Dizavid

I think I care more about the fact the game in general feels like it cut whatever magic Arceus had and turned it bland in general. Thanks to games like Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, I was definitely willing to give benefit of the doubt on locking you into a city.

But having played it, everything about it feels bland and repetitive in design and architecture in general. I can't count how many times I've thought I was back on a rooftop or alley I'd already explored, but the presence of items were my only clue otherwise. Items inside balls don't respawn, and I've started using that as my "lighthouse" that I haven't explored an area: if there's items.

Squeezing the pokemon down into these tiny zones also sucked. There's really no need or ability for stealth to shine bc they're so crammed in together. It's more of a commentary on animals in captivity than it is a game.

And the way the day/night announcements (being cutscenes) will screw you out of any Pokemon you were about to catch, combatting, etc...it just sucks. I guess I'd say it's not a bad game in the same way Scarlet/Violet aren't: they scratch the itch but you can see the phoning it in around the corners of every aspect of this game. I give it overall a 5 (with 5 meaning average)

I'm going all in on Pokemon Legends in a few days, but this is now on my "one day soon" purchases, for sure.

Damn! I just knew I was about to read they'd added a bonus chapter. I've played and replayed every game in the series (esp now that Edgey-poo's games are available! ❤️) and need more from their universe. Am glad more can enjoy them now, bc that can only boost the fame and call for new games.

@Cry_Zero go watch a movie or play outside if how things look are the only metric. Gaming is supposed to be about fun factor first. If things have to be the prettiest for you to enjoy it, it says more about you than the games you comment on.

Nintendo: The Switch 2 comes out this year! Quick; how can we alienate as many fans as possible?

This isn't far better; it's another mess for us to deal with in the wake of the Switch 2 coming in.

I just decided I wanted to play Skyrim (hmm, wonder what got me in an Elder Scrolls mood 😅)

It showed as teal in my virtual card list, and any options were minimal. Load onto another console/share, things like that. Only problem was I haven't had it downloaded in a little under a year (Skyrim is annual, I'm convinced), and definitely hadn't reinstalled it since this update. No button to play, it wasn't loading a "You need X memory to install" download window, nothing. I finally figured out I needed to...digitally eject it... then reinsert it. THEN it prompted the "make room" download window, for anyone else running into this problem. Took me awhile to figure out how tf to play 80% of my library 🤦🏻‍♂️

I just want to say I'm glad something I love is being given a chance to shine in a new era, for new people to find the same magics I did. However this is one I won't be taking with everyone else. Swear, I have never in my life been a purist (and truthfully am not now; not asking for nor want them to bring the old voices back. Let those new VA have their shot portraying Lunar characters.)

It comes down to one tiny damn thing for me: Wind's Nocturne. That song has gotten me through some stuff. An abusive first two decades in life in general, really. I'd just pop this song on (thanks, BearShare!) whenever I just felt...like it wasn't ever gonna be any other way. Like I was trapped in some cycle and me, whoever he was, just wasn't ever meant to really exist. Just be, just do. She got me through some dark moments. I just don't think I can stand hearing Luna voiced or performed musically by anyone else. It would suck the oxygen out of all those years for me. Weird, I know. But the gray matter north of my eyeballs never did work quite right lol. Hope the rest of y'all enjoy it truly. I just can't do this one change up, this time.

No Gemfire? ***** all the way off!

I'm giving SaGa Emerald Beyond a go. I tried the remake of 2 this month and enjoyed it but missed the more modern SaGa feel, so here I am. Also replaying Pokemon Legends: Arceus before its (hopefully still) eventual release sometime next year.

Happy New Year(s Eve) everyone! 🥳 🎉

I'll be giving this a try at that price. It sounds just fun enough I'd be almost excited to play with the online crowd lol

@Lizuka I'd also like to see them bring the Zero Escape series over before they go getting gobbled up by Sony. I agree; definitely much more worried about them than M&L; tons of talented teams would love to take that series on. It'll land fine.

Definitely 9, easily. Though recent years have given us lots of titles to prove the old school JRPG has a modern presence, DQIII HD Remake is the best example of how the past JRPGs of yesterdecade still have a place and presence in the now. The only reason I didn't give it a full 10 is bc it still just SLIGHTLY has noticeable artifacts from those very early loose writing days when devs began to realize these games could tell actual stories, too. It's been very cleaned and polished, but you can still tell the general dialogue and story comes from that era when those "tropes" didn't even exist as tropes. Definitely worth every penny. NOW DO CHRONO TRIGGER HD REMAKE!!!!

I have been brutally cursing the person who made just this design option. It involved words I can't say around children and screaming the kinds of phrases that bring about demons when uttered on moonless nights.

There's "that's just Mario Party" and then there's "intentionally taking forever to take your turn/antagonizing last place". This is why I never play online games: nothing ruins gaming faster than other gamers*

*Besides EA I mean.

Love seeing all the good reviews I noted via brief skimming (to avoid spoilers). Getting the game tonight the moment my check hits; super excited to see its generally getting great reviews. Finally; my want to play as the titular character is hours away!

Jill hasn't returned?

Great. Everyone grab a MO Disk; Wesker has shoved her in a cell again.

For me, there's a bit of a personal thing going on here. I suffer severe chronic spinal pain (CRPS; basically a pain signal gets stuck in a loop through your nerves, easiest way to imagine it.) I have to constantly keep shifting bc I stiffen if I go still too long. So a lot of tossing, turning, moving between bed, couch, and just pacing back and forth...I needed an escape that could move with me. The Switch happened right as things were getting really rough; and it's absolutely been a lifesaver for me. That may be literal given CRPS is often called the unalive disease. It provided something that could help me divorce my brain from my body so I could escape. Living on a fixed income, the "switch" to Switch 2 is gonna be a ways out to save up for. I'm hoping Switch has a lil bit of life past its newest console like most of its others have.

From other comments I can see this is an ongoing series. However; either they need to self-describe better or else they've bastardized it bc this sounds EXACTLY like the description from all those, "GODAMMIT WE WILL FORCE NFT's INTO VIDEO GAMES!" games that came out during the NFT craze:

What are Denpa Men? - Denpa Men are mysterious creatures born from the radio waves that fly around you. Each radio wave carries different information, so each Denpa Men is unique (one of a kind). You can't find them with the naked eye, but you can find and catch them using THE NEW DENPA MEN. THE NEW DENPA MEN is an RPG in which you make them your companions and go on an adventure.

Maybe Zelda can briefly summon Link to use his tools/combat ability and the game lets you assume control of him (or gives him optional AI/direct control toggles)

Just started the download off this review alone. Keep highlighting those smaller, lesser known gems bc I'd have never come across this without this review catching my eye.

Joycon drift is obviously either a bug reclassified as a money making feature, or was baked into it from the start. Nintendo IPs, ESPECIALLY BotW, seem to be the worst drifting games; some indie games won't even present the issue on a badly drifting con. In fact 3 out of 4 cons to go drift on me started drifting on BotW. Joycons are a ***** scam.

Hell, let's get Prime 2 & 3 remastered like part 1, even.

@HeadPirate the kind of people you're describing are ones with so little self esteem and effort in life that playing difficult games is their only true identity, so if you show the scope of "gamer" is actually pretty broad and the point of a game, all games, is fun, they lose their only identity.

Never thought I'd throw a Baldur's Gate game under the bus, but def pulling for TotK here. It's exactly what I thought BotW was gonna be. Enjoyed Breath well enough but it always felt "incomplete" to me. The video game equivalent of being alone in a crowded room; something was just missing. Tears fills all those gaps in as the missing cogs and gets the machine running even better than expectations.

@EarthboundBenjy Monstrum Nox was first thing I thought of too. So easy to get lost in just running around alleys and rooftops, fighting enemies, discovering new zones, etc.

@Fighting_Game_Loser yeah, fighting game losers usually have to find others suffering hilarious. That's the last bastion of "laugh or else you'll cry" before entering the territory where crying's all you got left.

Dear Nintendo,

This is why people emulate. If I know you, this will have to happen 20 more times and in more expensive form before y'all actually extract a lesson.

Insincerely,
***** You

Here's why OT and OT2 rightfully get passed over when it comes time to hand out awards: they're basically the generic shake n bake version of a jrpg. It's like a studio exec sat down, read about classic jrpgs for their first time, and just picked and chose what they thought would sell.

First, the combat. Omfg. I'd like to preface this by saying I am a chronic over-leveller. In OG FF7, I'm usually lvl 60-70 by end of disc 1. So I enjoy turn based combat, even when it's repetitive af. This game has such a terrible combat system I literally have turned it off to play anything else bc I ran into enemies I didn't feel like dealing with and my first attempt to flee failed. I am not remotely joking. Setting the combat system up to be literally, "either you hit their weakness OR you toothpick them to death; there is no in between" means a lot of just pressing A over and over bc you don't have anyone with you who can hit an enemies weakness. This is something pretty much every party has to deal with for a majority of the game. It just gets so damn boring (coming from someone who finds a zen thinking place while grinding levels, usually).

Second, the stories is what really truly made those classic jrpgs, so the fact this one keeps swinging and missing AT IT'S MAIN DRAW of having eight (non)interactive stories isn't something negligible that can be aptly summed up by saying, "That aspect is less bad on part 2". It should've been less bad on part 1. So in this case our hypothetical studio exec went, "Hm. Jrpgs seem to average 6-8 heroes. And they love being able to choose their hero. If we put all that in, we don't have to write a good story; those nerds will eat this up!"

The fact they did it twice with basically the exact same game all over again pretty much shows this is what both this game and Squenix as a whole think of their players: easily manipulated by nostalgia to the point they'll fail to notice it's all superficial with no actual substance beneath the surface. Those old rpgs were PACKED with character and substance.

OT and OT2 basically just have one thing to say at the end of the day: Hey, remember when jrpgs looked like this but were infinitely better written and planned? The series is nothing more and nothing less than that: cheap dirt weed to tide you over until your dealer gets some actually good ***** in. They absolutely forget what made those old rpgs so good: the characters, their stories, and the way their stories intertwined with both each others and the main plot itself. OT just feels like a hodgepodge of ideas that worked elsewhere but had absolutely no glue connecting them. Is it an awful game that deserves to be forgotten? No, it's okay. Is it award winning? Not remotely.

It's been yet another great year to be a Switch fan.

@JohnnyC ....it absolutely SHOULDN'T matter and it's completely a phonetic me thing but...my soul twitched imagining people pronouncing SNES and NES as a word lol

I mean, all due respect to the hog but (endless laughter)

They should've just made them trip balls on psychedelics.

Samantha Kelly has FIVE VA credits of playable characters and only got that tiny section? What, did the one with the biggest reason fail to promote/shamelessly but understandably brag about themselves? W/e, it was a joy playing through it with her voice; Team Peach!

I was too underwhelmed with it last month to bother redoing it all again anytime soon.

So, arguments against this aside..what are they saying about it? Revolutionary? Just "merely" good? A flop? Etc. Just spoiler free curious how the intentionally early accessors are enjoying it.

Yes, this is exactly the kinda news I needed to hear on a cruddy day! Timespinner was great and I'm stoked to see what their team comes up with for a sequel.

In other words, a dungeon pissed them off so badly they deleted the game and left it for later. Who hasn't? This is a dog bites man moment.

Can these dicks out there learn to pull a sale at the start of the *****' month?

Edit: Also, Spike Chunsoft? Bring the damn nonary games over!

Nintendo was never gonna let this be anything other than epic; the first one w/o Charles Martinet has to knock it out of the park just to give the new VA a leg up into the role. (Hate he's gone but genuinely hope new person rocks it)

Mario is the gateway drug into Nintendo in general. Damn...gonna seem weird not hearing his voice. Fingers crossed the next VA makes it their own as well.

Sw/Shield, which was more of the same: released to general outcry.

D/Pearl remake, which was literally more of the same: released buggy and in general to crowd displeasure.

Arceus, which had completely different set up, story, and goals: releases to unexpectedly mass appeal and manages to share the nomination square with the likes of Elden Ring with calls for more. So naturally Nintendo released....

Sc/Violet, which was more of the same: released buggy and lacking. While having concurrent development with Arceus, Pokemon Co has made it pointedly clear THIS is the one they're backing.

Now Nintendo has the audacity to: What on EARTH can we do to revitalize this IP?

Maybe try listening to which direction the sounds of success came from? A monkey with one working eye can see which model got the most applause. But no, bet anything they'll do the usual industry thing where they ignore the fans desires, then cry to websites about how its not their fault the latest entry in a franchise was considered stale and unwanted.

Yeah, but tell us all again how the Switch NEEDS to update to stay relevant. Seems more like Sony and Microsoft proved gameplay and innovation beats graphics.

Who tf is joining in on this for a single use mushroom and a weapon that is a more common sight in Hyrule than broken pottery shards? Does Nintendo need to be told the basics of the concept of a promotion...?

Should mass mail articles of that interview to Nintendo offices until they let him make his final game 😭

I missed this back in the day, and all I needed to make sure of was that the port wasn't so bad that it made the game unplayable. I didn't really expect that from Nintendo, more knee jerk reaction from how many times I've purchased a "they won't mess up one of their main games" item at release just to remember why I never do preorders.

Now that I can confirm that's not the case here; it's next on my to-buy list.*

*Unless I decide on Pikmin 2 first.

But was Bat Boy found in cave?

This happens a lot it sounds like. Dead Space (original) was built off a Tiger Woods game. Reality is just ***** with us behind our backs at every turn.

Have the digital version installed and just WAITING for the shackles to come off its locks...😫😫😫

.....so what I'm hearing is Link will learn to waft farts over to Bokoblin camps to distract them. Will the methane turn flames and fire arrows explosive?

Gdi seriously though this has been the longest week of my ***** life 😂