I tried the Front Mission 1st remaster and sadly that one was a dud, extremely cumbersome and slow menus made customizing your mechs into a massive chore and the main strategy gameplay in itself was just too slow, even for me. Game had nice character art but not much else, I feel kind of bad but this wasn't the game for me.
Instead I picked Alliance Alive remastered from my backlog made it through the prologue museum stuff and got my full 4 man party now. I had mostly good memories of this one from when I played it on the 3DS and I don't really remember why I ultimately dropped it but hopefully I'll be able to remedy it this time. My only real knock against the game so far is the soundtrack, it's this weird trance techno electro garbage that sound awful and really doesn't fit the vibe of the game either, it's a real shame too because the game seems really high quality otherwise.
Yeah these will likely gonna be quiet months for me, nothing much for me since the new Fire Emblem game is looking increasingly like garbage every time I'm unfortunate enough to see it.
Waiting for February for Theatrhythm, that's the real stuff. Octopath 2 as well, I wouldn't say I loved the first game, but I'm up for a sequel even if it'll likely fall on many of the same pitfalls, just in the mood for something like that I guess.
Easily the best game in the series in my eyes (not that that in itself is saying that much). But I did like it a lot. Loved the setting and the open world and the customizable main character.
I'd love to see it on the Switch and meanwhile they could remove some of the obnoxious restrictions like being forced to bring lameass Elma and Lin on every story mission.
Played this some months ago as a decisively filler game on steam, there's some nice art, particularly that one mushroom boss (or an ent? I don't really remember) looked awesome.
You could do a whole lot worse than playing this but you could definitely do better. While somewhat more jankier a similar game to this Dead or School I liked a lot more.
I managed to get into Pokemon Violet now that I'm done with my Crusader Kings 3 campaign. I still miss the better gameplay flow of Legends Arceus and as I'm sure most have heard there are some pretty severe problems with the game on a mechanical level which do irritate myself as well, but I do still enjoy the Pokemon teambuilding at its base, and just like Arceus did, this game has finally mostly managed to shake of the feeling of it being a guided tour rather than an adventure that has plagued the main series for years now, I'm actually having tons of fun exploring and finding the weird new critters and building up my party in the process.
I've also been playing Monster Hunter Rise Sunbroke and Overwatch 2 with a friend, nothing much to say, just going through missions in MH and standing behind cover as Mercy in the latter healing and boosting my party and letting them do the heavy lifting.
Game is pretty fun I find, definitely more so than the last few main series entries at least, but it badly needed more time in the oven, gotta get thos new pokemon card and plushie sales ASAP I guess... it really is a shame Pokemon is stuck in this vicious cycle because I do feel that there are some parts and event set pieces to the game where it does feel that GF did in fact want to make a fun game but then when it looks and runs like such garbage and the lighting starts glitching out like crazy it's just embarrassing.
I've only got like 3 to 4 hours on it so far so I can't really review it yet, but my early impressions definitely weren't great. I didn't really feel the need to complain about Sword & Shield or Legends Arceus looking bad aside from performance issues on the latter, but this one I think just looks more blatantly bad than either of those other games and it runs even worse than Arceus ever did. Furthermore it just feels like a step back when coming from Arceus in the gameplay department. I'll start the game proper once I feel like I've had my fill of my Crusader Kings 3 campaign and see if the open worldness of it is enough to win me over.
Yeah, it really is similar but at the same times it's a really clean update compared to how the GBA AW games looked like, I really like it.
Though at the same time the lack of originality makes me kind of suspicious of the kickstarter, I'll get it for sure if it ever does get to that point, but I don't really feel too confident about supporting it.
I tried getting into the new Pokemon game but just wasn't feeling it at all, early impressions were not great, I already miss the changes Legends Arceus brough to the formula. And god, it just looks so, so bad, and runs terribly too...
As for what I'm playing Crusader Kings III which I think one of my friends got it for me last christmas, I finally decided to try and get into and holy smokes it's addictive. It's a very indepth grand strategy/sandbox type deal with a big focus on roleplay and interactions between rulers of different kingdoms rather than just playing as the kingdoms themselves. I just love how in the campaign the story just naturally writes itself, there's so many different types of events and so much stuff you can do. Love it.
Also finally was in the mood for some more Monster Hunter with friends so I bought the Monster Hunter Rise expansion which I think some like to call Sunbreak. Did our first session yesterday starting tackling some of the old monsters in the new master rank difficulty as well as some giant lobster, I was very confused with the controls at first but after just a few missions muscle memory started kicking in and I was back to my 170 hours-spent-on-game-self. Finally getting an opportunity to try out the Light Bowgun which I started to enjoy just as I was done with the vanilla campaign. Sword & Shield is still my main though and Great Sword is incredibly satisfying even if its kinda tough. Lance & Bow will probably be more in the backburner for now.
I got a copy of the game when I bought my US 3DS many years ago but I've had zero interest in playing it. I gave Color Smash a try after enjoying Origami King way more than I thought I would, but the Wii U game did nothing for me either. Origami King I honestly do consider to be bit of a flawed masterpiece, only held back by the series just having an identity crisis.
In my opinion they should just ditch the fake turn-based RPG stuff altogether and just make a fun action adventure game instead because clearly that's where their heart is.
Saturn for sure, that's one of the more elusive video game systems out there, there's stuff like Shining Force 3, Shining the Holy Ark and Albert Odyssey which definitely deserves to see the light of day elsewhere.
I could get two or three skins which are years old in Overwatch 2 or I could instead use just about the same amount of money for a brand new full length game of my choice.
I've been playing this Fire Emblem clone called Lost Eidolon on steam, it's mostly taking its notes from the switch fire emblem, 3 Houses, which structurally and otherwise I don't really care for but I guess this game's been alright just because I still do enjoy the FE gameplay at its base. Probably not something I'd likely recommend though, it lacks a lot of the clarity and polish that FE has and I do find the UI terrible.
Have also been playing a few session of Vampire Survivor, which while fun in short bursts I don't think I've gotten addicted to it in the same way some have. Good value for what it is though.
But for the weekend itself I'll be visiting my friends in the capital, probably going to be enjoying some party & board games and watching some bad horror movies for halloween.
I played it and it was fine, but I definitely wouldn't say that I "enjoyed every moment of it". As I understand this is supposed to be a professional site so I'd appreciate if there's gonna be a dumb poll that it wouldn't be loaded like this one.
I quite enjoyed 999, I played quite a bit of this but eventually just grew bored, didn't help that the european version had forced japanese voice acting for some reason.
Still continuing with Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, just made it through a godawful sewer dungeon that just went on and on and on and finally gained access to the 4th, and if the menus are to be believed, last main area of the game.
Even with the sewer being a bit of a downer and the game being kind of jank at points, it's nonetheless been a pretty great experience overall.
Those are the ones I've played, Nintendo 64 is where the series was at its strongest, 1 has the best soundtrack but the awful stick spinning minigames kind of hurt it, 3 just oozes with content and mechanics, and the boards are so intrigate and fun. Most of the Gamecube Mario Partys kind of blend in together for me and I couldn't tell you which one I preferred of the top of my head, but 4 I never cared for, it was slow, the minigames were kind of lame and compared to the N64 Mario Parties the boards just lacked in personality.
Superstars and SMP are both decently fun but sorely lacking in boards, especially with the latter just having kind of uninteresting boards altogether, both do have a great selection of minigames. 10 was just plain bad, it was like the weird board game mode in Smash 4 Wii U, nothing you did mattered.
Not into Bayonetta whatsoever so none of this really has any effect on me.
Though honestly I don't really get what the big deal is, voice actors don't own the characters they're voicing, if the voice actor doesn't think she's paid enough then she's free to walk away, and platinum is free to hire anyone they wish for the role. I'm sure someone else would be thrilled to have the bayonetta VA in their project so I'd suggest she just move on and stop being petty.
Played through the first and second game after one of my friends bought it for me for christmas, really fun high quality visual novels with some nice music.
Asked for something thematically accurate to play on halloween, got a bunch of nice recommendations but the game I ended up with was Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, a western RPG set on modern times with sort of an undercover vampire society going around with a bunch of different clans of vampire, one which you become part of. It's got character stat sheets going on, a small overworld area from which you pick up missions to do from which you continue the main story and gain exp from which you get to power up your character. A particular highlight so far a mission where you went to stop a haunting in haunted hotel, quite cool stuff. Game has tons of character and atmosphere, mechanically it's apparently super broken by default but the recommendation came with a fan-made unofficial patch that fixes the game in a big way.
Still into Overwatch 2 also, bunch of fun with friends. Been trying to get into Doomfist lately but I donno if that's been working out so great for me.
Out of these I'm gonna go with Kraid's Lair, I prefer the Zero Mission version of it, it is a top tier track.
I cited Link to the Past Dark World theme as my favorite Nintendo track in the last article but as I had more time to think there's definitely some strong contenders in Mining Melancholy from Donkey Kong Country 2 and Lower Brinstar from Super Metroid.
I'm quite glad that demos have become so much more common than they used to be. I'm not really into playing demos of games which I know for sure I would like, but sometimes there's stuff like the recent Diofield Chronicles or Harvestella demos which I never would have even tried if not for the demo, and for the latter I actually enjoyed it to the point where I do want to get it.
Not really interested in new entries after BD2 and I suppose just in general I'm not really into these types of JRPGs where practically the only gameplay comes from the boss battles.
Can't wait, easily my most hyped game at the moment. And speaking of Mystic Quest it's been confirmed that that one's getting a few new tracks too in addition of the two battle tracks in the 3DS entry, The awesome Doom Castle theme is in as well as the Final Battle theme.
I kind of hate to go for something so "obvious" but I'm gonna have to go with the Dark World overworld theme in the Link to the Past, it's such a catchy and memorable track. Only the original version that is, I still haven't heard an arrangement, official or otherwise, that does it proper justice.
I'm hoping I can finish up Shining in the Darkness on the weekend, I've had an absolute pain of a week and I've barely had any time or energy to do anything, I've beaten the 4 trials and I've made it through the 2nd floor of the 5 floor main labyrinth.
Also have been playing the new Overwatch 2 which I did get shockingly into the old Overwatch just a few months back, I've never been one for FPSs before, especially the online kind, but this series just works for me. It is quite a lot of fun to play, especially when teaming up with a friend.
All I can say about this game is that I hated it so much that it made me sell my entire 3DS library at that point (which to be fair was only 3 games), one of the worst games I've ever played and an insult to the classic Resident Evil 4 merc mode.
@Royalblues
I'm kicking myself for forgetting Phantasy Star 3 from my list, that's definitely a game I feel gets hated on way too much, I personally prefer it to Phantasy Star 2 at the very least.
Simon's Quest is another good one someone mentioned, game has some questionable design choices but I think it's fun to play and I'd argue it has the best soundtrack of all the NES Castlevania, including the mansion theme which might just be my favorite Castlevania track of all time.
I guess I could also drop Suikoden 4 in here, most seem to consider the weakest of the main series Suikoden games and I can see why, game's awkwardly barren to the point where it feels unfinished, the ship sailing world map is slow, annoying to control and boring and its the only main series game that drops the party size to 4 instead of 6, a big flop for a game with like 60+ playable units.. But in spite of all that I l quite like this game, and if it wasn't for the 4 unit limit I'd argue it as the 2nd best game in the series.
7th Saga also is another I can think of, I think a lot of people are turned off by the difficulty but I think its a solid old school JRPG with some interesting ideas and an awesome soundtrack.
Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter seems to have a very mixed reception, some people absolutely hate it, others love it, there doesn't seem to be much in between, I first played it this year and I can safely say that I think it's a fantastic and a very unique game, it's also a rare case where I actually got invested into a game's story.
I guess to name a few I can think of I will never admit to it being trash personally, but I've seen plenty of people hating on Parasite Eve 2 meanwhile for me it is an all time favorite. Mystic Quest I love for the soundtrack, not that, that's a particularly hot take or anything... Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon both the original and especially the DS remake of it I find to be the finest game in the whole series, I donno if too many people love them quite to that degree.
Playing Shining in the Darkness through the Sega Megadrive Collection, an old school dungeon crawler RPG. I've previously been rather intimidated by these types of RPGs when they do not feature a proper automap, basically forcing you to draw one of your own (or look up a readily made one on the web if you're lame), but I finally decided to take up the challenge and honestly it's been surprisingly fun in its own weird way, definitely does add a degree of immersion to it all. The game itself is fine, kind of barebones and sorely lacking in music variety but it's got the fundamentals and I think it does have a charming look to it at least.
Bleh, not really a fan of them bringing back the old characters in this way, just make each game be their own thing and keep all the dumb fanservice stuff to the mobile game.
As for the ring system the best feature about it seems to be that its optional as far as I can tell.
Played through the demo now and shockingy enough I actually quite liked it, way moreso than I though, it plays like an action dungeon crawler, reminds me a lot of Dark Cloud on PS2 (though unlike that there's no randomly generated layouts) with some small vibes of Etrian Odyssey to it too. You run through maze like levels, fight enemies, find treasure, gather materials, unlock short cuts, and open hidden paths, some of which require you to bring additional consumable tools to unlock. There's a bunch of resource management going on and even though it does have a very basic action combat system, success is definitely more geared on strategy and preparation than actual action games skills which I personally quite like,
So far it seems like the farming stuff is merely a means to an end to help with the dungeon rather than the main attraction, you plow the land, plant some seeds on the ground and then reaps the rewards a few ingame days later, there's a simple box in which you can then dump your crop and you'll automatically gain some moolah the next day or alternatively you can eat them to regain some of your hunger meter (there does also seem to be some form of animal farming as well which I think was available in the demo but I didn't go for the animal expansion in the town).
In addition of HP the game does have a hunger meter and a stamina meter, latter of which empties out whenever you do basically anything, it does slowly recover if you have anything on your hunger meter, there's also an ingame time limit, which does constantly tick down, there's a limited amount of time in each day which you can spend on farming or dungeon crawling or visiting the town, once the clock hits 12PM or you get knocked out by an enemy you lose conciousness and end up in your home bed, you do not lose any of your items but you do have to pay a small doctors fee and you start out the next day at 12am as opposed to 6am if you went to bed manually. in the demo you had to play the game up to the end of Chapter 2 or alternatively it would end if you made it up to Day 15 (I was a day 10 when I finished the demo). I'm not entirely sure how the bigger picture of the game is going to play out, if there's gonna be a hard time limit to that but If there is then I figure it's probably gonna be fairly lenient,
And while the game does look quite nice and has a fairly strong art direction I'd say, there's definitely some jank to it, in particular main character run animation is hilariously bad, why the hell is whole upper body so static and only the legs move, even Mario 64 had if better, this is also probably something exclusive to the Switch but there was some pretty noticeable slow down at times, it wasn't terrible or anything but still noticeably enough and reason enough for me to go for some other version since I do have the option, looked a bit muddy too as these 3rd party games tend to on the system. Finally the soundtrack is quite nice so I definitely enjoyed this one a lot and I'll be getting it for sure. Thanks a lot for this feature because I probably would not have tried this otherwise.
Comments 2,848
Re: Random: Scarlet And Violet Players Are Finding Shiny Pokémon Hiding In The Walls
Sometimes life isn't fair, It's a good life lesson.
Re: Anniversary: Super Famicom Favourite 'Final Fantasy V' Is 30 Years Old
Great game, one of my all time favorites, pixel remaster versions are poop. Good day.
Re: Former Retro Studios Dev Reveals "Rejected" Wii Pitch Metroid Tactics
Ah man, that would have been sick. Probably.
But nope instead we got a strategy game out of mario and freaking rabbids... Because that just makes more sense I guess...
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 3rd)
I tried the Front Mission 1st remaster and sadly that one was a dud, extremely cumbersome and slow menus made customizing your mechs into a massive chore and the main strategy gameplay in itself was just too slow, even for me. Game had nice character art but not much else, I feel kind of bad but this wasn't the game for me.
Instead I picked Alliance Alive remastered from my backlog made it through the prologue museum stuff and got my full 4 man party now. I had mostly good memories of this one from when I played it on the 3DS and I don't really remember why I ultimately dropped it but hopefully I'll be able to remedy it this time. My only real knock against the game so far is the soundtrack, it's this weird trance techno electro garbage that sound awful and really doesn't fit the vibe of the game either, it's a real shame too because the game seems really high quality otherwise.
Re: Upcoming Nintendo Switch Games And Accessories For December 2022 And January 2023
Yeah these will likely gonna be quiet months for me, nothing much for me since the new Fire Emblem game is looking increasingly like garbage every time I'm unfortunate enough to see it.
Waiting for February for Theatrhythm, that's the real stuff. Octopath 2 as well, I wouldn't say I loved the first game, but I'm up for a sequel even if it'll likely fall on many of the same pitfalls, just in the mood for something like that I guess.
Re: Soapbox: Xenoblade Chronicles X's Influence Is Bigger Than You Think
Easily the best game in the series in my eyes (not that that in itself is saying that much). But I did like it a lot. Loved the setting and the open world and the customizable main character.
I'd love to see it on the Switch and meanwhile they could remove some of the obnoxious restrictions like being forced to bring lameass Elma and Lin on every story mission.
Re: Mini Review: Sword Of The Vagrant - Solid But Unremarkable Hack-And-Slashing
Played this some months ago as a decisively filler game on steam, there's some nice art, particularly that one mushroom boss (or an ent? I don't really remember) looked awesome.
You could do a whole lot worse than playing this but you could definitely do better. While somewhat more jankier a similar game to this Dead or School I liked a lot more.
Re: Random: Players Are Finding Ways To 'Hug' And 'Kiss' Their Pokémon In Scarlet And Violet
I mean... Is it really even a glitch? It's just basic as animation that plays as intended, just with the player being in a specific position.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 26th)
I managed to get into Pokemon Violet now that I'm done with my Crusader Kings 3 campaign. I still miss the better gameplay flow of Legends Arceus and as I'm sure most have heard there are some pretty severe problems with the game on a mechanical level which do irritate myself as well, but I do still enjoy the Pokemon teambuilding at its base, and just like Arceus did, this game has finally mostly managed to shake of the feeling of it being a guided tour rather than an adventure that has plagued the main series for years now, I'm actually having tons of fun exploring and finding the weird new critters and building up my party in the process.
I've also been playing Monster Hunter Rise Sunbroke and Overwatch 2 with a friend, nothing much to say, just going through missions in MH and standing behind cover as Mercy in the latter healing and boosting my party and letting them do the heavy lifting.
Re: Frustrated Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Players Are Reportedly Getting Refunds
Game is pretty fun I find, definitely more so than the last few main series entries at least, but it badly needed more time in the oven, gotta get thos new pokemon card and plushie sales ASAP I guess... it really is a shame Pokemon is stuck in this vicious cycle because I do feel that there are some parts and event set pieces to the game where it does feel that GF did in fact want to make a fun game but then when it looks and runs like such garbage and the lighting starts glitching out like crazy it's just embarrassing.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Pokémon Scarlet And Violet?
I've only got like 3 to 4 hours on it so far so I can't really review it yet, but my early impressions definitely weren't great. I didn't really feel the need to complain about Sword & Shield or Legends Arceus looking bad aside from performance issues on the latter, but this one I think just looks more blatantly bad than either of those other games and it runs even worse than Arceus ever did. Furthermore it just feels like a step back when coming from Arceus in the gameplay department. I'll start the game proper once I feel like I've had my fill of my Crusader Kings 3 campaign and see if the open worldness of it is enough to win me over.
Re: Hands On: Demonschool Is A Love Letter To DS Games And Italian Horror Movies
Devil Survivor (1) is up there among some of my all time favorites so this is of some interest to me.
Re: Advance Wars Style Kickstarter Project Warside Targeting 2023 Switch Release
Yeah, it really is similar but at the same times it's a really clean update compared to how the GBA AW games looked like, I really like it.
Though at the same time the lack of originality makes me kind of suspicious of the kickstarter, I'll get it for sure if it ever does get to that point, but I don't really feel too confident about supporting it.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 19th)
I tried getting into the new Pokemon game but just wasn't feeling it at all, early impressions were not great, I already miss the changes Legends Arceus brough to the formula. And god, it just looks so, so bad, and runs terribly too...
As for what I'm playing Crusader Kings III which I think one of my friends got it for me last christmas, I finally decided to try and get into and holy smokes it's addictive. It's a very indepth grand strategy/sandbox type deal with a big focus on roleplay and interactions between rulers of different kingdoms rather than just playing as the kingdoms themselves. I just love how in the campaign the story just naturally writes itself, there's so many different types of events and so much stuff you can do. Love it.
Also finally was in the mood for some more Monster Hunter with friends so I bought the Monster Hunter Rise expansion which I think some like to call Sunbreak. Did our first session yesterday starting tackling some of the old monsters in the new master rank difficulty as well as some giant lobster, I was very confused with the controls at first but after just a few missions muscle memory started kicking in and I was back to my 170 hours-spent-on-game-self. Finally getting an opportunity to try out the Light Bowgun which I started to enjoy just as I was done with the vanilla campaign. Sword & Shield is still my main though and Great Sword is incredibly satisfying even if its kinda tough. Lance & Bow will probably be more in the backburner for now.
Re: Random: Forget Smash Bros., Masahiro Sakurai Wants To Talk About His Cat
Love cats, Sakurai's cat has the same colouring as mine, even got a very similar striped tail.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Name Your Pokémon?
Yeah, I name them, every single one I catch. I've done it since gen 5.
Re: Soapbox: Paper Mario: Sticker Star Was When The Series Came Unstuck
I got a copy of the game when I bought my US 3DS many years ago but I've had zero interest in playing it. I gave Color Smash a try after enjoying Origami King way more than I thought I would, but the Wii U game did nothing for me either. Origami King I honestly do consider to be bit of a flawed masterpiece, only held back by the series just having an identity crisis.
In my opinion they should just ditch the fake turn-based RPG stuff altogether and just make a fun action adventure game instead because clearly that's where their heart is.
Re: Sega Wants To Know What Mini Console Fans Would Like To See Next
Saturn for sure, that's one of the more elusive video game systems out there, there's stuff like Shining Force 3, Shining the Holy Ark and Albert Odyssey which definitely deserves to see the light of day elsewhere.
Re: Overwatch 2 Wants To Know What Players Think About Its Battle Pass, Store & Microtransactions
I could get two or three skins which are years old in Overwatch 2 or I could instead use just about the same amount of money for a brand new full length game of my choice.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 29th)
I've been playing this Fire Emblem clone called Lost Eidolon on steam, it's mostly taking its notes from the switch fire emblem, 3 Houses, which structurally and otherwise I don't really care for but I guess this game's been alright just because I still do enjoy the FE gameplay at its base. Probably not something I'd likely recommend though, it lacks a lot of the clarity and polish that FE has and I do find the UI terrible.
Have also been playing a few session of Vampire Survivor, which while fun in short bursts I don't think I've gotten addicted to it in the same way some have. Good value for what it is though.
But for the weekend itself I'll be visiting my friends in the capital, probably going to be enjoying some party & board games and watching some bad horror movies for halloween.
Re: Talking Point: The Mummy Demastered - Has A Better Game Ever Come From A Worse Movie?
I played it and it was fine, but I definitely wouldn't say that I "enjoyed every moment of it". As I understand this is supposed to be a professional site so I'd appreciate if there's gonna be a dumb poll that it wouldn't be loaded like this one.
Re: Terranigma Artist Kamui Fujiwara Releases Special Movie For 27th Anniversary
Lovely old school art. This game has probably my favorite video game story and setting of all time and it's a solid action RPG to boot.
Re: Memory Pak: 50 Shades Of Morally Grey In Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
I quite enjoyed 999, I played quite a bit of this but eventually just grew bored, didn't help that the european version had forced japanese voice acting for some reason.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 22nd)
Still continuing with Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, just made it through a godawful sewer dungeon that just went on and on and on and finally gained access to the 4th, and if the menus are to be believed, last main area of the game.
Even with the sewer being a bit of a downer and the game being kind of jank at points, it's nonetheless been a pretty great experience overall.
Re: Feature: From Hypnosis To Farts, What Happened To The Wario We Met 30 Years Ago?
Yeah, I liked the badass greedy tough guy Wario, the version of him in Warioland 4 is one of my favorite Nintendo characters ever.
I definitely don't like how his defining traits became that he's fat and gross and he has the power of farts.
Re: Nintendo Expands Its Switch Online N64 Service With Two More Titles
I can still feel the blisters on my hand...
Probably some of the most worthwhile additions on this dumb service, I think these still hold up great as party games.
Re: Random: Former Luigi's Mansion Dev Is Now Heading Up The Silent Hill Franchise
Haha, that is kind of funny. Hell I'd love a Silent Hill-like psychological horror thing featuring Luigi as the main character.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Mario Party Game?
3 > 2 > 1 > 5=6=7 > Superstars > SMP > 4 >>> 10
Those are the ones I've played, Nintendo 64 is where the series was at its strongest, 1 has the best soundtrack but the awful stick spinning minigames kind of hurt it, 3 just oozes with content and mechanics, and the boards are so intrigate and fun. Most of the Gamecube Mario Partys kind of blend in together for me and I couldn't tell you which one I preferred of the top of my head, but 4 I never cared for, it was slow, the minigames were kind of lame and compared to the N64 Mario Parties the boards just lacked in personality.
Superstars and SMP are both decently fun but sorely lacking in boards, especially with the latter just having kind of uninteresting boards altogether, both do have a great selection of minigames. 10 was just plain bad, it was like the weird board game mode in Smash 4 Wii U, nothing you did mattered.
Re: Talking Point: Given The Voice Artist Controversy, Will You Be Boycotting Bayonetta 3?
Not into Bayonetta whatsoever so none of this really has any effect on me.
Though honestly I don't really get what the big deal is, voice actors don't own the characters they're voicing, if the voice actor doesn't think she's paid enough then she's free to walk away, and platinum is free to hire anyone they wish for the role. I'm sure someone else would be thrilled to have the bayonetta VA in their project so I'd suggest she just move on and stop being petty.
Re: Danganronpa Creator Hasn't Ruled Out Returning To The Series
Played through the first and second game after one of my friends bought it for me for christmas, really fun high quality visual novels with some nice music.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 15th)
Asked for something thematically accurate to play on halloween, got a bunch of nice recommendations but the game I ended up with was Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, a western RPG set on modern times with sort of an undercover vampire society going around with a bunch of different clans of vampire, one which you become part of. It's got character stat sheets going on, a small overworld area from which you pick up missions to do from which you continue the main story and gain exp from which you get to power up your character. A particular highlight so far a mission where you went to stop a haunting in haunted hotel, quite cool stuff. Game has tons of character and atmosphere, mechanically it's apparently super broken by default but the recommendation came with a fan-made unofficial patch that fixes the game in a big way.
Still into Overwatch 2 also, bunch of fun with friends. Been trying to get into Doomfist lately but I donno if that's been working out so great for me.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Piece Of Music In A Nintendo Game?
Out of these I'm gonna go with Kraid's Lair, I prefer the Zero Mission version of it, it is a top tier track.
I cited Link to the Past Dark World theme as my favorite Nintendo track in the last article but as I had more time to think there's definitely some strong contenders in Mining Melancholy from Donkey Kong Country 2 and Lower Brinstar from Super Metroid.
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Demos - Try Before You Buy On Switch eShop
I'm quite glad that demos have become so much more common than they used to be. I'm not really into playing demos of games which I know for sure I would like, but sometimes there's stuff like the recent Diofield Chronicles or Harvestella demos which I never would have even tried if not for the demo, and for the latter I actually enjoyed it to the point where I do want to get it.
Re: Talking Point: Is The Golden Age Of Licensed Music In Games Over?
Good riddance I say, almost without exception I personally only like video game music, at least when it sounds like video game music.
Re: Bravely Default Developer Team Asano Asks Fans If They Want A New Entry
Not really interested in new entries after BD2 and I suppose just in general I'm not really into these types of JRPGs where practically the only gameplay comes from the boss battles.
Re: Square Enix Details New Quest-Based Mode For Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
Can't wait, easily my most hyped game at the moment. And speaking of Mystic Quest it's been confirmed that that one's getting a few new tracks too in addition of the two battle tracks in the 3DS entry, The awesome Doom Castle theme is in as well as the Final Battle theme.
Re: Talking Point: What's Your Favourite Music Track From A Nintendo Game?
I kind of hate to go for something so "obvious" but I'm gonna have to go with the Dark World overworld theme in the Link to the Past, it's such a catchy and memorable track. Only the original version that is, I still haven't heard an arrangement, official or otherwise, that does it proper justice.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 8th)
I'm hoping I can finish up Shining in the Darkness on the weekend, I've had an absolute pain of a week and I've barely had any time or energy to do anything, I've beaten the 4 trials and I've made it through the 2nd floor of the 5 floor main labyrinth.
Also have been playing the new Overwatch 2 which I did get shockingly into the old Overwatch just a few months back, I've never been one for FPSs before, especially the online kind, but this series just works for me. It is quite a lot of fun to play, especially when teaming up with a friend.
Re: Talking Point: It's About Time Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Came To Switch
Yeah, I played it on the PS3 through the PS Classics gatalogue, it's a really good and insanely detailed game.
I'd be up to it for it being available to more people, though if it doesn't have the cheesy OG voice acting then I personally don't care.
E: I'd love a version with all the Saturn version bonus areas and the Maria mode from that version.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
All I can say about this game is that I hated it so much that it made me sell my entire 3DS library at that point (which to be fair was only 3 games), one of the worst games I've ever played and an insult to the classic Resident Evil 4 merc mode.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
@Royalblues
I'm kicking myself for forgetting Phantasy Star 3 from my list, that's definitely a game I feel gets hated on way too much, I personally prefer it to Phantasy Star 2 at the very least.
Simon's Quest is another good one someone mentioned, game has some questionable design choices but I think it's fun to play and I'd argue it has the best soundtrack of all the NES Castlevania, including the mansion theme which might just be my favorite Castlevania track of all time.
I guess I could also drop Suikoden 4 in here, most seem to consider the weakest of the main series Suikoden games and I can see why, game's awkwardly barren to the point where it feels unfinished, the ship sailing world map is slow, annoying to control and boring and its the only main series game that drops the party size to 4 instead of 6, a big flop for a game with like 60+ playable units.. But in spite of all that I l quite like this game, and if it wasn't for the 4 unit limit I'd argue it as the 2nd best game in the series.
7th Saga also is another I can think of, I think a lot of people are turned off by the difficulty but I think its a solid old school JRPG with some interesting ideas and an awesome soundtrack.
Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter seems to have a very mixed reception, some people absolutely hate it, others love it, there doesn't seem to be much in between, I first played it this year and I can safely say that I think it's a fantastic and a very unique game, it's also a rare case where I actually got invested into a game's story.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
@BoilerBroJoe
Heck yes, N64 Goemon is a dear game to me as well, game has a ton of personality and has one of my all time favorite soundtracks.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
I guess to name a few I can think of I will never admit to it being trash personally, but I've seen plenty of people hating on Parasite Eve 2 meanwhile for me it is an all time favorite. Mystic Quest I love for the soundtrack, not that, that's a particularly hot take or anything... Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon both the original and especially the DS remake of it I find to be the finest game in the whole series, I donno if too many people love them quite to that degree.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 1st)
Playing Shining in the Darkness through the Sega Megadrive Collection, an old school dungeon crawler RPG. I've previously been rather intimidated by these types of RPGs when they do not feature a proper automap, basically forcing you to draw one of your own (or look up a readily made one on the web if you're lame), but I finally decided to take up the challenge and honestly it's been surprisingly fun in its own weird way, definitely does add a degree of immersion to it all. The game itself is fine, kind of barebones and sorely lacking in music variety but it's got the fundamentals and I think it does have a charming look to it at least.
Here's a map I drew of the Cave of Courage dungeon: https://imgur.com/a/LnLoEBK
Re: Nintendo Introduces Marth In Fire Emblem Engage
Bleh, not really a fan of them bringing back the old characters in this way, just make each game be their own thing and keep all the dumb fanservice stuff to the mobile game.
As for the ring system the best feature about it seems to be that its optional as far as I can tell.
Re: Anniversary: Dragon Quest V Is 30 Years Old Today
Played this on the DS and I also played the PS2 version just a few months ago (Which, my recommendation is to just stick with the DS version).
It's a great game for sure but personally I do prefer 4 and 3 when it comes to this series.
Re: Random: This Super Mario Maker 2 Fan Spent Seven Years Crafting 'Super Mario Bros. 5'
Just waiting for the Nintendo C&D
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Of The Harvestella Demo?
Played through the demo now and shockingy enough I actually quite liked it, way moreso than I though, it plays like an action dungeon crawler, reminds me a lot of Dark Cloud on PS2 (though unlike that there's no randomly generated layouts) with some small vibes of Etrian Odyssey to it too. You run through maze like levels, fight enemies, find treasure, gather materials, unlock short cuts, and open hidden paths, some of which require you to bring additional consumable tools to unlock. There's a bunch of resource management going on and even though it does have a very basic action combat system, success is definitely more geared on strategy and preparation than actual action games skills which I personally quite like,
So far it seems like the farming stuff is merely a means to an end to help with the dungeon rather than the main attraction, you plow the land, plant some seeds on the ground and then reaps the rewards a few ingame days later, there's a simple box in which you can then dump your crop and you'll automatically gain some moolah the next day or alternatively you can eat them to regain some of your hunger meter (there does also seem to be some form of animal farming as well which I think was available in the demo but I didn't go for the animal expansion in the town).
In addition of HP the game does have a hunger meter and a stamina meter, latter of which empties out whenever you do basically anything, it does slowly recover if you have anything on your hunger meter, there's also an ingame time limit, which does constantly tick down, there's a limited amount of time in each day which you can spend on farming or dungeon crawling or visiting the town, once the clock hits 12PM or you get knocked out by an enemy you lose conciousness and end up in your home bed, you do not lose any of your items but you do have to pay a small doctors fee and you start out the next day at 12am as opposed to 6am if you went to bed manually. in the demo you had to play the game up to the end of Chapter 2 or alternatively it would end if you made it up to Day 15 (I was a day 10 when I finished the demo). I'm not entirely sure how the bigger picture of the game is going to play out, if there's gonna be a hard time limit to that but If there is then I figure it's probably gonna be fairly lenient,
And while the game does look quite nice and has a fairly strong art direction I'd say, there's definitely some jank to it, in particular main character run animation is hilariously bad, why the hell is whole upper body so static and only the legs move, even Mario 64 had if better, this is also probably something exclusive to the Switch but there was some pretty noticeable slow down at times, it wasn't terrible or anything but still noticeably enough and reason enough for me to go for some other version since I do have the option, looked a bit muddy too as these 3rd party games tend to on the system. Finally the soundtrack is quite nice so I definitely enjoyed this one a lot and I'll be getting it for sure. Thanks a lot for this feature because I probably would not have tried this otherwise.
Re: Select Pre-Orders For Atari 50 Get Gravitar: Recharged For Free
Pre-ordered, always love extensive retro game collections, this one in particular seems like a lot of love is being put into it.
Re: Review: The DioField Chronicle - A Solid Tactical RPG That Falls Short Of Its Ambitions
@Sebos
I can confirm that you most definitely do not need to grind in Triangle Strategy, at least on the normal difficulty.