Comments 373

Re: Round Up: The First Impressions Of The Super Mario Bros. Movie Are In

DemonKow

I remember the 1993 movie coming out when I was a kid and being utterly confounded as to what I just watched. "Passable" should be fine, which is about what I expect from Illumination.

While the winking may get tiresome, it helps to remember that you may be a huge Nintendo fan and have been for your whole life, the Easter eggs are for your benefit, so enjoy them because you're probably no longer the target audience. I'm sure my kids will enjoy it.

Re: Poll: What Did You Think Of The New Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Trailer?

DemonKow

I think the new powers are interesting for the improvisation aspect, which I learned to love in BOTW after I realized I couldn't just bulldoze monsters anymore.

That said, I'm disappointed we didn't see more of the progression mechanics. I actually considered the divine beasts de facto dungeons, so what do we have now? 120 shrines were a fun treasure hunt, but it'd be exhausting to do that again.

Re: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Trailer Gets Creative With Vehicle Building, Fused Weapons

DemonKow

Its... fine. That would be the word I'd use.

BOTW didn't click for me the first time because I charged in with objectives and just wasn't having fun (and getting my rump handed to me in the process). I had a lot more fun later when I appreciated the meandering experimentation and exploration as the core of the gameplay. This definitely checks the experimentation box.

I'm more curious about exploration, and there are a few sky islands but I'm not sure what else we got at this point. I see this as a general positive, but I don't know that I see a revolution in gaming as claimed.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 18th)

DemonKow

Finally getting to BotW... it was the first Switch game I got but never got too far into it the first time. I was playing in a hurry and that is absolutely not the way to have a good time with it. Enjoying it much better this time around, hit about 25 shrines and I'm just now thinking about Vah Rutah 😀.

My wife also observed that the Koroks are just teaching the youth to walk into fae traps in the name of exploration.

Re: Soapbox: Why Aren't There More Books About Games?

DemonKow

@Rambler this was interesting - Martin Amis is a reasonably big deal in literature now, although I don't know if he was then.

Game novels are definitely still around as a niche genre at least that I think is good to get a certain segment of the youth motivated to read. My son has a bunch of Minecraft books that get him off the Switch.

I remember a Mega Man 2 book when I was a kid pretty fondly. If I were to go back it'd probably be revealed as be glorified licensed fanfic. I do still remember the deviation on Air Man's weakness being noteworthy. Shocking even.

Found it!
https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Mega_Man_2_(Worlds_of_Power)

Re: Talking Point: Why Are So Many Remasters Sub-Par At Launch?

DemonKow

@Kirgo I've worked a few estimates like this, and it was frequently a management issue. If you don't understand the original well enough to make a mod (and even a simple remaster is a mod), you need to take the time to do so or you will almost invariably get in over your head. That activity is sadly frequently viewed as overhead.

Bonus points for being told "we have to do it for $X," to which I usually respond "tell the customer they don't get it then." That should be an acceptable outcome if you're actually looking to make money. Obviously sometimes that doesn't happen, but a bit easier to get the point across working in flight software 😀

Re: Review: Octopath Traveler II - A Confident Follow-Up And One Of Switch's Finest RPGs

DemonKow

Loved the first, it felt how I remembered JRPGs from the 16-bit days. But it's a tough sell to get someone else into a game that really doesn't hint the greater story until 50 hours in and you can easily miss the cohesive narrative if you didn't complete certain side quests.

The original was a big risk, new graphics, different story, with sophisticated battle, and they hit more often than they missed. Refinement is good, I just wish I wasn't crushed under my own backlog.

Re: The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie Launches On Nintendo Switch July 2023

DemonKow

I started with Zero, I'm sold for Azure. Anyone have advice if I should hold out for Cold Steel 1/2 (assuming localization is actually coming) or just get on with it already? I hear the end of 2 and the Crossbell duology have a bit of an intersection but wanted to avoid spoilers.

I'm excited for Reverie but it seems like an odd choice to be so dependent on the NINE PRECEDING GAMES and not yet having them all available in the west. I'm hooked, now shut up and take my money!