Mii_duck

"Sadly, Not Everything That Glitters Is Gold."

Glisters not glitters, if you want to quote Shakespeare correctly.

/Pedant

"Off of"?

Objection!

It's interesting that people negatively criticise BotW for lack of story - something I don't agree with but can understand the viewpoint after playing Skyrim and Witcher 3.

To me, Hyrule was the star. Other games may have a more populated world but none have the atmosphere of BotW. Many was the time I'd get in from work and fire up the game with an objective in mind, but instead find myself simply exploring Hyrule, just because. Hours spent just climbing or heading towards something interesting in the distance - the 'three points of interest' design was utterly brilliant and not matched by any other game I've played.

Sounds daft but it was a little mental holiday, a little escape exploring the world and occasionally meeting a quirky character. It feels very Japanese in many ways, the joy of space and a holiday in freedom.

@ryancraddock - Reading comments sections always reminds me of a Russell Howard joke; "what did people do before the Internet? Write angry notes and attach them to the legs of pideons?"

And yeah, the comment section on reviews and news articles do seem to be filled with indignant people angry that the world isn't how they want.

I'm old and ugly enough (I remember when a 48k ZX Spectrum was a whole new, exciting thing) to be able to raise an eyebrow at most comments and move on, but I can imagine how frustrating or worse it must be for you and your fellow contributors.

So, file this comment in your happy file. You guys are appreciated. I check in here several times a day, and I'm sure a silent majority do too.

As for community - away from the shallow, insecure-yet-ego-driven toxicity of the front page, the forums are generally a very nice place.

Take a thread dedicated to one game, people ask questions and advice is freely given, it's friendly and the games are just celebrated. Which is what, I'm sure, we are all here for.

So once again, cheers and thank you and the other contributors for the site. You're appreciated.

I confess I didn't 'get' this game.

I've no complaints about it being nominated for game of the decade because obviously it's well loved by many, but...

I tried, I really did try but couldn't gell with the battle system. The story engaged, I seemed to be doing OK but every time I met a mini boss I got leathered and had to go away to grind till I was overpowered.

My failing of course, though I don't know how or why. I managed fine with various DQs, Bravelys and FFS. But this? Nah.

Ah well. Can't enjoy all the games, but I'm glad it worked for so many people.

@Jayofmaya and @Jokerwolf - I believe on the PS4 this "re-elected" package includes all DLC, including Gat Out of Hell as a standalone download.

Saint's Row 3 was a big surprise hit for me, really enjoyed it and I wasn't bothered by - and rarely noticed - any of the performance issues that troubled others. I just had a brains out blast with it. Burt ******* Reynolds!

IV has varying reviews concerning the game breaking powers but I'd definitely buy it if it comes to Switch.

Excellent write up!

Must admit I too at the start thought "is this it?" after Skyrim and BotW (and Saint's Row 3) I didn't get the hype, I was more annoyed and confused than immersed in the world.

But then it clicked. The characters, the stories, the way emotion can be conveyed by a single glance or shoulder shrug... incredible.

It's all so beautifully crafted, there is no whiff of 'yeah, that's good enough' about it.

The moral choices, how you can influence the world, the writing is brilliant. All through the game and arguably it gets even better in the DLC. Hearts of Stone brings back a bit player who turns out to be perhaps the most insidiously evil character in the game and Blood and Wine is full of celebration and joy of the game.

@ryancraddock - thank you for the strength in writing that.

I know this site doesn't review games in the right way and you get the scores wrong and it often has slow news days [ /sarcasm ] but I hope you know you have also built a strong community here that you are very much a respected part of.

On a much lower level to your anxiety, I'm not a people person. I'm not saying you'll always find me in the kitchen at parties, but that's because I'm usually at home with a good book.

PoGo though - I loved it. First noticing the Tribe transfixed by their phones, the same faces regularly as I did my tour of town. The head nods of acknowledgement slowly growing into chatting over the weeks. Then arranging up to meet for raids, disparate people at all stages of life meeting up, laughing and connecting.

It's brilliant.

Your social status, your job, your bank balance, age, sexuality or orientation or gender, your skin tone, faith or creed doesn't matter. All that does matter is if you got a shiny in that raid and I didn't. But hey! Let's just go to the next gym and try again, my PoGo friend.

Disappointing. I was looking forward to this but seems the Devs settled for "that'll do". I don't know if that's down to lack of ability, time or money but it's a shame - the marketplace has a lot of other attractive options calling for my money.

@Nimnio - that genuinely made me smile. Beautifully put.

If it works with Grid Autosport I'm really tempted. It's an amazing, quality game but I don't feel I'm getting the best out of it with the standard controllers.

Genius. Just hope the windows don't get shot.

I'm just hoping for a stuffed, life sized unicorn...

Considering just how amazing GRID Autosport looks on Switch (and how well it plays and the amount of content) there is no excuse for this really.

It seems Kylotonn spend money getting licences then neglect the games.

40 years? 40?

No. Nooooooooooooooooo.

I think the figures (while great and I'm very happy to see them) are slightly skewed because of the portable nature of the system.
While a household is likely to have only one PlayStation for example, we have two Switches and a lite in our house, and can of cause share (physical) copies of games.

A fortnight is indeed 14 days. Unless you are from Yorkshire, where it can mean one evening.

"for t' nite"

@bozz - I must have similar eyes to you, cos I've never been troubled by FPS much either.

Saint's Row 3 was branded 'unplayable' by some, but other than very, very occasional slowdown it looked and ran perfectly fine to me!
Even blatant slowdown like LA Noire suffered (or the notorious area in Breath of the Wild) didn't worry me that much, I just accepted games run slowly sometimes. Always have and probably always will have sticky patches.

Oh woe. I would have bought it if it got 10/10, but a nine? Just not sure now.

Oh hold on, there's a series of words above the score that give a fine review of the strengths and weaknesses. I think I'll buy it, play it, hopefully enjoy it and try to not let that missing point ruin the whole experience.

@SenseiDje - sadly I can't claim that line as my own, but I can't remember where I heard it.

As Abraham Lincoln famously said - "don't believe everything you read on the Internet".

Good to see GRID Autosport get appreciation, fantastic racer and I'm genuinely impressed at the port and attention to detail. Sounds and looks amazing on the Switch.

Hellblade disappointed me. I think I need to try it again when my backlog clears.
It does look stunning but I couldn't get on with the combat - fight and beat the baddies on screen, then get attacked and hit from behind. Defeat those, think you're done... get attacked and hit from behind again... defeat those, think you're done...

I found it tiresome rather than enjoyable.

Grid Autosport for me too.

Fantastic racing game, oodles of content and looks amazing on Switch. You really get the impression the conversion had a lot of care and effort put into it. I'd say it's in my top four games for the Switch.

It shows what the Switch is capable of, and the Devs deserve praise and reward.

@OorWullie - Inside definitely stuck with me. A simple game in so many ways, but manages to be both sad and beautiful.

The 'blast room' was just... I won't say scary, but somehow massively emotionally moving. The sound and the shock wave, the feeling of helplessness it generated and of "what's happening?"

@JasmineDragon - exactly!

You reminded me of one of my little mantras - "no-one ever laid on their deathbed and said 'I wish I'd spent more time in the office'"

(Unless they were hit by a car on leaving work, obviously.)

I must admit I was very close to buying an XBone S recently, just for Forza, but we had a free weekend and for the same money we could stick a pin in the map and have a decent hotel city break somewhere. Just chill and explore.

Switch fills all my gaming needs, and even if no software was released from tomorrow on, I have enough to keep me going for years.

@Zeldafan79 - and some people do have other hobbies, and choose to spend their disposable income on those, rather than on gaming systems.

You know, getting out the house and stuff. I'm happy to focus my gaming on one console. Used to be PS, then PS2 before 3ds and now Switch.

DQ11 is a fairly big file size though, so maybe most went for a retail copy?

@matdub - I'd say Grid is more of a sim than arcade.
You can't just barrel into a corner and slide around like Ridge Racer etc, you need to be more precise with the controls.
However, on the easier difficulties there is no real need to fiddle with the car settings or tune. You can just race straight from the off.

I'm quite sad Grid didn't sell better, it's a great racer and a lot of care seems to have gone into the port.

Without giving spoilers, there is a certain 3DS game that... forces you to delete your save file.

I thought it was a superb, fourth wall breaking moment.

Weeeeelll... there is a certain club in Saint's Row 3 that might want a word...

@Scully1888 - Thank you for that explanation, makes perfect sense to not let an aspect of the game (multiplayer) you haven't tried influence the score.

I think some of the commenters got a bit carried away because multiplayer has been mentioned as in development in NintendoLife articles, and in comment sections people have linked to tweets from Feral. (I wouldn't expect you to have read everything on the site, obviously!)

@SwitchedOn_Games - stumbled on your YouTube channel a while back, and it really helped build the hype.

Nicely presented, without the "Hi GUYS, you'll NEVER guess what happened next!1!1!" malarkey or dull padding.

Top work, thank you for all the effort you put in.

I dunno, I could just bang my head against the wall repeatedly and save my texting finger, but it's been said many many times in the comments here and by Feral themselves that multiplayer is on the way.

Practice your racing lines and chill. This isn't a deal breaker.

@Shiryu - completely agree with everything you said there.

I'll be in a classic mini at Brands Hatch, grinning happily.

I'm glad @Scully1888 was the reviewer for this, after the flack he took for his Gear. Club review.

I've been excited for this for aaaages, and I'm so glad it sounds like a good 'un rather than the disappointment of previous racing games. It appears real effort has been put into this, the port hasn't just been phoned in. Kudos for the graphic/performance modes and control options.

Buying as soon as the clock ticks over to the 19th.

@Damo - perhaps you could do an article for certain members on the Magic Money Tree at the NintendoLife offices, and how you only host ads because you like the colours, what with this free site being a registered charity and all.

I thought the FF 8 and Sinking City reviews were pretty dire, but not once believed it was all part of an ad revenue/clickbait plot.

The thing about click bait is that you don't have to click - the tag lines on here are regularly so jokey/punny that you know something rum is afoot. This is the Internet, get used to it. Stop being offended when the world isn't how you want it. Or being offended that a reviewer finds a smutty little game a bit embarrassing. (Not that I find smut dirty. Unless it's done right.)

Funny too, how the loudest moaners on here seem to do a lot of projecting... "I bet feminists/the right wing think..."

I can't watch that male presenter without thinking "if they ever remake American Psycho..."

@Vriess - I think @antdickens has, and has earned more right than anyone to decide what is a useful post on here...

I'm so desperate for this to be good, or 'alright' at least.
Looking at the car list on Google has my inner car-geek excited - classic minis, Caterhams, Ariel Atoms...

I enjoyed MotoGP 18 even though it was a bit basic in looks, but this is the game I'm really looking forward to. I'm even holding off getting DQ for this. Mainly cos I won't have time to complete DQ before The Witcher arrives.

Ha! @OorWullie beat me to it.

September? Oh good, I was just thinking how it's an empty month release wise...

(Not complaining, it's very nice to be spoilt for choice and to be able to be selective.)

I have a strong feeling there is a massive amount of info they are holding back.
Nothing about public works or other islands, very little about other villagers and they kept saying "your deserted island".

@garfreek - it was a looooooong time ago and my memory isn't what it was (not that I can remember what it was) but I think there was a boss battle at the start of disc 4 where you can't use physical attacks, or they have hardly any effect?
I think I'd just ignored the whole magic side of the game till then.

Ah, the first JRPG I ever played. I remember being blown away by the scope of it, it was a whole new thing to me.

Till I got stuck in a battle I couldn't win at the start of disc 4, rage quit and never went back.

Can't remember the draw system - I'm tempted to buy it again but I wonder if time and exposure to other JRPGs won't be kind to my memory of it.

So, a year of how many programmers and business suits working on this... how many man-hours? And what's the rate for programmers these days?

I guess I don't begrudge the (full) price of some games.

I was looking forward to this until I read reviews of versions on other platforms. Poor character animation (plus not being able to create your own character), gameplay issues like a flash of white screen after every shot.

@KIRO - but it had voice acting! In a computer game!

That's next level technology...

@Laxeybobby - see comment #75