Project X Zone 2: Brave New World: SEGA, Namco, Capcom! And no, there's still no Sonic!

[Dantemustdie00]

Hopefully by then they can finally get Skies of Arcadia and some Phantasy Star love into PXZ, I've personally have had enough Sakura Wars, they've gotten enough exposure in 2 as it is, more so than any other series in the game aside from Street Fighter and Darkstalkers.

[TCB]

42 minutes ago, Dantemustdie00 said:

Hopefully by then they can finally get Skies of Arcadia and some Phantasy Star love into PXZ, I've personally have had enough Sakura Wars, they've gotten enough exposure in 2 as it is, more so than any other series in the game aside from Street Fighter and Darkstalkers.

Yeah a number of villains in the game centered around those two series respectively, so it would be nice to see them take a break. But with Street Fighter one of Capcom's most relevant (and lasting) series represented today and in the game that may be unlikely. As for SEGA IPs that I hope to be in a potential 3rd title it would definitely be Yakuza and Virtua Fighter to stay at least. Skies, Burning Rangers, Phantasy Star and maybe even 7th Dragon could be in.

[Graystripe2000]

According to the NPD, the game sold around 18K in North America, not counting digital sales. The last time they reported on sales numbers, it didn't hold up to fruition, so I'd take this with a grain of salt for now, at least till we get confirmation from BN themselves. http://nintendoeverything.com/february-2016-npd-fire-emblem-fates-sales-breakdown-by-version-project-x-zone-2/

And I love how people are ALREADY calling the game a flop when we don't know the worldwide sales, as well as the fact that it's been on the UK 3DS charts for a while now. 

http://www.gonintendo.com/stories/252550-uk-software-sales-week-ending-february-20-2016
http://gonintendo.com/stories/253029-uk-software-sales-week-ending-february-27-2016
http://www.gonintendo.com/stories/253551-uk-software-sales-week-ending-march-5-2016
 

[Radiant Hero Ike]

I kinda wanted Beat to be playable. He's great.

Are Welkin and Alicia in it? They'd be great too but I don't recall seeing either.

[Graystripe2000]

1 hour ago, Valentine's Playa Kirito said:

I kinda wanted Beat to be playable. He's great.

Are Welkin and Alicia in it? They'd be great too but I don't recall seeing either.

They're not. 

[Teoskaven]

3 hours ago, Operationgamer17 said:

According to the NPD, the game sold around 18K in North America, not counting digital sales. The last time they reported on sales numbers, it didn't hold up to fruition, so I'd take this with a grain of salt for now, at least till we get confirmation from BN themselves. http://nintendoeverything.com/february-2016-npd-fire-emblem-fates-sales-breakdown-by-version-project-x-zone-2/

And I love how people are ALREADY calling the game a flop when we don't know the worldwide sales, as well as the fact that it's been on the UK 3DS charts for a while now. 

http://www.gonintendo.com/stories/252550-uk-software-sales-week-ending-february-20-2016
http://gonintendo.com/stories/253029-uk-software-sales-week-ending-february-27-2016
http://www.gonintendo.com/stories/253551-uk-software-sales-week-ending-march-5-2016
 

Bamco cared for the sales for the first game on a global level anyway rather than just America, Europe or Japan (the latter of wich was the country it sold less, mind you); they're probably gonna do the same for this one too. And since last time Bamco had a more generous expectations, allowing the game to be a complete success with "just" a little more than 400.000 copies sold worldwide (a number that in the game industry of today is generally considered catastophic), i'm sure they'll not on the same bullshit level of Square-Enix expecting millions of sales even in this case.

[Teoskaven]

Alright, since i've finished the game (twice, thanks to NG+; i'll do a third run eventually in the future, but for now, i'll give a rest) i'll have a proper review of the game, in the same style of the last one (wich can be see here), plus adding stuff like comparison with the previous game (and Namco x Capcom here and there). Mind you, there are spoilers everywhere, so if you don't want to have the surprise of what the story tells be ruined, wait until you've finished the game. Ready, go.

 

Gameplay analysys:

Since the core gameplay has remained the same, there's not much to talk about it; however, there have been many, many improvements that i have been very pleased to see, like the bonus when attacking from sides or the back, the shop system, the upgrade system, the bonus missions and much more. Almost everything is welcomed and appreciated, save for a couple of things:

1)Despite the marketing it recieved, i've never used the Mirage Cancel mechanic at all, nor did i needed it. The timing for making critical hits is still generous, and you can even have skills to make it even easier, so it kinda felt like the EX Revenge in Dissidia 012: good on paper, useless in actuality.

2)Maybe it was done for the sake of balance, but i hate that for a lot of chapters you have a maximum limit on the characters you can place on the map. I wanted to fight with everyone everytime like in the previous game, why does this one limit it to 10 all of a sudden? That's just gonna make me keep away the units i don't care about, like Chun-Li/Xiaoyu. Thankfully, there are chapters where this is averted or zigzagged by having the group being split and having to play with everyone just in 2 separate battles.

3)I'm not gonna lie, there seem to be a lot of lack of balance between units, with some of them being clearly more powerful and easy to use as others. And then you get cases like Akira/Kage-Maru or Chun-Li/Xiaoyu where not only they do really low damage, but they're not even good for creating Cross Hits due to their breaking attacks. it's clear that not everyone recieved the same amount of focus and care during development, and that's a bit sad.

4)Some abilities are downright useless and there's a clear lack of more useful ones like attack range extension or augmenting the possibilities of inflicting debuffs. And then there's the complete abscence of the weight adjustment ability (save for 1-2 passives here and there) despite enemy weight being still an important factor. It puzzles me.

 

Plot analysys:

While the formula is once again the same as the two previous games (characters are doing stuff in a world -> main group arrives and interacts with them -> villains arrive and explain a tiny bit of their plan -> battle -> villains leave without a scratch and the characters join the main group), the game actually plays around with it sometimes in very creative ways and taking full inspiration from the franchises it utilizes. It definetly shows more care from the screenwriters, so plus points for that.

However, there seems to be a bit of regression too compared to the first PXZ: not only previously "redeemed" villains now are once again bad for no particular reason (Juri and T-Elos for example, but Saya and all of Ouma take the cake), but this time around there's no such thing as redemption. Everyone goes ultimately down in a stubborn way and only few selected villains (like Black Hayato or Shadow) are allowed to escape. I don't know, it feels unnecessary brutal  and a bit stupid compared to how morality and common sense worked previously.

 

Soundtrack analysys:

A huge step up in this case: not only do we have the same soundtrack of the japanese version without cuts or replacements, but the remixes are even better and made with better quality. The only problems may rely in the crtieria they used for selecting some of the tracks (seriously, you don't just leave out Devils Never Cry), but overall, it's not that influential on the final product.

 

Franchises rapresentation analysis:

Capcom:
*Street Fighter: once again, we have the usual gang here of Ryu, Ken and Chun-LI, but then we have an interesting surprise in the form of Ingrid, wich is slightly annoying, yet still fun and useful as an assist. And then we have on the villain side Juri (with her character development from the previous game reset, alas) and finally M.Bison, wich takes the cake as the best thing ever in this game. It's clear the devs wanted him in because they made a lot of jokes and plot point opportunities revolving around him; just, awesome. However, the fact that Chun-Li is yet again barely useless in the game (even storywise) and the lack of Akuma detract points.

*Darkstalkers: we almost hit perfection here bringing back once again Demitri and Morringan, but having the weird choice of bringing back Felicia while not bringing back Hsien-Ko. It's a bit jarring, especially since Lord Raptor is back as a villain, and seeing one of his main motives being removed makes him less funny to watch. However, we finally get Pyron as a main villain, and while is contribution is not as impactful as other villains', he's still intimidating and powerful with his Q-Bees and the ghosts of Summon Night. There's also B.B.Hood as a villain, but she doesn't do much, and aside from her yandere attitude, she's forgettable.

*Resident Evil: oh bother, what a disaster. Not only this game doesn't try to advance the plot of Chris and Jill (meaning they're still stuck in their RE: Revelations appearance and that wishing to have Wesker as a villain still remains an utopia) but it commits the ugly sin of having a good chunk of its content taken from Resident Evil 6, wich is considered by many the lowest point of the franchise. And it's not like we have good use of them: Leon is literally shouting his RE 4 personality (wich would be fine if they actually used that), Ada is there for like 2 seconds and then disappears for the rest of the game, the Ustanak is just a discount Nemesis that doesn't even have special attacks, and the Tall Oaks church stage is just used for a very old cliché scenario of "mistaking the good guys for bad guys", wich doesn't even last long. It looks to me Monolith doesn't really know how to use this series' license.

*Megaman: first, the good stuff. Not only Vile is back with his MMX3 design, but finally Sigma shows up in his MMX4 appearance, wich is always good. However, it seems to me that the devs didn't knew what else to do because there's no new enemy type variety and the villains don't contribute too much in the grand scheme of things (they tie their plot with the .hack// one, but i don't know, it doesn't seem to mix well); also, X and Zero, despite being as awesome as ever have a less powerful moveset to work with, so they're not easy to use. Oh, and also all the content from Megaman Legends is gone, so Tron Bonne got shafted away; jeez.

*Devil May Cry: ...eh. Everyone was blown away by the choices taken from this franchise, but if i have to be honest, i don't like them; case and point, as much as i love him, Vergil is literally (and in-universe) out of place, especially since the events of this game intertwines with the one of the first DMC game, but this never goes too far and he just stands there obeying to Dante like a dog (all the while being grossly out of character) without chemistry or development. It would have made much more sense having Trish being paired with Dante and still retaining Nelo Angelo as the villain. Also, come to think of it, the demon faction, unlike in the previous games, doesn't do a lot here, wich is weird.

 

*Strider: one of my most requested franchise to come back from NXC, and i wasn't disappointed (well, almost). Hiryu is still the badass ninja he's always been, never flinching yet never abusing his powers, just being on his mission, and true to that, the moveset he and Hotsuma have is both really easy to use and very powerful to exploit. What lacked was the villain department, because not only there are no mooks from this franchise, but there are only Solo and Tong Pooh as the villains, meaning that Strider Hien and Grandmaster Meio have not been resurrected. A shame, i wished i could kick their ass too.

 

*Captain Commando: i was pleased to see that not only this franchise is back from NXC, but it did so in a meaty way; sure, we got only the Captain himself and the rest of the team is just mentioned, but he is more than enough (plus having cameos from Legendary Wings, Battle Circuit and other classic arcade games as support) and surprisingly, we get the whole Shturm trio of bad guys plus 5 different types of mooks, and they play a big role in the story too (shame though none of them have special attacks). The devs really nailed what to do with this series.

 

*Ace Attorney: at first, i wasn't seriously expecting stuff from this to be included (even though i wished). Between Phoenix being -let's be honest- a joke fighter, the potential problems with the differences between the original japanese text and the localization and potential license problems, i was skeptical, but what did you know, Phoenix and Maya are here, giving their support with a pretty solid justification on both the reason why they're tangled in the story and why they manage to fight along with the others (although they're still human being; a lot of comedy relies on stuff that other characters can do but Phoenix and Maya can't, like climbing a rock wall). I'm also fine with them being assist only and not a full unit. Also, Miles Edgeworth makes a small appearance in one of the funniest chapters of the game (even though it's a bit squandered; i mean, the turnabout ends literally second after it starts).

 

*Star Gladiator: holy fuckballs, someone actually remembers the existence of this franchise. And not just that, they did something really creative with it, i'm baffled; the only downside is that June to me is not that interesting and her assist mechanics are a bit difficult to work with, but still, good job. I wouldn't mind seeing both June and Hayato again in the future, maybe this time as a pair unit or something.

 

*Forgotten Worlds: it's always nice to see old franchises coming back even for smaller things like shops, but good lord they made Sylphie a complete bitch in this game for no reason other than having a running joke where the client takes priority, greed and other shit like that. It got old really fast and it made me wonder why they deconstructed her so much from her appearance from NxC. Still, nice to see her again overall.

 

Comment on the franchises that have been removed from the previous game:
*Dead Rising: a bit of a shame since Frank West surprisingly fitted in the first game without having too much rapresentation from its franchise, but alas, i can live without it. Still, if there will ever be a new title, i would love to see him again, maybe paired with Chuck Greene this time around.

*Rival Schools: justified since both Batsu and the two teachers that appeared in Namco x Capcom felt really out of place for this massive crossover, and not even in a funny way. I still love the franchise on its own, i just think it's not suited for this dimensional massive crisis. Best leave Batsu for a future Capcom fighting crossover game only.

*Cyberbots: Eh, i'm a bit sad Jin Saotome didn't got the chance to appear on his own, but i can accept this series being put aside. After all, Devilotte ended up being more annoying than anything, so i'd rather take this than having her forcefully. However, this and all of this previous franchises being absent are not really a problem, nor something i should rage on...

 

*Ghosts 'n Goblins: the honor goes to this one. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, CAPCOM. Like seriously, not only this has been well rapresented in the past two games, it played a very important role! The demons of the Makai and Arthur fighting them alongside Valkyrie have been well-estabilished, so seeing those things now completely gone out of nowhere and practically never mentioned is fucking jarring to say the least. They had no excuses to cut this, not even the card of "there's nothing more we can get inspiration from" because of Ultimate GnG, the Maximo games and the Gargoyle's Quest games. Easily the only gross step down on the Capcom side.

Franchises that should have been in the game (or should be considered for a third PXZ):
*Breath of Fire: yep, three RPG games in and Capcom still has 0 rapresentation from its major JRPG franchise. Such a shame, because due to how the games are structured, it would have been really easy to sneak in any kind of characters and enemies from this series. I'm not losing hope though.

*Dino Crisis: as i mentioned the last time, Regina has become at this point a fan favourite and her franchise needs some love these days, and since both fit quite well in NXC, i would have loved to see her return. Maybe another time.

*Red Earth: it astounds me that to this day Capcom has never bothered to release this title on ANY kind of gaming console whatsoever and yet aknowledged its existance here and there. And to be fair, Leo and/or Tessa would have been interesting to see in this kind game. Who knows.

 

*Bionic Commando: this is the only "major" old Capcom platformer that hasn't been recieved a proper rapresentation/cameo yet, and of course i think it's a bit of a shame, since there is potential. Now, the logical association will be having Nathan Spencer has an assist, of course, but wich incarnation of the character should be? The classic one, the Rearmed one or the 2009 reboot one? I would be fine either way, but i know people may prefer one over the others.

 

*Asura's Wrath: considering how Cyberconnect2 had already been contacted to give the rights to the .hack elements, i imagined Monolith would have killed two birds with one stone and asked also for rapresentation from this game. I mean, sure, you cannot recreate the full over-the-topness of the original title, but one could still take something interesting from it, especially since Asura has become such a fan-favourite character and everyone wants him in Capcom crossovers now.

Overall thoughts:

Despite a huge slippery and still some missing potential, this has probably been one of the best Capcom rosters for a crossover we have seen ever. True, there's still work to do for make it perfect, but giant steps have been made from the past years; easily the most solid of the companies rapresented here.

Namco Bandai:

*Tekken: my prayers have been listened and answered even in this case. Alisa is gone and thank heavens for that, Kazuya is back, is playable AND has a justification for his absence, Heiachi is much more likeable and avaible from the getgo, and we get Unknow as the main villain, wich despite being slightly pointless gives an interesting conflict. The only downiside is that Xiaoyu is back and her contribution to the story is practically nothing, she just tags along with Chun-Li just because and that's it. Almost perfect reguardless.

*Xenosaga: i felt KOS-MOS being much more useful plotwise and gameplaywise than in the previous game, but seeing her only has the main rapresentation from this franchise is a bit sad. However, T-Elos and the Gnosis are completely utterly pointless for the plot and they just appear once in a while as extra distractions, so why having them at all? It's also a shame because as mentioned, T-Elos lost all the development she got from both Endless Frontier and the first PXZ, so i hope that for a potential third title, more care is put in all the rapresentation from here.

*.hack: talk about stepping up the game with just a little rearrangement. Not only Kite is back (unfortunately BlackRose was axed off in the process, i wish she came back too), but elements from G.U. are the main focus here rather than the ones of the first saga. And let me tell you, Haseo is one of the best things of this crossover, from everyone confusing his outfit for the one of a bad guy to him being angsty and hammy once in a while, so funny. On the villain side we have Skeith again (even though it's justified this time around) and Tri-Edge (i guess to have the misunderstanding shenanigans with him and Kite), plus new enemies; also i'm glad the plot arc of this franchise is more restricted and less prevalent yet still solid, unlike in the previous game.

*Tales of: sigh. Almost nothing has changed aside from some new enemies (some of wich even appears in a single chapter only) so yes, everything is from Vesperia and it's once again the trio of Yuri, Flynn and Estelle with practically 0 improvement. The only two main new things is that Estelle gets brainwashed by M.Bison (but it lasts pitifully) and that Zagi is there as a villain, even though his contribution is bare. At first i asked myself why of the state of the rapresentation of this franchise, but then i heard one of the devs worked on the original Vesperia game; basically, we're having the worst case of nepotism possible here. I hope that for future titles, another Tales of game will be chosen.

*God Eater: at first i was worried that the characters chosen from GE2 would have disappointed me since i haven't played the game yet and they didn't gave me a good first impression. And while Nana's odenpan jokes became a bit annoying after a while, i have to say i was actually impressed: both gameplaywise and storywise, they gave me a more solid good impression. And even if the new aragami types are not that much (still lacking Hannibal, alas) it's fine, and i'm happy Bamco is letting this franchise grow more and more into its range of IPs.

 

*Soul Calibur: finally, this major franchise is back... and is giving us only Natsu, one of the most detested characters from SCV. Well, at least she's not Patrokolos, i guess...? In all honesty though, i surprisingly liked her, even if she had some annoying moments. I just wish more was taken from here, but even if it's few, it's fine. Hopefully the future will be more indulgent.

 

*Summon Night: before this game's announcement, i knew practically nothing about this franchise, and since it was the only one that gave me this reacion for this particular crossover, i decided to look up the source material. What i found (at least the few i found, there's so little material to work with) was a quasi-clone of Disgaea, so i guess it could be fun if it was localized. As for this game, Aty is not half bad from what i've seen and brings her presence (plus some enemies) well enough to the table.

*The Legend of Valkyrie: the legendary Valkyrie is once again back (thankfully less angsty about time-space distortion this time around), once again by herself (even though she mentions Sabre and Kurimo quite often) but this time around with more mooks and the return of the demon Kamuz, wich is hammy and always fun to listen just for how badly he fails in his tempted crimes. So yeah, overall this franchise managed to stay solid with just a little extra sparkle to it.

 

*Shadow Land/Yokai Dochuki: i wasn't expecting this one to come back from NXC, and to be honest, it's not that impressive. It's just there for a quick cameo and to be part of the plot point of Kamuz stealing the golden seed, but aside from that, it houses the non-courtroom from Ace Attorney and that's it. They didn't even let poor Tarosuke go back with the party, poor guy.

 

*Marvel Land: ehm... interesting, i guess? I suppose it was chosen for having the gag of Otohime confusing the name of Valkyrie's land with this one, but honestly, as a level-only rapresentation, it kinds sucks. I could have this being replace by another Bamco IP honestly.

 

*Ordyne: strange idea having another roaming shopkeeper and this time from a very obscure arcade title. Consequentially, Miyuki's presence is scarce and not important in the long run, but hey, at least she's more friendly and likeble than Sylphie... when she's not yandere, of course, lol.

 

Comment on the franchises that have been removed from the previous game:

*Super Robot Taisen: what a bizarro way of thinking. A crossover series that was born from Super Robot Taisen, used its own battle system and actually managed to insert into its main continuity (i'm not kidding: despite these crossovers not being canon with the francises they take inspiration from, they are canon in the SRW continuity, look it up), now, much like Ghosts 'n Goblins, it's completely gone and almost never mentioned. How shameful, and i can't even imagine the reason of locking it out, considering its characters are well fit for this kind of crossover (and in the worst case, they could have brought the Endless Frontier crew back).

 

*Yumeria: and literally, nothing of value was lost. Neneko and the Feydooms were some of the worst parts of the previous game, so them being removed is only a good news. 'nuff said.

Franchises that should have been in the game (or should be considered for a third PXZ):

*Pac-Man: pretty much what i told the previous time. I know Pac-Man is not exactly a fitting character for this kind of crossover, but he's the face of Bamco since the arcade days, he must get some form of recognition. Worst case, he could have been like in SFXT, piloting a Mokujin.

*Klonoa: again, bravo Bamco for keeping forgetting the existance of one of your most beloved franchises. Klonoa was probably the #1 character most fans of NXC wanted to return, yet again he's completely absent (the fact that he still has no new games and his webcomic ended recently makes things worse). Even if i'm not its biggest fan i still think he needs another chance.

*Eternal Sonata: i'll be simple. I replayed the game recently, and quite honestly, it has all the elements that can be rapresented in a crossover like this fittinh like a glove: characters with abstract design and flashy attacks (Frederic and Polka, for example), enemy variety with tons of palette swap to use, a great villain with the same qualities of the heroes (Waltz) and a generous soundtrack to take from. I know this game is relatively obscure (even though Tri-Crescendo is an old aquaintance of Monolith), but the missing potential is still there to be grasped.

*Dark Souls: as i mentioned the previous time, this dark RPG has too all the elements that can be implemented in this crossover, memetic mutations included. I can imagine though the fault has to be of From Software not wanting to give permission to use the characters, because recently Bamco has begun really milking this franchise and the decision to hold back on it would have been weird.

 

*Time Crisis: this is just another of the PSX-PS2 era Bamco games that could have fit this spot (like, for example Dead to Rights), but i chose this because, you know, the setting allows the series to be perfect to be subject to dimensional/time mumbo-jumbo. Considering though we haven't seen a Time Crisis game in years, i guess Bamco has forgot this franchise or something.

Overall thoughts:

Bamco keeps improving over time, learning more and more how to handle its franchises in order to balance old and new, obscure and famous, wich makes me happy; however, unlike with Capcom, there's still a lot of work to do, especially because when you really get down to it, not a lot of new IPs have been added, rather they reinforced the existing ones, so i hope that for future titles, things will keep improving in both ways, not just one.

SEGA:

*Virtua Fighter: oh me oh my, what a mess. Seriously, what the hell happened here? The only thing that's ok is the presence of Kage-Maru since he's connected to Dural in a much more personal way, but almost everything else is wrong: the pair unit does low damage, the combos are almost impossible to connect, the abilities are barely useful, Pai-Chan's assist is god-awful, she has no meaning to be in the story, Akira for some reason has become an unlikable asshole who just tags along because running gags about training, the pacing of their presence is off, GOOD LORD JUST STOP! Seriously, Virtua Fighter has been one of my favourite SEGA IPs, and seeing it treated like this for a sequel makes me cringe to say the least. The devs could have put at least some effort into it.

 

*Sakura Wars: sigh, here we go. Easily the worst part of this section of the roster; not only we have yet again all 4 characters from the previous PXZ (and no, rearranging them did not make them more interesting; if anything, it gave less personality to them -Ichiro- or made them more annoying -Gemini-), not only we have the same villains from the previous PXZ (very jarring in the case of Aya-Me) but the new ones we got are equally uninteresting. Seriously, every time Ranmaru and Dokurobo were on screen teasing on how much they wanted to resurrect Nobunaga, i wished i was facing actually Nobunaga instead. This makes an entire spot for a franchise completely wasted, and it's a shame because it's one of the more meaty of the SEGA side, so that means a huge loss.

*Resonance of Fate: my wishes have been finally granted. The trio of Vashyron, Zephyr and Leanne is back in full force and this time around, this franchise is much better rapresented; sure, the monsters chosen are pretty much the same (with the addition of the yetis, i think) but now we have 2 stages (and none of them are just an illusion like in the previous game), Cardinal Garigliano as an NPC (although his presence is very short) and a reference to one of the silliest moments of the original game. The only thing missing was a proper villain, but i'm happy nontheless; at this point, i grew a soft spot for this franchise, so i hope to see it back in the future with even more improvements.

 

*Space Channel 5: very glad to see this not only returning but also getting a huge improvement. While in the first PXZ Ulala and the morolians were just something that could be ignored for the most part, here they play a much bigger role, thanks also to the presence of Shadow and his minions. Also, Ulala recieves different characters to summon aside from Opa-Opa, and her assist is one of the most useful for Cross Hits that recharge your XP meter, so that's nice.

 

*Shinobi: wasn't expecting to see this one, but i still welcome it happily, and to see it taking inspiration from the PS2 games era (relatively obscure and being a bit detested for its difficulty) and combining it with Strider makes me even more happy. The only shame is that there's a surprising lack of variety and presence of enemies from this franchise (we have 2 types from Nightshade plus a forgettable mid-boss, but from Shinobi itself there's one enemy type used maybe in 2-3 stages at best). Also, Hibana is an absolute beast as an assist, the perfect tool to complement Hiryu and Hotsuma with her combos and abilities.

 

*Yakuza: wasn't expecting to see this one either, and i knew only a few things about this franchise, yet i was still impressed. Strangely enough, Monolith took inspiration from Dead Souls, wich is the oddball of the series, and ran with it; Kiryu and Majima are fun enough, and even though the enemy variety is forgetabble, they're still pushed enough to stay. However, i'm definetly not seeing this franchise returning, at least not in the way we know it, due to how the rest of the Yakuza games are structured.

 

*Streets of Rage: now this is something people were expecting but had small hopes to see. Granted, it's not the best set of rappresentations, with just Axel and Break plus some Robo-X working for Shadaloo, but it's still a nice start; if a sequel will happen though and this franchise will return, i wanna see a proper pair unit and some enemy mooks.

 

*Shenmue: a bit of a wasted opportunity here, Ryo Hazuki seems to be fine with his appearance, his relation with the other characters and his goals, but the developers didn't really went too far with him. I mean, for a game with such over-the-top moves and attitudes you think Ryo will be based around his forklift, but no, he barely mentions it and instead just uses martial arts. Also, his role in the story, much like Ingrid, is relatively marginal. Still i'm glad they included him and SEGA allowed to use the Shenmue license.

 

*Segata Sanshiro: most definetly one of the highligts of the game. To think that Monolith would have though to savage the character and not only SEGA gave the permission to do so, but they also manage to use the same actor for the voiceover is something that trascend videogame beauty. Sure, one could argue it comes too later in the game and doesn't do a lot, but i'm fine with what they did with him and the behaviour they gave to him. Having him getting beaten by Yuri and Flynn though is a bit jarring, but i can live with that. SEGA SATURN, SHIRO!

 

Comment on the franchises that have been removed from the previous game:

*Shining: when i said in my previous review that this franchise needed to be reworked, i didn't mean for it to be violently axed, especially since this series is huuuge, and taking inspiration from it would have been really, really easy.

 

*Valkyria Chronicles: the exact same thing can be applied here. Seriously, the devs didn't even managed to get Selvaria back as an assist despite her massive popularity. Really?

*Fighting Vipers: i'm conflicted. On one hand, i haven't played the original game so i cannot relate too much to Bahn, but on the other it seemed a fun thing to take inspiration from and a good setup with the Virtua Fighter characters, so seeing him gone is a bit of a shame. I would have rather saw him return than Pai-Chan.

*House of the Dead: kinda expected because of how Zombie Revenge was obscure and Monolith already mentioned they wanted to not having this franchise interfere with Resident Evil (plus having Yakuza: Dead Souls as the zombie-themed game for SEGA for this crossover). Still, i think they could have obtained something from it, especially since this is one of SEGA's most important IPs.

*Dynamite Cop: like with Yumeria, nothing valuable has been lost here. Good riddance, if you ask me; almost noone liked Bruno, and he brought nothing funny or interesting to the table. I'm so glad this has been cut.

Franchises that should have been in the game (or should be considered for a third PXZ):

*Sonic: well, you already know the drill. Yes, i know this is supposed to involve mostly humanoid characters. No, i'm not a person that cares a lot about Sonic in general. Yes, i still think he should have got some kind of rapresentation, even in the worst case scenario as a cameo in Ulala's moveset. Instead, the closest thing we get is an acronym of Sonic Team during the reference to Burning Rangers. Eh.

*Bayonetta: originally i would have blamed Monolith for not having even tried to make the character getting in, but recently it has been confirmerd it has been the fault of Hideki Kamiya neglecting the use of the character because of his usual giant ego. However, he said he has been mistaken, so if a third PXZ will happen, i'm fully expecting Bayonetta to be present in that. Fingers crossed.

*Skies of Arcadia: this is SEGA's most recognizable RPG after the Shining titles, so i though it was strange it wasn't included even here (for the first PXZ i considered the presence of the VC character a valid justification), and it's a shame. Between the setting, the characters and their moves, it would have been awesome to see some skypirate action. Maybe another time.

 

*Rhythm Thief: yes, i just did it. I know it sound really crazy, but i'm convinced this franchise has potential to be present in a crossover like this, being also the flag bearer for franchises like Samba de Amigo. Maybe mixing a bit with Space Channel 5 and pairing Phantom R with Ulala and having the cehvalier diabolique as enemies, something among this.

 

*Panzer Dragoon: this is a franchise that has been dead for years and years, and as such has being request by al SEGA fans, especially the japanese ones (they reguard it almost like they do with Puyo-Puyo, wich means a lot), so i was hoping to see it getting rapresented here somehow. However, i wanna have hope for the future for this.

Overall thoughts: to me, it feels as SEGA took 3 steps forward and 2 backward. While the roster is more solid and with more key franchises, there are still important series not being present and some of the ones rapresented do not work at all. If a new title will be made, another rework has to happen for this side of the roster.

 

NINTENDO:

*Xenoblade Chronicles: what a surprise to knew that Xenoblade earned a place in this crossover (it came a long road since when people were struggling to get it localized in America and now he got ports, appearances here and in Smash Bros., and a sequel to boot), and what a more interesting surprise to see that the character chosen from this game was not Shulk, not Dunbar, but Fiora, wich is reguarded by the community as taboo due to being a walking spoiler. Still, she works perfectly in tandem with KOS-MOS, and i really appreciated it. Also, we get tons of Mechon as enemies plus Metal Face (even though he doesn't do a lot, but he compensate by being hilariously snarky); Monolith knew how to treat its own creation.

 

*Fire Emblem: well, i don't know everything about this franchise, but i played enough Awakening to know how oddly fitting is to have Chrom and Lucina here (even though gameplaywise they kinda lack and only have one really useful attack). There are also a few enemies, wich is good, but i wished there was a proper main villain too like Xenoblade had. Oh well, what we have right now is fine already.

 

Overall thoughts:

I really wasn't expecting the presence of Nintendo characters in this crossover, but it was an engineous move that ensures the franchise will stay on Nintendo consoles. Now, the debate is wherever there should have been more Nintendo characters or not, but i'm perfectly fine with what they got as just this nice little extra. Not too invasive, yet still present (maybe squeezing someone from Baten Kaitos, but other than that, nothing more).

Original characters:

*Namco x Capcom: yep, the gang is here once again in full force on both sides. Xiaomu and Reiji, regaining their role as main protagonist, against Saya, Dokugozu, Dokumezu and the Ouma forces as the main villains once more. And while i don't like the step down from the character development Saya had in the previous game (i mean, you think that after witnessing a thing like the Portalstone almost merging all dimension you would stop your organization from doing the same, but noooo) it functions as a big family reunion from the NXC days.

*Project X Zone: excuse me, aren't we forgetting someone? Someone important, like, i don't know, Mii and Kogoro, the main characters from the first game?! They're barely mentioned near the end of the game and the only thing we know is that now they work for Shinra. Yai i guess, but still, what a dickish move. The exclusion of the Portalstone demons makes more sense though, because Oros Phlox now has no reason to come back, so i agree with that.

 

*Project X Zone 2: meh. Seriously, that's all i can say; neither Chizuru for Shinra nor Sheat for Ouma sparkled my interest in the slightest (especially since the character of Chizuru has almost no personality; while the game was in development, i ended up speculating a much better plot twist revolving around her being a double agent, but i guess it was too much to ask) and the new Ouma units are really, really forgettable (maybe Sword as the new Katana-type unit is fine, but eh). And don't even get me started on how bland and disappointing Byaku Shin is for a final boss, so let's just say none of these new additions ended up in a good spot for me.

Overall thoughts: disappointed. I liked the NXC character since the very first appearance of them, but bein in the third game of this series, we need backbone to them, but honestly i could have been satisfied just with Kogoro and Mii returning. Also, noone of the newly introduced NPCs and villains are catching enough.

 

Things to keep in mind for a potential third PXZ:

*Refresh the oldest veterans: we're having a serious risk of stagnation here with some characters like the Steet Fighter guys or the Darkstalkers fighters, and it's imperative that for a potential new title something has to be done to them to resfresh things. For example, have finally Demitri as a bad guy for once, with Donovan Bane teaming up with Morrigan in order to stop him, or have Ryu being posessed by the Satsui No Hado at the beginning with Ken (maybe in his SFV appearance) and Chun-Li as the pair unit to stop him making him become an assist once he gets freed. Stuff like this is imperative because we're 3 games in and there's only so much you can do with characters who have been involed in this dimensional chaos since NXC.

 

*Take inspiration from good stuff: i get what the devs meant by trying using stuff from bad games and trying to show of that can be used for good, i really get it. But sorry, a polished turd remains a turd, no metter how much you clean it, so please; next time, leave bad stuff like Resident Evil 6 behind and focus on the good department only.

 

*Make better use of the original characters: the lack of a true new original villain and the butchering of the cast of the first PXZ made Reiji, Xiaomu and Saya the only ones to carry on their shoulders the weight of the central focus of the story (wich is hard), and considering each of them have already plent of character development behind, the lack of focus on new characters or more recent returning ones makes things a bit repetitive. In terms of tematics in fact, this sequel feels more a recreation of NXC, and partially it's true due to being the 10th anniversary of that. However, for the future, there need to be others; bring back Kogoro an Mii, make Urashima playable or an assist, have new Shinra Agents, anything will be appreciated.

 

Final verdict:

Don't get me wrong, despite me sounding bitchy through all this review, i'm actually really happy with this game, and i had a lot of fun playing with it. Could have been better? Absolutely, in a lot of ways. Is it terrile because of this? Of course no, now go and play it, really hoping for another sequel (yes, despite my original claim when the japanese version came out, now i changed my mind and think another one of these is possible, if done right).

 

Vote: 8.5/10

[Graystripe2000]

The game is currently Amazon's Choice on Amazon. 

 

[Graystripe2000]

I'm not sure how people are getting this but just because the director and co-producer left Monolith Soft doesn't mean a PXZ3 won't happen. It's the start of the new fiscal year and people tend to depart Japanese companies then. 

http://gematsu.com/2017/03/project-x-zone-director-soichiro-morizumi-leaves-monolith-soft

http://gematsu.com/2017/04/project-x-zone-co-producer-koji-ishitani-leaves-monolith-soft

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

One thing I never got.....how the hell is Nemesis able to pronounce "BSA", when he's got no lips!

[Teoskaven]

Although heavily distorted, it's possible to do so even with just clenched teeth and no lip movement. You can try on your own.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

22 minutes ago, Teoskaven said:

Although heavily distorted, it's possible to do so even with just clenched teeth and no lip movement. You can try on your own.

Even the "B" part? That's the main spectacle!