8bit4Life

@Banjo- I am reading this comment after starting a new play through of RDR2, and the part about Zelda being sterile is pretty accurate. The world of RDR2 is expansive and interesting like Zelda open worlds, but the characters and writing are leagues above. Xenoblade Chronicles X is also like RDR2 to a lesser extent. I’m not sure if mechs or horses are better.

This game will vacuum up much of my free time very soon.

I bought it on WiiU right at the end of support for the online functionality, so I didn’t get to experience any of that. Switch will undoubtedly breath a lot of life into the online experience.

Switch 2 is the best decision Nintendo has made in console-naming since Switch. Everyone, even Grandma knows that the 2 means it’s the new version. SwitchU would have been confusing.

Time feels so unreal because I remember the Switch reveal like it was a few weeks ago, only to realize it's been about 8 years. I'll probably be able to pick up the next one on launch morning by waiting outside of Best Buy again like last time. They open later than competitors.

@Mando44646 Yours is fast, but mine is slow. Where they get them, I don't know...

Since I am almost 100% docked on my Switch, I say make it as big as needed to fit extra power in. This will go next to the PS5 Pro.

Between Xenoblade Chronicles X, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and Monster Hunter Wilds, I think 2025 will be complete when it’s only 1/4 of the way through. I won’t need anything else, unless Switch 2 has a surprise Zelda or Mario title.

Switch 2 will most likely be very underwhelming when it comes to specs.

People will complain like last time, myself included. Myself and all the others will still buy it. Switch 2 will sell a lot of units.

The end.

It’s a n interesting feature. These handheld PCs are finally getting powerful enough to almost entice me to buy one. Just another generation or two, along with the ability to choose SteamOS as default and we will be there.

I missed this article back in October, so I’m glad to see it on the 2024 recap.

FF3 on the Super Nintendo is also one of my all-time favorite video games. At the time I was not quite old enough to drive, so my older brother drove us to Best Buy. This was the era when the video games were locked behind glass, lined up in categories. I clearly remember how my favorite games (RPGs) were always in short supply, and $75-$90 per title. That was all of my birthday money and allowance saved up!

We just happened to walk into the store when the sole copy of Final Fantasy III was in the case. I didn’t even realize that the game was released yet. I still remember the anticipation waiting to get home, reading the manual while my brother drove, jamming to Counting Crows: August and Everything After.

Good times.

I hope that New L.A. has fresh music because it was jarring on the WiiU. Would also be nice if the cars driving around don’t just go right through you like a ghost.

In today’s world, Nintendo is very wise to watch development especially closely. You can’t allow one team to derail your franchise and potentially cost the company multiple millions. The buying audience is not what a lot of western studios have been trying to sell to in recent years.

@FX29 XBC3 is such a great story. I think it may be the saddest game I’ve played, but in a good way. If a game can make you care enough about the characters and the world enough to tug at your heart, it’s well-written.

@Neckcrane This game is why I keep my WiiU going. To answer your question, it has some mechanical similarities to the other games in the series, especially the combat system. Who knows how much that may be adjusted. Personally I’d like to see combat made more like XBC3. XCX is more similar in general to the Monolithsoft team’s earlier series, Xenosaga, which is sci-fi with mechs. XBX has an incredibly good open world for a game that released a decade ago on the WiiU of all platforms.

My household has 2 Switch consoles in it. Will be 3 whenever the Switch 2 arrives. I must have the best experience possible for xenoblade chronicles X. Hopefully the remaster includes new music for some of the areas like NLA.

I would love to see what Monolithsoft can do with more powerful hardware. Xenoblade Chronicles is my favorite JRPG series, so this team has my confidence going forward.

@Daimando Right now you can practically play WoW as a single player game, with optional multi-player. I came back to WoW a couple weeks ago after a decade-plus break and was pleasantly surprised to find that I can do the entire story campaign, including Follower dungeons, without needing to deal with other players. I agree that a single player offline version without subscriptions would be great, but I am having a good time catching up with what I have missed completely solo.

I haven’t played Astro Bot yet, but Astro’s Playroom was already the best thing since Super Mario Odyssey in the 3D platformer space. Both Mario and Astro play remarkably well and do it with a sense of joy that is quite rare.

I’m getting the switch 2 as soon as I can if it’s backwards compatible, and if it improves games such as Zelda and Xenoblade.

Also, I feel like I’m in rare company these days with a functional WiiU, going by the numbers in the article. Xenoblade Chronicles X is the best reason to own it.

@babyThorman I have always thought that it appears to be a hairpiece. Unfortunately for us guys, our hair doesn’t stay that dark and thick at his age.

I’m glad that these games helped and are continuing to get you through the difficult times in life. Don’t give up because better times are always ahead.

For me, World of Warcraft was something that held me together in what was the darkest time of my life, back in the Wrath of the Lich King era.

I was 9 or 10 years old when I was first introduced to Mr Toriyama’s incredible work when my family got Dragon Warrior for the NES. The experience was my entrance into RPGs, which has been my favorite genre ever since. I’ve always appreciated Toriyama’s art style and have played most of the games he’s been involved with.

I’m hoping that Monolithsoft updates all of the Xenoblade Chronicles games to take advantage of better frame rates, and that they finally release a remastered Xenoblade Chronicles X.

The only Ys game that really hooked me was Ys III: Wanderers From Ys on the Super Nintendo back in the early 90s.

It was a side scroller that reminded me of Zelda II, but with a lot more story and great music.

The game definitely has the Pokémon similarities. I played it some via Xbox Game Pass, and it felt pretty solid for an indie game. The constant crafting and survival aspects are not my cup of tea, so I stopped playing after an hour, but it felt like a good game.

I’m not a fan of heights. My knees get shaky and my palms sweat. Sometimes my hands get sweaty if I’m watching a video on my phone that shows people in really high and dangerous situations.

For most of TotK, the height situation was fine, but the sequence surrounding a particularly stormy area with trampolines had me hoping that the controller would not slip out of my hands.

I’m loving every minute of TotK, slowly exploring and finding as many secrets as possible before continuing the main quest too far.

The game uses the familiar but different land of Hyrule to great nostalgic effect if you spent a lot of time in BotW.

As many of my fellow old gamers have noted, just about any NES, and many SNES games had deceiving box art, and the text front and back didn’t necessarily match what we experienced after blowing on the cartridge and hitting the power button.

I’m a few hours into this DLC and wow, it’s fantastic.

How do these guys make consistently likable characters in this series?

Revali is my choice. I like his bravado.

In my experience, his special ability is also the most useful in minute to minute gameplay, so the Rito village is my first stop.

Looks amazing.

Maybe they will reveal something extra cool that my pre-ordered TotK Link Amiibo will do, in addition to the hang glider skin.

As an owner of both a Switch and PS5, I'm amazed at how well Nintendo can sell games at full price. Getting $10 off seems like a bargain, whereas Sony has huge sales going constantly, just like Steam on PC.

This is good news. I have been eyeing the Pixel remasters for awhile, but the only games I’ve enjoyed on mobile are the Dragon Quest ports.

While I typically choose PS4/PS5 for multi-platform releases, this collection is the perfect scenario for Switch.

“You Will Know Our Names” Xenoblade Chronicles 3

I jam to it on YouTube frequently.

I bought NMS at launch on PS4 and have watched it improve steadily ever since. While I don’t play it a lot, it is a game that I will occasionally lose hours of my time in as I discover new worlds.

I mostly play the creative mode so that I can explore without needing to worry about survival, fuel, or resources, but the new relaxed mode might be the way to go.

The game is great on the native PS5 version, and the Switch version looks surprisingly good.

I recommend this game to anyone who loves exploring in their video games.

I’m currently finishing up XBC Definitive Edition, which I put off far too long. It’s absolutely incredible. I should be finished by XBC3 lands.

@Ara This is true of all Xenoblade Chronicles games, I have found. At least that they all seem to require a good chunk of time in the first few hours to familiarize yourself and get the story going. It’s like a roller coaster slowly going up the first hill, then they are amazing the rest of the way through.

I’m in a mad rush to complete Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition before XBC3 goes live.

I played XBC2 first and loved it, but got too distracted to play the original until this past week. I’m really enjoying it so far.

One of my favorite things about XBC2 was the variety of English accents. I enjoyed the voices.

He is not wrong. I’m a OG Nintendo Generation at 42 years old. I played video games as my main hobby from a very early age, starting with Atari and then the big upgrade to NES. My hands and other muscles never developed in the same way that my athletic older brother and hands-on build-it-yourself younger brother did.

Now my 15 year old son is also a mega gamer and although he is 6’4”, he’s not going to make the football team any time soon.

This isn’t a complaint, or lamenting my life choices, but rather an observation that missing out on strengthening your body during the developmental years of your life will have lasting effects.

I just purchased Xenoblade Chronicles X from the Wii U eShop a week ago. Now I feel like I must grab any available DLC before it’s too late.

This is a game that I would love to see on more powerful hardware, but it would require some modifications because the game pad is used heavily.

I don’t think that the Switch is powerful enough to handle a proper definitive edition. One of the biggest weaknesses of XBCX is draw distance and LOD. It would make me super happy if Nintendo would sell the publishing rights to PlayStation.

I bought XBC2 when it launched, but kept stopping at chapter 3, several times. Then about 2 months ago I tried again and absolutely loved the game, playing through New Game Plus and Torna expansion. This past weekend I hooked up my WiiU and paid full price for Xenoblade Chronicles X on the eShop.

Next will be XBC1.

I think it is promising because it may prompt Nintendo to upgrade their hardware sooner as mobile tech improves.

Also, this might be a nice Xbox Game Pass streaming device.

I think this look would be awesome. The stylized look ages better than the original more realistic art style, which was was great in 2011.

No disrespect intended, but the Witcher author sounds just a tad like a curmudgeonly grandpa that doesn’t like new stuff or changes in life.

Whenever I see Sakurai, I cannot help but think about how closely he resembles Yui Mizuno from BABYMETAL.

I dunno... it looks more World of Warcraft in its art style than Breath of the Wild, if speaking about the scenery. The blades of tall grass did seem a little BotW to me, but that’s about it.

I bought it at release in North America back in 1994. As a high school nerd who grabbed everything from Squaresoft, the box art was all I had to go on. The game itself is something of a mix between old school Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but not as polished as either of them. However, it’s still worth playing for the history of it, or if you really like old school grinds. BoF2 is a massive improvement in every aspect of the game.

The inclusion of Breath of Fire makes me hopeful for many more awesome RPGs later on.