Blizzia

Excellent review from a non-Umihara fan perspective. Pretty on-point.

Just remember, folks: Everything listed here is what defines the franchise. If you went by Umihara logic, the game is instead a 10/10. I both love and hate the physics - On one hand I feel like some weird mix between a super saiyan and Tarzan swinging around, on the other hand things enter "human fall flat" levels of silly when I screw up a jump and spend half an hour watching her beat the skydiving record many times over.

Actually didn't buy any games in August. First time this year I haven't bought games during a month.

Remedied that quickly in September with Spyro trilogy.

Chilling with that while finishing the last routes of Fire Emblem.

@antdickens Working excellently! My lazy clickhating hands will praise your name for decades to come!

Thanks

@ryancraddock I'm always automatically taken to the UK store, because I live in Denmark.

I'm only taken to the US store from your links.

Also, since they are supposed to be for UK users to click... Maybe just make them actual set links leading ONLY to the UK store?

No point doing anything else.

Oh NL, you make me so tired sometimes...

@ryancraddock the Amazon links under "where to buy it in the UK" link to Amazon.com.

Also, NL: Let's not call it "disgruntled gamers"... The article would ring a lot more true if you instead wrote "Immature children are review-bombing Astral Chain on Metacritic".

The game is no masterpiece, but any review below an 8 is simply subject to a spontaneous combustion.

@Dellybelly You'd be a fool to think that. If you bothered checking the reviews, you'd see it is indeed review bombing. I went through 350+ (was bored, yay) and they're ALL random flavor text, copy pastas and "muh sony is best".

Considering I've checked around a third if not more of the 0 score reviews, it is safe to say it's just a review bombing event staged by low IQ people whose simple tastes don't register how pathetic it is to reviewbomb anything.

@codyf Keep preaching son, surely it'll get you somewhere.

It's not that I follow brands instead of individual journalists. It's that THAT specific review is absolute garbage, and if you had bothered to read it, you would know.

So yes, it does make it trash because I disagree with it.

Good day.

@codyf Clearly not with that hot garbage of a review.

DEFINITELY GETTING IT.

@CharlieGirl Unfortunately it's not the same kind of thing as a gender, of which there are only two.

So it'll be C, people who complain about games like this.

Oh dear I do enjoy seeing when reviews are so blatantly trying to put down a game without actually having spent the time to merit the judgment.

The reviews from Vice and The Independent reek of attention seeking, and the Polygon review seems somehow off (Also, naming it a Nintendo franchise isn't entirely accurate and diminishes Platinumgames which is not appreciated).

Game's pretty darned good, though I do agree with some of the criticisms in the other reviews.

All in all really great game.

(Got lucky, early game )

In other news: Elder Scrolls Online Director is a Moron.

More news at 7. This has been Eyewitness News, and I'm Dandy Bugman.

@sevex It really is a great looking game.

I'm guessing people were expecting some sort of hyper realistic 5D 4k UHD experience with graphics similar to Death Stranding...

Aka something that's so incredibly not Pokémon that it would be another franchise entirely.

Kinda hoping we get some sort of Battle Tram thingie or something else fun with the trains - not using them for SOMETHING would be a missed opportunity, but strictly for travel... Yeah no, flying is king.

Would still have preferred a delay to 2020 and all Pokémon making it in, but eh, I'm itching for some Pokémon so bring it Game Freak!

I'll grab it on a sale in 2020 when I finally catch up on all the other games I'll be playing for now xD I won't ever get to play my pc copy anyway, I just don't sit at my pc for more than 30 mins at a time nowadays.

Eh, hope they just keep looking. EA stopped making quality games ages ago, and they're not coming back by the look of things.

@patbacknitro18 no, that thing just stops you from hatching eggs, not playing the game.

@Bunkerneath She did not hashtag LG.

Hmm... Is it a theme that you use inside.... Tetris 99? Or? I'm confused.

I'm honestly happy they don't know what appeals to Western kids, and don't seem like they can be bothered to research it... Because it's a pointless endeavor...

You know, since what appeals to Western kids are the exact same things that appeal to Japanese kids. The games they're making.

I still find it incredibly funny when people think there's such a huge gap between what appeals to the West and the East.

It's actually not that different. The Western demographic that would buy games made by companies like this have the same idea of what appeals to them that the Japanese (or Eastern, for that matter) demographic has. Exactly the same.

Saddens me a bit that they think games like Monster Hunter: World was a success because they dumbed it down for the West, and not because it was released on the biggest platform in the world (PC) and a secondary major platform that would've given around the same sales as releasing a (new) title on Switch would.

Hoping we get a new MH title soon on Switch as well. One without all the dumb stuff in MHW that messed with player power and diminished variety majorly.

@RedderRugfish If it was pointless and you truly didn't care, you'd have walked away. But you didn't.

@ramu-chan I don't really follow. Looked it through a few times, and there's no half-assed animation at least on the player character (hard to see on the enemies because of the editing, which is kinda horrendous).

Could you elaborate?

All I've noticed from closer study of the player character is that it is fully animated, each part of the model displaying movement when actions are taken.

@wildbob sounds like a massive outlier. I guess I'll pitch in then: launch unit, not a single issue. Nothing of the horrors the internet vividly chants about.

Absolute quality product.

@RedderRugfish Again, you're the problem. You couldn't even present an actual argument, instead resorting to attacks as personal as you could make them with the limited knowledge you have.

Grow up.

And yes, we do need more fanservice games on Switch. Not just any, but quality franchises like Senran Kagura and Dragon Ball each have tons of fanservice while remaining consistently good for the most part.

@RedderRugfish at most that statement is an incredible stretch. First off, only one of them is wearing a skirt. Secondly, at no point can you see up her skirt. Thirdly and finally: The game doesn't at any point hint towards anything perverse.

Get your mind outta the gutter man. You're the problem, not the game.

Wow, a 6/10 just for lacking multiplayer? I'd understand pecking a point off of it, but two? It's obviously an 8/10 game, and the multiplayer wasn't really that important for the game, ever. I remember playing this for ages when I was younger, and I don't think I even experienced multiplayer in the game. Lol.

The graphics for the MC are horrible, the design sucks. But I'll be damned, those monsters look so good and the death scenes are truly magnificent.

@BANJO Unfortunately the UK has been found wanting in vital areas such as not having terrible taste in games. I will permit you to vacate the area, but after 24 hours we will have to quarantine and begin termination.

Well, we tried people. The UK dream is dead. They cannot be improved upon, they're simply not there yet evolution-wise.

The research team is currently considering termination of the subspecies, as it is impossible to get them to understand that CoD, FIFA and other such things are terrible, and that Crash Team Racing is a bloody racing game that is one of a million. (It's a good game tho).

@San_D And yet, she's selling them like hotcakes.

Fact is that her pricing is competitive enough for it to sell.

I think it's borderline extortion with those prices (despite easily being able to afford it, but geez, it's a damn plushie), but still.

The pricing isn't problematic as long as the product sells, at least from a corporate viewpoint.

While this is great, they're probably not really removing the loot boxes. They're still loot boxes even if you know what you're getting with your next purchase.

If the box doesn't show what you actually want, you still gotta buy it more times.

This is how easy it is to dodge the "loot box" label.

Wew, I played TY 1 for a while back in the day. Great fun, though I never really managed to finish it.

TL;DR

1. Get Fire Emblem Three Houses, play it

2. Get Valkyria Chronicles (1 and 4), play them (they're not on the list but far better than most of what is actually on there, and they're strategy games)

3. Get Into the Breach, play it

Then look at the list for alternatives that are good.

Generally good review, but... f-bomb? Like, really? For real?

The word is common language nowadays. It's not a "bomb" or a major sort of swearword. Heck, in several languages it's now just part of the dictionary because it isn't as one-dimensional as it used to be.

If we can't even say a word that is by now so regular, normal and honestly more of an expression of the level of emotion someone has towards something, this world is going places. Hellish places.

@ALinkttPresent Sure they do. The Senran Kagura franchise isn't inappropriate, it's for a mature audience.

You've most definitely never played the games or experienced the brilliant characters and writing, going from your opinion.

Maybe talk about things you know literally ANYTHING about, instead of out of whatever you sit on?

It's quite sad that they took the path they did, really. Regardless of how many delays were needed, they should've delayed it AGAIN. Yes. AGAIN.

A rushed game... And you know the rest. Even if improvements are made, this is a permanent stain on the reputation of both Iga and the game.

@BlueOcean I haven't found the font size an issue, and I play 100% handheld. Idk, it's not even that small. The only stuff that's annoying to read are the speech bubbles when you approach someone.

Never played the original Turok, but I played the heck out of Turok 2 back in the day. Never quite completed it because I sucked hard at it, but it was a lot of fun and I spent almost half a year playing that every few weeks.

@BulbasaurusRex Hmm that would be fine, as long as "back to block" isn't present. It's a horrible way to block.

I also like the mindgames more than stupid inputs (and walking back when attempting to block if nothing happens, screwing up your position).

@nintendolie Yeah no.

@nintendolie It's not though. The battle is still the main meat. The mini-game is the persona-esque stuff.

@nintendolie honestly, that would just confuse him. There are so many new and different elements to Three Houses that the best thing is just playing it.

@alpacatears That sounds like a fun idea actually

@Nathan Ah. Well, good for the casuals.

@sikthvash Haha. Well there's always either the solution of restarting the map (aka not losing anybody but trying the entire map again) or, in Three Houses, the option of rewinding a few turns to fix your mistake.

@sikthvash I do wonder if the casual mode is still present. While I would never use it (as it breaks the ironclad rule that makes Fire Emblem what it is: People die when they are killed - **Thanks Shinji**), I can appreciate its existence for people who purely want to experience the story...

Though normal mode is always so ridiculously easy I can't see anybody fail it even with permadeath on.

I would highly encourage you to always play with permadeath on. It's daunting at first, and you may feel intimidated and get nervous and worried that you'll make mistakes and get your units killed... But that's the entire point. If you can just have them Leeroy Jenkins into the enemy army every map without a care in the world for their safety, what excitement is there even?

To me, the excitement behind permadeath is that I become so invested in my units and immerse myself so much into the game that I'm essentially the commander of an actual army. And not just any army, MY army. My people. My friends and family. Each loss is a terrible blow, and a grief-stricken moment.

That's what makes it so addictive and exciting to play.

For me, anyway.

@cryptologous Well said.

To me, all this game is missing is removal of back-to-block.

Had it had a dedicated block button, it'd have been as close to perfect as it gets. The complicated inputs fighting games have nowadays kinda suck and make the games a chore to play unless you're 100% invested several hours daily for months on end.

I probably won't get this game simply because of the lack of dedicated block, but had it had that feature, it would have been perfect for me. A good fighting game that relies on skill, not years of muscle memory from playing other fighting games with similar terrible input requirements.

(People like to argue against dedicated block, but eh, to me it's the best thing since sliced bread. Just include a clause so you gotta release and re-tap the button to block a cross-up, and we're golden. Nothing more annoying than holding back to block, and instead moving backwards if the enemy doesn't hit into it.)

@Heavyarms55 as long as they don't make that "even harder" mode something like Awakening's Lunatic+...

I've beaten Lunatic+ 3 times in total, and it's so heavily rng-based that I can't even call it difficult. Essentially I soft-reset until a few scenarios don't occur that usually make certain maps unbeatable without cheating or grinding. Lunatic mode is nice though.

@sikthvash the "super hard" mode is Lunatic mode, which was present in for example Awakening and Fates.

Essentially it's a mode that should've been in from the start, that they've delayed (probably because it wasn't ready).

Permadeath isn't a mode, it's the standard.