Comments 549

Re: The Outer Worlds Publisher Reveals Performance And Resolution Of The Switch Version

BLD

A lot of incredibly bad takes in this thread.

Xenoblade's performance is frankly amazing given the console it's on. It's got larger textures than games like BOTW, more complex geometry than the likes of Mario, and environments as big as any Switch game.

A lot's been made of the dynamic resolution, but in my experience (and don't take my word for it, lots of reviews and analysis confirm this), the resolution almost never drops.

Comparing it to the original Wii game is a smooth-brain take. So what? Are y'all malding over the fact that FF7 Remake runs at 30 FPS? bUt It'S a PoRt Of A pS1 gAmE!!1!1! It's an empty argument made by people with empty heads.

Look at the actual game, the number of polygons it renders on screen at once, the rock-solid FPS. And hey, I'll throw in something nobody else cares to talk about - the load times in Xenoblade are amazing. I don't think I've ever had a load time even enter double digits when warping to an entirely new area, and when warping within the same area, loads are near-instant.

You might personally have wanted a higher framerate or higher resolution - and sure, it would've been possible. But it would've come at a cost in some other department. Xenoblade DE is by no means a technically-deficient game, it's a benchmark of technical performance that blows most other Nintendo-developed games out of the water.

If you want more out of the game, that's understandable. But y'all simpletons read a couple of headlines and think you understand how the Switch works when really you've been playing games with worse performance than Xenoblade for years now and never questioned it. There's a reason Monolith has an entire division dedicated to helping with other Nintendo games.

Re: Review: Langrisser I & II - Fire Emblem’s Erstwhile Rival Gets A Second Shot At Glory

BLD

Enjoying it decently but it's got a litany of pacing issues.

For one, the game takes forever to load. I don't know how such bad load times are excusable - I could literally download the entire first 2 games online, several times over, in the time it takes to load the title screen - let alone the longer load for the actual game.

In-battle is hardly better. Displaying too many enemy danger ranges will actually cause lag after each and every action. You're only allowed 10 danger range displays for this reason, but it only takes 3-4 on some maps to start causing severe lag that compounds the already slow pace of the game even further.

Seriously let that sink in a second. How do you program that so poorly that it lags on Switch, when in other games that sort of danger range function wouldn't lag on Game Boy Advance?

Then there's the allied AI, which charges in idiotically unless you set the Command to "Defend". Problem solved, right? Unfortunately not. The pathfinding AI in Langrisser doesn't really exist. If there's a wall between commander and troop, the troop won't recognize it. "I'm only 2 spaces away from the commander!" They think, having gone the wrong way and found a dead end where it'd take them half a dozen turns to return to where they ought to be.

The AI, if left to its own devices, will also move in the "wrong" order. Meaning that if troops in the back of a narrow area can't move forward because of other troops in the way, they're liable to just give up and end their turn instead of waiting for the troops in front to move so they can advance.

All of this to say that, to play optimally, you really need to move all your dozens of troops yourself, every turn. The game is rarely hard enough to need you to do this, but it's a poorly-done system regardless.

Then there's the preparations. It's split into 2 parts - the map screen that lets you buy/equip items, equip skills, and set classes. And then the battle prep screen where you buy merc troops and rearrange starting positions.

The issue here is that skills and equipment are often situational. Do you need that magic resistance that robe provides? Is the water-based class or skill going to be useful, or is the next map totally dry? By the time you can actually see the next map, you can't go back to the world map to prepare without a total reset, meaning you sit through over a minute of load times again.

The worst was a recent map where at the start, one of your allies is mind-controlled and you have to fight them or avoid them and try to cure them. Cool idea, but for me that ally was a frail flier, making it impossible to avoid combat with them that'd kill them or one of my units. So I had to reset about a half dozen times to figure out "Does it always control the same ally? Is it based on position? Level? Another stat? Can I remove all their good equipment and troops beforehand to make this easier?" Finding the solution to this wasn't hard, just tedious.

That map so far was the exception though, as every other map so far has been very easy.

Overall, again, I do enjoy parts of this game, mainly for the strategic gameplay systems mentioned in the review. I've never played the OG games before for what it's worth. But a lot of these problems would have been easily fixed - I can say that not only based on the countless other games that have fixed them, but from my own amateur SRPG attempts that have already addressed many similar problems.

As a remake, it's a really poor effort.

Re: Kunai Team Discusses The "Very Stressful" Impacts Of Metacritic Review-Bombing

BLD

Are we back to plugging our ears and pretending all the negative press for Pokemon was just "review bombing"? Ok then. Like you could say it's justified or not, but at a certain point you're really just trying to blur the line between "review bombing" and "masses of people actually unhappy with the game".

But hey, it's a Ryan Craddock tradition at this point I guess.

Re: Spike Chunsoft Slashes Prices Of Its Entire Library On Nintendo Switch eShop

BLD

Gonna echo the praise for AI. It's a bit more lighthearted and fun than the Zero Escape series (has a dash of wacky characters and designs reminiscent of Ace Attorney) but IMO that works in its favor.

I found the dream segment gameplay a little disappointing overall - it isn't really logical puzzles like ZE, which is OK, but the branching paths were mostly based on arbitrary and obvious path branches in the sequences, imo. But still, it's really just dressing for a fun and engaging story.

Re: Hang On, Competitive Pokémon Fans Are Liking Sword And Shield's National Dex Cut

BLD

@Kalmaro

And that's something they've done in the past as well. But no, Ryan Craddock needs to find a way to spin "Therian Landorus would be busted if it could Dynamax" into "Competitive Pokemon fans are liking the dex cut"

Never mind the many competitive players who have spoken out against Dexit, in far less uncertain terms than the ones being twisted into Ryan's narrative here.

Re: One Of Pokémon's Largest Fan Communities Bans Dynamaxing In Competitive Matches

BLD

@Skid

I keep seeing people say it works better in doubles and I don't see it at all. I mentioned it before but stuff like fake out and protect are really only commonly used in doubles. Plus, vgc format limits you to 4 mons, meaning a max mon can destroy 75% of your team instead of "only" half.

Plus many max moves buff both allies in a double battle.

They're broken in both but I'd say they're far worse in doubles.

Re: One Of Pokémon's Largest Fan Communities Bans Dynamaxing In Competitive Matches

BLD

I wish VGC would follow suit. Maxing is simply anathema to a good meta. There used to be an intricate set of balances in place. Predictions you had to make. Is that enemy scarfed? Who will they target? Should I hit the weaker, almost-dead mon this turn or should I expect them to use protect on it? Who are they going to aim for with fake out?

None of that matters now because pressing the dynamax button makes you immune to flinch and lets you hit through protect. You can kill 3/4 of a VGC team with one Max.

Re: Review: Root Letter: Last Answer - A Clumsy, Laughable Stab At A Visual Novel

BLD

@KitsuneNight

"And does't even bother to tell you you can switch, just to put the game in a bad light."

From the review:

"with the option to swap in and out of the original artwork as you play."

Now back to you:

"The review doesn't objectively tells the reader anything, other then that the game is "bad"."

The review tells me that this is a game with new graphics that are ugly as sin, and that don't even match up with what you're expected to click on. It also cites bad writing and is willing to go in depth on one scene as an example of the sort of twisted logic the player is supposed to employ, and the sort of dialogue they can expect.

If you think this is a misrepresentation of the game, I invite you again to explain why. But as it stands, you're misrepresenting the review itself. Not sure why I should trust you.

Re: Review: Root Letter: Last Answer - A Clumsy, Laughable Stab At A Visual Novel

BLD

Jesus, makes me think that even if you guys wanted to give a game a low score, you literally could not without giving commenters a heart attack. So many comments and yet no substance.

"But other places rated this game higher!"

Yes, and? The review states numerous problems with the game. Is anyone going to refute any of the reviewer's actual points? Are there any falsehoods in the review, or are you guys just upset whenever somebody points out problems in something you like?

Don't answer that, actually. I've seen the comments on Pokemon articles.

Re: Feature: The Best Three Pokémon Starters From All Gens, As Voted By You

BLD

@Spoony_Tech

A poll asked for most useless starters lately. All 3 original starters placed near the top, somehow. Charmander is understandable for type disadvantages, but Squirtle and especially Bulbasaur both have favorable matchups for the first several gyms.

People will vote for what they recognize regardless of what the poll is actually asking for. Of course, in this case it's a popularity poll so w/e.

Re: Video: Pokémon Sword And Shield Brings The Hype With New 'Epic Battle' Commercial

BLD

@PickledKong64 That is why we're upset, and @ooccoo_jr is being extremely disingenuous to suggest otherwise. Even if you don't plan to collect them all, having more Pokemon means more variety in the battles you have against both NPCs and other players.

The new games also remove around 80 moves (attacks) from past games, not counting moves unique to removed Pokemon. Again, this furher simplifies and unbalances the battle system and results in less variety in how you can build your team.

There are dozens of other problems, but to list just one more - on the subject of moves, many moves you were able to teach with infinite-use items have now become finite-use items that you have grind tediously to get more copies of.

Re: Review: Skullgirls 2nd Encore - A Western 2D Fighter That Might Surprise You

BLD

I'm honestly baffled by this review. Like I'm glad you enjoyed it, but the Switch version has many notable blemishes that go unmentioned. Ear-piercing audio bugs in every battle. Lack of voices in story mode despite it being advertised. Some really weird graphical glitches with certain attacks and background characters, like Squigly getting multiple Leviathans after certain attacks.

Did you seriously not notice these things but noticed a 2% speed increase? Or did you actually not experience them?

Re: The Outer Worlds Won't Be Released On Switch Until Next Year

BLD

I didn't even realize this was coming to switch. I tried it out on my desktop though Microsoft's game pass, and it runs pretty badly even on lowest settings. Now, I do need a new PC, but my desktop is still more powerful than at least the base ps4 and xbone, let alone the Switch.

They'll have to work some serious magic for this to work.

Re: Skullgirls 2nd Encore Smashes Its Way To Switch Today With A Launch Day Trailer

BLD

It's an amazing game but the Switch version suffers from terrible audio glitches that make voices in battle play dozens of times overlapped at random (Often very loud) volumes.

Even worse, the story is not voiced, despite that being a feature on other consoles and being advertised on Switch.

I want Skullgirls to have a more active community, but I just can't recommend the Switch version as it stands.

Re: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Will Be Censored On Switch

BLD

I strongly believe the censorship makes the game worse, and many people here are being extremely disingenuous and downplaying the changes. The change to chapter 2 in particular I feel hurt Tsubasa's character arc, decrease the threat of that chapter's villain, and overall shy away from what could have previously been considered an actual critique of the idol industry and gravure modeling.

That and the censored costumes were ugly as sin.

That said, I've played the game, I've seen both versions of the story already, all I really care about is if they're adding enough content to justify a repurchase.

Re: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Celebrates Its Second Anniversary With An eShop Sale

BLD

As a longtime Fire Emblem fan ... I have to agree that Kingdom Battle is simply the better game. It's got a lot more strategy content, whereas Three Houses reuses the same maps so many times that even a single route of Fates has more maps than the entirety of Three Houses. Awakening has more maps. Heck, the very first game we got in the west, FE7, has more maps than Three Houses. And Hector Mode in that game has more maps unique to it than most routes of Three Houses compared to each other.

Equally important, though, the maps in Mario + Rabbids are just better. They're actually designed very thoughtfully around the player's movement options, leading to satisfying strategies for quick clears. Three Houses, in contrast, feels as though the map designer and abilities designer had a grudge and couldn't stand communicating with each other. The number of maps in Three Houses that are absolutely cheesed by some combination of Stride, Flying, Warp, and Dance is shameful.

As a result, Rabbids feels like a constantly evolving game with new enemies and obstacles that actually impact your strategy, whereas Three Houses is a game that can, on Hard mode, be beaten at least 90% of the way with just the main character - and the other 10% I haven't actually solo'd yet, can at least be done with the aforementioned buddy units to dance/warp/stride your main character once.

Re: Super Mario Maker 2's First Game-Breaking Bug Has Already Been Found

BLD

The major thing you all forget is Mario has to be facing the screen (or I think away from the screen worked too, at least in 1). So you have to be spin-jumping, and you have to hit the yoshi and flower on the exact right frame. This is even harder in the SMW style as you cannot initiate a spin jump while holding an item (but you can grab one in mid-air with some cape shenanigans).

Look up the level "Poo Stomp Simulator" for an example.