5 JRPG to look for in 2016

Hello my friends! It's good to be back and now that I'm here blogging again let's have something for my favorite genre of all, which is Japanese RPG games. I've recently noticed how even some of my friends (who are also hardcore jrpg fans) are kind of lost about what the Japanese role playing game scene will offer to us in the near future, so I've decided to stop my almost non-stop marathon of Xenoblade Chronicles X for a while and make a little guide of whats heading our way in the form of confirmed west side releases.

Note: Although this guide is supposed to be only composed of games that will be released on 2016, I will start it by mentioning one that is coming this month.

Exist Archive

Platforms: PS4, PSVITA

Western release date: December 17, 2015

It still baffles me that not many rpg fans are aware about this game, especially considering that this is in fact the successor of the Valkyrie Profile series, sharing the same gameplay elements and featuring a similar plot involving life beyond death. So far the gameplay footage that the developers have released into the public shows that the game will be a side-scroller, but the fights within the game will be turn based and the story goes around the main character dying and instantly appearing on a strange alternate dimension. What is different between Valkyrie Profile and Exist Archive is that the side-scrolling exploration on this one has a lot more interaction and will probably have backtracking and puzzle elements similar to a "metroidvania" game, which is something that will add a lot to the overall game. This one is coming up soon, so prepare those wallets.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

Platforms: PS3, PS4
Western release date: TBA 2016

This one began as a simple tease by Square Enix where they published an enigmatic website sometime ago, but finally after a long stream of trollings and false hopes, a new Star Ocean game was actually announced. If you look at the gameplay video, you can see that the game will take sort of an action rpg-ish style, but at the same time it keeps all of the original goodies that we are accustomed to when we talk about a Star Ocean game. The game has no specific release date for the west, but considering that the Japanese version of the game will be released on February, I'd say we will probably be playing Star Ocean by Summer.

Nier: Automata

Platforms: PS4
Western release date: TBA 2016

The first Nier game was released in 2010 and while it may have passed unnoticed for some, it gained quite a following and had a good reception between those who played it. Now Square Enix joins up with Platinum Games and they are going full force with it's sequel, side named "Automata". This new Nier game seems to be featuring the same action rpg mechanics and open world of the last one, but this time it looks like the game will be a lot more focused and solid. It is also worth noting that this time, the game will jump a little into the futuristic side where the main character has to deal with all sorts of robots and machines in an earth that has been invaded by a mysterious race of mechanical based life forms. No official release date has been announced, but we could try to guess and say this one could be on shelves by late Summer or early Autumn 2016 although we could be surprised with an earlier date as new announcements are made.

Bravely Second: End Layer

Platforms: 3DS
Western release date: Spring 2016

Called by some "the Final Fantasy of these modern times", Bravely Default is known to be the game that brought Square back to the JRPG scene and it's sequel will come to the west in 2016 to the delight of all jrpg fans in this part of the planet. The game promises to have the same goodies that the first one delivered, but a lot of new and awesome things to add up. I expect another epic story and a bigger world than the previous game so this is definitely the one Japanese rpg to have on a handheld console, mostly because real classic JRPG experiences are kind of scarce on that type of platform.

Persona 5

Platforms: PS3/PS4
Western release date: Summer 2016

This one needs no introduction to any JRPG fan and it will (hopefully) be released on Summer 2016. Last thing we knew was that the game had been delayed (again) and while we got a few nice trailers, most of us felt like this was the jrpg to have this Christmas. From what we have seen from the game since it was first announced, it will feature the same mood and atmosphere that the Persona games are famous for, but it will also have an added layer of exploration where you will have to actually run and even jump on things in order to get ahead in certain areas. This one seems pretty strong, so I'm sure that all this waiting game was actually worth it.

Wrapping things up

Well ppl, there you have 5 Japanese RPGs to keep you busy in 2016. It is important to state that this is just the tip of the iceberg, as there are many other games like these coming in 2016 and if I had kept going, the list would had been bigger than planet Mira on Xenoblade Chronicles X, so yeah that's quite big. If you want to see a full list of the JRPG games coming on 2016 you can check it HERE. I know I've been ranting a lot about the lack of this genre in the past, but I think this is it. 2016 is the year of the JRPG and the future looks awesome!

Game Doctrine E3 Special

Game Doctrine is a little side project I have been working up with a friend and what better way to introduce our little wacky antics than I showing you our E3 special. If you don't understand some aspects of this episode you can look for previous ones so you can see what it is all about, hope you all enjoy it.

Game Doctrine is shaping up to be a channel that mixes up gaming discussion and criticism with a simple storyline and lots of extras that will be added as we go. I know we have a lot to improve, but we are working to make this a better channel and have lots of ideas that we will be implementing in the future. If you liked the video then help us out by liking, subscribing and sharing the video as it will be of great motivation to us.

5 Retro Characters That Could Had Been In The New Smash Bros Game.

The new Super Smash Bros is already out there (3DS version) and it has proven to be another great addition to the series. This franchise is basically the most famous one that Nintendo has and it causes quite a stir when we talk about what characters should be in it. Nintendo has always stated that characters that appear on Smash Bros have to be ones that have appeared in a Nintendo platform at any point in time so the list is endless. We all know that from the nostalgic point of view retro characters have precedence over current ones, so today we are going to see 5 retro characters that would had been cool to have on this new Smash Bros game.

1) The Boy (from A Boy and his Blob on NES and Wii)

The original "A Boy and his Blob" game is considered a great classic and its main character duo would had made for a very versatile fighter in Smash Bros. This is because the boy can use his blob for pretty much anything, making him a more interesting character than Rosalina who has her Luma as her sidekick. Think about it for a second, using the blob to attack, guard and do special moves by morphing it into various objects is something that would had made this character to be very fun to use. Many things come to mind when we think of potential moves. For example if you were to be falling down, you turn the blob into a ladder and climb back to safety or if you needed a quick weapon then you could turn the blob into a sword, shield or projectile. Possibilities are endless with this one.

Speed: Med - Defense: Low - Power: High

Final Smash: Turning the blob into a giant bowling ball, rolling it in the direction he is facing and decimating anything it touches.

2) Billy Lee (Double Dragon)

We already have a hand to hand specialist in the form of Little Mac, but it wouldn't had hurt to have the most famous of the Lee brothers joining the fight. This one would had been similar to Little Mac, but a lot more controllable as Little Mac tends to fall out of the stage a lot if you get carried away with the special moves. Billy Lee would not only be able to use his martial art moves, but also have special moves that include the use of various weapons that appear on the original game like the nunchaku, whip or bat. Billy trademark grapple would had to make an appearance too as many players loved using it in the original game. It would also be very cool if Billy had his whirlwind kick as a risky move to clear the area (sort of like Kirby's block attack). 

Speed: Low - Defense: Med - Power: Med

Final Smash: Two big Abobo enemies appear on stage, following enemies and punching them into oblivion.

3) Ryu Hayabusa (from the classic NES games)

One of the coolest things about the classic Ninja Gaiden games were the anime cutscenes they featured which was something that wasn't common in games at the time. In Smash Bros, we could have the anime styled Ryu Hayabusa that appeared on those cutscenes using the whole assortment of powers and weapons that he had in the classic games, but with a little less speed than Greninja. Other than the moves and weapons, one cool feature that Ryu could have is to be able to climb the wall if he's falling and somehow can get to it in time, the downside been that you could be knocked down if hit while climbing and haven't gotten to the ledge yet.

Speed: Med - Defense: Low - Power: High

Final Smash: The Jaquio appears and starts throwing big lighting spheres across the stage, severely damaging your enemies.

4) Bill Rizer (Contra)

By seen Bill Rizer in the list you may be thinking that it would be kind of unfair to have a character that has a machine gun all time, but it is not. Bill would be a slower but more powerful version of Snake (Super Smash Brothers Brawl), only using his equipment at some occasions and with a limited range. He would also be able to change his weapon into some of the special ones he finds in the original games and use small grenades like Snake does. He would also be able to double jump and prone (shoot while lying on the ground) to compensate for his lack of speed. His gun attacks will also had to be be very strong to keep up in the fight against faster opponents.  

Speed: Low - Defense: Med - Power: High

Final Smash: Bill makes a call and in a second, a flurry of big missiles (like the ones on stage 4 in Contra III: The Alien Wars) blowing away any opponent they touch.

5) Simon Belmont (Castlevania)

Almost everybody agrees that Simon Belmont should be in Smash Bros and it is not a hard thing to justify considering that the franchise made its console debut with the NES and also that Super Castlevania IV is considered by many to be the best of the classic series. Simon would be a very interesting character to play with, as the whip gives him a good mid range attack and his assortment of sub-weapons can make for pretty good strategies to use against opponents. He would have limited jumping skills but would be able to cling and make an extra jump by whipping the edge of a wall or platform at the right time.

Speed: Med - Defense: Low - Power: Med

Final Smash: The Belmont's super attack of choice, the Grand Cross.

Wrapping it up:

It was once stated by Nintendo that Super Smash Bros would never become a fan service fest, but considering how the franchise roster has been evolving since Brawl we can see that the purist notion that they had is slowly vanishing and that we may see a lot of interesting character appearances in the future. Let's just hope that they keep up the good work of bringing some of our childhood video game heroes back to life. Who knows? Maybe the Wii U version has some nice surprises in store for us.

Fourth quarter 2014: A wallet bashing list of game releases.

If they survived Steam's summer sale, our wallets are most probably hiding in fear as the last quarter of 2014 gets near. In times like these when a storm of gaming goodness is heading our way, there are so many interesting games to choose from that we get a little lost between all the different titles, platforms and release dates for the games that we are waiting for. Because of that, today we will see a list of 20 of those games, with their exact (or approximated) release dates. There's more than a thousand dollars worth of games on this list, but for those of us who are not rich enough to cough up 1000+ bucks for gaming purposes here is a little help, so you can make your plans and get those you are really hyped for.

Title	Platform	Release Date
Metro: Redux	multi-platform	August 29
Hyrule Warriors	Wii U	September 26
Forza Horizon 2	Xbox One	September 30
Super Smash Brothers	3DS	October 3
Alien Isolation	Multi-platform	October 7
Driveclub	PS4	October 7
Dragon Age: Inquisition	Multi-platform	October 7
Battlefield Hardline	Multi-platform	October 21
Evolve	Multi-platform	October 21
The Evil Within	Multi-platform	October 21
Samurai Warriors 4	PS VITA	October 21
Sunset Overdrive	Xbox One	October 28
Assasin's Creed Unity	Multi-platform	October 28
Bayonetta 2	Wii U	October
Grand Theft Auto V (next-gen)	Multi-platform	October
Halo: The Master Chief Collection	Xbox One	November 11
Little Big Planet 3	PS4	November
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal	Wii U / 3DS	November
The Elder Scrolls Online	Multi-platform	November
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker	Wii U	Holiday Season

So here you have it people. Just in case you were kind of lost with all the release dates that have been mentioned, there's a little something to keep you on track. Some of the games included are still part of the year's 3rd quarter, but they were included on the list because of the hype they have caused and/or the proximity of their release date to the month of October.

Source: IGN