Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@NintendoByNature
I heard the character choice from Trials of Mana will determine the story flow and ending. Is that really so ?

I didn't make it to late game, but YS VIII was a pretty good port from what I played. We'll see though.

I was going to play the other two games first, and I do own them on STEAM, but... eh. I'm not going to. If I caught up on all previous games before jumping in I'd never play anything new at all. The story recap will suffice.

FFVII can wait. I find it absolutely ridiculous they're splitting the game up into multiple volumes. Lost Odyssey was a massive game last gen, had 3 different discs, yet it wasn't sold as 3 different games. In fact plenty of games have come on 3-4 discs in the past and were sold as a single game. Never has multiple discs been an excuse before. But they'll intentionally bloat the file size now to create nominal confusion, so people think they're getting more than 1/2 a game or 1/3 of a game for their money.

And by splicing it into 2-3 different parts, charging $60 each every time ($80 for "Deluxe" editions) they're gonna rake in $200 for what should be a single release, and what will surely eventually be sold as a single complete release once it's all out. Like Phantom Pain for $40 on top of a $60 game. They rake in $100 for what should be one game.

By the time the rest of it drops, we'll be well into next gen, then which means the first will be re-released on next gen to match which means buying separate pieces multiple times. Rather wait for the entire game to finish, buy it all at once for $60 and not split across multiple platforms. Did the same thing with Resident Evil Revelations 2, Life Is Strange, etc. Waited for all the episodes then grabbed the complete package.

Trials of Mana though, man. That game is up there. Looks fantastic. I dont know much about it because I never did play the Mana games beyond the first few hours, so I'll be going in blind.

Damn, I underestimated the Direct drought again (first time was early last year). My Blue Lions Three Houses playthrough is nearly at an end (final chapter) and I'm starting to run out of backlog. Should be able to last a few more weeks as DQXIS is such a long game but I think the rest of my backlog are rather short games.

@Anti-Matter yea I think that's what they said in the recent trailer but I would have to watch it again to confirm. Think there's 6 playable characters.

@Grumblevolcano
There’s plenty games dropping, even without a Direct. Unless you’re waiting on 1st party games specifically (though even then, we know the next two will be Animal Crossing, then Xenoblade).

Though I don’t know your preferences, some recent considerations include the Metro games that just released, Darksiders Genesis, Rune Factory IV, Mega Man Zero Collection, Samurai Showdown, Snack World, Devil May Cry 3, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Thronebreaker (The Witcher Series) or Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Or go back a bit to Assassins Creed Rebel Collection or Alien Isolation.

Pillars of Eternity is also in pretty good shape now. A real classic too. That or Divinity Original Sin 2 or Witcher 3. Go hard on the masterpiece titles.

Upcoming games to consider are Saints Row 4, Animal Crossing, Trails of Cold Steel 3, My Hero One’s Justice 2, Fairy Tale, One Piece Pirate Warriors 4, Langrisser Collection, Trials of Mana, Wonderful 101 or Zombie Army Trilogy.

And, there’s always backlog catalog to peruse, such as Ori and the Blind Forest, Dragon Quest XI S (which you’re considering), Dragon Quest Builders 2, Pokémon Sword/Shield, Astral Chain, Atelier Ryza, Sniper Elite III, Darksiders Warmastered, Resident Evil 0/1/4/5/6 and Revelations 1/2, Bayonetta 1/2, Hellblade, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, Okami HD, YS VIII, Final Fantasy X, X-2 or XII, Skyrim, SteamWorld Dig 2 or Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, Diablo 3, Dragons Dogma, Civilization VI + expansions or even Tales of Vesperia.

Again, I don’t know your tastes, and I’m sure a chunk of those games might not appeal to you but hopefully it’s a big enough list to maybe spark an interest in something.

I'm waiting for FFVII remake until the last part has a release date on XB1 or PC, @JaxonH .... At least both next gen consoles will play this gen games, so you wouldn't have to buy part 1 again but I'll want to play all the parts more or less together!

Does anyone know if there's a smoother way to get the latest save data when taking a cartridge from one Switch to another (connected via the same user account)?

As it is now, if I played a game on my OG Switch and saves the latest progress, then inserts the cartridge in my Switch Lite to pick up where I left, I need to go to the system settings on the Lite to download the backup data before I can continue where I last saved on the OG Switch. Is there a setting to make the console automatically download the backup data from the cloud when I insert the cartridge or do I need to do it manually every time?

Oh Nintendo...

@Quarth You do need to do it manually, but you might find it quicker if you press the '+' button when the game in question is selected in the Home menu, rather than going via the System Settings.

@gcunit Ah, thanks! That makes it a little more convenient.

@JaxonH The scale of the remake justifies the treatment. They're massively fleshing out the setting, and it's actually already shipping on multiple blu-ray discs. Judging from the demo, there will also be significant plot changes.

This is the defining masterpiece of the genre being completely remade for a new generation with the best visuals that modern console tech can reasonably offer. It's an event. I'm sure Trials of Mana will be fine, but it's clear that it doesn't have a tenth of the ambition or resources being poured into it that this does.

But to each their own. It's not like I don't regularly skip out on AAA-tier experiences in favor of random AA or indie games that I'm excited for.

@JaxonH There's a bunch of upcoming stuff I'm interested in but Wonderful 101 is the only one with a specific release date. Like both DOOM Eternal and Xenoblade have hints towards not being that far off (id Software's comments for the former and ESRB rating for the latter) but until an official release date is revealed, they're still vague "2020" releases.

As for existing games, I'm up to date with purchases that I knew I wanted (that's why I had such a large backlog caused by the 2nd half of 2019, those 6 months had so many fantastic games) but with Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore and Mega Man Zero/ZX Collection being my only 2020 purchases so far the backlog has gotten smaller.

I guess the main thing is that 3rd party support has gotten good enough on the Switch that unlike a while ago when I'd have just gotten a game on Xbox because I knew it would never come to a Nintendo system or be massively downgraded in terms of content, I skip it on Xbox because I know a good quality Switch version is inbound. Like with Ori, a setup could be to finish the first game on Switch (I bought it back in September) and then buy the sequel on XB1 next week but Microsoft's collaboration with Nintendo feels so strong that I wouldn't be surprised if the sequel comes to Switch in the near future.

I'm hoping we hear about Cris Tales and World of Horror soon. Both look like fantastic indies.

Although my #1 most anticipated Switch game is absolutely Shantae and the Seven Sirens.

Still undecided on Xenoblade. I want to see what the undocked performance is like, and I want to see what changes they've made. It's not a game I was hugely bananas about on 3DS/Wii, but I am still sort of tempted to get it. Maybe QoL changes and an art-style that doesn't hurt my eyes will make me more favorable to it.

XC2 and Torna did a lot to boost my opinion of the franchise.

@Ralizah
I totally get your excitement. Don’t let me get in your way with that. And once everything is out I’ll have a great bit of excitement myself.

But I don’t see it as an “event”. Its a great game getting a well deserved remake and that’s fantastic, but theres plenty of other great JRPGs getting remakes this year that will be the full game. Might not be as “iconic” but that doesn’t make them any less good... The game is just another Final Fantasy remake/remaster of a classic- a very good one mind you, but the only difference between this and FFX or FFXII is it’s a remake rather than remaster. Don’t get me wrong- I was very excited to play FFX and FFXII. Wonderful games, and when the day comes this game is completely out I’ll be glad to play it too.

I’m just not convinced the game is justified to be split up. I think they are trying to cash in as much as they can for a game that they know they can get away with it. If the game could release as a single unit 20 years ago there’s no reason it can’t release as a single unit today. I suspect they bloated the file size to be as large as possible, mostly by having tons and tons of 4K cutscenes and uncompressed audio, a very easy way to hit 100gb when you’re trying to. And I definitely believe they’re trying to because it’s the only defense they could have against splitting a game up and selling it for $60 2-3 different times. I’m sure they’re adding some things, but the fact is if you bought the game 20 years ago you were getting a massive game, and now when you buy it you’re only going to get a third or half of what you got back then. And one thing I can’t stand is playing half of a game story and having to wait years to finish it. I can’t even stand waiting months to finish it, hence why I likewise waited on RE Revelations 2 and other such games. So when the game is fully released I will be glad to finally play it, but I just don’t see the benefit in playing part of it now.

Even if I’m totally off base here, and let’s say it is 100% justified, it’s still a fraction of full original game, which was originally designed and intended to be one complete playthrough. So even if there’s enough content in each release to be justified as a full game it’s still being done at the expense of the original vision of the full game with the sole purpose of maximizing revenue with multiple releases. And I don’t want to play a fraction of a full game and then wait years and then play a fraction of a full game and then wait years and then finish it. I could play the Witcher 3 or Cyberpunk or Xenoblade Remake or even Final Fantasy X or XII, any other number of massive RPGs instead. The game will be just as fun to play 4-5 years from now when it’s completely out. I can wait.

@Grumblevolcano
Oh ya, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is coming. Gotta be coming out any day now. I’m thinking it may come to Switch but, being a smaller game, and the fact MS is kindly allowing it, I want to support them by buying the game on Xbox (plus a physical version). PC preordered too cause, ya. Gotta have on PC. I have actually finished the first game though so might need to get on that myself.

@JaxonH I mean, I get where you're coming from. I'm only just now playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and haven't even gotten MUA3 solely because I know there's more story content coming down the line. If a game has further story to be added, I refuse to buy it at launch. Obviously there's a few exceptions, and games where the DLC is unexpected but...

@JaxonH It's sounding like Square Enix is straight up avoiding next gen releases and going the route of releasing future games just for current gen and adding in an upgrade patch as the next gen consoles have backwards compatibility so I think all parts of FFVII Remake will be current gen only and available on next gen only via backwards compatibility.

I like this approach because it means Switch is supported for longer.

@link3710
With DLC I don’t mind. Because with DLC it’s always in addition to the full game. Extra-curricular story, so to speak. I understand some like waiting on complete versions for game + DLC, but for me that’s not really a problem. My problem is when the base game is split up. But I can definitely respect the decision of those who want to wait for all story content, even if it is DLC, even if I don’t personally find it necessary. Fire Emblem in particular is a game that is meant to be played multiple times through with different paths, so you could totally enjoy the Black Eagles path and then do the Cindered Shadows and then Blue Lions, etc. Which is actually my plan of action.

@Grumblevolcano
I’m not sure that’s going to be the case, but if it is I’m not sure how I feel about it. There’s no point releasing next generation consoles if developers are just going to continue releasing games on the current gen systems indefinitely.

On the one hand there is the benefit that it makes Switch ports more likely. And, it would only further cement my decision to not buy a PS5/X1X given my new PC. On the other hand, progress needs to happen, even if it is at the expense of Switch ports. And I think I might care about the overall progress of the industry more than I care about the temporal benefits of potential Switch ports. Because Switch won’t be around forever, in fact it won’t even be around 5 years from now. We will have all moved on to its successor. We need to see that progress happen so that we all move forward, together.

That being said, I’m not sure what evidence there is that would suggest SE is taking that approach.

As a point of interest though, I’m not sure people are going to notice the difference between BC PS4/X1 games and native PS5/XSX games anyways.

@T7Hokage017
You love a series you’ve never played? Just find that a bit odd.

Star Fox 64 3D is probably the best Star Fox title ever released. It’s a fantastic game, it’s simplistic geometry looks good on 3DS’s limited hardware, and it looks great in 3D. An absolute must play. And... probably the only Star Fox game that’s a must-play.

@T7Hokage017
The original on SNES and the sequel recently post-released SNES sequel were great for their time and are a piece of history, but they’re awful to play nowadays.

The N64 game was great, but that’s the one on 3DS. It’s a remake/remaster/port. And it’s the best version of the game on 3DS. No reason to play the N64 version.

And then there’s Zero on Wii U. It’s interesting but, also a reimagining of the N64 game, which itself was a remake of the SNES game... and is definitely not a must play.

Command on DS is mediocre.

And of the GameCube games- Assault is probably the next best entry, but not a must play. Adventures wasn’t even a Star Fox game. It was an entirely different game that was transformed to be a Star Fox game. Some people like it, most people hate it. Either way, I don’t think anyone would consider it a must play.

@T7Hokage017 If you do enjoy it, I'd say Assault, Adventures and Command are all worth exploring if you want more, just so long as you're aware they aren't as good.

@JaxonH Square Enix's investor meeting, sure it's not permanent but having the base version be current gen and having an upgrade patch for next gen is more promising for Switch's future than the usual generation transition of having the base version be next gen with the current gen version being outsourced.