Playing some more Brok the InvestiGator AKA "the only game on the Switch with accessibility features for blindness". Good thing it's also a fun game.
I mean to do some Ring Fit Advnture today, too. After completing the first round of extra fitness levels i've spent the week slacking off and really need to get back to it this weekend.
Other weekend activities will include Lego (building the Boutique Hotel veeeeeeeeeeeery slowly!) and hopefully some writing and crochet.
@COWCAT i'm sorry, I meant to update but it slipped my mind. I got the update and have been playing. I literally teared up when I started playing. You have made at least one blind gamer very, bery happy. I can't even express my gratitude for this, and hope the game does well, you deserve so much success for this.
Hoping that other devs will take notice and follow your example.
@MischiefMaker Thanks, I appreciate the message. I'm not sure I'll be posting regularly as it would probably get quite monotonous to hear me wishing for accessivility features again and againbut I do check in for new games once in a while.
Well, the accessibility update for Brok the InvestiGator is live, and I just played through the first room and rushed here to comment before I settle in with it.
It's been something like five months since I was able to legitimately enjoy a game on the Switch. The only other thing I can play is Ring Fit Adventure for the workout.
I missed this article and just posted a comment about this on the game's review. This is massive. I've seen the update being played on another platform, and it's fantastic.
One man in France making his second game did what Nintendo and Square refuse to do and judt made a game fully plauable for blind gamers.
Sad to say, this update isn't live on Switch yet, or it wasn't when I checked it two days ago. But soon.
One thing I want to point out is that the other versions of the game are FULLY accessible to blind players, and the Switch port will eventually be as well. Version 1.3.01 imcludes a giant accessibility update that makes everything in the game voice narrated., with audio description and vibration feedback to help the vision impaired. I watched a UouTube video of a fully blind gamer playing through the first few scenes with this ipdate. It's seriously impressive. When the Switch gets the update it will be the only game on Switch that is 100% accessible to blind gamers.
Billion-dollar companies say making games accessible is too much time and money, one-man studoo in France says I got this.
@Rykdrew Right?!? I read that subtitle and thought maybe they were going to talk about things like menu narration, alternate control schemes, maybe colorblindness options - you know, ACTUAL accessibility options? Super excited for a second or two.
But no, we're talking about difficulty settings.
"It's so accessible!"
with Spanish accent "You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
@Teksetter Stop it or I may cry and you don't want to see me crying, believe me it's not pretty.
Of course I remember you and always like seeing your comments. It's part of what I said in my first post up there. I am still trying to make assistive tech work for me so I can continue to be part of the community. Not giving up on Nintendo yet and will never give up on my family. Stay strong, you'll be in my thoughts. ❤
@KateGray Thank you Kate. Your presence here has been a constant joy to me in the last year and I hope you will continue ro bring rhat positivity and advocacy to NL's readers. It means a lot.
I hope to be around in the future and show up in comments from time to time. Gaming is a part of my life that I am loathe to give up, and I'm looking into ways to keep gaming. Unfortunately Nintendo isn't doing great with accessibility and the Switch just isn't friendly to my specific condition, so I might be more active on Playstation and PC. But I'll never stop loving Nintendo's characters and ideas, and I'm definitely still on the lookout for Switch games that I can play.
PS: I can still crochet somewhat successfully and have not forgotten i promised you a Pikachu amigurumi. It's a huge challenge right now but we're gonna make that happen.
I'm not playumg anything butnfigured I mughr use rhisnspace to say goodbye to all the people I've made q connectuinnwith over tge last five years here. I am losing my vision completely, a little bit more every day, and can barely see anything on q TV or Switch screen. Typing this message mostly by muscle memory, rhe acreen is a foggy blur rhat I get occasional.glimpses of a word trhough. Which makes itnincredibly hard to edit, hence the incoheremt message here. I won't drag it out too much.
I've been coming to NLife regularlt for about fice years, more or less rhe life of rhe Switch so far. As gaming communities go, I found this onw of tge more laod-back and open ones, where the moat peomimwnt voices weren't necessarily the loudest, most hardcore gamers and moat obnoxious platformn warriors, nor the most hateful baesment trolls ir crusaders for righteousness. It's a good place where women qnd queer people can speak wirhout fear, whixh I appreciate immensely, but people didn't get shunned for admirting rhat Bayonetta is hella hot. Over tge years I've seen NL movw with the times to become a little less tolerant of hate and disceimiatory ralk, which is awesome ecen if I don't necessarily agree on ecery comment that gets deleted.
(Just in case anybody missed it somehow, I'm a nonbinary transfeminine person. But beingnnonbinary isn't mty whole identity, I'm a famer and a Nintendo fan and Indon'r alwaysbwant tontalk abut the queer struggle. Sometimes Injust wanna play a game, andbsimetikes a gamen thar happens to star abhotnyoujg woman is the best game, you know what I mean Ryza fans?)
Anyway, best to all of you who've commented and responded ro my snark over tge years. Keep being you and making this a fun place. Spread positivitty and be there for eachother. It's remotely possiblethat my eyes will get better somehiw (nit at all likely with current science, but rhings can change) and I'll be around sometime, burnfor niwnrhisngoodbye.
@Yosher That sounds pretty cool. I'm bummed that the creators dropped out of the Netflix show because that almost always means Netflix are making some changes that aren't true to the spirit of the franchise, but I'll still check it out at least. And the other things all sound great. Kyoshi is a great character to work with and there's definitely more to explore with the original Aang Gang, as seen in the graphic novels. Thanks for the info!
@Yosher Is it movies then? I thought they were talking about a live-action series. I'm down either way if it's the original creators doing it. But honestly, what I'd like most is a third animated series. I loved both ATLA and LOK and strongly disagree with anyone who thinks they can't make another great series in the Avatar universe.
Flameo!!! I mean, hell yeah!!! ATLA is one of my all-time favorite shows and a major favorite of my whole family, which we rewatch regularly.
Just today, I was ecstatic over finding a really nice Avatar sweatshirt in TJ Maxx.
Having said that, there's a very big, bitter part of me that's saying OF COURSE an Avatar game is coming to Switch now that I'm blind. But I know at least my kids will be happy to play it.
@Teksetter Thank you, that's actually a great suggestion. I've played a little Picross on the DS and it never really lit my fire, but I desperately need ideas for games I'll be able to play right now, and this might work. My beloved shmups have turned into total nightmares and there's just too much going on in most good RPGs.
At the moment, I'm so annoyed that I probably won't be able to play Cult of the Lamb after hearing so much about it. Guess I need to get used to that.
Currently playing "Will My Vision Last Long Enough to Finish Xenoblade Chronicles 3? The Answer May Shock You!!"
Yeah, it wasn't funny to me either. Long story short, I'm having rapid onset loss of vision in my one working eye tentatively diagnosed as Non-Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy, which the cool kids call NAION. It started a week ago with a small area of fogginess in my peripheral vision, which got bigger and bigger day by day and now covers most of my field of vision. I see okay straight in front of me, only slightly worse than normal, but my field of vision is pitifully small. It's like I'm a kid playing pirates and looking through a paper towel telescope, except I don't say ARRRR so much and it isn't nearly as much fun.
Really hard to play games where things are moving as I can't even see both edges of the screen, whether it's on the TV or in a handheld, so while I've been trying to play XC3 it isn't really working. The one game I'm still okay with is Slay the Spire. I'm sure there are mire options, I jist settled on that for now because it's a game I know really well with very simple graphics.
There is no successful treatment for NAION and it's almost always permanent, so my slim hope is that it isn't actually that. We're still in the process of getting a final diagnosis, I had an MRI yesterday, but the truth is my symptoms and test results match it 100% and there are almost no other conditions that match all those symptoms. So it'a a waiting game (see? I AM playing another game! ARRRR!!) to see how much vision I have left when the process stabilizes.
It's a s****y game and the graphics suck. 1 out of 100, I want my money back.
I crocheted a cup of tea for a competition once. The theme of the competition was British (It was either Doctor Who or Hitchhiker's Guide related, I can't remember now). I called my entry "Fancier Cuppa". None of the Americans knew why it cracked me up every time I said it.
@Royalblues "Cloud is coming" the same way "smartphones will soon replace consoles" for twenty years now, "offices will soon be entirely paperless" since the early 1980s and "3D is the future" since the 1960s. It's a technological advance that has many benefits and is gaining a lot of support but also does not suit every situation and never will, at least not until the entire planet is blanketed in fast, 100% reliable Internet access.
That isn't anywhere near the case yet, and it's farther off than many people think. And every single big tech manufacturer knows this, which is why even though they support the idea of the cloud and make things like netbooks and tablets they all also continue to make increasingly powerful PCs and consoles that don't rely on the cloud.
Even Microsoft, a company that is one of the biggest supporters of the cloud concept, is still investing heavily in more powerful XBoxen and devices that put processing power on the users' end. This is not a market that's going to disappear anytime soon.
I truly don't understand what people expect an online team shooter sequel to offer, aside from new maps, new weapons, new cosmetics, new modes, new offline single-player story and new music. It looks like Splatoon, and that's the game I want.
Sure, they could have just updated Splatoon 2 and not charged us for it - it's a huge update, but you can argue that they could have done it. But in the grand scheme of things, I paid $60 for Splatoon 2 and played it for something like 200 hours. It was the third most-played game on my launch day Switch. Even if you add S2's share of the NSO service that I pay for, that's a really low cost per hour of entertainment. I'm okay with paying another $60 for another 100-200 hours of splatting.
I usually just go with the legendary that looks the coolest, and while they both look cool I think Koraidon is just cuter than Miraidon. His expressions are adorable and he seems to be having fun romping around, while Miraidon gives me "I'm too cool for you" vibes. I'd also rather have Sada as a professor than Professor Beard, so that works out.
That's too bad, I was never really in the market for it but it sucks for collectors and diehard shmuppers. I'm just a casual fan, but that much input lag is noticeable even for casuals.
Sega is such a frustrating company, sometimes their products are solid A-grade and sometimes they totally just phone it in - and you never know which kind you're getting until you have the thing in your hands.
@SS25 Nonsense. No one ever expected a Xenoblade game to make billions. These are the definition of a niche franchise, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're talking about games that are made for hardcore RPG fans, requiring close to 100 hours for an average gamer to complete, devoted study of the combat and extensive playing around with combinations of skills, gear and party composition. They aren't made for mass appeal. A game like that can still be best in class and a "must-play" for those who are into that style of game, it just doesn't have the mass appeal of a Sonic or Mario game and it never will.
@mariomaster96 They're called "prestige" titles, and everybody wants to have one or two in their stable even if the sales are low, because they are the proof that the studio does quality work. It's a lot like Oscar-winning movies, they hardly ever earn as much as the latest Star Wars or superhero flick but you still want some on your resume.
@XenoShaun I was afraid that would be the case. That's okay, I've been eyeing MOBW for my next horror game, I'll stick with that as it seems to offer much more than this one for not much more money.
"Use camera to reveal monsters" is not just a little unoriginal, at this point it's one of the most clichèd themes in horror. But it's just a mechanic, the game could still be good if it differentiates itself in any other way. I wish the review talked a bit more about what else is going on in the game.
I got back from Peru last night, and one of the things I missed from home was gaming, so I'm going to jump in headfirst today. I'll be starting Xenoblade Chronicles 3 this weekend, but I also plan to revisit Andro Dunos 2, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Risk of Rain 2 and Cotton Fantasy. Might dive into AI a little bit since I need to get to the sequel soon. And the new tracks are out for Mario Kart 8C, gotta check those out at some point.
I won't be able to game all weekend, though, as the house and yard badly need some TLC and I have two weeks of laundry to catch up on. So we'll see how much gaming I can actually do.
Who puts a five-paragraph "Second Opinion" smack in the middle of an op-ed piece? It's like pulling the mask off a Scooby Doo villain in the first two minutes of a show, cutting to commercials for ten minutes and then spending fifteen minutes introducing the mystery that was already solved.
I love Dead Cells. I've been playing it on and off since shortly after it released on Switch. I was playing it two weeks ago, just before I went on vacation. It's an amazing game, with very very generous updates that just keep coming. But surely I'm not the only one who wants Motion Twin to move on to another game, like they said they planned to be doing two years ago?
I'd just like to see what else they can do. I'm sure they have more than one game in them. Even if it's just a DC sequel, I'd prefer it to endless updates. Updates are nice, especially when they're free, but at the end of the day you're still playing Dead Cells.
Imagine if Nintendo had never never made another game after Donkey Kong, and just kept updating that one game. Think of all the games we treasure that wouldn't exist today, because they just wanted to keep making Donkey Kong better and better.
Fun fact, yeast infections are in fact extremely common in dogs, and it's not a good smell at all, so this critter is never going to be one of my favorite Pokemon.
This is really looking good so far. It seems to have just the right blend of RPGing and farming/crafting to be what I wanted RF5 to be, but with Squeenix production values. Fingers crossed!
@Arawn93 As near as I can tell, it's sold around 1.21 million units after 3 years on shelves. The Wikipedia list of top selling Switch games has it at #58, below titles like Labo and Big Brain Academy. This list isn't even complete as most companies don't release platform-specific sales info so the list is mostly first-party games.
@jowe_gw I bought Codename STEAM and ARMS at release and I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. I wish people would stop saying Nintendo doesn't try new IPs. They do, constantly. It doesn't always work out for them financially, so they HAVE to focus on solid earners, but they still do it.
People go mad for Bayonetta but how many bought Astral Chain? So many people raving about Mario+Rabbids, but Codename STEAM was a very solid game with very similar gameplay, and it sold approximately three dozen units. And I don't blame people, I'm equally guilty of buying the safe options sometimes (full disclosure, I still haven't bought Astral Chain) but you need to understand that's why Nintendo have to focus on series that have proven themselves.
No company can afford to go out on a limb again and again to the detriment of its proven reliable sellers.
@sevex This is one of the main reasons I play with Japanese voice acting whenever it's an option. These inane quips get intensely annoying after about an hour of play. When they're in Japanese it doesn't bother me nearly as much.
It's interesting that in all three of my primary hobbies, fake houseplants seem to be getting more and more popular. "Houseplants you can't kill" have been a hot item in crochet circles for a couple of years, Lego's "Botanicals" has been one of their most successful new themes in recent years, and these are not the first papercraft video game plants I've seen lately.
Are people buying fewer real plants and filling that void with simulated plants?
@Gelantious With all due respect, piracy is NOT a tiny issue that gets blown out of proportion by the media. If anything, it's severely underdocumented in mainstream media.
And how do I know this, you ask? Because I used to live in a country that was notorious for being a place where you could only sell two legitimate copies of a game (or ANY software). Because by the time you sold the second copy, the first one had already been cracked and distributed illegally throughout the entire country. The whole damn country used pirated software for literally everything. Millions of 1990s dollars lost to piracy every year in one very small country.
Doesn't really sound like it's for me with that control scheme. I prefer an uncomplicated arcade-style racer, go fast and try not to hit anything. Fast RMX really covers that territory well, I just wish it had more tracks and vehicles.
I might sneak in a couple of runs in Dead Cells or Andro Dunos 2 today, but I won't be gaming much and not at all for the next ten days as I'm off with my wife to backpack around Peru. I'll be leaving my Switch behind and taking my Kindle and some yarn and crochet hooks for entertainment.
Civilization VI on the Switch a year before it made it to other consoles. Even though the game plays very slowly on the Switch, it's my favorite way to play Civ6. A Civ game usually takes a couple of days, so being able to take the game with me to bed (and, yes, to the toilet) makes it that much more likely that I'll finish a game.
@vexis58 Exactly my thoughts. I want a pool of at least five or six potential partners in a game like this, and it's unrealistic to expect that they would make that many characters in each specific orientation. So chances are good that you have no choices that really appeal to you and there's a chance you're left out altogether. (I mean, how often do you see ace or genderfluid characters in a video game?)
If, say, there's only one character in the game who's interested in a transfem person and that character is well-written and fun to be with then it's all good. That totally might happen. But it could also happen that there's only one such character and she's terrible. And in a game where relationships are one of the primary goals, that's not great.
But for all that, this could be an amazing game, and I'm not counting the game out. Representation IS nice to see, after all, and a lot of what they're saying here sounds fantastic. I'm just a little wary of the many ways things can go wrong.
Comments 2,947
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 1st)
Playing some more Brok the InvestiGator AKA "the only game on the Switch with accessibility features for blindness". Good thing it's also a fun game.
I mean to do some Ring Fit Advnture today, too. After completing the first round of extra fitness levels i've spent the week slacking off and really need to get back to it this weekend.
Other weekend activities will include Lego (building the Boutique Hotel veeeeeeeeeeeery slowly!) and hopefully some writing and crochet.
Re: Brok The InvestiGator Gets Accessibility Update For Visually Impaired Players
@COWCAT i'm sorry, I meant to update but it slipped my mind. I got the update and have been playing. I literally teared up when I started playing. You have made at least one blind gamer very, bery happy. I can't even express my gratitude for this, and hope the game does well, you deserve so much success for this.
Hoping that other devs will take notice and follow your example.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 25th)
@MischiefMaker Thanks, I appreciate the message. I'm not sure I'll be posting regularly as it would probably get quite monotonous to hear me wishing for accessivility features again and againbut I do check in for new games once in a while.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 25th)
Well, the accessibility update for Brok the InvestiGator is live, and I just played through the first room and rushed here to comment before I settle in with it.
It's been something like five months since I was able to legitimately enjoy a game on the Switch. The only other thing I can play is Ring Fit Adventure for the workout.
THANK YOU, COWCAT!!!
Re: Brok The InvestiGator Gets Accessibility Update For Visually Impaired Players
I missed this article and just posted a comment about this on the game's review. This is massive. I've seen the update being played on another platform, and it's fantastic.
One man in France making his second game did what Nintendo and Square refuse to do and judt made a game fully plauable for blind gamers.
Sad to say, this update isn't live on Switch yet, or it wasn't when I checked it two days ago. But soon.
Re: Review: BROK The InvestiGator - Impressive, If Slightly Awkward, 'Point-And-Kick' Adventuring
One thing I want to point out is that the other versions of the game are FULLY accessible to blind players, and the Switch port will eventually be as well. Version 1.3.01 imcludes a giant accessibility update that makes everything in the game voice narrated., with audio description and vibration feedback to help the vision impaired. I watched a UouTube video of a fully blind gamer playing through the first few scenes with this ipdate. It's seriously impressive. When the Switch gets the update it will be the only game on Switch that is 100% accessible to blind gamers.
Billion-dollar companies say making games accessible is too much time and money, one-man studoo in France says I got this.
Re: Feature: Behind The Scenes With Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope, "A Tactical Game For All"
@Froid12 Well, that's something. Good to know.
Re: Feature: Behind The Scenes With Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope, "A Tactical Game For All"
@Rykdrew Right?!? I read that subtitle and thought maybe they were going to talk about things like menu narration, alternate control schemes, maybe colorblindness options - you know, ACTUAL accessibility options? Super excited for a second or two.
But no, we're talking about difficulty settings.
"It's so accessible!"
with Spanish accent "You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 20th)
@Teksetter Stop it or I may cry and you don't want to see me crying, believe me it's not pretty.
Of course I remember you and always like seeing your comments. It's part of what I said in my first post up there. I am still trying to make assistive tech work for me so I can continue to be part of the community. Not giving up on Nintendo yet and will never give up on my family. Stay strong, you'll be in my thoughts. ❤
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 20th)
@aaronsullivan Thanks, I hope I'll find a way to still be active here.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 20th)
@KateGray Thank you Kate. Your presence here has been a constant joy to me in the last year and I hope you will continue ro bring rhat positivity and advocacy to NL's readers. It means a lot.
I hope to be around in the future and show up in comments from time to time. Gaming is a part of my life that I am loathe to give up, and I'm looking into ways to keep gaming. Unfortunately Nintendo isn't doing great with accessibility and the Switch just isn't friendly to my specific condition, so I might be more active on Playstation and PC. But I'll never stop loving Nintendo's characters and ideas, and I'm definitely still on the lookout for Switch games that I can play.
PS: I can still crochet somewhat successfully and have not forgotten i promised you a Pikachu amigurumi. It's a huge challenge right now but we're gonna make that happen.
Love, Jasmine
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 20th)
I'm not playumg anything butnfigured I mughr use rhisnspace to say goodbye to all the people I've made q connectuinnwith over tge last five years here. I am losing my vision completely, a little bit more every day, and can barely see anything on q TV or Switch screen. Typing this message mostly by muscle memory, rhe acreen is a foggy blur rhat I get occasional.glimpses of a word trhough. Which makes itnincredibly hard to edit, hence the incoheremt message here. I won't drag it out too much.
I've been coming to NLife regularlt for about fice years, more or less rhe life of rhe Switch so far. As gaming communities go, I found this onw of tge more laod-back and open ones, where the moat peomimwnt voices weren't necessarily the loudest, most hardcore gamers and moat obnoxious platformn warriors, nor the most hateful baesment trolls ir crusaders for righteousness. It's a good place where women qnd queer people can speak wirhout fear, whixh I appreciate immensely, but people didn't get shunned for admirting rhat Bayonetta is hella hot. Over tge years I've seen NL movw with the times to become a little less tolerant of hate and disceimiatory ralk, which is awesome ecen if I don't necessarily agree on ecery comment that gets deleted.
(Just in case anybody missed it somehow, I'm a nonbinary transfeminine person. But beingnnonbinary isn't mty whole identity, I'm a famer and a Nintendo fan and Indon'r alwaysbwant tontalk abut the queer struggle. Sometimes Injust wanna play a game, andbsimetikes a gamen thar happens to star abhotnyoujg woman is the best game, you know what I mean Ryza fans?)
Anyway, best to all of you who've commented and responded ro my snark over tge years. Keep being you and making this a fun place. Spread positivitty and be there for eachother. It's remotely possiblethat my eyes will get better somehiw (nit at all likely with current science, but rhings can change) and I'll be around sometime, burnfor niwnrhisngoodbye.
Live long and prosper.
Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender Nintendo Switch Listing Surfaces Online
@Yosher That sounds pretty cool. I'm bummed that the creators dropped out of the Netflix show because that almost always means Netflix are making some changes that aren't true to the spirit of the franchise, but I'll still check it out at least. And the other things all sound great. Kyoshi is a great character to work with and there's definitely more to explore with the original Aang Gang, as seen in the graphic novels. Thanks for the info!
Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender Nintendo Switch Listing Surfaces Online
@Yosher Is it movies then? I thought they were talking about a live-action series. I'm down either way if it's the original creators doing it. But honestly, what I'd like most is a third animated series. I loved both ATLA and LOK and strongly disagree with anyone who thinks they can't make another great series in the Avatar universe.
Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender Nintendo Switch Listing Surfaces Online
@Fizza Trust me, you need to watch this. I have yet to meet a perdon who didn't fall in love with Avatar after giving it a shot. IT IS THAT GOOD.
Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender Nintendo Switch Listing Surfaces Online
Flameo!!! I mean, hell yeah!!! ATLA is one of my all-time favorite shows and a major favorite of my whole family, which we rewatch regularly.
Just today, I was ecstatic over finding a really nice Avatar sweatshirt in TJ Maxx.
Having said that, there's a very big, bitter part of me that's saying OF COURSE an Avatar game is coming to Switch now that I'm blind. But I know at least my kids will be happy to play it.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 13th)
@Teksetter Thank you, that's actually a great suggestion. I've played a little Picross on the DS and it never really lit my fire, but I desperately need ideas for games I'll be able to play right now, and this might work. My beloved shmups have turned into total nightmares and there's just too much going on in most good RPGs.
At the moment, I'm so annoyed that I probably won't be able to play Cult of the Lamb after hearing so much about it. Guess I need to get used to that.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 13th)
Currently playing "Will My Vision Last Long Enough to Finish Xenoblade Chronicles 3? The Answer May Shock You!!"
Yeah, it wasn't funny to me either. Long story short, I'm having rapid onset loss of vision in my one working eye tentatively diagnosed as Non-Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy, which the cool kids call NAION. It started a week ago with a small area of fogginess in my peripheral vision, which got bigger and bigger day by day and now covers most of my field of vision. I see okay straight in front of me, only slightly worse than normal, but my field of vision is pitifully small. It's like I'm a kid playing pirates and looking through a paper towel telescope, except I don't say ARRRR so much and it isn't nearly as much fun.
Really hard to play games where things are moving as I can't even see both edges of the screen, whether it's on the TV or in a handheld, so while I've been trying to play XC3 it isn't really working. The one game I'm still okay with is Slay the Spire. I'm sure there are mire options, I jist settled on that for now because it's a game I know really well with very simple graphics.
There is no successful treatment for NAION and it's almost always permanent, so my slim hope is that it isn't actually that. We're still in the process of getting a final diagnosis, I had an MRI yesterday, but the truth is my symptoms and test results match it 100% and there are almost no other conditions that match all those symptoms. So it'a a waiting game (see? I AM playing another game! ARRRR!!) to see how much vision I have left when the process stabilizes.
It's a s****y game and the graphics suck. 1 out of 100, I want my money back.
Re: Random: Pokémon Distribution Event At The World Championships Is Appropriately British
I crocheted a cup of tea for a competition once. The theme of the competition was British (It was either Doctor Who or Hitchhiker's Guide related, I can't remember now). I called my entry "Fancier Cuppa". None of the Americans knew why it cracked me up every time I said it.
Re: Nintendo Download: 11th August (North America)
So. Much. Trash.
The top three all sound good, though. I'll probably end up getting 2PC and Arcade Paradise, just not right away.
Re: Review: Arcade Paradise - An Addictive Arcade Management Sim That Proves Laundry Can Be Fun
I love the sound of this, I wish I knew more about the games included but it sounds like a real winner.
Hopefully someone out there is working on a breakdown of all the games so I can know what I'm buying before I commit.
Re: Toby Fox Composed Pokémon Scarlet And Violet's Terastal Raid Battle Music
One day I will actually play Undertale and see what all the fuss is about.
Maybe.
Re: Thymesia Cloud Version Drops On Switch Next Week Alongside PC, PS5, Xbox
@Royalblues "Cloud is coming" the same way "smartphones will soon replace consoles" for twenty years now, "offices will soon be entirely paperless" since the early 1980s and "3D is the future" since the 1960s. It's a technological advance that has many benefits and is gaining a lot of support but also does not suit every situation and never will, at least not until the entire planet is blanketed in fast, 100% reliable Internet access.
That isn't anywhere near the case yet, and it's farther off than many people think. And every single big tech manufacturer knows this, which is why even though they support the idea of the cloud and make things like netbooks and tablets they all also continue to make increasingly powerful PCs and consoles that don't rely on the cloud.
Even Microsoft, a company that is one of the biggest supporters of the cloud concept, is still investing heavily in more powerful XBoxen and devices that put processing power on the users' end. This is not a market that's going to disappear anytime soon.
Re: Talking Point: Has Nintendo Done Enough To Justify Splatoon 3's Existence?
I just commented at length in the last Splatoon article! But, in short, I'm happy with it. Can't wait for new Splatfests!
Re: Everything Announced In The Latest Splatoon 3 Trailer - New Weapons, Photo Mode, And 3-Player Turf Wars
I truly don't understand what people expect an online team shooter sequel to offer, aside from new maps, new weapons, new cosmetics, new modes, new offline single-player story and new music. It looks like Splatoon, and that's the game I want.
Sure, they could have just updated Splatoon 2 and not charged us for it - it's a huge update, but you can argue that they could have done it. But in the grand scheme of things, I paid $60 for Splatoon 2 and played it for something like 200 hours. It was the third most-played game on my launch day Switch. Even if you add S2's share of the NSO service that I pay for, that's a really low cost per hour of entertainment. I'm okay with paying another $60 for another 100-200 hours of splatting.
Re: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: What Are The Differences? All Version-Exclusive Pokémon And More
I usually just go with the legendary that looks the coolest, and while they both look cool I think Koraidon is just cuter than Miraidon. His expressions are adorable and he seems to be having fun romping around, while Miraidon gives me "I'm too cool for you" vibes. I'd also rather have Sada as a professor than Professor Beard, so that works out.
Re: Sega's Latest Mini-Console Is Cute, But Reviewers Are Complaining Of Bad Lag
That's too bad, I was never really in the market for it but it sucks for collectors and diehard shmuppers. I'm just a casual fan, but that much input lag is noticeable even for casuals.
Sega is such a frustrating company, sometimes their products are solid A-grade and sometimes they totally just phone it in - and you never know which kind you're getting until you have the thing in your hands.
Re: UK Charts: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Drops While Switch Sports Climbs Back Up
@SS25 Nonsense. No one ever expected a Xenoblade game to make billions. These are the definition of a niche franchise, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're talking about games that are made for hardcore RPG fans, requiring close to 100 hours for an average gamer to complete, devoted study of the combat and extensive playing around with combinations of skills, gear and party composition. They aren't made for mass appeal. A game like that can still be best in class and a "must-play" for those who are into that style of game, it just doesn't have the mass appeal of a Sonic or Mario game and it never will.
Re: UK Charts: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Drops While Switch Sports Climbs Back Up
@mariomaster96 They're called "prestige" titles, and everybody wants to have one or two in their stable even if the sales are low, because they are the proof that the studio does quality work. It's a lot like Oscar-winning movies, they hardly ever earn as much as the latest Star Wars or superhero flick but you still want some on your resume.
Re: Mini Review: MADiSON - Jump Scares Aplenty In This Effective, If Unoriginal, Horror
@XenoShaun I was afraid that would be the case. That's okay, I've been eyeing MOBW for my next horror game, I'll stick with that as it seems to offer much more than this one for not much more money.
Re: Good Smile Shares First Look At Figma Samus Aran: Metroid Dread Prototype
I mean, they're figma, of course they look great! I'd rather have a Samus Nendoroid though.
Re: Mini Review: MADiSON - Jump Scares Aplenty In This Effective, If Unoriginal, Horror
"Use camera to reveal monsters" is not just a little unoriginal, at this point it's one of the most clichèd themes in horror. But it's just a mechanic, the game could still be good if it differentiates itself in any other way. I wish the review talked a bit more about what else is going on in the game.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 6th)
I got back from Peru last night, and one of the things I missed from home was gaming, so I'm going to jump in headfirst today. I'll be starting Xenoblade Chronicles 3 this weekend, but I also plan to revisit Andro Dunos 2, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Risk of Rain 2 and Cotton Fantasy. Might dive into AI a little bit since I need to get to the sequel soon. And the new tracks are out for Mario Kart 8C, gotta check those out at some point.
I won't be able to game all weekend, though, as the house and yard badly need some TLC and I have two weeks of laundry to catch up on. So we'll see how much gaming I can actually do.
Re: Review: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 2 - Harmless Fun, But More "B-Side Filler"
Who puts a five-paragraph "Second Opinion" smack in the middle of an op-ed piece? It's like pulling the mask off a Scooby Doo villain in the first two minutes of a show, cutting to commercials for ten minutes and then spending fifteen minutes introducing the mystery that was already solved.
Re: Soapbox: All I Want From Mario Kart 8's DLC Is More Tracks Like Baby Park
Baby Park is hella fun as a change of pace, but I absolutely don't want more of it.
Re: Dead Cells' 'Enter The Panchaku' Update Is A Massive One, And It's Coming Soon
I love Dead Cells. I've been playing it on and off since shortly after it released on Switch. I was playing it two weeks ago, just before I went on vacation. It's an amazing game, with very very generous updates that just keep coming. But surely I'm not the only one who wants Motion Twin to move on to another game, like they said they planned to be doing two years ago?
I'd just like to see what else they can do. I'm sure they have more than one game in them. Even if it's just a DC sequel, I'd prefer it to endless updates. Updates are nice, especially when they're free, but at the end of the day you're still playing Dead Cells.
Imagine if Nintendo had never never made another game after Donkey Kong, and just kept updating that one game. Think of all the games we treasure that wouldn't exist today, because they just wanted to keep making Donkey Kong better and better.
Re: The Internet Is In Loaf With Fidough, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's Bread-Dog
Fun fact, yeast infections are in fact extremely common in dogs, and it's not a good smell at all, so this critter is never going to be one of my favorite Pokemon.
Re: Square Enix Shares Fresh New Details For Life Sim RPG Harvestella
This is really looking good so far. It seems to have just the right blend of RPGing and farming/crafting to be what I wanted RF5 to be, but with Squeenix production values. Fingers crossed!
Re: Nintendo Reconfirms Release Windows For Major Upcoming Switch Games
@Arawn93 As near as I can tell, it's sold around 1.21 million units after 3 years on shelves. The Wikipedia list of top selling Switch games has it at #58, below titles like Labo and Big Brain Academy. This list isn't even complete as most companies don't release platform-specific sales info so the list is mostly first-party games.
That's not great.
Re: Nintendo Reconfirms Release Windows For Major Upcoming Switch Games
@jowe_gw I bought Codename STEAM and ARMS at release and I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. I wish people would stop saying Nintendo doesn't try new IPs. They do, constantly. It doesn't always work out for them financially, so they HAVE to focus on solid earners, but they still do it.
People go mad for Bayonetta but how many bought Astral Chain? So many people raving about Mario+Rabbids, but Codename STEAM was a very solid game with very similar gameplay, and it sold approximately three dozen units. And I don't blame people, I'm equally guilty of buying the safe options sometimes (full disclosure, I still haven't bought Astral Chain) but you need to understand that's why Nintendo have to focus on series that have proven themselves.
No company can afford to go out on a limb again and again to the detriment of its proven reliable sellers.
Re: Square Enix Rolls Out Chocobo GP Version 1.2.0, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
I will buy it when they update the price to zero dollars.
Re: Mondrian-Inspired Puzzler 'Please, Touch The Artwork' Paints A September Release
@Mattock1987 I agree, bad puns like that make me Dali-rious with rage.
Re: Random: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Has Plenty Of Very Memeable Dialogue
@sevex This is one of the main reasons I play with Japanese voice acting whenever it's an option. These inane quips get intensely annoying after about an hour of play. When they're in Japanese it doesn't bother me nearly as much.
Re: Random: These Animal Crossing Paper Flowers Are Blooming Marvellous
It's interesting that in all three of my primary hobbies, fake houseplants seem to be getting more and more popular. "Houseplants you can't kill" have been a hot item in crochet circles for a couple of years, Lego's "Botanicals" has been one of their most successful new themes in recent years, and these are not the first papercraft video game plants I've seen lately.
Are people buying fewer real plants and filling that void with simulated plants?
Re: Fight Your Exes In Thirsty Suitors, Punch-Kicking Its Way To Nintendo Switch
I love the concept, and have a lot of trust in Annapurna. Keeping a close eye on this.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Has Leaked And Is Fully Playable On The Steam Deck
@Gelantious With all due respect, piracy is NOT a tiny issue that gets blown out of proportion by the media. If anything, it's severely underdocumented in mainstream media.
And how do I know this, you ask? Because I used to live in a country that was notorious for being a place where you could only sell two legitimate copies of a game (or ANY software). Because by the time you sold the second copy, the first one had already been cracked and distributed illegally throughout the entire country. The whole damn country used pirated software for literally everything. Millions of 1990s dollars lost to piracy every year in one very small country.
Now, picture China.
Re: Mini Review: Redout 2 - A Fast-Paced Blend Of F-Zero And Simulation Racing
Doesn't really sound like it's for me with that control scheme. I prefer an uncomplicated arcade-style racer, go fast and try not to hit anything. Fast RMX really covers that territory well, I just wish it had more tracks and vehicles.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 23rd)
I might sneak in a couple of runs in Dead Cells or Andro Dunos 2 today, but I won't be gaming much and not at all for the next ten days as I'm off with my wife to backpack around Peru. I'll be leaving my Switch behind and taking my Kindle and some yarn and crochet hooks for entertainment.
Re: Talking Point: What Are The Nintendo Switch's Defining Moments (So Far)?
Civilization VI on the Switch a year before it made it to other consoles. Even though the game plays very slowly on the Switch, it's my favorite way to play Civ6. A Civ game usually takes a couple of days, so being able to take the game with me to bed (and, yes, to the toilet) makes it that much more likely that I'll finish a game.
Re: Exclusive: "The Farming Genre Is A Bit Tired" - How SunnySide Aims To Refresh The Farm Sim
@vexis58 Exactly my thoughts. I want a pool of at least five or six potential partners in a game like this, and it's unrealistic to expect that they would make that many characters in each specific orientation. So chances are good that you have no choices that really appeal to you and there's a chance you're left out altogether. (I mean, how often do you see ace or genderfluid characters in a video game?)
If, say, there's only one character in the game who's interested in a transfem person and that character is well-written and fun to be with then it's all good. That totally might happen. But it could also happen that there's only one such character and she's terrible. And in a game where relationships are one of the primary goals, that's not great.
But for all that, this could be an amazing game, and I'm not counting the game out. Representation IS nice to see, after all, and a lot of what they're saying here sounds fantastic. I'm just a little wary of the many ways things can go wrong.