Kingy

@stillpondjosh Couldn't have said it better myself. HBO is a fitting example here too, given how the rushed latter seasons of Game of Thrones turned out. So many excellent characters, worldbuilding, political intrigue and fan investment wasted, all so the directors could move on to their stupid little Star Wars show that got canned anyways.

@charliecarrot The problem with this argument I hear you and others keep saying is that it's a generalization and has nothing to do with this game.

Please one of you tell me what part of Dragon Quest VII requires cuts to be a "more cohesive, well-paced experience". I never hear any specific examples because none of you actually played the game, or you played it so long ago that you naturally can't remember the finer details and just default to whatever the interent says about it as generally correct.

It's not perfect, but Dragon Quest VII has excellent pacing. Each scenario features its own story in a larger narrative of recovering the world from calamity, piece by piece. None of them overstay their welcome, and longer chapters like Alltrades Abbey / Dharma Temple have plenty of natural stopping points so you can save and come back to it later.
What about this concept needs cutting? Where and why?

People will also advocate for them stripping out sidequests and non-story required content as if that isn't a completely insane thing to do in an RPG. As if player expression wouldn't be impacted by whittling down an adventure to its essentials.
What Reimagined is doing is picking apart pieces of the original game's intentional crafting, and serving the bare minimum to appeal to a crowd who were never going to play this game to begin with.
What about that is an improvement?

Looks good. Maybe not $70 good.

I will say one promising feature I haven't heard anyone talking about (likely due to not many people having experienced the game prior to Reimagined) is that scenarios seem like they can divulge from their original outcome depending on choices you make.
In the demo, the story of Ballymolloy / Rexwood had a different conclusion than it does in the PS1 & 3DS versions of the game, and this happened seemingly because of a choice I made involving Hanlon's / Hank's son.
It wasn't a wildly different ending and it encompassed a single yes or no binary choice, but if the game continues the trend across the whole adventure it could be something uniquely praiseworthy of Reimagined.
Not that this forgives all the cut content per se, but it's worth noting at least...
...I could also be crazy and the scenarios are completely fixed, but I don't think that's the case.

@Jhena You should! It shot up to my second favorite Dragon Quest after DQV. Genuine masterpiece that will never be replicated with Square Enix's current mentality on JRPG game design. Like many of their old greats

Really hopeful this one turns out to be a hit. Onimusha and the Okami sequel too. I feel like for all the IPs Capcom has, they've been hitting the Resident Evil and Monster Hunter button too many times recently.

Not when I buy ONE MILLION DS Lites!

It's a decent game but it does have a steep cost, not even including the pricey season pass. It kept me away from the game initially, I got CrossWorlds as a Christmas gift.

It's better than MK World sure, but so is most notable kart racers, and they're cheaper too.

Don't usually copy-paste my comments but here is what I had to say under the Push Square review:

Just a heads up, if you don't have a tolerance for long games this remake isn't going to remedy that. It's still very slow compared to other modern games.

I've been playing through the PS1 original in preparation for Reimagined and for reference I'm around 75hrs and close to the end of the main story, and that includes several hours of job class grinding (which isn't necessary to beat it, I'm just going above and beyond cause I love the game).
There isn't anything notably tedious about the original, that's just something that's been parroted on the internet, widely by people who only heard that secondhand. This remake cuts the job grinding down by a lot by letting you have two jobs at a time... But it also cuts more than half the jobs out of the game (Monster Hearts being used for unlocking new jobs have been replaced with Monster Hearts as equipment, which is neat but not really as interesting).

This remake cuts a lot of content in fact, and sands down much of the prologue into something that fails to capture the same tone and development the original did, you can expect much the same for the rest of the game. Basically, it's going to be too slow paced for most people in general but too fast paced for people who enjoyed the original. Worst of both worlds.
This isn't me saying this remake is bad, it will still be good if it's using DQVII as a base.
But much like the 3DS remake, Square Enix is too insecure with its online reputation and ends up expediting the soul out of it. Many scenarios, characters and mechanics are watered down for the sake of saving just a little bit of time, and as a result both remakes suffer where the original doesn't.
It remains the definitive way to experience Dragon Quest VII, and probably will forever.

Just something to consider before buying. I'll still be picking up the remake, and I'll probably enjoy it for what it is, but you're not getting DQVII at its best, of course other than best looking.

Fire Emblem is the one for now.

Not too shabby. I still have my worries that the game will be blander than the previous two (Tomodachi Life 3DS & Miitopia), but I think I've seen enough to say that I'll probably enjoy it.
If I'm not playing something else when late April comes around I'll pick it up. I could've sworn this was supposed to be a Switch 2 game though

Reading these comments alone, I'd be forgiven for thinking the only thing they added was gay miis.
But I found some time to watch the direct and wasn't disappointed. I like that you can edit and expand the island anyway you please, I feel like that kind of thing suits something like this way more than Animal Crossing. Being able to draw objects and such is exactly the kind of thing I'd want to see here too.
Idk about the Mii interactions yet, the ones on display were a bit dull or taken straight out of the previous game. And it seems like you kinda have to force them this time around whereas the last game they were spontaneous. Not sure how much I'll dig that, but otherwise the game's looking good.
Here's hoping the rap battles and concerts are still in the game.

There's no good will left to hemorrhage lol

Give me a release for Fire Emblem I'll be satisfied on that alone. They got Rhythm Heaven and Tomodachi Life coming this year too. These are the kind of games that appeal to me, but obviously not something that's gonna sell consoles.
In that regard idk what they have in store, seems they're kinda just crapping out lackluster ports for Mario's anniversary, and I don't imagine the next Zelda game will be a major release.
I expect to see Gen 10 at the end of the year, but it'll probably be just as poorly made as Pokémon's last two releases. As far as I know Splatoon Raiders is a single player spin off, again something I'd be interested in but not something that'd take off like Splatoon 2.
I'm always eager to be wrong, but I doubt anything this year will move the needle outside of Pokémon. Though definitely more things that I'M looking forward to this year than last.

Probably coming soon then. Likely April. I REALLY want this game to be good!

@MamaSymphonia I wanna say it's sunk cost fallacy. Games cost so much now that it NEEDS to be good, and people will insist or exaggerate a game's qualities just so they don't feel silly having spent $70 on it.

But I'm not in other people's heads so I can't say for sure.

I don't appreciate how Nintendo's fanbase have developed such low standards that this is considered 'good enough'.

Prime 4 would be straddling mediocre to poor at best if an indie studio with a complete new IP made it. But this is an entry in a long-standing franchise FILLED with masterpieces, developed by a subsidiary of one of the biggest companies in the world. Retro and Nintendo used to bang out stone cold classics like it was nothing, it's what made you a Nintendo fan in the first place!
How is THIS acceptable to you?

Missed opportunity for them to call each unique ending its own game. 10 games in one! Hell, considering the Zero Escape guy worked on this too it's probably more than ten.

Still patiently waiting for Shadow of the Eternals.

I'm getting huge red flags that Requiem is directionless. Leon's gameplay segments frankly just look awkward, like they tacked RE4R's mechanics onto a game that wasn't built around them because they weren't confident that the Grace portion would be able to carry the game on its own (which is probably true).

Doesn't look like there's a hardcore mode from the start, still no demo, and they spent as much time on shameless ads as they did showing the actual game.
Even the most promising tidbit from this - being zombies retaining personalities from their past lives - was promised to us before in RE6, and was just an excuse for zombies to wield guns and melee weapons. I expect that's as shallow as it's going to be here.

I'd love to be able to put my foot in mouth on this one, but I think the showcase made things clear to me. This game is gonna blow chunks, and not in a good way.

I guess I didn't touch my Switch until April cause that's where it starts.
APR // 10hrs on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I remember now a big chunk of that was adjusting the My Music on every stage for some reason.
MAY // 37hrs went to the first three DOOM games.
JUNE // Switch 2 launch, I put a combined total of 53 hrs into Mario Kart World - and after being horribly disappointed by it - the much superior Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
JULY // 83hrs, the lions share of 49 going to 100%ing Donkey Kong Bananza. Tropical Freeze and Odyssey would make up the rest alongside more MK8 due to it becoming a weekly thing with friends for awhile.
AUGUST // 44hrs gone into the Shantae series, this goes into September as well, I played most of them multiple times for completion. I don't know the specifics cause the site doesn't let you see past your most played game (something the 3DS can do anytime of the year btw). But the most played was Half-Genie Hero at 27hrs.
SEPTEMBER // 96hrs in September. This would have been my time with Shantae and the Seven Sirens at 21hrs and the newest Shantae (site won't show me the details on this one, so just less) and two speedruns of the Pirate's Curse. It's also when I would put in what I had assumed was a lot more than 20hrs into the first Hollow Knight, but I guess not. And I probably did Odyssey's post game this month too.
OCT // 16hrs. This was all my roommate. He had played Silksong on his PC and wanted to play it again on my Switch. I haven't gotten to Silksong yet because I still haven't finished that latest Hollow Knight playthrough.
NOV // 20hrs entirely to Air Riders.
DEC // an additional 13hrs to Air Riders.
372hrs across 22 games. Most of which I identified above but there were a few others like Is This Seat Taken, Mighty Switch Force, and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2.

I checked my 3DS, I put 99hrs across a few games (DKC trilogy, the first Shantae and most of the Mighty series, the 3DS remake of DQVII). The rest would have been on the PS5, PS3, or PC / emulation.
My most played games in 2025 were Kingdom Come Deliverance at 130ish hours, and Umamusume: Pretty Derby which has a sickening 140hrs on my PC alone. Who knows how much time I've clocked into it on my phone.

Exactly what I've been waiting for

More Dragon Quest VII. 40 hrs in and now a pretty strong contender for my second favorite DQ game (nothing's going to beat DQV).
I experienced my first job class grind after getting stuck on a boss. I expect many more in the future since I want to unlock all the ultimate jobs. Probably won't do all the Monster jobs, but I have two party members set aside to try some out.
Reimagined has big shoes to fill.

The first 2026 game I'll be playing releases next week, called Big Hops. Sort of an open-ended 3D platformer that looks quite promising. That's it really, maybe some time towards more RE games in preparation for Requiem but that'll likely go to Dragon Quest instead.

We've been burned by these Mario sports titles before, but this one's looking pretty feature rich.
Packed February for games but I'll be keeping my eye on this one.

@Kilroy That's my bad, I wasn't referring to just this one specifically. Everything we've seen in general including the preview footage from a few months ago. Not impressed with Grace's gameplay so far. I'm a little more hopeful for Leon's side since RE2R & RE4R were good, but that's all I can really say until they show more or the game comes out.

I've played through the prologue, here are my thoughts:
Reimagined does a slightly better job than the 3DS remake at opening the game... But man I still hate how butchered it is. Square Enix is petrified at the notion of you getting lost for a single second and having to think things through on your own.
It wouldn't be an issue if the original game didn't do such a great job at setting up the world and characters before having you ACTUALLY EXPLORE the ruins and ACTUALLY SOLVE puzzles. Playing through this abridged version knowing how much better they did it 26 years ago just takes the wind out of the sails.

Original game feels like the start of a story.
New game feels like a video game tutorial.
Lame.
If it's anything like the 3DS remake it should be mostly fine going forward, but this version has quite a bit of cut content so we'll see.

@DennisReynolds That's fair enough. Their trailers and demos do stick to as early in the game as possible. I suppose then that the crux of what I'm getting at is that the early game of RE9 that we've seen has not impressed me whatsoever. Which isn't something I can say about any of the previous games, I think their pre-release marketing was quite a lot stronger.

I mean *****, I was super hyped for Village before it came out. I can only imagine the kind of sales wizardry needed to sell that piece of trash.

@Yoshi3 You are talking personal opinion though. What do you think these metascores are aggregated from? More specifically, you're appealing to popular opinion to validate your own, which I don't care about and doesn't change anything I've said in this thread.
I don't consider anyone who gave RE8 high praise a reputable source for reviewing games. Because I played RE8 and thought it was crap, simple as that.
You're like the people who used to equate sales to quality. If that was the case then RE6 is the 4th best Resident Evil game. RE6 is complete garbage, it's even worse than 8 (though they're both bad for very similar reasons) - but by sheer numbers it ekes out some form of legitimacy. There's points you can make about WHY these games are so highly received, but using metrics alone isn't an argument.

And idk what you're on about "other side of the spectrum of the RE fanbase". You mean like a fan of the older games? That's not an argument you want to have brother, all of the classic titles have higher metascores than the newer ones barring the 2 & 4 remakes lol. By your logic all of my favorite games are objectively better.

@Yoshi3 You can be as excited as you want, and I will continue to be skeptical and voice my skepticism as I please.

I don't even agree that RE has been on a good trajectory. The entries since 7 have been a mixed bag, and if you include the spinoffs I'd even say the series has been on a bad trajectory.
3 remake and Village were both incredibly shallow games and RE7 suffers from a sharp decline in quality. I got no reason to assume RE9 couldn't end up the same, especially with what little we've seen of it.

@Yoshi3 I don't want an open world Resident Evil game, I just want to know that my $70 will buy me more than two hallways and a death wall that's allergic to florescent light bulbs.

Your average FOMO addicted social media user is hyped for literally everything, why should I be judging the contents of a trailer based on their impressions and not my own

@Yoshi3 Not if the few things they do show aren't selling me on the game. That's what a trailer is for.

You're telling me they can't show one other area without spoiling the whole thing? That just sounds like there isn't much game to spoil.

Man they really don't have a lot to show for this game, do they. I get the sense Capcom wants you to be very impressed with that Grace segment in the hotel, but I've seen the preview footage and it looks extremely barebones.
Everything's riding on the mystery of how Leon's sections (campaign?) will play, but I imagine the gameplay's been ripped straight out of RE4R. Not exactly inspiring confidence.

That's a lot of babies and armless goobers

So uh... Game Key Cards being horrible anti-consumer trash aside...
Does anyone here know what slice of the game this demo covers? Is it just the first bit on Estard, or do we get to travel to an island or two?

Edit: It's up to the end of the first island.

Played CrossWorlds for the first time yesterday. Pretty fun. Was not expecting it to be as challenging as it is.
Currently don't know how to feel about the rubberbanding, it feels like it takes a full lap of impeccable driving + a King Boom Boo just to catch up to your rival, but all it takes is one stray item for you to slow to a crawl and lose 7 positions. But I've only just started so it could be a skill issue.

The most charitable thing about him is that he isn't the worst part of the game

Prediction time: I expect to see something about DQ XII this year, but I don't see us getting it anytime soon.
No, I think the big thing this year will be full remakes (likely HD-2D but I'm hoping for a different style) of the Zenithian trilogy. And next year we'll see an enhanced port of DQ VIII, an official western release of X Offline, and a full remake of IX.
Whether or not we actually get all these games in the course of two years remains to be seen, but considering the time between announcement and release of the DQ VII remake, I think they've been working on all of these for a while now.
Post remakes we'll finally get DQ XII and I imagine Horii-san retires shortly after.

There's a CHANCE we get a second Definitive Edition of DQ XI, to bring the visuals back to par of the original release... but I'm not expecting it.

@infostormerdotcom So for the most part you want them to return to action/arcade design.
A lot of those games have the same cutesy anime style that I assume you're dismissing other games for though.
Like I can't really see what distincts Knights of the Round as being "manly", where Zelda is "not manly". When both games are about anime-style protagonists battling the forces of evil to save a kingdom.
Another example being Shock Troopers and Sunset Riders. Shock Troopers is my favorite Neo-Geo game barring anything from Fatal Fury / KOF, and it has the aesthetic of a super-macho guerrilla game - but it's more like a parody. The player and enemy sprites are extremely silly and it revels in creating as much cartoon violence in its scenarios as it can. Not a game that I'd say takes itself very seriously (same with Sunset Riders and westerns).

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, even Super Mario Bros. is a game about two working class immigrants getting isekai'd into a fantasy kingdom, and selflessly rescuing its monarch from a warring nation. Sounds pretty ***** manly to me lmao.

My brother and I have been suffering through Resident Evil 6, and I'm thinking today's the day we finally end that suffering

@OneArmedGiant As a fellow man I am inclined to agree

@infostormerdotcom You got it, give me some examples of manly Japanese games they were once mass producing.

@infostormerdotcom Name them

The exact kind of thing I fw. Day one

Wilds is extremely boring. Port MH4 Ultimate instead so more people can experience peak Monster Hunter.

That game manages to have a more compelling story than World and Wilds without having to assault you with constant cutscenes and forced trailing segments

@Andrew_G I'm sure for a lot of people it is about the satisfaction of seeing their favorite game at the top, but that wasn't what I was getting at.
The point I was making was that the only reason Trails is higher than Bananza is because it is less popular and has a lower mean of votes to account for. Which has nothing to do with the actual qualities of the game and everything to do with how the scoring system aggregates the votes of each individual game.
Ideally a best-of list wouldn't exclusively be a popularity contest, but I'm sure you'd agree that still ought to factor in? That's why I suggested separate categories, specifically I'd separate by genre. I think that would satisfy both people who are looking for specific games they've missed out on like yourself, and people who are just looking for recognition for the games they like. And it would showcase more games overall.

I mean tbh looking at the "Best Nintendo Switch games of 2025" and seeing over half of them being ports of games that are several years old doesn't exactly inspire confidence either.
Are you telling me Red Dead Redemption 1 was one of the best games of 2025??
Hell, if Unicorn Overlord got a Switch 2 edition this year it could have won Nintendo Life's GOTY two consecutive years in a row lmao!
That's it really, I won't pretend like I've put an insane amount of thought into my reasoning nor is the list particularly important, but I think it could be a lot better if they didn't leave it to the aggregate robot.

With the Switch 2 now long since released that's gonna be a "lmao, no".
Anticipation for Mario Kart World was doing a lot of heavy lifting for that lineup, and it wound up being a shallow mess.

Final Fantasy doesn't have any sort of core identity. They just do whatever they want for every entry now, what sort of feedback would be cohesive at this point?
It's easy to say I want a focused turn-based JRPG, but those haven't been relevant to this series for over 20 years now. Forget what I want, what even IS Final Fantasy??

Square Enix is more evidently headless than any other AAA corporation. They chase every single industry trend that pops up and are late to all of them. I genuinely could not name you a noteworthy game of theirs from the last 10 years that wasn't called Dragon Quest and/or developed by Team Asano.

Probably just shoulda made a Metroid game instead

Not to disparage Trails in Sky's qualities, it's made by Falcom so I'm sure it's great. But you guys seem to rely way too heavily on this "let the fans decide" scoring system, completely ignoring that some games are going to naturally have higher or lower user scores based entirely on how many people played it.

So you have the awkward results here where a few people played Trails in the Sky and nigh unanimously loved it, and a lot of people played Bananza to similar acclaim but because of the higher player count there's a much wider array of scores to account, ultimately lowering it (not to mention it will get its fair share of dismissive 1s precisely because of its popularity).
For example me giving a Bananza a 7 LOWERS its overall score despite the fact that I think it (and anything else I rate a 7) is exceptional.

And if what @rvcolem1 is saying is true then this system is extremely abusable lol. I'm not saying I'd prefer a list done solely by Nintendo Life staff, because it would just be every Nintendo game at the top. But I do think more effort in curation would go a long way. You can even create separate categories precisely so games like Trails in the Sky gets its due recognition despite it not being as popular as other games.