Hello and welcome, fellow viewers and readers, new and old. This is me again, your Kakuchopurei content director, Jonathan “Mr Toffee” Leo, with this week’s video game and pop culture recap.
With the world going back to some semblance of normalcy from the pandemic, we’ll have to accept the fact that we can’t hide behind our monitors forever. We’ll have to socialise in events and public expos whether it’s just a stone’s throw away in Kuala Lumpur or in Japan or the US.
This also means that we’ll have to put up with gaming and anime expos and gatherings blocking up roads and hallways like these:
.png "Untitled design (13).png")
While it’s great that events like these are in full swing, especially for event management folks who have struggled for the past few years, I do hope people are still mindful of social distancing protocols and manners; that’s also important. Just because you haven’t been out in public for so long doesn’t give you a right to be a jerk or pest.
With that said, we’ve hit a pretty awesome milestone. Go us!
Thank you so much, our lovely viewers and fans who consistently tune in to our content.
And if you just stumbled upon this recap post, do check out our videos on YouTube. We post new content every week!
Video Games: What We’ve Done
The 31st SEA Games Esports event is going on right now and should be over by the time this recap is published. We talked a lot about it on our site. Congratulations to the Southeast Asian teams who won their medals and participated in the event.
This is a huge step in increasing mass appeal for esports, so it’s a big win to have this competition go side-by-side with other contests in a prestigious and historic event.
Equally historic but for the wrong reasons is how Activision Blizzard is incredibly proud of its new diversity game tool for some reason. The chart that’s on display at the top ranks traits of its characters. Basically, the company is using data to create the best diverse characters and races of characters in games instead of, you know, having their talented artists use their eyes and creative talents to just fill up what’s missing. I’m very sure Capcom and Bandai Namco didn’t need data tools like these when it comes to creating a colourful fighting game roster for their respective fighting games, right?
This is the sort of thing you usually keep internally instead of boasting about it in public, especially if your company is knee-deep in worldwide PR blunders involving workplace abuse & harassment.
Square Enix assured JRPG fans that we can expect more news of Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2, the Final Fantasy VII brand, and Final Fantasy XVI next month. We’re thinking this will all be announced during the Geoff Keighley Summer Games Festival 2022 event. In any case, it’s high time JRPG fans get an update.
Speaking of legacy franchises, the horror game series Silent Hill may be making a comeback. So far, rumours are circulating that there will be a remake of Silent Hill 2 made by Bloober Team, a new mothership entry, and an episodic spin-off series. More on that here.
If you want to find out who the most popular characters and bosses are in the hit RPG game Elden Ring, head here. The answers will not shock you if you’ve been on Twitter since late March.
Pop Culture: What We’ve Done
We spoke to Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Ewan McGregor about reprising his role. He has a lot of things to say, so here’s a quote:
“I think because of what happens at the end of Episode III Revenge Of The Sith, the Jedi Order all but destroyed and those who aren’t killed have gone into hiding and can’t communicate with one another.
He’s living a pretty solitary life, he’s not able to use the Force, so in a way, he’s lost his faith, like somebody who’s stepped away from their religion or something, if you like.”
The recent episode of anime series Spy x Family has main character, Anya Forger, up to more meme-worthy hijinxes in an elitist school. Here’s our contribution.
It’s with heavy heart that we had to report on the death of movie composer Vangelis, who is known for his majestic synth and orchestral work for films like Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. They’re memorable, to say the least.
What We’ve Been Playing
The highlight of this week is the Saints Row reboot that’s coming out for PC and consoles this August. If you miss the craziness of past Grand Theft Auto games back in the mid-2000s and need your fix in a few months’ time, but with a younger and “hip” cast, you’ll love this version of Saints Row.
You can customize your cars and bikes to kingdom come, as well as your character and his/her/their guns. You can pull out a wingsuit and glide around, gaining air by “jumping” onto people. You can use guns like the PInata Gun and the Thrustbuster grenade which sounds exactly what you would expect from a sci-fi cartoon. Long story short, this open-world sandbox action game is one to watch out for.
We also tested out the new South Town team for the fighting game, The King of Fighters XV. If you like using mid-ranged characters with counter moves and a unique playstyle, you can’t go wrong with Billy, Geese, and Yamazaki.
Cantata is a rare kind of strategy game we would love to see more of. You choose a faction (Humans, Machines, or Aliens) and set up your supply network. To survive and fend off enemies, you need to have a sustainable supply chain. It can get pretty complex, but the game ahs gorgeous visuals and character artwork that reminds people of the late Jack Kirby’s cosmic comic book work.
It’s in Early Access, so hopefully, the developers have time to tweak it and make it a tad more accessible for non-savvy strategy gamers.
Songs of Conquest is also another Early Access strategy game that reminds us of the classic 90s PC, titled, Heroes of Might & Magic (and its many sequels and expansions). You represent your kingdom in turn-based form, control a hero and his/her armies, collect resources, and turn on macguffins of power to win the game. You have to fight against other generals and kingdoms, so you can also win the game by destroying all of them.
The game’s 16-bit pixel aesthetics is also gorgeous and stands out, reminding a lot of old-school players about the golden age of 2D gaming. I know I’m one of those in that demographic; I lost quite a few hours conquering the game’s fantasy lands filled with human militia, faerie folk, and demons.
The game could use more diverse fantasy characters and monsters as your army, but I’m sure developer Lavapotion and publisher Coffee Stain Publishing are hard at work in doing that for the final build.
The game that’s been eating up my free time from this line of work is Path of Exile’s latest Season, Sentinel Season. In this latest 3-month period of action RPGing and looting, you can now summon companions called Sentinels that can make your enemies (regular mobs, uniques, and bosses) tougher and stronger. Killing tougher enemies means better loot and drops, and you get Sentinels a few minutes after you pick your character in Act 1.
Easy, right? Well, the game does need more of these kinds of easy-to-pick-up features for newbies. There are a lot of complex mechanics and events to wrap your head around. Heck, even the league starter guides for the game need its own lexicon if you aren’t familiar with the lingo.
Still, Path of Exile is the best action RPG right now that’s free-to-play and is the title to fill in that Diablo void before Diablo IV eventually drops. And even if that happens, I won’t be shocked if Blizzard cribbed a few ideas from Path of Exile and simplify them for its own game.
That’s all for this week of our gaming news recap feature and what we’ve been up to for the week of 14-20 May 2022. Catch you next time, readers new and old. As always, do check out our awesome content on kakuchopurei.com and on our YouTube website. We post new content every day and every week!
