EvilLucario

After Smash Ultimate, this was my Game of E3. Uber hyped for this game, I love me some mech action.

@Cobalt Fantastic rebuttal. Keep crying about how brain-dead you are as some faux-cynical "intellectual" that can somehow see beyond PR statements while consistently making erroneous assumptions and judgements. Unless your intent is to troll, which mission accomplished. You got me and many others.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have lunch to prepare. Ta.

@Cobalt I mean, duh? That's what a sequel is. Take what worked, refine what didn't, and try again with new content. That's literally 90% of sequels. ESPECIALLY in fighting/shooter games with a competitive edge to them, and ESPECIALLY in a series that revers its past history. What's Smash 4 if not just a quicker version of Brawl, which was just a slower version of Melee? What's Titanfall 2 if not just a more refined Titanfall 1? Street Fighter V to Street Fighter IV? Hell, even Mario Galaxy 2 to Mario Galaxy 1. Oh no, they're all ports using the base of the previous games for a new game! Call the press!

If you want to try to keep calling Ultimate a port just because so much old content is back (ignoring that old content coming back in droves is nothing new for Smash), then ignoring core gameplay changes to fix what didn't work in past games, then you're missing the forest for the trees, plain and simple.

Just because "other people can think differently" doesn't make them right.

@Cobalt Or you can listen to yourself, understand what's the difference between a port and reusing assets, then come back.

God, you are loud, annoying, and ignorant, the worst combination in this comment thread.

@Cobalt You sound like Donald Trump, trying to capitalize random words in a tantrum and trying to spout "Fake News". Listen to yourself lol.

Let's Go into debt come holiday

I got Ys VIII instead, but it's good that Octopath is also pretty damn good. I'll pick it up eventually.

Yeah I might have to pass on this unfortunately. Other games are bigger priotities for me.

I get what he means, but at the same time you can also have some really good tech that can further flesh out high-leveled play. Melee is still fantastic in casual play, it's just that people like the competitive part too, which slowly turned into a legendary part of fighting games.

Hopefully Ultimate is a great balance of Melee and Smash 4. Don't try to make Melee 2.0, just make a fun game first.

WarioWare isn't a series that magically gets better by just moving from 3DS to Switch, considering the 3DS has dual screens and a built-in microphone. If Gold was moved to the Switch, I'd imagine some changes would be required to some of the microgames. So I'm 100% fine with this being on the 3DS.

However, a WarioWare for Switch built from the ground-up, taking full advantage of the system's unique functions like the IR sensor, would also be fun. But this isn't something that just becomes better just because it's on a more powerful system.

I feel like some people underestimate the workload of localization. When you have oodles and oodles of text, getting the messages across while making them sound natural, well-written, and consistent is extremely tough. Animal Crossing, Xenoblade, Dragon Quest, these all have a ton of text that requires even more time fully adapting to a different language. Direct translations almost never work.

That said, if they're working to make sure the West gets Dragon Quest at more timely dates, then I'm all for it. Always a good thing when companies manage to be much more efficient with their output. Though since this is Square Enix, who don't really understand efficient work...

@rushiosan The only times enemies can become damage sponges is in Chapter 3 and maybe first half of 7, but even then you still have Blade/Fusion Combos to kill things. In Xenoblade 1, enemies were quick to kill because DPSing in the combat system with Shulk was nothing more than Slit Edge -> Shadow Eye -> Back Slash -> Monado Buster, get a Topple off, then just spam your red Arts in your Chain Attack to kill things or just continue Topple locking the enemy. Other characters also ended up like that, just replace Shulk's Arts with their appropriate ones. Battles were always "spam these Arts for maximum damage". The only ways you can make offensive combat really fun in Xenoblade 1 was controlling Melia (who is the best part of the combat system and is extremely fun) and choosing what type of Arts to use in a Chain Attack to either prioritize Topple locking or just mad damage by chaining the same type of Arts together. Compared to Xenoblade 2 which requires more finesse in offensive capabilities, it's no wonder that people complain about enemies being HP sponges when they don't grasp how they can fully destroy enemies by taking advantage of Blade/Fusion Combos, Chain Attacks, or simply looking at their Blade skills.

It's just as bad as people complaining about Xenoblade 1's combat being trash when all they do is keep Sharla in their party, slowing down combat in that game too, or complaining about Xenoblade X's combat also feeling spongy because they can't figure out how to properly use Overdrive.

Most of your complaints are about UI, which can be fair but has nothing to do with combat. What are you talking about XP, SP, and WP not being shown though? Were you even paying attention to your characters' heads in battle after killing enemies? It's all there.

Inns critical to XP? They're not lol, it was intended to be completely optional. If you've 100%ed Xenoblade 1, you'd know that if you did every sidequest and explored every inch of the worlds around you, the entire main game becomes even more of a cakewalk with you being grossly overpowered because of Xenoblade 1's absolutely stupid buffs when either you or the enemy is like 6+ levels higher than the other, which Xenoblade X and 2 toned down to a massive degree. While Xenoblade X drastically nerfed sidequest and exploration XP, Xenoblade 2 just makes them bonus XP to claim at any time if you so desire, which is 100% an improvement over the past two games.

And I'm sorry, but if you're getting killed by enemies only 1-2 levels higher then that speaks less of the game and more on the player. Anything in this game, even Challenge Mode's hardest challenges, can be done with Blades at D-C trust with low levels, and especially in the story where both Xenoblade 1 and 2 are cakewalks in difficulty. You should never be struggling with the common fry in either game. If you are, you need to change how you approach stuff.

Most of people's complaints about Xenoblade 2 (and by extension X) are people not bothering to understand how anything really works, thinking they can get away with faffing about like they did in Xenoblade 1 then complain that enemies have too much health and combat is "a slog and tedious".

I may be coming off as an elitist prick here, but I'm personally fed up with how much people parrot the same "combat takes forever lol" nonsense everywhere, so I apologize in advance if I come off as annoyed or rude. But it's something that really annoys me so I'm getting it off my chest here.

@Kirgo Honestly, I actually did do a second playthrough and even when I blitzed through the game and claimed no bonus XP, I wasn't ever so drastically underleveled. As long as you Chain Attack enemies and get a high multiplier, you're going to get enough XP to never need grinding at all.

Then you get into the fact that discovering Landmarks/locations also gives bonus XP, there should never, ever be a point in time where you need to grind for levels at all. You can just go from point A to point B in the story with no hassle.

@Kirgo My only (but fairly big) complaint about this game's combat is that there's not much defensive/gimmick options. Now granted, RPGs tend to not have a lot of defensive options in general, it's almost always just about offense. I'm playing Ys VIII right now and you literally only have a dodge and parry, it's all about just hitting the enemy.

But in Xenoblade's case with MMO elements further fleshing out the tank elements, Xenoblade 1 and X allowed you a more consistent defensive way of killing bosses, Xenoblade X going as far as to being able to destroy fools with reflect builds while Xenoblade 1's Arts facilitated tanking like Reyn just soaking damage while Dunban amplified his evasion with how much auras he had at his disposal. Xenoblade 2 doesn't have that as much, but to make up for it the offense game is almost the best it has ever been (narrowly losing the edge to Xenoblade X because Overdrive was so fun to use), drastically shortening the amount of time waiting between Arts (sans Overdrive in Xenoblade X) and adding the layers of combat with Blade/Fusion Combos adds to the offensive game.

That's really the only complaint I have with the combat though. Everything else is fantastic. But because of that, Xenoblade X still remains as my favorite combat system since it had everything done really well instead of just offense done amazingly.

People saying the battles take forever and combat is tedious don't even know how to play properly lol. 80% of complaints I see of the combat just revolve around people sucking. And I'm surprised so many people are wondering why this is a thing when more personalized difficulty options for those that want to make it as easy as possible or as hard as possible is always good. The default difficulty options already do a fine enough job anyway, so I'll be using this for a third playthrough on the hardest settings possible.

Hopefully he does a great job. New blood in Nintendo has done wonders for Nintendo

All it just needs is 60fps. Metroid prides itself on being beautiful yet staying at 60fps except on the 3DS, and the 3DS was filled with 30fps games normally from developers that prioritize 60fps like Mario 3D Land and Kid Icarus: Uprising so that doesn't really count, especially since the Wii U and Switch continued a lot of 60/30fps trends expected from their franchises like Pikmin and Bayonetta.

Female Robin please.

@retro_player_22 Even if they were censored (which I doubt), you're ignoring the other things like upscaling emulation of Xbox One X's backwards compatibility that leaves the games untouched but at a higher resolution and framerate, and you said "Wii U version of Bayonetta" when I actually said "Switch version".

Your blanket statement of all ports being worse than the original is just flat out wrong, especially when we have ports/remasters that completely bring the entire game over except just unarguably better like Ocarina of Time 3D.

@retro_player_22
> Ports have never been better than the original

You've never played Bayonetta 1 and 2 on Switch? Runs better than their original versions on Xbox 360 and Wii U respectively with no screen-tearing and better framerates. Bayonetta 1 on PC can also run at 4K and the highest settings at a locked 60fps. Backwards compatibility with Xbox One X to 360 games enhance performance, like Bayonetta 1 and Red Dead Redemption. And everything else from there like The Last of Us to PS4, compilations like Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on PS3/360, etc.

It may have been true back then, but times have changed as the video game industry evolves. Porting games to more powerful hardware has often granted better visuals and performance more often than not, and those going backwards are those simply adapting the game to fit weaker hardware.

@roboshort I'm talking about third-parties. Nintendo always gets the most out of every system they make, what with them getting Odyssey out at 60fps and BotW as vast as it is with barely any loading times and a mostly stable 30fps.

Doom and Wolfenstein II also have multiple advantages to them. First off, they were initially 60fps games. Cutting the framerate in half already reduces a ton of requirements. Outlast 1 and 2 also have that despite looking remarkably close to the PS4/Xbox versions. Secondly, id Tech 6 is extremely scaleable and well-optimized, which unlike other engines like Frostbite can work fine on the Switch.

So really Doom and Wolfenstein, with all that in mind, are what we can reasonably expect from AAA demanding games.

The fact that it runs at a higher framerate than Doom is pretty damn impressive. This and Doom really shows the upper-bounds of what's possible for third-party games.

Of course, I'm expecting 60fps and at least 800p-900p docked with Metroid Prime 4, considering Metroid (except on the 3DS) was always 60fps, even Other M.

Likely just another PR move. Remember how the DS wasn't the GBA successor?

I don't expect a true successor. I do expect a Switch Mini, however.

Not in 10 years. Too early for that.

Maybe way, WAY down the line. But that future isn't now.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Only in gameplay did we see changes. In performance/graphics, things have been going almost completely as normal. 3D Zelda was traditionally 30fps after Wind Waker (Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask were 20fps), 3D Mario was traditionally 60fps after Galaxy 1, Xeno starting with Xenogears to Xenoblade 2 was always 30fps, Splatoon keeps its 60fps, Yoshi is still 60fps despite using Unreal Engine 4, Smash always targetted 60fps even on the 3DS, Pokemon downgraded to 30fps for good after going 3D, etc. The only differences is Kirby regressing to 30fps with Star Allies after even the 3DS games and Return to Dream Land ran at 60fps, when the only other Kirby game to run at 30fps was Kirby 64.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Metroid always targetted 60fps. Prime 1-3 was always 60fps with no dips at all. Even Other M targetted 60fps. The only 30fps Metroid games are on the 3DS with Federation Force and Samus Returns, and the 3DS is notoriously weak. Remember Mario 3D Land running at 30fps when 3D Mario since Galaxy 1 targetted 60fps?

Metroid has historically been 60fps AND graphically impressive. We'll see how Prime 4 goes, but from how Metroid has been on home consoles, I have faith it'll be 60fps while being very beautiful.

Nowadays I'm leaning towards docked, but I hate playing on TVs. Instead, I play on my monitor with no input lag, a closer image, and I can play in my room with no hassle.

Handheld is still very often used though. Being able to play BotW and Xenoblade 2 wherever I want is simply magical.

What the hell even is this? This is a big duh.

Not in four years, hell no.

But far, far off in the future, like 20-30 years? I can perhaps see that. But it'll never be 100% no matter how close it'll be, because there will always be those who want to keep physical alive and kicking as a retro way that has enough advantages for people to salivate over.

"Oh man, I wonder how the Internet is going to react to Samus's bust getting shrunk."

Instead: "WHY IS SNAKE'S BUTT GONE????"

Ah man, I laughed so hard when I saw people complaining about both though. I mean, I love their older designs too, I just find it extremely funny.

That's fantastic, Aces is great.

They're finally letting Yoshi go after his tax evasion debacle.

I don't mind the omission, but surely at least add "real rules" for local multiplayer and online with friends.

Tournaments should stick to what it is currently though. I don't want to play a full game online with randoms as that would just take way too long as a commitment. Quicker games are best for online play.

Unfortunately I won't be buying this, but if you want to get this game and you want it physical, it's 100% worth it.

It's funny how they said the new localization patch would be on the Switch version Day 1.

Then the game releases and it's not like that.

Ah well, I still pre-ordered so I won't be losing too much sleep. I'll just wait for the first patch by playing Mario Tennis Aces (which is in one hour 30 minutes, hype!!!!)

Calling it a shot against Sony is a stretch, but not implausible so whatever. Still funny as hell.

I'm just chuckling at that when Nintendo is ahead of Sony in terms of one part of online, you know Sony is tripping.

Already pre-loaded Mario Tennis Aces. But I'm gonna get Ys VIII as well. That's gonna be fantastic!

Mother 3 is so damn good. Among the best RPGs ever. If they'd brought it to the Switch, I'd actually legit pay $60 for it.

This is one of the pinnacles of Metroidvania imo. Between this, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Symphony of the Night, these are the cream of the crop. Double-dipped on this game immediately.

Managed to do another 100% playthrough on the Switch, this time within 21 hours and it was worth every penny. Team Cherry is undercharging for this wonderful game. They could sell this as a $60 game and I would have no qualms about it.

Sounds good. Xenoblade 2 is the same deal (except sidequests can go up to like 150 hours), so Octopath being the same sounds fantastic.

@rjejr The Xenoblade 2 DLC can be bought as a separate cartridge, so you can play it without the base game. It's basically a full game on its own. And apparently (not sure on this), it still comes with a code for the other bits of the DLC so if you end up buying Xenoblade 2 the full game, you can use that too.

Nice video. One indie game I'll put out there is Blaster Master Zero. Certainly it's flawed in that it's too easy, but it's still an enjoyable experience.

It would be cool, but it would definitely be hard if the game is fairly demanding. This isn't a game you can realistically just cut to 30fps. Doom and other FPS games can afford to run at 30 because other big games have (Destiny), but fighting games? No way.

It looks so stupid, and that's why I'm liking what I seeing. But I have other games to play.

Yeah, but what about Freedom Planet 2? That's something I'd imagine people also want when that gets released.

Congrats to BotW, well deserved.

It's battle royale, I can't bring myself to care. But more excuses for others to buy a Switch is always welcome.

Xenoblade 2 and Octo Expansion topping the list pleases me immensely.

@JHDK For people like us who like to keep on track of everything, yeah. For everyone else that doesn't care too much, it can be very hard to keep up or even remember much of older yet good games. I see better labels and sections as a boon to increase functionality for the average consumer, not just the enthusiasts.

Honestly even after killing all of your allies, it's no big deal in terms of difficulty. A lot easier than NES Castlevania honestly, even if you make things harder on yourself. And if you don't, this game is pretty easy with Miriam's whip taking up like 25% of the screen. Seriously, she's like an extremely powerful Belmont. Everyone is just ridiculously powerful too.

The biggest challenge in this game are the bosses, where you have to really memorize their patterns. But because of that, once you memorize them they become pretty braindead.

I can agree with a 8/10 rating. Won't be for everyone, but for me the difficulty is a bit low for a Classicvania game. Then again, a part of that may be that I've been playing Castlevania for years so I know how everyone controls and plays like the back of my hand.

Rip Pauline

I thought the game on 3DS was ok, but perhaps a big reason was the framerate being completely awful, running at like 10 FPS. Worse if 3D was turned on lol. Perhaps the smooth 60 FPS would be enough to make the game feel good and fun to play.

Also the story was just flat-out bonkers, and I'm not sure if I mean that in a good or bad way.

That said I do remember enjoying it, so at least there's that.

This game. I need it. It looks like Classicvania back in action! Also so can't wait for Ritual of the Night.

Hopefully it's not too easy like Blaster Master Zero was.