To anyone who hasn't played these yet. Octopath Traveler is a fun but pretty conceptually limited game. Octopath Traveler II is an improvement over the first in every single way and is extremely fun. The greatest flaw of both of them is that the story (stories more like) and characters are quite shallow, but I think the combat and presentation make up for it. Both are worth playing, but I recommend II way more than the original. And the games aren't linked in any meaningful way so you can skip straight to II if you like.
A lot of "that's pretty cool I'll add it to my list", but nothing that has me in anticipation. I understand why they decided on two directs but I really think the announcements here would've been better received if they were just included in the switch 2 direct.
I used Feraligatr in my Silver run last year so Chikorita is the one for me this time around. I really like Meganium's design. I dislike all three gen 5 starters, most of all Tepig/Emboar lol so that's a no go.
@roy130390 Sorry about the whole novel. I wanted to respond to as much as I could and got carried away with my thoughts lol. I might not be able to respond to as much from here on, I'm gonna be very busy for the weekend, but at the very least I'll give a like to your response just so you know I read it.
story and characters
If you liked the story that's fine, I'm not really interested in breaking down the narrative, my original point was that it wasn't any more or less impressive than Pokémon games before it, but tbh that wasn't a very fair statement, Pokémon stories have obviously been more detailed since gen 7, which I'd say has the strongest narrative of any mainline game thus far. Meaning S/V would probably make the #2 spot naturally because people really don't like sw/sh story. Fair point.
I don't find the story in general very engaging, and that's due to the structure, but the characters in s/v have stronger writing than most other Pokémon characters before them.
"Sorry for replying 2 times, but the comment reached its limit."
No problem dude, I'm doing it four lmao
stuff to improve
I agree with all of this, but my argument was these things should have been implemented in s/v, not a future game. These aren't just features that are in other open world games, these are features that were in previous Pokémon games. If the open world meant they needed to strip out everything else but the core mechanics of the series, then clearly they weren't ready to make an open world game.
I think the switch Pokémon games are criticized very fairly for their shortcomings and lack of innovation. If I had to put it bluntly I'd say critique has finally caught up to the series and the Pokémon name is no longer enough to ensure acclaim. That's a good thing, games like S/V shouldn't be accepted without backlash and given what it is it definitely deserves its reception.
And tbf I did enjoy my time with the game, the core experience of Pokémon games are very satisfying, even when they're riddled with issues, so I understand where you're coming from. I just don't think we should be praising a game with as many concessions as it has just because it adds open world to the formula.
And here's the crazy thing, you're talking about them not delivering their BOTW/Mario Odyssey equivalent yet, I don't even think they've delivered their Ocarina of Time/Mario 64 equivalent yet! They've been so focused on iterating on the same Red/Blue experience that they haven't really innovated the formula much. It's a unique problem of theirs that I don't really know the solution to other than I think the Legends games are the best step in the right direction. And considering there are five, soon to be SIX mainline Pokémon games on the switch, they absolutely have no excuse at this point to be as terribly optimized and mediocre as they are.
other open world games
What are these other open world games that are just as guilty of everything s/v fails to do that people aren't as critical of? You keep mentioning them but haven't given any examples, I can't speak on any of these if I don't know what they are.
"I could bet you that if this was a brand new franchise with a 1/4 of the monsters in them and better visuals and performance it would have been much more well received"
Yes, if it was a better game it would be better received, such a brave take. The only reason this game has as much defenders as it does is precisely because it's Pokémon. If it was a new franchise, the world would've forgotten about it already.
And yes, like I mentioned before, my expectations are higher for the billion dollar franchise open world adventure than the indie game inspired by it.
"You said yourself that you didn't play Sword/Shield. How do they run significantly worse?"
Again, this is the consensus people have come to about S/V. Make no mistake I am not complementing sw/sh, I've seen much of that game's performance issues including the world freezing when you climb a ladder, the game is pathetic.
Scarlet and Violet barely function. I couldn't go five minutes in s/v without encountering some sort of hideous visual bug and the framerate consistently dipping to a crawl. I don't need to play sw/sh to know that everybody says s/v performs worse than it, that's why it's the lowest rated game in the franchise.
movement animations are worse in sw/sh
Maybe so, but I never compared s/v animations directly to sw/sh, I said they were bad on their own.
how is s/v the easiest Pokémon game?
S/V is the only Pokémon game that doesn't balance its progression system. Meaning your laymen playthrough is guaranteed to result in your Pokémon being vastly over-leveled for more than half the challenges in the game. Speaking anecdotally, Grusha (LV48) was the 7th challenge I tackled in the game because I picked the right side of the map and moved upwards, beating him meant my team were over-leveled for the remaining 11 challenges and overwhelmingly so for every challenge on the left side of the map. This is not an uncommon complaint for this game, and unless you can name me a Pokémon game that facilitates such a huge level gap through normal gameplay, then yes, there's no way s/v isn't definitively the easiest. This isn't me saying previous Pokémon games are inherently more difficult, I'm saying s/v is the easiest because its progression system is broken and works against its own structure.
You can talk for you but you can't tell me what "most people expect" without assuming.
It is an assumption, but it's based off openly available consensus. S/V is the lowest rated mainline Pokémon game on metacritic, an aggregate review site. It's the lowest for critic and user scores at 72 and 36 respectively. It's the most hated Pokémon game to date and therefore fair to assume that out of the audience who played it, more people left this entry dissatisfied than with other entries.
Outbreaks and Tera Battles
This is fair, I did forget about these. However, unless I was forgetting anything else, we've mentioned everything the base game has to offer. Outbreaks are a feature we've consistently had since gen 2, and tera battles are spin on gigantimax raids, which are credited to sw/sh. Not to say that old features aren't welcome in the game, they certainly are (though I thought the tera battles were terribly balanced in one direction or the other), I just don't find those features alone to be particularly impressive or at the very least satisfactory to make up all the extra content in the entire open world.
legendaries
These are just plain ass. I'm not against having one of these Pokémon unlocked through finding stakes, it's a fine scavenger hunt. But all four is just ridiculously uninspired. You're telling me they couldn't add an optional dungeon or side quest or anything else to make catching these a more unique experience? Something they've been doing since the very first game.
Pokémon interactions
Yes, if they're able to code behaviors into how wild Pokémon react to you, they can add behaviors to how they react to other wild Pokémon. A Pokémon doesn't need 400 unique interactions, they only need interactions and animations relevant to the creature sets available in the areas they're found in. Same with an ecosystem. You're telling me they can't design a pair of trees that contain large spider webs to signify a spider Pokémon lives there? Well, s/v can't make a forest at all because the only one in the game causes it to chug, but Tagtree Thicket actually does this with Grafaiai roaming around painted trees. It was one of my more positive reactions despite the performance. But as far as I remember that was the only unique habitat in the entire game.
Make nests for bird Pokémon, hives for Beedrills and Combees, dams for Bidoofs (they did this in Legends Arceus), algae pools for water/grass/poison type Pokémon, make a Lotad hiding among a bunch of lily pads, tree hollows for a whole bunch of smaller Pokémon. These are really simple and intuitive environmental details that is honestly baffling that are not in the game considering the game's primary attraction are these creatures. And yes, I'm aware S/V as we know it now maybe couldn't handle all this considering it barely worked properly as it was. But that's just another reason to axe incompetent devs like Game Freak. This is the biggest media franchise in the world, Pokémon has the resources to create something expansive that runs well on the console its made for. We shouldn't excuse mediocrity for AAA games and Pokémon might be the most inexcusable case of them all.
The execution of this kind of combat will be decided by how well the enemy AI works. Really hoping wild and trainer pokemon don't just stand around and eat attacks.
@roy130390 If a world being open is all you need to be engaged then that's great for you, but most people expect a higher degree of interactivity or at least things to do from their open world RPGs. S/V doesn't offer much of anything outside of its scripted content. There's no secrets or special events, no dungeons, all four legendary pokemon are relegated to a set of colored switches throughout the region, how creative. Towns and cities contain no optional content, brother the houses don't even have interiors.
The Pokemon strewn about don't have any unique interactions, they don't react to other species of Pokemon, their habitats give no indication that any said species actually lives there outside of super rare situations. It's the same awkward implantation that the other 'free roam' pokemon games have where they just pop in and meander around. It's absolutely a dead world.
You said in your original comment:
"That hate should have been directed to Sword and Shield, which not only ran poorly despite of being way smaller, they were also the games with the worst animations, annoying characters, linear places to explore, mediocre story and ridiculously easy."
I mean S/V is big, but other than that it suffers from all the same issues. It runs significantly worse than Sw/Sh and is riddled with bugs. It does NOT have impressive animations, the way people and pokemon move in the game is just as robotic as the other 3D games. The story and characters are not any less inane than other pokemon games, you're still forced through long dull cutscenes presented through a disjointed narrative that pretends to have a cohesive conclusion. And most important, the game IS ridiculously easy! In fact, thanks to how terribly they handled the map it is the EASIEST pokemon game to date.
So why is Sword and Shield being a cakewalk a problem to you but Scarlet and Violet isn't? Most other open world games do scale difficulty to progress and that's why you don't see people complaining about them like they do S/V. This game is an outlier in that regard. Just like it's an outlier in having a world with no interactivity or interesting things to find/do.
They thought simply having pokemon, the absolute bare minimum for a pokemon game, would be enough. And to their credit, to some people it is enough. But for most others it is not. And that, combined with its terrible performance, is why you see it get as much hate as it has. And probably why you see so much hate for Pokemon in general online. People are not impressed by the same rudimentary mechanics they've been seeing since Red/Blue, even if you graft them onto an open world.
If the next generation is open world (and tbf it should be open world) they have A LOT of improving to do.
@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!!
@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.
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.
@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.
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.
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.
Comments 722
Re: PSA: Switch Online Includes Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack Access At "No Additional Cost"
Very glad to hear the upgrade packs work with physical games. I don't have to rebuy Tears of the Kingdom now lol.
Re: GameCube Games Confirmed For Nintendo Switch Online On Switch 2
Soulcalibur II is ***** nuts dude. And at RELEASE too!
Re: Final Fantasy 9 Remake Hopes Rise As Square Enix Teases Anniversary Projects
Ngl, remaking FFIX to me is like saying we're gonna remake the Mona Lisa... Good luck.
Don't let Nomura get his sticky fingers all over this one and you may have a chance lol.
Re: Octopath Traveler I + II Physical Switch Bundle Announced
To anyone who hasn't played these yet. Octopath Traveler is a fun but pretty conceptually limited game. Octopath Traveler II is an improvement over the first in every single way and is extremely fun.
The greatest flaw of both of them is that the story (stories more like) and characters are quite shallow, but I think the combat and presentation make up for it.
Both are worth playing, but I recommend II way more than the original. And the games aren't linked in any meaningful way so you can skip straight to II if you like.
Re: Poll: So, How Would You Rate The Nintendo Direct For March 2025?
A lot of "that's pretty cool I'll add it to my list", but nothing that has me in anticipation. I understand why they decided on two directs but I really think the announcements here would've been better received if they were just included in the switch 2 direct.
Re: Round Up: Everything From Japan's Nintendo Direct Broadcast (March 2025)
It'd be really awesome if Konami brought that Tokimeki Memorial remaster over to the west, but I doubt they ever will.
Re: Random: Not Even Horror Maestro Stephen King Can Crack A Good Pokémon Joke
Nintendo Direct can't come soon enough
Re: Koei Tecmo Is Bringing Atelier's Ryza To 'Warriors: Abyss'
@Princess_Lilly
"Thigh great bouncy boisterous personality will be done."
There, fixed it for ya.
Re: Japanese Charts: Game About Picking Up Girls In A Dungeon Enters The Top 10
@Maxz That's my favorite one.
Re: Inside Dev Threatens Legal Action Against Studio Co-Founder As "Bullying" Allegations Arise
Every instance of quotations in the article I read like Dr. Evil.
Re: Nintendo Confirms Removal Of Switch Online SNES Game
Now there's nothing left in this world for me to live for : (
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
@roy130390 Thanks, and likewise. We'll just have to agree to disagree but I enjoyed the discussion nonetheless!
Re: Poll: Which Starter Pokémon Will You Choose In Legends: Z-A?
I used Feraligatr in my Silver run last year so Chikorita is the one for me this time around. I really like Meganium's design. I dislike all three gen 5 starters, most of all Tepig/Emboar lol so that's a no go.
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
@roy130390 Sorry about the whole novel. I wanted to respond to as much as I could and got carried away with my thoughts lol.
I might not be able to respond to as much from here on, I'm gonna be very busy for the weekend, but at the very least I'll give a like to your response just so you know I read it.
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
If you liked the story that's fine, I'm not really interested in breaking down the narrative, my original point was that it wasn't any more or less impressive than Pokémon games before it, but tbh that wasn't a very fair statement, Pokémon stories have obviously been more detailed since gen 7, which I'd say has the strongest narrative of any mainline game thus far. Meaning S/V would probably make the #2 spot naturally because people really don't like sw/sh story. Fair point.
I don't find the story in general very engaging, and that's due to the structure, but the characters in s/v have stronger writing than most other Pokémon characters before them.
No problem dude, I'm doing it four lmao
I agree with all of this, but my argument was these things should have been implemented in s/v, not a future game. These aren't just features that are in other open world games, these are features that were in previous Pokémon games. If the open world meant they needed to strip out everything else but the core mechanics of the series, then clearly they weren't ready to make an open world game.
I think the switch Pokémon games are criticized very fairly for their shortcomings and lack of innovation. If I had to put it bluntly I'd say critique has finally caught up to the series and the Pokémon name is no longer enough to ensure acclaim. That's a good thing, games like S/V shouldn't be accepted without backlash and given what it is it definitely deserves its reception.
And tbf I did enjoy my time with the game, the core experience of Pokémon games are very satisfying, even when they're riddled with issues, so I understand where you're coming from. I just don't think we should be praising a game with as many concessions as it has just because it adds open world to the formula.
And here's the crazy thing, you're talking about them not delivering their BOTW/Mario Odyssey equivalent yet, I don't even think they've delivered their Ocarina of Time/Mario 64 equivalent yet! They've been so focused on iterating on the same Red/Blue experience that they haven't really innovated the formula much. It's a unique problem of theirs that I don't really know the solution to other than I think the Legends games are the best step in the right direction. And considering there are five, soon to be SIX mainline Pokémon games on the switch, they absolutely have no excuse at this point to be as terribly optimized and mediocre as they are.
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
@roy130390
What are these other open world games that are just as guilty of everything s/v fails to do that people aren't as critical of? You keep mentioning them but haven't given any examples, I can't speak on any of these if I don't know what they are.
Yes, if it was a better game it would be better received, such a brave take. The only reason this game has as much defenders as it does is precisely because it's Pokémon. If it was a new franchise, the world would've forgotten about it already.
And yes, like I mentioned before, my expectations are higher for the billion dollar franchise open world adventure than the indie game inspired by it.
Again, this is the consensus people have come to about S/V. Make no mistake I am not complementing sw/sh, I've seen much of that game's performance issues including the world freezing when you climb a ladder, the game is pathetic.
Scarlet and Violet barely function. I couldn't go five minutes in s/v without encountering some sort of hideous visual bug and the framerate consistently dipping to a crawl. I don't need to play sw/sh to know that everybody says s/v performs worse than it, that's why it's the lowest rated game in the franchise.
Maybe so, but I never compared s/v animations directly to sw/sh, I said they were bad on their own.
S/V is the only Pokémon game that doesn't balance its progression system. Meaning your laymen playthrough is guaranteed to result in your Pokémon being vastly over-leveled for more than half the challenges in the game. Speaking anecdotally, Grusha (LV48) was the 7th challenge I tackled in the game because I picked the right side of the map and moved upwards, beating him meant my team were over-leveled for the remaining 11 challenges and overwhelmingly so for every challenge on the left side of the map. This is not an uncommon complaint for this game, and unless you can name me a Pokémon game that facilitates such a huge level gap through normal gameplay, then yes, there's no way s/v isn't definitively the easiest. This isn't me saying previous Pokémon games are inherently more difficult, I'm saying s/v is the easiest because its progression system is broken and works against its own structure.
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
@roy130390
It is an assumption, but it's based off openly available consensus. S/V is the lowest rated mainline Pokémon game on metacritic, an aggregate review site. It's the lowest for critic and user scores at 72 and 36 respectively. It's the most hated Pokémon game to date and therefore fair to assume that out of the audience who played it, more people left this entry dissatisfied than with other entries.
This is fair, I did forget about these. However, unless I was forgetting anything else, we've mentioned everything the base game has to offer. Outbreaks are a feature we've consistently had since gen 2, and tera battles are spin on gigantimax raids, which are credited to sw/sh. Not to say that old features aren't welcome in the game, they certainly are (though I thought the tera battles were terribly balanced in one direction or the other), I just don't find those features alone to be particularly impressive or at the very least satisfactory to make up all the extra content in the entire open world.
These are just plain ass. I'm not against having one of these Pokémon unlocked through finding stakes, it's a fine scavenger hunt. But all four is just ridiculously uninspired. You're telling me they couldn't add an optional dungeon or side quest or anything else to make catching these a more unique experience? Something they've been doing since the very first game.
Yes, if they're able to code behaviors into how wild Pokémon react to you, they can add behaviors to how they react to other wild Pokémon. A Pokémon doesn't need 400 unique interactions, they only need interactions and animations relevant to the creature sets available in the areas they're found in. Same with an ecosystem. You're telling me they can't design a pair of trees that contain large spider webs to signify a spider Pokémon lives there? Well, s/v can't make a forest at all because the only one in the game causes it to chug, but Tagtree Thicket actually does this with Grafaiai roaming around painted trees. It was one of my more positive reactions despite the performance. But as far as I remember that was the only unique habitat in the entire game.
Make nests for bird Pokémon, hives for Beedrills and Combees, dams for Bidoofs (they did this in Legends Arceus), algae pools for water/grass/poison type Pokémon, make a Lotad hiding among a bunch of lily pads, tree hollows for a whole bunch of smaller Pokémon. These are really simple and intuitive environmental details that is honestly baffling that are not in the game considering the game's primary attraction are these creatures. And yes, I'm aware S/V as we know it now maybe couldn't handle all this considering it barely worked properly as it was. But that's just another reason to axe incompetent devs like Game Freak. This is the biggest media franchise in the world, Pokémon has the resources to create something expansive that runs well on the console its made for. We shouldn't excuse mediocrity for AAA games and Pokémon might be the most inexcusable case of them all.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Introduces Thrilling Series First "Real Time" Battles
The execution of this kind of combat will be decided by how well the enemy AI works. Really hoping wild and trainer pokemon don't just stand around and eat attacks.
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
@roy130390 If a world being open is all you need to be engaged then that's great for you, but most people expect a higher degree of interactivity or at least things to do from their open world RPGs. S/V doesn't offer much of anything outside of its scripted content. There's no secrets or special events, no dungeons, all four legendary pokemon are relegated to a set of colored switches throughout the region, how creative. Towns and cities contain no optional content, brother the houses don't even have interiors.
The Pokemon strewn about don't have any unique interactions, they don't react to other species of Pokemon, their habitats give no indication that any said species actually lives there outside of super rare situations. It's the same awkward implantation that the other 'free roam' pokemon games have where they just pop in and meander around. It's absolutely a dead world.
You said in your original comment:
"That hate should have been directed to Sword and Shield, which not only ran poorly despite of being way smaller, they were also the games with the worst animations, annoying characters, linear places to explore, mediocre story and ridiculously easy."
I mean S/V is big, but other than that it suffers from all the same issues. It runs significantly worse than Sw/Sh and is riddled with bugs. It does NOT have impressive animations, the way people and pokemon move in the game is just as robotic as the other 3D games. The story and characters are not any less inane than other pokemon games, you're still forced through long dull cutscenes presented through a disjointed narrative that pretends to have a cohesive conclusion. And most important, the game IS ridiculously easy! In fact, thanks to how terribly they handled the map it is the EASIEST pokemon game to date.
So why is Sword and Shield being a cakewalk a problem to you but Scarlet and Violet isn't? Most other open world games do scale difficulty to progress and that's why you don't see people complaining about them like they do S/V. This game is an outlier in that regard. Just like it's an outlier in having a world with no interactivity or interesting things to find/do.
They thought simply having pokemon, the absolute bare minimum for a pokemon game, would be enough. And to their credit, to some people it is enough. But for most others it is not. And that, combined with its terrible performance, is why you see it get as much hate as it has. And probably why you see so much hate for Pokemon in general online. People are not impressed by the same rudimentary mechanics they've been seeing since Red/Blue, even if you graft them onto an open world.
If the next generation is open world (and tbf it should be open world) they have A LOT of improving to do.
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
@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.
Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style
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.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Trailer Confirms Starters And Mega Evolutions, Coming Late 2025
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.
Re: Talking Point: The 3DS Library Is Ripe For Switch 2, But Is NSO The Way To Go?
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!!
Re: Pokémon Presents Announced For 27th February 2025
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??
Re: Acclaimed Horror Title 'Mouthwashing' Is Making Its Way To Switch
Not the masterpiece its outstanding reputation makes it out to be, but it's worth your time.
Re: Random: Oh No, You Can Buy A Life-Sized Gardevoir Plush From Pokémon Center
Not a single one of these will be bought with good intentions
Re: Best Ys Games Of All Time - Switch And Nintendo Systems
@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).
Re: Sorry Romantics, "Bonkers" Dating Sim 'Date Everything' Has Been Delayed To June
@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.
Re: Talking Point: What Do We Actually Want From 'Mario Kart 9'?
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.
Re: Mailbox: Switch 2 Caution, Unpopular Opinions, Easy Games - Nintendo Life Letters
@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.
Re: Mailbox: Switch 2 Caution, Unpopular Opinions, Easy Games - Nintendo Life Letters
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.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (25th January)
I'm kingdom coming after those beastly Cumans. Kunesh is next. Jesus Christ be praised!
Re: Opinion: My Daughter Made Me Realise That Mario Wonder's Difficulty Options Need Work
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.
Re: EA's Share Price Plummets After Reports Of Disappointing Financial Performance
Removed
Re: Atelier Yumia Dives Into Motorbike Riding And Base Building In New Trailer
@ArcticEcho "Trust me bro" - ^
Re: Balatro Dev Urges Fans To Buy More Indie Games As Title Hits 5 Million Units Sold
Basically where all the true gems are coming from nowadays.
Re: Team Cherry Reconfirms Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Actually Real In Small Development Update
2036 LET'S GOOOOOOOO
Re: Best Ys Games Of All Time - Switch And Nintendo Systems
@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.
Re: Poll: So, How Would You Feel About 24 Racers In Mario Kart 9?
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.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (18th January)
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.
Re: Best Ys Games Of All Time - Switch And Nintendo Systems
@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.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of Donkey Kong's Redesign In Mario Kart 9?
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.
Re: Anniversary: Resident Evil 4, One Of The Greatest Games Ever Made, Turns 20
20 years of not thanking the bro
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (11th January)
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.
Re: Review: Ys Memoire: The Oath In Felghana (Switch) - An Excellent 'Less Is More' Entry In The Long-Running Series
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.
Re: Review: Ys Memoire: The Oath In Felghana (Switch) - An Excellent 'Less Is More' Entry In The Long-Running Series
@the_beaver Ys V. SFC only and they haven't remade it yet, which I bet they'll do at some point.
Re: Nintendo Reveals Japan's "Top 30" Most Downloaded Switch eShop Games Of 2024
Suika "Where has my 30+ hours gone" Game stays winning.
Re: Here's Another Look At Sonic's DC Crossover Comic Series
Batman: This is where I watched my parent's die, Shadow.
Shadow: hmph Weak.
Re: Japanese Game Creators Reveal Their "Top 20" Video Games Of 2024
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.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (New Year Edition)
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.