Kingy

@roy130390 What's baffling about it? I really wanted an open world Pokémon game, but the one in S/V is really poorly done. The objectives on the map are placed haphazardly and don't scale with your progress, leading to many challenges being entirely moot because the actual intended route based off the levels is unintuitive.
The world itself isn't just ugly and glitchy, it's also dead. There's nothing to interact with outside of the Pokémon strewn about seemingly at random, it was extremely disappointing to see.

I haven't played sw/sh so I can't fully say on whether or not it's an improvement over that, but from what I've seen it's not a high bar to clear.

Yeah the city environment isn't exactly playing to Game Freak's advantages. It's weird seeing some wild areas in the city just being normal city streets. Like I hope your favorite asian buffet isn't located where the city decided to dump the lions lol.

To get the low-hanging fruit out of the way, the game is extremely ugly, and I'm not hopeful about the performance considering how much Scarlet/Violet ***** the bed in any area that was even remotely populated. But Legends Arceus was ugly and performed poorly too, and I still liked it, so that's not a deal breaker.
Any spin on the old battle system is welcome. I remember in Arceus it was all about manipulating the turn order with strong and speedy strikes, which was cool, but in practice most fights boiled down to which pokemon could steamroll the other first.

Being able to maneuver in battle and replacing the turn order with an ATB system looks really promising. Potentially we'd have to start using our brains again lol, but we'll see.

I'm calling it here and now though: despite the game being set in a city, there will be sub 20 interiors we can enter in the entire game.

Nintendo 3DS has the strongest library of any Nintendo platform save for maybe the original DS. But you can play all DS software on the 3DS anyways, so yeah, 3DS reigns as king!!

Surely whatever they have is gonna be better than the dumpster fire that was Scarlet/Violet...
Surely...

...surely...

Also, people keep asking when's the direct. The direct's in April, how short are your memories??

Not the masterpiece its outstanding reputation makes it out to be, but it's worth your time.

Not a single one of these will be bought with good intentions

@Corvus96 Worst performance out of the all the versions, highest difficulty out of all versions (which can get insanely *****). And lacks the presentation that the PCE version has (cutscenes / cheesy voice acting / insanely fantastic soundtrack).

@Salnax Challenge level - impossible.
Or making a dating sim that's actually a simulation game and not a just a visual novel falsely advertised as one.

I'm sure they have an idea or two that sets it apart from the rest of the entries, but as far as Mario Karts are concerned all that's really needed is a strong course selection and multiplayer options.
This is why people are still going back to MK64, Double Dash, DS, & Wii. They got a strong selection of tracks and extra modes and features that keep the games evergreen despite future entries being technically better.
Mario Kart 8 definitely has the strongest and most quality track list out of all of them (even though the Booster Course pass kinda muddied the waters) but multiplayer modes were a clear afterthought and are half-baked.
Give Mario Kart 9 some kick ass tracks like 8 and a quality multiplayer mode (you don't even need to innovate, just copy older games wholesale) and you'll have another masterwork on your hands.

@ClickBrick Here's hoping. Even if they want to veer away from console gimmicks there's no reason why they can't create a more inspired system UI. The switch has all the artistry and aesthetic of ***** retroarch lol, and customizability was a massive step down from the 3DS (even the Wii U).

And yeah, I really hope they start moving away from "the thing we did before again" with the Switch 2 (though by name alone it's safe to assume that won't be the case). Even after excluding all the ports and remasters, you get a library that feels light on innovative ideas, the thing that Nintendo prided itself on up to the previous generation. Some fresh concepts with a bit less reliance on established IPs going forward would certainly be welcome.

The sheer downgrade of 'personality' (for lack of a better term off the top of my head) from the 3DS / Wii U to the Switch is a bummer, but obviously not the nail in the coffin.
I think the best argument you could make about the Switch generation being the worst (so far) is that too many of their new games are either half-baked or iterative of older titles.

Not to say that these games are bad, most of them are quite good, sometimes great. But there aren't many switch games I can praise without some sort of caveat, most often being that there's a better version of said game made 10-20 years ago.

I'm kingdom coming after those beastly Cumans. Kunesh is next. Jesus Christ be praised!

Yep, a toddler is going to struggle with a video game, probably even the easiest video game you could offer them. This is an age barrier, not a difficulty barrier. Try again in 3 years and try not to control the way she plays. No one likes a backseat gamer.

@ArcticEcho "Trust me bro" - ^

Basically where all the true gems are coming from nowadays.

2036 LET'S GOOOOOOOO

@KingMike I think you're right, Chronicles I believe is an enhanced port of Eternal made for the PSP, which then got re-released on Steam. There's a lot of versions of Ys I&II, it's hard to keep track lol. But yeah, the Ys I&II remake is even older than I said it was.
The guy I was responding to didn't and still hasn't explained how Chronicles ruined the original gameplay. And tbh considering he described it as a "luck based dungeon crawler RPG", I can only assume he has Ys confused with something else.

Only problem I can think of is that tracks may be designed to be super wide and chunky to accommodate a pack of 24 racers, which could lead to a dull collection of tracks. But we'll just have to wait and see.

Finishing up Resident Evil 2 before I jump back into Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I've dedicated myself to unlocking all the extra modes in the 1998 RE2, which means I have another full playthrough on my hands to unlock the Tofu Survivor, but I decided to take a break from it and play the remake.

Comparing the original to the remake (that was the point of me playing them now after all), the remake suffers with a heavily disjointed story and a completely different atmosphere that I find inferior to the original. But the new combat system offers a very different experience that's excellent in its own right. Resource management and choosing which enemies to put down is MUCH more prevalent in RE2R, alongside a greatly improved threat with Mr. X. It does a good job capturing the spirit of the original despite failing in other areas. Which (like I mentioned in the last weekend post) is a far cry from the Silent Hill 2 Remake, which I think is inferior to its source material in every way.
So uh... Resident Evil 2 (original & remake) is a big recommend lol, if you've somehow not already played it.

@Serpenterror Ngl not really getting what it is you're trying to say. My favorites in the series are I, II, & IV, which all feature the earliest style of gameplay this series had to offer. Are you saying Ys I & II Chronicles, and Dawn of Ys are the worst versions of their respective numbers? And how do they "ruin the original experience with modern gameplay"? Dawn of Ys isn't even a remake, it's the ORIGINAL Ys IV along with Mask of the Sun (which is a horrid game).
This is of course even more confusing coming from someone who says "Ys wasn't good until VIII (2016) and the remakes". Which remakes? Oath in Felghana (2005)? Ys I & II Chronicles (2009)? Memories of Celceta (2012)? All of the remakes predate Ys VIII by quite a bit and two of them offer completely different gameplay experiences.

Please clarify your argument here, because right now it just sounds like you're saying Nintendo = better, which is not compelling to me whatsoever.

People keep saying it's the movie design but it looks more inspired by DK Jr's sprite in the first Mario Kart.
So if I had to guess it's an art style change for this game only, or maybe the Mario spin off games in general. In that context I like it, but I couldn't see myself playing a DKC game with that Kong.

20 years of not thanking the bro

To start off with a positive, I've played through MiSide twice. It's an incredibly charming little horror game, though clearly not quite finished yet. The game has been making rounds across the internet so I'm sure it needs no introduction, but it's a recommend for me.
On the negative side I FINALLY got through the Silent Hill 2 Remake and my worries before playing were ultimately founded. The game is a tedious slog, nearly tripling the original game's runtime and adding incredibly little of value. The previously brisk pace and tightly designed levels are bogged down by an extreme emphasis on combat (which is far from good enough to be as prevalent as it is), and nonsensical geometry that has you regularly squeezing through cracks in the wall, pushing carts around, and crawling through gaps in the floor so you never really have your bearings in a place. The latter may not sound like a problem, but the way you're going about is an entirely linear stretch and I found myself very often forgetting what my current objective even was due to long gaps of time dedicated to meandering.
The remake sadly doesn't do the story any justice either. While it does stay close to the original script, Blooper Team really dropped the ball on voice direction, with Mary/Maria's VA in particular delivering her lines in a very theater actor kind of cadence, which tended to remove all emotion or tension from scenes involving her (which if you know, is incredibly disappointing). All this is to say I think Konami was less interested in properly remaking SH2 and more interested in having their own RE2R. And some combination of poor concept and poor choice of studio led to an ultimately shallow and inferior copy of both that fails to hold up to its inspirations and fails to be a good game in its own right. Not a recommend.

Sorry about the rant, NOW I'm currently playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance in anticipation of its sequel. I haven't put much time into it yet, but I definitely get the impression it'll be the kind of game I devote a bit of my life to due to all the systems at play. Medieval Simulator is an apt description for it so far lol, but it does have its own story to tell, and its devotion to a historical setting really sucks you into the game fast.

Also, just to be fair to SH2R, I started playing Resident Evil 2 to compare with RE2R afterwards. I consider both to be masterpieces, and am putting that to the test.
There's only a two month period between my first playthrough of SH2 and SH2R, so both games are currently fresh in my mind, but the gap between my RE2 playthroughs are 7 years apart, with an additional five years since I played the remake. Let's see what happens.

This game is extremely fun and challenging. High recommendation to anyone who wants a breath of fresh air from the current action game mold every studio is using right now.

@the_beaver Ys V. SFC only and they haven't remade it yet, which I bet they'll do at some point.

Suika "Where has my 30+ hours gone" Game stays winning.

Batman: This is where I watched my parent's die, Shadow.
Shadow: hmph Weak.

No surprise seeing Dragon Quest up top. Pretty hyped to see what they do with the I&II remake next year, DQI is a personal darling of mine I made a bit of a comic series about it last year.
No doubt it'll be the top of Japan's charts in 2025 too.

Well I finally finished Dragon Quest III, my team was a bit too cracked for the final boss to put up much of a fight.
Arus - Hero LV59
Milky - Gadabout to Sage back to Gadabout (for exclusive skills) back to Sage again and finally settled into a Thief LV45ish
Garland - Mage to Sage LV54
Ralph - Monster Wrangler to Martial Artist LV50ish
Xenlon was kind of a pain, defeated in 44 turns, didn't feel like grinding to improve that number.

This weekend I'm gonna finish up Victory Heat Rally. Addictive little arcade racer, easy recommend to fans of the genre. Also gonna play through MiSide, a horror game dressed up as a dating sim, I was lucky enough to catch a bit of it on YouTube before getting it myself.

Also might start Silent Hill 2 Remake with my brother, been looking forward to that one though I'm worried all the new stuff might be superfluous and ruin the brisk pacing of the original.
Oh, and I played Mouthwashing the other night. It was okay, had a decent story but started to veer into walking sim territory with there not being much game to it ultimately.
I think it being a bit of viral success led to it attracting a certain kind of community that hard focuses on particular aspects let's say and makes it out to be more than it is. But that's not the fault of the game itself obviously. It's not bad, play it if you're in the mood for some horror with a side of misery.

@mlt Keep in mind Three Houses has four main characters while Engage ultimately has the one, which they've already made a figure for. I highly doubt they don't have at least an Ivy figure planned down the pipeline, if not Alfred, Diamant, & Timerra too.

$200 and they couldn't have picked a more interesting pose? Her arms are 15 degrees south of T-posing lol

@StewdaMegaManNerd Hey Scott, All here.

You're telling me I can pay $12.99 a month to play Sonic 2 and Columns? WHERE DO I SIGN UP!!?

It would be cool to get a sequel, but Unicorn Overlord is already a complete package in terms of the ideas and mechanics on display. There's not too much room for improvement here and I think a UO2 would amount to an iteration, the same thing again with slight differences and new story/characters.
Not that there's anything wrong with iterative sequels (if they're good) but they do kinda dilute the waters.

And I believe in a world of so many franchises being kept on life support, constantly carted back on stage to capitalize on a brand (oh hello Indiana Jones, hello Jurassic Park, hello Alien, hello Ghostbusters), there's A LOT of value and for me a hell of a lot of respect when studios like Vanillaware put out a quality game and just move on to something new.

Absolute masterpiece of a game and an incredibly close second for my GotY. 100 hrs well spent!

@Arcane-Fer Review sites tend to treat AAA games more favorably even if they suck.

78 is too soon. This man is responsible for one of the strongest lineup of games ever made under a single name and serves as inspiration for countless others. Thanks for everything you've done.

I see we're going to regurgitate this same article before and after every major release now huh

Absolutely ***** gorgeous sprite art and they got the two best possible teams for this kind of game. Can't wait.

Might just finish up DQIII, I'm pretty much near the end of it. Played Crow Country three times in a row this week, high recommendations for that one if you haven't played it, very charming survival horror game. I plan on getting through some shorter 2024 games over the remaining weekends of the year. This weekend will either be Mouthwashing or Victory Heat Rally.
But... I see it... Metaphor looms over the horizon... It's an ATLUS game, so I know I'm gonna be here for six thousand hours.

The one time in the show where I had a pulse (after Ninja Gaiden). I still need to finish the original.

Edit Wait I remember leaning forward in my chair and exclaiming "ONIMUSHA!?" So three things.

"THIS AIN'T YOUR DAD'S PAC-MAN"
This game looks like its been displaced in time for 20+ years.

So pretty much exactly what everyone was thinking. Horribly mismanaged project due to too many cooks being in the kitchen. And also of course the scope of the game being way too big.

You'll never catch me saying that 'games were better back then', I think the amount of high-quality video games coming out every year is higher than ever. But I could definitely do without the same piece of ***** slop adventure game coming out every year that fails to get even basic mechanics right like stealth and dialogue trees, stuff that was mastered 25+ years ago on more primitive hardware, it's pathetic.

Oh, and for the memes

Silent Hill: The Short Message (3)
Pathetic walking simulator wearing the second most iconic horror franchise as a mask to feign validity. Story and themes have all the subtlety of a brick house falling on top of you. Suicide hotline unironically pops up every 20 mins like this game's childish storytelling is really so deep and moving it would heal your depression. ***** off.
Horror segments are the same everytime, you run through maze-like hallways from some walmart brand PT monster. Feels like an afterthought, like they forgot they were making a horror game 85% in and threw together some boring ass chase sequence and copy/pasted it four times for each chapter. The game is free, I'll grant it that much, but it's seriously not worth the time.

Didn't play a whole lot of new games this year and only one of them was on my switch, but here's the list.

GOTY - Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club (9)
Has one of the best stories ever told in video games/ maybe even ever, and all the jank associated with the remakes (due to them coming from the 80s tbf) is completely gone.

2. Unicorn Overlord (9)
Incredibly fun and addictive tactics game. The fact that I had dedicated multiple nights to just optimizing my team comps and ai is a ringing endorsement for how in depth you can get.
Between this, Triangle Strategy, and Engage, strategy games are in a really good place right now.

3. Zenless Zone Zero (7) Not on switch
Gacha game with a really fun combat system, a surprising amount of gameplay variety outside of the combat, and playable characters that actually feel meaningfully distinct from each other. I've played it every single day since release with a total of 350hrs clocked in so far, obviously I'm going to have a high opinion of it. But, like I said before, it IS a gacha game, buyer beware.

4. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (7)
I haven't finished this one yet but it's basically just a better looking version of the SFC remake with most of the content retained, and a little bit of new content. Seems quite a bit easier too (playing on Draconian Quest btw) but that could just be because I over-optimized expecting a greater challenge than I'm currently getting. I'm ranking it just above where I ranked the SFC remake for now.

5. Stellar Blade (7) Not on switch
High marks for the super fun combat and enemy variety, and a crazy amount of unlockable costumes / cosmetics for the main protagonist. World traversal is a bit jank and the story is a drag but otherwise I'd say its a pretty.......... stellar........ game.

6. Granblue Fantasy Relink (7) Not on Switch
Super addictive action RPG / Monster Hunter-lite with a gargantuan cast of characters. Story is nothing to write home about but there are some really awesome set pieces within it. Everything after the story is pure uncut MH crack cocaine and I had a hard time putting it down. Good stuff.

Wanna try and get to some more stuff before the year ends but ultimately I'd say this is a preeeeety handsome lineup.

@obijuankanoobie I'd kill for an Uprising port or remaster, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it. Honestly if you're interested and own a 3DS you should just get the original.
The controls are different, not bad. You'll get accustomed to them by the time you finish the opening hours and everything feels pretty intuitive. It's one of the best games ever made.

Nice if true, I gifted my 3DS copy to someone else so this will be a definite get!

How about entertaining options of them going out of business.