Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Pizzamorg I don't need Pokemon to be hard. They'll never be hard games. They probably shouldn't be. I just want... one or two design concessions so that they're not braindead easy. SuMo, for all its flaws, actually tried injecting a little more challenge into the games, but they seem to have fully backed off of that at this point.

I think some of my frustration stemmed from the fact that I was constantly rotating Pokemon in order to keep myself underleveled to try and not one-shot enemy trainers and gym leaders, going into gym battles with the wrong types, etc., and eventually the absurdity of such a playstyle struck me like a brick. Then I'd go out into the wild areas, and those would run at 5fps when online and were just... barren... with nothing to find. GF doesn't understand open game design, which is why I'm still wary of how Legends: Arceus will turn out.

What really did it for me, though, was the way GF gutted the multiplayer suite in-game to push people toward their paid service. People can trash X & Y all they like, but those games had the best, most convenient trading features in the entire series. SuMo messed that up with its revamped system, but that was just an honest mistake. This was like... like they were deliberately making the game worse to shill a companion service. I already pay for NSO, so I should have full access to the multiplayer features in a Pokemon game. IN-GAME.

Putting aside the robotic character models and HORRIBLE wild area implementation, I agree the art style looks nice. It's one of the few aspects of the game I'll defend. It's a visually pleasing game when you're traveling on the routes.

@Ralizah
Everything you're saying is pretty much proving what is and has always been the hunch: Pokemon "people" are very exacting in their critiques, whereas the rest of us shmucks who play every few generations or so generally enjoy the games and don't notice too much that seems broken or horribly out of place.

@rallydefault I wouldn't necessarily call myself a "Pokemon person." I generally just follow the series from gen to gen, but even missed two of them (Gens 3 and 4, to be exact; I jumped back on after that), and only really play the single-player stuff.

None of what I'm critiquing is something you'd only expect from a dedicated Pokemon fan. Just someone who trades online occasionally and likes to complete all the sp content.

There it is- 13 Sentinels.

And this is why I hold off for Switch announcements.

First Vanillaware game on Switch, too. Surprised they never brought Muramasa.

@Buizel @Grumblevolcano
I can see why people will feel that way when they see what else the Switch has achieved, however, you can’t make up a game in your own head and then complain the game is not that. I think that is where some of the criticism becomes sort of overblown to me, however, I will agree the second half of the game can feel a little rushed. I don’t think the story resolved well or made a lot of sense in the end. I also have no frame of context over the whole national dex thing, so I’ll bow to your expertise on that.

In terms of difficulty @Ralizah and @link3710, I personally don’t want any frustration in my games, so I don’t see it as a bad thing if they are trying to remove all frustration from the experience. I can agree S/S leant on the easier side, but I think it was the lesser of two evils, any harder and I think frustration would have creeped in at points and that would have dragged the game down for me. I don’t want that.

I really had no issues with becoming over levelled, but then I avoid all the grinding I can in games as I think it is an antiquated pacing mechanism. I think a game should grow with the player and S/S mostly does that.

I will say the online infrastructure is pretty garbage, but so is NSO in general, so I am not really sure who is at fault there.

Switch Pro Controller is $49.99 at Walmart.

Good opportunity for anyone who doesn't have one.

@Pizzamorg It's not the difficulty. I can play through Platinum, HGSS, or Black and White without dying easily enough. It's that there's no optional areas, nothing to explore, nothing but the beaten path. It's totally possible to have explorable areas without the game being frustrating, but the series needs to be handholding enough that it's literally impossible to get lost, not simply highly unlikely. And that distinction is where a lot of potentially fun gameplay goes out the window.

@Ralizah
But again, I don't even know what "sp content" is lol Is that just short for single player? I don't trade online, either.

I'm saying there are plenty of peasants out there like me who really know nothing about Pokemon outside of watching the TV show and playing Red/Blue when we were kids. I just enjoy a good Pokemon adventure from time to time.

@link3710 Agreed. Sun/Moon were especially bad about this IMO. They didn't feel like an adventure, and more like a guided tour around the islands.

So, Life Is Strange True Colors doesn't even release on Switch until a week from Tuesday (digitally) and February (physically) yet BestBuy has the Switch version preorder on sale alongside all the other versions.

Life Is Strange: True Colors preorder on sale for $34.99 at BestBuy

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/life-is-strange-true-colors-nint...

@JaxonH Got to get that money from unknowing shoppers. I mean, look how many retailers put up games for pre-order that are still many years away from release.

So I started Brilliant Diamond, is time of day determined by the Switch's clock like Animal Crossing or is it a cycle that's less than 24 hours?

@JaxonH That's rather unheard of for a preorder to be discounted because the same game already released on other platforms is discounted.

@Grumblevolcano It's determined by the Switch's clock. However, you can't time travel like in Animal Crossing. If you try to do so it'll lock any time based events for 24 hours.

@Grumblevolcano
I think what happened is, they put the other versions on sale, and accidentally included the Switch version by mistake.

Cause otherwise, ya. Like you say, it's rare to see pre-orders go on discount.

It's a good deal. I really hope Switch gamers support it. Sometimes it seems like, the better the graphics, the less the fanbase is interested for some reason.

This is my #1 problem with the most recent games: the lack of exploration. Gen 5 was arguably the start of this (the region and progression through it was very linear, however there were loads of optional areas to explore), but Gens 6 and onwards is where it got worse. Gens 7 and 8 in particular have massively stripped down routes, coinciding with the introducing of a dynamic camera (as opposed to a top-down view). These games are the ones they really railroad you through a set path both in terms of region and narrative design. However I'm willing to forgive Sword/Shield for this more because I generally prefer its setting, Pokemon, and the wild area. Plus the DLC was a step in the right direction when it comes to exploration.

Absolutely. As time goes on, Pokemon feels like about creating your own adventure, and more about being dragged along someone else's story.

I dunno how I feel about the whole open world thing, I love open world games but I dunno whether Pokemon would actually be better for it. One of the things I liked about S/S was how focused it was, I think the art of a curated, linear, journey has been sort of lost in modern gaming. I think a part of why S/S felt so well tuned to me was because it was such a controlled experience that didn’t allow players the ability to go too far off script and potentially break the flow. I do agree at points the game felt overly handholdy and rushed, but to me a more open, exploration focused version of S/S isn’t just an automatic win. I could see just as much of a chance of that ruining the game’s momentum and pacing, if done poorly.

That is why I am quite intrigued by the apparent hub focus of Legends, if true and done well, it might strike a good middle ground. Possibly giving the players the opportunity for exploration, but still keeping them on somewhat of a leash, so the devs can still have some degree of control over the proceedings to allow the game to retain a form, structure and clear pace/momentum.

@Buizel Yeah, I literally can't bring myself to try the DLC. I keep hearing from everyone that it helps redeem the base game but I just have no desire to open that game again.

@Pizzamorg I'll be honest, the way you describe it doesn't sound that bad. I personally hated S/S' pacing though so... That def didn't help lol.

As a sidenote, I'm actually really enjoying BDSP. While it still pisses me off the sheer number of things that should have been fixed that weren't (honey trees come to mind, as well as the lack of platinum updates), the Grand Underground mixes what I liked about the OG one with some of what was good about the Wild Area, and let's me explore it at my own pace. Capsules being on the main menu makes me update them way more, I missed them. And Sinnoh does have a really fun map. This is probably the most fun I've had with a Pokemon game since... ORAS probably.

EDIT: Okay this is petty but I have to mention it. Just got to the berry master's house, and the lady who used to sell you fertilizer sells berries now. Fine, fertilizer was an annoying mechanic, I don't mind it's removal. But she still has the same dialogue, so she talks about how she makes the berries she's selling by mixing high quality dirt with manure... honestly made me laugh. Can't believe no one noticed that.

NA never got the Brilliant Diamond + Shining Pearl steelbook exclusive to UK. I had to order on eBay for $50 because I'm a diehard Switch steelbook collector.

Pokemon Legends Arceus also has one, but Amazon UK won't ship to US.

Thankfully, FNAC out of France sells the steelbook separately (for €40) but offers it free with the game for €49.99. And they ship to the US. I figure if I'm gonna pay $50-60 for it, may as well get an EU copy of the game to sell on eBay and recoup some costs. Even selling at $45 and pocketing $35, that puts net cost below buying it directly.

If anyone is interested, here's the link. Use Chrome to translate to English.

https://jeux-video.fnac.com/a13568553/Legendes-Pokemon-Arceus...

I'd always been curious about the Plants vs. Zombies shooter spinoff titles. Finding the newest one at 14 dollars at Gamestop is as good a time as any I guess.

That game came out on Switch this year, so that's a pretty great deal.

It's really fun, too. I'm just not big into multi-player focused games. It does have some single player offline content though. And Gyro aiming.

So many good deals. If I didn't own everything already I'd take a few hundred bucks and just grab the top 20 games on a deep sale.

I'm suddenly reminded we live in a world where a AAA Monster Hunter game exists on an OLED hybrid handheld, and all is right in the world...