Luka Appreciation Month in April

So, every year I think about the games that I'm going to play which actually will come out that year, seeing as that doesn't happen too often and I'm just fine with playing games that came out for the original Playstation back before the millenium.

Okay, sure DmC came out last month, but as big a Devil May Cry fan as I am, I'll be saving it for later since the feel I get from it is so radically different than what I'm used to. Not saying it'll be a bad game, but it's not turning my head.

The games that are though, are coming out in April. Both are continuations of a previous game I've played and loved.

The first is Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen. Now, I loved the original Dragon's Dogma and sunk a triple digit number of hours into it, but now the game is coming back with lots more stuff. The only real downer is that it's an add-on: the sort of stuff that DLC could have handled, but it's being put on a disc and sold that way.

Technically speaking though, I hear the folks at Capcom didn't expect to have to make something like this, so they didn't code it so that it could be easily expanded. Thus, it was technically impossible (or extremely infeasible) to sell it as a download. On the plus side, the disc contains the original Dragon's Dogma on it, and now comes with full Japanese voice acting. There's even a Hard Mode! This means I'll be out with my pawn Megurine Luka again, and this time it will hopefully be a challenge.

The second game that I'm really looking forward to is 7th Dragon 2020-II. Yes, this is another RPG that I've sunk a triple digit number of hours into, and well... it also feels add-on-ish, but I'm still looking forward to it. All character classes are getting a few new skills, and imageepoch decided to toss in a new class: the Idol! From the gameplay vid, they look to be a support class who are able to eek out extra actions from the rest of the party (which worries me a bit, balance-wise, but it seems fine so far). They also have an EX skill that looks... pretty weird.

The only reason I'm not preordering this yet is because the store-exclusive preorder bonuses haven't been announced yet. From what I've seen though, it's still three person parties, only six classes, ten more voice sets, and another theme by sasakure.uk: HeavenZ-ArmZ. I guess at the rate we're going, they could make this a trilogy and have seven classes finally, but for now, here's hoping there's at least one voice set for each side that speaks in an accent of some sort. Or here's hoping that you can recolor your character, but I really doubt that.

Though, according to the screenshots, a mysterious hooded figure with long pink hair and ice-blue eyes makes an appearance. Totally Luka. She's got my back everywhere, I swear.