Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@NintendoByNature It was the 7th boss that purple wasp. I couldn't beat it, even with the slick music in the background.

@MsJubilee I somewhat recall a wasp and it being a pain in the keester. Now I need to go and look it up!

Edit: watched it and I definitely remember that boss. Problem is, these dang YTers make that boss look too easy! I had tons of problems with it too! Eventually I figured it out and I did beat the game. It was a solid time if you stick with it.

Honestly, Final Fantasy is no longer a franchise I follow. I doubt I’ll even buy the next game day one, much less have it influence me on a console purchase. I do make exception for Final Fantasy VII Remake, as that game was before the series decline, but it’ll come to PC at some point. Still, I’ll grant that does offer some appeal.

Spiderman I was just playing the other day. I really like it. The mechanics feels smooth and it’s very high-quality in just about every respect. I don’t really have anything bad to say about it. But it did nonetheless feel like… not something I needed to keep playing. It’s like Batman Arkham games. I think they’re great. I really do like them… love them, even. But… I’m not buying consoles for Arkham City, and I kinda feel the same way about Spiderman. Great game, will definitely play it if I have access to it. But not something I feel like I need. And it’s a little weird to say that because I was such a massive Spiderman fan as a kid. But I was also a massive Sonic fan, too. I guess those infatuations just wore off.

None of their games have ever really landed with me in a way that made me greatly anticipate the next entry, to where I felt like, “ya, I’m a massive fan of this series now”. And I know a lot of other people feel otherwise and I understand it too, because I can objectively look at their games and acknowledge they really are high-quality. But they just don’t land with me like other games. The ones that have, they’ve always been 3rd party. Which, it’s looking like those games are going to all ultimately end up on the PC the way things are going now with everything multiplatform more and more (especially given Sony’s own desire to start putting even their own games on Steam). So I really do feel like I don’t need any other console.

But, it’s never been about “need” for me. It’s always been about want. I don’t need a PS5. I’ve probably spent a total of 30 hours using it since I bought it on launch day, and half of that was using Disney+. But I like having it and, it’s just nice knowing I can play games like Spiderman if I want. It’s not why I bought the console specifically, but I like it, and sometimes I feel like playing it, like just the other day.

I feel like there’s different categories of entertainment. Movies, gameplay-centric games, and cinematic-focused games which are more of a hybrid blend between the other two. All 3 are equally valid, and each appeals to everyone differently depending on taste. I tend to favor the hybrid blend the least, Which probably explains why I spend so little time playing all the big blockbuster, cinematic AAA video game experiences. And given that’s pretty most of what Sony produces, well… there ya go. But sometimes I am in the mood for that. Sometimes I do want a more “cinematic” gaming experience. With graphics that rival realism and a headset with 3D audio and production values that could make Hollywood jealous. And when the mood strikes, it’s nice to have some top tier options. Not that you necessarily require PS for that. But they do have some quality contributions in that genre.

That’s not to say I think PlayStation has ever let me down (well, actually they have- twice in fact, both with Vita and PSVR- I was so mad I swore them off and told myself I’d never buy another PS product again… naturally I didn’t stick to that vow). But their consoles have always been solid. I’ve always felt their consoles are the gold standard for straight laced power consoles. That may be changing now that Xbox has quick resume, standard BC, gamepass and VRR support (which is a big deal), but I’d still give PS5 the edge. For now, at least. Certainly love their controller though. All hail the magnetometer and the new era of flawless, drift-free gyro! Muah! Chef’s kiss

But ya. Switch has so many great games, and with all of them having hybrid freedom, I genuinely could just go one platform only. But… where’s the fun in that. Once Steam Deck drops and Steam goes hybrid, I suspect I’ll be more 50/50 between Switch and PC.

Spider-Man is my favorite character in fiction so honestly if I wasn't already getting a PS4 for Bloodborne and Persona 5, I was probably going to cave in when Spider-Man was announced. It ended up being my GOTY 2018 because of how great its story and exhuberant love for the character was.

I love my Switch and I'm probably going to keep buying Nintendo products, but PlayStation was a big part of my formative years as a gamer so I can't really skip a console at this point. I love way too many of their exclusive IPs like Ratchet, WipEout, Spider-Man, Uncharted and so on to not at least entertain the idea. For multiplats I almost exclusively go for PC so I'm really buying consoles for the stuff they specifically have over each other like the exclusives and first/second party stuff

If even I don’t skip their consoles and have bought them all day one, I can only imagine a big fan would do so even more. If you’re a big fan then it’s not even a question. It’s an automatic pre order. Even if you’re not a big fan, most people want at least one of the three power platforms for access to third-party games, and unless you’re spending big on PC, PS seems like the logical choice to me.

Idk what it is. My brother loves Bloodborne. I’ve tried to get into it. But for me it’s just Dark Souls #13, another Souls game, and no matter how many times I try I can’t get into that series. Not even Dark Souls on Switch was enough to do it for me. And I’ve put 10 hrs into DS3, 10 hrs into DS1, 5 hrs into Demons Souls, an hour into Bloodborne, hour into Sekiro, Nioh… you name it. It’s just too frustrating and I don’t have the patience. I’m giving Elden Ring a shot. But if that game is equally hard and frustrating I’m done for good.

I never liked Ratchet beyond being mildly entertained for a bit. Felt like WarioWorld to me. Just mindlessly running around and killing enemies. Everything else about it is really cool. Character designs and the worlds and environments, But the gameplay just never quite kept me interested for long.

I played a TON of Wipeout 2048 on Vita. It was fun. But it always felt like Fast Racing RMX to me… the best alternative to F-Zero in the absence of F-Zero. But none of them have ever truly scratched that itch.

I think Uncharted is probably my least favorite Sony IP. I put about 12 “chapters” or whatever they are into Uncharted 4. Just not my style of game. Surprisingly, I loved The Last of Us. Which I wasn’t expecting. I was expecting more Uncharted style. I was very pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately the sequel took a direction I’m not a fan of. But at least the first one was excellent. I would even say better than any RE game I’d played. Something about that game really gelled with me.

I would say Spiderman, God of War and Horizon are the 3 games of their games I actually like a considerable amount. But I didn’t like Horizon at first. It’s forced cinematics and “super close behind the shoulder view” just irritated me to no end. As did aiming bow with the analog. It wasn’t until I got further in the game that I really started to understand the appeal, but the only reason that happened is because I was able to play it with Gyro aiming on Steam. I still never went back to it, but I can’t be sure that’s a knock against the game so much as not having it hybrid. Steam Deck should change that.

But ya. There’s obviously still enough they offer that I feel their consoles are worth buying or I would’ve never bought one (whether that’ll be true next gen, Idk- we’ll have to see how many of their games make it to PC by the end of this generation).

edit
Was just thinking about Maximum Carnage on Genesis, and Separation Anxiety on SNES, and how much I loved those games. I bet if I played through Spiderman it would rekindle some of my love for that franchise. I really should get around to that. I think what turned me off is the open world. The prospect of having to navigate this massive city With buildings everywhere and do little side quests to level up. That’s what ultimately led me to stop playing Batman. Turns out, open world games really seem to turn me off unless they’re done in a way that makes exploring exciting. But perhaps I should just focus on the story on easier difficulty and maybe I won’t need to grind.

I didn't love Last of Us 2 either. I understand what they were trying to do with the whole "hero and villain story happening in parallel" thing but the thing is when you're trying to make your villain sympathizable through their upbringing or a series events leading to them committing some heinous act, maybe don't immediately start off with them killing literally the guy we were following and grew attached to the entire last game. I feel like if they actually showed the series of events leading up to that point and then it led to her playing golf with Joel's head it would've come off as way more effective

But that's like one sour spot in what is my opinion one of the greatest first party and second party lineups I've ever personally seen. There isn't a single PS4 exclusive I flat out hated which is saying a lot considering there's usually that batch in every console, even my absolute favorite ones. It's a testament to Sony really trying to bring out the best in their development teams which is why I hold them in similar regard to Nintendo and enjoy both their offerings in tandem.

Ya, I’ll give em that. They really do try to release only good games, which I can respect.

PS4 doesn't do a lot for me from what I've seen, but that's less on Sony and more on my continuing issue that the big companies in general stopped putting out any sort of variety or decent quantity of games.

But to be fair, from the outside the Xbox 360 is everything I hate or don't care about in big budget gaming of that time, and I ultimately found plenty to like on that system (and not just the stuff that specifically was like games I normally like, though that helped). It was funny being consistently disinterested in cover based shooters, and then Mass Effect became a favorite trilogy based on doing just that instead of Bioware's more nerd beloved games before ME2, for example. But I also feel I can safely ignore every live service game forever, barring maaaaaybe a couple of the actual f2p games.

Shin Megami Tensei V continues to stun

@kkslider5552000 I can understand that sentiment. Frankly I think the PS4 exclusive stuff is the type of thing where you really won't realize how different each game is from face value but a lot of it is comprised of the narrative-driven, super story rich kind of game that I know isn't every person's cup of tea. I value story a lot in games, and these games give me that alongside pretty great gameplay, so it's a win-win for me, but I know it isn't for everyone. I do however think that no one PS4 exclusive is "the same" from another one in the way people describe. You won't hear me say "Oh I think Demon's Souls is totally the same kind of game as Horizon or Spider-Man" for example.

PS4 was and is a fine console. Not as fine a console as PS1 and PS2 were in their time, but I think the industry has changed enough that this would never have been possible anyway.

But... I dunno. My feelings might change over time, but I feel like, unless you're really in love with their first-party output (and a lot of people are), this newest console is going to be mostly... unnecessary. I'd never have thought to say that about Sony before, even when they were deep in the slumps with the PS3. Some of it is the way they've clearly changed as a company recently. A lot of it the way their stranglehold on so many Japanese developers loosened this generation. And, even if you're not into Jp games, Microsoft is ensuring that, as the generation goes on, PS5-only gamers will be missing out on a lot of high-quality Western franchises.

I'm sure I'll fold at some point. Every PS5 game I renew on my active PS+ sub adds on to a snowball of incentive to eventually purchase the device. I'm sure Sony will probably find a way to keep FFVII Remake 2 exclusive to it for years. But I'm definitely not in a hurry. I'll do like I should have done with the PS4 and wait until it has matured significantly as a platform before jumping in.

@Ralizah Xbox is very clearly the go to for Western content at this point. All the WRPG titans that used to be third party now belong to Microsoft. At this point all they need to acquire now is CDPR or even Larian and they'll pretty much have most of the big names

With that being said, I'm also not writing PS5 off yet considering even if they have been "Westernized" to an extent, I still don't think they've completely lost their edge in terms of Japanese content. At this point PlayStation is like the defacto platform for specific Japanese series even with Switch in the conversation as well, and Japan still isn't Xbox's strongest suit even if they have shown dramatic improvement over the XB1 generation where they were practically a non-entity to most Japanese publishers who weren't BIG big like Square Enix. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and clearly things that have to be sorted out

@TheFrenchiestFry The fallout from M$ buying out CDPR and making TW4 an Xbox/PC exclusive would be hilarious. Even with people being down on them right now post-Cyberpunk, I have no doubt most of that negativity will go out the window the moment they show off a new game in that series.

If we're only talking consoles, then PS totally has the edge when it comes to Japanese games over Xbox. Too many games skip Xbox for me to ever consider it a proper platform for third-party games. With that said, almost nothing seems to skip PC anymore (aside from games Sony pays to make exclusive to their platform for a period of time). Even the third-party stuff that's "exclusive" to Nintendo consoles also seems to eventually release on PC.

For someone without a modern PC, a power console is practically a necessity. But for someone like me who periodically upgrades anyway, I'm just... not feeling the rush to embrace next gen.

@Ralizah

It bothers me a lot that JRPGs are censored on PS

@JaxonH Stick with the OLED. I have an LG C9 from a few years ago and I adore it. Games looks so sharp and the HDR is amazing. It really is a game changer. It's something you have to see in person to really get. Can't wait for the OLED Switch.

@Jey887

I'm planning to buy the Nintendo Switch OLED Model when it comes out, so I'm wondering if one video game can be played without any problems with the goal of finishing it before I switch to another video game on OLED. I ask because of the burn-in

@Kirby_EU I have had mine for about 3 years and have no issues with burn-in. I have young kids that leave it on all the time so haven't been particularly careful with it and still have no issues.

It's one of those things that becomes overblown online because only those that suffer from it post about it. Creates an unrealistic representation of how widespread the problem is.

@Kirby_EU The potential OLED burn-in problems are overblown. I still play my OLED PS Vita to this day having never experienced burn-in. Plus I'd like to believe the technology has advanced to where the occurrence of burn-in is less frequent. And the Switch has burn-in reduction defaults if you don't interact with console for a short while.

So, does OLED Switch model use a plastic screen?
(Like previous Switch models)

@Jey887
Right on. I have an OLED Vita and an AMOLED Galaxy S21 so I know how vibrant OLED is. I'd been wanting an LG OLED TV for a while. Just couldn't justify it as long as my current TV was fine.

Thoughts on audio? My current 2.1 soundbar is better than TV speakers but, it's not really surround. Want a 5.1 soundbar for PC/PS5, and even some Switch games are outputting it, like Zelda Skyward Sword.

I just ordered the Sennheiser Ambeo soundbar. 5.1 all in a single bar. All the review sites say it's THE best (but at an insane price I won't get into- they did have a 10% off coupon for new customers though- WELCOME10US at Sennheiser). Screw it. Going all in.