June 18th, Saturday — the day the E3 exhibition finally opened had arrived.
Since the company only had a single game in the show this time, and it was appearing as part of Nintendo's presentation, Ichin didn't watch the livestream together with the company members at the office, nor did he stream it himself. Instead, he stayed at home, eating snacks with Utaha and Yukino after dinner while waiting for the broadcast to begin.
As for Haruno, she had been dragged out by a few friends to eat and go shopping. She had just finished dinner and even sent a photo of herself buying clothes in Shibuya — she probably wouldn't be back for another two or three hours.
Utaha stuffed a potato chip into Ichin's mouth and asked,
"Ichin, is Nintendo's presentation today?"
Ichin nodded.
"Yeah, they're first. Apparently several major publishers are a bit sluggish this year — even Nintendo isn't as lively as last year — so they didn't mind going first. That's actually a good thing. Overall Nintendo's lineup is still solid, just lacking a huge headline IP."
As one of the participating studios, Ichin naturally knew what games would be announced in Nintendo's presentation.
A Pokémon DLC, a Mario spin-off — Mario Strikers — a new entry in Nintendo's sports series.
There would also be a new Zelda, but from what Ichin heard, it was basically a PPT-level reveal, just like Elder Scrolls VI back then — maybe a little more than that, but only a little.
After that came his own Berseria project. Among Nintendo's titles its scale wasn't inferior at all, and among third-party games it was already faintly catching up to the first tier.
Capcom's new Monster Hunter? After Sunbreak's expansion, the next entry would be a World-style ultra-high-definition next-gen version. It likely wouldn't release on the Switch, and was still in development — everything uncertain.
As for the rest of the third-party titles, there were a few big ports and several indie games. The variety and quantity were fairly rich overall.
Compared to that, Sony — one of the big three — was noticeably weaker. From what Ichin heard from peers, there weren't many new projects, mostly previously promised titles still not finished.
Microsoft, on the other hand, looked much better. Their Game Pass remained lively — they never minded burning money — adding new releases and big titles every month. Among the games to be announced this time were a new Halo and a new Horizon 5 expansion, plenty to interest players.
Then there were individual publisher showcases — Square Enix, Capcom, Bethesda, Konami and others.
Rumor even said CD Projekt Red would reveal a new Witcher entry, though nobody knew if it was true — not even leaked by the usual insiders.
Taking a sip of milk tea, Ichin looked at the livestream's final five-minute countdown and said,
"Let's wait. We'll finish Nintendo's show first, then see if there's any fun stuff. I also need to watch the demo download numbers for Berseria in real time."
When the presentation began, the Berseria demo would simultaneously open for download on all platforms — Ichin needed it to gather player feedback.
Yukino nodded, opened the E3 livestream on her phone, checked the scrolling comments, and said,
"Quite a lot of people are waiting for Berseria news."
Ichin leaned over, glanced at it, and smiled.
"Yeah, that's good. I don't think what we're about to show will disappoint players."
The five-minute countdown quickly ended.
The E3 livestream finally began.
After the opening performance and a series of host introductions, Nintendo's showcase officially started under everyone's anticipation.
Just as Ichin predicted, most big titles were trailers. The only game releasing this year was Nintendo's Mario Strikers. The Pokémon DLC was also expected — nobody thought a new mainline game would come so soon.
After the first-party titles finished, Berseria's logo appeared immediately.
Then came the prepared trailer — and when players saw the line in the lower-right corner reading "Captured from in-game footage", excitement instantly erupted.
Real gameplay footage!
Been waiting for this!
Torn stockings — I love this!
It had to be said: the heroine Velvet's outfit was extremely eye-catching — a black cloak, torn top and stockings, giving off a wild aura.
After a short story segment, the trailer showed the basic world setting, then introduced various characters and diverse combat sequences — easily the most exciting PV shown so far in the presentation.
Flashy combos, spells, mystic artes, along with a striking sense of impact visible directly from the visuals, plus high frame rate — it faintly carried a Devil May Cry style, constantly launching enemies into the air.
But that's exactly what makes action games satisfying, isn't it? And from the battle UI alone, it was obvious there were many usable moves and combinations — plenty requiring players to think for themselves.
The three-minute PV quickly ended.
Finally, the Tales of Berseria title appeared, along with the release date — September 20th this year.
Then the announcement followed: the demo was now officially available on all platforms. Players were welcome to download it.
That's right — the game had effectively been delayed in reverse, moving from October up to September.
This was Ichin's conservative estimate — if the development team performed well, it might even move forward again.
After Berseria, the remaining titles in the stream didn't get nearly as enthusiastic a response. Ports and indie games simply didn't have huge popularity — often they were there to fill the lineup, though still good exposure opportunities.
After Nintendo's presentation ended, Ichin took out his laptop and opened the backend data for each platform.
"Hmm, as expected — Switch…"
Utaha said from beside him,
"Players are probably watching the stream on PC, so Steam is definitely running in the background. And Switch is the easiest to open. Ichin, are there more presentations next?"
"Yeah," Ichin replied. "There's a Bethesda one. Just wondering if Starfield — after being delayed for so long — will finally get a confirmed date this time."
Closing the laptop, Ichin waited for the next showcase.
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