The Guided Fate Cross Thesis

[Cyril]

As one might expect from the title, this game is a sequel to The Guided Fate Paradox and a spiritual successor to ZHP.

It's for PS3.

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201403/04049125.html
In English:
http://gematsu.com/2014/03/guided-fate-cross-thesis-announced-playstation-3

[Elegance]

Nice, I enjoyed the first one.  Hopefully it gets localized, though I don't think the first sold well for NISA.

[ZeronHitaro]

Eh, I'd be very VERY cagey about picking this one up. To the point where I'd watch a full YouTube playthrough of it first before remotely considering.

GFP was a huge step down compared to it's predecessor. The writing fell in completely below par, the story on all counts ignore the theme it tried to 'scream' that it had every step of the way, and the ending was both hastily and poor constructed. Original end Mass Effect 3 had far less loose threads and bad decisions. :-\ Mechanically it fails to hit it out of the park as well. (With some good exceptions such as the Burst mode and the summonable equipment sets.) The stat-curve was clunky, equipment in general felt more of an annoyance than a boon, the number of bonus features took a hit, and to top it off NISA outright LIED about what the game could do during their preview stream.

GFP was about 'Guiding Fate'; which equated to basically doing nothing and letting fate happen as it would've anyway.
GFCT claims to be about 'Ultimate Choice'; which pretty much means it's going to be a linear experience with some minor dialog changes depending on which girl you think has the prettier color scheme.

Needless to say, they've got a lot to prove before I believe this game has any credibility.

[Cyril]

Gameplay trailers already.

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/05/heres-first-look-guided-fate-cross-thesis-awakening-nis/

[ZeronHitaro]

I wondered how they were able to rush a second game out this quickly. That explains it. Gone are the gorgeous sprite models that drew people to NIS' style. In are lazy, half-***ed 3D Chibified CGI versions with over compensation on the cell shading to cover the lack of effort. These people are way too impressed about being able to attack diagonally too. :-\

Speaking of dumbed down.

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/04/details-guided-fate-cross-thesis-awakenings-tough-choices/

Famitsu reports that the game will be much easier to play than before...

Sprite appeal? Gone.
Difficulty appeal? Gone.

So thus far this game has...nothing going for it. Which is a damn shame. I really wanted this one to pick up the slack of its lackluster compatriot; not grind the ZHP legacy into the mud.