Oh man. Sometimes it's difficult to tell, but there's no doubt that Square Enix was the worst show at E3 this year. Between the long, LONG sections of people talking and the complete lack of gameplay they absolutely dropped every ball.
Let's go through and see the reasons Square doesn't and shouldn't host their own show:
Just Cause 3
I think JC3 was the only game Square announced or talked about that I'm actually looking forward to from their show. After making us wait through, like 10 minutes of people talking about Square Enix as a company, then talking about Just Cause 3 we finally got some gameplay.
Sort of. What we really got felt like a long form of a TV trailer. It's not bad, per say as it did highlight new features like the upgraded grappling hook, refined parachute, and new wingsuit, but it just felt like actual marketing material rather then just a normal gameplay reveal, like they had this reel created THEN decided to do an E3 show.
other new features highlighted were the overhauled vehicle destruction animations, physics based destruction allowing you to chain explosions together, and new side quests. I'm pretty excited for sure, since JC2 is just plain stupid fun.
Nier?
There was a brief announcement for another Nier game, then a whole lot of talking about it. This, sadly, set the pace for the entire show, announcing something then just talking about it a bunch. People apparently liked the original Nier, and Platinum games are usually pretty good, so here's hoping.
Tomb Raider
My stream shit itself during this segement, and when it came back it was just the trailer we had already seen before. This was another trend through the Square show.
Rather then talk about the game they instead spoke about how they made the game. No one's denying the technical prowess behind it, and next-gen Lara looks great, but some more gameplay, perhaps less quick-timey would've been nice.
They also announced a brand new Tomb Raider game... for mobile. Taking a cue from Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go is a turnbased board game style of Tomb Raider, you know, because that's what I want in a Tomb Raider game.
Square games they didn't even show
There was a quick montage of games Square is currently working on, including FF15, Dragon Quest Heroes, Life is Strange, and FF Heaven Sword.
Then they spoke for a minute about the FF7 remake and showed the trailer we saw yesterday.
Kingdom Hearts
The strange crossover of Disney and Final Fantasy has a huge cult following, although I've never played any of the games. Square announced two new games, following a presentation from Disney saying that they really think the games are cool.
First was a Kingdom Hearts game for mobile. It might already be out in Japan, I don't know, but it didn't really look that great.
The big announcement was gameplay footage of Kingdom Hearts 3 for the PS4. It looks good if you're a fan of the series, I guess.
There was a lot I didn't understand, but there's no denying the surreal charm of watching Goofy and Donald Duck fight monsters.
Still no word on a release date. All Square would offer is that it's "in development"
Final Fantasy World
There was no new information about this game, it was literally just the trailer from yesterday.
Hitman
I still hate the name, but at least they sort of justified it. The new Hitman game will involve the classic stealth gameplay of the series, but the new focus is also being a content delivery system. Square is promising to push out new contracts and content for players for years, although we'll see if that holds up.
Also returning is Contracts mode from the last game. People seemed to like Contracts mode, so that's nice.
Star Ocean
Star Ocean is... a game. It's a JRPG and there's things to do and people to interact with. Yes.
Sure is. It's replete with wars and Lasagna!
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
MD was actually announced a few months back, but it was nice to see some more info about it. It takes place two years after the events of Human Revolution and stars Adam Jensen and his growly voice as a private detective hunting down a terrorist.
In the meantime the attitude concerning augmented humans has turned hostile, creating a mechanical apartheid. The people you'd expect to over-react to this are already over-reacting and I can't wait.
Regardless, it looks to feature new abilites, more weapon customization, and if that really was gameplay footage they showed then I'm rather excited for this cyberpunk romp.
Some other things
The end of Square's show was so boring I stopped taking notes. They announced a Final Fantasy news app, which is great if you don't have access to the internet, except that it needs internet access to use.
Then they announced a new studio called Tokyo RPG Factory. Interesting name considering one of the common complaints is that all JRPG games look the same. They're working on something, but could only offer concept art at this time.
That was painful to watch, so here's hoping the PC Gaming show tonight at 8 is a little better. Join me then, won't you?
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