Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I backed Hollow Knight on kickstarter years ago, back when it was pitched for PC and Wii U and very few people had even heard of it. Who could've known it would turn out to be the masterpiece it is today.

Been playing some Octopath Traveler, I'm currently doing Opjillia's story as Primrose on Chapter 1. This has to be a great taste of old school RPGs with a few twists.

On other news, I'm wondering if we will get a firmware update for the Switch soon?

Negative.

Stability only for the next 5 years. Don't you know Nintendo doesn't care about system features? We won't get a single new profile pic, but I can bet we'll get at least 27 more stability updates.

@JaxonH There are only two things more stable in life than Nintendo's stability updates: death and taxes.

@JaxonH Let's call them for what they really are anti-hack updates.

I hear Nintendo has a single person working on the creating of features for the Switch OS, but they are only working on it once school is out and they have done their homework, before going to bed at 9pm Mondays to Fridays, 10pm during weekends.

So you guys that have played them all, I'm trying to debate on a companion game for octopath while i wait for torna physical Sept 21.... Ys 8 is too big to fit in there. Is shining resonance also too big? I could finally get into la noire or breeze through Titan quest for like the 10th time in a decade.... Definitely no to Skyrim, and I'm not in a Wolfenstein mood..... Could just return to Splatoon again too.... But if shining fits in the time window that could win too!

There must suuuuurely be some kind of big UI update coinciding with the online service launch next month. Surely.

@Tsurii you know, i caved and got hollow Knight in the sale instead of waiting for physical, but I'm struggling to get into it. Maybe it's a little more super Metroid then i expected, but i think the dreary theme is what's putting me if off. Coming off the food vibes of xc2 and octopath i was losing attention span for it.

@NEStalgia The progression is less Super Metroid and more Dark Souls 1. There aren't that much places locked behind movement upgrades, but it's more that you can go nearly anywhere you want in a lot of different orders like in Dark Souls. It's more open than Super Metroid without sequence breaking (as Super Metroid is actually pretty linear if you're not sequence breaking), as Hollow Knight isn't as "linear" in progression as Metroid.

Anyways, as for JRPGs Ys VIII took me 40 hours to beat for the true ending. If you can fit in that much time before Torna, go for it. I don't know how long Shining Resonance Refrain lasts though, as I don't have it yet. Planning to nab that on Steam when that goes on sale tbh.

Victor Vran, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate and De Blob 2 all release the day after tomorrow.

Perhaps one of those would be a good choice. MH would be great because it's a game you can play in spurts, one quest at a time, for years if need be. I know I'll be coming back to it for the rest of this generation, or until a new one on Switch releases.

@bluemage1989 Depends on the scale of the paid online service and how cloud saves will work. The absolute minimum changes I think would be an updated Data Management section to deal with the cloud saves, a bunch of game updates to support the mobile app and an update to the mobile app.

@Grumblevolcano sorry should have been more clear. I think some sort of firmware update will be necessary of course to set everything for the new service what I mean though is surely there wouldn't be a better time to offer a substantial UI update then right now.

@NEStalgia I feel the same. Got hollow knight and have been playing it most of the weekend and just an not motivated too much to continue. The universal praise of it made me get it but is just not clicking for me unfortunately.

Let's be fair: an update preventing you from hacking your device, will actually increase stability by preventing irreversibly bricking your Switch

@gcunit did you just sticky this thread? I was super confused when I couldn't find it.

@Therad Yeh. About 2 years overdue and less need now, but while I was in sticky mode earlier, I thought 'why not?'. A sticky/unsticky costs nothing, so if it turns out the universe implodes because of it, I'll try and unsticky it before I meet the maker.

@EvilLucario That's interesting...maybe that's what's not grabbing me. I'm not a "metroidvania" obsessive like some are, but I tend to enjoy them. Soulsborne as a 2D platformer is interesting. I have yet to play Souls actually....been waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting) for the Switch release. I have 2 & 3 on X1 (couldn't resist $9 each), played 3 a little to get the feel of the series, but not enough to really feel it. Gameplay feels nothing similar of course as that's a combo-driven slow combat game versus a platformer, and I haven't delved enough to understand exploration/progression. I loathe Bloodborne (passionately) but find Nioh highly addictive (if brutal and often cheap.) I'll get my Souls fix soon enough on Switch. Maybe I'll appreciate Hollow more afterward. Though I'm not sure the sombre theme and layers of purple will ever really feel inviting to me.

Hmm, Ys I 'll save. I think I'll want to slow burn that game (I'm 130hours into XC2...lv79, still only 8 rares , only half their quests completed, I'll probably shelve it forever at this point, depressing to do, but I feel like I'm grinding just because, to try it more. I did go back and beat that lv80 ape in Gormott first. I've been waiting 100 hours to murder that piece of garbage. It's therapeutic. Also trashed some of the Lv80 hordes in Mor Ardain as payback. Can't take the T-Rex things in the game down still. And now that I can take them, the game refuses to give me squids in Tantal. First time through I could never get rid of them....
I'm slow burning Octopath too....XC2 is a better story, a better journey, a better memory, a better work of art to cherish. Octopath is a better video game, better RPG by a factor of 4.

@redd214 I'm glad I'm not the only one! It feels like this happens often where the internet goes crazy for one indie darling or another, where it seems like this game is an instant classic that will be immortalized and catapult the developer to AAA stardom within a few years....and then 6 months later the game is never mentioned again anywhere and when it is, people start talking about all the flaws. Shovel Knight remains the lone exception that endured.

Not to knock the quality of the game, just the internet reaction to it. The polish and quality is top notch, it'll be a retail game, level design is excellent for the genre, can't really complain about anything production quality. Gameplay feels good, mostly...the "ears ringing" effect when getting hit is a little unnerving, which is probably the point, but it's unnerving in an annoying way....I think the somber theme and the fact that the whole game is in shades of purple (in the same way PS3 era shooters were in shades of brown) is just preventing me from wanting to explore the world. There's no gameplay hook that's addicting me and the theme and style makes me wish I were doing pretty much anything else. Even Steamworld Dig 2, a very similar style (in terms of gameplay if not progression as Lucario said) game feels far more inviting to me. It's purple...it's stunning....but it's only purple.

I compare to Ori that I was playing for an hour or two a week or two ago....also a very somber game, also a platformer....maybe less Soulsborne, more Metroidvania than this, but it somehow did it in a a way that's engaging and inviting with addictive loops that I'm not feeling here.

I'm curious what @Ralizah thinks of it? A fellow Soulsborne malcontent, but obsessive 2D retro otaku in so deep even the DualShock seems desirable.

@NEStalgia Don't forget that physical Torna is not just the Torna cartridge but also a download code for the expansion pass (I honestly wish Nintendo did that approach for NSLU physical back in the Wii U era but oh well, the rumours suggest NSMBU + NSLU is coming to Switch anyway ). It'll be worthwhile revisiting the game with the expansion pass content.

@NEStalgia To be fair Hollow Knight taps into the Metroid scale a bit more than the Dark Souls 1 scale. Dark Souls is much more open and there aren't that much movement upgrades. The only gates are pretty much bosses or keys you just find in the area. Hollow Knight is still gated off by things like the wall jump, double jump, a not-Shinespark, etc, so it's not as open as Dark Souls 1 but still much more open than any Metroid or Castlevania game. But Hollow Knight does indeed feel less like Metroid and more of a combination of Zelda II and Dark Souls 1.

Ralizah actually does love Hollow Knight though. Go through the Hollow Knight thread and you'll see his comments about it.