Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@NintendoByNature
From what I’ve played, it’s very much like YS in that gameplay is a strong focus and story is an even stronger focus. What makes this particular series stand out, to me, is the interesting story, writing, art style and a very unique battle system.

It’s turn based, but position in 3D space matters. You can spend a turn moving to reposition. And when you attack, if it’s a short range melee attack, you will run up to the enemy and attack them and you will be positioned next to them afterwards. Area attacks are common, be it a circular range where everyone inside is a fact, or a straight line of a certain width, etc, so it makes the battles feel very strategic. You might spend a move moving your character to position perfectly, which means you don’t do damage that turn, but then you’re lined up where you can do a straight line attack and hit three enemies with one special move. You also have to watch having a bunch of your characters clustered to closely together because the enemy could hit you with a status effect and put everyone to sleep, for example. So positioning has a major focus that you don’t see in a lot of other RPG‘s.

So ya. Good story. Good writing. Good art style. Fun, unique battle system with at least some focus on unit positioning (not that positioning is everything, but it shouldn’t be ignored).

@JaxonH The Trails in the Sky games, and the first two Cold Steel games, would be obvious additions, given how deeply they connect to ToCS III and IV.

There are also a ton of Ys games out there. Ys Origins and Memories of Celceta, in particular, have enjoyed releases on other platforms recently.

To be honest, there's a whole host of Falcom games I'd opt for before the last two games in a story-driven four-game epic.

@Ryu_Niiyama
save money

I heard that. Overtime cut, 485 people laid off out of 500, yet somehow still working. Saving money is definitely a focus right now. But there are some things I struggle to say no to. This is one of those things 😁

I still have the KOS-MOS statue and Edelgard Figma on order. Thankfully they don’t release for quite a while yet. Otherwise they might have to get canceled :/

@JaxonH, that kinda makes it sound like the whole game is like that one boss fight in FFX (the one in Zanarkand before Yunalesca). Sounds fun.

@Ralizah
Yeah there’s a lot of them but I’m not really interested in playing any of them. I own them all at least two times over as it is anyways. Just don’t have that much interest in playing older games like that. Same reason I didn’t pick up Star Wars Jedi Academy recently. Older JRPGs can be especially tough to stomach, and barring a few exceptions like the remasters of Final Fantasy X and XII or Persona 4 Golden, I usually given up within the first hour (looking at you, Grandia 2).

I’d much rather have the last two games in a story driven epic since you can always play the first two on some other system and even if you don’t the story summary covers all the essentials. In fact 90% of that story summary is events that are completely irrelevant to the overall plot. I could summarize everything that’s actually needed to understand what’s going on in like, one or two paragraphs.

@JaxonH interesting. Im now getting in turn based rpgs so I'm willing to try some new franchises. That's why i was inquiring. Kind of sounds like fractured but wholes gameplay,believe it or not. And I LOVED that. I might give this a go down the road if people hype me up enough 😉

@NintendoByNature Trails of Cold Steel III does have a demo that you could try out.

@Grumblevolcano how did I miss that? Sweet thanks for the tip! Ill definitely check it out.

@JaxonH Oh thank you for reminding me about the Emperor. I don't agree with her, but I liked her character. Will have to try to snag a preorder (which defeats the whole saving money thing...sigh). Glad you are still hanging in there. My part time job is amazon but im not going in there and risking getting sick. My day job is on remote work until further notice after someone passed out at work (office job so they were sick). So while there is a decrease in my income its not as bad as it could be. I'm working on side hustles and training in the interim. (and decreasing my backlog) Hope the employees at your job land on their feet and that you stay ok.

@JaxonH Alright you convinced me, I just preordered III.

@link3710 @NintendoByNature
I think you’ll like it, I really do! The combat may seem a little much at first, but if it was able to be fully grasped within five minutes it just wouldn’t have the depth to keep you invested over 50 hours or 80 hours or however long the game is. It’s not overly complex but it will probably take an hour or two of playing before you really start getting good at the strategy. What’s great though is the game allows you to change the difficulty setting at will so if you ever run into a tough spot you can always just turn the difficulty down (and there are FIVE settings).

I strongly encourage you to download the demo, take 30 min and read through the story summary of the first two games (there’s also a world and lore section but I just skipped over that, honestly because it’s just a little too boring to read through that without having actually played the games- it is good for reference though, just as an encyclopedia of knowledge, if you’re not sure about something in your play through).

But really, take half an hr, curl up in a recliner and go through the chapters in the first two games. Then start playing the demo. And within the first hour of playing you’ll feel like you’re truly invested. I’m hooked on the game right now. Playing the demo as we speak, as a matter of fact. It’s such a great game and great port. But the story summary is key in really enjoying it. While I don’t believe one needs to have played the previous two games, I don’t want to dismiss the importance of having knowledge of previous events. You really do want to have that knowledge of what happened before hand, so my advice is not to skip reading the story summaries. It may take half an hour but it is well worth the investment.

@Ryu_Niiyama
I liked her character too. I think she was too rigid in her ideology, which... I don’t blame her for her ideology, because everyone has their own ideology, but she wasn’t flexible in any capacity as far as reconsidering her position or considering the position of others. And that was her ultimate downfall.

I really want to play Blue Lions. I hear that’s the best path as far as story goes. I do have to agree with the sentiment of many others in hindsight, though, that the overall villain was kind of lame. At the time I played it seemed OK, but now in hindsight my opinions have changed a bit. It’s funny how that happens. You feel a certain way when you play a game but then overtime those feelings tend to change a bit. I felt like Xenoblade 2 was the best in the series when I played, and certainly after finishing Torna. But now in hindsight I feel like X was still the best in the series. Hmm...

Also, thanks. We are all in this together. Sound pretty fortunate that you can work from home and that you haven’t been laid off. I think over 1/3 of the United States workforce just got laid off in a matter of one or two weeks. It’s insane. Anyone who is still working at their job is incredibly fortunate. And I feel fortunate too. At least we all have some bulky unemployment as a safety net, if all else fails. I just hope and pray this is all resolved by the end of July when that safety net disappears (provided it’s not extended).

Usually I budget a max cap of $500/mo for gaming related purchases across all systems, including collectibles and extra digital copies of certain titles, but if I get layed off, that’s gonna have to drop to like, $250, maybe even less. One game a week, max. And that’s not nearly enough when you’ve got what, 9 different games all releasing in a single week’s time span? Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands PreSequel, Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite, XCOM 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, Trails of Cold Steel 3, etc. and that’s not even counting PC purchases or extra digital copies, figures (though seldom, I do have a couple on order), artbooks, English imports from PlayAsia like Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, etc. I’m so used to buying everything I want at launch, it’ll be quite a shock to have to start making a “wait for sale” list. Although, I have started doing that on STEAM, at least. Sales are so frequent and significant there’s little sense in buying day one, especially if the game is already on or is coming to Switch.

@JaxonH sweet thanks. I DL'd the demo and bravely default II as well. I'm a little tied up wirh a.c. and ff7 but when I break away I'll try em both out.

@NintendoByNature
Let me know your thoughts, and for Bravely Default II. Speaking of which, there are definitely some minor issues they could iron out like context menu descriptions being toggled on/off, equipment comparisons, an option to heal the entire party, and a few framerate niggles, but aside from that I’m very close to rating that Bravely Default II demo a 9/10. The art style is gorgeous like you’re playing a painting, visuals are nice and crisp- even in handheld mode, voices are good, music is good, flow of gameplay is quick and snappy, animations are slick, it feels like the natural progression of the series... it’s a stone cold classic in the making. But, it’s definitely not going to appeal to everyone. It has that “classic Square Enix JRPG” thing going on, which for some people is a dream come true, while for others it’s not that exciting. So Bravely Default II, for many, will likely be a game they either love, or hate.

@JaxonH good to know. I'm really getting into square games as of late. Kinda kicking myself for missing out on them all these years. But again, they're mostly cranking out rpgs and that wasn't my thing. As I get older,my gaming tastes are changing. Either that, or im more open to trying new stuff. So yea, I'll give it a shot. I'm still super close to pulling the trigger on Octopath too, but I should save my jrpg money for trials this month.

@JaxonH I don't mind combat that takes time to grasp, wouldn't have made it 200 hours through Xenoblade Chronicles 2 otherwise lol.

As for the working thing, yeah I'm blessed that even though I can't get home (long story) I still can work remotely for months if need be, I was already set up to do it prior to all this. Plus I'm critical enough that unless my company shuts down I have a job.

@NintendoByNature
Octopath is good, but if I were recommending JRPGs to try to “sell” someone on the genre, it probably wouldn’t be Octopath. Simply because one of the greatest allures of the genre is a story that really sucks you in. And while the individual stories are nice it just doesn’t have the grand epic scale that most games of the genre offer. That’s not to say you wouldn’t enjoy it, I just wouldn’t feel as confident that you would enjoy it as I would with, say... Trails of Cold Steel 3, Xenoblade Chronicles or Final Fantasy X. And I adore Dragon Quest XI S, but that’s also a game that wouldn’t be at the top of my recommendations list for someone new to the genre. Fire Emblem Awakening or Three Houses, though. That’s a fantastic gateway into SRPGs and turn based games in general. That or Valkyria Chronicles 1/4.

And once you’re into the genre, then I would say check out Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Ni No Kuni, Dragon Quest XI S, Final Fantasy XII, Tales of Vesperia, Octopath Traveller, Bravely Default II (although if you like it right away I think that’s amazing), YS VIII, and maybe even diversity into games such as Dragon Quest Builders 2 or Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate.

@link3710
It’s really not that hard, either. By the end of the demo you’ll know what you’re doing. But there is a good amount of depth in the battle system and I really appreciate that. Definitely different than Xenoblade 2, but ya, if you can grasp that you can grasp just about anything lol (well, actually Xenoblade Chronicles X had the most confusing but amazing battle system I’ve ever seen).

@NintendoByNature If you haven't, download the demo for Dragon Quest XI S and try that. It's super long for a demo (10+ hours), and will give you a good sense of what the game plays like. It's also a good starter JRPG, being extremely simple on a mechanical level, but also beautiful and ambitious and one of the best games on the system.

Seven Knights spin off is going worldwide.

https://nintendosoup.com/seven-knights-time-wanderer-on-switc...

@JaxonH thanks my man. I did download FF9 too, so ill have that after I finish 7. Trials of mana is next, then after that I'll try the demos to see if I'm in on cold steel. I'll probably check out some of the other ones you Mentioned afterwards. Thanks again!