CrazedCavalier

@JaxonH None taken.
Path of Radiance just seems about on-par with the GBA titles- there's definite challenge on hard, but normal isn't much at all for fans of the series. And then there's Ike Solos-- which, like SS with Seth Solos, are generally considered easier than playing the game normally.

Radiant Dawn, on the other hand... . Though that introduced battle saves and the localization screwed up the difficulty naming.

@JaxonH Path of Radiance? ...Hard? ...What?
I mean, there's the series' learning curve so with it may not be the best starting point, but "hard" is pretty far from the word to describe one of two FE games where a solo run is not only highly doable, but generally regarded as easier than playing the game normally.

@JHDK Fates upgraded things so everybody's realistically proportioned.
The reason Awakening's models were they way they were was because Nintendo hadn't even finished developing the 3DS home menu apps and the engine couldn't handle much, so they had to cut-off the feet as a technological limitation.

@AlexSora89 Where are you getting this idea that it's meant to "bridge the power gap"? Stuff's pointing towards roughly half an Xbox One/three Wii Us taped together, when docked.
The Switch is aiming for the casual/handheld market; a lot of devs just happen to see potential in it and are going to offer strong initial support in case things pan out.

@seb5049 It's half a generation behind a la the Wii, just much easier to port to.
Insiders have compared Switch ports to PS4/Xbox originals as the difference between Xbox 360 and Xbox One releases.

@MitchVogel Well, considering we have reliable rumors pointing towards handheld performance being 1.5 Wii Us and console performance being 3 Wii Us duct-taped together, "competing" is really the last thing on their minds with the Switch; it seems more like a really souped up handheld that can plug into the TV than a console that can be taken anywhere.

This highlights two facts: thankfully general game critics didn't overrate Fates as much as Awakening (though this has the unfortunate side effect of the worse game having a better score), and that Nintendo is focused on making games for the Switch- and giving it primary support out of the gate is a good thing.

@Spoony_Tech 2012 and 2016 are the only yeras since the series launched that there has not been a major release in Japan. Looking at the west, we have:
-Monster Hunter (2005)
-Monster Hunter Freedom (2006)
-Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (2007)
-Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (2009)
-Monster Hunter Tri (2010)
-Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (2013)
-Monster Hunter 4 Ultiamte (2015)
-Monster Hunter Generations (2016)
So really, the only point where they hesitated to bring over a game westward was after Tri (which ironically was the most successful game released over here at that time)-- and there were plans to bring over Portable 3rd HD that got shot down by SCEA's president due to a lack of trophy support and incompatibility with PSN.
The series always had pretty regular releases in the West. And overall... well, there was that article on this site about how it surpassed Street Fighter in sales.

@Xaessya ...It joined it in 2005, when Monster Hunter G was released as a follow-up exclusively in Japan.

@UK-Nintendo "Greatness awaits."
Yep. We're all still waiting.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Technically, everything is a cash grab-- the bottom line is always making money.
A lot of people loved Mario Maker on the Wii U, and bringing it to the 3DS makes perfect sense (especially since when it was first initially leaked people thought it was a 3DS title).
But I'm trying to reason with a troll here. Man, I have too much free time.

@DrRandle There's obvious clickbait like that, sure, but they literally admit in the article that they just did this because they could.

"the whole idea that the two would be vaguely comparable is ridiculous, but we decided to fire up our capture units and show you anyway"
Clickbait much?
I'm so glad I use a proxy for this site most of the time.

N's VA doesn't quite fit, but besides that a really good episode.
Considering I'm a dude who went with White (and it's my favorite Pokemon game to date), this ending actually had me tear up a bit. Plus, N seems to generally be more associated with Reshiram.

@EllenJMiller Exactly.
And the fact that a buggy half-finished mess of a game that got by on Pokemon hype alone won while other, much more polished, actually finished games didn't just shows the lack of credibility on display here.

@MitchVogel Amiibo have fallen off a fair bit since their first year- though that ties into the exact reason why I think they won't be going anywhere any time soon: they have much less riding on them.

@Centibit More like they realized (unlike Comcept) "oh dang we've got a lot of ports to cover and we don't want to delay the game further".

Looking forward to this game on my Xbox One (or Nintendo Switch, depending on how the coin falls).

@AVahne It helps that I didn't go in blind. I knew what to expect, so I could counter the few annoying gimmicks and rip the story to shreds.

@AVahne "The source material means NOTHING".
So either way they'll rip it to shreds.

@Mogster A few maps are like that. But most aren't. Meanwhile, almost all of Awakening is mindlessly attacking and watching your paired-up units lay waste to everything that goes near them. And Awakenings way of turning up the difficulty? Throw more, higher-leveled enemies at you with more skills. Considering how utterly uninspired and flat most of Awakening's maps are, the game pushes you to grind.

@Lucina Labeling somebody as elitist for going against your opinion is just plain stupid and hypocritical.
I'm going to stay out of the story argument unless I get dragged in; dissecting it and pointing out every flaw is beating a dead horse.

While I greatly enjoyed Tales of the Abyss, there are two major knocks against it: the first 1/4 of the game is very slow, and the gameplay... actually isn't that amazing. It's the one game I've played where my interest in the story and characters is what kept me going more than the satisfaction of the actual gameplay.

@AVahne Exactly- the series has never had the best writing.
I don't need good writing to enjoy a game, and as a game (not a story) I enjoyed Fates far more than I did Awakening.

@Piersen Which makes it's omission the more glaring. You can't use the "it's too niche" argument because on both sides of the Pacific it puts up much higher numbers than SMT and Etrian Odyssey- both of which have a title on the list.

What exactly does Monster Hunter count as? I mean, "Hunting Action Game" is its own little sub-genre that it established, but would it hurt things to count them as RPGs?

@Mogster Fates' supports are just as bad as (if not actually slightly better than) Awakening's; most of the characters are one-note anime tropes in either game. Both the stories are garbage.

Fates just has decent core gameplay, while Awakening is a broken mess. Are some of the map gimmicks a bit much? Yes, but I'll take interesting map design over Awakening's relatively flat plains any day. Pair up isn't broken and enemies can use it as well- lending much more to strategy than just pairing up everybody and steamrolling through things.

Really, it's kinda funny seeing an Awakening nostalgia bubble- are we doomed to go the way of the Tales fanbase, with every single title having its own dedicated fandom and detractors?

@Seacliff Uh... FE7 has it's share of plot holes and issues and Binding Blade/Sacred Stones are too short and generic.
I'd go so far as to say that none of the games in the series have decent stories except Path of Radiance and SD- the former of which is very straightforward and the latter pulling off a minimalism while maintaining its own character.

@Luna_110 Grima sacrificed himself to revive himself in the present timeline, after the Emblem was taken.
Why didn't he do that so much sooner? Massive plot hole right there.
Both of them are bad stories.

@AVahne They are "in talks".
But considering he also made the Resident Evil movies, which reveled in mediocrity and giving his wife a Mary Sue character, the deal will probably be struck.

I mean, we're going to get one epic cinemasins video out of this, right?

@MitchVogel Maybe it's confirmation bias due to me actually caring about these games from the start while X was an impulse buy weeks after release, but it seems like there was so much more hype for Sun and Moon in general.

@HappyMaskedGuy Never heard about having fun, huh? This was a harmless prank (emphasis on the harmless part).

@Decapre A different style coupled with people zeroing in on "filler" frames that look much better in motion.
And the DVD releases of Super seemed to have fixed up a lot of stuff- as tends to happen.

"Outside of PC"
And the PS4 Pro... and the Xbox One Scorpio... .
You may as well have just said "For Nintendo, both isn't viable".

@AVahne The X2 is pretty great, though. What we don't know is whether or not they're using an overclocked X1 or an underclocked X2. Normally the X1 is PS360 level, with the X2 Xbox One level.

@MarcelRguez @Mega_Yarn_Poochy
..Square only publishes the series. They have no involvement in the development whatsoever.

As other people have said, the Wii U is a perfect example of how out of touch Nintendo was with the market. It has some great games, certainly, but launching a slightly more powerful Xbox 360 right before the next generation of consoles and trying to pander to the demographic that clearly left them weren't smart moves.

The Wii U got exactly what it deserved- it was a stumble in the wrong direction.
And I've put more time into my 3DS than any other videogame system I've ever owned.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE ...So, you commented to say you aren't buying either?
Why even click on the article then?

Coming from somebody who spoiled everything for himself, I'm overall quite pleased.

@Mega_Yarn_Poochy My gosh THIS. "Weird in a good way" may as well be the 7th gen's subtitle.

@Knuckles That, plus them bleeding the brand dry. The Japanese market is saturated- if they're smart, they'll wait a couple years before doing anything else with the series.

@Tsurii I really don't see any Nintendo advertising in the US. It's almost 100% Sony and their dumb "Greatness Awaits" tagline (Yep, we're still waiting).

@Darkthany It's not a double standard- he's providing no context or substance for his complaints.
Meanwhile, it's a pretty common observation among FE fans that IS is deadset on promoting Akaneia and Fates as much as possible, while the rest of the series (barring Ike and maaaybe Roy) may as well not exist.
Tellius, Elibe, and for goodness sakes Judgral and Magvel need actual representation. Though I want an FE Warriors game, I'm not confident about IS handling roster representation.

@gcunit Sorry- used to the more lax rules of other forums and comments sections.

@Solid_Stannis Please, how is a well-liked spin-off that sold over a million units "sullying" anything?
Get off your high horse. You don't like the basic formula, okay. But whining about it won't do anybody any good.

@LAEER As long as Koei Tecmo is better than IS and recognizes most of the series, I'd be more than down for Emblem Warriors.

Beast Wars FTW!
Seriously, it actually had decent writing. A show derived from a toy-based property had decent writing. It boggles the mind that I enjoy it despite not growing up with it.

Kinda wish it had GV level-spritework, but it is what it is.
Very interested.

@the-madprofessor It's a decent game. Not amazing, but solid- it's nowhere near the actually bad Sonic games like '06, Boom, and it's predecessor The Secret Rings..

That Tingle... a little TOO good. Heck, "Jack Sweet" makes sense as their name even. The Skull Kid cosplay is really good as well.

The Zamus cosplayer is throwing me off hard- it's really just her body shape. The long torso and short legs kinda don't work for that character- not knocking her efforts, just making an observation.

Some really good stuff, some really eh stuff. It's hard, certainly, but some pulled it off much better than others.
I'm surprised some people aren't trying to be more covered, considering how overcast it loo- what this is the UK. That's what counts as sunshine there, isn't it? /s

This reminds me of when the Anniversary Map Pack for Halo Reach first popped up on XBL. Thing had a crazy glitched price- millions of credits (this right before XBL switched to proper money).

For a moment I thought you'd used fanart without citing a source.
Good job, @NintendoLife, looks like you have some journalistic integrity left in you.

@XCWarrior Considering people were assuming Empoleon from the patch files, yeah it's kinda surprising that it'd be Croagunk.

@SzDavid99 Damn.
I'd gladly get the Moon one.

@Zaiaku No, it's not more of a grind. Each upgrade requires less materials than it does in the past- and the ability to use materials within a specific category alleviates the grind further.

The only time where the series got easier was FU to Tri- where they rebuilt the game from the ground up, improved the camera, and tightened up monster's hitboxes.

I have no idea what to say to your insistence that the styles and arts are "useless" other than you have no freaking idea how to use them. Unhinged Spirit- giving you temporarily unlimited spirit gauge- is useless? Energy Charge- allowing you to completely refill the switch gauge on SA -is useless? Lion's Maw -powering up the next attack for GS- is useless? Shoryugeki- allowing the SnS to semi-reliably KO monsters- is useless?
Adept LS- allowing you to evade attacks and charge back in -is useless? Striker SnS -dropping a few moves that nobody really used so you can use three hunter arts- is useless? Aerial SA- allowing you out IG the IG in the mounting and DPS department- is useless?
And what "easy buff gauge" for the LS? The Spirit Gauge has been there from the start of the weapon's introduction.
It seems like "useless" is code for "I don't know how to use them".

Or maybe when you're dominating monsters with basic equipment, you're pretty damn good. Generations has very few new monsters- you've got their patterns down and know what to do. Plus, basic weapons don't exactly suck anymore due it taking a while to find elemental weapons.
This really sounds like the plight of a whiny veteran Dark Souls player. Except Monster Hunter is a cultural phenomenon in Japan and is catching on here- it was never really meant to be ball-bustingly difficult.

If you are so dedicated to your opinions, I think you're going to have accept the facts that you've gotten better at the game and the series is evolving. Arguing about it won't do any good.

Just stumbled upon this:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a40/pointman_4000/1477622794517.jpg
Yeah, it's a random 4chan user, but they predicted the title XX. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't a bit scared.

@gcunit ...Ah. Missed that.

@Zaiaku Did we play the same game?
Somebody hasn't tried Deviants. Or somebody's suffering from Dark Souls syndrome- you're that good at the game that nothing is super challenging, so instead of realizing that you've gotten better you whine about the devs making the game easier. Monster Hunter has a sizable learning curve, but once you've gotten through it the series isn't super challenging.

Styles are useless? What? Seriously, what? They completely change things and give a ton more variety. Aerial Switch Axe, Striker Switch Axe, and Adept Switch Axe all play differently from eachother for instance.

"They butchered the upgrade system"? More like they improved it. You are teased about branching paths from the start of a weapon tree, and upgrading the base weapon to see what's next doesn't lock you out of other paths.

The one thing that Cross/Generations lacked was the polish of a G-rank title- and that's exactly what Double Cross is.

@AVahne He's the Producer. A different team does the mainline and G rank titles, with the "B team" doing the "portable" titles (Freedom 1, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite, Portable 3rd, and X/XX) and the Frontier team focusing solely on Frontier.

@gcunit Umm... it released in Japan last November. It's taken it 11 months to sell 4 million. Remember that the games release half a year or more in Japan before coming West.

@JaxonH My Monster Hunter story is much simpler (and funnier)- it was the Ironbeard advertisements for Tri that got me into it. More specifically, looking at Gamespot for Pikmin faqs and seeing the advertisements on the sidebar. My elder brother got a PSP for MGS: Peace Walker soon after, and a tried Freedom Unite's demo. I was obsessed with slaying Hypnocatrice, and once I did I knew I was hooked. I got into Tri (which was my noob days, really) and didn't progress far. It's 3U where I really got hooked.

@AlphaJaguar All the Gen 1 games together sold 50 million. Considering that's most of the 3DS' install base, probably not.

@JLPick ...Except it's from Eurogamer and Emily Rogers, who have been pretty damn spot-on in regards to the Switch.

@Moon Sliconera:
http://www.siliconera.com/2016/10/27/monster-hunter-xx-announced-nintendo-3ds-adds-g-rank-two-new-styles-fields/
"Monster Hunter XX Announced For Nintendo 3DS, Adds G-Rank, Two New Styles, And More"

@Xaessya Anybody who knows Capcom and the series would expect this.

Anyways, kinda hype but also afraid that they'll burn out the West on Monster Hunter.
Honestly, I'm hoping that this actually gets a limited digital release over here and comes out sooner rather than later- that way they can pass it off as an expansion pack and sell it for cheaper.

What's the difference between Brave style and Adept? Seems functionally the same.