Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@JaxonH I fall under 2 and 3 both. I have an enormous collection of ROMs, but always buy the games I like on their current system. Like I love the Mega Man series and have had the ROMs for years, but I still bought the collections on 3DS and then again bought them all on Switch.
There's another reason I emulate and this might fall under your reason #3 - rom hacks for a new experience. There's some really well done hacks out there and I've had quite a bit of fun playing them. Anything from just changing the theme of a game with new sprites or brand new levels and worlds.
And then there's the ones that restore a game to it's original version that didn't make it to retail for various reasons (levels put back into original orders, cut bosses and enemies put back in, etc).
I recently played one of Sonic3+K that put the game back to it's original vision (which even the combined games do not entirely do) and it was very enjoyable, despite owning this game multiple times - the original carts, on DS and Steam.

@Shadowthrone
Right on. Totally. Most of us benefit from emulation in some way. I honestly don’t spend much time emulating anymore, but I used to. I bought the GPD Win 2 just to have a handheld pocketable GameCube/Wii. Haven’t touched the thing in a year or two, but I like having it, just in case. But it’s all games I own on my shelf and have re-purchased yet again on Wii U VC (for the Wii games, anyways- they didn’t sell GC, but I own every single GBA, SNES, N64, and Wii game sold on the Wii U eShop). Also quite enjoyed having a full SNES/GBA library on my hacked 3DS. But... I spent more time putting the games on there than I actually did play them.

Still, it’s nice to have. I like having the NES/SNES catalog on Switch, even though I rarely play them. Spent a little time with the DKC games, and the classics (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) but only a few hrs total.

Of course, PC has everything, and I was playing Paper Mario TTYD for a while, even found a way to bounce saves back and forth with the Win 2. But... it’s just not the same. I’d rather play on Switch. I love PC- in fact, Monster Hunter World on Steam with 3D audio in headphones at 4k 60 Ultra is all I’ve been doing for the last 2 weeks (the Monster Hunter Rise hype is real). But for some reason, older games only seem to appeal to me on Switch now. Otherwise I just never get around to playing them.

You know, I've thought through this many times over the years, and I've never really been able to pinpoint what inherent harm is caused by downloading a game illegally versus borrowing it from a friend or buying it secondhand. In all three scenarios, you're enjoying the fruits of a product without directing money toward the publisher who made it possible for the game to exist as a commercial product. For console games, secondhand sales are responsible for far more lost revenue than piracy, too. I suppose there is the issue of ripped games being able to furnish a potentially infinite number of digital copies of a game, but that's not really relevant to the moral calculus of someone who is downloading a game online, IMO.

I think this belief has informed my approach to game purchasing/playing in a number of ways, though:

• I almost never buy used games. If I'm going to enjoy something, I want the publisher to benefit from it. Saving $10 isn't really worth giving Joe Blow from Michigan the money I'd otherwise be paying for a new copy. Frankly, I think more harm is done by, say, spending $50 to purchase a used copy of a game than by downloading that same game for free and using that same $50 to purchase a new copy of a different game that's actively being distributed.
• I have zero compunctions about downloading older games that released for dead systems unless those games are still actively in production.
• While I don't think it's immoral to, say, download Super Mario Bros. for the NES on your PC instead of buying it on your Wii U, I almost always try to buy re-releases of games I've enjoyed in the past but haven't paid a publisher for, even if I'm not going to play it again, because I feel like, if I've enjoyed a game, then, when possible, the people who made it possible should be compensated, even if it's well after the fact. Plus, I gain the ability to play it on a newer platform, which never hurts.

@Ralizah
For my case, i really depend on used games from Tokopedia or Ebay since there are a lot of old games that i have never played before or i start to play the old games very late.

@Anti-Matter I mean, if the game is old, secondhand or piracy are your only real options barring modern gen re-releases.

@Ralizah
I have no choice.
I felt granted to able playing Ratchet & Clank Trilogy PS3 in used condition (Very Good), bought from Tokopedia just only Rp 250,000 or US$ 20 as if you find that game on Ebay, it tagged with very expensive prices for the rarity.
I still support the game companies by purchasing their Brand New games, but nothing wrong by purchasing used games as i can find them from Tokopedia.
Sometimes i still thinking twice to purchase a Brand new games with price tag more than $30.
An used games with price Rp 100,000 or under US$ 10 are completely temptating choices for me. I will get them ASAP.
Btw, Tokopedia is kinda like Ebay in Indonesia.

@JaxonH Region hopping is my reason for number 2. I buy my games in Japanese and second systems when I can, but some stuff I missed out on like the ps2.

For example, I own almost all the Taiko no Tatsujin games but for the PS2 versions I have to play rips since I don’t own a JPN PS2. (Or the SNES... saving up to buy the sailormoon and goemon games. I hate making some ebay seller a profit (as their margins are way worse than a company’s but we only focus on organizations due to envy)) but I would like to own those games. So glad region locking is done.

@theJGG I think fire emblem’s narrative framing is both its strength and weakness. Like a lot of games you play someone with a limited world view that is thrust into the center of a conflict so it makes sense that you kinda stumble upon details rather than get a ton of story exposition. I also think it is done to keep the player neutral for as long as possible (which is great for 3H) but since the modern stories hinge around my unit and that is usually set up for the “twist” sometimes the narrative tries too hard to bend the story to making making the my unit the chosen one without saying you are playing the chosen one.

Like Byleth makes way more sense after at least one play through (same with corrin/kamui and robin) but they try a little too hard to hang narrative underpinnings on the my unit which is still at the end of the day... the player thrust in the middle of this pre built world. Granted many games do this. JRPGs are far less concerned with the "why" so much as the "this is what you need to do to fix it". I felt 3H did the best at giving you time to learn the world organically (after all in real life a soldier doesn’t know all the reasons she is fighting, just her personal motivations and what she is told.) buuuuuut I actually wish it had spent more time exploring the past primarily because you have characters that are actively shaping fodlan and are long lived.

Before, that didn’t usually matter as the Tiki/Naga types were sleep/sealed and in someways knew less than the player did but that isn’t the case with 3H. My only real issue with the way FE is normally framed is it makes me feel like there is a golden route (which they nixed in 3H) so sometimes I end up playing to what I think is the script than how I would play normally.

That is one place modern western games shine. They either put you on rails (think main quest in elder scrolls games or bioware games as you can be good or bad but you will still save the world in the end) or they kinda let you get to the same general ending with flavor from how you play. Jrpgs actually give you a forest that you can get through but there is an obvious road. You can still wander the forest, but don't get mad if a bear eats you. In that way I feel western rpgs are more restrictive but because they allow for that illusion of choice you don’t feel like they are.

I had really hoped the DLC would delve more into the past. Granted the monastery tells a lot of story in its very design. Some of that narrative dearth in some areas and over focus in others is because sometimes IS hires outsiders to write the story. So they don’t really think about that exposition because they have to build and dump a whole world on you in one game. Western games don’t do that as much as sequels, licenses (to use a certain world players may be familiar with like Star Wars games. For me I’m always confused but to a sw fan that is just another layer on the cake) and open world design allows the player to see the world and meet its people. FE games are war games so you have very little chance to do that.

Ahhh, my first real post of 2021... let's start on a high! @Ryu_Niiyama Thank you for your insight, that was extremely fun to read! I'll try to address each point:

When it comes to not diluting the player's perception of the three territories, Three Houses gives you small bits of info that have next to zero consequence in that regard. Reading about the War of the Eagle and Lion for example wouldn't have that much of an impact to make you think "I hate the Faerghus Kingdom for rebelling!" So in that was limited scope is good. But when you add in nations not even on Fódlan's map, like Almyra, it gets a bit silly.

Interesting, because despite the 1180 imperial years of Fódlan's history, we as the player have only been given fleeting amounts of information about the past. Adding in a "history lesson" wouldn't be the hardest thing to implement; Byleth could just say to either Manuela, Hanneman or Seteth that he/she doesn't know about Fódlan's history, and then they could say that they would teach Byleth, to "set the record straight" or something. Or you could have done it like in Persona 4 Golden where you can access the main lore points from the main menu in the form of a lesson. And as for the supposed golden route, I'm glad their isn't one, and I'm a bit sad at the same time. Unfortunately if there was a golden route it would have made very single non-"canon" route invalid, because that's not the ending the developers wanted you to get. Because there are many morally grey characters it doesn't make your choices wrong by any means. Though backstabbing the church has a lot of irony to it.

I haven't played any Western RPGs yet. The closest thing to a WRPG I've played is Horizon Zero Dawn, and that was much closer to an action-adventure than a roleplaying level based grind fest. And based on what I've heard I doubt that they would provide the same kind of creativity and flare that JRPGs have on tap. I'll of course try and buy one eventually but there's a certain charm to Japanese games that I think the West will almost never replicate.

DLC from Nintendo games has been flat tyre after flat tyre, believe me. Breath of the Wild's DLC was extremely fun and added some neat stuff but story-wise there was absolutely nothing. There were no interesting plot details or anything that could have been fleshed out. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity tried to do this but they made it an alternate history and kinda played it safe. Three Houses' DLC was alright but at the end of the day it didn't really add anything new aside from the absolute chad that is Yuri, Balthus and Hapi. (Don't really like Constance) And besides, the cool story in the DLC was also in an alternate universe anyways, because you could take units from all three houses, plus all three leaders. Makes the whole thing nearly redundant but good it could carry over to the main game.

@JaxonH
But to the big N and other companies emulators and ROMs outside of their own is a big no no. I want to play the games with no loss of access but in my current situation that is not going to happen. VC was leaps and bounds better than this rental system. I could purchase and play anything that was available on the service and they added games at least every week if not every other. I’ve bought games over and over in the past but I’m fed up with it. (Ex I “own” Megaman 2-5 on NES, the anniversary collection on PS2, 5 and 6 on 3ds VC as well as Legacy Collection on 3ds and Switch plus Legacy 2 and since anniversary we’ve not seen power fighters available yet!)

Again I say that both VC and Switch online could work in tandem. Isn’t the idea to have more people playing the games whether it’s through the sub or buy them on the service as opposed to using emulators and roms dumped off the net? At least then they could prove loss of revenue since you have many legal ways of obtaining the games. For those that play online subbing and getting access to the games since they have online access is a nice bonus. But telling a consumer that doesn’t play online and lives in a area where connections are scarce is another. I can swing a trip to town at least once a week to use WiFi to purchase games on the eshop. But the other way I didn’t get the benefits of online play (I’d rather play local anyway) through the sub and every other week I’d lose access to the games because of the checkin which conveniently wanted to happen late at night on Saturday when I was just at WiFi only 6 hrs or so ago and it never wanted to check in. So excuse me if I’m more than a little miffed at the service for cheating me out of my hard earned money I could’ve used on something else.

Huh? You don't HAVE to pay for NSO if you're not playing online multi-player games .... I've never paid for it

@GrailUK Thanks, I try my best.

Shame it didn't work 😭

We can now officially say Monster Hunter Rise is releasing THIS year, and we’ll be playing the demo THIS month.

🥂

@GameOtaku
First, I don't know if you're new here, but I'm the guy who constantly bemoans the state of the gaming industry because of all the stupid practices gamers have supported over the last decade. DLC, online services, games as services, etc. I've ranted about it all. So trust me, bud, I'm with you in despising the state of the modern gaming industry and what we have to put up with. Nintendo is by far the "best" of the big three companies when it comes to all that stuff, but they are slowly getting sucked in.

However, I completely disagree with almost everything else you're saying. When you sign up for a service, you sign a contract with the company that provides that service. If you read closely, you'll notice that you're agreeing to a ton of stuff. In the specific case of WoW servers being down as I mentioned. if you read the contract you agree to when subscribing to the game, Blizzard cannot be held responsible for foreseen and unforseen server outages that keep you from playing the game. Now, I've played WoW from the start, and I have seen them refund game time a few times when outages were especially long, but only after incredible outcry from the playerbase and sometimes attention from media outlets. But they are not legally responsible for compensating you according to the contract you agree to.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe even the simple purchasing and playing of software establishes tacit consumer acknowledgement of the publishing company's policies when it comes to various things like reproduction, ownership, etc.

Looking forward to Metroid Prime 4...in 2023.

@Magician Thermonuclear explosion in three...two...one...

Bioshock Trilogy for $14.99 on Amazon US

https://www.amazon.com/BioShock-Collection-Nintendo-Switch/dp...

For a maniac Switch physical collector like myself January is mercifully quiet. FNaF: Core Collection and Atelier Ryza 2, everything else can wait for a deep discount. Naturally this doesn't include the half-dozen boutique physical releases that pop up every month, but I digress. What's everyone looking forward to this month?

I'm hoping Star Ocean 2nd Evolution R appears for Switch ....

@Magician I think Atelier Ryza 2 is the only physical release I'll be picking up this month.

Ya, Atelier Ryza 2 is it for physical releases. And good, I say as well. It’s been rough on the wallet these last few months, especially having bought a PS5, extra controller, 1TB external SSD and converting the dozen or so PS4 exclusives over to digital (I should have just bought the All Digital system for $100 less, oh, well, it’ll keep more resale value I suppose). And with at least 3 big February releases that warrant extra digital purchases, and then Monster Hunter Rise in March which I not only have 2 collector editions preordered, all the amiibo, the digital deluxe, AND a copy from a French retailer who’s offering a steelbook, I need a slow month to recoup and prepare for the next onslaught.

That’s not counting the limited run editions I’ve preordered that sporadically release and ship throughout the year. I think my Ori Collector Edition just shipped out, for example. Grandia HD Collection also just arrived. I’m sure more are on the way.

But of course, there’s the Monster Hunter Rise demo. That’s the big, hype January release for me. I’m dying to play that game. Been hardcore binging on MH World in the meantime, trying to pass the time.