Comments 549

Re: Best Fire Emblem Games Of All Time

BLD

@Wexter

I agree with you entirely on this, although i do think Fates in particular had a pretty awful translation. A lot of stuff was really just changed "because they could".

Like, Harold- Sorry, Arthur - has a big H on his belt - that's his name, H for Harold. Named after Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, who was known for being very unlucky. So why change his name to Arthur?

Or Saizo and Beruka's C support, which went from a conversation about their lives as assassins for rival nations, to just "...". Literally removed the conversation and replaced it with Ellipses.

Or Effie's entire character being changed. She was a soft-spoken girl with a surprising appetite and hidden strength. Not a muscle-headed jock. You can certainly prefer one to the other, but it's not as if Western audiences wouldn't "get" Effie, she was never a complicated character.

Then there's Hisama's dub-induced pickle fetish, and just, ok enough.

At the time people who brought it up were ignored because "it's just Fates", but it's funny how many more people care now that Three Houses has been found to have significant issues in the English script that didn't exist in Japanese...

Re: Best Fire Emblem Games Of All Time

BLD

Fates is robbed, as usual, although I'm not sure if including all 3 in one helps it or not. Conquest's campaign is unrivaled for its gameplay, combining difficulty, variety, player agency, and fairness in a way every other FE has struggled with. For me, that's more than enough, and anyone complaining about the story can tell me what the heck Awakening is doing in first then (that and a few others, but that's a deeper discussion, Echoes...)

But then, Birthright is just "pretty good", IMO - interesting map designs for a new player, but a lack of difficulty makes the game a boring steamroll once you understand it. And Revelation has garbage maps.

But I mean, it's not like anyone is forcing you to play those, any more than you're forced to grind for hours to play Awakening's Apotheosis.

But it's all moot in the end, because the cowards at NintendoLife didn't even put the best FE game on this list. Where is Code Name S.T.E.A.M.???

Re: Random: Sony Alleges That Microsoft Is Trying To Turn It Into Nintendo

BLD

I'm not convinced Microsoft even wants to make things exclusive. Has everyone forgotten how many games (like Minecraft) Microsoft has on other consoles? They seem more concerned with software and PC sales. The xbox is just like another model of PC to them, focused on games. They want it to sell, of course, but if their games will sell millions on other consoles, then why be stingy? It only hurts them to make their games exclusive by putting a separate $500+ price tag in front of them.

Maybe that a changes once they acquire AB and suddenly own half of the games ever made. Maybe at some critical mass point Microsoft closes its doors and forces you to buy their consoles or a PC. But I don't see this as a given in the slightest.

Re: Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope Update Available, Here Are The Patch Notes

BLD

This is the reason Nintendo doesn't put out detailed patch notes. Because when a company actually does and is honest about how complex the game is and how many things could go wrong in weird edge cases, you get the peanut gallery in the comments section.

FWIW I've put about 20 hours into the game and haven't experienced any of these issues even though I know I've done most of the actions in question. I don't recall the reviews mentioning many bugs either?

So good on the devs for making so many fixes already, and good on them for being so transparent as to what exactly was fixed.

Re: Overwatch 2 Servers Hit By "Mass DDoS Attack" On Launch Day

BLD

Got some games in last night with the bois, despite everything. Game is still fun as heck, as it was in the betas. Kiriko is a lot of fun, definitely difficult to use well but in a fun challenge sort of way.

Speaking of challenges, the Battle Pass fears have been drastically overblown. I'm already level 9 after a single short night of play - my brother was level 12. You could literally play a single couple-hour session of Overwatch per week and still unlock the new hero in half the duration of the battle pass. And people seem to be forgetting you can still get new heroes for free after the BP as well.

As for anyone wishing for this game to fail or saying the DDOS is deserved because it's Blizzard - tell me what anyone on Team 4 (The OW team) did to warrant your disgusting comments.

Re: Pac-Man World Original Staff Not Credited In Switch Remake

BLD

@Silly_G

Bad take.

The original game wouldn't exist without EVERYONE involved. Not just the level designers and "creatives" . The original artists who made the old designs (even if a remaster revamps them) the original programmers that built the engine (even if a remaster uses a new engine). They all deserve credit. The remaster being made now would not exist without the original game.

The only exception would be if perhaps it's an entire ground-up remake or retelling. Like Starfox to Starfox 64 or Zero (btw, what the heck, Starfox?). But that isn't the case here.

Re: Splatoon 3 Demo Server Tick Rate Is Apparently 30% Slower Than Original's

BLD

@Olkris

"Nintendo doesn't need to listen to hardcore players that clamor for higher tick rates. What's in their best interest is to make sure the game works reliably for people who can't afford better internet than McDonald's tier Wi-Fi."

You can do both. Referring back to Overwatch again, that game actually has adaptive tick rate per player that lowers if need be to suit someone's internet. Iirc in case of conflict the game favors the higher tick rate though,so you won't get shot by something you should have dodged because the shooter's tick rate was bad.

Idk what the actual effective tick rate for OW on Switch is. I can't find anything that says it isn't 60, but I imagine the adaptive system they use allows it to dip lower for people on McDonald's WiFi.

Anyway, while it's a joke to pay $60 for a game and a yearly sub for online for 16hz, in Splatoon's defense, the slow projectile spray nature of most weapons usually makes the crappy tick less noticeable.

But then, there are also times where to get hit by an inkstrike or something, and it's plain to see you should have been safe because your death marker is clearly outside the enemy ink circle.

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Is July's Best-Selling Switch Game In NPD Results

BLD

@Takoda

I don't think it's lacking verticality compared to those games? Compared to 1, sure, but that's kinda inherent to 1'e design, there isn't much topping that.

That said, I was blown away when I decided to jump down from upper Aetia at one point. The whole dang map below is actually still loaded, meaning you seamlessly plummet all the way down. Really nice detail for how pointless it mostly is.

Re: Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp Scheduled Maintenance Spotted

BLD

@Dizzymario

Tell me you didn't play Triangle Strategy without telling me you didn't play Triangle Strategy.

The inciting incident of the game is literally the snowy northern nation attacking its southern neighbors. That country, Aesfrost, has peopled named things like "Svarog" and has people dressed like this:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/project-triangle-strategy/images/8/8a/Sycras_Transparent.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20220211002035

Re: Random: Rejoice! Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Coconut Mall Has Been 'Fixed'

BLD

Idk how I feel about this.

It's cute and makes the final section a bit zig-zaggy, which I guess ultimately was the point.

But I'd argue the original pattern was something you could parse at a glance. It was always kinda a gamble, like "OK I just rounded the corner and I see the cars moving that way, do I have time to sneak past or do I take the slow but safe way around?"

Now it looks as if the car sometimes goes from a standstill to suddenly doing donuts. Still an effective hazard but not one you can predict as well.

I mean I do appreciate that this was certainly more time to animate than just cars going linearly back and forth, and that they listened to the fans... sort of. It's just not as good as the original pattern IMO.

It's like getting a very expensive Christmas gift you know immediately you'll never use.

Re: Rumour: Nintendo Leaker Shares Details Of A New "Finished" Fire Emblem On Switch

BLD

Hopefully this one is good. I got good playtimd out of 3H but was ultimately really disappointed by it. So far 3 Hopes is set to address some of my criticisms with the story, but it's embarrassing that it looks like a Musou game might be more tactical than 3 Houses was, too. Hopefully a new FE, rumored or otherwise, will live up to the gameplay Conquest mastered on 3DS 7 years ago now.

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Reveals More Details For Character Classes And Arts

BLD

"Also, the Arts gauge fills up differently based on the class you’re using:

Classes from Agnus (Swordfighter, Heavy Guard, Medic Gunner): fills up automatically over time

Classes from Keves (Zephyr, Crusher, Tactician): fills up when auto-attacks land"

This is a really cute way of combining mechanics from both games. Realistically it probably won't change too much, but it's a fun little detail.

There's even elements of X here with the class mastery system.

I'm a fan of how they're integrating ideas, themes, and gameplay mechanics from past games.

Re: Junichi Masuda Leaves Game Freak For New Role At The Pokémon Company

BLD

We lost Junichi Masuda a long time ago.

I respect him for what he did in the past but it's been about a decade since he's lost any and all BotD from me.

This is the guy who, in an interview, admitted to cutting Battle Frontier from ORAS and making games easier because people have smartphones and so have many other games to play. That's his excuse for cutting content in his games, and it doesn't take a genius to realize his philosophy hasn't changed in recent years.

Re: Hear The Blue Lions Roar In New Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Trailer

BLD

@moodycat

I couldn't disagree more. Granted, I think all of 3 Houses routes are pretty weak, but at least Azure Moon doubles down on making a story about its protagonist being an edgelord and eventually redeeming himself somewhat, or at least recognizing his faults.

It's definitely rushed and not very satisfying how that character arc is resolved, but it at least exists. Claude's arc of trusting others is barely given focus, Edelgard just lacks an arc entirely in her own route, and Seteth, god bless his supports, doesn't get any attention at all in Silver Snow.