Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

Don't tell J Random Video Game Consumer. They seem to hate being reminded that they can actually choose to not buy a game, if they don't find its price or features satisfactory. cough

( IMO, much of the state of the industry would be so much improved, if only more people were willing to just not buy stuff they don't like. )

QFT.

So many people seem to just mindlessly buy games based on brand recognition rather than any kind of legitimate research into if they think the game is fun. Pokemon is a good example of this, it always sells 10+ million despite the recent games being of questionable quality (and that's putting it mildly, IMO LGPE was an utter abomination of a game that I will never touch with a 10 ft pole and yet somehow people saw fit to buy it like any other Pokemon game, and there's been many other complaints from other fans over the likes of BDSP and SV yet that didn't affect sales at all). NSMB is another good one, it was evident to all that the sequels were lazy rehashes that felt more like DLC packs than actual new games yet those sold 10+ too (except for the original version of NSMBU, but that has more to do with the Wii U selling so abysmally than people actually having the sense not to buy it, especially when Deluxe on Switch went right back to cracking 10 million). There definitely seems to be a significant contingent of gamers that automatically buy anything Mario or Pokemon regardless of how good or bad they are for no other reason than recognizing Mario and Pikachu and thinking that alone makes it a quality game.

I think IP as guaranteed success is one of the biggest problems of mainstream entertainment. Like I don't doubt that a lot of people genuinely like all the Switch Pokemon RPGs, but I do think there is also an audience being...just stupid. Just willingly choosing to play games they will like less because of brand recognition, and that's just sad. I'm annoyed by my reliance of the same IPs in recent years at points, and almost all of those games I bought I still really like. (even most of the ones I've complained about) But if I just bought and played through all the NSMB games or paid more to get a worse and worse looking version of gen 4 and felt obligated to play Good Feel's seemingly, slow, consistent declining quality of Nintendo games (I bought their new non-Nintendo game because its apparently better and is not another 2D platformer for 5 year olds) like it would just make me think I'm wasting my life. Even in the more mindless entertainment I enjoy, I don't want to feel like that.

My main example of that is movies tho, where Jurassic World and live action Disney remakes still make endless money despite seemingly no one actually liking them. Kinda makes me feel better about me still paying attention to the MCU, in terms of both having more artistic merit and not being cynically immune to failing from issues of quality.

Ooooor maybe people just have different wants out of their games? Like as all anecdotes go, LGPE which people quite disparage online, actually seemed to get positive thoughts from Pokemon Go player and more casual people lol (somehow in recent times I actually see more people being happy with it than the SwSh/Scarvio)

Personally the only one that makes me disappointed in recent years is SwSh, and that's only because game freak completely drops the ball for story. If not I would have just enjoyed it and be pretty happy :v

Overall vibes I have right now is Pokopia > Pokemon ZA > Scarvio = PLA > LGPE > SwSh > BDSP

and with only SwSh and BDSP being a disappointment (in different ways), I think overall I'm pretty happy with Pokemon.

No, I do push back against that. At least to an extent. I think there is a point where people just have obnoxiously low standards or fell for a game they did not like nearly as much as they expected to. Nintendo's not a notable example of that, usually, but judging a game's popularity as the amount of people who actually like it is silly. There's plenty of examples of future installments of a series paying for the previous one's mistakes, for that matter.

And also there are too many people who clearly put a lot of time into games they vocally did not like, which is just very strange, but is a very clear phenomenon that actually happens. Or if you only have so much money for games, you're gonna put time into the one you got (and I feel confident in saying there's a lack of crossover between these two groups I just named, even though it would be the most justified reason for the former to happen, poor people have things to do other than complain online :V).

I feel like this is more your personal preference for genres than an issue with actual quality. Peach Showtime was an extremely good game. I rank it quite high both amongst the 100s of switch games I've played and also Good Feel games. Sure, there were a few technical issues which prevented it from being a 10/10 game, but it was still an absolutely lovely experience.

If you just want hard games? Even Bakeru was extremely easy. But quality and difficulty are not generally correlated.

People buy what they want. And their reasons are typically justified. If someone buys a brand because they like it, well... there's a reason they like it in the first place. Doesn't mean every game will deliver how you want, but we live in the information age with reviews and gameplay and trailers and even demos. If someone chooses to buy something, whatever their reason, there's nothing to be said. It's what they wanted and what they chose.

And though many won't want to hear this, most big, popular games deliver for the majority of people who buy them. Even games where I genuinely question how, like Pokemon Sword and Shield on original Switch, I promise you there are legions of gamers out there who will attest to how much they loved it.

The original post about some buying things they hate, I think has merit. But contorting that to demean all the people who actually enjoy a game you personally disliked, well, that's something else entirely.

All the NSMB games were high quality. Most people who played them weren't chronic gamers who owned 4 different consoles and played all 4 like some us. And they were still good games, even if overdone. NSMB2, the one panned the most- I beat it, had a ton of fun, and didn't regret it.

But sure, if you don't think a game appeals to you, or think it's priced too high, simply don't buy it. As opposed to buying anyways only to come online and complain about it for the next 6 years.

Anyways, playing Astral Chain on NS2 in Boost Mode and getting curb stomped not knowing how to properly damage chimera enemies with these little guard satellite enemies protecting them. Finally figured it out. Beat an entire chapter mission when originally just planned to fire it up and see how it looked. It's so addicting- I'd forgotten how much I love it. And the environmental puzzles using various Legion special abilities like Slash or Arrows is incredibly engaging. But the combat... haven't quite mastered it yet, but I'm getting better.

I mean sometimes you enjoy it at the moment, think about it then find out you actually didn't have fun (SwSh went through this for me. Enjoyed it when I played, finished it... and pretty much was like "okay, I think that was it for Pokemon" and then I almost stopped until I hear their next games were pretty good so I tried and I actually have fun so I like Pokemon again :v)

Overall I just opined on the feels I feel than any other things :v I do know there's a few people who are just mad at all Switch Pokemon games etcetc, doesn't matter to me, I personally enjoy most of them.

Also like... sometimes you prefer just getting a 5 out of 7 experience, which Pokemon often fell into for me. Sometimes the 7/7 experience just isn't what you like (people loving Mario Odyssey and every other platformers pretty much, I didn't derive any enjoyment from any of them lol. Bought Celeste, still not having that much fun, bought Mario Odyssey, which I finished main story of (didn't do any of the crazy stuff though, just regular old ending and not secret ending or whatever), and I didn't really enjoy it).

Not really sure exactly which part I'm replying to, but idk, thoughts.

I mean that's true enough. I was so convinced I was going to love Assassin's Creed 3 that I was in denial that it was the weakest entry since 1 to various degrees until arguably after I played it. (to the point that it probably hurt my enjoyment of the obviously better AC4 and made me less interested in going back to even my favorite games in the series)