I played this one on Steam. I remember i didn't like it as much as Reverie.
One of my favourite aspects of Reverie was how, if you managed to kill a boss without taking damage, you'd get a unique item as a reward. This aspect was not carried over to Moonlit Farewell, which was a bit disappointing for me.
But aside from that, Moonlit Farewell tried to nerf the bow and arrow, which was pretty OP in Reverie, but it went a bit overboard and I find the bow really annoying to use now. It uses up stamina to fire the bow.
I dunno. The game is good. It's really pretty, and the action feels nice, but as a followup to Reverie it falls short in my eyes.
Maybe this is a bit harsh. The game is good. Give it a try if it looks nice for you.
I was only ever able to use eShop point cards I bought from Play-Asia when I wanted to add funds to my JP account, so I guess this doesn't really change anything about how I go about buying from the JP eShop. But it is a bit upsetting to see that they are tightening their stance on accessing regional eShops, because one of my favourite things about the Switch compared to Wii U and 3DS was the fact that we are able to visit other region eShops in the first place. Hopefully this isn't a sign that the Switch 2 situation will be more restricted.
For someone who isn't in the know about this series, are these two games part of the original "good" era of Harvest Moon, or are these two part of the "post breakup" era?
I've now finished Fantasian - I really really liked it overall. The best aspect of the game was the boss design for sure. They can get really challenging, especially during the second half of the game.
This was such a comfy little RPG world to play around in, and I really like the characters too. I'll keep an eye out for any follow-up games because Fantasian was a delight.
I was at the Switch 1's hands on event in London, where I got to try Breath of the Wild, Arms, and some other miscellaneous games. I think they had Puyo Tetris and Sonic Mania too?
...And a long long time ago I was even at a 3DS pre-release event... I remember seeing Ocarina of Time in no-glasses stereoscopic 3D and it was really cool. Bit of a shame I wasn't selected for the Switch 2 event, but oh well! I'll be busy in April anyway.
I remember liking this one on PlayStation 3 back in the day, but I never revisited it after finishing it, and I'm not sure I feel like doing so now. Glad to hear it's a good port though, you can never trust Namco after the way they handled Symphonia, and for inexplicably removing the dub in Baten Kaitos
would be nice if all mobile ports had touch controls by default. I just played Fantasian Neo Dimension, and the analogue stick movement is awkward because it doesn't reset itself properly whenever the camera changes perspectives as you walk. It's annoying to constantly have to readjust.
If it still had its mobile touchscreen movement from the 2021 release of Fantasian this would be less of a problem, but for whatever reason the touchscreen is disabled entirely in this game.
If the game already had touchscreen support, what is the purpose of removing it from later releases? I really don't understand why this is such a common problem?
Hmm... the most memorable part of OFF to me was the Pepper Steak theme. The game isn't going to feel the same without its soundtrack.
I always thought indie games were less susceptible to these kinds of music rights issues but apparently not. :/ unfortunate.
Pretty much, this situation means that the original freeware RPGMaker version isn't really going to be replaced by the enhanced remake, and in the minds of many fans, the remake will have lost a lot of appeal.
I'm not a huge huge OFF fan to begin with - the game's vibes are a bit too weird and offputting for my tastes, but I did enjoy the soundtrack, especially the battle theme, so this has definitely put me off on having anything to do with the remake personally.
"you die hard fans would instantly hate it and slag it off no matter how good it was "
Are they still bitter about how Nuts & Bolts was received?
It might be a perfectly fine game, but it's not what the Banjo fanbase was looking for for the next entry.
Nuts & Bolts is the kind of game that works as a spinoff to accompany a mainline entry, but not so much as a mainline entry itself.
It's the whole Metroid Prime Federation Force problem - it may have been a good game, but you can't break a drought of games with a spinoff release, because fans have no idea whether the weirdo spinoff version is all we're gonna get. Or if the new style is now the new normal for the series or not.
And the whole reason they're fans in the first place is because they liked the original style of game. So if it comes across that you're trying to scrap the original style in favour of this weird new style, of course the fans aren't going to be too pleased about that.
How good representation is Vivian in the new version? I haven't had time to play the remake yet. I remember in the original GameCube version the English version wrote it out of the script entirely. I know that some other language versions such as French retained it but English was not so lucky.
I like finding the 28 Unown in Pokémon Legends Arceus. Deciphering clues that refer to specific locations you gotta look in is fun.
in Ys VIII, the entirety of Dana's solo dungeon counts as a sidequest right? I think Dana's dungeon might be my favourite part of the game overall, so I'm gonna say that! I also liked the Master Kong fights in Ys VIII too.
in Fantasian Neo Dimension, rescuing enough of the robots eventually unlocks the story of Blik-0, which is a really cute story about a robot boy, told in a children's storybook style. And it's a proper full-length fairytale story too, it's not just a small cutscene. Comes out of nowhere, but is really pleasant to watch.
It's okay to anticipate a sequel to a favourite game, but I don't think it's really necessary to get quite as obsessive over it as I've seen from fans online... If you're anything like a majority of gamers, you do have a massive backlog to be getting through, right? So I would recommend people to stop thinking about Hollow Knight so much until Silksong actually comes out, and instead focus on working through your other games. It'll come when it comes.
@Gryffin No, classic Rogue and Mystery Dungeon games are turn-based.
Ys is realtime. Imagine Zelda 1-style enemies just walking around. They're all 1 tile big, but movement is not strictly tile-based like in a ASCII rogue or Mystery Dungeon
The bump combat in Ys I, II, and IV is all about positioning. If you walk into an enemy head-on, you will trade blows with them and most likely die. But if you come into them from off-centre, then you can hit them safely. You can also attack them safely from the side or from behind. And if you're playing the Saturn versions or the "Chronicles" remake version of I and II, then diagonal movement is implemented, and allows for even more angles of approach.
Bump combat is about approaching safely, and reacting to the enemy movement. It's skill based, rather than strategy based. Adol has absolutely no damage invulnerability, so if an enemy hits you wrong, if you don't react fast enough, all your HP can be drained in a single moment. (And that's why they let you save anywhere)
@Truegamer79 Ark of Napishtim was originally a singleplayer game released on PC in Japan, later ported to PS2 and PSP by Konami, later released on Steam.
There was indeed also an MMO based on the game which closed in 2023. I don't know much about it though other than it was a microtransaction kinda game, so I don't have much interest in it.
The other day I beat the final boss of Fantasian Neo Dimension!
I was playing in Hard mode because I heard that this was the original difficulty level of the 2021 release before the updated version added an easier mode and called it "Normal".
And I'll just say..... the Hard mode in this game is really hard! That final boss was ridiculous. He frequently spews out party-wide instakill attacks that can only be survived if you apply an attack debuff to the boss, have your highest-defense guys equipped with defense-boosting gems, apply defense+ buffs to them, AND also have them use the "guard" skill on the turn before the attack. And then when you've just finished spending turns healing up from that nightmare, it's already time for the boss's next partywide instakill. And it just goes on and on until you manage to find enough hits in between healing to whittle him down. it's roughhhhhh.
But just before the final boss room, there's a treasure chest with a medal in it, and if you offer the medal up to a shrine in a previous area, you get to "go back in time", which is essentially doing a New Game Plus. ... It's interesting how you don't actually need to beat the final boss in order to start New Game Plus.
So even though I beat the game, I'm playing a New Game Plus playthrough because it seems to be the only way to get high level enough to challenge the "Void Realm" bonus boss challenge, which I am interested in completing just to see what happens at the end.
So for the moment I'm doing a quick runback of Fantasian's main story so I can get back to the New Game Plus added goodies.
It's a good game I recommend highly to classic JRPG fans! It's a really really good one!
When I got the Japanese version of the Mega Drive Mini II, I was disappointed that the Lunar games there did not include the English versions, despite the fact that most other games on both MD Minis have multiple region versions.
So I am pretty pleased to see this Switch collection! I'm looking forward to playing Lunar for the first time. I've heard great things.
My only previous experience with Lunar was a small amount of Lunar Legend for GBA, which was pretty buggy, and I stopped playing because an inventory bug caused me to lose items, and I didn't want to have to worry about that for the whole game. ..
Oath in Felghana is a good game. It's easy to compare Ys to Zelda, but I also want to compare it to Castlevania. If you enjoy Castlevania Advance Collection or Dominus Collection, then I would highly recommend Ys Memoire and Ys Origin! To me, it gives a similar energy, with the platforming, monster-bashing, and light RPG elements. And Ys Memoire even has a clock tower area too.
Never bought the wii version. Found the 3DS version at CeX one day, got it for "later" and then never played it. Not gonna buy the Switch version unless I see it cheap in the future, this game is not exactly a high priority for me.
A bit annoying because I have a two dock setup. Gaming room downstairs has the dock my original 2017 Switch came with, and the tv in my upstairs bedroom has the dock my OLED came with. If I were to upgrade to Switch 2, I'd have to buy a second dock just to keep my current situation going. Also, depending on how system transfers are going to work, I might want to keep my OLED Switch 1 around anyway, so having two docks side by side per TV is gonna be a bit annoying too.
Lol, it can be confusing. But if they want to set a new story in between two previously-released stories, what else can they do? I suppose they could drop the numbering from the titles? Or only include a number in the title if the game takes place at a later point in the story? Personally I like each entry having a new number, it lets people know right away that this is a long-running series with a lot of games.
It's interesting that they don't number Felghana and Celceta - they are the current canonical versions of III and IV, but I suppose they didn't want to make it too confusing for these releases in particular? (Despite the fact that Ys IV and Ys V previously got PlayStation 2 remakes with numbered titles)
One of the best Ys games. I recommend it to people who have played Ys Origin and want another game like that. I think Felghana is better than Origin personally.
I actually dropped Ys Nordics because it was starting to bog me down a bit too much. Lacrimosa is my favourite in the series, so I was hoping Nordics would give me more of that kind of feeling, but I dunno, something about Nordics isn't clicking with me. I still would like to see it through, but it's lower in my priorities now, which is unfortunate. (and the announcement of Proud Nordics didn't help either).
I do wish they would make more games like Origin and Felghana. The only other Ys game of that playstyle is The Ark of Napishtim, which is a fair bit jankier than Felghana and Origin, but still really fun imo.
I hope after Nordics they make Ys fast-paced and snappy again. I think it was Monstrum Nox that really pushed the series into cutscene-heavy territory, and I'm not sure that's a change for the better for a series like Ys. :/
Fantasian Neo Dimension needs to be added to the list - I'm having a wonderful time with this game!
It's a classic-style JRPG with invisible random encounters, similar in gameplay style to FF7, FF8, FF9 - prerendered environments and all. I enjoy how there is a modern 2020s release that sees no problem using invisible encounters. Just because a gameplay style is old, that doesn't make it invalid as a style of game.
It has some of the best and most varied JRPG boss fight design I have seen in quite some time. Almost every single boss has some kind of unique interaction or twist that makes it interesting. It's not just a damage sponge with strong attacks every turn - sometimes you gotta do things like break a boss's arms off to prevent it from doing a charged attack, or prevent its minions from applying buffs to it.....and sometimes during the second half of a fight, the boss introduces a new wrinkle such as turning the floor poisonous, or there's one boss who gets more and more floating rocks defending it the more it does its powerful meteor attack, making it harder to take down if you don't prevent it from doing that attack.... and stuff like this. There's a ton of strategic depth to this combat system. I haven't felt truly challenged like this in JRPG combat since I played Octopath. The boss fight design of Fantasian is top notch stuff.
As for the game progression... I enjoy how the first 20 hours of the game are a linear sequence of story events, but after you defeat a major baddie midway through the story, the game suddenly becomes very nonlinear and full of sidequests you can tackle as you please. Kinda reminds me of FF6 in that way.
The plot isn't too special for JRPG standards, but the presentation of the story is done really nicely, especially during the storybook narration scenes. These scenes are slow-paced and relaxing, inviting you to take a moment and just listen to a story. They're really sweet, and it gives the game's storytelling a uniquely warm kind of feeling.
I enjoy the characters. Leo is a good protagonist, even though he has to deal with a clichéd amnesia plot, but I find his interactions with the rest of the cast enjoyable to watch. He doesn't annoy me like some other JRPG protagonists, because he's actually a smart and reasonable person lol. The other characters are nice too, and each one gets their own dedicated character quests too, which I always like to see.
Fantasian Neo Dimension is really good! If you like classic JRPGs, I highly recommend it!
Why are they showing off a scene from the hidden ninja village, I thought it was hidden pretty dang well and had to use a guide to find it when I played Suikoden II lol. But yeah, what a weird scene to highlight prerelease. It's just a regular dialogue scene.
This is so silly, but is completely in character for Nintendo lol. Of course they were experimenting with pointless little voice commands for Zelda 64, that's such a ...Nintendo thing to do.
Love that this little tidbit has been uncovered.
Did you want NintendoLife to not report on news about the game? Did you want fans to no longer be interested in the new updates? Did you want Toby to stop making the next game?
Why not make a new Punch Out with a brand new cast of opponents then? The Wii game was great for brining the classic NES opponents to life with such a beautiful modern presentation, but since we've already had that, there's no reason to keep using the classic characters, is there?
I've been playing Fantasian, and I'm enjoying it. An amnesia plot is rather clichéd but aside from that, the characters are fun and likable.
I especially enjoy the storybook scenes where it's just an illustration with soft narration. The one in the forest with Kina teaching Leo how to attune himself to nature was really sweet and relaxing.
And so far the plot is not too esoteric or complicated to follow - we've got an amnesiac boy who everyone seems to recognise, and he's journeying around just to try and jog his memory, pretty much. I'm sure it'll get a bit more complicated later on, but I'm glad it starts simple.
And the idea of "mechteria", an infestation of machines that spreads like a disease, is really bizarre, and I am interested in what's going on regarding that.
I enjoy the game so far. And as an RPG, its writing is doing its job really well, so no complaints here! I think people online can tend to be really harsh on RPG writing.
I dropped Ys X: Nordics for now. I'm not a fan of the fact that Falcom announced "Ys X: Proud Nordics", an enhanced version that fans will have to buy all over again. I hate it when Atlus does this, and I'm disappointed that Falcom is doing it as well.
For Christmas I received Fantasian Neo Dimension from a relative, and I'm currently much more interested in trying this game out straight away. So Sorry Ys X, I'll get back to you later (or maybe never if I leave it for until Proud Nordics comes out), but for now my focus is on Fantasian. And I really like it so far! It's got that classic PS1-era Final Fantasy feel to it in the way the camera has fixed perspectives, and there are invisible random encounters, which is surprising to see in a 2020s release since that style of RPG design has definitely gone out of fashion by now. But I never thought invisible random encounters were bad, so I'm having a great time so far.
I have the physical of the first Steven Universe game Save the Light, but they never made a physical version of Unleash the Light. As of right this very moment, it seems that Unleash is still on the european eShop, so I bought it immediately. This is an annoying reality we live in.
This game was fun for a while, but it was sorely lacking in content.
Also I am of the opinion that the game feels incomplete as a package without the ability to just play the NES games normally.
I don't care that they're on NSO subscription, that's neither here nor there. This game should have included the full games, with added timers and splits and leaderboards and all sorts of other speedrun-friendly additions.
The fact that it doesn't let you play the full games unrestricted shows that Nintendo is willing to let their products suffer in content and quality, in order to persuade users to join their subscription services, which I am not a fan of at all.
We're a long way aways from the days of Animal Crossing containing 21 NES games. ...Nowadays we can't even get NES games included in a game literally about NES games.
It's a shame - the mini console was my favourite retro-gaming fad of recent years. A selection of amazing classic games on a very easy-to-plug-in HDMI box, with a cute interface and everything? And them being completely separate to the current leading platforms (you don't need an Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch to play 'em) makes it so much more standalone and fun. It's like its own little world of nothing but retro goodness. They were super duper cool.
They were really fun to collect too. I currently have the NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Mega Drive II, PC-Engine, PlayStation, and Commodore 64 mini consoles. As well as the limited-edition Shonen Jump Famicom mini console, which is interesting to me because it has the original Dragon Quest on it, password saves and everything.
I would have literally bought as many of these mini consoles as Sega was willing to produce, especially if they made a Saturn Mini with rare games like Panzer Dragoon Saga on it.
But I suppose the fad has died down now hasn't it? It's a shame Nintendo never made an N64 or GBA mini and instead plonked the games on a higher subscription tier. Not ideal for me who prefers to own games more tangibly.
This is one of those casual-style fighting games where you have to level grind each fighter. The main gameplay loop is just grinding. I played through story mode once just to see the unique boss encounter, but I didn't have much desire to play any more than that. Also this game's fighting system is mostly the same as Ys Seven, so it's possible we may see Ys Seven come to Switch soon too? It would be weird to get the spinoff without getting the corresponding mainline game.
Ooh, interesting. Maybe they could add more miscellaneous Tetris games? Virtual Boy had two Tetris games, N64 had a few as well. And Tetris DS was fun with its NES themed aesthetic. Would be fun to see Tetris Forever accumulate more and more different tetrises in future updates.
People who play this expecting an Undertale-like - beware. it doesn't have the humour of Undertale at all. People probably make that comparison because it's a weird, subversive pixel RPG, but that's pretty much where the similarity to Undertale ends. The characters are all creepy, and the mood is always extremely offputting. The game is certainly interesting, but I wouldn't really recommend it to people looking for a similar experience to Undertale, unless you are specifically looking for weird pixel RPGs, in which case, go right ahead.
I've played this! It's a bit too freaky for my tastes to be honest, but it is a very unique and interesting horror pixel RPG. Also the main battle theme is weirdly compelling
@ScalenePowers ...Hopefully not the PSP version of Ys 6 lol. Have you tried it? That version runs awfully. The framerate is like a slideshow at times. I played it because it has minigames not in the other versions, and I wanted to see what was up with them. (The minigames are also awful).
The PS2 and PSP versions of Ys 6 were done by Konami, and I don't think Falcom has any rights to the Konami-specific content (the bonus dungeon on PS2, the minigames on PSP, the English-translated script in both). ...If Ys 6 is gonna be ported, it'll likely be the Steam version since Falcom owns everything in that one.
Agreed that an Ys 7 port would be great. And a Celceta port too while we're at it!
Surprised to see Nayuta is in the top three, I played it in January and didn't think about it again after beating it. it didn't leave a huge impression on me.
Pokémon has so many hours because this was the first time I actually played Gen 9 at all. I waited until I could get the DLC-included physical cart, so I didn't start Gen 9 until this year. I had a great time even if it's not as good as it should have been. Enjoyed it more than gen 8.
And Castlevania.... yeah, I played all three of the Dominus games the moment it came out, got 100% items, souls etc in all games, played all bonus modes including level 1 hard mode in the two games it's in, and then.... I played all three games again, to show them to my sister-in-law who enjoys watching me play games.
The majority of my time gaming this year, aside from Pokémon, was on older PlayStation consoles and not on Switch, so I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised Nayuta came in third place.
This year I played Suikoden and Suikoden II on the PSTV, Suikoden III on the PS3, Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tactics on the PS2.
...Oh, and also I casually spent over 300+ hours on UFO 50 on Steam as well, haha.
So yeah, a lot of off-switch gaming happened this year for me.
I'm surprised Zelda Echoes of Wisdom doesn't even show up anywhere . I beat that game 100%, I thought that would've taken up more time than a game like Nayuta, but I guess not.
I've heard nothing but good things about the latest few Capcom collections, but it's a bit of a shame my favourite of the old-school Capcom fighting games, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, is stuck on the not-so-great "30th Anniversary Collection". It would be nice if they updated the older collection to be on par with the newer ones.
ahh... I became an Ys fan relatively recently. I had a lot of fun playing through the whole series last year. He created some lovely games for us all, many of which helped define the Japanese RPG genre in the early days.
Just official translations of the old ones like Rebirth or Destiny Remake or Destiny 2 would be appreciated. They don't even need to be particularly remastered, just newly translated and voiced would be fine.
was actually thinking about getting it, but will not without touchscreen support. what a ridiculous omission, especially since this was on mobile, wasn't it?
They print them physically and make them into nice little books like this? Is that necessary for development, or is it done after the fact as a compilation? I would have thought everything was a digital document during development
Comments 2,412
Re: Momodora: Moonlit Farewell Brings More Pixel-Art Metroidvania Action To Switch
I played this one on Steam. I remember i didn't like it as much as Reverie.
One of my favourite aspects of Reverie was how, if you managed to kill a boss without taking damage, you'd get a unique item as a reward. This aspect was not carried over to Moonlit Farewell, which was a bit disappointing for me.
But aside from that, Moonlit Farewell tried to nerf the bow and arrow, which was pretty OP in Reverie, but it went a bit overboard and I find the bow really annoying to use now. It uses up stamina to fire the bow.
I dunno. The game is good. It's really pretty, and the action feels nice, but as a followup to Reverie it falls short in my eyes.
Maybe this is a bit harsh. The game is good. Give it a try if it looks nice for you.
Re: Japan's Switch eShop Will Soon No Longer Accept Overseas Payment Methods
I was only ever able to use eShop point cards I bought from Play-Asia when I wanted to add funds to my JP account, so I guess this doesn't really change anything about how I go about buying from the JP eShop. But it is a bit upsetting to see that they are tightening their stance on accessing regional eShops, because one of my favourite things about the Switch compared to Wii U and 3DS was the fact that we are able to visit other region eShops in the first place. Hopefully this isn't a sign that the Switch 2 situation will be more restricted.
Re: Harvest Moon's New "Cozy" Switch Bundle Revives Two 3DS Titles This Summer
For someone who isn't in the know about this series, are these two games part of the original "good" era of Harvest Moon, or are these two part of the "post breakup" era?
Re: Final Fantasy Creator’s Next Script Is Already Done
I've now finished Fantasian - I really really liked it overall. The best aspect of the game was the boss design for sure. They can get really challenging, especially during the second half of the game.
This was such a comfy little RPG world to play around in, and I really like the characters too. I'll keep an eye out for any follow-up games because Fantasian was a delight.
Re: Poll: So, Were You Accepted For The Nintendo Switch 2 Hands-On Event?
Sadly no for me.
I was at the Switch 1's hands on event in London, where I got to try Breath of the Wild, Arms, and some other miscellaneous games. I think they had Puyo Tetris and Sonic Mania too?
...And a long long time ago I was even at a 3DS pre-release event... I remember seeing Ocarina of Time in no-glasses stereoscopic 3D and it was really cool. Bit of a shame I wasn't selected for the Switch 2 event, but oh well! I'll be busy in April anyway.
Re: Review: Tales Of Graces f Remastered (Switch) - The Characters Steal The Show In This JRPG Classic
I remember liking this one on PlayStation 3 back in the day, but I never revisited it after finishing it, and I'm not sure I feel like doing so now. Glad to hear it's a good port though, you can never trust Namco after the way they handled Symphonia, and for inexplicably removing the dub in Baten Kaitos
Re: New-Look Donkey Kong Items Now Available On The My Nintendo Store
Lots of DK and Diddy merch, but no Dixie or Cranky or Funky. I guess their focus is on DKC Returns and its subpar port at the moment
Re: Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic Receives Much-Requested Touch Control Update
would be nice if all mobile ports had touch controls by default. I just played Fantasian Neo Dimension, and the analogue stick movement is awkward because it doesn't reset itself properly whenever the camera changes perspectives as you walk. It's annoying to constantly have to readjust.
If it still had its mobile touchscreen movement from the 2021 release of Fantasian this would be less of a problem, but for whatever reason the touchscreen is disabled entirely in this game.
If the game already had touchscreen support, what is the purpose of removing it from later releases? I really don't understand why this is such a common problem?
Re: Undertale Creator Toby Fox Joins 'OFF' RPG Soundtrack
Hmm... the most memorable part of OFF to me was the Pepper Steak theme. The game isn't going to feel the same without its soundtrack.
I always thought indie games were less susceptible to these kinds of music rights issues but apparently not. :/ unfortunate.
Pretty much, this situation means that the original freeware RPGMaker version isn't really going to be replaced by the enhanced remake, and in the minds of many fans, the remake will have lost a lot of appeal.
I'm not a huge huge OFF fan to begin with - the game's vibes are a bit too weird and offputting for my tastes, but I did enjoy the soundtrack, especially the battle theme, so this has definitely put me off on having anything to do with the remake personally.
Re: Banjo-Kazooie Composer Has "Zero Hope" For A New Entry
"you die hard fans would instantly hate it and slag it off no matter how good it was "
Are they still bitter about how Nuts & Bolts was received?
It might be a perfectly fine game, but it's not what the Banjo fanbase was looking for for the next entry.
Nuts & Bolts is the kind of game that works as a spinoff to accompany a mainline entry, but not so much as a mainline entry itself.
It's the whole Metroid Prime Federation Force problem - it may have been a good game, but you can't break a drought of games with a spinoff release, because fans have no idea whether the weirdo spinoff version is all we're gonna get. Or if the new style is now the new normal for the series or not.
And the whole reason they're fans in the first place is because they liked the original style of game. So if it comes across that you're trying to scrap the original style in favour of this weird new style, of course the fans aren't going to be too pleased about that.
Re: Nintendo Bags GLAAD Nomination For Paper Mario's Trans Representation
How good representation is Vivian in the new version? I haven't had time to play the remake yet.
I remember in the original GameCube version the English version wrote it out of the script entirely. I know that some other language versions such as French retained it but English was not so lucky.
Re: Community: What Are Your Favourite Sidequests On Switch?
I like finding the 28 Unown in Pokémon Legends Arceus. Deciphering clues that refer to specific locations you gotta look in is fun.
in Ys VIII, the entirety of Dana's solo dungeon counts as a sidequest right? I think Dana's dungeon might be my favourite part of the game overall, so I'm gonna say that! I also liked the Master Kong fights in Ys VIII too.
in Fantasian Neo Dimension, rescuing enough of the robots eventually unlocks the story of Blik-0, which is a really cute story about a robot boy, told in a children's storybook style. And it's a proper full-length fairytale story too, it's not just a small cutscene. Comes out of nowhere, but is really pleasant to watch.
Re: Team Cherry Reconfirms Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Actually Real In Small Development Update
It's okay to anticipate a sequel to a favourite game, but I don't think it's really necessary to get quite as obsessive over it as I've seen from fans online...
If you're anything like a majority of gamers, you do have a massive backlog to be getting through, right? So I would recommend people to stop thinking about Hollow Knight so much until Silksong actually comes out, and instead focus on working through your other games. It'll come when it comes.
Re: Best Ys Games Of All Time - Switch And Nintendo Systems
@Gryffin
No, classic Rogue and Mystery Dungeon games are turn-based.
Ys is realtime. Imagine Zelda 1-style enemies just walking around. They're all 1 tile big, but movement is not strictly tile-based like in a ASCII rogue or Mystery Dungeon
The bump combat in Ys I, II, and IV is all about positioning. If you walk into an enemy head-on, you will trade blows with them and most likely die. But if you come into them from off-centre, then you can hit them safely. You can also attack them safely from the side or from behind. And if you're playing the Saturn versions or the "Chronicles" remake version of I and II, then diagonal movement is implemented, and allows for even more angles of approach.
Bump combat is about approaching safely, and reacting to the enemy movement. It's skill based, rather than strategy based.
Adol has absolutely no damage invulnerability, so if an enemy hits you wrong, if you don't react fast enough, all your HP can be drained in a single moment. (And that's why they let you save anywhere)
Re: Best Ys Games Of All Time - Switch And Nintendo Systems
@Truegamer79
Ark of Napishtim was originally a singleplayer game released on PC in Japan, later ported to PS2 and PSP by Konami, later released on Steam.
There was indeed also an MMO based on the game which closed in 2023. I don't know much about it though other than it was a microtransaction kinda game, so I don't have much interest in it.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (18th January)
The other day I beat the final boss of Fantasian Neo Dimension!
I was playing in Hard mode because I heard that this was the original difficulty level of the 2021 release before the updated version added an easier mode and called it "Normal".
And I'll just say..... the Hard mode in this game is really hard! That final boss was ridiculous. He frequently spews out party-wide instakill attacks that can only be survived if you apply an attack debuff to the boss, have your highest-defense guys equipped with defense-boosting gems, apply defense+ buffs to them, AND also have them use the "guard" skill on the turn before the attack. And then when you've just finished spending turns healing up from that nightmare, it's already time for the boss's next partywide instakill. And it just goes on and on until you manage to find enough hits in between healing to whittle him down. it's roughhhhhh.
But just before the final boss room, there's a treasure chest with a medal in it, and if you offer the medal up to a shrine in a previous area, you get to "go back in time", which is essentially doing a New Game Plus. ... It's interesting how you don't actually need to beat the final boss in order to start New Game Plus.
So even though I beat the game, I'm playing a New Game Plus playthrough because it seems to be the only way to get high level enough to challenge the "Void Realm" bonus boss challenge, which I am interested in completing just to see what happens at the end.
So for the moment I'm doing a quick runback of Fantasian's main story so I can get back to the New Game Plus added goodies.
It's a good game I recommend highly to classic JRPG fans! It's a really really good one!
Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal Trailer Gives First Official Look At The New Console
What's up with that "not all software may be compatible" disclaimer at the end?
Re: Lunar Remastered Collection Brings Classic JRPG Series To Switch This April
@Serpenterror
Nope. Not a bootleg.
Here's a GameFAQs guide from 2003 for Lunar Legend that goes into detail about the item bug https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gba/560993-lunar-legend/faqs/22067
make sure to do a CTRL-F for the text "item bug" to be taken to the relevant section.
Re: Lunar Remastered Collection Brings Classic JRPG Series To Switch This April
When I got the Japanese version of the Mega Drive Mini II, I was disappointed that the Lunar games there did not include the English versions, despite the fact that most other games on both MD Minis have multiple region versions.
So I am pretty pleased to see this Switch collection! I'm looking forward to playing Lunar for the first time. I've heard great things.
My only previous experience with Lunar was a small amount of Lunar Legend for GBA, which was pretty buggy, and I stopped playing because an inventory bug caused me to lose items, and I didn't want to have to worry about that for the whole game. ..
Re: UK Charts: Ys Memoire Narrowly Makes The Top 40 In Another Quiet Week
Oath in Felghana is a good game. It's easy to compare Ys to Zelda, but I also want to compare it to Castlevania. If you enjoy Castlevania Advance Collection or Dominus Collection, then I would highly recommend Ys Memoire and Ys Origin! To me, it gives a similar energy, with the platforming, monster-bashing, and light RPG elements. And Ys Memoire even has a clock tower area too.
Re: So, Have You Pre-Ordered Donkey Kong Country Returns HD For Switch?
Never bought the wii version. Found the 3DS version at CeX one day, got it for "later" and then never played it. Not gonna buy the Switch version unless I see it cheap in the future, this game is not exactly a high priority for me.
Re: Switch 2 'Indentations' Make It Incompatible With Original Switch Dock, Says Genki
A bit annoying because I have a two dock setup. Gaming room downstairs has the dock my original 2017 Switch came with, and the tv in my upstairs bedroom has the dock my OLED came with.
If I were to upgrade to Switch 2, I'd have to buy a second dock just to keep my current situation going.
Also, depending on how system transfers are going to work, I might want to keep my OLED Switch 1 around anyway, so having two docks side by side per TV is gonna be a bit annoying too.
Re: Review: Ys Memoire: The Oath In Felghana (Switch) - An Excellent 'Less Is More' Entry In The Long-Running Series
@ScalenePowers
Lol, it can be confusing. But if they want to set a new story in between two previously-released stories, what else can they do? I suppose they could drop the numbering from the titles? Or only include a number in the title if the game takes place at a later point in the story?
Personally I like each entry having a new number, it lets people know right away that this is a long-running series with a lot of games.
It's interesting that they don't number Felghana and Celceta - they are the current canonical versions of III and IV, but I suppose they didn't want to make it too confusing for these releases in particular?
(Despite the fact that Ys IV and Ys V previously got PlayStation 2 remakes with numbered titles)
Re: Review: Ys Memoire: The Oath In Felghana (Switch) - An Excellent 'Less Is More' Entry In The Long-Running Series
One of the best Ys games. I recommend it to people who have played Ys Origin and want another game like that. I think Felghana is better than Origin personally.
I actually dropped Ys Nordics because it was starting to bog me down a bit too much. Lacrimosa is my favourite in the series, so I was hoping Nordics would give me more of that kind of feeling, but I dunno, something about Nordics isn't clicking with me. I still would like to see it through, but it's lower in my priorities now, which is unfortunate. (and the announcement of Proud Nordics didn't help either).
I do wish they would make more games like Origin and Felghana. The only other Ys game of that playstyle is The Ark of Napishtim, which is a fair bit jankier than Felghana and Origin, but still really fun imo.
I hope after Nordics they make Ys fast-paced and snappy again. I think it was Monstrum Nox that really pushed the series into cutscene-heavy territory, and I'm not sure that's a change for the better for a series like Ys. :/
Re: Best Nintendo Switch RPGs
Fantasian Neo Dimension needs to be added to the list - I'm having a wonderful time with this game!
It's a classic-style JRPG with invisible random encounters, similar in gameplay style to FF7, FF8, FF9 - prerendered environments and all. I enjoy how there is a modern 2020s release that sees no problem using invisible encounters. Just because a gameplay style is old, that doesn't make it invalid as a style of game.
It has some of the best and most varied JRPG boss fight design I have seen in quite some time. Almost every single boss has some kind of unique interaction or twist that makes it interesting. It's not just a damage sponge with strong attacks every turn - sometimes you gotta do things like break a boss's arms off to prevent it from doing a charged attack, or prevent its minions from applying buffs to it.....and sometimes during the second half of a fight, the boss introduces a new wrinkle such as turning the floor poisonous, or there's one boss who gets more and more floating rocks defending it the more it does its powerful meteor attack, making it harder to take down if you don't prevent it from doing that attack.... and stuff like this. There's a ton of strategic depth to this combat system. I haven't felt truly challenged like this in JRPG combat since I played Octopath.
The boss fight design of Fantasian is top notch stuff.
As for the game progression... I enjoy how the first 20 hours of the game are a linear sequence of story events, but after you defeat a major baddie midway through the story, the game suddenly becomes very nonlinear and full of sidequests you can tackle as you please. Kinda reminds me of FF6 in that way.
The plot isn't too special for JRPG standards, but the presentation of the story is done really nicely, especially during the storybook narration scenes. These scenes are slow-paced and relaxing, inviting you to take a moment and just listen to a story. They're really sweet, and it gives the game's storytelling a uniquely warm kind of feeling.
I enjoy the characters. Leo is a good protagonist, even though he has to deal with a clichéd amnesia plot, but I find his interactions with the rest of the cast enjoyable to watch. He doesn't annoy me like some other JRPG protagonists, because he's actually a smart and reasonable person lol. The other characters are nice too, and each one gets their own dedicated character quests too, which I always like to see.
Fantasian Neo Dimension is really good! If you like classic JRPGs, I highly recommend it!
Re: Konami Shows Off New Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gameplay
Why are they showing off a scene from the hidden ninja village, I thought it was hidden pretty dang well and had to use a guide to find it when I played Suikoden II lol. But yeah, what a weird scene to highlight prerelease. It's just a regular dialogue scene.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (4th January)
I'm 20 hours into Fantasian now. I really like it.
It's a simple, classic-style JRPG, and it's not trying to be anything more than that. It's good.
Re: Random: Modder Shows Off Unused N64 Mic Support In Zelda: Majora's Mask
This is so silly, but is completely in character for Nintendo lol. Of course they were experimenting with pointless little voice commands for Zelda 64, that's such a ...Nintendo thing to do.
Love that this little tidbit has been uncovered.
Re: Toby Fox New Year Message Reminds Us Deltarune's Next Chapters Are Launching This Year
@ArmenianJedi13
What exactly do you mean?
Did you want NintendoLife to not report on news about the game?
Did you want fans to no longer be interested in the new updates?
Did you want Toby to stop making the next game?
How can a new update be old news?
Re: Nintendo's Punch-Out!! Series May Be Dead And Buried For Good
Why not make a new Punch Out with a brand new cast of opponents then? The Wii game was great for brining the classic NES opponents to life with such a beautiful modern presentation, but since we've already had that, there's no reason to keep using the classic characters, is there?
Re: Final Fantasy Creator’s Next Script Is Already Done
I've been playing Fantasian, and I'm enjoying it. An amnesia plot is rather clichéd but aside from that, the characters are fun and likable.
I especially enjoy the storybook scenes where it's just an illustration with soft narration. The one in the forest with Kina teaching Leo how to attune himself to nature was really sweet and relaxing.
And so far the plot is not too esoteric or complicated to follow - we've got an amnesiac boy who everyone seems to recognise, and he's journeying around just to try and jog his memory, pretty much. I'm sure it'll get a bit more complicated later on, but I'm glad it starts simple.
And the idea of "mechteria", an infestation of machines that spreads like a disease, is really bizarre, and I am interested in what's going on regarding that.
I enjoy the game so far. And as an RPG, its writing is doing its job really well, so no complaints here! I think people online can tend to be really harsh on RPG writing.
Re: Nintendo Reveals Japan's "Top 30" Most Downloaded Switch eShop Games Of 2024
Is Japan a big fan of Nickelodeon? 🤔
I guess they must like SpongeBob.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (New Year Edition)
I dropped Ys X: Nordics for now. I'm not a fan of the fact that Falcom announced "Ys X: Proud Nordics", an enhanced version that fans will have to buy all over again. I hate it when Atlus does this, and I'm disappointed that Falcom is doing it as well.
For Christmas I received Fantasian Neo Dimension from a relative, and I'm currently much more interested in trying this game out straight away. So Sorry Ys X, I'll get back to you later (or maybe never if I leave it for until Proud Nordics comes out), but for now my focus is on Fantasian. And I really like it so far! It's got that classic PS1-era Final Fantasy feel to it in the way the camera has fixed perspectives, and there are invisible random encounters, which is surprising to see in a 2020s release since that style of RPG design has definitely gone out of fashion by now. But I never thought invisible random encounters were bad, so I'm having a great time so far.
Re: Multiple Cartoon Network Games Have Been Removed From The Switch eShop
I have the physical of the first Steven Universe game Save the Light, but they never made a physical version of Unleash the Light. As of right this very moment, it seems that Unleash is still on the european eShop, so I bought it immediately.
This is an annoying reality we live in.
Re: Opinion: It's Not My GOTY, But This Nintendo Game Was A Standout 2024 Memory
This game was fun for a while, but it was sorely lacking in content.
Also I am of the opinion that the game feels incomplete as a package without the ability to just play the NES games normally.
I don't care that they're on NSO subscription, that's neither here nor there. This game should have included the full games, with added timers and splits and leaderboards and all sorts of other speedrun-friendly additions.
The fact that it doesn't let you play the full games unrestricted shows that Nintendo is willing to let their products suffer in content and quality, in order to persuade users to join their subscription services, which I am not a fan of at all.
We're a long way aways from the days of Animal Crossing containing 21 NES games. ...Nowadays we can't even get NES games included in a game literally about NES games.
Re: Don't Expect Any More Miniature Consoles From Sega
Oh and by the way.
I highly recommend a Steam game called UFO 50 for anyone who enjoys things like the mini consoles.
UFO 50 is basically just a modern indie version of the "mini console" experience. It's really good too.
Re: Don't Expect Any More Miniature Consoles From Sega
It's a shame - the mini console was my favourite retro-gaming fad of recent years. A selection of amazing classic games on a very easy-to-plug-in HDMI box, with a cute interface and everything? And them being completely separate to the current leading platforms (you don't need an Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch to play 'em) makes it so much more standalone and fun. It's like its own little world of nothing but retro goodness. They were super duper cool.
They were really fun to collect too. I currently have the NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Mega Drive II, PC-Engine, PlayStation, and Commodore 64 mini consoles. As well as the limited-edition Shonen Jump Famicom mini console, which is interesting to me because it has the original Dragon Quest on it, password saves and everything.
I would have literally bought as many of these mini consoles as Sega was willing to produce, especially if they made a Saturn Mini with rare games like Panzer Dragoon Saga on it.
But I suppose the fad has died down now hasn't it? It's a shame Nintendo never made an N64 or GBA mini and instead plonked the games on a higher subscription tier. Not ideal for me who prefers to own games more tangibly.
Re: Sega Is "Evaluating" Its Own Netflix-Style Subscription Service
I hope this isn't the reason they delisted their games recently.
I was hoping it was just because they were making a new collection.
Re: 'Ys vs. Trails In The Sky: Alternative Saga' Announced For Switch, Coming 2025
This is one of those casual-style fighting games where you have to level grind each fighter. The main gameplay loop is just grinding. I played through story mode once just to see the unique boss encounter, but I didn't have much desire to play any more than that.
Also this game's fighting system is mostly the same as Ys Seven, so it's possible we may see Ys Seven come to Switch soon too? It would be weird to get the spinoff without getting the corresponding mainline game.
Re: 'Tetris Forever' Adds Curious Sequel 'Welltris' Via A Free Update
Ooh, interesting. Maybe they could add more miscellaneous Tetris games? Virtual Boy had two Tetris games, N64 had a few as well. And Tetris DS was fun with its NES themed aesthetic.
Would be fun to see Tetris Forever accumulate more and more different tetrises in future updates.
Re: Cult RPG Hit 'OFF' Makes Its Way To The Switch In 2025
People who play this expecting an Undertale-like - beware. it doesn't have the humour of Undertale at all. People probably make that comparison because it's a weird, subversive pixel RPG, but that's pretty much where the similarity to Undertale ends. The characters are all creepy, and the mood is always extremely offputting. The game is certainly interesting, but I wouldn't really recommend it to people looking for a similar experience to Undertale, unless you are specifically looking for weird pixel RPGs, in which case, go right ahead.
Re: Cult RPG Hit 'OFF' Makes Its Way To The Switch In 2025
I've played this! It's a bit too freaky for my tastes to be honest, but it is a very unique and interesting horror pixel RPG. Also the main battle theme is weirdly compelling
Re: Your 'Nintendo Switch Year In Review 2024' Stats Are Available Now
@ScalenePowers
...Hopefully not the PSP version of Ys 6 lol. Have you tried it? That version runs awfully. The framerate is like a slideshow at times.
I played it because it has minigames not in the other versions, and I wanted to see what was up with them. (The minigames are also awful).
The PS2 and PSP versions of Ys 6 were done by Konami, and I don't think Falcom has any rights to the Konami-specific content (the bonus dungeon on PS2, the minigames on PSP, the English-translated script in both). ...If Ys 6 is gonna be ported, it'll likely be the Steam version since Falcom owns everything in that one.
Agreed that an Ys 7 port would be great. And a Celceta port too while we're at it!
Re: Your 'Nintendo Switch Year In Review 2024' Stats Are Available Now
Here's mine:
87 games and 830 hours
Top three:
Surprised to see Nayuta is in the top three, I played it in January and didn't think about it again after beating it. it didn't leave a huge impression on me.
Pokémon has so many hours because this was the first time I actually played Gen 9 at all. I waited until I could get the DLC-included physical cart, so I didn't start Gen 9 until this year. I had a great time even if it's not as good as it should have been. Enjoyed it more than gen 8.
And Castlevania.... yeah, I played all three of the Dominus games the moment it came out, got 100% items, souls etc in all games, played all bonus modes including level 1 hard mode in the two games it's in, and then.... I played all three games again, to show them to my sister-in-law who enjoys watching me play games.
The majority of my time gaming this year, aside from Pokémon, was on older PlayStation consoles and not on Switch, so I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised Nayuta came in third place.
This year I played Suikoden and Suikoden II on the PSTV, Suikoden III on the PS3, Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tactics on the PS2.
...Oh, and also I casually spent over 300+ hours on UFO 50 on Steam as well, haha.
So yeah, a lot of off-switch gaming happened this year for me.
I'm surprised Zelda Echoes of Wisdom doesn't even show up anywhere . I beat that game 100%, I thought that would've taken up more time than a game like Nayuta, but I guess not.
Re: New Capcom Survey Wants To Know Your Thoughts About MvC Fighting Collection
I've heard nothing but good things about the latest few Capcom collections, but it's a bit of a shame my favourite of the old-school Capcom fighting games, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, is stuck on the not-so-great "30th Anniversary Collection". It would be nice if they updated the older collection to be on par with the newer ones.
Re: Masayuki Kato, Founder Of Nihon Falcom, Has Passed Away
ahh... I became an Ys fan relatively recently. I had a lot of fun playing through the whole series last year.
He created some lovely games for us all, many of which helped define the Japanese RPG genre in the early days.
Re: Bandai Namco Promises To Release Tales Remasters "Fairly Consistently"
Just official translations of the old ones like Rebirth or Destiny Remake or Destiny 2 would be appreciated. They don't even need to be particularly remastered, just newly translated and voiced would be fine.
Re: Nintendo Alarmo Has Received A Free Update, Here's What's Included
I can't believe the Nintendo drip-feed method is being used for a dang alarm clock
Re: Review: Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic (Switch) - One Heck Of A Ride, But With A Few Leaves On The Track
was actually thinking about getting it, but will not without touchscreen support. what a ridiculous omission, especially since this was on mobile, wasn't it?
Re: Random: Monolith Soft Showcases Piles And Piles Of Xenoblade Chronicles Scripts
They print them physically and make them into nice little books like this? Is that necessary for development, or is it done after the fact as a compilation? I would have thought everything was a digital document during development