should simply go into it expecting to have one of the most....unique story experiences any game around can offer.  It's hard to say much without spoiling the game, and I cannot promise that I won't do that, but if I'm going to, I will let you know first obviously.  But something that can be said for the game without spoiling too much is that it has five different endings, each one more insane than the last.  And the way it's handled is quite interesting, really.

Drakengard's story takes place over chapters and verses, not unlike a book, and once you clear the first ending, new verses open up that eventually lead into new chapters that take the game in entirely different directions.  Believe me, when I say entirely different directions, I mean entirely different directions.  Like, things that make you go "What the Christ?!" loudly and unapologetically.  But not in the traditional "Let's throw shit against a wall and see what sticks", but in a way that's....hard to explain, really.  It's very deliberate and while it doesn't make sense, it does.  Again, this is a lot of talking out of both sides of my mouth here, but short of spoiling the game, that's about all I can do.  I think I'll just do a section here in a few paragraphs about it.

On the same level of the story are the characters which, in stark contrast of 99% of the games out there, are in fact designed to be the absolute worst types of people.  And not in the campy sort of "Haha, he's a killer, but it's okay because he has a rogueish grin" or anything of that sort.  Just in the "These are the worst types of people in the world, yet they're trying to save it because they're not wimps" way.

Take our main character Caim, for example.  At the start of the game, Caim's goal is simply to protect his sister Furiae, who possesses (or rather, -is-) the Goddess Seal, one of the six seals that keeps the world together, from the "Empire" who has gone to war with, essentially, the rest of the world who bands together to form the "Union".  Seems fairly standard, right?  Well, it starts getting a little more involved when you realize (almost instantaneously) that Caim's parents were murdered by an Empire's Dragon, so his fighting against the Empire might not be, and in fact isn't, so altruistic.  He hates the Empire so much that, after being dealt an assuredly mortal wound in a battle with the Empire, he decides to enter into a Pact with a dragon that the Union had managed to capture during the battle. Being a non-Empire dragon doesn't make it any better, as Caim still hates Dragons as a whole (who could blame him), but his need for blood was greater than his hatred of the beasts.

This is where I need to stop and explain the principle behind "Pacts" since they are a central focus of the game.  A Pact, in Drakengard world, is when a human and a beast merge their life force into one for any number of reasons, whether they be that the two are friends or that they're both trying to avoid death.  The latter being Caim and the Red Dragon's reason.  Upon entering a pact, both become bound to one another in such a way that, should one perish, the other will as well.  They also gain the ability to speak to one another telepathically, and on occasion, hear the telepathic conversations of other pact-partners.  Of course, there's a downside (as if the whole 'one life' thing wasn't enough of one) where the Human in the deal pays what is known as a "Pact Price".  It's different for everyone, and varies by the person and the pact-beast, but some notable examples through the game are:  Caim loses his ability to speak, another party member loses his ability to see, and a third party member loses her ability to conceive.  (Also, possibly her sanity.)

As I stated, through the Pact, Caim loses his ability to speak (shown by the pact-mark on his tongue, every pact price has a mark) but gains strength, not only in being healed but in having a new Dragon ally, reluctant as she might be.  Now, able to take it to the Empire harder than ever before, that is exactly what Caim does.  Sure, you end up learning their true motives and the like, but the most important part to Caim is that he burns the Empire alive.  And does he ever.

One of the mainstays of the game is that you'll collect an entire arsenal of new weapons to stab, slice and otherwise maim any Empire soldier, beast or....thing that looks at you funny.  And while this is fairly standard, what makes it so nice in Drakengard is that each weapon has a story attached to it that you unlock as you power it up more and more.  Weapons in Drakengard "Level Up" so to speak, after set numbers of kills.  With the level up, the weapon A) Changes in appearance, B) Gets Stronger (usually), and C) Opens up a new paragraph of the story.  (Each weapon only has four levels, which is worth mentioning, so the stories are ~four paragraphs long.  Just enough to be a neat or, in some cases less neat tale.  And they get worse than that.)

The actual gameplay of the game, as I've mentioned a few times, is nothing really to write home about.  The weapons all have their own...'combos' which are, again, akin to Dynasty Warriors and other such hack-n-slash games, but is nowhere near fluid or, really, 'fun'.  At its best, it's tolerable, but at its worst it becomes what can be called with no exaggeration, "a slog", which is unfortunate really.  It does get slightly better, of course, with Dragon-back combat, which takes two forms.  In aerial missions, you have several flying targets and the Dragon controls more like it's in a Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon game than what you'd expect.  You have an aiming reticule, and the dragon has two forms of fireballs:  One standard that you can fire semi-normally, or you can charge that to lock-on to a target and launch several smaller fireballs at it.  The other form of Dragon-back combat is when you can simply jump on the dragon on a normal ground mission and burninate all your foes (provided they don't have a magical shield).  While fun, it does completely neglect your weapons and eventually just feels like you're cheapening yourself out of wholesale slaughter.

It's easy for someone to look at the game and come to the (wrong) conclusion that the game is just being Grim-dark for Grim-dark's sake.  It's not, though, not at all, and there's really not an easy way to say it to you so that you'll know it for true other than just trying to assure you that the game has actual, tangible depth in the story, and it's really not that heavy-handed or poorly done.  And I really mean this; it's easy for me to try and assure you that it's a worthy game since it's a game that is one of my favorites, but I already warned you away from playing it, so there's nothing for me to lose here.

Indeed, the best way, I think, so experience the depths of batshit crazy that Drakengard dips into is by reading the wonderful Screenshot Let's Play of the game by The Dark Id.  He's quick to point out the game's flaws, which are numerous, but he also does a fantastic job of letting the game speak for itself when necessary, even going so far as to let us know some of the details that are exceedingly toned down for the Non-Japan release of the game.  Interestingly enough, he then goes on to do Nier (which I advise you heavily against reading until you yourself have played the game, ironically enough) and Drakengard 2 (which he claimed he wasn't going to do, going so far as to do a whole update at the end of Drakengard to spoil everything about the ill-gotten sequel) which are equally entertaining in their own ways.

I have a lot of fond memories with the game, as well as a lot of not-so fond memories.  One of the latter being that I spent two years trying to beat the last boss of the game.  I don't mean that in the cutesy "Tee-hee, it too me forever" way, I mean that every now and then over the course of TWO YEARS, I put in Drakengard and tried to beat the very last boss, which was jarring not only in setting, but in the fact that it turned into an entirely different game.  Where Drakengard was a Hack-N-Slash, the final boss was....a rhythm game.  Yes, you read that right, and not only was it a rhythm game, but a rhythm game born from the deepest depths of Hell, intent on stomping you over and over until you were its bitch.

The result was possibly one of the most infamous "Trollings" a developer and/or a game has ever delivered unto a player, and again, I won't spoil it for you, but it is, in fact, hilarious.  Whether it was the fact that I had finally beaten it put me in a state of such advanced euphoria that I laughed it off, or because it's genuinely a goddamn good trolling, I could do nothing for ten minutes after finally completely beating Drakengard but laugh and laugh and laugh.

And the truly magnificent part of it, is that that ending is directly related to Nier, which as you may know is one of my other favorite games.  I can't say how, and you might know already, but it's an amazing feat that I can only applaud and appreciate, and it makes the whole experience of both games that much better.

So while Drakengard is definitely a flawed game, to me it's an important one, since it really actually does things with its story and goes places other games dare not go in a way that most games would do nowhere near as well as Drakengard managed.  And that's why I look back on it fondly.