Expa0

I'm teetering between a 6 and a 7, just like with OT1 even though overall I'd say this is the better game between the two.

Compared to OT1 the world is considerably more vibrant and interesting to explore and the storylines feel a bit less formulaic. the art's nice to look at and the music's at least as good as the soundtrack on OT1 which was already quite good.

However the game does fall into many of the same trappings as the first OT, the dungeon are still as dull as they ever were with really nothing to differentiate them from each other, no events or traps or gimmicks or set pieces or anything, the break system largely encourages sweeps which are particularly sad with the boss encounters when the bosses barely even get a chance to do their thing, similarly while the game's open ended nature is nice for how you can explore at your own leisure it's also inevitably going to trivialize large portions of the game since there's no level scaling of any kind, it's pretty lame honestly. Also while it is fun to run around pickpocketing NPCs and whatnot I do feel like there really should some bigger concecuences for failing the rolls than just having to pay a small price at a bar to completely clean the sheet, I donno really how it should be done but I'd like to see the entire system revamped somehow if they do plan on making more sequels.

Mostly just Octopath Traveler 2 still, I think I'm around 25 hours in and I've just been haphazardly exploring and doing the character chapters I've come across in a wildly random order, I just recruited the final character, the merchant.

Just like OT1 I feel like the main battle system with the break system isn't particularly great especially for boss battles, I feel like the bigger damage oughta be reward enough, it's just way too easy to completely nullify the bosses, I've never really been too huge for this sort of removing enemy turns systems, just feels like it kind of dummies it down, similarly just by its open ended design large portions of the game you're going to be playing completely overleveled, I feel like this is one game that would greatly benefit from some degree of level scaling system.

But the world exploration has been fun, I think the world is a fair bit more interesting than the one in OT1 (though the dungeons are still extremely lacking in personality) and the music and the art style are both pleasing still and while some of the stories do ham up the villains a bit too much for my tastes I've still generally been enjoying the short stories and they don't feel quite as formulaic as the ones in OT1.

So far I'm gonna it's a touch better experience than OT1 has but as I expected it is still falling to mostly all the same pitfalls, still I've been enjoying it well enough nonetheless.

I loved the Gen 2 Pokemon one with the title screen music from those games.

In my 3rd playthrough of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne as I was going through the Amala Labyrinth doing one of those diving minigames where you're supposed to avoid the rocks as you're falling I accidentally hit one of the buttons and learned that you in fact can punch through the rocks in those minigames and don't need to just avoid everything, I never even considered that was an option, I facepalmed pretty hard at that point.

Octopath Traveler 2 Just started the 3rd character, this priest boy's chapter 1 after having done the prologue for the Thief and the Scholar.

Early impressions towards the game have actually been quite positive, I think the game has a bit more personality than the first game had, maps feel less generic and there's some things of interest even in the overworld areas, I've enjoyed exploring the world, talking to the NPCs and then cleaning everyone off their valuables with the thief character, it's doubly fun when you talk to some orphan girl who's like "I finally got some bread and it's not even moldy!" and then you just pick that off her, we're the good guys after all, we need the bread more than she does.

Though on a more serious note while I enjoy the general vibe of the story I think they're going a bit too far when they're potraying the villainous characters, they're so overtly cruel and irredeemable that it comes of a bit comical for a story that seemingly tries to take itself pretty seriously.

Though I did also enjoy OT1 more at the beginning and it was later when its shortcomings started to become more apparent. Just like OT1 though the soundtrack so far has been fantastic, that's something that I'll never take away from the game.

Ended up picking Throne the thief, she has a cool design, is very easy to the eyes and the ability to steal stuff off NPCs is fun, apparently they removed the locked chests mechanic so there's no need to pick her for that but w/e.

Headed up to the scholar who ended up being my 2nd character. Jeeze I'm gonna need someone a bit less gloomy and serious for my 3rd unit I think.

Honestly I still have no idea, game's gonna unlock on steam in a few hours, waiting for that currently.

I do know it's not gonna be the samurai or the cat girl.

I've got the physical copy on pre-order, I think it's coming around somewhere early march over here. I've got Theatrhythm and Octopath 2 to work with, I can deal with not having the game for a bit.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line It's so good, there's some minor annoyances between a few tracks having parts of them cut (one winged angel) and I could go on and on about tracks which are not in the game but it's just so much fun to play especially not that its on the big screen, and the series quest "forcing" me to play through all the music tracks and games I don't care about actually made me discover a few really nice tracks that I would never have tried otherwise, like turns out that my least favorite game of all time, Final Fantasy 13 actually does have a pretty damn fine battle theme in Blinded by Light and Crystal Chronicles soundtrack which I've never heard anyone speak much of had some real bangers too.

I've managed regain my minute skills to the point where I can deal with an average ultimate difficulty track now in a passable enough manner, you have to multitask a whole lot more with the buttons in this one compared to Curtain Call and holding a button whilst doing something else with other buttons and then releasing the held button at the right timing seemed impossible at first but it's surprising how quickly one can adapt.

I find the dread suit ugly and I don't like the fusion suit either.

The Prime costume with the massive shoulder pads is my favorite.

@FantasiaWHT
Wow jeeze I would not have caught that if not for this post, this is some pretty wicked, fun art.

I got a GBA SP at some point, it isn't even all that many years ago, I wanted to get it just so I do have a way to play all the Gameboy series games with a backlight, but turns out ***** me should have done more research because apparently I got an older model with a really dim backlight, apparently the later ones have multiple levels of backlight to choose from which I'd assume the highest level at least would be better than the one in the early edition SP.

I had the Gameboy Color and then later original model GBA as a kid, I didn't mind the lack of backlight back then but those systems would be completely unplayable to me these days.

I can't believe its happening, cannot wait!

"I say" is always a good time.

@DrewBA77
Turning the sound to mono removes the tin can effect and IIRC it's only the first disc that has the bug to begin with.

Wow okay that is a big disappointment, IDK I guess I'll just settle for replaying the originals instead.

@ryuuryuunonoroi
No there hasn't been any such announcement but I can tell with my eyes, I've played these games before and I know the art of these games well enough.

Best thing out of the direct for sure. Being able to play these on the big screen and (judging from the japanese trailer) with a proper auto map that actually fills in the walls too has been a dream of mine. EO3 in particular is one of the best dungeon crawlers ever made in my eyes.

@Andyv01
What do you mean? All the character artwork is the exact same, just higher res + one additional portrait for each class.

The earlier part of the direct was a flop but then suddenly they started rapid firing interesting stuff almost back to back Advance Wars finally out of limbo, Prime Remaster (that actually looks like effort was put in), Remasters for both Baten Kaitos games, great stuff.

But the show stealer for me was the Etrian Odyssey Trilogy, being able to play these games on the big screen has been a dream of mine. EO3 in particular is such a top tier dungeon crawler. And looking at some of the japanese trailers the automapping actually fills in the walls now too which is such a great thing, depite always been touted as the big series feature, I never was too big on the map making, it was cute, sure, for a little while but for such a long game it gets very tedious.

In short great direct this was. Funny how every exciting announcement in the direct is just a rerelease though.

Guess we here at Nintendolife are just gonna ignore Etrian Odyssey remasters then, lol. That was the big one for me especially for 3 that I'd say is the best game in the series yet was the only one that had never gotten an enhanced 3DS port or anything. Looking at some of the japanese trailers it looks like the auto mapping is finally filling all of the map, walls and all which is all I ever asked, the map making always just slowed the pacing down imho. The trilogy is also coming to Steam which'll be the version I'm getting.

I only believe it once I have the game in my hands.

I was actually rolling my eyes at first because I was expecting a slightly touched up port at best as has been the Nintendo way with these things most of the time, but they actually did seem to go full in and properly upgrade the textures and make the game look nice, yeah I'll get it, sure, it's been forever since I've last played MP1 anyway, would love to see 2 get the same treatment too.

Nice, I used to love these games and I'm sure I'll still get a lot of enjoyment out of them, for the beatiful soundtrack if nothing else.

I wonder if they're gonna redo the voice acting because uh.. The first game could probably use a redo.. Origins doesn't though, that one had a really stellar performance.

'd love to play some Super Metroid on that one.

Dealing with RNG is all about giving yourself the best possible odds, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not simple as that.

In a game like Fire Emblem I see a lot of people complaining about the times when they got killed by a 15% hit rate attack or whatever, then on the same not complaining when they miss an 80% hit rate attack, people always like to focus on the "oddities", because those are what you remember, when everything goes at it is "supposed to" people don't make note of that.

Though in Pokemon I still firmly believe that pressing Up and B in rhythm with the Pokeball shaking as you're catching Pokemon increases your odds of a succesful catch, I will never let that one go.

I couldn't tell ya, after Theatrhythm the entire year looks pretty bleak to me on all consoles.

It's one of those times where its good to have an infinite backlog.

Soo very excited for this! I've been purposefully keeping myself from playing the 3DS Theatrhythm even since this was announced so I'm starving for this and having it on the big screen now is gonna be so nice. I don't even mind paying the exorbitant price for the complete edition or w/e it's called, I know it's gonna be worth it for me.

None, I'd rather see them brought as purchasable games instead of being wasted on this crummy rental service.

Diddy Kong Racing is one of my all time favorite games though and Rare's best game.

I've seen this a few times, it's kind of charming how it all comes together even with such a crude artstyle.

Though when it comes to Wario Land-likes I'm way more hyped for Antonblast, which I loved the demo so much I ended up backing it.

Yeah I knew of it, I was a kid back then so I had time to experiment and try out dumb stuff like this. Donno if I ever really used it to avoid battles specifically though.

@Matroska
I would appreciate if you didn't try to tell me what my standards should be. I disagree about the value of the items, I disagree about the comparison BOTW because the other is an adventure game (not that I'd appreciate the game forcing a free knight armor into my invetory at the start of the game in that game either) the other is an SRPG that at its base is specifically built on making the best use of the limited resources the game gives you, the modern titles do also account more for those who like to grind sure, but that is how I like to play Fire Emblem and that is what makes them interesting to me.

However all that is mostly irrelevant, my point stands, I should have an option to decline the handout, it has been an option every game in the series so far that has had stuff like it, there is no reason for it to not be in this one.

Well at the same time they should add a NPC to the game whom you receive all the free handout gifts from instead of just throwing them to the player whether they want them or not, because - believe it or not - there are people who care about balance in their games, I don't want any stupid free steel weapons before they're actually available in the campaign, nor do I want any free money. Sure you can get rid of it by discarding the weapons and just buying like 6 heal staves and then tossing those but it's still annoying and even worse there's still the 10 steel ignots which there is no way to get rid of so now I always need to remember not to use them. And that was just Gift Update "1" implying there's gonna be more.

I'd have zero issue with any of it if you could just simply opt to not receive those gifts, as it is it's pretty big anmoyance especially if there's gonna be more items that you cannot get rid of like master and second seals or more forging materials.

I've made it up to Chapter 8 now, how highly I rate in entirely hinges on whether or not the game does end up being beatable in the way I am playing, without utilizing the rings and the engage mechanic on Hard/Classic without using the Somliel Base.

If I make it through and the map design does stay as solid as it has for the most part been so far (post the first few tutorial maps) then I'd say we're looking at 7 or 8 and it would earn a place in my list of "good" Fire Emblem games, if not then it's a 1. I really just cannot stand the engage mechanic and hate everything it stands for and I'd rather just sell the game than play with it. Without the rings the main gameplay has been a blast, decent level of challenge, maps could use some more depth to them but it's not too bad, I like that there's no freaking pair up or forced time wasting chores to do, I like that there's a Jeigan unit in the game once again and I like that the units have actual pre-determined classes and bases again and aren't just blank slates. Break mechanic is surprisingly smart, removing some of the value from the enemy phase and making the player phase more important.

The characters, story and dialogue are embarrasingly bad and the kind of overtly wacky kiddy anime style and wibe is a big turn off, but the skip button exists so I can deal with it, music has been pretty weak for the series standard.

@AtlanteanMan
I agree with just about everything you say, Fire Emblem definitely deserves better than this, but I can't help that the base gameplay of this series is fun enough for me that I can ignore the massive turd that's sitting there right next to me (at least when I play with some house rules, the engage mechanic is just too silly for me).

It does help that I've never been one to value storylines much, they can enhance the experience but they're hardly necessary, this games' story & characters are so bad that they actually do hurt the game. but turning of the voices and skipping the cutscenes allows me to alleviate that.

The somliel, whatever, is a part of the game, yes but I've spent less than 10 minutes total in that place. Unlike 3 Houses it really isn't mandatory at all.

@FantasiaWHT
You most definitely do not need to use the base, I've been playing on Hard/Classic without even using the ring mechanic whatsoever and I've been doing just fine, only time I visited the base was to forge weapons, nothing else.

Though admittedly none of it really has any place in a SRPG to begin with, I can definitely understand why anyone would be peeved.

@BlackMayge
Speaking of here's another great tip, you can press start to skip cutscenes.

Has been working wonders for me.

Here's a classic trick that works in almost every Fire Emblem, including this one: You can use the trade command in battle to change an another units weapon around, for example you can first use a unit to attack with a more powerful Steel Lance on the player phase, and then you can have another unit trade with them but instead of switching around items between the units, you just move the desired weapon to the units top slot which makes them equip it, for example in that way you can have the unit wield a Javelin for the enemy phase which makes them ready to counterattack enemies from both up close and from range. Quite useful.

Well I kind of hate myself for it but despite all my incessant complaining I decided to purchase the new fire emblem game after all when I happened on it on the store shelf, I feel weak and ashamed but the prospect of there being a decently large roster of units and the game perhaps being beatable without utilizing the rings ended up being interesting enough for me to get it. I went hard classic, there's been a whole bunch of circle jerking for the dingus main character at every opportunity and it definitely feels like Fates all over again as expected. Oh well thankfully the skip button exists.

But the gameplay seems solid enough so far, of course the maps have been basically just tutorials still. Chain attacks and whatever are kind of annoying but I guess I'll deal with it. Just unlocked the base which I've been told can be mostly ignored, I'll try to figure out a way to get the freaking ring off the main character and continue on.

Kinda nice to have a good ol' Jeigan unit in the party after such a long time since Gunter in Fates was such non-character.

I figured I'll try to do it without the rings, grinding, rewind and utilizing the base, maybe I'll allow the (ingame) gatcha rings if it starts to feel impossible. If even that doesn't work I'll prolly just sell it.

Absolutely, if they remove the weapon system BotW had I'm gone. Aside from the open world exploration it was my favorite aspects of the game. Having to go back to just lame sword would be such a step back.

I wonder if the apothecary in this game is as bonkers broken as the one in the first game.

When I think deckbuilding and action game at the same time, my mind always leads to punching the opponent in the face when they're shuffling their deck.

Tekken 3 - The penultimate boss, Heihachi in arcade mode back when I was a kid, I was raging hard back then, he was the one big roadblock that kept me from unlocking more characters and endings, and then the real final boss of the game, Ogre is a total joke in comparison.

@nhSnork
I'd absolutely love to see Baroque getting localized, it's the OG saturn/ps1 version too as I recall. The remake was cool but the crusty graphics and the old soundtrack work so much better for the kind of bizarre atmosphere it has going on.

Of course, just when I had bought the original a few months ago... Oh well.

LOOK AT MEEEE!!!

Ahem, loved EWatLO game back in the day and Origins was a very solid sequel as well, I certainly wouldn't mind a remaster but a wholly new entry would be ever better.

@nessisonett
Yeah, seriously.

Meh. I do enjoy the FE gameplay at its base, it used to be my favorite series of games for a long time and I know I'd probably get some enjoyment out this it if I just played it, skipped the cutscenes, ignored the entire ring system and turned off the voices and battle animations, but there's just so much "gringy" crap built in between the gaudy, low quality character art and the minigames that really have no place in SRPG to begin with. I would likely just get pissed off and I really don't want to give money to IS for this. There's a line for everything and this is where mine is.

That's what happens when you give an animal too much power to wield.

Yeah the soundtrack is the biggest reason why I'm most likely gonna get this, in my eyes Octopath 1 was only above average at best but its soundtrack was gold.

As I recall the whole point of Belmont's Revenge was that you were playing as a decrepit old Belmont who had already passed the torch to his successor and moved onto retirement. In that way the japanese cover definitely covers that aspect better, kind of unique.