So, I know this is an old article and I doubt many people are reading the comments, but I wanted to add something interesting...
I started having a really bad Left Stick drift problem on my Pro Controller that kind just abruptly came out of nowhere. I tried calibrating. No dice.
I tried de-syncing then re-syncing. Nothing.
So then I looked up how to fix it and found this article. Not having all of the necessary stuff to clean the insides of the stick right now, a simple (if slightly strange) idea randomly popped into my head:
HOW I FIXED THE ISSUE
1. Instead of putting the console into sleep mode, I decided to turn the system off completely, manually - pressing the power button until the "Turn off" option appears.
2. I let the Switch sit powered off for a minute. I also set the Pro Controller aside and didn't touch it.
3. I turned the Switch back on - again, manually, pressing down on the power button on the console itself.
4. Once it powered on and it was at the screen lock (where you have to press a button three times to get in), I picked up the Pro Controller and tapped the buttons until it synced/connected.
5. I booted up the game I was playing (Diablo 2) and lo and behold, the drift was entirely gone!
My thought was that maybe during a reboot (like when the system updated), the control stick was moved and it stayed like that, ever so slightly - but who knows.
It worked for me, maybe it'll work for someone else, too
"it doesn't quite manage to avoid falling into the trap of having its protagonists come across as rather spoiled white folk intruding where they simply don't belong."
Why is sort of casual racism acceptable in the media today? It's honestly very unnecessary and legitimately racist. Please leave skin color-based generalizations out of your reviews.
Aside from that, the review was really detailed and informative.
@Anti-Matter In your response to me, you referred to yourself in the first person 15 times.
The number of times that you used 2nd person pronouns (ie "you", "your", "you all", etc): 0
The number of times to you referred to anyone else in the comments section using 3rd person pronouns (ie "he/her","they", "them", "their", etc): 0.
I suppose that in one small line, your did use the (somewhat vague and detached) "someone" to refer to the people you've rubbed the wrong way, so I suppose the argument could be made for 1. Of course, it was one word in a sea of repetitive "me, me, me" "I, I, I" nonsense, so...it seems pretty inconsequential.
I'm not going to spend time addressing anything else you wrote bc you've literally written the nearly the same exact things about 20 times already. I honestly can't tell if you're maybe just a child, or if you're just an uber fanboy /apologist for Nintendo, or both. You could also be a troll, or all three of those things.
@snatcher Directly? Yeah. I've been noticing his comments for awhile, this is just the first time I decided to wade into it (mostly out of boredom, admittedly).
@savage_joe Thanks - I appreciate the endorsement haha.
@-wc- Off-topic, but I just wanted to say that your mentioning Gameplayer was kinda cool to see. It was totally my favorite gaming magazine during that era. The absurd surrealist / irreverent humor in it was genuinely entertaining and kind of ahead of its time, imo. It was sort of like the Adult Swim of videogame mags (long before Adult Swim was even a popular thing).
Anyway, I think it was very underrated then and is rarely mentioned now (imo), so it was a pleasant surprise to see you name drop it. Those were some good times.
@Anti-Matter I think the reason why you're annoying everyone is the fact that everything you say is "me, me, me". It's what you want and it seems like you could care less about anyone else's experiences.
Is basic empathy, understanding and the acknowledgement of others' concerns really that difficult? Like, literally everyone is happy that you enjoy the game, but - if you can't understand or acknowledge the reasons for why others wouldn't - then why even bother having a conversation?
We get it that you like Permanent EXP Share and believe that everyone should be like you and just enjoy the game as it is and accept all of developer's decisions - like, we got it the first 25 times you said it.
It's the fact that you keep repeating yourself in an incredibly self-centered sort way that is rubbing people the wrong way. It's just really strange (but - then again - maybe you really are just doing it on purpose. I dunno.)
Anyway - shifting gears now - I obviously believe that more options are never a bad thing. It is pretty much always a net positive. And as for the topic of random battles - I actually prefer the surprise aspect of pokemon being concealed until a battle begins over seeing them in the overworld. But maybe that's because I'm a 38 year old, old school gamer who's overly set in his ways haha.
It makes sense. You can't put small miscellaneous items inside of it - seems like there's an invisible barrier to all but the player. Good find, though.
After my kinda-sorta hugely impressive yet incredibly time consuming feat of breeding all but one of every single rare-type flower in the game (which as anyone who's ever gone down the flower breeding rabbit hole could attest, is an insanely complicated task), I eventually found the game tiresome and needed to "take a break".
That break ended up being several months long. Prior to this October, I'd probably played the game only 2 or 3 times during that span of time. But then after seeing just how massive of an update 2.0 would be, I felt strangely compelled to return to the game and to prep my island for all of the new things.
The first thing on my agenda? Finally breed the stupid purple windflower I needed and convert land into a full-fledged farm. I put a 120% into that task and by November 1, I finally succeeded! <3 And, not to brag, but the farm area looks fantastic - especially with all the veggies.
As for Happy Home Paradise? What can I say about it - except that it's amazing. The miniature sandboxes have totally helped me to try out new ideas with my island. It's really re-fueled my creativity. In fact, the projects that I've been working on now are probably among the most impressive I've ever done, both in scale and in technical detail. The replayability for it is unreal. I don't usually like paid DLC, but this was worth every penny.
The combination of that and base game 2.0 feels more like a sequel than it does an update. The wait for it was excruciating, but I'm kinda glad we got one huge update VS what might have been a more constant trickle of stuff ad nauseum. The payoff has been huge - and it made all of the waiting worth it!
WHAT?? I didn't know the Warp Pipes are actually functional! I've actually skipped on most of the Mario stuff due to the items not really working with my island's aesthetic...but if what you said is true, then I'll def find a way to work in the Warp Pipes!
Thank you Kate Gray for filling me in on that very awesome detail! And I'm totally glad I read the article, start to finish!
Good lord, what a whiny, cynical lot some of you lot at the top of the thread are. I can't wait to give the expansion a go. Is AC:NH perfect? No. Is Nintendo the most business savvy company ever? No. But, I generally love the game and I more often than not love what Nintendo creates, even in spite of its occasional shortcomings. As proven above, though - you mileages clearly vary.
I can't blame them for getting the heck out of Commiefornia. Good lord, what a peak embarrassment to the union. Aside from that though, the tax rate and cost of rent there is crippling to any business, or human making less than 6 digits.
I've played Mario 64 since the day it launched and dozens of times thereafter and yet - somehow - I literally never realized that the game was 100% devoid of |?| blocks. In fact, I have vivid memories of them being in the game - but, the memories are false! Craziness.
I hope that whenever he retires, Nintendo goes back to voicing Mario as the gruff sounding, masculine, alpha Italian-American plumber with a strong Brooklyn accent that I knew him to be as a kid. If that's the version of Mario that Pratt channels, then I would be all for it.
Don't get me wrong, I love Martinet - he's a talented and iconic video game voice actor - but I've always struggled with his interpretation of Mario in particular. Although over the last 26 years I've grown more than accustomed to it, I still prefer Albano's portrayal.
Of course, that's probably me speaking as someone who's 38 and dons thick nostalgia glasses when viewing the mid-late 80s and early 90s.
Either way, long live Martinet!
@CazSonOfCaz I only just saw your comment - you beat me to it and I obviously concur!
Such an iconic game - though primitive by today's standards, in its day, it set the bar high for all of the loot-based dungeon crawlers to follow. So, like - how is there still no review for it yet? Are you guys just waiting around for a server to work?
I was looking forward to giving the game a go, but no online multiplayer = a hard no. Sad stuff. Maybe it's my fault that I don't have any local friends who are into gaming.
Wow. This Eugene fellow has an insane amount of charisma - and an awesome way with words. A true conversationalist!
Like, I'm not even a huge fan of arcade style games, and yet - somehow - he roped me along for the entire interview. Heck, I'm even thinking of getting the game now!
His work on Actraiser and in the Etrian Odyssey series is just phenomenal.
Actraiser immediately pushed the boundaries of what the SNES soundcard was capable of and consequently set the bar pretty damn high for all other composers to follow. As a child who grew up with Atari and NES, the quality of the music in this game was just utterly mind-blowing to me.
As for the EO series - not gonna lie, I was initially turned off by the FM synth sound of it but - over time - I began to really love it. By the time the remasters appeared on the 3DS, a lot of the music received an upgrade with real orchestral instruments, guitars, and the like and...it was just fantastic!
I would cite a number of songs from that series in particular as having directly influenced me as a musician.
(As an aside, I really miss EO - it sucks that it's been stuck in a perpetual limbo.)
I still prefer Albano and Boone's voice acting over Martinet's. Maybe I'm biased because I grew up at a time when the Mario cartoons were a thing, but Martinet's voice always seemed weak, effeminate and miscast for the role. It was especially jarring after having spent so many years listening to Mario speak relatively gruffly, in a Brooklyn accent.
Needless to say, I think Boone did an excellent job here, and it is sad to hear of his passing. I agree with others that the tone of this article was a bit crass, but it's fine.
It is extremely baffling to me why Nintendo hasn't either released a "remaster" of Wii Sports, or has at the very least developed a new standalone entry in the series (which I would dub "Switch Sports").
But leaving "Switch Sports" aside for a moment and getting back to the article: I never actually played Wii Sports Resort, but it always looked pretty fun to me. I did thoroughly enjoy the original Wii Sports, tho - and I would be totally okay with buying a remaster of either one of those games on Switch.
Even still, I think I'd prefer to get a "from the ground up" "Switch Sports" title. They could take the sports that worked really well / were really popular from their Wii Sports entries and leave them largely intact - just add some new features (like online play for Tennis and Bowling, and more locations to play in, etc), and really overhaul the games that sucked (like Wii Sports Baseball), while adding some new ones.
This game would be so easy to make.
It would print money.
Even a half-arsed Wii Sports Remaster would also print money.
But they just won't do it.
It's like Nintendo sometimes seems to actively defy or reject the most fundamental principles of Capitalism 101. Like half the time, if they're not actively ignoring consumer demands (like with rebuffing the substantial number of customers who just want to have Earthbound on their Switch), they're creating supply where there is no demand (like trying to sell an online subscription service by providing a painfully slow trickle of SNES games that no one has ever heard of nor wanted).
Sometimes this "blue ocean" strategy works - the Wii, for instance, was a system that no one knew they wanted but as it turns out, it was exactly the sort of system that many people needed - and Nintendo obviously banked on this, big time. But, for every Wii, there is a game or product or service that Nintendo releases that no one really asks for and no one really wants, period. Just because Wii Sports was already released and was already successful, it doesn't mean they ought to be looking for the next thing to usurp it.
@Mystique I dunno, I actually think having every character dateable kinda cheapens the believability of each one of the characters as an individual.
Is every single person that lives around you openly bisexual? Statistically speaking, it would seem doubtful. And just how many openly bisexual people do you suppose live in extremely tiny farming villages?
Look, I'm not saying that having same sex partners in games is wrong. I've played gay characters in games before, and if this game gets favorably reviewed, it's very likely I'll get this game. I'm not opposed to LGBT representation in gaming.
But from an entirely objective standpoint, I dunno...I guess it kinda diminishes the immersion for me whenever I can walk around town and just assume that every single unmarried male and female in town would be totally interested in banging me. However, if some characters were straight, and some were gay, and some were bi, would it not add more depth to each character individually?
I mean, I know that the above idea is pretty much impossible now since every company has to do everything they can to pander to folks who get easily upset about certain things, but even still - I think it would be kinda neat.
I enjoyed the game but it seems highly overrated. Not once in the entire game did I feel a sense of horror. There were some disturbing aspects to it, but - perhaps bc of all of the warnings in reviews and even in the game itself about just how scary the game is, it never really lived up to the hype.
My favorite part of the game is actually before it gets weird and dark. Like, I know I probably shouldn't admit to this, but I honestly would have preferred it had it just remained a cliche anime dating sim.
Yeah, the girls are a walking set of tropes, but in an anime dating sim, that is simply par for the course. They're all charming, sweet and likeable in their own ways. Sadly, all of these warm and endearing elements to the game are at some point tossed out the window, so as to make room for the (entirely expected) darkness to follow.
And while the descent into madness in the proceedings is interesting - at times genuinely thought-provoking and sad, and distressing to think about - it just feels like after the sweet, warm and breezy opening, the developers decided it best to quite FORCEFULLY buck the expectations of a cute anime dating sim.
The problem is, DDLC's subversion of said expectations largely fails, if only bc - aside from the guy who compulsively buys every anime VN dating sims without even reading a review - everyone is expecting it. By three quarters of the way in, it became difficult for me to escape the feeling that the writers of DDLC were dark and meta just for the sake of being dark and meta.
I'll note that meta nature of the plotline introduces a few plot holes, but...I won't knock it too hard for that, as I think that comes with the territory of being meta, and overall the meta aspect to the game is actually pretty neat.
If I'm sounding like I hated the game, I don't hate it at all. I enjoyed it. I'm in the midst of a second (real) playthrough. I wouldn't have continued playing if I thought the game was bad.
I just wanted to point out that while I appreciate passionately written reviews like this one, they can create unrealistic expectations that can't possibly be met. I didn't even read the entire review until today, but even just the sub-headline and opening paragraph were simultaneously hype inducing enough to make me want to buy the game while also knowing that I would likely be disappointed due to knowing the game's descent into "horror" in advance.
The game is actually guilty of this, as well. Through its multiple warnings during the game's initial start up, DDLC ends up revealing (some) of its hand BEFORE you even start the game.
As a result, these multiple (borderline hyperbolic) warnings about the game's "ultra dark" content kinda sorta undid what remaining opportunity that there might have been to still feel TRULY blindsided by the game's various subversions.
The effect of this was that I say through much of my first play through waiting around and anticipating the inevitable darkness to become manifest...thus rendering me entirely unsurprised when it did.
All of that having been said, I still love the game and will definitely try out a few other dialogue routes in future playthroughs. If I were to personally rate the game, I would probably give it a solid and respectable 7.
@Ventilator People are "begging" for Wii U ports NOT bc these games were the greatest, most unheralded games of it's generation - I would say that for the most part it's bc the vast majority of the people who own a Switch never owned a Wii U, nor even knew anyone who owned one.
There are doubtlessly some who think that the original Wii was the Switch's predecessor.
For those who fall into any of those camps, Switch's Wii U ports will for all intents and purposes be brand new games. I, for one, sure am glad that they're doing this, as (for various reasons, ncluding financial ones) I never owned a Wii U either.
It also makes sense that Nintendo would try and make a return on games that on just about any of their other consoles would have sold at least 5 times as many copies. It's a win-win for everyone.
Of course, one could argue about pricing but...for me personally... I'd rather pay a small Nintendo tax on the occasional port than through the hassle of trying to find a decent used Wii U + games on ebay. But, again, that's just me.
When I was in Ireland for a month, if I'm remembering correctly, there were long stretches of roads in the extremely rural, northwestern areas of the country (like County Donegal) where I would say most of the road signs were entirely in Gaelic.
Of course, this was in the late 90s tho, so it could be that that's changed, but it was really neat at the time. It's a lovely language to hear it spoken, and I think it's amazing that the developer included an Irish translation.
Of course if he's waiting for the "big announcement" to be greenlit, it seems likely that he would downplay or lie about the Switch's importance.
(Obviously, I'm just kidding. Mostly. I mean, it's not exactly a stretch to think that a huge corporate figurehead like Phil would lie about something if necessary).
@chapu2006 Thanks. You made some good points as well. As far as remasters go, SSHD doesn't appear to be the best but it's certainly not the worst.
Nintendo's certainly done some really cheap, barebones facelifted cash-ins for some of their games. The recent Switch collection of classic 3D Mario games is a recent example of this, with Mario 64 in particular representing maybe the laziest "remaster" I've ever - if you can even call it that. (Which is an absolute shame. A game of that sort of caliber and well-deserved praise and prestige frankly deserved a hell of a lot better of an refresh than what it got imo).
The Pikman remaster was also kind of unimpressive.
With the added content 3D World could have been excellent, but they somehow didn't seem optimize it for Switch to the degree that it should have been
In all of these cases, Nintendo seemed to get a good score anyway, but I can't help but to wonder: would equally barebones remasters as released by just about any other company (with some notable exclusions) receive the same amount of claim as Nintendo routinely enjoys?
That's probably a rhetorical question.
At this point, it probably seems like I'm not really a fan of Nintendo, but that's not the case. Since 1988, I've owned every home console they've ever released (save for one), and in all but one generation, I've been a Nintendo only gamer (in the N64 era, I did eventually get a PS1, but it was at a yard sale for $50, so why not? Haha)
I love Nintendo and always will, but that doesn't mean that I love every single thing they do. Some of the decisions they've made defy all logic and are frankly as puzzling as they are infuriating. They rightly get lots od praise, but I'm not afraid to give them criticism where criticism is due.
@blindsquarel That seems like a pretty unnecessarily simplistic and loaded generalization, don't you think?
What evidence do you have that the "people" who "hate" the SS amiibo paywall are, broadly speaking, the same people who were perfectly "fine" with its implementation in Twilight Princess?
@chapu2006 I honestly thought it would be an 8 at best. Why? Because I don't care how great the remaster is, locking an important QoL improvement behind a ridiculous amiibo paywall is agregiously scummy.
That aside, I feel like in reality, the SS remaster is probably an 8 or a solid 7) but, of course, one has to take into account NintendoLife's usual +1 or +2 score inflation for all Nintendo published games.
(Although to be fair, it's not just NL - this phenomenon often seems to be the case with lots of major videogame review outlets).
And of course, there are many other major studios seem to get inflated scores, but - since we're on the topic of Nintendo - it does fairly clear that Nintendo published games almost always score extremely well. And while most deserve their high marks, there are definitely more than a few headscratchers, with scores that are pretty sus at best. (Incidentally, I would point you to IGN's ridiculous review of Skyward Sword on Wii for a great example of this!)
Kind of impressed by the increase to 60 FPS. I'm not a FPS w_h_0re or anything - and maybe I'm wrong - FPS at least seems like an area that Nintendo doesn't usually bother expending much energy upon improving.
I first learned about the importance of these carts from a pretty great AVGN skit (I'm sure I'm not the only one). Given the humor of the sketch, I could hardly believe the carts are worth that much, but no matter - I guess they're still widely considered to be the Holy Grail of retro gaming.
@Phostachio "points for his whiteness. swear white dudes love to say that everyone else gets triggered but they’re the most sensitive snowflakes I’ve ever seen, and I am one."
Your comment itself is bigoted and shows prejudice against an entire group of people based upon their pigmentation. Doesn't matter if you're white, it's still a highly prejudiced statement.
It's just interesting to me that the people who most vocally claim to be anti-racist are, in fact, typically the most racist folks you'll ever meet.
As for being sensitive, I'm not losing sleep over it. I'm making an observation. Clearly, my observation has upset you though (or at least enough to respond with a racist comment). Which is fine - to each their own!
Purposefully passing on a more-than-qualified hire simply because, for example, that person happens to be a white, cis-gendered straight male with a European surname is not only bigotry, it's practically the definition of bigotry.
Pathetic degree of censorship on this site now. How the times change. But why,tho? Just for saying I support trans people in Tony Hawk but dislike the when a reviewer tells me what I should applaud?
Here's an idea - if you don't like political comments on your site, then stop shoehorning them into your reviews.
Judging by other comments, NL's sure got a lot of thin skinned reviewers and/or mods these days.
As a huge fan of Rune Factory, and The Demon Blade, I've really, really, really wanted to enjoy this game. I'm hoping one of these days it clicks, but - as it stands - the (ultra realistic and complex but barely explained) farming of rice just isn't fun. And sadly, that detracts a lot of the overall experience.
Maybe wielding dogs and cats will help tho. Guess we'll see!
Comments 841
Re: How To Fix A Drifting Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
So, I know this is an old article and I doubt many people are reading the comments, but I wanted to add something interesting...
I started having a really bad Left Stick drift problem on my Pro Controller that kind just abruptly came out of nowhere. I tried calibrating. No dice.
I tried de-syncing then re-syncing. Nothing.
So then I looked up how to fix it and found this article. Not having all of the necessary stuff to clean the insides of the stick right now, a simple (if slightly strange) idea randomly popped into my head:
HOW I FIXED THE ISSUE
1. Instead of putting the console into sleep mode, I decided to turn the system off completely, manually - pressing the power button until the "Turn off" option appears.
2. I let the Switch sit powered off for a minute. I also set the Pro Controller aside and didn't touch it.
3. I turned the Switch back on - again, manually, pressing down on the power button on the console itself.
4. Once it powered on and it was at the screen lock (where you have to press a button three times to get in), I picked up the Pro Controller and tapped the buttons until it synced/connected.
5. I booted up the game I was playing (Diablo 2) and lo and behold, the drift was entirely gone!
My thought was that maybe during a reboot (like when the system updated), the control stick was moved and it stayed like that, ever so slightly - but who knows.
It worked for me, maybe it'll work for someone else, too
Re: Review: Green Hell - A Brutal And Rewarding Open-World Survival Sim
"it doesn't quite manage to avoid falling into the trap of having its protagonists come across as rather spoiled white folk intruding where they simply don't belong."
Why is sort of casual racism acceptable in the media today? It's honestly very unnecessary and legitimately racist. Please leave skin color-based generalizations out of your reviews.
Aside from that, the review was really detailed and informative.
Re: Review: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl - A Middling Pair Of Remakes
@Anti-Matter In your response to me, you referred to yourself in the first person 15 times.
The number of times that you used 2nd person pronouns (ie "you", "your", "you all", etc): 0
The number of times to you referred to anyone else in the comments section using 3rd person pronouns (ie "he/her","they", "them", "their", etc): 0.
I suppose that in one small line, your did use the (somewhat vague and detached) "someone" to refer to the people you've rubbed the wrong way, so I suppose the argument could be made for 1. Of course, it was one word in a sea of repetitive "me, me, me" "I, I, I" nonsense, so...it seems pretty inconsequential.
I'm not going to spend time addressing anything else you wrote bc you've literally written the nearly the same exact things about 20 times already. I honestly can't tell if you're maybe just a child, or if you're just an uber fanboy /apologist for Nintendo, or both. You could also be a troll, or all three of those things.
@snatcher Directly? Yeah. I've been noticing his comments for awhile, this is just the first time I decided to wade into it (mostly out of boredom, admittedly).
@savage_joe Thanks - I appreciate the endorsement haha.
Anyway, carry on!
Re: Round Up: The Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Reviews Are In
@-wc- Off-topic, but I just wanted to say that your mentioning Gameplayer was kinda cool to see. It was totally my favorite gaming magazine during that era. The absurd surrealist / irreverent humor in it was genuinely entertaining and kind of ahead of its time, imo. It was sort of like the Adult Swim of videogame mags (long before Adult Swim was even a popular thing).
Anyway, I think it was very underrated then and is rarely mentioned now (imo), so it was a pleasant surprise to see you name drop it. Those were some good times.
Re: Review: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl - A Middling Pair Of Remakes
@Anti-Matter I think the reason why you're annoying everyone is the fact that everything you say is "me, me, me". It's what you want and it seems like you could care less about anyone else's experiences.
Is basic empathy, understanding and the acknowledgement of others' concerns really that difficult? Like, literally everyone is happy that you enjoy the game, but - if you can't understand or acknowledge the reasons for why others wouldn't - then why even bother having a conversation?
We get it that you like Permanent EXP Share and believe that everyone should be like you and just enjoy the game as it is and accept all of developer's decisions - like, we got it the first 25 times you said it.
It's the fact that you keep repeating yourself in an incredibly self-centered sort way that is rubbing people the wrong way. It's just really strange (but - then again - maybe you really are just doing it on purpose. I dunno.)
Anyway - shifting gears now - I obviously believe that more options are never a bad thing. It is pretty much always a net positive. And as for the topic of random battles - I actually prefer the surprise aspect of pokemon being concealed until a battle begins over seeing them in the overworld. But maybe that's because I'm a 38 year old, old school gamer who's overly set in his ways haha.
Re: Random: There's A New Wasp Escape Trick In Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0
It makes sense. You can't put small miscellaneous items inside of it - seems like there's an invisible barrier to all but the player. Good find, though.
Re: Feature: Our Verdict On Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Update 2.0, The "Last Major Free Content"
Now as for the update itself?
After my kinda-sorta hugely impressive yet incredibly time consuming feat of breeding all but one of every single rare-type flower in the game (which as anyone who's ever gone down the flower breeding rabbit hole could attest, is an insanely complicated task), I eventually found the game tiresome and needed to "take a break".
That break ended up being several months long. Prior to this October, I'd probably played the game only 2 or 3 times during that span of time. But then after seeing just how massive of an update 2.0 would be, I felt strangely compelled to return to the game and to prep my island for all of the new things.
The first thing on my agenda? Finally breed the stupid purple windflower I needed and convert land into a full-fledged farm. I put a 120% into that task and by November 1, I finally succeeded! <3 And, not to brag, but the farm area looks fantastic - especially with all the veggies.
As for Happy Home Paradise? What can I say about it - except that it's amazing. The miniature sandboxes have totally helped me to try out new ideas with my island. It's really re-fueled my creativity. In fact, the projects that I've been working on now are probably among the most impressive I've ever done, both in scale and in technical detail. The replayability for it is unreal. I don't usually like paid DLC, but this was worth every penny.
The combination of that and base game 2.0 feels more like a sequel than it does an update. The wait for it was excruciating, but I'm kinda glad we got one huge update VS what might have been a more constant trickle of stuff ad nauseum. The payoff has been huge - and it made all of the waiting worth it!
Re: Feature: Our Verdict On Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Update 2.0, The "Last Major Free Content"
"combined with the quick-travel warp pipe"
WHAT?? I didn't know the Warp Pipes are actually functional! I've actually skipped on most of the Mario stuff due to the items not really working with my island's aesthetic...but if what you said is true, then I'll def find a way to work in the Warp Pipes!
Thank you Kate Gray for filling me in on that very awesome detail! And I'm totally glad I read the article, start to finish!
Re: Datamining Finds Thousands Of New Items In Animal Crossing: New Horizons Version 2.0
OVER NINE THOUSAND!
Re: Animal Crossing's Happy Home Paradise Update Will Be The Game's "First And Only Paid DLC"
Good lord, what a whiny, cynical lot some of you lot at the top of the thread are. I can't wait to give the expansion a go. Is AC:NH perfect? No. Is Nintendo the most business savvy company ever? No. But, I generally love the game and I more often than not love what Nintendo creates, even in spite of its occasional shortcomings. As proven above, though - you mileages clearly vary.
Re: Nintendo Shuts Down Offices In California And Toronto
I can't blame them for getting the heck out of Commiefornia. Good lord, what a peak embarrassment to the union. Aside from that though, the tax rate and cost of rent there is crippling to any business, or human making less than 6 digits.
Re: Review: Dungeon Encounters - Square Enix Strips Away RPG Finery To Expose The Meaty Bones Beneath
So it's basically like Etrian Odyssey meets Final Fantasy and D&D. If you ask me, that sounds pretty great.
Re: Feature: LEGO Designer Reveals Why The Super Mario 64 Set Is A '?' And Not An '!'
I've played Mario 64 since the day it launched and dozens of times thereafter and yet - somehow - I literally never realized that the game was 100% devoid of |?| blocks. In fact, I have vivid memories of them being in the game - but, the memories are false! Craziness.
Re: Charles Martinet Wants To Voice Mario For As Long As He Possibly Can
I hope that whenever he retires, Nintendo goes back to voicing Mario as the gruff sounding, masculine, alpha Italian-American plumber with a strong Brooklyn accent that I knew him to be as a kid. If that's the version of Mario that Pratt channels, then I would be all for it.
Don't get me wrong, I love Martinet - he's a talented and iconic video game voice actor - but I've always struggled with his interpretation of Mario in particular. Although over the last 26 years I've grown more than accustomed to it, I still prefer Albano's portrayal.
Of course, that's probably me speaking as someone who's 38 and dons thick nostalgia glasses when viewing the mid-late 80s and early 90s.
Either way, long live Martinet!
@CazSonOfCaz I only just saw your comment - you beat me to it and I obviously concur!
Re: Diablo II: Resurrected Is Still Being Plagued By Hellish Server Outages
Such an iconic game - though primitive by today's standards, in its day, it set the bar high for all of the loot-based dungeon crawlers to follow. So, like - how is there still no review for it yet? Are you guys just waiting around for a server to work?
Re: Switch OLED Is Off To A Modest Start In Japan Due To Low Stock Levels
It's the sort of problem that Microsoft has spent the last 20+ years dreaming about.
Re: Ninjala Has Now Been Downloaded Eight Million Times On The Switch eShop
Can you choose who you play with/against, or will the game only pair you with randos?
Re: Poll: Cruis'n Blast Is Out Today On Switch, Are You Getting It?
@Leu10antFalcon Oh - well that is great news! I'll wait for the online features to be added tho. Thanks!
Re: Poll: Cruis'n Blast Is Out Today On Switch, Are You Getting It?
I was looking forward to giving the game a go, but no online multiplayer = a hard no. Sad stuff. Maybe it's my fault that I don't have any local friends who are into gaming.
Re: Rumour: Nintendo Will Expand Its Switch Online Service With Game Boy And Game Boy Color Titles
Words can't really effectively describe how underwhelmed I am by this rumor.
Re: Exclusive: Eugene Jarvis Talks Cruis'n Blast And The "Joy" Of Working With Nintendo Again
Wow. This Eugene fellow has an insane amount of charisma - and an awesome way with words. A true conversationalist!
Like, I'm not even a huge fan of arcade style games, and yet - somehow - he roped me along for the entire interview. Heck, I'm even thinking of getting the game now!
Re: Marvelous Celebrates 15 Years Of The Rune Factory Series With A Special Anniversary Video
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Re: Quick Beats: Streets Of Rage Composer On Musical Heroes And The Series He'd Love To Work On
His work on Actraiser and in the Etrian Odyssey series is just phenomenal.
Actraiser immediately pushed the boundaries of what the SNES soundcard was capable of and consequently set the bar pretty damn high for all other composers to follow. As a child who grew up with Atari and NES, the quality of the music in this game was just utterly mind-blowing to me.
As for the EO series - not gonna lie, I was initially turned off by the FM synth sound of it but - over time - I began to really love it. By the time the remasters appeared on the 3DS, a lot of the music received an upgrade with real orchestral instruments, guitars, and the like and...it was just fantastic!
I would cite a number of songs from that series in particular as having directly influenced me as a musician.
(As an aside, I really miss EO - it sucks that it's been stuck in a perpetual limbo.)
Re: The Voice Of Mario From The Early '90s Has Passed Away
I still prefer Albano and Boone's voice acting over Martinet's. Maybe I'm biased because I grew up at a time when the Mario cartoons were a thing, but Martinet's voice always seemed weak, effeminate and miscast for the role. It was especially jarring after having spent so many years listening to Mario speak relatively gruffly, in a Brooklyn accent.
Needless to say, I think Boone did an excellent job here, and it is sad to hear of his passing. I agree with others that the tone of this article was a bit crass, but it's fine.
Re: Random: Super Nintendo World's Goomba Tower Fell Down, Sparking An Official Investigation
The Leaning Tower of Goomba?
Re: Soapbox: A Strange Desire For Switch Sports And A Return To Wii's Wuhu Island
It is extremely baffling to me why Nintendo hasn't either released a "remaster" of Wii Sports, or has at the very least developed a new standalone entry in the series (which I would dub "Switch Sports").
But leaving "Switch Sports" aside for a moment and getting back to the article: I never actually played Wii Sports Resort, but it always looked pretty fun to me. I did thoroughly enjoy the original Wii Sports, tho - and I would be totally okay with buying a remaster of either one of those games on Switch.
Even still, I think I'd prefer to get a "from the ground up" "Switch Sports" title. They could take the sports that worked really well / were really popular from their Wii Sports entries and leave them largely intact - just add some new features (like online play for Tennis and Bowling, and more locations to play in, etc), and really overhaul the games that sucked (like Wii Sports Baseball), while adding some new ones.
This game would be so easy to make.
It would print money.
Even a half-arsed Wii Sports Remaster would also print money.
But they just won't do it.
It's like Nintendo sometimes seems to actively defy or reject the most fundamental principles of Capitalism 101. Like half the time, if they're not actively ignoring consumer demands (like with rebuffing the substantial number of customers who just want to have Earthbound on their Switch), they're creating supply where there is no demand (like trying to sell an online subscription service by providing a painfully slow trickle of SNES games that no one has ever heard of nor wanted).
Sometimes this "blue ocean" strategy works - the Wii, for instance, was a system that no one knew they wanted but as it turns out, it was exactly the sort of system that many people needed - and Nintendo obviously banked on this, big time. But, for every Wii, there is a game or product or service that Nintendo releases that no one really asks for and no one really wants, period. Just because Wii Sports was already released and was already successful, it doesn't mean they ought to be looking for the next thing to usurp it.
Re: Kickstarter Success Farming Sim 'Cloudscape' Gives Us Fantasy Life Vibes
@Mystique I dunno, I actually think having every character dateable kinda cheapens the believability of each one of the characters as an individual.
Is every single person that lives around you openly bisexual? Statistically speaking, it would seem doubtful. And just how many openly bisexual people do you suppose live in extremely tiny farming villages?
Look, I'm not saying that having same sex partners in games is wrong. I've played gay characters in games before, and if this game gets favorably reviewed, it's very likely I'll get this game. I'm not opposed to LGBT representation in gaming.
But from an entirely objective standpoint, I dunno...I guess it kinda diminishes the immersion for me whenever I can walk around town and just assume that every single unmarried male and female in town would be totally interested in banging me. However, if some characters were straight, and some were gay, and some were bi, would it not add more depth to each character individually?
I mean, I know that the above idea is pretty much impossible now since every company has to do everything they can to pander to folks who get easily upset about certain things, but even still - I think it would be kinda neat.
Re: Kickstarter Success Farming Sim 'Cloudscape' Gives Us Fantasy Life Vibes
Wow, this game looks awesome! I'll definitely keep any eye on it.
Re: Netflix Shares First Teaser Of Its New Anime Movie The Witcher: Nightmare Of The Wolf
It would almost have to be better than their abysmal live action adaptation. I mean, it can only go up from there, right?
...Right?
Re: Review: Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! - A Cute And Absolutely Horrifying Dating Sim
I enjoyed the game but it seems highly overrated. Not once in the entire game did I feel a sense of horror. There were some disturbing aspects to it, but - perhaps bc of all of the warnings in reviews and even in the game itself about just how scary the game is, it never really lived up to the hype.
My favorite part of the game is actually before it gets weird and dark. Like, I know I probably shouldn't admit to this, but I honestly would have preferred it had it just remained a cliche anime dating sim.
Yeah, the girls are a walking set of tropes, but in an anime dating sim, that is simply par for the course. They're all charming, sweet and likeable in their own ways. Sadly, all of these warm and endearing elements to the game are at some point tossed out the window, so as to make room for the (entirely expected) darkness to follow.
And while the descent into madness in the proceedings is interesting - at times genuinely thought-provoking and sad, and distressing to think about - it just feels like after the sweet, warm and breezy opening, the developers decided it best to quite FORCEFULLY buck the expectations of a cute anime dating sim.
The problem is, DDLC's subversion of said expectations largely fails, if only bc - aside from the guy who compulsively buys every anime VN dating sims without even reading a review - everyone is expecting it. By three quarters of the way in, it became difficult for me to escape the feeling that the writers of DDLC were dark and meta just for the sake of being dark and meta.
I'll note that meta nature of the plotline introduces a few plot holes, but...I won't knock it too hard for that, as I think that comes with the territory of being meta, and overall the meta aspect to the game is actually pretty neat.
If I'm sounding like I hated the game, I don't hate it at all. I enjoyed it. I'm in the midst of a second (real) playthrough. I wouldn't have continued playing if I thought the game was bad.
I just wanted to point out that while I appreciate passionately written reviews like this one, they can create unrealistic expectations that can't possibly be met. I didn't even read the entire review until today, but even just the sub-headline and opening paragraph were simultaneously hype inducing enough to make me want to buy the game while also knowing that I would likely be disappointed due to knowing the game's descent into "horror" in advance.
The game is actually guilty of this, as well. Through its multiple warnings during the game's initial start up, DDLC ends up revealing (some) of its hand BEFORE you even start the game.
As a result, these multiple (borderline hyperbolic) warnings about the game's "ultra dark" content kinda sorta undid what remaining opportunity that there might have been to still feel TRULY blindsided by the game's various subversions.
The effect of this was that I say through much of my first play through waiting around and anticipating the inevitable darkness to become manifest...thus rendering me entirely unsurprised when it did.
All of that having been said, I still love the game and will definitely try out a few other dialogue routes in future playthroughs. If I were to personally rate the game, I would probably give it a solid and respectable 7.
Re: Random: Team Xbox Has A Bit Of A Soft Spot For Paper Mario On GameCube
@Ventilator People are "begging" for Wii U ports NOT bc these games were the greatest, most unheralded games of it's generation - I would say that for the most part it's bc the vast majority of the people who own a Switch never owned a Wii U, nor even knew anyone who owned one.
There are doubtlessly some who think that the original Wii was the Switch's predecessor.
For those who fall into any of those camps, Switch's Wii U ports will for all intents and purposes be brand new games. I, for one, sure am glad that they're doing this, as (for various reasons, ncluding financial ones) I never owned a Wii U either.
It also makes sense that Nintendo would try and make a return on games that on just about any of their other consoles would have sold at least 5 times as many copies. It's a win-win for everyone.
Of course, one could argue about pricing but...for me personally... I'd rather pay a small Nintendo tax on the occasional port than through the hassle of trying to find a decent used Wii U + games on ebay. But, again, that's just me.
Re: Feature: Why Was Among Us Translated Into Irish?
When I was in Ireland for a month, if I'm remembering correctly, there were long stretches of roads in the extremely rural, northwestern areas of the country (like County Donegal) where I would say most of the road signs were entirely in Gaelic.
Of course, this was in the late 90s tho, so it could be that that's changed, but it was really neat at the time. It's a lovely language to hear it spoken, and I think it's amazing that the developer included an Irish translation.
Dying languages need to be preserved!
Re: Random: The Switch On Phil Spencer's Shelf Was A Gift From Nintendo
Of course if he's waiting for the "big announcement" to be greenlit, it seems likely that he would downplay or lie about the Switch's importance.
(Obviously, I'm just kidding. Mostly. I mean, it's not exactly a stretch to think that a huge corporate figurehead like Phil would lie about something if necessary).
Re: Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - A Remaster That Truly Soars
@chapu2006 Thanks. You made some good points as well. As far as remasters go, SSHD doesn't appear to be the best but it's certainly not the worst.
Nintendo's certainly done some really cheap, barebones facelifted cash-ins for some of their games. The recent Switch collection of classic 3D Mario games is a recent example of this, with Mario 64 in particular representing maybe the laziest "remaster" I've ever - if you can even call it that. (Which is an absolute shame. A game of that sort of caliber and well-deserved praise and prestige frankly deserved a hell of a lot better of an refresh than what it got imo).
The Pikman remaster was also kind of unimpressive.
With the added content 3D World could have been excellent, but they somehow didn't seem optimize it for Switch to the degree that it should have been
In all of these cases, Nintendo seemed to get a good score anyway, but I can't help but to wonder: would equally barebones remasters as released by just about any other company (with some notable exclusions) receive the same amount of claim as Nintendo routinely enjoys?
That's probably a rhetorical question.
At this point, it probably seems like I'm not really a fan of Nintendo, but that's not the case. Since 1988, I've owned every home console they've ever released (save for one), and in all but one generation, I've been a Nintendo only gamer (in the N64 era, I did eventually get a PS1, but it was at a yard sale for $50, so why not? Haha)
I love Nintendo and always will, but that doesn't mean that I love every single thing they do. Some of the decisions they've made defy all logic and are frankly as puzzling as they are infuriating. They rightly get lots od praise, but I'm not afraid to give them criticism where criticism is due.
Re: Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - A Remaster That Truly Soars
@blindsquarel That seems like a pretty unnecessarily simplistic and loaded generalization, don't you think?
What evidence do you have that the "people" who "hate" the SS amiibo paywall are, broadly speaking, the same people who were perfectly "fine" with its implementation in Twilight Princess?
Re: Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - A Remaster That Truly Soars
@chapu2006 I honestly thought it would be an 8 at best. Why? Because I don't care how great the remaster is, locking an important QoL improvement behind a ridiculous amiibo paywall is agregiously scummy.
That aside, I feel like in reality, the SS remaster is probably an 8 or a solid 7) but, of course, one has to take into account NintendoLife's usual +1 or +2 score inflation for all Nintendo published games.
(Although to be fair, it's not just NL - this phenomenon often seems to be the case with lots of major videogame review outlets).
And of course, there are many other major studios seem to get inflated scores, but - since we're on the topic of Nintendo - it does fairly clear that Nintendo published games almost always score extremely well. And while most deserve their high marks, there are definitely more than a few headscratchers, with scores that are pretty sus at best. (Incidentally, I would point you to IGN's ridiculous review of Skyward Sword on Wii for a great example of this!)
Re: Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - A Remaster That Truly Soars
Kind of impressed by the increase to 60 FPS. I'm not a FPS w_h_0re or anything - and maybe I'm wrong - FPS at least seems like an area that Nintendo doesn't usually bother expending much energy upon improving.
Re: The Pandemic Is So Bad In Japan That A Special Edition 'Pokémon GO' Pikachu Has Been Delayed
absurdly large eye roll
Re: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Is A "Smash Bros-Alike" Fighting Its Way To Switch This Fall
The lack of any Rocko's Modern Life representation = FAIL
Re: Nintendo Highlights "Smoother Play Experience" In The Opening Hours Of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
@SuperToadie "Quality of Life features" - you keep using that phrase, but I do not think it means what you think it means 🤣
Re: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Is Getting Free DLC Inspired By The Netflix Show
Hopefully the DLC isn't as bad as the show.
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
I'll give it an automatic 11 out of 10 if only just for looking like a Panda <3
Re: Random: The Yiga Clan Will Even Steal The Master Sword In Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Yiga-tta be kidding me.
Re: Nintendo President Quizzed By Shareholders On Switch 'Pro' And Classic Mini Consoles
@HeadPirate "SNES was because Super Mario Kart needed mode 7"
That's literally not the reason why the SNES was created.
Re: This High-Grade Nintendo World Championships Cartridge Could Fetch Over Half A Million Dollars
I first learned about the importance of these carts from a pretty great AVGN skit (I'm sure I'm not the only one). Given the humor of the sketch, I could hardly believe the carts are worth that much, but no matter - I guess they're still widely considered to be the Holy Grail of retro gaming.
Re: Nintendo Underlines Its Commitment To Diversity And Inclusivity
@Phostachio "points for his whiteness. swear white dudes love to say that everyone else gets triggered but they’re the most sensitive snowflakes I’ve ever seen, and I am one."
Your comment itself is bigoted and shows prejudice against an entire group of people based upon their pigmentation. Doesn't matter if you're white, it's still a highly prejudiced statement.
It's just interesting to me that the people who most vocally claim to be anti-racist are, in fact, typically the most racist folks you'll ever meet.
As for being sensitive, I'm not losing sleep over it. I'm making an observation. Clearly, my observation has upset you though (or at least enough to respond with a racist comment). Which is fine - to each their own!
Re: Nintendo Underlines Its Commitment To Diversity And Inclusivity
Purposefully passing on a more-than-qualified hire simply because, for example, that person happens to be a white, cis-gendered straight male with a European surname is not only bigotry, it's practically the definition of bigotry.
Re: Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 - A Rock Solid Switch Port For A Pair Of Pros
Pathetic degree of censorship on this site now. How the times change. But why,tho? Just for saying I support trans people in Tony Hawk but dislike the when a reviewer tells me what I should applaud?
Here's an idea - if you don't like political comments on your site, then stop shoehorning them into your reviews.
Judging by other comments, NL's sure got a lot of thin skinned reviewers and/or mods these days.
Re: Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 - A Rock Solid Switch Port For A Pair Of Pros
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Re: New Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin Update Allows You To Dual Wield Cats And Dogs
As a huge fan of Rune Factory, and The Demon Blade, I've really, really, really wanted to enjoy this game. I'm hoping one of these days it clicks, but - as it stands - the (ultra realistic and complex but barely explained) farming of rice just isn't fun. And sadly, that detracts a lot of the overall experience.
Maybe wielding dogs and cats will help tho. Guess we'll see!