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While Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero isn’t due out for another couple of months, I caught up with Kento Jobana, the scenario writer for the game. In Part One of this two-part interview, we talk about writing the story for this sequel title, about his love for the mystery genre, and more!

You can check out Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero at the official website, on X, on Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube and Twitch, and on Discord.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is coming to PC (Steam) in Sprin 2025, and to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on January 30, 2025.

You can also pre-order the Collector’s Edition now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Operation Rainfall: My name is Quentin H. here with Operation Rainfall, and could you please introduce yourself?

Kento Jobana: My name is Kento Jobana, and I work at Nippon Ichi Software primarily as a scenario writer. And in terms of being involved with the actual planning of the game from the earliest stages, I made a game about a young man [in] Bokuhime PROJECT as well as I worked on the planning for a game called, in English, Process of Elimination. It’s kind of a mystery adventure.

And in terms of scenario writing, in 2023, I worked on Disgaea 7 [: Vows of the Virtueless] and now, of course, I worked on Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, which will be coming out next year.

Marone (above) and Ash (below) were the protagonists of Phantom Brave, and both return for Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. (Images courtesy of NIS America, Inc.)

OR: Real briefly, what is Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero about? Can you just give us a brief synopsis of the story?

KJ: So, the game starts about six months after the first game. Marona and her companion Ash had gone on this adventure and defeated the God of Destruction, Sulfur. The game starts right there – it starts with Marona and Ash living happily together, enjoying their lives and their work. One day, they go out on a mission far away from where they normally live. And on the way back from this mission, they encounter a fleet of ghost ships. Ash, in order to protect Marona, throws himself out there, which causes the two of them to become separated. Marona then has to journey to retrieve him.

After Marona falls off the ship – Ash throws her off, as it were – she is drifted along by the currents of the ocean [and] she winds up on a deserted island and meets this young Phantom called Apricot. So, Marona and Apricot hit it off really quickly in the beginning. It turns out that Apricot is also searching for a special someone, in this case, her father who ran this legendary pirate fleet. And so, the two of them, together, decide to reform this legendary pirate fleet under them and go searching for these two people who are very dear to them. One of the main things they do as they search for these two people and specifically as they search for Ash – they try to figure out just what is going on with this ghost pirate ship that they’ve seen before. So, part of that is solving that mystery to meet those two people that they care about.

OR: Why did you choose to set Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero six months after the first game instead of, say, years down the road when Marona and Ash are presumably more established in their Chroma skills and in their place in the world?

KJ: There are two reasons for that. The first reason is that Ash and Marona are very popular characters. And if [we] were to set the time too far later, it would change their appearance too much and fans wouldn’t appreciate that. So that’s one reason [we] reduced it to six months. And the second reason is that Phantom Brave ends very cleanly and very nicely. And so, setting a game so far out – it would be difficult to keep that flow going from the first game. So, what [we] landed upon was being able to show the world as it changed after the first game ended would be a much easier way to tell a story, and so that’s another reason [we] decided to have it set six months after instead of so many years after.

OR: Marona goes through the classical ‘Hero’s Journey’ [in Phantom Brave], and eventually her story is finished [in the first game]. How do you take characters whose story is finished and continue their growth?

KJ: That’s a great question – that’s something I struggled with myself. The first thing I actually thought was: ‘Why don’t I make a new main character?’, but because the fan attachment is so strong to Marona and Ash’s characters, [I] knew that there really wasn’t any other option than to use these two characters for the game.

One thing that I realized was that I could create another character that would be in a similar situation that Marona was in the first game – in other words, a young girl placed in very difficult circumstances and who had a lot going against her. Because we had Marona, who as a character experienced so much growth in the first game, she was able to understand where this young girl is coming from to look after her and kind of pull her along on this adventure. [I] went: ‘Ah! This is a way I can show this character’s growth.’

The second side is Marona, herself. As [I] mentioned, in the first game, she grows through her adventure, and she experiences tremendous character growth. However, when I was looking at the ending of the game and figuring out what areas I could portray further with these characters, I realized that there’s a scene towards the end of the first game where Ash and Marona get separated, but it’s very brief. However, that scene was very impactful because it made me think ‘[w]ell, how would Marona actually act if she was separated from this person who’d she’d known essentially her whole life?’

And so, I realized there’s a lot of aspects between these two characters – Marona and Ash – their relationship, that hadn’t been portrayed before. Particularly, in regard to how they would act if they were separated from one another. And so, I realized that there was a story to be told here and that’s why, in the story of Phanom Brave: The Lost Hero, very early on, we have Marona and Ash separated so we can see their character growth apart from one another. And it is also better to depict their relationship and how their relationship grows and changes.

“Honestly speaking, the scenario always comes first. In terms of game development, if you don’t have the story, the narrative thread, then you don’t really have a game.”

OR: One of the narrative traps that writers fall into is ‘flanderization’ – in other words, taking a single aspect of a character’s trait and making it their defining characterization to the exclusion of everything else. How do you address that to prevent that from happening in your sequel title?

KJ: I totally understand what you’re asking. What I did is obviously, aside from replaying the first game in its entirety, is that I went back and read the novelizations that were only in Japanese and some later stories that didn’t come out in English. [I] also went back to the original documents to read [them], and within [my] mind I created a high-resolution image of Marona. [I] went in very deeply about what made her a character, so that before [we] began working on the game, we were able to understand what made Marona, Marona.

And then in terms of how that affects not only the story and the narrative, but the gameplay – there were situations where I felt that, as a matter of course, this being a strategy RPG, there needs to be battles. There felt several times where Marona, as a character, wouldn’t necessarily want to participate in this battle or try to find a way around this battle.

So, what we did as an entire development team was sit down together, and again – reflected on what was said in the first game, and thought about the situations that Marona and Ash found themselves in, and thought ‘[w]hat would be the most naturalistic way that made sense for these characters to participate in these battles?’ Just to make sure how these characters were portrayed in the original wasn’t lost in the sequel, and they still acted like the characters that they were originally made to be in the original.

OR: How canon is Another Marona? How much did that side story content influence how you developed the storyline for Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero?

KJ: Well, for this in particular, that’s actually kind of a ‘what if’ story. Although the events are canonically happening, it’s very much a ‘what if’ and the truth is that there might be some players who are either unfamiliar with that from the first game, hadn’t played it, or didn’t know about it. So, to incorporate the events from that into this new [game] would just cause confusion for most players and they would go ‘[w]hat is this?’. And so, we decided to not focus on that or include any references to that within Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero.

That said, this is kind of maybe a hint for something – this is the first I’ve heard myself, but it turns out a lot of players did like Another Marona, as it were, and it seems to be a fan desire to see [Carona] again. Right now, the team is thinking about how they can potentially use that character again, use those events again, in the future. But nothing is set in stone.

OR: In addition to writing Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero‘s scenario, you also managed all the animations during story sequences, skill animations, and you also worked on the sound design and voice direction. How do you decide what of your storytelling and scenario writing is to be told through gameplay mechanics and visual design – such as the animations during story sequences- versus the explicit plot writing itself?

KJ: Honestly speaking, the scenario always comes first. In terms of game development, if you don’t have the story, the narrative thread, then you don’t really have a game. That becomes the baseline. However, from there, they ‘add meat to the bones’. And [by] ‘adding meat to the bones’ – in terms of enhancing the narrative – is by asking what music can be used in this scene here that can better express what we’re trying to do? What animations can we use in this scene in particular in order to better get across what we’re trying to portray in the story? However, without having a story, you can’t have those secondary things. So, the story comes first, however, there are times when they’re working on like, for example, music or sound design or animation design, that [we] realize ‘[o]h, this might necessarily affect a change in the story itself.’ That’s how the process goes, and that’s how [we] determine the importance of those different things. For [me] specifically, the story comes first, and it informs the rest of the development.

“What I love about mysteries is that they are essentially throwing the gauntlet and giving a challenge to the reader, or the person interacting with them.”

OR: In your NIS America interview from October 2024, you said about Process of Elimination that you were “able to work in many mystery novel elements, a personal love of mine.” Are there any particular mystery-genre books, games, movies, TV shows that you particularly love?

KJ: The first one is a famous manga series called The Kindaiichi Case Files [OR Note: 金田一少年の事件簿  by Seimaru Amagi, who goes by the pen name of Shin Kibayashi] about a young man who is a detective. First of all, [I] really love that one. The author, after creating that, there’s a sequel which depicts a school, a very typical Japanese school setting environment. [OR Note: 探偵学園Q, known in English as Detective School Q.] But it’s a school for detectives. These detectives learn within this school, and then they solve cases. [I] really, really love both of those manga.

There’s another one – Ryūsui Seiryōin created a [series] called Cosmic. [I] love this one too. This person was influenced by Nisio Isin, who created the Monogatari [OR Note: 物語] series and everything that falls within that is part of the mystery tradition, as well. [I] love that as well. But in particular, [Seiryōin] is influenced by the Monogatari [series] in his series Cosmic. [I’m] not sure if they’re translated into English or are well-known in English, but at least for him, they are very influential.

OR: What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?

KJ: What I love about mysteries is that they are essentially throwing the gauntlet and giving a challenge to the reader, or the person interacting with them. Depending on the medium of the mystery, it completely changes how that challenge letter is sent to the readers. For example, within the written word, you’ve got various tricks you can use in how you write your sentences that offer hints to careful readers that can help readers figure out the mysteries. Within the medium of manga, you’ve got pictures. And so, the author would leave little hints within the pictures that the character would look at and be able to deduce what is happening. Finally, in my own game [I] made, Process of Elimination, [we] use sound design and [we] used the acting to give hints.

The fact that you’re able to interact with the reader in this way, to challenge the reader to figure out the mysteries and the answer – depending on the medium that you’re actually using to show the mystery, it can completely change how you write and how you give your answers. It’s what [I] find very appealing about the genre.

And that concludes Part I of our two-part interview with Kento Jobana!

Please return on Monday for Part Two, where we will talk more about writing Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero’s scenario, DLC plans, and what Jobana-san sees of himself in this game!

Thank you very much to NIS America, Inc., for helping to arrange this interview.

You can wishlist Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on Steam now.

You can also pre-order the Collector’s Edition now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

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Sorry these Week in Gaming articles have been so sporadic the latter half of this year. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of review gaming and whenever I’m not review gaming, I’m never sure I have enough to say about other games to put out one of these articles. After the disaster that was Orange Season: which I thought was going to be a great fall game but ended up so bad I put it down early, I got a couple of recently released fall Nintendo titles to play which are very much appreciated. I’m currently mainly working my way through one of those, the first one they released, and sitting on the other one until afterwards. Hopefully I’ll have those reviews out before the year is over, or at least one of them. But on the side, I’ve finally jumped back into Stardew Valley, always a good farming game that never disappoints.

I’ve been getting the urge to go back to Stardew Valley all year but I’ve been holding back, waiting on that 1.6 update content to hit consoles and now it finally has. I quite enjoy playing Stardew on my Switch with an 8bitdo controller. I had a beach farm I started a while back, maybe last year, that I had planned on being my very first Joja route. However, I only ever got a little bit into the first year’s summer. So, since the new update is now out, I decided to start over on that route and deleted my old file. I know I read somewhere that there would be new postgame Joja content to make the route as substantial as the community center one is, thus this seemed like the best idea for me to enjoy the new content. I also ended up joining a friend online in a new multiplayer farm as well where we’re trying out the meadow farm map with blue grass.

So far I’m right about where I left off from my last attempt at this beach farm before the update. I’m in the middle of the very first summer. I always play Stardew pretty slowly, I’m not an efficient farmer whatsoever. My house doesn’t have a kitchen yet and I’m still trying to decide what tool to upgrade first, now that I have the money to go with the copper bars. My pickaxe being so weak in the mines since I’ve reached the icy area, has been an annoyance. Also, watering crops by hand on the beach has been quite slow. Yet on the other hand, I want to upgrade my regular axe a few times asap so I can clear out the regular dirt area the beach farm has that’s full of giant logs, then I can set-up my crops with sprinklers. At the same time though, I might already be about to unlock the greenhouse by the time I would be able to upgrade my axe enough, so maybe I should just focus on my watering can and pickaxe after all. I’ve mostly been collecting the stuff required for the community center because I wanted to try and do it myself as much as possible for the various rewards, and then I plan to buy a Joja membership near the end. I figure maybe I’ll leave the hardest community center requirements, like a lot of the fishing, left undone and buy my membership once I’ve at least donated all of the required farming and mining related items. – Jenae

I’ve been doing a lot of retro gaming lately, both on original hardware and through recent remakes, and it’s been a ton of fun. My sister and I recently finished Lufia, which wasn’t as good as Lufia II but had a ton of charm all its own, and getting to see the evolution between the original and the sequel reminded me of just how much innovation happened during the SNES years. Jumping from that to Mega Man Legends on the PS1 was a different kind of reminder that those early years of 3D were rough when it came to control schemes. We opted to use the directional buttons for turning and the shoulder buttons for strafing, but even then controlling Mega Man around the 3D world comes with a major learning curve. The world of MML is incredibly charming, with that 90s dub you either love or hate, and wacky hijinks abound. The cast is impeccable, honestly. I understand now why Tron is so beloved. The comedy isn’t always a hit, but I have been having a great time watching these characters interact. The animations are also beautiful, and I adore Mega Man’s expressions. That being said, we eventually caved and used a GameShark code for invincibility so we could see more of the story rather than fight with the controls, though the safety buffer it provides has given me a lot more practice with the control scheme, since I do engage with it to the best of my ability. It’s fun when you get the hang of it, but it hurts my hands after extended periods. If ever a game would benefit from a remaster with modern controls, it’s Mega Man Legends. Maybe then I’d finally get to read the dirty magazines, too.

In modern retro news, I’ve been having a blast with the Dragon Quest III HD-2D remake. What a stunning glowup that retains the charms of its NES roots. I’m too old and busy to deal with the grindy nature of the RPGs I grew up with, so having some nice QoL updates here have made playing it incredibly comfy while remaining nostalgic. It’s visually gorgeous, with colorful, vibrant locations, beautiful lighting, and fun voice acting that really gives the characters some pop. I went with the most basic setup of the hero, warrior, mage and healer, but I’ve only reached the second major hub so far, leaving me plenty of time to experiment with new party configurations. The Dragon Quest difficulty feels a tad on the easy side, but I know I don’t have the patience to move up to Draconian, so I’m pretty happy having this to sit back and relax with a couple hours a night. – Leah

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

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About The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II

No longer threatened by the mafia organization Almata, the people of Calvard have returned to their peaceful lives. But one day, a shocking series of murders involving a mysterious crimson beast sets the wheels of fate in motion once again. Various factions spring into action – both those who abide by the law to uncover the truth and those looking to capitalize on any new developments wherever possible, no matter how sinister. With chaos once again looming on the horizon, the spriggan Van Arkride receives an unexpected visitor, prompting his own investigation.

Who is behind the murders, and what is their goal? The sands of time bring old and new faces together for this thrilling second installment in the Trails through Daybreak saga.

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Oh how innocent I was a few weeks ago. I haven’t been following Orange Season too closely honestly, but I do believe I was following the game’s official account on social media for a while and when I’d see the occasional screenshot, I was pretty intrigued. I thought this would be a fun, relaxing fall review I could enjoy spending a few weeks on. I won’t waste any time keeping you in the dark. I don’t have much good to say about Orange Season. I spent all of five hours on it and was already regretting asking to review this one after only the first 20 minutes of playing it, due to the issues it has.

First, let’s discuss what kind of game Orange Season is. Orange Season is an indie farming game. Like other farming sims, your character moves to a new town to live the charming, rural farm life. You’re dropped off at your farm, told to greet everyone in town and take care of your farm, of course. I went into this review assuming there would be some big goal like most farming games have: for example, making the town more popular and bringing in new tourists, or restoring a community center. Well from what little I was able to put up with playing Orange Season, I never actually found out if there was some larger goal beyond making your farm a success. I started off cleaning up the area you get for planting crops and got stuck at least once in the middle of a rock.

After planting a few starting crops and cleaning up the area some, I spent my time hunting all over town looking for new characters to greet and introduce myself as the new farmer in town. This is where the biggest issue came into play and a large part of why I refused to spend anymore than five hours on Orange Season. So when the map is actually working, it’s not the most helpful. The main town area where most of the characters live and hangout regularly is quite large. I don’t know that I’ve played many farming sims with a town this large. Now you’d expect that the map would help you locate characters around town; however, as you can see in the picture above, you’re merely told who’s in which section of town at any given time and I found no way to actually pull up a legitimate diagram of the town to locate these people. You only know which separate, large section they’re in and seemingly if they’re in a building or not. I saw some of the characters had a blue house symbol so I figured maybe that meant they were in their homes. Still, a majority of the houses were seemingly locked at all times as well. I imagine this could be a feature where you have to get to know the characters better to be allowed into their homes, but it was quite obnoxious and made tracking them down near impossible.

Anyway, not only was the map an extremely bare minimum of any use to me, but it constantly would glitch and become 100 percent useless. I could open the map and it’d be fine, and two minutes later open it again and the map was completely blank. No section would be highlighted, I wouldn’t see any faces of who was in the area and the cursor to move between the sections on the map was gone. Plus, the map glitching like this required a full game reset. By that I mean, I had to close out and re-open the game to fix it, only for it to glitch again less than five minutes into starting the game back up. This is a farming game where characters are constantly giving you requests to complete and you need to be able to reliably track them down. I found myself spending multiple game days simply trying to find them all at least once and greet everyone for the first quest. Then there were four characters who told me to come find them once I had and they would give me new quests, which again, I’d have to track down various characters for later to complete.

The map glitching out was only one of two big issues I had. You may have noticed earlier I mentioned getting stuck in the middle of a rock. My character got stuck quite a lot as if there was an invisible barrier all around and I’d have to wriggle my way out as best I could. I got stuck on rocks, I got stuck in a circle of trees and I often got stuck on houses. Houses you can even phase into while wriggling around trying to escape. To get off the house, away from the invisible barrier, I’d have to go up into it and then keep coming back down trying to dislodge my character. I’ve included a clip above of one occasion where this occurred. Then when I accidentally opened my map while randomly pressing buttons to try to get unstuck, the map had gone blank yet again. I even once got stuck at the very edge of the fishing dock on a lake and went on an adventure walking across the lake. The lake has this treasure floating on a wooden plank and I thought to myself, “Why not go get that treasure while I’m stuck out here?” But alas, another invisible wall made this impossible and I was not allowed to go check out the treasure while stuck on top of this lake. So I went back to the dock and wriggled all around trying to get back on and away from it.

Aside from the two big glitches that made this game completely unplayable for me, I still didn’t really enjoy it otherwise. Planting crops and growing stuff worked alright. But only the watering can and hoe had any guide for which square on the ground they were targeting. Also, trying to target anything properly seemed like you had to be at a very specific angle to do so. When I would walk right up to doors they wouldn’t activate very easily, neither to let me open them nor to get the being locked notice. I would have to move my character around a bit and come at them not quite right up front and be at the perfect angle. Not only that, but planting seeds doesn’t even have a targeting square, you kind of just hit the tool button as you walk around the dirt you used the hoe on and hope your seeds plant in the spot you want. One more issue I had was that I couldn’t cycle through the calendar and check the dates on the calendar page of the menu. It seemed there was no way to do anything with that menu, the only thing viewable is when the next festival is. I couldn’t figure out a way to physically move a cursor across the dates.

I truly went into this thinking it would be a fun farming game for fall. Even after I was disappointed and regretted asking for it in those first 20 minutes of gameplay, I still thought I could at least get through a full game year and then make my judgments after I gave it a shot. Unfortunately, the main two glitches in this game made it the most frustrating, impossible disaster I have ever reviewed. Now, I wanted to give the developers the benefit of the doubt, but then I went and looked up how long the game had been in Early Access on Steam. This game came out as an Early Access title in early 2017 and now over seven years later it’s finally received a full retail release, and they’re charging $29.99 for brand new console versions of the game. Sure, they may fix these issues later and it can become a game worth playing. Truthfully, I loved the atmosphere and I thought Orange Season was a very attractive game visually. I also had fun with the fishing gameplay. But the fact that after seven years of testing and polishing, this is the game they’re charging 30 bucks for, is utterly ridiculous. I refuse to waste anymore time giving this game and the developers the benefit of the doubt and I cannot recommend Orange Season whatsoever. I believe fans of cozy games or farming sims specifically are better off spending their money elsewhere.

Review Score
Overall

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If you’d like to know more about Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, visit the game’s official website.

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Ys X: Nordics, the latest entry chronicling the adventures of Adol Christin, is now available in North America and Europe on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG).

You can check out the launch trailer below.

Ys X is available both physically and digitally. A physical limited edition for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch is available via NIS America’s Online Store. The limited edition costs $104.99 and comes with a physical copy of the game, a mini soundtrack, mini art book, a sling bag, a metal pin, and a postcard set.

NIS America describes the game as follows:

About Ys X: Nordics:

Following their tenuous encounter at sea, the young red-haired adventurer Adol Christin and the proud pirate Karja Balta find themselves bound by fate – and the mysterious power of Mana! As they search for a way to undo the mystical ties that bind them, they soon find themselves caught up in a conflict between two factions: the seafaring warriors known as the Normans and the enigmatic and seemingly immortal Griegr. In order to save the people of Obelia Gulf, Adol and Karja must navigate the depths of their unexpected bond and the power that it grants them.

Key Details:

• Two Heroes, One Story: Bound by unexpected circumstances, the young adventurer Adol and the Norman pirate Karja must work together to determine the fate of Obelia Gulf and its people.
• Cross Action System: Swap between controlling Adol and Karja independently or together. Combine their unique strengths to overcome enemies, and build up the Revenge Gauge to unleash devastating attacks.
• The Power of Mana: Harness the unique abilities of Mana to overcome challenges. Grapple and slide through dungeons, demolish obstacles, create new platforms, and uncover hidden treasures and critical points.
• Sailor’s Delight: The sailing ship known as the Sandras takes your exploration to new levels. Ocean travel, naval battles, and discovering uncharted islands are all made possible with this seaworthy vessel.

If you’re interested in Ys X: Nordics, you can try out a demo of the game on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC (Steam). You can play from the Prologue up to partway through Chapter 3. Demo save data can be carried over to the full game. You can also check out my review and see what I thought of the game.

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Take the fall for a murder and emerge from prison 10 years later to yakuza clans on the brink of a war that hurtles you on an intense journey of love, humanity, and betrayal. Fueled by your fists and unyielding resolve, fight your way through a bustling red-light district in modern day Japan.

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We haven’t put one of these out in a little while.  To be honest, I usually have the most time to put out these articles myself, but I haven’t been doing a ton of for fun gaming in the last month or two. Most of my gaming was review stuff I couldn’t talk about in these Week in Gaming articles. However, I did play the Metaphor: ReFantazio demo the other week. I just didn’t get around to discussing it here, or in an impressions article of its own. Honestly, I’m now somewhat regretting playing that demo…because it was too fun and I don’t know when I’ll be able to play the full game. At the moment, it doesn’t seem like I’ll have a copy to play anytime soon. And thus, I was stuck playing an older Atlus RPG this past week, instead of the shiny new one that’s been all over social media. I’m jealous of all of you out there enjoying Metaphor right now.

Anyway, I recently found myself picking Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance back up instead. It seems like this year in general, I’ve barely made progress in quite a few games I’ve picked up and keep putting back down. When I last put down SMT5V, I had only gotten a bit past the beginning area of Shinagawa. Vengeance and it’s wonky, horrendous sound balancing, was what prompted me to buy wireless earbuds about 2 months ago now. Going back to it with my new earbuds has been really nice. There is still a bit of an issue with the wonky sound balancing, mostly I have to turn it up one or down one at certain parts, but overall I’m really enjoying it. It’s soooo much better having the sound right in my ears and not having to deal with it too much. Also, while my specific model of earbuds, the Soundcore P30i, didn’t come with a game mode option originally, they just recently received an update which added it. It turns itself off when I disconnect and turn off my Switch though so I have to reactivate it in the phone app each time, but I’m enjoying the fact that it’s there. I’ve opted to turn it on, default SMT5V‘s volume sliders which puts them all back at max and it is working out quite nicely for me. I just have to turn up the volume one for story stuff, and back down one for gameplay, so that isn’t too bad.

I managed to fully get through the rest of Shinagawa this week. I went from the main character being around level 31 or 32 and got him up to 36. I got to enjoy seeing the Fairy Village again and I’ve put a handful of new demons in my party. It doesn’t feel too old or repetitive revisiting the same areas again that I already went through in the original Shin Megami Tensei V, because everything is quite different with the new story. I mean I had read reviews saying it’s the same and doesn’t really change until about halfway through, but that doesn’t seem true at all to me. Things are already significantly different, one boss not seeming as big of a deal as they were the first time, your various friends from school following along with you a lot more and various other stuff. I haven’t been spending as much time exploring though and fully filling out maps. Vengeance doesn’t seem as crazy easy now as it did when I first started it, but I do believe it’s still significantly easier than the original and I haven’t found myself spending as much time on each map. Although, I’m sure I’ll revisit them all periodically to go locate more Miman and clear up quests and whatnot. – Jenae

It’s that time of year again, where I get to attend my favorite local con. This year, RetroGameCon extended to three days, and despite it being a relatively small affair, the extra time was a welcome addition. I love this con for its small size but variety of activities and vendors, and it never disappoints. It definitely got a bump in attendance this year, though, since almost the entire cast of Baldur’s Gate 3 were special guests, and the lines reflected that popularity. I haven’t played BG3 and so wasn’t personally interested in seeing the cast, but the enthusiasm from fans of the game was palpable. I was happy to see so many folks visiting my small con, but I have to admit it was also a bit overwhelming, and I’m not convinced the con staff were quite prepared for the attention having the BG3 cast would bring.

As always, my favorite part of RetroGameCon is walking around the various vendors and seeing what they had in store. There’s always a nice mix of video game and handmade items. I usually buy at least one item, though this time around I only grabbed myself a Suikoden II gacha in honor of that remaster finally coming out next year. I got Mikolotov, the handsome knight from Matilda! (I would have preferred Camus of the two, but one can never turn down a hunky boy.) We did find a couple sealed games for pickup and spotted several titles that I’d love to have some day but wasn’t prepared to pay for (sorry, Ys V), but even if we hadn’t, I just enjoy the window shopping. For my son, his favorite part of the weekend was the extensive free play area. Every year, there’s an assortment of old consoles, PCs, pinball and others for congoers to play. My son has recently taken a shining to pinball cabinets and spent a lot of time playing those, as well as hitting up the older PCs available. He had a ball with SimCity, played some Monopoly on Windows 3.1, and even took a turn at the Oregon Trail. His pioneers died tragic and avoidable deaths, and he learned a valuable lesson in actually paying attention to the amount of food and water he had available.

There were also a ton of board games available in a separate room, along with live concerts and panels. I sat in on an informative panel by industry veteran and Diablo IV writer David Rodriguez, and we all had a great time watching performances by Mega Ran, Danimal Cannon and Lame Genie on the main stage. There were also a ton of fantastic cosplays on display every day. Honestly, it was just a great weekend where we could hang out and immerse ourselves in all things video games, and I look forward to it every year.

In actual video game news, I finally started playing the Silent Hill 2 Remake. I am so far enjoying it, though I don’t feel I’ve played enough to give it a proper evaluation. I love the music and atmosphere, and the environments are gorgeous, with little blink-and-you-miss-it details I appreciate. The fact you can explore more of the city gives Silent Hill a lived-in feel that the original game lacked, though this is a double-edged sword. The fact Silent Hill is a real place means it should have a sense of actual people existing here, but I do feel like it detracts somewhat from the main premise of the game and the dream-like quality that permeated the OG. The voice acting so far is fine, just different than what came before, and the character models are well-detailed if oddly proportioned. I’ll have much more robust thoughts on this remake as I play more, but for now I’m impressed. – Leah

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

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The Magazine Edition ($69.99) includes:

• Physical game
• Nepbike Magazine Art Book (64 pages)
• Poster set (5 fold-out posters)
• Nepbike Sticker Set (28 stickers)
• Official Soundtrack (10 tracks)
• Download code for the Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos Costume Set* (1x costume per set for Uzume Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, 15x total)
  * Swimsuit Costume
  * Apocalyptic Costume
  * Race Queen Costume
• Reversible Cover Sleeve
• Exclusive Trading Card

Fans can also grab the Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos Deluxe Edition for PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch upon launch.

The Deluxe Edition ($49.99) includes:

• Digital game
• Digital Art Book (35 pages)
• Soundtrack (10 tracks)
• Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos Costume Set* (1x costume per set for Uzume Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, 15x total)
  * Swimsuit Costume
  * Apocalyptic Costume
  * Race Queen Costume

The Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos Costume Set ($6.99) will also be available as a standalone DLC on launch.

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A while back I had been in the mood for some otome and when 9 R.I.P. was announced for localization, I decided I would review this one. I didn’t know much about it going into things and typically I am extremely picky about the otome I’ll play. But, it sounded like it was a longer game than most and had a lot going on, so I was intrigued enough to take on this review. Was 9 R.I.P. worth the time investment? Or was it simply a failed horror show not worth the price of admission? Keep reading and find out my thoughts.

The main character of this one, Misa Isshiki, is at a loss for what to do with her future. She recently received this career path survey at school and is expected to fill it out with her plans. Misa lives at home with her mom and her older sister, as her dad passed away when she was little. Misa’s sister, Tsubasa, followed her own path in life. Now their mother expects Misa to follow the route she wants for her. Ideally, she wants Misa to become a doctor like her father and constantly pressures her to do as she wishes. Being lost in life and unsure what to do with this survey, not to mention constantly pressured by her mother, Misa ends up spirited away to one of a few different dimensions.

In one route, Misa ends up trapped in her school in a sort of limbo realm full of the dead. In another route, Misa finds herself in Hell. In a third potential spiriting away, she ends up a ghost herself. And finally, the last potential outcome is being haunted by spirits in the regular old mortal world, still a human herself. Regardless of the outcome, Misa Isshiki is expected to go through the challenges awaiting her and ultimately figure out what to do with her life. Each of these four routes contains two different potential romance options for you to get to know and you’ll make various choices along the way. In these initial common routes containing two love interests each, make the right choices and whoever you’re closer to by the end is the one Misa will end up falling for. After this, you’ll be lead to their specific route where you can get even closer with them, or find yourself doomed should you take a wrong turn.

9 R.I.P. has a lot of overlap between routes. I found myself tired out pretty early on. You’ll often be revisiting routes and have to skip over the various common route content you already saw to get to the choices you have to do differently. Despite that, this otome was relatively straightforward. If you leave on the option to see when you’ve raised a character’s affection, or you constantly check the status screen as you make choices, you’ll find it easy to go in a decent direction. However, I did find out that you can reach more than one good ending in a lot of the routes and trying to go back to get the best ending can prove difficult until you figure out how things work completely. Not to mention the game also has this insanity meter in some of the common routes, but I found it extremely difficult to even raise it naturally during a first playthrough. It wasn’t hard to avoid a lot of the bad ends. Also, these bad ends aren’t a true full ending like other otome with bad endings. They don’t have their own special bad end CGs or anything like that, it’s more of an abrupt fail. I got a few bad ends to see how they went, but typically I just went back through the game’s log and rewound a smidge to wherever things went awry. You’ll know relatively quickly when you make a bad choice, since most of the routes don’t make it too hard to figure out.

I really enjoyed my time with 9 R.I.P. Though, I do believe it was somewhat lacking in comparison to other Idea Factory otome. I mean, between all the events going on, most routes don’t have a ton of romantic parts. It’s kind of lightly dispersed between other happenings. Also, the horror wasn’t anything major. Some of the love interests in their initial common routes were cheerier and lacking in scary moments. And the ones that were more horror filled still weren’t anything crazy. I think my favorite of all the romanceable partners you can go after was definitely Koyo. His route was really fun honestly, mostly the beginning common route shared between both him and Sena. I had a hard time picking between them at first, but after going after both of them, Koyo was definitely my favorite.

I think the atmosphere in this otome is the best thing about it. It has a really good soundtrack, especially all of the ending songs. Hibiki, one of the love interests I was least interested in, I think actually had the best music theme of all of them. Each guy has their own unique music theme which will play often. While I’m on the topic of the game’s music, I should discuss the different extras in 9 R.I.P.‘s menu as you complete routes. It doesn’t have a significant amount of extras, there aren’t any additional stories following up on endings or anything like that. Still, like other Otomate titles, there are some special extras. The main extra content you’ll unlock from finishing routes are these voice lines for each guy. They each have a menu with different voice lines, some of them featuring aspects of your time with them after the story ends. In addition to that are the standard otome extras, like how you can listen to the soundtrack, check the glossary of terms from throughout the game, or look back at images of Misa with the different characters from throughout the story. You can also of course revisit specific chapters you’ve gone through to make different choices and get other endings, even starting with an already filled affection meter if you’d like. And finally, you can re-watch various videos as well, mainly the end credit music bits for each love interest.

I didn’t happen upon too many issues. Performance wise, 9 R.I.P. played smoothly for the most part. There wasn’t a true abundance of grammar mistakes or typos. Honestly, I now expect there to be some in all of these localized otome, they’re never flawless. Nonetheless, I do think Idea Factory International is a ton better at the quality control than certain other companies that localize these games. The biggest error I found was in the videos menu. The bars with the name of whatever should be the highlighted video you’re going to watch didn’t match up with what was pictured in the center and what the video ultimately ended up being once selected. I’ve provided a picture above of this issue. You’ll see the bar I had selected says it’s Sena’s video but in the center it shows it’s Koyo’s. That specific menu was pretty messed up and was the biggest issue I ran into.

When I went into this, upon looking up how long the game was – seeing as it’s already out in Japan – I was expecting it to be a bit longer than it actually is. But with so many different love interests and multiple endings for all of them, it still has quite a lot of content. I spent over 35 hours on this otome and completed six different routes, plus unlocked various alternate endings. I still have a couple more routes to go. In the end though, 9 R.I.P. was a fun time. It’s nowhere near the spiciest otome you can play, but the atmosphere and music is fantastic. If otome are your thing, you’ll enjoy yourself. I do believe it’s worth the price of admission. 9 R.I.P. releases on the Nintendo Switch Oct. 15, 2024.

Review Score
Overall

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It’s not often I associate “comfy” with murder, but when it comes to the Famicom Detective Club games, that’s the word that comes to mind to best describe them. Sitting down with one of the 2021 remakes is like curling up in your favorite chair with a cup of your favorite warm beverage and just vibing. After close to 30 years, would the newest entry in this series, Emio – The Smiling Man, give me the same feeling while also delivering a great mystery?

Rather than focus on the supernatural and ghosts, this time around our intrepid Boy Detective finds himself investigating the murder of middle school student, Eisuke Sasaki, that ties into a local urban legend. Emio – known as The Smiling Man because of the characters in his name – supposedly appears before crying girls while wearing a paper bag on his head emblazoned with a smiling face. If the girl laughs, he leaves her alone, but if she cries, he strangles her. So why, this time, would Emio appear before a boy, and why would he use a rope instead of his bare hands? And what relation, if any, does it have to a series of unsolved murders from 18 years ago?

Despite being the newest entry in this series in decades, Emio – The Smiling Man plays exactly like its predecessors. It carries over the visual style and voice acting from the 2021 remakes, which themselves retained the point-and-click adventure style gameplay of the original Famicom releases. You have a choice of several options in each scenario, including calling out to nearby people, talking to them, examining the surroundings or specific areas with your cursor, taking items, using your phone, and thinking about the situation. Each of these actions is meant to put you in the shoes of the protagonist and engage in the case the way a real person would. Unfortunately, it also results in a lot of cycling through options searching for the correct course of action. There were at least three times when I had exhausted every option and couldn’t figure out how to advance, so I just kept hammering my choices until something finally happened. There was also at least one instance where the correct option was to investigate a specific area, but I clicked the wrong part of the object and did not trigger the next event. These weren’t enough to ruin my enjoyment of the story, but it did lead to a lot of frustration.

Fellow Utsugi Detective Agency members – Shunsuke Utsugi and Ayumi Tachibana – return from previous titles, and this time you not only follow the protagonist, but you finally get to see Ayumi in action, as well. Throughout the investigation, you’ll keep notes to review, including important names and information you uncover about each person of interest. Periodically, the protagonist and Ayumi will review their notes, testing your knowledge of the case before deciding where next to go in the investigation. Having them both pursue different avenues of questioning gave the game a bit more breathing room to explore the story from multiple angles, as well as introduce a broader, eclectic cast. My personal favorite was Tsubasa Fukuyama, Ayumi’s former classmate and current middle school teacher at Eisuke’s school. Other notable newcomers include Junko Kuze, the serious detective in charge of Eisuke’s case, and Daisuke Kamihara, her jovial and easy-going partner. Each character is brought to life by some absolutely fantastic voice work, and Megumi Ogata especially deserves some kudos for her performance as the protagonist. She was a joy to listen to.

As for the story itself, I found this entry very engaging, with enough twists, turns and red herrings to keep me guessing for a significant chunk of playtime. The pacing was breezy and scenes never felt like they overstayed their welcome. That being said, the ending left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied, with one too many contrivances hampering an otherwise strong narrative. There is also an epilogue that ties up a few loose ends that packed an emotional punch, but the game rightfully warns you that it deals with some distressing content, so just keep that in mind if you’re at all sensitive to some of the broader issues explored in the main story.

Emio – The Smiling Man was a comfortable, familiar experience that both benefited from that familiarity and suffered from it. I loved revisiting this world and the characters, and the overall excellent writing was engaging and entertaining; however, retaining the same point-and-click nature of the previous games lead to some frustrating play sessions and unintuitive courses of action. The presentation was gorgeous, with beautiful background art, detailed and emotive sprites, excellent voice work and an amazing soundtrack. It took me roughly 20 hours to finish the game, and while the Fukuyama’s Report Card extra does give some minor incentive to replay for a higher grade, there isn’t much else, which makes it slightly more difficult to recommend at the $50 price tag, especially since you can get the twin pack of the first two games for only a few dollars more. To be clear, I really enjoyed my time with Emio, and if you liked the previous Famicom Detective games or really enjoy mystery visual novels, then this is a surefire title to grab. Due to its dated gameplay and shorter length, if you’re more of a casual enjoyer, I’d wait for it to go on sale. If you’re unsure where you stand, there’s a free demo available so you can test the waters yourself.

Review Score
Overall

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A new adventure with new protagonists and an original story in the world of “Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator” is coming to PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch and Steam® as a “completely offline” title.

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The father of FINAL FANTASY, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and renowned composer Nobuo Uematsu return to deliver an original RPG story with FANTASIAN Neo Dimension. Experience an enhanced version of FANTASIAN, initially released for Apple Arcade in 2021, with brand-new features, including English and Japanese voiceovers and an additional difficulty option. PS5, Xbox Series X and PC versions of the game also offer 4K support.

In FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, assume the role of Leo as he journeys to recover his memories and solve the mystery of a strange mechanical infection destroying his world. Experience an original and modern take on the beloved turn-based battle system, with a wealth of unique mechanics and strategic combat that shake up the classic RPG formula, and explore a multi-dimensional universe come to life set against the backdrop of over 150 charming hand-crafted dioramas.

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One of gaming’s most beloved RPGs is getting a modern facelift when the LUNAR Remastered Collection launches in Spring 2025. The remastered versions of LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete and LUNAR 2: Eternal Blue Complete were revealed during Sony’s State of Play. You can watch the announcement trailer above.

According to the PlayStation Blog, the game will feature updated graphics, sound, and quality of life improvements. These include wide screen support, enhanced pixel art, HD animated cutscenes and new English voice acting. Players can also swap between original and updated graphics. Battles will have speed options and there will be new strategy settings. Both games will have English, Japanese, German and French language options.

LUNAR Remastered Collection will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.

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 In the demo, players step into the shoes of the Emperor Leon and, with his second son, Prince Gerard, start an epic journey that will span across generations as Leon, Gerard and subsequent emperors contend with the Seven Heroes – once revered heroes who, for reasons unknown, now seek revenge against the world. The demo concludes with a battle with Kzinssie, one of the Seven Heroes, setting the stage for the multi-generation story to unfold. As save data from the demo is transferable to the full game, players can seamlessly continue their adventure upon the game’s Oct. 24 launch.

In Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, players will embark on a multi-generation adventure to protect and expand their empire. With the free-form scenario system, the player’s choices will impact how the story develops, including who inherits the imperial throne with each successive generation. Developed by the team behind the 2020 remake Trials of Mana, this ground-up remake and standalone story will feature modern visuals, reworked strategic gameplay and various other enhancements that will delight longtime SaGa fans and newcomers alike, including the ability to switch between the classic soundtrack and a newly rearranged version, plus three difficulty modes that can be adjusted at any point.

If you’d like to know more about Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, visit the game’s official website.

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