BakaKnight

Honestly I appreciate the thought, but I would love if you could go a step beyond and even avoid spoilerish titles and thumbnails even for the official revealed news (something you didn't do in some previous articles).

If you could treat all official reveals like you treated the leak of the other day... that would be perfect honestly; please give me the freedom to choose if and what I want to know about, be it a leak or an official source.

@JasmineDragon I wasn't saying it is that memorable honestly, I only pointed out how even this limited edition think the original movie is more memorable, iconic, etc than the new sequels/reboots this new videogame is based on.

I mean, isn't it ironic how a game based on a movie that said how board games are useless and noone cares about them, is now having this box, the one it intentionally ditched in the very first few minutes of the movie, as its cool limited edition?~

Given that the whole focus on the new movies was to ditch the board game concept, this is a little silly, but also a remark of how much more memorable the original movie was.

Great interview and good questions, a lovely mix of funny and interesting.

Still I can't believe you asked the key question I was hoping for, how balance and rebalance has been worked on for the new games and the reply was simply "there's dynamax now".

When they said they wanted to improve the balance (one of the reasons also given for the dex cut), I was expecting a lot more honesty, like new base stats etc for those Pkmn that even fully evolved are simply to weak to be used (see poor Mawile that without its Mega is just too weak to do anything).

The more interviews I read the more I'm sincerely confused, design wise these games seems to have a lot of care put in them (like how most new Pokémon and regional forms looks really great honestly), but every gameplay bit feels lacking or unclear...

@johnvboy I know what you mean, but I'm not the one who mentioned the "kid-focused" thing as an example of negative feedback they wanted to address and improve on.

The backslash was honestly terrible, but they also did quite the few mistakes that kept it going. I personally don't care about the dex cut, but most of the things they said around it felt like a chain of uncorrect or badly delivered informations.

A good example in the interview itself is how Masuda picked two very risky examples.
I don't think the "kid focused" aspect and the difficulty were the right feedbacks to mention as feedbacks being addressed.

The Nintendo survey about Sword and Shield emailed in April was specifically targetted to kids (literally the survey asked older fans to not reply if possible as their opinion wasn't the one they were interested in), so it's hard to imagine they are not focusing on kids this time around.
And I'm definitely worried about the difficulty after the news of the Exp Share being replaced by a default new feature forcing it.

I may be super wrong, but if these are his examples of working on feedbacks, then this just confirm the problem.
They either don't really listen or they are just very good at give the impression they aren't and that feels almost like they are having fun teasing the angry fans and making things worse.

If collaboration is the topic then I agree that we don't need to divide between AAA, indie or anything in between. If a big studio and a small one can make something unique togheter then it should just happen.

That said... there are many small developers that benefit from the playerbase understanding their limits; as much as big companies releasing broken products that shouldn't happen with the resources they have access to.

Personally I think is just good to keep the distinction up, if anything for public awareness of the reality and situation behind each game.

@somebread I admittely used the wrong word, "IP" fits better than "franchise".

But honestly I probably messed up cause I enjoyed TMS enough that I'm already foolishy dreaming to see a sequel and more one day.

This is gold, all they needed to do for sell more Wii U games was to censor a Switch release XD;;;

Still this is somehow bad, I can see the upcoming Encore selling... I'm not gonna say poorly, but average, and sadly there is no way they'll understand it was all for this bad marketing and censorship; they'll just assume there is no interest in TMS and leave this wonderful fresh IP in the dust...

Okami back with Kamiya supervising it?
Sounds too good to be true, surely Capcom will refuse to jump onto such a goldmine so many fans wish to buy (wink wink Capcom, come on... take the bait..).

Gotcha Force!
Gotcha Force!
Gotcha Force!

It's so dormant it's not even mentioned in the article or appear in the pic, someone gotta save that lovely fun franchise ;w;

Wait, so the japanese players weren't even informed they were getting our version? That was very bad marketing honestly...

Still surpised the japanese players wants a refund, sure our version is worse, but for many fans this is likely a second playthrough (if not a third or a tenth), any change can be interesting at that point to shake things up a little.
Same reason honestly on why my interest would have raised tenfold if they released here the game with no censorship, the more changes/differences to what I played, the merrier to justify a second purchase and playthrough.

Okay, so... after reading the article I couldn't resist, I logged into the game even if it was a while since my last play.

Got in, received many apologies gems for bugs and the problems mentioned in the article, and then went to do a free draw of 10 characters.... ALL DUPLICATES!!!! XDDD

And I never spent money in the game, it's not like I had a lot of characters, yet nothing new, nothing interest, just a small boost to my units that feels empty even if it was free (and I shiver at how I would feel if I spent 30€ for it).

Can't say my excitement for the game got reignited, quite the opposite, I'm sorry game and devs, but after such a welcome back I think I'll go back to ignore this game...

As an italian after seeing this I can just hope they will drop the italian language from the switch version and future games.

I understand that translate the game professionally in other languages can cost quite a bit, so, if you can't effort to do it, just skip it and release the game in english.

I know this may reduce slightly the sales, but a game badly translated can really leave a bad impression on the player, both toward the game and toward the developer.

@BRAINFOX I mean, I personally agree, but it's impossible for us to know the details behind this censorship.

Maybe the ERSB and the PEGI saw in TMS something more problematic in their opinion then in P4: DAN or other titles, or maybe the censorship in TMS was preemptive and done before rating the game to avoid the possible worst scenario of having to do the rate process multiple times (which can get pretty expensive).

My point was simply that Nintendo wanted to stay safely in the age rating check of the TEEN/12+ and worked towards that goal (and knowing how unclear and confusing the age rating system can get, it's likely they even went overboard to play it safe).
With other titles the situation may have been different, for example P4: DAN is likely a different story; with the original Persona 4 having M/16+ rating I highly doubt Atlus cared for the rating result as surely there was no way their new spin-off could get a rating any higher then what the original game got.

Really not surprised the censorship will stay.

As far as I understood, back with the original game the censorship was done purely to keep the ESRB and PEGI in the Teen and 12+ range (which is the age range Nintendo targets for games related to the Fire Emblem franchise).
Not sure why the japanese game will be censored too this time around, but I guess porting one version was quicker then porting two.

It can be annoying, especially since the censorship ended up damaging part of the story too this time around, but as long as Nintendo will keep trying to please the age rating system and its crazily strict rules, then we can unfortunately only expect more cuts and changes in the future.
(...also let me complain for a second out of topic on how bits of skins and such can skyrocket the age rate given by the ESRB and PEGI while in their opinion gambling with lootboxes is totally safe even for the youngest children -.-;;; ).

I honestly feel bad for all the poor players that bought the game on other consoles and now are stucked with an inferior version that can't get the DLCs XD
...
...
... wait, I am one of those players! ...this is not fair ;w;

It sound like an interesting game honestly and it's nice to see an RPG not desperatly trying to be huge.

That said... I really hope they are serious about the challanging part.
Afterall if there is a turn-based RPG where you can just abuse strong attacks and right unit to win without thinking, as he seems to imply he wanted to avoid, is ironically the Pokémon serie he worked on.

Honestly would love to get this game at launch to check it out and experience it first-hand, but I don't think I have space in my backlog even for a mini RPG right now...

Not surprised some players people left the game, I sure did it too.

The presentation and characters are top notch, but for the rest is a grinding, boring, yet expansive mobile game.
Still what probably pushed people away may have been the events. They kept pushing them out, even one on top of the other, each of them with their unique set of limited resources to grind.

They really really wanted people to play and made sure the game gave you the feeling you had to play a lot everyday, but when you play a lot a fully grinding experience with the cool content constantly teased, yet paywalled... honestly you just quickly get tired of the game and move on, at least that's how it went for me.

A bit... lacking these informations...
I understand how they want to sell them on the design, but I kinda hoped to get at least an hint about the gameplay side, like moveset, stats, just a "Grookey will be great for who likes strong Pokemon" or "Sobble can be suprisingly fast", but nope, nothing.

All I got to know is that the starter I wanted is in their opinion not fitting for me XD;;;

@clvr Yap, I was thinking something similar, but now that the news got updated... Psychic? For real?
They designed a unicorn made of rainbow and it's not a fairy, I'm so confused @_@

Now I'm honestly curious about how Rapidash will look like...
Will it grow wings like a Pegasus? Or Fairy wings maybe? * w *

@Zeldafan79 @StevenG
Release dates are a matter of keeping the sales fair between retailers.
It's literally impossible to make sure every store get the game the same day, so having a release date allow to send the game in the stores pretty early without risking to cause some crazy competition based on deliveries and a lot of other impossible to predict issues (not to mention how this would favorite larger business with a much more effective distribution chain).

Taking Walmart as an example, it's easy to see how their recent early sales may have caused more then a few fans to cancel their preorders elsewhere just to get their new hyped game or console early.
Plus if this trend goes on then Wallmart will see a spikes in preorders, stealing customers from all the other sellers that are following the rules.

For us gamers may not sound like a big deal to get a game a little early (if anything is even a bless), but it's definitely a problem for stores trying to sell the game.

Never played the first, but recently binged the serie and the gameplay looks fun, I'll definitely keep an eye on this.

Gotta love how on time Bandai Namco is however, seems like this game will cover the events of the 4th season and will come out exactly during or just right after it.

I got a few problems with the article underlining how Nintendo wants to make money as if nothing changed, not to mention comparing Mario Kart Tour to BattleFront 2.

Regarding the making money, yes, we all know Nintendo wants to make money, that always was the goal, but the approch is actually changing or at least Mario Kart is not following Nintendo usual approch.
In recent years what Nintendo builded with the fans was an unexpected trust; while many companies used an aggressive approch to milk as much as possible from their players, not caring to lose their trust (and therefore possibly the customers itself eventually), Nintendo seemed okay to give up an easy quick gain in exchange to keep the customers loyal and ready to keep buying product after product. Maybe MKT is just the odd exception, but it's definitely far from what the company got us used to in recent years, and not in a good way.

And regarding the BattleFront 2 comparison... No, just no, using a super awful case just to save MKT is just weak; being better than something bad doesn't automatically makes something good.
MKT is implementing some awful and scummy monetizations systems, being on par or better then other awful systems doesn't make MKT good, not even a bit.

Okay, this looks crazily good and the trailer hooked me, but... I had to check it, it has a generous 80% discount on Steam (EU) right now.

It would be amazing having it on switch, but such a chance to save many of my coins can't be ignored either~

@Trickbaby14 Sorry, but yes, you're remembering this wrong, 2k19 got an high score by NL.

The game you mean may be 2K18, which was a broken mess at launch, but NL did the opposite of what you said.

They did not give it a 3 cause "we won't wait for a patch, this game is a mess and deserve to be scored as such", quite the exact opposite they waited for the patch and then awarded it an 8, calling it an amazing game regardless of how it was on day one.

If NL punishing NBA with a 3 was your proof of how fair the site is... well, I'm afraid you accidentally proved the opposite then.
(Even if I think that as a proof of unfairness it is highly debatable, not to mention unrelated with the kind of unfairness people are mentioning regarding this review).

My copy of the game is still lost in the mail, but now I just can't wait to receive it even more; it will be interesting to play the game and see by myself if this was a fair review or not.

EDIT(Got the game in the mail the day after the review was posted, what a timing! XD)

After playing the game for a few hours I can say that this doesn't seem a fair review to me as this is a good game in my opinion.

Controls are fun to use, making very fun to zip around the giant room and shooting at obstacles or enemies (or giant girls); they are not perfect and indeed there are some serious flaws here and there (with the camera being a major culprit), but it's not bad controls as the review says, more like good fun third-person-shooting controls that for some weird reason didn't get optmized for the game they were made for.
It's a major fault, but it doesn't make the game clunky or unplayable; quite the opposite it's still a working and enjoyable game, just with some issues holding back its full potential.

The story is also pretty good/cute, nothing amazing, but it gives a nice slice of anime vibe for as far as I got to see at the moment.
The review may complain about the very first chapter, but seems to have completly ignored half of the dialogues.
It may not be incredible story writing, but the story actively try to do more then just use the "happy bullets" as an excuse and cure to all problems as the review seems to hint and instead actively focus on the girls interacting and helping each other to face their problems.

Overall this seems honestly a good game for what I played so far.
Not a perfect game and I guess the fanservice may turn some people away, but this is definitly a fun game deserving at least a score between average and good (around 7 I guess?); what this game is NOT for sure however is a 3 or in any way a bad game.

Gotcha Force, where are you Gotcha Force? ;w;

I can't avoid to wonder if it didn't make in the top 50 cause of how unknow it is or if this is just proof that the GameCube simply had way too many good games for some hidden gems to shine.

Not surprising it reached a 60GB in size, it takes almost nothing, like dropping a few new assets, for a game's file size to soar to new heights XD

But what will always remain amazing is how much Nintendo care, and most importantly succeed, in crushing down those GB.

I'm definitly interest since I loved the 3ds game, plus the fact that it's a game hard in both a good and bad way really sound like the Umihara I remember XD

Still a little worried however, some changes here and there sound more aimed to try to hide or weaken the challange of the mechanics instead then improve or enchant it.

This game looks great and I definitly want to give it a chance, that said... Was I the only one suprised of when it showed up in the direct?

It was right at the start, sandwiched between two high profile JRPGs like Trials of Mana and Little Town Hero, like... why was it even there? XD

Still probably a weird good spot, it was so out of place that it ended up even more highlighted!

Played it for hours, loved it and despite all that I actually never got beyond the first half of the adventure (if not even the first quarter XD)

A truly massive game, maybe this new release may be the chance to get on board again and finally finish it.

I was shocked to see this.

Never played the original, but it's legacy is legendary, I always heard of it as a terrible, yet amazing game, the quintessence of "so bad is good" for gaming.
I wonder if the switch port will be a fixed version or if it will be as "original" as the title imply, showing the first game in all its pro and con.

I'm so conflicted...

From one side this is a great news, one of the best RPG I ever played and thanks to this the serie won't remain an hidden gem and may going on in the future.

On the other side however, this was the last game that made me say "I'm glad I have a Wii U".... not to mention I loved the game, but I'm not ready to replay it again, yet all the extra characters I hoped to unlock are now playable for real, it's all so unfair ;w;

Of course it's not comfy to move in, it's a suit made to fight monsters in space; it's designed to keep you alive, not for a stroll in the park!

And I think Nintendo is super aware of that, probably the main reason why zero suit Samus in Smash has a battle style focused on jumps and agility.

Anyway amazing costume, I would mistake it for the real thing and start doubting reality itself if I saw it on the street XD

Love to play as the hero, super fun character honestly.
I don't have the online active at the moment however, so it's purely me having fun spamming spells to the CPU XD

Also...wait... did they really said that the most important part of a Dragon Quest game is making sure people finish them?
...I didn't play all of them, but in a few of them I had to give up toward the end cause the game became a boring long grind fest. Still amazing games and loved them, but I wouldn't say they succeded in their priority...

If people are so mad then they should go and complain to Sony, Microsoft and all the third party publishers that back in the day refused to publish Bayo2.

It's their fault if Platinum and Nintendo started to develop such a wonderful exclusive bond (pun intended~).

I'm glad to hear the AI is a little broken/unpredictable, makes me think the CPU has random draws too.
Honestly used to love Yu-gi-oh games, but I could swear the last one I got on 3DS had the CPU drawing a pre-set hand, they always had some crazy combo in their first hand, no matter how unlikely the requirements were.

I may consider get this in the future (even if my rule knowledge is a decade behind XD).

@w00dm4n So... they'll release an anime season to promote the F2P game at the same time of the new main line games?

That sound really worse, as if both the anime and the new games are just an ad for Pokemon Masters.
...it..it kinda scare me however how much possible that can be...

The fact the anime will show every region instead of focusing on Galar may also simply mean that the new region and games are so empty and uninspired that the anime team couldn't manage to build a whole enganging season around it.

Yes yes, I'm being too pessimistic, but someone gotta balance your "maybe all regions will be in the game" kind of optimism~

Honestly a very good, yet hard to fully appreciate game.

I absolutely love the basic concept, meeting all the famous trainers and have them join your team is literally awesome, not to mention the presentation is top notch.

However the game is way too..how to say... mobilish?

The grinding is a little ridiculus, there are A LOT of items you need to unlock every aspect of a trainer (from attacks, to abilities and so on); it feels more like an intentional way to waste the player time then an interesting grow system for the units.

Also the gatcha thing is... yeah... way too frustrating, love gatcha systems, but in mobile games they are too expensive with very low chances to get what you want.

To put it bluntly, the more I play Pokemon Masters the more I just wish they could have made a full priced console spin-off with this concept instead then a mobile F2P game.

Gun Gun Pixies for me this month!

Very tempted by Dragon Quest too, but I'm already busy with another RPG at the moment.
What's AI:TSF by the way? That looks awesome yet I didn't know about it until now!

Oooh, best GameCube games?
This will be interesting, compared to other consoles there aren't as many titles, but lots of gems here!

Also, the best one is easy, go go Gotcha Force!
...I mean... okay, honestly it wasn't the overall "best", but surely the best GC game that never got a sequel ;w;

Really enjoyed both the Diva game on PS4 and the Mirai one on 3DS, so I'll keep an eye on this release for sure.

Preordered the physical edition a few weeks ago, the day one edition has the same price of the regular game so I may as well get the artbook while I am at it X3

@Riderkicker Oh gosh... I would take a Gotcha Force 2 over this and pretty much any other game, a shame Capcom dropped that franchise...

@dartmonkey That make more sense then ^^
Sorry if I ranted a bit, but I really think that line was a little too subtle..like...it lacked punch on the point you wanted to make then, at least in my opinion.
Anyway I'm focusing too much on one line, the rest was very loud, clear and well written, thanks for the article.

Wait wait wait... that's the price scheme of a game that doesn't want to make money? I feel like someone is making a very bad joke here...

I definitly agree with the article, Mario Run and its one time purchase was a fairer and better deal; too bad the mobile market is so confused and damaged at this point that a game asking 10 bucks was seen as too expensive compared to all the games free to download, but able to drain hundreads and hundreads of dollars/euro/etc if you fall for their schemes.

Also...what's with this line?
"Presumably this is because there’s a belief that making Candy Crush levels of profit would somehow come with a detrimental effect on the company’s brand image."
No, just no... the problem is not the level of profit, but how they are made. This is making it sound like for years gamers have complained that companies makes money, when we wouldn't care if they weren't made with -insert here the list of all the tricks companies do to push and force people into pay microtransactions, this comment is already too long to list it all-.

I hope I misread the intention or context of the line cause that sounded too wrong. I know it's a "Soapbox" article, but it's still an article, let's not spread the idea that game companies are seen as bad for making money, when all the problems people have with it is actually on the "how".

"You monster! What are you doing to my Eevee?!"
Poor kid, that was very sad, yet adorable at the same time XD

It's definitely a fun and creative ad, but, unless my phone will actually start running around, I don't think I saw much gameplay in there, indeed I barely saw the game at all XD