Daggot

Great news for anyone that hasn't been able to pick up this game. It's so good.

Now, can we entertain the idea of a DQ VIII remaster? I know they still have to release 1-2 with same treatment as 3, but I loved 8 and never got to finish the game before I shelved the PS2. It was one of the games my wife and I played when we were newly married. We would love to sit down and finish the story. Judging by the guides I think we were like 4-5hrs away from finishing the main story.

@Daniel36 Same here. I hadn't played the original games, but I backed the Kickstarter because it looked like something I wanted. But, like you, it just didn't hook me. I think it was the 100+ characters concept. I guess I'm at the point in my life where I don't feel I have the time to explore all the possible combinations of characters to find what works for me, or what I find to be fun. And, I don't want to just look for a Best Combo guide. Also, I guess the combat system in the beginning just didn't grab me either. You waste a lot of points trying to balance out hitting back rows or being optimal. I assume that works out once all the systems are explained, but it frustrated me in the first 2 hours or so.

But, ya, I need to give it another shot. Double so since I did back it.

Almost certainly it's a licensing issue. I need to get into BoF fast I guess. Been putting it off, but guess the clock is ticking.

Oh ya looks good. Noticed the likeness thing right away. Love that they used the sounds from the movie. if the controls are tight, this should do well. Real question will be can this run at the trailer's 60fps on the Switch?

Curious if they licensed any dialog clips from the movie too. Regardless, I think they nailed the art direction perfectly.

That's a nice collection. Not sure if my wife "needs" another copy of the game, but those are neat collectables.

Need to see more to understand what it will do different from Arkanoid and Crystal Hammer. Spent a lot of hours with both. From the trailer it looks like more of the focus is on the ball itself instead of power ups for the paddle. Curious to see more. I like the art direction for sure.

Bah, now I got the song from Crystal Hammer stuck in my head. Where's the .mod file I keep on my drive?

Given the lackluster previews about overly bland gameplay, I'm perfectly fine with this. Take the time to make the game fun and fully polished. We fans of the Shire won't mind waiting.

But, now you gotta wonder if they decided to change their target spec to NS2. While that would probably make the game play smoother, it wouldn't have any impact on the gameplay quality.

Just make it fun

@LikelySatan Exactly. I still throw on survival randomly just to enjoy the combat. So good.

In a very Nintendo-convoluted way I could see this as the groundwork to bring in a Nintendo family library concept. Something we've wanted since the beginning, and double so when Nintendo publicly stated they wanted each member of the household to have their own Switch, mostly the Lite. They sorta helped larger families with putting some DLC into the highest tier of the online family plan.

Fingers crossed we get something of a family library with Switch 2. I kinda doubt it, but we can dream.

It's getting harder to understand or see Xbox's end game here. On one hand, as mentioned in comments already, it does feel like Xbox is moving the same direction as Sega and will move away from hardware. It's not an illogical move given the expense of developing a new platform. And this current generation ended up being rather close in terms of base tech from the same partner(s). If MS expects that to continue, then it makes it harder for them to truly differentiate themselves from competition; mostly Sony.

BUT, MS has also invested heavily in cloud. Would they walk away from that? I kinda don't think so, but that's at odds with not wanting to pursue console hardware development. Unless there is something about designing cloud gaming platforms that's completely different from consoles. The one thing that comes to mind would be shared resources vs single stand alone console. Maybe it's better to design a server cluster to host game sessions vs discrete personal systems? No clue. Just spitballing here.

Then again, there's been that rumor that Xbox might buy Sega. Would you do that, hand over the collection of Xbox Studios to Sega leadership to take over development, and then double down on cloud technology as the real future of gaming? I could see the argument for that. Not sure I agree with it, but I can see the reasoning.

Not quite the game I was expecting from the Shinobi IP, but I like Lizardcube's track record so far. The trailer shows me that Lizardcube is paying attention to the small details that make a game work well. It's why SoR4 felt so great and why I still play it off-and-on at random times. It just feels like a great game. Not sure if I'll pre-order this, but the bonuses might tempt me. Seems people are a little split on the art style, and I'm a bit torn but the animation looks fluid and it looks like it might suite the tone of the game. Won't know until we get more of a gameplay trailer.

I expect they'll drop the regular Switch entirely, let the OLED run out of stock on a declining run schedule, but keep the Lite going until demand bottoms out. That would seem to be the most cost effective strategy for lowest entry point into the Switch ecosystem.

Pretty much everyone has covered the obvious stuff about why sales are down. What I want to know is if Nintendo might change its strategy related to 1st party DLC. I keep thinking about the pretty good sized DLC for ACNH, and how I thought they could have done a 2nd even smaller one to really extend the IP and boost system sales. But, they timing was all wrong. I could see how a slightly different strategy across most of their DLC-friendly IP could have had some additional lift. But, at the same time I appreciate Nintendo for NOT following that path trying to milk fans for so much extra after the initial game sale.

Finally have some time to start listening to this. WOW. This is really good. I was wanting to pickup this remake, but wasn't sure I would be able to make the time to get my money out of it. I might not have time to commit to another game, but I can easily add this to my commute playlist. Don't miss out on this OST.

EDIT: Found the album on Spotify and Bandcamp, but not YTM and I guess not Apple.

When they broke from Story of Season, I just couldn't deal with the Flash game style art direction. It looked so cheap. Reviews said there was actually a decent game behind the visuals, but I just couldn't. My wife couldn't either. She moved over firmly into the Rune Factory camp going forward.

I wish we could capture the same charm as when my wife played this on the PS2. I'm sure it was because we were younger, the genre was still pretty new, and we had ample time to dig into a game. Adulting makes that impossible now, even on a modern console with robust QoL enhancements. LOL

I assume they went all in on Dauntless and it didn't pay off. I tried to enjoy that game, but the game never really evolved beyond the first few areas and monsters. It was mostly the same treadmill over and over. To enjoy the meta you really needed a set team of friends that complemented the meta. Instead, it was all PUGs and people would drop during the dropoff. If you stay in you end up having to fight a monster that was set to take on more people than ended up staying in. So I wonder if the game ended up being a net loss. I never did see large player counts for the few months I tried to enjoy the game.

Think this collection is enough to trigger a purchase. I've held off for just such a mix. Now, how will this play with NS2 controllers? lol

Won't somebody please think of the shareholders!

NL, you're thinking too current. The mouse feature is going to be because Nintendo had an idea about their 1st party titles. This is a gateway for Mario Paint or Music to come back. Simple as that.

Given we don't know how the S2 will feel in the hand, it's hard to get too excited about a grip just yet. Not knowing the weight balance or the grip/tactile of the joycons it's kinda premature. But, the angle that a grip can give vs the straight line of the joycon is real. I'll wait for the system to be available and probably for a review or two before getting too excited about grips just yet.

uhhh, yeeeeeah. But, let's put the IP issue a side for just one moment. Even thought it'll kill the project in a heartbeat.

i can't get behind the visuals. Yes, this is low budget stuff, not studio level budget. I get that. But, it's just too clean. Nothing looks lived in. It's an issue very common to fantasy movies. It's hard to make things looked lived in and keep continuity when things need to show wear or age. It's one thing that Peter Jackson did so well, but doesn't get much credit for. His whole world felt lived in - which is why they planted real stuff in their Hobbiton set and let it grow for a year; as an example. "Throw some dirt on it!" Can't be afraid to get the costumes roughed up a bit. Add to the realism.

BUT, it's all moot as this is going to be lawyer bashed by the end of the week for sure.

It's an odd thing to have what I expect to be the full reveal in April. When would the launch be? That's right before summer, which is not really a good time to launch hardware. So, then fall? When school starts? That's within this June to Sept window I guess, but that also seems like not ideal time. But, I also don't expect Nintendo will want to wait all the way to the next holiday window. That's far too long. October then? Seems too far out from the April Direct.

So, now I'm wondering if the launch will be shortly after the direct, getting it before the summer months, before school is out. That seems the most logical aside from waiting until fall.

I had a weird issue with the game when I first installed it off Steam. I went to the Steam forums to look for an answer (it was a conflict with Display Fusion). OMG, the posts and ranting were insane, and that's from western language posts. I half-assume that maybe Japanese posts might even be worse. Ya, they're right to want to protect their employees, and I applaud the sentiment.

It's a real same the Mordor games didn't get ported. Maybe Switch 2? They were quality and did a good job of putting you into the Peter Jackson films.
bah can't remember.

I remember playing some tie-in game on the PS2 that had decent couch co-op. That one might be one of the ones listed here. I just don't remember the name.

@Res462 Ah, ok.

@Purgatorium Good call, that should also be on the list.

Oh, I think they should have also added Labo. That was definitely a Switch thing.

I guess there are a few different titles that could sit in that slot with Hollow Knight. Shovel Knight came to mind first for me, but it could all be a mater of perspective and personal experience.

The others I think I mostly agree with. Maybe could go either way on the impossible port with like Doom. There is no question that BotW, MK8D and AC:NH are titles that very much define the generation. It's been a long and healthy lifecycle for this system.

It's so sad, but it's probably true that one of the Bethesda games is pretty likely to be yet another Skyrim port.

BUT, given what we know about the hardware, I wouldn't bet against the new Indiana Jones game being one of titles. That would be a pretty interesting show piece title if they can get the ray tracing to work on a mobile system. It would require a lot of collaboration with Nvidia to pull off, but it would make a statement of what Nvidia thinks the system is capable of.

Not surprised, and personally not really disappointed. Kinda to be expected I guess. The real question might be if any 3rd party docks could be used with both systems. If so, than really not that big of deal unless your just brand loyal to 1st party hardware. Would be super crazy if the new dock might even support dual monitor (for not stupid reason).

Used them at the very start until we all had a feel for how aggressive we could be with the controller before it would be likely to slip out. I think most of us learned on the Wii so not really necessary to use them.

I have no evidence of this, but I feel it's quite possible Tencent may do work for the Chinese military. Game-based combat simulators or training aids are not new. It's completely possible Tencent has done some kind of contract work for the Chinese military in this capacity. That's not saying that they've done anything wrong, or supplied the military with any kind of data, etc. Simply that it's a possible way how they ended up on the list.

I am certainly no fan of Tencent. They own far too much of the gaming market in all regions. But, I can see how they would both qualify to be flagged for the list and present a case to prove it's not a threat. Still, I'd be fine with non-Asian government posing to limit their investments outside of China.

I'm sure he had several ideas on where to go next with Minecraft before he left. Now that he's seen where the money is at with the model, I except his spiritual successor will be a combination of his undeveloped thoughts on where to take the game and follow a lot of the business model that MS developed after he left.

But, I could also see a case for him going the story path ala DQ Builders and push more in that direction, or maybe take it further into the MMO style space. Or, GASP, VR??? There are certainly a number of options to explore.

It would be just beyond stupid if we really do end up getting the next Minecraft, HL3 and other big releases before GTA6. Bruh!

Not unexpected. The window for exclusivity be it theater, physical, etc has gotten a lot shorter over the years.

@MJF That's not what was said. The article headline is misleading. He's just talking up the new system and "market strategy" that Nintendo will pursue. They comments don't say they don't have the dev kits. You can bet hard money S/EA has had them for over a year.

Given the delays of the system, I hope the launch catalog is going to be epic. The key 1st and 3rd party dev groups have had more than enough time to work on titles and tune them for the new system. Ideally, they should be able to skip the usual launch title "mostly"-optimized code phase. But, I'm on the fence if this is a day one purchase until I see the launch catalog. Otherwise I might wait for Christmas and see if they do any bundles.

AYUP, been wondering this as well for quite a long time. I assumed the sales just weren't there. But, as the article points out, we're in an era of cozy games. The Switch had more than enough power to pull the game off with updated visuals, etc. But, I assume the gimmick wears off too fast. Maybe there's enough that can be done with S2 to take another stab at it, but it could be there isn't a developer that has a fresh enough idea to take a shot at it.

Still, my kids would love this. At a good price point of $20-30 tops, ya, I think we could see a new IP revival.

Glad to see there's a demo now. Was one of those on the fence. Very curious to see how this compares to other FF games. Some of the reviews give me pause, so a demo is perfect to help decide. For me, I'm still waiting to get DQ III since I put it on the Christmas list. Tuesday can't come fast enough!!! So, I'll be preoccupied soon enough.

I played for a bit when this first came out. It had a lot of problems. Biggest issue I ran into far too often was the monster health/difficulty was based on # of people dropping in to the zone. If you had people that would disconnect, you ended up with a much more difficult monster to fight against then the reduced numbers could handle. I assume if you had perfect timing on dodging, counters, etc you might be able to take it, but some times you just didn't have the numbers to deal with so many adds.

Also, the loop was a bit too grindy. I kinda liked that they were trying to build synergies between classes, but if you only played PUGs you basically had to assume you weren't going to get the right classes to do that. I mean, I did have some fun with it, sorta. But, the disconnects really sucked the fun out of it.

I didn't read the changes to see if the game is a little more solo friendly. that's the only way the game would really be able to shine, but by design it's a co-op game so probably not. Clearly the game is suffering, but I guess not so much that it hasn't folded already. Many posts already about people having forgotten about the game already. I didn't know it released on Switch either.

OOOH, ok. I had put this on my wish list, but could not remember where I saw it being talked about to remind myself why I wish listed it. LOL. Looks like a heavy vibe from like Virtual On, and I loved that game. There have been games in the past that did the same formula, but never clicked with me. Hoping this is the one that clicks. Maybe it'll be on Steam Winter sale soon.

I'll always side with a delay vs buggy release. Fastest way for a game to be put down and never played again. I have no problem with "when it's done" as a release date. Just don't full radio silent the whole time is all I ask.

Ya, on the one hand, Japan gets all the cool stuff. But, at the same time, they can overly obsess on stuff and are collectors to a fault which always puzzles me given that most Japanese live in very small spaces compared to the west. I've stopped collecting a long time back because I just didn't want to deal with space and storage. But, some of this is really nice. LOL

I remember playing this game when it first came out. I can't remember what it was that really drew me to the game. I thin kit was some kind of technical aspect, but I just can't remember. The game didn't stick with me, so it must have been something shallow. I barely remember playing it. I wonder if it was the 3D treatment. I guess the nostalgia isn't high enough to pick this up given the low rating.

Dang, might have to pick this up just for the props to OG Dracula. Hopefully the game is decent. Early reviews on Steam are showing it should be. I'll keep an eye on the review.

Glad someone had the drive to see if the license of his likeness would be available, and mad props to the estate to allowing it. I wonder if this might open up some other game opportunities. Assuming the use of his likeness adds real value to a game, that could be an interesting idea to explore.

Great work on the review and video! I only started being a fan with the PS2 game, DQVIII. It was a great time. My wife actually started watching me play, and she would even drive a little just to experience the game. Great memories.

So eager to play this. I LOVED DQXI. It was the ultimate love letter to the old style gameplay and did it so well. I think I bought the game 3 different times! Sounds like they landed on a decent balance between modern QoL while still being very faithful to the original. The frame drops are a disappointment, but I wonder if maybe they're pushing the engine a little more than earlier titles. Maybe even with the expectation of the Switch 2 being able to push the FPS a little higher? We'll know in 6 months. So glad to hear the full orchestra music is included. That was a really odd miss in XI. The legal tussle about that was just stupid. I just forced myself to accept the midi music as being part of the old school charm. Until the PC version had a mod to bring in the full score. WOO HOO. And then the PC version reshade came in. woooooo. LOL. I look to see if there are mods for the other HD-2D titles to get an idea what be available for DQ3 later on.

Ugh, I still gotta wait for Christmas so the fam can gift it to me. LOL!

This only strengthened my desire for a DQ Rocket Slime game. I only got to play the 1st DS game, but I had such a great time with it. I tried firing up the game last year (shocked that my DS still held any kind of charge), but I couldn't remember anything of how to play the game. I didn't want to delete my save file, but I probably should just to start completely over. I know there are other games in the series, but this was the only one I played.

This slime game is not what I hoped for, LOL. Honestly, it kinda feel like they wanted to make a Hades like game, but go easy on the art assets so went with slime instead of more detailed character art. Too hard to say for sure with that little snip of gameplay. Usually when they show more FMV than gameplay, there's a reason.

I expect this has to do with the IP revival project, at least in part. Given how successful a few different efforts have been recently, I could see why they want a piece of that action. Except, the revival is only for a few IP titles, not nearly as many as in the current collection getting delisted.

That or they're doing the old Disney Vault tactic to make them obscure so they can rerelease them again in a few years with a slightly different wrapper.

But, I guess I should go make sure I have all the DLC purchased on the Steam version.

Even though the early previews of Tales of the Shire weren't great, I'm still looking forward to it. Hopefully this doesn't have a negative impact on the game getting released and being a great game. that also means I'm really hoping they can bring the fun which seems to be lacking from the previews.

@milonorth I wish that was me. It used to be when I was younger. I really need to give the game another try.

I bought the game early on the PC but never got into it. Not sure why. It should totally be my jam. I think I had constant min/max fear that I would screw something up later in the game if I didn't have an optimal farm to start with, over cleared the land, over planted, under something, etc. It's stupid and probably prevented me from just enjoying the game. Blame the internet for having efficiency guides all over the place. I know I need to ignore all that and just go in cold. Stupid min/max analysis paralysis. The update is probably the best time to start cold.

Oh wow, this is like from the art direction of Don Bluth, but drawn by 90s Disney with some modern game mechanics. That's a wild combo that I would be tempted to give some cash to. Need to see a bit more of the gameplay. Looks like the story narrative has a heathy budget. Hopefully the gameplay mechanics have equal polish.

I day one backed the kickstarter for this, so in that light I'm glad to see it get the AAA polish it kinda needed. But, I'm not sure this is what was missing from the game. I'm sure all combined it will help, and certainly tightening up the controls for combat is a good step, but I can't put my finger on if this was the problem I had with the game. It felt kinda bland. I admit I didn't get far in the game before giving up. Maybe I need to give it another try.

Ugh, Ubisoft. My emotions continue to get mixed about how I feel about this company. Overly draconian DRM and account practices, terrible monetization business plans, retread of games, etc. I just want to be done with ever buying anything from them ever again. EVER. But, it is hard to get away from the fact they do own some great IP; like Rayman. I have just fond memories of playing Rayman for the first time on the PS1. I was floored at the color and detail of the backgrounds and the scale of things like the level and bosses. This even carried over into the early mobile games that I picked up eventually. But now, IDK. I just can't trust Ubisoft to not try to implement terrible practices into their games. That last PoP game is good example. The game itself was decent enough, but the publisher choices wrecked it. Why, why, why would you require a Ubisoft account just to play a demo on the Switch? It's a console specifically designed to play on the go, and you want the gamer to have an internet connection just to play a demo??????? What kind of idiotic decisions are they likely to make with Rayman? I assume it has more wide international appeal than PoP had.

One true silver lining for me is that I was able to give up on Settlers. The original dev finally launched the true spiritual successor to the game and it's everything fans wanted. The last Settlers game was such a collection of everything long time fans begged Ubisoft not to do and did anyways. Pioneers of Pagonia
is such a better game staying truer to the ideas of the original while introducing modern mechanics and thoughtful QoL features. I backed that early game without hesitation. Wish the same could happen with IP like Rayman.