Krull

@HeadPirate I agree that there’s a bit of a lazy shorthand in comparing something new to more well-known properties, but it’s not limited to gaming. The Citizen Kane of westerns; Beyoncé crossed with Korn; Charles Dickens meets Shirley Jackson… Does feel a bit tired, but it’s a very effective way of communicating what a property is trying to do.

But really I’m replying because I really want to play Hades meets Animal Crossing and the Dark Souls of Mario Kart. Those both sound amazing!

Blending Final Fantasy and Devil May Cry… Isn’t that just Final Fantasy XVI?

@Anti-Matter It’s not a matter of which is better - it’s which sold more. And as you well know, the arcades will always beat either for dance games!

@SBandy1 Fair shout on the indie games. Stuff like Dust: AET was great. The exclusives, though… Great if you like racing games (nope!) and shooters (meh - mixed feelings), I suppose. I find that library pretty dreary - but I guess that’s AAA gaming in the Noughties. PS3 was far better in the teens. Not my favourite generation, I must admit.

The real story here is how the Xbox 360, a console lacking any personality whatsoever, managed to sit in third place. Guess Americans really, really like shooting aliens.

Switch needs to sell another 20m or so to topple global sales for DS and PS2. Might not make it now, unless the Switch sequel coincides with a price drop on the original.

Haven’t actually gotten around to Tears yet, though I am really looking forward to it. Apart from my backlog being so big, another reason I’ve not started yet is that I already played a Zelda game this year: Skyward Sword. I loved it. I’d still say BotW was better, but Skyward Sword was brilliant in different ways. Reminded me how good the older style of Zelda games are. I don’t think the grass is greener - though I understand Aonuma saying that. It’s just a different type of grass. If I could only pick one, I’d edge towards BotW style. But I’d rather have both.

Outer Wilds really is as good as the hype says - at least for me - but I appreciate that it’s not for everyone. You just need to accept that you know nothing, and head out to explore. Eventually, puzzle pieces start to drop and the whole thing comes together brilliantly. The game design is exceptional - but it doesn’t hold your hand. That’s good for some, bad for others. I liked it a lot.

Absolutely bring back Shining Force - and by that I mean turn-based tactics, rather than everything else Sega has done with the Shining brand. Fire Emblem has shown modern audiences will still buy such games, but Intelligent Systems has kind of been allowed to have that space to itself with high production values, bar the odd Triangle Strategy.

Other than that, Phantasy Star, obviously - but I don’t know what it would look like today. A 2D effort wouldn’t get any sales and a JRPG Starfield is beyond Sega. Think the best Sega could do with it would be something like the latest Star Ocean game (not the remake), which is a bit mid tier.

As for the IPs they’ve already announced, Shinobi rules.

Finally booting up The World Ends With You Neo. The original is one of my all-time favourites, so I’ve been nervous about the sequel living up to it. But I’m ready!

@Baler Guilty as charged! I’m sure Sheffield’s nice, though

It’s the water level

What game? Doesn’t matter.

Ealing? That’s so random. Brighton kind of fits. Don’t know Sheffield at all.

Oh well. Might pop in next time I’m in one of the areas. Would be more interested if they had Bamco manga and games too, though.

NA has a far better background, but love the pose of EU, poised on a wire, ready to land on the bad guys - just edges it

The Case of the Golden Idol for me, thanks to finally going on sale. Wonderful game, basically Obra Dinn in Flash but with a steadier, more bite-sized progression

Banjo seems like the perfect project for a team like Toys for Bob, if Microsoft can wrangle them away from the Call of Duty train of monotony. Could be a benefit of the Activision takeover, because that company has been in a rut for years.

Rare? I don’t know what they do any more. Five years since Sea of Thieves. They’re not even doing the Perfect Dark reboot.

Edit: just seen the comment above mine 🤣🤣🤣

I would definitely throw Shovel Knight Puzzle Quest in this list. It’s dressed as a match-3 puzzle game, but it’s very much a roguelite first and foremost. Tough, inventive, a huge amount of content and a fantastic soundtrack. It would be in my top three with Hades and Into the Breach.

It’s Inkle, so I’m interested. Seems like a real change of pace for them, but it’s certainly got a lovely look and tone to it. On my watchlist, definitely.

@SwitchForce I think you’re seeing an issue that isn’t actually there.

https://entertainment.ie/amp/gaming/link-from-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-was-based-on-a-world-famous-hollywood-actor-277330/

@thenikdavies Freya Allan is a great shout - I think that’s the first casting suggestion in this entire comment thread I can get behind.

The leads need to be young - like early twenties at most. Link isn’t a grizzled warrior, like a Geralt. Austin Butler when he was in that awful Shannara show would have been perfect for Link, but he might be a little too mature looking now.

That said, no matter who they cast, I expect this film to stink like an Uwe Boll turd

@Vil Agreed - but it has to be a Swedish language option with Finnish accents! That’s how they always sound in my head. And they’ll have to use the original names then too - eg Snusmumrik rather than Snufkin.

This looks great - literally, as in I love the art style. Will be intrigued to see how it plays.

Played this on iOS. Very well made game, with a strong central concept - and it gets pretty hard. Don’t think I finished it, but appreciated that it is well designed.

Breath of Fire. Okami. Onimusha.

It will not be any of the above, alas.

@PateloDim @Quarth Yep, Paras/Parasect was the first that came to my mind too. That mon freaks me out. Total nightmare fuel.

That said, while Mimikyu is less scary, it’s a great design - one of my favourites.

Paras can die in a fire. If it can even die.

Toss-up between Resident Evil Revelations (3DS) or Stray (PS4) - assuming I get to play anything. Didn’t manage a single minute this week!

@Ryu_Niiyama Thank you! Sounds great - I don’t mind a bit of IX as an aesthetic. I’ll keep my fingers crossed

@Ryu_Niiyama I assume you’ve played DQX - what did you make of it?

Resident Evil Revelations on 3DS - who’s with me? No? Too scary for you?

Barely started it, TBH, but it’s perfect for this time of year. Good production values so far.

These are both a bit rubbish, frankly. Voted for the western cover because, while it has nothing to say about the game, it doesn’t inflict quite as much visual pain as the Japanese one, which just looks like someone made a collage of bad art.

I’ve gone back to Etrian Odyssey Untold, the first one, and it’s still great. Just about to enter the third stratum (if that means anything to anyone). They did a good job of adding story and characters for a little more flavour to what is already a really good dungeon RPG.

Mutant Monty is a genuine gem. Or gold, rather, since that’s what you have to collect. Really inventive levels, and tough as nails but fair. Was a real highlight of early Amstrad gaming.

Kind of feel like Platinum Games is Kamiya, but then realised that he didn’t have much to do with Nier Automata. And he’s been taking a backseat recently as a supervising director rather than outright directing Astral Chain and Bayonetta 3. I think Platinum will be fine. Inaba is still in charge, as the thread linking back to Capcom’s great action renaissance.

Think people need to remember that Silksong isn’t a Hollow Knight expansion but a whole new game. And Hollow Knight wasn’t some 10-hour campaign but a 40 to 60-hour epic. That’s a lot of twisting maps, combat balancing and creepy atmosphere to create! Team Cherry are clearly perfectionists - I’m sure this will be a worthy follow-up to a game that’s still in my top five for Switch.

Never remotely considered that the project was dead - DQIII is revered like few other games in Japan - but two years is an awful long time to go without hearing anything. I’m guessing the trailer in 2021 was just a proof of concept or something, because it looked like they should be far further advanced by now. How many other RPGs have Squenix bashed out in that time?

I guess they’re taking their time because they don’t dare mess it up. Which is good for fans, even if we have to wait even longer. It’s probably going to be a Switch 2 title at this rate.

Love the Japanese cover. Fake ad for a mini figure? It’s just really offbeat, inventive and fun, and shows you don’t just need to splash exactly what happens in a game to be the best cover. Doesn’t look like many people agree with me, though.

Side Order does look good - I don’t even have Splatoon 3, but it looks really cool. Must go back and finish the single player content on Splatoon 2 some day!

Paper Mario TTYD and Super Mario RPG are obvious highlights, but I love that a Vanillaware game is launching on Switch in Unicorn Overlord - that was my favourite announcement, TBH. I’ll wait for reviews, but it’s definitely got style. Throw in Eiyudej Chronicles … and that’s maybe too many hours of RPGs.

I’ll just end up getting Dave the Diver!

More Diablo III for me. Somewhere in Act II, have met the highly amusing Covetous Chen, and my wizard just melts everything with his disintegration beam. The story is pure background, but the constant climb of numbers and the power trip it takes you on are great.

Has Mario put on weight? He looks chunkier in the remake. Even his shoes look bigger. 😅

He-Man and Thundercats were my immediate thoughts, but let’s go a bit more esoteric. Bucky O’Hare? Nah. Cities of Gold? Pfft. Visionaries? Don’t make me laugh. The Pirates of Dark Water? Now we’re talking!

Fired up Diablo III this week, and it’s diabolically compelling. The dripfeed of new abilities is great, the numbers keep going up and the campaign mode is surprisingly robust in story. Having a ball.

Ten million?! How? Always thought Spyro was a B-tier series, and just ignored it. Guess I was wrong on both counts, looking at reviews and the comments above. But still: ten million!

It’s nuts that Mario Kart 8D is still selling in five figures. It could actually top the charts again at this rate. Armoured Core will drop fast and I guess Pikmin is tailing off too. Don’t think Starfield will trouble the charts!

Mario? Pah. Sonic? Fnarr. Where’s Zool 3? That’s what the kids really want.

I secretly suspect both these will be good and do well, but Mario will be an absolute wonder.

This weekend I’ll finally be finishing Persona 4 Golden. I’ve already rolled credits a couple of times, but I’ve picked my way through to the final secret(ish) dungeon, have unlocked 100% of the personas, and just have to make my way to the end of the final dungeon and presumably beat some superboss or other. Really, really enjoyed my time with the game, even if I’m ready for something different.

Next up, as the internet has been consumed by Diablo IV and Baldurs Gate III, will be either Diablo III or Divinity: Original Sin II!

@WhiteUmbrella I had a similar thought but I think this is more of a useful tool than a replacement. Think of it like using a spellchecker on copy: it’s a big help and time-saver but won’t replace the work of proper copy editors.

@JohnnyMind I have Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5 Strikers AND Persona Q2 to get though before Tactica! I’m in no rush, but I will certainly get to them.

I’ve been getting stuck into Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl - it’s great! A real slow burn - step by step grid exploration, turn-based combat - but quite pretty for a 3DS game and a great soundtrack.

Nintendo really should paint their first office purple: it is the original GameCube. Will the new office be in the shape of a GameBoy or something?

If the next Nintendo console launches with Metroid Prime 4 as an exclusive, that would be a huge marketing blunder. Nintendo, of all companies, doesn’t usually promise titles that it fails to deliver. MP4 was unveiled in development for Switch, so it really should come there. Dual-platform release would be fine, but it would be a rubbish launch title for the next console as Metroid games aren’t the biggest sellers.

While I am pretty convinced the next platform will launch with a new 3D Mario, I’d love to see Nintendo do something weird, as they did with Luigi’s Mansion on Game Cube. Maybe a new Kid Icarus, a 3D Donkey Kong, a Mother 4 or a totally new IP involving some unique hardware feature - I’m game for it.

Was so tempted to vote for Germany as Japan basically gets a leg-up by having the portrait format - but it works so well here, I had to give it to Japan. Real sense of space and grandeur where all the others feel a bit claustrophobic.

It’s mid-November and I feel like I must be getting close to the end of Persona 4 Golden - right? At least, I must be near where the original P4 ended, and getting into the additional Golden content. I think. I’ve not checked, because it’s hard enough not looking up every conversation to max out relationship points! Sigh… Great game.