Author: Trafficblast

Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s sidequests will match the quality of the game’s main story missions, according to director Tetsuya Nomura in an interview with Famitsu.

Set to release next month, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is just the first part of an unknown number of Final Fantasy 7 Remake games. Rather than guiding players through the entire story of the original 1997 game, this remake will only include the Midgar section of the original game. That’s only a handful or two of hours in the original, but we know Square Enix and Nomura are working to beef up this section of the game with new explorable areas, additional bosses and side quests.

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Speaking with Famitsu and translated by IGN Japan, Nomura said these side quests will be equal in quality to the main quests of the game.

“The sub-quests have been made in exactly the same way as the main story quests,” Nomura said. “Initially, the development team also wanted to create a large volume of content, but it was not possible to do all of it, so we are doing as much as we can while maintaining the quality.”

“So it’s as much as you can manage while maintaining quality?” Famitsu asked Nomura.

“Yes,” Nomura said. “There was even more, but I thought that volume of content would never be finished.”

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Based on Nomura’s comments, it would seem that the team had plans for a larger number of side quests but opted to reduce the number of side quests to ensure the ones included matched the quality of the main story missions.

Translations online seem to indicate that Nomura is saying the sidequests are as large as the main quests, but our translation from IGN Japan does not indicate that was the intention of what he originally said. The size of the sidequests, in scope or length, does not seem to be what Nomura was discussing with Famitsu but rather, he was speaking to the idea that the development team favored qualitative side quests over a larger quantity of side quests.

We’ll all find out what these side quests look like, both in quantity and quality, when the game is released next month on April 10. The game will be released exclusively on PS4. If you’re waiting to play it elsewhere, you’ll have to wait until at least 2021. In the meantime, check out our latest thoughts on the game after a recent hands-on preview and now that a demo is out for the game, check out our guide on how to get the demo’s secret ending.

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You can control both Cloud and Barrett in the demo and the game but one character you won’t be able to control in the game is Red XIII. That’s not the only big change from the original. Sephiroth will show his face far sooner in the remake and you can read about how the team behind the game decided to include the One-Winged Angel so soon in the game’s story this time around.

While you’re waiting for the game to be released next month, start making some space on your PS4 now because the game will seemingly be 100 GB. Check out the Final Fantasy 7 Remake opening movie after doing that to put you in your feels.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

 

 

Welcoooome to Nintendo Voice Chat! Episode 500 is nearly upon us, so it’s time to put in some prep work! To get ready for the big show, Casey DeFreitas is joined by Peer Schneider, Brian Altano, and Zach Ryan to pick the top five Nintendo systems of all time. Then, stick around for a conversation about IGN’s update to the Top 25 Nintendo Switch Games list.

In the news, hear about multiplayer finally coming to Mario Kart Tour, an update on Bloodstained’s promised roguelike mode, and more. Finally, it’s time for your questions on yet another installment of Question Block.

Timecodes!

• 00:00:00 Welcome!
• 00:02:41 Let’s rank the Nintendo consoles!
• 00:20:45 Updating the best Switch games list
• 00:29:15 News time!
• 00:45:35 Games out this week
• 00:50:57 What we’re playing
• 00:53:35 Question Block

Games out this week:

• Murder by Numbers – 3/5, $15
• Ibb & Obb – 3/5, $15
• Afterparty – 3/6, $20
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX – 3/6, $60

What we’re playing:

• Casey: Rune Factory 4 Special, Smite, Murder by Numbers
• Peer: Ibb & Obb
• Zach: Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection
• Brian: Hollow Knight

 

Finally, NVC shirts and sweatshirts are now available at the IGN Store! Use the code nvc10 to get 10% off your purchase of NVC clothes. Multiple styles and colors are available. It’s not just IGN merch though. The store also has Star Wars shirts and officially licensed Nintendo shirts too, among other designs.

NVC is available on your preferred platform!

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple iTunes
• Stitcher
• Podbay
• PlayerFM
• Podbean

You can also Download NVC 497 Directly Here

You can listen to NVC on your preferred platform every Thursday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. Have a question for Question Block? Write to us at [email protected] and we may pick your question! Also, make sure to join the Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast Forums on Facebook. We’re all pretty active there and often pull Question Block questions and comments straight from the community.

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Logan Plant is the Production Assistant for NVC. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

In light of UA and MGM’s decision to delay the release of the James Bond film No Time to Die from April to November, the question is whether other studios will follow suit and postpone their upcoming movies due to the spreading coronavirus. According to a new report, the short-term answer appears to be no.

“Currently, Disney is adamant that they’re not moving the May 1 release date of Black Widow, and Universal is officially not changing their May 22 release for F9,” Deadline reports.

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IGN reached out to all the major studios to inquire about whether they were planning on shifting their release dates but none of them had responded as of time of publish.

Deadline claims there had been rumors among distributors that Disney would shift the release of Black Widow to the November 6 slot currently occupied by another Marvel title, The Eternals, and then push the latter film to 2021. But, according to Deadline, “Disney is telling its exhibition partners that they’re staying the course with their current release slate.”

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Likewise, Warner Bros. is reportedly not moving the release dates for Scoob! (May 15) or Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5) nor is Paramount postponing the May 22 opening of SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run.

Of course, no one knows how widespread or threatening COVID-19 will be by November, but until then the film industry will continue to observe the situation and hope audiences still head to theaters.

Grand Theft Auto Online’s weekly update is here, offering new bonuses for anyone who jumps into Grand Theft Auto V‘s online mode. This week, Rockstar is offering extra rewards on gunrunning missions, as well as discounts on certain in-game items.

From now until March 11, you can earn double GTA$ and RP for all Gunrunning Sell Missions, which means that it’s a good time to move any arms you’re holding onto. There’s also double rewards active on the Bunker Series, so if you launch a Bunker Adversary Mode you can expect a higher pay-out than before.

There are some freebies to grab, too. Log in this week and you’ll get the Overflod and White Nagasaki t-shirts without needing to spend a single GTA$ on them. They’re simple designs, but they’re stylish.

Speaking of Overflod, you can win a Customized Överflöd Imorgon on the Lucky Wheel at the Diamond Casino & Resort right now. Go ahead and try your luck.

A range of in-game products are also discounted. MOCs, including customization options and modifications, are 35% off, as are the Imponte Ruiner 2000, the Karin Sultan RS, and the Declasse Scramjet.

Further discounts apply for Twitch Prime subscribers. If you have a membership, you’re entitled to a Pixel Pete’s Arcade, and if you already bought one, you’ll be compensated. You’ll also get a further 10% off on the above discounts, as well as 35% off the Rune Zhaba, if you need a powerful offroad vehicle.

Grand Theft Auto V continues to make incredible money, and has now sold over 120 million copies worldwide. Grand Theft Auto Online recently added a new Open Wheel Racing option, and continues to expand.

After the success of The Mandalorian and the craze of memes and love surrounding Baby Yoda online, it’s surprising it took this long for a Baby Yoda mod to surface.

The mod replaces the BB-8 model in Star Wars Battlefront II, a hero character only added recently to the game. Due to the similar sizes of the characters, as this Baby Yoda is in his levitating cradle, switching them makes sense.

While this mod was originally teased near the end of last year as a joke, it was finally completed this week. The creators of this mod are also responsible for the cyborg Darth Maul and battle damaged Darth Vader cosmetic mods. Clearly Nanobuds is an individual with both style and talent.

The sight of this little guy floating at knee height, bringing death down upon the opposition team, is delightful. If someone on my team was to run around as Baby Yoda on the battlefield, I would abandon the objective and just try to go full Mandalorian dad mode to protect that precious bundle of death.

You can install the mod on Nexus Mods for Battlefront II here.

If Baby Yoda isn’t cute enough for you, DICE added Ewok Hunters to the game in the Age of Rebellion patch. These alien teddy bears are equipped with a bow and Valiant horn that applies buffs for damage resistance and improved attacks. Death by cuteness is now a possible way to die in Battlefront II.

Game of Thrones network HBO is working on a TV show based on The Last of Us, with Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin attached as the writer alongside Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann.

Mazin is also writing the Borderlands movie, so he’s become a big name in the world of video adaptations for TV and the big-screen. As you would expect, Mazin is a big fan of video games.

He has now shared a list of his favorite games of all time, and there are a lot of gems on the list. In no particular order, Mazin listed off titles like The Last of Us, GoldenEye, Red Dead Redemption, Star Raiders, Dishonored 2, and Oblivion, among others. You can check out this list below.

The Last of Us TV show is in the works at Sony Picture Television in association with PlayStation Productions, the newly formed business unit charged with adapting Sony’s franchises for TV and movies. The Last of Us is PlayStation Productions’ first TV show; it is also currently working on the Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, which is also based on a Naughty Dog franchise.

The Last of Us TV show is based on the story of 2013’s The Last of Us, which follows the grizzled, grief-stricken Joel and a 14-year old girl, Ellie, as they try to survive in an America that has fallen into disrepair and disaster following the outbreak of a virus. The TV show is specifically based on the first game, though Sony said the program may include “additional content” from The Last of Us: Part II.

The TV show version of The Last of Us will presumably feature at least some changes from the video game, but Mazin will not change Ellie’s sexual orientation, he said on Twitter.

The Last of Us was first announced as a movie from Sony Pictures, but IGN reports that the new TV show will be made instead of a movie.

Before enjoying critical success with HBO’s Chernobyl, Mazin wrote Scary Movie 3 and 4, as well as the Drake Bell-starring Superhero Movie, which he also directed. His other comedy movie writing credits include Identity Thief starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, and also The Hangover Part II and III from Joker director Todd Phillips. Mazin also wrote 2016’s Snow White movie Huntsman: Winter’s War.

In addition to the transmedia adaptations of Borderlands and The Last of Us, Mazin is writing the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie for Disney.

There is no word yet on when HBO’s Last of Us TV show will premiere or who will star in it. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson performed the voices and motion-capture for Joel and Ellie in the two main Last of Us games. The Last of Us: Part II launches in May exclusively for PS4.

Prinny, a penguin who started life as a character in the Disgaea series before spinning off into two PSP games, is coming to Switch. Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded collects together Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? and Prinny 2 in one package, complete with upscaled graphics.

In the Prinny games, you have 1000 lives to get through every level. They’re side-scrolling platformers that are known for being pretty difficult. You can check out gameplay from the new Switch version in the trailer below.

The first Prinny game received an 8/10 in the original GameSpot review, and reviewer Tom McShea wrote that it was “an undeniable success, even with a few missteps along the way.” Prinny 2 was scored 6/10 in its own review, again by McShea: ” Not only does Prinny’s second effort fail to fix (Prinny 1’s) problems, but it also adds new ones that sap away most of the joy present in the first game.”

The collection is due to release in autumn 2020, and has not been announced for other systems. You can visit the game’s official site and sign up for updates.

Battlefield 5‘s big new 6.2 update has now arrived–you can check out the full patch notes here. The update includes a number of updates and improvements for weapon balance, but there is one feature in particular new to the game that players have requesting for a very long time.

That’s tank customization. This feature was promised to the Battlefield community some 457 days ago. Developer DICE is taking it all in stride, as Battlefield’s community manager posted a picture of precisely how long the feature took to be released: 457 days, 6 hours, 33 mins, and 29 seconds.

As a thank-you for fans for their patience, DICE is giving away a set of tank customization items for the Sherman tank to those who log into Battlefield before March 24. This gift contains a cheeky nod to the long wait, as one of the customization items is a spray for “Coming Soon,” which became a meme in the Battlefield community. Check out the images below to see more of the new tank customization options.

For lots more on the new Battlefield 5 6.2 update, check out GameSpot’s full rundown of the patch notes and everything else you need to know.

In other news, Electronic Arts has confirmed that a new Battlefield game is launching for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, though the game has yet to be announced.

Battlefield 5 Tank Customization

March is a huge month for the Nintendo Switch, with two main Nintendo titles being released. First up is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX out tomorrow, followed by Animal Crossing: New Horizons on March 20. Various indie titles are also making their debut on the switch this week, with some being released for the very first time.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 multiplayer DLC is also out this week. With a range of new gameplay options and costumes for Luigi, prepare to get spooked all over again with the first part of the DLC Pack.

This week get drunk with Satan in the indie title Afterparty, rescue Pokemon and embark on an dungeon crawling adventure in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, solve a murder mystery in the pixel puzzle game Murder by Numbers, and arrange delicious looking lunchboxes in inbento, all while learning new culinary recipes.

March 6

• Afterparty
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Team Rescue DX
• Save Koch
• Breeder Homegrown: Director’s Cut
• Troubleshooter
• Murder by Numbers

March 7

• Welcome To Primrose Lake

March 10

• Langrisser I & II

March 12

• Brotherhood United
• Hidden in Plain Sight
• Inbento
• Half Past Fate
• A Street Cat’s Tale
• Neon City Riders
• NinNinDays
• Mystic Vale

Big sales for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS are also available until 8:59 AM PT on March 6 for selected Bandai Namco titles. Here are all the discounted titles for the Switch:

• Dragon Ball Fighter Z $14.99
• God Eater 3 $35.99,
• My Hero One’s Justice $23.99
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 $9.99
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst $9.99
• Full Blast $3.89
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy $19.99
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm $9.99
• One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 Deluxe Edition $11.99
• Obe Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition $11.99
• Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization Deluxe Edition $19.99
• Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition $24.99
• Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition $34.99

Head over to our review of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX to find out how well the remake compares to the original DS/Gameboy games. The demo is still currently available to play on the Eshop, with your progress from the demo able to be carried over once the full edition has been released.