FantasiaWHT

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".

This is very speculative, but I get the feeling Nintendo's gotten a little too used to people just rolling over when sued or threatened with suit. They think a patent for riding animals in a video game will hold up?

Is this related to the recent news about a variety of black-colored kitchen objects having problems?

It's all about the money, and that's OK. Money isn't evil. Money is a brilliant and necessary invention as it's a far superior medium of exchange than barter, favors, or relying on the kindness of strangers.

I'd rather know the most popular characters to play with than the results of a poll.

I really hope all this is complete baloney. Nintendo has never done such a tiny iteration from one console to the next. Every time has been something very different.

Is it an animation issue? The stills don't seem bad.

@-wc- Yeah, I should have said "lately". I played some of those as a kid.

That's really too bad. Looney Tunes is a great IP that doesn't have that much video game exposure yet.

Wonderful! I love these games so much. Was first introduced to them on PS1, eventually scrounged for the Sega CD versions to play later. Also played the GBA one.

When this was announced I was convinced it was an April Fool's joke.

Interesting. Something I'd definitely want to try a demo for first.

Very curious to see the grounds for alleged patent infringement rather than copyright. Did a few searches and couldn't find anything easily.

You can't patent game rules/mechanics. Hence the million Scrabble clones (though you can't use that name, which is copyrighted and trademarked).

@DanijoEX-the-Pierrot Technically Phantasy Star Online New Genesis 2 is a thing. But yeah, a real return to the franchise would be amazing!

I played the Emio demo. Wow that was unpleasant. "Here's 5 options with several suboptions for most of them. Keep trying them all until something advances the story." No thanks.

@Arehexes It's even worse than that. All the screaming about "scraping" others' content to generate AI ignores that this is exactly what humans have done forever. We all read other content and use it to inform our own writings. Composers all listened to other music and got ideas. Artists all looked at other visual works for inspiration.

It's how progress happens.

@RupeeClock Why on earth is that alarming? It's fantastic. It allows all of us to be far more creative. It gives people tools to do more than they ever could do previously. These are great things for progress.

The whole furor is the same thing that happens with any new technology. Woe unto the buggy whip manufacturers when the auto-mobile becomes common.

On the voice issue specifically, people have been hiring sound-alikes FOREVER. It's not illegal to do an impression (it would be illegal to explicitly state that the voice is somebody it's not). Doing an impression is a talent - if you tell people they can't do that, it's harming them. Developing and using an AI to do an impression is also a talent - if you tell people they can't do that, it's harming THEM.

It's ok. Progress happens, new technologies replace old ones. New skills replace old ones. Take a deep breath and tone down the histrionics.

@nukatha Right? That jumped out to me too. They are the most obviously one-into-the-next games in the series.