FantasiaWHT

@cvrator I worked at an EB Games when PS2 came out (college job). We definitely sold people on "that's not much more than you'd pay for a standalone DVD player".

It's fine. There's so much demand for the product that they likely can find enough buyers willing to pay for a bundle. There's people willing to pay way over market price just to get the console itself (from resellers), so why should retailers be hamstrung? For that same price the reseller is charging, you can get the console plus games/accessories from the retailer.

Manufacturers force them to sell at a particular price (ahem, vertical antitrust problem, anyone?), selling a bundle is one way they can compete and actually make money (since the consoles sell for little, if any, markup).

Where's the option for "What's Nintendo Today?" Never heard of it.

" By and large, the scripts are the same, with those less-timely jokes removed,"

Ok, more honest people, just how hard did the PC crowd hit this one? Is Kyle still permitted to be a misogynist or is he watered down?

Agreed, this is Switch 1.5. It's not inherently bad, but it's very unlike Nintendo to do something this derivative rather than innovative.

every time this article pops up

Ooh Imma play Shining Force I & II again.

No, but I noticed that you shut off comments on the article about how Trump's tariffs are negatively affecting something the vast majority of us readers are really interested in.

NL shut off comments on the Trump tariff article. What are we coming to?

@Jayenkai Both of those are good comparisons. And one of my first thoughts was "What if you put the left joycon in your right hand and vice versa, could you hold it like an ergonomic mouse to access the buttons better?" Or you could flip it around maybe.

Seems like a less-than-ideal gimmick, just like the detachable joy cons in the first place. Those things are incredibly uncomfortable to play with for more than 5 minutes, and after the initial "oh neat, look kid, we can set the Switch propped up on a table and both play", I never used it that way again.

The pearl clutching and outrage just makes me laugh. Video games are a luxury, people. If you don't like the price, don't buy it, and move on. Stop pretending that it's some kind of personal offense that things are getting more expensive.

New Horizons is so good! Such a fun open world pirate game. Played a ton of it, but never got around to doing much in the story, hah.

@Tyranexx Yeah I watched a few episodes, it was pretty bad.

"this is not the first time we've heard about Nintendo's slow reaction times to complaints like these."

Um, you are presenting zero information about how long this process is taking. Did the dev make this complaint a day ago? A week ago? A month ago?

Wow, I hated this so much. Annoying characters, terrible writing, every cliche in the world packed into the first 5 minutes. The game HAS NO MENU. At least not early in the prologue, once you start the gameplay, you have no way to quit the game without doing so from Windows, there's no way to change settings, etc. Ridiculous. Dialogue can be skipped completely but it can't be sped up/advanced.

I intentionally picked the cliched "No, I don't want to save the world" option at the first opportunity to get the game over screen so I could quit. NOPE. Dropped me right back in to the same decision point, still with no menu.

No thanks.

It's just a fancy way of raising prices slightly. Just like when they were implemented, it was a fancy way of lowering prices slightly. Take a deep breath everybody, it will be OK.

@Coolmusic I was trying to remember the name of Little Nightmares, because it reminded me of that game too

No Civ VII fans/advance purchasers?

How's the emulation of Bubble Bobble? I've seen versions that are extremely faithful and some that are almost unplayable.

@PtM I was thinking the same thing. "Sex scandal" would suggest to me something like an on-set orgy among the hosts.

People who want to sell games on the new system - OMG WE LOVE IIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

Everyone else - Is that it?

I mean, it is an underwhelming reveal. It's Switch 1.5, an iterative improvement on basically the same thing rather than what Nintendo is actually known for and good at - innovative leaps in design and function (rather than just power creep). We may be looking at another Wii U.

Wow, this is a disappointment. Nintendo has NEVER launched a next generation console with such small, iterative changes. Previously every console was significantly different in design and functionality than its predecessor. This is Switch 1.3.

Wow these are all pretty bad. I went NA solely because I hate yellow.

I'm still not convinced the rumors around what Switch 2 will look like are accurate. Nintendo has NEVER done such a small, iterative change between console generations before. It's always something remarkably new.

@Anachronism "that ultimately offer a practical benefit only to the people selling them"

Is fun not a practical benefit? This idea that the purchaser of a product or service somehow doesn't benefit is nonsensical. You wouldn't pay for it if you didn't benefit from it.

I remember playing this game, and I never had a Vita, so it must have been on the Wii. Wish I still had my copy!

Did this one have the huge framerate issues that Odin Sphere did? I loved OS so much except basically every boss fight became nearly unplayable because it slowed down so much.

Have there ever been two more disparate covers? Really hard to tell it's the same game absent the title.

@shiningpikablu252 I wondered about that too. My first exposure to Persona was those games on the Playstation.

I don't agree that AI use is "theft" at all. The learning models do the exact same thing that humans have done forever, just at a much more efficient rate - which is what all technological progress has been, from calculators to steam engines. They read or look at other forms of art and then use that - not copy it - to develop their own creations. You and I do the same thing.

I have zero problem with AI art or writing. All the whining about it sounds just like every historical complaint about new technologies "supplanting" human workers. Progress always leaves some people behind temporarily. People adapt and we're all better off because of these developments.

It's not unique or new anymore, but so what? Why I would I want them to stop? It's usually better looking than straight 2D. Devs have to be careful to make sure the 2D and 3D styles actually mesh - I have seen some games where the characters feel too disconnected from the rest of the world.

Also I could do without the lens flares.

Both are great, I gave the slight nod to Europe/NA because the blue is so striking. So unusual to have that much on a cover, it really stood out on a shelf.

I thought the live orchestra was amazing. Not just an afterthought, they gave it a lot of attention and the audience seemed to love it.

@obijuankanoobie It's a Japanese thing. I actually just read an article about it that it's not illegal but a big cultural faux pas to name a rival company publicly.

Kind of a weak year, IMO. I'd go with Unicorn Overlord (hope people don't forget about it, I know it was a while ago) or Slay the Princess.

@Inc It used to be more common, but every outlet wants to be first to have their list, so it comes earlier and earlier.

The character looks wildly disconnected from the rest of the world. It's not just the 2D/3D split, which I get is a thing, but the styles are very divergent.

I keep getting this confused with Refantazio Phantasma something or another.

I found the whole "Never call it a tri force, it's the Prime Energy" bit confusing and off-putting. Made it feel like it was super early in the timeline - so early the thing hadn't gotten its proper name yet.

@larryisaman You care enough to take the time to comment

Echoes was pretty good, not great. Very easy - a good entry point for younger players. Definitely engaging at first, and when you found a new echo that did something significantly different than what you had previously it was fun to find new uses for it. But it didn't need nearly as many echoes as it gave you, which gummed up your list of echoes and made parts of the game a chore.

@LuXifer "Emulators are in practise legal, both to make and distribute. But the moment Nintendo can prove that the distributor makes even a single cent of what they perceive as their property, either directly or indirectly, they're out of luck."

Not quite. They are in practice absolutely legal, regardless of whether you make money on them or not. The only thing whether you make money or not changes is how willing Nintendo is to go out and bully you into stopping with hollow threats.

It does not violate copyright to create a machine or other technology that is CAPABLE of violating a copyright (among other, legal, uses). Xerox isn't liable each time somebody illegally uses their machine to copy an entire book or magazine.

Ugh, this is so frustrating. I know the legal battles are expensive, but there's no way Nintendo wins a copyright infringement lawsuit in America against an emulator. It's the exact same issue as the video recording machine fight in the 1980's. Yes, the technology CAN be used to do illegal things, but that doesn't make the creator liable for those illegal things, especially when there are perfectly legal things you can do with the same technology.

I wish Elon Musk or somebody would stand up and fund this sort of fight back.

I didn't like it nearly as much as #1. I liked the more relaxed approach of the first one, I found the dark areas stressful and unfun.

But they didn't spend a lot of time on it. They imported it straight from TOTK.

@-wc- Turtles all the way down!

@Ogbert Yeah, I know that's what they said but I don't particularly believe them lol. I think they're retconning, and my evidence is the existence of the last used sort.

@GravyThief That's actually one of my favorite things about the game. I was disappointed that they so quickly give you traditional combat back (albeit on a limited basis). I avoid using it as much as possible.

@Ogbert "Allowing you to set favourites is encouraging you to use the same echoes you already know to solve each puzzle in a way you've done before"

I don't really buy that. If that were the case, then they wouldn't have the sort function of "last used".