Unless the game didn't require touch controls the vertical switch layout is gonna be the way to go. I doubt that's what we're gonna get if they ever do DS games online. Expect butchered port-jobs.
Censorship cheer squad not doing too hot on this one. C'mon guys, defend the slop! Tell us all about how the game's better now like we haven't been through this same cycle ad nauseum since the 90s.
I played Fire Emblem Heroes on and off for a few months. FE probably has my favorite line up of characters out of any franchise but the game still couldn't hold legs for me, it's really shallow. I recommend just importing the trading cards (idk if that's still reasonable though the TCGs been defunct since 2020) if you need a FE flavored kick to your gambling addiction. I can't really say I'm fully against gacha games cause I've been playing Zenless Zone Zero every day since it released, but I'm aware of the predatory tactics it and most others employ to get you to spend ludicrous amounts of money on tiny amounts of content. Needless to say my love of ZZZ does not translate to a love for gacha games, it's just a singular game I find fun enough to push through the gacha mechanics. But I think @nessisonett nailed it on the head, Nintendo could serve up the exact same predatory slop that all the other slimeball companies put out and there will always be a contingent of fans who will say it's okay when they do it.
Well I think the SFC version is a solid 7 so at least that unless there's something titanicly wrong with the remake, which I don't believe there is. Could be higher but I have to get to it first.
@UltimateOtaku91 Good to know. So far I've played the first Ryza, Marie & Elie, the Marie remake, and when I was a kid I played Meruru. So pretty scattershot lol. I own Ryza 2 & 3 so those are next on the docket other than this new game.
I'm assuming this rule was made specifically for Elden Ring DLC. I don't mind it, there are a lot of DLC expansions that are basically their own game. I enjoyed Octo Expansion way more than I enjoyed the rest of Splatoon 2, the best of these deserve recognition.
@Polvasti I recommend V, VIII, and XI for that. I can't speak on the additions, but the base III experience basically has no overarching story or characters. Protagonist is completely mute, your party members are custom made and have no relevance to the story whatsoever. And all the side characters only exist within their self-contained sub plot and are super thin.
DQIII is definitely a more gameplay oriented kind of experience.
You could also give IX a shot, it's going for the same thing III is going for with the customizable protagonist and party but the story and side characters are a bit more involved.
I haven't gotten my hands on it yet but from what I've seen from an early game playthrough the combat looks fun but the story / dialogue is pretty shallow (seems to be lacking the wit of previous entries too).
But that's just from me watching the opening hours so far too early to guess where I'd place it.
I love the color palette for the first Warioware. More muted, invokes a totally different vibe from Mario. Kinda like how the original Donkey Kong Country games looked a bit dark and moody, then you have Yoshi's Island which goes in the complete opposite direction. Nowadays ALL of these series take the same bright and vibrant approach Mario does, which is fine, but it was cool for a time when they looked like their own unique thing.
When did this start happening? I know I've bought Nintendo games through Amazon before but its been a while since I used the site. This was an issue when I was trying to get ahold of Famicom Detective Club, Amazon didn't have it and I wound up surfing local game stops scrounging for a single copy. But I only assumed that was the case cause it was a niche game.
Spoilers for what!? Lol DQIII doesn't really have a story so much as it has a series of mini scenarios from town to town. I guess there's a bit of a surprise like 70% through the game but new players aren't gonna have any context for that because you're releasing the third game before the first.
Idk I guess they're talking about the new stuff they're adding, otherwise putting a spoiler ban on DQIII is just plain nonsense.
Alright to anyone reading sound off. Which year has the best lineup? Emio is my favorite game on here and 2023 was pretty strong but I STILL think 2017 has gone unrivaled.
I'm surprised Intelligent Systems isn't on here. Always thought they were in the same category as Monolith and Retro.
Considering how consistent Nintendo's output is this seems to be the way to go. I mean for Christ sake look at all the companies Microsoft bought up and years later there's like hardly anything to show for it. Sony fares a lot better but still struggles to match the same consistency as Nintendo. Not to mention a big chunk of Sony's library are just exclusivity deals, stuff like Final Fantasy and Stellar Blade will be multi-plat one day and people will stop counting them as a reason to buy Playstations.
I really appreciate this interview. There's a certain mindset you have to have when devoting yourself to large project, especially when you're working it alone. None of us have infinite time and many projects never leave the ground because the author can't or isn't willing to spend the time required to make it happen.
So this is particularly valuable, getting the perspective from someone who's giant solo project was a huge success, and there's not really a secret to it, he just put the work in. And even though the game was technically finished years ago he still can't pull away from it. Idk, something about that I find very relatable, stuff like this (Sakurai's detailed breakdown on how he created his youtube channel is another fantastic view into a creator's perspective) makes going at my own projects just a little bit easier.
@Zeebor15 Hey! #NOTALLTTYDFANS, thank you! I happen to love all sorts of games, anime or otherwise. None of them are called Sticker Star, Color Splash, or Origami King is all
@Simone93 Right, it's just so little to go off in a very short span of time. As for the new project, they only have him as a consultant but if the people involved are the same guys who did Origins and Legends it should be a good one. I suppose I would be interested what they would do with a remake of the original Rayman (I think that's what was rumored earlier last month) but I agree, I'd prefer something brand new and preferably 3D.
@Bigmanfan I never made the claim that it was true or false. I agree, it would be embarrassing to come to a definitive conclusion with such little information on hand.
@Bigmanfan Yes, it is outlandish. The reports of wrong-doing are incredibly thin, have been sourced by a single quote that is NOT corroborated (at this time, 4 years after the fact) by anyone that was working under Ancel at Ubisoft. Kind of strange considering that as soon as the sexual harassment allegations against Gbinigie came forward plenty more staff followed with their own.
I can't find much of relevance on Liberation magazine but it doesn't seem like they have an amazing reputation among French readers. They are #10 for most-trusted media brand in France and have been reporting losses since 1998. Here is a single quote I found relating to the Ancel article.
fyi here in France, Libération is often known for being on the "gotcha journalism" side. Several journalists from it have been accused to go as far as harass people online. - some redditor
This is hardly much to go on to reach a conclusion of Liberation being a bad news outlet, but it's as much 'evidence' as you have to say Ancel is a bad person. You can believe whatever you want to believe just don't spread misinformation like Kotaku and claim there's more evidence than there actually is. You're conjecting, that's all.
If you want my conjecture, Beyond Good & Evil 2 isn't out and will never be out (at least not as it was originally advertised) because it was an overly ambitious project created by one of the most infamously disorganized companies known to man. But I couldn't tell you that as a fact because I lack evidence.
@Bigmanfan I know your mind's already made up, I'm just here to notify people that you're basing this decision off a single dubious quote parroted by two untrustworthy news sources.
@Bigmanfan That's conjecture, not evidence. The only thing our super credible media outlets (Kotaku and Liberation) provided was a "trust me bro, it definitely happened".
@Bigmanfan None of the claims are substantiated actually. It's all hearsay with a single quote from a single person that articles parrot represent multiple people. And the only reason why anyone thinks he's involved with sexual misconduct is because Kotaku carelessly tied the complaints towards him to all the sexual harassment / rape allegations made after the initial Gbinigie allegations. There's also been no follow-through since other than Ancel's response to the initial Libération article, so take that as you will. You can think whatever you want about the situation just don't pretend there's some rock-solid case against him, because there isn't.
@RubyCarbuncle No, not yet, but I have been watching multiple playthroughs since release. The combat is particularly dreadful with overly simplistic enemy attack patterns and incredibly short aggro range (for common enemies AND bosses). One of the people I've been watching is playing on Nightmare, the highest difficulty, which he's remarked that the mode doesn't feel it's providing any sort of real challenge, the only punishing element is that bosses are super spongey (which is a common way for games to make a game FEEL harder without actually being harder, very lazy). The dialogue speaks for itself, it is unbearably cringe. It's got that Marvel patented flippant attitude where every character has the same tired personality, cracking quips and jokes and taking nothing seriously despite the world-ending stakes. I also find it incredibly weird that your adult party members regularly behave like children and practically all of your dialogue options treat them as such, making me wonder what age demographic this M-rated game is actually for. This creates a tonal vacuum that on its own would be bad, but once you factor in that this is a sequel to Dragon Age (which at least Origins & 2, the ones I played, have a pretty grimdark setting that takes itself seriously) the whiplash is unreal and I don't know why they didn't just make this game its own IP other than cashing in on an already established brand (which is also all too common).
All this is to say that Brothership very well could have "boring gameplay and dialogue" and could be a 5/10. But considering that they gave what so far is shaping up to be a 3/10 a 9/10, I have no reason to trust any review that comes from IGN because it seems their staff have no standard for quality.
Finally, no, we need to stop this narrative that you aren't allowed to judge a game until you play it yourself from start to finish. Nobody actually believes this. This is why reviews exist. It's why trailers and first impressions exist. And in a world with youtube and twitch playthroughs, you can't tell me with someone is unable to discern a good game from a bad one by watching it all the way through. It'll never be a perfect assessment because a viewer won't have a grasp on the controls or movement mechanics. But as far as anything that you can perceive on screen (something like boring combat or awful dialogue) all you need is a working pair of eyes and ears to judge.
Lol okay IGN, Mario & Luigi has "boring gameplay and dialogue". But Dragon Age: The Veilguard? That's a masterpiece. IGN makes up like 70% of the total impression that game journalists shouldn't be taken seriously.
I still have my Wii U copy so probably not. But aside from the lackluster story I quite liked this game (which was NOT the consensus at the time) so if they add anything cool for the port I could see myself double dipping.
I don't think this is gonna replace the ol' YouTube to MP3 converter for me but it'll be interesting to see what gets added. All the rips of The Girl Who Stands Behind out there are super low quality, so fingers crossed for that soundtrack in particular.
WHOA! That's actually pretty sick. They've built up quite an impressive number of soundtracks over the years and some of them have only really been available through game rips. We could potentially be hearing some HQ music for the first time for some games! Hopeful they don't dripfeed this stuff like they do their NSO library and just give us the goods.
@HeadPirate I don't think we actually disagree on much here. I'm entirely with you on how artists and contractors are and should be allowed to operate rights wise (All my answers to those hypotheticals are more or less reflective of that unless I misspoke). Anything I levy against them would fall under criticism which is the subjective part, and that I DO apply that to individual cases at varying severities. I might've not been clear enough that those are two separate positions, sorry about the miscommunication.
As far as the word censorship is concerned, I agree I probably used it too liberally in those answers. But the definition of self-censorship is accurate, so whenever I use 'censorship', know I'm referring to that. Except for when I used it to describe the third party cases (being NoA and the hypothetical flyer artist from questions 2 & 3 respectively) those examples were just flat out wrong uses of the word. Those cases wouldn't be censorship, just a breach of your contract.
So to set the record straight, what Nintendo did for 2015 Xenoblade Chronicles X is self-censorship, and I believe that to be a bad thing but also acknowledge they are allowed to change their own game as much as they want.
For the 2025 re-release, interestingly I'd have to say nothing has been "self-censored" (assuming the content remains the same from the original western release) because they were always going to use this version as a base to begin with, just like Tokyo Mirage Sessions a few years ago. Personally I'd say that's not the right move and they should've opted for the japanese original as a base, but I think they pick the western release to make the localization process easier, which makes sense.
Hopefully that makes things a bit clearer on my end and yes, happy to have any kind of discourse in the future, it's nice to have an actual discussion in the comment section every now and then lol.
@HeadPirate Oh! And one more thing I nearly forgot. Companies are obviously allowed to decide what content they deem acceptable for their platform, I think that's completely fine. If Nintendo deems their console shall have no games containing explicit sexual content, it is their product and their decision to make. This is another one of those scenarios like in question 3 where Nintendo the company is the artist contracting another artist to make a game for their console. They have no grounds to breach Nintendo's desired guidelines.
I take a pretty firm anti-censorship stance in all articles relating to it, but that is coming from how I believe they ought to operate rather than if they should be enforced to.
@HeadPirate
Finally, on the topic of fringe-cases. I believe there should only be one rule that supersedes the original artist's vision, and that is the application of illegal content. Hate speech is good example to start with because it is rocky topic. How much should we allow platform to radicals who degrade others beliefs or extrinsic qualities, and how much of that should we be allowed to emulate in fiction. I think a strong guideline is calls to action or violence and the context thereof. Naming a character "Death to Israel" should most likely not be allowed, but then, what if the character is being portrayed as a radical who we are not meant to sympathize with, and the game is overall a critique of his radical ideals? Idk myself, it's hard to make a call.
There is of course more definitive answers. If Nintendo included footage of real people being murdered or child porn in their games, then they should be punished by law accordingly. More nuanced questions rise from this territory, such as sexualizing Lin, who IS a minor in the world of Xenoblade X, is that okay and should it be allowed, and how much? To that I'd say she is ultimately not a real person and therefore should not be viewed the same way we would view a REAL LIFE teenaged girl in this context. It is plainly fetish content yes, but fetish content is not illegal and is not grounds for removal, even as deplorable as we may find it.
All that is to say, as long as the content is not breaching any real world laws then it's fair game, and artists are free to decide how far they want to reach to this point at the risk of controversy. It's not a perfect answer due to how stories require some suspension between fiction and reality, but I think that's the best way to handle things so as to not cause some dystopian world of absolutes one way or the other.
@HeadPirate
Q1) "If 10 people worked on the boob slider and were involved in its creative design, should NOA have to ask each of them individually if they approve of the change? What if 5 of them agree and 5 don’t?"
This is of course dependent on who is requesting its removal and for what reason. We'll say it's NoA as that's the most likely scenario and question 2 is pretty much the opposite. Now, I don't think the amount of people who approved or disapproved of the slider in the original project is relevant to the overall fact that the slider was inevitably included. But say NoA did want it removed and put it to a tally of the original devs, then NoA would ultimately be the tie-breaker and opt for the removal. They are apart of the artistic process and should have consideration for it. This is assuming NoA would be some sort of unanimous entity and wouldn't itself have a group of people for or against its removal, and realistically any idea that's so divided among the dev team probably would never make it into the game to begin with. But hey, that's what hypotheticals are for and I believe that to be the right answer even if I wouldn't approve of the outcome.
Q2) "What if 5 of them ask NOA to remove it in the Western release because they understand the West is more uptight about things like that and they don’t want to offend anyone?"
I think a more interesting question is what if the majority of the original developers want the feature removed for the western release regardless of what NoA wants to do with it. I would say NoA should be obligated to remove it in the same way they should be obligated to not if the original creators told them they cannot. In the first scenario I expressed that NoA should have consideration, but not equal consideration to the creator, who's word ought to be respected as final for creative decisions (with exceptions, more on that at the end). NoA is free to try to convince NoJ one way or the other, but if NoJ wants to self-censor they have every right to and NoA would in fact be censoring them by NOT complying with that (a CENSORCEPTION if you will).
Q3) "If I hire someone to write something for my store flyer, clearly starting that I don’t want offensive language, but they use offensive language anyways, should I be forced to publish it as is and irreparable harm my business? Should I be forced to pay someone else for a completely new write up because it’s “censorship” to change their original to remove the thing I told them not to do in the first place?"
I like this question the most because it addresses something that people tend to not realize. YOU the contractor are the original artist, even if YOU are not the one doing the actual art. Everyone you hire conforms to your specifications, and if they don't like that they are free to find work elsewhere that suits them. In this scenario the guy putting explicit language on your store flyer is censoring YOU, and you have every right to demand him to change it or to hire someone else.
@HeadPirate I'll answer them, I think these are good hypotheticals worth addressing. To preface, my stance is that NoA does have the LEGAL right to moderate all the work they publish, obviously. And I would never claim that they don't play an integral part of the development process.
However when it comes to a MORAL right I find the things they tend to do (for certain games) appalling. It's important to note that NoA doesn't look at censorship the same way most of us do, it's not really an argument about "artistic integrity vs the removal / modification of controversial content". THEY do it because they have an image of Nintendo to keep (aka Nintendo is a family oriented company that makes games for all-ages), and the guidelines for how they retain that image is fundamentally different than how that image is retained in Japan due to cultural differences.
I of course, could be wrong, but I believe their actions are purely motivated by business and not out of any malice or contempt for the original creators.
Now, the problems I have with this strict adherence to that image they're upholding is-
1) It disregards the original creator's vision and intent. Again this is due to cultural differences, and because localization is a necessary process it is technically impossible for NoA to release a product that 100% aligns with the original's ideas. This is why I think they need to be more careful with what exactly they do moderate. Unnecessary changes will only serve to further and further stray from the original, which as Nintendo's western representative, I believe they ought to be sticking to as close as is reasonably possible.
2) No longer representative of the majority of western consumers. This adherence comes from an era where games were seen as medium exclusively for kids and America's puritan values INFECTED every facet of its culture, including art. Neither of these things are relevant today, so sensitivity to violent and sexual content in the west should no longer be in consideration as grounds to change. Now obviously Nintendo and by extension NoA are free to decide how their content is portrayed based on what score they want on the ratings board (typically companies shoot for as low as possible), but it just starts to feel a bit hypocritical with the third and most important reason-
3) Not all Nintendo games are made for all-ages, and need not apply!
They're much better about this sort of thing nowadays, but back in the Wii U/3DS era when this game released NoA went nuts censoring games that were already unsuitable for children. Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Fatal Frame, all of these franchises are made and marketed with an older audience in mind and contain adult themes. It just makes you wonder who were they doing that for if not simply just because the games had the Nintendo label and therefore couldn't be associated with problematic content.
This is all of course a preamble that ended up longer than expected, so I'm gonna get to the questions in a second comment to avoid hitting the character limit, sorry for the delay!
@shonenjump86 No, it's completely removed from the numbered entries. The only similarities are superficial things like a couple of races from the original game being present in X. You're good to go.
The Censorship Defense Squad coming out full force on this one lol, there's a surprising amount of vitriol in these comments.
Idk why it's so hard to just say "Yeah, that's pretty lame, but this one drawback shouldn't be reflective of the whole game's quality". But nope, the game is BETTER now that they've changed it! So silly, I'll never understand it.
As far as I remember the only things that got the axe in western version of X was the boob slider - which is a stupid thing to remove, that's literally just character customization. And they heavily altered some of Lin's alternate costumes - which is understandable because that character is definitely underage, and its pretty cringe when games try to sex up a kid. But even then, if having these options was the intent of the original developers then it should stay in and you and I can just choose to simply not put the child in a swimsuit.
Look at that, easy solutions to small issues that don't require infringing on someone else's artistic expression to satisfy your sensibilities.
Nintendo-focused list of Ys games is a bit awkward considering how many games are missing, and the ones that do come to Nintendo tend to be the worst versions to play from what I've seen and heard.
Here's a quick reiteration of my own rankings of Ys from a previous article.
1. Ys I&II Chronicles - 8.0
Played this on windows through Steam, I hear there's superior versions of this game (would love to hear some recommendations myself if you have any), but this one is still very good and likely better than any version of Ys I&II available on Nintendo systems.
2. Ys IV: Dawn of Ys - 7.0
PC Engine game, high quality fan translation available online, feel free to ask if you need help with PCE emulation.
3. Ys: The Oath in Felghana - 7.0
The remake of Ys III. Also played this on windows through steam, it's getting a remastered port to consoles in a few months, I recommend just waiting for that.
4. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - 7.0
I played the PS5 version, which is most likely the best way to play it. I haven't heard anything too bad about the Switch version though, so don't hesitate to grab it if a switch is all you got. To parrot everyone else, if you're wanting to get into the series start with VIII, it's the fan favorite.
5. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys - 6.0
I emulated the PC Engine version, to my knowledge that's the best one. Do not - I repeat - DO NOT opt for the SNES version, it is the worst way to play Ys III, you will have a miserable time with it. Oath in Felghana is superior in every way but the original is still worth playing and unique from all the others.
6. Ys IV: Mask of the Sun - 3.0
This is the SFC version of Ys IV (there are three unique Ys IVs), not developed by Falcom or Hudson. This and Ys V weren't included on NL's list because they were never officially released outside Japan, there are fan translations available for both however. This one is awful, avoid it and just play Dawn of Ys.
EXTRA
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Falcom's official version of Ys IV. Played it on my PS5 for about 10hrs. Didn't like it much from where I got but I need to actually play it from start to finish before I can reliably place it with the others. I also recommend Dawn of Ys over this one for now, but they are completely different games so there's no harm in trying both.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
I haven't played this one at all yet but I've heard the Switch version is infamous for its performance issues (egad! what a surprise!). Idk how much its improved since launch but the PS4/PS5 versions are the way to go, just to be safe. Ys X seems to not have any issues on Switch from what people say. Anyone feel free to correct me on anything I may of got wrong on this list.
Bout time! I don't usually get games twice, but Oath is something special. That new art is really jarring though, so glad you have the option to switch back to the original. Ys I&II Chronicles did that too.
Comments 603
Re: Video: Let's Discuss The Big Question: What The Heck Is Happening At Nintendo Right Now?
"What the heck! This is so strange, what's going on!?!?!?"
As if you haven't seen this at the tail-end of every single previous console generation.
Re: Gallery: Feast Your Eyes On This Massive Wario Collection
That whole section of the room reeks of garlic.
Re: Random: Did Street Fighter 6's Next DLC Just Reference Sakurai's Famous Smash Quote? Some Fans Think So
More games should feature Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui. Like, maybe even ALL games.
Re: Talking Point: What Would Be The Ideal Way To Play DS Games On 'Switch 2'?
Unless the game didn't require touch controls the vertical switch layout is gonna be the way to go. I doubt that's what we're gonna get if they ever do DS games online. Expect butchered port-jobs.
Re: Random: Guilty Gear Strive's Latest Update Apparently Censors "Inappropriate Angles"
Censorship cheer squad not doing too hot on this one. C'mon guys, defend the slop! Tell us all about how the game's better now like we haven't been through this same cycle ad nauseum since the 90s.
Re: Poll: Was The Nintendo DS Prototype Really So Ugly?
It absolutely is.
Re: Soapbox: How Nintendo Unexpectedly Taught Me To Love Gacha Games
I played Fire Emblem Heroes on and off for a few months. FE probably has my favorite line up of characters out of any franchise but the game still couldn't hold legs for me, it's really shallow.
I recommend just importing the trading cards (idk if that's still reasonable though the TCGs been defunct since 2020) if you need a FE flavored kick to your gambling addiction.
I can't really say I'm fully against gacha games cause I've been playing Zenless Zone Zero every day since it released, but I'm aware of the predatory tactics it and most others employ to get you to spend ludicrous amounts of money on tiny amounts of content.
Needless to say my love of ZZZ does not translate to a love for gacha games, it's just a singular game I find fun enough to push through the gacha mechanics. But I think @nessisonett nailed it on the head, Nintendo could serve up the exact same predatory slop that all the other slimeball companies put out and there will always be a contingent of fans who will say it's okay when they do it.
Re: Best Dragon Quest Games Of All Time - Switch And Nintendo Systems
Infinity Strash at the bottom where it belongs, the world is at peace.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake?
Well I think the SFC version is a solid 7 so at least that unless there's something titanicly wrong with the remake, which I don't believe there is. Could be higher but I have to get to it first.
Re: Atelier Yumia Shows Off Key Art And Second Official Trailer
@UltimateOtaku91 Good to know. So far I've played the first Ryza, Marie & Elie, the Marie remake, and when I was a kid I played Meruru. So pretty scattershot lol.
I own Ryza 2 & 3 so those are next on the docket other than this new game.
Re: Atelier Yumia Shows Off Key Art And Second Official Trailer
@UltimateOtaku91 Which one / trilogy would you say is the best of them?
Re: Expansion Packs And DLC Are Now "Eligible In All Categories" At The Game Awards
I'm assuming this rule was made specifically for Elden Ring DLC. I don't mind it, there are a lot of DLC expansions that are basically their own game. I enjoyed Octo Expansion way more than I enjoyed the rest of Splatoon 2, the best of these deserve recognition.
Re: Review: Rage Of The Dragons NEO (Switch) - A Fabulous Version Of A Fantastic Fighter
@Serpenterror Street Fighter II on the other hand will just continue to cheat and take your money until you give up.
Re: Review: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (Switch) - Square Doesn't Drop The Ball, Just Some Frames
@Polvasti I recommend V, VIII, and XI for that. I can't speak on the additions, but the base III experience basically has no overarching story or characters. Protagonist is completely mute, your party members are custom made and have no relevance to the story whatsoever. And all the side characters only exist within their self-contained sub plot and are super thin.
DQIII is definitely a more gameplay oriented kind of experience.
You could also give IX a shot, it's going for the same thing III is going for with the customizable protagonist and party but the story and side characters are a bit more involved.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Mario & Luigi: Brothership?
I haven't gotten my hands on it yet but from what I've seen from an early game playthrough the combat looks fun but the story / dialogue is pretty shallow (seems to be lacking the wit of previous entries too).
But that's just from me watching the opening hours so far too early to guess where I'd place it.
Re: Blizzard Revives 'Overwatch: Classic' In A New Limited-Time Event
Don't play Overwatch myself but I'm calling it, they're testing the waters on it now and 6v6 will become the standard mode again in the future.
Re: Catch-Up Crew: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! - "Mona’s Backstory Involves Her Killing A Lot Of People"
I love the color palette for the first Warioware. More muted, invokes a totally different vibe from Mario. Kinda like how the original Donkey Kong Country games looked a bit dark and moody, then you have Yoshi's Island which goes in the complete opposite direction.
Nowadays ALL of these series take the same bright and vibrant approach Mario does, which is fine, but it was cool for a time when they looked like their own unique thing.
Re: Amazon Appears To Be "Directly" Selling First-Party Switch Games Again (US)
When did this start happening? I know I've bought Nintendo games through Amazon before but its been a while since I used the site.
This was an issue when I was trying to get ahold of Famicom Detective Club, Amazon didn't have it and I wound up surfing local game stops scrounging for a single copy. But I only assumed that was the case cause it was a niche game.
Re: Square Enix Outlines Streaming Guidelines For Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Spoilers for what!? Lol DQIII doesn't really have a story so much as it has a series of mini scenarios from town to town. I guess there's a bit of a surprise like 70% through the game but new players aren't gonna have any context for that because you're releasing the third game before the first.
Idk I guess they're talking about the new stuff they're adding, otherwise putting a spoiler ban on DQIII is just plain nonsense.
Re: Mario & Luigi Fans Aren't Happy About Brothership's Battle Button Tweaks
Big Mario has been trying to censor Luigi for years for they're own nefarious purposes and we're just gonna let them!?
Re: English Box Art For Famicom Detective Club Remakes Spotted In Official Nintendo Graphic
Look at them LYING!
Alright to anyone reading sound off. Which year has the best lineup?
Emio is my favorite game on here and 2023 was pretty strong but I STILL think 2017 has gone unrivaled.
Re: Nintendo Would Rather "Organically Expand The Organisation" Than Rely Solely On Acquisitions
I'm surprised Intelligent Systems isn't on here. Always thought they were in the same category as Monolith and Retro.
Considering how consistent Nintendo's output is this seems to be the way to go. I mean for Christ sake look at all the companies Microsoft bought up and years later there's like hardly anything to show for it. Sony fares a lot better but still struggles to match the same consistency as Nintendo. Not to mention a big chunk of Sony's library are just exclusivity deals, stuff like Final Fantasy and Stellar Blade will be multi-plat one day and people will stop counting them as a reason to buy Playstations.
Re: Feature: "I Don’t Want To See It Fizzle Out” - Stardew Valley Creator On Why He Can't Give It Up
I really appreciate this interview. There's a certain mindset you have to have when devoting yourself to large project, especially when you're working it alone. None of us have infinite time and many projects never leave the ground because the author can't or isn't willing to spend the time required to make it happen.
So this is particularly valuable, getting the perspective from someone who's giant solo project was a huge success, and there's not really a secret to it, he just put the work in. And even though the game was technically finished years ago he still can't pull away from it. Idk, something about that I find very relatable, stuff like this (Sakurai's detailed breakdown on how he created his youtube channel is another fantastic view into a creator's perspective) makes going at my own projects just a little bit easier.
Re: Random: "I'm A Pretty Normal Person" - Miyamoto Disputes 'Genius' Label
Bro's built the Arwing and the Great Fox irl, I already know it. He's probably got it in his basement.
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Mario & Luigi: Brothership?
Basically just deciding between a brand new RPG that could go one way or the other or a remake of an old RPG I already know is good.
Re: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door On Switch Has Already Outsold The GameCube Original
@Zeebor15 Hey! #NOTALLTTYDFANS, thank you! I happen to love all sorts of games, anime or otherwise. None of them are called Sticker Star, Color Splash, or Origami King is all
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Simone93 Right, it's just so little to go off in a very short span of time.
As for the new project, they only have him as a consultant but if the people involved are the same guys who did Origins and Legends it should be a good one.
I suppose I would be interested what they would do with a remake of the original Rayman (I think that's what was rumored earlier last month) but I agree, I'd prefer something brand new and preferably 3D.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Bigmanfan I never made the claim that it was true or false. I agree, it would be embarrassing to come to a definitive conclusion with such little information on hand.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Bigmanfan The theory you've concocted in your head is formed by a single unsubstantiated quote from four years ago and that's it.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Bigmanfan Again, it is as much information as you have and you're the one making all the definitive claims.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Bigmanfan Yes, it is outlandish. The reports of wrong-doing are incredibly thin, have been sourced by a single quote that is NOT corroborated (at this time, 4 years after the fact) by anyone that was working under Ancel at Ubisoft. Kind of strange considering that as soon as the sexual harassment allegations against Gbinigie came forward plenty more staff followed with their own.
I can't find much of relevance on Liberation magazine but it doesn't seem like they have an amazing reputation among French readers. They are #10 for most-trusted media brand in France and have been reporting losses since 1998. Here is a single quote I found relating to the Ancel article.
This is hardly much to go on to reach a conclusion of Liberation being a bad news outlet, but it's as much 'evidence' as you have to say Ancel is a bad person.
You can believe whatever you want to believe just don't spread misinformation like Kotaku and claim there's more evidence than there actually is. You're conjecting, that's all.
If you want my conjecture, Beyond Good & Evil 2 isn't out and will never be out (at least not as it was originally advertised) because it was an overly ambitious project created by one of the most infamously disorganized companies known to man. But I couldn't tell you that as a fact because I lack evidence.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Bigmanfan I know your mind's already made up, I'm just here to notify people that you're basing this decision off a single dubious quote parroted by two untrustworthy news sources.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Bigmanfan
That's conjecture, not evidence.
The only thing our super credible media outlets (Kotaku and Liberation) provided was a "trust me bro, it definitely happened".
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
@Bigmanfan None of the claims are substantiated actually. It's all hearsay with a single quote from a single person that articles parrot represent multiple people. And the only reason why anyone thinks he's involved with sexual misconduct is because Kotaku carelessly tied the complaints towards him to all the sexual harassment / rape allegations made after the initial Gbinigie allegations.
There's also been no follow-through since other than Ancel's response to the initial Libération article, so take that as you will.
You can think whatever you want about the situation just don't pretend there's some rock-solid case against him, because there isn't.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Mario & Luigi: Brothership
@RubyCarbuncle No, not yet, but I have been watching multiple playthroughs since release. The combat is particularly dreadful with overly simplistic enemy attack patterns and incredibly short aggro range (for common enemies AND bosses). One of the people I've been watching is playing on Nightmare, the highest difficulty, which he's remarked that the mode doesn't feel it's providing any sort of real challenge, the only punishing element is that bosses are super spongey (which is a common way for games to make a game FEEL harder without actually being harder, very lazy).
The dialogue speaks for itself, it is unbearably cringe. It's got that Marvel patented flippant attitude where every character has the same tired personality, cracking quips and jokes and taking nothing seriously despite the world-ending stakes. I also find it incredibly weird that your adult party members regularly behave like children and practically all of your dialogue options treat them as such, making me wonder what age demographic this M-rated game is actually for.
This creates a tonal vacuum that on its own would be bad, but once you factor in that this is a sequel to Dragon Age (which at least Origins & 2, the ones I played, have a pretty grimdark setting that takes itself seriously) the whiplash is unreal and I don't know why they didn't just make this game its own IP other than cashing in on an already established brand (which is also all too common).
All this is to say that Brothership very well could have "boring gameplay and dialogue" and could be a 5/10. But considering that they gave what so far is shaping up to be a 3/10 a 9/10, I have no reason to trust any review that comes from IGN because it seems their staff have no standard for quality.
Finally, no, we need to stop this narrative that you aren't allowed to judge a game until you play it yourself from start to finish. Nobody actually believes this. This is why reviews exist. It's why trailers and first impressions exist. And in a world with youtube and twitch playthroughs, you can't tell me with someone is unable to discern a good game from a bad one by watching it all the way through. It'll never be a perfect assessment because a viewer won't have a grasp on the controls or movement mechanics. But as far as anything that you can perceive on screen (something like boring combat or awful dialogue) all you need is a working pair of eyes and ears to judge.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Mario & Luigi: Brothership
Lol okay IGN, Mario & Luigi has "boring gameplay and dialogue". But Dragon Age: The Veilguard? That's a masterpiece.
IGN makes up like 70% of the total impression that game journalists shouldn't be taken seriously.
Re: Video: 10 Exciting New Games Coming To Nintendo Switch In November 2024
Might get DQIII but with Metal Slug, Brothership and even Farmagia out this month it'll be a hard choice.
Re: Broken Sword - Shadow Of The Templars Gets Updated Switch Release Date
Bro looks like Pixar's James Sunderland lol
Re: So, Will You Be Getting Xenoblade Chronicles X For Switch?
I still have my Wii U copy so probably not. But aside from the lackluster story I quite liked this game (which was NOT the consensus at the time) so if they add anything cool for the port I could see myself double dipping.
Re: Nintendo Music - Every Nintendo System, Series And Song Included
I don't think this is gonna replace the ol' YouTube to MP3 converter for me but it'll be interesting to see what gets added.
All the rips of The Girl Who Stands Behind out there are super low quality, so fingers crossed for that soundtrack in particular.
Re: 'Nintendo Music' Is A New Mobile App Exclusive To Switch Online Members
WHOA! That's actually pretty sick. They've built up quite an impressive number of soundtracks over the years and some of them have only really been available through game rips.
We could potentially be hearing some HQ music for the first time for some games!
Hopeful they don't dripfeed this stuff like they do their NSO library and just give us the goods.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'
@HeadPirate I don't think we actually disagree on much here. I'm entirely with you on how artists and contractors are and should be allowed to operate rights wise (All my answers to those hypotheticals are more or less reflective of that unless I misspoke).
Anything I levy against them would fall under criticism which is the subjective part, and that I DO apply that to individual cases at varying severities. I might've not been clear enough that those are two separate positions, sorry about the miscommunication.
As far as the word censorship is concerned, I agree I probably used it too liberally in those answers. But the definition of self-censorship is accurate, so whenever I use 'censorship', know I'm referring to that. Except for when I used it to describe the third party cases (being NoA and the hypothetical flyer artist from questions 2 & 3 respectively) those examples were just flat out wrong uses of the word. Those cases wouldn't be censorship, just a breach of your contract.
So to set the record straight, what Nintendo did for 2015 Xenoblade Chronicles X is self-censorship, and I believe that to be a bad thing but also acknowledge they are allowed to change their own game as much as they want.
For the 2025 re-release, interestingly I'd have to say nothing has been "self-censored" (assuming the content remains the same from the original western release) because they were always going to use this version as a base to begin with, just like Tokyo Mirage Sessions a few years ago. Personally I'd say that's not the right move and they should've opted for the japanese original as a base, but I think they pick the western release to make the localization process easier, which makes sense.
Hopefully that makes things a bit clearer on my end and yes, happy to have any kind of discourse in the future, it's nice to have an actual discussion in the comment section every now and then lol.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'
@HeadPirate Oh! And one more thing I nearly forgot. Companies are obviously allowed to decide what content they deem acceptable for their platform, I think that's completely fine. If Nintendo deems their console shall have no games containing explicit sexual content, it is their product and their decision to make. This is another one of those scenarios like in question 3 where Nintendo the company is the artist contracting another artist to make a game for their console. They have no grounds to breach Nintendo's desired guidelines.
I take a pretty firm anti-censorship stance in all articles relating to it, but that is coming from how I believe they ought to operate rather than if they should be enforced to.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'
@HeadPirate
Finally, on the topic of fringe-cases. I believe there should only be one rule that supersedes the original artist's vision, and that is the application of illegal content. Hate speech is good example to start with because it is rocky topic. How much should we allow platform to radicals who degrade others beliefs or extrinsic qualities, and how much of that should we be allowed to emulate in fiction. I think a strong guideline is calls to action or violence and the context thereof. Naming a character "Death to Israel" should most likely not be allowed, but then, what if the character is being portrayed as a radical who we are not meant to sympathize with, and the game is overall a critique of his radical ideals? Idk myself, it's hard to make a call.
There is of course more definitive answers. If Nintendo included footage of real people being murdered or child porn in their games, then they should be punished by law accordingly. More nuanced questions rise from this territory, such as sexualizing Lin, who IS a minor in the world of Xenoblade X, is that okay and should it be allowed, and how much? To that I'd say she is ultimately not a real person and therefore should not be viewed the same way we would view a REAL LIFE teenaged girl in this context. It is plainly fetish content yes, but fetish content is not illegal and is not grounds for removal, even as deplorable as we may find it.
All that is to say, as long as the content is not breaching any real world laws then it's fair game, and artists are free to decide how far they want to reach to this point at the risk of controversy. It's not a perfect answer due to how stories require some suspension between fiction and reality, but I think that's the best way to handle things so as to not cause some dystopian world of absolutes one way or the other.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'
@HeadPirate
Q1) "If 10 people worked on the boob slider and were involved in its creative design, should NOA have to ask each of them individually if they approve of the change? What if 5 of them agree and 5 don’t?"
This is of course dependent on who is requesting its removal and for what reason. We'll say it's NoA as that's the most likely scenario and question 2 is pretty much the opposite. Now, I don't think the amount of people who approved or disapproved of the slider in the original project is relevant to the overall fact that the slider was inevitably included. But say NoA did want it removed and put it to a tally of the original devs, then NoA would ultimately be the tie-breaker and opt for the removal. They are apart of the artistic process and should have consideration for it. This is assuming NoA would be some sort of unanimous entity and wouldn't itself have a group of people for or against its removal, and realistically any idea that's so divided among the dev team probably would never make it into the game to begin with. But hey, that's what hypotheticals are for and I believe that to be the right answer even if I wouldn't approve of the outcome.
Q2) "What if 5 of them ask NOA to remove it in the Western release because they understand the West is more uptight about things like that and they don’t want to offend anyone?"
I think a more interesting question is what if the majority of the original developers want the feature removed for the western release regardless of what NoA wants to do with it. I would say NoA should be obligated to remove it in the same way they should be obligated to not if the original creators told them they cannot. In the first scenario I expressed that NoA should have consideration, but not equal consideration to the creator, who's word ought to be respected as final for creative decisions (with exceptions, more on that at the end). NoA is free to try to convince NoJ one way or the other, but if NoJ wants to self-censor they have every right to and NoA would in fact be censoring them by NOT complying with that (a CENSORCEPTION if you will).
Q3) "If I hire someone to write something for my store flyer, clearly starting that I don’t want offensive language, but they use offensive language anyways, should I be forced to publish it as is and irreparable harm my business? Should I be forced to pay someone else for a completely new write up because it’s “censorship” to change their original to remove the thing I told them not to do in the first place?"
I like this question the most because it addresses something that people tend to not realize. YOU the contractor are the original artist, even if YOU are not the one doing the actual art. Everyone you hire conforms to your specifications, and if they don't like that they are free to find work elsewhere that suits them. In this scenario the guy putting explicit language on your store flyer is censoring YOU, and you have every right to demand him to change it or to hire someone else.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'
@HeadPirate I'll answer them, I think these are good hypotheticals worth addressing. To preface, my stance is that NoA does have the LEGAL right to moderate all the work they publish, obviously. And I would never claim that they don't play an integral part of the development process.
However when it comes to a MORAL right I find the things they tend to do (for certain games) appalling. It's important to note that NoA doesn't look at censorship the same way most of us do, it's not really an argument about "artistic integrity vs the removal / modification of controversial content". THEY do it because they have an image of Nintendo to keep (aka Nintendo is a family oriented company that makes games for all-ages), and the guidelines for how they retain that image is fundamentally different than how that image is retained in Japan due to cultural differences.
I of course, could be wrong, but I believe their actions are purely motivated by business and not out of any malice or contempt for the original creators.
Now, the problems I have with this strict adherence to that image they're upholding is-
1) It disregards the original creator's vision and intent. Again this is due to cultural differences, and because localization is a necessary process it is technically impossible for NoA to release a product that 100% aligns with the original's ideas. This is why I think they need to be more careful with what exactly they do moderate. Unnecessary changes will only serve to further and further stray from the original, which as Nintendo's western representative, I believe they ought to be sticking to as close as is reasonably possible.
2) No longer representative of the majority of western consumers. This adherence comes from an era where games were seen as medium exclusively for kids and America's puritan values INFECTED every facet of its culture, including art. Neither of these things are relevant today, so sensitivity to violent and sexual content in the west should no longer be in consideration as grounds to change. Now obviously Nintendo and by extension NoA are free to decide how their content is portrayed based on what score they want on the ratings board (typically companies shoot for as low as possible), but it just starts to feel a bit hypocritical with the third and most important reason-
3) Not all Nintendo games are made for all-ages, and need not apply!
They're much better about this sort of thing nowadays, but back in the Wii U/3DS era when this game released NoA went nuts censoring games that were already unsuitable for children. Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Fatal Frame, all of these franchises are made and marketed with an older audience in mind and contain adult themes. It just makes you wonder who were they doing that for if not simply just because the games had the Nintendo label and therefore couldn't be associated with problematic content.
This is all of course a preamble that ended up longer than expected, so I'm gonna get to the questions in a second comment to avoid hitting the character limit, sorry for the delay!
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'
@shonenjump86 No, it's completely removed from the numbered entries. The only similarities are superficial things like a couple of races from the original game being present in X. You're good to go.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Fans Are Once Again Discussing The Game's 'Censorship'
The Censorship Defense Squad coming out full force on this one lol, there's a surprising amount of vitriol in these comments.
Idk why it's so hard to just say "Yeah, that's pretty lame, but this one drawback shouldn't be reflective of the whole game's quality". But nope, the game is BETTER now that they've changed it! So silly, I'll never understand it.
As far as I remember the only things that got the axe in western version of X was the boob slider - which is a stupid thing to remove, that's literally just character customization. And they heavily altered some of Lin's alternate costumes - which is understandable because that character is definitely underage, and its pretty cringe when games try to sex up a kid. But even then, if having these options was the intent of the original developers then it should stay in and you and I can just choose to simply not put the child in a swimsuit.
Look at that, easy solutions to small issues that don't require infringing on someone else's artistic expression to satisfy your sensibilities.
Re: Best Ys Games Of All Time - Switch And Nintendo Systems
Nintendo-focused list of Ys games is a bit awkward considering how many games are missing, and the ones that do come to Nintendo tend to be the worst versions to play from what I've seen and heard.
Here's a quick reiteration of my own rankings of Ys from a previous article.
1. Ys I&II Chronicles - 8.0
Played this on windows through Steam, I hear there's superior versions of this game (would love to hear some recommendations myself if you have any), but this one is still very good and likely better than any version of Ys I&II available on Nintendo systems.
2. Ys IV: Dawn of Ys - 7.0
PC Engine game, high quality fan translation available online, feel free to ask if you need help with PCE emulation.
3. Ys: The Oath in Felghana - 7.0
The remake of Ys III. Also played this on windows through steam, it's getting a remastered port to consoles in a few months, I recommend just waiting for that.
4. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - 7.0
I played the PS5 version, which is most likely the best way to play it. I haven't heard anything too bad about the Switch version though, so don't hesitate to grab it if a switch is all you got. To parrot everyone else, if you're wanting to get into the series start with VIII, it's the fan favorite.
5. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys - 6.0
I emulated the PC Engine version, to my knowledge that's the best one. Do not - I repeat - DO NOT opt for the SNES version, it is the worst way to play Ys III, you will have a miserable time with it. Oath in Felghana is superior in every way but the original is still worth playing and unique from all the others.
6. Ys IV: Mask of the Sun - 3.0
This is the SFC version of Ys IV (there are three unique Ys IVs), not developed by Falcom or Hudson. This and Ys V weren't included on NL's list because they were never officially released outside Japan, there are fan translations available for both however. This one is awful, avoid it and just play Dawn of Ys.
EXTRA
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Falcom's official version of Ys IV. Played it on my PS5 for about 10hrs. Didn't like it much from where I got but I need to actually play it from start to finish before I can reliably place it with the others. I also recommend Dawn of Ys over this one for now, but they are completely different games so there's no harm in trying both.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
I haven't played this one at all yet but I've heard the Switch version is infamous for its performance issues (egad! what a surprise!). Idk how much its improved since launch but the PS4/PS5 versions are the way to go, just to be safe. Ys X seems to not have any issues on Switch from what people say. Anyone feel free to correct me on anything I may of got wrong on this list.
Re: 'Ys Memoire: The Oath In Felghana' Finally Comes West January 2025
Bout time! I don't usually get games twice, but Oath is something special. That new art is really jarring though, so glad you have the option to switch back to the original. Ys I&II Chronicles did that too.