PerishSong

@spiderman0616 To be fair to LoL, I think it's decently monetized. The things that are available for purchase are largely just cosmetics. It could be argued you're at a disadvantage by having an initially smaller champion roster than someone purchasing champions with actual money rather than earned in-game currency, but it doesn't take an insane number of games to have enough currency to unlock a new champion, at least.

@AtlanteanMan 100% agree. Some of the individual stories were quite interesting, but I felt the overarching story didn't tie them together well, and the "true ending" was a bit disappointing in both story and gameplay (I did not find the final boss to be particularly enjoyable, and the fact that it came after a psuedo boss rush with no savepoint made it way worse).

@Dirty0814 I think that's just the smoke creating two different tones on the clothing.

Monster Hunter is definitely one of my favorite series, so yep! I'm actually impressed with how good the graphics are; it's obviously not on the level of World, but I honestly don't really notice the downgrade.

Wirebugs and Switch Skills are both very solid additions, I really hope they have them in some form in future titles.

@Trajan Nope! The alien is actually male.

Played a few hours so far, it's a pretty fun game (that I happen to be terrible at). The game does a very good job of pacing to slowly introduce a new mechanic, let you play around with it for a round or two, then introduce another mechanic. The gameplay is very much like Werewolf or Mafia. The "base" rules (which can be changed after progressing through a dozen or so loops) are:

The Gnosia are trying to kill everyone. Each round has a few turns of debate, where the player can try to sway others' opinions, or sit back and let things play out to some degree. At the end of each round, the player and the NPCs all vote on who to put into Cold Sleep, effectively removing them from the game. After that, the ship goes into a hyperdrive, and during the hyperdrive, the Gnosia erase/remove one character. The Gnosia win if they outnumber the normal members of the crew. The crew win if they put all the Gnosia into Cold Sleep. There are several roles as well:

The Gnosia: "Imposters" that try to kill everyone. They automatically know who the other Gnosia is/are.

AC Follower: A crewmember that will scan as human, but is on the Gnosia's side. They do not know who the Gnosia are, but will also win if the Gnosia win.

The Engineer: At the end of each round after hyperspace, the Engineer can scan one person and find out if they are crew or Gnosia. The Engineer can choose to reveal their role and their discoveries. A Gnosia can claim to be the Engineer to cause confusion.

The Doctor: At the end of each round after hyperspace, the Doctor can scan the person put in Cold Sleep to see if they were crew or Gnosia. The Doctor can choose to reveal their role and their discoveries. A Gnosia can claim to be the Doctor to cause confusion.

Guardian Angel: This crewmember can protect one other crewmember from a Gnosia attack. They choose who to save prior to the hyperspace jump; if the Gnosia try to erase the protected individual, that individual will not be erased. No one can ever try to claim to be the Guardian Angel.

Guard Duty: Two crewmembers will receive this role. They are guaranteed to be humans and can choose to reveal this. Gnosia cannot claim to be Guards.

There's actually one other role I've seen at this point, but it's kind of cool to see it play out with how it's woven into the story.

So it's pretty much Werewolf or Mafia.

There are several things that differentiate the game from simply being a player vs. computer version of those games, though. The player character has stats that can be increased; experience is gained as you play more loops, with wins generating more EXP than losses. Putting points in different stats can make it easier to persuade the NPCs, make the Gnosia less likely to target the player, make the player have a chance of detecting lies, etc. Increasing stats can also unlock some new actions, such as requesting that a certain role (like the Engineer) announce who they are.

The story seems to play out as the loops occur, with each loop introducing more mechanics, characters, and complexity. I think I'm at the point now where I've seen most of the basic mechanics, but haven't unlocked some of the higher actions. It sounds like the story will also play out via random events and cutscenes that tell more about the various characters, but I haven't really hit that part of the game yet. I did see one event where a character with the Gnosia role revealed that they were Gnosia to everyone because that character hates lying that much. It was an interesting twist to hit in the middle of a loop.

So far, it's a quite neat little game that feels familiar, but also unique.

@NathanTheAsian

More or less. I think MH is a great series - it's certainly one of my favorites - but it is somewhat notorious for being bad at tutorials, teaching players how to play the game, etc.

In the demo, the "combos" for the weapons in the demo were buried several menus deep in the game. The demo teaches some of the basics for out-of-combat controls, but doesn't really tell players much for in-combat. It's a great series but there is a bit of a barrier to entry in terms of learning the various mechanics.

@My_ultimate_is_ready
Folks have said this already, but it seems like it does have lots of the same QoL changes (monsters are easy to find, no loading screen between areas, infinite whetstone, potions don't hardlock the hunter into a flexing animation, etc.). That said, some things are going to be missing; some of the weapon attacks/moves from Iceborne are gone, changed, or tied into Wirebug moves - the Helmsplitter for Long Sword, for example, is now tied to a Wirebug move. The Clutch Claw is not in the game, or at least not in the demo.

Overall, though, Rise looks like a very strong entry in the MH series. I have around 300 hours in World, and I have definitely been enjoying the Rise demo.

11/12. Actually got the Lapras one right, but got Dartrix wrong. I had no clue what I was looking at with that one.

I want to like the voice, but...

I don't know if it was the VA's choice, or the voice direction, but the choice to use a very breathy voice didn't really gel with me. I remember having the same issue with Agnes in Bravely Default. There's something about that specific style of character speech that grates on me a bit. Maybe it just feels too forced?

@Dualmask It's a bit in between those two options, from my understanding. There are some resources that carry over from run to run that allow you to purchase new characters or weapons to select on subsequent runs.

It looks a bit like FTL or The Binding of Isaac in that sense, where you're unlocking more options as you play, rather than specifically getting stronger with each playthrough.

Honestly, the 2D and 3D games feel so different, it's hard to pick. It's also further complicated by the fact that the most recent 2D was a remake of a game from 1993. A 2D Zelda game with the ingenuity, budget, and system power that Breath of the Wild had could be incredible.

@JimmySpades XBC was also a major underperformer on the Wii (at least in the west), suffering a bit from coming out around the transition to the Wii U. It got stellar reviews, but didn't sell very well iirc. I think it did much better on the New 3DS, but there's definitely going to be a population that simply hasn't played it yet.

@Olmectron It felt like a very cool narrative concept, but the gameplay implementation could've been better. The bosses at the shrines and the "job" bosses were pretty much the same, just with a larger health pool and more damage.

That said, I do agree that it's not the worst thing ever, and it certainly didn't ruin the game for me. But it was probably the least fun part of the game.

@StuartGipp Thanks for the reply! Always cool to hear feedback and extra info from the reviewer.

@BulbasaurusRex I really haven't found that to be the case. Some of the unlockable spells are quite good, but I found them to be largely in line with the power of spells that are unlocked from the beginning. You tend to get more rare spells as you progress through a run, so that's more where the balance comes in.

It really does feel more skill based than RNG based.

I am a bit curious as to how long the reviewer played the game; it's certainly difficult, but enemies and especially bosses have very specific attacks where understanding their patterns is a major component of gameplay. It took me a bit to get some of them down, and certainly not all bosses are created equal (I find Selicy and Shiso to be especially difficult), but I'd say I'm consistently getting at least level 4 - if not further - before dying, with a few runs taking me to Eden. It feels like it's a lot more skill-dependent than some other roguelikes, where, like the reviewer said, you can get that "broken" loadout.

For me, my biggest complaint at this point in time is that some of the playable characters could probably use a buff to bring them in line with the other playables. Selicy, Shiso, and Violette feel a bit underpowered (although that could just be because I haven't used them enough).

This game felt like a strong 8.5/10 that could go even higher with a few tweaks.

@Paraka I had the eShop version, and played mostly in handheld mode, so maybe that made the difference? There were never any moments that were severely laggy, but there were a few bits where the game slowed - not enough to be annoying or to harm the experience, but certainly noticeable.

@impurekind Oxenfree was quite fun, but also had a few spots where it had some performance dips on the Switch. Sadly, I doubt they'll update Afterparty to clean in up.

That said, if it's anything like Oxenfree, it'll still be a very enjoyable time even with those odd spots of performance drop.

Kinda wish the title itself had the spoiler warning. I missed the spoiler tag due to the formatting and read the quote before seeing the warning.

There are some really good ROM hacks of Fire Emblem out there. My brother was really into GhebSaga when that came out.

@mesome713 It may not "own" Persona, but it does likely have an exclusivity deal with Atlus.

@PickledKong64 I understand the point you're going for, but Persona is a bit of an oddity in the console-exclusive world, as is Atlus as a whole. Mario is a first-party series by Nintendo, while Persona is a third-party series made by Atlus, a company that frequently makes games for both Sony and Nintendo. Joker and Persona characters have made several appearances in Nintendo games (namely Smash Bros, Persona Labyrinth, this new Scramble game, and with some cameo costumes in Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE).

Conversely, the SMT franchise (of which Persona is a spin-off) now appears to be Nintendo-exclusive, with SMT IV, Apocalypse, and the Devil Survivor series, and the upcoming SMT V announced as being for Switch.

I guess this is a long way of saying that even though P5 is a Sony exclusive, it doesn't fall into the same category as some other exclusives. I never expect God of War to come to Nintendo. I never expect Mario to make his way over to Sony. But I don't think P5 is an impossibility, nor do I think seeing SMT on a Sony console is an impossibility.

All that said, I agree that it's unlikely. Releasing the game on Switch would require a lot of negotiation between Nintendo, Sony, and Atlus, and I don't really see it happening if it hasn't already.

If this was purely a PvE game, I wouldn't really have an opinion on this. Unfortunately, it does have some PvP elements, and I'm not a fan of P2W.

@Orangezap89 You're harshing the general vibe in here.

Seriously, though, that is one of the most bizarre complaints I've ever seen. I legitimately have been wracking my brain trying to understand it.

@TriggerAD Adding to what others have said, Rune Factory 4 is also much more story focused. Stardew Valley has a very loose story - you inherit a farm and are trying to improve it - while RF4 has a more traditional RPG storyline. Although there is plenty to do after beating the story, there is a specific endgoal, final boss, etc.

But the differences essentially boil down to this (imo): Stardew Valley is a farming sim with combat elements, while RF4 is an action RPG with farming elements.

@Dang69 Honestly, that's part of the problem; the Fire Emblem characters tend to not have enough variety. Four of those eight have essentially identical movesets (Marth, Roy, Chrom, Lucina), with Ike also having a fairly similar set. It does look like Byleth will have at least a somewhat different moveset, but it's hard not to look at Byleth and think, "Oh no, yet another sword-wielding Fire Emblem protagonist."

Every other DLC character has felt fairly unique - and been from a completely unrepresented series with the exception of Piranha Plant - and Byleth...doesn't have either of those going for him.

Honestly, the character looks fun, but I do wish they had this as the first character of the new run of DLC. The previous four characters felt so out of left field that I think everyone was expecting another long shot character.

Plus there are now EIGHT Fire Emblem characters with the introduction of Byleth. That's tied with Pokemon but with much less character/playstyle variety.

@tabris95 If you replay the prologue, you can change your name (and gender/appearance if you wish).

@spirit_flame I'd recommend Kirby Super Star if you haven't played it before. Still one of the best Kirby games to this day, imo.

Does False Swipe work to get critical hits even if the opposing pokemon is at 1 HP?

EDIT: can't learn False Swipe, so I guess that's a moot point.

@BenAV Why not just play Pokemon Showdown, then? Saves having to beat the game and skips right to the competitive content (and it's free).

@BenAV I'm about six hours in and only have the first badge, although I have been running around a lot trying to catch every new pokemon I see. Did you just run through most of the areas dodging fights?

Sounds like several good quality of life changes with perhaps some issues with content changes (or lack of change, in some cases). The lack of a full national pokedex is a bit of a downer, but not a dealbreaker.

Fire Emblem x Durarara!!

Finally get that dullahan class.

@Thundertron55
ThEy All fLoaT doWN hErE, GEORGIE

@JayJ Honestly, it's less that I'm defending the company and more that I'm saying that the leaker shouldn't be defended. It's not like this was some shady NDA where he couldn't talk about horrible work conditions or sexual harassment. It was an NDA that's bog standard in the entertainment industry, and he very clearly violated the contract.

@JayJ "This reeks of scare tactic, a big corporation trying to bully testers over their own arrogance."

Holy wow do I disagree. I'm not a big fan of Epic, but they have every right to pursue a legal resolution when someone signed a contract saying, "I won't talk about this," and then they subsequently leaked it. I agree that it's not a simple case since it is difficult to monetarily quantify any damages done, but the leaker absolutely violated their NDA.

The leaker is very clearly in the wrong here.

Looks pretty cool, but it is a bit tough to really want to get into a spin-off game without having played the original. It's a bit like when the released Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on the GBA without any of the main series games on a Nintendo system.

@Baker1000 I haven't played the game in quite a number of years, but I really don't remember it being near as difficult as the reviewer is claiming. It has some of the issues inherent with games of the time (high encounter %, sometimes difficult to tell where to go next), but it's still a quite fun game.

I do agree it's not a must-have, though. It's probably one of the weaker Dragon Quest games.

@SgtQuint @JayJ
I agree that aesthetics and style are very important to enjoyment, but the original comment, "Seems like they added a lot of fan-service to this otherwise basic platformer." shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the game. Calling the game a basic platformer when it's a metroidvania-styled game with bullet-hell bosses really makes me question if JayJ did anything past look at a few screenshots.

Again, it's fine to not like a game's aesthetic. But to try to offer an opinion on the gameplay based solely on that aesthetic seems faulty.

I always feel irrationally annoyed when a game is "censored" for something so minor. It's like someone thought, "Oh no, the Westerners can't handle cleavage, we better hide that!"

@Seanmyster6 "Thank you for not giving this one to PJ to review."

"I would give this game an 8/10 but only gross perverts will like the art style so it's a 5/10 from me."

@Tao
Ever since Generation IV and the Global Trade System, version exclusives really haven't been an issue. Sure, there are the "trading my Rattata for Mew" folks, but I've never had an issue trading one version exclusive for another.

I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that the creation of this game is somehow at the cost of Pokemon. It's not at all uncommon to have multiple teams working on different games all under the same developer.

@Damo "Amazing that people are defending this game more on its subject matter than the quality of its gameplay, which to me speaks volumes."

Hm, I don't know if that's quite it. There are certainly some people defending the game, but I think it's more about the reviewing trend on NL to bash on fans of fanservice. It feels like the reviewer is less saying, "this is a bad game that tries and fails to be sexy," and more that he's saying, "this is a bad game and also it's for gross perverts so it's even worse."

The Omega Labyrinth Life review (https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/switch-eshop/omega_labyrinth_life) was actually a really good example of a review done right. It gives that game a 6/10 - a relatively mediocre score - but doesn't try to insult people for potentially being interested in the game.

@Jack_Goetz Same, but..."why not both?"

Definitely excited to see Mirage Sessions coming to Switch, though. It's one of the few games that was exclusive to the Wii U that I was hoping to play some day.

@Mr_Muscle Honestly, I completely disagree. Each of the DLCs for Shovel Knight has been fun, relatively unique, and free. I wouldn't want them to grind the title into the dirt by releasing a story for every single Knight, but I wish more companies shared their perspective on free DLC updates.

(But yes, very excited for Cyber Shadow.)

@JaxonH Part 2 of the game definitely ramps up the difficulty and puts it more on the level of previous Fire Emblem games. Part 1 was on the easier side, but I definitely enjoyed it as well.

@commentlife I guess my point is more that one of the major appeals of Magic Mike was the eyecandy. Caladrius Blaze is clearly meant to appeal to people who enjoy both shmups and fanservice. It just feels odd to claim that the fanservice brings the game down when it's clearly meant as a selling point. It'd be like someone saying, " Magic Mike was a good film, but the amount of ripped shirtless guys in it really brings it down."