Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Kermit1
Casual animated murder is tight.

@JaxonH It would bypass the need to coordinate with people for passwords. And, yeah, joining a lobby is quick-ish, but it's silly that you don't have the option to immediate join someone's lobby when they invite you.

The way they designed it is suboptimal. That's all I'm saying.

@Grumblevolcano It's literally called a "partner showcase." Atlus was a Nintendo partner, and we got information on a notable exclusive for the system. The problem is with people who expect every Nintendo-related stream to drop news about first-party games. Usually because that's all they, personally, care about.

@kkslider5552000 I'm also surprised Nintendo isn't pushing harder with a game that literally utilizes their most famous IP.

With that said, I don't have any issue with Ubisoft's marketing for the game. The reveal showcased the game's space theme and introduced the basic premise. Subsequent streams and trailers have talked about differences in gameplay, including the option to ditch the grid from the original.

I know they don't have Nintendo's talent at marketing, but the generally... ah... subdued reaction to the game online seems bizarre. Especially given how excellent the original was.

People want an ambitious Mario-themed RPG? Here you go. Even more RPG-ish than the original, from the look of it.

Ooblets has been announced the physical release on Switch according to play-asia.
Still cross my fingers for PS4 version release.

@Ralizah
Come to think of it, it is odd it requires a password still even if you invite a friend. There should be an option which lets you set a password, but friends/invites bypass it.

Ya know what just came to mind- the Mario & Luigi series. Those games always seemed to get more attention than this new Mario Rabbids, despite not being anywhere near the level of high quality AAA polish.

Perhaps it's because Sept/Oct/Nov is so packed, with Splatoon 3, Diofield Chronicle, Bayonetta 3, Mario Rabbids, Persona 5 Royal, Nier Automata, No Mans Sky, Harvestella, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, Tactics Ogre... and that's 3 strategy games in those 3 months as well. Granted, the other 2 are more niche, but still. Every game has its audience and spreads people thinner.

Even so, Mario Rabbids is non-negotiable for me. But there's a lot of non-negotiable games in that lineup. It may be people just can't get them all, and figure Splatoon, Pokémon and Bayonetta are their big 3 games for those 3 months (and Persona 5 Royal and Nier Automata- those are two games ppl have been desperately waiting for on Switch for years- I'm quite sure they'll be at the top of many gamers' shopping lists).

It'll have legs though. Especially once it starts going on sale.

Also, now that Persona 5 Royal is coming to Switch, don't sleep on Persona 5 Strikers. There was a lot of ppl saying, "I'm not gonna play this without the mainline game being on Switch for me to play first". Well, the mainline game is about to be on Switch for you to play. And now you can add Persona 5 Strikers to the list as well. It's a fantastic game. No excuses left!

@JaxonH Speaking of Persona, I've been thinking about the announcements again recently and there's one game in particular I'm very excited for:

....and it's NOT this one (though 5 is still really cool)!

No, the game I'm most excited for.....is Person 4 Golden.

I've never played a single Persona game before in my life so when they were first announced, my general reaction was relief that the wait was finally over but my personal one was of general disinterest. However, giving them another look at them recently, 4 Golden looks exactly like what I'm looking for: engaging premise, godly RPG gameplay and a damn compelling visual novel all wrapped up together in a LOOOOOONG package. It certainly sounds like hipster bait I'm aware ('Persona 5? Pshaw! I chose Persona 4 guffaw guffaw!') but my steadily building excitement, along with the tie-in game just so happening to be a FIGHTING game, has cemented my decision on which one to go for. Best part? It'll probably come out in 2023, leaving me plenty of time to recuperate the funds that Splatoon and Pokemon will yoink out of my wallet come the end of the year. I'm honestly getting more and more excited the more and more I think about it so I'll stop here for now. Maybe Persona will be the series to hit the yearly quota of 'series I get into this year'? 2020 was Splatoon, 2021 was Ace Attorney and 2022 is Street Fighter. You never know....

@Fizza
I'm more looking forward to the Persona 3 port since I've never played that one before, and it looked like it had a nice balance of dark and light story elements like Persona 5 (the kids literally shoot themselves in the head to trigger their persona). It's just a shame they're porting the PSP version instead of FES.

@Maxenmus Probably a stupid question to ask considering the name, but I assume that P4G will be the Vita version (aka the system it originally released on)?

@Fizza
Nah, not a stupid question, and you're right, it's the Vita version since that's the Golden version.

@Fizza
I prefer Persona 4 Golden over Persona 5 Royal. And I don't think I'm the only one.

But make no mistake, if you're attracted to P4G and think you'd enjoy it, you should absolutely play Persona 5 Royal. It follows the same gameplay blueprint. They're similar in nearly all respects. If you like one, you'll like the other. And Persona 5 Royal has a ton of quality of life improvements you'll appreciate, that make it easier to get into.

@Fizza Which games have better music, story, characters, etc. is a matter of pure opinion, but I'll say this: Persona 5 Royal represents a DRAMATIC improvement over its predecessor in terms of gameplay and especially dungeon design.

Like, P4G's dungeons are randomized layouts of featureless hallways where cutscenes trigger every once in a while. No puzzles, and very little interactivity. Whereas P5R features enormous, hand-crafted dungeons with prominent puzzle elements that change up how they play throughout the game.

I'm not trying to put you off P4G. It was a good game for its time. Rather, every aspect you mention being excited about in your post is even truer of P5R, so I heavily recommend not sleeping on it.

@JaxonH I dunno about M&L getting more attention. Didn't the developer for those games fold because nobody was buying them?

The general closeness of the release to so much else is a good point, though. Especially if you're a Nintendo-only gamer. I can't even imagine trying to juggle games like NieR Automata, P5R, Mario + Rabbids, Bayonetta 3, Splatoon 3, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, etc. at the same time.

If NieR Automata is a good port, you're in for a serious treat. The combat isn't quite as deep as in Bayonetta, but it's such a fuller package: the story is intricate and multi-layered; the music is godly; gameplay heavily involves exploration and side-questing.

@Ralizah @JaxonH I think I'm personally more interested in the smaller scale that P4 is set in (a town in the mountains compared to big city Tokyo) but both do look really interesting and I'm definitely excited to try both, it's just that P4 is the one I personally want to start with is all. Thanks for letting me know the positives of 5 though, I'll definitely give it a go if I like 4

@Fizza I think Persona 4 is very very good, but on the other hand Persona 5 could very well be one of the best JRPGs ever. I went and played 4 after beating 5 and lots of gameplay elements were in there, meaning a lot of systems you'd recognise between the two, but the improvement in quality is seismic. 5 looks better, is longer (for some that's good, others bad), and for me has a real sense of vision and direction with all the style, Personas used, colours, music direction, etc. Don't miss 5 for the world, you will regret it.

Well yes but that was more because it was all they were doing and they were getting rapidly diminishing returns on 3DS. Two of which came out after the Switch did.

@TheJGG If P5R had more well-balanced combat (it's still pretty easy even on the highest difficulty setting), it'd be a contender for one of the best JRPGs ever made, IMO. Particularly given how excellent the Royal-exclusive expansion content is.

Re-introducing SMT elements like guns, negotiations, proper dungeons, etc. was incredibly smart as well.

@kkslider5552000 Seems like the series peaked in terms of consumer interest with Bowser's Inside Story, which sold an impressive 4.5 million copies. Sales for every game released afterward kept spiraling downward.

I think the Mario & Luigi series was also victim of the 3DS. It couldn't expand beyond that user base, and due to how incredibly low powered the device was, the games couldn't really evolve in any meaningful way.

I'm of the same mind. I was kinda tempted to maybe give it a spin but then I saw Cult of Lamb. Entirely different game I know but if I'm going to spend a few dollars on a small title I'm probably going to get more out of Cult of Lamb. Especially when Hades and Animal Crossing are two of my most played games of the last few years by an unhealthy margin......

@Grumblevolcano That’s fair. I’d forgotten about Reggie leveraging his connections to make Nintendo relevant at the VGAs. Yeah I assume that Nintendo will save BOTW2 info for a blowout Direct. They have the install base now and the hype since BOTW has been tried and tested. At this point whomever is invested in Switch is invested.

@JaxonH @Grumblevolcano fair enough. I will wait on reviews.

@JaxonH 3DS was able to run Wii ports and a fully 3D Mario game, so while I acknowledge Switch would've been a better platform for M&L after 2017, I don't agree that it didn't have the space to evolve.

There's no reason that, after Dream Team, which sold respectably, the next three games needed to be a Paper Mario crossover and then two unnecessary remasters of older games in the series.

Some developers just lose the plot over time, whether it be due to key people moving on to other companies or them just having no vision for where the series should go moving forward.

@Ralizah I've seen videos of the combat on the hardest difficulty and how easy it looked. I'm personally a con artist when it comes to JRPGs, I am average at best. For that reason I turned it down to Safety by the time I got to the fourth palace lol. I think the combat's the weakest part of the game though, it's pretty basic when you work out the ins and outs.

Still, with the combat anyway I believe it's one of the best of the best. Shame it came out same year as BotW because without it it would have swept every Game of the Year nomination.