AtlanteanMan

I just went ahead and purchased the Ray's Arcade Chronology from the Japanese eShop using Japanese eShop points bought from Play-Asia's website. Delivery of the eShop code is almost immediate and just requires entering the verification code Play-Asia emails you upon ordering. A 9000 Yen code will set you back $78.80 US, which is more than enough to cover the cost of the game once you've redeemed it on the eShop.

Upon opening the game, the language option is right there on the main screen and mine automatically defaulted to English. A bit pricey, yes, but a superior selection (that also includes RayForce) over the RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection for anyone interested.

The Ray's Arcade Chronology looks to be superior in terms of overall content. Just to clarify, is it only coming to the West in physical form and not digital? It looks to have full English support, so if that's the case I'll just buy the import version off the Japanese eShop. I agree with BionicDodo, multiple localizations of the same or overlapping titles gets confusing and frustrating, especially when the better versions are more difficult to access in a form you prefer.

@Vexx234 I played over 200 hours of BotW and loved it, but I definitely missed core elements of previous Zelda such as proper dungeons, enemy and boss variety, chests that actually mattered, the iconic items like the Hookshot and Water Boots, and so on. And all those things have been valid criticisms from many fans.

You may get your wish someday regarding Link being voiced, but somehow I suspect it won't be the positive change you think, nor will it be received well by many if not most longtime fans. Up till now Link has been a literal avatar for the player to project our own thoughts and words onto; the moment he's voiced he becomes someone else's vehicle and we'll lose a crucial part of what made us connect with him and other "voiceless" or "faceless" characters (consider what happened with Metroid: Other M). There's a reason such characters have stood the test of time when countless voiced contemporaries have come and gone.

This topic keeps coming up, but my answer will always be the same: NO.

"Voiceless" or "faceless" (example: Master Chief from Halo) protagonists have one specific and enormous advantage over speaking characters: the player can project their own thoughts, words, reactions, even values onto that character. The character under that mask could literally be ANYONE, look like ANYBODY. The player fills in those gaps in dialogue with their own mind when Link is gesturing to that villager or other NPC. It enables a special connection between the player and the character because the player can make that character their own (most if not all Zelda games even allow you to rename Link to anything you wish for your save file; perhaps Nintendo also recognizes this fact). Even Mario, behind the joyous exclamations of "Yahoo" and "Yippee!" as he leaps through his worlds, is universally relatable because he's otherwise silent, allowing the player to project their own thoughts and words onto him.

For a cautionary example of why it's not a good idea to change this approach once it's established, look at Metroid: Other M. It got critically panned and people were complaining about Samus' voice, dialogue, character, pretty much everything. Comments ranged from her being "whiny" to her character not being in line with a formidable bounty hunter.

There's a saying that you should try never to "meet your heroes", because it sets up disappointment. Characters like Link, Samus, and Master Chief are iconic and have stood the test of time because they're truly avatars for the player; the moment they speak (or in the latter's case, takes that helmet off), they become someone else's vehicle, and that special connection is cut off.

Parsing what I saw in the trailer:

1) The apparent DUNGEON rising from the sands! A return of proper, themed dungeons would be absolutely huge.

2) Gleeok. An old school boss from the Zelda franchise's past prompts me to wonder what other new (old) enemies might make a return. Tektites, Darknuts, who knows? They would certainly be welcome as one valid criticism of BotW was its lack of enemy variety.

3) Town (re)building. It appears that Link may be assisting in the reconstruction of various ruins around Hyrule. A dash of Suikoden mixed in, perhaps? Yes, please.

4) The fact that Moblins can construct/fuse their own vehicles and weaponry looks to add a new dimension to how you must approach combat against "nests".

5) Shrines appear to have made a return. I have mixed feelings on that, but as long as there are proper, full-length dungeons to go with them, I'm good.

@johnedwin Yes, that DUNGEON rising from the sands! That answers one big question for me. And as others have surmised, apparently there's a rebuilding mechanic going on around Hyrule where Link will be assisting in the reconstruction of the ruins, probably a hybrid of fetch-questing and crafting with maybe a bit of populating them a'la Suikoden mixed in. And kudos to Nintendo for actually showing elements of the story (without spoiling too much).

This trailer assuages a lot of concerns, for sure. Looking forward to diving into this one next month!

@Bret The difference with BotW is that it was an all-new experience on brand-new hardware, and it was Zelda; it was going to succeed commercially regardless. And people were absolutely fine with going into that vast, open world to be able to discover everything for themselves. TotK was always understood to be a direct sequel involving the same characters and, at least generally speaking, the same overworld, but that's precisely why it needed more detailed explanations of its plot and what players could expect to be different and fresh this time around.

Here's why that's so important: I personally put in over 200 hours exploring every nook and cranny of Hyrule in BotW. Every shrine, every ruin, every side quest. I even unlocked the Cycle. But there's a reason why that my return visits have been few far between, and brief since then. I'm too familiar with everything even 5 years later and there's nothing left to do of meaning. Beautiful, amazing game, but it got played out. And now Nintendo's asking us to return to that exact same world, go back through all the crafting and accumulation of the same weapons and items for probably at least as long.

I know TotK will be a huge seller and I still believe Nintendo did lot more here than just reuse the same assets, but making the entire Direct about a handful of mechanical abilities for Link without any mention of what you're even trying to accomplish or any juicy new details regarding dungeons, new enemies, or other content is why so many posters here are complaining. Hey, I pre-ordered the game myself and plan to enjoy it, but I can absolutely see where they're coming from. Players want to see what is NEW that's going to be worth their time and investment. BotW had that without any need for Directs or in-depth explanations; for TotK it's going to take more than just some 12-minute walk-through of new mechanical abilities, no matter how much experimentation they might allow for, because at the end of the day this is still Zelda; the story and exploration can't take a back seat to gimmicks. And that overworld and its enemies, at least from what's been shown, look way too familiar.

Hopefully the upcoming trailer will help fill in at least some of the missing details to help build anticipation for TotK rather than diffuse it.

The biggest concern I have about TotK is that the only Direct we got focused entirely on specific gameplay mechanics. No plot details, very few details regarding new enemy types, no information at all on how one of the biggest overworlds Nintendo has ever crafted will be any different from BotW aside from the floating islands. No mention of dungeons or what exploring might uncover. That silence speaks volumes, and it's NOT a good thing.

This is the direct follow-up to the biggest Zelda game ever made and which single-handedly made the Switch launch a massive success...and yet it's all the things we DON'T know about it going in that aren't reasons for excitement and anticipation so much as concern that Nintendo might have simply slapped some new mechanics across a bunch of existing assets and called it a day (setting aside the fact it's taken almost six years to finally release). Hopefully that doesn't turn out to be the case, but the fact that so many gamers are concerned about it is completely on Nintendo for how they've chosen to market TotK. It's frankly baffling.

I did, but I quickly went to the joypad and never looked back.

@Beefcakeyamato I have a friend who I used to play DSP 3.0 online with (we even found a way to play DS VII for PS2 online via emulator, sending our save file to each other by e-mail after our turns!) and was part of a fan effort to get it localized on the US PlayStation Forums over a decade ago. He owns the game and has been relaying the info to me, and he too is disappointed with it overall. Daisenryaku is one of those unfortunate cases of a company not knowing the potential what they have in an IP and/or simply not being able to give it proper QC or marketing.

@Beefcakeyamato There is but unfortunately it's not one of SystemSoft Beta's better efforts. The unit list is far smaller, there is no multiplayer, and they're monetizing it with overpriced scenarios required to access additional units that should have been in the base game to begin with. In other words, similar to the approach of stringing consumers along with "more $$$ for less effort and quality" that's become rampant across the entire industry.

I loved the originals and have had this pre-ordered twice now (counting the delay).

For anyone with the hardware (or, more likely by now, emulators) who loves AW, there's a far deeper yet still very accessible franchise called Daisenryaku (Grand Strategy) that's mostly Japan-only but has had a few entries make it to the West. It comes in both WWII and modern-era flavors (Iron Storm for Sega Saturn, Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics Exceed for Playstation 2 and XBox, and Daisenryaku Perfect 4.0 for Steam PC). Think of it as a literal encyclopedia of real-life military units, roughly 500 in Iron Storm, a WWII entry where you can play full campaigns including "what if" scenarios with the USA, Japan, and Germany, and over 400 in DSVII Exceed across 8 nations (USA, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, UK, France, and Israel) and 1500 across 48 nations in DSP 4.0, both of which are modern-era. The latter two also have fully featured map editors and the ability to play up to 4 players (DS VII on 64 X 64 hex maps) or 8 players (DSP 4.0 on up to 256 X 256 hexes) in any combination of human and AI-controlled players. Unlike AW's Rock/Paper/Scissors approach where Tank = Tank, Daisenryaku employs actual algorithms depicting the real life strengths of individual unit types, so a squadron of M1 Abrams is going to wipe the floor with older T-72s but have a harder time against German Leopard 2A6s or Israeli Merkavas.

I had a group of friends who played DSVII for thousands of hours, sometimes over 10 hours at a stretch. The multi-player is incredibly addictive and tense whether you're playing with FoW (Fog of War) rules where each player takes their turn privately or like a tabletop game where everyone is watching (and doing their best to offer manipulative "advice"). Great times.

Anyway. I can't recommend these enough if you love AW and want a taste of something similar. The campaigns in DS VII, by the way, are easy and bland, but they do unlock some amazing units for multiplayer like the Zumwalt-class, the Lun (the fastest water transport in the game), and the "Spooky". Just ignore the game-breaking Cyber-Ninjas that were included as a joke by the dev team.

Man, I would absolutely love for a localization company to port DS VII or its Japan-only sequel DS 2 Exceed (I know, weird numbering) for current consoles; they would be huge additions for the Switch.

While I understand the comments here regarding the asking price being too high as well as those saying they'll simply wait for a sale, I pre-ordered the compilation, and here's why: Sega is notorious for ignoring the vast majority of their IPs, especially their RPG franchises, and ANY opportunity we get to vote with our wallets to tell them we'll support new remasters, remakes, compilations, and sequels has to be treated as if it's the last chance we'll ever get. It's been 30 years since the last old school Phantasy Star, over 25 years since Shining Force III, and two decades since Skies of Arcadia, just to name a few.

Several years ago I exchanged emails with the marketing manager of a game publisher regarding a potential localization, and he informed me of how companies view game sales and risk. He said that all too often a given IP will get vocal support for a new entry, but when it's released they ignore it or wait for it to go on sale. Publishers look at the first month or two after release to gage the "success" of a given release, and they DON'T count sale or reduced (bargain bin) prices in those numbers. True interest, he said, is demonstrated in the number of preorders and sales immediately following launch, at full price. Money talks, and corporations are in business to make money, period.

The Etrian Odyssey series was definitely on my radar at one point but I never got around to it on the 3DS, and I'm anxious to experience it for myself, but I also realize that each purchase is telling Sega that their RPGs and other IPs NOT named Sonic have fans who are willing to pay to enjoy them again. Whether a given game or compilation is worth X amount of $$$ to you is up to each individual gamer, but please keep in mind that supporting any or all of these Etrian Odyssey ports could help raise the odds we could finally see other classic Sega RPGs make a return as well. It's definitely an extra thing to consider.

I didn't vote here because the video felt like the first of a series of installments, this one focusing exclusively on the new gameplay mechanics. Still nowhere to be seen were any details regarding new enemies, whether proper dungeons will make a return, or even general plot. Of course I could be wrong and this will be the only Direct Nintendo has planned (and if I am then this video leaves much to be desired), but that seems unlikely for such a vast entry to a flagship franchise. Surely they have more to show before launch, otherwise it's only going to feed some folks' speculation that this is a phoned-in effort utilizing mostly the same assets, whether justified or not.

Somehow I suspect this is only the first of a series of videos Nintendo has planned to show in the weeks leading up to release, because this one focused entirely on Fuse and other new gameplay mechanics. Perhaps future demos/videos will showcase new locations, enemies, dungeons, and/or reveal details about the overall plotline.

I say this because if this demonstration was the only one Nintendo was planning, it left a lot of folks unsatisfied to say the least, and not in a "didn't want it to end" sense.

@Sourcecode I get where you're coming from in some ways although I personally didn't mind the crafting aspect in BotW. Nintendo has indeed been "hybridizing" too many of their IPs in order to try and appeal to a wider audience or draw out a given game's length. Case in point: Fire Emblem. I fell in love with the franchise when I played Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, and back then the support conversations actually developed characters, gave useful hints about upcoming battles, and yet were kept properly brief so the focus could remain where it belonged: those glorious battles across varied terrain and environments.

Beginning with Three Houses I noticed a HUGE change in that focus away from the SRPG elements to becoming a glorified social similator with fishing, cooking, and other activities. The Monastery was a literal time sink just to get around and have your obligatory discussions with everyone. I did one playthrough of around 150 hours (I maxed out Byleth on all jobs) and haven't been back. Just WAY too much fluff.

Engage was even worse; more of the same padding, only with painfully mundane and meaningless dialogue and one-note characters I couldn't care about less. I quickly found myself dreading every return to the Somniel because there was just SO MUCH CRAP TO CHECK OFF. Also, as the social aspects of the franchise has received so much attention from the developers the battle maps themselves have become less varied overall and less interesting; in other words, the core focus of the franchise is suffering. I stopped somewhere around the 20-hour mark and frankly don't know whether I'll ever bother going back to it.

All of which is to say that while I understand Nintendo's approach in adding such side activities (and I also understand there are many players who may hold differing viewpoints from my own here), there is such a thing as having too much of a "good thing", and that's when it starts detracting from the core focus of a given game/franchise or starts to feel like busywork instead of simply being an optional respite from the main storyline. The bottom line is: does it really "add more", and most of all, is it actually FUN (especially the 400th time)?

To those of you concerned about the map appearing to be too similar to BotW, first off, please consider this is the same Link and the same Hyrule that was featured in BotW. How much time has passed? No way to tell so far, but expecting some radical change to the overworld map was just unrealistic; if you revisit a place in real life you haven't been to in years, it may appear the same topographically, but a lot could have changed in terms of construction, new roads and subdivisions, and so on. The same goes for Hyrule; the map may look the same at first glance, but remember it was an ENORMOUS map in BotW, so the potential for changes on the surface is obvious. As for art direction, it wouldn't make sense to radically alter it for a story continuation featuring the same Link.

Now, the demo didn't answer some of my own questions: 1) Are there real, themed dungeons with actual bosses this time around? 2) Is the variety of overworld monsters better and more varied than the Moblin-centric groups we had in BotW? 3) Will there be some of the classic items from past Zeldas such as the Boots for exploring underwater (as for the Hookshot, that Ascend ability pretty much renders it redundant, it would seem)? It also left me with one big new question: For all its novelty, is there too much focus on Fuse and new mechanics here as opposed to new material (locations, dungeons, enemies, etc.) and storyline? But to accuse Nintendo of releasing glorified DLC here is woefully premature and doesn't take into account all the mechanics shown in the demo that would have required extensive changes to the original's code. For now, all we can do is wait until we get the game in our own hands and try it, and the bottom line will be whether each player is satisfied with the end product.

It's easily my most anticipated game of this year. I fully expect to spend a similar amount of hours (200-plus) exploring every nook and cranny of Hyrule. With that come some hopes and concerns, though:

1) Hoping for better enemy variety including genuine, dungeon-dwelling bosses.

2) Concerned that breakable weapons will again render the rarest heroic weapons as useless trophies on the mantle at Link's house so as to avoid losing them forever.

3) Hoping for genuine, fully realized and themed dungeons to return.

4) Concerned that the "Nuts & Bolts" mechanic of building makeshift vehicles with your powers could be too much of the game's focus. Steering too far away from the core gameplay and exploration that's always been the hallmark of the franchise too much or too often could prove disastrous.

5) Hoping to see the return of meaningful chests, such as those containing iconic items from previous Zelda which are permanent and unbreakable. Chests in BotW simply didn't have any sense of reward or accomplishment to them.

6) Hoping for some sort of connectivity between BotW and Tears of the Kingdom, from maybe finally seeing what those ruins in BotW were like during their heyday (time travel, perhaps?) to simpler stuff like items and ingredients carrying over from the other game's save file.

7) Concerned regarding the lack of actual information this close to release. As great as it was, BotW was by no means a perfect game. TotK could be even greater, but with so many unanswered questions and only a month and a half until it releases, there's a lot of nervous uncertainty. A full blow-out Direct highlighting its plot, mechanics, and changes to the world from BotW before release would help assuage many of those concerns.

The first demo I played for an RPG was LUNAR: Silver Star Story for the PS1 that came on a disc that was included with a magazine (it was quite a novelty then). It gave you the opportunity to experience not just an entire dungeon with multiple cutscenes, but culminated in Alex and company boarding a ship to sail to the main continent and Luna's Boat Song (Can I get a witness?). It was a fantastic way to end the demo that left me anxious to see more even though I'd been fortunate enough to play the Sega CD version.

A demo done right leaves a player wanting more; a demo done wrong can easily take a game off of people's "To Get" lists.

My biggest concerns regarding a Switch successor based on Nintendo's history and business practices:

1) No backwards-compatibility for Switch games, which easily represent the largest catalog in Nintendo's hardware history, instead expecting consumers to repurchase current-gen versions of whatever "legacy" titles they decide to port. Or worse, locking them behind a subscription model.

2) This obviously would mean no eShop continuity, and it also goes without saying that would include Switch Online and its services. Those expensive N64 and other retro controllers would be rendered as obsolete as the Virtual console and the ability of consumers to permanently purchase retro titles when the VC was replaced by the eShop.

3) It's not as big a priority for me since I realize Nintendo's strengths are in its first-party games, but I highly doubt the Switch successor's specs are going to blow anyone away; in fact it may well be far less powerful than either a PS5 or XBox Series S/X. However, consumer perceptions are important, and Nintendo would be having to start over from square one with new hardware that's going to need every selling point it can get.

4) Please do away with the continent's worth of shovelware that's glutted the eShop for whatever comes next; more isn't better if there's no QC standards.

@Not_Soos With only two waves left and 16 tracks, it goes without saying that some favorites are going to end up being passed by, sadly. I agree that Dino Dino Jungle would be at or near the top of my remaining wish list. Given how many truly memorable entries there have been over the years, I am surprised we haven't seen at least one iteration of a Bowser's Castle track.

One thing is pretty much guaranteed given the pattern of the waves to date: both will have at least one and probably multiple Tour tracks included. Which, when considering the ratio versus all other MK games represented in the Track Pass, really feels like taking slots away from better, more deserving possibilities that are truer to the Mario universe. I love the Track Pass overall, but if there's one area I feel is the weakest, it's that.

One last thing I personally hope Nintendo adds as the cherry on top once everything is said and done: I would love to see a fully featured Custom Cup where players could add any number of tracks from any existing Cup in any order, with the ability to select available items. Just imagine the epic local multi-player marathons we could enjoy with friends and family around the living room.

The Yoshi's Island track is indeed great, but overall I personally feel this is the WEAKEST wave thus far. It's very hard for me to get past THREE Tour tracks in a single wave of eight tracks; while each has certain things that are appealing and Singapore is one of the best Tour tracks from a technical perspective, there is simply too high a ratio of Tour tracks to everything else; Nintendo may as well have labeled it the "MK Tour Pass".

Three Tour tracks in one wave of eight tracks. Nintendo may as well be calling this the "MK Tour Pass" at this point; now you know why they included Birdo and the Yoshi's Island track to try to distract from that fact. Thus far, with the exception of Ninja Hideaway, the Tour Tracks are universally the weakest from a design standpoint, and having so many at once is really going to drag this wave down.

I loved Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, but while I completed both it and this sequel, I have to say the original feels far superior in many ways. It managed to maintain a certain connection with the Mario "universe" throughout its stages, including its bosses, for one thing, where Sparks of Hope delves too deeply into the Rabbids' side of things, to its great detriment. Where I actually looked forward to finding "places of interest" in Kingdom Battle, I found myself not even bothering with them in SoH because A) the humor fell absolutely flat with me and B) the monologues would go on for WAY too long. But the most noticeable downgrade was the regular battles, which were virtually always repetitive, throwaway experiences that could often be beaten within a single turn, plus Kingdom Battle kind of forced you to experiment and improve all your characters; in SoH I stuck with Peach (Shield), Rabbid Peach (Healer), and Luigi (Range, Overwatch) because their combo rendered everyone else irrelevant and impotent.

Sure, I'll play the DLC because I paid for it, but my expectations are already lowered by the quality of the main game. Ubisoft missed a huge opportunity with SoH by not further exploring the potential of more Nintendo IPs (Zelda, Metroid, etc.) and instead emphasizing their own, and the quality this time around simply lacked the obvious passion that won me and so many others over with KB. It's a real shame, because that failure may cost this series any chance of having future installments.

@Beaucine Appreciate the suggestion and may try it, although having to reset everything back for other games and vice versa would be a headache. Hopefully Nintendo will simply patch in some additional options at some point.

This may sound like heresy to some "purists", but I turn off/mute the voices in any RPG that aren't spoken in English. There's simply no context for me to understand or translate what I'm hearing to the text on the screen, so it all comes off as gibberish that's better silenced so I can at least appreciate the music and other sounds. I know RPGs are text-intensive projects, but if you're going to have spoken dialogue at all then not bothering to include voice in players' native language comes across as a bit less than 100 percent effort.

The game does have one MAJOR flaw for me: it's in dire need of more control interface options. Currently there's no option to swap the sticks for FPS southpaws like myself, and before you dismiss that by claiming I "just need to adjust", please consider that A) this was a problem for me back in the day on the GC version as well, and B) yes, I've been playing FPSes that way for even longer (you can thank the N64's positioning of its single analog stick for that). The ability to manually assign buttons would be huge as well, because for me in a game like Metroid Prime the "A" button feels much more natural for jumping and the "B" button for firing/interacting.

I want to be able to immerse myself in and enjoy this game as much as anyone, but you simply can't do that when the controls constantly feel unnatural or even completely backward. I am hoping that someone at Nintendo will see this and consider adding more user options for the controls. It honestly isn't too much to ask for a first-party title with a complex set of controls to begin with.

I played the GC version back in the day and have started this version, but I'm running into a familiar problem: the controls are completely backwards for me. I've always been a southpaw in FPSes, and Metroid Prime operates on those same basic mechanics. Problem is, there's no way to swap sticks or change the button layout (for me, the A button is far more natural as the Jump button).

This is no minor complaint; I can't enjoy a game if I'm constantly fighting the controls, and once you've made an eShop purchase, it's non-refundable. I really hope someone at Nintendo reads this and addresses the issue. It really isn't asking much for them to add a few more control settings options.

A carry-over from BotW of (at least some of) Link's inventory and abilities would be an excellent way of rewarding players who finished BotW. Conversely, wouldn't it be cool if booting up TotK activated some form of extra "bridge" content for BotW? Not that I expect either to be the case; at any rate, Nintendo has a long-held tradition of making the early hours of its first-party games glorified tutorials, and seeing how long it's been since many of us touched BotW, a refresher on the overall mechanics for TotK wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily.

What I do expect to happen, probably about a month out from release, is for Nintendo to post a dedicated Direct that will go into much further detail regarding TotK's story, objectives, mechanics, and so on. I also expect there to be enough to distinguish itself from BotW to alleviate a lot of folks' concerns about looking "too similar". We are, after all, talking about a game with probably hundreds of hours of potential gameplay, and even if the overall topography proves to mimic BotW the sheer scale of the map allows for any number of changes both big and small, from hopefully a bigger variety of enemy types to full-on dungeons with actual Boss fights.

Que sera, sera. We'll see for ourselves pretty soon.

@SpaceboyScreams I've no doubt that a full, dedicated Direct will happen probably about a month out from TotK's release. Nintendo's not just going to have the latest entry in arguably their biggest franchise (apologies to Mario) launch with consumers having no clue regarding the basics of the storyline and mechanics. The answers are coming; they were never going to do so inside the last two minutes of today's Direct, anyway.

One new mechanic will obviously be that liquid-like state Link will be able to use to pass through objects, as shown in a previous trailer when he emerged atop that floating platform. So yes, there's some new stuff incoming.

Pre-ordered, along with about a half-dozen other games from this Direct. If this year ends up being the Switch's swan song, at least it's going out on a high note.

Nice to see, but I really hope this contains all the original songs; they maintained an overall Latino vibe that complemented the visuals perfectly. I had the Maraca controllers ($80!!!) and had a blast with the original, even if my family and friends had some serious laughs at my expense. You kind of just have to check your dignity at the door to really enjoy this type of game, lol.

File size is over 18 GB, nearly a full 3 GB larger than BotW, which I registered probably over 300 hours of playtime in. As someone who gages value in my gaming purchases by hours played per dollar spent, I can live with an extra $10 based on what's seemingly on offer here.

Lots of complaints here about a "samey" look and mechanics, but seeing how this is a direct sequel to BotW featuring the same Link and supporting cast, a different aesthetic approach would have been jarring, and it only makes sense that Link would carry forward much of the same abilities he had in BotW; it goes without saying that he'll be adding all-new ones as well, at least some of which we've already seen in the trailers to date. The big question marks are how similar the overworld will prove to be (perhaps a time travel mechanic to see all those ruins in BotW in their heydays?), whether there are true dungeons, better enemy variety including actual Boss fights (though some of the ones in the trailer definitely showed promise), and whether/to what degree breakable weapons (yeah, I hate 'em, too) come into play.

In any case, already pre-ordered. Bring on May 12th!

Took a look at TotK's file size: over 18 GB!!! Almost 3 full GB larger than BotW, which I've gotten probably around 300 hours' worth of playtime out of. I gage value in my gaming purchases largely by hours played per dollar spent, so honestly, not a bad trade-off at all so long as TotK lives up to (and hopefully in some respects exceeds) the lofty standards of its predecessor.

Anyone else notice the entire trailer was composed of cinematics? Guess Nintendo doesn't trust this franchise to sell on its core merits (much like Fire Emblem).

Fans never played turned-based tactical games and SRPGs for the visuals to begin with. They're nice to have, of course, but it's a shame so many of their own developers don't trust them to sell without padding them with unrelated busywork or cinematics, if they ever go back to releasing them at all (looking at Shining Force in particular).

Guess now we know why Zelda: TotK is rumored to be $70 US. You can always count on any form of increased corporate costs to get passed on to the end consumer. These aren't charities and company-wide raises aren't borne of some humanitarian goodwill, nor do they come without long-term consequences.

Had a feeling a Direct was coming soon and have been watching out for this news. Hopefully this will be an epic Direct for the ages; with Tears of the Kingdom, Pikmin 4, and possibly a Metroid Prime 4 reveal it could be.

Does anyone else do a double take at that picture because it reminds them of Cobra Commander?

In addition to the new areas seen in the trailers, I'd like to see the same overworld map return with additional temples, dungeons, and caves to explore; despite its size the original map in BotW was mostly devoid of such places. The shrines and their bite-sized puzzles simply didn't count. There are more than enough ruins and potential locations for new structures for a walk-through in TotK to feel totally fresh and new; perhaps a time-travel mechanic will be how at least some of that is accomplished.

Another way to improve upon BotW would be to have a greater variety of enemy types from across the Zelda franchise's history, including epic boss battles. Tektites, Darknuts, Dodongos, and other denizens of Hyrule would add so much to what became a repetitive pattern of Bokoblins and a handful of other enemies in BotW.

TotK also needs for at least some treasure chests to MEAN something. Permanent, non-destructible weapons and iconic items such as the Hookshot would make dungeons worth exploring and reverse the anticlimactic feeling of knowing you will just get some more Rupees or limited-use sword or bow when you open a chest. If Nintendo keeps the destructible weapon mechanic, at least make a few "legendary" permanent ones scattered across the land of varying strength, which players could win by finding in dungeons or defeating bosses or mini-bosses.

Another cool feature would be to have cross-save compatibility with interlocking features between TotK and BotW. For example, TotK reads your finished BotW save and let's you start the game with at least some of your acquired inventory from BotW, or BotW adds new locations, dungeons, or tasks by reading a TotK save; this would provide a huge incentivefor players to return to it after probably years.

I don't know whether Nintendo will incorporate any of these ideas, but I know I'm looking forward to TotK more than any other game in 2023.

@nhSnork I wasn't trying to be hyperbolic in my description of FE: Engage's writing (and again, a lot of other players have used similar "fanspeak"). I don't know whether you've played the game yet, but if and when you do, I humbly suggest that you compare its story and dialogue with the likes of Valkyria Chronicles or even FE: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. The latter two's support conversations in particular are night and day from Engage on two crucial fronts: A) they're pertinent to the storyline and B) help to flesh out the characters and their motivations in meaningful ways. In some cases they even provide clues on how to beat upcoming maps or bosses.

If you'd like me to cite an example of "awful dialogue", let's see...how about characters discussing "strength training" with teacups. Oh, and said characters are so one-note that literally every line they speak has some mention of "muscle-building" or "exercise" in it, including their in-battle remarks after making a kill. There's no depth or development there, nothing that really feels HUMAN or genuine, and as an aspiring writer myself who's had to endure some harsh critiques in my personal growth, I can tell you without reservation that it's a cardinal sin in writing. The truth is that some of the dialogue in Engage is actually worse, to the point of being cringe-inducing, and no, not just in that familiar quirky, Japanese humor way. Maybe I could cut FE: Engage some slack for being "just a videogame" if so many other games...including its predecessors...hadn't done so much better.

I've been gaming for 40 years now across most of the platforms that have existed and probably thousands of games; while I'm still passionate about the hobby and avidly go to bat for IPs that I feel haven't had a chance in too long (just ask anyone who's read my remarks here toward Sega and that mountain of incredible RPG franchises they're just ignoring), if anything I'm jaded by a lot of things I see in the industry's practices and how they've bastardized the SRPG genre in particular in an effort to give it wider appeal. What you term "fanspeak" I define as simply giving an honest personal take. I've seen good (and GREAT) writing enough by now to be able to tell the difference between it and when a company phones it in...and I believe I'm not alone when I say Nintendo definitely did with a lot of Engage's dialogue in particular.

Now, whether what I've said "boosts your expectations of the exact opposite" or even if your actual experience proves to be the exact opposite is completely up to you. Everyone's mileage varies on a given game based on their own tastes and experience. But I'll stick with my descriptions of Engage because they're my own unfiltered and completely honest opinions; I didn't make them to satisfy yours or anyone else's criteria, I simply said what I felt. To each their own.

Whatever the timing of its release, if a franchise is important to you, VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET and support it. You may not be able to control a game's overall sales figures, but at least your money went toward telling the publisher there is a market for it.

A couple of tips that go far in helping a "niche" release:

1) DON'T wait for the game to go on sale; BUY IT IMMEDIATELY. This is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT and a lot of gamers apparently don't realize it, but publishers gage consumer interest based upon full-price sales within a certain time window from release. Yes, it's more expensive, but necessary if it might make the difference in ever seeing another entry. If too many sales come from bargain bins or steep discounts it impacts both a publisher's bottom line as well as their confidence in an IP's actual validity where consumer interest is concerned. By the way, I know this from having personally corresponded with developers, including higher-ups who were in charge of sales and marketing, who were kind enough to respond to my inquiries regarding potential projects.

2) Word of mouth: After reading its reviews I decided to purchase Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3, and it turned out to be one of my favorite games ever. So I showed it to no less than four coworkers, who ALL ended up buying their own copies. The exact same thing happened with Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics Exceed for the PS2...and this was long after the game was only available on the secondary market! If you have a great game you love, be sure to share it with others. They may just keep it going.

You may not move the numbers much on your own, but at least you can honestly say you put your money where your mouth was. And if enough people do the same it WILL make the necessary difference.

The story of Advance Wars will always be goofy and exist only to set up the next map you play through, but I personally always enjoyed it. The real dark horse attraction AW: Reboot Camp has will be, mark it down, the multi-player. Even though there's an overly basic rock/paper/scissors aspect to the unit mechanics, between the ability to make your own maps and test your strategy against other human opponents, I think there will be enough depth to hook a lot of folks. Do yourself a favor and DON'T overlook it at your next get-together once it comes out.

For anyone hungry for something similar to AW, the best console turn-based strategy series I've personally ever played is Daisenryaku (Grand Strategy), specifically Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics Exceed for Playstation 2 and XBox and later the Japan-only Daisenryaku Exceed 2 for PS3. The former can be found for probably under $10 on Amazon or eBay, and it garnered mediocre review scores for its basic 3D models (which look like single-color units on a tabletop war game) and bland campaign...but those reviews never mentioned the INCREDIBLE multi-player. Hundreds of real life unit types across several real nations, a full map editor, and the ability to play with up to four players in any combination of human and AI- controlled...and unlike Advance Wars, the units' algorithms reflect their real world capabilities; instead of tank = tank, a squadron of M1A2 Abrams will wipe the floor against older T-72s but have a harder time against T-80s, Leopards, or Merkavas. I used to have a group of coworkers who tried it with me, and not only did we end up playing hundreds upon hundreds of hours in sessions that sometimes ran over 10 hours and into the wee hours of the morning, but every one of them bought their own copies. I'm talking about 6 or 8 people here; that says a LOT about an old PS2 title when I had a shiny new PS3 sitting there available to play.

Just a reminder that sales figures don't always tell the whole story. Some of the greatest videogames ever made may never see a sequel or remake again because not enough gamers knew about them or gave them a chance. But for what it's worth, I think AW: Reboot Camp is going to do fine when it finally releases.

@nhSnork What, would you have had "no sarcasm implied" had I stopped playing after a couple of hours as opposed to trying to stick with a game I payed $60 for and give it a fair chance? If you enjoy your own experience with it, that's what matters. But don't casually dismiss someone's opinion (that's apparently shared to at least some degree by a lot of other players going by numerous posts I've read here on NL) as invalid. At least I took the time to spell out why Engage hasn't clicked with me personally.

@Dom_31 Actually after walking away from FE: Engage after roughly 25 hours of bland, predictable storyline, awful dialogue, and a slew of grinding for Emblem SP, Bond points, etc. that made every visit to the Somniel take too long and "activities" which weren't fun to begin with, I'll happily jump over to Advance Wars if/ when it arrives. Not only that, but I suspect that the multi-player will prove to be a huge hidden gem for AW with players.

Nintendo has completely lost their way with Fire Emblem where I'm personally concerned; Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn were leaner on presentation but vastly superior in terms of story, characters, and keeping the focus on the SRPG aspect. Sometimes "less" is actually more.

I'd like to see actual information and in-game footage for now. How long until the next Direct, by the way?

I would be interested if it was a VC game available for permanent purchase, but I will never throw my money down the drain for the Expansion Pack. I have the same personal policy regarding Game Pass and PSN Plus; if I want to play a game, I buy it, full stop. I just prefer the ability to control my access to my games and to be able to enjoy them for as long as I choose, on my schedule.

How about just dropping Sonic as a whole for awhile and doing something else for a change, Sega? You've become a company that mostly does just one thing, and doesn't even do that all that well.

A hard 6 so far. As others have said, the combat is solid, but the dialogue is absolutely atrocious and the story is pretty "meh". But it's the Somniel that really kills the pacing for me personally in the same way that Three Houses' Monastery did. I know that you can skip much of it if you want, but as a completist it is necessary to spend way too much time there. It's too spread out and the activities, such as polishing rings or seeing which party member comes to wake you up (seriously, that feels wrong on multiple levels) are sometimes bizarre, often feel like chores, and all of them are really just padding I could do without. I said it elsewhere, but as SRPGs go, Fire Emblem has become a cringe-inducing relationship simulator, cooking sim, or whatever else Nintendo can cram in to pad some extra hours to try to appeal to gamers who aren't into SRPGs. In short, it's lost sight of what made me fall in love with the franchise and with the genre as a whole.

SRPGs have to be the most bastardized genre in all of videogames, as well as the most disrespected by their parent companies. Shining Force got turned into a bland ARPG franchise seldom even seen outside of Japan anymore, and before that Sega only bothered to bring the first of three interlocking Scenarios of SF III (yes, 1/3 of an actual storyline) to the West. Sega also tried to do the same to Valkyria Chronicles with Azure, which was universally panned by critics and went straight to bargain bins. Square basically killed Front Mission by taking it in a third-person shooter direction with FM: Evolved. Nintendo delayed Advance Wars: Reboot Camp literally days before release last year citing "real world events" and we haven't heard a peep from them about it since. And recent Fire Emblems have been obligated to become relationship simulators, cooking sims, and whatever else Nintendo thinks might give it more "mainstream" appeal.

The problem with ALL of these changes is simple: it took the essence of what made these great franchises beloved by their fans...pure tactical, strategic gameplay and excellent stories and characters...and attempted to alter it to try and make them appeal to more gamers (meaning be more profitable). But in each and every case it has NEVER worked. Passion on the part of developers was what made them great and earned them fans to begin with (just look at how lovingly packed Valkyria Chronicles was with content, like an entire in-game book full of 3D artwork and info on characters, weapons, locations, etc.; THAT is how you make diehard fans); when profit margins become the driving factor the results look something like FE:Engage; a jack of all trades, but not very good at most. Sometimes simpler is better and "less" is actually more.

@Bahamut_GR That's a hard question to answer because it depends on your personal tastes as a player. If you're a completist, you absolutely must spend LOTS of time in Somniel (probably more than actually fighting battles). You must go there to upgrade weapons, strengthen bonds with Emblems, and so on anyway. You could probably skip the majority of the stuff there (fashion shop, farm, gifting, sleeping (seriously, what kind of protagonist needs...or would TOLERATE...to be woken up by party members as a means of "bonding"??? It's superfluous and frankly creepy.), etc. and still be able to enjoy the storyline (such as it is so far) just fine.

I'm not saying FE: Engage is a bad game; it just isn't up to the standards I was introduced to when I first played Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.