A note from the developers of Octopath Traveler

Yasunori Nishiki, Composer

I’m Yasunori Nishiki, the composer for Octopath Traveler. Octopath Traveler is a labor of love developed by a team that grew up in the golden age of RPGs, and was determined to update the classic RPG for the modern age. To that end, my goal was to create a soundtrack with memorable melodies and lavish soundscapes that incorporated live orchestral performances. From the main theme to battle and cutscene music, I strove for clear melodies and powerful yet not overly complex songs that would rise to the level of the evolved HD-2D graphics.

Also central to the game is the concept of a journey. With the various overworld and town themes, I wanted players to be able to feel the many living, breathing locales that they reach in their travels. If you could stop along the way from time to time and take in the sounds of the world along with its nostalgic sights, nothing would make me happier.

Keisuke Miyauchi, Director, ACQUIRE
Octopath Traveler is an RPG centered around the idea of a journey. To make sure that all players could enjoy their own journey, we focused on three points in particular:

• The first is the glorious visuals rendered in “HD-2D.” We took inspiration from the pixel art of the RPGs we ourselves used to play, updating them with modern technology to create rich and varied landscapes that we believe players will find to be both nostalgic and freshly beautiful.
• The second is the interactivity, with each character able to interact with the residents of Orsterra through their Path Actions. We hope you’ll enjoy getting to know the people, with their sometimes tragic, sometimes heartwarming stories and pasts.
• The last point we paid special attention to was freedom. From your starting character to the course you chart across the realm, the choices are in your hands. We encourage you to spin a tale of adventure all your own.

Masashi Takahashi, Producer, SQUARE ENIX
At long last, the release date is here! Whether you’ve been following this project from the start, discovered it with the demo versions, or heard of it only recently, we’re truly happy to finally be able to bring you this tale of eight brave souls.

We hope that with Octopath Traveler you’ll enjoy talking to each other about how far along you’ve gotten, how you picked up certain powerful items along the way, and the like—just like the good old days of classic pixel art RPGs.

Releasing the game simultaneously around the world was a significant challenge for us, but the tremendous reception we’ve received has made all the struggles along the way worth it. Just thinking that fans in all corners of the world will be enjoying Octopath Traveler at the same time truly blows me away. I hope you all enjoy the journey!

Banner illustration by Naoki Ikushima, Character Design, SQUARE ENIX.
Thanks to one and all! Happy travels!

For more information about the Octopath Traveler game, please visit https://octopathtraveler.nintendo.com/.

Blood
Suggestive Themes
Fantasy Violence
Mild Language
Use of Alcohol

[How exactly do horror games work on the brains of players? In this new feature, neuroscientist Maral Tajerian, of Thwacke! Consulting, unpacks the mechanism behind the scares in Amnesia, Dead Space and Silent Hill, among others.]

Fear is one of the most primitive instincts in humans. Although it has been particularly useful in keeping us alive in dangerous situations, it has also helped the entertainment industry capitalize on our sheer joy of being scared. The video game industry has done a good amount of scaring by taking advantage of these emotions and employing them in gameplay narrative and design.

This practice is best exemplified by putting the player in a vulnerable situation with limited resources to confront enemies. With proper execution, the genre can make your heart race, palms sweat and make you go to sleep with nightmares. However, when executed poorly, players feel as if they’re simply “going through the motions”.

Over the last two decades, several games (ranging from the early Resident Evil series to the more recent Amnesia: The Dark Descent) have defined the survival horror genre by successfully engaging fear and anxiety in players.

Although successful iterations of these games offer different enemies, gameplay mechanics and plot, they all share similar ways of handling the human psyche. This article will discuss how fear as an emotion has been employed in the gaming industry and discuss how the balance between scares and gameplay can lead to success or failure.

Anxiety. Next to fear, anxiety is perhaps the most prominent feeling experienced in video games. Unlike fear, which is a response to an imminent threat, anxiety is a response to a future potential threat.

When perceptual systems are taxed, research has shown that a looming threat results in anxiety that heightens attention and increases sensitivity to potential dangers. This implies that solving a puzzle the character is presented with in the game does not take away from the experience of fear and danger. In fact, according to many gamers, solving the puzzles under dangerous circumstances only increases the feelings of fear. Consider how riddles and puzzles in Silent Hill excel in this respect.

An example of a puzzle from Silent Hill 2 that needs to be solved in a dark and dilapidated room.

While games like first person shooters are notorious for desensitizing players to violence, games that raise the player’s anxiety actually sensitize them to danger. This is simply how animals behave, and it’s a highly adaptive behavior, since it keeps individuals on their toes in anxiety-causing environments. Raising the levels of anxiety in a video game will therefore ensure that the player is sensitized to the danger in the game. In a game like Amnesia, the entire experience teeters on anxiety created up to confrontation with an enemy since the player has absolutely no means to defend himself.

Helplessness. As mentioned earlier, players in the survival horror genre are often faced with terrifying and inescapable circumstances, with little means of self-defense. In other words, they are truly and utterly helpless.

In Amnesia, some may remember locking themselves in a closet, or hiding in a corner staring at a blank wall for several minutes, because you’re convinced that if you move, even an inch, a certain and horrible death will soon ensue. Furthermore, elements like rigid camera angles, awkward control schemes (Silent Hill, and Early Resident Evil titles), lighting (Alan Wake, Dead Space), etc. all serve to obliterate what little control the player might have thought she possessed.

Helplessness is truly a powerful feeling. Studies have shown that animals that are faced with situations where they’re helpless develop strong feelings of fear and anxiety. This is also true in the case of humans. You may remember this feeling from your last visit to the dentist. Whenever you experience feelings of helpless and loss of control, you are bound to feel more anxious and fearful. The same stays true in video games.

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PDT today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Skip Ahead Ring will begin receiving the latest Xbox One system update (1810.180702-1938). Read on for more about the fixes and known issues in the latest 1810 system update.  This build has the same features as 1806 plus more to be announced over the coming weeks!

Fixes:

Groups

• Fixed an issue where some users may have lost their created Groups.

 Settings

• Fixed an issue with the Blu-ray and disc option in Settings wasn’t appearing.

Known Issues:

Game Pass Tab

• Preview Alpha – Skip Ahead users will notice that the Entertainment tab has been replaced on the dashboard with Game Pass content. This new tab allows for easy access to the Game Pass catalog and is only available in the US region at this time, so Preview Alpha Skip Ahead Insiders in regions outside of the US will continue to see the Entertainment tab.

Groups

• You may see issues with Groups if you frequently switch between your non-Preview console and your Preview console. Workaround: Reset your Groups locally on the Preview console through “My games & apps” > Groups, then using the “Delete all groups” button at the bottom of the page to resync from the service.

 My Games and Apps

• We are investigating an issue were certain apps are not launching correctly.

Microsoft Edge

• The cursor may disappear when exiting and re-entering the app
  
  • Workaround: Press Y when re-entering the app to make the cursor re-appear

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter an incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Networking

• When the console wakes from Instant on/connected standby with a wired connection, the console may not recognize that the Ethernet cable is plugged in. Workaround: Please reboot the console via Guide -> reboot.

Virtual Keyboard

• With the Light Theme enabled, the keyboard may appear unreadable.
  
  • Workaround: Use the Dark Theme

Defiance 2050 is Now Available on Steam!

Join your friends and become an Ark Hunter in a massive cooperative online shooter like no other. Choose from an array of fully customizable weapons and classes, explore a unique futuristic open world, and engage in epic fast-paced third-person shooter combat.

Fortnite’s Season 5 has officially arrived and it’s ready to cause a ton of sleepless nights. Along with the various map changes, new cosmetics, and mechanics, Fortnite’s fifth season comes with a host of weapon balances. While many of the alterations won’t drastically impact the game as a whole, it will give mobile players a more enjoyable experience. Epic Games has also added in a mobile-specific feature for those looking for a more convenient way to shoot as enemies.

Want some tips on how to play Fortnite on mobile?  Or how about a guide to building?

The biggest balance came in the form of a damage tweaking to the Silenced SMGs. Both of these weapons never saw a ton of play on consoles, despite their potent ability to quickly kill someone. Given precision aiming on a phone is quite tricky, the SMGs are one of the best weapons you can carry into battle. Here’s a quick look at the patch notes for these guns:

• Tac and Silenced SMG environmental damage now correctly matches player damage.
• Changed the damage drop-off profile for the Suppressed SMG to be the same as other SMGs.
• Fall off starts at 24 meters from 28 meters.
• Damage reduced to 80% at 35 meters from 85% at 47.5 meters.
• Damage reduced to 65% at 50+ meters from 75% at 70+ meters.

This is going to make the Silenced SMG a bit weaker in most medium range engagements. Ideally, this should be swapped too when someone rushes you or if your shotgun needs to be reloaded. The 80% damage reduction at 35 meters isn’t a steep decline, but it’s enough to make the weapon less viable on mobile. If you do have a choice between a Silenced SMG and Tactical SMG, make sure to pick the latter. It’s much better for quickly taking out opponents with burst damage and can drop at a higher rarity.

Epic games have also added a unique vehicle to the game that will certainly help with traversal. Called the All-Terrain Kart, this golf cart is capable of holding four people and can quickly zip across the map.

• All Terrain Kart (ATK)
• The new All Terrain Kart (ATK) has room for your entire squad.
• Get a speed boost after drifting.
• The roof acts as a bounce pad.
• Work together as rear passengers to leap over obstacles with the All-Terrain Kart (ATK). Lean back and release at the same time for a higher jump.

While it’s easy to view this item as a novelty, the ATK has a lot of potential – especially for mobile players. One of the biggest issues many new and veteran players face is fluidly moving across the map. This will typically end with players wasting a ton of resources, not having enough time to loot, or getting separated from their squad. Thankfully, the golf kart alleviates many of these problems and can even present some unique opportunities to secure kills.

Unlike its console counterpart, Fortnite mobile players don’t have the fastest reaction time due to the game’s UI. This makes it quite easy to drive towards an enemy, get out, and kill them before they can react or set up a proper defense. It’s also useful since players driving it are way harder to hit since precision aiming on a phone is very tricky. Even though this cart will cause some mischief on the PC, it will absolutely define games on mobile.

Finally, we need to look at the changes directly made to the mobile version of Fortnite. Epic has introduced a new mechanic that allows users to automatically fire at enemies by holding their finger down. Below are all of the patch notes that are specifically for the iOS version: 

• Autofire has been added as an option on mobile platforms. Enabling this causes the player’s weapon to automatically fire when the reticle is over an enemy that is within range.
• Players will be given the option to select their preferred fire mode after launching. All players can change their preferred fire mode by navigating to Options, Custom HUD Layout, then choosing the ‘Select Fire Mode’ option and confirming their selection.
• Tap-to-fire.
• A dedicated fire button.
• Autofire.

Bug Fixes

• The Thermal Scoped AR now has the proper visual effects on all devices.
• Vehicle passengers can now detonate Remote Explosives.
• Entering build mode while holding the “fire” button will no longer adversely affect your ability to build in the future.
• Health and Shield numbers will no longer be displayed as your own while spectating. 

Having another way to fire your gun is certainly a welcome addition, even if it has limited application. If you are going to use Autofire, make sure it’s with weapons like SMGs, shotguns, Miniguns, and LMGs. Any type of rifle should still be fired by tapping so you can control the bloom and have better accuracy. Overall this is a smart decision that will certainly alleviate some frustration and it can be turned off if you don’t like it. While this update doesn’t fix some of the major problems in the mobile battle royale genre, it’s definitely another step in the right direction.

Let us know in the comments how you’re getting on with the game now that Season 5 has landed.

Icons: Combat Arena is Now Available on Steam Early Access!

Become an Icon! Icons: Combat Arena is a fast-paced platform fighting game offering players tight controls, powerful special attacks, online multiplayer, and the chance to become an iconic hero. All for free! Frequent game updates, customization, tournaments, and new characters keep the fight fresh.