Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Ralizah I knew you played the games, but i would have been really surprised if you would have disliked them that much.
I mostly agree with your list, though i have never played Valkyria Chronicles which i might have thought to be more secondary. Octopath, Monster hunter stories 2 and NEO the world ends with you i would put on top of my personal secondary list though, though if we count older games as well then FFIX would be up there as well^^

@Losermagnet DQXI S is a great port, and, honestly, probably the best DQ game I've played to date. It's probably actually better than SMT V in terms of not having any glaring weaknesses (SMT V's story is weaksauce, unfortunately; not a huge deal, but it's an undeniable flaw), but SMT's combat, music, exploration, etc. are all too good for it not to be tops for me.

@JaxonH I'll always maintain that FFXII is a much better game than X, even if that's an unpopular opinion. Its proto-Xenoblade feel is really cool, and I love the grounded storyline and fascinating gambit system. Cool exploration/dungeons/bosses, too.

Haven't actually played DE yet, but I wasn't a huge fan of XC1 on Wii/3DS, and I doubt my mind is going to change hugely with the Switch remaster. XC2, for all its very heavy flaws, was a far more engaging experience for me, and Torna, while a side game, is the first Xenoblade title that felt good all-around to me.

As to VC, 4 is a sidequel to 1, so if you're going to play both, then in order is better. With that said, VC4 makes certain key changes that make it a much better game overall. It's one of those games I lost myself in for the 80 hours or so it took to achieve the true ending. It also runs like a champ on the system in both modes.

@Solaine I really want to love the HD-2D games like Octopath and Triangle. They have gorgeous soundtracks, presentation, etc. But certain design elements makes it where I keep them at arm's length. As good as Triangle looks, I know I won't love it, because it's a very Tactics Ogre/FF Tactics-esque game, and I'm not a huge fan of those games.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a really solid game. No complaints. It just hasn't grabbed me. I don't even really have much of an issue with the combat anymore. I just... I dunno. It's a beautiful, polished, fun game, but it doesn't spark that need to play it in me, y'know? Maybe I'll feel differently when I play further into it. I only got 25 hours or so in before setting it down.

Still a complete TWEWY virgin. I think I'd still like to play the original on the NDS, though, so we'll see if I can ever arrange that for a decent price.

@Ralizah It is just SO hard to get into TWEWY with that Combat system... i tried out final remix and the DS version but it just never grabbed me, although i loved the music
@Pizzamorg So, personally i don't think final remix is very good in terms of control. It doesn't improve anything at least since Joy con controls feel weird, the experience on handheld is similar to the DS version since you use the touch controls, although it is definitely designed best around DS.
NEO TWEWY is not a Port, so it works just fine and the gameplay is completely different anyways. You do miss some story elements if you skip the first game but there is always the possibility of watching lets plays

I either knew that and forgot, or didn’t know that at all! If it drops into a sale over the coming weeks I might pick up the Switch designed sequel then.

However, first, I am still not sure whether to use a voucher for S/S or BDSP or wait and see if S/S drops into a sale. I have been looking for sales on S/S but nothing very substantial yet.

@Solaine Yeah, the combat is a very open question for me. I probably would have tried the trial version of the game on Switch if it hadn't launched around the same time as SMT V.

@Pizzamorg Pokemon games almost never go on sale. The price stays sky high until the physical goes out of print, and then the physical price gets insane.

@Ralizah Can confirm that. Just saw a collectibles shop near me post about a Pokemon Emerald cartridge. The price? $120.

HGSS are probably the worst offenders though due to the fact that there's multiple ways to buy it from just the cartridge to completely sealed box with Pokewalker, game case, and cartridge.

So do you think S/S won’t end up in a Black Friday deal?

@Pizzamorg
If they do, it likely won't be by much.

As for Xenoblade, there's far too many side Quests to prioritize them. I think it's clear the game was designed around bombarding the player with side quests so that, by simply playing the game, you'll naturally fulfill many of them as you go. Not once did I ever go out of my way for a single side quest, in 100 hrs of playing. I simply played the main story, and because sidequest objectives show on the map, if I encountered any marked enemies along the way, I'd kill them. If you purposely seek out side quests you'll burn out and never finish the game.

They absolutely can be skipped. Often times the stuff you get from them is equipment that's not even as strong as what you're already wearing. Or you can just buy better armor. This doesn't mean go out of your way to avoid them. Just... play the game. If you see sidequest markers along your route, go for it. Otherwise just keep progressing.

Best Trails port is IV, but you really should play III first. And, it's not a bad port, it just has more jaggies than IV, which a different studio handled. Technically, you should play 1/2 first since it's all one overarching story, but those aren't localized on Switch. Can either play those on PC first, or, do what I did and just jump in with 3, which gives a very nice story summary in the main menu so you'll be able to grasp what's going on. I enjoyed Cold Steel III so much, it made me want to go back and play the first. Not because I felt I "had to" but because I just really love the games. For a while I was playing Cold Steel on Steam and Cold Steel III on Switch simultaneously.

@Ralizah
I liked Octopath, it just didn't grab me. Some games grab me and don't let go, others don't. But Triangle Strategy grabbed me, at least, from what I played in the demo. The strategy was engaging, characters interesting, art style very appealing, and the story was intriguing. I especially like the mode where you have to tip the scales for a vote how you want by presenting evidence and stuff. Very "Ace Attorney" like in that respect.

If the demo is anything to go by, Triangle Strategy is going to be a very special game. Especially with all the changes and improvements they made after the survey. And for the record, I was never a FF Tactics fan either. But this game... it just does it in a way that really grabs me.

Just had a look, Cold Steel 3 is 54 quid on the UK Eshop. That is BOTW style prices, only I can’t use a Voucher on that for some money off. Wow! I guess I’ll add that to my Wishlist for time being.

Dang it! Looking on Deku Deals the game has practically gone on sale every other month all year round, which I guess is why they put the price up so high in between. I assume this’ll mean it’ll drop down again probably over Christmas.

@Pizzamorg
Ya they had Cold Steel 3 for $29.99 and Cold Steel IV for $39.99. Could score the pair for $70 total.

I'm sure they'll be back on sale for Black Friday or Christmas.

Holy *****, so I started clearing out the camel as my second Divine Beast and I guess it must be soft level gated because the boss for this beast is ***** unbeatable as I am right now.I feel like I am facing a forty man raid boss solo. One of the most absurd difficulty spikes I’ve ever experienced in a game. I guess I need to come back and do this Divine Beast at the end.

I really hate this design in BOTW, happens all the time in the open world as well. You’ll find a new location and then some trash enemy one shots you and you just go “oh, so you didn’t want me to go here yet, huh?”. Like, if you want me to do things in a specific order, why not just do that then? Why make me waste hours of game time getting to a boss I am not ready to fight? You know what is worse than level gating areas/missions? Is level gating areas/missions, but then keeping the level hidden from the player.

@Pizzamorg Uh... Okay. I don't think the camel boss is much more difficult than any of the others? Maybe more so than the boss to the northwest (I think that one is a bit easier). But the game is designed in a way that no matter what order you do the bosses, they'll be about the same difficulty when you reach them. So even if you come back later, it should be about as difficult. You really can take down the bosses in any order. In fact, the 'easiest' boss in the game is probably meant to be the third (Northwest) one, while the intended first (Southeast) is one of the hardest.

That said... the main progression gate in this game is your own skills. If you're struggling, I'd recommend you try potions if you aren't using them yet, they're key for taking down your first boss. Or if you haven't increased your health at all, do some more shrines. Your going to struggle hard with your first boss, no matter what.

I looked it up online and unanimously Thunderblight Ganon is considered the hardest boss in the game and on the level of a Dark Souls boss. So it isn’t just me. If you found it easy… good for you?

I have 8 hearts I think? Some enemies bounce off me like I am made out of Kevlar, but then other times a random trash enemy will one shot me from nowhere. Most of the time it doesn’t matter as the game has a very forgiving autosave system, but it’s still annoying investing time in progressing to somewhere the game clearly doesn’t want you to be yet. If the game is going to have level gating anyway, they may as well just give that information to me as a player, so I can make an informed decision on where I should be going so it doesn’t feel like I end up investing huge chunks of time and make no progress at all.

I do keep hearing I need better gear and I accept if that is the answer, but so far I’ve cleared one Divine Beast, a bunch of side stuff and got all the way to a boss on a second Divine Beast and other than the chest piece you get as a reward for your first memory, I have yet to have unlocked/been gifted or been given the opportunity to purchase a set better than the set you can buy in the first town. Stuff like the snow boots or the drag outfit have specific mechanical functions, but offer next to no armour whatsoever.

@Pizzamorg While other armor does help, it's pretty much all found by exploration. And the vast majority of it is utility based, not combat based.

As for level gating... that shouldn't be happening? The way it works is that every time you defeat a divine beast, every enemy in the overworld gets upgraded. There's a few tiny exceptions (one enemy in Zora's domain always remains low level), but there aren't any enemies I'm aware of that are designed to keep you out of areas entirely.

The main form of gating in this game is twofold:
1. Weather. Technically not gating (potions are easy to make to get around this), but most people refuse to explore areas without the right equipment.
2. Stamina - Several areas of the game are utterly painful to explore without significant stamina upgrades. Notably, these are mainly on the western half of the map.

Like, no matter how many hearts you have, there will always be enemies that can two shot you (Silver Lynels are the endgame example). I'm not saying you're wrong for not enjoying the game as it is, but don't think that finding some sort of 'golden route' will stop you from dying a lot. BotW is a game where you constantly die, that's what it's about.

Yeah, I dunno. All I can say is some enemies one shot me, others don’t and Thunderblight Ganon is unbeatable currently.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the game overall, but I just think they added a lot of mechanics which the more hardcore crowds may appreciate but to me they just feel like barriers for enjoyment and don’t enhance my experience at all.

I recognise that everything in BOTW is a puzzle to be solved and I’ve played far worse examples of this kind of game design, I find this game gives me a sense of satisfaction really unlike anything I’ve played.

However, for each moment of satisfaction, is another of exhausting tedium. I enjoy games where I can make constant progression and any barrier the game gives me the tools to overcome it in advance. But BOTW’S design is more go as far as you can until you hit an inevitable wall, stick a pin in it and go do something else, as the solution to one problem will likely reveal itself as you’re trying to solve a problem for something completely unrelated.

The result is a lot of gaming sessions where I feel like I invested a lot of time, but have seen minimal tangible progression.

I will say, much as I love how BOTW does things, I did at some point look into a recommended order for the Divine Beasts and the Gerudo one was the last one. I think I had 7 or 8 hearts by the time I did the 2nd one via that recommended order. That was my compromise for the sake of my enjoyment of some amount of logical difficulty progression. (this is also why I mostly liked ALBW more on a 2nd playthrough despite going through it on hero mode that time)

I did think about looking at some guides for recommendations on how to tackle things, because regardless of what people say - or the semantics ones may use to split hairs - it seems very clear to me BOTW has an intended path through it for the most refined curve of progression/difficulty and it seems going off this path will either result in more enjoyment for those hardcore crowds and more frustration for people like me.

The only reason I haven’t is mostly a pride thing, if I am being honest. I was playing Nocturne not long before I started BOTW and I literally had to have a guide open at all times to make any progression in Nocturne at all, before I eventually gave up.

By contrast, booting up BOTW for the first time, fresh off of Nocturne’s utter defeat of me, BOTW in a moment to moment sense is such a rewarding intuitive experience. It is just in a wider sense where this stuff breaks down, with the game letting me tackle stuff clearly way earlier than intended, making for a brutally hard slog of gameplay that probably wouldn’t have felt that way had the game just kept it out of my reach until I was ready to do it or gave me some sort of warning that I wasn’t ready, so the more hardcore people could still take on the challenge if they wanted while I went off to do something else.

However, you are right - I need a guide not just to be able to play the game at all like I did with Nocturne but more to get the level gating information the game hides from you, so I know if picking up a quest line/going to an area of the map will be completable with where I currently am or will result in a soft lock dead end. That way I can make more informed investments of time and get a constant sense of progression.