Okay, so E3 is probably over by now and though I saw all the conferences, I didn't really see anything that I want to get except Ori and the Will of Wisps, which is only because I want to play Ori and the Blind Forest. Everything else was pretty non-negotiably uninteresting as far as I'm concerned.
So, instead of talking about E3, I'm going to talk about games that I want made so I can go into detail about how the AAA Gaming Industry tried and failed to savagely kill my love for this medium. I'm mainly going to be talking about games that I want made and have a prior history with so things that I know are in-development that I'm interested in, like Cuphead and Yakuza 6 are excluded because I know I'm going to get them eventually. So, let's get the obvious ones out of the way first.
Jak 4, Budokai Ultimate, and Ninja Gaiden 4 are games that I've talked about wanting and how I would like to have them but, I may just have to make those myself, honestly. Devil May Cry 5 is another obvious one. So, now that those are done, let's look at some that I think should be made that I don't talk about as much.
Sly 5 is one that I honestly want to do an After-Thoughts Concept on but, currently, I do not know enough about what the ending of Thieves in Time was supposed to signify to have an idea of where the series could go and how Sanzaru games might screw those up or at least attempt them. But Sly Cooper is a series that I have always loved and though I thought Sly 2 was always the best, Sly 4 is honestly one I want to give a shot pretty soon.
Another one I want is an Action Style Star Wars game. And what I mean by that is I want a Star Wars game with the Open World RPG aspects of Knights of the Old Republic with the Jedi and Sith combat mechanics of The Force Unleashed. A lot of people love Knights of the Old Republic but it did have its limitations in terms of a combat system and all of that. The Force Unleashed, on the other hand, is quite hated among a lot of Star Wars fans, and while I do admit that it was not the best Star Wars game ever, that right belongs to Battlefront 2 on the PS2, the mechanics of The Force Unleashed would make a massively awesome combat system in a better, more polished and more refined game.
Another one I want is a sequel or spiritual successor to Soul Nomad and the World Eaters. Soul Nomad was a very competent game by an admittedly underdeveloped and highly Japanese studio. Though I don't think it was ever intended to have any sequels the way the Disgaea games do, I think another IP in the same general multi-verse featuring the cast of Soul Nomad would be really nice. I'm just saying, Gig, Danette, and Median the Conqueror are much more interesting than half the Disgaea cast, Fuka and Laharl being my examples. Pretty much the only Disgaea character I can think of that rivals Gig in terms of his endearment would be Valvatorez, and he's exclusive to 4, excluding DLC and Vita titles, so we probably won't be getting much more of him.
And while we're on the subject of underperforming Japanese RPG's, Dot Hack, also known as .Hack if you look at the logo and don't see the word Dot inside the period. The Dot Hack series was never super popular outside Japan but at least the original series and G.U. had a decent fan-base and great characters. The concept of playing as someone playing as a character inside the game inside the game you're playing is one that was quite novel at the time, before Sword Art Online basically stole the credit for it, but also not a hard twist to execute. Just add a few additional UI elements for the desktop and just make the rest of the game as normal, bearing in mind the story has to acknowledge the premise.
I did learn recently of the Remake of the Dot Hack G.U. trilogy known as Dot Hack G.U. Last Recode which means if it does well we may end up getting a brand new entry into the Dot Hack series that is not just constantly retreading old ground like Link, Versus, etc.
One game I'd like to see that admittedly is cheating because the entry point to this series never finished but I'm going to single it out because it is the biggest misstep in publishing that Microsoft has ever made: Scalebound. Microsoft still holds the IP for Scalebound and Hideki Kamiya, the main man responsible for bringing it to life probably won't work with them anymore so even if they revive the IP it probably won't be the game any of us or even he wanted. But at the same time, if Kamiya wants to tackle the same basic story of a young boy and his best friend dragon with different character designs, different character names, a different artstyle, or even a different species of dragon, and then get funding from a publisher like Sony who's, if not always the best, at least much more cooperative than Microsoft ever is, that is a legitimate option for the man. I'm just saying.
Dead or Alive 6 currently isn't in development but that shit is probably the only other fighting game series besides Budokai that I have legitimate fun with. Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is still getting new DLC but they'll get sick of that eventually I'm sure and make a new game in the series. Not even just for new characters or anything like that that can be implemented with DLC. I mean just story continuation. Maybe I'm the only one who cares about the story of Dead or Alive but after the true death of Alpha-152, the return of Raidou as a Cyborg in Last Round, Honoka and her very clearly implied mysterious connection to Raidou, Kasumi and Ayane growing up, acting like adults, and making up, and the various ships that I'm calling canon (Jann LeeX Leifang, HitomiXHayate, AyaneXEliot) I want more of this series to solve these plotlines. Yeah, sure the combat's good and that's fine, I do love combat systems but these are characters that I'm legitimately invested in no matter how shallow or stereotypical they might be.
Speaking of Dead or Alive, anyone remember Dead Fantasy? Dead Fantasy was a fan animated series by the prolific animator Monty Oum. The series got 5 complete episodes and 3 more that were in the works but never got finished and the series was put on hold forever after Monty was hired to Roosterteeth to make 3D stuff for Red vs. Blue, got started on RWBY, then subsequently died of an allergy to penicillin. Or at least, he died of an allergic reaction to some medication he got during a check-up, I'm honestly not certain it was penicillin but anyway Dead Fantasy had some interesting concepts present in it that I thought could be worked into a full blown game.
If we look at what was there, Dead Fantasy featured a crossover of SquareEnix and TecmoKoei franchises Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dead or Alive, and Ninja Gaiden respectively. Of course now, you could just say Dead or Alive since every Ninja Gaiden character in Dead Fantasy is now part of the Last Round roster but, at the time, Momiji and Rachel were still exclusive to Ninja Gaiden. Anyway, the premise was vague because the characters of DOA and SquareEnix were battling each other more than they were moving plot along but there was a small bit of plot hinted at involving DOATEC and Helena wanting Materia from Tifa for some reason that was hinted at in Dead Fantasy 3 and 5 but never got a proper explanation. I think that might be something worth doing.
Team Ninja already worked with SquareEnix to make the new Dissidia game and they're also responsible for Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden so there is some potential there. Team Ninja have experience with both character action games and fighting games and Nioh proved that they could do an Action RPG and give it an actual combat system that, while still utilizing number growth, was still more reliant on player skill. So I'm going to do a sort of mini After-Thoughts Concept here for a basic idea of what this game would look like.
First, we need the characters that were present in the animations: for the Final Fantasy cast it would be Yuna and Rikki (or Rikku if you're more into the English Dub) from Final Fantasy X, utilizing the Dress Spheres from X-2, Tifa with her Advent Children outfit with a whole load of Materia that could play into her overall fighting style, Kairi, featuring Namine as a Drive Form, and Rinoa, who seems to be featuring a unique fighting style combining her abilities from Final Fantasy VIII with a gunblade that's visually very similar to Squall's Revolver, Cloud Strife with his First Ken and likely every move it could use in Advent Children, and though he never shows up in an official episode, a working animation that was leaked suggests that Vincent Valentine from VII, Advent Children, and Dirge of Cerberus would show up eventually. From the DOA Roster, we get the obvious Kasumi, Ayane, and Hitomi, who later team up with Rachel, Hayate after he shows up to deal with Tifa, Ryu Hayabusa, and Momiji. Helena was not a fighter in Dead Fantasy, and there's no footage that suggests she would fight but the Dead or Alive games prove she's a competent fighter so I think it would be doable.
Now, the question remains, what Genre is this game going to be: Character Action, 3D Fighter, or Action RPG? There's arguments for all of them, believe it or not. Ignoring Team Ninja's ability to do all of them well, which they can no question, each different character seems to be better suited to one genre more than the others. Every character on the DOA side, excluding Hayate, Helena, and Hitomi was present in a Ninja Gaiden game and were all competent in their own right, so they would make a good case for a Character Action game. That genre would also fit Cloud and Yuna as weird as it might sound. Cloud's First Ken could definitely fit into a fighting game and Action RPG but giving him dial combos that each make different use of different swords and sword combinations would probably fit better in a Ninja Gaiden-styled action game more than anything else. Yuna's Dress Spheres would definitely work best in an Action RPG but if you think of them as style-swapping, you could make an argument for an Action game.
Tifa and Vincent are where the snags start. Tifa is primarily a fist-fighter so she could definitely fit into an Action game, the problem is the Materia she uses, which would be customizable and could be swapped in a menu, so it makes sense to put that in an Action RPG since those would be most susceptible to character growth. Vincent could work in a Ninja Gaiden style Action game, with its aiming reticule and all that but his limit breaks are a bit hard to execute in that kind of system. Even Dirge of Cerberus, for as panned as it was, still had to have RPG elements in order to properly implement the guns and Limits, and even then, Galian Beast was the only one he had.
Then there's Kairi, who, there's no denying it, her fighting style in Dead Fantasy is clearly built with Kingdom Hearts mechanics in mind, which would work best in an Action RPG since that's what the Kingdom Hearts games are for the most part. Then there's Helena, who doesn't seem to have much skill outside of 1-on-1 combat. The easiest way to sidestep that issue is simply don't let her fight if you make an Action or Action RPG game. Which leaves Hitomi and Hayate. Hayate is a Shinobi on par with Ryu and Ayane, I have no doubt in my mind he could work in an Action game. Hitomi, however, even with a strength boost to put her on par with the Final Fantasy cast, still has one-on-one skills equal to Ayane but skills at multi-man melee is another story.
The issue is complicated further by two fights in particular: Yuna versus Kasumi Alpha army, and Tifa versus Mugen Tenshin Shinobi clan. While you could argue that the first two episodes with five-on-five group combat could work in a Dissida-Style fighting game, and the one-on-one fight between Tifa and Hitomi would be a boss fight regardless of the genre, enemy waves of those scales are too big to fit into any fighting game, and while you could make an argument for an Action RPG, there are limits to how that could be done. The obvious answer is Action but, while Team Ninja have some experience with the Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi series' it's fair to say that the Ninja Gaiden combat style would struggle heavily with that kind of battle.
If I'm being honest, though, I would probably pick the Character Action genre. Though the Ninja Gaiden style of it would struggle with those enemy waves, it could still be done and Ninja Gaiden's combat style has proven to support enemy waves, group combat, swappable weapons, styles, and magic, upgrade systems, and one-on-one boss fights.
Nonetheless, this would be one I would like to see.
And hey, speaking of crossovers, Marvel vs. DC. We got the Marvel vs. DC comic, we got Marvel vs. Capcom, we got Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and we got Injustice: Gods Among Us. Though not all of these are stellar, they do show some potential for comic book superheroes working inside of a fighting game. Though picking a style would be somewhat difficult, the roster would be fairly easy if we start the premise with the original comic: Batman, Superman, Superboy, Robin, Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Hal Jordan, Lobo, the Flash and Aquaman for DC, and Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Man, Jubilee, Elektra, Storm, Thor, Silver Surfer, Wolverine, Quicksilver, and Namor for Marvel. Those are a decent starting cast for a game we don't know the style of yet and more can be added later in DLC or even a special edition. Some of these characters could play the way they do in Marvel vs. Capcom and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Spider-Man, The Flash, and Quicksilver would all be strike characters, Batman and Robin would be Gadget users, Namor and Aquaman would rely on special moves, Captain America would be a grappler, Hal Jordan would have one special move that could counter each character. Wonder Woman would be a balance of strike, grab, and counter, Wolverine would be a hard hitting character with regenerating health, Hulk would be a high durability character that's hard to stagger, etc. I'm not saying it's perfect but it is something I'd like to see.
Another game I'd like to see and that I would also make an After-Thoughts Concept for is a Hunter X Hunter game. It would generally follow the plot of the manga, up until the end of the Dark Continent arc, which would require Togashi to work with the team to get that sorted out. The four playable characters would be Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Hisoka. Gon and Killua would have arcs that start in Heaven's Arena, skip Yorknew, and cover Greed Island and the Chimera Ant arc, and Kurapika and Hisoka's arcs would largely be restricted to Yorknew and the Dark Continent. You would swap characters as necessary, Yakuza style, and every character would have their own fighting style. Nen abilities aside, Gon would be a direct fighter, one with balanced attacks that are reasonably fast and reasonably powerful but that are simple and easy to predict. Killua would be the fast character, making use of sharp chip damage attacks and evading damage with high speed movement and Rhythm Echo. Kurapika would have a fighting style that is incredibly powerful, fast, and hard to deal with but is most suited to one-on-one fights and struggles with group combat as a result. And Hisoka would be a trap character who would rely on environmental combat and would fare well in any situation, provided the player is skilled enough, skilled being the operative word there.
If we're talking about Nen, the special moves would function in a similar way to the way they do in Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Hold R2 and you will get 3 special moves tied to the face buttons, and a Transformation on X. Gon would get Jajanken Rock on Square, Jajanken Scissors on Triangle, Jajanken Paper on Circle, and Complete Abandon Form on X. Killua would get Thunder Palm on Square, Thunderbolt on Circle, God Speed on X, and God Speed: Whirlwind on Triangle during God Speed. Speed of Lightning would be a passive effect during God Speed. Kurapika would get Dowsing Chain on Square, Chain Jail on Triangle followed by Judgment Chain on anyone caught in the former during Emperor Time, Holy Chain on Circle, and Emperor Time on X. Dowsing Chain would be a toggle ability that would replace his regular punch combo, and Chain Jail can only be used during boss fights. Finally, Hisoka would have Bungee Gum on Square, Bungee Gum retract on Triangle, Bungee Gum Disconnect on Circle, and Heart Restart on X, which would basically just give him an additional life, which can only be used once during an entire playthrough but will make his Nen stronger once triggered.
Apart from story missions, Meruem, Netero, and the Royal Guard would have Super Boss fights, as would the Phantom Troupe, and the Zoldyck Family. This is one Action game that, when all is said and done, probably wouldn't be lacking any content.
And I guess that's all for now. Since this was mostly what-ifs, none of these games will probably be made, unless some stretch of luck manages to get all of these games pushed by at least one company a piece. So, I hope you found this as fun as I did.
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