Comments 70

Re: Review: Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined (Switch 2) - A Fantastic Makeover & The Best-Looking DQ Ever

Astropez

What the review ABSOLUTELY FAILS at properly addressing is the streamlining of the experience.

For people who played both the original and this "diet" version, the pacing would have already been a lot better just with the QoL of the combat system, and twould have consequently sat at a comfortable 60h mark - for a game originally 100h, that's not so bad.

But additionnally, Square removed about A FOURTH TO A THIRD of the story content: a lot of islands were completely removed (the one in the time loop for example), while the ones that stayed got their time shortened sometimes tastefully (to avoid backtracking) but more often than not removing complete scenes and dungeons.
They have thrown difficulty completely out of the window by drowning the player in healing items and checkpoints so that resource management is non-existent - and a STAPLE of DQ games as they're knowned and wanted for the old-school experience - and bosses are just a complete joke.

And to counterweight they.... added 2 segments, totalling 40 minutes MAXIMUM of unnecessary story???

Giving this a 9 is a proof that you don't know anything about what makes a DQ-Game or what the appeal of those games is.

Re: First Impressions: Same But Different? - Our Initial Hours With Hollow Knight: Silksong

Astropez

@AndrosEGD that's the typical internet effect - loud minority dictates the tastes the majority should have, and majority then ends up buying the game and either not playing it or playing it but not liking and they are afraid to speak out.

HK is a very good example of this, because the game reached the status only a year or so after it got out, and mostly because of influencers and streamers who decided it was the game of the moment to play.

I personally thought that it was a solid metroidvania but it's pretty basic in what it does, there's no new ideas, no wow in the way they made things. It's not bad, but it's not amazing either and it didn't bring anything to the gemre. The advantage of Silksong being out is mostly that in a week we finally won't hear so much about it anymore, for me.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition?

Astropez

For me it's a 4. I had high hopes for it considering I find XC2 to be a complete mess (80% of the story is useless and can be avoid by Pyra, writing is poor, combat system is bloated and characters are at most tolerable) and XC3 to not be much better (didn't think you could do worse writing than XC2 but Monolith keeps surprising me there); and I was promised something truly different. I do not agree with that. Except for the open world part (not even, XC always had big areas to make up), this feels and plays like a XC game, with a bloated gameplay and unlikeable characters. I have had fun with the mechas, and I see potential in the story and its theme.

Re: Be Warned, Two NES Titles From Limited Run Games May Damage Your Console

Astropez

@JohnnyMind It can and has seemingly already happened. There are a few reports around complaining of LRG releases bricking Switches and damaging PS4's optic drives, with LRG admitting that the quality of their releases is overall bad on purpose because people buying their physical games (in particular retro ones) are unlikely to open the boxes and are just collecting. Their whole business model is based on that: it's cheaper to replace a game if someone has an issue with it than ensuring high quality to begin with.

Re: Talking Point: Which 'Tales' Game Will Come To Switch Next?

Astropez

"Eternia, though. This is the best 2D Tales game".
That's just a lie. Anyone who played Rebirth will tell you it's the best 2D Tales of, and potentially the best Tales of ever.

I'd really like a version of Hearts based on the DS game, which was waaaaaaay better than that travesty of a PSVita remake we officially got. Or Rebirth and Destiny DC. Finally, I would also enjoy a remaster of Legendia. People claim it's the black sheep but that's actually one of the best Tales Of, and doesn't feel like the same game over and over again since Phantasia... Because I'm sorry but since it's creation, out of the 17 mothership games, only a handful are actually not a reskin of the other games (characters, themes, battle system, music...)

Re: Review: Tales Of Graces f Remastered (Switch) - The Characters Steal The Show In This JRPG Classic

Astropez

@JohnnyMind @MeloMan

Some would say that if you played Final Fantasy X, then you played Symphonia, and they wouldn't be wrong. Symphonic was the first in Europe, but it's far from being the best. Graces is definitely a great entry, but I would also encourage Phantasia, and if we ever get it in English, Rebirth. The first Xilia is also a strong entry. But let's be honest, Tales Of always were mediocre JRPGs (except for Phantasia), and even the best ones are not on par with the worst of other series.

Re: Nintendo's Share Price Reaches An All-Time High One Week After Switch 2 Reveal

Astropez

NL is probably the only website who pretended this was a big deal last week when everyone knows how stock market works... I mean. This and last week's article go against your editorial guidelines btw (alongside many other news failing your editorial, veracity and many other guidelines).

To say you don't actually care about them in the first place is a step I am obviously taking.

But yeah folks, this is how stock market works 🤷

Re: Random: Switch 2 Leakers Called Out By Industry Veteran Hideki Kamiya

Astropez

@Lizuka
I don't understand this comment. Leaking is a disaster for both the company (spending resource on marketing, potentially harming the brand and/or sales, etc...) and the consumer. There's a huge difference with spoil in general: the product is not out.
If you had a product you want to unveil, take people by surprise or just market in a certain way, I'm pretty sure you'd be furious about the leaks too.

Re: Cult RPG Hit 'OFF' Makes Its Way To The Switch In 2025

Astropez

I was rather confused by this. I played OFF some years ago when I was doing my own games on RM2k3, and I was sure Mortis Ghost died in an accident, but apparently he didn't xD

@JohnnyMind
I wouldn't call it horror, mostly very surrealist/akward. It's what Undertale tried to be but didn't manage to be. If anyone liked Undertale they will definitely like OFF (which is a deeper and more meaningful game with a lot of interesting thinking to do); though the other way is not guaranteed at all.

I don't know if I'd buy it again, but I'm glad the game will have the chance to gain the recognition it so rightfully deserves.

Re: Lemmings-Like Space Adventure 'Moons of Darsalon' Leaps Onto Switch February 2025

Astropez

@FantasiaWHT
I think the issue is mostly that there aren't really rules (at least official rules) on what can and should be done with generative AI (I'm specifying here because AI as a whole has existed since computers do). So the tools are being misused by ill intended people. But it's the same as when printing, radio, TV or internet were invented and it took some time to adjust. It's normal, but in this age everything takes huge proportions.

Re: Lemmings-Like Space Adventure 'Moons of Darsalon' Leaps Onto Switch February 2025

Astropez

I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve with this article? Announcing the game and making a public lynching of the dev for being honest about part of this work? Sticking it to them even more by claiming the rest of their game is also AI-made without any proof of any sort?

Regardless of how you feel about AI art, at least they disclaimed it properly, which isn't the case of many other game devs, some of whom you loved not a month ago...

Oh and not all AI art is "theft", some tools are being made on legally obtained art and consent. But then again, if you knew what you were talking about...

Re: Review: The Thing: Remastered (Switch) - A Great Remaster Of A Half-Great Game

Astropez

@Shrek_Realista as I own both a PS5 and a series S and having owned before a PS3, a PS4 and an X360 (granted I had way more games on my Xbox consoles) and having enjoyed many games on many different platforms not owned by Nintendo, I fail to see how that's a fanboy thing. I disliked achievements as soons as they were introduced. They are artificial and make devs lazy to propose something actually different to maintain players attention, favouring instead fetch quests and repetitive activities. Much like the "open-world" plague, actually.

Re: Bullet-Hell Shmup Refused Classification In The West Over 'Expression Restrictions'

Astropez

@JohnnyMind I wouldn't say it's a censorship issue per se. Japan is VERY liberal with age rating, especially of sexual things and is in general ok with younglings being used in sexual acts (just look at shota). Watching the trailer for the game and seeing the age rating in Japan is 12+, yeah, there's no way that would even fly under 16 in the US and Europe - and for good reasons. If it were less I would be one of the firsts to file a complaint, even though I have no kids and despite being far from a puritan.

But we don't know the reasons so it's just speculation (and I'm a lot against speculation) and I was just mentioning it could be the issue because sexy and/or mature games are almost never rejected in Europe with the proper age rating.
Almost because there were a very few exceptions with games inviting to hate/discrimination/extermination of groups of people, but you can count those on your hands.

Re: Japanese Charts: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake's Launch Sales Are Astronomical

Astropez

@Banjo-
I think the issue is that FF9 is already originally a gorgeous game, so the differences jumps at you. FF8 and FF7 are less bad because the 3D is also more rudimentary than FF9, so the poor integration of the remodeled characters is a lot more visible in FF9. Chrono Cross has the same problem. It really is a shame how Square treat their legacy like garbage.

Re: Level-5's Mech RPG 'Megaton Musashi W: Wired' Lands Online PvP Mode In Upcoming Update

Astropez

@Teksette Goldorak is a star in France and we grew up mainly with it as a typical Mecha-Anime Robot. We didn't have Gundam, tho we did have a Power Rangers.

Anyway, I highly discourage you to play the Goldorak game. It's not that it's bad per se. It's nothing groundbreaking, it's rather short and easy and if you're an absolute fan it kinda does the job. But there's zero challenge, performance makes it borderline unplayable even on a high-end PC, and it's riddled with bugs. And Microids never ever patch their games.

Re: Japanese Charts: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake's Launch Sales Are Astronomical

Astropez

@Banjo-
Legend of Mana isn't for everyone. It's a very open-ended game and without a walkthrough you have to do a minimum of 3 playthrough to see everything. It's more like a collection of stories with 3 big storylines. It's very "SaGa"-like in it's philosophy (bit then again, same creator for SaGa games and LoM).
But for the remaster, they took the time to redraw every background so they actually look sharp and not messy like that ugly upscaling they did for most of their other remasters of PS1 games (FF7/8/9, Chrono Cross). God even the Pixel remasters, they only redid the character sprites, everything else is upscaled and you can tell without knowing anything about pixel art.

I understand why they did it: LoM is a very very VERY niche game; the others were sure to be sold en masse no matter what they were doing with them. But that's lazy quick cash grab, but hey, it's Square Enix, that's what they've been doing for almost 20y now.

Re: Japanese Charts: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake's Launch Sales Are Astronomical

Astropez

@Serpenterror he didn't mention pirating it. Don't jump on your guns.

On another note, it's not surprising considering DQ3 is, for a weird reason to me, still considered the best DQ and was a huge success at its time. I don't like what they did here with it, between the overly enlarged empty maps and the less charming 2D compared to, for example, Live a Live. But good if people like it!

Re: Opinion: Chrono Trigger Isn't The Only Great Time-Travel RPG On DS

Astropez

While Radiant Historia is a decent game, it really doesn't even approach the depth of Chrono Trigger.
In terms of pacing and level design Radiant Historia is all over the place and the addition from the 3DS remake didn't make it any better. It's double the playtime from CT (some might even say 3 times) but has a more diluted story, less interesting characters and the battle system shows quickly its limits after the 10-15h mark. Plus the intrication of "time" (it's actually closer to Chrono Cross with two "worlds") are easily put under the rug, while CT is the only game I know which uses the principle of time travelling properly.

Undeniably RH is a good game, and I had fun playing it, but don't mix apples and oranges.

Re: Review: 8-Bit Adventures 2 (Switch) - A Well-Crafted Ode To Classic RPGs That Goes On A Bit

Astropez

@CriticalGames I completely agree, but for having played your game twice (PC and Switch), the quality of writing is also far better than any post-Persona 4game from Atlus or any modern-Falcom titles.

Yet softwares from both companies are hailed for their amount of text and the quality of their writing? Or for taking their player based for complete idiots (looking hard at you P5, 90% of your texts is just about paraphrasing yourself). It puzzles me. Or rather it used to puzzle me: I've long realised that the "professional" game "journalism", among which NintendoLife, let a lot slide from well-known companies but not from Indies. It should be the contrary, Indies don't have the same amount of means to achieve the best results. But who am I to judge.

On another topic, as I said, played your game twice, love it. Great job, especially knowing it was originally made with RPGMaker. Can't wait for what you come up with next.

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