Kirgo

@Retrohero
Here in germany, at least in my region, the Switch 2 was sold out everywhere I happened to go.
That is also true for basically every console launch I ever actively witnessed.
Excluding the white Wii U specifically.

They seem to be getting Switch 2 back in stock now though. Amazon has a few right now, for example.

Feels to me like they had about the perfekt amount to fulfill demand here.
Preorder wasn't too difficult to get and now it's not impossible to get again, but also not available everywhere all the time.

@Yoshi3
Maybe I am missing something then.
Mario Kart 8 did cost 60€ (don't know the usd price) so, I don't see much of a difference to the price increase in general.

As far as I can remember, MK games have always been full price and MKW still is?

@Yoshi3
I do actually wonder why this price increase is so widely considered arbitrary.

There was a major inflation pretty much arround the globe in recent years.
The prices now reflect that.

And yes, I actually did do the math.
80$/80€ today is close to 60$/60€ in 2017 (Switch 1 Release).
Note: USD and Euro Inflation has been similar, which is why it's pretty much the same result.

The 90€ pricepoint for physical games can of course be discussed, though I would assume that the 10€ extra are due to the cardridge prices, which had already been an issue with Switch 1 games, as is well known. Differences per country in this regard can be due to Nintendo thinking that not every region is willing to pay that, even if there is a reason for the increase.

I have seen game prices going up and up over the years, but this one does seem less arbitrary than usual to me.

@Gohanjin
And does turning off the blur in Fantasy Life decrease the framerate?
I ask, because blur effects typically do the opposite. They cost (!) performance, although usually not much.
The only way I can think of how it could increase performance is if it is used to hide something else. Like loading low res textures on objects in the distance then blur it to make it less obvious.
I don't think that would work at all for this game. Too obvious.

On the other hand, Tilt Shift is a well known effect used in media for ages. It is used to make the things on screen look more toy like.
This fits perfectly into the overall artstyle of the game.

@MrGawain
Wanting bigger screens, but simultaneously wanting a device that is more portable, seems like a problem, since it contradicts.

A foldable screen solves this problem somewhat.
Imagine the Switch was foldable. I could just take it with me way more easily in my pocket...

But yeah, as long as it breaks more easily or is expensive, that is a major con.

Still not sure how this can be comfortable.
The Joy Cons shape is not exactly ideal for this scenario (optional support for proper mouse?), also, in most situations you wouldn't have a table in front of you that is comfortable to reach.

If a multiplayer shooter, for example, were to implement this, players who sit at a desk and use mouse mode could have a decisive advantage too.

That's not to say I wouldn't want a mouse. There are quite a few scenarios in which a mouse is just superior to everything else.
I just have difficulties imagining how this solution would work properly.

It would be a better world for us if there were no exclusives on any platform.
Therefore I do support decisions like this.

@sketchturner
Really hard question to answer, as I can hardly imagine playing a Xenoblade game without immersing myself in their outstanding stories. I don't even know if cutscenes are skippable, as I don't think I ever tried doing that, lol.

Just looking at gameplay though, the games in general are very solid I would say. The combat also has a good amount of depth to master, though at least the main story parts of the game are not quite difficult enough to actually require this, some late game stuff is challenging.

Xenoblade X may be your best bet out of the 4 existing games, if you want to try one, as X does not have as big of a main story focus as the others and is more open. Lots of optional grinding and challeng quests (i.e. finding and killing specific very strong monsters) throughout, if that is what you are looking for. Massive world to explore. Alongside, of course, traditional story/lore focused side quests.

The other games do have all of that too, but Xenoblade X is a bit more focused on that stuff and has an actual open world instead of "just" big semi open worlds.

Would I recommend playing these games without the story? Hell no, because the story is too good to skip.
But for your case: Would I recommend playing these if I pretend like the story doesn't exist? Maybe. Whether the gameplay itself is enough depends a lot on your taste and what exactly you value I think, though it is definitely good.
If they were to announce a Xenoblade spinoff without a story, I personally would still play it.

@CinnamonRobin
I was thinking the same.

At first I thought a few pixels of the 'O' were just missing because of some issue with upscaling or something (though that would still be very strange).
But it's not just missing pixels, there are also added pixels to form the 'U'.

Very strange.

@Yalloo
My point about the NDA is, that even contracts have legal limits, though I guess the details depend on the individual countries laws.
In this case, they didn't actually reveal anything which could be a Nintendo secret. If anything it helps Nintendo, because we already have a confirmed game for whatever next system they release in whatever year.

But yeah, it is interesting to think about.

@Yalloo
Good point, though if I understand correctly, they are only talking about "plans for release on next-gen Nintendo platforms ", which isn't actually confirming anything about the console.

I don't think any NDA would stop them from doing that. I am not even sure an NDA could do that legally, since they didn't do anything that could be of Nintendos concern, though I am no expert on that.

For a crowdfunding game it makes sense to talk about things like that in hopes of gaining more funding. For other studios there isn't really much to gain by confirming anything before the console is announced.

@Yalloo
It doesn't really seem more of a risk to me than any game already planned for the Switch 2, of which there should be quite a few from all kinds of companies at this point.

This one is arguably less risky than the rest, because the extra bill gets paid via crowdfunding.

The only question would be whether the game can run on the new console, which they probably already know because they presumably have a dev kit already.

@ScalenePowers
I am definitely an old Gothic fan.
Well, of Gothic 1 and 2 mainly. I have not played the Switch versions however.

@tektite_captain
I already explained to you that Nintendo can absolutely continue to charge the same price regardless of the current dollar value. In fact, they could go much cheaper than before, even just by virtue of a remaster having barely any development cost, apart from what I already mentioned. If you want to ignore my whole point, fine, but I am not explaining it again.

Btw, I just checked and I can get The Godfather on Amazon for just 20 bucks for the entire trilogy. Even the bluray version only costs 25, much cheaper than any current movie. There is technically even an older boxed trilogy version for just 10 bucks right now.
I don't think you chose a great example there...
There is also the thing that remastering a movie can actually require quite a bit more work than a game, depending on how far they want go, and those are the versions you usually get today. The whole comparison is honestly flawed in a lot of ways.
Not to mention that this is blatant whataboutism anyway.

But don't worry about me being "angry". I can recognize that this is a ripoff without getting angry about it. It's hardly the first game.

@ibis_87
Sure I get that, again I do sometimes pay more for games if I really really want them. A new(!) Zelda game, for example, is absolutely worth good money for me. If the game actually provides the value, I will buy it.
But if a Donkey Kong Remaster is worth 60, then what is a Tears of the Kingdom worth? 200? More? Even subjectivity has limits until it just gets outrageous.

Problem with this is just that it will only get worse because of your way of thinking.
You can say it is just realistic to think that what you are doing has no serious impact and that would be a correct assessment, but only because other people think the same. Many think it won't help anyway therefore not many actually vote with their wallet, therefore it will only get worse. We can see this happening everywhere.

I am old enough to understand that this is inevitably what it comes down to, doesn't mean I want to be part of it though. It just means that I came to terms with the fact that people, as a collective, can easily be bled dry by large companies.
Thankfully, at least in gaming, I do have other options from smaller studios.

@electrolite77
Yes, I mentioned that in the ps of my first post.

I am just saying that we would all be better off if consumers didn't just decide to buy everything regardless of justification, all the time. A lot of things, not just games, would be cheaper for everyone.

@ibis_87
If consumers just swallow price increases like they don't care, then that tells companies that they could charge even more.
This remaster might sell at 60$. Well if it does well, the next one might be 70$, then they will bring out the 80$ games...

I know, anyone can decide on their own for each game, I sometimes buy expensive games too, if I really think they are worth it to me (60$ for a Donkey Kong Remaster is very far from that.).

But is it really so hard to understand people being frustrated by this development? People could just restrain themselves, when they see price increases without serious justification, making products for everyone cheaper. Everyone would profit! Including you! But it never happens.

@tektite_captain
Ooh, I like the inflation game!
I want to participate by throwing in some other numbers!

Average wages didn't increase as much as inflation did in the US (Going for US numbers, because dollar prices), they are only about 15% higher.
So from a consumers perspective, the game should only cost 57,50$, meaning this game is actually a little bit more expensive than before.

Now count in the fact that we are comparing a completely new game to a remaster, which should cost significantly less.
Count also in that the old 50$ might already have been found too expensive in 2010.
And also include the fact that games now tend to sell a lot more units than back then, meaning Nintendo could make more money than before even if they don't increase the price (Mario Galaxy sold 12.8 Million copies; Mario Odyssey sold 27.9 Million copies).

Isn't it funny how that stuff works?

ps.: Before anyone starts: Yes I know, Nintendo charges as much as they can get away with. Doesn't make it fair.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Ok, just for a final word: Ease of implementation is vital for the willingness of the developers to actually implement the feature, which should be the most important factor in this discussion.

Maybe I just don't understand what you mean by "parity", as having the exact same controls over multiple systems seems completely irrelevant to me, unless it requires work to develop/implement both ideas, which is why I went into the "ease of implementation" argument in the first place. (There are even quite a few examples from the early Wii U games, where devs implemented the second screen, even though that makes a comparatively huge difference and takes much more work.).
Potential exception being cross platform pvp, where no one should have an advantage over the other. That is just a fraction of all games though.
Otherwise publishers and devs don't need to care about that kind of parity.
Well I guess, if a console manufacturer pays them for it, they would care.

@westman98
Ok, yeah that is true.

When it comes to lists for example, scroll wheels are more useful for short distances scroll and staying precise. It is usually too slow to scroll over large distances.
Combining it with something else does the trick.

@westman98
I have never seen a PC gamer, or PC user even, who doesn't use his scroll wheel all the time.
Obvious exception would be for games that most people play with a gamepad.

Seriously though, I am a PC gamer for decades, why would I ever not use the scroll wheel for something when using kb+mouse? I have a hard time remembering games where that isn't useful in some way.

@Ryu_Niiyama
What I am talking about is that your comparisons do not work in this context because a scroll wheel is a much simpler thing to implement, depending on the game.
Let's stay with the shooter example for a second and let's try to implement different gimmicks.

IR Sensor: How would you even go about implementing this at all? You would basically have to have an entire additional gameplay feature just to somehow use this sensor and I am not even sure such a thing is possible, since, I mean how in the world would you implement such a sensor in a shooter? And this is true for most genres, I would argue. Not to mention that this sensor probably needs quite a bit of work from the devs to do anything.

Playstation style touchpad: Similar problem, just less severe. None of the things you do in such a game lends itself to be done with the hard to reach touchpad. Maybe you could throw grenades with a touch motion, but you would only really save a button and that button would, as you explained, still need to exist if the game was released on other platforms. The fact alone that you have to, more or less, let go of the controller with one hand to use the pad means that this isn't something you can implement without a second thought, as it could become a hindrance for the player instead of something helpful.
If throwing grenade via touch is just an additional option, no one would use it, since a button is simpler.

Scroll wheel: If the scroll wheel is just there as an additional thing in a convenient place, there is not much to think about. Map the wheel to weapon zoom, or whatever else (there are tons of possibilities, some described in the article), there would not be any downside for the player at all, especially if it's just an option, but it would be convenient as it can be better than the traditional control scheme in some ways.
For the developers there is no more work involved, they just have to map an existing function to the wheel and it would already be beneficial.
If a dev teams doesn't want to do it, give me access to the code and point me to where all the controls are mapped.
I will personally fix it in 15 minutes, of which 14 minutes are reading Nintendos documentation of how to do it, which I might not even need. I am not even kidding with that.

There is no worry about people not adopting this, as it just makes their lives easier in some regards. And even if they actually don't like using the wheel for anything, it would still not matter for the devs because it was that simple to implement.

With all the other gimmicks you listed, there are always downsides for devs, users or both that need to be accounted for. For a scroll wheel, I can't see any.
The only problem I see is, as mentioned, that I wouldn't know where to place that thing on a gamepad. I would guess that is also the reason why gamepads don't already have this feature. However, if Nintendo could find a good place for it, it will be used.

EDIT: To specify, I am talking about the Joycon IR Sensor. Not the one on the Wii Remote, which was actually widely used anyway.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Why would it be different in this case?

For a classic example, in a shooter you could switch through your weapons using the wheel. There is no reason at all why developers could not just make that work for a controller with scroll wheel. Doesn't take any work, no amount of creative thinking or anything.
Whether PC gaming is a different world is just irrelevant in this case.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Depending on the kind of game, it's really not that difficult to find a use for scroll wheel. It's also standard on many PC games...

Not that I necessarily want a scroll wheel on a controller. I don't know, I can't picture a place on a gamepad where a wheel wouldn't be awkward. That could just be my lack of imagination though.

Surprised to see so many people here having difficulty with the controls, I didn't know that was a thing.

It worked very well for me after getting used to it for a little bit of time.

@Clammy
Guess you only buy very few games then, since 99.9% of them are overpriced. Most even massively overpriced.

@Clammy
By your logic, no game is worth its price unless it is just as good as the best game of its priceclass.

Wonder was special enough that I would be fine with a second game. I think there are still things that could be done with those ideas.

Generally speaking though, a huge part of what makes Mario games, and especially Mario Wonder, so good, is the creativity with each new game.
Because of that, a completely new game is preferable.

So a second Wonder would be nice, but something completely new would be better.
The only thing that should probably be avoided is a third Wonder game later.

@superguy123 They are not saying that the next Nintendo console will fail.
They are just saying it probably won't sell as much as the Switch.

With Switch being as successful as it is, this is pretty much just a default position.
I mean, the PS6 probably won't sell that much either. Possible but not likely

@NintendoWife
Well, it is about how much value the company has.
If shares are so expensive right now, but the expected sales do not support that, then that it is exactly their job to inform their audience of that.

@GooseLoose1
Well, the guys you are supposed to kill in the franchise are usually bad guys themselves, which might help in that regard.

@Paraka @Hwatt
Aren't Gamepass players on their own plattform, apart from Steam though? (Never used Gamepass myself)

If yes, the Steam concurrent player count should still indicate ridiculously high sales.

@Paraka

Yeah, that is basically what I was trying to say too.
I personally don't care much about the Pokemon comparison either. This strangely history making success is way more interesting in itself, which is what you are talking about.
I didn't do that much research as you apparently did (appreciated), but even just looking at it face value, it seems very odd.

I might add that I also find the Steam store page interesting (not the games own page, but the stores homepage).
First of all, the big promoted games at the top didn't include Palworld for me on day 1, in my experience, no matter what Steam thinks I am interested in, a game of such a scale should be up there.
Secondly the list of "new & trending" games still doesn't include Palworld even now.
As far as I know, it is not known for certain what data Steam is using to determine what is "trending" exactly, though it is known that the level of promotion is influenced by things like wishlists. Might suggest that the game wasn't wishlisted and preordered a lot prior to release. Speculation, yes, but odd either way.
Palworld is on top of the list of current "topsellers" however, which is expected.

Anyway, can't say for sure what is going on, but I agree with you about the smell test.

EDIT: I take back at the part about "new and trending", as the game is probably just not on that list, since it is officially still in Early Access. My bad.

@Paraka
I know what you mean, these numbers are incredibly strange.
It is just as strange though how defensive many people here seem to be about the game.
I mean, it is really not much of a conspiracy theory to question this games numbers, even the game going viral doesn't actually explain this, as it outvirals any other viral game, somehow.
If the game is genuinly this good, which I don't know, you would expect people becoming aware of and buying it over a bit of time, not that suddenly.

Only explanation is Gamepass, but even there, other games don't achieve the same.

On Steam it wasn't even recommended to me for the longest time, which a game with such huge presales (should be there if it really had a lot if fans before release) normally would, even regardless of my taste.
These are "best game of all time" kind of numbers, no way it wouldn't be advertised as such on Steam.

There is also the thing about how a lot of people mention how they barely even heard about this game before, me included. This alone should cause initial sales to be lower than they could be.

I have no idea whether all of it is legit, but it is at least not a stretch to point out that it's very strange.

I read "motion controls" here in the comments multiple times.
I like motion controls, but I am honestly not sure how that would work in a benfitial way for controlling an airplane.

@GrailUK
Depends on your tolerance for technical problems.
It's an amazing game almost burried beneath bugs. This remaster was supposed to fix most problems and it kinda did, but seems to have introduced a huge amount of new problems to replace the old ones...

Also the controls for playing on controller are apparently horrible.
Note: The original PC version did not support controllers at all, it was mainly made for keyboard only. The controls are also unconventional, which makes it hard to translate to controlers.
If you are playing specifically in english, you can also expect horrible voice acting, to the point where it has comedic value.

That all being said, it is still one of my favorite games of all time. I guess that is already saying a lot considering the problems I have listed.
Maybe this remaster get's fixed some more over time.

Disclaimer: I am mostly familiar with the original version, but I have seen gameplay of this Switch remaster.

@SwitchForce
Not really that surprising.
They probably assume the game won't sell well enough outside of japan to justify a physical release, including the whole logistics that would go along with it.

And I am not sure they would be wrong with that assumption.

@UltimateOtaku91
PC I guess? If it is just boxed even the number fits, since the vast majority of PC gamers buy digital at this point. Additionally, I don't think that fighting games are particularly huge on the Platform.

@Moonlessky
...and Microsoft and Valve and Apple and Tencent...
They all have a lot of money to lose.

It is actually incredible to think about just how many lawyers around the entire world are probably hard at work right now just because of this one company making one insane announcement.

I mean they pretty much attacked the entire rest of the gaming industry, while standing on extremely shaky legal ground.
The only ones who probably have a good time right now are the companies who try to sell their own engine to those who run from Unity.

@Savage_Joe
It's not so much the PR team, but the entire board of directors that needs to go.

@Deviant-Dork
Yes, this classic RPG with high dialog focus and turn based combat, based on the Pen and Paper franchise Dungeons and Dragons, is a Diablo clone.

I don't know if you are serious or joking around, I had a good laugh at that anyway, lol.

@Varkster
About BG3 looking around the same as Divinity Original Sin 2.
I would strongly disagree.
While BG3 isn't exactly setting new standards in terms of graphics, there is still quite a clear difference in quality between the games to me.

This is also reflected by the system requirements on PC, which are a lot higher for BG3.
That is not to say the game couldn't still be made to run on a Switch, but it would at least be more difficult with more visible differences.

@Deviant-Dork
The game is not even remotely comparable to Diablo.

@Expa0
I went into it without knowing anything about dnd rules as well (like probably most people if we are honest) and I kinda understand what you mean.

However, I would say none of the things on l screen are hard to understand, it just seems like a lot. Also the beginning part is so easy by design, that you can just use it to experiment a bit, both in and out of combat.
You don't need to understand much to get through that part.

To put it in one sentence: There is a lot to learn, but all of it can be learned pretty quickly.

All this says is that you can probably use the same account on the new console as on the Switch.
Nothing more, nothing less.

@Krull
I don't get that opinion at all.
Especially the Portable version I really don't like because compared to FES it lacks the immersion of actually running around places, which is important to me for the way the entire game feels. Not to mention the graphics in general...

But even if I go with FES, the game could really use a remake.

I did play Persona 3 FES in the past and loved it, but I will immediately buy the Remake and play that version again. It's that big of an upgrade to me.

@LikelySatan
I get that.
To me, Skyrim is the most overrated game of all time. The dictionary definition of quantity over quality, as the amount of content is staggering but nothing is executed well.
And open world rpgs are a genre that I normally like...

I bought the game on day one of its original release, was very hyped.
But the more I played it, the more I was just searching for the part of the game that is good.
I did one thing and it was disappointing.
I did another thing and I ended up being disappointed again.
I never stopped getting disappointed by everything until I finally dropped it.

We seem to be in a minority though. Most people do seem to love it.

@SuntannedDuck2
The bosses in totk are a lot more like classic Zelda bosses though, so BotW is not really comparable.

I do mostly agree with you on your points though, the only reason why this didn't bother me in BotW is because that was only a small fraction of the game as a whole and I loved the rest.

Also agree with your point on Souls games. That game makes me think most people never actually played a hard game before that.
That is not to say Souls games are "easy", but it's not super hard either.

I have only beaten two bosses at this point, but those were the easiest part of the game by far.
I found simple bokoblin camps to be more difficult than them.