Ludovsky

@mariomaster96 Honestly i was kind of the way to go about it. "Armor+Crown" is definitely the kind of extra content seen in past titles and the like and meanwhile the release of this bundle does extend the visibility of the title at retail for new potential players longer than just the original "sans DLCs" retail copy would have on it's own.

And from there, thanks to the new players, they can either extend the 9th gen with a newer title later(like a new pair of game such as the remake of a previous generations like the oft-wished-for Diamond/Pearl) or outright more DLCs(since the retail bundles' players might become an even higher potential customer base for future DLCs).

@Gamehendge The stiffness is definitely notable.

This said, the -specific- way characters moves in their walking/running animation reminded me a LOT of Sonic Adventure games(who I feel like I remember having a VERY similar stiffness in character movement when they moved at lower speeds)?

@Stocksy I don't even know about Zool, so....

This said the character proportions, especially those shoes and the way they move their limbs when moving/running weirdly reminded me a LOT of Sonic Adventure games.

... which is probably not a surprise, I guess, considering one of the main guy behind this is ex-SEGA apparently.

@HobbitGamer seriously these rumors are getting out of hand x_x
Like... "new Monsters Hunters games tend to release with new Nintendo sku. Kissy look at Monsyer Hunter 4U!"

And like... i'm pretty sure that 3DS Monster Hunters Generations didn't wait for a SKU.

And pretty sure Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, following in the steps of Tri, on PSP didn't involve a new Nintendo SKU...

People need to realize that Rise ain't Monster Hunter 6 and a new "gen" but just "Portable World".

You can even see how the environments are simpler than World. And though Arzuros look nice, he's not THAT nicer than older games where few appeared to be necessarily a sign of new hardware coming up.

@TheFrenchiestFry I know this is likely not your genre, but considering how massive World's success was on other consoles worldwide, brand new Monster Hunter titles finally coming to Switch is definitely as huge as announcements go.

Very nicely timed too because World's finally final update is just about to release meaning that a lot of World veterans will be ready to migrate to Switch come Rise's release.

@Heavyarms55 a good point.

This said the fact that even the current model remains so crazily in demand definitely buy them a lot of time to iron out the kinks of any future revision and introduce the later only when things truly feel like they are slowing down.

@PBandSmelly I mean you're asking for a new game with all the programming/distribution/etc costs of that AND added(and much larger than small cartdriges) physical goods that also need to be produced, packaged, shipped, stored/etc and all the space that takes in shipping vehicles/warehouse/etc before even making it to the stores.

Like, there's a heckton of plastic toys that on themselves aren't as cheap than we'd expect them to be, so having that bundled with what's functionally an actual video game... I can picture a lot of this stuff going into the cost.

The surprise for me is not what it ends up costing, but rather if it would have cost less than that.

@Mmzom33 I expect the 35th anniversary stuff to be mostly all we've seen, but similarly I wouldn't be extremely surprised if a later full fiat Direct(let's be honest, at 15min in length what we got was just another mini-Direct) included it's own 35th Mario Anniversary segment with more announcements.

Of course, in the year(s) of COVID, I have no idea when next to expect a full fiat Direct. To be honest, I half wonder if COVID is partly why all Directs have been minis this year, making me wonder if there's some organizational issues that are hindering the production of Directs longer than the 15min minis we're getting.

Lots of the recent indide/3rd parties showcases/yesterday's 35th anniversary are the kind of stuff that could have been bundled as part of a single Direct in the past? On one hand, this make me ponder about future "full" Direct but on the other in recent months it -has- been a fair amount of these minis even if people still call for the "full" thing.

@nessisonett Honestly, the theory that they might release every "Collection" titles digitally after the deadline is a strong possibility, especially if the Collection does well in the first place. And re: Galazy 2 released separately afterward would similarly fit.

This said it could be that the deadline is just that. A deadline.
There's been a ton of previous "Anniversary/Celebration" collections that had very limited run like Zelda Master Quest collection or Metroid Prime Trilogy(until the WiiU eshop port, that is), so in that regard the deadline might be unique only in that this is the first celebration-collection title to be first released(rather than re-released like MP:Trilogy) in the era of an actual eshop capable of supporting full fiat titles(unlike the Wii's original Wiistore).

@Retro_Player_77 I got it on the WiiU myself, but ever since I stopped playing it I know my brother still enjoys the games I have on the WiiU and that he himself doesn't have much of a console budget since I've been musing giving him my WiiU since a bit now since I know he might actually still enjoy it and he's unlikely to buy a Switch himself in the foreseeable future.

This releasing on Switch might be the last excuse I needed to justify gifting him the WiiU rather than holding on to it, tbh.

And with Wind Waker HD and others already installed on it, I know there's a decent enough selection on there for him to enjoy.

@Ralizah hence my curiosity about that "world" because of how it re: has that weird "hub level" feel of Mario 64's Peach's castle/etc, though it could be a new World map altogether and just gave that odd feel because of the camera angle they picked for it.

Either ways, I'm actually considering getting it. My brother had mentionned having interest in my old WiiU since I was barely playing it these days so at this rate I might actually gift it to him once this release, since I know he himself had no intention of buying new game consoles(and thus would be unlikely to buy a Switch of his own to play that port on) but might actually make use of the WiiU if he had it(and may still enjoy the original WiiU release of 3D World, ontop of my copy of Wind Waker HD/etc I already had on there. Might even buy him Twillight Princess HD as a bonus if I ever do gift him the console. With two kids of his own now, I know his console budget isn't what it used to be anyway).

@Ralizah The new content also has me curious. The "level" teased here almost look like some kind of "world hub" than either a traditional level or one of the "overworld" maps of 3D World.

@nessisonett What I find curious about the expansion is I get the weird feeling it might actually be closer to previous 3D Mario games by going back to what almost look like the "the overworld is itself a hub level you can wander in" approach of Mario 64/etc though that might just be me mis-perceiving that sort of weird castle thing cat mario is shown to stand around of at the end. But it definitely didn't feel like like a regular level either.

@Itachi2099 two possibilities imo.

The first is it being what it says on the tin: literally a "special anniversary" type of game meant to be temporary to add to the specialness of the anniversary and make it further of an "happening".

The other is it being instead used to hype up that gameplay for a "full" and even more developped release to be released and sold as a full title after this one goes offline. For example that battle royale gameplay could interestingly mesh well with Mario Maker as a DLC or similar new title altogether.

@Magician there's more chances of switch's monster Hunter bbeing name "Portable 5th" than "6" however. If a Switch title do indeed happens it's much more likely to be considered an extension of the fifth generation kicked off by World than to be the start of a new generation.

After all, Monster Hunter 4/4 Ultimate was followed by Generations/Generations Ultimate, another 4th generation title, rather than immediately being followed by World and the fifth generation it is part of.

@JaxonH My main curiosioty will be to see how much of World's mechanics they'll maintain(specifically as pertain to mobility; climbing + sliding and the maps structure). The other aspect I'm curious about would be art direction.

I assume skills/etc are sadly to remain mostly as-is since for many it did make the titles more accessible, at least in the early game(though I'd ironically say it perhaps made endgame Iceborne sets more overwhelming due to how many skills could end up piling up in the player's build). But mobility/etc is what I'm curious since it could involve more "horsepower" requirements... then again that's a ball Breath of the Wild has handled very nicely.

The other aspect in graphics is wondering what they'll do to make a Switch compatible game. Will they keep a similar art direction than World for identity's sake even if they have to downscale resolution/etc(at the risk of looking ugly/blurry as many "realist" art styles can look when suffering too much of a downgrade). Or would they go for something more unique but also potentially Switch-adapted like cel-shaded look that could run very good performance on Switch while still remaining very good looking now and years later?

Personally I oddly wishes for a cel-shaded look as I feel it would fit the gameplay and atmosphere very well but I'm also aware that the stylistic clash with World might disapoint others.

@JaxonH You do have a point so maybe I read a bit too much into it. This said I recall hearing that Portable titles(specifically Portable 2nd/3rd/GU as opposed to 2U/TriU/4U even if on a technical level 4U was a 'portable' title though it was developped by the then 'main' team?)tended to be even lighter on story than main titles so even back then there was a form of compromise?

I guess I'm just keeping a potential layer of scepticism. I.e.: I'm hoping it'll be good, but prepared for disapointment just in case.

@JaxonH Tbh I always expected something like a "Monster Hunter 5th Portable" but that's the thing... past portable titles were usually NOT a portable "copy" of their main console titles, but usually entirely new titles that just happened to be released as part of the same generation and sharing some monsters(which, in the past, usually would -then- be ported into the "ultimate" edition of the main title released afterward).

Like Monster Hunter Tri and Monster Hunter Portable 3rd were completely different games centered around completely different villages and even with different flagships(Lagiacrus for Tri, Zinogre for Portable 3rd).

Then when Tri Ultimate was made, they ported a lot of Portable 3rd's monsters(such as Zinogre and wroggis/great wroggi to name just a very vew) into TriU as new content.

@NullPointerExcep Honestly, -mechanics- of newer games such as the greater ease of climbing and new sliding down slopes/etc I could see the Switch handling... after all, advanced mobility stuff is a lot of what one can already find in, say, Breath of the Wild.

But the thing is the console's limitations might thus mean a Monster Hunter game that, as a result, also might end up -looking- closer to Breath of the Wild in graphics(and if you explore around, especially on the lower poly mountains and their lower resolution textures, you can see the shortcut BotW took to work at it's performance level) than it would World.

Not that I would mind a more cel-shaded Monster Hunter myself if that's what it takes to run on Switch.

@IronMan30 Tbh I don't expect much because even if true, the reveal might not be until a while/could prove to not exactly be the kind of games people hoped/etc.

I mean, this would be Monster Hunter for Switch and one, as potentially implied by that one investor meeting, potentially primarily developed for high schoolers(which -could- be a group of players Capcom might try to cater to).

Even if it happens, it could thus end up a case of "could be actually great" but also "streamlined so much in an attempt to draw a crowd of players to a level such 'core' players feel left out/etc" and thus end up a disapointment to current monster hunter players.

@NullPointerExcep Honestly this is basically my feeling in a nutshell.

Like... most of the rumors that proved fake would usually read like features wish-fulfillment lists that leaves most of the technical side of stuff glossed over. This is light on features but however goes into the detail of what engine might be used.... and the limitations that end up going into however how this does -not- means other games running the same engine will be coming to Switch(and then goes further, in very direct fashion, on why NOT to expect those other titles).

The fact they keep in mind that "not everything is possible" and point out this might only happen due to the game being made for the console specifically from the ground up in the first place (and thus indirectly confirming still that World -won't- be coming to Switch) kind of lend creedence since it keep in mind the limitation of the Switch.

Plus, with World about to draw to a close for good with the Fatalis update this October and the next gen of consoles -still- not out(and thus with an install base which is still an unknown), the Switch is honestly the only way they can really grow the userbase further with any certainty(especially with how many PS4/PC owners who already have a Switch) and I doubt port of older games would satisfy(especially since the fact MH games were always light on stories and newer games have clear advances in mechanics, it make it more pointless to port older MH games than stuff like older RE games which at least have developed stories to experience).

@JuanGartner The engine is... just that. The engine. It doesn't include any assets/etc yet, which is where games can struggle a lot on weaker platforms.

I mean you'd be surprised when looking at some of the games out there that run under the same game engine despite wildly different platforms or even looks.

All this could mean is still a Monster Hunter game which might not look any better than, say, Zelda Breath of the Wild(as opposed to current Monster Hunter World's more realistic style) but would have better support for the coding of the more modern MH games' features like the high level of mobility seen in World vis a vis climbing up and sliding down the terrain on top of other gameplay-oriented details.

Meanwhile, games like RE7/etc which were -not- made with the Switch in mind... remains thus outside of the capabilities of the Switch unless they and their assets were outright remade from the ground up(this is basically borderline what happened with Dragon Quest 11S, and why even on PC the definitive editions and it's extra content continue to use Switch assets rather than the prettier assets of the original Dragon Quest 11 on PS4/PC due to how wildly different the Switch port and that extra content had to be at fundamental levels)

@Ulysses Honestly, considering how... "restrained" this rumor is(most rumor which proves fake tend to read like features wishlists), I'm tempted to feel it might be one of the few legit future releases rumors out there.

Heck, it even goes out of it's way to confirm why -other- games running that engine might not come to Switch despite using the engine. Most fake "wish fulfillment" rumors would instead have implied that as a sign these other games "would" be coming instead.

That alone feels to me like it add to the credibility of this rumor.

@IronMan30 Honestly, just the fact it doesn't read like a wish fulfillment list(and not only that, but that it even reads like the opposite of one as they go into why other games using the engine WON'T be coming to Switch due to not being built from the ground up for it) makes it perhaps one of the more believable rumors out there.

And honestly, the timing would fit. Monster Hunter World is about to close the door on it's own arc with the "final" Fatalis update in October, the next console generation isn't out yet and certainly -won't- be cheap to develop for with still unknown install base... meanwhile the install base of the Switch is known and still actively growing -and- bereft of a fifth generation title still... and developing an exclusive title for it from the ground up(with it's limitations now much better known than in 2017, and thus easier to plan around of) would be likely much easier and with higher chances of payout with how many PS4/PC owner already own a Switch on the side anyhow.

@ianl579 honestly the fact you pointed out these are exactly the kind of stuff that would normally have been part of a 5 minutes rush of announcements make me wonder if that's the point;

I.e.: clearing it everything in smaller shorter Directs prior to a fully first party Direct.

Plus with how much stuff can release all at once on the eshop, it would make sense to now give more of a chance for indie/ third parties to shine through separate direct rather than crammed in a 5 minute blitz easily skipped as 'filler' during the formal Directs.

This in turn means that first party directs might be able to do just that: focusing fully on first party content.

@flashboy I only just completed Paper Mario but still need to make more progress on Trials of Mana and finish Shantae so I hear you.

But I admit I found myself having to make room for Phoenotopia because I was really curious about the ways it seem to echo Zelda 2 but with a (much? ) more developped world and characters.

So far I like it but combat is definitely not easy. This said there don't seem to be XP in this game(making it closer to later Zelda in that regard) so this remove the need to -absolutely- get into fights except for gold which can be used to buy curatives/etc(and better armor/weapons later? ).

@TheFrenchiestFry metroidvania wise one i'm just dipping into that has my attention(though combat seem to be more involved than i expected what with the character's short reach, at least with the starting weapon) is Phoenotopia, one of the recent releases NOT in this Direct.

However calling it a Metroidvania might be a misnomer because it shares more with Zelda 2(albeit with more developped characters and villages/etc), world map view and all, than it does either Metroid or Castlevania.

This said it as i'm finding out it doesn't pull punches in the early games so it forces me to play more carefully rather than charging head on into fights.

@Zuljaras I think it was less a matter of effort but a combination of factors such as misreading the market(building the game for PS4-style of console power due to the default large install base the PS4 built over the years since it's out. Even with its current successes there are still liess Switches out there than PS4).

Another issue was underestimating the effort to port on Switch a game developped for PS4-style hardware first.

If anything though these numbers however confirms that future developments will likely on achieving good performances on Switch first while still looking decent and going "extra" for stuff like the PS4 second.

For games like these(especially RPGs) I -feel that should be the way to go(Switch's portability lending itself very well to the long play of RPGs) but it needs to be remembered that a few years ago when this entered development the future player base of the Switch and it's tastes were still up in the air compared to established platforms like the PS4.

@Guitario good thing that nintendo keep saying they intend to support the Switch for years still and that the people predicting a Switch Pro/2 for years kept being wrong?

shrug tbh I didn't expect this one in particular until late 2021 at bare minimum when it became clear how much COVID would turn 2020 into a ***** year.

@KIRO considering the context of the game pandemic, it could be a case of beefing up the team to compensate:

"After the restart and all the disruptions this year due to the global pandemic, having an individual who would be "responsible for maintaining project timelines", providing "studio-wide risk reports" and who is "responsible for studio-wide communication of project status" sounds like a great idea."

@westman98 if anything it might not bring a "Thousand Year Door 2" but it might actually be enough to actually warrant a remaster of it down the line.

At the end of the day the game dates back to the gamecube era. For all the talk about the fans of the original, a "new" TTYD-style Paper Mario would be actually have a lot of uncertainty surrounding it because there'd be no ways to even know if there are even still enough fans of the original still around to make a sequel(which introduce the uncertainty of new plots to boot) have a solid chance.

However Origami King doing so well actually brings interest to the wider Paper Mario franchise NOW to a lot of people who never played any before.

So if it were me, i'd use this as an excuse not to give Thousand Years Door a sequel but rather to remaster the original TTYD or Paper Mario 64(perhaps refreshed to TTYD partners standards) while Origami King's success remains fresh in the current generation... and then from such a remaster's performance one might gauge if there can truly be enough appetite to warrant a shift back to TTYD-style in future offerings.

@Anti-Matter honestly i'm leery of anything mmo because the realities of that structure has been so often the kiss of death of so many games and concepts already because so many of them crash as soon as they don't get the player base for them to be viable.

@Jmjfrank tbh Samus Return is probably easy to explain considering that it was still in development before the Switch in a way likely too far along to turn it easily into a Switch game but the Switch itself still too far away from release to know if such an effort would be worth it.
-Now- we know that the Switch is a massive success but folks need to recall that at the time games like Samus Return were still being developped it was still a big unknown whether or not the Switch would sell at all during it's first 1-2 years.

@WoomyNNYes oddly enough I think the WiiU eshop was onto something. Just released on the wrong generation/console and could have without a few things le the music which likely affected load times.

Basically the WiiU eshop wasn't just surprisingly curated but also had great categorization with graphics that in my eyes helped show the appeal of every categories.

For example the indie had their own section and it specifically had for icon a very popular and solid title or mr end up sometimes switched for one nintendo themselves might have wished to promote. For a long while it was this Shovel Knight and titles of similar grade that were shown as the representatives of the "indie" category which also gave in my eyes a nice aspirational goal of what quality an indie title should strive for.

What was also nice is that all clear categories were visible from the -main- page of the eshop rather than having to hunt for them in the search tab. In my opinion that's a standard the Switch eshop could go with emulating even if the categories search tab or the featured tab were nonetheless welcomed additions.

Sadly they're not the default in-home the uncurated/uncategorized Recent Additions page which is instead said default and we know how quickly things get buried there.

If it was me, i'd bring back a "categories/genre" page and i'd make it the default like in the day of the WiiU with clear graphics to promote/inform at a glance what each categories are.

Then i'd put "recent additions" on that page as a preview of the latest additions rather than the full and sometimes overwhelming display that is our current entry point into the eshop.

As the article pointed out it's not that Nintendo itself is unable to do a good job of curating titles as their editorials/videos/etc show but rather that the tool to actually -sell- those promoted titles does a poor job of keeping them visible or even just easily accessible afterward.

@Magonigal to a degree i'm seeing the speed issue as well which is concerning -because the eshop was very snappy at release which in fact had people support the bare bone design away first but long at it the way it seem to be coded seem to have struggled with actual growth of the games library which makes me wonder if we wouldn't get -better- performances from a reworked eshop doing a better job of dividing stuff in separate categories which could be loaded separately even if it might means a bit more time loading the actual UI itself.

Since I suspect the current design was that of a simplified UI that would take little time on it's own to load(hence why performance seemed to be snappy as they were in the early years og the Switch) but also load the library of even titles you're not directly looking at in the background and thus now struggle with performance because nobody expected how HUGE the eshop would grow over the years.

@LordGeovanni tbh i'm a little sad it's not fully a 'traditional' paper Mario game but otoh it's now the 5th title and only really the first two fitted what we still think of as the traditional titles.

On the other hand i'm liking what the game is doing thus far compared to Color Splash but also others.

For one it's the first game in a long while WITHOUT a level selection map and instead using more organic interconnected areas seeing players travel from one area to another directly or using direct fast travel shortcut. Something that hadn't been seen in a while. Area designs and connections are even closer to the original Paper Mario 64 than even Thousand Years Door, especially considering how many areas are connected to each others early in the game(overlook to autumn area to desert) as opposed to how TTYD itself had the player reach areas exclusively through Rogueport.

Another point I found interesting is the main villain. Though most enemies follow the post-Super Paper Mario "rule" of featuring only enemies and characters from traditional mario games, King Olli himself is actually a completely new character and one whose Origami style even is a quite different art style than either Paper Mario's style or that of mario games in general.

I don't know yet what this mean for the future of the franchise but seeing the success the title is seeing so far I feel it might be promising. The fact they can have such success with a non-traditional Mario villain like King Olli might be the most overlooked point because that alone might open more doors for the franchise again in term of creativity.

Randomly I wonder if we're not seeing part of a pattern atm.
2017 saw the Switch launched with ssince big hitting new titles.
2018 meanwhile was more mellowed and focused mostly on smaller titles and ports only picking up with Smash during the holidays.
2019 afterward saw a ton of IP including very successful ones like Fire Emblem and later the very successful Pokemon Sword/Shield alongside amounts of jRPGs that hadn't been seen on a TV-compatible Nintendo console in generations.
2020 meanwhile is a mix with the wildly successful Animal Crossing but otherwise smaller releases and ports... so far as we don't know yet what is still unnanounced for now.

@Harmonie on the other end the Wii U did so poorly that these ports may be the only way some of these titles can reach new players that could never have experienced them without having to hunt for what will increasingly be bespoke legacy hardware as the years will go by. Especially as the WiiU's failures will mean there will only be that many of these legacy consoles to go by for someone actually dedicated enough to try hunting an used one out, unlike more successful consoles like the DS or Wii.

@abe_hikura I assume it's less "big Directs are done" and more "I guess there's still more content than I expected from the Summer 2020 Direct they probably canceled because of COVID".
Iirc there were still semi-recently confirmed online presentations of other companies that had to be canceled/delayed because COVID stuff meant they couldn't get critical segments of the production teams behind the videos. At the end of the day it's not as simple as shipping webcams and mics to developers. They involve separate filming / recording crews who were likely just as much hit by the whole stuff than everyone else.

@e-love tbh it make sense if you think about it. At very first it seemed a return to town based battles and the mushroom kingdom after all the oddities of Super Paper Mario on the Wii... and before it -actually- released people couldn't have known yet what the sticker-based battle system(and it's lack of leveling/etc) would entail yet.

Plus it released on 3DS which was a super popular platform so you can imagine that "Paper Mario, on 3DS??" likely had an appeal of its own.

Come Color Splash however, one can see the result of such early performance for Stickers Stars, and the resulting disappointment, had on the players with impacts on sales that we now know.

In a way it IS to Origami King's credits that it seems to be set to start reversing the franchise's fortunes.

@Spanjard "Of course, this data doesn't include Paper Mario: The Origami King's digital sales on the Switch eShop. If this was taken into account, it may have outperformed the past entries in its opening week - and keep in mind, digital game sales on Nintendo's platforms are now stronger than ever."

It was also top seller on the eshop when I recently checked on my end(America/Canada)

@nmanifold well.
It's basically pokemon but with creatures from RL myths/folklore/urban legends from across the world as your monsters, generally in supernatural post-apocalypse setting(expect deaths of npc you meet) and most games let you punch god or Satan as the final boss.... or both of you want to take the good old "humanity ***** yeah" path also offered in most games.

They can be fairly grindy at times though.

@Desrever weren't both accounts created at a similar date months ago though? The months ago part that almost predate some rumors it's one of the things making me curious. Plus it's the year of COVID so accounts created in preparations for games originally meant to release sooner but which might have ended up delayed thus delaying announcements the accounts could have been used for.

Of course that doesn't prove anything and we won't know if there's anything until... well, actual news.

@ianl579 I dunno. The breakable gear items, are still much closer to rpg conventions of, say, Final Fantasy Legends(1-2-3) or Fire Emblems than the deck of cards of Color Splash.

Since a nuance make it sound hammer/boots at least can be used multiple times before breaking rather than the single use cards of Color Splash that required you to carry 50+ cards at all time.

Plus the puzzle box mechanics of fights at least seem much more involved than Color Splash, especially when it'll come to boss fights(especially since the 'challenge' of Color Splash was literally "I hope you brought the right card or else you're doomed to lose utterly" whereas this review actually compliments the interactive puzzles of boss fights in this game)

@the_beaver gold seem to a main reward and at least in this case it seems to be more used than Color Splash? Since abilities seem no longer primarily based on cards you get to keep more of it on you which is used to buy time for the puzzle box mechanic but also pay Toads in the battle crowd for advices in battle or even outright help?

Plus there's talks that Toads you save during the game will help restore 'facilities' in Toad Town so I heavily suspect at least some of these will see you spend gold for items/ upgrades of various sorts.

@Anti-Matter ironically judging but the trailers it remind me of some of the earliest jRPGs's take on open worlds.

Which... honestly wasn't that far off from Breath of the Wild in structure. Dragon Quest 1-2-3 particularly come to mind in that regard. In the first, the only thing preventing or limiting your travels from one region to another is the difficulty of monsters otherwise you are free to masochistically try and leeroy Jenkins your way in the direction you want.
In the second and third the early game has since linearity but once the hunt for the Sigils(DQ2) and Orbs(DQ3) begins after getting the ship in either games, you are free to collect the fore-mentioned doodads in the order you want.

I'm a bit worried/sad companions seem to be episode(or region, since the game seem more open in progression than previous ones? )-based but otherwise it sounds nonetheless that it might potentially hit an interesting spot between "newer"(Stickers Stars and later) Paper Mario and older ones with more traditional jRPG combat since hammer/jump attacks sounds closer to traditional games(adjusted with attack-appropriate areas of effect for the new 360 degree battle system) than they do the newer cards-based ones.
And while the "use money to pay Toads on the battle screen fpor advice or direct help" sound gimmicky, it's also more indirectly reminiscent of TTYD's own "crowd mechanics" than anything the newer games did whether or not that was the intent.

I do kind of roll my eyes -away the Legion of Stationeries however but otherwise i'm tempted to give this a go.

@87th beside I think the delays are still due to COVID. Another game compamy(I can't recall if it was Capcom or something else) recently had to cancel an upcoming presentation due "to inability to get all required assets together". As these includes film/recording crew I suspect that might be the bottleneck(as the are the parts most likely to be provided by outside groups) for Directs as well.

@Glassneedles you know with the news that Nintendo seem set to scale down their own mobile effort because of the Switch's success... I recall it was pointed out that a lot of Nintendo's mobile games were the result of disappointment with the WiiU rather than anything more recent.

Which is to say... games take time to develop and all.

Recalling all the uncertainty about Sword+Shield and how well or not it would sell... I wonder if all these mobile projects were started before Sword&Shield's launch due to fear traditional pokemon games would be "done" after the success of pokémon go and the like.

In the end Sword and Shield sold a -massive- amount of copies, probably breaking all expectations... but all these mobile projects started before the launch still had to be completed and I wonder if these big 'announcements' might not be some kind of attempt to salvage these projects rather than just canning them outright.

As it is, I wouldn't be surprised if the Pokemon Company later announced scaling back mobile efforts in a year or two like Nintendo is reportedly doing.

@JugOfVoodoo it's a pretty neat feature! And I definitely never expected the game to let us acquire any alolan pokemons through base gameplay as I figured some or even most would remain transfers-only.

That was a really nice way of letting the player access them -and- experience a nice bit of minigame gameplay.

@status-204 I suddenly picture mainland cops arresting some poor trainer for "letting their pokémon freely roam outside of pokeballs in roaming-restricted area and outside of 'properly regulated campsites' as according to regulations"