Andyv01

@BenAV

The gulf in reviews are a tad bewildering, but remove the outliers of 10/10 from NoisyPix and 2/10 from NWR and we still get an average of 78% on meta (so far) Which is good enough for me.
Just play it and decide yourself sounds wise indeed.

Nice article however, the main picture is already a spoiler before we can even get to the spoiler warning...

On day 62 of the first run myself. Agree the localisation can occasionally seem a tad bland compared to say Danganronpa/13 sentinels but frankly I dont envy the gargantuan workload the localisation teams had on their plates with this one! Its in no way a poor translation mind.

I figured this will take a good few months to get though all endings so will dip back into over the next few years after say 3 or 4 initial endings.

Now finishing up Momodoro: Reverie under the moonlight. Atmospheric, cute with a tinge of darkness. Really rather shocked at how much I enjoyed it and will now be preordering physical Moonlit Farewell. Lovely stuff.

Completely agree with the 9 here. Dungeons were a joy and the challenge was certainly there. I've now finished every Shantae released and this feels like a culmination of everything wayforward have honed over many many years.

I'd even put it above Pirates Curse

@LavenderShroud

I appreciate your opinion but i've owned and completed them both and personally couldn't tolerate their overworld frame rates. Im not usually a critic of ports onto Nintendo systems (I loved 3DS snake eater!) but for me these ports were shoddy at best and far from fine.

Regarding Death End Z. It scored a 29/40 in Famitsu so no great loss really. If you cant even hit 30 in a publication as sketchy as the big F then something went very wrong.

Also, I cant forgive the horrendous port performances of DE2 and NepV2 on switch. IF had their chance and spoilt it.

aaaaand this is the moment I finally get the Nintendo online account.

Finished it today and now realise that I will be remembering Clementine, her story and all the characters that got her this far for as long as I draw breath.

To me, S4 is superbly written with a twisting story that swung me around the room emotionally, hard hitting but with tenderness, nostalgia fulfilling but also unafraid to push storytelling boundaries.

Accounting the other three episodes (this review is only for the first), I would place S4 on par with S1 and implore anyone reading this give it a go.

Please be aware, the DL'd Miku dlc will not work if you have a cartridge version of CoTN. Digital versions only. The publishers REALLY should have mentioned this at launch.

@BLD

"Engage is confident in its nakedly flimsy story, flagrantly not giving a flip about its paint by numbers plot"

Absolutely superb comment! Couldn't agree more.
In my opinion there isn't a single FE game (i've played them all) with a overall decent storyline, so Engage pretty much ran with it as fluff to border the superb maps and combat.

From what I understand, Engage was initially being developed at the same time as FE3H, only getting the real push post 3H wrap up. I can imagine the intelligent system teams looking at each others projects and wanting vastly different experiences. Personally, i'm very glad both of them exist although overall I simply had more fun breaking the ludicrous combat with Engage.

Early to midgame Engage on maddening was one of the toughest but most satisfying i've ever scraped through.

@Allspice How long would you say one run-through takes? Afew hours? 5 or 6?

Very nearly a very good list. Perhaps relegate World End Syndrome to the honorable mentions list and promote Va-11 Hall-A.

Also, include Witch on the Holy Night under the Tsukihime section... or better yet, actually review it (along with original Steins Gate).

Otherwise, good job NL.

Well done NLife for reviewing this. Wasnt sure it would get covered after missing Witch on Holy Night. More like this please.

Codename S.T.E.A.M port

Day one here. Was abit cautious and cynical over Rain Code when they kept plastering the "Made by team Dangan" all over it.

I needn't have worred as it turned out a delight. Am now very looking forward to this and future projects from Too Kyoo.

Fairly sure the studio will make a nice chunk of change from the Rain Code + rerelease.

I didnt think the storyline to Engage was so terrible.
Several times I can remember thinking "Oh dear, thats not going to end well" and suprisingly emotional character death moments throughout.
Infact, I struggle to remember anything deeply affecting about Three Houses... it all just turned into a tad too long plot soup with character interactions holding it all together.

I'm gonna say it... I prefer the storyline of Engage (hides under desk) Characters goes to Three Houses of course and combat goes to Engage.

To my mind LRG justifies its existence with the carbon engine preserving and improving classics.

People may disapprove of their pricing, printing times and license practices but show me a publisher in a similar capacity which doesnt catch flak running a business to this degree.
Its now a business owned by embracer group which will come with its own future caviates.

However, I've personally never been let down with one of their purchases. On the sole occasion that a tracked order went missing they outright refunded me within 24 hours. Thats not the actions of a shady business.

The Collector's Edition boxart facial expression sums it up... "Oh gawd, Not LRG!!"

@Kingy @Ryu_Niiyama

I personally find its now much smoother. I got half way through at launch but put it on hold til the patch arrived as input lag and clunkiness meant I couldn't pull off the more elaborate combos.

Now, much much better imo. Yes it's still 30fps, but it's still an absolute blast... and portable.

edit: Shantae as DLC would be amazing

Ten Thousand Stars and Lucky Orb remix?... in Necrodancer??

What a day

Witch on the Holy Night should be on this list. Its an absolute masterpiece.

Totally agree with @Darling_Jen . Wheres the Otome? At the very least Code:Realise and Cupid Parasite.

I'm only here in support of the sub-heading. Bravo.

It's flipping gorgeous and the Shantae team and IP are a delight.

Pre-ordered

Lots of love... a bad consumer

@Ogbert Turns out there were different expressions for the PAL and NTSC regions. In Europe he had this jolly whimsical and adorably goofy "Oh boy oh boy" smile.
The US seems to have gone for the possom with tude look.
Caught me off guard as I had only known about the European look for the last 30 years! xD

The reversible cover art! Why is he now grimacing in top image? He's such a happy looking lad in the original cover art...

Gasp, actually priced correctly in the UK at £20 against $30.
Think I need to sit down...

Fire Emblem Engage cast completely thrown aside ^^'

Any one of: Yunaka, Hortensia, Panette or Goldmary would have made my list. All barking mad but lovable.

Liking the mentions for Rain Code in the comments.
Just started it, slightly vaseline visuals but really enjoyed the train mystery.

Shining force!
Amend the poll to include please. Enough people are mentioning it in the comments.

@Troopage I believe the co-founder of R-kid passed away a few years ago now. Jools announced a while back that he had picked up the back catalogue of that split company including Dementium.

When a game like this leaves me looking up the developers, the music, the references, artstyle and fanart... you know you've just had an experience you wont soon forget
.
Usually despise "fill in the blanks yourself" type narrative but this was something truely special and deeply moving.

Cant recommend enough and only £12 physical ATM.

Have to disagree with some of the above comments.
It was certainly not fine missing the 60fps mark and I don't feel the communities dismay was exaggerated.
RCG2 had half-baked performance and suffered for it, especially coming off the back of the superb build of the original.
Pulling off blocks and the vollyball spike combos (for example) felt more like luck than skill and the whole thing had a frustrating laggyness.
Very much looking forward to diving back it now mind.

So yes, I was definitely missing something. Thanks to all for the more recent information. Certainly dosn't paint a pretty picture.

Might I ask why Jools has this negative reputation?
In my memory he was a champion of the DS/3DS era and running a small development team successfully punching way above their weight.
His updates from yesteryear always seemed very honest and gave the impression the studio were just trying to pay the bills.

Am I missing something?

(walks out of garden shed)
This weekend, I will be mostly playing... Disgaea 1
(walks back into garden shed)

Its a 9, borderline 10 from me. The storyline in FE has always been lacklusture so that didnt bother me too much. 3 Houses made an effort, Engage not so much!

The combat here though? Best in entire series by far and i've damn near played all of them. When you have the spare time and patience (for maddening mode) and its all falling into place then its glorious.
It'll be a wave 4 evening tonight!

Farewell sweet prince x x x

Yeah... no, actually playasia have been consistently great over the years.

Very happy to hear about the patch and cant wait to dive back in. Decided to bench this as 30fps played havoc with combos and blocking.

@DannZan @Scarko

Updated

Dear Capcom,

We've just discovered a fertile new land... quite a sizable chunk of the planet actually, with a fair few people... with money... and a passion for gaming...
Think we'll name it Europe, just thought you might want to know.

Much love,
The Explorers guild xx

PS... Just incase its far too much effort for you to bother translating and creating the advert for that nuisance of a continent with all that troublesome seperate languages and identity, we've (partially) done it for you:

Final sale!
Venta final!
Vente final!
Schlussverkauf!
lokaútsala!
Vendita finale!
lõplik müük!
Ostatna wyprzedaż!
končna razprodaja!

(Thanks ((and redirected apologies!)) to google sensei)

@Luminous117
Ah, beat me to it xD

164 feat.GUMI: A Born Coward

Wait for official Nintendo site listing... only place to get them for fair price imo

@Expa0

Yep, your quite right. My bad. I was looking at the untold series portraits which I thought were a step up in quality.

8/10 saved by the gameplay thus far.
Barely any effort put into character development, endless support conversations about how much they love to drink tea/work out/shoot rainbows out of their nether regions.

I actually dont mind the character designs but they could and should have done a heck of a lot more with the story.
3 Houses got the story volume right, just took too much time with the academy stages. Engage has gone polar opposite and its abit of a shock. They seem to be haing trouble getting the balance right.

Anyway, its not a disastor... hopefully they roll out a Gen Holy Wars remake soon and put some meaty story back on those bones.

Would rank it:
1. Awakening
2. HolyWar/Thracia
3. Radiance series
4. Three Houses
5. Fates
5. GBA trilogy
6. Engage
7. SoValentia

F-Zero X, once or twice per year, every year since 1998.
It's just superb for that quick adrenaline rush, runs at 60fps and I absolutely love it.

I think simplicity is key for longevity, tried Perfect Dark on N64 recently and it proper chugged along... followed this up with Crysis 2 on Switch and now cant imagine going back to PD unless its for a nostalgia fix.

Tetris is another case in point... simple as anything and yet absolutely unable to ignore it when it comes my way. Whos going to be playing God of War consistently every year for the next 25 years?

I enjoyed the Parascientific trilogy alot more than I was expecting. Served their purpose well as cheap escape room fixes after finishing the zero escape games. Nice character designs and interactions (especially the gear detective crew) and satisfying escapes helped hide the frankly rubbish story.

Really are spoilt by the number and variety of games on switch these days.

Great job NL community, really solid list.
Very happy to see 13 Sentinels in at #11

13 Sentinels for me...
Seen a few people mention it in the comments, top 30 I reckon

The character designs are certainly proving devisive!

Basically, we were spoilt by the 2D character designs in Awakening and Echoes from Yusuke Kozaki and Hidari... but remember that the ingame 3D models were pretty horrendous back then.

The character designer for Engage is without question very talented. Their 2D art is all rather magnificant (google Mika Pikazo ... its all actually gorgeous). However i'm getting the impression their ideas and concept art hasnt translating into 3D models without problems.

To be honest, I didnt think Three Houses had outstanding character designs and 3D models either but this is now all about the series...'es(?) transition into fully 3D ingame AND cutscreens.

I applaud Nintendos desire to try different artists but these cookie-cutter 3D models arnt doing the artists designs justice and looking increasingly unimaginative and drab.

As someone recently said though... if the gameplays up to scratch then I can overlook it.

Yes, very strong Duke Nukem forever vibes. Have a look at the DNF E3 2001 trailer. Even this trailer has similar pacing and quotes.
Will be leaving the background noise at the door and enjoying this 00's tribute thankyouverymuch.