Krull

Persona 4G is the only one I’ve bought digitally this year, as I tend to prefer physical. However, the lack of Metroid Prime Remastered is a real surprise, especially as it was a digital-first release. To not even crack the top 30 ahead of something like Story of Seasons is pretty weak.

Unusually, I really like both. The EU/Japan one is dynamic, and has almost a Bayonetta feel. But love the art style of NA, and the backless dress. Winner - just

Still making my way through Persona 4 Golden. Turns out it’s really long. I’m circa 55hrs in, it’s mid-September and I’m working through a “secret base”. Still terrific, but glad to be tackling a dungeon again after what feels like hours of story and social link grinding.

The 3DS might have had Nintendo’s best year seven (till now), but that DS year seven, with third parties, has everyone beat. Funny that Ghost Trick, one of the top five games on the system, has been rereleased in the Switch’s seventh year. And Rune Factory III is getting a remaster too! Oh, and we’re getting a new Dragon Quest Monsters - the parallels keep coming.

I predict now that, maybe two or three years after the Switch’s successor releases, Atlus will release another version of Radiant Historia on OG Switch, and it will go criminally overlooked for a third time.

Persona 4 Golden for me, but partly because I’m not buying anything else till I eat up more of my backlog, which has too many darn long RPGs in it. Hence no Octopath II, Tears of the Kingdom, Metroid Prime or even Case of the Golden Idol - which I suspect will all be in with a shout eventually. I also can’t believe P4G on Switch was actually this year!

This game looks amazing on 3DS, especially in stereoscopic 3D. One of the prettiest Nintendo games I can think of, across all systems. I fear Dark Moon won’t be quite as special in Switch - but it’ll still be a treat for first-timers.

I expect to see announcements for Persona 5 Tactica, that Prince of Persia reboot, Pikmin 4 and Mortal Kombat 1.

I’m really surprised by this - was not expecting a Direct this summer with no E3! Will there be a hardware reveal?

This gives me Devil Survivor vibes more than anything - Atlus has often gone with a cartoonish style for SMT spin-offs.

Tactica seems cool, but I’ll wait for the reviews. I already have a massive Persona-related backlog of P5R, P5 Strikers and both PQs. And I’m only about a third of the way through P4G right now.

Persona 3 Portable is already a perfect game. I’m not really sure what the point of this is, especially when P3P has only just been rereleased. If it was still stuck on the PSP and Persona 3 on the PS2, then this would be amazing news. Now it just seems like wasted development resources.

If anyone has held off playing Persona 3 because they want a slightly prettier version, then, er, good for you. I hope Atlus makes its money back. But I fear the audience will be small.

@Friendly I agree with your post too! There are loads of older games that are still 9s and wow today. Unfortunately for Embracer, though, they don’t own Metroid, Mario or Zelda titles. I think their best older IP is stuff like Deus Ex, System Shock (I think) and the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raiders.

Did anyone not see some kind of disaster coming? All those acquisitions never seemed sustainable, especially when they never seem to do anything apart from rerelease stuff to ever decreasing returns. Feel like we hardly ever get anything new - and when we do, it’s never better than a hard 7/10, like Saints Row. In fact, most of their IP is a string of 7s - and if it isn’t, that’s because it’s really quite old. And what was a 9 or 10 ten years ago is likely not much better than a 7 now.

The Messenger has got a steep discount - might finally bite on that one. But I already have too much to play!

Very much hooked on Persona 4 Golden, which is everything I could have hoped. My only complaint is that I keep agonising about failing to maximise social links and stats as I go, when I really need to just relax and enjoy the game. It’s not like normal mode is so hard that I need to min-max everything. Might just end up YouTubing any missed endings. Great game.

Says a lot about the passion of UK players for a free go on NBA 2K23 that a post about the Tetris Effect patch notes has more comments as I write this…

Underwhelming choice, Nintendo. I gather this is a good basketball sim - but know your audience.

What a shame. This looked and sounded really interesting. I’m not putting it on the “never” pile, but I’ll need to get through a lot of backlog before I consider this now.

One of the best games of the 2010s, and must have taken some kind of witchcraft to get it working on Switch, which is where I played it. It actually ran brilliantly - apart from one fight in low light levels which was more like the game was sending me postcards than animations. Still, an absolute masterpiece.

Scrolling down… Hmm, that Europe one is fine but not an absolute belter. Oh, Japan’s is the same but slightly worse. Still Europe for me, but not impressed so far. America? Did they forget to do a cover? Is this the preliminary sketch?

Europe wins.

Chipping away at Persona 4 Golden, having just rescued Yukiko. Still early days, but it’s every bit as enthralling as P3P. I love this series so much!

My first thought on reading the charts was, wow, Megaman Battle Network has sold over a million?!! Then I realised its total sales must actually belong to Switch Sports - unless they are identical by some freakish coincidence.

Blows my mind that a PSP game is still in the top ten. Pouring one out for my white PSP1000!

I’m such a sucker… £1.99 for a keyring…

Don’t care. Would buy again. It glows in the dark, man. Sold!

The US is too cluttered, and the model of Jade looks horrible. The EU cover is a far nicer composition, and Jade actually looks decent.

Great game. I’m surprised Ubisoft never made a sequel…

Just don’t like those N64-era 3D renders, and never have. They’ve not aged well. The Japanese cover is a bit saccharine, but I far prefer it

@TheBigK I hear you. Far prefer SRPGs like Fire Emblem to pure strategy games like Advance Wars. They’re really not in the same genre, despite being made (originally) by the same developer. I played and enjoyed Warbits, which is a very competent Advance Wars knockoff on iOS, but I never found it compelling in the way an RPG with character development can be.

Case of the Golden Idol, please - though don’t know how it would work on Switch.

I suspect Vampire Survivors could turn up - seems mad that it’s not already on Switch.

Silksong? More likely to appear in a full Direct now, given the hype.

I dislike that the EU cover makes me think of all the Brain Training copycat shovelware that ended up on the DS. Prefer the anime style of NA.

Illumination is perfect for Luigi’s Mansion, even if it’s not the game I’d necessarily most like to see brought to life. I say give Splatoon to Studio Trigger or something, and see how dark and weird it could get.

Still playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. I grumbled a bit about the controls last time, and still find them quite awkward, but this game is AMAZING. OK, it’s a bit linear, but the areas are rich and rewarding to explore and the emphasis on puzzles is fantastic. Thoroughly into it now.

Doing some Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. Man, those controls are … different. Still early days, and I can tell there’s a good game in there, but not used to the sword and camera both being tied to the right stick yet. I do like that there’s more story than I’m used to with a Zelda game, though.

@theModestMouse That is totally my feeling too. I’d quite like Skyrim digitally at that price, but not at the cost of a new SD card. And then I look at the physical edition, and it’s still going for full price at retail and secondhand.

Like the look of this a lot. Hopefully they iron out the technical issues before the April 6 launch here. It’s twisting my melons, man

I’m sure it will be a good game. I have no worries there. Just don’t know if it will be a great game - which is surely what any Zelda fan is hoping.

It’s 2017, and it’s not even close, for me. Though 1998 is a clear second. But nothing else beats Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Hollow Knight, Splatoon 2, Nier Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Persona 5 (in the West), two huge series reboots in Resident Evil 7 and Assassins Creed Origins, plus the likes of Cuphead and Divinity: Original Sin 2. For starters.

And I’ve been playing games since before 1985…

Does this make Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and Mario Kart 8D the only two games still getting DLC that released in the Switch’s first year? Not bothered by the answer, but I’m amazed that Bamco is still supporting this

Picked this up just a few days ago. It’s great - very low impact. At least at the moment - I’m sure it’ll get crushingly hard eventually. But recommended.

@Rambler I don’t remember the laxatives at all! TBF, it’s been a couple of decades. Might be time to read it again.

@Rambler Pooing yourself while off your face and surrounded by bodies? Sounds more like some of the internet cafes I used to know…

(Edit: I think the novel you were referencing might be Trainspotting. Which is also brilliant, but not The Beach. And no video games in it)

I love games with a good story, and am most drawn to those, but even the best video game story is only on the level of an above average novel.

For a good (and very readable) novel for gamers, hard to beat The Beach by Alex Garland. There’s a protagonist who plays games, incorporates them into his life, but it’s not a novel about games. Or is it?

Voted for the Game Boy Link’s Awakening hero, because I love that such an iconic design can be put together with just a few pixels. And it’s adorable. Genius!

I’m also rocking the Xenoblade Chronicles theme - it’s great. Shout out to the Persona Q2 theme too, though. Not only is it free, but it is wiiiiiide. Scroll to the right, and the characters keep on coming. Lovely.

There’s a lot of harshness towards Atlus here, but they have consistently continued to run sales on the 3DS eShop long after everyone else had forgotten. I’ve picked up SMT Devil Survivor II, Radiant Historia, both Persona Qs, both EO Untold Stories and EO Nexus all at rock bottom prices over the last couple of years.

I suspect every complainer had plenty of opportunity. Waiting for the final month maybe wasn’t such a smart move?

Edit: Giving Atlus gyp on the same day Capcom pull the rug out from their Resident Evil 7 cloud service seems especially harsh. Especially as both stories only affect Japanese players!

LoZ: The Phantom Hourglass on DS. You have to knock out four torches using your boomerang. I ended up moving from spot to spot, trying to find a place where the boomerang would come back to me fastest. I was knocking them out one by one as fast as I could, but just couldn’t do more than three before one burst back into flame.

Turns out you can draw a single path taking out all four. **facepalm**

Picked BotW, but Termina Field would have taken second place. Felt like a big step up in interesting nooks and crannies from OoT.

As long as Osvaldo has analyse as his unique skill, like Cyrus did, then scholar all the way. Also, magic users rule!

FWIW, I didn’t rate Gris at all - it’s quite pretty, but playing it was frankly quite boring. I’m only saying this because so many comments and reviews praise it - just a warning that you could be disappointed. I get why others love it, though. Glad you did.

I felt similarly about Horace too, for that matter - I liked everything about that game apart from actually playing it. Such a shame.

But this is a very strong list. I’m not quibbling with anyone’s score! Go for it - just read some reviews first.

Wolf cub and fawn - sold. I’ll get this for my daughters and backseat-play it. It’s perfect for that.

The original team is credited at the end. If this is about having your name in credits to show to potential future employers, you’ve had 20 years to show them the original game. Presumably you’ve found another job in that time. And if not, and you’re looking now - just show them the credits to the original game. Job done.

@ReaperMelia Yep, well aware that Sugiyama has gone - but my fear is that they just keep going back to the well and give us nothing but his old tunes. TBH, even if they do get someone new in, I suspect it will be like most composers following John Williams in the Star Wars universe - they’ll try to sound like the original. Dragon Quest needs the equivalent of a Ludwig Goransson, who’ll go their own way.

I prefer the dynamism of Japan’s cover, but I don’t like how they cropped the photo. And the EU/NA is still a decent cover, so gets my vote.

@PinderSchloss They’re hardly going to go with a new art direction. Akira Toriyama’s art is intrinsic to Dragon Quest. If they changed it, it would just be a different fantasy RPG series.

As for a revamp and experimentation, that’s what the spin-offs are for. DQ has always done lots of different things. The mainline games are where they go back to the core.

I’d bite your hand off for a new composer, though!