The veiled sea shows a different expression every time you dive…Encounter marine life at “Forever Blue Luminous” and swim with a once-in-a-lifetime diver[Play Report]

Nintendo released “Forever Blue Luminous'' for Nintendo Switch on May 2, 2024.

This work is the third work in the series, which has been released as “Forever Blue'' in 2007 and “Forever Blue: The Call of the Sea'' in 2009.

It was announced on the “Nintendo Direct” that aired on February 21st, but I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember the “Forever Blue” series at all, so my reaction was delayed. I think this is a Nintendo title that only those in the know know about.

In this article, I would like to give you a play report on Forever Blue Luminous, the revival of the series that I honestly thought had ended, because it was the best soothing game.

◆No installation required!As soon as you launch it, dive into the mysterious Veiled Sea and swim freely.
The first thing that surprised me was that when I started the game, instead of looking at the OP and selecting “From the beginning” to create data… Chapter 1-1 suddenly started. There were no initial settings such as name entry, and I was diving in the blue sea that suddenly spread out in my field of vision.

The navigation AI “SerA” suddenly speaks to the player.

Players take on the role of divers and investigate sea creatures such as Napoleon fish, red sea bream, and Arafura sea lions in the Veiled Sea while receiving support from SerA when they are in trouble. …What is Arafura Oose?

I don't know much about marine life. Most of my knowledge is from Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Even when I was living in a village, I thought, “Wow, there are such strange creatures in this world,'' but it turns out that there are over 500 kinds of creatures living in the Veiled Sea. New knowledge will spread.

The basic operations of this game, where you can swim right away when the game starts, are no different from normal action games: move with the stick, ascend/descend with the R and ZR buttons, and accelerate with B.

One major difference is that there is no story where the scope of action expands as you follow the so-called flow. All you have to do is explore the ocean at your leisure and study the sea life. The story mode of this game is a tutorial mode, so you can ignore it completely.

Even so, the time I spent steadily researching in the quiet Veiled Sea was nothing short of peaceful. On the other hand, there are some surprising things that happen because it's so quiet. As I continued my investigation silently, I occasionally heard a voice that sounded like “Goooooooooooooo…”.

A human scream? No, it sounds like the sound of a large creature like a whale (I think)!

This sound is authentic and gives you a more immersive feeling as if you are actually in the ocean. You'll want to pay close attention to the environment in order to hear the sounds of living creatures more realistically!

◆Unveil marine life and reveal the veiled sea!
In this work, which cannot exist without such marine life, the investigation of living things is called “Unveiling”.

This means that by approaching a swimming creature and pressing the L button, you can obtain data such as the creature's name and size. Not only can you investigate big fish such as dolphins traveling alone, but you can also investigate large groups of tuna all at once.

Unveiling is essential to investigating the Veiled Sea. …Unveiling the veiled sea…With Nintendo, even puns can become fashionable.

As you can probably tell from the screenshots I mentioned earlier, the creatures in this game are truly realistic.

For example, if you look at the “cat shark” below even if you are not familiar with it, you can see why it is called “cat shark” from the front. I'm sure it's a cat shark since it has cat-like eyes. It's fun to meet creatures that I wouldn't have come into contact with if I hadn't had this opportunity.

At times, it shakes like an earthquake, and you may even encounter giant marine creatures called “colossal mutants''! ? “Oh, I know this guy. A coelacanth…huh? Isn't it too big?'' I thought, and when I looked closer, I noticed that it had a different shape.

In addition, there are also rare creatures called “Variant”. I thought it was a dolphin, but the Variant creature was “vanilla”, but the next time I encountered it, it was completely white, which surprised me.

◆The veiled sea, which changes shape every time you dive, is perfect for multiplayer.
By the way, the setting of this work, “The Veiled Sea'', is a mysterious sea area whose shape changes every time you dive. It's a so-called automatically generated map, and if the shape is different, the creatures that inhabit it will also be different. For example, if you have a favorite creature and want to meet it quickly, you may be able to meet it immediately by re-diving.

The specifications of this map are also the main feature of this work, the multiplayer where you can dive into the sea with someone.

An “Ocean ID” is automatically assigned to the map, and by sharing the ID, you can dive in the same sea area as someone else. IDs of sea areas where rare creatures appear have already been shared on SNS.

However, whether you play solo or in multiplayer, the flow of “unveiling in the Reveal Sea” remains the same, so the only difference is whether you swim elegantly in the vast ocean alone or with someone else. Since it is completely a hobby, there is a high degree of freedom in terms of play style.

In solo play, it takes quite a while to fill just 10% of the vast map, but when diving in multiplayer, the map fills up in no time. The search rate can reach 90% within 20 minutes of diving, so no matter how you look at it, multi-diving is recommended in terms of efficiency.

Additionally, missions from SerA may occur randomly while swimming in the Veiled Sea. These tasks, such as unveiling a specified number of specific creatures, can be quite troublesome or difficult for one person to do. However, in multiplayer mode, everyone can simply take on the mission together, which increases the speed of completion many times.

By the way, there is no problem if you don't participate at all and just swim gracefully. Some divers focus on their mission, while others ignore it and swim at their own pace. To be honest, I think it's stress-free and the best thing to be able to enjoy it the way you like.

However, perhaps this is due to the high degree of freedom and the vastness of the ocean… Up to 30 people can dive on the same map for up to an hour, but the map is so large that it is difficult to meet up with other divers. It broke.

The diver you join becomes a “sharer” and you can fast travel to the other person's location at any time. Although there is a time limit and the scope of action is expanded, I would like to actively join up, but it takes quite a while to take the first step…

However, since I played the game on the first day it was released, I'm sure there aren't many players who are still deep into this game. No, there shouldn't be. In about a week, we'll see a lot of veteran divers running around the ocean, so maybe that's when the true essence of multiplayer comes into play.

Swimming with a once-in-a-lifetime partner… “Forever Blue Luminous'' makes something easy to say, but difficult in reality, come true. Even though it's multiplayer, it's no different from solo play. However, it is a wonderful book that will definitely make you feel like you are with someone.

It was also announced that an “event tour” that will be held for a limited time will be held regularly on the release date. The first event tour “Enkai Diving Singing Monster 'Singing Dragon'” will be held from 16:00 on May 10th to 15:59 on May 14th.

It is said that you can meet rare creatures and giant fish, but what kind of content will it be?It seems that it will be necessary to continue diving into the Veiled Sea.

There are many games that allow you to dive into the sea, but games that only allow you to dive into the sea may be quite rare. “Forever Blue Luminous'', an adventure that teaches you once again the vastness of the ocean and unknown marine life, is now on sale for Nintendo Switch.