Topic: Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

@FragRed my wife pre ordered and I had no idea.

The framerate goes to absolute pot almost randomly at times. Like, I was just running around a normal area when it dropped to 10 fps or so for a few seconds. It also seems to struggle with certain boss fights.

Hardly the end of the world in a turn-based tactical RPG, but I do hope Ubisoft patches some of these performance issues.

Still, this game is amazing fun. I played for a few hours this morning and had a stupid grin on my face the entire time. Until Mario Odyssey launches, I feel pretty comfortable saying this is the Switch's best exclusive.

The game has worked almost flawlessly with some dropped frames here and there but today it froze for few seconds twice in a row. It was when I got a notification that one of my friends was playing a game so I don't know if it had something to do with that.

I've also seen a lot of talk regarding the music in the game and I can't tell why so many people don't like the soundtrack. I personally haven't played many games that had Grant Kirkhope as the composer but I like Mario + Rabbids music.

I got BEEP-0 stuck in the floor at one point and subsequently couldn't move. I had to go back to Peach's Castle to get going again. There are definitely a few points that could be improved by a patch.

Still, I've not been having many troubles in the battles, and the battles really are wonderful. I'm not particularly into SRPGs - I think the last turn-based top-down tactical battle simulator I touched was Advance Wars - but it really is a beautifully elegant battle system they've built for this game, and courses are equally well designed. I really love how interconnected the characters are; it's like chess with three pieces, but those pieces can combine in such a varied and interesting ways that it feels like you're commanding a small army.

The overworld puzzles are a pleasant enough distraction, even if they feel a bit like they've come out of the early pages of 'Game Designer's 101', but it's the core gameplay where the game blows my socks off. The battles are an immensely engrossing and rewarding experience.

Does this game remind anybody of Codename Steam? If you enjoy this game I would give that game a chance one day.

Anyways not anything but a hiccup here and there on my end. @Late I remember a dev from one of the games saying the Wi-Fi had something to do with freezes or frame rate drops for one of the games. I wonder if that's what's causing the problems for you when someone hops online on your friends list.

I hope not, because I ended up fairly meh towards Codename STEAM.

@Late I think the thing about the music is that, while it is pleasant to listen to, most of it lacks a certain "catchiness" that sticks with you.

@Spoony_Tech S.T.E.A.M just isn't as well-executed overall if you ask me. Overwatch in that game is just too powerful with few options to counter enemies in good defensive positions, as well as being an omnipresent threat. The odds are constantly stacked heavily against you with enemies that are hard to kill unless you hit their weak points. Lack of intel plus an ill-conceived stealth mechanic makes progressing through levels dreadfully tedious, as you're often forced to creep forward reeeaaallly slowly (both in terms of spaces moved and actual movement) to avoid surprise encounters. It's just a chore, and very often feels unfair.

@Qwertyninty guess quickest rundown would be to complete each level either through defeating all enemies/boss, escorting characters, or reaching a location. The best scores are given out based on whether you were within turn limits, and all characters alive at the end. You complete these goals through your character's abilities, use of terrain, etc. Each turn allows for movement, attack and special skill. You devise the strategy.

If you want a good turnbased game on the 3ds try Shadow wars. Made by the original creator of xcom.

@Late Wow, people have been complaining about the soundtrack? I think it's amazing, like pretty much everything Kirkhope writes.

As for the freezing, it's happened to me a few times. The game freezes for a couple seconds, then gets back to normal. Annoying, but hardly anything to write home about.

@Late it's the new anti-fandom inclusiveness to think that, I guess.

Personally I love the game music, it's very nice. Nicely composed, lovely sounds, brilliant fit for the world you're in... it should be a highlight for any straight thinker in terms of quality. If your tastes vary that's fine, but this is some epic quality music.

This game's a lot of fun

Yikes, I literally played this all day yesterday. My Switch was pretty much in permanent life support as I played it on my portable battery for hours on end. The deeper I play into it, the more I love it: I think this might end up becoming one of my favorite games of the year.

I like how a lot of the challenge maps seem more like puzzles than anything. Especially the ones where you have to trigger enemies to hit you from a certain angle to fling you to a particular location!

I'm really enjoying the game, but its one of those situations where I just want it to be something else that it was never meant to be. I guess in short, I wanted this game to be closer to Squares Old Super Mario RPG - not in terms of game play or anything but in terms of another studio doing something new and different with Nintendo's characters without shoving their own terrible characters into it.

The game has made go from not caring about Rabdids to actively hating them, and I'm positive the only reason you MUST include one of the rabbids characters on your team is because Ubisoft KNEW many people would just ignore those characters if they could.

If instead of the Rabbids characters we had Donkey Kong, Toad, Toadette, Pauline (before she shows up in Odyssey) and they were just fighting Bowser's minions OR if they went Smash Bro's with it and included characters like Link, Samus, Zelda, Fox, Kirby etc... I think the game would gain a lot more traction.

@Canadian_Ronin I don't mind having a Rabbid in my party I just wish I wasn't locked into Mario every single time. It also seems the Rabbid versions are just a bit better to keep them interesting. I mean for healing I usually always keep Rabbid Peach in my party and love Rabbid Mario for being able to attack so many from so far away plus he can lure enemies and group them better.

Luigi is good but can't take more then 2 to 3 hits before he's done. Just got Peach and she does seem powered nicely.

Yes I am you, you can tell by me saying - "but in terms of another studio doing something new and different with Nintendo's characters without shoving their own terrible characters into it." Also why I drew the comparison to Super Mario RPG - in which Square didn't dump a whole bunch of annoying characters from their games and for you to play them because.......reasons.

Cool, and if you want a Rabbid in your party thats fine. I shouldn't be forced to include the terrible characters.

@Spoony_Tech What? Rabbid Mario's attack range is the worst overall, only partially compensated by his movement and Magnet Dance. The Boomshot is only really strong up close, being pretty weak at the extent of it's range.

Luigi is super fragile, but his movement and attack ranges are so absurd that as long as the map is large enough to permit it he should never be caught in a dangerous situation.

In general the Rabbids are better for defense and survival thanks to their shield abilities and other defensive benefits (except Rabbid Mario whose shield is awful in exchange for amazing area damage) while the Mario characters can clear out threats more quickly with their overwatch skills and offensive buffs (again with the exception of Peach, whose Royal Gaze is limited in application due to short range and friendly fire plus having weak effects on her weapons, but has the highest health in the game along with an ability to take damage away from teammates).

@meleebrawler Yeah, I didn't mean to say from far away but meant he can attack multiples from his firing range. Plus if he attacks first and lures the enemies then the other 2 characters can finish a group rather quickly. Of course that partially depends on the skills you level for him and I've got a few to help his weaknesses.

Peach is the best Mario character in the game. She's an absolute tank, is able to heal every time she team jumps, can protect teammates, and has a massively powerful weapon. Only downside to her is the short range of her attacks, but even then, she still gets good range with her grenade.

Rabbid Peach is the only Rabbid I've been using when given the choice thanks to useful healing ability. Also, her shield ability and sentry subweapon make her a good meatshield and fantastic for breaking through enemy ranks.

#SuperPrincessPwnage

@Ralizah Peach's mobility also isn't that great outside her team jump. And like I said before, the effects on her weapons are pretty unimpressive; Freeze is probably the lamest one in the game, only blocking abilities when most enemies use them long before getting in range, and won't stop those already active. Meanwhile Burn can be decent, but also backfire especially in close-quarters.

The cool thing about this game is how every character has their individual strengths and weaknesses, and it's how you team them up and work together that determines their effectiveness. I tend to use Peach with Rabbid Mario for example, devastating small maps under the effects of M-Power with a team that can hit everything hard at close range, while Peach's Protection helps cover Rabbid Mario's defensive weakness. Or a Luigi-Rabbid Yoshi team for max mobility, taking advantage of the latter's ability to survive when isolated with his invincibility barrier and scaring enemies out of cover to be blasted by the plumbers.

Rabbid Luigi, like most mages in RPGs seems extremely unimpressive early on, but becomes busted later on with weapons capable of 90% or even 100% chance of criticals and a super-powerful vamp dash.

@meleebrawler I've had no issue with Peach's mobility. I mean, she doesn't stand out in this regard like Luigi, but she is usually able to get where I want her to go. I definitely agree that it's nice how different the character builds are.

I really like burn. It does backfire once in a while, but generally I've found it to be a major boon when trying to quickly wear down tough enemies. The push ability will always be my favorite, though. Especially when combined with overwatching. Shooting a character into the air, only to have it sniped in mid air by Mario and Peach is awesome.

As far as the end boss of world 3, though, I've found the Mario/Peach/Rabbid Peach combo works perfectly in most levels. I think I had to switch Peach with Luigi for one "reach the goal" level to get the best ranking, but otherwise I haven't seen a need to diversify my team build.