Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Magician Just to add, the level of quality third party games is better too where it's more than an endless ocean of (sorry Anti!) shovel ware that consists of princess pony cooking rubbish which you can pick up in the bargain bin for less than half the price of a Starbucks.

I am over ten hours into BD now and unless it is like Shield where the second half of the game felt super rushed, I think I am in for a long haul here given I haven't even got my third badge yet.

Talking of that third gym, my Jirachi and Haunter seemed like a perfect one two punch for the Leader until I got to their Lucario and that thing just DESTROYED me. I have no idea why that Drain Punch move it does, does so much damage, but damn. Like even when its not super effective it one shots my entire team, even Pokemon of the same level.

I won't say BD is hard to the point of being frustrating, but compared to Shield where it is basically a very organic curve all the way through - maybe a little on the easy side of that curve - I feel like BD has really made me work my ass off for each piece of progress. The underground and the ability to rebattle trainers helps with the grind, but I really do feel like I properly need to engage with this game in a way I didn't feel like I needed to with Shield.

And that probably sounds like a negative for Shield, but I think it is more oppressive here, you have to basically play the match game here, which takes away from the aspect I enjoy of building a team of Pokemon you befriend over your adventure. Here, Pokemon are more disposable tools I swap in and out to try and keep pace with the type distributions of enemy teams and that is just less fun for me.

I think a lot of this comes from bad design decisions, rather than it being a really engaging title. While the underground helps a little, I feel like it is difficult to have an even type coverage in how Pokemon are distributed in BD. As you go to each new location, they only seem to add one or two new Pokemon to the existing selection (and maybe the evolution of past Pokemon) which means there are lots of types I have either never seen in the wild, or have only bumped into one Pokemon of that type.

You couple that with Pokemon that just seem to hit extra hard for no explainable reason and fights can turn into real slogs. While that Lucario or that Dino in the first gym will hit you like a runaway train, your moves generally seem to do less damage as well. Super Effective moves aren't a guaranteed one shot a lot of the time and if you are only hitting regular moves, you better be ready for a real sludgefest as you chip away so little, it feels like calling the move "effective" must be an error. I wouldn't say I necessarily miss the Arceus battle system, which I think was bad in the opposite direction, but something in the middle of these two systems would be appreciated.

I guess a lot of this was done to make you more actively engage with the underground portion of the game. And that is fine, I am happy to, but the underground feels less practical than Shield's wild area and for whatever reason the Pokemon in the underground seem to be impossible to catch. They have like one HP, be paralysed and just kick out at one constantly.

Honestly I had a pretty different experience. I agree the type variety in BDSP is very mediocre, but I didn’t find it particularly difficult at all outside of parts of the E4 and post game stuff.

I enjoyed SwSh but found my team felt increasingly replaceable, as I shuffled a bunch of them in and out trying to keep them from being too overleveled.

@Pizzamorg my main criticism with BDSP is that the level curve is all over the place. This is partly due to the branching pathways of the original game (you can do badges 3 and 4 in any order), but mostly due to poor balancing around the mandatory Exp Share.

While I don't remember the first 3 badges being particularly difficult, I think you're going to have a much easier time for gyms 4 to 6. Around this point the levels begin to really stagnate and, if you fight every trainer like me, you'll probably find yourself a good 10 levels above a couple of the gym leaders...

Yeah it definitely isn't hard all the time, just has very sharp spikes that feel like real walls or like team checks where you have to go away, rebuild or grind, to overcome them. It isn't inherently a bad thing, but I just didn't expect to do this as often as I have had to, after playing Shield where I think I only ever had to really stop and grind once.

Here, the early portion up until you beat the first gym leader was pretty hard. The second gym leader i was able to beat first time, but I have to wonder if it would have gone different if I wasn't given that Jirachi, as up until this point I don't think there is a single fire Pokemon you find in the wild.

After that point, I was having pretty competitive battles with trainers in the wild, but mostly coming out on top. In Shield you basically never had to use items, but I am getting through a pretty steady flow of them here as I top up in between battles.

I faced my rival for the second time I think it was and during that fight, he beat me into the floor. I had to grind and come back. I only levelled up a couple of levels and beat them on the second go, so I guess I wasn't that far behind but I don't think the Rival ever gave me trouble in Shield.

From there, it felt like the game generally become significantly easier, but then I got to this third gym and their Lucario just Nuked my whole squad.

@Magician In terms of total number of 3rd party games, sure Switch is at the top for Nintendo systems but I was meaning in the sense of NES and SNES felt like a bigger representation for 3rd party support as a whole at the time.

@Grumblevolcano

I can't agree with that perspective. I feel as though the Switch's first party lineup is the weakest in the company's history amongst their various platforms. Which helps the third party games standout. I imagine when fans look back upon the NES and SNES there's little doubt they're thinking fondly about the first party lineup before even considering the third party offerings.

Switch third party support is the best Nintendo has had, and the best they've received since the SNES days imo. And while some of it is lackluster such as releasing whatever they can on the eshop or ports that don't run all to well the Switch gets a lot of good releases from third parties which is good to see.

Someone with more time and energy than me needs to do a proper breakdown, taking out (or at least putting to one side) all the games that are just ports from previous gen systems.

@gcunit That doesn't seem fair since Nintendo themselves are charging full price for last gen ports whilst treating them as big new releases.

@jump I'm not sure how your point applies here, thought we were just comparing third party support with previous Nintendo platforms.

I never liked the idea of "categorizing" support in various labeled buckets. A game is a game is a game. Be it a brand new exclusive, a brand new multiplat, a port of an old exclusive or a port of an old multiplat, at the end of the day they're all the same- they're just games.

Sometimes old multiplats or old exclusives have already been played by some, diminishing their appeal. On the flip side, it's a known quanity- you know it's a great game, and oftentimes it's been so long since you've played it feels fresh all over again anyways.

Likewise, a brand new exclusive or multiplat has never been experienced, but there's no guarantee it'll be good, and even if it is, it may not be more enjoyable than a stone cold classic ported over that feels just as fresh.

I hold no prejudice or favoritism toward certain categories of games. I value them all on even ground. Brand new exclusive games like Switch Sports, current gen multiplats like Zombie Army 4, last gen ports like Portal 1/2, or last gen exclusives ported over like DKC Tropical Freeze. A good game is a good game.

I started a new save file in Splatoon 2 a week ago and I'm having the time of my life! Even having already played it to death 5 years ago with hundreds of hours, it feels just as fun this time around as it did last time. The value the game offers didn't diminish in the slightest, even though I already played it.

So all those last gen ports, late current gen multiplats, Wii U exclusives ported over... They're just as valid, just as fun and just as exciting as any new exclusive releasing. At least to me.

The Wii U had an install base of 13 million. The Switch will be approaching 110 million. I think it's fair to say these Wii U ports are enjoyed and appreciated as new experiences by the majority of users.

Turns out the cars in the MK8 Deluxe version of Coconut Mall not moving is a bug rather than an intentional choice. If you look at Mario Kart Tour footage of the same track, the cars move like in the Wii and 3DS versions.

@Magician Honestly, I think the Switch’s first party lineup is pretty strong and will be fondly remembered in the future even when compared to previous consoles. Many of the titles released on it were very well received or big steps for their franchises. Fire Emblem, Kirby, Pokémon, Zelda, etc. Not all of them managed to knock it out of the park, some releases were more lackluster or mixed like with Yoshi or Paper Mario, but it’s been pretty excellent so far.

Does anyone know where to get some cheap eshop cards?

@Grumblevolcano, I still don't know if it's a bug. In 8D the cars are in an angled position (slightly facing towards the direction you're coming from, they're sort of looking at you), while in Tour they completely have their sides facing you (facilitating the left/right movement).

If the fact that they don't move in 8D is a bug you'd think that they'd still be positioned the same as they are in Tour (indicating that they SHOULD be going back & forth), but they're not.

Ya, Switch exclusive library beats the snot out of every other system I've played or owned. SNES still has the trifecta of Super Mario World, Super Metroid and Zelda Link to the Past, bur Switch has Super Mario Odyssey, Metroid Dread and Zelda Breath of the Wild, and frankly all 3 of those are better games than their SNES counterparts imo. That's not even mentioning the other Mario/Metroid/Zelda games like 3D World, 3D All Stars, Mario Maker 2, NSMBU, the coming Metroid Prime 4 (and hopefully Prime Remastered), Zelda BotW 2, Zelda Link's Awakening, Zelda Skyward Sword (and hopefully Zelda WW/TP), ​Pokémon games like Arceus, Let's Go, Sword/Shield, BD/SP Remakes, the coming Scarlet/Violet and New Pokémon Snap, Splatoon 2 and 3, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (by far the best to date), Smash Bros (also the best to date), Switch Sports, Triangle Strategy (one of the best SRPGs of all time), DKC Tropical Freeze (best 2D platformer of all time), Cruis'n Blast (definitely the best arcade racer), Fire Emblem Three Houses, Xenoblade Chronicles 1, 2 and 3, Kirby Forgotten Land (best Kirby to date), Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Spark of Hope (far better than the dated Mario RPG), Monster Hunter Rise and Sunbreak (and MHGU), Pikmin 3, SMTV, WarioWare, and the total onslaught of games in the pipeline like Mario Strikers Battle League, Advance Wars 1+2, Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes and the games we know are around the corner, such as a new Fire Emblem.

For being just 5 years into the system's lifespan, that's a pretty impressive spread, but what makes it even more impressive is the quality of the games. The majority are pure bangers. There's a few misses, or games that are good but not great (Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Yoshi's Crafted World, Kirby Star Allies, etc) but those games still have their audience and provide variety all the same.

By the time this generation is over, Switch is going to have such an advantage over previous Nintendo libraries it won't even be close. Combined with the best 3rd party support they've ever had with many of the best games ever made coming to Switch, it's untouchable.

Nintendo has their work cut out for them if Switch 2 is to rival the original Switch with its library.

@Scooby-Doo
Raise is a good place to get 8% back on eShop cards, but I tend to wait for the 10% off deals from Newegg, Amazon, NintendoLife Store, etc.

@JaxonH I'm trying to get something that is only on sale until the 8th, and raise just comes up as a 403 error.

@Scooby-Doo
Comes up fine for me. Try this link

https://www.raise.com/buy-nintendo-eshop-gift-cards