Octopath and Metroid releasing on the same day is a bit annoying as a fan of both series. But the Game Key Card situation has made me hesitate on buying Octopath.
Preferably I would get the game on Switch 1 so I have the full game without additional downloads required. However, I am aware that the town building limit is increased when playing the Switch 2 version.
I would like some advice regarding this if anyone knows - how important is this difference between the Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions of Octopath 0? Is it worth putting up with a Game Key Card so I can make the most of the town building aspect of the game? Or will the Switch 1 version suffice just fine?
Until I know which one I'm getting, I'll be enjoying Metroid Prime 4, Kirby Air Riders, and Once Upon a Katamari... all at the same time. ...I'm in no rush to add a fourth game to my lineup at the moment.
@Spider-Kev I played Darkened Skye for the first time earlier this year. I really enjoyed it despite its generous amount of jank. Great sense of humour and fun, if simple, exploration and shooting gameplay. Happy to see another positive opinion on it since it does get a lot of negativity online.
the last 3DS game I played was Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. I played it around the time Donkey Kong Country Returns HD released on Switch - the release of the new version reminded me I never actually played the one I already had, so I decided to just do it. It also helped that the Switch version was receiving some criticism for its loading times, so it felt extra appropriate to stick to the older version, haha.
I don't plan to retire my 3DS. I've got plenty of games in my backlog, many of which are 3DS games. I'll get around to them all at some point. ... hopefully.
Wild World was the only Animal Crossing game I ever played. Once I had my fill of it, I never felt the need to play any Animal Crossing again. I'm glad I understand the appeal of the series, but yeah, I really don't need to introduce any additional real-time obligations in my life like that.
Sega might think temporary collaborations would make people want to play their games more. ... But it actually has the opposite effect on me. If any game content becomes permanently inaccessible, then that makes me want to engage with the game significantly less.
Kirby Air Riders for me. I'm having a good time with the game.
I decided to prioritise the "Online" tab of the checklist first and foremost - I was thinking that maybe this tab would be easiest to complete immediately at launch, when most players are online at once. But it seems that this isn't something to worry about - the Online tab can actually be completed mostly completely singleplayer if you make a Paddock and populate the empty slots with CPUs. it still counts as being online.
I like the game, but I think once I complete all five checklists, I won't have much reason to keep playing to be honest.
oh yeah, I still need to play Lufia II. I played Lufia 1 recentlyish, but before I could start the second one, Silksong came out... and now I'm in the midst of playing Pokémon Z-A and Kirby Air Riders and soon it'll be Metroid Prime 4 time too... um. when will I actually have the opportunity to play these classics???
It kind of bothers me that they're adding mouse mode to these ones but not updating the older ones to include it too.
Each new Picross game is pretty much just another set of puzzles to add to the pile. So there really shouldn't be major feature differences like that between them.
If a player plays these ones and get used to mouse controls, when they run out of puzzles and buy an older entry, they'll have to unlearn the controls. In order to have a consistent experience, you pretty much have to use the basic button controls. ...It doesn't sit well with me.
...couldn't they at the very least put 64 of those gigs on the cart and have us download the rest? Having to get a new express SD card just for one game seems like a tall order if you're trying to appeal to a wide audience.
@Vyacheslav333 They're probably not going to do Dawn of the New World due to its massive unpopularity - it got its chance when it was included with the previous Symphonia remake on PS3.
This announcement is meaningless unless they let us actually obtain Zeraora lol. Will it be a timed event exclusive? Or will they just make it available normally like the mythicals from Legends Arceus.
I see the Castlevania collections are in this list. ... that's my cue to tell everyone to check out the Castlevania collections! Especially Dominus Collection. They're suuuuper good.
it's kind of bizarre seeing the "don't write a letter ruminating on The Legend of Heroes" in the guidelines, when this round of letters does in fact have one about Trails in the Sky. i dunno. feels weird.
I remember in... I dunno, around 2010 or so, I bought the PC CD-ROM "Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Deluxe Edition" for Windows XP, for like 50p in a charity shop.
it's funny how a change of platform and a change of context can increase the value of the same content by so much.
so they're combining Galaxy and Odyssey stuff and just calling it Galaxy, I guess?
It's nice that they actually are using recognisable elements from the games, but I guess it also feels weird because the movie version of Mario feels so distinct from the real Mario
It's so bizarre to think about this nowadays, but reskinning games to change or remove a licensed IP was really commonplace. Not just on NES, but on Sega too, as well as GB. It really was a thing.
Imagine if this happened today - image if Dragon Ball Fighterz was reskinned into generic kung fu guys for the international market. It would be insanity.
Nowadays audiences are so much more clued-in than they used to be. Fans want the original games, so reskinning them just completely isn't a thing any more.
In fact, there is one example I can think of of a more modern reskin that went poorly - in 2015, Sega tried to localise their Puyo Puyo Quest mobile game under the name "Cranky Food Friends". It was shut down in less than a year, with the main criticism from players being how Sega changed it from beloved Puyo Puyo characters to generic mobile rubbish. So even ten years ago, reskins didn't fly with fans.
I'm very much glad that reskinning games is a thing of the past.
@BriskSunrise oh for sure. Pokémon just loves its exclusive content, and I've always been annoyed at how they do it.
For the moment though I'm not going to worry too much about it since they did not announce a timeframe - Pecharunt's mystery gift is still up after all.
@Lord to roll the credits is just a term meaning to reach the ending of the game where the credits start playing. basically the quest in Looker Bureau to catch Diancie doesn't become available until postgame. The article could have been a tad clearer about that.
If they're not time-limiting it, then why not just have it be in the base game like the mythicals from Legends Arceus? Why require the Mystery Gift that isn't guaranteed to always be part of the game?
@MatoFilipovic
The fact that Atari 50 takes the form of a documentary first, playable collection second, is what makes it an appealing product in my opinion.
It's an interactive history lesson.
I agree that the majority of Atari 2600 games are not particularly worthwhile nowadays, but the history is very interesting. I feel like this package has fully understood this fact, because it needs to be more than just the old games in order to be interesting to a modern audience. They pulled it off perfectly.
...that being said, I did legitimately find it fun to play Adventure tbh, that game was ahead of its time
I just finished pretty much all there is to do in the base game - I just got that grindy-as-heck 1000 trainer battles research mission done, and with all the money I accumulated from doing that, I bought all the fashion Lumiose has to offer too.
Now I'm kind of just waiting until I will be able to get the Delphox and Chesnaught mega stones. I wish they weren't limited behind online events.
The game does feel a little light on content to be honest. As annoying as it is that we'll have to pay so much to get more, I am looking forward to it because I do enjoy the game.
Overall I feel like Legends Arceus was a much more complete package compared to this game.
I tried the PSP version a couple years ago and was not all that impressed by the gameplay. It's a fighting game where you have to level-grind your characters. The main point of the game seems to be just grinding for grinding's sake.
I do like the idea of Ys Seven's combat system being expanded into a fighting game, but I dunno, I'm not sure it really works that well in practice? I'm happy more Japan-exclusive Ys games are getting localised though, that's really cool to see.
Has anyone played this and had a good time with it?
As a completionist, I like to buy every single clothing item in Pokémon. It costs a ton of Poké money though. I looked up how much it would cost to get all the outfits in Legends Z-A, and it's around 7 million. Guess I'll accumulate it while also going for that 1000 battles research task, eh. If you can get 30 battles in a single night in the Battle Zones, your money multiplier is 3x which ain't too bad. Can get 400,000 or so with that if you get enough medals
I finished the main story of Pokémon Legends Z-A yesterday, now I'm in the postgame. I'm having a good time. The realtime combat is quite interesting because it is truly different than normal Pokémon combat, yet it still retains a lot of familiar elements. I kind of enjoy how it gives life to moves that were always outclassed by other moves - there's now a distinct reason to use Rock Blast over Rock Slide for example because Rock Blast is quick and travels in a straight line. I think it's really cool what they've managed with the combat here, even though I definitely don't think it should replace standard combat in the mainline games or anything.
literally, just do it with your ingame team. rank k will take 1 hour to reach. even if you lose spectacularly, you usually gain enough points to earn ranks anyway. it's really really really really lenient.
I was initially worried about these events, since it seems like a tall order to rank up so high for the seasonal prize... but then I actually tried to play it. I won the Greninjite from the first event within an hour.
It's not like regular competitive Pokémon whatsoever. It's more akin to Super Smash Bros free-for-all with items. The player with the most KOs wins, and a KO counts even if you're just finishing off the last HP of someone else's opponent.
So if you're worried that your team isn't trained enough for these events, just try it anyway. It'll be okay.
Metroid Prime 2 was developed in Texas. It's very possible that Echoes was the original name and Dark Echoes was the alternate name that came afterwards.
I think the text on the side of the JP box is supposed to make it feel more cinematic.
It's not written in Japanese, it's not literally intended to be your primary source for release date information. It's there to give the artwork a more "Hollywood movie poster" feel that Japanese sci-fi fans would find appealing.
I do wonder about Dark Echoes though - maybe the "adjective noun" style of subtitle feels more comfortable to Japanese fans too. But to be honest, I kind of like it better than just Echoes myself.
Nothing too bizarre for me this time - just Pokémon Legends Z-A.
It's fine so far. But it's not as interesting as Legends Arceus by any means. I'm not sure about the real-time combat tbh, but I suppose they're using the Legends series to experiment with the established mechanics. Which is commendable.
It doesn't have the feeling of being on a grand adventure though. I think they should have made Lumiose way way way bigger tbh.
the DK Bananza and Pokémon Z-A teams should take note.
It's so annoying when they decide "okay now this part of the game, we'll get 'em to spend more in order to play". Like come on. Your desire for more profit outweighs your desire for doing right by your fans, and it's so obvious.
I love that Sakurai confirmed that no sequels and no DLCs are planned - because he's putting every piece of content he possibly can in the base game right from the start.
Compare this to what Pokémon just did with its £25 extra to spend on the Mega Dimension DLC, available to purchase on day one.... there's no contest. Sakurai's games are the real deal.
He's still upholding the spirit of simple fun that videogames had before online storefronts. It's great to see.
Overall I really love this game. But when I played it, I did have some issues with some of the game design.
I think the magic is implemented very poorly. It is a hassle to use magic because you can only have one thing equipped at a time.
And if you try to use a magic spell from your menu without equipping it, the unpausing animation forces you to face south, so you can only fire downwards. ... Quite a bad oversight.
Additionally, I didn't like how the majority of boss fights completely lock you out of being able to use your spells arbitrarily - with the exception of that Bloody Mary fight that requires you to use magic. ...but up until that point, the game has been conditioning you to think that boss fights are no-magic zones, so it's just kind of confusing.
The other big issue I had was with the pacing - the first half of the game is dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, while the last half of the game is sidequest after sidequest after sidequest. I think the pacing is quite unbalanced, and it can lead to fatigue.
A mix of all options for me. if it's on NSO, then that's pretty convenient since I'm always on my Switch anyway. But not all games I want to play are on NSO.
Many games I still only have via Virtual Console - for example Final Fantasy IV (aka II) is installed on my Wii, and that's my preferred place to play it even now, especially since the Pixel Remasters aren't the best compared to the originals.
I do regret not buying FF6 on the Wii VC back in the day. ... oh well. At least it's on the SNES Mini, right?
As a collector, I do like to get a proper cart for the fun of it, but it's not a necessity by any means. I have absolutely no qualms using an emulator.
For example, I played Gargoyle's Quest (GB) and Demon's Crest (SNES) on NSO, but for whatever reason, Gargoyle's Quest II (NES) is not on NSO at the moment.
So I had no issue emulating it. Especially since this isn't an easy NES cart to get ahold of anyway. Not worth the price.
The last proper NES cart I played was Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, again because it's not on NSO. ...I played StarTropics 1 on NSO beforehand, and would have played Zoda's revenge on NSO too if it was available, despite owning the original cart.
I don't remember when this game was added to my collection though - I think I went through a phase of getting some American-only releases for my collection at one point or another, just for the exoticness I suppose. Heh. That's why I also own Dragon Warrior 1, 2, 3, and 4.
SNES stuff seems to be easier to find nowadays than NES - I can still find SNES games at CeX - in fact, I played Plok via a SNES cart I bought quite recently, and it wasn't too expensive.
@Zequio Last Judge is more manageable if you equip Magma Bell. Additionally, there is actually a second way into the Citadel through Sinner's Road if you don't want to fight Last Judge yet.
Whenever you come up against what seems like an insurmountable wall of difficulty in Silksong, there almost always is something else you can find that will help you overcome it if you just go and explore some more.
Okay that change to the fine pins quest is a good one. The previous quests about pilgrim shawls and craw pelts didn't have any random drop chance shenanigans going on, so the fact that the fine pins were random felt really off. Glad to see it changed to make more sense.
Well, I meant transfer from a Switch game. Of course all Pokémon have been transferrable since the beginning if you use Go and the 3DS games. ...but I don't play mobile games, and I'm especially not interested in something like Go that relies on your real world location. so I was hoping for Spinda to make it.
Well, this is a funny way of dealing with things - releasing first and asking questions later. to the point where they have to rename the whole game for some technical reasons.
I would have thought they would have decided on and implemented the trophies they wanted to include before release. Did they change their mind, or what?
Well. At least they're still working on Croc in some capacity - hopefully there's a Croc 2 remake in the works as well? I would enjoy a Croc ultimate pack that included Croc, Croc 2, and the two Game Boy Color games. (and maybe the J2ME games if we've been good?)
I don't particularly want to buy them individually because I kinda already have the originals.
After finishing Silksong thoroughly and enjoying it immensely, I decided to give Ori and the Blind Forest a try.
And to be honest, I did not like the gameplay all that much. Ori felt weirdly heavy to control, the camera feels too zoomed out, every enemy is just some kind of blob thing, and I really didn't like having to rely on enemies shooting projectiles at me in order to use some of my basic traversal mechanics. And I really did not like the trial-and-error escape sequences.
Maybe I'm just being overly harsh on it since I just came from Silksong which I loved so so much. But unfortunately, I just don't get the hype for Ori. It's cute I guess.
...it actually reminds me of when I finally played Limbo. I felt similarly not impressed with that game too, despite its popularity.
...
....
I don't want to spend this entire post being a sourpuss, so I'll also mention that I played Plok for the first time a few days ago too. I bought a SNES cart of Plok from CeX the other day for cheap. I only heard its name before, didn't know much about the game.
Plok was surprisingly reaally good, but I unfortunately couldn't beat it due to its extremely harsh checkpointing system. After dying too many times, it sends you waaaayyy back, which can be a huge demotivator. I guess I have to be good enough to not lose too many lives beforehand so I can learn the trickier levels before being sent back. I'll give it another try soon maybe. I quite enjoyed the aesthetic and humour of Plok.
I wanted to play more big RPGs (I Still have Lufia II in my to-do list) but I don't want to start another big game so close to Pokémon Legends Z-A's release. So I'll stick to smaller things for the moment.
Comments 2,412
Re: Nintendo Download: 4th December (North America)
Octopath and Metroid releasing on the same day is a bit annoying as a fan of both series. But the Game Key Card situation has made me hesitate on buying Octopath.
Preferably I would get the game on Switch 1 so I have the full game without additional downloads required. However, I am aware that the town building limit is increased when playing the Switch 2 version.
I would like some advice regarding this if anyone knows - how important is this difference between the Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions of Octopath 0? Is it worth putting up with a Game Key Card so I can make the most of the town building aspect of the game? Or will the Switch 1 version suffice just fine?
Until I know which one I'm getting, I'll be enjoying Metroid Prime 4, Kirby Air Riders, and Once Upon a Katamari... all at the same time. ...I'm in no rush to add a fourth game to my lineup at the moment.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A's Next Mystery Gift Code Event Is Now Live
The event is called Project M, huh? I remember when Nintendo would ban anyone who dared utter the words "Project M" on Miiverse lol.
Re: "I'm A Sucker When It Comes To Story" - PS4/5 Architect Recalls "Transformative" Experience With A GameCube Classic
@Spider-Kev
I played Darkened Skye for the first time earlier this year. I really enjoyed it despite its generous amount of jank. Great sense of humour and fun, if simple, exploration and shooting gameplay.
Happy to see another positive opinion on it since it does get a lot of negativity online.
Re: Random: "Splendid Game" - Shigeru Miyamoto Was A Fan Of Banjo-Tooie
What does that opening line, "Banjo-Tooie isn't the most beloved adventure in the bear and bird's series" mean??
The games that came afterwards are Nuts & Bolts, Banjo Pilot, and Grunty's Revenge. These are the games I would say this about. Not Tooie.
Re: Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection Has Been Rated For Switch
Wow, there are so many Mega Man Legacy Collections.
If only there was a Mega Man Legacy Collection Collection.
Re: Nintendo Has Scheduled Maintenance For 3DS Later Today
the last 3DS game I played was Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. I played it around the time Donkey Kong Country Returns HD released on Switch - the release of the new version reminded me I never actually played the one I already had, so I decided to just do it. It also helped that the Switch version was receiving some criticism for its loading times, so it felt extra appropriate to stick to the older version, haha.
I don't plan to retire my 3DS. I've got plenty of games in my backlog, many of which are 3DS games. I'll get around to them all at some point. ... hopefully.
Re: Poll: 20 Years After Settling On DS, Do You Still Play Animal Crossing: Wild World?
Wild World was the only Animal Crossing game I ever played. Once I had my fill of it, I never felt the need to play any Animal Crossing again. I'm glad I understand the appeal of the series, but yeah, I really don't need to introduce any additional real-time obligations in my life like that.
Re: Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble DLC Is Getting Delisted A Year After Release
Sega might think temporary collaborations would make people want to play their games more. ... But it actually has the opposite effect on me. If any game content becomes permanently inaccessible, then that makes me want to engage with the game significantly less.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (22nd November)
Kirby Air Riders for me. I'm having a good time with the game.
I decided to prioritise the "Online" tab of the checklist first and foremost - I was thinking that maybe this tab would be easiest to complete immediately at launch, when most players are online at once. But it seems that this isn't something to worry about - the Online tab can actually be completed mostly completely singleplayer if you make a Paddock and populate the empty slots with CPUs. it still counts as being online.
I like the game, but I think once I complete all five checklists, I won't have much reason to keep playing to be honest.
Re: 50 Best Super Nintendo (SNES) Games Of All Time
oh yeah, I still need to play Lufia II. I played Lufia 1 recentlyish, but before I could start the second one, Silksong came out... and now I'm in the midst of playing Pokémon Z-A and Kirby Air Riders and soon it'll be Metroid Prime 4 time too... um. when will I actually have the opportunity to play these classics???
Re: The Next Picross Games Are Teaming Up With Capcom & SNK
It kind of bothers me that they're adding mouse mode to these ones but not updating the older ones to include it too.
Each new Picross game is pretty much just another set of puzzles to add to the pile. So there really shouldn't be major feature differences like that between them.
If a player plays these ones and get used to mouse controls, when they run out of puzzles and buy an older entry, they'll have to unlearn the controls. In order to have a consistent experience, you pretty much have to use the basic button controls.
...It doesn't sit well with me.
Re: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade's File Size On Switch 2 Is Making Us Sweat
...couldn't they at the very least put 64 of those gigs on the cart and have us download the rest? Having to get a new express SD card just for one game seems like a tall order if you're trying to appeal to a wide audience.
Re: Sorry Xillia 2, 'Tales Of Berseria' Is The Next Remaster From Bandai Namco
@Vyacheslav333 They're probably not going to do Dawn of the New World due to its massive unpopularity - it got its chance when it was included with the previous Symphonia remake on PS3.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC's Next Mega Evolution Is A Mythical One
This announcement is meaningless unless they let us actually obtain Zeraora lol. Will it be a timed event exclusive? Or will they just make it available normally like the mythicals from Legends Arceus.
Re: 46 Switch 1 & 2 Games You Should Check Out In The eShop 'Black Friday' Sale (Europe)
I see the Castlevania collections are in this list. ... that's my cue to tell everyone to check out the Castlevania collections! Especially Dominus Collection. They're suuuuper good.
Re: Mailbox: 3D Mario Predictions, Gaming Redemptions, Grammar Talk - Nintendo Life Letters
it's kind of bizarre seeing the "don't write a letter ruminating on The Legend of Heroes" in the guidelines, when this round of letters does in fact have one about Trails in the Sky. i dunno. feels weird.
Re: RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition Physical Release Announced For Switch
I remember in... I dunno, around 2010 or so, I bought the PC CD-ROM "Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Deluxe Edition" for Windows XP, for like 50p in a charity shop.
it's funny how a change of platform and a change of context can increase the value of the same content by so much.
Re: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Gets A New Movie Poster
so they're combining Galaxy and Odyssey stuff and just calling it Galaxy, I guess?
It's nice that they actually are using recognisable elements from the games, but I guess it also feels weird because the movie version of Mario feels so distinct from the real Mario
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds New Free Characters Update, Coming Soon
everyone's talking about IDW or Archie, but when are any of the Fleetway characters ever gonna be acknowledged? Tekno the Canary anyone?
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Dragon Power (NES)
It's so bizarre to think about this nowadays, but reskinning games to change or remove a licensed IP was really commonplace. Not just on NES, but on Sega too, as well as GB. It really was a thing.
Imagine if this happened today - image if Dragon Ball Fighterz was reskinned into generic kung fu guys for the international market. It would be insanity.
Nowadays audiences are so much more clued-in than they used to be. Fans want the original games, so reskinning them just completely isn't a thing any more.
In fact, there is one example I can think of of a more modern reskin that went poorly - in 2015, Sega tried to localise their Puyo Puyo Quest mobile game under the name "Cranky Food Friends".
It was shut down in less than a year, with the main criticism from players being how Sega changed it from beloved Puyo Puyo characters to generic mobile rubbish. So even ten years ago, reskins didn't fly with fans.
I'm very much glad that reskinning games is a thing of the past.
Re: Zelda: A Link To The Past And Chrono Trigger Are "Ripe For Remakes", Says Analytics Firm
nooo. Link's Awakening remake did not sit well with me. It was a quality game but it felt so tonally neutered compared to the GB and DX originals. :/
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mystery Gift Code Event Has Been Announced
@BriskSunrise
oh for sure. Pokémon just loves its exclusive content, and I've always been annoyed at how they do it.
For the moment though I'm not going to worry too much about it since they did not announce a timeframe - Pecharunt's mystery gift is still up after all.
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mystery Gift Code Event Has Been Announced
@Lord
to roll the credits is just a term meaning to reach the ending of the game where the credits start playing.
basically the quest in Looker Bureau to catch Diancie doesn't become available until postgame. The article could have been a tad clearer about that.
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mystery Gift Code Event Has Been Announced
If they're not time-limiting it, then why not just have it be in the base game like the mythicals from Legends Arceus? Why require the Mystery Gift that isn't guaranteed to always be part of the game?
Re: Talking Point: What's The Best Firework Sequence In A Video Game?
the real answer is probably something like Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 that lets you design your own fireworks show.
Re: The Atari 50 Pac-Man Expansion Launches On Switch Next Week
@MatoFilipovic
The fact that Atari 50 takes the form of a documentary first, playable collection second, is what makes it an appealing product in my opinion.
It's an interactive history lesson.
I agree that the majority of Atari 2600 games are not particularly worthwhile nowadays, but the history is very interesting. I feel like this package has fully understood this fact, because it needs to be more than just the old games in order to be interesting to a modern audience. They pulled it off perfectly.
...that being said, I did legitimately find it fun to play Adventure tbh, that game was ahead of its time
Re: The Atari 50 Pac-Man Expansion Launches On Switch Next Week
...are there plans to make a third physical with this included? or am I safe to get the DLC from the eShop lol
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension DLC News Coming Tomorrow
I just finished pretty much all there is to do in the base game - I just got that grindy-as-heck 1000 trainer battles research mission done, and with all the money I accumulated from doing that, I bought all the fashion Lumiose has to offer too.
Now I'm kind of just waiting until I will be able to get the Delphox and Chesnaught mega stones. I wish they weren't limited behind online events.
The game does feel a little light on content to be honest. As annoying as it is that we'll have to pay so much to get more, I am looking forward to it because I do enjoy the game.
Overall I feel like Legends Arceus was a much more complete package compared to this game.
Re: Ys vs. Trails In The Sky: Alternative Saga Update Enhances Resolution On Switch 2
I tried the PSP version a couple years ago and was not all that impressed by the gameplay. It's a fighting game where you have to level-grind your characters. The main point of the game seems to be just grinding for grinding's sake.
I do like the idea of Ys Seven's combat system being expanded into a fighting game, but I dunno, I'm not sure it really works that well in practice? I'm happy more Japan-exclusive Ys games are getting localised though, that's really cool to see.
Has anyone played this and had a good time with it?
Re: Back Page: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Fit Check - Celebrating Lumiose Fashion Week In Style
As a completionist, I like to buy every single clothing item in Pokémon. It costs a ton of Poké money though. I looked up how much it would cost to get all the outfits in Legends Z-A, and it's around 7 million. Guess I'll accumulate it while also going for that 1000 battles research task, eh.
If you can get 30 battles in a single night in the Battle Zones, your money multiplier is 3x which ain't too bad. Can get 400,000 or so with that if you get enough medals
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (1st November)
I finished the main story of Pokémon Legends Z-A yesterday, now I'm in the postgame. I'm having a good time. The realtime combat is quite interesting because it is truly different than normal Pokémon combat, yet it still retains a lot of familiar elements. I kind of enjoy how it gives life to moves that were always outclassed by other moves - there's now a distinct reason to use Rock Blast over Rock Slide for example because Rock Blast is quick and travels in a straight line. I think it's really cool what they've managed with the combat here, even though I definitely don't think it should replace standard combat in the mainline games or anything.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Ranked Battles Season 2 Start Date And Rewards Revealed
@TheBigK
literally, just do it with your ingame team. rank k will take 1 hour to reach. even if you lose spectacularly, you usually gain enough points to earn ranks anyway. it's really really really really lenient.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Ranked Battles Season 2 Start Date And Rewards Revealed
I was initially worried about these events, since it seems like a tall order to rank up so high for the seasonal prize... but then I actually tried to play it. I won the Greninjite from the first event within an hour.
It's not like regular competitive Pokémon whatsoever. It's more akin to Super Smash Bros free-for-all with items. The player with the most KOs wins, and a KO counts even if you're just finishing off the last HP of someone else's opponent.
So if you're worried that your team isn't trained enough for these events, just try it anyway. It'll be okay.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
@Rhaoulos
Metroid Prime 2 was developed in Texas. It's very possible that Echoes was the original name and Dark Echoes was the alternate name that came afterwards.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
@HammerGalladeBro
That's just the sort of amazing pointless detail I love to hear about haha.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
I think the text on the side of the JP box is supposed to make it
feel more cinematic.
It's not written in Japanese, it's not literally intended to be your primary source for release date information. It's there to give the artwork a more "Hollywood movie poster" feel that Japanese sci-fi fans would find appealing.
I do wonder about Dark Echoes though - maybe the "adjective noun" style of subtitle feels more comfortable to Japanese fans too. But to be honest, I kind of like it better than just Echoes myself.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (25th October)
Nothing too bizarre for me this time - just Pokémon Legends Z-A.
It's fine so far. But it's not as interesting as Legends Arceus by any means. I'm not sure about the real-time combat tbh, but I suppose they're using the Legends series to experiment with the established mechanics. Which is commendable.
It doesn't have the feeling of being on a grand adventure though. I think they should have made Lumiose way way way bigger tbh.
Re: Sakurai Has No Plans For Kirby Air Riders DLC: "Everything Is Here"
the DK Bananza and Pokémon Z-A teams should take note.
It's so annoying when they decide "okay now this part of the game, we'll get 'em to spend more in order to play". Like come on. Your desire for more profit outweighs your desire for doing right by your fans, and it's so obvious.
Re: Kirby Air Riders Direct #2: Every Announcement - How Would You Rate it?
I love that Sakurai confirmed that no sequels and no DLCs are planned - because he's putting every piece of content he possibly can in the base game right from the start.
Compare this to what Pokémon just did with its £25 extra to spend on the Mega Dimension DLC, available to purchase on day one.... there's no contest. Sakurai's games are the real deal.
He's still upholding the spirit of simple fun that videogames had before online storefronts. It's great to see.
Re: Metroid Prime 1-3 Art Book Somehow Teases And Debunks An Echoes Remake
@canaryfarmer
Remakes should never have less content than the original, in my opinion.
Re: Surprise! Pikmin 4 Is Getting A Free Content Update On Switch Next Month
... they're not including an option to turn off the sticky auto-target thing, right? ...
Re: Anniversary: SNES Action RPG 'Terranigma' Is 30 Years Old Today, And It's Still A 10/10 In Our Book
Overall I really love this game. But when I played it, I did have some issues with some of the game design.
I think the magic is implemented very poorly. It is a hassle to use magic because you can only have one thing equipped at a time.
And if you try to use a magic spell from your menu without equipping it, the unpausing animation forces you to face south, so you can only fire downwards. ... Quite a bad oversight.
Additionally, I didn't like how the majority of boss fights completely lock you out of being able to use your spells arbitrarily - with the exception of that Bloody Mary fight that requires you to use magic. ...but up until that point, the game has been conditioning you to think that boss fights are no-magic zones, so it's just kind of confusing.
The other big issue I had was with the pacing - the first half of the game is dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, while the last half of the game is sidequest after sidequest after sidequest. I think the pacing is quite unbalanced, and it can lead to fatigue.
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Play NES Games These Days?
A mix of all options for me. if it's on NSO, then that's pretty convenient since I'm always on my Switch anyway. But not all games I want to play are on NSO.
Many games I still only have via Virtual Console - for example Final Fantasy IV (aka II) is installed on my Wii, and that's my preferred place to play it even now, especially since the Pixel Remasters aren't the best compared to the originals.
I do regret not buying FF6 on the Wii VC back in the day. ... oh well. At least it's on the SNES Mini, right?
As a collector, I do like to get a proper cart for the fun of it, but it's not a necessity by any means. I have absolutely no qualms using an emulator.
For example, I played Gargoyle's Quest (GB) and Demon's Crest (SNES) on NSO, but for whatever reason, Gargoyle's Quest II (NES) is not on NSO at the moment.
So I had no issue emulating it. Especially since this isn't an easy NES cart to get ahold of anyway. Not worth the price.
The last proper NES cart I played was Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, again because it's not on NSO. ...I played StarTropics 1 on NSO beforehand, and would have played Zoda's revenge on NSO too if it was available, despite owning the original cart.
I don't remember when this game was added to my collection though - I think I went through a phase of getting some American-only releases for my collection at one point or another, just for the exoticness I suppose. Heh. That's why I also own Dragon Warrior 1, 2, 3, and 4.
SNES stuff seems to be easier to find nowadays than NES - I can still find SNES games at CeX - in fact, I played Plok via a SNES cart I bought quite recently, and it wasn't too expensive.
Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Receives Another Update, Here Are The Patch Notes
@Zequio
Last Judge is more manageable if you equip Magma Bell.
Additionally, there is actually a second way into the Citadel through Sinner's Road if you don't want to fight Last Judge yet.
Whenever you come up against what seems like an insurmountable wall of difficulty in Silksong, there almost always is something else you can find that will help you overcome it if you just go and explore some more.
Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Receives Another Update, Here Are The Patch Notes
Okay that change to the fine pins quest is a good one. The previous quests about pilgrim shawls and craw pelts didn't have any random drop chance shenanigans going on, so the fact that the fine pins were random felt really off. Glad to see it changed to make more sense.
Re: PSA: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is Already Being Datamined, Watch Out For Spoilers
@RaGe22
Well, I meant transfer from a Switch game. Of course all Pokémon have been transferrable since the beginning if you use Go and the 3DS games. ...but I don't play mobile games, and I'm especially not interested in something like Go that relies on your real world location. so I was hoping for Spinda to make it.
Re: Croc's Switch Remaster Returns This Week With A Free 'Platinum Edition' Update
Well, this is a funny way of dealing with things - releasing first and asking questions later. to the point where they have to rename the whole game for some technical reasons.
I would have thought they would have decided on and implemented the trophies they wanted to include before release. Did they change their mind, or what?
Well. At least they're still working on Croc in some capacity - hopefully there's a Croc 2 remake in the works as well? I would enjoy a Croc ultimate pack that included Croc, Croc 2, and the two Game Boy Color games. (and maybe the J2ME games if we've been good?)
I don't particularly want to buy them individually because I kinda already have the originals.
Re: PSA: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is Already Being Datamined, Watch Out For Spoilers
so it looks like there'll be no Spinda in this game huh?
Dang, it will literally be the only Pokémon impossible to transfer to Home. They really ought to fix that
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (11th October)
@GregamanX
I made a blog post about Gimmick 2 in March if you want to see someone talk about it
https://benjysgames.blogspot.com/2025/03/gimmick-2.html
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (11th October)
After finishing Silksong thoroughly and enjoying it immensely, I decided to give Ori and the Blind Forest a try.
And to be honest, I did not like the gameplay all that much. Ori felt weirdly heavy to control, the camera feels too zoomed out, every enemy is just some kind of blob thing, and I really didn't like having to rely on enemies shooting projectiles at me in order to use some of my basic traversal mechanics. And I really did not like the trial-and-error escape sequences.
Maybe I'm just being overly harsh on it since I just came from Silksong which I loved so so much. But unfortunately, I just don't get the hype for Ori. It's cute I guess.
...it actually reminds me of when I finally played Limbo. I felt similarly not impressed with that game too, despite its popularity.
...
....
I don't want to spend this entire post being a sourpuss, so I'll also mention that I played Plok for the first time a few days ago too. I bought a SNES cart of Plok from CeX the other day for cheap. I only heard its name before, didn't know much about the game.
Plok was surprisingly reaally good, but I unfortunately couldn't beat it due to its extremely harsh checkpointing system. After dying too many times, it sends you waaaayyy back, which can be a huge demotivator. I guess I have to be good enough to not lose too many lives beforehand so I can learn the trickier levels before being sent back. I'll give it another try soon maybe. I quite enjoyed the aesthetic and humour of Plok.
I wanted to play more big RPGs (I Still have Lufia II in my to-do list) but I don't want to start another big game so close to Pokémon Legends Z-A's release. So I'll stick to smaller things for the moment.