Comments 297

Re: Sonic Frontiers Will Take About 20 - 30 Hours To Complete

Madao

The gameplay trailer does indeed look better than the IGN videos. But they do a lot of things like target rails etc that are off camera and not stopping to explore, so it feels like the person playing knows the layout already. The IGN video is probably more realistic of what it will look like for a regular player playing the game.

Re: The Sonic Frontiers Preview Footage Is From An "Early Build"

Madao

IGN has an exclusive coverage deal, of course it won't heavily criticise the game. Old build can be 1 month old, or 3 months old or 6 months old, it doesn't mean much. Even if it was 6 months old though, it still feels like a game that is early in development, so I have really low hopes for the devs managing to iron things out in time (let alone fix what looks like fundamental issues with the game's design).

I think there are some good ideas there, like the large bosses, the rest so far though looks really bland. Worryingly though the large bosses were basically the main thing that the IGN preview mentioned as needing a lot of work.

Re: Sonic Frontiers Gameplay Showcases A Pretty, But Sparse Open World

Madao

Yikes, looks really rough. I hope they fix the technical issue at least. I don't understand how Sega has such a hard time figuring out an art style for Sonic games and keeps attempting to marry Sonic to realistic environments making them just look completely out of place every single time.

Aside from that, I don't see the hook of the game yet. Looks like an empty world with a random puzzle/rail every now and then which stick out like a sore thumbs. Basically looks like default Unity world assets with random sonic assets placed on top, no wonder people get a tech demo feel out of it.

Re: Legend Of Zelda Fans Accuse Indie Game Of "Ripping-Off" Link's Awakening

Madao

Eh, it is definitely heavily inspired by Zelda. Similar to how Genshin copied a ton of things from BotW or how the majority of open world games releasing are copying most of the Assassin's Creed open world formula.

Feels like the devs were smart and realised that if they make a fanmade Zelda game but don't actually brand it as such, they can finish it and even sell it.

Re: Reggie Doesn't Seem To Think Nintendo Has "Abandoned" F-Zero, Says There's Still Hope

Madao

For better or worst, what Reggie describes is what we already know is Nintendo's game making process.

Take splatoon for example, characters were just a bunch of boxes and once they managed to find the fun in the gameplay, then they applied a franchise to it, which was a new IP in this particular case.

So unless a franchise is well established with a big fanbase, Nintendo will only revive it if they can apply something new and exciting to it.

Re: Random: Switch Console Sales Outstrip The Poor Wii U's Total Software Sales

Madao

@ModdedInkling yea that amazing lineup of 2 games. One being a multiplatform release, you sure got me there. The WiiU had more or less 10 good games, which is the poorest out of possibly every console. It was also the console where Nintendo put the least effort they have ever put before, developing and publishing shovelware like amiibo festival and devil's third. While also having insane game drought most of the time.

@NinTasha whatever helps you sleep at night bud

Re: Former Joy-Con Drift Repairs Supervisor Says Work Volume Was "Very Stressful"

Madao

Nintendo really dropped the ball with the joycons, but especially with how they have ignored the problem for 5 years now. My joycons are the only controllers that have ever drifted and I am not even using them that often (90% of the time I play on TV with a pro controller).

It is good to hear though that a good amount of people are sending them in. That means it costs a lot for Nintendo, so even though they are not fixing the issue, they at least will know better for the future.

Well unless they have figured that the extra joycon sales from bad controllers make up for the losses from repairs, but hopefully the lawsuit will dig into this.

Re: Splatoon 3 Gets September Release And Extended New Footage

Madao

The initial reveal of Splatoon 3 had me excited for a more meaty campaign mode. 90% of the marketing since then though is focused on multiplayer, so the game is definitely completely multiplayer focused again.

I played the first Splatoon a decent amount, it is a fun game, but not something that can hold me for long. I don't see much of a difference between 2 and 3 compared to 1. They feel like going from COD MW to MW2, which is fine for the people that really enjoy these games, just not enough for me to give it another shot.

Re: Nintendo Responds To Workers' Rights Complaint

Madao

We will have to wait and see the outcomes of the investigation. If they did indeed leak information and got fired as a result or if there is something more to it.

Another person saying they had a bad experience was also a contractor. It is not uncommon for companies to treat contractors way worse than permanent employees so there could be more to this.

Re: Nintendo Files In-Game Clothing Patent To Help Keep Your Characters Warm

Madao

I am not sure this is necessarily a patent to just fix clipping. After all it is only trying to solve clipping of the body under the clothes poking outside the clothes, not a problem you see often in games (usually they either swap whole meshes or hide the underlying body part or just properly skin the clothes anyway). It is not like it would solve the usual clipping you see in games of things like hair, weapons, helmets, shoulderpads, etc poking through other parts of the character.

Maybe it is cheaper for them to fix this kind of clipping this way, but it could also be something they intend to use for a game mechanic where clothes can drastically change the shape of a character, so deforming the body is needed.

Re: Random: Nintendo Might Not Be As Old As You Think

Madao

The source article is interesting, a cool little investigation. The outcome of it, well, considering we are talking about the 19th century, I doubt that records of that time would be accurate in the first place. A company getting registered at that time could very easily have been in existence long before.

Re: Metroid Dread Senior Programmer Leaves MercurySteam, Joins Call Of Duty: Warzone Mobile Developer

Madao

Activision is probably paying much better compared to Mercury Stream, so no surprise. People actually choose jobs based on what is best for them and their families, not based on fanboism, believe it or not.

Really weird that this is reported as news though. People change companies all the time, are we going to be getting an article for every employee that moves company?

Re: PlatinumGames' Live Service Title Is Off To A Really Bad Start

Madao

The game looked bad since its reveal (I thought it was a mobile game initially). People reviewing it were complaining on twitter that it is so bad they have to force themselves to play it.

To top it all up, they are selling it for 60 quid. Elden Ring is sold for 50.

This game was always going to be dead on arrival.

Re: It's Official, Nintendo Has Withdrawn Super Smash Bros. From EVO 2022

Madao

@HeadPirate Apparently not blindly worshipping a company is a "bad fan" according to your definition.

I am sure all those DOTA2 players completing for millions of dollars are begging Valve to reach Nintendo's levels of competitive scene support and replace that prize with the equivalent of 10000 gold points.

It is people like you worshipping companies that are holding them back.

Re: Soapbox: Why Can't Nintendo Offer Both Virtual Console And Switch Online?

Madao

VC value to Nintendo was being able to resell the same games over and over again with each generation. I don't think in 2022 people would find their VC purchases not carrying over to new consoles acceptable any more.

If they did carry over, aside from making it much harder for 3rd parties to agree to that, it would also be a service with very limited revenue with a guaranteed declining growth.

A subscription service solves both of those problems and I think it is perfectly fine if done right. Currently it is really lacking, it needs a larger library, ideally aim for the full library to become available and commitment from Nintendo for full support in all future consoles (and why not a PC and mobile app as well).

Re: Metroid Prime 4 Dev Retro Studios Is Advertising Job Openings On ArtStation

Madao

How people have concluded that the game is in development hell exactly? It was when bandai was in charge of it, but we don't know anything about it since retro took over. Did people think that they would be able to make a new AAA game from scratch in 2-3 years?

Companies hire new people all the time. Either people are leaving and getting replaced or they are just scaling up, which is a great sign, meaning they are past the parts that cannot scale up.

Look at other companies like rocksteady. They are releasing suicide squad this year and they have tens of job openings, most of them high ranking jobs as well. We know that MP4 is not releasing this year.

Re: Mother 3 Producer Would "Love To See" GBA Entry Receive A Worldwide Release

Madao

@StuTwo Magypsies are not trans women, they are genderless.

Regardless of all the controversies and things that will likely push the game to be M-rated, I find it unlikely that it will ever get localised because it is simply a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for Nintendo.

Currently a tiny minority of people complain about the game not releasing. If they do release it though, they either do a faithful adaptation and those fans are happy, but then they risk upsetting a lot of people, or they do a heavily localised adaptation and those fans are still going to be unhappy, likely even furious at the changes.

Re: No Man's Sky Has Been Secretly In The Works For Two Years, And There's More Info To Come

Madao

Really weird that there are discussions about it being a cloud version or not. It is very clearly not a cloud version. Aside from the lack of cloud labels, you can just have another look at the trailer, the resolution is very low and it looks blurry (like most big games that have been down ported to the switch)

Still a very impressive port and from the little footage we have, frame rate does not look terrible.