Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@FragRed Full disclosure: I have no idea. I tried to research but nothing concrete. The general consensus is that 3D can be trickier due to using multiple materials, surface reflections, lighting and shadow effects etc. 2D animation can also be hard due to the amount of frames needed, which is why not many 2D games feature complex animation. Swings and roundabouts, but was just my observation that smaller studios seem to use 2D sprites a lot. I would argue that they weren't all inspired by the same thing. Either they cant see how many other studios say the same thing, or its cheaper.

@rallydefault You're kind of generalizing all these games into a single, vague genre. For instance, while yes, Uncharted is an action-adventure game, it could also probably be classified as a 3D platformer, and third-person shooter, while the Assasin's creed games could be classified as stealth, and 3D platformer again. God of War could be classified as Beat-em-up/Hack and slash, etc.

...or an interactive movie with occasional controller support

_{(sorry, couldn't resist!)}

@NaviAndMii True, but for some reason, even though I value gameplay over story, Uncharted 4 is still one of my favorite games of all time. I guess I just have weird tastes

@NaviAndMii Only seems like that to someone that's had limited exposure to these games.
Naughty Dog are masters at transitioning between animation and gameplay. Don't know why that's considered a bad thing. There's more gameplay in 1 hour of Uncharted then there's in most video games.
Also I take that quality 1 hour over 30 hours of open world busy work every time.

@rallydefault I don't understand what your point here is exactly. Indie games get more recognition now then they ever have. Rocket League, Hellblade, Celeste, Owlboy, Inside, The Witness... .
The good games get recognition, the bad games- of which there are many, get scrutinized.

You list some of the greatest and most innovative games ever made as if, they are...a bad thing?

The Switch is lacking big budget AAA games. So what fills the void? Indies.
There's nothing wrong with that. Sony did the exact same thing with the PS4.
There's more visibility for them on Switch. So your going to get a lot of games, some good, some bad.

How many AAA games launch every month? 3-5 tops?
How many indie games launch every month? 20+?
They far outweigh AAA, so obviously they'll be criticized more often.

@Scrummer Yeah, tastes can be quite irrational things - I didn't enjoy Uncharted 4 all that much (or the Tomb Raider reboots for the same reason) ..but, curiously, I did like Telltale's The Walking Dead - which, if anything, was even lighter on gameplay! :/ ..inexplicable! Haha!

@Fight_Teza_Fight I just found it really infuriating that the game would give me full control for all of the mundane sections - but whenever anything cool happened, they'd take control away from me! ..it felt maddening - even (dare I say) lazy!

I (generally) much prefer games that weave some intense gameplay elements in to those 'cinematic' sections - the way that U4 forced me to just be a mere spectator instead felt wholly frustrating, unsatisfying and immersion breaking to me...

I felt the same about the (unrelated, but similarly annoying) widely-praised Tomb Raider reboots - whenever Lara would get to a cool cliff jump or something, they'd rip the controls away! ..did my head in!

...just not my bag at all - ah well, each to their own I guess!

@FragRed As someone who can do both (not well, but still), I'm confident to say that the 2D sprites you'll see in most indie games are far easier to make. What's really key to figuring that out is two things: The level of detail, and number of sprites. And that's not just resolution. Hyper Light Drifter's spritework is bursting with quality and a detailed sense of graphic design. But it's not just the ease of creating assets. Rigging models in a 3D-space is a far more advanced technique than learning how to make sprites interact. So if you're just starting out and want to make a good game, you'd be best off sticking to spritework and instead putting your focus on learning how to make engaging gameplay.

@GrailUK

They might not see themselves in competition but they are. And they could acknowledge the quality of the competitions games where it's justified. A nod to the quality of things like The Last of Us, Horizon or Forza Horizon 3 wouldn't have looked out of place.

@NaviAndMii Maybe it's because you expected a lot more gameplay from Uncharted, but expected an interactive story from the Walking Dead, thus you got what you wanted with TWD, but didn't get as much gameplay as you wanted with Uncharted.

@NaviAndMii That's fair enough. The Uncharted is a interactive movie narrative gets thrown about & it couldn't be any further from the truth. Just because those games are really pretty doesn't make them any less of a game. It just means Naughty Dog are very good at what they do.

Did anyone pick up Owlboy? How many hours of gameplay can I expect?
Worth the £19 price tag?

@Scrummer I think that you could be right...TWD was barely on my radar when I played it, so I could approach it with minimal expectations - whereas I was much more acutely aware of the 'hype' surrounding U4, so perhaps (unwittingly) set myself up to be underwhelmed!

U4 certainly isn't a bad game - far from it - it was just that one element that grated on me throughout and seemed to routinely dampen my enjoyment...add to that that I'm perhaps guilty of buying the game expecting it to be a '10/10'- and it just (unfairly) amplified the disappointment, I'm sure!

@Fight_Teza_Fight Yeah, it's a strange one - as I was saying to @Scrummer, I've played and enjoyed other story-driven games (like TWD) that have certainly been a lot lighter on the action front than U4 (TWD is little more than just pointing-and-clicking 99% of the time!) ..it might've been that I just unwittingly built my expectations up too high, or even perhaps something as simple as not being in quite the right mood for that style of game at the time? ..whatever it was, the game just didn't quite hook me as I hoped it might, unfortunately

@Fight_Teza_Fight I'm a fan of the Uncharted series very much, however, I also recognize that the criticism of ND, though exaggerated, isn't untrue. Uncharted 4 was kind a a peak of the series where they really did get their stride and started getting a little Prince of Persia/Tomb Raider (reboot) concept going on, but previous entries were very thin on gameplay too often, usually reverting to alternating times of walking while listening to narrative, followed by a very simple, albeit pretty, Hogan's Alley style shooting gallery game, then back again. I love the series for it's themes, locales, characters, and simple but enjoyable gunplay, but the faults of ND's design are genuine, though they'e showing signs of improvement lately.

Burnout Paradise Remastered has been announced but it's only PS4, XB1 and PC (no Switch version).

What has happened to the STEEP port featured in the original January sizzle reel? I don't believe it is cancelled, as Ubisoft has often stated they haven't cancelled the game, and also Gameseek has a release date of 17th November 2018. https://gameseek.co.uk/pd/VideoGamespz09pk7y9w/Steep

@Matthew010 I reckon Ubisoft are making it a 1080 crossover since their last crossover did so well.

@GrailUK Wasn't born when 1080 was around, but many people say it's incredible. I wouldn'tbe surprised if there was some sort of Nintendo crossover.

But that was like five years ago! At least it feels like it was...

I hear a lot of people stating that the Nintendo Switch's OS [ start up screen before any app or game is loaded ] is empty and boring. Ironically it's really not as empty as it seems in fact compared to the Wii U the Switch actually gives you a lot more options with what you can do within your Nintendo Switch's OS. [ You had to exit a game to change any account settings on Wii U which didn't have the best load times ] They may had taken out the background music but I believe that it saves power and reduced the loading time. I can see where you are coming form if you miss internet browser and Youtube app and such, even though half of the time people would talk about how bad they were and even go as far as saying they would rather not have them on the consoles because they have phones and laptops that do the same thing and better for a lower price. What do you guys think, is the Switch os a subtraction or is it an improvement?

@Grumblevolcano I don't think anyone should be surprised by this. I don't think EA cares about the Switch, apart from perhaps something like another FIFA game and maybe the odd EA Originals.

Rumour: Diablo III is in development for Nintendo Switch with local co-op

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/29489-rumor-diablo-iii-is-in-de...