Yes, it's that time of year again. With E3 less than a week away, it's time to dust off that crappy magic 8 ball that never works, and make some guesses about RPGs. Some educated, some speculatory, and some just off the top of my head .I should warn you before diving in that my guesses this year feel a little more bitter than usual. This may be due to a lackluster showing at last year's E3 and TGS, or it may be due to the fact that the RPG scene is currently looking comparatively dry right now. Or I could have just woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. (It's probably some sort of combination of all of the above.)
So, if you're feeling a little sensitive about your favorite console/company/franchise today, you might want to put off reading my predictions for a while. I would hate for you to get your knickers in a knot over my random guesses.
As usual, I have limited myself to 10 predictions to keep things flowing smoothly. Here's how each prediction breaks down:
10 – Almost Guaranteed
9 – Incredibly Likely
8 – Very Likely
7 – Likely
6 – Foreseeable
5 – Possible
4 – Might be Possible
3 – Unlikely
2 – Probably Not
1 – In My Dreams
So without further ado, here are my 10 best guesses for E3 2009:
10 – Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Dragon Quest IX are, of course, not present at E3
If Final Fantasy Versus XIII taking home last year’s Vapourware Award didn’t tip you off, I have very little faith that this game is anywhere near being finished. Its chances at appearing at E3, where having stuff for the press to get their hands on is high priority for most companies, are near zilch. And then there’s Dragon Quest IX, which I won’t even get started on. Hey, at least Square Enix knows they are taking too damn long with this stuff.
9 – White Knight Chronicles playable at the show, but barely mentioned in Sony’s press conference, if at all
Let’s face some hard facts: Sony of America doesn’t really care about any RPG that isn’t called Final Fantasy, even if they are publishing it. Sure, Sony of Japan has had some great times with stuff like Legend of Dragoon, Wild ARMs, Dark Cloud, Okage, and several others. Unfortunately, that hasn’t really transferred over on our side of the pacific, especially recently, where modern Sony is seemingly only concerned with Killzone, SingStar, and Buzz.
That said, White Knight Chronicles is apparently coming over from them sometime this year, so I would be very surprised if it wasn’t playable somewhere. Just don’t expect Sony to be proud of it. They’ll be too busy telling us why their other games are all coming out next year, but 2009 is the year of the PS3.
8 – Magna Carta II gets a solid release date, while the majority of the press ignores it for more shooters
Similar to last year’s Tales of Vesperia, Namco Bandai is going to be showing off the upcoming Magna Carta II, pleading with you to care about JRPGs. They will have playable stations, press materials, and will even announce the game’s official North American release date. And yet most in attendance will be much more interested in playing Two Buff Guys with Guns Save Earth from Aliens Part 7.
7 – Front Mission Evolved announced for Xbox 360, fails to change anyone’s opinion of Front Mission
There have been some rumblings around the internet that Square Enix is preparing a new Front Mission title for the Xbox 360, and it seems likely that E3 will be the venue to pull the curtains back on that announcement. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I have never liked any of the Front Mission games. They just, I don’t know, weren’t fun. I hope this new title changes my mind about the series, but somehow, I doubt it.
6 – Mario & Luigi RPG 3 announced for North America, Nintendo believes that the hardcore should now be satisfied
Even the hardest of the hardcore Nintendo fanboys have to admit that Nintendo is sort of out-of-touch with the “hardcore” gamer lately. We ask for Zelda, we get Spirit Tracks. We ask for Fatal Frame or Day of Crisis, we get Wii Music and Wii Sports 2. Maybe it’s about time we realised that Nintendo doesn’t actually care about us all that much anymore. After all, we aren’t the ones wallpapering their office with money. Our moms, grandparents, and little sisters are. So out of all of those sweet Nintendo of Japan published RPGs that we aren’t getting, Nintendo of America might – and I emphasize might – be willing to let us have Mario & Luigi RPG 3. Because, y’know, it’s got Mario and all his lovable friends in it. Y’know, it doesn’t actually play very much like an RPG, which only nerds and otaku play. America safe! Thanks, Nintendo! You really have us dumb North Americans figured out, don’t you?
5 – Microsoft unveils new Mistwalker action-RPG
We know Mistwalker is working on a new action-heavy RPG. We know Sakaguchi plans on announcing it this year. We know that the game appears to have seamless transitions between FMV and gameplay. We know that Fujisaka is handling the art direction, implicating a more mature theme. We know that he has spoken about all of this recently. So, the biggest question really should be when. E3 seems like a good time if Microsoft is going to wow us with new exclusives, which they better start doing soon if they hope to be relevant by the end of the year (as their current state is depressingly devoid of, well, anything). All I know is I want MORE 360 MISTWALKER!
4 – Tales of Graces announced for North America for early next year
Namco Bandai is notoriously hit-and-miss with which Tales of titles it brings to North America. For instance, why Tales of the World for PSP and not Tales of Innocence? There’s not always a lot of logic behind some of the choices. That said, Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Symphonia 2 received some real love last year, with ToV even hitting North America mere weeks after its Japanese release. Namdai has registered the Tales of Graces trademark here in North America already, giving a significant boost to the likelihood of the game seeing English Wiis. Namdai doesn’t typically pull out any surprises at E3, but this is not out of the realm of possibility. At least, I’d like to think it isn’t.
3 – Crystal Bearers announced for late 2009 / early 2010
Despite its seemingly negligible following here in North America, Square Enix has sure been putting out a lot of media for their latest upcoming Crystal Chronicles instalment, despite it having no concrete release date on either side of the Pacific. Though E3 seems like a questionable venue for a game like this to get a release date, stranger things have certainly happened, and Wii owners would certainly come away from the show feeling a lot better about things.
2 – 360/PS3 Castlevania titled, detailed, and dated
Konami teased us at TGS last year that there will be a new Castlevania entry for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Will they show it to us at E3? Will we get a date? A demo? A video? Anything? I don’t know, but Castlevania is about equally popular over here as it is in Japan, so anything is certainly possible. I’ll keep my fingers crossed if you will.
1 – Sony announces Legend of Dragoon remake for PS3
Some completely unsubstantiated rumors flew around the internet around the time of GDC a couple of months back. Some sounded slightly legit, most sounded like horse $#!+. Sony remaking Legend of Dragoon for PS3 is one of those rumors that seems like it was just made up by some delusional fanboy. Realistically, we know that Sony of America doesn’t care about RPGs. Realistically, we know that the team that made Legend of Dragoon left to become Sacnoth/Nautilus, and left again to become feelplus who were established by Microsoft. Realistically, we know that Legend of Dragoon was supposed to capitalize on Final Fantasy VII’s success, and wasn’t really planned to be a major staple of Sony’s lineup. But dammit, I freakin’ loved Legend of Dragoon, and I don’t care who knows it! Making that rumor come true would do a lot in patching up our relationship right now, Sony.
Well, there you have it. For your reference, I got 3/10 right for my E3 predictions last year, and 1/10 right for my TGS predictions last year. I'm hoping for 5/10 this year.
I'll be back to score myself after the show is finished.
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