Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
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yeah ikr, I figured that Bethesda was a company too big to buy outright.
Fall 2016 (Part 1) - Argonaut's Big Projects
Project Gonzo
Project Gonzo is a horror/action/partial on-rails title developed by Argonaut and published by Nintendo, focused on a group of young adults filming in an abandoned part of a city for a student film, only to be attacked by mysterious creatures and forced into a real-life fight for survival. It's Argonaut's first M-rated game, and combines elements of titles such as House Of The Dead, with the cinematic chops and branching pathways of games such as OTL's Until Dawn. Designed to be played through multiple times, both to allow players to rack up high scores and see all the cutscenes, as well as experience the game's different endings, it's somewhat different from a game like Squad Four Betrayal, and instead, hearkens back to the company's roots of games like X, Star Fox, and Squad Four Eclipse. It's designed to make full use of the Reality's VR, with things jumping out at the player, while other characters scream directly into the camera at the protagonist, with some of the game seen through a camera's viewfinder. The player protagonist, who is not named or gendered, and doesn't speak via voice acting (but instead has lines of dialogue chosen by the player), is never actually seen, as the game is seen entirely through their perspective. There are five other characters, three male, and two female, who interact with the player throughout the game, and are the player's friends, helping them create their film. They're all in their early 20s, and via dialogue and items found by the player, it's possible to learn more about them. The player will spend much of their time running, sneaking, jumping, and sliding to evade enemies, but there are also melee weapons and firearms in the game, which the player can use on the various things that come after them or their friends. There's a health meter, and there are various options on the player's camera that can be used to take shots of certain scenes or images, which can be added to the player's album, thus contributing to their score. There are twelve levels in all in the game, which range in length from 10-20 minutes each, and these levels each have numerous branching paths or opportunities for the player to see different things or to give themselves an easier or more difficult time. Sometimes, the player might be presented with a simple choice, like going one way or going the other, with no knowledge of what lies beyond. Sometimes, they'll have to choose between an easier path offering more safety, or a harder path, offering more weapons or more story scenes. Throughout the game, there will also be critical segments in which the player's choices may result in injury or even death to a companion. Like in games such as Until Dawn, it's possible to save everyone, no one, or a combination or people, but unlike in that game, if the player makes it to the end, they'll always make it out safe (though of course their friends may not be so lucky). Like in Squad Four Betrayal, graphics and sound are a major component of Project Gonzo's appeal, with some of the best graphics and character animation ever seen in a video game up to this point (and with the game itself being fairly short and small in scale, Argonaut's been able to devote more time to graphical detail). The game boasts a talented voiceover cast, with Matt Jones, Kyle McCarley, and Jason Mitchell as the player's male companions, Billy, Jake, and Trey, and Mae Whitman and Amanda Celine Miller as the player's female companions, Deborah and Selina. Despite the intense horror and violence present in the game, it never takes itself 100% seriously, and so there are plenty of moments of humor and levity in the game that help to give the player a breather between intense segments.
The game's plot is focused on a student film about an abandoned section of Detroit, said to be plagued by mysterious disappearances and murders, though most of the filming has focused on urban exploration and the six protagonists just screwing around and filming themselves doing stupid stuff. The first level begins with the group looking through an abandoned library building, only for them to hear strange noises and screaming. When they reach the source of the screaming, Selina ends up getting dragged into a tunnel by a strange figure. They eventually find Selina covered in some strange slime and badly shaken up, telling her friends that whatever grabbed her dropped her and ran through a tunnel into the sewers. The friends, against their better judgment, follow the creature into the sewers and end up getting attacked by more of them and separated, and the protagonist begins the second level alone. They're soon chased, and they manage to pick up a weapon and kill one of the creatures, which turns out to be some kind of mutant monster. They're then given a choice whether to go after Billy, Trey, and Selina, or whether to go after Jake and Deborah. Depending on the player's choices, Billy can actually be killed off during this level, but whatever ends up happening, the player winds up with two of their companions for the next level. As the game continues, there are more attacks, more strange occurrences, more chances for companion death, and more lore about just what's going on in this part of the city. It ends up being related to some kind of pollution in the city's water system (with the Flint water crisis never occurring ITTL, this is less timely of a storyline, but also far less controversial, as Argonaut would've had to come up with some other explanation for the mutant creatures if the game were made IOTL). The source of the pollution is an abandoned water treatment facility, but that facility is also swarming with creatures, and it might not be possible for the player and their companions to get in there. In the ninth level, however, the player is able to do so, but upon sneaking into the facility, they're attacked by someone (and if Deborah is still alive and with the player at this time, which is likely, she gets captured by a mysterious figure). Levels 10 and 11 concern the player and their companions needing to find another way into the facility, and possibly rescue Deborah from the mysterious person, who turns out to be the government bureaucrat responsible for the water pollution, who was thought to have committed suicide to avoid prosecution but instead started living in the abandoned facility, where he has a strange command over the creatures. Finally, in level 12, the player and their companions are tasked with fixing the water pollution, eradicating the creatures, and getting the hell out of the plant before it floods. In the end, the player and any surviving companions emerge back in the city, with some incredible footage and an amazing story to tell (though if anyone died, the ending is a lot more somber, and if the player is the last one left alive, they stagger away silently). The after-credits scene shows some surviving mutants staggering into the city, showing that even though the player fixed the problem, some lingering effects still remain...
Project Gonzo is released on October 7, 2016, to high critical praise averaging in the 9/10 range. Praising the game's graphics and voice acting, and also its surprisingly additive gameplay, the game is not only considered one of the best horror games of all time, but also one of the most effective uses of VR in a game, putting the player right into the middle of the action in truly lifelike fashion. Sales are also quite brisk, helping to make the title one of the Reality's most successful of the season. It's not nearly on the level of Squad Four Betrayal, but it's a great follow-up for Argonaut, and a nice continuance of momentum as the company gets ready for its next big project...
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Details About The New Squad Four Begin To Emerge
Argonaut is deep into development on their latest Squad Four title, the followup to 2014's megahit Squad Four Betrayal. The game is expected to be released in 2017, which would be the fastest turnaround time for a Squad Four game since the three year gap between 1996's Squad Four Eclipse and 1999's Squad Four Rebellion. Don't expect the newest Squad Four to be as different from its predecessor as Rebellion was from Eclipse: the new Squad Four will play much like Betrayal, according to project lead Mark Pacini, who has taken over from Dylan Cuthbert (who is instead serving as the game's supervising programmer). The new Squad Four, whose name hasn't yet been revealed, uses the same engine as Betrayal, and the game will focus on exploration and stealth, with the player asked to take a more tactical approach to combat than in the previous game. Few spoilers have been given about the game's plot, but we do know that some kind of cult is involved, and that the game's focus won't be on Lockstar or its politics, but instead, a struggle encompassing the wider universe. Of course, the most notable thing we've been shown is the return of Raquel from Squad Four Rebellion. It's been confirmed that the fan favorite character will play a "massive" role in the game, and that we'll get a clearer picture of just what that role is as we draw closer to the game's release date. Pacini has also shown off some of the game's more RPG-like elements, including damage numbers appearing over enemies and heroes for the first time, and the ability for enemies to drop loot that players can equip to their characters, in a continuation of the general trend toward RPG elements appearing in more and more games. According to Pacini, tactics will remain more important than what equipment the players have, but that the equipment and loot system will provide more of an incentive for combat, and will also encourage players to explore their surroundings, with loot also able to be found in treasure chests. The new Squad Four is one of the most anticipated games of 2017, and while it doesn't look to be a reinvention of the franchise in the same way that Squad Four Betrayal was, it could be one of the cases in which more of the same isn't all that bad, especially when you're talking about a follow-up to one of the greatest games of this generation.
-from an article on Kotaku, posted on October 22, 2016
Project Gonzo is a horror/action/partial on-rails title developed by Argonaut and published by Nintendo, focused on a group of young adults filming in an abandoned part of a city for a student film, only to be attacked by mysterious creatures and forced into a real-life fight for survival. It's Argonaut's first M-rated game, and combines elements of titles such as House Of The Dead, with the cinematic chops and branching pathways of games such as OTL's Until Dawn. Designed to be played through multiple times, both to allow players to rack up high scores and see all the cutscenes, as well as experience the game's different endings, it's somewhat different from a game like Squad Four Betrayal, and instead, hearkens back to the company's roots of games like X, Star Fox, and Squad Four Eclipse. It's designed to make full use of the Reality's VR, with things jumping out at the player, while other characters scream directly into the camera at the protagonist, with some of the game seen through a camera's viewfinder. The player protagonist, who is not named or gendered, and doesn't speak via voice acting (but instead has lines of dialogue chosen by the player), is never actually seen, as the game is seen entirely through their perspective. There are five other characters, three male, and two female, who interact with the player throughout the game, and are the player's friends, helping them create their film. They're all in their early 20s, and via dialogue and items found by the player, it's possible to learn more about them. The player will spend much of their time running, sneaking, jumping, and sliding to evade enemies, but there are also melee weapons and firearms in the game, which the player can use on the various things that come after them or their friends. There's a health meter, and there are various options on the player's camera that can be used to take shots of certain scenes or images, which can be added to the player's album, thus contributing to their score. There are twelve levels in all in the game, which range in length from 10-20 minutes each, and these levels each have numerous branching paths or opportunities for the player to see different things or to give themselves an easier or more difficult time. Sometimes, the player might be presented with a simple choice, like going one way or going the other, with no knowledge of what lies beyond. Sometimes, they'll have to choose between an easier path offering more safety, or a harder path, offering more weapons or more story scenes. Throughout the game, there will also be critical segments in which the player's choices may result in injury or even death to a companion. Like in games such as Until Dawn, it's possible to save everyone, no one, or a combination or people, but unlike in that game, if the player makes it to the end, they'll always make it out safe (though of course their friends may not be so lucky). Like in Squad Four Betrayal, graphics and sound are a major component of Project Gonzo's appeal, with some of the best graphics and character animation ever seen in a video game up to this point (and with the game itself being fairly short and small in scale, Argonaut's been able to devote more time to graphical detail). The game boasts a talented voiceover cast, with Matt Jones, Kyle McCarley, and Jason Mitchell as the player's male companions, Billy, Jake, and Trey, and Mae Whitman and Amanda Celine Miller as the player's female companions, Deborah and Selina. Despite the intense horror and violence present in the game, it never takes itself 100% seriously, and so there are plenty of moments of humor and levity in the game that help to give the player a breather between intense segments.
The game's plot is focused on a student film about an abandoned section of Detroit, said to be plagued by mysterious disappearances and murders, though most of the filming has focused on urban exploration and the six protagonists just screwing around and filming themselves doing stupid stuff. The first level begins with the group looking through an abandoned library building, only for them to hear strange noises and screaming. When they reach the source of the screaming, Selina ends up getting dragged into a tunnel by a strange figure. They eventually find Selina covered in some strange slime and badly shaken up, telling her friends that whatever grabbed her dropped her and ran through a tunnel into the sewers. The friends, against their better judgment, follow the creature into the sewers and end up getting attacked by more of them and separated, and the protagonist begins the second level alone. They're soon chased, and they manage to pick up a weapon and kill one of the creatures, which turns out to be some kind of mutant monster. They're then given a choice whether to go after Billy, Trey, and Selina, or whether to go after Jake and Deborah. Depending on the player's choices, Billy can actually be killed off during this level, but whatever ends up happening, the player winds up with two of their companions for the next level. As the game continues, there are more attacks, more strange occurrences, more chances for companion death, and more lore about just what's going on in this part of the city. It ends up being related to some kind of pollution in the city's water system (with the Flint water crisis never occurring ITTL, this is less timely of a storyline, but also far less controversial, as Argonaut would've had to come up with some other explanation for the mutant creatures if the game were made IOTL). The source of the pollution is an abandoned water treatment facility, but that facility is also swarming with creatures, and it might not be possible for the player and their companions to get in there. In the ninth level, however, the player is able to do so, but upon sneaking into the facility, they're attacked by someone (and if Deborah is still alive and with the player at this time, which is likely, she gets captured by a mysterious figure). Levels 10 and 11 concern the player and their companions needing to find another way into the facility, and possibly rescue Deborah from the mysterious person, who turns out to be the government bureaucrat responsible for the water pollution, who was thought to have committed suicide to avoid prosecution but instead started living in the abandoned facility, where he has a strange command over the creatures. Finally, in level 12, the player and their companions are tasked with fixing the water pollution, eradicating the creatures, and getting the hell out of the plant before it floods. In the end, the player and any surviving companions emerge back in the city, with some incredible footage and an amazing story to tell (though if anyone died, the ending is a lot more somber, and if the player is the last one left alive, they stagger away silently). The after-credits scene shows some surviving mutants staggering into the city, showing that even though the player fixed the problem, some lingering effects still remain...
Project Gonzo is released on October 7, 2016, to high critical praise averaging in the 9/10 range. Praising the game's graphics and voice acting, and also its surprisingly additive gameplay, the game is not only considered one of the best horror games of all time, but also one of the most effective uses of VR in a game, putting the player right into the middle of the action in truly lifelike fashion. Sales are also quite brisk, helping to make the title one of the Reality's most successful of the season. It's not nearly on the level of Squad Four Betrayal, but it's a great follow-up for Argonaut, and a nice continuance of momentum as the company gets ready for its next big project...
-
Details About The New Squad Four Begin To Emerge
Argonaut is deep into development on their latest Squad Four title, the followup to 2014's megahit Squad Four Betrayal. The game is expected to be released in 2017, which would be the fastest turnaround time for a Squad Four game since the three year gap between 1996's Squad Four Eclipse and 1999's Squad Four Rebellion. Don't expect the newest Squad Four to be as different from its predecessor as Rebellion was from Eclipse: the new Squad Four will play much like Betrayal, according to project lead Mark Pacini, who has taken over from Dylan Cuthbert (who is instead serving as the game's supervising programmer). The new Squad Four, whose name hasn't yet been revealed, uses the same engine as Betrayal, and the game will focus on exploration and stealth, with the player asked to take a more tactical approach to combat than in the previous game. Few spoilers have been given about the game's plot, but we do know that some kind of cult is involved, and that the game's focus won't be on Lockstar or its politics, but instead, a struggle encompassing the wider universe. Of course, the most notable thing we've been shown is the return of Raquel from Squad Four Rebellion. It's been confirmed that the fan favorite character will play a "massive" role in the game, and that we'll get a clearer picture of just what that role is as we draw closer to the game's release date. Pacini has also shown off some of the game's more RPG-like elements, including damage numbers appearing over enemies and heroes for the first time, and the ability for enemies to drop loot that players can equip to their characters, in a continuation of the general trend toward RPG elements appearing in more and more games. According to Pacini, tactics will remain more important than what equipment the players have, but that the equipment and loot system will provide more of an incentive for combat, and will also encourage players to explore their surroundings, with loot also able to be found in treasure chests. The new Squad Four is one of the most anticipated games of 2017, and while it doesn't look to be a reinvention of the franchise in the same way that Squad Four Betrayal was, it could be one of the cases in which more of the same isn't all that bad, especially when you're talking about a follow-up to one of the greatest games of this generation.
-from an article on Kotaku, posted on October 22, 2016
Has there been any clueless parents or grandparents who bought Project Gonzo for their child or grandchild, just because they associate Gonzo with the Muppets?
Man, it will be a DEVASTATING day if and/or when we see the update for the final Squad Four title.
Fortunately, no. The Muppets aren't a huge deal in 2016 (I mean, they're the Muppets, so they're popular, just not really a huge deal among kids of the time, sorta like IOTL), and the box art makes it quite clear that this is a horror game.
I will say this... you'll see previews for a Squad Four game that won't actually be properly covered in the timeline, because it comes out soon after the timeline ends. But the series is going to continue, it's Nintendo's fourth biggest series right now, they're not going to stop making it
Thanks for telling me that, because if what happened to games like the original Mega Man, in which the Blue Bomber is portrayed as an adult in his 40's, were to happen to Project Gonzo, it would have been a legal nightmare that was out of Nintendo's hands.Fortunately, no. The Muppets aren't a huge deal in 2016 (I mean, they're the Muppets, so they're popular, just not really a huge deal among kids of the time, sorta like IOTL), and the box art makes it quite clear that this is a horror game.
I will say this... you'll see previews for a Squad Four game that won't actually be properly covered in the timeline, because it comes out soon after the timeline ends. But the series is going to continue, it's Nintendo's fourth biggest series right now, they're not going to stop making it
When this timeline ends, can you give us a roadmap on what would happen after the end, so that you don't have to go too in depth? You know, like the "Rest of the Games" updates for every season of the year.
After we finish covering TTL 2020, I plan to post a series of summary updates for what happens to various companies and people afterward. 2021 will probably get some kind of short summary post of its own.
Oh one more thing on the Argonaut end, how is Monty Oum doing? Last time we brought him up, he was working there.
He's been working on the new Squad Four, and wasn't involved with Project Gonzo.
Fall 2016 (Part 2) - An Update On WRPGs
Kandela: The Last Fire
Kandela: The Last Fire is a traditional-style WRPG, and is a bit of a throwback game, hearkening back to classic titles in the Ultima series (though with plenty of the requisite modern quality of life features). Unlike a lot of modern WRPGs, it's somewhat heavy on puzzles: the game's dungeons are full of them, and plenty of towns feature puzzles to solve as well, with the rewards ranging from loot to more clues about the game's storyline and where to go next. The game itself focuses on a world where fire is almost impossible to make, and the last of the world's fire has been condensed into a spiritual flame called Kandela, which has entered the soul of the player character. After you create a character using the game's extensive creation system, which offers a wide array of features for customizing appearance and starting stats, you're thrust into a dungeon, in which you've been imprisoned by the king, who hopes to extract the Kandela from you. You're guided to safety by a fellow prisoner, a female thief who was arrested for attempting to break into the palace, and after escaping, you're given clues about six dungeons you must explore to use Kandela's flame to restore fire to the world. Kandela can serve a variety of purposes for the player, strengthening their magic and also assisting them with the various puzzles found in the game, which are based around Kandela's fire. The player, who soon becomes known as the Flamebearer, is assisted by some NPCs, hunted by others, and despised by others still, and must carefully balance their relationships with various towns and people, all who have a unique relationship with the player's character as they decide what to do with their fiery gift. Apart from puzzle solving and dungeon exploration, moral alignment is at the heart of this game, and the player must decide how best to wield Kandela: will they use it to restore the fire, or will they keep its powers for themselves and attempt to rule the world? There isn't a whole lot of different paths the player can take (mostly three: good, neutral, and evil), but there are plenty of quests and things to do, and some of the game's puzzles are true mindbenders. Released in October 2016 for the Reality, Virtua, and Nexus, Kandela: The Last Fire is quite well received by critics, who consider it a breath of fresh air and a true throwback to a lot of late 90s/early 2000s RPG classics. It's not for everyone, but thanks to the strong reviews and promotion on various websites, it manages to become one of the year's more popular WRPGs, selling over a million copies on console and also doing quite well on PC and Macintosh, where it would be even more successful.
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Nosgoth
Nosgoth is an MMORPG published by Eidos and set in the world of Legacy Of Kain, after the events of Legacy Of Kain: Fate's Instrument. As a result of the events of that game, humans and vampires have launched a decades-long war for control of Nosgoth, with one faction, the humans and their vampire hunter allies, led by the goddess Silesma, who wields the Soul Reaver and empowers humans to battle their vampire enemies, and the vampires themselves, led by Kain and set upon the world to conquer it. Players will choose between one of these two factions, and in addition to waging war with one another, they also complete various missions against other beings who are in opposition to both humans and vampires (occasionally bringing the two sides to work together). Eidos originally intended to publish a single player game that would bring the series to a conclusive end, but after failing to come up with a strong plot for said game, decided instead that the property would best work as an MMORPG, which would allow them to craft events within the world of the game that could potentially be used to set up a future single player story. Combat is fairly typical action RPG fare. There's loot to gather and dungeons to explore, but what sets Nosgoth apart from other games of its stripe is the abundance of PVP zones in which humans and vampires battle it out. Humans/vampire hunters have fairly typical weapons and powers, with Silesma's Soul Reaver granting some specials, magic, and superhuman abilities allowing them to fight the vampires on even footing. Meanwhile, the vampires have extra durability and an array of powerful blood-based attacks, and can also equip much of the same gear used by vampire hunters, though they do have certain weaknesses that human players can exploit. Nosgoth is fairly small in scale compared to other MMORPGs on the market, though Eidos does frequently update and expand the game, adding more territory and more dungeons to flesh out the world. Released on the Reality, Virtua, PC, and Macintosh (the game is thought to be too big and detailed for the Nexus, and it can't be released as a Pro exclusive) in October 2016, it's met with somewhat mediocre reviews that criticize the small world and bare-bones combat system, and also criticize the story in comparison with other classic games in the series. Early sales are fairly poor as well, but as the game's price comes down, they do begin to pick up as more players check out the game and more things are added. It would eventually become completely free to play in late 2018, and maintains a somewhat small but devoted player base that helps keep the game reasonably profitable.
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Ultima XII: Avatar Of Skye
Ultima XII: Avatar Of Skye is a WRPG published by Electronic Arts for the Reality, Virtua, Nexus, PC, and Macintosh. It's the twelve mainline title in the Ultima series, and was originally conceived as the series' third online game (after Ultima Online and Ultima X), but eventually was spun-off into a single player title, while Ultima Online 2 was still being developed for PC (with a target release window of 2018). It's the first Ultima game that series creator Richard Garriott had no involvement in (as he chose to focus entirely on Ultima Online 2), so instead, a new team was brought together to develop the game and flesh out its story. Far lighter hearted than Ultima XI: The Wages Of Sin, and even boasting a Teen rating as opposed to the Mature rating of the recent games in the series, Ultima XII is the first to allow the player to choose a male or female Avatar, who must restore virtue and honor to a realm called Skye, based somewhat on the real life Scottish Isle of Skye. This island, isolated from the mainland, has grown corrupt under the rule of the Dreadlord Angus, who exerts his will by launching campaigns of terror across the land. The people of Skye have grown jaded and bitter, and so it's up to the Avatar to help them, by displaying virtue on their many quests across the realm. The basic layout and gameplay of Ultima XII actually has a lot in common with OTL's Ghost Of Tsushima (many developers from OTL's Sucker Punch studio ended up working at the studio that brought Ultima XII to life), except for the combat, which remains fairly traditional WRPG fare (a mix of melee attacks and magic). The Avatar's actions are judged on how much virtue they exhibit, and while it's possible for the player to conduct themselves in a somewhat non-virtuous manner for a while, virtue and honor are necessary to progress through the game, with the player required to complete some remedial quests to restore that virtue if it's lost. Most of the game's quests are side quests of some stripe, designed to build the player's virtue and allow them to make ethical choices. Once virtue is restored to the land, it becomes possible to overthrow Angus and restore Skye's freedom. Ultima XII is a bit of a smaller scale title, not quite on the same level as Ultima XI in terms of freedom or ability to explore, but it makes up for that with a compelling main quest and some genuine ethical choices (even though the player is required to exhibit virtue, they actually have many ways to accomplish this, giving the player more freedom than one might think). It restores the series to its roots to some extent, and gets some comparisons to Kandela: The Last Fire. It's released in November 2016, and is seen as a fine game, with fairly good reviews, but gets a bit overshadowed by other titles, especially Final Fantasy XIV. It becomes a bit of a "forgotten" game in the Ultima series, lacking the gameplay versatility of X or the bold risktaking of XI, and ends up doing little to raise hype for Ultima Online 2, which most series fans are looking forward to quite a bit more.
Kandela: The Last Fire is a traditional-style WRPG, and is a bit of a throwback game, hearkening back to classic titles in the Ultima series (though with plenty of the requisite modern quality of life features). Unlike a lot of modern WRPGs, it's somewhat heavy on puzzles: the game's dungeons are full of them, and plenty of towns feature puzzles to solve as well, with the rewards ranging from loot to more clues about the game's storyline and where to go next. The game itself focuses on a world where fire is almost impossible to make, and the last of the world's fire has been condensed into a spiritual flame called Kandela, which has entered the soul of the player character. After you create a character using the game's extensive creation system, which offers a wide array of features for customizing appearance and starting stats, you're thrust into a dungeon, in which you've been imprisoned by the king, who hopes to extract the Kandela from you. You're guided to safety by a fellow prisoner, a female thief who was arrested for attempting to break into the palace, and after escaping, you're given clues about six dungeons you must explore to use Kandela's flame to restore fire to the world. Kandela can serve a variety of purposes for the player, strengthening their magic and also assisting them with the various puzzles found in the game, which are based around Kandela's fire. The player, who soon becomes known as the Flamebearer, is assisted by some NPCs, hunted by others, and despised by others still, and must carefully balance their relationships with various towns and people, all who have a unique relationship with the player's character as they decide what to do with their fiery gift. Apart from puzzle solving and dungeon exploration, moral alignment is at the heart of this game, and the player must decide how best to wield Kandela: will they use it to restore the fire, or will they keep its powers for themselves and attempt to rule the world? There isn't a whole lot of different paths the player can take (mostly three: good, neutral, and evil), but there are plenty of quests and things to do, and some of the game's puzzles are true mindbenders. Released in October 2016 for the Reality, Virtua, and Nexus, Kandela: The Last Fire is quite well received by critics, who consider it a breath of fresh air and a true throwback to a lot of late 90s/early 2000s RPG classics. It's not for everyone, but thanks to the strong reviews and promotion on various websites, it manages to become one of the year's more popular WRPGs, selling over a million copies on console and also doing quite well on PC and Macintosh, where it would be even more successful.
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Nosgoth
Nosgoth is an MMORPG published by Eidos and set in the world of Legacy Of Kain, after the events of Legacy Of Kain: Fate's Instrument. As a result of the events of that game, humans and vampires have launched a decades-long war for control of Nosgoth, with one faction, the humans and their vampire hunter allies, led by the goddess Silesma, who wields the Soul Reaver and empowers humans to battle their vampire enemies, and the vampires themselves, led by Kain and set upon the world to conquer it. Players will choose between one of these two factions, and in addition to waging war with one another, they also complete various missions against other beings who are in opposition to both humans and vampires (occasionally bringing the two sides to work together). Eidos originally intended to publish a single player game that would bring the series to a conclusive end, but after failing to come up with a strong plot for said game, decided instead that the property would best work as an MMORPG, which would allow them to craft events within the world of the game that could potentially be used to set up a future single player story. Combat is fairly typical action RPG fare. There's loot to gather and dungeons to explore, but what sets Nosgoth apart from other games of its stripe is the abundance of PVP zones in which humans and vampires battle it out. Humans/vampire hunters have fairly typical weapons and powers, with Silesma's Soul Reaver granting some specials, magic, and superhuman abilities allowing them to fight the vampires on even footing. Meanwhile, the vampires have extra durability and an array of powerful blood-based attacks, and can also equip much of the same gear used by vampire hunters, though they do have certain weaknesses that human players can exploit. Nosgoth is fairly small in scale compared to other MMORPGs on the market, though Eidos does frequently update and expand the game, adding more territory and more dungeons to flesh out the world. Released on the Reality, Virtua, PC, and Macintosh (the game is thought to be too big and detailed for the Nexus, and it can't be released as a Pro exclusive) in October 2016, it's met with somewhat mediocre reviews that criticize the small world and bare-bones combat system, and also criticize the story in comparison with other classic games in the series. Early sales are fairly poor as well, but as the game's price comes down, they do begin to pick up as more players check out the game and more things are added. It would eventually become completely free to play in late 2018, and maintains a somewhat small but devoted player base that helps keep the game reasonably profitable.
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Ultima XII: Avatar Of Skye
Ultima XII: Avatar Of Skye is a WRPG published by Electronic Arts for the Reality, Virtua, Nexus, PC, and Macintosh. It's the twelve mainline title in the Ultima series, and was originally conceived as the series' third online game (after Ultima Online and Ultima X), but eventually was spun-off into a single player title, while Ultima Online 2 was still being developed for PC (with a target release window of 2018). It's the first Ultima game that series creator Richard Garriott had no involvement in (as he chose to focus entirely on Ultima Online 2), so instead, a new team was brought together to develop the game and flesh out its story. Far lighter hearted than Ultima XI: The Wages Of Sin, and even boasting a Teen rating as opposed to the Mature rating of the recent games in the series, Ultima XII is the first to allow the player to choose a male or female Avatar, who must restore virtue and honor to a realm called Skye, based somewhat on the real life Scottish Isle of Skye. This island, isolated from the mainland, has grown corrupt under the rule of the Dreadlord Angus, who exerts his will by launching campaigns of terror across the land. The people of Skye have grown jaded and bitter, and so it's up to the Avatar to help them, by displaying virtue on their many quests across the realm. The basic layout and gameplay of Ultima XII actually has a lot in common with OTL's Ghost Of Tsushima (many developers from OTL's Sucker Punch studio ended up working at the studio that brought Ultima XII to life), except for the combat, which remains fairly traditional WRPG fare (a mix of melee attacks and magic). The Avatar's actions are judged on how much virtue they exhibit, and while it's possible for the player to conduct themselves in a somewhat non-virtuous manner for a while, virtue and honor are necessary to progress through the game, with the player required to complete some remedial quests to restore that virtue if it's lost. Most of the game's quests are side quests of some stripe, designed to build the player's virtue and allow them to make ethical choices. Once virtue is restored to the land, it becomes possible to overthrow Angus and restore Skye's freedom. Ultima XII is a bit of a smaller scale title, not quite on the same level as Ultima XI in terms of freedom or ability to explore, but it makes up for that with a compelling main quest and some genuine ethical choices (even though the player is required to exhibit virtue, they actually have many ways to accomplish this, giving the player more freedom than one might think). It restores the series to its roots to some extent, and gets some comparisons to Kandela: The Last Fire. It's released in November 2016, and is seen as a fine game, with fairly good reviews, but gets a bit overshadowed by other titles, especially Final Fantasy XIV. It becomes a bit of a "forgotten" game in the Ultima series, lacking the gameplay versatility of X or the bold risktaking of XI, and ends up doing little to raise hype for Ultima Online 2, which most series fans are looking forward to quite a bit more.
Was there a bigger gap in power between iTwin and Sapphire/XB2 or Nexus and Virtua/Reality? Because it seems like games skip the Nexus more than the iTwin and I’m wondering if it’s because of the iTwin’s success, Nexus’ power, both or I’m just imagining things
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Remember this is Microsoft. If they can buy it they will. I'm just wondering how it will work out in the end. Will it be successful or will become another Rare..
Also, in this series related question, how is Apple and Steve Job been doing.
The gap is a bit bigger for the Nexus, and also, the Nexus' architecture makes it harder to port games to than the iTwin.
Apple and Steve Jobs have been doing pretty okay.
Fall 2016 (Part 3) - The Twilight Of Doctor Adler
The Twilight Of Doctor Adler
The Twilight Of Doctor Adler is a mystery/adventure title exclusive to the Apple Virtua. Taking place in a somewhat dreary version of Victorian England (inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels), the game focuses on the eponymous doctor who eventually becomes embroiled in a mystery after several of his close associates mysteriously disappear. The gameplay can be best compared to OTL titles such as the Arkham series, Bioshock and We Happy Few, though inspiration is also taken from TTL original games such as Dick and Crime Stories, and the game itself is also compared with contemporaries such as Pocatello and even Project Gonzo. The Twilight Of Doctor Adler is an ostensibly open world exploration title, though some areas of the city have to be unlocked via progression of the story, and the player can level up Doctor Adler's abilities, both in terms of mystery solving/deduction and also his fighting abilities. While there's not a huge amount of fighting in the game, it is a first person adventure title with FPS elements, and the good doctor will need to do battle against some gangsters and killers during certain parts of the story. In addition to the game's main mystery (the disappearances and murders that have been occurring in the city), the player will also be asked to participate in side quests, such as finding other missing persons, stopping some gang activity, and taking down pimps and slum lords as well. The game has some melancholy aspects to it, as the doctor finds himself slowly descending into madness as the corruption and evil within the city start to adversely affect him and he becomes overly burdened with the problems of others, while his associates meet various grisly fates (or in some cases, are revealed to be criminals themselves). There are some horror elements to the story, though nothing quite as outlandish or otherworldly as Project Gonzo, with most of the killings able to be solved by the player (you're mostly dealing with Jack the Ripper and Alex DeLarge types, not monsters or mutants, though there are some ghostly elements that come into play in the game's second half). The game's Victorian setting lends itself to some steampunk elements as well (nothing quite as outlandish as say, Bioshock Infinite, but closer to OTL's modern Sherlock Holmes movies). Despite the game's somewhat dark and bleak setting that in some elements would lend itself more to an indie title, this is a fully AAA game, published and funded mostly by Apple and developed by an in-house studio. The graphics are excellent, with the first person view designed to make full use of the Virtua's VR, and optimized for the new Virtua S system. The game also has some strong voice acting, with Matt Smith as the voice of the titular Doctor Adler, Sophie Lowe as the voice of Mary, the game's main female character who becomes a trusted confidant to Adler, and Hugo Weaving as the voice of the game's primary antagonist, a serial killer/cult leader known as Finis.
The storyline follows Adler, who serves as a doctor of psychiatry in late 19th century London, and tries his best to help various people in the city with their problems, though in doing so, he attracts an enormous amount of unsavory types, and has become deeply involved in the city's criminal underworld, though he tries his best not to make matters worse for anyone. He begins to notice the disappearance of some of his patients, as well as people connected to his patients, and as he tries to find them, he's forced to take violent measures after one of his patients, a young prostitute named Mary, is nearly murdered by members of a criminal gang. He realizes that he has a responsibility to clean up crime in the city, and becomes somewhat of a vigilante, taking it upon himself to solve the mystery of these disappearances, but this causes problems for him when another of his patients implies that he and some of his friends will be killed if he keeps digging into the disappearances. He learns of a man named Finis who commands a gang of street toughs that control crime in the city, and instead of backing off, he decides to investigate further, which causes the death of his older sister as well as one of his oldest friends after they are killed in the streets by people connected to Finis. Adler must also confront his own demons (a crippling narcotics addiction and the fact that he covered up a murder committed by his younger brother), which have led to additional problems for both Adler and those close to him. These personal problems grow in number and urgency as Adler continues his one man war on crime in the city, and he soon becomes a wanted man himself after Mary is killed and he's framed for her murder. Now, Adler has no choice but to hunt down and kill Finis, which isn't even guaranteed to solve his own problems, but becomes necessary if he wants to clear his conscience. The two eventually have a showdown, and Finis tries to get Adler to back off, reminding him that he has nothing left and that everyone who cared about him has left him. Adler responds that he can still protect the people he cares about, even if they don't care about him, and eventually, he manages to kill Finis after a brutal showdown. The ending shows Finis in his office, looking through pictures and files of his clients, most of whom met with bad fates, but a few of whom are now safe thanks to what he's done. When the police show up to arrest Adler, he's already dead, having overdosed on narcotics, a grim ending for a man who fell too deep into the world he tried to fix.
The Twilight Of Doctor Adler is released in October 2016, to mostly excellent reviews from critics, who praise the game's dark story and strong gameplay. The game is compared favorably to titles such as the aforementioned Project Gonzo and Pocatello, with a lot of critics saying it combines the best of both games, the action of Project Gonzo with the exploration and mystery of Pocatello. The game is somewhat grimmer than both of those titles, but is seen as one of the best uses of the Virtua's VR, and though it comes out a couple months before the introduction of the Virtua S, it's a major showcase game for that machine, with graphics that really pop on the new model, especially in VR. It's one of Apple's biggest holiday hits, joining Virtua Daytona and Scalebound as a major driver of Virtua sales in the last quarter of the year. Its grim story would have influence on a number of titles down the road, and though it wouldn't get a direct sequel (the main character and most of his friends are dead), it would inspire at least one spiritual successor.
The Twilight Of Doctor Adler is a mystery/adventure title exclusive to the Apple Virtua. Taking place in a somewhat dreary version of Victorian England (inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels), the game focuses on the eponymous doctor who eventually becomes embroiled in a mystery after several of his close associates mysteriously disappear. The gameplay can be best compared to OTL titles such as the Arkham series, Bioshock and We Happy Few, though inspiration is also taken from TTL original games such as Dick and Crime Stories, and the game itself is also compared with contemporaries such as Pocatello and even Project Gonzo. The Twilight Of Doctor Adler is an ostensibly open world exploration title, though some areas of the city have to be unlocked via progression of the story, and the player can level up Doctor Adler's abilities, both in terms of mystery solving/deduction and also his fighting abilities. While there's not a huge amount of fighting in the game, it is a first person adventure title with FPS elements, and the good doctor will need to do battle against some gangsters and killers during certain parts of the story. In addition to the game's main mystery (the disappearances and murders that have been occurring in the city), the player will also be asked to participate in side quests, such as finding other missing persons, stopping some gang activity, and taking down pimps and slum lords as well. The game has some melancholy aspects to it, as the doctor finds himself slowly descending into madness as the corruption and evil within the city start to adversely affect him and he becomes overly burdened with the problems of others, while his associates meet various grisly fates (or in some cases, are revealed to be criminals themselves). There are some horror elements to the story, though nothing quite as outlandish or otherworldly as Project Gonzo, with most of the killings able to be solved by the player (you're mostly dealing with Jack the Ripper and Alex DeLarge types, not monsters or mutants, though there are some ghostly elements that come into play in the game's second half). The game's Victorian setting lends itself to some steampunk elements as well (nothing quite as outlandish as say, Bioshock Infinite, but closer to OTL's modern Sherlock Holmes movies). Despite the game's somewhat dark and bleak setting that in some elements would lend itself more to an indie title, this is a fully AAA game, published and funded mostly by Apple and developed by an in-house studio. The graphics are excellent, with the first person view designed to make full use of the Virtua's VR, and optimized for the new Virtua S system. The game also has some strong voice acting, with Matt Smith as the voice of the titular Doctor Adler, Sophie Lowe as the voice of Mary, the game's main female character who becomes a trusted confidant to Adler, and Hugo Weaving as the voice of the game's primary antagonist, a serial killer/cult leader known as Finis.
The storyline follows Adler, who serves as a doctor of psychiatry in late 19th century London, and tries his best to help various people in the city with their problems, though in doing so, he attracts an enormous amount of unsavory types, and has become deeply involved in the city's criminal underworld, though he tries his best not to make matters worse for anyone. He begins to notice the disappearance of some of his patients, as well as people connected to his patients, and as he tries to find them, he's forced to take violent measures after one of his patients, a young prostitute named Mary, is nearly murdered by members of a criminal gang. He realizes that he has a responsibility to clean up crime in the city, and becomes somewhat of a vigilante, taking it upon himself to solve the mystery of these disappearances, but this causes problems for him when another of his patients implies that he and some of his friends will be killed if he keeps digging into the disappearances. He learns of a man named Finis who commands a gang of street toughs that control crime in the city, and instead of backing off, he decides to investigate further, which causes the death of his older sister as well as one of his oldest friends after they are killed in the streets by people connected to Finis. Adler must also confront his own demons (a crippling narcotics addiction and the fact that he covered up a murder committed by his younger brother), which have led to additional problems for both Adler and those close to him. These personal problems grow in number and urgency as Adler continues his one man war on crime in the city, and he soon becomes a wanted man himself after Mary is killed and he's framed for her murder. Now, Adler has no choice but to hunt down and kill Finis, which isn't even guaranteed to solve his own problems, but becomes necessary if he wants to clear his conscience. The two eventually have a showdown, and Finis tries to get Adler to back off, reminding him that he has nothing left and that everyone who cared about him has left him. Adler responds that he can still protect the people he cares about, even if they don't care about him, and eventually, he manages to kill Finis after a brutal showdown. The ending shows Finis in his office, looking through pictures and files of his clients, most of whom met with bad fates, but a few of whom are now safe thanks to what he's done. When the police show up to arrest Adler, he's already dead, having overdosed on narcotics, a grim ending for a man who fell too deep into the world he tried to fix.
The Twilight Of Doctor Adler is released in October 2016, to mostly excellent reviews from critics, who praise the game's dark story and strong gameplay. The game is compared favorably to titles such as the aforementioned Project Gonzo and Pocatello, with a lot of critics saying it combines the best of both games, the action of Project Gonzo with the exploration and mystery of Pocatello. The game is somewhat grimmer than both of those titles, but is seen as one of the best uses of the Virtua's VR, and though it comes out a couple months before the introduction of the Virtua S, it's a major showcase game for that machine, with graphics that really pop on the new model, especially in VR. It's one of Apple's biggest holiday hits, joining Virtua Daytona and Scalebound as a major driver of Virtua sales in the last quarter of the year. Its grim story would have influence on a number of titles down the road, and though it wouldn't get a direct sequel (the main character and most of his friends are dead), it would inspire at least one spiritual successor.
I didn’t even consider that actually but it makes a lot of sense with how Nexus is Android based.
Fall 2016 (Part 4) - Of Winds And Winter
A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night
A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night is an action RPG game based on the popular series of novels by George R. R. Martin and developed by a company called Zoratech exclusively for the Google Nexus. It's the prequel to 2013's A Song Of Ice And Fire, and while that book took players through the events of the first three novels in the series, The Long Night takes place 8,000 years before, during the Age of Heroes, and the event known as The Long Night, the generation-long winter that gripped all of Westeros in its frozen horror. The game allows you to create your own hero, who can be male or female, and this hero becomes a key part of the struggle against the invasion of the White Walkers, while they must also deal with threats from their fellow humans who seek to take advantage of the Long Night for their own purposes. The Long Night is a more epic and sweeping game than the original, and the fighting is a bit less realistic, with the hero capable of more superhuman feats than Cather Keld was. Unlike Keld, who was just a small player in the larger Game of Thrones, the player hero of The Long Night can become a legend, as they fight to save Westeros from the winter's horde. The Long Night also features a number of supernatural creatures and enemies for the player to fight, not just the White Walkers, but large beasts and mighty apparitions, which must be taken down with different battle techniques that the player character will learn as they progress through the game. The world of The Long Night is about the same size as the world in the original A Song Of Ice And Fire, but players will explore different areas of Westeros, and even when they do explore an area from the original game, it's vastly different because the player is seeing it 8,000 years in the past (though there are a few interesting connections to the events of the original game present in this title). Though it's made clear in the game that the player character will eventually be the one known as Azor Ahai, the player is free to forge their own legend and take any path they wish to become the legendary hero of Westeros (this is possible because with 8,000 years removed from the events, the story of the Long Night as told in the books has faded into legend, with the legendary hero themselves known by several different names). Though some of the game does borrow from the mythos of Martin's books, the writers and developers had a lot more leeway to create the world of Westeros during this time period (and Martin himself says that the game is non-canonical regardless), so the world crafted is far different from the one players know even from the original game. The game itself sees the player traveling Westeros during the time of the Long Night, an incredibly harsh winter environment, which has taken its toll on the world (so most towns are gripped by cold and depleted of population, giving the game a post-apocalyptic feel in a sense). The player will have to carefully manage their hero's body temperature (this isn't too hard, but it is a factor that the player will need to deal with during the game, going into certain parts of Westeros will require protection from the cold). All paths lead to the forging of Lightbringer, the legendary sword that the player must use in the final battle to repel the darkness from Westeros and end the long winter for good. Along the way, the player can choose to help whoever they please (the game's main quest is fairly long and involved, but there are plenty of side quests as well), and the game has an appropriately epic feel. It's still quite grim, violent, and bleak, but more hopeful than the original game, as the player's actions carry a lot more weight. In the end, the player character sacrifices their life in the grand final battle, and the effects of their actions are shown as Westeros finally recovers from the long winter, with scenes showing the people they helped along the way, and the final scene depicting the beginning of construction on the northern Wall.
A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night is released in late October 2016, to extremely strong critical reviews, better than those of the original game. Critics praise the game's epic scale and the way it captures the darkness and violence of the world of Westeros, while also depicting the player hero's quest as suitably epic. Sales are also brisker than those of the original, and this becomes one of the most successful Nexus titles and WRPGs of the year, eventually selling better than the last game, and paving the way for a third installment in the series. Its release would come at the time when a slew of A Song Of Ice And Fire news was being released, which would help the game to sell even better, and in doing so, would generate hype for everything that was to come...
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Blockbuster Secures Rights To ASoIaF Television Series, Will Begin Filming Early Next Year
The massive bidding war between multiple networks and streaming services for the rights to make a television program based on George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series has ended, and as expected, Blockbuster has won the rights and will produce the adaptation for their streaming service, which will likely begin airing sometime in 2018. Blockbuster announced the acquisition at this year's New York Comic-Con, marking the end of a nearly seven year odyssey in which multiple companies pursued the rights, some turned them down, and finally, a bidding war resulted in Blockbuster being the winner. As early as 2011, 20th Century Fox was mulling the idea of adapting the books into a series of films, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the popular Lord of the Rings series. However, after the company began to experience increased success with its Marvel films, it decided that an epic fantasy adaptation would be too expensive, and passed on the rights to make a film. Eventually, the film idea became an idea for a television series, which HBO briefly considered producing before they too decided to pass, and that began the bidding war amongst several potential buyers, mostly streaming services but also Showtime and Comcast (owners of NBC, Universal, and the Sci-Fi Channel, the latter of which likely would have been the destination for the show). Blockbuster managed to outbid Netflix, and will add A Song Of Ice And Fire to its growing television slate. The company has seen a steady increase in subscribers in the past several years, and has widened its gap significantly over Netflix, its closest rival. The company has also seen growth in its Blockbuster Entertainment chain of physical stores, one of the few large physical retail companies to see an increase in profits and sales during this time, thanks mostly to the expansion of its merchandise and numerous exclusive product lines. Blockbuster is now one of the fastest growing companies in entertainment, and shows no signs of slowing down, expanding as quickly as it did during the video rental heyday of the 1990s. It's hard to imagine a world in which Blockbuster wasn't able to successfully pivot away from the video rental sector to become the entertainment giant it is today, and the acquisition of the rights to A Song Of Ice And Fire looks to be one of the biggest arrows in the company's growing quiver to date.
-from an article on Tubehound.com, posted on November 18, 2016
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"The sixth book in the acclaimed A Song Of Ice And Fire series, The Winds Of Winter, will be released on March 3, 2017. The long-delayed sixth book in the series has been teased for years, but now its release is only a few short months away. George R.R. Martin, author of the series, says that he was able to finish his work on the book over the last year mainly thanks to a 'lack of distractions' in his personal life, and the book's completion couldn't have come at a better time, as it's being released a few months after a hit new Google Nexus game which allows players to relive the events of the Long Night that frames so much of the legend of Westeros, while filming on the long awaited television series for Blockbuster will begin right around the same time, and Martin says that he hopes to have the seventh and final book in the series written right around the time the television show eventually wraps up, which likely won't be for several years assuming the show is successful."
-from an article on Goodreads, posted on November 22, 2016
A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night is an action RPG game based on the popular series of novels by George R. R. Martin and developed by a company called Zoratech exclusively for the Google Nexus. It's the prequel to 2013's A Song Of Ice And Fire, and while that book took players through the events of the first three novels in the series, The Long Night takes place 8,000 years before, during the Age of Heroes, and the event known as The Long Night, the generation-long winter that gripped all of Westeros in its frozen horror. The game allows you to create your own hero, who can be male or female, and this hero becomes a key part of the struggle against the invasion of the White Walkers, while they must also deal with threats from their fellow humans who seek to take advantage of the Long Night for their own purposes. The Long Night is a more epic and sweeping game than the original, and the fighting is a bit less realistic, with the hero capable of more superhuman feats than Cather Keld was. Unlike Keld, who was just a small player in the larger Game of Thrones, the player hero of The Long Night can become a legend, as they fight to save Westeros from the winter's horde. The Long Night also features a number of supernatural creatures and enemies for the player to fight, not just the White Walkers, but large beasts and mighty apparitions, which must be taken down with different battle techniques that the player character will learn as they progress through the game. The world of The Long Night is about the same size as the world in the original A Song Of Ice And Fire, but players will explore different areas of Westeros, and even when they do explore an area from the original game, it's vastly different because the player is seeing it 8,000 years in the past (though there are a few interesting connections to the events of the original game present in this title). Though it's made clear in the game that the player character will eventually be the one known as Azor Ahai, the player is free to forge their own legend and take any path they wish to become the legendary hero of Westeros (this is possible because with 8,000 years removed from the events, the story of the Long Night as told in the books has faded into legend, with the legendary hero themselves known by several different names). Though some of the game does borrow from the mythos of Martin's books, the writers and developers had a lot more leeway to create the world of Westeros during this time period (and Martin himself says that the game is non-canonical regardless), so the world crafted is far different from the one players know even from the original game. The game itself sees the player traveling Westeros during the time of the Long Night, an incredibly harsh winter environment, which has taken its toll on the world (so most towns are gripped by cold and depleted of population, giving the game a post-apocalyptic feel in a sense). The player will have to carefully manage their hero's body temperature (this isn't too hard, but it is a factor that the player will need to deal with during the game, going into certain parts of Westeros will require protection from the cold). All paths lead to the forging of Lightbringer, the legendary sword that the player must use in the final battle to repel the darkness from Westeros and end the long winter for good. Along the way, the player can choose to help whoever they please (the game's main quest is fairly long and involved, but there are plenty of side quests as well), and the game has an appropriately epic feel. It's still quite grim, violent, and bleak, but more hopeful than the original game, as the player's actions carry a lot more weight. In the end, the player character sacrifices their life in the grand final battle, and the effects of their actions are shown as Westeros finally recovers from the long winter, with scenes showing the people they helped along the way, and the final scene depicting the beginning of construction on the northern Wall.
A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night is released in late October 2016, to extremely strong critical reviews, better than those of the original game. Critics praise the game's epic scale and the way it captures the darkness and violence of the world of Westeros, while also depicting the player hero's quest as suitably epic. Sales are also brisker than those of the original, and this becomes one of the most successful Nexus titles and WRPGs of the year, eventually selling better than the last game, and paving the way for a third installment in the series. Its release would come at the time when a slew of A Song Of Ice And Fire news was being released, which would help the game to sell even better, and in doing so, would generate hype for everything that was to come...
-
Blockbuster Secures Rights To ASoIaF Television Series, Will Begin Filming Early Next Year
The massive bidding war between multiple networks and streaming services for the rights to make a television program based on George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series has ended, and as expected, Blockbuster has won the rights and will produce the adaptation for their streaming service, which will likely begin airing sometime in 2018. Blockbuster announced the acquisition at this year's New York Comic-Con, marking the end of a nearly seven year odyssey in which multiple companies pursued the rights, some turned them down, and finally, a bidding war resulted in Blockbuster being the winner. As early as 2011, 20th Century Fox was mulling the idea of adapting the books into a series of films, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the popular Lord of the Rings series. However, after the company began to experience increased success with its Marvel films, it decided that an epic fantasy adaptation would be too expensive, and passed on the rights to make a film. Eventually, the film idea became an idea for a television series, which HBO briefly considered producing before they too decided to pass, and that began the bidding war amongst several potential buyers, mostly streaming services but also Showtime and Comcast (owners of NBC, Universal, and the Sci-Fi Channel, the latter of which likely would have been the destination for the show). Blockbuster managed to outbid Netflix, and will add A Song Of Ice And Fire to its growing television slate. The company has seen a steady increase in subscribers in the past several years, and has widened its gap significantly over Netflix, its closest rival. The company has also seen growth in its Blockbuster Entertainment chain of physical stores, one of the few large physical retail companies to see an increase in profits and sales during this time, thanks mostly to the expansion of its merchandise and numerous exclusive product lines. Blockbuster is now one of the fastest growing companies in entertainment, and shows no signs of slowing down, expanding as quickly as it did during the video rental heyday of the 1990s. It's hard to imagine a world in which Blockbuster wasn't able to successfully pivot away from the video rental sector to become the entertainment giant it is today, and the acquisition of the rights to A Song Of Ice And Fire looks to be one of the biggest arrows in the company's growing quiver to date.
-from an article on Tubehound.com, posted on November 18, 2016
-
"The sixth book in the acclaimed A Song Of Ice And Fire series, The Winds Of Winter, will be released on March 3, 2017. The long-delayed sixth book in the series has been teased for years, but now its release is only a few short months away. George R.R. Martin, author of the series, says that he was able to finish his work on the book over the last year mainly thanks to a 'lack of distractions' in his personal life, and the book's completion couldn't have come at a better time, as it's being released a few months after a hit new Google Nexus game which allows players to relive the events of the Long Night that frames so much of the legend of Westeros, while filming on the long awaited television series for Blockbuster will begin right around the same time, and Martin says that he hopes to have the seventh and final book in the series written right around the time the television show eventually wraps up, which likely won't be for several years assuming the show is successful."
-from an article on Goodreads, posted on November 22, 2016
Fall 2016 (Part 5) - Up To The Test, When Things Go Wrong
Miraculous Ladybug 2
Miraculous Ladybug 2 is an open world action/adventure game published by Ubisoft exclusively for the Google Nexus. It's a direct sequel to 2013's hit game, and sees most of the original production crew return, while once again putting players in the role of the titular superheroine as she protects Paris from the machinations of the evil supervillain Hawkmoth. Just as the original game's storyline was similar to season one of the OTL television show, this sequel includes elements from seasons two and three, though in the end, it diverts fairly dramatically, as the story builds to a powerful climax instead of maintaining the status quo of OTL's cartoon. Marinette/Ladybug returns as the main playable character, and is joined by Adrien/Cat Noir, but there are also three additional characters who become playable heroes during certain segments: Alya/Rena Rouge, Chloe/Queen Bee, and Nino/Carapace. Each of the five playable characters has their own unique controls and abilities, and though combat in the game remains focused on protection/salvation, there's more of a focus on aggressive combat in this game as well, with Cat Noir and Queen Bee's powers most acclimated toward this form of fighting. As in the original title, no enemy is truly destroyed in this game, and the player's goal is still to protect and restore people to normal, and combat itself is faster paced, owing to the game's enhanced controls and new abilities. The city of Paris is once again fully explorable in this title, and most locations from the original game return in some shape or form, with new locations appearing in the form of underground areas such as catacombs and subways, external areas such as the forests and suburbs surrounding the city, and also the inside of buildings, which are explored more extensively in this game. This makes for a larger map and more missions than in the original title, though unlike the original game, there are more "filler" missions designed mostly for picking up collectibles and increasing stats, and not quite as many "important" side missions. In addition, since Marinette's reputation with everyone in Paris is almost maxed out, missions no longer focus on building up character relationships, even with new characters such as Luka and Kagami (who appeared in season two of OTL's cartoon). Instead, missions now focus on advancing the story and building up Marinette's overall reputation, rather than her relationships to individual characters. There are many story-vital side missions which explain character motivations and advance individual storylines, but now players are more focused on a larger, overall goal rather than individual character arcs. Marinette also retains all of her abilities from the original game, so the player must instead work toward building up her new abilities, while also enhancing different stats than the ones they enhanced in the original game (since Marinette's empathy and helpfulness are already maxed out). Intelligence and athleticism return from the original game, but there's also judgment, leadership, and selflessness, which can all be enhanced to open up new questlines and battle options. The game features significantly improved graphics from the original title, but most of the new graphical changes take advantage of the Nexus Pro, which is released on the same day as this game. Players with the original Nexus will also notice some improvements, but players with the Nexus Pro will feel like they're playing on a brand new generation of hardware, with incredible detail and character animation. The original voice cast from Miraculous Ladybug reprises their roles in this title, while Michael Giacchino returns to score the game (though without Daft Punk's contributions this time around).
The sequel's plot raises the stakes from the original title by fully explaining Hawkmoth's motivations for wanting to seize the Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculouses: when they're brought together, they can be used to make a powerful wish, and Hawkmoth, whose identity is revealed as Adrien's father Gabriel, who wants to use their power to bring back his wife, who has been placed in suspended animation due to an accident involving the Peacock Miraculous, which is also in Gabriel's possession. In this game, Hawkmoth continues to akumatize people, turning them into supervillains and using their powers to attack Ladybug and Cat Noir, though this time, he's also trying to learn Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities, and tries to do this by learning more about them and the people they're close to. He also continues to use Lila, who was the villain Volpina in the last game, to get information on certain people in Paris. Unlike in OTL's television show, where no one has found out about Marinette's secret identity, a crucial plot point in the early part of the game is Alya learning about Marinette being Ladybug, and being somewhat torn between her relationship with her best friend and her obsession with Ladybug, and not being able to believe the two are one in the same. Eventually, Marinette is attacked, and Alya is given the chance to become a superhero to save her. She's given the Fox Miraculous and becomes Rena Rouge, and unlike in OTL's TV show, Alya gets to hold on to her Miraculous, allowing her to become Rena Rouge whenever she needs to. Chloe and her internal character conflict is also a major part of the game: like in OTL's show, she stumbles onto the Queen Bee Miraculous after it's lost during a battle, and transforms into the superheroine Queen Bee, briefly becoming a villain that Ladybug has to take down before ultimately deciding to try and redeem herself by becoming a superheroine. Nino becomes the superhero Carapace after Alya is taken hostage by a supervillain and he wants the chance to protect her, and eventually, he and Alya learn each other's identities as well, though Ladybug and Cat Noir still haven't figured out each other's identities, and eventually, the two learn that if they ever do find out each other's identities, they'll have to stop being superheroes. Lila and Hawkmoth begin to manipulate Chloe into thinking that Ladybug doesn't believe in her, setting the stage for her to become a powerful villain. Chloe's descent into supervillainy is somewhat more gradual and also somewhat darker than it is in the OTL show. Meanwhile, we also learn that Nathalie, Gabriel's assistant (who also secretly loves him) sometimes uses the Peacock Miraculous to assist him by becoming Mayura (again, like the OTL show). In a climactic battle about halfway through the game, when Ladybug and Cat Noir are about to defeat Hawkmoth, Nathalie shows up as Mayura and defeats them, helping Hawkmoth to escape. We learn that the use of the Peacock Miraculous is slowly draining Nathalie's life force, and that it did the same thing to Emelie (Gabriel's wife and Adrien's mother). Soon after this revelation, Chloe betrays Ladybug, stealing the Queen Bee Miraculous for herself and working for Hawkmoth. Chloe causes all kinds of havoc throughout the city, so much that even Hawkmoth worries that he'll lose control of her.
Eventually, there's a dramatic showdown, one that results in Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, and Carapace being captured, while Ladybug and Queen Bee have a fierce fight that takes the two of them into the catacombs. It's a more violent fight than anything we've seen so far in the television show or the TTL games, in which Chloe airs all her past grievances, not just about Ladybug, but about Adrien and Marinette and everything else in her life. Ladybug tells Chloe that she might have problems but it doesn't justify anything she's done, and that if she helps Hawkmoth doom the people of Paris, she'll never be anything more than a terrible person. The fight spills into another area of the catacombs, and though Queen Bee has the upper hand, she's fighting recklessly, and causes an accident that nearly kills her. Ladybug saves Queen Bee, at the cost of the last bit of her energy, and also at the cost of making herself susceptible to a paralyzing strike. As Ladybug is on her knees, unable to move as Queen Bee stands over her ready to strike the fatal blow, she suddenly detransforms into Marinette, stunning Chloe. Even powerless, Marinette is defiant... telling Chloe that she won't beg for her life or be scared, but she also doesn't regret saving Chloe's life before. Chloe is torn... she hates Marinette AND Ladybug, but Marinette is an undeniably good person, and Chloe can't bring herself to finish Marinette off. She's furious with her, telling Marinette that she hates her and she hates herself for not being able to finish her off, and Marinette tells Chloe that maybe if she stopped hating herself, she might actually start to be a better person. The paralysis wears off, and Marinette starts to fight back, even though Chloe is still transformed into Queen Bee. She throws a weak punch, that Queen Bee easily catches and tells her to stop fighting back, only for Marinette to try and grab her, and be thrown down. Queen Bee's powers start to fade, she transforms back into Chloe, and Marinette tries to restrain her, leading to a brief struggle before Chloe shoves Marinette away (Marinette is a lot more banged up than Chloe at this point). Marinette tells Chloe that she doesn't want to hurt her but that she has to stop her, and Chloe screams at her, asking why Marinette doesn't want to hurt her, prompting Marinette to reply that she doesn't want to hurt anybody. Chloe starts slapping Marinette, so hard that Marinette eventually falls down, then finally, she breaks down sobbing, realizing that she's wrong, Marinette is right, she's a bad person that doesn't deserve to be a superhero. The two continue to have a long, heartfelt conversation in which Chloe is finally honest with herself and with Marinette, and Marinette embaces her and tells her that it's going to be all right. Marinette says that she has to go help their friends, and brings Chloe back to the surface, where Chloe hands over the Bee Miraculous and tells Marinette to find someone who deserves it.
Marinette returns to battle Hawkmoth and Mayura, transforming into Ladybug to fight them, and though she manages to disable Mayura, she can't hold them both off or free her friends. After Chloe takes a powerful shot meant for Ladybug, Marinette realizes that Chloe might be able to help her, and gives back the Bee Miraculous. While Chloe holds off Hawkmoth, Ladybug is finally able to save the others, and the two villains are forced to retreat. This leads into the game's final series of missions, in which Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, and Carapace team up to take down Hawkmoth once and for all. Adrien finally learns that his father is Hawkmoth (and Hawkmoth learns that Adrien is Cat Noir, though he learns this when the two are alone together, so Marinette doesn't find out), and Hawkmoth is defeated after refusing to strike a fatal blow against Cat Noir. However, Nathalie, who is near death from the draining of her life force, wants to do one final thing for her love Gabriel, and she takes Marinette hostage, forcing Cat Noir to give his Miraculous to save her. Nathalie combines the two Miraculouses together to make her wish, bringing back Emilie and giving up the last of her own life force at the same time. However, this doesn't bring back Emelie completely... instead, she returns as Devil-Mayura, a twisted corruption of Nathalie's broken love toward Gabriel. The temporarily heartbroken Gabriel and Adrien are unable to fight Devil-Mayura, while Marinette is unconscious, leaving Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, and Carapace to fight the dreaded monster. Rena Rouge and Queen Bee fight valiantly but are quickly taken out, while Carapace puts all his energy into protecting Marinette. It's then that the citizens of Paris come together to distract Devil-Mayura long enough for Tikki and Plagg to return the power to Marinette and Adrien's Miraculouses, enabling them to transform (though again, they don't do so in sight of one another). Cat Noir doesn't want to fight Devil-Mayura, but can't tell Ladybug why for fear of revealing his identity. However, Gabriel is able to transform into Hawkmoth one more time, and instead of using his powers for evil, he uses them for good, turning many of the citizens of Paris into superheroes, who use their powers to hold Devil-Mayura back, giving Cat Noir the time he needs to come to terms with what's happened and battle Devil-Mayura in earnest. Ladybug and Cat Noir combine their powers to get through the evil fog surrounding Devil-Mayura's mind, and after defeating her in a ferocious final boss battle, they're able to restore her to normal... but only temporarily, as to do so permanently would fully drain the Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculouses and rob the world of superheroes forever. Adrien and Gabriel are able to get one final moment with Emelie before she fades away entirely, dying for good as the last of her life force drains away. However, there is a silver lining... Ladybug is able to use her Miraculous to restore Nathalie's fading life force, bringing her back to life. Gabriel apologizes to the citizens of Paris and agrees to surrender for his crimes, but Ladybug is able to convince the people of Paris to forgive him, and he promises to spend the rest of his life being the father that his son Adrien deserves. Paris is restored to normal, and though Adrien has lost any hope of ever getting his mother back, he's gotten a real father for the first time. Chloe is truly determined to become a better person, though we also see that Lila is still bitter with hatred, and determined to find a way to get back at Ladybug (and also now Chloe) for taking away her chance for glory. Paris is safe from Hawkmoth's threat forever, but Master Fu reminds Marinette that there will always be supervillains out there, and thus always a need for superheroes, but that as long as she has her kind and brave heart, the world will remain safe.
Miraculous Ladybug 2 is released on November 4, 2016, the same day as the release of the Google Nexus Pro. While reviews aren't quite as glowing as those for the original game, it's still considered one of the best games of the year, every bit as thrilling as the original, with lots of exciting new changes, some great character development, and outstanding graphics that take perfect advantage of the Nexus Pro's technology while also looking great on the original Nexus. Sales are outstanding, it's the fastest selling Nexus exclusive of the year outside of The Covenant Zero, and pushes plenty of Nexus Pro units as players buy the device to take advantage of its 4K graphics and game enhancing capabilities. Miraculous Ladybug 2 would also see the release of two major DLC add-ons in, $19.99 each, in spring and fall 2017, that would take Ladybug and friends to New York and Tokyo respectively. The New York DLC would introduce a new villain, but would also introduce many of the same characters that would appear in OTL's New York special movie, while the Tokyo DLC focuses on Kagami, introducing new Miraculous transformations for her and Luka, and would bring in another new villain exclusive to the DLC. Combined, the two DLC episodes provide about a game's worth of new missions and content, and are generally considered some of the better DLC of the year. Despite the great reviews and sales, production of Miraculous Ladybug 2 wouldn't be without its hiccups. Unlike the production of the first game, which generally avoided crunch in favor of providing a more welcoming and relaxing environment for programmers and developers, Miraculous Ladybug 2's production would be plagued by crunch, much of it at the behest of Michel Ancel. Ancel, who had gotten a very good reputation during his years working at Ubisoft, would be accused by some of toxic behavior, belittling his crew at times, and pushing them to work long hours, causing burnouts and breakdowns. It was also reported that Ancel and the game's creative director Thomas Astruc had numerous disagreements during the production of the game, with Astruc disagreeing with Ancel for creative reasons (Ancel was the one who insisted on Chloe's redemption arc, and it was reported to be one of the few instances of Ancel overruling Astruc on a creative decision) and also objecting to Ancel's treatment of certain members of the crew. Neither of the two would address or acknowledge these rumors, however, and they would remain just that, unconfirmed rumors that would be drowned out in the hype surrounding the game's launch. The game would also be criticized for some of the same issues critics have with Ubisoft's OTL open world games, with more uses of towers and filler missions to pad out the game's length, as opposed to the original game, where every single mission had some story/character purpose. However, despite these production problems, Miraculous Ladybug 2 would be one of 2016's most successful games, and a third title would go into production immediately afterwards, for Google's next generation hardware (the rumored Nexus successor).
Miraculous Ladybug 2 is an open world action/adventure game published by Ubisoft exclusively for the Google Nexus. It's a direct sequel to 2013's hit game, and sees most of the original production crew return, while once again putting players in the role of the titular superheroine as she protects Paris from the machinations of the evil supervillain Hawkmoth. Just as the original game's storyline was similar to season one of the OTL television show, this sequel includes elements from seasons two and three, though in the end, it diverts fairly dramatically, as the story builds to a powerful climax instead of maintaining the status quo of OTL's cartoon. Marinette/Ladybug returns as the main playable character, and is joined by Adrien/Cat Noir, but there are also three additional characters who become playable heroes during certain segments: Alya/Rena Rouge, Chloe/Queen Bee, and Nino/Carapace. Each of the five playable characters has their own unique controls and abilities, and though combat in the game remains focused on protection/salvation, there's more of a focus on aggressive combat in this game as well, with Cat Noir and Queen Bee's powers most acclimated toward this form of fighting. As in the original title, no enemy is truly destroyed in this game, and the player's goal is still to protect and restore people to normal, and combat itself is faster paced, owing to the game's enhanced controls and new abilities. The city of Paris is once again fully explorable in this title, and most locations from the original game return in some shape or form, with new locations appearing in the form of underground areas such as catacombs and subways, external areas such as the forests and suburbs surrounding the city, and also the inside of buildings, which are explored more extensively in this game. This makes for a larger map and more missions than in the original title, though unlike the original game, there are more "filler" missions designed mostly for picking up collectibles and increasing stats, and not quite as many "important" side missions. In addition, since Marinette's reputation with everyone in Paris is almost maxed out, missions no longer focus on building up character relationships, even with new characters such as Luka and Kagami (who appeared in season two of OTL's cartoon). Instead, missions now focus on advancing the story and building up Marinette's overall reputation, rather than her relationships to individual characters. There are many story-vital side missions which explain character motivations and advance individual storylines, but now players are more focused on a larger, overall goal rather than individual character arcs. Marinette also retains all of her abilities from the original game, so the player must instead work toward building up her new abilities, while also enhancing different stats than the ones they enhanced in the original game (since Marinette's empathy and helpfulness are already maxed out). Intelligence and athleticism return from the original game, but there's also judgment, leadership, and selflessness, which can all be enhanced to open up new questlines and battle options. The game features significantly improved graphics from the original title, but most of the new graphical changes take advantage of the Nexus Pro, which is released on the same day as this game. Players with the original Nexus will also notice some improvements, but players with the Nexus Pro will feel like they're playing on a brand new generation of hardware, with incredible detail and character animation. The original voice cast from Miraculous Ladybug reprises their roles in this title, while Michael Giacchino returns to score the game (though without Daft Punk's contributions this time around).
The sequel's plot raises the stakes from the original title by fully explaining Hawkmoth's motivations for wanting to seize the Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculouses: when they're brought together, they can be used to make a powerful wish, and Hawkmoth, whose identity is revealed as Adrien's father Gabriel, who wants to use their power to bring back his wife, who has been placed in suspended animation due to an accident involving the Peacock Miraculous, which is also in Gabriel's possession. In this game, Hawkmoth continues to akumatize people, turning them into supervillains and using their powers to attack Ladybug and Cat Noir, though this time, he's also trying to learn Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities, and tries to do this by learning more about them and the people they're close to. He also continues to use Lila, who was the villain Volpina in the last game, to get information on certain people in Paris. Unlike in OTL's television show, where no one has found out about Marinette's secret identity, a crucial plot point in the early part of the game is Alya learning about Marinette being Ladybug, and being somewhat torn between her relationship with her best friend and her obsession with Ladybug, and not being able to believe the two are one in the same. Eventually, Marinette is attacked, and Alya is given the chance to become a superhero to save her. She's given the Fox Miraculous and becomes Rena Rouge, and unlike in OTL's TV show, Alya gets to hold on to her Miraculous, allowing her to become Rena Rouge whenever she needs to. Chloe and her internal character conflict is also a major part of the game: like in OTL's show, she stumbles onto the Queen Bee Miraculous after it's lost during a battle, and transforms into the superheroine Queen Bee, briefly becoming a villain that Ladybug has to take down before ultimately deciding to try and redeem herself by becoming a superheroine. Nino becomes the superhero Carapace after Alya is taken hostage by a supervillain and he wants the chance to protect her, and eventually, he and Alya learn each other's identities as well, though Ladybug and Cat Noir still haven't figured out each other's identities, and eventually, the two learn that if they ever do find out each other's identities, they'll have to stop being superheroes. Lila and Hawkmoth begin to manipulate Chloe into thinking that Ladybug doesn't believe in her, setting the stage for her to become a powerful villain. Chloe's descent into supervillainy is somewhat more gradual and also somewhat darker than it is in the OTL show. Meanwhile, we also learn that Nathalie, Gabriel's assistant (who also secretly loves him) sometimes uses the Peacock Miraculous to assist him by becoming Mayura (again, like the OTL show). In a climactic battle about halfway through the game, when Ladybug and Cat Noir are about to defeat Hawkmoth, Nathalie shows up as Mayura and defeats them, helping Hawkmoth to escape. We learn that the use of the Peacock Miraculous is slowly draining Nathalie's life force, and that it did the same thing to Emelie (Gabriel's wife and Adrien's mother). Soon after this revelation, Chloe betrays Ladybug, stealing the Queen Bee Miraculous for herself and working for Hawkmoth. Chloe causes all kinds of havoc throughout the city, so much that even Hawkmoth worries that he'll lose control of her.
Eventually, there's a dramatic showdown, one that results in Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, and Carapace being captured, while Ladybug and Queen Bee have a fierce fight that takes the two of them into the catacombs. It's a more violent fight than anything we've seen so far in the television show or the TTL games, in which Chloe airs all her past grievances, not just about Ladybug, but about Adrien and Marinette and everything else in her life. Ladybug tells Chloe that she might have problems but it doesn't justify anything she's done, and that if she helps Hawkmoth doom the people of Paris, she'll never be anything more than a terrible person. The fight spills into another area of the catacombs, and though Queen Bee has the upper hand, she's fighting recklessly, and causes an accident that nearly kills her. Ladybug saves Queen Bee, at the cost of the last bit of her energy, and also at the cost of making herself susceptible to a paralyzing strike. As Ladybug is on her knees, unable to move as Queen Bee stands over her ready to strike the fatal blow, she suddenly detransforms into Marinette, stunning Chloe. Even powerless, Marinette is defiant... telling Chloe that she won't beg for her life or be scared, but she also doesn't regret saving Chloe's life before. Chloe is torn... she hates Marinette AND Ladybug, but Marinette is an undeniably good person, and Chloe can't bring herself to finish Marinette off. She's furious with her, telling Marinette that she hates her and she hates herself for not being able to finish her off, and Marinette tells Chloe that maybe if she stopped hating herself, she might actually start to be a better person. The paralysis wears off, and Marinette starts to fight back, even though Chloe is still transformed into Queen Bee. She throws a weak punch, that Queen Bee easily catches and tells her to stop fighting back, only for Marinette to try and grab her, and be thrown down. Queen Bee's powers start to fade, she transforms back into Chloe, and Marinette tries to restrain her, leading to a brief struggle before Chloe shoves Marinette away (Marinette is a lot more banged up than Chloe at this point). Marinette tells Chloe that she doesn't want to hurt her but that she has to stop her, and Chloe screams at her, asking why Marinette doesn't want to hurt her, prompting Marinette to reply that she doesn't want to hurt anybody. Chloe starts slapping Marinette, so hard that Marinette eventually falls down, then finally, she breaks down sobbing, realizing that she's wrong, Marinette is right, she's a bad person that doesn't deserve to be a superhero. The two continue to have a long, heartfelt conversation in which Chloe is finally honest with herself and with Marinette, and Marinette embaces her and tells her that it's going to be all right. Marinette says that she has to go help their friends, and brings Chloe back to the surface, where Chloe hands over the Bee Miraculous and tells Marinette to find someone who deserves it.
Marinette returns to battle Hawkmoth and Mayura, transforming into Ladybug to fight them, and though she manages to disable Mayura, she can't hold them both off or free her friends. After Chloe takes a powerful shot meant for Ladybug, Marinette realizes that Chloe might be able to help her, and gives back the Bee Miraculous. While Chloe holds off Hawkmoth, Ladybug is finally able to save the others, and the two villains are forced to retreat. This leads into the game's final series of missions, in which Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, and Carapace team up to take down Hawkmoth once and for all. Adrien finally learns that his father is Hawkmoth (and Hawkmoth learns that Adrien is Cat Noir, though he learns this when the two are alone together, so Marinette doesn't find out), and Hawkmoth is defeated after refusing to strike a fatal blow against Cat Noir. However, Nathalie, who is near death from the draining of her life force, wants to do one final thing for her love Gabriel, and she takes Marinette hostage, forcing Cat Noir to give his Miraculous to save her. Nathalie combines the two Miraculouses together to make her wish, bringing back Emilie and giving up the last of her own life force at the same time. However, this doesn't bring back Emelie completely... instead, she returns as Devil-Mayura, a twisted corruption of Nathalie's broken love toward Gabriel. The temporarily heartbroken Gabriel and Adrien are unable to fight Devil-Mayura, while Marinette is unconscious, leaving Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, and Carapace to fight the dreaded monster. Rena Rouge and Queen Bee fight valiantly but are quickly taken out, while Carapace puts all his energy into protecting Marinette. It's then that the citizens of Paris come together to distract Devil-Mayura long enough for Tikki and Plagg to return the power to Marinette and Adrien's Miraculouses, enabling them to transform (though again, they don't do so in sight of one another). Cat Noir doesn't want to fight Devil-Mayura, but can't tell Ladybug why for fear of revealing his identity. However, Gabriel is able to transform into Hawkmoth one more time, and instead of using his powers for evil, he uses them for good, turning many of the citizens of Paris into superheroes, who use their powers to hold Devil-Mayura back, giving Cat Noir the time he needs to come to terms with what's happened and battle Devil-Mayura in earnest. Ladybug and Cat Noir combine their powers to get through the evil fog surrounding Devil-Mayura's mind, and after defeating her in a ferocious final boss battle, they're able to restore her to normal... but only temporarily, as to do so permanently would fully drain the Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculouses and rob the world of superheroes forever. Adrien and Gabriel are able to get one final moment with Emelie before she fades away entirely, dying for good as the last of her life force drains away. However, there is a silver lining... Ladybug is able to use her Miraculous to restore Nathalie's fading life force, bringing her back to life. Gabriel apologizes to the citizens of Paris and agrees to surrender for his crimes, but Ladybug is able to convince the people of Paris to forgive him, and he promises to spend the rest of his life being the father that his son Adrien deserves. Paris is restored to normal, and though Adrien has lost any hope of ever getting his mother back, he's gotten a real father for the first time. Chloe is truly determined to become a better person, though we also see that Lila is still bitter with hatred, and determined to find a way to get back at Ladybug (and also now Chloe) for taking away her chance for glory. Paris is safe from Hawkmoth's threat forever, but Master Fu reminds Marinette that there will always be supervillains out there, and thus always a need for superheroes, but that as long as she has her kind and brave heart, the world will remain safe.
Miraculous Ladybug 2 is released on November 4, 2016, the same day as the release of the Google Nexus Pro. While reviews aren't quite as glowing as those for the original game, it's still considered one of the best games of the year, every bit as thrilling as the original, with lots of exciting new changes, some great character development, and outstanding graphics that take perfect advantage of the Nexus Pro's technology while also looking great on the original Nexus. Sales are outstanding, it's the fastest selling Nexus exclusive of the year outside of The Covenant Zero, and pushes plenty of Nexus Pro units as players buy the device to take advantage of its 4K graphics and game enhancing capabilities. Miraculous Ladybug 2 would also see the release of two major DLC add-ons in, $19.99 each, in spring and fall 2017, that would take Ladybug and friends to New York and Tokyo respectively. The New York DLC would introduce a new villain, but would also introduce many of the same characters that would appear in OTL's New York special movie, while the Tokyo DLC focuses on Kagami, introducing new Miraculous transformations for her and Luka, and would bring in another new villain exclusive to the DLC. Combined, the two DLC episodes provide about a game's worth of new missions and content, and are generally considered some of the better DLC of the year. Despite the great reviews and sales, production of Miraculous Ladybug 2 wouldn't be without its hiccups. Unlike the production of the first game, which generally avoided crunch in favor of providing a more welcoming and relaxing environment for programmers and developers, Miraculous Ladybug 2's production would be plagued by crunch, much of it at the behest of Michel Ancel. Ancel, who had gotten a very good reputation during his years working at Ubisoft, would be accused by some of toxic behavior, belittling his crew at times, and pushing them to work long hours, causing burnouts and breakdowns. It was also reported that Ancel and the game's creative director Thomas Astruc had numerous disagreements during the production of the game, with Astruc disagreeing with Ancel for creative reasons (Ancel was the one who insisted on Chloe's redemption arc, and it was reported to be one of the few instances of Ancel overruling Astruc on a creative decision) and also objecting to Ancel's treatment of certain members of the crew. Neither of the two would address or acknowledge these rumors, however, and they would remain just that, unconfirmed rumors that would be drowned out in the hype surrounding the game's launch. The game would also be criticized for some of the same issues critics have with Ubisoft's OTL open world games, with more uses of towers and filler missions to pad out the game's length, as opposed to the original game, where every single mission had some story/character purpose. However, despite these production problems, Miraculous Ladybug 2 would be one of 2016's most successful games, and a third title would go into production immediately afterwards, for Google's next generation hardware (the rumored Nexus successor).