DawgP

@BloodNinja

1) Where was talk about selling digital games mentioned? If you think companies are going to just let you make second-hand sales and settle for only taking a cut at the expense of making direct "new" sales, I'd argue that you are daft. It's not like digital platforms couldn't revoke and add ownership of a game to different accounts for you; Steam already has the ability to put games in your inventory as gifts to be sent to others, and they have a marketplace. NFT tech isn't required to make digital resale a possibility, it could be done already. Nor is item resale in-game a new thing. Remember the quickly-defunct real-money auction house that accompanied Diablo 3's (PC) release?

But if I have missed such an announcement, by all means point it out and set me straight, especially as it pertains to this specific quote that was snipped.

2) The issue I'm raising and putting a spotlight on is that the emphasis with buying a car isn't on reselling the care as the primary reason for buying the car. You don't (or at least shouldn't) finance a car on the idea that you're going to sell it back for a particular amount, especially not more than you paid for it.

There is a reason I pointed out the term "economic bubble". I am extrapolating off of patterns of behaviors seen time and time again through human society, including several such instances in rather recent times. Bubbles are a thing we do as humans; we are drawn to them and they bite us every time. The tech might be new, but the behaviors and motivations of the people behind it are no different. A skeezy businessman is a skeezy businessman.

• Yes, I am a very jaded person towards corporatism. Businesses are not your friend and any business, or spokesperson thereof, trying to convince you how actually beneficial to you a thing is should not be trusted, especially if they beat around the bush and don't give specifics to evaluate. And no, I do not think microtransactions, Steam DRM, etc. are inherently just fine because they've become so pervasive as to be "the standard".

"...gamers really believe it's first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation."

"The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they're finished with them or they're finished playing the game itself. "

Derisively says that the upset audience only sees it as a tool for speculation. Only example of use provided is one of speculation.

If you ever hear someone telling you the value of a thing is in the reselling of said thing and you don't know what the term "economic bubble" means, look it up.

@UltimateOtaku91

Another point to consider, and you've been hitting on it yourself with things you've said about how much you could make by selling them, is that the NFT thing is basically creating a massive economic bubble. If you're not familiar with the concept, look up and familiarize yourself with what "economic bubble" is.

And if NFTs become ingrained into the perception of video games when that bubble bursts, it is going to bring things under and add more fuel to the fire to socially demonize and villify video games as a whole. So while you might not notice much specifically for Apex Legends adding NFTs or whatever, you will notice a whole lot across the board when you have news stories running all over the place about sensationalized "I am homeless because of video games" or "Video games have bankrupted X Many people" as a result of an NFT bubble burst.

@Onion Just checked; I had misinterpreted it. When you Get Over, it kicks you straight to the start a new game UI, past the point where you select to continue from where you left off. Oops. FWIW, I did notice that after a game over, it doesn't actually save the last stage you were on and instead is some previous save point. So it may just be that I did a Game Over before the game decided to write a save.

@Onion No kidding? Interesting.

I know as fact that I Game Over'd and my save was cleared out...

And none of the passwords I get match ones from lists on lookup I've found. And the Day of the Tentacle bonus stage password of BCDF definitely didn't work...

I am definitely U.S., too. So why are we having different experiences with the same thing?! What the hecky?

Though if the copy I'm running was based off a PAL ROM and is being shoved into a USC environment, that could explain things with the audio considering the difference in refresh rates; I've seen that kind of thing before with ported ROMs...

And yeah, inventory is the same as it was. I wouldn't expect a direct port like this to actually change anything inside the game itself. But some actual save states or QoL ROM manipulations that have become standard for things like this would have been nice. But first, I'd settle for it working properly...

@speedyb Oh, you bet I'm hoping for updates to address the button layout and music/audio issues. Fix that and I'll be a happy camper and flipy.opinion on a dime! 😆

But, unless that happens, I am disappointed in this port. :/

This port is very poorly done. Not only did they bafflingly mess up the button layout (why not sticking to the original SNES layout that made sense??), But there's also something going on that messes up the audio/music; it's pitched wrongly in an inconsistent way. And it seems they rejiggered the passwords, so any you may have known and wanted to use are useless and you'll have to get them from this port.

And on top of being a complete step backwards, there are no good quality of life improvements. The game itself is untouched (barring the problems above), the package does not add any new or interesting features, and the "save" functionality is not really a save. You can't restore it as you like, you can only continue from its last auto-save point and if you Game-Over it clears itself out and you have nothing to load; either enter a password or start from the beginning.

I love ZAMN. I was super excited at the first announcement. But I got suckered by a poor port. Which is soured by the fact that Nintendo did way better back on the Wii with the VC releases of these games; they ran completely properly, made no changes to the control layout, and even had digital instruction manuals!

I will be surprised if we see it come to fruition in 2022. Everything about and around it kinda gives me the impression that they don't know what to do with it and that they haven't found or put together anything that makes them go "Yes! This is the right thing for it to be!"

They've definitely been doing things and have a lot of irons in the fire, but just about everything else from them can be more experimental and/or rougher. But Bayonetta has this flagship level of importance and expectation on it. So I really wouldn't be surprised if ideas and things they floated for Bayonetta 3 were rejected, but held onto and moved over to other games.

Nah, I'm not into it and nothing is gonna change my mind. I've seen much gameplay at this point, and my feelings toward it have changed not a bit. Nothing will change my mind.

I was forged in a world where Paper Mario was a title that meant the game was a storybook RPG full of fantastical lands and varied characters. Anything less is nothing but disappointment, and no amount of hollow gimmickry and insipid referential pandering will change that.

I don't see a good option for me in the poll, so may as well weigh in my thoughts here.

Basically, I would be conditionally happy to pay a slightly higher game price. But it's a pretty non-realistic condition. If I could know that the extra price is money actually going to pay those who make the game and is reducing "crunch" and ensuring that microtransactions and such are kept out of the game. What I'm not willing keen on doing is paying more for games that still try to prey on consumers with microtransactions and the extra money is only lining executive pockets or making company profits bigger numbers and feeding greed.

@UmbreonsPapa Not really? Feelings are feelings, no matter how deep or shallow the degree. And that's what many feel towards the Paper Mario franchise. It's why it ruffles so many feathers so hard amongst the "og fans".

Not sure where you get this "evil scheme" thing, though... And if it was all on how things were said, that's my bad; didn't mean to imply there was a direct desire to hurt fans. ^^;

But, you don't have to intend harm for someone to feel betrayed or abandoned by your choices/actions. No, it's not on the level of the betrayal of Julius Ceaser, but it's still a "switcheroo" style change that quite understandably leaves original buy-in-ers feeling duped.

Basically, there are valid reasons for emotional responses and trying to blithely dismiss them only entrenched and incenses them further. And yes, I still mourn the loss of what Paper Mario used to be.

@pinta_vodki

1) A polished turd is still a turd. If the underlying game itself isn't appealing to me (and it hasn't been since Sticker Star), no amount of polish and witty writing is going to change that

2) There's nothing "grown up" about adopting the mantra of "don't think, just consume product, and then get excited for more product". Also, with the company that made them gone bankrupt, it is not likely we will see any new Mario & Luigi games for a while, if ever, and if we do, they won't at all be like they were.

If you really enjoy the game, that's great! It's good that the time and effort went into making the game found an audience and it brings them enjoyment. But that doesn't invalidate the feelings of betrayal and abandonment of those who fell in love with a franchise that has changed into something unrecognizable from what it used to be and who don't like what it's become.

This one's a big "nope" for me. It's got no sign that it's what I want from a Paper Mario game and Imsee no need to pay for my own disappointment.

That said, I hope everyone who does want/get it has a good time with it. The franchise has just morphed into something that isn't for me.

I have no doubts that it is a functional game. I have no doubt that it is well polished. I have no doubt that it is a rock solid game for those who want it. But I don't want it. It's as simple as that.

If I lived in a world where the N64 Paper Mario and The Thousand Year Door and even Super Paper Mario existed, maybe I'd find these "New Paper Mario" games more enjoyable and be more into them. The reality, however, is that my desires and hopes and such are all colored by that which has come before.

As time moves forward, I am in an ever-diminishing minority, and obviously these new titles make money. But that doesn't make me any more accepting of what the series has become when compared to what it used to be. And so, I will pass on this one, voting with my wallet even if it has the same effect as shouting into the wind.

@rdm22 I mean, Sticker Star and Color Splash were turn-based. That alone the magic does not make. I've been thinking about this a lot today, for obvious reasons, bit while there are mechanical deficiencies that take the afformentioned two (and likely the new third) away from being what I want from a Paper Mario, it's something else that ruins it for me.

It would take way too much to do all put here, and ain't nobody got time to read all that, but I'll give a very concise and not-at-all nuanced version for ya.

The good Paper Mario games use "Paper" as a reference to how they feel like a fantastical storybook adventure. They are full of locations with odd, quirky, alien, and interesting characters. The partners, even if of a species familiar to Mario games, are different, and they all have their own personalities, motivations, and eccentricities. The scope, scale, impact, and "weight" of the story itself isn't as important as that it feels like you're playing a JRPG Mario Fairy Tale adventure; finding a magic box in a vacant house in town that shrinks you down and takes you to a toy world full of shy guys, going through a magical gate to the flower realm where you have to free the sun, raiding the dragon's castle for its treasure, having to go to the creepy tower in the horizon of the perpetually twilit town in which someone turns into a pig every time the tower bell rings. This is why, while I would hardly want all goes that came after it to play like Super Paper Mario, I thought Super Paper Mario was a good addition to the franchise.

It goes hand-in-hand with that meme image of 50 identical toads for Sticker Star/For Splash and the slew of different and unique toad designs from TTYD.

At this point, going by the numbers, I guess I am no longer a fan of the Paper Mario franchise. :/

The first two were brilliant games. The third one was weird and didn't really do well at blending the elements it tri d to, but still had a unique charm to it that was fine. But now Sticker Star and Color Splash have taken away that magic that made Paper Mario what it was and Origami Whatever looks to be obstinately pulling that train into the same station. Alas, nothing gold can stay.

I know it's a pipe dream that will never happen because people are, on the whole, very stupid, but it would be rather effective if everybody just didn't pay scalpers. If someone buys 100 Switches, they should just have to sit on them at what they paid and at best sell them at-cost. But because people will pay exorbitantly gouged prices, scalpers will keep doing what they do.

@Thwomp_Stomper Not saying they can't or won't ever, because it's indeed possible. But I think, last I read, there was a publicized statement of Nintendo's stance at the time of being that they don't pursue these kinds of things until they are deemed "commercial". So an artisan crafter who makes things by hand using their own designs inspired by Nintendo IP are safe. It takes work and they only have so much production they can handle.

This, on the other hand was out and advertising and asking for money and sending cookie-cutter mass orders to a manufacturing plant and all that; a lotta commerce.

We see the same pattern elsewhere: the Mother 3 fan translation was not kept in secret, but it was also not advertised and broadcast and people weren't making their name off it. AM2R, on the other hand, was being spread around social media and making the rounds and the guy behind it was trying to get his name out there and talked about; very commercial.

@FatalS Had to go up and read other comments to make sense of things. I was under the impression that you, personally, were the one who pre-ordered and paid, but ended up being not the rep.

And each their own, I s'pose. To my sensibities, New Horizons is nothing new in the Shared Space theming of Animal Crossing. Single island, single town, etc. It baffles my mind that people who share a console can't communicate and coordinate things together, but I'm sure I baffle many other people with my various things. Taste is a thing for which there is no accounting.

I still, though, think it's silly to claim the game is "0/10". It's functional, it's what it advertised on the tin, and it really is still external factors that affect your outlook on the game. If you set that as the bottom, then nothing matters. There is no "it's not for me, but I can respect its craftsmanship" about it. It's lumped in the same bucket as Warcraft 3 Reforged or Fallout 76 or Sonic '06 or any slew of other games from other publishers that are functionally broken and don't work and crash and have bugs that prevent completion in normal play.

And similarly, if you have problems with it, even if as a result of external issue, then it probably isn't 10/10 material either. A flux of 10/10 ratings on things is just as inane, in my opinion.

And if you like and can still play older iterations, by all means do so! Vote with your wallet and provide feedback, by all means. Just know that engaging in hyperbolic activity is the quickest way to get ignored.

@FatalS wait wait wait... Am I to believe you pre-ordered and paid for the game and ended up as not the primary?

And how is playing as non-rep impossible? Did you play and enjoy previous AC games? Does this one not provide a same experience? I'm inclined to believe that your poor [edit: autocorrect misfire] game experience is directly the result of a lack of actual cooperation and communication between you and whoever the rep is, a rep who might be actively not letting you participate. And bashing the game for that if such is the case is like rating Donkey King Country because your older sibling gave you an unplugged controller and was playing in 1 player mode instead of 2 player team.

@FullMetalWesker Fair enough. I figured that if you are sharing a physical Switch console, you would be able to just communicate and cooperate to do things no matter who the rep is. But I can see where that might not be for others, especially when (as it seems to me) people are very much more in a "mine" culture (though that may just be me noticing it where I didn't when I was younger).

@DrDaisy It's more than a few, and they come in at the minimum possible score. That's why it's called "review bombing. It's mindless/thoughtless action taken with the xpress intent to lower a score as much as possible rather than try to provide a fair assessment for aggregation. It's not like the game is functionally brokn and unplayable or completely hoses everything or goes back on promises made, even.

If you give thensame score to New Horizons because you don't like a design decision as you do to, say Warcraft 3 Reforged, review and score lose all meaning and significance.

So... I take it that Animal Crossing: City Folk was only created to try to shill more Wii consoles? It only allowed one village per console, also.

I'm not saying you have to like it, but there's not some sinisterplot here. Animal Crossing has always been about the theme/thesis/philosophy of community, including amongst the people who are playing it. That's like complaining about having to jump on platforms in a Mario game.

And right or wrong in your opinion, everyone here seems to be missing the point; petty complaining like this on a "competitor" company account is a really bad look and reflects poorly.

By trying to draw attention to how your "competitor" is bad, it opens up the door to blowback and harsh criticism that wouldn't have been there had you not attacked someone else; people love pointing out that your crap, in fact, does stink, especially when you are acting like it doesn't.

@Investor9872 Other peoples' islands via internet, definitely. But I think the "mystery islands" you use the tickets you can buy with Nook Miles should be available without it. Though I do have an Online subscription and can't verify this...

Forgive me if it's there and I missed it with my skin of the review, but is there a definitive answer to whether facilities built adhere to strict business hours or is there more freedom/flexibility in their hours of operation?

@Bearzilla823 I don't disagree with the sentiment. However, the reality of class action lawsuits is not anywhere close to that (at least in the U.S.; can't speak to anywhere else).

The process takes years, in which the lawyers try to sign on everyone they can as plaintiffs, money settlements get awarded, fees and lawyer cuts are taken off the top, and then whatever remains is divvies up equally against all members of the plaintiff side. This often results in insultingly low payouts to individuals. :/

@Desrever What do you think the arbitration will result in for your benefit? Just curious. I don't mean that as on-the-attack as it may come off. I am under the impression that this is just a class-action lawsuit, which just results in monetary settlement (if won) that gets divvied among registered parties. This often results in very nominal awards to those who registered.

By all means, contact support and get that support process started.

@zool Oh, I was definitely paraphrasing and going off memory of how it came across to me. The device being used to reply didn't have the real estate to see your comment while typing my own. >.<;

And after looking at #5, I still don't know what Animal Crossing stuff was worked into Three Houses.

And ease don't take me the wrong way! If you're not into Animal Crossing, you're not into it. That's totally fine. I just don't think you're gonna get too much support to rally behind you round here as I think there are many an adult males who are into it, myself included. The only reason I stepped away from the series is because I joined the working world and no longer could interact with a "real world time" game that operated in business hours and such.

@zool Ah yes, Mario games; only for the most adult and male of gamers... And for the life of me, I can't think of how Animal Crossing would have infiltrated Three Houses and "ruined" it...

I think you're going to be alone in this particular crusade.

@Zeldafan79 Whichver one is the latest. No, really. There's no plot or story or continuity to worry about. It's a single sandbox premise that just gets iterated over and refined with each new installment. And they are games designed to never be "finished", so just go with the contemporary release.

@cptspaulding Not sure if maliciously spreading misinformation, or just ignorantly spouting off. Either way, the scenario you put forth is blatantly wrong. What dou you mean by "you can lock an alcoholic in a room until cured"? WTF is "cured"? Sure, if they're drunk, the alcohol will run its course and they'll sober up; the alcoholism is still there. The compulsion to drink and desire to drink more is still there.

Just because you don't have a struggle with drinking doesn't mean somebody else doesn't. Just because you don't find it difficult to put down gambling doesn't mean somebody else doesn't. And just because something doesn't bother you doesn't mean preying on people by taking advantage of and exploiting the biochemical workings of the brain isn't predatory. We are all trapped in and limited by the biological human body and whatever variation of it we have. You are not everyone and everyone is not you. So maybe you are the one who needs to look out and open your mind.

Alcohol is sold and available, but we at least have some measures in place (specifics differ from place to place, but they're there wherever you go) to regulate who sells alcohol to whom and in what quantities and how. Same for having to go to a casino to legally gamble. Neither alcohol nor gambling are done away with, but there are efforts in place to help those who need to stay away stay away. Just as you can have a dinner without the waiter constantly badgering and weedling you into ordering hard drinks, it should be that you can play a damn soccer game and not be inundated with "give us money and something good might (or might not) happen!"

@UnbidSea If it's Switch or nothin', then I say sure. I am a backer and have it on PC and Switch. My experience having played the game through on normal is one crash, a few times of game slowdown when particle effects ramped up, and several room transitions with longer loading times than other platform versions (especially annoying when the transition is jumping up into a room; just keep holding that jumplp button so you get the height and don't fall back down right away). And, of course, overall graphics quality is lesser than other platforms that can max the settings out. But my experience has been that the Switch version (digital download) is totally playable.

That said, if other platforms are equally good/viable for you, get it there instead.

@Patron What in the world are you talking about? What "stink" got out where? All review sources, both professional and crowdsourced, that I've seen give it glowing good marks. And, personally, I've spoken its praises and given reccommendations to people. I even gifted it to someone once the initial supply that was depleted got restocked some weeks after its release.

Wait.... does the game run slower and choppier in the outside spiral tower area after the patch?! That's what it looked like in the video to me...

Huh, every time anything is mentioned about possible adverse effects of video games, such as potential addiction amongst individuals, it would seem there is a kneejerk hostile reaction that borders on (if not goes straight into) hysteria. Almost as if trying to separate an addict from their drug...

Seriously though, if you want to be heard and listened to, y'all need tomtake a step back, and look at things and accept certain realities before forming a response in a thoughtful manner. Nobody is going to listen to someone throwing outlandish accusations of parents not controlling every minute and aspect of their thirteen-year-old's life ('cause I'm sure you spent every minute of your life at the age of 13 abiding the will of your parents). And besides, if gaming addiction is fiction and nobody can possibly have any ill effects, then why does a parent need to control a child 100% and keep them away from such a "purely safe" activity?

And the "I am okay, so bad things don't exist" argument is a terrible fallacy. You might be fine, but that doesn't exclude the negative impacts that maynhappen on someone else; trying to split semantic hairs aside, the alcoholism analogy is incredibly good on this part. Many, if not most people, can drink and not have that addiction problem, but some people who drink the same amount and same stuff as the others will. To say that alcoholism doesn't exist because you aren't an alcoholic is foolish and makes you sound stupid.

And claiming to not be a video game addictmand then turning around and vehemently shouting at anyone who suggests to maybe do somethimg about video games is a very addict thing to do. Saying "I'm not an addict, I can stop any time I want. HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH THAT? I TOLD YOU I CAN STOP WHEN I WANT, BUT I DON'T WANT TO NOW!" Is a good way to be disregarded as an addict and have any argument you may have absolutely disregarded.

**Also, read things: we're not talking about little Jimmy not coming the dinner table wh n you call him. The guidelines are saying playtime in excess of 12 hours per day at the expense of other activities. Let's break that down. In a 24 hour day you should be sleeping at least 8, that leaves 16 hours. If you work an 8-hour day (have school + homework that eats up at least 8 hours), that leaves 8 hours. Already, we're at the point where 12 hours per day will cut into stuff youmought to be doing. But unless you work/school from home, there's a good chance you're going to lose at least an hour on your roundtrip commute. So that leaves about seven hours in the day, which you also need to use for upkeep and errands; hygiene, meals, chores, etc. To maintain 12 hours of daily game time means sacrificing on other, important, aspects of life.

Huh... what's wrong with y'all's Switches? Everybody claiming that the game is "unplayable", and yet my New Game + save file begs to disagree...

Was it 100% optimal? No. I even had the game crash once. But, honestly, hearing about them using a 3rd party ngine to build the game on was all the info one nedd to know that it would be a lesser port on Switch; complain any way you want, but Switch is a lesser hardware platform and 3rd party "universal" engines contain all kinds of bloat and inefficiencies and the like.

@FineLerv All other things aside, I feel like this launch line up did a pretty good job of putting obscure titles into the mix. They might not be the specific obscure titles you had in your head, but they're there along with the bread & butter titles that you would expect.

I mean, I wouldn't think anybody was expecting titles like Brawl Brothers, Stunt Racer FX, Super Tennis, Super Soccer, Breath of Fire, Demon's Crest, Joe & Mac 2, and Super E.D.F.

I had problems with the GameBoy Color where the start button actually broke off and the speakers blew themselves out and became generally inaudible; these problems happened with both mine and my brother's.

I had a Wii that stopped reading discs, several years after I got it. But I was able to send that in and get it fixed up and have not had problems since for about $70.

The DS family was generally find, but over time the hinge broke on both a regular DS and a DS Lite. The problems I've had with the DSi and 3DS family is that buttons (mostly the L and R buttons, but in the case of a 3DS XL, the X button) would stop working.

On the one hand, people are totally not buying consoles and games because they can listen to the soundtrack on YouTube, right? eyeroll

On the other hand, why everybody tryin' to monetize everything they upload? Especially when what they upload isn't theirs?

Quite honestly, I don't see how having soundtracks to things available to the public at large, especially when they are not being marketed themselves, that cultivates a fondness for the music is anything but good for the brand. Other people are advertising and putting your products out into the public culture for you and without you having to spnd a dime. And even if all of a sudden a music-providing service were to pop up tomorrow, do you really think it would have the extensive catalog of all the titles ever? Even for obscure games, like Black Sigil the DS game? Or what about licensed products that Nintendo can no longer sell themselves, suche as Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team?

1) Cool, now that the DLC that already existed for the build on PC is available on other platforms, everything should be synced and up-to-date for them to focus on the performance side of things moving forward. It's a much smarter idea to make sure all builds are on the same page and everything is merged in before trying to tinker with stuff. ((And there's a good chance whatever development repository system is being used, they have already merged this stuff in and are doing the performance work and have been formsome time, but the DLC release had hoops to jump through that just took time to go through. Again, the DLC was day one on PC.))

2) I have the game on both PC and Switch and have been playing the latter since its release. My game has over 23 hours clocked on it and while the difference is indeed noticeable and I have experienced some problems, it's far from a buggy unplayable mess. Yes, the graphics, particularly the 3D dialogue models, are a downgrade. Yes, I have experimced a couple spots of "processing freeze". Yes, I have had it crash on me. But it has only crashed once, and the number of "freezes" I can count on one hand, So, while I would direct people to other platforms if they have the means, my own experience hardly accounts for "don't buy the Switch version ever".

1) This will not benefit "everyone". There are definitely going to be people whose favorite(s) are dropped from the game's existence. And who's making the decisions on what to cut and under which criteria?

2) This will do nothing to "add variety" to the competitive scene. The game's nature as a turn-based, limited-move, dog fight means there will always be the optimal monsters with the optimal movesets. Or are you suggesting that GameFreak mess with stats, movesets, and other "balance" factors adter the game's release?

3) The realest reason for cutting out pokemon is to cut out needed development time and work. How much is unknown, and how long we'd have to wait for a game with all the things is similar.

4) What hasn't been mentioned, and I think is a missed opportunity if they don't do, is that there needs to be some form of gatekeeping around pokemon that end up in the game from this raid thing. If you can catch pokemon from the raids, then their announcements, reveals, and incentive to get them can be pretty motivating to engage with the mechanic if there is no other way to get them. But if you can transfer everything, why would I care about raiding to catch a sneasel when I've already transferred four of them and can breed as many as I want?

@nessiomett. The funny thing about art & entertainment is that it really only has the power to culrurally promote that which already is. The thematic idea of the game is one that appeals to me very highly; I like big boobs and bigger boobs are better boobs. But I never once correlated an idea that "a woman's worth is tied to the size of her boobs". Yes, I have a fascination and fixation on them, they are alluring to me, but they are not a single, standalone metric and more of an "also" bonus. The thought had never crossed my mind that it was promoting such a concept, bcause there's nothing I already think for it to latch onto

Did animal fighting rings go on the rise when Pokémon was released and took the world by storm? It's a game that promotes pitting creatures that are not your species and that you claim to love in all-out fights against each other. Or did things stay more or less the same because that promotion only resonated with people who already thought and identified with that message? Arts and entertainment are much less an influence on society but rather a reflection of it.

And regarding the age thing, maybe I'm just sick, but the characters appear matured enough to be at least midway through highschool. Which is enough for me to be okay with, not because the fantasy is my 30-year-old ass is hooking up with them ('cause it's not at all), but more of a "how awesome would it have been to have been with them in high school/college/whenever it lines up" and fantasy musings about continuing that "relationship" and mentally aging them through the years to the "present" alongside me and stuff. Yes, I am a pathetic, sad, lonely loser. But it doesn't mean I wanna see tits slapped on a ten year old being molested. And also, Japan seems to have a lower age on what is considered taboo formsexuality stuff, so for things over there to be using the numbers they do is no different than the "she just turned 18" perviness that goes on over here.

All the complaints about the DLC costing money; I understand the sentiment, and also would rather not have to pay it. But seriously, you need to actually look at the numbers.

The Nintendo Online Service has a ridiculously low price point of $20 a year (that's less than $1.67 per month). At such a price point, they need a ridiculously large subscriber base to have revenue worth consideration.

And the Online Service isn't just paying for Tetris 99. Philosophies on things aside, there are other things it pays for: Online play (while the play itself may be p2p, you still have to connect to server to find people and run matchmaking and all that jazz), cloud saves, the NES Library thing, and Tetris 99 with things in the pipeline like the Mario Maker 2 community framework. All of those cost money to varying degrees. And keep in mind a good chunk is going to be taken out from taxes and such.

So how many people, do you think, worked on Tetris 99 and for how long, do you suppose? 5 people over one year? Two years? Ten people? Whatever the answer, you know it wasn't pro bono. If you didn't pay for it, Nintendo did. And that money will have been taken from the Online Service budget; a budget that is super low because of a super low price point.

So if the Nintendo Online Service seems skimpy and underwhelming, that's because it is. This really is a wcenario of "you only get what you pay for". At least until a HUGE base of subscribers get onboard. ((That's not a promise for change, because why add to a service if everyone is already paying for it. But for sure they can't do more with it unless it is expected to generate revenues to cover the expenss.))

So this is a weird zone. Here in the states, it works out that using it to redeem to full-price games ($60 each) nets you a discount total of $20. Which is the price of one year of Online Service. So it's kind of like a weird "buy stuff and one year of Online is free" deal kind of thing.

Except, you're not getting a $120 credit for $100, you're getting two vouchers that can only be used for a subset of games. And if your games are listed at $50 each instead of $60, you break even. Less than that and you're losing money. (And yes, some games on the list are less than $50)

And then there's the whole thing about it being certain titles that fall under a list; what if you pruchase vouchers in anticipation of using them for a game/games only to discover that your intended purchase never makes it on the list? And a worse possibility yet, what if things that go on the list are price cut or whatever so that using a voucher is a value-losing proposition until the usability window of the vouchers has closed, and then the price cut goes away and the cost jacks back up to full?

I'm sure at least some of this is paranoid hyperbole, but it's stiff I am thinking about and pondering over with regards to this program, and as a result, I don't think I'm buying I to it...

I'll have to see if it actually looks like a decent pinball game, but with as much a fan I am of the franchise it's a likely purchase for me.

@TheGerudoKing When you're young and starting off your career life, it can be tempting to expand your lifestyle costs to est up your entire paycheck. But it's incredibly important to put as much as you can not just into savings for emergencies, but also into retirement accounts that generate interest and earnings. The longer more money is sitting in them, the more it will snowball and you'll be able to comfortably live off of it. See? I can spout non sequitur advice, too.

But in all seriousness, you have my pity, little one.

@TheGerudoKing And still you try to make awkward changes to the subject by throwing claims about things such as being a shut-in and in-game achievements or trophies to distract away from the topic of discussion, further cementing yourself into a position in which it is clear you have nothing worthwhile to retort with.

My how thin thine skin must be in order to be so hurt by others filing legitimate complaints about a service they pay money for. The life of such a tissue-paper individual and the events and circumstance that made them this way are truly pitiable indeed.

@TheGerudoKing Yes yes, you've already well established you have nothing meaningful to say and that truths hurt your precious little feelings. It must be so hard being so fragile.

@TheGerudoKing Ah yes, the good old "attempt to portray someone as hysterical and dismiss the claim for no good reason" tactic. A common bastion of those with no grounds to legitimately respond on. Of course "I'll be okay". I have not said anything that would imply I thought otherwise. And it being "just video games" does not, and should not, delegitimize the fact that we are talking about a paid service/product and customer complaints about said product. Complaints and critiques are completely valid and, in this case, quite justifiable. And As far as I'm aware, they are just that; complaints. Nobody I've seen is demanding anything. It's all just expression of disappointment. Get over it, snowflake.

@retro_player_22 Despite the interesting choice of attempted word-picking (though it stills seesm fine to me, but I have a perception of a subtle difference between the phrases "give out" and "give away") on the point of progressive-minded prevention, I agree. If they could go into the ROM and remove that gate, it would be ideal for them moving forward in any format where they provide access to that game. I don't know if it was done outside the pokemon VC games, but things they did in those ROMS show they can do such things.